My Last Blog Post

Dear fellow readers that I will miss,

I truly loved this Rhetoric class. I am so glad I decided to take my English class at STC instead of in high school. I have learned so much in this class. I grew so much as a writer. I got to put my mind in a perspective I had never thought in, a persuasive way. Yes, I have written persuasive essays before, but those essays were about simple and nonintellectual. Once I got into this class, I feel like my mind opened to new thoughts and ideas. My writing changed for the better. I was able to really go into depth with my essays. I would like to continue more with my beginning and ending sentences. I still feel that I could make my intro and outro better. I feel like understanding the theme or feel a essay. I really like the books we read and how we used then for essays.

I will truly miss everyone in this class. I have decided that this class will be the last in-college class I will take until I graduate. I will greatly miss STC. I have one request from my teacher, Daniel. Will you please inform me when you publish your book! Thank you for all that you have taught me. I have learned so much from you. You are the best, Daniel. I hope life will always be great to you. My fellow classmates, you were all amazing. Good job everybody. Continue to do great throughout the rest of your college journey. I bid you farewell.

Sincerely,

Angela

The Final Project

Dear readers,

I have my final project coming up. I am still quite unsure what I am doing, but I have two ideas in mind.

Idea #1- I would do an advertising campaign for the new UTRGV medical school opening up. My audience would be college students planning to live and work in the Valley. The purpose would be to encourage the students to get a degree in medicine in order to grow the health care in the Rio Grande Valley. It will appeal to this audience because these people would be planning for their future. During their senior year of college they would have to take the MCAT and apply to medical school if they are a perspective health care professional.

Idea #2- I would do visual art, such as a poster, to make awareness of different ethnicities and races. My audience would be children in elementary schools where there is not a lot of racial and ethnical differences. The purpose would be to stop and prevent bullying of cultural and physical differences. It will appeal to them because it will portray children and camaraderie.

Although I am still undecided of which idea to go with, I will try hard to succeed in this project.

Sincerely,

Angela

 

Essay #3 Rough Draft

Dear Readers,

This last essay was tricky! I had no idea what to write about at first. I was conflicted because my topic in the beginning seemed to vague, but lucky while I started it finally hit me what the essay was going to be about. It probably took be longer to finally decide on a topic than to actually type my essay. I think I personally had a lot of facts and works cited in this essay. I think that is one of the strengths in my essay. A weakness I think would be that its not very flowing. It seems choppy to me. For my final draft I plan to input The Color of Water as one of my citing’s so the essay can connect more with the book. I think by adding that I can also talk about the affects of actually people because of discrimination.

Sincerely,

Angela

The Color of Water

Dear readers,

I truley loved this book. It was a wonderful read. I think James’ desire to learn more about his mothers past and making a book of it showed how much he loves his mom. I think it was necessary for him to write this book because he got to learn about his moms struggles and how she overcomed those obstacles. I learned that James and his mom are very similar people. They both were strong people that overcome obstacles, James with his behavior and his mom with her family problems. At the end, they both helped eachother out emotionally. This book kind of inspires me to learn more about my own family and maybe learn important life lessons through that. I think the way we were brought up is how we will in turn be like in the future. You will either go two ways, follow the morals of your family or completely change your morals to be a better person. You learn the right and wrong things to do from your family. Your families literally shape who you become.

Sincerely,

Angela

P.S. That part about their time at church with his mom singing was hilarious. This book was emotional. I even cried when both of Ruth’s husbands died.

The Color of Water: Part 1

James McBride’s Family

Hello my wonderful readers,

The Color of Water is probably one of the most captivating non-fiction book I have ever read. I love this book so much! I love the way that he switches form his mothers story and his own. I love that he adds humor and tries to make you feel as if you are there with him. I was quite surprised to find out that there was so much racism back in the day. I know racism is still very much alive today, but I’ve never actually really thought about racism and how other people view it. For example, when James stated that he was embarrassed of his mother and wished she was black as well, I was taken aback. I couldn’t imagined that people actually thought that way. This book really opened my eyes to the real world of racism and how it effects the criticized and the people around them. This book is extremely powerful and gives many examples on how he was raised differently compared to most all-black families. Surprisingly, I found myself somehow relating to his family background. I myself have lived a life where God and education were the main things my parents instilled in me just like James’ family did. As well as personality wise, I am quiet, shy, curious, and the younger one of my family just like James is. Even though our lives are completely different, there was a sense of camaraderie between me and the author. All in all, this is an AMAZING book and I’m looking forward to finishing the book!

Sincerely,

Angela

Rough Draft #2!

