Journal #1- September 3, 2019
“Consider the Lobster”- David Foster Wallace
If David Foster Wallace was invited into the discussion in our classroom, some of the questions that I’d like to ask him about this essay would be what was the main purpose of writing this article? What are the main points in this article that he would want the readers to comprehend? Does cooking lobsters when they’re alive raises the question of our virtues and morals? And what does that say about our virtues and morals? What does the Maine Lobster Festival connect with some of the ethical issues that humans face today? What are the differences in the expression of preference between humans and lobsters? Should we agonize over boiling lobsters when they’re alive even if that’s the way to cook it?
There are several limits of a written discussion especially when it involves larger issues. One of the limits is to choose a particular topic, one that is debatable and open to argument. It is critical to present both sides of the topic with strong and valid statements, so the readers can form their own thoughts. The audience would form questions as they’re reading the article, and process their own opinions to the discussion. Another limit to a written discussion would be presenting and describing the significance of the findings. This would determine the opinions that the readers would create as they’re looking at facts that would back up the written discussion in general. While writing this article, I would anticipate the audience’s questions through each point that is presented. It is important to provide clear statements in the writing as the readers will form questions connecting to the points.
Journal #2- September 9, 2019
Drafting Writing Projects
When drafting writing projects, I follow the traditional essay structure of an introduction, 3 body paragraphs, and a conclusion, then adding more if it’s necessary. It’s important to prioritize organization while writing drafts and being as specific as possible. It’s easy for me to be influenced by adding irrelevant information. Therefore, I find it easier to start with an outline as a guide for the paper. The outline includes the thesis statement that sets out the whole paper and topic sentences to support the writing. When writing the body paragraphs, I tend to include some background information about what the paper is about. It will help the readers to digest the information by the details that are presented in the paper.
After writing the body paragraphs, I went ahead with creating the introduction. I always think of the introduction as the most important part of the whole paper. The introduction sets out what everything else will be. If the introduction is weak and unappealing, the rest of the paper could lose the reader’s attention. The introduction should be broad enough that will make the reader want to keep reading. Depending on what type of paper I’m writing, I would start with a story in the introduction or one of the important events from the paper. The purpose of introduction is to keep your readers guessing while leading them into the supporting body paragraphs and eventually the conclusion.
While revising my own paper or others’ work, I focus on the relevancy of the information like what’s unnecessary and what’s necessary for the paper. I also focus on the thesis statement and the topic sentences since it’s the main parts of the writing. With writing projects, I tend to write a rough draft not focusing on the technical side of writing and more on the content. The process of peer review would help me a lot with the grammar, spelling, punctuation, and formatting problems I tend to have.
Journal #3- September 11, 2019
The Art of Quoting
While reading Chapter 3: The Art of Quoting from They Say I Say, it gave me a whole other perspective when introducing quotations. Falling into one of the things that we learned in high school, everything that this chapter said not to do is exactly how I did it. I’ve never got a bad response from the way I did my quotations on writing projects so I used the same way for as long as I can remember. I especially did the technique of “X states, asserts, or says” when adding quotes in and always thought that was enough. This chapter explains the several methods that can be used while adding quotations to your paper. It’s important to choose quotes that are relevant and relatable in the context of what you’re writing about. There are at times where adding quotes is a similar process to writing the body of the paper in general. Often times, I would add irrelevant quotes that lengthen the paragraph when I could’ve added other things into it. The main goal to add quotes into your paper is to support the idea/argument of the paper. I learned that it’s crucial to find relevant quotations that would be necessary to add, even if you have to remove quotes as you work through the revision of the paper.
In the process of adding quotations, I was taught to provide some kind of context either before or after introducing the quote. Transitions between the quotes and the context must connect in some way to avoid any dangling or hit-and-run quotations. They Say I Say used the reference of “quotation sandwich” which provides a clear organization in my head to follow through while adding quotes into the paper. This will allow me to deliver the quotations in an adequate and proper way, which will definitely carry throughout my college writing career.
