Wednesday, December 14, 2016

That's The Way The Cookie Crumbles..🍪

 Here's a little bts action.:) I mentioned to my aunt about bringing cookies to class tomorrow and if I can use her family famous recipe. We actually ended up making the cookies together and I got a bunch of flashbacks to when I was younger. We would make this recipe all the time and have a tradition of snacking on extra chocolate chips while waiting for the cookies to bake. cx It felt like old times and it was so fun. My sister even helped and contributed to our random conversation. I'd like to start doing this more often again. It took my mind of finals and had a nice conversation with my aunt and nonna. Anyways I thought it'd be nice to share this moment. I hope everyone likes them!🍪:)

Monday, December 12, 2016

Changing My Big Question (again)

Yup, I'm changing it again. This would probably be the third time I have been changing it and I think that is because I keep becoming curious about a lot of things but this question is sort of different.

Its stemmed from when we were learning about Emerson and Self Reliance. The first few sentences of the last paragraph were, "So use all that is called fortune. Most men gamble with her, and gain all, and loose all, as her wheel rolls."

I've always briefly thought about the idea of luck or fortune but now I wonder, does luck exist? Is there such thing as fortune? Are the odds more in the favor for some people than others?

T.I.P.

I was looking through my stuff from this semester and found this:



That got me thinking about how this week is full of things to do and it's going to be stressful. So maybe if I start making some kind of schedule like this one again, I might be more sufficient in managing my time. :)

Thursday, December 8, 2016

WOW, THAT WAS QUICK!!!!

This semester just flew by! Yet I've still managed to learn a lot of new things. It feels like it was just yesterday when it was August and we got to choose to do coursework on our blogs. I remember how not used to it I was the first few times, but now I look foward to posting on my blog and try to every chance I get. Not only it's a place for posting about topics from class, but it's also a platform where we can express ourselves and have fun with our work! Learning doesn't have to be the traditional textbook and long lectures all the time and that was proved this semester. I think doing things the "non traditional"way made us feel like we weren't doing things just for a grade because a lot of us have intrinsic motivation when it comes to blogging. I learned so much from this class this semester. From memorizing Dr. Seuss, reading articles about eating babies, and taking risks with trying to become more self reliant, I think we all leared many things from what we read and from everyone in the class. This semester was different..... but a great different!! I can't wait to see what's in store for the future.:)

Reviewing/Notes

Posting my notes from yesterday(:
Ethos, Logos, & Pathos
Ethos- Establishes the credibility of the speaker
  ex. speaking style, how they dress, etc
Pathos- Passion or emotion a person is speaking with
Logos- Logic. Using text/rhetoric in the conversation.
The Right to Your Opinion
Argumentation=The search for truth
Euphemisms-making something that seems distasteful, tasteful.
Euphemisms does not help the search for truth in an argument/not an honest conversation.
Entitlement= Obligation
Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic
Extrinsic- Motivation from the outside. Motivation because of a reward or threat.
Intrinsic- Motivation from the inside. Motivation that makes sense to you.
Satire
The use of irony, sarcasm, humor, and exaggeration to expose stupidity and vices of a social condition.
Logical Fallacies
Ad Hominem- (personal attack) attacking the person instead of arguing
  (sound familiar?)
Straw man- misrepresents a position to make it seem weaker than it is.
Red Herring- A distraction of what's truly important
Post Hoc Ergo Proper Hoc- After this, therefore results from this..
Slippery Slope- An action is rejected because the person thinks it would lead to chain reaction that will not reach an end.
 Ex. Person 1: Can I have a piece of candy?
       Person 2: If I give you a piece, he's going to want a piece too. Then his friend will want a piece,          and her friend, and everyone else here would want one too.
Denotation vs. Connotation
Denotation- the literal meaning of the word.
  Ex. It's cool outside
Connotation- emotional or socially popular meaning of the word.
  Ex. You're so cool!
Taboo Language- words or phrases that are believed to be not acceptable in society.
Can be used to shock people out of their normal way of thinking.
  Ex. "bad words"
Catharsis- the process of releasing emotions
Syllogism- A simple form of logic: finding truth or validity.
Things we read in class:
"The Laughing Heart", "The Right To Your Opinion", "A Modest Proposal", "Conscience of A Hacker, "Politics and The English Language", "On Self Reliance", "A Sound of Thunder", and "Immigrants In Our Own Land".

Monday, December 5, 2016

SOMETHING INTERESTING

Enough with the politics. Yeah, I get it. I feel the same way but it still manages to pop up in our daily lives somehow. I reallly liked Bernie and was originally hoping he would win. So something interesting I saw on the news today was that Trump's spokespeople said that if Hillary made Bernie the vice president, she would have won. That makes sense beacause all the Bernie or bust people would've voted for her. Anyways that didn't happen, unfortunately, so I hope all the election stuff can finally calm down and we can all move on with our lives.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

Immigrants in Our Own Land by Jimmy Santiago Baca

The devices that I found......
Theme: Throughout the whole poem, like how Jessica stated in her blog, the narrator compares what immigrants, like himself, expected this "new land" would be like verses how it is actually like.
Tone and mood: The start of the poem is very hopeful and wishful. He goes on by saying, "We start of with dreams in our hearts, looking for better days ahead." At the end of the poem, however, the tone is disappointing and depressing because at the beginning of the poem they were about to go chase their dreams and setting high expectations but at the end, they were let down and their dreams were shattered. As a reader, the vibes I got from the poem was being able to understand/relate to what the narrator was going through because I know family members and friends who have gone/are going through the same things. The author also uses similes and metaphors to paint an image for the readers. For example, "they used common sense like scholars."
What I thought about the poem.......
I think learning about the authors backstory gave me a better perspective or had enhanced my mood of the poem even more. The first thing I noticed was not being able to tell if he knew how to read or write before this. It just shows that if you are really determined, you will achieve your goals. It was amazing to see how he improved and grew as a person throughout all the hardships. He writes about how other people come to this country with high hopes but then one they arrive, their expectations weren't met. Life really sucks at times. Most people get discouraged with life and breath just because. They don't do anything amazing with their lives. Other people can get discouraged at first but they take what life gives them as fuel for motivation to achieve their goals and dreams. Feeling sorry for yourself gets you no where. Being determined will get you out of bad situations and it is extremely helpful to look at life with a positive perspective. It was truly inspiring to see that the author completely changed his life around. In conclusion, I really enjoyed the poem. Usually I dread SOME poetry because in my opinion, it can be boring. Usually the typical older poetry about swans or nature really bores me but this poem is about REAL things. Things that many people, like me, can actually relate to.