Welcome to WRIT 1122! I’m looking forward to getting to know each of you as students and writers in the next ten weeks. To start us off, I’d like you to use your first post to our course blog to introduce yourself to the rest of our class.
In your post, tell us a little more about who you are. What’s unique or interesting about where you’re from, your family, the high school you attended, your first quarter at DU, or your dreams for your future? (Or anything else about you that you think might interest the rest of us.)
Reflect a bit, too, about what kind of writer you are. What do you like to write? What are your strengths as a writer? What do you think makes writing “good”? How would you define the word rhetoric? (Have you ever studied rhetoric? If so, what did you learn about it?) Last, please conclude your introduction by telling us what you hope to learn about writing from this course and what you're looking for as a writer or as a student.
Please post your response as a comment to this post. I look forward to reading more about all of you.
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I have three brothers, two older and one younger. I will have three more step siblings by July '10 as my mom is getting married in June. I grew up in New Jersey, lived two years ('98-'00) in Bermuda, one winter (7th Grade) in Switzerland, and went to high school at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA. My father is French, he lives in Paris now so he's kind of far, but we skype from time to time.
ReplyDeleteI like to think of myself as more of a listener than a talker. In discussions, I won't say much, but I'll listen to every word that is said. My goal is to become a little more vocal because I believe that after hearing everything that is said, I'll have something to say.
I love photography and I think of writing as a picture. How can I get the subject matter across to the reader AND make it stick? I believe that when someone writes, they must write about something that enables them to use strong words, not complicated and intelligent sounding words. One of my rules for writing is that if you do not know the meaning of the word, try not to use it and if you need to, define what that word means.
Simply, Rhetoric to me is writing that is meant to be persuasive and inspire thought. I don't remember specifically learning it, but I'm sure that I have a little.
I hope to become persuasive in my writing and convey passion in my writing.
My name is Kathleen Dornan. I was born in Omaha, Nebraska and have lived there my whole life. Since I assume that most of you have not wandered to Nebraska, Omaha is a pretty large city but it is mostly known for because it holds the College World Series and one of the biggest zoos in the country. My family is very unique. I have 8 brothers and sisters, 4 of them are adopted from Romania and one is adopted from Russia. As you can imagine, my home life has never been boring. I am the third oldest, but my position as being the oldest girl makes me a daddy’s girl for sure. Inheriting the trait of helping people from my parents, my dream is to go to Africa with Doctors Without Borders and help the kids in need there. This plan could change though depending on my feelings after studying abroad to Senegal my junior year.
ReplyDeleteI took AP Comp in high school and I feel like I have a pretty good understanding of what I was taught about writing in that class. My favorite type of writing is narrative because I like being able to write about my experiences or something I truly know about that doesn’t involve researching. I like to be able to express myself and to share my experiences with others. Rhetoric writing is still somewhat confusing to me. I know I studied it in my Comp class but I honestly cannot define it at the moment. In this class, I hope to become a better writing and also learn how to write about topics coming from the current world (newspapers, articles, etc).
My name is Khanh Tran, and I’m the only child in the family. Before moving to Colorado Springs, I was lived in Vietnam for ten years. It was a culture shock as well as an environmental shock when I first moved here. Moving from a very tropical place to a pretty dry and cold climate prevented me from enjoying much of what is popular about Colorado (like snowboarding…) But I’m adapting and I love the landscape of Colorado. In the future I hope to get into the fashion industry. I want to be a fashion designer but I’m too much of a wimp to go to a designing school, so I took the safe route and went to DU for business.
ReplyDeleteI was in IB in high school so I took HL English, and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) and each of those classes had a different style of writing. In English, about 99% of the time was devoted to analytical writing, whereas in TOK the writing was more persuasive. To me ‘good’ writing needs a combination of both persuading and concrete evidence. Just like any functional building, it needs both a solid foundation but also walls and windows to decorate the place but also to be practical. This is going to sound really bad but when I heard I had to take a rhetoric class I had to google what it meant. After finding out what it was, I was truly relieved! I believe that this is the kind of writing that my future will encounter. Therefore through this course I hope to gain experience as a persuasive writer.
