In class-

To me it seems like sarahs main claim is either that for guys to stop trying woo hot girls and just get them to like you with things they want, or this might make more sense that shes making a claim that the media trys to sell you things like axe body spray and mini burger bites because they say hot girls will wanna be with you if you smell a certain way or have eat burking king mini burgers. i thought that this was alittle confusing so i dont really know. she uses all sort of things to help support her idea. all the commercials showing how easy it is for hot girls to be around you if you eat gum and use axe body spray.

Free Write: things that i wish were different

Well for starters i think most people can agree is that 8 am classes suck. I am usually up till 1 in the morning and 8 is way too early. I also wish i could have a full fridge in my dorm and possibly have a stove. and our wardrobes in brachman suck. but nope not allowed to do that. also i wish there was a dining hall closer to brachman and the frat dorms. the walk isnt too bad but still would be nice if they had one closer so late night people in the greek dorms and brachman could munch. Also wish i could have a golf cart on campus, just because it would be sweet cruising around. I dont like how brachman has mandatory meetings that cost money if you dont show up, and you cant just give them cash you have to give them a check. that to me makes no sense. there should be a game day costume day where everyone dresses as the green man.

I usualy argue with my girlfriend over stupid misunderstandings. something that can easily be solved but somehow turns into an arguement. i argue over things i believe in and if i know someone is wrong about something. but mainly just try and figure things out.

So far i am liking the issue of having a dining hall next to the greek dorms and brachman. I think they used to have one close to them but i believe they closed it down. Could find out why they closed it down. They should have this for many reasons. It would be much more convienent to have one close than to walk across campus to the blu. Most people including myself would rather drive to get fastfood than walk to the blu at night and that wastes gas and money, since most people pay for the cafeteria. if i lived over by the blu i would definatly go there late night and go to 1873. i think this would be good for tcu because more people would eat on campus and not eat fastfood. I think some people like the heads of tcu would disagree because obviously they had it and shut it down for a reason. it might not have been making enough money or a waste of money. Nothing is worse than coming back to the dorms at 12 or 1 and finding out you have no food and if you want something you either walk to the blu or 1873 or your going to have to drive to some sort of fast food place. and thats not very healthy.

Rhetorical Response 4

The second amendment guarantees “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” If the army ever was to fall a militia is needed and would be able to protect the country. This amendment protects us as people just incase something were to happen during a war and the army was to fall and not be able to protect us anymore we the people would be able to stand up and fight and protect our freedom. It also has the opportunity to help protect families in their own homes. I believe this is necessary to help protect loves around the United States of America.

During the late 18^th century when the Constitution was adopted, there was a limited amount of weapons and the selection was very slim. However, in today’s world, there is an endless selection of firearms. Even though there are more powerful guns and weapons today I still believe in this amendment and think people should be more familiar with firearms. However, one must be smart about owning and using a firearm since they are very dangerous.

I have heard many stories about how firearms have proved to save someone or help prevent a robbery. In a case with one of my friends, he was 6 years old and had a slumber party. When all of the kids were asleep some one tried to break into the house right where they were all sleeping. But with quick thinking his dad pulled out a shotgun walked outside and cocked the gun and yelled get off my property and scared off the robber. Now on the other side of things, last year I remember one very instant that a kid was messing around with a gun, which I think his dad owned. He was at a party and shot a girl and killed her. Although through these horrible cases and some good I feel like its not the gun that should be to blame it is the person.

Today to be able to hold a firearm with you, you must go through training and pass a test. With these tests I believe any well-minded adult should have a handgun license. Now as I support this, I do not support the gun rallies with automatic weapons being sold to people with fake licenses, or with none at all. I recently watched a news report about how easy it could be to obtain a semiautomatic weapon, and was shocked at how big these conventions are. Regardless of these though, it is very important to be able to protect oneself if something were to ever happen to our army. If and I don’t think this would happen any time soon, our army was to fall, I would rather have everyone be trained in a firearm than be taught they are “evil” and are not safe. It would make a huge difference if most people got a license and knew how to use a gun, and would help dramatically if something were to happen to the nation. I know when I turn of age I will be obtaining be handgun license. I will not be carrying around the gun with me wherever I go, however it is important to understand and be trained how to properly use a gun and the necessary laws about them. But this is all a personal decision I know my dad doesn’t have a license and could do without guns in his life. I just want to be prepared and feel safe.

