Opinions and Articles

Blog #4

We come across different kinds of literature in our daily lives. Op-eds and JSTOR articles are one of the many examples of literature. Op-eds are reading that you usually find in a newspaper, a piece of literature that you may come across a lot. They are usually strong and opinionated, and are a response to a current situation. JSTORs on the other hand are academic articles that contain more research. 

When coming across the three articles that I read, the one that caught my interest the most was the article about "Viral Black Death". Overall, this article is explaining it's side on why society should watch viral videos of police brutality on black citizens of America. Kimberly Fain, a licensed attorney who teaches African American literature at Texas Southern University, wrote this article. 

I agree with Fain in her article when she explains that society should watch videos of police brutality to get another side. A lot of times, police brutality is thrown to the side because society turns to the idea that it was the black mans fault for being murdered due to their crime like behavior in the past. I agree that black people are more susceptible to being hurt by police officers due to their previous behavior, but usually the videos perceive them as simply (in Alton Sterling’s case) "selling his CDs outside a liquor store" which I believe has nothing to do with their previous crime record.

On a side note, I remember the day I watched Philandro Castilles viral video. His girlfriend Diamond Reynolds captured this video and posted it using Facebook live. In the video, right away you see Philandro Castille covered in blood due to a shot in the arm by a police officer. Reynolds explains that he was shot because he was reaching for his gun license, which was misinterpreted by the police officer as "reaching for his firearm". After watching this video, I was stunned at how a black man getting pulled over for a broken taillight gets killed. After this video went viral, many celebrities including Beyoncé, Chris Brown, and Wiz Khalifa showed their sorrows on social media about the case, which lead to many riots across America. 

In this article, the author makes herself seem believable by being extremely knowledgeable in African American History and current events. She provides hyperlinks from previous occasions such as Philandro Castiles and Alton Sterling’s videos. She also adds some history of African American lynching, and the case of Emmit Till. Being that she is an African American literature teacher, I would believe she has a lot of knowledge in this subject. Fain adds hash tags to relate to a younger audience reading this, so that they can get more involved in the social media movement against police brutality. In addition, she adds quotations from of different sides to the article. The quotations show that she is fair and objective which shows her strong use of ethos. 

Fain uses pathos in her argument by including hear wrenching videos of black citizens that were killed due to police brutality and how their family members reacted to it. This would make the reader feel a lot of emotions while reading this because they feel sorry for the victims. In addition, she uses logos by including quotations from victims and history facts to state her point. 

All in all, I really enjoyed reading this JSTOR article. See you all in class!

Vanessa Lim 

Blog #2 Genre Awareness

I must say that I do agree with Professor Flewelling from last Friday's class when she said that this is probably the most hardest reading we will have this semester. At first, I was thinking to myself "this shouldn't be too hard" but then I started reading the article and saw how difficult the words were and I was like

Then I started to read the article more, and I couldn't really understand what she was saying. So I had to re-read a lot of parts and I was like

"Teaching Critical Genre Awareness" by Amy Devitt was a challenging article to read for me. It had a lot of complex words that I have never hear before like "pedagogy". I'm not going to lie, a lot of these words I looked up. Never did I ever expect to explore the world of genres with so much detail! I do agree with a lot of Amy Devitt's points like, how it is important to know how different genres can have an effect on a variety of relationships

and how you can relate to the reader on different aspects. Genre awareness is important because you can include attention to contrasting genres and how they influence people. For instance, if you didn't know much about genre awareness, you wouldn't be able to contrast other genres with another or relate to certain kinds of people because you don't have a grasp of different ideologies that they all have. In her article she also points out that she wants to, "help students understand genres both intellectually and experientially to prepare them to accept that genres represent particular sides that shape their existence of their world"(348). I agree with this statement because, its completely different when you're writing about a genre that you have never experienced before. Like for example, if you don't listen to rap music, but you end up writing about it, the statements won't be as accurate as a person who listens to rap music on a regular basis. To further elaborate on this, she also shares projects that she thinks will better students about exploring different genres. I admire that she wants students to analyze a genre from different cultures and to, "work in groups to gather sample, analyze the genre, and learn about the historical or cultural context" (349). This way the student will have way more to write about because they have experienced it first hand and it offers the audience the delight being familiar with the subject.

I am a Public Health major, so I am used to taking a lot of science and math classes. So you would imagine that essays were not really my forte. The only thing close an essay in my science classes are lap reports. In my lab reports, we have to write down every little detail we did in a experiment. We would write what we would change, what materials and methods we use, and we would add some diagrams here and there. (Even though it was still a 10 page lab report, I would rather write those brutal 3-4 page essays). I always dreaded my English class because when we had to write essays, we would have to follow the teachers structure, and if we didn't write them precisely her way, it was wrong. This all changed for me once I got to college. I remember when I first took a communications class my freshman year at SDSU, and we had to write outlines of our speeches, which I thought was way more fun than writing essays. Going into this RWS305 class, I was kind of nervous because I thought we would write essays the whole time, but once I saw all the different genres of literature we were going to do this semester, it made me more interested in the class. With the blogs we do in this class, I don't have to follow a certain structure, I can just write freely and add my own pizzazz to it. It kind of makes me want to start my own personal blot about my interests and passions. I feel if I explore different genres of writing, I will feel more comfortable with writing in general.


