A Modest Journal (10)

I would not have know that Swift was kidding at all if I hadn’t been told so before. It may easily be that the language of his day sounds a lot more serious than I am used to in the present, but I also think Swift had an incredible dry sense of humor. This proposal is effective because it really makes the reader think; his solution is so absurdly ridiculous, so there has to be something better, which makes the reader think.

Swift structures his piece like we talked about in class. He introduces and explicitly defines the problem, the poverty and famine in Ireland, and he even paints a portrait of the infants and beggar children on the streets. He then proceeds to introduce his solution, and give examples as to how it would work, why it is effect, and silences his dissenters. Swift points out that eating babies would get rid of unwanted children, give mothers a source of income, and thus more rights because they could provide a commodity. It would provide another meat to be eaten by those with money, and could be considered a delicacy. It would take a lot of poor children off the street also, and prevent such insane increases in population. Swift supports his solution by claiming it will rid the country of papists, give poor people something of value, help the economy of Ireland, relieve mothers of the burden of caring for their children, make new delectable dishes for taverns, and help the institution of marriage.

I think this piece of effective because of its serious tone. As with all satires, the more ridiculous the solution the better, as long as it is presented with evidence and sincerity, which Swift has. He makes his solution sound like the only option left because all the others don’t work, or don’t quite have the positive effects his do. The thought of eating babies is so out of the question for most people, they read this and go “what the helllllllll” and start thinking of a million better ideas. I think the purpose of satire is to really raise awareness about a problem or situation that is going on. Swift’s famous proposal did just this.

His satire was meant to mock the British government who hadn’t done anything to deal with the crisis in Ireland. Subtle digs in the piece really expressed the tension between the two nationalities.

Journal Nine

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/08/news/economy/Pennsylvania_Corbett_budget/index.htm

The topic of the crazy spending cuts proposed by PA’s governor really gets my attention because it directly affects me, as a full-tuition paying student at Penn State. Governor Corbett is looking for ways to cut spending to deal with PA’s atrocious $4 billion in debt, which I completely agree with, but I don’t agree with cutting so much from education. I agree that we could deal with some cuts to school budgets, but getting Penn State’s funding slashed in half is going to make tuition payment a lot more painful for me. People will still go to college, its almost a necessity now, but a lot more might have to chose community colleges. I think it would be better to examine the spending of individual schools and make cuts at that level. For example, my high school district is in major debt, but the school boards makes about $100,000 plus bonuses, and they get a pay raise every year. Cuts can be made there without affecting the students.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/19/60minutes/main4813571.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

This article deals with the issue of raising the drinking age to 18, the pros and cons and possible effects. College presidents signed a petition the other year saying that the 21 limit for drinking wasn’t working, it was just causing more teens to drink in an unsafe way, as under the radar as possible, and also causing more alcohol related deaths. Opposing arguments state that this would lead to a lot more incidents of drunk driving fatalities, as statistics prove. I agree with lowering the drinking age, but not because I’m a raging underage alcoholic. I think that once 21 comes around, people drink more responsibly because they are out in public doing it: in the bars with a lot of people, or out in clubs. An 18 drinking age would put more responsibility on kids, and would publicize their drinking more, therefore controlling it. 911 calls because of binge drinking might be more frequent, just because people wouldn’t be so terrified of getting an underage.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/10/eveningnews/main6666078.shtml

K2 is a scary new drug designed to give the effect of marijuana, but is in fact a lot more dangerous than it. It’s a legal substance, and has sent many many more people to the hospital than marijuana has. Overdosing on this drug is easy, while there is no real research on overdosing on marijuana. These dangerous replacement drugs are made as legal subsitutes of marijuana, meant for the true addict. I think that legalizing marijuana would take care of these untested sub drugs. I also think that legalizing marijuana and taxing the crap out of it would make the government a decent sum of money they could use to start paying off our trillions in debt. It would also save money and prison space.

The Bottle Vs. Can: Journal Eight

Bottles vs. Can

The glass bottle: an object begging to be held. The long elegant shape fits comfortably into the hand; it is not so small one has to squeeze it, nor to big you have to recruit the help of another hand. The neck is the perfect place to grab when trying to carry more than one bottle at a time for transportation purposes. And the mouth of the bottle fits perfectly into the mouth of a person, the only problems being the act of suction and the vacuum created in the bottle as consumption takes place. The art of leaving a little gap for air to flow is a fine one. Drinking ends with a satisfying chink as the bottle meets the table.

