Viewpoint  By  Gabriel  Mayer  

Viewpoint  By  Gabriel  Mayer  

 Table  of  Contents  

 

Editor’s note————————————————————————— 1

Gabriel Mayer- Excerpt from “Raising the Question”———————— 2

Gabriel Mayer- Excerpt from “Pet Peeves”———————————— 3

Gabriel Mayer- Excerpt from “Raising the Question———————— 4

Gabriel Mayer- Excerpt from “Convince us to Like it”——————— 5

Kenneth- Excerpt from “Convince us to Like it” ————————— 6

Sarah Spalding- Excerpt from “Share my Judgment”———————7

David Yezzi- “Lazy”————————————————————— 8 Abbey S. Mayer- Excerpt from “Whale Teeth and the Skyblanket— 9  

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Editor’s Note: The term “viewpoint” describes someone's state of mind or perspective on an

individual topic. I originally wanted to go with the theme of “opinion”, but I chose viewpoint instead because it is specific, while “opinion” is generalized. To me, a viewpoint has to do with an individual's perspective on a subject or happening, while opinion seems to pertain to a group. I wanted all of my pieces to be specific and have a strong point of view.

Over the course of this semester, my mind had been opened up to different

styles of writing. At the beginning of this course, my writing was limited. I used a lot of the same sentence patterns, and never really focused on things like tone or word choice. I have learned many different types of sentences and grammar points. I have also learned how to use writing techniques such as lists, and appearance of time to make myself seem more knowledgeable on a subject. This course has helped me improve as a writer.  

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Gabriel Mayer- Raising the Question

Everyone has different preferences in life, from the clothes they wear, to the type of phone they own, to the god they worship (or don't worship). One of the most subjective creations of man is music. Because there are so many different sides to music, everyone can find their own special place. Ask anyone why they listen to, and chances are the first thing they will say is some variation of “I enjoy it”, but there is so much more depth to a person’s musical taste than just their enjoyment.

I picked out this paragraph due to its content and how the message is displayed. Many people talk about having openness in music, but often don’t relate it to other aspects of human preference. People end up comparing music to other styles of music, but not to other types of human preferences. This paragraph compares people’s musical preferences to things like fashion, technology and religion.

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Gabriel Mayer- Pet Peeves

Another one of my pet peeves is when people make an argument without having evidence to back it up and don't admit that they are wrong. I was talking with a religious girl about music tastes. I brought up metal, as that is what I had been listening to at the time. She said that she does not listen to satanic music. I replied “How did you determine that a whole genre of music is satanic?” “I walked by a hot topic store and saw a pentagram on a band shirt.”

I tried to make the argument that pentagrams are used in metal as imagery quite frequently and are a dime a dozen. I also tired to point out that the lead singer of Slayer (the band shirt she saw) was Christian. She still called the genre satanic because she did not want to admit to being wrong.

She went into this argument with a closed mind, and incorrect facts. If this person had accepted that she was wrong, learned that not all metal is satanic, and gain a new level of understanding. Who knows, she might have even expand her musical taste. This is my issue with people who can’t accept that they are wrong: They are closed minded and willfully ignorant. When you lose a fact-based argument, you learn. When you refuse to lose, you stay wrong. This piece has a very identifiable tone: the writer is obviously irritated at the aforementioned ignorant girl. The writer gets his tone from the use of quotes. Recalling the dialogue that he had with the girl allows him to portray how he felt in the moment of the interaction. If it weren’t for these quotes, the piece would have felt incomplete, and wouldn’t be understood as well because the reader lacked the direct window to his train of thought. This window being the quotes. Besides being annoyed, the author works in feelings of superiority and knowledge though logic. By calling the arguer “closed minded” and “wrong”, he shows that he thinks himself better than her.

http://www.nuclearblast.de  

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Gabriel Mayer- Raising the Question

