Comp II final paper

Keith Pittman

408 South Franklin Ave.

Ames, IA 50010

English Faculty

Des Moines Area Community College

2006 South Ankeny Blvd.

Ankeny, IA 50023

Dear Reader:

At the beginning of Composition II, we were given five goals. These goals were to be fulfilled by the end of the spring semester, which has come much faster than I thought it would. Some of the goals were much like the goal statements for Comp. I. As I’m sure some other students were thinking, I wasn’t so sure if I would be able to complete all of these goals because I didn’t even know exactly what a couple of them meant. For instance; “Demonstrate and analyze rhetorical approaches in texts.” Before this semester I had no idea what this meant. And if I didn’t know what it meant how was I supposed to fulfill that goal? The other goals (critical reading strategies, organization of a paper, research techniques, and using MLA format) I at least knew a little about, so they didn’t seem as hard to me. I found out later that some goals would turn out to be easier than I thought, and some turned out to be much harder than I first expected.

Demonstrate critical reading strategies. I was glad to see something that sounded easy for the first goal, easy compared to rhetorical approaches anyway. I know how to read really well, so what problems could I possibly have? As I found out later, reading well wouldn’t be enough. Critical reading is composed of knowing which parts of the book, article, newspaper, etc are going to help you the most with certain papers, and what to do with the information. One of the best ways to read critically is to highlight important parts and write notes beside the highlighted sections. Not only does the highlighting make it stand out and show that it’s important, by writing down notes you’ll remember why it was so important. One of our assignments for this semester was to read a section in the text book and write a blog about it. This requires you to pay a lot of attention to detail, because you’re going to have to write about it later.

At the beginning of the semester, I had no idea what it meant to demonstrate rhetorical approaches. In fact, I didn’t know what it meant until almost the end of the semester. It actually turned out to be much easier than I thought it would be. Rhetorical approaches are basically arguments which the writer shows both sides of. For example, if I were to write a movie review stating why the movie 3:10 to Yuma was outstanding, I would also state how it could have been better or why it was so terrible. It just so happens I did write a movie review on just that movie. As you can see on page (0), I stated why I thought the movie 3:10 to Yuma was such an impressive movie and how outstanding the acting was. For our next assignment, we were to write a letter to the editor and give reasons why this was a bad movie. My reasons included sub-par acting and the glorification of violence.

rising health care prices

Problem:

Health care costs Americans too much money. Prescription drug costs.

Possible Solutions:

Import drugs from Canada

Government funding for middle class medical care

Laws on prescription drug costs

Lowering insurance costs

Prevention ideas- flu vaccine. Measles vaccine

Prevention thru free clinics. Include free vaccinations, free tests

Wellness programs. Discounts in insurance if employees take certain classes or meet certain criteria.

Health Care Costs Americans too Much Money

Health care spending is at the highest point in our nation’s history and continues to rise at an alarming rate. Depending on where people work, employers pay for some health care costs. This is a very good service, but the amount business’s pay sometimes doesn’t pay for as much as some people need. Another issue is the rising prices prescription drug costs. If the government doesn’t start paying for some of the middle class’s medical costs, everyone who isn’t rich or poor will no longer seek medical help and eventually die off.

Most businesses now pay for some health care for most employees. Bigger companies pay more than smaller companies, and jobs like management or CEO’s will get better health care than say a factory worker.

A big contributor to the rising health care prices is prescription drugs. “Prescription drug spending now makes up 10% of health care costs and continues to rise.” (www.kff.org)

According to the National Coalition on Health Care; “In 2007, health care spending in the United States reached $2.3 trillion, and was projected to reach $3 trillion in 2011. Health care spending is projected to reach $4.2 trillion by 2016.”

Word number 499, word number 500.

Goal Statements

1. Critical Reading- Critical reading can best be described as annotating an article or re-reading something you don't at first understand. I believe I demonstrated critical reading strategies in my research paper. I first found websites and books dealing with my topic. I then read through them, and took notes on important sentences or chapters. I also annotated some of the websites by printing them out, highlighting and underlining them. Another example of critical reading would just be when (sometimes if) I am reading the text book and I don't understand a sentence or paragraph. Instead of just saying, whatever, I re-read the section to better understand it.

2. Rhetorical Approaches- I really don't remember what rhetorical approaches are. So I'm going to say I met this goal by writing my blog.

