Alzaldua Response

SUMMARY:

In Alzaldua's article "Tlilli Tlapalli: The Path of the Red and Black Ink", she talks about how she became a writer and her process of writing. She is a Hispanic female author and talks about how she has to find herself in her work, and how it controls her life. She talks about how to be writer you have to trust yourself. She gives very descriptive examples of how she writes and reviews and so forth through her writing process.

SYNTHESIS:

I can connect her article to several other articles we have read. LaMott with "Shitty First Drafts" and how Gloria states, "When I don't write the images down for several days or weeks or months, I get physically ill." Which is similar to the way that LaMott says she has to let herself have a tantrum all over a paper just to get everything out before revising. She is also similar to Villanueva and Smitherman, based on her ethnicity and her writing. And also similar to Cixous because she uses her gender to give her writing more depth. 

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK:

RESPONSE:	QUOTE:
I think that this is very interesting how one thing can make her whole life change and she becomes a writer because of late night stories to her sister.	It must have been then that I decided to put stories on paper. 220
She talks about how when she needs to write and get all her thoughts down on paper she has no control over how they flow out onto the paper but later she can revise and organize them to fit together the way she wants.	The whole thing has had a mind of its own, escaping me and insisting on putting together the pieces of its own puzzle with minimal direction from my will. 220
She makes a comparison between her writing and a person. Giving examples of needing to be fed to grow and be nurtured into becoming something more.	The work manifests the same needs as a person, it needs to be "fed", la tengo que banar y vesir. 221
When she revises she concentrates on specific words and lets them simmer in her mind until they become something else and they have evolved into a deeper meaning.	I choose words, images, and body sensations and animate them to impress them on my consciousness, thereby making changes in my belief system and reprogramming my consciousness. 223

THOUGHTS: 

I really enjoyed Alzaldua's article. I loved the way that she started it, by talking about how she began telling her sisters stories at night and that led to her becoming a writer. I think that she was very similar to LaMott with the way she describes how she has a physical need to write, that it is her calling in life, that she depends on it to keep her sanity. I enjoyed Lunsford's article as well. I really liked the interview  with Alzaldua, it gave me more background and a better understanding of her style and other works. I can connect with her on how much writing means to us both, how sometimes we need to just get thoughts out of our head and watch them expand. 

Cixous Response

Terms & Definition:

whiteness: (noun) 1. the quality or state of being white 2. paleness 3. purity 4. a white substance
marginalized: (verb) To place in a position of marginal importance, influence, or power.
heterotypical: (adjective) of or pertaining to the first or reproductional division in melosis.
(Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/)
whiteness: a color like that of snow, milk, or bone.
marginalized: to treat someone or something as if they are not important.

(Cambridge Dictionary Online dictionary.cambridge.org)

heterotypical: different in kind, arrangement, or form. 

(Merriam-Webster www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary) 

Response:
These terms are misused and swept under the rug often when they are being used in an accusing manner. We try to pretend that people are not facing these issues in today's society, but they are still a problem. Individuals are marginalized based on their whiteness and if they are heterotypical. In Sociology, we have the wheel of institutions and it is broken up into different categories and based on nearly every aspect of your life you are judged, classified and defined by the institutions  It takes a long time for societies to change and learn to accept people as they are. However with institutions they change in a domino effect, one influences change in another and so on.

Dialectical Notebook:

Responses:	Quote:
This reminds me of Beger's article where he talks about how women are so aware of themselves, yet they are not verbally instructed how to become or how to do things differently.	But what strikes me is the infinite richness of their individual constitutions: you can't talk about a females sexuality, uniform, homogeneous, classifiable into codes- any more than you can talk about one unconscious resembling another. pg 247
Cixous sounds like she's giving a speech here, she makes valid points about repression and not being given a chance, but she also confuses the reader.	We the precocious, we the repressed of culture, our lovely mouths gagged with pollen, our wind knocked out of us, we the labyrinths, the ladders, the trampled spaces, the bevies- we are black and we are beautiful. pg 248
This makes me think of gender roles and how women have traits they must follow to be a norm in society.	She is reduced to being the servant of the militant male, his shadow. pg 250
This quote makes us realize that nothing can stop us or hold us back. We only think that we can not do something, when in reality we can do anything.	The Dark Continent is neither dark nor unexplorable.- It is still unexplored only because we've been made to believe that it was too dark to be explorable. 253
I liked this quote because it gives a very detailed example of how women are forced to go in after what they want and fight for a place in the world of writing.	If woman has always functioned "within" the discourse of man, a signifier that has always referred back to the opposite signifier diminishes   or stifles its very different sounds, it is time for her to dislocate this "within", to explode it, turn it around, and seize it; to make it hers, containing it, taking it in her own mouth, biting that tongue with her very own teeth to invent for herself a language to get inside of. pg 255

