Final Blog Post

-What did you learn about writing and the news, or in what ways have your writing and news habits changed, through this course? Why do those changes matter? How might you apply that knowledge or those new habits in the future?

Throughout the course I learned that most writing is generally done as a response to another person's writing with the use of forwarding and countering the original writer's ideas and beliefs. Another useful thing I learned was that there are many different biases out there, especially on the internet where writers have the modern ability to reach their readers within seconds of finishing their piece of writing. I also realized that writing can be done in a large variety of tones. Prior to taking this writing course, I hadn't really engulfed myself into the world of current events. Since it is a requirement in this class to keep up with things that are going on in the news I started making a habit of going through multiple news sites daily. I wanted to have a broad range of news sites to check up on regularly regarding their styles so I chose the New York Times, the Onion, the Huffington Post, and Freakonomics. After completing the largest amount of writing I have ever done in a period of 10 weeks and keeping up with current events, I truly feel that my writing and news habits have changed for the better. At the beginning of the quarter I had a lot of trouble with writing since my school did not provide enough writing teaching in my opinion. With my newfound writing abilities I will have the freedom and ease to supply a much more sophisticated outlook on writing pieces for my future courses.  

Morris's "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" Unit 2-Post 8

To be honest, when I first saw the title of Morris's article, "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire" I didn't think that I would be reading a piece that simply argued wether or not a picture is lying.  The relationships I understood the author to be noting between images and beliefs were a bit confusing when I started reading his article.  He first notes receiving photographs taken decades ago by his father, who has already passed.  Feeling disconnected from the pictures even though he was present in some, in a way, Morris mentions that if it was not his own family he wouldn't be able to connect stories to those images.  But throughout the rest of the piece Morris harps on the theory that if an image is absent of a caption or at times a story, it can not be determined if the image is true or false.  The author provides us with a picture of a ship in a body of water, free of a caption. He then adds that, "a caption less photograph, stripped of all context, is virtually meaningless." (Morris)  I completely disagree with his opinion on this matter.  Given the picture from the article, once can conclude that there is someone either on another boat or a piece of land taking the picture.  One can also make the point that the boat is in operation and that it has passengers on it; due to the fact that there is smoke coming out of the boat along with people on the deck.  Next, Morris adds a caption, "Lusitania," which is the name of the boat.  With the caption, one can add another piece of information to the image.  Finally, the author supplies the reader with a story, and several images that are connected to the original picture along with stories.  Now that we have been provided with stories to connect the image to, there is a full story behind it.

I found an example of Morris's ideas and my disagreement with his ideas in an article from the New York Times called "Chavez Returns to Venezuela, Trailing Doubts."  The picture that is used in the beginning of the article shows us a woman wearing a Venezuelan hat and the national color, red, while other people dressed in red hold up a picture of the nation's leader, Chavez in front of a hospital.  After you read the story you can see the connection that the people in the pictures are people that support the return of the dictator.

Harris's "Taking an Approach" Unit 2-Post 7

The first thing that Harris mentions about his concept of "Taking an Approach" is that taking an approach, "is writing in the mode of another writer." (Harris 74)  When you are taking an approach you can use one of the two versions that Harris explains in this chapter, either weak or strong.  When someone is taking the weak version of an approach simply use the ideas of another writer without adapting their own point of view on the subject.  This version of taking an approach usually includes the writer plainly agreeing with what the original writer has said without promoting any new viewpoint in either the form of agreement or disagreement.  Personally, this seems like the easier way to take an approach that is predominantly used by those writers that are either trying to make a serious emphasis on what the other writer has expressed or by lazy writers that are seeking the simple road.  To describe the strong version of taking an approach Harris adds that, "When you take on the approach of another writer both your writing and theirs needs to change." (Harris 74)  The author shares the three ways in which you can "position your own work in relation to that of writers and intellectuals who have shaped your approach," (Harris 78) which are acknowledging influences, turning an approach on itself, or reflexivity.
An example of taking an approach would be the way the website Freakonomics creates a sort of environment for the reader where they can observe a factual and economically based approach on a broad range of subjects.

Short Essay 1

Alexander Kowalski

WRIT 1122

Professor Leake

February 11, 2013

Introduction to “Pirates of the Caribbean: Rewritten”

Not long after beginning what I thought would be a very prolonged and dreadful

search for an article post from a blog that I would soon rewrite for a different audience

than originally intended, I came across the website “Freakonomics.” There, I found

an article called “Pirates of the Caribbean” that is based on the rumors that the two

Caribbean islands, Antigua and Barbuda, are somehow creating a legal version of

pirating software under certain regulations set by WTO (World Trade Organization).

The irony behind this is that the WTO’s main goal was originally to protect such

intellectual property that is most commonly pirated online. Coming from a website such

as “Freakonomics,” which is predominantly tailored for the interests of people that are

concerned with the economical aspect of the events that are going on in the world, this

article included many facts pertaining to the WTO, how the two countries are able to

“operate their own national versions of the Pirate Bay,” (Raustiala & Sprigman 1) and

past trade courts that occurred between the Caribbean islands and the U.S. Rather than

taking an approach similar to the one just explained, I will be rewriting this article in a

manner that it will be directed to an audience of music enthusiasts in order to ignite the

discussion on whether or not it is right to pirate music.

