In class freewrite

I'm burnt out and a little upset with technology. It feels like I am coming to the end of a marathon. 3 weeks left of 18 hours of school, 20 hours a week at my job, and 15 hours a week at my internship. After applying to graduate 2 weeks ago I am feeling more and more like I need to hurry up and get to my break before the final push. Exhaustion, frustration and stress have characterized this semester for me, and even though it isn't quite over yet, I am already feeling a little relieved. I have a countdown I update everyday. Right now it says 17 days, 3 papers, 2 presentations and 5 exams til summer freedom. Unfortunately the last 20 days have some how slowed to a hault, maybe because I am so focused and excited to be DONE! And this is my last gen ed class so YAY!

Prompt

As a group, The Over Achievers have decided that our topic would be over “Little Miss Perfect.” This not only pertains to the television show with the same namesake but all pageants in general that are targeted towards little girls – ages ranging from toddler to pre-teen.

The group as a whole would like to comment how wrong we believe this event is. Pageants aimed towards little girls who have not fully developed mentally, emotionally, and physically could be extremely detrimental. These girls are not entered into the pageants on their own but are coerced by their overbearing mothers who micromanage every moment of their life, if not by themselves then coupled with their spouse or a coach. We’ll be discussing the effects of the pageantry not only on the girls when their young but also when they are older.

There are many mediums we could use to convey our argument. The first that came to mind was a commercial that could either be shot with a serious or a witty tone – to be decided on later. Also, a newspaper article either covering the actual event (in a negative light) or a case study of someone who was once a “Little Miss Perfect” contestant and how their life was negatively affected by the pageant. Creating a program proposal geared towards junior highs and elementary schools that would promote a healthy body image for young girls – “you’re perfect the way you are.”

We look forward to making these arguments and getting to know more about our topic.

In Class: reading

I like the question asking what is your eye drawn to first? This would be extremely helpful when making a visual argument. The thing that your eye is first drawn to is the most prominent thing in the picture. If this thing is not the immediate argument and reaction you are trying to achieve, then a bit of the effectiveness is lost right from the start. When making these argument, it may be helpful to have each member view the visual argument and say exactly where their eyes go first to identify if the argument needs editing to achieve its original purpose.

The overall impression question is very helpful too. In addition to the first thing that you are drawn to, whether or not the rest of the text supports or contradicts the original argument is something that the audience will quickly pick up on. By having a contradictory surrounding the original argument may seem comical, dark or even ineffective, and taking all of these ideas into consideration will definitely make for a more effective reaction. However if everything overwhelmingly supports the original statement it may be hard to keep the audience captivated for long, loosing them by overdoing the point.

In Class: 3 Part/Unit 3

I HATE group work... I am the one that is trying to get into grad school and so I need a's and b's in my classes for that to be a possibility. I have a full belief that everyone has around the same competency level as I do, but I feel like I am the only one with work ethic at times. The worst experience with this was definitely when I was at a junior college. I got stuck writing a 25 minute presentation and 10 page essay with about a page of notes from my 2 other group members as input. Also in this class I have been grouped with 3 different people who did not complete their work and them refused to give input on mine. Group work, when not allowed to choose your own groups, can be VERY frustrating. If you were allowed to choose your own however, I believe that the responsibility for making bad decisions falls a little bit on the chooser's shoulders as well. Fortunately I have not been grouped with any of the people in this class that I have had a bad experience with so hopefully they will be much better at work ethic than the people I have worked with in the past from this class.

Everyone in the group, for things to go smoothly, needs to contribute, volunteer work hours and make themselves available IN SOME FORM. outside of class. I realize that not everyone has a flexible schedule but a quick answer to emails within about 12 hours from the sent time really isn't too much to ask. I think as long as everyone is attempting to be creative and contributing in some form or fashion that things should go just fine.

Different roles for the group:
This one is kind of tough for me since I feel like everyone should probably contribute to every piece. I feel like that should still remain in effect, but that people should be in charge of making sure (not necessarily doing it themselves) that things get done. For example since we have 4 girls I would say that 1 person should be in charge or the cover memo and then have one person in charge of each argument. Again this would mean it gets done AS A GROUP but that one person is in charge of making sure each is polished after its initial completion and ready to go for submission and presentation.

