E-Portfolio

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bz7lpmMci_fSYUNGRXlmU0hRaFk&usp=sharing

Review for the Group Research Presentations 5/4

Violence Stemming from Video Games

The interviews questions, answers, and statements from the interview this conducted were a strong part of this presentation in my eyes. Answers and statements from the established professor that was interviewed were highly convincing about the view this group had on this topic. Also I thought this group were appropriately straightforward and direct in getting into the topic.  While I didn't time them it seemed like they expressed the opinions of multiple viewpoints in a timely manner. Overall, solid presentation that covered an interesting and relevant topic for people of our age and educational status. By that I mean they covered random acts of violence that occurred in educational institutions. 

Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 5/1

Hyprocrisy is a Whore by Bryan, Saul, and Carlo

Defining and distinguishing a prostitute from other people that have sex for leisure purposes was useful. Prostitutes typically have incentives for their actions which primarily stem from the need for financial achievements. In my opinion I thought some parts seemed to be a little unclear. For example, one of the members made a statement about a lounge being a place for meeting new people with the similar sexual appetites when in fact professor Fleischer made it clear that it was merely a coffee shop. The presentation also seemed to be more of an opion based persuasive presentation rather than persuasion backed up by concrete research.

Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 5/1

Space Exploration by Blake, Daniel

Good presentation that contained strong facts and motives that appealed to the general public and private businesses. The only part that wasn't too convincing was that despite the potential of private businesses bringing down the prices to go into space it is still almost out of reach for the majority of the population to actually afford the travel. Explaining how what appears to be science fiction and only in movies can actually be a reality in the next couple decades. Relating science fiction movies to the future made it beneficial to the observer to comprehend the potential future. Multiple modalities was used appropriately in this scenario.

Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 5/1

Truth Behind Diets by Irania, Jessica

The strongest part of the presentation is certainly the portion about the celebrity that was our age that struggled to get the body she wanted. It allowed both younger adults and teenagers to relate with her experience because of the pressure from the media. Other parts that grabbed my attention were the facts that not only women have dietary issues, but men and athletes of both sexes have problems with their diets primarily because of the struggle to keep weight off for performances. I personally didn't recognize any major weaknesses. Overall, I would have given the project an A.

Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 4/28

Fast Food in America by Matt, Jose, Brett
This presentation informed me about the health risks from fast food amongst adolescents and adults. History of fast food was presented as well as the strategic location of the fast food restaurants and the advertising that occurs on TV. I thought the greatest strength from this group came from the fact that the everyone in the class is affected by fast food in some way or another. The only weakness that I recall was the way the presenters were informal at times. For example, a few times they would cuss. This doesn't offend me in anyway at all, however, I just thought that this made them lose a little bit of credibility. Other than that I thought this presentation left a positive impression on the class because of the proposed solutions to the problems they presented.

Reviews for the Group Research Presentations 4/28

NCAA Athletes
This group addressed the amount of pay athletes would make if colleges were to start paying them. They also revealed the imbalance of money distributed to Division I colleges. The amount of time and effort that athletes input towards their devoted sport of choice is proportional to amount of scholarship money granted to the athletes according the presenters. Strengths from this group's presentation include the information about the absurdity in some of the NCAA rules. For example, one rule that enlightened the class about was that these massive football players are only allowed a bagel, two tangerines, a pack of nuts, and a pack of cream cheese. Weaknesses that I noted from this group were that some of their slides had too much content and was unappealing to myself as an observer. Other than that I thought it was a solid presentation with content that all of the observers as Sac State students could relate to in some way or another.

Reviews Group Research Presentations 4/28

Altered State of Legality by Spencer, Melissa, and Thai

I thought this group's presentation was good from the beginning to the end because of how they grasped my attention early on and continued to keep me tuned in. This group had relevant content that made the presentation entertaining and easy to observe and digest. A strength this group had was that they were giving staggering statistics about the amount of people incarcerated for the possession of marijuana despite this drug decriminalizing in the U.S. The interviewees quote also was appealing because of how marijuana will be used regardless of the legality of this substance. I didn't identify any weaknesses in this group that were memorable. The content was good and the speakers were clear and confident with the material addressed.

Multimodal Group Research Project Reflection Paper

Should College Athletes Be Paid?

            The multimodal group research project was unlike any other large assignment we’ve done because prior to this assignment everything was an individual effort and all the stress of the assignments burdened one person. This assignment proved to be very different because of the coordinating with group members to reach the necessities required for the project. In our group my role was to effectively communicate with the other members by completing and understanding the slides of our presentation that I agreed to work on. Making an outline before creating the slides was also a task I accomplished which proved to be beneficial for us to map out how we would present. For example, the order of the slides was guided primarily by how the outline was made and the main points covered in the presentation were also established because of the outline.

            As I mentioned earlier, this project is like no other in this course so far. With that said, we discovered new successes, but we also found ourselves overcoming new problems and obstacles. These new problems included having to find times to meet outside of class with our group mates that wouldn’t conflict with each other’s schedules. Because interviews for this assignment were mandatory, I also had to schedule a meeting in advance to interview someone for our assignment in order to have the materials needed for the slides.

            Overall I think we would probably deserve a high B on this assignment, however, this grade may just be me being modest about the group’s work. I feel a large amount of time and effort has been needed from me and my group members inside and outside of class. While I haven’t presented yet I feel as though I am knowledgeable and aware of the content I will cover in this presentation. 

