Opinions

To give some background on my knowledge on analytical/argumentative papers, I’ve be forced to write them all throughout middle and high school, so it got repetitive real fast. But at the same time, it helped improve my writing and analytical skills. As for when a piece of text starts becoming objective to subjective, it’s obvious when the author starts adding in their two cents into an informative piece. I believe it’s okay to add in your own opinion in an analytical piece as long as you focus 95% analytical and 5% subjective. When it starts becoming majority subjective than objective, I’m okay with the writing itself but it should not be categorized as an analytical piece. I do enjoy reading others experiences and their opinions, but opinions shouldn’t affect the accuracy of the information.

I also feel like blogs are an excellent way to express any subjective matters on a topic. There are many reasons why I believe blogs are beneficial towards rhetorical situations. Firstly, blogs are a good platform to show the readers who the author is and what they believe in. After all, that what a blog is supposed to do. Secondly, blogging on your own platform doesn’t restrict you to any requirements and it can be 100% unfiltered if the author chooses it to be. Lastly, being able to blog gives a voice to the topic. Many people go towards blogs and social media to really get a perspective on a topic. Because of blogging, it spreads the word around about said topic and creates relevancy for the author.

As for any rhetorical situations that I would love to respond to, I have a few in mind. Most of them will be involving technology or social media since that is what I’m knowledgeable about. The name one off the bat, I would enjoy writing about net neutrality (Here is a link to explain what Net Neutrality is for anybody that is interested in what it’s all about). While the topic isn’t as big as it was a year ago, it still an ongoing situation that is still generating op/ed pieces and analytical articles. The reason why I wanted to do this topic is also because it pertains to my major as well as it something I feel like everybody should be aware of since most of us nowadays are connected through the internet 24/7. Another topic that seems interesting to do is on whether eSports, or Video Games Competitions are considered a real sport. With video games becoming a mutual platform for people of many discourses to connect to, I think it’s a good idea to dive into one of video game’s biggest form on entertainment as well as the most controversial topics as well.

As for op/eds, I believe that some topics on op/eds only appeal to a specific type of audience due to their biasness. For example, I’m not too big on politics so reading op/ed pieces on politics isn’t as entertaining to me as other topics. But I wouldn’t read an op/ed piece about praising Trump. Overall, op/ed pieces are difficult to recommend to people unless you know what they’re interests in.

Blending Life Together

Growing up in an Chinese-American household, I was given the blessing of having two different discourses, one from my Chinese heritage and one from all the American customs I learned growing up in San Diego. These two eventually became my first primary discourses, which is “... the one we first use to make sense of the world and interact with others. Our primary Discourse constitutes our original and home-based sense of identity…”(pg 7). Because of that, my childhood allowed me to learn to create and adapt to new different discourses.

During my high school career, I was initially very cocooned and took me a while to get out of my shell to experience new things. It wasn’t until my friend convinced me to join the badminton team at my school where I found my athletic discourse. After making the team, I got more and more fascinated on the sport and eventually saw some of my teammates make San Diego Headlines. After my first year ended, I started to put more time and dedication on my physical health by training and exercising more for next season. This conflicted with my primary discourse because I always was a person who was lazy and wanted to work smarter, not harder. In the end, I became a team captain and became district champions but decided to hang up the mantle, ending my athletic career competitively and becoming a fossilized discourse.

As for college, I am able to still connect with all my friends since most of us didn’t stray too far from our high school. Going to SDSU was definitely a different beast compared to high school. Not many people knew who I was so it was a good opportunity to create a name for myself to the new people I meet. Eventually, I was introduced to many new friends from group projects and classes. This then started to shape my college discourse, learning how to become a more social person but also keeping up with school. Few notable things that I’ve done was join a club called SDSU eSports, where a bunch of people meet up just to have fun and play video games. I eventually was offered a position to play on a team for a chance to win a scholarship. Sadly me and my team couldn’t win but it was a fun experience to meet others with the same interest as me. As well as I was able to reconnect with old friends from elementary school and was given the opportunity to be a guest on her KCR Radio Show.

As the person I am today, I have a blend of all the previous discourses I listed above. For example, every year I look forward to San Diego Comic Con where I go explore Downtown San Diego and enjoy the pop culture that comes into town. From this I try to meet new people to make new connections, try different things that I never thought I would do, as well as spreading the San Diego spirit that I grew up to love.