#4 Responding to ANY five questions on P. 232

I have to admit that I read this through almost five times and I still don't quite get it, but I'll do my best...

2. "It's easy to raise an eyebrow at liposuction, but hard to be censorious." I had to look that word up, it means to be highly critical. I think this means that we can look at each other and question the way they do things and why they do them, but we cannot really criticize them because we do the same things, everyone just does it differently and changes other aspects when they talk about themselves.

4. Murphy's examples deal with the removal of privilege because people tend to relate to that. "I could've done that, but because of (blank), I never ended up doing it." Yeah, we've all said that. We place blame on outside forces because it makes us seem like we're really doing our best, but we've been dealt a bad hand.

2. The tone seems highly critically sarcastic to me because the writer gave examples but didn't give them a benefit of the doubt. He just said the facts and gave the people's responses to the situation in a negative way. He made it clear that the audience knows that Bill O'Reilly wasn't as lower middle class as he liked people to believe.

4. Paragraphs 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 start with a topic sentence to lead the reader into what the speaker will be trying to convince us of. They were helpful to me because when I started asking myself, "What is this guy talking about?" I could just look back up at the topic sentence, relate it to whichever part I was reading and then say, "Right..." although there may have been a few times when I still struggled to get through it. 

1. Lifosuction isn't hard to break apart. Liposuction is a procedure done to rid the body of excess fat-the part that we don't want people to see. Lifosuction is just the same, but it's not physical. People perform "lifosuction" to make themselves seem like someone anyone can relate to, but still respect and look up to. People who do this do it because they want others to see what they want the others to see. (Confusing sentence, I know.) By controlling what outsiders see, we can be whoever or whatever we want.

I really hope this was the right assignment, I was confused all weekend but finally decided to just sit down and do what I thought was correct. 

#3 My Narrative Essay Will Be About...

During class when we first started discussing narrative essays, I honestly thought to myself, "I have nothing in my life to write a narrative essay about...who really has adventures like that? Not me..." But, the more I thought about it, I came up with plenty of things. Let's just hope that they'll turn out interesting. I am not a great writer, I never know which details to put in, what will be funny or fascinating to people, etc. Anyway, I think that my essay will have to be about my latest big adventure: Summer 2010 at Draper Pool in the concessions stand, where I spent about 35 hours a week. Because I'm writing an essay about it, I don't want to give away too many details, but it will basically be about Monday mornings with the Aquasport kids, the lifeguards that we "oogled" at day in and day out and drew pictures of (that we hung inside the fridge), the kids that asked what they could buy with "this" as they held out two pennies and a coins from Nicklecade, and the parents that thought our prices were outrageous (umm...hello, we're a concessions stand at a pool, of course our prices are outrageous) and there were three windows, two of which were for ordering the overpriced food and the third was for picking up the food, which is, apparently, impossible for anyone to understand. We also had fun reading dozens of books, as long as it was clean...for the most part. And that's not all, there was drama galore! I just bet you cannot wait to read this one.

#2 Responding to Chapters 3 & 4

Chapter 3 was a lot more interesting than I expected it to be, and I learned more from it than I thought I would. I have to admit that I didn't realize there was so much to writing a rough draft of a paper, but now that I've read the chapter, it definitely makes sense. I liked how it explained that one should write the entire paper in one sitting because you can get your thoughts out and organize it later. Writing is much more of a process than I realized it would be. The suggestions for how to write an introduction was so helpful because I'm never quite sure how I should start a paper. I also liked that there is a way to convey supporting details-for instance, giving descriptions, narrating it and then to give examples of whatever the subject is...This book is more helpful than I would've guessed, I'm almost not sad I spent so much money on it. I'm going to have to copy the transitions chart because I do sometimes have a hard time coming up with a way to lead into a new paragraph or topic, etc. In addition to not knowing how to start an essay, I also don't ever know how to end it...Do I restate my topic in a different way? Would that just be boring and redundant?...Yes, probably. I thought it was interesting how much it emphasizes not making your audience feel like idiots.
Chapter 4 was more interesting to me. I realized that it's about adding description because it enthralls the reader and makes them want to read more. It makes them more interested because no one likes to read something without sensory descriptions. I liked how it was defined-"Description can entertain, convey feelings, relate experience, inform and persuade. The excerpt from "Struck by Lightning" was very descriptive and it made me notice the importance of adding it, as long as it's not just filler. I also noticed how much I use description outside of writing papers...I talk a lot and add "like" more often than I should, but description is important. The hard part is just knowing what description to add as well as what to leave out.

#1 How I Feel About Reading and Writing

After reading chapter one in Patterns for a Purpose, I felt a little overwhelmed, and I have to admit, slightly disappointed in myself. I've always considered myself someone that is a fairly decent writer, but after reading the do's and don'ts of writing and critical thinking, I realized that I'm not as good as I thought.
I also noticed that I, unknowingly, often use errors in logic. I often overgeneralize and oversimplify subjects, either to make it easier to understand or out of laziness. But the biggest problem that I noticed I do in writing is referring to an authority or study but I don't always name it.
I liked the idea that "critical readers never dig in their heels and refuse to rethink their ideas in light of new evidence or insights." I often read articles in the news and try to learn new things and I like to alter or even change my opinion when I read something new and more up to date.
One of my favorite down time activities is reading because I hardly have to think about what I'm reading, but, unfortunately, that way of thinking often carries over to my homework of reading out of textbooks. I am easily distracted and I find textbooks, in general, boring. When I finished chapter one, I thought it was interesting how much I learned about my reading techniques and writing skills. I found that if I apply critical thinking to more aspects of my life, I will probably like reading textbooks more (although I don't know if it is possible to fully enjoy reading them) and I will become a better and more mature writer.