Only for Charandy

Your blog is an on line personal journal or diary.  It is a place to share your thoughts and feelings about significant topics based on The McGraw Hill Reader and on line sources.  Unlike a journal or discussion, a blog requires a visual presence.  Think of it as your own website. Some prompts will require visuals, photographs, or web links, but you are encouraged to use these in all your posts.  Be sure to familiarize yourself with the tools in the text box in order to take advantage of the full scope of the blog.  Each week there will be two prompts requiring your response. Responses may be posted in one blog entry or two, but each response should be clearly titled.  While blogging is more relaxed than formal essay writing, it requires a minimum word count (see individual instructions), good grammar, and correct spelling.  It also requires APA documentation of sources when quoting or citing from a website or using any on line source.  Remember, it’s your world and your blog!

Wk. 1 Blog: Family and Identity

Chapter Five asks: “How do we become who we are?”

Many factors affect who we are, and how we become who we are today.  As noted in our textbook by Muller (2014),

As much as our identities are shaped by powerful institutional forces like the family, what we are might be even more powerfully determined by the forces of sexuality and gender. Freud asserted that human behavior is rooted in sexuality, that gender (rather than family or school or social institution) is destiny. Clearly, notions of what it means to be a man or a woman have an impact on the construction of our identity. (p. 229)

Prompt #1.  For your first blog, consider a person, place or thing that had a major influence on you.  Find a photograph, graphic, or video that captures the feeling of that influence.  It might be an actual photograph, a music video, or an inspirational graphic or quotation.  Perhaps, you might browse social media like Pinterest or Instagram.  Post the photo or graphic along with 300 words sharing what that influence meant to you and its effect on your goals and dreams.

Prompt #2.  After reading Annie Dillard’s “An American Childhood” (pp. 241-246).  Then, write a short descriptive essay about someone you know very well, using several anecdotes or examples from that person’s life, so that by the end of the essay, the reader will have a mental picture of your subject’s personality, values and attitudes.  This could be someone in your biological family or someone else with whom you are or were close.  Minimum 300 words.

Requirements:

• Respond to two prompts with a minimum 300 word each
• Graphic, photo, or other visual required (Prompt #1)
• Cite any sources used or quoted material.

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After reading “The Maker’s Eye: Revising Your Own Manuscript” (pp. 109-113). Answer the following questions:

1. What part of the process is most important to you? (Prewriting/Discovery; Drafting; Revision; Editing/Final) (100- 150 words)
2. How do you feel when approaching a writing assignment? Are you confident? Stressed? (100- 150 words)
3. In week two, you will write an essay explaining your writing process. Compose a working thesis statement about your writing process. Be sure to include: 1) How effective your writing process is. 2) three key points that support your main idea of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of your writing. Thesis statement should be one sentence.
4. Respond to the following statements from Murray’s essay. (250 words)

“When students complete a first draft, they consider the job of writing done—"

“A piece of writing is never finished. It is delivered to a deadline, torn out of the typewriter on demand, sent off with a sense of accomplishment and shame and pride and frustration. If only there were a couple more days, time for another run at it, perhaps then ... .”