I believe writing could be defined as a way of expressing oneself, your own ideas, and your beliefs. When learning about rhetorical analysis, my past beliefs about writing were contradicted in a way that I now knew that my personal beliefs could not be included in this writing style. To analyze each article, I forced myself to refrain from incorporating my own ideas and experiences about gender inequality. When writing my essay, I attempted to write as much as I could and then go back and correct any mistakes. I feel like my strategy worked pretty well when trying to interpret my ideas onto paper, however, I also think I did not try my hardest to reevaluate my thoughts and make sure they worked well with the prompt. I found this assignment to be very eye-opening. I realized not everything will be perfect on your first try and it was difficult to come to terms with that when trying to edit my final draft. I realize that I may be a perfectionist, which could be good or bad, but when writing I now understand how my mindset needs to change to succeed in this class and for any other writing in general. It becomes extremely easy to convince yourself that your writing is great just because you wrote it. You become very close-minded to constructive criticism because you think your work is fine the way it is. This is my problem. I think the best learning experience I can take from this assignment is to be open to new ideas and to understand that good work takes time. I look forward to improving in this class for future assignments and learning more about myself and my writing.

I believe that writing is the process of attempting to intentionally transfer consciousness from the medium of one’s mind to a tangible format such as paper. Any form of writing will strengthen this view and teach one more about oneself. The rhetorical essay was in line with what I know about writing as it is just another outlet of creativity to relay information from one’s noggin to a tangible medium albeit a slightly boring one. I do say this with all the kindness possible but such assignments leave the student (particularly me) drained by the end of it. I think this is because other than a goal of a good grade there doesn’t seem to be much in regards to satisfaction while writing it and when finished. I will say that it is not feasible to understand higher concepts of writing without digging through the mud first and figuring out the different parts of a nonfiction piece is an important testament to that. In the rhetorical essay lies the potentiality for more exciting understanding in the future and I don’t believe that is too bad in itself. I also think this assignment really exemplifies the ability to follow a process and with that process still create vastly different works because of the range of subjects. This in itself can be a wonderful skill to master though I personally have not always been enthusiastic about this type of work.

I believe that writing is ones way to express their thoughts, but also organizing them. when you have a lot on your mind, writing is a great way to let it all out. with this class i’ve learned that writing is more than educational and bland. people have different reasons to write and most of the time it has nothing to do with information. with the sources i’ve researched, the authors wrote their pieces with the hopes of educating their audiences and allowing themselves to empty out their heads. for my own writing, i started out with a separate brainstorm. in school i was taught to simply let out all of my thoughts onto paper first. i knew which topic i wanted to write about so i listed the pros & cons of the sources that i used so i can ultimately make the decision of “should i use this source or will it confuse me later on?” i ended up finding 9 sources but of course i was only able to use 4. using a brainstorming strategy really helped me with my writing process. i think my writing could’ve been more better if i focused on organizing the sources separately. i could’ve approached this assignment with separate brainstorms instead of fitting it all into one paper. nonetheless, i think my writing was successful because it was my first time writing a five-paged paper and I was able to complete it by the deadline. this assignment challenged my writing abilities and i am looking forward to the next assignment and how i can improve my work from there.

Through writing we can learn about the different thoughts and ideas of each person and different approaches and views towards a certain matter. The topic of a piece of writing can be explored to the smallest issues within the topic, then telling others about your understanding of the topic so that they can understand the purpose and idea behind the writing is what I believe is necessary for a good piece of writing. Not only that, rhetorical analysis is the best factor that can improve the understanding of the essay. Secondly, finding credible information can improve the accuracy of the essay. After going through the first time of writing, I found out that it is not as simple as I thought it would be, it needs to find credible enough sources to find out its purpose from the data. And it needs clear positions and evidence to prove its arguments. However, I didn’t do well in this area. I didn’t find enough evidence to prove its theme in my first essay. And my grasp of grammar and tenses was inadequate, which was a constant concern. But with my professor’s revisions and suggestions, I learned how to write correctly about the position of the essay, and the genre of the essay, to explain specifically why they were there. All of this helped me with my writing and quickly helped me understand the main message and focus of the essay.

Through writing, we want to make sure we provide our thoughts and ideas in a clear way which pertain to the subject we are writing about. An essential part of a good literary work is having an interest or passion in the ideas we are showcasing as writers. When we are writing, we must make sure we are attempting to fulfill everything that is required for that piece. We should also be able to showcase our purpose and the intended audience for that literary work, as well as gather sufficient research or evidence in order to provide a well written piece. In this assignment, our purpose was to rhetorically analyze four different sources and connect them to a single social conflict. The strategies I used were to gather my ideas and try to organize them in a way for the readers to understand the purpose. For my first draft, I showcased the different elements of a rhetorical analysis in separate sections in order to have my ideas organized. After having received feedback about areas where I can improve on, I chose to organize my ideas into an essay format. From this experience, I was able to improve in the way I elaborate on certain ideas that I bring up throughout the essay.  I believe the feedback I received has helped me improve the way I analyzed the articles by finding better quotes to support my ideas as well as connecting different sources together to show the importance of those articles. As I continue writing, I know that I can make further improvements in many aspects in order to become a better writer.

