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ENGL 1010
Letter of Transmittal
Over the course of the class I did not find any of the assignments irrelevant at all, which is kind
of a first for me. Usually I struggle to find the reason I am being forced to do at least one
assignment. I did find some more useful than others though. The assignments that helped me the
most were the self directed learning and reflections. I feel like for the past few years the majority
of what I have learned in English classes, or any class that I had to write a paper for really, has
been pretty repetitive. The self directed learning really helped me identify exactly what it was
that I needed to focus on instead of just going over the same thing over and over.
The reflections really helped me with the identifying what I needed to work on in self
directed learning. It also helped me realize that what we were working on was actually helpful. I
have always kind of disliked reflections because they kind of annoy me, but I actually enjoyed
them in this course. They made me realize which choices I was making in my writing, and
helped me realize how many choices I made and why they were important.
The rhetorical analysis really drew attention to literate practices and processes. I had
never considered why an author’s argument made sense, but only paid attention to the fact that it
made sense. I hadn’t considered the different ways the author established the validity of their
actually draft anything. Having a little bit of a pre-rough draft made it easier to develop my
views, and I felt like it made my writing better than it could have been. I also really liked the
discussions because not only did they give me an opportunity to reflect on my own ideas, but
give and receive feedback. I think giving feedback to other people also helped me notice
mistakes in my own writing. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I am more critical of the
writing of others than I am of my own. I don’t know if I have a superiority complex when it
Thank you for the feedback you have given me throughout the course, and for making me
think harder than I have had to. I tend to get lazy when I get comfortable, but this class kept me
on my toes a little bit and I enjoyed that. Also, in addition to the main assignments being posted
on the main page of my eportfolio, I will put them here so you don’t have to download all of
them.
Thank you,
Faith Keller
Faith Keller
Christiansen
ENGL 1010
January 23, 2018
Flash Narrative
I was in downtown Salt Lake screwing around with a few of my coworkers one Friday
night, it was a pretty average night other than the whole me going out in public part. We got
some dinner and ice cream from Johnny Rockets, and just kind of wandered around for awhile.
We were at City Creek on a chilly night, so as soon as we realized we could not all fit in front of
one of the outdoor fireplaces we decided to head back toward the parking garage.
So there were five of us. There was William, Chasity, Kylee, Jenise, and me. At my
work, everyone had a pair. It was almost like when you started you were assigned someone that
was just automatically your best friend. Always scheduled together, and always hanging out in
your free time. Pretty cool. So Jenise and I both had our partners, but they had left around the
same time. We started working every Sunday morning together and became best buds.
The group was all walking back to the parking garage, and we were all heading down the
escalators and we stopped at the first level, at least I am pretty sure it was the first level. All I
remember is that they parked on blue and we parked on orange. That was where Kylee, William,
and Chas had parked. We were all saying our goodbyes, but Jenise had not noticed that the rest
of us stopped. She started heading down the next escalator. When she turned to look behind her
and noticed that everyone had stopped, she completely panicked. She turned around and started
running up the down escalator. Her bright red hair was flying everywhere, it had come out of the
bun she had put it in at work earlier. Her jacket was in her hand and it was just flailing about.
She had a look of terror on her face as she fought the downward force of the moving staircase. It
was similar to the look of a girl in a horror movie that cannot seem to understand that you are
supposed to run away from the person trying to kill you. When she got back to the rest of us,
mind you she had not even gotten a quarter of the way down, she was out of breath and just
laughing. She looked like she had been through hell and had suffered through some traumatic
experience. She was just panting, and I was sitting on the floor laughing so hard I was crying.
She then joined me on the floor, just dying of laughter. The best part of the whole thing was no
one else had seen, so they just gave us confused looks and asked why we were laughing.
After we explained, through tears, what had just happened, Kylee looked at Jenise and
said,”Do it again. I missed it.” Jenise refused for obvious reasons, and everyone went their
separate ways except the two of us. Even after we got to the car we had to wait a few minutes
because I was laughing too hard to drive. We laughed about it for at least another twenty
For a few months after the incident, every time I was somewhere that had an escalator I
would send her a picture of it. If I was with her, I would grab her hand, drag her over to it, and
spread my arms in order to dramatically present it to her. Naturally, I told all of our mutual
friends what had happened. The people that had been with us were all bitter about not seeing it
all go down, but we didn’t care. I guess it was just something you had to be there for.
641 Words
Faith Keller
Christiansen
ENGL 1010
Rhetorical Analysis
The article “I Know Where You’ve Been: Digital Spying In The Smartphone Age” is
about the effect of certain technology on relationships, specifically in the case of divorce. The
article was about digital spying between people in relationships and its effects on the people
involved. She uses a story of someone that had personally been affected by digital spying tools,
to whom she referred as M throughout the article. She talked about M’s ex husband using digital
spying tools on her, how she felt about it, and how it affected her. In her article, author Aarti
Shahani argues that digital spying has altered some aspects of the divorce process. Through the
use of ethos, logos, and pathos Shahani effectively presents her argument.
