Rozie Khashmanian
INFORMAL WRITING/DAYBOOK PIECES.
FIRST ENTRY.
January 15th, 2014
Question: “After reading the four essays, what are three specific pieces of advice you are going to take from them? Be sure to write down the exact piece of advice and whom it came from and then explain why you think it would be useful for your writing. These three pieces should serve as the beginnings of your writing goals for this semester.”
In Stephen King's, What Writing Is, one of my favorite parts was when he described the rabbit in the cage. The piece of advice I admire most is that he is telling us we all have different perspectives on things. What may be red to one person could be maroon to another. I want to try to look at things from more than just my perspective, especially in writing.
In Jon Morrows, Seven Bad Writing Habits, he tells us not to avoid profanity. If it is necessary to make your writing better, do it. Not just the profanity, but he is basically telling us to not beat around the bush. Do not make something pretty if it is meant to be ugly.
In Patricia O’Conner’s piece, Write What You Mean, she tells us to “stop when you’ve said it.” I find myself continuing and explaining my point even if I have already said it.
SECOND ENTRY.
January 22nd, 2014
Question: Choose one of Randy’s beliefs from his lecture and discuss.
One thing Randy lived by was to have fun every single day. He even said, “I’m dying and I’m still having fun.” So it made me think, how can this man, who knows his life is coming to an end, have fun, and everyone else who has a long life ahead of them not? It made me kind of promise myself that I would do my very best to have some sort of fun or laugh or smile at least once every day of my life.
Second Question: Analyze the way he communicates his message through rhetorical situation/ style.
Randy had a lot of students in his lecture, so he communicated with them in a young way. He had parents in there so he hit a few points that could relate to the parents. He said the second “head fake” was that the talk was not for the audience, but for his kids. Although I’m sure it benefited everyone in that room to hear him speak, they were not his target audience. When he revealed the two head fakes, it made the whole lecture a hundred times more effective for me. If he had let those two parts out of the talk, it would have had less of an effect, but no that big of a difference because the lecture still conveyed a great message.
THIRD ENTRY.
January 26th, 2014
Prompt: Write about two beliefs and why you believe in it.
First belief: Driving down the highway with my window down and the music blasting. The first time I was going to drive on the highway by myself, I was nervous so I realized I should put the music up so I would calm down. When I was little, I saw this guy in a red corvette flying down the highway, top down, music all the way up. He had cool glasses on and was head banging to the Ramones. It looked like so much fun to me. Now, whether it is freezing cold or extremely hot outside, whenever I drive on the highway on my own, my window is down and my music is up at a very high volume. And no, I have not changed my mind about this. Unless there are other people in my car, then I make sure they are okay with the volume and window.
Second belief: Loving with every fiber of your being. Whether it is a love you hold for another person, a book, a band t-shirt or a pet, love with all you have. I feel like it’s important to love because it’s one of our main reasons for living. We grow up loving our parents, siblings, family, people around us and we continue loving. No matter what or who, everyone loves something at one point in their life whether it was for a year or ten years, people hold on to memories of love to get them through life.
FOURTH ENTRY.
February 26th, 2014
Prompt: Dexter Video, discuss the images and their details.
All of the images shown are everyday things we do, but the way the images are shown are in a much more gruesome aspect. When he cut the orange, the blade was thick and edgy, and the sound effects were quite intense. I guess what the underlying message was that the same acts happen when a serial killer kills someone yet too them it’s completely normal. It relates to the Nacirema piece because the writing exaggerated everything American people think are normal things.
FIFTH ENTRY.
April 2nd, 2014
Prompt: Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action reflection on how the parlor theory relates to inquiry research.
Burke’s parlor theory has to do with inquiry research because he says you go into the parlor late and you insert yourself in a discussion that already began. In inquiry research, the topic has already been discussed for a while and now we are putting in our own opinions. The people coming to defense in the theory are the same as the research we may use to back up our opinions and our thoughts.