Rhetorical Response 3

Home Girl by Hall is a perfect example of how a personality profile should be written. The paper kept me interested the entire way through which is surprising since I usually don’t finish most essays I read. This is a personal profile of Erykah Badu, who is a musician who has won many awards. She is from Dallas, Texas. Even with he music past, Hall hardly goes into the details of her fame. I really think this adds to the whole essay. You get to see who she is as a person and not what she has accomplished music wise.

At first they start out at Badu’s place, where she is washing and doing her daughters hair. This lets us see at her life as a mother and in her own house. You get a very homey feeling from this part in the interview. Also how she describes the labyrinth in the middle of her room as a nourishing environment. This shows what kind of house she runs and about her personality.

Hall does an excellent job adding only the necessary details in this piece. She doesn’t add things like a car ride to the school or unnecessary details like that she only uses details that help us understand who Erykah is as a person. Once they arrive at the school it really shows how much of a free spirit Erykah is. She doesn’t just watch the student’s dance around she hopes in and joins them in their dance routine, which she already knew. I think this is great detail that Hall goes into. Erykah offers support for the kids and even hugs one of them who accidentally fell down during the dance. This really highlights how much of a student and teacher Badu is. Not many people would hope into a class and start dancing with them.

After they dance, the kids want her too sing them a song and she sits them all down and sings them one of her songs. This detailed experience of her singing to the kids really added to the whole story. It helped further her as a person. By this time if you do not know this woman I am sure you would be looking her up as we speak. I myself had never heard of her or her music but I felt inclined to look her up because of this excellent profile. It depicts her so well and such a “hip hop hippie.”

Hall also does a good job with transitions between scenes. Every time they go somewhere different you get a different glimpse of who Erykah Badu really is. When they are at her house she is a mother who is very relaxed and down to earth who loves to grow herbs. At the school she is a free spirit and acts like a little kid. And outside the school and home she is a big activist to help clean up the streets of Dallas. All these are great details of her personality and who she is.

Hall connects Badu to a bigger picture. Instead of setting her out as a musician, she shows what kind of person she is. Which are a caring mother, artist, and activist. She takes out the whole music career and focuses on Badu as a person. Hall does this in a way and makes her ordinary experience seem much greater.

The way she explains the details really enhances the entire story and reading experience. This whole story is about how much good Badu does to help her community. And not only her community but also how she is a caring mother at home. All the details and transitions were worked in perfectly with the whole story. After reading this story I know specific details and who Erykah Badu really is.

In Class: Free Write

Honestly what can i say about Home Girl. It was a good piece of reading and i very much enjoyed it. I think that this was a good example of what we are trying to accomplish in our writings but i dont think that it is the best example. I would like to further explore some of these example and find a truly great piece so i may better understand what we are trying to achieve in out writing. As i am sitting here today i took a second to think about what else i might share along with what i know about this piece. Yes i could ramble on about how much i know about it and all the details and meaningless facts. But i shall spare you the time and whatnot by talking about well pretty much nothing. all in all Home girl was just great.

In Class: Picture free write

I think this is a fantastic image. The area where king kong is battling a little lizard creature really speaks to me. King kong just wants to rip that lizards face of but it another sense he just wants to be with his little lover girl. I feel this poster shows the dark side of king kong. he looks so evil and the people all look so frightened by him. I think the way the colors are makes it look more scary and animated. Looks really sweet. This picture makes me feel happy because king king is a really bad ass ape. one could say hes almost as cool as donkey kong, but i highly doubt that. This is just a marvelous piece, hurray.

This picture tells the story of a lost guerrilla monster. This poster means different things for different people. if you didn't see the movie this poster would like mean something different. But for a large portion of people id say everyone has seen this movie or at least heard about it. This relates to a large group of people going after this Kong King as he takes this helpless women to the top of a tower. this poster brings me back to good times watching this movie with my friends. I really enjoy this movie, and its nice that this poster is older. makes me wanna go watch the old movie. good times with king kong.

The yellows and greens made me feel like it was an old classic movie. and that their was some deep emotion involved with this picture. The red in the bottom corner sticks out a lot and shows alert and anger towards this beast. since the red is behind only the people the people are angry and scared. King kong is a giant guerrilla hes a giant black monster terrorizing the white people. a little bit racy.. perhaps?

