Grace Geier Geier 1
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
9/18/24
Not Just a Restaurant
When we think about the word community, we think of a group of people getting together. When you think about this, have you ever thought about a restaurant being a community. Well, it is, everything is a disclosure community based on John Swale’s six requirements. One, a broadly agreed upon set of common goals. Two, mechanisms of intercommunication among members. Three, Use of these communication mechanisms to provide information and feedback. Four, one or more genres that help further the goals of the disclosure community. Five, A specific lexis or specialized language. Finally, six, a threshold level of expert members. These six rules all take place in a disclosure community, including the community of a restaurant.
The goal of a restaurant at the end of the day is to make the highest profitability amount for that day. As well make the customers happy. There are many ways a restaurant can do that, selling food and drinks, turning tables fast, confirming reservations, organizing them, great service, etc. Everyone who works in the restaurant is working for the common goal of making the highest profit. I have worked in the restaurant industry for almost 3 years now and have worked in almost every position within the restaurant and have made many observations on how they all work together. When restaurants get busy, all the staff members run around and try to get things done. Due to how small this restaurant is, the staff must be very vocal to each other when
Geier 2
they are coming around corners or passing behind them, etc. To do this we have words and phrases in place, for example, “Corner” we use when we are coming around the corner to let whoever is on the other side of the corner know that someone is walking through. “Behind You” is another phrase with many variations of letting your coworker know you are right behind them, so they won’t back up into you. When it gets busy it also gets very loud in the restaurant with a combination of music, people talking, food being made, or drinks being shaken, so sometimes we don’t always hear when the staff yell the phrase “corner” or “behind you”. Another very common way to let coworkers know whether you are right by them or what not is to put your hand on their shoulder, arm or back while moving by or needing their attention. That lets the other staff members know you’re right there as well.
Along with the terminology of moving around the restaurant, we also have many more terms and numeric systems in place to keep track of where each food, drink, and reservation go. To do this each table is given a specific number, when we want to “ring in” their orders we use an online system, my restaurant uses CAKE, but there or many others like Toast or Aloha many other places use. In this system, it has a layout of the restaurant that we go into and tap each table we want to put orders on, its like an online check we add all the items to the online receipt. When we do that, the bartender or the kitchen will get a printed ticket of the item(s) they have to make for the table number that is attached to that ticket. The Server then runs those items up to the guests to drink or eat. When the guests are done, we print them the check and take their form of payment and then go on their merry way.
Great service is another huge thing that helps increase profit. If the restaurant has lazy, forgetful, inattentive servers running the place, guests will not be happy or want to spend their
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money, meaning less of a profit and will cause guests to not return. Unless you hire hardworking people, who care about the “quality of the service not the quantity,” it will make the guest feel good and want to come back. That statement my manger told me a long time ago when I first started out as a server, and it completely changed my service style and the customer’s behavior. That’s the whole reason people go out to eat, they go out to get served and brought their meals and drinks, have a quality experience. Having good food and drinks also is a big part of the profit and people returning as well, though that’s not what I’m focused on.
Another huge profit increase in a restaurant is the turning of tables, specifically the hold on tables for reservations. In my restaurant specifically we use to hold tables for over an hour for reservations that sometimes would not show up, this is super frustrating for everyone in the restaurant because we could have used the table for people who are walking in especially on busy nights. My manager has been doing a new thing where we call the numbers attached to the reservations and ask them to call back to confirm they are still coming in at the stated time with stated amount of people. Along with not holding a table for more than an hour. My manager had just texted me saying this regarding the new system of going about reservations, “There is some host retraining that needs to be done for us to get our max sales potential per table, especially on weekend nights. That is how we all retain our jobs and keep [restaurant] open for Mike and the new owners. And, if sales go up, that means we can also get more staff or support and maintain an increase in our sales average. Yesterday because I did take over seating and flip the turntables instead of leaving them reserved for 45 minutes to an hour, we hit the goal and did an additional 2K. So, it's showing that it's working we just need to retrain and tweak a few things.” Who knew that the hosts and reservations can have such a big impact on the profitability of the restaurant.
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That also goes to show that in a restaurant how everything is linked together, if one person goes down, we all go down.
This also ties in with every individual person’s style of working within the restaurant. When you start working there, you are trained with all the different people to get familiar with how each person works said position for which you are training. With everyone being of a different age and experience levels, it gives you many different perspectives which leads you to find your perspective and how you like to manage things and work. With that, conflicts can arise because everyone is so different and has their own style of working things. For example, there are a lot of servers out there who want quantity over quality, they think this is the best way to make the most amount of money. So, during a night when they have extra time, and they see the host seat someone else instead of them they get frustrated with the host which leads to a little argument about why she’s not getting tables.
To work in a restaurant, it would be nice if you had prior experience working in the industry but in my restaurant, we are open to people who don’t have any especially in desperate times, Bartending or serving is a little different but for host, bussers, etc. you don’t need much experience. This just goes to show that restaurants as well are a disclosure community. Even though I have only been in the industry for 3 years, I am a very big observer and have picked up so many things and met some amazing people along the way. The staff members in a restaurant are not just a bunch of people doing a job, it’s a community, some would call family, but it’s a community of people all there for one goal, and they all do it together.
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Sources Cited
Hardy, Madelyn. Text message to author. 15 September 2024.
