Assignment 5

I think that Susan Orlean wrote this article for many reasons. Being someone who had never really had any formal education on taxidermy, I think she just enjoyed the learning experience and just let her curiosity take the lead. Another thing that she does is take both sides of taxidermy. My take on the subject is that it is nasty and uncomfortable. Now I know that I'm not the only one who thinks that way, but Orlean takes that into consideration and also talks about the subject to appeal to the negative and positive audience members.
As stated previously, I think Susan Orlean wanted her readers to learn something. In other words, I think she wanted her audience to be accepting to a new feeling towards the topic. Many people get negative thoughts right away just by hearing the word 'taxidermy'. One thing that makes me believe that this is her goal: she never favors one opinion over the other.

Assignment 4: choices

Sedaris had many writerly choices in his writing but one thing that he did that stood out to me was the fact that he was so blunt. This type of writerly choice, if not used correctly, could really hurt a writer. The way he built his article seemed to really help him out with having his audience connect. He could have beat around the bush and sugar coated everything to make airlines not seem so bad, but instead just spat out the truth. This writerly choice he made was very effective I think and one of the most important things he does.

Assignment 4

A lot of the things in Sedaris' article don't relate to me much but still do in a way. I have only flown 3 times total in my life so I have not fully experienced flying as much as others have. I have on the other hand heard a lot of stories from my friends when they come back from trips to give me details about the experience on planes which kind of makes me relate to Sedaris in a way.

He didn't seem to shy in his article to say how he really felt. He was very straight forward with his writing. At first, the way he was writing turned me off but then it was kind of helpful that he wasn't beating around the bush. A lot of writings that I've read have always been very filled with stupid none sense that didn't have any relevance to the story, which is why his writing was kind of refreshing.

I believe that Sedaris wrote this article because as we all know, everyone judges everyone. Whether we admit it or not we do it, and sometimes we don't think about why we judge or look into it or even think about it for that matter. As a result from judging someone, it sometimes makes it easier to push blame onto that person. Sedaris shows a lot in his article that we should not blame others for events that happened and that things sometimes happen for a reason. "We are forever blaming the airline industry for turning us into monsters….But what if this is who we truly are" (277).

Assignment 3

I believe that Sedaris wrote this text to shed a little light for people to realize that a lot more goes on around us than we care to realize. Also to let out an opinion of his that he gets frustrated with airplanes. He seems to have a very distinct question he wants to raise thought reading his article, why do people behave the way they do when impatient? Also I think he wanted people the relate and think back to a time they may have experienced a situation similar to his, which could add a negative or comical opinion on the reader.

Sedaris' "Standing By"

David Sedaris' story talks about his experience waiting for a delayed flight and describes multiple conversations and actions that happened. He first talks about the emotions that grow in the airplane, waiting for the flight. He describes how people's patience is growing thin and how the employees don't even want to work anymore. A bald man said "none of them want to work….All of all any of them care about is their next goddamn coffee break" (227) I believe he is trying to show us that we should have more patience

Assignment 2

          Up until this moment, writing was something that had been taught to students step by step with each detail explained to them. When looking deeper into this class, one will see that this is not the case. English 101 tries to make a student look into deeper details of their writings instead of just a paper to turn in for a grade. This course challenges students to push themselves outside of their comfort zones and work hard to achieve a paper that is much more thorough and detailed to hand in as a final draft. As stated before, most assignments before now had many details and step by step instructions while English 101 allows there to be more freedom in a student’s interpretation of the assignment by limiting the direction to a simple assignment. By doing so, this allows a student to take the assignment in any which direction they so choose. Now, this course can be difficult to some and easy to others, it just depends on if a student likes a challenge or can work hard to push themselves to increase their current knowledge. By taking this course, a student can do just that.

            Throughout high school, English papers were just assignments that were needed to complete the course. With this impression crammed into my mind, and I’m sure others too, it made it difficult to try and enjoy writing papers and to challenge myself. Now if someone were to be asked, “How would you write a paper or essay?” most would say the typical answer being a five paragraph paper. Up until about my sophomore year of high school would I have used that same answer because that is just what was pushed into my head year after year. After that, my teachers started pulling away from that format and asking students to focus on more of the arguments or points of a story rather than meeting the length requirements. By adopting this idea and using it for the rest of my English essay assignments, it began to push my mind to focus on more detailed elements of my papers which I feel prepared me for taking a class such as English 101.

            With every new class, a student is bound to have a concern or two and after looking over the Student’s Guide, the class started to look a bit overwhelming. The biggest concern, at least for me, is the working portfolio and the final portfolio. At a first glance, these two assignments can seem like an impossible task and a task that serves no purpose for a student later on in life when actually, this is one of the things that a student will need later on down the road. Another element that I feel will strongly affect the way a student works in the class is the student guide. Class goals, past student opinions, and rules and expectations will help students keep everything in check and help them as they progress through this class. 

MY Weekend