Has writing changed me?

Yup writing has definitely changed me. Since I've begun writing regularly I've started to notice the writers style a lot more while reading. No sentence is innocent because "everything is an argument" and I find rhetorical techniques being used constantly. Also all this exposure to writing has made me appreciate the work that goes into writing newspaper articles, novels, ads, scripts, and anything else that has more then two words much more. I know now how many drafts it takes to produce a single page of decent writing and find it hard to believe that some are skilled enough to produce quality writing everyday in the media.

Vikes game review

This puts the total to seven. That is seven games the Vikings lost that they should have won. But the fact that the Vikings even had a chance to win today is pretty surprising. At one point they were down by 21 points and at half time they were down 31-14. But after sitting Christian Ponder, who had clearly not fully recovered from his hip injury, the Vikes sprung to life on the legs of Joe Web. I don't know anymore. The losses aren't as disappointing. I mean at some point after being punched in the gut every weak, the gut goes numb. But I do hope they win one more game this season. That way they'll avoid being titled the worst team in franchise history and will still have the 3rd pick in the draft.... 10 DAYS TILL WINTER BREAK!

Here are some ways you know I am a second generation Indian American:

• I eat "ethnic" food at least 3 times a week.
• I understand Hindi well but i can't speak it.
• My parents don't know that I understand Hindi.
• I've gone to an Indian dinner party.
• Conversations with my relatives are always the same.
• I don't get Christmas presents.
• I get Diwali presents.
• I know what Diwali is.
• I don't know what confirmation is.
• I don't know the difference between a priest and a pastor.
• I know who Russell Peters is.
• I participate in Black Friday every year.
• I go to Costco at least twice a month.
• I have friends that refer to all Indian food as curry.
• I know what curry really is.
• I make fun of Indian people.
• I didn't have cable when I was younger.
• My parents still yell at the phone when making long distance calls.
• My parents say hi to every Indian person they see at the grocery store.
• I meet distant relatives constantly in public places.
• All of my parents friends are Uncles and Aunties.
• I don't say Uncle Avi, I say Avi Uncle.
• I have seen a Bollywood movie.
• I have regretted seeing a Bollywood movie.
• I eat dinner at 8:00.
• It takes my parents a half hour to say goodbye to friends.
• I know the rules of cricket.
• I've had an "American" birthday and an "Indian" birthday in the same year.
• I act like I can take spicy food.
• I've been asked the question: "If you were starving on an island with nothing but a cow, would you eat it?"

Thanksgiving Story

I never met my grandpa on my moms side, but every thanksgiving my mom likes to tell me, my brother, and my sister a little bit about him. He was born into a modest family in a small town in India. When he was around 16, his family fell into hard times because there was some disease spreading through the village. So my grandpa dug a big half hemisphere hole in the ground near his house and decided to grab his dad's motorcycle and take it for a ride. He then began doing tricks in the hole and made it an event. He charged admission for his show and, after a few years, turned his one act into a full blown circus that traveled all across India. Unfortunately he died when my mom was 13, but I always look forward to hearing stories about him on Thanksgiving.

Rhetorical Modes: Humor

            Humor is most easily recognized in a group. Something humorous will be said or done causing at least one person in the group to smile. Laughter can also be heard most of the time. Occasionally protest can be heard from a second person in the group. Also you may see some cover their mouth before giggling while others will nearly fall over laughing. The person who instigated the humor will usually be looking around the group hoping for approval of his or her comment.

            There are numerous examples of humor. Common children’s humor includes knock knock jokes and the pie in the face bit. Some specific instances of teen and adult humor are that’s what she said jokes and comedic reflection on an experience. Examples of humor that is effective regardless of ethnicity, age, or maturity level includes seeing someone run into objects, fall over objects, and seeing a man get hit in the groin.

            Humor is caused by the human need to fit in. One uses humor for the amusement of others so that others will find them fun to be around. Humor is often effective in situations where one is around unfamiliar people because by displaying humor others will see you as likeable and friendly resulting in familiarity. Humor is also caused by the need to be entertained. Often in boring or laborious situations one will attempt to use humor to calm his or herself.

In order to achieve humor one must master a few techniques: quick thinking, reflection, and timing. All three must be completed for a comment to be considered humorous. First one must make a humorous observation, usually a blatant contradiction. Then one must process the observation and reflect on why the observation was humorous in their head. Finally one must deliver the humorous reflection. This must be done effectively through precise pauses and timing in order to achieve the desired effect.

