So, here we are. The Finale, or as they say in Pippin, “THE FINALEEEEE!” I spent this semester half-assing pretty much everything, including these blogs. Unfortunately, people don’t change. In the first blog, I established my brand as a successful slacker, making his way through the world by the seat of his pants. I don’t even know if that’s the correct phrase, and I’m too lazy to check. If you’re surprised, you haven’t been reading these. I’ve stayed true to my brand throughout this semester, and I will continue as long as the good Lord allows me to get away with it. That being said, I find myself way more motivated now that I’m enrolled in school again. I’ve been through my fair deal of shit in the past few years, and I think I’m not as over due for maturity as I once thought. This blog has meant as much to me as any mildly fun yet required piece of homework. I had some enjoyment in voicing my opinion, and hearing feedback from friends and peers. Chances are I won’t be continuing this same blog, but I had enough fun to at least contemplate creating a new one. Who knows? Maybe I’ll get famous. It wouldn’t surprise me much because I feel spoon fed sometimes. My humor definitely has potential, and my arrogance in my skills could either entertain crowds or get me killed. Only one way to find out.

It’s been real. Thanks for reading, and this is me signing off. Slut.

Welp, 13 is my lucky number. Time to see if it grants me any luck with the quality of this blog or if it keeps its ironic reputation and leaves me in the dirt. I’m so excited I could explode!

…

Well, I didn’t explode, so I guess I have to write this after all. Lets start as usual with the prompt:

Let’s revisit three or more of your classmates’ blogs. Has anything changed in the second half of the semester, particularly as we have learned to rely even more on our online communication? What kinds of things are you noticing? Maybe look at one or two that you looked at the first time I asked you to look at your classmates’ work, but also look at a few that you didn’t look at before.

You probably could’ve guessed, but the number of classmates I have in English has dwindled significantly. Luckily, there are still enough students for me to look into their blogs and mark the differences in tone, quality, and enthusiasm.

Let’s start with Han. At the beginning of the semester, Hannah immediately put heart and soul into her blogs, keeping a light tone throughout and showing that she truly enjoyed what she was writing. She told me she already had her own blog, so all the style points were from experience. Now, later in the semester, she unsurprisingly keeps her enthusiasm and her upbeat posts, showing very clearly her passion and enjoyment while keeping it very entertaining.

Next is the third member of the #tresamigos, Erica. Starting off, Erica showed just as much passion for her blogs as Han, captivating the reader with humor and quality content. Each one of her blogs is very fun and lighthearted, while also giving a great insight to how she views the world. Also like Han, Erica’s quality kept consistent as the semester went on. I still enjoy reading each entry.

The best and worst part of being the #tresamigos is that there’s only three of us. It’s awesome because we’re like the exclusive popular kids in the class, like the Three Musketeers, or the Heathers. It sucks because when I have an assignment that involves looking at more than two classmates’ work, I struggle to figure out who else’s to look at. I chose to look at Hans’s blog, because I noticed that his contrasts what I noticed in Erica’s and Hannah’s blogs. As the semester continued, and the classes switched to online, Han’s blogs fell behind in number, but not in quality. I could tell that no matter what, he kept his passion and enthusiasm for both writing and the visual effects he inserted into each entry. His blogs had so many gifs and colorful pictures that it was hard to look away. I hope I can read some more of them.

Overall, everyone whose blogs I read maintained at least some form of appreciation for their work as well as a love for writing.

Despite the title, the topic I’m tackling in this entry has nothing to do with bleach, but it does however remind me of the absolute gullibility of the American people to the point of ingesting a chemical to try and treat the Coronavirus. According to an article provided by my professor, an elderly couple (in their 60s if you count that as elderly. I do) ingested a chemical called Chloroquine Phosphate in an attempt to treat Coronavirus symptoms. They were almost immediately admitted into a hospital and are now in critical condition as of the date of the article, probably dead by now. I can’t help but be reminded of the waves of stupidity that were the Tide Pod Challenge and the Bleach Challenge, among others. These “challenges” are simple to comprehend: eat or drink whatever the title suggests and video it and you just might get famous. Unfortunately, people are so stupid that they actually do these things and ultimately hurt themselves or others. There was even a Coronavirus challenge that involved licking toilet seats and doorknobs to… contract the virus? I am baffled. How did the same species invent electricity and Calculus? My bewilderment will probably be dwarfed yet again the next time one of these moronic challenges enters the world. Anyway, these old people thought fish tank cleaner would treat coronavirus because it can treat diseases such as lupus and malaria. SHOCKINGLY, it didn’t work, because that isn’t how medicine works. Worst of all, they heard the president, who is neither a doctor nor a medical professional in any degree, say it could be a possible treatment. Of course, they believed him, because everything anybody says on the internet or on TV is one hundred percent factual and can’t be made up. I’m so tired of hearing about people this dumb and gullible.

