Blog #6: Identities

In our everyday lives we rotate between many identities based on which communities we associate ourselves with in a given time. In the examples given by Prof. Flewelling she explains that her roles as a professor online, in class and in the writing center as well as her roles as a colleague, mom, wife etc. are rotated about. These roles each express a unique identity that she possesses, and associated with each of these identities is a uniques discourse that is learned through affiliation with the identified community. 

In my own case the way I express myself as a student now differs that I am a student at San Diego States University. Now that my classes have become more specialized towards my major I more specifically as a civil engineering major. Towards the end of my time at San Diego Mesa College I had a more generalized identity as an engineering major, and before that I lumped myself in as a general STEM major. Like Flewelling's differing roles as a professor are similar yet different, my role as a student has been altered yet I retain many of the qualities associated with each discourse; and thus each role contributes to who I am, to my Identity.  

Though there are many benefits in being a part of a multitude of discourse communities there are things to be couscous about and costs associated with them. Johns provides a few examples of this in her text. One being the case of her husbands affiliation with a cycling community. The members of this community share a common interest in cycling their views on politics my differ, and expressed contradicting views may lead to tension within the community. The second example she uses Richard Rodriguez’s conflict between his discourse in his academic community and  that of his family. Although new discourses do grow an individual’s set of identities, the values associated with newly established identities may contradict and could potentially deteriorate the ties with one or more of one’s identity. 

In my own case my identity as a student has clashed with the some of the values of my family holds. One example of this my family’s preference to save money and stay close to one-and-other. I didn’t leave home for college partly due to the large costs associated with housing and other living expenses, but now after hearing about the life lessons some of my friends have experiences I wish I would have put more thought into it. My sister on the other hand, who just recently graduated high school and got accepted to CalPoly San Luis Obispo had the chance to experience living without our parents. My parents weren’t too excited about her leaving, and made the argument that I would be better for her to stay in San Diego for school. I didn’t want my sister to miss out on this aspect of college like I did, so I stood up for her and supported her decision to leave. This created tension within out family until my parents finally accepted the fact that she was leaving. 

Blog #5: Embroider's assistant to Civil Engineer

The first job I had, I worked as an embroiders assistant of my cousin’s embroidery company. It was a small company consisting of only my cousin and his mom, but during the busy season (the summer) I would be the third addition to the team. Starting out the job was fairly simple, I was responsible for folding and packaging the products, but as I became more familiar with the processes my cousin began to trust me with more responsibilities. Loading and unloading the embroidery machine, preparing products for packaging, fixing errors in the machine and stitching, answering emails and phone calls, my simple job became more complex. 

At the beginning, learning how to do the job just took repetition and muscle memory. The majority of the products were all the same. They were nursing scrubs, which were fairly stiff and easy to fold, bag and box. The process was simple, almost mind numbing. I would pick a shirt off the finished pile, follow the creases to fold, put it in a bag and then a box. There were days when I had to fold upwards of 300 shirts, so I had to develop a technique that would allow me to get through the piles quickly. But, occasionally I would come across a grouping of a different product. For instance, groupings of polo shirts, which were made from a softer fabric, would be harder to work with, and the fold could easily become sloppy when they are bagged and boxed. So, I had to develop a new technique for dealing with such products.

Learning the new aspects to the job was a bit more challenging. During the times I was employed, the shop was swamped with orders, and there was little room for error. When I started fixing the machine errors (meaning errors in the machine’s ability to stitch) I had to first drop what I was doing and access the problem. Once the issue it clear I quickly manage to fix it while staying mindful about the product so that it does not become damages. Although this task does not seem to resemble any aspect of the restaurant service, it is similar to how a server, preoccupied with many tasks, can be interrupted by a customer. The servers must instantly access which discourse to use when addressing the issue, and quickly fix any such problems while ensuring quality service. 

In the restaurant industry, according to Mirabelli, servers must learn to be able to communicate is man different ways. The discourse they use when talking with customers is largely dependent on who these customers are. Servers must be able to judge which discourses are appropriate, and must be able to switch between discourses as they rotate between tables. Servers also must be able to transcribe variations of orders from the customer to the cooks in a way that is quick and easy to understand. 