I believe writing is a way of communicating with others to express your ideas and conclusions toward certain things. It lets our audience to receive the knowledge through our work because it is a part of another way of expressing your voice. However, as writing has not always been one of my strengths, it is sometimes hard for me to write a good essay. But I believe that having good writing should mostly focus on grammar, and the capacity to show your purpose to the audience, so they can know what you are trying to say after they read your work. Writing a rhetorical analysis with many sources accompanied is my first-time experience, but I think it has got better from the very beginning time when we wrote it as a practice. However, after finishing the final draft of this essay, I have learned more about the processes to justify my work when I try to give data and awareness to people, by applying evidence, purpose, and different elements in an analysis. Moreover, the strategies I used for this essay were to follow the guidelines, add references, and revise many times as possible to make sure it applies the purpose of my work. After that, I think these processes were good, but not perfect because I believe it might always occur mistakes which I probably did not know. However, this essay has helped me a lot to know my weaknesses, but also to improve them through practices and hard work. It has helped me to advance my writing after the process of peer-reviewed, and advice from the instructor, which have helped me to get to know more about my level of writing.

Writing as a concept is not a completely foreign to me, as an avid reader from a young age I became accustomed to the various genres of writing early even if I could only understand what brought me pleasure and what did not. I have always favored fiction over non fiction and now, after this assignment, I am aware that when reading or writing a piece I tend to gravitate toward a feature. Coming into this course I believed in order to write well one must initially draw interest, maintain engagement throughout, and leave a lasting impression. Thus far my view has not changed. However, this lesson on rhetorical situation and the subsequent essay have brought awareness to the many intricacies behind good writing. I am newly enthused by the knowledge that any previous partiality I have developed toward authors can be contributed to more than mere preference of style. “Style” is something intentional that can be identified and evaluated while reading, essentially—the how behind the what. I know this is only the beginning of acquiring important information about composition and its many nuances that will be of lasting value for me. Though I have never considered myself a writer, often exercising a figure it out as you go technique, obtaining a deeper fundamental understanding of writing methods and tools will unquestionably encourage more confidence in my writing going forward.

Magazine article

https://cuny-cc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_CC/qlf695/cdi_gale_lrcgauss_A610282066

This magazine article, “The Act of Protest” by Jiayang Fan from The New Yorker, is about the author’s experience during the Hong Kong protests. She begins talking about a play titled “The first and second half of 2047”, performed at City Hall. This play is a semi-documentary by director Wu Hoi Fai in which many of the actors are university students who also take part in protest marches. She attends multiple rallies herself  where she notes the difference between daytime rallies and nighttime ones. She also visits various places, like one of the multiple Lennon Walls that have sprung up around the city and interviews multiple people with different opinions about the protests.

Journal article

https://cuny-cc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_CC/qlf695/cdi_jstor_primary_26838911

This journal article, “Hong Kong’s Summer of Uprising: From Anti-Extradition to Anti-Authoritarian” from China Review, is a study that describes the origins and characteristics of the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement. It uses data collected from onsite surveys and population surveys during a three-month period from June 2019 to August 2019. The study uses graphs to illustrate the demographics of protesters, motivations, means of participation and identification with slogans used. A comparison between these current protests and the Umbrella movement from 2014 reveal that the failed 79-day occupation helped shaped protesters motivations, structure and strategy in the present.

Newspaper article

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/world/asia/hong-kong-protests-one-year-later.html

This newspaper article, “Hong Kong Protests, One Year Later” by Austin Ramzy and Mike Ives from The New York Times, illustrates some of the key moments of this pro-democracy movement that began in early June of last year. In the course of a year, clashes between protesters and the police have become a common occurrence. The legislature of Hong Kong, university campuses, subway systems including trains, and commercial centers have all been battlegrounds of these hostile encounters at least once. A ban on face masks, new national security laws and for the first time in 30 years, a ban on the Tiananmen Square vigil, have all been met with mutiny by Hongkongers. Although the pandemic has ceased some of these demonstrations at the beginning of this year, since spring, more have been reemerging.

