My Thoughts on Comments

Reason vs. Irrationality

I will be analyzing the credibility of four comments on the article, "Crowds Scatter as Baltimore Curfew Takes Hold" from the New York Times website. Two of these comments are credible, and two are not. We go from the logical end of the spectrum all the way to blind fury, enjoy!

Reasonable

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/us/baltimore-riots.html

1. Chris seems to have a wish for the black community to denounce violent protest more vocally. He emphasizes the immoral act of using violence to justify criminal behavior.
2. This commenter seems to value peace, due process, and equality. Chris is mainly outraged by the violence in Baltimore. He validates the worries of the black community and the nation at large. Chris provides a summary of many people's opinions in a fairly objective manner, while also emphasizing his own opinion that police brutality cannot justify criminality.
3. The rhetoric, lack of aggression, and use of logic in Chris' comment make me see it as reasonable. This comment is definitely opinionated, but Chris isn't quick to offend: he clearly illustrates the concerns of the parties he discusses. The way he uses the differing perspectives of much of the black community and the general public to illustrate his point is difficult to argue with.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/us/baltimore-riots.html

1. The commenter is definitely expressing the wish that the NYTimes and the media focuses on more groups related to the central ideas of the Black Lives Matter movement instead of characterizing their issue by reporting on an extreme reaction. She illustrates this in every paragraph by showing how this media trend is emphasizing the outlandish over the truth.
2. Lillian believes that the media should be exploring and reporting on all facets of an issue. Throughout her comment, she references the media's amplification of smaller, more radical and violent groups. She supports the black rights movement and cares about how it's represented in the media. That link she has connects to an article about the rest of the demonstration in downtown Baltimore that was ignored by the mass media.
3. The commenter comes across as reasonable because she includes a reference to an article about the larger meaning of that day that was completely ignored. This makes her argument for the change of the attitudes of mass media all the more credible, and adds to her points about how the radical actions of the few shouldn't be held above the rational majority.

Irrational

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/us/baltimore-riots.html

1. This commenter has no clear concern. There is no expression of a wish, nor of an anxiety. The comment's only purpose seems to be discrediting Rev. Bryant and the rioters. They make a quote (not specifying who he is), then make a couple short, misleading comments.
2. Mookie clearly believes that the rioters and Reverand Bryant aren't living up to the legacy of MLK. They plainly states this.
3. The commenter lacks credibility and reasonability because they do nothing to support their opinion, they just throw it out there. Sure, that opinion may or may not be credible, but the commenter must defend their opinion, otherwise it is worthless. This comment reminds me of the 'Hitler' comment we saw in class: it makes a comparison to a major historical figure, without explaining why.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/29/us/baltimore-riots.html

1. Ann obviously wishes that black people would be more appreciative of the things that they have and use them to their benefit. She illustrates this with many many many rhetorical questions.
2. The commenter seems to believe that all of the arrests and police shootings of African Americans are justified. She says that there's no way that they would be arrested unless they broke a law. She also seems to believe that black people use the race card for everything. "Not everything is because you are black." and that they are ignoring the great things that the government has given them.
3. Can I just say.... WOW. This is one of the most thorough overly aggressive and accusatory comments I have ever seen. She is way too emotional, and doesn't bother to calmly consider that there may be other things at play. She immediately ridicules a race. There may have been a couple valid points out of this biased rant if they were taken out of rhetorical question format and put into a detailed paragraph. 

Reflection: My peers' blog posts clarified how to analyze the emotions and purposes of comments. Michael and Mark showed that the attitudes of people are just as important as the specific content that they include in their comment. By combining the tone of the post with specific people and/or events mentioned, Mark showed that the commenter's opinion on certain issues is easily discernible. What I am more skeptical of is whether we can use the material in the comment to discern the exact nature of the commenter's life. I think that the insights into beliefs of a commenter can form a partial image of who that commenter is, but it isn't always possible to infer a commenter's race, party alignment, or location. Michael helped me to realize that when interpreting comments, I should be aware of whether I'm making a clear, traceable inference, or if I'm assuming without enough evidence.

       Resources:         Mark Lubniewski: English 109H

                                 Michael McMillin: 109H Sec14

My Controversy

Racial Discrimination in 2015

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/opinion/sunday/how-racism-doomed-baltimore.html

The Baltimore protests have been the central focus in the larger debate about the level of racism that is still thriving in the nation. So why do they riot? Why do they protest? Here's a brief summary of an article that can answer those questions:

This New York Times article looks at Baltimore's history of racism and segregation to provide a background for the current racial divide and unrest in the city. The author talks about the early segregationist effort and how that effort created lasting laws and practices barring blacks from living in 'white' parts of the city and buying a home. The article shows how this led to a large financial divide as black families had to pay an outrageous cost for a residence, and could not gain as much wealth as homeowners. 

