Daddy'Os

          For this project, we plan on switching up the name of our potato chips. From Gma’s Salty Potato Chips to Daddy’Os, we believe that with this name, we’ll be able to capture the audience’s attention. For Daddy’Os, we plan to play off the slogan, “chip off the old block”. With this old saying, the audience would be intrigued about its name through its humor and play on words. A chip off the block means that a child resembles their father through certain characteristics. This basically means that our potato chip relates to tradition, togetherness, and being proud in a family. The child, more specifically the son, its supposed to be just like his father. For our commercial, we plan on having it to do with tradition and being a family. We also are thinking of making our chip part of a test taste to show people that our chip reigns supreme over the others. We feel like the tradition aspect of our potato chips would be appealing to people because most of the time, potato chips are consumed in group events. The potato chips would bring the group even closer because everyone would be able to share a common interest in their favorite brand of potato chip. Our main audience can technically be aimed toward anyone, but in probably most targets the older parts of the family such grandparents and the parents. Most of the time, the parents do the purchasing of the snacks for their children, so with our brand name and slogan, these parents would feel obligated to buy them so their children can grow up to be just like them.

Best Potato Chips

      In the reading, the reader gets to learn about different perspectives of different potato chip lovers. For all the different people that were questioned around the country, it so happens that they have different values, opinions, and taste in certain potato chips. The biggest common value among these different potato chip lovers seems to be the way the chip is made. From all the different corners of the United States, it seems like each state has their own famous style of making potato chips. To me, some of the methods of the different state’s potato chips seem pretty similar, but if you ask someone who grew up eating a certain style of chip, they will quickly despise any other chip. Some people would only have a certain brand of potato chip that’s local to their state but completely unknown to the other states. As someone who would enjoy pretty much any kind of potato chip, I probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. In the reading, someone mentioned that even a bad potato chip could be decent. To me, that sounds ridiculous because people take their potato chips that seriously. But it goes to show that people have different values in their chips. I’m sure many of these people who enjoy only certain types of chips would be quick to avoid common main brands of potato chips such as Lays. In terms of the differences in their chips, there isn’t much that separates one chip from the other. Some common differences between chips that people would mention are how crispy it is and the type of oil that was used. As someone from New York, I never heard of these other types of chips. It seems like this chip obsession is pretty common in less urban states. Based on the reading, the potato chip has a pretty deep past. Many of the chip’s history involves different ways of creating the chip. One of the stories mentions that a certain method of making a potato chip was a mistake when someone was working with donuts and potatoes at the same time. I think it’s pretty cool and strange at the same time that some people will only eat a chip from their side of the country. But if I had these different chips, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Argument Peer Reviews

          I think the paper is going well because he uses a lot of information and he is able to point out the problems among his people and explain why terrorist groups such as ISIS are not a part of the Muslim people. An important part that really separated the real terrorist from the Muslim religion was when he mentioned that ISIS also kills other Muslims. This shows that not all Muslims are terrorists and that they are some out there who don’t belong. He brings up peace a lot which completely shows the contradiction between the real Muslims and the terrorists groups. Another point that he brings up is when he talks about how the Western countries make Muslims look bad. Through the news, people are easily influenced on what they hear over the news. Just because many of the ISIS members are Muslim doesn’t mean that they should all be treated like terrorists. In the essay, he also brings up a lot of quotes from the Islamic religion. This is important to explain because it proves many Western beliefs. People in the West believe that the Islamic religion promotes violence and crime from only knowing about ISIS, but in reality, the Islamic religion promotes peace and happiness. Overall, I think he is doing a good job getting his point across that heavily goes against racism and stereotypes of Muslims. I feel like there is a lot of good points but my only problem with his paper is that it might be a little difficult coming up with genuine counter arguments considering many non-Islamic people won’t understand the religion and its people.

 

          I think the paper about the SAT is well put together and brings a lot of good points that goes against college admissions. The SAT is a topic that can be debated on for hours because of controversial its worth is. I feel like the essay would attract and un attract many different kinds of readers. It would attract people who go against the SAT and read about its problems, but it may un attract people who already took the SAT or people who agree with it. Many people could argue that the SAT has already been implemented in the college application for such a long time that if they changed it, people would feel left out, many books and jobs would be wasted, and there really isn’t a better solution than just completely removing it. Back to the paper, she brings up a lot of good points especially mentioning how preparing and signing up for the SAT can be expensive. Overall, I think the topic is a good choice because its debatable, with many different pros and cons for both sides. My only problem with the paper is that she spends the entire time bashing the SAT, but never brings up a better idea or replacement. Either way, she brings up a lot of good information and points that strengthens her argument.

 

         While reading the New Jersey paper, I caught myself smiling at certain points considering he brought up New York. I was able to relate considering I’ve spent my whole life living in New York. Anyway, I really enjoyed reading the paper because he brought up many good points to defend New Jersey. As someone who has been around New York and New Jersey, I know exactly what he was talking about when he mentioned bagels, potholes, and rudeness among our people. One of his strongest points has to be when he brought up all of the stereotypically negatives of people who live in New Jersey. He mentions that driving on the New Jersey highways is an experience like no other and that drivers from around the area are just different from everyone else. I also liked how he used personal narrative to make readers understand that the New Jersey area isn’t as bad it seems. Bringing up a cool experience like meeting Michael Vick when he was on the Jets is pretty interesting and reaches out to the audience. My only negative I have about the paper is that he is missing a conclusion to wrap his paper up, but other than that, with his strong points and relatable topics, his paper can change the opinions of people who dislike New Jersey.

