I D-ecisions

Considering the overall story of Anne and David in Crooked River Burning, I think my second essay will be on how our decisions (good or bad) help to form our identity. Think about it, most of how we come to know ourselves is through choices. Do we go to church on Sunday? We’re a good Christian. Do we blow off friends to hang out with some boy? We’re a bad friend. Do we steal a piece of candy from the corner store and feel guilty or not? We’re a thief or repentant in the making. Life is full of choices. (Wait! Is that a cliché?) If we play close attention to the choices we make and look for patterns, we can start to make the decisions we want to get us where we’re going.

Just as Crooked River Burning is a complicated story, so is my life. It has been very hectic over the last month. As I was playing catch up with my schoolwork, I realized that I have to find a way to get organized and use the resources available. Hence, I limited my search for a print source to the library catalog. There were only a couple of options for me regarding my topic, so I used one of the two books that showed up in my initial search. I chose the book because it contained actual stories from the author. This helped me get to know the author Dawn Powell through her writing and not just from biographical data or reviews. Considering that the book is a compilation of four of her stories, I considered it to be a worthy source.
Work Cited
Powell, Dawn. Novels, 1944-1962. New York, N.Y.: Library of America, 2001. Print.

Drown Me in the Crooked River!

Drown me in the Crooked River, please! I am having the hardest time following this story. It seems that the writer jumps around too much, not only in the thoughts but in the points of view as well. However, when he first starts to describe David’s and Anne’s first meeting at Kelly’s Island, he does seem to be taking his ADD meds. That’s really the first part of the book where I was able to read more than four pages at a time. My guess is that I shouldn’t have read the plethora of reviews at the beginning of the book before I started reading. The hype set me up for a letdown. Fortunately, I see a good story under the bad writing and think I can cross this river without the drowning. (Let’s hope!)

National Treasure - NOT!

“I.O.U.S.A.” is a video that discusses the credit crisis in the United States and addresses some of the causes as well as possible solutions. To help viewers understand the seriousness of the crisis and how it affects the national debt, the creators break the crisis up into four areas of deficit - budget deficit, savings deficit, trade deficit and leadership deficit. To make their argument experts such as Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffet were interviewed, a historical analysis of the debt was provided and an overview of how the government works financially was provided.

I enjoyed this movie for many reasons. First of all, I think that the creators made a good argument using aspects of egos, pathos and logos. They did this through the use of expert interviews with people like Alan Greenspan and Warren Buffet, by providing historical charts and future projections, and by playing on the viewers’ sense of patriotism in wanting America to succeed. Second, I liked the way that the movie was organized. They didn’t just state the problem and focus on pathos to call the audience into action. By providing background and breaking the argument into sections, they were able to teach viewers about each aspect so that an understanding of the whole problem could be understood. Finally, by providing the education on the different areas of the problem, they were able to guide viewers to the outcome they wanted, which was their final call to action. Now, do I just view this as an assignment? Or do I answer the call?