Journals

Journal #1 – “Consider the Lobster”

In his essay, “Consider the Lobster”, David Foster Wallace speaks of his experience at the Maine Lobster Fest and then questions the ethics behind this popular event and cooking lobster in general. His essay makes readers internally debate their views on killing animals for food and the process in which the killing takes place. I was left with many questions for Wallace after reading this literary piece, with my initial question being: before attending the Maine Lobster Fest, did he ever question the ethics of the consumption of animals, specifically the morality of of boiling lobsters alive? People all over the world question the standards of consuming animals every day and in many cultures, humans do not eat meat. I personally believe that the United States is the country that is least likely to question the consumption of animals. Following my former question, I would ask Wallace if after all of his research on the topic, will he continue to eat lobster and ignore the suffering that mankind puts them through for their pleasure like a majority of our society, or would you give up lobster for good? I am also curious whether he would ever consider going vegetarian or vegan. Next I would ask Wallace why he believes that society views mass slaughtering lobsters at festivals as acceptable but it would not be for any other animal? So many people advocate for animal rights and the treatment of animals and even go as far as to boycott companies that treat animals poorly. So why is there such a small amount of protests for arguably the most violent way of killing an animal for consumption? I would also ask him what he believes is the most merciful way to kill an animal? I wonder if he would say something lethal injection or shooting them in the head to quickly put them out of their misery. That led me question what Wallace’s views are on potential new ways to kill animals that could be considered more moral. I would ask him if he believes that mankind needs to create new ways to painlessly kill animals or if it is just the circle of life and we should not change our current ways. My final question for Wallace would be does he believe that the cooks/people who have to leave the room when boiling lobsters should be considered cowards in our society? I personally believe that they are not cowards and are actually better people than those that don’t excuse themselves from the scene. These types of people, while still boiling a living creature alive, at least have enough compassion in them to understand the pain that the lobsters are going though. Ideally, a more humane way of killing lobsters would be used to prevent the horrible suffering that they must endure until their death and I hope that is something that us as a society can work towards in the near future. Unfortunately, many people in our society still don’t see a problem with their actions but with the current protests that are becoming more common in our nation, I believe that we are starting in the right direction to ending animal cruelty in our world.

In our current society, every protest, every change, and every comment seems to offend at least one group of people. In the world of writing, this bears the question, “what are the limits of a written discussion?”. I personally believe that there should not be limits in written discussion other than being respectful in your writing. Everyone has the right to voice their opinions on subject matters that are important to them, but they should do so in a kind, humane style. When a written discussion becomes disrespectful or vulgar, that is where the line should be drawn. I firmly believe that written discussion should be applied to every subject, no matter how uncomfortable or radical it may be. Change is always uncomfortable in the beginning but it is required in order to make progress and move on to bigger and better things in our society.

Journal #2 – Drafting

In my experience, I have never been proficient at writing in any way, including the drafting of an essay. My mind has always worked in numbers and short statements. I would start my writing process with a simple graphic organizer that included quick phrases that summed up my thoughts that I would understand later. When it came time to draft an essay, I would struggle immensely. I knew what I wanted to say but I could never verbalize it or get it down on paper. I would have these quick thoughts that made sense it my head, but would make me sound absolutely crazy if it was to be read out loud. Over time I realized I could not just push my way through an essay anymore, I had research papers to write and no words to fill the paper, so I reached out for help. With lots of support from teachers, my parents, and fellow classmates, I finally found a method that worked for me. I needed to explain my thinking and ideas to someone until they became full well-rounded thoughts, no matter how long it took. I would start off with my jumble of words in my head and blurt them out or write them down to begin, then whoever was with me would ask me, “what do you mean by this?” or, “why do you feel this way?” until I finally understood the process behind my own thoughts. I finally had not just words, but ideas and opinions to fill my paper with. Eventually, I became able to ask myself these questions and navigate my own thought process without someone else helping me to probe through my own mind. Drafting an essay is still a very time-consuming and lengthy process for me, but it has gotten easier over time.

