Final Reflective Exam

          I have learned a lot of different and effective ways of writing while taking this course. There are many strategies to use when prewriting an essay and I tried to use each of them at least once so I could figure out which worked best for me. Free writing is something that I had never tried before, but I found myself using it a lot while prewriting my rough drafts for this class. I learned about pathos, ethos, and logos and how they can be used in an essay.
          You are a very laid-back instructor and your way of teaching helps everyone understand the importance of the topic we are learning. Your comments about our essays are both helpful and encouraging. It is refreshing to see that you can praise our essays, but also give constructive criticism to help us do better on our next paper.
          The least thing I like doing in this course, is the peer review response. I agree that the peer reviews give good feedback on your papers, but I didn't really see the point in making a peer review response. I always had a hard time writing them, because I didn't know what to write. I usually made whatever changes I needed to make, including some of the suggestions the peer review had given.
          The writing assignment that I enjoyed doing the most has to be the argument essay. I did mine on the safety of vaccines. I enjoyed doing the research on the link between autism and vaccines. I had already done some reading on the subject prior to writing the essay, because the subject has always interested me. It is such a controversial subject, but it is definitely hard to ignore when the safety of children is at stake.
          I don't think that I would do anything differently if I was retaking this course, because I think I did pretty well this semester, considering how long it had been since I actually tried to write an essay. I had always been interested in writing when I was in high school, so you can imagine my surprise when I started to struggle at writing the first essay we had to do. After writing that first essay, I could feel myself getting back into the swing of things again. Learning the different techniques of writing also helped me get the essays started.
          Thank you Mr. Jaynes for being a great teacher and making this semester a great learning experience!

Analyzing Bullshit

          Penn & Teller are making the argument that recycling is not as great as most people make it out to be and it's actually bad for the environment. They claim that recycling is not only a waste of time and money, but also a waste of our resources. Penn & Teller back up their arguments by interviewing both experts that support the benefits and deny the benefits of recycling. I feel they were convincing and effective at proving that taxpayers are paying more to recycle items than it would be to make new ones from scratch. They responded to many counterarguments by interviewing average people off the street and providing answers to their questions. Penn & Teller proved that it costs three times more to recycle our garbage & costs us about eight billion dollars a year. I think they exposed a lot of myths that most people had about why we recycle in the first place. They explained how there is no actual landfill shortage. Most landfills are covered up to have golf courses made and trees planted on. They also uncovered that gases from lanfills are stored and used to energize homes, debunking the theory that the gases were polluting the atmosphere.

Prewriting Activities #2, Pg. 435

Loneliness

• Loneliness is a depressed feeling of worthlessness and looks like a person who is secluded from any emotional contact from others.
• It can make a person withdraw socially when they are at their lowest point. It can occur when someone has moved far away and is in a new area where they don't know many people.
• Moving to another state for college, where you have no relatives or familiar faces around you can cause you to feel loneliness. If a beloved family member that you're especially close to dies, you may feel an intense loneliness.
• Loneliness can take many forms, such as causing someone to feel so miserable that they contemplate suicide or cause them to simply withdraw from communicating with others.
• Loneliness can start off small by becoming quiet and reserved, then limited communication with others, no longer going outside and shutting yourself in at home, until finally the person may consider suicide as a last resort to stop their hurt feelings.
• Loneliness is like being depressed, feeling miserable, not accepted by others and is unlike happiness, fullfillment, and joyful.
• Secluding yourself and not talking to people about your uneasy feelings can lead you to become loney.  

Revising Activities, Pg. 401

The banking industry responded to inflation by introducing a new technology, the automated teller machine, also known as the ATM.The ATM makes money readily available to the average person by giving them cash to buy goods, regardless if they can afford them. Automated teller machines have had a number of negative consequences for the average individual. Machine-vended money means more impulse buying and since people know they can get cash at any time, they will most likely use their luch hours for shopping instead of going to the bank. People no longer need their checkbooks to withdraw money, so they will often have trouble trying to keep track of their account records and develop a casual attitude toward financial matters. It is not surprising that children end up not appreciating the value of money. The ATM has many advantages and disadvantages that should be considered when being used by the public.

