Final Project (Arin Kukharsky)

My research paper is about the negative Russian stereotypes that dominate U.S. movies to this day. In the paper, I make the argument that the cause of the consistent presence of negative Russian stereotypes in Hollywood productions is entirely political. Over 100 U.S. films from 1992 to 2007 contained themes such as mafia, the KGB, illegal arms, prostitutes and more, depicting Russia as a cesspool of evil. Since these movies are the primary source of information that most Americans have about Russia, greatly outnumbering news outlets in both viewership and coverage, they play a key role in how Americans view Russia and its people. The U.S. Government’s involvement in Hollywood is far greater than most think, leading me to conclude that the constant use of negative Russian stereotypes in American films is political, causing the American masses to see the “official enemy” of the U.S. in a negative light.

I’m glad I decided to write about this topic instead of my original, extremely vague, choice. Digging deeper into the Russian stereotypes in American movies certainly led to some interesting discoveries. The hardest aspect of writing this paper was definitely going through sources and figuring out how to integrate them into my paper to support my argument while still maintaining a good flow. Finding a select bit of information to reference from an enormous document while still integrating the general idea of the document into my paper was a challenge.

Day 26: Style Imitation (Arin Kukharsky)

“What do you want to do as an adult?” They’ve always asked me this question, but I didn’t bother answering it anymore. My responses were always different and none of them were true. I said I wanted to be an analyst, and a programmer, and a manager. There were many options floating about and all were meaningless. The same question presented itself time and time again. Family, friends, and teachers alike wondered about my aspirations. I realized that I don’t need to figure out my fate yet. College began and my worries about my future disappeared .

Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn)

Dan he sent me a message — a really funny one too — and we went rushing to the corner. When he was close he whispered to me, and wanted to pull a prank on Kev for the laughs. And I said yes; he’s had it too good for too long, and then he’d get what he’d deserved. Then Dan said he hadn’t thought it through. I didn’t want him to chicken out.

Day 21: Using Sources / Writing Style (Arin Kukharsky)

Using Sources

When writing a research paper, it’s imperative that you have a thorough understanding of your sources to be able to turn them into credible data and integrate them into your argument. Having a diverse batch of information before you begin pondering how your sources come together to support your claims is important. When using your sources in your paper you have the option of either paraphrasing, summarizing, or quoting directly from the source; each of these must be done properly to maximize effectiveness and avoid accidental transgressions. “Patchwriting,” or simply taking material from a source and inserting it into your paper, is an example of plagiarism and should be avoided at all costs. I’m surprised that this even needs to be said. Putting information from a source into your own words doesn’t take too much effort and is a great way to demonstrate your knowledge of a source (and increase your credibility).

Introduction to Refining Your Writing Style

A writing style is a person’s unique “voice” that shapes their writing. When writing in certain disciplines, however, we have to alter our writing style to fit their acceptable conventions. Knowing these conventions is especially important as it allows us to break or change them while maintaining credibility. To further refine your style when writing in a specific discipline, imagining an audience is helpful. As long as this audience isn’t general, visualizing it can help make your piece and your style more truthful. Trying on different styles is a good way to experiment with your writing and make it even stronger, although we’re all basically already doing it. I feel like my writing style is an amalgamation of bits and pieces of different styles that I had picked up over years of reading and listening.

Day 19: Research Process (Arin Kukharsky)

Finding Evidence

Evidence is used to support and make claims in every academic argument. In order to be effective, however, evidence must be of good quality. Good evidence matches the rhetorical situation of the argument; it has to fit the time and place that your argument is in. The sources that are used for research play a key role in strengthening an argument and, thus, being able to navigate libraries, databases, and the internet is important in securing quality evidence. The first thing most people do when looking for information online is do a quick keyword search, despite there being far better ways of searching for sources related to an argument (as I had just found out). By using a subject directory, one can narrow down categories until they find what they’re looking for. Google’s search function is also multifaceted, with options to narrow a search or keywords that can be used to specify what you’re trying to find. Collecting data on your own, either through surveys, experiments, or by recalling personal experience, can either greatly improve your argument or severely hinder it depending on how the data is used.

