ENG001: Language and Writing

My life

2008-05-07T13:18:00.003-05:00

Hank Williams, Jr, "A Country Boy Can Survive": Throughout this whole video, one can observe that the basis of this song is centered around good, wholesome, hard-working folk that don't have much but what they do have, they're mighty proud of. One can tell by the looks on their faces that they don't take much crap off anyone. You watch Hank, himself, ride down what one could guess the Mississippi River on a barge, between clips of individuals working, hunting, fishing, and so on. When a person gets an image of a river, the first thing that comes to mind is the countryside. Growing up, myself, I've had many fond memories on the Blue River and it's tributaries, since the river itself runs very close to my house. My father would take my brothers and I deer hunting, and we would watch him gut the deer, being very careful not to waste any of the good meat. The whole central object that "country folks can survive" ties into my life because, simply, I've lived in the country most of my life and I have the skill and knowledge to do things that other people don't have a clue how to do such as: skinning a buck, running trot lines, living off the land, and such. In one clip, it shows a flag flying high, showing pride and patriotism. I would say this suits me right down to the bone. I take pride in my country and can think of no better place to live. If that ain't country, I don't know what is.

Chris LeDoux, "Stampede": I've drawn quite a few connections with this song. The only thing that separates this song is the fact that around these parts, there are no more "cattle drives", so a person really doesn't have to worry about stampeding cattle. Modern day stock trailers and pickups have replaced the need for cattle drives and horses, although horses have still an important useage if desired. It's nice to have a horse when working with cattle because they have the capability to go where the cows go, whereas larger vehicles cannot. As you watch and is stated in the song, longhorn cattle is the breed being used, since it has a long history with cowboys. Longhorns are known for their ability to defend themselves and their high meat yield. I can't say I've ever been in the situation where I was about to be trampled by stampeding cattle, but working around cattle enough my entire life, I can sort of grasp what the situation would be like. Ever since I've been old enough, I've been kicked, stepped on, charged at, and head-butted by cows. Back in the "old west", the cowboys would worry about stampeding cattle because there were no fences to keep them in the certain area they needed to be in. Should they stampede, they risk the chance of losing multiple cattle, which today would be an approximate value between $800 to $12,000.

Keith Anderson, "XXL": This video is based on how that a boy is quite a bit larger than the rest. He's born a big baby, grows through elementary in the larger physical state, and eventually grows to be a "XXL". I find certain lyrics humerous, such as: 'all the girls love a XXL' and 'I'm a lean mean love machine that likes to be held' because these attributes are oh, so true with me. I know what it's like growing up as the big kid in school, as I was, in fact, a large baby, and bigger than the rest of my classmates all through school. Traditionally, being the big kid meant you were the oddball in the class. It used to be looked down upon, but with this video, it is now actually sought after to be 'bigger than average.' It is being more and more accepted in today's social 'norms' and not so much a bad thing anymore. Now also in this video, there's obviously pretty girls in skimpy outfits (who doesn't like that?). Also, you see drummer Tommy Lee and NFL running back Eddie George. I'm not quite sure how these guys quite fit in to the music video, but looking at the comment posts on Youtube, you can probably figure it out for yourself. On the other hand, Eddie George is used as a 'symbol' if you will, as the big kid on the football team that 'can go pro'.

WP2: Chevrolet

2008-05-05T22:30:00.003-05:00

As I walk towards the sale barn, I look around me and see rugged, dirty trucks and trailers. I smile, as I notice a majority of them are one brand: Chevrolet. As I notice this, I feel a sense of pride. This is my favorite brand of pickup, and apparently, many other individual’s as well. All the things that represent Chevy are being put to use, right here in front of me.

As a working, blue-collar individual, the qualities and attributes I look for in a pickup are simple: power to get things done, reliability that I know this truck will perform to my expectations, and style so I can show it off on a Saturday night. Since I was a boy, that pickup has been Chevrolet. I have the confidence that the engine will supply enough power for me to tackle any job I throw at it, and also the quality that I will use it over and over again, knowing it will last me a long time.

To me, the classic ‘bowtie’ symbol represents quality. With the experience I have, I know that Chevrolet has a long history of quality. Through three generations of blue-collar type families, I know that my Chevy truck will be there a long time for me to use. Ever since I was a child, nothing was more American than a Chevy pickup.

