UWRT 1102-026

Final Portfolio Essay (FPE)

Jim Lees Final Tribute
PROLOGUE
My culture is the fundamental foundation for my e-Portfolio. As I have said before in
Blog Post #8 and shall reiterate, Yin-yang is a common belief held by the Hmong people . . .
may only be achieved when nature subjugates the will of man
(http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/blog/post-8-an-appealing-topic). With the roles reversed in
the modern age of man, nature is declining at a tremendous rate with mankind booming
exponentially. In that manner, gestural communication is conveniently displayed through the
reference of my cultural history and heritage. Gestural communication, according to the
definitions provided in the UWRT 1102 syllabus, is the interaction between people
(http://suzanneeingram.wix.com/uwrt1102). And, my heritage is relatively rich with folklore and
community. Hmong people, specifically my family, pride ourselves in being nature cultivators,
being people of the forests who thrive on natures plentiful bounty. Drawing from my ethnic
heritage, I believe it is my duty to expound upon the process of deforestation and the suggestion
for alternative energy sources in hopes of reducing or replacing the usage of wood
(http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/blog/post-2-the-one).

DESIGN
Thusly, as if dedicating an ode to nature, I replaced the background theme of my ePortfolio with the front cover of The Giving Tree, a well-known childrens book written by Shel
Silverstein. The Giving Tree illustrates and narrates the retrogressive relationship between an
everlasting tree and ever-changing human as time progresses and the gap between the two

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species widens. This book epitomizes my inquiry question as stated in Blog Post #6: how may
we effectively reduce and/or control deforestation in developing countries, ultimately reducing
the rate of destruction and usage of wood fuel (http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/blog/post-6the-target). However, I had chosen The Giving Tree not simply because its front cover was
aesthetically pleasing but also because its contents were emotionally moving. In regards to the
selflessness of the everlasting tree, or any real world trees in general, my humble mother had
undergone a similar treatment. Her first husband, whom I shared no kinship, physically and
emotionally abused her every single day of her life until he died. Her second husband left her
before my older sibling had been birth. She then met and married my father with whom I would
soon be birth; he eventually left my mother as well. Now, this is most definitely tied to my topic
of deforestation, in that humans are intrinsically greedy and pleasure-seekers who, when rounded
down to their base values, give no regards to anything/anyone save themselves. Though, the
chief focuses of this paragraph is that I have proved the usage of visual and linguistic
communications in the design of my e-Portfolio. Visually, the aestheticism of The Giving Tree
provides a clear image of the selflessness of nature, whereas, linguistically, the harsh reality that
my mother and the everlasting tree endured will remain indefinitely in our hearts.

ORGANIZATION
Accordingly, I organized my e-Portfolio in a simple and logical manner: definitions came
first, followed by causes and connections, and succeeded by a thorough explanation for my
course of action(s). This pattern of organization is evident throughout my e-Portfolio, most
evidently in my multi-genre brochure and photo-gallery where my research project was exhibited
(http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/multi-genre-project.html). Spatial communication, the

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proximity between people or objects as defined by the UWRT 1102 syllabus, was the most
prevalent in my brochure. Following the simple and logical organization aforementioned, my
brochure consisted of three pages with the first page defining deforestation and drawing
connections between causes and effects, whilst the last two pages focused primarily on the
explanation for my course of action(s). Furthermore, I had specially selected images arranged
near sections of the brochure that I deemed the most invaluable to green organizations, e.g., the
image of the half-clothed man felling a large mahogany tree with a simple axe near the definition
of deforestation, or the image of a corporate hand seizing the trunk of a tropical tree near the
section titled The Quest for Gold. I believe aural communication worked cohesively and the
most effectively with the photo-gallery because of the silent nature of a slideshow. One would
ponder how a simple slideshow with simple captions could evoke such thrashing emotions.
Consider how deafly terrifying a setting becomes once all the pandemonium vanishes, and
imagine how mentally shaken you will become once you absorb your surroundings. That pretty
much sums up the power of a simple slideshow in a silent room with a silent audience you are
truly absorbed into the images!

