Anzaldua Questions

Questions for discussion and Journaling

1. Gloria Anzaldua uses both English and Spanish within her article. BY reading this article I can tell she is very intertwined with her writing. She talks about how she can’t sleep at night because her writings will keep her awake if they are bottled up inside of her. This piece made me wish I could write with such depth and be so connected to my writings. I feel it made the piece more personal by not being, “clued in.” I think she wants the writing to use their own words to connect and make their own meetings. These are her own personal stories which are her memories encapsulated in time. This piece is much different from other pieces with in this book and leaves a lot of parts unexplained. I think she doesn’t explain much of the story because she wants the reader to make their own personal opinion of her stories, and take what they want from her life story.

3. Anzaldua has a deep connection to her writings and has to trust her thoughts to compose her writings. I feel each person has a different opinion on how they write the way they do. I feel some people just spit ball writing and others have to have a deep connection on what they are writing. I think every writer should believe what they write and not take others ideas to compose their writings. I believe when I have strong feelings about what I write it helps me to get my ideas out better and write more freely. I have different feelings about each topic I write.

Applying and Exploring Ideas

2. Gloria is an amazing writer and is one of the most creative writers I’ve ever read.  I feel the way she wrote this piece was very personal and had the most impact by being written in this. If she wrote it in a more tradition academic format it would of took a lot away from the piece. The way she wrote her piece shows she believes in her writing and, it also shows she has a deep connection with her writing. She wrote her piece this way because this the way she wanted to write her thoughts, feelings out on paper.

3. No, I do not agree with Anzaldua’s statement that images are more direct than words. I feel images give the reader instant images in your head, but they cannot explain thoughts as deeply as words can. I personally feel words affect me deeper than an image. I know when I look at a familiar picture it can spark a memory in my mind better than words could. This happens more often to me with images than words but, images occasionally affect me on a deeper level than words. When I am talking to my friends or writings them notes I would communicate through images because they are funnier and it is easy for me to get my points across through pictures. I understand better though words but, communicate better though pictures, although I feel this is different for everyone.

 

Alexander Questions

 

Questions for Journaling & Discussing

6.  As Alexander states in his article there are restrictions of everything including people. There is so much diversity in the world it is hard not limit or restrict your writing in some ways. Male and female restrictions obviously happen because social perception has made gender such a huge separation. This separation effects the writing by, limiting creativity and presenting a “sexed” and stereotypical view of men and women.  This gives writing a fake aspect, denying the true and real characterizes to readers. We need to expand and respect more neutral general texts. You cannot focus on the of the gender of the writer and not be bias to the piece.  This knowledge can be used to take these sharp visions of transgender to expand and understand the narration of gender. An experiment of Trans pedagogy in transition presenting limitations on writing. First, in deconstructs the male/female binary-one of the most pervasive modes of meaning making in our culture. Second, in deconstruction this binary, trans sites powerfully revel gender as a social construction- as a narration that rhetorically, and politically, uses gender to maintain categories, roles, and knowledge that delimit and police our bodies and identities. By examining stories students have wrote shows many more of real life examples of accepting Trans gender writing and how it opens up the world of writing so much more.

7. These student writing help to define even more how student narratives reinforce gender stereotypes. In “Mr. Football” written by two females, shows stereotypical examples of a buff and stupid football player. He ends up getting hurt by stepping on a jelly fish and, only focuses on get back to playing football. They don’t add any examples of him maybe likening shopping or even cod, to add a real aspect to this gender. There are also examples of gender stereotypes in “Scarlet” written to a male. It is a about a very pretty girl who gets into this dark and mysterious life style. This gives her the innocent girl who has broken into stereotypical bad girl lifestyle.  A Similar example to this is in a student narrative called “Amanda” by a male.

Applying and Exploring

3.  According to Alexander the presents of the transgendered is beneficial everyone within a composition class. This will bring students out of there social “norms” and interrogate the constructs of gender that we often take for granted as “natural” or “normal.” This not only alerts others to the presence of differently gendered people, but also to examine critically how gender limits our potential sense of self. This will expose the harmful myths around what it means to be a woman or a man. Many trans theorists have been inspired to think along such lines after considering the work of queer theorist Judith Butler, whose notion of gender performativity has been a useful if contentious approach to thinking critically about gender. There is no need to be no gender identity behind the expression of gender. There is need to denaturalize the sense of “gender” and is not essential but, rather a sociocultural construct where masculinity and femininity have come to appear natural.  

 

Delpit and Smitherman

 

QFD&J

1. It doesn’t bother me that Delpit didn’t identify her race in her article. I feel the points she identified were more powerful not knowing whether she was black or white or any other race for that fact. Her race shouldn’t matter to the reader but, not being white dose make her points more powerful because it shows more of her personal experience with the issue. As she talks about Gee and his ignorance to acceptance, it doesn’t change the perception of her message but, it makes her message more powerful to her readers knowing that she is black.

