leinadyestrada-blog

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Hey Michael! If you believe you are complaining or whining just know everyone else is probably thinking the exact same thing because I know I am. Like you, I was also able to relate with the issues of anxiety addressed in the article written by Susan Antlitz. I used to believe it was weird for me to feel so anxious about writing because I did not know other students felt as anxious as I do. After reading blog posts of other students in this course and weekly reading assignments that offer solutions I feel like it is not so bad anymore.

I do not know about you but I loved the second article by Murray. Murray’s writing style and life experiences were very unique. I think all writers and even artists look back on their work and think they could have done better. It may be that you are just being over critical because it is your own writing. My brother once drew a character called Master Chief from Halo. The drawing was extremely detailed so when I found the drawing in an old notebook I was excited to it show him. My brother took one look at his old drawing and said “how embarrassing that looks so bad.” The drawing was impressive and looked exactly like Master Chief but because my brother had improved since then he believed it looked awful. My point is your work probably isn’t as “dumb and ineffective” as you described. Maybe you have just improved in your writing from the time you wrote that essay. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense.

By the way, House is the bomb. However, the ending was trippy.

Lastly, I had no idea what format/layout to use for the Invention Journal either. Anyway, hope you did awesome on your exams. Have a great weekend!

Blog Post 10: Invention

So before a day or two ago, there were almost no readings scheduled for the rest of the term, including this week, but I knew it was too good to be true! Like most things, of course. Anyways, enough of my complaining and whining! This week’s articles were centered around invention, which is the ongoing process of discovery. One of the things I really liked was how the beginning of one of the articles addressed the struggle many writers face when trying to figure out what to write about. It immediately continued to talk about writing anxiety, which I have also said affects me all the time, so the article talking about these relatable issues definitely makes it a much more effective and enjoyable piece of writing.

In the first article, Murray talks about how everything we write, from poetry to academic writing, is autobiographical. This is because we all have our own way of writing, and through this way of writing, we are always showing who we are. Murray mentions how an excerpt or sentence can sound perfect one day, but after reading it over again another day, can sound completely different. This reminded me of a time when I stumbled across an essay on alcohol and pregnancy I wrote my junior year of high school, and it wasn’t good whatsoever. I remember writing “punchlines” that I perceived to be SO good, but after reading them now, they seem sooooooo dumb and ineffective. It kind of makes me think about the type of writing I do now and if it sounds/is any better!

The second article focuses on strategies for more easily generating ideas, reducing writing anxiety, and making writing more enjoyable by connecting your writing with things you find meaningful. Antlitz talks about how writing is driven by both outside guidelines and personal identity. This is because we aren’t always allowed to write for personal satisfaction, so creating writing that reaches an audience and is effective requires straying from what we are most comfortable and content doing. I found the tips for reducing writing anxiety pretty interesting, and since this is something I experience ALL the time, I will definitely try them sometime.

*Dr. House from my FAVORITE TV series, and the only TV series I’ve EVER completed, House M.D.

We have our invention journal due this week! Although this sounds like it should be easy, I’m still a bit confused about the acceptable formats to layout what we believe is important information relating to our final project. Hopefully everything works out  because I have a couple of exams to study for as well! Anyways, until next time, bye everyone!

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey Part Time English Student! I am having a difficult time formulating research questions as well. I thought I chose a good topic but I am running out of ideas the closer we get to our final project.

You should definitely try the random words strategy. The words I chose and someone else chose had nothing to do with my topic but it definitely helps build your mental agility and make connections we may not have thought of before using this method. 

Murray’s article on all writing is biographical was my favorite between the two. I ove how you brought up the cartoon Lizzie MgGuire voice. I used to watch that show a lot growing up and had not thought about how we all have a version of cartoon Lizzie when we write. By the way, it is pretty cool how you can see your style of writing from when you were in 5th grade to now. Have an awesome weekend. :)

Blog Post #9: Invention and Inner Lizzie’s

Hello everyone I hope you all are having or had a wonderful week. We didn’t have any readings scheduled for awhile and I’m sure we were all ecstatic about that. The theme for this week and the next is invention. With the Invention Journal due this week and the Map of the World due next week, we are all showing the steps to get to a research paper. Both of the articles talked about how to come up with and formulate a research question, while controlling your writing anxiety. As someone who has major problems with formulating a research questions and writing anxiety, I understood these articles on a personal level.

