End of the Documentary Project

So over roughly the last two weeks, I have/had been working on the Documentary Summary project that we got assigned. I had decided on After Tiller, a documentary film about the final four physicians who will perform late term abortion in the United States. This project wasn't the hardest but also not the easiest work I have done with my writing. I did get a good refresher on how to effectively use MLA and also how to format a summary correctly. I don't know why, but summaries always have seemed straight forward to me, but at the same time I always end up needing to revise a ton. Who knows, maybe I will learn to be perfect at it one day. The film as a whole was intriguing and I encourage everyone to watch it because it really isn't about what it looks like on the surface. Honestly, it was more about the doctors themselves and how their lives are on a day to day basis because of their occupation. There is a Youtube video on my blog last week that has the film if anyone is interested, and its free to watch. I promise, it is well worth the time put into it.

What I need to get done for the Documentary Project

I am sitting here in class taking the time to think about what I need to get done on my documentary summary for After Tiller. I know for a fact that I need to 1.) Completely read through the summary and decide if I have way too much detail in places that is probably unnecessary, 2.) Check for any grammar errors that I know are there, 3.) Add a formal citation, 4.) Condense/compress some of my paragraphs into better formed ones, and 5.) double check all my verb tenses. Sometimes I am guilty for not doing that, yikes. I am going to set a goal for myself to try and have this done by Wednesday. That way, if there are any more little revisions that need to be done, I can get them out of the way. This will leave me time to actually pride on my work that I put into this project and let me overcome my procrastination.

Documentary Project, Updated

As I watched my documentary, After Tiller, I sat back and thought about why we are discouraged to do a lot of background searching for information on the film prior to viewing it. I came to a consensus that a lot of the reason why we shouldn't is because adding "extra textual" information to a summary would hurt the quality of it. This is because when doing research, a lot of things that you can be exposed to on the internet is based off of opinion. If you find an article based on the film you are going to watch, and they have something really negative about it or completely miss the mark on what the main point of the plot was about, it could hinder your approach to the work when you watch it for the first time. It is almost like setting your first time experience up for disaster! When you view something for the first time without prior knowledge, it is almost as if you are clear and open-booked for the story and information you're about to receive. There may not be some planted bias that was added to bias you may have already had when walking into the viewing.

Documentary Choice

I am beyond excited for the documentary project. I have always been a pretty big fan of them; so whenever I get to have an assignment that includes one, I get excited because I know it will actually be a project I enjoy. Last semester, we did the same project in College Writing I and I did my report on the Shapiro's "Keep the River on Your Right". It was beyond fascinating, and I am hopeful that the one I have been starting to watch is just as good. I chose "After Tiller" because I personally am not bothered by the discussion of abortion and I really feel like it is interesting. The only thing that I am worried about is finding a way to write my summary in a way that gives the film justice.

Religious Extremism: Not what you perceive

Over the weekend, I had a weekend workshop on "The Psychology of Religious Extremism". Let me start off by raving about how unbelievably amazing it was! The professor was kind, funny, and the material she taught answered a lot of the questions I had about extremism: Was it always violent? How long has it been around? How do you identify extremism? I had walked into the course generally believing that religious extremism was when a small group of people of any faith do one horrible act against humanity. In turn, I learned that religious extremism doesn't exactly have to be violent towards other people, but can be violent or harmful within itself. To explain what I mean, I'll make an example of the Heaven's Gate mass suicide in March of 1997. Heaven's Gate was cult founded in 1974 lead by Marshall Applewhite. Within Heaven's Gate were it's followers, who all believed in basically a more scientific and modern twist to Christianity. Eventually, these beliefs lead to them committing mass suicide in order for them all to escape earth before the "end". What is peculiar about Heaven's Gate is that it's followers were completely at ease. There was no murdering of non-believers and, believe it or not, the Heaven's Gate members were very excluded from society themselves (so they left people alone). Overall, Heaven's Gate showed me that religious extremism is not the stereotypical attacking of others. It taught me that extremism is sometimes much more than violence to others, but problematic within itself. 

This Is Water

On class on Wednesday, we watched a short film called "This is Water" by David Foster Wallace. I have always been a complete "sucker" for emotional films, so when I realized that the video was actually making a point about growing up and having a "default setting", I was interested. Foster-Wallace uses his rhetoric to bring this " default setting" of the human life to surface and focuses on trying to get past our own frustrations to try and realize that we need to consider those around us as well. While watching the film, it actually made me consider my self. I reflected on whether or not I tread around in a default mindset or if I truly try to consider those around me. Will I be that nine to fiver who is stuck in such a monotonous routine that I forget to consider others? Or will I be aware of those around me? All I know is I am going to try and not delve into that default setting for once and look around to the people around me who are going through the same thing.