Looking Back...(reflection essay)

Throughout the quarter, I have written posts within my blog that encompassed what we were covering in class. Whether it a posting on the book Lost Mountain or Food. Inc., or various posts relating to my essays on pesticides, I have gained a lot of knowledge. After rereading over my posts, I feel as though my writing styles, as well as perceptions on ethos, logos, and pathos, has improved. I recalled certain issues within the books that I had forgotten about and reflected back on them. The issue of whether or not strip mining is an ethical decision for the environment and whether or not humans should have the right to destroy nature for their own personal gain angered me once again as well as the way animals are treated in factory farms.
When looking back at my Food Inc. posts, I found my third post to be most useful. I had written about the chapter “Eating made Simple,” by Marion Nestle and remembered that in this chapter, Marion discussed nutrition challenges, organics, and information that regarded diseases linked to obesity. I found this to be very informative and important since obesity is an ongoing epidemic here in the United States. Also, I wrote about how Marion had included a section about McDonald’s and how their cheese burger had a high fat content. I recalled how disgusted I had been upon reading this and continue to be glad that I chose to be vegetarian and eat mostly organic. I feel like this is a chapter that I will turn to if I ever need a quick fact on nutrition or organics. Also, after rereading all my posts on Food. Inc., It has inspired me to read the book again, and more specifically, the chapters we did not read for class. I used this book a lot for my essays, especially the chapter relating to pesticides, and feel as though I will use it again in the future. My Food Inc. posts I felt, were my strongest and that when reading this book, I looked more for the emotional cues and writing styles of the authors more so than in the book Lost Mountain.
With regards to my posts on Lost Mountain, I feel like these were some of my weaker posts. This may be due to that fact that these were some of my first blog posts. I was still unfamiliar with the blogs themselves, and did not really understand how to analyze an author writing styles. However, I feel like I improved on this throughout the quarter.
I felt that watching movies in class, and comparing them against the books, also helped to influence what and how I wrote my blog posts. Food Inc. especially impacted my writing styles. Through actually seeing the animals being harmed gave me motivation and inspiration to write out my feelings about this issue. I have never felt so compelled to stick to being vegetarian, and I was glad that after reading several posts made by my peers, that many felt inspired to change the way they eat and try and make a change in which America produces its food.
After revisiting my blog comments made on other’s posts and the comments others provided for me, I felt that this was a great way to really connect with classmates. Usually in classes, you don’t really get a chance to hear everyone’s opinions or the chance to get to know your peers. With the use of comments and also blog posts, I was able to really get a feel for my peer’s opinions, ideas, and personal writing styles. I really enjoyed reading other’s blogs and found them to be motivating in certain aspects. I also felt that comments from others helped me grow as a writer and their suggestions made a huge improvement in my writing. The fact that I knew others would be reading my posts, made me more motivated to write better posts than if they had been private.
Overall, I have never had to write blog posts for any other class. After having to complete them for this class, I wish more classes utilized them. I feel that they really made me think about readings, discussions, and films, and forced me to voice my opinions. I may have never thought about certain issues or viewpoints if it were not for writing blogs and reading peer’s posts. Also, when looking back over all my posts, I really feel like they helped me to grow as a writer and I enjoyed rereading over my work from the quarter and seeing how my writings changed.