Growing up I always did what I could to just be an overall good person and make people feel welcomed. Family members and close friends would say that I was kind and that I had a welcoming personality. These constant reminders made me feel great and showed me that I was doing a great job of showing others the kind personality I had. Just by these experiences I believed that everybody saw me as the kind person I was, but I was mistaken when I got my first job. I was sixteen and I was working at the local 99 cents store near my house and I was hired as a cashier which seemed pretty easy so that got me excited. I was working at the store for a bit, but this day felt different. I did my usual thing and asked the manager on duty  what I was going to do for the night. They put me on the floor to fix aisles and organize the products on the shelves. It was an easy task and I worked on that the whole day but by the time my came around I noticed that not even one customer had come up to me for assistance. After my break I went up to my coworkers and casually asked if they had any customers come up and ask them questions. My coworker said that they had customers come up to them all day. I found it weird that no one asked me for assistance but didn’t think too much about it after that conversation. I just thought it was because the customers just didn’t have any questions yet. The rest of that day I worked and stayed aware just in case any customer wanted some help finding something or a question about something. It was no use. No one came up to me that day and I went home thinking about it a lot more than I should’ve. 

I tossed and turned all night thinking of any other reason as to why no one had asked for help specifically to me. I laid in bed thinking to myself maybe I forgot to put on deodorant or the customers believed that I was too busy or that I just didn’t pay enough attention and there were customers trying to get my attention. These simple thoughts eased my mind and I finally fell asleep thinking that I had found the answer to my question. The next morning I woke up ready to go to work later that day thinking it was just pure coincidence that no one had come up to me. I went through my day as I would any day I went to school and then I drove home at the end of my fourth period as I did any day. Once I got home and got ready ready then I took a short nap and after that I headed to work. When I arrived at work I walked straight to the back put in my employee number and clocked in. After that I put the purple name tag that had my name in small writing on the left side of my collar as I always do and headed out to the sales floor. Once I was out there I headed to the aisles I was assigned and began to move things up and place things that were in the wrong aisles back in the right aisles and I was focused on my job but not so focused that I couldn’t notice the customers around me walking and shopping around for items we sold. I bent down to start picking up some items that were left on the baseboards, and I also hung up items that had fallen. While I did that I noticed a customer at the other end of the aisle and didn’t think much of it, i’d be finished by the time they got to me a couple minutes passed and I got up and noticed the customer was beside me with a shopping cart trying to pass on by. They must’ve snuck up on me and I felt rude for not noticing them, I quickly moved out of their way and apologized , they turned and gave me a dirty look. I figured they must’ve been there for a couple minutes trying to pass on by and I had been in their way working away, but I thought why didn’t they just simply say “ excuse me” I would have gladly moved out of their way

Part 1: What I learned from others based off the experiences in my story is that people are so quick to make their own assumptions about others. I discovered that I look for others approval and recognition but that I shouldn’t worry about it as much . The world is a place full of opinions and I learned that my part in it is just to do my best in being true to myself.

Part 2:

My room cozy as soon as you walk in theirs a sliding door closet that I wont lie isn’t in the best shape at the moment there’s shoes out of boxes and clothes just thrown in there but there’s also clothes hung up and put in place . A couple feet away from the closet lies my bed a simple black metal frame, a box spring and a mattress with navy blue sheets and a couple pillows and on either side of the bed are a charcoal black nightstand with lamps on top of them and any other junk I have left on them. In front of this pushed up against the wall is my dark brown dresser filled with workout clothes and pajamas and atop of the dresser sits a big flat Sony flat screen television where I watch the football or basketball games on. Now if you go to the left of this you’ll find the bathroom which is currently torn up do to some home renovations.

Growing up I always did what I could to just be an overall good person and make people feel welcomed and family members and close friends would say that I was kind and that I had a welcoming personality. These constant reminders made me feel great and showed me that I was doing a great job of showing others the kind personality I had. Just by these experiences I believed that everybody saw me as the kind person I was, but was I mistaken when I got my first job. I was sixteen and I was working at the local 99 cents store near my house and I was hired as a cashier which seemed pretty easy so that got me excited. I was working at the store for a bit I but this day felt different. I did my usual thing and asked the manager on duty  what I was gonna do for the night . They put me on the floor to fix aisles and organize the products on the shelves. It was an easy task and I worked on that the whole day but by the time my came around I noticed that not even one customer had come up to me for assistance. After my break I went up to my coworkers and casually asked if they had any customers come up and ask them questions. My coworker said that they had customers come up to them all day, I found it weird that no one asked me for assistance but didn’t think too much about it after that conversation and I just thought it was because the customers just didn’t have any questions yet. The rest of that day I worked and stayed aware just in case any customer wanted some help finding something or a question about something. It was no use, no one came up to me that day and I went home thinking about it a lot more than I should’ve.

