FJ Reading Journal

-What quotes did you underline or highlight?

1.    “They prefer informal dialogue to classroom-style presentations, and they would rather have a speaker come to meet them.”

    I highlighted this because I found this to be very true.

2.    “One of the most surprising things I encountered after becoming executive director of WFAN was that even our organizational allies in sustainable agriculture don’t always understand why women need their own network within the movement.”

     I thought this was very significant because it gave the reader insight on what she was writing about and why she feels as strongly as she does.

3.”Women own or co-own 47 percent of the farmland in Iowa, and the number of women farmland owners is rising nationally.”

            The random fact thrown into the profile made her story seem even more important and showed how much passion she has for this debate.

           

-What stood out to you about this women's story?

            I liked how in the very beginning she had many rhetorical questions through out the first paragraph that opened her article. She also does not talk in first person too often. She mostly talks as if she is part of a group…which she is. Instead of saying I am a farmer, landowners, researchers, etc. she says, “We are farmers, landowners, researchers, students and advocates. I also really think it’s interesting how instead of writing everything in a paragraph view she decided to list bullets that easily describe the differences between women and men that involves agriculture. To me the bullets grabbed the most attention from me and actually made me want to read what she had to say.

-What was your personal response to this profile?

            My personal response to this profile is that I really liked how it was written. It wasn’t very formally written and it was entertaining to learn about. I think it is very good idea that women should be pushing for their concerns about food safety. I think the bullets in this section showed her argument the most on how men and women attitudes differ.

Journal over "Supermarket in California"

-2-3 quotes you underlined or highlighted

1. “ Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel?

2. “ Will we walk all night through solitary streets?

3. “What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the streets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon”

-Sensory details that stood out to you as a reader

            There were a lot of sensory details that stood out to me as a reader because of how she wrote. She wrote with a lot of questions and her questions related to sensory details that she would describe. She starts off in the second paragraph by saying, “ In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neon fruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations.” In this particular sentence she brought a lot of thinking into her sensory detail and she made the point to add “neon” into her sentence to describe the sign to add a little spark to her paper. Later on in the story she says, “ Childless, lonely old grubber, poking among the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys.” When I first read this I thought of an older poor man, who struggles to get around at the grocery store eyeing the employees to see if they were around to see if he could get away with stealing the produce. I don’t know if that is it for sure but that is what I understood it as.  Also by reading this sentence, you now have a picture who Walt William is and what he looks like.

-Observations about the writer's style, with examples from the text

            I observed right off the bat that Allen likes to use a lot of rhetorical questions in his writing to show ideas that the character is having or what the character is thinking about.  They have a lot of different questions such as…” Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automobiles in driveways, home in our silent cottage?” “ Will we walk all night through solitary streets?” These lines weren’t also questions they were also questions that did not relate to what was going on at all. They were kind of questions that just rambled on to get a point across.

-A thoughtful personal response to the content of the piece

            I really like how this poem was written. It was quick and too the point.  They had random questions thrown in to the story like… “ are you my angel?” and they have a lot of sensory detail that helps me picture the setting that these events were taking place in.

-Any questions the piece raised for you as a reader

            I would like to know why he wrote this poem and why is it a “Supermarket in California” and why is it California over any other state.

College Athlete Manifesto

Waking up at 5:30 am to make sure I am not late to 6am practices that result in the hardest fitness i've ever ran. Not to mention, it's our third day in a row of two a days and our coach decides to make us do the beep test...failure. Experienced being done with practice thirty minutes before my 8am class starts so everyone looks at me in disgust like I just got done with practice...which in reality I did. Going to class and not having enough energy to stay awake from the mornings practice, so we get the "Stupid Athlete" repuation. Since I'm asleep in class, I have to get tutors every night to make sure I know what I'm doing and to make sure I finish up my 8 hrs per week studying at the hixon. Which for the most part while i'm at hixon I take naps or I take pictures on my mac with other teamates.After my 4 classes are done with I go to rec and practice for 4+ hours. Starting with weights that  consist of attempting to do pullups...as the volleyball girls laugh at us. We Jump on boxes that will help us be quicker off the ground.I am one of the shortest players jumping on the highest box and the tallest girls is jumping on the smallest box, Some things I dont understand. After our never ending practice it's like 8 oclock and typically after we ice bath and everything else we go to dinner. Sometimes  practice gets let out to late that all the dining halls are closed. If they aren't closed we go eat dinner and then we go back to hixon. The only time i'm in my room or have "free time" is when I'm in bed sleeping dreading the idea of waking up early and starting the whole day over again.

The coolest thing of an athlete is all the free gear we get. I wear soccer stuff more than I wear my own clothes that I brought to college with me. I got new white tennis shoes and the next day they were dirty because of the track and the weight room. Soccer girls are also famous for wearing our "grey suit." when any one see's us wearing grey sweat pants and grey sweat shirt... they are always like "soccer girls are coming this way" Also we get fed alot on our out of town tournaments, and I get to experience alot of different food places.
I dont have a social life. I have been here since July and I haven't meant anyone besides other athletes. I don't go out on weekends because we are traveling and soccer is our majoy priority. When I wear something other then sweats...people ask me whats the special occasion? I don't do well on my tests because I dont have time to study and if I do have time to study I'd rather go to sleep because i'm physically and mentally tired. Not to mention, I love playing soccer. No sarcasm. I love it here and I love the life of a college athlete but it's pretty time consuming and takes a lot out of you. Wouldn't want it any other way. The people I have met that play soccer are people that I will forever care about. I love it.

reading response for Farmer Jane

-What quotes did you underline or highlight?

            “But the behind the scenes work—the seeding, planting, pruning, pinching, and harvesting of plants and animals---is still largely invisible.”

“Disconnecting, lifting, and getting pipes is grueling work---especially for a child of eight years.”

“”I would talk with other women workers, my brothers would talk to the younger male workers and my father wold also help by talking with the older men,” she remembers.”

-What did you find interesting about this woman's story?

            I really liked how even though she didn’t live the perfect life and she still enjoyed her job because it made her happy at the end of the day. Even though they struggled with civil rights and poor conditions she fought really hard to get what she deserved. She had a very hard life and she should be respected for going to school and how hard she fought. If the farming conditions improved she would be a much happier farmer and would enjoy her days outside.

-What kinds of writing techniques is Costa using? You could touch on style, organization, substance, or something else you notice in her work, using examples from the text.

            I think Costa is using good diction choices that help stress the idea of their situations. When she was talking about things she did such as “disconnection, lifting and setting pipes” she used words such as grueling to signify how hard it really was. These days on the farm were gruesome for them as children. When describing Milys academic performance she used the word “starkly” to stress the contrast between her grades and her works. When talking about Milys confidence fading as her farming years progressed…she used the word “diminished.” Basically Costa organized her paper by telling the facts as she grew up and she used good diction choices to show the impact farming had on them as an individual.

-What was your personal response to this profile?

            I personally really liked this piece because it was a time of hardship. Costa used good diction and was successful on how she organized this piece as a whole. This passage made me really think about how people work when they have a hard life. They never give up.