Counter Arguments

          Although music can be used as a way to get away from problems, they won’t fully heal the pain or possibly even make things worse. Music is just used to hide the pain but can never patch up the wounds. Speaking from personal experience, I’ve tried listening to music during difficult times such as after a heartbreak, depression, and family problems and if anything, it made things worse. Music should be used to clear your mind of problems, but in reality, they just mask them. You would think music relating to your situation should help, but it really doesn’t. Even if the lyrics heavily relate you, from my experience, it just made things worse. Also, there are many songs that can make the listener do stupid things. Many of today’s music is about doing drugs, alcohol, and living recklessly. Considering today’s popular music is geared toward the younger part of society, many of their young minds can be influenced to make stupid decisions that can negative effect their life. Many of the young listeners often look up to rappers who pretty much talk about shooting each other, dealing drugs, partying, and living a polygamy lifestyle. Many of these rappers bring hate and violence in their music and many people seem to enjoy that kind of music. Some violence that occurred with music being an influence includes the murders of Biggie Smalls and Tupac. There was always hatred between the West Coast and the East Coast and through music, these rappers took shots at each other. At this point, violence is just inevitable and they were both killed in cold blooded. So overall, although music can be used as a way to cope with problems, they can also make these worse. Music is basically just a minor solution in which other methods are needed to cope with the problems.

 

           Although having siblings may seem like the best idea, as a younger brother, I think that many of the cons of having siblings outweigh the pros. First of all, being the oldest probably has it the worse. Not only does the oldest have to be expected to teach their younger siblings, but they have all the work and chores in the house. They are expected to teach their younger siblings the ropes and responsibilities that comes to growing up. Also, not all older siblings bring positive advice. There have been many instances in which the older siblings doesn’t attend school, do drugs and alcohol, and even go to jail. From a young age, the younger siblings are supposed to look up to their older siblings but the older siblings are not always helping their siblings for the better. Many younger siblings end up following in their footsteps for the better or for the worse. If the older sibling deals drugs, there is a pretty good chance the younger sibling will. Also, the younger sibling will automatically get a reputation from their older sibling. This reputation or expectations can be negatively enduring for the younger sibling. If the older brother was the quarterback for the high school football team, the younger brother is expected to do something equal or even better. Another important part is the older sibling is technically a test subject for the younger sibling. I remember my parents would always scold my older brother for bad grades and behavior but when I got to his age, I didn’t receive much punishment because my parents saw that it didn’t work for my older brother.  Also, with a new born child, the older child could often feel neglected at a very young age. The older child has to experience this because the parents are forced to take care of the baby. In terms of the siblings at a decent enough age, many arguments and fights will inevitably happen. Especially when the siblings are the same gender, sharing may not always be the easiest thing to do. I remember when I was young, my brother and I had a rule in which we had to take turns playing the video game console for an hour and switch off, but it never really worked. Fights were always bounds to happen. If the siblings were different genders, you would probably still feel the loneliness you felt as a only child because a boy wouldn’t want to play with dolls while girls wouldn’t want to play with cars and action figures. Lastly, parents would have to be even financially stable to support more than one child especially when all their children get to college. Many financial problems can arise paying for child support, needs, and wants of the multiple children. Overall, even though I love having my brother, saying that having siblings may not always be the best thing.

 

          Marijuana has been a known gateway drug. Marijuana has be known to lead people to harder drug use. Marijuana could potentially lead to the use of cocaine and other illegal drugs. All throughout the country, the distribution of marijuana has caused violence and crime. Marijuana could also potentially get people in trouble with other people, or even the police. Many of the latest police catches involve marijuana possession. Even though it’s a petty crime, many of the police have to deal with it. Also, marijuana is known to make people lazy after use. After smoking, people either just pass out or just become too lazy to do everything. Marijuana also involves using expensive equipment such as bongs, bowls, and rigs. These expensive tools are supposed to be used with tobacco, but people spent hundreds of dollars to just get a piece of glass to smoke. Not only are the tools expensive, but also the actual weed. Many people can easily get ripped off on people who don’t know prices. People lose out on money on just buying it. Overall, marijuana should be illegal.

Argument Essay Outline

          I remember when video games were first introduced into my life. I was about 5 years old when they were introduced to me. My dad bought a PlayStation 2 for my brother and I. Ever since then, I’ve always had a big passion for video games. Video games has always been a positive outlet for basically my whole life. The popularity in video games will always increase because even when the older kids grow up, they’ll still have some passion left in playing these games while as younger kids grow up, they will soon find this type of entertainment something that they cannot put down. With the popularity of video games, they’ll always be people who instead of looking at the positive aspects of video games, will focus on the negative aspects. Video games can teach people, especially young kids to make friends, learn to set goals, have confidence, have a competitive drive, and most importantly; to have fun. With these positive outcomes of video games, many people still see them as huge negatives. These people like to think that video games can cause laziness, obesity, and committing crimes in real life. From my experience, as someone who plays a lot of video games, I find myself contradictory to the previous statements. With laziness, the real question is; who isn’t lazy? Laziness is something that all humans have. Nobody wants to work 24/7 and are in need of some free time. Video games are an important past time for people with many positive outcomes.