Journal #4- September 16, 2019
The End of Food
The End of Food by Lizzie Widdicombe was an interesting article to read as a whole and gave different perspectives about food that I never thought of. There are several passages that caught my attention and possibly be used on my project 1 part 2 essay. The first page of the article in the third paragraph states that “Food was an inefficient way of getting what he needed to survive,” which can’t get any more realistic than that. Buying, preparing, and eating food, in general, can be costly and inconvenient at times. It’s funny to think about how one of the things that we need to survive is becoming one of the main problems that we face today. The second passage that I thought was interesting is page 5 in the last paragraph. Tim Gore was explaining how we experience climate change through food, which is a different perspective that I never saw on food. We’re born with natural instincts that we need to eat every day in order to survive. It’s our main source of energy and nutrients, however, it’s a hidden problem that we are all blinded from. Food has become more expensive day by day and we always thought of it as a necessary purchase. There’s no way of getting around it, but that’s before the idea of liquid food (in this case Soylent product) was introduced and people have become more intrigued by it. It’s interesting when you think of someone completely changing their lifestyle and food choices to something like Soylent. What are the advantages and disadvantages of changing to liquid food? Could this be a solution to the cost of food but also giving us the nutrition that we need in our bodies? The third passage is on page 14 in the last paragraph where Widdicombe describes the importance of food. It’s intriguing to see how humans revolve and rely on food every day, and how it can impact us emotionally and physically.
Journal #5- September 16, 2019
They Say/I Say
After reading the first chapter of the book, “They Say/I say,” there are several important points that are compelling and useful for future writing projects. The first chapter is kind of like the introduction to a whole writing process. It was interesting since it points out some of the things that I never thought of using and what I’ve been doing wrong in my writings. In high school, we were all taught the most standard procedure of writing. We had to follow the basic five-paragraph structure and basic revision process. However, this chapter enhances the critical thinking and analysis aspect since it is as important as the structure of the writing. The template of “they say__; I say__” is an interesting concept that I could incorporate. In writing projects, especially with persuasive essays, I tend to stick with the “I say” side and briefly add a few of “they say” as quotes. I never thought it would be equally as important to incorporate your point of view as well as others’ point of view to have a well-rounded strong essay. Another technique that I’ve learned in this chapter was asking the question of “Why are you telling me this?” It’s an interesting question to ask when you’ve put yourself in the readers’ point of view while looking at your writing piece. Is this information necessary to include? How does this connect to the other points of this writing? What’s the main purpose of this writing and what do you want the readers to grab from reading this? It’s important to always keep in mind the audience of your paper when writing. The readers are your main target and using this technique as a revision process would help you to remove unnecessary parts.
Journal #6- September 21, 2019
Peer Review PDFs on the peer review page
Journal #7- Decided to do the podcast instead
Journal #8- September 30, 2019
TS/IS P.19-29
Chapter one of They Say/I Say talks about the important lesson of having a large conversation in your writing. I think that it’s an important lesson that’s easy to be skipped without the writer knowing. The “order” that this chapter was talking about shows the proper structure and organization to write the proper paper. Often times, we find ourselves writing with our own inputs and disclosing the idea of having a larger conversation. One of the advice that this chapter gave which I found really helpful was to start the paper with “what others are saying” and incorporating your response after. There will be a balance on the paper with the They Say/I Say part hence the title of the book, rather than focusing too much on the “I Say” part or vice versa. It’s easy to get caught up with staying on one side when writing the paper so having the balance between the They Say/I Say part will be able to provide the readers some point of view. This chapter also points out how it is important to include arguments that writers agree or disagree with. It will show a well-rounded paper as opposed to a paper that just focuses on one side. Starting the paper with what “They Say” then writing the rest of the paper with a thesis and body paragraphs that will support your response with it will produce better results from the paper. I also like how they incorporated templates in this chapter that will show a clear example of how the paper should be. There are also multiple templates regarding the “They Say” part that can be incorporated into our future essays. Another thing that I found helpful was when the chapter mentioned keeping “They Say” in view. It’s easy to introduce what they say in the beginning then dismisses it. It’s important to keep the “They Say” part throughout the rest of the paper and having the supporting body paragraphs as your response to it.
