last in-class writing!

What have you learned? What have you enjoyed? Not enjoyed? What will you take with you to other classes?

My primary goals with this class was to get more efficient with my writing. I used to start writing assignments, get distracted, lose motivation, got bored, and feel repetitive, then give it a last-ditch effort to make a page requirement. This class has allowed me to remember what it was like for writing to feel natural because we can write about things that are relevant and things we are passionate about. I will definitely take the new strategies for "Shitty First Drafts" and pre-writing with me  since I had been just outlining and winging it before this. I enjoyed work-shopping and getting an idea about what everyone else is doing. Sometimes I write papers and feel like I completely miss the point and it's drowning in my point of view, but this was productive. This is one of the only settings where I have felt my writing was "at home" since my major requires almost exclusively scientific research and APA ramblings. I'll save the essays I wrote in here as personal creations, and part of the spatial analysis for paper 1 was sent out to my family after I had sent it to my boyfriend for him to proofread - that paper ended up being about the place where he became the fiancé!

pansy first drafts

Oh, how I wish I could adopt the reckless, carefree prose style of Anne Lamott. I am someone who labors over the first page and needs a remarkable amount of motivation to start because I know how long it takes me. I am guilty of treating a first draft like a second or third. I can do the hasty, unfiltered writing in brainstorming and prewriting exercises, but I would be mortified to put such thoughts in a document I would turn in for any kind of grade or recognition. I'm afraid in editing I'll run over it and leave that poor lonely thought alone in its unrefined glory and never come back to it again. Most of what I consider to be revision includes rephrasing repetitive sentences and messing with the flow of the story. I get frustrated when revisions I receive in work shopping processes are minimal, I want to have a lot to look over and think about - seeing things from only my own perspective is boring to read and write about. I like having things to argue and defend on paper.

author's note, draft 1

This is a start, but I need one more body paragraph where I want to touch on the nuclear-level effects of Affluenza like bankruptcy at rates above that over college graduation as well as increasing levels of family fracturing and divorce due to extensive financial reasons. There should be a brief conclusion at the end with long-term effects on us as a population and why non-asset-holding college kids should care. Suggestions about prevention and cure of affluenza will get thrown into the end as well including social and financial changes that need to be made. Works cited will be completed at the end, but I listed my main information sources for reference, they will get worked in for internal citations in-text. I would like to get feedback on what conclusions I might be jumping to without proper backing as well as where I can expand and add more detail!

to tame a wild tongue

What definitions does Anzaldúa dispute in her piece? What definitions does she introduce that are new to you? Respond to her arguments – what resonated for you, and what didn’t work?

Anzaldúa is arguing the disastrous nature of the linguistic terrorism her culture experiences by English speakers and Spanish speakers alike. I hadn't really considered any one dialect of Spanish (I have lived in Texas my whole life, so perhaps it's the only one I have been exposed to) to be inferior to the others. The only thing I can even think of comparing it to is the funny looks Texas give to the occasional aboot that sneak out a Canadian/Northerner's mouth, but I had never thought of one being superior to the other. I can see where she's coming from with this argument, but I'm not sure that war and the loss of a dialect in formal speech can necessarily be equated like she tries to. A dialect is certainly a form of expression, and it's sad that schools try to take it away, but I didn't really get that out of her argument. The way she presented the oppression in English classes almost made me take the side of the school. I don't speak Spanish in any capacity, and in the first half of the essay there's a lot of Spanish colloquialisms and phrases that I couldn't understand without Google. I was pretty frustrated with trying to get her gist when I couldn't understand everything she said, and if I was trying to teach an English class I was hired to instruct, I would be equally perturbed. 

pearls before breakfast

I think one of the main things the author argues in Pearls is that of Music. Not just music, but good music. Bell is an incredible artist, even a work of art, but a work of art in the wring place without a frame is just art - not a masterpiece. This essay takes on a Kant-like epistemological point of view: is good music inherently good, or does it need to be perceived as good by the listener to be good? Bell talked about the validation he got for performing for thousands of dollars per minute in front of hundreds of paying ticket-holders. When he was taken out of that glorious setting and transplanted into a cold and dark subway station with sad clothes and an empty case, all the controlled variables for the concert hall are gone (no captive audience, no attention, no name recognition, no acoustics, nothing.) He's playing the same pieces with the same grandeur as he would play in Carnegie Hall, but without a frame, the artwork hangs alone. People rush by without any idea what kind of talent they're passing up. Bell was hoping that even against the odds of people rushing by to get to government jobs or get home, beauty would transcend needs.

in-class writing 11/3

This class discussion helped me re-frame the argument I was trying to make. I don't think my topic is as huge of a cultural phenomenon as we were talking about today, but the papers and the way they re-framed the conversation about wither topic were helpful in structuring mine better. The reading we did for today wasn't totally helopful intil we put it into flowchart form - could make for some very well-put-together paragraphs here pretty soon. This also gives me some more ideas on topics in general since some of the samples in the file reminded me of the film paper where I tackled stereotypes and pre-conceived notions about groups. Definitely should be better. I got a political cartoon related to running/redefining the running shoe like my argument, so maybe that can tie in as well.

an introduction to the toulmin model

a more college-kid friendly interpretation:

Argument is kinda tough to teach cause all the books on it suck and if all you do is tell kids what NOT to to - that's what going to happen. They're not going to do it. We gotta be positive here. There's not a lot of really well-structured arguments in day-to-day talk, so we gotta go old-school here to this model that looks like a teeter-totter. Here's where Toulmin hits the streets. He says making arguments with real life examples is tough, but here's the basics:

The Data: The starting point and the reason you got on the teeter-totter.
The Warrant: The down low, what we should already know, and what the argument hinges on. Get it?!
The Claim: the point you're trying to make by the time you've gone through the whole teeter-totter.