 

Main points (positive aspects)

-          Endless entertainment

-          Learn to set goals from the achievements and unlockables in games

-          Make friends online

-          Method to bond with family members/friends

-          Learn about responsibilities

-          Have fun

Counter arguments for video games

-           Negatively affects social interaction

-          Leads to obesity

-          Makes laziness

Conclusion

-          Wrap up

-          summarize

 

Argument Introductions

          As someone who has been playing video games for almost my entire life, I’ve realized that so as long as video games exist, there will always exist a belief that video games influence violence in real life. From my perspective, I’ve used video games as entertainment along with coping with anger and depression. And I can’t be the only one. Many people view violent video games as huge influences to real life violence and crimes, but they have no correlation. Before video games were even invented, violence has always existed. As I mentioned, video games are nothing but a positive influence to people of all ages. Not only do they provide never ending entertainment, but also the opportunity to make friends online, build self-confidence, setting goals, learning to be competitive, and most importantly; having fun. With all of these positive outcomes from video games, violence in video games should never be compared to violence in real life.

 

          Violent video games has always been the most popular game type amongst people of all ages. To say that these video games are a huge influence to real life violence is complete craziness. If that were true, with millions of players of these violent games every day, there would be nonstop violence all around the world. People are so quick to blame video games considering many shootings involve teenagers who probably played video games. But if you compared the amount of people who play violent video games every day to the people who with mental instabilities, it’s clear to see what the real reason to real life violence is. Although these video games depict violence through shooting each other with guns, they don’t hold any influence to real life crime and shootings.

The Melting Pot of The World

          In the reading, “America: The Multinational Society”, talks about the diversity all around the world. As something that was written 30 years ago, the reading still holds up to present time. The reading holds up to present time because it’s impossible to change the past and history of our world. Certain events happened that will always hold a place amongst our history, good or bad. America has always been known as the melting pot of the world because of how diverse we are. The reading was primarily about diversity and the difference between certain races who live in a certain country but do not originate from there. The reading brings up a lot of events including the racism towards African Americans in the United States, the extermination of the Indian tribes in the early years of North America, and the rise of power of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Using these events as examples, he shows that even through these horrific events, America still has the ability to unite all of these different races in one country. While some countries primarily contain one race, our country has many people from all of the countries around the world. Even though the reading is 30 years old, it still holds up because not much has change in the past 30 years. The United States is united for a reason. The latest change was at towards the end of the 60s when African Americans received completely equal rights to the other inhabitants of the United States. The author also mentions the language barrier among our country. To be honest, there will always be a language barrier somewhere in the United States. There are constantly new immigrants coming to the country seeking a better life, but learning English is not easy. It’s a proven fact that the English language is not an easy language to learn so the language barrier will always be a thing. Overall, I think the reading is definitely viable even though it was written 30 years ago. Whether it be the different ethnic backgrounds or the language barrier in our country, this reading still holds the same power it had when it was written 30 years ago.

Professor rants about student rants

          In the reading, “7 Deadly Sins of Students”, the author is a college professor who talks about all of the common flaws that many students possess. Using the 7 Deadly Sins from the Bible, the author relates all 7 of them to problems that students have. To be honest, I have to agree with a lot of the points he’s made, but to me, it seems like he thinks that professors are perfect in teachings. Throughout the reading, the author brings up the website Ratemyprofessor. He mentions that most of these rates are rants about the teaching. The author quickly puts down these rants saying that they aren’t true and are bias because he thinks that the students posting on the website are just mad at their professor because of a bad grade. When he says this, I completely disagree with what he said. All throughout the reading until the last couple of sentences, he basically praises professors and how they have no flaws or errors. Throughout my education, I’ve had a good amount of bad teachers/professors. When professors read these comments and rants, they may not believe them because they think that they know everything about the course and that their students should only be blaming themselves for not doing well in their class. In my opinion, I think that’s completely wrong. As a student, my opinion is probably bias, but there are teachers out there who shouldn’t be qualified to be teaching their young students to be successful in the future. To add to that, as a professor, his opinions on students are obviously bias as well because throughout the reading, he seems to be only focusing on his “bad” students. It bothers me that he doesn’t mention that not all students share these 7 deadly sins. There are many students out there who exceptional with the real passion to learn in the classroom to become just as, if not more successful than their parents. Overall, I think the author is really bias and even though the reading was based on the bad qualities of students, the way he writes seems like he thinks that all students possess these 7 qualities.

 

Working until the End?

          In the reading, “Against Work”, the author goes in depth in his life on throughout his life, he has always been thinking about work even at a very young age. From wanting to become a football player at a young age, to changing his mind to be a writer in high school, there is always work to be done no matter what job you’re in.  He brings up that in America, people seem to work longer at an efficient level than other countries around the world. In the reading, the author talks about a lot of experiences and different kinds of people he’s met throughout his life. These different kinds of people have difference situations themselves in terms of their economic class and opinions on when to retire. The main theme in the reading seems to be about hating to work. The author doesn’t seem to understand how people can possibly love their job. The author seems to know people who have seemingly boring and mindless jobs who say that they can’t wait for Monday to get past to work. The author can understand people who are professional athletes, artists, or researchers, but anything else should be deemed a living hell to go back to work. The author, as a writer, reflects on other pieces of work such as a Voltaire quote. The quote said, “Work keeps us from three great evils, boredom, vice, and need.” I feel like these quote goes against everything that he says about working to make a living. The part of the reading that strikes me the most is the final personal narrative part he adds to the reading. He mentions that he is talking to another worker on his opinion on retiring at the age of sixty five. Deep down, the author knows he wants to retire at sixty two but he keeps his mouth shut knowing that the other guy is that guy who loves working. Overall, I think the author brings a strong point in his reading and with the use of personal narratives, he is able to indirectly relate to the reader and make a strong connection to make the reader understand where he is coming from.

