Avoid Primer Style

Avoid primer style. Primer style is short. Primer style is boring. Primer style is tedious. Primer style is choppy. So avoid it.
Avoid using primer style writing by joining sentences and refraining from the use of to-be verbs. Nobody wants to look like they are a second grader in their writing, and no one really creates a whole essay that way, but some of my own paragraphs may use this primer style to trudge through facts and details that could otherwise stand illustrious. See here.

Presentation

I will focus on the delivery of the presentation. Specifically I will focus on avoiding slouching, focus on eye contact with every member of the audience, and focus on varying the pitch of my voice when I speak. An oral report may take many hours of research to prepare. When presented poorly it loses so much. Almost as important as material in a presentation is the presenting itself.

Heart Disease

Heart Disease huh? I hear it is not good for you at all. It ranks numero uno for killing us people, it has not taken me yet, but it might some day. I thought that the leading cause of death would be birth, hm. An article that I found notes that old people tend to get these death diseases. If they were categorized into larger groups cancer would be number one. Heart disease is connected to other diseases in the pull to bring us down. Maybe we could do our thing on what the leading cause of death is for people who have an autopsy done, but that would be impossible information to find. Watch out for heart disease team, it will get you faster then lead poisoning.

Verb!

Run! No no no, do not run, just verb. I was less confused about verbs before I studied them. If you would like to be confused too you should find out what a gerund is, and a present participle. That is when the -ing is added to a verb. I think it makes immediate past seem more immediate. Can I be grammaring? No. But I can be eating, breathing, coughing and choking. Choking on the sandwich I was eating I began coughing and couldn't continue breathing. The trick is when to use -ed or -ing. I stopped using -ed when finding that it helped me with my grammaring. Uh...

Opposition

Lucas Yates
English 1010
Proposition Opposition Essay
Mar. 30, 2009
Crying Laughs
Happiness is a choice. Happiness rises as an independent attribute in everyone, rises like a wall of water and falls like the pessimistic surfer in its wake. Opposition in life is apparent, predictable, and periodically constant. Everyone can choose to be happy or choose to be miserable. The hermit and the highness have inheritably the exact same opportunity for happiness.
Outcomes range in a spectrum, the only thing in the end under complete control of the individual being attitude. After a negative decision is made, and a negative consequence results, a person decides if they will be happy or not. The man who lost his arm can smile while the man who earned the job of his lifetime sulks. The difference in completely in the perspective and choice of the individuals.
Terrific and tragic events in life hold no bearing on a person’s happiness. Happiness is an inner drive that propels one through life, not a train reliant on coal to compel it onward. The person who wins the lottery celebrates and quickly returns to the level of happiness that they enjoyed before the windfall. The person who loses their legs is swept in shock, yet returns surprisingly to their normal state of happiness.
When something amazing happens in someone’s life it does not hold them at an increased level of satisfaction, at the next sight of emotional distress the previous joy fades. Objects do not
2.
bring happiness. A man who, for years, works and sweats to earn money for a million dollar house, achieves his desire, then, upon weeks of ownership finds flaws, additions to be made, alternative locations for the house. Men and women adapt to their new environment, and whether they choose to or not, they see the novel as mundane, and their sights search and reach for the next goal.
Those who are inflicted by pain and trial do not even need to crawl out from the dregs of despair, and are no less happy than the person with the million dollar house. A young woman diagnosed with cancer contemplates briefly the severity of her situation, and with unearthly celerity returns to a life of happiness.
"...there is no particular satisfaction indispensable to happiness, nor a dissatisfaction inevitably prohibiting it"(Kekes 360).
Some choices are obvious and excused by almost anyone, with the pain the mother feels with the loss of a child, her choice to let tears of love and loss fall freely. Or the old man who relishes still in footage of football from his younger days, choosing to use anything to cause happiness.
Happiness is an independent choice, an individual view and feeling that comes from within.
Works Cited
Kekes, John. Mind, New Series, Vol. 91, No. 363 (Jul., 1982), pp. 358-376 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Mind Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2253226

Add verbs and adverbs

An adjective can give color to a scene, but an adverb can give emotion. Adverbs are modifiers for verbs, making them more intense or less. I have found that we use lots of adverbs in speaking, but when it comes to writing sometimes we forget them altogether. One must carefully modify verbs, boldly adding strength and gently sweeping emotion through action. It works. Check it out here.

em dash

Do you ever see those dashes–with no spaces between the sentence parts? It is an "em dash." I thought it would be interesting to use some of those to spice up my writing. I formal writing it is best to use the em dash very sparingly, though you could use it once per paper–which I would suggest. But in informal writing you can do whatever you want–of course. It works really well when you see that you have too many semi-colons–just use an em dash. Have fun–here.

