Faith Keller

Professor Ron Christiansen

ENGL 1010

April 27, 2018

Letter of Transmittal

Dear Professor Christiansen,

Over the course of the class I did not find any of the assignments irrelevant at all, which is kind

of a first for me. Usually I struggle to find the reason I am being forced to do at least one

assignment. I did find some more useful than others though. The assignments that helped me the

most were the self directed learning and reflections. I feel like for the past few years the majority

of what I have learned in English classes, or any class that I had to write a paper for really, has

been pretty repetitive. The self directed learning really helped me identify exactly what it was

that I needed to focus on instead of just going over the same thing over and over.

The reflections really helped me with the identifying what I needed to work on in self

directed learning. It also helped me realize that what we were working on was actually helpful. I

have always kind of disliked reflections because they kind of annoy me, but I actually enjoyed

them in this course. They made me realize which choices I was making in my writing, and

helped me realize how many choices I made and why they were important.

The rhetorical analysis really drew attention to literate practices and processes. I had

never considered why an author’s argument made sense, but only paid attention to the fact that it

made sense. I hadn’t considered the different ways the author established the validity of their

claim because I had never had to look at rhetoric before.

 The notebooks really helped me in developing my ideas and arguments before I had to

actually draft anything. Having a little bit of a pre-rough draft made it easier to develop my

views, and I felt like it made my writing better than it could have been. I also really liked the

discussions because not only did they give me an opportunity to reflect on my own ideas, but

give and receive feedback. I think giving feedback to other people also helped me notice

mistakes in my own writing. As much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I am more critical of the

writing of others than I am of my own. I don’t know if I have a superiority complex when it

comes to writing, or just like to ignore my own flaws.

Thank you for the feedback you have given me throughout the course, and for making me

think harder than I have had to. I tend to get lazy when I get comfortable, but this class kept me

on my toes a little bit and I enjoyed that. Also, in addition to the main assignments being posted

on the main page of my eportfolio, I will put them here so you don’t have to download all of

them.

Thank you,

Faith Keller

Faith Keller

Christiansen

ENGL 1010
January 23, 2018

Flash Narrative

I was in downtown Salt Lake screwing around with a few of my coworkers one Friday

night, it was a pretty average night other than the whole me going out in public part. We got

some dinner and ice cream from Johnny Rockets, and just kind of wandered around for awhile.

We were at City Creek on a chilly night, so as soon as we realized we could not all fit in front of

one of the outdoor fireplaces we decided to head back toward the parking garage.

So there were five of us. There was William, Chasity, Kylee, Jenise, and me. At my

work, everyone had a pair. It was almost like when you started you were assigned someone that

was just automatically your best friend. Always scheduled together, and always hanging out in

your free time. Pretty cool. So Jenise and I both had our partners, but they had left around the

same time. We started working every Sunday morning together and became best buds.

The group was all walking back to the parking garage, and we were all heading down the

escalators and we stopped at the first level, at least I am pretty sure it was the first level. All I

remember is that they parked on blue and we parked on orange. That was where Kylee, William,

and Chas had parked. We were all saying our goodbyes, but Jenise had not noticed that the rest

of us stopped. She started heading down the next escalator. When she turned to look behind her

and noticed that everyone had stopped, she completely panicked. She turned around and started

running up the down escalator. Her bright red hair was flying everywhere, it had come out of the

bun she had put it in at work earlier. Her jacket was in her hand and it was just flailing about.

She had a look of terror on her face as she fought the downward force of the moving staircase. It

was similar to the look of a girl in a horror movie that cannot seem to understand that you are

supposed to run away from the person trying to kill you. When she got back to the rest of us,
mind you she had not even gotten a quarter of the way down, she was out of breath and just

laughing. She looked like she had been through hell and had suffered through some traumatic

experience. She was just panting, and I was sitting on the floor laughing so hard I was crying.

She then joined me on the floor, just dying of laughter. The best part of the whole thing was no

one else had seen, so they just gave us confused looks and asked why we were laughing.

After we explained, through tears, what had just happened, Kylee looked at Jenise and

said,”Do it again. I missed it.” Jenise refused for obvious reasons, and everyone went their

separate ways except the two of us. Even after we got to the car we had to wait a few minutes

because I was laughing too hard to drive. We laughed about it for at least another twenty

minutes, and the joke did not end there.

