Author: m.aziz2

Literacy Narrative (Muhammad Aziz)

(re) Making Language Summary

The reading “(re)Making Language” conveys the message that words (language) can be helpful in understanding others and one’s own self. To prove this claim, the reading puts forth the example of the classic gothic novel from 1818, “Frankenstein.” the gothic genre was a result of the enlightenment ideas of “freedom of mind.” Through this genre, people started exploring the corruptions of the mind and the common fears that most people have. Similarly, this was the case with “Frankenstein.” Dr. Frankenstein’s unnamed monster learns about the world and the concept of war which makes him sad and bewildered as to how can one human take the life of another. Moving on, as he gains more knowledge, he realizes that he is lonely and has no one to communicate and share the weight of the world with. All in all, Dr. Frankenstein unnamed brings back the point that language helps people acquire knowledge which is essential in understanding “meaning and feelings in our lives.”

 

Language, Discourse, and Literacy Summary

Language doesn’t suggest grammar, what it really means is recognizable interaction within a community. Language is also an important part of our reality; it shapes how and what we think. A group that uses similar “language-use practices” forms a discourse, and the group who uses is known as a discourse community. Discourses are very important since they, in a sense, are small aspects of our lives that form who we are as a whole. Literacy is a term used to define someone’s knowledge of a discourse. In other words, literacy is how we interact with others using language. There are many types of literacies such as digital literacy, rhetorical literacy, and culture, all of whom are referred to as an “understanding and ability to participate in the literacy practices of a discourse community.” Amongst some ways of gaining literacy skills, one way is to understand the genre convention of the languages used in the discourse community one is part of. Also, one important factor that effects literacy is what is perceived to be possible by someone.

 

Response

One thing I learned after reading these two texts is that communication holds utmost importance since we are always being judged. So keeping this in mind, what is more important is that we should use careful language since it represents who we are. What really startled me was the notion that although knowledge opens us up to the truth, it also makes us vulnerable to all emotions since not all the truths are easy to hear.

Thesis and Review (Muhammad Aziz)

What’s the Point- Summary

What is really misunderstood about a thesis statement is that it is considered as the “answer” to one’s question. While, on the contrary, it really is the question that is answered by one’s essay, which is “so what?” David Hengel describes the thesis as the “macro-question” and the small little questions that help in answering the macro-question as the “micro-question” (also called the “controlling ideas” of the body paragraphs). Certain things to keep in mind is that this macro-question should not be a straightforward yes or no question or too extensive to answer. Also, it shouldn’t be focusing primarily on speculations. Lastly, a thesis statement should be flexible to change and shouldn’t be written in stone which is why one should thoroughly think of it before proposing his/her thesis.

Responding—Really Responding—To Other Students’ Writing– Summary

When offering a response to a peer’s paper, it is essential that you know who you are and never cross the line of being a peer editor. What you see is what you can suggest. It is neither good nor wise to force your ideas on your friend. All you can do is make suggestions and comments to his writing in a very respectful, encouraging and friendly manner that doesn’t make him doubt himself as a writer and leave the freedom of listening to your advice to him. But at the same time, this doesn’t mean at all that you should just sugar coat your opinion to not make him feel bad about the weaknesses of his writing. A good peer editor would not only praise and encourage the good parts of his friends writing while pointing out the bad ones, but he will also push his friend in exploring and widening the boundaries of his analysis.

Response

These two readings are extremely important considering our upcoming analysis paper. The first reading helped me in understanding the requirements that should be met to develop a clear and concise thesis statement. Not only will this make me write my paper more smoothly and coherently, but also help me map my thoughts in a more systematic manner. The second reading focused on responding to others papers rather than your own. I learned many different things about peer editing that I was a bit naive about previously such as being honest and pointing out the mistakes of your friend can save his grade instead of being nice to him and not telling him where his inaccuracies lie.

Project Pitches (Muhammad Aziz)

Blame It on Liza (The Simpsons)
Although Simpsons are infamous for being extremely stereotypical, this specific episode is widely considered to be one of the most stereotypical in the entire series thus far. In this particular episode, the Simpsons family goes out to Brazil where they encounter a number of interesting events rumored to only occur in Brazil. The depiction of the country and its locals and how they are stereotyped is the biggest advantage of choosing this show. The only con is that I fear the limit of this paper will restrict me to fully cover every aspect of the show.

Antonio Federici Ice Cream (commercial)
This advertisement is on par with The Simpsons as my top pick. This advert was highly (no exaggeration) controversial when it released in 2010 by the British ice cream manufacturer. It shows a pregnant woman dressed up as a nun holding a tub of ice cream in a church and two homosexual priests who are intimately staring at each other; one holding a spoon while the other holding the tub of ice cream. This ad was criticized on both religious and societal grounds which is helpful for my analysis. It’s not really a con but a lot of research is required for the purpose of analysis since the manufacturing company is established in a different country.

#womenshould (UN Women Ad Series)
This is my last choice for the paper. This is a series of advertisement that was started by United Nation Women under the initiative #womenshould. The ad represents women of four completely different background, race, and ethnicity. And each woman’s face is covered with a drop box that has an incomplete sentence “women should” and following the text, there are many different suggestions to complete the sentence. This artifact can be analyzed in terms of the discrimination women all over the world face based on their gender and race. Also, it reminds me a lot like the ad we went over in class with Nike and Colin Kaepernick.

Questions
How do you transition from talking about one lens to another?
How dense should be our paper in terms of lenses?

Writing as a Process (Muhammad Aziz)

Introduction to Composing as a Process Summary

The misconception about writing that it is looked upon as the final written piece, not as a “process” which it really is. Writing is a long extensive process of “exploring, planning, drafting and revising.” It also a process that involves repeating the stage of drafting. Many scholars articulate that writing not only helps us write something on a page but also discover and find new ideas.

Freewriting Summary

Freewriting is amongst the best ways to improve your writing. The most common mistake that is made by many potential writers is that they focus on making their writing sound perfect from the first word they write. This is where the freewriting exercise helps one out. It forces a writer to write without any stops or breaks for editing or to make what is written sound better in any. In fact, in the reading, it is said that most of the times when we speak well, it is not because of the fact that we got the beginning “right”, but because we kept going. In other words, although editing is important, it should be the last phase of the writing process.

Shitty First Drafts Summary

This reading further emphasizes the concept and importance of editing. It is said that the first draft should always be dealt with as the “child’s draft.” In other words, the first draft should just serve for a person to jot down his ideas, disregarding how it sounds or what it’s structure looks like. The second draft is where one makes the changes and “fix it up.” The third, or final (depending on the writer), draft is where the finishing touches are given to the piece. In a sense, it is the dental draft where one looks over every tooth to see if everything fits and is “healthy.” Lastly, one important thing to keep in mind is that the “voices” that encourages one to make everything seem perfect should be ignored at all means, especially at the first draft, or else the work would only sound fancy but the overall content would be of very low quality.

Response

All three articles were primarily based on the techniques that are highly recommended to improve your writing. The article about freewriting was the most intriguing one for me as since childhood I have been told to do free writes and I never knew how to write it and more importantly, how is this going to benefit my writing as a whole. But after reading this article, I understand that I need to do more of these free writes because it will help me focus on what to write about rather than how to write it. One connection that seems prevalent throughout all these readings is that it encourages the writers to divide up their work: planning, drafting and then editing. In addition to this, one should give enough time to each of these stages. In other words, writing is not a process that can be done in one sitting.

Intersectionality (Muhammad Aziz)

Dancing Around Objectification Summary

In the article Dancing Around Objectification by Victoria Merlino, the author discusses the different perceptions people have for women who project their body in public. Although these perceptions can’t be changed, the women being perceived can at least have some right to defend herself only if she is white. In this piece, Merlino puts forth a contrast between Claude McKay’s main character in The Harlem Dancer and Ralph Ellison’s party entertainer in Invisible Man. Even though both women are being objectified and sexualized in a very similar way, what distinguishes both cases is that Ellison’s dancer has some sort of “agency,” since she is white, to fend herself from white men who are above her (men below her, such as black men, don’t have any right to even speak about her). While, on the other hand, Mckay’s Harlem Dancer has barely any social rights since she is black, therefore, she is “forced to bow to the weight of her audience’s perceptions.”

Intersectionality 101 Summary

The reading Intersectionality 101 explains how different aspects of our identity interact and forms a “systematic social inequality.” This is also known as the theory of intersectionality. The primary focus of this theory is the minority group rather than the majority group which further helps the audience understand why these minority groups have been labeled as troublesome or the “others” in the western culture. To better understand this theory, approaches such as the “Interlocking Matrix of Oppression” (explains how oppression based on gender, race, class, sexual orientation, age, etc, is interconnected) and the “standpoint theory” (societal knowledge is gained through one’s own personal experiences) are extremely helpful.

The Urgency of Intersectionality Summary

In this Ted talk by Kimberlé Crenshaw, tries to explain her theory of intersectionality in the most simple words. In her view, many social justice problems overlap, like racism and sexism, resulting in the creation of unidentified levels of social injustice. To further expand on this, Crenshaw shares an anecdote of a woman she encountered whose claim for gender and race discrimination at a hob hiring was dismissed in court because the company she sued hired both men and woman and people of all colors. But the real problem the court failed to see was that woman of color weren’t offered the same job due to their race and gender. In other words, Crenshaw emphasized the fact that “if we won’t be able to see the problem, we will never be able to solve it.” Intersectionality is just a tool that helps broaden our frame through which we see the social injustice around us.