Journal #9- September 30, 2019 In Class (scribe)
Journal #10- October 2, 2019
Memories of Meals Past
The Memories of Meals Past was an article that shows a collection of people with significant dishes in their life. I love how the article incorporated pictures instead of just paragraphs of people describing their important dish. It adds the “personal” part into the article for the readers to connect. This article displays the different memories that people have with food and why the certain dish that they chose is significant to them. Memories of Meals Past article is a good example of how people are connected with food and their personal experiences. I like reading the brief descriptions of why the dish is important to them like the crepes over Bunsen burner and lasagna at Thanksgiving. These dishes are not just about the flavor and how it tastes, but also the memories that are made from it. For instance, the crepes over Bunsen burner to celebrate the first year of their medical school. Bunsen burners are usually used in labs as opposed to cooking food, but they used it to cook crepes to celebrate an important milestone. I also like the story about lasagna on Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite holidays because of family and friends gathering as well as the Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, pumpkin pie, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, etc. It was interesting to see how lasagna could be a part of her Thanksgiving meal and how it made me feel at home in Rome. The dish that I wanted to know more about is the “Haunted by a Rejected Pumpkin Pudding”. I have so many questions when I read about this mysterious pumpkin pudding. Why did she act like she didn’t like the pumpkin pie around her mom but when her mom left, she liked it? Each of these pictures has stories behind it and their unique personal experiences. It shows how food connects with people and create memories.
Journal #11- October 7, 2019
Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch
1st passage: Page 7, 1st paragraph
I agree with the idea of this paragraph as it presents factors that are foreseen in today’s society. The thought of relying on processed foods has been popular with the recent generations. None of us have the time to buy all the ingredients and properly cook at home. Frankly, none of us want to take the time to learn how to cook as we have many other things to do. People nowadays have the tendency to lean towards processed foods or eating our (like what we wrote about in our recent essay) rather than cooking at home. We live in a generation where most of us put our jobs as a priority and the big part of it is time. The 2nd paragraph, says that “processed foods have so thoroughly colonized the American kitchen” which is true. It has dominated traditional foods since it is more practical. Eating takes time and if we can eat on-the-go, who doesn’t want that? This applies to different types of people and what they prioritize first. People who prioritize health wouldn’t eat out as much and will take the time to purchase ingredients to cook at home. There are no right or wrong things about their preference, however, processed foods are becoming something that people rely on every day.
2nd passage: Page 12, 3rd paragraph
I “disagree” with the idea of this paragraph, but it’s also complicated. There are many different TV shows nowadays in different platforms. There is a channel dedicated to food, Food Network, which what this article focuses on. I am one of the several people who like watching certain shows in the Food Network like Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, and Cutthroat Kitchen solely for the purpose of entertainment. These cooking shows target a larger audience since they are typically family-friendly shows. These shows are including cooking challenges and being on the edge of the seat as the judges make their decision about the chefs’ dishes. Some people watch these cooking shows for entertainment but there are also some people that watch these shows to be inspired. They might want to take some inspiration from the dishes or pursue to become a chef as a career. Even though Food Network is a platform for people to watch chefs cook, the network’s goal isn’t to “transform” cooking into something you watch. It is entertainment but it can also lead to inspiration for people who wants to be chefs.
3rd passage: Page 16, 2nd paragraph
My response to this paragraph is complicated because it includes a complicated yet interesting question. The 2nd paragraph “We might not feel we have the time or the energy to do it ourselves every day, yet we’re not prepared to see it disappear from our lives entirely. Why?” This question really got me thinking because a lot of people are in a similar position. After a long day of work, you decided to order food, and have it delivered to your house. You turn on the TV and see what is playing on the Food Network while eating your takeout food. It is an interesting crossover when you’re watching cooking shows while eating takeout. Sometimes after a long day of work or school, all I’d want to do is order, take it home with me, and watch a movie instead of spending another hour to prepare and cook. Although cooking takes a lot of time and effort, maybe some people watch cooking shows to find inspiration or to get back into cooking again.
