Blog #10

 Child Beauty Pageants:

 Though some people agree that child beauty pageants are acceptable, I personally believe that they are a huge portion of the issues girls face in their teens, and are more detrimental to the health of the youth in our nation then helpful.

 So why were they started? And how come they have become such a big thing? You know, if they are “so wrong.” Some argue that beauty pageants for children build a sense of discipline, patience and confidence because of the level at which most these little girls have to compete. They also argue that is instills in a lot of the girls a love for charity, because most pageants are involved with the community through donations and outreach. They also argue that they teach the girls to focus on education, because the winners are not only given prizes but scholarships as well.

I personally have to disagree.

In my paper I plan on focusing on all of the social problems teenage girls are faced with today that may in fact stem from this early exposure to glitz and glamour. Anorexia, Bulimia, other eating disorders, distorted body shapes, competitiveness between girls, and other maybe less obvious issues. I plan to prove the correlation by researching the human development of what is occurring in those young girls through these pageants. Developmentally, these girls are forming personality, standards, and placing their sense of worth. If in the early years, all that is focused on is their beauty, well then OF COURSE we are going to end up with girls with problems. The affects also reach girls who are not participating in the pageants, because of their association with the girls who do. They feel compared to, less beautiful, and begin placing their values on less important features too.

I am interested to research more into the history of the beauty pageant in hopes with recognizing it’s original intent. I am also interested to research the counter argument more in depth, it is a side I currently disagree with quite whole-heartedly, because I don’t really understand how anyone could think they were good. Maybe they really aren’t—and simply a form of entertainment and fulfillment for the parents. Who knows? At least in the end I will have research to defend my argument, whichever way it may sway (more ok with the idea, or even less, haha).

http://www.buzzle.com/articles/child-beauty-pageants-pros-and-cons.html

Blog #9

Well? I am actually pleased with how my paper turned out. I think.

Can I just say? That writing center is my new best friend. I loved working with the mentors there to improve and tweak the small things.

My biggest concern is that I will not have improved the weak spots as affectively as I could portray them through vocalizing the argument. The arguments in themselves ended up a lot stronger than they had previously been, and i think it was a really driving topic.... I hope I did well writing them down on paper.

Awhh well. What a relief it's over. :)

Blog #8

Thoughts on my Analysis:

Well?

Analyzing is great.

Writing about analyzing is not.

I am having a hard time express the things I’m thinking. I can see a specific example, and I can recognize why it works, but I am having a hard time vocalizing it through written text. 

Wish. Me. Luck. 

Blog #7

Letter From Birmingham Jail. 
(I am floored. What an amazing piece of American Rhetoric)

Martin Luther does a good job of appealing to the audience’s ethos throughout his article. I felt like he did exceptionally well turning the odds in his favor at the beginning of the article, and did so as to credit the rest of his arguments and appeals that follow.

He starts by explaining how unordinary his response is, and claims that his response was given because he feels they are good men. In this case, he is building up the relationship between the two parties (him and the clergyman). He shares his opinion that these are good and respectable men, and in doing so creates an essence of his character (the he is a trusting, understanding, friend.) Right from the get go Martin Luther is conscience of his audience, and does not alienate them or their opinions.

He then strengthens this opinion of him, by sharing facts about his background. He builds his character to be much more than just a man behind bars.   He does this through statements like, “ I have the honor of serving as president of the…Conference,” or “I was invited here”. These statements give him credibility as to why he is there behind bars, and he tries to show us that it is because he IS a man of character, rather than not.

His argument for being a man of character is continued through the next paragraph as he alludes to prophets from the scriptures: “just as Paul.. carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners, so am I compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.”

This is an ethical appeal through its’ power as an emotional appeal. Let me explain. Martin Luther responds to his audiences understanding of religion by persuading them to draw the conclusion that he is like the prophet Paul. In other words, this comparison would have no affect unless his audience believed or related to the Apostle Paul. Recognizing that they have some connection to Paul, Martin Luther builds his character as crediting his desires as similar to that of Paul’s.

