Thomas Packham

Learning Log
English 2010

1/15/19
¨Donald J. Trump, Pope Francis, and the Beef That Defied Space and Time¨ by
Benjamin Solomon

1. ¨Consider Trump’s intended audience. Trump understood that his

supporters—both current and potential—weren’t so much interested in elegant
sentence structure and internal logic as they were in the threat of terrorism and
the promise of power and safety.¨
2. ¨​Next time you encounter a public beef or disagreement, pause for a moment to
observe how both parties use language to do much more than just “express
themselves”—how in fact, they use language as a powerful tool to take action,
create meaning, and shape identity.¨

The article explains and gives examples about how world leaders use language and
rhetoric to make change and influence others. Benjamin Solomon effectively taught the
audience about the power of rhetoric, how it can create action, add meaning, shape
identity, and how it can even be used to play tricks on your mind.

1/17/19
“Language Matters: A Rhetorical Look at Writing” by Chris Blankenship and Justin Jory

1. The fact that language is generative is why it’s worth paying attention to; it’s a
resource we can use to do things, make things, and be things in the world.
2. Working with language is difficult and it’s messy. It’s a skill you have to learn and
practice; rhetoric gives you a framework to make that process easier. It’s a
method that you can use systematically as a way of revealing and handling the
complexity of language. In short, rhetoric is a tool to make language work for you.

Jory and Blakenship are correct about language being difficult and messy. There are so
many ways to understand and decipher English, and it can be confusing at times. The
authors effectively explain how rhetorical tools can be used to develop meaning within
language.

1/22/19
‘Genre in the Wild - Understanding Genre Within Rhetorical (Eco)Systems” by Lisa
Bickmore

1. Thus, genres are both stable and to some degree fluid and evolving, just as
human communication itself is both predictable and unpredictable.
2. Genres help writers get things done: they are durable text-types that people use
repeatedly for similar communicative acts.

I believe genre does not necessarily make your writing robotic. If you understand the
nature of genres, you can adapt them in order to fit your writing and to help you avoid
making your writing robotic.

1/28/19

“Writing for Community Change” by Elisa Stone

1. Still, college is about more than an education, more than just taking class after
class, semester after semester, to get to where you want to go. College was
designed to teach us to be whatever it is we want to be when we grow up
(assuming we do grow up at some point), but it is also intended for a larger
purpose: to make us good citizens.
2. College has a history of combining service and learning in ways that allow
students to gain hands-on experience, write for audiences outside of their
classrooms, and change the way they see their role in the communities around
them.

If money and time were no factors, what service opportunity would you engage in?
Elaborate.

I would be involved with international service, especially in third world countries. These
are costly, but so rewarding and enjoyable. I love meeting new people and helping the
world grow.

1/28/19

“The Elizabeth Smart Case: A Study in Narrativized News”

 1. Stories with narrative structure, stories that feel like stories, get told and retold.
Those that do not, sometimes despite their importance, languish untold or are
quickly forgotten.
2. Story is the primary way we make meaning from life. And so, sadly, the 800,000
missing children cases that didn’t easily fit story structure did not “mean as
much.”

What in your opinion, makes the Elizabeth Smart case so long-lasting and universal?

I personally believe that he fact that the kidnapper was seen while taking
elizabeth, there were several sightings, and a final recovery kept the story so engaging.
It was so long lasting because it really was a story, with several points of interest
keeping the audience interested.

1/30/19

“Writing is Recursive” by Chris Blankenship

1. But if you’re willing to put aside the linear steps and view invention, research,
drafting, revision, and editing as ways of thinking that can be revisited over and
over again until you accomplish your goal, you will become a more successful
writer.
2. In a nutshell, although writing always ends with the creation of a “product,” the
process that leads to that product determines how effective the writing will be.

Why is the second image a more accurate way for measuring writing?

Because writing is a process that involves visiting and revisiting the different stages
multiple times. Once you come up with an idea, you can always add a new idea or
change the idea and incorporate that into your text.