My revision process was always quite simplistic. I only ever practiced local revision by fixing spelling, grammar, and punctuation. Revision also usually included cutting up run on sentences or getting rid of me rambling about something that doesn’t directly correlate to my topic. It was mostly fixing any small errors I could find. I never considered the possibility of adding in new material during revision or asking questions about my own work other than, “does this make sense?”. Therefore, global revision is something that I have never practiced. I am excited to see where this new process can take me in my writing and help me develop not only my papers, but also my own mind.

Journal #3 – “The Art of Quoting”

When reading “The Art of Quoting” passage in They Say, I Say, I learned that many of the practices that I had formerly been using during quoting were not the proper way to quote someone. First of all, I discovered that when quoting someone, you must give a complex explanation of the quotes that ties it into your argument, not just quickly explain the quote by rephrasing it in slightly simpler language. I never realized that readers would have such a difficult time understanding my use of quotes and how it relates to the point I am trying to make, I made the common mistake that was listed; I assumed because I understood what the quote meant, readers of my paper automatically would too. I let the quotes speak for themselves when I shouldn’t have. I also never considered that my quotes would have to change as my paper changed. In my writing history, I only ever practiced local revision and not global revision. Therefore, my paper changing drastically never occurred so if it had not been pointed out, I probably would not have thought to change my quotes as I revise and make sure they work together cohesively. Another thing that I found interesting was the concept of building a frame around a quote. In the past I knew that I had to introduce the quote and summarize it at the end, but framing it makes me feel differently about it. When you frame a painting or a picture, you don’t want a frame that will clash with the art, you want something that will compliment it instead. Also you don’t want a boring, plain frame, you want something beautiful and ornate that draws you into the artwork and building a clear introduction and a thought provoking, sophisticated explanation will create that for the quotation that has been selected. Finally, the “Hit and Run Quoter” example really helped my to understand what is needed in order to properly build an intelligent, direct explanation of your quotation. You can not just flee the scene of a hit and run without leaving, at the minimum, your information, it is against the law. Much like it is illegal to flee, it is illegal in the writing world to leave a quote without giving any information or commentary on the quote for the reader. Overall, “The Art of Quoting” provided great examples of how to properly use quotations in an essay and informed me in a clear, concise manner what mistakes I was making and how to correct and improve in the future.

Journal #4 – “The End of Food”

In Lizzie Widdicombe’s essay, The End of Food, the controversial topic of supplements replacing food is addressed with an interesting additional point of view, the creator of a food replacement product. She dives into the how and the why behind his revolutionary product whilst subtly encompassing her own views on the topic. The first thing that drew me into her essay was the way that she immediately begins with ideas and quotations from Rob Rhinehart, the inventor of Soylent. She first quotes him when he states that, “Food was such a large burden, it was also the time and the hassle.” Rhinehart had been struggling to afford food, and as an entrepreneur, it took too much time away from his work. As a new college student, I can easily relate to this statement, I often skip meals due to the hassle of going to get food across campus and the mediocre quality of the unhealthy food that is served. I will be using this quotation from paragraph 2 in my first project of the semester since I relate to the concept that Widdicombe conveyed to the reader through Rhinehart’s words. The next idea presented in Widdicombe’s essay that I would reflect in my project is the concept that the working class does not have access to healthy food that can provide them with the proper nutrition. Instead they eat fast food due to its low cost and quick availability, or they don’t eat. These behaviors can cause “obesity, diabetes, and, ironically, malnutrition. Rhinehart’s creation of Soylent, if priced and marketed correctly, could provide sustenance to poverish, malnourished people all over the world. The next idea I would want to convey in my project is just how minimalistic Rhinehart is. Widdicombe speaks of her day spent with the inventor and how he finds possessions to be “worthless”. She goes on to state, “He alternates between two pairs of jeans, and orders nylon or polyester T-shirts from Amazon, wearing them for a few weeks before donating them.”. The only things that Rhinehart seems to care about is efficiency and productivity which is blatantly displayed in both his views on food and possessions. I personally would never want to live in such a world, I enjoy my possessions, so much so that I have a special ‘memory box’ for all of the items that are extremely close to my heart and never want to lose. I also very much enjoy the taste and character behind a variety of foods, such as the guacamole I wrote of in my favorite meal essay. I believe that life would simply be very boring without the personalities of not only people, but things too. I don’t want a future that would be seen in a dystopian novel where people have essentially turned into robots with bland lives that include no daily excitement and adventure. While I fear that this could become my future or the future of generations beyond me, Soylent does not only have negative connotations. Widdicombe encompasses both the benefits and the drawbacks of Soylent in her essay and I am excited to use her as inspiration in my upcoming project.