This is a very affective start to his essay. 

Peter Pan

            I wasn’t that surprised when he showed up to take me to Never Land; after all, I’d been planning his arrival for years.

            It all started with my wonderful plan for my fourth birthday party. It was to be Peter Pan themed (I as Wendy of course), and my neighborhood friends were to dress up as lost boys and Indians. I had every detail mapped out in my head. Yup, I was going to have the best Never Land party by far.

Well, July 26th arrived.  My neighbor sewed me the perfect little blue nightgown. My friends had all arrived in costume, as they should; things were going pretty well according to my master plan.  The adventures of crossing the wilderness (jumping on our couches) and climbing the tallest mountain (very dramatically climbing our stairs) had been a complete success. The cake was good, my presents were quality and pretty sure we’d already defeated ‘Captain Hook’.  There was really only one thing left to do: flying.

“Dad, it’s fairly simple. You will hook the string to our belt loops and just lift us across the yard!”

 Uh-huh, like that happened. His excuse? Well, who even really knows, something about the “physics” and “that wouldn’t actually work sweetie”…

 What was I gonna to do? I needed to fly!  I reviewed the options in my head but really there was only one possibility left: Peter Pan was going to come. He was, and you couldn’t convince me otherwise.

Well, he didn’t come; at least not for my fourth birthday, but that’s ok! I mean, he was gonna come eventually, right? I knew that time was sorta a funny concept over there in Never Land, so I patiently awaited his arrival. My Peter Pan was coming.

            *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *         *        *        *

            “Jess, we really should ride a ride together”.

 Man, could it really be senior year choir tour already? It had come far too quickly! It turns out time is a funny thing here on earth too.

            “Yes Steve, we really should. Any preferences?”

            “Hmm… Peter Pan”.

            “Haha, did you know Peter Pan is my favorite ride here at Disneyland?”

            “Is that so?”

“Really! I’ve always loved the idea of Never Land. Since my fourth birthday I’ve dreamed he would come. You know? I’m pretty sure he is still going to come get me one of these days…Haha….just you wait Steven Phillip, there are a few months left till my eighteenth birthday.. he’s got time”.

 I just couldn’t let the dream go. Part of me still longed for the fairy dust and stories to the lost boys. Not having to grow up. Though it was all pretend now, and I knew that a physical Never Land was impossible, the idea was real. I now dreamed that “Peter Pan” would come and take me to “Never Land”.

“Hey Jess.”

“Yes Steve?”

            “Could I be your Peter? You know, until he comes?”

            “Ha-for now I suppose.”

          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *        *        *        *  

            “Jess, what do you want to do for your eighteenth birthday?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Gosh. Well pretty sure I’d done everything in the book. After eighteen years of birthdays I felt like I’d run out of creative things to do. Let’s see we’ve done the ice cream social, the luau, the pool party, the costume party, and the past couple years I’d done the whole “adolescent party”. You know, the ones where everyone shows up, you sit around and talk, dance, eat food, etc.; pretty much hanging out with candles on the top? Yeah. I’d conquered that one a few times over. What was I going to do to make my eighteenth birthday fun and memorable?

            Yup. You guessed it. Peter Pan.

 But I mean, why not really? Why not spend the last day of my childhood as what I was: a child? So I began planning my Peter Pan party for the second time.

            To: All Contacts

Message: Dear Friends, this next Tuesday is my birthday and I would be honored if you would come party with me! I’ll be finger-painting, coloring in coloring books, eating mac-n-cheese and ants on a log, jumping on the tramp, building forts and reading books, ultimate DAY OF PLAY! Oh, and dress up as your favorite Peter Pan character. We’ll be having cake that night around six, but feel free to come anytime from noon till midnight. Hope to see you there.

Message Sent.

            Well if Peter Pan wasn’t going to come, I was going to do the best I could just by myself. The days approached, and childhood started slowly slipping away. Dang it. Here it came: ADULTHOOD. Breath in. Breath out.

            The night before my birthday I lay in my bed thinking about my life. I tried thinking back to my Peter Pan party from age four and all that had changed between that Peter Pan party and this one; all that I’d accomplished and all that I’d become.

