Assignment #8: Thinking About Arguments

I think I want to write an argumentation essay about whether our generation, and every generation before and after us, is simply a product of our environment OR do we have full control over our destiny and mindset. I choose this topic to argue about because I think it's an issue that is effecting my generation, specifically in the black community. I want to try to be careful not to generalize, exclude or offend anyone but I am an African American and I feel that I can speak only  for what I've been exposed to my entire life. One particular issue could be the nonchalant attitude of my generation towards school, work, advancement, and life in general. I think that we have an extremely careless generation. For example, females constantly have babies without any way to support them or the tools to take care of them properly. One could argue that is her choice to do what she wants and regardless of what life she was brought into, she should know right from wrong. I would argue the point of how acceptable it is to be pregnant while in school and broken foundation of the home. This broken family most likely has a hard-working, strong, independent mother. This mother probably says things like "I'm your mother and your father" or "I don't need a man to make me happy." I think these ideals devalue the man, an essential key to a productive seed, in the household. The downward spiral continues, women growing up without respect that, I believe, only a father figure can provide. If this isn't a setup for failure, I don't know what is, but this does not mean failure is the only option but I think it takes an extraordinary person to break the cycle. I think it will be hard to argue because it's a very personal matter and people have different expriences and stories. However, I think it's impossible to ignore the repeating cycle that is currently going (definitely in the Black community as far as I know).

Assignment #4: Thinking Critically about Revisions

My rough draft and my final draft differ mostly in it being more personal. In my first rough draft, I talked a lot about the topics but not enough about how I feel and how it effects me. I also focused on too many points. Although they were all good points, it made it difficult to go into depth about one specific one. I decided to expand on one idea, such as my values and view on life changing due to reading Ishmael and it's major connection being tied directly to literacy. I added the idea that the broadening of literacy makes individuals become more creative and expressive. An example would be Malcolm X, he felt like not being literate caged him because he was not able to follow certain arguments and participate. But reading, writing, and speaking opened his horizons to see and have a better understanding of life in general. It's like a deaf person, not ever being taught a language, that person would have a very hard time expressing themselves, interacting with others, and being self-aware. The meeting with Ms. Spencer helped me guide my essay in the right direction because I honestly didn't know what I was doing wrong. Even though the meeting was brief, I feel like a clarified what exactly I was supposed to aim for in my literacy narrative. I think the strongest aspect of my essay would be my sources and knowledge on my topics. I can talk for days on out about the major themes, ideas, and motifs, but I think my weak point arises when I tried to tie it into a personal matter.

Assignment #6- Responding to Peers and Considering Rhetorical Situations

I posted on Arnela Alekic's Blog with: "I think that the is trying to pull in artist, specifically men with the impression that he will live some luxurious life painting beautiful, half-naked (or fully naked) women for tons of cash by attending their art institutions. If you know anything about art, this is not necessarily the case. I like this ad because it's easy to bring up the problem with advertisement, it's completely unrealistic and misleading to sway viewers.
My peer could use more detail, like how this beautiful women posing and she's enjoying herself and it's almost kind of sexual. They're selling a fantasy."

The rhetorical issue in my literacy narrative parallels perfectly with that of the advertisement analysis because they both contain the theme of reading between the lines and finding the underlying message that can sometimes be masked or hard to find the real goal in the message. In my literacy narrative, I'm focusing on a novel I read a few years ago of how it distracts the reader with one idea, but when you go deeper into the illusion, you find meaning. For example, In the book Ishmael by Daniel Quinn, the professor or teacher is a gorilla and the student is a man. When I first read it, I thought it was absurd and, for lack of a better word, stupid. But the message was the stance of human beings and the rest of the animal kingdom. It was stance of whether you felt like evolution ended with humans, or God created the world for man and man is the center of the universe, if you will OR if you feel that humans are on the same level as animals and we're in this together.  The dove add is seeming an innovative push for women to be comfortable in their own skin, but what I found is that it's no different from any other advertisement because they focus on alienating certain people. This alienation occurs by campaign slogans like, "Real women have curves", saying that if you're a very thin female, you don't qualify as a woman. It fights the conflict of the thicker women being downplayed throughout the media by creating another conflict of doing the same exact thing against the opposite.