When I think about genres in my life, I automatically think about dance. I have been dancing competitively for most of my life and there are many styles/genres to it. There is lyrical, jazz, tap, pom, modern, contemporary, hip-hop, and many more. With all those different types of genres, you can see the different ideologies and stereotypes that come with them. For example, people who dance to the style of lyrical usually have long legs and have to express a lot of emotion that will make the audience feel a fuzzy warmth in their hearts after they watch it. Where as people who dance to jazz are more spunky, tiny, and energetic. I also think of how each dance gives off a different reaction to the audience. For instance, at competitions, usually lyrical will win because it attracts the most emotion and it is very beautiful to watch. Jazz on the other hand, makes the audience feel more excited and gets them on their feet the whole time. Unfortunately, jazz doesn't always win first place. Maybe this is because of all the ideologies that come with lyrical dancing. Some of these ideologies may be that its more deserving to win because of the story it tells, or just how it makes the audience feel good when they watch it.

We might not even think about how many different genres that we come into contact with in our everyday life. For example, I write a lot of emails to my professors. Even though I write a lot of emails, I am not aware they are a category in literature genres. I always want to come off as professional to my teachers. So even though I am unaware I am participating in a different genre of literature, I gained language that was important to my professional development.

Overall, Devitt's article explained a lot of good concepts about genre awareness. One of my favorite points in her article was about when students write the same old five paragraph essay that we've been writing ever since middle school. From those essays, we "carry ideologies, norms and values that come to seem unquestioned"(339). I agree from a personal level that when we usually come into contact with the repetitive genres we tend to be inattentive to the subject and students do not really engage in their emotional interests. We are so used to writing them in a certain structure, like making sure they have a thesis and three good examples.

Thanks for reading,

Vanessa

Vanessa Lim

I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can't accept not trying. -Michael Jordan 

Whats up everyone! My name is Vanessa (I know, cheesy opening) here's some fun facts about myself :-)

I am currently a junior at SDSU pursuing a Public Health degree

I am half Filipino and half African American

My favorite shows right now are Grey's Anatomy and Jane the Virgin

I was born and raised in Houston, Texas (Go Longhorns!) (& Beyonce)

I have a shih tzu named Snookie

I am the eldest daughter of two sisters

I was the captain of my dance team in high school 

I am a part of Delta Gamma sorority

I am a Leo

Sunny San Diego 

Now that we got some of the facts out the way, we can talk about some cool stuff! It's kind of crazy to see how far I have come. For instance, college. I honestly never imagined myself to go to a big successful school like SDSU. "It never rains in Southern California!!!" (It's a song just in case some young people are reading this; that song is 100% true). The day I moved to San Diego it. never. rained. but then just last year it started raining like no other because of El Nino. long story... but ANYWAYS. Moving to San Diego for college was one of the toughest yet best decisions I have ever made. It was so hard leaving my family back in the Bay Area, but moving to San Diego made me find my true self and helped me learn how to live independently.  The one thing that makes San Diego stand out to me is that I feel like i'm on vacation all while I'm going to school. I moved to the Bay Area from Texas when I was in fifth grade, and the even though the Bay Area and San Diego are in the same state, they are totally different. San Diego is different because because I feel like there is more stuff to do here for the young ones like me and I never run out of things to do. 

Waves Don't Die

Me at Mission Beach!

I have to go into more depth about the beaches here because c'mon, we have a free called "Beaches" and I think that's pretty cool! My favorite beach is Mission Beach. I don't know why I'm obsessed with Mission Beach because it just gives me this vibe of the typical California stereotype. The only beach we have in the Bay that is similar is the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. I love Santa Cruz , but I don't like the fact that I have to drive two and a half hours to get there. So that's why I think Mission beach is 100 times better.

FAMILY

Mom, Me, G-ma, Aunt

My Papa & I

If it wasn't for my family, I probably would not be here right now. They are my support system, my rocks, and my best friends. I probably hang out with my family more than I do with my friends. It was tough leaving my family to go to college here, I literally call them everyday. I know some of you are like "omg what a baby" and you know what, thats kind of true. I was the first grandchild of my grandparents, and I was the first child out of all my aunts and uncles. So I guess you can say I'm the baby of the family. Well, not really cause I'm the oldest, but I'm sure you all get the point.

Little Sister

 The picture on the right is my grandpa (I call him Papa). He is the strongest, most loving man I know and I hope to find someone that is exactly like him one day. My mom is a single mom, and growing up I looked up to my Papa as my dad. He always strived to give me everything I wanted and always cooked for me (I swear he was a chef in his past life because nothing beats his food). I don't know what I would do without him, and its gets harder and harder to leave every time. The picture on the left are the three main women in my life; my mom, my grandma, and my aunt. They all raised me  and my sister together, and has made such a big impact on my life. To me, they are all role models and I hope to be half as good as they are when I am older. Finally, on the bottom is my little sister. My sister and I are complete opposites, she's very sporty and tom boyish, and I am nothing like that. I honestly suck at every sport there is. Even though my sister and I don't get along that much we both know that at the end of the day we love each other and we will always have each others backs.

DeeGee! 

At SDSU, I am a part of Delta Gamma sorority. I've been a part of it for two years now, and it's made my stay here in San Diego so much more enjoyable. To me, Delta Gamma is my home away from home, I'm always excited to see my sisters when I come back to SD. From all the events, philanthropy work, to recruitment, my bond with these girls grow so much stronger everyday. It's such a relieving feeling when I walk into a new class on the first day of a new semester and see a familiar DG face smiling back at me. Joining a sorority is so worth it. Ignore all the stereotypes and rumors and just try out the recruitment process, you will thank me later! You also make great connections for the future, and hey, it looks good on your resume! :-)