Vegetarian Story/ Nurture of Nature

          In “Meatless Like Me”, I feel like the author was very open and effective in explaining his situation and his beliefs of living the life of a vegetarian. He starts his story by sharing an experience that can well lead perfectly into his story. He told the reader about how people looked at him differently for being a vegetarian and that he came off as strange to some officials and didn’t receive a scholarship because of it. Throughout the reading, the author successfully uses humor to show that vegetarian are really no different from omnivores or carnivores. He explained how he knows how people think he should be physically and mentally if he was a vegetarian but he quickly disposes that idea and explains that he’s normal just like everyone else. To make his justification for becoming a vegetarian, he compares eating meat with a bunch of obnoxious things. He uses this humor to show readers who look at vegetarians differently that he is just a normal guy. Just because he is a vegetarian, doesn’t mean he’s completely different and should be shamed in society. He brings up that he became a vegetarian because he ended becoming disgusted of the things producers do to animals to get the meat. I personally liked how he was able to sum of being a carnivore by calling them “people who eat things that had eyes”. He also makes a lot insults to people who look at him differently. He often uses inappropriate language to show that he isn’t some stuck up non meat eater who thinks that he’s better than everyone else just because he isn’t a savage meat eater. Also goes to show that he really is just a normal guy. From the beginning, you could tell this writing was some kind of journal entry or some free response writing. Its very casual and very effective in getting his point across. At the end of his story, he mentions that he was smoking weed while coming up with his writing entry and I could say I’m not surprised. I guess he made all of those crazy relations to meat eaters from having a clear mind on everything.

 

          In the reading, “The Nurture of Nature”, the author describes how not only is seeing the environment a pleasant view, but also a way to cope with stress and pain. Throughout the reading, the author brings up different research from different psychologist and they all state that seeing the environment provides nothing but healthy and positive feelings. In the reading, there are three different research studies ranging from driving through the scenic route, trees in the window of hospitals, or seeing the environment through the higher floors of buildings instead of pavement. Pretty much all of the research studies stated that seeing the environment helps people deal with stress, anger, depression, and sadness. It seems like the beauty of the environment is pleasant to the human eyes. Seeing something you like often makes you happy or feel good about yourself and there’s pretty much no one in the world who doesn’t enjoy the beauty of the outdoors. Whether it be a beautiful open field, or trees lined up with a road going through, everyone can appreciate seeing something nice. The reading is pretty short and only really talks about the different research studies. To improve the reading, the author could’ve went more in depth in explaining what patients and other people think about the environment and relate to their research studies. The author also didn’t explain what exactly the environment is actually doing to people. I feel like the author is just taking the outcomes of different studies and just puts them together to make it a read that people will enjoy.

Comments to Advertisement Analysis

French Smoking ad - I really liked reading your ad analysis for many reasons. First of all, I felt like you went really in depth in explaining the actual ad. I totally agree with everything you said. Another part i really enjoyed was the first paragraph. Considering this is a foreign ad, you successfully explained its origin along with giving tons of background information such as explaining the differences between French advertisements and American advertisements. I was able to understand everything you were explaining and you used a lot of rich language and vocabulary which keeps readers on their toes. I also liked how you still used the words in French in your analysis instead of just translating it and leaving out the French wording. Overall, I think you did an excellent job and my only concern with it might be the length, but that can easily be fixed for the final draft.

Sephora - I think you did a good job analyzing the ad. To start off, you started in the right direction by started with the actual magazine. I feel like this is best way to start to essay. Now that I think about it, on my ad analysis, I started with the ad and then I randomly went into the origin of the magazine towards the end randomly. I should probably fix that. But anyway, I liked your explanations primarily when you brought up the different ethnicities of the girls on the ad. I liked how you put it in saying Sephora doesn’t want any girls to feel secluded and that everyone can be beautiful with their products “together”. Overall, I think you did a great job and I don’t have any criticism for your work.

Outrage - I think you did a good job in your analysis because you had many strong points. First of all, i liked how you implicitly explained your ad. It really goes to show how these ads can really hide many subliminal messages if you think about it. I liked how you said the guy’s body is unrealistic because it shows that guys can’t instantly get a body to look similar to that. I also thought explaining the girl’s side to this ad was strong. Bringing up how girls expect potential dates to have bodies like that make men seem like they have to work hard to get girls. Another strong point you had was when you added a personal story to help you describe your ad. Stating that achieving a body like that ad requires tons of time and dedication along with simply consuming a workout product won’t instantly turn your body into a chiseled piece of art. Overall, you had many strong points and were successfully in analyzing the ad both implicitly and explicitly.

