• My first name, Nathaniel, meaning gift of God from Hebrew roots. My middle name, Conrado, my parents gave me because it is my fathers’ and they thought I looked like a writer when I was born, so he gave it to me in honor of one of my parents’ favorite writers, Joseph Conrad. My last name, Alvarez, I do not believe has any special meaning other than that it is the surname of my dad’s side of the family in Spain, Argentina, and Puerto Rico.
• I have never really been embarrassed by my name, I am proud of it.
• I never changed my name, but my parents wanted me to go by Nate rather than Nathaniel, which I have adopted as a nickname.
• Much of my family speaks spanish and english, but I never really became fluent in spanish, unfortunately for my Abuela who dreads that.
• Yes, I have very poor handwriting, but I never really had issues with grammar vocabulary, I just never really had good handwriting and I don’t have much of a problem with it especially since I can understand my own handwriting and there has been a big switch to typing. My speaking is fairly solid and I have never really had issues with it or been made fun of for it, except when I was younger I had much worse anxiety when it came to oral presentations and the like.

Question: Which kind of argument do you find more intriguing out of the kinds of arguments you have read for the day (see the syllabus under Daily Schedule, Week 2 for page numbers from the book)? Discuss any one of the arguments in more detail by connecting it to experiences or contexts you have come across, and what you understand about kairos, and rhetorical situations.

Response: In the book Everything’s An Argument, by Andrea A. Lunsford and John J. Ruszkiewicz, the most intriguing type of argument, to me, was arguments about the future, also known as deliberative arguments. While they most often do not have a definitive conclusion or sole answer, I personally believe they have a very strong connection with kairos, or seizing the moment. What better time to argue over solve something than before the issue has even occurred? For instance, although it has not happened yet, and maybe we cannot completely prove something would happen because it has not happened, we can address that by appealing to pathos, ethos and logos if argued and analyzed correctly. Once more, I also believe that in arguing about the past and present, we find that we have missed the sweet spot for grabbing that shock of hair on kairos, or seizing the moment at the perfect time; but, in arguing for the future, we can grab kairos, or make the most of an opportunity presented to us by trying to solve something before it has even occurred. For example: We can talk about diseases. Right now is not exactly the perfect time to argue about what to do about covid-19, it is the only time; this is because if we had discussed it in more depth and argued about more safety precautions and rules/regulations to make in order to best handle the pandemic, we most likely would not be in the same predicament we have been in for the past year and a half or so. That is not to dismiss the other types of arguments(both past and present) because each type of argument is as valuable as the other; since things are often overlooked, we need to discuss/argue things in the present(i.e. covid-19), and spending time arguing about the past provides incredibly valuable knowledge that can develop over time, as well as be useful for the present/future; I believe each type of argument has their own purpose and qualities. Nonetheless, I believe deliberative arguments are the most intriguing due to their strong connection to kairos, or seizing the moment at the perfect time.

– My name is Nathaniel Alvarez, I prefer to be called Nate, and my pronouns are he/him.

– My major is kinesiology, I am interested in becoming a chiropractor in the future.

– I’m from Portola Valley so which is in the woods, so San Francisco is a much different setting.

– I’m going to be working in the Koret Center as a certified trainer later this semester.

– I enjoy outdoor activities like hiking, fishing and camping, and I also enjoy working out, reading, food, and gaming.

In the past, my writing experience has been very diverse. From argumentative/persuasive writing, to analytical writing and research papers, and many things in between. Most of my freshman high school experience was working with CEIJ paragraphs(Claim, Explanation/Evidence, Inference, and Judgement) and then working that technique into essays. Sophomore and Junior year I focused on analyzing playwrights and novels. During my senior year, we spent the first semester reading and writing argumentative and analytical essays on novels, and during the second semester, it was mainly choosing a genre of our choice, and informing the rest of the class about the genre’s criteria.

I would like to learn more about argumentative and persuasive writing because that is what I enjoy writing about the most. Including passion and emotion, to an extent of course, in my writing is where I thrive the most in literature; I have the most creativity, ideas, etc, in argumentative pieces. I also very much enjoy a good argument and I believe it is important in the development of writers whether or not it is their favorite realm of writing. Through my passion for persuasive writing, I believe I can contribute to this class.

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