Course overview

Writing 150… What to say… Well first of this was an English class, which automatically drops my opinion of it severely. Disregarding that fact the class itself was fairly enjoyable. Although the readings were always the last thing I wanted to do some of them did prove helpful, such as the articles on voice. If there is one thing that I learned this year it was that you can appropriately put your voice into your writing without being unprofessional. I also learned that different styles of writing make different types of voice appropriate. This changed my earlier writings were I figured that writing was writing and what wasn’t allowed in one place was taboo no matter the audience. Although I personally find the subjects of English and writing boring and uninteresting I do have to give Sister Elliott credit for keeping me interested and paying attention throughout the classes, and at the same time getting me to learn something, no matter how much I resisted. One thing I probably should have worked more on, and that I still am not entirely sure of, is what qualifies as a run-on sentence. I understand that for the most part my sentences are very long and wordy, yet since elementary school I have never really known the correct way to create good, flowing sentences without predominantly using commas. All in all Writing 150 has probably been my most enjoyable experience with an English class, although my opinion on the subject still has not changed I was able to have as enjoyable time as a writing course may allow, and I learned something too.

Podcast

I listened to a broadcast about the brain, where it talked about how much of what we do is hardwired into our brains from birth and that most human brains start out the same. The podcast addressed a bit of the nature versus nature case with a scientific background. The nature versus nature debate is in simple terms what affects a childs reasoning and actions, is it that they were born that way or is it the way they were raised.There was an interesting study talked about that involved puppets and cookies that showed even babies understand the concept of retribution and other basic natural laws. It also talked quite a bit about frontal lobe leasions which have been known to impare the judgment of the individual yet currently in a court of law it is not an acceptable defence, due to the fact that the majority of people with these leasions get along just fine and never find themselves in jails or even before the courts. The end analysis that was given is that everyone is indeed responsible for their own actions, none the less there are indeed biologic factors that are also involved. As far as the show went it very well man have abeen the most dry and annoying hour I have ever spent, with the interviewers voice causeing my body to tense every time she spoke and the subject getting less and less interesting as they went along. I did perservere though and I made it through all 51 minutes, and I will hopefully never have to again.

Favorite movie!

My all time hands down no questions asked favorite movie has got to be Dreamworks: How to Train Your Dragon. The actual storyline is very childish, it is about a small village of dragon fighting vikings who are constantly having to battle against unfriendly Dragons. then a small awkward child named Hiccup comes along, tames a dragon and eventually the dragons and vikings become friends. I enjoy the movie so much because of the witty humor, the cute animation, overall moral and the ability I have to relate. There are two scenes that really make this movie for me. The first being when Hiccup is drawing in the dirt with a stick and the dragon decides he wants to try to, so it grabs a tree and starts dragging it all over the ground. The camera starts going up for an ariel view and I had the sinking feeling in my stomach that it was going to be a beautiful picture, but it ends up just being a bunch of random loops and squiggles. The second scene that made this movie is one of the last, where after the climactic battle Hiccup wakes up in his bed to find he has lost his leg. He tries to get out of bed, almost falls over but is supported by his dragon, you then see them both walking out, a boy with one leg and a dragon with one half of a tail, the boy needed the dragons help to walk, the dragon needed the boys help to fly.

Progresso

Thus far my issues paper is going swimmingly, I have happened upon several scholarly articles which are just goldmines of information and I have been doing great ever since. The hardest part for me is deciding what should be in there and what is not so pertinent, but I will get it eventually!

Reading Response

Well I'm not going to lie, the reading was fairly entertaining for a dry informational textbook. Albeit it was entertaining, it still doesn't change the fact that it is dry information that in truth I really could care less about. I found the readings exceptionally boring when it came to the two actual papers. At least the other parts of the assignment were meant to teach me something, these readings only served to show me how terribly boring my paper was going to sound, and gave me the urge to change the format into a limerick or other rhymed verse. Although it wasn't all a waste of my time (for that would be a logical fallacy to say everything in there was, see I did learn something) for I did find the analogy of the PB&J sandwich to be helpful, and satisfying (the PB&J, not the analogy). I really should give a little more credit to the authors of this book too, they do try very hard and are successful at making their textbook enjoyable to read, its just hard to please an audience member who really does not want to know, which is also why I'm slightly more nervous about this paper. As far as I know I am the only person in our class that really cares about outsourcing (my new topic) so this paper could be a hard sell. Anyway thats my response to this reading, I'm sorry you had to read through a 250 word vent about wasting time doing busy work, but that is how I felt and thus is accurately described as a response!