            There are varying degrees of humor. Slap stick humor is popular with young children. One example of this type of humor is Tom and Jerry in which a cat and a mouse are exceedingly cruel to each other performing constant physical comedy. There is also more “sophisticated” humor in satirical humor. An example of this would be politician cartoons in which the writer makes fun of politicians and policies by making the specific politician or policy seem ridiculous.

            Humor is a quality that causes amusement and laughter. The origin of the word comes from Greek humoral medicine. The Greeks studied humoral medicine because they believed there was a balance of fluids in the body that controlled both health and emotion. Everyone has both experienced and exhibited humor throughout their life because anytime you laugh or cause laughter you are exhibiting a sense of humor. There are some universally humorous acts or events however humor typically depends on maturity level and culture.

Visual Argument

Agent: Nike

Act: Nike will give you the "Will to Win"

Purpose: To sell Nike products

Scene: A basketball arena

Agency: It is a picture. Also the text "You will notice. You will scream. Because you want it to happen." Not only refers to Lebron's dunk, but also may be conveying to the audience that Nike products will make others notice you. Plus having Lebron in the picture forces the audience to associate Lebron with Nike.

Other Observations:

Having a picture of Lebron dunking rather then just running around was effective because it shows him in a more powerful state, expressed through the look of effort and concentration on his face, his flexed bicep, and his red jersey and shorts. Also by not showing Lebrons feet in the picture Nike is trying to make it look as if he is flying through the arena or maybe even night sky, given the fact that it is hard to tell if there is a roof above him. Nike is able to do this, advertising their own product without showing it, because their shoe ads have become so iconic that the viewer will automatically assume Lebron has Nikes on his feet.

X2 pg 113

1. -library
    -vacuum
    -beginning
For these I usually added too many or too few of some letter, or forgot to insert  a letter altogether.

2. It always tells me that I have spelled my name wrong. Also it doesn't detect context very well, except for common errors like their, they're, and there, so if you mistype something so badly that it becomes a different word it won't recognize the error.The computer guesses alternatives purely based on a group of similar letters in the beginning of the word.

3. If we all spelled we pleased their would be no uniform system to translate what anyone was saying so there would be a lot of confusion. Letters would constantly be misinterpreted and their would be know way of knowing the true meaning of a piece of writing unless you could speak to the author directly.

4. CHEEZ-ITS
    This is effective because we then see the companies logo as a symbol rather then a word, so the logo becomes more unique and recognizable.

Blame the average two million times?

The three pieces we watched/read each give different view points of the american school system. In 2 million minutes and "For Once, Blame the Students" the focus is put on schools serving upper middle class American families. Here I believe the true source of the educational problem is the lack of motivation. Now by that I don't mean all kids in these schools are lazy, many work very hard and go on to be as successful or more so then their competition in the world. However, the average student in these schools probably doesn't work as hard as the average student in Asia because their is no real reason to work as hard in their minds. Growing up in prosperity tends to soften people's motivation, if life is so good right now why try to make it better? While in Asia, as told in 2 million minutes, students are fighting their way out of poverty, more so than in the US. Some may say that American students are involved in a broader range of activities then their Asian counterparts, and this is true for many American students, however I feel that here we spend much more time watching TV and playing video games  then kids in Asia. For example, my cousins in India go to extra classes before and after school. And once they come home my aunts and uncles make sure they not only finish their homework, but read ahead in their books. They barely watch 1 hour of TV on school nights and many times they don't watch any at all. Even with all their activities most kids in the U.S., again I'm talking about many American students NOT all,  watch at least 2 or 3 hours of television each day. I'm definitely guilty of this. Another reason for the disparity in motivation may lie in the sheer number of quality American colleges and universities. In Asia their are less "well respected" colleges then their are in the U.S. but their is five times as much competition. Asian students will work much harder to get into these schools. In the U.S., although competition is growing, it is much easier to enroll in one of our 2000 institutions. I'm not arguing this is a problem in our education system, in fact I believe that this plethora of higher education is good for the country, I'm simply saying that this may contribute to the motivation issue. Also I don't believe our textbooks are apart of the problem (except for the integrated math books). Often times when my dad looks at my books to check in on what i'm learning he is amazed at how good the quality has gotten. He's told me stories of how boring his books in India use to be.