Assignment No. 7- Reflecting Progress.

Now that I've entered this English 101 course, I don't think I've ever had a writing class focusing just on writing. I remember Humanities, which is a combination of history and English, I remember philosophy and Linguistics but never just writing. Overall, I think I am pretty good at finding the main ideas of something specific and picking it apart and what not, but it wasn't until now that I am unsure if I'm a good writer. Our first assignment had me kind of dumbfounded, I felt like I was writing a paper, about reading or writing a paper (or book, whatever). I didn't know where to start or what to talk about. I didn't really feel like we had adequate examples because I never had any struggles or conflicts with literacy worth talking about. I just gather all my notes, pull up some sources on the web and start writing. What is so interesting there? I was completely confused. I thought that if any class I took and I would do exceedingly well in, it would Writing 101. However, I’m on my fourth paper for the Literacy Narrative assignment , and I think I’ve grasped the point better after sitting down and having a meeting. I like that we have more than enough time to write and revise our papers with one on one time with our peers and our professors. It helps because it honestly would have been a downer to receive my original grade. I feel like you’d have to try really hard to not do well in this class.

Assignment #1: Why Writing 101

First thing I thought when I learned it was mandatory to take an English class is, "I already know how to write! Why do I have to take more English??" However, as the great philosopher Socrates said, if you think you know everything there is to know, you don't leave room for improvement. In fact, when you are examined by another, you may be found incompetent. I'm taking English 101 to better my writing and speaking skills because I aspire to be an English teacher overseas. I think I am what some consider a "cocky writer". Usually I write something and automatically expect it to be greatness, I barely look it over and turn it in. I have a lot of creative thoughts and literal juices flowing but I think my skills have weakened over the years and I make silly mistakes. I need to be brought back down to Earth with my writing and be further analyzed to become an even better writer in the future.

Assignment #5: Analyzing Advertisement

What does a REAL woman look like?

Purpose: Typical models displayed in advertisement are tall and thin with attributes the average woman you'd see walking down the street would not have. That kind of advertisement makes the majority of women aspire to be something that isn't realistic for the majority. This is ad by Dove was created to do the exact opposite, showing that your "girl next door" is beautiful too.


Audience: The audience is all women of different shapes, sizes, and colors. It's aimed towards the young, the middle aged, and the older woman, the mother and the daughter. Such diversity is shown by the wide variety of women posing.


Genre: The genre is skin care, advertising Dove's Beauty Bar and products. Dove shows mostly women in their most natural states to promote the use for everyday women, not just the model in Vogue.


Tone: The tone is very bright because of the variety of skin tones against the white background and underwear, the beauty and smoothness of their is more apparent. 

Assignment #3: "Good" Papers.

    One of the most differentiating qualities in writing that separates a mediocre paper and an awesome one is description. I think that a description of the surroundings and emotions that effected the author is extremely important. For example in the book Great Expectations, Charles Dickens describes his sister (Mrs. Joe) buttering a loaf of bread. To some readers, he goes on for a tedious, painstaking page and half (or however long that section is, I honestly don't remember) giving pointless details... or to others, just that very action of buttering bread showed her angry, intense personality like you were in the room with her.
    Secondly, variety of word choice. Usually when I'm writing a paper I have dictionary.com and thesaurus.com because, face it, we're all human and sometimes we get into the habit of using the same word over and over again. For example, "He was a very big man, and he chewed his food very loud." vs. "He was a bulky guy who obnoxiously chewed his food." Not only is this a great tool to spark up a paper, but it widens your vocabulary and you'll need the thesaurus less as time goes on.
   Next, is organization and some kind of structure. The paper should be easy to follow and not drifting from topic to topic.It's hard to grasp the concept or idea of a paper that isn't sticking to the topic.
   Lastly, a good paper has emotion. Unless it's a research paper with specific details and what not, it should have some soul. Nobody wants to read a dry narrative about some experience you've had. When I read someone's work, I want to feel like I'm teleporting into their imagination, their setting, their drama or whatever they're trying to draw you into.
Personally, I find all of the qualities easy except for sticking to the topic. I think I'm kind of sarcastic in my writing and I tend to ramble (in normal speech and writing!). Some readers find it interesting but you would already have to be knowledgeable about whatever my topic is to follow sometimes.