I think that something that I would enjoy making this project about would be my experience at college so far. I hope that this is not too cliché, and too keep it a little interesting I think that I could focus on Baja. Baja is a club at Miami that builds an off-road go-cart and competes each year in a race put on by the SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers).
Any way, this year they are building a completely new car by modifying last year’s model, they have been making new cars each year for about 5 years. But the real interesting part would be me talking about the race that we competed in at Louisville last weekend. While I was there (from 12:30 pm to 12:30 am) I thought to myself… “wow, I’ve been in college for only a few months, and I am already Racin’ Baja.” Course I was not the driver, but just being on the team was so much fun.
My audience would be entering freshmen, and maybe just my family and friends who I would want to tell my experiences to. I don’t think that I would have to limit my paper to just Baja either. The point that I would want to get across would be just how much can happen at college, and I have already been exposed to so much than I ever was before, such as living on my own, buying my own food for the room, planning my entire day, including things like dinner and time for shopping, drinking parties, less video games, and even a girlfriend. I will have a lot to talk about, though I think I would like to focus on Baja.
Also I think that given the nature of this project I would like to try some new type of expression of my message then just writing about it. I would like to make a sketch of possibly the Baja car, or just different scenes from the day we raced from 8 pm till midnight in Louisville. I have drawn sketches in the past just for fun and I think that I would enjoy this very much while being able to portray just how amazing you can make the college life, and how centered it is around activities for the students.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Just Walk On By
When started reading this paper, I thought that it was going to be very interesting… and it was. The topic was very interesting to me. I must admit that I am not sure whether or not I would be one of the people in his story that misjudge him. Of course I would like to think that I treat all people equally, but I also think that it is just a matter of intimidation.
That would be another thing that I would not like to admit, that I am intimidated by another man. But if I were alone, in the dark, then a large black male is, to me, a lot scarier than just about any other type of person that I might run into. I really do think that I would be intimidated. And it would affect the way that I acted toward them and there is not too much I can do about that.
I think that as much as people disagree with stereotypes, and feel that they are awful and mean, there is not much that you can do to avoid them. And even those people who claim to be “color-blind,” are still aware of the stereotypes associated with black men. They not able to suppress them without having to mentally force themselves to act as normally as possible when put into a situation like the lady at the beginning of the paper. And as terrible as it sounds, I am sure that is probably some statistical evidence to back up the stereotype that associate black men and crime. So are we really in the wrong here for feeling the stereotypes, or do we have some real reason to be worried? Regardless, many people still feel bad that they sometimes judge people too quickly.
That would be another thing that I would not like to admit, that I am intimidated by another man. But if I were alone, in the dark, then a large black male is, to me, a lot scarier than just about any other type of person that I might run into. I really do think that I would be intimidated. And it would affect the way that I acted toward them and there is not too much I can do about that.
I think that as much as people disagree with stereotypes, and feel that they are awful and mean, there is not much that you can do to avoid them. And even those people who claim to be “color-blind,” are still aware of the stereotypes associated with black men. They not able to suppress them without having to mentally force themselves to act as normally as possible when put into a situation like the lady at the beginning of the paper. And as terrible as it sounds, I am sure that is probably some statistical evidence to back up the stereotype that associate black men and crime. So are we really in the wrong here for feeling the stereotypes, or do we have some real reason to be worried? Regardless, many people still feel bad that they sometimes judge people too quickly.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Rehtorical Selection
For my rehtorical analysis I am going to read President Bush's address to the cabinet on September 12, 2001. This address deals with the acts of terror that occured on September 11, 2001. The Presidents speech includes many differnt types of rehtorical devices that are meant to convince the audience of the terrible, cowardly acts committed, and how war was a logical retaliation. http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911cabinetroomaddress.htm
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Fallacy
One type of logical fallacy is the Ad Hominem, or personal attack fallacy. I witnessed this type of fallacy while listening to two of my neighbors argue about whether or not life was created by intelligent design. Chris was arguing that modern biology supports the idea that life was created by a superior being. Dan said that Chris was only saying that because he is religious. Now, I would say that Chris certainly is religious. But the fallacy is that Dan was “attacking” Chris as a person, and not the argument. Dan made no point about modern biology. He ignored the argument, and focused on Chris instead. This is an example of Ad Hominem.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Rhetoric
Greg Simecek
Journal entry 2
Rhetoric: “Residence Halls”
Overall, Kelley McCormick makes a good argument about the lack of validity of the rhetorical devices that are used in the Residence Hall brochures that are given out by Miami University. She does this by not only making good points about things that were wrong, but she also explains that some of the points made in the article were correct. I also agree with most of the points that she made because I am now living in a residence hall, and am experiencing some of the things that she is talking about. However, I do not have any kind of argument against the persuasion that I received from the school trying to convince me to live on Campus. I think that her paper is making arguments that are kind of useless, because there is no reason to argue that the school is indeed trying to convince me that living on campus is better. But I am writing this journal entry about the strength of her arguments, not how meaningful they are.
