Good Enough: Getting the Writing Written and Letting It Go

I feel like I can relate a lot to Bowman because she is a perfectionist, yet she is a procrastinator. I always put off my assignments to the last minute, but when I go to do them, I want them to be my best work. From this, I have learned that you should work piece by piece. Within my research paper, we have written each piece seperately like the literature review, methodology, and works cited. This means that you can do the writing process step by step instead of trying to cram it in all in one day. Also, she points out the fact that writing will never be perfect. Some of the greatest writers were not perfect like Mark Twain, so why should any of us expect to be perfect. The third point that I learned was that writing is never finished because writing always moves forward. This has to do with my project because I am always able to revise and fix anything within my paper.

Living Sources

Ballenger makes a good point when he describes how we should find experts to interview. I think it is important for students to pay attention to this because as students, we don't always know the best ways to go about finding information like this. Ballenger says to check your sources, check the phone book, ask your friends and instructors, check the faculty directory, check the Encyclopedia of Associations, and to check the internet. I also agree with him when he states that people who have gone through the life experience can give a lot of insight to your interview and therefore your paper. Ballenger suggests that the personal interview is most productive because it more natural, like a conversation. Interviews are great tools to clarify any information and also to gain understanding on topics that is unavailable anywhere else. An interview can provide information that other sources can't such as anecdotes, direct quotes, and descriptive material. When conducting a survey, it is important to keep your audience in mind. I plan on looking through magazine ads to see how women are portrayed in the media and also to interview my best friend who had an eating disorder to see if the media had any effect on her.

Reflection of Lit Review

I learned a lot from all of my findings; I learned that most often, if not all the time, media has a huge impact on teenage girls' body images. Magazines, television, and music videos are three primary sources of media that influence girls. Most of the time, teenagers do not realize that the images displayed in the media are altered, meaning that they have been airbrushed and distorted to make it look perfect. Girls then assume that they have to live up to this perfect world, when in reality, this is not the case. It was really hard for me to organize my lit review, and I am still thinking of a way to do this. I don't know how to organize it because there are not many topics within my question. I think it is important to include the lit review because it proves that you have researched and can explain your topic. Not many people know the true facts of how the media effects teenagers, so I think it is important to educate everyone on this information. I had previous knowledge about eating disorders and thats what spurred my idea to focus specifically on the media and body image. In my own findings, I might interview different girls throughout the university, interview my friend who had an eating disorder, and analyze different magazine ads to see how they portray women. I would like to find out if girls can relate to this topic of if the media influences their views of themselves. In my research I found that when girls viewed a picture of an underweight model, they soon began to feel negatively about themselves.

The Art of Quoting

To write a good research paper, you need to insert quotes of authors to make your statement effective. As stated by Graff, "One of the best ways to do so is not only by summarizing what "they say", but by quoting their exact words." This means that you can include paraphrased sentences, although including a direct quote makes a better arguement. Also, Graff mentions, "Be careful not to select quotations just for the sake of demonstrating that you've read the authors work; you need to make sure they support your own arguement." I wholeheartedly endorse what Graff implies in the above statement because often writers include irrevelant information that has nothing to do with their topic. Finding a relevant quote can be difficult because as you write, you may find that your focus has changed and what you thought to be a good quote, no longer fits.

Questions to ask

I am going to be writing about teenage girls' and their body image. I think that the media (magazines and tv) greatly influence girls' self esteem. I want readers to be more aware of eating disorders, and how to recognize them. I also want them to learn that the media has created their own world of "perfect" people. I think that most people don't realize this, therefore they consider themselves "ugly" or "fat". I plan on interviewing my best friend who had an eating disorder and looking into magazines to see how they distort peoples actual images. I think that the media negatively effects us because they create people who always look perfect and have the best bodies, when in reality that is not the case. Girls look at magazines and think that people are just born that way, when in reality, they are airbrushed and distorted most of the time. I would like to interview other girls on how they think the media influences them.

evaluation of research question

My main question is, "How does the media directly influence girls' view of their own body?" I think that this raises other questions like, "Why does the media display these types of images when they know that it negatively effects girls' self esteem?" "Why is the 'best body type' for models to be extremely skinny, when the public is not like that?" I feel strongly about this topic first of all because one of my best friends had an eating disorder throughout middle school and part of high school. I want to learn more about how she dealt with that, and how it happened in the first place. I also think that your personal health is very important; I dislike when girls are always complaining "Oh I'm fat, or I'm not good enough." I think that I would be able to find out a lot of information on eating disorders and why they are caused; hopefully one of the main reasons being the media. I think it will be challenging to view this in everyday life only because girls who have eating disorders normally hide this from society. I don't know how I will ethnograph this. I think it would be really interesting to interview my best friend to see how this really effected her life.

