Blog #9 Questions

1. Should gay marriage be legalized in all of the states?

2. Is social networking bad for society?

Kathryn Blog #8

   I believe that Suheir Hammad spoke a beautiful poem that not only shook my heart, but many others as well. She spoke from personal experience, letting us in on her feelings and emotions. She said "Even as a woman, a Palestinian, never this broken" (Hammad 0:57). We can tell very clearly from the beginning that her poem is loaded with pathos, she speaks directly from her heart and explains what went on through her head as the planes crashed through the twin towers many years ago. As an American citizen I feel she is automatically credible. We all experienced that event and know from the news, our parents, pictures, and stories, all about the incident; through personal knowledge referenced in her video she exemplifies ethos. "We did not vilify white men when McVeigh bombed Oklahoma" (Hammad 2:30). She uses direct examples from history to move her point across and by doing so she utilizes logos. Although it is a very pathos based poem, there are clear examples throughout that demonstrate both ethos and logos.
     I think that Hammad most definitely makes a point through poetry. By using strong examples and personal experiences she really pushes the listener to understand her point of view on the war. She states "One more person assume no arabs or muslims were killed" (Hammad 2:16)  and "And when we talk about holy books and hooded men and death, why do we never mention the kkk?" (Hammad 2:55). These two quotes really portray that she is against the war and how America sides with the whites and goes against the colored even when white men are also at fault. She is a woman of color and in this video she explains the pain that she goes through because of that.

Kathryn Blog #7

     As the Pearson text explains, there are many different key factors to writing an exploratory essay. One that I quickly found in chapter 5 was "The essential move for exploratory thinking and writing is to keep a problem alive through consideration of multiple solutions or points of view" (Pearson 107). I did not know what an exploratory essay even was before reading this chapter and I feel like that gave a good explanation in a simple sentence. It is important to keep the reader interested throughout the essay by demonstrating different view points.
     A second important element to writing a good exploratory essay that I found is "Instead of a single, focused question, you might start with a whole cluster of related questions swimming in your head" (Pearson 110). This is good to think about because it explains that when we start our paper we do not want to think of just one question. It will make for a better paper if, while were beginning our paper, we think of multiple questions that all focus on our subject of writing. That way we can have a broad group of research that is all different, yet all related.
     Lastly, there is revising, which is important with all writing, but viewed differently for exploratory essays. It says in the text "When they revise, their major concern is to improve their essay's interest level by keeping it focused and lively. Often drafts need to be pruned to remove extraneous details and keep the pace moving" (Pearson 115). With most papers we focus on organization and grammar during revising. However, by the time of revising for an exploratory essay, that should already be taken care of. By the time of editing, what's left to be focused on is the actual text, keeping the reader focused and the paper on topic.

Kathryn Blog #6

     As I was reading "Bros Before Hos": The Guy Code I found multiple points that really stuck out to me. As a girl I don't realize the pressure that is put on guys to be masculine and how easy it is to be judged if they do one thing wrong. One quote that really struck me though is when he said "While women often become a kind of currency by which men negotiate their status with other men, women are for possessing, not for emulating" (Kimmel 47). I found this quote really appalling because we like to be treated right and with respect from men. If a guy treats us wrong to try and prove masculinity, he is not referred to by us as 'manly', he is known as an asshole or a 'douchebag' (sorry for the language). But really, in reality, acting tough is not the way to a girls heart, and we most definitely don't want to be known as your prize and possession.
     A second hotspot that did not quite offend me, but rather I just found interesting is "When they turn to anger and violence it is because these, they believe, perhaps rightly, are the only acceptable forms of emotional expression allowed in them" (Kimmel 54). I found this interesting because I have a little brother and he always resorts to anger unless he is in the comfort of our home. Guys always act tough, and when they fail a test, get harped on by another guy, or have their heart broken, they resort to violence instead of tears in fear of judgement. There was a couple at my high school that had been dating for years and the girl broke up with him after school one day in our commons, the boy was so upset that he ended up crying. If he were at home it would not have been frowned upon, but when guys at school saw him crying, he was instantly and forever judged as a wimp. It saddens me that guys have to hide their emotions, but that seems to be reality.

