Journal #3
My past teachers never truly expressed a method or how important it is to correctly quote, besides making sure to correctly give credit to the source. But after reading this chapter “The Art of Quoting” from “They Say I Say” I feel that I have gained a solid frame on how to go about adding more or less quotes into my writing. Especially when it comes to making sure you clearly explain a quotes significance to the reader. To not leave a “Hit and Run Quote”. As a writer I have in the past failed to successfully introduce a quote and explain it afterwards. The templates given in this chapter make avoiding a hit and run quote very easy. There are multiple examples to make sure you don’t sound repetitive and/or to diversify your writing.Not only does this chapter give you correct examples, but it also shows you incorrect ways writers commonly either over analyze quotes or introduce their quotes. This definitely was the most important part of the chapter for me because this is where I have struggled as a writer and being able to compare both right and wrong examples is a huge help. Otherwise, making sure the quote is relevant to my passage hasn’t been hard for me to do. But lastly, I do recognize that I don’t very often revise my work or ask another person to read it. In order for my writing to improve this is a step I need to become more interactive with.
Journal #4
This article by Lizzie Widdicombe caught my attention from the very start. After reading the first paragraph one can question, how does this have any relation to the title “The End Of Food”. The articles first paragraph tells a story of three young men living in a cramped apartment in San Francisco who received a one hundred and seventy thousand dollar investment from the incubator Y Combinator to support their plans of making inexpensive cell phone towers. Unfortunately their project was a failure and the three men still had seventy thousand dollars to come up with new software ideas. Now moving on, the men are living on a tight budget and one of the entrepreneurs has gained a disliking to the burden of eating food and buying it. His name, Rob Rhinehart. He believed that food was such an inefficient way to gather the energy and nutrients our body needs. So after experimenting different diets, he decided to approach this issue like an engineering problem. Being an electrical engineer, he now wanted to take a break from that and explore the fields of nutritional biochemistry. So Rob developed a list of 35 nutrients required for human survival and presumed to buy them all in raw form off the internet. I can not believe how he came up with this idea since it is just a daily function to eat everyday for humans. And now Rob wants to stop eating and just simply add water to these raw components and drink them for his meals? the idea still sounds ridiculous to me but still very much so genius at the same time. He called his invention Soylent after an old movie. Going thirty days living off this Soylent Rob said he felt great! He hadn’t eaten a bite of food in a month and his concoction was proving to work as a substitute for food. Life hackers wanted to know all about it after Rob shared his idea online. Since this invention grasped the attention of many people Rob was able to get over a million dollars donated to contribute to this cause and he now is focusing on making the soylent even better instead of pursuing his electrical engineering career.
One of the things I enjoyed the most too is how Rhinehart kept the name of his product as Soylent even though many people advised him against it due to the depressing nature of the name. But that seemed to be why he wanted to keep the name. And he still didn’t like the idea of adding flavoring to the Soylent because he enjoyed the bland taste.
Journal #5
This chapter explains the importance of mastering your writing. First off giving the basic information on how to make a solid introduction by proving templates on page 2. Then when introducing an idea it is important to make your writing sound like a response to your readers. Using terms like they say, and then branching off that idea to represent your opinion is a great way to explain your ideas. It also very important to make sure the reader understands why you are telling them what you are telling them, which is easily backed up by supporting your claims.
The part of this chapter that helped me the most was on page 10, ” Disagreeing without being disagreeable.” This is such a great skill to have as a writer because you are showing the reader that you fully understand the point of view you don’t agree with while providing a point of view you clearly are in agreement with. Templates of how to properly criticize others opinions are extremely helpful for my writing as well. Finally, making sure your still sound original and creative after using templates is crucial. Many have asked if this is a form of plagiarism and in a way it possibly could be, but the words used are to common for it to be considered plagiarism in my opinion.