In Antlitz article she talks about how to start writing and roll with it. Antlitz gives some amazing advice on how to map out ideas. Her taking flight approach was something refreshing to see. Often we put our personal feelings into our writing which isn’t always a great thing. By writing your feelings on one side of paper or wing, and writing the social context on the other, it gives you a balance between your ideas and a group of peers ideas. Being able to bounce of the two to not only draw similarities but differences.

My favorite writing advice that Antlitz gave was the random words idea. I find it hard to connect my ideas on how I want my research paper to go with articles I find. So this exercise will help me connect not only my ideas but articles together to help form a connected work. The idea of putting two things together that wouldn’t necessarily work is always a little scary but, it could make something beautiful in the end.

In the second article Murray talks about how all writing is autobiographical since we are writing it. What I mean by that is we all have different writing styles and different inner people.We all have that different inner voice that comes out when we write. Which is what I call the Lizzie McGuire affect.

Anyway I stand with Murray on the fact that all writing is indeed autobiographical. We all write with our own cartoon Lizzie’s. As we grow older or learn more about the topic our view on that changes but our writing style always stays the same. If I go back to look at my writing through the years my ideas may have changed but my voice that I find in my writing is always the same. Even if I wrote a poem in 5th grade I can still find my writing style that I use now as a sophomore, just more developed.

In the end of all my blabbering I find this week’s theme of Invention really helpful. I am also a little nervous about next week’s assignment. As always I’m sure I can get through it somehow. I hope you all have a great week next week, see you soon, Bye.

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Blog #9

Good afternoon everyone! I hope everyone has had an awesome week so far. I enjoyed both readings assignments for this week. The first reading assignment entitled, “All Writing Is Autobiography by Donald M. Murray was really captivating because it he was so raw and honest with his audience. He openly discussed the topic of death and his perception of growing old. I enjoy talking to older people and listening to their life experiences. I appreciated the honesty of Mr. Donald Murray as he shared how being over sixty had its freedoms with a “deeper appreciation of life” but also “brings with increasing frequency, such terrible responsibilities as sitting with the dying.” It was so interesting to me how I think of life and death often but never really thought about sitting with dying people as a responsibility. My grandmother told me earlier this week her neighbor passed away and nobody knew for over a week. The topic of death was already on my mind because of what she told me and reading this article made me think of it in a different perspective. In many ways, it is our responsibility to be there for our loved ones and sometimes we get busy and forget to be there for them.

In the same reading assignment Murray quoted Don DeLillo'S and wrote "I think after a while, a writer can begin to know himself through his language. He sees someone or something reflected back at him from these constructions.” I strongly believe that statement was true. I have analyzed my writing style more than even before because of this course and see myself in my writing styles. I also noticed a big difference in the way I write compared to others in this course with our blog posts on Tumblr.

The second reading assignment this week was “Taking Flight: Connecting Inner and Outer Realities during Invention” by Susan E. Antlitz. I tried The Two Wings Exercise and the Random Words Exercise. The Random Words Exercise was difficult because thre were words I just could not connect like “litter” and “utilities.” Susan Antlitz offered several creative ideas to help think of topics and issues to address. I was kind of impressed when a stone she collected made her think of a night at a beach with silvery waves. Looking at a rock has never made me think of a beach or anything of the sort. I feel encouraged to slow down, take a closer look at everyday things, and allow myself to be inspired instead of always being on the go 100 mph. The rock moved Susan to PAINT. When was the last time you felt that inspired? For me, the last time I felt inspired to paint anything was before this semester started.