3. Yes I agree with Delpit and I also disagree with Gee’s points that she brings up in her article. You can feel her anger in the article and being raised in a white male dominate world her point are exactly correct. Her use of intertextuality makes her argument even more compelling. I agree that you can change your discourse and add new ones, and not be stuck in our own ways like gee states. Also that is hard for minorities to become adjusted to white male styles of teaching. They assume the needs and voices of the students. On that note some weak points are that she doesn’t look at the effort students are putting into it to because, failing is only a lack of not trying. Other facts I found to be a shortcoming of this article was that she didn’t elaborate on how to pull of this niche. For the most part her article had an impact on the way I viewed this subject.

A&E

3.  I see a lot of generalization but, I also see a lot of individual stories to make the piece powerful.  She generalizes many types of students but, Keith Gilyards story made the article so much more powerful in my mind. Showing all of his struggles and how he reacted to them changed my opinion. Also contrasting Gee’s generalization, with her own, made the article more effective. I feel it was problematic that she generalized all the problems with being a minority and never really presented a solution to them.

Prereading of Smitherman

-          I am a very judgmental person which, is something I am trying to grow out of but, its part of me. When I hear someone’s voice I do judge them. It is typically based of the sound of there voice but, primerally based on what they say. Someone’s voice is a very powerful thing, and a very easy way to judge someone.

QFD&J

2. Smitherman used black idiom rhetorically by focusing on the ideas of the student rather than focusing on how well there grammar was. This was a very powerful note in my eyes because this shows students you should focus more on your ideas but, at the same time, be conscience of your grammar skills. If students just focus of their grammar they lose how to write a paper with any good ideas, just facts. This essentially teaches students the wrong way to write a paper.

A&E

5. The only difference in these statements is that one statement is purely ignorant English. I mean if that is the way you talk, you should also write this way but, should probably take a proper English class. The significance of having “God don’t never change” as the title shows the power of the meaning of words and not exactly the grammar behind them. Also that God is an implication of us. No language is perfectly logical, so there is no perfect God. Personally I don’t believe this statement to be true but, I believe this is the message Smitherman is trying to convey to his readers.

Flynn

Q & D

2. Flynn’s piece took over 30 years to be published. I personally like her revised piece better but, we should take into consideration the time it took to write this piece. Many beliefs and ideas on genders and their roles have changed since 30 years ago. It would be ridiculous to say the ideas today are still the same and that nothing has changed. Her ideas were good for her time and are very good to reflect on. I feel there was a lot less respect for women 30 years ago and we should be happy on the improvement we have made. Things change and they can change into truly great ideas again.

3. I’m not exactly sure what Flynn’s was saying here. If I had to guess I feel Flynn is trying to say in the first part that, Women were forced by men to be looked at as the weaker gender; with men having all control. It’s her cry out for a voice in this world. In the second part I believe she is trying to express how men and women are different in many characteristic traits. You cannot try to blend both or have one with all the control. With more and more ethnic background coming together there will be power conflict. This is where other races are blended together in a common area and one race feels they have more power hence, trying to take control. When both races are clearly equal and should be treated like that.

5. I agree with Chodorow’s claims about feminine and masculine identification and believe there are convincing. Males and females do have different interaction patterns. Each gender looks at life with a different goals and especially emotions. Achievement I feel is a huge goal for men and women do get pissed about that. I believe the major of Chodorow’s claims to be true.

Applying and Exploring

4. I think Flynn’s article demonstrates not very many limitations about feminist but yet, more empower women. It generalizes this discourse by saying it was a women empowering course.  This also powered women in political marginality. This generalization gives women a reputable name within the writing community. This generalization can cause limitations because it may emphasize female and male developmental processes, and may define their fields of inquiry. So women receive benefits and limitation from this generalization.

5. Well obviously a male and female will talk differently in each of their writings because, they have different genes and traits. Gender also has different experiences, especially their early relationship with their primary parent, their mother. So multiple aspects in society and in life shapes what kind of writer you will be.   

Villanueva Questions

Discussion and Journaling

3. This article was much different then all of the other articles we’ve read in class. The entire content was so different than any other; it shows you the power of your personal life experiences. It put your life literally in to your writing and applies a more personable aspect. This can give writings a whole new meaning. It can either cause great understanding to your read or cause tension to your reader. Many different aspects can come into play by using memories in your writings. I really think the memory at the begging of this article made me more interested to read it. This is a very good attention grabber that will draw more readers in. I feel most believe would rather read a personal story over facts and figures.

4. Different authors each telling there different story this in this article gives so much diversity. Its not like reading one article but, many stories pulled into the same paper. At the same time you learn what memory they have, and also how to put your memories in your writing also. Each story brought little facts which came together to be one big idea. I think bringing all these memories together made Villanueva’s come to life.