5 ws: (who) me, coworkers and customers (what) customers don’t come up to me as they do other employees (where) At work specifically the 99 cents store (when) I don’t remember when it was just sometime at night (why) coworkers tell me that don’t look like the friendliest person and that I look like I might be an asshole.

I remember only like a handful of times that customers have came up an asked me questions while my coworkers got asked a lot of questions.

I don’t really remember to many details or what I was specifically was doing when I acknowledged this.

I remember thinking to myself and questioning what could be the reason that people don’t come up to me and interact as they would to any of my other coworkers.

I. Exposition

• Thesis Statement: Looks can be deceiving and it isn’t fair to determine that person’s personality based off of those first impressions
• Setting: It is going to be at work and I notice that costumers don’t come up to me as much as they do other employees.

Idea 1: You shouldn’t judge people based off their appearance

I’ve been judged by my appearance and seen as a mad or unfriendly person.

Idea 2: take everything you do seriously because in the end it all matters

In high school I could’ve done better had i taken it seriously.

Idea 3: Live in the moment because you’ll never know when it’s over

Wanting to grow up and just get to the final destination that I didn’t live in the moment.

Part 1: Reflection Questions

I think I have written a rhetorical analysis it was in high school. I learned in greater detail about the use of rhetorical appeals and how to create a better thesis.

What I learned about my piece was that it had a lot of references to other things that had to do on the topic of racism. Also through this rhetorical analysis I got a greater understanding of Joyner Lucas and what type of person he is.

Some ways that I better prepared myself for the process of writing the final draft of my rhetorical analysis was doing the essay piece by piece so that I wouldn’t get overwhelmed by the task. The ways I wanna improve for essay 2 and 3 would be to go over and revise it better than I did through the process of essay 1.

The questions I have about rhetorical analysis are really just how can I improve and better use the appeals.

Part 2: Audre Lorde Imitation Writing

I have come to believe

Derick Recinos

Janel Spencer

Writing 101s

03 October 2019

Analysis of “I’m Not Racist”

Has it ever crossed your mind that some people could hate you just purely based off of the color of your skin? American singer, Gary Maurice Lucas Jr. more famously known by his stage name Joyner Lucas in “I’m Not Racist”(2017), asserts that there are two sides to Racism and that each side needs to take a look from the others point of view. In this song he portrays a young black adult and a younger to middle aged white man and in this piece they are yelling at each other and saying what they dislike about each other and how they see the other from their perspective.    Lucas supports this when he says ” I’m not racist, but there’s two sides to every story, I wish that I knew yours”. When Lucas says this he is mainly speaking to younger people and america in general to get the conversation of racism out there and for people to talk about it. Lucas employs rhetorical appeals through the use of Real Life examples, Emotional tone and his experience as an artist who makes songs with a deep message to inform the audience on the seriousness of racism. 

Lucas’ use of Logos in this song comes in the use of scenarios that happen in america currently. An example of this would be when Lucas says “I don’t really like you white motherfuckers, that’s just where I’m at Screaming “All Lives Matter” Is a protest to my protest, what kind of shit is that?”this is a direct reference to the Black lives matter protest. This line of the song is showing that the black community was upset by white Americans not choosing to stand with the black community and fight against violence and systematic racism. Another reference to current america are the lyrics “ You don’t know what it’s like to mind your business

And get stopped by the cops and not know if you ’bout to die or not You worry ’bout your life, so you take mine” this is referring to the fear instilled in black Americans by many events of unarmed black Americans being pulled over and killed by police officers. The final example I will analyze of logos comes in the lyrics “ I’m not racist, my sister’s boyfriend’s black I’m not racist, my sister-in-law’s baby cousin Tracy got a brother and his girlfriend’s black” this is a statement some people will say and then go on to think that it is justifiable to say some racist comments. 

Pathos can be seen throughout this song by the emotional tone Lucas evokes into the audience by using strong language. Lucas shows this through the lyrics “ The power in the word “Nigga” is a different sin We shouldn’t say it but we do, and that just what it is but that don’t mean that you can say it just ’cause you got nigga friends. Nigga, that word was originated for you to keep us under and when we use it, we know that’s just how we greet each other and when you use it, we know there’s a double meaning under”. These lyrics show pathos through showing that when black people use this word that there taking away its power that kept them down but when a white person says it even if unintentionally there’s a double meaning and it frustrates them and causes an emotion of anger. Another example of emotional language is “even if I wasn’t picking cotton physically that don’t mean I’m not affected by the history my grandmomma was a slave, that shit gets to me and you ain’t got no motherfucking sympathy, you pussy nigga!” this is an emotional statement in which its saying that even he wasn’t a slave himself that he has a family member that was and that it does impact him too. Also by saying this he’s showing that it makes him angry and in a sense he’s making a comparison to the way black people were treated back then to now and how it is frustrating that black people are still being treated poorly. Lucas shows pathos in a lot of the song and addresses many problems in America that black people face on a daily like just not feeling safe or just ok in the country as referenced by these lyrics “I’m sorry you can never feel my life Tryna have faith, but I never felt alright It’s hard to elevate when this country’s ran by whites Judging me by my skin color and my blackness”. 