Under My Thumb

In this piece, Chelsea Booth writes about the prejudiced treatment of women in the music industry. She remembers a moment in middle school when she had to lie about her music taste in order for her to be considered an equal. In her experiences with the music industry, she’s been constantly subjected to hostilities over her musical knowledge as well as sexual advances; she’s been made to feel like she isn’t welcome. She then goes on to write about how female musicians were, for the most part, left out of her musical studies. Her classes had even collectively featured 27 minutes of silence (due to Cage’s 4’33) rather than putting more emphasis on the influential female musicians of the 20th century. When attending concerts and festivals, events where she feels the freest, Booth has fallen victim to sexual harassment time and time again. A survey has revealed that more than 90% of women have experienced sexual harassment at music events. Festivals have taken preventive measures against violence, but not sexual assault despite it being such a glaring and recurring issue. When Booth brought up her point about female representation in music classes, I thought back to my high school music class. Unsurprisingly, I couldn’t recall learning about a single female musician. However, I don’t understand Booth considering herself part of the problem because she judges other women’s music tastes and doesn’t support enough female artists. I feel like gender shouldn’t stop her from having an opinion on music.

Day 18: Manifesto (Arin Kukharsky)

George Saunders’ PRKA Manifesto is a satirical piece. He describes an organization for peace in the style of one set to bring destruction. He writes of not bulldozing homes or beheading or flying planes into buildings. Instead of describing a cause worth killing or dying for, he describes a cause that isn’t worth the shedding of blood. At the end of the piece, Saunders summarizes his group as “resisting the urge to generalize” and insisting upon valuing the individual, the small decent act, and the complicated reality of the present moment.

In writing an ironic manifesto for a peaceful group in the style of one aiming to spread their message through force, Saunders provides his views of a better world. He aims to convince his readers that, instead of always taking action, people (and the world) could benefit from more reluctance.

Day 17: Researching Stereotypes and “Fake News” (Arin Kukharsky)

Introduction

Seth Graves makes the claim that “all writing is research, and every ‘paper’ is a research paper.” Since we’re always trying to learn something new when we write, drawing from either an outside source or from our own experiences, we’re always doing research. By researching, we are able to see the world around us in greater depth as well as make our opinions and statements more credible. The sentence “integrating research gives the writer an opportunity to practice a kind of humility – of drawing upon the work of someone with more expertise” provided a particularly interesting view of using research in writing. I’ve never thought about the humble aspect of using the work of someone with more knowledge about a topic than myself when writing.

The Research Process

In this piece, Graves, Corcoran, and Belmihoub write that research is a key part of everyday life, despite many of us not noticing. The desire to learn, be it about the movies in the theaters right now or the delays on the subway, is present in everyone’s daily life. Research is an exploration of new ideas and points of view that provides ways of understanding our world that we’ve never encountered before. The sentence “In other words, we can say that research aims to defamiliarize things…” By making the world around us strange and unfamiliar, we can see and think about it differently.

Final Project

So far, I could only think of writing about the portrayal of Russians (top choice) and immigrants.

Could I include a mix of positive and negative portrayals of the group in my paper?

Day 15: Revision (Arin Kukharsky)

When Brock Dethier writes “… For most of us, revision is the only road to success,” he’s saying that revision is a key part in the writing process for just about everyone. While we tend to be resistant to revision, seeing it as a sign of failure or something that makes our pieces worse, revising our original, rough thoughts is the only way to end up with a polished paper. I agree with his statement. Without revision, my papers would just be a jumble of thoughts with very little polish or cohesion.
Dethier uses the metaphor of working on a car to think about revision, comparing the job of fixing up a car to the myriad of steps involved in revising a piece. When thinking of the steps of revision, creating art is the first thing that comes to mind. You often start out with a sketch, equivalent to the rough draft of a paper, to get your ideas on paper. You add details to that sketch, erasing anything you see as irrelevant to the final piece, and then get ready to create a colored, finalized, piece.
Donald Murray writes that “A piece of writing is never finished.” Even if a text wasn’t written to a deadline, it would still remain infinitely unfinished. When we write, every sentence, or word even, brings up potential new meanings or ideas. We always feel as though there is more to add or change regardless of how many edits we’ve already made.