To-Pic(k) a Topic

I believe that my topic will be over insider trading in Congress (I know exciting right?). This topic keeps me fairly interested... which is more than I can say about the majority of the others on procon.com, but hey it is the business major inside of me coming out in full spring. The side I am going to be proponent for is the "leave it be and get on with life" side. Although I agree it is not fair to other organizations that are forced to abide by this law, but i am siding with those who believe we should not impose it upon them because A. Congress really is not infested with this problem so its not a big issue, B. The law would hurt the efficiency our already inefficient congress, and if congress were to get slower then the little that does get done would just vanish, and C. There is no real way to implement this plan without making a large mess of things and still not dealing with the problem. So even though I agree it is 'unfair', the costs outweigh the benefits and people can just get over the fact that the 1/3 of congressmen that do trade stocks are make a little over ten percent more on their investments than them, I mean what is it hurting except for feelings? I’m sure the businessmen can suck it up and go find something else to complain about, like taxes imposed by these insider trading congressmen

Finishing the analysis

Im not going to lie, I was extremely happy to be rid of the Rhetorical Analysis, it was boring and half of the time I didn't have a clue what i was suppose to be writing, it took two roommates, the writing center and a random website before i finally understood the direction of the paper, which I can now forget all about because I will never again in my life be forced to write another Rhetorical Analysis again... but this was about finishing it... umm the finishing touched were great...

Letter From Birmingham Jail

In Martin Luther King Junior’s Letter From Birmingham Jail King uses many rhetorical tools to convince the reader of the legitimacy and the truth of his cause. We see King making appeals to emotion as he paints the picture of the father having to explain to his daughter why she couldn’t go to the new park, or to the son who asks why the white men are so mean. This same appeal is shown dabbled throughout the letter, both in Kings exhortations and expressed disappointment of the church and in his representations of the abuse that many experience in their non-violent protests. King also uses an appeal to logic when he quotes St. Thomas Aquinas, speaking of the difference between just and unjust laws. He uses this same appeal and couples it with an allusion to Adolf Hitler to create a logical appeal with slight appeals to emotion. Logical appeal is also used to express the lawfulness and the appropriate use of non-violent protests and in his explanation as to why tension is a necessary and helpful entity that is unavoidable in order to make a successful change. King also uses an appeal to ethos, or his own credibility as he states his presidency over the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which he makes sure to add has numerous affiliated organizations, and during his emotional/moral appeal we see him stating that he has come from many generations of preachers, thus establishing his credibility as a man of morals and good faith.

What Christians Believe

What Christians Believe by C.S. Lewis is a persuasive essay meant to convince or persuade the reader as to why Christianity as a religion makes sense. Lewis centers his argument around one simple fact, and that is “Christianity makes sense, although it may not be simple it ultimately makes logical sense.” Through the article we see many of Lewis’s own world views and assumptions such as that Atheists are egotistical, that every religion in itself can contain a small part of truth, simplicity is for the simple, and that without good there is no bad. Lewis uses the tool of logos or appeal to logic/reason. Throughout the article we see many examples of Lewis using syllogism and giving us a, and connecting a with be, and b with c, thus a equals c. The arguments built off of one another taking the reader on a road where the reader is convinced of one assumption, then is immediately taken onto another assumption based off of that assumption. Lewis also shows us a couple of other sides of his argument, thus building the readers trust, and then refuted their arguments them creating a stronger argument and credibility to his own point of view.

            Personally I quite enjoyed this essay, it really made me think and decide whether or not I agreed with the author, and once my decision was made I would then be taken along on another journey where the same action was required. Not only was it interesting but it was also intellectually stimulating, thus very enjoyable!