IP REVIEW

I did not like doing the Issues Paper! I thought it was by far the hardest paper we've done so far! I liked having several rough drafts due before the final due date so that I did not wait to start it until the night before like some of my friends from other classes did.  I think that the most annoying thing about the Issues Paper was tying it back to globalization.. its so boring!

Made of Honor

Made of Honor follows the typical romantic comedy plot line.  You can pretty much figure out exactly what is going to happen by watching a one minute preview.  Tom and Hannah are best friends.  Tom is a ladies man.  Hannah gets called to work in Scotland, and while she is gone Tom realizes that he is in love with her.  Hannah comes back and surprise, surprise she is engaged.  She asks Tom to be her maid of honor, and he accepts in attempts to sabotage the wedding.  In the last scene, Tom and Hannah get in a fight, but of course Tom ends up bursting through the doors of the church right as the priest is asking if anyone objects to the marriage.  Hannah runs up and kisses him, calls off the wedding, and Tom and Hannah live happily ever after.  Most romantic comedies follow this sort of plot line.  Fall in love --> get in fight ---> make up ---> live happily ever after.  I feel like I am ragging on chick flicks, but the truth is that even though I know what is going to happen before the movies starts... I LOVE watching them! And I get very angry at endings to movies like the Break Up.. where they ACTUALLY break up in the end.

sources

ttp://www.icna.org/family/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=70&Itemid=4

http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre2004050700&type=hitlist&num=0

http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2010/09/29/US-marriage-rate-continues-to-decline/UPI-77271285810979/

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/17/us/rate-of-marriage-continues-decline.html

http://www.civitas.org.uk/hwu/cohabitation.php

Marriage and cohabitation By Arland Thornton, William G. Axinn, Yu Xie

issues paper

poverty --- globalization allows more countries to become industrialized which reduces poverty --- poor countries are able to receive food because of improved transportation --- education in impoverished countries is improving because of more unified standards --- more unified standards of living --- world organizations that help impoverished countries

Peer Reviews & RA

I really enjoyed doing this peer review.  I thought it was a lot more helpful than the last one.  I liked having more than one person read it because it gave me a chance to hear the input of a few different people, and some people had different opinions than others.  I really enjoyed the whole process of writing the Rhetorical Analysis (as much as you can enjoy writing an English paper.)  I liked how we had the two previous rough drafts due again.  It helped me to work on my paper over a longer period of time.  I was also able to take my paper to writing lab again which I found super helpful.  They had a lot of good ideas for me to think about applying to my paper.  I also liked being able to go into the supplemental guide and read an example of a Rhetorical Analysis.  I have never written one before, and I  was not quite sure what was expected of me.  However, reading the RA example gave me an idea of where to start and how to go about writing and organizing my paper.  Overall, I thought the whole process went really well.

Figurate Language

In "Put Your Money Where Their Mouths Are," the article I am analyzing for my Rhetorical Analysis, some different forms of figurative language are used.  He uses an allusion to the Christmas Carol in the following sentence: "Look, I feel like Scrooge when I speak out against bans on sweatshops on on child labor."  He also used alliteration in the phrase "high horses." He also has a negative tone towards people who are working to ban child labor which persuades the audience to also think poorly on them.  These are the examples of figurative language that I found in my paper.

Rhetorical Analysis Thesis

"Put Your Money Where Their Mouths Are" uses starling statistics, anecdotes, and first hand experiences as an effective argument to convince over eager middle class citizens to put an end to the underlying issues of poverty and below par education in third world countries before outlawing the child labor that result from it.

Rhetorical Analysis

I am thinking about doing the article "Put Your Money Where Their Mouths Are" by Nicholas D. Kristof.

Audience(s):
I think the audience of this article is Democrats, humanitarians, and anyone who works to end child labor laws without really considering the effects on third world countries.
 
Current and/or contemporary events:
The 1993 U.S. Child Labor Deterrence Act along with other attempts to get rid of child labor laws

Profession/ race/ socioeconomic status:
I think this is geared towards middle class people living in developed countries.  It could apply to people of all professions and races.

Ideologies:
Democrats and warm-fuzzy humanitarians.

Issues of Importance:
Bans on child labor laws keep children from working and providing for their families.  They can't go to school because in many places there are no schools nearby so instead children sit at home while their families starve.  Instead of putting bans on child labor laws people should donate to the World Food Program which provides food to children who attend schools which encourages children to attend.  People should help the local economies before trying to "fix the problem" with laws that make the peoples' lives worse.

Opponents:
Those who adamantly believe that child labor laws should be abolished.

Major fears/worries:
Their fears are that the people who live in third world countries lives will be made even worse because of child labor laws.

