Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
2 September 2018
Journal Entry #1
What if David Foster Wallace was in the classroom? Would I be the first to ask questions? Probably not, but I do have some questions. I want to know what drove him to write about lobsters, lobsters from Maine to be more specific. Was it because of the experience he had, or did he go to the festival specifically to write about it? I’m not quite sure who Wallace is, at all actually except for this one article. To me though, it seems as if he’s very opinionated on the fact that one should think about the feelings of the creature one’s eating meat from. I would also like to know what pushed him to start out by talking about an exciting festival that many people love, then all of the sudden switches to conversation about how lobsters feel pain as they’re being boiled.
Wallace asked a question at the end of his passage, “Do you think much about the moral status and suffering of the animals involved?.” To answer this, I don’t. When I’m eating food I think about how bad or how good it tastes, and that’s all. Reality is, meat is a big part of human nature. People have eaten it since the beginning of time and there really isn’t much reason to stop. If a lion eats an antelope, there’s nothing wrong with that, it’d be called natural selection. Also, I would never feel bad about eating a plant like lettuce.
Wallace does make a good point though. I believe this passage may make people think about a wider horizon and not just a boiling lobster. The subject of pain from a boiling lobster could be much bigger than just that itself.
Emma Bryan
Professor Jesse Miller
September 5, 2018
English 110 H2
Journal Entry #2
Every school as well as, every teacher teaches different. Do all teaches give sessions to revise your peer’s papers? No. Do all teachers allow you to send in drafts more than once? No. On that note, students should be able to do that themselves.
My high school never really taught how to draft your papers or revise your papers. In fact, I barely every remember writing papers. In my high school English classes, writing was not the focus. Reading and vocabulary was the big focus. Sure, I wrote essays for English, along with other classes. I had a few big papers to write, but I was never forced to revise them myself. When it was a teacher who took multiple drafts, I sent in my paper and they revised it for me. All I had to do was go back in and fix the things that I did wrong. It never really gave me a chance to learn how to do it myself.
I don’t really have a good process for revision. When I was going through my partner’s essays I looked for spelling mistakes, misplaced commas or places to put commas, sentence structure, closing and opening paragraphs, as well as a good thesis statement that is discussed throughout the entirety of the essay.
I felt as if I gave both of my partners pretty good advice. Does this mean I did? I’m not sure. I’m not well versed in how to revise someone else’s paper. I’m also not the best at writing either which made it even more difficult for myself. I did think revising other individuals papers was helpful. This is because it gave me ideas on how my essays should be structured and how I can improve on my essays as I continue my higher education.
Emma Bryan
09/10/18
Professor Jesse Miller
Journal Essay #3
Chapter four of They Say I Saywas very helpful. It pointed me in the direction of being a good writer by using quotes. Quotes are very important to introduce to any kind of writing. They provide evidence for what one is trying to prove. They also seem as if you’ve done good research and have worked hard on the piece that has been written.
From my experience, quoting isn’t super important in writing, but after reading this chapter, I don’t believe that anymore. My high school teachers never really made it seem super important to introduce quotes. Sometimes if we were writing an essay we would have to include maybe one quote. This being said, when we did that the introduction to the quote did have to be very good. It could’ve been something like, “she or he said”. It wasn’t super intellectual.
I’m one for putting quotes into random spots. I used to think this made me seem like I knew what I was talking about. After reading chapter four of They Say I Say,I know that is the complete opposite. Good writing consists of quotes that are delicately placed into the write spots. They need to be placed into spots that flow with the concept you are already talking about. I now know how to place a quote in the correct spot. As well as how to introduce the quote to the essay using something like, “According to X”.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
09/14/18
Journal #4
The End of Foodby Lizzie Widdicombe talks all about food, or the absence of food. The story is based off a formula called Soylent. Soylent is a mixture of nutrients one needs to be considered healthy. This mixture is all put into one drink that can be described as “gooey lemonade”. Soylent is a substitute for food that is supposed to keep you healthy. Many people end up using Soylent as a base and they make their own formulas for a food substitute. People enjoy Soylent as their food substitute.
The text about Soylent didn’t really change my thinking at all. I like food, I like to eat my food. It’s as simple as that. I don’t think I could completely substitute food for a drink. Sure, I’ve tried going on an all juice diet, and it didn’t even last for a day. This is how I know I could not live off of Soylent. So the text didn’t really change my thinking about anything.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
09/18/18
Journal #5
I’ve never been one for writing. I’ve never really enjoyed having to write. This made me just not try hard on essays. I didn’t allow myself to get better. Not only that, teachers in lower education are very different than those in higher education. Lower education didn’t really teach how to introduce things into papers. The “they say I say” templates are very helpful in this way.
The templates showed how to introduce an argument. For example, instead of saying “I disagree with X”. The text says to say something like, “While I understand the impulse to blank, my own view is blank”. I’ve never really thought to think about the readers feelings. By just coming out and disagreeing with something, you subtly say it in a nicer way. This information was helpful because I was the person to do it the wrong way.
