What I Learned

            The documentary project was an unquestionable learning experience in all aspects of writing. From rhetorical context all the way to mechanical issues, the project was a learning experience. In previous writing classes, I have had the opportunity to write summaries. After writing this documentary summary, I feel as if my other summaries were incorrect. If I recall correctly, I remember including some analysis within my old summaries. dr. kyburz constantly drilled in our heads that summaries can not contain any analytical information, so my eyes were constantly on the lookout for analysis. Also, I learned that this assignment asked for critical thinking skills. Not only did I have to focus on excluding analysis, but I also had to worry about not including too much or including details that in reality are not important in the summary. Creatively, stronger verbs to emphasize the film's impact was also needed to strengthen my paper. As far as genre goes, this was difficult. Because  I could relate to the topic at hand to an extent, it was difficult to not analyze and include emotion within my paper. I learned that the genre does set the tone of your own writing whether it's noticed or not. Mechanically, the use of present tense verbs was a must in order to keep the paper on a consistent path. Overall, the assignment did well in teaching me what summary really is. Although i had prior experience, I felt like I actually learned how to do it for the first time and correctly as well.

Doc Summary

       Honestly, the documentary project is working well. The documentary I chose to watch, Cartel Land, is very interested and mind grabbing. Being Hispanic, and of Mexican decent, I can related to a lot of things that go on in the movie. Except the drugs. While I was watching the film, I actually took off the subtitles that translated the film back to English. Because I speak Spanish, I did not feel the need to have the annoying subtitles obstructed some of the view. All the slang and the bad words spoken within the movie, only made me understand the film even better. While the captions were still on, however, I noticed that there was a slight variation in translation. Good or bad, the subtitles don't necessarily provide the most accurate translation. When it came to writing, the topic was very easy to address and come across. A problem I did encounter was definitely not trying to analyze. Because the film essentially depicts what I have seen first hand or see a lot of on the Mexican news, it makes it very easy to want to come up with a conclusion or pull something the the director did not necessarily include or say. Getting the analytical part aside, summarizing the film was a breeze because as I mentioned before, I can relate to these topics and have seen its effects first hand and is clear to have taken over the country as a whole. I hope to further expand on these types of topics. To get a student to do well, the topic must be of interest to them, and I feel I did a good job. I felt connected to the topic and because I could relate, I was able to one enjoy what I was writing and do a good job on it.

"This Is Water" Post

                "This is Water" video definitely leaves the viewer with a lot to think about and provides us with a new perspective. This video relates to rhetoric in so many ways. The most noticeable factor included within the video is the use of animation. The song, the way the words move, and the interaction of those words effectively move the audience's attention to what the director wants them focus on. The purpose is to get the audience to understand that we as judgmental individuals, are not aware of what others are going through. The words follow the rhythm of the music in order to establish the current mood of the video. When the speaker was discussing serious parts within the film, the words seem to get slower, and when  the film reached an important part the music seemed to escalate. Rhetoric is a strong tool used throughout the film and is clearly effective in persuading the audience. Also, a strong tool utilized is the speaker's way to switch the mood of the film. After discussing the possible problems those in the market had, he begins to justify what our true purpose of our education is. To me, that was extremely impacting because we spend thousands of dollars for 4 years of our life for something that means much more than receiving a diploma. Our education teaches us how to think and how not to fall into "default setting." This persuades his audience, at this commencement speech, that what they hold in their hands is so much more than a diploma. Rhetoric is effectively used to move the audience to realize that the world is much more than them and is not about them, and thinking is critical.

Trump in Mexico

       2 days ago, Republican candidate Donald Trump and Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto met in Mexico City to discuss various types of political issues. Something seemed to be missing during the unprecedented visit to Mexico by Trump. The wall. From what almost seems to be the campaign slogan, a lot was left unspoken during both politicians visit. Although Trump did mention the wall in Nieto's presence, the talk fell short from what was expected. Nieto stated that what he wanted to establish was that Mexicans were not what Trump had said they were citing that Mexicans are hard working individuals who value their culture. Again, Nieto has shown great weakness to not only a potential new world power, but again, sadly, to his people. Nieto has the worst approval rating by citizens in years and him not taking control of their meeting, in his own country, did him no good. On the other hand Trump showed his robust figure and ran the speech and came to Arizona to deliver a strong speech to his supporters. Hillary Clinton's campaign strongly criticized Trump by saying he "choked." As the election gets closer, things are starting to heat up more and more.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/hillary-clinton-blasts-trumps-trip-to-mexico/

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/01/politics/enrique-pena-nieto-op-ed-donald-trump/index.html