Author: Nick (Page 1 of 2)

Chapter 7: So What? Who Cares?

This chapter is all about answering these questions. We start with why these question are important in the very first place. Reader cannot always answer these question on their own. With this in mind, the writer will have to answer these questions and make it clear to the reader why whatever is being talked about matters. Transfer into the questions themselves. Who cares is about who should care and so what is why it matters. These are important to actually get/keep a reader engaged. There are some templates for answering both of these questions within one’s writing. Wrapping up is a disclaimer. You do not need to explain why something matters for everything.

I read this because I tend to struggle with the why’s of these essay. This is typically because I do not see why whatever it is I am writing is important or why I should care about the topic. With this in mind, I thought I would give this chapter a read.

So what happens next? Well I am disregarding the advice of the book. Not all they way, but I am concluding with “we should not care about this.” My grounds are that there are people who care when they really should not. When it comes to life, tell stories or don’t. It really doesn’t matter and no one should care if someone does it one way or the other.

Revision Strategy Plan

#1-Goal: Make paper not terrible [Hilarious, I know]
Sub-Goals: Expand on ideas I already have and play with different communication modes.

#2-The Plan
1. Draft paragraph I wanted to add
2. Review all paragraphs
4. Move paragraphs here, there, and everywhere until it works
5. Introduce other modes of communication
6. Move those modes here, there, and everywhere
7. Have someone else read it to make sure my point is actually getting across and modes I used actually make sense
-If not, go back a few steps
8. Editing for sentence and word level error
9. Product

#3-Challenge
1. Motivation
2. The amount of time I have
3. I missed things that need to be fixed

#4-Over coming
1. Moral support [literally anything to help me write this]
2. If I am short on time, I’m just SOL
3. Literally anyone willing to read my paper but is also pretty good with English and grammar

Notes: If I have the ideas in place as well as everything written up, the other modes will not be a problem. I like using other modes in my work just because it makes an interesting paper.
This paper will come no where near where I would like it to be, and I have to accept that.

I would first like to address the title of Galen Strawson’s essay. I find myself agreeing with the title “I am not a Story.” We, as individuals, are not stories; we tell stories. Stories we tell about ourselves are not us. Those stories are only reflection, or evidence even, of who we are. Most, if not all, people like telling or listening to stories. Some stories have lessons, think about classic fairy-tales, and some stories are about learning more, think of conversation in terms of learning about someone or a lecture for information. These things can help us understand the world around us and understand ourselves. That is why we tell stories.

I find the idea of a life story kind of dumb. At least in the ways I have seen it presented. The whole rewriting aspect really throws me off. It kind of makes me thing about 1984 with the whole changing the past thing except it’s one the individual. I understand conceptually people are not typically changing how they knew an event happened, but I can’t help thinking that. Even so, the rewriting of a “life story” is a reflection of the changes a person has gone through since the last time it was rewritten.

One of the main points in Strawson’s essay was about having multiple selves. It is an interesting concept, but I can’t say I’m 100% on board. Although I’m not 100% off-board either. It would have to be something I think about while in the shower or something to make some interesting conclusions.

Annotations:

There weren’t many things that made me more attentive to Julie Beck’s article “Life’s Stories,” but there are some ideas I found interesting.  One of these ideas was the difference in story-telling and listening as we grow older.  Younger kids just follow the plot; their young, it is harder for them to comprehend things. Older people can actually follow changes in character i.e. character development. I find this to be absolutely true, but the time frame is odd to me. Saying an 18-year-old would not appreciate Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton is dishonest. I, as being 18 at the time writing, have not read this book. However, I do believe people my age could find it to be a fabulous book.

Another point is about “redemption stories” and how not everyone can live that way. I don’t believe this to be true. In a person’s life that may not achieve a much better situation, but they can definitely work towards even a slightly better situation. It would be harder to do compared to the more “privileged,” but I believe it can be done, at least to some degree.

One of last points I found particularly interesting was about “highly generative people” and narcissists and their modes of story-telling. I believe stories should be told in a mode between these two. Generative people tend to tell stories about people who have helped them and narcissists tend to tell stories about themselves. I think a mix of these two is best because it shows that we can all use help but on the other hand we have to do things on our own as well.

Annotations:

Do you see any patterns?
Not really. I suppose it is mostly contrast connectors, but there are some other transitional words/phrases. I do say trout a lot because I stuck with the same example.

Do you rely on certain devices more than others?
Apparently contrast connectors mostly.

Are there any passages that are hard to follow-and if so, can you make them easier to read by trying any of the other devices discussed in this chapter?
Highlighted in yellow is where there is a hard transition to an idea that isn’t related until a few sentences later. I don’t think it’s hard to follow necessarily, but it is a bit hard. I’m not sure if any of the listed devices from the chapter would help. However, it could probably use a tune-up.

Possible Thesis:

Science has greater importance in aquaculture than the arts do, but the arts have their place.

Possible Claim Sentences:

There is research science in aquaculture that art cannot touch.
What will keep aquacultured organisms alive: art or science? Scientific practice will be more helpful in raising these aquacultured organisms.
Art has its place in aquaculture.
Does art really need to be taught in schools for someone going into aquaculture? I do not see why that is necessary.

Spit-balling

Aquaculture is the cultivation of an organism or organisms in an aquatic environment. My type of aquaculture is simple fish-farming.  Science would prove to be very useful. Studies on how to culture some organism is going to aid me in how to aid that same organism on my own. However, there is no perfect guide on how to culture anything. Any aquaculture is going to need some improvising. This would involve creative use of available materials as well as creative and quick thinking. Fish farming isn’t research science, so it does not need to be as particular as research science. Fish farming is science in practice; it is meant to be practical. If your fish is growing and is healthy, keep doing what you are doing because it is working.

However, figuring out how that works falls into research science. Research science in aquaculture must follow the scientific method. Without the scientific method, we are subject to the whims of our minds and the mistakes it comes with.