A Note to New Students

Dear English 110 Students,

First off, hello and welcome to your first college English class. You and your writing style are about to begin a whole new journey. From blogs meant for a public audience, to analytical research papers written for a strictly academic audience, this class will help jump start and mold your writing/researching skills. Not only will you learn to write for different viewers in mind, but you will learn how to better analyze and critique all kinds of information. Though it may not always be the most fun class, the skills this class teaches are essential throughout not only college, but also your whole life. So, take this class as an opportunity to grow and expand your way of thinking.

I know for me it was a little intimidating to have to write for different audiences, but my advice here is to just go for it. Let your writing flow and connect with viewers in more open and public writing spheres. Accept the challenge of trying to engage your audience, and make your work interesting. I also really suggest doing the readings for the class. Both Writing Analytically and Commonplace have excellent ideas and points that can greatly help improve your writing, and help you learn to think in a new light.

As this quarter quickly comes to a close, I realize how this class definitely has set me up with the right tools for success in the rest of my college writing, and I am glad I have had the opportunity to take it.

Have fun, learn, and grow throughout this next quarter as you dive into English 110.

Sincerely,

Sarah Gillespie

Interesting and Mature Conversation

Though I have not recently had a super heated debate about religion, I have a very close friend who recently went through an interesting conversation about faith. He is a strong follower of Christ, and one day several of his roommates approached him with a question regarding religion. They’re question was, “How can you have such strong faith? I mean with a God that’s not physically here, how do you know?”. How do you know what’s out there? And, if you do, how on earth can you place all your trust in it? These are questions that continue to haunt many people today, and they are hard to answer.

So, as you can imagine this caught my friend a little off guard, but rather than most who would tend to lead the conversation into a heated debate, he kept a very steady and informative tone. It helped I think that the friends approached him in not a confrontational, but a curious manner, so there was no need for either side to it to turn the discussion into something hostile. Attempting to answer the questions thrown at him, my friend began to talk a little bit about how he was brought up and when he accepted the faith personally and what not. His main point however, was that he places his faith in what he believes to be a great, powerful, and almighty God. The roommates’ responses of course were along the lines of, “Oh, well I’m not good enough,” or, “Well, you have to rely on yourself to get things you want done.” My friend then tried to explain that he believes that you don’t have to go through anything alone, and that God is there to help everyone, not just “good” people.

Each side laid out more ideas, and the conversation continued for awhile. What is remarkable, however, is that the talk kept a civil tone the entire time. Each side respected the other, and neither let their emotions get out of control. I think this is key when having discussions about religion. Each side must maintain a mature tone if the conversation is to remain productive. Otherwise, the discussion may turn into a heated argument that neither side wants to get into.