Journal #6
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GQdtzH_hKO0qa6WFTCLKGxJkn9HDJq-VQxkNhlpNxEw/edit?ts=5c66fb81
Are We Even Human peer review.docx
Journal #7
Journal #8
This chapter of “They Say, I Say” surely taught me a lot about how introduce others idea’s. It is awesome that on page 23 that there are templates provided as well. These templates provide us examples of how to properly introduce something others are saying. Next, I learned about the standard view of some topics. This is when a view of a topic has become so widely accepted that it is now the conventional way of thinking about a topic. Templates are also provided on how to start these sentences as well. This definitely will allow me to make my writing much stronger so I can challenge topics more strongly. Another thing I have always seemed to struggle with is keeping what they say in view. This will allow your readers to stay engaged in your writing. You can do so by making sure even when you present new claims that they still always return to the primary topic or motivate the “they say” of your essay.
Journal #10
Steven Imbrenda
ENG 110-G
Professor Jesse Miller
Passage #3
Page 16 paragraph 2
This paragraph brings in an extremely interesting connection between most of the points within the overall article. I love the aspect of bringing in the maybe question. It almost gets the reader to think about solidifying an opinion on the subject at hand and makes them question themselves. It discusses the paradox and how it might not be how it seems at all. In fact, it discusses that maybe we throw ourselves into watching these cooking shows because we miss the aspect of cooking ourselves. Which would be easily understandable. The interesting point though is that Pollan brings in that maybe we do not cook more now because we don’t believe we have time. But if we have time and make time for television programs than why don’t we compare this time in any other way. If it is true that cooking is something we so desperately want back in our lives, and not completely go away than why don’t we make the time for it? Why is it not a priority for most people today? I must wonder if its due to the convenience that now comes with prepared meals and food as well as fast food restaurants that take 5 minutes to give you food.
Page 4, second paragraph
In this passage, Pollan introduces a paradoxical statistic in which our society has experienced an influx in popularity of cooking shows but a decline in people cooking for themselves. He claims cooking has been influenced by the incorporation of women into the workforce and food companies convincing Americans to let them do the cooking. He claims that it is easier to give up cooking than it is to give up talking about it and watching it. I agree with Pollan’s point here because I know that I like to watch cooking shows with my mom, but we often sit there watching them with an order of Pad Thai from our local take out restaurant. We love to watch others cook, and it is a way for us to relax after a hard day at work or in class, something that cooking for an hour does not offer. Therefore, Pollan’s mention about women entering the workforce has validity in the sense that they now have more tasks per day and a lot less time to continue to conform to gender roles. Fast food and processed food also give us shortcuts to lessen the time we spend in the kitchen after a busy day. It is the culprit of our fast-paced world that has forced us out the kitchen and into the line at the drive thru window.
Page 12 – first paragraph on page
In this paragraph, Pollan makes the claim that Food Network has turned cooking into something you watch rather than something that you do. My response to this opinion is complicated. While I agree that the Food Network relies largely on fast paced competition shows like “Iron Chef” and my personal favorite “Chopped” rather than Julia Child’s instructional videos, they are catering to what their audience wants to watch. It does inspire the audience to sit in front of the TV and watch, but isn’t this their goal as a network? I would say the Network has changed to fit the lifestyles of busy individuals. There are instructional shows on during the day, and even though Pollan claims these are over-edited to take out waiting time, it allows the network to get more recipes on the show per day. People who watch can easily look up these recipes on their iPhone if they want to replicate the dish. At night, the network puts on the entertainment shows which allow those who have been at work all day watch something to unwind. Even though the landscape of this kind of TV has changed since Julia Child, I do not believe it is the fault of the network because the network is built around the fast-paced society we live in today.
Journal #12
By emphasizing global comments over local comments in peer review this shows a huge change from any other English class I have done peer reviews in before. I had a lot of local comments in my first peer review for paper #1 with few global comments to help my peer add more evidence and ideas that could be useful in the essay. On the other hand, in my second peer review i had seemed to understand the concept of why we do the peer reviews more and how much it can help each others writing. I had numerous amounts of global comments in the second peer review and they were most likely much more helpful than simple majority of local comments I made in paper #1. My second peer review session definitely was more effective in that I felt very confident in helping others expand on their ideas, organize the essay, and even make their evidence stronger. For our third paper I am expecting of myself and my peer reviewers to have mastered the how the peer review process goes and to be able to make the writer realize how much better they can always make something be.