One aspect of the civil engineering profession is to work with communities to understand their wants and needs or their infrastructure, so that they can be taken into consideration when planing for these projects. Meetings are scheduled so that engineers and the community can meet face to face. In such situations, engineers  need to be able to read the community’s reaction to understand if such a project is wanted, and if it isn’t, how it can be designed so that it is more appealing.

Servers are stereotyped because people typically only understand this occupation to be a relay of information and food from the table to the cook and back to the table. But, what many fail to realized how complicated the communication of information between the two points can be. Mirabelli makes this clear and depicts servers not as an individual incapable of doing any other job, but rather as a super hero. Civil engineering professions are usually thought to have little to no social aspect to them when in fact communication is an integral part of the profession. Analysts could avoid stereo typing this profession by taking a closer look at the dynamic process plans undergo as they migrate from person to person. 

Blog #4: Transition from Objective to Subjective Writing

The transition from objectivity to subjectivity is the transition from fact to opinion. Writing objectively means that you are writing according to the facts. One’s goal, in writing this way, is to tell the truth. On the other hand, a subjective writer’s goal is to share their opinion, and ideally sway the reader into thinking the way they do. I’m uncertain about how I feel about this transition. In writing objectively, you have the facts to back you up which is comforting to me, because I know whether or not there is some truth to what I am trying to write. But, writing subjectively there is no need to spend hours researching for your topic. The evidence you need comes from you.  

The way I am understanding it, blogs function in a similar way as Op/Eds. The two genres of writing are alike in that they both share information that is opinionated, but the two seem to differ in the level of professionalism. With that said, I feel that blogs and Op/Eds respond to rhetorical situations in an alike fashion. It seems that in these genres writers rely heavily on the appeal to emotion. This  distracts the reader from any lack of evidence the piece might have, and thus making it seem more relevant to the issue. In addition, blogs and Op/Eds alike tend to appeal to a specific audience who share a similar opinion. It is easier for the reader to see the relevance of a post when the author shares the same values as they do.

In San Francisco, one of the many tall buildings in the city is sinking, and slowly leaning to one side. This was recently noticed and it is becoming a modern day leaning tower of Pisa. This is a result of a geotechnical engineering flaw, and presumably will result in many lawsuits. I am not sure how I would respond to this rhetorical situation, but perhaps I could connect it to the issue of science and math illiteracy/phobia in America. I understand that this assignment requires use to respond to one rhetorical situation that happened the last to weeks, but perhaps I could also refer to a second and older situation related to the first. My thoughts are that I could also use the collapse of the bridge in Florida. 

Its in the name, Op/Eds are about sharing one’s opinion with the reader. We all know that opinions are not fact, and so there is much subjectivity within how individuals interpret rhetorical situations. In order to ensure that the points in an Op/Ed are fairly understood, the writer tailors their work to a specific audience. This is true for all writing, but is writing in this genre it is especially important. Op/Eds are about what is happening right NOW, so there is no/little time to look into the facts of a rhetorical situation. This makes it difficult to try to sway a secondary audience into agreeing with the writer’s stance. The writer instead appeals to like minded individuals, so the that he can share their view with minimal scrutiny. 

Blog #3: Where I'm From

I am from Sunday dinners with the family

from the smell of pasta that filled the air

from tomato stained aprons 

I am from shovels for work and for play

from the smell of must and dirt and clay

from greasy machines, work trucks and long days 

I am from dusty boots, blue jeans and highlighter shirts 

from quiet office desks, tooth brushes and floss 

from comfortable teeth cleanings

I am from Hearst elementary, Momentum middle and Patrick Henry High

from the hard wood floors, grassy fields and green mats 

from the storm drains marked with our tire tracks 

I am from Mesa

from early mornings and traffic filled commutes 

from long nights and white boards filled with theorems and equations

I am from an Italian family 

  from a dental assistant and a stone mason who value education
  from a childhood filled with sports and neighborhood adventures