3. Appropriate Technique- I don't necessarily follow the perfect technique model when writing a paper. I usually just start writing a bunch of garbage and eventually make it into a formal paper. I guess you could say I demonstrate revision because I have to go back through the paper and fix all of the mistakes in grammar or whatever else. In class we had to hand in many different drafts of our paper before it was actually due. I don't really plan anything out for my papers, I just throw things out there and hope they end up making sense.

The Dukes

Dukes of Hazzard

In Hazzard County you are bound to see a car chase or a fight no matter what day or time it is. At least that’s what happens in the “Dukes of Hazzard” every time it’s on. No matter what the issue is, may it be a bank robbery or a fight, the Duke boys are always getting blamed.

Imagine you are driving down Main Street in your home town. All of a sudden you see two men in ski masks holding bags of money running out of the bank. Of course you stop and try to catch them, but they get away. Like any law abiding citizen you go to the local Sheriff’s office and report the crime, but instead of gratitude you get blamed for the crime. This is a very normal day on the lives of Bo and Luke Duke.

If I were in this situation I would stay and attempt to explain to the Sheriff what had happened. Not the Duke boys; they will run from the police almost every time. Bo and Luke will come up with some scheme to get themselves out of jail, like having their cousin Daisy come in and distract the Deputy with her amazingly hot body. After they get out there will of course be a chase involving the Sheriff Rosscoe P. Coltrane and his clumsy Deputy Enus Straight. No matter what happens next the Duke boys will almost always get away. So what does seeing all of this convey to the young minds watching it? I guess running from the Police really does pay off! If simply running from the Cops would in time make all of your problems go away, why wouldn’t everyone run?

In the Duke boys’ defense, they’re set up a lot of times by Boss Hogg. There is a lot of Police corruption going on in Hazzard. When visitors come to town, Rosscoe places a fake fire hydrant next to their car so he can ticket them. A lot of times Boss Hogg will pay some people to rob his bank so he can blame the Duke boys and collect money from insurance, in which case he doubles his money. This is another bad message being delivered by “The Dukes of Hazzard.” This example is pretty much telling people breaking the law is O.K. as long as you don’t get caught.

The last message that I will address in “The Dukes of Hazzard” is a hot body will get you what ever you want. A lot of times Bo and Luke can’t get out of trouble on their own, so they call upon their cousin Daisy. She can persuade any guy to do whatever she wants, by just showing up in a bikini. And of course she will never get a speeding ticket because she just has to bend over or seductively lick her lips.

Even though I do believe “The Dukes of Hazzard” is one of the best shows ever, it conveys a few messages that may not make a great impression on society. Such things as running from the law will always pay off, doing illegal things is O.K. if you don’t get caught, and if you know how to properly seduce people you can get away with anything.

Letter to the Editor

February 11, 2008
Letter to the Editor

3:10 to Yuma was a bad movie because it glorifies violence and the acting was sub-par. In your article “3:10 to Yuma – An Outstanding Movie,” you mentioned this movie is a good example of a true Western movie. Your thoughts of a “true Western” are like everyone else’s, distorted. Not only does this movie give a bad depiction of the Old West, but it does so in a way that makes the criminals seem to be the better men. Movies like this make outlaws seem like gods because they shoot lawmen and rob banks. What good can come from a movie that teaches people violence is alright? No good can come from mindless violence like this.
Recently the media has made a big deal out of violent video games and the effects they have on children and young adults. In your article you mentioned movies such as The Unforgiven. I believe the media should target movies such as The Unforgiven and 3:10 to Yuma because scenes such as the stage coach robbery from 3:10 to Yuma showed huge amounts of mindless violence. When Ben Wade’s gang rides up to the stage coach they show no mercy while killing every person possible. When the gang takes over the stage coach, they believe everyone has been killed and accounted for. When one of the people in the stage coach get up and attempt to take a gang member hostage, Ben Wade decides to shoot both of them. He then walks up to the gang member and told him this was his fault for not being thorough enough in his killing.
The acting in 3:10 to Yuma was a nightmare. I think the best actor in this film was Ben Foster who played Charlie Prince, Ben’s right hand man. Christian Bale just doesn’t seem like the right type of person to play Dan Evans. He has over the years made a name for himself by playing the roles of quiet characters. Dan Evans is not in any way supposed to be a quiet character.

