In Class: Transferring

My life has been chaos the last few weeks because I will be transferring from TCU next semester to the University of Colorado at Boulder. I'm kind of freaking out because changing from one thing to the next has never been an easy task for me...I like consistency, I'm a creature of habit essentially. I do believe everything happens for a reason but I chose to attend an out-of-state school for a reason. I've made some long-lasting friendships here in Fort Worth and I'm a little nervous that keeping in touch with those people is going to prove the phrase, "easier said than done." I wish I could just bring little pieces of the things I have enjoyed about going to school here in Texas with me when I go back home to attend school in Colorado. It will be nice being closer to my family and friends from home but I will miss a lot of things here at TCU. I will miss the seventy degree days in late fall and early spring while I am freezing in the snow up in the Rocky Mountains. I will miss many of the unique professors I have had here. I will very much miss the smaller class sizes and the smaller campus that TCU has compared to CU. I will miss TCU a lot and that's why I am very scared of leaving.

Unit 3 Group Proposal

For our Unit 3 Project, we have chosen to address the issue of the creation of a new Living Learning Center for LGBTQ (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning students) and their supporters and the impact it would have on our community. We will be discussing whether or not this additional housing is in the best interest of all students and our community as a whole. We will talk about new concerns it has generated such as advocating separatism and segregation as well as the discrimination and prejudice it has created towards the homosexual community. We will do this through visual mediums with minimal captions such as political cartoons and video commercials. We will also use written texts like petitions, conversations, newspaper articles, headlines, and flyers along with explanations of our intended audience and context.
Our main concerns revolved around the possibility of offending others in one way or another based on the arguments we create. We also are concerned about our schedules matching to one another with regards to meeting outside of class to generate arguments.

In Class: Ch.14

Visual Elements of Arguments
Q: What does the creator intend its effect to be?
I feel that this question will be extremely important for our Unit 3 project because my group members and I are the ones who are creating the arguments this time rather than analyzing the argument. We will want to make our message very clear through the arguments we choose to make.
Q: What effect does the choice of medium have on the message of the visual text? How would the message be altered if different media were used?
This will also be a very important question for my group to answer throughout our work on the project because we will want to make the best arguments we can. By choosing wisely which media we will use to convey our message about our topic it will either make our argument stronger or if we choose a media that doesn't fit our topic very well then it will make our argument less effective.

In Class: Ch.12

In Chapter 12 in Everything's an Argument, I learned that there are many styles of argument. The style of an argument is important for the the point being argued. A style can be formal, middle weighted or very casual. These can be shown in the words used in the argument. If an argument is formal it is "dressed up in it's nicest tuxedo." If an argument is in the middle it is "dressed in working clothes." If an argument is casual is it "barefoot with it's feet propped up."

The things that I learned in the chapter can be very beneficial to our group work. In the chapter it said that most essays for a class are written formally. I will relay this onto my group members and make sure as I am revising our Cover Memo that our project uses words that portray a sense of formality. Although since this class is not a usual English class I will have to ask if the subject we decide to do our topic on should be written more mildly than in such a formal tone.

Job Title and Description

For our group project I will be Leader Text 2 Cover Letter Reviser. I will be revising our cover memo like my job title implies. I will also be taking our paper to someone else to look at it and help with revisions using such resources as the Writing Center on campus and possibly my roommate who is an English major. Another job I will have is organizing our group work with e-mails or calls to set meeting times and keeping the text we create in order. I will also apply any finishing touches to our project. My role will help our group function effectively by "keeping all our ducks in a row." I will be making sure we don't make errors within our project. I believe I will be a helpful member in my group because of my perfectionism and willingness to work hard within my group. My group includes: Tassie Munroe, Nick Russo, and Steve Rupp.

In Class: Bad Experiences with Group Work

In high school I was placed in a group where no body's schedule would match up so I ended up doing the majority of the work. I am a perfectionist so doing the actual layout of the work was fine with me, but the rest of my group barely even researched the topics they were supposed to. When we had to present it in class two out of my three group members said they were sick and couldn't come to the presentation, they really didn't even write out what they were supposed to do. Luckily one of my other group members showed up but for ten minutes of talking they only presented for three minutes of their time. Luckily my teacher made sure that we were only graded on the parts of the project that we ourselves had completed and were responsible for so I was not deducted any points but I was still extremely embarrassed when my one group member and I had to present to the class.

