Ethos, to me...

In my Comp. II class, we have spent a lot of time attempting to define ethos. Throughout high-school, I typically equated ethos with the kind of person an author was or the morality of their argument. In this class, we have even said that an author could have bad ethos under certain circumstances, for instance, if they use bad grammar or don't give any credible information to back up their arguments. Nedra Reynolds, in her article "Ethos As Location", explains how ethos encompasses all of that and much more. She argues that ethos is an author's, person's, or group's background, actions, personal stance, and even they're location. Location, meaning the literal geographical form, and also their location within society. So basically, my definition of ethos is who you are, where you came from, where you're headed, and how you are getting there.
With that in mind, the papers that I have written this year, seem to have not only created an ethos for myself, but have reflected the ethos that I already had, to my readers. For instance, in my other blog posts, it is made evident that I am a college student, that I am young enough to have just voted for the first time this year, and that I am appreciative of technology, but still not a master of my technological devices. This is just ba reflection of the ethos that i previously had. I worked really hard on each of the papers or writing assignments we've done this semester, because I wanted my papers to reflect a good sense of ethos. I feel that some of my papers, such as "Upgrade to Discontent", were decent papers, but they didn't do the greatest job of creating a good ethos for myself. In those papers I didn't allow myself time to reference and give the attention due to each of my sources, and sometimes I failed to get my point across in an organized manner. But I feel that my papers and referencing skills have grown over the semester.
Writing in my opinion is a stressful activity. Even blogging is difficult for me because I am always trying to rack my brains for a better way to say what's on my mind and nearly always at a loss for words. I usually always have to go to the library to type up my papers or blog assignments, and if you've never spent a lot of time in the library, it is a boring, lifeless, ice cube, so that probably isn't very conducive to good writing. Sitting here, my shoulders tensed and back hunched, achy eyes glued to the screen, I have written each of the essays or arguments assigned this semester. It's not been easy, but I have grown as a writer. Maybe if I find a more relaxing way or place to type my papers I will be able to write better papers and spend more time creating a good reflection of my ethos through my writing.

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