In both essays, the authors make their point while remaining non-argumentative. In Holmquist’s essay, he managed to keep the argumentative town to a minimum and remain mostly unbiased. He does make his stand in the last sentence of the essay “I have my whole life ahead of me still and I don’t want to end up as another statistic or have one of my friends write a paper like this because of me.” In this quote, he reveals to the reader that although he “likes his drugs” he does not support the use of drugs by him or anyone. He gets his point across without being argumentative or persuasive towards the reader. Holmquist’s overall controlling idea is the safety (or lack their off) associated with “soft” drugs. He describes three major drugs: GHB, LSD, and MDMA, each drugs effect on people while they do them, and the side effects/long term effects of each drug. He shows his controlling idea throughout the story, but begins in the beginning with the line “ most users also view party drugs as being ‘safe’.” Holmquist supports this controlling idea with his personal story of taking his friend, Eric, to the hospital after he had taken all three drugs discussed in the story. He also supports his controlling idea on the danger of “party” or “soft” drugs by describing each drug’s short term, long term, and life-altering side effects. He tells the story of his friend Chris, and after a vial of LSD was slipped into his drink, he never came down from the trip, and is forever changed and often talks of Satan chasing him around. Holmquist takes a firm stand against the use of these drugs, but throughout his story he remains unbiased by presenting the reader with facts about each drug, instead of mere opinion. He uses his personal experiences of raves and party drugs along with the facts to make the essay a personal essay.
In Garrett-Brown’s essay the author takes a much more vocal approach in voicing her opinion. I think she might have even voiced her opinion a little too much. While she did present facts like statistics from Seventeen magazine, she still managed to be a little argumentative in her stand on the ethicality of tanning. “I don’t necessarily wonder why people tan, but why they completely gyp themselves of the pleasures of the sun” reveals an argumentative tone in Garrett-Brown’s writing. Her controlling idea is why do you people tan? And what fuels people’s desire to be tan? She shows this controlling idea through rhetorical questions like, “who made it cool for white people to tan?” and “is the fashion industry that powerful?” In the latter question, she is trying to pin-point the desire to be tan on the fashion industry and its influence on society.
In both essays, the authors give formal credit to sources that contributed to the writer’s thinking (as Ballinger states they should). Both authors also use source material (statistics,surveys,ect.) to present their opinions,ideas, and experiences on a factual basis. Holmquist uses the statistic of “51 percent of twelfth graders could easily get MDMAD” to present his case on the danger of “party” drugs. Garrett Brown uses a statistic from a popular teen magazine, Seventeen, “2/3 of teens say they look better with a tan” to support her question of whether or not the fashion industry has anything to do with the desire to be tan. The essays, along with Ballenger’s suggestions help to get two very different examples of voicing an opinion while employing research and presenting facts to support my controlling idea.
1) Do looks affect the way people perceive you?
a. How important are looks?
2) What drives people to get plastic surgery?
a. What fuels the need for plastic surgery?
3) Why is the influence of the media on society such a controversial issue?
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Reading Prompt #1
Tara Gillespie
Reading Prompt #1
According to Ballinger, every personal essay follows a certain form in some way. He makes many key points to prove his statement true and also provides a testimony for each point. There were two of his points I found to be very prevelant in the essays. His first point, “personal essays are usually written in the first person” is true for both “The Joy of Mudd” and “I’m a Believer.” In “The Joy of Mudd”, Black speaks in the first person in her experience of finally “discovering” her home in Hawaii, and how she saw a whole new side of the boring home she had always known. In Hogg’s essay, “I’m a Believer”, she also writes in the first person as she describes her fascination and experiences with Davy Jones and the Monkees. Ballinger’s second point is “the subject of the essay is often commonplace”, which is supported by the subjects of both essays. In Hogg’s essay, her subject was very simple, it was a band (The Monkees) and its lead singer, not some life altering event. Black’s subject of her essay was also very commonplace; it was her experience with her home in Hawaii. The event Black described, on the surface, was very commonplace, as Ballinger claims subjects of personal essays are, but Black inscribed a deeper meaning with her simple story. She took the simple event of working the lo’i, and associated a deeper meaning of finally feeling connected to her home, or just a “ home” in general.
Unlike Ballinger’s form of a personal essay, the thesis in both of the essays was actually stated in the essay rather than implied. The second to last sentence in Hogg’s essay, “I accept,finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all…” states Hogg’s thesis. Her thesis is that although she feels connected to Davy Jones on a superficial level, she is still nostalgic for a deeper understanding of him as a person. She finally accepts that this deeper understanding will never be, and that she will always just be another fan. At the end of Black’s essay she says “I’m only at the beginning of a path I never expected to travel”. After reading the essay this statement almost blatently reveals her thesis with very little implication needed. Although, both essays do wait until the end to reveal their thesis statements (as Ballinger claims a personal essay should), there is minimal implication needed to unravel the thesis.