The aluminum can: the glass bottle’s baby cousin, who isn’t really so young anymore. The body is also an easy shape for the hand to grip, though sometimes can feel too short and lead to hand overhang, which makes one feel as though they have bear paws. The can opens with a crisp sound, which entices the thirst, and the placement of the opening and the lip of the can fit comfortably into the mouth. It leads the consumer to leaving a gap for air to fill the can as the beverage leaves it. The hollow ding as an empty can hits the table sounds wimpy, but the crunch of crushing said can is animalistically rewarding.

Journal Seven

On a whim, as I was surfing through my favorite sites for free television episodes, I decided to on the Kardashian family as the subject for this journal. I’m not so certain the Kardashian family would be of any significant literary merit, but they most definitely have influence, and an interesting background. The Kardashian girls are most definitely popular, and almost every member of the family has their own claim to fame, whether it be the Olympics or a sex tape. They definitely have had very controversial moments in their history, as well as influencing millions of young boys, and I suppose girls across the nation.

You could categorize the Kardashian family in numerous ways. They fall into music and fashion, money and law, East Coast and West Coast, as well as socialite and business-people. I think the best description for the Kardashian family is “famous for what exactly?” just like Paris Hilton, who is also most often who Kim Kardashian is compared to when tracing paths to stardom. I don’t think its fair to compare to families of other ex-Olympian, because Bruce Jenner is far from the norm in this situation, but I think the Jackson family could have many similarities with the Kardashians. The Gosselin family could also be a comparison, even though the kids are much younger, and they became famous for different reasons. At the moment I can’t think of much else to compare them to, unless it is individually, which is not how I want to evaluate them.

My first criteria in evaluating the Kardashian family is their claims to fame that are good, such as the charities they participate in, as well as organizations like PETA and THON that they support.

Another criteria is their infamous side, like sex tapes, nude photographs, and the OJ Simpson trial. Kourtney and Kim are notorious for scandalous photo shoots in men’s magazines.

Thirdly, a criteria for their evaluation is their business ventures. Are they actually solid companies, or do they exist as a parasite on the Kardashian fame, feeding off it and only surviving because of it? They currently have a few clothing stores, as well as a personal shoe shopping website which is well advertised all over Facebook.

Fourth: their public image. The Kardshians definitely try to put on the front of a perfect family, but they have major slip ups and mistakes, not to mention coming up very fake sometimes.

Lastly, since they are after all, the Kardashian family I would evaluate them based on their family relationships. How they treat and act towards each other, as well as members of their extended family since one daughter is married, and one has a steady boyfriend and a young child.

Journal Six: Working for the Weekend

1)One o’clock Sunday morning in Stuart Hall has a distinct flavor. Girls start to wake up, and greet each other with tired smiles in the bathroom as they wash off eye makeup residue from the night before. Friends that went out together the night before make eye contact and only manage to smile, groaning and chuckling about the previous night. Quiet knocking and squeaky door hinges opening are the only other sounds that accompany slippered feet trudging down the hallway. Small groups trudge to the commons in UGGs and pajamas, with barely open eyes, desperate for pancakes, waffles, coffee, and other satisfying hangover foods. Two o’clock is a lazy hour, but when three o’clock rolls around, there is a steady exodus of backpack and book-laden girls, heading to study lounges or the library. Everyone is ready to dive back into the daily grind, after blowing off some steam on those glorious Friday and Saturday nights. The few lucky ones who have completed assignments, or the bastards that never had any, are repeatedly turned down by those who “have a ton to do for tomorrow.” Friday and Saturday, Stuart Hall lets its hair down, and slips on a dress, but Sunday afternoon, the hair is back up in a messy bun, and sweatpants are a staple as girls start to study.