Day 13: Anzaldua and Naylor (Arin Kukharsky)

How to Tame a Wild Tongue

In this text, Anzaldua writes of the language that is part of her identity – Chicano Spanish. She grew up believing that her language was illegitimate, “poor” Spanish because of how different it is from the dominant “proper” Spanish. As a result of the degradation of her language through culture, she was not only embarrassed to speak to Latinas but also to fellow Chicanas. Until Anzaldua read Chicana novels or saw Chicana movies, she wasn’t able to accept her language as well as her identity as legitimate. This example of cultural prejudice towards a language that’s “improper” is very similar to the one in Amy Tan’s Mother Tongue, where Tan’s mother would have a difficult time communicating with English speakers with her variation of the language, “broken English.”

The Meanings of a Word

In this text, Naylor writes about words and where their meanings and power comes from. She claims that words are nothing but senseless arrangements of letters. Their meanings and power are assigned by the people and cultures using them. Naylor gives the example of the word “nigger,” which she first heard used in a derogatory way against her. However, she later heard the word used with many other intended meanings within the community she grew up in. By integrating a word that whites used to degrade blacks into their daily conversations, the black community was able to nullify its intended meaning and remove any effect it could possibly have on their lives.

Day 12: Alexie and Tan (Arin Kukharsky)

Superman and Me

Superman and Me, by Sherman Alexie, is a tale of books and the massive effect they had on Alexie’s life. He taught himself to read at the age of three by picking up a Superman comic book. His reading skills advanced quickly; as a result, his experience growing up in an Indian reservation was a challenge. Indian children were expected to be unintelligent, to be failures in the world outside of the reservation. Alexie’s life was one of bravely resisting a stereotype. Instead of pretending to be stupid like the other Indian children and being submissive to the non-Indians, he read non-stop until he developed into a writer. He became a writer despite the fact that writing was never taught in the Indian schools. Now, he pays visits to Indian schools to teach kids something they might never get another chance to learn – the power of books. Language played a crucial role shaping Alexie’s life. Through his dedication to experiencing and learning language, he was able to defy a controlling stereotype and worked towards helping young kids defy it as well.

Mother Tongue

In this piece, Amy Tan writes of the “broken English” that she grew up with. When people hear Tan’s mother speak in “broken English”, they tend to not take her seriously or pretend to not understand her. As a result, Tan often had to use her “proper” English to help her mother out. While most people will barely understand this “broken English”, it is just another language for Tan and her family. It is clear and natural, conveying the same ideas as if it were regular English. Despite the fact that English was spoken by Tan’s mother, people refused to service her because she wasn’t speaking the language “correctly.” She was seen as unintelligent even though she understood complex, English things such as Wall Street Week and the Forbes report.

Literacy Narrative (Arin Kukharsky)

Introduction to re(Making) Language

In this writing, Graves uses Mary Shelley’s classic Gothic novel Frankenstein to show the effect that language can have on our knowledge and thoughts. Frankenstein’s monster overhears one man talking about the gruesome history of the human species, causing him to reflect upon this new knowledge and turning his wonder into disgust. Language also led to the monster considering his place in the world, realizing his desires to have someone to talk to. Through the exploration of language and knowledge, we open up to emotion and are able to understand ourselves and others.

Language, Discourse, and Literacy

Language is essentially an exchange of symbols that varies depending on the specific community using it. These groups that share a common language are called “discourse communities” and can be anything from professions to social groups. As people engage in discourse, language evolves, changing based on the way it gets used. Literacy, which was traditionally regarded as the ability to read and write in a given language, can be defined as a person’s understanding of a discourse. Literacy is affected by the social environment we’re in, as people use language differently in different social groups. Literacy practices can even shape ideology and be used to exert control, as shown by the Jim Crow laws after the American Civil War.

Response

My biggest takeaway from these readings is the importance of language in shaping our thoughts and knowledge. By using language in various discourse communities, the very way we think of the world and of ourselves changes. We are able to use language differently in each group, as well as understand the language that the rest of the group uses.