Chapter 16 Lunsford et al

The main point of chapter 16 is about different kinds of evidence and how you can utilize them in your writing or your arguments. In every argument it is crucial that you have a reliable source of evidence or there would be no point in arguing. Whether you’re arguing or debating it all boils down to the evidence you have. Think of evidence as your ammo for the war.

On pages 470-471 Lunsford et al. talks about Evidence and the Rhetorical solution. It talks about how we use a variety of evidence to make or support claims. The main focus is that evidence is judged on how it was collected, who collected it, and why. Sometimes the evidence you use can work in one place and not in the other. For example in Lunsford, tells us that a Marine general should employ the same tactics or strategies that George Washington used to win the Revolutionary war. I’m sure you can figure out the problem here. How can a military general use the same tactics as George Washington did 233 years ago? Technology has vastly evolved from the good old’ days. No one uses cannons any more or gunpowder. This reveals that some evidence can be very irrelevant.

From Lunsford et al I learned about Firsthand Evidence and Research. To me, this is the most important tool to use in your writing. Firsthand evidence comes from research that you have done yourself and collected data from. I had one life experience similar to what Lunsford teaches us about Firsthand Evidence and research.

When I was a junior is high school, teachers and parents were bugging me about which college I wanted to go to, RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology) or Gallaudet University. My friends were telling me which college I should go to and why. I was stuck between the two since both universities fits my needs and wants. For example, RIT has the hearing interaction that Gallaudet doesn’t. I want that but at the same time do I really want that? On the other hand, Gallaudet is based on deaf history and Liberal Arts. To solidify my decision the summer of my junior year, I went to EYF (Explore Your Future) program offered by RIT to give sophomores and juniors a taste of what college life would be on RIT’s campus for 5 days. I went last summer and I loved it. I met people from all over the world ranging from Zimbabwe to Hawaii. You only experience that once in a lifetime. I was so sure that I was going to be a RIT freshman.

That same year I attended Gallaudet’s open house in November with friends. When I first set foot on Gallaudet’s campus, it felt as if I was walked into something “supernatural” and I just felt like wow there’s no hearing people its just you, yourself, and your signs. To me, Gallaudet is my own personal deaf island. After the open house visit, I was still awestruck about the history of Gallaudet and the accessibility around campus. Which concluded my decision why I’m here before you today.

Basically, what I really have to say is that evidence you gather from yourself is better from getting it from other people because if you consider evidence from others to make a decision, you’ll be making a decision based on THEIR point of view and needs instead of YOURS. So always base your decision on first-hand evidence it’s the best way to go.

Formal Evalution of Pan's Labyrinth

Del Toro’s Pan's Labyrinth is easily one of the most creative films ever made in this era. The way he uses disobedience is spectacular. He really thought outside the box in making this movie or better yet, he tore the box up. Del Toro took us into his own little world and told us an unforgettable story about disobedience. In his movie, disobedience is everywhere from the lighting of the movie, the fairy tale concept, and the characters.
Disobedience is the focal point of the movie and it’s what Del Toro wants to instill in our minds. Everything the characters did was related to disobedience. If there wasn’t a scene where the character didn’t show disobedience, Del Toro showed it in a different, subtle way. For example in Pan’s Labyrinth, every scene was dark and gloomy. Bright colors were scarce in this movie. Usually, movies have a bright background or colors to capture the audience attention. Del Toro did the op posite he used dark, melancholy colors to make us feel out of place. Also, I realized in other movies when someone dies the whole scene turns dark and gloomy but when Ofelia died, the scene became cheerful and vibrant. Isn’t that weird?
We are all familiar with the fairy tale concept or the damsel in distress. Like Rapunzel or Snow White. In Pan’s Labyrinth Ofelia dies, when in other fairy tales, there’s always a knight in shining armor ready to save the day. Ofelia didn’t have a knight in shining armor. She wasn't saved and died on the cold labyrinth floor. Even if she did have a knight in shining armor to rescue her from her cold stepfather, Ofelia wouldn’t go into the “afterlife” and become a princess. That's one major part of the story that really makes you think.
The whole picture shows us that in life we live there’s a certain “norm” everyone agrees on. And at time we have to do things that we don’t want to. Either way someone has to die. That’s the way things work in this modern world no matter how much we deny it. For example, her own stepfather at the end of the movie shot Ofelia. We knew it was coming but we didn’t want it to happen. Or how about the man that had his nose bashed in repeatedly by the butt of the gun?
It’s weird how we expect things to be perfect and harmonious while at the same time we ignore the gut feeling that things can go wrong.