2/1/19

“Making Choices in Writing” by Jessie Szalay

1. In order to produce the best writing you can—and not be miserable while you’re
doing it—you’re going to want to pick a topic that really, truly interests you, with
 which you are excited to engage, about which you have the resources to learn,
and about which you can envision having something to say.
2. “Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to
discover it.” Each chip in the marble, each word on the page, is a choice to make
one thing emerge instead of something else. It’s a selection. It’s up to you to
select the best, most rhetorically effective, most interesting, and most beautiful
option.

What are five strategic choices that you will make for your upcoming open letter?

- Research the topic thoroughly so I have sufficient background information

- Organize it so it flows smoothly and goes from one point to the next without
confusion
- Choose a genre and try to stick to it and incorporate it throughout the entire piece
of text
- Incorporate different forms of appel into the text in order to grab the reader’s
attention
- Use word choice well, there are so many options of words to describe a single
topic or message.

2/5/19

Read two open letters

1. This is a standardized, multiple-choice world. I know that now.

2. After all, what did they learn? How to access their imaginations? Developing
original thoughts? Teamwork? I may as well have taught them how to file for
unemployment.

These letter share three common characteristics. First, they all are about a social issue,
with multiple sides. Second, they all explain, inform, or persuade. Third, they all take a
side and give a possible call for action or a solution to the issue.

2/7/19

“Peer Review” by Jim Beatty

 1. No good writing exists in isolation. The best writing comes out of a communal
effort.
2. The least helpful thing you can do when peer reviewing is correct grammar and
typos.
3. Resist the powerful urge to get defensive over your writing. Try your best not to
respond until your reviewer is finished giving and explaining their feedback. Keep
in mind that your peers do not have all the information about your paper that you
do.

Real reviews relating to organization, structure, word choice, and larger-scale issues
mae peer reviews worthwhile. Those only on grammar, spelling, and punctuation are
useful, but much less significant.

2/11/19

“Personal Literacy and Academic Learning”

1. In the present age, to be literate means to be able to communicate through texts

in ways that help you meet your needs and the needs of others.
2. These various literacies are much more than skills; they are practices:
observable patterns of behavior that we enact over time as we work in particular
knowledge frameworks and use particular technologies to communicate.

TIMELINE-
Birth-present:
1. Learn to read and write
2. Learn proper spelling
3. Learn grammar
4. Learn how to make complex sentences
5. Learn proper punctuation
6. Learn writing styles and techniques
7. Learn sentence structure
8. Learn how to write different types of text, including persuasive, argumentative,
and informational pieces.
9. Learn how to write creatively
10. Learn how to write on a social issue
2/13/19

“You Will Never Believe What Happened: Stories We Tell” by Ron Christiansen

1. We all tell stories. For humor. For clarifying our view of the world. For asserting
our identity.
2. Stories are our attempts to make sense of the world. We narrate our experience
in order to connect with others and validate our own experience and self-worth.
We shape our identity through these stories.

This quote means that reading stories is just as vital as telling stories. Along with our
human desire to share stories, we also have a desire to read stories that fills our
purpose as humans.

2/15/19

“Is That a True Story?” by Ron Christiansen

1. I would argue, however, that one thing is clear: the minute we start to retell a
story from our past we are constructing it from our point of view, so there’s no
need to get too worried about getting every detail correct. It’s impossible.
2. “What really matters isn’t so much whether it’s true in the forensic sense, in the
legal sense.” Instead, “What really matters is whether people are making
something meaningful and coherent out of what happened. Any creation of a
narrative is a bit of a lie. And some lies have enough truth”

Truth is complicated because what one person knows to be truth can be different than
what somebody else thinks. Likewise, some things are hard to remember, and
sometimes we try our very best to share the truth but we cannot 100% of the time.

