Author: ar159721

NO-CARD
03/31/16

Researched Based Argument Project Proposal

My thesis or argument needs some work but it will be something along the lines of “There needs to be more programs or scholarships specifically for first generation college students”. I am a first generation college student. I will be the first person in my entire family to graduate college. It takes a village to put me through school. Everyone chips in, everyone helps. I will be the first person to have received a bachelor’s degree, and I do not intend to stop there. School has been the most important thing to me and my family. Nothing trumped school. School was like church. Education was the key to enlightenment, freedom from ignorance and poverty. To be taking part in higher education and be a member of an institution for higher education is a privilege, yet it should be a right. I believe everyone should stay in school, everyone should pursue education and have the right and the resources to do so. Things that college has taught me are priceless. It has taught me responsibility, accountability, time management, multitasking, professionalism, hard work, and last but not least I have learned so much from the actual subject content in my courses making me a more conversational, articulate, and well rounded individual; and I am not even done yet.

03/24/16

Literacy Narrative

I am going to be the first person in my family to graduate from college. This is extremely important to my family but it also comes with a lot of weight and responsibility. I want to do well for my family but not just for them for me as well. I want to be able to help my family financially. Education has always been the most important thing for me. It was my way to free myself from ignorance, and give me opportunity that my family has never had. My parents never let anything get in the way of my education. They did not and could not further their own, and it was their personal missions to make sure I did well and stayed in school because it was a privilege to be able to further my education. My parents lack of education has stunted them in many ways, and had they been able to continue going to school, our lives could have been very different. Because my parents did not experience this, it has made me more determined than ever to further my education and to excel. I want to be able to help my family, I want to say I did it on my own, and I know my family does not have the means to support me if I should fail. My family is made up of white Americans, descended from Europe. We do not experience any racial struggle living in America, but the class struggle has done grave things to our family. Our lack of means to support one another has even resulted in tragedy. The American dream, is that you can become someone in society, and be affluent, without having to come from money. In many other countries if you are not born into money, you do not have any opportunities to make it. My parents raised me that I could do whatever I wanted to. They did not restrict me in any endeavors I had, they always encouraged and supported me. I have seen what lack of education, opportunity, and literacy does to people. It can change everything. This is why I will not give up, I will persevere despite how difficult college can be, especially for someone who does not come from a wealthy family. I take my studies seriously, because for me, unlike some of my fellow students, I can only rely on me and my own achievements through education to give myself and my family the lives that we deserve.

03/23/16

Mother Tongue

In my opinion, what I gathered from what I read, Amy Tan’s argument is that there are many forms of english, and her mother’s form of english is no less legitimate of an english than others. Just because her mother does not speak the english that we do does not mean that her thoughts and opinions are not valid and real, and that in her native language she could be quite articulate, eloquent, well spoken, etc. She makes her argument by introducing her status as a writer and lover of language. She brings up the point that she uses many forms of english. English used with coworkers, english used with her mom and husband, maybe even a different english with friends. She then describes her mother’s english and how she struggles to describe it to people without using negative terms. Some people cannot even understand her mother’s english. However, her mother is quite well read and a functional member of society. Her Chinese is where her personality can be fully expressed, but just because her english was ‘limited’ that does not mean her thoughts were. Tan’s title, Mother Tongue, can be related in a few ways. First it is talking about her mother, and her mother’s languge and expressions. Second, it is talking about native language, how Chinese is her mothers native tongue,and English is Amy’s. Amy’s Chinese could perhaps be just as advanced or fluent as her mother’s english. However it will never take the place of the mother tongue. Tan wanted to open people’s eyes to the different types of English that are commonly spoken in America and other English speaking countries. She wanted to write something to bring justice to her mother, to shine light on a misunderstood woman, and others like her. People did not take her mother seriously, because she had poor english. However, had they spoken to her in Chinese, she would have come across as a much different person. You want to ask these judgmental people ‘i’m sorry, how many languages do you speak?’ I would love to see how articulate you sound speaking a language that isn’t your birth tongue in a land you were not born in. I believe her audience is, mainly, people like those who have judged Tan’s mother, or given her a hard time, and her mother herself. She writes with a conviction, she writes with purpose. She is trying to prove a point, she is trying to get people to understand. Tan divides her Englishes into the English she speaks comfortably at home with her mother and husband, and the English she speaks professionally, and often in her books. These matter because there is a certain English that is expected of you in the professional world, specifically in the writing field. Yet, the English she speaks at home with her mother, is so comfortable, and second nature to her. She does not even notice the transition, it is second nature. This was greatly important when she was writing her book. At first, she so wanted to prove how good her English was. How articulate she was, How wide her vocabulary was. Then she realized, she wanted to make a book her mother could read and enjoy, and she wrote that with her in mind. I speak a very different English in my papers, assignments, with my teachers, in job interviews, than I do with my family, with my friends. It is more ‘professional’ English, it is self conscious, it is neutral, it is polite. With my parents, I am more natural, but still self conscious. There are certain things I can say to my friends, that they wouldn’t approve of, or certain colloquialisms only my friends could reciprocate. I often review my boyfriend’s papers for classes, and feel a bit odd reading these words, knowing he wrote them. He sounds so well spoken, and professional, and serious, and just different. I know he knows these words, I know he is intelligent, yet he would never speak this way towards me, it just is unnecessary. Yet, there is a world inside of him that has this ability to speak and think in this way, and that is no less him than the him I know so well. I can understand possibly 70 percent of Spanish and some Russian but I am a shell of myself when I try to communicate in those languages rather than my own. I know that I lack the vocabulary and understanding. I cannot express a sense of humor as well, or sarcasm, irony, and charisma. I may not use the proper syntax and inadvertently sound less intelligent. This is a great disadvantage to non native speakers everywhere. If only people would understand this, the playing field would be more even.

