assignment 4

Emily Rihm

Joe Griffin

English 111

13 November, 2008

                                                Teen Pregnancy and Safer Sex

Description: Although teen pregnancy has been declining over the past decade, the United States has the highest pregnancy rate of any western industrialized country. That is twice as high as in England or Canada and eight times as high as in the Netherlands or Japan.  There is a 34% chance of teen females to get pregnant by the age of 20 that amounts to 730,000 teen pregnancies a year.  That is an alarming statistics. The American Social Health Association estimates there are nearly 19 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases in the United States each year.  Some may say that passing condoms out enables people to have sex, such as my mom.  It may be true, but I think anyone would prefer kids and teens to be safe and responsible rather than not talking about the consequences and not providing safe options.  Kids will have sex no matter what.  I just feel that people need to be informed better.

 

Genre: I will be making a teen pregnancy and safer sex pamphlet as well as writing a short paper to further describe the consequences and prevention.  I will include pictures, alarming statistics, and ways of prevention.  This may offend people such as my mom, but I will also include a condom and instructions.  It is better to be safe even if the subject is awkward.  Hopefully I can send my message in a non-threatening and less awkward way.

 

Audience: My target audience will be to teens.  About 20 percent of adolescents have had sexual intercourse before their 15th birthday.  One in seven of the sexually experienced 14-year-old girls has been pregnant, according to a report by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.  It is a major problem and people need to be informed of the consequences.  Two–thirds of all teen pregnancies occur among 18-19 year olds.  This is why my pamphlet will be very helpful.  College students are at the highest risk, so the information needs to be presented to them.  My pamphlet will also be helpful to anyone so they can be informed of safer ways to have sex and protect themselves.  People of all ages can use to learn a little more about STD’s, the risks of unprotected sex, and pregnancy.

 

Purpose: My pamphlet and paper will shine light on a taboo subject, teen pregnancy and safer sex.  People do not like to talk about this subject and the not so pleasant risks and consequences.  I want to make it more comfortable to talk about this subject.  Hopefully by making a colorful and interesting pamphlet my plan will work.

just walk on by

I thought this article was sad and horrible.  The fact that racism is still an issue is not a good thing.  I understand how people can be skidish on the street.  I unfortunately had to walk home alone a few times of campus and it is NOT a good feeling.  I would hear footsteps and guys walking alone.  It made me very uncomfortable to say the least.  So I understand why women would tense up on the streets, but it in this article it was a deliberate attempt to stay away because he was black.  The fact that people would cross the street to stay away from him really made me think.  I never thought about things from his perspective.  I would be so offended if someone did that to me.  I can’t imagine being treated like that all the time.  He handled the situations very well.  EH said he didn’t let him affect him anymore.

            When he walked into stores and people acted differently was so wrong.  The fact that people associate black people with bad things is not right.  It is true that many associate black people with crime, but it isn’t true.  It is a hurtful stereotype and shouldn’t be like that.

             The fact that he stopped caring was a sign of hope.  He stopped caring what others thought.  He started whistling to make people feel more comfortable and realize that he is a human being as well.  Hopefully by him doing that in the future he will be treated more fairly.  I hope this behavior stops, but I know it won’t.  The stereotypes will never go away, but people just shouldn’t care anymore.

            This article opened my eyes to different issues.  It made me see the other side and feel what they were feeling.  Overall it was a good eye-opening article.

rhetorical analysis paper

i plan on rhetorically analyzing the movie Juno.  The target audience is at teenagers, which would include myself.  In the movie they believe abortions are wrong and promote adoption. Throughout this movie ethos is used a lot. The humor makes it very funny and appealing to the audience. There is also logos in Juno. giving the baby was the most logical choice in her situation. Their arguments could be better. they dont cover the options for the baby very much. they are strongly pro choice. there are definite fallacies once i look at this movie more in depth.

fallacy ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=179Q_sAMUWM

this is the Geico commercial. "so easy a caveman can do it". this definantly is a fallacy. People aren't caveman and they can not buy insurance. It is not logical and makes false claims. It could fall under the irrelevant conclusion fallacy. cavemen are completely irrelevant to insurance. This commercial demonstrates a misleading and unsound argument. it has emotional appeal (ethos) which makes you laugh but demonstrates a fallacy.

journal on residence halls

I thought McCormick’s piece was very good.  She made very valid points considering living on campus.  The brochures really do make the dorms seem a lot nicer than they actually are.  I was under the impression when I came here the food was “amazing”.  I’m not sure who was saying that, but I wouldn’t agree with them.  McCormick discussed that in her piece too.

Also, humor made a big impact on this piece.   The little touches such as, “She was very descriptive in her writing, which made her story stronger.  She appeals to the reader’s ethos, logos, and pathos.  McCormick reviews the first year residence hall brochure and then shines light on how the dorms actually are.

Her argument was very convincing to me.  She unveiled the unpleasant aspects of dorm life.  The brochure was deceiving to freshman because they didn’t know any better or what to expect when they go to college.

