At the beginning of this course, I'm not going to lie, I really didn't like English. It's not so much the writing part, because at times it's nice to express myself through writing or writing about something i care about. It's mostly that i don't like writing to get a grade because I'm not that good at writing. Well, at least that was what I thought. I actually thoroughly enjoyed English101 and i think the main reason was because of the class. I loved how Carolyn generated interesting and meaningful discussions during the course of the semester and I loved hearing everyone's opinions on what they thought. Being able to write about what I care about was another way I kept engaged in the course. I am obsessed with nutrition and eating write, and totally against McDonald's and fast food in every possible way. I was able to write paper after paper about these topics.
Basically, by the end of the course I actually enjoyed writing. I wanted to make my papers the best they could be, not only because I wanted to get a good grade, but I just LOVED researching and writing about the topics. Trying to improve my papers through editing was not as painful as it used to be because I, again, wanted my papers to be the best possible. I knew the only way to do this is to edit and edit and edit. So, surprisingly, ENGL101 was an enjoyable class. I honestly loved going to the class every Tuesday and Thursday. It definitely changed my attitude about writing.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
The Pura Principle
I actually found this short story, I guess you can call it, to be really interesting. It kept my interest the whole way through and I think it's because of the casual language Diaz uses throughout. The story was not dense and it was very easy to read. I also took a lot of Spanish in high school so I was able to understand some of the references. Like, I laughed when the mom called Rafa's "girlfriend" Pura Mierda.
Obviously, this story addresses illness because Rafa has cancer and is dying from it. He is very sick and lost a lot of weight due to cancer. But, Rafa is not exactly the most honest, good-intentioned person. I personally do not like him too much, and although he has cancer, the speaker almost makes it difficult to feel bad for him. Today, people usually look at people who are sick differently or feel extremely bad for them and how they have to deal with the illness. But, it's really the opposite in this story, which i find interesting. I think Diaz wanted to bring up the fact that people who are ill have personalities outside their disease, and sometimes illness doesn't change them. Rafa did not become a "better" person after he was diagnosed with cancer. A lot of time society believe that those who are dying become better people and live every moment as if it's their last (because it very well could be) but that is not necessarily true. The fact that it was a short story definitely kept me more interested because I feel like if it was in "article" or "research paper" form, it would have been boring.
Obviously, this story addresses illness because Rafa has cancer and is dying from it. He is very sick and lost a lot of weight due to cancer. But, Rafa is not exactly the most honest, good-intentioned person. I personally do not like him too much, and although he has cancer, the speaker almost makes it difficult to feel bad for him. Today, people usually look at people who are sick differently or feel extremely bad for them and how they have to deal with the illness. But, it's really the opposite in this story, which i find interesting. I think Diaz wanted to bring up the fact that people who are ill have personalities outside their disease, and sometimes illness doesn't change them. Rafa did not become a "better" person after he was diagnosed with cancer. A lot of time society believe that those who are dying become better people and live every moment as if it's their last (because it very well could be) but that is not necessarily true. The fact that it was a short story definitely kept me more interested because I feel like if it was in "article" or "research paper" form, it would have been boring.
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Waltz with Bashir
At first, I found this movie to be very confusing. I think the animation contributed to that because it was almost like a comic book and it make the movie seem "kid-like." And i feel like the animation also made the movie choppy. It also made me take the movie less seriously, at first, because it was a cartoon. The animation helped because it really made me pay attention to try and figure out what exactly was happening. Once i got used to the fact that the movie is animated, I was able to understand what was happened and actually enjoyed it. As the movie progressed, I realized that the animations actually made the movie somewhat eerie, which I think was one of the goals of the making the movie animated because it wanted to highlight the horrors of the war.
The scene that stood out the most to me, was the one when the soldiers were running for their lives toward the sea. Many of them were actually shot down while running and the main guy (i forget his name) had to hide behind a rock. I could only imagine how horrifying this would be and i feel like the scene really highlighted the horrors of the war.
