Poem Parody Reflection

The poem I chose to parody was Patrica Smith's "A Poem to the Man Who Shot My Father." I decided to take it in a slightly different direction. The parody takes a halfway serious and halfway humorous tone. In it, a person is writing a poem to the woman who used his money. It strongly implies that a woman lived with him and used him for his money. Then discusses how the tables have turned, and she now has a user living with her. Rather than anger and vengeance being the main tone like the original, this poem takes pleasure in his former spouse being used, and ends with what a sigh of relief, of sorts.

I found this assignment interesting. I generally enjoy reading, and in some instances, making parodies of things. I drew somewhat on past experience, but also on experience of family and friends I have known who have gotten used by a so-called "loved one." This is one that many people (not just men, women as well) can relate to.

I will post the link to the document later, as Google Docs is being a pain right now. It states it is converting my document, but I have been waiting ten minutes.

Reflection

This assignment was an unusual one. I can't honestly say I enjoyed it as much as the others, as it took a lot of time and work to find all my sources. I had a difficult time thinking of a topic which would have many available information that I could use. I finally came upon the topic of the General Motors crisis, due to the fact it is all over the news and information regarding it is abundant. Once I chose this topic, everything seemed to fall into place. I already have my own strong personal views on the debate regarding the corporation, so choosing a stance was easy enough. I didn't support the initial bailout because I knew it would most likely make very little difference in the end, and the taxpayers would wind up paying for it in the long run. However, I would like to see the company bounce back. Thus, I chose the stance that I would like the company to recover, but a bailout would not be a solution.

I searched the web for pictures and "art" regarding the company. Google Images was an abundant source, and I probably could have used hundreds of others, if I needed to. As one would imagine, there were many articles regarding the crisis on Academic Search Complete, so finding sources was not an issue.

As I stated earlier, I initially didn't enjoy the assignment, but everything fell into place once I chose my topic. I am happy with the end result, and feel my abstract and bibliography are well-done and thoroughly complete and concise, as they should be.

Abstract & Bibliography Link

Abstract:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_8cbw6n2dz

Bibliography:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_9qb96grg4

How-To Guide: Reflection

This was an interesting assignment which I enjoyed. It dealt with creating a how-to guide for a person who is new to Cincinnati. We were given flexibility in the assignment, seeing as we could collaborate and write a guide on just about anything that would help someone new to the city. We decided to split the guide up into categories: Geography, food, entertainment, transportation and history. I quickly chose transportation, because I have practically lived here all my life and know the strengths and weaknesses of getting around the city. Several years ago, I went a while without a car, having to commute to school and work by bus, and now cars to get around.

I basically used all my group members' guides to complete a final copy. I had to add transitions between sections so it would flow smoothly. I chose to order the guide in this fashion: history, transportation, food and entertainment. This makes sense to me, because one should learn a bit about the history of a city when they live there. After the reader gains this knowledge, they need to know how to get around the city in order to do anything. Following this, they are most likely interested in knowing where to eat. Nobody enjoys doing something fun on an empty stomach. Finally, entertainment. After the reader gets something to eat, they certainly will want to know where they can relax and have a good time.

My guide is complete, save for the "Geography" section. One group member did not get back with me via e-mail. However, he has not been attending class, so something may have come up. Otherwise, I am satisfied with the final copy.

How-To Guide -- Final

Here is the link to my completed how-to guide:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_68z2cks63

Original document:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_7hqv2vzhc

Revision Assignment Reflection

For this assignment, we were to take a piece of writing we had previously done, and revise it using the rules of writing, which were challenged in the text. I found this assignment more difficult than it originally seemed to be. At first thought, it seemed very simplistic and it looked like something that could be done in just a few minutes. Delving into the assignment, I realized how hard it actually is to revise your own writing.

During class, in our small groups, we exchanged papers and advised each other on what could be changed. It is easy enough to modify another person's work. However, it is very difficult to change and modify your own paper due to the fact that nothing looks like it needs to be modified. Looking at my previous work (which dated only a year ago), it looked like a good, finished product. I had a few struggles in changing sentences around, especially since it made it look like I was working backwards, from a final copy back to a first, rough draft.

I now realize there are many different opinions on writing, and "proper" writing is merely relative to one's own perspective of what is correct.

Revision Assignment

Here are links to...

Original Document: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_2d6vwjrhd

Revision 1: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_3fczn7hpn

Final Revision: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhcrxj5x_4dccqgcmn