Kathryn Blog #5 Youtube Videos

     For the first video, "Doofy Husbands: Target Women" the first hotspot I found was during her first main point, she said "spent five years trying to land this guy, mother****er can't even make breakfast. As commercials prove to us, husbands just can't do stuff" (Haskins 0:25). I think this is a point taken to the extreme, husbands deserve so much more credit than what she gives them. Reality is, most men don't cook. If it makes a big deal to a woman, then they'll make sure that they find a man that can cook. I am disappointed by how negatively she treats husbands when they really do a lot for their families and wives. A second hotspot from this video is when Haskins gives clips of commercials that make men look stupid. We all know commercials exaggerate to be funny and get the attention of the viewer. Most men have enough common sense to not leave the steering wheel of a moving vehicle for popcorn. They also don't jump around trying to get the air freshener to spray, in fact, from my personal experiences, most men do not even notice a fragrance change. I think that Haskins really over exaggerates in her video, I know she does so to prove a point, but I think the way she does it almost results in false statements.
     In the video from BITCH magazine I heard my first hotspot when she said "to describe the female character who is written to help the usually white, and definitely straight male hero loosen up and enjoy life" (BITCH 0:50). I am disgusted by this whole video, really. Who is this Hollywood dream girl in real life? They don't exactly exist. In this video she makes it sound like we are all here just to please men, make them happy, and help them enjoy life since they work so hard and are such heroes. She makes it sound like we don't work hard or have struggles in life, that we are all just Barbies who are here to please. A second hotspot is when she lists all of her "evidence" through movies. I found this comical since we all know the phrase "only in the movies". Most movies like the ones she used are made to portray a life situation that isn't real. So, maybe in movies this manic pixie dream girl exists, but not in real life.

Kathryn McDermott Blog #4

     I realized quickly into reading August's essay "Real Men Don't" that it is very anti-male biased, all of the stories were trying to make the reader look negatively at the male gender. It was a very controversial essay and there were parts I agreed with, but also parts I did not. One statement that stuck out to me from the essay is ". . . rape is a crime committed only by males in which only females are victims" (August 131). I do not agree with this, for I am aware that females rape people as well. However, I will agree that society makes this statement seem true; society makes rape have a direct link to males simply because it happens more often in that case. The stories we hear about rape usually involve a female victim, for example, the email alert that we received the other day about the rape incident here at OU. A spot in the essay that contradicts my beliefs is when August quotes Paul Theroux. The phrase reads ". . .be a man means: 'Be stupid, be unfeeling, obedient and soldierly, and stop thinking'" (August 134). I don't agree with that statement at all, I think that being a man in today's culture holds a completely different meaning and I don't think that it is looked at in a negative way. Being a man today means being confident, strong, courageous, outgoing, and loyal, it is something to be proud of.
     In Deborah Tannen's essay "There Is No Unmarked Woman" she explains how women are 'marked' in society, however, she shows an opinion on both women and men. It was the second sentence when I read something that resonated with my personal beliefs, "Instead of concentrating on the discussions I found myself looking at the three other women at the table, thinking how each had a different style and how each style was coherent" (Tannen 140). This relates to my personal life because I find myself doing that all the time, I constantly get distracted in conversation or class by looking at others in the area. This is common for women to do; as a gender we tend to care about our looks, so we sit and compare our outfit to the woman's across the room, or our hairstyle to the woman's sitting in front of us. It is second nature for women to compare and judge each other and themselves based off of those around them, so for me, this quote really hit home. On the other hand, one quote that I found contradicts my personal thoughts is "Yet no makeup at all is anything but unmarked. Some men see it as a hostile refusal to please them" (Tannen 143). I have a lot of guy friends and when I hang out with them I usually don't wear makeup at all. They usually say things like "girls don't put makeup on for us, they put in on for other girls, because we don't care at all" and whenever I date guys, they always say they like it best when I don't "cake on my face" because they get to see the real me. I agreed with most of Tannen's essay, but that quote, along with a few others, did not fit into my personal beliefs.

