RHET 1101

this blog does not relate directly to the rhetoric class but rather a book we had to read for another class. letters to a young poet. This book was a collection of poems written by the poet Rilke to a younger aspiring poet about the creative process. unfortunately for anyone to really know what im talking about they'll have to read this book
my problem with this book comes from the reactions to this book that i saw in class. in general most people seemed to like the book and the advice it gave. however it really just seemed kind of pointless to me. in this book Rilke was offering advice about the creative process, but it really wasn't all that profound, and truth be told it was about as cliche as you can get. he kept advising to take solace in nature, not be afraid of solitude and work only for yourself. This is the kind of advice you can get from any one of thousands of different places. Emerson and thoreau would be fine places to start. yet despite this because of the fact that the students either did not want to contradict the professor or because they simply didnt care nobody said anything about this fact. in addition i did not really feel his advice was all that great because of the fact that as a person i did really respect rilke. the reasons are slightly complicated and deal with rilke's history but the basic problem was that he was afraid of being with people and as such advised the young poet to force himself to be alone for his own sake. personally i agree that solitude is an important part of creating something artistic but rilke advises it too far. he advises solitude as a means to solve problems that could better be solved by actually interacting with people. he advises solitude as a means of escape from his own problems in the past.

Posted by Nathaniel Behl at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

The topic of plagarazing is one that has often come up in class, and it reminded me of something that my father had told me. Zeppelin is by far one of my favorite bands and i asserted that they were also one of the most, if not the most musically talented band ever. To this my father said that indeed they were extremely good musicians but they werent that good. Now, my father has a considerably more expansive knowledge of random rock trivia than me, which is why im willing to take his word on this. according to him zeppelin has in their collection of songs a few that they in fact did not write all of their songs, that in fact several of their songs, all of my love for example, were actually written by old blues and jazz men from decades earlier who were either dead or too old and out of touch to know their songs were being used to either know or care. I personally have no problem with bands doing covers, some of the greatest songs have been covers. my problem with this is that zeppelin apparently did not give credit to these old blues-men for their songs.

Posted by Nathaniel Behl at 5:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Purely for the sake of my own entertainment, because at the moment i have nothing else better to do, i am going to refute the argument i posted in my previous blog. in this blog i asserted that our blogs should be allowed to extend far beyond the world of the english classes and should encompass all of our lives. this however is not a logical argument. the blogs obviously must be related to english classes. the fact that the blogs pertain to the rhetoric class makes it so that one must frame an argument. by making it about english classes it forces one to find a problem in the class or the world around them that pertains to the class and make an argument. the fact that it is about english classes makes it more structured. if we were to write about any topic that we choose we would simply write without thinking. the arguments would end up being flawed or lacking, and would thereofore acomplish nothing towards the goals of the class.

Posted by Nathaniel Behl at 5:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It has been a great deal of time since my last blog. The reason for this however is not because I have no desire to participate, nor is it due to simply apathy. My reasons for not having done so are due to the fact that I never have anything that pertains to the class to talk about. I naturally have a great multitude of random rants and philosophical musings that would fit a blog well, but they do not directly have anything to do with english classes. However, if the topics had been more broad, i would have felt a strong inclincation to blog, and would have kept a farily regular blog schedule. The current restrictions on the blog are not in the spirit of the blog.

Posted by Nathaniel Behl at 5:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It feels a little bittersweet, I must say, to be typing my last blog for this course. I'm sure it's even more bittersweet for those who post often on a weekly basis. I am not sure who will even read this at this point, but it would be interesting to see if some of the individuals who frequented this blog might continue to use it to share ideas? It seemed like the blog's main purpose was for peers to be able to use one another as a referrence on rhetoric assignments. It also occasionaly seemed to serve as a place for continued discussion, especially since the past few weeks we've been focusing more on the mechanics of our final paper during class rather than having the rhetorical discussions that we had in the beginning of the course. In any case, I hope all did well on your finals, and see some of you in Rhet 1223 Oral Presentations in a Professional Setting.

P.S.- Have a happy holidays!

Posted by Elyse Beck at 11:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

So I am the kind of person who will stay in all weekend doing homework.... stay up all night studying... spend hours in the library buried in books... Basically, I am OCD about my grades, I have always been this way. But something that has never happened to me before (as a result of being a psycho-nerd) happened to me today. Of all days, today. Read on if you actually care.

