ePortfolio

Dear future College Writing 2 students,
College Writing 2 has been a very interesting and helpful class. I've been able to improve my writing skills by constantly correcting drafts, getting peer review, and all the feedback from Dr. Kyburz. Throughout this semester we've done a numerous amount of projects, but there are a few that have stood out to me.

"Scardeycat" Film Summary- This was our first writing assignment in College Writing 2. When we first watched this film, I was completely lost because it jumped from one scene to another. Usually when I watch movies, I try to interpret what the author is trying to explain. Writing this summary on Andy Blubaugh's documentary was a little tough for me because I kept adding what I though Blubaugh was trying to explain or how he was feeling throughout the documentary. This film summary helped me write in sequence about the documentary without putting in what I was thinking.  This short film summary helped me write my 8 page paper on Cartelland.

Microtheme- When Dr Kyburz told the class we are writing a 1 page paper, I was so excited because I thought for sure I could do it in a day. Well of course, I was wrong. In the Microtheme, I my question was Why do people lie? I started the paper with some truths, such as I tend to lie more than I should. My second paragraph was reflecting on possible reasons why we lie. I said we may like because we think it's our only option, we are afraid to tell the truth, and it makes us seem more interesting. I thought these were some common reasons I've noticed and that I've used. The final paragraph was the hardest for me. I wrote about 3 drafts just trying to correct why people would be interested in the issue. Without the one on one time with Dr Kyburz, I probably would've still had a horrible ending. Then we had to do short video on our topic, which I struggled on. I decided to record my niece and nephew lying, because I usually catch them lying. Of course the day I actually wanted to record my niece and nephew, they decided to me good. I got my niece lying once, but it was too fast not many recognized it. I wish I could go back and fix my multimodal, but I think my Microtheme balanced it out.

Summary and Analysis of “An Art Museum Designed for Taking Selfies”- I enjoyed this project a lot actually. At first I didn't know how Dr. Kyburz expected us to have a 3-5 page summary on an article that didn't even seem to be a page long. Then the analysis portion came in, and it all started to make sense. Not only did we have to summarize this article, but sort of put our feedback into this paper. We tried to understand who/what the author Laura C. Mallonee was trying to appeal to throughout this entire article. I had a little trouble citing on this paper, but at the end I fixed everything up. This was my first summary and analysis, but I think this paper has helped me become a better writer. Not only had my skills of writing summary's improved, but I can now dig deeper and find the meaning behind what the author is trying to say beyond the words. 

Overall, this class has been a wonderful experience, and I hope future students take as much insight as I did in College Writing 2 with Dr. Kyburz. 

Sincerely, 

Kathryn Y.

rational argument

For my rational argument paper, I have decided to continue with my Microtheme "Why do we lie?" I've been pretty interested in researching this topic a little further. In my microtheme, I mentioned a few reasons why I thought we lied and some of the papers I've been reading have mentioned my reasons. I think its kind of interesting that people lie so frequently, when it is a lot easier to tell the truth. Obviously in my paper, I'm going to discuss in my argument why we lie and how it has its pros and cons. I don't really have a side on it, because I know lying is bad, but I still do it anyways. I'm hoping to finish this paper by Wednesday so I can review it a bit, but still have time to focus on studying for Finals. I'm excited that this is our last week of school, but I'm not looking forward to all the stress these 2 weeks are going to give me.

thanksgiving break

Im so happy it is Thanksgiving's break! I've been spending a lot of much needed time with my family. We've been decorating the entire house for Christmas, which has been tiring. I don't really agree with decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, but my mom wanted us to do it as a family. Thanksgiving Day, we had dinner at my aunts house this year since she will be moving to Florida in May. I ate way more than I should have, but it all looked so good! I was super excited about the French Silk pie from Bakers Square because it's my absolute favorite desert ever. This afternoon, I took my nephew to see the CTA Holiday train. He was so amazed with the decorations and of course to see Santa. After that, I finally got to hang out with my friend who came back from Georgetown. It was amazing to reconnect with my friend because I haven't seen her since June. For the next two days of break, I'm hoping to see a couple more friends and just take in the family time. Hope everyone is having a great break!

This past weekend

Last Friday I got the best news ever. My sister is expecting baby number 3! When she showed me the ultra sound I immediately bursted into tears. My niece and nephew mean the world to and I would do anything for them. I kind of figured my sister was pregnant because I found the prenatal vitaims in my nieces diaper bag. Also her house is stocked up with Cheez-It's and Goldfish, which is what she craves during her pregnancies. I knew she was pregnant, I was just waiting for her to tell me. My sister mentioned that she doesn't want to know the sex of the baby, which shocked me. I really want to know if she's having a boy or a girl so I can start buying the baby outfits. I also want to know the sex of the baby because I really wanted to throw a gender reveal party. I'm just so excited for my sister and brother-in-law for bringing a baby into this world once again. I'm also excited to see my nephews reaction because he loves being a big brother, and he has been asking for a little brother. I don't think my niece will understand until the baby is born, which won't be until June. Now I'm hoping they pick me as a Godmother for this baby and then I'll be even happier!

