In Class: Freewrite

Alright, well my computer just took like 30 min to boot up and stuff but here I am. I had to run the mile this morning at the track at 6:30. I have been out from soccer for a year now with a broken leg but I am slowly working my way back into things. The team goal is for everyone to run a mile in 7:00 minutes or less. I thought this was going to be impossible for me since I am so out of shape. I actually surprised myself and ran it in 6:48 so I made the team goal and also had a personal accomplishment and proved to myself that I can keep up with the rest of the team.
I am soooooo sick of school right now and I am counting down the days of class. I cant wait to have a long break and not do jack taco for a few months. I had the mistake of taking summer school last summer- I wont be doing that again! I plan on only being home for like a month and then coming back here and doing summer workouts so that I can get back in shape and be ready for the fall season.

Unit 3 Proposal

My group had decided to take on the task of  arguing the legalization of marijuana.  We have decided that hits many audiences and in order to hit everyone we will be using a piece of argument that reaches out to our own age group, our parent's age group, and elderly.  I really feel like our group is on its way to a great project!  We are all very motivated to get the project rolling and not procrastinate!  I hope we end up with an excellent project, which I'm sure we will. 

In Class: Chapter 12 Reading

Last night's reading was on chapter 12 about style in arguments. It talked about style and word choice and how the vocabulary of the argument helps to create its style and tone. It also talked about sentence structure and argument and how that plays an important part in establishing style. It talks about punctuation and how where we place a comma or period can make an argument more effective or less effective. It talks about Special effects such as figurative language and analogy or using a word that doesnt mean its traditional meaning. We can use things like metaphors and similes and analogies to draw comparisons between things. And we can also use schemes to add "zing" to our arguments.
If we apply these things our unit 3 assignment I think it will make our paper more sharp and appealing to the readers. The manipulation of words and sentences creates many unique styles that can make papers much more interesting or it could have the opposite effect and make them dry, boring, and a chore to read. I think our group will be able to bring our different writing styles together to make a whole new unique style.

Job Title and Description

I have been chosen to be the Editor. My job responsibilities will be to look over all of the writing we come up with as a group and have the last say on what goes into our writing and what comes out. I will look for grammar and punctuation as well as content, flow, and organization. I will also help in the writing aspect of this project which is the Memo that must accompany what ever we chose as our major project. My job will help our group to ensure that all of our ideas collaborate as one cohesive piece and that we make sense. Sometimes it is difficult to have the ideas of four different people coordinate and sound good so hopefully I can help our group organize our thoughts. 

My group members are Brenan G, Jeff G, and Ashley T. 

In Class: Free Write

I hate group projects. No one can meet when you can meet and there is always a scheduling conflict. Or 3 out of the 4 people can meet at one time and the other person cant so the group just gets together without that one person and they dont do any of the work but still get the grade even though they did absolutely nothing. It seems to work out that I often get stuck doing a lot of the work because I actually care about my grades unlike many people in these TCU Core classes. Also, once the project is actually complete and it comes time to present the project, we havent discussed who is going to present what part and then when we get up there we sound like idiots who have no idea what we are talking about. Then there are some people who have horrible anxiety about talking in front of the class so then we sound even more silly. My biggest complaint is that I often get stuck doing the majority of the work which makes me mad because other people still get the credit for the work that I did.

An ideal group work situation would be to assign everyone a different and equal part of the assignment and hold them accountable for it. I think that peer evaluations are good because then you can get credit for the work you actually did. I am hoping that we can all work out our schedules so that we are able to meet outside of class if necessary. As long as we are on task and get a majority of our work done in class and turn things in on time it should go smoothly.

In group work ther is usually a leader who coordinates and colaborates all of the parts together. They usually ultimately decide what goes into the final piece and what does not based on the material the other group members have given them. Under the leader there could be a researcher, a creative person who has the vision and sets our project apart from the others. Someone to layout how the presentation will go and what we are going to say. I do think that each group member should play a part in the actual text of the project and add their own thoughts about it all.

