Brainstorming for Final Reflection Paper

 

My final portfolio will be over two sides of an argument and is about “finding common ground.”

To be successful in this piece, I have to include the following:

1. A solid, non-bias opinion of both sides of the argument
2. Correct in text citations and a bibliography  
3. Information about all parts of the argument (use annotations chart)

I have to avoid:

1. Being repetitive
2. Inserting my own opinion

To be successful in the reflection paper, I have to include the following:

1. An explanation of what I learned as a student, writer, and researcher
2. What I learned about writing
3. An explanation of my audience
4. An explanation of the form/genre
5. An overall examination of why I chose my topic, how I researched it
6. What was challenging? What was easy?
7. What approach did I take?

Brainstorming: 

• Topic: Legalizing the market on human organs
• Sources I can use:

                     http://www.dailycampus.com/commentary/compensation-for-organs-should-be-legalized-1.2689634

                     http://intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/past-debates/item/588-we-should-legalize-the-market-for-human-organs

                     http://bigthink.com/dr-kakus-universe/regenerative-medicine-and-the-human-body-shop

 

• Angles: Because the intelligencesquredus video has the most information for both sides of the argument, it will serve as my main source. I will be reading up on all of the speakers in this argument to understand their background and how this affects their credibility and opinion.

 

 

 

To the Comp 1013 Class Next Semester

What is ENG 1013 all about? What is the purpose of the First Year Composition classes sequence? What do you wish you knew at the start of things? What did you learn? What do you hope to learn in 1023? What advice would you give my next class of students (ENG 1023)?

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Dear Future Comp 1 Students,

English 1013 is all about expanding your writing abilities. Dr. Lackey will challenge you in every way possible…you will write research papers, creative writing, writing about people, places, and things you do not always necessarily agree with. But it is challenging assignments like this that will help you to deepen in your writing. At the start of this course, I wish I knew that the porfolios were going to be this challenging… If I would have known that before, maybe I would have started earlier on the first one. 🙂 As far as 1023, I am not going to be taking this course. I am a transfer student from community college who has already taken both of these courses. The reason I took comp 1 again was to receive an honors credit.

Advice for the next class:

Get your work peer reviewed — Don’t have the thought process of “oh, I know what I’m doing… I don’t need to show this to anyone else.” NO. Professionals are peer reviewed constantly by dozens of people. Don’t do that. Don’t. No. Bad student.

Start early — Do not start your work a week before it is due, start even earlier than that. And please don’t start the night before it’s due, trust me…you won’t finish.

Take risks — Don’t be afraid to think outside the box. Lackey will give you a lot of leeway in what you can write about. Talk to her about it, but don’t be afraid to do something different.

READ ALL OF HER INSTRUCTIONS — As a composition teacher should, Lackey tries to push the our best work out of us. Don’t take any short cuts and be sure to read the rubrics carefully and take notes when she is giving any type of instructions about the projects. Write down all websites she recommends to use, and USE THEM. Before you submit your project, go through a check list and make sure you followed all rubric instructions.

 

I hope this helps and good luck to the next class! Enjoy the course and enjoy TWU.

