Ethnography Project 3 - Idea/ Proposal

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

10/31/12


      For project three, I am choosing my discourse community to be the Ohio Snowcats.  The OU snowcats are a ski/snowboard group here on campus.  As a group or community, we have meetings weekly, and also events mostly every weekend.  The group has 2 special weekends throughout the year.  In the beginning of October, we went to West Virginia for a white water rafting trip.  From January 5- 12th, we will be going to Copper Mountain in Colorado to go snowboarding,skiing.  What makes the Snowcats a discourse community is by the way they talk, like the words they use, and also all of the gatherings there are.  They have a president, VP, treasury, and junior officers.  They are the ones who keep it rolling in order for everything to turn out correctly.

ENG 1510: Swales & Gee Journal

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

10/29/12

Dialectal Journal for Swales and Gee

Gee Quotes 

 “Language is a misleading term, it too often suggests grammar.”  This is completely true and I agree with it immensely.  Language isn’t how we spell or write it’s about how we communicate and the different ways to communicate.

“A discourse is a sort of identity kit”.  I feel my discourse would be sports.  Like in Brandon’s case, he says he doesn’t know much about sports.  Well I don’t know a lot about video games.  I focus a lot on sports and know quite a lot about them.

“How does one acquire a discourse?”  In my opinion, someone acquires a discourse by the way they are raised.  If my parents didn’t like sports and put me in them, I wouldn’t have an interest in them.

“We can also make an important distinction between dominant discourse and non-dominant discourse.” This to me means that in dominant discourse would be something you were kind of born into and a non-dominant discourse is something you get into over time.  Like joining a new church or being baptized.  

“literacy must be couched in terms of the notion of discourse.” This means that how you learn and your learning styles will be altered by the way you are raised.

Swales Quotes

“creating a false impression that such communities are only to be associated with intellectual paradigms or scholarly cliques.”.  This quote is basically saying that terms that discourse communities come up with are usually only known within their group.

“discourse communities have developed and continue to develop discourse expectations.”  To be in a discourse community you have to live up to their expectations or else the way it works could change.  Its okay for them to change but normally it should take a very long time because it could obtain large numbers of people.

“My own early attempts to be a full member of the community were not marked by success” To me this meant that he was not successful early on in his writings and that it took him years to accomplish. 

ENG 1510 Response to Willams article

Alex Gilkerson

Eng 1510

10/7/12



          Try to concentrate on my response other than Beyonce, if possible.
This ad is for selling jeans, if you couldn't tell.  For Williams C.R.A.P. method, the contrast is a darker background to make her skin shine more. Repetition doesn't play a big role in this ad.  Her alignment in this ad is centered and takes up most of the ad so you will be busy looking ay her rather than the background.  The proximity is on the jeans they are trying to sell.  The brand is on the back pocket but is in the middle of the jeans in the picture.  When you look at what she is wearing(barely anything), you see the brand name.
           We read this article to show how to make something stand out.  Like in Williams example, it was clear what was standing out, just like in this picture.  These are two good, no, great examples of how to sell a product or how to catch someones eye.

ENG 1510 Baron Journal response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

10/4/12

Dialectical Journal:

Are computers helping our economy? Are they effecting the way we learn to read?  In my opinion, it’s a yes and no to both questions.  Computers have opened so many opportunities coming into the 21st century.  They have helped run businesses by keeping records and even start online businesses.  Computers even help when writing a paper, like using spell check.  Even with me, I’ve used spell check and I haven’t even written a paragraph yet.  But are these tools really helping us? Social networks are attracting younger and younger people every year.  FaceBook and Twitter are definitely more fun than sitting down and reading a book.  Young kids learn how to read and write using these social networks.  They learn the wrong way tho.  They pick up bad habits like spelling errors like; r u there, what r u doin, etc.  This isn’t doing anything but hurting the young people.  And when they go into class to write a paper, they will use these “words” and think they are acceptable.  Before computers, there wasn’t anything like this.  Kids learned to read and write from teachers or parents, not FaceBook or Myspace.  

