This blog post is also focused on the film Where to Invade Next, by Michael Moore. Here I will be selecting three different topics from the documentary and creating a research question and argument for each selected topic. This will help me with writing my research paper later this semester. I also created a rhetorical analysis of this film in my blog post titled Summary and Rhetorical Analysis of Where to Invade Next. Please post some comments as this film has peaked my interest and I would love to hear other opinions on these topics.
Topic #1: Free daycare and better school lunches. Research question: Should America provide better school lunches and free daycare? Argument: America should slightly increase taxes to allow out children to have more nutritious meals in school. This tax increase could also help fund daycare for working families. This would ultimately save families more money and help boost the economy. Topic #2: American Prison Reform. Research question: Should America restructure its prison system. Argument: We should change our prison system because it sets people up for failure after release, Dehumanizing people is not rehabilitation! It can cause more negative behavior. Prisons should learn a more life skills and have opportunity to use that time wisely to ensure a successful future after they are released. Topic #3: Work life balance Research question: Should America offer more paid time off to its working citizens? Argument: Americans should be able to have more time to spend with their loved ones. The Italian couple in the film stated, “We only have one life.” This is true, and we should be able to enjoy it and spend less time being overworked!
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In this blog post I will be telling my readers about the film titled “Where to Invade Next” by Michael Moore. The purpose of this post is to show my interpretation of the film. I thought this was a very informative documentary and was also highly entertaining. I found myself getting upset with a lot of the things I learned that other countries do for their people and how America lacks in comparison. I hope you enjoy reading more about this film and check it out for yourself! In the documentary Where to Invade Next, Michael Moore travels to Italy, France, Finland, Slovenia, Tunisia, Germany, and Portugal to discover some of the greatest things those countries has to offer their people and bring those ideas back to the US. He discovers that Italians are offered 12 paid National holidays and as well as much more paid time off. They receive 15 paid days when they get married as well as a extra months salary in December of each year. The theory behind this is that this helps elevate stress and that results in less illnesses. This theory seems to ring true as Italian’s have the highest life expectancy in the world. The children in France eat gourmet food for lunch that is served to them on real china. Its is a known fact that nutrition plays a major factor in the health and development of children and the French seem to take this very seriously. Although the citizens pay a little more in taxes than US citizens, they know exactly where that money is spent. Daycare and great school lunches are all funded by those tax dollars while the US spends 60% of our tax money on the military. Seems a bit unfair right? These are just a few of the many topics covered in this documentary. I truly believe the US should take some pointers from our neighbors. Michael Moore established ethos in this film by blatantly pointing out negative laws and/or practices the US government uses versus the laws and practices in other countries. He explains these things in a way that almost made me ashamed to be American. His persuasion is powerful because he has the facts and statistics to back up his claims which makes this appealing to pathos while using inductive reasoning (logos). Ultimately the telos is to spark a change to better the American lifestyle. After all we invented all of the ideas that generated change overseas however we do not practice these guidelines ourselves. I believe that Michael Moore’s film is so powerful due to its kairotic moment. American people are begging for change and equality now. If more people would watch this, we might see the benefits of out efforts. So, lets do this! Go watch the film! iOften people think reflective writing is simply about looking back on an event and describing how it made you feel. Reflective Writing explains how writers should follow the process of looking back, analyzing, and projecting what was learned into the future. This process with help me in creating my Life-Choice Memoir on my webpage. In this blog post I will be answering some questions about the process of writing my life choice memoir.