The ideal group work situation would be that everyone can be productive together and stay on task, that we can all meet at the same time, that we are each assigned a certain part of the project, and that we are not deducted any points if one of our group members does not do as good of a job on their section.

I believe that each group member should have a role in a part they will excel at. I usually like to put the finishing touches on a project because I am such a perfectionist. Usually someone with creativity should create the presentation. The research should be done by all group members and the works cited can be done by one group member with help from the rest of the group members. A designated writer of notes is important to have so everyone will have the same idea of knowing exactly what they are expected to do. I think everyone should be able to work together to balance the work out.

In Class: Writing with Feeling

Within every post that I've done up to today it seems like a lot of the posts I tried to put my true feelings into whether those be feelings of frustration, admiration, awe, confusion or enthusiasm. Looking back at all my posts it looks like I've written more than I really felt I had. This semester has flown by and it's amazing that we only have one month left. Coming into this class I was skeptical about having to make a blog and post on our blogs but I have really really enjoyed it because it gives the class more freedom and less formality to the writing. I think my best writing comes from choosing a topic that I am interested in and enjoy. This class has definitely allowed do that. I really like how different this class is. I've told many of my friends and roommates on campus about how unique this class is, that we blog instead of doing writing on paper. I really enjoy looking back at what I have accomplished in this class and I feel like I'm getting more confidence in my writing skills.

In Class: Unit 2 Primary Sources

The three primary sources that I chose all fit together because obviously they are all about the same thing but generally they have the same view in response to the law formed in the city of Denver based on the ruling in favor of marijuana use. The view that they all hold is that it is an effective law because although marijuana is still classified as a drug it is less detrimental to its users and it is much less dangerous to use than other legal drugs (tobacco) and alcohol. They all have the same audience and that is people who view marijuana as a harmful drug and because of this they are trying to persuade their audience that it actually is far less harmful than those people believe. The three primary sources are different because they all have different opinions on the actual law, some believe that since the law is overruled by federal law that it is not even truly legal to possess and use marijuana in the privacy of someone's home.

The unstated assumptions that allow these arugments to succeed is that there is no proof that marijuana is a harmful drug because no one has overdosed by smoking it before. There is also the assumption that the law is unsuccessful because federal law overrules state law so it still makes possession and use a crime. The overall feeling of the law is that it is one that should be adopted by the country as a whole because otherwise people can still be charged unless it is adopted nation wide. People must know the wording and ruling of the law to have an opinion on it.

The state of argument in the U.S. based on these three texts reveal that arguments are very contridictory and that although something may be legitimately argued that it doesn't make the argument absolutely true. These arguments suggest that we live in both a culture of assertion but that we also live in a conflicting society. Why make a law that is just undermined by another more powerful law? What is the point of making such a law? Why doesn't our society do what is most logical and what is best for our citizens? Many people and not just people but our government have conflicting views on policies and laws that must find a common ground because otherwise laws and policies are unsuccessful.

Got Weed?

As some of you may know I am from Denver, CO and I happen to be very proud of the state that I come from just like many of you Texans. When I was trying to think of a topic for our Unit 2 project I really wanted to do something that has interest to me but is also a topic that has surrounded my beloved state and city. A topic I would have easy access to through publications, debates, and cartoons that I receive locally. Now you are probably wondering what in the world a giant marijuana leaf is doing on my blog in association to my topic proposal. Well on November 1st, 2005 Denver was the first city in the U.S. to officially legalize marijuana usage. An adult of age 21 years old and up may legally possess one ounce of marijuana for private use. The vote of legalizing marijuana was justified by many of the voters stating that, "Marijuana is far safer than alcohol and there has never been a report of any single person overdosing on it." There have been many arguments for and against the passed law so I thought that this would be a perfect topic since it fulfilled my want for a local event and that many false statements have been made surrounding the topic which have been asked to be explained and received with hostility ("culture of assertion".) Denver has always been known as the "Mile High City" but some people put an extra emphasis on the HIGH now. I will be researching this epic local event for my Unit 2 project.