Tlilli Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink

Summary: In Gloria Anzaldua's article, "Tlilli Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink", she goes on to talk about how when she was a little girl, she had dealt with self imposed insomnia and would hide beneath the blankets as a child and would read stories. Her sister had begged that if she would not read stories to her, she would tell her mother and that is where she would begin to tell her stories and later on write them down and make the connection that writing co-existed within the night for her. She then goes on with the rest of the article to talk about Western Cultures and their writing styles because of the imagery they use within their work. Anzaldua says that "To write, to be a writer, I have to trust and believe in myself as a speaker, as a voice for the images. I have to believe that I can communicate with images and words and that I can do it well."(224) This says that she believes images are vital to create stories and other forms of work.

Synthesis: This article is like that of Sherman Alexie's article "The Joy of Reading and Writing" because each of the articles author's come from a Native American background and each of the author's explain their background and story within their articles. Both Anzaldua and Alexie make image connections with work where Alexie learned to read by using a Superman comic strip and Anzaldua used images to create her stories and thus began to write them on paper. When Anzaldua says "Picking out images from my soul's eye, fishing for the right words to recreate the images" (223), I go back to think on how this sentence ties with Alexie and how he learned to read because he had to use the images to understand what was going on inside of the comic.

Discussion Questions: Though I may not understand what the words have meant, my experience from reading this has changed for the fact that I don't understand what it meant. The words could have translated to something that was either important or could have some meaning to her article. I think that the words could have been something in her language that still had some contribution to imagery in words. The reason I believe she did that was to show how different cultures still use imagery in their texts and was showing this in that specific discourse community. Those passages show how she writes the way she does and this was a way of showing it to the audience reading this article.

Opinion: I thought that this article was beautifully written. Texts are more interesting in my perspective when you use your mind to create pictures. Stories are images in your head and I loved how she put that into the text of  her writing. Her metaphors were beautiful and I respected how she portrayed writing should be and how she uses it in her writing. On page 222 she writes, "When I create stories in my head, that is, allow the voices and scenes to be projected in the inner screen of my mind, I 'trance'". These projections just prove that she is a very strong writer and it can be seen very well in her article and that is why I thought this article was one of the better readings we had for this class.

VIEWPOINT The Laugh of the Medusa

This article was somewhat confusing to follow and odd in matters of what she was making comparisons with as well. On page 255, Cixous discusses about the two levels that cannot be separated in new surgent (liberating) writing and it's weird because I'm not sure what women writing about their bodies that are supposedly hidden and  is considered to be a "false woman" has to do with anything at all as well as her not being able to speak. I'm not sure if when she talks about women speaking that it's because a man refuses to let her speak because it's not another opinion of another man, either. How does a woman's sexual behavior come into context with writing? As well as what happens sexually as well? When writing through a persons body, how does that even work when it seems that she is just making references to submission to men, but how does a man supress her? In paragraph six and seven where she talks about masturbation is compared to the hidden writings of women, I felt that it was a little strange to write about, but I understand what she means on who they're both secretive and are assumed to not be discussed in writings or public. These are the main questions I have about this article.

Queer Rhetorical Agency: Questioning Narratives of Heteronormativity

Summary: In "Queer Rhetorical Agency: Questioning Narratives of Heteronormativity", by David Wallace and Jonathan Alexander, they attempt to explain how homosexual writings are different than other texts. They then compare Sedgwick's epistemology of the closet to Delpit and Gee's versions of new literacy studies.

Synthesis: This article is like that of Malinowitz's article "Queer Texts, Queer Contexts" because they both talk about the LGBT community and how people discriminate this group of individuals. Each of these articles talk about how discriminating against this certain group is wrong and that society needs to accept people that are the particular way they are.

Opinion: I loved how they discuss why it's wrong for society to discriminate against people just because of something that isn't considered normal. Whenever I read texts about people that are outside of the "norm", it just makes me feel that much more connected to people and it makes me feel that there are other people who want to stop discrimination and how they are trying to cease it from continuing on in our society today.

Depit & Smitherman

Summary
Delpit: In the article "The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse", Lisa Delpit  attempts to talk about whether or not students can learn a dominant secondary discourse in classrooms. She goes on to talk about if teachers can actually teach students who are either poor or colored and if they can actually accomplish it. She says that students should be treated equally, no matter the circumstance. She refers and agrees with James Paul Gee in her article about how literacy is more than reading and writing.

Smitherman: In Geneva Smitherman's article "God Don't Never Change: Black English from a Black Perspective", she attempts to talk about the differences in the language used between blacks and whites. She attempts to argue how black people should be able to speak and use their language and shouldn't have to learn the white language. She says it's just as important for them to use their language as it is to use our language.

Synthesis: Both of these articles relate to that of Malinowitz's "Queer Texts, Queer Concepts" because she talks about the discrimination and the poor judgement given to them because of who they are. The two articles of Delpit and Smitherman each contain about the judgement of blacks towards their language and how the poor and colored people think that they can't be taught and are uneducated.

Opinion: Because of these articles each pertain to things that are going on in our life time, I enjoy it more in a sense that I can connect to it and it makes me feel better about the human race because maybe there is hope for others to defend one another and and are able to come together aside from differences. That's why I enjoyed these articles so far and love how it still carries into our time today.