Respond to Essay

Yes

Grammar Repetitions

Who is afraid of repeating themselves? Who? I feared at one point sounding dumb because of word repetitions within a paragraph, sentence, or even essay. I have bad memories of the word 'endeavor' from the book "Frankenstein." If you can endeavor down the stairs, back up, then endeavor to take the out the trash, all the while endeavoring the scenery with your eyes, then you have authority to repeat yourself as often as you care to endeavor.

I looked it up, and to my surprise, underneath coherence is a section on repeating words, and how it can be good. I agree. My advice is to repeat whatever you want and see if it flows. If it sounds overdrawn and you've overdrawn a word, then redraw your sentence. If you hit it just right, between novice and professional, right between reminding and killing, keep it, don't kill it, you got it right.

Check it out.

Art

The Solamere by Doug Adams is crazy because of the four rocks in it, its giant chime with hitting device, and the odd proportions of weight that make you want to touch it.

Four odd, crazy rocks balance in harness position randomly on this piece of art. At first glance one might think he/she is crazy, but no, there really are rocks there, and yes, one is even a white crystal. Doug Adams perhaps shrunk some rocks photographed by Ansel Adams, then beat them with a crazy rod and painted them techno-colored.

Beneath the said white crystal lays a giant brass chime. The chime hangs as the center piece of craziness, a landmark, untouched by wind, yielding only to its maker. Noiseless, a hitting device hangs hooked, ball on tip–covered in brass and black. You might hesitate to touch the work of art, but you will find it crazy not to touch the hitting device.

Brass beams weave and wind, and rocks and chime balance. But they really don't balance. The brass infrastructure is bound to be heavier than anything else. It is crazy how the eyes perceive larger objects as heavier. You want to touch it because, well, you want to see if you can push it over, if it will stand alone as the chime does.

Solamere, so long. Doug Adams cannot see in white and black, but in brass. What does it all mean? It is...crazy. Solamere Utah is seen in white.

Mafia

The list:

Mafia strategy, Police strategy, Citizen strategy.

Alternate roles.

The evolution of the game, rules, players, objective, how to win.

Mafia-Quiet, loud, obvious, lying/deception, turn on each other.

Police-Speak up, asses mafia, daring.

Citizen-Asses other players, help police.

Organizing, place you play it.

Getting people to play.

Explaining the rules.

How to host a well played mafia game, funny things hosts accidentally do.

Logic in bluffing.

Why play mafia.

Different countries playing.

Real time mafia.

Honesty within the game.

Extremes.

Concise sentences

What makes a sentence concise? You know it sounds good, concise sentences, to the point. Be wary though, for it is acceptable to be non-concise, just take a look at Ernest Hemingway.

I would like to be more concise when I want to be concise, so I studied that. I observed that sentences can be reconstructed to take out unnecessary words. Sentences that are in passive voice can be rearranged to destroy the was or is or have, giving power to a statement, making it concrete.

There are words intended to intensify writing but do the opposite, like very, really, and extremely.

There is also a giant list of common phrases that we place into our writing that can be eliminated that you should take a look at.

The Dark Knight

It may be a cliche to think that The Dark Knight is one of the best movies ever, but the movie itself is anything but a cliche.

I would give an Oscar to The Dark Knight if personification permitted. It plays with themes of being alone because of one's duty. Batman, Harvey Dent, and Commissioner Gordon are among people but are alone. Batman chooses to be alone, Harvey is forced to be alone, and Gordon is in the balance.