 

Sexuality in our Culture

          Today’s reading was pretty out of the ordinary to what we’ve been reading for our blogs but it was pretty interesting. The reading was pretty much about how sexuality especially amongst females plays a big role in today’s culture. I have to agree with the author because sexuality is everywhere. Whether it be in movies, on TV, or even in magazine ads such as mine, sexuality has changed our culture in a big way. In my magazine ad, the two “main” characters are two attractive, young, looking women dancing close to men. Both of them are sporting sleeveless shirts in what it looks like to be some kind of club. The magazine ad conveys sexuality because why else would the girls try to wear the minimum amount of clothes to a club in which they will be near men for the whole night? Sexuality and gender have been a huge part in culture in past decades. For example, some of the most famous singers from the past include Madonna and Britney Spears. These two singers have made such a large impact on not only girls, but also guys. When young girls saw Britney Spears and Madonna, they wanted to be just like them because they saw them as role models, but on the other hand, when guys saw them, they were thinking that they are two of the most attractive sex idols in their time. So if the guys were digging them, girls taught that guys would dig them too if they were just like them. Sexuality is everywhere, including sports. Many female athletes not only make their money from playing their sport, but also modeling. When these female athletes model, it brings out a different kind of sexuality that many people aren’t used to seeing them as. Ever since the past, girls have learning from role models and celebrities to be sexy and attract guys while guys learned to love the adapting girl. Sexuality is not an entirely bad thing as many people have become rich and companies such as Playboy have boomed because of the surge of sexuality. In today’s age, I think the sexuality and gender roles in our culture will stay the same forever.

Preparing for the Final Draft

          For my magazine advertisement, I feel like there is a lot of work to be done. Based on the reading for today’s blog, professional writers see first drafts as the time to begin writing. I’m no professional writer, but I know there is still a lot of work to be done. First of all, I kind of just went into it without really introducing what I’m writing about. I just made one large body paragraph without splitting up the information in the body paragraph and making an introduction and conclusion. As for the information, I feel like I can go way more in depth in analyzing the magazine advertisement. Looking back at my first draft, I feel like I repeated myself a lot but I see where I’m coming from. I really wanted to emphasize the importance of each subliminal hint the magazine advertisement was trying to convey. Some other information I can look into is where the magazine advertisement is from. Finding where the advertisement originally was would help me see who the advertisement was targeting more considering I mentioned in my first draft that the ad can be targeted toward either males or females. Another good idea is to find out the year this ad was released. Finding out the year is important because you’ll be able to relate to the current events of when the ad was released. For what you know, the ad was used in an ESPN magazine during the playoffs of some sport. Besides some things I was missing, I feel like I was able to get the gist of the magazine advertisement such as the literal meaning. To me, it was clear to see that the advertising team went to replace the word fun with the Bud Light bottle. Just thinking about as a potential consumer makes me visualize fun and Bud Light going hand in hand. Other than that, I’m sure there could be some things that I’m missing and once I do catch what I missed, I will be able to add it to my first draft so I can prepare my final draft.

People Magazine

          The National Magazine I chose to do research on is the People Magazine. This magazine is geared towards people, mostly adults, who want to know all about the latest celebrity gossip. Its main audience is primarily female adults. I have some additional information because my mom subscribed to this magazine and she reads it as soon as she gets the new edition. To be honest, when she was done with it, I would read some stories as well. You won’t really find many teenagers reading through this magazine because teen magazines already exist and People is more about the older celebrities and actors. On the front cover of a People magazine, it always shows the biggest news or conflict between celebrities. For an example, the head story can be about someone having a baby, a divorce, or even a fight with another famous person. The headlines of the main story on the cover are often printed in huge letters to catch the reader’s attention. Also, on the corners of the cover, there are also smaller news that may attract readers as well. Inside the magazine, the majority of ads include beauty products. These beauty products consists of hair coloring and makeup. I don’t think men would be very interested in those beauty products so its safe to assume that the magazine is geared towards women. Some of the other ads in the magazine include advertisements for tv shows that are also geared toward women.  On the pages, the stories’ titles are often written in giant letters. Having big letters for a title help catch the reader’s attention so they will read the article or story. The stories often include pictures of the celebrities the story is about. These pictures are obtained through paparazzi. Another big thing about the magazine is that at the end of the magazine, there are a couple of games that the reader can enjoy and play. Two examples of these games are crosswords puzzles with the questions and answers being about actors and celebrities and a “spot the differences” picture. In the “spot the differences” game, the magazine shows two almost identical pictures of a celebrity but something in the background or something that they are wearing is changed so the objective of the reader is to compare the two pictures and find what changed in them. These changes can include a missing button on a shirt, different stripe pattern on pants, etc. So overall, this magazine contains all you want to know about the latest gossip in the celebrity life.