I guess you can say I'm a small town girl from Basalt Colorado. I grew up 40 minutes from Aspen where the tourists bring drama as a big as the mountains. Luckily, I was able to escape at my high school, the Colorado Rocky Mountain School, in the little hippie town of Carbondale just 15 minutes away. Here I learned to kayak and telemark ski while surrounded by a school community that stressed “education inside and out” and strives to live up to its morals. I like to write about issues I am passionate about whether it be simply explaining an opinion or trying to persuade others. I like writing if I feel that what I have to say is valuable but I hate having to bullshit an opinion. I can't say I really understand rhetoric. I know we touched on ethos, logos, and pathos in 9th or 10th grade but I don't remember what they are, or if I ever really understood them in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI need to work on writing in a more formal way because in the past I have had more experience with writing from my own point of view with opinions, interpretations, etc. After this course I hope that I will be able to do different kinds of writing necessary for my college career and life in the future. Also, I'm excited to read up on current events because this is one of my weak points.
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ReplyDeleteMy name is Elyse and I was born and raised in Arizona. When most people hear that they assume that I lived in a desert with cowboys and tumbleweeds, but aside from being constantly hot it is a lot like Denver. Many are surprised when they hear that I actually enjoy 120 degree weather, but it is something that I've always just accepted. It is still a mystery to me how I ended up in Colorado with the snow. I come from a big family. Having a dad with six brothers who all live in the same vicinity makes family gathering somewhat of a production. Aside from that I went to an all girls Catholic high school. The classes were challenging and the nuns were intimidating along with the girls who were insanely competitive with everything relating to school. I consider myself a decent writer but I have always loved to read and would rather do that then write an essay. Having Jane Schaeffer and the eight sentence structure drilled into my head always made writing seem like kind of a meticulous chore. My first quarter at DU showed me that writing can be more creative and fun through my first year seminar and I am excited as well as intrigued to see what this class holds in store for me.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Rachel Boheim. I'm originally from California, but unfortunately moved to St. Louis, Missouri when I was 5. I have one older brother who just graduated from college. I attended a small high school with around 300 kids in it and they decided to get uniforms for my senior year. So I am very happy to get away to a bigger school with no uniforms. I also played varsity tennis all four years of school. The only thing that made it more challenging was that it was an all boys team because our school wasn't big enough to have a girls team. In the future I would like to have a career in the field of criminology.
ReplyDeleteI see myself as more of an analytical writer considering that's mostly all that was done in high school. Usually I like to take things in and listen to all kinds of details and perspectives. I really don't have a full understanding of rhetoric since I have really never worked with it before. Hopefully this class will enable me to really improve my persuasive writing and make my voice as a writer stand out.
Hello my name is Michelle Nguyen. I am born and raised in Colorado. I attended Dakota Ridge High School and I was a Cheerleader and Tennis player. I was quite involved in high school, but it all has changed since I started college. I am still trying to get used to the change. I have two sisters both 2 years apart from me, making me the middle child and the black sheep of the family. Some things I love to do with my sisters are shopping and snowboarding. But when I am with my friends, I like to try a new restuarant that I have never been to and getting lost and trying to find our way home. I would have to say this helps with self direction.
ReplyDeleteSome things about my writing is that I never really thought I was a good writer, this is a subject that I always have trouble with. But I do think my strenghts are voice in my writing and realating to the audience. Also, I have never written anything rhetoric and know what that is, but I hope this class allows me to step out of the box and learn more of what is outside to become more of an open writer. And finally what I think a "good" writer is, is a person who is can capture the reader once they open the book.
My name is Nick Iwanicki, and though I've spent the majority of my life in Chicago, the five years I spent in California from when I was 9 to 14 caused me to harbor a special place for the West and the outdoors in my heart. Naturally, DU was an easy choice for school because of that. I enjoy to go hiking or white water rafting in the backcountry. My whole family is from the UK, with the exception of my sister and myself, so visiting there is a large part of our family obligations, so traveling is abroad and across the U.S. is another thing that I enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, I enjoy to write more creative pieces than traditional papers. This is a problem for me as I consider one of my great strengths to be academic writing. However, I feel that my papers are not especially persuasive due to the fact that I tend to lose momentum as the paper progresses and therefore have trouble concluding on a strong note. I would like to improve that aspect of my writing through this course. I believe that a good writing is able to be not only engaging but foster discussion among those who read the work. I am honestly not sure how to describe the word rhetoric as I have never studied it.
