In “Navigating Genres”, the author Kerry Dirk wrote about how genre is important  to the relevance of how the text is conveyed to readers. As readers we see genres as boundaries to follow certain texts we want to read. One could be looking into romantic novels or one could be looking into romantic research. These choices the writer makes affect relevance to us readers as Dirk wrote , “… by studying the genres that we find familiar, we can start to see how specific choices that writers make result in specific actions on the part of readers…”. Dirk continues, “it only follows that our own writing must be purposefully written”. Dirk’s statement is true as fellow writers we tend to look at others writers  work style  to inspire our own work’s style and be a purposeful writer. As a writer one must reflect and be self critical of how they portray their work. Sara Morrisson, a reporter from Vox, wrote an article called “The Year We Gave Up On Privacy” . In the article Morrison brought up the issue about privacy and collected data of the masses as we all transition into the quarantine lifestyle of online work, school and socializing. Morrison introduced the issue as an individual who also fell into the masses of giving up privacy and personal data to use the internet especially since covid. People accepted because they needed to do work, school and other social needs. Morrison evaluates how our information is invaded and what it is used for without our discretion as well as show how there is a lack of necessary government regulations on the internet as our information era invades individual information. The way Morrison wrote her article was well portrayed, as she conveyed the issue clearly and unbiased. Then continued to give more information about our private data being given away without realizing how much. Then evaluates what we can do, what has changed and should change for protecting privacy data. Morrison has stayed true to the genre of an information text. She has satiated her side which is to have more restrictions on accessing our private data. while also stating why some of our private data is helpful. The texts was well thought out and well written. This text was interesting as I knew about this issue and how there is lack of attention towards this issue. 

When reading Dirk’s “Navigating Genres.”, I immediately noticed how informal the essay was. I really like the fact that although he was talking about finding the right genre for the type on paper you are writing and the fact he was teaching us something, it still felt like it was a normal conversation that I would be able to have a back and forth with. I can not really say that I am confused about anything this essay has to offer anymore. I had read this last semester for my last English class and had to annotate it as well. Then we went over everything so everything is still pretty fresh for me.

The article I chose was “Is Marriage Obsolete?”. I thought the article was okay at best. I was not a big fan of some of the ways she described certain things. For example, when she was describing her husband she said ” zero depth perception, and a palsy that makes his right hand shake whenever he passes me, say, a porcelain creamer filled to the brim with liquid nitrogen.”. I am sure that sentence is structured beautifully with solid imagery. BUT my problem stems with me having to decipher what she is trying to say there. I am not the most quick witted fella when it comes to deciphering texts and when I read an article on something that is of some what importance to me, I do not want to have to waste time thinking what the author is trying to tell me. Other than that I did really enjoy the honesty that came along when she was describing the benefits of marriage in todays age. She gave good reasons in support of and against marriage.

As soon as I saw this article on the list my interests were piqued. I clicked on it right away. I am a 26 year old male and I have been with my girlfriend going on 5 years now. Every family or social gathering now a days is pretty much just people bombarding us with questions such as “when are you too going to get married?” and statements like “You know when I was your age I was married for 6 years already”. Well I am sorry Debra but you’ve been divorced 3 times since so I am not quite sure I should be taking marriage advice from you. But anyway, my girlfriend and I have no plans for marriage any time soon. My reasons are the severe social anxiety I feel when I think about having to stand at the altar and people watching me. She wants to finish school and be established before we rush into things. As Heather said 40-50% of all marriages in the USA end in divorce and I am not rushing to be another statistic.

An article, where I went in expecting little from, has left an impression on me. I did not know how informative the article would be as I clicked on it, and as I began reading the first-person-written text. Why did I click on it? I was intrigued by another topic, initially. However, I decided I’d choose the article, ” ‘Why I’m Behind the Athletes’ Bill of Rights’ ” from Sports Illustrated. I don’t watch sports on a regular, I enjoy watching soccer matches, but definitely, I prioritize other thing before sports. However, I was drawn to this sports-related article because I was curious to see how much I could learn. I had never heard of the Athletes’ Bill of Rights. “What kind of article will this be?,” I asked myself. The subtle use of pathos really got me. Mix that in with the logical mentions to studies and their significance, the article sold. Cory Booker, the author of the article, is a Senator working to change something that’s been going on for way to long: college athletes’ exploitation. I was so extremely upset when I read about a college athlete that helped his team win, at the expense of his own health. He would go to bed hungry because he couldn’t afford a meal! Those in the power to take action and help their athletes have not taken action- in decades. Therefore, the author’s purpose is to garner attention and support to help the athletes, as a former athlete himself, now that he has the power to do so.

Senator Booker referenced NCAA’s own statistics. I understood from context that the NCAA was responsible of the college athletes, although the acronym was not explained, assuming the reader is familiar with the NCAA. I would say that the explanation of NCAA and it’s specific role is something notably absent in the article, however it does not take away from the statement the author is making, considering who his target audience is.  Apart from these details, Senator Booker’s article surpasses my expectations, for it was simple, straightforward, and appeals to both your logic and emotions.

This sports-genre article seemed to work pretty well. I think this because of something Dirk cited in his essay, “In sum, “too much choice is as debilitating of meaning as is too little choice. In language, too much variation results eventually in lack of meaning: mutual unintelligibility” (Devitt, “Genre” 53).” What this means to me is that the further you try to deviate from your genre, the less understandable your writing will be, and in effect, it will also be less appealing. Booker’s article is, on the contrary, focused on its thesis and maintains its focus all throughout the article.

