Class Reflection: Final Blog

There is no doubt in my mind that I am a much better writer than when I began this course. Writing has been a hassle my entire life. I have always considered myself to be an intelligent person, yet only a mediocre writer. I lacked the capacity to properly convey my thoughts on to paper. In my mind everything would make sense. It was frustrating because I would come up with great ideas and supporting evidence, but I when people read my work they were always unclear as to the points I was making.

The one activity that really changed my writing style was the very first thing we did in class, pathos, logos, and ethos discussion. Instead of just writing what made sense to me, this made me begin to analyze my writing as if I was a stranger reading my own work. It was the first time I was able to step back and take an outsider’s perspective.

Once I had realized how important it was to make my writing appealing and clear for the reader, the rest of the literary techniques came easy. It was as if something clicked in my mind and all of a sudden every bit of writing instruction I had ever received prior to this class fell into place. It was an extremely rewarding feeling.

I am definitely excited to know that when a writing assignment comes up in my next few years at school I will have the confidence and skills to get an A. I am studying to be an aquatic biology major so when it becomes time to write a research proposal or scientific study I will be able to excel in my professional career as well.

Being that I am a future scientist extraordinaire, I particularly enjoyed our scientific writing unit and the research I performed about parenting and sexual selection. I was fascinated by the instinctual patterns and reproductive strategies employed by our species. If at some point in my life I am required to do a similar research project I am definitely going to pick up where I left off and continue my research. Maybe someday a writing student will use my published work as a secondary source for his or her essay.

Poetry Analysis

Blue-Black by Benjamin Scott Grossberg

Understanding after the first reading: 7.65

An unknown character is describing their experience at the apartment of another man. The man owns a dog which has a seizure in the beginning of the poem and it was later explained that it had been beaten as a pup. The dog is a timid standard poodle that was unable to perform in a dog show after extensive training. The dog was just too shy. The owner (man) is also a little strange or socially awkward in some way. There is a line that talks about the owner faking an orgasm while the two characters are having sex.

The character describing the scene believes that he was beaten or molested in some way as a child. The narrator does not completely know how he or she is able to infer this from the man’s past, but the narrator attributes it as a talent that comes with extensive experience sleeping with guys.

The man tells the narrator in detail about the time he tried to show the dog. The narrator believes that the script for the performance was neither violent nor elegant. It was also stated that it seemed the man’s pleasure had no part in the dog’s performance.

In the last scene when the man is absent from the room the dog comes up to the narrator in a loving manner. The narrator strokes the dog’s head and says “You’re a good boy, a good boy.”

Understanding level: 9.14

The initial read and re-read of the poem were helpful in my overall understanding of the work. I was able to focus on the basics, what was going on, who was involved and the character relationships. I am still unsure as to the sex of the author, although I do suspect this to be a poem about a homosexual relationship. I plan on further researching the author, but his sexual preference will not have a big effect on the message of the poem.

I was unable to gain a deeper insight as to the message of the poem until I wrote about the poem. This forced me to pay particular attention to detail and form my own opinions about what the author was attempting to convey. After my summary was complete I felt to have an adequate understanding of the poem and all of its minute aspects. I will re-read the poem once more and then begin the close reading assignment. I am a fan of this process of analysis.

Humanities vital to human existence

Since his first upright steps, mankind has stood a bit above the other inhabitants of this planet. While he may not be supreme in his physical stature, the power of the human mind has proven absolute. Unlike other creatures, we humans have developed a lifestyle that is more complicated than finding the next resource for metabolism and the next mate for reproduction. The distinction of larger brains within humans has enabled them to develop methods of agriculture and herding of livestock which simplified the act of obtaining food. Humans are able to meet their survival necessities, ample supplies of food, water, and shelter, with much less effort than other species within the community. Compare scouring the landscape for berries to eat versus choosing one of the many cows in your heard to slaughter. The ease at which we can achieve the basics for life allow humans to explore the world and do what they want, not what they must.

