Essay 3: Final Assessment

Well, starting this digital essay I was planning on using my commentary on how the SATs negatively affected students and overall education. After consideration, I decided to use my memoir instead. The main reason being I feel more comfortable presenting information I am knowledgeable about. As for the essay itself I made small revisions, mostly where the professor made notes. These revisions, I feel, help give all the information needed to understand the story I'm telling.

I was excited when I found out we were going to incorporate sound and image. I have always had an affinity for visuals, thus majoring in film. For the presentation I decided to make a power-point presentation to aid in my sharing. The power point consists of several pictures from some of my favorite movies. The images not only let the audience known my film preference, but also relate extremely closely to my memoir. There are sixteen images in total: the two main characters from the film Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind laying on a bed on a beach; a great debater from the movie Rocket Science; the stuttering main character from Rocket Science attempting to debate; the King unsuccessfully delivering a speech in The King’s Speech; the friends from Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels drinking at a pub; a girl from Kids looking strung out; the character Tristen in Legends of the Fall after the death of his youngest brother feeling lost; three main characters from Garden State yelling into a great abyss; a tacky statue of Jesus giving a thumbs up from the movie Dogma; a picture of the main girl from Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World; a young boy pretending to be good from The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys; Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump being followed while running; the main character in Shawshank Redemption just after escaping; the character Chris McCandless with watered eyes witnessing true beauty in Into The Wild; the youngest brother in Legends of the Fall blinded by mustard gas just before he is killed; and lastly Brad Pitt in A River Runs through it in the most perfect moment of his life. Each of these images individually encapsulate a specific moment I refer to in my memoir. I intend to relate the main points of my story to the brief summaries I have given for the pictures.

For me, sound, particularly music, can change thoughts and emotions. In the background I use the song "Phone Call" by Jon Brion. This song is off the soundtrack of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" my favorite film of all time (as mentioned in journal). I originally intended to use "The Maker" by Daniel Lanois, performed by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds; it is a song basically expressing the writer’s thoughts about how he is a stranger to the one who created him. I still feel "The Maker" is an amazing song that would do well to aid my presenting, but the absence of lyrics and voice in "Phone Call" seem to be more powerful in my opinion. For me, "Phone Call" immediately reminds me of "Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind" and from there launches all kinds of feelings concerning the film and life in general; I hope it will do the same during my presentation, spark thoughts about life that is.

I feel with the aid of this song and these images, the telling of my memoir will be more significant. My absolute favorite form of writing is screenplay because it is telling a story in the simplest way possible, and it is intended for visual and audio correlation. This online essay really helped me to see the possibilities in other styles of writing.

Essay 3: Journal #3

I have decided to use pictures from some of my favorite movies for the images.

Essay 3: Journal #2

I have decided to use another song titled "phone call" by Jon Brion. It is off the soundtrack from Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, my favorite movie of all time. And going along with the song I have decided to incorporate pictures from all my favorite films to summarize my story.

Essay 3: Journal #1

For our third essay I thought about using my commentary on the SATs, but later decided to use my memoir instead. Reasons for this choice are pretty obvious, the main one being: it's about my life.

For sound I have decided to use the song "The Maker" performed by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, wrote by Daniel Lanois.

In Defense of Torture

Sam Harris takes the less appealing side (to most) of a controversial topic: torture. However, he makes great points explaining that torturing prisoners of war or criminals of a certain caliber could save lives. Torturing could prevent dropping bombs. In my mind, and probably the majority of everyone else's, I immediately think of torture as brutal inhumane treatment like cutting off fingers or burning feet. But, Harris gives a less repulsive alternative: a pill that inflicts pain, yet inhibits screaming. This form of torture would be very affective and seems a little less excessive than first thoughts that come to mind.

Alone Together

I chose the sound of wolves howling because I feel it's kind of a universal sign for loneliness. Wolves are on their own quite a bit, but call out to each and regroup often. In the same way Senior describes how people in New York very much like to be alone, but it is our human instinct to be part of a community.

Diet for a Warm Planet

This video goes exactly along with what Whitty was saying in her essay. It explains what a carbon footprint is, and how to lower it. Because the time it takes to watch this youtube clip is much less than the time it takes to read her essay, the video could get her point across more efficiently.

Reading Response: Discovering the Truth: The Operation of Ethos in Anti-Smoking Advertising

This essay was very informative. It gave a great understanding of what exactly Ethos is. The author used ethos in her argument as well to support her stance on the Truth commercials. It really showed me that the tactics work because I am very opposed to those commercials, yet she made me double think. All in all I feel the non-smoking commercials do implement ethos well. However, I disagree with the section saying that the commercials are leaving everything up to the kids to decide. Maybe the older commercials when it said "seek the truth", now all they say is truth. Ultimately I guess it's better to have stupid commercials and less people smoking.

Response #3

I agree with the point this author is making: self-esteem education and allowance of multiple attempts can be enabling. I did not agree with the example of the SATs and ACTs because I disagree with these tests altogether. I did however enjoy the example of corporations being bailed out by the government. Sometimes people should not be given second chances, but rather face the consequences of their actions. The evolution of self-esteem being taught in education does seem to be more destructive than affective. The example with the girl's grandma suggesting she may need to practice more after playing piano supports this. Had this girl not been told that everything she did was great in school, she would have been able to take her grandmother's criticism without crying. I know, just as well as everyone else does, that people need to be encouraged, but protecting their self-esteem can give them false hope and shape them to be terrible businessmen and women.

Response #2

The felt this story was pretty funny. I enjoyed the author's description of being a child. He gave a vivid illustration of how youngsters focus on what they are doing and nothing more. It was easy to relate his situation of saying a word without knowing the meaning. I too have said words in my youth without knowing the meaning, and so has my roommate. My favorite part was the ending when his mom drags him inside and begins yelling at him for using bad language. His response is where I think his main point is being made: experiences, in this case bad ones, almost force kids to grow up.

Reading Response: The Good Immigrant Student

I enjoyed reading this story. Sometimes it can be hard to empathize with someone of another ethnicity or race, considering I’ve never dealt with discrimination personally. The author really helped me get into her shoes and see what it was like being the odd ball out. To be honest it was uncomfortable. Hearing it from a Vietnamese view point was a breathe of fresh air. I was unaware of the influx of Vietnamese families during the time of her story. This story and others like it help me to appreciate the time and place where I have grown up; dilemmas like the author’s are far less of an issue, if at all. She made a great point at the end about the shy children, how she can see that it is more than just quiet they want to disappear.

The author’s voice had a confidence about it that was lacking in the self she was describing as a child. However, you could see the child who wanted to disappear with passages like: “I would like to make a broad, accurate statement about immigrant children in schools. I would like to speak for them (us). I hesitate; I cannot.”