Shahani establishes her credibility quickly due to her background. She is published
through a credible news source, National Public Radio’s website, she is an awarded author, and
she has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University. She then uses ethos, appeals to
character, to establish further credibility and increase the strength of her argument. She used
statements from multiple people commonly involved in divorce cases such as: lawyers,
investigators, police officers, and judges to support the facts she used. The use of experts in
presenting facts increases the author’s credibility. For example,”...according to dozens of divorce
lawyers…” It proves that she is not just creating ideas and using them as her argument. She
mentioned that M could not prosecute her husband for placing the GPS tracker on her car
because they both owned it. This was supported by the refusal of the prosecutors to pursue the
case, which Shahani stated. She used facts and statistics from trusted organizations and made her
argument stronger.
The author also used logos, appeals to logic or reason, to contribute to her argument.
Shahani mentioned M’s suspicions and investigation to add to the point she was making. She
brought up M’s original suspicion about her ex husband, but then added the discovery by the
mechanic to provide the hard evidence. She also stated that the clients of lawyers use digital
spying as a way to “stay in control or gather evidence of extra-marital affairs or drug abuse”
which supports her argument because that was a fact presented by lawyers about specific ways it
is changing divorce. Shahani also used logos when she brought up M’s ex husband using a GPS
tracker and explained why M thought that he was using other methods of digital spying like
spyware. She used M’s previous experience with her ex husband’s stalking as a way to imply or
get the reader to also believe that he would find other ways to stalk her. She mentioned how M
knew that her husband was still watching what she was doing. He knew what she was saying to
her friends in private conversations occurring through text and there would not have been a way
for him to know that if he had not been spying on her. Shahani then provided further evidence by
giving statistics from the Justice Department about stalking victims and the percentage of victims
was more than doubled in the cases of divorced and separated people. Shahani not only used
implications and common sense to strengthen her argument, but she used specific evidence and
The really strong argument came from Shahani’s use of pathos or appeal to shared values
and emotions. With divorce already being an emotional process, where families lives are
completely changed, the use of spying tools makes it harder in a lot of cases similar to M’s.
Shahani mentioned M’s physical and mental abuse. Abuse contributes to a lot of divorces and
separations, and the author pointed out that digital spying gives ex’s a way to continue their
abuse. Simply by telling M’s story she used pathos. She mentioned M saying that she was
worried that her ex husband was stalking her. Stalking is negative term and automatically
appeals to emotions. She also told the story of M’s ex husband’s previous physical abuse and
how she felt unsafe because of what he had done and how she tried to avoid it. She used pathos
when she quoted M saying,”I’m terrified. I am absolutely terrified.” It makes the reader feel
sympathetic and therefore strengthens her argument. She also used pathos when she was talking
about how the lawyers dealt with digital spying. “[They] are put in a position of having to choose
between a rock and a hard place…” when she was talking about the lawyers having to make
decisions about whether to use the evidence presented to them and cause problems for somebody
else or defend their clients no matter how they feel about the situation. That points out that the
lawyers even fight with themselves on what to do because they risk feeling bad about what they
did either way, and also that the divorce process is changing because of digital spying. People
would not have felt conflicted about the use of digital spying tools before they existed, which
Shahani used kairos, appeal to time and place, as another way to strengthen her argument.
She stated that M discovered that the GPS tracker had only been in use for a few weeks when she
had been divorced for over a year. Pointing out the time frame made it obvious that digital
spying tools were changing divorce because they were affecting divorcees way after everything
was said and done. She used the mechanic’s shop as a place that would contribute to her
argument. Had it been a random person looking at that car, they would not have been able to
confirm it was a GPS tracker, and therefore would not have been helpful for her argument. They
might not have even been able to find it, but because a mechanic found it in his shop it actually
Author Aarti Shahani used rhetorical appeals as a way to effectively convey her
argument. Using the story of someone who had personally been affected by these tools gave the
reader a clear idea of what she was trying to explain and what she was trying to draw attention
to. She used them to put emphasis on her argument about digital spying tools changing divorce
and how they did so. Without appealing to the reader, the author would not have had an effective
argument.
1079 Words
Faith Keller
ENGL 1010
The question I have chosen is: Should All Women Have Access to Affordable Birth
Control? I chose this issue because birth control has always been a controversial topic, and
because of that it is not necessarily easy for some women to get. I have learned that even women
have differing opinions on the issue, and that is what intrigues me the most. On one side of the
argument there are people that believe employers should provide insurance that covers the cost
of birth control, or that there should be government funded programs that fit the bill. Others
believe that requiring employers to cover the cost infringes on their religious freedom. There is
also a group of people that believe that birth control should simply be more affordable, not
necessarily just making someone else (such as an insurance company or the government) cover
the cost.
libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6
628792&site=eds-live.