THE PURDUE OWL

The power point about the Purdue OWL on Friday opened my eyes to so many things. I learned about different anatomies of arguments such as counterclaims, rebuttals, warrants, and claims. I never knew that there were different elements of arguments. A counterclaim is when you set up a claim in opposition to a previous claim. Rebuttal is evidence that negates or disagrees with the counterclaim. A warrant is why or how the information you find supports your claim. A claim is your thesis or your opening statement. While I was exploring the power point on my own time, I realized that this rubric in use of the Purdue OWL could really take our writing to the next level if you use the right tools. Purdue OWL is a lifesaver for every college student in America.
For some reason, I cannot get acquainted with any of these rubrics except for the Lunsford 11. The Gallaudet critical thinking rubric is confusing for me and makes me very prone towards writer’s block. But now thanks to the Purdue owl website, my problems vanish and gave me better understanding of what the GU rubric demands from our writing. The Owl made me realize the huge gap in my writing is “synthesis.” I never have any problem with getting my ideas on paper but stringing them together is another story. So now whenever I get stuck on a paper or I need someone to revise my work for any errors, I could do it myself with the aid of the Purdue OWL. It’s like I have my own personal teacher right on my computer screen.
On the Owl website, I found a link called Creative Writing and clicked on it. Right before my very eyes were tools that I can use to make my writing more creative and understandable rather than having it all over the place making it arduous for the readers to follow what I’m trying to say. Before I knew about this website I had no idea what the APA format was and now I’m using it pretty well. The only thing I’m bummed about is that whenever there’s a big writing project due, I can’t use the excuse, “ I didn’t understand the prompt or I got stuck” because the Purdue OWL is available 24/7 for your needs and wants. Basically, I highly recommend using the Purdue Owl website and I guarantee it will never cease to fail you.


Here's the website link if you want to learn more about this website: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

Pan's Labrynith

Pan's Labyrinth is easily the most visual abstract movie I ever saw in my life. The way Del Toro was able to take his vision and put it in movie form. I was impressed it took him two years to produce this movie. He even lost 45 pounds in the process. When you hear about that, you can't just not think about the dedication and perseverance Del Toro had.
I like how at the beginning of the movie, Del Toro starts it off with Ofelia laying on the ground bleeding. It definitely drew my attention and I wanted to find out why was she bleeding? What happened to her? Where is she? From that point on, I was hooked. In this movie, everything was abstract. From the costumes to the setting, I got a creepy, gloomy vibe. The main reason Del Toro created this movie was to instill a sense of disobedience in our minds. He disobeyed basically every rule in making a movie. I'm sure somewhere in the director's guide of making movies there's something that says "Bright colors is a must and cheery vibe is needed to capture the audience attention" Del Toro did the opposite. He chose heavily saturated colors to use as his palette. The characters were always wearing something dark. For example, Faun's fairies ate meat and looked very glum. That's how I came up with the "anti-tinkerbell" idea.

The turning point in the movie was when Ofelia's mother died. During that point, I got a feeling that the captain told the doctor to make sure Ofelia's mom die and save the baby. That was just immoral. I hated it when Ofelia’s mother made her call the captain, “Dad” To me, that was very wrong on so many levels. Ofelia is just a young kid. It’s hard for little kids to deal with a loss of a parent. You can tell in the movie that Ofelia took the loss of her father very hard. She refused to call the captain “Dad” and I give her kudos for that. I also felt so bad for Ofelia and I felt her pain. What did she do to deserve such things to happen to her?
Del Toro reveals the severity of fascism in the movie. Fascism robs people of their individuality to feed the greed of one person to achieve superiority. You can imagine how people around the world deal with this matter every day. We should be thankful we live in a democracy rather than having a communist, or fascist America. God Bless America.

Rhetorical Analysis

Freedom of speech can mean many things and cause different outcomes. Every now and then its clarified and sometimes misunderstood. The hanging of the confederate flag by two students at Harvard University mentioned by Derek Bok in Lunsford et al. 2009:123-125 was quite disturbing. In the Bill of rights, the first amendment protects the right of freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference. Sometimes people interpret that statement “freedom of expression” in an unjust way. Just because you’re free to do whatever you want doesn’t mean you can do something that’s insensitive and harms more people than it gives satisfaction to others.

When you look at a confederate flag a bunch of words pops into your head slavery, segregation, white supremacy etc. Whether those two students wanted to show pride that they’re from the south, they should’ve been more sensitive to other people’s feelings. I think in this society we live in today, people are losing their character every step along the way. For example, look at rap music and the use of the N-word. Before in the past everyone took the word very seriously and you couldn’t say the word without sparking any type of controversy. Nowadays, you hear it over and over on the radio, everyday life, and in normal conversations. People just don’t care anymore and if Dr. King knew this was happening, he definitely would be turning in his grave. What saddens me even more is that in result of the confederate flag being shown, another student had the audacity to roll up a swastika. Haven’t your mother always told you, “Two wrongs don’t make a right?”

In response to Derek Bok’s article, Milena Ateya analyzed that Bok despised the actions of the three students but he doesn’t believe we should make such actions illegal just because we disagree with them. I like how she pointed out that Bok didn’t make the effort to talk to the students to help them understand the emotional distress they caused others.

