Shootin Dad

This story has a great title"Shooting Dad".  As I started to read this story all I could think of was the title. The way  she described all of the things her father was to her, Republican with NRA stickers all over the car. Then I thought about the title and wondered is she going to shoot this guy.  The story is very familiar, the younger generation not understanding the values of the older.  It happened to my Dad and his Dad, to me and mine.  This is the same story. I am surprised at how the story tied the title in.  I never thought that she was going to shoot ashes. 

The way that the writer starts the story, her and her father always disagreeing, many if the younger generation can relate too.  As the story progressed the story became easier for me to realize with. As we get older we want to be OK with our parents, maybe because we start to realize that "this" is not forever, who knows.  The story became more moving as it went along, and at the end when she realized that she  and her father were the same person, made me chuckle out loud.  The title "Shooting Dad" was made clear in the last paragraph when the reader realizes that the daughter is going to shoot the ashes of her father out of a cannon.  The fact that the writer doesn't agree with firearms has an ironic ring when she says that she wants the cannon to hurt when it is fired.

Chapter Three

In chapter three we learn how to make global revesions.  The order that your rough draft paragraphs are  in can be changed to make it easrier for the reader to follow.  Or you may stretch or condense paragraphs to get better get your point across.  This chapter has a great check list that can help you in your revision.  Purpose and audience: whats the purpose of the essay? who is the audience
Focus;  does it make sense, clear or are you on point
Organization and paragrapghing; Is there order  spread out or too condensed?
Content:  do you have supporting information for your ideas?
Point of view: Is the essay written from you he or they or it and is it relative?
The chapter tells you about being clear and to the point and to proofread and spellcheck as you revise your rough draft.  The more time you take to revise your essay the easier it will be for the reader to understand what you have written 
The checklist in this chapter will help me on the next essay. I will work on my point of view statements more.  The other is how to be more objective in my sentence structure and have more supportive content to back up my thesis.  The ideas of not having to rewrite the whole essay is also nice.  I  see how I could of  changed some of my first essay as well.  I found some of my weak points while reading this chapter and I plan on working on them.

Coming Home

What's the importance of food in this essay?

The author tells a story about a time in his life when his mom got sick and died.  The way that he tells the story is through a visual recollection of memories that for the most part have to do with food.  When he first starts to tell you about his mom he starts off with how she is "fed" through an electric pump.   Every time the author tells you about a part of his life he includes something about food.  When he first moved back into the house, he started to taking over all the cooking and cleaning of the house.  Then he writes about when he was a child and was sent to a boarding school, his parents visited him and had brought a large amount of food, he ate so much he got sick.

The author tied most of the story together food. I think that it makes it easier to relate to.  By talking about family life, sitting at the table together, and laughing in the kitchen as a meal is made, the majority of people have had that at some point in their life.  Then to tell the reader that he (the author) has tried to mimic the recipes tells me that he has tried to fill the void, but can't.  I really liked the story, the author describes alot of events with the use of food.  The story would have been alot harder to follow had he not described how his mother brought the family together with food.

Chapter Two

  In chapter two we learn about how to continue working on our rough draft.  It talks about some of the problems that writers may have, like writers block, or just getting started.  When you write you need to think about who the audience is and how are you delivering the information,  are you being to informative, too many facts or are you being to vague?  The thesis, is it in the beginning of the first paragraph or towards the end?  Where is the "hook", the sentence or sentences that draw the reader in and makes them want to continue reading.  Next you have to draft the body of the paper .  The body has to support the thesis and give examples or facts that will back up what you are trying convey.  All of your supporting points are in the body.  the next part of your paper is the conclusion. This is where you "remind" the reader of the thesis without repeating it in the same word.  Your conclusion should leave the reader felling what you wanted, meaning that the reader left the reading seeing your point of view. 