As you can see from the lack of enthusiasm in the title, I’m not looking forward to tackling this prompt. It tells us to choose a public figure, whether it be the president, the Queen, the mayor, or the governor, and select a video of them addressing the people about COVID. We are meant to look at and dissect the rhetorical strategies and methods, as well as describe what worked and what didn’t and why. Fun, right? I’m writing these last few blogs on the very last possible due date, and I contemplated skipping this one because I can barely conjure up the motivation to write this entry, but here we go anyway.

On April 14th, Donald Trump showed a video of a Coronavirus timeline to a room full of “speechless journalists.” I have no idea why they are speechless, because the video was literally just a timeline of events, but I digress. Anyway, Trump’s method of rhetoric is visual representation. The timeline shows the effects of the virus and gives perspective to the measures Americans need to take in order to maintain a safe and secure society. Personally, I don’t see any failures in this rhetoric, at least this specific example, but I could understand if someone were to come up to me and mention a hole or two in his delivery. I would simply say that I didn’t think that way and I would reiterate my utter nonchalance toward this whole issue. There is strong and poor rhetoric alike on both sides of the coin of democracy, and I make it my top priority to make caring about any of it my last possible priority.

By now you have probably realized that it’s been quite some time since I wrote one of these entries. No, I didn’t die, and I didn’t get the ‘Rona, despite my poor attitude begging karma to give me a swift kick in the behind. Honetsly, I put these off because I can barely function with online classes, and these blog entries just happened to be at the bottom of my priority list.

Anyway, the tenth prompt is to theoretically send a message to my past self. Fortunately I have enough “life experiences” to fill an angsty teen novel with my personal drama, but that’s what therapy is for (besides draining my wallet). THIS message is designated for myself at the beginning of the 2020 Spring semester, and honestly I’m writing this as I’m going and I haven’t even given any thought to what it should entail. I would probably start by telling past me about the Coronavirus and the social distancing, even though I would never in a million years believe something like this could ever happen (I have trouble even now). People urged to stay in their homes, riots protesting staying in our homes, and the constant, albeit possibly exaggerated, threat of contamination across the globe. On another note, because I am writing this later than it was due, I’m able to tell past me about things that happened after this blog’s due date. Past me would definitely get a kick out of the whole Kim Jong-Un thing, and how the internet blindly and creepily salivated at the thought of his sister being his successor. The amount of images I saw on the internet the same day it was announced was disturbing. These random people were idolizing Kim Yo-Jong for no reason other than the fact that she was a female dictator. People will never cease to amaze me.

As far as school, I wouldn’t have much advice other than “chill out and just do your work. it doesn’t take as long as you think. You’re in school for a reason.” Hopefully the message from “future” me would be at least a little helpful, if not mortifying. I would probably bank on that too, so I would throw a joke in there too. Something along the lines of what Jim did to Dwight in that one episode of The Office. Jim got a hold of some of Dwight’s stationery, so he would send Dwight faxes from his “future self” like “don’t drink the coffee, it’s poisoned.” I think past me would also enjoy that. Of course I would have to also prove that it was actually me, or past me wouldn’t believe it at all. I’d probably say something that only I find funny.

          Here we are again, talking about Coronavirus. No, It hasn’t gone away yet. Yes, the world is still suffering. Yes, I still don’t care. I’m still annoyed that it’s all people ever talk about anymore. Nobody wants to talk about anything else, do they? It’s all “apocalypse” this and “let’s lick toilet seats” that (look it up… some a-hole actually did that). The stupidity of humanity continues to amaze me. Speaking of which, the prompt for this week is as follows:

What are the most pressing issues we should be debating in reaction to Covid-19, social distancing, and the state of healthcare in the US?

Because it is a pandemic, this virus definitely warrants some concern for certain issues. I will admit that. However, I will first reiterate my opinion that this has been blown way out of proportion by idiotic people who thought buying dozens of rolls of toilet paper will somehow save them from succumbing to the sickness. Now that that’s out of the way, I can move on to the more pressing matters that should be debated. 

The first matter, and the most important in my opinion, is social distancing. I’ve noticed that some people either follow the social distancing protocols very meticulously out of fear for their lives while others ignore every possible guideline given to them by the government with the mentality of: “It’s not dangerous, the flu kills more people, I’m going to LICK A TOILET SEAT” (sorry I just can’t get over that). We need to understand that we are being quarantined for a reason and that this virus poses a severe threat to our society if left untethered. On the other hand, people need to take a deep breath and calm down too. This virus absolutely does not warrant riots in the grocery stores over everyday necessities like toilet paper. We need to be careful, not paranoid. 

