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I am happy to be home on spring break, it has given me the opportunity to spend time with my family which is something that I have not been able to do since the winter break. I have spent my time so far helping my sister plan for her sweet 16 party as well as helping my mom out with house chores. I also went shopping with my parents yesterday. This was something that I have not done with my parents in ages. This morning I went to church with my family and saw some of my old friends and after church we went to lunch at Sweet Tomato. It was really good and I particularly enjoyed this restaurant because I am not eating meat for lent and they had multiple food choices and the non-vegetarian and vegetarian dishes were clearly distinguished from each other. Not only were there many food choices, the food was all really good and I enjoyed it as well as the fact I was able to eat with my family. I feel like family is an important component of life and I am thankful that I have this time to spend with them. Because my parents will be working this week and my sister will be in school, I plan to spend time with my friends during the week. We have plans to go shopping and then go to then go to the beach. We also plan on trying out a new restaurant that is in the area. I am nevertheless enjoying my spring break and am looking forward to the rest of the week.

Blog

Personally, I would like to hang out with Stephen. I think that becasue of the fact that he is so good at writing, he would be good at making conversation as well. In the beginning of the movie, he is portrayed as being liked by all of his coworkers and I think that this shows how much of a people person he really is. Based on the movie, we know that he is good at writing and creating stories becasue that is what he does as a career. In the movie, Stephen’s relationship with his coworkers also displays another reason why I would want to hang out with Stephen. This shows how much of a people person he is and I am sure that I would enjoy spending time with him. Another reason that I would want to hang out with Stephen for is the fact that he faces numerous dilemmas throughout the movie and I like the ways in which he reacts to these situations. I think that it would be entertaining to be able to actually hang out with him becasue his actions show the type of person he is and hanging out with someone like him would be quite an interesting experience. Nevertheless, I like to hang out with people who are fun and have a lot to say because I like to listen more than I like to talk and I think that based on how the movie has portrayed Stephen so far, I am convinced that if I were given the opportunity to, I would want to hang out with Stephen and I would enjoy the time I spend with him as well.

Blog

For Project Two, I plan to do my essay on researching ethical arguments in film. I am personally excited about doing my essay on this topic becasue it will give me the opportunity to find examples of where ethical issues are present in films. I believe that from doing the research for this assigment, I will learn a lot about ethical issues. I think that it will allow me do define the ones that are most common and a larger problem. I also think that this will also help me see how they are present in films an how producers portray ethical issues in present day society and then make a movie out of it. Due to the fact that this assignment requires valid sources of information for citations, I have the feeling that it will be a challenge for me to find good sources which will allow me to learn more about the topic and I will see more about ethical issues. I also feel confident about this essaybecasue I feel that it will be an easy topic to write about and I am sure that I will be able to find information to support my views in this essay.

Blog

While I was trying to make some finishing touches to my paper that was due on Tuesday, I thought about what my Composition teacher told me last semester about my essay and tried to improve in thoes areas as well as what my teacher told me at our confrence. After remembering Composition I, I came to the conclusion, that I by far like Composition II better. This is for numerous reasons. To begin with, the essay topics this semester seem to be stricking my interests a lot more. I got really board writing about public writing all the time last semester and I liked that we could wrtie about something different. Two out of the four writing assigments last semester were about public writing and there was also the assessment essay and blogs. So far, I am liking Composition II better becasue I liked the topic we wrote our essay on. It was eassier because we simply had to just pick a side and then our essay would support our view. On the other hand, Composition I required that we choose our topic from a wide range and it was always difficult for me to deicide what to do and narrow it down far enough so I was specific in my writing. I also like Composition II better so far becasue I like that we have in class assignments, it keeps me awake and paying attention. In Composition I, it would always be about discussions and I would fall asleep. Nevertheless, I so far like Compostion II better and I hope that it stays that way.

Blogs

It seems that every Friday, I forget about posting my blogs. This is because I am finished with classes by 12:00 and have the rest of the day off. My friend does not work on friday but works every other day so we always hang out on friday and do something fun. Whatever it is that we do, it always has me occupied and I forget about writing my blog becasue I am so use to completing assignments at the last minute. Tonight, this also happened to me. I plan to go dancing with some friends tonight and I am truly excited becasue we have been planning it for a while. Today, we went to the mall and went shopping for our outfits. It felt great to do something fun with my friends because most of my time spent with my friends is in class and studying so doing something outside of academics is always enjoyable. I am truly excited about tonight and today allowed me to ince again forget about my blog for this week. Nevertheless, I think that this has been happening too often and I plan to change this by not saving assignments to the last minute. I am going to begin doing them when they are assigned. Ithink that this will be a great way for me to stay on top of things and not be rushing to do something at the last minute. I plan to start doing that this week beginning with blogs and then with all my other classes, I think this will be a good change.

