Monday, April 13, 2009
Method Of Development (Analogy)
Job searching is like fishing; You can put your line in the water all day, but if the fish don't bite you'll still go home with nothing. As the fisheries become more congested with more and more fishermen going after the same or fewer fish, each fisherman's effort gets less productive. This being the exact same for job searching too, it becomes less productive when the job markets are more congested with many unemployed peoeple. Also you have to keep trying, you can't just had out one résumé and figure you've got a job, you need to keep trying and disperse them all over the place. By doing this you will have a lot better chance on getting a job, this goes for fishing aswell except with catching fish. If you only cast once you won't have a high chance of catching a fish, trying over and over will give you a lot better probability of having a good catch.
Metacognitive Reflection #1
In regards to my socratic circle experience I feel that I am good at listening to others with either agreeing or disagreeing with what they are saying. When I try to voice what I am thinking it's hard for me to organize my thoughts in a way to make them clear and worthwhile within the circle. In my mind I am not convinced that what I am about to say is something productive and therefore I mostly just listen to others. I notice while listening to others I notice and pick out a lot of what they talk about and I can also realize where I might of had a biased opinion or missed something rather important.
"You Call This Literature" - By Ashley Laframboise
Looking through the "Literature" section and expecting to find articles on Woolf and Morrison, Pound and Hazlitt, I was disgusted to see "Dan Brown" littered all over the place like candy wrappers in a field, and realized that this is in fact what we have come to. This is not to criticise Brown (although his earth-shattering theory is not even his own, and his writing is generally quite uninspired, blunt and bad) but what I find appalling is how a best-seller, based on plot and a juicy story everyone loves to believe, is what defines what we talk about, is what defines what we all think we ought to read.
Popular literature has hit an all-time low to the point that fine literature is being overlooked by so many of us, to the point that Chapters, "aiming to achieve Wal-Mart excellence", has candles, calendars, journals and pens at the front of the store now, and we have to go to the back to see what is supposedly really selling. Moreover, on the tables nearest the entrance are shiny, colourful, hard-covered best-sellers things written by Dan Brown and anything with Oprah's Book Club's seal of approval sticker. In fact, it took William Faulkner almost an entire century to finally be recognized as a valuable writer by most of us when Oprah recommended a three-volume set of his "best" work. We read what Oprah tells us we should read, find it at the front of Chapters, and, for the select few of us who actually want to read more of an author's work, are hardly able to find anything else he wrote in the store. It seems we all want what someone else thinks is "best," without having to do any research, without having to dig through piles of books, to find the overarching narrative of an author's career. Rather, we gather bits and pieces, as if all works were separate, only caring to read the author that the New York Times deems "Brilliant" and "Dazzlingly unique" as if they weren't all the same or something.
Some of us haven't even heard of Canadian writers, or at the very least, Canadian writers who don't base their stories in the mid-western U.S. in order to sell more copies. Many of us have never read anything by Atwood or Munro, who are, surprise, surprise, hardly even being considered in book stores "Best Selling Novels," while others like Henighan are being almost completely ignored. No, it seems we'd all rather read up on astrology and Devils wearing Prada or updates on the celebrity life. I figure that if there's really something positive going on, we wouldn't feel the need to try to "think positively," or, more specifically, to not think at all by numbing our brains with cliché and individualistic, self-indulgent ideas. It seems everyone wants to "escape." Everyone wants to read for "enjoyment," to dissolve into a world where a beautiful young woman falls head-over-heels for some man who has some dark and foreboding secret. Have we become so passive, so hopeless, that we feel we have to escape our lives and put our brains in the numb cloudy box of predictable plots with happy endings about boring people just like ourselves? It seems we don't want to look around us, don't want to read about things that matter, and this is not only egotistical, but obtuse. I recognize the need for enjoyment and great writers like Brand and Rhys and Joyce and Chesterton inform and inspire as well as delight which take us all a lot further than a bestselling Dan Brown or Stephen King. Literature is what makes us human. And if what we're reading is mass-market, bestselling, cliché plot-driven books, I'm concerned about what that says about us, and, more specifically, where humanity is headed.