Religious Teachings and Other Rantings

As  a child, I had enjoyed spending time with my friends. During the weekends was the best time for me to hang out with them. The lifestyles we lived, as I've grown to understand, were different. My weekends in the Reed house hold, were simple: sports, meals, and sleep. That was the basics of the weekends. My friends however, had a religious background and would go to church on Sundays. As a child, I didn't fully understand what it meant to go to church or to understand what was going on with the teachings and what exactly they meant. As a growing adult in today's society, I have seen some of the ways students and adults across the country view and the lack of respect that is given inside this one form of "union" between multiple people. Looking at the many countries around this world, you can see that they have either a certain religion they follow or there is some form of worship in that region. But when learning of what religion is the right one, how does one know which is true? So the conclusion I have come to as a young person is this: there is no real religion that is considered "right" and more importantly, there is no such thing as God. With religion, you see the negative in people. You find the flaws in human beings and you see the hypocrisy in most of them. I'm not saying that every single person that follows a certain religion follows into that discourse, but as a society, that is all you see in the media. How with a simple thought of someone being above you and another person claiming they are wrong is amazing to the point that it brings out blood shed. When looking through the information of different religions and how the stories go, the similarities are scary. Google could even pin point the exact similarities in the religion as well as find the scary realizations that people had dealt  with or followed. The belief that there is a God to rule over all of us seems to be the most ridiculous thought to be seeped into the brains of civilians. That some people believe that their religion is so special compared to that of another shows the judgement that is deemed as wrong in their belief systems. If God was a real being, then why would that God create the evil we have in this world? Why would a God make us suffer as individuals and allow us to die? When we die, we do not know the answer and to think that there is something beyond the world we are living in is ridiculous. Has no one ever questioned the recollection of child memories? Or before we were born? If we cannot recall where our spirit and souls were at the time, what makes them think there is something for after we are born and are living? If one were to think about the world without religion, the results would be scary to the point of how advanced we would be. Science is the most beautiful creation to ever come across man kind.  We as humans would  be even more advanced if we could set aside the petty wars that kill thousands upon thousands of people every year and get over this idea that we are the most intelligent beings in the known universe. I'm not saying aliens, but aliens could very well be real and if they were, then there is a very serious quote from the movie Transformers that Tyrese Gibson's character says, "If God made us in His image, who made them?" We seem to believe that there is alien intelligence out there, so it is only absurd to believe in a God that would have created this entire universe. This post does seem to be more of a rant or a questionable post in itself, but if human beings can look past the fact that we are absolutely nothing in this small world, then one day, maybe, we could go beyond the belief of a greater power, and better humanity. I learned that religion is just a hassle that will always tie into every conversation and to every thought that will create a chaotic mess in our world. To put it in the simplest of terms, the world needs to stop being ignorant.

Memoria is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color

Summary: In the article "Memoria is a Friend of Ours: On the Discourse of Color", Victor Villanueva attempts to explain the discourse communities of race. He explains that different races have different communities in the United States. He also explains that races are discourse communities because they are looked at the same way, but not because they have same goals. He goes on about how race effects people and he has sources in the article with people of a different ethnic background talking about their memories.

Synthesis: This article is like that of "Autism and Rhetoric" by Paul Heilker and Melanie Yergeau because each focus on a different ways to observe a specific discourse community. Each of the people in that particular discourse did not chose to be the way that they are. Each individual has a common interest, but not the same goals. Each articles also talk about how others view members of the discourses and how it effects them as well as people personally being effected by that matter.

Opinion: I found this to be an interesting article because being a person of a mixed background, I was able to read and understand how some of them felt. I really liked how there were poems in the article and it gave off that deeper connection. Personally, I was just able to somewhat connect on it.

Heilker & Yergeau

Summary: In the article "Autism and Rhetoric", Paul Heilker and Melanie Yergeau attempt to explain how Autism is considered a rhetoric and they try to further explain how the public should approach how to handle people that have it. They explain that rhetoric is how we see it as a role of communication in social interaction. In the end, they explain that autism is a way of being in this world through language.

Synthesis: "Queer Texts, Queer Contexts" by Malinowitz is extremely similar to this article because both of these texts contain individuals who are part of a discourse community that are current in today's time. This article focuses mainly on Autism where as Malinowitz focuses on the LGBT community and how each are to be considered discourses.

Opinion: This was a good article because autism is something we encounter in society today and not much is really known about how to handle people that have it. Taking in the knowledge that they gave to through this article helped me somewhat understand that  with time and understanding, one can begin to understand that person. I've noticed with one of my former school mates younger sibling that as I had grown to know him and spend time with him, I could understand the things he wanted and how to communicate with him. It was really awesome as I could still understand him even though there was some difficulty. This was the one article I could compare to something I did in the past and it brought it back to my memory again and I thought that was awesome.

Queer Texts, Queer Contexts

Summary: In his article "Queer Texts, Queer Contexts", Harriet Malinowitz talks about the discourse community of the gay and lesbian population and their community. He goes into the specifics of the communities by talking about their identity and composition and classification and definition. There are also two ways of viewing identity and it can be seen as a basis for social change and community formation. Group Identity has become to a diminished level of fiction
Conversation: This article is like that of Elizabeth Wardle's article "Identity, Authroity, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces" because both texts talk about identity and how you can pinpoint them. Each gives their personal opinion to the specific details in the discourse communities they are talking about.
Opinion: I enjoyed the reading because I didn't think that scholars would be putting something about the gay community in any of the books. I have a personal connection to the people that are in gay community and this just shows how everything is changing as we progress through the years.