In "I Just Wanna Be Average" I believe a new dynamic of the education problem is introduced. This story provides insight into the working of an American vocational school. In these schools I believe teachers are more the source of the education problem. The author describes how some of his teachers simply yelled at the students when they didn't know something, or sat idly by letting the students do whatever they wanted rather then teach. If I ever had teachers like this I would never be able to learn and I'm sure the Asian students would feel the same way. 

Weekend

This weekend has been pretty solid. Friday night I hung out with some friends, we played xbox and went to Chipotle. One of the guys that was with us is a Swedish exchange student. He couldn't understand the American obsession with football. He thinks it is too slow and that not much happens. It's weird because that's exactly what we all think about soccer. Saturday wasn't as amazing. I watched the gophers get smacked around by Purdue and then I had to work on college apps all day. APPS ARE SO ANNOYING. I don't understand why colleges insist on knowing when and where your parents went to college. Both of my parents went to school in India so I wasn't exactly able to find the CEEB code of Meerut University or Roorkee University.

Sunday was the best day of my weekend. I watched the Vikes shut down the Cardinals and as of now I'm winning my fantasy football game 90-80. My mom told me, during the Vikings game, that we were having a dinner party at our house at 6:00 so I had to replace some light bulbs and help clean the house. While I was replacing the bulbs in  the front of my house this black cat hoped through the door and ran into our living room. It just sat their and looked at me when I told it to leave. My neighbor then rang the door bell and told us that they were cat sitting, but the cat clearly didn't like them very much. Normally I'm not superstitious but I did not replace any more bulbs after the cat left. I know my Sunday doesn't sound that fun but it was really good to get a Vikings win.

Obama's Back to School Speech

• He starts off the speech waving at everyone and using a lot of hand motions like standard Obama forward hand motion and also he points out the specific students and staff he refers to in the first two paragraphs.
• The students behind him during the entire speech are mainly African American or Latino.
• Also many of the students have small smiles on their face through most of the speech but mainly they look tired and bored.
• Throughout the entire speech he points out at the crowd whenever using the word you.
• Throughout the entire speech he speeds up his sentences slightly when using alliteration for example when saying "You've got to wonder. You've got to question. You've got to explore." he noticeably speeds up.
• When telling the crowd his secret he initially leans on the podium.
• He also does not pause much when transitioning between paragraphs, it feels as if the entire speech is one giant paragraph.
• When asking "How do we make sure that every single person is treated with dignity" he begins to speed up and maintains the accelerated speed through the section of questions.
• Obama uses shorter sentences when telling the stories of Will Kim, Jake Bernstein, and Amy Chyao to emphasize their accomplishment and his amazement.
• When saying "Because I know the potential that lies in each of you." he uses a kind of raspy voice that sounds amazed and inspired.
• Obama maintains a calm tone and demeanor throughout the speech but when talking about america's current ranking in education he becomes more stern and pauses more. Also when talking about how students must not only go, but graduate from college he does the same thing but also stares mainly at the center of the room.
• His hands are always either on the podium or up in the air, they are never at his sides.
• Throughout the entire speech he looked at all sides of the room and crowd equally.
• Also throughout the entire speech he cuts off the end of sentences a little quicker in typical Obama fashion.

Pretty much expected....again...

Wow. I was going to write about something happy in this blog post. I was going to write about how the new school year is going well. I was going to write about how much fun I had at the movie on Friday. I was going to write about how good it was to see my brother visit for the weekend. Heck I was almost going to write about how good the Vikings look at the half of the game today... But of course there is the second half. That dreaded half that's plagued the Vikings since the beginning. When I choked on some water at half time I should've seen the bad omen. Its funny (well not really) but I actually called the loss after the Vikings failed to do anything with their first possession of the second half. But no, I couldn't stop watching, I fell victim to the same mistake that always gets me. That glimmer of hope that swindling slimy conniving two timing double crossing ungrateful glimmer of hope. The Vikes held the lions to a field goal and it looked like we might actually hold onto the lead. Unfortunately they remembered they are a Minnesota sports franchise and decided to commit every penalty, miss every tackle, and drop every pass on their way to blowing a 20 point half time lead in the last minute of the game and losing in overtime. The worst part about it is is that they actually did this EXACT same thing last week and the week before that. Oh well. I should know better. By now it's expected...

P.S. I was going to write about something happy I swear.

Oh Jim Crow...

Its hard to believe that the Jim Crow laws existed in our country for nearly one hundred years not only because of how discriminatory they were but also because of how ridiculous the logic that backed the laws was. Here of some of my favorite examples of the delusional logic of Jim Crow laws:


Law: Juvenile Delinquents: There shall be separate buildings, not nearer than one fourth mile from each other, one for white boys and one for Negro boys. 


