CrossFire Blog

As I watched the Crossfire clip a second time, I noticed that as the bow-tie guy and his partner in crime began to lose their "cool," Jon Stewart remained calm. Watching Jon Stewart belittle the two men was very amusing because no matter how many times the two men tried Jon Stewart was able to continue his train of thought about their show. The two men refused to remain silent as Jon Stewart critiqued their show and their direct approach about asking questions. The two men complained that when Jon Stewart had important people on the Daily Show that Jon wouldn't be asking the right questions. The two men said that Jon Stewart was wasting a perfectly good opportunity to attack his guests. This is where Jon Stewart began his speech directed at the two men and their show on why it is a poor show. Jon Stewart was able to step back and look at the current state of the media and government. He repeated on two different occasions that when politicians come on to shows like Crossfire, they use it to promote themselves. These politicians use the shows' hosts like monkeys because all of the hosts ask similar questions and they can prepare for it. Stewart went on to say that the media is hurting America. He says this twice and politely asks the two men to stop twice as well. At the beginning of the clip, the older of the two men (the balding one) gave some binary oppositions; which include black vs. white, left vs. right, paper vs. plastic, and Red Sox vs. Yankees.

The most important part (in my opinion) was when Jon Stewart goes on a strand about how John Kerry won the primary. He says “the best” three times; he also says “process” three times. The two men repeatedly asked Stewart if John Kerry is the best. Stewart says that Kerry is the best according to the process. Stewart analyzed the situation. However he didn’t give his opinion; which agitated the two men to no end. The two men became emotional (read: hostile) when Stewart didn’t give them the answers they were asking for. Jon Stewart remained professional throughout the entire clip. Although as Crossfire was going to take a break, I could sense that Jon Stewart was about to raise his voice a little bit. He was asking the two men to please stop. He says this several times and each successive time it was slightly more emotional and a little louder. Another ten seconds or so and he would have raised his voice. Jon Stewart almost losing his “cool” was an anomaly because it almost never happens.

Writing Process

Beginning the writing process is like riding a bike. Once someone gets the hang of it, that person can theoretically spit out papers like it's no one's business. When I begin the "writing process," i look at the prompt and the assignment. If i have trouble with understanding the prompt, I ask my teacher for help. Once the prompt is clear to me, i think of examples and how I am going to approach the essay. I think about past books, experiences, movies, pop culture, history, or anything that may be of help. If it's a research paper, i do the research until i have exhausted all of my sources.  Once i have the evidence and examples for the essay I begin writing with an introduction. The introduction usually includes a hook in the beginning, background information, and a thesis to finish it off. I have always had trouble writing a good thesis; it is a weaker point. Once i am satisfied with the intro paragraph, i begin my work on the meat of the paper: the body paragraphs. A dissection of any body paragraph will find a claim, some layered evidence, and layered commentary that ties it back to the claim and thesis. Depending on the page requirement, I may only have to write a few body paragraphs, but that point is irrelevant. I then finish up with the conclusion. In my opinion i think the conclusion kind of narrows the paper down and leaves the reader with a "call to arms" kind of thing. I write a mean conclusion; it is my strongest point. With the conclusion completed, I move on to the revision portion. I read it to myself and edit it for grammatical errors and reword the essay when it is needed. If i am still nervous, I have my mom look over it and she gives me suggestions or I let a friend look it over. I finish any last revisions the night before and print it one final time with a Work Cited (if I needed one). My final paper is stapled and turned in the next day to my English Teacher. With the final paper in the hands of the teacher, I let a sigh of relief and take my seat because the Writing Process is finished!