Journal #12- October 9, 2019
Chapter 14 of the They Say/I Say book proposes several techniques that are helpful for the writing process. When we are writing a paper, especially persuasive or argumentative, it tends to be one-sided with our own opinions. Having your own opinion is certainly an important factor of the paper, however, this chapter emphasizes on incorporating the “They Say” portion. I like how in each chapter of the book that we’ve read and responded to; it always comes back to the “They Say/I Say” part as it is the goal of the book, but it is also a main skill to learn. This chapter unfolds the importance of involving not only your side of the argument but also the other side of the argument. During my high school writing days, I would mainly focus on presenting my beliefs of the argument and not as much as the other side of the argument. It is a habit that I would have to leave and not bring into my college writing process. When writing the paper, it is important to incorporate both sides of the story as it will give the audience some knowledge of both to form their perspectives. The main goal of the paper is to grab the readers’ attention with what they say as well as what “I” say. One of the main keys that are important in the organization of your writing is to present what “they say” early on, then using your response to build the paper. This is one of the techniques that I will need to improve on my writings from now on as it will build a well-rounded paper. The chapter also talks about the other main keys of the paper like the thesis statements and topic sentences, however, it is also important to present the views of both sides of the argument to support the thesis.
Journal 13- October 23, 2019
The two significant moves that I made during the process of revising paper 2 are sharpening the thesis statement and supporting the quotes. During my part of the peer review discussion, the thesis statement was one of the things that my peers told me to focus on. My original thesis statement was broad and unclear, which makes it harder to lead into the rest of the paper. I took their suggestions and created a thesis statement that shows my point of view. The thesis statement should provide the writer’s clear opinion and a guide to the rest of the essay for the readers. Since it was the first draft of the paper, my thesis statement led to no direction, so I knew that it was the main thing to revise. Another significant move that I made while revising my paper was supporting the quotes. I tend to add quotes relating to the topic of my body paragraphs without providing support before and after. My peers told me to focus on providing support on quotes and elaborate more. It is important to not leave any quotes hanging and adding your thoughts on how the quotes relate to the paragraph. I made sure to introduce the quotes properly, in-text citations, and explaining the quote after. How does this quote relate to the topic sentence of this body paragraph? What quotes can be placed here to support the idea? Using the quotes from my peers’ favorite meal essays and Pollan’s article helps to back up my thesis statement in general. The process of peer review at the early stage of the paper was helpful since there are many mistakes to be made. It helps to point out global concerns with the thesis statement, topic sentences, and others.
Journal 14- October 28, 2019
Let’s be honest, nobody likes to talk about death or face the death of our loved ones and even our own. This podcast was an open discussion about death between the mortician, Caitlin Doughty, and Fresh Air’s Terry Gross. The conversation that they had about death was even more interesting as it was coming from a mortician’s perspective. Caitlin Doughty’s philosophy about death is honesty, which most of us can admit that we’re not always “honest” about death. We tend to hide from death rather than face it because we are afraid or for other reasons. Around 5:00 of the podcast, Doughty talks about being covered in human remains. She said, “You get used to it in away. It becomes the reality of your workplace,” which is unimaginable, but I understand where she is coming from. She talked about witness cremation which a lot of people didn’t know about including myself. Doughty felt that the involvement of the family in this part of cremation was a crucial and important experience. She felt that she was alone and not right as she didn’t know the people. The families that chose to stay and be with the deceased as they were being cremated, as she described, “It was an incredibly powerful experience because they took that responsibility for the body,” This gave me a different perspective of death and how we don’t realize that we have so much power over the body. Doughty also talked about her reasons for taking care of the corpse at home as we get to see our loved ones change and see the life leaving them. It makes you realize that at some point in life, I am going to die and that all of us are going to die. Taking care of the corpse at home and preparing for burial is something that I would not be able to do but I know that everyone is different, and some people would want to take it on. Death has been commonly considered as an unpleasant and sad occasion; however, we can also see it as a beautiful last moment with our loved ones before they are gone. It taught me to be more appreciative of the people that are in my life right now because we all know that we are going to die, it’s just the matter of when.
