Dear Birth Parents

This letter is a pretty good argument for Nate and Kristin. Their claim, although not directly stated, is that they will make good parents for someone's child who will be adopted by them. In this letter, they are trying to convince parents who want to put their children up for adoption that this is true. It is very clear that the audience this is directed toward is the parents of potentially adopted children. One reason that they have is that both Nate and Kristin have wanted to be parents for a long time. This doesn't really have any evidence, but it is not the kind of reason that requires evidence to back it up. However, they do give some background information on this like some of the history of how they have always wanted children. It is possible that may not be true, but there is no reason for it to be false since they are trying to adopt. The other reason that they use is that they are prepared to be good parents. The two points of evidence for this reason is that they did not want to try to have kids until they were ready financially, and that they have learned a lot about themselves and their desire for children during the struggle with infertility. The main point is supported, but other viewpoints are not really addressed. Some alternative viewpoints are that they will not be good parents, or another couple will be better parents. Nate and Kristin could have done a better job countering these points, but it is still a convincing letter.

Reform for JMU

College is expensive. JMU is no exception, but where does all that money go anyway? Sure, a lot of it is probably used well. However, the money could be used better. One big waste is all the unused TVs around campus. For example, the many very expensive Sony LCD TVs in the Physics and Chemistry building that just display pictures. It is the same case outside Grafton and for the menus at Dukes. All of these could be replaced with posters. Before this school year, we had to option to upgrade to a new version of the internet where speed would not be a factor. Everyone complains about the internet in the dorms. Loading video is especially a problem. Instead of spending the money on this, we are building a new football stadium. This is a good investment, but turning down the new internet makes me question where my tuition is going to benefit me. Of course, we know a lot of the obvious things like JMU staff salaries, but there is a lot of behind the scenes expenses. New dorms will a huge cost in the future. There is a plan right now to tear down the village dorms to build newer, taller buildings. This will be more space effective, but it may be better to improve what we already have.

Narrative argument outline

Claim: Christianity has a negative connotation because of modern stereotypes.

Reasons:

Christians are misinterpreted as extremists.

Evidence:

Most Christians who really put themselves out there are the ones who stand up in public and yell condemning accusations at people. They are not really Christians, and they give a false representation.

Christians are viewed as being very hypocritical.

Evidence:

There are a lot of people who claim to be Christians and are not, so people think that they are hypocritical when they do not "follow their own rules."

Some Christians seem judgmental, but they are trying to help people out, not claim that they are perfect.

Christians are misinterpreted as extreme conservatives.

Evidence:

People seem to think that all Christians are very conservative, but this is just the picture of a stereotypical Christian.

Other Writing

I am almost finished with a series of six weekly papers in my GISAT (problem solving) class. My writing in these papers is completely different from what I have been writing in this class. Each week I am assigned an article to read and write about. The assignment is to analyze the article and draw a conclusion about what the author's theses is, and then I defend that theses using two other articles that I find. Also, I find three other articles with alternative viewpoints on the same subject and use these to defend my point by comparing them to the main article's viewpoint. In GWRTC, the writing, so far, has been personal writing using personal anecdotes and describing how I felt in certain situations. This is clearly very different than GISAT, and with a different type of writing comes a different process. I have never been someone who has greatly benefited from prewriting, so I normally just start writing and organize what I have at the end for this class. In this personal writing, I am trying to put memories down on the paper in a way that the lets the audience identify with the story. "Story" is another keyword in this comparison because my personal writing is meant to be a story, while my critical writing is a collection of research leading to a main point. My process for GISAT starts differently because I have to do some learning before I have anything to write about. I first have to read the article, find its meaning, and find and read five more articles. Once I have gleaned enough information from these, I can begin writing. From here, the two types of writing may look different, but they are similar in the way that I can just write based on the knowledge that I have.

It is a perfect night for a concert. The air is cool and the sky is clear, exposing the full moon. The atmosphere is very energetic after the opening band, and it is noisy with chatter from everyone giving their "professional critique" of the music so far. Suddenly, the lights go out, the speakers stop, and cheers erupt from the crowd at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. Everyone quiets down, standing and squinting their eyes to see someone emerge to cross the bridge as we wait in anticipation for something to happen. A few spotlights come on from inside the four-legged, spaceship-esque apparatus above the stage, giving us just enough light to see. The wild yelling returns and dies down as a single man crosses the bridge slowly. Then, the cheers rise to the highest level yet as he sits down and begins to drum a familiar beat. Two more band members come onto the stage one by one, building the excitement. Finally, Bono runs out singing and the faces in the crowd light up along with the stage and the entire stadium. The lights are coming from every direction, spinning and flashing. The noise coming from at least two hundred speakers is just a little bit too loud. Everyone is awestruck as U2 lives up to their huge expectations.