Journal #12b
After listening to this podcast, the first thing that comes to my mind is how weird it is to actually think about death. And how scary it must be to have the job of embalming or working in a crematorium. I am most interested in the idea that Caitlin Doughty thinks the whole process has a romantic aspect to itself. Meanwhile, she is being covered in the ashes of burned corpses while at work. I personally think that I would never be able to have this job either since the worker is commonly there all alone with all the dead bodies in the crematorium. I also had no idea that the closest kin in relation to a dead body has full power over what happens to it. I thought it was possibly a law to either burn dead bodies or host a funeral and bury them. I am concerned about all the chemicals that go into embalming because the bodies that buried will eventually allow for these chemicals to escape into the environment. Also, I had no idea how expensive the embalming process was!
Journal #13
Paper 2 was definitely a challenge for me but I seemed to have a better understanding since it was a similar process to our first paper. Having spring break in the middle of the process wasn’t the best for me though because I didn’t get a lot done over this break since I wanted to spend time with family while I was home. The peer review process for this paper was also not as effective for me as the first paper was. I feel it was more rushed and/or just not as clear as paper 1. Despite these hard comings, I thought I had developed a well-written essay after going to SASC for writing support and rearranging quotes and ideas constantly throughout my process to make everything fit best. I quoted Pollan a lot throughout the beginning of my essay then transitioned into bringing my peer’s favorite meal essays in to relate to my thesis. The process of writing paper 2 was a lot easier to approach having finished the first one. The process for the first paper seemed daunting, but for this project, I was able to break the work down into pieces to make it more manageable. There weren’t so many specific word count deadlines as with the first paper, but once I got into the rhythm of writing it seemed easier.
Journal #14
After reading “What The Crow Knows” by Ross Anderson, I believe that Jainism is a beautiful idea on which to live. They forbid violence not only against humans but also against Animals. Science has proven that most animals are conscious and now are just trying to determine which are not. If everyone had the same beliefs as the Jains, we would have an extremely nonviolent way of life throughout the world and animals would be respected at the same value as humans. If we truly wanted to give animals the same moral values as humans with respect to emotions, how sustainable would our society be food wise? Science still doesn’t have a concrete definition for the meaning of the word consciousness, but we do know that in some way for everyone that our brain processes your surroundings and shows us signals to give us a picture and understanding of the world. And the fact that we still don’t know whether or not animals are conscious yet meanwhile we slaughter and abuse them is a disgrace. Animals constantly try and communicate with us such as the crow using a special call when it wanted food under Singh’s care. The mirror test conducted at the hospital shows me enough evidence that animals are conscious. I hope we can all live together in harmony one day with animals and figure out how to communicate with them so we can understand their feelings.
Journal #15
Paragraphs 1+2 page 1: These two paragraphs are significant because they explain why Judith became a vegetarian at the age of 12. It was because she didn’t think it was morally right to kill animals just because they tasted good. But she still saw no problem with eating fish because she didn’t view them as animals. Her morals remained consistent until she met Joseph Weldon, who is a graduate in Biology. He eats meat and tried to convince Judith that there is absolutely no difference between eating a land animal and a sea creature. Using science to back his claim up, he explains how both are vertebrates with brains and evident socials lives.
Paragraph 3 page 2: In this paragraph, it explains how a 25-year-old who previously worked in a poultry research lab with the job of dispatching baby hicks at the end of experiments. Originally, Jim did not think much of this issue until he read an article from The Animals’ Agenda magazine, which advocates animal rights. This changed his way of thought forever and he never ate meat again.
Paragraph 4 + 5 page 5: This passage talks about the morality of animal testing in a laboratory. This is something that has been called into question for many years. We as humans think that it is immoral to do testing on humans although it is completely ok that these innocent animals that have no say can be tortured and tested in a lab. And it’s all for our benefit. The idea that we as humans who value our own lives so much are so easily willing to take another form of life away so nonchalantly disgusts me. Sacrificing animals for research to better humans way of life does not make sense.