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1goBekT6OW3-ZkM3jyT7be2VLemsUOyj4OJfpRPQJX_g/edit?usp=sharing

Pre-Conference Task

Francisco Reyes

21 April 2014

Professor Fleischer

English 1A

Pre-Conference Task

1.) For the Personal Literacy Narrative I don’t only plan on having minimal grammatical and mechanical error because that is a given, but I do plan on going into more depth for clarity where needed. I would use the comments on my third draft to make amends; however, I currently do not have any comments on my most recent draft. Also, I need to familiarize myself with this assignment because it is a rather distant assignment in this class and doesn’t pertain to the group work in class that has attracted much of my attention in the class.

2.) My role in the group so far has entailed me to construct an outline of how our group will go about in presenting our assignment to the class. Some struggles that have come with this assignment are the need to constantly communicate outside the class with group members to have a solid presentation coming up.

3.) I feel as though I have been putting maximum effort towards this class and was wondering if it was possible to complete the semester with an A in the course. Other than that I don’t believe I have any other concerns except for the e-portfolio that is coming up because it is by far the largest assignment in the course regarding points.

Response Paper #3

1.)

Wolff, Alexander. "An Honest Wage." 80.21 (1994): 98. Web. 14 Apr. 2014. <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.csus.edu/ehost/detail?vid=5&sid=fa7720d0-b71f-465c-a6a0-18bfeb6cd01b%40sessionmgr115&hid=127&bdata=#db=aph&AN=9405317633>.

            In this Sports Illustrated article author Wolff breaks down the frustration within talented college athletes that generate high amounts of revenue, but regulations prevent them getting cash in hand. The author gets the opinions and thoughts of the college athletes and presents their issue through the eyes of the athletes. An argument that is proposed because of the contrasting opinions is that college athletes bring in millions of dollars to the institutions they represent and compete for; however, in the end the sole beneficiaries are the ones not playing. The athletes feel they should receive a portion of the revenue they themselves attract because of their athletic talents, but rules and representatives disagree and feel that their scholarships are sufficient enough. In my eyes the author is targeted the fans schools that have a heavy reliance of revenue that originates from athletics. Wolff concludes that while money is the motive for many of the talented athletes, in the end they will seek what they were initially supposed to be there for, an education. Some limitations of this text were the fact that for an article it was rather short and brief without too much specifics and details.

            The article is highly relevant to support mine group and I’s stance on whether or not college athletes should get paid, but the publication is moderately outdated despite the article being relevant and almost identical in today’s scenarios. I agree with the athletes that if their talents attract fan and money than they should be able to enjoy the benefits just like the representatives from the school and conferences do.

2.)                                                                                                                                

Branch, Taylor. "The Shame of College Sports." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 07 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2014. <http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/308643/>.

            In Branch Taylor’s, “The Shame of College Sports,” he takes an in depth analysis of NCAA teams’ revenue and who receives the money produced from the teams. Taylor realizes where the bulk of the revenue comes from and how much is actually made. The argument in this article is that because colleges in the US are the only institutions in the world to make profit on such a grand scale through sports through sports then the athletes that contribute heavily to this revenue should get a fraction of the money. The audience intended to see this article is most likely going to be the savvy college fans that watch these teams on national television or the individuals that purchase any college athletic merchandise. The text seems reliable because to many college sports fans the material in Taylor’s article is commonly known but he does a superb job at bringing all of this material together to make sense of it and persuade readers to understand and accept college athletes to get paid. Strength in the text was the difference of how much the college representatives made from sports which was in the millions compared to the athletes’ zero dollars of profit.

            This article is extremely relevant to my group’s research because it has given a new perspective of how athletes in college should be treated. We can model our mentality like the author’s when doing this research and the forming our own opinion. For example, the author went into his research open minded and unbiased, and came out with a new mentality. After reading this text I feel that college athletes should be paid and if not then amendments should be made on where the revenue is distributed to. 

Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language"

In the reading, "Selection, Slanting, and Charged Language," it describes how the world as we know is altered and perceived differently by people because of different language principles. These principles describe various details in language and communication that change the outcomes of our perceptions of the world. For example, if three people from contrasting occupations observe an object the three individuals may obtain different opinions and information about the object because of the every day jargon they use in the profession. Other principles and their examples in language alter our perceptions of the world is by the way we structure or word certain facts. This happens intentionally to persuade or make information in an individuals favor sometimes but this also may happen unintentionally just by the way we communicate. Not only does the sequence of words change the way information is perceived by the slight modification of words selected also accomplishes this. The change of words allows the opportunity to make a negative or positive view for people to understand about a topic or fact.

"Reviewing" and "Evaluating Sources" Summary

In the reading from The Everyday Writer, the textbook gave tips and guidance for the necessities of writing a research paper and where to begin your research. We use research for various scenarios which means it is essential to be able to distinguish what kinds of sources are going to be beneficial when writing. Ideally when writing a paper for academic purposes it would be most beneficial to use scholarly works instead of popular sources to attain credibility because of the fact that scholars are typically educated in a concentrated field. Libraries, the internet, and field research are good places to begin research to obtain a foundation on what you'll be looking for as your research progresses. Starting and continuing research may difficult when trying to do so alone. Thankfully, librarians are good aids to help with research because of their knowledge about how to navigate and find books, encyclopedias, and so forth. Being able to correctly paraphrase is important because it properly emphasizes the main points of the material you researched.