The anxiety portion of the second reading assignment helped too. I laughed a little when the article said, “Staying positive gives you the best chance of doing your best. So, imagine an audience that will be delighted with everything and anything you write.” Inside I’m praying our Professor will be delighted with everything and anything I include in my Invention Journal.

 Best wishes to everyone! Hope everyone has a high grade in this course so far. Have a great weekend! Only one more month... we can do this!

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey Michael! I can relate with you almost every step of the way! I overthink my sentences but criticize myself as I write my drafts and after I have revised it 10 times. It’s awful. I get after myself for never planning enough time to write because I always take longer than I expected which ruins my time management schedule. I know these habits are bad because I’m not using my time wisely by constantly revising little aspects of my work that were probably fine to begin with. I never thought about how these habits can negatively affect my work until I read it in the article. I usually take a break in long reading assignments but read this one straight through because it was interesting and relatable. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who revises every sentence! 

Blog Post 8: Composition Strategies and Deadlines

This week has been an epic debacle for me. I was already stressing knowing the midterm portfolio was due on Friday, and after not doing as well as I expected on my O Chem II exam, I thought the week couldn’t get any worse, that is until I probably failed my second Cal II quiz. You can imagine how I felt after this, knowing I still have the midterm portfolio ahead of me. After receiving the email regarding postponing the portfolios until the 20th, my heart literally sank, so THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Anyways, this week’s readings consisted of opposing theories/methods, both of which are a tool to aid you in composing a piece of writing. Peter Elbow introduces a linear method and approach to composition, whereas the second article refutes the idea that composition can be linear, and instead offers an alternative approach to composition. I personally think I would find the skeleton process most helpful compared to the other options, and this is probably because I’m very left-brained and a structure-oriented person by nature.

Because the article by Elbow almost precisely describes the situation I face every time I write, I was much more engaged when reading the article. The biggest problem I face when writing is strongly criticizing myself AS I write my drafts, and this yields assignments taking much more time to complete and me being far more frustrated. I’ll constantly tell myself a sentence I have written sounds funny or can be written better, and I’ll spend an unnecessary amount of time trying to revise that one sentence before moving on. Another major issue I face is not knowing exactly what to write about, and I believe writing germ sentences after reading articles and pieces of information can greatly aid me in having areas to talk about. The strategies in both of these articles can definitely help me with the process of generating ideas, compared to the scrutinizing part of the revising process, which I do A LOT of already.

Even though this has been a TERRIBLE week, not having to turn in the midterm portfolio tonight has definitely helped me feel a little better. I hope everyone is doing well and the extension allows everyone to complete their portfolio. Good luck everyone!

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey parttimeenglishstudent. Nice to meet’cha. I find your writing easy to follow and completely coherent. All draft versions of my writing are usually choppy with various themes and poor transitions between them. I constantly restructure and edit my writing before I submit it. This semester I am taking two English courses and both require me to write more than I am used to. I think it is interesting how you consider yourself a chaotic writer and use the skeleton method while I think of myself as a chaotic writer but use the collage method. I had never heard of germ sentences before reading “The Need for Care” either but am going to try using those sentences and apply the skeleton method in my next writing assignment. 

Hope you have a great weekend and have an awesome spring break!

Rain Rain Go Away: Blog #8

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great week. Last week was a little bit stressful when it came to balancing work and school, but other then that I’m doing pretty good.However, this week was an easy train to calm town. I hope everyone had a less stressful week.

Anyway this week’s reading was about tools to help your writing. Peter Elbow talks about turning your chaos into something you can actually turn in. Elbows tool about using a collage to get from chaos to coherence is actually something I kind of already do, Along with using a skeleton. 

I tend to kind of just through out words to try to form anything.Basically just free writing like Compose Design Advocate says. If you have read my writing you know this because a lot of time I just don’t make any sense. I do a hybrid of chaos and structure so I did find the skeleton method most helpful and most like my writing style.Trying to find time to read and re read everything about the topic and finding the most important information. Making little notes while you read, germ sentences. Is something I really try to do when forming a paper.