The They Say I Say templates are very helpful when it comes to putting together sentences and paragraphs. This specific chapter helps me add arguments into my writing without sounding harsh. As well as making words flow the proper way. These templates will help me become a better writer.
Journal #6
Journal #7
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
3 October 2018
Journal #8
The chapter “Starting With What Others Say” in They Say I Sayis very helpful. It brought to me how to properly introduce your own opinion, or your claim. I’ve never thought to use some of the templates they do. For example, using the sentence “many people assume that ____” to introduce a standard view. For me, I thought using this sentence would seem weak, since you’re saying that people are assuming. It’s good to know that in an essay you can say that people are assuming.
This chapter says to not open a paragraph with someone else’s views. Instead to open with a quote to better your understanding of those views. This is very helpful to me. I don’t usually think to open with a quote, but I understand how this can make an essay seem stronger to the reader. The chapter also says if you’re going to open with a quote, it has to introduce the view you have in minimal steps. This is also helpful because I would go off talking about the quote instead of my view.
Lastly, the chapter gives an example of a return sentence. This is to show that your reader can forget what you’re talking about, so you have to reintroduce your ideas. This shows the reader that you have a strong claim from start to finish. This chapter was helpful to make my essays have a strong claim.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
3 October 2018
Journal #9
The revision processes of an essay is a long and picky thing. I spent a lot of time revising my essay to try and get the perfect outcome. It may not have been perfect, it may not have been close to perfect, but I tried to make it close.
I spent the most time revising paragraphs with quotes in them. I’m not the best at including a quote into my paper. This made it take a while for me. I tried to include quotes that had meaning and flowed with the rest of the essay. I feel as if I did that properly, with the knowledge that I have.
This drafting and revising process was completely different from any I’ve had to do before. Most of the essays I wrote in college just got turned in. I wrote it and that was that. I didn’t do separate drafts, and peers didn’t revise my paper. That being said, peer revision was extremely helpful when it comes to the revision process. It’s helpful to have someone other than yourself reading your paper and finding mistakes and giving feedback on those mistakes.
The thing that I would change would be the way that I look at my own paper. When I’m revising my own paper I need to think of it as something someone else wrote. This is helpful because then I can make sure the background and thesis statement are clear.
This essay took a long time, but I’m thankful for that. It makes me feel like I wrote a good, well rounded essay. The time that I got and the help from peers was significant. It also helped to read other people’s essays as it taught me what I should and shouldn’t do. The revision process was very helpful.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
8 October 2018
Journal #10
Passage #1; paragraph #1 on page 4:
This passage talks about how women are at fault for the decline of food cooking. They’re no longer cooking in homes because of jobs, and easier ways to cook. I don’t believe women should be blamed for this. Women have been about equality for a long time and are just now reaching equality. Yes, way back, men were the workers and women stayed at home taking care of the kids, cooking, and cleaning. This is no longer the problem. The world is changing, and one downside is people are taking less time to cook (specifically women). Women are able to work now and can’t take all of their time to cook a meal after a busy day of work, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.
Passage #2; paragraph #3 on page 6:
This passage talks about how all food is processed and how this causes decline in cooking as well. This is because all of the cooking shows decide that quicker is easier, which is true. The cooking channels revolutionize cooking quick meals by using pre-made food to make better tasting food. Most people don’t have the time to cook meals anymore because they’re too busy doing all of the other things in their lives. Personally, I love cooking. I don’t think that food should be made the “quick” way. That being said, I’m in college. I don’t have the resources I need to cook a nice homemade meal. So, I do partially agree with Pollan. Meals shouldn’t need to be cooked quickly. On the other hand, there are people like me that need quick and easy because there is no time for other things if all I’m doing is cooking. For example, homework.
Passage #3; paragraph #2 on page 17:
This passage talks about how not cooking meals takes away quality time from family. More specifically, eating together in one place. It’s expected that if you cook a meal, the whole family will eat together. This surely is not true. I used to cook meals, and my mom used to cook meals, but we’d eat in separate rooms. I don’t think cooking a full meal, and taking time means that one will spend more time together, but it could influence it. So, I do agree in a way that cooking a meal can bring a family together, which is important. It just doesn’t mean it 100% will.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
10 October 2018
Journal #11
Chapter 14 of They Say I Saymade me view reading people’s opinionated papers differently than I did. Instead of judging someone because of what they wrote, try to view it the way they view it. It makes reading easier to understand when you can read it from the author’s point of view. That doesn’t mean you’re not allowed to have your own opinion. You can have your own opinion as long as you understand theirs as well.
After reading this chapter, I now know that reading for the views and not just the thesis statement is important. This can be hard because not all authors write out their views the same way. Some may be hidden, and some may be obvious. I realize that I have to come up with my own ways to figure out an author’s opinion. They Say I Say has helped me with this greatly.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
English 110 H2
31 October 2018
Journal #12
Caitlyn Doughty is mortician. She talks about the loved ones of families that she has to cremate. She feels that most people have nobody there for their last moments before cremation, no family. She felt she shouldn’t be the one putting them in there by herself. She felt the families who did sit there putting them into the “fire” were giving the power to let go of their loved one, because they own the dead body. This is called a “witness cremation”. Doughty feels that people should let their loved ones go like this.
Doughty feels that crematories should fix their way of creating people. They should make it comfortable for families and loved ones to cremate. Doing this by music, and a comfortable place to sit. Families shouldn’t have to walk away from their loved one before they’re cremated. They should be there with their loved one.
Doughty’s philosophy is everybody is going to die. One just has to take responsibility of their own life, and the knowledge of death. This goes hand in hand with knowing your family member or loved one is going to die. You just have to be okay with it because death happens, but she believes everybody should be a part of the death of their loved ones. Not just for the dying part, but for the entirety of the death process.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
English 110 H2
5 November 2018
Journal #13
Project number two was a long journey. There were multiple weeks of deep thinking. In the first few days I focused on how to write my paper, what to write about, and what sources I’m going to use. I started out by rereading Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couchto rejog my memory. That really helped when it came to what I wanted my whole paper to be about and how to come about my thesis statement. I went through and picked helpful quotes that would backup and support all of my main points. Once I finished looking through Out of the Kitchen, Onto the CouchI started to look at my peer’s favorite food essays. I read through more essays then I can count. I used those to back up my statements when I went against Michael Pollan’s.
I feel as if I did a pretty good job on this essay. I worked hard and looked at multiple sources. I spent hours on it and I feel as if I read over it a million times to check for mistakes. That being said, there’s always room for improvement. I feel as if I put hard work into it, but that doesn’t mean other people think I did.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
English 110 H2
5 November 2018
Journal 14
David Foster Wallace has an interesting take on lobsters and the way they’re cooked and eaten. It’s funny how he talks about the ways in which lobster used to be a cheap meal fed to prisoners, and now it’s this huge delicacy that can be extremely expensive. I never really took this to heart until now. After reading Michael Pollan’s Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch, it seems ironic. Pollan talks about how much food is changing, and it really is in every way. Including prices of foods. There’s no longer a huge abundance of them to go around in a cheap manner.
My idea of lobsters still differs from Wallace’s. I don’t think it’s bad to eat lobster. I don’t think it’s wrong to eat meat in general. Humans have been eating meat since the earliest days on Earth. Meat provides protein the human body. Cavemen used to go out an hunt their meat. This is completely natural for humans. If we don’t eat the lobsters, aren’t other living things just going to go and eat the lobsters anyway? Yes, they are. There’s no way to avoid living things from being eaten. Think of it this way, if you’re out in the middle of nowhere and there’s a hungry lion, do you think they’ll just turn a blind eye to you? Chances are they won’t. That’s why I disagree with Wallace. Eating other living things is part of the food chain, and will never stop happening.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
English 110 H2
7 November 2018
Journal #15
Question #1
Foer talks about how he gains and losses by being a vegetarian. In some ways he loses his happiness, but in some ways, he gains it. He loses it in a sense that he loses the sensation of eating a certain food and remembering the memories from eating it. That being said, he won’t ever lose those memories. He’s a little conflicted because he realizes that if he never ate meat, he would have never gained those specific memories without those foods. He won’t ever lose those memories though, they will always be with him, even if he can’t eat the foods that trigger those memories. That being said, Foer gains happiness in a way. He’s doing what he believes is morally right for him. If he’s not eating meat, that helps the planet. This makes him believe he’s doing good therefore providing happiness for himself.
Question #2:
Foer presents an interesting question of “why doesn’t a horny person have as strong a claim to raping an animal as a hungry one does to confining, killing and eating it?” (Foer 5). This is a question that I don’t particularly want to answer. But if I had to, I guess I would say those two things would say a lot of things about a person. Holding back the urge to rape an animal is a universal thing, the ways in which animals are eaten and killed aren’t. Sure, raping and animal and eating an animal may feel good depending on the person you are, but they’re different. People don’t eat people. People eat animals. People don’t rape animals. People rape people. They’re the opposite. In society it’s okay to kill animals because that’s how life has been since day one. But it’s not okay to rape an animal.
Emma Bryan
Professor Miller
English 110 H2
12 November 2018
Journal #16
This chapter gave me the inspiration to thoughtfully counter argue. This is a way to calmly express your views against another person. Using another person’s views against yours is actually a good way of supporting your own views. At the same time, you have to be able to entertain your counterarguments. The book says if you don’t do this you will seem close-minded.
They Say I Say gives helpful templates for ways to entertain objections. This becomes helpful because you want to be able to make people think you’re open to other ideas without making your claim weak. Another way is to use other people’s arguments against each other. This makes you seem like you know exactly what you’re talking about.
This chapter shows how important it is to pay attention to the reader. By doing this you use other people’s arguments as support, make sure to seem open-minded, and offer the best arguments possible. I now know how to properly argue two people against each other.
Journal #17