Response Paper #2

Francisco Reyes

4 April 2014

Fleischer

English 1A

Response Paper #2

            The timing of this assignment couldn’t have been any more impeccable and appropriate. Over spring break I went on a 5 day trip with a friend to visit a mutual friend in the city of Waikiki, Hawaii on the island of Oahu. I had always dreamed of going to Hawaii but never thought I would get the opportunity to go until my friend invited me to go on this trip with the gift of a paid airline ticket. I was extremely fortunate and grateful for having gotten a once in a life time opportunity to go to this distant state. While I visited an area notorious for tourism, I went to visit a friend and it was just coincidental that my friend lived a block away from one of the most popular beaches in Hawaii.

            Areas that the island of Oahu is known for are Waikiki beach and Hanauma Bay. I did many things on my short trip there but I was sadly not capable of going to Hanauma Bay because it was closed by the beach authorities. Jellyfish were unknowingly present and forced the shutdown of the beach because the jellyfish were stinging all of the people on the beach. Many people go to Hanauma Bay is often crowded due to the clear watering and the potential to swim alongside turtles in the shallow waters. Thankfully my friend has lived in Hawaii for about a year now she took me to a primarily locals only beach known as Sandy Beach. The locals and the beach were a cultural phenomenon like no other. Waves were massive, all the people were lax, and the weather was flawless. While it is illegal to smoke marijuana and drink alcohol on the beach people were consuming these substances in the open and having a great time.

Other notable things I did on my trip were the experience of attending a luau and riding mopeds throughout the island. We drove up a mount side on our own mopeds to a view of all of Waikiki. The road that we took up the mountain was steep, windy, and full of dense vegetation that surrounded us in every direction. After seeing much of the city from our mopeds we went to the luau and watched the hosts perform Polynesian dances originating throughout the Pacific while eating local food.

If I ever have the opportunity I will certainly go back to Hawaii only hoping to stay longer next time. Everything there was astonishingly beautiful and the people there were all happy and friendly; however, if I were handed a free plane ticket to anywhere I can’t say I would choose Hawaii. There are many other places in the world that I wish to see in my lifetime such as Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Paris, Milan, and many other cities that I may or may not get the opportunity to see. I’d have to visit all of those places for myself before I say I would go back to Waikiki over those cities.

Final Reflection Paper

Racism in Today’s Sports

Francisco Reyes

Professor Fleischer

English 1A

            Textual interpretations of a theme vary based on the genre utilized to convey a message. For example, videos, pictures, articles, newspapers, pamphlets, and many other genres may all pertain to a similar theme, but the different genres approach the theme from whole different perspectives. All of these genres have one thing in common; they all are of the two-dimensional realm. While relevant to a similar theme, a three-dimensional genre is extremely different with regards to the texture, shape, colors, and various aspects of a three-dimensional object. A two-dimensional genre such as the picture was useful; however, it lacked something that the three-dimensional object had. The three-dimensional material was able to provide room for creativity and individual interpretation of a theme’s message that two-dimensional genres could not provide. I was able to demonstrate my own idea and opinion about the theme that I chose by making it myself while the other genres were preexisting and I had to analyze and make sense of them.

            The theme that I initially wrote about was the racism that exists in sports today. Athletes, fans, and coaches all have proven to play a part in the racism that exists in sports despite the leagues’ efforts to suppress such bizarre behavior. These leagues that advocate the end of racism exist in different sports and countries, which unfortunately signifies that this is a global issue rather than a league issue. With that said, I have created a model of a three-dimensional athlete that has been portrayed as this primitive male with stereotypical features of people of African descent. Hopefully the features that I have given this model will capture the audience’s attention and allow them to conclude that these are invalid and exaggerated features of other beings like themselves.

            Black athletes are often viewed as beastlike people with stereotypical appearances by sports’ fans globally. Offensive acts of fans include the hoisting of a banana towards the black athletes and monkey noises every time the athlete touches the ball. Because of this, my model has exaggerated and dramatized stereotypes. I have given the black athlete ridiculously large lips to represent one of the many types of black people. The lips are intended to stand out because of how disproportional to the head they are and because of how bright the lips are in comparison to the skin. The skin of the athlete also is dramatized because of how black and unrealistically dark the skin is compared to a person of African descent’s real skin tone. Other offensive features that go along with the athlete are a banana. The player is holding a banana in one hand to show that that’s how select fans view black players. The view is that they see them as primates running around fields and arenas. Continuing the trend of profiling black athletes, I geared the athlete with baggy clothes to give him a poor or ghetto tone.

            Materials were a key part of the three-dimensional model. These materials should allow the audience to get a further sense of how unrealistic this model is compared to real life athletes. Fabric was used in the making of the skin for this project to present a laughable tone. Being able to laugh at my project is understandable because I imagine that along with my own ideology many people will find this to be extremely inaccurate in comparison to actual athletes or black people in general. However, I may find it slightly uncomfortable if there are any of my peers that find this accurate and agree with these bizarre parts of the project. There were realistic materials needed in the making of the object. I took an old mesh jersey and took it apart to make it fit the overall theme which includes sports.

            To further demonstrate the stereotypes and misunderstandings of black athletes I was even exact with the sport I chose the athlete to be a part of. Initially I was going to make the athlete a soccer or baseball player, but after more thought I realized that isn’t a stereotypical sport. I made the athlete a basketball player to show the stereotype that all black people like or play basketball instead of other sports. The basketball on the model is in the hand of the basketball player to show the ignorant assumption that all black people are suitable to play basketball.