Last Thursday, I realized that the scope of my thesis for my final research paper was far broader than I was capable of addressing in a mere 10 pages. Yes, it was THAT broad. and YES, I REALLY DID FAIL TO NOTICE THIS UNTIL JUST LAST WEEK. (Someone please slap me?!) I discussed with Maggie my genius plan to narrow this thesis on Thursday after class... Went to work, came home, and began burying my face in Harvard Law Review and Supreme Court rulings. (yuck). I don't think I left my apartment for anything except to cross the street and grab a coffee, but even then, I was back to the research within minutes. I even called my sister, had her log on to my Facebook and change the password so that I can't get on it until I'm completely done (Sad, I know... but somewhat clever, no? I'm such a loser) My focus was just THAT INTENSE. I'd forgotten how much research I did for my inital thesis I think because of the amount of time I had to do it. The story continues....

So, yesterday... the day before today... the big day. I sat at a computer for a grand total of 13 hours and spent another 4 in the library devoted to delving into this ridiculous new thesis of mine. PATHETIC. (Are you enjoying this? ... masochists!)

I have a desktop computer. I share a room. My roommate slept on the couch last night (voluntarily) because I was pounding away on these damn keys all night. The sun came up. My paper was on the printer. There was that strong sense of accomplishment--a job well done. My bed looked longingly at me, oh so warm and inviting...BUT I didn't give in to the peer pressure! In fact, I grabbed some froot loops (good idea), skipped the shower (bad idea), and went off to calculus (worse idea).

My tuesdays and thursdays are ridiculously busy. I have class on the East Bank, West Bank, and then in St. Paul with a very limited amount of time in between.

Calculus ends a bit early. I realize that I am completely dysfunctional... and kinda smelly? so I decide to go home and shower (I actually have about 45 minutes to kill). The roommates have left for the day (i find it unfair that im always the first to go and the last to come home)... shower = ohhh yesss waaarrrm watterrr. goodness. yay, im lovin' life.

I swear I'm getting to the point. you've made it this far, haven't you? So I get out of the shower and the apartment is FREEZING. literally. icicles everywhere. That bed... looking warmer and more inviting than ever. So I crawl under the covers (hey! I've still got a half hour!)

Um, no. i pass out. Com-freaking-pletely out. My roommate came home around 1:45 from her class (this is strange to me, I'm not expecting her until 1:45..... because I still think it's 10 am) and asked if I was going to work or not. Um, work? I don't work until 2:30! silly goose! No, I have class AND then work!
OH GOD. You mean..... you're kidding me.... I just slept through biology AND rhetoric????
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

See, normally my body wakes me up... I don't EVER need an alarm clock. My body just knows to get up when it needs to and goes where it needs to. It's completely automatic. BUT, apparently today my body malfunctioned. Today, of all days. ugh.

And now I am REALLY SAD because I didn't get to go to the last of my favorite class!! :,(
ALSO, NOW the paper that I worked so diligently on ALL WEEKEND (and then some) is LATE!!
(here, I'd like to swear in my blood that I did nothing but stare at my computer screen this weekend--my roommate as my witness)
LAATTTEEE. Oh life, how funny you are.... NOT.
So, I apologize for my lack of a personal farewell and good tidings to you all-- I'll be seeing you, I hope.
Please post something if you actually made it through my story. lol. of if something similar has ever happened to you??

Wow. I'm winded. (And not terribly surprised)

Posted by Mollie Thompson at 10:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Before I thought about registration for other classes or knew that freshmen writing is a requirement I knew that I was going to sign up for a writing class because writing (papers esp.) has always been a weakness of mine. Now that class is over I can't say that much has changed in that respect. It seems as though my entire life I have always known what I have wanted to say, but for some reason when I try to tell someone what was on my mind or write it down I don't know how to say it. Before this class, I never wrote more than two drafts of any paper I wrote, and now I find my self refining my writings four or five times for things as informal as this blog. As much as that helps, I still don't believe myself to be in the contending for paper-writing-great and I hope that my writing course next semester will further guide me along and make me a better author.

Posted by Collin Benkler at 7:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Retailer sale advertisements are inescapable, bank accounts are inevitably emptying and decorative lights are strewn from buildings everywhere; and that's been before Thanksgiving. As it's been said, Christmas comes earlier every year, and this year is no exception... except for its name. It seems as though Christmas has gradually taken on a new meaning over the last several years such that, like the character Voldemort in Harry Potter, people must not say its name in order to not offend anyone. Being Christian myself, and perhaps religiously ignorant outside of my own faith, I don't understand why it would be offensive for someone to wish you a "merry Christmas" if you are not Christian. I've never taken it offensively when people have said to me "Happy Hanukkah", and I don't think if anyone from any other religion wished me a happy day in honor of their religion I would take it offensively at all. Acknowledging that I know little about the issue, why is it that people take offense to being wished a merry Christmas?

