Diego's Blog

2:30 am. Just like every other week day, I get out of my car sweaty from the workout I had just done after work. I open my back door to my car and grab my work clothes and back pack. I slowly drag one foot after another until I make it to the stairs to my apartment and brace myself for the steps. After a tired “sigh”, I finally face the steps and climb them, somehow finding the energy within knowing that my bed is waiting at the top. I unlock my door and walk in, locking it behind me. Before getting in bed i take my sleeping pills to counteract the antidepressants side effects of insomnia. I brush my teeth and take a speedy shower to hurry up and get in that king size bed. Finally laying down, I close my eyes and hear my phone go off. A text from my supervisor saying, “We need you to come back to work.”

Just like almost every other day in England it was cold. This cold though felt a little more bitter today. A message waiting for me on my phone from my girlfriend at the time telling me shes leaving me, and that she has found someone else. The sudden look of disbelief went away when I called her and asked if she was joking, which her reply was “no.” Disbelief had turn to sadness.

1. Depression Looks like: sad, worn down, tired Tastes like coating of pills going down your throat Smells like: nothing Feels like: sad, alone, secluded Sounds like: nothing

2. Loneliness Looks like: walking with your head down Feels like: depression Tastes like: nothing Smells like: nothing Sounds like nothing

3. Being cheated on Looks like: crying Feels like: sad, depressing, Tastes like: nothing Sounds like: nothing

Diego Miranda

Janel Spencer

WRT101S 12157

Oct. 7, 2019

            Mental health is one of the topics that no one really wants to talk about, there is a certain stigma around it that pushes people from wanting to get help. But every year about 1 in 5 U.S. adults struggle with some form of mental health issues. (NAMI)  No one is immune to mental health issues, including me. This is my struggle with mental health.

            I grew up in a military orientated family. My father was in the Air Force and we moved around a lot. When my family was in one place, my father’s job usually took him away, either deployments, tdy trips, or something other related to his job. After my father retired from the Air Force, he was gone for over a year for his new job. It wasn’t that my father didn’t want to be there, he just worked so much so my family could have everything that he didn’t have when he was younger. My father being gone most of the time was stressful for my family. My mom was working a job and was watching my 2 younger brothers who were around one and nine. My oldest sister was in her first year of college and so my mom had less help around the house and relied on my other sister and I a lot more.

Growing up I got used to my father being gone a lot and moving around all the time. Most of the times we moved it was just another thing. Except my sophomore year of high school, we moved halfway through the year all the way from Nebraska to England for my dad’s contracting job. Nebraska was the place I stayed at the longest. I felt as if I actually had a reason to stay at this place. I made a lot of friends, did good in school, and I had been dating someone for around 2 years at the time. It felt like I was being ripped away from all those things just to move and start all over again. After being in England for a little bit, my girlfriend at the time ended up cheating on me and it really took a toll on me. We ended up breaking up and I just took all those feelings and pushed them deep down and ignored them. Then whenever they wanted to come up, I just pushed them down more and distracted myself with something else. Throughout the last 4 years this was a common thing for me.

            After high school I ended up joining the military myself. I was going for a really physical demanding job that a lot of people had tried but failed out of due to injury, quitting, or just not meeting the standards. After trying out for this job for about 3 months, I ended up getting injured, I had tears in my patella and quadricep tendon. They ended up taking me out of the program and said I wouldn’t be able to try out anymore and was being forced to do a different job. This hit me pretty deep. I had spent around a year getting ready physically and mentally for this job and just like that it was over. Just like back in high school I took these feelings and pushed them down till they weren’t there. After getting injured, it wasn’t until 4 months later that I could move since I had to be completely healed up before I could move on to this other job that was chosen for me. Every day it was the same things, physical therapy, stretching, and sitting around in a room waiting for my injury to get better. Being there alone felt really depressing. I felt like I was doing nothing with my life and that I was a disappointment for getting injured and I blamed everything on myself. I ended up pushing my family and friends away, which ended up being worse because I felt even more alone. 

            After finally recovering from my injury, I was able to move on. I was excited and also sad. Excited because I was finally able to move on and do something, but at the same time sad because it wasn’t what I joined the military to do. I spent the next 4 months in North Texas training for my new job, C-130 Crew Chief. Which basically was a mechanic on C-130 aircraft. Being there training for my new job and meeting new people, it kind of got my mind off of everything. But every so often I would think about getting injured and not being good enough, or something would remind me of it which would lead me to thinking about it also, and just like before I would push all these feelings down.