In Class: Semester Sum Up

This class has forced me to write about things I never really thought about before. It was interesting to look back on all my work from the semester and think that there is only 4 weeks left and less than 10 class periods to go. At the start of this semester I was a little freaked out, not because of the work but because of how the professor presented it. This wasn't that hard of a class to get through but the first day presentation of "I don't say there is no such thing as an A, but it says that you have done EXEMPLARY work" was a little intimidating. Also the 25-30 pages of writing for each unit kinda scared the crap out of me. Getting to the end of it though it is much more simple than I expected it to be. After all is said and done it was about as much work as I expected a writing class to be. Unfortunately, after applying to graduate yesterday, I am showing a few signs of senioritis, so hopefully I can continue the level of work that I have done thus far through to the end. It is comforting to know that I have come this far though and done so much with an extraordinary amount of effort and am nearing the end.

In Class: 3 Texts Tie In

How do these textes fit together?
These texts are all a bit combative. With the first text with the seminary president he starts by attacking their tactics in the ministry and how they are opening themselves up for failure. The second text of Ron Jeremy's debate validates the moral character of the people in the ministry, but seeks to cut his argument at the throat, not at the knees. Jeremy discusses the the ridiculous nature of the claims that the leader makes and does not address the situation in a passive sort of way.

How are they the same?

How are they different?
The theo. pres. goes for a different tactic in calling into question the moral character of Gross and his people. He also, in his main points does not cut directly to the point when talking about what he does not agree with. He says that Jesus wouldn't necessarily go to a sex expo, but he never says that Gross shouldn't. Most of his language is metaphorical but strong at the same time.
Jeremy's text has a lot of information that is in direct response to something previously said (as is the nature of debate) but he is also quick to respond that he agrees with a lot of what Gross says about not being available for kids and the fact that he is true to waht he preaches.

Unspoken Values and Assumptions:
Many of these arguments, especially from Gross and the Sem. Pres. talk about what Jesus would view as appropriate. The fact that this point plays such a large role in both of these agruments begs that the audience understands who they are talking about and that they attribute some sort of authority and power in the citation of the name. For those that do, it allows these specific statements to hold a lot of weight and carry meaning, but for those that don't the message could get lost. Also, the fact that participating in pornography is a "sin" is an unstated assumption in these two texts as well.

Cultural of Assertion:
The state of argument in America, as suggested by these 3 sources, relies heavily on shock value and authority. They seek to accomplish this by citing someone they each consider a relevant power in whatever argument they are trying to make. In the event that someone does not see the validity in the authority that they each cite, there is a lot of lost ground.
There is also a lot to be said on the shock value factor that each present. Each one of these interviews and debates cite something that should make any normal audience gasp. In hooking the audience's attention by this method there is an extreme emotional factor.

xxxchurch.com

I had a really hard time coming up with this topic. I wanted to do something within my major, but it was hard for me to think of a controversial event within psychology that had a lot of primary sources that were generated. While I was listening in class on Tuesday, I thought of a friend of friend and how maybe furthering with a rhetorical analysis would be fun since I have a more personal connection to this topic.

All that to say my topic is on XXXchurch and Strip Church located on the strip in Vegas. If you are a little shocked by the name, it's exactly what it sounds like. This is a previous youth minister who has left the comfort of a settled church to pursue evangelizing to anyone involved with the porn industry. Lots of media has been generated around the idea and many churches are completely disapproving of this ministry focus.

The biggest thing they do every year are the porn expos in Las Vegas and Australia. Here they hand out flyers, where shirts that say "Jesus loves porn stars," and hand out XXXchurch Bibles and Strip Church water bottles. I will be looking for things surrounding this and may even check Las Vegas newspapers to see if that was featured. I would also like to take a look at at least one backlash statement from within the church community. As it sounds so far, all the backlash from the porn community dissipated when they realized that these men were not coming at them with picket signs and screaming against their lifestyle.

I'm hoping to get some really good information and this will be tons of fun for me since I do have a personal connection to Craig Gross and his wife.