At the end of the movie Gordon gives a line about heroes being needed and heroes being deserved. The epic role of a hero and the cost one pays is portrayed in multiple characters. Sometimes a hero is needed and not deserved, while other times a hero is deserved and not needed. What a protagonist gains from their role is a question well observed throughout this film.

The Joker is the classic villain, except he is overplayed by his lack of motive, which works when contrasted with the shallow motives of the other villains. I'm still not sure whether Heath Ledger played the Joker or not.

One aspect that raises this film above others is that it pulls away from cliches. When faced with the choice of whom to save, Batman chooses the opposite of what everyone expects, creating a mini climax in the story; epic.

Who really is the Dark Knight?

Safe from subjects?

To be, or not to be, the subject that is. The subject is the part of a sentence that "verbs." I got confused on whether a verb can be placed before the subject or not, or whether that makes it the object of the subject. I have learned interesting things.
There can be a short simple subject or a long one. "I" could be the subject, or "what we learned in class today" could be the subject.
You will be pleased to hear this, there are only a handful of different sentences where we can place the verb before the simple subject, and they are almost exclusively in passive voice! So my solution, and I recommend it to everyone, is to not worry about it, but rather use more than one verb in a sentence, that will spice things up; or use an endless amount of commas. Or make your knowledge on subjects endless by clicking on me.

Ethno-concerns

I am concerned I might offend the elderly. Yes they are old, and funny, but that doesn't mean we must make fun of their oldness. I have positives and negatives in my essay; really I am concerned that I will not highlight the negatives enough, because of my fear that they would be offended. It is an internal struggle.

Diagramming sentences

Ahhh! Diagramming a sentence can give you a headache, but it's sure worth a try. Diagramming helps separate ideas in a sentence, subject, object, verb. Diagramming links verb and adverb, adjective and noun. They separate compound sentence parts and complex sentences. I'm not a master of it, but I saw someone do it once. It helps me understand how I can rearrange a sentence to get a different, desired effect. Try it.

Clause

I've always, since I heard about them, wanted to know more about clauses. Most of my knowledge about them was understanding that they were parts of a sentence. Independent clauses can stand on their own. Dependent clauses, however, need help. An independent clause can stand on it own because it carries a noun and a verb, and is not tied down by a subordinating conjunction. If you don't know what that means [then] you should should click here, no, here.

Ethnographic Essay

Elderly People
-Life lessons that elderly people have learned, the well of wisdom and experience that they have. Things they wish they did or were glad that they did. Things that are important to them, and how those things reach others.
-Nonsensical drama within their social networks. Ways they compete in games like bingo. How they feel about where they are. Things they think are funny.

Impostrophe

In Texas I learned the word y'all. I had more than one discussion with people about where the apostrophe goes in the word. Some said that it went after the 'a' (ya'll). I searched out to study the right answer, and I learned that the apostrophe goes where the letter is left out, which y'all know that I was right. The real question is plural possessives though. If the word is already plural, children's, then the apostrophe goes before. If it is singular, boys', then it goes after. Interesting. To learn mor', click right here.

Revision

"Where the streets have no name" by U2
Air as ice cut across our lips and stilled our breath, starry lights peering down from above. Doors opened then closed, and the silence within the Ford Escape died as the engine hummed. Eric, Isaac and I had brought the scent of all-you-can-eat chicken soup with us; Eric and I brought a sense of adventure. We reached the highway, miles and miles of darkness. As we drove we blared songs by U2, songs everyone knew. No light occupied the road except ours, but we changed that. Our headlights flashed off then on, first for a couple seconds, then a few, then more. The lights above lit the sky but not the road; the headlights of our Escape did the same, except they didn't light the sky. Isaac as a conscience thought it best to keep the lights turned on, but adventure said the road was clear, smooth, glass, where the streets have no name. Five seconds, seven, the lights flashed on and off. Each interval ratified our actions, still alive. As agreeable as experiment was, common sense always finds a way to prevail, and it did. Our headlights stayed on and Eric, Bono and I regrouped with Isaac to find something else we were looking for.

