Rhetoric and Reason

If I'm being honest, I did not like this project at all. I enjoy writing, I really do. And I enjoyed the prompts given to us in class about specific writing assignments. But there were a three things I didn't like about this blog project. 1. Lack of Freedom. I have been in so many classes where we've been asked to create blogs/make blog postings, so I have more than 5 blogs attached to my email. Which is ridiculously annoying. And I hate it. I wish we would have been allowed to just use one of the previous blogs as a continuation. It would have made the mess of blogs less complicated, and I would have enjoyed going through my other writings/following up on previous posts. Having to start another blog from scratch? I basically lost all motivation to be unique or original. 2. Lack of Direction. I honestly felt like there was a lack of communication between students/the professor. I was never sure about which blog posts we were doing, how many comments we had to make, ...

Put down your guns. Put down your swords. I know what you want. Just say it with words. I’ve had enough of this fight, It goes on and on. Just call me up When you’ve decided you’ve won. What is the point Of pushing us away You think you are free But no, not this way. And although it hurts To stick by your side, That’s what sisters are for. I’m here for the ride. You know it’s funny, I wrote this poem for you. It’s kind of lame, But I think it will do.

I hate reading. I hate it with every fiber of my being. Do you know why? Here is the big problem with reading: It always ends. How many more paragraphs do we have until you finish reading this? Three? Maybe four if you’re really lucky? How many more chapters until the book you’re reading ends? But we can’t stop ourselves. We gobble up the words line-by- line, page- by-page, the insatiable desire to know how it ends driving us. But then it does end. And suddenly we don’t want to know anymore, we want to go back to the not knowing so we can read it and experience it all over again. Some stories are better than others, some endings more fulfilling then others, but the feelings are mainly the same. We know the ending now. Yesterday I finished a book that made me feel just this way. Ruby Red, by Kerstin Gier was everything a book should be: confusing, daring, funny, a little sappy, and brave. I suggest everyone who loves time travel and romance to go to the nearest bookstore or li...

I have never had a collection of anything. Actually, that may not be true, as a baby my Mom collected stuffed bunnies on my behalf. As a little girl, I loved getting out all of my bunnies and taking turns sleeping with them each. When I grew out of the bunnies, I moved onto quarters—but that didn’t stay long; I ended up spending more than I saved. And then one day, we received a pamphlet in the mail for a stamp collection. The pamphlet invited the reader to fill out a simple form to receive a stamp collection starter kit, complete with 12 sets of stamps ranging from the late 50’s to present day. With the help of my mother I filled out the form and sent away for my stamp collection.             Two weeks later I received my stamps, in a neat package labeled with my name and address. It was the first real package I had ever received, and I was ecstatic. The contents of that package became my very own treasures, I got to unwrap and ...

10 People I am Grateful for: 1. My Mom 2. My Dad 3. My brother Calvin 4. My other brother Lincoln 5. My little sister Quincy 6. My ancestor Ralph Houghton, who came over from England in the early 1700's 7. My roommate Bailey 8. My wonderful Grandpa Bailey 9. My first Mission President, who taught me so much about kindness and obedience 10. My second Mission President, who trusted me as a leader 10 Places I'm Grateful for: 1. My childhood home in New York 2. The home I grew up in, in Chicago 3. The house in London I lived in for 3 years 4. The mission office in Salt Lake City 5. Barcelona in the summer 6. BYU campus in the Fall 7. Hyde Park in London, where my family would have picnics and play games 8. In the Temple 9. Cuddling on the couch with a good book and the twinkly lights 10. A bookstore 10 Books I Love: 1. Harry Potter 2. The Book of Mormon 3. The New Testament 4. Percy Jackson and the Olympians 5. The Book Thief 6. Fire 7. Pride and Prej...

1. Please remember that not everything has to be perfect. You are a perfectionist---which isn't a bad thing---but if you make it the only thing you focus on, it will become debilitating. 2. Don't forget your goals. Remember why you're working towards your goals. You're doing it for self-improvement, to push yourself, to develop skills that will stay with you for eternity. Your goals are important, don't give up on them for anything. 3. You cannot go back. If we could go back, we would be 12 forever. Or 6. Those were good ages, weren't they? But you can't, so don't waste time wishing, go and out work. Go out and fix the problem. Be pro-active for the future, instead of wasting time in yesterday. 4. It's okay to love Disney until the day you die. Don't listen to Mom and Dad, it's not weird to love Disney movies. It's awesome. 5. Somethings are just not worth getting mad over. It's a small Mormon world, and you'll probab...

I moved to London when I was 10.  The company my Dad worked for at the time had him opening up a new office in their London branch. So we moved and lived there for 3 years. Whenever people ask me about myself, or where I'm from, I have a hard time deciding if I should share this experience with them. Because of my Dad's job, we lived all over the place. I've lived in New York, London, Chicago, and now Utah. I'm not really from anywhere.  And this isn't a story about how that wandering childhood fills me with sadness for a longing for home---I don't mind having lived all over the place---it just makes the question a little harder to answer. I usually just say I grew up in a lot of places, but then people want to know where. Which brings up my problem: to tell or not to tell? On the one hand, London was a big part of my life. I had the opportunity to travel, I went to an International School, I still talk to some of the people I grew up with. It was a...