Melzer, Dan, Understanding Disclosure Communities, Textbook, vol. 3, 2020, p. 102, 1 April 2020
Grace Geier Geier 1
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
9/18/24
Not Just a Restaurant
When we think about the word community, we think of a group of people getting together. When you think about this, have you ever thought about a restaurant being a community. Well, it is, everything is a disclosure community based on John Swale’s six requirements. One, a broadly agreed upon set of common goals. Two, mechanisms of intercommunication among members. Three, Use of these communication mechanisms to provide information and feedback. Four, one or more genres that help further the goals of the disclosure community. Five, A specific lexis or specialized language. Finally, six, a threshold level of expert members. These six rules all take place in a disclosure community, including the community of a restaurant.
The goal of a restaurant at the end of the day is to make the highest profitability amount for that day. As well make the customers happy. There are many ways a restaurant can do that, selling food and drinks, turning tables fast, confirming reservations, organizing them, great service, etc. Everyone who works in the restaurant is working for the common goal of making the highest profit. I have worked in the restaurant industry for almost 3 years now and have worked in almost every position within the restaurant and have made many observations on how they all work together. When restaurants get busy, all the staff members run around and try to get things done. Due to how small this restaurant is, the staff must be very vocal to each other when
Geier 2
they are coming around corners or passing behind them, etc. To do this we have words and phrases in place, for example, “Corner” we use when we are coming around the corner to let whoever is on the other side of the corner know that someone is walking through. “Behind You” is another phrase with many variations of letting your coworker know you are right behind them, so they won’t back up into you. When it gets busy it also gets very loud in the restaurant with a combination of music, people talking, food being made, or drinks being shaken, so sometimes we don’t always hear when the staff yell the phrase “corner” or “behind you”. Another very common way to let coworkers know whether you are right by them or what not is to put your hand on their shoulder, arm or back while moving by or needing their attention. That lets the other staff members know you’re right there as well.
Along with the terminology of moving around the restaurant, we also have many more terms and numeric systems in place to keep track of where each food, drink, and reservation go. When the host seat tables they have to go tell the server where and how many, to do that we describe the amount of people as “4 tops” “2 top,” etc. This lets the server know that there are 4 people or 2 people at a certain table. Each table is given a specific number, so along with the host saying “you have 2 top” they will add, “at 36” letting the server know they have 2 people at table 36 to go attend to. Another communication tool we have set in place is our “86 Board.” This 86 doesn’t mean we literally have 86 of an item, it means we are completely out of things. For example, cider. The Bartender will shout out to the other staff members “86 cider” letting us all know that we are out of the cider, so that if guest try to order it, we must tell them we don’t have it.
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When servers want to “ring in” their orders we use an online system, my restaurant uses CAKE, but there or many others like Toast or Aloha many other places use. In this system, it has a layout of the restaurant that we go into and tap each table we want to put orders on, its like an online check we add all the items to the online receipt. When we do that, the bartender or the kitchen will get a printed ticket of the item(s) they have to make for the table number that is attached to that ticket. The Server then runs those items up to the guests to drink or eat. When the guests are done, we print them the check and take their form of payment and then go on their merry way.
Sense we talked a lot about how we communicate within the restaurant. Let’s talk about how we communicate outside the restaurant. My restaurant uses the app 7shifts for scheduling and a way to see announcements or messages from managers and other coworkers. This app we use to communicate on agreed upon times to come in for and it’s used as a way for coworkers to talk about switching shifts, covering, or doing team events outside of work. We all become such a close group of friends regardless of the age gaps and differences between everyone. We like to all get together outside of work. Thanks to the 7shifts apps we can get in contact outside of being in the restaurant building.
Great service is another huge thing that helps increase profit. If the restaurant has lazy, forgetful, inattentive servers running the place, guests will not be happy or want to spend them
money, meaning less of a profit and will cause guests to not return. Unless you hire hardworking people, who care about the “quality of the service not the quantity,” it will make the guest feel good and want to come back. That statement my manger told me a long time ago when I first
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started out as a server, and it completely changed my service style and the customer’s behavior. That’s the whole reason people go out to eat, they go out to get served and brought their meals and drinks, have a quality experience. Having good food and drinks also is a big part of the profit and people returning as well, though that’s not what I’m focused on.
Another huge profit increase in a restaurant is the turning of tables, specifically the hold on tables for reservations. In my restaurant specifically we use to hold tables for over an hour for reservations that sometimes would not show up, this is super frustrating for everyone in the restaurant because we could have used the table for people who are walking in especially on busy nights. My manager has been doing a new thing where we call the numbers attached to the reservations and ask them to call back to confirm they are still coming in at the stated time with stated amount of people. Along with not holding a table for more than an hour. My manager had just texted me saying this regarding the new system of going about reservations, “There is some host retraining that needs to be done for us to get our max sales potential per table, especially on weekend nights. That is how we all retain our jobs and keep [restaurant] open for Mike and the new owners. And, if sales go up, that means we can also get more staff or support and maintain an increase in our sales average. Yesterday because I did take over seating and flip the turntables instead of leaving them reserved for 45 minutes to an hour, we hit the goal and did an additional 2K. So, it's showing that it's working we just need to retrain and tweak a few things.” Who knew that the hosts and reservations can have such a big impact on the profitability of the restaurant.
That also goes to show that in a restaurant how everything is linked together, if one person goes down, we all go down.
