Jordan’s AP Blog

The novel begins with the main character Nick living the American dream. His family owns and operates their own hardware store. But after world war I he relizes that its not all he thought it was. He decides to move to New York to try a different version of the American Dream. This change shows Fitzgeralds argument that the American dream is a title given to the idea that the grass is always greener on the other side.

Nick portrays himself as a confident sucessful person but as the chapter progresses we see him as fairly awkward around other people.

Tom mentions a book he calles the ”Rise of the Coloured Empires” which is an allusion to the book The Rising Tide of Color  both books support racisits views of the world which was still a common view point in the 1920s.

1. The anecdote gives McMurtry ethos by showing that he has personal experience with the subject.

2. The comparison makes a convincing appeal to logos. It shows the similarities in terms and mindset.

3. The author shifts his focus by providing a transition by addressing the counterargument.

4. When he uses the study the author uses phrases that highlight how ridiculous the favored traits are.

5. McMurtry says ”everybody… had to concentrate incredibly hard for days to whip themselves into just one hour’s hostility.” Here the author trys to argue that men dont need the violent release of football. I think that the release is kind of like a drug. It feels good the first time so you go back for more but you find that you need more to get the same feeling. The release of football feels great but at the same time it draws you back in daring you to hit him harder next time.

6. No other sports have such militarisitic tendencies as football does. Hockey is about as close as it gets but even checking other players doesnt have the same militaristic feel as football. To quote George Carlin “In football the object is for the quarterback, also known as the field general, to be on target with his aerial assault, riddling the defense by hitting his receivers with deadly accuracy in spite of the blitz, even if he has to use shotgun. With short bullet passes and long bombs, he marches his troops into enemy territory, balancing this aerial assault with a sustained ground attack that punches holes in the forward wall of the enemy’s defensive line.”

7. McMurtry is speaking to average people about the brutatilty of the sport. Its not really necassary to understand much about football to understand where the author is going with his argument about the brutality of football carrying over into society.

8. Contemporary media starts tend to stay away from being associated with sports.

1. Gould says that scientistsneed to have a wide variety of samples in their experiments. Also he asserted that other mitigating factors need to be taken into account when reviewing data.

3. Gould uses passages from the scientist’s own books to mock them. He uses passages that show how ridiculous their line of though is in the light of today’s society.

6. Gould uses paragraphs 9-12 to explore why Broca’sfindings are so far from the truth. He shows are simple corrections made by taking into account other factors essentially makes Broca’s findings irrelevant.

7. Gould uses the point here to show that sexism is no better then racism. Racism has much more negative connotation attached to it though then sexism does.

9. Gould brings his arguments together by exploring conclusions that we can draw from the arguments. That we can either accept or fight the results of Broca’s biased experiments or we can accept that people vary in intelligence and trying to stereotype a group will inevitably always fail.

10. The appeal to pathos is hidden in Gould’s use of ridiculous claims made by the 19th century scientists. The obvious bias stuns the reader who is used to their politically correct world.

11. The shift weakens his essay because it is displayed as a scientific piece and the shift to first person ruins his objectivity.

• Use a variety of sources for each paragraph. Don’t make a paragraph thats all about document A.
• Feel free however to refer to a document multiple times.
• Write a strong thesis that lets the reader know where you stand on the issue.
• Stay on topic with your argument. Dont fall into the pitfall of going off on tangents to explain sources.
• Recognize the counter argument and explain why its logic is faulty.
• Elaborate on your argument. Dont just state an idea then move on. Explain why the idea is the correct one.
• Makes sure that your sources dont overpower your argument. The refrences to the documents should be short refrences that strengthen your argument. Dont try to get them to write your essay for you.
• Make sure that your word choice is varied. Try and avoid using the same words multiple times.

1. Trubey assumes that most of his readers will be participating in “TV turnoff Week”

2. The ocassion that Trubey is writing for already gives TV a negative image. It makes his argument effective because it seems like his argument is being validated nationwide.

3. Trubey’s question creates the feeling that TV is an addiction much like nicotine or alcohol. It is one that seems like it would be easy to break but is in fact much harder then the user relizes. I believe that Trubey is right that watching television is a waste of time. However often late at night it is a relaxing way to unwind before going to sleep. Not many other activities can say the same; often at night I’ll try reading and find I’m too tired to concentrate for long.

4. Trubey’s use of classification gives him ethos because it makes it seem like he has done some reasearch on the subject.

5. Trubey’s citation only modifies his credibility to the most careful reader. The casual reader will read the stastics and automatically assume they are true.

6. The lists at the end of his essay strengthen his essay by giving hard facts that are hard to dispute. Staunch opposers however would point out his lack of citation.