Brainstorming for Research Project

When thinking of a topic to research, the first thing that came to mind is eating disorders. This is a close to heart subject because one of my best friends had an eating disorder a few years ago. I think that this topic is interesting because it effects so many teenagers. I think it is really interesting how the media has such a huge influence on not only girls, but boys body types too. One of my questions will be, "how does the media influence girls' body images?" I think many people should be informed of ways to notice if a person has an eating disorder so that they can help them. "If a person doesn't show signs of weight loss, are there different ways to know if someone has an eating disorder?" I think it is really important for teenage girls especially to learn to love themselves for who they are. They shouldn't always aspire to look like celebrities or models who are way to thin. Another reason why I want to research this topic is because my favorite show is America's Next Top Model. I would like to know..."Why is super skinny the most desirable body type for models?" This doesn't make sense to me because they are modeling clothes for the public, so how do these clothes fit both the overly skinny 7 feet tall models, and the normal body type?

Researching 1 in 6 million & How I Fell in Love with Post Its

First of all, I thought it was very interesting that Hilary wanted to learn so much about her grandmother, although I was sort of confused why she wanted to know so much information. I think in this article she explained too much of her own experiences, and not enough advice on how to do such in depth research. She mentioned that she made calls and many emails, and I think it's great that she put so much effort into it. This has made me realize that not all research comes easily, you have to do more than just type a topic into the google search bar. In How I Fell in Love With Post-Its, I basically learned that Susana really is in love with post-its. I agree that by using post-its, it is a great organization skill and can keep your research concise. I found that I had a lot in common with Susana; she always needed to be in a quiet place to work and once I get started on a project, I need to finish it. I cannot take breaks and stay focused at the same time. I like how she mentioned the fact that there's always a size, shape, and color for any type of information that you need to flag. I feel like after reading this, I will use her methods when researching.

Linguistic Awareness Project

For my linguistic awareness project I would like to create a poster on study strategies for college students. I think it is important for college students to learn how to study the right way because most come from high school, where they were not taught at all the proper ways to study. At least for me, I did not study much in high school unless I had an important test, but now I have realized that in college you need to study for every class if you want to earn good grades. I think by using posters to demonstrate this, students will be able to easily access study strategies anywhere on campus. When I walk through the quad, there is a whole poster board which would be a good place to post them. I also think that I could put them on the bathroom stall doors because there are always posters in there to read...haha. I know that if I were to encounter a poster about study strategies, I would stop to read it.

A Bullet For Your Arsenal

While reading this article, I learned that advertisers will display any image to get you to buy their product. Like Rodriguez describes, the iPod cutouts are of the "coolest" "hippest" and the most "physically fit" kids. It makes you want to put yourself into one of the cutouts as if you are the one dancing to the music coming from your iPod. Advertisers even carefully pick out certain colors to put into their advertisement so that it draws in the eye and makes it visually appealing; they never use more then one set of complementary colors in one ad. The iPod ads use bright, neon colors to attract they eye. Even the viewing perspective of the ad has to do with the way a person views it; looking up at an ad, say a billboard, can represent admiration of whatever the ad is portraying. Once again, this article has everything to do with the audience of your ad, paper, or any genre for that matter. Whoever you are trying to get to buy your product, you need to appeal to them the most.

Graffiti

I chose this image because it is about world peace. It says that once people stop obsessing, "loving", power, then maybe one day we can have world peace because people will care more about love than power. People need to learn to love one another and to know that power is not everything in this world. This is directed towards people who are possibly in power, or people who want to be in power. I bet the person that created this, is not a person of power because they are the ones that know how to love and want world peace.

This graffiti is saying that God made everyone, whether they are gay or straight. Everyone deserves to be happy and whoever created this graffiti, obviously wants everyone to know that although they are gay, they are happy too. Whether you are gay or straight, it should not determine your happiness. This person could possibly be pushing for gay marriages to be allowed in their certain state. I am not sure who created either of these graffiti's, but I think each of them portray important messages that are problems within our world today.

Interviewing Luca

The importance of the Language Awareness project is to see the different languages that are used within people's families and how they differ from one another. I interviewed Luca Hansen on not only his own language, but also the language spoken within his intermediate family. He is my friend in my english class and he comes from Geneva, Illinois although his mom's side of the family is from Italy. His grandmother speaks differentely when she is around the entire family; she uses specific Italian slang and has an accent although she is speaking English. Luca was born and raised to speak English because that is what his parents spoke, and that is who he learned from. In high school, he took two years of spanish, but does not remember most of it. While in the classroom he spoke Spanish, but didn't use it much outside of school. Luca says that he speaks different in front of his parents than his friends. He would never swear or say anything inappropiate in front of his parents. He is more proper and respectful. In front of his friends, he is more carefree and relaxed; he is not as conscious and he is more open. His tone also changes depending on the person he is talking to. When talking to his grandparents he uses a softer tone, and remembers to be very polite.