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This also ties in with every individual person’s style of working within the restaurant. When you start working there, you are trained with all the different people to get familiar with how each person works said position for which you are training. With everyone being of a different age and experience levels, it gives you many different perspectives which leads you to find your perspective and how you like to manage things and work. With that, conflicts can arise because everyone is so different and has their own style of working things. For example, there are a lot of servers out there who want quantity over quality, they think this is the best way to make the most amount of money. So, during a night when they have extra time, and they see the host seat someone else instead of them they get frustrated with the host which leads to a little argument about why she’s not getting tables.
To work in a restaurant, it would be nice if you had prior experience working in the industry but in my restaurant, we are open to people who don’t have any especially in desperate times, Bartending or serving is a little different but for host, bussers, etc. you don’t need much experience. This just goes to show that restaurants as well are a disclosure community. Even though I have only been in the industry for 3 years, I am a very big observer and have picked up so many things and met some amazing people along the way. The staff members in a restaurant are not just a bunch of people doing a job, it’s a community, some would call family, but it’s a community of people all there for one goal, and they all do it together.
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Sources Cited
Hardy, Madelyn. Text message to author. 15 September 2024.
Melzer, Dan, Understanding Disclosure Communities, Textbook, vol. 3, 2020, p. 102, 1 April 2020
Dear Professor Smith,
Feedback I got from Hudson on my essay, was to talk more about the terminology used within the restaurant. To use that feedback, I added another paragraph talking about more of the terminology used in the restaurant and more about how we communicate within and without the restaurant. For example, my restaurant uses the app called 7shifts to find our schedule and communicate with our co-workers and managers. More terminology and ways to communicate within the restaurant would be the 86 board. This means that we are out of something like cider. The bartender will yell “86 cider” letting all of us coworkers around know that we are out of cider. This term has been used in the restaurant industry for an exceedingly long time. Along with that my essay from the peer draft to the final submission changed with another paragraph explaining more examples like the one I have stated earlier. In this project I learned more about how my restaurant works and can increase profitability with hosting and reservations. This project has shown me my strength in writing a lot about certain topics I know but has also shown me that I still need to work on my grammar and spelling. Throughout drafting this essay my finger would skip letters in typing causing a lot of misspelled words and a lot of extra time wasted on having to go back and fix the mistakes. In this upcoming project I need to work on slowing down my typing to not make so many grammar mistakes. Drafting this essay also helped me get a deeper understanding of what a disclosure community is and a deeper understanding of relating John swale’s examples and six rules to my own personal discourse communities. All in all, getting to write about my own personal disclosure community, the restaurant, as been very insightful, and a joy to write about.
Sincerely,
Grace Geier
Substantial revision Project 1
For project 1 my substantial revisions I made to the disclosure community essay was not only restructuring a few of the paragraphs, but also adding new information of a recent experience I had within the community that adds perfectly to the topic. I went back and reread the whole essay and realized that the essay wasn’t really flowing the way I would have liked it too because there was a huge jump from talking about the restaurant community outside the restaurant, jumping back into within the restaurant. So, I moved the paragraph talking about outside the restaurant to the last body paragraph right before the conclusion. I also broke the first body paragraph in half, then added the great service paragraph to that first half of the body paragraph. By doing this it made the points made in each paragraph flow a lot nicer and to me made it more understandable about the disclosure community in the restaurant. The new experience that I added to the essay was in the first body paragraph because it was talking about service and profitability, which in the experience I added were two of the points I made. Also, by adding that experience it ties together the point I was trying to prove in the paragraph of how great service adds to profitability, happy customers, and returnment of guests very nicely.
Grace Geier
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
9/18/24
Not Just a Restaurant
When we think about the word community, we think of a group of people getting together. When you think about this, have you ever thought about a restaurant being a community. Well, it is, everything is a disclosure community based on John Swale’s six requirements. One, a broadly agreed upon set of common goals. Two, mechanisms of intercommunication among members. Three, Use of these communication mechanisms to provide information and feedback. Four, one or more genres that help further the goals of the disclosure community. Five, A specific lexis or specialized language. Finally, six, a threshold level of expert members. These six rules all take place in a disclosure community, including the community of a restaurant.
The goal of a restaurant at the end of the day is to make the highest profitability amount for that day. Also, to make the customers happy. There are many ways a restaurant can do that, selling food and drinks, turning tables fast, confirming reservations, organizing them, great service, etc. Great service is a huge thing that helps increase profit. If the restaurant has lazy, forgetful, inattentive servers running the place, guests will not be happy or want to spend them
money, meaning less of a profit and will cause guests to not return. Unless you hire hardworking people, who care about the “quality of the service not the quantity,” it will make the guest feel good and want to come back. That statement my manager told me a long time ago when I first
started out as a server, and it completely changed my service style and the customer’s behavior. In a recent experience I had with a table, It was an older couple and I talked with them for awhile about many different things, and it ended up creating a very happy and positive experience not only for the guest, but for me as well. Long story short, at the end of their dinner I asked if they would like an dessert in a thrillful tone and they said, “well I guess if you put it like that, yes.” About a month later they came back in to get served by me again and said some very nice things not only about my service to them but the overall experience and quality of the restaurant. That’s the whole reason people go out to eat, they go out to get served and brought their meals and drinks, have a quality experience. Not only did I give quality service, but because of the services it opened them up to spend a little more on dessert and come back. Having good food and drinks also is a big part of the profit and people returning as well, though that’s not what I’m focused on.