2) “I make a point not to drink on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, unless something special comes up’” Rob Kumar, fifth year senior PSU, occupant of notorious party house, Pre-law major

“I write my essay, do my homework, study some, and then get drunk. My most productive afternoons are on Thursday and Friday,” Nichole, freshman PSU College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

“I know when I have time to go out, I mean if I have a studio project due, and know that even if I didn’t sleep from Friday to Sunday it still wouldn’t get done, I’m obviously not gonna get drunk and waste all that time,” Lauren, freshman, Architecture major and sorority member

3) The percentage of student drinking reported on Wednesday and Thursday nights has declined since 2008 – Penn State Live -“Penn State survey gauges student drinking behavior at UP -5/25/10

Nearly half of students—44.7% in 2009—said they consider themselves moderate drinkers, while only 6.9% say they are heavy drinkers – The Daily Collegian- “Report: PSU alcohol statistics increase” – 1/10/10

State Patty’s Day, for example, set a record for arrests. The student-created celebration also spawned other, more modest student drinking days. A hazing incident at a Penn State fraternity sent some students to the hospital with alcohol poisoning. And before the semester ended, a drunken student was badly injured when he stepped in front of a police cruiser during Blue- White weekend. –Centre Daily Times- “Penn State alcohol debate turns to action” – 6/7/10

Data released by Penn State show that Penn State students made 586 alcohol-related visits to Mount Nittany Medical Center in the 2008-2009 academic year. That's up from 445 visits in the prior year. In the 2008-2009 year, those students who arrived at the medical center had an average blood-alcohol level of .253, up from .233 in 2006. –State College.com- “Alcohol Abuse a Primary Concern for Penn State President Graham Spanier” – 4/2/10

4) I am really interested in looking more into how students feel when they are drinking, if they keep in mind that they maybe have a paper due the next day, or if they know when they start to lose control and will be basically functionless the next day. I also really feel like I want to talk to some more professors about if they can tell in class which students went out Thursday night and managed to make it, hungover, to class on Friday morning. I also am waiting on some answers from the University about how many drop-out are due to alcohol related causes per year.

Journal Five: Rhinovirus

“Frank Sinatra Has A Cold”

1] Gay Talese doesn’t really explain what makes Frank Sinatra interesting, he more shows it, like with our personal narrative pieces. Frank Sinatra is a very interesting person, and a lot of people would be interested in discovering another side of him that they haven’t seen before.

2]Talese describes Sinatra as a three dimensional person, not just the celebrity or the work. He inserts lyrics to songs at points that help explain Sinatra as a person through certain times in his life, and shows how back and forth, up and down of a personality Sinatra has.

3] As a writer, Talese helps us to understand Sinatra’s motivation through his story, without shoving it down our throats, as “Sinatra is motivated by blah blah.” I couldn’t put a finger on the exact motivation, but I came away from the piece knowing what motivated the great Frank Sinatra.

4]Gay Talese uses everything at his disposal to paint a complete portrait of Frank Sinatra, from family, to friends, bartenders, etc, and even his own observations just by being in the same room as him.

5] From what I got of the piece, the writer wanted to portray Frank Sinatra as just a regular kind of guy, ups and downs, good days and bad days, just that he has other reasons for the goods and bads than people who aren’t famous.

Interviewing the Interviewer – Reflection on Gay Talese’s interview

After reading Gay Talese’s profile and knowing he was the idolized interviewer, it was interesting to see him interviewed. To me it felt like he wanted to help those he was talking to spoon-feed a great piece to the interviewers, like the pieces he constructs about people. He gave a lot of background, including specific stories about his childhood that were particularly strong and interesting, especially those about World War II. He definitely had control of the situation, I personally felt like the “interviewers” didn’t have control of the situation at all; the wanted it to be a little more Q&A structured, but Talese’s made a point while talking about tape recorders that structure doesn’t work very well at all.

He spent a lot of time talking about what influenced him and how his upbringing affected the kind of pieces he did, and how he could related to the people he wrote about. As he watched his mother build the salon-style trust people nowadays give their stylists, he wanted that sort of insight into people’s lives that came from hearing stories “straight from the horses mouth.” I personally think that’s what makes “Frank Sinatra has a Cold” such a classic piece, is because its not the usual Q&A piece, but I also don’t think I’ll have that much of a problem with many of the people I interview for my own investigative report. I definitely want to do a piece on Penn State and our drinking reputation, and as long as students know they won’t get in trouble, they usually don’t have a problem with being honest about what they chose to do on the weekends.