In Class: Holy Crap

I am feeling a little bit nervous about this particular project. I realize it is supposed to be over something that is interesting and relevant to me, but for the life of me I cannot come up with anything. In the last section I had a hundred ideas the second the assignment was given, but this time the idea is a bit more vague. This leaves me with so many options that it is hard for me to find one, especially one I would enjoy working on and learning about for the next 5 or 6 weeks.

I also am a little bit confused as to how this assignment, in its execution, will be much different than the paper before it. I feel as if the assignment is basically the same but that there are just bigger names attached to the concepts of what we were already doing. I realize that labeling the arguments as such should start to go away but other than that I think I may be missing something.

My biggest challenge, as I said for this upcoming assignment will be to knuckle down and just grab a topic. Once I can do that I am pretty sure that a lot of my anxiety, if not all, about this project will start to fade

This particular scene shows, what I am assuming to be, George H. Bush in a western outfit on a movie screen. The quote he has reads, "Tell Saddam an' all them other gol-durned scalawags -- this looks like a rerun of a bad movie -- and I'm not interested in watching it!" this is over a completely empty movie theatre with the exception of George W. Bush as the only viewer in the audience.

This can be taken on so many levels. With the exception of the vague signature it is hard to decide who is responsible for this particular visual, but the audience is easy to pick out. It is intended to be view by anyone that attempts to pay attention to contemporary politics and political history of the US. If someone were to view this that didn't know what was going in the world and/or didn't know about the Desert Storm it is easy to see how they could get lost.

Another thing I focused on was the empty theater with Bush as the exception. This is a shot to Bush's character. It is saying he is willing to go through with these actions even if no one anywhere backs him. As a politician with the entire country as constituents, showing Bush without any support is striking and something to take note of.

The fact that this picture is a little bit comical establishes an ethos for the author and a form of pathos toward the content. The ethos comes through in that this picture is not very in your face. It's not overly offensive or graphic but it gets a point across in a cheeky and humorous way.

The sheer fact that this picture can make you smile initially is something to be careful of. Emotion in the form of frustration, possibly even anger, could be stirred up in looking at that. By looking at the scene of father to son it could possibly envoke rage that no one is backing these ideas, it's just the son carrying on the father's shortcomings.

The effectiveness in this argument is definitely there in the immediate reaction it has the potential to invoke, but overall, I think more could be done to enhance this as a whole

In Class: Rhetorcial Analysis

Rather than just "thinking in general", rhetorical analysis is not validating a side of an argument, but more of validating what information each side gives. I like the end examples of Bok from Harvard and the critic that reviewed his writing. He spoke of a dilemma on campus and attributed that to free speech. I think that he evaluated both sides of the argument even though he himself had a personal pull in one direction. Using his rhetorical analysis he found validity in both sides of free speech versus not wishing to offend. The cover of this by the woman from the communist country was also very interesting. In analyzing the argument by Bok she used his arguments to go deeper and further critique his rhetorical analysis along with adding some of her own take in the argument. She quickly adds personal experience and background to gain credibility and then continues on to give more credibility to the author that she is critiquing. I found this interesting because even though she is back and forth on whether or not she supports all of his points, she does make it very clear that is arguments are valid and effective.

I like rhetorical analysis better than what we have been doing thus far because it seeks to dissect every aspect of something that is otherwise not thought of. Using these methods it is much easier to pull out not only what a person is trying to say, but also how effectively they accomplished the goal they had in their arguments, that is whether or not you agree.

Emo, Photo, and Lego (it's a bad joke)

The first thing that stands out to me as an ethical appeal in my observations of Chili's was that when I went in on a Sunday afternoon there was a family with young kids sitting at a table in the bar. This stood out to me because as I walked by it seemed as if this was a normal acceptable thing to do for these younger children to be eating in the bar with their parents. I found this to be representative of the fact that Chili's was PG enough to have children sitiing in an area as controversial as a bar and not cause any sort of a fuss.

Something else I saw as an ethical appeal was a little different from the first. It came in the form of a photograph on the wall next to the booth I was seated in. The photgraph was of a father and son, again showing the family-friendly aspect of the attempted representation, but it seemed to be a bit dated, and they were wearing Elvis wigs. I would go so far as to say that the fact that this picture was taken at least 10 to 15 years ago might suggest that the restaurant is a well established chain that has been in business for awhile, but that it is also saying that there is a fun family atmosphere in Chili's.

