Grades

I will be in my office from 12-5 on Monday if you want to come talk to me about your grade. If you can't come in (or don't want to), just email me, and I will let you know your scores. I can also make arrangements to return your papers to you after the break if you would like.

Thanks again for a great semester.

DONE.

omg.
so who else is so glad that the semester is over!? MEEE! this semester had gona by so freakin SLOW, but im finally doen with finals and its california time (: looking forward to the warm sun, the beach and that amazing skyline that i miss so much. why cant our break be longer!? 2 and a hald weeks just isnt enough. i should be given like two months break for living in autah for a WHOLE third semester, not to mention its snowing now. it feels good to sit here and have absolutly nothing to do... aaahhhh this is the life(:

Laat post

Two minutes to midnight and i jsut wanted to be crazy and post at midnight! Just because I'm crazy and I want to. English was enjoyable this year. I learned alot about rethorical strategies and analyzing. An-a-lyze Must Analyze. *ahem*

I'm not ssure reallywhat to say though. Everything i wanted to say kinda disappeared and I'm sure that as soonas i post again....it'll disappear. I have no idea why I like to type short pargraphs. maybe it's cause I do not like looong paragraphs because it's hard to read so I avoid them.

IT'S MIDNIGHT!!!!!!

Christmas time!

Since Christmas time is here, and classes are ending I want to say merry Christmas to everyone that was in English this semester. This has been one of the most fun and hardest English classes that I have ever taken. I wish I could have gotten to know all of you better. I think this has been the most diverse English class I have been in before, and it had the most points of view, which was very interesting for me. I think that this has been the English class I have learned the most in, and my writing has improved so much. I hope you all enjoy your holiday breaks. As I have been in this class and talking with others I have learned even more. This time of year always brings me so much joy! Y joy comes from the presents to the snow, to the time with your family. Remember what ever you do over the break have a “Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.”

Short story to practice details and pathos!

The shivering little girl rapped on the hard wooden door that sat in front of her... No answer, she knocked again... A few seconds later the swung open she walked in. There stood a fat man in front of her who rudely asked what she wanted. "To cone in from the cold and get warm for a few minutes" the girl said her teeth chattering, as she rubbed the sleeves of her tattered jacket. The man thought hard for a few seconds with a scowl on his face. Looking back at the couch stationed in front of the television he was watching deciding the show was to mature for a little girl said "no, but my next door neighbor is a good person, try him." Tears filled her eyes as the door slammed close and the sensation of warmth was gone.
She walked next door as instructed and knocked... Almost immanently the door swung open, this man was taller, and wore a nice bright smile. He asked in a very sweet voice "how may I help you little girl?" May I come in and get warm?" She asked for the second time that day. "As the man was about to answer he heard a popping noise from his computer to see that he had a red box in the corner of his screen indicating he had a new message. Instantly the door slammed shut.
As the night started to grow longer and the little girl got more and more worried she began to wonder why the world hated her so much she curled up in a ball under the tall tree covered in a glistening white snow. She could now feel all consciousness leaving her.
She awoke the next morning to her surprise warm, toasty in fact, and comfortable. She was in a bed. She smelt breakfast wafting up from down stairs. She ran down the stars to find a family sitting around the table waiting for her to come down.
The little girl with tears in her eyes thanked the family. They asked her what happened to her family, her eyes filled with tears as she retold the story about how the fire had burnt her house down last week, she was the only one who made it out of he house, and had gone house to house to get warm, no one ever letting her in for more than a minute or two or a piece of bread. The family let her live with them. There she lived the rest of her days happily ever after.

Sorry if you thought this was weird, I needed another blog post, and this story just kind of drifted out of no where, and I figured it out as I went along.

Other people's presentations

I really enjoyed all the presentations today. Sadly, it seems to be slipping my mind. :( It'll come to me. I really enjoyed the capital punishment presentation. The abused baby really got to me. If I didn't believe in the death penatly before; I would know. Thomas was right,, where is the justice for the baby? I think it's appaling that these jerks only get 18 months in jail. Wanna know something interesting? In the book of Mormon; there's mention of a death penalty. If ou murdered, you get the death penalty and so forth. Justice after all must be served right?

Let's see what else, I really liked the poem about Sexual abuse. It's an awesome poem. I can't explain why, just that i liked it. some of the videos were pretty funny. Like that person with 'blood' on her arms and so forth. I just had to laugh. Sorry!
**

I'm really sorry that I didn't particpate and get to know ya'll more. If there is one thing i havelearned this semester that i hope take with me next semester is to speak up and get involved more. I think nxt time, I will talk to my teacher about concerns of particpating. After all it is hard, and embarrassing to me, to sit there and wait for my typist to say something making mygroup wait a minute.

Also, there were so many things i wanted to say in class but by the time its been typed up, the conversations had moved on to something else. I can never figure out when or how to get a word in because i'm concentrating on the computer and well....it's not the typists fault really. I should've taked to Daniel about it a long time ago. But, next semester I will talk to the teachers on the first day.

I don't think i'll ever get used to calling a teacher by his/her first name. it jsut seems weird.

