FINAL RCL: Blog Evaluation

The two Passion Blogs I chose that I think are the strongest posts are the posts “The Dim Sum Series: Steamed Beef Tripe” and “The Sichuan Series: Chengdu Liang Fen”. In the Passion Post about Steamed Beef Tripe, I wanted to expose the readers to something more exotic; steamed beef tripe isn’t usually what someone thinks about when they try to imagine delicious food…it’s cow stomach anyways…but by showing that something so odd or initially disgusting is considered a regular food, it’s an eye-opener for some; it gives international perspective: What we eat here doesn’t mean that’s what every other culture indulges in as well. In the post, I think I described the dish quite well. I discussed its chewy texture, what is mixed with the beef tripe, and the overall flavor to give the readers something to hold on to. Instead of just a visualization of what the dish is, I want the audience to taste in while they read the words that are scrolled on the computer screen. The lively passion I have for Chinese food really shines through my posts and I think it helps spark the audience’s interest in what Chinese food is really like, because let’s face it, there are many other things that are better than Lo Mein and General Tso’s chicken. That’s the point I was trying to make through my blog, and the Steam Beef Tripe opens a door to what Chinese cuisine has. I like to see what the audience thinks about the dish, so I posed a few questions at the end to get the readers to interact. This helps engage the audience into commenting on the different opinions that they may have on trying an exotic dish like this. By posing that question, it gets the audience thinking and interacting with my passion blog. All this also applies to the second blog post I chose “The Sichuan Series: Chengdu Liang Fen”. The jelly like structure of a savory dish is something eccentric, and to get some audience feedback on this jelly dish, I pose the question of whether they would try it or not. This post really displays my happy and hopefully humorous tone that gives a laid back and colloquial tone, yet I try to give some information that the audience might not know, such as where Sichuan province is in China and what the region’s food is like. It demonstrates that China is more than the fast food Chinese restaurants and buffets. There’s an unlimited amount of types of Chinese food from different regions. Both posts are focused. They describe the food thoroughly in a way that the audience can use all its senses to taste and experience the dish, while being informed about where the dish is from and knowing some context on that region’s food.

For the RCL posts, I think the posts “Pathos melts” and the “Do The Right Thing Response” are two of my strongest posts. In the post “Pathos melts”, I think the analysis of the image of an ice cream cone melting is thorough, and my explanation of how this displays pathos and how that is used the audience to persuade the do something and act against the progression of global climate change demonstrates my understanding of the course material, specifically the rhetorical devices, such as pathos and ethos. The voice isn’t too dry; it reflects the mood of the image well and is appropriate and focused on the goal of analyzing the image to see how pathos is utilized as a rhetorical device. The analysis isn’t too obstinate that is shuts out the opinions of others; it lets the audience think about whether the interpretation I have is the only way to think about the image. I focused much on the image of the ice cream cone, which leaves some room for interpreting the rest of the image, as Amy did in her comment about the light coming from behind the ice cream cone. In the other post about the film Do The Right Thing, I think the analysis of the characters and the film was thorough. I described how the commonplaces in the film aided in getting the main point against violence across, as well as discussing pathos and ethos and rhetorical devices to prove that rhetoric is better than violence. I used specific examples to back up my claims and that helps give stronger purpose to writing this blog: to show how this film used rhetorical devices to get its own point across. The word choices in the blog and the sentence length are varied, so the writing style is not too dry that the audience is not engaged to discuss it. Both posts go beyond the rest in how I demonstrated an engagement and understanding of the course material and ideas we have discussed in class as well as go beyond the rest in terms of analyzing the rhetorical functions, one of the biggest parts of this class. In addition, they both are written well; they flow, are cohesive and focused, and engage the audience, which are the reasons I think these two posts are my strongest in the RCL blog.