Come on, Comma

I have many mixed feelings about commas. Every writer has a different style, some use one comma per sentence, others use two or more. I don't care how great Ernest Hemingway is, "The Old Man and the Sea" has too many commas in it, too many, that's right, too many, I'm brave enough to say it. I used to shy away from commas because of my friend Ernest, but as I use them more it makes a story flow in a way that feels easy to the mind. Interesting things I've learned are when to not place a comma after the word "but," or when to not insert a comma around quotations. Commas are great for clearing up confusion, separating adjectives, and making short lists. For more on commas, click here.

You too?

"Where the streets have no name" by U2
Air as ice cut across our lips and stilled our breath, starry lights peering down from above. Doors opened then closed, and the silence within the Ford Escape died as the engine hummed. Eric, Isaac and I had brought the scent of all-you-can-eat chicken soup with us; Eric and I brought a sense of adventure. We reached the highway, miles and miles of darkness. As we drove we blared songs by U2, songs that everyone knew. No one occupied the road except us, but we changed that. We began to leave the road, first a couple seconds, then a few, then more. The lights above lit the sky but not the road; the headlights of our Escape did the same, except they didn't light the sky. Isaac as a conscience thought it best to keep the headlights turned on, adventure said the road was as clear as smooth glass on a pillow. Five seconds, seven, the lights flashed on and off. Each interval ratified our actions, still alive. As agreeable as experiment was, common sense always finds a way to prevail. Eric, Bono and I regrouped with Isaac to find something else that we were looking for.

"Parachute" by Guster
I've only used two parachutes in my life.
Surrounded by people who were going to become my very close friends, I walked onto a plane. The plane took me to Texas, green and foreign. I spent two years in rooms filled with the aroma of brisket and potatoes, two years talking to strangers and finding friends that I never knew were waiting for me. A parachute helps us leave a comfortable place to experience something that changes us. Two years later, surrounded by friends and that good ol' Texas humidity, I got onto another plane. I said goodbye to sideways traffic lights, man made lakes, and thousands of people. It takes a big parachute to land in Texas, but the parachute to leave is even bigger. You are something inside of that plane, then when you jump you are something else; when you land and begin to live again you look for the parachute you always knew that you had, those around you.

Fishing

I've only been fishing one and a half times in my life: half, for all those times that I didn't want to go; one, for the time that I almost caught the ocean floor. One summer when I was a teenager I found myself rocking back and forth with rod and reel in hand off the coast of Washington State. We set sail early in the morning from Nea Bay, the northwest most location in the continental United States. It was to be the highlight of the longer trip that I had taken with my aunt, uncle and cousins, which had consisted of Oregon waterfalls, campfires, and plenty of Dad's Root Beer. The event that had taken us to Nea Bay was fishing, and for once in my life I was ready to fish.

It wasn't long before we were out on the ocean, deep sea fishing, fishing for halibut, which happened to be one of the only fish that I liked to eat at that time. Halibut is flat, but long and wide, as long as a person sometimes, and feeds on the ocean floor. The boat was filled with halibut lovers, with people that I didn't know; the waves of the ocean were even less familiar, and less kind. The goal was to keep everything inside your stomach that you had placed there within the last while.

I learned the motions of letting down my line and the effort of reeling it back up. At first it seemed like a way to pass time, then I got a bite. It was the first bite I had ever gotten so I tugged up and started the reeling. The only trouble was that it was ten times more difficult than I had expected. When the boat reared up I would hold the line tight, then when the boat rocked forward I would spin that line as fast as I could think how. I was catching a fish.

Minute after minute went by and I was tiring fast. It didn't seem to get any easier. My uncle got one of the boat people to come figure out why it was so difficult. The man gave it a minute of work then said, "You are hooked to the bottom of the ocean, it's not a fish." I was slightly confused because I was able to pull it in a little, and I was in a bit of denial because I had given it so much effort. There was nothing I could do about it, except see if I could catch the ocean floor.

After I struggled with the line some more I found within myself that I was going to catch something, whatever I had hooked. Ocean spray danced in the air, hanging when we dipped down and flying when we rose up. I never liked the old man and the sea, but I felt like him as the line on my fishing pole was almost entirely back to my fishing pole. I motioned for my uncle and others to come see what was going to come out of the water. After large heaves and a constant pull, I saw something flicker just beneath the surface of the water. It looked like a giant silver dollar flipped on its side. It was a halibut! We fished it out and brought it on board. The hook had caught on its gill, causing it to lay on its side as I pulled it all the way from the ocean floor to the boat.