Project #3

For Project #3 I plan to write about Film Productions. The reason I chose this discourse community because I plan on being into this kind of career. I plan on becoming a member of the AVW Productions to get a better look into what the future could hold for me. My plan is to interview the students that have currently been in this program before and freshman that have just entered this. I would also like to interview the director as well because he would have a better description of what the purpose of this group is.

Devitt, Bawarshi, & Reiff

Summary: In the article "Materiality and Genre in the Study of Discourse Communities", Amy J. Devitt, Anis Bawarshi, and Mary Jo Reiff have individual articles placed in one. Devitt's "Where Communities Collide: Exploring A Legal Genre" talks about how ballot questions, jury instructions, and tax forms  are all designed to bring specialist and non-specialist communities together and how they function. They function in complex linguistic, informational, and rhetorical situations. Bawarshi's "Using Genre to Access Community: The Personal Medical History Genre as "Form of Life", talks mainly about the members of the medical community and the languages they use. She focuses on specific textual and how it helps to identify the discourse community by relating it to something we have all experienced in our lives.  Finally, in Reiff's " Accessing Communities Through The Genre of Ethnography: Exploring A Pedagogical Genre", she talks about how students gain experience with genre analysis because of ethnography. She also says that students that research are more likely to become more active social figures that recognize how people merge their language genres.

Conversation: This article is like that of Swales' for the mere fact that he talks a lot about how you can identify what makes a discourse community and how it is. Each the readings contain specific information about how you can determine what makes these communities how they are.

Opinion: I really liked reading these articles because it takes different particular discourse communities and then talks more about them to the point I could relate to them. Plus, they show how each of the communities can be identified quickly as well.

Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Worplaces

Before You Read: My identity has changed only very slightly. I'm more of a reserved individual now and I keep many things to myself. I observe more people than usual and see if how they are as a person is worthy enough to talk to or if they're not the same type of person I would like to associate myself with. I've been getting deeper into thoughts on some strong subjects like meanings behind dreams, the existence of humans and the fearful 'end' they come to, isolation and how sad it is to see how on your own you are as well as the beauties of science and what our world will come to . The spare time that I have gained here has given my tons of space to learn about myself and see how I am able to handle being on my own and seeing just how grown up I have become.
 
Summary: In her article "Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces", Elizabeth Wardle discusses the progression the person go through as they move from multiple discourse communities. Wardle goes on to talk about a persons identity and their authority and how it affects their writing in their jobs. She researches a man named Alan and how he had to adapt to the new job. In the article, she explains three different modes of belonging which are engagement, the common ground workers share in their relationships, imagination, which can either be negative or positive in how one sees themselves in the social efficacy, and alignment, where an extreme depth of each engagement and imagination is involved, but with other communities as well.
 
Synthesis: Wardles article is like Gee and Swales' articles. All three of them contain discourse communities and the different qualities that make them up. Each go into deal about how they are created and what it is you should take value from to be apart of these discourse communities.
 
QD:
3. Alan didn't want to change who he was to get the desired results. The members of that already existing community also were stubborn and weren't willing to change as well. Because both parties weren't willing to change, neither of them were able to come to an agreement or a medium for them to deal with.
5. Gee's argument seems to be more understanding because Alan had already made up his mind as to how he wanted to be. Forcing himself in on that community wasn't going to help him and because he wasn't going to change, he couldn't really be an engaging member in that community.

MM: In anything you are apart of, there will always be someone who has authority over you unless you are the main boss of that organization or job. Having people who are above you school, jobs, or personal writing can help you because those are the people you are trying to please and by listening to them, you will be able to do just that. Going against something that they want will make your identity in that particular community unwelcome.

Opinion: Putting "Alan's" personal story in the article helped me get a better understanding of how workplaces deal with members and how they would associate themselves with others. I've known that by pleasing the authoritative figures in any area I'm in will help my reputation as an individual and as an employee because it seems that in life, it's all about who you are and how well you're liked by the people you will be surrounding yourself with in the future.

Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction

Before You Read: The definition that comes up for "mushfake" is  a prison slang for items owned by an inmate that may be legal to buy, but were constructed or obtained through illegal means, hence they are contraband.
Summary: In his article "Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction" by James Paul Gee, he talks about his view on Discourses. Gee describes Discourses by the term of "identity kits" and he goes on to explain that this is an instruction on how to act, talk, and write so that others may recognize what's going on.  He then goes on to explain that they have labels and that those Discourses go by the names of dominant, non-dominant, primary, and secondary Discourses. 
Synthesis: This article is like that of John Swales; "The Concept of Discourse Community" because both of them contain discussion over discourse communities. The only difference is that Swales breaks down the characteristics of a discourse community whereas Gee talks about the different names and titles he gives to the discourse communities.
QD:
3. Gee says that discourse with a lower case 'd' means connected stretches of language that make sense, so "discourse" is part of "Discourse". This somewhat makes sense to me because he goes to explain what discourses are and so he changes the lower case 'd' to a capital to show that they are one in the same.
13. A discourse I think I would like to belong with would be those who are into psychology. The hardest part about being in this discourse is to have the open mind like they do and how they are able to see things from an outside perspective.My yearning for understanding of everything and how things work is what really aids my coming to part of this community. I don't so much as see myself as a "pretender", but I do try and come off as someone who has a pretty decent view on the things that those people see.
Opinion: The more I start to read and analyze these articles, the more I notice how understanding what my discourse community is will help benefit me in the future. To comprehend the future is something that will help out with my job so I have a better understanding about how to connect with the other individuals that are in my group.

