Project #3

Deciding what to write about is always the hardest part of my writing process. Where do I start? What would make a good argument? To be honest, writing this entry, I really have no idea what I want to study for Project 3. Considering this, my road-map has encountered an obstacle almost immediately. Generally, I try to write on the top of my head to get my “creative juices” flowing (something I unfortunately tend to lack). I am currently studying economics and spanish. The subject matter of a world language is rather limited, so lets stick to economics. With a quick search on economist.com, I notice that a trending topic currently is bitcoins, a new unregulated currency that has transformed the online marketplace and has generated quite a bit of popularity on the world’s political and economic platforms. And now, we have topic. A BitCoin is the same as a dollar, a pound, a euro, a krona, etc...  except one keeps them in an electronic wallet on a computer program. Currently it is estimated that the value bitcoins in circulation is around $1.5 billion dollars with millions of dollars worth of bitcoins traded every day. Over the last 5 years, people have acquired them by “mining”. Bitcoin miners are simply workers, backing up centralized hardware by proofing equations. The currencies demand has spiked in recent years, indicating a great increase in demand. Soon, this currency will dominate international trade. Our society is continually advancing and networking through the power of the internet. Soon we will break the shackles of domestic monetary policy and paper transactions in favor of international, one-touch payments. Now, my search begins for support to my argument.

Project 1

I felt quite comfortable with Project 1 because it is something I had a good amount of experience with in high school. The majority of the pieces we wrote in English class were persuasive essays, but mostly on literature. So, analyzing a song did come with its hardships. With only a fraction of the text, and broken vernacular, conducting a dissection of “Stairway to Heaven” was no piece of cake. I must say that at times I found myself lost for words. Usually, I would re-read my text, look at the focus of my paragraph, see where the two connect, and write from there. I also think that I took a lot from my partner, Jack, who peer edited my essay and provided me with some really constructive advice. Jack guided me with a couple of my body paragraphs, and gave me his insight into the song’s lyrics from a perspective that I had not seen. From this, I was able to develop my argument much more fully. The drafting process, however, I still believe is not for me. When I try to force a first draft, I usually run a blank. While writing, I struggle to set myself in a chair and spew anything onto the page just to have something there to work off. Rather, I prefer to take my time with each sentence, and what is created I would consider a little more than a “shitty first draft”.