Do we always pay attention to the title of the article?  I am always reading headline, sometimes I will get into authors mode and continue reading and amuse myself, but sometimes I just get tidies after reading few sentences as a result I move to other article. After reviewing all articles to read of them briefly I was hooked with the title “is marriage obsolete?” I started reading carefully, as I was getting more into story my interest grew and I was eager to find out what she had to share with the reader. I like her style of writing because she is not boring writer. I loved how she used an example of animal’s love life as a couple and how they care about each other, it was amazing to read. I believe she is using narrative genre of writing. In the beginning I thought she would start stating various reasons why should be marriage to be considered as an obsolete, but as a good writer she was ambiguous until the end. She is bringing out all the pros and cons of marriage. It is beautiful to read how she describes her marriage details and she is honest about obstacles in marriage and she uses her marriage as an example. The author is trying to make a point that new generation is perceives the marriage absolutely in other way than is was before. Woman is independent and powerful today.  woman is able to earn enough money to pay all her bills, travel, buy house and be able to survive without man. From the history, she brings the fact that woman was not allowed to owe anything. she uses research, while she is telling us the story. I was little confused with her daughter.  She was in one moment blaming herself. She believed that her daughter was against getting married or build a family because of them. The author is explaining that her daughter was witnessing how boring and tidies their marriage was after 12 years of living together. I don’t agree with the author. I believe living together even if you live with your own parents becomes tidies and one is looking for better place. We just have to help each other to make our everyday life more interesting and don’t blame each other. In conclusion she is stating that, When you are couple it is  important to acknowledge the issues and stand by each-others side.

The article I chose to read was  “The Year We gave Up on Privacy” because just by reading the title It grabbed my attention and I was curious about what I will be reading about. From the title, I can tell it was going to be about people’s privacy being invaded by someone or something and I was too curious to know. After reading the article I also agree how a lot of information and data is being exposed online, due to pandemic people are now using technology to communicate with friends, family, employers and instead of commuting to work or work, zoom, google classroom and other apps are being used to stay connected. Even just grocery shopping, online shopping, and buying other necessities are all done online. Everything changed because of the pandemic, so has our privacy, people are now having to give up their privacy to keep up with their new lifestyle and it’s scary because we do not have control over where our data goes and how it is being used.

The author, Sara Morrison shared her own experience with how she used to avoid sites and services that could possibly collect her data but that changed when quarantine started. Morrison expressed how she gave away tons of her personal data online from delivery services, online shopping platforms, and virtual meetings. She decided to download a digital contact tracing tool to see where her data could be released, who wouldn’t want to know where their own information goes to, who could take this and how can they use it. People should learn more about this and be more aware of what’s behind the use of giving away data because today, technology is evolving quickly and fast, but there’s also a bad side to this too, such as exposing credit cards, personal phone numbers, etc. It’s crazy that just by a single tap or a click you can have your information put out into the web without knowing or understanding what could happen.

Lastly, “Navigating Genres” by Kerry Dirk talks about genre awareness can benefit us as writers because It “starts to see how specific choices that writers make result in specific actions on the part of readers”. I can connect this to why I picked to read “The Year We gave Up on Privacy” is because I gravitated to the title because I think that the title reflected the genre of the political blog or maybe lifestyle blog where she also included her own experience.

I choose this topic because it captive mi attention of find out in what conditions is we are giving up to protect our privacy. “The Year We Give up on Privacy” by Sara Morrison. Honestly, this article makes me remember who people were aware of their personal information being on the web, including myself. Especially with my children, I like to know how much information they are sharing with the entire world on social media. Yet the pandemic abruptly flips our regular way to do things and moved everything online. Work, school, shopping, specials event are now transmitted online, for example, my friend just last week told me that she is getting married and she will be transmitted her wedding through. Before the pandemic hit us, the article refers to the polemic case about privacy in Facebook, and how the Trump administration was taking this information to track people. Nevertheless, being lacking in homes, the use of websites and the internet was vital in order to survive. The question is where our information is ending? Politicians are delivering a bill to protect people’s privacy. It is crazy how due to the fact of the coronavirus we have to give up and everything changes.

In contacts to that,  personally know some people,  how to refuse to use Zoom because they saw in the news the hackers were joining meetings and appearing naked on videos. Another friend that she missing a lot meeting with her friends and religious services because she does not want to make her information public. The funny thing is they are giving information in other ways that they don’t realize.

This is our reality, before the pandemic I was very meticulous about letting companies have my personal information because those companies sell individuals’ data to other companies. Yet, people share too much on their social media that it is easy to find their preferences, birthdays family member, and more in their accounts. But, do we have another option? Unfortunately, we don’t have too much power on it. During the first four months of the quarantine, for example,  I was cooking with my children different plates with my children and posting on my social media. Sometimes we make our lives public. Our children are spending so much time sharing Tictoks videos, sharing Facebook Live from their rooms, and making their self “Youtubers”. We are yield our personal information more than ever.

I think the idea of making a law to protect individual’s privacy is vital, because now than ever online environment is a wide-open door to harm the users. This article provides me information that I did not know before and refreshes my mind again. I like how the author develops the topic and adds extra information to support his argument, but a little too much in my opinion, at some point, I was kind of lost in this particular genre.