Lucas uses his experience of making songs with a deep message in them to show his audience he is credible to speak on this subject and others like this. Lucas has made a career out of making music where he covers a serious topic, an example of this would be the song “I’m Sorry” this is a song where Lucas covers the topic of suicide and depression through the perspective of a young African American man. In this song he covers the thoughts and the feelings that cause someone to think of commiting suicide and he also shows the perspective of himself, where he attends the funeral and says some words to the dead body about what he could’ve done to help or just how he shouldn’t have tooken the easy way out. Another song where he tackles a serious topic would be “ADHD” where he speaks on ADHD and how it affected and how he was perceived and just in general what he experienced as a child growing up with ADHD as he mentions in a facebook post. Through the use of his songs Lucas shows his knowledge on topics such as depression, racism, suicide and the abuse of drugs furthermore building his credibility to talk on these topics. 

Lucas Effectively used ethos,pathos and logos throughout this song to convey his message that the serious problem of racism is an ongoing issue in present America. Lucas’ call to action is for Americans of all colors to stand up and fight against the racism of minorities and to help achieve equal treatment for everyone. I believe Lucas did a great job of this because it got the conversation started and made people  more aware of what is happening to minorities in this country.

Works Cited

Lucas, Joyner. “Joyner Lucas – I’m Not Racist.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Nov. 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43gm3CJePn0.

Sinyangwe, Samuel. “Mapping Police Violence.” Mapping Police Violence, 26 Sept. 2019, https://mappingpoliceviolence.org/. 

Lucas, Joyner. “Joyner Lucas” – When I Was a Kid I Was Diagnosed with…, 18 Oct. 2018, www.facebook.com/JoynerLucas/posts/when-i-was-a-kid-i-was-diagnosed-with-adhd-they-said-i-was-aggressive-fidgety-hy/2473329516027623/.

Lucas, Joyner. “Joyner Lucas – I’m Sorry (508)-507-2209.” YouTube, YouTube, 12 Aug. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjKbw1Cqpt0.

Thomas, Fred. “Joyner Lucas: Biography & History.” AllMusic, www.allmusic.com/artist/joyner-lucas-mn0003558622/biography.

Grammar Guide

Sentences/ Independent clauses

1.Fragments: missing subject, missing verb

Examples:

After that

Since he 

2. Run-ons ( fused sentence, Comma splice)

Fanboys-for, and, nor, but, or, yet ,so 

3.Capitalization

 -The first and last word and important words in titles of literary or art works ( books, songs, short stories, poems, articles, movie titles, magazines, paintings, sculptures, etc.)

– The names and nicknames of people.

-People’s initials

-The days of the week and month of the year but not the seasons of the year

4.Punctuation

– use commas to separate words or phrases in a series

-Use a comma to set off two or more introductory prepositional phrases (prepositions-often give us more information about time, place, and movement: in, before, after, at, down, across, inside, out, outside, for, by, on, between, behind, under, around, against, near, through, throughout), when the prepositional phrase is very long (four words or more), or when a comma is needed to make the meaning clear. (In the late fall of 1991, Mr. Jordan was elected mayor. After her incredibly complicated and exhaustingly emotional day, the grieving woman cried herself to sleep.  On Friday, Freddy, Frank, and Frodo went to the movies. )

-Use a comma when writing a complex sentence in which the subordinate clause precedes the independent clause. Subordinate clauses will begin with subordinate conjunctions such as: after, although, as, as soon as, because, before, even though, except, if, since, so that, than, that,  though, unless, when, where, while, or until. (As soon as it stops raining, we will leave for the beach. We will leave for the beach as soon as it stops raining. )

Ex: When the clock hits 12:50, the show will start.

The show will start when the clock hits 12:50. 

Commonly Confused Words

-Its/It’s

Its: belonging to it

The bird will be hungry as soon as its food runs out 

It’s: contraction meaning it is

It’s not saturday yet.

-Ascent/Assent

Ascent:climb

As I made the ascent up the mountain I lost my shoe. 

Assent:agreement

I assented to the conditions

-Apart/ A part 

Apart: to be separated

I was apart from my dog for too long.

A part: to be joined with

I lost a part of my watch.