            Incoming Call-Steven Phillip. 

            “Um, Hello?”

            “Jess, you should probably come outside right now.”

            “What are you talking about? Dude…it’s eleven thirty at night.”

            “Oh come on! Your dream man is here to get you.”

            “What are you talking about Steve?”

            “Haha, just trust me. Come out to your garden.”

 I grabbed my brothers “Jon and Michael” and ran outside. There he sat.

Now, I’d always imagined my Peter Pan in green. The movie led me astray. Because guess what? Peter Pan actually wears jeans and a t-shirt just like you and I. He didn’t need to be wearing any sort of outfit for me to recognize him, I definitely knew who this was.

            “I’m sorry it took me so long Wendy.”

            “Steve…you really didn’t have to do thi…”

            “ No no, Peter.” He gestured to himself.

            “Peter.” I repeated it.

 He’d come! My Peter Pan had come to take me to Neverland. And let me tell you, Neverland was just as good as I’d imagined it would be. It involved flying (jumping on the tramp with my Peter Pan and brothers), eating our medicine (popsicles on a blanket), and taking a swim with the mermaids (running through the sprinklers).  

Childhood bliss.

Soaking yet beaming, I returned to my bedroom that night. Millions of thoughts ran through my head.

What just happened exactly? Was I really just in Neverland? Was I ready to be back home? Oh no… what if I wasn’t ready to come home? Could I face my upcoming birthday? Could I face having to grow up?

            That night I realized what the true definition of growing up was. I thought to myself ‘if growing up means acting appropriate for the situation, but allowing myself the liberty to dream, to explore, and to still believe in fairy dust---then growing up is nothing I need to be afraid of.’

  And then it hit me--I’d grown up.

Blog #6

 ‘What Christians Believe’ is a beautiful excerpt from C.S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity dealing with the theology of Christianity. The purpose, as stated by Lewis in the title and first paragraph of this literary work, is to tell us what Christians believe. From the very first sentence and throughout the rest of the text he works on convincing and motivating his audience to believe in the truthfulness of the Christian belief, however against those beliefs they initially may have been.  He knows what he knows is truth, and he is anxious to share that with his readers.

The central message from this excerpt is that Christianity holds key truths; God lives, we are his children, good triumphs over evil, Jesus is the Christ, and our lives should be spent with an attitude of devout discipleship. 

Unlike most attempts to explain religion though, he addresses those of the world who are un-believing or doubting.  He dissects the truths into a very analytical representation, so those who may look at religion with a more skeptical view find their questions met (whether they want to or not). He assumes that if a God does exist, and if the world could recognize it, all would want to choose the less simple, yet more ‘correct’ lifestyle. This may not be the case. There are many people I know who have had or still currently have truth, they are just to lazy to live by the standards to attain the joys of abiding by that truth. They settle for less than they deserve.

There were many examples of rhetoric throughout this piece using all three appeals: ethos, logos, and pathos. I will analyze one of each, though many examples are found throughout.

Ethos: “When I was an atheist… when I became Christian”. With these two phrases, C.S. Lewis is able to build is credibility on both extremes. Those who are religious will appeal to the fact that he is now a religious man, and will be willing to hear what he has to say. Those who are atheist will appeal to the fact that he was too. Both audiences are addressed, and feel comfortable knowing the writer is ‘one of them’.

Logos: “A car is made to run on gasoline, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other way.” By appealing to the logical side of religion, he appeals to both sides of his audience once more. Logic will build the faith of those whom already know and believe, and logic may also be the very thing that starts the faith of those who don’t believe. Not everything in religion is logical though, so C.S. Lewis explains, “if we ask for something more than simplicity, it is silly then to complain that the something more is not simple”.  Something’s just aren’t simple…religion is one of them. There will have to be areas we are based on faith and spiritual witness alone.