The Bechdel test

The main purpose of a Bechdel test is to identify the “gender inequality in fiction.” It is named after American cartoonist Alison Bechdel in whose comic this test first appeared. The only requirement of this test is that a dialogue takes place between two women whose point of conversing is not about men. So, in simple terms, the test evaluates how women are depicted in fiction. An astonishing fact about this test is that only half the films actually fulfill this test which shows that most of the movies we watch are gender biased.  

Response

In this modern era, I feel that we are judged only through an extremely small and impartial lens called “intersectionality”. After reading all these articles and listening to Kimberle Crenshaw, I am confident that most of the people nowadays look at the identity of the person and then his credibility or his/her accomplishments. In doing so, they have an opinion about them that is already prejudiced. In other words, intersectionality defines who we are and determines the oppression we are going to face. To make matters worse, the more diverse one’s identity is, more prone he/she is to facing severe oppression. In my opinion, intersectionality is the most important lense which is why I feel like in my analysis, I will focus on it the most.

Connection

In connection, intersectionality can be best used to describe the male-female stereotypes that were discussed in the reading we went over in class, The Egg and the Sperm by Emily Martin. The whole point of the reading was that men are stronger in every way when compared to women. The intersectionality part comes in when the gender is combined with our culture that allows such imagery to prevail in silence. Eventually, letting the male-female stereotyped to influence our society.

Question

Is there a limit to how far can we go in defining intersectionality?

Metaphors We Live By (Muhammad Aziz)

Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (Summary and Response)

The reading, Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, talks about how metaphor is not just a way to make the ordinary language sound extraordinary but has surpassed such characteristics and have become a part of the conceptual system through which we think and behave. One way to understand this is through the language we use. Lakoff and Johnson propose that since metaphorical expressions are tied up with the metaphorical concepts, we can simply use these expressions to understand the metaphorical nature of our activities. To further expand on this idea, the authors employ a simple metaphorical concept of “Time is Money.” Money can be spent, wasted or even saved. Since in our culture, the time has the same attributes, money can be a metaphorical concept for the time. What is also an important aspect of metaphorical concepts is that it helps one in comprehending something in terms of something else but at the same time, it will hide all other aspects of the concept. In extreme cases, like the conduit metaphor where the speaker encloses the ideas (objects) into words (container) and sends it to a potential listener (a conduit), it is sometimes imperative to know the context to fully understand what the message is. In my opinion, after reading this text, I realize that the understanding of the word metaphor that I knew up until now was very basic. What really amazed me is how culture plays a remarkably important role in developing such metaphorical concepts. Moreover, since I am from another country, what is astounding to see is how certain concepts can be the same throughout the globe.

 

The Egg and The Sperm by Emily Martin  (Summary and Response)

The article, The Egg and The Sperm by Emily Martin, discusses the male-female stereotypes that have now been incorporated into the world of human biology. The author starts off the article by expressing some of her personal feelings about the whole issue; she is intrigued to see how impactful our culture has become that it now affects the people (scientists) who are considered to be “reasonable and unbiased.” It just seems as if biologist wants to portray sperm in an active and a heroic role whereas, the egg is just shown to be weak and timid. Throughout the article, Martin points out to the sexist biologist who praises the sperm for managing through such an “arduous journey”, penetrating through the egg and creating new life, as if the sperm was meant to achieve great things. While on the other hand, eggs are just conceived using words that connotes something unwanted and unpleasant. The whole female reproductive physiology is frowned upon by the scientists. They think that menstruation is a system “making products of no use.” They call the ovary of a healthy American female a “scarred, battered organ.” Not only this, the scientist also regard the oogenesis “wasteful” since they produce so many eggs and only a handful of them mature and are useful to women. In the midst of these allegations, the author puts light on the real irony behind this whole issue where an average male produces almost one trillion sperms in his lifetime and only a few of them are useful while all others are nothing but waste. In the end, Martin condemns these scientists and asks for the feminists to use metaphors that will naturalize the social conventions about gender. In my opinion, I felt that our culture has impacted every possible aspect of our society even the parts where there is completely no need for it. Especially fields, such as human biology where impartiality is fundamental, applying stereotypes would not only cause more controversies but also hinder our ability to advance and understand the human body better.

 

Connection

The connection between the two texts is quite apparent. The metaphorical concepts that Lakoff and Johnson are trying to explain to their audience are, in other words, the stereotype Martin talks about in her work. The metaphorical concept that the male will always dominate the female can be seen in the hierarchical imagery employed by Martin. Words such as “penetrate”, “invariably active” and “heroic” all depict the masculinity and superiority of the sperm. It goes without saying that these characteristics develop the metaphorical concept of the stereotypical society we live in.

