1. Lisa Robertson's essay "The Venus Problem" is a unique way to present an essay, mixing multimedia usages of images, prose, poetry and verse, and more to provide a fascinating and wonderfully beautiful. The essay itself runs not from top to bottom, but left to right, acting as a constant scroll of prose and analysis of the poems. In each page, Robertson plays with spacing, line placement, italicization, and more to create an offbeat way to read her analysis. Her use of spacing, emphasizing the last word of one of her pages ("variance") by placing it on another section entirely, is incredible and allows the impact of her words to be felt in more ways than through mere reading. I feel like this innovative form of essaying can be used to break down other works of art quite well - by affecting the stylings of the prose it's discussing, and/or directly subverting it, the use of words and writing in prose essays can take on the shape of the genre in question.
2. Many months ago, I wrote a comment on an online message board where I personally insulted someone who disagreed with me on the subject of gay marriage, calling them a bigot and an insensitive monster. In light of my own reflections, I feel that I erred in that assumption; no matter how much I disagree with their beliefs, they are just as human as I am, and just as deserving of respect.
3. The pros and cons of Plato's Republic can apply to people from all walks of life. The author nips in the bud everything that he sees as essential to create a just society, leaving no stone unturned as he doles out wisdom that can apply to all people in this day & age.
4. My original sentence is: "I would say that there is always a way to solve a problem, no matter how tough; I also do not believe that avoiding complicated problems is the way to deal with a project. At the same time, I am very comfortable with certainty; with certainty comes direction, and knowing what is going on helps me greatly when I am attempting to solve problems." Revising this sentence to change pronouns, it reads: "You would say that there is always a way to solve a problem, no matter how tough; you also do not believe that avoiding complicated problems is the way to deal with a project. At the same time; you are very comfortable with certainty; with certainty comes direction, and knowing what is going on helps you greatly when you are attempting to solve problems." I believe that the latter makes my writing sound more academic and official; at the same time, Fusco believes we should inject some of ourselves into our writing.
5. Tennyson, in his poem "Ulysses", explores issues of life and death through the title character, who believes that his place in the world is untenable, and things must change: "you and I are old; / Old age hath yet his honour and his toil; / Death closes all: but something ere the end, / Some work of noble note, may yet be done, / Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods" (2). Ulysses tells his mariners that they may still find adventure and purpose before they die, performing noble deeds, echoing Tennyson's need to convey the importance of purpose in life.6.Part 1:
