At Times, I Struggle to Get Up in The Morning

Let us see, where do I start? Generally, I do not have a hard time getting up in the morning; my feet usually hit the floor before the alarm goes off. It is funny, often I have been called “Tigger” because of the energy that I have when I first wake up. Recently, it has been somewhat of a struggle to get my day going for several reasons. Deciding to go back to school after 30 years has been a huge impact on my biological clock. The demands of my courses and re-developing good study habits have kept me up late at night. I often wake up in the middle of the night solving math problems, writing essays, and thinking of what I need to do the next day. For the most part, when I first hit the bed, I can’t seem to turn my brain off. Another reason for struggling to get up in the morning is that my husband travels a lot due to our consulting business. When he returns home, we find ourselves talking until all hours of the night in order to make up for the time we have been away from each other. Furthermore, we sometimes start a conversation in the middle of the night that could last several hours before going back to sleep. Finally, I think the worst is going through menopause! I find myself waking up several times with night sweats and seem to toss and turn all night. In closing, in an effort to get a better night sleep, I have started using meditation and deep breathing exercises, which seems to help.

Reflection on "The Merchants of Cool"

In describing the effects that “The Merchant of Cool” has on culture, as outlined in the video, it is obvious that kids respond to cool, however, the big challenge for the corporate world is actually finding out what cool really means to teenagers. In order for corporations to create advertising that will attract teenagers, they must first find out what they are thinking about regarding food, clothes, movies, and music. Once an industry understands what “cool” means to teenagers, they can then create the culture that will attract consumers. One of the huge obstacles, however, is that once the industry understands what cool Is, then cool changes for the teenagers. It is a continuous cycle as trends in clothes, food, TV programs and music change based on the interest of the consumers. The effect of these phenomena on the teenage culture is dramatic, and it shows by the way girls and boys dress, talk, walk, and spend money. Girls attempt to dress like Britney Spears in order to be accepted, and they feel that showing their midriff is the only way they can show their sexuality. It is almost to the point that these young girls really do not have their own identity, but try to mirror someone else who is popular. Boys, on the other hand, are attracted to professional wrestling and rage rock music in order to be the “macho” man.

Although I have not been a teenager for a long time, I still like to feel as if I am cool and hip to not only my generation, but also the younger generation. I am confident “Cool Hunting” occurs in our country everyday and includes men and women of every age. I have a tendency to listen to younger bands and watch some of those obnoxious comedies that kids like. My favorite video game is the “Wii” and my grandchildren think I am cool when I get excited and crazy when playing the games with them. “Greys Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” are still my favorite TV shows although I never seem to have time to watch them. The actors in these programs are in my age group, they dress young and trendy, and they inspire me to go out and buy similar clothes more often in order to keep up with the trends. I also love to watch the most current fashion shows, and usually try to buy clothes that I like based on what I have seen. Actually, I am just a big kid at heart!!

Reflection on Illustation Essay

As I begin to reflect on my first illustration essay after being out of school for over 30 years, there are several points that immediately come to my mind. I am not sure if I even knew what an illustration essay was until we began talking about it in class. I really liked the way our teacher eased us into the assignment using magazine advertisements. Actually, it was a lot of fun for me to choose an advertisement, analyze the content, color and setting, and then develop and organize an essay based on my perceptions. Although I have looked at many advertisements in my lifetime, this is the first time I have ever truly dissected one. Today, each time I look at an advertisement, I find myself thinking about the concepts we have discussed in class relating to color, setting, character and audience. In regards to my specific paper, I was pleased that I was able to define the audience and purpose, and to develop ideas that supported my thesis statement. Initially, I struggled with the thesis statement, and it was difficult for me to get that first sentence down on paper. However, once I was able to capture my original thoughts on paper, more and more ideas began to flow into my mind. My biggest challenge in becoming a proficient writer at this point is being able to organize my thoughts into clear and concise statements. Based on the feedback from my illustration essay, I really need to work on connecting the introduction, the topic sentences and the conclusion back to the thesis statement. It is also evident that I need to improve my word choices and sentence structure. I do feel that I am improving in this area; however, I am not nearly as proficient at this as I want to be. Another deficient area where I need work is on grammar, spelling, and punctuation. After all, we can write a wonderful paper with lots of interesting ideas, but if we have errors in these areas, it is not a quality essay. My goals for the Comparison and Contrast Essay is to insure that I have a strong, well developed thesis statement, and to make sure I connect each paragraph and topic sentence back to this argument. Another major goal for this next paper is to create clear, focused, and concise sentences that have no grammar, spelling, or punctuation errors. Go for it Carrie!!