This article really shows were our society has come in the last couple decades.  In my opinion, it isn’t the best way to go.  We are teaching people the wrong way to learn.  If this keeps going on, in the future, who knows how bad it could get.  It is really scary to think about.  I recommend this article to just about everyone to raise awareness to where our society is headed. 

ENG 1510 My shitty first draft narrative

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

10/3/12

Shitty First Draft:

I cannot remember the first time I learned to read or write, but I really wish I could.  I don’t know if it just happened or if I learned a neat way.  What I do remember are different things that helped me out along the way.

I remember in I think 3rd grade, we had a spelling test and we had to spell the different types of words.  Like for example: two, to, and too.  The trouble I had was with “there”.  I remember I took the test at least three times because I couldn’t spell and didn’t know the difference between there and their.  After I did learn it, I don't think I’ve made the mistake more than a couple times.

Another thing I remember real good is the vocabulary books we had in 8th grade.  These books were little and orange and had all kinds of different tasks in them.  Each chapter had 3 sections.  The first was writing the definitions, second was matching them to an example, and last was filling in the blank.  At the time I hated them very much.  Looking back, I realized that they help me tremendously.  I learned different words and there meanings.  Also learned new study strategies.  I am really glad I took that class now.

ENG 1510 Hook response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

October 3, 2012

Summary:

This passage starts off strong and really grabs your attention.  The statement that she wants to “kill herself in writing” is a little strange.  Right off the back you want to read more.  She talks about her life and how horrible it was.  Then she brings in the topic of bio-mythography.  Her writings were definitely a type of these.  Hook told some pretty crazy stories and seemed a little nutty anyway.

Synthesis:

This article seem pretty similar to the previous article we read by Anne Lamott.  I think this because both of them seemed to be a little out there.  They both had strange backgrounds and wrote with a different voice from any other author that I’ve ever read.  Both were very interesting to read.  Those two are absolutely “unique” people.

Questions for Discussions:

1. The way I take it is that she thought she was never good enough for anybody.  And by doing a writing that was considered good, her image of a bad person would be gone.  So by writing something good, she is “killing” her old self.

2. Bio-mythography is a mix between fiction and autobiography.  I definitely think Hook’s work is an example of bio-mythography.  I think this because no one knows if these little stories are true.  Some of them seem kind of far fetched.  But some do sound like they had happened before.

3. The image hook uses is a combination in my point of view.  I feel she wants people to feel sorry for her a little bit and also to think she is a little crazy.  Like I said before, some of her stories seem a little unrealistic and some seem happen able.

Applying and Exploring:

2. I think we can change our identity through text easier than any other way.  You can’t see the person who is writing, you just seem the text.  They could say anything and unless it sounds unbelievable, you will probably think it’s true.  For example, if I said I was born in Asia and am 7 foot tall, you wouldn’t know unless you exactly saw me in person.

Personal Reflection:

This was a very interesting read.  Personally I enjoy reading from the “crazy” kind of people.  Some of the things they say really draw me in.  It is a nice change of pace to read articles like this and the one from Anne Lamott.  I’ve never heard of the term “bio-mythography”, but it is very easy to understand.  I feel you can really relate that to everyday people.  Everyone has that one friend that when they tell stories, some of the things they say you sit there and think, “that has never happened, that is the biggest lie”.  I always knew about this topic, I just never knew the name for it.  Overall, it was a well written article and very easy to follow.

ENG 1510 Brandt's Response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

10/1/12

Brandt’s Article Response:

Brandt’s article talked a lot about sponsorship and how to enter it into your writings.  Sponsoring is basically a way to get your name out there by using a bigger name. For example, if I was holding a little league baseball tournament and needed more teams to come into it, a why I could do it is by having Gatorade or a famous Athlete sponsor it.  By doing this their name would be on the information sheet for the tournament.  What Brandt is trying to do with this article is to incorporate sponsorship into writing.

The article’s also talked about how there are still people today that are illiterate and can still drive.  To me this is crazy.  There are a lot of signs drivers have to read in order to be a safe driver.  There are many times when roads are getting worked on and one lane is ending soon or if there are detours.  I wish I could remember the first time I started reading.  It has been so many years that it just comes to me.  Over the years, I have absolutely needed to read.  It still shocks me that someone can go their whole life without being able to read.