Ok but here's the catch - arguments aren't always rainbows and butterflies here. There's going to be times when you need a little street cred to get the argument to stand on its own. Here's your backup singers:

The Qualifier: likes to hang out with the claim, keeps the argument realistic, "Keeps it real."
The Reservation: sometimes the warrant isn't always right (even Dog the Bounty Hunter could tel you that), so the reservation sets some ground rules (the first rule of fight club...)
The Backing: justifies what we're assuming with the warrant is legit, gives it a reason to be.

Pretty hardcore.

getting started

I'm lucky I work in the industry I'm looking to evaluate. I have hands-on experience and connections to the representatives of the brands that shape the footwear industry. Aside from hundreds of footwear catalogues and technical speification sheets for several shoes, there's a lot of promotional material that goes out to customers - a direct insight into a companies' motivation to push a shoe or lack thereof. There's a lot of exercise physiology and biomechanical research going on right now concerningthe shod vs. unshod foot and how it behaves in the running as well as walking process, and databases in EBSCO like SportDiscus and the ACSM database have great representation of this ongoing trend. There's a lot of information riht now since this movement is so huge, so I think this paper is all abot filtering the outspu and making sure sources are reliable and unbiased about the industry.

back to barefoot.

 I think there's a wide variety of definitions I would want to write a whole paper about, but I'll explore one really familiar to me that I struggle with everyday to get the brain going on this one. I work at a running shoe store, and my job is pretty much analyzing the gait of the customer, and custom-fit runners, walkers, and exercisers in shoe that fits their unique needs. The concept that has been most challenged in the industry I work with is that of the ideal running shoe. Companies like Asics, Nike, Adidas, etc. have owned the footwear market for years making really cushioned and supportive shoes for people who want something "comfortable" and doctors make orthopedic inserts for virtually any foot ailment. Sounds right? Here's the problem:

Feet.

Your foot is perfect the way it is. People complain about flat feet, high arches, and cramped up toes. It's hard to believe that people even survived without huge, fluffy, supportive, corrective shoes, right? Wrong. It sounds kind of silly to think our feet can't even support themselves. Your feet were made with the intention of supporting your body exclusively. They can walk and run and jump all day long. That being said, most of us have been wearing shoes on our feet since we were crawling. There are hundreds of muscles and tendons in our feet that function just like those in our hands - where they should be able to function independently. A foot raised without a shoe does an awesome job of supporting itself, gripping the ground, proprioceptive ability (think: stepping on a lego with bare feet), and efficient running and walking. Obviously, we can't just develop the strength of 20 years in shoes overnight, but there's first steps for everybody. Not everyone needs to buy barefoot shoes and run marathons. Bodies are made to run barefoot. Bodies are not made to run on concrete or without a gradual training plan. I think this redefining of footwear for fitness over time will change the face of running and walking shoes as we know it. Ever since Nike came out with the Free running shoe in 2005, almost every company has come out with a response, even as small as lowering the ratio of heel stack height to forefoot stack height. Over time, less running injuries and less injured runners will needs treatment if we go back to barefoot.

In-Class: The Forrest

The Redwood trees here just might be poking holes in the clouds that would otherwise be drifting by, but instead are pinned down by spears of pines. These pines coat the floor of the forrest along with the paved pathway that once could be seen below it. The pavement winds casually between the trees, but some of the most aged trees lifted up enough root to let the pavement wind seemingly through the wood as it stands - exposing dozens upon hundreds of rings showing age. Massive and hauntingly vacant holes in the sides of these trees were once home to any imaginable woodland creature, but now they only have space to call their home.

The pavement that winds through the otherwise thick foliage appears to have been abused by millions of feet, wheels, tires, and raindrops. The path it takes seems too long and too far gone. The twists and turns it makes don't appear to have a clear end destination in mind. "Scenic Route" was the name it was given, demeaning its purpose to one of just wandering or crime.

When all that is organic is all that is on the ground, a shiny car key stands out more than it would in any other place. There wasn't a car here at this point in time, and the car probably isn't in any sort of reasonable radius to the key. This key wasn't here on purpose. This key was left behind. The only other man-made sign of life tto be found within yelling distance from this key was a decrepit plastic cup. This cup was the red kind, white inside, bumps all around to ease the grip. This was the kind of cup you don't just use with dinner. It was the kind of cup you find at a bad party and when you're done drinking, you play with it enough to break it, and then throw it away: a similar fate to the one this cup found.