Quarter Review

College Writing 2 has been different than what I expected it to be. I took Dr Kyburz husband last year, and since the beginning she told us she teaches different than her husband. I like both the ways they teach, but the writing projects we do in this class I feel like they're making me a better writer. I wrote a summary paper in College Writing 1, but not as in depth as I did in College Writing 2. Like I said in my previous blog post, the micro theme turned out to be harder than what I expected. I learned that trying to get your thoughts onto one page paper that doesn't really have your opinion is hard. I enjoy this class a lot. Like one of my classmates said, we can talk about how we feel or our opinion on something and Dr Kyburz doesn't bring us down. She understands our opinion even when she doesn't agree. I also like that we have daily discussions about the topics we are talking about. College Writing 2 has helped me become a better writer, and I'm excited to see how the semester ends.

Multimodal Microtheme

The microtheme was way more challenging than I thought it was going to be. I really thought that a one page paper would be such a breeze, but it definitely wasn't. I wrote about why we tend to lie. I was doing really good with the paper until I got to the last paragraph of the paper. I struggled a lot with how I should end with paragraph, but I worked with Dr. Kyburz so I'm pretty sure I ended my paper well. My Multimodal was bad. I went home the weekend before to try and catch my niece and nephew lying, but it was not turning out the way I wanted it to. I didn't have a back up plan, which I should have. In my head, it was going to turn out good, but nope didn't happen. If I could redo it, I would take Dr Kyburz advice and question my niece after she lied. I provided a link to my multimodal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECxQucK_Qvg

Microtheme

I decided to write my microtheme about lying. I chose this topic because in my opinion, we all do it whether we want to or not. I think I've wrote about 3 causes that get to the point on why people lie. Im struggling on what pictures I should use for my Microtheme. I want to take the pictures myself but I don't have an idea of what pictures to take. I was thinking about take pictures of my niece and nephew because they constantly lie to each other about taking the other ones toys.  Does anyone have any ideas of pictures I should use that will go along with my Microtheme?

Kanye

I'm so happy fall break landed this past Thursday-Sunday. I got to spend sometime with my family, which was much needed after the week I had. Saturday, I got to see one of my favorite artist, Kanye. I have been looking forward to Kanye since I bought my ticket in July. I was also excited about surprising my boyfriend with his ticket to Kanye for his birthday. It was kind of funny because he would complain whenever we were together that I was going with friends, so when he found out he was going, he was legit speechless. I got to Allstate Arena around 6:30 because I knew the line would be super long and I really wanted to buy merchandise. I got my merchandise and the doors opened right after. It was like a swarm of people trying to get through 2 doors. The concert was supposed to begin at 8, but of course Kanye was late to his own concert. At exactly 9:45, Kayne got on his floating stage and started singing his heart out. He played some throwback songs from previous albums and from his latest album Life of Pablo. When he started playing Heartless, I went crazy because it's one of my favorite songs from him. My phone is filled with videos and pictures of Kanye. Kanye ended the concert with Ultralight Beam which was a perfect song to end with. I was really hoping he would bring out Chance the Rapper, but he did good alone. At the end of the concert, everyone is trying to rush out to try and get out of the parking lot. It took me an hour to try and get out of the parking lot, which really got me mad. But then I kept thinking all about how I just saw Kanye so I got excited again and listened to his music. Kanye's concert was one of the best I've ever been to!

My experience at Chicago Pizza and Grinder Company

This past weekend, I decided to go home to spend time with my friends and family. Earlier in the week, I had seen this video on Facebook about this pizza place, Chicago Pizza and Grinder Company,  in Lincoln Park. After watching that video, I texted my boyfriend telling him we had to go try this place. Of course on Saturday, we had nothing to do, so we got dressed and headed to Lincoln Park.
When I got to Chicago Pizza and Grinder Company, it was extremely small. It had seemed like there was no wait, but there was. The host is an older man who does not write your name down. He seems to remember the order people walk in and how many need to be seated. I thought that was crazy because I am a hostess at The Cheesecake Factory, and I could never remember who came in first without writing it down.
My boyfriend and I waited about 1 hour to be seated. Right away we knew we wanted to try what they were famous for, which is there pizza pot pie. When i first heard of that idea, I thought it was a bit strange. When the waiter first brought it to the table, it looked unappetizing, but it was actually delicious. The pizza pot pie is a breaded bowl with sausage, sauce, peppers, mushrooms, and onions on the inside. Its topped with a lot of cheese. To me, it was like a bread bowl soup from Panera Bread. If anyone is in the Lincoln Park area and wants a different style pizza I definitely recommend this place!

In class we began to talk about one of Dr. Kyburz students who had a rant about parking at school. Most of us students can relate to this because we either drive to school or keep our car on campus. The new parking situation has caused a huge stir at campus and I think the school should do something about it. We are paying a lot of money to come to a private university, yet there are hidden fees. Us as a school should work together to petition for an affordable price.
I liked how we had a discussion about this problem in class and then we did a little activity as if we were on Twitter. Our class made tweets that we think are appropriate, yet funny about the parking situation.

So I'm not pretty sure how this blog works, but I guess I have to start somewhere. In class we've been talking about rhetoric. Unfortunately, I really don't have a good definition of rhetoric. I know I've learned it in my classes in the past, but I completely forgot.
What I enjoyed in class was the video we watched. I liked how they made something that happens frequently in a store, to something bigger. The whole video had a lot of meaning to it, which I enjoyed. Other than that, we learned that rhetoric appeals to people in writing and speech.