 

Advertisement (Muhammad Aziz)

I found this advertisement on the back of a Subway cargo truck while I was driving with my parents on the way back home. When I got this assignment, I was eager to find an ad with more complexities but the moment my eyes glanced at this sophisticated piece of work, I couldn’t resist myself from picking this ad. What caught my attention was the simplistic and everyday-like approach Subway used to market themselves. The bright colors symbolize a friendly welcome to all their customers. Most importantly, all the elements used work cohesively which assists Subway in conveying the overall message successfully and clearly that they offer fresh and healthy food.

Tools for Analyzing Texts (Muhammad Aziz)

Summary

Even when we think that we are not analyzing something, we most certainly are. Analyzing a text is part of our daily lives. Analysis requires not only to understand what the message is but how it is being conveyed and what effects does it have. In order to figure out the “how,” there are certain lenses, ways of looking, that might be helpful such as the Aristotelian lenses that examine the appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. It is also essential to understand the context of the text, i.e. the audience it is being written for, the purpose, the genre and the medium it was published through. Other lenses that might be helpful for analysis would be to look at the role of “social and cultural markers of identity (race, gender, and class).” To end it all off, it is very important to answer the “so what” of your analysis. In other words, what did your examination tell you about the text as a whole.

Response

The best part about the essay was in the introduction: “life will be much more interesting to you if you learn to step back and think critically about how the rhetoric of texts of all kinds makes demands on you.” It just amazed me and made me realize how differently I would see the world if only I use a critical eye and a different piece of lens. There are so many factors to consider when looking at a text that I was completely unaware of. But, at least now, after knowing them I would try to utilize them and find the real intent behind each artifact.

Question

How many lenses are enough to use in a formal paper? Is there a specific order one should use to utilize lenses? Does every lens has the same importance or does it depends on the type of text one is analyzing?

Muhammad Aziz

One new thing I learned about this course is that there are five foundational goals that I will be able to meet by the end of this term. First and foremost, I would be able to read and analyze different forms of literary texts with a critical point of view, be able to identify the style of the author and the rhetorical strategies the author applies to convey his/her message clearly. Secondly, I will be able to write my own piece of work by utilizing similar rhetorical strategies and in consideration of the audience, my work is intended towards. Thirdly, when I write in the future, I will be able to use reliable sources and different perspectives to further strengthen my argument. Also, my work would be composed through a series of drafts, peer review, revision, and editing. Lastly, I will be using conventions for writing and composing my work that has impactful rhetoric language in it. This course will definitely help shape my ability to read and write proficiently.

 

In simple words, the reading “What is rhetoric?” talks about the misconceptions of what the term really means, the variety of meanings it can be interpreted into, what is a rhetorical analysis of an “artifact” (subject to rhetorical analysis) and why is it significant. It starts off by clarifying that rhetoric doesn’t mean to manipulate or to deceive, but rather it is a way to persuade someone into doing something or think in a certain way. Later on, the reading discusses that every writer uses different rhetorical strategies depending on the audience he/she is writing for. Furthermore, the significance of identifying this is that it helps us be more persuasive in our own writing and is also important in developing critical thinking skills. In the end, since rhetoric is being used in every little part of our lives, learning how to identify it holds utmost importance.

Muhammad Aziz

Describe yourself

I am Muhammad Aziz, an immigrant who moved to New York City about 4 years ago. When asked to describe myself, I would probably say that I am a person who likes to enjoy and cherish every moment I have. Not only this, I personally feel that life is short and it shouldn’t be taken for granted at all which is why I try to live it as much as I can. I also like exploring and discovering different parts of the world and what it holds special. In addition to this, meeting new people and having small conversations about them and their lives have a personal meaning to me because I believe that sometimes its just that one conversation that can turn anyone’s bad day into a good one. Aside from this, I love sports. Even if I can not play, I like to watch and cheer on the teams I support. Sports is one of the only fora where everyone can come together and work together as a team which is a very essential characteristic that I think everyone should have. Lastly, I am always eager to improve and learn more in order to keep myself from making mistakes that I would regret later on in life.

 

Describe yourself as a writer

As I mentioned it before in my previous response that I am an immigrant which is why English is not my native language. As a result, I am not the best writer there is. But one thing I am pretty confident about is that my written English is better than my spoken one. Just like everyone else, I have common problems with my writing too. I try to improvise and use vocabulary that I am not sure off just to make my writing look better when I should focus on how clear the message is, not how fancy it sounds. Also, instead of keeping my ideas simple and straightforward, I tend to add information that might help my writing advance and add weight to it but in doing so, I usually face myself with the most prominent problem: running into tangents. After this happens, it takes me a while to think and find a way out of it. But not all the time am I successful in doing that. So overall, I would regard myself as an average writer that has the potential to improve as he moves forward with a little help.