            Most people would have a general idea of what this model is about, but more specifically this image is intended for anyone against the promotion of racism and racial stereotypes. This should appeal to anyone against racism because while this is a playful and laughable piece, the audience should be able to connect the real problem of profiling to this comical doll. Persuasive appeals used by the model are both emotional and logical to the. The project may appeal to the emotions of the audience because of how laughable the doll is while simultaneously appealing to their logic and addressing that this is a serious matter in the world. Stereotypes and racist gestures should be collectively discarded in the world of sports as a whole because typically racism isn’t tolerated in society in general. Because of how joyous yet serious the artistic piece is, I feel that it would be appropriate for this model to be placed within a place similar to a library. The reasoning for this is because the model cannot only be a symbol for racism in sports but for racism in society. I feel that is appropriate for older and more mature ages so as to be reminded of the faults of the world’s past.

            Looking at the piece I constructed wouldn’t take much figuring out, but it does have many elements that contribute to the overall message. The message: racism in sports should be something the world strives to overcome so that athletes can participate in an activity intended for all. The message in the model is effective in my opinion because anyone that observes the piece I constructed will compare real life scenarios to this and come to the realization that both are morally unsound.     

            Making the project was by no means a simple task. I had to get creative with the limited budget I had and use the materials around me to their fullest potential. Some challenges I endured were figuring out what materials, shapes, and colors I would use to create a specific tone and message. Other challenges included changing the medium of my project. Initially I planned on using air-dry clay for the body of the artifact, but upon my arrival at target I could not find any more clay because ironically my peers purchased it all. However, I also had successes in constructing the object. Because all of the materials were made by scratch, it gave me a sense of accomplishment due to the fact that I didn’t need to purchase many materials after all. Despite the duration of time needed to assemble the body and clothes I succeeded in doing so by using methods I have never utilized before such as sewing the body together.

            After looking at the rubric and sizing up my visual rhetoric I feel that I deserve no lower than a B. The reason for this grade in my opinion is that I feel I hit all aspects of the rubric for both the paper portion and the object portion. I am not an artistically gifted individual, but I did devote a lot of time, critical thinking, and effort into this assignment. Optimistically, I feel that my effort and creative made up for lack of artistic ability.

           

Description of my 3-D model

For my rhetorical analysis assignment the genre I chose to do was about racism that exists in sports throughout the world today. I decided that I would create a model of a sports field that is composed of two halves made from two different sports fields. One half of the field will be a soccer field and the other half of the field will be a hockey rink. I would make goals that much up appropriately according to the sport. I still haven't figured out what material I'll use to make the nets on each of the goals. The soccer field will be made out of real grass and the hockey rink will be made most likely out of white styrofoam to represent the white rink. I'll place bananas throughout each of the fields. The reason for the bananas on the fields are because in Europe black soccer players are taunted with bananas to represent that they aren't equal in society. The bananas are to compare the black players to primitive animals such as monkeys. The same thing has occurred to black hockey players in the NHL.

Draft 3 Genre Analysis

Racism in Today’s Sports

            We as human beings have come very far with regards to technological advancements, communication, and equality as human beings in our society. Within the last century it is astonishing to take note of and recognize our societal advancements as a whole. Our advancements can be observed through many textual genres such as movies, commercials on TV and on our phone, billboards, television shows, pictures, internet videos, and many other texts. All of these genres wouldn’t have been made possible if it weren’t for the global immigration waves into the United States in the last one hundred years.  Despite the merging of different ethnic backgrounds or how far we’ve come as a society collectively we can see where we haven’t advanced or still have societal flaws to overcome. As a society as a whole we typically don’t tolerate suppress the racist expressions but in certain scenarios society seems to turn a blind eye, act as if certain acts are not occurring, prolong the amount of time it takes to address such uncivilized behaviors ("English Definition of ‘Turn a Blind Eye’"). Racism exists very much in the world but can often be noted or highlighted in the world of sports. Racism in sports can especially be seen through various textual genres such as academic journals, pictures captured at sporting venues, and news reporting videos of events.

            The most effective textual genres that easily grasp someone’s attention are the texts that contain staggering or overwhelmingly shocking images, articles, or videos to view. An example would be a photo of a man amidst an angry crowd holding a racist symbol and jeering out towards targeted athletes to insult them because of where the athlete derives from. In this case it there was a man holding out a banana to mock black players on the fans opposing team to pretend as though the athletes are nothing more than a beast or monkey. The tone is extremely aggressive and negative based off the actions of that individual fan and the supporting social influences from the surrounding fans. This image was taken to demonstrate a message that racism is still present in today’s society and also to show how blunt people are about their controversial feelings. In the image the man is at the lower leveled seats and has many rows that follow his position and portrays this feeling of a racist leader and his followers. The man seems as if what he is demonstrating is completely civil and because of the support around him. He may also feel as if his actions are civil due to the fact that not one person or security guard had intervened by removing the man from the stadium or even unarm the man of the harmless yet super offensive symbol. I believe that the targeted audience aims for those that do not condone or promote the feelings and expressions of racism in sports. Sports are universally played because any person or ethnicity has the potential to play so the fear of racism should be suppressed to become nonexistent.