Alexander Response

SYNTHESIS: AS MANY AS POSSIBLE
This article ties to Flynn's based on how they both speak about feminism in writing and how it is involved in how people view themselves and others. It also focuses on identity like Gee and Wardel who also speaks about belonging and that also ties in to the article. Another similiar article is to McCloud and how self image is important to how you see yourself and how you allow others to see you as well.


DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK:

RESPONSE	QUOTE
Student's styles are impacted by their identities and their ideas of the outside world and their beliefs. To enhance how they write and see themselves and others, many steps need to be taken for them to be better associated with different types of people and styles of life.	Put another way, our student's identities, informed by prevailing, politicized  and personal definitions of gender and sexuality, can have a significant impact on their participation in class, their sense of themselves as learners and knowledge producers, and, by extension, their engagement with writing as a mode of exploration, communication, invention, and discovery. pg 198
I think that if you know yourself better you are better able to do everything in your life, by not being concerned with how you see yourself or how others see you, you can accomplish your goals.	Some scholar teachers have suggested that such identity interrogation along the axes of sexuality and gender is important for both students and instructors. pg 198
I don't personally think that sexuality has anything to do with how a theory should be formed, no matter what the topic is.	At the same time, however, next to no scholarly work addresses directly how transgender or transsexual theories might inform a feminist composition pedagogy. pg 199
By paving a new road for people to explore down in uncharted territory we learn more about the people who see themselves as different or apart from the "norm".	But the aims of many self-identified trans activists and theorists are to create cracks in the monolithic structure of gender identity and to search for wiggle room in what William Pollack has aptly termed the "Gender Straight-jacket" (40-43). pg 200
Accepting students and instructors and even authors helps broaden the conversation of things that we do not know or understand about the GLBT community and other types of minorities.	Acknowledging the presence of the transgender-ed is useful not only for understanding those who are differently gender-ed or whose presentation or experience of gender falls outside our "norms":'but also for helping us interrogate the constructs of gender that we often take for granted as "natural" or "normal".
	I have asked myself and my students to think critically about how we compose ourselves as men, women, masculine, feminine, and even gay, straight, or bi. pg 195

By finding out how we see ourselves we can move
forward to learn more about ourselves and others
alike and not alike us.

THOUGHTS:
I did not like this article. I do not think that gender or sexuality is involved in the writing process. The only way I could see it being involved would be in the topics, like what the author chose to write about. I did like the stories at the end of the article though although the stories of how they became the opposite sex were involved and how they felt they should have been born that way. I think that the author makes a good point, but I think it is unrelated to English and writing.

VIDEO:

Smitherman Response

• 1 before you read activity
• I don't think that I have ever judged someone based off of how they spoke without seeing them. I think that this is because I was brought up to accept people for how they are. I know that if someone just heard me speak they wouldn't think that I was not educated or understanding of what I was saying.
• summaray
• In her article Smitherman ties ethnicity and background to language and identity. She says that the color of your skin determines how you speak and react to things others say to you. She separates English into two types; White English and Black English. She mentions that "Proper English" takes away from the individual and their identity. 
• synthesis (connect to at least 3 other articles)
• I tied Smitherman's article to that of McCloud, with the masks. In different situations and with different types of people you speak differently and that affects your identity as well as your "English" style. Smitherman also ties to Wardel who speaks about identity and belonging. Also ties to Swales with lexus, which is specific language tied to the community.  
• dialectical notebook (at least 4 quotations)

• Response	Quote
  This statement shows that English has not always been the top language that people spoke dominately.	You see, from the Jump, the English language itself, didn't command no respect, for Latin was the lingo of the elite. pg 189
  She explains here that race and social class tie into the way you speak and learn.	Both authorities and norms are based on race and class position and is simply attempts to make the "outsiders" talk like the "insiders". pg 190
  This statement says that no matter how educated you are if you are lower class you will not be seen/respected in the academic setting.	See, an idiomatic phrase like this comes from a "lower class" dialect (and a people) and gets no respect. pg 190
  She says for teachers to look past proper English and just stick to teaching the basics and not focusing on which English students are speaking.	Now, my advice to teachers is to overlook these matters of sheer mechanical "correctness" and get on with the educational business at hand.

