Blog #8

After reading the Art of Failure, I felt a lot better about myself. I am not huge into sports and so I do not see a lot of "choking" from athletes. (Or if I do I don't watch it enough, so I wouldn't know) Anyways, there were SEVERAL examples of "choking" from this passage and I really enjoyed it. My favorite one is about the scuba diver that panicked about not being able to breath when the oxygen that she needed was on her very own back... too funny and too common. Just the other day I was playing a board game with my family called blurt. As the Reader gives the Definition, you blurt out the word you think it defines. So my families reader (in this case my dad) read out, "What is the name of the language most commonly spoke in the Netherlands?" Instantly I blurted out "Oh! Nevish!" My whole family just paused and looked at me and my brother repeated sarcastically "Nevish...?" My whole family laughed because I had panicked during the game and just blurted. Too funny. It makes me feel a lot better that I am not the only one!

Blog #7...

     I read the paying to play essay on page 437. I chose this one because I love Avril Lavigne and it stuck out to me. Funny enough she didn't become a top ten artist on her own. She apparently had a company called "Payola" pay the radio stations to play her song three times an hour, every hour, between 6 am and midnight. This allowed listeners to hear and view her song turning her into a top ten artist.
     Another thing they mentioned was the cost of advertising your products on the shelf. It costs more to place an object at eye level in the stores. Producers pay for things like that. We fall for it. People invest so much money on this illusions to make more profit, interesting.
    This kind of ticks me off honestly. I think people should earn their money, music, and products on their own. It is lame that there is strategic planning and preparation to have customers, listeners, viewers, and consumers be almost tricked into buying and choosing. It is lame that people can figure out human behaviors and then manipulate them.

BLOG #5, SHOOT TO KILL...

     I am well aware this post is later than the rest and actually one of the first late assignments I have ever turned in during my lifetime. However, today is the last day to turn in late work and I thought SHOOT... Shoot To Kill. This essay was what caused the change on how police officers should confront a hostile situation and how they have improved it. It was a great read and very enlightening. There are a few of my family members who are cops and I am so grateful they did change the way these dangerous situations are handled. The Columbine shooting states that "twelve teachers and students dies, and twenty-three other students were injured". They essay says that the reason why was because the officers were not trained to go in and take action but to wait until SWAT came in. A lot of the Columbine parents sued Jefferson County. I could see why and it could have been prevented or the numbers could have easily been lowered. Instead they had to wait for the SWAT team for over a half an hour. During that time people were shot and killed. If proper training would have been done, they could have saved so many lives. 

BLOG POST #6

This reading didn't change or alter my opinion. I did however become more educated for sure. I thought that people would come to america for safety and to escape but it turns out there was more than that going on. The English want to explore and conquer more land. They wanted to know how to navigate the sea. The Spanish would know how to navigate the land and know agriculture and how to grow their own food where the English knew how to fish and catch the animals of the sea to for food. Together they made an interesting team. The Spaniards were more with the Americans which I didn't know vs. the Anglo Americans were not. They were more on their own and needed to learn that laws of the land on their own. Another interesting point is that the Spaniards had a certain "class" and it was solely based off what people thought of them. Whereas the Anglo Americans had to prove themselves and earn their respect and their value. Spaniards and English had different views on religion. 
Chicano's are the Spaniards that came to America FIRST. Anglo's had better agricultural heritage and  knew what they were doing but just didn't have the resources. Languages are different. Courteous behavior is huge among the Anglo Americans. English also had that in common. There were no changes in my opinion after the reading because there isn't really an opinion to have. However, I learned a lot about the two different types of people and was educated. I could now tell you the difference between Anglo & Chicano. 

Blog Post #4- homeless people

Kozol Response Q's

1. We are afraid of the homeless children. Why? Because of so many reasons, the mischief they will get into. The disease they care. They are not hygienic and they do not have a place to be that way. It is not fair too these poor little kids but I agree. I have an aunt who doesn't vaccinate her children and I do steer clear of these cousins and I do avoid them because I don't want a disease or sickness. The thing is though my cousins have a home, they bathe, they are clean just not vaccinated. Now imagine a stranger with all of those things, of course you are going to fear this little germy person as sad as it is to say.