            Another type of textual genre that shows the existence of racism in sports may branch from videos posted by amateurs and/or professionals. Examples include the showing of athletes being racist to their opposing fans in person at the spectacle or for any of those watching a game at home. The difference from textual genres such as videos and images are that images leave us to interpret what is occurring while video we can view what’s unfolding and we have audio to listen to what is occurring. A video that shows racism in sports is a video from a player in the Greek soccer league performing what is infamously known as the World War II Nazi salute. The player made this demonstration as a celebration following a goal he scored in a match. In the video you can see his teammates bewildered as to why he is making such demonstrations. Given his setting it is puzzling as to why he would make such gestures because the country he was playing in has lasting effective from World War II. The athlete was punished for his actions and can never play in the Greek soccer league again ("Soccer Player Gives Nazi Salute on Field”). The soccer player tried to claim he was ignorant of what this gesture meant and he didn’t know the history behind such salute. I think this video was made to show that despite the athlete scoring and contributing to the athlete’s team, awareness is vital when playing because not even a professional player like himself is exempt from punishment regarding racism.

            Other types of genre texts may include academic articles from authors with greater recognition and credibility behind their work. An academic piece that fits such a description is called "Goodbye to the Gangstas": The NBA Dress Code, Ray Emery, and the Policing of Blackness in Basketball and Hockey. The text is laid out in a formal way with things such as abstract and the rest of the body of the article. The way it is constructed is to show the ways the league officials of the NBA and NHL are restricting the way the athletes, more specifically the black athletes, present themselves on the courts.

            There are many genres texts that can be utilized when trying to send a message or show something. Each genre may be relevant to each other but at the same time they display their intended message differently. In the three texts above, all three pertained to racism in today’s sports but at the same time they all came from different areas. One area showed the fans being racist, athletes demonstrating racist beliefs, and also how league representatives create rules inside their leagues to dilute the ethnic differences of some of the athletes.

I feel that texts are effective if the text is eye catching or can get your attention immediately with a shocking method. If the text gets your attention immediately you will feel inclined to pay attention to the text displayed rather than overlooking it and moving onto the next one. Some texts that catch my eye more effectively are typically images like billboards or pictures. These texts have to provide their message in a matter of seconds because ideally people are passing by so the message has to have a concoction of factors to be effective such as being brief, simple, moving, and eye opening.

The texts I chose from most effective to least effective go in order from the picture, video, and then the academic article. The least effective message was the academic article because it isn’t very open to interpretation like the image I found. The article also was dull and never fully grabbed my attention. The image of the man holding a banana could have meant multiple things if you didn’t know the background for his motive to hoist this banana in the air which made me want to find out the answer to this. I was looking for racist images of sports and this one had caught my eye because I was very confused as to why a man is standing on his feet amidst a crowd with a banana of all items.

The same genres don’t necessarily have to have the exact same material. That is most likely almost never the case. For example, if there was a genre about basketball there may be many angles to approach such a broad genre. The life of a basketball announcer, player, and coach may all fit into the genre of basketball, but there is without a doubt huge difference within this genre. The same may apply for a topic such as movies or photography. Movies that fall under the same genre such as comedy may have a different approach depending on the time period the movies were made. For example, comedies made in 1980 might be funny to its viewers for that time frame but may not be funny to people watching in 2006.

The relationship between each genre varies because some genres are capable of prolonging its description of the text while some of the genres have to be brief and direct which isn’t necessarily a negative thing. The messages however are usually similar because they all fall under a similar genre, but may be delivered through different textual devices. For example, if a picture with a lot of graphic details is shown from a genre such world starvation, an image of a malnourished starving child might be better fit to deliver the message than an article describing the child’s problem.

I believe that the types of texts we read in society impact us as individuals because this can fall under the category of anything we see in life which include homework assignments like reading books or simply driving down the road you are exposed to billboards that try to persuade you towards a certain belief or opinion. The saying “you are what you see” does make you who are because you have to usually take a side with what you see. For example, I constantly see these atheist billboards when walking to school and I get very opinionated about why I have a religion or why one should keep their religious or non-religious beliefs to themselves rather than displaying them in public places. For scenarios like this it’s difficult to have a state of neutrality so we have to form an opinion about topics like this.

Overall genres and the types of texts utilized play significant roles in our lives. We may often time be exposed to different texts without even realizing it. These can come in the form of ads, handouts, movies, books, articles, and so forth. Different texts may be used on a similar genre to target specific audiences and alter the tone and mood portrayed to the audience.  Utilizing a different type of text may change the approach of a genre entirely and can be useful when trying to have the most impactful message delivered to the audience.

Works Cited

Lorenz, Stacy L. ""Goodbye to the Gangstas": The NBA Dress Code, Ray Emery, and the Policing of Blackness in Basketball and Hockey." Journal of Sport and Social Issues38 (2013): 23-50. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

"Soccer Player Gives Nazi Salute on Field." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIrYphja4s>.

"Will Galatasaray Players Wear Blackface in Response to Didier Drogba Abuse? Turkish Soccer Club Reportedly Planning Bizarre Racism Protest." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/report-soccer-team-plans-blackface-racism-protest-article-1.1344910>.

Major genre assignment- rough draft number 2

Existing Racism in Today’s Sports

            We as human beings have come very far with regards to technological advancements, communication, and equality as human beings in our society. Within the last century it is astonishing to take note of and recognize our societal advancements as a whole. Our advancements can be observed through many textual genres such as movies, commercials on TV and on our phone, billboards, television shows, pictures, internet videos, and many other genres. All of these genres wouldn’t have been made possible if it weren’t for the global immigration waves into the United States in the last one hundred years.  Despite the merging of different ethnic backgrounds or how far we’ve come as a society collectively we can see where we haven’t advanced or still have societal flaws to overcome. As a society as a whole we typically don’t tolerate suppress the racist expressions but in certain scenarios society seems to turn a blind eye, act as if certain acts are not occurring, prolong the amount of time it takes to address such uncivilized behaviors ("English Definition of ‘Turn a Blind Eye’"). Racism exists very much in the world but can often be noted or highlighted in the world of sports. Racism in sports can especially be seen through various textual genres such as academic journals, pictures captured at sporting venues, and news reporting videos of events.