In Class: Reflection

It is kind of funny to look back on my older posts at how grumpy I was about writing and the general topic of arguments. My views about what an argument is, the state of arguments in the United States and how I go about arguing has changed a lot. I think I have a pretty good grip on the idea taht everything is or can be an argument. The way we dress and talk and act are all arguments in some way. I learned a lot about how people can take factual information and twist it however they want to make it lean toward their values or opinion. The emotion and character we put behind our arguments is what really makes them successful and believable. I actually ended up really enjoying this class when at the beginning I thought I was going to hate every minute of it. I liked that you made sure not tell us any right or wrong way to do our assignments and writing because taht is what stresses me out the most in English courses. I think I have grown as a writer and like my work more now than I did at the beginning of the semester. The assignments have been very interesting and challenging but the amount of freedom we had to write about whatever interested us is what made them fun.

In Class: Freewrite

My three texts are all news related and very factual about the events panned out during the Olympic bombing. They all make this seem like a horrible and tragic act of terrorism with their descriptions of the scene and the bomb exploding and all of the injuries and deaths sustained as a result of this event. All of them use emotional appeal as the primary appeal and instill fear in the reader. The first source used the sight of ambulances and emergency personnel rushing to a scene where people were panic stricken and covered in blood. The others make it sound like terrorism is a rising trend and we should be on the look out because we never know when it could strike again. They mention past events involving terrorism such as the Oklahoma City bombings and an airplane crash that happened just weeks before and the events at the Munich Oympics in the 1970s.
They are different because of the different viewpoints of the authors. The first one which was a video was this news anchor's own recount of what happened as he had just left the park shortly before the blast occurred. He seemed more concerned with himself than the well-being of the people that we actually in the park. The second article was an editorial making the claim that terrorism cannot be eliminated and that our society would not want it to be eliminated. I thought that was particularly odd because nobody really wants terrorism to plague our country. The third article was from Sports Illustrated and really made this sound like a truly horrible event and that the bombers only objective was to kill. Even though the main objective is to inform all of them are different in their own way.
The general knowledge we must have is that terrorism is a horrible thing that happens around the world. We need to know that America is vulnerable and that we are not an exception to the violence. Terrorism is not a thing that just happens in Israel and Baghdad. We must also assume that the person who planted this bomb wanted to kill a lot of people, as he did place the pipe bomb in a crowded area. Terrorism is often associated with making an underlying statement, even though we do not know what that statement or purpose may be at the time. We must know what Centennial Olympic Park is and what goes on there to explain why it was so crowded during the time of the explosion at 1:25am.
I do think that we live in a culture of assertion. The news is there to not only inform us about events but also to put some fear in our heads. The news primarily covers tragic and sad events that occur in the world and not so much the happy ones. We as a society do not know the bomber's intentions at all when he planted that bomb in the park. He even went on to call the police and warn them there was a bomb in the park and that it would detonate in 30 minutes. Maybe he really did not want people die, he simply wanted people to notice him or make a statement. We turn these people who are in the news into bad guys who should be shunned forever.

Unit 2 Proposal

For this unit I was really struggling to come up with a topic. I really love sports and they have always been a huge part of my life. I was thinking and I remembered that the 1996 Olympics were the first summer games I that I really remember watching. Then I was trying to think of some scandals or controversial events that occurred and I immediately thought of the Olympic bombings. So for my rhetorical case study I will be writing about the Centennial Olympic Park bombing. To find sources I plan to look for articles, political cartoons or opinion pieces from old Atlanta newspapers and possibly national news/newspapers. Since the Olympics are such a huge event, I would assume that if bombings occurred, especially when the U.S. was hosting them that it would make national news. Like I said before, sports interest me the most and the Summer Games are the best collective display of athleticism out there.

In Class: Free Write

I don't know what I am going to pick for my topic for unit 2. I just feel like all of the so called controversial topics out there are just overdone and boring and I'm sick of them all. And then once I do pick a topic I have no idea where I am going to look for sources or what I am going to say about these things and how I am going to put the Toulmin method into my paper and have it sound all nice and pretty . So for the most part I am just lost.
I am pretty much just ready for spring break. I have checked out and am in dire need of a vacation. I am struggling to find a reason to get up and go to class because I think I can just get notes from a classmate or whatever. Which is not a good thing and mom will be upset if my grades suck this semester. I let my grades fall just a little bit last semester (nothing horrendous, just a few Bs that should have been As) because I was all sad and emo about my broken leg. So I am supposed to make this "come back" this semester and redeem myself by getting my GPA back up. I am tired and grumpy and just want to sit on my butt and do nothing. That is all.

Thinking Rhetorically...?