Everyone who works in the restaurant is working for the common goal of making the highest profit. I have worked in the restaurant industry for almost 3 years now and have worked in almost every position within the restaurant and have made many observations on how they all work together. When restaurants get busy, all the staff members run around and try to get things done. Due to how small this restaurant is, the staff must be very vocal with each other when
they are coming around corners or passing behind them, etc. To do this we have words and phrases in place, for example, “Corner” we use when we are coming around the corner to let whoever is on the other side of the corner know that someone is walking through. “Behind You” is another phrase with many variations of letting your coworker know you are right behind them, so they won’t back up into you. When it gets busy it also gets very loud in the restaurant with a combination of music, people talking, food being made, or drinks being shaken, so sometimes we don’t always hear when the staff yell the phrase “corner” or “behind you”. Another very common way to let coworkers know whether you are right by them or what not is to put your hand on their shoulder, arm or back while moving by or needing their attention. That lets the other staff members know you’re right there as well.
Along with the terminology of moving around the restaurant, we also have many more terms and numeric systems in place to keep track of where each food, drink, and reservation go. When the host seat tables they have to go tell the server where and how many, to do that we describe the amount of people as “4 tops” “2 top,” etc. This lets the server know that there are 4 people or 2 people at a certain table. Each table is given a specific number, so along with the host saying “you have a 2 top” they will add, “at 36” letting the server know they have 2 people at table 36 to go attend to. Another communication tool we have set in place is our “86 Board.” This 86 doesn’t mean we literally have 86 of an item, it means we are completely out of things. For example, cider. The Bartender will shout out to the other staff members “86 cider” letting us all know that we are out of the cider, so that if guest try to order it, we must tell them we don’t have it.
When servers want to “ring in” their orders we use an online system, my restaurant uses CAKE, but there or many others like Toast or Aloha many other places use. In this system, it has an online layout of the restaurant that we go into and tap each table we want to put orders in for, it’s like an online check we add all the items to the online receipt. When we do that, the bartender or the kitchen will get a printed ticket of the item(s) they have to make for the table number that is attached to that ticket. The server then runs those items up to the guests to drink or eat. When the guests are done, we print the check and take their form of payment. They then go on their merry way.
Another huge profit increase in a restaurant is the turning of tables, specifically the hold on tables for reservations. In my restaurant specifically we use to hold tables for over an hour for reservations that sometimes would not show up, this is super frustrating for everyone in the restaurant because we could have used the table for people who are walking in, especially on busy nights. My manager has been doing a new thing where we call the numbers attached to the reservations and ask them to call back to confirm they are still coming in at the stated time with stated amount of people. Along with not holding a table for more than an hour. My manager had just texted me saying this regarding the new system of going about reservations, “There is some host retraining that needs to be done for us to get our max sales potential per table, especially on weekend nights. That is how we all retain our jobs and keep [restaurant] open for Mike and the new owners. And, if sales go up, that means we can also get more staff or support and maintain an increase in our sales average. Yesterday because I did take over seating and flip the turntables instead of leaving them reserved for 45 minutes to an hour, we hit the goal and did an additional 2K. So, it's showing that it's working we just need to retrain and tweak a few things.” Who knew that the hosts and reservations can have such a big impact on the profitability of the restaurant.
That also goes to show that in a restaurant how everything is linked together, if one person goes down, we all go down.
This also ties in with every individual person’s style of working within the restaurant. When you start working there, you are trained with all the different people to get familiar with how each person works said position for which you are training. With everyone being of a different age and experience levels, it gives you many different perspectives which leads you to find your perspective and how you like to manage things and work. Confrontations can arise because everyone is so different and has their own style of working things. For example, there are a lot of servers out there who want quantity over quality, they think this is the best way to make the most amount of money. So, during a night when they have extra time, and they see the host seat someone else instead of them they get frustrated with the host which leads to a little argument about why she’s not getting tables.
Sense we talked a lot about how we communicate within the restaurant. Let’s talk about how we communicate outside the restaurant. My restaurant uses the app 7shifts for scheduling and a way to see announcements or messages from managers and other coworkers. This app we use to communicate agreed upon times to come in for and it’s used as a way for coworkers to talk about switching shifts, covering, or doing team events outside of work. We all become such a close group of friends regardless of the age gaps and differences between everyone. We like to all get together outside of work. Thanks to the 7shifts apps we can get in contact outside of being in the restaurant building.
To work in a restaurant, it would be nice if you had prior experience working in the industry but in my restaurant, we are open to people who don’t have any especially in desperate times, Bartending or serving is a little different but for host, bussers, etc. you don’t need much experience. This just goes to show that restaurants as well are a disclosure community. Even though I have only been in the industry for 3 years, I am a very big observer and have picked up so many things and met some amazing people along the way. The staff members in a restaurant are not just a bunch of people doing a job, it’s a community, some would call family, but it’s a community of people all there for one goal, and they all do it together.
Sources Cited
Hardy, Madelyn. Text message to author. 15 September 2024.
Melzer, Dan, Understanding Disclosure Communities, Textbook, vol. 3, 2020, p. 102, 1 April 2020
Grace Geier Geier 1
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
14 October 2024
Daughters
Having two healthy parents in a household is so important to the development of kids. Specifically, fathers and daughters. The documentary Daughters directed and created by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae shows the audience how effected little girls are by their father being in jail. In this documentary one of Patton’s programs, Date with Dad, puts on a father daughter dance with fathers, that are incarcerated, with their daughters. This gives them one night to be in-person together and bond. This documentary addresses the global issue of little girls growing up with their fathers in jail and how important it is to be in-person able to touch one another and be close.