Posted by Collin Benkler at 1:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

This week and the weekend before it has been very tough. I had to spend the weekend in Florida for a funeral, and had to teach a class monday night. As a result, finishing my paper was pushed to the very end. Although I had written about 7 pages before I left town, I still did not have a final finished product. To make matters even worse, I got the flu sunday night, and was still miserable on monday! However, suddenly, the knowledge of knowing that my paper was due struck me at about 10:30. I instantly felt a lot better. My body conquered its ailment with a quick surgical strike, so that I could finish my paper. I finished a final product that I am surprisingly satisfied with.

The rest of this week will be cramming for a calculus final, and then making last minute posts on this blog!

Posted by Michael Fellman at 11:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I think everyone in our class should stay in toach and keep posting on our site if we are still capable of doing that. WE then can ask eachother question about HW, paper topics, or even where to get help. Just an idea. good luck to everyone in my class represent the class of 10. hopefully i will see you around.

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

what are people going to do over christmass break? I plan to work allot and alot and to hope to party and hangout with all my old highschool friends and my aunt is even comiing down to see my mom for here surprise 40th birthday which should be a blast. good luck to everyone. merry christmass, happy hanakas and happy new years

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 9:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

Thank goodness for the rain. everything has been getting so dried out we needed this rain today. i just hope it doesnt snow until after everyone leaves. but knowing our luck here in MN were are going to have a blizzard on Dec. 20th keeping all these students from going home for christmass. I hope it doesnt but i have a feeling it will. lol

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 9:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Subway is the best fastfood out there and i can tell you why. I am an employee at a Subway in Hugo MN aka sandwhich artist. Subway has great prices and even better selection. Subway beats out any other fastfood restraunt with its healthier food and you can see the employee make it infront of you instead of at McDonalds or BK when you dont get what you want or dont know if they are spitting in your sandwhich. Subway is hands down the healthier and better choice. And if you dont like the way subway toasts you bread you can always have them do it before they put anything on it or ask for it to be put in for half the time they should know what to do.
Your welcome from ,
your sandwhich artist

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBacks (0)

I hate the circulator buses and i know you do too. Everytime you are in a hurry you see the bus pulling away from the buss stop. Then whenever you dont care if you wait or not the buss pulls up right when you get to the buss stop. i Have noticed these buss drivers need to timely spread themselves out a little better especially when i see four busses lined up out side of the St. Paul Student Center at 9:40 in the morning.

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

The way i started my day off was with Strawberry pop-tarts with a giant glass of milk and a side of hashbrowns. this isnt the healthiest of breakfast but it sure does taste good.

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Well my final paper is due in about 8 hours and I am still working on it. I can not believe the amount of schoolwork that I have done in order to prepare for two final papers, a mid term, and two final exams, all within the last week and a half of class! I have not been procrastinating at all this semester, and I am still so busy that I can barely fit anything into my schedule. I think one of the reasons is that a close friend of mine recently passed away. That consumed a lot of my time this past week due to returning home on a couple of the weeknights for the wake and funeral. It has also been on my mind lately, which has made it hard for me to concentrate on my schoolwork. I guess some things just come up that are unexpected, beyond your control, and have importance over other things.

Posted by Jeffrey Wiesner at 1:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

I can not believe how much research was involved with this paper. For some reason I feel like I have put ten times as much research into this paper than I did on the Ivory-Billed, even though I knew much more about the issue with nuclear weapons in North Korea than I did about the birds. I probably read completely through every one of my sources at least twice, and there were some long ones.

Posted by Jeffrey Wiesner at 1:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I just finally finished my final paper. It is such a relief that it is finally done. Now just have to worry about finals. I thought that the paper wasn't too bad. It was hard to start it, but once you knew what you wanted to write about it all came out.

Posted by Salma Bagha at 12:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Finishing my paper up was a great feeling, Im sure everyone feels the same. The most trouble I had was dealing with what information I wanted to say and how I was going to say it. Organization and stastistic selection was the most time consuming for. Otherwise, the paper was rewarding and beneficial.
Don't worry about your finals everyone.....they really aren't as big of a deal as they like to tell you. Just study what you need to know, don't stress, and everything will be fine! Good luck and have a great break!! :)

Posted by Courtney Miller at 11:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

For some reason, the closer exams get, the less I am worried. I'm not studying, so I don't think this is warranted. It seems like the U makes a lot of hype about exams, and I believe them that they will be hard, but whats with all the fuss?