There was one tree in particular that had finally served this forrest long enough. It gave up its reign in the San Francisco skyline, and laid itself down right across the pavement path it had bonded with the past few years. Perhaps it just wanted to give itself to the land, or maybe it was a warning to the next visitors to the path who left behind a new kind of home. Trees and cars don't seem to agree on much, especially when push comes to shove. The self-sacrificing tree had met its match with the last car to wind down the path, perhaps too quicky. The car came to a forceful stop at the same place where the tree had given up just hours before. The ones responsible for the car driving were gone, but the now foregone vehicle had become a new home for the wanderers of the forrest and the creatures surrounding it. What was once a trunk now plays shelter to a small group of birds who once called the tree home.

The edge of the forrest was bordered by a fence. This fence was new. Brand new. The tree that gave its life to this fence was freshly gone. This fence was apparently just for looks, because it wasn't high enough to keep out anything but the lowest 3 feet of wind through the forrest. Just over the fence extended a stretch of field that was being worked over by dozens of colossal machines, flattening, paving, excavating, and smoothing. A highway laid in the horizon line that abruptly ended right before the forrest began - or moreso where the forrest was about to end.

In-Class for 10/27

Talk aboout what went well with your paper and what didn't go as well. What writing exercises helped? What didn't?
I don't think this paper came along as easily as the last one for a few reasons. With the space assignment, there was a lot of room for imagination and argument because I was the only one who experienced that space in the wat that I did at the time that I did. With the movie paper, the sources of information were definitely more concrete and the arguments had a be a little more solid. Also, I had a harder time finding a film in the first place. I went with one I enjoyed from the get-go because it was a very happy-go-lucky-feel-good documentary. It was a little more mindless than I would like for it to have been - but I suppose this is all about learning experiences anyway, right? Either way, I really appreciated  the quoteburger exercise. It wasn't a super new concept for me, but at that point I was really struggling with overall length and content of my paper. I felt like I had a few solid ideas, developed them, and had like 4 pages. The more thorough introduction and analysis of the quotes gave me a lottle more direction to give the quotes some body.

quoteburger

Benjamin Franklin satirized British policies toward America by writing a letter that argued, "A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges." While Franklin jokingly suggested that Britain should rid itself of its outermost provinces first, he directly targeted how Americans should feel toward the monarchy that disenfranchised them.

I'm a big quoteburger fan. We got beaten around with "blending quotations" in high school, and I think they did a pretty effective job. I have a hard time looking at a stand-alone quote without wanting to fix it now. I think it takes a lot of the work out of reviewing and analyzing works because all you have to have is a good eye for words. If someone can just pick out a string of words in a really pretty order, and then understand the intent of the phrasing the author has, quoting isn't too tough. Quoteburgers are all about context. I think tabloid writers and newspaper editors are professionals at liberal quoteburgering. They can take almost anything a celebrity/official said, throw it in some new quotes with an artistic set-up, and say something completely new and different. I hope to get a little QB-ing in with reference to the NETSationals. The dancers have awesome little snippets in their 60+ years of conversational experience - so their quotes are priceless.

where to go from here

This workshopping experience was very productive - I had a lot more complete than I did the last time around with the space analysis essay (The page requirement certainly helped.) A lot of the changes were oversights in a grammatical sense, where I couldn't quite figure out the wording I was looking for to get through my thought process. All of teh comments were really helpful, and I intend to use all of them. The direction the paper is taking is where I want it to go, and I hope to bring in a few more characters for the sake of specifica and a few more outside sources with credible reviews since this film was a Tribeca Film Festival release, not a first-run theatrical. Also, there were comments about doing some more work on common stereotypes of elderly people and how the characters in Gotta Dance defy those stereotypes.

where to now?

          I should probably get going on that here pretty soon. The prewriting is really productive - I feel like I have a lot more things to write about than I did writing the space analysis. With a work that so many people have seen and reacted to there's a lot more in the public domain to reference as far as arguments. I would like to study up a little more on the team themselves and poke my head around for some outside reviews to see where the points of controversy hit with people who actually make a living by reviewing film. I might also explore the possibility of checking out one other film I haven't seen in a while and see if I get immediately inspired to start this process over again on a new topic. We'll see. I need to get my thesis for this film to take more of a stand than introducing the general themes of the film and collect some quotes from the interviews that support all of my claims. It might be nice also go go back through my favorite scenes (since I watched it on Netfilx) and screen-shot the still images of the most poignant settings to see if I can do a little visal analysis on camera work.

real reality?

          I'm not sure there's a such thing as a real reality TV show. Television is inherently not a production of actual life. Between editing, sequencing, and camera angles - it's nothing like experiencing something first-hand. I can't think of a reality TV show I have ever seen that is even remotely comparable in situational accuracy to what it would be like off-camera. Once people can realize that the only qualification to become a reality show is to have amateur actors who might or might not be wiling participants. I don't think there's cheating in Reality TV - those that participate only have a false sense of control over their role on the show and longevity of participation. The producers of a Reality TV show have everything to do with the outcomes of a competition or what film makes the final production.
          That being said, I LOVE REALITY TV. I can't stand it. I'm not as much into the game shows and survivor-style competitions, but I can't pretend like I don't care who got kicked off the Bachelor. I do. A lot. I like a lot more scripted TV shows, and I think of reality TV as more of just a more poorly written script. I love the lifestyle-geared shows...it all started with Trading Spaces way back in the day. Now I can't help myself but watch hours of Toddlers and Tiaras and Dance Moms. Reality TV is like a really loud car wreck. You can't look away, you have to slow down and watch what happens next because you know its going to be interesting, if nothing else.

