Weekly Blog #15, Improvements

This semester has gone surprisingly well for me. I normally do not do well in writing classes. In the past, I would always find a way to botch up the good work I have turned in, by doing a horrible job on another assignment. This semester I am on the edge of an A, and at the top of a B. It has been that way the whole semester, I still have not messed it up, and I have no intention of being this close to an A, and not getting it. One thing I have definitely improved on is completing my writing assignments while doing the best I could. Sure, some of the sleepless nights could have been avoided if I didn't wait until the last second, but I learned to get my thoughts on paper, and have them make sense. Clearly stating your ideas at three in the morning is rather difficult. Sticking to the path, and completing all of my assignments is a huge improvement for me.

Something else I improved on is accepting criticism on my writing from others. In other writing classes when I never really made many improvements to my rough drafts. I always became angry with the teacher when she told me what I was doing wrong. I was and still am a teenager. "I don't want to listen to anyone", was my trademark characteristic. I thought my opinion was the best. This semester I took the professor's criticisms, or suggestions, and used those to make my writing better, and so far it has tremendously helped my grade. 

One thing I liked about this class (English 104), was that it was a casual atmosphere where students felt free to express their opinions and beliefs. One thing that could be done differently to make the class more efficient is the professor could speak a little slower at times. His voice sometimes was a blur, and this made activities difficult because we didn't hear the directions. I especially enjoyed the conferences. It gave the student a chance to meet one-on-one with the professor, and receive advice on his or her writing. I would rather have more conferences than class meetings, but it is especially important. 

Weekly Blog #14, Reflection

In my research I made quite a few observations, collecting plenty of data. My favorite piece of data is my observation on Cru bible studies. I felt that I found the heart of how Cru members grow in their faith and closer to each other. Thought provoking questions were asked and answered, and sometimes questions would not be answered until someone was willing to be vulnerable about their experiences in life. This is what brought the members closer to each other. Men willing to be vulnerable to each other is quite rare in today's society, which is a shame. They could be having the best friendships they ever had if they weren't trying to be all macho. 

Of course, the Bible was studied, mainly just Ephesians from the New Testament, but every once in a while they would jump around. Ephesians outlined a way for Christians to live following Jesus Christ. The bible study is all about learning more about Christ and becoming more like him. 

Belated Weekly Blog #11, Changes in Writing Process

My writing process does not seem to follow a specific pattern. Usually I wait until the last moment before I begin a writing assignment. Even if I do start early on an assignment the process is almost the same. I never really brainstorm, at least that is not what I would call it. More like, simplifying my ideas, and figuring out how to put them down on paper without sounding like a complete idiot. My writing process has changed somewhat since the beginning of the semester. I have learned to become a bit more descriptive, and now I ask myself, "How can I be more detailed about this?" Whenever I received rough drafts back with comments on how to make the paper better, I usually became angry. I did not like receiving criticism, yet if I just took those comments and used them to make my writing better, my English grades in high school would have been much better. For awhile at college I behaved the same way, but now I have finally begun to seriously consider the comments in the margins and use them to make my writing better.

There were a few assignments that gave me trouble, for example, the annotated bibliography. It was much more time consuming than I had thought it would be. Needless to say my bad judgement kept me up all night. I also needed to be more detailed as well, which was demanded of me when I received back the rough draft. I figured the assignment would be easy because it just seemed like busy work. All we had to do was cite the sources, give brief summaries on them, and then explain why we were going to use them. In the past if a teacher handed back to me a rough draft with comments explaining that I needed to be more descriptive, I became angry. I always felt that I was detailed in my writing, but I usually assumed the teacher knew what I was talking about also. So I gave in, and used those comments to my advantage, thus I received quite a good grade on the annotated bibliography. None of the assignments seemed easy mainly because I always waited until the last minute and stressed out getting the writing done. 

I write to clear up my thoughts. Whether that is through an English assignment or through journaling. In class my thoughts on the subject matter within the assignment have to be clear or else it is a bad grade. With journaling, my grammar does not need to be perfect, nor do my ideas need to concise and detailed because I know what I am talking about, and no one else is going to be reading my journal until I am dead. Maybe at some points in my journaling I will be overly detailed that way if someone was reading they could better understand what I was going through. I hardly ever journal, but when I do it is usually to relieve some stress, and get all the craziness out of my head and onto paper. Sometimes I will use my journal to take notes on a sermon at church if it is particularly interesting. 

I see journaling as a form of writing that will always be with me in my life. I can see myself writing letters to my family when I am moved out and maybe far away from home, for holidays and birthdays as well. Career-wise, writing may not play a big role. My major is currently Secondary Math Education. If I do change it, it may be to religious studies, and then I will probably become a pastor. If that happens, writing is gong to be a huge role in my life. 