Subjected to my believes,freedom of speech is like a double-edged sword. Yes, it’s good to express your feelings for whatever reason but at the same time—your personal satisfaction could be used at another person’s expense. We are all made to think differently so that no matter what topic we talk about, there’s always going to be clash of different opinions.

"Nafsi in Lunsford

The argument Nafsi is presenting is the way we connect to one another throughout "mysterious connections." Her mysterious connection to her life story was Huckleberry Finn. She mentioned that a woman was shot to death in a football stadium in Kabul because she was dressed improperly. That is really shocking how a country let some else shoot their eyeballs out, It's just silly. What does it mean exactly to dress improper? I believe that everyone should dress in their own unique way and style. I wonder why Muslims tend to have the most ridiculous regimen for example, women can't show their face in public. Nafsi used this article based on characters and values. She mentioned that Huck Finn helped the slave, even thought she knew it was forbidden. Sometimes, you just have to do the right thing no matter what and stand up for what you believe in cause if you do, you'll feel a surge of self-righteousness flow in your veins.

""List of This I believe"

1. Honesty
2. Treat others the way you want to be treated
3. Respect other people's opinions, no one is always right
4. Be Humble
5. Always look on the bright side no matter what happens in life.
6. Never steal what's not yours
7. Respect your elders
8. Try and be a role model for kids
9. Always give back to your community where you grew up
10. Take care of your parents in their old age, no matter what happens.

Ariel Dorfman “If only we all spoke two languages” reaction

Dorfman's article about bilingualism really interested me. I always wondered why people in other countries called America a "mixing pot" when we focus on one language, English. To live up to the title of "mixing pot" I feel that it should be mandatory for people in America to learn a second language of their choice. I mean it isn't fair for other countries to learn our language if we can't do the same. As Dorfman wrote this argument, I felt that she was very on point with his feelings about America's school system rejecting bilingual education. She referred to America as a "stubborn monolingual country" I totally agree with him. In my opinion, the more languages you learn equals numerous opportunities knocking on your door, cultural diversity, and self-gratification. I can relate Dorfamn when she was a child sick in the isolation ward of a Manhattan hospital. She was shocked that the doctors and nurses only spoke to her in English and from that point on, she didn't speak Spanish for the next ten years. When I just entered in high school, I was kind of apprehensive about the deaf people there and I was asking myself, "Are they going to hate me because I don't sign? Would they accept me?" After that first day of being immersed in the deaf world, I loved it. I even caught myself signing to my parents at home numerous times. I loved everything about sign language how different movements, emotions, and your fingers are used to create a story. Now, looking at myself I can call myself a bilingual American since I do know how to sign and talk. Learning a second language is challenging but it's worth it. The feeling you get when you push yourself to learn something new is amazing. In the process of learning a new language, you'll learn more things about yourself, relate to another individual's culture and their way of life.

GSR 102-1

Who am I? You will never know. I guess I could tell you a handful of things about myself. I'm 17 going on 18 in December. I LOVE to play basketball with my friends. Music is my life, I can't imagine my life without it and my favorite color is red. If you ever buy me a half-gallon of cookie dough ice cream, I will love you. I was born into a hearing family who had no experience with deaf people. You could say when I was born, my parents were also born into the deaf world. When I was a 3 months old, my doctor said that since I was deaf, I could not talk. My mom was livid. She went to all the doctors in the state looking for a different diagnosis but they all were the same. Luckily, I had a mom who really cared about me. She bought me hearing aids at a young age and every night she will read to me until I fell asleep. When I was about a year old, my first word was "please". My mom was crying that her deaf son could talk, it was like a dream come true. As I was growing up I didn't have any deaf friends nor knew any. From 1st grade to 8th grade I was mainstreamed in a public school. It was challenging but I was lucky to have the whole class supporting me and always having my back. Up to this day, we still keep in contact. How often do you come across friends like that? Then the summer of 05' came. I was all ready to go to PCTI (Passaic County Technical Institute) a trade school close to my hometown. I was very psyched to see my friends all over again. All of a sudden, my parents had the audacity to tell me at the last minute that I would be going to MLHS (Mountain Lakes High School) a school 25 min away. The school also had a deaf program. I was so pissed. I couldn't believe they could do that to me and yank me away from my friends like that. Later that day I calmed down and decided to suck it up and go with the flow. On the first day of school, as I approached this entirely new environment, I saw people signing in a group. For the first time in my life, I saw sign language, seriously. They came up to me and started signing away, my guess was that they saw my hearing aids and assumed I could sign but I couldn't. I've never signed before in my life so we communicated on paper. I decided to take sign language classes but my friends insisted that they will teach me. As you can see, it was a success! I was signing like a native in 2 months. I would never forget that moment to finally accomplish something that would take people months or even years to do. Usually when a deaf person meets someone who's also deaf but cant sign, they tend to get frustrated and just forget about you. Luckily, I had friends who believed and cared about me. Right now, there are a handful of people on Gallaudet campus who taught me how to sign including my roommate. I will never forget that special group who taught me how to sign, they will always have a special place in my heart.