BLOG
Our weekly blog, which we held for the entirety of the 2015 spring semester for UWRT
1102-026, was heart rendering for me, personally, because I could obviously tell the skill
difference in sentence structure, idea development, and quality from the first blog post to the
final. You truly do not realize how much you have grown until you take several steps back and
ponder on your past and current self. For instance, in Blog Post #1
(http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/blog/the-big-three) I had only written 12 lines of text with

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minimal descriptions for three basic questions whereas in Blog Post 9, I had written over 30 lines
of text for a single question, with fully developed answers to questions. Allow me to present to
you an actual comparison. Here is a paragraph from Blog Post #1:
The invention of the circle contributes to an astounding number of everyday commodities wheels and tires, gears and nuts, telescopes and cameras, etc. The list is endless. This
mysterious shape was an object of worship in bygone times as well (the planets and their
moons) along with being the foundation of Yin-and-Yang. Furthermore, several branches of
mathematics focus entirely on the circle!

And here is a paragraph from Blog Post #9:

Blog Post 6 was a major post; it was the most meaningful blog post of all, even more so
than Post 4, because it directly asked for my audience. No longer was my research project
rated-E for everyone, no longer was I targeting interested folks. In lieu, green
organizations would become my target because I believe they, more than individual citizens,
have more say-so in political affairs. Of course, I could always appeal to the federal level,
but they are probably so entrenched in worldly affairs that my voice would drown out.
Furthermore, my inquiry question from Blog Post 2 had evolved and become more
thorough: I am searching for alternative, ecofriendly methods that will effectively reduce or
replace the usage of wood timber fuel thus rate of overall deforestation in various parts of the
world. INTELLECTUAL GROWTH AND MATURITY had unconsciously occurred within
myself in the short span of time between Blog Post 2 and 6.

If you were to carefully examine the first paragraph, you would immediately notice the inborn
nature of freshman immaturity entrenched within; unless you were a true fanatic nobody would
speak so enthusiastically about a mere circle: several branches of math focus entirely on the
circle! Take several steps back and carefully examine the second paragraph. Maturity has
transcended immaturity and diction has become more firm: In lieu, green organizations would

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be my target because I believe they, more than individual citizens, have more say-so in political
affairs.
Now, speaking in terms of quality and idea development my inquiry question has been an
ever-changing subject that becomes more developed the further I delve into deforestation. For
instance, in Blog Post #2 my initial question was are there any other renewable resources that
will yield the same versatility as wood, which may be introduced into the market to reduce the
usage of wood? Of course, that inquiry question was perfectly fine, until the research I had done
for the multi-genre project brochure disproved that question and confronted cattle ranching and
agriculture as defining causes of deforestation in developing countries such as Brazil.
Consequently, my inquiry question evolved into the one posed in Blog Post #6
(http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/blog/post-6-the-target) and once again evolved just presently
to how may green organizations more effectively and successfully advocate green policies to
politicians in developing countries in hopes of reducing deforestation and overall wood
destruction and usage? The inquiry question, as I have aforementioned, is an ever-changing
subject and will only become increasingly complicated.

MID-TERM REFLECTION
In mathematics, the midpoint is the bisector that flawlessly separates a line segment into
two separate but equal pieces. However, from the dark recesses of American history, we have
learned that the doctrine of separate but equal is anything but that. With this in regards to my
overall growth and learning in UWRT 1102-026, it is crucial to my success to understand that
doing exceedingly well during the first half-point of a semester does not earn you a one way
ticket to your success in the latter half. There will be bumps, hills, and maybe mountains that will

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ostracize you and prevent your betterment. And so, I believe that the mid-term reflection serves
as both a checkpoint and a guide for the remainder of your semester. It may be thought of as a
checkpoint because from that point onwards, your grades may either suffer from lack of
motivation and integrity, maintain consistency from continued efforts, or even soar above all
others from overachievement. It may also be considered as a guide because the midterm
reflection calls for you to identify the key concepts that you excel in and disagree with your
strengths and weaknesses. Evidences of said statements may be witnessed all over my own midterm reflection (http://jimleeisweirder.weebly.com/mid-term-reflection.html). For instance,
examine

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