            Textual genres that are effective when the image, article, or video are the ones that are staggering or overwhelmingly shocking to view are easy to grasp someone’s attention. An example would be a photo of a man amidst an angry crowd holding a racist symbol and jeering out towards targeted athletes to insult them because of where the athlete derives from. In this case it was a man holding out a banana to mock black players on the fans opposing team to pretend as though the athletes are nothing more than a beast or monkey. The tone is extremely aggressive and negative based off the actions of that individual fan and the support social influences from the surrounding fans. This image was taken to demonstrate a message that racism is still present in today’s society and also to show how blunt people are about their controversial feelings. In the image the man is at the lower leveled seats and has many rows that follow his position and portrays this feeling of a racist leader and his followers. The man seems as if what he is demonstrating is completely civil and because of the support around him. He may also feel as if his actions are civil due to the fact that not one person or security guard had intervened by removing the man from the stadium or even unarm the man of the harmless yet super offensive symbol. I believe that the targeted audience aims for those that do not condone or promote the feelings and expressions of racism in sports. Sports are universally played because any person or ethnicity has the potential to play so the fear of racism should be suppressed to become nonexistent.

            Another type of textual genre that shows the existence of racism in sports may branch from videos posted by amateurs and/or professionals. Examples include the showing of athletes being racist to their opposing fans in person at the spectacle or for any of those watching a game at home. The difference from textual genres such as videos and images are that images leave us to interpret what is occurring while video we can view what’s unfolding and we have audio to listen to what is occurring. A video that shows racism in sports is a video from a player in the Greek soccer league performing what is infamously known as the World War II Nazi salute. The player made this demonstration as a celebration following a goal he scored in a match. In the video you can see his teammates bewildered as to why he is making such demonstrations. Given his setting it is puzzling as to why he would make such gestures because the country he was playing in has lasting effective from World War II. The athlete was punished for his actions and can never play in the Greek soccer league again ("Soccer Player Gives Nazi Salute on Field”). The soccer player tried to claim he was ignorant of what this gesture meant and he didn’t know the history behind such salute. I think this video was made to show that despite the athlete scoring and contributing to the athlete’s team, awareness is vital when playing because not even a professional player like himself is exempt from punishment regarding racism.

            Other types of genre texts may include academic articles from authors with greater recognition and credibility behind their work. An academic piece that fits such a description is called "Goodbye to the Gangstas": The NBA Dress Code, Ray Emery, and the Policing of Blackness in Basketball and Hockey. The text is laid out in a formal way with things such as abstract and the rest of the body of the article. The way it is constructed is to show the ways the league officials of the NBA and NHL are restricting the way the athletes, more specifically the black athletes, present themselves on the courts.

            There many genres texts that can be utilized when trying to send a message or show something. Each genre may be relevant to each other but at the same time they display their intended message differently. In the three texts above, all three pertained to racism in today’s sports but at the same time they all came from different areas. One area showed the fans being racist, athletes demonstrating racist beliefs, and also how league representatives create rules inside their leagues to dilute the ethnic differences of some of the athletes.

I feel that texts are effective if the text is eye catching or can get your attention immediately with a shocking method. If the text gets your attention immediately you will feel inclined to pay attention to the text displayed rather than overlooking it and moving onto the next one. Some texts that catch my eye more effectively are typically images like billboards or pictures. These texts have to provide their message in a matter of seconds because ideally people are passing by so the message has to have a concoction of factors to be effective such as being brief, simple, and eye opening.

The texts I chose from most effective to least effective go in order from the picture, video, and then the academic article. The least effective message was the academic article because it isn’t very open to interpretation like the image I found. The article also was dull and never fully grabbed my attention. The image of the man holding a banana could have meant multiple things if you didn’t know the background for his motive to hoist this banana in the air which made me want to find out the answer to this. I was looking for racist images of sports and this one had caught my eye because I was very confused as to why a man is standing on his feet amidst a crowd with a banana of all items.

The same genres don’t necessarily have to have the exact same material. That is most likely almost never the case. That’s like saying that because Youtube is a source of videos then all the videos must be similar and pertain to the same stuff.

The relationship between each genre varies because some genres are capable of prolonging its description of the text while some of the genres have to be brief and direct which isn’t necessarily a negative thing. The messages however are usually similar because they all fall under a similar theme.

I believe that the types of texts we read in society impact us as individuals because this can fall under the category of anything we see in life which include homework assignments like reading books or simply driving down the road you are exposed to billboards that try to persuade you towards a certain belief or opinion. “You are what you see” does make you who are because you have to usually take a side with what you see. For example, I constantly see these atheist billboards when walking to school and I get very opinionated about why I have a religion or why one should keep their religious or non-religious beliefs to themselves rather to display them in public places.

Works Cited

"English Definition of "Turn a Blind Eye"" Turn a Blind Eye. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/british/turn-a-blind-eye>.

Hawkins, Billy Joe. The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Print.

"Soccer Player Gives Nazi Salute on Field." YouTube. YouTube, 18 Mar. 2013. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIrYphja4s>.

