Response to the Readings #4

Chapter 7 of “They Say I Say” focused on various moves that you and I can make to answer the “who cares?” and “so what?” questions in your own writing. There are different ways to provide the concept of this move. We want to make the words “who cares” clear and understanding to the reader. The templates for indicating who cares are great to address “who cares?” questions in your own writing. You want to have a well focused thesis that is supported with evidence to “So what? Who cares? The question “who cares?” is very important for general readers to understand what you are talking about. I find these moves to be very useful and it will support my arguments to the readers.
So do we need to address these questions in everything that we write? According to the book, “it is really necessary to address these questions if you’re proposing something so obviously consequential as, say, a cure for a childhood disease or a program to eliminate illiteracy” (95). I suppose in some cases, however, there are readers who already know why it matters and this can lead to other moves in writing. There is much for me to learn in writing and I know that these moves will help me with my papers in English 101.

Response to the Readings #3

In the book “They say I say” chapter four focused on the three most common ways to respond by agreeing, disagreeing, or both. There are many moves that people can use when writing an essay and I learned one of moves called “twist it.” The move means that I agree with the evidence that someone has presented and it supports my own position. The Templates for disagreeing are great examples and this is very easy to make in an essay when disagreeing about information pertaining to an author as an example. Templates for agreeing are something that I might need to improve, because there are many moves that I need to learn in supporting my evidence when agreeing with someone. However, disagreeing can be complex when facing hidden challenges and being persuasive can lead to why you disagree.

Reading chapter twelve of “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” concluded with Michael Pollan’s detailed information in the slaughtering of chickens... “There are several hundreds of chickens that are killed, scalded, plucked, and eviscerated” (226). As USDA regulations interfere with farming and the farmer Joel thinks that his business is put out to be terminated because of the "bureaucrats." Joel is over reacting and the government and their regulations are there for a reason. Joel is making statements that seem to be unclear to me. However, he did make a great point that why should the government dictate to the kind of food you can buy (236)? “Freedom of food,” according to Joel is what he believes. I agree that the government should not dictate on the kinds of foods that we should buy. If the government regulations were taken away, the price of Joel’s food could compete with anyone. I usually buy meat at a local supermarket and I trust the quality of the meat… since it was processed by the government’s regulations. Therefore, I would not buy my meat (chicken) at Joel's farm since he disagrees with the government’s regulation of processing food.

The Omnivore's Dilemma Response #2

I will focus on the word “organic” and its meaning to people. The word “organic” can refer to the way farmers grow and process agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products and more. According Michael Pollan, “The word organic has proved to be one of the most powerful words in the supermarket” (136). It is now the fastest growing sector of the food economy. An organic label is like any other label found in a supermarket and it tells us little information on how that specific food was produced. So here’s the catch, an organic farmer would apply natural fertilizers such as manure, to feed soil and plants. A conventional farmer would apply chemical fertilizers to promote plant growth. How do we know if these natural fertilizers are harmful? I really hope the U.S. Department of Agriculture has established a well certification program that requires all organic food to meet certain government standards. I would assume that these standards would regulate how such foods are grown, handled and processed.
If conventional farmers are giving animals antibiotics, growth hormones and medications to prevent disease… then so be it. At least it is efficient than the organic way… and that is by giving animals “organic feed” and allow them to be outdoors. It would help minimize the disease, but I would rather prevent it, then to minimize it. Many people may ask, "are organic foods safer and more nutritious?" I would have to say no.

The Omnivore's Dilemma/ They Say I Say (Readings)

Reading Chapter 2 of The Omnivore's Dilemma concluded Michael Pollan's information; one of the three principal food chains that sustain us today, known as the industrial system "corn." It provides us information on what we eat, to the fertility of the earth and the energy of the sun. Knowing the types of questions that we can ask about the food we eat, can give us an understanding in where it can be traced back to many food chains that sustain us. It is very complex where our food comes from, because many factors lead from one cause to another. However, GMOs(genetically modified organisms) are being used among corn and "farmers eager to increase their yields adopt the latest innovation, only to find that it's the companies selling the innovations who reap the most from the gain in the farmer's productivity" (Pollan, 36). The reading was interesting to Pollan's conclusion of fossil fuel and how much we are using it to provide more prodigious quantities of food energy. Michael Pollen has definitely changed my view of GMOs and fossil fuel among corn.

They Say I Say has some interesting templates for "introducing." Standard views provide a quick and efficient way to perform one of the most common moves that writers make, "analyzing their strengths and weaknesses" (Graff and Birkenstein, 22). I tried some of the exercises and most of them were fairly easy, but I do have trouble writing good summaries, so I am noticing a weakness from myself. What I like about the "Templates for Introducing," are the summaries and Quotations on pages thirty six and thirty seven. Quoting sentences are easy for me to do and the author(s) did a very well job in explaining how it can provide as evidence for the reader. The art of quoting can be very complex introducing your evidence and that is where the templates for introducing quotations come in place. I find this book to be interesting and how it can be very helpful in writing a paper.