Response: Alright I better get my tape measure.


Law: Circus Tickets: All circuses, shows and tent exhibitions, to which the attendance of.more than one race is invited or expected to attend shall provide for the convenience of its patrons not less than two ticket offices with individual sellers, and not less than two entrances to the said performance, with individual ticket takers and receivers, and in the case of outside or tent performances, the said ticket offices shall not be less than twenty-five feet (25) apart.


Response: Well the circus has always been a very serious place. aha aha


Law: The Blind: The board of trustees shall. maintain a separate building. on separate ground for the admission, care, instruction, and support of all blind persons of the colored or black race.


Response: Yea if I was blind I would be concerned about the way the people around me look too.


Law: Intermarriage: The marriage of a white person with a Negro or mulatto, or person who shall have one-eight or more of Negro blood shall be unlawful and void.


Response: 
Lawyer: Your honor this man's mother's father's great uncle's second cousin is only 82.4398 percent white and therefore the marriage should be void.

Law: Prisons: The warden shall see that the white convicts shall have separate apartments for both eating and sleeping from the Negro convicts.


Response:  It's funny how the lawmakers in this time period voted to "improve" the rights of criminals before giving women equal rights. They definitely had their priorities straight.


Law: The state librarian is directed to fit up and maintain a separate place for the use of the colored people who may come to the library for the purpose of reading books or periodicals. 


Response: Wait... people go to libraries to read books?

Pretty much expected....

Wow. I was going to write about something happy in this blog post. I was going to write about how the new school year is going well. I was going to write about how much fun I had at the game on Friday. I was going to write about how good it was to see my sister visit for the weekend. Heck I was almost going to write about how good the Vikings look at the half of the game today... But of course there is the second half. That dreaded half that's plagued the Vikings since the beginning. When I choked on some water at half time I should've seen the bad omen. Its funny (well not really) but I actually called the loss after the Vikings failed to do anything with their first possession of the second half. But no, I couldn't stop watching, I fell victim to the same mistake that always gets me. That glimmer of hope that swindling slimy conniving glimmer of hope. The Vikes intercepted Freeman and it looked like we might actually hold onto the lead. Unfortunately they remembered they are a Minnesota sports franchise and decided to commit every penalty, miss every tackle, and drop every pass on their way to blowing a 17 point half time lead in the last minute of the game. The worst part about it is is that they actually did this EXACT same thing last week. Oh well. I should know better. By now it's expected...

P.S. I was going to write about something happy I swear.

Why I write..

Hmm... writing. Well to be honest when I was younger I never really enjoyed writing at all. I felt like it was useless because, well, if I had something to say I would just say it. But as I got older I realized it's pretty hard to remember everything you have ever wanted to say, so I began to view writing as bearable. Its funny, my mom got me a journal for my 5th birthday and at the time I was visibly upset. And by that I mean I threw a tantrum for about a week. But I have written in that book at least once a year (impressive I know) for the past 12 years. Which brings me back to the main focus of this post, why I write. I have written in that journal because of important sporting events that have happened since I received it like when the Giants beat the Patriots in the 2007 Superbowl despite being 14 point underdogs. I have written in that journal because of important news events like the 35W bridge collapse in 2008. And I have written in that journal because once in a while I just have too much on my mind and need to put it down on paper so I can see and organize my thoughts.

Sherman Alexie and my Narrative

"Superman and Me" was both serious and lighthearted at times.The second half of Sherman's essay had a very dark tone dealing with the discrimination and persecution of Native Americans. Fortunately my experience with reading has not been as dreary. The first half of the essay mainly focuses on how Sherman gained his interest in reading and learned how to read.  I like how Alexie incorporates the thoughts that went through his head when he was first learning how to read. The fact that he took the concept of a paragraph and incorporated into a way of grouping his house and family in their community was really funny and showed the creativity of a child's mind. I'm also going to try to incorporate my old thoughts into my narrative because I think it will help the reader connect with my essay since he or she probably had similar thoughts going through their head when beginning to read. I'll do this by mentioning the fact that the first book I tried to read was called "Blue" and the only reason I picked it up off the shelf in my old house was because I liked the color of the cover...it was blue. Although the way I learned how to read wasn't as unique as Sherman's, I feel like the way he used descriptive words to paint a picture of how the comic book panels looked is something I could use.