Exercises
Friday, November 11, 2005
E.J. goes to Microsoft
Mucho congrats to our classmate E.J., who’s hanging out with Bill Gates at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash. E.J. is one of five nationwide winners in Microsoft’s Start Something Amazing contest. A story on E.J. is currently featured at www.calvin.edu; check it out. Here is the direct link. It includes a video clip on E.J.‘s award-winning project.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Scoop from Washington
Congratulations to 101-J alumna Cara Daining, whose articles have been published this summer in the Ludington Daily News and Cadillac News. Her latest article:
7-21-2005
Hoekstra camps out at work
By CARA DAININGWASHINGTON, D.C. – Pete Hoekstra keeps his battered blue sleeping bag in one of the five file cabinets in his office beneath pictures of his wife, Diane, and their three children.
Hoekstra doesn’t keep the sleeping bag prepared for trips back to Lake Michigan. Instead of camping out, he camps in.
“I sleep in my office pretty much every week at least three nights, and some weeks four,” he said.
...
Cara’s earlier articles:
Eggles testify at border security discussion
Event honors POWs, MIAs
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Grab bag
Today we talked about “takeaways” from English 101—what you will take with you from this class as you write for other classes in college and other purposes in a variety of settings. Note the changes in tone (formal or informal), person (first, second, or third person), and objectivity (rational or emotional) that these different writing tasks require:
1) Write a rejection letter on behalf of Harvard University admissions informing a qualified applicant that she will not be admitted.
Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you admission for the 2005-2006 school year. We are sorry that we do not have better news for you. This year we received an overwhelming amount of applications, most of which were well-qualified. The decision was very hard to make. Good luck on your future college plans.
-Drew K
2) Write a letter to a congregation that voted you in as their pastor by a narrow margin, thanking them for their vote and informing them that you will begin leading worship next week.
To The Congregation:
It is with my whole heart that I accept the position as the pastor of your church. I feel it is God’s calling to be at your church in this time in my life and thank God for the answer to my prayers. I will begin preaching next Sunday and gladly accept any comments or questions you may have for me. I look forward to serving you.
In Christ,
Senior Pastor _____-Jamie H
3) Write a request for grant funding from the National Science Foundation to support research on the benefits of eating wheat bread to fight cancer (editor’s note: we’re just making all this up):
Elementary research of wheat bread has shown a substantial reduction of cancer in 60% of our test subjects. However, to continue with research and development, there is still the need of $10 million dollars to expand the labs, testing equipment, and staff.
-Amanda P
4) Write a note to the buyers of the house you lived in for 30 years:
We want to wish you the best as you move into this new home. For the past 30 years we have seen our children grow up in this house and it has brought us a lot of memories. We hope that this home will bring you just as many memories and just as much happiness as it has brought us and our family. We want to wish you the best of luck!
-Megan W
5) Write an announcement to the Calvin community informing them that President Bush will be speaking at commencement, and acknowledge the fact that not everyone supports his policies.
Read what President Byker said in a press release
6) Write a caption for a cartoon that shows a squid serving sushi.
Read the winning caption in a New Yorker contest
7) Write the rest of the dialogue in this climactic scene from Return of the Jedi:
VADER
Obi-Wan has taught you well.LUKE
I will not fight you, father.
Here’s the script for the rest of the scene:
Sunday, May 08, 2005
Chocolate speech
Distinguished Congress people, I address you today to discuss a pressing issue that has long been ignored by our government for decades. I address you today to discuss an issue that should have been at the focus of our political agenda back then, and should be our focus right now. What am I talking about? I am talking about ambrosia. Ambrosia that, if managed properly and treated with respect, can fulfill the happiness of a nation. Today I want to talk about chocolate.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Parallelism in Speeches
Yesterday we looked at parallelism in three speeches from www.americanrhetoric.com:
Robert F. Kennedy’s address after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Mary Fisher’s address on AIDS to the 1992 Republican National Convention
Coach Brooks’ pep talk in the movie Miracle
Then we tried writing speeches of our own, using parallelism, for a fictional but delectable cause: the adoption of National Chocolate Appreciation Day. Below are some of our efforts…
Thursday, May 05, 2005
Chocolate Speech
Today I come before you, not as a mere citizen, but a citizen with a passion for chocolate, not as an advocate for major companies, but an advocate for a necessary change.
Today, May 5, we have a chance to make a difference. We have a chance to make a difference in every home, in every county, and in every state in our great nation. Today we should recognize that it was chocolate that brought us through history and it is chocolate that will bring us through the future.
Your chance to make a change in society, to make a change for small people all over the nation is now. Make today National Chocolate Appreciation Day.