My name is Bu Yichao. People here call me Alex as the nickname. I am the only child in the family. You know, the Chinese government don’t allowed the civilians to have more than one child. I came from China. My hometown is Shanghai that is really a great metropolis. The number of the population there is about 23 million. I love my hometown not only for thriving and amazing buildings everywhere, but also for the great memory left there. I miss my friends, my teachers, my parents and all the people who made a great memory with me. Anyway, though there are so many things being worth missing, now I know I have a new life to come with me. I need to face a new world instead of staying in a passed memory. I love DU. I really had a good time in the last quarter. I met a lot of friends here who are from different countries and different races. It really interesting because I get to know a lot about different cultures that I have never met before.
ReplyDeleteI think my advantage in writing is figuring out special idea that is concluded from the reading. But the disadvantage is that English is my second language and I have just been here for 1 quarter, I think I still have a very big problem in writing sentences fluently as well as choosing words specifically. What I hope to learn from this class is the way how local American writing the paper. Because from the compare of my American friends’ paper, I find we have a very big difference in writing, especially the style. I called my English “ Chinese English”. This is not what I want, so I really hope to overcome it through this courter’s study.
My name is Seth Markus and I am from the south suburbs of Chicago. I have one younger sister named Danielle who is a freshman in high school. My graduating high school class was almost 800 students so my high school was almost the size of DU. In high school, social sciences were always my favorite classes. My senior year I took an international relations class which truly opened my eyes to world and changed my life.
ReplyDeleteI intend to major in international studies and economics because I plan to do development work in third world countries. I aim to do this line of work since the idea of people not having access to food or clean water disturbs me tremendously.
Writing has always been an immense stumbling block in my life. Much of my difficulties lie within my learning differences; such as dyslexia. I have never been a fantastic speller (spell check and I are best buds). My strength as a writer is my ability to adapt: anytime I lose points on papers I make sure I do not lose points for the same reason on my next assignment. The best writers are those who can make any topic, no matter how simple or complex, seem interesting and understandable to the masses. My favorite writer, Paul Krugman, does this amazingly. He writes about complex economic theories, but makes them easy to understand and enjoyable to read.
I have never studied rhetoric before so I will be honest and say I have no idea what it is. Other than learning about rhetoric, I would like to get my level of writing to a competent, college level where I would feel comfortable writing for any class.
My name is Angelica Ledezma. I was born in California where I lived for the first eight years of my life. I then moved to Idaho where I spent a few years living with my grandparents. My sophomore year of high school my family then decided to settle in Colorado Springs to buy a house where I went to Sand Creek High School. Although I love the beautiful Colorado outdoors, California is the place I love most; I hope to attend medical school there upon finishing my undergraduate studies at DU. I grew up being the youngest one in my family for eight years with an older sister and brother, until I was given the gift of not being the youngest one always picked on by my siblings when my younger sister was born.
ReplyDeleteI have never really considered myself to be a stand out writer, as may be evident in my goal of going to med school. In high school I took AP Literature and Composition where we did a lot of analytical writing. Analytical writing has never been a strength of mine as I much prefer creative writing. I have never studied rhetoric specifically, but to my understanding it is writing with evidence used to persuade. From this course I hope to learn to become a better all around writer, especially to write with a more assertive voice in order to be a better persuasive writer.
I like to think of myself as a simple man. I’m from the small town of Springfield, PA. I am really close to my family, in two contexts. My cousins are like my brothers. My aunts and uncles are like extra parents. This is the case thanks mostly to the fact that we live real close to each other. I live next door to my aunt and her family. My other aunt lives two blocks away. My grandmother lives at the top of my street. My best friend lives ten houses away from me down my street. For some reason I have found myself 1500 miles away from all that stuff that is important to me.
