Author: KENLEE LAM

What is your research question/rhetorical situation?

My rhetorical situation is how sports affect children’s self esteem.

What is your connection to rhetorical situation and why are you uniquely placed to write about it?

Where do you imagine your writing “existing”? (newspaper, magazine, youtube, personal blog)

I imagine my writing in a personal blog.

Who is your target audience?

My target audience is children, parents, and schools.

What form will your writing take? (Research paper, narrative, letter, script.)

My writing will take the form of a narrative.

Why is this form the most effective way to communicate to your target audience?

I feel like this is the most effective way to communicate as I will be able to convey my message better through experience

What is the value you’re trying to impart on your audience?

I want my audience to take action and put themselves out there to try new things that could potentially benefit them in the long run.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KK5465ED8EPI1mc__j8Jy_c6F3vQKqWenHGDeGy27uI/edit?usp=sharing

1. Rashomon was about these two men retelling a murder case they were involved in. The story starts with everyone involved and their perspective of what happened. The farmer spoke about how he found the body. The monk of how he meets the couple. The bandit said he killed the husband and tried to get with his wife but she escaped. The wife said the bandit took advantage of her and that she passed out and woke up with her husband dead. The plot shows how humans react under dire circumstances in different scenarios.
2. The main symbols in the film are the rain and the sword. The rain symbolized an ominous tone for the movie. Rain is often associated with gloomy situations. The sword symbolizes violence, protection, and power. Those who wield weapons in the film like the thief and the husband used it either to defend or attack someone.
3. The structure of the film was very important because to show the Rashomon effect you need to show different perspectives. We got to see the similarities and differences in everyone’s story and had to think wonder who was telling the truth and who was lying. In the end, we found out the truth and saw that the majority of the people were not telling the truth but their version of what happened.

4. The Rashomon effect is very prevalent in social media due to many factors. One factor is the algorithms created in many social media apps. The algorithms often show things you agree with or like to see. This can cause you to only view situations from sources you think are valid and align with your view, then fact-check to ensure you are receiving accurate information. Often we see the algorithms show different posts during the election between the Democrats and Republicans. Another aspect of social media that exacerbates the Rashomon effect is how fast information is spread in the news. Often time blogs on social media just post the situation online without context causing people to come up with their ideas about what happens. This is very dangerous as this can cause misinformation to spread and could potentially harm people’s reputations and livelihoods. Anonymity has always been a controversial part of society with people using that to say how they truly feel. People often use anonymous profiles to say extreme viewpoints with no backlash since people will never know who they are. This lets people say withever they want even if it’s not true to help spread confusion in different situations.

Story- Learning to play basketball

Situation

How peer pressures affect a person.

How stereotypes play a role in how people view you?

Routines help you become consistent.

Practice makes perfect

Question

How does learning a sport affect a child’s confidence? 

How does learning a sport affect a child’s social skills?

James Baldwin’s point of argument is that the American dream is at the expense of the American negro. He speaks about how the negros in American life in a system. They live in a different reality to whites and in this system, they are suffering. This system is like a constant cycle that never ends continuing from generation to generation. He also mentioned how the American dream was built on black labor. The thriving Southern economy was created at the expense of unpaid labor. The negros were the foundation but could not reap any benefits. In return, they are shunned. He points out the hypocrisy of the American dream that provides freedom and opportunity but that isn’t extended to those of color who often face discrimination due to their race.

William Buckley agrees with the fact that racism is still an issue in America but that doesn’t prevent people from achieving the American dream. He believes that putting in effort is what causes you to achieve the American dream. He says Americans are to focused on the past like slavery and segregation and focus on the future with equal opportunity for those who work for it. 

James Baldwin uses pathos in debate through repetition. He repeats the words “I” with a loud tone to signify the importance of what he is saying. Phrases like “I built this” to show that blacks were the building blocks of the country.

William Buckley uses pathos as well by acknowledging the effects of slavery on America. He emphasizes how racism is still prevalent in America and needs to be worked on to gain empathy from the audience.