Popular literature has hit an all-time low to the point that fine literature is being overlooked by so many of us, to the point that Chapters, "aiming to achieve Wal-Mart excellence", has candles, calendars, journals and pens at the front of the store now, and we have to go to the back to see what is supposedly really selling. Moreover, on the tables nearest the entrance are shiny, colourful, hard-covered best-sellers things written by Dan Brown and anything with Oprah's Book Club's seal of approval sticker. In fact, it took William Faulkner almost an entire century to finally be recognized as a valuable writer by most of us when Oprah recommended a three-volume set of his "best" work. We read what Oprah tells us we should read, find it at the front of Chapters, and, for the select few of us who actually want to read more of an author's work, are hardly able to find anything else he wrote in the store. It seems we all want what someone else thinks is "best," without having to do any research, without having to dig through piles of books, to find the overarching narrative of an author's career. Rather, we gather bits and pieces, as if all works were separate, only caring to read the author that the New York Times deems "Brilliant" and "Dazzlingly unique" as if they weren't all the same or something.
Some of us haven't even heard of Canadian writers, or at the very least, Canadian writers who don't base their stories in the mid-western U.S. in order to sell more copies. Many of us have never read anything by Atwood or Munro, who are, surprise, surprise, hardly even being considered in book stores "Best Selling Novels," while others like Henighan are being almost completely ignored. No, it seems we'd all rather read up on astrology and Devils wearing Prada or updates on the celebrity life. I figure that if there's really something positive going on, we wouldn't feel the need to try to "think positively," or, more specifically, to not think at all by numbing our brains with cliché and individualistic, self-indulgent ideas. It seems everyone wants to "escape." Everyone wants to read for "enjoyment," to dissolve into a world where a beautiful young woman falls head-over-heels for some man who has some dark and foreboding secret. Have we become so passive, so hopeless, that we feel we have to escape our lives and put our brains in the numb cloudy box of predictable plots with happy endings about boring people just like ourselves? It seems we don't want to look around us, don't want to read about things that matter, and this is not only egotistical, but obtuse. I recognize the need for enjoyment and great writers like Brand and Rhys and Joyce and Chesterton inform and inspire as well as delight which take us all a lot further than a bestselling Dan Brown or Stephen King. Literature is what makes us human. And if what we're reading is mass-market, bestselling, cliché plot-driven books, I'm concerned about what that says about us, and, more specifically, where humanity is headed.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
"A Fire Truck" by Richard Wilbur
1. Richard Wilbur's purpose of writing this poem is to thank firemen. The fire truck is describe as though he were in awe and respects the fire truck and what the firemen do. Wilbur gives an example of this in the line "and I have you to thanks" which was someone thanking a fireman for saving their life. In the line "thought is degraded action" Wilbur talks about the fact that firemen act on instinct and act on a moments notice. By the end of the poem he is describing what he saw when he witnessed the heroic acts of firemen in the line "your phoenix-red simplicity, enshrined in that not extinguished fire" which is another example of how he admires what firemen do.
2. "A Fire Truck" by Richard Wilbur is definately good poetry. It engages the reader by taking simply a red fire truck and turning it into something incredible by the use of descriptive words, example in the line "Beautiful, heavy, unweary, loud, obvious thing!". He really gets the reader to capture what he sees while he observes what most would not notice. Wilbur most definately choses the write language to use in this piece of poetry.
2. "A Fire Truck" by Richard Wilbur is definately good poetry. It engages the reader by taking simply a red fire truck and turning it into something incredible by the use of descriptive words, example in the line "Beautiful, heavy, unweary, loud, obvious thing!". He really gets the reader to capture what he sees while he observes what most would not notice. Wilbur most definately choses the write language to use in this piece of poetry.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Method of Development (Narrative)
Corresponding Essay: "April Fools on Polar Circus" by Janet Roddan
First of all, this essay is a very good example of good writing. It has one thesis/claim that is very specific. Throughout the essay all the paragraphs and points have to do with the thesis and this most definately helps for readers interest and understanding. The essay uses good descriptive words but does not use to many which is key. This essay was well written and planned carefully ensuring the purpose of the story was kept and the reader wasn't getting side-tracked by unimporting facts or details.