3:10 to Yuma-An Outstanding Movie

Movie Review

-3:10 to Yuma-September 2007-

It’s been far too long since the last “real” western came out. You know the kind with outlaws who can shoot faster than any lawman and do whatever they please. That’s why I was very excited when I first saw previews for James Mangold’s 3:10 to Yuma. I think the last good western to come out before 3:10 to Yuma was Unforgiven.

What made this movie so good was the quality of the acting. When I saw the previews for 3:10 to Yuma I looked it up on Google and found that it was actually a re-make. I rented the original version that is now over 50 years old, and found that it really wasn’t as good. I went into the research a little deeper and found out that the whole story line started out as a short story and was made into a movie in 1957. Russell Crowe is one of my favorite actors, mostly because he can play almost any role. I recently saw American Gangster and thought that he nailed the part of the “good cop”, and of course how could you not like his performance in Gladiator? I don’t think there could have been two better actors for this movie than Russell Crowe and Christian Bale.

3:10 to Yuma was a well-written plot filled with robberies, gunfights, and much more action. Your first encounter with Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is fraught with excitement. The opening scene shows a gang burning down Dan’s barn. We later find out that Dan owes the Land Office a good deal of money and hasn’t been repaying it fast enough. The gang that burned down Dan’s barn was hired by the man who was owed money, trying to scare Dan off of his land so he could sell it to the railroad. The morning after his barn was burned down, Dan and his two sons set out to find his cattle that the gang let loose that night. While rounding up his cattle, Dan hears some commotion in the distance. He rides his horse over to see what is going on, and his witnesses the end of a stage coach robbery, by a gang lead by none other than Ben Wade (Russell Crowe) himself. Ben Wade is the most famous outlaw in the Arizona Territory, some say no one can shoot faster than him and his pistol (The Hand of God). The stagecoach that Ben Wade was robbing was a bank pay-role coach, loaded with more than just money. Every person on the stage coach had more than one weapon, not to mention the gantline gun on the back.

When Ben and Dan first meet there is no quarrel, Dan simply lays down his guns and tells Ben that he is merely rounding up his cattle. Ben takes Dan’s horses as an insurance policy to make sure Dan doesn’t tell anyone what he had done. Later on in the movie, Ben is eventually captured, because he sticks around too long tending to his lady friend in the town of Bisbee. (To be continued.)

Entry #2-Extended Definitions

Extended Definitions-Blog Entry #2

Fear:

There were a couple of definitions in the dictionary that caught my eye more than the others. “A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined,” and “Extreme reverence or awe, as toward a supreme power.” The first definition specifies that you are afraid of impending danger, evil, or pain. These are all things that are normal for humans to fear. On the other hand, the second definition is pretty much defining people being afraid of someone in high power like a president or other type of ruler.

Fear is something everyone is born with, no matter how tough you think you are there is always something that’s going to scare you. That’s why it’s defined as a distressing emotion. You’re born with this emotion just like you’re born with the emotions of happiness, sadness, anger, or boredom. I think they have made up a name for just about every type of phobia possible now. I mean there are over 100 phobias that begin with the letter A. There are phobias for people that are afraid of any thing from books (bibliophobia) to a fear of ugliness (cacophobia) to a fear of the great mole rat (Zemmiphobia). My favorite phobia has to be the fear of long words which is properly titled, and I quote, “Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia.” Myself, I have a few fears just as anyone else does. Thanks to the American government, we don’t have to live in fear of a tyrannical dictator like Saddam Husain.

To fully understand the second definition I had to actually look up a word that was in the definition, which didn’t make much sense to me. I had a pretty good idea as to what reverence was, but I decided to look it up to be sure. Reverence means with deep respect. So what that definition is saying is that fear isn’t only being afraid of someone or something; fear could also mean that you have extreme respect for someone resulting in fear. People in third world countries fear dictators, but dictators may not be the only possible person for someone to fear. Other possibilities could be something smaller like your boss. Maybe you live in fear of your wife or the leader of the Mafia. You could fear any one of these things.

When I first read the list and saw fear on the paper, one thing came to me instantly “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (FDR). This is a pretty accurate quote. Sometimes the only reason we fail at something is because we are afraid that we’ll fail.

Of course my biggest phobia is the dreaded Dorfmeisterphobia!!