Author's Note: Final Portfolio

The only piece in my portfolio that does not match up with the grading rubric is the pre-writing. I did both pre-writes on MS word because I was sick the day we did it on the blog.

My overall topic or theme for this portfolio was about teen truancy and the daytime curfew that was implemented in order to solve the problem. The solution to this problem, which I focused on in all three pieces, was the parents taking responsibility for their children.
My letter to the editor takes a very honest approach and while I agreed with some of the author's arguments, I made some of my own. I believe it was very direct and did not dance around my opinion, but rather stated it clearly. This was the one piece that I had a problem cutting down and I was a little bit over the word count cut off, however I could not pull things out without the whole argument falling apart.
The OP ED piece is my favorite piece that I have written. Although in my first draft it may have seemed like I was attacking the parents, I changed that in the second draft to take a softer approach and pull in the target audience before I started telling them what they were doing wrong. I also tried to calm down my opinion because I realized it may drive some readers away from my editorial because it is too strong and it would make them uncomfortable.
My humor piece took me a while to think of because I am particularly uncomfortable with writing in this way. I decided on the Dr. Seuss parody because it was a light-hearted way to approach a serious subject. I didn't change anything from the original draft to the final draft because I really liked my original and I didn't receive any comments on how to change it that I thought would make it better. Again, in this piece I focus on the parents and how they should be held responsible for their children.

Overall, I am pleased with my portfolio. I feel like I put in a lot of work and spent more time editing the OP ED and LTTE than I have on previous portfolios so I hope that works in my favor and that I caught everything.

Author's Note for Portfolio

Overall, I think my paper turned out really well. I really enjoy writing on subjects I know a lot about because I feels like it provides a good basis for writing a paper. The approach I took to this essay was somewhat condescending, but I feel that in order for an author to get a point across about a space and what it means, they have to add their own personal interpretation of the location. It was interesting to me how I found different arguments all around the space that I had already visited probably 40 times in my life. It is easier to not notice things that are being projected on you in the space when you are a customer, but as an observer you recognize so many other things.
The main emphasis or controlling idea in my paper was how Palm Beach Tan influences women; especially young women. The idea that society has this perfect stereotype of what a woman should be (thin, blond, tan, etc.) and how Palm Beach Tan embodies that idea. From their staff to the pristine environment to the glowing models on the posters they are manipulating the female demographic, through these various arguments, to fit into mainstream society.
It is hard to explain a tanning salon to a woman who has never been to one or especially to a man and this is why I specifically tried to include vivid descriptions so that no matter what "group" in society you fit in to, you could understand this essay and all of the arguments Palm Beach makes.
I like this piece because I feel like it is honest and written from various points of view (the customer and the observer) and makes a general statement about the argument Palm Beach Tan is trying to state, as well as the underlying arguments that many people may not see within the space.