Who did you work with to compose your life-choice memoir? Was this a good approach? I already decided on my memoir topic in the beginning of the semester when I learned of this assignment. This is a topic that is uncomfortable for me to talk about and had a major impact on my life. Honestly, I sat in my room away from everyone and just wrote. No one helped me, read my draft, or even knew that I was composing this. It really felt amazing to just let the words flow and the gritty story replay on paper. It became almost therapeutic. What rhetorical mode and genre are you using? My rhetorical modes are both entertaining and informative. Other people could learn from my decisions and that would be the informative aspect. I also think that it is entertaining because it contains dark descriptive writing that could be appealing to readers. When did you write this project? Good approach? I accidently completed my life choice memoir before it was due! I looked at the website incorrectly and wrote my first draft approximately 2 weeks early. I really liked the way it was written because I was able to remember key information that my Professor shared with the class that was helpful with the writing style and process. However, after watching Reflective Writing, I realized that I really need to revise my memoir and add more to the reflective sections to make it not only about my past, but also how the lesson learned helped me in the present and future. Where did you write this project? Good approach? I wrote this project in the comfort of my own home. That may not seem like an unusual place to write but for me it is! I have 4 kids and no privacy, so I usually stay at work late on Friday nights just to have quiet time to think and write. This project was different. I really don’t like to think back on the details from that period of my life, so placing myself back in that situation to remember specific things I saw, smelled, heard, etc. was unsettling. I took comfort in hearing my kids running and laughing in my house while I wrote. It almost provided a sense of security and reassurance that my past is indeed in my past and my life is amazing now. Why did you choose to write about your chosen topic? Good choice? I clearly remember hearing my Professor say that if we were not uncomfortable writing this, we did not choose the right topic. This project was all about a major life decision and out of all the decisions I have made, this one takes the cake! Also, I thought that it would be easier for me to write about this choice than any other. I have come to the conclusion that this was a way for me to tell a part of my story and release it from its burial ground without any judgement from anyone. How did it feel to write this narrative ("during, after, and since")? Do you have any "if only" moments that can help you revise the draft? Writing this memoir was an experience for me. It brought bad memories, made me sick to my stomach, and placed me back into one of the worst times in my life. As a result, I was able to reflect on my progress as a mother and a “normal” human being. It allowed me to open up in ways that felt natural and helped me heal. I am grateful to have this opportunity, and thankful that I have a Professor that opened up my mind and heart to the power in writing. How will you revise your narrative? I know that my draft is not perfect however I will have to add some more reflective moments to it as per what I learned in this weeks blog assignment, but I am very happy with the results so far and anxious to get feedback! Week 4 Blog Assignment What You Don’t Know (Lulu Wang) is an intriguing story about a Chinese – American woman who followed the instruction of her family by keeping a secret from her Grandmother, Nainai. After a yearly medical exam, the physicians went to Nainai’s sister and informed her that Nainai had Stage 4 lung cancer and up to 3 months to live. In China, it is customary for family members to receive these prognosis’s rather than the patient themselves. They believe that not telling Nainai of her illness would prolong her life. The family decided to push Lulu’s cousin’s wedding ceremony up a year so that everyone could get to spend time with Nainai before she passed. They were able to do this successfully and tried to bring Nainai as much joy as possible. Nainai lived on for 3 or more years. In this blog post I will be explaining why I agree with the family’s choice to hide this prognosis from their Grandmother and explain when I have been forced to tell a difficult truth. Did you agree with the family's choice to deceive Wang's grandmother? I am a firm believer in the power of the human brain. When I was a child and I would get sick, my mom wouldn’t baby me. She would tell me I was fine, and I truly started believing that. I know that this helped me feel better quicker. I think that Lulu’s family made the right decision to keep Nainai’s diagnosis from her. She lived much longer than the doctors estimated because she believed she was well. When Lulu asked her how she was feeling she responded “If it weren't for my bad knees, I'd be perfect.