  
  
• Smitherman QD7
• If you are not aware of the terms that you need to agree with, or are unable to provide for the needs of the community you will not be accepted and not be able to make progress and move up in levels of authority in the group. 
• your thoughts
• This article made me think of how language is specific to not only discourse communities but also ethnicity. Different types of people speak differently depending on where they are, who they are talking to, and what they are talking about. I think that she could have written more about different communities and their way of speaking rather than only white and black people. Her article seems very biased. 

Project 3 Update

Since the peer review, I have gone over a few of the things that didn't make much sense. I also added a few key points in like my methods, added on to my personal narrative and added a few quotes to help my paper flow better. I also had to review one of my sources to make sure it was respectable and accurate. Over all I think that the peer review helped me see the minor errors I was overlooking.

Flynn Response

BEFORE YOU READ:

I think that when children write at a younger age gender is more obvious in their writing. Like most little girls will write stories about princesses or happy things with happy endings. And boys will be more likely to write about monsters, danger, and other things boys are interested in. 

SUMMARY:

In her article she compares three different books. She also talks about how different genders write and also react to different situations. She talks about how she didn't realize how differently the separate genders actually did write, respond, interpret, and connect differently to the characters. 

  

SYNTHESIS:
I connected this article with that of Berger who talks about how women are always aware of their bodies and also identity as women. Flynn connects to Berger by stating that women identify themselves through writing which is similar to Wardel who also focuses on identity. Another author it is related to is Kantz, Flynn talk about how women are compassionate and nurturing, Kantz also talks about how to nurture creativity. 

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK: 

RESPONSE	QUOTE
This quote is saying that based on gender, that is how we should be taught and that is not okay. Children learn differently not only their gender but their overall preparation for education.	The emerging field of composition studies could be described as a feminization of previous conceptions of how writers write and how writing should be taught. pg 156.
Britton switches a common thought process that many people have.	James Britton, for instance, reverses traditional hierarchies by privileged private expression over public transaction process over product. pg 156
This could be true but studies show that this is all based on parent involvement with the child in developmental stages.	Feminist research and theory emphasize that males and females differ in their developmental processes and in their interactions with others. pg 157
This also could be proven right or wrong, depending on who is conducting the study. Children learn differently and respond differently based on their environments and backgrounds.	She argues that girls and boys develop different relational capacities and senses of self as a result of growing up in a family in which women mother. pg 158

 QD 3:

Women have always been silenced with their academic opinions and ideas.For so long our society has seen man as the only human that was intelligent and able to make decisions. Now that women have their rights, many other minorities are also being recognized for their academic achievements. 

THOUGHTS: 
I do not think that gender has everything to do with writing styles. I think that personal interest also has a role. Gender is sometimes over looked in importance, over emphasized or forgotten. As writers we should learn what settings it is best to let our gender show through our work.

Villanueva Response

BEFORE YOU READ:
When I first came to college I felt like an outsider where I lived. There were fourteen new people who knew nothing about each other. We eventually got really close but there are still somethings that we haven't told everyone that we live with about ourselves. We have certain people who are closer to each other than they are with others, but over all we are a very close group of people.

SUMMARY:
This article was very unorganized. Villanueva gives many different accounts, poems, stories, and pieces from his own book about how people of color are discriminated and face racism. He uses the exerts from other authors then compares and contrasts it to his own personal experiences and life.

SYNTHESIS: 3
First connection is to bell hooks, with the shared subject of how "colored" people are treated and how they react to different things in their lives. Second connection is to Bryson with the force of habit, people of a certain background or shared interest do not categorize themselves after a certain time, they let others do so and they do not correct them. Third connection, Wardel with a sense of identity and belonging, if you feel that you do both of these you are accepting of your heritage.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK

RESPONSE	QUOTE:
This quote makes me think of how people have been told to act a different way based on their race.	And I'd say the need to reclaim and retain the memory of the imperial lords, those who have forcibly changed the identities of people of color through colonization. 172
This ties to how he used them in the way that based off of what happened in other peoples accounts ties into his own life.	The narratives of people of color jog our memories as a collective in a scattered world and within an ideology that praises individualism. 175
He talks about how the past makes us all who we are. This also ties to how using our individuality we can teach students in a different way.	Looking back, we look ahead, and giving ourselves up to the looking back and the looking ahead, knowing the self, and, critically, knowing the self in relation to others, maybe we can be and instrument whereby students can hear the call. 176
This ties to how he talks about asking the grandfather about the past so that it does not go unheard.	Now some part of that first impulse reasserts itself, fictionalizing, telling the story, reaching back to the heritage that is at risk of passing away quickly. 171
This ties to how discourse communities tie people together and how who you are as a person can possibly affect how you are received into the group.	Academic discourse tries, after all, to reach the Aristotelian ideal of being completely logocentric, though it cannot be freed of the ethical appeal to authority. 172
Even if we are not racist or have been around it growing up, eventually somewhere in life we will come face to face with it in some way.	Yet little things happen that betray the underlying racism that affects us all, no matter how appalled by racism we might be. 174

AE #3
People who were American citizens but have another cultural background and they are socialized to act American and forget their hertitage. Taking yourself up by the bootstraps is saying that you will learn your native style regardless.

THOUGHTS: 5
I thought this article was by far the worst we have had to read thus far. His organization was terrible and I did not understand the point he was trying to get across until the third or fourth page. He talks about academic discourse which we have never heard of, so maybe that is what he considers to be a discourse community. I did not like this article at all.

Heilker and Yergeau Response

SUMMARY:
In their article, Hailker and Yergeau give detailed accounts of how autism is misunderstood in today's society. There are personal narratives from the views of a parent of a child with autism. There are thoughts by a college graduate who tried to change the way others thought of autistic people. In their article they call to attention the connection between autism and rhetoric.

SYNTHESIS: 3
I think that this article ties to Queer Texts, Queer Context by Malinowitz. In her article she talks about how the gay community is misunderstood much like the way people with autism are. Much like how there is little research about what autism stems from we know very little about homosexuality as well. Another article this ties to is McCloud's. In his article he talks about how people don't always see you as you see yourself. This ties in with how the student with autism did not see his autism as a disability and people who have it "puzzling  individuals" like the founders of the Autism Awareness Foundation do. And finally it ties to the articles by Murray and Berkenkotter, where people with autism sometimes can not explain what they need to say, they have trouble communicating when their thoughts can not transition properly, it does not mean they are not intelligent and capable of thought though. In Murray and Berkenkotter they mention the "incubation of thought", maybe someone with autism may be struggling with an idea, they are not incompetitent, rather they are letting it develop more so.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK: 6

RESPONSE:	QUOTE:
There is no way to learn how it is caused or a cure. Much like other scientific mysteries we must do more research and understand the people with autism better before we figure out the condition.	We do not yet know what causes autism. 261
It appears that they focus on the negative aspects of autism. They talk about how most people do not have social skills and can not develop them. Which is not true and they should promote more positive parts of the condition.	The National Institute of Health defines autism as "a spectrum that encompasses a wide range of behavior" but whose "common features include impaired social interactions, impaired verbal and nonverbal communication, and restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior." 262
This quote is talking about how sometimes when a person with autism is thinking or talking about something, their process can become disrupted because of crossed wires in their brains. It does not mean that they are stupid, it means it takes them a little longer to develop a full thought.	Sometimes, he notes, "different portions of invention try to move simultaneously into structure and style" and two or more inventive sets try "to be known through one sequence of structure and style." 264
This makes itself relevant with the way that people used to study, with copying and repetition  Why is it such a problem now? People find this odd because people with autism repeat the same thing over and over again.	Let us consider, for instance, echolalia, a characteristic kind of language use among autistics, in which they repeat stock words and phrases verbatim that they have other speakers use. 265
I hate that it says that people with autism do not have empathy or are incapable of developing it. Many people with the condition can learn to understand feelings eventually, it is much like any child, they do not understand that touching a hot stove will burn them until they either conduct an experiment or are instructed not to do so by a parent.	Empathy- a loaded worded in autism discourse, a characteristic that autistics are said to lack- presumes that one can be so in tune with another person as to actually understand that person's emotional state, to even perhaps vicariously experience it. 265
This quote is personable to myself. Although I do not have autism, I do have times when I am with people where there is a comfortable silence between us where I do not feel the need to speak and ruin the quiet. I do not know if others can relate to this quote as well as I but I can.	In other words, rather than being some kind of deficit or delay or withdrawal, rather than signifying his entrapment, frustration, depression, or loneliness, his silence signifies his contentment, his satisfaction, his fully realized development, and his fully successful rhetoric. 267

THOUGHTS: 5
I enjoyed this article. It opened my eyes to how even people with the illness do not always see it as an illness. I think that researchers should be more accepting of what people with autism really think of themselves and their condition rather than be scientific and have no emotion for the individual. I learned more about how their brains work. I did not know much about autism, but I feel much more educated in the field. This article has the set up of our Project 2 in a way.