8. Taking entire race out of writing would leave a void in your writing. Diversity in writing makes the readings better and more interesting. It different types of memories that will make your writing better, it shouldn’t matter who is telling the story as long as you’re listening. Villanueva’s article was very good because of the diversity in the memories.

Applying and Exploring

2. Porter’s idea of intertextuality plays in this piece by all the different memories from different people came together into one amazing article. This important to memoria because this helps your memories blend with the facts and other ideas in the writing. I put my own personal style in my writing so you can tell it’s my writing. My style for writing is very personal and adding stories is the way I write. I feel this draws the reader into your writings and gives you a personal insight on top of that.

Dialectical NoteBook

1. “Public awareness and public discourse about autism are approaching critical mass.”

2. “The definition rhetoric focuses of the role of communication in social interaction.”

3. “I know that something in his invention is not getting out into structure and style that it has stalled there, that he is working through the rhetorical process.”

4. ‘A spectrum that encompasses a wide range of behavior.”

5. “The goal of rhetorical listening is to generate more productive discourses.”

1. I feel this is a very power statement in this article because how much the public somewhat shuns acknowledging this discourse. In April of 2008 the first World Autism awareness Day, and this significantly how large of a discourse community this really is. The statistics of autism incidence are comparable to lightning strikes, car crashes, and the likely hood of becoming a professional athlete.

2. I found this point interesting based on the aspects of communication. There is a huge barrier between the communication of a social discourse and the autistic discourse. Many people turn away and reject this discourse because they feel if they don’t understand what is being said the idea is not important. Autistics have a different way of communicating and have a different rhetoric than a different social discourse, therefore making communication very difficult.

3. This is a quote from Paul Heilker about his son who has autism.  I realize being a father and having a son with autism is very difficult to handle. I honor his commitment to his son and how to truly to tries to understand his son. He realizes his son has the ideas in his head and can process them; he just doesn’t have the tools to access the rhetoric to communicate.

4. This is simple quote, which can have a lot of meaning behind it. I feel the more we learn and discover about Autism is the key to find an answer for better social interaction. This would diminish the gap of the social realm of the autistic community.

5. This quote describes my feeling exactly. I feel if you cannot understand by studying, then you must listen and observe what you perceive.  There are many communication barriers although, I feel both sides of the discourse communities understand this but, am unaware on how to fix it.  Listening is a keep into understanding this discourse community.

Intro and Synthesis

            It has been said every day you learn something new. Now I believe this to be a true statement because every day you are constantly learning. Now consider this idea in to literacy learning. Every day you constantly evolve and acquire new literacies. Various authors call these literacies Discourses or discourses, which make up multiple discourse communities. Everything you do can be considered a discourse community, in my personal opinion. Discourses are group members’ shared ways of being in the world. People typically have multiple discourses which, make up their everyday lives. When a group of people share goals or purposes and use communication to achieve them, these groups is classified as a discourse community. Each discourse community has six distinct characteristics helping to define what a discourse community is. Many people also have multiple discourse communities which all require different kinds of attention to be accepted in this community.

            Discourses can be broken down in many different ways, but they are primarily separated into discourses and Discourses. A Discourse could be considered an identity kit, including instructions on how to talk, act, and often write. Discourses with a capital ‘D’ are forms of life being a man or women, Asian or American. Discourse spelled with a lower case ‘d’ is the language used within a Discourse. This is important because you can have a discourse without a Discourse; connecting together to create discourse communities. One of my personal discourse communities is the Ohio University Equestrian Team. This discourse community would be considered a Discourse in my life because it consumes most of my life. This team covers all six aspects of discourse communities by John Swales. We have common public goals and requirement the entire team has to fulfill. Our members are constantly staying in contact with people within and without this discourse community. We have mechanisms in place required of our members to make sure everyone has constant feedback. There are standards for accomplishing tasks. The team has special lexis, which a member outside of our discourse might not be aware what this term means. Finally, the equestrian team has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content including the expertise we have compared to the novice riders.

            These are the social practices of the Ohio University Equestrian team. People outside of this discourse community may not have the knowledge and expertise to understand our Discourse community, as James Paul Gee discusses, agreeing with aspects of Swales six characteristics. Gee discusses how the social practice may cause conflict within or between discourses. As I stated before, from scholarly author Elizabeth Wardle, there are certain lexis’s or terms outsiders wouldn’t understand about this discourse. Coinciding with Swales, Wardle, and Gee, Devit et al discusses the genres or small classifications which make up discourse communities. On the other hand Malinowitz talks about gender contrasts and the conflicts that can occur within a discourse community. This applies to the Equestrian team considering it is a female dominate Discourse.