Snapshot

Genre: persuasive essay

Purpose: to persuade Americans and other modernized cultures that the veil is not a symbol of oppression, rather a key part of the Muslim family and culture.

Central Message: Western culture should not force itself upon changing the kinship system of the Muslim countries and Feminism should not be shoved down their throats, rather it should be left well enough alone and the issue should be focused on defeating the oppressive fundamentalist mentality that would cause these veils to be unjustly forced upon women who may not want to wear them.

World View and Assumptions: The author believes that all cultural practices have their roots based in a beneficial and or logical system. The author also assumes that those from the western culture see the veils as a symbol of female oppression. The author believes that behind every symptom there is a deeper problem.

Tools and Evidence: (I’m not really sure what these tools are, but here goes nothing). The author uses an appeal to reason and a logical comparison as he shows us the start of the fundamentalism in Egypt and uses this to explain how these veils are not a symbol of submission. The writer uses the cultural past and overall view of family in the middle east to support his claims that the veils serve a logical purpose. The author uses concession or gives the opposing side credibility when he speaks of the injustice of the Taliban to force the veils upon the women,.

Personal Narrative Reflection

Now that the Personal Narrative is over I kinda miss the little guy... we would stay up late together, he was always on my mind, and now that he's gone I just feel, whats the word, relaxed! It is so nice not having to worry about writing, having the voice in the back of your head finally being quiet and letting you relax without pestering you about that paper you haven't even started yet. If it were between writing another Personal Narrative and having shards of glass shoved in my eyes... I would choose the Personal Narrative, but I wouldn't be happy about it! In all actuality the narrative itself wasn't too terribly hard, I just had a lot of problems weaving in an underlying message that wasn't a slap in the face but also was a little more blatant than a wink in the dark. In my opinion I was able to do so moderately well, but it may have been a little to far on the cold slap in the face side. Although now I don't have to worry about it because I have given up my Personal Narrative into foster care, where it was put with a bunch of other Narratives that apparently no one in our class wanted to keep, where they were then all adopted/collected by a Joani Eliot. This story has a sad ending though, because Joani will then take these Narratives home, where they believe they will be happy, but it turns out she isn't a very nice caretaker. She beats them with a grading pen and leaves scars all along the pages and judges them based on their parents' writing skills before she gives them back to the original parents, who will either be ecstatic to see them or after one quick glance at the top of the first page never want to look at them again.

Personal Narrative Progress

Well my Personal Narrative has been going great...ish. I suppose that I really am at square one, ground zero, so there is nowhere to go from there but up! After my two pages of prewriting I decided that there was a different experience I wanted to write about, one just as humorous as the first, but that wouldn't have me going on rants about furry-four legged creatures with large teach and painful bites. After class today though I feel as if I have a clearer direction of where I would like to take my paper, of the overall moral/theme, and I'm fairly sure I have my opening organized just how I want it, well that is until i print off the rough draft and decide I want to change the entire thing, but we can worry about that when we get there! Also the Personal Narratives that we read and wrote responses on have helped me to decide in what type of style I want to write in. at this point I am fairly well decided on the first person, jump right into the story and only give background information when you need it type of writing. although this also may change when I realize that my narrative is a page and a half short and i have to go back and add in filler information (don't pretend like you don't ever do it too!). So as far as progress goes I'm at about thirty percent done with my rough draft, meaning I have an idea that is eventually going to make it on paper, but you know sometimes the idea is the hardest part, so I call it progress.

Imagine- response

Imagine by Christine Clark tells the story of a young college aged woman and her experience of breaking the “American Bubble” and internalizing what truly is going on in the world and the help that is needed. We start with a girl who is wrapped up in the things she doesn’t have, ugg boots, an iPod, parents who will listen, and who’s biggest concern is that she needs to go to the gym. She finally has a chance to meet a man who tells her a story of how he escaped from a terrible situation in Africa and underwent more hardships than are imaginable. I enjoyed and agreed wholeheartedly with the authors story, and was particularly impressed by the clever mechanisms of facebook status updates. We see her go from the girl who was excited about her caffeinated cherry coke, to realizing that she herself was a spoiled brat, to finally deciding that she was going to make a difference. I myself can personally relate to this realization and the feeling of needing to make a difference. Although instead of donating to the cause as Christine did I have let this desire to help affect my choice of a minor. Just like the author I allow this feeling of compassion and a desire to help to fuel my everyday life, both in school and in principles. I also enjoyed the portrayal of the power of stories, for they truly are powerful, both in word and song, and truly do have the power to change lives.

My Fathers Sketchbook-Response

“My Fathers Sketchbook” by Jessie Hawkes takes a deep look into the falsities of the childhood conception of adulthood. The author explores what it feels like to discover that the parents that you learn from a very early age to idolize and wish to be like are not without defect, yet by the same token are also much greater then you ever before had known. I felt a deep connection to the authors “new found” understanding of adulthood and how it affects the way that the child acts towards their parents, in being more sensitive to the feelings of those that raised them, for they are no longer supernatural beings, but very real individuals capable of all the emotions that you as a child felt. I myself had a similar experience when I was a young teenager, although mine was that of being told by my parents how my actions affected those around me, including them. I feel the author did a wonderful job at capturing the emotional depth involved in such a monumental paradigm shift, and to the closeness that can be developed between a parent and child when the child understands just how perfect their parents try to be despite imperfections. I myself never truly understood the power of such an experience, including that of my own, until I read this narrative, it brought so much light to the importance of such an experience to each individuals life and that perhaps my own experience while individual, may not be unique in concept. Additionally from “families” I enjoyed the quote “perhaps if the lord had to narrow down the Day of Judgment to a single determining factor it… [would be] “Did you love your family? Did you treat them well? Of course it was hard, but that’s when it was most important for you to show your strength and worthiness. Did you treat them well?”” For I really feel that the author was right, Christ’s doctrine was that of love, and there is no greater love here on earth then that shared by a family.

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My name is Ronnie Sloop, born in Missouri and raised throughout Missouri and Kansas. I have 3 other siblings, one older sister and two younger brothers. I enjoy running, singing, gymnastics, playing the ukulele and guitar, parkour, and baking. Some things I oh so very much dislike are 1. Dogs(long story) 2. Jello(slightly shorter story) 3. Rudeness. My greatest fears are first of all dogs, and a close second is getting a paper cut on my eye. Some life goals I have are to go on a mission, get married in the temple, and to finally win a street race.