For a few months after the incident, every time I was somewhere that had an escalator I

would send her a picture of it. If I was with her, I would grab her hand, drag her over to it, and

spread my arms in order to dramatically present it to her. Naturally, I told all of our mutual

friends what had happened. The people that had been with us were all bitter about not seeing it

all go down, but we didn’t care. I guess it was just something you had to be there for.

641 Words

Faith Keller

Christiansen

ENGL 1010

February 21, 2018

Rhetorical Analysis
 The article “I Know Where You’ve Been: Digital Spying In The Smartphone Age” is

about the effect of certain technology on relationships, specifically in the case of divorce. The

article was about digital spying between people in relationships and its effects on the people

involved. She uses a story of someone that had personally been affected by digital spying tools,

to whom she referred as M throughout the article. She talked about M’s ex husband using digital

spying tools on her, how she felt about it, and how it affected her. In her article, author Aarti

Shahani argues that digital spying has altered some aspects of the divorce process. Through the

use of ethos, logos, and pathos Shahani effectively presents her argument.

Shahani establishes her credibility quickly due to her background. She is published

through a credible news source, National Public Radio’s website, she is an awarded author, and

she has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard University. She then uses ethos, appeals to

character, to establish further credibility and increase the strength of her argument. She used

statements from multiple people commonly involved in divorce cases such as: lawyers,

investigators, police officers, and judges to support the facts she used. The use of experts in

presenting facts increases the author’s credibility. For example,”...according to dozens of divorce

lawyers…” It proves that she is not just creating ideas and using them as her argument. She

mentioned that M could not prosecute her husband for placing the GPS tracker on her car

because they both owned it. This was supported by the refusal of the prosecutors to pursue the

case, which Shahani stated. She used facts and statistics from trusted organizations and made her

argument stronger.

The author also used logos, appeals to logic or reason, to contribute to her argument.

Shahani mentioned M’s suspicions and investigation to add to the point she was making. She

brought up M’s original suspicion about her ex husband, but then added the discovery by the
mechanic to provide the hard evidence. She also stated that the clients of lawyers use digital

spying as a way to “stay in control or gather evidence of extra-marital affairs or drug abuse”

which supports her argument because that was a fact presented by lawyers about specific ways it

is changing divorce. Shahani also used logos when she brought up M’s ex husband using a GPS

tracker and explained why M thought that he was using other methods of digital spying like

spyware. She used M’s previous experience with her ex husband’s stalking as a way to imply or

get the reader to also believe that he would find other ways to stalk her. She mentioned how M

knew that her husband was still watching what she was doing. He knew what she was saying to

her friends in private conversations occurring through text and there would not have been a way

for him to know that if he had not been spying on her. Shahani then provided further evidence by

giving statistics from the Justice Department about stalking victims and the percentage of victims

was more than doubled in the cases of divorced and separated people. Shahani not only used

implications and common sense to strengthen her argument, but she used specific evidence and

examples to make her case.

The really strong argument came from Shahani’s use of pathos or appeal to shared values

and emotions. With divorce already being an emotional process, where families lives are

completely changed, the use of spying tools makes it harder in a lot of cases similar to M’s.

Shahani mentioned M’s physical and mental abuse. Abuse contributes to a lot of divorces and

separations, and the author pointed out that digital spying gives ex’s a way to continue their

abuse. Simply by telling M’s story she used pathos. She mentioned M saying that she was

worried that her ex husband was stalking her. Stalking is negative term and automatically

appeals to emotions. She also told the story of M’s ex husband’s previous physical abuse and

how she felt unsafe because of what he had done and how she tried to avoid it. She used pathos
when she quoted M saying,”I’m terrified. I am absolutely terrified.” It makes the reader feel

sympathetic and therefore strengthens her argument. She also used pathos when she was talking

about how the lawyers dealt with digital spying. “[They] are put in a position of having to choose

between a rock and a hard place…” when she was talking about the lawyers having to make

decisions about whether to use the evidence presented to them and cause problems for somebody

else or defend their clients no matter how they feel about the situation. That points out that the

lawyers even fight with themselves on what to do because they risk feeling bad about what they

did either way, and also that the divorce process is changing because of digital spying. People

would not have felt conflicted about the use of digital spying tools before they existed, which

points out that the use of them is changing divorce.

Shahani used kairos, appeal to time and place, as another way to strengthen her argument.