Journal #5 – “Entering the Conversation”

When reading the “Entering the Conversation” passage in They Say, I Say, I discovered that many writing skills are subconscious to professional writers, and with time and practice, amateur writers can acquire this ability. They Say, I Say provides many examples and templates in order to demonstrate the proper techniques to do so. The overarching concept that the authors conveyed in this passage was that in order to properly argue your own ideas, you must first state and evaluate the ideas of others. It is repeatedly stated that in order to write an argument, one must be provoked and then bounce off of others’ views. As authors communicated to the readers, you can’t argue with yourself, it takes two or more people in order to debate viewpoints. Before stating your idea, you must first give the proper context in order for the nature of your argument to be fully understood. In a way, an argumentative essay should be formulated as dialogue, hence the title of the text being They Say, I Say.

While the text spends the majority of this chapter giving exemplars of “they say / I say” formats to elaborate upon the encompassed points, it is not always necessary to ‘stir up controversy’ as the book explains. It is true that without a controversial element, many claims may come off as redundant or simply boring, but nonetheless you should not rely on such a niche literary tactic to present said claim. Audiences will in fact develop a negative opinion of your point after repetitive ‘scapegoating and caricating’. There, in essence, should be a fine distinguishment between a valid argument and simply attempting to manipulate the reader. As a preventative measure, the book provided a notable ‘Template of Templates’ which applies to most, if not all conversational situations. This includes a brief skeletal paragraph that is easily altered to fit your given situation yet will always utilize all major ‘moves’ taught within the chapter.

Within the reading I am also reassured that these plentiful templates would not derive from the creative aspect of the writing process, as after using them as a backbone for applicable pieces, the usage of these techniques will become subconscious. Without the need to worry if your point is presented in a tasteful fashion, this should overall aid the writing process.

Journal #6 – Peer Review

See Peer Review Page at https://sstrait1.uneportfolio.org/peer-review/

Journal #7 – Choose Your Own Adventure

In my past education, I have rarely peer reviewed my classmates’ papers and I have also rarely had my own work reviewed by anyone other than the teacher. Therefore, peer reviewing is a new experience for me that I hope will allow me to broaden my writing skills and and assist others with their own work. My peer review group consisted of Cassie, Erianna, Chris, and myself and together we dove into each others papers in order to improve each to the best of our ability. We began our feedback with mostly local commentary for each other, much of which was correcting MLA formatting errors and teaching those of us who weren’t as experienced in it, how to do so properly for future reference. We then went into the global side of feedback and threw some ideas to consider into the discussion. 

The most helpful comment I received was from Chris, who told me that one of my paragraphs sounded book report-like. He explained that I only presented facts in that paragraph and never went into my thoughts and opinions. He suggested that I need to incorporate my own experiences and findings into my paper as life in context. I found this to be extremely helpful as it refocused me on this paper being a personal statement and not a report.

The most helpful comment that I gave was to Cassie. I noticed throughout her paper that she struggled to make a clear stance on her opinions and never implemented a thesis in her introduction. She instead made her stance very subtly at the end of her last body paragraphs. I suggested that she move around the parts of her essay in order to not confuse the reader. I also suggested that she should be more confident in her viewpoint so the reader does not brush off her essay lightly, it should make an impact in the readers instead. 

Finally, I wish that in our discussion more critical points were made towards my paper. Most of the comments I received was positive feedback on my essay. I would have preferred more comments on things that could be improved upon so when I revised my essay, I could have updated multiple parts instead of just a few sections. I believe that this occurred because people did not want to be rude and they view criticism as something that is always negative. As the year goes on, I hope that we will become more comfortable with being critical of each others work in order to improve as a class together. 