The one thing I really need to concentrate on is figuring out a main idea. I always have trouble figuring out what I want to write about. I can create a collage and list about anything but trying to put it all together into something cohesive, is not my forte. I defiantly think the skeleton method is something that I will keep on coming back to.

I see myself using both methods and ideas from The Need for Care: Easy Speaking Onto the Page is Never Enough and from Compose Design Advocate.

Anyway sorry if this was more chaotic than a coherent work. I’m currently typing this with the horrible rain outside trying to get this up before anything happens to the wifi. As always I hope everyone has a great week. Off to go sit by the window with some tea and a book. Bye bye for now.

#engl130299

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Blog #8

Hello everyone. I found our reading this week on The Need for Care in Writing really interesting and relatable. I am taking two English courses this semester. The professor from my other English course was very harsh on the first essay I submitted which has caused me to overthink and rephrase literally every sentence I write in his course. I remember he commented on one paragraph and said it “was not thought through or organized well” which hurt like crazy because I spent hours working on that paper. The comment was only on one paragrah but I felt like he said that about my entire response. When the reading this week mentioned how “unrelentingcare--the feeling that you can never relax your skeptical scrutiny” could be a problem made me reflect on how that habit could actually be harmful to my writing which is something I had not thought of before. I use the collage style of writing very frequently. I type 80 wpm so when I am writing I think of an outline, then type everything I think on a word document as I think it, delete what I believe is not especially persuasive/relevant, work on the structure, and then work on the smooth transitions. I am a messy writer and I know it which is why I constantly restructure and rephrase my work until I am thoroughly satisfied. For this reason,  I also related to Mark Twain’s quote: “Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words” because it is the third step of my writing style. I find the collage style of writing more natural than the skeleton style of writing. Peter Elbow’s explanation of how the four stages get carelessness and care to interact was especially helpful. I am definitely going to follow these four stages in my next assignment.

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey Michael! I was really stoked about not having a reading/video/audio assignment this week as well. I’m happy you are able to catch a mini break right now and hope you did awesome on your exams. I did not look at the schedule for next week but ran to check it out after you mentioned our portfolios are due next Friday.

I think it is awesome how you are investing so much of your time by reading and watching videos to learn more about your research topic. Way to go! I need to do that too.

 Thanks for the heads up on the portfolio. Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Blog Post 7: Update on my Thoughts and Research

This week is particularly special because it’s the first time we don’t have any readings! I even had to send an email to confirm this was true! Anyways, I’m done taking my exams, and I can finally catch my breath for a moment. Finding out there weren’t any readings this week definitely helped ease my anxiety, for as much as that’s worth, but at least I can free write about my thoughts and research now! Something well needed, and different, after a stressful week.

I have recently incorporated viewing videos on YouTube into my research process as a way of consuming information. I already consume news via digital media, more specifically YouTube, on a daily basis, so it makes sense to use this platform as a way of getting information for my research. I usually watch a news outlet called The Young Turks every day, so now, for my research, I watch a variety of channels that report on gun control and gun violence. Of course the majority of my research is text-based sources, but watching videos makes things MUCH more enjoyable and relaxing sometimes.

I’ve enjoyed researching gun control and gun violence more than I thought I would, and this is because It is satisfying to be informed on a position you hold. I strongly believe that enacting stricter gun laws is the answer to America’s massive gun violence issue, and after doing research over the past 7 weeks, I am becoming better at forming an argument for gun control. Hopefully, by the end of the semester, I’ll be able to create an effective argument!

The last thing I want to talk about is the midterm portfolio that is already due NEXT FRIDAY! Time to start getting my ideas flowing because I’m VERY undecided about what I’m going to do. This will probably be the thing I’m MOST stressed about over the next week until the moment I turn it in, but I’m going to do my best to not procrastinate and start early. Anyways, good luck on our second Critical Response and first portfolio!

