My dad and his brother were journalists, but on extremely opposing sides – which made this article easier for me to understand. There are certain aspects of journalism, especially spoken about in this article, that now click. It felt like solving a simple math equation. The biggest element seems like the public sphere. You have to know the audience you are writing for or the audience you wish to attract. It’s not so much types of people, but ultimately a collection of citizens in that area. It is more than just “the people” and it dives deeper into the “society” of that area. When we talk about the society as a whole, we think about the entire globe, or perhaps just America, but societies differ within each geographical location as well. As journalists you have to understand the people, the area in which you are writing, and the societal norms of that specific location. Sure, you can differ from the main viewpoints of that area, but as a journalist you have to remember that it is a free society. There can be differing opinions or even backlash towards your writing, but that is also how journalism is protected, all under one amendment: the freedom of speech located in the first. Another element is the creation of “the imaginary community of the nation” (pg. 12). It is so intriguing on how writing can create smaller communities, even journalism. For me, it is hard to comprehend that because of the last decade where news and media have become entirely focused on politics and the division between opposing sides. Sometimes I feel like journalism just promotes this division and makes it stronger, ultimately creating a negative environment in society, but perhaps I am wrong. What if it’s doing the opposite, but our brains don’t want to comprehend that possibility?
Author: psammons (Page 2 of 4)
I read this short story last year in my creative writing class with Jesse and I remembered it vividly when I first saw the title. There was something so intriguing about the characters. They truly sell the whole story, without them it would be rather lackluster. The narrator is arrogant and cocky. He is unsettled by the thought of Robert being in his house, like the thought of an unknown, disabled man appalls him. He was such a sharp contrast compared to his wife and Robert, yet the blind man never snaps nor holds him accountable for his standoffish attitude. There’s something about the mysteriousness behind the narrator and his life that isn’t explained compared to the others that makes you question his attitude in the beginning and the end. It keeps the short story intriguing and the reader interested until the end, well at least for me anyway. Then the use of the cathedral as the bonding moment between the narrator and Robert while the wife is sleeping. It gives the theme that things are not as they appear as they blindly draw the cathedral. The narrator’s lack of using descriptive words to describe something he has the ability to see is quite concerning. It’s almost as if Raymond wanted to bring attention to the ability of seeing without actual sight. The most interesting part about this piece is there are so many hidden easter eggs and potential themes throughout that you have to dig a little deeper when reading.
If you’re struggling with life, this is the book to read. Even though I’m young, I like to think that I’ve gone through a mid life crisis or two. This book help evaluate through life and give you guidance on how to live it to the fullest in my humble opinion.
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Summary:
Being overwhelmed with how his life has turned out, Mitch Albom revisits his favorite professor. Mitch feels like his life is on a boring cycle and can’t seem to get out of the funk. After his professor agrees to be interviewed, they create an undying bond that continues throughout the book. As Morrie continues to help Mitch decided what’s important, he also helps the reader with each chapter.
Reviews:
One of the reasons why this isn’t ranked higher is because it got really emotional for me. That’s not something I like to admit, but many people on GoodReads also think that this book is really good too. Here are some comments:
- So i didn’t realise this book was actually nonfiction until after i’d just finished reading it.. and now my feelings are all over the place!! This was a beautiful story, I would definitely recommend reading it if you haven’t already.
- I have never written a review like this before but this book truly inspired me.
- I didn’t know this book was a memoir when I picked up this book. I wasn’t even consciously looking for this book. It’s one of the books in my sister’s collection. I picked it up because I needed some kind of motivation/inspiration to live life again with zeal. But what this book offered me was something I wasn’t expecting from it.
- This book broke me. It was raw, thought provoking, heart breaking and real.
- Loved it. So, so sad and yet so uplifting at the same time.
- Tuesdays With Morrie definitely makes you look around and realise how lucky you are and that you should make the most of life while you still can.
Random Remarks:
Like previously stated, this is a memoir which means this book really happened. Pictured to the left is the author and main “character” of the book too. He has learned how to live his life to the fullest thanks to Morrie. He reflects on his past before and after in several videos and clips of him reading the memoir as well. If you’re seriously struggling to pick up a book or continue to push through life, please pick up this book.
For this speech, things were a little tricky. How do you really explain why you should pass a class? Overall I think I used good evidence and story telling to convince the audience. I think my eye contact is very strong, but I think I stumbled over my words a bit due to the pressure I was feeling behind the speech. However, I do think there’s a lot of emotion and realness in my tone. When I say I’m going to take what I learned in this class with me throughout my future experiences, I’m not joking and I think the audience can tell that. I did speak with my hands a lot and I don’t know if that’s a distraction or helps prove my emphasis, so I’m hoping for some feedback on that. I think the organization was good for the most part, talking about the last 6 weeks, what I learned, how I improved, the help from peers, etc. I know though that it could still use some work and there’s always room for improvement. However, I’m glad with how this speech turned out.