An increase of allotted time devoted towards pleasure has allowed for creative artwork, which sparked the development of the humanities. I like to think of the humanities as the study and reflection of all mediums of art, where art represents music, painting/drawing, architecture, poetry, or anything else that requires imagination and can has the ability to induce feelings. The integration of feeling and emotion into human life is the underlying difference between humans and animals. I do not advocate that other life forms do not experience emotion, but I agree with Susan K. Langer, the author of The Cultural Importance of the Arts when she says, “-there are deeper reaches that underlie the surface waves of our emotion, that make human life a life of feeling instead of an unconscious metabolic existence interrupted by feelings.” This is a powerful statement which sums up the components of human life in contrast to requirements for life in general. Art is vital for human life because our capacity for emotions goes above and beyond that of other organisms.

Clarence Darrow Speech

For those of you in the crowd today who do not recognize me, my name is Clarence Darrow. I am a practicing lawyer with a talent for defense cases. Now what I am about to say may come as a shock to some of you which is perfectly normal. However, I have a sneaking suspicion that many of you have previous personal experience with our judicial system and subconsciously know that it is not perfect. It is my hope that by the end of this speech I will have convinced you that our justice system is flawed.

There are so many problems within the system that I could begin speaking now and not finish until next week Tuesday. But I think the police would arrests me midway plus I do not wish to burden you with such a droning lecture. Instead, today I would like to focus on the issue of monetary bribes, one of the many loop holes in which guilty criminals are able to escape their charges. Money makes the world go round. Humans have an innate craving for wealth which changes the way they act in certain situations and definitely changes the rules of fair play. The government is no different. Real people with real human greed and desire are employed by the justice system. Justice officials love a fat stack of money just as much as the next person and they receive them through payoffs.

Now when I use the word payoff, your mind probably goes to two shady characters delivering a briefcase full of unmarked, non-sequential hundred dollar bills. Off in the distance is a man waiting to pick up the case while the other two make the drop and walk away. I got news for you, in real life the transfer of money doesn’t even need to be that disguised. The solution is simple; legally hire a lawyer that is determined to win. High priced attorneys can charge a lot of money if they are successful. Some lawyers win because they are good and others win because they make sure that they do not loose. Now I am ashamed to say that I have been one to bribe jurors to ensure a victory so I know how these things work. The answer to escaping punishment by our judicial system is how much a client can pay his or her lawyer.

In a hypothetical situation, two men are being charged with the same crime of theft. The first gentleman is a college student at a prestige university who comes from a wealthy family. He was caught stealing garments from the department store in which he worked as a part time employee. A camera caught him walk out of the store wearing three extra layers of stolen clothes underneath his work uniform totaling to 160 dollars. The second man was caught stealing auto parts from the shop in which he worked. This gentleman comes from a broken home in the projects. His single mother struggles with her two younger ones while her husband has been in and out of jail and does not pay child support. Once she heard that her eldest son was caught stealing she did not contribute any of her meager salary to pay for a lawyer or bail him out of prison.

As you can imagine the fate of these two men with similar crimes under their belts received very non-similar sentences. The college student spent upwards of eight thousand dollars on bail and attorneys which proved to be well worth it. He was forced to pay a minimum fine and was let off with a citation under the condition that he kept his grades up. The shop worker was not as fortunate. The state provided him with a much inferior state appointed lawyer for his representation who lost the case. This young man is facing criminal charges of grand theft and some serious jail time.

If you believe that these sentences are fair and just, than by all means go become a lawyer and work for our corrupt system. But if you believe that it is wrong than join me and spread the word of change. Money is power, so you better start fundraising.

