Microtheme Revision

original paper

It seems there is always another task to complete every time I need to do something else. Attempts at time management seem futile because I can never get everything done. I imagine others suffer through this predicament as well. Why is time management so difficult?

  One possible reason time management is difficult is because we may want a break or relax. Our lives may become very hectic from everything we need to get done and doing nothing may seem easier than doing something. Also, organizing a to-do list or checking the list off may seem overwhelming or undesirable to us so we may just avoid the task altogether. Another cause of poor time management may be due to distractions such as phones, television, or people. It may be difficult to manage responsibilities on top of desires and may lead to wasted time. Moreover, not understanding how to prioritize may be a possible cause of failed management and not completing what needs to be done. 

  If we could begin to understand the causes leading to unsuccessful time management, we might be able to navigate around lost time from distractions or relaxing. We might realize how our skills may not be as great as they could be and could potentially improve them. Also, recognizing there is a problem with managing time may lead us to understand how to prioritize in order to get all desired tasks completed.

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  Rewriting this person's paper made me realize exactly what I must do to my own in order write an accurate microtheme. It was a lot easier to take someone else's ideas and turn it into my own words without having to think too hard of the focus at hand. 

  Since I was able to take the ideas and form them into the experience, causes, and full public awareness, I have more confidence going into my rough draft and not as apprehensive. Revising someone else's paper other than my own makes it easier to find what is wrong and how to fix it. Using this mindset it will not be as difficult to correct mine as I will act like my paper is not mine. By doing that I will be able to focus on the specific problem and not get carried away by the general ideas.

Microtheme Challenge

  "Write a one page paper,"she said."It will be easy," I thought.

  Microtheme. A one page paper narrowing down the focus so much it is possible to forget what was the subject. For some reason I am having a very difficult time starting the process as well as revising. My first (and only right now) draft was a failure to some extent; it is evident in the draft that I had no idea what I was doing, at least with the beginning and ending. This project has deemed itself incredibly challenging, I hate copying other's formats and always strive to be original but that may not be the greatest idea for me right now.

  One aspect I have going for me in my writing is I know what the possible consequences are for constantly staring at a phone. I had many examples that I may have to compress or only say what is really important. Making sure every sentence has a purpose, not fluff, is difficult but when there's only one page to write an experience of a problem, causes/consequences, and what would happen if we became aware of that problem, there's no room for fluff.

  I can see how this assignment can be very helpful in the long term and train our minds to stop seeing general problems, or the big picture, and focus on individual, specific topics. Right now though, I absolutely hate writing it.

  The challenge with completing the paper and doing well is limiting my words, getting to the point, and ending the paper correctly. This may seem easy, read the instructions, read other microtheme papers, and finally write yours to perfection, but like always, it is easier said than done. Also, not including knowledge claims will be nearly impossible, I thought only writing speculative claims would not be a problem, but once again, I was wrong.

  With those challenges in mind I will take it step by step and only work on one task at a time rather than try and fix everything all at once. If I did try and change everything simultaneously I think I may explode from being overwhelmed and frustrated. Looking at other's microthemes may help but can possibly hinder my creativity, at the same time though, I have no idea what I'm really doing. 

  In the end though, I'll complete the assignment and it will be well done, I just need to relax and let the words flow from pen to paper and revise often. Going through that process will be the only thing that keeps my from losing my hair. 

Documentary Impact on Writing

   Documentaries work as great tools in teaching rhetorical knowledge and skill, they are considered rhetoric as well as informational.  Rhetorical materials consist of an ability to persuade or motivate and use language to leave an effective impression upon a group, this is exactly what a documentary attempts to do.  Analyzing a film's purpose, focusing on the director's intended influence on the audience, uncovering strategies and organization, and unveiling the mood, tone, and bias, helps a writer learns how to study rhetorical material as well as use it for their own writing.    

   Working with a documentary can help frame an understanding of exploring good questions and problems by focusing on specific ideas, concepts, or topics that are important in the film.  Training the mind to cover a distinct topic will prevent loading information into a paper may either cover a broad idea or not have any focus at all.  Good questions and problems about a documentary can be discussed in depth and investigated thoroughly; precise evidence, assumptions, reflection, or opinions regarding the questions and problems provide an exact focus for a paper and shows a writer's true understanding of the material at hand.

