Month: February 2019

My entire high school career, peer review was always a way of picking out the little things, rather the local edits, in a paper. I’ve always found it easy when it came to peer review to then just sit there and pick out the grammatical errors rather than focus on what the topic was, whether evidence was making sense or not, etc. However, changing this perspective of peer reviewing from local to global edits seems to help give me a better understanding of what I am writing about as well. I feel as though global editing will also give help me when reviewing my own paper, looking back I will know what evidence fits and what evidence may not, where it is needed, etc. It has also given me a better understanding of what I should be writing about as well. Global edits are also the reviews we as students typically need the most, rather than going back and seeing grammatical errors that we could have easily changed when we went to read through our papers. By allowing someone to check the structure of our paper rather than the small easy to find errors, we can then focus on writing and fixing the important parts of our formal essay. Overall, I would prefer to receive and give global edits on papers rather than local edits so that way I can focus on the big picture rather than the small points I can go back and fix quickly.

Intro 1:

Our life is like a box of chocolates, no? You wake up everyday, not knowing what to expect but hoping, just hoping, that you’re day will go as great as if you were to blindly pick your favorite chocolate. Now take a minute and ponder over how this metaphor may have just influenced your thoughts. Am I really waking up everyday not knowing what to expect, just as a box of chocolates? It’s crazy isn’t it? Metaphors create this image in our heads that give us a new version of an idea/object that doesn’t seem to correlate at all, such as life and a box of chocolates. James Geary, Michael Erard, and Dhruv Khullar have all published their own ideas on how metaphors affect society’s everyday thinking. Geary uses examples such as Elvis Presley to catch his audience when describing how metaphors are created. Erard, metaphor designer, goes deeper into the creation of a metaphor explaining how they are created to force us to see both sides of a reality. On the other hand, Khullar connects metaphors to health studies as he leaves his audience to question whether it is morally okay to compare a chronic illness with war. Ultimately, all three authors come together to discuss the importance of metaphors in our daily lives, affecting us emotionally, and stimulating our thoughts.

Intro 2:

We often miss out on the small details in our lives which often have the greatest impact. The sunsets, the hellos and goodbyes, and most importantly, metaphors. Metaphors, as we commonly know them, are a tool used in English to compare to things. However, the meaning behind a metaphor can become so much deeper. In fact, there are metaphors all around us today that psychologically affect us without us even noticing. James Geary, Michael Erard, and Dhruv Khullar all talk about the effects that metaphors have on society and the deeper meaning that comes from their creation. Geary discusses how our brains translate a metaphor just hearing them. Erard discusses how designers make “pseudo-mistakes” in order to create a metaphor in which society will see both sides of something. Khullar on the other hand discusses the ways in which metaphors such as “this illness is a battle” can affect our health. Overall, the way in which we perceive metaphors may affect our emotions, visions of reality, and health.

In Dhruv Khullar’s “The Trouble with Medicine Metaphors”, he discusses the influences that metaphors may have on chronically ill patients. When faced with an illness, society automatically uses “military metaphors” as Khullar would say, by creating a situation where the illness is a battle. Khullar argues that this comparison of an illness to a battle may be making things worst for the patient. Instead of going towards the problem with positivity, they resort to the pressures of “fighting a battle” not for themselves, but for their doctor and family. There have even been studies indicating that patients whose illnesses were not referred to as a battle showed lower levels of stress and depression. However, Khullar concludes with the importance of the patients perspective. Instead of referring to their illness automatically as a “fight”, doctors should converse with the patient as to how they see their illness.

Personally, I was back and forth with Khullar’s argument that illnesses should not be compared to a “fight”, or “battle”. Throughout the beginning of his article, Khullar continued to mention that the idea of a battle with a chronic illness would only result in a negative outlook from the patients perspective. However, I disagree. About seven months ago, I went through the removal of a benign tumor. This entire experience was a battle I never thought I’d face, and quite frankly a battle I’m proud to say I overcame. It was a fight between these rapidly multiplying cells inside my body, and my mental health. A fight I continued to tell myself every night that I would defeat, and I did. Attending breast cancer parades and seeing individuals with “fighter” pins and quotes about beating the battle reminds me of the strength that we all hold inside of us, despite the obstacles we are forced to face. On the other hand, I do agree with Khullar’s conclusion that the doctor should communicate with the patient before automatically connecting their illness with a battle. I found that allowing myself to become a strong soldier helped to push me through my entire experience. Although, I can see how for some individuals they may feel pressured into showing off their strength for the people counting on them in their lives, making everything much harder on their part. Despite the difference between my vision and Khullar’s, I believe that we can agree that the patient should decide how they metaphorically see their illness.

Metaphorically Speaking: “Metaphorical thinking is essential to how we understand ourselves and others, how we communicate, learn, discover and invent.” I chose this quote because it states to it’s audience the importance of metaphors on our psychological behaviors in our day to day lives.

See Through Words: “It’s the classic look at how metaphors structure the way we think and talk, and once you’ve read it, you can’t help but agree that, at a conceptual level, life is a journey, and arguments are wars.” Metaphors are often opening up doors for our thinking, allowing us to see both sides of an idea and influencing how we think about it.

The Trouble With Medicine’s Metaphors: “Metaphors allow doctors to develop a common language with patients, and offer patients an avenue to express their emotions and exert agency over their conditions.” Metaphors give the patient a better description of what their body is going through when they face serious illnesses, and allow them to express their emotions towards how they visualize their situation.