"Will Galatasaray Players Wear Blackface in Response to Didier Drogba Abuse? Turkish Soccer Club Reportedly Planning Bizarre Racism Protest." NY Daily News. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. <http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more-sports/report-soccer-team-plans-blackface-racism-protest-article-1.1344910>.

(SWA) Movie Analysis 3/5

Despite the movies being many years apart all three movies utilized the use of music to create a sense of terror in certain situations. However, the music from each movie did vary drastically. The two most recent movies tried to create a sense of terror by inputting a slight amount of gore into the dramatic scenes. The oldest movie had no scenes with gore but it did have a supernatural character that created terror. All three movies had a damsel in distress that made certain parts suspenseful. 

One of the movies was actually based on a true story, another movie could potentially happen in real life, and then the last movie is much more fictitious compared to the others. I feel that given the time period and the quality of the movies the three films are equally scary. If the three movies are taken out of context and compared to each other then there is no doubt that "Nosferatu" is the least scary movie. The other two films may be disputed about which one is scarier. 

Peer Review Follow-Up Script

1.) I learned how to format my paper in a way that I could benefit and write my paper to a higher caliber just by peer reviewing another paper. The introduction in the paper I reviewed was well written and made me as a reader want to continue reading the paper. With that said, I am aware of adjusts I need to make in my paper so that readers/ reviewers will want to keep reading my paper.

2.) My peer reviewer didn't find many errors but he did have a little bit of confusion because of the peculiar way I formatted the assignment. I am aware that I need to make revisions so that the paper will have fluidity to it rather than making just a direct answer to the questions. 

3.) Yes, I strongly agree with my reviewer. The reviewer may have been a little hesitant to add what other revisions I need but that usually occurs when peers review other peers' work. I will gladly utilize all constructive criticism and add more revisions where I feel necessary. 

Response Paper 1

The most recent movie I’ve watched is “Food Inc” produced by Robert Kenner. I chose to review this movie because of the way it revealed the bully-like methods major food corporations utilize on its opposition, workers, and consumers. The information presented also presented me with the opportunity to make a difference in my own diet and influence the diets of others around me. The topic of the film showed how the use of science, money, and intimidation has revolutionized the way food is produced. For example, large companies have invested millions of dollars to take small competitors to court and eventually settle out of court because the small competitors can’t continue to pay for their lawyer fees. An example of how science plays a role in the food industry is the fact the production of meat has become a type of poultry assembly line.

Major events that are addressed include the food choices that people make as a consumer has a direct reflection on their health. For instance, families in the film explain that their busy schedules and lack of money forces them to select cheaper and easy to make foods. The ideal foods to turn to with those characteristics are fast foods. However, fast foods are much unhealthier than home cooked meals and as a result families that consume these cheap foods pay the consequences and medical conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Typically those conditions are found in adults but as the companies grow and have a greater influence on people it is noted that obesity and diabetes is occurring more often in young children. This relates to my own experiences because all around me it’s evident that this occurs around me. I have family members that are pre-diabetic because of the ultimatum of having to choice between healthy and costly foods. Unfortunately too often the cost of foods prevails over the nutritional value of foods.

I don’t watch movies like this too often but I am thankful that watching this film was an assignment and mandatory. I found the film to be useful because it is relevant to my life and the lives of many people around. While the film may have been disturbing at times I imagine that my peers also found this movie to be just as eye opening to them as I found it. I many things such as how the food industry is dominated by only a few major companies. 

"Shitty First Drafts" by Lamott

In "Shitty First Drafts", the author gives her own personal experiences to describe what it's like to write a first draft regardless of whether you are a recognized writer or not. She explains how people that aren't frequent writers get this idea that every day writers can just start writing a new essay or book and it will be a work of art. In fact, she says that is the complete opposite of what occurs to writers like herself. Recognized writers also have to endure things such as writer's block or terrible first rough drafts. However, the best thing to do is to just simply start writing because most likely it will be an awful or "shitty" first draft but when you finish and write your second draft you can select and edit what you want to keep for your next draft. Lamott says to write what's on your mind in your first draft because as long as nobody sees the initial draft than that's acceptable. Incorporating what's on your mind is essential because while the writing might be informal or awful when you edit you might see something that you admire and you may end up sampling from the first draft and building off of what you sampled from. Taking a break in between each draft is necessary so that you can reflect and think about what parts you don't like or find unnecessary.

SWA Genres Analysis Assignment

1.)    In Europe soccer is the most popular sport with players coming from many different countries and backgrounds. Despite the ethnic differences not all the athletes are treated with equality. This is an image of a fan in Europe holding out a banana to demonstrate his dislike for a player of African descent because the athlete is black. The banana in the image is shown to compare the black futbol player, Didier Drogba, to a monkey.

2.)    The video below was a soccer player celebrating after scoring a goal in the Greek futbol league. Typically celebrations are accepted and applauded but not in this case. Fans, other players, and the league’s representative were immediately furious because of his celebratory gestures. The gesture he made during his celebration was believed and known world-wide for the salute of the Nazis during World War II. The player claimed to ignorant about the salute’s meaning and stated that he was pointing to someone in the crowd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYIrYphja4s

3.)    "Goodbye to the Gangstas" : The NBA Dress Code, Ray Emery, and the Policing of Blackness in Basketball and Hockey

This is an article about athletes in professional sports leagues being restricted on their behaviors because of their cultural backgrounds. Athletes that are primarily targeted by the leagues are African Africans. The cultural differences from the black athletes and the non-black affiliates have created racial laws to dilute the differences.