 

03/15/16

Revising Attitudes

Acts of revision was a bit of a lengthy read but not a second of it was a waste. it was so helpful, not only in tips and instructions but in attitudes and outlooks. It was filled with writer’s very real points of view. There are many of us who, no matter if we are simply students or published writers, will never take ourselves seriously; so hearing our same fears and thoughts come from the brains of some people who we actually might take seriously, it helps. We are all human yet it is so easy to forget. This piece starts off with some inspiring and relatable quotes from other author’s views on revision, and slowly eases you in to real life examples of people’s work. Seeing how a poem changed from many lines, to just three, to three different lines gave me a large sense of relief. I feel as though my draft is a huge piece of work that can be chopped down and almost completely transformed. I thought I had failed at a draft because others drafts seemed to be at the ‘proofreading’ stage while mine needed to go to the butcher. I see that this is okay now. There are many numbered steps towards the end of the piece that have made it very easy for me to follow. Instead of reading the entire piece and just taking the advice and condensing it (which I will also do) they have done the work for me and made it easy to follow. Specifically the appendix is particularly helpful and I will incorporate this and the worksheet that was printed out and given to us in class to revise my draft for Thursday. It is going to be more work for me than for many others but I accept the challenge and hope that this will take my paper to where I want it to be.

03/3/16

Responding to other Students Writing

I instantly recall familiarity in response to the sentence of ‘just wanting to get it over with’. I often want to get reviewing papers over with. I feel as if they won’t truly value my opinion, and that my opinion is often not worth giving. I am also often scared of being too pushy. I want to be supportive; I don’t want to bring anyone down. People’s writing often feels very personal to them, whether or not the subject is personal to them (if it is then even more so) so I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. I am very careful with my words and I often venture too far in the realm of ‘everything’s great!’. I want to be helpful, but I don’t want to overstep my boundaries. What comment is too much? What is too unnecessary? Which suggestions are helpful to me as a peer advisor and not as a teacher, or a grader, or real critic? My harshness or seriousness in depth of my comments depends on what stage of writing the paper is currently at. I always keep in mind if it is a rough draft versus a final draft. If it is a rough draft I will make many comments and if it is a final draft I will make many comments, however the nature of the comments differs. If it is a rough draft I will make a lot of broader comments on the structure of the paragraphs or things that I would like to hear more of. If it is a final draft it would be more finishing touches, respecting the person’s stylistic choices for what they want to do with their paper. I learned from this paper to be more specific, as I always thought the short and sweet message was preferred but I realize that if you are going to be talking about something as sensitive as someone’s writing one should take the care to properly explain their opinion, you owe them that much, at least.

03/1/16

Shitty First Drafts

I had a similar experience as described in ‘Shitty first drafts’ while writing this post. I jot all my initial reactions down on paper while reading, anything that sticks out to me, anything with substance, that I could squeeze things out of. The first draft is meant to release all possible ideas. A sort of ‘what is the first thing that pops into your head when you hear….’ situation. It is your knee jerk reaction to what you are writing or thinking about, your first impression. As we know by experience first impressions are not always correct; but unfortunately in life we often do not put much thought into the people we met thereafter. We do not go about analyzing any given acquaintance we make, trying to uncover their true selves, like we do with a piece of literature, or a review.
When I start out attempting to write a piece I am quite nervous about not being able to come up with anything, with underwriting, and having to come up with rubbish to extend it. However, in reality I find that I often overwrite, and quite a few things don’t make the cut in the final edition. I would liken writing a first draft and turning it into a final draft to taking an abstract painting and turning it into a portrait. There is a mix of emotion, disorganized, with no real form, but a certain sense of beauty and art and appreciation found within a shitty first draft. What I often find most difficult in revising is the condensation. How do I shorten this piece, and cut some lines, yet still keep the main idea, still convey the message, still make my voice cut through? A rough draft is you, uncensored. The author’s recurring fear of someone finding her first draft and reading it is due to the scary thought of letting someone see you uncensored. It is human nature, it is vulnerability.

