Author: Williams, Alicia

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04/5/16

Research Based Argument Proposal

For my research based argument, I will be arguing the issue of stereotypes made by today’s society. Just because there are stereotypes the world gives us, does it mean we have to live by it? Now, everyone in the world has some sort of stereotype they live by but I am mainly focusing on the stereotypes given to the young black community. I will be covering everything from stereotypes about personal appearance to stereotypes of how we should go through out living life trying to get an education and becoming something in life. I find it very disturbing that it’s a shock to the world when a Black person “makes it out the hood” or becomes very successful in a typical “hard-to-do” career. It makes me feel as though they believe blacks are only supposed to make it but so far in life.

03/3/16

Responding To Other’s Writing

I found this article to be very interesting to read. It teaches the basic do’s and dont’s of reading a classmates paper. I personally learned a lot from this article regarding how to read the paper and what to look for. Referring to what was said on page 137, subtitled “What are your goals?”, the author states, “First, don’t set out to seek and destroy all errors and problems in the writing.” I felt that specifically referred to me because when I read someone’s work, I am always quick to point out a misspelled word or a punctuation mark missing. The paragraph then proceeds with the basic concept being that writer’s write and readers read. After reading this article, I have come to the conclusion that I need to remember that I am just the reader and not the writer. I am so accustomed to reading and correcting what I think is wrong to the point where I forget the reason why I was reading in the first place.

Pages 138 to 142 are telling us as the readers what we should do to prepare reading another student’s work. It tells us the mindset we should have, what to think about, what to look out for, etc. It’s good to know that when reading a piece, I can state what I really liked and disliked about the writing without feeling as if I don’t want to hurt feelings or be too rude with what I am trying to say. Paragraph two of page 140 explains to us as the readers how exactly to word what we’re trying to say without being too verbose or not having enough words. Reading this has also taught me the questions I would want to ask while reading this and what I would want to compliment them on while also stating what I think could be changed.

02/29/16

Shitty First Drafts

I would first like to start off by saying I really admire how Anne Lamott really connected with the audience, myself and others, as readers and also writers. Lamott has proven to me that not all great books/novels/stories are made perfectly from the first try. It feels almost as if a weight was lifted knowing that I am not the only one that goes through the crazy writer’s block phase while writing a paper. It’s nice to know that it is okay to not know what exactly it is that you’re writing about until maybe the end of the first draft. I personally relate to what this article is saying because I always have one of those very shitty first drafts that Lamott speaks about. I would never actually know or be able to even stick to one topic until I’ve written and crossed out about 2-3 pages of work before starting my actual writing. From what Lamott has said, writing the first draft is more about the process as opposed to the product. The first draft really determines what way your piece will go.  I see writing is a process but also a cycle. When you become a writer, the process used to write a piece becomes a cycle.

“Very few writers really know what they’re doing until they’ve done it.” I feel that Lamott wrote this to tell readers that it is okay to not always know from the start what they are going to write about. Sometimes it takes writing multiple pages of ideas and brainstorms before we as writers can decide on one strong topic that we feel will reach out to our readers. I see paragraph 10 as words of encouragement. Lamott breaks it down by saying draft one is just to jot everything down, draft two is to revise, and draft three is the final check up.

02/23/16

Letter To My Nephew

It would seem that in this article James Baldwin is only talking to his nephew, James, I however believe that James is talking to a broader audience. I found this article to be very interesting to me as the audience. While reading this, Baldwin was basically telling his nephew to not think of himself as what the whites would think of him, but to think of himself as more. He does not want his nephew to grow up feeling like he will never make it in life because he is seen to the public as a “nigger”. Baldwin does not want James to define himself behind the stereotypical characteristics the society puts against him, Rather, he wants him to change the view of blacks.

Baldwin is telling his nephew that he knows what he’s going through because he went through it himself. On page 8 Baldwin says, “I know the conditions under which you were born, for I was there.” Baldwin is really trying to get his nephew you to understand that just because the “white world” has their own view of the “negro” community, it does not have to be his view of himself and others.

I especially found this article very interesting because it relates strongly to the world we live in today. Everywhere you turn the black community is still being looked down on. “… that we, with love, shall force our brothers to see themselves as they are…” Nowadays, the black community is not typically known or seen for their success as it should be, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t successful. This article is to persuade not just his nephew, but also the negro community to help on another to realize that we do not have to live by the characteristics given to us from the “white world”.

02/9/16

The Egg and the Sperm

In the article, The Egg and the Sperm, author Emily Martin argues that scientific theory believes that women are less worthy than men. Martin thinks that the scientific accounts rely on stereotypes and imply that female biological processes are less worthy than the male counterparts. On page 488, Martin speaks of how female processes are shown in more of a negative light than the male production. The article explains how sperm production is “continuous from puberty to senescence, while they portray egg production as inferior because it is finished at birth.” To argue her point further, Martin states how a woman wastes around two hundred eggs for every baby produced. Whereas a man wastes more than one trillion sperm for every baby he produces.

What Martin really wants is a less stereotypical view of the egg and the sperm. I support and agree with her argument. I feel that the egg and sperm both play important roles and one should not be shown as more worthy than the other. The article compares the egg and sperm to a lock and key, making the egg the lock and sperm the key. This is saying that the egg is the one that basically sits there and lets the sperm do all the work. Meaning, the egg is the lock and the key is the sperm that has to do the work of opening the lock. I also agree with Martin that the sperm is mostly given the more active role than the egg. The process still needs the work of both the egg and sperm so it shouldn’t be stated as the sperm is more worthy and does more work than the egg.

02/4/16

Metaphors to Live By

I enjoyed reading Metaphors to Live By by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. This article really opened my eyes to realize that terms I would normally use on an every day basis were seen that way. The authors found a way to show us that a metaphor is more than just a characteristic of language. I found the metaphorical analogies such as argument is war to be a good point on how we use metaphors without even noticing. “His criticisms were right on point. I demolished his argument.” Saying something like that used to just be what you say when arguing with one another. It’s only after I read this that I actually see these sayings as words also used as if one were to be in war. In the article, the author says, “Though there is no physical battle, there is a verbal battle, and the structure of an argument… reflects this.” I agree with this quote because saying something like, “He attacked every weak point in my argument” or “If you use that strategy , he’ll wipe you out” are words occasionally used in a physical war,let alone a verbal “war”.

Chapter 2, does similar to Chapter 1 with a different metaphorical term, “Time is money.” I’ve always heard the saying time is money but never looked at sayings such as, “I don’t have enough time time to spare for that” as a saying that is a metaphor and related to the time is money quote. Chapter 3 starts off by summarizing what was said in chapters one and two. It then proceeds to explain what a conduit metaphor is. After reading this, I learned that a conduit metaphor is a complex metaphor that turns ideas/meanings to objects, linguistic expressions are containers, and communication is sending. A conduit metaphor is used to show that words or sentences have meanings in themselves. Overall I enjoyed reading and learning from this article.

02/4/16

Alicia’s Introduction

Hi, My name is Alicia Williams and I am a freshman here at Baruch. I came from Base High School in Brooklyn, NY. I haven’t fully decided on my major but, my options are either Accounting, Entrepreneurship, or Business Management. What I love the most is music and sports. I am on the Women’s basketball team here at Baruch and enjoy watching sports like basketball and volleyball. I expect to get along with my classmates through this semester and end it on a strong note with a strong grade.