Close Readings

Your smartphone is a pain in the neck

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/20/health/mobile-society-neck-pain/index.html?hpt=he_t2

    Year 2012, and humans are able to send messages instantly, watch videos without a hassle, and browse the web anywhere at anytime made possible by one device, the smartphone. "Your smartphone is a pain in the neck" by Jacque Wilson proves to readers that with the advantages of this useful device follows negative effects to one's body. Wilson emphasizes her voice with various rhetoric techniques including imagery, detail, and diction. 

     Wilson opens up the article in a casual tone reaching out to the audience. It's hard to avoid checking your own posture while reading her guesses,"Chances are you're reading this while leaning over a table or slumped back in a chair. Your head is tilted forward; your shoulders are curved.If you're on a mobile device, your arms are bent by your side and your back hunch is even more profound," truth be told, she was right. Imagery pertains to a technique writers use evoking the five senses providing sensory perceptions. This one specifically refers to visual imagery to prove how much these postures can lead to damage. Imagery is displayed again towards the end when Wilson brings up Dr. Collie's tip on good smartphone use posture, "Keep your feet flat on the floor, roll your shoulders back and keep your ears directly over them so your head isn't tilted forward," similar to the introduction."

     Detail can be concrete or abstract; it could be honorific or pejorative. One extra adjective can change the whole phrase. Wilson uses detail throughout her article by being precise with her words. "The average human head weighs 10 pounds in a neutral position -- when your ears are over your shoulders," according to Wilson, the pressure on your spine double with this position. By no means does she put the weight of a human head just for the sake of it. This is a concrete detail that makes the story factual. So, what can this cause? "A lack of oxygenated blood flowing through the body can potentially lead to vascular disease. And gastrointestinal problems can be caused by pressure placed on the organs in a bad posture," what kind of blood? what kind of disease? these are are specific details provided by Wilson.

     Even though detail and imagery seems fairly similar, diction is something unique about the writers tone; it's their choice of words. As mentioned before, Wilson has a casual/ informal tone; readers can relate to her article because  of her colloquial diction, "So what's an iPad-cradling, smartphone-texting, laptop-loving guy or gal to do?" As much as these electronics are used, people come up with slang nick names for them. Wilson does not hesitate to use these. Not only is her slang language emphasized, but the way she rhetorically questions her readers and assumes the answer is part of her diction. It only makes the writing more casual than appeared.

    Jacque Wilson does a phenomenal job of using diction, imagery and detailed all weaved within her article. It doesn't exert any forceful tone and her techniques contribute to the flow. With her choice of words, visual context, and detailed language, it persuades readers to follow through and watch their postures. 

    

    

Open Prompt 9/16/2012

1990. Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

     '"It's not God. Just my parents," I say. "I want to sue them for the rights to my own body"' (Picoult 19). Going to court due to family conflicts is not too rare. Parent's getting sued by their 13 year old daughter, is indeed uncommon though. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult portrays an overwhelming but excellent example of a conflict that lies between a parent and child. 

     From the very beginning, Anna was fully aware why, how and who she was born for; she was born to keep her sister, Kate alive. Picoult does a fine job of providing readers with a perspective from all directions, and from Anna and Brian's perspective, Kate was priority to their parents. This marked the first of their conflicts and the story would not have been able to progress if it were not for the hard relationship between Anna and her mother, Sarah. As an infant, Anna donated her blood cells to Kate without a choice. She constantly had to keep by Kate's side just in case her organs suddenly failed to do its work. When in an argument, Anna was held accountable despite being the younger sibling. With these situations, Anna is shown struggling to know if her mother even cares for her.  

     The setting/situation of the story is a main reason why readers can't question Anna's behavior. Imagine going through numerous operations and surgery not because of yourself but because of another person. It strikes Anna when she tries to recall a time of being asked to do all this; she was never asked. Throughout  the novel, Anna is known to listen, to understand, to take action, and to show responsibility. She takes part as a mother but as a 13 year old. Minor conflicts arise as Sarah cannot control her emotions and lets it out on family members other than Kate. When it comes to a time where Kate is in desperate need of Anna's organs once again, Anna rebels. As she seeks a lawyer to sue her parents for her medical emancipation, it marks the climax of the conflict. 

     While this is going on, Anna is shown having second thoughts on suing her family until she sees her mom understanding her decision as an outcome from the lack of attention she has received. Anna goes on with the legal action despite the fact that her parents are strongly against it. Picoult also brings out another side of Sarah that was not revealed in the beginning, even more evidence that allows readers to understand Anna better. The surgery that is involved with this trial has many risks that Kate and Anna both have to endure. Anna may not be able to play her favorite sport ever again. She may not be able to have kids of her own. Kate might not end up surviving even with this operation. Sarah is being stubborn and willing to do anything to save Kate whether anyone agrees or not. Especially when the donor, Anna, does not want to donate. 

