JBS
WRITING 220
"A NECESSARY VICE"
SPRING 2012
"A FAILURE TO COMPROMISE"
FALL 2013
"AVENGING MASCULINITY"
WINTER 2014
"A SYSTEM OF DISSUASION"
FALL 2014
"WHEN THE WATCHDOG ESCAPED"
From the time I began learning how to spell in Kindergarten, through a possible honors thesis next year – part of academics has always involved learning how to write. I was lucky enough that my middle and high schools greatly emphasized writing development. I had some truly amazing teachers in that time and I am sure I would not be the writer I am today without their help. When I got to college, my horizons of writing expanded, writing things like blogs and fiction. But, the academic paper stands important in its own right. Some of my favorite pieces of writing ever come in the form of traditional, formal papers – on everything from the Electoral College to The Avengers…
Okay – I lied a little bit – this paper wasn’t actually written in the Writing Minor. I wrote it in English 225, but since it serves as the basis for my entire project this semester, it’s just as important a work as any other in the class. The paper examines the ethical argument for the use of torture in the ticking time bomb scenario (there’s a nuclear bomb about to go off in NYC and you have a suspect in custody). First laying out the counterarguments, I explain my view of permitting torture in the situation, as the consequence of letting millions of innocents die outweighs any virtue or law. I also used this as my writing sample for my Minor in Writing application, so it’s possible this portfolio would not exist without it.
I really wanted to include at least one paper from high school on here, just to show how much I’ve progressed as a writer since. So, I chose the first one that popped up into my mind, which ended up being this paper for my AP Government class about why the lack of partisan compromise is damaging our modern political landscape. I read it back over, thinking I’d find all sorts of typos and exclaim at how stupid I used to be. But, you know what? It’s actually not bad. Worth a read if you’re interested in politics at all…
Wouldn’t it be awesome to write a college paper about Iron Man, Captain America, and The Hulk? Yes – it was absolutely awesome. For my Communications class, the prompt assigned us to examine a critical theory in a choice of modern movies. I wrote of the portrayal of masculinity in the Marvel heroes, emphasizing strength, violence, and sex appeal. It was one of the first times I got to design my own topic, writing about something I found especially interesting. It was incredibly fun to right, and I even got to call watching “The Avengers” multiple times “homework.”
As a political science major, I’ve always been extremely interested in the institution of voting (you can stop right now if this sounds really boring to you). What I wanted to investigate is whether or not margin of victory in an election would have an impact on voter turnout, and if the relationship would be different in Presidential vs. non-Presidential elections. If it did, it would imply the Electoral College system dissuades voting, as people in a heavily leaning ideological state have little incentive to vote, assuming their vote will not matter. The results were very interesting, and it was the first time I felt as if doing real academic research.
I thought I should have at least one pretty current paper, so I chose this one I just turned in last week. The paper, written for a class on journalism ethics, examines the case of James Risen, who is being persecuted for not revealing a source to the Government after revealing a classified failed CIA mission in Iran. The paper questions The New York Time’s decision not to publish Risen’s article, only doing so later in his tell-all book. I think it serves as a perfect example of how I’ve learned to transition away from the classic five-paragraph essay, moving more towards headings and sub-headings to clarify and strengthen my argument. Plus, there’s spies and stuff and it’s pretty cool.