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey Denny! I am so happy we are finally at week #7. Only 2 more months to go! We can do this. I can relate to you a lot with work and school taking a toll on us to the point of making us feel defeated. Keep trying your hardest no matter what! We can do this It is insanely stressful now but it will be worth it later. Here’s a virtual high five for your resolution:

I will only be taking 3 courses next semester instead of 4. I think you should think about doing the same so we don’t get burned out. P.S. How cool that you are a waitress! I always wanted to apply for waitress positions but never did because I have an awful memory and thought I wouldn’t be able to hack it. Congratulations on starting to write in your journal! It sounds like that is a great milestone considering your busy life. Puppies have a way of lifting our spirits. Well, actually my puppy is still in the process of getting potty trained so sometimes he adds even more stress when he makes me clean up his messes. He’s so handsome I can’t stay mad though. Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Blog Post #7

I can’t believe it’s already week #7. Where is the time going?!? So this week we didn’t have a reading! Which was fine because I’m still drowning in other school work. It was a goal of mine to develop a better work ethic this year. It is already halfway through the semester and sometimes I feel defeated. Although I do, I still won’t give up! I am still trying my hardest, I just need to find ways that work better for me. Work is really stressing me out right now too. I contemplate quitting all the time because I just want to focus on school, but that seems impossible. I am very thankful for my job though. Working as a waitress can be very interesting and entertaining at times. I meet people from around the country everyday and they always have insane stories. Coming home to my excited puppy makes it a little easier too. Actually a lot easier! Anyways, this week was pleasant and I actually started writing in my journal. Hope my fellow classmates had a great week!!! Stay awesome.

#engl130299

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Blog #7

Hey everyone! Hope everyone has had an awesome week so far. First of all, I have to thank our professor @tekla-courseaccount for having mercy on us and not giving us a reading assignment this week. I am struggling working full time and taking 4 college courses so having even one less assignment was just awesome.

This week was pretty awesome. Monday was my first day in my new job at work. I previously had an office job and now 90% of my job is to transport people and children to court or for court ordered services. Tuesday and Wednesday I spent almost all day flying from airport to airport to get to Lubbock, Texas. I can’t believe my job is to fly and get paid for it! I feel so blessed and am so very grateful to have been chosen for this job.

I don’t have children of my own yet and a part of this new job is to take care of children. It was an interesting experience to have to take care of a 9 year old for an entire day. I really admire those of you who are parents. The kiddo would randomly from one second be laughing and the next second get into a depressed mood. I only took care of him for ONE day and it was exhausting to constantly be keeping an eye on him and making sure he was happy and okay. I loved taking care of it but at the end of the day I was happy to take him back home. Kuddos to all you parents out there! I don’t know how you do it.

#engl130299

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Hey! I’m loving the videos and podcasts too! I thought it was interesting how the audio files by Grammar Girl were pretty short but gave very insightful information. I listened to a few others and even looked up a website they advertised called Blue Apron. Anyway, getting way off topic. I knew there were words tallied at the end of the year but never thought they would include emoji’s. I mentioned in my blog how I tried applying the concept of gaslighting and afterwards felt kind of bad.

Anyway, this podcast was pretty great. I also wrote in my blog how I had never heard of the way our brain categorizes words in a “word pool,” phonologically as opposed to chronologically. Our brains are so intricately made.

Have a great weekend!

BRAIN STUFF: Blog 6

In this week’s reading it was a podcast, I’m loving the new way we can connect and learn, anyway. I found Grammar Girl very interesting. In the first podcast, “Words of the Year and Easy Tips to Improve Your Writing” I was surprised. I never knew that there was a tally of all the words searched at the end of year, that is pretty dang cool. Of course the top words where words that had to do with this years political election and certain government moves through the world.

Dumpster fire being the word of the year was genius 

along with the matching emoji. The fact that we now have categories like these, such as digital word of the year being an @ and using it as a verb is so funny to me. I’m definitely going to start using gas lighting.How does someone even join the american dialect society? Other note Grammar Girl’s easy tips to improve writing where actually really good I might use 2 of the four.

