Blog 13

At the beginning of each semester it is common for students to make promises or commitments to themselves about how well they will do. They spend hours a day often studying or doing homework. Yet, as time goes on, however, laziness sets in, sleep depravation starts taking effect and you find yourself skipping class, watching march madness instead of doing homework or studying for your final. Is that a run on sentence? I think so. See, in my first blog I would have cut that into a few sentences in order to avoid a run on but by the end of the semester I’ll find a way to make that run on add to the meaning of the blog so that I don’t have to go back and fix it. At the same time I add several sentences of explanation, therefore, adding to the length of the blog and furthering my progress.  Point made.

What is going on in my mind during this whole process? Do I somehow convince myself that grades aren’t as important? Or, that I will have time to recover before the final exam? Or, am I in denial that my grades are suffering? Well, for me it seems like a little from all of these. I feel like I did really well at the beginning of the semester and therefore have some slack that I can take advantage of now.  I actually have lowered the importance of grades in my mind.  It’s interesting though because I know that I’m wrong I just don’t care enough right now.  I could go on and on about this but I’m out of words. Not that I don’t want to keep writing but I don’t have to.  Therefore I choose to stop. Now. 

blog 12

I really enjoy researching my topic (performance enhancing drugs). I have a ton of sources, probably too many, that I have looked at.  I like to open a random article and open to a random page and start reading.  I learned all kinds of good stuff through this process. It is less organized and less controlled however.

Blog 11

Well I didn’t read the why write reading... So it would be somewhat pointless, actually completely pointless to  try to write a review on it. Therefore I will take the zero on this section.  sorry.

Blog #10

Should performance enhancing drugs be allowed in professional athletics? The vast majority of people would say that these drugs should be prohibited.  I would like to try and argue the opposite.  Let it be known, however, that I do not personally use or encourage the use of these drugs.  I simply argue that others ought to be allowed to use them at their own discretion. 

Argument for allowed use of performance enhancing drug:

-Freedom of choice.  People are allowed to smoke cigarrettes even though it is dangerous to their health, why can’t people use steroids?

-Intense strenuous work outs can cause long term damage to joints and ligiments etc... yet athletes must submit to these routines in order to be able to compete with other athletes.  This is the same principle for steroids. The only way that steroids can become an unfair advantage is if it is prohibited and those disobediant athletes use them anyway without getting caught.  If they were not prohibited then the playing field would be leveled. 

-Remember how fun it was to watch Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mcgwire? All three of these famous basball players were big hitters.  They broke records and generated extreme peaks in spectatorship for the MLB. Yet they are ignored in the history of baseball.  their names are not even mentioned in the most famous baseball history museums. 

Argument against performance enhancing drugs:

-The overall health of our athletes is already poor due to the stresses involved in competing at such high levels of competition.  Why would we shorten their lives further?  We already have super humans playing our sports why do we need gladiators? 

-Athletes do not take these drugs to level the playing field instead they take them to get an advantage on the other athletes.

-A good majority of athletes are healthy and their personalities are to be healthy.  If all the sudden they cannot compete without having to use steroids they would now be forced either to take steroids or lose. This is not fair by any means.

I have a lot more research to do obviously but that’s the basics!!

Blog #9

The rhetorical analysis paper was a bit more difficult than the personal narrative.  I found myself really scrapping for more things to say about the tools used.  To be completely honest it was more difficult because my heart wasn’t in it.  I really didn’t care about it.  I think it was a good learning experience however.  It will help me in writing my own persuasive essays in the future.

Blog # 8: 50 words on my 'Analytical Response'

Well my paper feels iffy.  I love the essay I’m using but I think I’m too easy to impress.  I have a hard time finding the negative things.  I know I don’t have to have a list of cons but I would at least like to be able to see the perspective of the haters.  That way I could combat them.  The rough draft wasn’t too hard to write but I want to change a lot of it before I turn in my final. 

Blog # 7 "Letter from Birmingham Jail"

First off I just want to say , wow!  Martin Luther King, Jr. is an amazing writer.  I thoroughly enjoyed reading his letter and agree with his statements.

Now for the analysis:

Doctor Luther appealed to the reader through emotion, logic and ethics frequently throughout his letter.  He gets the reader on his side form the very first paragraph with some emotional appeal when he talks about all the criticism he deals with regularly. The way in which he incorporates this information doesn’t sound like a childish complaint, instead he calmly acknowledges his hardships and makes them known to the reader.  With this he appeals to the reader ethically as well.  Stating that he generally doesn’t respond to criticism but choses to ignore it to pursue more important matters sets himself above though criticizers.  He elevates his respectability and maturity in the readers mind.  It has an inverse effect in the mind of the reader for the character of the criticizer, giving a mental image of immaturity.  He often uses logic appeal as well. For example: starting with the last paragraph of the one hundred ninety-ninth page, until the second paragraph of the two hundredth page, Doctor Luther shows examples in history when civil disobedience was just.  He mentions Shadrach, Meshach and Abednago who disobeyed King Nebuchadnezzar; the early christians who disobeyed the unjust laws of the Roman Empire; Socrates; and their very own ancestors disobeying England during the events now known as the Boston Tea Party.  Mentioning the Boston Tea Party was brilliant.  This is an event that Americans are proud of that in essence is the same issue being dealt with.  It is the same “disobedience” that Doctor Luther had committed and was imprisoned for.
Another instance where Doctor Luther demonstrated ethical appeal was when I wrote about taking responsibility for his actions.  He disobeyed these “unjust laws” knowingly and with a smile on his face.  He was happy to comply with the consequences.  This builds an even more respectable reputation for him in the readers mind.
Another instance where Doctor Luther uses emotional appeal is found in the second paragraph on the one hundred ninety-eighth page.  He writes of the difficulty in telling your six-year-old daughter that she can’t go to the local amusement park because she is black.  Not only is it difficult to tell her that, but it is more difficult to know that her self esteem and self respect is slowly diminishing.  It is harder to know that over time it will likely waste away entirely.  The reader can most likely relate, whether black or white, to the relationship between parent and child.  This is a very effective way off bringing a white reader to the realization of the emotions felt by the suppressed Negros.  He further attacks this point with another parent child situation and then later with a husband wife situation.  This paragraph was powerful for me, an unmarried childless male, how much more powerful would it be to those with wives and children that they love?
There are several other instances where Doctor Luther uses appeal to logic, emotion or ethics to convey his feelings and ideas to the reader.  He is a very talented writer and obviously his writing and speaking have been very effective rhetoric.