Comparing and Contrasting the Views of Two Writers

In comparing and contrasting, Daniel James’ essay on “Close the Borders to All Newcomers” and Steven Moore’s essay on “Give us Your Best, Your Brightest”; it is evident that the two writers take separate views on the immigration issue. James is clear that he believes immigrants are overcrowding the United States and costing our citizens millions of dollars. Moore on the other hand, believes that many of these immigrants actually benefit the American public and any drain on the US economy is offset by the contributions to the United States lifestyle especially the technology issue. James appears to be centering more on legal and non legal Mexican immigrants while Moore also takes Asians, Germans, Japanese ,and Koreans into account. While James feels the cost of educating the poor Mexican children is breaking our educational system, Moore’s attitude is that many of our brightest and best students are actually immigrants. He supports this belief by quoting that the highest percentage of valedictorians in public schools today is actually immigrants. Most of James’ argument in his article centers on overcrowding of America, and the cost of welfare, education, and health. He also comments on the jobs lost by Americans to legal and illegal Mexican immigrants. Steven Moore’s main issues are that we benefit by these immigrants both intellectually and physically. Moore feels that instead of being fiscal burdens, immigrants actually increase our revenues by almost 20 billion dollars per one million foreigners migrating to the United States. Moore’s argument appears to negate almost all of the negative comments made by Daniel James.

Rhetorical Modes of Persuasion

In identifying and describing rhetorical modes of persuasion, I selected an advertisement commercial that showed a father, mother and daughter telling a slow motion imitation story about driving without a seat belt.

The commercial began with the father sitting in a chair as if he was driving a car. For a few seconds everything appeared to be happy and serene. The initial scene was obviously one of happiness and contentment with his wife and daughter looking on as the father is taking a drive. This loving family picture depicted by the commercial definitely plays on our emotions of family, love, togetherness and support. In a matter of seconds it was evident that a problem had occurred with the father during his drive. There was fear on the father’s face and this panic transferred to the mother and daughter as they looked on in disbelief that an accident was about to happen. It became evident the father was not wearing a seat belt as his wife and daughter began moving toward him. The mother and daughter symbolized a seat belt as they both began locking their arms around his waist and his shoulders forming a human seat belt. There was a huge sense of relief when the mother and daughter came to his rescue.

By creating this sense of love, family, fear, danger, and relief, it is evident that this commercial played heavily on a strong pathos mode as their primary tool for persuasion. The message that we receive is that if we love our family, we will wear our seat belt. The scene of the mother and daughter playing the role of the seat belt signifies the logos mode by playing on our logic and reason. The underlying meaning is one of logos mode, as we all know statistics show we have a much better chance of surviving an accident if we wear a seat belt. The weakest mode portrayed by this commercial is the ethos mode. There is no famous character or authority figure, however, the love and strength of the family becomes the central characters and authority in this commercial by portraying the seat belt. After viewing this commercial at http://adland.tv/commercials/ssrp-sussex-safer-roads-partnership-embrace-life-2010-90-uk , if this doesn't encourage you to wear a safety belt, I don’t know what would.

My Personal Process For Writing

As I reflect on my own personal composing process for academic papers or creative writing, my first thought is that I like to start in plenty of time. It drives me crazy if I am caught up in a time crunch to get finished. I like to sit down at my kitchen table, spread all my books and notes out around me, and turn my iPod on to some nice relaxing classical music. My next step is to brainstorm the subject matter and maybe even do some research on the web that's pertaining to the topic. It’s also helpful for me to have a paper and pen close by because I seem to do my best thinking when I’m actually scribbling or doodling on a pad. I also like to have a lot of potential ideas about a specific starting point for my paper before I actually begin the writing process. An outline also seems to help me organize my thoughts into what I actually want to say. The most difficult step for me always seems to be getting that first starting sentence on paper. Once I’m happy with my opening sentence, I begin to look for other pertinent information to back up or support this statement. Because, I’m such a perfectionist, it’s very unusual for me to complete a paper at the first sitting. I typically get started and then think about it 24-7 until I finally complete the project. Actually it’s very difficult to get it out of mind until I put the finishing touches on the paper. It’s a great feeling when I finally push my chair back and say: “Yahoo, that’s it, I’m finished!

Who Am I?

In response to the article, "Who Am I",it was interesting for me to learn in the first paragraph that a writer’s craft includes their ability to create the mood, tone and voice of the reading. I have always liked to read certain author’s books, such as Nicolas Sparks, however, for the first time; I think I understand why. I like an author who can create this formal or informal mood the article talks about. With me, if I don’t get engaged within the first few pages, the author will lose me. As I reflect on this author’s ability to describe the setting, I hope I can create this same type of atmosphere with my own writing.

Wow! The comments in the “Dear Diary” entry nailed me to a tee. How did she know what I was thinking? I have all these wonderful thoughts in my mind, however, when I try to capture them on paper, I fear my thoughts will be wrong or make no sense to the reader. I have found that if I walk away from the pen and paper, my thoughts just flow without stopping. The quote from Maureen O’Leary is true, when I start to put my thoughts on paper; I know it is the “least of my individual voice”. I know practice will help build the confidence I need to capture my audience.

It’s evident from the article that communication and clarity is the goal of good writing, however, it’s the voice that gives it the spice. My goal this semester is to improve confidence in my writing skills and find my own personal voice.