I also enjoyed the second podcast How Aphasia Causes Difficulty Speaking I always find it interesting to think about language and how the brain works. It’s crazy to think if you were blindfolded and had something in your left hand you wouldn’t be able to name the object in your hand as easy as you would in the right. I have always said left handed people had it better now I know that’s true since they can recover faster and use language more evenly in their brain.

The whole time all I could think about was being a kid and calling apples bananas and talking like dog chase cat. Having a niece with aphasia has made this very normal to me but, to think about how the brain compartmentalizes these words we use everyday is interesting to say the least. This podcast just made me think the brain is weird.

Sorry if that this blog post is everywhere that is just how my brain is this week. As always I hope everyone had a wonderful week and goodbye for now.

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey Denny! I really did not know much about Aphasia until listening to the Grammar Girl podcast too! I thought it was interesting how linguists are learning how the brain may categorize words. I also thought it was interesting to find out our brains are  “wrinkled and folded up, because if it weren’t, our heads would be enormous.” I just thought that was the shape of our brain but she encouraged us to picture the surface area of a paper and then “crumple” it up.

Good luck on your goal of writing! I personally love reading and writing outside when it is fresh. It has helped clear my mind and put things in perspective more times than I can count. Have an awesome weekend!

Blog Post #6

So this week we listened to “Grammar Girl” and I really enjoyed her tips and facts. I loved how she mixed humor with grammar facts, it kept things a little more interesting. She explained in episode 551 “Words of the Year. Easy Tips to Improve Your Writing” many of the top searches in online dictionaries. Miriam Webster’s word of the year for 2016 was “surreal”. The searches for the word started to spike after occurring terrorist attacks this past year. I find it so amazing that the most searched words had a lot to do with politics in 2016. It seemed like everyone was on their toes the election, and this proved that. Grammar Girl also gave us some pretty good tips to improve our writing in 2017. My favorite and most relevant tip was “write for fun”. I’ve been telling myself to start writing in a journal for YEARS and I’ve never actually pushed myself to do it. 2017 is my year and I will finally start writing in the journal I bought for myself back in 2014…..

In episode 510 “How Aphasia Causes Difficulty Speaking”, I learned about aphasia which is a type of brain damage in which you lose your ability to speak or understand speech. I loved this podcast because I had absolutely NO idea was aphasia was. The brain damage is most commonly caused by stroke, which is overall very sad. The most severe cases are called “global aphasia” and it may make the person mute. Less severe cases such as “fluent aphasia” and “non fluent aphasia” makes the person have a harder time structuring sentences. Dyslexia is also very common among people who suffer from aphasia. I learned a lot about my brain in this podcast! I had no clue who “Grammar Girl” was before but I’m going to challenge myself to listen to 1 podcast a week. Why not learn some more grammar tips this year?! This week was all about setting goals for myself and I’m excited to see where this takes me. Hope my fellow classmates had a great week! Stay awesome.

#ENGL130299

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Blog #6

Good evening everyone! I really enjoyed listening to Grammar Girl as a part of this week’s assignments. I learned Gaslighting was a word in the first audio file and thought the origin was pretty interesting as well. Gaslighting, according to Grammar Girl, is a “form of psychological manipulation where an abuser makes people doubt their sanity by denying that something that happened really happened.” This is so evil. I love it. I tried it on my husband this morning. My husband said I left the door unlocked before we went to sleep. I knew I accidentally had but wanted to try this concept out so I confidently told him “No, it was you.” He thought for a second and then said I was the last one to walk our dog outside and was the last one to come back in our apartment. I was just so curious to see if gaslighting really works so I replied, “Yeah, but you took him out after I did. You probably don’t remember because you were really tired yesterday.” I felt kind of bad after he believed it but it was so interesting there is actually a term for this. I’ll tell him it was actually me...eventually. I swear I’m actually really nice and am not as evil as that may have sounded. I also found the second audio file by Grammar Girl discussing Aphasia extremely interesting because I constantly screw up a word I meant to say by saying a different  phonological word. It was also exciting to hear we may even store our words in “neural networks or clusters” instead of in a word list. So many times I mean to say one thing and instead, say a word similar to it four times until I say the right word so I definitely believe we may store our words this way. Have a great weekend everyone! P.S. I loved that Grammar Girl gave a shout out to Kevin in this part of the episode from the Office!