She stated that M discovered that the GPS tracker had only been in use for a few weeks when she

had been divorced for over a year. Pointing out the time frame made it obvious that digital

spying tools were changing divorce because they were affecting divorcees way after everything

was said and done. She used the mechanic’s shop as a place that would contribute to her

argument. Had it been a random person looking at that car, they would not have been able to

confirm it was a GPS tracker, and therefore would not have been helpful for her argument. They

might not have even been able to find it, but because a mechanic found it in his shop it actually

did help her argue her point.

Author Aarti Shahani used rhetorical appeals as a way to effectively convey her

argument. Using the story of someone who had personally been affected by these tools gave the

reader a clear idea of what she was trying to explain and what she was trying to draw attention

to. She used them to put emphasis on her argument about digital spying tools changing divorce
and how they did so. Without appealing to the reader, the author would not have had an effective

argument.

1079 Words

Faith Keller

Professor Ron Christiansen

ENGL 1010

March 23, 2018

Should All Women Have Access to Affordable Birth Control?

The question I have chosen is: Should All Women Have Access to Affordable Birth

Control? I chose this issue because birth control has always been a controversial topic, and

because of that it is not necessarily easy for some women to get. I have learned that even women

have differing opinions on the issue, and that is what intrigues me the most. On one side of the
argument there are people that believe employers should provide insurance that covers the cost

of birth control, or that there should be government funded programs that fit the bill. Others

believe that requiring employers to cover the cost infringes on their religious freedom. There is

also a group of people that believe that birth control should simply be more affordable, not

necessarily just making someone else (such as an insurance company or the government) cover

the cost.

"A Wellness Perspective on Birth Control: Education Is Better Than Ignorance."

Electronic Ardell Wellness Report (E-AWR), 03 May 2002, p. 3. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6

628792&site=eds-live.

In this article, the author starts by explaining that birth control is a bigger issue now

because before the industrial age families were larger in order to get more work done. Now that

the population has increased, there is an increased need for contraceptives. The author mentioned

the more effective, but also more expensive forms of birth control being released. He also said

that they would most likely not be available to the clinics that had the goal of making birth

control readily available to women because of the cost. He estimated that 6.5 million “poor

women” would be affected by this.

The author strengthened his argument for making birth control readily available in this

statement,”Family planning experts state claim the unplanned pregnancy rate in the United States

is a startling 49 percent, so the need for more effective birth control is great.”

Rogers, Melissa. "New Trump Contraception Rules Not a Win-win Solution." Brookings.

October 13, 2017. Accessed April 06, 2018.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/10/13/new-trump-contraception-rules-not-a-win-

win-solution/.

In her article, Rogers briefly summarized the dispute between the Little Sisters of the

Poor, an organization of Catholic nuns and the government regarding the accommodation that

the government made for religious, nonprofit organizations that objected to providing health

insurance coverage for employees. She mentioned the Supreme Court striking down religious

accommodations when they could not “strike an appropriate balance”. She argued that the

organizations being exempt shifted the burden to the women employed by these kind of

organizations.

Rogers referenced the Supreme Court case Zubik v. Burwell in her article. She

established her credibility by providing background information and being published on a

credible website. She also provided statistics on decreased unplanned pregnancy when women

were provided no or low cost pregnancy.

Sawhill, Isabel V. “Reducing Poverty by Cutting Unplanned Births.” Brookings, Brookings, 21

Aug. 2015, www.brookings.edu/opinions/reducing-poverty-by-cutting-unplanned-births/.

Sawhill’s article was about the correlation between unplanned births and poverty. The

main focus of the article was providing affordable long term birth control to women as a way to

cut the number of unplanned pregnancies and poverty that comes as a result of them. At the

beginning of the article she gave information about forms of long term birth control, the

intrauterine device (IUD) and the hormonal birth control implant. The devices are long acting
and require very little attention, and have the lowest chance of failing and resulting in a

pregnancy, says Sawhill. She focused on them for that reason.

Sawhill established her credibility in a few ways. She was published on a credible

website, and she had a book published on a similar subject. At the beginning of the article she

also provided statistics on unplanned pregnancies, and the unplanned pregnancy rate is higher in

single women. She also provided statistics on the effectiveness of different forms of

contraception. The presentation of facts really helped her establish her credibility as an author

and the credibility of her argument.

Singer, Jeffrey A. “End the Ban on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives.” Cato

Institute, 19 Dec. 2017, www.cato.org/publications/commentary/end-ban-over-counter-oral-

contraceptives.

In this article, author Jeffrey Singer focuses on why birth control pills should be available

over the counter. Singer mentioned that making oral contraceptives available over the counter

would reduce the cost because there is no prescription and no doctor’s visit required to obtain

them. The article also brought up the opinions of obstetricians and gynecologists, the people that

deal with birth control the most, as a way to strengthen his argument about making birth control

more readily available to women.

Singer established his credibility by providing statistics such as,”...a 2015 survey of

nearly 500 reproductive health care providers found that 74 percent of them supported expanding

access to oral contraceptives.” He stated that the American College of Obstetricians and

Gynecologists agrees that birth control pills should be available without a prescription. Jeffrey

Singer himself is a medical professional himself, which also contributes to his argument.
 “The High Costs of Birth Control.” Center for American Progress, 17 Feb. 2012,

www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/02/15/11054/the-high-costs-of-birth-

control/.

The article “The High Costs of Birth Control” posted on the Center for American

Progress’s website was a fact sheet on the cost of different forms of birth control and the

difference in the cost of women’s healthcare. The article mentions the demographic most

affected by the cost of birth control, women of childbearing age. The prices of different forms of

birth control range from about $590 to $6000 which supports the author’s argument that not

allowing women access to affordable birth control presents them with a financial burden.

The article did not have a specific author listed, but the article was published on a trusted

organization’s website. The article was useful for me because it gave a reference to what the

costs of birth control actually are. Without knowing the cost, there would be no way to determine

whether that is high or whether that is affordable to the majority of people. It provided important

background to research the question.

Totenberg, Nina. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate

Religious Freedom?" NPR. March 23, 2016. Accessed April 6, 2018.

https://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471003272/birth-control-at-the-supreme-court-does-free-

coverage-violate-religious-freedom.

Totenberg addresses the concerns of those opposed to the HHS mandate that required

employers, excluding houses of worship, to provide insurance coverage for birth control. She

focused on the Little Sisters of the Poor. The organization runs homes for the elderly poor, and

are run by Catholic nuns. The article also covered the workaround for employers with religious

of moral objections to the mandate, which required employers to notify the government to notify
the government that they are opting out. The Little Sisters argued that this still infringes on their

free exercise of religion.

Totenberg objectively presents both sides of the argument, which made it known that her

purpose was simply to inform. She established credibility by providing statistics, statements, and

facts from both side of the argument. She was also published on npr.org, which is a credible

website.

“Trump Rescinds Obamacare Birth Control Mandate.” NPR, NPR, 9 Oct. 2017,

www.npr.org/2017/10/09/556606150/trump-rescinds-obamacare-birth-control-mandate.

This was originally broadcast on National Public Radio, and it is an interview of Planned

Parenthood President Cecile Richards by host David Greene. The interview starts by Greene

introducing the topic of the Trump administration giving employers easier ways to get out of

providing coverage for birth control to their employees. Richards argued that this would make it

more difficult for women, and that it would be a mistake. Richards stated that since the mandate

by the Obama administration, unplanned pregnancy rates have gone down, there has been the

lowest teen pregnancy rate in the history of the United States, and that overall women are getting

better birth control. Richards also mentioned that women use birth control for “a whole host of

reasons” not just preventing pregnancy. Greene mentioned that some believed that it interfered

with religious liberty, and Richards countered that with employers having the option to opt out of

providing birth control as long as they notify the government.

The broadcast was credible because it was on National Public Radio with the President of

Planned Parenthood who would need to stay up to date on government regulations regarding

birth control and women’s health. Planned Parenthood is also a nationwide organization that has

been around for over one hundred years. The organization was established in October of 1916.
 "Zubik v. Burwell." Accessed April 6, 2018.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf.

This was the petition to the Supreme Court regarding the HHS mandate requiring

employees to provide healthcare plans that covered birth control. It covered the accomodation

allowing nonprofit organizations, and the opinion of those organizations. The petition

stated,”Petitioners allege that submitting this notice substantially burdens the exercise of their

religion, in violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, 107 Stat. 1488 42

U.S.C. §2000bb et seq.” This gives more background to the opposing side.

Faith Keller

Professor Ron Christiansen

ENGL 1010

April 17, 2018

Should All Women Have Access to Affordable Birth Control?

There has been a recent debate regarding a mandate from the Department of Health and

Human Services during the Obama administration. The mandate required employers to provide

insurance coverage for birth control, or the employer to notify the government that they were

opting out so women could seek contraception through government funded programs like

Medicaid. There were a lot of people that agreed with the mandate, but there were others that

objected. Those that objected said it was an assault on their religious liberty. There were others

that were more in the middle. That group believed that while all women should have access to

affordable birth control, the cost should not be shifted to someone else such as an insurance

company or the government.