Blogs

Tonight I am going to my friend’s dorm to cook dinner. This is exciting to me because I have a meal plan and I usually go to Andros for dinner every night. Since I am giving up meat for lent my eating choices are limited and therefore I am going to make my own dinner. We are going to make rice with black beans and tofu to fulfill my daily dose of protein. We will also be adding mixed vegetables to our rice o ensure that we get all or nutrients. After we finish cooking our dinner, we are going to take it to my friend’s boyfriend’s dorm where we will eat it with him and my other friend. After we are done eating we will watch movies. I want to watch a scary movie but I think that my friend is scared and won’t want to watch it. I however, am excited to watch scary movies; I love to experience the thrill and horror of scary movies. I don’t understand why people get scared about watching scary movies, I think they are fun. In particular, I enjoy watching the ones about ghosts. I like to watch the story that they are talking about with the supernatural and souls because I do believe that ghosts exists. In contrast, I despise watching horrors movies with gory scenes in it. Nevertheless, I am excited to try out cooking and then have fun with my friends.
I found a news article on the bay news 9 website that was talking about changes that dell was making in what they sell. It says that now they are going to stop selling processors with AMD which stands for Advanced Micro Devices. I think that this may have a negative influence on us as consumers because now that they are, yet again, changing something in computers, it will be a more of a challenge for us to stay on top with the latest computers. On the other hand, he AVD is supposed to be for government and business computers only so I think that in the sense of us as regular people, it may be a good thing that they are making the computers better suited for different types of people and considering what they will be used for. This article also shows that while dell made these changes, shares rose considerably. I find this to be an interesting fact because it shows how much of a difference the Advanced Micro Devices have and how much it affects sales of the product. Nonetheless, this change with dell does not surprise me at all. I am not surprised because I know that there are always changes in technology and with computers and I predict that with time there will be numerous other changes as well. I think that this is something that our society has come to view as normal and nothing out of the ordinary.

Blogs

Blog 1
I would never give a dollar to a homeless person for numerous reasons. To begin with, I believe that a homeless person is homeless for a reason, if they really wanted to live a decent life, then they would get a job anywhere that would get them off the streets. I think that everyone should have to earn what they have and I don’t think it is fair for some people to be given things while others have to work for it. Another reason why I would not give a homeless person a dollar is because some people have money, they just beg on the street for free money. There was a recent story where a man would drop his mother off on the side of the street early in the morning in a Cadillac. She would be dressed in ragged clothes and he would have her beg for money all day. At the end of the day, he would pick her up and take her money. Apparently, they had been doing this for a while and got so much money that they were able to live a luxury life. I think that this is so wrong and immoral and I wouldn’t want to be contributing to something so bad. I would also not give a homeless person a dollar because I worked for my dollar and I would just be feeling used if I gave up my dollar to someone who does not want to work. In conclusion, I am convinced that in the end, even if I did give a homeless person a dollar, it really wouldn’t do much for them because a dollar can only go so far, it will be gone as quickly as it came as well.
Blog 2
Today, I am going to the mall with my friend Ashley. I am excited because I have not been to the mall in a while since I am in college. I cannot afford it because there is so much that I have to pay to live on campus and for tuition and books. Although I have most of it paid off, I am short on money but I am excited to do some shopping at the international mall because I have not gone to the mall in a while. I hope to find some cute clothes or shoes, or both at good prices. I think that once in a while, it is ok to shop and get your mind off of homework and studying. I have four tests next week and I have been studying for a while, I know that I need to study some more, but I am sure that if I go to the mall, it will take my mind off of all the studying I have to do and when I come back, I will be able to focus better. In addition to this, I just want to say that I think all of the courses plan to put their tests around the same time. It happened to me last semester, I had my chemistry and pre-calc final on the same day and on a regular basis, I always had a math test the day before a chemistry test. This semester, I have six classes and four of these have tests happening this week, two on Monday.

Blogs

Blog 1
I found a YouTube clip titled Ron Paul Ad – The Press. The commercial is about a person asking the same questions to the different people in office. The first question is why it is ok for the country to be sending factories overseas and the second question is why our borders are not secured. I believe that this commercial emphasizes two issues that our country has. I find this to contribute greatly to the pathos appeal to writing because the issues that are brought up relate to most of the American population, therefore it can have an emotional influence on the viewers. Due to the fact that the positions are being transferred overseas where the factory are moving, many Americans are losing jobs. This has a negative impact on our society because, although it is an economical saving for the government, the citizens are suffering because they can’t find jobs to pay the bills. Another issue is that our borders are not secure and numerous immigrants, looking for a better life, are sneaking in to our country. These two issues are a big problem in our country and by using them in the commercial truly captures the pathos appeal to the commercial. By presenting these issues, it attracts the attention of the readers because it is something that they can relate to which therefore allows them to believe that the claim is true.

