The expression ‘Nickel and Dimed’ is when you “put a financial strain on someone by charging small amounts for many minor services.” Being ‘Nickel and Dimed’ is an immoral thing to do in my opinion however I understand why it’s done. An example of being ‘Nickel and Dimed’ is being charged $0.50-$5 for withdrawing money at an ATM that isn’t associated with your current bank. Obviously, these deductions aren’t significant however after time, it starts to add up and becomes a nuisance to do. Soon you will just refuse to withdraw from any ATM that isn’t associated with your local bank. I personally have stopped withdrawing from these ATM’s because I got tired of getting ‘Nickel and Dimed’. I understand that from the owner’s point of view, they’re simply trying to make a profit over this however after a while, I believe it can get pretty ridiculous and I’m not a fan of it.
Comparing my Humans of New York post to a theme discussed in class
In my Humans of New York post from earlier in the semester, I talked about how my culture affected my everyday life. Being a male in a West Indian household allows me to have more privileges than my sister ever would have, giving me different opportunities than them. This relates to the theme of “Words” by Sara Yamasaki. In Yamasaki’s text, she describes how her daughter was made fun of in class because of the foods she ate however this was because of the environment the kids were a part of. This shaped the way they saw things and what they did. Since they never saw anyone eat rice balls for lunch before, their instinct was to criticize rather than to understand. However, once they understood, they were very open to eating rice balls and that stigma disappeared. The environment in which I grew up also shaped who I became. I was never “held back” from doing certain activities like my sisters were therefore I never understood what I had and took it for granted. However, as I became older I learned that my sisters were very limited on what they were allowed to do which shaped who they were as well. I am very open about what I do because I know that my parents won’t mind. On the other hand, my used to be the opposite because since they were limited, they had to be sneaky and find alternative ways to do what they wanted to do. The environment plays a major fact in everyone’s life and my Humans of New York post is a prime example of this.
“America Remains the World’s Beacon of Success” Compare and contrast to Marx’s essay
Karl Marx’s manifesto and Tim Roemer’s text can be compared and contrasted because of the similar, yet completely different ideas. Both of these texts show every country has a similar problem that needs to be addressed in order to fully take advantage of their abilities. Roemer states, “Our trade deficit runs about $44 billion per month.” and, “But living overseas, I saw that ours is not the only country facing profound challenges.” Roemer also mentions the fact that three dozen millionaires in Mumbai would wish to access the U.S. market. This shows the fact that not every country is doing so well and that even millionaires in Mumbai would want to have access to another country’s market because their’s could be doing a lot better. It demonstrates that Roemer has encountered this first hand and it isn’t something that is simply made up, these are facts. Marx spends a lot of time in his manifesto speaking about the fact that the people can be doing so much better if the gap between the wealthy and poor decreased significantly. That is why he tends to lean towards a communistic society so that everyone is doing well off rather than some doing amazing well and majority doing not so well.
On the other hand, there are many difference between their ideologies in their text, the main point being that Marx believes capitalism is a negative concept and Roemer believes that capitalism is a positive concept. Roemer states, “Our GDP is no accident. We have a market-oriented economy where most decisions are made independently by individuals and individual businesses.” This shows that our capitalistic economy is doing so well because of this individuality that we possess. Everything is individual and when everyone is striving for success, it will only improve our economy. However, Marx believes that capitalism will do the opposite for us. In the text it states, “Disgusted with the excess of capitalism, the privileging of a minority at the expensive of the majority, and the pernicious effects of capitalistic production on working people, Marx decided it was high time someone spoke out in favor of a more equitable distribution of human resources.” Marx strongly believed that capitalism was the root of the nation’s problems. The majority are enslaved to the minority that control all the means of distribution. The minority is doing so well that the majority only have enough for survival. The gap between these two classes are constantly increasing and that is because of capitalism being an individualistic idea while he wants the nation to practice the idea of working together as a community instead.
How does Marx’s teachings relate to you in 2018?
During our class discussion yesterday, we talked a lot about Marx’s idea of the bourgeoisie and proletariat. This idea that Marx presented closely relates to me in 2018. I believe that this class difference still exists today, and most of us are a part of the proletariat’s. The Bourgeoisie are supposed to be the 1% of the people that have a mass amount of wealth and I believe this is still a factor in today’s society. Most of us Americans are either in the lower class or middle class, and a lot of us are doing well enough to survive. However, we are still workers for that 1% that control the major means of production and will most likely be bound to this position. This is just like how it was many years ago and continues to be a recurring factor of society that we haven’t been able to escape yet.