The fun, family atmosphere is something that plays into the emotional argument as well. However, I found this argument to be more of something they wanted people to think rather than something they actually portrayed. Maybe it's because college kids don't tip well, but I found on more than one occasion the hostess was a little cold. I also noticed that a large number of there employees have tattoos in noticeable places which doesn't exactly contribute to the emotional atmosphere that they are going for.

The logical argument I have seen there has a lot to do with their prices. The lure in this instance is to suck in the customer with a large, quick, and fairly priced meal. This is obviously a logical argument since many of us have been to the discount restaurant only to find that their food is terrible, or the opposite end of the spectrum where the food is wonderful and you end up paying way to much for a meal. Given the good deal, the atmosphere and the food it is a reasonable choice.

In Class: Visuals

My attention in "Candy Cigarette" is immediately drawn to the look on the girl's face paired with the fact that she is holding a cigarette. She is giving a look that a strung out adult might give when looked at by a judgemental passerby. Also the fact that the light is falling on the top of her head pulls my attention there it is showing that this particular person is the important subject in this photograph. The fact that she seems to be looking out from dead eyes shows that it is not something to laugh at it is something to be considered as a heavy and unpleasant argument.

This connects with the fact that she is wearing white and the adult in the background is also wearing white suggesting that maybe that there is a neglectful relationship between her and the adult that is allowing her to do this. Or another scary thought is that the adult may have even given it to her since they are so close in proximity to where she is standing. The fact that everything is dark and kind of fuzzy makes it also seem like some sort of drug portrait. Since this is normally how drugs are portrayed


This picture is about the increasing trend for kids to start smoking younger and younger. The fact that there is an adult in the picture shows this. The artist could have chosen to put that person with a cigarette in their hand but but they chose to use the little girl. Her facial expression seems to be calling someone to intervene.

The purpose of this image is trying to anger or sadden the audience. The fact that this is probably disturbing in some way for a lot of people shows that the artist wants to bring some kind of action not just a shock value expression of something unsettling. The girl with the hands on her hips may be showing that there is some disapproval, but definitely not enough to stop her from the actions she is taking.

In Class: Chapter 4

I didn't necessarily have any problems understanding the material but I did find something to be interesting that it should be used as a logical argument. The idea of tradition in the book as an argument of logos or as the book says, "we have always done it that way," was something that I related to a topic discussed recently in my social psychology class.

In that class there was a study done where people were told information and were told to form rationale for why this might be true. When told much later that this was misinformation used only for the study, much later people were found to still be holding the ideas because they had become accustomed to thinking this way.

Additionally, this could be something that is strange to others or even flat out wrong. The fact that it is just something that is done with whoever you are talking about is something that is not easily argued against. The deep seeded clenching to tradition is something many people have of different things an could be a subject that they are unwilling to budge on.

In Class: Ethical Artifact

The artifact that I brought in is the pin from my induction to Psi Chi. Psi Chi is the National Honor Society in Psychology with TCU having one of the longest continuous running chapters. Once inducted to Psi Chi you are a member for life.

What this pin says about me and my ethical appeal in argument is that I know what I am talking about when it comes to all things (hypothetically) in psychology. That for me is a great thing to have while I continue my education through grad school and submitting research proposals to professors and journals. This pin says that I know what I'm talking about and I am grounded in my ability to conduct research as a psychologist.

The pin itself is actually kind of ambiguous in its symbol so the fact that it has the official Psi Chi emblem means that I would probably have to explain it to someone who was not a member, giving me more credibility to outsiders and it would definitely portray me as a worthy member of the group in the psychology community.

Once I go into practice, sometime in the not too far future (hopefully), I will display my certificate associated with my Psi Chi pin and that will possibly give my future patients some confidence that they are seeing a knowledgeable professional. Among other things this will show them that during my education I was willing to go above and beyond what required into another realm of success in my field.