Journal 15- November 4, 2019
My process of writing paper 2 had its ups and downs. I had a rough start to this paper as I didn’t fully comprehend the assignment. I didn’t know what to write for my thesis statement so that made it difficult for me. As I was writing for the 500-800 words mark, I only focused on adding words in and putting together my ideas, but I had no organization. Even though I developed ideas for this paper, it was all disarranged and needed some structure. I liked the peer review that we did for paper 2 during the early stages. It was extremely helpful as the suggestions and feedback that my peer gave, helped me to understand where I can improve on my paper. During high school, peer review happened near the end of the writing process, so it was interesting to do one when the paper is still developing. I did a lot of work in the introduction to make sure that it delivers the “invitation” feel for the readers, recognizing the articles that I will be using, and thesis statement to lead into the rest of the paper. I also liked it when we did the class peer review on Diego and Cassandra’s work. As we talked about improvements and corrections on their paper, it made me realized that I was doing some of the similar things on my own paper so it helped to see where I should revise. Meeting with Sinead near the due date of the paper was also very helpful. She gave several important advices especially on any lingering questions that I had on my paper. Paper 2 involved a lot of revision along the way from the peer reviews to Sinead to me. I knew that I needed any advices that I can get for the entire process of writing this paper. Even though there were a few rough patches along the way, revision and advices from other people’s perspectives really helped as it made my paper stronger.
Journal 16- November 4, 2019
Do animals have feelings and emotions? There are many thoughts that came to our mind regarding if animals have consciousness or not. Animals go through training and making them understand certain situations but is it the same? As I was reading the article, What the Crow Knows, written by Ross Andersen, it made me curious and think of things that never come across my mind. Andersen talked about the concept of whether or not animals have consciousness. I have never heard of Jainism before and it was interesting to learn about their beliefs and traditions. They go into such extremes of avoiding car travel, refusing to eat root vegetables, using cotton instead of silk, etc. Andersen states that “Jains move through the world in this gentle way because they believe animals are conscious beings that experience, in varying degrees, emotions analogous to human desire, fear, pain, sorrow, and joy,” (Andersen). Although I do not agree with Jainism and their beliefs of the full consciousness of animals, I agree to some extent. It goes back to science versus religion and how the two contradict one another. Animals would try to communicate and interact with us, such as the crow using a call to get Singh’s attention for food. Of course, animals can feel pain and fear but as humans, we are not able to fully understand and develop their emotions. We don’t know what the animals are feeling, and we don’t know if they understand us. To this day, there has been prove that animals have some kind of consciousness, but we are not 100% sure. It is a big mystery that is yet to be solved.
Journal 17- November 6, 2019
Page 1, 2nd paragraph: In this paragraph, Herzog was talking about Judith and how she believes that it is wrong to kill animals. However, Judith didn’t believe that fish are animals, and therefore they are not treated the same way. Herzog talked about the moral difference between eating fish versus hen. This was important to Herzog’s point as it talks about the morality in animals with humans and the way that we interact and treat them.
Page 2, 4th paragraph: Herzog explained how animals and humans have a unique, emotional, and complicated relationship. Herzog talks about a distinctive bond that humans have created with animals like Carolyn’s relationship with her manatee. They both had a close relationship with one another to the point where Snooty the manatee would get sick when she leaves for vacations. It impacted Carolyn emotionally and affect her relationship with her husband. This also supports Herzog’s points as it talks about the significance of the human-animal relationships.
Page 4, 1st paragraph: While humans and animals have a positive relationship most of the time, Herzog described how it can be a moral burden as well. It is an interesting point of view that Herzog brought up to add to his argument. He asked questions if it is ethical or morally acceptable to keep kittens to feed the boa. It provides a general discussion about the contradiction of feeding the animal with other animals, as we’ve done with our pets for many years now.
