Journal #8

While reviewing my one one my earlier essays for class, where we had to analyze the meaning behind one of our texts I noticed several mistakes I had made. A major issue I seemed to have was that even though I was able to find a lot of evidence for the text analysis I really didn't back up that evidence with any of my own personal ideas. So when fixing my essay I backed up researched evidence with my own observations in order to make it more understandable. I also seemed to have trouble transitioning to the different ideas in my essay. So when I went through it the second time I tried to get the end of one paragraph to have ideas correlating to the next paragraph and so on. There were also some grammar issues and fluff pieces I need to work on but those were fairly easy due to the fact that they had been marked on my essay. I believe that with the editing my essay has come out much grander and I feel like I've learned something from the experience.

Journal Entry #7

How to Watch Your Brother die seemed to be a story about homosexuals are still misunderstood in today's society. It seemed that once the narrator realized his brother was gay he began to distance himself because he feared how others might look at him if he hung out with his gay brother. I have never understood why people treat gays differently or with with open contempt. Since it seems everyone is comparing the story to Glee I thought it would be wise to compare it to another example, I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry. In this movie open contempt and hostility was shown to gays almost constantly. I personally do not care what sexual orientation you one is interested in and it's appalling that there are those that would go out of their way to ruin someone's life for allegedly "corrupting society". Gay people really aren't that different. I'm usually unable to spot them until they tell me so they must be pretty normal. And there is a lot worse out on the streets than gays. Parents should be worried about drug dealers and thieves hurting their kids not gays. For instance a gay man gave me a dollar once for picking some trash off a hotel floor. True story. So to recap, Thieves and Drug dealers bad, Gays give money to good people.

Journal Entry 6

I rather enjoyed all of the group's analysis of the commercials they chose, however the one that I enjoyed the most was the Old Spice commercial. The commercial was able to use all versions of emotional appeal to get the consumer to buy their product. They used visual appeal by showing an attractive male figure to draw in the ladies and make the men want to look more like him to also get the ladies. It used emotional appeal when he was saying that by using the Old Spice product that men could look like him. And it was also incredibly hilarious, which also helps a great deal to pull in customers. The group did a very good job of connecting their observations to the commercial and I was very impressed. If I could but remember their names I would have included them but alas I do not.

Journal Entry #5

I was able to make several inferences when I read the text and hyperlink versions of Sloans story. The text version wasn't as descriptive as the hyperlink but it allows the reader to paint their own picture. In the text version she kept jumping back and forth in the text to the point where nothing made sense unless you reread and reanalyzed every point. The links in the Hypertext helped me focus on what was going on in the story and didn't seem to interfere in the reading experience. Overall I believe that the hyperlink was able to convey the storys' message better with its use of imagery and descriptive dictation.

Cultural Experience

A few days ago my English class met with the international students so we could all contribute from each others experiences. I met Jood, an international student from Saudi Arabia, and we talked to each other about school and whatnot. We each got a paper with questions on it to ask each other and it was actually quit fun. Jood was really nice and it really helped me adjust to the situation. I learned some things about Saudi Arabia and got my interest peaked for some international travel. Its cool to see all these students who are able to travel so far from homes and families to come here for better lives.

Journal Entry 2

For my Persona Text I chose "I am the Walrus" by the Beatles because I wasn't able to find any texts I had written that pertained to myself and also because my friend believed this song described be well. As far as I can see there really isn't anything similar to the texts we have read in class and the Persona text, but for the sake of the journal I'll do my best to find many differences between "A Sense of Myself" by Luci Tapahonso and "I am the Walrus". "I am the Walrus" seems to be a just a jumble of thoughts and phrases while "A Sense of Myself" is about Tapahono's trip to Colorado. Sorry, one day i'll get the hang of these darn journals. Constructive criticism is welcome. With your help these journal entries will get better at some point. Wait I think I found something similar. Both texts refer to the narrator having found themselves in a way. Tapahonso finds herself through her culture and in "I am the Walrus" the narrator keeps referring to himself as the Walrus. See I'm making progress already.

Journal Entry 1 Part 2

I had trouble writing this entry because I have a hard time making decisions regarding what I should write. And knowing the someone else would be reading it didn't alleviate any of the pressure. Coming up with experiences to write about was pretty easy since it was a big part of my life.