OpEd Reflection

I thought that the process of the Opinion Editorial went very well.  I liked that we had two rough drafts due before the final paper.  This motivated me to work on my paper over a longer period of time instead of just writing one copy and handing that in.  I also liked having the conference with the professor.  It was nice to be able to get feedback from the person who is actually grading your paper so that you know what things you need to improve on.  I also really liked going to the writing center.  I thought that it was very helpful.  I wasn't expecting them to tell me to change as many things as they did, but all of their advice really made sense and made my paper a lot better.  Next time, I will probably not wait until the day before the final draft is due to go!  It was kind of tough having to change so much the night before it was due.  Overall, I really liked writing the Opinion Editorial.  I thought it was as fun as writing an english paper can be, and it was very different from the kinds of papers that I was expected to write in high school.

Peer Reviews

We didn't do a lot of peer reviewing in high school.  I think the last time I did one was in eighth grade.  I thought that it was very helpful though.  I was able to get someone else's input on how my paper was going and what I can do to make it better.  The person who reviewed mine gave me some good information that I think will really help my paper.  I thought it was a good experience even though I don't really like it when people read my work :)

Procrastination ...

I spent the last 15 minutes distracting myself on facebook because I couldn't think of anything that I wanted to write a blog post about.  I feel like I have spent all day distracting myself from doing work!! I have been up since 8:00 this morning.  I spent 3 hours in class, but other than that I have accomplished absolutely nothing!  All I have done is go on facebook, check my email, or walk back and forth between my dorm and campus 8 times because I kept forgetting things. Its so close to being the weekend.. but first I need to finish my homework (work on my OpEd.)  At this rate I will NEVER be done.  If I procrastinated less.. I would definitely be done by now!

OpEd

I am not positive if I am going to stick with this topic, but for the sake of this blog post, I am going to write about the importance of taking some fun/ interesting classes.  My audience will be all BYU students, especially incoming freshman.  I've known what I wanted my major to be since the beginning of high school so when I got to college I jumped right into the required classes.  This semester, although I am still taking prereqs, I decided to take some classes that have NOTHING to do with my major, and so far it has been a really wonderful, eye opening experience.  I think that by taking classes dealing with subjects such as art, dance, and philosophy, you can really expand your knowledge about the world and everything that it has to offer us.  Instead of leaving college, knowing solely about one subject, we will have a background in many different subjects.  It helps us to become more knowledgable, well-rounded people.

Brainstorming..

I hate writing open ended papers! I have lots of opinions, but when I'm told to write about ANYTHING I want.. my brain freezes.  I haven't put a ton of thought into what I should write about, but seeing as this post in due in a couple hours, I will write about the first couple of topics that come to mind.

I could write on the importance of not watching R rated movies.  I did not grow up in the church so up until last year I could watch all of the R rated movies I wanted without feeling the slightest bit of guilt.  When I was first told that I should try to refrain from watching them, I was a little disappointed.  I love watching movies, and that puts a big limit on which ones I can actually watch.  So I tried to stop watching them, but occasionally when my mom or one of my friends wanted me to, I would watch one.  I didn't think it was too big of a deal.  I think there are definitely worse things that I could be doing.  My opinion, however, was changed over Christmas break!  I went to go see the Black Swan with my grandmother because she had suggested it, and it was the most awful experience of my life! It was just really inappropriate and awkward.  If I had just stuck to the council of the prophets, I would not put myself in those situations.  Some rated R movies are not that bad (like Slumdog millionaire.. best movie ever!), but why knowingly put yourself in a situation where you can be exposed to completely inappropriate things.  Especially since once you see those things, they will stay in your mind for a long time!

I could also write about hair.  Personally, I don't have anything against beards or hair that goes past your ears.  I like that whole scruffy, surfer look.  Beards do not make people look dirty! Santa has a beard.  Jesus had a beard.  I think its more important to focus on being a good person rather than how long your facial hair is.

And that is all I have come up with so far!

What do I want to do with my life...

Right now I am in the pre-nursing major, and I am hoping to get into the nursing program at BYU.  Before I graduate, I would really love to spend a semester in Madrid.  I've taken five years of Spanish, and I think spending some time in Spain would be a great opportunity to learn more about the culture and work on becoming fluent.  After I get my degree in nursing, I want to move to South America!  It is my dream to live a simple life on a beautiful beach and spend my days working with the poor.  That is the main reason I wanted to go into nursing.. so I could help to provide healthcare for those who otherwise would not have any.  At some point, I would like to become a physicians assistant, but I also want to raise a family so I might end up waiting until I am older to do that.  I want to have children of my own, but I have always wanted to adopt as well.  When I was younger, I wanted to start my own orphanage, but I don't know how realistic that is.  It would probably be very expensive! I want to spend my time here traveling, learning about different cultures, raising a family, and just really experiencing life!