Swales & Glenn

Swales: In his article "The Concept of Discourse Community', John Swales attempts to tell the reader what he thinks a discourse community really is. He argues that a discourse community is different than a speech community and he defines six characteristics of discourse communities for us to recognize.

Glenn: In her article "Constructing and Consent: A Critical Analysis of Factory Farm and Industry Discourse" Cathy B. Glenn discusses the discourse community that is specifically designed to be directed to factory farms. She argues that that the factory farms are using "double speak" to mislead readers. She also looks at the ways the discourse used to portray these methods of misuse.

QD:  A discourse community that I was in would be my basketball teams. We had to recognize the names of plays, how to run it, and understand the people that have been in the big leagues and know the statistics to comprehend where we can better ourselves as a whole. Our Lexis was that we understood the plays we were taught by our coach and were able to use it to gain offensive points. The genre we had was repetitive drills we had and the names we use.

1: Companies that use double speak are the ones that would deal with make up companies. Women who take the make up are believed to become more beautiful and seem more appealing to males and help improve your face, but they don't tell you about the side effects that can occur with the certain types of make up.

Opinion: I didn't really care for the articles, but the Glenn article was much more entertaining. I liked how she was talking about a specific discourse community. She showed a more understanding towards people and animals and I liked how she discussed the problem within her article.

From Pencils to Pixels: The Stage of Literacy Technologies

Before the Read: To me, there is absolutely no comparison into the technologies that are today compared to back then. Yes, the basics started when my mom and grandparents were younger, but so much has increased over time. Cell phones are much smaller and can even browse the internet. The internet has significantly become a value in today's time. Using laptops and science as well with medicine and space technologies. Everything we use in today's time plays such a major role and effects us significantly.

Summary: In his article "From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies", Dennis Baron attempts to explain writing technologies. He argues that writing technology is the start of all technological advances in our time. We must learn what they are so that we can better understand it and develop stronger versions of technology.

Synthesis:  Deborah Brandt's article and Baron's article are very similar in the way we look at the past and the histories of what they were writing. Brandt's article talks about the past in one's literary sponsors were as Baron talks about the history in our writing and the technology behind it.

Q&D 5: Authenticity plays an important part when it comes to technologies so they must be able to be used thoroughly and mostly without problems. Fraud comes in with technologies, because now it is much easier to change the way original prints and texts are with mere erasing and rearranging and it is without question.

MM: Writing is not technology in my opinion. Technology is more of an electrical outlook in my opinion.  I feel that we should learn the basis of writing and that this will help us further develop skills in our minds for elaborate problem solving and communications, but I still feel it in the aspect of just writing utensils compared to a technological aspect.

Opinion: The evolution of our world is amazing to look at and to think about as I was reading through this. Honestly, I was impressed with how everything worked out. We are increasing our knowledge on things that are helpful for us every day and this will continue throughout the centuries.

Malcolm X, Alexie, & Hooks

Summaries

Malcolm X: In Malcolm X's "Learning to Read", he attempts to tell the reader that learning to read helps you accomplish many things that you can do in your life time. He argues that bettering yourself by reading helps you gain knowledge in different things and helps educate yourself with the world and helps you understand others as well.
Sherman Alexie: In Sherman Alexie's article "The Joy of Reading and Writing", he attempts to explain to the readers that by picking up a book and reading, he had learned to stand out from the normal life style people perceived him to be because he was an Indian boy. He argued that by reading, it had saved his life and he now carries on to schools to bring children into the world of reading and help them do the same thing and further educate their knowledge as well.
Hooks: In Bell Hooks' article "Writing Biography", she attempts to explain to the reader that writing an autobiography is helpful for reflection of your past. She argues that by writing about the past, you are able to understand what happened and to easily let it go because now you know what you've done and now you realize that you can move from it.

Synthesis: Each of these articles all correspond with each other in the sense that they are not only autobiographies, but they are also about the coming forth of the way they've been educated and how they did it. The articles each go in description of their lives and how each of them learned to develop their readings and writings.

Opinion: I enjoyed all three of the writings. Auto biographies are usually more interesting to me because of the fact that I enjoy learning about people's lives and the obstacles they've overcome. Malcolm X is a significantly important man in the black community and I've always enjoyed hearing about what people like him have done to get their start. Sherman Alexie's article interested me in the fact that he didn't follow the typical lifestyle he was somewhat being pushed to do, but instead he broke out of that and bettered his life. I especially enjoyed reading Bell Hooks' because hers was more on her life and how she reflected from it and build her character because of the past.

Sponsors of Literacy

Before you read: Having newspapers, articles on politics, world news, libraries, and the support system of going to college. Those who give the reasons as to why someone is a good reader are typically adults or well known authorities figures in the community. The reasons a person is usually a good reader is because of the content or if it is well written about the topic at hand depending on the audience as well.