In this commercial promoting Chevrolet trucks, all three styles of rhetorical appeals are being used. The main points of this commercial is to use the credibility of Dale Earnhardt Jr. in order to persuade the consumer that Chevrolet trucks are the best made, most dependable line of trucks on the road today. The commercial is based as an interview with Dale Jr., starting with him giving the audience his background and experiences with the Chevrolet brand company. Earnhardt explains no other brand of truck was more enjoyable to work on than Chevy.

As the commercial begins, the rhetorical strategy “ethos” is used as Earnhardt, Jr. explains to the audience about his past experiences with working on Chevrolet as a mechanic. Now as a professional racecar driver, as most people know him, the audience is to rely on his ‘professionalism’ and know-how in order to gain a sense of trust in his judgment on his brand of cars. Earnhardt, Jr. emphasizes that he enjoys working on this particular brand, so as a result, one without experience would think to themselves, “well, if Dale, Jr. likes workin’ on this brand, then I probably will, too.” This thinking goes hand-in-hand with the trust factor on Earnhardt’s credibility.

Now as the commercial goes on, the audience can observe an obvious change of pace not only in the voice of Earnhardt, Jr., but in the strategy of the commercial itself. It begins to turn to the rhetorical strategy “logos.” Earnhardt, Jr. begins to give information about the line of Chevy trucks that makes them ‘better’ than the competition, such as a ‘fully boxed frame in order to give a much smoother ride’ and ‘a trailer hitch that tows twice as much as the competition’ in order to achieve more goals you might throw at this truck. Earnhardt also tells the audience about the ‘legendary’ Vortec engine put in the Chevrolet pickup that in his opinion ‘the right balances of efficiency and power.’ Also, Earnhardt explains that Chevy continues to topple the competition with constant upgrades to excel the needs of today’s working class citizen. Every few years, new challenges are met and exceeded by the Chevy company such as fuel economy, frame stabilization, and safety standards.

Towards the end of the commercial, Earnhardt uses “pathos” to appeal to his audience. He explains that ‘his grandfather raced Chevy’s, and his father raced Chevy’s, and as long as he’s racing, he’ll be racing Chevy’s too.’ If you’re a NASCAR fan, then you can’t help but feel emotion when he explains that his family raced Chevy’s. If you’re not a NASCAR fan, you don’t know the legendary Dale Earnhardt, a man that was known as ‘The Intimidator’ and died on the racetrack. A man with a blue-collar reputation and long history of growing up, making a name for himself in the racing world. Now knowing this, you can’t help but feel these emotions pulling at your heartstrings.

The argumentation used in this commercial is mainly comparison-contrast. This tactic is generally used with all car brands. They’re telling us all the benefits to buying their product, from quality to performance. They’re constantly showing the viewers how their product is better than the competition with the things most people want out of a pickup. In this specific commercial, the ‘example’ argumentation is used as well. Earnhardt tells us the benefits of this brand of pickup and how simple jobs are when using this brand of pickup. Definition is used; clarifying that Chevrolet pickups can be used as a rugged work truck, as well as a good quality ‘Sunday driver.’ There’s one scene where ‘process’ is used as you watch the blue Chevy pickup pull a rather large boat out of the water. In another instance, you watch as a Chevy pickup plows through a muddy road, as well as driving smoothly down a highway.

In this other commercial, you watch more working class citizens using the Chevrolet product. You watch, as the truck is used in the most extreme conditions, and still performing to the highest standards. As you listen, you hear the old classic theme song from Bob Seger “Like a Rock” which tells the audience their brand is a good quality, solid product, like a rock.

To sum up the purpose of commercials like these, the Chevrolet company is trying to persuade the consumer that Chevy is the best made truck on the market today. They show everyday working class people using their product with much success over and over. Generally, they show that Chevy can handle the extremes that life throws at it, and still run at the same quality it was at when it rolled off the assembly line.

As an avid supporter of Chevy, I cannot imagine myself being content with any other brand of vehicle. I have experienced the quality of the Chevrolet brand, as well as my father and his father. The Chevy brand has been embedded in my family for generations, therefore, in my eyes, there is no other brand that exceeds expectations like Chevy. They’ve always held true to their legendary slogan: Like a Rock.