Genera Translations

I can hardly believe that the end of the semester is here. I have been so busy with assignments that I have barely had time to breathe. I agree with what Thilia said this being a harder semester. I also agree that the break should be longer. I had fun getting to know everyone. This is the first class that I have had to do a blog for, and it has been a very interesting experience for me. I think that everyone did a really good job on their genera translations. I saw some very good use of pathos with the one about the death sentence being fair or not, the one about depression (there were other one that I liked too). I liked some of the logos I saw in some like Emily's on health care, and they all thought me something new. I think that all of them had an element of ethos in them. If for nothing else when people were explaining them I saw why they chose what ever they chose. I also liked how some of them were kind of more laid back and just made the class (or at least me) laugh. I have really enjoyed having class with all of you and getting to know you guys.

Extra blog, critique of rherotic.

I went to a presentation about glacier lakes in Utah. It was done by a Utah Valley University student. It was presented very nicely. The presentation I went to was very informative and interesting. She boosted her ethos by talking about how she helped out with the tests her, some classmates, and an instructor did on the glacier lakes in the Uinta Mountains. Her ethos was damaged slightly when she talked really fast and acted like no one was, or really should be concerned about what she had to say. The presentation was on the discharge of salt into glacier lakes from other glacier lakes. I liked the presentation but it bugged me that she acted like we should not even understand, and that we should not even care. Another thing that detracted from her presentation was that she acted like there was no valuable information there, just that it was some random fact that was useless that we would forget after we left.

Trekkie

So, now everyone knows that I am a star trek fan. And I'm darn proud of it! The gender translation project was the best assignment I've ever done. Though I have to admit that I am so sick of hearing John F. Kennedy but I do love the ending! I tried really hard to make the video less than 8 minutes but to me all those pictures were important and I just LOVED having that song at the end. There were more things i wanted to say so I hope ya'll don't mind if I tell you more about what I was hoping to accomplish in my video. Besides, Ipersonally believe that I type better than when i speak. So hopefully this might clear up a few questions.

I have always been a space geek and I have always wanted to find out why on Earth people didn't' believe we went to the moon. So I did that paper and thought for awhile what I was going to do for th gender translation. Then I had it; the video! Combining two things that I love; space and drums.

My drum teacher, Mitch Lee, did the recording of the drums. I did what I think is called abstract drumming, or is it interpretive drumming? Each section representated something during a space mission. Preparing, countdown, launch and sailing through space. The cymbals and drum rumbles were thesailing through space and the control bursts for corrections and Lunar insertions and so forth. That was alot of fun. the funny thing was when the recording came up in itunes; it was mistaken for a hard rock band called pentera or something like that. And the album was Vulgar display of power O_O Why does that sound dirty or ugly?

The project was alot of hard work though. I used my friend's imac and we wre both very unfamil;ier with imovies. For instance, I collected all these pictures but we had to find mostly new ones because apperently the large pictures were the best. I had no idea I could even select what kind of pictures i wanted or that it mattered!

Then this weekend was a bear; tidying things up. Of course, as always several things went wrong. We finally got the movie unto the DVD only to find that my name was mispelled. It's a good lesson, don't work at midnight cause then you're loopy and bound to make more mistakes. So, I put it on a CD-RW because i wantd a copy to take home in a few days. Well....it looked great yesterday and I was prepared to give that one to Daniel this morning.

Of course I found two things. I should've said Daniel instead of Dr. For some reason, I forgot that he rather be called Daniel Westover. But that's not the big one. The really biggie was that I wanted to have some credits to show where I got John F. Kennedy's speech, Queens and sof orth. it did not show up on that CD! Can you belive that? I have no idea how that happened. Especially since the DVD was done first so it should've been on the cd but i think when we fixed my name; it somehow fell off. Oh well, that one is for my family and on youtube. I hope you like the cool DVD. I had to laugh when I saw one person used a simaler DVD menu and the same drumbeat. So cool!

I hope that the movie presented the pathos, ethos, and logos that I wanted. I wanted to show a sense of unity and pride through the pictures and the drumming. I wanted to give a sense of, "We did it! We went to the moon! We all did it!" I shared in my paper that Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot for Apollo11, had visited mor than 20 forgien counteries. And the response h usually gts is not, "Oh, you Americans went to the moon." It was more, "We did it! We went!"

The NASA 2009, was to show that is what we're doing right now. That is what NASA is doing for our country now. Returning to the moon and how knows how much cool technology we're get from the Constellation program. After all, much of the technology, we have today is from the space program. You can check out NASA spinoff database for all that stuff.

((Frakes is so dang hot!))

Anyway, I used the two star trek clips because as I've said in class, i wanted to show how the future could be. And I really liked that saturn shot was so cool. ANd which that Space, final frontier speech, I thought was perfect. Like I said, there is still so much to explore. Nto just outer space, but our world and our lives.. Every day, every decision is in an essense, going boldly where no one has gone before. Sure,others have gone there maybe but....you haven't. Right?

Originally I was going to play the drums on the credits but then yesterday morning I got this beat in my head. And i thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if I put in "We will rock you" by the Queens at the end? As soon as Spocks said before, the beat starts. I thought it was the coolest thing. How I felt, and i hope you all felt, was excitement for the future. Going out and conquering the world in whatever we do in life. Or maybe one i'm' just one of those people that look deeper into things then i should. But that's what I see and think of with the things presented in my video.