These types of books are my top recommended novels for anyone to read. They are real life journals found written and nonfiction that have been turned into novels. They change the names in the novel so you cannot look up anyone mentioned to read about their life or get any medical papers. The medical papers are even included in the novel, but all important information is blacked out.
Summary:
A written diary from true life events, follows a girl named Ana who is struggling with learning how to control her life. An avid runner and sports player, she learns that the one thing she can control is her weight and her eating habits. This diary travels around what it is like to live with anorexia and how mentally draining it is to heal from learning that what you are isn’t good enough.
Reviews:
I love how raw this diary is and how accurate it can be. Although some people disagree with the accuracy, people have to remember that every case is different. Here are some reviews from GoodReads:
- It was so sad. I couldn’t put it down because I kept anticipating the end, but I DIDN’T KNOW IT ENDED LIKE THAT!
- Omg this story was just as amazing as go ask Alice. I read this in a span of five hours and was rooting for the main character the whole time. It’s a very disturbing realistic view into anorexia and how it is a disease that affects girls every day.
- I had read Go Ask Alice a couple years ago and decided to try out another book from the other “Anonymous” author collection. I am so glad I did. Like Go Ask Alice, this is the main character’s journal, which started off as a food/feeling journal. It is interesting to see what she wrote, her weight changes, and the evolution of her disorder.
- To be honest I don’t know where to start about this book. Just the fact that it was written by an anonymous authour just makes you so much more intrigued to read it. I myself have struggled with anorexia nervosa since the age of 11 and just seeing that what I felt and thought happens to a lot of people sure made me feel like I wasn’t the odd one out.
- I thought this one was pretty good! It didn’t fully describe what I felt when I was going through anorexia and it didn’t really describe how I feel now but I think the ‘anorexia experience’ is different for everyone.
Anorexia:
Anorexia is becoming a leading eating disorder in today’s society. With the beauty standards surfacing around social media, the one thought that passes a majority of young girls mind is to stop eating. It’s easy and it’s call restrictive type in the anorexia category. Most people attend a rehab clinic to help understand ways to become better, but you never fully recover and it’s something you have to deal with for life. It’s a constant battle that you have to overcome as you continue to learn how to deal with the diagnosis. You can read more about anorexia in Health Observation.
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Final Thoughts:
Although I loved this novel, it can be dangerous for young readers or anyone with a trigger. However, with the ending, hopefully it provides enough caution and awareness for young people to understand that it’s not a simple fix to fall in line with social media or life in general.
Ch. 23
This chapter was extremely helpful with our last speech. I was really struggling with finding my voice in this speech because although it’s something I care about deeply, growing up in a small and mostly religious town, a lot of people didn’t and despised it. I’m not going to lie after reading this chapter and looking back at my dry run, I have a lot to change and also in confidence. Out of the whole chapter, my biggest takeaway was on page 171, “Success in persuasive speaking requires attention to the human psychology.” The other section of this chapter that I found Bothe helpful and interesting was “Appeal to Emotion.” If I can use my emotions and the audience that I can provide a powerful persuasive speech. Within that section it states, “Infusing parts of the speech with repetition and parallelism, which creates rhythm and drama, also arouses emotion.” Sometimes I fear that I do that too much, but it’s obviously a key aspect in persuasive speeches. Obviously I can’t state everything I enjoyed in this chapter, but those are definitely the key portions I will remember.
Ch. 24
First off this chapter talked about claims and how there are all sorts of different types of claims. I never knew that, I just thought a claim was a claim and that that was all there was to it. This was also one of the first chapters that used examples that I could relate to and connect with. In one of the examples they used the phrase that “Nikes are superior to other brands of shoes because everyone wears Nikes” (186). I know that wasn’t a good example, but it sparked off inspiration form one of my previous classes where we had to convince the audience that our company we chose was the best company out there. It made it easier for my brain to understand the aspect behind being persuasive in a manner I never thought of. This chapter also makes it extremely obvious that there are so many ways to set up a persuasive speech. Once I was done reading it was information overload in my brain, but after letting it soak in, I realize I have options when it comes to my organization and set up.