Getting Personal & Critiquing & Changing Genres

From reading "Getting Personal" I learned that you have to want to "dig deep" and really put your feelings out there to be able to write a personal essay. If you just list events it becomes more of a narrative. You must meet the expectations of your readers, so that they feel like it was worth their time to read what you had to say. You can use a personal essay as a way to explore your own problems.
While reading "Critiquing and Changing Genres", I had never thought that a writer could actually create a new genre; this is true because whenever you write you are being creative and putting your own thoughts into your writing resulting in variation. If a writer modifies too many elements of a genre, the reader will no longer be able to recognize what genre they are reading. By critiquing your own genre, you are able to identify the scene, key patterns within the genre, and what the patterns tell us about the scene. Genres are changed when peoples attitudes, ways of knowing, and goals change.

My Languages

In my family, we do not really have any sort of second language; we all speak english. A lot of people outside of the city of Chicago say that we have a Chicago accent. I think that when you live in a place for a long time, you can develop an accent and you begin to speak like the people around you. I used to live in Texas so we had a bit of a southern accent and said words like "y'all". When I moved from Texas to Chicago, many people asked me where I was from but it didn't seem to me as if I had an accent. Now that I live here in Chicago, people say I have a Chicago accent. My best friend from Kansas always laughs at me when I say "Wisconsin". She thinks that it sounds like I am saying Wiscawnsin, whereas she pronounces the "O". Also when I went to visit my cousin in Iowa, many of the people there guessed that I was from Chicago by the way that I spoke.

From the Outside, In

Mellix describes how throughout her life she has had to switch back and forth between speaking "Black English" and "standard English". She would have to use each language in different situations; if she was around her family she would use black english whereas when the white man told her she had a pretty dress, she used standard english. Even though Toby's english was not grammatically correct, it didn't matter because he was a white and she was a black so she had something to prove to him. Speaking standard english to whites was their way of showing that they knew their language. When she spoke standard english, she acknowledged to herself that her customary way of speaking was less than other languages. She felt embarrassed that she was ashamed to speak her own language.
Mellix's parents used different ways to teach them standard english but never set aside a specific time for it. Her father would tell stories in fluent english about how he tried to get his hair cut at a white barber shop. At the time her nor her father realized that he was teaching her standard english and the relationship between language and power. Her mother had a "proper" mood and would joke around if any of the children spoke in black english. I think the way you speaks shows your education status because if you use a lot of slang or improper english, you don't always come off as the smartest person whereas if you speak properly, you sound more studious.

My Most Influential Person

My dad, Joseph Nischbach, is probably the most influential person in my life. He is fourty-six years old and stands tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. People say that I look exactly like my dad and I am a "true Nischbach". Besides looks, we also act exactly the same; he is a neat freak, very responsible, organized, smart, funny, hardworking, and also loving. My dad has taught me almost everything that I know. He teaches me the little things in life like how to deposit a check and how to pump my gas. Whenever I am confused on how to do something, he is the first person that I call. He usually laughs and jokingly says, "Oh Nicole, what are you going to do without me when you go off to college?!" Now that I am in college, it is nice to have the freedom away from my parents, but I do miss seeing them everyday. Back at home, my dad always nagged me to clean my room and help out around the house. If I didn't do these chores, I would get in a lot of trouble, so I'd have to say one of his weaknesses is that he can be too strict. I would always tell him to not sweat the small stuff, and he has gotten a lot better with that. My dad has many goals in his life that area apparent to me; he wants to teach me and my sisters everything that they need to do to succeed in life and make smart decisions. He also takes his job very seriously so that he can always support his family and make us happy.

Now that I am older, my dad teaches me how to be a smart woman in todays world, but one memory that sticks out in my head is when my dad taught me how to waterski when I was seven years old. This is probably one of the first things that he ever taught me how to do. We were on a family vacation in Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri, and my entire dad's side of the family was out on the boat enjoying the nice hot weather. We had seventeen people on the boat, so at times, the younger kids including myself, would get hot, tired, and crabby. Everyone in my family learns how to waterski at a young age so I remember thinking about how excited I was to finally be like the older kids in my family. My dad is an excellent waterskiier so I always admired how he was able to go swiftly in and out of the wake. It was finally my turn; as I was floating in the water, my dad jumped in with the skiis and began speaking to me. He explained that it was going to feel awkward, but I needed to act like I was sitting in a chair. I WILL FINISH LATER.