Page 5, 3rd paragraph: Herzog talks about the problematic interactions that people and animals have, especially pets of our own. He talks about how people used animals as models for their studies, to observe different abilities and behaviors. It shows the way different people treat animals and being attached to it for different reasons. We can be emotionally attached to animals for right or wrong reasons, and whether or not if it is ethical.
Journal 18- November 11, 2019
As I re-read “Consider the Lobster” by David Foster Wallace, there were some different perspectives and thoughts that came across my mind. It made me realized all the connections that “Consider the Lobster” have with the articles that we have worked with in class like “What Crows Knows”, “Animals Like Us”, etc. My thought process slightly differs between now and then as I re-read “Consider the Lobster” because of these other pieces of writings that we looked at. David Foster Wallace brings up the morals and ethics of boiling a lobster alive. When I re-read the piece for the second time, the thought of lobsters having consciousness and a similar nervous system came up. As someone who is an avid seafood consumer, lobsters are very popular among the household. When we are eating lobsters, we don’t think about lobsters having the ability to feel pain or having consciousness. Re-reading this piece shows another perspective that David Foster Wallace is trying to portray to the readers. As we’ve gone through this course and has focused a lot on the topic of food, it gave me a different reaction as I re-read DFW’s article. It gave me an understanding of tensions that rises when it comes to treating animals and the way that we interact with them. They are living organisms on this Earth that deserves to be treated with respect and care.
Journal 19- November 11, 2019
This chapter “Skeptics May Object-Planting a Naysayer in Your Text” of the They Say/I Say book presents some important advices that will enhance our piece of writing. The authors talked about handling and interpreting criticism into our work. When someone criticizing your piece of writing, it may not be the moment of sunshine and happiness, and some people take it the wrong way. However, criticism can be used in such ways that will be an advantage for improvement as it incorporates critical views of others. This chapter suggests that the writing should, “tell readers what others might say against you, but our point is that doing so will actually enhance your credibility, not undermine it,” (78). This was a different but interesting perspective that the authors have introduced which will be useful for our work. Another thing that I found helpful in this chapter and all the previous chapters that we’ve read is that the authors include templates. These templates are very useful to help the readers understand their concepts and to put it in an example rather than just reading paragraphs. This chapter includes templates for entertaining objections, templates for naming your naysayers, templates for introducing objections informally, etc. As a visual learner, this is very useful as it shows a clear “picture” as an example to incorporate these ideas into your piece of writing. Chapter 6 focuses on integrating the naysayers in writings which is something that I don’t think of as I am writing. Providing a counterview to your argument in your writing would give the readers a perspective to base their argument. Even though there are risks of providing the other side to contradict your argument, it would greatly impact your piece of writing as well.
Journal 22- November 25, 2019
There has been a lot of changes that I made on paper 3 after the revision and peer reviews that we had. One of the things that I mainly focused on was making sure that all three articles that I am working with including Andersen, Herzog, and Wallace’s piece, flow together. I made sure to incorporate different quotes from each text to connect and support the argument of the paper. Another thing that I focused on was the introduction, especially that it is broken into two paragraphs. I wanted to make sure that the transition between the first to the second paragraph flows nicely to ensure the readers that there are two paragraphs for the introduction. The thesis statement was also the main thing that I focused on because it was messy in the first place. There was a lot of fixing that goes into the thesis to make sure that it delivers my point of view and argument to lead into the rest of the paper. A lot of changes were made regarding the placements of certain sentences and even paragraphs. I had to do some shuffling to make sure that everything fits in the correct place. Some of the sentences or paragraphs may not flow well with its original place and after re-reading my paper again, I had a sense of where it should be placed. Lastly, I focused on the quotes that I used for this paper. I had two block quotations at first but after meeting with Sinead, we both worked out a better way to get rid of block quotations and paraphrase or lessen to just the necessary things. There was a lot of re-organization that goes on to paper 3 for revision but it made everything flow better.
