Mirdrina Dulcio Blog Post #12

A concept in class that I feel most confident teaching to an incoming freshman is teaching them about asking closed and open questions because of how it helps out with making discussion times really productive. Since open and closed questions are easy to discuss, I would how open questions lead to a broader and wide range of answers while closed questions have a definite answer. I would also ask the class why each question type would be used in class discussion, and then I would sum up all of their answers and include the right response to it. For instance, open questions are important in order to get an opinion or respond to a difficult and controversial question. Closed questions are important for getting correct facts or simple responses right away. I would have a source that the class would have already read the night before to be the topic of our discussions. Then after describing the two types of questions, I would have the class each write two open and two closed questions independently, have them share their responses to the class and have some volunteers demonstrate some of their answers. Then, I would lead the class into discussion, and the students would be used open and long questions according to the topic for the class that day. Since open and closed questions are pretty simple to understand, I will include some entering class discussion ideas in the lesson in order to make their discussion more productive as well. I would mention how that when you are responding to another person, you should briefly summarize what the last person mentioned or whoever you are responding to and then bring in what else you want to mention in the discussion. Overall, these techniques will all be great for making class discussions more successful and informative.

Mirdrina Dulcio Blog Post #11

For my final portfolio, I would like to put my literary analysis letter in cover letter because of how much I enjoyed creating a letter in the mind of Eunice. There were a lot of critiques about Eunice’s personality, and I wanted to show in my letter that while she was conforming to the personality that her society wanted to see, she is more intelligent and mature than she wants everyone to see. As a result, out of impulse, she expresses signs of maturity rather than her normal juvenile behavior. I would also like to like to put my Pecha Kucha presentation in my cover letter because it was the one I worked on the hardest because I wanted my artifact to be as deeply analyzed as possible. It was really cool in my opinion of how I was able to make something scary and turn it into an inspirational artifact that shows tactics that the United States still use today. I would also like to include my proposal and annotated bibliography because of how well thought out the paper was before actually writing it. I would also like to include my final paper to show how much I have grown as a writer by the end of the class.

For Outcome 1: My portfolio contains a literary analysis letter in the point of view of Eunice in Super Sad True Love Story. This literary analysis letter allowed me to write as if Eunice is writing in a letter format and not through email. This allowed her to show some of her true inner feelings without technology interfering with it. I also selected some word choice that would show some of her juvenile and also some of her mature side so that the audience can also see a different side of her normal personality through Lenny and technology. The portfolio also contains blog posts where I am either analyzing or getting more information out of a certain topic. The portfolio also contains the Pecha Kucha presentation which is an oral format of participation. The Pecha Kucha presentation was important because it taught me how to plan to make sure that I fit in the time constraints. The genres of my literary writings were mostly analysis because of how this class is based on how you can make up something different from what everyone says. I will include everything but the lesser blog posts that are just summaries because it doesn’t say anything interesting about my writing. The other genres are included because it shows how my writing style changed through the course of the class.

Mirdrina Dulcio Blog Post #10

For the introduction, I usually start out with a social issue that relates to my argument so that the reader can apply my paper to a real life situation. Then I bring in my thesis statement at the end. For the conclusion, I restate the thesis in a new way that does not present new information but is refined in a substantial way. And then I briefly state my points from the argument and why the argument is relevant in our society and end it on a profound note. The piece of writing that I have chosen is a New York Times article called “Sierra Leone Declared Free of Ebola Transmissions” by Dionne Secrecy and Sheri Fink. The introduction was very effective because while it was short, it pulled you right in to the article. The conclusion was also effective because it makes you think at the end about the future steps.

In the introduction, sentence is worded like it would in a news station. It immediately went straight to the point with announcing the end Ebola transmissions in Senegal and made the scenery sound very hopeful and ecstatic. Even though it is one sentence, it was effective because it pulls in the reader right away which is an important quality to have in a news article because you want to be able to catch the attention of the reader right away. What made this introduction particularly strong was the building up to the point, the colon, and then the actual topic of the article. It makes the introduction stronger because of the climax that it builds in just half a sentence.

In the conclusion, the author mentions an opposing argument to what was said earlier and then poses a new issue that needs to addressed next. Although it did not restate the main argument of the article, it was good in that it poses a new question to consider for the future. Although since it is a new article, most of average Americans would not reach to the end, so I looked at some of the previous paragraphs, and the paragraphs do a better job of summarizing the argument the real conclusion. Overall it was a compelling conclusion.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/08/world/africa/sierra-leone-declared-free-of-ebola-transmissions.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Mirdrina Dulcio Blog Post #9

Frankenstein’s Creature and Martin Luther King Jr’s Way of Defying Unjust Societies: Outline