 Another group that supports the mandate has a variety of reasons for their belief. In her

article “Reducing Poverty by Cutting Unplanned Births” Isabel Sawhill discusses the correlation

between unplanned pregnancies and poverty. She goes on to say that women that get pregnant

before they are financially and mentally ready are more likely to stay in the lower class . Sawhill

also argued that women that have access to birth control and better family planning are more

successful. In “A Wellness Perspective on Birth Control: Education is Better than Ignorance” the

author argues that things have changed and birth control is necessary for family planning because

almost half of all pregnancies are unplanned.

Those opposed to the mandate argue that it affects their religious freedom. Employers

with religious or moral objections to birth control believe that they should not be required to

provide insurance coverage for birth control and that the option to opt out but not notify the

government is not a reasonable accommodation. In “Birth Control at the Supreme Court: Does

Free Coverage Violate Religious Freedom?” Nina Totenberg examines the argument by the

Little Sisters of the Poor, a religious organization that did not agree with providing coverage for

their employees and were not satisfied with the option to opt out. They argued that their name

would still be on it, and they did not want their name associated with birth control (Totenberg).

In “The Continuing Threat to Religious Liberty” author Ryan Anderson mentions a

Supreme Court case regarding a baker that did not agree with same sex marriage and compares it

to the birth control debate. Anderson mentions the religious organizations affected by the HHS

mandate, and argues that the mandate may cause these organizations to lose tax exempt status

and therefore cause them issues financially.

 Still another group believes in affordable birth control, but they have slightly different

views than the first group. The argument in this case is that while birth control should be made

more affordable, it should not be done by just shifting the cost to someone else. In “End the Ban

on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives” author Jeffrey Singer states that making oral

contraceptives available over the counter would reduce the cost by eliminating the doctor’s visit

to get a prescription because pharmacists would be able to prescribe them.

After researching the question, I agree with the HHS mandate. In “The High Costs of

Birth Control” there is a chart with the costs of the different types of birth control. It had a chart

that broke down the costs of different types of birth control from the pill to sterilization. It really

drew attention to the issue, and made me think about the women that cannot afford it by

themselves. If they cannot afford birth control on their own, then they are not going to be able to

support a child. I also think that because organizations were provided with the option to opt out

as long as they notified the government it is reasonable. They do not have to provide coverage

they just have to notify the government so women employed by these groups still have access to

affordable birth control.

Exploring the different views on birth control access really drew attention to the issue. I

did not realize how many people were affected by lack of birth control or difficulty paying for it,

and I did not realize that there were people that were fighting back against the solution that the

Obama Administration had come up with.

 Works Cited

Anderson, Ryan. “The Continuing Threat to Religious Liberty.” The Heritage Foundation,

www.heritage.org/religious-liberty/commentary/the-continuing-threat-religious-liberty.

"A Wellness Perspective on Birth Control: Education Is Better Than Ignorance."

Electronic Ardell Wellness Report (E-AWR), 03 May 2002, p. 3. EBSCOhost,

libprox1.slcc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=6

628792&site=eds-live.

Rogers, Melissa. "New Trump Contraception Rules Not a Win-win Solution." Brookings.

October 13, 2017. Accessed April 06, 2018.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2017/10/13/new-trump-contraception-rules-not-a-win-

win-solution/.

Sawhill, Isabel V. “Reducing Poverty by Cutting Unplanned Births.” Brookings,

Brookings, 21 Aug. 2015, www.brookings.edu/opinions/reducing-poverty-by-cutting-unplanned-

births/.
 Singer, Jeffrey A. “End the Ban on Over-The-Counter Oral Contraceptives.” Cato

Institute, 19 Dec. 2017, www.cato.org/publications/commentary/end-ban-over-counter-oral-

contraceptives.

“The High Costs of Birth Control.” Center for American Progress, 17 Feb. 2012,

www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/news/2012/02/15/11054/the-high-costs-of-birth-

control/.

Totenberg, Nina. "Birth Control At The Supreme Court: Does Free Coverage Violate

Religious Freedom?" NPR. March 23, 2016. Accessed April 6, 2018.

https://www.npr.org/2016/03/23/471003272/birth-control-at-the-supreme-court-does-free-

coverage-violate-religious-freedom.

"Zubik v. Burwell." Accessed April 6, 2018.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-1418_8758.pdf.