Monday, October 27, 2008
Essay Revision Letter
First, I'd like to thank Allison for her feed back on my essay. A lot of the suggestions are very helpful, because I had noticed most of them, but couldn't correct them... beeeecause I have the same view point as myself. Basically, it's nice to have someone see it from the outside to give you new ideas.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Essays
The readings about essays seemed to state that essays have no set form, as there are so many different kinds. What I thought was a little humorous about the writings was that the collection of quotations was so broad, about all they could agree on was that essays are not uniform. One thing I thought was interesting though, was in Encountering the Essay when he talks about the word root. Basically, "attempt, trial, or experiment." These all suggest that socially the role of the essay is to get a reaction or convince of a point. Or at least, that's what I take it to mean.
In my essay I attempt to persuade people to join my community. Shameless, I know. But in writing my essay and reading our assignments, I have drawn a new conclusion about essays. There are many, they are not long, and they express one or several points. They can be vauge, digressive, and meandering, or they can be consice, quick, and immediate. The content also may change from a simple presentation of facts or view-points to very personally oriented arguments.
For this class I think a more human essay is what is called for, as it seems the robotic presentation of facts is dull and makes poor subject matter. In this case, I'll need to paint better mental pictures and appeal more to the emotions of the reader instead of just stating facts and hoping they figure out the rest for themselves. So, yeah, I'll give that a shot then.
In my essay I attempt to persuade people to join my community. Shameless, I know. But in writing my essay and reading our assignments, I have drawn a new conclusion about essays. There are many, they are not long, and they express one or several points. They can be vauge, digressive, and meandering, or they can be consice, quick, and immediate. The content also may change from a simple presentation of facts or view-points to very personally oriented arguments.
For this class I think a more human essay is what is called for, as it seems the robotic presentation of facts is dull and makes poor subject matter. In this case, I'll need to paint better mental pictures and appeal more to the emotions of the reader instead of just stating facts and hoping they figure out the rest for themselves. So, yeah, I'll give that a shot then.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sigh
This is the fourth time that I have completely erased the text box and started over. I keep trying to come up with something along the guidelines that GS layed out on the master blog, but it keeps looking the same. To summarize the last entries:
1) Satisfaction with my mid-term grade.
b) Wait a minute... no-
2) Unsatisfactory progress with my personal goals. I'm starting to learn how to write like a college student, but I think starting is a key word, and I should have started at the beginning of the semester, instead of halfway through. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to play catch-up. Really hardcore catch-up. It may also be because I'm a perfectionist, and I'll never be satisfied. Or it may be that I just ate half a box of Jujyfruits over the last half hour and am having trouble writing anything interesting or at least accurate.
The reason this is posted is because I refuse to spend another hour floundering with incoherent thoughts being spewed onto the page. This will do.
1) Satisfaction with my mid-term grade.
b) Wait a minute... no-
2) Unsatisfactory progress with my personal goals. I'm starting to learn how to write like a college student, but I think starting is a key word, and I should have started at the beginning of the semester, instead of halfway through. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to play catch-up. Really hardcore catch-up. It may also be because I'm a perfectionist, and I'll never be satisfied. Or it may be that I just ate half a box of Jujyfruits over the last half hour and am having trouble writing anything interesting or at least accurate.
The reason this is posted is because I refuse to spend another hour floundering with incoherent thoughts being spewed onto the page. This will do.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Revisions
Thank you for your feedback on my proposal. It's really the thing I needed to get me to narrow down my ramblings. Also the format should approach something of a research proposal. Thank you very much again for you help, Prof. Scott.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
What makes an essay.
I believe the reading were essays for several reasons.
1) (Least importantly) Length. They all were reasonably short (about a chapter in a book).
2) Descriptive visualizations. I don't know if it's essays in general, but the three that we read seemed to paint very precise pictures.
"Stevenson always fought from an upright position, and he maintains that posture today. When people talk to him his eyes look downward, but his head remains high. The firm jaw of his oval-shaped head seems to locked at a right angle to his straight spined back."
It continues on in this way for some time, but you get the idea.
3) Most importantly, these all seem to detail some event. The stories range from growing up as a hispaninc american, an experience with a stunt pilot and stunt piloting, or a memory of meeting a prominent political figure with an even more prominent athelete; but they all are still stories of something.
1) (Least importantly) Length. They all were reasonably short (about a chapter in a book).
2) Descriptive visualizations. I don't know if it's essays in general, but the three that we read seemed to paint very precise pictures.
"Stevenson always fought from an upright position, and he maintains that posture today. When people talk to him his eyes look downward, but his head remains high. The firm jaw of his oval-shaped head seems to locked at a right angle to his straight spined back."
It continues on in this way for some time, but you get the idea.
3) Most importantly, these all seem to detail some event. The stories range from growing up as a hispaninc american, an experience with a stunt pilot and stunt piloting, or a memory of meeting a prominent political figure with an even more prominent athelete; but they all are still stories of something.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
News of the Weird
I didn't here if we were to post anything specific, so I'll run with this for a while. I just discovered an amazing site. It is www.newsoftheweird.com. The lead story this week was about an Indian museum dedicated to Mahatma Gandhi and more specifically a new exhibit. Direct quotation of the article:
The ashram-museum in Ahmedabad devoted to India's highly revered icon of freedom Mahatma Gandhi recently re-installed a replica of the spiritual leader's personal toilet, in that Gandhi's own hygiene-consciousness was such a part of his legacy. It is said that he cleaned the toilet daily and referred to it as his "temple," but ashram officials had removed it in the 1980s as somehow inappropriate, according to a September dispatch from New Delhi in London's Daily Telegraph. Gandhi had written that "a lavatory must be as clean as a drawing room." [Daily Telegraph, 9-12-08]
Wow. Thank you internet.
The ashram-museum in Ahmedabad devoted to India's highly revered icon of freedom Mahatma Gandhi recently re-installed a replica of the spiritual leader's personal toilet, in that Gandhi's own hygiene-consciousness was such a part of his legacy. It is said that he cleaned the toilet daily and referred to it as his "temple," but ashram officials had removed it in the 1980s as somehow inappropriate, according to a September dispatch from New Delhi in London's Daily Telegraph. Gandhi had written that "a lavatory must be as clean as a drawing room." [Daily Telegraph, 9-12-08]
Wow. Thank you internet.
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