Why and When We Speak Spanish in Public

The first question asks, "How does Marquez explain the fact that she and her parents have not adopted English as our official family language?" Marquez says that they have not adopted English as their official language because for most bilingual people, they speak spanish out of respect for their parents and because it is what comes naturally to them. Marquez comes from Cuba, so she feels most comfortable in her cultural roots when she is speaking spanish. If I was standing next to her and her parents while they were speaking spanish, initially I would consider their behavior rude but then wonder what they were actually talking about. I feel like whenever people are speaking english and then suddenly start speaking spanish or they are speaking "spanglish", it's because they are talking about the people around them. After reading this article, I understand that that is not the case. Marquez explains that if she is ever in a public place with her parents and runs into a friend that does not speak spanish, she will automatically switch to english and introduce the friend to her parents. They in turn, will respectfully respond in english also. Marquez includes facts about America and states her own opinions, and I think that is what makes this piece so powerful. It really made me think and change my mind about why English doesn't have to be everyones official language just because they live in America, and I think that is why this type of genre is valuable.

Reading as a Writer of Genres and Exercises in Genre

While reading these two articles I learned a variety of different ideas. I learned that a quad consists of 4 blocks that contain a "do", "plan", "check", and "act". I had never heard of a quad as a genre before and I was also introduced to a new genre called an A3 which refers to the size of paper used, 11x17. While quads and A3's are similar, they can be different too. An A3 delivers a solution to a problem and a quad chart can do different tasks. Also, I learned that publishers are the last step in the writing process; they arrange for advertising and marketing parts of the book. Every part of a book is specifically laid out; the front cover has an attention grabbing picture and a bolded title whereas the copyright information is in a small font on the inside cover because most people do not read that information. Every reader has a natural understanding of how they are supposed to read specific genre.

How to read different genres: Magazine, Text Book, Text Message

Reading a magazine differs from reading a class text book and also text message. When I read a magazine I don't always start at the beginning; if I am reading a text book for a class, I would definitely start on page one. I have to be in a quiet place and be very concentrated when I am reading a class assignment. When I am reading a text message, or typing one, my friends always tell me that I can't multitask so I guess I am very focused when I read a text. When I read a magazine, it is more for fun so I flip back and forth and look mostly at the pictures. For a text book, I often have to go back and reread certain sentences so that I understand what I am reading. I can read a text message or a magazine at any time of the day, and most people read text messages all day long. I would never read a text book for fun, so I only read them when I have specific homework assignments. Sometimes I don't understand what I am reading in a text book so I have to go to my notes, or look up a word within the text to better comphrend the text.

Sisters

Dear Classmate,

This is a picture of me and my sisters.  Tara, on the left is twenty-five and Ali, on the right is sixteen years old.  My sisters are my best friends, but it was not always that way.  When I was younger, Ali and I fought all the time; we never got along and got in arguments about everything from chores to clothes.  On the other hand, I always looked up to Tara because she was so much older than me.  I copied everything she did and constantly wanted to hang out with her, although she never let me.  Now that we are older, we all get along and I would have never expected that to happen, but I am so grateful that we have all matured and learned to appreciate one another.  

Tara, being the oldest has always given me and Ali advice.  Whenever I need an adults perspective, I go to her because I trust her and I can be open with her.  She goes through everything in life before me, so I am able to learn from some of her mistakes.  When Ali and I were younger, Tara acted like our mom whenever our actual mom was at work.  I always looked forward to spending quality time with her. Tara went to Northern Illinois University when I was twelve years old, and I will always remember the day that she moved out. I cried every night because I missed having my big sister at home.  When Tara was gone, I realized that I had to step up and play the “big sister” role for Ali.  Once Ali was in high school her freshman year, and my junior year, is when we became best friends.  We would do everything together and we even had the same group of friends.  People always referred to us as “The Nischbach’s” because we were always together.  We look out for one another and keep each others secrets.  Our parents still always try to get us to dish out information about our siblings, but we never tell on each other.  Ali is one of the most trustful and honest people in my life. She is the only person that will always listen to me talk about anything and never get annoyed, probably because I do the same for her.  I miss both of my sisters so much now that I am away from home!  I hope that I am just as much of a role model to Ali as Tara always has been for me.  Friends come in and out of your life, but you can always count on having your sisters to be there for you whenever you need them the most. 

Sincerely,

Nicole Nischbach

My First Post

So far, english is one of the classes that I look forward to going to. Right before this, I have geology lecture and it is so hard for me to stay awake in that class.