Initial Response

    After watching Moonrise Kingdom I was struck with a feeling of "what in the world did I just watch?!" I was lured into the movie's interesting colors and camera work. There was a lack of any clear or naturally progressing plot. It seemed to me that it was choppy, but at the same time it made sense. I was pleasantly confused and challenged when attempting to understand the purpose of the movie.

Class Participation

Megan A.

Professor Jones

English 1100

25 October 2013

Class Participation

3. Why does reflective writing help a student learn and develop as a better writer? How does it work?

            Reflective writing can be a painful yet revealing process for a writer. Reflective writing makes a writer come face to face with their faults and weaknesses, which is not an easy task for humans who exhibit an inherently vein nature. As a writer finishes their current work, they are overcome with a sense of pride; often they have feelings that resemble those of a mother when observing their child. With this sense of pride the writer’s viewpoint is often skewed and they are unable to see the faults in their essay, they begin to live out the saying “the face only a mother could love” (metaphorically speaking of course) in relation to their essay. When writers are forced to reread their papers with the mindset that they are searching for their inherent faults, one can begin to develop as a writer. The analysis of ones faults allows them to focus on those specific issues and expand upon them. This process inherently diminishes the number of weak points in ones paper due to the exploitation of weaknesses and the undivided desire to diminish these weaknesses. 

Political Ad Analysis

http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/commercials/1964

In this ad, Johnson uses red herrings and [mud slinging?] to associate his opponent to something awful, the KKK. The use of dramatic images of the KKK burning a cross in a ritual ceremony along with the dialogue where the KKK seemingly promotes Goldwater allows viewers to associate Goldwater with a negative connotation.

Problem Paragraph

Budweiser is known for its “good feeling” advertisements that air during the super bowl each year.  A theme of brotherhood connects a majority of their advertisements. Budweiser uses many different elements to portray their product as a drink that is part of a happy life, not just something to drink at parties. Through the use of rhetorical devices along with the strategic use of color and sound, Budweiser portrays its product as a timeless drink that facilitates bonding.

I am awful at writing introduction paragraphs.  

Paper Outline

Megan Anglin

Professor Jones

English

27 September 2013

Outline

I.               Intro

Thesis: Budweiser uses somber setting and colors with horses in the advertisements to appeal to the audiences emotions.

II.             Compare color scheme

III.           Compare pathos

IV.           Compare meaning

Writing Process Diagram

Rough Draft Paragraph

"A human’s visual sense allows them to form an opinion on the subject that they are viewing quickly. Publishers and teenage girls realize this fact and focus their appearance on that. First the publisher must decide who their target audience is. From here they will pick a cover photo and write a short but intriguing description in an effort to draw readers in. Just as a teenage girl posts beautiful pictures of herself with any flaw edited out in an effort to appeal to boys and jealous girls, a publisher for In Focus will post a picture that pulls in a curious reader. In Focus chooses their photos based on obscurity, the fewer questions it answers the better. Although their photos are often obscure in their ability to tell the readers the meaning, they are vibrant in colors and interesting to look at. The photos on a teenage girl’s Facebook page and those found on In Focus’s home page often contain similar characteristics, vibrant colors, a seemingly effortless beauty, and they of course arise some form of appeal to its target audience. Along with the features of the photos, the publisher must consider their layout."

This paragraph shows my weakness of elaboration and failure to introduce a paragraph well. I need to find more evidence from In Focus to incorporate in order to complete my elaboration and support my statements. 

Class Participation

1. One can use an idea as an outline for a position in your thesis that allows you to develoop a position rather than aruging a borning cut and dry position.

2. Developing an idea rather than a thesis ahs allowed me to view the thesis from all sides, giving me a clear understanding of what i want to write about and how I feel about my argument.

3. Thinking about my ideas in the aspect of "working theses" gives me the freedom to explore options and dive deeper into the actual meaning of my paper rather than creating a surface level thesis and using as an outline for my paper.

4. A weak thesis is described as surface level where as a srong thesis tends to open doors for explination and elaboration. In my paper I could simply describe how photographs enhance the experience for the reader or I could work with a more complex thesis comparing and contrasting social networking such as facebook with the elements of my blog and hlow it affects readers.

5. "the feature or features of what your subject means" is referring to the need to centralize your paper around the content of what you are writing about, the meaning behind the blog in our  case.

6. My thesis in a way is an idea in need of an argument because I have not yet taken a clear side. my thesis is more of an explination of some of my thoughts about the blog but it lacks a general argument.

Try this

1. Comparing one campaign to another

2. The tension is the argument of personal benefits vs. socitial disadvantages

3. The tension in this example is the need for self thought but also the destructivness of it.

4. The tension is between the need to cut down trees vs the need to save the forest.

5. Middlebrow's position in the art world, whether it is neccessary or nonimportant

6. Cellphones can either help us or keep us from living in the moment.

Blog Purpose

    I chose to write my paper on In Focus, a blog whose purpose is to report stories through the use of photography. The blog is broken down into a format similar to Facebook, it displays a central picture with a small description. One can view an entire album of photographs with more in depth descriptions if they wish or they continue browsing through the page if a particular photograph and description does not interest them. In Focus's goal is also to report in a way that will appeal to reader who are often not amused by typical reporting styles. The Atlantic is funded by its owner, David G. Bradley. The Atlantic did not post its first profit until 2010.


Exigence- The need for a blog such as this due to audience.

Audience- This blog appeals to readers seeking to escape the monotony of typical reporting.

Constraints- This blog has constraints due to funding and the need to appeal to readers.

Response to a Reading

    While reading Andrew Sullivan's Why I Blog article in The Atlantic, I began to realize the true artistry that goes into creating an effective blog. I enjoyed the explanation of the freedom that blogging gives to writers to express themselves. Sullivan explains the struggle to remove restraints associated with typical forms writing when he says, "For centuries, writers have experimented with forms that suggest the imperfection of human thought, the inconstancy of human affairs, and the humbling, chastening passage of time" (Sullivan 3). I believe that blogging is the closest we have come to allowing writers to write without the necessity of perfection along with the freedom to write about their topic of choice.