Drinkers and Thinkers: Journal Four

To me, Penn State is without a doubt the greatest place on earth, besides my home state of Texas of course. The investigative radio broadcast aimed at understanding the party reputation of PSU did a good job in delivering a message that was understandable to the audience, which I think was pretty much anyone, from college students, to parents, high school kids, etc. There were two immediate reasons this report was made, I believe. They give the impression they just want to investigate why and how, Penn State is the number one party school, as publish by the Princeton review, the push that got the inquisitive ball rolling, but I also think the recent death of Joe Dado was another reason my beloved school was up for investigation. Facts and details are given about the situation from all the various groups quoted, from students (freshmen, seniors, frat boys, girls) to the police, and university officials, as well as just normal residents of the State College area. The variety of people interviewed I think hit all of the perspective out there, though I disagree with the portrayal of most of the female students that participated in drinking and partying. I felt like the report gave a very negative connotation to the drinking at Penn State, one in that the student thought it was completely normal, and that the administrators don’t think they can really do anything about it.

I don’t have any problem with being a student at the number one party school. We are (Penn State!) also well up there in academic rankings, being at least top ten in a dozen or more majors and programs campus-wide. All reports about the binge drinking, crazy tailgating, football weekends, party stories, and news articles conveniently leave out that most kids who go out and drink on Friday and Saturday nights, get up the next morning and do some homework, or hit the gym. Those of us who go out Thursday may not make our 8 am the next day, but that isn’t everyone. And not everyone at PSU drinks; dry parties and activities happen all the time, every weekend. I didn’t like how it seemed a lot of people, from student to faculty, at the university were shown in almost an irresponsible light, and maybe things have changed since I’ve been here, but I have always seen a ridiculously drunk person being helped by one or two friends, and only witnessed one fight, and never, ever, any flaming furniture. I thought the cops perspective was interesting, but I’m pretty sure he was a State College police officer, not campus security, because hearsay is that the campus security goes out of their way to make underages happen, and not just to the blatantly drunk, so there was a perspective that was left out. Always my biggest issue with the PSU party reputation is that while the kid that may have been pounding drinks, shot-gunning beers, and stumbling around Saturday night, they are probably in the library by 2 Sunday afternoon, studying and getting homework done. In all the statistics that the report threw out about averages, they left out a lot of purely academic ones. The percentage of students who chose not to partake in alcoholic festivities sure as hell can’t keep the university’s GPA up enough for the rest of those that do. Just because Penn State has a reputation for drinkers, doesn’t mean those people are thinkers too.

Journal Three: Shitty First Drafts

I like to believe great writers just sit down and let all their ideas come to them, perfect from their brain to the page, down to the last period. This fantasy makes me feel better about some of the first drafts I have turned in, somehow making them more acceptable as essays. I know this is clearly not the case, professional writers spend ridiculous amount of time on their pieces, reading, editing, rewriting, and repeating. I personally feel like I have never gotten that system down, or found the right editing system for myself. I mean I have edited in classes and on my own, correcting big grammatical and spelling mistakes, as well as taking out sentences and rearranging words to provide more clarity or make a point more impactful. I haven’t ever printed out my work and cut it up then rearranged it, or taken colored pencil to it and moved words and phrases around. Most of the time I just sit down, with my handwritten outline, and write my essay. I suppose you could say I edit as I go (I went back and corrected some things just now) but I really feel like I can’t get as into the editing process as others do. I can’t decide if its because I don’t want to spend the time on the pieces I wrote in high school, or if it was more that I was scared to really look at my writing. Thinking about it now, it was definitely that I didn’t want to spend all the time I think real editing is on essays that I didn’t really care about. I definitely have a writing process, which I trust warily; the outline, then the introduction (my favorite part, I could write intro’s all day), then some fiddling around, a few more sentences, going for a walk, getting inspired for write another paragraph, checking Facebook, and then getting disgusted with how little I have done and cranking out the rest, ending with a conclusion I hate, no matter what it is. Reading this article, and talking to a friend that is a creative writing major, has helped me realize how much of an art writing really is. “Sometimes I just can’t write,” she said, and this friend of mine writes like its her job already, anything and everywhere, and I think it’s the same when I just can’t think of an idea for an architecture project, I can’t build or draw, or even think. But for every architecture project, I end up with a stack of about one hundred crap designs, junky cardboard models, and a million different ideas which I continually revise and change until one is perfect for the project specifications. I think I am willing to spend the time on it because I love the project, and the more I work on it the better it gets, and the better I feel. I am hoping that with more freedom in choosing my topics in college, I’ll like my writing more, and be willing to revise it more, completely tear it apart and built it back up, making it stronger than ever.