“The Manifesto of the Communist Party” What elements in his writing can we use to make our writing strong?
Karl Marx used many different elements in his writing that made his writing strong. One element that stood out to me in this excerpt from his essay is the use of chronological order and how he separated his ideas. In the beginning of this excerpt, he states, “In the earlier epochs of history….In ancient Rome…” (Marx 145) showing that there has been a class struggle since the early stages of civilization. Then he later goes on to say, “A similar movement is going on before our own eyes” (Marx 149). This is an example of Marx showing the relevance of class struggles because what we thought was in the past continues today.
Karl Marx used another element in this excerpt that stood out to me which was his use of short paragraphs. His use of this put a lot of emphasis on what he was saying. He had the option to put some of his rather similar ideas together into one paragraph however he chose the route of separating each thought putting emphasis on each thought. “In Switzerland they support the Radicals…In Poland they support the party that insists on agrarian revolution…In Germany they fight with the bourgeoisie…” (Marx 163). These three individual paragraphs showed the relevance of their countries sidings which could have been put into one body paragraph. Instead, he separated each of these statements which further emphasized the facts of how each country was handling their own situation.
Was the peer review helpful?
The peer review was actually very helpful. The interactive peer review checklist helped me making a lot of corrections to my essay. At first, I thought that my essay was pretty good however after reviewing the checklist, it made me realize that I could do a lot to improve the vocabulary I used in it. I tend to use a lot of “boring verbs” so I went through my essay and change all of the boring verbs I had an replaced it with much more intriguing language. Reviewing this checklist also allowed me to understand what I did correctly. I know now not to change anything that is correct on this checklist and this will improve my grade so much more. Talking about what should be incorporated in the essay in class also help me understand what exactly we are supposed to be talking about. It is so much more simple having the essay broken down like that and it has made me much more confident with completing my essay.
Essay #1: Rhetorical Analysis Beginning
“Words” by Sara Yamasaki used specific writing styles in order to engage the audience where I was then able to relate the reading to my own culture. The writing style that stood out to me was the use of pathos. Pathos is defined as “an appeal to the emotions of the audience, and elicits feelings that already reside in them.” As a reader of the audience, I felt an emotional connection to what Yamasaki was saying because she made me think of my own culture after talking about her own. The reading showed me that you are brought up in life, being taught specific norms for your culture. Often times, you only start to see the world in that view because it’s the only experience you have. Being from a West Indian background, there are many cultural stigmas and traditions which are passed down from generation to the next generation. These stigmas and traditions define who you are and what your culture is about. The writing style of pathos allowed me to draw a conclusion that the audience will connect emotionally as well as be engaged to the reading.
When Sara used pathos as her specific writing style in this text, it really stood out to me and I am sure that it stood out to other readers as well. Pathos allowed me to engage the reading in a different way. Rather than just simply reading the text, she got me to start thinking about if this has ever happened to myself or anyone that I knew. Sara once found herself in a situation that I knew someone could relate to. She was in a housewares department and when the cashier asked her if she had come from China, talking about that china ware section, her initial reaction was to go on the defense and say, “No, we were born here” (Words, 2). This showed that she had heard this phrase so often that this reaction was automatic for her, even though it was in the wrong context this time. I once knew someone in this same predicament. It starts off as just hearing something offensive once in a while to occasionally to every day and after a while, you just get used to it and have your defense mechanism on stand-by. This person that I knew would be made fun of so often that they started to play into the joke just so that they wouldn’t have to be on the defensive anymore and showed that everyone has their own defense mechanism. After reading this text, I was able to connect with this reading immediately thanks to the use of pathos.
Introduction to Essay #1
The prompt that I will use is “Which reading would enjoy writing about” and I will most likely use the reading “Words” by Sara Yamasaki to elaborate on that prompt. I will use this prompt because there are many different routes that I can take when talking about this. After reading and analyzing this text, I know that there are multiple meanings that are behind it. With these different themes, I would be able to branch my writing off in a lot of ways allowing me to make multiple valid points.
With this prompt, there are multiple things that I can discuss. For instance, I can talk about how the role of parents affect what you learn and believe growing up. This is because you learn most of what you know about the world from your parents at an early age and it will change the way you look at things, depending on if your parents teach you good or bad. I can also talk about how where you grew up influenced the type of person you have become. Setting plays a major role in who you will be because if you are constantly surrounded by drugs in a filthy area, odds are they will play some type of role in your life versus if you are surrounded by wealth and your city is taken care of properly, you will have dreams and goals of continuing this life style. The environment plays a major role in your life and the environment itself consists of many different yet connected factors.