marie and juno

  I can see a lot of similarities between the two young women featured in the films themselves. Juno and Marie Antoinette were both just teenagers when they both had more dumped on them than they could handle at once. Whether it be a country in turmoil or an unplanned pregnancy, both films are pretty counter to the usual pop movie about teen girls. They're not all glamorous, even without costumes and pomp, the films expose an uglier side to ruling a country or trying to coordinate an open adoption. Between the two readings, we see the films evaluated as packaged products; and a tool to evaluate a cultural group. The hipster Juno image of I-don't-care-what-you-think contrasted with the high French criticism of Antoinette make a soemtimes unwanted social message more known. Both authors were pretty successful sending this message by putting out some more concrete examples of the reception of the films, direct quotes from the script, and some statement about the authors' intentionality in writing them.

iTunes got it right with so many options in sorting criteria. I like sorting songs by play count, it's a good dose of nostalgia. I'm a little obsessive when I find a song I really like or is particularly awesome to sing in the car. Here's some I stumbled upon when I did my latest sort (in no particular order other than what I want to talk about.)

Won't Stop by OneRepulbic
I can't remember if it was my freshman or sophomore year that OneRepublic came to campus, but I felt an urge to study up on the latest discography and I ran across this one. I don't usually get emotionally attached to songs, but this one just had good timing in my life.

Sunday Best by Augustana
Just goes all too well with Won't Stop. Practically made for each other. I think it must have been freshman year that I loved these, I remember listening to these on repeat on the long haul up 35 back from College Station for the short time the boyfriend was an Aggie.  Even if I wasn't in a bleh mood before leaving, these are hope-nobody-is-watching singing down the highway tearjerkers.

1901 by Phoenix
I love this one because it reminds me of the early high school days where I would dress in neons, go to little hipster shows with local bands, and pretend I was reeeeeeeally cool. Still wish I knew most of the words to this song and 90% of what I listened to back then.

The Distance by Cake
 As an endurance athlete, Cake has got the best song to start a race with, ever. The lyrics of this sing ("fuel burning fast on an empty tank" and "reluctantly crouched at the starting line/engines bumping and thumping in time") are the kind of lines that you can't help but think about when you're on the starting line or in transition. 

Up on Cripple Creek by The Band
If anyone finishes a TCU education without taking "From Rock to Bach" with Dr. Robert Garwell, they have really been disserviced by this institution. It is the best class ever. Rock to Back introduced me to The Band and "The Last Waltz" about their farewell tour. Cripple Creek was the first thing we listened to on the first day there, and it really just stuck for me. I love The Band.

Flashing Lights by Kanye WestThis song was made for running. The cadence is perfect, and it became a classic for me after I stopped running for TCU and started trotting the Trinity on my own. Listening to Flashing Lights during my sunrise runs, watching the downtown lights go off one by one made every morning start right.

I Will Possess Your Heart by Death Cab for CutieI was really excited for this album, and I randomly landed on this one first. It was a little confusing without a track listing because this sing is almost nine minutes long, but it makes for a good essay-writing or homework-starting when you just need a mental warm-up.

Desperado by The Eagles
I decided years ago that this would be song I would dance with my Dad at my wedding. It's perfect. I went to the same summer camp for 10 years, and this was THE slow dance song that we would all sing/yell along to every word. My Dad was a camper and counselor at my camp too.

Handlebars by Flowbots
I'm proud to know every word to this song as an avid cyclist. It's not a good group bike ride if this anthem doesn't get belted out once or twice.

if you ain't first, you last.

I would definitely trust McKay's ideas about American society's idiosyncrasies after watching Borat and Talladega Nights. These films really illustrate so many things about what's right and wrong with America. These movies and others about the average and not-so-average American lifestyle pick out and make a show out of the silly and backward things we do that we never think about outside of our own perspective. I think American culture in movies is obsessed with our rampant commercialism, general themes of a sexual nature, and generally low emotional and moral aptitude. We pay for water in bottles, go out of our way to idolize the the Pamela Andersons of our generation, watch cars drive in ovals and call it a sport, and hate our day jobs. These are probably the most glorious of traits as a nation, but instead things that are undoubtedly American. We're proud of what makes us unique, not necessarily successful. Americans don't need any help feeling national pride, so the things that set us apart become the things that matter most (and the easiest things to make fun of.)

most buzzkill movie experience, ever.