I liked the piece because I could relate to it and understand what she went through since I am a freshman living in the shoebox dorm.  I did see a few of super tacky brochures.  They made dorms look so cute and fun.  I was told the dorms have crown molding.  Not sure what dorms they are talking about because mine defiantly does not.

Her piece did show positives of dorms too, which I agree with.  It is convenient and close to all of the academic buildings.  Security is fabulous on campus.  I feel safe and my parents feel more comfortable knowing the security is good.  Also, I believe using cars is a pain at this campus.  Gas is so expensive and after searching for an hour to find a parking space you find yourself 30 minutes away from the building you need to go too.

I don’t think she needed to improve that much in her piece.  She could have added a little more detail and clarify things.  More rhetoric would have helped as well, but overall I thought this was a good piece about dorm life.

tick description paper

            Squeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkk.  That is the constant sound of both my roommate and my beds.  It is one of the most annoy sounds you will ever hear.  My roommate is on the top bunk and every slight movement she makes I hear.  Gotta love dorm rooms.

            On move in day I will never forget my initial reaction to the room.  It was smaller than my room at home and two people have to live in it.  Don’t even get my started on the closet space.  It was hard for me to part with my beloved clothes., very hard.  Our room may be the size of a closet, but it cute and filled with life.

            The once stark walls and empty beds and now filled with so much color and personality.  I keep finding myself printing off pictures of friends left and right.  The poster sale in front of Shriver has made a huge profit off of me.  Flowers and picture frames cover my once empty desk.  I have made this place my home.  I am always cleaning and putting things where they belong like at home.  I can’t stand a messy room.  It is the opposite of a tornado.  I myself am not of fan on the pigpen like atmosphere.  It is very unattractive.  We are the typical girls with the pretty room.  I wouldn’t want a bigger room or a different one.  I like mine very much and know it will work out just fine this year.

            Our dorm is where the party’s at.  The smell when you walk in is amazing unlike a nasty guys dorm.  The vanilla aroma just smells delightful as it reaches your nostrils.  We have a new addition to the room, two fish.  Well actually four, but two of the 28-cent fish died within 24hours.  We should have expected that.  They did after all come from Walmart.   Rj and Rafael speed swim throughout the tiny fish bowl with murky water.  That water never seems to be clean no matter what we do.  I feel like they are living in a smelly sewer, but maybe they like it that way.  Most nights there are always people in our dorm.  It may be very small and like a cramped cubical, but we always have a good time squeezing into the room and watching The Hills premiere.

            So the new surroundings were very different for me, but I’m loving every minute of it.  

journal 1

In my 18 year old life span i have had a lot of writing experience. I consider myself a half way decent writer. I do have a lot to improve on.
I was in honors English for 3 years in high school, so I have had a lot of writing in my past. I took regular British Literature my senior year. That was a waste of time. The subject matter was horrible and all historical. I did not retain anything I learned. Also, I was so used to being with intelligent people in honors class that in regular i felt like a genius. I breezed through that class without even trying. That teacher was absolutely horrible. My final research paper for that class was due at the end of the year and I know for a fact she skimmed the whole paper. They were no markings on the paper hardly. I spent a good amount of time on that paper and people who slopped it together still got high grades. I was shocked and annoyed because I actually worked hard on that paper.
My junior year I was in honors At first i hated my teacher. I accidently fell sleep one time after working two jobs the night before. She had it in for me. But as the year moved on we bonded. She would help me so much and helped me improve immensely. She also became my friend and mentor. She helped me not only in the classroom, but also with outside problems. She was an amazing teacher. Senior year when I was writing my college essays we would meet once a week for an hour or so and just keep editing my papers. She helped me with topics and basic grammatical errors. She helped out so much because my parents don't have the english background like she did.
I am definently not a song writer. Those types of things do not appeal to me at all. I am not a huge of poetry either. I don't understand it and really dislike it. That type of thing does bore me a lot. I will occasionally write a letter, but not very often. I love to facebook comment, so that is where I get most of my writing skills from. Just kidding :) I do really love facebook though. I think the blogging idea is a good idea as well. If I have a topic I like and care about my thoughts just pour onto paper. I enjoy it. I was in journalism as well, so I have written a lot in the past. I would cover interesting stories and make things funny and i really enjoyed it. Research papers and boring subjects are a drag and struggle to get through them. Starting off my papers is the most difficult. I sit at my computer with nothing there, but once I get my topic it just flows.
When I was writing my college essays I was actually a bit nervous. I knew there was a lot riding on them and I was scared to begin writing them. Once I picked the topic I liked it was easy, but the editing process was horrible. Once I finished them though I was thrilled and so proud of my work. I put a lot of effort and time into those essays and my worked payed off. It was a good feeling.
In conclsuion, I honestly do like writing. I enjoy is most of the time, but hate the editing process. When i get my good grade it is all worth it. I am excited for this class, but nervous at the same time. I am not a big reader, so that will be my downfall. I hated BEyond UFOs so I'm hoping we don't spend much time on it. I'm glad I improved my writing skills in high school because i would not be here today if i didn't.