Blog#11

Culminating Writers Profile
1. My writing style has became more abstract and my analyzing skills need help since I have started this class.
2.As a writer, I feel that I am excel in writing things that I can relate personally to and I have reinforced my strengths by applying them to this definition essay.
3.My writing weaknesses include writing too lengthy paragraphs that are sometimes disorganized and to strengthen my writing in these areas I try and make an outline of my writing before I begin.
Evaluating Your Writing Process
1.If I had the time to write one more draft of this essay I would shorten the paragraphs and attempt my extended metaphor easier to follow.
2.As I received peer feedback and revised my essay I found that the easiest element to improve was to give better examples of my topic.
3.My biggest problem in writing and revising this essay was finding an extended metaphor for the topic of innocence that would be understandable and trying to take out some to-be verbs.
Evaluating Your Successes
1.My most successful large scale revision in this essay was adding instances of parallel structure
2. By combining descriptive, narrative and illustrative elements in this essay my diction provided good descriptions of innocence and helped with my purpose for writing.
3. My best success when considering my audience was that my paper addressed that everyone loses their innocence at some point and I made my paper very relateable.
Being Honest With Self
1. The abstract concept most intimidated me about this writing process and By letting my writing flow I combated the intimidation.
2.The Box Man reading and analysis influenced me to try a new strategy of putting the main idea at the end of my writing and to include an extended metaphor.
3.From reading student essay examples I picked up the idea of parallel structure and I incorporated it into my own writing.
4. I learned to follow up my examples with things that helped provide proof of my main point from my peer editors.
5.As a writer now I see myself as being able to get my point through without stating it obviously and using more complex devices such as extended metaphors and parallel structure.

Blog #10

The term  "Nobodiness" created by King describes feeling unwanted and unrecognized by other people. Many people feel alone in this world, they can be surrounded by people and yet still feel like a nobody. A "nobody" can be associated with social status, having no companions, or just a feeling of emptiness within oneself. One may feel like a nobody because they truly have no one to talk to and feel alone, one may feel like a nobody because they feel like they have no place in contemporary society, one may feel like a nobody because they are different from others around them. Most reasons for feeling like a nobody are internal and have to do with the individual person and how sensitive they are to the things around them.

Blog#15

In the passage "About Men" Ehlrich describes the internal softness and compassion that cowboys and ranchers have despite the stereotypical cowboy image that we all perceive as stern and harsh. Ehlrich gives examples of how the cowboys care for their animals and the passion they contain when performing their daily tasks. In one instance Ehlrich describes a cowboy who nurtures a calf who was born sick back to health, the overall tone of this scene is very loving and tender and one who does believe in the stereotype of the Marlboro cowboy would find this as a surprise. Ehlrich finds cowboys as people of great strength who do what is right and have compassion and love for others, her purpose for writing is to try and show others just how wrong their stereotypes towards cowboys are. The overall tone of the whole piece is admiration, by giving examples and telling stories of these cowboys lives her purpose for writing is achieved.

Blog #14

In Sante's piece "What Secret's Tell" the many different ways that secrets are revealed is discussed. Sante discusses lies involved in the government, the Soviet Union/KGB, in media, and the internet. The internet allows people to get information at super fast speeds with just the click of a button. Most secrets on the web are of celebrity scandals, who we forget are ordinary people like us, and political figures out with the latest on their opponents. I do agree with Sante that the internet is a "nemesis" to secrecy for the fact that the information about almost everyone can be found online. Websites have been made where you can run background checks on people from your own home, and embarrassing photos from that party you may not want to remember can be found on online profiles such as myspace, facebook and twitter. Secrecy does not exist on the worldwide web, and the unforgiving truth about the internet is that anything you post online can be seen by anyone. These constant keeping and telling of secrets shows how much our society hungers for the drama that telling a secret entails.

Blog #13

School teaches many things to us, not just academics but social skills are also learned here. Our interaction with fellow students, and teachers helps us learn lessons that we also learn in our homes. However I do not believe that schools should teach their students personal values, the reason that they are called personal values is that they relate to the individual self and cannot truly be learned about in a formal class. Schools do teach some values when we are young such as treat others as you would like to be treated, keep your hands to yourself, share, etc. but these values are fairly simplistic compared to greater values that our parents, religion or sense of self teach us. The people around us certainly shape what our values are and at school many are influenced, teachers do intervene at times however their efforts are usually in vain. It is up to people who are very close and who personally know the person to steer them in the right direction.

Blog #12

Everyone is entitled to their own opinions and the topic of movies is always something that every individual has their own likes and dislikes towards. Every movie falls under a certain category including comedy, horror, romance, action, thriller, etc. Most movies tell stories, some that are very trivial and have very little meaning, while others have helped shape our lives and cultures, these movies we dub, the classics.
Classic movies inspire, inform, enlighten and remain with us throughout our lives.
Documentaries, these are the movies that inspire and inform us. I have watched many documentaries in my short life and found them to be one of my favorite genres of movies. Emmanuels Gift, a documentary shot in Africa about a man who has prosthetic legs is one of the most inspiring movies I have ever seen. A movie with the power to inspire people to not take things for granted is, in my book, considered a classic.
Comedies, although these movies usually contain no astonishing life lesson or anything of that sort, our culture has really been effected by these movies. In the 1990's a movie called Clueless was brought before the new age of teenagers, many teens adopted the language, usually referred to as "valley girl" talk, in their everyday lives. A movie that has the effect that we adopt something from it in our everyday lives is a classic.

Blog #9

When I first picked up the book Tuesdays With Morrie I was unsure about the way it would effect me personally. However as I continued to read, the book became more and more influential to my own life and I began to relate the lessons taught to my own personal experiences. This book has very much changed my previous beliefs and has also confirmed beliefs that I had already had. As much as I try and not take things in my life for granted I often do and the lessons of a dieing man helped me realize just how much that myself and others take for granted.