   There is great value for using a documentary as a tool to teach writing; a film has a story perceived differently by every individual in its audience because of its numerous perspectives and angles.  A writer can reflect heavily on the film or of oneself and provide authentic ideas and opinions that can be expressed in their writing.  Because of its different elements that creates a documentary, it allows various routes of writing styles from one single source and helps expand writing techniques such as a summary, rhetorical, critical, or objective analysis.

   Overall, a documentary can help expand the mind of a writer and forces them to think and write critically about what they watched.  

White Supremacists Infiltrating Law Enforcement

  Racism is an immense problem in our country; I will be the first to admit my family is not too kind towards others with different color skin, however I, on the other hand, try not to judge people simply by looking at them.  It is difficult with them constantly shoving racist thoughts into my head though. If racism is in MY house, there is no question that it is found in many other households, work, and recreational environments. I have zero doubts that racism has been embedded into our law enforcement and government as well. 

  Just yesterday I read an article "FBI: U.S. Law Enforcement Infiltrated by White Supremacists" and it sparked my interest but also made me think back to all the police brutality claims. I would like to point out that I am no expert and probably just as naive as the next person, but I'll still attempt to respectably voice my opinion and thoughts. 

  Learning world history opened my eyes to see this has been a problem for centuries because of the belief of "white supremacy" that initially started in Western Europe. Now, according to the article, there are American police supremacists, advocates of the supremacy of a particular group, and not much is being done about it. The FBI was investigating but that proved to be difficult; law enforcers fired and accused of being a supremacist have challenged the dismissals in court yet there is much evidence from some officer's text messages. The Republicans saw this investigation as an "unforgivable insult to the patriotic officers and veterans" and basically ended any further action against the supremacists. 

  I know we all have our differences, whether it be physically, mentally, emotionally, or anything else, but that means that we are all different from one another. And, we are all human beings. Superiority by right of color or heritage is a joke to me. If you work hard and get to the top, sure you have influence over someone but that STILL does not mean you are superior to anyone else. So knowing that I'm living in a country, home of the free that meant to welcome all, have policemen who are supposed to be our protectors viewing themselves as superior, makes me sick to my stomach honestly. 

  Supposably the FBI ceased action and investigation too. Why? Because a certain party of people were getting upset and protested? We have a right to speak and protest, but why would the FBI simply stop if this is becoming a bigger problem? We all need to be protected, and I would feel a lot more comfortable if my protecters didn't see themselves as macho men or women who think they're better than a civilian different than they are. 

  Again, maybe I'm just a naive little girl, who grew up in a nice neighborhood and never had anything to worry about, but I still care about other people and their equality. If someone else is not equal then that makes me unequal since I am no better than others and I do not want to be inferior to someone else. What I do not understand is why we, as human beings, in any society at any part of the world, cannot put our differences aside for the greater good, work together, and fix what really needs to be important (I won't discuss what is really important but there are definitely more important problems than starting wars with someone to due to their skin color, race, or ethnic group). 

  I want respect just as I imagine everyone else does too. But in order to get respect, you must give it. I think this will be a major problem to solve however, so many people are too worried about their pride and ego than the well being of other's (even though those same people want others to care about them). I am living in a world full of hypocrites and I am at a lost of what to do.

My Review vs. Professional Review on Project Nim

  Micheal Phillips, a movie critic, wrote a "review" on Project Nim for the Chicago Tribune.  He gave the documentary a 3.5 star rating however he didn't exactly specify why; Phillips' review was more like a summary than his professional opinion.  He left most of his emotions out of his writing, merely stating the facts, and incorporated only a few sly adjectives that expose his opinion whereas my review was only about how I felt.  I only covered a few scenes or concerns that really kept my attention when in reality much of the documentary was impacting and interesting.  I also went on to discuss the possible concerns or problems with the experiment and added my own questions to what happened and why.  Overall, my review was unprofessional and biased compared to Phillips' summarizing review.  Also, if I had thought of it at the time, I would have gave Project Nim a 4-5 rating because of how moved I was as well as how James Marsh, the director, constructed it. 