Online Class 09/27/18
The reading I enjoyed the most was “Words” by Sara Yamasaki. This reading was very interesting and I enjoyed the moral behind it. It opened my eyes up to how much the environment plays a role in your life. The environment you are surrounded with or that you choose to surround yourself with greatly factors into what type of person you will be and the type of behavior you have.
The reading that I would enjoy writing about is “Words” by Sara Yamasaki as well. After reading the text and seeing what the moral of the story was, I feel as if there are so many routes you can take when writing about it. For instance how what you’re taught influences you or how the setting of where you live affects you or how the people who you associate yourself with influence you. There’s are broad range of things regarding this story and that is why I think it’s a great text.
Five words that pop into my head when I think about writing are: tiring, complex, dedication, logic, and organization. Writing is a tiring thing when you go at it for a while and that is why you need dedication in order to complete such a task. The thoughts you have and need to put into your writing may be very complex and won’t be as simple as a task as you might think it will be. That’s why you have to be very logical and organized when putting these thoughts together. This will allow the writing to flow smoothly and your thoughts will be a lot more clear and easier to understand.
The Beach by Alex Garland:
The film The Beach by Alex Garland was interesting to say the least. Watching this film showed me that environment definitely plays a role on how you act and think. This is just like how after reading “Words” by Sara Yamasaki made me feel. Both of these pieces gave that same meaning of environment influencing someone’s thoughts and behavior. In the text “Words”, it showed an example of her child being shamed over bringing rice balls to class when the other kids have simply never seen it before therefore they criticized it. But if they were in an environment where they always saw rice balls, they wouldn’t have a problem with seeing Sara’s daughter with it. In the film, examples of how the environment affects people are illustrated as well. For instance, when Richard met Etienne and Francoise they wanted to go out in search of this island which gave Richard even more of a reason to pursue this theory. However, if these two people had rejected Richard’s proposition from the beginning, he may have been less likely to continue his pursuit in finding this island. Their decision impacted how Richard acted when wasn’t even aware of this.
Another example of when environment played a deciding factor in Richard’s life was when he made it to the island. The environment he was surrounded with changed his behavior. The people he initially met were friendly and welcoming people towards him which enticed him to stay for a longer period of time on that island. They even gave him a job to show that he was a part of their community. However, if they had been very harsh and stern people, Richard may have decided in his head that this place wasn’t as good as it seemed to be and wanted to leave. This shows how something as small as being friendly or mean can go a long way in changing the way someone perceives you.
Response to “Becoming a Writer” Relating to Diaz’s frustrations about writing
Junot Diaz was a determined writer and you can tell by reading about his adventure to complete his book. Even though he is a great writer, everyone struggles and are challenged with their own difficulties. His difficulty was writers block, which occurred for a while. I have experienced writers block back in high school when I was apart of the Journalism class. For this class, we constantly needed to write articles for our school based off of the section we were in. I was in the sports section with two other students. Back when I first started Journalism, I didn’t know much about sports so I had no idea what to write about. I knew about the NBA but my other associates in my section took the topic of the NBA, so I wasn’t allowed to write about it. That left me stuck. With no idea what to write about. I kept constantly searching about sports news but I had no knowledge about what was going on. It took me a while to figure out what to write about, my teacher had to discuss with me different ideas and every idea that I had gotten at first, I would just stare at my computer wondering how can I continue my article after the first sentence. I also constantly wondered how could I make this article interesting to readers.
After a long time of staring at a blank screen or a screen filled with text that was absolutely boring, I decided I had enough. I first emailed my teacher on how I should approach this situation. She gave me some helpful advice however it just wasn’t enough. I then decided to ask my peers. I wanted to see how they went about creating their articles and then they explained their thought process to me. I was in awe as to how simple they put it yet I was here struggling. They gave me a few pointers on just writing everything that came to me and to chop it up afterwards. I tried it and after writing about two pages or so, I was able to chop it up into half a page with an interesting picture at the top. The feeling of finally being done was amazing. I had been stuck for so long and it was finally done. After I had turned it in and my teacher graded it, I got an A. That was even better feeling that just completing the article. All my hard work had paid off. Diaz isn’t alone with his frustrations with writing however overtime, the determination will pay off.
Ravindra’s Blog 