"April Fools on Polar Cirucs" is a narrative piece of writing and a good one at that. A narrative piece of writing is writing that goes from start to end. It is the chronological order of events that are telling a story told by someone. Roddan uses good description and order to make this a very successful narrative essay. Roddan talks about feelings she encounters and things she sees around her to really give us, the reader, images and emotions of what it was really like on the Polar Circus. Quotes taken from the essay that give us clear pictures and emotions are as follows:
"Climbing leads me into myself, through my hidden doors, into corners and attics. The doorway through fear always appears ominous, locked shut, insurmountable, impossible."
"Then on up to the knoll, where we look our from the dark, claustrophobic couloir to see sun on the peaks."
Through Roddan's narration she really makes the reader feel like they know exactly what it was like being there at that exact moment. Overall this is a good piece of writing and a very good narrative essay.
First of all, this essay is a very good example of good writing. It has one thesis/claim that is very specific. Throughout the essay all the paragraphs and points have to do with the thesis and this most definately helps for readers interest and understanding. The essay uses good descriptive words but does not use to many which is key. This essay was well written and planned carefully ensuring the purpose of the story was kept and the reader wasn't getting side-tracked by unimporting facts or details.
"April Fools on Polar Cirucs" is a narrative piece of writing and a good one at that. A narrative piece of writing is writing that goes from start to end. It is the chronological order of events that are telling a story told by someone. Roddan uses good description and order to make this a very successful narrative essay. Roddan talks about feelings she encounters and things she sees around her to really give us, the reader, images and emotions of what it was really like on the Polar Circus. Quotes taken from the essay that give us clear pictures and emotions are as follows:
"Climbing leads me into myself, through my hidden doors, into corners and attics. The doorway through fear always appears ominous, locked shut, insurmountable, impossible."
"Then on up to the knoll, where we look our from the dark, claustrophobic couloir to see sun on the peaks."
Through Roddan's narration she really makes the reader feel like they know exactly what it was like being there at that exact moment. Overall this is a good piece of writing and a very good narrative essay.
Good and Bad Writing
Examples of Bad Writing:
The first example of bad writing is most definatly a very good example of just that, bad writing. Firstly I noticed that this piece thinks to much of itself. There were multiple words that were continuely repeated, for example "relativism" was used more than enough. By doing this it devalues the meaning of the word(s) and could potentially, very easily, lose the readers attention quite quickly. The next thing I noticed about this piece of writing was that it really needs to "go on a diet". This simply means that the length of this piece can be reduced by removing unnecessary words that are only there, maybe not intentionally, to lengthen and confuse a reader. When the writer writes "one might conclude that the world we human beings live in is not without a variety of many different and diverse cultures with different cultural practices and hence different moralities" the word 'differen't is by far over used. The sentence could be easily reduced to something more clear and precise, still getting ones point across but just making it less repetative. The example from above is also evidence on how this piece is too clever by half. This means that people are afraid to write how they speak, so what they do is try and make themselves sound big, grown-up and clever by using big words and very long sentences. This will only soon confuse the reader and lose their interest and the writer's point of the topic. This piece of writing is not lieing to reader it just is very wordy making it rather confusing and well, bad.
The second sample of bad writing is also another good example. It is one complete huge run on sentence. It could easily lose the audiences/readers attention by it just going on and on and on and never ending. It doesn't necessarily need to go on a diet it just needs to use punctuation a little more. Making 2 or 3 sentences out of this extremely long one would definately aid in improving, and choosing words that will not confuse a reader but keep their interest will always help.
This last example is a very good example of a piece of writing with no direction what so ever. Good writing has a strong purpose and bad writing either has too many purposes or no direction. When the opening statement is not fully elaborated or answered it is very confusing for the reader to find satisfication within the writing. In this piece the writer, multiple times, finds ways to go around answering the purpose and continues to go on about irrelavant information that is no use to the reader.
Examples of Good Writing:
This first sample of good writing was very well written. It uses very good adjectives to describe the fish and what they are doing to give the reader a very clear, vivid picture in their mind. It is ovbious that the reader of this piece of writing is someone who is very interested in fish and this piece would give them satisfaction on the topic.
The second piece of good writing is also done well. The writer chose words carefully to keep the readers interest. The writer saying "colours are the smiles of nature" was a was a good hook for the opening. Instead of just throwing out a similie, he supported his hook which made things clear and understandable for the reader keeping their attention and interest.