Coca Cola vs. Pepsi

          With Coca Cola and Pepsi being among the most popular sodas in the world, their advertisements have many similarities, but also many differences. Both companies know that each other are their main competition. In advertisements, they often take shots at each other to show consumers that they produce and sell the better product. Similarly, both Coca Cola and Pepsi seem to both try and appeal to their consumers by happiness. In both ads, they portray their product with either a celebrity or a good looking person holding their product. The words in big letters are used to catch the consumer’s attention. Both ads use happiness or refresh in their ads. Both companies are trying to appeal to the same audience because they are competing against each other. Both companies use celebrities or good looking people because it shows that only attractive people drink their products. Not only do they have many similarities, but also many differences. In many Pepsi ads, it seems like Pepsi uses their rival in their ads to show consumers that their product is better. While on the other hand, Coca Cola doesn’t seem to take many shots at Pepsi in the ads. In Coca ads, they’ve used the polar bear and their latest advertisement being sharing a coke with a friend with their name on the label. In recent Pepsi TV ads, Pepsi made fun of Coca Cola because Pepsi gives opportunities to consumers to win trips or tickets to concerts while Coca Cola has names on their labels or the polar bear. Besides different tactics for advertising their product, there isn’t that many other differences amongst the two product’s ads. They are both trying to appeal to the same audience so the only way the two products can separate themselves from the other is by having more clever advertisements. Both products use happiness to draw their consumers in to buy their product. Overall, both Coca Cola and Pepsi have the same audience and have similar ideas in the advertising, but some of their advertising ideas differ from one another.

Group's Personal Narrative Essay Reviews

          Starting with Monica’s Personal Narrative essay, I personally enjoyed reading it. I can’t relate to obtaining a job in high school but I can relate to the stress and becoming independent. I can also relate to losing contact with friends and mustering enough courage to confront a family member you’re not in good terms with. I’m sure other people could relate to her story better than I can. I feel like she went in depth with her stories and explained her feelings and thoughts as certain events were happening. She was very descriptive in her stories and allowed me to picture her situations such as the awkward car ride with her mom. I personally felt scared for her when she writes about the part on how she made her mom drive her to the job interview at Red Lobster but the first Red Lobster they went to was not there anymore. If she can make the reader feel the way she feels at a certain part in the story, it allows the author to connect to their audience. In the beginning, I wasn’t really sure what her story was about, but that’s not a bad thing. Not only does her story conveys independence, but also overcoming struggles, determination, courage, and putting family first. Overall, I thought it was great story telling, relatable, and contained powerful messages in which readers of this essay can take in.

          With Anthony’s Personal Narrative Essay, I thought it was an interesting read. His story contains a different stories and experiences that all had to do with ice cream. I too, enjoy ice cream myself and I’m sure the love of ice cream is relatable to a lot of people. To start, his story had different voices through the course of the reading. In the beginning, he tells a story about when he was at a very young age so his voice in that part seemed to be young and wild. In the middle of his story, he mentions having girlfriends but is able to keep his story still about ice cream. In this part, I found it funny and had me grinning to myself. But at the end, around the conclusion, he gets in a more serious tone and explains that ice cream can bring people together. He shows his audience that he learned that ice cream isn’t just about the food but a common interest that can be shared with others. Not only was his story about bringing people together with ice cream, but I personally feel like he was growing up as the story progressed. His story started at a young age and ended with him in or just out of high school. Overall, I thought his story was both funny and serious and his thoughts on ice cream are a great way to draw his audience in.

          Finally, with Jacob’s Personal Narrative, I really enjoyed his story. His story can be really relatable to readers as many kids in their young age are willing to spend more time with their friends than their family. I can relate to this because at a young age, I would always be eager to leave the house and spend time with my friends. I liked how descriptive he was during the car accident scene. He couldn’t provide much background information because in reality, he couldn’t remember anything and woke up in a hospital. I can relate to this because 2 years ago, I had a seizure in my sleep and woke up in an ambulance with no prior knowledge to what just happened.  At the end of the story, he finally realizes that his family is very important to him and should spend as much as time as possible with them.  My only criticism I have for his story is to change his story from a 3^rd person view to a 1^st person view, but otherwise, I really enjoyed reading his story.

Analyzing my Personal Narrative Essay

          I think my Personal Narrative Essay is an effective and relatable piece of writing. Its main purpose is to encourage readers to embrace who they really are and although making decisions can be hard, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. To be honest, I think the piece is successful because it’s definitely relatable considering almost everyone went to high school and experienced some form of drama. Its not like I had a special situation. I’m sure people who went in to high school with friends didn’t graduate while still be affiliated to all of them. I think losing friends in high school is pretty common amongst teenagers considering you spend 4 years with different people with different interests and goals. Many, if not all high school students can say they changed is some form of way whether it be physically or mentally. As I stated before, I believe this essay is targeted towards pretty much anyone but mostly high school graduates. Reading about someone else’s problems in the past may not be so interesting, but people can relate and think about how they got over their problems in high school. Readers of this essay can learn to be who they are and make genuine friends. People still in high school who read this can probably learn what is to come in their 4 years in school because high school is definitely not a walk in the park. I feel like I drew in the audience by starting it in a way that they might question themselves about genuine or fake because this is definitely not targeted to just genuine people. People who know that they are not genuine can realize what they are doing to someone and maybe change their ways because being fake is never a good thing. The only real problem I have with my writing is that it may seem like I’m dwelling in the past and I’m complaining about problems but its safe to say that I’m over every problem and situation I had in high school. To make a better draft, I could make my intro stronger and not so straight to the point.