The first thing i notice is King Kong, he takes up half the poster and you really get the feeling of how big he really is. this poster speaks to a much older generation but also speaks the the younger ones in different ways. king kong looks more angry and wanting to hurt the woman in this poster than he does in the newer one. I think this poster is trying to instill in people that a big black king kong is angry at society and wants to kidnap young white women. this is very much so related to race. back in the older days this was a big deal. It is trying to make me feel all sorts of good.

in class: brainstorming for essay 3

-- Longboarding - my uncle longboards and surfs a lot
--any kind of music except country - think it would be cool to profile someone and find out stories about woodstock, the only problem is i dont think i know anyone who went, i wish i did.
-walking
-Fast and the furious
-meeting new friends
--Wii sports - want to meet a wii sports master one day
--pong - Francis Dunnary is really good at ping pong, he is a musician and good friends with my dad played for the band it bites
-painting pong tables
-firemaking skills
-sitting on a float in the pool
-sleeping in and missing class
-winter fun - i sure do love winter fun
-- Maybe profile someone who is in the oil buisness, a lot of my friends dads are in the buisness and i know them. might be good because thats what i want to do.
-- perhaps profile someone about being a cowboy, know a guy who pretty much lives on a ranch and maybe learn what he does day to day. big time rancher
-

Write about my room mates dad, He is in the oil buisness and is a very smart man. i would profile about how it is to be a big oil man. because i am pretty sure he is the head of a company that. he is a geologist and if i am not mistaken i think a geo physisist. but i am not entirly sure. Just would want to figure out what he does to help find and dig up oil in possibly the safest way. Mr burke is a kind man and he works hard and he relaxs just as hard, the instant he gets home from work he goes upstairs changes into his rob(however you spell it) and slippers and grabs a miller lite in a bottle, never a can. very interesting man to watch and talk to. for me this would be a great way to get closer to him and find out more about what he contributes to oil and how things might work.

In class: Essay 2 thoughts

I am currently still working essay 2 but i feel strongly about it. once i figured out what i wanted to write about and researched my topic everything seemed to fall in place. research papers arnt really my thing i would rather being doing some sort of creative writing of person essay because i dont like researching. well other than that hurray i went to bed last night at 430 so i am feelin pretty damn good. got a full 1 and a half hour sleep for sure so i am well rested and ready to go to my other 3 classes. todays gonna be a long one. back to essay two. i wish i went to class last week, even though i was sick i still feel like i should have gone, nothing is worse than missing class, i feel like i missed all the important fact and keys that might have helped me on my essay. i really wish i could go to bed right now. this class is too early we should consider moving it.

In Class: Free write essay 2 topic

As of right now i really don't have a topic. I have been thinking about what i could do and only come up with broad things to write about. I was thinking maybe something to do with pirates or piracy, the reason behind this is because i have always liked pirates and when the pirates came about in the horn of africa i thought that it was kinda cool at first but i know that it is actually quite bad. another topic i was thinking about doing is really anything, i need to come up with a topic soon. i am going to research today in class what to do. i was thinking about the topic

Knowing the answer to this could inform people about the situation and how bad things are in other parts of the world. People sink as low as piracy as a job. People might not know that somalia doesnt have a governement set up and hasnt for quite some time. the pirates just do what the want and take anything, including cargo ships and ships they want. very dangerous stuff. i want to figure out more about this and why they do what they do. alkso how countries are preventing these attacks and what we are doing to try and put a stop to all of the piracy.

Rhetorical Response #2

I find both these readings, “Tattoo Crazy” and “We Proudly Brew Starbucks Coffee” to very informative and personal at the same time. They are both good but I found myself drifting off during both of the essays. It might have been my lack of interest or perhaps I was just tired but regardless these papers should have been spiced up a bit.

In “Tattoo Crazy” I felt like the person who wrote it did a very good job mixing facts and personal stories to help move along the paper. It was very informative and I didn’t know a lot of the facts that she explained. Like how people without tattoos think people with them are less attractive. I think this has a point but also could go the other way. I know I wouldn’t want to date a girl with Tattoos all over her body and defiantly not on her face. However, if she had only one or two small ones, I would be fine with it. I like how she goes in detail and explains her journey is trying to decided weather to get a tattoo or not, and how long it took her to pick out one meaningful to her. I think this is very important when getting a tattoo. Since this is a relatively permanent thing a lot of thought and meaning should go into picking one out. I have a couple of friends who have tattoos of stupid things like pirate ships and giraffes. Tattoos like those I think are stupid and pointless. But I have one friend who has his dads initials tattooed on him and that is something I can respect and appreciate. It seems like more and more people are getting tattoos nowadays. I too a trip down to Cancun over the summer and my girl friend and I were shocked at the number of people who had tattoos. There were almost more people with tattoos that without them. I think it is horrible how some people get fired over tattoos. To me that just seems a little ridiculous. I remember one of my fellow counselors at camp longhorn had to wear a bandage over his tattoo or he would be asked to leave. This is just wrong, if I was him I would have tried to start something up with the head guy. He should have the freedom to express himself.