Pathos: Appealing to a persons emotions in a paper about religion is just sort of inevitable. I believe that it is through his logical appeals C.S. Lewis finds the most strength in strumming each individual heart. (As truth is revealed, or made clear, the spirit will bless us with a confirmation. I believe that with all of my heart. The spirit, and our Father in heaven, are guiding our lives and if we will turn to them seeking for truth, we will receive). 

The Ophelia Syndrome. Blog #5

The Ophelia Syndrome

Genre:

I’ll be honest; I am not very solid in my knowledge of genre. I feel like there are one million different genre types, and who is even really sure what they all are.  But for this reading I thought it fit most under the Informational Non-Fiction. Though it was initially given as a faculty lecture, or motivational speech :)

Purpose:

This particular text (or lecture) was given to inspire us to become thinkers and finders of truth, not just mindlessly accepting of someone else’s word. Dr. Thomas G. Plummer is definitely trying to move the audience to action. He wants people to question, refine, and solidify their opinion till it becomes their very own.

Central Message:

Not many of us ask ourselves, “How do I feel? What do I think?”---and wait for an answer. (We should.)

World View: 

I think it is pretty apparent what this specific author thinks about the world. He thinks that people are not taking the opportunity to open their eyes and minds to THINK. He understands that if people were to do so the world would be, (pardon my cliché phrase) a better place. But really. We would be surrounded by people who found truth for themselves, instead of impulsively adapting to the less than perfect leaders before them.

Tools of Writing:

A few examples…

*One of the Major tools of writing found in this text is his use of an affective allusion as he references Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

*He also uses metaphors very clearly. Heck, he tells us that’s his intention of the paragraph as he states “Most of us have metaphors…” and then goes on to share a list of metaphors. I liked the presentation of these metaphors, because though we got the immediate connection and understanding a metaphor brings, he did it in a way that wasn’t cheesy or over the top. Instead of saying, “ a metaphor is like this to me, and should be for you..” he said “these are some metaphors some kids came up with to describe their experience with the Ophelia Syndrome.”

*He also used voice. He did this by adding personal stories and individual reflection. I liked this! It made it easier to read-and I was more inclined to listen to what he had to say because, well, he was saying it; not some computer generated, not thinking, Ophelia Syndrome textbook. Ya know?

Tools of Writing were found all over throughout his writing, but these were the three that I thought were most affective. 

Blog #4

I really loved writing my personal narrative.

Really and truly LOVED writing it.

Except? THE ENDING <<It murdered, slaughtered, and destroyed me>>

Now, I’ve done some pondering…. I think this is why.

There is just so much stinking pressure to have the PERFECT ENDING.

Let’s face it. We are surrounded by stories that end with just the right flavor. Be it romantic, comedic, or action packed… you sit through that movie, book, episode, series, article, game…… to get to the ENDING.

Well? My story doesn’t have an ending yet.’

 I think that is why it was so hard! I was faced with the challenge of putting a bookend somewhere where one didn’t really happen. Ya know? My life is still going on. I’m still in my story.

ANYWAY.  It just makes me all sorts of excited to finish out this storybook of mine. To find where the pages of MY life will lead me. Where I’ll find my ending: my happily ever after.

And for the record, I did find an ending that pleased me for this paper. It just took a lot of drafts to find. :)

***

My favorite part of this assignment was writing the dialogue. Conversation kids--I’m a firm believer.

Dialogue brings voice. And character.

Example? well, I think sometimes people get lost by what you are trying to say with all the descriptions.

            She furrowed her brow as her cheeks turned a light shade of red.

Where it could more simply state: “I’m hurt.”

We have been talking all our lives. We get conversation. I loved using that for my benefit throughout this paper.

I also really loved doing peer edits. I’ve never really enjoyed them before, but dang, I thought these were fun. Maybe it’s just the essence of the paper, but I really did enjoy reading the other stories and I learned a lot about my writing through theirs.

Overall this was a really great way to start off the semester for me. I am not as good at the other styles of writing, but telling my story, now I’ve been practicing that for years ;) No, I’m just kidding. But I do think it was affective in building my confidence so I can hit the upcoming, less natural papers with power and umf! Bring it on. :)