Assessment

I have never really enjoyed any of my writing or reading classes in all my years of schooling. I only have fun writing if I am writing creative stories or things about myself. I had a really good time writing the personal narrative. I found the tools of rhetoric rather interesting, but I am not sure if I fully understand them. I had absolutely zero fun writing the research paper, but that is life I guess. I did not feel that the blogging was necessary or a good learning tool, however, if it is the reason we did not have to write a multi modal argument then I am okay with it and think it is a good idea. Anyways, enough with the negative, I believe that I have truly become a better writer from this Writing 150 course, and from you as a teacher. You make learning fun, and get more personal with the students, and I like that about you. You make class a place for learning and not a prison. I did not do all the readings for this class, but I found the readings that I did do unnecessary, so maybe that could have some changes. I just do not feel that all the material we read in our books was applied in class or in our assignments. I did think the blogs were a good way for the students in the class to get to know each other, and it was a good way of communication. All in all great job teaching, and great Party In the USA!

Favorite Movie

My favorite movie of all time is a movie that came out quite recently. Crazy Stupid Love with Steve Carrel and Ryan Gosling is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, but it also has a good message and story. It is funny because of all the twists and funny situations in the movie. There are a lot of awkward situations that are hilarious. I also really liked it since I think Steve is one of the funniest actors ever and I think Ryan Gosling is the biggest hustler of all time  haha well anyways. Good movie go and see it

Issues Paper Issues

I do not have too many issues with my issues paper other than it takes up a lot of my freaking time haha I feel like I spend half my day researching, half my day thinking about what I can use, and half my day writing haha but Oh well at least I am kinda on the fast track at this point. I do not feel that I will get a good grade on this paper, because I don't really mknow what I"m doing, but I am still gonna try haha.

Why Write

I found the reading somewhat helpful in the development of my paper. I just do not like reading so I have a rather pessimistic view about it haha but anyways some things that I liked….. I liked this quote, “arguments based solely on emotion cease to be rational and become pathetic outbursts.” Since we are allowed to choose whatever topic we want pretty much for the research paper you kinda wanna choose a topic that you feel strongly about. This quote taught me that I need to still be rational.

Pros and Cons

I am probably going to write on either gay marriage, if you can be born gay, or BYU and their choice to go independent in college football. The side I will take on gay marriage is that it should not be allowed. The stand that I will take on if a child can be born gay is that that is hogwash and being gay is a choice. Last, I have not decided which side I would take on BYU going independent, but I think it will be a very interesting topic to discuss. Anyways, hope everyone had a great weekend, and I wish you the best!

Whatever I want

I do not know why I am writing this, but I have to so I get a grade. I am actually rather upset, because I wrote this forever ago and it did not post for some reason.. Oh well life goes on. I will go on. Party in the USA! Anyways, how is everyone. I hope you are doing well.

Rhetorical Analysis

I am elated, to say the least, to be done with the freaking rhetorical analysis. I did not think it was extremely difficult, but I did have some trouble and some frustration writing the paper. At the writing the center I was pretty much told that my paper sucked haha so I made some changes to it for my final draft. I was pretty mad that I was late to class on the day that we turned it in, because I spent all that time writing it just to lose points for not even a good reason in my opinion. It just sucked! The one day I sleep through my alarm is the one day I need to be in class the most... Gosh Dangit!!

Letter from Birmingham

In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s, “Letter from Birmingham Jail, he uses multiple tools. He uses ethos, an appeal to his own credibility, pathos, an appeal to emotion, and logos, an appeal to logic. I wish to point out one example from each category. First, ethos, King uses ethos at the very beginning of the piece when he explains that he is not an outsider. Explaining that he is part of an organization that has rights to protest gives him credibility. It could also be argued that King is arguing his credibility when he states why he was so willing to break an unjust law. Second, pathos, Martin uses an appeal to emotion in a long paragraph on page one-hundred and ninety eight, where he speaks about oppression. He states some pretty explicit things such as, “when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim;” The way that King writes this appeals to your emotions, because it makes you feel bad for the “Negro” and envision all that they have gone through. Last, logos, an appeal to logic, King does this in a rather clever way. King talks a lot about what a just and an unjust law is. Stating that it is okay to willingly break an unjust law. For example, King says, “ I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.” Here King uses the logic that if a law is unjust it is meant to be broken.

Cool Christianity

C.S. Lewis’ piece “What Christians Believe” was rather confusing to me, but I think I may have figured it out. In my opinion, this piece falls into the category of a persuasive essay. For instance, Lewis is trying to persuade us that Christianity makes total sense, and that everything within it can be proven. She is kind to other religions stating that they are not completely untrue, and is smart in providing both sides of each argument. Lewis’ purpose is to persuade us that there is, in fact, a God, and that Christianity makes sense. The central message is that Christian’s beliefs are logical and true. Lewis assumes that everyone already has a basic knowledge of Christianity. Lewis’ world views include that Atheist are egotistical and that everyone believes that Christians think that every other religion is wrong, which is not true. She views the world as a place where everything can be explained and has a purpose. The tool that Lewis uses is logos, which is also known as an appeal to logic. She attempts to provide a logical solution to every argument presented. For example, Lewis calls out the Atheist who say that the world has no meaning, arguing that saying the world has no meaning also entails that we do not know what is dark and what is light. Furthermore, there must be opposition in all things. The evidence provided is her own experiences, knowledge of her religion and other religion, and her beliefs. My testimony was strengthened by this piece.