Unit 1: Chili's

I chose to use Chili's as my focus of the public space topic. This was appealing to me because I find myself spending a lot of time there anyway. I tend to go there often with a friend of mine during football season to watch the game and have a drink. Another reason I chose it, outside of familiarity, is that there is a lot going on inside, meaning lots of different things to view and use as it's argument for it's service and it's target clientele.

So far I have been there to take notes on two different occasions. The first was on a Thursday night and the second was over Sunday lunch. It was interesting to see that what I expected was not necessarily the arguments that Chili's was making upon studying the actual restaurant. I expected to find a single/college-aged crowd, an established theme, and Mexican feeling decor. What I am finding is more of a southwest flair paired with a lot of young families and no real set theme.

I do feel like their target audience is what I initially said, the single, college-aged crowd, but that it tends to draw in others by it's location and it's prices. The young families that were there at the times that I made it may have been included in Chili's target audience as well. So it may be helpful to say that the target audience is young twenties ranging to early thirties.

Some of the preconceived notions that I have are already taking a back burner with my two visits, but I am trying to write down my knee-jerk reactions and then analyze if they came from me or the actual restaurant when I go back through them. Hopefully I don't get too much in the way of myself making good observations.

... PS something is going screwy with my formatting. Please forgive me

In Class: Public Space

A couple different places I have thought of are Chili's, IHOP, and the Botanical Gardens.

Chili's: I thought of Chili's as a place to start this project because I have been in there many times and seen many different types of people both in the bar and the actual restaurant, but I haven't given them much attention because I was there with a friend or concentrating on other things. There is a lot going on in there so I though it would be fairly easy to gather notes and makes observations rather than trying to pull things out in the beginning.

IHOP: I have only been in IHOP in Fort Worth on Sunday mornings that were few and far between. I noticed that, not everyone but, a lot of people that go in there tend to be more along the lines of the "country" persuasion. That was something I thought might be interesting to look at of whether or not that type of person was drawn to IHOP based on personal reasons of connection or if that was just a weekend morning trend before church.

Botanical Gardens: With all of the things going on I wanted somewhere to be able to sit with my laptop and take notes. Also I thought it would be helpful to not have to go somewhere that I need to pay every time I decided to do research. The Botanical Gardens came to mind when I thought of a free public space that I might be able to take notes uninhibited by someone asking me to order or if I needed help. Some snap judgements I already have is date-friendly and tranquil atmosphere set up by the environments within the gates.

In Class: The last two weeks

The stress has been stockpiling lately. Other than school there are many things on my plate right now. Unfortunately the economy is starting to affect my family and on top of the required internship I am now participating in, I am having to be on my own without any warning. The 15 hours I am taking in addition to this is making me a little stressed. Some people are willing to help, but it is interesting to have absolutely no brace, no significant savings account, and barely any free time and just go.... Whatever that means. That was how my dad described it.

I am kind of excited to have this space to complain a little because with holding it in, in an attempt to seem like the strong one and not get on other's nerves it is helpful knowing, even though the people in this class may read it, that I can get it out somewhere. Long story short... I hope I can come up with about 1200 bucks by the first.

New topic. I have a dog, his name is JD and he is a little terror. I call him monkey when he is being good and monster when he is being bad which tends to get on my boyfriend's nerves a little bit. We got him from a shelter a couple of months ago but he is about a year old. JD is not allowed on the furniture and tends to be kind of a beggar. We think that someone must have owned him before us, because it seemed as if he already knew sit and that he knew to beg when we were eating. Anyway, he is part pitbull and maybe pointer or whippet or something because he is real small in the hip and only weighs about 40 pounds. Aka medium to large size breed but definitely too small to be full pitbull.

Iauguration Address

The inaugural address began with, “my fellow citizens” this seems like a typical thing to say, but in viewing it from the aspect that he is making an argument to convince that he is relate-able and also attempting to speak to his audience he is setting up the parameters of things to come that may not be easy for people who disagree to swallow. The President went on to described himself as humbled, grateful, and mindful. The emotion argument his emotion as he stood before the mass of people

“Forty-four Americans have given this sacred oath,” this is an example of his argument to inform. This is either notifying people of the fact or is solidifying a a heartfelt connection to a pure number. The way it is presented and the fact that it has the described affect is genius. Another argument to inform was spoken of when Obama mentioned the crisis that the nation is in. To this he included war, economic crisis and a crumbling of confidence in the government to bring about positive change. This specific argument to inform showed his audience that he was willing to address the hard issues to be faced and not just let them slide.

