Third Paper

This essay was a little more difficult because of the research component. At first, I could not find information on the topic I wanted, but I was able to make a new topic with what I did find. With all my articles, I was able to make an argument about media literacy being taught to young students in school. Incorporating my information into my essay was not difficult, but I had trouble remembering to analyze the quotes I used. When I read my paper, I knew what I was trying to say, but it was not clear enough to Jeanelle and Brandon, who read my paper at the workshop. They told me that I should add more commentary after each of the quotes. After re-reading my paper, I did find quite a few fragmented sentences as well as run-on’s. I used the OWL worksheet to go through and fix all the errors I had to make my paper flow better. The tips I got from the workshop and handout were helpful, but I am still not sure how my essay came out.

What Does Jesus Need?

Okay, this movie was entertaining, but I was kind of tired when we watched it, so I was starting to fall asleep. I'm not going to name names, but there were some others who were falling asleep too. I liked it because the members of the church of stop shopping seemed like they were really trying to make a change. Revered Billy was so passionate about spreading the word of what the true meaning of Christmas is. I couldn't believe what people were saying. Someone actually said that their Christmas spirit depended on the amount of gifts they received. WHAT?!?! Are people really that greedy?! I think what Rev. Billy was trying to say to people was admirable, but a long shot. I felt bad that he wasn't really getting anywhere, but when that man asked him to bless his baby, I thought, "wow, thats crazy." Like, did that mean his baby's not gonna shop? I don't know, but I could tell that Billy and his wife felt like they had made a difference in someones life and that was enough to keep them going. Their word was just to help people realize what Christmas is really about and not become so commercialized in what to give as gifts, because in reality, we don't need all those things anyway.

Second Paper

Alright, this paper was a lot better than the last. Not that the last was really bad or anything, I just felt more confidant about my writing this time. So I chose prompt 4 and wrote about texting and its negatives. I actually had pretty good evidence; I had personal experiences, real-life issues, and took something from the article by Kuttner. The only problem I did have was meeting the word count. Interestingly enough, I thought it would be no problem to write 1500 words since I did have so much to talk about. But when I got it all down on paper, I realized that I was still like 250 words short! I figured my group from the draft workshop would help me add a few things; luckily, they did. Kevin and Jeanelle gave me the idea of including something on the LA train wreck. It really strenghtened my paper and enhanced my arguments. I was really excited though when they said that I had a pretty good paper overall. It boosted my confidence, but I don't want to get too big headed, so I'm shootin' for a B+ or above :]

What is the Other Side of E-mail?

In the article, The Other Side of E-Mail, Robert Kuttner talks about the good and bad of sending e-mails. Well, I know that I have sent an e-mail to the wrong person more than once. One of the bad things about e-mails is that it goes so fast. A simple miss-click of the mouse and you could have sent your message to who knows who. I agree with Kuttner when he talks about how we don't put as much thought into what we reply in our e-mails. If someone gets an e-mail, they can reply really fast without putting too much thought into what they're writing. After they hit send, it's too late to go back and take back something they may have said. Although, e-mail is a really convenient way to keep in touch. Be it Myspace, Facebook or Yahoo, online talk is an easy way to say hi to people you havn't talked to in a while. I know that I'm excited when I get a new e-mail from someone I havn''t herd from for a long time. It's nice to get a letter in the mail too, but some people don't have time. I know that I've sent letters to people before, expecting to get something back, and then I get sad when I don't get anything. With an e-mail, I don't get my feelings hurt as bad if I don't get a reply. I guess it's just how you look at it.

First Essay

Okay, I'm not gonna lie, this was a little harder for me to write than I thought. I chose to write option #5 from Sobchack's article; it was about comparing what she said to the movie Boyz N The Hood. First off, I've never really seen the movie (well, I've seen it now, but not before I wrote the first draft). I've watched clips here and there and I knew the concept, but I hadn"t actually sat down and watched it. Something I have trouble with is too much summarization. I had looked up clips from the movie and I ended up just describing what I saw. I didn't prove my point enough on how the violence in the movie is made to seem more real than in other movies like Pulp Fiction. I wanted to say that Sobchack can't generalize all the movies of the 80's and 90's. The draft workshop helped a lot because my group gave me great ideas of how to improve my writing without making me feel really dumb (I forgot to mention that I'm really insecure about my writing, so I felt better when my group made me feel comfortable). Anyways, I really like the workshop and I think I can make my paper a lot better. I'm shootin' for a B, we'll see.

The Postmorbid Effect

When I read Sobchacks excerpt, I thought of all the violence that goes on in films as well as all the violence that goes on on the streets. I guess you could say that some of the violence in real life may have been influenced by whats on the big screen, at least the way it's portrayed. I mean, it doesn't really seem like a huge deal anymore when we hear about a robbery or people getting shot outside their neighborhood. On the news, they give about ten stories every half hour of crimes, innocent people getting hurt or killed; why is it so easy for today's society to just brush off what goes on? Like Sobchack mentioned, we cannot consider violence as just another everyday thing. We do not have control of our cars breaking down or lightning striking a flame, but we do have a say on what goes on in our minds. If people consider violence a "not so big thing," then it will happen, just like "shit."