The primary audience of this documentary would be young adult parents. The purpose of this documentary is not only informative but a call to action as well. The Date with Dad program is still working with many incarcerated fathers today to make a change and help them and their daughters. The Date with Dad program has been running for 12 years now and “95% of the fathers in the program have never returned to jail.” (Daughters 1:42:50-1:42-53) This program in preparation for the dance, makes the fathers take a 10-week class of responsible fatherhood with a professional fatherhood life coach and lectures from Angela herself. There is a reason why 95 percent of the fathers who take this opportunity don’t go back to jail when they get out. In the ten
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weeks they must prepare them, they learn a lot about fatherhood and about themselves which has a huge impact, as seen in the documentary.
The message of Daughters is that little girls need their dads. Especially when they are in the single digit years. Which goes along with the issue of little girls growing up without their fathers because they are incarcerated. In the documentary we focus mainly on the same four girls and their father’s point of view throughout the 10 weeks before the dance. We see one event of all the mothers and daughters together, but for the most part, the documentary mainly focuses on the fathers: Keith, Mark, Frank, Alonzo and their daughters: Aubrey, Santana, Ja’Ana, Raziah. The presenter of the information to the audience in this documentary presented the timeline, along with the fathers’ and girls’ views very well.
Throughout this documentary, mainly pathos and logos is used to show the audience what it is like for these father and daughters to be separated like this. The combination of these two rhetorical strategies to portray what these fathers and daughters go through as daily life is very effective. For example, Frank didn’t know Ja’Ana was his daughter until after he was incarcerated, she was 1 year old when he last was in-person with her. Ja’Ana was then 11 years old when Frank got to take part in the dance with her. He has had little to no contact with her due to some issues with the mom not wanting him to really contact her, Ja’Ana stated, “I don’t even remember his face. I don’t remember nothing about my father.” (Daughters 22:00-22:04) Heart breaking. Absolutely heart breaking for both of them. A whole decade has passed by, and they haven’t seen each other in-person or through a video message once. The documentary also stated that in 2014 most U.S. prisons took away in-person visits. The combination of pathos and logos of the present situation really pulls at the audiences’ heart strings.
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The impact of not having that in-person, physical touch or closeness is so impactful on the growth and wellness of these children. The effects of this separation are so big that when the daughters first walked out to their fathers, they just held on to each of them and just sat there hugging, tears falling not wanting to let go. The dance is very bittersweet because they get to see their dads and hold them, hug them, and be with them but when it’s time to say goodbye it is very hard to have to separate all over again. At the end of the dance that really put into perspective how amazing that moment is to these fathers and their daughters is the one Father whose daughter couldn’t make out that day to see him. As he gives his little speech to the other dads about how important their kids are to them, and that they need to make the change for them, his voice is filled with emotion that he holds back to keep his composure. Which just adds to how hard it is being away from your kids especially to do this program only to find that the day of his daughter can’t be there. As well as watching all the other dads, it is so hard. The way it’s all presented is so touching and moving. The information presented in this documentary was all valid. From the classes with the fathers to the snips of facts typed on the screen, it all was valid, relevant, and added to the overall meaning and explanation of the broader issue of daughters growing up with a father incarcerated.
After watching this film, it has absolutely shown the broader issue in a way that the audience will perceive this argument differently. “Our daddies are our mirrors that we reflect back on when we decide about what type of man we deserve and how they see us for the rest of our lives.” (Daughters 0:23-0:30) Angela states this at the very beginning of the documentary and couldn’t be more accurate. Fathers are the first man that daughters learn to love and receive
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love from. Daughters also count on their fathers for everything and anything they need. Even as they grow up. Daughters rely on their fathers through every stage of life.
The genre impacts on the rhetorical situation at hand by giving the audience a perspective on the daughters’ lives and the fathers’ lives. The tracking of their lives over the course of the 10 weeks and updates later after the dance shows the audience the effect of the Date with Dad program positively not only on the relationship between father and daughter but the positive effects on the fathers themselves to make a change and be better, to grow and find themselves. Which again is why Daughters is so moving, and so powerful, that there is no way that the directed audience or indirect audience can go on after watching that without a newfound appreciation for their fathers and the importance of having a father physically close and not in jail.
This documentary shows the importance of having a father physically close with their daughter through the program Date with Dad. It also shows how important it is to have two healthy parents in a home. Every girl’s story is different and is affected differently by their fathers being in jail. Some better than others, but at the end of the day the negative effects of these fathers being separated from their daughters have detrimental effects on these kids and is a huge issue in today’s day that people should be aware of.
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Work cited
Daughters. Directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae. 2024. Netflix
Grace Geier Geier 1
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
14 October 2024
Daughters
Having two healthy parents in a household is so important to the development of kids. Specifically, fathers and daughters. The documentary Daughters directed and created by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae shows the audience how effected little girls are by their father being in jail. In this documentary one of Patton’s programs, Date with Dad, puts on a father daughter dance with fathers, that are incarcerated, with their daughters. This gives them one night to be in-person together and bond. This documentary addresses the global issue of little girls growing up with their fathers in jail and how important it is to be in-person able to touch one another and be close.