2. The cause and effect reasoning of why we treat homeless persons the way we do is simply for our benefit. It states numerous times throughout the article that business owners and restaurant owners don't want homeless people outside of their stores because of appearance and how it makes it look. It lessens the value of places. Another thing that I observed in the readings is it seems like if you give an inch then you're in a mess. For example the little doughnut shop that gave away the doughnuts they'd be throwing away had to stop because of word spread and then is turns to chaos. 

3. My perception of homeless people I feel is the same. I do feel bad for them and I do wish them all the best. However, I work very hard for my things that I have and I feel there are numerous opportunities and chances to succeed in this life if you put in the effort. I would never not allow someone to use a public restroom, or stab someone for sleeping in a park... BUT it is a great reminder that they are people too not a "waste."

Blog #3, What will my formal narrative essay be about?

I think I will be writing about a very personal experience in my life and that is my experience as a wife. I was married from March 2014-July 2015. It wasn't for a very long time but in that short time I have learned a lifetime of lessons. I would like to write my informative essay on this because I have a lot of feelings and feel that this is something I would like to document anyways. I haven't taken the time to write down my feelings about this time period and this is an excuse to do so. I am excited to organize my thoughts and maybe even publish this piece to some of my loved ones.

Responding to Chapters 4 & 5

How did chapters 4 & 5 help me as a writer?

-Writing summaries is something that I struggle with. I even struggle when telling stories to SUMMARIZE what happened. When I was little and I would come home from school my parents would set a 3 minute timer and I would have to tell them about my day in 3 minutes that way I would get the important details and leave out the minor details...that has to be some form of child abuse right? Lol. But for reals, I needed to read about summarizing because this is something I still struggle with today. 

-Writing a synthesis... integrating your own ideas with material from others ideas and resources.

-Paraphrasing 

What is useful about them?

How to summarize- well a summary is the main points of a story, so you will need to have read the material and be able to pick out the main points. A summary can support itself and stand on its own.  Below are the steps SUMMARIZED on how to write a summary.
1. Read the material over and over again until is it understood
2. Identify and underline the main points
3. Write an opening sentence with the title, purpose, and thesis
4. Begin the first point underlined, easy on the quotes and captions
5. Use transitions... So & states, So & So explains, So & So further explains... 
6. Check to make sure you have altered the reading, but not changed the meaning
7. If you did quote be sure you have provided a parenthetical citation

How to write a synthesis- 
1. Understand everything in the sources
2. Underline all major ideas
3. Review all major ideas
4. Find something to explain, prove, contradict, signify, and support your theories
5. Write an outline
6. Check paraphrases and cite

How to paraphrase-
Summarize & Quote

How did chapters 4 &5 not help me as a writer? / What was less useful?

There was not anything I read that I didn't find useful in one way or another. 

Although the descriptive writing was a review :) 

How I Feel About Reading & Writing

Critical and college reading and writing are are probably my #1 struggles in English as well as many other students. I wish I had better skills to learn how to analyze and assess the information. You won't get very far in college if you do not have these skills... So how do you do it?

READING: 

"If reading is to accomplish anything more than passing time, it must be active."

Chapter one teaches us that to be an active reader we need to approach our reading with a reflective and questions in mind. We need to preview the material we are about to read. It is imperative to have a reading journal while reading. Crazy right? Jot down thoughts. Circle words you don't understand. Highlight important phrases. Avoid marking large sections. Make the reading personal to you. 

WRITING:

It doesn't matter what you are writing.. an essay, a text message, an email whatever it is... you need to consider the audience and who will be reading the writing. If you were going to write to three year olds there would most likely be pictures and small word phrases; when writing to a college professor there would be a certain format to follow and it would most likely be in MLA with multiple pages of educational information spouted out. In order to be a successful writer you HAVE to know your audience. Have a PURPOSE. As stated in Patterns for a Purpose you must entertain your reader, express your feelings, inform the reader, and persuade the reader.