Summary: In her article "Sponsors of Literacy", Deborah Brandt attempts to show the reader that people do not just become literate and she also explains what exactly helps educate people to be literate. She argues that professors are the ones who educate us and help us absorb the knowledge to become a literate individual.

QD: People who are listed under the category as a "literacy sponsor" would be; older relatives, priests, supervisors, military officers, editors, and influential authors. They are usually powerful figures who are rich, more knowledgeable, and contain relationships with those who follow them. They give credit and resources but also benefit to their success as well.

AE: I've never head any books banned in my library at school. They were supportive to all sorts of reads and understood that they are pieces of literature and are needed to be appreciated in that sense. There has never been particular books or authors that was ever put up on a higher account to others. The teachers would discuss what they liked and thought that we would enjoy them.

Opinion: This article wasn't all too bad in the text of how we learn to be literate. It was an extremely long text so it took me a while to read it because I wasn't that into it. I wasn't much for what the literary sponsors were, but it did make me reflect on how I came to be educated today. Everything has an influence on how we think about everything so I really liked reading it and thinking about all the different influences in our lives.

Dawkins & Bryson

Summary

Dawkins: In his article "Teaching Punctuation as a Rhetorical Tool," John Dawkins talks about the very basics of punctuation. He argues that punctuation is very important when writing sentences and how it effects the reading of that sentence. He goes into depth of punctuation rules and how to use them.

Bryson: In his article "Good English and Bad", Bill Bryson attempts to teach us about how the English language is extremely complex and confusing. He argues that our grammar originated from the Latin language and that because it is hardly used in today's time, that we have trouble understand how to use it in the correct way.

Synthesis
Both of the author's discuss punctuation and grammar in their articles. They discuss how you use them properly and in the correct way. Dawkins goes more into the basics of punctiation and how it is used whereas Bryson goes into the origin of our grammar.

Questions for Discussion and Journaling
Dawkins: I usually think of punctuation as if I was trying to publish a book. Knowing how it is used and where it needs to go comes naturally for me, but sometimes I must rethink and see where exactly it needs to go. Dawkins' writing didn't effect much of how I view punctuation because I knew that it plays a big role in how a sentence looks and how it is read.

Bryson: Perspective in the context of teaching grammar would be how a teacher explains to the class how an assignment should be done according to how they see fit. Descriptive in the context of teaching grammar would be how teachers explain a work without giving a biased opinion, but just going into detail of what it is about. I was taught in a Perspective stance because my teachers would always have us do assignments in the way they wanted it to be done without much creativity and following the guidelines that they have created for students to follow.

Opinion: I didn't really like these articles all that much. Dawkins' article was just boring in text and reminded me too much of someone teaching a punctuation class compared to writing more about it. The examples he gave were good, but I just didn't particularly like it compared to Bryson's. Bryson's caught my attention because he taught me about how the words in our language were so very complex when I didn't think they were that hard. He also gave information about Latin and I have always wanted to learn more about that language.

Seeing The Text

Summary: In his article "Seeing The Text", Stephen A. Bernhardt attempts to explain to scholars and writers that using visual text as well as written text will help students better understand what they are reading. He argues that using the visuals in writing a paper helps organize the writing and make the transitions smoother.

Synthesis: This article relates to Scott McCloud's article because he discusses how icons and images give people better comprehension over the reading. Visuals give people something to relate to and to look at while still reading the text. They're more engaged in the reading rather than just focusing on words and words alone.

1) The advantages would be that it gives a clue or idea as to what the next section of the reading will be about. It creates a good transition from one topic to the next. Visuals in headings would be appropriate to use when your paper has a great deal of information and it breaks it down for you and gives a better directive as to what is being said. The writer can then look back to the visual and carry on with their writing.

2) I feel like I write the same papers because they are organized in the same fashion every time. There is nothing to give it any spice. With the visuals, it gives flavor and as the old saying goes, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Bernhardt would recommend my doing this in putting the visuals in my text to grasp the interest of my readers and to help my organization of an essay.

This article is helpful for me because I understand that visuals can still be included into essays. I was always under the impression that when writing papers, you're not allowed to use pictures or graphs to use for a "filler" in space. I'd still be a bit timid before I would use a visual unless I knew it would be useful. I was a great public speaker in my class and I was able to apply visuals to my power points, but putting it in text will be a bit more difficult for me to get used to.

Intertexuality and the Discourse Community

Before Reading: I first start off with reading material, teacher's assistance, then the internet.  My idea's I receive are mainly from my teacher's and sometimes from my family members. After taking in their help, I put it to use and seek feedback from fellow friends and different family members who have had nothing to do with my paper.

Summary: In his article "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community", James E. Porter attempts to explain to the reader what intertextuality is and how it has been used in other important documents, specifically the Declaration of Independence. He argues this by using Jefferson's Declaration and showing specific examples as to how he's a great "creative borrower".

Synthesis: This article is like Sarah Allen's "The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer" because in her work, she goes on about imitation writing styles and how it can better your writing abilities. In Porter's work, he shows how there is a lack of originality in the papers because of the intertextuality people use in the work by borrowing other ideas from other people.

QD
4: The way acceptability seems to be more important in texts actually shocks me. To have an effective writing piece, I understand how there has to be other who would be swayed into reading it, but you need to have a certain foundation and build in the writing. My writing has always been evaluated on structure and the basics and was never used for acceptance.