Some people are the exact opposite of my mom, and only listen to the heaviest, most underground music they can find. In the metal community, these people are called “elitists” and are generally mocked by others because of their close-minded stance on music: Popular/light = Bad. A stereotypical elitist will only listen to bands that have crawled out from under the Nordic permafrost. Ask an elitist to choose an album for the road trip, and they will most likely pick Gorgoroth, Bathory, Burzum, or other less known artists that fall under the “Extreme Metal” label. These people dislike well-known Metal bands such as Metallica, Iron Maiden, or Slayer because of their popularity. Although I love the extreme bands that are mentioned above, I see no problem with enjoying the light, popular side of metal. Those bands don't sell out arenas for nothing. They are damn good, and I will listen to them if I want to. Not everything I enjoy is extremely heavy either; some of the metal I listen to is very melodic. Bands like Tyr, Heidelvolk, and Equilibrium play “Folk Metal”. Bands like these incorporate string and other orchestral instruments into their songs to create a traditional atmosphere. The lyrics aren’t heavy either. Tyr’s album By the Light of the Northern Star follows the lyrical theme of Nordic and Pagan pride. When I listen to Extreme Metal, It isn’t because it is less popular. Bands like Burzum and Gorgoroth give me this feeling of intensity and rawness that I have yet to feel when listening to any other genre. Music is very subjective, and everyone has their own personal tastes. Some listen to Hip Hop, some listen to Country, some listen to Metal, and some people choose not to listen to listen to music at all. Not all music I listen to is Metal either, I enjoy my fair share of hip-hop, blues, and electronic. Like any form of art, music is interpreted differently from person to person, and one person might like a genre for different reasons than another. What’s important is that we all keep an open mind when it comes to each other’s tastes.

The author makes excellent use of “trust me” statements in this piece. He lists a

wide variety of metal bands, and also gives multiple points of view on the styles of music that he listens to. His lists of bands tells me that he is an experienced listener of the genre and that he is well versed enough to discuss that topic. I also like how he adds comedy by hyperbolizing the viewpoint of the “elitist”. This adds another layer of entertainment to the piece and makes it so that anyone can enjoy it, not just someone who listens to metal. I also like how the author explains his opinions and differs himself from the other viewpoints. This piece is an excellent example of the “extremes first, moderation last” format  

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Gabriel Mayer- Convince us to Like it

"terrible album, terrible band, pretentious fans", says a YouTube comment on the video for "Sunbather". This comment has 45 likes, and I'm not surprised. Deafheaven don't only differ from traditional black metal in sound, but also in imagery, lyrics and ideas. To get a feel for this, compare the cover of " Sunbather" to any other black metal album. Instead of a grim, colorless scrawl, "Sunbather" is a bright pink/orange hue: "The color you see when you close your eyes and look at the sun." Instead of lyrics found in traditional black metal, the basis of "Sunbather is a contemplation on the choices I've made in life that have kept me from fulfilling my goals." I'm a sucker for people doing things differently, but some people are still stuck in the second wave, and expect all black metal to sound the same. "People need to get off their 'true black metal' superiority complex." All in all, Deafheaven are a phenomenal band, going where no one has gone before in the black metal scene. They brought new lyrical themes, imagery, and an entirely new sound to the table. Using the dual guitars of Shoegaze, the warm tones and slow instrumental breaks of Post-Rock, and a friendlier stage personality, they have attracted a whole new audience to the black metal genre (myself included). Yes, they get a lot of hate for being different, but let's face it, they are only controversial because they are so good at doing something new.

This piece makes great use of other people’s ideas and works. From using comments on youtube to prove a point, or comparing the discussed work of Deafheaven to other more “common” black metal works. The viewpoint that some listeners have is perfectly represented by the youtube comments. If those were not “stolen” into this piece, it would be less clear what some black metal fans thought about the band. Not only does this piece prove an adverse opinion exists, it also explains it and says “Hey, I understand.” Not a lot of people will think an adverse opinion as valid. In addition to explaining the other side of the argument, the writer also explains his opinion. Not a lot of writers are able to successfully explain both sides of an argument.  

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Kenneth Colombe- Convince us to Like it In arguments against country, the point that country music is so dissimilar to other

types of music because of the lyrical difference is often brought up. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Take a look at these two lyrics. In the song Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean it says "I can take you for a ride on my big green tractor." Compared to a line by Joey Purp, a rap artist, "Keep a bad b***h on my passenger side." In these two lyrics they are both saying they would take a women for a drive. The only difference is the beat and the use of expletives. In fact country might be in better taste for younger listeners. Also if you look at the song Your Man by Josh Tuner he says "Baby lock the door and turn the lights down low" and in the song Better With the Lights Off by the New Boyz it says "Girl you look better with the lights off." Side by side these lyrics have the same exact meaning. They both describe a sexual encounter with the lights off or dimmed. These two examples are not the only ones out there in the music world; there are countless numbers of songs from all different genres that have the same meaning as country songs.

