Blog #5 My Discourse Community

Tanning By My Pool >>>> Adulting...ugh.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel that the idea of a "discourse community" is a little overrated, but I'm not saying that isn't not an important concept, its just... they are making it way too complicated that it really needs to be. 
After reading Swales, which by the way, took a couple of tries because my eyes kept glazing over the reading and I kept dozing off from how hot it has been... (i would just much rather be laying poolside or at the beach...which is what i was doing earlier... than be a responsible adult right now) anyways.. 

A discourse community seems to be defined as a professional community who adopted a form of language to better their means of communication within that professional community, to either make a process more efficient or to keep their language confidential within the business. The prominent idea that they want the reader to understand is that this form of language is not for "social" matters, but it is strictly used for professional behavior and matters.

(I'm above the guy in the blue shirt...if you were wondering)

1. 

A group that could potentially qualify as a discourse group based on Swale's six characteristics could possibly actually be the cheer community I am affiliated with, CheerForce California. 

Based on his first characteristic: a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals, which in our case, our goal is to be the best gym and group there is out there. 

the second characteristic says that a discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. This one has some gray area because cheer has a different style of language all around; however, most language is similar from different cheerleading companies.  For example, if i were to say "i have a scorpion," many people would think I actually have a pet scorpion, not a "body line" that is used for flying. Even right there, if i said "I'm flying," I'm not actually going on a plane to fly, you guys get it. 

the third characteristic, a discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. Here this is where competitions come into play, since our feedback comes from other teams and judges feedback, using the same form of communication we use regularly. 

the fourth characteristic: a discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. Cheer has many different genres, starting with "sheet music," per say. With routines, everything is choreographed to 8-counts, and the language and style of writing is used with language specifically related to skills, stunts, jumps, etc. 

the fifth characteristic: in addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired some specific lexis. as stated above, there are many different genres used, and the lexis that is used in terminology related to what we say, do and abbreviate. for example, a "double back hand spring tuck" is abbreviated as "two-to-tuck" or a double backhand spring full is a "two-to-full" or back handspring is simple "BHS"...a double back handspring layout is a "two to lay..." the list goes on. 

last but not least, number six: a discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discourse expertise. Our threshold of cheerleaders and members is limitless, theres a lot of us. the discourse expertise expands through time involved in the cheer community, the longer you are affiliated, the more you understand the langue used. 

After my thorough analysis on this, yes, I do, in a way, believe this is a type of discourse community; however, some of it can be questionable, but the characteristics swales provided does, technically consider this a discourse community. 

Blog 4: Most People Don't Like My Opinion...

The Kid I'm Babysitting in a Nutshell...

Seriously, Your Parents Didn't Die...

Before I begin this blog, I would like to share with whoever is reading this, that I am currently babysitting a 3 year old child... who is from France (barely knows english, let alone still learning how to talk), met the kid 2 hours ago... and to say the least... based on his stamina of screaming, it's going to be a long night. I was in the gym two nights ago, and this random mom ran up to me saying "OH MY GOSH! ARE YOU KATIE?!" and I said "That depends..." and somehow she found out I nanny my coache's niece and what not and somehow she managed to sign me up to babysit her son... 

with that being said, i sincerely apologize if my opinion for this blog is a little stronger than what it should be. 

These Poor Parents...

to begin! for the JSTORs, I started off reading "The Politics of Kindness in 2016," because maybe I can find a way to be kind to this 3 year old who is screaming his brains out...poor guy. But as i began to read, I later realized this is a political statement, nothing to do with genuine kindness. Sorry kid, I tried for you. For the "ethos, pathos, and logos" for this Political kindness blog, the author demonstrates ethos by using quotes from credible sources such as ABC, the president, Obama, etc. However; some of the examples that were provides had my jaw drop. For example, the homeless man who was forced to say " I'm the loser who couldn't find a job" to be fed had me thinking what people would do to themselves to survive...
moving on! The next JSTOR i read was "the black death, why we must watch citizen videos of police violence." based on the title, I'm not sure about you, but I watched a single video a few months back, and I cannot get myself to watch another. its too heartbreaking for me, it makes me nauseous. But the author is right on a few things, society today is still notorious for stereotyping specific nationalities and cultures, we all do it. the author uses pathos greatly here defining the history of violence, and it is something we should all be aware of. 
the final JSTOR i read was "stronger things" and the psychic nosebleed. what was interesting to me in this one takes me back to another class i am currently taking, HIST 406, History of Sexuality, and we currently are talking about the patriarchy society, where men overpower women. at the end of the article, the author acknowledges that in all three sources, men overpower young women to take over the world. and it made me realize that even though women have a lot more power in todays world. men still are seen as superior and the ones who hold their ground, and women are seen as people who need to be protected. definitely an interesting article. 
Update.. he is still screaming... 
Moving on to the editorials, i started with "Liberals are the start of people who..." I had to click on it because below it says "this is a very conservative website..." I was already laughing when the editorial started off with how Liberals are the type of people who eat cheese burgers and are simultaneously writing a hate letter to a person who killed an animal.." classic. I am personally a liberal, and to see an outside point of view from a conservative member, I obviously do not disagree with any of what is said here; however, I did find it extremely entertaining. At the end, we are asked "who ruined america? The liberals..." and it goes on and on, and I am proud that this author is capable of taking his feelings onto paper and find some common ground with what is bothering him... and as a Liberal, I shall take the higher road, and I apologize for my people. 
Moving on! On a more serious note, next editorial I read was "Criminal rape cases should not be on a ticking clock" The author explains how there were over 50 women who came out and reports their assaults, yet they have not been filed completely. The editorial argues that the statutes of limitations should be eliminated by all states, and not all states have taken this step by signing. I agree with this because sexual assault is serious crime and all individuals who are victims should have the right to stand up for what happened to them and make peace to the situation. 
last but not least, "donald trump's bet: we are all chumps" is a great title for starters. to put this editorial in a nutshell, Trump should probably get his life together and get that paperwork so people can stop complaining about his lack of documentation. ]
That is all! Time to see if coloring with the little guy will make him happy :) 
have a good weekend everybody!  