Okay, i'll shut up now. :) Though, i think i'll add another post. I have no idea how many I've made.

FINALLY

so is it just me or is EVERYONE excited that this freakin semester is over!!! I can honestly say this has been a hard one, I just feel so overwhelmed! So much work, blogging, papers, quizess, assignments, presentations, projects, aaghhh!!! i which winter break was longer then 2 and half weeks. It should be like a month! I think thats long enough to call it a vacation but not long enough that we fall out of school mode. lets sign a pretition! yea right no onw would ever let us do it! ugh. at least everyone gets to go home and spend time with theyre family. Im leaving for california on thursday and i couldnt be MORE excited. I actually get to feel the WARM sun, not the sun in Utah that doesnt work when theres white stuff on the ground. im sorry for anyone who is born and raised in Utah but i really dont appreciated the 7 months of snow. maybe its just because im from California and Im not used to it but...I will never dream of a white christmas. its horrible! hahaa WOuldnt you want to be where its nice and sunny instead? i dont know maybe its just me. Anyway, my counselor says i havent focused on any of my generals so thats what im doing next semester and let me tell you, im NOT excited. What has kept me going in school are all my communications classes, oh and english (; cant forget about english! bring on the REAL struggles of college, i guess...

i love bloggingggg???

So I never had used a blog before this class and now I think its way fun. When Daniel first told us that we would have to blog I was excited but at the same time I knew I would forget about having to post them when they were due. However Ive been doing really well, up unitil now cause I have too post 5 blogs by midnight haha.. Anyway I think blogging is pretty cool now, actually when Im done with this class Im pretty sure I will continue to blog. I always enjoyed writing and talking, which is why Im a comm major, so a blog would be perfect for me. Its alos a fun way to read up on people and see what theyre up to and what theyre doing. My friend susanna often goes onto the different blog sites of photographers just because they always have really cool pictures up and she likes to browse. My other friend Ashley has a sleeping problem and she always finds her self awake at like 3 in the morning so she made a blog site so that she can have something to do when shes up hahaha. Maybe I will use it for that too. My boyfriend is leaving on deployment the 3rd of January, so i think that my blog will be a good way for him to know whats going on in my life and stuff. good idea right? who needs facebook, blogging is awesome!

Genre Translations

I felt kinda stupid today, sitting there as everyone played their videos, then I went up there with my poster -_-but I guess I just have to look at it in a positive way, and think of my presentation as just different from everyone elses. I enjoyed everyones presentions. One of my favorites was...hmm i dont remember his name but he sits next to me! His presentation was on the death penalty, and he used his daughter as one of his examples. I couldnt beleive that people like that actually exsisted. How can you do something so horrible to such an innocent being. It breaks my heart to know that things like that are actually in someones mentality. The other ones I really liked are the presentaions on universal health care, not only am I a huge fan of President Obama but because both presentations were very educational and kept me paying attention. One was filled with personal expiriences and the other was kind of calming the issue and making sure that everyone had a sense of humor about the topic. plus i loved how all the music changed with the different things going on. The one on texting and facebook was interesting too! its soo true, I totally say "txt" instead of "text" hahaha, I am totally a texting addict, as for facebook I recently deactivated my account. Not because I was addicted but because someone kept haching my account and I hated it! it was about once a week and I was getting really tired of it so I figured maybe if I cancel my account for the bit my hacker will go away. Over all, the genre translations were very educational and enlightening, great way to end my semester!

Genre Translations

When chosing my genre translation, I went with a simple presentation figuring that would be the best way for people to see the statistics and various things I wanted to show the class. I tried to use logos and pathos in my presentation but I didn't go outside the box, and after seeing Chelsea Newsome's presentation, I wish I had.

Chelsea's video of modern dance was full of pathos - I reckon it drew emotion out of everyone. I really loved watching it and was impressed with the choreography, music, and reasons for why Chelsea used that particular genre.

Presentation day was interesting to me overall. I liked the broad range of topics and the various types of presentations whether they were videos, posters, demonstrations etc. that each individual brought to the class. There wasn't a single one that didn't hit on ethos, pathos, or logos. The things everyone appears to have learned about not only their topics but their rhetorical strategies is nice to see - a semester well spent in my book and it should be in everyone elses.

coming to an end...

I really didn't expect this semester to come to a close this fast. I'm not saying that I'm really sad about it coming to an end, I just can't believe that four months have almost passed since I started here at UVU in August. I feel like I given good, honest effort in my classes and I hope to be getting good grades in all of them.

A lot has happened since this semester started, and some of those changes were pretty big for me. I got engaged, changed my major (at least I'm going to see an academic counselor this week to do so), and lived completely on my own for the first time. I like the changes that are happening, especially that I'm getting married on January 2nd, but I am definitely starting to realize what people mean when they say that we all need to "grow up." Paying bills, going to school because I want to, buying a car, preparing to get married and all that being married entails have really caused me to take a lot more responsibility with who I am and where I'm going. I actually kind of like being the one in charge, and being independent, even though it is a lot more challenging than living with my siblings or parents.

