Self - Analysis Blog

This class has opened a lot of doors for me as far as writing is concerned. Before this class, I saw myself as an average high school writer that basically did what needed to be done for the assignment and I never really put extra time into my work. After this semester, I feel like I have improved a fair amount in this area. Now I can say that I have a more diversified outlook on the types of writing, including the rhetoric view as well as the the observational and relflective styles that we have discussed in class. I have learned to respect all styles of writing as well, even if I don't completely understand the purpose of it. I have also learned to write in a more spaced out format. I work on an assignment chunk by chunk, in order to have time to think about it longer, instead of sitting down at one session and putting an entire paper together.

In communicating with other classmates, I have learned to bounce ideas back and forth to create a better understanding of a particular assignment, as well as get that person's perspective (a peer review) on a piece of work that maybe I thought was ok. The peer reviews that were done in class this year provided a lot of constructive feedback for helping me complete the first two writing projects. Communicating with my teacher, when I did communicate, was a good experience. He provides complete answers to my questions and that made the assignment a lot easier.

I think I can say that the strengths of my writing skills are a fairly well-educated vocabulary and grammar skills (although I am sure everyone can say the same about the grammar). I think that I struggled this semester in comprehending all that the rhetoric assignment was to be composed of. My imagination when it comes to deciding what to write for freewrites was a strength as well, as there was a lot of opportunity to write those. In reference to the "What is good writing?" question, I think it is safe to say that good writing is composed of a few things. First, if there is a topic or question that needs to be discussed, make sure the writer is effectively doing that. Also, there needs to be a feel that the writer has put a little time and effort into it by creating a sort of flowing work that makes sense in general.

As far as the future of my writing experiences, I think that a lot of this education will be used in many other papers, classes, or even jobs. There will be times I am sure that I will need to address the emotional standpoint of some issue. I would feel confident in my knowledge of pathos to develop a strong argument on an issue of that type. This class has been a learning experience that I will definitely take with me after this semester.

O-O #3

This red Motorola Razor can be considered a big lifeline for many Americans in today's society. The cell phone about the size of the palm of a person's hand, and flips open to almost one hundred and eighty degrees. There are three buttons on the outside of the phone on the left side. The top two control the volume of the ringer. The bottom button turns the speakerphone on and off. There is a small silver circle on the cover that has the Motorola logo on it. The silver circle has small horizontal lines over it giving it a rough feel. There is a camera lens at the top of the phone. On the back, there is another Motorola logo and a white alltel logo as well. On the inside, the silver keyboard is highlighted by light blue lights. The color screen on the top half shows the date, time, and other things such as signal strength, ringer volume, and battery power. The screen, as well as the outside cover, is scratched from constant use. The numbers and the other buttons are beginning to rub off and are becoming harder to see.

This phone has a lot to do with my everyday life. From calling my parents to texting classmates for last minute homework questions, there is so much this phone can offer me. There have been many important calls that have come through this phone. I can remember hearing of how friends turned out at a basketball game or how someone had just hit a deer in Lincoln, NE. Without a cell phone they would have had to wait to see the person or to call them off a land line to tell them the same thing.

O -O #2

MP3 players come in all shapes and sizes. Mine happens to be very small. The small black Creative MuVo V100 digital music player can easily fit in the palm of my hand. The glossy black surface highlights the scratchs and smudges that come with the everyday wear and tear of it. The silver buttons on the sides are tiny as well and the skip wheel are easy to press while running or just sitting there. The memory stick attached to the console of the MP3 player smoothly slides in and out. It directly connects to a computer and allows one to easily place files onto the stick. The player can hold approximately twenty gigabytes of files, or something like five hundred songs. On the back of the MP3 player is the area for the battery. This cover also slides off easily so that one triple A battery to power the player. The size of the MP3 player makes it easy to use but sometimes hard to find.

The music that plays from this player can impact my life everyday. Whether using it to run or to relax while browsing the world wide web, it helps put me into moods of all kinds. While running, it can be a motivator to help stay focused. When relaxing at home or on a bus ride, it can play soothing music to help me further relax. It can also adjust to the type of music I am interested in at a certain time. Dividing the music into folders, it creates playlists. These playlists can be divided up into different genres of music, and that helps when wanting to listen a certain band or two.

O - O #1

Of course they weren't the first pair I ever had, but they were the pair I held on to the longest. The running shoes that had logged so many miles were finally laid to rest underneath my futon now at college. Long before that, well over a year ago, the crisp and clean shoes arrived at my house after a typical purchase from Eastbay. The vamps were so white they could have blinded a person, while the three green adidas stripes slashed across the toes of the shoe. The ventilated tops caused a breeze to gently pass through to the runners feet for sweat control. Another amazing feature of these light-as-a-feather shoes was the vented bottoms. Three stratigically placed gaps in the bottom of the shoe enhanced the ventilation even further.
These adidas shoes provided many wonderous moments throughout the past year, from worldly accomplishments to forming relationships. A fellow runner on our cross country team had purchased the same pair of shoes, on the same day, with no knowledge of my purchase. The friend and I seemed to become closer over the next few months, running every night together in the same shoes. This daily habit produced great results, and at the end of the year we were celebrating a title together. For the rest of the year, that title was a common discussion topic amongst us whenever we were together.
Recently, I replaced these nostalgic shoes with a new pair. While the physical use of these shoes are over, I am sure that they will provide a spark of thought every time I see them. Hopefully, the current pair I am wearing will eventually cause the same thing, with even better memories behind them.

Rhetorical Analysis of Video

The video "Cookie Jar" by Gym Class Heros contains images that are questionable to the moral views of many people. Through the use of analogy and compare and contrast, the pathos of this video will be explored in more detail.

If someone had listened to this song before they watched the video, they may have thought that the song was an enjoyable tune. However when watching the video, there are many instances where analogies are used to sway the meaning of the song in the eye of the viewer. For example, in the the first chorus, "I wanna be faithful but i can't keep my hands out the cookie jar" takes the cookie jar to mean women that are not in a relationship with the man in the song. Also in the first verse, the lyrics "I left crumbs in the bed once but I told her I was through with that" is an analogy towards cheating, and the man claiming that he would not do it again. During the second verse, variations of cookies are compared to different ethnic women. Asian women are compared to oatmeal raisin cookies and Macadamia cookies are compared to Caucasians.

There are two main emotions that can result from watching this video. One of those emotions is disgust/shock. People feel this way about the video because of the way women are portrayed. Comparing women to cookies is degrading to their image. The other emotion that can be seen is pleasure. I mean that people find these analogies and comparasions humorous. The clever way the writer points out the different ethnic backgrounds of the women by comparing them to different types of cookies is a light and funny interpretation. The mixed pathos that result from this video intentionally drew people with different backgrounds to view it and make their own judgements on it.