02/23/16

Baldwin’s Rhetorical Analysis

James Baldwin’s ‘Letter to my nephew” was written at a time when race tension was at an all time high. It is an encouragement for his nephew and other young black men to be brave; to understand that their world is plotting against them, to not believe what white people say about them. He persuades us to see life his way by using certain kinds of rhetoric.
Baldwin’s persuasion does not gently carry you into the space that he would like you to be, rather he violently shakes you. His evident passion is jarring. Baldwin’s choice to pose his literature as a letter to his nephew makes it very personal. You feel as if you are a part of the family, like you are let in on some sort of secret. When he talks to his nephew you cannot help but listen. While the letter is addressed to his nephew, I would not say his primary audience is his kin. If this letter was solely or primarily for his nephew I would think he would not have published it. This letter is to other young black men. It is to all black men. It is to black women. It is to white men, white women. It is the black men in the sense to inspire them, educate them, and give them courage. It is to white men to show them that Baldwin knows exactly what they are up to, exactly what they think, what they are afraid of. The audience in this case, would be the peoples of the United States of America. While certain parts of the piece are directed at different audiences, every citizen could get something out of this. This was 1963, the one hundredth anniversary of ‘freedom’. It is the peak of the civil rights movement. This letter is appropriate and it is important.
Baldwin’s exigence in this piece is the struggle of the black person in 1960’s America. This is the problem, this is the issue, and he addresses it fearlessly. His constraints would be the black person’s fear. Fear of society, fear of the white man; fear that they might believe what white people say about them. His constraint is white people’s ignorance. It is white people’s anger; it is white people’s resistance. Baldwin knew this. Baldwin knew this is how people felt, this is how they might react, and he writes with this in mind. Baldwin’s ethos as an American novelist, playwright, essayist and poet show enough credibility to get people to listen. He has that platform and he uses it. His choice to word and format this piece of literature in a letter to his nephew appeals to one’s emotions. Baldwin makes very logical points throughout this essay, in regards to how white men feel, how his nephew will be raised, how they want to keep him in the ghetto. The kairos here would be the civil rights movement. If there ever was the perfect time for a piece like this, it was 1963.

02/18/16

Introduction

Hello class, my name is Autumn and I am a sophomore at Baruch. I absolutely love to cook all different kinds of food from different countries. The bigger the challenge the more fun I end up having. I am a finance major here at Baruch and considering a minor in psychology. I also occasionally paint when I can get my hands on an easel (art supply stores are not close to me). I look forward to getting to know all of you and learning in this class.

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I chose this image of the Grand Canyon because I find it beautiful and relaxing. The southwest is one of my favorite areas in the world and this image respresents endless possibility to me. The stretching horizon and the deep valley looks as if it could go on forever.

https://blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/autumnmadden/

02/18/16

My Dungeon Shook

This powerful essay by James Baldwin is, unfortunately, just as true and just as relevant in 1963 as it is today. We have come quite a long way in terms of legislature and in respect for one another, but we are sadly far from equality; both in society and in many of our hearts. In this essay there is a clear separation being made of two societies, white America and black America. It describes two races, two peoples, living in the same country, in the same states, same cities, under completely different conditions. This notion is not lost on us today. James instructs his nephew, his namesake, to not be a product of what white society wants him to be. It is a heartfelt survival guide, not mean for his physical well being, but for this survival of his spirit. Young James needs to break the mold that was crafted for him before he was even born. White America is in denial of the realities that the blacks were facing during this time; calling their struggle an ‘exaggeration’. It is scary how reminiscent this is of issues today. James portrays that whites do not understand the true degree of their crimes against humanity. He calls them “the innocent” in a sarcastic tone. This essay in my opinion is less painted with hatred for white people than it is with love for his nephew. There is a great deal of pathos being used in this essay, it greatly appeals to your emotions. As his nephew was born, they were instantly worried, ‘trembling’, of what his life might hold for him, as a black man. Yet they were filled with joy at their baby boy. James says that the whites had a loss of identity after slavery was abolished, the more prominent blacks became in society the more afraid whites became. The cultural demographic was changing and this made people terrified. James powerfully states that they are celebrating 100 years of freedom ‘100 years too soon’.