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

I really appreciated watching both videos as an assignment too! I love documentaries but have never seen one like the series by John Berger. I feel like he discussed a topic so complex in nature and explained it in a way everyone could understand. I liked how he positioned the camera at different angles in many different places to show us his argument in a way we could truly understand. I also thought it was interesting how talked so calmly and would suddenly mute all noise and allow us to contemplate ideas he introduced or works of art on the screen in complete silence. 

By the way, I am so happy for you! I’m glad you were able to finish all assignments early in the week. At work we could not find a home for a child we had to remove from a family so a lot of us stayed overnight at the office/hotel to take care of the kid from 5pm-8am this week. Thankfully we found a home for the child yesterday so he will have stability in a safe home. I miss the kid already! 

Blog Post #5

Wowww! These new readings we had this week were entertaining to say the least. The different perspective John Berger has are somewhat new to me. I can say that of course his points were obvious but most people wouldn’t of though that deep into just what they see. I liked how he brought in that different audiences will have different perceptions of the painting. I feel like it ties into our critical response from last week and how we had to change the audience we were writing to. Many of the paintings in the first video were new to me which brought me new feelings and thoughts. Seeing the video a second time let me see new things in the paintings which I didn’t see before and also the perspective in which I was viewing the paintings. The second video was a bit bias towards war and was pointed towards the audience that was against the war and against President Bush. I think it’s easy to look for the bad in what someone is doing because the good will never be shown because the good is not interesting to people. Well enough of that, my week went by real fast this time. I guess it’s because I did all my work early so I wouldn’t have to stress so much at the end of the week and just think about it all week. This Texas weather is so bipolar that I can’t even wear a pretty sweater in the morning without the weather getting boiling hot by the afternoon. My Critical Response work went very well so I’m happy about that and at least now I know what example to follow. Alright till next time guys. Toodle Loo

#ENGL130299

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Blog #5

Hello, everyone. This week has been great. I loved having a video for our assignment this week! The video was very interesting to me. I watched the first one twice because I had to share it: the first time alone, and the second time with my husband. John Berger examined the impact of photography and the reproduction of art in a captivating way. I loved how he took the camera and showed how works are art were integral to parts of buildings. It made me more aware of how we appreciate art differently when it is reproduced on our TV’s, on our laptop screens, or in a textbook/magazine surrounded by different content. Magnificent works of art are now brought to us and there is no way we can appreciate it as much as standing in front of the original piece of art. I was also impressed with the extensive 14 page research of paintings including even the pedigree of the owners who once owned the work of art. The part of the video that got to me the most was when Berger invited his audience to examine the details of the landscape painting by Vicent Van Gogh with a moment of silence to appreciate every stroke of the painting and then informed us this painting was the last painting Van Gogh created before he committed suicide. 

#engl130299

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Blog #4

The course reading for this week was a little hard to follow. The part of the reading I could mostly relate to was how all us students in this class may be classified as a discourse community. Swales stated how he is a member of the Hong Kong Study Circle and the only thing the entire group has in common is their hobby. For us, I would say the reason we all reply to each other is because we are a community of students with the common goal of graduating. 

I am learning a lot in this class. I have learned the audience of the people we write our message to changes drastically. I enjoyed this weeks assignment as I used my topic of phobia and wrote my critical response with an audience of people who face abnormal phobias. I initially started the critical response addressing it to middle school kids but decided to change my audience at the last minute.  I decided to research the science, treatment, and types of phobia for this course because a lot of people in my family have weird phobias so I thought it would be interesting to write about. For example, I know this is ridiculous especially because I am 24 but I am terrified of needles. I am also scared of bees and get anxious even seeing pictures of them. My mother has agoraphobia and arachnophobia. My aunt is afraid of chickens. My cousin is afraid of dogs. It is interesting to know and tell ourselves we are not in danger but even knowing our fears are illogical, still feel incredibly anxious at the sight of our fears.