– Kaydra Brannan

Response to “Fish Cheeks” by Amy Tan

“I fell in love with the minister’s son the winter I turned fourteen. He was not Chinese, but as white as Mary in the manger. For Christmas I prayed for this blond-haired boy, Robert, and a slim new American nose. When I found out that my parents had invited the minister’s family over for Christmas Eve dinner, I cried. What would Robert think of our shabby Chinese Christmas? What would he think of our noisy Chinese relatives who lacked proper American manners? What terrible disapointment would he feel upon seeing not a roasted turkey and sweet potatoes but Chinese food? On Christmas Eve, I saw that my mother had outdone herself in creating a strange menu. She was pulling black veins out of the backs of fleshly prawns. The kitchen was littered with appalling mounds of raw food: A slimy rock cod with bulging fish eyes that pleaded not to be thrown into a pan of hot oil. Tofu, which looked like stacked wedges of rubbery white sponges. A bowl soaking dried fungus back to life. A plate of squid, criss-crossed with knife markings so they resembled bicycle tires. And then they arrived — the minister’s family and all my relatives in a clamor of doorbells and rumped Christmas packages. Robert grunted hello, and I pretended he was not worthy of existence. Dinner threw me deeper into despair. My relatives licked the ends of their chopsticks and reached across the table, dipping into the dozen or so plates of food. Robert and his family waited patiently for platters to be passed to them. My relatives murmured with pleasure when my mother brought out the whole steamed fish. Robert grimaced. Then my father poked his chopsticks just below the fish eye and plucked out the soft meat. “Amy, your favorite,” he said, offering me the tender fish cheek, I wanted to disappear. At the end of the meal my father leaned back and belched loudly, thanking my mother for her fine cooking. “It’s a polite Chinese custom, to show you are satisfied,” he explained to our astonished guests. Robert was looking down at his plate with a reddened face. The minister managed to muster a quiet burp. I was stunned into silence for the rest of the night. After all the guests had gone, my mother said to me, “You want be same like American girls on the outside.” She handed me an early gift. It was a miniskirt in beige tweed. “But inside, you must always be Chinese. You must be proud you different. You only shame is be ashame.” And even though I didn’t agree with her then, I knew that she understood how much I had suffered during the evening’s dinner. It wasn’t until many years later — long after I had gotten over my crush on Robert — that I was able to appreciate fully her lesson and the true purpose behind our particular menu. For Christmas Eve that year, she had chosen all my favorite foods.” – Amy Tan “Fish Cheeks”

 

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The author of this piece, Amy Tan, did an excellent job in capturing place. To her, place was her family and not the home. I found myself laughing often throughout this piece. She was so witty and attentive to capturing every little embarassing detail of this experience she had all those years ago. I even found myself grimacing at the thought of these crazy foods and imagining how mortified she must have felt at that age. This piece brought me back to my childhood and made me think of how lucky I am to have come from where I did. Tan reminds us that no matter what, family is family and you should be always be proud of who you are. I would have to say that this piece explains place in the most important way: through relationships. By describing her parents, her relatives, and their every action (no matter how ridiculous), Tan painted a beautifully messy portrait of the truth about her life. This is what place is all about, or writing in general, being honest. Honesty makes the place more real for the audience, and allows them to actually go there.

My Study Space

As a college student, having a good place to study is essential. Typically, I use the college library to study or the desk space in my apartment. My desk is small, but it’s just enough space for everything I need. I have my laptop there, all my supplies (hole punch, staples, tape, glue sticks, scissors, etc), and photos of my friends and family. My printer is also on my desk which has been of major use to me (since in college they seem to love killing trees). Usually, you will see me studying at my desk in the apartment, I only go to the library if for some reason I just can’t focus there. But usually, since I have such an awesome and QUIET roommate, it’s no problem. 🙂 I can’t study without putting some music on, but it can’t have words in it or I’ll start singing/signing the words (ASL) lol. Movie soundtracks/classical music tracks are typically what I study to. Even though I’ve only been using this desk for a little over a month and a half, it has become one of my most frequent places to spend my time. The desk came with the apartment, it’s wood on the front and the top of the desk is made out of that weird hard (plastic/wood? what? I don’t know what it’s called… someone please tell me so I don’t look like a moron). It has slide out panels so I can have more room to work and it gets the job done! I am just thankful that I didn’t have to move a desk into the apartment myself and it came with it!

Brainstorming for Porfolio II

 

Post for 10/22 in class discussion on “place”

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Super cool name ideas for our class blog compilation over our research on “place”:

1. Places in Fantasy and Reality — simple and to the point
2. Definite and Indefinite Boundaries — this one could be really creative because it is a shortened dictionary definition of “place”
3. Wanderlust of the Body and Mind — wanderlust has to do with the desire to travel, and because we have fictional and non-fictional places on our list, I included the physical and the mental in the title.

These are just some random suggestions. Hopefully someone has a better title idea than me 😛

Our Ideal Audience: It is hard to be completely certain of our ideal audience because we are all writing about very different things. Some people will be writing about real countries like Ireland, other people will be writing about fictional places like Narnia. Overall, I envision our ideal audience as writers, researchers, and travelers. These types of people will be very interested in resources about place.

My Implied Audience: Because my paper will be over the inside of the mind of a serial killer, I will be coming from a very psychological perspective. My audience will be anyone in their teens and up that is interested in criminology, psychology, etc. 