HW: Questions About the Writer's Craft, Pgs. 402-415

"Why We Crave Horror Movies" by Stephen King

2. When King compares and contrasts horror movies to roller coasters, public lynchings, and sick jokes it helps reinforce his thesis by proving that everyone has a desire to show that they are not afraid to do or say certain things and explains how society rewards positive emotions but punishes us for negative emotions. By comparing horror movies to public lynchings it describes how people would eagerly watch a lynching even though it is such a cruel and disturbing act for the same reason they sit in a movie theater to watch someone get tortured and mutilated. Sick jokes are similar in a way that some people will listen and maybe even laugh at a disgusting joke, even though it's not something "normal" people would find to be okay to laugh at. Riding roller coasters provide the same excitement and thrill that watching horror movies brings to most people.

"Innocents Afield" by Buzz Bissinger

2. Bissinger uses the word "just" several times in the paragraph to express how simply and plainly they are spending time and money in things that aren't really important. I think it works effectively by sounding sarcastic and a matter-of-fact, because it shows clearly the other side of things that should be addressed above all else.

"Black Men and Public Space" by Brent Staples

2. Staples opens with an intentionally misleading narrative to prove his point that most people want to automatically stereotype him as a dangerous person, when really he's not harmful at all. It is a strong and effective way to prove his thesis that because he looks a certain way, he always has to be careful about the way he may be perceived to others who are quick to judge and label him as a threatening person.

HW: Chapter 15, Pg. 373, Questions About the Writer's Craft #1-3

1. It seems that the author is using the point-by-point method for her comparison-contrast, because it shows the distinct similarities/differences between the game show "Cupid" and the two books by Jane Austen and Edith Wharton. It also gives the reader information that they may not have remembered right away, making the transitions clear about the similarities/differences.

2. I don't think she is writing specifically to an audience that agrees or disagrees with her, but that she is simply pointing out the similarities and differences. Toward the end of the article she writes about the major difference nowadays with people getting a quick divorce, which is not something they did often back then.

3.The author uses qoutes from the books "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen and "Emma" by Edith Wharton, as well as the tv show "Cupid". I think choosing to quote rather than summarize, gives the similarities/differences emphasis and makes them more distinct and easily compared.

HW: Pg. 292, #2, #3 & Pg. 298 #2

Pg. 292

2. Questions to ask yourself when trying to identify doublespeak are who is saying what to whom, under what conditions and circumstances, with what intent, and with what results? Asking these questions will help give you an idea of how high a probability it is that the author is using doublespeak.

3.

•  Euphemism is an inoffensive or positive word or phrase which avoids directly mentioning a painful reality, or to avoid discussing a topic subject to a social or cultural taboo. An example is to say "I'm sorry your father passed away" instead of "I'm sorry your father is dead".
•     Jargon is the specialized language of a trade, profession, or similar group. An example is how someone would refer to a crack in metal as a "discontinuity".
•    Gobbledygook is a matter of piling on words or overwhelming the audience with words. An example of this is when Dan Quayle explained the need for a stable strategic-defense initiative by saying "Why wouldn't an enhanced deterrent, a more stable peace, a better prospect of denying the ones who enter conflict in the first place to have a reduction of offensive systems and an introduction to defense capability? I believe this is the route the country will eventually go" which sounds great, but doesn't really make any sense.
• Inflated language is designed to make the ordinary seem extraordinary. An example of this is how Chrysler said they "initiates a career enhancement program" which really means they are laying off five thousand workers.

Pg. 298 #2

2. He knew about the black convicts he saw when he was a child, fathers, workers, soldiers, and his own father. They were damaged physically from working hard, but were also damaged emotionally on the inside.