In this article, the author starts by explaining that birth control is a bigger issue now
because before the industrial age families were larger in order to get more work done. Now that
the population has increased, there is an increased need for contraceptives. The author mentioned
the more effective, but also more expensive forms of birth control being released. He also said
that they would most likely not be available to the clinics that had the goal of making birth
control readily available to women because of the cost. He estimated that 6.5 million “poor
The author strengthened his argument for making birth control readily available in this
statement,”Family planning experts state claim the unplanned pregnancy rate in the United States
is a startling 49 percent, so the need for more effective birth control is great.”
Rogers, Melissa. "New Trump Contraception Rules Not a Win-win Solution." Brookings.
win-solution/.
In her article, Rogers briefly summarized the dispute between the Little Sisters of the
Poor, an organization of Catholic nuns and the government regarding the accommodation that
the government made for religious, nonprofit organizations that objected to providing health
insurance coverage for employees. She mentioned the Supreme Court striking down religious
accommodations when they could not “strike an appropriate balance”. She argued that the
organizations being exempt shifted the burden to the women employed by these kind of
organizations.
Rogers referenced the Supreme Court case Zubik v. Burwell in her article. She
credible website. She also provided statistics on decreased unplanned pregnancy when women
Sawhill’s article was about the correlation between unplanned births and poverty. The
main focus of the article was providing affordable long term birth control to women as a way to
cut the number of unplanned pregnancies and poverty that comes as a result of them. At the
beginning of the article she gave information about forms of long term birth control, the
intrauterine device (IUD) and the hormonal birth control implant. The devices are long acting
and require very little attention, and have the lowest chance of failing and resulting in a
Sawhill established her credibility in a few ways. She was published on a credible
website, and she had a book published on a similar subject. At the beginning of the article she
also provided statistics on unplanned pregnancies, and the unplanned pregnancy rate is higher in
single women. She also provided statistics on the effectiveness of different forms of
contraception. The presentation of facts really helped her establish her credibility as an author
contraceptives.
In this article, author Jeffrey Singer focuses on why birth control pills should be available
over the counter. Singer mentioned that making oral contraceptives available over the counter
would reduce the cost because there is no prescription and no doctor’s visit required to obtain
them. The article also brought up the opinions of obstetricians and gynecologists, the people that
deal with birth control the most, as a way to strengthen his argument about making birth control
Singer established his credibility by providing statistics such as,”...a 2015 survey of
nearly 500 reproductive health care providers found that 74 percent of them supported expanding
access to oral contraceptives.” He stated that the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists agrees that birth control pills should be available without a prescription. Jeffrey
Singer himself is a medical professional himself, which also contributes to his argument.
“The High Costs of Birth Control.” Center for American Progress, 17 Feb. 2012,
www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/02/15/11054/the-high-costs-of-birth-
control/.
The article “The High Costs of Birth Control” posted on the Center for American
Progress’s website was a fact sheet on the cost of different forms of birth control and the
difference in the cost of women’s healthcare. The article mentions the demographic most
affected by the cost of birth control, women of childbearing age. The prices of different forms of
birth control range from about $590 to $6000 which supports the author’s argument that not
allowing women access to affordable birth control presents them with a financial burden.
The article did not have a specific author listed, but the article was published on a trusted
organization’s website. The article was useful for me because it gave a reference to what the
costs of birth control actually are. Without knowing the cost, there would be no way to determine
whether that is high or whether that is affordable to the majority of people. It provided important
Totenberg, Nina. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate
https://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471003272/birth-control-at-the-supreme-court-does-free-
coverage-violate-religious-freedom.
Totenberg addresses the concerns of those opposed to the HHS mandate that required
employers, excluding houses of worship, to provide insurance coverage for birth control. She
focused on the Little Sisters of the Poor. The organization runs homes for the elderly poor, and
are run by Catholic nuns. The article also covered the workaround for employers with religious
of moral objections to the mandate, which required employers to notify the government to notify
the government that they are opting out. The Little Sisters argued that this still infringes on their
Totenberg objectively presents both sides of the argument, which made it known that her
purpose was simply to inform. She established credibility by providing statistics, statements, and
facts from both side of the argument. She was also published on npr.org, which is a credible
website.
“Trump Rescinds Obamacare Birth Control Mandate.” NPR, NPR, 9 Oct. 2017,
www.npr.org/2017/10/09/556606150/trump-rescinds-obamacare-birth-control-mandate.
