Assignment #7

Assignment 7

I didn't quite understand the The article of "LifeLike" By Orlean. At first i felt like it was just a report story due to the tone of the essay by starting out so informational. I kind of thought she was doing it because she had to, which in turn my theory was correct seeing how my teacher had told us she was actually a reporter. The essay started out with no feelings whats so ever but then the essay started to increase with feelings and emotions. I didn't quite caught that when i had read it by myself. But when my teacher had decided we would do a class review on the article, I had started to realize bits and pieces on what Orleans purpose could have been. 

Questions

1.)Why does Orlean put little to no emotion into her writing until the middle of her essay?

      This question had struck me when the class and I were in the middle of the class review. I noticed it when the class was going through the ethos, pathos, and logos. I didn't quite understand it when i read it on my own. I was in the group of pathos, which was getting a reader from not caring to caring. I never knew what Taxidermy was until i looked the word up on Google. But when i had saw the images come up I knew what it was just never knew what it was called. 

      I believe that Orlean had done that on purpose. I never really cared much about taxidermy and thought it was just hunters just going out to kill. Her essay had informed me that, there was much more to it than just killing the animals. Some of the animals died of natural death. A lot of people would just assume that they would kill the animals due to the fact that mostly deer pop up in the images and hunters kneeling next to the deer with his gun in the other hand, stating it was a good kill, then mantling them up on the wall. Due to that knowledge I don't see taxidermy the same way i use to you. Which by then changed the way i felt about it and also Orlean. 

      Like I mentioned in the question, Orlean didn't use much emotion throughout to essay, which made me to believe she was forced to do it. In the beginning it was boring because you don't want to have to read something that someone was forced to do because then it would have no emotion to it because the writer themselves wouldn't care about it. But then that thought changed when i started to notice some of her emotions coming through and feeling the passion that the people had for taxidermy. "Taxidermists seem to make little distinction between loving animals that are alive and loving ones that are not. "I love deer," one of the champions in the whitetail division said to me. "They're my babies.""(Orlean) Even though this person would most likely come of as a crazy person it shows how much love she has for animals alive or dead. The very last paragraph of the essay was the one that caught my attention the most it was basically the last sentence talking about a still born Bengal-tiger cub. "Otherwise, the room was Biblical tranquil, the lion at last lying down with the Corsican lamb, the family of jackdaws in everlasting, unrequited pursuit of a big green beetle, and the stillborn Bengal-tiger cub magically revived, its face in an eternal snarl, alive-looking although it had never lived." (orlean) The words that crushed my heart "Alive-looking although it had never lived." As a animal lover one of my favorite animals so happened to be tigers and I felt my heart break into two. It is true that when we see animals die in a movie we get all emotional but when it come to human dying in a movie we tend to laugh or have little to no emotions at all. I personally think that Orlean used that sentence to play with the readers emotions. Throughout her essay it went from little to no emotion, to somewhat emotion, and to a full out what emotional strike. 

2.)Why does she start out giving so much information about taxidermy?

     I believe Orlean explains a lot about taxidermy so it builds up her ethos throughout the essay. Ethos is basically making people see that the writer is a trustworthy person. The more information she puts about taxidermy the more people will know and see that she is actually putting effort and trying to understand taxidermy to the best of her abilities. 

"LifeLike"

"LifeLike"

“Lifelike”

After reading the article known as “Lifelike,” I felt a little disturbed by it. The article described how the author of the article felt and saw at Taxidermy Championship. I had no clue what a Taxidermy Championship was so I had done some research and had looked it up on Google (Google is great). Taxidermy is the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting the skins of dead animals for either scientific study or just for show. In this case due to the article a lot of it is done only for show. Which I felt kind of disturbing…

I had a very hard time understanding what the author’s purpose was. It seemed like the author enjoyed the craftsmanship of the dead animals but and the same time felt a little bit of disturbance and a little saddened. In the beginning of the article she goes on about the way thetaxidermist talk amongst one another. She had introduce a website “Taxidermy.net” and found some statements that I found pretty disturbing. “I am in need of several pair of frozen goat feet!”, “Hi! I have up to 300 sets of goat feet and up to 1000 set of sheep feet per month. Drop me an email at frozencritters.com ....or give me a call and we can discuss your needs.”. Those two statements had really sent chills down my spine. I mean how weird is it to have “300 sets” of goat feet frozen? I believe that she admires how much these taxidermists put into the mantle but I also feel like she is saddened by it. I felt that moment of sadness in the last sentence of the article. ”Otherwise, the room was Biblically tranquil, the lion at last lying down with the Corsican lamb, the family of jackdaws in everlasting, unrequited pursuit of a big green beetle, and the stillborn Bengal-tiger cub magically revived, its face in an eternal snarl, alive-looking although it had never lived.”  The very last statement, “Alive-looking although it had never lived” At this point she was referring to the baby Bengal-tiger cub. That was the moment where I had felt the sadness. If we were animals and killed as a young cub how would we feel being killed to only be shown off to others?

Although I am uncertain about her motive or purpose, I still felt that interested yet then quickly turned to sadness feeling. She started out the article as a information and an exclusive seat to see what taxidermy is all about. That was when I felt interested but then that last statement as I mentioned before made it become sad. 


Questions
1.) How was your reaction to the text, and what do you think the authors purpose was?
2.) Does being an animal lover make you rethink what is going on in this text?

Madi's Reflection

Madi's reflection

Reflecting on Pa Houa Moua's essay

  After reading Pa Houa Moua essay on David Sedaris' "Standing By" article. I found it rather interesting how her essay was more reflecting on what I thought Sedaris' purpose was. She brings words like "Judging, and Blaming" into her essay. Those words make me feel like she felt the same way. I also think her quotations that she uses in her essay was interesting also. It goes with her purpose and she actually writes what she is thinking. I feel like as if I can feel where she is coming from with her opinions on the essay.

  I dont believe nothing came to be a surprised to me seeing as I had thought the same way when i had read the essay.

  I believe that Moua had a very good reflection on the essay seeing as she was able to connect the poem Sedaris' had mentioned in the text. I couldn't quite understand why the poem was in there. But she had pointed out a specific phrase in the poem. "All it takes is one dumb fuck, trigger-happy, with a six-pack and bad aim, to generate the spark that turns the world to flames." (Sedaris 276) I didnt quite understand the poem until she had explained how no matter what good or bad thing, people see and feel differently about that certain thing that person has done.

 My own essay reflection

 My own essay was rather kind of mixed in a sense. I could never quite get a grip on how to order my essays. I believe what i should do is start an essay template and work my way from there. But In my Introduction, I basically introduced what the article was about, just in case people who didn't read Sedaris' "Standing By" article could at least get a feeling as to what the article was about; before i start ranting on about it. I used Evidence that could actually help and support my essay more specifically.

Madi's weekend

Madi's weekend

Assignment #3

Assignment # 3

            After reading Sedaris’ text “Standing By,” I was rather confused on what his overall purpose of the text could be. As I read I thought to myself, “Why is he putting all this in here?” I know people experience those “Light Bulb” moments; nothing made sense until I had gotten to the very last page of the article, a sentence had caught my eye. “If my own little mind is nailed shut, why wouldn’t theirs be?” (Sedaris 277) From that sentence alone, I felt that “Light Bulb” moment, because in the text he goes on about listening or being talked to in the airport, where people are judging, blaming and complete complaining. I believe that he tries to help us understand how we as people try to persuade others with our opinions, unconsciously or consciously.

            On Page 277, there was a sentence that actually made me think after I had got done reading. “Like What if this is who we truly are and the airport’s just a forum that allows us to be our real selves, not just hateful but gloriously so?” (Sedaris) As I mentioned before Sedaris was introduced to so many complaints and so many view points, but the only similarity all of the complaints had were all negative. Throughout the text there was not one single complaint he heard. I believe that Sedaris is wondering if everyone just finds something to complain about. Or do we use judgment or criticism just to start out a conversation, or does it just happen in airports?

            I believe Sedaris wants the readers to actually think about how we as people are quick to judge someone or criticize them. Is it really what being human is all about? But I also believe that he wants us to see how our judgments and criticisms are actually our forms of persuading someone to think and dislike something we dislike. “It had been on the radio and in all the papers, but because I don’t drive, and I always thought that car dealerships were ugly, I’d either turned the page or let my mind wander, which was unfortunate, as I’d have loved to have turned around and given those two what for” (Sedaris 277). I had really thought about that sentence for a long time wondering why was it important to him to just turn and argue, but then the next sentence made me realize why he had mentioned it. “Then again, even if I were informed, what’s the likelihood of changing anyone’s opinion, especially a couple of strangers?” (Sedaris 277) After that I felt as if he was pointing out how persuading someone works. You have to be informed on what it is you’re talking about. If you are arguing about something with someone you have to know what exactly it is you are talking about and have facts and evidence to prove it, especially if you are to try and change someone’s mind. 

Questions

1.) Don't think we are always quick to judge someone, even though we dont say we do?

2.) Don't we usually start out random conversations when it gets quiet talking about what someone is wearing or how they appear?

Sedaris "Standing By"

Sedaris "Standing by"

Sedaris’ “Standing By”

                The article by David Sedaris named “Standing By” was a rather interesting piece of work. The article, I believe was a mixer of serious issues yet with a bit of humor mixed into it. The authors article starts out in an airport and meets many people, who talk to him about other people criticizing politics and on the appearance of others.  Sedaris then goes on thinking and making humorous jokes about the things happening around him. In the end points out a very strong point. “If my own little mind is nailed shut, why wouldn’t theirs be?” (Sedaris 277)

Work Cited

Sedaris, David. “Standing By” First Year Composition Reader. Boston: Pearson, 2011. 275-277. Print. 

Assignment 2

 I have taken English 101 in my previous semester and had unfortunately failed the class. I am hoping for a better start of the class. I don't know what i lacked in my previous class but, since i am in a new class with a new teacher, maybe she can explain fully on what is required and expected on the essays. I would personally be fine with getting a C plus in the class. I am also hoping for a better understanding of composing better papers. 

 

Since i have already taken the course before I have also read the Introduction book to the class. I thought it was kind of half and half with the student and teachers comments. I didn't have such a good teacher my previous class. I meet with her and ask about my essays, but she really didn't have much to say. She had told me my essay were good and that i was putting in what i needed. Then come to find out i failed the "FINAL PORTFOLIO." Which makes me go back to the thought of it going both ways. If a student wants to pass, we as students have to rely on the teacher as the teacher relies on us to do the work. 

    I believe the writing that i will write in English 101 would make it easier for me to make essays and think critically on texts that i read in my other classes. Since i will be going into the field of psychology i think it is mandatory for me as a psychologist to know very intelligent vocabulary. I would have to do field work and studies on my subject and then right a report about my findings. Which means writing more essays. The more information I learn in English 101 the better my chances will be for becoming a writer (maybe) and a efficient psychologist.