In Class: First Paragraph

It's nine o'clock on a saturday evening. TCU is just about to beat Tenessee Tech. Kelly, Kylie and I are walking back to my friend Kara's house and we are very hungary. As we are walking from the stadium we walking up towards the BLUU to grab some food at 1873. Lots of other people are also leaving the game since the 4th quarter has just started and we are killing the other team. We walk up up the concrete stairs and its just getting dark. We go through this huge atrium and walk into the BLUU on the left side to get to 1873. When we walk in the airconditioning feels so good. We walking into a very luxurious room made of marble with a grand staircase on the right side. There is a mini book store on the left selling TCU spirit merchandise which is now closed. The lighting is fleuroscent and yellow. I notice there are not as many students in the foyer area as I would have thought. There were some waiting in line at the coffee place though and some that lookedl ike they were commming and going.
We walk in and the purple chairs are all empty. I figured there would be more students hanging out here after the game. I realize the game was not over yet but when we left the majority of students had already left before us....

In Class: In-Class Peer Workshops

Since I have taken this class before I have plenty of things to say about in-class peer workshops. I took this class in the spring of 2009 and I absolutely hated it. I dreaded peer workshops. I had absolutely no confidence in my writing and I really didn't want my class mates to read my work because I know it sucked. Since then I feel a lot better about my writing and I actually would really like to have peer workshop groups. The major downside about them is if you don't do your work and have nothing to give your group- which I did a lot last time around. I don't plan on letting this happen because we are moving at a much slower pace.

I also got to know other students in the class pretty well. I this class I don't intend on getting to know anyone in particular well besides the teacher since I am much older. In my last class, the others were my age so it was awesome for all of us.

I think in class writing will be nice this time around since my writing has improved and I am writing with those younger than me. This will probably boost my confidence with my writing abilities so I am looking forward to it since confidence is what I was told I lacked by my last teacher.

In Class: Public Space Observation Reflection

Some observations my peers found interesting were the fact that I was the only person using the chairs at the Union Grounds. This is ironic because the space is set up to be a hang out area. When I was there I asked a person who worked there if people ever come and sit in the chairs and he said, "no one ever does." One of my peers also found the cruise ship feeling interesting but didn't say why. Another one thinks it's weird that no one hangs out by the Union Grounds since there is always so many people around there.

Some questions people had were:
"Why do you think TCU chose marble floors?"
"How are market square, 1873 & union grounds different if they are all very similar?"
"Are they all TCU students comming through?"
and "How are they all connected?"

Last but not least the rhetorical appeals my peers tried to make...

In Class: Observation Note Expectations

I recently went out and took observation notes at the BLUU. I actually went last night to do them last night and I made some mental notes after the football game last Saturday. At first I was excited to go over to do them since that means dinner at 1873- one of my favorite resterants. Leading up to going I started hesitating and procrastinating because I was afraid I was going to feel awkawrd since I'm a senior and I expect to see a bunch of random people who I don't know who are mostly freshmen.

By the time I stopped procrastinating/ got around to going over it was around 8 o'clock in the evening. I know this week is 'PUSH week' which is a philanthropy event for a fraternity where all the sororities have to sing so I expected everyone from that to all come over to the BLUU after that was over sometime that evening. I also expected to just see a bunch of completely random people who I didn't know or have never ever seen before. I expected there to be no upperclassmen. I also expected there to be quite a lot of athletes and a lot of black people because there were a significant amount who were always in the old student union when I was a freshman.....

The Ethos, Pathos and Logos of Public Spaces

We have learned the past few weeks that it is important to incorporate Pathos (emotional), Ethos (ethics) and Logos (logic) into our papers to develop a strong argument. All of these can be found in my public space, the BLUU, as it appeals to everyone at TCU and on the campus.


Pathos: As we have learned, Pathos is an appeal to emotions. The BLUU does an excellent job at this because it is considered the heart of the TCU campus, the student  union. This is where the main reception is as well as the main restaurants on campus. The BLUU was just built about three years ago- everything is new. It is where the student ballrooms are where the Chancellor holds important assemblies. There are two restaurants here as well as a cafe. There is also a mini bookstore located here too. The way the building is designed and decorated especially appeals to emotions because it is done primarily in purple, TCU's official color. TCU has a long history of top athletics and one of the restaurants, 1873 is designed to be a sports grill. If alums were to visit, especially ones who went to TCU while LaDainian Tomlinson played football this would bring a lot of emotion to them. It brings emotion to anyone affiliated with TCU regardless.


Ethos: Ethos is about establishing credibility. The TCU BLUU is probably the most credible place on campus because it is the main student union. This is where everything major happens on campus, besides the football games of course. This is where the main information center is for visitors. The main ballrooms are here for conventions. Parking is convenient. Every college or university has a student union which serves as the heart of campus and this is exactly what the BLUU does. It is kind of located in the middle of everything. Everyone comes here to eat their meals- if they have a meal plan. Anytime any major speakers come to TCU, they speak in the ballrooms upstairs.


Logos: Logos is an appeal to logic. I feel as though logos is the hardest to identify out of the three. It can be related back with ethos as well as pathos. I know for this we need to provide hard evidence to make our argument. I was thinking about conducting informal interviews with people in the BLUU.

Unit 1 Proposal

For my public space analysis I choose to write about the BLUU. I find this space appealing because it is considered the TCU student union, the center of campus. Since I am a senior, I was around when the old student union was around and I can bring that perspective to my paper. Another reason I chose the BLUU is because I believe it will appeal to everyone at TCU.