          It was senior year of high school when I found out that there was a theater on Inwood in Dallas that had a room that had no reclining stadium seats - but only LoveSac chairs, ottomans, pillows, and all the fixings of a great relaxing movie watching-experience. I was erally excited to get down there and try it out. At the time I was pretty into the indie movie scene and limited releases, so when I saw they had Boy in the Striped Pajamas, I very vaguely knew what it was about but I bought two tickets. I dragged along my now-fiance and he was excited at the prospect of a good movie but moreso comfy seats. The disappointment started at entry. There was only one screening per night in the LoveSac theater, and it wasn't ours. We sighed, and moped over to the theater where our movie was going on.
          If you haven't seen Boy in the Striped Pajamas, don't. While it won a slew of awards, it was horrifyingly sad, comlpetely depressing, and the worst date movie in history. It's a Holocaust piece, the good people die, and the seats were not LoveSacs. Not cool.

preparation and changes

         For this last paper, my style of preparation to write, prewrite, and take notes was more unique. I don't think I have ever sat and observed a space alone, with my laptop, writing fragments, and coming up with a very very rough draft to start. I'm someone who usually takes a lot of time and effort for the first time I write a paper because I don't like looking at things that are going to require future closure. Taking notes of just a few words at a time was difficult, and going back later and attempting to add meaning to little blurts I thought were worth mentioning was difficult. I look forward to an assignment about moves because of the more concrete nature of the art. If I feel like I missed something, I can pause it, rewind it, fast forward it, and get to the part I need to far more expeditiously. I can watch what I observe over, and over again to catch the small details and nuances of characters that I might have missed while trying to rush through and catch plot changes. I am also pretty thrilled I will have a reason to hang on to my Netflix subscription for just one more month. With a wealth of documentaries and quite a few on my instant queue, I can have a chance to catch a new movie for a fresh perspective on things instead of drawing on my experiences seeing a movie when I was younger with the assumptions I held back then.

final draft: author's note

          I was really pretty exited about how this turned out. My final draft is complete, and since there were not very many comments or revisions submitted through workshopping, I turned to the other first-person sources I could refer to. I sent the draft I had to the people closest to me that have also experienced the trail system to get a little feedback about what I as missing when I tried to capture the essence of the trail.  I think I originally missed out on the seasonal nature of the trail and the landscape. I added a little bit more about how there were so many people I saw on the first cool day of summer I caught - and tried to imagine how the trail will look in a few weeks when the leaves change and how quiet the trail will sit when it rains, snows, or with any other inclement weather event.  I also wanted to get in a solid conclusion and really put out an argument for why I love the trail and why other people should (hopefully) feel the same. I made a big proofreading effort, and I tried to diversify my sentence structure from the repetitive nature it had before.

feedback and ch-ch-changes

    The workshop we did for Thursday's class was mostly helpful for my own essay by way of reading others. I get a lot of my inspiration for writing from others and editing goes about the same way. I see patterns in grammatical styles and sentence structures and it makes me want to write that way. My mom was a high school English teacher before I was born, and she teaches elementary school now - and I didn't really realize how much that affected my writing style and editing habits until college. I am far from being a great writer with handbook-verified grammatical skills, but I think genetics definitely help. There was only one workshop edit on my document with a few comments about how I described the trail in context and furthering my argument about why I use it. I expanded a little bit on why I think other people use y favorite trail and I intend to proofread several more times with a fine-toothed comb. Maybe I'll throw in some more of mom's favorite editing tools for the next round of workshopping:

first draft & author's note

Author’s Note:
Obviously, this piece is very much a work in progress as related to its length and grammatical accuracy. Either way, the goal of this piece is to make an argument for the inviting nature and curious juxtaposition of my favorite mountain biking spot in the area. I would hope that readers would want to further explore this space, take up a new outdoors hobby, or just become aware of its meek existence.             The context of this piece is one of exploration of a new hobby, new place, and new attitude as they are altered by just a dirt trail in Corinth. I enjoyed the observation process at this place because it really allowed me to step out of the role I usually assume there. I had to watch dozens of cyclists and runners go by as I typed away on my laptop, feeling very out of place. My rhetorical exploration of the space turned out to nicely parallel my physical exploration of the trail, and the allusions from one to the other didn’t stop there. Several things like the children playing sports helped me draw parallels to my own life and attitude about the space and sport. Sometimes this piece may come off as a little ‘stream-of-consciousness’ and that’s because mountain biking feels that way, too. This sport is about being in the moment, and using as little forethought as possible to make the experience more exciting. I chose this space because it’s probably unique to me. It’s also a new place in my life, and one that holds significance to me as the beginning of a new chapter.

Draft 1:
          North Texas has so many cities named after planes and prairies and the landscape around here does little to disprove this geographical assumption. As a college student with a limited gas budget and a newfound passion for mountain biking, a logistical issue with finding places to pursue my new hobby persists. I really love the youthful feeling of freewheeling over hills and under trees, but there is only so far I can drive to find those things at my beginner-friendly level. Just a half-hour drive down Interstate 35 will land you somewhere near Corinth, Texas. This community calls itself the “Gateway to Success” and my success came in various levels while attempting to mountain bike at my favorite spot right next to City Hall. Just a few years ago, the city of Corinth built and maintained this seven-mile loop of mixed-use trail that sits in between a number of other civic facilities. This city of only about twelve thousand embraces the outdoor lifestyle, as shown by this tucked-away haven in the middle of city life.