The primary audience of this documentary would be young adult parents. This film is targeted toward young adult parents because this him is showing us many young adults with young kids being in this positions. Which is why I believe this documentary is not only a reminder, but a way to show these parents what life for them and their daughter would look like if the dads chose to make bad decisions. The purpose of this documentary is not only informative but a call to action as well. The Date with Dad program is still working with many incarcerated fathers today to make a change and help them and their daughters. The Date with Dad program has been running for 12 years now and “95% of the fathers in the program have never returned to jail.” (Daughters 1:42:50-1:42-53) This program in preparation for the dance,
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makes the fathers take a 10-week class of responsible fatherhood with a professional fatherhood life coach and lectures from Angela herself. There is a reason why 95 percent of the fathers who take this opportunity don’t go back to jail when they get out. In the ten weeks they must prepare them, they learn a lot about fatherhood and about themselves which has a huge impact, as seen in the documentary.
The message of Daughters is that little girls need their dads. Especially when they are in the single digit years. Which goes along with the issue of little girls growing up without their fathers because they are incarcerated. In the documentary we focus mainly on the same four girls and their father’s point of view throughout the 10 weeks before the dance. We see one event of all the mothers and daughters together, but for the most part, the documentary mainly focuses on the fathers: Keith, Mark, Frank, Alonzo and their daughters: Aubrey, Santana, Ja’Ana, Raziah. The presenter of the information to the audience in this documentary presented the timeline, along with the fathers’ and girls’ views very well.
Throughout this documentary, mainly pathos and logos are used to show the audience what it is like for these fathers and daughters to be separated like this. The combination of these two rhetorical strategies to portray what these fathers and daughters go through as daily life is very effective. For example, Frank didn’t know Ja’Ana was his daughter until after he was incarcerated, she was 1 year old when he last was in-person with her. Ja’Ana was then 11 years old when Frank got to take part in the dance with her. He has had little to no contact with her due to some issues with the mom not wanting him to really contact her, Ja’Ana stated, “I don’t even remember his face. I don’t remember nothing about my father.” (Daughters 22:00-22:04) Heart
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breaking. Absolutely heart breaking for both of them. A whole decade has passed by, and they haven’t seen each other in-person or through a video message once. The documentary also stated that in 2014 most U.S. prisons took away in-person visits. Logos is used with statistic facts about the jail or other factors about father and their daughters separation and the effects of the program throughout the documentary with text written on the screen and verbally by speakers. The combination of pathos and logos of the present situation really pulls at the audiences’ heart strings.
The impact of not having that in-person, physical touch or closeness is so impactful on the growth and wellness of these children. The effects of this separation are so big that when the daughters first walked out to their fathers, they just held on to each of them and just sat there hugging, tears falling not wanting to let go. The dance is very bittersweet because they get to see their dads and hold them, hug them, and be with them but when it’s time to say goodbye it is very hard to have to separate all over again. At the end of the dance that really put into perspective how amazing that moment is to these fathers and their daughters is the one Father whose daughter couldn’t make out that day to see him. As he gives his little speech to the other dads about how important their kids are to them, and that they need to make the change for them, his voice is filled with emotion that he holds back to keep his composure. Which just adds to how hard it is being away from your kids especially to do this program only to find that the day of his daughter can’t be there. As well as watching all the other dads, it is so hard. The way it’s all presented is so touching and moving. The information presented in this documentary was all valid. From the classes with the fathers to the snips of facts typed on the screen, it all was valid,
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relevant, and added to the overall meaning and explanation of the broader issue of daughters growing up with a father incarcerated.
After watching this film, it has absolutely shown the broader issue in a way that the audience will perceive this argument differently. “Our daddies are our mirrors that we reflect back on when we decide about what type of man we deserve and how they see us for the rest of our lives.” (Daughters 0:23-0:30) Angela states this at the very beginning of the documentary and couldn’t be more accurate. Fathers are the first man that daughters learn to love and receive love from. Daughters also count on their fathers for everything and anything they need. Even as they grow up. Daughters rely on their fathers through every stage of life.
The genre impacts on the rhetorical situation at hand by giving the audience a perspective on the daughters’ lives and the fathers’ lives. The tracking of their lives over the course of the 10 weeks and updates later after the dance shows the audience the effect of the Date with Dad program positively not only on the relationship between father and daughter but the positive effects on the fathers themselves to make a change and be better, to grow and find themselves. Which again is why Daughters is so moving, and so powerful, that there is no way that the directed audience or indirect audience can go on after watching that without a newfound appreciation for their fathers and the importance of having a father physically close and not in jail.
This documentary shows the importance of having a father physically close with their daughter through the program Date with Dad. It also shows how important it is to have two healthy parents in a home. Every girl’s story is different and is affected differently by their
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fathers being in jail. Some better than others, but at the end of the day the negative effects of these fathers being separated from their daughters have detrimental effects on these kids and is a huge issue in today’s day that people should be aware of.
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Work cited
Daughters. Directed by Angela Patton and Natalie Rae. 2024. Netflix
Dear Professor Smith,
I used the feedback from Miriam to elaborate more about why the target audience is the targeted audience and to elaborate more on the logos used throughout the documentary. As well added to whom the documentary might appeal to as well, other that young adult parents. My essay changes by talking about how logos is used through written out text on the screen and verbally used by speakers in the documentary. As well I added that this film is targeted toward young adult parents because this him is showing us many young adults with young kids being in this positions. Which is why I believe this documentary is not only a reminder, but a way to show these parents what life for them and their daughter would look like if the dads chose to make bad decisions. I learned through this project the importance of having two healthy parents in a home with you, physically close. I also learned about the Date with Dad program and how amazing that program is and how effective it is for dads and their daughters. As well it helps these fathers stay out of jail when they serve their time, because they teach them responsible fatherhood in a 10-week program with other dads. I need to continue to work on not typing so fast because I will skip over words or explanation sentences trying to write down everything because I will write the topic sentence but forget to elaborate on what my statement or sentence is trying to state.