Since the BLUU is the student union and a hang out area, I expect to find a wide variety of TCU students in this area. I expect to mostly find underclassmen because of the location- freshmen and sophomore dorms are close by. Since I am a TCU student I consider myself to be part of the target audience. I have been to the BLUU a few time over the past year to get food from 1873 or to meet up with underclassmen friends. I don't think any of these experiences will influence my observation in any way. Perhaps the only pre-conceived ideas that I could have might be from my experiences from the old student union. I expect to go in and do my observations with an open mind. I also plan on talking to my teacher about overcoming any pre-conceived ideas that I have. I am really looking forward to writing this essay and making arguments.

In Class: Ethos Artifact

Our homework over the weekend was to bring in an artifact that appealed to our ethos. Ethos is described as our ethics and morals. It took me a while to find/ think of an artifact to bring in. I was looking around my room to try and find something that could work for the assignment. I finally decided on bringing in my passport. I think it represents my ethos and character.
First of all I consider myself to be an American. Second I consider myself to be well traveled and this represents that. It appeals to everyone in the class- although not everyone is probably an american. Longstory short, you have to have a legal passport to be able to go to TCU so it will appeal to everyone.

In Class: Pathos in My Public Space

A good way to incorporate pathos into a public space would be to try and find a place with a lot of emotional appeal. This doesn't just have to appeal to me but to others as well. Perhaps choosing a space that carries a lot of emotion would be a good idea. Maybe frog fountain for an example. Frog fountain is pretty famous at TCU. It definitely appeals to a lot of people's emotions. For example when everyone graduates, they go by frog fountain to take tons of pictures. Its something that represents TCU and will have a lot of emotional appeal to people since this is where they went with their families right after they graduated college.

In Class: Pathos Artifact

I completely forgot to bring my artifact today... so i looked in my bag and I found something to use instead. I just happen to have a package of bright and colorful pens with me. These aren't just any pens lol, They pens are very special and appeal to my emotions. The reason why these pens are so important to me is because I used them in school when I used to live in New Zealand. They are not available in the US and it took me forever to be able to find them again.
The pens I have with me today aren't the same exact ones I used in NZ. Those are in my bedroom at home, all dried up because I had them so many years ago. The ones I have with me today are from a 'stationary shop' in London- where I studied this past summer. I freaked out when I saw them because I haven't seen them in years. They bring so much emotion back to me when I see them. I can connect them with the same feelings I had back when I went to school in NZ.
I got my original pens from my school's stationary shop. You can also purchase them at a store called Paper Plus. The set I have with me today are a mini version of what I had before. When I originally got them, they were full sized pens and came in a roll which is kind of hard to explain. All my friends had them too and we would wring in each others diaries with them. i have drawn so many pictures in my school diary- daily planner.

Response to the BP Commercial

There are several different types of arguments made in this commercial:

Arguments to inform: this informs members of the audience about something they didn't know

Arguments to convince: aimed to persuade readers rather than win over opponents

Rogerian argument: based on finding common ground and establishing trust for those who disagree

Arguments about the past/present/future:

Invitational argument: this invites others to enter a space of mutual regard and exploration

In Class: possible spaces

As of right now I have no idea what to choose for a public space! I tend to be a perfectionist when it comes to writing so it takes forever to choose what to write about. I always want to find the perfect space which can end up being impossible to find. I know we have to choose a space we can visit and that we've been to before. I was kind of hoping to choose a place where I visited in Europe this past summer. Maybe the Eifle Tower or the Sacre Coeur or something like that. I could also choose a place like Red Rocks outdoor amphitheater which is right by where I live in Colorado.
Both of those might be hard to write about because neither of them are places I can actually go and visit easily. I have been to those places before and I have a vivid image of them in my head.
The teacher seems like she wants to choose a public space around Fort Worth or TCU so we can visit and get more info about it. The only thing is that TCU and Fort Worth are the most boring places ever!! there are no cool public spaces anywhere!
Also I have no idea what to even argue about a public space. You can argue anything but it will be hard to come down with a clear argument.

In Class: First Week of School

My first week of school has been so fun!! I am soooo happy to be back in Fort Worth. I have been gone the entire summer and it has been so nice catching up with everyone! I'm so happy to see all my best friends! Since its my senior year I am feeling kind of old compared to all the freshman and sophomores. They all look so young lol. I feel like such an upper class men since I know everything already. I am disappointed my roommates from last year decided to move out of my apartment because they can graduate early and they don't want to do a full year lease. So instead the grandmarc has placed me with sophomores! Wow its such an age difference but they are all so sweet though. I am really looking forward to spending the year with them.
So far I really like all of my classes. I love getting to take two psychology classes as well as a law class and sustainability and last but not least a writing class... haha. I am also considering taking this religion criminal justice class which seems very interesting but very hard at the same time since it's a 4000 level class. It would be good to take it at a school like TCU since it's a religious school and all...

First Entry

Hello to everyone reading my blog,
I am Stephanie Joondeph! I am a junior/senior from Denver, Colorado. I am currently a Psychology major with a minor in Philosophy. I have actually already taken this course my sophomore year but I failed it... so that is why I am retaking it now. Writing is a major weakness of mine and I struggled a lot the first time around. Now I feel more confident with my writing so I know I will do very well. Also I really like the way this course is set up- we are only writing three papers instead of four so I don't have rush through them. I tend to be a perfectionist when I write so it is better for me to take my time and turn in something that I am actually proud of.
To be honest I will try and do anything to get out of writing a paper/ essay. I struggle a lot when it comes to english writing. When I am writing a research paper or a paper for psychology, I find it a lot easier to do. It is just very hard to try and have perfect paragraphs with the structure and everything. It is just a lot easier for me to write about facts.
I'm currently trying to figure out what kind of argument my blog is making... maybe that I struggle with writing and I'm trying to learn how to write better? I am definitely participating in the course but I'm not sure what to say about the argument in that.
Finally I have read, understand and agree to the terms in the course syllabus.