Posted by Nate Benz at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Hot darn I just finished my paper and golly gee whiz is it a relief. I have been truckin on the past few days on this awesome paper, and it is nice not to have to use the formal vocabulary anymore. I think this class was a success, because I've never spent that much time worrying about (much less writing) a paper of that magnitude, and I think I've come out better because of it.

Posted by Nate Benz at 4:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I am having a tough time on what to write about in my conclusion. I am right about the need to change the laws here in Minnesota for stricter punishments on pedophiles. the law right now is a max of 30 years in prison with parole which means most serve 14-16 years in prison for rapping a boy or girl. Many of these pedophiles act again and can not be rehabilitated. I am asking you what you think should be an appropriate punishment.

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBacks (0)

" Why do we fall down? So we can learn how to pick ourselves up"

" An eye for and eye will only make the world blind."

"Life is not about the numbers of breaths you take, its the moments that take your breath away."

"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope."

"History will be kind to be for I intend to write it."

" A good conscience is a continual Christmas."

"A slip of the foot you may recover, but a slip of the tongue you may never recover."

Try and name these quotes and get an easy comment for class. I like all of these some are from the same people.

Posted by Kayleb Lassche at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

I just thought it would be really interesting to see what we all came up with for paper topics. We might even be able to bounce ideas off of eachother in the future with other papers or projects. Post your topic here and say a little about how your paper is coming along and maybe how the process was altogether.

My topic is Guantanamo Bay. Recently George Bush passed an act to set up military tribunals to try the alleged terrorists there (sort of FDR-style). I analyzed the legality of this act. The process of researching/writing the paper was actually kind of exciting... Since it is such a current event, it's always in the news, so every day I would log on the internet to find out that something new happened while I was sleeping! (Although, I must say, that was also one of the biggest challenges)

Best of luck to all of you with this week and next... and especially with your papers!

Post your topic here:

Posted by Mollie Thompson at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (13) | TrackBacks (0)

I would like to say thank you to Maggie for being such a wonderful teacher! You have tought me so much over this semester! I have never had a teacher as nice as you and one who is willing to help her students succeed in every way possible. I am so thankful that you allowed us to revise some of our paper, it helped me learn from my mistakes and then actually get to fix them! Next semester I will be lucky to have a teacher as half as good as you were! Thanks!

Posted by Jennifer Hartwig at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Although Maggie and my classmates are really nice, I am so excited for this class to be over with. I have spent countless hours in this class writing papers and making sure they are good, and I am ready to be done with that. It will feel so good to not have to write any papers for an entire month!. I just hope the break doesn't go by too fast.

Posted by Jennifer Hartwig at 9:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Althought the final paper has been taking a lot of time, I really didn't mind wrtting it. I find my topic very interesting so it was not hard for me to find information on it and then write ten pages. I am so glad that this paper is our final thing to do for this class and that we don't have a final, it will be one less class to worry about after tomorrow. I am just hoping that i do decent on this paper!

Posted by Jennifer Hartwig at 9:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

In writing this final paper, I have learned a lot. I have learned that it actually is possible to write a paper that goes into ten pages and that I am capable of staying up until 3 in the morning and still coming out with a good product. I really didnt let myself get lazy on this one and I really am proud of what I've completed (even though I still have some finishing to go.) I really want to say thank you for letting us get to choose our topic. I chose a topic that interests me greatly and I havent lost interest, even in reading five 30 page reports on the subject. This final paper has helped me learn not only a lot on my topic, but also about myself and boosted my confidence as a writer.

Posted by Moira Pirsch at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I can answer one question about the citing. I think you have to include at least 7 sources within your paper, there is no need to list souces in the works cited if they aren't cited in the paper. The reader should be able to flip to the last page to see the exact authors listed in the paper. I hope this helps, hopefully someone will be able to answer the first question.

Posted by Courtney Miller at 5:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I have some last minute questions about the citing of the sources. Say that the academic journal you retrieved from Academic Search Premier is in PDF format, do you still need to include the URL of the service and the date in which you accessed the source? And also, since I include Literature Review in my final paper, should i cite all the authors I mentioned in the Literature Review? For example, for some of the authors, let's name them A, B, C X, Y, Z , i jsut said A X and Y believe in such and such, and B C and Z argue this and that. Should I cite those people's work in my Work Cited page? Even though no direct quote from those authors' work were used in my final paper.

