Project 3 Reflection: Involved

I think project three was a bit easier than the last two.  Not necessarily because of the work, but because it made me become more involved in the work and made the time pass more quickly.  I think I did well with getting the interviews that I needed to support my argument.  Kayla Johns was a great addition to my project with the fact that she works at the Student Recreation Complex.  She knew a lot about the expansions due to the fact that she has seen blueprints and she knows how significant the building and its plans are to the campus.

I did not struggle with much throughout this project.  However, I always think that analysis can become somewhat difficult.  I learned a lot about the expansion plans and more about things that the Student Recreation Complex contains such as rentable equipment.  The plans are mainly to expand the weight room and courts to ensure safety for the students.  Also, I feel that I get better at analyzing things instead of describing them like I used to.  I used to be very descriptive and write things like a brochure, yet now I feel I have learned a lot about evaluation and analysis which makes my writing stronger. 

I feel like I crafted a good argument; being that the Student Recreation Complex and its expansion plans are very significant to ASU.  I think that I did a pretty good job at backing up my argument as well with my interviews followed up by some analysis.  I think what I have learned not just in this project but throughout the whole course can transfer into the world outside the university well.  I can take what I have learned and use it in a resume as well as the possibility of future jobs that require it. 

Nonetheless, everything can be improved.  My writing is not what it could be and I even though I have learned a lot, there is still much to learn.  Project three was the most interesting and definitely got the students more involved than any of the other projects because of the audio portion and having to physically interact with one another.  I also think that this project was the most important of the three.  I believe this because things that were involved in this project are more transferable into the real world than in the others.

Again, I believe that having to interact with others in order to complete the project was very good practice for future things.  All in all, project three was my favorite due to the fact that it forced us to get involved.  It seems as if English 101 has been more centered around getting us to learn how to analyze and evaluate things effectively.  This is a great thing for us students because it is something that many of us will use in the future.

Script Draft

JAMES MARTIN: The Student Recreation Complex at Arizona State University contains many different tools and resources to help its users stay physically fit.  The SRC has become one of the most popular places on campus, which can cause it to become somewhat overcrowded at times. That makes the plans that ASU has created for this building very significant.  ASU plans on expanding the Student Recreation Complex helping it to become a little more convenient for the students and members that use the facility. 

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: The biggest problem is that this place gets too crowded during the afternoons. 

JAMES MARTIN: The expansion plans for the Student Recreation Complex has great significance to ASU, due to the fact that it is one of the most popular and most commonly used facilities on campus.  These plans can make the SRC more convenient for the students by providing them with larger space for enhanced safety, as well as more equipment.  As two of the interviewees said

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: I’ve taken my turn waiting in line for the stair masters before.  Today is actually a slower day, believe it or not.

JAMES MARTIN: This was the only signs of complaints that arose with the SRC during these interviews, which in turn means that Arizona State University is listening to its students.  It shows that ASU wants to make improvements to keep its students happy. 

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Yeah, I mean they came up with the expansion plans, right? I think that means they are doing a good job at listening to all of us.

JAMES MARTIN: When speaking with another student I learned that this building contains some features that many students don’t know of.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: I am going to rent some equipment for racquetball to play with some friends of mine.

JAMES MARTIN: This shows how the SRC is tied in with many different things, anywhere from renting racquetball equipment to sponsoring the intramural sports leagues.  I then asked if the student had or was currently participated in any intramural sports leagues.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Yeah, I use the weight room like three to fives a week and they usually have personal trainers on hand if someone needs one.

JAMES MARTIN: A great addition to the SRC is the personal training that can be acquired by its students.  This can be good help to those that struggle with exercise.

UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: No, but I think it sounds like a lot of fun and some friends of mine plan on getting involved sometime. 

JAMES MARTIN: The key words here are “getting involved” and that is what the SRC is built around.  ASU created the SRC to help take some stress of students and get them out of their daily lives.  I later met up with student employee, Kayla Johns, who gave me her perspective on the SRC and its expansion plans.

JAMES MARTIN & KAYLA JOHNS: (On Tuesday I will be interviewing Kayla Johns, a student employed at the SRC, who will be giving me her input and thoughts on the building and its expansion plans.  This will be the largest portion of the interview and analysis due to her direct connection with the SRC and its surroundings.)

JAMES MARTIN: Drawing everything together, the significance of the SRC and its expansion plans comes entirely from the students themselves.  Many students spoke out to ASU saying that the SRC was becoming overly crowded for large portions of the day.  If this was not a significant ordeal the students would not have spoken out.  As a result, the SRC will only become more significant to the campus as more students begin to use it for its new found space and convenience.

ASU Reacts: Swift

Taylor Swift released her new album, Red, on October 22, 2012.  Upon her album’s release 1.2 million copies were sold throughout the first week.  This accounted for the highest first-week sales over the past ten years, which is a great achievement in itself.  However, Taylor did something remarkable with the way in which she released Red to her fans.  Taylor took it upon herself to release her album in a less than traditional way this time around.  She chose to release her album without using Spotify like most artists do as a way of advertisement.

“I think Taylor Swift is a very talented artist.  She obviously proves it when every time she releases a new album her numbers are sky high.  According to the numbers Swift just sold 1.2 million copies in the first week of being released.  It does not seem to me like Taylor needs Spotify anymore as she is already one of the most popular artists out there,” says Jessada.

The “Secret Genius” to Taylor’s plan was that she does not need the advertisement to obtain her fan’s love and faithfulness, as she has already acquired and held it in the past.  Jessada states that he believes Taylor Swift is almost too popular for Spotify or that she does not need to use it anymore due to the fact that fan’s trust her enough to buy her music even without the use of advertisement.  Jessada even reverts back to the data astonished by the number of copies she sold.  Taylor is truly an amazing artist that deserves her popularity. 

Genre Analysis: The Secret Genius of Taylor Swift

After reading and listening to several audio essays posted on NPR, I came across a very interesting piece.  The NPR story “The Secret Genius of TaylorSwift” is a very informative review containing a strain of several short interviews, and in my perspective, somewhat of and advertisement for the popular Taylor Swift.  This report tells of Taylor Swift’s new album Red and uses many detailed examples and arguments that tell why and how Taylor sold so many copies of her new album without the use Spotify.  The reporter states “Taylor Swift’s new album, Red, sold more than 1.2 million albums in its first week.”  The audio essay uses specific factual data with numbers, names, and illustrates a photo.  This reporter also interviews several people in the audio portion of the story “Taylor already has so many fans, that she doesn’t need to have that, like, incentive.”  At this point in the story it seems as if the reporter is trying to help sell Taylor Swift by praising her work and intelligence of the music industry and interviewing several young fans of Taylor’s music. 

Differing from the academic essay and the annotated map, the audio essay contains an audio message along with a written portion.  This story has also incorporated interviews from several different people that the other projects never accounted for.  This audio essay must use specific detail and have a point to get across.  The biggest difference which I saw between this audio essay and the other two projects, other than the audio input, were the arguments that played a major role in projects one and two.  “The Secret Genius of Taylor Swift” contained almost no argument whatsoever and seemed more like a story, in my eyes.

Although the audio essay has some strong differences from the other two projects, it also has some resemblances with the academic essay and the annotated map as well.  In the story I read and listened to from NPR, the reporter analyzed the way in which Taylor bypassed the Spotify.  The reporter then began to evaluate the reasons why Taylor bypassed Spotify and was so successful even after bypassing an important thing such as Spotify.  I feel that the audio essay is a combination of the academic essay and annotated map with the addition of an audio portion, but is much more in depth than the previous projects.  This being the biggest project of the semester for this class, it will take a lot of time and effort to complete a well written and recorded paper.

I am not sure at what I will be doing in my third project for English as I have not put any effort into researching my interests towards this subject.

Project 2 Reflection: Resources Useful

Project two was a very time consuming assignment in which I put much effort.  Unlike project one, I feel that I did good job at analyzing and evaluating the area that I chose.  In project one I was being more descriptive and wrote my paper like it was a brochure for the building.   However, in this paper I did more critiquing, in order to evaluate, and I asked myself questions, in order to analyze. 

The word length for this project was very hard for me to reach at first.  For my draft I wrote a total of two thousand twenty-nine words and had a lot of filler space.  However, after the peer review and getting some feedback from professor Linthicum I was able to exceed the two thousand word minimum easily.  The information and hints that I obtained from my classmates and professor were very helpful and helped to look at the place from a different view.

Also, a big step for me in improvement in my writing and in the English class as a whole was attending several workshops and getting help from the writing center.  Before attending the workshop I had no idea how to organize my paper with the four annotations and synopsis, but I later learned how to do it and how my professor wanted it through a blog.  I was showed a link that took me to an example blog in which every element of the paper had been laid out.  Then, after attending the writing center, I was showed some flaws in my work and given ways to fix them along with many helpful tips for future writings.  The use of my resources, which I had never done in the past, was of overwhelming help.  

I felt like I had a good evaluation throughout my synopsis.  I had several different criteria in which I set for a good fitness center to meet and then explained how the Student Recreation Complex met them.  Now saying that, I do believe my paper still could have been improved and/or tweaked resulting in a better outcome.  Nonetheless, I feel a lot better about the way I wrote in project two than the way I wrote in project one. 

I am nit totally sure what I will be doing after college but this project has taught me a lot.  I never knew about the steps of evaluation that a paper needed to include when writing an evaluation.  I learned of the criteria and how to organize it in a paper as well as how rigorous these criteria needed to be.  At some point this new found knowledge will come in handy whether it be applying for a job, writing a review, or even critiquing an employees work in the future.

Research Sources: Becoming More Healthy Through The Use of Exercise

I will be doing project number two on the Student Recreational Center (SRC).  I intend to focus mostly about the health around Arizona State University and how the SRC can help students to gain or maintain a more fit and healthy body.  I would like to evaluate the weight room and the different types of machines that the SRC provides on its upper levels.  Also, I plan to spend a good amount of time evaluating the pool and how it can be one of the most effective ways of burning calories.   Many people do not look at swimming as a way to burn calories or become fit; nonetheless it uses a large array of muscles throughout the body and is very effective when it comes to becoming healthier.   

I would like to explore this subject in this assignment because going to college is a very big change for most students coming out of high school.  College is a different way of life for those that leave home and live on campus.  Almost everyone has heard the saying “freshman fifteen” at one time or another.  This can be the result of “food deserts” which commonly appear around colleges.  This, more times than not, results in unhealthy eating along with the slowing down of the metabolism and ultimately weight gain.  Using the SRC may not cut down on unhealthy eating or help students to find a better source of food, but it will help to boost the metabolism and slow or eliminate weight gain.

I plan to evaluate the weight room, the pool, the exercise machines, and the different courts assorted throughout the building.  I would like to focus on the weight room a lot because this is where the most muscle is built and many people know that while muscle is being built fat is also being blasted.  The pool, as I mentioned earlier, is a great way to burn calories effectively, but many people refrain from using it because they do not want to be engulfed in water.  There are machines on both levels of the SRC, which are used for a more cardio related exercise.  Cardio is needed for many people, along with weight training, with slower metabolisms.

I believe that the SRC is the best place on campus to help obtain a healthier lifestyle throughout college.  Exercise may not be the only thing needed to become the physically healthiest you could be but I believe it is the first step while in college.  It is said that an hour of exercise a day is all that is needed to build muscle, lose weight, and obtain a healthier body.  In my research of this assignment I found a book and two scholarly articles that may be of much use to me.

Leighton, James. Fitness, Body Development, & Sports Conditioning Through Weight Training. Illinois: Thomas, 1983. Print.

Christina, Robert. An Introduction. Enhancing Human Performance in Sport 25 (1991): 1-2. Print.

Buggel, Edelfrid. Mass-Sport Activities and Top Class Athletics. Sports and Politics 7 (1984): 43-49. Print.

In each these sources the main subject is exercise.  These sources helped give me a better understanding of how the body functions and what it needs to build muscle and burn fat.  This was my main interest because the SRC is a place where exercise goes on constantly. These sources helped me obtain a better understanding of how to become more fit with exercise.

Evaluation: Shooter

The movie Shooter is an action/adventure thriller that keeps viewers on the edge of their seats.  People have been intrigued by action/adventure movies for a long time due to the height of excitement.  Action/adventure movies that we see making large revenue generally have a well known actor or actress that has a good reputation for their lead roles.  The speed of these types of movies is also very fast paced getting the viewers into the excitement very quickly. These movies produce situations that can range from being very fictional to even some that are very possible in almost everyone’s life.  This genre of movie normally has something to do with an underdog overcoming the impossible and having the audience cheering them on the whole time.  

Mark Wahlberg is one of the most famous actors in the United States now.  He has been seen in many different types of movies and has been applauded for his great acting.  Mark Wahlberg is the main character in the movie Shooter.  He adds a lot to the film with his style of acting and serious believable attitude throughout.  The action begins in the first ten minutes of the film’s start.  This movie has a very fast pace with a lot of action and little rest between exciting scenes.  The director followed the action/adventure theme in which so many others have by the addition of a strong leading actor with a fast paced and action filled plot.  The proof shows in the near one-hundred million dollar box office showing.

In shooter, the main conflict is that the main character is framed in a conspiracy to kill the president of the United States.  Mark fights for his freedom and ultimately wins it.  However, he does not feel that justice has been served and he decides to serve out the justice himself leading to more excitement and more action packed scenes.  Shooter is a great movie, in my perspective, that entertains the viewer throughout the two hour run time.  The film chose a very complete actor for their budget and succeeded.  The level of action that Mark Wahlberg produced in the film was explosive and showed with the money that was made on the film.  The effort put into the special effects of the movie were also very extensive.  The effects included napalm, a very flammable explosive, which looked as if it was true to what was being shown on the film.  Shooter was not a low budget film in which the special effects and actors are cheesy.  Everyone has experienced a terrible low budget film at one time or another.  Viewers can tell a difference between a small time film and a high rate film like Shooter. 

Project 1 Reflection: Opinions

In this project I had many positive feelings towards it.  I felt that it was a very interesting type of writing and that it would ultimately help me with my writing skills.  To be honest with myself I am somewhat of a lazy person, having chosen Memorial Union.  Not to say that there is anything wrong with Memorial Union, but it seems like it would be one of the easier places to analyze.

I think I projected myself very well throughout this paper.  I gave a good description on Memorial Union and put in good detail.  I also gave two fine views from the perspective of a freshman and the possible perspective of a senior.  I showed how the senior, having more experience with the surrounding areas, would possibly see the Memorial Union as an annoyance.  On the other hand as a freshman I showed how they may see it as a fun, subtle or even crazy environment.

Regardless of how well or how poor I projected things in my essay, I had many struggles.  I struggled with the length of the paper.  It was sort of hard for me to get the sufficient amount of words to follow the prompt.  This was due mostly to the fact that I took some lengthy observations but only used one half of them in my paper.  As the final draft came around the words flowed more easily and were transferred to the paper with ease.  Another tough point in this paper was finding the best point to incorporate the lens that needs to be included in the project.  I ended up changing the several spots where I had included them on more than one occasion. The most difficult thing of my writing in project one was the analysis.  In professor Linthicum’s review of my rough draft he told me that I needed to analyze more; he informed me that several of my paragraphs read like a brochure.

I think I could have done a better job at analyzing my paper.  It was a tough aspect in my opinion.  In my future writing I would definitely consider going to the writing center and get some help on analysis of objects or places.  I think I have somewhat of a tough time analyzing things instead of describing them. In the future I would ask why and how more.  I heard that using those questions is a good technique to analysis. 

This work could also help me outside the university in further works or studies.  Many architects must analyze places, buildings, and objects for there career.  So this work could be used in a possible career for me or potential interviews.  All in all the project was difficult but rewarding.

Memorial Union

Lower Level

• Dining area
• Contains more seating
• Several places to eat
• Television
• Studying takes place here
• Midfirst Bank
• Barber/salon
• Convenient on campus real salon
• Easily accessible
• Cannon
• Scanning
• Printing
• Faxing
• Copying
• Comedy group seating and stage
• New Student Orientation area
• Help desk
• Pat Tillman veterans center
• Sparky’s Den
• Gaming area
• Tables for sitting
• Billiards tables
• Arcade Games
• Bowling
• Music
• $9
• Lounging area
• Many students study
• Eat with friends
• Getaway from dorm
• Relaxation
• Wait for next class

Upper Level

• Main food Hall
• Many different places to eat
• Various seating
• Convenience store
• Everything a circle k has (excluding gas)
• Great for in-campus livers
• Banks
• Wells Fargo
• AZ Credit Union
• Smaller shops
• Small run-off convenience store
• Sushi
• Information booth
• Lost and found
• Change Maker Center

UFC Magazine Analysis

UFC Magazine Cover

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has become one of the most popular sports in the world over the last decade.  Its fast pace and brutal knockouts have fans jumping in excitement.  The August 2011 edition of UFC magazine is titled “Super Seven” is used to describe the top seven athletes in the sport.  The title is then followed by “We profile the champion of every UFC division.”  Regardless of the title or other text on the cover, one thing stands out more than any other.  The large picture of the seven UFC champions brings an excitement to the cover and draws the attention its audience.  

The title “Super Seven”, in my opinion, is an outstanding choice.  “Super” is only one of the many words that can be used to describe an athlete of this caliber, however it was chosen because it is one of the few words that can describe them all at once.  These seven men are powerful, fast, strong, superior, and seemingly unstoppable.  Readers may also become more attracted to the magazine due to the simple title.

The message following the title tells the audience what is covered in the magazine.  This can be used to excite readers that are familiar with the sport and athletes.  Nonetheless, readers who know little about the Ultimate Fighting Championship and its professional athletes may become excited to learn about or of the organization and its participants.  As a result, the rapidly growing sport continues to grow and draw the attention new viewers.

In my perspective, the image of these “Super Seven” is the most important part of the magazine cover.  It is the theme of the entire magazine and shows you who the magazine was written about.  It gives you a quick look at some of the greatest fighters in the world.  This image is what catches your eye at first glance. 

 This magazine was written about the most popular men in the sport and it is delivered well through its cover.  Anyone who is a new viewer of the sport will have a very good idea what is covered in the magazine.  Anyone who is an experienced watcher of the sport would love to know more about the athletes they pay to watch.  This magazine was a good popularity boost.

Aanlysis of a Writing Situation Risks of Nuclear Power

Radiation is a process where particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space.  These particles are traveling at such a fast rate that they can enter the human body and destroy cells.  This then causes the start of cancer.  Radiation occurs naturally in our environment everyday.  However, no where near the amount of radiation that is needed to physically cause a human being to have cancer. 

Nuclear power plants sky rocket the output of radioactive waves.  Nuclear power plants emit radiation continuously, which workers are then exposed to everyday.  The cause of cancer by radiation is estimated at 1%.  Nuclear power is raising the percentage very fast.  Radiation is estimated to cause fifty thousands or more deaths than the previous number. 

Nuclear power plants also produce a significant amount of radioactive waste.  This radioactive material must not come in contact with any person for an extreme period of time.  Most of this waste is transformed into rocks a then buried deep into the earth.  The remaining radioactive waste, which contains less radiation, is buried around twenty feet deep.  These contents can be absorbed into the surrounding soil and/or water supply.  This then affects the animals that inhabit the area in which the waste was dumped in a negative way. 

Reactor accidents are a rare problem with nuclear power plants.  Nonetheless, the potential of an accident will always exist.  Chernobyl may be the greatest reactor accident of all.  A problem with a reactor caused an explosion which released an extremely high amount of radiation.  The surrounding four-hundred thousand people were evacuated.  Many that were evacuated later died of cancer caused by radiation.  Chernobyl is now a ghost town.  The radiation that lingers there prevents anyone from inhabiting the area.

Bernard L. Cohen, the other of this article and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, disagrees with the usage of nuclear power.  He believes that nuclear power is too dangerous and can lead the deaths of too many people.  His main argument, which is very strong, is the effects on society of radiation.  He uses statistics in his writing to make his argument even stronger.  He uses many facts and less opinions, which produces an undisputable argument on the factual material. 

Bernard L. Cohen intends to persuade people to go against the use nuclear power/energy.  I think he expected many of his own students to read this article.  By using facts in his writing I think he may have persuaded many people to think of nuclear power in the same way he is.  I am somewhat against nuclear power after reading this article.  There are many positive results that come from nuclear power.  Regardless, are those results worth the risks involved?