The other essay “we Proudly Brew Starbucks Coffee” was another good example of how to mix personal stories with Interesting facts and knowledge about a topic. I learned a lot of very interesting and fun facts about Starbucks. I had no idea what Starbucks bought their coffee from 3^rd world countries. However another fact was that some of these places they buy from might be using children and other things that are not up to standard. I really don’t have to worry about these things because I have never been a big Starbucks drinker. In fact, I don’t drink coffee at all. I have never been into the whole coffee thing to wake me up. If I need to wake up I usually take a shower or drink an emergen-c. But regardless of not drinking coffee, I can understand how this person felt always going to Starbucks with her dad, and how much this place meant to her. To her Starbucks was more than just a big time coffee empire it was a place she could go to feel at home. She uses very fine details in her essay to help move it along and it doesn’t get too boring. I liked the way she talked about certain details in Starbucks like the music and atmosphere. It is hard to believe that such a big business is just a coffee place. And yet to some people Starbucks is so much more than that. I know people who go to this wonder place to just study. I honestly don’t know how anyone can study in such a hectic place. Sure their might be calming music playing but I need to be in a place I can concentrate. I liked how she not only used good facts she also integrated not so good facts about Starbucks and she didn’t really take just one side of the story.

These are two very fine examples of how to write a personal informative essay about a topic. I feel after reading these it has shed some light on what I might write about and how I will approach this essay. Still I find it challenging to pick a topic. I also figured out that sometimes facts and information can be boring so im going to try to spice mine up a notch.

In Class: Thoughts

I did not sleep very well last night, for i was up studying with my room mate for our Survey of theater class. This class seems like it is easy and it very well should be. But how can anyone pay attention in such a boring class. I tried to learn all that i could before passing out last night and right after this class i will have to go to the library and study the rest of the material. hurray. I sure do like tests... after the test i have another class, calculus. which is just as fun. i really want to get a game of frisbee going today. i hope it works out i want to play real bad. I am glad we turned in essay one but now we have another essay. wow will they ever end? who knows but i hope they will. looks like today is going to be another long and boring one, just like this free response. This weekend i am going to the UT vs. Texas Tech game. Its going to get crazy.

In Class: thoughts and questions about essay 1

Well well well.... I have no questions or thoughts about essay 1. It is a personal essay and i have written a couple of them so this is not something that is new to me. As of right now i am all good but as for just questions in general I was wondering if we would ever have a free topic or something on an essay or maybe some sort of make up story. I was just wondering not saying i want more writing assignments. So close to leaving this morning. I didnt sleep very well at all last night. Gonna get some breakfast after this. yum

In class: free write

I woke up this morning by the blaring sound of my alarm. Awoken by the sound of Blue Sky by the alman brothers. As i layed there for five minutes i wondered if i was going to get up and go to class. ten minutes later i finally got up and stumbled off the top bunk and almost fell flat on my face. i walked over to the shelf and picked up some sort of breakfeast bar and began to eat it up. by that time my roomate rolled over and asked what time it was and complained on how little he slept last night. But i really wasnt listening to him. he asked me to leave my laptop on and signed in because his laptop is currently broken. what are friends for i thought to myself. since he is my bestfriend i left my laptop on beside his bed and prepared myself for my earliest class. i grabed a water and an emergen-C and headed out the door. Walking down 3 flights of stairs at 730 is not something you want to do. However i definatly made it and began to walk outside. Now there is something you need to knwo about where i live. I am in brachman so i am close to all the frat and sororty houses so my walk is quite far. I dont mind walking that distance but at 730 in the morning is no easy feat. But thank god a ray of hope as i walked passed the bus stop i heard the slight noise of the bus start to pull up. thank god i thought. maybe today will be a good day.

Kraatz Rhetorical Response

Jeramey Kraatz’s story “The Biography of Blake Stone” depicts a story that many people can relate to, in a sense that many people might have done something kind of like this when they were kids.

