Journal Entry #1

Journal Entry #1

One day I was looking for scholarships for school and I came across a poetry scholarship. There are two kinds of writing I enjoy, writing poetry and writing movie scripts. So right away I read the prompt and decided I would complete a poem and send it in.

So I wrote the poem down on paper, it took me many rough drafts until it was final. Then I typed it on my computer and submitted it online where it’ll be judged.

Comedy was the genre I chose. I was writing about my dog Otis who at times can be a terror, obnoxious, and yes annoying. If you could meet him you would understand completely. He chases my younger brother around the house trying to pull his pants down. If someone walks through the door and you give them a hug Otis is up on his back legs hugging whoever you are hugging. If there is something up one the counter that has your attention and he who is curious will literally jump up on the counter to see what is more important than him. Let me tell you this, he is not a small dog by any means, he happens to be a seventy-five pound golden retriever. So why did I choose comedy to describe him? Because every day he makes me laugh and I hope by writing about him will makes the readers laugh when they read my poem.

My audience is the people grading my paper, but since I will not know how they reacted towards my poem until October I will inform you how my family reacted to it. My dad and mom laughed because they knew that how I described him was exactly how he was in real life. My brother’s reaction in his own words, “I can’t believe you wrote a poem about Otis.” I think that’s just because Otis runs after him all the time pulling his pants down and maybe he doesn’t realize how special he really is to our family.

My purpose in writing about my dog was for people to understand how much love and joy he has brought to our family. Everyone knows that dog is man’s best friend and I just wanted to put it in writing and show that Otis is truly my best friend. I also wanted to tell everyone how wild and crazy he gets at times and even though he may chew a towel or someone’s socks or even just grab someone’s belonging from their room to get their attention to play with him we still love and appreciate him. I felt writing a poem about him would be the perfect way to accomplish my purpose and I have to say I think I was right.

As far as the culture in my house, Otis was raised with no rules, which could very well be the cause of his behavior. It’s also a proven fact that dogs take the personality of their owners, I must say this, I never realized how crazy we were until he came into our lives.

Using “Rhetorical Situation” is different for me in this case because I was trying to entertain my readers, whereas, normally I want to keep them interested in what I am writing but not necessarily entertain them. Also I was trying to inform them on how my dog behaves on a daily basis.