I don’t want to bother covering the politics of this pandemic, mostly because I don’t know enough about it to be very credible, so the other matter I want to cover in this week’s entry is the religious aspect, mostly how the Catholic Church is handling the virus and how various people are reacting. For instance, all of the churches in the city have closed their doors and offered daily and weekly masses via Facebook Live. While this sounds like a genius solution to most, some people dislike the idea of being away from the physical church, and complain about not being able to attend mass, despite the health risks (these people tend to be older, and therefore even more at risk of infection). Again, these people need to realize the severity of the situation and calm down until the risk ends. It isn’t worth losing your life, and I’m sure Jesus understands.

Ah, Modelo. A half-decent beer known for the “It’s Modelo time” videos. If you haven’t seen them, definitely check it out. Very funny. It’s a very popular meme between my friends and me. Speaking of Latin-esque alcoholic beverages, Corona is also a pretty nice beer. That’s a terrible segue, but I don’t get paid to come up with Pulitzer-winning writing. In fact, I don’t get paid at all. Anyway, Corona may be an enjoyable beer, but it’s a much less enjoyable virus (another terrible segue but whatever). This virus may be a global pandemic threatening the lives of old people, but I honestly couldn’t care less. I’ve been hearing about it nonstop and I’m so tired of it. I mentioned in my last blog entry that I wanted the virus to either end or kill us all, as long as it does it quickly. I still stand by that, only it’s a little more prevalent now. This thing has taken over the world, the economy, and the media. At this point, I can’t tell what’s true and what isn’t. That’s one big reason why I can’t be bothered looking up all of the news about it. One article says that a cure has been developed, another says it’s the apocalypse, and yet another says the quarantine is helping the planet become cleaner. Each news article offers different information and different points of view. I feel like these sites care more about getting views and attention than giving information. Again, I could not care less. As the cool kids say, I’m not “Down with the Sickness.” I just want to be able to leave my house and enjoy a Corona with a lime.

I’m pretty sure this week has given me whiplash. For starters, all classes for the rest of the semester (as far as I know) have been converted into online courses to avoid the spread of Coronavirus. As teachers and students alike scramble for their hand sanitizer and toilet paper in preparation for this upcoming month of utter chaos, I calmly sit in my room at my desk and patiently await for whatever this virus has to offer our mundane world. My entire opinion is that whatever it’s going to do, it needs to hurry up. If it’s going to kill us, kill us. If it’s going to fade away, so be it. But please hurry. I’m tired of hearing about it from right-wing religious zealots who stop me while I’m trying to pump gas. Seriously. Leave me alone. Also, I know this seems like it has nothing to do with the prompt for this week, but I have a point, I promise. Speaking of which, the prompt for this week:

After preparing presentation two, and witnessing your classmates presentations, what would you like to be your debate question? Why? Remember that the debate topic must be in the form of a question that has a debatable answer, rather than a statement of fact, and that the answer to that question must necessitate argument like a thesis statement.

Presentation two involved splitting the class into multiple groups and assigning each group 3 documentaries to watch. Then, we had to collaborate and present a topic based on our takeaway from the documentaries. My group was assigned docs ( I don’t feel like typing the whole word anymore) pertaining to medicine and pharmaceuticals: The Pharmacist, Take Your Pills, and Sicko. I’m not going to waste any more of my word count explaining the plots of these. They’re on Netflix (not Sicko though). Anyway, my group did our presentation on corruptions in the pharmaceutical industry, and as a prescribed ADHD patient, I thought I could bring more light onto the subject by debating a topic I understand on a personal level. As I’ve shown earlier, as well as in previous blogs, I have ADHD and my mind tends to wander when I write or type my thoughts down. I can never focus on a single task, and therefore my doctor prescribed Focalin to help my mind center on my schoolwork. The thing is, I barely told my doctor about my focus issues, only merely mentioning it during a checkup. Without hesitation, I was given a prescription for ADHD medicine. Now, she may have been able to tell based on mannerisms or how I acted and spoke, but it still raised the question, “do people, especially kids, get prescribed ADHD medicine too easily?” I couldn’t help but wonder this since then, and after seeing those documentaries and giving that presentation, I feel that this is the perfect time do delve into this topic and search for some answers.

