Reflection

Dear Winter Quarter English 110 Students,

This time last quarter I was in the same position you are in right now, about to take my very first English class as a college student. If you’re anything like me, you may be worried that you are not prepared for this level of writing and feel afraid you won’t be able to keep pace. I am here to tell you though, that it is not as intimidating as it seems. As long as you keep due dates in mind and don’t procrastinate until the very last minute you’ll do fine. At the beginning of the quarter it all seems a little overwhelming, but if you just work in small steps everything will come together in the end, or at least it did for me.

Personally, I really liked this class because it gave me an opportunity to write less formally, which is something I haven’t done in a very long time. It was actually kind of difficult at first, though, because for so long, all I can remember is being forced to research as many facts and figures about a subject as is humanly possible and heaven forbid I should use the word “you” in anything I write. We did do some formal writing in English 110 too, but for the first time in a long time, I was actually interested in what we wrote about, since for the most part, we picked our own topics.

So basically what I’m trying to say is English 110 is pretty okay. Like I said before, if you just pay attention to due dates, work in small steps, choose topics you’re really interested in, and just have fun with your writing, the quarter will go by smoothly.

Best of Luck!

Hannah Schrock

eBay Auction

For Sale: Childhood Toys, great for boys age 6-10

Several years ago we had something very bad happen in our family. Our only son lost his life at only nine years old. He was killed in a hit-and-run accident while he was walking to school. It was eight years ago last month that we lost David, but police still have not been able to identify who was driving. Throughout the past years, we have done all we could to hold onto David. We’ve kept his room the same, held onto all of his possessions, his clothes, everything. With all that we’ve held onto however, we’ve also held onto our sorrow. Every time I walk upstairs towards David’s room, I am unable to control myself. I feel as though I’m back on that fateful day, when I lost my little boy.
A while back however, my husband and I started seeing a therapist, and she has been encouraging us to move on with our lives, of course still remembering our son, but not letting our lives revolve around his memory. Until recently, this idea seemed completely impossible. But upon the eight year anniversary of his death, and the continued lack of any report from the police, we’ve realized that we need to begin to find some closure. And so, we have decided to sell some of David’s old toys and other possessions in the hope that they will make some other child as happy as they once made David. They are still in perfectly good condition and are only slightly used. The items range from bathroom tub toys and stuffed animals to matchbox cars and action figures. Any young boy is sure to enjoy them, but here, we just have no more purpose to serve.

Evaluating Evidence

Do ads that use sex to sell their products degrade women?
“No” position

By Ted Sherman

www.helium.com/items/413500-do-ads-that-use-sex-to-sell-their-products-degrade-women

At first glance, this article does come across as being fairly convincing. It appeals to both the pathos and logos parts of persuasion. It uses strong language in attempt to convince its audience that whoever believes women are degraded by sexual advertisements is dumb and needs to “Get a life.” This tone, although presents his opinion very clearly, causes him to seem somewhat less credible and more like his simply ranting and raving. The author does not proceed to adequately back up his opinion with real sources but rather simply goes on with how he thinks others feel, or should feel, and basically just continues on with his own personal belief. The author does eventually add in some logic by bringing up a few interesting examples of women who are being degraded in foreign countries in extreme measures. This does add some credibility to his argument, but he still seems very over the top with his opinion and emotion so it is difficult to truly persuade the reader of anything.


Do ads that use sex to sell their products degrade women?
“Yes” position

By Victor Strange

www.helium.com/items/978294-do-ads-that-use-sex-to-sell-their-products-degrade-women

This article, on the other hand, presents itself as being much more credible. It starts off a little shaky in the beginning, however. The author clearly has a lot of sincere feelings on how our society is degraded and he presents these feelings a little strongly, which may cause some readers to be slightly taken aback, but it definitely appeals to the pathos portion of persuasion, however. Soon into his article he brings up a fair amount of statistics and interesting facts which do a good job of bringing down the emotional intensity and adding some logic into his argument. The author then continues with his opinion, but also throws in some humor which recaptures the reader’s attention and helps them identify with his ideas. In this way he again appeals to his audience’s emotions in order to help shape their opinion. This article also did a very nice job at expanding on what the reader expected to find. Instead of limiting his ideas to the degradation of women, he also explained how in his opinion all of society is lessened because of the amount of sexuality in the media today, and in turn, appealing to people’s ethos. He brings the ideas of pedophiles, government officials involved in sex scandals, and even abused children into his argument. This opens the reader’s mind to a new direction which they may not have associated with this matter previously.