To add credibility to her arguments, McCormick talks about her own personal experiences, and she also explains that some of the points made in the brochure were actually correct. Especially for me, the first hand experiences, such as the public bathrooms (all the time), and the classes being 15 to 20 minutes away, made strong points because I am also dealing with these same problems right now. Before I got to Miami, they never told me that walking to class would be such a chore, or that the bathrooms would be so crowded.
However, I do think that she lost some credibility when she made the argument about food. She argued that it was hard for her to find meals that she could eat because she was a vegetarian. But being a vegetarian is your own choice (in just about every case). I know that for me, I don’t have trouble finding good food to eat on campus. There is plenty of variety for me because I do not limit myself to vegetables. I think that by bring a personal problem into her argument against the residence hall brochure she loses a ton of strength in her argument. To me it was a mistake to bring up this issue at all.
But the rest of her argument made sense to me. Her analysis about the legitimacy of the claims that the school made about the advantages of living on campus was good. I think that after reading this essay, a person would know the real advantages and disadvantages of living on campus. And even though she argues that the pamphlets are not true in many ways, I would still decide to live on campus even after reading her essay.
Journal entry 2
Rhetoric: “Residence Halls”
Overall, Kelley McCormick makes a good argument about the lack of validity of the rhetorical devices that are used in the Residence Hall brochures that are given out by Miami University. She does this by not only making good points about things that were wrong, but she also explains that some of the points made in the article were correct. I also agree with most of the points that she made because I am now living in a residence hall, and am experiencing some of the things that she is talking about. However, I do not have any kind of argument against the persuasion that I received from the school trying to convince me to live on Campus. I think that her paper is making arguments that are kind of useless, because there is no reason to argue that the school is indeed trying to convince me that living on campus is better. But I am writing this journal entry about the strength of her arguments, not how meaningful they are.
To add credibility to her arguments, McCormick talks about her own personal experiences, and she also explains that some of the points made in the brochure were actually correct. Especially for me, the first hand experiences, such as the public bathrooms (all the time), and the classes being 15 to 20 minutes away, made strong points because I am also dealing with these same problems right now. Before I got to Miami, they never told me that walking to class would be such a chore, or that the bathrooms would be so crowded.
However, I do think that she lost some credibility when she made the argument about food. She argued that it was hard for her to find meals that she could eat because she was a vegetarian. But being a vegetarian is your own choice (in just about every case). I know that for me, I don’t have trouble finding good food to eat on campus. There is plenty of variety for me because I do not limit myself to vegetables. I think that by bring a personal problem into her argument against the residence hall brochure she loses a ton of strength in her argument. To me it was a mistake to bring up this issue at all.
But the rest of her argument made sense to me. Her analysis about the legitimacy of the claims that the school made about the advantages of living on campus was good. I think that after reading this essay, a person would know the real advantages and disadvantages of living on campus. And even though she argues that the pamphlets are not true in many ways, I would still decide to live on campus even after reading her essay.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Thick Description
Kumler Chapel
Greg Simecek
Kumler Chapel is quite different from other buildings at Miami University in many ways. Amongst all of Miami, many of the buildings are very much alike. Most have large entrances with pillars to welcome its visitors. They are mostly used for the college operations, as far as classes or administration, and they are of course brick. Of all the buildings, only a few of them are located in far off Western Campus. Kumler Chapel is one of the buildings located in western campus. But this is not the only thing that makes it different from the “normal” Miami building.
Kumler Chapel is not made of brick, but instead it is made of stone. The stone allows it to be different, and makes the building seem more significant, more of a holy place. Yet it does not lose any physical or visual sturdiness because the stone seems even more firm and rigid than the surrounding brick buildings (which is not easy to portray). Kumler Chapel also has a different type of architecture than its neighboring buildings, as well as most other buildings at Miami. Its large wooden doors that meet at a point on the top do more to suggest its significance. The windows are also large and most of them are colorful stained glass. The chapel in many ways looks like a castle. Its towers of stone, wooden doors with steel braces across them, the steeply slanted roof, and stone gussets remind anyone who sees it of the medieval times.
The location of the chapel is also unique, not only because it is secluded in the far corner of western campus (which is in the far corner of Miami University), but also because of the scenery around it. Behind the chapel is a large hill, one must cross a bridge to arrive at the chapel from behind. There are also many trees around; some of them are very old, and very big. The seclusion of the chapel, combined with the beauty of its location and uniqueness of its architecture makes it seem to anyone who is arriving at it for the first time like they have just come across a wonderful secret of Miami’s campus, and it is just that.
