Personal Reaction, Chapter 3

This chapter felt like a repeat of everything I've learned previously. It refreshed a few things I needed to brush up on, mostly about essay organization and making sure there is enough support in the essay, but that is nothing new. The descriptive checklists are something I will be using in the future, just to double check my work and to make sure I'm asking all the right questions. I doubt I will be consulting it for essay structure, but it never hurts to have a back-up. Mostly, I found this chapter tired and overdone. The Orwell essay was a unique fit for it, and was useful in that it showed a different type of essay than the typical three point, five paragraph style we have all come to know and write on autopilot. 
 
The first few chapters in this book have confirmed that this class will help me to start writing for school again, and not just writing for work or to my friends. The chapters do have helpful tips and tricks, as well as information to help if I'm stuck while writing. While it is the basic fundamentals of English that we all must learn to become better writers, it is still a bit dry and boring thus far. It might be helpful for me with writing longer essays, as I tend to be a very concise writer and feel like I'm rambling when I write more than a page or two.

Until next class, everyone!
-Devon D.

Steroids in the Hall of Fame Response 1-4

What is the writer's general subject?
The writers general subject is drug and alcohol usage in baseball, and how the view has changed as baseball itself has evolved.

What is the writer's main point?
Chafets states explicitly that: "If [baseball] surrenders to the moralists who want to turn back the clock to some imagined golden era, and excommunicates the greatest stars anyone has ever seen, it will suffer the fate of all battlefields located on the wrong side of history. Obscurity." With this statement, he drives his main point home. He wants baseball to be less about who is doing what drugs, and more about how well the game is being played.

What are the writer's key supporting points?
In paragraph 3, Chafets implies that the use of drugs helped performance by lowering stress: "...players have used whatever substances they believed would help them perform better, heal faster, or relax during a long and stressful season."
His secondary point is that "chemical enhancement won't kill the game; it is the cover-up that could be fatal"(Paragraph 10). One of his final key statements discusses that maturity. He states that "...baseball players aren't children...If they want to use anabolic steroids...it should be up to them." (Paragraph 12)

Does the writer seem to have a particular purpose in mind?
Chafets purpose is simple. He wants the cloak to be taken off, for baseball and all its players to come out from the shadows and live the life they chose. He wishes for the Baseball Hall of Fame to be more than an imagined dreamland, or a war-zone, and become an obtainable goal.

-Devon D.

Chapter 3 Reading Response

Chapter three of ”Patterns For College Writing” gives guidelines on how to write and organize the thesis, body, and conclusion to an essay. I thought it was a nice way to refresh thing that i’ve learned in the past, But also does a great detailed guidelines as well in the nice format of information the book gives.

Personally I found a lot of the information the chapter gave was stuff I already knew. The basic premise of a Thesis, Body and Conclusion is something a lot of people learn before they write their first essay. But even though I knew the basics going into the chapter. The finer details are always good to revisit. The part I found the most helpful was the highlighted blue checklist boxes that reminded me of some of the little things that I’ve forgot. For instance Don’t announce what you intend to. For my writing that tends to be a bad habit that I can slip into. or using the term “in my opinion” which is self discrediting.

Those little checklist boxes are what helped me the most. Professionally I think the layout of this book is great. for this chapter they would split the different parts of an essay into sections. then from those sections they would write what the goal of that section was. For example the wrote how the goal of your thesis is to grab the attention of your audience. Then after the The main writing the author inserted little pointers in a highlighted check box which is really easy to find if you want to reference it later. an example of one of these pointers in the Thesis introduction section is the book explains “ Don’t wander. your introduction should draw readers into your essay as soon as possible. avoid irrelevant comments or annoying digressions that distract readers and make them want to stop reading.” Then after each one of those the book has a little exercise that you can do if you want to practise what you have just learned.

From the little I’ve experienced with this book I’m happy with the way it displays information, and look forward to working with it in the future,

-Timothy J Wellmann

Image taken from (http://weknowmemes.com/2012/08/i-hate-writing-essays/)

Day one interviews

Timothy Joseph Wellmann

Interview paper

8/26/2015

I recently had the opportunity to interview Scotty, who I sit next to in my English 121 class. Scotty is a 26 year old nanny, and also currently studying graphic design. These are some of the interesting things I learned about here during our short interview.