My Primary Source

My Primary Source is the song "Samson" by Regina Spektor. It is a love song and also a song about the bible story of Samson. Here are the lyrics:



You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first, I loved you first
Beneath the sheets of paper lies my truth
I have to go, I have to go
Your hair was long when we first met


Samson went back to bed
Not much hair left on his head
He ate a slice of wonder bread and went right back to bed
And history books forgot about us and the bible didn't mention us
The bible didn't mention us, not even once



You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first , I loved you first
Beneath the stars came falling on our heads
But there just soft light, there just soft light
Your hair was long when we first met



Samson came to my bed
Told me that my hair was red
He told me i was beautiful and came into my bed
Oh I cut his hair myself one night
A pair of dull scissors and the yellow light
And he told me that I'd done alright
and kissed me till the morning light, the morning light
and he kissed me till the morning light



Samson came back to bed
not much hair left on his head
Ate a slice of wonderbread and went right back to bed
Oh, we couldn't bring the columns down
Yeah we couldn't destroy a single one
And history books forgot about us
And the bible didn't mention us, not even once

You are my sweetest downfall
I loved you first

Rhetorical Analysis of a Place

When deciding where I wanted to go for this assignment, I thought that the RPAC would be a good place to sit and observe, because there is always so much going on. I ended up in the Courtside Café with even more to watch than what I had anticipated, and I never even made it all the way into the RPAC!
I have to be honest, while doing this project I that I’m a bit of a pre-judger. When I entered into the Courtside Café I had the expectation of seeing tons of sweaty people grabbing a quick bite to refuel on some of the calories they had just lost. Although I was right, and I did see many people of this type, I also noticed that many of the Courtside Café’s customers did not seem to be there to work out at all. Probably a little less than half of the people in the room with me were just in their regular clothes having dinner and chatting with their friends. There were also a good number of people in the café who weren’t working out or eating dinner, but seemed to simply use the facility as a place to meet up with friends and then head someplace else. It is very obvious that the function of this facility is to give students the opportunity to work out and participate in physical activity (especially when you consider the RPAC is the Recreation and Physical Activity Center), but it is also very clear that this is not the only purpose of the building. As I watched people come and go visiting with their friends I decided there was no denying that this was a place where people felt comfortable to just chill out, hang with their friends, and relax; which when you think about it is slightly ironic—a work out center for relaxing? But that’s what it is!

First Blog!

When something is written for a public audience it has a very different style than other types of writing. The ideas and topics suddenly become livelier and more fun simply because of how the author is writing. Personally, I love these types of work. When a writer is able to reach out and relate to his or her audience on a personal level their work is so much more enjoyable. Audiences actually want to read what has been written because they can find references to their own lives and the author’s voice really comes out in public writings. In other types of work it often doesn’t seem like there is a real person writing, but when someone writes for the public, they use more common words and it can even feel like someone is literally speaking to them and truly voicing their point of view, rather than simply spitting out dry, boring facts. I’ve personally only had one significant experience writing for a public audience in my past, and that was writing my valedictorian speech last spring. It was definitely very different from any other type of writing I had done in school. I was able to write what was in my heart and how I truly felt. I was free to express myself as though I were having a conversation with a close friend. I loved being able to speak to my town on such a personal level and really reach into their hearts. Writing my speech, I realized that not only do I enjoy reading articles meant for public audiences more, but I also enjoy writing them more.