Writing... The Long and Difficult Process

The first thing i did for my rhetorical analysis paper was sit down and annotate the article. I tore it to pieces. I searched for any little thing i could incorporate into my paper, rhetorical devices, interesting metaphors, the different people mentioned, everything. I had three highlighters, one blue, one green, and one pink. The blue was used to highlight interesting and effective diction. This helped me provide examples in my writing. The green was used to highlight the people he mentioned, I counted twenty-three. The pink was used to highlight interesting wording, metaphors i hadn't seen before, simply the different things that stuck out to me in his writing. After the long a dreadful annotating process I read the article again. Then i let it sink in for a while.

When i sat down to write my rough draft i just stared at the computer screen for a while. I put my name and date in the top left corner (MLA format, of course) and typed a generic title and just took a minute to think. I thought about what i wanted to say. How i wanted to go about describing Nicholas Carr's writing style. Needless to say my first draft was a mess, but thats what first drafts are for right? So you can revise, edit, and fine tune your writing. So that's what i did.

After draft one was complete i started revising. I picked it apart and looked for things that needed fixing, or things that needed to be taken out completely. The revision process took a while. I went paragraph by paragraph to make them the best they could be. Then i would hand it to a peer to look over my work, and fresh set of eyes is always beneficial, they catch things i wouldn't notice otherwise. Finally, all said and done, i had written what i believe to be a very solid paper. I had a friend at work edit it for grammatical errors and then on Friday, October 28th 2011, i handed my pride and joy rhetorical analysis paper to Mrs. Cardona. It felt GREAT.

The Struggles of Working Retail

I have been working retail for a year and five months, and it has been a bit of a struggle. People talk down to you, as if they are better. It drives me insane. Just because I am the one standing behind the jewelry counter pulling out ring after ring for people to try on their fat fingers somehow gives them the right to be as inconsiderate and rude as possible. There is a store policy that I can only pull out 2 items at a time, and customers get mad at ME for that policy. I don't make the rules. I simply obey them to keep my minimum wage part time job (sounds dreadful doesn't it?)

"Can you show me this?" "Ma'am! Can you show me this?" "I want to see this" "I saw something in this case, take it out for me to see." Notice anything about those statements? I do. Not one single "please." I am treated like a machine, not a human. Now this may seem a tad dramatic, but a year and five months has brought me to dramatize things. My time working in retail has also brought me to have a greater respect for others working retail. When I shop I say please, I say thank you, and I don't try to inconvenience the workers.

Working the fitting room is probably the worst. Yesterday I had 3 girls walk in with 10 items each (the limit.) I hear them messing around in the fitting room talking about how ugly the clothing was, they were simply choosing the ugliest items they could, trying them on, then giving them all back to me to put away. Now I understand its kind of a fun thing to do, once. They did it TWICE. Who does that? Who thinks that's ok? It isn't ok. It's rude and inconsiderate, and I did not appreciate it.

Working the cash register is just as bad. People come in with all these crazy returns. They won't have receipts or tags. They pretty much just make things as difficult as possible. People will return every item on their receipt which causes me to wonder why they even bought it in the first place. Its a big pain in the but. People will come up and say "This shoe has a little mark on the bottom." (The part that no one sees.) And then expect us to give them a discount.

If it weren't for college being so expensive and my desperate need for cash, I would have been out of there long ago. Unfortunately, the world doesn't work that way. We need to work for things, and pay our dues. CEO's didn't just gain their position out of luck, they worked for it. So here I am, paying my dues to the retail world.

An Unfair World

Watching Two Million Minutes really opened my eyes to how the world works. It is a lot more difficult to achieve excellence in foreign countries than it is here in the United States. Throughout the film they show the constant studying and lack of "fun" activities for the students in India and China and they showed how the American students balance school with their social lives. The Americans were involved in more activities but the Chinese and the Indian students achieved higher excellence in their activities. In the end of the film I was very surprised to see that the Chinese and Indian students hadn't reached their goal because all I saw was the endless work they put towards it. The film said that the students from China and India spent twice the amount of time studying than the American students, yet they Americans were the ones to achieve their goals. The boy who got a full ride to Purdue said "I didn't prepare at all for the PSAT yet I was still offered a full ride to Purdue because I did so well." This hardly seems fair, yet he didn't cheat, so how is it not fair? Because the makers of the film made the viewer feel it was unfair by showing the hard work and dedication of the students from foreign countries. To me, THAT hardly seems fair.

iPhone Desire

I have had my blackberry curve, Rosalita, for just over a year. Yes, I named my phone. It is a very important part of my life. I have recently decided its time for a change, Rosalita has not been performing up to her full potential and has been, well, quite glitchy. Every single time she decides she needs to reboot it takes TWENTY minutes. Yes, you heard me correctly, 20 minutes. It is absolutely ridiculous. I am quite sick of having to wait that long to respond to things. The iPhone was just brought to Sprint. YAY! I am so ready to just get rid of Rosalita and start fresh. Yes, Rosalita and I have had a good run but I am ready for a touch screen. Its time for me to have "Words with Friends" on my mobile phone. It is time for me to become addicted to Angry Birds. It is time for me to enter the world of technology with Apple. It is time. Rosalita's battery life sucks. I need a phone that can last me through the day. I think an iPhone could provide that service to me. I want it. I need it. I have to have it. Some may call it obsession, however I call it desire.

President Obama's Speech

As I was watching the Presidents back to school speech a few things were running through my head. First of all, I noticed he was speaking directly to the students, his audience was very clear throughout the entire speech. His tone had a shift part way through. He went from being excited to be there to very serious, this was very effective to getting his point across. With me personally, I began to listen closer and really take in what he was saying. It added to his credibility and authority, even though he doesn't really need to emphasize that, being the President of the United States and all.

President Obama used lists frequently to get his point across. He listed the types of professions people could be, the types of things teachers do for their students, the things students have to deal with outside of school, etc. These helped establish his point, this was a spoken address so lists are extremely affective at sticking an idea into peoples minds. His diction was also very good throughout the speech. He did not talk down to the audience yet he kept his words simple, clear, and concise. It made his speech much easier to understand and it also made it easier to relate to as a student.

He paused frequently, usually when there was applause, but also a few times for dramatic effect. He would say something then pause shortly to let the audience process what he just said. This was very helpful throughout the speech to ensure the audience understood each point he made. Overall, I thought he had a very solid stage presence and he was very easy to listen to. He has a very strong voice with a very soft tone which made it very easy to listen to as a student. Everything he discussed was worthy of listening to.