Current Favorite Song

2008-04-27T22:20:00.003-05:00

Ok, so I can't say I have a 'favorite' song at the moment, but this one strikes me as good, so I'm just going to go with it. This song is a parody of Toby Keith's "How do you like me now." That's pretty much what Cletus T. Judd does is make parodies of country artists' songs. I enjoy listening to songs like these because of the simple humor used. Watching the video, Cletus is from the big city and has a relative that lives on the farm. He thinks it would be fun to go to the family farm and do things such as huntin and fishin, but he finds out the family has given him a list of chores to do to expose him to farm life. In the video, he has no idea of what to expect, nor how to go about doing things. I find things like that funny because it shows how people from the city have no idea about farm life, or how things are in the country. I have done and experienced just about all there is to do on the farm, as far as work goes. I have milked a cow and fed chickens and things like that. I would have to say probably the most physically exhausting thing to do on the farm would be throwing hay, which Cletus finds out that you can't fit many bales into a fancy sports car. All in all, the focal point of the whole song is to crack fun at Toby's song. It's all done in good humor, as you can see Toby is in the video himself. Not many artists can say they'd be comfortable with crackin jokes at their own work.

Commercial Observation

2008-03-12T23:06:00.002-05:00

I chose this commercial because of many aspects. First off, I’m familiar with the Bud-light or Budweiser beverage. I’m not going to explain to you how, but you can use your imagination. I would say I’ve become more accustomed to this brand than any other brand. Second I like horses and obviously, there are horses in this commercial. I have a lot of respect for Clydesdales because they are a large breed of horse. They’re known for their work capacity and power, like me. Third, I'm a country oriented person, which is where this takes place so I enjoy that aspect. I would say I prefer to be in the mountains than somewhere else like on a beach. I like the beauty and how majestic the horses are. I grew up around horses so this only adds to the liking for them. And finally, the horses are playing football, and I love the game of football so that works out as well. When I watch this commercial, I see the mountains and trees off in the distance. I don't hear much, but the sound of the replay machine. I love peace and quiet in the countryside. There’s not a lot of noise going on which adds to the scenery. Now, as I continue to observe, the horses are waiting for the replay, which I'm accustomed to because as I stated earlier, I love football. It’s funny because eventually, you see a zebra with his head in a replay video machine. It’s also humorous how referees are often referred to as “zebras” because of their stripes. At the end one of the cowboys stated: "this referee is a jackass," and the other replies "no, I believe that's a zebra." Just some old fashioned humor to go with the solitude of being in the mountains.