            After leaving North Texas, I went to Tucson for my first duty station. Here they have people that are in the career field that I was got taken out of because of my injury and seeing them was bittersweet. It was nice and cool to see them and interact with them, but at the same time it sucked because all I could think about is how that could be me. After being in Tucson for a little while my command here said I had to go see Mental Health. After seeing Mental Health they said I needed to go to a behavioral health institute because I was a danger to myself because I was depressed. I was in the behavioral health institute for over a week and every day we had to go to group talks and learn coping skills and do things to release stress. 

            Throughout most of my life I avoided my emotions and just pushed them away instead of facing them. I felt like I should be able to deal with my emotions by myself, which was pushing how I felt away, so I didn’t talk to anybody about what I was feeling, This just let things build up on me and I didn’t even notice it. It was obvious to the point where my command noticed I needed help. 

            Today my physiatrist teaches me how to express how I’m feelings and how to deal with stress and depression. She said that even though I don’t always know how to express how I’m feeling it is still good to try to talk about it and to rely on someone for a good support system instead of pushing away everything and letting it build up. I used to think that talking about your feelings made you weak and that you should be able to deal with things by yourself. I realized it is good to talk with someone about how your feeling. This was you’re not holding on to unsolved or confusing feelings. This way you can solve problems with other people better, including relationship issues. Everyone’s struggle with mental health issues is different, whether it be from abuse, stress, or many other reasons but no one should be scared to get help in the healthy and right way.

Ex Girlfriend- short, blonde hair, blue eyes, tons of freckles on face during summer, inviting smile, super white teeth

Talking about her cheating on me over the phone- seemed sad, eyes roamed, blamed it on me, wasn’t sincere, tense

I remember feeling sad and alone when my girlfriend at the time cheated on me.

I remember having severe anxiety when I was in a behavioral health institute for a week.

I remember feeling like a disappointment after getting injured.

When- England half way through sophomore year to graduating high school, South Texas October 2017 to June 2018, North Texas June 2018 to October 2018, Arizona November to now.

Intro- A little insight into military life to grab the readers attention. (haven’t made up a thesis yet)

I. Exposition- 1. The background of growing up in a military family. 2. My family moving halfway through high school.

II. Inciting

1. When I joined the military.

2. When I got injured in my patella and quad tendons.

III. Rising Action

1. After my injury, I had to do physical therapy for 4 months.

2. After “recovering” I had to move around even more.

IV.- Climax

1. Then all I did was bottle everything up.

2. I was admitted into a mental health institute.

V. Falling Action

1. I had to go to a psychiatrist and talk about my feelings.

VI. Resolution

1. How life is today and how it has changed.

VII. Argument

1. Why it is good to be able to talk to someone.

VIII. Main Conflict- man vs. self

Narrative Arguement ideas:

1. Why military life is not always ideal and hard
2. Why you should do more research on buying cars
3. Overcoming nicotine addiction

I have come to believe that not everyone has the same integrity as everyone else. I am standing here with 10,000 less dollars to tell you they aren’t. Over the pass couple weeks I have been having car problems relating to the previous owner of my STI. I had to get a whole new engine because the previous owner went in to the long block and changed a bunch of gaskets, hardware, and many more pieces. The damage was extensive and it was either keep my engine and replace all the parts that were damaged for $12,000 or just replace the whole engine and other parts for $10,000 so i went with the latter and changed my engine. I tried to get in touch with the dealership which i purchased the car and I also tried to get in touch with the people who did the work, but they declined doing the work and the dealership said the car was fine when they sold it. I learned a valuable lesson through all this realizing not to trust everyone and do my research before doing something major.

No, I had not written a rhetorical analysis before. I learned that almost every news piece is biases in some way. I also learned the different ways that they appeal through their audience using ethos, logos, and pathos.

I learned that my author loves to talk about Hasan Minhaj and isn’t afraid to show praise for him publicly.

I don’t think I prepared for this essay very well. When I was writing this piece I felt like my thoughts were all over the place. I think i need to make a better outline before writing the piece to make my essay and ideas flow better.

I really liked how throughout the essay 1 weeks my teacher showed us ways to write an intro, ways to structure a paragraph, how a thesis should be written, etc. I felt like it will really help me for essay 2 and 3. I don’t have to many questions about rhetorical analysis or grammar because my teacher did a great job showing me in class throughout the weeks.