Synthesis is an interesting mix of analysis and arguement. It requires carefully analyzing sources for  information to form an argument. It reminds me of document based questions in A.P. U.S. history. They required using and citing several documents to establish your position. One must remember you are using the pieces to help strengthen your argument, they are not writing your argument. The key is to work the sources in without having them dilute your argument.

1. Robert Putnam establishes his credibility by referring to many different studies. Then at the end of the piece he  cites them all in his notes. 

2.  Robinson, Godbey and Kunstler are all referred to in the passage. Robinson and Godbey wrote Time for Life. Kunstler wrote Geography of Nowhere.

3. By citing multiple sources Putnam adds to his ethos by establishing that this is not a unique occurrence. He proves his study’s  validity by showing multiple examples of it.

4. In footnote 14 Putnam gives exact information about where he got his statistics. This gives the reader the option to find the sources and check the author’s numbers.

5. Putnam uses the statistical information in two parts. First he shows that more people are staying home to relax. Next he shows this majority is spending that time at home watching television. 

6.  Kunstler’s extreme view  makes Putnam’s more mild view seem much more reasonable.

7. Putnam’s notes suggest he wrote the piece after 1999 and that he uses stastics for much of his research.

I believe that the model represents the majority of pop culture. Many people get stuck in the feedback loop that is pop culture. Ultimately however marketing kills all fads. There are some notable exceptionsto this loop though. The so called geek culture is one notable example to an exception. The culture relies on allusions or technical jokes. An example is a t-shirt I have it reads”In order to understand recursion one must first understand recursion.” The joke requires that one have significant prior knowledge to understand it.  The joke is that you cant define recursion without using recursion. The geek culture retains its exclusiveness not by being unmarketed-I can buy it easily online http://www.thinkgeek.com/- but by the knowledge necessary to understand the culture. The majority of the masses will never expend the effort required to understand the so called geek culture.

Twain’s main claim is that black people as a culture feel that they cannot function as individuals. That men are like a pack of wolves where if one does not follow the majority they will become outcasts. I feel that while is argument has some truth to it it is not completly accurate. In general if you do not follow the social majority indeed you become an outcast and suffer for it. Some individuals however are charismatic enough to pave new ways and not become an outcasts. Other people are placed in positions of influence where the majority shifts to follow. An example would be after the movie The Wild One came out there was a great increase in the number of black leather motorcyle jackets; in the film Marlon Brando wears a black leather jacket. The example shows both sides though not only was Marlon Brando influential enough to move the majority, there was a majority that all moved as a pack.  I belive that in most cases Twain is right but there are some exceptions that come about.

2.The main difference between the male and female villain is the level of intelligence. The male villain is portrayed a muscular but stupid jock. The female villain is portrayed as a cunning but malevolent beauty. This suggests that in films and other media if you’re not male and not a nerd you can’t be intelligent; but women regardless of social stereotype have a high level of cunning.

3. Whenever there is a major paragraph break the author switches tones. He sets up an idea then builds on it from a different perspective after each break.

4. The break between paragraphs 3 and 4 shows the difference between the stereotypes and real life. In the first section he assumes the stereotypes are accurate then in paragraph 4 he steps out of this assumption and begins to question them.

5. The essay answers the questions it poses earlier on with ambiguous answers. It says that the genre films reflect reality to a point. The reality the films reflect is that which the directors remember. There are several factors which skew that what they remember though. The directors don’t often come from the top of the social ladder and as such look at it with disdain. Also embarrassing memories are some of the strongest so they tend to be remember more then other events.

6. Denby references many movies. That many sources create ethos by supporting his claim. They create the idea that he can’t be wrong with that many sources backing him up.

7. Denby’s main argument is that genre films actually expose the realities of high school social status. His secondary argument is that genre films are a healthy release of anti-elitist feelings some feel. He supports his claim by supporting a movie Never Been Kissedand using an showing how it was based on facts. He supports his secondary claim that genre films are healthy release by citing western films as an example.

9. Denby uses the “wound and the bow” theory as a warrant. He assumes everyone shares this and states that this is one of the things that creates pathos with the outsider in the movie. It also creates a feeling of hope in the viewers who consider themselves outsiders creating positive feelings they associate with the film.

10. Denby supports his claim that the shooters didn’t learn the lesson that geeks rule by citing that the stereotypical result for the outsider in genre films is that he becomes successful after school.

11.Denby’s final two paragraphs suport the idea that genre films actually have relevance to the realities of school. He uses examples of films that go  outside the normal stereotypes to expose the truth about high school that films have.

12. Denby is writing this for adults not in school. At one point he explains a point that students would get right away. He says “[it] may strike grown ups as peculiar.”