To start our interview I asked some personal questions, and this is what I discovered. she is originally from Oklahoma. while she was there she attended a private school she wasn't too fond of. She said she was the quieter type in high school. Later on when she started college she was studying in the medical field, but as that began to progress on she found herself beginning to lose interest and starting to become burnt out. After that is when she started to pursue graphic design. She told me she was a little nervous at first because she didn't have any background working in programs like photoshop or adobe, and other programs such as those. So to start familiarizing herself with them she purchased photoshop and began trying to figure it out and learning for herself. Now she is in her final year and is looking to either go to a university to get her bachelor's, or locking down an internship down in Denver.

After that we moved to the subject of our English 121 class and just about writing in general. these are some of the things I learned. Scotty has had this class in the past, but she dropped out. The reason for this was she had a professor she didn't like and didn't really connect with. After that I had told her I have taken this class before as well. But I took it as an AP class back in highschool, But chose not to pay for the college credit with it because I didn't know what I was going to do after high school.  when asked about the class as a subject she told me how it is not her strongest subject. she responded with “When I’m writing I have a hard time showing what I’m trying to explain. I’m better in Math and science type classes.” Which I thought was funny because I explained to her that those are my two least favorite classes, and probably the ones I’m the worst at. I have personally always been better at history and english. When asked about her goal for this class. She said she wants to learn how to become a better writer, and also to just get through it since it has given her problems in the past. She also told me about how she doesn’t do too much writing in her day to day life. Her writing usually consists of the daily E-mails, texts, FaceBook messages, and Tweets. She is a big list maker though. Being a Nanny she has to keep organized with the things the children need, for instance groceries.

To conclude my interview  we just got into some light conversation. With one subject including skiing. The conversation came up after I told her I worked at Winter park this previous season in the rental shop. She then told me that was her go to place to ski. when I asked her how good she was. She told me that this was only her second season, but she could now do blues. She then told me the struggle of riding with people who are way better than her, and how they have to wait up on her most of the time.

After that our interview was over, and that is what I have learned about Scotty

-Timothy Wellmann

Let steroids into the hall of fame response questions 5-7

5) What kind of audience is the writer addressing?

I believe the audience the writer is addressing is fans of baseball. The reason I believe this is the object of the writing is to try and sway the readers to accept chemical enhancements as part of the sport. In his article he states “Fans will accept anything except the sense that they are lying to.” So he is saying that the fans would accept chemical enhancements as long as the athletes are admitting it and it is out in the open.

6) What are the writer’s assumptions about the audience? about the subject?

I think the writer’s assumptions about the audience is they don’t realize how much of a role that chemical enhancements have played in the history of baseball. That's why Chafets states “as far back as 1889, the pitcher Pud Galvin ingested monkey testosterone.” He uses that instance to show the audience that these kinds of instances have happened even over a 100 years ago. Then an assumption I feel like he makes about the subject is that a chemical enhancement rule change in not any different from any other change the league has seen. “But since the hall opened it’s doors, baseball has never stopped changing. Batters now wear body padding and helmets. The pitcher’s mound has risen and fallen. Bats have more pop.”

7) Are the writer’s ideas consistent with your own?

I absolutely disagree with the writer on this subject. The reason is I don’t believe in athletes using chemicals that destroy their bodies just to try being great. These chemicals are proven to cause medical problems. Saying you support what this writer is saying is in my opinion like saying you support anorexia in models, and saying it's fine because it keeps them looking fit without them really having to try and it's their choice. When instead they have to do it now because that is the norm, and they have to do it to keep up with where their industry is going. So if chemicals enhancements became allowed athletes who don’t want those medical problems will be forced to take them to be able to compete with the other athletes that are using them.

Timothy J Wellmann

Interviews (Day One): Smriti

 

Smriti is brave, and very smart; that is clear to me within minutes of our conversation. She moved here in 2011 from Nepal, and has had to work her way up to English 121, continuously improving her English along the way. I have never been out of the country myself, so I have to imagine how difficult it is to move somewhere foreign, learning a new language along the way. She moved here because of her love for numbers, and is seeking an Accounting degree. She has been at Front Range since 2013, and knows the campus well. In that time, she has taken one other English class: a reading and composition class. Her preferred method of writing essays is pen and paper. She wrote out essays more frequently in her previous English class, and says she prefers it to typing one up on a computer.

We are both seeking college degrees, and this has taken us to the same English class. She wishes to improve her English as a whole, while I wish to improve my writing style. While I foresee very few problems with English 121, she has concerns because English is her second language. She has built up to this class over past few years, whereas it is a simple stepping stone for me. She and I both enjoy workshopping, because it gives a personal, one-on-one view of another’s writing and critique. While she is here for Accounting, I am here to eventually become a nurse. While our worlds may be totally different, on paper, Smriti is easy to talk to and our interview was enjoyable. 

- Devon D.