Q&A from "Lydia's Story"

1. The main point of this essay is that even in the event of large scale disasters, people will find the strength within themselves in order to carry on because they rely on hope and sheer determination. This is pointed out in the last paragraph in the essay when the author says, "it represents the essence of hope and determination in the face of terrible adversity."

2. This essay is written from a first person point of view and its impact makes it more meaningful to the reader because they may have never met someone who was a responder to this crisis and it makes the main person's story more relatable. The author retells the harrowing story as though she had lived through it and wanted to show how Lydia's deliberate actions while her house, her neighborhood, was being washed away, saved her from an almost certain death.

3. The author narrative "comes alive" by shortening Lydia's harrowing story to retell the highlights and creating the scene in which the water was entering the house and Lydia had to move from a large table, to the counter, and finally to a cramped linen closet in order to remain alive. The words the author uses the have the most impact are, toxic, rushing, panic, trouble, pressure, strong, terrified, drowning, deep, cramped, hungry, thirsty, swollen,  rescued, strength, resolve, hope, determination, adversity. These words are terrific examples of how to draw a reader into the story because they are sensational. They add to the essay that there was horrifying experience and through all of it, at the end hope and determination were driving factors for the author's subject to remain alive.

4. The audience for this essay was more than likely for other doctors or possibly as human interest piece for anybody to read. The tone that the author uses is of a lasting experience that the author wants to share. There were many responders who were there after the events of Hurricane Katrina and there were many stories that came from it, but she wanted to share one event that stood out from all the others while she was helping those affected by the storm. The author recreates a sense of smell from the toxicity of the air when they first enter the VFW. Another example would be when describes the current living conditions for the 70 people who were living in the VFW as being small, allowing only cots and mattresses as living spaces. She recreates the scene of the water rushing into the house by using the subject's own account, "rushing like the Colorado River." She also uses the word cramped to describe the conditions in which the subject had to live for fives days. The author uses many more phrases to set the tone of a bleak situation, but the many people that she met and treated inspired her and touched her and she had to retell one of the compelling stories of someone who lived through a dire situation. 

3 writing situations from the past week

So in the past week the three separate situations which I was writing are as follows:
1. The first was a to-do list. In this situation I was on a weeks vacation and needed to get stuff around the house done. The main purpose for this was to give me a reason to get moving through the day instead of sitting around playing video games all day, which I did play for a while one day. As it was a to-do list my audience was my wife and I. It allowed her to decide which items she wanted to be done and for me to blow those ones off and do the ones that I thought were important, such as re-seeding the backyard instead of cleaning my man cave. 
2. The second situation was when I went back to work on Friday. I had a weeks worth of emails to either read and respond or just to read. I had to write back to very important personnel in regards to a situation that I am experiencing at work. In this situation I had to be very formal and had to have the ability to expressly articulate the situation that could potentially have large ramifications on the way we deliver our training to the submarine fleet. Although, the emails were between the recipient and I, these emails can be used for justification to further advance the replacement of our equipment or they could hinder our chances for replacement in how the context and tone are perceived to those higher in our chain of command. 
3. The last situation was texting between my wife and I. We were having a conversation in regards to having a new radio installed. The purpose was to see if she would pick me up at Car Toys because the installation was going to take 3 to 4 hours and I really didn't feel like walking around Silverdale wasting time. Also, there were somethings that I could have gotten done around the house while we were waiting. The tone was jovial because sometime auto-correct on new phones makes text conversations pretty hilarious and the fact that she was worried about something for her job, which ended not being a big deal.  

Writers, Authors & Genres

Writers:                     Authors:
Daily job                     Published books
Active                     Prolonged
Journalist                     Non-editorial
Goes out to anyone     Specific genre
Opinionated             Have jobs not related to ideas

Types of Writing:                                 Why you enjoy / despise:
Evaluations (subordinate co-workers) Pain-staking and several re-writes
Point papers                                         Gets to the point
Evaluations (Submarine Crews)         Like to improve the crew for next training cycle
Correspondence                                 Can be misinterpreted, but can lead to massive change
Power Points, aka Keynotes                Visual representation to get message across, or death by                                                                           Power Point

Type of genre (Text Message):
Hey man, I need help setting the place up. But we have to get food and drinks.
Also, gonna need to you to come and pick me up.
You should definitely stop by the ATM because I'm low on funds
For the food we're gonna need chips, dip, veggie plate, bread
For drinks need to get drinks, soda, water
After that can you put the word out on FB that the place is at 1234 Main St.
Parking is limited so let them know that carpooling is highly encouraged.

Short Story to Friend:

                It was the middle of November of 2015. A homeowner was planning a party for him and friends for the holidays. His dilemma though was how to carry out doing the party and getting what was needed. Ah of course, he can contact his best friend. His friend had to drive him to the store in order to get supplies, since the friends’ car was much larger than the homeowners’ sports car. On the way there though a hawk flew into the car and attacked the homeowner and for some unknown reason took his wallet. Since he now didn’t have the money for the supplies the friend had to pick up the bill and ended up lending him some money. The friend took the homeowner home and dropped him off. Alas, the homeowner wasn’t able to set-up everything on his own. He was too short for some things like the putting up party streamers. Reluctantly the friend assisted in the set-up but was also tasked with something else, spreading the word about the party amongst their friends. After the set-up was done the friend then drove to his home and sent out an email, text message and created a short video for the party. Later that night many friends showed up and the party was a success.

Haiku Poem Genre:

Drive me to the store

Bring me money; advertise too

Help setup mostly

Is everyone an author?

Is everyone an author? This question has been posed to me to answer. I think that, today, everyone is an author We live in a society where we now can instantly share almost everything about ourselves or our ideas and thoughts to anybody in the world. Youtube, Facebook, this blog, and many other social media websites provides these writers an outlet to show their work, receive instant commentary, good or bad, and then possibly make changes. It's very hard to imagine a world where we don't have this instantaneous access, which, I believe, would limit the number authors in the world. So many of us have fantastic ideas for stories, songs, movies, etc. that without the internet, they would be stifled or relegated to a genre that they may not be totally inclusive to. 

Writing is expressing your thoughts and ideas through literature. Writing is a free flow of ideas. It lets us express our emotions in a way that other people can understand.Ways that we use writing in our lives is when we write texts to our friends, family, co-workers, do homework, e-mails, evaluations, agendas, and many more styles. If the audience is younger then we tend to be more informal but if they are older or have seniority/authority over us, we are more formal. We do this because we respect their authority or position. It is also common courtesy. Different forms of communication can send a more formal message depending on the form of communication.

Hi,

I'm Josh Miller. I'm 33 years old, originally from Golden, CO and I am here in Washington via the Navy. I joined the Navy 8 days after I graduated from high school. I am an avid fisherman. I usually catch nothing, but do a great job watching my brother in-law catch everything. I have two rambunctious boxer dogs, Bradley and Charlie. I am married to the wonderful Susanne. I would like to say that I am an amateur snowboarder, but falling doesn't count. I love the Denver Broncos and the Seahawks, I know right!?! Yes, the Super Bowl was both devastating and glorious. Other than that, I love Star Wars and love watching the Marvel Movies over and over. Additionally, I am an avid gamer and am currently playing Destiny. Once I retire from the Navy, I hope to pursue a career in the programming field.