Malinowitz Response

BEFORE YOU READ:

I personally hate the word "Queer". I hate when people use it in the wrong form. It is derogatory and hurtful. Growing up in German Village, I was surrounded by gay, lesbian, and bisexual couples and culture. I was taught to respect people's choices and that their sexual preferences did not make them any less of a person. I hate when people use words to hurt others.

SUMMARY:

In "Queer Texts, Queer Contexts", she talks about how today's society treats the gay/lesbian community and its members. She gives examples of the discrimination, talking about in every day tasks to even the classroom. She talks about some of the struggles that the community has fought and some of the things they have over come, such as marriage and "Don't ask; Don't tell." She talks about the ways that the community is affected and their effects on outsiders to the community. 

SYNTHESIS:3

I compared Malinowitz with McCloud to begin with. They both use a good amount of their articles talking about identity and masks. McCloud talks about how in certain situations people use the mask to appear different than who they are really. Malinowitz claims that gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender people should not have to hide who they really are in the classroom, the church, and many other situations where their "lifestyle" is not accepted. This can also tie with Wardle with Identity being a key point for many of the same reasons as McCloud. I think that Malinowitz's article also ties in with the article by Gee, who also mentions Identity. But Gee also talks about primary/secondary groups, and Malinowitz talks about how the GLBT community needs to form both forms of groups or at least find a way to better interact between the two groups to ease tension.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK:5

RESPONSE	QUOTE
This quote makes me think that it's not only student's battling their sexual identity and who they are, but also teachers, administrators and staff.	In the last few years, there has been a subtle but persistent change in the classroom climate around the subject of sexual orientation. page 110
We do not understand these people, because they are not given a chance to learn to understand themselves. Typically when people show signs of being different they are redirected back to the "norm" even if they go their entire life pretending to be "normal".	Yet our understanding of lesbian and gay subjectivities- and of the role of sexual identity in producing discourse generally- remains quite limited. page 112
The problem with media versus real life, is that TV and movies can glamorize or also give these people a bad name. In real life, individuals struggle to please others in fear for being ostracized for being different.	Behind the media glitz and hype, most academic institutions and the communities that contain them are still homophobic enough to discourage teachers and students from coming out of even speaking out strongly for a change. page 112-13
This quote angers me. It is so outdated and unfair to be close minded in our generation. The things our  parents and grandparents faced growing up are over and we do not still feel the same way that their parents and grandparents felt. Why should we not move forward with our society and write history much like our grandparents and parents.	Other's frankly acknowledge their anti gay feelings and beliefs, secure that cultural precedent has rendered them understandable and acceptable. page 114.
This quote is also much like women fighting to vote in the 20's and all the equal rights in the 60's. GLBT groups should not be afraid to gather and promote themselves and voice their wants and needs.	Much has been at stake for lesbian and gay people, not only in coming together and mobilizing as a group, but in promoting a sense of this group as a group to the society at large. page 115

THOUGHTS: 5

I really enjoyed this article. I did not realize how cruel and unacceptting some people were of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Growing up I never thought anything was wrong with their choices. My oldest nephew came out his freshman year of college, and although it has made certain members of our family uncomfortable I have stood behind him and supported him and will continue to. Who you love has no effect on who you are. There are couples out there who are doing worse things, so why can't two people who love each other be happy together? Regardless of their gender.

DeVitt Response

BEFORE YOU READ:

•     computer
•     cell phone
•     verbal
•     print (notes, books, worksheets)

SUMMARY:
In Devitt's part of the article she talks about jury instructions as a genre. She talks about how language and jargon effect the outcome of court cases. She talks about how a single word can mean one thing to the court and another thing to the jury. She talks about how the jury must break down and process the terms they are presented with properly and individually so that they can make the proper verdict.