Speeches with parallelism
Fellow Congressmen, May 6, 2005 should be the chocolate lover’s day. In times of despair we turn to it, in times with friends we enjoy it, and in times of withdrawl we cling to it. Chocolate is the backbone of our society. We need chocolate and chocolate needs us. Without this, we would not have desert, without this we would not have snacks, without this we would have to eat our vegetables. Vote May 6 to be National Chocolate Appreciation Day.
Words of Wisdom
We talked today about how wise sayings (epigrams and aphorisms) often use parallelism for rhetorical effect:
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
-Samuel Johnson
Then we tried writing some of our own. Coming to a fortune cookie near you!
“Love without perfect trust is love without perfect joy.”
-Cara D.
“Revenge may be sweet, but forgiveness brings joy.”
-Nathanael K.
“True friends have been there in the past, and will be there in the future.”
-Misty G.
“It takes a man to seek out revenge; it takes a hero to turn the other cheek.”
-Dave K.
Earlier: We re-wrote famous aphorisms to make them better or worse.
Thursday, April 28, 2005
Welcome Spring, My Old Friend
Like a thief in the night, spring comes to Michigan bringing with it warm rain and well-received sunlight. The trees are turning their typical green, a green so pleasing to see after months of grey and white. The sun shows through the clouds and lights up the afternoon like a large lamp that grandpa turns on to read the newspaper. Welcome to Michigan, Spring.
Descriptive Writing: Evan
In the back and forth battle between winter and summer, winter looks to be the victor today. After the warm, muddy spring thaw of yesterday, the snow has a lot of ground to reclaim. In a matter of minutes, the light but constant snow transforms the land from an ungly brown to a pure white. Everything is lightly powdered and frigidly cold.
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Steve Rushin on reading his writing
I meant to show you earlier what Steve Rushin said when I e-mailed him to say that I was assigning his columns in English 101. Ever self-deprecating, he replied:
Reading my columns should be suitable punishment for your students with the worst disciplinary records.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
If the Bible had been written by college students
From an e-mail forward:
The top ten ways the Bible would have been different if it had been written by college students:
10. The Last Supper would have been eaten the next morning…cold.
9. The Ten Commandments are actually only five, double-spaced, and written
in a large font.8. New edition every two years in order to limit reselling.
7. Forbidden fruit would have been eaten because it wasn’t cafeteria food.
6. Paul’s letter to the Romans becomes Paul’s e-mail to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
5. Reason Cain killed Abel: They were roommates.
4. The place where the end of the world occurs: Finals, not Armageddon.
3. Out go the mules, in come the mountain bikes.
2. Reason why Moses and followers walked in the desert for 40 years: They
didn’t want to ask directions and look like freshmen.1. Instead of God creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh,
He would have put it off until the night before it was due and then pulled
an all-nighter.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Descriptive Writing_Edirin
The snow gently falls down and blankets the Devos parking lot, like Gods little salt shaker flavoring the otherwise dull concrete floor. I am watching everything happen from indoors, but just by looking I can feel the powerful cold wind biting at my face. It causes my eyes to release icy tears that burn as I struggle to remove my glasses and wipe them away. I feel my thing rubber and cotton shoes crunching through the dry frozen soil. Occasionally I slip on a sheet of ice and then quickly glance around to see if anyone noticed how close I was to completely embarrassing myself. I do this even though the only likely audience close enough to notice or care are the Mitsubishis, Chevy’s, and Voltzwagon parked a few feet away from me.
Thursday, March 31, 2005
Megan’s Descriptive Paragraph
Outside, in the frigid March air as spring at times has tried to sneak in, but winter this year continues to force it out, keep its time, knights there to make sure it stays. Winter, showing everyone that it will be here for awhile is leaving its mark. The snow continues to fall. It is interesting though, as you look out into the distance, it looks like it is falling with such force, being thrown from the sky. But, as you look closely, it is really note the case at all. The snow if just fluttering down, swaying back and forth as it goes, it has a little speed, a little attitude, but it si not as mean as it may look when looking out into the distance. The snow as it lands is covering the earth with a sheer blanket, a sheer blanket with a white tint. At places though, the blanket of snow is bunched, folded over a few times, as in those places the ground is no longer seen. The snow is falling this march morning, much to most peoples dislike. As spring is still being kept out, we look forward the next day, where we will at least see a peek, a foot in the door, and on that one day, probably not too far away, where it will be here to stay.
Descriptive Writing-Misty
Tha snow. The light white particles fall from the sky like confetti falling at the stroke of twelve at New Years. As the cotton-like particles swirl around, vision is blurred and the air is filled with a film of grayness. As I watch one of the intriguing and unique particles float to the frozen, powder covered earth, it falls and twirls until the wind changes its course, just as if one were to blow at a piece of lint in front of their face.