Weekly Blog #13, Sharing

I had to meet Tyler Yoder at the Atrium. We were going to go "sharing", in other words, giving the message of the Gospel to pretty much complete strangers. I arrived to a bustling lunch cafeteria. Chatter bounced off the walls, and the sunlight poured in through the many windows and skylights. I saw the potted trees, and wondered if the leaves ever fell of since they were there year round, or so I assumed. Tyler was late, and he needed to eat, so I sat with him while he ate his lunch and talked about papers we needed to write, projects we needed to start on, and eventually what we came together to do. Sharing. Both of us were nervous, Tyler may have been more experienced at this, but this was my first time. My heart was pumping much more rapidly than normal. Why should I be nervous? I was just going to be observing Tyler in action. I had no plans to speak, yet I was scared as a little ant scurrying to dodge the big foot from stepping on me. Before we set off on our mission, Tyler opened in a prayer, asking God to speak through us, and let His words come through us, not ours in our sharing. We got up, Tyler threw his trash away, and we were on our way. 

The Atrium has a bunch of tables and chairs, and most of these tables had more than one person sitting there. We were searching for an individual. Finally, we spotted one by the large, window wall. We introduced ourselves, and Tyler asked if he could ask him some questions concerning God and religion. I was nervous, afterwards Tyler said he was too, but he sure didn't show it. After a few of the questions we learned some things about our surveyor. He was Catholic, and believed in the Christian faith or so he said. Quickly Tyler and I realized his faith was not grounded in the main point of Christianity, the Gospel. He saw Jesus Christ as a moral teacher, not a Savior. So Tyler explained the Gospel to him, but time was running short, we had classes to be at in a couple of minutes. Tyler handed our surveyor a pamphlet explaining the Gospel, thanked him for his time, and left the student his email address. 

Six Word Stories

Hearing Impaired, Usher's Syndrome, This Sucks.

Bible Study, Spiritual Building, Real Friends.

Weekly Blog #12, Rhetoric

 My understanding of rhetoric is probably not 100% correct, but I would say I have a pretty good idea of what it is considering my English 103 class was all rhetoric. Rhetoric is a way of presenting oneself to maybe persuade a certain audience of your beliefs or simply let them know what you think. There's three parts to it: logos, pathos, and ethos. 

Logos are the information you're presenting, such as, facts, quotes, statistics, and specific details. It also involves the organization of your information. A bunch of facts thrown at someone is not going to go well for the audience because they won't know what you're trying to get across. 

With pathos, you are trying to capture your readers' emotions, pulling their heartstrings. You should write with your personality, varying your tone, telling stories, maybe put in a little humor (which is very difficult), and show that you know what you're talking about.  

Finally, you have ethos, at least you hope so, or not many people will take you seriously. This is your credibility as a speaker, and writer. Your research should come from a wide variety of sources, which shows that as a presenter you have done your homework. Since there is most likely at least some opposition to your opinions, you need to know what that is, and address that in your writing with RESPECT. If you're presenting something, the way you dress may have an impact on your credibility as well as your behavior.  People are quick to judge, and it is easier to judge someone on their clothing style and behavior instead of their thoughts and opinions.  

Those three things are what constitutes rhetoric. I normally hear the word rhetoric in the English class. During this years elections though, many political analysts commented on Obama's rhetoric as well as McCain too, but not as much. Rhetoric always seems to be in a negative context mainly because it is used in the English class, where most students do not want to learn,  and also in politics, which always seems to have bad blood all around it. Most political analysts seem to attack any politician's rhetoric, and when they find one piece of evidence that a politician's rhetoric is flawed, they really attack at it. 

My subculture, Cru, definitely has certain beliefs. The most important being the Gospel, Jesus Christ dying on the cross so that anyone who accepts him as Savior may have a relationship with God, and one day go to heaven. I plan on using rhetoric in my mini-ethnography and portfolio so that I can get out my opinions of Cru, and what they are, instead of them being judged on the spot for being Christians. 

Peculiar Family Member and Tradition

I grew up in the typical family of four. My father however, was far from typical, he was boisterous, outgoing, and at times obnoxious. He named me after his grade school, Logan Elementary. He has been self-employed for almost thirty years. As I grew up I learned the term "Disney Dad", and I realized that fits my father perfectly. Although he spoiled my brother and I with lots of toys and later on cars, he didn't overdo it. If my brother and I did something wrong we knew we were in for it. I can remember being a little kid covering my butt with my hands to lessen the pain that my father would inflict on me as my punishment for being bad. So can my brother. Even with his discipline my brother and I still loved him because, you see, we couldn't wait for him to get home from work to play with him. Even on the nights when something went wrong at work or he was exhausted he still found the time to play with us.  

When I was younger, every Thanksgiving the whole family would get together at the grandparents for dinner and to watch the football games afterwards. During the games, eventually every male adult would fall asleep in a recliner, especially my grandfather. Now I am nineteen years old, and I can already see that I will be participating in this tradition as well.