NOTE: Respond to our class blog by uploading your paragraph as a "comment" for this blog.
Writing Prompt:
Writing Prompt:
Revise and resubmit
(here on our blog) your first REVISION of your summary of Taylor Mali's
"Totally Like Whatever, You Know?" NOTE: This will be your third
draft--make it count.
NOTE:
After posting on the blog, open up the CANVAS assignment (by the same name) and
DO copy and paste the URL address into the CANVAS "WEB URL" text box
so that I have record of your submission on Canvas. Thanks.
Throughout Mali's poem 'Totally like Whatever, You Know', society is being mocked of the way most people speak. The point of the poem is that many people do not speak with backbone. The author is trying to get their point across by showing how silly today’s society sounds when speaking. Just like the poem states, many people do not make statements the correct way anymore. The poem also talks about how society was originally not like this. Originally, a statement was said with confidence. At the end of the poem, the author asks the readers to speak with conviction. To say something with conviction means to say it firmly. When you declare something, you should declare it with confidence. Almost as if you were daring someone to argue with what you are saying. The poem is telling the readers that you should be bold in what you say despite society’s changing ways of speech.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Mali, in his poem, “Totally like Whatever,” argues one simple phrase: Speak with conviction. He urges people to be bold with what they say, and to have confidence in how they communicate. Mali suggests that people have been influenced by others in the ways they speak, and it’s spilling over into their writing. Phrases such as “you know” and questioning tones find their way into our papers and essays. Mali challenges society to have more confidence in what they say or write in a way that the average citizen can understand. He places an emphasis on the importance of speaking with conviction so that we can all become better thinkers and writers.
ReplyDeleteTaylor Mali's poem, "Totally like Whatever", is about how much society, specifically this new generation, has changed in the way we talk. We keep saying meaningless words that do not make our statements as strong as they should be. We speak almost as if we were not certain with what we are trying to say. In Mali's poem, he is using these meaningless words and ending each sentence with a question, to catch the readers attention. He wants us to realize that the way we are speaking is not very assertive, and to speak with more conviction. To speak with conviction means to speak with certainty. Mali wants us to speak and write with more confidence, and to change society's way of speaking, once again.
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ReplyDeleteTotally like whatever is a poem written to show our generation to write and “SPEAK WITH CONVICTION”. An example of this is when Taylor Mali asks “why has it has become uncool to act like you don’t know what you’re talking about”, which means that our generation has grown up around technology and they make it look like its cool to act dumb on social media and be lazy. Same goes for writing students in school are trying to find the shortcut and be lazy. They don’t know how to speak or communicate with passion or conviction anymore, because half of the time the only way they communicate is behind a screen. What Taylor Mali is trying to get across is we need to speak with enthusiasm and really focus and buy into the topic when we write and speak. At the end Taylor Mali tests us to “SPEAK WITH CONVICTION” because “it’s not enough these days to simply QUESTION AUTHORITY”. You have to speak with it too.
In Taylor Mali’s poem Totally Like Whatever, you know? some say Mali is mocking todays ways of communicating. Although this is true, I believe that he is trying to educate the people that are unaware of this issue by putting the issue in a humorous poem. Mali uses examples such as people adding “you know?” to the end of a sentence because they are unsure of what to say to show how the English language has become a laughing matter. People fill blank thoughts with words like “um” and “like” to make it seem like the person knows what they are talking about. Mali challenges the reader to use deep thinking and find arguments that you believe and when you find that argument you need to stand behind it. Overall, the poem can be shortened to just a few words, “speak with conviction and do not just question authority, you must speak with it to.”
ReplyDeleteIn Taylor Mali’s poem, the author argues that people have stopped taking pride in what is said or believed, and seem afraid to declare what they think to be true, sounding unintelligent in the way their information or ideas are expressed. So few are encouraged today to “speak with conviction”, simply because it’s not a cool, orthodox thing to do. Mali compares the dying number of individuals courageous enough to “speak out” to the, “once walked out on, limbs” of the diminishing rainforest. We, as a people, have come a long way into a voiceless descent and need to regain our ability to express more than just an unsure observation.
ReplyDeleteTotally like whatever, you know?
ReplyDeleteMali’s work has such a deep meaning and can be a real eye opener to society. Basically what he is saying is that people nowadays are too scared to speak with conviction and communicate with compassion because they care too much about what other people think of them and they aren’t confident about what they say anymore. This is evident in the third stanza of the poem, some lines that state this are, “what has happened to our conviction? Where are the limbs out on which we once walked? Have they been, like chopped down with the rest of the rain forest?” He is asking what has happened to people and why don’t they speak with conviction and communicate with compassion, we are all just like the rest of the rainforest (people) and lost the ability to think so we put fillers in a sentence or paragraph.
Taylor Mali is trying to say to the audience to speak with conviction and compassion. In Mali's poem Mali says where are the limbs out on which we once walked? Mali means that we need to not care what they say and care about our thoughts and getting them out there. Also he states this is just like the word on the street. this means what ever people are saying should not effect your writing and state what you believe in. In short what others believe in is like the title states Totally like whatever, you know?
ReplyDeleteMali expresses his opinion on how current day speech has become “uncool” to sound like you know what you’re talking about. We have added phrases such as, “you know?” to the end of our sentences making it seem like we are doubting what we are saying. We have lost our conviction to say what we really mean and think. If we keep talking this way our generation could become the most aggressively inarticulate. I don’t completely agree with his opinion because one can ask a question after a statement but that doesn’t necessarily mean you are doubting what you say. Taylor Mali challenges us to always speak with conviction so we can make a change in this generation. He advices us to say what we believe in a manner that bespeaks the determination with which we believe it. He says, “Because contrary to the wisdom of the bumper sticker, it is not enough these days to simply question authority. You have to speak with it, too.” We have to take our opinions and make it a voice with determination. This is true but it is not the only way to make a straight up point.
ReplyDeleteTo “speak with conviction” and to “communicate with compassion” means to allow yourself to actually say what you really think without any fear. If you have conviction in your voice, it allows others to see what you really think or what you feel about something. To have conviction means to go all out and have authority in your voice. To “communicate with compassion” means to allow yourself to speak with people and allow them to really understand the information you are communicating. Speaking with conviction and compassion will make you sound that you are sure of what you think instead of sounding like you are questioning yourself. Having determination in your voice will help get attention from the public but is not the only way to make a point. This will help us make our point and allow others to even believe in what we are saying.
People listening to me speak with conviction and communicate with compassion will see the way I speak and think seriously of what I’m saying.I can also add something like “you know?” at the end of my sentence to make sure the person or public is actually understanding what I am saying so it doesn’t automatically mean that I am not sure what I am saying. Questioning myself while I talk will just make me sound like I’m doubting what I’m saying or what I believe in if I have a tone where I sound like I don’t know what I am saying. This will help us in every aspect in our lives, it is something necessary for our speech. If I am doing a presentation in class and I start to sound like I don’t really know what I am talking about the audience won’t really take in what I am saying. If I speak with conviction the whole time, the class will be paying attention to what I say and will actually believe the information I tell them. Taylor Mali challenged us to be this way with our speech because it will help us all around to make a change to this generation and our speech.