Assignment 3

    After reading "Standing By" by David Sedaris, I didn't find it very relevant to every day life, but it was worth reading. I think his purpose for writing "Standing By" was to simply give his perspective on past experiences he has had at the airport. By doing so, it allows potential readers an opportunity to relate in the case that they have shared a similar experience. This, in turn, gets Sedaris some recognition and also a record that he has now attained and therefore must maintain. Now, when he writes other personal encounters, readers will know what to look forward to; a humorous critic rather than a negative author ranting about dreadful situations society already hates as a whole (like going to DMV or the grocery store) and has made enough unfavorable comments about already. As an author, your profession automatically introduces you to taking some of the biggest risks. By writing what you believe is "good writing", you will eventually publish it and get either good or bad exposure. This will determine the rest of your career stand point. The point being, I believe Sedaris wrote this story based on the confidence from his past reviews, ratings and successes. After all, if he was no good at it, which would be clear due to minimal success, he would have stopped writing by now. He also could have wrote it to lighten up the moods of flight attendants, frequent travelers, or anyone else who has to stand in ridiculously long lines,  and to provide optimism that is much needed.
    The kind of questions Sedaris raises from my point of view is why does he criticize what people wear and don't wear in the airport on pages 276-277? When it's all said and done, that family ends up on one end of the earth and he will end up on another. On a psychological level of thinking, since when was a tie, ribbon, and a straw hat classified as "beautifully dressed"? What was so wrong with the "Freaky Mothafocka", misspelled and all? I believe that is less of a front than the "ribbon and tie". "Freaky Mothafocka" is representing his true self, also letting the world know "although the word on my shirt is publicly misspelled, I am not publicly embarrassed." It should show those walking around the airport judging him to instead realize that life is full of mistakes, and nobody is perfect. The shirt is fun and extremely expressive, and he was not on his way to an interview.
     After I read the story, I felt "don't we all have these moments at some point in our lives?". I am sure this is what Sedaris wants us to think. He just wants his readers to relate to resembling situations by using trends in society to his advantage. Right in the beginning, he says, "It was one of those headaches that befall every airline passenger"(Sedaris 275). Right away, readers probably feel obligated to feel or at least try to imagine what it feels like to be stuck on delayed plane trip. It usually brings most people to become depressed and irritated by this kind of situation simply by thinking about it. Then he continues by finding the perfect way the reader can make light of a bad situation as such when all else fails. He persuaded us to focus our attention on what society recognizes as foolishness and proceed to belittle it/them. As strong of an impact as media and advertisement has on society, Sedaris can easily sway his audience to feel what he feels without ever having rode a plane before. Media and advertisement is very trendy and by this I mean it switches up very often when it comes to what's "in" right now. Here, we can go back to my raised question in the paragraph above. Media portrays very "successful people" to wear "ties and ribbons", as if those "successful people" have never used the term "Mothafocka" before. So by portraying the "Freaky Mothafocka" as a weird person (besides the Stevie Wonder braids with beads), why wouldn't he just be an average Joe? Is it because "Mothafocka" is not representing "appropriate"language? So if it's inappropriate in public, why isn't it inappropriate in general, even behind closed doors when the tie or the ribbon comes off at the end of the night? Why not refrain from using the term at all if you are going to judge someone for wearing the word proudly, openly admitting he says it so there are no surprises later. See, media portrays perfection so Sedaris knew that by following the current trend at the time, society would gladly and unconsciously feel his distaste for the "vulgar young man" but greatly appreciate the "catalogue children"(<media/advertisement).
1.) Why do you think the "Freaky Mothafocka" was poorly judged but the "beautifully dressed" grandkids were praised solely by their apparel?

Sedaris’ “Standing By”

The essay "Standing By" was pretty critical of human beings yet interesting to read. The author's ability to keep my attention through an ENTIRE essay about flight and travel was impressive, I must say. I think his power to be descriptive, detailed, and also so real and blunt about how typical airport occurrences generally go, such as the older lady with her spiffy looking grandkids, or the large family that is trying to reach their destination, not trying to please anyone with formal wear; after all, it is just the airport (Sedaris 275). Then you have the men between middle aged and mid life crisis who have nothing better to do but go on forever about politics (Sedaris 275). Then there is you (in this case, David), in the midst of all this commotion, forced to zone in on all of these different side conversations going on around you (Sedaris 275). These realistic depictions are what made me continue reading with increasing interest. Sedaris' humor reflected into the entire passage also which gave the read more of my mind absorption (Sedaris 275-276). All of these qualities together make up a worthy piece of writing which is why I felt it was worthy of my time. Overall, I would definitely say that everyone could take a liking to the story in one aspect or another. Very well written.

Works Cited

Sedaris, David. "Standing By." First Year Composition Reader. Boston: Pearson, 2011. 275-277.    

      Print.

Assignment 2

Based on the Student Guide, I expect for this class to be regarded as more of an expression of each individual's point of view rather than dry writing assignments with the expectation of a dry, average responses. What I took from the reading was that I do not have to come into the class knowing everything or trying too hard. I saw it as I will be there to serve my purpose as a student-to learn. Clearly I will have to put in effort, but overloading my mind will not produce good work. It sounds like the course is for students to learn that writing has to be natural thoughts and not some gibberish we found in books, magazines, or the internet because "it sounded advanced". Everyone has their own pace at which they learn, but in some way everyone can relate to each other, whether or not from experience.

Being a writer in this course will indeed further assist in the real world. Everywhere we go, we must write no matter what the career. You can be a journalist or a mechanic, you will be doing some writing!
   
My only concern at this point is if the the class is so laid back, where does structure come into play? But if writing is a form of expression, then how can you grade our thoughts and emotions without being harsh? Do you grade the grammar and spelling part of it only? The Student Guide also read that there are no rules to writing. Was I being lied to my whole life? How, then, will I structure a "nice" paper? What is considered "nice" and "acceptable"?

Introduction

Hello everyone!

I'm Tiffany and I will stand out very quickly. I have known to be very blunt (in a good way). I am also extremely creative. I make kid's birthday invitations, plan kid parties, a bit of interior design/decorating, and a little graphic design. Ironically, I am an accounting major. Accounting is my "school" of choice because everyone will always need their taxes done, therefore I will always have a job. Plus, numbers rule the world. That doesn't mean I am a math wiz; I'm actually far from but just think about it. What got you up this morning (besides Jesus)? The numbers on the clock that struck the alarm. Also, how is success generally determined? Money $$$. Money is only numbers. Throughout school, I was actually always naturally good at English (and no I'm not just saying that). I literally received a 24 on the English section of my ACT followed by a whopping 17 on the math portion. The main reason I think I excel in English is because I can relate to any topic I am given to write about.  For me, writing is like a poem about experiences. Writing is the expression of one's views and interpretations. Writing is almost as beautiful as poetry. Writing is poetry.
     Unfortunately, I am from Milwaukee, WI. Yes, I know, it's sad. I do not have any pets. As a child, I went through about....ummm... about..four...yes four goldfish (they weren't really gold). They all jumped out of the fish bowl and committed suicide. This all occurred at different times by the way. For a while now, I have wanted a small dog that doesn't grow, but I am too broke and don't have time to take care of one.
   


 This is my beautiful princess-in-training (by ME of course [:), my god daughter:

Christiana

Cute right? I know.

I would say I am fairly family oriented, but I would be lying. I am generally a loner and OCD doesn't help. My only close family member passed in a car crash in 2008. If I had one wish, I would ask that my grandmother come back alive so we could have one last conversation about how it all happened.

        For this class, I intend to learn how to enhance my writing skills. I also plan on finding out if I'm actually a good writer or was I being lied to all along. With us being such a small class, I look forward to getting to know you all before the semester is over.