5:  Porter, in my opinion, showed that his work reflect the principle's he's writing about. He goes into great detail about how they picked up on past work and placed them into whatever it was they were using. Whether it be commericals, documents, or magazines. He provides examples of what was used and points out where you can find the intertexuality in them. He gives the names of people he uses in his article and writes more elaborately on what they mean.

A&E: The best way to avoid plagiarism is to not just take different writings and put them into your paper from different sources and call them your own, but elaborate on what it is that they are saying. The main difference between my version of plagiarism and the original is that I say to elaborate on the meanings of what it is the authors are trying to say. Leaving it as is and turning it in is just taking paragraphs that are cleverly put together that flow well, then turning it in as your own work.

MM: Porter's article doesn't change the way I view writers and writing in any slight bit. In a sense, it doesn't change the way I write, but it does. The only reason as to why my writing would be different, would be the elaboration I would put into my paper instead of the simplicity.

Opinion: I thought that how he put his writing could be confusing and could show others that he may not be practicing what he was preaching, but I had to re-read it a few times to understand how he was actually writing his article. He was showing how others were doing the intertexts and how they lack original ideas with an explanation. He didn't just leave it as other works, but he included what he thought and what he discovered by reading other articles as well.

Elbow and Friends

Summary: In his article "Voicing in Writing Again: Embracing Contraries", Peter Elbow attempts to explain that using your in-thought voice is very important because it helps you comprehend what you're reading in a better way. He argues that by hearing what you are reading, are able to understand what you're saying more effectively and can help improve the students article.

Connections: Elbow's article is the same as Greene's Argument as Conversation. When he was talking about how conversations are between two or more people and having the knowledge over something and knowing when to chime. With the inside voice, you are taking time to yourself to think of you information and go over it before you respond to something someone else says. With the using voice, you go over what you're saying as if you are reading the information from your head.

1) By reading aloud what I'm saying, I get a better and stronger understanding because I'm actually reading it and listening to what I am saying. I'm not just hearing it, but grasping the words on paper. Ear training has effected my hearing in a much better way. As a child learning to read, I heard what they were saying and it helped me pronounce words better. I was able to learn words and understand pronunciation in a stronger sense than others. Practicing reading out loud also helped me focus more on what I was reading. It should always be used so you can focus more on what you're saying. You should use it whenever you are trying to grasp something and you're having trouble understanding what exactly it is.

2) Yes, he is playing the "doubting and beliveing" game. If you neglect one side of an argument, you won't be able to counter argue whatever they say. So you should take in both sides so you can determine what side you are playing for then engage in the conversation like in anything else. It gives you a better understanding of what is going on. To stop the tension, you make one side feel like they've lost and the winner having the last laugh. Keeping the tension going will give them a better feel that they're still able to come back with more to say and that gives them a chance of creating a better argument or even possibly discovering something new.

Opinion: The read for me was interesting because I could relate to what he was saying and could agree to it. I have learned that from first hand experience and I've never doubted it. I would use it to read whenever I was in a very loud area and I couldn't concentrate. Out of the three readings, Stephen Kings was my favorite because I could relate to him. The fact a book or novel and take your mind and travel to different places, stir your emotions, and gets you to the point where nothing else matters and you're in your own world, that's absolutely the greatest feeling in the world. To step aside from your boring life and take an adventure somewhere that isn't home.

Allen & Berkenkotter

Before You Read: For starters, as soon as I read what lied in the quotations, I felt this sudden feeling just drop inside of me. As a person who has experienced death at 16 years old due to the passing of my fellow students, the thought of explaining it is horrifying. Then again, how can you explain what death is to a child when you can't answer the following questions they have when they basically are your own, depending on what you believe in of course. If I were to explain to my soon to be ten year old brother what death was, my best way to explain it was that a person's life ends when their body shuts down and can no longer work when they are older. Younger deaths can occur due to whatever they choose to do to themselves or a severe accident that ends the life which still shuts down the bodies functions. It wasn't hard to write, but seriously thinking on it was just a reminder that death happens and it is hard to explain to others if they don't understand or they have questions that follow. As humans, we don't really know for sure what happens after we die. That is a question that, in my eyes, can never and shouldn't be answered.


In her article "The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer", Sarah Allen attempts to explain how to write a good paper by imitating the writings of other authors to help improve writing styles as a student aiming to better their writing.  She argues that by observing your writing and having writer's you consider to know what they are doing help revise your papers can improve your writing and help you find the connection you are looking for to make your paper better.

In her article "Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer", Carol Berkenkotter attempts to explain how by planning, revising, and editing your paper, you will be able to write articles more effectively by spending a great amount of time on all three topics. She conducts an experiment where she has Donald M. Murray say his thoughts aloud without analyzing what he is saying so she can figure out how others go about writing their papers and narrowing it down to what it is this subject does to make them more effective.

Synthesis: Berkenkotter's article relates to the same as Kleine's because both of them use other scholars to conduct experiments to test their theories. Both experiments have the soul purpose of hoping to better students writing and improve their papers.

QD 3: The study helped Berkenkotter's  understand of writing processes because it showed that you need a large amount of time to plan, revise, and edit papers so that they are written to the best of their abilities. With partial response from Murray, he even stated that he now realizes that articles take over a year to actually be a complete piece of work.

