For this blog, I am posting a short writing assignment that I have just finished and will be turning in tomorrow. This assignment, created by another student in my class as an exercise for understanding perspective, required choosing a letter to the editor and identifying four of the author’s main points along with an alternative perspective for each of the points. I have proofread this paper, though there are a few sentences that do not sound quite right to me and I will italicize them to point them out. I’ve tried rewording them and I can’t get them to sound any better.
So, here it is:
Trying On Others’ Shoes
A letter to the editor, published in the Spokesman Review last Sunday, argues that issues of prostitution are not being handled well by law enforcement in Spokane. The author of the letter, John Kallas, is a retired detective who feels that this problem is being ignored by law officials in the city.
One of the points made by Kallas is that “proactive 24-hour enforcement, along with extensive criminal trespass ordinances” is a necessary solution (B6). Though he is right in assuming this would help the issue, others may argue that it is neither possible nor practical. Public officials and local law officers would make it clear that they do not have the staff or the funding to increase patrols in these areas.
Kallas also makes the statement that “prostitution is not a victimless crime” (B6). This is true when it comes to minors who are forced into prostitution and adults who knowingly prey on them. However, some countries and even one state in the U.S. have legalized prostitution under the assumption that it, when preformed between two consenting adults, hurts no one but the participants. This argument assumes that when two parties enter into an agreement such as exchange of sexual favors for money, they are fully aware of the risks they are taking and are the only ones in danger.
Citing the “Yates homicides” in his letter, Kallas makes the case that these murders could have been prevented had the laws regarding prostitution been strictly enforced (B6). Kallas’ opposition may feel that these murders could not have been stopped. The argument would be that a person with the compulsion to kill, as Robert Lee Yates had, would have found his victims elsewhere if prostitutes were not an easy target. Stopping prostitution in Spokane may have made his hunt for women harder, but he would have inevitably committed his crimes.
Lastly, Kallas makes the claim that “political candidates should take notice of this problem” (B6). In response to this, I’m sure those running for office would admit that they are concerned about prostitution in their city. I’m also sure that they would probably present much larger issues that they have built their platforms on.
While I agree with Kallas that any form of prostitution is a serious issue that should be taken care of, others may have different opinions. Though I’m sure that there are few people who would argue that prostitution is a good business, there are probably reasons why these issues are not being swiftly dealt with in Spokane and Kallas’ opponents would be sure to make them known.
Works Cited
Kallas, John. Letter. Spokesman Review 7 Oct. 2007: B6.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Progress Blog
So, I am supposed to reflect on my goals and decide whether or not I have made any progress toward them. Just as a reminder, my three goals were to 1) learn how to spell “success” and “necessary” correctly, 2) learn the difference between passive and active voice, and 3) cut out all of the unimportant words, mainly from my creative writing.
For my first goal, I have paid attention to the way I am spelling these words. I no longer let my spell check automatically fix it. Instead, it goes a little like this—I type it out (usually wrong), see the red squiggly line underneath and fiddle around with the letters until it comes out right. It’s getting pretty tedious, but at least I can start to see what the words look like when they are spelled right. I recently made up a rule—I know, I really am a dork—to help me remember how to spell them. Here it is: “To succeed you need two c’s and two s’s, but if success isn’t your main goal, then only one c is necessary.” Yeah, ridiculous, but I think it’s helping.
As far as writing in passive voice, I really haven’t had the opportunity to see whether I’m getting any better or not. The blogs for this class are the most writing I’ve done all semester. I’m used to writing papers all the time for the English classes I take, but all I have classes I have now, besides my poetry class, are teacher prep and they are focused more on projects and lesson plans. Any other semester I’d be able to tell you right away how I was feeling about this goal. This time, though, I just haven’t been writing enough to see it.
My last goal, to stop using words that are meaningless, is one I am sure I haven’t made any progress with yet. The example I gave in my “goals” blog was a comment from my poetry professor saying that I include too many words that “mean nothing.” I’ve turned in a new poem every week and I’ve only gotten one back without similar comments. For example, I recently wrote a poem about a woman looking into her closet, describing her things and the meaning each item held for her. I began each stanza with a short line like “hanging there” or “right there?” because I wanted it to sound like she was talking. However, the poem came back with this comment: “Ruchell, good. I’d suggest, except for the first line, that the first lines of each stanza are just mannerisms—ways you got into writing it. The language in each is flat, you don’t need ‘em.” My other poems were given pretty much the same remarks, one pointing me toward Sylvia Plath who makes every line “worth our attention” and another one to Elizabeth Bishop who uses little words but makes them count. To be honest, I thought my poem was pretty okay and I’m not sure if I want to change it. I guess it just comes down to whose opinion is more important, the writer’s or the reader’s?
The funny thing is that I’m learning stuff in the class that I hadn’t realized I didn’t know. For example, after seeing the student writing we’ve been looking at I finally understand what a comma splice is! I’m not sure if I’ve ever had any trouble with them in my own writing, but now that I’ve seen it, it has become a real thing and not just some grammar mumbo-jumbo like before. And more importantly, I am starting to get the difference between “effect” and “affect” now that we’ve talked about it in class. It has always been something I’ve never understood, and I don’t know why I didn’t think about it when I was trying to decide my goals, but it spaced my mind. Either way, I’m glad we cleared it up last Wednesday.
Have I made any progress on my goals? Not really, but that’s okay. I guess that since I know they are my trouble areas I can keep my eyes open for them. It’s more important that I am making progress on other things, like comma splices, that I didn’t understand and didn’t even know it!
For my first goal, I have paid attention to the way I am spelling these words. I no longer let my spell check automatically fix it. Instead, it goes a little like this—I type it out (usually wrong), see the red squiggly line underneath and fiddle around with the letters until it comes out right. It’s getting pretty tedious, but at least I can start to see what the words look like when they are spelled right. I recently made up a rule—I know, I really am a dork—to help me remember how to spell them. Here it is: “To succeed you need two c’s and two s’s, but if success isn’t your main goal, then only one c is necessary.” Yeah, ridiculous, but I think it’s helping.
As far as writing in passive voice, I really haven’t had the opportunity to see whether I’m getting any better or not. The blogs for this class are the most writing I’ve done all semester. I’m used to writing papers all the time for the English classes I take, but all I have classes I have now, besides my poetry class, are teacher prep and they are focused more on projects and lesson plans. Any other semester I’d be able to tell you right away how I was feeling about this goal. This time, though, I just haven’t been writing enough to see it.
My last goal, to stop using words that are meaningless, is one I am sure I haven’t made any progress with yet. The example I gave in my “goals” blog was a comment from my poetry professor saying that I include too many words that “mean nothing.” I’ve turned in a new poem every week and I’ve only gotten one back without similar comments. For example, I recently wrote a poem about a woman looking into her closet, describing her things and the meaning each item held for her. I began each stanza with a short line like “hanging there” or “right there?” because I wanted it to sound like she was talking. However, the poem came back with this comment: “Ruchell, good. I’d suggest, except for the first line, that the first lines of each stanza are just mannerisms—ways you got into writing it. The language in each is flat, you don’t need ‘em.” My other poems were given pretty much the same remarks, one pointing me toward Sylvia Plath who makes every line “worth our attention” and another one to Elizabeth Bishop who uses little words but makes them count. To be honest, I thought my poem was pretty okay and I’m not sure if I want to change it. I guess it just comes down to whose opinion is more important, the writer’s or the reader’s?
The funny thing is that I’m learning stuff in the class that I hadn’t realized I didn’t know. For example, after seeing the student writing we’ve been looking at I finally understand what a comma splice is! I’m not sure if I’ve ever had any trouble with them in my own writing, but now that I’ve seen it, it has become a real thing and not just some grammar mumbo-jumbo like before. And more importantly, I am starting to get the difference between “effect” and “affect” now that we’ve talked about it in class. It has always been something I’ve never understood, and I don’t know why I didn’t think about it when I was trying to decide my goals, but it spaced my mind. Either way, I’m glad we cleared it up last Wednesday.
Have I made any progress on my goals? Not really, but that’s okay. I guess that since I know they are my trouble areas I can keep my eyes open for them. It’s more important that I am making progress on other things, like comma splices, that I didn’t understand and didn’t even know it!
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