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.