Overall, I'm glad that I was able to take the classes that I had this semester and feel like I've learned quite a bit, but I am also excited to be moving on into the future! Adios Amigos.

The Reason for the Season -please read.

It's Christmas time again. Though you may call it "the Holiday season" it is still a good excuse to be charitable.

I know that some of you may have issues with this being a hokey time, and maybe feel a sense of competitiveness when it comes to "presents", but don't fret. This year will be different if you make the effort and stop complaining.

I recently just got off the phone with my little brother and my mom; they wanted to know what I'd like for Christmas. I didn't give it much of a second thought. I said I don't really want anything. My little brother became frustrated and began to excitedly yell at me and exclaimed that I must tell him so he can use the money mom gave him to go get me something. I told him to give it to charity.

"I want this Christmas to be different" I told my mom after my little brother complained to her and she took the phone from him. I have everything that I want right now and there are people who are in real "need". It truly is the reason for the season.

If it is too much to ask, I'll ask it anyway: give. Do something for someone that you DON'T know this year. No more giving unnecessary gifts. Why not give the money that you would have spent on that anonymous, to the actual person (or trusted organization). Let them use it how THEY feel would be best for that special individual or family. I want more people this year to go about with "Merry Christmas" upon their lips, and mean it.

I haven't seen "The Christmas Carol" this year yet, but the Bob Cratchet family comes to mind. Use this legendary example from the immortal classic to NOT BE A SCROOGE.

I feel obligate to say this because I have Ethos on my side. I recently came from a gathering of individuals this Sunday evening and we all sat around a large circle and expressed what we wanted for Christmas. Though there were only a select few of us who were generous and thought of others, the vast majority thought only about what they selfishly desired. Even when it came down to the last few people, they still didn't learn. They sincerely asked for money, cars, cruises, or week long trips to Hawaii or Italy (they even put it into time frames as I just did, indirectly meaning that they've already thought about it). I left that meeting feeling sick. You'd think that Utah County citizens would be better.

We are indeed all blessed, but there are always those who aren't as blessed as we may be. Trust me, you'll feel the Christmas/Holiday spirit if you simply give and TRULY TRY to be better.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Sitting Here with my Roommate

His name is Eric too. I am sitting here next to him in my chair, writing this; he is in his bed on my right. We are talking. However, he is a fast sleeper. Just barely we were in a conversation and then... ZZZ zzz ZZZ zzz he was out. He is a snorer. I woke him up. He chuckled. He said he heard my voice in his dream. I was like the narrator to what was happening within his mind. "Hmm..." I thought, and he was out again.

If it is true that I can manipulate his dreams simply by talking to him in such an early stage of sleep, then I might as well take this opportunity to use this awesome power right!? Wouldn't you?

I played again: This time he was a village boy who lived in a tree, (like the beginning of the Zelda saga, Nintendo 64 style). He was given a fairy and then a sword. *Shing!* -- goes the sword as it's pulled from its sheath. He woke up again. He was able to recall the sword and the sound.

He was catching on to what I was doing. He asked for a preference on what his next dream would entail, but I declined his offer to conduct. I am no narrator for "X" rated dreams I exclaimed. We laughed, and after a sigh he was out again. I decided to leave his mind alone and let him rest in peace. After all, too much of this may cause some damage (to both of us: him mentally and me, physically if he gets angry ha ha).

I've never seen such a fast sleeping phenomena before in my life. He is awake, and the next moment he is gone.

This applies to life. Furthermore, it rhetorically applies to this class. We came to this class initially for our own purposes and now here we are at the end of the semester for the same purpose: to continue. As we advance further into our lives (and this class was a part of all of ours), we move on, grow, and develop and sometimes don't take the time to appreciate how things were.

We are that much better, whether we improved in the class or not, we experienced it, and that makes us better than we previously were. I ask you to ask yourself a question or two: how did I grow from participating in this class, and what do I want to take with me to improve my life. (Forgive me for being sentimental, but it is the holiday season and I tend to get a bit mushy this time of year.)

Either way, life tends to move at its own pace sometimes, whether it be too fast or too slow. But it's always best to enjoy it, no matter what the rate, for how long you'll be here, you never quite know... -me ^_^

My roommate... he's asleep. Nope, now he's awake again. There he goes. ha ha this is fun.

Genera Translation

I hate trying to find a project for the genera translation! I totally have no ideas left.I am presenting on Monday so it is really frustrating,. I have thought about this project for such a long time, and is so hard, I can't figure anything out at all. I think something will work, then I wee a whole bunch of flaws in it. I keep going around in circles. I ask people if they have any ideas, the only thing I hear all is stuff like go talk to this person or I have no idea. If any one has any ideas I am open for suggestions. My paper is on how technology (namely Facebook and texting) are ruining peoples grammar. I talk about how students spend too much time on Facebook, and how they start to forget about their grammar, then even use text talk in their papers. I have thought about doing a power point and putting text talk on their to show how students (the class) know text talk, and then put some words from my medical terminology class, or other words like that to prove my point. I kink of thought that was lame, but that is my only idea right now. If any one has any ideas I am up to suggestions. I have been going crazy trying to figure out what to do for this project. Thanks for reading this, it started as a rant, but if you have any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Mac. Vs. P.C Commercials - Rhetorical Strategies

When I was watching TV yesterday, an ad I have often seen came on. We have tevo so normally I would just fast forward through all the ads but this one I wanted to watch. I’m sure everyone’s seen them, I’m talking about the Mac vs. P.C. commercials. They are a good example of great use in rhetorical strategies so I have decided to write a blog post on them.

