Journals

Jacob Hickey

English 110-H4

Professor Miller

Responding to Entering the Conversation

“Entering the Conversation” in “They Say/I Say” is very informative for teaching any level of student how to write in a way that is scholarly but also interesting to read. The authors makes it known that it is important in writing any essay to provide the ideas of both your own personal side, “I say”, while also showing the opposing side, “they say”. In order to make a great essay, it is important to listen to others and their views, while finding a way to incorporate those ideas with your own. The authors states that the best type of scholarly writing, “is deeply engaged in some way with other people’s views.” They give the example of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, in which he almost entirely gives the opposing views of people and responds to them. In some of the writing, he even agrees with his critics saying, “It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place in Birmingham”. He uses these opposing views as his main origin for some of his arguments. In this way, a reader is able to see the general map of how informative and scholarly writing is supposed to look. In some examples, as the book points out, some authors imply their opinions and views.

This chapter also gave an interesting point that not all writing must be completely one-sided, that some texts may agree and disagree. Still others may, in certain statements, agree and disagree all at once. In my opinion, it is also refreshing that the authors acknowledges the fact that some may look at this writing road map with a bit of skepticism. They state that this “writing template” does not hinder the creativity and imagination with which students can write. Rather, it describes the level of refinement and philosophy with which this level of writing requires and often takes many attempts before being successful. One very enlightening statement from the chapter is, “These templates do not dictate the content of what you say, which can be as original as you can make it, but only suggest a way of formatting how you say it.” After you master this type of writing, you will learn how to successfully be creative without this template.

The authors also explain the difference between plagiarism, “if the words used to fill in the blanks of such formulas are borrowed from others without proper acknowledgment,” and using common phraseology that has been “recycled” and is beneficial to make a point. Toward the end of the chapter, the writers make it clear what they want us as the reader to get out of this informative manual: to be “a critical, intellectual thinker who, instead of sitting passively on the sidelines, can participate in the debates and conversations of your world in an active and empowered way.” It is important to be a person of these traits for many reasons such as applying for a job, being successful in any endeavor, and plainly just living life independently. We, as people, must be respectful of other’s views while also having our own ideals and thoughts.

Jacob Hickey

ENG 110-H4

Professor Miller

1. Imagine you could invite David Foster Wallace into the discussion in our classroom. What questions would you ask him about this essay?

If David Foster Wallace were invited into the discussion in our classroom, I would ask him several questions. I would want to know what influenced him in writing and exploring the Maine Lobster Festival. The only small association with Maine was one of his parents, who was born in the northern-inland section of the state. Therefore, he really had little prior dealings with the state itself and its main industries such as lobster. During this reading, I wanted to ask him about the topic of the food chain. As I read, I was pondering these questions, “Isn’t a lion preying on a small zebra or other animal the same as us eating lobster or any other meat? Isn’t this the way we survive, as humans are omnivorous creatures?” I did however find it interesting the point of view he took on the whole topic of the harshness with which humans cook lobster, boiling and other cooking practices. I wanted to know specifically what happened at the Maine Lobster Festival that triggered his desire to write about this very rarely thought about topic. When eating lobster, I have never given a second thought into the way lobsters are cooked, and I assume many people felt the same when reading this excerpt. Has he had any dealings since writing this piece with PETA, or have they ignored his enlightenment of the masses on the cruel ways lobsters are cooked? I also want to know where he received all his knowledge about lobsters. Was it from reputable sources, such as a marine biologist or from a textbook in a library? Even with all of these questions, I became open-minded on this topic and will pause to reflect the next time I have the opportunity for a lobster dinner.

2. Use that experience to think about larger issues, specifically, what are the limits of a written discussion? How might you anticipate your audience’s questions when you write?

Written discussions have a number of limitations that oral discussions do not. For example, people engaging in written dialogue are not able to often grasp tone, as well as, emphasis on words or phrases. Oral discussions have the advantage of being much richer because they can develop from participants sensing tone, inflection or body language or the emphasis of key points to be made. For instance, if I were to have a written discussion in which I ask the question about the lion killing his prey, it could be interpreted by the reader in several ways and it leaves a less clear understanding of whether I personally have an angry tone or a ponderous tone about his topic. It leaves the discussion with more room for misinterpretation.

In order to anticipate the audience’s questions, first you must conduct research and find out the point of view of the audience or know what certain audience members views are on the certain topic at hand. For example, Wallace speaking to a group of lobstermen would expect different questions than if the audience were made up of PETA members. It would be important to research that ahead of time in order to prepare and be able to address potential concerns specific to the audience.

Jacob Hickey

English 110-H4

Professor Miller

In detail, describe your experiences drafting writing projects. And what about revision? What did that look like? What was your process? How did it work for you?

My high school’s English department made it a priority to teach us thesis statements and how to support them in any writing. They taught us that it is critical to produce a thesis statement and then be able to back this idea with quotes or knowledge and analysis. We discussed this process every year in order to ensure we did it correctly. We were also taught that writing does not happen overnight. It is a time-consuming, multi-step process that requires re-reading a piece and re-writing it over and over until the finished product flows exactly the way you want it to. However, in the Chapter 3 reading assigned to us this week, it indicates there are even more steps than we used in my high school classes.

I come from a very small high school in Maine where everyone knows each other. Last year, in my AP English class made up of eight students, we often read and edited each other’s writing projects. Collectively, we were very comfortable providing honest feedback with the intent of helping each other improve, and were able to give constructive criticism of our works without being scared of hurting people’s feelings. Typically, our teacher would assign us an essay or a writing journal at the beginning of the week and have us draft this piece for either the next class or next week. We drafted our own work and then came to class next time prepared to analyze and read others’ works. This provided feedback on what they did well and what we thought they could work on. We sat in a circle of desks with our teacher among us and in a counterclockwise direction, read each others’ work and passed them on to the next classmate. After we had read and studied each paper, we wrote down notes on what we felt were strong points of the piece and what we felt could be worked on. Then, our teacher would individually tell us how we did in her view, and in the opinions of our classmates. It was helpful to see how others viewed the organization of our ideas and how we tied them into our thesis statements. After this, we would take this constructive criticism and work on our own to improve them. I loved our interactive way of revising writings and getting immediate feedback from both our teacher and our classmates. I think it’s helpful to have multiple sets of eyes reviewing because each person provides a different perspective that only helps to make the piece better. It worked well for me as I like to be involved in class discussions and not necessarily just working on my own paper.

Jacob Hickey

English 110-H4

Professor Miller

For this assignment, pick ONE of these topics and write a narrative that includes all of the 5 senses. Help the reader SEE, SMELL, TASTE, TOUCH, and HEAR the scene you’re creating.

Highway accident

I can still hear the screaming and the sound of metal scratching together during that horrible morning in late November. It was gray, everywhere. You know how November is. There is no sun, no leaves, no grass. It was 32 degrees even that morning, just enough for the precipitation coming down from the sky to be frozen when it hit the road pavement. I climbed into my 2011 Toyota Prius. I had just bought it on the used car sales lot. It smelled clean, in a lemony-disinfectant-type way and the heated seats were a nice feature too, taking the chill away and warming my back. I texted my mom and dad to tell them I was going to Portland for the afternoon to visit with some friends and that I was getting into the car. This let them know not to text me and helped to prevent any thought I might have of texting and driving. I typed, “Be back tonight <3<3”. That was the last time I would be able to type with my fingers on the screen. I buckled up and pressed the button to start the engine. The slow vibration of the hybrid began and I backed out of my gravel driveway and began my trip to Portland.

It began to rain. I was not too concerned because at the age of 25, I was experienced enough and had lived in Maine my whole life, so I knew how to drive in messy weather. I veered onto the on-ramp to get onto I-95 South to visit with some of my old college buddies. I looked back as I yielded to oncoming traffic and I started to speed up. The music was on, my favorite, classic 80s rock; a little Guns N Roses’, “Paradise City”. It was good, the holidays were finally here and my job was looking good at the moment because my boss liked me. Everything was looking up.

I noticed that the rain started to pick up and cars were beginning to slow down. With the traffic, I slowed my speed too. Going 45 miles per hour, I didn’t think I would get into any sort of trouble. As the next song began, I started to hydroplane. I tried to turn the steering wheel the other way! “OH NO”, I screamed. Sweat started to pour down my face, my eyes were wide. I was completely panicked. I looked ahead and saw this 18-wheeler ahead of me! I was out of control! Nothing I did helped.

It was like in the movies. Slow motion with the classical music in the background. Only, this was real life. As my car smashed into this massive truck, my life flashed before my eyes. My forehead plunged into the windshield, and that was the last thing I remember. The next thing I knew, I was gradually gaining consciousness, awakening in what felt like a thick, pasty fog. My head was throbbing as if someone were beating me with a heavy object and my family was by my side, sobbing. As I looked down, to my horror, my arms were gone. I was shocked, my heart seized by a thousand icy fingers. Having worked with amputees, I knew I was facing years of rehab before I would even be able to function again. With that realization dawning, I passed out, lunging back into deep, dark unconsciousness.