Everett Klodt

November 4, 2013

Blog 11

            What is Halloween anyways? (INTENTIONAL FRAGMENT FOR RHETORIC PURPOSES). To me, Halloween allows people to wear costumes throughout the week without looking like fools. Because most people grow up wearing costumes on the day of this holiday, college students decide to wear different costumes for the entire week! (A SENTENCE THAT BEGINS WITH BECAUSE). In fact, my roommate Beau and the other friends (COMPOUND SUBJECT) are not exactly fools when he and they do what other college students would consider “normal.” (COMPOUND SUBJECT WITH TWO PERSONAL PRONOUNS). However, to me, dressing up for Halloween on four different occasions is not normal! (SENTENCE WITH HOWEVER CORRECTLY PUNCTUATED). Even though my comment is no better than anyone else’s, these daily costumes are ruining Halloween by, first, not making Halloween as fun; second, exposing children to inappropriate outfits; and, third, creating way too much work for law enforcement on the week leading to Halloween. (SEMICOLON AS SUPERCOMMA). As a friend, I feel that Halloween is not nearly as fun as it was when I was younger; as a roommate, I feel that I needed to support my roommate with any kind of activity that he wants to partake in. (COMPOUND SENTENCE WITH SEMICOLON THAT CONNECTS TWO MIRRORED SENTENCES). Through witnessing and observing the friends I have in my neighborhood, October 31, also known as Halloween, is more than just a single day in the college culture; it is a week. (COMPOUND SENTENCE USING A SEMICOLON TO CONNECT A  LOOONG SENTENCE WITH A SHORT SENTENCE) Although college could ruin it, Halloween is my favorite holiday. (COMPLEX SENTENCE - 10 OR FEWER WORDS) In fact, this year, college professors allowed me and us to skip the day of Halloween. (COMPOUNDED DIRECT OBJECT WITH TWO PERSONAL PRONOUNS).

Blog 9

First off, do the Oregon Ducks really need another football uniform combination? [Rhetorical Question] Although the Ducks are ranked and sponsored by Nike and have some of the nicest facilities in the country, the pink uniforms on Saturday night seemed to be too much. [Simple sentence with compounded verbs connected with ands] However, I do believe wearing pink was for the good cause of breast cancer awareness. [“However” used in a correctly punctuated sentence] Though the Ducks were supporting breast cancer, they stole the concept from the NFL-and pulled it off with a twenty-four-point win. [Dash to emphasize the last element of a sentence] The twenty-four-point win for the Ducks may seem like a blow out to many, but would it be if you were comparing it to other point margin wins in the past? [Real question and a long sentence of 30+ words followed by a short sentence] To me, not so much.

With all of these ideas in mind, the long trip along with all the money spent was more than worth it when comparing to the alternative of sitting at home. [One sentence paragraph and using than].

Blog 8

This weekend was more than fun for me. Dad’s weekend, two days that usually include the student’s dad in activities, consisted of laying low and enjoying the events that WSU athletics had provided for us [Appositive punctuated with commas]. Although the football game was the highlight of our weekend, my Dad and brothers that attended were staying in our fifth wheel in the parking lot of Walmart. The store Walmart (Redneck’s Paradise according to my roommate) seemed to be the place to be after my brothers and I realized there were close to seventy other campers and RVs [Appositive punctuated with parentheses]. Although my friends and I seem to identify Walmart as the place to go to find some wacky people, it made my family’s weekend full of fun and free entertainment in the parking lot. The parking lot, filled with campers and tailgaters, seemed to get less fun as this Sunday afternoon started to loom on [Past participle]. As the day loomed on, and trailers started to pull out from Walmart, I realized that my dad’s weekend with my family was nearly over. What I did to remove this realization was very fun for my nine-year-old brother, play catch with the football. Even though this was fun and games for most of the time, being the oldest of three younger brothers means that some kind of argument will arise. For example, I had to settle an argument of who can throw the best kind of spiral. The quickest and best throws - the ones that create the nice tight spiral - were not easy for my nine-year-old brother, Mac, who was eager to learn how to throw the football so good [Appositive punctuated with dashes AND adjectives out of order]. Near the end of all the food we ate, the football we watched, and the games we played, it was time for my family to go home. Although most people love the location of small town Pullman, my family dreads that it is nearly a six-hour drive away. Once the fifth wheel was all packed up and we all said our goodbyes, my family was off towards the place that I call home, Vancouver, Washington; home to many of the Westside cougars!  [Appositive punctuated with a colon].

Blog 7

If They’re Darker Than a Paper Bag

Racism, through evidence and investigation, is not a phenomenon in the black culture; it is a reality [5. Long sentence connected to a short sentence with a semicolon]. Bill Duke, the director of the 2011 documentary Dark Girls, used the film to affect the lives of thousands of people based upon the color of their skin. The term racism can be defined as the hatred or intolerance of another race or other races. Because this documentary is based on a century old issue, Bill Duke argues the differences between dark and light skin issues [2. Start a sentence with a because clause]. These issues are expressed through the lives of many darker skinned women by personal experiences and comments that they have heard about throughout their lifetime.

            Although the colors of people of skins have not changed, people believe today that the action of racism has disappeared. The women in this film were chosen as if they were the ones that were the most bullied or discriminated against. One woman noticed that racist comments and occurrences are most common on the playground, THOUGH in the classroom, not as much [4. Use, though, to interrupt a main sentence]. Considering these are the spots she identifies, it seemed that she had been a schoolteacher that had solved lots of issues. One experiment in this documentary had actually shown a little girl in a private room with a counselor of some type. When asked to point to the prettiest or the smartest child, she had pointed to the whitest child; when she was asked to point to the dumb and ugly child, she had picked the darkest child available [6. A compound sentence using a semicolon, the two sentences mirroring each other, with repeated parallel structures]. The child that was obviously under ten years old was able to differentiate the two because of their skin color, white or black [3. End a sentence with a because clause]. Whether or not people have their own opinions or not, racism is an idea that needs to be stopped, especially at young ages and in the classrooms.

            Not only does this documentary share stories from all ages, it follows women who are struggling as a result of discriminating attitudes towards the color of their darker skin.  A girl by the name of Stephanie A. said that she was able to notice the separations in school among girls who were lighter skinned and girls who were darker skinned.  She said that the most hurtful comment that she had ever heard was that she was pretty for a dark skinned girl. Although that may seem hurtful, one woman was told that she had stayed in the oven too long. Even though one comment is no better or worse than the other, these comments are preventing woman from, first, attending school; second, going to work; and, third,  having sexual relations with darker skinned people [7. Semicolon as super comma].  One woman commented on that last piece by saying that some men don’t want to have black babies based upon the ways that there momma’s or sisters were treated.

            Many mothers tell their children, “treat others as you want to be treated.” In this video, the director used others to share their heartbreaking stories to transform our ideas on racism. The goal seemed as if Bill Duke wanted to change the ideas that people believed, racism has disappeared. Due to the hundreds of tears and comments that some of these woman have had and received, Dark Girls seemed to want to make their audience feel bad. Nor did they make you feel comfortable when watching [1. Start a sentence with "nor"]. Almost as if the audience was supposed to go apologize for the actions races have had towards dark people. As an audience member, I felt captured inside the hands of the director after watching this film; as a witness of racism, I felt that the director has blessed me with the capability of understanding racism and understanding peoples emotions through the process [6. A compound sentence using a semicolon, the two sentences mirroring each other, with repeated parallel structures]. The control and power that the director had on his audience was tremendous. Bill Duke’s way of capturing the audience was through the few common themes of sadness and fear. Whether or not his movie was made to make us feel depraved, this 2011 film influenced the lives of many by the voices and cries of the dark girls.

Compound Sentences Blog #6

Whether or not people believe that terrorism is an issue present today, it has still been a very prominent topic that allows people to look deeper and identify its original historical roots. The definition of terrorism is the use of violence and threats to intimidate or coerce, especially for political purposes. Although this is one definition of terrorism, where exactly do these threats aim? One example or act of terrorism occurred on September 11, 2001 on the homeland of the United States of America. The “taken” 2,983 lives left America at silence when it comes to 9/11, in fact, civilians and experts are not even sure if this country feels safer than it did a decade ago. Michael Chertoff (holder of Cabinet under former President Bush) had the courage to claim that our country is indeed safer, however, it is actually on a traumatic up rise. Kenneth Jost, author of Remembering 9/11, maintains that there is more than just a simple answer at defining the historical roots of terrorism. He insured that all of his readers understand that our country needs to be aware that the "war on terror" has been addressed; yet not improved. [compound sentence with a semicolon]

Granted that researchers and experts show that the United States is safer than a decade ago, terrorist groups are still looking and finding ways to become equal, instill fear, AND intimidate minds of innocent populations. [compound sentence with a comma, FANBOYS] The purpose of this study is to examine how the historical origins of terrorism are still prevalent today through the act of racism. The role of terrorism will be seen through an analysis of equality, through the instilment of fear, AND through the analysis of intimidation. [compound sentence with a comma, FANBOYS] As countries are constantly involved with terrorism and war on terror, participation and specific accounts of response and quick action need to take place in order to change the ways that terrorism is becoming more powerful and affecting the minds of several populations. For example, one way to tone down terrorism would be through the education of racism. [sentence beginning with a FANBOYS] Although acknowledging racist acts do not seem to be a priority when it comes to solutions, the understanding and education of how prejudices and stereotypes can affect international terrorism can help.