Diego Miranda

Janel Spencer

WRT101S (12157)

September 29, 2019

Making Light of The Student Loan Crisis

According to the chamberofcommerce.org, the average student finishing college also finishes with about $37,000 in debt. Political commentator, Hasan Minhaj, went to the first ever hearing in Congress on student loan debt to address things like the excessive debt students are facing today, and the companies giving these absurd loans that leads these students into being in so much debt. Buzzfeed writer, Michelle No, summarizes some points Minhaj tries to make to Congress. No tries to relate to her intended audience, young generations attending college, by using dark humor and memes, a common thing with today’s young generations. No writes this piece to inform her audience of the ways people are addressing the student loan crisis and to make people want to step up and do something about it themselves. No uses pathos and small amounts of logos and ethos to support what Minhaj states to Congress and tries to get her point across by relating to the audience using the common humor of today’s students attending college.

No appeals to pathos in her article by using emotionally loaded language and humor.  When referring to the average student debt being around $37,000, she says it is, “a really crushing, stressful and anxiety-inducing fact.” This type of emotionally loaded language creates a fear in the intended audience that would make them more likely into being persuaded by No. Furthermore, when No believes Minhaj makes a great point to Congress, she says that, “but the burning does not stop there.” No uses this verbiage to try to evoke an emotional response that would persuade the audience into believing that Minhaj did make a great argument.  Throughout the whole article, No puts memes in her article to show more emotion when words aren’t enough. After No talks about one of Minhaj’s “burns” to Congress, she adds a meme of people freaking out, and says “this gif was made for this very moment in time.” By adding this sentence and meme after what Minhaj responds to Congress, she is trying to show how big Minhaj words to Congress were.

No appeals to logos by stating a fact then adding a link in her article to The Chamber of Commerce’s website that further explains how deep the debt is. The website states that student loan debt has passed credit card and automobile debt. The data that is being presented to us is further trying to show how big the student loan crisis is and show why Minhaj needed to go to Congress to explain to them the magnitude of the student loan crisis. No also adds this link to appeal to ethos at the same time. No adds the link in after stating the average loan debt is around $37,000 to try and show she is knowledgeable in this subject. So by saying, “The average student loan borrower has around $37,000 in debt. That’s a fact,” she is able to appeal to ethos and logos in just those two short sentences.

The intended audience of Michelle No’s article is everyone who’s attending college or plans to attend college. It’s pretty clear who the audience is based on what the article is about. The author tries relating to the audience by using comedy, memes, and dark humor such as saying that $37,000 in student debt is “a really crushing, stressful and anxiety-inducing fact.” She uses strategies like this because it is well known that the young generation of today, which is usually the people with these student loans, uses this type of humor to cope with the stress. The author was predicting that it would be youthful Americans attending college or planning on attending college that would be the audience of this article. If someone of an older generation reads this article, they might not understand Michelle No’s humor to try to lighten a stressful topic.

No wrote this article so the intended audience would see what people are trying to do about the student loan crisis and make people step up and do something themselves. Michelle identifies the significance of the situation and tries to relate to the intended audience by using humor, Chamber of Commerce statistics, and things that Hasan says to Congress. Michelle is trying to open a door, so people research more about this topic of student loan crisis. Michelle is also trying to calm the intended audience by showing that something is trying to be done about the student loan crisis. Furthermore, Michelle is trying to show how big of a crisis this really is in hopes that people not only realize the issue, but also do something about it.

Michelle No’s article uses mainly emotionally loaded language and small amounts of ethos and logos. She relates to the audience using memes and dark humor. Her effectiveness in relating to the intended audience and trying to persuade them to believe that Hasan is really trying to do something about the student loan crisis is somewhat there. However, if someone of the unintended audience, such as older people who don’t understand the younger generations humor, might read this they would probably not be persuaded at all and think this article is not useful.  After reading this article, I would probably research more about the topic and Hasan Minhaj’s visit to Congress to discuss the student loan crisis. The topic intrigued me and made me sympathize with the students facing these problems, which makes me want to help. Therefore, I think this article was persuasive to me in believing that something is being done about this crisis and was a door opener into researching more about the topic of the student loan crisis.

Works Cited

No, Michelle. “Yep, I’m Still Dying Over This Clip Of Hasan Minhaj Millennial-Splaining The Student Loan Crisis To Congress.” BuzzFeed, BuzzFeed, 13 Sept. 2019, https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelleno/hasan-minhaj-student-debt-loan-crisis-congress-hearing.

“Student Loan Statistics.” Chamber of Commerce, https://www.chamberofcommerce.org/student-loan-statistics/.