Personal Literacy Narrative Draft 3

Francisco Reyes

21 February 2014

Professor Fleischer

English 1A

Draft 3

            My name is Francisco Reyes and I am a first year freshman at California State University, Sacramento. I come from an immediate family with two other siblings, an older brother and a twin brother. The three of us have lived in Sacramento our whole lives with the exception of when my older moved away for college. Our family has embedded my brothers and I with an academic and sports mentality in life. My acquisition of literacy has been sculpted from life experiences.

            I’m just a simple writer and speaker with skills that can’t be compared to a summer’s eve or an articulate author of high caliber literacy skills. My writing, speaking, and reading skills are possessed because of experiences, influential people, and other memorable influences. Of course some influences are more monumental to me than others. Without these experiences and influences my literacy composition wouldn’t be what it is today. The writing and speaking skills I possess can be attributed to the many years of soccer I played, the interaction with people online, and living in the same location since my existence.

            Soccer has been in my life for over 13 years. The many teams I have played on have brought new and different teammates. I had to form some type of relationship with every one of them but some were much closer friendships that lasted longer. The relationships were formed by communicating, speaking, and articulating amongst each other on similar levels. With that said, the way I spoke with my teammates varied dramatically from on and off the field. On the field we spoke with seriousness and a sense of professionalism because as athletes that completed at a competitive level throughout the country we felt we had job-like responsibilities. Off the field however we were at ease with each other and capable of being enthusiastic and comedic when we conversed. The tone and demeanor used when speaking on the field couldn’t be taken to heart because playing soccer was essentially our job so if one of us was slacking we had to let the other teammate know in an assertive yet respectful manner to pick up the quality of our performance. I thought we executed being assertive and respectful rather well because once we stepped off the field and entered a friendly state it was as if the on the field problems never existed but swiftly resumed once we went back to playing on the field.

            The soccer team I played for had many Hispanic players and most of which spoke both English and Spanish. I myself do not speak Spanish which made me hurdle and get around the language problem on the field. But thankfully off the field this problem didn’t occur. In time I learned what the other guys were saying in Spanish and I picked up the Spanish soccer terminology easily. Speaking in another language wasn’t a type of secret code to confuse the team but more of cultural norm Hispanic soccer players had. The players contributed and helped me learn the terms such as “pasala” meaning pass it or “cruzala” which translates to cross it; “It” being the soccer ball.

            Because my teammates and I were teenagers we tended to speak in what seemed normal to us but provocative to older people or adults. Sometimes the way we talked in public would come with consequences or learning experiences. For instance, once we traveled to southern California for a soccer tournament and we had to stay in a hotel because the tournament was multiple days. In between games we were in the lobby of the hotel and conversed amongst ourselves like we normally would but only this time there was older women not affiliated with us that stayed at the hotel and were also in the lobby. The women filed a formal complaint to the hotel and the hotel reacted immediately and nearly kicked us out. Unfortunately our parents found out the way we were speaking and monitored the way we spoke at the ensuing tournaments. It was a good lesson to take with us and move forward from as far as a speaking stand point.

            Social media has a significant in my life from a writing aspect. Identifying and being able to use the English language in social media and for academic purposes has proposed a hefty problem that has made me a conscious writer. Analyzing my own writing (or typing) formality is often accomplished when looking at my computer or cell phone. Because the use of informal social media and formal academic writings occur both on my phone and computer knowing when to type in certain manners becomes an issue. For example, I use email to get and respond to social media notifications. With that same email I may also have to respond to an email received from a professor or interviewer from a job. If I utilize the same speech patterns to a professor as I would to a friend I surely would find that it wouldn’t be in my best interest to use the same writing style for different stages of formality. My moderate distaste for academic reading and writing has made me resort to informal writing on social medias as a means to express myself with the way I want to write. However, Separating informal and formal writing is a developing trait I have yet to master which in time I hope to be able to know write in the appropriate setting without having to consciously think about what I am writing.

            Lastly I feel that the location I have lived in all my life has played a major role on the way I speak or converse with others. Being a northern California native from Sacramento has embedded the way I speak. The way I speak to individuals my age has always seemed normal and so right because until recently everyone I communicated and affiliated with was from Sacramento as well. Since I’ve attended Sacramento State University I’ve spoken with people from many different backgrounds and various regions in California. I’ve discovered that people from other places don’t necessarily admire or like my informal lingo and this too has made me a conscious speaker. Students that originate from Southern California greatly resent some terms I use in my speech. The most notable term that southern California students dislike is the slang term “hella”. I informally use the term to express a vast amount of something. I’ve been trying to eliminate the term from my language but as of lately I feel that I should utilize any word I desire as long as it doesn’t conflict with formal writings. Other examples of how living in Sacramento has influenced how I converse is the music I listen to. The Sacramento region is heavily influenced by bay area music and helps me acquire words from songs in my speech. At the same time, people from southern California don't typically listen to bay area music and  have no idea what I'm referring to when I use words like "hyphy", "thizz", or "turn up". I find it a near impossible task to even describe these common northern California words to Southern California kids because it's a natural slang. 

            My writing and speaking skills derive from my everyday experiences and previous encounters I’ve learned from. These experiences have been lessons that I have learned from in order to progress or become comfortable with. The literacy tendencies I've acquired will continue to grow in time as I endure new experiences throughout life. The people that I currently affiliate with now in college will have a subconscious affect on the way I communicate with people in the work field after college. Hopefully the literacy techniques acquired will better my chances of creating new opportunities in life beyond college.  While my articulation is not of a supreme quality it is distinct and unique to me.