Web source

https://time.com/5606212/hong-kong-history-mass-demonstrations-protest/

This article, “A Brief History of Protest in Post-Handover Hong Kong” by Amy Gunia from Time, shows Hong Kong’s history of battles for democracy. For over 2 decades, Hong Kong has struggled with China’s attempts at limiting their freedoms and restricting their civil liberties. From aiming to control Hong Kong’s electoral system, educational system, and even their culture, Hongkongers have expressed their discontent every time. Protests that have ensued from these grievances have had its successes and failures. China’s efforts of distorting history and influencing the younger generations, was halted. The proposal of universal suffrage in Hong Kong’s electoral system has long been, and still is, a demand of Hongkongers.

Magazine Article:

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/30/us-new-report-shines-spotlight-abuses-and-growth-immigrant-detention-under-trump

In this newspaper article, “New Report Shines Spotlight on Abuses and Growth in Immigrant Detention Under Trump”, the article highlights the immigration centers growing abuse and allegations medical conditions. The writers touch upon the inhuman conditions that the detained people are forced to live with. This article informs their audience that detained people are not being treated as humans and given the proper attention that is needed.

Website:

https://www.aclu.org/issues/immigrants-rights/immigrants-rights-and-detention/sexual-abuse-immigration-detention-0

This website summarizes the sexual abuse rates in immigrant detention facilities. The author points out the many issues wrong with the Government and its ways of running detention facilities. The purpose of this article is to inform its audience of the unconstitutional levels of medical and metal health care that are striped away from detained people.

Newspaper Article: New York Times

The newspaper article informs the audience of the thousands of sexual abuse allegations that were reported by children in immigrant detention centers. The author brought up the amount of cases where allegations were made totaling more than 4,500 reports of child abuse. The article made a point how sexual abuse cases weren’t taken seriously and underreported within the years. This further explains how the Government is not taking the detainees seriously and the conditions they are going through.

Scholarly Source:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10714839.2013.11721914?journalCode=rnac20

The source “detained in Obscurity: The U.S Immigrant Detention Regime” by David Hernandez, discusses the amount of immigrants detained in facilities that are forced to be in solitary confinement. The source raises some question on why would immigrants who are not criminals held in such punishment. The author brought up how solitary confinement is used and the impact it has on a persons life.

WEBSITE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H32z45o0WxA&ab_channel=TheDailyShowwithTrevorNoah This Youtube video is an interview of author Anand Giridharadas on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. In this video, Giridharadas describes the issue of very wealthy people, who claim to be philanthropists, contributing to the financial inequality of our world, making it so that positive change for those who do not have a lot of money, including the homeless, cannot happen. We learn that the 1 percent takes 49 percent of new income and the top .1 percent owns more wealth than the bottom 80 percent of this country. We learn that very rich people keep their money by under-paying people, avoiding taxation, insecurely employing people etc., and then publicly present their little bit of philanthropy work as if that offsets the measures they take to keep their money. Capital equals power, so the more capital you have, the more power you have. 

MAGAZINE ARTICLE: https://i-d.vice.com/en_uk/article/9ky735/kanye-sold-a-jacket-inspired-by-a-homeless-teen-for-400-and-people-are-not-happy This magazine article, “kanye sold a jacket inspired by a homeless teen for $400 and people are not happy” by Tyler Watamanuk, exhibits the exploitation of a jacket worn by dead homeless teen Tweaky Dave by one of the most famous capitalists in the world, Kanye West. We learn that Kanye West got an idea for a jacket he sold for 400 dollars at a pop-up shop from a replica of a jacket that Tweaky Dave wore when he was alive. We learn of the lost opportunity for homelessness awareness that occurred when Kanye West appropriated Tweaky Dave’s jacket and the upset it caused for those who knew its origins. This article exhibits a very clear example of how capitalism feeds off of homelessness.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-13/what-causes-homelessness-start-with-capitalism This newspaper article, “How the Streets Got So Mean” by Mimi Kirk, identifies the history of homelessness and examines the link between capitalism and homelessness through the lens of professor and author Don Mitchell. This article identifies different legislative changes that target homeless people rather than helping homeless people in the name of capitalism. What homeless people are able to do in public spaces is regulated in order to enable public spaces to produce capital. We also learn about how these legislative changes have an effect on the rest of the general public in a negative way. Capitalism does not take care of the most vulnerable groups in our society, it exploits and targets them. 

SCHOLARLY SOURCE: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10911359.2012.707941 This scholarly article, “Social Stigma and Homelessness: The Limits of Social Change” by John R. Belcher and Bruce R. DeForge, sheds light on the link between homelessness and capitalism. We learn of the stigma that homelessness is caused by the individual, rather than the social and economic systems that exist, and evaluate these opposing arguments. Apparently, capitalism needs and values laborers and consumers, and homeless people often are not actively working or consuming as much, thus they are not valued in the eyes of capitalism. We are provided with different ways people approach the issue of homelessness, some are apathetic and some are sympathetic. We are also given different methods of solving this issue. Overall, the role of stigmatization is emphasized in this article as a means of keeping homelessness alive.