SYNTHESIS: 3
I tied Devitt's article to Gee with the way they both talk about discourses, and how they need the participants to be fully involved. I also tied this to Porter who is the foundation for all of our readings on discourse. I also tied this to Swales with the ties to language and the "lexus" and jargon and how each community has their own language.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK: 5

RESPONSE	QUOTES
Discourse communities are primary and secondary groups. If it is your primary group, it is very small, intimate, and almost impossible to leave or for outsiders to enter. This makes us see that outsiders typically do not understand as well as members.	Abstracted from real social situations, discourse communities may appear stable to advocates and critics assuming an imaginary consensus and a shared purpose that do not reflect real experience within communities. page 98
For people who are not as used to ethnography as another, things can be hard for them to find their footing and a place to start. By teaching students how to do it properly we can be assured that they will be able to use their findings properly.	The process of sifting through the massive quantities of information gathered and attempting to stake out some analytical claims can present a major hurdle, particularly for student ethnographers. page 98
When individuals bring outside and unrelated interests into the community it can cause tension for other members who are not interested in them.	But it is when genres encompass participants beyond a narrow community that the effects of those interests become most troublesome. page 99
This sparks the idea that we should not select random citizens to be jury members. Jury duty should be conformed into a career where schooling and some bases of legal education are needed. If we create this into a job, we will not have the problems faced by misunderstandings of jargon.	As a result, juries do not and cannot interpret the genre the way it's creators intended, as lawyers would, and cannot render verdicts that follow those instructions fully and accurately, thus resulting in significant consequences, particularly for defendants. page 100
This also highlights on the above quote. When outside members of the community are involved wires become crossed and mis-communications occur and we lose focus.	Part of the difficulty when specialized communities write to nonspecialists users lies in technical language, a difficulty commonly recognized and often addressed through defining key terms, but most of he difficulty comes from differences of interest and value that definitions cannot control. page 101

META MOMENT:

·         I think that you need both to properly be involved. You really can not do anything with out getting a second opinion or having a second source. Much like in doing research you need to be somewhat involved in the actual action you are researching for better understanding and to become a better sponsor for the subject. 

THOUGHTS:
I liked this article to an extent. I think that she makes a good point in stating that because of language and legal jargon can confuse common folk citizens that are selected for jury duty. If this is a problem, why do we not have a "jury career" with college courses and it is a part of the legal field. I think that this would make much of the "mistrials" and "wrongfully accused" cases disappear. I think if we treat it like any other type of job court cases would go a lot smoother.

Project 3 proposal

For this project I will look into the discourse of my place of employment, which is Jefferson Dining Hall. I plan to interview the staff and some of the customers. I plan to look at how authority is involved in the community. I want to look into how the higher the position of the worker the more effort is put into the job. I want to do a survey, but also some unobtusive studying as well. I plan to not let them know I am observing. I really am excited to do this project and find out more about the people in my community both because they tell me and also what I find out.

Project Evaluation

     I thought that our project went very well. At first we were stuck on a topic, thinking of the things that all four of us had in common was hard because we came from all different types of backgrounds. We talked about how we all knew how to ride a bike and how we learned to drive a car. Then we thought about how we went to a party school so maybe we could see what people thought about drinking and the consequences of it.
     Each of us took our own personal narratives from a different view point and put them together to see where we wanted to go from there. Eventually we decided to do interviews, a survey, and personal stories. We broke down the data and responses we got and found that we had a lot in common with our fellow students. We found that nearly half of the students who responded to our survey stated that they had their first drink in high school and their parents were their sponsors, and half stated that they knew someone with an alcohol problem.
    I think that our group worked really well together. I think that we had a lot of good team work and effort put into our project and lots of good ideas that everyone was open to and discussed everything we put on the website before we posted it. I think that we did a great job on our website, only one of us was the only one with prior experience with the website.
     I think I learned a lot about not only myself and my drinking, but about my fellow classmates and students. I think that by doing this project it was a great way to teach others about alcohol literacy, and about building strong bonds with people who were randomly thrown together into a group.
   

Wardel Response

BEFORE YOU READ:
I think that so far in college, my personality has changed because of where I live and who I live with. I think that it's funny because when I moved in, I was shy and kept to myself and my own room, and eventually grew out of my shell and became very good friends with everyone I live with. Also by becoming more like the people I live with, I have made more friends outside of the mod and also the group of friends I already had.

