Reading Quiz/Blog Post for October 12

Charles Schulz's "Dear Editor"

Q. - What main argument does Schulz make about writing, editors, and revision? What evidence from the text supports this interpretation?

A. - The main argument is about how some publishers and editors do not respond personally to the writers but only restore their work without giving further explanation.

In the text we see how innocently Peanuts question about what is happening with their stories and why the editor are returned. Then we see Peanuts shows that his desire is to become famous, but he says with a certain innocence. And finally we see that the character asks "What is it with you." reflecting that something bad should happen to the editor because his is returning the stories instead of beginning to make Peanut famous.


Gary B. Trudeau's "Doonesbury: Study-Friendly Courses" 

Q. - What visual and written evidence from the comic strip suggests that Trudeau is critiquing higher education and not the K-12 education system in general? What visual and written evidence suggest that he is critiquing the American higher education system and not another country's educational system?

A. - The evidence that the criticism is about higher education is first in the visual. We can see some buildings commons in higher education environments such as universities. Then we read the word Summer, and it is common that only higher education courses offered in summer. Then we can deduce that it is American higher education since they refer to "The Simpsons" apart from references to the English language.

Reading Quiz: Katrina Despair Amid The Ruins

1. What major argument is made in "Katrina: Growing Despair Amid the Ruins"? How does Willie J. Allen use ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade viewers of this argument? What additional strategies does Allen employ to persuade viewers?

Willie J. Allen
Katrina Growing Despair Amid The Ruins

In the face of the victims, appearing in the picture, you see the desperation and suffering caused by the tragedy. You can see women, youth and children and his face you can see the despair of the forgotten.

Of course, the credibility of the photograph (the ethos) are the same people. And you can distinguish the image of suffering and disorientation of every person (pathos) and as some carry their belongings but have no real sense of direction, but find themselves confused and content (logos) by military force that acts as repesalia the crowd.

Adbusters "The Blackspot Unswoosher"

1. What is the relationship between megacorporations and consumerism in "The Blackspot Unswoosher"? What evidence from the images and text support this interpretation?

They try to convey to consumers the truth about many of the products offered by mega-corporations. As the text of the article "The purpose of the magazine is to Encourage readers to do more Than Think About The Problems of the world"


What evidence from the images and text support this interpretation?

They do this by making them part of the solution of these problems. They have a product called "The Blackspot Unswoosher" and highlight the properties of footwear, such as pull Recycled sole, leather Vegetarian, 100% Organic Hemp Upper, and finally the Anti-Hand Drawn Logo. The latter as a clear reference to the major brands and the way in which we sell a product by name, rather than quality.

Compare and Contrast: Engkent

Compare and Contrast: Me Talk Pretty One Day

Analysis of the text: Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris)

In Sedaris's text, he compares the experience of learning english in New York to the french class. He explain the differences in this paragraph:

"Unlike the French class I had taken in New York, here there was no sense of competition. When teacher poked a shy Korean in the eyelid with a freshly sharpened pencil, we took no comfort in the fact that, unlike Hyeyoon Cho, we all knew the irregular past tense of the verb to defeat. In all fairness, the teacher hadn't meant to stab the girl, but neither did shed spend much time apologizing, saying only, "Well, you should have been vkkdyo more kdeynfulh."


With this example, Sedaris also contrast the behave of her teacher to, as we said, his classes in New York. And highlight theses events to explain the environment in his new class room.

Reading Quiz/Blog Post for September 21

Identify the obstacles that prevent Engkent's mother from learning to speak English. According to Engkent, what responsibility does he attribute to his mother for her inability to learn English? What responsibility would you attribute to Engkent's mother for her inability to learn English?

In my opinion the Engkent´s mother wanted to learn English, however, her husband represented the first obstacle. He forced her to be only in the kitchen and understand only the orders of the waitresses, "He puts me in the school and Mother in the kitchen" Says Engkent, to represent the thought of macho of her father and the way that some cultures see the women, even now days.

"Once the father died she was too old to learn the language. However, she also was responsible for learning English and rebel against the father. But perhaps he was afraid to lose their "Soul of China" and become a "Fan gwei." Maybe she also thinks that learn english is dishonor the memory of her husband. And she would like to be a good wife.

I think the temperament stubborn and selfish of the husband with a certain rejection by the mother of the new environment are the two main factors that represent the inability or reluctance of the mother to learn the language of the country that has been living for the past thirty years.

Reading quiz/Blog Post for September 19

Why does Richardson identify this narrative as an "ill literacy narrative"? Which events does she share to support the concept of "ill literacy"? 

 She defines her narrative as Ill literacy, because, as she says “based on social situatedness – one’s readings of the world, the meanings that one associates with various symbols can be different based on where you are coming from.” She talk about a event in particular, and how that event change the way that she understand words like “know”.

She also uses that event to explain three meanings of that word and finish with one, that she describe like archaic “to have carnal acquaintance or sexual intercourse with”.

In a society full of signs and meaning, the author use the semiotic to describe how a particular word or event can significant different things, always according to your role in this society.

1. What role does dialogue play in the way that Sedaris makes sense of the challenges associated with learning French? How does it support/not support the purposes of this essay?


The author begins the story by referring to his age and the paradoxical fact that the book was called "a true debutant" and how the fact that everyone else spoke perfect French made ​​him feel intimidated. The author describes how the dialogue almost onomatopoeic, and even says in the text that "I could barely understand half of what that woman (his teacher) was saying"


The author uses the humor and the irony to explain the challenge of learn a new language. He also uses the dialogs as a resource to explain to the reader the way he understood some words.