Anyways, this week has been extremely hectic but pretty great! I got the job I applied for last week so I’m really excited about it. I will be facing my fear of needles very soon because I was just told I need to take a TB Test before my start date.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Blog #3

I hardly ever procrastinate but with work and my other three course deadlines set earlier in the week I keep finishing this coursework for this class on Thursdays or Fridays. I am falling behind and will definitely dedicate more time to this class going forward. This week has been a little tough. I had an interview for a higher position at the department I work in, got really sick, scored high on two quizzes for other courses, read an entire book in one day, and am trying to adjust to this new schedule. 

I read the course readings and one of the things that stood out to me was reading how essential it is for writers to make informed decisions about what genres to employ. It was in a way refreshing to read this because I am the type of person that overthinks everything I say before I say it. At work I will read an e-mail four times or revise a report before sending it to make sure the message and information I am sending to my audience is clear, concise, and accurate. I am like this in every area of my life. I also completely agree that all writing is relational and responsive just as the readings stated. On all my social media accounts I will post something maybe once a month because when I want to share something I think one friend may like it but it may offend another one of my friends so I rather not share it.

#engl130299

[leinadyestrada-blog]

Hey! I thought it was kind of fun trying to figure out the words. I am taking another English course this semester as well and had to read The Book of Margery Kempe except I ordered the book online and it was scheduled to arrive the day before I needed to finish reading the entire 297 page book. I found ONE copy of the book online written in Old English and read as much as I could possibly understand. Here is just once sentence in Old English: “  Than thys creatur thowt it was ful mery to be reprevyd for Goddys lofe; it was to hirgret solas and cowmfort.” So, after reading 44 online pages of Old English this week, trying to decipher the short cut off words in good ol’ modern English was no biggie. I thought the Naming of What We Know series was pretty insightful. When I got to the part of the reading where the rhetor shared how even if we are all alone typing behind a computer, we are “drawing upon the ideas and experiences of countless others.” Good luck on finding your rhythm for school, work, travel, and everything else you love! I’m sure we’ll all get to that point faster than we think.

Beginning to see beneath the surface…Blog III

First, I am going to whine because in my well-ordered world of corporate construction sales, everything fits in a scheduled timeline, projects have parameters, tools have their tool crib, blueprints are diagrammed with a layout and legend, but the reading selections this week were truncated on both sides of the scan for each document, leaving this reader with disjointed sentences and words, subtracting from the flow of the writing. I became preoccupied with deciphering the chopped words instead of gathering the meaning and context of the documents, forcing me to reread them several times to glean the “hidden” concepts.

Having sniveled for a moment, The Naming of What We Know series of excerpts look beneath the surface of writing (as reflected in my choice of Inspector Gadget under X-Ray above) to be considered as rhetoric. It refers to writing as the act of creating ideas, an act of thinking, invokes an audience and sets a role for them, is linked to identity, and is multimodal as it creates and recreates meaning. I ponder these aspects of writing as I continue my search for research sources to add character and simultaneously narrow my research question, as well as recover from the drive down to Houston, 4 days of sales training and networking, and the subsequent drive back to the Metroplex. My workouts have been hurried, my diet, while clean and consistent, has left me feeling flat and empty, and spinning so many plates between family, work and school has left me thin, “like butter scraped across too much bread…”

Now that I have let y’all “look under my hood” for a moment, I did find the concept of how the Digital Age brings into question the distinctions between the audience and the writer to allow for greater agency, or in my own words, the interchange of roles like here on Tumblr, where a post can add a reply can add another reply, which can in turn spur a post in a different direction altogether, engaging the reader to become the writer to become reader again.

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