“ The brain is powerful enough to fool the body into thinking it is sick when it is not, so why wouldn’t it make you expire if you are told you are given an expiration date? The Wang family cared for Nainai so much that they decided not to let her live her last days in pain or worry. They filled her time with positivity, joy, and laughter and that carried her much farther than the doctors anticipated. I think there is no better way to go. I would much rather die surrounded by my family, with happy memories rather than having to see everyone cry and say their goodbyes. When have you made an important choice to tell someone a difficult truth or you made an important choice to tell a lie that had a major impact on you and/or someone else? When I was 13 years old my dad came to me and said we were going to go on a trip together, just the 2 of us. I was so excited at the thought of going to the Poconos to skiing with my dad. On our way up highway 295, my Dad quickly pulled off an exit which confused me because we had only been driving for about 20 minutes. I looked at him puzzled and he said, “I forgot to tell you, we will be meeting with my lady friend and her daughter, they will be coming with us too.” I knew that something wasn’t right, after all we left my mom behind so what did he mean by “lady friend”. We pulled up to the Holiday Inn Hotel where we met a pretty woman and her daughter. My father introduced me to them and they got in the car and took the trip with us up to the Poconos. We checked into a beautiful 2-bedroom suite and I was sharing the room with the daughter of my dad’s friend. We had so much fun on that trip and somehow managed to develop a bond! As time went on I noticed that my dad started to buy me everything I asked him for and let me get away with this I couldn't normally do. We continued to take little trips with this woman and her daughter and I continued to keep it a secret from my mother because my father asked me to. After a while my mother became suspicious and started asking me to spy on my father in numerous ways. She had me hide a voice activated recorder in his car and often asked me to go listen to my father while he was on the phone to see if he is talking to another woman. I always told her that he was on a work call because I was scared to tell her the truth and hurt her feelings. I was also enjoying my new found freedom. Before I knew it, I became my fathers alibi. When he would go out to see his mistress I would cover for him and claim to be babysitting one of his co-worker’s children or something ridiculous like that just to keep my mom from asking him too many questions. Years had passed, and my mom was becoming more and more depressed. I eventually learned that my father had been cheating on my mother with numerous different women for their entire marriage. Although I felt guilty, I stuck to my promise and didn’t say a word to my mom about anything. That was until the day my father threatened my high school boyfriend. I was so mad at the way my dad treated him that I immediately ran to my mother and told her everything. This changed my life forever. Suddenly to my father I was a “rat” and that is not a good term in an Italian Family. I was struggling as a teen and always ran with the wrong crowd and did things I was not supposed to do. This landed me on probation after a lengthy juvenile detention sentence. Part of my probation was house arrest. All these things behaviors started escalating during the time period that I was covering for my dad. When I decided to snitch on him, he made my life difficult. The mental and verbal abuse was too much and I found myself running away from home and sneaking out to get away from him. But my father always caught me, even if it was 2 weeks after I left he always managed to find me and always called the police on me. Each time he did so resulted in a court hearing and violation of probation charge, eventually I was sentenced to 24 months in a juvenile prison. While I was in prison my mother filed for divorce and got away from my father. She came to visit me as often as she could and seemed like an empty shell. She lost her husband and her daughter at the same time. Due to bad behavior, I maxed out my prison sentence and was released on parole. I was living at my moms sisters house during the week and her brothers house on weekends. This was the time to try and rebuild my relationship with both parents which was painful and hard to do. My mom was severely betrayed by both of us and I was left on a dark path leading to a hard life. I know that if I would have told my mother the truth in the beginning, when we first went to the Poconos, I would have had a better shot at a successful life. I would not have been placed in prison and may not have learned more negative things to help me self-destruct. My mom would have been able to trust me more and not feel the pain that we both caused her. Maybe she wouldn’t have been forced to visit me in jail while going through a tough divorce. Nothing good came from the decision I made that day and I am still paying for it today.