            There’s not a road sign or directional map when people arrive to the Corinth City Hall Trail. You exit 35, turn left, park, and you are there. A very non-descript opening in the wooded area that surrounds the City Hall parking lot invites exploration from everyone walking by. Sunlight leaks down between the tree cover throughout the first section of trail, taking off the mysterious edge of what lies beyond. Even just the parking lot scene makes the argument that this place is something special for the outdoors enthusiasts. More than half of the cars at City Hall have no business to handle with the City of Corinth, but they seem to have a few things in common: bike racks on their cars without bikes, running shoes and water bottles littered throughout the vehicle, and various car decals promoting their affiliations with bike clubs, conservation authorities, and more. A steady flow of cyclists, runners, walkers, hikers, and the occasional curious passer-by frequent this opening on a gloriously cool Texas day like this one. After a brutal summer, most of the surrounding grass is still slightly yellowed, but one recent brief storm gave this ground just enough help to firm up for good traction. Traction doesn’t really seem too important until you strap on the helmet and take the first turn into the woods. One steep drop and rise will kick anybody back into survival mode.

            The juxtaposition of these trails between a few key spots in Corinth gives it character.  City Hall on the entrance side of the trail argues a civic edge and an official nature. These trails were not an accident or act of nature, they were an investment and a source of civic pride. Trail maintenance is a topic on City Council meeting agendas, and a few cycling clubs call this loop of dirt paths their home. The only other thing you can see from the parking lot is Denton County’s new railway system for public transit. Parallel to the rail line is a sidewalk that stretches the entire distance, perfect for cyclists less than accustomed to cruising amongst traffic on the streets. The “Rails and Trails” is a perfect lead-up to the trailhead here; It is just a continuation of the fitness-geared escape the trails provide. My personal favorite part of the trail is the third boundary that the city provides. Dozens of youth athletic fields make up most of the back part of the trail, and every quarter of a mile or so of the trail pops out to see kindergarteners playing football or a herd of kids chasing a soccer ball. Too often I go into the trails with a mission in mind (go faster, take turns better, be more confident) and lose the real reason why I mountain bike. I cycle because it’s fun. Flying down hills and taking reckless turns is probably one of the most rejuvenating activities I participate in, and seeing kids with the same innocent attitude toward their hobby gives me that feeling back. Some of the most interesting people to watch fly down the trails were the parents who would slip away from a child’s soccer practice to hit the trails, but every time it popped out onto the fields, they would pause just for a moment to catch their kid make a play.

            The other thing I really enjoy about this space is they way people move through it. The course starts and ends at the same place in the non-descript opening in the corner of the parking lot. Most people, without direction, seem to move the same way through the winding dirt path, so on no occasion that I have been there, ridden there, or observed, have I seen a collision. The mutual respect that cyclists and runners share creates a feeling of camaraderie and common purpose on the trails. From any point of observation, you can hear a faint “on your left” or “right behind you” from a few hundred yards out. The only place in the trails that requires riders to move in the same direction is a single-track section infamously named “Thrasher’s Maze.” Trasher’s is marked with a dilapidated sign no bigger than a sheet of paper and a one-way sign that looks as if it was stolen from the adjacent street. It’s not one-way because they said so, it’s one-way because it is a heinous course if attempted backwards. Very short, steep drops make this not only a great challenge to cyclists but a great source of entertainment for observers on the sports fields.  Thrasher’s Maze would be my choice for anybody looking for a couple of new colorful vocabulary words or some first-aid training practice. On an evening walk or leisurely trail run, the maze has copious amounts of tree cover and a comfortable amount of hills to make for a innocuous workout. It looks easy enough, but the amount of hills that various levels of cyclists can be seen walking their bikes up and the amount of trees that fall victim to human collisions tell the story of a quiet enemy.

obituary: ryan dunn

          Ryan Dunn of MTV's Jackass franchise died in a horriffic car accident in June of 2011. A Philadelphia paper wrote an Obituary on the 34-year-old that was less than a celebration of a short life ended too soon than a review of past misjudgments. They make several evaluative arguments by noting "Mr. Dunn's reputation for bad driving" and an occasion where he "once flipped a car eight times into oncoming traffic with Mr. [Bam] Margera inside." They discuss his friendship with his best friend as "enduring, if hazardous to their health." The claims made about Ryan Dunn in this article were poorly timed, just 2 days after his death and 1 day after they could confirm his identity due to the particularly violent nature of the accident. Claims made by the Inquirer of his "daredevil streak" and his making a "career out of cheating death" were only supported by legal evidence of tickets and movies. Such claims without personal evidence, interview, or any personal relationship without Dunn were out of place in such a strongly worded piece. No matter teh nature of the death or career history, nobody is perfect and I don't think anybody would wnt him to be rememberes in that fashion.

 Obituary: Ryan Dunn/'Jackass' star killed in suburban Philadelphia car crash

but what does it mean?!