Journal #8 – “Starting With What Others Say”

In chapter one of “They Say, I Say”, the content holds true to the title of the book. This section explains how in order for an argument to make sense, you must first inform the reader of the point that lead you to this idea. I personally found the ‘Dr. X’ story at the beginning of the section extremely helpful as it illustrates how not beginning with what others say can lead to confusion among the audience. Then the ideal order in which to present a discussion was covered. It explained how you should begin a conversation or writing piece with the viewpoints of other people and then bounce off of them with your own ideas. Following this you should go into your argument, occasionally going back to what ‘they say’ to remind your reader. It is explained that this is the best format to present your own ideas because it follows the natural path of thought in humans and if it is diverged from, it can lead to confusion. This chapter also dives into the common mistake that you should always lead with your argument and thesis. It states that you first need to bring in the relevance of the piece and the broader ideas that sparked your own thought, then state your thesis. While this initially seems like it should be incorrect, it makes sense if you think about the classic format of an introductory paragraph. The thesis almost always comes at the end of an introduction, after hooking the reader and giving sufficient background information. The ‘they say’ concept is a type of background information as it states the ideas of others and how it brought you to your own viewpoint. This section finishs off with many helpful templates for many different types of things that ‘they say’ that includes most styles of arguments and how to respond to each of them.

Journal #10 – “Memories of Meals Past”

“Memories of Meals Past” consisted of several unique stories of food in the lives of different people. Each quick tale had a backstory of why that meal is so special to the author and all the emotions that go along with that food for them. Each seemed to be a miniature version of my previously written favorite meal essay. One thing I found interesting about these stories is that many of them included pictures that related to the food or the event in which the food was eaten. I found that the pictures helped me feel the author’s emotions about the food as well as put myself in their shoes and visualize the event that occurred that led to the love for the respective food. It was also interesting to read about so many different styles of food and have all of them create a similar feeling in people. It was fascinating that many of the meals described came from spontaneity. The crepes, lasagna, pork chops, and sardine sandwiches were all spontaneous meals that weren’t planned ahead of time by the author. I believe that this goes to show that it is important to live in the moment and always be open to experiences that come your way. The events that come from this sort of mindset are often the most memorable and treasured memories that a person has. Each of the authors also used very descriptive words when talking about their selected foods, something I believe that I could improve upon when it comes to my favorite meal essay. I also found that the authors conveyed a great deal of emotion into their tale, making the story very sentimental and heart-warming. Finally, I very much liked that not all of the short stories had a happy ending, such as the mother dying before her daughter was ever able to eat the meal again or learn to create it. Parts of life won’t have a happy ending and I believe that it was very important that the authors were truthful about their experiences with the dish and why they are so fond of it.

Journal #12 – “What’s Motivating This Writer?”

In chapter fourteen of “They Say, I Say”, authors Graff and Birkenstein present the idea of reading a text, not for the purpose of just finding the author’s argument, but for finding the whole conversation that the author is contributing too. Finding the author’s motivation is key in understanding the author’s work and responding to in with your own point of view. I thought that it was very interesting that in the opening anecdote, when students were asked about the author’s argument, they stopped and would force the conversation. I have seen this struggle first-hand in many of my former high school classes. Teachers would ask a question and every student would avoid eye contact and shrink into their seat until the teacher chose a random student to give an answer. It is fascinating to think that if the questions had been minorly changed to encompass not just the author’s argument, but the whole conversation, we could have had a much more intelligent and thought-provoking discussion. I also found it extremely helpful that this chapter went into detail about noticing when authors are reporting on what “they say” and then switching to what “I say” when giving their own personal view. I feel that I have always simply skimmed over changes in voice because I was looking for the beefy part of the topic that gave me the most information. I now know that I need to look for these voice changes in order to properly discover what the author is really saying. The three examples that were provided, that each displayed a different way of changing the voice, were great ways for me to fully grasp what constitutes a change in voice. Specifically the except by Judith Butler gave me a great amount of insight into not only learning about finding the different arguments made in a piece, but also learning how to translate difficult text into something much easier to understand and respond too. While I believe that I might still struggle with applying these concepts right off that bat, I feel that throughout this class, I will heighten my understanding and ability of applying these ideas.