People may not be defined by their name; however, a name is something one can claim as their own. Is it pure disrespect when someone changes your name for their own selfish reasons. Because of this, I agree with Margaret’s choice to break the casserole dish and green cups. This story is set in a difficult time when African Americans were treated inhumanely, and little regard was given towards their feelings. They were viewed as property instead of people and became subject to both mental and physical punishment at the will of their employers. Mrs. Cuillnan obviously tried to prove a point and show her authority to her friend by taking her advice and calling Margaret by the name Mary. Margaret responded in a way that allowed her to take back her identity without having to suffer unnecessary consequences or by disappointing her mother by quitting. As a child, I always found myself challenging the status quo! Doing so caused me to spend way too much time with the “wrong crowd” and always resulted in some sort of trouble. For years my decisions to rage against the machine kept me in detention centers and eventually lead to a prison sentence. A few years later I was having my first child while all my friends were spending time in college and partying in clubs. About a year after that I became homeless and was stealing food from grocery stores just to eat while my child lived with her father because I didn’t know how to be a mother. I know this may seem like a sad story, but I had no idea that those stupid decisions I made then would help me so much in life now. Today I know the true definition of the word struggle. I am grateful for those self-inflicted struggles because now I appreciate the little things in life. Many the people I went to high school with are going through some of the things I experienced as a teenager and young adult. These people are 30 years old or so and still have no clue what direction their lives are going in. Most are battling drug addiction, homelessness, and the loss of their children to the state. If you ask me, I am beyond lucky! I put myself through all t=of those hardships early and got that mess out of the way! Now I can relate to many different people with various lifestyles and share my experiences to help others. I needed to hit rock bottom to be able to pick myself up off the pavement and become a better person than I ever imagined. I learned how to be humble. I learned how provide for my family after a good old-fashioned day of hard work. I have a career that I am proud of. I am a mother to my 4 beautiful children. I am a college student and that is a big deal for a girl who got her GED in jail at 16 years old! Most people are probably going to answer this question with a story about how they made good decisions and explain how those decisions worked out in their favor. Yet here I am, challenging the status quo once again! My life choices were terrible as a young adult. But If I could do it all over again, I would not change a thing because they all honestly worked out in my favor. I am grateful that I made those decisions at an early age because now unlike others I know, I found my path, and I am determined to make it to my destination without ever looking back. I am satisfied, just like Margaret was when she walked out of that door and took back her identity. "For this post, I read and annotated the following three readings:
Quotes I selected from Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray) "Be patient, listen quietly, the writing will come. The voice of the writing will tell you what to do." (Don Murray) " Writing is primarily not a matter of talent, of dedication, of vision, of vocabulary, of style, but simply a matter of sitting. The writer is a person who writes." (Don Murray) " No matter how careful our criticisms, they do not help the student since when we teach composition we are not teaching a product, we are teaching a process." (Don Murray) Quotes I selected from The Daily Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova) "Some new thing is always exploding in me, and it schedules me, i don't schedule it." (Ray Bradbury) " A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper." (E.B. White) "Starting tomorrow - if not today." (Susan Sontag) Quotes I selected from Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) " You don't have to see where you're going, you don't have to see your destination or everything you will pass along the way. You just have to see two or three feet ahead of you." (Anne Lamott) " What I've learned to do when I sit down to work on a shitty first draft is to quiet the voices in my head." (Anne Lamott) "Writing is about filing up, filing up when you are empty, letting images and ideas and smells run down like water - just as writing is also about dealing with the emptiness" (Anne Lamott) Quotes I created "Begin with the reader in mind." "Four eyes are better than two when it comes to editing." "Revisions are a gift for the author to help reach the compositions maximum potential." Insert Introduction and The Proust Questionnaire
__1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? Being financially stable and able to enjoy more time with my family. __2.__What is your greatest fear? Dying before I get to see my kids grow up. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? The fact that I am afraid to live my life alone, and in turn, hold on to people I should let go. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? Lack of responsibility. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? My boss, she is badass! __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? I don’t really splurge on me, but I do on my family. __7.__What is your current state of mind? Determined __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Virginity __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I lie when necessary so I do not hurt people’s feelings. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? How quickly I have aged. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? Donald Trump __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Loyalty __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Honesty __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Bro! I say bro way too often! __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? My children __16.__When and where were you happiest? When I was 25, I was a free spirit, and I have never felt more alive. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I feel I am pretty talented already! __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Being too forgiving and too nice to people that do not deserve to be treated that way! __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? Getting out of the streets and making something of myself. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would come back as a person, as long as I am able to have the knowledge to not make the same mistakes I did in this life. __21.__Where would you most like to live? Puerto Rico or Italy __22.__What is your most treasured possession? The rings my mother gave me. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Drug addiction __24.__What is your favorite occupation? I am still undecided about this! I have worn many hats and liked every job I had. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? My eyes __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Loyalty __27.__Who are your favorite writers? Tupac (again). __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Wonder Woman! __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? Unknown __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? My mother and my boss. They are very powerful women. __31.__What are your favorite names? Milani & Natalia – they are 2 of my daughter’s names __32.__What is it that you most dislike? Fake people. __33.__What is your greatest regret? Letting other people bring me down! __34.__How would you like to die? In my sleep, old and gray __35.__What is your motto? Good things come to those who hustle! |