ReplyDeleteI write like I talk, so I don’t consider it a style of writing. It is just speaking on paper. Most people don’t write like that, so I would consider that a strength. I wouldn’t say that I like to write anything in particular, I just write when instructed to do so. What makes good writing is getting the piece into the hands of the proper audience. A good work is nothing without someone to label it as that. Something that is a brilliant piece of literature to me could mean nothing to someone else. And that story that we read in class that everyone was so into bored me. I honestly have no idea what rhetoric means, never studied it. I hope to learn how to actually persuade people through writing. I usually bash the opposing side rather than actually prove anything against it, and that makes me sounds like a big jerk. I wouldn’t mind not sounding like that anymore.
Growing up in the Midwest shaped a great deal of what I perceive as my identity. Chicago was an outlet to a sprawling metropolis from an average sized suburb north of the city. It’s location on Lake Michigan, in the middle of the country, along major highway routes and its roots in history have added to my persona. Because of these influences, I find a need to gather more information; however, the world seems too large. My city is only the beginning and I cannot limit myself. My decision to attend the University of Denver is a reflection of my desire to broaden my views or at least change my viewpoint (and who could argue when waking up in the morning brings blue skies and snowy peaks.)
ReplyDeleteSince I’ve been at DU I have been able to experience new things and am already beginning to see affects of a new environment on the way I view others and myself. My First Year Seminar was called Does God Exist? And was a unique way to begin my college experience. Hearing others views and different ideas of God and supernatural has increased my interest in the debate. Personally, I am an atheist and it shapes much of my worldview sometimes making me clash with those around me. Anyways, this view makes me want to experience as much as I can in my life. So for now it’s new people and mountain landscapes.
As a writer, I feel that I am rather focused. If I can immerse myself in a topic or subject, my writing can flourish and become far more elegant than my verbal language; however, my focus came through my high school years of writing. Through AP test preparation, I came to ask the “so what?” of a piece which became a common question in my everyday life. Asking the right question and staying on track with one’s answer makes good writing. Rhetoric is the total compilation of all elements of writing. It is the manner in which a writer communicates a theme to a reader, which is ultimately the skill I hope to develop in this course.
My name is Abbey, and I've lived in Denver since I was five years old. It's truly one of my favorite places in the entire world, which is why I decided to come to DU instead of going somewhere farther away.
ReplyDeleteAfter years of thinking that I wanted to be a doctor, I recently decided to declare my major as English. I think being a doctor was something that seemed interesting to me, but not something I actually had an interest in. English and literature are what I really love.
I haven't written much, so I'm not sure what the strengths of my writing are. This is something I would love to get to know better through this course. I think that good writing comes from a place of full understanding of a situation and an ability to make a reader also understand. Along with learning about my strengths as a writer, I would also love to learn more about different styles of writing that I haven't encountered as often in this course.
My name is Charlie Wondergem and I’m from Grand Rapids, Michigan, but also known as the “real” East Great Falls, for those of you who have seen any one of the many American Pie movies, although the real name of the Dog Years restaurant is Yesterdog and Stifler, as far as I know, didn’t actually exist in name. And, for better or worse, I did attend what is the basis for East Great Falls High School, East Grand Rapids.
ReplyDeleteI like to make the most of life, and enjoy a dynamic and spontaneous lifestyle – thoughts of a future dominated solely by a 9 to 5, static career are daunting to say the least! I am majoring in International Business with minors in Public Policy and Economics, and hope to pursue a dual degree JD/MBA program in graduate school, earning both a law and business degree, after taking a few years off (possibly spending a year or two volunteering abroad, then gaining some more work experience) before starting graduate school.
In high school, I spent my junior year on our school’s Constitutional Law competition team (in which competitions were staged as simulations of a Congressional hearing), which helped me hone my persuasive writing abilities and made me a more effective communicator, both aloud and on paper. Though my writing has improved in recent years, my objectives for the next ten weeks are to grow in my confidence as a writer, and more readily know where to begin when given a writing assignment, and to have more direction with my thoughts and ideas – and how to put them on paper.