Causal Rewrite – gooferious

Posted on November 30, 2020 by gooferious

The Journey of Trauma

Trauma effects everyone differently. Some acknowledge it happened and move on while others are stuck with the constant hurt and pain that was inflicted. Mental illness is completely normal after experiencing trauma; if left untreated though it can lead to worsening patterns of behavior. One way of life that could result in developing a mental illness comes from childhood trauma which leads to rebellion during the teen years which leads to substance abuse which then leads to substance dependency. Forcing young adults into therapy rather than the voluntary choice will increase the likelihood of them becoming outstanding members of society.

Trauma comes in many shapes and sizes. Trauma can lead to self-destructive decisions or one-sided friendships. What occurs to us when we are children or as we are transitioning into the real adult world, that hurt and pain follows us and sometimes never dissipate. What exactly leads a person to go to therapy though could be one of many things: either a traumatic abusive childhood, a vehicle accident that permanently scarred someone, overwhelming long periods of stress and the list goes on. Take for example, the child who witnessed their father aggressively beating their mother everyday for as long as they can remember. Every hit, smack and grunt is permanently stuck in that child’s brain and without proper help from professionals this trauma can the reason why this child either never trusts anyone or worse inflicts the same pain to their family in the future. In the ADAA’s article titled: Facts & Statistics, one of the leading causes of anxiety disorders arise from life events to be specific, traumatic life events.

As those who experienced trauma at a young age grow older, violence seems to be the answer to everything. That kid who took your toy train while you were in the bathroom, simply hit them when the teachers not looking because that’s what they were taught. Taught to be silent when it came to abuse. The child believes it to be okay, almost normal. How this trauma would effect the child later in life cannot be described. So many different possibilities that could come out from this abusive childhood experience: many horrible, few pleasant. The result of trauma is most of the time but not always, anxiety and depression. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA), anxiety disorders are the most common mental health illness in the United States effecting an estimated 40 million adults aged 18+.

Society has a way of making those with mental illnesses appear to be bad, some would even go as far as to say dangerous. Going based off the ADAA’s statistics and research, anxiety disorders can be very well treated yet only 37% of those effected receive treatment. While some factors include: not having a therapy center nearby or cost of treatment; most of the time those effected don’t attend because of the stigma and shame they believe comes with having a mental health illness. There is of course nothing to be ashamed of when it comes to having a mental health issue but knowing that there are options out there for treatment and refusing those options simply because one is afraid of what society will think of them should be deemed idiotic.

Untreated anxiety and depression can lead to a life filled with pain, suffering and misery. Imagine hating what you have become from the result of what has happened to you earlier in life. One could place the blame on the perpetrators that caused such ill natured experiences but after a certain age, it becomes the responsibility of those effected to seek out professional help.

In an article written by I.M.J van Beljouw and P.F.M Verhaak, they used information from a study conducted by the Netherlands Study of Anxiety and Depression (NESDA) regarding untreated anxiety disorders among patients. Of those untreated patients: 1/4 of them did not perceive themselves as having a mental problem, another 26% stated no need for care and the remaining 49% expressed a need for care which was not met. These are people who were told they needed professional help and either willingly decided to ignore the diagnoses or simply could not obtain the professional help provided due to factors such as cost and no nearby therapy groups/centers. The study also concluded that the untreated patients with a perceived treatment need expressed higher levels of loneliness and suffered from severe symptoms than the other two control groups which were the treated patients and the untreated patients who did not want therapy.

Various authors came together to write the article titled: Delivering Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Young Adults With Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety Using a Fully Automated Conversational Agent (Woebot): A Randomized Controlled Trial. In said article, it is stated that up to 74% of mental health diagnoses have their first onset before the age of 24. The human brain doesn’t even finish developing until the age of 25 and already almost 3/4 of those who have mental health disorders are experiencing emotions which lead to disastrous decisions which in turn cause the not finished developing brain to damage or stunt growth in development.

Among the young adults who are in college, almost half have said that they have experienced anxiety and depression symptoms so severe that they had difficulty functioning. Imagine being along at college and not being able to do basic necessities for yourself such as cooking, bathing or even getting a good night’s rest. The article, Characteristics and one-year outcome of untreated anxiety and depression written by I.M.J van Beljouw and P.F.M Verhaak utilized information from a study conducted by the Netherlands Study of Anxiety and Depression (NESDA) regarding untreated anxiety disorders among patients. From the study which had a huge patient experimental number of 743 patients, drew the conclusion that 43% of those diagnosed received no form of treatment.

One way to save this traumatized child from a life filled with rage and anger is to be sent to therapy. Not many agree with therapy but it may be the only solution to the problem. Of course, as the children age they will believe nothing is wrong with them but that’s up to the therapist to decide as they are professionally trained in this field of work. Forcing young adults into therapy is the solution to ensure that they are molded into outstanding members of society. It’s been proven that those who go to therapy come out with a better sense of self. Young adults who go into therapy come out rehabilitated and are ready to explore their new found ideologies.

Therapy while not everyone’s first choice has for the most part been successful in rehabilitating those who have experienced upsetting life events. Even if one believes therapy is not the option for them, research shows that for the most part it very well likely could be the answer that they are letting fly over their heads.

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Definition Rewrite- cardinal

Posted on November 30, 2020 by cardinal7218

“Good” Representation: The Difference Between Hollywood and Streaming

John Boyega, a 28-year-old Black actor, likely didn’t intend to capitalize on his success through Netflix when he began his career nearly 10 years ago. Disillusionment, though, can be a powerful guiding force. After launching into stardom with a lead role in Disney’s 2015 blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Boyega felt as though racism was a defining factor in his experience from fans and the studio alike for the four years he spent in a galaxy far, far away. He described his experience as breaking through into “an industry that wasn’t even ready for [him]” in a 2020 interview for British GQ. Frustrated by the Hollywood machine, Boyega turned his talents elsewhere, signing a deal with Netflix to produce non-English, African films that he likely couldn’t have done otherwise.

Hollywood has historically lacked support and representation for creatives of color. There has been outcry against it for years, with actors, writers, and consumers alike clamoring for more diversity and representation on movie and tv screens. However, little seems to change in any meaningful way when it comes to conventional Hollywood. Maybe, then, a newer, less conventional branch of entertainment is where quality representation must be established. Enter streaming services.

Streaming services, such as Netflix and Hulu, are spearheading the campaign for good representation in film and TV since Hollywood won’t. To evaluate the successes and failures of streaming and Hollywood, though, “good representation” must be understood. Good representation is more than just including non-white characters. The existence of a non-white character does only so much good if that character is “stereotypical” and “one-dimensional” rather than “multi-dimensional” and “multi-faceted,” according to Maryann Erigha’s article “Race, Gender, Hollywood: Representation in Cultural Production and Digital Media’s Potential for Change.” Characters of color need to exist outside of a white lens. They need to hold their own narrative significance. They need to be main characters. As Rashad Robinson, executive director of racial representation organization Color of Change, stated in a Vox interview, the writing for non-white characters has to be “authentic, fair, and have humanity” for it to be good representation. Non-white characters are often written as comic relief or support for a more important white character, pushed to the sidelines without depth of their own. These common practices perpetuate harmful stereotypes and enforce the idea that people of color are less important than white people.

Another aspect of good diversity is what Maryann Erigha refers to as “centrality.” People of color should be “located in institutions that are in the core…of cultural production” in order for the industry to be truly diverse. If people of color don’t have access to core talent agencies or the inner circle of production companies, their stories remain on the periphery. When there isn’t diversity at the center of the industry and white actors and creators are given a disproportionate amount of opportunity, diversity doesn’t reach a general audience.

These factors that work against meaningful diversity are all too prevalent in Hollywood. Ashley Nicole Black, a writer for “A Black Lady Sketch Show,” put it succinctly when telling Variety that “the system is racist.” Hollywood was built on white supremacy. White men controlled the business at its inception. White men dictated the structures and the unwritten rules within the business. White men did it all in such a way that allowed themselves to remain in power. The concept of centrality is key to true diversity. Agencies don’t adequately support people of color, which essentially locks them out of the business. Entertainment giants continue to have the majority of their highest executive levels occupied by white people. 

Attempts at giving centrality to creatives of color often contribute to mere tokenism. A television show will hire one writer of color and one director of color and think that’s good enough. When creators of color do get hired, companies often don’t care “how quickly they’re promoted and elevated,” according to Black, which leaves them struggling to rise past low-level positions. Hollywood checks boxes for doing the bare minimum and pretends tokenism is sufficient diversity without making any real change. It’s a struggle for people of color to even tell their own stories, as director Matthew Cherry explained to Variety. It’s common that a story centering on characters of color will be told by a white director or writer because companies want a recognizable name or impressive resumé behind the camera. The problem with that is “you can’t get credits if you don’t get opportunities,” and white people have historically been the ones getting opportunities, says Cherry. Since the current status quo benefits the white Hollywood executives in power, they won’t try to change the system in meaningful ways. It might not be worth hoping for. A structure with rot running that deep cannot be salvaged. A new structure, though, could be the solution.

Netflix changed the entertainment game when it launched a video streaming function in 2007. Streaming evolved from being merely a convenient way to access pre-existing content to being on the cutting edge of original content. Streaming has changed the face of the entertainment industry with services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ offering scores of original TV shows and movies that garner audience and critical approval alike. Streaming is an entirely new branch of the entertainment industry, which means its structure is more malleable as far as diversity and inclusion. The system isn’t mired in a century of white supremacy.

Already, the difference between streaming and the more conventional side of Hollywood is clear. Streaming services have more characters of color in their shows, largely in part because it’s easier for creators of color to tell their stories. The people behind streaming platforms seem to better understand that diversity isn’t just about quantity, but quality as well. Their effort is reflected in audience responses, where as much as 65% of consumers of color feel that streaming shows are “more reflective of America’s diversity” than their network cable counterparts according to a recent Horowitz Research survey quoted by Multichannel News. Streaming services can deliver the diversity that Hollywood is too far gone to incorporate.

References

Erigha, M. (2015). Race, Gender, Hollywood: Representation in Cultural Production and Digital Media’s Potential for Change. Sociology Compass, 9(1), 78–89. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12237

Famurewa, J., Maoui, Z., & Johnston, K. (2020, September 02). John Boyega: ‘I’m the only cast member whose experience of Star Wars was based on their race’. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/john-boyega-interview-2020

Low, E. (2020, June 30). The Reckoning Over Representation: Black Hollywood Speaks Out, But Is the Industry Listening? Retrieved October 12, 2020, from https://variety.com/2020/biz/features/black-representation-hollywood-inclusion-diversity-entertainment-1234693219/

Umstead, R. (2019, December 07). Diverse Characters Increasing On-Screen, but Viewers Want Better Portrayals. Retrieved October 15, 2020, from https://www.nexttv.com/blog/diverse-images-increasing-screen-viewers-want-more

White, A. (2017, August 28). How can TV and movies get representation right? We asked 6 Hollywood diversity consultants. Retrieved October 09, 2020, from https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/8/28/16181026/hollywood-representation-diversity-tv-movies

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Reflective – gooferious

Posted on November 30, 2020 by gooferious

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I was able to meet Core Value 1 in my assignment about Safer Saws. In that assignment, I was to take information from various websites and sources to compile a eight responses from eight different perspective regarding the creator of the table saw which stopped when in contact with human flesh. After looking through multiple sources, I took key points from the eight perspectives I saw best fit. I used their work to shape a new creation of work. The development of my assignment took time and was not easy.

Safer Saws – gooferious | Counterintuitivity (rucomp2.com)

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Core Value 2 was completed in my assignment Stone Money. In that assignment, I had to read and listen to the podcast about the island of Yap. On the island, money was obsolete and giant stones were used as form of payment. I also read on the dangers of e-currency. Bitcoin can be used in nefarious ways and this can be kept anonymous. Taking those two sources, I was able to formulate an essay that synthesized the main ideas from both articles.

Stone Money – gooferious | Counterintuitivity (rucomp2.com)

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

My work that was able to abide by Core Value 3 would have to be Visual Rhetoric/ Visual Rewrite. In this assignment, I was to watch a 30-second video about a topic and dissect what I inferenced from each image frame by frame. After constant re-watching of each clip and looking at the facial expressions of each individual in the video, I felt comfortable enough to take what I believe was important and placed it into a document that had paragraphs of each frame with the time that corresponded with the time in the video.

Visual Rewrite – gooferious | Counterintuitivity (rucomp2.com)

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

The Research Paper assignment is where I was able to complete the steps for Core Value 4. After reading and analyzing multiple sources about my topic I was able to use useful information from each to help present, explain and expand on the topic I chose. I came up with my own thesis and ideas and used the sources to help further with the process of writing my essay. After taking what I deemed important out of the articles, I used that information and re-worded or paraphrased them to give an interpretation of how I believe it helps with the conversation about my topic.

Research – Gooferious | Counterintuitivity (rucomp2.com)

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

In my assignment White Paper, I met the requirements for Core Value 5. For this assignment I had to write up five purposeful summaries for the first five articles that would eventually go into my final assignment which is the research paper. To begin, I read all the articles and took valuable information and data to write up summaries for each article. These ideas that I used to write up my summaries were properly cited and given credit to each original author. As writers it is our responsibility to ensure we credit those who have done the original work.

White Paper – gooferious | Counterintuitivity (rucomp2.com)

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Causal Rewrite- runnerd4

Posted on November 30, 2020 by runnerd4

Is it All About the Speed?

The popular belief is that speeding causes accidents, and while on the surface that statement may be true, it is not the full truth. There are many other key factors in the causation of accidents that include accident-prone interactions, distractions, and critical driving decisions. 

One main circumstance in the risk of causation of accidents is the amount of time that two cars spend next to each other. In a 2002 study conducted by David Nanon, he called these “accident-prone interactions” (API), which previously described are simply situations where two cars come near to each other. The concept is very simple, a reduction in the time two cars spend near each other leads to a reduction in accident rates. The study showed that while APIs have a direct relationship with the number of accidents, speed has an inverse relationship with the number of APIs.

In his study, he found that each type of API was either unaffected or reduced by greater speeds. For type-A APIs, involving two cars arriving at an intersection at the same time, the number of encounters was unaffected by greater speeds, but in the write up for the study, Nanon explained that this type of situation was more or less irrelevant to highway driving because it was considering interactions at intersections. A higher frequency of type-A APIs would increase the rate of accidents substantially due to the critical driving decisions made at an intersection. 

The frequency of type-B APIs, involving cars moving past each other travelling in opposite directions, was reduced at greater speeds. Nanon explained that driving at higher speeds decreases the time that drivers spend on the road and decrease the number of cars that they come in contact with. Decreasing the number of cars that they come in contact with traveling in the opposite direction definitely would help decrease the rates of accidents on highways. On the other hand, an increase in the number of cars traveling in the opposite direction going past each other would cause an increase in the rate of accidents on a road. 

Next, the frequency of type-C APIs, involving two cars passing each other travelling in the same direction, was also greatly reduced at higher driving speeds. Nanon explained that the main reason for this is because the two cars would be traveling past each other in the same direction at such a fast rate, the amount of time they spend next to each other would be minimal. The less time two cars spend next to each other, the lower risk of accidents. 

Finally, the number of type-D APIs, involving lane merging, would also be decreased when traveling at a higher rate of speed. Like all of the other situations, the less time two cars spend next to each other, the lower the chance of an accident. Each type of API has a great risk of accident occurence, so decreasing the API rates would lead to a decrease in accident rates.

Next, another key factor in the causation of accidents is distractions. According to a study conducted by the National Highway Safety Administration and Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, “Nearly 80 percent of crashes and 65 percent of near-crashes involved some form of driver inattention within three seconds before the event.” This evidence shows that distractions play a huge role in the causation of accidents. Whendrivers become distracted , they usually take their eyes off of the road, which leads them to not be able to see any cars or pedestrians in front of them. Distractions put the driver and other drivers at risk. 

The main form of distraction seen all over today is texting and driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “ Sending or reading a text takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds. At 55 mph, that’s like driving the length of an entire football field with your eyes closed.” This is a serious issue, especially at high speeds. If a driver travels the distance of a football field without paying attention to the road, that would greatly increase the risk of an accident, just like any other form of distraction.

Another common form of distraction while driving is checking the speedometer. Most drivers check the speedometer constantly to ensure that they are not going above the speed limit. In a study conducted by Safe Speed, it was found that it takes the human eyes 0.91 seconds on average to check the speedometer and refocus on the road. That fact is concerning considering that an accident can occur just in a split second. 

Next, another key factor in the causation of accidents is the critical driving decisions most commonly made at intersections. When the driver makes the wrong decision, there is a much higher risk of an accident occurring than if the driver made the correct decision. For example, if a driver timed a left turn at an intersection with oncoming traffic incorrectly, it could very well likely lead to an accident. According to Choi from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, “In the case of 22.2 percent of crashes, the critical event was turning left….” Making the wrong decision leads to an accident occurring. Although making these decisions at a higher speed could be more difficult, most of these decisions are not commonly made on highways because highways generally do not have intersections.

It is extremely important to understand that speed is not the only factor in accidents. Many other factors are just as important if not more important than speed, and ignoring these factors does a disservice to the understanding of the role that speed plays in accidents. The APIs are arguably the most important in the causation of accidents, and the study shows that higher speed either has no effect or reduces the frequency of APIs. A lower number of APIs would lead to a lower number of accidents. Next, distractions are a huge factor in the causation of accidents. One of these distractions is checking the speedometer and without having to worry about speeding, that distraction could be eliminated on highways altogether. Highways are also designed to decrease the number of distractions through strategies such as cutting the number of billboards. Finally, critical driving decisions are another key factor in the causation of accidents. Making the wrong decision increases the rate of accidents. Although it is difficult to make these decisions at higher speeds, the majority of these decisions are rarely made on highways.

References

Navon, D. (2002, January 30). The paradox of driving speed: Two adverse effects on highway accident rate. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001457502000118

VTTI and NHTSA. (2006, April 21). Findings Released On Real-world Driver Behavior, Distraction, Crash Factors. Retrieved October 26, 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060420233031.htm

Currin, A. (2020, October 05). U Drive. U Text. U Pay. Retrieved October 26, 2020, from https://www.nhtsa.gov/risky-driving/distracted-driving

Temp. (2004). The Speedo. Retrieved September 25, 2020, from http://www.safespeed.org.uk/speedo.html

Choi, E. (2010, September). Crash Factors in Intersection-Related Crashes: An On-Scene Perspective. Retrieved October 26, 2020, from Crash Factors in Intersection-Related Crashes: An On-Scene Perspective

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Reflective–dayzur

Posted on November 29, 2020 by dayzur

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I believe I demonstrated core value 1 when revising my visual rhetoric assignment. This was the first thing I went through and redid after having a conversation with the professor that made me feel much less anxious about the class as a whole. The first time I went through, I only mentioned minor details and ideas presented which after looking at it now, doesn’t even scratch the surface of content to put out. Going through and actually revising the work actually seemed much more like an activity that I enjoyed doing then just a task I was given. I didn’t realize just how much I missed when I went through the assignment the first time. My short paragraphs of minor details turned into actual visual scenes in my head after taking the time to read the feedback and analyze what was wanted. Changing this made me realize how I would go about fixing my other pieces of work later in the future.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

I used this core value when writing my causal argument. I don’t feel like I fully did the best with this core value then I could have but I had faint uses throughout my essays. In my causal essay specifically, I used articles to try and shift the reader’s point of view on the schooling system to be reformed towards career based and vocational education. This was one of my better uses of the core value in my opinion but I one hundred percent could have used this much more effectively throughout any essay I have written. Looking at it now, I can truly see the effectiveness of this value and may look to revise my essays and add more points in line with this. 

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I believe I displayed this core value in my causal argument. I feel like I analyzed the audience well in this article mainly aiming it towards the older generation to start thinking about the ideas of educational reform. They may think that everything we are learning in school is fine but might not even know what is really going on and need a look into the changes that should be made. I feel as if I did well on this in other writings as well but mainly had a good grasp on it during my causal argument. I want to inform the people about what needs to be changed and hopefully get them to see that my point is correct and the benefits coming from it.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I believe I did this well in my rebuttal argument. I stuck straight to my point that I am trying to push and compare two types of learning in an effort to enhance the one method to show the readers it is better than the other. I created an image of the current schooling curriculum and way schools go about things and hopefully the reader can relate to my point and see where I am coming from. Even if they cannot relate, I believe I gave enough evidence to support my point and create illustrations for the reader. I liked how I did this the most in my rebuttal but there were similar points in the other two short arguments that could also fit this core value.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

I feel I did this well in my annotated bibliography. This seems like the most blatant answer but it is true. I was able to list out all my sources and appropriately cite them for usage in my semester long paper. I would use these sources in my paper to credit the author’s work that contributed to producing my paper and that helped me further indulge myself in my topic. I cite the author and their work even if I did not explicitly paraphrase or quote something from their works on my own for the use of anyone else who happens to be interested in the topic. Citing the author and article also shows academic integrity in which I did the research and have all the sources lined up. No work was stolen with credit and all the author’s work is highly appreciated in helping me dive deeper into my topic.

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Reflective- PardonmyFrench

Posted on November 29, 2020 by pardonmyfrench13

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I believe during the semester I displayed numerous examples of core value one through my rewrites on essays. Throughout the course I received plenty of feedback, generously enough from you, that allowed me to further develop my essays. At first the feedback section that you left was intimidating. I was nervous to read everything because it was so in depth. As the semester carried on though and as I read more feedback, I realized this is how I could best develop my ideas. I corresponded with you on the post’s which helped me get a better idea of what I needed to omit and what I needed to produce more of. The example that first comes to mind is my definition essay. A lot of new sources were given which helped me to further discover my topic and draw several more conclusions.

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities.

This core value is definitely my weakest section, but I believe I was still able to display this a few times this semester. Core value two was needed to read critically and pick out important ideas when developing my research essay in order to find the proper evidence that I needed to present to make a powerful conclusion. Though, the best example of this core value can be seen in the Stone Money assignment. This assignment brought in several outside sources that I had to read and listen to including the NPR Broadcast. Critical reading skills were necessary here to not only link together several ideas from different communities, but also to create my own argument based on these sources of evidence. Synthesizing several ideas after I evaluated each of the claims allowed me to communicate this in my own conclusion and argument.

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

Throughout this semester I displayed core value three to a high standard. The assignment I completed that specifically shows this is my visual rhetoric analysis. This assignment led me to identify argumentative and rhetorical elements and concepts in a short video advertisement and interpret that to the best of my ability. From this 30 second video I was able to figure out who the audience was, as well interpreting a frame by frame analyzation of the authors strategies to get the point across. I created a rhetorically savvy argument from the video in order to display and familiarize the audience with why each scene was produced. I also made the purpose of the visual argument easy to understand with my analysis which demonstrated that I could understand the purpose and context the video down to the second and produce it in a different way.

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I have confidence that core value four was one of the most important in my development this semester. I demonstrated that I met the expectations of this value through my rebuttal essay. During this assignment I gathered many sources of information from public bases and was able to formulate my own ideas and interpretations against them. The sources that I gathered needed to be evaluated for evidence against my hypothesis if I wanted to be able to properly incorporate them into my rebuttal essay. When locating these sources and evaluating them I had to be careful when concluding which ones were best suited for my final product. Documenting my sources correctly was also a key part of this core value which I did by including citations in my reference section of the essay.

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation.

I feel that core value five is one of the most obvious and can be best represented in my annotated bibliography assignment. In this assignment I was able to credit others for their ideas that were used to create my final research paper. I had to cite the authors in the format that was instructed for all of the sources used. When I described the sources, I made sure to describe where they were specifically used and how they helped develop my ideas. I was able to include the sources while avoiding fallacious or manipulative argumentation by prioritizing logic while picking out articles and authors. By citing the sources used in the bibliography I kept my academic integrity and created a solid voice between what were my own thoughts, and what the original ideas of the authors were.  

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Definition Rewrite-ComicDub

Posted on November 28, 2020 by comicdub

Crash Compatibility

The fatality rate of car accidents has been a topic of discussion over the last century, ever since Henry Ford made the automobile widely available in the 1920s, but there is one aspect of car accidents which doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves, and that is crash compatibility. Soon after automobiles were commonplace in America, people experienced traffic jams for the first time, as well as traffic accidents and, of course, fatalities caused by these accidents. This caused demands to make vehicle safety regulations on the state level which were met with the introduction of speed limits, traffic lights, and stop signs. For over a century now, safety regulations such as the ones listed have been some of the main focuses of keeping drivers safe and preventing fatalities on roadways. These safety regulations have worked well and are without a doubt essential but so far, none of them have really addressed this issue of crash compatibility between vehicles.

When looking into the relationship between vehicle size/weight and the fatality rate of car accidents, it is essential to understand the deeper meaning behind this phrase “crash compatibility,” not only on a scientific level but on a social level as well. A good place to start to better understand crash compatibility, is with a basic description of what it even means in the first place. According to the authors of the scientific paper titled, VEHICLE COMPATIBILITY IN CAR -TO-CAR FRONTAL OFFSET CRASH, “Vehicle [crash] compatibility is defined as the ability of a car to protect both its own occupants and partner car’s occupants.” So if two vehicles in a car-to-car crash accident have the same death ratio as well as lower numbers of fatalities, then the compatibility of these two vehicles is said to be good. And the main factor that causes vehicles to have the same death ratio is vehicle mass, or more specifically, vehicle size and weight. Data collected from FARS, Fatality Analysis Reporting System, shows the ratio of fatalities to different sizes of vehicles in car-to-car collisions. When in an accident between regular cars and trucks, minivans, SUVs, and full-sized vans, cars have always at least double the deaths up to even a 6 to 1 ratio when in collisions with full-sized vans. These deaths are easily preventable if more attention was brought to the crash incompatibilities between current vehicles on the road.

In the article titled, “Crash compatibility between cars and light trucks: Benefits of lowering front-end energy-absorbing structure in SUVs and pickups,” the author Bryan Baker claims, “In response to growing concerns about incompatibilities in collisions between cars and light trucks (i.e., pickups and SUVs), representatives from automobile manufacturers, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), and other international vehicle safety organizations agreed in 2003 to develop collaborative recommendations to improve vehicle crash compatibility.” This sounds like it’s a step in the right direction, like it’s some progress towards addressing the issue of crash compatibility, but it is in fact not. The collaboration of vehicle specialists attempted to address the issue by forming separate groups to identify the vehicle design features that cause the crash incompatibilities between small and large vehicles. One of the tests conducted by IIHS, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Transport Research Laboratory in the United Kingdom, demonstrated that the energy absorbing structures of vehicles seemed to be the leading design feature that needed changing to make cars more crash compatible. The part of these energy absorbing structures that needed changing was their placement in certain vehicles. Bigger vehicles tended to be higher off the ground than smaller ones, leading to a mismatch in structures. Through tests of head-on collisions between vehicles with mismatched energy-absorbing structures it was shown that this resulted in more override and underride. This means that the larger vehicle with a higher energy-absorbing structure would go right over the structure of a smaller car causing the passenger compartment to be crushed, resulting in fatalities. This is where I believe they went wrong. It was pretty much unanimously decided that the only issue with crash compatibility was the mismatch between energy-absorbing structures. This assumption was made after only testing frontal collisions between small and large vehicles meaning accidents from the side of the vehicle are still just as deadly even after structure changes. This is once again due to simply the difference in size and weight of different types of vehicles.

With all that said, true full crash compatibility on roadways can never be achieved unless dedicated roadways are constructed for different sizes of vehicles. And this shouldn’t be a back-burner task either, this is something that needs attention brought to it as soon as possible. Big cars are starting to become the new big thing with more people buying and owning SUVs/trucks than ever before. According to Steven Overly at the Washington Post, in his article about the recent rise in popularity of SUVs in the US, titled “Americans have fallen in love with little big cars,” “…sales of crossovers and SUVs took off at a quicker pace than for cars. Then in the last two years, Americans continued to buy more of every category of light trucks while car purchases declined.” This undeniable growth in the popularity of bigger cars puts drivers of small cars in danger by creating a greater chance of getting in an accident with a vehicle larger than their own, which as I have explained before, leads to more fatalities. And that isn’t all, to add to the urgency of the situation, larger vehicles tend to carry a heftier price than others which means more money for automakers which in turn makes them the new big focus of most car brands. In the same article from The Washington Post, Overly explains how big automobile companies such as Ford and GM are starting to even go as far as planning to shift their car production abroad to focus more on their line of SUVs and trucks here in the US.

References

Baker, B., Nolan, J., O’Neill, B., & Genetos, A. (2007, May 22). Crash compatibility between cars and light trucks: Benefits of lowering front-end energy-absorbing structure in SUVs and pickups. Retrieved September 28, 2020.

The Age of the Automobile. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2020.

Bae, H., Lim, J., & Park, K. (n.d.). VEHICLE COMPATIBILITY IN CAR -TO-CAR FRONTAL OFFSET CRASH [PDF]. Korea: Hyundai Motor Company.

Overly, S. (2019, April 17). Americans have fallen in love with little big cars. Retrieved October 12, 2020.

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Reflective-ComicDub

Posted on November 27, 2020 by comicdub

Core Value 1. My work demonstrates that I used a variety of social and interactive practices that involve recursive stages of exploration, discovery, conceptualization, and development.

I believe that I have definitely met the expectations for this core value. Throughout the semester I received tons of meaningful feedback that I believe I used to the fullest to help develop my research paper as well as other assignments. At first, I was reluctant to fully read all the feedback because I was afraid of it being something along the lines of my hypothesis being bad and having to start over on something completely new, but this was definitely not the case. The feedback I received was harsh at times but it was very useful feedback that I used to make my writing much better. The best example of making good use of feedback would have to be my causal rewrite. The feedback left on my original causal essay helped me realize that there are parts of my writing that can be condensed down from a whole paragraph to just 2 sentences, allowing me to fit more meaningful information into my writing.

Causal First Draft – Causal Rewrite

Core Value 2. My work demonstrates that I read critically, and that I placed texts into conversation with one another to create meaning by synthesizing ideas from various discourse communities. 

Although I may not have been the strongest with this core value, I feel as though I have met the expectations of it. The assignment that I believe best showed this was the Stone Money assignment. For this assignment, I read through multiple texts along with listening to the NPR broadcast and that’s where the critical reading skill was necessary. I then demonstrated the critical reading skill in my writing of the essay itself by connecting different bits of information from different sources to make strong and relevant arguments about money. Not only was I able to link ideas together from multiple different sources, I demonstrated that I was able to take all that information and make my own meaningful arguments and conclusions based on those ideas.

Stone Money Assignment

Core Value 3. My work demonstrates that I rhetorically analyzed the purpose, audience, and contexts of my own writing and other texts and visual arguments.

I feel as though I have met the requirements for core value 3 and to a high degree at that. The assignment in particular that I believe demonstrates core value 3 the best is my Visual Rhetoric assignment. Throughout the entire assignment I made interpretations, to the best of my ability, of every frame of the 30 second long advertisement. I was able to narrow down who the audience of the advertisement might be as well as the purpose of the ad by completely analyzing every scene. For example, within I was able to conclude that the advertisement was not for any specific item as all branding was removed. With the Visual Rhetoric assignment, I also demonstrated my ability to analyze the rhetoric presented in the ad such as being set in an average suburban house to make the viewers feel a sense of familiarity.

Visual Rhetoric Final Draft

Core Value 4: My work demonstrates that I have met the expectations of academic writing by locating, evaluating, and incorporating illustrations and evidence to support my own ideas and interpretations.

I believe the assignment that best demonstrates my meeting of the requirements presented in core value 4 would be my Rebuttal Essay. For this assignment I was able to base my whole rebuttal off of one source which pretty much says my hypothesis would not work because it would be too expensive to construct the roadways described in my hypothesis. I was then able to take information from other sources to construct a counter to the rebuttal. In particular, I was able to make good use of statistics presented by the IIHS as well as the CDC to help make my writing even more persuasive. In the end, incorporating the facts and statistics from these credible sources are really what made my rebuttal essay complete.

Rebuttal Assignment

Core Value 5. My work demonstrates that I respect my ethical responsibility to represent complex ideas fairly and to the sources of my information with appropriate citation. 

As for core value 5, I believe the assignment that I best demonstrated this in would be my Annotated Bibliography. In my annotated bibliography I made sure that every single source is properly cited in the correct style as instructed. As for my descriptions of the sources, I made sure they were accurate detailings of the contents of each source, making sure to not include any of my own interpretations, keeping it strictly to what the author has written. For the “How I Used It” part of each source, I made sure to write exactly how I used each source and made sure that I used each source in an appropriate manner. I even included sources that were just helpful in developing my thesis and I never ended up actually citing in my writing.

Annotated Bibliography

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Causal Rewrite-ComicDub

Posted on November 27, 2020 by comicdub

What Really Makes Car Accidents So Deadly

When German inventor Karl Benz patented his invention of the first ever automobile back in 1886, he most likely never even entertained the idea of car-to-car collisions. Now, over one-hundred years later, according to the CDC, car accidents are the leading cause of death for children and young people 5 to 29 years of age. This statistic is an eye-opener for most people, yet we will all continue to drive our cars because we have to, so it might do good to know why car accidents are so deadly. The main underlying cause is the disparity in the size of vehicles and this is something which can be addressed.

Anyone with the understanding of high school level physics would be able to make the connection between different sized vehicles and the fatality of car accidents. To put it in the simplest way possible, heavy objects moving at the same speed as lighter objects have more energy. In terms of vehicles, this means that a large vehicle that is heavy, moving at the same speed as a smaller vehicle that is lighter, will exert more crushing force on the smaller vehicle in the occurrence of a car-to-car collision. With more crushing force being exerted on the smaller vehicle, the driver will be significantly more likely to be fatally injured.

Going down the chain, we can look at what causes such a disparity in the sizes of vehicles on the roadways in the first place. This may seem like a pretty obvious one but it is mostly caused by an increase in the popularity of larger cars, specifically in the United States. According to Steven Overly at the Washington Post, in his article about the recent rise in popularity of SUVs in the US, titled “Americans have fallen in love with little big cars,” “…sales of crossovers and SUVs took off at a quicker pace than for cars. Then in the last two years, Americans continued to buy more of every category of light trucks while car purchases declined.” This unquestionable growth in the popularity of larger vehicles, in the case of the United States, is due to a multitude of reasons. One of the reasons can be traced all the way back to the fact that America is not as old as many other countries. In his article titled “Why Americans buy bigger cars than the rest of the world,” author Sanjay Salomon cites a quote from car critic and managing editor for BoldRide, George Kennedy, which states, “In Europe and other areas there are very old infrastructure and small streets in five to seven-hundred-year-old cities… [making it] difficult for larger vehicles to get around.” On the other hand, America was founded right around the time of the industrial revolution causing there to be need for larger and more extensive roadways. Because the roadways in America are much larger and expansive than other countries, they lend themselves to larger vehicles. The next reason for larger vehicles being popular has to do with the fact that gas prices are relatively cheap in the US compared to most other countries. This means Americans can afford to own gas guzzling SUVs and trucks without spending all of their money on gasoline. Another reason that large vehicles are popular is that they are safer, but as previously explained, they are only safer for the driver of the vehicle and more dangerous to the drivers of smaller vehicles. 

So looking back at this causal chain again, growth in popularity of large vehicles caused a greater disparity in vehicle sizes on roadways which, in turn, caused greater fatality rates of car-to-car collisions. There is one very important link missing from this chain that is essentially the main supporting point for my thesis. The missing link lies between the disparity in vehicle sizes and the fatality rates of accidents, and it is the crash compatibility of vehicles on roadways. That means the complete version of this chain sounds something like: growth in popularity of large vehicles caused a greater disparity in vehicle sizes on roadways causing poor crash compatibility which, in turn, causes greater fatality rates of car-to-car collisions. Defined by the authors of the scientific paper titled, VEHICLE COMPATIBILITY IN CAR -TO-CAR FRONTAL OFFSET CRASH, “Vehicle [crash] compatibility is defined as the ability of a car to protect both its own occupants and partner car’s occupants.” Vehicle crash compatibility in itself has a couple factors that go into it but, as one can guess from the causal chain, the main factor, as defined by the NHTSA, is vehicle mass. In other words, vehicle size is the main cause of crash compatibility, meaning the closer a vehicle is in size to the other vehicle in an accident, the better compatibility they will have. This then implies pretty much my whole thesis, that different sized vehicles have poor crash compatibility which causes car-to-car collisions to be more fatal. This is not just some random claim with nothing to back it up either, there have been tests upon tests and studies upon studies that have proven this to be true. One example of a statistic that proves this point the best comes from a crash accident report from FARS, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System. According to their report, in the occurrence of a van to side car collision, the driver’s death ratio is about 1 to 23. A reasonable reaction to this might be something along the lines of, “oh well that’s to be expected of a frontal to side collision between vehicles and has nothing to do with the disparity in vehicle sizes.” That thinking is completely wrong as the van to side car death ratio of 1 to 23 is nearly 4 times the car to side car death ratio of only 1 to 6. The statistic is alarming enough to make me even nervous now when seeing a large van or truck driving near me on the road. And to think, all of this unnecessary unease as well as unnecessary fatalities on the roadways can be traced back to something seeming as harmless as bigger vehicles gaining popularity. That is why something needs to be done in order to fix this problem, and my plan might sound a little crazy, but it is one backed by statistics and facts that prove it will work.


References

Road Traffic Injuries & Deaths: A Global Problem. (2019, December 18). Retrieved October 26, 2020.

Salomon, S. (2015, June 25). Why Americans buy bigger cars than the rest of the world. Retrieved October 26, 2020.

Bae, H., Lim, J., & Park, K. (n.d.). VEHICLE COMPATIBILITY IN CAR -TO-CAR FRONTAL OFFSET CRASH [PDF]. Korea: Hyundai Motor Company.


Overly, S. (2019, April 17). Americans have fallen in love with little big cars. Retrieved October 26, 2020.

Posted in Causal Rewrite, comicdub, Portfolio ComicDub | Leave a comment

Visual Rewrite – Mhmokaysure

Posted on November 27, 2020 by kowiklinski

0:00 – 0:03

The video begins with the scene taking place in a dark hallway of a seemingly normal house. The light in the hallway is turned off, making it so that only the silhouette of a person is seen. By looking at the height of the silhouette compared to the ceiling and door frames, we can see that it appears to be a young boy with curly hair atop his head, with a shorter cut on the sides, typical with today’s more fashionable hair cuts. The camera follows the boy, who appears to emphasize every step swaying from side to side as he walks, approaching an intersection in the hallway with a room in front of him and on the right side. There is light coming from whatever room is on the right. The room ahead of him however contains a window near the ceiling, letting in a little light from the outside. The window however now makes it appear as if the boy is in the basement, with the window being near the ceiling. The lack of sunlight coming through the window sets a gloomy tone, as if it was either turning dark, or it was a cloudy day. As the boy approaches the intersection in the hallway, he ominously turns his head towards the left, as if turning to look behind him, however the scene abruptly changes. The ominously slow pace of this scene, along with the darkness and silhouette applies 

0:03 – 0:04

The abrupt cut switches to the camera aiming down at a young girl laying down on the hardwood floor, atop what appears to be a green patterned rug. She appears to be wearing pajama pants and a winter themed sweater. As the camera pans from left to right, she kicks one foot carelessly on the ground, appearing to be very comfortably occupied with something. As the camera pans however, it becomes visible that there is a height difference between what she is laying on, and the wood floor, leaving one to believe it is a bed instead, and the green pattern is instead a quilt.

0:054 – 0:08

As the scene switches, we now see a third child standing atop a chair on their tippy toes rummaging through a wardrobe. Struggling to reach the top shelf, the child appears to be a girl due to the pink socks they are wearing. The room is clearly not her own, as the floor is covered by an ornate rug, along with multiple plants being in the room. Once again, the scene appears to be out of the ordinary, as there is no one else present, with the girl appearing to be looking through something she shouldn’t be, having pulled up a chair that does not fit the decoration of the room to reach the top of the wardrobe.

0:08 – 0:10

The scene then switches to the second character we saw, the young girl in the pajamas and winter sweater. She jumps down from the bed to reveal that there is another young child with her, a boy who appears to be a similar age, wearing a sweater and a hat confirming that the scene is taking place during the cold months of the year. In the scene he is kneeling on the ground looking up at the girl who jumped down from the bed. His body appears relaxed as he is slightly slouching, appearing to be possibly bored. 

0:10 – 0:12

Next we see the original boy, who appears to have reached the far room as it is now dark. It appears that he is in fact in a basement, as the room is filled with shelves containing packed away boxes with random items. He is also on a chair reaching for something on a taller shelf, and has placed a flashlight behind him to help see. It once again appears to be a young child looking through something they should not be looking for, due to the lack of presence of an adult, or anyone else in the vicinity. The scene does not however show what is on the top shelf that he is reaching for, instead the frame covers mostly what is behind him, as if focusing on the fact that the room is cluttered, along with the flashlight placed behind him.

0:12 – 0:15

The scene abruptly cuts to the last girl we saw, the one who was standing on top of a chair rummaging through a wardrobe. As she is reaching around, the contents of the top shelf fall, while she takes a quick step back on the chair to avoid it from hitting her. As the items fall, we see an assortment of books, old clothing and board games. The items however fall in such a way that they reveal that a pistol has also fallen from the top shelf. Being in the center of the fallen items, it is clearly intentional, confirming that the child had been looking through somewhere she was not supposed to. The gun is clearly the center of attention in this scene, being positioned in such a way that the barrel faces the camera, once again reaching the emotion of the viewer, a clear appeal to the pathos of the scene.

0:15-0:16

This scene is brief, however we now see the young girl and boy wearing winter clothing army crawl under the bed as the camera pans from right to left. The scene however starts with them already being under the bed, showing their feet as they crawl further underneath.

0:16 – 0:18

We now see the boy from the first scene, having found something on the shelves he was previously looking through. He is now in the bathroom with an object wrapped in a towel, which for a split second reveals the barrel of a gun. He is unwrapping the gun in this scene, however it does not clearly show that it is a firearm. His reflection appears in the mirror, showing that he is smiling carelessly while doing so, showing that he appears to be unaware of what is inside. The camera briefly showing the barrel of the gun once again applies to pathos, as the viewer of the scene sees something the boy does not, triggering emotion. The director does not however zoom in on the gun enough for the viewer to see whether or not the safety is on or off. The viewer does not have enough information on whether or not the gun was properly stored, unloaded, and with the safety on.

0:18 – 0:22

We now for the first time see the face of the third girl, as she has gotten down from the chair she was standing on. She is now on her knees on the floor, attempting to quickly clean up the mess she had caused, almost in an attempt to cover up the fact that she was going through the wardrobe in the first place. While lifting the board game, she suddenly freezes while looking back down at the ground, as for the first time she notices the gun that had fallen out along with the other items. During the brief moment during which the gun is in the frame, we see that the firearm is a Glock 28 handgun. The magazine is inside, leading us to believe that the gun is loaded. The safety mechanism on this firearm is directly on the trigger, and can be seen when the camera zooms in on it.  The camera then swiftly changes from showing her and the room, to an intense zoom on just the gun itself, panning from left to right.

0:22 – 0:23

We now see the two young children in the winter clothing. They had pulled out boxes that were under the bed and are now wearing hats, while the floor is cluttered with old clothes and another board game. The young boy is once again kneeling, only this time his hands are together almost as if in prayer. The girl is putting a hat on his head, however all of the attention of the scene is focused on the large rifle that they had also pulled out from underneath. The rifle appears to be an older hunting rifle, fitted with a wooden stock and a hunting scope. The placement of the girl’s knee prevents us from seeing whether the gun is loaded. Seemingly oblivious however, they continue with their game of dressup. The director uses this scene to show the innocence and obliviosness of young children, lacking the understanding of the severity and dangers of a firearm. Instead of being frightened and finding a parent or guardian, they continue on with what they are doing, not realizing what they had uncovered.

 0:23 – 0:24

The last scene returns to the original boy, who is still located in the bathroom. This time however, the camera is in front of him revealing his face, however the view is cut off at the waist. He is looking down holding something, and we see a swift movement as he appears to cock back a gun that is not visible. As soon as he does so, he looks up, appearing frightened as if he had just been caught. The abrupt ending and transition to a black screen creates uncertainty and fear in the viewer, once again focusing on pathos. With this ending, the director appears to channel the fright and danger of the situation when a parent or guardian realizes that a young child has found a firearm. It is almost as if the last scene is meant to show not only the fear in the child as he is caught, but the fear that an adult faces if they have not properly stored a firearm, and the possibly fatal outcome of such lack of responsibility.

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