Blog #2: Muskfaking it

My first semester of college I took a personal growth class. A large portion of my grade in that class was based on our “cultural plunge” project. Basically what we had to do was immerse ourselves into a culture or community different from our own, and write and present about our experience. I chose to do my cultural plunge on that LGBT community. One part of the project was to attend an event hosted by your chosen community. I was new to college, and didn’t realize how dangerous procrastinating could be. I had not yet found an event, and I had about a week before I had to reflect on my experience. I knew some people in the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) club at Mesa, so I went to one of their club meetings hoping that they could help me find an event to go to. Luckily, there was an event the following night being hosted at SDSU by, if I remember correctly, their GSA club.

I can somewhat relate to how professor Flewelling was feeling on her first day of teaching. I mean, I was terrified, but I was worried about offending the people at the event whether it be with the questions I asked, the things I say or if I intruded on any of the cultural norms. So, a lot was going on in my head before going to the event. I ran through my list of questions at least five or six time to make sure they were as politically correct as possible. 

According to James Paul Gee, “ ‘Mushfake Discourse’ means to have partial acquisition coupled with meta-knowledge and strategies to ‘make do’ ” (13). I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare (or rather, I did’t give myself a lot of time to prepare), so I knew that I didn’t know a lot about the LGBTQ community. I tried to keep what I said or asked simple. I didn’t want to get cause miss using a term, and thus being seen as ignorant. Also, some of my friend groups at the time weren’t so sensitive to the LGBT community. There were things that could have said out of habit that would not have been given a second thought in my more familiar discourse, but in this new one may have been seen as offensive. So I made sure to carefully think out what I wanted to say before I opened my mouth. How this ties into mushfaking a “Discourse” is that I was using my meta-knowledge to asses how familiar I was with the LGBTQ community, and I strategically chose my words to fit in with the people at the event.

Starting this project the LGBTQ community was foreign to me, and I didn’t thing I could even fit in with such a group. But once I got to learn more about the community I was able to construct a secondary discourse tailored for this group. I guess it’s true what they say — you gotta fake it till you make it.

Blog #1: My Six-Word Memoir

Transition from high school to college.

The above picture is of me (on the right) with a couple of friends in the STEM center at San Diego Mesa college. We were checking out one of the events hosted by Mesa's math club last fall. Looking back to when I was in high school I would have never expected that I would be willing to spend a Saturday morning learning about math, nor did I even think that I'd be spending hours in a library studying for a class that I enjoyed. In high school I didn't really care for school. My academic goal was to get good enough grades so that I could wrestle and get my parents off my back about school.

When senior year rolled around I realized that I didn't really have a plan for after I graduated. My dad would always tell me about how he wished he would have had the chance to go to college and how he wanted me to go to college. He would constantly tell me that I should apply to SDSU, and that if I went to college I could pursue a career where I don't have to work hard like he does everyday (as a contractor). I didn't really know what career I wanted, so it seemed like a waste of time and money to go straight to a university.

I remember talking with my mom about how I wasn't sure if college was for me. I didn't like school up to this point why would I want to go to college. She insisted that college would be different and that I should at least give college a try. By this time it was too late to apply to any universities, so I  registered for classes at San Diego Mesa College in the fall.

When the fall semester started I took on a new view of school. I was no longer wrestling, and I missed that sense of competition that came along with the sport. So I started approaching school as I would approach wrestling. I would stay late after class to perfect my understanding of the material just like I would stay after practice to perfect my technique. Exams were no longer exams, they were like a wrestling match to me. Each question was like an opportunity to execute a new move I learned that week at practice. That's when I began to see school not as a chore, but as a competition. It became something I enjoyed, and that semester was the first time I had ever had a 4.0 GPA.

That transition was a very significant point in my life. I found out where my strengths were academically, and was able to determine that a career as an engineer is probably the best fit for me. Had I not changed my attitude about school I would probably still be in community college without a sense of direction.

This is me after my commencement cerimony this past May with another friend (the former math club president).