The scene that stood out the most to me, was the one when the soldiers were running for their lives toward the sea. Many of them were actually shot down while running and the main guy (i forget his name) had to hide behind a rock. I could only imagine how horrifying this would be and i feel like the scene really highlighted the horrors of the war.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
5 New Annotations
Food Inc. is documentary that talks about a wide variety of topics that deal with the different issues surrounding the fast food industry. A lot of the movie explains the ways fast food is processed and how extremely unhealthy it is for us. I want to narrow in on the part of the video which features a family in poor health. This family is of low socioeconomic status and wants to eat healthy but cannot because healthy food is outside their budget. It is much easier for them to buy cheap calories at McDonald's than buying fruit, which is more expensive and less filling.
Kenner, Robert, Dir. Food Inc.. Magnolia Pictures: 2008, DVD.
This article from TIME magazine specifically talks about food deserts in America. Many statistics are provided to back the assertion that poor communities are specifically targeted by the fast food industry. Also, supermarkets tend not to build a store there because they know people cannot afford their food. So, not only are more than enough fast food restaurants available for the inhabitants, but supermarkets with fresh foods are not available. Most black and latino Americans live in these areas; more people of these groups tend to have higher obesity rates than white or rich Americans.
Gray, Steven. "Can America's Urban Food Deserts Bloom?." Time 26 May 2009: n. pag. Web. 2 Apr 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1900947,00.html>.
This documentary is more about the lack of nutritional value of fast food. Spurlock ate McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to prove that eating too much fast food can make you unhealthy. Before he started, he was a physically fit man who had no health problems, but after he ate McDonald's, and only McDonald's, for a month, he had a lot of health problems. I can use the information he gathered to prove how people should not only be living on fast food, although it is cheap.
Spurlock, Morgan, Dir. Supersize Me. Samuel Goldwyn Films: 2007, DVD.
This report from the US Department of Agriculture explains everything a person would want to know about food availability in low-income areas. It provides a lot of facts and statistics about low income households and I can definitely use this to support my argument that more fresh food supermarkets need to be available to them.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/AP/AP036/
A lot of people have the perception that people who are poor are extremely thin and malnourished. Well, today, most people of low economic status are malnourished, but they're overweight or obese. But then, the author also talks about those who are in fact starving, which he calls "The Bronx Paradox." In the Bronx, there are people who are food insecure and "hungry" and there are people who are food insecure but not hungry. Both are a problem obviously. This article explains the efforts the city is making the help the latter group of people.
Dolnick, Sam. "The Obesity-Hunger Paradox." New York Times 12 Mar 2010: n. pag. Web. 2 Apr 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/nyregion/14hunger.html?_r=1&src=me>.
Kenner, Robert, Dir. Food Inc.. Magnolia Pictures: 2008, DVD.
This article from TIME magazine specifically talks about food deserts in America. Many statistics are provided to back the assertion that poor communities are specifically targeted by the fast food industry. Also, supermarkets tend not to build a store there because they know people cannot afford their food. So, not only are more than enough fast food restaurants available for the inhabitants, but supermarkets with fresh foods are not available. Most black and latino Americans live in these areas; more people of these groups tend to have higher obesity rates than white or rich Americans.
Gray, Steven. "Can America's Urban Food Deserts Bloom?." Time 26 May 2009: n. pag. Web. 2 Apr 2011. <http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1900947,00.html>.
This documentary is more about the lack of nutritional value of fast food. Spurlock ate McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to prove that eating too much fast food can make you unhealthy. Before he started, he was a physically fit man who had no health problems, but after he ate McDonald's, and only McDonald's, for a month, he had a lot of health problems. I can use the information he gathered to prove how people should not only be living on fast food, although it is cheap.
Spurlock, Morgan, Dir. Supersize Me. Samuel Goldwyn Films: 2007, DVD.