A&E: My time spent on writing is usually in one setting. I compose an outline of what I'm wanting to write through the 5 paragraph essay and simply begin to write. My level of writing is literally at the high school level. When reading my papers, they sound smart, but I feel like they are on a simple level of writing. The writing process reflects my experience on writing because I don't seriously take a whole lot of time when going over it. It's alright, but nothing to special. Mediocre would be the best word for the time I spend on the writing.

MM: To help write more effectively, I need to start by spending a lot more time planning my writing so I can create a better paper. The time period spent on what I'm going to do is the key to an effective paper.

I didn't really like the article with Berkenkotter. It was just really hard to comprehend what she was saying and doing and it was just a hassle for me to read. When I tried to reread it, I still had a hard time following what she was saying. Allen's article was easier to follow in because she could openly say how she bettered her writing and the exact words of how to do it.

Berger and McCloud Reading

Berger- In his article "Ways of Seeing", Berger talks about women and men and how they both differ from one another. Women perceive their presence as a more internal view as well as some external, by appearance, actions and words, while men base their presence of an external force, their power. He argues how nude paintings in earlier times portray the views of them and how it is not only being used today, but how women continue to see themselves and how they believe everyone else sees them.

McCloud- In Scott McCloud's article "The Vocabulary of Comics, he explains to the audience how our mind focuses on multiple things at a time and yet we still know what they are. He aruges that icons can represent different things to each individual because our mind perceives  things differently according to the person. By using the comic book format, he allows a simple idea to reach out to people so they can pay attention and understand what he is trying to discuss in a better, more easier way.

Synthesis- Both Berger and McCloud's articles discuss visual art, but they also go into detail about how our minds perceive art and how we connect to it. In Berger's article, he explains to us how women and men view themselves and what they go by. The current surroundings, the deeper meaning within themselves, how they personally view themselves, and how others view them. The mind generates ideas to influence what we do and how we perceive other things and ideas. McCloud goes into the simplest way of getting an idea across to people by doing it with pictures. Using the visual, it still creates a certain way for people to view what is going on and how they should take it. Their mind still perceives a certain view, but it's all in how the artist made it. Both of the articles include the visual aspects to get the point across of what they are trying to say.

Q&D
1) McCloud uses the comic book format to convey his ideas because it is a fairly simple way for people to understand what they are reading. They can look at the pictures and understand what is going on while also reading about it in the word bubble. His points would only suffer because his article is about how a simple idea can be picked up on by any person. Using pictures and words,

2) Berger has explained how men and women are different due to society's thoughts on their image. How women are portrayed in today's society are genuinely different, but are still the same. This generation of women are seen in a negative or insecure manner. They do see themselves in a different way, but because of advertisement and what society believes a beautiful woman should look like, it turns their thoughts sour. Back then, they were more seen as a well rounded figure with more meaning to them. They had internal thoughts, yes, but they also took in everything that they did to send out a certain message about them and not just by appearance.

3) I believe you assigned us to read these articles to show that writing isn't the only way of telling a point. Using the visual effects is also a way of getting a point across to people and help them understand what they are saying much easier. It's not just a textbook, novel or article. It's just a more intriguing way of getting people to read.

Opinion- I really loved reading this. I have always been a big fan of how people in society are so easily influenced by others opinion. The way our mind perceives certain images or think accordingly to how we see something is just amazing. We usually have a general idea as to what everyone thinks, but how they really take it in is something beyond our grasp and that is why I found it fascinating that even back then, the thoughts are the same as ours today only slightly different. The only negative thing about McCloud's article is how it kinda makes me think that maybe some people are just lazy and the only thing they really look for is pictures and not what's in the text. That was the only down siding thought to both of the article's.

Project #1

     Like most of the students, I did decide to go with the 5 paragraph essay. My reasoning for that would be because that is what I was first taught even when I began writing papers. I want to go more in depth over what it is to see if maybe teachers back where I'm from could even use a better way of telling future students on what structure they could use.

Library

     The videos about Alden library show that there are 7 floors with different functions inside the building. You may check out and use anything that they have in there, but you are not allowed to take them outside of the building. One area that's not inside Alden, is Gliden Hall where they have cds, magazines, and anything else that involves music.
     I already knew most of this information, but I only had a brief understanding of it. Watching the videos gave me a more in depth experience of what does on in our library.

Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively

Before Reading: One of the recent arguments I've been in where it was resolved happened only because we had looked up the research from the internet using multiple sources. They never really had a comeback with the argument so that was how they knew the battle was lost. Due to the lack of knowledge for a returning argument, it was merely left alone, but not really solved.

Summary: In her article ,"Helping Students Use Textual Sources Persuasively", Margret Kantz attempts to explain to the audience that they shouldn't read textbooks as mere stories and also how they need to find a strong way of writing an original argument. She argues that by assuming of

Q&D: Kantz says that facts are what they are read out to be. Just truth in statements with no swaying opinions. Opinions, on the other hand, are what you as an individual develop by observing and seeing what the facts have been given to and you make it out to be whatever it is you see it as. Arguments is the clashing of the opinions, but lack value when neither party has a way of supporting their views.