I learned a few lessons from my only fishing experience. Even if others think that you are doing something impossible, you can still accomplish it. I also learned how good halibut tastes when you catch it the same day that you eat it. The most important lesson was for the halibut, no matter how hard you try to swim away, if you're snagged by something you have to get unsnagged or you'll be eaten.

Prepositions

Upon learning about this assignment, and before I researched my topic, I had a faint memory of exactly what a preposition was, but I propose that they are next to us all the time, through thick and thin. I think that someone once told me that a preposition has to do with my relationship with a tree, whether I was on the tree, in front of the tree, behind the tree, or even in the tree.

A preposition locates where something is or when something is. I helps us understand how items in a sentence or an idea relate to each other. I could lean against the tree, jump off the tree, think about the tree, or something could be between the tree and me.

It would be unnecessary if I wanted to meet 'up with' the tree, or if I slipped off 'of' the tree, or even if I was hiding 'in back of' the tree(behind). There are some additionally proposed concepts here if you would like to learn more about prepositions.

Analyzing Snow

In the essay "Calling Home," by Jean Brandt, Jean describes an experience that she had shoplifting. She literally went to the store, found a button that she wanted to buy, then, upon seeing the long line in the store, she placed the button in her pocket and left. Not long after exiting the store she was caught and sent to jail, where she called home and felt the agony of explaining the situation to her mother. She was picked up by her parents, who withheld punishment, reasoning that she had already gone through enough.
In the essay "An American Childhood," by Annie Dillard, Annie retells an experience she treasured from her youth. She learned things about life through playing football and other sports. During the winter she was with some friends throwing snow balls at passing cars. One of the hit cars stopped, and a man ran after them. She ran, teamed up with one of her friends, through bushes and under trees, zigzagging through terrain that they were familiar with. The man chased them and caught them. She enjoyed the chase so much that when the man yelled at them for their recklessness she was unwavering.
The narrative device, framing, causes me to remember more of a story. It ties the beginning to the end, which helps me remember the middle.
The man chasing Annie, through framing, could represent a contrast between carefree fun and responsibility, the black of the car contrasting with the white of the snow. The man is constant, similar to the consistency of the cars passing by. His consistency, though, is contrasting with the character of the other drivers that Annie did or did not encounter.
She is not afraid of the man because he is fascinating and fun; he plays by rules that she is familiar with. I do not think that she should be angry at the man, because he has given her something that she did not know she needed or wanted, but did. She also deserved it because she was throwing snow balls.
Well-told stories have an emotional pull and gravity. They help the reader apply the lessons learned. Well-told stories give clear themes that are stressed to give clarity to the direction that the author wants a story to go. Well-told stories can find well-tuned ears, and make them as well.

The Arrow makes the Arrow Maker

Keeping a blog requires me to risk myself in language more metaphorically than anything else. I can sense the risk of being shot by an invisible arrow of disagreement. Unlike the unspoken man lurking in the shadow of fear I will be speaking up by keeping this blog. The heavier risk is not really being silent, but it is the risk of missspellling:) words, misplacing, commas, sentenses grammatically being incoherent, and that is all, unless you also are risky with run on sentences, or hyphens.

I am not afraid of anyone reading my blogggg. I am not afraid because I will always know that someone else (my sister) has made an even more inferior blog than mine. The thing is that before I post anything I can decide what I want to express first, unless of course there is an Arrow Maker about. I conclude that the time limits on our assignments are in fact the Arrow Maker himself, hour glassing (is it alright to make up verbs?) us into speaking. There is a risk, but for me I do not mind one bit. The Arrow makes the Arrow Maker.

On-line communication has become so popular because it is a good source of inside jokes; defeated the inside part though I think. Anyone can see and hear something funny on-line and carry it with them among friends, sort of a way of cheap entertainment. Other aspects of it include the being connected to others thing. It is easy for people to find old friends on Facebook, or to say things to the hundreds of aquaintances that they have. It is all bound to continue.