The last piece of good writing was another good example. It's kinda of a fun piece too, it asks "can a machine think?", a question that i'm sure most people have either asked or thought about at least once. It then delivers other things that might have gone through ones head and uses understandable words and to the point sentences to make this a good piece of writing.
Audience:
The concept of audience is the most decisive and difficult factor in the assessment of good and bad writing. The audience is who decides if a piece of writing is good or bad. When they are deciding, their personal interests definately affect if it was interesting for them or not. If it's a topic that they have no interest in what so ever then of course they aren't going to like the topic and could possibly call it a bad piece of writing. Vise versa, if they are extremely interested in the topic which the piece is about then of course they are going to enjoy that piece. Although personal interest can influence their decision greatly, a good piece of writing does come down to if it is written properly with a good structure. When the body of the writing all connects back to the thesis or claim then it is in fact a good piece of writing. When the body of the writing is made up of random sentences that don't reflect the opening statement, and everything is just all over the place then it will be confusing and not to the point making it a very bad piece of writing.
The first example of bad writing is most definatly a very good example of just that, bad writing. Firstly I noticed that this piece thinks to much of itself. There were multiple words that were continuely repeated, for example "relativism" was used more than enough. By doing this it devalues the meaning of the word(s) and could potentially, very easily, lose the readers attention quite quickly. The next thing I noticed about this piece of writing was that it really needs to "go on a diet". This simply means that the length of this piece can be reduced by removing unnecessary words that are only there, maybe not intentionally, to lengthen and confuse a reader. When the writer writes "one might conclude that the world we human beings live in is not without a variety of many different and diverse cultures with different cultural practices and hence different moralities" the word 'differen't is by far over used. The sentence could be easily reduced to something more clear and precise, still getting ones point across but just making it less repetative. The example from above is also evidence on how this piece is too clever by half. This means that people are afraid to write how they speak, so what they do is try and make themselves sound big, grown-up and clever by using big words and very long sentences. This will only soon confuse the reader and lose their interest and the writer's point of the topic. This piece of writing is not lieing to reader it just is very wordy making it rather confusing and well, bad.
The second sample of bad writing is also another good example. It is one complete huge run on sentence. It could easily lose the audiences/readers attention by it just going on and on and on and never ending. It doesn't necessarily need to go on a diet it just needs to use punctuation a little more. Making 2 or 3 sentences out of this extremely long one would definately aid in improving, and choosing words that will not confuse a reader but keep their interest will always help.
This last example is a very good example of a piece of writing with no direction what so ever. Good writing has a strong purpose and bad writing either has too many purposes or no direction. When the opening statement is not fully elaborated or answered it is very confusing for the reader to find satisfication within the writing. In this piece the writer, multiple times, finds ways to go around answering the purpose and continues to go on about irrelavant information that is no use to the reader.
Examples of Good Writing:
This first sample of good writing was very well written. It uses very good adjectives to describe the fish and what they are doing to give the reader a very clear, vivid picture in their mind. It is ovbious that the reader of this piece of writing is someone who is very interested in fish and this piece would give them satisfaction on the topic.
The second piece of good writing is also done well. The writer chose words carefully to keep the readers interest. The writer saying "colours are the smiles of nature" was a was a good hook for the opening. Instead of just throwing out a similie, he supported his hook which made things clear and understandable for the reader keeping their attention and interest.
The last piece of good writing was another good example. It's kinda of a fun piece too, it asks "can a machine think?", a question that i'm sure most people have either asked or thought about at least once. It then delivers other things that might have gone through ones head and uses understandable words and to the point sentences to make this a good piece of writing.
Audience:
The concept of audience is the most decisive and difficult factor in the assessment of good and bad writing. The audience is who decides if a piece of writing is good or bad. When they are deciding, their personal interests definately affect if it was interesting for them or not. If it's a topic that they have no interest in what so ever then of course they aren't going to like the topic and could possibly call it a bad piece of writing. Vise versa, if they are extremely interested in the topic which the piece is about then of course they are going to enjoy that piece. Although personal interest can influence their decision greatly, a good piece of writing does come down to if it is written properly with a good structure. When the body of the writing all connects back to the thesis or claim then it is in fact a good piece of writing. When the body of the writing is made up of random sentences that don't reflect the opening statement, and everything is just all over the place then it will be confusing and not to the point making it a very bad piece of writing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