 

Photo sources:

http://wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/drawing/breathtaking-views_yosemite-falls-by-peter-ellenshaw_27152.htm

http://www.shatterboxx.com/breathtaking-views/

http://nerdsontherocks.com/bar-banter-system-seller

http://mirror.transact.net.au/sourceforge/t/tr/tripleamaps/xml/inDevelopmentVeqrynDepot.xml

The Misconception of Homelessness

 

Prompt pulled after reading “No Place Like Home” by David Guterson.

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Many people think that being homeless is a horrible way to live. While I don’t necessarily think it is great, I believe that homeless people when it really boils down to it are more blessed than us. Why? Because they know what is important. A lot of people seem to think that being homeless is a chore that should immediately be fixed, something that occured out of the person’s control. The reality is, often times the person chooses to live that way. They choose that lifestyle because they want to. Another misconception about homelessness is that the individuals got that way through drugs and selling themselves on the streets, etc. The truth is, many homeless individuals aren’t addicts or prostitutes. They aren’t all criminals, they aren’t all mentally ill, and they aren’t all too lazy to work. Many are injured, have poor family relationships, and simply don’t have the means to live a “normal” life. I have also read that the homeless lifestyle has often been viewed as a life of “leisure.” I couldn’t disagree more; it is a life where every hour you are trying to survive, not knowing where your next meal will come from or maybe even where you will be sleeping that night. Many are jumped, roused by police, etc. Before you make a judgement about a homeless person, think about some of these things next time. You never know just how they got there.

Helpful Links for Place Assignment

(Please read previous post before reading this)

Since I am writing about a place that isn’t exactly tangible (the inside of a murderer’s mind), I thought this link could come in handy:

http://writeitsideways.com/7-tips-for-writing-about-places-youve-never-been/

This post helps you write about places you’ve never been to before. 

The second link talks about activating the reader’s senses and being descriptive, something that I will definitely need to include in my piece to help my readers truly grasp what is going on in Jim O’Neill’s head.

http://juliahoneswritinglife.blogspot.com/2013/01/description-of-places-in-creative.html

Lastly, I found this awesome website talking about psychopaths. It really helps you understand how they think and poses some very interesting questions.

http://www.psychopathicwritings.com/

The Game Plan for Porfolio 2

Hey, readers! It’s been a little while. How are you? 🙂

This post is going to be pretty different. It was assigned by my composition teacher and is basically going to be a game plan of how I’m going to write and do research for my next paper over some type of fiction or non-fiction place. I have chosen to write about the inside of a man’s mind. More specifically, the mind of a man known as James Ryan O’Neill. James Ryan O’Neill is a dark and mysterious Australian man who is serving his life in prison for murdering two young boys in 1975. O’Neill is Tasmania’s longest-serving prisoner for a single offense. While O’Neill will be spending the rest of his life in prison, and has already served 30 years, there are still many speculations of him being a serial killer and having a lot more to hide. As a Criminal Minds fan, I thought that writing about the inside of his mind could be very interesting.

Before I picked Jim O’Neill to write about specifically, I knew I wanted to write about the inside of a psychopath’s mind. I have been doing research through the TWU Library’s website and plan on continuing to rely on those resources. TWU has fantastic databases with a significant amount of detailed information. I already found one database called “Vast: Academic Video Online.” It was here that I was able to find an hour long interview/explanation of Jim O’Neill’s story. I have also found websites about the Beaumont children, three children that many speculate O’Neill kidnapped and murdered in the mid ’60s. As I continue to do my research, I am going to make sure I go through reliable databases. I plan on using this hour long video/story, and I am hoping to find more websites about his childhood. I believe I can find more information by looking through websites on criminal justice, psychology, sociology, etc.

As far as the game plan for the paper, I plan on writing the entire thing from a very psychological perspective. I will evaluate Jim O’Neill’s life, his relationship with his parents, his uncovered activity with the mafia, his serious head injury and so called “blackouts,” etc. As I talk about his life, I plan on inserting my opinion of why he became the man that he did or if he was simply born this way. I am very excited to be writing about Jim O’Neill, he is a very mysterious man with hundreds of layers and as someone who is a big fan of psychology, I think I’m going to learn a lot in this process!

Ladies, are we paying too much to look good?

