Monday, February 27, 2012

What Is Wrong With You, Carl? (Issues Paper)

Here are some topics I came up with!

1. Emphasis on a color-blind (not literally color-blind!) society is NOT an answer to racism

  • Is racism a non-existent, irrelevant problem of the past? 
  • Are programs such as affirmative action and multiculturalism based on racist principles? 
2. Should schools in the United States adopt bilingualism? 
  • How will school's becoming bilingual affect students, whether they be native English speakers or not? 
  • Is complete immersion in English the best way to teach non English speakers, English? 
3. Are immigrants a drain on the economy, and how should we address the immigration problem?
  • Do immigrants really take American jobs, drive down wages, and not pay taxes? 
  • How do we as a country benefit from immigrants? 

Now here's the hilarious video that goes along with my post title:) Yes, it's extremely dumb but I think it's pretty funny. 





Saturday, February 25, 2012

So a Guy Wants to Pray on the Sidelines, Big Deal

In his post ‘It Could Be Worse’, concerning Tim Tebow and the fact that he prays quite often during NFL games and practices, the blogger of Redneck Latte Ravings (an opinion blog) with the screen name Paul appeals to his audience and shows a less scholarly, yet knowledgeable opinion. Tim Tebow, current Denver Broncos Quarterback is a devout Christian and is not afraid to show his beliefs to fans and players. This past year, Tim has been majorly publicized for (1) bringing the Denver Broncos to the second round of the playoffs, and (2) praying constantly during games. Paul uses casual and more personal word choice, convincing tone, and relevant examples to persuade the reader that “It could be worse,” and that praying should not be reprimanded.

Through his use of personalized, less formal word choice, Paul causes the reader to feel comfortable and more understanding of his point. Many writers try to “fluff up” their writing with the use of bigger, more complex words, but, in most cases, this just confuses the reader and pushes them to look elsewhere for reading material. Considering that Paul’s opinion blog is not a scholarly, and/or academic blog, readers of his blog are most likely not looking for scholarly writing, but for relatable, casual writing. By using colloquial words that one uses in every day conversation, such as “fuss,” “big deal,” “heck,” and “prayin’,” readers can connect more to the writer and the subject of his post. He even personalizes Tim Tebow’s name by calling him “Timmy” several times. When the author personalizes Tim Tebow by calling him “Timmy,” as an audience, we feel more connected to Timmy, and see him more on our level, rather than as the NFL superstar he is. This also helps in convincing the reader of Paul’s main point that praying is not bad at all and that in fact we could use a lot more of it, especially when our example of one who prays often is a decent guy like Timmy.

The use of convincing tone is not uncommon in an opinion post, but the way the author combines his casual diction with convincing tone brilliantly and subtly persuades the reader to believe in his point without even realizing they’ve been persuaded.  He starts his post off by stating, “So a guy wants to pray on the sidelines, big deal.” This beginning phrase opens the thought to the reader that what they may have thought to be a “big deal” at first, really isn’t at all. He then moves on to convince the reader that Tim praying doesn’t hurt anyone else and says, “I think we could all do a little prayin’ these days!” According to Paul, Tim Tebow is a much better man than many other sports players; whether that is a result of his praying or not, Paul shows the reader that we should appreciate watching the devout Christian ball player with high morals and standards because it could easily be worse.

 By utilizing personal examples, as well as historical examples of people who’ve prayed during sports, Paul shows that people are getting upset about something that they’ve been okay with and allowed for many, many years. He uses the example of Muhammad Ali and the fact that he routinely prayed before fights: “Did anyone care if Ali prayed before a fight?  He did, BTW.” The author creates another connection to his audience by using a personal example of the fact that he prays before every meal, yet chooses not to make a big deal of it. The United States’ most predominant religion is Christianity, with 76% of Americans associating to the faith. Most, if not all people have had religious experiences for themselves and can relate to the small, personal prayers Paul holds prior to meals. The author then lists a few examples of sports players that could benefit from a little more praying themselves by saying, “and which is worse, a decent Tim Tebow who prays before, during, and after a game, or these guys…” It could be worse, and Paul convinces the reader that society should appreciate a decent, praying guy like Timmy, when he could be a drug- trafficking murderer, like Darryl Henley.

The more personal, congenial relationship that the author creates with his audience establishes the perfect foundation to assure the reader of his point and opinion and to change the viewpoint the reader may already have concerning Tim Tebow and the fact that he prays often and publicly. “It could be worse,” and the author illustrates that with his use of historical examples and persuasive tone. While many see Tim Tebow praying on the sidelines as preaching, Timmy is simply not afraid to stand up for and show his beliefs to anyone watching, and because of that, he is a much better man than most football players, or even sports players. Paul convinces his audience that practicing of one’s beliefs should never be denounced, whether or not one agrees with those beliefs.



Friday, February 24, 2012

This Is The Thing (R.A. Reflection)

So like many people in our class, I definitely fancied the Opinion Editorial paper a lot more than the Rhetorical Analysis. That being said, this paper really wasn't that bad. I was able to find an interesting blog post that I enjoyed reading and could easily relate to.

I went to the writing lab twice (once for grammar, and once just for writing). I really benefited from the grammar appointment, and actually learned a lot about commas and all that jazz. The writing appointment; however, was of little help to me. I just didn't really like the tutor I was given and ended up being a little confused afterwards.

I do wish I could've used some personal opinion here and there in my paper, but obviously I couldn't. The R.A. follows such strict guidelines and format, and because of that I couldn't really show my personality or views which was kind of annoying.