The link to Micheal Phillips' review: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-07-08/entertainment/sc-mov-0705-project-nim-20110708_1_project-nim-adoptive-humans-experiment

Project Nim Reflection

  The opening of the documentary Project Nim will forever be embedded into my mind.  Authentic footage showed a mother chimpanzee curled into herself in a corner with a baby cradled in her arms.  Nim, the infant chimp, was her sixth child after her previous five were abducted by researchers.  It was obvious to me, and surely the scientists about to sedate the mother, that she knew exactly what was going on and what was about to happen.  The anger I felt towards those researchers was and still is unfathomable.  I realize this research project took place in the seventies, but did they not have any compassion, morals, or common sense to see how inhumane that was?  With my rage boiling inside of me, my heart broke instantly at the sight, even more when I saw Nim crying helplessly for his mother in someone else's arms.

  All I could think about after that, and throughout the rest of the documentary was what if I was the mother and had all six of my kids taken away?  How depressed would I be?  I wondered what exactly was going through the mind of that childless chimpanzee and if I could even attempt at understanding what it was like.  I am so heartbroken at the thought of this and in complete disbelief that people thought that was okay, especially if they had children of their own.  Did no one sympathize with these chimps they experimented on day and night, forcing them into cages and into a lifestyle they were never meant to have?  

  The project was extremely interesting though.  The goal was to find out what went through a primate's mind and if they could teach Nim, and other chimps, sign language so they can communicate with humans.  What surprised me was how fast Nim was able to sign words and create demands and almost have a conversation with the people he made a connection with.  This should not have surprised me however, considering I knew since I was very little that chimpanzees as well as other apes are highly intelligent.  Yet I was, probably because I never witnessed a chimp learning and developing, just as a human infant would.  The similar characteristics between the two were astounding, the only difference was Nim could not make human words, had hair everywhere, and was able to climb and run.

  After watching Project Nim, I was speechless.  One question that kept I kept thinking was why did the faculties not treat the animals in a more humane way and did they not know that forcing the chimps into cages was not a natural way of living?  One chimp facility Nim was deceived into living in used cattle prongs to keep them in check.  It was a chimp prison, except none of the inmates deserved to be in or had any choice to be there.  These mammals feel, they have needs that are evident just like a human being. I was so frustrated with the lack of commitment the researchers that had a true, intimate relationship with Nim had to Nim in the end.  Sure they protested a little and was angry when the head director ended the project but all they did was tranquilize Nim and take him to a prison they thought he would stay for the rest of his days (he doesn't but they didn't know that).  Nim was like a child to them, how could they stand back and watch him suffer?  

  Project Nim was an experiment that involved animal testing.  That concept alone was a major red flag to me because I am against the act.  To this day there are ongoing experiments using animals as tools and I believe no animal should ever deserve that treatment, even if there are laws today that protect against inhumane behavior.  Also, the documentary revealed animal mistreatment--cattle prongs, cages no bigger that a couple feet wide and some feet tall, and eventual solitary confinement that was mistakenly thought of as okay.  Chimps are very social animals and are wild animals so of course they would not bend to the will of humans who were so below their physical prowess and wild nature.  

  It was admitted that the head researcher had quite a couple affairs with his students and colleagues and was one of the reasons he gave Nim to the first family.  For one, that was so inappropriate, to choose a woman he had an affair with as the caretaker of a chimp mostly because there was sexual relationship between them.  This is a chimpanzee, not a doll, and the lead researcher should have taken a lot more precautions and set up the environment and experiment better.  Along with setting up the project better, the first family that Nim was with, had no scientific experience and had no idea what they were doing when it came to providing information and observations of Nim and his development.  There were no log books or scheduled routines for a long time while Nim was growing up and that probably had a serious affect on him in the long run, even though he eventually had a more calming and scientific environment.  One last concept that I found horrendous in the documentary was when a worker at the chimp prison let Nim drink alcohol and smoke weed.  I was happy that even in that hellhole Nim found a buddy to be himself with and be spoiled again, but allowing an animal to become intoxicated, with no idea how that might affect him is irresponsible and wrong.