Thlog 1: School's Useful?

After alphabetizing 100+ books and doing busy work for about four hours, I sat down in my research assistant office and began to file some letters of nomination for a book award my Professor was one of the judges for. After picking up and sorting a few letters, I started to notice some similar features between the letters. At this point I thought to myself “Wow!!!! I learned about conventions of genres in my Writing 2 class. My teacher really knows what he’s talking about.” I definitely got way too excited about it, and with extreme self-satisfaction for applying what I had learned to my daily life, I dug deeper. I noticed that all of the letters had begun with "Dear Professor Rios," and proceeded with some variation of "I am excited to nominate ______ for the C. Wright Mills Award…" All of the writers gave a synopsis of the book they were nominating, highlighting the aspects that appealed to the nature of the award. The letters also all included a heading on the top of the page including the name, address, phone number, and other information of the writer. The tone was very friendly and positive, but still professional. Then, they all closed with a “Thanks” and something like “Sincerely” or “Best regards” followed by the writer’s name. I then thought about the purpose of the letters. They were all trying to persuade my professor why the book should be considered for the award, and appealed to the characteristics the award sought in books. I truly mean this when I say that I love when I find myself thinking of things I had been taught in class and applying it to my life. Z, you’re da bomb.