Some of the arguments made by the President of past present and future were really compelling, but also begs to be dissected. The thing he said that was an example of past was that Americans were "remaining faithful to the forbearers’ ideals and true to the founding documents." That struck me since I have often wondered what many of the founders would think if they could see how far this nation has come through what decisions. Another argument geared more toward the present and future is when described a looming fear in people, “that America’s decline is inevitable.” To this he spoke of a nation rebuilding itself and, to crudely paraphrase, that there needed to be a present change in attitude in implementing “hope over fear."

In Class: Changing Definition of Argument

It was obvious what most of the class thought an argument was after entering the classroom. It was something that was combative, verbal and quite possibly heated. However, after the first two meetings of this class paired with the reading of the first chapter in our textbook, there is much more to an argument than what the average person imagines it to be. The idea that "everything's an argument" is changing the way I view things. Because of this I realize that most arguments are not things that are disagreed with but are accepted as a general whole. For example, when we were discussing the idea of the stop sign, that shifted my thinking to include things that direct us in everyday life that most of us follow. The fact that it raised the argument that it was a good idea to stop is something that almost every driver will comply with.

To dissect the book a little as well, there are a few examples just on the front cover that pose arguments in themselves. The one that I found most interesting was the fish that appears to be in a graduated cylinder. This could be a realistic representation asking people to accept the thought that the goldfish is really that small, or it could be asking you to believe the picture is just a photo shopped representation. Either way the picture that I would have never given second thoughts to shows that the subject matter of this course is slowly changing my perspective as what writing arguments should look like.

In Class: Show and Tell (It's a freewrite: DON'T JUDGE ME!)

The article was about pirates and the existence of personal responsibility in different cultures. The thought here was that a many was reading the article and decided to blog on the star telegrams website. the sum up version of what he said was that because this uncle of a dead pirate discussed so many of the reasons pirating occurs and how people get into it, that it displayed a lack of social and self responsibility. I found that to be more of a statement about the writer's inability to get on a different cultural level and that he was arguing that this way of life was so far from his own that he would not see it as something in any way good. The uncle of the pirate also posed an argument in the form of a justification of the life of a pirate and gave reasoned details on why this was fine. Whether or not it actually is socially acceptable is debatable, but there were no real down cast eyes at the life choice. the differing in cultures in this example was what turned me on to this argument as something that should be brought into class. the argument here is a statement of opinion more than a combat gesture, but I also feel that there is more to be learned for me in this area seeing as how the ease of a heated discussion could rise out of these differing opinions.

Hooray for a New Semester

My name is Lauren Pierce. I was born in Georgia and raised in Southern California. Although I am from Orange County I tend to leave that out when I initially meet people to avoid the knee jerk judgements. The statement, "somewhere between L. A. and San Diego," usually comes up. I am a senior at TCU but I will not be graduating until December, to make a long story short, transferring has a lot of setbacks. Psychology and I have and ongoing relationship and I will be applying to graduate school next year pursuing a degree in marriage and family therapy.

My reason for enrolling in this course is because it was required, but since I am a psychology major with a religion minor I have done a lot of research papers and scientific writing. It would be great to hone my skills as a research writer and to learn to better develop my argument for findings in the scientific setting. Outside of school I do a ton of nonsensical writing. I blog, facebook, and text mostly. I am slowly gaining confidence in myself as a writer especially after a very critical professor in a religion writing class let me out with a B on the final research paper.

I love to come off as nonchalant and fun. I think with the feminine colors, but not hot pink, it helps my point. The links also help to display a fun and kind of mysterious attitude with how vague they are. As an author I would say that this blog foreshadows my ability to hold a readers interest but not give away all the good stuff all at once. I think the amount of things I have added and will be adding to my blog can say one of two things. First, it could be saying that I have extreme commitment to this course. Second, it could also be saying that I am a former blogger who loves to play around with this stuff. (Hopefully, it comes out to be a little bit of both)

Written final statement: I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus, which I see as a contract for our course.