Brainstorm/Chaotic Draft

There has to be a reason that sex-typing exists
-It is a trait that is good for survival
-Natural selection acts in favor of big strong males that can fight off others and are aggressive. It also acts to favor females that are soft, delicate and caring.
-It is an adaptive advantageous trait for males to be big and strong.
When a male passes on his seed and has a son or daughter
-he wants his genes to be spread and his offspring to survive.
-His sons must be big and strong and his daughters must be good caregivers
What is the psychology a parent employs when raising their children?
-how does a child react to a father vs. a mothers words
-physical teaching, beatings, ect.
-does it cause changes in personality or characteristics?
-will it make a boy tougher or a girl softer?
Sexual-Typing is advantageous in the game of natural selection
-humans sex type because it is and has been crucial to survival for a long time
-especially when male had to be strong to get fight for resources
more resources= more females
more females=more offspring=more successful
result- males that experience sex-typing have an advantage over others due to the acquisition of more sexually selective desired traits
sex typing is advantageous, therefore it has been passed on though generations of mankind

Sex typing begins when children are infants, it is a tool used for sexual selection

Now other factors come into play when finding a mate: education, money, social standing, art and musical talent.
Sexual selection still exists, but the deciding factors have changed as the human brain has evolved.

Shitty First Drafts Response

“Even a professional writer does not get it right on the first try,” what an amazingly powerful message. With this mentality, the limits to which one can achieve are endless. If your average Joe views professional writers as a mortal and not super-humans, they gain the confidence of knowing that they too can achieve that high-quality. With this new confidence there is a good probability that they will produce much better work.

There are very few people who will pick up something new and suddenly be great at it. It is good to understand that most professionals started right with the same baby steps as you are taking now. Practice makes perfect and in the eyes of a writer practice is directly correlated to revisions of a draft. As I type the following words I am taking the advice of the author and just letting my ideas flow onto the keyboard. I am not thinking deeply into the grammar of the essay, just making sure that while my brain is flowing I will not loose any of the precious information that is spilling forth. I feel that with a full paper of nonsense and thoughts I will have no trouble at all going back and fixing up this “gibberish” into a fine blog posting. I feel it is effortless to generate the words you are reading right now, painstakingly easy. I’ll be honest with you, right now I feel as if I am barely even trying, yet I just successfully conveyed more of my deeper thoughts than ever before.

The mentality described as not being afraid to “suck” when you first start something is one of the most powerful learning tools that one can grasp. I have picked up many hobbies throughout my life and none of them came easy. I understand the learning process entails initial struggles and that progress to perfection is only reached with a quality time of investment.

Family walking article. Pathos, logos, and Ethos

Matthew Silbert

1-15-08

The development of obesity disorders in the U.S. has recently become a very pressing and urgent health issue. Our country is considered one of the “fattest nations” in the world, a title it most definitely deserves. The worst part about this trend of is that a majority of the victims fall in our country’s youth. The problem we are now faced with is determining the cause and finding a solution.

One idea is to measure the amount of time American families spend exercising together. It is possible that walking could be directly correlated to a reduced body mass index. The test performed in this article takes into account the time of year, age of family members, parental education, and insurance. It was found that walking varies seasonally, is increased when the children are younger and also when parents have post high school education. However, walking was not found to be correlated to body mass index because families did not walk with sufficient regularity for statistical evidence to be significant.

I believe this article is very scientific in its method of approach: formulating a hypothesis, testing it, and then producing a conclusion. All of the information was presented in an organized, scientific manner. On the other hand, if this was truly a scientific article it would go into deeper discussion of the effects of exercise pertaining to biological metabolism processes. The article describes family patterns such as parental education and types of insurance to try to explain obesity which is not very scientific. The scientific approach would depict family genetic patterns and talk about genes that present high risks of obesity.

Despite some of its non-scientific qualities, the article does a decent job of appealing to the reader through Aristotle’s pathos, logos, and ethos. Logos is the method of using reason, logic and facts to sway opinion. The author of this article uses a plethora of statistics and charts, supplying factual evidence to support her claims. Pathos is the art of convincing the reader through emotion, a powerful tool that the author failed to use. Aristotle’s last method is ethos, appealing to the author’s credibility. This author is an M.D. and on top of that cited forty one sources at the end of her article! She has clearly done her research and is exceptionally knowledgeable on the subject. A fine article in my opinion.