Firstly, the guy who represents Mac is slimmer, younger, dressed more modernly and in general a “cooler” guy than the P.C man. Secondly, the ads always use humor to poke fun at their opponent’s flaws. Then there is the music going on in the background that everyone can identify with because it is always used by the Mac vs. P.C. ads. The plain white background keeps the audience focused on the differences between the two guys representing their computers and the actual product being advertised is shown at the very end of the commercial as a reminder of what they’re trying to sell you. Sometimes statistics are used to prove a point which is a good use of logos.

Overall these are effective ads that had me not fast forwarding through them mostly because I knew it would probably make me laugh. Any ad able to do this is definitely successful.

Why

This isn't for an assignment, but just out of curiosity, I'd love to hear more about the stories behind the papers, why you chose to write about what you did? Whether it's just so you could get more info on the topic or if it goes really deep and personal? To make people realize something, or so you could just explore the topic for you. I know we've heard a little hear and there why people chose their topics, but if you guys want to explain more I'd love to hear!

I wrote mine on universal health care because I feel like all I ever heard was left and right, black and white, dem and rep. It's either universal health care of free-market. But lo and behold I actually discovered there were other options! Which is what I wanted the main focus to be, that it doesn't always have to be dem vs. rep. There are other options to be explored sometimes and the answer isn't always clear cut, but I feel like we're being pushed to choose one or the other without considering other ideas ;)
-Happy Holidays

Zach's Presentation and Reflection

Zach's presentation was awesome. Though I didn't understand half of the words he was saying up there, I still basically got the message; I hope you did too. There was a lot to learn! His art was rad and intriguing and you can tell he put a lot of thought into every detail. And yes, the fetus was a brilliant idea. ha ha ;)

Morality IS different for everyone across the globe. Hearing that caused me to reflect on my own.

Being raised LDS has made a tremendous moral impact on how I treat people. My fathers example is now my own. And my little brother's choices are sadly a reflection upon what I have done and told him to do as well.

I have encouraged him to be "bad" in school to not get bullied anymore. When I say "bad" I mean in a... cool way. He's no bully himself. He's a nicer kid than I am (thank goodness he still followed THAT example). But he sometimes is being someone he's not (If that makes sense). Though that phase is now mostly over, and he gets the respect he deserves from "all" of the stereotypes (so he tells me), he is still occasionally bullied. I guess he's just one of those targets. But hey! at least NOW he's got the whole school on his side and showed those bullies who's boss by numbers and by simply befriending the "scary" kids. Now THAT was a good idea. ;)

But anyway, sorry about getting sidetracked, my morality has changed over the past semester and so has my little brother's (as I am his idol, says my parents). I am glad to be where I am morally now and wish to continue. It's not that hard if you know the W's.

But when it comes to pirating music I still can't quite understand (it is still "stealing").

Oh, and by the way Zach, I would have chosen to the throw the guy off of the bridge. ;)

My Presentation/Genre Translation

Hello bloggers, class mates, and strange people who aren't in the class and blog on here. I recently got up and did a presentation to the class about the media (mainly TV) and its influence. I felt that my view on the matter came across quite well, especially when I bluntly stated several times to "stop, watching, TV".

I was humbly flattered by your complements about my presentation and I wish you the best on yours. Hopefully your face won't be as red as mine ;) but hey, life goes on.

I forgot, however, to mention to the class why I chose to do a slide show as my "genre translation" (I was docked points because of it). But even though I know I can't make those points up by blogging it now or doing my presentation a second time, I still feel obligated to tell you here. It is quite obvious actually. I chose to present my topic, on media, through media itself. It seemed to be the only reasonable way to go about it. Simply saying that would have saved me those points...

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my presentation. And for those of you who aren't in the class or weren't there that day, you missed out. ;)

Last Blog!!

As I was trying to decide what I could blog about, I decided I would say my thoughts about the genre translation projects. As I sit and watch the presentations, I have enjoyed listening to them. Everyone has come up with their own ideas and unique ways of displaying their topics. There has been a wide variety range of topics and it is interesting to learn something new about a certain subject or re-hear about a topic I have forgotten about. The way people have presented their topics, they have done a fine job with it.

To be honest, I am very nervous to give my presentation. Everyone that has gone already seems to not come across as being nervous. I always fear of speaking in front of people because I hate when everyone is looking at me. I start to blank out and I talk very fast. I really hope that I will be able to present my topic and not be scared. I am very impressed with the work that everyone has done so far. I hope that my project will run smoothly with the slide show, interviews and the sound working well all together.

