Thursday April 29, 2010

Today is my 6 month anniversary with my girlfriend, Elisabeth. She's so cute!! We went to The Covey for dinner, I had the Wild Game Chili Relleno and she had the Margarita Pizza. It was awesome. I had a lot of fun last night at the Aardvark, Paul Eason was playing and I definitely "Lived it Up". Tonight will find me in familiar territory; at the Aardvark again. Manderly St. Band is playing. I'm pumped about seeing my pledge brother, Trevor, rock out on guitar and excited about getting hammered at one of my favorite hang outs. Tomorrow will be a fun day. Billy is having a party at our house. Before, I'm going to play golf with another friend, Thomas. After golf, drinks will be in order. This weekend is finals weekend. I also dread finals but embrace dead days, think about it; four days of scotch and endless brew. This week will be rough but I get to see my girlfriend graduate on Saturday so that will be special. That's all I have this time!!

Signing off,

   Will

In Class Free Write

This past weekend was a great weekend. On Friday I played golf all day with a few friends. After that I went home and took a quick shower and went to grill out over at one of my friend's house. We ate some smoked chicken that was absolutely awesome. Also on the menu were green beans and mac-n-cheese. The mac-n-cheese was homemade and tasted great. On Saturday, I played in a little charity benefit golf tournament put on by Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority called Kappa Kaddy. My group included three of my fraternity brothers and myself. We played golf and had some fun. Saturday night, I went back over to my friend's house to grill once again. This time we enjoyed some pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes. This was by far the best pork tenderloin that I have ever put in my mouth. After that we decided to go to another small house party followed by a trip to the bar. Both night were very enjoyable. On Sunday, I watched golf and met with my wonderful English group. We met in the library around 3 PM and left around 4 PM. All-in-all it was an eventful weekend.

Unit 3 Proposal

Well it’s about that time to choose our topic. Last week our group made the decision that we were going to argue against the bill that would allow students on public university campuses in Texas would carry handguns. Students would have to have their Concealed Handgun License and must be 21 years old. I think that this is a scary proposition. I also find this a little daunting because I would not like to be in a class with a student who receives an F on a test and has a Glock 9 mm in his backpack. I have always believed that one of the scariest situations in college would be someone with a gun on campus who is mowing down students in front of the library. Also, carrying a gun in a backpack would not be too different from the Plaxico Burress case when he was in a New York nightclub and he shot himself in the leg with the pistol that was in his pocket. You just never know when a gun may go off. For our visual argument we are planning on doing a series of signs that would be read as students walk. This message would be conveyed in five or six signs placed in a row that could reach a high amount of people because of the amount of activity that occurs on campus. Also, one argument that could really help us convey our message would be a list of student’s names that have been killed on college campuses. This could also be used in a paragraph form and may be more effective.

In Class Bloggin'

Two questions on pages 418 through 422 that I believe will really help our group in Unit 3 are: "What does the creator intend its effects to be?" and "How is the visual text composed? What's your eye drawn to first?". The first question will be helpful to our group because we will be creating arguments and will have understand what our arguments will accomplish. We will need to have a target audience and must understand what kind of controversy we will stir with each argument as well as what target outcome we will be shooting for. The next question is a question on visual texts. We talked some about this earlier in the semester in class when we looked at a picture with a young girl holding a cigarette in a somewhat dark and ominous setting. I like this question because it will help our group understand how and what kinds of visual arguments to choose. A visual text is a complex thing if you spend time working on it. We must focus on the initial argument or statement that our visual argument makes because the first impression will be the biggest factor in creating an argument with a visual text.

In Class Free Write

In last night's reading I found it very interesting that style and word choice effect arguments that we make. I am a person who deals with a lot of things through e-mail because I am always go the go or always on the golf course where I can not talk on the phone. I have an iPhone so I can just pull it out and type an e-mail when necessary. I really like the idea that style and word choice has a lot to do with the state of arguments. To me, I like this because I spent a pretty large amount of time typing e-mails and text messages because I have to with what I do. I am a college student and I have to sometimes communicate my ideas and concerns with professors through e-mail at times. I think that this chapter will be very useful to our project because it tells students how to make arguments effectively.

I believe that this information will be beneficial because I now understand how to make arguments in different ways. Say I wanted to appeal ethically to my reader; I could write in a different manner than if I wanted to create excitement. I believe that having read this information I can see how it is definitely going to help. One other aspect of the chapter's reading that I believe will help me is the portion about how arguments are not just words. I already understood this but I believe that this section will help me and my group to make an effective argument with a political cartoon or something of that nature. I think that this chapter will help our group and I will most likely be referring to this reading for guidance throughout this project.

My job

Throughout this group project, I will be the head writer. The CWO if you will. My job will be tough but I feel like I am the right man for the job. Anyway, here's what my job entails. I will be the group member who does the actual writing when we meet. I am excited that I get to do this because I like writing and the other group members really do not want to do it. I guess that I am really the only one willing to be the head writer but I think it's a good job. When we meet I will be the one who listens and tries to put everyone's ideas into the paper. The only thing that I am concerned about is trying to satisfy all of my group members. What I mean by this is that I will have to try to get everyone's voice into the paper. After only one meeting with my group I feel like we will work well together. All of the group members seem like they will be committed to this project. They also seem like they are willing to work and function as a good group together. I am really looking forward to this project because I have had good experiences with other group projects where we were required to write a paper. I have recently finished my second group project that a paper is required for and I have had two good experiences. I believe that the way to conquer a project of this nature is to work together and always try to be diplomatic.

In Class Free Write

I have never really had a horrifying experience with group work. I have definitely beee in a few groups that needed to be disciplined from time to time. Although I do not think that this group will face my major problems, I am really concerned that we work as hard as I expect us to. I think that if we all make it to class everyday, we will obtain the grade and the success that we all want on this paper. I have worked with two of the three members of my group on other work in this class before and I like the way that they both get to class on time everyday. This have both read some of my writing and I have read some of their's. I do have one major concern which is agreeing on our topic and choice of primary texts. I know that this group is going to be diverse because there are three girls and me...I'm outnumber!

For an ideal group work situation, I would say that everyone has their own job while giving input into the other group member's work. Everyone should be here on time everyday, no exceptions! I think that if we assign each group member two or three jobs throughout the semester, this group assignment will go alot more smoothly than some of the other groups in this class. I also think that for this to be an ideal group situation, everyone in this group will have to be willing to meet outside of class if needed.

What are some of the different roles in the group?
I think that in this group we are going to need a group leader, a research team (two people), a leading writer, a gatekeeper, and a reporter. Group leaders are always necessary in group work because groups need guidance. The group leader should make schedules for the times in which we meet and should lead all discussion if needed. The research team is probably the most important part of the group because they will be finding information in which will be base our whole presentation and project on. The leading writer will be the one who explains and documents what our group is doing and where we are in the project. He or she will also write the final paper. The gatekeeper will be the one who will manage any problematic group members or situations that occur if our group begins to not function as we should. Finally, the reporter will document everything that we do everytime we meet.