Sincerely,
Grace Geier
Grace Geier
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
25 November 2024
The Glasses of Deception
Social media is like wearing the wrong pair of prescription glasses. Wearing these glasses for too long causes your vision, without them, to be blurry, and then can lead to headaches or dizziness. Social media glorifies only a small portion of people’s lives and most of it is the best part of their lives. Due to this we believe that these people are living the best life ever and then we end up comparing that to our own lives. This can lead to a lot of negative effects. Social media is very harmful to our mental health.
Due to the glorification of everyone’s lives on social media, this can lead to many people developing FOMO. FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out. FOMO can make you feel that friends and family, through social media, are having more fun than you are. (UC Davis Health 2024) Along with that stated by Frances Delomba from Brown Health University, It also can lead you to checking your social media apps constantly in fear you’re going to miss out on seeing something if you are not on them. Most people don’t even realize they develop this feeling until they are so hooked on missing out, or they can’t put down their phones and stay off the apps.
Another very negative effect from social media that I believe effects so many of us today would be body image issues or life image issues. Social media only shows a very small percentage of people’s lives enhanced. There is still so much of their lives that we don’t see, but we don’t even realize this because we are mesmerized by their enhanced lives that we don’t stop and realize that their lives don’t really look like this or their body looks like that all the time. A lot of these apps have literal filters to enhance or change the way you look and then able to post it to your profile within seconds. Deborah Glasofer from Colombia the mailman school of public health states that, “For those vulnerable to developing an eating disorder, social media may be especially unhelpful because it allows people to easily compare their appearance to their friends, to celebrities, even older images of themselves. Research tells us that how much someone engages with photo-related activities like posting and sharing photos on Facebook or Instagram is associated with less body acceptance and more obsessing about appearance.” Most people don’t even realize they are comparing their whole lives or their bodies to these people on social media until they are so far down the rabbit hole that it can be difficult to get them out of that head space. Social media only shows a small amount of people’s lives, but we end up comparing one hundred percent of our own lives to that small percentage.
One of the big things that also unfortunately comes with social media is cyber bullying. Sense we all post our lives on social media, some private but a lot public, it opens yourself up to people making rude comments about you or something in your posts. Which can be very hurtful. A study done by UC Davis Health said that “44% of all internet users in the U.S. said they have experienced online harassment…It can severely impact self-esteem and mental health. Social media platforms can be hotspots for cyberbullying and spreading hurtful rumors, lies, and abuse that can leave lasting emotional scars.” Cyber bullying is so out of control, which makes social media so harmful because no one can control what other people have to say about you. Now there are limitations and ways to try to avoid it but there are also other ways that these bullies can get around them and still contact you.
I know social media does and has so many positive aspects when used properly. You can meet new people and stay in contact with other friends and family. Not only that but can do it in creative ways like photos and videos, quick access to research, online learning, remote employment, marketing tools, the list can go on. (Dalomba 2022) This is when it is used properly. People have been misusing social media for a long time and that has permanently hurt a lot of people’s mental health. “Although there are important benefits, social media can also provide platforms for bullying and exclusion, unrealistic expectations about body image and sources of popularity, normalization of risk-taking behaviors, and can be detrimental to mental health.” (Mellins 2021) There are so many negative effects from social media, detrimental and little effects, that it just at this point outweighs the positive.
Like wearing prescribed glasses not meant for our eyes, wearing them enhances our eyesight, but being worn for too long can make your head hurt or cause dizziness. Then when removed your eyes are blurry. Social media shows you enhanced lives, created by other people which in turn makes you go back into your own lives, and perception of such messed up. The constant use and long periods of wearing these glasses can cause more negative effects like headaches and dizziness or eyestrains. Much like social media causes body/life image issues and FOMO. We must start realizing how much social media deceives us and can hook us so fast subconsciously we don’t even know when it happens until we become so dependent or affected by it. We must take the glasses off before it causes too much damage.
Work Cited
Dalomba, Frances, et al. “Pros and Cons of Social Media.” Brown University Health, 1 Mar. 2022, www.brownhealth.org/be-well/social-media-good-bad-and-ugly.
“Just How Harmful Is Social Media? Our Experts Weigh-In.” Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 17 Sept. 2021, www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/just-how-harmful-social-media-our-experts-weigh.
“Social Media’s Impact on Our Mental Health and Tips to Use It Safely.” Health, UC Davis Health, 20 Sept. 2024, health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/social-medias-impact-our-mental-health-and-tips-to-use-it-safely/2024/05.
Grace Geier
Professor Smith
ENGWR 300
25 November 2024
The Glasses of Deception
Social media is like wearing the wrong pair of prescription glasses. Wearing these glasses for too long causes your vision, without them, to be blurry, and then can lead to headaches or dizziness. Social media glorifies only a small portion of people’s lives and most of it is the best part of their lives. Due to this we believe that these people are living the best life ever and then we end up comparing that to our own lives. This can lead to a lot of negative effects. Social media is very harmful to our mental health.