The primary text I chose for my post is an AIDS awareness poster. At the top of the poster in gray and black it says "Just because you cant see it doesn't mean it's not there." Below the words is a picture of a woman that is naked and wrapped up in a gray sheet laying on a bed. There is also a buy standing up pulling up and buttoning his pants as if to suggest they just had sex and on his t-shirt it says "HIV" in red capital letters. At the bottom of the poster in small white print it says "Trust us. It's there" with a red AIDS awareness ribbon to the left of the text. 

The purpose of this argument is to raise AIDS awareness and to acknowledge the importance of being tested and telling our sexual partners if we are HIV positive. This poster is intended for all sexually active people, and especially those people who are HIV positive and not telling their partners. It uses all three kinds of appeal. The emotional appeal is if the viewer had slept with someone they would hope and pray that their partner would tell them if he/she had HIV/AIDS. They use logos by stating that even if there are no physical signs or symptoms and we can't see them, the person could still have HIV/AIDS. The ethos is that this ad was made by an AIDS awareness campaign which makes it credible. The creater seems trustworthy by using the logical appeal and also by saying "Trust us" on the poster itself. This arguments seems to instill some fear in the audience by insinuating that ANYONE could have HIV because we cannot see the signs and symptoms. The scare tactic seems to be an effective argument because a lot of people know that when someone has HIV/AIDS they often don't know because the signs are silent. 

The Vagina Monologues

When the Vagina Monologues were first mentioned to me, I asked one of my friends what they even were. All she told me was that they were hilarious and that I should go and see for myself what they were all about. I am so glad I went because that was one of the funniest performances I have seen. The actresses were so great at getting into character and really playing the part. The one skit I was very confused about was Hey Miss Pat and I had no idea what exactly it was talking about or how it had anything to do with vaginas other than the fact that she was a female. Although I didn’t get what the message was, the actress, Ehleshea Woodruff, did an excellent job and even shed real tears. The Flood was a great skit because the actress had to play an old woman and referred to her vagina as her “down there” and even a cellar. I had a couple of favorite performances included My Angry Vagina and The Woman Who Loved To Make Vaginas Happy. I thought these two were the most hilarious out of the bunch, and My Angry Vagina was definitely the most relatable since almost every girl has experienced the unpleasantness of a tampon, thong, or a gynecological exam. The impressions of the many different kinds or orgasms had everyone in the crowd rolling with laughter, including myself. I was shocked at some of the facts about the numbers of females and little girls that were being raped or circumcised as a use of warfare around the world. I am glad I went and will definitely recommend seeing it to my friends and family.

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos of Public Space

This is a hard post for me this week. I don't think that I have observed the TCU Bookstore enough to understand the ethos, pathos, and logos of the space. A logical appeal that the Starbucks Cafe makes is that people like coffee so why not have a coffee shop in a bookstore because in both of these places one can find comfort. I think the book posters they have hanging up on the walls of old classic books makes both an ethical and emotional appeal. It shows us that the bookstore supports these credible well-known authors and recognizes them as great writers, which many audiences in the store may also agree and feel a sense of pride that they have enjoyed some or all of those classics. All of the TCU gear, memorabilia, and apparel makes an emotional appeal because people are proud enough of the school they go to to wear TCU on their clothing. I am sure there are many more specific appeals and arguments the bookstore makes but I will need to do further observations to fully see and understand them.

In Class: "Candy Cigarette"

My attention is immediately drawn to the girl and how she is portraying herself to be much older. The way she stands makes me think this. She looks like she is casually out having a smoke with her arm folded across her stomach, her hunched over stance and "I don't give a crap" stare at the camera as she holds a cigarette between her index and middle fingers like what she is doing is the norm. She has obviously seen this and has been trained or conditioned to think this is what people are supposed to do.
The image as a whole is just kind of there... I really noticed the look on her face first and how mad and angry she looks. Then I saw the cigarette and the girl's stance. I noticed how much older the girl with the cigarette looks compared to the other little girl. This probably has to do with her pony tail and how she is standing with her hands on her hips like she does not approve of the girl holding the candy cigarette like that. The background is black and white and pretty blurred out, but that makes the girl with the candy cigarette stand out more and the other little girl kind of blend in as if the girl in white is the message that we are supposed to see.
This photo is kind of sad. The color and the girl's face and expression are what bring this emotion out of the photo. Perhaps what they are trying to tell us is that smoking makes people unhappy and that some people don't approve.
The purpose of this photo is to show us the effects smoking has on our youth and children. That we need to be better role models so that our children don't think they need to smoke because their parents did. I don't think the photographer is a fan of smoking and is trying to make a stand and a little girl is a powerful appeal to many audiences since most people like children and their innocence.