Dry Run: https://youtu.be/9F6C3_l0RfY
Final: https://youtu.be/7wMNKzkxwo0
Looking back at the last four speeches, I think I improved on every speech between the dry run and the final. However, I personally saw the most growth with Speech 3 between the dry run and the final. When “teaching” a mastered skill in my dry run, I was very rushed and tried to get as much information in as possible. Instead of teaching anything, I just talked about the topic. This was also one of the speeches that I received the best feedback and advice that helped me decide where I wanted to go with the final. It was mention that I narrow down to a couple moves and explain them or even demonstrate them. It helped my speech take a turn for the better because it sparked the dance teacher part of my brain into creating a lesson plan within my outline. In the final, I slowed down my words, gave out important tips and tricks, elaborated on moves, and showed the costume. Before it was just a jumbled mess in my opinion and wasn’t really a video that was teaching something. I had to take the final video multiple times because I was critiquing myself a little too harshly. For me my specific good moments would be when I mention bending your knees and then describing two simple dance steps (1.32-2.18). I know this may sound silly, but I also adjusted the format of my video by propping my phone up vertically. With my phone being horizontal in the dry run, it cut off my movement and made me step farther away from the camera. This resulted in a strain of tone and volume because I couldn’t tell how loud was too loud. In the dry run, I think setting the phone up vertically helped the set up feel more like an instructional video. I didn’t do that in the dry run and I think that was one of the most important things missing from it. Obviously looking back it now there are still things I would change and alter to this day, but I’m happy with the improvement between the two videos.
I actually read this novel for a class and it pointed out some serious issues that are present in our country. It’s a graphic novel which is probably why it’s not a perfect ten. I’m not a big fan of graphic novels personally but I know other people are.
This novel is beautifully written with an unexpected twist.
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Summary:
This graphic novel written by Gene Luen Yang, follows three storylines in one completed piece of work. You have Jin Yang a young Chinese American student moves to a new school, noticing that he is the outsider. He gets bullied everyday for not being a white American, but he feels like it gets worse when he falls in love with an “All-American” gal. In attempt to fit in he has to overcome the racism he faces each and everyday.
In storyline two, you follow the Monkey King and his journey through life. It derives from an old Chinese fable that the author was told growing up. He struggles with greediness and power, trying to prove himself in superiority compared to all the other elders and gods. Ultimately he tries to become the one and only greatest of all gods.
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Storyline three follows a teenager named Danny who’s cousin Chin-Kee comes to visit. Chin-Kee represents the ultimate worst Chinese stereotypes wrapped into one character. Essentially things like his accent, intelligence, and even clothing makes Danny feel like his life is quickly being ruined. As you continue the novel, you see how these three storyline eventually fall in line with each other.
Ratings:
Many people believe that this graphic novel has a resounding and loud message behind each page. You can read multiple ratings on GoodReads, but I will list a few below:
- A unique message and vivid writing – I loved how he was able to weave together three stories in such a short story!
- And for once in my life I was pretty happy about being awake in the early morning hours because I realized rather quickly that American Born Chinese is one of the best graphic novels I’ve read so far.
- Both books are about the immigrant experience, a topic difficult to write about in ways that are (more or less) politically correct but not too obvious and predictable.
- Quite a quirky book, but it benefits from it. It does it’s own thing and completely does it well. The themes were powerful and well delivered: I loved seeing the three different stories comment on racism, but more than that, self acceptance.
- Man this hit me in the feels. This would have been a momentous book for me as a pre-teen. I totally identified with Jin Wang and in him recognized the need to fit in as a second generation Asian surrounded by a majority of white peers and the undercurrent of Asian stereotypes that still bubbled to the surface from Long Duk Dong to William Hung. It is a coming of age story that explores this overwhelming need to fit in while wresting with a larger cultural identity.
Apparent Themes:
This graphic novel focuses on racism and self-acceptance. The systematic racism that has dripped through generation after generation has not disappeared over the years. In fact, racism towards Asians has increased dramatically over the last year or so. Due to some of the things that our former President, Donald J. Trump, said made people believe that all Asians were the root of the pandemic.
Hate crimes towards Asian have skyrocketed recently, but not all of them are being labeled hate crimes. According the The NY Times, prosecutors and police claim that there is usually not enough evidence to prove racist motives, but there is for attempted murder or murder in general.
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You can look up any petitions or fundraisers being held to stop the hate crimes that are on the monumental rise.
Final Thoughts:
This novel was a whirlwind, but an excellently written one. In fact, there were multiple points that have occurred to me in my lifetime too. Although I am not of any Asian decent, I was born in Japan and lived there for a couple years. Growing up in a small town, once people heard that news, they would make snide racist remarks, pull their eyes so they would stretch, and mock the culture. It was painful growing up at times and I was white American. I cannot begin to imagine how painful and confusing it can be for Chinese Americans to be bullied and harassed for their culture.