Greg Simecek
Kumler Chapel is quite different from other buildings at Miami University in many ways. Amongst all of Miami, many of the buildings are very much alike. Most have large entrances with pillars to welcome its visitors. They are mostly used for the college operations, as far as classes or administration, and they are of course brick. Of all the buildings, only a few of them are located in far off Western Campus. Kumler Chapel is one of the buildings located in western campus. But this is not the only thing that makes it different from the “normal” Miami building.
Kumler Chapel is not made of brick, but instead it is made of stone. The stone allows it to be different, and makes the building seem more significant, more of a holy place. Yet it does not lose any physical or visual sturdiness because the stone seems even more firm and rigid than the surrounding brick buildings (which is not easy to portray). Kumler Chapel also has a different type of architecture than its neighboring buildings, as well as most other buildings at Miami. Its large wooden doors that meet at a point on the top do more to suggest its significance. The windows are also large and most of them are colorful stained glass. The chapel in many ways looks like a castle. Its towers of stone, wooden doors with steel braces across them, the steeply slanted roof, and stone gussets remind anyone who sees it of the medieval times.
The location of the chapel is also unique, not only because it is secluded in the far corner of western campus (which is in the far corner of Miami University), but also because of the scenery around it. Behind the chapel is a large hill, one must cross a bridge to arrive at the chapel from behind. There are also many trees around; some of them are very old, and very big. The seclusion of the chapel, combined with the beauty of its location and uniqueness of its architecture makes it seem to anyone who is arriving at it for the first time like they have just come across a wonderful secret of Miami’s campus, and it is just that.
Monday, September 1, 2008
History as a writer
Journal Entry 1- My Writing History
Greg Simecek
In the past, I have generally not enjoyed English classes, specifically creating original works myself. I am currently majoring in mechanical engineering. There is a lot of math and science involved in this major, and math makes sense to me. In school, I typically do better in math classes than I do in writing classes. This does not mean that I think writing is pointless, or boring. In fact, I think that writing is very important. Learning to write well helps with communication skills, both portraying your opinion and understanding others. Creative writing is a different story, it is only for entertainment. And I do enjoy reading some of it, but not writing it. Anyway, back to my personal history as a writer.
When I think my history as a writer, one teacher comes to mind first. In the eighth grade I was put into an accelerated English class. There were only four or five other kids in this class. Needless to say, it was a very personal class in that only the teacher and a few other kids would see your writing. Therefore I lost a lot of my apprehension about writing in this class. In this class I would write stories and papers that I wanted to write. The teacher left the guidelines very vague. I do want to make it clear though that I was still writing only because I had to for school. However, this teacher did make writing a lot more enjoyable for me. I ended up nominating her as the most influential teacher in my career as a student at Avon Lake (my home town) - every Honor Graduate nominated someone.
For me, writing is not a very comfortable thing. Sometimes it does scare me that I will not be able to come up with anything to write about when an assignment is given. Until last year this was a pretty big problem for me. But in my senior year my teacher gave in-class writing assignments that forced me to just pick a stance on the topic, and write. I now think that it was very good for my writing.
Greg Simecek
In the past, I have generally not enjoyed English classes, specifically creating original works myself. I am currently majoring in mechanical engineering. There is a lot of math and science involved in this major, and math makes sense to me. In school, I typically do better in math classes than I do in writing classes. This does not mean that I think writing is pointless, or boring. In fact, I think that writing is very important. Learning to write well helps with communication skills, both portraying your opinion and understanding others. Creative writing is a different story, it is only for entertainment. And I do enjoy reading some of it, but not writing it. Anyway, back to my personal history as a writer.
When I think my history as a writer, one teacher comes to mind first. In the eighth grade I was put into an accelerated English class. There were only four or five other kids in this class. Needless to say, it was a very personal class in that only the teacher and a few other kids would see your writing. Therefore I lost a lot of my apprehension about writing in this class. In this class I would write stories and papers that I wanted to write. The teacher left the guidelines very vague. I do want to make it clear though that I was still writing only because I had to for school. However, this teacher did make writing a lot more enjoyable for me. I ended up nominating her as the most influential teacher in my career as a student at Avon Lake (my home town) - every Honor Graduate nominated someone.
For me, writing is not a very comfortable thing. Sometimes it does scare me that I will not be able to come up with anything to write about when an assignment is given. Until last year this was a pretty big problem for me. But in my senior year my teacher gave in-class writing assignments that forced me to just pick a stance on the topic, and write. I now think that it was very good for my writing.
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