Lydia's story

1) Brideau's main point is that Even when struck with natural disasters and pushed through life's biggest tests, people will still overcome and use any hope to make it through. This is indicated in her last paragraph when she expresses why Lydia's story has always stayed with her the most


2) Most of the story is from Lydia's point of view during the hurricanes that flooded her home. Lydia's point of view impacted how I as a reader feel about the natural disasters because I can see how it affected someone first hand and how difficult it was for them to make It out alive with no home to return to.


3) Brideau made her narrative come alive by including how Lydia felt during the storm and other details about her thought process while trying to save herself from the water. When describing Lydia she uses the words small, slender, black woman, cracked lips, and dry tongue. Also when describing the settings she uses chemical odor, toxic, no windows, uncomfortably cold, no one in sight, bulky heavy, and water above her height. All of these words appeal to readers emotions by making them feel sad and empathetic towards Lydia because they now know what she has gone through and how these conditions must have taken a toll on her.


4) The audience for Health Affairs magazine may be health professionals or just people learning more about health in general. Brideau uses a serious tone in her story which is suiting to readers of this magazine because health is also a serious subject. Readers can really feel this tone when Brideau uses phrases such as "she was only aware of being terrified of the water", "I heard strength and resolve in her voice" and "seeing so many people without homes".

Rhetorical situations

In the past week I have done a few very different pieces of writing which have required me to analyze the rhetorical situation of each. In some cases, such as the social media aspect, I may have conducted this analysis unconsciously and instinctively because of its informal structure.


When writing a blog post for English, I first considered the audience (other students and our professor) and what my relationship is with them. Since the professor has authority over me, I would need to address these posts formally and in a thoughtful manner. While writing, I kept in mind the purpose for writing these posts which is to fulfill a course assignment. I conveyed my stance on "Is everyone an Author" by using a supportive attitude to show really do believe everyone is an author. Thinking about a larger context and what others have blogged about the topic helped me add my own voice to the conversation and add on to what they had to say.


Another piece of writing I worked on this week was an Instagram post for my friend's birthday. Since Instagram is a picture oriented social media, I first thought of the design aspect and picked out which visual best represented us together and the words that followed in the caption. Next I thought about the purpose of the post which is to honor her on her birthday. The audience who saw my post consisted of friends and family so I wasn't worried about trying to make it formal. That being said, I could easily convey my stance that she is one of my best friends and I wish her a happy birthday by using a light hearted attitude.


Throughout this whole week I have also been sending texts back and forth between friends and family. One good example is when I was writing to my friends in a group chat asking them for help with my math homework. It helped to think about the design aspect and how I could use it to best explain what I needed help with. I took a picture of the problem that I didn't understand and used it as a visual representation. I then thought about my stance on the subject and used my attitude (anger) to convey that I was frustrated and didn't know what was doing incorrectly. Since my audience only consisted of a few friends, I was able to use informal language but still get my point across

Is Everyone An Author?

Yes everyone in fact is an author! Whether it be writing for school or a social media post for friends and family, everyone has written their own words, statements, and opinions at one point in life. The internet has made it possible for people to make their writing open for public viewing. Nowadays anyone can create an online profile and write anything from what they ate for breakfast to a 20 page essay. However, even people without social media can be considered authors because they can still write down their own original thoughts and ideas. A great example is the Diary of Anne Frank. This young girl never expected her diary to be published and make her a widely known author. However, even if her Diary had never been published, she would still be an author because she wrote down her thoughts, feelings, and life events. Everyone becomes an author the day they learn to write and record their thoughts as a child.

Writers, Authors and Genres

2) There are more similarities in our responses due to the fact that we all believed everyone is an author.

·         Social media has had a large impact on the way people write and how often they write

·         Writing is just the compilation of thoughts written in some way, format does not matter, making the author of a poem or a song just as much an author as someone who has published a book.

·         For example: Anne frank was never expecting to have her diary published but she wrote down her thoughts and is now considered a well-known author. However, even if her diary was never published she was still an author because she wrote down her thoughts, feelings and life events

4)                       writers                                                                                          authors

Someone who writes as a hobby	Someone who has been published
informal	Formal / professional
Song or poetry	Books or novels
anonymous	Well known
Small piece of writing	Large piece of writing

 

5)             type of writing                                                                      enjoy it/ despise it

Essay	Despise it: usually not an interesting topic
Short story	Enjoy it: creative control, typically get to pick a topic of interest
Social media post	Enjoy it : not forced to do it, fun creative control over topic, Friends view it

 

6)  Memo: Hello friends! I am throwing a surprise party for my mother this weekend and need help putting everything together! There are 4 things that I would really appreciate your help with. First, buying food and utensils. Second, going to party city for gold decorations. Third, writing invitations and making a list of people that my mom would want at her party. Lastly, making a play list of songs you think would be fun to listen to at the party. Please message me back and tell me which of these you would be interested in helping with. Thanks so much!

Driving Directions to Pick Up Supplies for the Party:

·         First make your way to Walmart to get the food and utensils, to do this start at home and take a left on Lincoln. Follow Lincoln for about 1 mile then proceed to take a left onto 1^st Avenue your destination will be on your right.

·         Then make your way to party city to pick up the decorations. Start at Walmart and continue heading south on 1^st Avenue, follow for about 3 miles then take a right onto Market St. destination will be on your left.

·         Then make your way from party city to the post office to mail out the inventions. Head out on Market St. for 1 mile then make a left on Baker St. post office is the first building on the right.

·         Next Drive home to make a playlist at your house.

 

  Shopping List-Surprise Party

1.       Go to grocery store for food and utensils

2.       Get party decorations

3.       Mail invitations to attached guest list

4.       Make a party playlist

 

Colaborative writing on writing

Writing is the compilation of thoughts written down on some form of document.

In school and/or personal time essays, personal narratives, short stories, and poems are written.

When writing for a professor, use intelligent language. Whereas if writing to a child, the diction must be less formal. Also, writing styles depend on the genre/topic being written about. This is because, when writing to an audience, it is important to make sure the target audience understands what the document is trying to convey.