Kantz says that students don't know how to read articles which can play an important role when writing a paper. It can also be a problem for students when they are trying to write a paper in an organized fashion. From my own personal experience, I see where she is coming from because I would read the text and not really comprehend what it was over and then when I would write the paper, it would be difficult and would fold creating an invalid paper. I am able to connect with her writing because she is very thorough with the ways how students see and overview their papers. With my friends, we would look at each other's work to see if it made sense and we would get different responses over the same general topic.

A&E: The relationship between creativity and research weren't really close in writing as I've grown to learn in high school. With research papers, we don't really have a creative way to write when it has to be over facts and facts alone. The only real creative thought would be what we would have to write over, if we were able to chose what it was over. The ways how we overlap in our ideas would be how we both believe that creative thinking is an essential part to writing. Without any creative aspects to your writing, it creates a boring paper and ceases to catch anyone's interest. Also, you can't have an original argument if you lack a creative mind. Kantz doesn't really influence my writing because I already knew that creativity and interest catches attention or at least a second glance when it comes to a good read.

Margret Kantz has given me a better outlook on research papers. She explains in detail how other students usually write, but she also tells us that that's okay. Since I started writing research papers, it's typically the same thing over and over again with no real feeling in my writing. She's basically saying that I need to put my mind to work to create a more interesting paper. After reading this, I'll be able to take more papers into consideration and figure out how I will be able to write a well written and original research paper.

I will be doing my first project over the 5 paragraph essay. I've always used it to write my work so I figured why not go more in depth as to why I've always used it.

What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This

     There are two courses that ask for me to do research which are English and Political Science. I imagine myself going online and gathering information from articles written by professionals.
     In Michael Kleine's article 'What Is It We Do When We Write Articles Like This-- and How Can We Get Students To Join Us?", he attempts to explain if researchers such as professors or teachers are actually discovering new evidence in the research or if they are copying or para-phrasing like the rest of high school students and college students seem to be doing.  He does so by interviewing his colleagues because as they themselves are scholars, it helps him gain more information about the experiement him and Steven Anderson and Barry Maid are doing. The project goes into how each person does the research and what ways are the proceeding to do so.
     I would say that I am the typical high school/college student when it comes to the writing. I see myself as going over what has been written and putting it into my own words with other comments that I may  have being included into this.
     The professionals sources play a significant role in the research. What they are researching grasps their personal interests so by looking more in depth to others work and findings, it helps them gain a better understand of what it is they are hoping to discover for themselves. Research has been helpful for me because I would need to have a lot of information to base my writing off of. The main difference between the research the scholars do compared to my work is that it is out of enjoyment for them where I am forced to do it.
     If I were to change my way of doing research as Kleine talks about, it would fall along the lines of actually taking into deep thought of how my research was going. I usually see what seems to fit within my writings, but I never make a discovery for myself or something that I found interesting enough to put into it. Research is not my strong point, so actually diving into the work would be a challenge in itself.
     I didn't particularly like this article. I understand that changing my research habits will result in better writing. It was just repetitive while reading it. Reading articles about things we do in our daily lives are more interesting and this didn't follow underneath my category.

Argument as Conversation

     In his article "Argument as Conversation", Stuart Greene attempts to explain to the general audience that without knowledge or reasoning, you cannot prove your opinion or help others see where you are directly coming from. He argues that the lack of history on a topic serves little use when trying to argue your point because when you lack proof, you lack reasoning which shows others that your opinion can be ruled as invalid.
     The way how I see an argument is multiple opinions being used in a discussion between others in a disagreeing manner.  Within everyday conversation, it goes between personal, political, and religious affairs.  In an academic setting, it flows with debate and politics such as current events in news, media, reflection, and books.  To me, the difference is with everyday conversation, it is more of a personal dispute between people and their beliefs that may or may not become heated where as in with academia, it is more of a professional way and more on current worldly events. The use of knowledge and background that they have taken over the topic come into play more than it would in personal arguments.
     Burke's quote was repeated in the article because Greene explained what it said into simple sentences. He brings forth what it was saying and explains it to the reader by showing how it is used in arguments. The metaphor is spot on to arguments in general. The way it is displayed explains the history of arguments where a theory appears and then continually branches off many ideas and bounces back and forth between different people with unique views.
     The basic concept of framing is the perspective of ones views and in the text, a camera lens  underlines it. It's important to him because his article shows how framing helps in ideas. He uses it for himself and it backs up his statements as well. Framing allows the reader to see what is there and create their own ideas with the help of others to build upon what their knowledge says.
     The article is a conversation between Greene and the reader. He not only gives us his opinion, but he also brings forth other writer's work to prove his own point. Greene does practice what he preaches by showing it in his article. After reading the four  He brings out all the small detailing within framing and puts it into his own writing.
     I enjoyed reading this because it applies to my everyday lifestyle. I argue and voice my opinions to others and I enjoy the heat of battle. To me, it made perfect sense and as I was reading it, I was actually engaging in an argument at that point in time so it helped me prove my point and I learned from first hand experience that it actually worked! It'd be helpful for just about anyone, but to me, I like when people understand why I think the way that I do, whether they agree or not is up to them, but so long as they understand the things I'm thinking, that's all that matters to me.

Test Run

Hello,

Having extreme difficulties with this. Was never a fan of blogging so hopefully it's been done right. I'll see everyone on Wednesday.

-Rae'ven