This Jodi Picoult novel was good. That’s the only word I can use to describe this novel. It wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t boring either. The best way to put it is it was somewhere in the middle. Although I tend to love Jodi Picoult’s writing style and topics she chooses, there was a missing spark in this novel. I still enjoyed it for the most part though.
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Overview:
Alex Rivers, a famous celebrity superstar of an actor, is married to Cassie Barrett, a renowned anthropologist. They were the couple who seemed to have it all. But Cassie gets amnesia, unsure of who she is, where she is, or who to consider family. Their relationship gives away a rough bumpy road as she struggles through trying to remember the past she has forgotten. The question to ask yourself while reading this novel, “What will happen next?”
Reviews:
Out of all the Jodi Picoult books, the reviews given for this novel are by far the worst I’ve ever seen. I would say that my rating is being generous compared to some of the others. You can read all the ratings on GoodReads, but here are a few I can list for you:
- I have to say Jodi Picoult is not my thing. After I read this book I feel like I am having amnesia just like the main character. Do not remember much of what is going on with this book.
- I typically love Jodi Picoult novels but this one was a huge let down. She typically focuses on relevant topics and is able to capture the details of everyday life along with the real emotions her characters are dealing with; but Picture Perfect was nothing but a bad romance novel. Her portrayal of the wife battering is shallow and unrealistic. The little that she touches on Native American issues is interesting, but again, there’s no real substance to anything in this novel.
- This was, by far, the WORST book I ever read.
- Alas, I always tout Picoult as an authur of “good reads” but this one is BADD….It can be compared to the paperback grocery store “bodice-busters”. The story idea is OK, but the writing is? ? ? Where was the editor? The only good part was when the Native Americans were in the read. Don’t go for this one.
- I was initially intrigued by this story: amnesia, a suspicious situation involving a movie star, a hot cop… but what I was left with was a main character who defined herself by the men in her life.
- I had so many problems with this book. It really upset me that that Jodi Piccoult took the very intense subject matter of domestic violence and set it up through such an unrealistic premise
Domestic Violence:
Domestic Violence is a serious problem in the United States. It is a problem that grew much larger during quarantine with people in abusive relationships forced to stay inside with no means of escape. The fact sheet below is provided by Statistics at NCADV where you can find a breakdown of each state and every form of domestic violence across the globe.
Domestic Violence is usually a topic that remains hidden due to fear instilled in the victim. Some people are blinded by love and passion while others claw to escape and some become numb to the abuse. Domestic Violence can also take shape in three forms: Mental, Physical, and Emotional.
Mental abuse is usually playing mind games with the victim and practically training them to view themselves as lesser then. Through mental abuse they can gain a whole other level of control, which is what most abusers desire.
Through emotional abuse, the abuser uses your emotions against you to feel weak and believe that in order for you to survive, you need to keep them around. This could also include verbal abuse and being able to manipulate your emotions about certain topics as well.
Finally physical abuse is pretty straightforward. It tends to be exactly what you think, punches, kicks, burning, guns can even be involved, and any other form of physical violence against the victims body.
Domestic Violence is another topic that is pushed pretty far under the rug, but we need the survivors and the victims still struggling to know that we are all there for them.
Final Thoughts:
Like I have mentioned before, Jodi Picoult usually touches on some pretty sensitive topics in her writing. She barely touches on the problem of pushing Native Americans out of their land, but it seemed clunky and weirdly placed within this story. She also didn’t do a spectacular job of making a strong woman character for this role. However, the reason why this book received its rating was because some of the portrayal was rather accurate. For the most part it was subpar, but I don’t think I could bring myself to lower the rating anymore.
Out of all the speeches we have done so far, I think Speech 4 was my best speech given in my personal opinion. I can see the improvement on things, like maintaining eye contact, making sure there are pauses to insert emphasis, and speaking rather clearly compared to my others. As for my seriousness in this speech, I don’t think it’s too much since most of it is a serious topic. However, I believe that my personality fluctuates and the seriousness is balanced with a joke here or there to cause a lightheartedness to the topic.
One thing I personally still want to improve on is my organization. I think the beginning of this speech is really well organized, but the end kind of loses me a bit. I don’t realize it until I watch it back, and even then it stumps me because I’m not too sure how to make it any better. Continuing forward for the last two weeks, I really think I need to focus on the organization of my speeches and maybe start out in the outline to the progress from there.
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