What I have noticed from doing this project is that everyone has picked a topic that they have some feelings on and are passionate about. I think this helped better portray the subject and feeling of the topic to the class because everyone is interested in the topic and it has some sort of effect on them. I can not wait to see all the other presentations and I will be happy once mine is over with.

Genre translation

So today I FINALLY presented my genre translation. I was so nervous about it but... I thought it went pretty well. I took just long enough but not too long, and I covered all my information without forgetting anything. I feel so relieved now that it's over. So my topic was cloning animals in order to get organs for human transplants. I chose this topic for many reasons, but the things I learned about were very very interesting.
I've always loved learning new things about science. I'm astonished at the things we have been able to come up with in our time. Science has come so far these past few decades. We have the technology to clone pigs and and use their organs to transplant into humans. This is amazing to me.
SO anyways... Thanks everyone for listening to my presentation. I hope you liked it!!! And I look forward to all of the rest of yours on monday!!!

Pathos Rhetoric

I was experimenting with Pathos, my favorite rhetoric in this non-fictional piece I wrote, under my pseudonym, Reed Winters. Basically, I was just trying to create something that mustered at least a little emotional response from the reader. Here it is:

I've been pondering death and the afterlife for two weeks now. I can't stop. It occupies my thoughts constantly.

Tonight is no exception.

These thoughts have been escalated by the recent news; Trevor Wardle has passed away. I don't know the whole story. Something involving drugs and a car crash. Trevor lived right across the street from me back in Nephi. I never knew him. Never talked to him.

I used to come home from work really late. One in the morning sometimes. I'd pull my car into the lot on the side of our house, and get out to see Trevor sitting on his porch. Sometimes he sat with his parents. Sometimes one. Sometimes both. Sometimes alone. I never waved. Never shouted hello. I usually pretended not to notice him. I used to think he didn't want to be noticed. The mood was always sort of a melancholic awkwardness. It's hard to explain.

Sometimes I'd come home from school and he'd be out shoveling the driveway.

I didn't know much about Trevor. I knew he'd had some serious drug problems the past couple years that climaxed with a lethal overdose of Coricdin Cough and Cold. He took enough that it should have killed him. It was twice what could have killed a normal person. Twice what could have killed me. He narrowly escaped death, but was never the same person. I used to hear he was in a constant state of. . . well. . .the state he was in while high was about the same state he was now constantly in. Maybe confusion overpowered logical reasoning. Perhaps numbness was all he felt. I don't really know.

But there was something wrong. Blatantly wrong.

I described those afternoons and those nights I saw him as melancholy. He seemed to be in a perpetual state of misery. Just from my perspective. His time out on his porch or shoveling his driveway was perhaps the most he got out of life from this point forward. Maybe this was his only escape from the confines of the house which he was now basically constricted to. It seemed but a speck of hope for Trevor Wardle. Maybe one day he would be a normal kid again.

His parents seemed to loosen their restrictions on Trevor day by day. A few months later I'd see friends come and get him in an old broken-down Toyota pick-up. I remember once or twice catching a chubby, goofy grin on his face. That speck of hope seemed to be growing. A sparked fire growing ever-so-slightly.

Around this time I moved out. I never thought of him again. Until now. Now I'm hearing the news. Drugs again. Car crash. I thought he'd been off drugs. Maybe he was -- for a while?

I'm wishing now that one of those nights I'd just walked over there. Listened to his story. Talked to him for a few minutes. I wonder if he would have enjoyed that. If nothing else, given a friendly wave. The memory could have served as my own little requiem of sorts. A song in my head, respecting and commemorating Trevor Wardle.

Life can be fickle. Life can be touchy. We're always one overdose, one car crash away from an entirely new existence. Perhaps an entirely new non-existence. I'll never know what happens after the death until I get there I suppose. And maybe even when I do get there, I still won't know.

Perhaps I'll drift away into oblivion.

Sink forevermore through the void.

Forward into the darkness.

Nothing. Extinction. Nirvana.

Considering it always,

Reed Winters

Post-Script: This, and other various chunks and tidbits can be accessed at my blog here, at Stochasticity and Me (Including a link to my classical argument paper!).

Exploring Plastic Surgery

For my Classical Argument/ Genre Translation topic I picked the negative effect media has on society and how the cosmetic surgery industry is booming. I am curious to see what other people’s opinions are. Teenage cosmetic surgery is at an all time high. Rhinoplasty, and breast augmentations are given out as birthday and graduation presents. How young do you think is too young for teenagers to be getting cosmetic surgery done? The media has a huge impact on our society now. It is almost scary how much influence the media has. Has the media impacted the way you view yourself and your body image? I know it has effected me. I hear of models getting fired all the time cause they couldn’t lose 5 pounds, but they are so skinny! There are a lot of ways that people are trying to improve on the type of models that they are hiring but any improvements being made are slow. What is surprising to me is how much criticism celebrities get for their bodies shapes and sizes. Pretty much all celebrities are skinny so I don’t understand why they are looked upon as fat. For me that makes me look at myself and judge myself even more harshly. I think that is a huge reason why eating disorders are so common among young girls. Girls are taught as they grow up to not be happy with how they look. I thought about different ways I could present this in my genre translation and I decided to go with a video since this topic is very visual.

ready and waiting

Well, I did my Genre Translation presentation yesterday. It didn't go as well as I was hoping it would. I guess I don't really know what I was hoping for actually. I did like the brochure more than I initially thought though, so that's good, but I think the most depressing part of my presentation was that the person after me did a WAY better job than me. I thought mine was ok, and I feel like a did a fairly good job at translating my classic argument into a different medium, but my presentation was pretty blah. Pretty darn boring. But, at least now it's done and I can move on and look forward to other assignments in different classes, or finals for the most part.

