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PB2B

The topic that I am interested in is The Dakota Pipeline Protest. The “players” involved in this issue are- Standing Rock Sioux tribe members, Energy Transfer Partners, The Morton County Sheriff’s Office, and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Standing Rock Sioux are protesting against Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) alongside representatives of more than 200 other tribes. These tribes are protesting the construction of an of an oil pipeline. The protesters argue that this pipeline would disturb sacred lands and burial grounds, which then would pollute the tribe's only source of water.

Energy Transfer Partners are in charge of building this oil pipeline that transports oil from North Dakota’s Bakken field to a refinery in central Illinois. Energy Transfer Partners received  permits to from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers allow the pipeline to cross the Missouri River.

The sheriff’s only issue is the false accusations. Apparently protesters  were checking in at Standing Rock and reposting a message to Facebook declaring that the check-ins were needed to help protect protesters in  from being monitored through the use of geotagging by law enforcement. The sheriff of North Dakota completely denies these accusations.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had plans to build this pipeline in September but faced a lawsuit. The federal judge however, were in favor of the Army Corps.

But how do each “player” feel about this situation? Many people had their say when it came to Standing Rock and this pipeline situation including, Corporations, Tribe members, Celebrities, ETP, and even Barack Obama. Let's get into the thought and minds of each of these players.

The tribe and its fellow protesters feel as if they were not properly consulted about this pipeline construction. Their main concern is the effect on sacred sites and burial grounds. The protesters want this construction not occur at Standing rock, but to occur elsewhere. The Standing Rock Tribe led this protest against the pipeline. The Tribe then proceeded to sue the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and ask for a temporary injunction against this construction. This injunctions was immediately denied. Celebrities such as actress Shailene Woodley, reporter Amy Goodman and documentary filmmaker Deia Schlosberg, have either been arrested or faced charges for joining the protest and videotaping the demonstration. Many peaceful protesters were arrested with charges such as engaging in a riot. Other protesters were physically assaulted by the law enforcement, where they used pepper spray and tear gas to break up prayer circles.

Energy Transfer Partners already constructed most of the pipeline down North Dakota almost leading to the Mississippi River. Kelcy Warren, CEO of Energy Transfer Partners, defended the project in September, despite the cultural history that lies upon Standing Rock. Kelcy claims that the protesters water safety concerns are “unfounded”.

The pipeline developers that work with U.S. Army Corps Engineers are now awaiting a federal permit to dig under the river. Meanwhile Barack Obama made a request to the Army Corps asking if this pipeline can be rerouted. Army Corps are looking for any possible rerouting solution.

I personally feel bad considering the fact that many Native Americans live in reservations, now that might be invaded by the ETP. These tribes lived here in harmony with their fellow tribe members, taking care of their environment. There are questions i would like to ask relating to ETP and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the law enforcement.

1. Where is the humanity, how can you carelessly invade someone's home?
2. Army Corps- Giving out a permit to do construction in a reservation without the tribe's consent didn't bother you?
3. Why did the law enforcement use “military force” against these peaceful protester?

https://www.google.com/amp/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5818baece4b064e1b4b4e3cf/amp

PB2A

This PB2A will be based off of “Spotting and Evaluating “Moves”. Doing so I must pick a written text and analyze the author’s “moves”. I will be analyzing written text from: http://www.harpersbazaar.com

The article that i have chosen is about Jennifer Aniston, it is written by Alyssa Bailey. When the author kicks off the article she boldly suggest that Aniston “has nothing to lose”, when she wrote her op-ed. The move that Alyssa just used according to the book “They say, I say”, is Capturing Authorial Action(pg 684). Alyssa suggest that Aniston has nothing to lose, because of the fact that she's shamed for not having any children and her divorce with Brad Pitt. Another move the author used in the opening paragraph is Explaining Quotation(pg.685), by providing Aniston's questions. During Aniston's op-ed to Huffington Post she's basically saying “Why are we only looking at women through this particular lens of picking us apart?” Possibly Alyssa thought this move would be helpful so the readers can have an idea of exactly what Aniston is thinking and feeling.The last move that Alyssa uses is Introducing Quotations (bottom of pg 684). When Alyssa used this move it quotes one of Aniston’s statements such as - “I have worked too hard in this life and this career to be whittled down to a sad, childless human." This move provides Aniston's thought which is essential for an article about Jennifer Aniston.

Alyssa’s first move (Capturing Authorial Action) is quite effective. The author suggest that Aniston has nothing to lose possibly due to the fact that Aniston had a tough divorce because her husband cheated on her, the fact that she's constantly shamed for her body and the fact that she chooses not to have any children. The second move Alyssa used (Explaining Quotation) is an important part of this article quoting Aniston's question. Aniston basically asks why is the main focus excessively criticizing women? Aniston is the key focus of this article since it's based on her, so her questions  are important. With that being said Alyssa's third move introduces another of Aniston's quotes. This introduces Aniston's thoughts about her life and they way she's living it. Once again, Aniston's thoughts are very important in an article about her.

After reading this short article i came up with a few moves myself. The first move I've noticed is what i would like to call “Captivating Title”. The title quotes Jennifer testifying. “ I'VE WORKED TOO HARD TO BE WHITTLED DOWN TO A SAD, CHILDLESS HUMAN”. The reason i picked this article is because I know Aniston is known as an actress, i had no idea of her being childless so i was interested in what this article would be about. The second move that i found is “Team Vs Team Saga”. Literally everybody knows that Brad Pitt left Jennifer for Angelina Joile so i thought it was interesting for the author of this article to include Team Aniston Vs Team Jolie. This gives me the impression that this author did research.  And the last move i found is “Happy Again”. In the end of her interview, Aniston explains how she's happy with her new husband. Aniston declares, “All I know is that I feel completely seen, and adored, in no matter what state.”

PB2A Thblog

I have to admit, i enjoyed doing this assignment. PB2A was actually fun in my opinion. In a writing class it's hard to enjoy yourself when you are so busy trying to understand concepts or the meaning of conventions and genres. The coolest part of this course are finding “moves”. Why did the author write the way he or she did, what style was used. The reading “They Say, I Say” showed us how that specific author named and explain moves, it's much better to do it yourself. Finding your own “moves” in an article is like going on a textual scavenger hunt, it's really fun! I think it's even better when you get to name the moves that you found yourself.

I think it's important that we pick “moves” that stick out to us. If we found something interest and we can identify why, then it's safe to call it move. The author using a certain font is a move, why did that catch your eye and what would you name this “move”. I personally think this is very easy to comprehend, with that being said i am not implying that my PB2A is perfect but i am implying that this assignment is easy to understand.

WP1 thblog

This thblog is going to be about WP1. My thoughts on this paper. It seemed easy, yet so confusing. How we had to pick a topic such as “sports” but we didn't have to necessarily write about sports. I do sorta get the concept of conventions, but I thought this paper was about our topic’s conventions, not about the author who wrote an article relating to that said topic. I am not speaking on behalf of all my classmates, but I'm pretty sure I am not the only one who had difficulty on this assignment. I tried to include the information according to the domestic violence cases and then what conventions the author used when describing the care or what tone the offender is using.

I am aware that my organization was hella wacky. One paragraph speaking about one topic and then the next paragraph is completely different. I definitely had problems with my organization I need to sort out my information into the right paragraphs.

I did use the vocabulary that we learned throughout the course but it was brought to my attention that maybe I should of defined them a bit better. If some people didn't cite the course readings maybe they didn't know exactly the right place that the “quotes” would fit into. I know I tried to find the right quotes to use.

One thing for certain is that the comments submitted on my WP1 are extremely helpful. These comments are helping to guide my paper in the right direction for when I need to revise my paper for the portfolio. The questions that I was asked are making me questions how I can change my paper, how I can make my structure stronger.  With that being said, these helpful comments helped to minimize my confusion. But of course these are my thoughts.

PB1B

Today I will be comparing the literary genres and conventions of three make-up companies. I will also be looking for their rhetorical messages. Rhetorical images help to persuade us to purchase a certain item, it's also “essential to help us to become informed consumers” (Carroll 46). The media is very familiar with different makeup companies and their certain products. We see ads on Facebook asking us to try “L'Oreal Lipstick: Discover Sensual Color And Long Lasting Radiance
Because You're Worth It” or that commercial with Katy Perry promoting her “Katy Kat” Matte Lipstick collection from Covergirl.

Kyle’s Cosmetics, Revlon, and Covergirl are all pretty successful cosmetic companies that sells Matte Lipstick. I've chosen these companies so that I can review their Matte Lipstick makeup lines. The Matte color may be similar but maybe the textures are different, maybe one brand of lipstick makes your lips chap while the other leaves them smooth.  Each company's product will have enough conventions to determine which one is the best.

First I searched Kylie's Cosmetics. Kylie's website seems plain and simple till I noticed that she has an app for her make up plus an Instagram, Facebook and Twitter page. I scrolled through some more and saw that she has lip kits, kits that come with the lipstick and lipliners. As I inspected the website more I notice that Kylie's Lipsticks are liquid and does not contain any normal name for the lipstick color. For example her lipstick that appears to be red is titled “Mary Jo K”.  I looked into the rest of the colors and nothing stands out but the dripping looking design on her lipstick tubes, all of them have the same description “The Liquid Matte Lipstick has high intensity pigment for an instant bold matte lip. The extremely long wearing lipstick contains moisturizing ingredients for a comfortable, emollient and silky feel that does not dry your lips”.

Next I will examine Revlon’s lipstick line. Revlon's website started up with its black faded background and eye catching bold red lettering. The dark background really makes the colorful words and make up stand out. Their website also has a motto“Love Is On”.  Similar to Kylie's Cosmetics, Revlon also promote their products on social media, but they also have a YouTube channel. Revlon too sells liquid lipstick, much smaller than Kylie's. The name of their lipstick line is “Revlon Ultra HD Matte Lip Color”. Once again there is no direct color for the name of any of their lipsticks but, their description is very vivid. The description is “Lightweight, high definition velvety matte color. Moisturizing, velvety feel. 100% wax-free, gel formula. Available in 16 high definition shades.” If you investigate further you can read the features of this product which states that each lipstick has a “creamy mango and whipped vanilla fragrance” and how “velvety” the lipstick applicator will feel on your lips.

Lastly, there's Covergirl. Covergirl's homepage is pretty plain, black and white, white and black background displaying their current new and old products. Covergirl also promotes their products on social media as well. A fascinating thing I noticed on their website seems to be some sort of seal reading “Accredited Business”. The only Matte lipstick that seems to be sold by Covergirl is Katy Perry's collection, Katy Katt. This is solid lipstick unlike the first two that I have reviewed. The name of the lipsticks have ridiculous cat puns such as “Crimson Cat” or “Cosmo Kitty”. The lipstick description has a little warm welcoming to the new lipstick collection as well as a little details of the looks and feels of the lipstick “ Calling all Katy Kats! Our new Katy Kat Demi-Matte Lipstick is a purr-fect collection of velvety soft and luscious-feeling lipsticks with a demi-matte finish created by the one-and-only Katy Perry. With 11 shades in all, discover a new matte lip look you’ll love that’s not flat or dry.”

After looking at features of these literary pieces, it's obvious to say that even if the websites looked different, even if the lipsticks are liquid or solid, big or small, these all belong to the genre of Matte Lipsticks (and cosmetic websites). Their rhetoric features that they share are audience and purpose. These catchy mottos, descriptions, or wacky lipstick names appeal to the audience. Maybe the name of a certain lipstick will cause someone to feel more sexy and confident. These three companies also have similar conventions such as selling cosmetics, and in particular Matte Lipstick. Even if the prices and names are different the color of this makeup is still matte. These are the similarities, what are their differences?

Kylie's cosmetics had a boring website with no color. The website displayed the lip kits along with their names and prices. Kylie's lipstick was the most expensive costing $17 per quantity. Each and every lipstick color had the same dull description, not describing the smell or the quality of its applicator. This tube of lipstick is the only one out of the other two that has some sort of design. Next is Revlon. This website had it's black background with colorful makeup and words on display such as their motto “Love Is On”. The name of their matte makeup line is “Ultra HD Matte Lip Color”. When I think of HD Lipstick color I think of bold vibrant color. Revlon also gave us an idea of how good their lipstick smells (like mangos and vanilla). These cost $9 per quantity.  And lastly Covergirl with its boring website displaying their other products. Covergirl actually didn't have a matte lipstick collection until Katy Perry partnered up with them. Since the collection is called Katy Katt, the lipstick and description was filled with cat puns.These cost $8 per quantity. All these companies are indeed selling makeup but each company has their own way of attracting customers. Whether it's a celebrity starting up their own makeup collection, using catchy words like “Ultra” or even partnering up with a someone to sponsor their own little make up line.

Being in the spotlight often Kylie could have promoted her makeup line and company better. Katy Perry's makeup collection was downright cute but is the quality description enough? I like how Revlon described the color of the lipstick along with the smell and applicator.

• Kylie's Cosmetics
• Revlon
• Covergirl

Shelly's Quick Guides (reading Thblog #2)

There is this other article “Shelley’s Quick Guide” is more hefty than the first one. This article is more about strategies, but that's MY opinion. Some of these strategies were downright obvious others I never even thought of.

As I looked through this packet I noticed some techniques I'm familiar with and others, not so much.  I am familiar with the KWL chart.  The KWL chart is one of the easiest strategies possible. Freewrite seems like such an obvious technique to use but I never thought of it. It's about writing your ideas out, what you think the passage you're reading might be about. I am also familiar with the Two-column log. One side of the log with your thoughts of the story and the other side is what the story is actually about.

The Opinionaire  strategies was truly clever. No I never heard of it, Yes I would definitely use it. It's basically a pre-reading technique. Before reading you write questions you would want to know, read and find the answers and then put if you agree or disagree with that answer. QAR seems to be another obvious strategies I never thought of. QAR is a reading and post-reading technique, write questions then the answers once you found them, Think and search (“how is this possible?”). Definitely very helpful. Write your own discussion questions! When you are reading something new ask, what's the purpose?- why is this important?- how can I change this?

Anyway these are just how I am registering these concepts/strategies in my brain, these are my thoughts.

How to do a close reading (reading Thblog #1)

I was given a article to read called “How to do a close reading”. I actually found this article to be very interesting and helpful. I absolutely love how this article is organized, how every step is numbered. Each step is numbered with the captions underlined.

This article gives us helpful steps on how we can read closely, how we can really pull apart a piece of reading and understand it better. For example number 3, “Sound and Rhythm” how do these paragraphs sound, what literary devices are being used? Is this author using: personification, alliteration,onomatopoeia? What about Imagery? Most of the stories I've read in high school didn't have photos, the setting was painted by words. I had to Imagine with the description I was given, how the place smelt, how it looked, what the weather was like.

How about Syntax? I had no idea what that means so I had to google it. Syntax-the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language. Once I got the meaning I realized that Syntax is something simple that most people ignore. Most people don't see how simple and complex a sentence is. I for example would judge a sentence by how boring it is. I never took the time to analyze sentence structure which is one of my writing flaws.

Also, when I scanned through the captions I noticed number 11. Gender?? “My article is a male or female?” I thought to myself. Then I read the questions, “Does this article represent a certain gender’s issue”. As I said earlier this article is extremely helpful. Take the time to actually read these words and try to comprehend it certainly will help.

Halestorm PB1

 

 The genre I choose to dissect is music, the topic is one of my favorite bands- "Halestorm".

 Halestorm is a hard rock/heavy metal band.

Their album "Strange case of..." has a unique style to it. Mixing up racy edgy songs with more softer emotion felt songs. According to Ms. Lzzy Hale herself, she explained how her band's edgy technique helped break down this amazing musical barrier " We were on ‘ten,’ and we blew through the songs in a safe way – or as safe as something that goes, ‘I get off on you getting off on me’ can be. This new record demonstrates more depth and heart. It’s a lot more expressive and really lets down the barriers.” Lzzy also declared that she was going to scream her heart out, she included engineer Bay Seven’s opinion too with her statement “At that time, I decided, ‘I’m going to scream my head off and make really gritty songs, “When we finished ‘Love Bites,’ the engineer at Howard’s studio, Bay Seven, said, ‘I’m pretty sure that’s the fastest song we’ve ever done here.’”

Their album “Strange Case of” consist of two tones, whether it be “Love bites, so do I”  or “ I hate it when you see me cry”.  I'm going to compare and analyze some lyrics from both these songs.

“Love bites” is basically, in my opinion about a man who apparently deserves better in a relationship because his girlfriend is saying he's not a good enough boyfriend based off of magazine articles or dating tips. The lyrics I'm about to show you implies that Lzzy wants this guy to feel a somewhat comforting feeling

“Don’t listen what your girlfriend says
She reads those magazines
That say you failed the test
You don’t have what she needs
I slither like a viper
And get you by the neck
I know a thousand ways to help you forget about her”

“I hate it when you see me cry”  shows more of the fragile part of Lzzy being self conscious in a relationship.
“I hate that I need you now
To hold my hair, to hear me out
If I wake up on the bathroom floor
Will you still want me in the morning?
Oh babe, I need you now!”

The purpose of this album is to relate to those who; Have been in failed relationships, Love Rock and Roll and Sex. The audience for this specific album is more teen/adult bases I think. According to Alex Newton this was a highly successful album for Halestorm stating “With a feature on Glee (yes, that's a good thing) and a Grammy Awards nomination now in their pocket, the sky's the limit for Halestorm as they continue to show that mainstream hard rock has some life left after all.”

Allmusic.com gave this album the rating of 3 stars out of 5. Gregory Heaney posted his review of this album claiming that “Hale helps to give every song that special something”. Allmusic apparently posted some possible themes of this album referring to it as, aggressive, angst-ridden, nocturnal, sexy, and much more.

The best review I think the two best reviews would have to be the review from Lzzy herself and from Alex Newton. I think that Lzzy’s review was extra special because this was Halestorm’s first album, and her opinion on her first album is highly important. Most artist criticize their work, looks for new ways to make it unique. I also thought Alex's review was good because, he described how the album style was he also informed me that Halestorm was nominated for a Grammy.

1. Lzzy/Halestorm
2. Alex Newton's Review
3. Allmusic/Gregory

First Try

Just trying this blog thing out even tho I am probably doing this wrong. But, um hey it's me Amanda! I graduated from W.B Saul High School, surprising enough my major was animal science. I wanted to take pre-vet classes but I was placed in a different class. I spent half  of my senior year with Sheep and Cattle and the other half with horses. I had to look after the craziest horse named Windy, once Windy had her foal (pepper) I had to look after her too. The sad part was, once pepper was born the school year was about to be over,  we created a bond right before I had to leave. Anyway besides the fact that taking care of animals anyway possible is my passion, I have other interests too. For example, I love writing poems mainly expressing my feelings or current situations, I mainly use writing as a way to express myself. My favorite genre of music happens to be, Rock, heavy metal, A bit screamo, Hard Rock, a little bit of EDM. I won't tell you my favourite bands because we will be here all day. My favorite move is Frozen (don't judge) I relate to Elsa in certain ways. Anyway that's a little about me.