I am going to use this for sure.  Before reading this I just put all of my ideas down as I was writing the paper, not before. I think that this will help me to get my point across on the first essay.   The thesis might not have been as apparent to the reader as it is to me.  The part about how to decide if the points are to much information or not enough, had never occurred to me before. I just assumed that the reader would understand.  This chapter has a lot of information for how short it is.

Essay

My essay is about my daughter,Hannah. She is the most important person in my life.  She has shown me how to be compassionate to other people and show patience when it is needed.  She has more strength than I can express with words.  She is brave and kind and caring.  She is nine and half. Everyday is filled with new feelings and smells and sights.  She is full of wonderment.  She is surprised when the dog barks for food, yet the dog does this everyday.  She never gets tired of running on the beach with dog, or swimming at the gym, where the chlorine is so strong it almost burns.  She is mad when its time to go to bed and happy when she wakes up.  She is nine and half.  She can do flips and hand springs across the room and will if you let her.  She is honest, even when she gets into trouble.  She is in the fourth grade and somehow on some days she knows everything.  But like I said she is nine and a half.  She has taught me that I need to choose my words carefully, because she has a near  perfect memory and can recite them at will.  And that I need to watch what I eat because Mom said to.  She is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Hannah is an only child who is doted for , hand and foot.  She has no wants that aren't filled and no needs unmet.  One of my main reasons for going back to school is to show my daughter the importance of an education.  My parents never had the time or energy to do anything above or beyond the bare minimum parenting.  I regret not going to school earlier, a regret that my daughter will never have to feel.  Hannah loves to go to school and she is enrolled in sports.  She has done many over the years.  I am proud to be in her life and to help her flourish as an active kid.  My parents were never there to take care of the little things, like make sure I did my homework or sign me up for sports or any extracurricular activities at all. So as soon as some became available I enrolled Hannah into Gymnastics.  Over the years she has been involved in Tee Ball and Soccer and Swim Team as well as Tae kwon do.  I know that I am over compensating for the lack of activities I had as  a child, but I want her to have all of the things I did not. So when I get home from working a twelve hour day Hannah is there with a smile and a kind word.  That is what keeps me going, going to work , going to school, to church and on.  She is my motivation. She will have all the opportunities  that I didn't have.  She will strive in school  and at life.  And if she doesn't, I will be there to help.

Chapter one

Chapter one talks about the process of writing.. It tells you about the purpose of writing, the thesis how to make an outline and who the audience is.  First it talks to you about generating a planned assessment of the  the writing situation. Then you have to find the purpose of the writing, inform persuade etc.. The next step is the audience, who are they what ethnic, or age group?  Or are they business or academic?  The next part of chapter one talks about  how long the essay should be, is it defined how long it should be?  Then it moves on to talk about freewriting and brainstorming and using formal outlines.  Annotating text as you read them will help to remember what you have read. 
This chapter will definitely help me to have  an outline to go by.  I cant remember the last time I wrote an essay so this will all help me. I like the thought of thinking about what the audience is thinking and the purpose of writing is for. The freewrites we have been using will help and I believe that the use of a formal outline will help, (breaking everything down into categories and subcategories) will help to keep me on task
Benjamin

The Joy of Reading and Writing

"The words inside a paragraph worked together for a common purpose.  They had some specific reason for being inside the same fence.  This knowledge delighted me.  I began to think of everything in terms of paragraphs." 

When I first read the story I read it pretty quickly.  I didn't put much thought into this statement.  But the second time around, I found myself looking at my desk and before I knew it I had turned it into an essay.  The cup that holds my pens, the color of the pens , the tips of the pens.  I couldn't help but to chuckle.  Then I continued to break up everything in my office in the same way.  I am not sure that it will help me write better, but it is entertaining to do.
I did find that by "using this logic", my drive to work this morning was full of paragraphs.  I had never thought of looking at things in the sense of how they related, if they were in an essay.  I had fun with it for most of my day.  I remember my brother teaching me chess as a child, and supermarket tiles as being a giant chess board, with pieces making their way down the bread isle.  To funny. I  had fun reading and writing about this story.