Due to the glorification of everyone’s lives on social media, this can lead to many people developing FOMO. FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out. FOMO can make you feel that friends and family, through social media, are having more fun than you are. (UC Davis Health 2024) Along with that stated by Frances Delomba from Brown Health University, It also can lead you to checking your social media apps constantly in fear you’re going to miss out on seeing something if you are not on them. Most people don’t even realize they develop this feeling until they are so hooked on missing out, or they can’t put down their phones and stay off the apps.
Another very negative effect from social media that I believe effects so many of us today would be body image issues or life image issues. Social media only shows a very small percentage of people’s lives enhanced. There is still so much of their lives that we don’t see, but we don’t even realize this because we are mesmerized by their enhanced lives that we don’t stop and realize that their lives don’t really look like this, or their body looks like that all the time. A lot of these apps have literal filters to enhance or change the way you look and then able to post it to your profile within seconds. Deborah Glasofer from Colombia the mailman school of public health states that, “For those vulnerable to developing an eating disorder, social media may be especially unhelpful because it allows people to easily compare their appearance to their friends, to celebrities, even older images of themselves. Research tells us that how much someone engages with photo-related activities like posting and sharing photos on Facebook or Instagram is associated with less body acceptance and more obsessing about appearance.” Most people don’t even realize they are comparing their whole lives or their bodies to these people on social media until they are so far down the rabbit hole that it can be difficult to get them out of that head space. Social media only shows a small amount of people’s lives, but we end up comparing one hundred percent of our own lives to that small percentage.
One of the big things that also unfortunately comes with social media is cyber bullying. Sense we all post our lives on social media, some private but a lot public, it opens yourself up to people making rude comments about you or something in your posts. Which can be very hurtful. A study done by UC Davis Health said that “44% of all internet users in the U.S. said they have experienced online harassment…It can severely impact self-esteem and mental health. Social media platforms can be hotspots for cyberbullying and spreading hurtful rumors, lies, and abuse that can leave lasting emotional scars.” Cyber bullying is so out of control, which makes social media so harmful because no one can control what other people have to say about you. Now there are limitations and ways to try to avoid it but there are also other ways that these bullies can get around them and still contact you.
I know social media does and has so many positive aspects when used properly. You can meet new people and stay in contact with other friends and family. Not only that but can do it in creative ways like photos and videos, quick access to research, online learning, remote employment, marketing tools, the list can go on. (Dalomba 2022) Debroah Glasofer from Colombia states that, “Whether it’s social media or in person, a good peer group makes the difference. A group of friends that connects over shared interests like art or music, and is balanced in their outlook on eating and appearance, is a positive.” This is when it is used properly. Which I would say is when social media is better than the negative that is in-person, having an online support group can help so many people who struggle with a lot of things in their physical daily lives.
People have been misusing social media for a long time and that has permanently hurt a lot of people’s mental health. “Although there are important benefits, social media can also provide platforms for bullying and exclusion, unrealistic expectations about body image and sources of popularity, normalization of risk-taking behaviors, and can be detrimental to mental health.” (Mellins 2021) There are so many negative effects from social media, detrimental and little effects, that it just at this point outweighs the positive for most people.
Like wearing prescribed glasses not meant for our eyes, wearing them enhances our eyesight, but being worn for too long can make your head hurt or cause dizziness. Then when removed your eyes are blurry. Social media shows you enhanced lives, created by other people which in turn makes you go back into your own lives, and perception of such messed up. The constant use and long periods of wearing these glasses can cause more negative effects like headaches and dizziness or eyestrains. Much like social media causes body/life image issues and FOMO. We must start realizing how much social media deceives us and can hook us so fast subconsciously we don’t even know when it happens until we become so dependent or affected by it. We must take the glasses off before it causes too much damage.
Work Cited
Dalomba, Frances, et al. “Pros and Cons of Social Media.” Brown University Health, 1 Mar. 2022, www.brownhealth.org/be-well/social-media-good-bad-and-ugly.
“Just How Harmful Is Social Media? Our Experts Weigh-In.” Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, 17 Sept. 2021, www.publichealth.columbia.edu/news/just-how-harmful-social-media-our-experts-weigh.
“Social Media’s Impact on Our Mental Health and Tips to Use It Safely.” Health, UC Davis Health, 20 Sept. 2024, health.ucdavis.edu/blog/cultivating-health/social-medias-impact-our-mental-health-and-tips-to-use-it-safely/2024/05.
Dear Professor Smith,
To reflect on this assignment of writing my own op-ed as made me learn a lot of things. I learned what an op-ed was. I also learned that I really enjoy writing op-eds even though I am not a huge writer. Although I do love sharing my opinion and listening to others’ opinions on topics we agree and disagree on. This has all been exactly that but in writing form. A peer review that I got from Noah explained that I should write a stronger counter argument. Which I agreed, after rereading it the “counter” was really like one sentence and then me going into much more detail about the argument. In this revision of the first post of my op-ed, I split up when I started talking about the counter argument, and elaborated more on the counter with a quote from Debroah Glasofer from Columbia talking about how positive social media can be for people who have a lot of negatives going on in their physical lives. Then I made the part of the paragraph that went back to my argument its own paragraph following the counter. Overall, I really enjoyed writing this op-ed and curating it over the last few weeks and realized that maybe I do enjoy writing. I also had a lot of fun creating the title and the hook.
Sincerely,
Grace Geier