I can't wait to see the rest of the presentations though! I do like hearing and learning about different views on subjects, and understanding other people's opinions on them. At first, I was kind of bummed out that I was going to have to come to English class every MWF when all of my other classes are done, but I think that will actually enjoy the time spent listening to the presentations. The presentation and argument on how much TV we watch was very interesting. None of the points made were really a surprise to me, but I definitely agree that we spend way too much time watching that nasty thing. Good job Eric (however you spell your name) So, you all better do a great job with yours, if for no other reason than to entertain me :)

The Christmas Carol

On Friday December 4th, I went to a play at the Hale Theatre in Orem. The performance that I watched was the play called The Christmas Carol. I have heard about this play and movie from people, but I actually never had seen it before. I'm usually not big into watching plays, but I enjoyed seeing this one. It was really neat because the stage was in the middle of the floor and all the seats were surrounding it. I was in the front seats so I could actually see the actors up close and my feet were touching the stage. This play helped to bring in the Christmas spirit.

This play I feel did not have any ethos or logos but it did have a lot of pathos. Each character played a different role and with each role they played, they displayed different emotions depending on the character or each new scene. Being up close to the actors made it easier for me to see the emotions on their faces and allow myself to really understand and feel like they were speaking to me. The little boy, Tiny Tim, he was about 5 years old. It was amazing how a child so young could perform and not be shy to rememeber and act a few lines. Seeing the little boy created lots of pathos for me because I love kids and it made me think of my niece.

The costumes of the play helped explain and set the mood of the characters as well as where the setting was taken place; the time of year and place. The amount of effort put into the costumes and the details helped display which characters were the leading actors. The sounds and lights in the play helped to set the mood of each scene.

The theme I feel of the play was that it is not all about being rich and being of weath to be happy. To be happy is to truely love, care and serve others. The scrooge (the old cranky man) was all about money. He later helped Tiny Tim who was ill and saved him from dying. The scrooge had a change of heart and he became not cranky and cared for others, instead of being grumpy to all he met. In this christmas season, this play made me think about what I can do to serve others and be there for them.

genre translation

I chose to make a brochure for my genre translation and have had a fairly good time making it. I did run into a few problems, however, that I didn't foresee coming at all! Since I have been using Adobe Photoshop since I was like 14, I designed brochure with it. I have done a lot graphic design with Photoshop before. I have made web pages, edited and printed photography, designed and printed business cards, logos, and whatever else, but I have to admit, printing these brochures out was the most depressing moment of my graphic design history!

On the computer screen, the brochures look awesome, but I got them printed last Saturday, and I'm not going to lie, they look like garbage. They aren't near as shiny nor stimulating as I thought they were going to be :( I don't know... I jut wanted them to be a lot better, but I'm giving my presentation today and have NO time to redo them now. What a bummer. I had them done early and everything, but I guess I waited too long to get them printed and see just exactly how they looked in person. Haha. What can I do now?

Well, I guess when I think about it, my brochure does look better than most of the brochures that I've ever seen. It's just not as impressive as I wanted it to be. From computer to print there was definitely a big difference, something that I have learned to consider for next time. Live and Learn!

so proud!

I'm not going to lie, I am proud of my paper. I wrote my classical argument on why marijuana should not be legalized. I wrote it down as one of my three ideas kind of as a joke but when I found out one of my friends wrote it on why it should be legalized, I knew I had to write the opposing side.

At times I felt like I wasn't going to be able to write a good enough argument. Me and my friend who wrote it on why it should be legalized, lets call him Jerry, would constantly give our opposing views. Jerry has done a lot of research and read many books about this subject so when he would throw all of his facts and statistics at me I would feel inadequate. I was later on talking to another one of my guy friends telling him that I wanted to change my subject to why marijuana should be legalized. He encouraged me to keep my faith and go with my standards. What he said really made me want to write the best paper I could so the research began!

I just put the finishing touches on my paper tonight and I feel very good inside! This is the first time I will turn in a paper and feel like I really did and tried my best. I am also very nervous to turn it in... being my first semester of college, the first time I have done a legit research paper in my life, its all a little nerve racking. Tomorrow I will turn it in, and lots of stress I have been suffering from these past few weeks will be all gone!! Now the genre presentation.. I made a little video.. I went back and forth on ideas and then I came up with one and stuck to it. It was kind of dark when I had the chance to shoot it ( I was at a service project for most of the day on saturday and i am trying to get it done so I can possibly present tomorrow) so I am a little worried that it will be hard to see, but the message is what is most important!

Be compassionate towards alcoholics....