Link to article:http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/01/30/pirates-of-the-caribbean/

“Pirates of the Caribbean: Rewritten”

As I’m sure all of you rolling stones like staying up to date with what is going in

the world of music, you’d be glad to be informed that there has been a new breakthrough

in respect to pirating. According to “Yahoo News”, “The islands of Antigua and

Barbuda are threatening to strip intellectual property protections from American goods as

a part of a long-running trade dispute over the U.S. embargo on the tiny Caribbean

nation’s online gambling industry.” (Satter 1)

Not only is this a serious situation for the U.S. to be in, but also it will directly

affect the artists whose “intellectual property” will be jeopardized even more than prior

to the change. Thanks to the age of technology that we have now been a part of for about

two decades now, people are able to get things that would normally have to be paid for

with no charge. Without knowing the personalities of my readers, I already know that

some of you have already used websites that offer pirated property. Heck, some of you

might even have some music downloading on your pirating software as you read this

article. On the other side of the spectrum, there are those readers that are still to this day

either buying records from their local Best Buy, using their countless iTunes cards that

they have received over several years of holiday and birthday gifts, or buying the music

directly off of the artists’ websites.

Now my question to you all is, are you going to partake in the practical stealing of

another person’s work or will you rise above it and make the right moral decisions?

Countering Unit 2-Post 6

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/10/damascus-highway-syria-battle-rebels-troops_n_2657561.html

Harris begins this chapter by reassuring us that the aim of writing is not to show how much smarter you are than others but to expand on what others have already said, nor to point out another writer’s mistakes and proceed to show them how to do it correctly.  He makes it clear that the type of countering that he is going to talk about is one that disagrees with the “verbal swordplay” explained above.  The author states that, “to counter is not to nullify but to suggest a different way of thinking.” (Harris 56)  Harris makes a serious emphasis that countering is to provide different views, opinions, and to notice what other writers have not in a subject or an idea without disagreeing with those views and opinions of other writers.  A basic understanding of a subject must be identified before criticizing for countering.  Harris shares three different ways to do such countering: arguing the other side, uncovering values, and finally dissenting.  To argue the other side is to, in some cases, critique by adding reasoning and pointing out incomplete information provided by the writer.  Harris states that you must “uncover a term of value that a text has obscured or repressed before you can question it.” (Harris 60)  To uncover values is to find the influence behind the text itself, and to become aware of the information that is either not given any attention or is overlooked in order to gain new ideas.  Dissenting is pinpointing the errors of the text’s arguments and correcting them.

In a post that I found on Huffington Post, I was able to find an example of Harris’s definition of countering.  In the article “Damascus Highway Battle Rages Between Syria Rebels and Troops”, written by Barbara Surk, the author uncovers values such as, “The initiative is unlikely to gain any traction among the Syrian opposition and fighters on the ground, a highly decentralized force with weak links to the political leaders that deeply distrusts the regime,” which shows us that she is aware of the information she is conveying.

Press Sphere Unit 2-Post 4

The first thing that Jarvis talks about in his article “The Press Becomes the Press-Sphere” is his disagreement with the thought that all news depends on the press.  The author expresses his opinion on this by saying that there is a new “ecosystem” of news now.  In a way, he describes the way in which people used to and are now getting their information.  In the past, people depended solely on the press to get connected with the news, and in my opinion that would be a pretty large hassle to have to wait on another source to become informed.  Today, people might be getting their news through a variation of different sources.  In general, most college students acquire their news either through classes, discussions held between friends or families over the phone, social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, or they might be frequently browsing through news websites.  He continues on to explain that there are many different ways to stay updated with the news in this day and age.  To be completely honest, I found Jarvis’s piece to be a bit confusing.  I managed to grasp the general concept of what he is trying to convey to the reader, but I feel as if he could distribute his information in a much simpler form to accommodate a larger audience. 

Forwarding Unit 2-Post 5

http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-congress/2013/02/graham-defends-obama-on-drones-156263.html

Joseph Harris could not be any more straightforward with the way he titles the chapters in his novel “Rewriting”.  Even before starting the reading I was able to figure out that it would have something to do with taking someone’s work or part of someone’s work and sharing it with others.  Harris states, “a writer forwards a text by taking words, images, or ideas from it and putting them to use in new contexts.” (Harris 37)  In this process, the author mentions that revision of key words and concepts very often takes place, and a sort of shift occurs in the writing to have the readers focus more so on the new project rather than the latter.  Harris includes the several types of purposeful writing, which are: illustrating, authorizing, borrowing, and extending.  All of these are used by writers to expand on what they already know in order to successfully achieve the act of forwarding.  Illustrating is what writers use to back up their writing, most often done by “look(ing) to other texts for examples of a point you want to make. “ (Harris 39)  Authorizing is a move typically used to prove that the writer actually knows what they are talking about.  Borrowing basically means taking an idea or phrase from another person’s writing for your own piece.  A little bit different from the other three, extending is used when a writer wants to expand on what another person has already said, whether it is for or against that person’s opinion.

To find an example of forwarding I figured since there are so many pieces being written on politics, that it would not be very hard to find one in that field.  I came across an article posted on politico.com called “Graham defends Obama on drones”, where the author, Ginger Gibson, explains how Senator Lindsey Graham supports President Obama’s decision to use drones.  Gibson practices the act of borrowing by quoting Senator Graham several times throughout her article.