In Class: Logical Appeal Free Write

The part of this chapter that I found to be most confusing was at the end when they discussed degree, analogies, and precedent. I understand that they can be an argument of reason, as all of these things call for personal reasoning to make conclusions, but then again all of these things have so much room for discussion that I don't think they can necessarily be arguments of fact. It just seems like there could be too much room to argue around the analogy or precedent. These things do not seem very "factual" to me and just more of an observation or inference.

In Class: Ethical Appeal

I think that ethical appeals are difficult to understand and definitely difficult to explain. I was talking to a friend about this assignment and she asked what exactly an ethical appeal was and I could not explain it to her for the life of me. So what I came up with for my artifact was a business card from the TCU Health Center with one of their Nurse Practitioner's name and titles listed as well as all of her contact information. What the card says is "Johnnie Ireland, B.S.N., R.N.C., W.H.N.P. Brown Lupton Health Center". I believe this has an ethical appeal because the titles behind her name show us her authority. She has gained these titles through schooling and passing her liscensing exams and it makes us feel safe if we were to be treated by her at the health center. Titles make people seem credible. If I went to the hospital and I required surgery, I would trust the person with M.D. after their name, not just Mr. Joe Brown. We trust doctors and nurses for their knowledge and look to them for guidance when we are sick and need help. How do we know if they are truly a doctor or nurse? Those letters after their name tell us everything we need to know.

Unit 1 Proposal

I think I finally decided on going to the TCU Barnes and Noble to do my observations for my Unit 1 paper. What made me decide on this location is that I like spending time there myself, especially in the Starbucks while I wait for class or even just to meet up with a friend. I think that I will see a lot of different people with many different intentions. Some may go in to buy a coffee, look for a new good novel to read, buy a textbook, look for new TCU gear, or even just buy a birthday card. I will have to observe all the different parts to the bookstore, including the upstairs, downstairs, and Starbucks. I could potentially see students, professors, parents, coaches, fans, or random people who just saw the Barnes and Noble sign. I am definitely in the target audience, as I am a student who goes to TCU and who also lives on campus. Students need books and coffee and I am no exception to this generalization. I do think that I may see a lot of the same kinds of people, especially TCU students. I am hoping that more than just students and peers come into the bookstore to make my observations more interesting and to make this project more fun to do. I think this is going to be a challenging, yet interesting paper to write.

In Class: Unit 1 Possibilities

I have not chosen a place to analyze for my unit 1 paper. I will continue to think about a place that I would like to spend time at and hopefully one that isn't too boring. Maybe a restaurant or department store or something where there are a lot of diverse people that come through there. I will look at these different people and try to understand how the place I am observing attracted these people or for what purpose. Could it be their advertisments, the types of clothing they carry and sell, the employees and customer service, or the type of food or drink they may serve. I will look at these people's clothes, who they are with, their demeaner, etc. When I go somewhere, whether it be a store or a restaurant, I almost always have an idea of what my purpose is in going there. If I am going to Starbucks I know that I want a White Chocolate Mocha or if I go to Foot Locker I am obviously looking for shoes. What I need to look more closely at is WHY i chose those certain stores. Is the quality better? Are the prices lower? Do I like that store's environment better? I think this is going to be a very tough assignment for me to complete in a satisfactory manner.

In Class: I Don't Know What to Say

I don't think I am going to like this semester very much. I am on the soccer team and we had to get up early on Tuesday morning for weights and we also had to get up again today for another strength and conditioning session. We also have practice everyday except for Wednesday and Sunday. I am tired and grumpy and am not in the mood for school or much of anything for that matter today. I want to be in my bed SLEEPING. I also have to go to rehab for my leg everyday on top of my busy schedule. I broke my tibia in April at soccer practice, and then again in September at soccer practice just two days after I got cleared to play by the doctor. So this means that I can't play again until March (which will be 6 months). Even then, I don't know that I will be playing full out because I will need to recover mentally and get my confidence and courage back up. I miss home right now which is in Colorado. Tomorrow is my older sister's birthday and I wish I could be there for that instead of here at school and soccer practice- barf. I had an exceptionally good breakfast today after weights with one of my roommates. The eggs and tater tots were delicious. I am craving a coffee right now but I didn't have time to run to the BLUU or library to grab one after I showered. What a bummer.

