College Writing 2 Multi Modal

Unsupported Claims

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/even-republicans-mystified-by-trumps-voter-fraud-claims/

After the presidential election Donald Trump was a bit upset to see that Hilary Clinton won the popular vote by  about 3 million votes. So as a result of this President Trump made the absurd claims that those 3 million were from voters who are illegal and demanded further investigation on the voting polls. Even other republicans were astounded to hear that Trump was complaining about the popular vote when he had already won the presidency. Some republicans even denounced his claims about those 3 million votes being illegal immigrants and stated that Trump needed to backup those claims.

Article Summary

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/video-events-fatal-ferguson-shooting-film-46081481


        This article gives another perspective to the Michael Brown case. A new documentary claims that previously unreleased footage of the event suggests that Michael Brown didn't in fact rob the convenience store.
        Jason Pollock, one of the filmmakers of the documentary, explains that he believes that Brown traded a small bag of marijuana for a bag of cigarillos and left them behind with the intention to come back later for them. However, the convenience store's lawyers continue to deny those claims and repeat once again that Brown stole the cigarillos from the convenience store.
        Some local officials believe that the footage had little significance to what had already been widely disputed.

Reflection on microtheme

The first thing I thought about this assignment was that it was too good to be true. A one page assignment, I knew there had to be a catch. The catch was the difficulty in writing this. Trying to condense your thoughts onto one page was not as easy as it sounded. Especially when it's about something you've experienced because you just want to write more. At first I had a bit of trouble choosing exactly what to write about but after a while of thinking I chose to write about smoking cigarettes. The one thing I think I'm still having a bit of trouble on is the conclusion because it has to be open ended and it's really hard not to include a clear and concise solution to your problematic question, but overall I feel pretty confident in my microtheme.

Revision of Microtheme

        It seems as if every time I try to study there is always something else I need to do that stops me. I have many responsibilities and I have tried constantly to manage my time more efficiently but I'm never successful. Why is managing time so difficult?
        One reason time management may be so difficult might be because many people tend to take unnecessary breaks. Many people like to relax and thus they take breaks which may lead to ineffective use of their time
        Another reason managing time is hard might be that there are a lot of distractions that take place in the household or workplace. Television and cellular devices may be some distractions for some people and it may cause them to waste time for other, more important things.
        One more reason time management is difficult may be because many people like to procrastinate. By pushing things to the end it may result in not having enough time to complete the task.

        If we could begin to think more seriously about why time management is so difficult, we may find ways to improve and use our time more efficiently rather than taking breaks or relaxing.

Revising this persons paper helped a lot. It helped me figure out what to include in my microtheme and what not to include. It helped me revise my draft more effectively since I had an idea on what I was looking for. Not only did it help my draft but it sharpened my skills of revising which haven't always been the greatest, so that was a benefit too.

Value of documentaries

        Documentaries have a lot of value in terms of rhetorical knowledge and skill. It gives the writer some perspective about something that has happened or is happening in the real world. They are very informational but they still manage to captivate viewers by how interesting they are. Rhetoric itself means the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques and that's exactly what documentaries do.  Documentaries help incorporate emotion into writing especially if you can relate or have a position on what the documentary is about. With other types of film they don't really provide that, especially fictional films since they are obviously not real. These types of films help writers learn to analyze the director of the documentary and the methods he uses to incorporate the effective or persuasive speaking. A documentary is a basis of which a writer can learn the different criteria of other rhetorical work.

Reflection v. Review

        After reading the review from Variety by Ben Kenigsburg it was evident that there were some differences between our opinions and the things that we focused on in the film. Kenigsburg begins by explaining how beautifully Heineman "paints a parallel portrait of vigilantes policing two different front of the drug war." He also mentions the two leaders of the groups and explains how they depict both sides of this ongoing war. He portrays Dr. Mireles as, "a black-hat-wearing cowboy type who introduces himself to a crowd as a general coordinator of the Autodefensas." He then goes by also introducing Tim Foley, "who leads Arizona Border Recon, listed as an extremist group by the Southern Poverty Law Center." We both recognize how the actions of the Autodefensas and the Cartels aren't so different and how the Autodefensas are "succumbing to the forces it's designed to combat," since later on in the film it is discovered that some members of the group robbed innocent people. Kenigsburg also mentions the fear for the filmmakers safety which is something I never really touched upon in my reflection. However, he fails to mention the major part that the Mexican government played throughout the film. My reflection mainly focused on the tragedies that the Cartels were committing and the injustice of the Mexican government by disbanding the Autodefensas, while the professional review focused on the cinematography of the film and the danger of actually shooting the film.