Journal #16
The first time I read David Foster Wallace’s piece “Consider the Lobster”, I didn’t have much of change in perspective as I have had this time around re-reading it. I consider myself a very big fan of eating lobster and can say that it is definitely one of my favorite meals. I grew up on Long Island and my family would love having lobster dinners. Playing with the live lobster was always one of my favorite things to do beforehand as a little boy because of how fascinating I thought they were. And growing up around this environment of playing with my food while it was still alive before boiling it to its death has been a normal thing for me my entire life. And I have never seen a problem with this action until reading this piece from David Foster Wallace. He uses a very strong vocabulary to describe how cynical the entire process really is. Although I am most likely never going to stop eating lobster because of this, I have gained a new perspective on this topic and an understanding as to why some people have a problem with this method of eating lobster. There is still a grey area as too how the lobsters perceive pain and I can say in my opinion that they are more similar to that of a bug rather than an animal. Since their nervous system doesn’t connect to the brain it is rather difficult to believe that they feel pain but obvious to believe they would rather not be lowered into a vat of boiling water due to their great situational awareness. The only other thing to consider is how is this any different from eating any other type of animal though? On farms chickens, cows, pigs, etc. are slaughtered for their meat all the time. In my mind, this is just another way of eating which everyone has to do to survive.
Journal #17
When writers plant a naysayer int their text it may seem contradictory for the writer themselves, but it actually strengthens the writers’ views. on page 78, the example provided to incorporate it into our own writing is “Although some readers may object…”. This concept of adding a naysayer is new to me because I did not know this was a skill that writers can use. It is also odd because I know for a fact I am usually not happy when others criticize my writing. But this is a skill that is very effective cause not only does it make your writing stronger but opens your mind to learn from others views. By entertaining counterarguments into your work you can prove to the reader that you are not a closed-minded thinker and do not view them as gullible dopes that should be expected to believe your writing blindly. All the templates provided in this section allow us to use these naysayers very effectively without seeming like you are questioning your own points as well which is a problem I encounter in my writing a good amount of the time as well. It is also mentioned on page 82 to be sure to not label anyone as this may make people discredit your writing or make them feel stereotyped. You want the reader to feel as confidently open-minded as you are with your work. And when you introduce your objections be sure to remain constantly fair to not be leaning towards any other viewpoints more than the other.
Journal #18
Foer gives up meat and in return, he is losing the stories that were served with the meat he used to eat. Foer quotes, ” To give up the taste of sushi, turkey or chicken is a loss that extends beyond giving up a pleasurable eating experience.” What I believe Foer is trying to get at here is that he is not only losing the great taste that goes along with these meals but by letting tastes fade from his memory creates a kind of cultural loss, a forgetting of memories from his childhood. Nonetheless, Foer believes that this forgetfulness is worth it because he is gaining cultivation to discover other handles that can provide similar memories to those he used to have.
Foer introduces the question of pleasure when it comes to deciding on what it is best to eat. This question is a lot deeper then it seems because if pleasure is all you care about when it comes to eating then you are claiming that you do not care about how the food gets to you, whether the animals you get your food from are being severely mistreated and put down for our convenience without thinking about the consequences on the planet. But on the other hand, if we do not consider our own pleasure when it comes to eating will we be able to remain satisfied with our beliefs and traditions we acquired those meals from?
Journal 19:
Part 1: The place I seem to get the most work done is in the library because my room is usually too loud for me to focus in with everybody talking. When I am in the library I can focus and usually let my best thoughts come out while I listen to music and not worry about talking to anyone. It is most likely the quietness and loneliness that allows for my full potential to come out for writing and brainstorming. There would definitely be a big difference in my work efficiency is I did my works anywhere else.
Part 2: Compared to papers 1 and 2 I believe this paper is much more in-depth with its topics and philosophies. This paper’s questions might be even more of an internal struggle for me as well as it has already made me question some of my own lifestyle choices. I think it is hard enough to just think about these topics let alone talking about them and turning it into writing. In overall difficulty, this probably will be the hardest paper to write but it should go the smoothest since we have already gone through this process twice.
Journal #20
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jz9fOycZGlsHJmvZ78wiTPCt3zyyX_FBc_-XtCW5g1Y/edit?ts=5cab8088
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aFOG8N1RyDn53VPGHYQxZdG5LFLuZ6WC57sS1Q__gAs/edit?ts=5cab8073
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MpiVXwny0wIaOWOPD6JoQpIIn2V_hoV3bySBYXk4lCA/edit?ts=5cab803d
Journal #21
