Blog #5

For the evaluative summary, the thing that I would have done differently would be to evaluate the writing more. I believe that I gave a good summary, and expressed my feeling on it. I listed the things that I agreed with and disagreed with. If I would have expanded on my thought more, I think the evaluation would have worked out a lot better. My word usage was good in my mind, but changing a few things would have been good. To me evaluating something is giving my opinion on how it made me feel and what I believe. That part of evaluation is in my paper. I stated that I did not agree with the BMI and on the fact that is the way someone’s health is determined. Maybe if I sat down and rewrote the whole thing it might have been more of a complete evaluation. Doing a paper on a short article limits me as a writer because it confines the writing to someone else’s work and limits the thinking process to their feelings and opinions. I analyzed the article too much, and did not evaluate what was really being said in it. Maybe reading the article a few more times would have helped. This way I could have understood what was really being said, although it was pretty straight forward. Also, if I would have reread my paper a few more times I would have realized that I was not evaluating as much as analyzing. This paper needs a total overhaul and maybe it will follow the guidelines for the assignment a lot more.

Blog #3

Writing papers in groups is not the best thing. I enjoy doing group work but I have noticed that I do not like essay assignments in a group setting. I think it is hard to make it work with the differences in writing styles and idea processing. As it goes for learning something about myself as a writer as a part of a group is that I prefer to take charge and get my ideas across first. Sometimes having things done your way is the best thing, but who does not think that way. On the other hand, it is nice to have someone else’s input and at times I had to put my ideas and feelings aside about something when I heard a better idea from my partner.
The solo objective summary I thought was much easier to do, but also not having someone else’s input made it difficult to put things together. I have felt that at time I did not support my ideas well enough. Rushing through the paper does not work for me either. After getting it done I needed to read it through a few more times to get the result that would have satisfied me. While doing these two papers I have also noticed that my writing is unbalanced. Sometimes I cannot find the right amount of content. I either overuse something because it is just space filler, or I do not get enough of something in. There is still a lot of work to be done to achieve the level of writing that I am capable of.

Blog #2

With the diagnostic essay that we wrote in class it was hard to do have a limited amount of time to do it. I prefer to write alone in an environment that suits me. Plus going over errors while writing on the computer works better for me. I think I rushed through it too much. My strengths as a writer are limited, I believe that I do not put much effort in it because writing frustrates me and I just want to get it over with. I think if I concentrated more on it and not hated it so much I would do a much better job. But I think one of my strengths in the content and word use. I try to step away from typical and over used words and replace them with something different.  If I had a chance to do the essay all over again I would dedicate more time to it and have a different thought process on the subject. I think I kept it too simple.  Personally I do not enjoy writing; it is a chore for me. But I do prefer to write on my terms and in a place where I feel comfortable. Going back to weaknesses and strengths, my weakness is not trying to correct errors in a thought out way. I just do simple corrections, if I took more time the problems would be fixed in a more elaborate way. From English 101 to now I feel my writing has improved drastically.

Research Paper Free Write

Outside of class, there are many things that interest me. I am active in sports. I am an avid mountain biker, and also play in a flag football league. I also participated in sports through out my life, from team handball to football and track. I follow sports pretty much on everyday basis. SportsCenter is on when I wake up in the morning, and it is the first channel that comes up when I turn the television on. I also do fantasy sports, so my knowledge of sports is pretty good, although I do not call myself an expert. There is something about the competitiveness of sports that encourages me to follow it, participate in it, and watch it. Going to athletic events is also one of my favorite things to do.

Next one of my passions is nature. Some might call me a tree huger, that is fine. I feel that caring for the environment is essential for our survival and the survival of future generations. With that, I am also passionate about organic food over mass produced foods. Going to farmer markets or shopping at organic stores is a personal preferance, but the affects mass produced food has on our environment is pretty bad. Also I love to enjoy nature. Biking through forests or hilly regions is something that gives me peace inside my mind. Without wanting to preserve and protect such things I might not be able to enjoy them nor will our future generations.

Current events are something I follow on everyday basis. I feel that we need to know what is going on around the world. Being focused on one region and not knowing what is going on outside this country makes people closed minded. I have talked to people about the 33 miners in Chile stuck below the earth for two months now, and a lot of people did not even know that is happening right now. At times it blows my mind how little people know what is happening outside their own country that it is aggravating. But my frustrations not only pertain to people that do not know what is happening around the world but also in their own country. When the whole oil spill fiasco was happening the Gulf, I was people's personal news update because they were too lazy to read the news and find things out on their own. I believe that people should almost be forced to read or watch the news to educate themselves on current happenings around the globe.

Music and movies are a passion as well. I cannot go through the day without listening to some type of music. My music preferences are on the less traveled path. As i tend to hate the main stream disco garbage. Underground music is more appealing because of the grass roots of the whole thing. Although I love classic rock or even classical music, but that is what inspires many underground musicians as well the mainstream people. Plus listening to something that is never on the radio gives a topic for a good conversation. Also the people that attend the underground performances act and look a little different than your Miley Cyrus crowd. I also like hanging out with my hippie friends and listening to their jam band stuff because it is different and it all does not sound the same. In movies I like the smart movies, such as waking life. Although i might have to say that Pulp Fiction is my favorite movie, I still have not figured out what is in that briefcase.