Learning Experience for All

          The short story, “Only Daughter”, was an interesting read and I can clearly relate it to the personal narrative paper I’m writing. In my point of view, I felt like the father was the one who learned something rather than the daughter. Coming from Mexico, the American culture is different so the author’s father never understood why she wanted to write instead of working with her hands. As the author was growing up, her father never realized that hard work doesn’t just come from the head, but also from the hands. As the story went on, the author grew up and became very successful in writing. To me, it seems like for her whole life, the author set a goal to prove her father wrong and to show him that she can work hard with her hands too. At the end, there is a nice ending in which the author shows her father one of her successful pieces of work. When the father read it, he realized that the story was about him. Her father finally realized that she didn’t waste her time in college and that his daughter is a hard worker with a lot of heart. Some people may look at this story and say that the daughter was the one learning but I think it was the father. In the beginning, the father seemed stubborn towards his daughter. He expected her to work hard with her head to and get married but his daughter didn’t do any of that. Now, the father understands that there is more than one solution to get to the other side. The father thought he was trying to tell her what’s best for her because of the Mexican culture he came from. With the new American culture, the father knows he was wrong and is very proud of his only daughter. This story is relatable to the personal narrative I am writing because like the father, I’ve learned and experienced new ideas. While what we learned in our past is completely different, we still learned that everything can’t go your way and have to learn to accept the truth. From this story, I’ve learned that there’s more than the main road to get to the other side, but also side streets and shortcuts. If the ultimate goal is to get to the other side, no matter how you do it, no matter what road you take, if you believe, anything can happen.

Genuine Narrative About Being Genuine

          Out of the list that I currently have, I think being genuine sticks out the most. In order to be genuine, you have the be the person you say you are. Being fake has always been something I’ve always tried staying away from. Times in life to be genuine are pretty much 24/7, but mostly in public with other people. I learned that being genuine is the most important character trait in a person because I’ve seen and met too many fake people to become one of them. I’ve also learned from my elders such as my parents and relatives. I’d have to admit that I wasn’t genuine back when I was younger but through experiences and learning from good people, I’ve changed for the better. Being genuine is never a bad thing. Another word that goes hand in hand with being genuine is trustworthiness. Even from a very young age, my parents would always ask me, “Can I trust you?” Not only does it build good character, but being a trustworthy person helps you grow up and learn to be independent. I’ve learned that being a liar and a backstabber have never been good qualities to be known for. I’m not saying that I’m completely innocent of being a liar, but compared to some people I know, at least I know it’s wrong.

          Basically, everyone who I’ve known taught me about becoming genuine. Whether it was my friends and family teaching me that being genuine is a good thing or fake friends and people teaching me that being fake is one of, if not, the last trait you ever want. I remember from having a lot of friends back in middle school, but as the years went on, my friend count started to diminish. I’ve let go of many friends back in high school. In my opinion, you should never lie and pretend to like someone. It may hurt the other person’s feelings initially, but it would be worse if they found out you were pretending you were their friend. A saying that I can relate to goes like “honesty is the best policy”. I feel like I’ll live with that for the rest of my life. I feel like everyone has that one friend that they can’t stand but they can never muster enough courage to tell them the truth. In my eyes, you have to tell them. That’s what being genuine is. Having fake friends has both been a blessing and a curse. It’s been a blessing because I’ve learned from my mistakes and see people for who they really are. It’s a curse because people who I used to trust and care about never really reciprocated those feelings back. For example, around my freshmen/sophomore year in high school, I had a pretty big group of friends, both boys and girls. When we would hang out together, it was always a good time. Until someone couldn’t hang out on a certain day. Almost everyone in that group just felt obligated to talk shit about the people who weren’t present. But the insulting behind their backs wasn’t the end of it. Following the shady insults, ignored calls and texts, never asking to hangout again, and just becoming a completely different person towards that person came after. People were just “kicked out” of the friend group. People getting kicked out was pretty often. It became so often, that we would make jokes about who is next on the chopping block. To be honest, not everyone was fake in that group. It was mostly agreeing with someone else so that they don’t get kicked out of the group. I felt like there was a ringleader in our group. And I have to say that she wasn’t the brightest or nicest people I’ve met. And that’s where being genuine comes into play. I pretty much kicked myself out the group after so many people were. I couldn’t stand hanging out with not only just fake people, but people who believe in fake people. I couldn’t be the only one to have a realization that this whole thing was wrong but I guess I’ll never find out. For a good couple of months, I really didn’t have any friends because I pretty much let go of most of them. I can’t stand lying in front of someone’s face. To be honest, they aren’t really your friends if you have to lie to them. A huge component to a friendship is having trust within each other, and I just couldn’t find it in that friend group.

          But I mean, as people grow up, they change, some for the better, some for the worse. I like to think I grew up in a good way. I’ve learned that I can’t have it my way, every single time. But actually, not having it your way all the time is good. It helps  you embrace and learn other ideas, and most of all, to grow up to be independent adults. If that’s not the goal of growing up, than I can’t think of anything else better than that. Learning from these bad situations helped me strengthen my policies in being a real, genuine person. Without these experiences, I would probably be just like the old fake friends that I used to have.