  1.  Introduction
    1. Discuss Just and Unjust Laws
    2. Connect Frankenstein’s creature’s speech with MLK by expressing how they are similar in their intentions and actions
    3. Thesis and Research Argument
  2. Structure of the Speeches
    1. MLK
      1. King expresses how he is an outsider
        1. Pathos: Sympathy
          • (use secondary sources to quote for evidence)
      2. King suggests they should compromise (negotiate the law)
        1. Logos: negotiation is an easier option than demonstration
          • (use secondary sources to quote for evidence)
      3. King says Birmingham police deserve praise
        1. Ethos: Giving police credibility to make whites as well as blacks more likely to read the letter
        2. Logos: Red Herring
        3. Pathos: Getting influence from whites
          • (use secondary sources to quote for evidence)
    2.  Monster
      1. Discusses his journey before the moment that he is speaking
        1. Pathos: Get sympathy out of Victor
          • (use primary source to quote for evidence)
      2. Expresses how he is an outsider
        1. Pathos: Sympathy
          • (use primary source to quote for evidence)
      3. Persuades Victor to create a companion him
        1. Pathos: uses what Victor can relate to (desire, companionship)
          • (use primary source to quote for evidence)
  1. Language of the Speeches
    1. MLK
      1. Sermon Voice (Homily)
        1. Christianity used as an authoritative figure
        2. Gives emotional power in his letter
          1. (use secondary sources to quote for evidence)
      2. Direct Address
        1. Speaking directly to audience in response to the clergymen’s letter who was addressing to no one in particular
          • True audience not just the clergymen, but African Americans
        2. Call to action to African Americans
      3. Repetition
        1. Repeated ideas, imagery, arguments
          • (use secondary sources to quote for evidence)
    2. Monster
      1. Sophisticated Word Use
        1. Ethos: making himself credible by using sophisticated language
      2. Exaggerated Language
        1. Logical Fallacies: Hasty Generalization, Slippery Slope, Hyperbole
        2. Imagery
  2. Effectiveness of the Speeches: Violence vs. Non-Violence
    1. MLK
      1. Short Term Outcome
        1. Gave African Americans a reason to demonstrate civil disobedience
      2. Long Term Outcome
        1. Important milestone in the fight for civil rights
        2. Proved to be successful (civil rights act)
    2. Monster
      1. Short Term Outcome
        1. Was able to convince Victor to create the monster
      2. Long Term Outcome
        1. Violence leads to his downfall (will kill himself in the end)
  3. Relation to Today’s Society (US)
    1. Unjust Laws still seen today
      1. Voting rights
        1. The interpretation of the law
        2. The war on drugs
  4.  Conclusion
    1. Restate Thesis
    2. Briefly discuss different rhetorical strategies
    3. Relate it back to the real world

Mirdrina Dulcio Blog Post #8

One example from one of my posts where I quoted a primary source was blog post 6 when I wrote this: An example of a close reading is on page 21 when Jessica Hale mentions that Victor in the story describes Elizabeth as “a possession of my own”, which is very effective because it clearly shows that women were perceived as objects. This can be seen as both a primary source because it is quoting Frankenstein and a secondary source because it was in a peer-reviewed article. One example from one of my posts where I quoted a secondary source was blog post 7 when I wrote this: In Haste’s paper, she states that Lewis Wolpert argues “that scientific knowledge is counterintuitive and requires us to go against the obvious, the commonsensical.” I usually introduce the quote with a phrase, embed the quote, and analyze it at the end of the sentence and extend the analysis to the next sentence.

Revised Quotation Statements:

In her book, Frankenstein, Victor mentions Elizabeth as “a possession of my own” suggesting a submissive and objective quality to Elizabeth rather than a human being worthy of equality. In other words, by making this comment, Mary Shelley hints social standards regarding woman value at the time period.

In Lewis Wolpert’s view, “scientific knowledge is counterintuitive and requires us to go against the obvious, the commonsensical.” The essence of Wolpert’s argument is that we use common sense of what we know to make sense of the unknown through both metaphors and science.

Mirdrina Dulcio Blog Post #7

In “Myths, Monsters, and Morality: Understanding ‘Antiscience’ and the Media Message”, Dr. Helen Haste argues that the only way to understand the public images of science and the dispute between science and anti-science is to understand the role that myths and metaphors play in the context of the concepts. Haste explains how while science fiction genres typically touch upon the benefits and dangers of scientific advancements, science fiction also is useful for seeing how a culture perceives science and its common understanding of science. For instance, most of what is considered as science was at first against the common knowledge of the culture. In the same manner, myths and metaphors are used to explain what is seen as typically not common. Metaphors and science have the same function in that it extends our understanding with the known to the unknown. Throughout the paper, science and commonsense were explained to both have a moral influence on the culture in different, yet substantial ways.

In Haste’s paper, she states that Lewis Wolpert argues “that scientific knowledge is counterintuitive and requires us to go against the obvious, the commonsensical. Haste uses this claim to further support her idea of making metaphors and science similar in that they are both involved in the search for the truth. Haste also uses quotes of other pro-science individuals in order to build upon her argument.