Journal Two: Response to “Tour of Duty” by Denise Grollmus

I first just want to say wow to this personal narrative; it brings to light a whole other side that most people don’t know about their teachers, that they have had real, interesting, and even news-worthy lives. I hope I can do justice in writing about it.

The subject of this piece is Denise’s experience on music tour with her boyfriend. I think that this particular piece is really relevant, especially to college kids, like those she teaches, because most college kids want to live the illusion of grandeur the rock life gives: the drinking, the crazy nights, popular drunk use, women throwing themselves all over, loud music, breaking things, lack of hygiene, and just in general going crazy and not having consequences. Yes, higher education is the goal in college, but it isn’t what defines college. Beyond just being an account of her experiences on tour, it goes into her feelings and reactions to things that happened, were said, etc. during that time and pulls the reader into the experience, feeling her feelings, understanding her thoughts, and reacting themselves. I doubt the intended audience was a college English class, and judging from the article, it was meant for readers of this magazine, Scene, people who were probably interested in music, and Denise’s point was to show the dirty underbelly of the rock and roll tour world that is glamorized often in media. Touring is real work, and exhausting as Denise describes. She was sharing her story, almost as a warning, a kind of exposé on the tour life, and I can imagine that, for an English professor, writing this story down was a sort of cleansing and relieving experience, a way of dealing with everything that had happened, and organizing her memories.

My favorite rhetorical device used was the dialogue. It just added another layer of flavor to the writing and a “wow” factor over the things that some people really do say to each other. To me, the dialogue just made the writing so real, I can’t even explain why the little snippets were so powerful to me. It was definitely a pathos pull because of the emotion and reality that dialogue and quotes represent. Emotions can be glossed over or embellished in writing, but true quotation should just be simply the spoken words. I really want to incorporate more dialogue effectively into the memoir piece I’m about to write, which would involve remembered more conversations effectively, and also knowing which ones, and which snippets of which ones, are the most powerful and effective for my purpose.

Journal One

Writing has always been a necessary evil and yet ultimate expression of creativity for me. I hate it and love it at the same time. I have written a forty-page paper in a week and in the same time barely managed one page. It has always been a temperamental art to me, and dependant on the topic, so to me, my strengths and weaknesses fluctuate.

Concise-ness, if that is a word, has always been a strength of mine I believe. I have never believe in writing useless, meaningless sentences just to take up space and meet a length requirement. The great thing about writing is that it is there, permanent, for a reader to go back over, so I believe in making a point and moving on. Readers can chose how much repetition they need. A good vocabulary should accompany concise writing, but I would say that it is one of my weaknesses. I am always looking to expand my vocabulary, and this semester I really want to accomplish that in this class. Vocabulary is also dependant on the topic, content, style, tone, and intended audience of the writing. I learned from J. Cole, a rapper, http://www.jcolemusic.com/ that good vocabulary doesn’t always mean a good message and vice versa. If you ignore the not so classy language, his message is really powerful and he has inspired me to think about the content and meaning of the words I write more.

Another strength and weakness combination that I believe I posses as a writer is that I write almost exactly as if I were talking. That can be good in a casual sort of essay, but most of the time, it doesn’t come off the right way when read and can in my own criticism of myself, make me sound less educated and credible than I really am. The strength of this quality though is that I am very straightforward and honest with my writing, I don’t try to hide anything with flowery descriptions or wishy-washy phrasing, I just say what I have to say and mean it.

I would really like to improve my writing ability a lot with this course, and even after one class it really seems like I will have the potential to. I really hope to become a more credible, professional sounding writer, which will no doubt help me further in life as I begin job interviews and resume writing. I also want to improve the organization of my writing, and really look into editing, not merely just go over the grammar and spelling components. To aid in those goals I have, I really want to expand my vocabulary, plan my pieces, do research in my topics, and in general just immerse myself more into my writing. A huge goal that I have for myself this semester is to make my writing more exciting, to really grab the reader’s attention, which my favorite book, The Marathon Man by William Goldman (http://www.amazon.com/Marathon-Man-William-Goldman/dp/0345439724/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1294793852&sr=8-2)does.

It is such an exciting page-turner, and even though it is pure fiction, it has some history behind it, and I wish all my writing would be like that. With help and criticism from the class I am hoping it will be.