SUMMARY:
In her article, Wardel talks about discourse communities, how to have a sense of identity, authority, and how to participate in activity systems and avoid rebellion. She states "Of particular interests to professional communication specialists is research suggesting that learning to write in and for new situations and work places is complex in ways that go far beyond texts and cognitive workers" page 521. This makes a great opening statement where she gives us a layout of what she plans to discuss in her article.

SYNTHESIS:
Wardel's article ties to identity and how you see yourself and how others see you ties to McCloud's article which talks about the Mask and how we use different masks in different situations and when we meet different people. It ties to Gee and Swales with the talk of discourse and discourse communities.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK:

RESPONSE	QUOTE
These makes us thing that we need to realize that how we are seen as individuals outside of the workplace and how we are seen in our job position are different and must act accordingly.	"To tease out relationships between identity and writing in the workplace, we need theories that consider the workplace as a legitimate and important influence on subject formation". page 522
When you are new to a job you not only must become involved in getting to know coworkers and the system of working, but also must learn your new place among the other workers.	"To fully participate, according to Wenger, new workers must find ways to engage in the work that other community members do, including the writing they do; newcomers must be able to imagine their own work- and writing- as being an important part of a larger enterprise". page 524
Even if how you are seen at work does not coincide with how we are known outside of our job. If you feel that you are not at the right level, you should not act above your level.	"At times however, participation in new communities requires accepting for oneself identities that are at odds with the values of other communities to which one belongs". page 525
Just because you are given power over other coworkers does not mean that you will always have that power. And if you misuse it you will be removed or demoted.	"Authority is bestowed by institutions,  can be just as easily withdrawn by those same institutions or its members, and must be maintained through appropriate expressions of authority". page 527
This talks about how Alan was seeing himself in a higher position than he really was. His coworkers, saw him as a lower level, but he saw himself as an equal.	"He was an outsider, a worker unlike the other community members in age, education, occupation, linguistic abilities, and concern for conventions". page 531

 QD:

4.) I think that there are a lot of time people misuse language and also body language. I think that some times we do not realize how the things we say can go along with our surroundings and the people who share our environment.  

THOUGHTS:

I thought that Wardle' article was a good explanation about how identity and authority play a key role into joining a discourse community. In her example of Alan and his new job she gives us a detailed account of how misusing one's status can deteriorate their colleagues' belief of if they are needed. By burning bridges with coworkers we see that to remain in the learning community we must keep to appearances and know our place.  His failure was sad, but we learn from his mistakes.

Gee Response

BEFORE YOU READ:
The term means contraband, in prison it is a legal object that is obtained illegally.

SUMMARY:
Gee talks about in his article about Discourses, he talks about primary and secondary communities. He gives details about how each effects the members and the requirements needed to be involved. He talks about how some Discourses have tension or conflict when the communities do not interact well. He also ties most of the definitions to language and how it is mistaken for grammar.

SYNTHESIS: 3
Gee's article compares to Porter much like it does with Swales because they all three talk about discourse communities and how they effect and control the individuals involved. Also compares to McCloud on the leg of the Mask and the Individual. McCloud mentions how we change our outside appearance and how we act depending on our surroundings and the people around us.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK:

RESPONSE	QUOTES:
I agree with this quote because some people do not know the difference between the two.	"Language is a misleading term; it too often suggests 'grammar'." page 483
This ties to a "primary group" in sociology which is the first group to socialize an individual, most likely a small group, ex: family or friends.	"This initial Discourse, which I call our primary Discourse, is the one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others". page 485
This ties the two types together because if it is mastery it is most likely a secondary discourse community.	"We can talk about dominant literacies and non-dominant literacies in terms of whether they involve mastery of dominate or non-dominant secondary discourses". page 486
This I do not agree with because the primary source is always the one to open up the literacy.	"Primary Discourses, no matter whose they are, can never be liberating literacies". page 487
Discourses are for peer review and helping each other, so you would teach others more than you would write for them.	"Within a Discourse you are always teaching more than writing or reading". page 488

META MOMENT:
I think that I agree with Gee's comment that you can not be a part time member. I think that to do your best you have to give your all. If you don't try and be a dedicated participant you can not truly understand and be involved in the conversation and the movements and activities that the community takes on.

THOUGHTS:
I enjoyed Gee's article a lot. Much of what he says and the terms he use are similar to something we are learning about in my sociology class. We are talking about institutions, the statuses, roles, and other things that make up the institutions and what makes them run properly. Much of what Gee says makes me think that he could possibly do some writing for a sociology book.