Strange Story

          In “Plague of Tics”, David Sedaris goes through childhood memories. In the essay, Sedaris shared his school experiences from the start of school at a young age to college. Throughout his stories, Sedaris describes his strange actions. Some of Sedaris’ memories include licking the light switch in his classroom, pressing his nose against windows and mailboxes, and tapping his forehead with the heel of his shoe. Every year, his teacher would come and have a conference with his mother. His mother would always make jokes and imitate gestures and actions that Sedaris does in the classroom. Every year, Sedaris’ mother would know exactly what he is doing in the classroom. It seems like Sedaris didn’t really understand what was going around him. His brain seemed to function in a completely different way from normal human beings. Throughout the essay, Sedaris mentions ways his parents disrespect for having problems. An example he mentioned is when his father told him not to press his nose against the window and when Sedaris’ instinct kicked in, his father stopped the car and gave Sedaris a nosebleed. From the essay, I think its safe to assume that Sedaris’ parents did like him, but were unknowledgeable about that the diseases in his brain. Towards the end of the essay, Sedaris mentions that he has been diagnosed with Tourettes and OCD.  He also states that his symptoms diminished after being introduced to cigarettes in college. When I first read this essay, I was creeped out all throughout the story especially the ending in which he mentions that he basically killed people through the use of a hot air balloon. I’m not really sure if that last part is real, but it was really disturbing. To draw in the audience, David Sedaris explains stories in childhood that are completely abnormal. From his strange interactions with light switches, mailboxes, and other objects, I as the audience was completely drawn in to this insane essay. From beginning to end, I had no idea how this was going to end. From the reading, you can tell that Sedaris’ voice is probably confused. Sedaris’ actions in his younger years seem to be completely normal for him. Sedaris looked at everyone else’s actions as abnormal. In conclusion, Sedaris goes through his childhood and shows the audience his perspective with his symptoms of OCD and Tourettes.

Different Problem, Common Struggle and Solution

          The readings, “Living with Fire” and “On Being a Cripple” share many common aspects but also have some differences. Probably the most obvious similarity between the two stories is that both authors have a serious problem in their lives. In “Living with Fire” the author chooses to live in the southwestern part of the United States only to experience life threatening fires. The author states that there is no such thing as a safe haven for humans. In “On Being a Cripple”, the author has to deal with the incurable disease known as MS. This disease prevents her from doing many physical duties and activities. She states that she lost the use of one of her legs and arms. Another common aspect that both authors share is that even though their problem could be potentially life threatening, they have learned to embrace it. The author of “Living with Fire” says that living in the dangerous environment is all worth it because when there aren’t fires, everything is beautiful and is worth dealing with. The Author of “On Being a Cripple” states that she is embracing her own setback for the better. The author knows that doctors are nowhere near close to a cure so she has no choice but to stick it out and embrace her flaws. Not only do the authors have common aspects to their writings, but they also have differences. The author’s problem in “Living with Fire” is containable and can be dealt with. Although it is a very dangerous job, firefighters have been stopping the fires. On the other hand, the author of “On Being a Cripple” has to deal with her problems with no cure available. She is affecting by MS every day and she is limited in her movements. Also, the author of “On Being a Cripple” didn’t have a choice on having her disease. She randomly experience symptoms and doctors revealed that she developed MS. On the other reading, although the author chooses to live in his fire prone environment, if it became a huge problem, he could always move away. Although these stories have differences, both authors share inspiring stories and persevere through their hardships no matter what.

Even our own language seperates males and females?

          After this reading, I feel like I got a completely different perspective in terms of the English language. Unless you actually thought about it, this reading creates a whole different image for both males and females alike. The reading was mainly about how there are differences amongst males and females through the English language. I’ve actually never realized that they are some pretty big differences between the two genders in the English language. What surprised me the most was how differently the words manly and womanly were defined. On the manly definition, many synonyms, adjectives, and “manly” nouns were used but on the other hand, womanly was defined in a completely different way. I feel like people never actually realize that the male and female gender are separated even more through their own language. When nonphysical differences are brought up between males and females, the first thought is often the different salaries that each make. But little to people realize that even the language that they speak separate males and females from being equal. Another point brought up in the reading was the difference between becoming an actor or an actress. The point was brought up in which that an actress is an actor, but an actor isn’t an actress. In my opinion, words such as actor and actress shouldn’t coexist when actor can be used to describe either a male or female. Terms used such as actress don’t technically discriminate, but it still separates the two genders. I assume that these terms exist because of the world’s history in which men were the dominant gender for years. But even up to this day, many people will still consider men to be the dominant gender not just because of the difference in earnings but just because its been set in stone for the longest time. In ancient history, men have always been the rulers and leaders while women were often considered as wives with not much importance besides housework and mating. I disagree with how the world thinks today as now in the 21^st century, men and women should be considered equal not just economically, but also through our own language.

Inspiring Read!

          To be honest, I was actually pretty bummed out that I had to read some excerpt that I probably won’t remember in a couple of days and then have to write about it, but when I actually read it, I was shocked that it was pretty interesting. I know for a fact that I am not a good writer and this article was pretty much the epitome of how I write. A big part of the beginning of the excerpt described that many students including myself tend to float towards the “common” answer and that teachers and professors find this to be very lackluster. I totally agree with the teachers in saying that their students have to seek other answers besides what everyone else is thinking. Not only does it make for an interesting read such as this excerpt, but also allows students to convey a different message than that of what teachers are used to reading. I feel like the author of the excerpt got his message passed along to readers with flying colors. Back in high school, I feel like students were taught to go with the “common” answer every time. I almost feel bad for all the English teachers that I’ve had for the past 6 years after reading this excerpt. Maybe there is still some hope in improving my miniscule writing skills. Reading something like this really motivates me to improve my writing ability and I can’t think of any other possible reads that can be based on this topic and be better than this one. As the class that I’m in is meant to improve our writing skills, this excerpt portrays what I can expect from the class and how writing should be done. I am glad that this is how we’re going to start this class.