All of these factors led to a high poverty rate, and the very real sense that African Americans are stuck in Baltimore. America is a place where everyone must be considered equal, and this issue shows just how lacking in justice our country is. Haven't we had enough time to ensure the equality of every citizen?

Calendar Reflection

OUTATIME

THEGALATF "Back To The Future II Soundtrack" 7/13/2013 via Deviantart
Attribution No-Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License

Time management has never been my strongest suit, but now that mystical adventure of college is beginning, I need to plan out my time. To do this, I analyzed everything I had to accomplish on a weekly basis to succeed in my education, and maintain a living. I have finally bit the bullet and created a weekly schedule, here's the gist of it:

Since I have two jobs, I immediately have 25 hours a week that I can't do classwork. Add in the lovely bonus that to keep my scholarship I must be a full-time student with high grades, and - BOOM! - you now have a recipe for disaster. However, thanks to the magic of sitting down and tediously marking down everything I need to accomplish every week (slightly depressing), I have a solution!

On the days I don't work in the evenings and have classes, I will remain on campus until I have completed the assignments I have planned out for that day. I also have all of Friday as a Study Day so that I can catch up on things I need to do and look back at my notes!
There are, of course, downsides: I'm not exactly a person with time to spare anymore. If you want to hang out with me on my free time, I'll pencil you in for that spare half-hour I have on the weekends.

Reflection-ception: In the Calendar Reflections of others I have noticed that we all seem to be a bit freaked out about how much time college will be taking from our lives. We'll have less time for movies and general misbehaving - crap! But one common thread is that college must now take center stage in our lives (after all, we are shelling out a lot of dough for it). Ann's post made me realize that I a spread-out schedule has a lot of benefits, and I will probably try to make a more balanced weekly schedule next semester to make homework less of a burden on certain days. Tyler's post and Ann's post made me realize just how much of a trade-off I've made by working and going to school full-time.
       Resources: Tyler Gray: Tyler Gray Is Mediocre at Best at English 109H
                           Ann Tjorhom: "Can I Call You Ann?"

My Writing Process

Go With the Flow, Man!

Lauenstein, Leonardt "hakuna Matata" 8/7/2008 via Flickr
Attribution-NonCommercial-Share 2.0 Generic License

My writing style is best described as easygoing. To actually give you an idea of what that means for me, I've analyzed my writing style and process.

What type of writer am I?

• I consider myself to be a Heavy Reviser.

What other approaches does my writing process include?

• My writing process incorporates aspects from the Sequential Composer and Procrastinator.

Is my writing process successful?

• Overall, my writing process seems to be successful in the end (according to the people who graded that stuff). 

What are the strengths and weaknesses of my approach?

• I usually roughly generate an idea of what structure my writing should have in my head - or scribble it on a paper if I feel so inclined - and then just go with the flow. (Heavy Reviser)
• Yay! This helps me to decide what direction I want my writing to go: as I write, I gain an understanding of my position and don't have to box myself in early on.
• Crap... Sometimes I will get lost in my own flow and forget what I need to be focusing on.
• I tend to go back and edit on the fly. (Sequential Composer, Heavy Reviser, Procrastinator)
• Yay! This allows me to have a much clearer 'rough draft' - especially if it's my only draft
• Crap... I may not finish in time if I get too distracted by potential improvements.

Would it be beneficial for me to try another approach?

• It would definitely help my academic career if I disposed of the Procrastinator aspect of my writing process.
• I may attempt to include aspects of the Heavy Planner into my writing process so I can stay more on task.

Reflection: After reading posts of other classmates, I realized that everyone has different processes of writing, and even though two may be very similar, they are never the same. I also was happy to know -thanks to Thomas and Katherine - that I wasn't the only one who had issues with procrastination or with getting a little lost along my planning path. While reading Katherine's post, I had an epiphany about how I can improve my writing process: I shall now jot down key ideas that I want to include in my writing alongside my scribblings of an outline! Looking at how others write, has given me a new perspective on how I write. I used to think that everyone was supposed to write down a huge outline - and if you do, that's awesome - but I just don't function like that. I plan as I go. Seeing that other people also deviated from the generally assumed 'correct' writing process gave me peace of mind, more understanding of just how differently people write, and made me think of using other techniques. 
       Resources:  Thomas Cortez: We Are All Free Swimming Amoebas
                              Katherine Ahlskog: Generic 'Blog for School' Title