Like the title of this entry suggests, I’m going to be talking about something I’ve always had a particularly negative opinion of: smoking. I don’t mean smoking marijuana, I only mean cigarettes (who am I to judge weed smokers?). So why am I blogging about this? Well, in class this week we went over Rogerian arguments, and our prompt for the week is this:

 Find an example in the media or news where a Rogerian argument has been used or should be used. Explain why compromise helps solve the problem or alleviate the negative consequences of choosing an extreme position. BONUS: Also provide an explanation of a warrant that is present in this argument.

For those who don’t know, a Rogerian argument is an argument (duh) that focuses on agreement and compromise of an issue rather than fighting for or against a point. I chose the debate against smoking as my example because I have noticed very polar opinions about this. Smoking is dangerous, but addictive. This fact warrants arguments from both smokers and non smokers over the freedom or prohibition of cigarettes. Of course, the arguments against cigarettes stress the dangers to not only oneself but also others through second-hand smoke. The solution proposed is to ban cigarette sales completely and force smokers to quit “cold turkey.” It makes me wonder if these people realize how addiction works (they probably don’t). On the other side, debaters say, “It’s my body, I should be able to treat it however I want.” Again, there is a complete disregard for the opposing side to this argument, because the smokers’ side ignores how smoking can affect others. Both sides of this argument, in these extremes, don’t provide useful solutions. Therefore, the best solution is a compromise, which has actually already been in practice in many places in the world: designate specific areas for smoking, and prohibit it in other places, especially indoors. There are enough smoking areas to prevent nicotine withdrawals, yet they are far enough away from non smokers not to pose a threat. Also, there are numerous campaigns to try and stop smoking once and for all by showing the dangers of it through facts and/or real life stories.

I work in construction, and a vast majority of my coworkers are avid smokers. Because of this, I developed a hatred of cigarettes, due to the smell and the pain I get in my throat when I breathe it in. However, my family has a history of addiction. I’ve been warned about it my whole life, and I’ve witnessed the effects that addiction can have on a person. That being said, I still don’t like being around smokers, but I can understand their need to smoke. Being close-minded and judgmental about the situation didn’t solve anything for me. My best solution was to avoid being around them when they smoked. They get to enjoy their nicotine, and I get to enjoy not being anywhere near it.

Don’t worry, I will definitely be referencing The Lion King in this entry. This isn’t a cop-out like the last one. I want any readers of this blog to note that this is due in around 2 hours and I am just starting. To be honest, I had no idea this thing was even due on Sunday. I thought it was due Friday and I just planned on getting a late grade, but by the grace of whatever omnipotent spaghetti monster you may believe is in the clouds watching our every move, the due date was moved to Sunday at midnight. Honestly, with that kind of luck, I should’ve gotten a PowerBall ticket. Not the point. I’m writing this blog not as a student trying (not so) desperately to get through his English class but rather as a person who has actually somewhat enjoyed this style of freelance writing on his own time, limited only by his attention span and the minimum word count. While we’re on that topic, let’s talk about this week’s prompt.

Visit three fellow students’ blogs, adding comments on at least one entry per student. For your own entry this week, compare and contrast the rhetorical styles of your peers.

I did as instructed and visited my classmates’ blogs and commented on three that stuck out to me. That’s a lie, I chose the people I knew and commented on their most recent entries. Are you surprised? I did, however, find that their writing styles were at least somewhat similar to mine. They all focused less on structure and more on captivating their audience, which I would expect from an informal piece of writing. I’m not trying to lull the reader to sleep, and neither are they. Their language is very modern and whimsical. As for content, I can confidently say that they have all put much more effort into these than I have. I can’t really help that though. I have trouble writing any kind of big piece, even if I’m enjoying it. It’s a miracle that I even get these done, as half-assed as they are. Enough with the self-deprecation. I really am proud of what I’ve accomplished with these blogs. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with my own writing, and like I said earlier, I found it enjoyable and even therapeutic. It’s nice to get these kinds of thoughts off my chest. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Time to analyze the rhetoric in their blogs and compare it to mine.

“Hakuna Matata.” It means “no worries” in Swahili (it’s a rough translation but who cares? It’s from a Disney movie that everyone loves). Much like Timon and Pumbaa, I live my life with this phrase as my motto. I have written all of these blog entries with this saying in the back of my head. It reflects in my writing that I try to keep worry and anxiety as far away as possible. With my classmates, it seems they use their worry about the assignment to their advantage, pouring their hearts and souls into each entry with no concern for scraping by for the grade. Their writings appealed to logic through clever use of language. Through emotion by sharing personal experiences. Through character by opening up to interpretation. I noticed this more and more as I read their blogs. It’s actually pretty inspirational. I felt more motivated to write this one than any of the other entries because I felt the need to say (or at least write) what was on my mind. My takeaway from this assignment is to not focus on the grade, but to write for the sake of writing.