The Veil

Genre: Expository text. The writer is explaining the purpose of the veil.

Central Message: We need to not judge other people for their culture, but try to understand them.

Purpose: To explain what the Muslims think about the veil, why they do it, and what it means to them.

World View and Assumptions: The world’s view of Muslims is very judgmental, and we find their way of life rather strange. However, we should try not to judge, because every culture finds what another culture does weird.

Use of Tools and Evidence: He used evidence from the media. As far as tools, he tried to show both sides of the argument, which I like.

Precocious Paper

I am so so so happy to be done with Personal Narrative. I spent many hours slaving over the thing, and it feels awesome to be done. Although, I spent a lot of time writing it and am happy to be done I also kind of enjoyed it. It was fun to express my feelings, reflect on the past, and it kind of even gave me a little closure about losing the state championship. My paper was about how my team lost the state championship my senior year and how painful and disappointing the loss was. However, even though we lost we still ended the season as winners, because we grew in so many other ways. I found it difficult to figure out how to put quotations in my paper. For example, whether they should just be put in the paragraph or if they needed their own separate paragraph entirely. Do any of you have any idea on this subject? I also found it difficult to express my feelings and still sounding intelligent, not that I am a dumb person, but I’m not freaking J.K. Rowling or Mark Twain or something. I also had a hard time structuring the whole paper. For instance, where to put paragraphs chronologically, or when a new paragraph needs to be created. The paper was difficult and took long, but I’m glad I wrote it. It felt good to write, and I am now confident that I can write more than two pages without dying.

I love personal narratives

Writing, writing oh how I love writing haha but not really. I guess it is kind of nice to write about myself, but it’s still hard to take a little or even a big story and write four to six pages on it. Anyways, I’m getting there I guess for the most part. I’m finding it difficult to make my story more lengthy, but still entertaining and direct. I’m glad it’s due Monday though that is a huge relief considering I have a ton of homework in all of my other classes also. I am also having trouble formatting and knowing when to have breaks in paragraphs and different stuff like that. I mean I don’t write books or anything all I ever have written are essays, and they always have a specific structure. Frustrating. I guess it is just difficult to write a personal narrative when I have never written one in my entire life. Sister Elliot seems like she is optimistic about it though so I’m not too worried. I hope I can get a decent rough draft written by Monday. I’m doubting that I will get a good paper written by Monday, but that would be nice. I need to get a lot of it done before the weekend too, because my birthday is on Saturday, so I want to party it up this weekend, not do a bunch of homework. Thanks a lot Sister Elliot haha just kidding I will survive!.... Or at least I hope so.

Dark as Night

I really had a good time reading the excerpt from Elie Wiesel’s book, Night. I read this book this past year in English class, and really enjoyed it. However, it was a very rough book to read, because it was so descriptive and explicit. The excerpt chosen is a very moving and dark piece that really paints a good picture of the Holocaust, in my opinion. I really like Wiesel’s writing and I think he paints a great picture with his words. While reading about all the children being killed it almost made me feel sick, and I felt a lot of sympathy towards those that were so persecuted during World War II. I cannot even begin to imagine what he, and all the others tortured and killed by the Nazis went through. It really is mind boggling that humans can do these types of things to other humans without even a second thought about it. It makes me worry about our world today, and what is to come. It is said that the world is getting progressively worse, but can you get much worse then that. I don’t know, and I’m not looking forward to finding out. I wonder how I will handle whatever comes my way. Would I stick up for those being persecuted, or just pretend to be ignorant? Would I have a positive outlook if I were the one being persecuted or would I just give up? These are all questions I hope I never have to answer.

Families Can Be Together Forever

I read Families (that have been torn, re-cut with dull scissors, and then messily glued back together) Are forever. I enjoyed reading this text, but at the same time I found it rather frustrating. I found it annoying to read, because I thought the part about the dress was dumb, on both sides, and that the girl should have been more grateful for the gift and Kathleen shouldn’t have taken it so personally. I did find it inspiring that she could just fall on her knees and pray with such sincerity and faith and receive comfort. I also admire her ability to love those that are hard to love and to resolve conflicts with those close to her. I enjoyed her testimony also that said that families are forever. This is applicable to my life, because I also agree that families are forever. This has never been so real to me as it was this spring when my father passed away of metastatic prostate cancer. I don’t know what I would have done without the knowledge that families are forever and that I would someday be with my father again in a much, much better place. I have felt the same comfort and reassurance that she felt, not in the shower haha but I have often felt the comfort of the Lord. In addition, I agree that it is sometimes hardest to get a long with our families, but I think that it is just because we are so close to them.

My favorite quote was from Love Story Fades to Black when she says, “I’m not going anywhere. You smell nice. Hold me.” I chose this quote mostly cause it makes me laugh cause I had an experience like this once. Also, I think this shows that these two people were a little too attached.

Me in 100 Words

My name is Jerry Dearden. I’m 18 years old and live in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. I love an interesting conversation, sports, and being lazy. In addition, I love my family and friends. I appreciate people who are kind and polite and good music. It bothers me when people put their used gum behind their ear or on the side of their cup. I’m fascinated by deep gospel doctrines and new advances in exercise science. I’m terrible at being on time, texting conversations, and motivating myself to read. If I could be anyone I would be Ryan Gosling or Adam Levine.