This report from the US Department of Agriculture explains everything a person would want to know about food availability in low-income areas. It provides a lot of facts and statistics about low income households and I can definitely use this to support my argument that more fresh food supermarkets need to be available to them.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/AP/AP036/
A lot of people have the perception that people who are poor are extremely thin and malnourished. Well, today, most people of low economic status are malnourished, but they're overweight or obese. But then, the author also talks about those who are in fact starving, which he calls "The Bronx Paradox." In the Bronx, there are people who are food insecure and "hungry" and there are people who are food insecure but not hungry. Both are a problem obviously. This article explains the efforts the city is making the help the latter group of people.
Dolnick, Sam. "The Obesity-Hunger Paradox." New York Times 12 Mar 2010: n. pag. Web. 2 Apr 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/nyregion/14hunger.html?_r=1&src=me>.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
John Q
Overall, I think John Q appealed to the audience's emotion more than anything else (pathos). Instead of having an older person need a heart transplant, they chose a young boy. I think more people would feel worse about a young boy not being able to get a heart transplant because his family doesn't have insurance.
The scene that stood out to me the most was when the boy was laying in his hospital bed and another mother is yelling and crying to "let her see her baby." Then the boy asks if his dad is coming--well his dad is in the middle of holding an emergency room hostage. This scene definitely appealed to my pathos because I felt terrible for the mother, for the young boy, and for 'John Q's' wife. Right then, I wanted the hospital to pay for the heart transplant so the young boy could get better and live a happy life.
Also, the ethos at work would be the fact the Denzel Washington is in the movie. He is a well-established actor and people like to see movies with actors they know.
The scene that stood out to me the most was when the boy was laying in his hospital bed and another mother is yelling and crying to "let her see her baby." Then the boy asks if his dad is coming--well his dad is in the middle of holding an emergency room hostage. This scene definitely appealed to my pathos because I felt terrible for the mother, for the young boy, and for 'John Q's' wife. Right then, I wanted the hospital to pay for the heart transplant so the young boy could get better and live a happy life.
Also, the ethos at work would be the fact the Denzel Washington is in the movie. He is a well-established actor and people like to see movies with actors they know.
Research Log
My paper highlights the effects of fast food companies marketing to children. Therefore, I need books that have information/support the claim that marketing to children is wrong.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. Print.
Fast food nation is all about the negative effect of the fast food industry, on our economy, on our health, on our environment, and even on our kids. There is a whole section about the companies targetting children and I can definitely use this information in my paper. I can also use the other information the book provides because it definitely relates to the topic of my paper.
Cartere, Jason Y., ed. TV, Food Marketing, and Child Obesity. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2009. Print.
This book contains several different studies about the relationship between fast food marketing and childhood obesity. I can no use logos in my paper because I can present hard facts about the effects of marketing to children.
Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2001. Print.
Fast food nation is all about the negative effect of the fast food industry, on our economy, on our health, on our environment, and even on our kids. There is a whole section about the companies targetting children and I can definitely use this information in my paper. I can also use the other information the book provides because it definitely relates to the topic of my paper.
Cartere, Jason Y., ed. TV, Food Marketing, and Child Obesity. New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2009. Print.
This book contains several different studies about the relationship between fast food marketing and childhood obesity. I can no use logos in my paper because I can present hard facts about the effects of marketing to children.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Philadelphia Comments
I think the scene that stands out to me the most in the movie Philadelphia is the on when one of the partners of the company was on the stand. Miller asks him whether it was true if Beckett won their case or not. The partner says that he did in fact win the case, but the work that was done was merely "satisfactory." Then Miller compares Beckett's work to cavier and a bologna sandwich. I think Miller's argument incorporate both logos and pathos. The fact the Beckett won the case for the company should logically be a great success for the company. All the partners should logically feel good about the win. But, I think the appeal to pathos comes in when he makes fun of the partner by saying "oh that must have been a 'satisfactory' win." Or something along those lines... I think that this is an appeal to emotions because it's poking fun at the boss of the company, which would definitely make the jury laugh or think of how ridiculous the partner's story is.
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