In the past, my research papers have lacked fluidity with the quotes I use and my response to the quotes, and this paper would be a good resource to go to in order improve my technique. I also like the connection that Haste made with metaphors and science as a way to understand its effect in one’s culture. I want to be able to create something new out of something that is normally undervalued or under appreciated. I originally chose this article because the title included morality which was something that I wanted to investigate, but unfortunately, it did not mention anything directly about the morality of Frankenstein’s monster. It goes to sure the inaccuracies of titles, and it makes me more aware of how deeply I will have to search in order to find the information that I really need.

Article: http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1179/isr.1997.22.2.114

Mirdrina Dulcio Post #6

In “Constructing Connectedness: Gender, Sexuality and Race in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein”, Jessica Hale’s main argument is that Shelley used various relationships such as familial, homosocial, sexual, and racial throughout Frankenstein in order to reveal the social issues during that time period. For instance, Jessica Hale argues that Mary Shelly uses the relationship between Alphonse and Caroline as well as Victor and Elizabeth to show how the society at the time favored a traditional domestic family where the wife was typically seen as submissive and weak objects and the husband was seen as a paternal figure. She also argues that Mary Shelley is trying to convey the idea of the society at the time being that domesticity is discordant with dealing with public affairs because it affects the role of the husband. Another argument that Jessica Hale makes is that Victor is narcissistic in that he created the monster in his own image and the monster desire Victor, which is an extreme form of homosocial longing that forces the exclusion of females.

An example of a close reading is on page 21 when Jessica Hale mentions that Victor in the story describes Elizabeth as “a possession of my own”, which is very effective because it clearly shows that women were perceived as objects. Another example of a close reading is when the Jessica Hale mentions that on page 4, Walton “desire[s] the company of a man who could sympathize with [him], whose eyes would reply to [him]” because it directly shows how erotic desire is used to describe the longing for male companionship.

One secondary source that Jessica Hale uses is The Freudian Body which was used to help Jessica Hale use psychoanalytic theory to create this literary criticism as well as helping Jessica Hale formulate ideas from Freud that can help her analyze Frankenstein more effectively.

Some terms that I did not know were psychoanalytic theory, seafaring, mélange, and libidinal. One of the terms, libidinal is relating to sexual desire, and I google searched libidinal in order to get the definition.

Mirdrina Dulcio – Blog Post #5

The article that I have selected came from the HuffingtonPost.com, and the title is called Is Social Media Dependence a Mental Health Issue. The author Klein argues that there is a connection between the use of social media and drug abuse because social media exposing drug use creates a rise in the abuse of alcohol or drugs (Klein, 2014). While social media does expose teenagers to unhealthy lifestyle choices such as using drugs, it is not justified to assume that it is the direct result of the excessive use of social media. Social media is another way of saying a technological interpretation of our society. Although there are a significant amount of images showing drug user being under the influence, that is based on the society’s preference, and social media is used as a medium to express those social preferences. As a result, if the issue is the increase of people abusing drugs, then it is up to the society itself to create the change that will benefit everyone in the future. Klein also discussed how the increase dependence in social media harms individuals mentally due to the constant self-evaluation; However, because of the biological reward that is received to ourselves from disclosing personal information, it is difficult to break from the habit (Klein, 2014). Klein then relates that component with drugs by saying that social media and drugs have similar functions in how they affect individuals (Klein, 2014). This is why in Super Sad True Love Story, the young adults were so inclined to commit suicide because while their apparati made them feel lonely at times (Shteyngart, 270), the lack of their apparati means that there is no more of the biological reward that is received when others are viewing their placement in their society.

Shteyngart, Gary. Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2010. Print.

Klein, Sarah. “Is Social Media Dependence A Mental Health Issue?” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2015. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/social-media-mental-health_n_5268108.html>.

Mirdrina Dulcio – Blog Post #4

A scene in Super Sad True Love Story that I found extremely eerie and disturbing is on page 153 when Lenny spots the character Jeffrey Otter on a commercial billboard. The scene starts out with Lenny and Eunice on their way to meet up with Lenny’s friends when Lenny comes across a billboard made by his employer, the Staatling-Wapachung Corporation. The advertisement promotes the benefits of buying expensive triplex living units in ironically unpleasant locations. Lenny is particularly irritated to read that one of the benefits included immortality assistance from the Post-Human Services Division because one had to prove that he or she is worthy of that privilege. Subsequently, Lenny notices a drawing in the corner of the billboard and realizes that it is Jeffrey Otter, the character from his apparat that interrogated him before his departure from Italy. It reminds him of his betrayal to Fabrizia, and he questions choosing a digital device like Eunice over a soft and sexual human being like Fabrizia. This scene is unsettling to me because it plays on the extremity of the lack of privacy that the citizens have in this post-modern society. It is not a coincidence that Lenny’s employer, who can easily obtain all sorts of information about him, puts up a specific character on the billboard as a way to get some kind of unnerving reaction out of him as well as asserting the dominance of the company as a whole.

I chose this image because it is a very literal yet metaphoric illustration of how the government in Lenny’s post-human society uses technology such as the internet to access all kinds of information about an individual. Although it may seem like an exaggerated joke in today’s society, it is the unfortunate reality of Lenny’s society in Super Sad True Love Story.