          I'm a native of Plano, not too far from Corinth, but far enough that I needed to outsource a little bit to draw some inferences on the meaning of this space the the community. Conveniently enough, the trail head is in the corner of the parking lot of Corinth City Hall. I figured if anybody knew a little bit more, they did. I found enough friendly-looking civic workers and pamphlets to get some answers:
          The trail sits in between 3 really key parts of a Corinthian's life. Obviously City Hall represents an important facet of their community, and also an unusual starting place for a multi-purpose trail. City Hall represents law, responsibility, and duty in this community. Directly behind this building and bordering the back half of the trail system is a series of soccer fields, football fields, and baseball diamonds. This one one of my favorite parts of riding during afternoon hours. If you're taking your ride too seriously, try to keep that going after watching a herd of kindergartners try to play football.  It's a great part of the trail to remember the youthful feeling you get flying down hills and not being quite the best at what you're doing but having fun with it anyway. The final border of the park is the new Denton County transit project "Rail Trail", literally sidewalks bordering their entire light rail track. Corinth is working pretty hard to meet the fitness and health needs of their community in all of these active ways.

experiences of observation

          I finally got out to my observation site by the end of last week when the weather finally got beautiful. I usually start my mountain biking route at the parking lot next to the courthouse, but my favorite part is right after the first major rise and fall of the trail (not to discount how terrifying that first free-fall is and the white-knuckle ninja grip I have on my handle bars on the way back up). After that first event, you can see almost all of the other important parts of the trail. On this particular day, I'm seeing a lot more people here than usual. I started riding here on a 106 degree day, so the weather is starting to bring out the less masochistic athletes of North Texas. There's a good mix of runners, walkers, hikers, mountain bikers, and dog walkers. Larger dogs in particular seem to be getting a big kick out of this trail, the first house you encounter after the first hill either really loves tiny terriers that look the same or they might breed them. Either way, there's probably about 8 of 9 yapping dogs flying across the yard with every passing bike, just hoping to catch a sniff. The dogs passing the yard give ever-so-slightly threatening looks and seem to pick up with the clip they were trotting along at. The humans all move through this space in a pretty similar fashion, though. There's a right way and a wrong way for hikers and cyclists; they move in opposite ways as to not create more collisions than already occur. This is true for all of the course except for one part.
          Thrasher's Maze is a really intimidating name for a quiet little trail in Corinth, but with my pretty insubstantial 5 weeks of training, even I can handle it. It's a single track and very tightly wound section of the park, and most often where you would find me hanging sideways on a tree or walking my bike up and down a steep drop. On this day, people seem to be experiencing Thrasher in the same way that I usually do. There's some successful turns and winds, but also a good amount of yelling, some colorful vocabulary, and unfortunately a little bit of dirt-eating. I'm looking forward to a few more days like that at the trail with the weather so bearable.

corinth city hall trail

          Well, it was a pretty big stretch when I clipped my shoes in to my road bike the first time. If you haven't clipped shoes into bike pedals before, it is terrifying. Get on a moving object with the potential to break bones and attach yourself to it. Pretty counter-intuitive, right? I fell at least 10 times just on my own street, spinning at less than 2 miles per hour. It's been a while since I have made friends with the pavement on my bike now, and I have moved on to new clips, bikes that should hit the ground less, and slightly more protective helmets. My two years of road cycling mastery are a victory in my "learning-new-things" column.
          I'll preface this by saying that I don't like being new or incompetent at things. Same reason I don't particularly enjoy bowling or chess. When my boyfriend and fellow triathlete pals pushed me into considering purchasing my first mountain bike, I didn't even give it a chance. Why would I attach myself to a bike that is probably going to hit trees and rocks at higher velocities? I wouldn't. Conversation over (I thought.) My friends know me a little better than I thought, as soon as I was exposed to the world of shiny pink mountain bikes with matching gloves and neon gear, I couldn't pass it up. This could be the only sport where I could ride a pink bike and simultaneously look pretty hardcore. One week later, I owned a shiny pink mountain bike, matching gloves, and an appropriately safe helmet for my impending ER visit.
          My associates decided this seemingly sketchy 5.6 mile trail behind the City Hall of Corinth, TX was to be the scene of the accident. I was nothing short of terrified. One short drop and gain, and I was ready to turn around, but after that first turn, a little barn. One more turn, 8 puppies in one yard. I didn't know where this trail was going, or if I would leave it alive that day. I had a new appreciation for the unplanned yet intentional nature of the winding single-track and the feelings of being twelve and flying down the street with a playing card clipped on to your bike to sound like a motorcycle. That's mountain biking. That's pretty much the only place I ever ride my mountain bike, and it feels new every day I go back. It's tucked away off of I-35E, somewhere between chaos and tranquility; completely open to the public, but closed off from self-doubt. I could definitely use some more time on those beautiful trails now that the weather is this perfect to analyze the arguments nature makes against my probably short-lived mountain biking career.

Oh, the places I go...

           I spend a good deal of time on the Trinity River. I live on the Trinity, I work across the street from the Trinity, and I do most of my training along its copious amounts of running and cycling paths. Most of the time I spend actually near the river is training an trying to stay focused, and the Trinity is so perfect because it allows me to step back from working hard and see things differently. I do my hardest workouts at Trinity park, and no matter how seriously I try to take myself, I get a little dose of humility and child-like wonder seeing the mini choo-choo train chug by. Most of the races I volunteer at for work start at the duck pond, another one of my favorite parts of the river. It's pretty difficult to feel angry or sad when ducks are frolicking about around the runners, acknowledging only the ones who brought the gaggle something to snack on. The best part of the river I get to see when I go running at about dusk from my apartment, the skyline of downtown all lit up against its reflection on the river. There's something calming about seeing the skyline so still and the river so quiet, but thinking about how much hustle and bustle is out of sight. If nothing else, the river is an absolutely wonderful place to get in a healthy amount of people-watching. I love it for the same reason I love selling running shoes: everybody has a reason to get out and walk/run/ride/etc. When I see that 60-year-old man practically hobbling down the river in short running shorts and a sweatband, all I can think about is what goal he's looking to achieve like running his 50th marathon or maybe just staying healthy enough to play with his grandkids. Everybody on the river has a story, and so does every duck pond, dam, and mini train.