As for my title (completely un-related) I named it after a current favorite song of mine, This Is The Thing by Fink. Listen and enjoy :)


Thursday, February 23, 2012

Peer Review Process...OpEd Vs. R.A.

Personally, I really enjoy peer editing and feel like I benefit a lot from it. Both ways we peer reviewed were great and helped a lot, but I think I like doing one on one peer editing (The way we did for the Opinion Editorial) . It would have been nice to do one on one editing with more than one person though. While looking at papers prior to class and having two or three people edit our papers was way good and definitely helped, talking about one person's paper with the group was definitely less personal, and I felt like I had to agree with the other members of the group. So all in all I liked the OpEd editing style (with a few minor changes) better!

And I'm just gonna do the same as I have in previous posts and post a video that I think is funny (Note the I) Hope you enjoy:) Oh and there may be one or two naughty words so please ignore!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Island In The Sun

So, Michelle already talked about this in her post....but I am and have been on the same page as her since...well summer ended. I don't know why summer is so magical and reveled, but it is. I literally cannot wait for summer. Well I can...and i'm gonna have to, but I like to be dramatic about things. I'm just a little jealous of ALL the people who are in California right now for the 3 day weekend, which seems to be most of the people I know here... Who am I kidding?! I kinda hate you all (in an envious sort of way...I don't really hate you:) ).  I can't wait for the warm summer nights where you can sit outside on your porch drinking lemonade, with only shorts and a t-shirt on! Dressing for winter is so hard! Rather than just throwing something on, I feel like you have to come up with all these cute outfits, whereas in summer, you can literally wear a swim suit and shorts and get away with it...and look cute still. Oh and the Fourth of July. Holy schnikes. It's definitely my favorite holiday. The barbecues, parades, and fireworks! The list could go on. My ultimate goal in life: live in a perpetually "summer place"...as in it is basically summer all year long. Maybe South Carolina? Or California again...who knows? All I know is there are about 62 days until this semester is over and it's summer for us. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can....make it.

La Jolla Beach....remind me why I'm not here again?

Lake Powell....where my family (including Michelle!) will be going this summer:)

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

The language of love ;) A.K.A. Figurative Language

Paul, the author of the blogpost, 'It Could Be Worse', fills his post with many uses of figurative language:

1. Rhetorical questions
  • "Did anyone care if Ali prayed before a fight?"
  • "How about every boxer from South America who crosses themselves before beating the crap out of their opponents?"
  • And what about other public prayers?
  • "When did that become wrong?"
2. Satire 
  • "Something tells me He’s a tad occupied up there making sure we don’t blow the place up." 
3. Allusion
  • "Did anyone care if Ali prayed before a fight?"
  • "And the last time I checked, free exercise of religion was still on the books!"
4. Tone
  • "I could go on. 
  • Oh, heck, I will…" 
  • "I think we could all do a little prayin’ these days!" 
  • "So a guy wants to pray on the sidelines, big deal." 

Once again, this video has zero relevance to my blog post, but I seriously can't watch it enough. Ignore the title! Sorry! 



Thursday, February 9, 2012

It Could Be Worse (R.A. Thesis)

I'm switching things up and picking a completely different blog post to write about! I'm not a Bronco's fan at all (Chargers!), but I like Tim Tebow as a person, so I found this neat post about Timmy and the whole shindig with him praying all the time. 

Thesis Statement:
 In his post, ‘It Could Be Worse’ concerning Tim Tebow and the fact that he prays quite often during NFL games and practices, Paul appeals to his audience and shows a less scholarly, yet knowledgeable opinion. He uses casual and more personal word choice, convincing tone, and relevant examples to persuade the reader that “It could be worse”, and that praying shouldn’t be reprimanded.  


Friday, February 3, 2012

Did I mention I like to blog?

Living With Mistakes 
Topic: Why success starts with failure
Author: David Brook's, an opinion editorial columnist for The New York Times
Audience: Book readers, business people

Top 10 Films So Bad They Are Hilarious
Topic: Top 10 worst films that are actually funny, because they're so bad
Author: Kevin Merryman
Audience: Movie watchers

10 Roads That Will Scare You Stupid
Topic: Scary roads
Author: Ian Zanni
Audience: Drivers, People who like scary things


So...this video honestly doesn't have anything to do with my post either (well besides the title....) but it's kinda funny...so give it a watch aight?


Thursday, February 2, 2012

Mirror, Mirror on the wall....

All in all I really enjoyed the Opinion Editorial assignment and learned a lot more than I expected in the process. Opinions are one of the things I happen to have a lot of...and some may say too many of -_- (Some sort of Japanese emoticon? Supposedly it means a "secret smile"...whatever that means...) 

I chose a topic that I really have an opinion and a stance about, and that made it easier to show my voice throughout my writing. I tend to be a little on the sarcastic side, so that definitely showed through, at least in my introduction. 

Peer reviews always tend to be very beneficial for me. I'm the kind of person who has to run every little decision in my life through my friends and family.....like even what I should eat for lunch....yeah I know...I'm weird.... Well any who...I enjoy hearing what friends and classmates have to say about my writing. After all, two eyes (or is it four eyes?) are better than one (or two -_-) ! The whole blogging thang goes along with this too. I love commenting and seeing peoples comments on my blog. It really does help to hear someone else's perspective and thoughts. 

The writing center was also very helpful for me. Even though I waited until I was basically finished with my paper, the tutor I met with had a lot of really good suggestions and I actually fixed my paper a lot after I met with him. 

Well folks...I think I'm done reflecting. 

Peace & Blessins. 

P.S. This literally has nothing to do with my paper or this post...but it's probably one of the funniest things ever. Watch and enjoy friends.