Swales response

BEFORE YOU READ:
I felt out of place in the first week of college. I lived in a new town, room, and with strangers, and I had no idea what to think of what my classes or professors would be like. Would I find my way around campus? Should I go out on the weekends? What if I can't find decent friends? I quickly tried to get involved and found people that I had more that one class with and we would walk together. Also the people I live with became very close with everyone and we hang out all the time. I feel more at home in Athens now, and laugh about how unsure I was.

SUMMARY:
Swales' article talks about what makes up a discourse community. He talks about how we join them and how it becomes the bases for our lives and actions. "Community involves discourse and discourse involves community" page 469, makes you understand that the two are interchangeable. Swales also talks about the criteria for a DC, giving us six characteristics that id the communities. He talks about how they vary in type and activities, and that you can have temporary membership to them, you do not always have to be involved in everything they do.

SYNTHESIS:
Swales's article compares to Porters' obviously with the topic of discourse community. Although Swales goes into more detail about what exactly makes up a community and their development levels. Also compares to Malcolm X with talking about the lexus and that compares to Malcolm's sponsorship with why people learn or join communities. Also compares to Gee with Discourse community and and both mention how people need to belong to the community and meet requirements.

QD:
5.) My learning community that I belong to is my mod. We are all here to get degrees and hopefully use them to get good jobs in the future. We have a lexus and genre that is affected differently be each of us as individuals and we come from different backgrounds and different upbringings.

6.) Recently my roommate began having problems and I thought that moving out would help things, at least let me be happier. The people in my mod held a meeting between me and my roommate to work things out. I didn't want to talk things out I just wanted to leave, but by talking and getting things out on the table we worked things out and got back on the same page. Now we are working towards making things work between us again and the people in my mod are happier knowing that I'm staying and happy.

THOUGHTS:
I really didn't like his article I felt that he was very condescending  Also I feel that sometimes communities don't meet every requirement but that doesn't mean that it is any less of a discourse community. I did agree however with how he said you can be a partial participant and not always be involved with the community. I liked how his article was similar to Gee's as well.

Pollan Responses

SUMMARY:
In Pollan's article he talks about how the food industry has changed since previous years. He talks about how the way that our food has been prepared has changed, how health conditions have become more serious about how the food we eat, changes not only our bodies, but our genetic makeup. Also how our food is prepared, based on fossil fuels, has increased over time.

SYNTHESIS:
Pollan's article compares to Glenn's because they both talk about how the main point of everything is profit. They talk about how no matter what the field is, the means of making money is the highest priority of all. We take short cuts to keep their own costs down, but have no compassion to the spending the expenses needed to care for the products. The article also compares to Porter, with how all information we have comes from previous things we have read and the information we get from outside sources. This ties in with the stats and detailed ideas and suggestions.

DIALECTICAL NOTEBOOK:

RESPONSE	QUOTE
This talks about how the amount and pricing of food is not the only issue we face in the food industry. It talks about how we "double talk" like Glenn's article talks about, that a secretary does what ever the central nerve tells the cells of the body to do about bad press.	"Complicating matters is the fact that the price and abundance of food are not only problems we face; if they were, you could simply follow Nixon's example, appoint a latter day Earl Butz as your secretary of agriculture and instruct him or her to do whatever it takes to boost production."
This quote makes me sick, because it makes me think that our food is actually bad for us, and that things that we are told are good for us, aren't.	"Put another way, when we eat from the industrial food system, we are eating oil and spewing green house gases."
This is a weird statement but it makes us think that if the President of the United States eats organic, wouldn't it become a bigger trend?	"Your probably thinking that growing and eating organic foods in the White House carries a certain political risk."
This makes me think of how in high school I was in a class that not only taught us about the food groups and how to be smart eaters, but we would have labs where we were taught to cook ourselves.	"To change our children's food culture, we'll need to plant gardens in every primary school, build fully equipped kitchens, train a new generation of lunch ladies (and gentleman) who can once again cook, and teach children to cook.
This talks about how if we change our food industry we would benefit greatly.	"A decentralized food system offers a great many other benefits as well."

 THOUGHTS:

I think that this article has a lot of valid points and ideas. There were a lot of facts and stats compared and contrasted throughout decades in America's food industry. The problem I had that impacted my reading the most was that it was difficult to read and hard to comprehend because it was in letter form, and because of all the facts and stats. I think that Pollan has good ideas, but I don't think that our industry will change or allow for the market to break down the way they believe it should be.