In-Class for 8/30

                The logos and the American flag are a shocking image at first, but I think they really go hand-in-hand. I think this is an appeal to Pathos, because not all of the 30 logos on the flag are corporations Americans are proud to be associated with. Not every American wears Nike, buys Playboy on a monthly basis, or buys their pharmaceuticals from Eli Lilly, but that's what our country is all about. Everybody is so different, and the 13 stripes on the flag remind us that we're all on the same page, even if we're different colors, lengths, or run into certain obstacles. The flag might also argue a Logos appeal because regardless of the undertones these corporations present, they are hugely successful and uniquely American. We can be proud of the millions of dollars these companies bring in and the millions of people they employ whom might not have a job otherwise. I could call it the United State of Everything.

food for thought

          Mark Bittman presents quite the argument in defense of the healthy home-cooked meal that rarely makes its way onto the American dinner table. His use of the three appeals definitely brings out the key points of his argument, but also highlights the weaknesses. The first few paragraphs of this essay rehash his career as a food journalist and author, so the Ethos appeal leads the reader to trust him because of his authority in this field. Having said that, this isn't a food review. This is a piece on trends in American consumption, obesity, animal cruelty, and ethical eating. At least for me, Ethos wasn't the most powerful appeal in this piece. I think the Logos Bittman uses in the essay makes more of an impact. He points out that the only country that eats out more (and arguably as poorly) as we do is Japan. The invention and popularization of the microwave and the growing frozen food industry lead to just as much laziness in food preparation. The rise Americans saw in the speed of food, like fast food, casual dining chains, and frozen food, was matched by the rush to maturity experienced by the animals used for production. Fowl were force-fed to make foods like foie gras much faster and cows are machine-fed and probably never leave the confines of a pen. This appeal can be very closely relates to the Pathos the author uses, since such imagery and statistics are disappointing to hear. Nobody wants to think of themselves and their friends as the immobile, shake-sipping WALL-E humans that Bittman suggests we could all become. The animals not lucky enough to be raised free-range are sentenced to a life of isolation, a devastating image to think about. As an athlete, I'm one of those people who thinks of food as fuel. What you put into your body will show when you put it to the test. The other factor in my food decisions that Bittman fails to mention is money. Eating in a healthy, local, free-range, fresh way is expensive. Poor college kids can't always afford to buy organic, and when the salad at McD's is $7.50 and the McChicken is $1, there's not much of a decision to be made. It's hard to think about animal cruelty when you're starving and on a budget.

In-Class for 8/25

Do you agree that everything is an argument?

I do agree that everything is an argument for SOMETHING. Sometimes it's a little bit more unclear what that something is. Nobody would write a table of statistics and numbers that look like they could be another language if they didn't mean something, explain something, or do something. Every research paper that I mope my way through feels like it will be scanned over once, given an arbitrary letter grade, and deleted forever. If nothing else, turning in that paper make the argument that I put forth enough effort to earn a grade at all. I made an argument that I care about that given document. At base level, I argued that I can use a word processing tool competently (a skill not to be taken for granted after attempting to use number processing tools like Excel.) I think advertisements and opinon pieces are much more ouvert about their argument than choosing an outfit for the three hours of class I attended today, but all three make an argument for something like what you should buy, what you should think, and what kind of respect you deserve (respectively.) The first chapter of the book makes the point that everything is an argument, and there are several different cetegories of arguments. Once you label something like an my empirical research article as "academic argument," it has a more defined purpose for persuasion.

Hello, my name is...

     

   My name is Ellen and I am finally a senior at TCU!  I was born and raised just across the river in Plano, Texas, but I definitely call Cowtown my home now. I will be graduating in May of 2012 with a degree in Sport Psychology with a minor in Psychology as well. I appreciate my training related to the mental game as an athlete myself; I regularly participate in triathlons, duathlons, and running events from 5K to half marathons.



         My goals in writing are surprisingly similar to my goals in everyday athletic endeavors. I am always trying to be a more efficient cyclist, use less energy to run faster, tune a swim stroke to last longer. Similarly, I want my writing to be of a higher quality and more powerful, but take less time to crank out. I'm someone who doesn't necessarily struggle with writing, but if I am producing an important piece, I take astronomical amounts of time to pre-write, write, proofread, get opinions, and so on. I'm getting to the part of my education where the writing I produce is no longer just affecting the grades I receive, but also the jobs I can get and internships I can hold. I have to persuade professors, research committees, and peers that I can be a reliable source of information. Most of the writing I do now has to do with article reviews and my senior research in sport psychology, and even though it's a scientific topic, there is an argument I am trying to make. The academic arguments I make in my research papers seem trivial, but classmates and I hope that our studies will affect the lives of athletes and coaches alike in the future.