This was originally broadcast on National Public Radio, and it is an interview of Planned
Parenthood President Cecile Richards by host David Greene. The interview starts by Greene
introducing the topic of the Trump administration giving employers easier ways to get out of
providing coverage for birth control to their employees. Richards argued that this would make it
more difficult for women, and that it would be a mistake. Richards stated that since the mandate
by the Obama administration, unplanned pregnancy rates have gone down, there has been the
lowest teen pregnancy rate in the history of the United States, and that overall women are getting
better birth control. Richards also mentioned that women use birth control for “a whole host of
reasons” not just preventing pregnancy. Greene mentioned that some believed that it interfered
with religious liberty, and Richards countered that with employers having the option to opt out of
The broadcast was credible because it was on National Public Radio with the President of
Planned Parenthood who would need to stay up to date on government regulations regarding
birth control and women’s health. Planned Parenthood is also a nationwide organization that has
been around for over one hundred years. The organization was established in October of 1916.
"Zubik v. Burwell." Accessed April 6, 2018.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf.
This was the petition to the Supreme Court regarding the HHS mandate requiring
employees to provide healthcare plans that covered birth control. It covered the accomodation
allowing nonprofit organizations, and the opinion of those organizations. The petition
stated,”Petitioners allege that submitting this notice substantially burdens the exercise of their
religion, in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 107 Stat. 1488 42
U.S.C. §2000bb et seq.” This gives more background to the opposing side.
Faith Keller
ENGL 1010
There has been a recent debate regarding a mandate from the Department of Health and
Human Services during the Obama administration. The mandate required employers to provide
insurance coverage for birth control, or the employer to notify the government that they were
opting out so women could seek contraception through government funded programs like
Medicaid. There were a lot of people that agreed with the mandate, but there were others that
objected. Those that objected said it was an assault on their religious liberty. There were others
that were more in the middle. That group believed that while all women should have access to
affordable birth control, the cost should not be shifted to someone else such as an insurance
article “Reducing Poverty by Cutting Unplanned Births” Isabel Sawhill discusses the correlation
between unplanned pregnancies and poverty. She goes on to say that women that get pregnant
before they are financially and mentally ready are more likely to stay in the lower class . Sawhill
also argued that women that have access to birth control and better family planning are more
successful. In “A Wellness Perspective on Birth Control: Education is Better than Ignorance” the
author argues that things have changed and birth control is necessary for family planning because
Those opposed to the mandate argue that it affects their religious freedom. Employers
with religious or moral objections to birth control believe that they should not be required to
provide insurance coverage for birth control and that the option to opt out but not notify the
government is not a reasonable accommodation. In “Birth Control at the Supreme Court: Does
Free Coverage Violate Religious Freedom?” Nina Totenberg examines the argument by the
Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious organization that did not agree with providing coverage for
their employees and were not satisfied with the option to opt out. They argued that their name
would still be on it, and they did not want their name associated with birth control (Totenberg).
Supreme Court case regarding a baker that did not agree with same sex marriage and compares it
to the birth control debate. Anderson mentions the religious organizations affected by the HHS
mandate, and argues that the mandate may cause these organizations to lose tax exempt status
views than the first group. The argument in this case is that while birth control should be made
more affordable, it should not be done by just shifting the cost to someone else. In “End the Ban
on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives” author Jeffrey Singer states that making oral
contraceptives available over the counter would reduce the cost by eliminating the doctor’s visit
After researching the question, I agree with the HHS mandate. In “The High Costs of
Birth Control” there is a chart with the costs of the different types of birth control. It had a chart
that broke down the costs of different types of birth control from the pill to sterilization. It really
drew attention to the issue, and made me think about the women that cannot afford it by
themselves. If they cannot afford birth control on their own, then they are not going to be able to
support a child. I also think that because organizations were provided with the option to opt out
as long as they notified the government it is reasonable. They do not have to provide coverage
they just have to notify the government so women employed by these groups still have access to
Exploring the different views on birth control access really drew attention to the issue. I
did not realize how many people were affected by lack of birth control or difficulty paying for it,
and I did not realize that there were people that were fighting back against the solution that the
Anderson, Ryan. “The Continuing Threat to Religious Liberty.” The Heritage Foundation,
www.heritage.org/religious-liberty/commentary/the-continuing-threat-religious-liberty.
libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6
628792&site=eds-live.
Rogers, Melissa. "New Trump Contraception Rules Not a Win-win Solution." Brookings.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/10/13/new-trump-contraception-rules-not-a-win-
win-solution/.
births/.
Singer, Jeffrey A. “End the Ban on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives.” Cato
contraceptives.
“The High Costs of Birth Control.” Center for American Progress, 17 Feb. 2012,
www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/02/15/11054/the-high-costs-of-birth-
control/.
Totenberg, Nina. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate
https://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471003272/birth-control-at-the-supreme-court-does-free-
coverage-violate-religious-freedom.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf.