Tuesday, November 3, 2009

in class freewrite (real)

On an average day of being Eric, I normally get up fairly early in the morning. I do not really care about waking up this early because once i get up then I get up. I then head to the weightroom which sometimes i like to do becasue it releaves stress. I wish i had more money in college so i can go and buy more food for my dorm room so i do not have to go to the bluu that often. I wish i could use a golf cart to get to class so i do not have to walk all the way to class. i hate how my car is parked so far away because the freshman lot is across the campus. i wish i could make my classroom schedule to where i do not hve any classes on friday. i do not think attendance policies should exsist beacuse we are in college and since all of us are pretty much considered adults, we should be able to get to pick if we want to go to class or not.

no 8 oclock classes
golf cart
attendance policies

I think these should be different because most of them are just an inconviences for students, as we all know, 8 oclock classes are horrible. i believe most students miss these classes simply because it is way to early in the morning. i bet that most people fail classes that are early in the moring.

all the people that would disagree with me are the teachers, they probably do not want to change this because it is something that have been going in our lives ever since college was first introduced to our society. i also do not think the golf carts would work because students would abuse the idea and race, crash, and damage TCU if we had golfcarts. people would get hurt and want to sue TCU if they ever did. I do not think the attendence policy will fly because teachers have their own right to decide if they want to take attendence or not.

In Class Freewrite

On an average day of being Eric, I normally get up fairly early in the morning. I do not really care about waking up this early because once i get up then I get up. I then head to the weightroom which sometimes i like to do becasue it releaves stress. I wish i had more money in college so i can go and buy more food for my dorm room so i do not have to go to the bluu that often. I wish i could use a golf cart to get to class so i do not have to walk all the way to class. i hate how my car is parked so far away because the freshman lot is across the campus. i wish i could make my classroom schedule to where i do not hve any classes on friday. i do not think attendance policies should exsist beacuse we are in college and since all of us are pretty much considered adults, we should be able to get to pick if we want to go to class or not.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Rhetorical Response 4

As I read this reading packet, I was able to kind of relate to the situation about handguns because and my family and I own guns. Although I was able to relate to the reading, I found the essay fairly different from the other essays. I found that the essay was pretty dull and didn’t keep to my attention. Unlike the other essays, this one was just giving facts about the 2nd amendment and worrying about how to get its point across other than trying to keep the reader satisfied with the writing material.

Although I do understand that this essay is totally different from the others in that it is an argument essay. So, it is required to give a lot of facts about the problem and situation that the essay has to offer. I really thought that the visual was perfect for the topic. I really liked how it was incorporated with the essay in saying that “The 1st amendment defines America, while the 2nd protects it.” I agree with this quote and I believe that it is well placed in the essay.

Although the 2nd amendment is a big issue to try to solve, I highly doubt it will ever be resolved because everyone has their own opinion and not everyone will be happy if they make a final decision about the 2nd amendment. Everyone’s views are different and there will be no way to come up with one solution that will keep everyone happy, there will always be a select few that do not get their way and will presume to argue about the situation until something changes. I believe people should have the right to own a gun but in order for that they need to go through special classes to ensure that they know what they are doing with the gun. For example, if you want to own a shotgun, then you need to take a special course in order to own that certain rifle. This is a problem because if people do not want to take the courses then they can get someone that has already taken the course to go out and buy then the gun. This is a problem because not everyone knows how to properly operate the firearm and that is when people get hurt. They take out the firearm to play with is and they end up accidently hurting someone.

This article clearly gives many facts about the argument that it is trying to make. This is a well written argument but once again it will never be defined because everyone single person has different arguments. This is a problem that will always be around and won’t be resolved. I feel the best solution is to just allow people to bear arms and make courses and such to help make sure that people know what they are doing when they deal with firearms. It is a huge responsibility to be able to own a gun and it risks your life when you own one. But people that are willing to take the responsibility are able to lessen their chances of injury or death when they know how to handle their weapons.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

In Class Freewrite

It was different from the other readings that we had to read this semester. The Man in the Irony Class wasnt the best story I had read. But i did however like how we described his life before he got all famous. I like how he said he used to "make up stuff in my bio all the time, I would make up that I was a professional skater and stuff like that."

Thursday, October 15, 2009

In Class: freewrite

one of my favorite things about the reading was the fact that we got to see the other side of the life of buda. not only were we able to see that she was a very successful singer and dancer, we got to see how she is outside of that. We were able to see that she was a very loving mother, a great painter, a great sewing, and a great drawer. Most of these things the average person doesnt know about because all they know of babu is that she was a great singera nd dancer. Also, i really liked all the detail taht was given about her.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

rhetorical blog 3

As I began to read "Home Girl," I realized that the essay was a well thought out essay. The essay was written so well that it made me the reader easy to fallow. I didn’t have to ask myself as I read the next paragraph, "what did I just read." Instead, I was able to fully understand the essay and was able to relate to it.


The author Hall made Babu play a role that was the same as Hall’s in real life. She was able to fully explain who she was all about instead of what most people know of her. Besides the fact that she was a singer, we were able to tell that she was a mother. This was explained in the very first paragraph. I really like how they put this near the start of the essay. Generally when people hear of she name they probably only think about the singer to it. They fail to realize that she was a loving mother that cared for there child.


I see very good detail when they began to talk about her assistants and what they do. The description was explained that she had "three other assistants, Denise, Sharlene, and Alfredo. They hustled around in their bare feet, cleaning, making phone calls, getting things ready for the afternoon. It was just after eleven on an October morning at Badu’s house on the shores of White Rock Lake, in East Dallas. I was there to spend a day with her, to find out just what a Dallas R&B star does with her time." This shows that she gives extremely good detail in describing her life other then just the basic singer life.


We get to see who she deals with everyday of her life like with her child or her assistants. We can tell by the details that there is much more to her life then just singing and dancing. There is the sewing, the drawing, the mothering, and the paintings. All of these details are written very well throughout the essay and it helps the reader understand the life of her other then a singer.


This essay has really helped me understand how I am going to write my essay. I learned that I need to interview the person more then once and that I need to asks basic general questions followed by more in depth questions so I can understand not only what on the surface of their life but what is underneath that really counts.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

In Class: brainstorming for essay 3

Football-dad, brother, cousin
Hunting-uncles, dad, and cousin
Fishing- friend casey
Guns
Golf-cousins
Mowing the Lawn- me
NCAA Football 2010- me
Cooking Breakfast-mom
Building things-uncle, dad, and other uncle
Washing my Truck- my dad
Sleeping- me

My dad was born february 5, 1959. he grew up in new braunfels, tx were he lived most of his life. he grew up liking football just like me. i always knew he liked the sport but since i never really talked to him about his life of football, it always made me wonder. I just about know the basic of his football career like where he played for and how many years. but i never got the inside scoop on him and football. when i lived at home, i never really asked him about his football days. instead he had always talked to me about helping me in the game of football. So, i always wanted to know about his life with football.

In Class Freewrite: Essay 2

I am currently done with essay 2. i need to just put all the papers together as far as the portfolio. the paper went well as far as writing it. It was a little rough trying to find all the research about the topix but over then that the writing was smooth. I got all my sources yesterday and i cited all of them too. I believe we had to get 5 sources and that is how many i got. the weather has been crappy this morning. I was extremely humid and hot. i hope it gets cooler before football or is will not be a good one.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

This morning was a very slow morning. I woke up at 7 and i felt like i could of slept in for a very lng time. Then i waited at the bus stop for about 20 minutes until the bus finally came. then i met a girl on the bus and she was very nice. we talked about the football game last saturday. then i walked to class and now i am here.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

In Class Freewrite

Why is the Mexico-Texas border patrol such a dangerous job? The reason I want to write about this topic is because it is a big issue going one in our society right now. I recently got to talk to my cousin's good friend who is training to be a border patrol member. He is the reason I got hooked on this topic because most of the stories he told me were really interesting. He was also talking about the training he was going through.

Why is the Mexico-Texas border patril such a dangerous job? I think this is a dangerous job because people go and protect these borders and sometimes the immagrants try and come accross the border and might do anything to get accross.

Answering this question will be benefical to me and the people who read it because we can understand the danger border patrol members put themselves into. We can better understand the seriousness of this situation so that we may help support the border patrol so that we can stop illegal immagration.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Rhetorical Response 2

Both “Tattoo Crazy” and “We proudly Brew Starbucks Coffee” are very well written essay. The thing that makes both these essays interesting is the fact that they are similar to the type of essay we are about to write about which is a personal research paper. Not only do these two essays give us fascinating facts about tattoos and coffee, it gives us inputs on both the authors’ person experience.
I think the reason this essay is appealing to me is not by the facts and research of the two concepts tattoos and coffee, but the stories that went along with it. The fact that it gives us this narrative story makes the paper more interesting to read. It isn’t all that boring like normal research papers are. Instead, it keeps us awake and eager to read the next page. I personally think that if the essay gave no input on the authors’ personal experience, then I wouldn’t enjoy reading the material as much as I did.
One of the points the author makes in the story “Tattoo Crazy” that I agree with is the fact that so many people from the ages of 18-29 have so many tattoos. This is very shocking to me but then again once I think all the people I know who have tattoos, the number it very big. Coming from the TCU football team I see so many different types and styles of tattoos that some of the players have. I would probably estimate that half of the football team has tattoos and that is very accurate to the forty nine percent the author gives us. The one thing I do not agree with the statement the author makes is the one where he talks about people who don’t have tattoos view others who have them in a negative way. I was able to talk to a few of my teammates about their tattoos and all of them said their tattoos have a meaning to them. Whether it be the name of one of their family members tattooed on their back or a cross that symbolizes God or Jesus, most people have tattoos for family or religious issues.
The essay “We Proudly Brew Starbucks Coffee” has a lot of facts and style points that I truly like. The fact that the author starts off with her own personal experience is phenomenal. I really got a sense that I was in Starbucks with them during the Saturday morning. I really liked how she explained how she would first find the perfect spot for her and her dad to sit and drink their coffee. I especially like how she explained through each sip; they would discuss the issues in their own life. I felt like this was a great attention getter at the start of the essay and it especially made me want to keep reading with interest rather than keep reading because I had too.
After the attention getter that the author gave us, she started to list the facts about the industry of Starbucks. I thought that this was really interesting and it helped give me some more feedback on what Starbucks does behind the scenes. I was really fascinated by all the facts about Starbucks and it allowed me to keep reading. Although the facts about Starbucks were interesting, I believe that the overall attention getter at the beginning of the essay did a great job on setting the tone for the essay. This style helps readings keep focused during the essay and doesn’t allow for them to get off track during the reading.
In conclusion, both essays were written extremely well. After reading this style of essay I can know understand the importance of a person research paper. These essays can and will help me write my essay to where I can keep the reading at the edge of their chairs and eager to turn the next page and read the rest of the story. I also have found out that in this type of essay, a great attention getter is key in setting the tone to the paper. If I can write a great attention getter at the start then I will have no problem writing a well written essay.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

In Class: free write

Today when i woke up around 7:15 it was extremely cold in my room. I finally tried to warm up and get out of bed to through some clothes on. After I had gottan all dressed up my roommate DJ and I went to the John Justin Center to sign in like we always do before every class. I am never really the type to talk alot in the morning because i am so tired. But DJ told me a story that kinda made me laugh. He told me that when he was signing in yesterday we was wanting to talk the elavator to the 2nd floor. He said that when he was waiting an old women can walking down the stairs and got mad at DJ because she didnt want him to talk the elevator for what reason we do not know. He said he didnt want to cause any trouble so he just took the stairs. We were talking about that it would be hilarious if he had just stared at the old women and the walk right into the elevator and moon the lady. This is obviously wrong and rude but we wouldnt really do that. It was one of those things were it was just guys.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

In Class: Questions on Essay 1

I understand what the essay should be about but i think i am going to have difficulty finishing the entire legnth. I already started the essay and it seems like it is going well. I have gottan a big chunk of the paper out of the way. I have alot of paragraphs, about 5-7 of them and i do not know if that is too much.

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

In Class

This morning was not the best morning I have been apart of. As a football player, they make all of us go and sign into at the front desk in the John Justin Center. We had to back track from going to our dorm room, to the John Justin Center, to going back on the other side of campus to come to this class. I did not get a chance to eat breakfast but I normally do not anyways. I keep thinking about this weekend because I have a feeling that it will be fun. I am going to my cousins house back home in Plano and we are going dove hunting and striper bass fishing. Saturday is meet the frogs day and I invited my cousin and his little 3 year old son Brody to the practice. I think he will have a blast and I am happy to get a chance to hang out with him. My mom and dad are both going up to visit my brother at Notre Dame on thursday. Nick, my brother, has his first college football game this saturday and I am happy that my parents are going to be able to witness it. He won the starting job earlier last week so it looks like he will have the opportunity to start the Notre Dame football season off. My parents will come back to Texas on Sunday night so I believe I will stay with them at Plano sunday night and hang out with them most of the day on monday. Well that is it with this post and I cannot wait for saturday to come.

Monday, August 31, 2009

The Biography of Blake Stone (rhetorical response 1)

I thought the overall essay was well written. The fact that the author was fresh out of college and won that award is great. When he first started off the story I was able to visualize everything, especially the people he described. The fact that he used descriptions such as "Blake Stone had slate blue eyes and black hair that gleamed" made the reading more enjoyable. I was able to picture each and every detail in my mind so that I could have a clean image of what Blake Stone really looked like. This awesome description that the author gave us allowed me to be engaged in the reading. Normally when I read an essay or novel it is extremely hard for me to pay attention and keep up with the material. In this case, that was not the problem at all. I was able to complete the reading in one sitting without stopping to take a break. Every time I finished a page I was anxious to start the new page. I liked the way he was sneaky every Friday at his grandma’s house. The fact that he would wait until one in the morning playing video games on the computer then turning on the chat was genius. The ways he described himself in the chat was also mistake free. He was charming online rather than in real life. This made it seem like he had two personalities. But as I thought about it a little more, this is how some people in the world are. They act totally different but when they get online and are not face to face they can act completely different. The words “you look dashing today” to talk about Anne a good example how Blake was being totally different. Besides the fact that this is a good essay, this goes to show how people on the internet can be misleading. Some may seem like they are the nicest people in the world but once you get to meet them face to face you find out that they are the biggest jerks in the world. The reason for this is anyone can act like anything when you put them behind a computer. Another prime example on why the internet can be misleading is that people are “only accessible in 12 point font.” This goes to show that no matter how honest people may seem, they are not who they say they are. During this essay, it is obvious that when Blake joins the chat Masquerade Ball everyone online is some random person. It even says in the text that nobody knew anyone outside that chat room. This shows how the internet can also be dangerous because you can never fully understand who the other person is that you may think you are talking to. It shows that when you are on the internet, you can’t trust anyone. You can’t make final judgments on people because you don’t know who they really are. Blake came across calenderGal as an honest person. She finally spilled out and told the truth to Blake. She said she was “just a fat 32 year old women from Georgia, a person that you wouldn’t want anything to do with in real life.” This part of the story caught me off guard because I did not expect her to be completely honest like that. I didn’t understand why Blake just signed off. Then again Blake probably did not know how to deal with the problem due to the fact he was only in middle school. To be honest I probably would have done the same thing. The fact that he was 12 and that there was a 32 year old woman trying to be with Blake would of freaked me out also. This shows that people can be very gullible over the internet. Here, a 32 year old girl thinks she is talking to a man and is thinking to herself that she might get a relationship out of this conversation when all she really gets is a 12 year old kid running away. The message I think this story has to offer is that people should just be who they are and not try and change something about then over the internet. People should not be ashamed of who they really are. Also, even though nothing bad happened to the internet users during this essay, that doesn’t mean that it won’t happen in real life. People should not trust any new person they met over the computer.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

List of Authorities

  1. Football
  2. Hunting
  3. Fishing
  4. Guns
  5. Golf
  6. Mowing the Lawn
  7. NCAA Football 2010
  8. Cooking Breakfast
  9. Building things
  10. Washing my Truck
  11. Sleeping

I became an authority on hunting because I was taught at a very young age. Hunting on my family ranch in New Braunfels has been a family tradition since 1884. My dad is the main person that helped me become an authority at hunting. He took my on my first hunting trip when I was 5 years old. I had the best time of my life and I still remember that expierence to this day. Ever since then I have gone hunting at our family ranch every year and I plan on hunting for the rest of my life. The reason I love hunting so much is not so much of harvesting the deer but just getting away from all the worries in life. When I am in the deer stand I forgot about all my problems at home and in school. I can just relax and have the most peaceful time of my life. Something about waking up in the morning and watching the sun rise over the hill country tree line just makes me feel like there is not one worry in my life. Another reason it is my authority is because of the people I am around when I am at the ranch. My aunts, uncles, cousin, brother, and parents all gather at the camp house to relax and hunt. Those times of my life are something that I will remember forever.

In Class: Free Write about Writing as Inquiry

There are alot of motives for writing. Writing inquiry means that someone can look beyond their thinkings and write what you really feel. Some people write because they have to and others write because they like to. For the people that write because they have to they are probably not going to be writing that well because they are forced to do it. Usually when someone is forced to do something they dont want to they tend to not but forth the full effort. But if someone writes because they choose to then they will probably put forth alot of effort so their writing is really good. Most people have been taught to write since kindergarden and first grade. So, when they get to college most people have already learned how to write for the most part. But, that doesnt mean first year college students are expert writers. Many people have beliefs that either aid or provide obstacles towards their writing. Some of it can be a postive influence towards someones writing and the other can be a negative influence towards there writing.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Letter of Introduction

My name is Eric Tausch and I am from Plano, TX. I am currently a freshman at TCU and my major is undecided. I play football for TCU and my hobbies consist of hunting and fishing at my ranch in New Braunfels. I came to TCU because I was offered a football scholarship.

If I were to become the Chancellor at TCU some of the things I would change about TCU would be to renovate some of the dorms on campus. A good teacher is someone that makes learning fun. Teachers who are good tend to care about students and their success in the classroom. On the other hand, a good student is someone that comes to class everyday ready to learn. If I could have dinner with any three people they would be my Opie (grandfather), Opie Pape (great grandfather), and John Wayne.

Three things I want you all to know about me is that I have one older brother who is the kicker for Notre Dame. I have one dog which is a golden retriever and his name is Cody. My family background is 1/2 german and 1/2 polish. Some things I want to know about you all is maybe where you are from, what are your hobbies, and whats your goals for college.

I am simply in this class because it is required. I would like to be able to write flawless papers when I am finished with this coarse. Some of the other types of writing that I do is facebook, email, texting, and note taking. I feel that these are other ways of writing other then the traditional essay. Sometimes the way we write on facebook and when texting may harm the way we write papers because we tend to use impromer grammer.



I have read, understood, and agreed to the terms of the course syllabus.