Obama's Inaugural Address

During President Obama's Inaugural address, he spoke to his people, followers and opponents and attempted to get all of us to see that this country has a chance at a new beginning, and that it starts with his presidency. His speech was full of many different kinds of arguments, which I thought to be pretty effective in making an appeal to his audience. The first argument I took note of was when Obama said, "We are in the midst of a crisis..." He told us of the war and the economy being in shambles. This is an example of an argument to inform as well as an argument about the present and use of logical appeal. The purpose of this statement was to inform us that the U.S. is in a time of crisis during this day in age. I think this statement was effective because most everyone agrees that we are in a bit of a crisis and that our economy is going down the drain. Another argument made was about the quality of past presidents, using the statement that it is time to "claim an end to the petty grievences, false promises, recriminations and worn out dogmas that have strangled our politics." Along with this being an argument of the past, it is also an argument of evaluation where he used ethical appeal to effectively reach out to his audience, especially his supporters. Another argument of evaluation where he used ethical as well as emotional appeal was when he said, "Our time of standing patent, protecting narrow interests, putting off unpleasant decisions has passed and we must begin the work of remaking America." Here he is obviously critcising past presidents and evaluating their work. This was effective because in criticising his "opponent" his status and image has now gone up. Obama made an argument using facts to inform us about the past. He said, "Greatness must be earned- it has been the makers, do-ers and risk-takers. For us they packed up in search of a new life... plowed the hard earth, fought and died for us... so that we might live a better life." I think he used strong logical and emotional appeals here in order to get his audience to raise up and take pride in their ancestors and pasts and to also get excited about their futures. The last argument here was a proposal and one to explore as well. He said we need to raise healthcare quality and lower its cost, use alternative resources as well as improve schools, colleges, and universities. I think he used emotional and ethical appeals here by presenting ideas and values that both him and his audience share. 

In Class: Changed Perception of Argument

My view on argument changed a little but not too drastically. I have a better understanding how everything can be argument, though I am still a little bit confused and skeptical on some things. I am not exactly sure how or why an argument can take the form or meditations or prayer. I think my views changed in the sense that I always thought an argument entailed trying to change the views of another through reasoning, informing or convincing. When I think of the word argument, I will always think of a disagreement or a fight between different people. Maybe that is why I am confused about how prayer or meditation can be considered an argument, since that is usually an act done privately or alone. I did think the stasis questions were helpful in guiding me through the argument process supporting my thoughts and ideas. This chapter made me more aware of how I address the audience who may be reading my argument or proposal and how I go about making my point.

In Class: Drink Up

For my argument I chose an article about lowering the drinking age. This is a topic that can be argued because there are views from two sides, each one weighing the pros and cons of the drinking age being lowered to 18. The people who are for lowering the legal age say that if an 18 year old can vote and fight in a war, they should be able to to enjoy a beer legally. People who are against it say that 18 year olds simply are not responsible enough and that raising the drinking age has saved many young lives. The drinking age has pushed teen drinking underground which can be unsafe as many teens turn to hard liquor because it is easier to hide and gets the job done faster. Teens are rebellious and curious so if something is against the rules, many kids are going to want to try it just for the thrill of breaking the rules. I dont know what to say. I dont know what to say. Kids will often drive drunk after a night of partying at a friends house because they are afraid of the consequences from their parents if they were to call and ask for a ride or to stay the night because they have been drinking. Why are parents so mad anyways? Is it just because it is against the law or because alchohol is evil or what? If the age were to be lowered I think it would solve this problem for many teens.

Just A Little Jenna

I'm Jenna Hayes and i am from Longmont, CO and am currently a sophomore Nursing major here at TCU. I play on the soccer team but had to redshirt this last season because I broke my tibia twice in five months. The first time was in April and the second time was in September. In the duration of this course I hope to become a better writer in general because it is an area that I have always struggled in. I want to learn how to express myself through my writing more creatively and effectively. The most common forms of writing that I do are email and texting. Throughout my life I have only really written because I had to for school and classes. I don't generally enjoy writing and I feel like it is a task or chore. I don't particularly like my writing, in fact I find it boring and dry most of the time. I am factual, honest, and to the point. I do not like to sugar-coat my thoughts and ideas. My participation is class is pretty limited most of the time. I have to be very comfortable or sure of my ideas in order for me to speak up and participate. 

I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus.

-Jenna