Dear Readers,

I just finished writing my second rough draft for my English 1302 class. The issue I chose to right about is the problems people face in the Rio Grande Valley involving healthcare.I have never done APA style before. I had to research how to do it, but almost every website I went to gave me different information! I had writers block after I wrote the first sentence of my essay! It was horrible.  I had to start my body paragraphs first before I could do my introduction. First, I looked at my references and picked out quotes and ideas I was going to input into my essay. After that, I tried to just write whatever come first to me and then revised the paragraphs. I truly liked the sources I found. It gave a lot of truth to my essay. I think it would have been useful to find a source about extreme malpractice cases in the Rio Grande Valley. I think the argument in my rough draft was ok. I think I could have done better. It seemed sort of jumbled, like I should move some stuff around and revise it! I think I need to work on flowing everything so it won’t seem so choppy. Well, wish me luck on my next venture, the final draft!

Sincerely, Angela

1st Annotated Bibliography

Dear amazing readers,

I did my first annotated bibliography. Yay! It was interesting. My bibliography is for an essay I am doing on reasons why people go out of South Texas to get medical care. I personally got interested in this topic because I want to get into the medical field and really was interested in what people think about the valley medical services. I have learned that I shouldn’t become a doctor in South Texas. People think so lowly of the doctors in South Texas. It really surprised me. I do still wonder why doctors in South Texas give the impression that they are not very educated because in reality these doctors more than likely went through years and years of learning and training to get where they are, yet where they are is not making then seem like they have gained so much knowledge and common sense that all doctors should have. It really makes no sense.

Sincerely, Angela

Health Care: Medicaid as the Center

Dear readers,

Health care is a huge issue in Texas, specifically Medicaid. Medicaid basically pays for most of your health related bills such as hospital bills and doctor bills. In the article I read, (Click HERE to read it.) It gives to viewpoints. First it gives the viewpoint of people in need of healthcare and it explains that “once you diagnose a cancer, then what? How are you going to give [them] chemotherapy or surgery or radiation therapy?” There is no way for them to pay their chemotherapy without Medicaid or insurance. Then there is Rick Perry’s viewpoint that says the “April Fool’s Day event, makes it perfect to discuss something as foolish as Medicaid expansion, and to remind[ing] everyone that Texas as will not be held hostage by the Obama administration’s attempt to force us into the fool’s errand of adding more than a million Texans to a broken system.”

I personally am in the middle of these two ideas. I think health care is important to have, but I think there is a limit to how much you can do. Yes, there are people that require the need of Medicaid because they are very poor, but Medicaid is not for everyone. I know some people with Medicaid that don’t really need it. They have quite a bit of money, more money than I do, and they are able to have Medicaid. In addition to the Medicaid, they get free housing, yet they could probably pay for a better house and still have a lot of money left over. So, people do abuse health care, especially Medicaid. But as well, I know some poor people that struggle with paying medical bills, however, they don’t have Medicaid or any health insurance. In conclusion, health care is an essential thing that’s good for the world, but it has to be handled respectfully and correctly.

Sincerely, Angela

The First Peer Review!

Letting people review you writing gets you better grades and reviews!

Dear my wonderful readers,

I found many interesting things in my groups essays. Firstly, I saw one similarity: the need of asylum for children immigrants. One thing that was different was that one of my group members wrote that they didn’t agree with child immigration and that it shouldn’t be allowed. One thing I found that my peer did on their essay was that they input a large amount of quoting and summarizing of in-text citations. I think that I should also add more quotes and in-text citations into my essay. I think that the process of revising other peoples papers is helpful because this makes you become more aware of the do’s and don’ts of the writing world. You become more familiar with the good and bad work, which helps you see what you can improve and change upon as well as what you are doing correctly. I also think that getting feedback on your essay could give you a better idea on what needs to be changed in your own writing from a readers point of view. This is good because it would be similar to the feedback you will get when you publish or turn in your writing.

Sincerely,

Angela

1st Rough Draft Reflection

DO NOT DISTURB!

Dear readers and writers,

I just finished my first rough draft for my English 1302 class. It wasn’t that difficult or hard in my opinion. The one thing I really struggled on was not getting writers block! I kept second guessing my writing. I had to stop my writing for a day and rearrange my thoughts and ideas. I think I still need to work on paragraph transitions, though. I really do like persuasive writing because I feel like I can write as if I was talking. I don’t have to be so strict on making sure it’s a third person essay. For this assignment, I took many steps to complete it. I first write down a outline. This helped me arrange my essay better. I wrote what I would add to my essay to input ethos, pathos, and logos. I also gathered snacks and water so I wouldn’t get up because I was hungry. That didn’t help so much because I ended up getting up anyways to get better snacks. I also put music on because music soothes my mind so I won’t get too stressed out. It also helped out with my writers block a lot of times because I would sing along to the song and somehow get an idea of what should be added to the essay next. All in all, I think I did well on this essay rough draft and I am looking forward to the peer review and final draft.

WARNING!

Sincerely, Angela