Katie Gerstenberg: Blog 3, Memes

I decided to read Davidsons's "The Language of Internet Memes" and besides the hilarious memes that he included in his writings, I was fascinated by his ability to correlate biological genetics to internet memes, like who does that? He explains how there are two zebras, both genetically coded with one having long legs, and the other coded for shot legs. while they are being chased, the short legged zebra gets eaten because s/he ran slower than the longer legged zebra; therefore, there are more long legged zebras in the world today. Or, in other words, "survival of the fittest." In relation,  "memes rely on the mental processes of observation and learning" (121). So while the long legged zebra is capable of being passed onto a new generation, successful memes are capable of being replicated into a new organism in a new generation, and could create new, funnier, better ideas.
SO I decided to analyze Bill Lumbergh from Office Space (1999) and I took memes and saw how they have changed over time, in relation to school memes!

Katie Gerstenberg: Blog 2

My experience with genre writing is a tad unique. I did not start learning about different types of genre writing until I began college four years ago. Back in high school, I attended a prestigious catholic school, Cathedral Catholic High School. I'm not saying their views were "narrow minded," but everything seemed to be their way, or the high way. Everything I wrote was professional, strict formatting, perfect, or else you did not receive the grade you had opted for. When I started college, I learned about several styles of writing, and I absolutely loved it.
Referring to the reading Devitt, I find it admirable that it was noted that it was acknowledged that "as rhetorical forms that come to feel normal, genres seem too thoroughly ideological to be taught in classrooms that aim to enable students to create their own universes within their existing political and social structures" (340). This caught my eye because teachers and professors can guide a student to become a good writer; however, their own ideas, experiences, and memories are what creates that outstanding paper. Each genre comes with a guideline on how it should turn out, but each individual adds their own "spice" to the paper that cannot be taught, for interpersonal experiences makes a genuine, unique, credible paper. My experiences with genres is that I was never allowed to be personable due to the format and expectations that were carried out throughout my time in high school. With that being said, I am looking forward to the opportunity to expand my knowledge on writing in this course this semester.
To me, Devitt describes "genre" as an umbrella term that is filled with social, cultural, individual, historical ideas and norms. Genre is such a broad term that provides all opportunities to expand writing to get a point or story across. Now that I have spent four years in college, I have been given several opportunities to expand within genres. For example, in my upper division courses, I write several research papers in APA format, and in other lower division writing courses I have been given a chance to write other styles of writing such as persuasion, philosophical, and so forth. Outside of school, I have written several personal stories, and I have written documentations for legal purposes. As I take my next step applying for grad school, I will be perfecting my cover letter, and asking professors to write me letters of recommendations. I will be writing papers on "why I want to be affiliated in this graduate program."
Devitt explains the idea of genre awareness and how important it is by correlating it to our own critical consciousness, "developing genre awareness is no easier than developing any other kind of critical consciousness" (348). Devitt explains that once a genre is learned, the goal is to use it at a level where its natural to step into that genre and write and discuss it. Genre awareness is critical because the more we are familiar with the style of writing we are writing and reading, we can develop a better relationship to the author, or if it is us writing that genre, we can help relate to the reader.
In my personal experience, the more comfortable we are in a style of writing, it is easier to get our point or story across when we are familiar with what we are doing. My first time writing in any different environment makes me feel like a robot, but over time and the more I right I feel at ease and can actually get my thoughts and feelings across.
Thats all I got on Devitt!
Thanks for reading!