For my classical argument I wrote about how people should be more compassionate and less judgmental towards alcoholics because studies have shown that it is a disease. Unless a person has experienced with having a family member or friend affected by alcohol, a person really does not know how hard it is to overcome this sickness. Everyone chose a topic that they are passionate about or have a stance on a topic. I decided to write about this subject because it is something that I have been affected by. I feel it is an interesting topic and there are many people out in the world that are too affected by it.

When I was home for thanksgiving I asked a few people a couple questions regarding my topic and they responsed. I put together my slide show and all I had to do was edit it by adding colors, change the text fonts and put music in the background. Once I got to Utah I was about to work on it, but then the slide show would not work and the interview clips would not play. I am stressing out about this project. I'm not good at editing and I'm not too sure about how to put music in the background or add the video clips without having the music and sound to the videos collide. Now I have to have my dad send the interview clips on a cd so I can re- do my slide show. I hope I can figure it out by myself. If you have any ides about how to add music and interviewers or to make the slide show actually work please let me know. thanks!

Classical Argument

So I decided to write my classical argument on health care, I know, sticky subject. But I wanted to learn more about the problems that everyone's complaining they're having with the current system. I didn't understand. So far it just seems as if the problem for most people, is price. But researching on this topic as I tried to present other alternatives to universal health care and the free market, it made me realize, y'know there are good reasons for both, but I feel like no matter what kind of choice you want to make when it comes to politics, you're going to be manipulated. Statistics are so different everywhere you go, it was really frustrating. Some democrats reasoned that universal health care wouldn't be all the expensive. Of course republicans argue the opposite. Personally I don't see how health care can ever be dirt cheap (it's gotta come from somewhere) and so I doubt paying for universal health care will make it cheaper....
But I am likewise...at least partially excited for this paper, more so for the genre translation after I figured out what I was going to do. As some of you know I'm going to do a comedy video. Parts are going to be serious, it is a serious subject after all, but I think it's also a stressful topic to think about, whether you've made a decision on where you stand or not. I'm just trying to lighten up the mood, but I think that I'm going to have a hard time making people literally laugh out loud. I'm not experienced with creating or writing out funny "lol" scenes, nor have I ever filmed anything in my life, nor do I have any experience editing film on imovie. So I'm hoping i get the point across in a way that lightens the subject just a bit, maybe a smile or two? Please if it looks like I'm going down, feel free to burst out laughing at something (I'll bribe you!). But really this paper was interesting to write. I think all of our papers have been because while we are writing and learning how to use ethos, pathos, etc. we get to learn more about life around us in general as we explore our topics. Last post, holla! :D

because i got high

I really didn't get high.. but because some of my friends have, is the reason I choose to write my Classical Argument on why marijuana should not be legalized. On the day of class when we had to bring in 3 topics we would be interested in writing our argument on I wrote down why marijuana should not be legalized kind of as a joke. When I got to class I told Anton my ideas he said he was going to write his on why it should be legalized, so we decided to battle and see whose paper got the better grade. Although he backed out of the battle ( i think he was afraid of losing) I stuck to my idea and when a good friend of mine told me that last year he wrote a paper on pro-marijuana, that was conformation to stick with my topic.

Sadly, I know a lot of people who do, and have smoked weed. I was surrounded by it all the time in high school. The days when some of my friends would come to class high it was sad to watch them. They were no fun, they would sleep the whole time, not do any work and their grades would drop. Two of my very good friends who are still my very good friends today, have gotten in a lot of trouble for being under the influence and possession of marijuana. They have both spent a night in the slammer and one even went to rehab. All of that just for the feeling of getting high. Stupid if you ask me.

One thing I have a sure knowledge of after writing this paper, getting high really isn't as cool as people, music, and movies etc. make it seem to be. live above the influence!

I have actually had a good time writing this!

I have to agree with may of you in saying that I am actually really excited about the classical argument, even though I'm not quite as excited about the genre translation :/ I really enjoy trying to be persuasive, whether I'm good at it or not, and I also enjoy researching a subject well enough that I fell like I actually have a well thought out and educated opinion on it. I also thoroughly enjoyed persuading MYSELF of what I was trying to persuade others of; the writing the paper gave me a more solid conviction on the topic :)

For my paper I chose to explore cohabitation vs. marriage and to come to a convincing conclusion that cohabitation is most certainly NOT advantageous over marriage. Researching the topic was actually quite a bit of fun, especially because I had no idea that there is so much research done on this particular topic. I was also very interested in writing about this topic because I have had recent and close experience (my brother is living with his girlfriend) with it. Before the recent experiences I've had, I didn't really care too much about the issue, but have definitely become more interested since.

Classical Arugment Excitment

I have to admit this is my favorite paper that I have written for this class. I don't get bored with this paper and I love spending time writing it. I also have taken my argument and I keep researching it because it is a topic I love. I also am really excited for the genre translation. I can't wait to present it in class. I think that this paper is so exciting because it is a topic that is interesting. The other papers I think bored me out because they were writing about ads and things like that. This paper also integrates everything we have learned this semester. I was wondering though some ideas you guys had for the genre translation? I think I have a good idea but I just wanted to see what you guys were all doing. Anyways I love this classical argument paper! I am almost sad that we are done writing it. Oh well I will live. haha.