Kenlee Lam

ENG 2150

Yitong Ding

February 19 2024

All my life I wasn’t interested in sports. I would rather read a book during recess than run around with my friends. I was a nerdy kid and enjoyed doing everything else than playing outside. Sports wasn’t that exciting to me during elementary school. I wasn’t an active kid. I would play on occasion if I didn’t have anything to read or play with. My parents didn’t push me to play sports so I stuck to what I liked doing playing on my 3DS and reading comic books. This was my routine until the end of middle school around the 8th grade.
All the boys in my middle school played sports and I mean everyone. I was usually the out one just sitting on the sidelines. I only participated in playing sports for gym credits. If I didn’t have to play I didn’t play at all. In my 8th grade year, I hit a growth spurt. I want 5’8 to 6’0 in a few months. I began to get asked, “Kenlee, why aren’t you playing ball bro, you wasting your height”. I kept hearing this comment and variations of it until I just started playing basketball. I thought if I just played once and did decently they would leave me alone. I thought it was that hard to play. During that game, I realized basketball was indeed hard to play. Watching it from the sidelines was fun to see, but playing it was a whole different perspective. I thought Everyone had their roles and had to perform for the team to win. When someone is not playing well, the other has to pick up your slack. People were picking my slack in that game, I couldn’t dribble well, shoot well, or even pass well. I was just a standing liability at that point. My first full basketball game and my team lost because of me. I knew my teammates were mad at me, but I held back the comments since they knew this was my first time playing basketball. I was under the hoop wide-open missing easy layups. I was getting heckled by the old heads in the park calling me useless. I remember when I first got the ball and I tried to lay it up. I missed it terribly. I got the rebound and missed again. The other team quickly took the ball and I could hear on the sidelines “ Damn this boy trash”. I felt a deep sense of embarrassment. I tried to make up for my plunder and tried shooting a three but that was my next mistake. I didn’t have a shooting form and I didn’t have enough strength to shoot a three either. I ended up airballing and my form was terrible. The crowd was laughing and heckling me. They said my form looked like a bent chicken leg. My teammates were looking at me with such a disappointed expression.
I felt so embarrassed on the other hand. I had never played a game where I felt so useless. I couldn’t even score a layup. I was thinking that I was a waste of height at that point. I went home and tried to play some games to make myself feel better but I just couldn’t. I could focus at that point as flashbacks of my terrible game were running through my mind. I ended up going on YouTube and looking for Basketball tutorials. I had to start from the basics, dribbling, shooting, and passing. From that day, it lit a fire inside of me. I cut back on reading, and playing games, and started playing outside in the park. I started asking my friends for tips and what worked for me. I started to enjoy playing basketball at that point. I became decent at the game that people started picking more often for pick-up games. I knew at that point was improving greatly. I never knew how much I was missing out on when I finally gave the sport a chance. I always thought playing sports was boring but now It isn’t. I regretted not playing the game sooner, but you can’t change the past.
Through the sport, I started meeting and making new friends. Basketball often brings together communities and I started to see that the more I played. The people I met playing basketball were often better than me and I wanted to get on that level and soon surpass them. I met my best friend Keem through basketball and he was better than me. I was envious of his skill and wanted to play like him. He was always a person people wanted on their team. I decided that he was my goal to surpass. Always When I played I would usually try to guard the best player. This often led to embarrassing moments where I would get crossed up or scored on easily, but it made me better in the end. You have to fail first to get better at something. Eventually, I started to gain experience and learn from my mistakes. I learned my style of basketball and what worked and what didn’t work for me. I wasn’t the best shooter but I was very good at making layups and close shots in general. I eventually became as good as my friend Keem.
Picking up this sport taught me a lot of lessons. It taught me to be patient with myself and with others as well. I wasn’t that good at the beginning and kept messing up. My friends would be frustrated with me but would not put me down but encourage me. They would point out my mistakes and tell me how to prevent them in the future. Playing basketball also taught me discipline. I would always wake up in the morning and do dribbling drills in the yard. Having handles was key so the ball wouldn’t be stolen easily from you. I would stick to this routine as long as I was able to. I apply these lessons I learned everywhere at school and work. I am patient with people and always try to stick to a routine in my life.
Through basketball, I developed the confidence to play other sports and try new things. I tried out soccer and realized it is fun but I don’t like it that much. It had too much running around and I needed a bit more stamina to play it. I tried football but I realized I wasn’t good at catching football. The physical contact was a bit too much for a skinny guy like me as well. Volleyball I enjoyed playing it, especially spiking the ball. I just have to improve with my serves. Basketball gave me the confidence to try other sports and put myself in, ignoring the fact that I may embarrass myself at certain times.
The one important skill basketball taught me is communication. Before playing basketball I was an introvert and didn’t really like talking to new people. I would just stay to myself and prefer to interact with those I already knew. When I started playing I was constantly exposed to new people, ideas, and concepts. I learned that to be good in basketball you need to communicate with others. I soon became vocal and applied that to my life. Now, I can easily interact with a new person no matter who they are. Awkwardness isn’t a problem for me anymore since it will eventually pass. In group projects, I often take the initiative to talk first and get to know people. It also helped me at work to get on good terms with my co-workers. Having a good relationship with my co-workers helps me enjoy work during the times it gets stressful. People often say I am easy to talk to and approach, I am proud that I am perceived that way and I thank trying basketball for making me a better person overall through just trying something new.

In ENG 2100 the writings I wrote were creative narrative, rhetorical, and research essays. My favorite one to do was the creative narrative due to it being based on my experiences and perspective on the topic.  I did not enjoy writing rhetorical essays. Finding and analyzing rhetorical techniques are difficult for me. I dislike research essays since they require a lot of research essay since they require a lot of research. Most of the research essay topics I have been given were boring and had a tedious amount of work. What I am most anxious about in writing is making sure my point is easily understood. My goals for this class are to get a good grade and become a better writer. I want to make my future work easy to understand and be able to write essays faster and more efficiently as well.