ePortfolio Project

Reflective Entry

As the semester commenced, my knowledge of Rhetoric was limited to say the least. On the first day, we were assigned to free-write about what we knew about Rhetoric. I believe my definition was something ridiculous like "a style of writing or something." I quickly learned there was a lot more meaning to the word. Its not only about writing but speaking as well. Its about writing or speaking effectively in a way to persuade.

Rhetorical Knowledge
The microtheme project allowed me to discover complex thought. I started off with a problem, and that allowed me to think of other related, deeper problems. The microtheme allowed me to articulate a complex problem by organizing my thoughts starting off with a simple format, and then to branch outwards from there analyzing a problem from every aspect. Other key terms I learned throughout the semester and were able to apply to my writings were Kairos, Syntax, and being able to flow smoothly from paragraph to paragraph using transitional sentences. Knowing what to include and what to leave out was extremely crucial for the Documentary project as well.

Creative and Critical Thinking
I also learned how to look closely at a problem and to ask relevant questions about it. Especially during the Documentary project where we also had to include a separate document of 4 questions that we needed to answer. One of the questions was to ask 5 questions that I had about the film that I watched. The film I watched was After Innocence which was about people who were sent to jail for decades for crimes they didn't do. One of the questions that came to mind was :What is worse- putting an innocent man in jail or having a guilty man running free? An innocent man in jail can't do any harm, however a guilty man on the streets can easily cause more damage. So you can kind of understand the court system wanting to rather be safe than sorry. But then there are still questions that remain like why are people going to jail without refutable evidence? So it kind of goes back and forth and you can begin to see and understand how these problems are caused.

Genre Knowledge and Mechanical Knowledge
A big one for me is the learning process of mechanical knowledge. A lot of actual learning is done by teaching yourself and studying the material given to you. A teacher can present you the information but its really you who needs to go home and really figure it out and then come back with any questions. That is the approach I took this semester and it worked out pretty good.

Colin Kaepernick, the rebel.

     The article by Kate Harris and Tracey Barret is a text to text comparison between Frederick Douglass's 1852 speech "What to the Slave is the 4th of July?" and the more recent Colin Kaepernick's protest of the National Anthem.There is also an excerpt from "The Uses of Patriotism" by David Brooks of The New York Times that shows why Colin Kaepernick's protest is wrong.The article begins by asking complex questions like "What is the purpose of patriotism? Can protest be patriotic? And, how does a history of injustice and inequality in this nation affect our shared understanding of our national symbols?" When you put the two excerpts together, you can see both sides of the story. Either you are for or against Kaepernick's protest, or maybe you just haven't put the time into thinking about it enough to agree or disagree. Personally, my opinion is that he's not causing any actual harm by not standing during the National Anthem. If that is what he wants to do, let him do it. And thats pretty much what the NFL has done with it. If you don't like what you see, turn off the television.
    
     
     

Multimodal Microtheme reflection

I presented my Multimodal Microtheme today and I'm feeling pretty good about it. It was a different type of project but I've learned a lot from it. Its kind of funny how you start out with this one problematic question, and the more you think about it, the more it branches out into so many other different things. Another thing I learned was my use of word choice so I don't completely shut down inquiry. My biggest struggle that I overcame for this assignment was the transition from a 3-5 page paper to a 1 page paper. Usually when I'm writing a paper I find myself trying to add as much as I can so I fit the required amount of pages in. However, it was completely opposite for this assignment. Anyways, kind of glad that I'm finished. Looking forward to the next project! 

Microtheme Reflection
So I got some very valuable information today in class about how many things I need to improve on with my microtheme. The microtheme has proven to be pretty difficult so far because of how short it is, you really have to put a lot of thought into every single sentence. One of the conflicts I have overcome is adding more tension into my thesis question. My original question was pretty simple, nothing about the entire paper should be simple. Everything should be an in-depth speculation about that one problem. Some other things I had to improve on was the use of my qualifiers as well as using "we" instead of generalizing about other people. There is a lot of work to do! I'm thinking about checking out the writing center for this one. Has anyone used the writing center before? How did it help you?

Cats and Dogs
Since there was nothing specifically assigned to blog about this week, I'm going to share some funny videos that I've seen recently on the internet. The first video is a puppy trying trying to figure out what a frozen strawberry is. The other video is the biggest cat in New York City. You should definitely check out the puppy video its pretty funny. The cat video is kinda weird, I guess cats are just weird in general.

What I've learned from the Documentary Project.
The Documentary Project was a multi-step process. It wasn't your ordinary paper where you're assigned to write about something and just turn it in. This was a lot more in-depth. Starting off with the Scardeycat summary was good practice. It was a check to see where we were in terms of writing a summary. It showed a lot of us had some work to do. We can see now how far we've come by looking back at where we started, compared to our final drafts. I believe the hardest thing about the project was knowing exactly what to include and what to leave out in a film that lasts an hour and a half. Some of the things I learned after the project would be using fancy words allows you to adequately articulate. The use of syntax to make the paper flow smoothly in a chronological timeline order. Pretty much the rest of it was remembering how to format and cite properly. Good learning experience, totally can't wait for the next one =D.

Did you guys hear about another white police officer who shot a black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma?
Here is the link if you want to read about it. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/14ce6ee113ff47f894fb1e7e3fcb3892/tulsa-police-officer-charged-mans-death
Basically what happened was Officer Betty Shelby was responding to a call about domestic abuse and on her way there she sees a man walking in the road. Normally she would have stopped to see what he was doing but she kept driving until she saw his car parked in the middle of the road. She got out and tried talking to him. He wasn't really responding to her questions and she began to think he was "on something." The guy supposedly started reaching in his pockets and the Officer told him not to. He then reached into the vehicle and the cop shot him. The mans name is Terence Crutcher who was struck by a single bullet and it killed him. The Officer thought he was reaching for a weapon but it turns out he didnt have one. She was charged with first-degree manslaughter but apparently only faces up to 4 years in prison. Thats it? just 4 years for killing an unarmed guy for no reason. If you see a picture of the guy, he's a pretty big guy. If you imagine him with his back turned to you reaching into a car. You have plenty of time to sit there and see what he's doing or at least tazer him. A big guy like that doesnt just snap instantly and turn around. Did the cop think he was like a wild wild west duelist or something? Anyways, I just think its ridiculous that cops think its ok to kill people like that. And to be punished so lightly for it too.. IDK, what do you think about it?