02/16/16

Apple’s 1984 Superbowl Ad

In Apple’s 1984 ad, there is a great deal of rhetoric you are experiencing and being subjected to that you would not notice had you not taken the time to analyze it. At first glance you think, the video is only a minute long. How could there be all of these elements of a good rhetoric, in depth, in one minute? Well to start, exigence. The urgent need or demand; it is the circumstance or condition that invites a response. In other words, exigence is the problem. The problem that is being presented in this commercial is the drones that they have portrayed people to be becoming. Perhaps due to competitors like Microsoft, everything is bland and uniform, everyone has the same sort of experience. The ad directors created a situation so dismal that anyone would feel a need to quell it.
The Audience is those who are the ‘intended or unintended’ recipients of the rhetorical message. The audience should be able to respond to the ‘exigence’. They are there to address the specified problem. The audience in this particular instance were the viewers for the superbowl of that year. These people were deemed to be the target audience for this product. Based on studies or statistics these people are most likely to identify with this message or the exigence and want to change it. However most importantly, these people have the ability to change it by buying their products. The audience determines the type of language used or the formality of the message, whatever is appropriate.
The constraints of the rhetorical message are the things that ‘modify the exigence’. Constraints control how we view the rhetoric, how it is presented. In the 1984 ad, it is limited to a one minute commercial during the superbowl. There is a lot of artistry and tact involved in delivering a powerful and effective message in one minute. The time allotted affects the use of the ethos/pathos/logos. The subject of this ad would be the mac computers trying to change the world, or the way it is portrayed to be headed. There are many elements of rhetoric tried into the exigence. The audience are the ones who can address the problem, and the purpose explains the significance of the problem. In other words, what does the exigence want me to do. The purpose is a sort of call of action by being a patron of Macintosh. You have to ask, what do they want me to believe after seeing this? That Macintosh will change the world, even save it from uniform monotony. The purpose is exigence taken to the next step. It is the problem and the purpose of the problem.
The argument is the most persuasive element, argument from reason. It appeals to our intellectual side. The argument here is that Mac is the way of the future and it is the right choice, and you know it. It is not my personal beliefs but it seems that the reason we should believe or act on this argument is that it is trying to convey that ‘this is your future if you allow society to continue as it is today. This is what Microsoft and other competitors look like. Macintosh is individuality, it is choice, it is color, it is breaking the mold.With respect to Ethos, Pathos, and Logos, the Ethos is the credibility as Macintosh. We have a certain amount of respect for commercials aired during the superbowl because of their notoriety and their cost. Mac must be a huge up and comer to have this air time. The Pathos is the emotional appeal. The fear, the worry the inspiration the passion. The ad shows an epic woman in color single handedly smashing the screen that the mindless colorless drones are plugged into. This drives people. Pathos is especially effective if the message must be delivered in a short period of time, like in this commercial. It is more pathos than anything else, not that it is entirely lacking any of the three. Logos tends to flatter your intelligence and appeals to it in a way that says ‘you are not dumb enough to become one of these people. You are better than these drones. You can change the world. You can be different. That’s why we are showing this to you. That’s why this appeals to you.’ Kairos is another ancient greek word meaning the right time or the opportune moment. Airing this one minute ad during the superbowl is clearly the Kairos. The superbowl is one of if not the most viewed event on television in America. The audience could not be greater, the emotions could not be higher.

02/13/16

Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis

In my opinion, the sentence that most stuck out to me was ‘In other words, most of our actions are persuasive in nature.’ This concept was important to the piece because it sets the framework for the rest of the piece and also sums up the base idea. Rhetoric in an academic sense may seem daunting or complex at first introduction, and it is by no account easy. However, it is naturally occurring. We use rhetoric in conversations with our friends, parents, teachers, employers and more. We do this to subtly get what we want. We subconsciously know by observing social interactions that being blunt and abrasive does not always give the best result. Even small children use rhetoric when attempting to behave and give compliments in order to get something they desire. They learn this through experience and observation. When I was in the third grade, my grandfather taught me the meaning of a ‘rhetorical question’. Being nine, I assumed rhetorical only meant you did not have to actually respond to the question. Upon growing older and learning the definition of rhetoric and seeing examples of it I understand that a rhetorical question is used to further make someone’s point.

02/13/16

What is Rhetoric?

What is Rhetoric?
I enjoyed how in this piece the author seems to start out defending rhetoric, setting it apart from what some may describe as ‘unethical’ or a ‘political spin’. Rhetoric is not synonymous with propaganda. While one can say propaganda is a form of rhetoric, not all rhetoric is manipulative, but rather persuasive. This rather straight forward piece introduces us to a few parts of good rhetoric in the form of a triangle diagram. Ethos, Pathos, Logos sticks out to me as the golden trinity. Your credibility, your emotional impact, your style and visual appeal dominate your rhetoric. Many other ideals stem from each of these three, such as the assumption that you and your audience have the same ideals, appealing to your audiences values, and appealing to their intelligence.