Kathryn McDermott "Mother Tongue" homework #4

     Amy Tan has a very clear point in her piece Mother Tongue, and that is to inform the reader about her language history; how her background in English has shaped her view on language today. This piece of writing is very structured which may cause one to think it is closed form of prose. However, Mother Tongue is written as a story, told mostly in first person, and using personal anecdotes to discuss her main topic. Knowing about both close and open form of prose I would distinguish this as mixed form. "Just last week, I was walking down the street with my mother, and I again found myself. . ." (Tan 113). This is just one example to show that she is speaking on a very personal level, but is still structurally and grammatically correct.
     For this story I think the intended audience is young adult readers, such as high school or college students. It is almost as if Tan is giving advice to those who do not know their literary histories by explaining where her past has put her today and to encourage the reader to learn about their past. "But I do think that the language spoken in the family, especially in immigrant families which are more insular, plays a large role in shaping the language of the child" (Tan 115). I think that quote shows that she is speaking in simple terms to appeal to a younger audience but is also reaching out to those who do not know their history.
     I do not think this essay conforms to the genre conventions of an essay. This genre usually categorizes writing as structured pieces with a thesis, a clear purpose, and no room for interpretation. In Amy Tan's writing though, I feel like it is much different than that; Mother Tongue is written in a much more personal sense and is a narrative rather than a researched topic.

Kathryn McDermott Homework #3

     While reading pages 64-69 in Everything's A Text I came across two hotspots. I read my first hotspot at the beginning of the second page when they are quoting Mina Shaugnessy. The start of her quote says "'. . .They have nonetheless had their own worlds to grow up in and they arrive on our campuses as young adults, with opinions and languages and plans already in their minds'" (Melzer, Shaugnessy 65). This quote struck me because it directly relates to my life as a new college student, we have been taught so many things in our previous years of schooling that as we come into college we already have our minds set on a correct way to write. However, as we read on in the quoted paragraph, it explains that we should go into college with a more open mind, so we can learn to take our past and use it to influence our future as writers but not put boundaries on it.
     As I kept reading, I found another hotspot on page 66, this hotspot is not a small quote, but rather a larger section of the page. I am writing about the "questions to consider as you reflect on what it means to be personally literate" (Melzer 66). I chose this section for my second hotspot because it refers to questions that help us discover our personal literacy history. It explains in the book that it is important to know our history as we enter new learning places so that we can discover our place within our society and culture. I agree with how it explains that because I think it is important to work towards self discovery everyday, and knowing our past is key to making our future the best it can be. I think self discovery can be made through writing and literature so answering those questions and being aware of our literary history can help us move forward as a writer and also as a person.

Kathryn McDermott homework #2

     While reading chapter one in Everything's A Text by Dan Melzer I came across one hotspot on the first page, it said "The traditional idea that there should be one standard way of writing and speaking in America is being questioned by educators who think  of literacy as "multiple"' (Melzer 1). This quote stuck out to me because throughout my years in grade school I was always taught that there was an equation for each type of writing. To write an essay you must use five paragraphs or always start a good paragraph with a thesis statement. Although these may be useful tips, I do not think that writing should be bound by rules, but rather free writing with structure. A second hotspot in this reading that I would like to point out is "Even though President Clinton states that this is a letter of apology, a close look at the language he uses could reveal other purposes" (Melzer 9). I paused for a moment when I read this phrase because it really made me think about how the way things are worded can completely change the meaning of something. It's something that we, as writers, must keep in mind because the language used can change our intentions. 

     During the first chapter of the other text, Pearson Custom Library English Mercury Reader, I was quick to come across a hotspot on page one. The hotspot I chose to write about is "Writing is closely allied to critical thinking and to the innate satisfaction you take in exercising your curiosity, creativity, and problem-solving ability" (Ramage, Bean, Johnson 1). This passage intrigued me because I agree with what is said, I view writing as a major creative outlet in my life, a way to really let things out. This quote really shapes my views in a simple yet effective way. As I continued reading chapter one I found my second hotspot. This one read "Although most people have a variety of different types of clothing in their wardrobes, the genre of activity for which they are dressing (Saturday night movie date, job interview, wedding) severely constrains their choice and expression of individuality" (Ramage, Bean, Johnson 18). I chose this as my second hotspot because I felt that it closely related to me and I understood the analogy well. In writing we base our language usage and difficulty of text off of our audience just as we base our outfit off of who we will be presenting it to.