Blog 2
I believe that the book is always better that the movie. Over the break I watched Message in a Bottle. I read the book this past summer and after watching the movie, I quickly determined that the book was by far better than the movie. I felt that much of the plot was left out and they changed some of the plot to make the movie more interesting. This also happened in other books written by Nicholas Sparks such as the Notebook and A Walk to Remember. In these movies, they also change some of the plot and leave scenes out just to make the movie more interesting. I think that the books are very interesting and I always look forward to reading another one of his book, I am just disappointed when the movies come out and are not as good as the book. I have also seen this happen with other movies such as The Devil Wears Prada and Harry Potter. I think that there might be a reason why the books are better that the movies in most cases. I am convinced that when reading a book, there are more details and vivid descriptions provided that allow the reader to enjoy the story more. I also think that when an author describes feelings that the character is experiencing, it allows the reader to enjoy the story more than watching it in a motion picture where everything has to be acted out and shown visually.

Assignment #2: Three Persuasive Appeals & Analyzing an Online Opinion Piece for the How the Writer Uses the Appeals

1. Authority is having some knowledge of the claim and being able to display confidence when writing about it.
Emotion is being able to display some type of emotion in the writing that will allow the reader to be able to feel connected with the reading.
Logic is the use of strong evidence and explanations to support the claim.
2. When writing a research paper, it is best to earn the readers trust in authority by doing research and becoming familiar with the major concepts related to the topic so that when writing, a tone of confidence and authority can be displayed. This could work to my advantage as a writer because it will allow the reader to believe what I am saying and I could easily persuade them to find my claims true.
3. When making an argument appealing to emotion can be established by demonstrating sympathy to the audience members’ values, beliefs, and world views. I could do this by providing vivid descriptions of homeless and hungry children to support a claim for poverty in our world.
4. There are disadvantages to using a heavy appeal to emotion because it can allow the claim to be forgotten due to how entertaining the emotional appeal can be. For example, some music artists try to tell a story in their songs although listeners only hear the music and not the words.
5. Logic can build a strong argument by using evidence and explanation to support the claim. It is important to use this when supporting a claim because without it, the writer will lose the readers’ attention.
6. I don’t think that they are separate from each other because they all allow the writer to be able to support a claim. They all depend on one another, because authority is needed to provide logic and emotion.

I read an article by Amy Dickinson titled “Measuring Up”. In the essay, she uses all three of the appeals. Her authority is confirmed in the beginning and throughout the essay when she describes the reasons why boys are beginning to having eating disorders. She also considers the audience when describing who G.I. Joe is. It is also shown in many other parts of the essay when she defines how boys attempt to get the body and what they take to get there. She also considers how their parents feel about the situation. The emotional view can be displayed in the fact that she talks about how women blame Barbie for their self-loathing, eating disorders and distorted body images. This allows the reader to understand why so many have suffered from these illnesses and how they have affected our society. In addition to this, there is definitely logic used in this essay. It is provided throughout in many of the paragraphs when the author gives statistics on the numbers of people affected by these illnesses. For example, she says that the number of boys that suffered from anorexia and other related diseases rose to one million. Nevertheless, the elements are of appeal are displayed clearly in this essay and it has allowed me to further believe what Dickinson is trying to claim when she wrote this essay. It has truly allowed me to believe that this is true and the fact has surprised me as well because of the explanation she has provided.

Assignment # 1: The Elements of Argument & Analyzing Them in an Article by Michael Crichton

Part One
A claim is a statement that needs to be supported by an argument.
Support is reasons that allow the audience to believe that a certain claim is true. This could also be considered a part of the argument.
Evidence is factual information that can be used in the argument to prove the claim.
Explanation is a description of the support and evidence to ensure that the argument is understood.

Part Two
1.Crichton’s argument gives me a negative feeling because I am a religious person and believe in the fantasy and stories from the bible. In the article, he was trying to say that we should ignore the make believe and looks at the facts and scientific information. It really stuck out to me that he wanted to distinguish the reality from the religious view.
2.I would say that Crichton’s tone is this article is a negative one. He believes that fantasy, from religion, should be distinguished from reality and is trying to convince the reader that his belief is correct and that society should function that way.
3. Crichton’s main claim is that public policies on the environment should be based on science of environmentalism rather than the religion of environmentalism.
4. Chrichton supports his claim by using people and how they live as support. He uses examples such as how people think they are experiencing nature when they spend a few days in a cabin and in reality they have experienced none to the outdoor nature they way a person would if they stayed in the forest. This evidence supports his claim because it shows how people have created their own image of what they think it is like to experience nature when in reality it is something completely different.
5. Chrichton does not site his sources because he says that they are religious and that this comes from faith and is not dependent on fact. I don’t agree with this. I think that if he were to site his sources, there would be a better chance that the reader would strongly agree with his claim.
6. I don’t think that Chrichton’s argument is strong. I think that there should be more reason to support the fact that it is better to base public policy decisions on science rather than religion.