     Even though the denouement of the story has a total twist to it, if Picoult did not display the minor conflicts Anna and Sarah had prior to the court trial, "My Sister's Keeper" would not have worked out. It would've been much more unnatural if Kate were to sue Sarah herself, because Kate knows why her mother decided on the decisions that she made. On the other hand, Anna is the one who was purposely made, "built" for Kate. She is given (allowed) the choice to rebel against her mother for what she's gone through. Though the conflict resolves different than imagined in the beginning, the parent-child conflict portrayed by Picoult contributes best to the plot and meaning of "My Sister's Keeper".

* I actually timed myself to finish within 45 minutes. This sounds and looks so messy... I'm not even sure if i wrote to the prompt correctly... is this too much of plot summary?

     

Response to Course Material

     First week into AP Lit, and we've covered and learned so much material (including all the summer work). I can't really help but also talk about the summer material even though this post is suppose to start from my latest post. The set of poetry that we had to read, comparison of  David Sedaris' essay and Micheal Harvey's book, and the diagnostic test all had a common direction; it was preparing me to become an AP Lit student. A good AP Lit student. Following up, we had three pages of vocabulary & three pages of presentation notes, which i won't deny-- i was very rusty prior to these. 

     I started making small connections between what I've learned thus far. That three-page vocab i was talking about, majority of them tied with poetry terms. Well what a coincidence, most of the students, myself included, posted on their blogs that studying poetry terms is a new goal. Despite the statistics, I came about with poor grade on the terms test. What did i get out of that? Well, first of all, definitions aren't definitions unless I know how to use the word in a sentence, point out examples of that word and most importantly, genuinely understand the definition. I also found myself surprised when there were not just one, but many words with similar definition: anadiplosis, anaphora, antistrophe, and diacope (repetitions... say whaaaat?). I wondered why i never came across these before when studying poetry, but I know the answer now-- i never really knew what they meant so i never really looked for these examples either.

     The Essay Writing Basics, Rhetorical Situation, and Argument presentations had one main focus to it that many writers would've caught on to. All the types of arguments (logos ethos pathos), the claim, warrants, and premise are techniques that authors use WHICH THEN leads to communication a.k.a, a rhetorical situation. Moreover, there are things readers can literally point to in a passage and some that are not possible. This was so confusing that the prezi presentation was just overwhelming in general until Ms. Holmes gave the examples of diction, syntax, images and metaphors; atmosphere is something we cannot touch. I can't say if this was review or not, but i feel like i should've known this: there are a whole lot of purposes to write about. I can write to entertain, persuade, inform, and reflex and most likely, these need communication or rhetorical skills. 

     If i had to summarize this up, there's actually too much i've learned the past week, but I can see that i'm absorbing all the information. I can make connections not with what we learned on the same day, but also with the other course material in general. This makes me happy & gives me hope that AP Lit isn't going to be too harsh after all. 

 

Me Talk Pretty One Day

     If Michael Harvey were to have read David Sedaris' essay, "Me Talk Pretty One Day," he would be surprised at how his key points in The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing were used; the clarity, flow and concision that the essay portrays makes Sedaris a "good writer that sees their words from the reader's perspective," allowing the readers to hear his tone (Harvey, 10). 

     Concision is something writers lack because it "can make us feel exposed," but if writers can eliminate the fat,  "it makes the prose easier to read and understand" and that is just what Sedaris did (Harvey,1). None of his sentences were flat or full of big words that overwhelms the reader, "I’ve moved to Paris with hopes of learning the language...the students exhibited an ease and confidence that I found intimidating," he exposes himself just enough so that we, as readers feel unlike complete strangers (Sedaris, 11). But does he sound passive at all? Harvey emphasizes that the challenge to concision doesn't rely on "long versus short," rather, it "says something concrete and informative" (Harvey, 9). Think about it-- a five year old can write a short and blunt sentence without bulky words. Is it concise though? Sedaris proves that he is concise with unusual, but strong verbs weaved throughout his texts. "proceeded to rattle off a series of administrative announcements...Her rabbity mouth huffed for breath..." announce versus rattled or took another breath versus huffed for breath, i think Sedaris wins (Sedaris, 11-12). 

