The Argument Culture

I thoroughly enjoyed this essay. It brought up several good points. The author brought up the fact that debates really don’t show both sides equally but just shows the two sides fighting against each other. We, as a society, do need to find better ways to settle our disputes. We need to be more civil when we disagree and not argue like 5 year olds.

I agree when he says it is ok to fight to defend our country, our rights, and ourselves. We cannot always think there are two sides to an argument. This causes us to doubt facts. I agree that words are very powerful. They really do have the strength to change the way you look at a situation. They can turn your opinion inside out.

I tend to kind of disagree when the author says that technology puts us in a bubble. I still communicate normally with people and am not just focused on talking to my friends online. I talked to my roommate online and got to know her before we moved in together that way. On the other hand, I have been the result of some cyber bullying so I can see where the author is coming from.

All in all, I think the author makes a lot of very strong points. Why should I argue with him? We all have our own opinions and nothing is going to change that.

It's Time to Ban Handguns

I really enjoyed this article. It was very informative and intriguing. The use of facts by the author was very interesting and caught my attention. I love how he used a statistic as well. Numbers provide solid evidence and are very informative and persuasive. He is very good at providing images for the reader.  He gets very emotional and descriptive. I also love how he compares restrictions to having drugs and cars to having a gun. This is a very abstract comparison and is not one that most people would make. He also compares our murder rates to other countries. This also is very useful in being able to persuade the reader. He uses a lot of emotions in this essay as well to hit a nerve and get you sad or angry. I love how he points out that guns are easy to work and how anyone that can get their hands on one could probably is able to use it. Following that, he states his solution to the problem. He says that some guns should be taken off the market. He also says that there should be gun safety classes required before handling a gun. I thought that was already a law so I learned something new. 

Reading and Writing Problem Solving Essays

I found this to be quite boring. Maybe it’s because I absolutely despise reading about how to write. I am a free spirited writer who likes to write in a unique way. I hate “molding” into other peoples’ idea of “good” writing.

But I digress; this essay will really help those “writing challenged” people that take this class. The ones that are skilled in science but have difficulties with writing will find great use of this essay.

It points out some really good tips. It helps to convince the reader that writing a problem solving essay is possible. This is kind of neat considering that as the reader, you are trying to figure out how to persuade other people that doing a task is possible.

As far as reading the essays go, they walk you through step by step as to how to read it.  It seems kind of ridiculous but, as I said before, it is good for those who have issues with English. For me, however, I was totally bored to death of this whole essay. I hate to seem conceited but I am decent at persuasion essays and I am so not a conformist to how everyone else wants me to write.

In Defense of Talk Shows

I agree with the author of “In Defense of Talk Shows” one hundred percent. Talk shows get such a bad reputation now a days and I do not think they deserve the reputations given to them. Most talk shows that I watch, such as Regis and Kelly, do not even mention the negatives. All the ones that are considered controversial now look down upon people who make the wrong decisions or choices in their lives. The talk show hosts do not approve of these mistakes. The people are not put on a pedestal or idolized in any way. Never have I ever looked at a person on Maurey and gone “Jeez I wish I was like them,” and I probably never will. Whoever said that talk shows are not good to watch obviously does not watch them. I love talk shows and I am still a good person. So are all my friends and my thirteen year old cousin. It is so wrong to put shows down when you haven't even given them a chance.

The Whole Horse

This essay was very boring to me. It seemed very scattered at all times. The author used terms that most likely no one knew and didn’t bother to explain them until two paragraphs later. It took me several times of reading this essay to understand what the author was trying to get through to us, the readers. This is all I got from it. Apparently the author is in love with the environment and is totally against companies trying to change the environment. I’m pretty sure that isn’t what the author meant the essay to be about either. This essay was just very frustrating and I think the author should quit writing. This is horrible in comparison to all the other essays you have had us read. I hope I do not offend anyone by writing this but this is how I really feel.

Attack of the Killer Cats

I enjoyed the article “Attack of the Killer Cats” greatly. I loved his humor in the essay and how he brought out the true colors of cats. I have and always will hate cats. Besides the fact that I agree with him 100%, his writing style is fantastic. He asks the readers a lot of questions. He really leaves it to the reader in the end to figure out how they feel about cats. He doesn’t really try to sway them one way or another. It is very clear that he does not like cats but he does not try to force his opinion on to others. The article is very factual and kind of dull at times but the facts of his results from the experiment were quite interesting once I began to focus on the essay. The fact that he used percentages and ratios in his research also showed me that this was something he cared about. I think you have to really care about the topic when you are doing a factual essay or else it can get bland or boring. All in all, a great essay! I defiantly admire him for his work on this essay.