2/21/19

“Adding the storyteller’s Tools to the Writer's Toolbox” by Clint Johnson

1. The sections are the power of sense, experience, sensory detail, voice, and
conflict
2. “Writing stories requires that we write meaningful scenes”
 3. “Stories can provide new experiences by which people can make sense of the
claims they encounter.”
4. “could skillfully describing the succulent experiences of the dishes at your new
favorite spot motivate readers to frequent it?”
5. “Most good stories are about dramatic, interesting characters, people who the
author creates yet are not the author”
6. “Conflict is produced when different individuals or groups have competing
interests and take action trying to achieve their personal goals”

2/25/19

“Memorability: 6 Keys for Success” by Nikki Mantyla

1. Jerry Seinfeld kept everything simple, yet it was effective. Keeping his remark
brief allowed it to be concise and memorable
2. The audience did not expect him to say anything about his age, but the fact that
he did made it memorable.
3. Jerry Seinfeld used concrete actions to establish a firm memory based on the
senses. He slowly moved his foot and gave them something to see.
4. Jerry Seinfeld is extremely famous, and is already recognized credibly. This
allowed the audience to remember better.
5. Seinfeld used the phrase “how hard could it be?”. This was a shared emotion that
both he and the audience shared, establishing a connection with the audience.
6. Seinfelds act was story based, using a hook, conflict, resolution, etc. This kept
the audience interested throughout the entire remark about the spotlight.

2/28/19

“We Can’t Escape the Story no Matter How Hard we Try” by Ron Christiansen

1. That’s right . . . writing can be exhilarating and liberating when we see our
arguments through the lens of story.
2. I am arguing, along with Newkirk, that when we write we are asking our readers
to come along with us on a journey. Even if this movement is not mentioned
explicitly and even if it is not accomplished with literal plots, there is movement: a
movement from one insight to another, the movement of inquiry. When we do not
 engage our readers in this movement, we lose an opportunity to allow them a
window into our meaning-making process.
3. While we can try to escape our own stories when we make arguments, we most
certainly don’t have to, nor should we.
Every story is an argument because every argument is based on our own inescapable
stories and personal experiences that make us who we are.

3/4/19

¨The Narrative Effect: Story as the Forward Frame¨

1. In other words, Berube argues that narrative is a cognitive structure—something

we use to think, or even a kind of thinking in and of itself—that affords specific
uses and opportunities for the reader and writer alike.
2. as a cognitive structure or way of making sense of experience, as a type of text,
and as a resource for communicative interaction”
3. Stories also help readers understand why and under what conditions the story
matters.
4. they help us reason morally and develop a sense of the world
5. an explicit timeline or course of events, a sense of situation and occasion, and
the animation of a story-world.

Reading this helped me understand that a story doesn't have to be chronologically in

order, having it written differently can help get a point across. I will use this new
knowledge in my upcoming memoir.

3/6/19

“Punctuation, Memes, and Choice” by Nikki Mantyla

1. Punctuation can lead to either emphasis, de-emphasis, or confusion. I learned

really just how important punctuation is, and the fact that punctuation can also be
used to de-emphasize something.
2. I found it interesting how vital proper comma use is. The memes shared really
gave good examples of humorous results of improper usage of commas.
3. Parentheses vs. hyphens makes a lot more sense to me now. The information
shared on how they are both similar, but are each used to give a different effect
than the other.
3/8/19

“Peer Review” by Jim Beatty

I agree with the quote that stated the least helpful thing you can do while peer reviewing
is checking punctuation or grammar. That is useful, but is not going to make your piece
of text significantly better. From my experience, I know that hearing feedback about the
text at whole is so much more effective and useful.

3/14/19

“Writing Sentences” by

1. To Myka’s mother’s surprise, Myka sang.

2. Myka’s singing was surprising to her mother.
3. The singing coming from Myka was surprising to her mother.
4. Myka’s mother was surprised that Myka sang.
5. When Myka sang, her mother was surprised.
6. The sound of singing coming from Myka was surprising to her mother.
7. Her mother was surprised when Myka sang.
8. The moment Myka began to sing, her mother was surprised.
9. Myka’s singing surprised her mother.
10. Myka sang, her mother was surprised.

Non-hibakusha employer developed a prejudice against the survivors as word got

around that they were prone to all sorts of ailments, and that even those, like
Nakmura-san, who were not cruelly maimed and had not developed