Posted by Ting Ting Wang at 1:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

I think this was a very entertaining class. While, I feel like my writing progressed somewhat, I still will say I am confused sometimes on writing. Maggie made this a very fun and entertaining class. We always (except for the woodpecker), discussed interesting topics, and for the most part had some interesting conversations. I remember being a nervous, worried freshman, and having Maggie as my first ever class. I thank her for helping us get used to school.

Thanks,

Posted by Mark Divine at 9:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

This paper has taught me a lesson. The lesson is, when your friends who were freshman in college said to you last year "finals week sucks, and do things early", they were right. I finished my Rhet paper, but still have so much to do. All of this piles up so quickly. My paper in here, when I read it, i felt that it was a pretty good paper, but all this stress, may not have helped. I think that we as freshman, should start a club and tell high schoolers not to procrastinate. they will pay for it!

Posted by Mark Divine at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I realize I just posted a blog, but I wanted to write again to say that I have really liked the people in this class and I'm going to miss it. I know that sounds extremely dorky, because it is, but it's the only freshman class I had this semester where I actually had the chance to meet people and learn people's names! I'm such a loser, but I'm glad we had to memorize eachother's names because usually you never get the chance to know everyone you have lecture with. Anyways, this is kind of an awkward blog, I realize, but I just wanted to say that I'm going to miss our rhet class and seeing everyone twice a week. I hope the next semester goes well for everyone and hopefully I'll see you around!

Posted by Gwendolyn Ruehle at 5:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBacks (0)

Finals week has arrived and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed/slightly behind on everything I should be on top of. Especially this final argument paper.. I wish I had something insightful to say about the whole process, but truthfully I'm feeling stressed and brain dead. I think our class time has been extremely helpful though. I feel like everyone's questions are answered and enough time is dedicated to the different issues that arise out of writing such a paper. I really do feel well prepared to write this agrument.. however, motivation is slightly lacking. If only this could be taught. I wish I knew how to not be a procrastinator!!

Posted by Gwendolyn Ruehle at 3:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

So it seems to be the general consensus, at least on the blog, that the claims workshop last week was not very helpful. This is partly because we lacked knowledge of our peer's topics. I'm just wondering how this lack of shared knowledge will affect the rough draft peer reviews. How constructive will our critiques be when we may not know whether the thesis is appropriate, nor whether the evidence used is effective or accurate?

Posted by Elyse Beck at 4:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

Last night as I started my paper I was having a lot of trouble writing it. I new what I wanted to write and what I wanted to put where and how I wanted everything organized. I just couldn't figure out where or how to start it. I would think that since we've already had to write a persuassive essay that I wouldn't have that much trouble with it. But I was wrong! I thought that getting started on this was a lot harder. Then I kind of realized why, for the last persuassive essay we had to write everything was pretty much given to us. We had the website and we pretty much had a choice of taking one of two sides. We didn't have to do much extra research on it. The annotated bibliography was helpful, but when I went to go and write my paper, I decided that the sources I had there weren't the ones that I wanted to use in my paper. So, it feels like I am starting all over again. So far, I can say that this paper has been a challenge for me. The due date seems so far away, but I know when the night before comes I'm gonna be pulling an all nighter trying to perfect it.

Posted by Salma Bagha at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (0)

"We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are." -The Talmud
Heard this quote in class and I wanted to share it with all of you. How we interpret something is different to someone else that interprets the samething. We read signs and interactions differently from one another. Keep this in mind, we are all different in what we have gone through, which shapes who we are today!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 10:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Well I understand where you are coming from. My paper is about the pervious research that has been done already and presenting it to my intended audience. I'm not writing about one side or another, but just putting the info out there for them to read. It is ok if your audience is going to agree with you, just try to bring out some new interesting facts or ideas about the topic. Hope this helps! Good luck!

Posted by Courtney Miller at 9:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I kind of hit on this before, but I'm interested to see if anyone else is feeling the same thing. My thesis is a stance of what needs to be researched in order to find needed results. I am really having a hard time even starting an eight page paper that only argues if something should be researched. There have been individual studies on certain areas of my thesis, but how am i supposed to add my own position/arguement when the majority of the public would be in support of what I am suggesting. I get the feeling I am "preaching to the choir". Any tips or thoughts from classmates or maggie would be extremely helpfull-thanks

Posted by Alex Rahmlow at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)