Writing Project 1: The Farm

2008-02-28T14:12:00.019-06:00

The Farm

When most people hear me talk about where I live, they kind of just roll their eyes, and pretend they’re listening to what I have to say. I know this is rude and all, but it doesn’t bother me too much anymore. What do they know? They don’t understand the true feelings I have about the place where I grew up. They don’t know what it’s like to put in a hard days work and when the day is done, look back at what you did, giving yourself a feeling of accomplishment. Even so, they don’t know what it’s like to work on a project for a week, and in the end be able to look at it for years to come. They just don’t know. Growing up on the farm, I’ve become accustomed to the sights, sounds, and smells. As a matter of fact, back in school, whenever we drove passed a feedlot, all my peers would say “that stinks” or “look at that cow, it’s pooping!” I’ve seen all this before for many years. The strong smell of manure doesn’t bother me at all. Often, when I come home from school, I find myself wanting to get out of the house and just walk around aimlessly. I can’t really tell you why, I just like to be outdoors. It gives me time to think and relax just for a bit, to straighten my head out when needed (which happens all too often). Something that has to be done at least once a week in the winter time is feeding the cows hay. This time of year, we’ve brought the cows off grass pastures and put them in a fenced in lot. They have no food for themselves to get to, so I, or someone at home, feeds them big round bales of hay. To someone who’s never had to do this before, I’m sure it sounds like a simple task. But when it is ten degrees out with a negative twenty degree wind chill, this simple task becomes something of a nightmare. Today’s weather is nice, so I cannot complain. I climb up on the Case 930 tractor without a cab, which means I am exposed to the elements of Mother Nature’s fury. The smell of lube grease on the steering wheel is rather pungent. I start it up and watch a big, black cloud of smoke barrel out of the smoke stack. It’s noisy as hell, being that the exhaust is coming right out the top in front of me. Vibrations from the engine rattle up the steering column and eventually make their way up to my shoulders. I can see just about everything from the seat, but when I get a load of hay, I cannot see right in front of me because I have this six foot round bale on the front bucket-fork, and directly behind me because there’s another six foot round bale on the back bale spear. I usually try to be careful when I’m feeding hay so I don’t hurt any of the cows, but when I get frustrated, I get impatient just push them out of the way using the tractor with the bale at the end. Once I fill the feeders with fresh bales, I have to walk out with a knife and cut string off the bales. This sucks, because you have to move the cows out of your way so you can get to the bale.
I struggle to pull the last few strings off this one ton “fruit by the foot.” If you’ve ever rolled up a sleeping back and tied it so it didn’t unravel, that’s pretty much how a round bale is made, except to scale. I almost marvel at the fact of how far farming has come since the days of my great-great grandfather. Back then farmers all pitched the cut hay by hand with a pitchfork into piles. Today, one person can do what would be a month’s work back then, done in about a week. When I finally do cut all the strings and pull them all off, I stand back and watch the cows eat. They seem oblivious that I’m standing right next to them. As I watch, I look around the lot and notice a few broken lines of wire. The sight of this makes me rather angry for many reasons. One, because that means calves will get out of the lot and cause trouble, like getting hit by a car, for instance. Two, my family and I spent many rough hours building this fence, and three, I have to get the supplies and tools to fix the broken sections of fence. I remember building this fence. This is probably one of the most exhausting, arduous tasks man has ever invented. Starting out, dad will string out one wire across the section he wants fenced, in this case was the north section of the lot. This is used for a reference when putting in the posts so they’re in a straight line. Then, I walk between twelve to fifteen strides and drive a post in. This is probably the hardest part of the job. It takes a fifty pound driver to put posts in the ground, which will tire even the strongest body builder’s arms out after a few hours’ work. Once all the posts are driven in place, we use wire clips to hang up the first ‘reference strand’ of wire. Then I follow up with three more wires, and the job is finished. Keep in mind this is barbed wire, so by the end of the day, everyone working on the fence will have hands that are all scratched and gashed up, looking like raw hamburger. Another winter time chore and the last thing I have to do today is chop ice. Temperature usually determines how easy or difficult this task is. If it’s really cold the ice will be more than a couple of inches thick, which makes my job rather difficult. On the other hand, if it’s warmer outside then the ice is towards the thinner side and makes the chore easier. All that is needed is a small circle, so the animals can stick their mouths down to get a drink. I grasp the handle and begin thrusting my spade on the ice, chipping away small pieces. Today is warm for the winter season, so as I continue chopping, bigger and bigger pieces chip away and I eventually reach the water. I finish making the hole, and call the cows to drink. My hands are cold from grasping the handle, and my arms are fatigued from breaking the ice. By the time tomorrow rolls around, the hole I just made will be frozen back over with the ice being a couple of inches thick. Each year I keep back replacement heifers, so have to run water to them with a hose and fill up their tank. When the tank is full, I string the hose out down the hill so the water can drain out of it. This way the water inside the hose doesn’t freeze and cause it to leak. To finish up my day, I walk back to the shed and grab a bag of feed, which is made up of compressed alfalfa pellets called creep feed. This is a great source of protein, which is imperative that these growing calves have a surplus of in order for them to grow. I pour the feed into the bunk and watch them eat ravenously. To them, this feed is like “Lucky Charms” in comparison to their regular “Cheerios” of hay they get every day. I take one last look back to check and make sure everything is done, and all the animals are fed and ok. As I walk back to the house, I feel tired from all the work I just did, I have a few scrapes on my hands from repairing the fence, and I have manure on me from walking around in the lot. At this time, my fingers, nose, and ears are all freezing cold because I’m either too stupid or too stubborn to wear gloves and a hat to keep my appendages warm. I get a sick like comfort knowing that I get to do it all again tomorrow. As I kick my boots off and hang my coat up, I wonder what the weather will be like?

Diagram

2008-02-24T23:00:00.005-06:00

This is an Ipod. It's one of the many new devices of the 21st century. You can download music files off the internet on to this little device and play them at your leisure. Depending on the memory, a person can listen to as many as 80, or up to 300. The Apple computer company invented the iPod, as well as iTunes. These little boogers are expensive, but what isn't these days? I was lucky my junior year at our school's "post-prom party." I won my mp3 player in a raffle. This is somewhat the same concept, but not as fancy as the iPod. It just plays music. As far as the iPod goes, it can also play movies, and music videos. My mp3 player cannot do this. The iPod and mp3 players pretty much revolutionized the way people listen to music. We still have the radio, but many people do not listen anymore because they'd rather hear the songs they like and not have to listen to radio commercials. I guess I can tell you a bit about the iPod and stuff. Alot of people I know use them when they're working out. My roomate uses his in the car, and he even has a little "stereo" he hooks it up to to play out loud so he doesn't have to use earphones. They're really nice, and rather high-tech because you can sort through a lot of songs without having to rewind or fast forward through tapes or CD's. Their small size makes them really handy because a person can pretty much put them anywhere and not have to worry about it. I don't think I'm ready for the iPod. I'd love to have one but I have to download all these songs and upload them on to my iPod. This takes time, plus anymore I have to buy songs off of iTunes or something, the "legal way". I'd rather just buy a CD or listen to the radio. I'm too old fashioned, I like things old school.