Why We Crave Horror Movies

I love how Stephen King started out by saying he “thinks we’re all mentally ill”. It catches my attention right off the bat and kind of makes me chuckle a little bit. I love how he goes into detail after that to say why he said that. I totally understood what he was saying after he explained it. I didn’t even have to think about what he meant. He makes it very informative as well, not just gore and blood talk. He goes more into depth about why he thinks psychologically we crave horror movies. Also, at the same time, he keeps throwing his little bit of humor into the essay to hold the reader’s attention. He also uses movie references, which could be beneficial to keeping reader’s attention. It didn’t do anything for me because I do not watch horror movies but I can see where it would hold others’ attention. I also enjoyed where he brought up “status quo of civilization” because I have often tired of the same old movie plots over and over again and he really does bring up a good point that horror movies do not fit into the status quo. I still will never watch a horror movie though.

Once More to the Lake

The writer of this article is very talented at writing. He is a very descriptive writer and very vivid in his memories. It is almost like he is writing about something that just happened yesterday. However, I am bored with his story very easily. I guess it's because the story he tells just drags on and on with seemingly no end in sight. It’s nothing personal to the author at all. This, in fact, is an essay that some people would enjoy to read very much. You can pretty much picture the lake he talks about or relate his story of his vacations to vacations of your own. I know my family goes to a lake every summer and I can totally see myself taking my kids up to that lake when I have them. I guess, for me, it just wasn't my style of writing to read if you want me to be completely honest. My style is short, sweet, and to the point. I also enjoy stories with more conflict in them.  Conflict makes the story more interesting, in my honest opinion. That is ok though because everyone has their own opinions. It’s totally ok for people to disagree with me. 

remembering essay

I agree with this article because I believe that when writing memoirs and other kind of stories like that, remembering is very important. You may have pictures of the event you are writing about but you still have to remember some of it. The author of this article states that when you are telling a story that you should use all your senses to describe it. Describe what you smelled and what you saw. Describe what you heard and what you tasted. I agree because it defiantly puts the reader more into the story. Also, the author says that you can trigger other peoples’ memories by being very descriptive which is very true. Most people can relate to others’ stories.

I do not agree with how the author says to read a remembering essay. I think the author’s way is too long and drawn out. Most people would lose interest after they read it the second time.

When writing a remembering essay, the author and I tend to disagree on some points. I think that her ideas for topics are good. Writing about things that you have experienced are good ways to start. I do not think, however, that you should write it on someone you never met like a famous person. I do not think you should use any resources other than your own mind to write remembering essays. All in all, I enjoyed this article but did not really learn anything new.

Walking by Henry David Thoreau

I strongly agree with Henry David Thoreau. He is right in the fact that if we take care of nature we are taking care of our planet. We are destroying natural habitats of animals that provide food for us. In place of the natural habitats, we are building high rises. I see this especially in Naples. Some places are better about keeping habitats in tact than others but no one does it 100%. I am also like Thoreau because I would love to have more natural resources around us. I guess what Thoreau would love is a world where we had just left everything as it was and not destroyed all the other habitats. All I want is to cut out the unnecessary destroying of habitats.

He also says that he believes some people eat just to eat. This is destroying the amount of food that everyone has and the number of animals left on the earth. He says that Indians only ate what was needed. I tend to agree that people eat more than they should. The obesity rate in America alone is sky high. Even though there are some people who have medical conditions, I believe a lot of people just eat too much. All in all I think Thoreau has the completely right idea about our respect for the environment and how we should change that.

How To Mark A Book

Marking up books has never been anything I have done. After reading this, my opinion is not changed. Taking notes in your book only takes up more of your time. Even though the author tries to persuade me that taking notes in the margin is a good idea and that it is good to slow me down reading, I totally disagree with him. I have a lot of homework to do and little time to do it in. I do not to be slowed down even more than I already am.

Also, he says that you should not worry about selling them back because they should be written in. I disagree strongly. This person must have had a very different college experience than I am. Books are so expensive now. I cannot afford to keep all of my college books or have the return rate drop because I wrote in them.

All in all, I disagree with Mortimer Adler. I have been taking notes on regular paper my whole life and it has never failed me yet. Now it’s even easier because I can keep my notes nice and organized on the computer. Thanks Adler but I think I can handle note taking my way.

Shitty First Drafts

Reading "Shitty First Drafts" taught me very little. I love to write but I really did think that great authors such as JK Rowling and Steven King had always been as talented as they are now. I thought that they were immune to catching writers’ block. Turns out they are just regular people like ourselves, who make mistakes and sometimes get stumped on what to write about next.

My yearbook editors would always act as if my first draft was my last. They would take my paper and tell me it was worthless. I wanted to be the “perfect” writer and wanted to be flawless just like my favorite authors. It turns out that everyone makes mistakes even the most seemingly perfect authors. 

I learned to not let small obstacles get in the way of finishing something that I write. I discovered that the process of writing can be daunting. I tend to think that a more time efficient method would be to do prewriting. Writing four or five drafts for college seems a little bit overboard.

I do not think after reading this that any reader is 100% “perfect” in any way. It would go against all laws. There is no such thing as perfect.