Kraatz uses perfect detail in describing the chat room that Blake Stone was apart of. One could almost picture oneself in this online banquet chatting it up with all the wizards and beautiful online ladies. It is unbelievable how much detail he put into the entire essay. Kraatz builds this fine tooth image of “Blake Stone” you can almost see this person cruising down the street in his 2-door BMW smoking a cigarette. This detail in his writing helps readers know exactly what he wanted to be and what he thought the perfect guy was. When someone has this much detail it is hard not to keep reading. It helps the reader easily follow what is going on and flow through different ideas.

Kraatz takes this boring experience and turns it into a perfect example of how this changed his life and how he used to view a perfect guy. The way he described the chat rooms it almost makes me want to jump into this virtual world and cast some magic spells of my own. The moment when he starts making friends and has online girlfriends in the chat rooms really shows how something so innocent can turn so real. It is so intense when Blake and “AzraelAsh1” begin to fight over the one girl. It’s almost a little weird and twisted but he makes it seem like its perfectly normal for something like that to be happening. And when you think things couldn’t get better she chooses the Ash and is going to get married to him. Once he sees the picture of the girl he finally sees her for what she actually is. I think he realizes what he has actually been doing. He is just pretending to be some big show suave man but is actually just a little kid, and she is not the pretty woman he thought she was. Instead she is just an ordinary lady. At this point he understand that none of those people are who he thought they were just like he wasn’t who they thought he was. And he left the banquet room for good.

In this personal essay Kraatz tries to show us that not everything is always what it seems and I also think it is about childhood innocence. He shows through the end of his story that through his experience of trying to become a cool cat that he actually led this woman to believe he was interested in her and wanted a relationship. When in fact he was just a kid and just wanted escape reality and learn how to talk to girls. I can understand how some kids would find their way to chat rooms like this and how it is very relatable. I am sure a lot of kids when AOL first came out went searching on chat rooms for something kind of like this. Unfortunately the only chat room I have been on is for school. So I don’t have any experience in something like this. He tries to deliver this message to try and inform people to be themselves and to not mislead.

In Class: Authority on

-Longboarding

-any kind of music except country

-walking

-Fast and the furious

-meeting new friends

-Wii sports

-pong

-painting pong tables

-firemaking skills

-sitting on a float in the pool

-sleeping in and missing class

-winter fun

Longboarding: one day while relaxing with a bunch of my highschool friends, they descided to depart from the cozy couch and head into the open world and longboard. i had never longboarded before so i was alittle hesitent but they assured me everything was going to be ok. So they handed me and longboard and we were off. Peddling down the street at full speed trying to find a sweet place to cruize. Once halfway down the street they noticed a small buisness parking garage and we went to check it out. Once we got there my friends instant went down the slope heading full speed down the garage but more me it wasn't that easy. After countless minutes of waiting i finally just let go of my fear and went for it. I dont think i will ever forget that first rush i had when i hit the ground 5 seconds after i cleared the slope and was on the basement floor. Even though i fell and was a little banged up, I instantly fell in love and have longboarding every time i have the chance for 3 years.

In Class: Writing as inquiry

As I started to walk to class this beautiful day I soon realized that my perfect day had been shattered by sweet nothing raindrops. As I first hear about this inquiry I have a hunch that writing as inquiry has a lot to do with the conduct of thought and processes of what we all do and think in todays society. Indeed this might sound a little off topic but inquiry is the way everything is and was. I believe that this Writing and Inquiry class will be hard to comprehend for most. The Curious writer book has the most unusual title for every well I don’t know the word for it. Anyways two minutes left writing this blog and still no answer to the real question. This inquiry stuff is a thing of the future and one day I hope to conquer this foe.

First assignment

My name is Jake Gerson, and I am a freshman here at TCU. My major is engineering. I am from Houston, Tx and went to Episcopal high school.

I wanted to come to TCU because I liked the campus and it was somewhat close to home. If I was made chancellor of TCU I really don’t know what I would change. I have only been here for a week now so I don’t know what needs to be changed or could be made better. Maybe just make the cafeteria a little bigger it seems to get quite full during peak hours. I think a good teacher should be able to relate and connect to the students. Good students should do their work.

I took this course because I want to become a better writer, and because it is required. I am mainly a storyteller. I like to write about stories that have happened or make stories up.

I have read and understand the terms of the course syllabus