stuck on a deserted island

2008-02-20T19:18:00.003-06:00

Honestly, I have no idea about being stranded on a deserted island. If I was somehow stranded with only five "cassette tapes", I would probably go insane because I couldn't even tell you if my favorite bands have cassette tapes. I imagine a few would, but the songs I really like today probably wouldn't be on there. But in order to make this grade, I will put my imagination cap on and pretend like the songs I'm thinking of are on "cassette tapes" and not a more modern "CD". Now before I begin, one has to ask the question "where the hell am I going to get power for this old-school ghetto blaster?" Batteries run out and palm trees don't come with plug-ins. Anyway, if I were to pick five tapes to have with me, I would probably want something like Toby Keith, Brooks and Dunn, Big and Rich, George Straight, Dierks Bently, etc. However, on the other hand, I might want rock bands such as Metallica, Disturbed, Slayer, Godsmack, and Rob Zombie. Then again, there's another side of me that would probably like bands such as ZZ top, The Eagles, AC-DC, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen. These are pretty much any of the bands I would like to have with me for the rest of my days. I know I didn't narrow these artists down to just five, but come on! How can a person like me decide on just five groups? There are a ton more bands that come to mind but these are just a few that popped into my head at the time I was thinking about genre. I guess if I was to narrow it down to just five, I would pick maybe 2 of each, minus one. I honestly cannot decide which five. It would probably come down to picking them out of a hat. I don’t know, they’re all great in my book.

The Farm

2008-02-17T22:49:00.006-06:00

I don't usually get home all too often anymore. I've lived at home for the last 19 years and I'm starting to wean myself off relying on mom and dad. I'm glad I chose to go to a school that's mildly close to home because despite many occasions that I just want to get away, I always find myself wanting to go home at some point. Don't get me wrong, the college life is great, but no matter how strongly I feel about staying away, I almost always want to go back. I guess one could consider it a transition phase where I'm starting to live my life without listening to what my parents tell me. I think they figured this out already and decided it's time I made my own mistakes. They're more apt to give me advice rather than tell me what to do. For example, with gas prices going up and having no end in sight, my parents have been advising me to trade my full size pickup off on a car that gets twice the mileage. I agree, beings I pay for my own gas, but I've had that truck for years. It has a certain sentimental value to me. I think I'll probably do the wiser thing and go for the car. I have the rest of my life to buy another pickup and mess around, etc. Anyway, that's not quite the point I'm trying to make. The reason I titled this blog "the farm" is because through school, whenever I needed "time to myself", I just hopped in my truck and drove out into the prarie. I love it there because the only thing I hear usually is the sound of wind blowing over the prarie grass. My favorite spot is at the top of a hill, where I can look out across the hills of nothing but grass (and a salvage yard at the top of one hill). I love being up there. This is the perfect place to think. There's no noise, fresh air, no eyesores (besides the salvage yard to my back), and no worries. I can just about say this is my version of Utopia. Sometimes I sit up there by myself for hours, just watching nature as it happens. As a cattle rancher, nothing looks better to me than green lush pastures.

Husker Football

2008-02-14T21:07:00.002-06:00

To me, Husker football is not just another football game played on a Saturday. Although I don't carry my feelings to the point of obsession, I love watching the men in red. There is no other place like Lincoln, Nebraska on a Fall Saturday afternoon. I've been following Husker football for as far back as I can remember, which when you put the numbers to it, is a really long time. I can remember the days of Tommie Frazier and Brook Berringer back in the early '90s. Back then, people like Grant Wistrom, Corey Slesinger, Jason and Christian "the Peter brothers" Peter, and Joel Mackovica were like Gods to me. I loved watching the defense, best known as "the Blackshirts" annihilate the opponent. As long as I can remember, I always wanted to play football for the University of Nebraska. Unfortunately, physical injuries have kept me from living my dream. This last year, I've had the privilege of attending two games. It's very difficult to put into words the feelings and the atmosphere of a Husker football game. The anticipation builds up before the Huskers take the field, the tunnel walk mostly contributing to this feeling. When the men take the field with all the energy, the crowd goes wild and it's so loud a person can't even hear themselves screaming their lungs out. Another thing I'm proud to contribute, is the reputation of the spectators for the University. Nebraska fans are widely known as "the best fans in college football." The amount of respect majority of the fans show to the team and opposing teams is rifiling. Even if the Huskers lose, the fans still applaud a valiant attempt and congratulate the victor (even if it is some rival team like Colorado or Oklahoma). As an avid Husker fan, it gives me great pride to hear this from people on ESPN like Lee Corso and Kirk Hirbstreit. Through thick and thin, I'm always behind my team looking forward to the next game and the next season.

2008-02-10T21:47:00.000-06:00

This music video, to a person just watching it for the first time, may seem kinda creepy. If you pay close attention during the music solo parts, the group incorporates extra feelings with clips of movies about a man's pain and suffering. With listening to the song's lyrics, one would think the man's pain and suffering comes as a result of serving his country in the military. It becomes obvious that the man with the box looking thing over his face has something terribly wrong with him. A man in the movie clip states he understands what the man is trying to say through Morse Code, being a result that he cannot speak, see, or hear anything. The man is wishing that the people taking care of him stop, and let him die. I'm not going to lie, the movie clips freak me out, from the idea of not being able to see, speak, or hear anything. Just as the song goes, war has taken all his joys, all his happiness, all his reasons for living.

I think the point Metallica is trying to make is sometimes (more often than not), our government makes us do things we don't want to do; in this case, go to war. They're willing to sacrifice one person for the betterment of others. As a result, that one person's life is, as stated in the song, "left me with life in hell". I never payed much attention to lyrics of rock songs. Being a musician myself, I usually just listen to the awesome sound they produce. I should pay more attention to detail. I could see myself listening to a song in town, and it would offend someone because of the lyrics, and I wouldn't understand why because I'm busy listening to the music rather than the lyrics. Though, now, I pay more attention to detail and understand why they wrote that song, rather than just listening to the musicianship. I would have to say Metallica is one of my favorite rock groups.

Enter Sandman

2008-02-07T14:09:00.000-06:00

This is a music video of Metallica's Enter Sandman

Quotation from Atwan02

2008-01-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

An essay is not a scientific document. It can be serendipitous or domestic, satire or testimony, tongue-in-cheek or wail of grief. Mulched perhaps in its own contradictions, it promises no sure objectivity, just the condiment of opinion on a base of observation and sometimes such leaps of illogic or superlogic that they may work a bit like magic realism in a novel: namely to simulate the mind's own processes in a murkey and incongruous world. More than being instructive, as a magazine article is, an essay has a slant, a seasoned personality behind it that ought to weather well. Even if we think the author is telling the earth is flat, we might want to listen to him elaborate upon the fringes of his premise because the bristle of his narrative and what he's seen intrigues us. He has a cutting edge, yet balance too. A given body of information is going to be eclipsed, but what lives in art is spirit, not factuality, and we respond to Montaigne's human touch despite four centuries of technological and social change. -Edward Hoagland

Something I found interestingly true, is what Ed said about an essay potenitally being completely bogus, but the reader will still look at it like it's a valid truth. Now of course, after the writer states his opinions, the reader will process what is truth and what isn't. It's a certain curiosity that drives reader's to actually read what writers have to say, whether it be completely "bogus" or truthful. Ed's thesis that essays are not scientific documents could be contradicted due to the fact that science is based on opinions being proven right and wrong. Supporting that essays can be like scientific documents, science is truths being sought by individuals. So the question being, where do people start to find these truths? Imagination can be a factor, but I would say mainly science is found by someone's opinion being proven to be correct or incorrect through trial and error. Also, an essay can be completely remote from any sort of scientific reasoning. Scientific documents are not fiction, that's a whole different category. A person can write about fictional characters, which are not scientific. Essays are generally more composed from the human spirit rather than literal reality. I had to read this excerpt multiple times to fully understand what Ed was really trying to get across to his readers. But in the end, it all makes sense to me. An essay doesn't really tell a person much, other than the writer's point-of-view or their own state of being. I think it's because of the fact that essays are not as "concrete" as science is, that you can't really put science and essays in the same category. There's a certain aspect of science that could be set in the same light as an essay, being that there's no real evidence other than the writers knowledge and opinion. Scientists perform a "type" of essay when they're stating a hypothesis. They don't have real evidence yet, it's their own "guess" of what will happen. That's the only way I can think that science and essays could be linked together.

Test Post

2008-01-24T14:27:00.000-06:00

Here is a link to our course's Main Page.