Edward Hopper and House by the Railroad

Rhiannon Austgen


After reading Hopper's poem, I was overcome with emotion. At first I felt sorry for the house, I thought about how I would dread the feeling of being alone and abandoned, then as I studied the painting I began to reminisce. The painting reminded me of a time I felt alone and abandoned. What stood out most for me was the emptiness around the house as if there was no one that wanted to be around this poor old house. Everything from the architecture to the color of the paneled walls made this house bring despair to my heart. Like the painting, the poem also gives many descriptive details of despair. For example how the poet used the words desolate and desperate so many times gives you such a descriptive image of how lonely and abandoned the house must feel.

River of Names

Rhiannon Austgen
11 September 2012
Writing and Rhetoric


I really enjoyed the excerpt because it really called to my emotions. The feeling Allison had put into it made you feel as if you were there, as if you could feel what the characters were feeling. I especially liked the flow of the excerpt.

The Uncommon Life of Common Objects

Busch explains how objects get their value based on the experience they go through. For example, I went to Paris over the summer and when I returned I brought back an immaculate pair of black and gold diamond shaped earrings. Those earrings have gone everywhere with me ever since. I love those earrings and I will cherish them forever. These earrings are completely fake so they have no retail value but because I got them in Paris and the experience I had in Paris made me love and cherish them.

I find this point that Busch makes is very relatable because I have made value for something that wouldn't have another value to anyone else unless they went through the same experiences that I did when I went to Paris.

Ordinary objects becoming valuable to the beholder is a great way to appreciate the things you have. It helps people understand that money is not the only thing that can make something valuable. This is a point that Busch does not make but I personally believe.

Rhiannon
9/18/12
Magazine review

During our class on Tuesday we discussed the texts we brought in as a group. Each narrative was very different and interesting. I personally had a narrative coming from a male "host" at a strip club. In my opinion, this specific narrative was really neat because of the difference of perspective. Usually, when you think about a strip club you think about the dancers or the customers, so having a different perspective was really interesting to read. Garret's narrative was very original, it spoke of a woman who had a brain disorder and her daily struggle with it. The disorder was called prosopagnosia which is a hereditary neurological disorder. This class period was very interesting.

Journal 3

Journal 3
Seeing 1 and 2
Rhiannon Austgen


Seeing 1
The first thing I see in Osorio's photo are the small baseball cards covering the entire bedroom wall. Other items that draw my attention are the bike in the middle of the room, the basketball lying on the bed, and the fists on the bed frame. Things I notice about these objects is that they all relate to physical sports. Osorio brings the typical male culture into this scene. Typical male culture includes things like the color blue, sports, trains, and other mechanical items. Obviously, I can infer from this bedroom that the teenager loves sports and being athletic. Based on the details in this photo I can infer that Osorio's photos and very generalized and synthetic.

Seeing 2
In my opinion, Osorio's photo doesn't capture realistically what a male teenager's bedroom looks like. It seems to generalize what all teenage men are interested in. Specifically, he generalizes that all teenage boys are interested in sports like, basketball, baseball, and boxing. This bedroom could be described as a fictional not fantasy bedroom because most families can afford a room with so much decoration and specific memorabilia. The difference between fiction and fantasy is that fiction is unrealistic but can very much happen, whereas fantasy cannot ever happen, it usually is just an image of the imagination.

1. In my opinion, Cole finds it "magically seductive"that it could have been so easy for us to be born as either a tiny bug, or a large animal. He finds that all different living organisms on the planet view the world in a different way and he would want to live a life in all those different ways. Though I do believe that all things view the world differently, I don't think I'd want to live through all of them. Being a tiny bug could potentially be quite frightening.
In the text, Cole stated that the ability to change size seems to have a "powerful pull on our psyches." Thinking back on it now I realize that I always have been extremely interested in things that have shown size change. The way that everything seemed to them, either unusually small or big, was so fascinating to me.
The fact that now I know that when a fly gets stuck in my soup will change the way I feel about it... to an extent. Now when it happens I will know what strenuous activity the fly will be going through and continue to grow through until the day it dies. However at the same time, I will still think its gross that a fly has landed in my food and I will still not be able to eat it. This is because I have always felt this way about dirty flies landing in my food and I dont think it is weird nor cruel of me to think that way.

2. It is not quite clear to me as to why Cole ended her essay with a quote from another author. In my opinion, though sources are a good way to support what your trying to say and to relate to your audience, to have the quote at the end of the piece just gives the impression that Cole is not confident in her writing and she needs the strong ending from another author. Ending clinchers are extremely important, and for it not to be in your own words is a bad move in my eyes and writing style. Because of this, footnoting the quote or paraphrasing would have been a better option. Other than the ending, Cole weaves quotes from other authors quite effectively throughout the rest of her essay.

Seeing and Writing Assignment 1

Rhiannon Austgen

Writing and Rhetoric

Seeing Question 2

The photo of the Mendoza family and the photo of the Fernandez family have many things to compare and contrast. First, I will explain their similarities such as the food the are consuming, the appearances of the two families and the quality of the food. The similarities of the food they consume consist of similar vegetables such as potatoes and lettuce and similar meats like chicken. Their expressions seem somewhat similar also, most of them smiling and happy with their way of life. Lastly, the two families are similar by the quality of food they both seem to have fresh vegetables and clean water. While these two families have somewhat similar lives they have extremely different lives as well. These differences include, the types of food they eat, the clothing they are wearing and their surrounding in the photo. The Fernandez family eats more prepared foods, whereas the Mendoza family makes everything from scratch and doesn't use any preservatives which is a big contrast. Another major difference was the clothing they wore. The Mendoza family all seemed to be wearing homemade clothing with vibrant colors and patterns that represented their culture but the Fernandez family are wearing dull colors and seem as if they were bought at their nearest Kohl's or Target. Their last main difference was their surroundings. The Fernandez family photo is taken in their kitchen where they have nicely painted walls and a pantry stocked with more food items. However, the Mendoza family photo is taken outside of their home on a larger wooden table placed on the dirt in their backyard. These are the similarities and differences that I noticed most in the two photos.

Writing Question 1

Reality

Inspiration

Menzel's photographs give me a sense of reality because they show four extremely different families living completely different lives. For example, the family from the United States has the most abundant amount of food which complies with the stereotype of "fat Americans," making it less of a stereotype and more of a fact. Menzel has also made me realize that there are a lot of families that have less than us such as the family from Chad. That family had the bare minimum, which really makes me realize that hunger is a real thing and as an activist I need to do something for the good of man kind. Which leads me into my next word, inspiration. These photos give me inspiration in many ways. They give me inspiration to eat healthier, to help others in desperate need, and to be thankful and appreciative for all I have. These photos have inspired me to eat healthier and in smaller portions because seeing the family in the United States having the most on their plate it is shocking that the American stereotype is coming true we are "fat Americans." Also, these photos have inspired me to help as many people as I can. Specifically, the photo of the Chad family makes me inspired to help those in need because it makes me realize hunger in other countries is a real issue and needs to be stopped. Lastly, these photos have inspired me really appreciate everything I have gotten in life, because for me it may have been extremely easy to go get a glass of water from the sink in my kitchen but for others it could be extremely hard or even impossible to obtain. 

Seeing these photos in a different context, I think would completely change the way I seem them. Such as in an advertising view these photos would mean nothing to me, they would not inspire me or make me realize anything in any way because I would only be thinking about what is being advertised to me.