This piece excellently compares two genres that share surprisingly similar lyrical themes. The writer brings up a very good point about expletives. In these examples, rap delivers the same concepts as country, but in a blunter fashion. The country song’s lyrics “Baby lock them doors and turn the lights down low” work as a prelude to a sexual encounter, and leaves a lot unsaid. The rap lyric “girl you look better with the lights off” is very blunt and insulting. The artist is saying that he is only using his partner for sex, and that she is ugly. Overall, this is piece is a commentary about the classification of music. Genres exist because Most music shares the same themes, but their delivery is very different.  

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Sarah Spalding- Share my Judgment Imagine this. It's night time and you are alone in your room. The moonlight leaks through the slightly open window and you are overwhelmed by a sense of boredom. The urge to go out and do something is brutally strong. You know you could. It would be too easy to sneak out of the door, tip toe down the hall, leave through the sliding door, avoid the motion sensor light, meet with the friends that have gone off to college. Wreak havoc among the sleeping neighborhood, bathing in the memories of the times with the people that surround you, the adrenaline rush of doing something 'wrong'. The boredom you felt long forgotten. The silence of your room and the sleeping family inside the conservative walls of your home is no longer In the forefront of your mind...until you get caught.

The thing that stood out most to me in this paragraph was the sentence fluency. There is a great flow from one sentence to the next, this is helped by the overall intimacy of the paragraph. It is like you are sitting on a bed with the author and she is speaking to you. Some of the sentences, although short fit together quite nicely. The author paints a picture in the reader’s mind, and gradually brings a familiar story to life in a new way.  

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"Lazy" by David Yezzi

I don’t say things I don’t want to say or chew the fat with fat cats just because.

With favor-givers who want favors back,

I tend to pass on going for the ask.

I send, instead, a series of regrets, slip the winding snares that people lay.

The unruffledness I feel as a result,

the lank repose, the psychic field of rye

swayed in wavy air, is my respite among the shivaree of clanging egos

on the packed commuter train again tonight.

Sapping and demeaning—it takes a lot

to get from bed to work and back to bed. I barely go an hour before I’m caught

wincing at the way that woman laughs or he keeps clucking at his magazine.

And my annoyance fills me with annoyance.

It’s laziness that lets them seem unreal

—a radio with in-and-out reception blaring like hell when it finally hits a station.

The song that’s on is not the one I’d hoped for,

so I wait distractedly for what comes next.

In poetry, organization is very important. In this poem time seems to shift around

from place to place, as the writer recalls events from his day. He talks about his annoyance with the world, and then gives examples. By doing this, Yezzi is jumping back and forth through time, going from present, to past, to present again. He never puts the time changes at the foreground, he just jumps and leaves the reader to figure out the poem for himself.  

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Abbey S. Mayer- Excerpt from Whale Teeth and Skyblanket

They were given all that they might need. The Forest wove her a cloak, they said,

made from the downy underfeathers of blue falcons.

Then they sewed for him seal and otter skin armor. And wove two cloaks for him,

one from strips of redcedar, and the other from a skyblanket of mountain goat wool. Then one day, when the two were still quite young,

three common crows that were not ravens were blown to their woods by a far-away storm.

They said the crows gave the boy some treats. He told them the tales from his ocean and forest. He had no reason to distrust them. He ate their foods and fell asleep. Then the crows took off their crowskins and revealed themselves to be three men. Each had a great hole in his chest, they said, and their left limbs were all withered and useless. They stood watch over the sleeping boy.

When the boy’s sister tried to wake him, one of the crowmen approached her.

He tried to clutch her, they said. She slipped through his fingers,

and flew away. The organization of this piece is what caught my attention. Not the organization of the ideas, but the physical organization of the text. Although the text is broken up into verse, the physical sentences are written in prose. The verses are organized by separating the complete sentences and clauses. The full line are complete sentences, and the indented lines are clauses. When I first read this story, I had to really focus and pay attention because I was not used to this form of organization. I think this is a very interesting take on the physical organization of a story.  

 

Expository  Writing-­‐  Pd.  2