Learning Log Unit 1

Jan 22, 2020 - “Donald J. Trump, Pope Francis, and the Beef that Defied Space and Time”
1. Record two ah-hah moments from the article on our Learning Log
a. When the author wrote, “And by choosing to speak up about political issues in
the first place, the Pope was affirming his own identity as a religious leader
whose views on global affairs mattered. In that sense, the Pope used language to
be something in this world.” This was a direct example of what they were trying to
relay, being that language is a tool for many things.
b. “..Trump also created a sense of looming danger and an impending threat that
wasn’t there before. How’s that for making something with language?” This
shows the way you can use language for you if you want to gain control by using
fear. Language, and the way you use it is a tool.
2. Craft a two-sentence analysis of the article and be prepared to share your ideas with a
classmate
a. Anyone can use language for any reason they want to. Language can be used as
a tool in many different formats.

Jan 24, 2020 - “Language Matters: A Rhetorical Look at Writing”

1. Record two ah-hah statements from the article
a. “...language is generative-it creates something.” They wrote about the way you
can change language if different ways like how you write on a resume to be the
best candidate for a job.
b. “...with rhetorical thinking, you can make language work for you.”
2. Blankenship and Jory state that “language is difficult, and it’s messy.” Explain.
a. Language changes from person to person, and from source to source. You have
to use a completely different writing style on a resume than you do a personal
reflection even though you could be writing about the same types of things. You
have to be able to also change around your understanding of what you are
reading when changing platforms like a book to an educational essay.

Jan 28, 2020 - “Genre in the Wild - Understanding Genre Within Rhetorical (Eco)Systems” - Lisa
Bickmore
1. Record two ah-hah moments
2. Does having a genre limit help or hurt your ability to write?

Day 4 - Jan 30, 2020 - “Writing for Community Change” - Elisa Stone
1. Record two ah-hah moments
a. “With this privilege comes an obligation, and that obligation is to be contributing
members of society who work toward the greater good of all.” This sentence
struck me because of course I want to be a contributing member of society, but
I’m putting myself first right now to get there. It just seems kind of backwards.
 b. “Writing and reflection helps us make these experiences into artifacts that show
we are, indeed, good citizens.” This is something I’ve never really talked about or
thought about. Writing is a form of documentation, and it can be personal, or you
can share it on a large scale.
2. If money and time were no factors, what service opportunity would you engage in?
Elaborate.
a. I would want to open more animal shelters, and work harder getting ferals, and
friendly strays off the streets. Even getting the ferals off the streets, spayed or
neutered, and putting them back out there would help. If I could I’d make this a
world wide effort, but here in the United States, I feel like a lot of good could
come to many of these animals just by giving them a chance to be adopted.

February 5, 2020 - “The Elizabeth Smart Case: A Study In Narrative News” - Clint Johnson
1. Record two “golden quotes” from the article
a. “When Mary Katherine told police she suddenly and without apparent cause
remembered the kidnapper’s voice as that of a man she had met briefly more
than a year before, police did not believe her.”
b. “​stories that feel like stories, get told and retold”
2. What, in your opinion, make the Elizabth Smart story so universal and long-lasting?
a. There is a beginning and an ending, with a victim and a villain. There was even
progress being made through suspects, and the sister remembering Emmanual’s
voice. It’s a story you’d find in a book it’s so clear cut. It’s easy for people to
understand and tell again. Everyone was stereotypical: little girl as a victim, a
grown man as a villain, the family pushing the story.

February 7, 2020 - “Writing is Recursive” - Chris Blankenship

1. Record two “golden quotes.”
a. “Unlike student writers, professional writers, like Steven Pinker, don’t view each
part of the writing process as a step to be visited just once in a particular order.”
b. “One goal of required college writing courses is to help you move from the
mindset of the student writer to that of the experienced writer.”
c. “Invention can be as formal as brainstorm activities like mind mapping and as
informal as thinking about your writing task over breakfast.”
2. Why is the second image a more accurate way for measuring writing?
a. The second image is more accurate because writing is not a linear experience.
Sure you can try to go step by step, but you always have to revisit where you
were, and then go back to what you were doing. You have to go back and forth
through all of the “steps,” of writing constantly in order for the thing you are
writing to be of real quality.
February 11, 2020 - “Revision IS Writing. That Is All.” - Lisa Bickmore
1. Record two “golden quotes.
a. Calonne sees evidence, in the marks of Joyce’s revision strategies, of
genius—but he probably would have seen Joyce as a genius regardless
b. Revision isn’t a mystery or a black door. It IS exacting and creative work—it
requires just as much thinking as the original draft, if not more.