The controlling idea or the “so what” of the two women’s essays is remotely similar. In Hogg’s essay, her controlling idea is that things that appear to be, are not always tangible, and are sometimes better off that way. In Kenny Chesney’s most recent song “Better as a Memory”, he sings about how he is better as a memory to a certain women than as her actual man. How he feels in this song is how Hogg feels towards Davy, that the idea of this person is actually better than reality. Before Hogg actually meets Davy she has a preconcieved notion of his character, his mannerisms, and their conversation. To Hogg, Davy is “better as a memory” because Hogg can assosciate anything she wants with her imagination and Davy. In her imagination, Davy can be everything she expects and more. When she meets Davy in person she is a little less than satisfied with the man she had been imfatiuated with for decades. Davy falls short of her expectations, and is therefore “better as a memory.”
The controlling idea of Black’s essay is parallel to Hogg’s controlling idea. Unlike Hogg, Black discovered something that she didn’t know exsisted. With no preconcieved notion or any idea, for that matter, of what the fields of Hawaii had to offer her, she was not let down when the actual event occurred. Black was totally oblivious of the beauty of her home, but after her day in the fields something appeared for Black that had not always been. What appeared was a sense of home and a sense of belonging. “Joy of Mudd” also has a controlling idea of digging deeper and finding the beauty in one’s surroundings. After years of discontentment, Black finally found beauty in her home, and perhaps never saw her home the same again.
Reading Prompt #1
According to Ballinger, every personal essay follows a certain form in some way. He makes many key points to prove his statement true and also provides a testimony for each point. There were two of his points I found to be very prevelant in the essays. His first point, “personal essays are usually written in the first person” is true for both “The Joy of Mudd” and “I’m a Believer.” In “The Joy of Mudd”, Black speaks in the first person in her experience of finally “discovering” her home in Hawaii, and how she saw a whole new side of the boring home she had always known. In Hogg’s essay, “I’m a Believer”, she also writes in the first person as she describes her fascination and experiences with Davy Jones and the Monkees. Ballinger’s second point is “the subject of the essay is often commonplace”, which is supported by the subjects of both essays. In Hogg’s essay, her subject was very simple, it was a band (The Monkees) and its lead singer, not some life altering event. Black’s subject of her essay was also very commonplace; it was her experience with her home in Hawaii. The event Black described, on the surface, was very commonplace, as Ballinger claims subjects of personal essays are, but Black inscribed a deeper meaning with her simple story. She took the simple event of working the lo’i, and associated a deeper meaning of finally feeling connected to her home, or just a “ home” in general.
Unlike Ballinger’s form of a personal essay, the thesis in both of the essays was actually stated in the essay rather than implied. The second to last sentence in Hogg’s essay, “I accept,finally, that this person I know so well I don’t really know at all…” states Hogg’s thesis. Her thesis is that although she feels connected to Davy Jones on a superficial level, she is still nostalgic for a deeper understanding of him as a person. She finally accepts that this deeper understanding will never be, and that she will always just be another fan. At the end of Black’s essay she says “I’m only at the beginning of a path I never expected to travel”. After reading the essay this statement almost blatently reveals her thesis with very little implication needed. Although, both essays do wait until the end to reveal their thesis statements (as Ballinger claims a personal essay should), there is minimal implication needed to unravel the thesis.
The controlling idea or the “so what” of the two women’s essays is remotely similar. In Hogg’s essay, her controlling idea is that things that appear to be, are not always tangible, and are sometimes better off that way. In Kenny Chesney’s most recent song “Better as a Memory”, he sings about how he is better as a memory to a certain women than as her actual man. How he feels in this song is how Hogg feels towards Davy, that the idea of this person is actually better than reality. Before Hogg actually meets Davy she has a preconcieved notion of his character, his mannerisms, and their conversation. To Hogg, Davy is “better as a memory” because Hogg can assosciate anything she wants with her imagination and Davy. In her imagination, Davy can be everything she expects and more. When she meets Davy in person she is a little less than satisfied with the man she had been imfatiuated with for decades. Davy falls short of her expectations, and is therefore “better as a memory.”
The controlling idea of Black’s essay is parallel to Hogg’s controlling idea. Unlike Hogg, Black discovered something that she didn’t know exsisted. With no preconcieved notion or any idea, for that matter, of what the fields of Hawaii had to offer her, she was not let down when the actual event occurred. Black was totally oblivious of the beauty of her home, but after her day in the fields something appeared for Black that had not always been. What appeared was a sense of home and a sense of belonging. “Joy of Mudd” also has a controlling idea of digging deeper and finding the beauty in one’s surroundings. After years of discontentment, Black finally found beauty in her home, and perhaps never saw her home the same again.
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