     I've never thought that clarity and concision were different. In fact, I would switch those two words based on how they sounded with my context, which leads to Harvey's second topic: clarity. There are numerous questions a writer should ask themselves. "Have I explained enough so that she knows what I'm talking about? Is my evidence persuasive?" is a couple out of the many that Harvey states (Harvey, 10). All these questions have something in common, that is, does the reader truly understand my writing. To find out, a writer must stick to the "basic pattern, who does/did what" and logically support it (Harvey, 11). In "Me Talk Pretty One Day" two main ideas are clear. (a) Everyone studying abroad in France with Sedaris is struggling with the language. (b) The teacher is ill-tempered, "Her temperament was not based on a series of good and bad days but, rather, good and bad moments" (Sedaris, 13). I know this because Sedaris is clear with who-does-what. Who? The students. Does? struggle. What? fluent French. Again, who? The teacher. Does? accuse, yell, rage at students. What? lessons. So how does Sedaris show clarity through it? Well, his 'who-does-what' doesn't change throughout the story--it's persistent. Even until his last paragraph, where Sedaris is astonished at the fact that he understands, he doesn't write that his teacher was actually a great teacher nor does he share that his classmates are fluent in French. He pushes through with clarity from his observation in the beginning. 

     Aside from concision and clarity, there is another connection between The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing and "Me Talk Pretty One Day"; Sedaris' essay has a good flow. According to Harvey, "a good essay unfolds like a story," with the beginning, ending, an interesting plot, and a prose to the essay, "Me Talk Pretty One Day" unfolds just like a story (Harvey, 23). Sedaris' essay not only is like a story helping readers to understand better, but it also contains other aspects that Harvey thinks contributes to flow. For instance, his essay consists of natural conjunctions and linking words which provides a smooth and easy read. In addition, Sedaris' "humble pronouns and other pointers permit powerful effect" (Harvey, 26). Humble pronouns are short words that relate to something known, such as "Next came a beautiful young Yugoslav who identified herself as an optimist, saying that she loved everything that life had to offer," in which the small pronouns contribute to the flow of the sentence (Sedaris, 12). As readers, we enjoy reading what we could possibly relate to and more often than not, those are stories; "Me Talk Pretty One Day" doesn't carry a dramatic tone, but is abundant with Harvey's points of good flow. 

     After reading these two texts, "Me Talk Pretty One Day" coincides well with Harvey's Nuts and Bolts of College Writing. Even though they were written towards different audience and the writing pieces are much different from each other, they both contain what seems to be a good writer. Michael Harvey and David Sedaris are writers who write with clarity, flow and concision for the sake of their readers. In both of works, readers will be able to see an "essay like personality, hangs together through a delicate balance of forces; ... clear but not empty, thoughtful but down-to-earth, strong minded but fair minded" (Harvey, ix). 

Poetry reflection & goals

(1) Try to read the poem at least four times.

(2) Don't hesitate to write notes all over the context. (take footnotes)

(3) Ask myself questions throughout the reading on vocabulary and meanings.

(4) Know what kind of poetry I am reading, look at the background in depth. For instance, setting and         author's life-style. 

(5) Determine how the author uses different types of literary elements. 

Coming up with five poetry study goals were too easy. I can probably continue on with 5 to 10 more bullet points. I get so frustrated when i know there's a greater meaning to a piece of writing, but I just can't seem to find out what it is. That's everything about poetry, hence the reason why i don't really enjoy reading it. These five study points are only to get me started. All of them have something in common: helping the reader understand it better. I think that reading it four times rather than skimming it, (like I did in the past) will definitely extend my knowledge. Moreover, I tend to mutter to myself a lot, just not about poetry... So i'm willing to try it. Research! I'm pretty confident in looking up things that baffle me, therefore knowing some background of where this poetry came from would be very helpful. 

Peterson's AP English Diagnostic Test

     A little drop in confidence and a couple extra study goals to be added in the list. I was quite surprised when i finished within the given time, 3 hours.
     Mind if i share a fact? English was the third language i spoke and learned, therefore, I wasn't too strong on this subject. I've always wanted to become better at it because i enjoyed writing, but after taking this AP diagnostic test, I feel like...  I'll have a lot to do this coming year.
     Section 1 of the diagnostic test wasn't horrible, which also means that it definitely was not a breeze. Although i did think the excerpt from Pride and Prejudice and Preface of Modern American Poetry was a lot easier. No, let me rephrase that, those two were the ones I genuinely comprehended/ understood-- sounds about right.
     For the two poems, it helped me to realize my weakness; I have to increase my proficiency on paraphrasing poetry.The fact that I was struggling with vocabulary in a context was a disappointment. You know, you can't really proceed when you don't know what they're saying, right? Well, that was it; It was hard to push myself through the reading when I did not completely understand it.
     Hmm... Section 2... the start of it was a mess. In my defense,  i apparently didn't know what the direction was asking me to do and secondly, it takes a while to wake my brain up from 2 months of writing-free, essay-free. That really can't be an excuse though... Another thing I must improve on is looking for other literary aspects other than the ones i'm adapted to: imagery, tone, character and plot or point of view-- i'm overly using these. I was able to spot a lot of these throughout the essays and stories but ya know, nothing else...
    Overall, I'm still glad i took this test. As i advance through more vocabulary,  i'm sincerely hoping that I improve throughout the school year and that I don't see another score like this for a while. (: