ENGL101S Reflection

When I came into English class, I already believed that all we do is write essay. I hated writing and I did not even try to hone my skills. However, besides writing essays, we also learned writing tips and skills to improve our writing. We also read articles, watched films, and wrote our comments on our blogs.
From this class, I definitely believe that I have become better as a writer (though that may be contradictory to the truth). I used tools such as rhetorical devices and metacommentary to tie in all of my thoughts and references. Overall, I think that this class was very beneficial yet fun at the same time!
At first, I was hesitant on whether continuing this course because we had so many readings to do, in a span of two days. We have other rigorous classes, so I expected English to be a bit easier from the rest of my classes. But you listened to our feedback and drastically shortened our readings.
Another change I would recommend is maybe adding more peer editing into the class time, before the due date of a paper. Those times when we peer edited, helped me a lot because it highlighted flaws and ambiguity in my paper.

The Yellow Wallpaper

To be honest, I found this story unusual. From the story, I detected that the writer had an illness (possibly a mental illness) that forced her husband to lock her up in a room for the summer.
I feel that in her situation, she felt trapped and contained. She wanted to roam around outside and enjoy the warm weather; her husband John thought that would be detrimental to her health (which I do not see how that is possible). I feel that she was so bored, that she began examining the wallpaper and writing about it; it is all sheer boredom. It made me question about the "rest" protocol that John put her one. Apparently, she was to only rest and not tend to daily duties, even separated from her child. I found this odd because in my opinion, isolation would create boredom and in extreme cases, madness. It reflects on the medical procedures back then, and how most of them would produce unsatisfactory results.
Also, when she talked about a woman in the pattern of the wallpaper, I found that odd. It made me question if her leisure was affecting her mental health. At the end when she tore down the wallpaper to "let the woman out", I really thought she lost her sanity.

Waltz with Bashir

One scene that really stood out to me was when Shmuel Frenkel was depicting his memory of the war. In his memory, not a lot of narration was used, but rather, a lot of images were produced. The scene showed the soldiers walking through a thick 'forest', with a large machine tank trailing behind. For the viewers, they can depict a little boy in the background carrying a bazooka-like gun. The soldiers had no idea what was going on, not even sensing the present dangers. In the scene, time seemed to slow down as the boy turned the gun toward the group of people, and fired. The bullet seemed to move by so slowly, passing the soldiers before hitting the tank. The scene ends with the soldiers quickly ducking down, locating the source of the attack, and furiously shooting at the boy. The last picture was the little boy on the ground dead.

This scene stood out to me a lot because of the impact of the war on the country as a whole. I was shocked that a little boy could even think about violence at such a young age. With war, I see only matured males getting involved; to think about even a little boy getting involved, is such a bizarre thought for me. Another thing too was the sudden response of the soldiers to fire at the boy. As soon as the missile hit the tank, the soldiers rapidly attacked the boy; in my opinion, I felt that the boy was shot more than necessary. I mean, this was a little boy! In my perspective, I felt that the boy lived such a short and corrupted childhood; he didn't deserve the fate he received. I understand that it was a soldier's innate reaction to fight back, rather than running away. However, I still see the whole scene as somewhat scary.

Final Paper Research

Smith, Phil. "Drawing new maps: A radical cartography of developmental disabilities." Review of Educational Research 69.2 (1999): 117-144. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.

This is source, in a way, is a different approach than what other reports do. The author is trying to map out the cognitive mind of those who have developmental disabilities. Also, the author addresses the reason why those with these disorders still encounter oppression.

Alice Charach, et al. "Stigmatizing experiences of parents of children with a new diagnosis of ADHD." Psychiatric Services 61.8 (2010): 811-816. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.

This source was a conducted research which researchers asked families of autistic children, about their experiences dealing with autism. I find this source very useful; because my paper is based on social perspective and past stigma, it would be very helpful to cite credible sources which point out the stigma attached to autism.

Crabtree, Sara Ashencaen. "Family responses to the social inclusion of children with developmental disabilities in the United Arab Emirates." Disability & Society 22.1 (2007): 49-62. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.

This source is similar to the one previously mentioned; it targets the social perspective through a family's viewpoint. However, I decided to branch out a bit and briefly see how the social stigma affected not just only families living in America, but also families in the United Arab Emirates. I think this will be useful in addressing the fact that this stigma is not only a local issue but a global issue.

David Felce, et al. "Editorial: Intellectual disability in a global context." Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities 5.2 (2008): 79-80. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.

Again, this source targets the global impact of a mental disorder, such as autism.

Tuchman, Gaye. "ESS Presidential Address, 1995: Invisible differences: On the management of children in postindustrial society." Sociological Forum 11.1 (1996): 3-23. PsycINFO. EBSCO. Web. 2 Apr. 2011.

The author in this source, states the problem areas of managing an autistic child. For example, the author mentioned behavior management techniques. I think this would be beneficial because this could allow the general public to understand how society should conform to the needs of autistic individuals. Again, this relates back to how we as a whole, sometimes do not respond to their individual needs. 

Random Post #2

Hello world!
So as mentioned in previous entries, I am writing my research paper on autism and the social perspective on this disorder. How it pertains to me, is that my brother has mild autism. Earlier today, I was talking to my mom about this paper. I explained how I'm trying to emphasize that there was a social stigma attached to autism, and how we view autism today. My mom was surprised that this is my topic for my paper, but she was proud that I decided to tackle this broad topic. Hopefully, my experiences hook in readers and spark an interest in them! I hope that you look at my paper kindly!
Thank you for reading :]

Research Log

Caruso, Daniela. "Autism in the U.S.: Social Movement and Legal Change." American Journal of Law & Medicine 36.4 (2010): 483-539. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.
The author highlighted the awareness of autism in the United States, and how the government is taking charge. He introduces a few legal movements that brought about the autism movement and the consequences. 






Serge Larochelle, et al. "Atypical Categorical Perception in Autism: Autonomy of Discrimination?." Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders 37.3 (2007): 481-490. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2011.

John Q

In the film John Q, there were many scenes that emphasized rhetorical devices. One scene that stood out to me was the scene when John was laying on the operating table, preparing to shoot himself. At that time, so many things were going on: the nurse received word that there was a perfect heart for Mike, so the wife was trying to get in touch with John.
In that scene, as a viewer I was so anxious. Definitely, this scene used pathos as a device to bring up the tension/suspension in the film. I was feeling anxious and scared, yet curious on what was going to happen next. They definitely used pathos to draw in the viewers and keep them guessing for more.