I remember when the Church began to put a lot of emphasis on Family History and the youth. To me, it started with Elder Bednar. He gave a talk one General Conference about the youth doing Family History, and made a promise that if we would, the Gates of Hell would have no powers against us. That promise has stuck with me for a long time. Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a charity event. The seating was assigned, so when I arrived I gave my last name to the girl at the desk, and she promptly told me to sit at table 16. There were a few other people sitting at our table, so my date and I started making conversation with them. I chatted with the older couple directly next to me, and found out that the husband was from California. "Where in California?" I asked---I know the state pretty well, having spent most of my childhood summers hiking through the mountains. "Oh it's a little town in Fresno, I doubt you've ever heard of it." He responded. ...

I'm feasting on tomorrow's, never living in today's.

Over the summer I made a goal to be more active and lose some weight. After serving an LDS mission I was somewhere around 20 lbs overweight, and I hated it. I hated not being able to find clothes that fit well, I hated feeling a little thicker than everyone else in my age group, I hated how I would say, "I want to lose weight" and my friends would say, "no you don't! You look great!" (there is nothing more discouraging to someone who wants to lose weight than hearing that they shouldn't bother, it won't make a difference anyways). Well, I started running. It was hard. It was exhausting. I got shin splints. I got blisters. But, I lost weight. I lost 25 lbs. It was probably the most exciting moment of my year to get on a scale and realize I had actually hit and then exceeded my weight loss goal. But here's the problem: I'm gaining it all back. Over the summer it was easy to work out. I could do it in the morning before I went to work (altho...

In class today we watched a comedian, Ryan Hamilton. The question posed was: can a comedian be persuasive? Ryan is an interesting comedian, a small-town Mormon trying to make it big in New York obviously has an interesting insight to the city-life, and he's not afraid to share it. He knows his audience doesn't come from the same background on he does, and he plays to that fact. Cracking jokes about the "sober life" and how it clashes with his social life. Although he presents a strikingly different life-style than other comedians, he does so naturally and with charisma, which made him entertaining to watch and even relate too--despite lifestyle difference with much of his audience. Everything he says can resonate with the other lonely hearts listening in, and makes them laugh in solidarity. The purpose of persuasion is to sway someone to your point of view/way of thinking. A comedian's purpose is to entertain, not necessarily persuade. To what are they persua...

I've talked about this before in this blog, but recently I did a research paper for my English 312 class. And oh man, it was a doozy. I've talked enough about the topic that I don't think I need to go over it again, but let me just share my experience about writing the paper. Writing a research paper is a long and arduous process--especially if you're a perfectionist like I am. The most time consuming process of the whole paper is probably the research. This is a research paper after all, if you don't have all the necessary information to back up your argument, your paper is automatically weakened. So here are my 3 tips for research: 1. Set a time frame: Don't dawdle on your research, but don't let it consume you either. Being able to set a strict time frame on your research will help you work effectively and efficiently when you actually sit down and start digging in. Doing research can be like watching a car accident, you don't want to actually s...

Reading has always been a big part of my life. I remember first learning how to read and thinking to myself that it was too hard, I couldn't do it, I was just going to be illiterate for the rest of my life (these were my thoughts, although perhaps not the same word choice).  I did learn to read, and it quickly became my favorite past time. Long late hours into the night with a book, my parents would have to come and turn my light off or I would never have slept.  I love the feel of the binding in between your hands, the smell of the pages is almost as intoxicating as the story within--and so I could never really get behind books on tape. I felt like I would be missing something if I didn't have the book in my hand. My brother however, loves Audible. He loves it with a capital L. It might have something to do with his lifestyle; he works construction and is always moving around, driving, and working. His job calls for early mornings and sometimes late nights. He simpl...

Writing a research paper is no easy task. The very words, "Research Paper", strike fear into the heart and soul of every college student in the Nation. At the beginning of this class, I knew it would be difficult to complete this assignment. But I enjoy writing, it's an activity that has been part of my life ever since I was a little girl. I've written short stories, essays, chapters to future novels, newspaper articles, opinion pieces and so on and so on. So, part of me was excited for a chance to hone my writing skills by taking on a big project, such as a Research Paper. Here is the secret about writing: it's actually very easy. As long as you have passion and determination, your writing can be great. Here is the other secret about writing: it takes a good idea. None of the above can happen if you're missing this one step. In marketing they call it the "Big Idea". It's the spark of an idea that fuels ambitious projects: big ideas can chang...

For the English 312 class, we are required to write a 10-page research paper about a topic of our choice. The following is an explanation of my subject: Topic: I am researching the mental and emotional effects of pornography Question: in order to better understand how pornography affects society Significance: to help the reader see the negative affect of pornography and the necessity to protect ourselves from its influence. Audience Statement: My audience is neither for or against pornography in society, they don't personally watch it, and they don't want their husbands to watch it, but they rationalize the use of pornography in society by saying it's within someones rights to view porn if they so choose. They value family, and recreational/physical activity, honesty and good values, but they are easily swayed by the voices of society claiming that individual rights are more important than the rights of a society. They fear harm coming to their family, or tragedy t...

David A. Bednar is a powerful speaker, and as an Apostle of Jesus Christ his message carries even more significance in the Latter-day Saint community. When Elder Bednar spoke at BYU Education Week in 2014, he had a unique message to share. He proposed that the advances of technology we've experienced in the recent years hasn't come from coincidence, but has come forth at a certain time on the earth with the express purpose of helping to prepare the world for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Then he invited all in the audience to begin using technology to flood the earth with the news of Christ, in positive and uplifting ways. Elder Bednar was both convincing and inspiring. His message left the reader feeling encouraged and excited to begin filling the earth with the news of Christ. Elder Bednar appealed to the ethos of the audience to prompt us to action. He began by praying for the Holy Ghost to be with us as he shared his message. It was a reminder of his position as a...