 

 

Alright. So something I’ve been noticing lately is just how much money you can spend on make-up. If I ever need more than three beauty products when I go to the store, they end up being like half of my grocery bill (compared to food costs they’re basically triple). So, I decided to research this a little. My research was specifically on mascara because I was interested in how it was made, and because it can often be quite pricey. Mascara typically ranges from $3-$22. The mascara I purchase usually ranges from $10-12. $18 and up is when you start getting into the more high end brands that you don’t see in your drug store. Unless of course, you want to purchase the world’s most expensive mascara for a whopping $14 million dollars.

Like…..really?!?!?!?!?!

Anyway, back to the research. First, I looked up the raw materials that are used in its production. 

“There are many different formulas for mascara. All contain pigments. In the United States, federal regulations prohibit the use of any pigments derived from coal or tar in eye cosmetics, so mascaras use natural colors and inorganic pigments. Carbon black is the black pigment in most mascara recipes, and iron oxides provide brown colors. Other colors such as ultramarine blue are used in some formulas. One common type of mascara consists of an emulsion of oils, waxes, and water. In formulas for this type of mascara, beeswax is often used, as is carnauba wax and paraffin. Oils may be mineral oil, lanolin, linseed oil, castor oil, oil of turpentine, eucalyptus oil, and even sesame oil. Some formulas contain alcohol. Stearic acid is a common ingredient of lotion-based formulas, as are stiffeners such as ceresin and gums such as gum tragacanth and methyl cellulose. Some mascaras include fine rayon fibers, which make the product more viscous” (Advameg Inc).

 

So, nothing too alarming except for those gummy ingredients, but what did you expect? Next, I attempted to find out where it is typically manufactured. Mascara, of course typically made in factories, is manufactured all over the world. But in the United States, most of our mascara comes from, you guessed it…China. (What a shock, right?) While there are more expensive mascaras that are made right here in the United States, or in other countries such as France, Europe, or Canada, the majority of mascara distributed in our country comes from China. (Because it’s CHEAPER). So yes, the stuff you see in the drug store is indeed from China, go ahead and add that to your list of the other fifteen billion items that come from there.

As far as distribution, mascara is of course typically sold in places like Walmart and Target, along with drug stores such as Walgreens or CVS. And lets not forget all of those fantastic beauty stores like Sally’s, Sephora, and Ulta. And there are countless department stores (Macy’s and Nordstrom, for example) that carry more high end make-up. Make-up can also be distributed through online stores, or sold through companies like Arbonne or Mary Kay. In other words, make-up isn’t exactly inaccessible…especially in this country.

Now the real question, are we spending too much? While in Hollywood it can be seen as “normal” to spend $55,000 dollars a month for beauty styling (it’s true, if you don’t believe me, click here), we want to know how much the average woman spends in a lifetime on beauty products. The numbers were shocking, coming out to an average of $15,000 according to InStyle magazine. And an estimated $3,770 of that is just MASCARA. To read the other numbers, click here. 

So, my ending questions on this topic are: do we really need all of this stuff? And if we don’t, why do we feel like we do? Think about it.

 

– Kaydra

Sites used:

http://most-expensive.com/mascara

http://www.madehow.com/Volume-3/Mascara.html

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/24/to-look-good-how-much-is-too-much/?_r=0

http://news.instyle.com/2013/04/17/women-makeup-spending-facts/

 

Banned Book Week

Today in my composition class, our professor informed us that this week is banned book week. Some of the most commonly banned books in the nation can be found at this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_commonly_challenged_books_in_the_United_States

And the top 10 challenged list can be found here:

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

Our class went across campus today and drew with chalk informing fellow students about banned book week in creative ways. I worked with a classmate named Mahaley and we decided to base our illustration around Fahrenheit 451, what could be more appropriate, right? Here are some photos of what we came up with:

 

“You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture, just get people to stop reading them.” – Ray Bradbury

 

Me :3

 

After Mahaney and I created the main message, we decided to create a path of burning books including the Bible, Captain Underpants, Of Mice and Men, Invisible Man, The Adventures of Huck Finn, Call of the Wild, The Exorcist, and Brave New World.

All in all, this was a fun little project 🙂 And I enjoyed the feedback of other students that passed by. People were taking pictures, asking questions, and telling us “awesome job.” It felt great to spread the word about an important issue!