Advocacy Project Idea

My idea for my advocacy project is to advocate for an Earth Day of Service at Penn State.  We have many “days of service” here at PSU, but from my research, it appears that there is not currently a day of service for Earth Day.  This year, Earth Day is on Tuesday, April 22nd.  I would propose that we hold a day of service on either the weekend before or the weekend after Earth Day.  While it is too late to hold one of these this year, I will advocate to have one in the future.

I think that this day of service could have even more meaning than any of the other ones.  Since most of us are not living in our own communities, we probably don’t even know where to go if we want to do something special for Earth Day.  I think that the university should give students an organized place to do something to celebrate our Earth.  I was shocked to see that we did not have a day of service for this day.

For this project, I have intentions of putting together a proposal for an Earth Day of Service at the university.  I will brainstorm a list of projects that could be included.  I think that it would be influential to create an online poll to see how many people would be interested in taking part in such an activity.  I would post it on social media, including the Class of 2017 Facebook page.  I will then find out who organizes such events and contact them to advocate for this opportunity.  This will either be by meeting with them, calling them, or simply creating a conversation via email.  I think that this is a very worthwhile cause to advocate for.

Persuasive Policy Essay Topic Proposal

In the past few decades, government funded daycare has become a topic on the public policy agenda.  This has occurred for a few reasons.  One of them is that women have become much more involved in the work force.  In addition, divorce rates have gone up, causing the number of single parents with children to increase.  More children have also been born without their parents being married.   Today in the United States, one in every four children live in single mother families, with more than half of them living below the poverty line.

One of the main questions surrounding this policy is, in the simplest form, whether it childcare should be a personal or public responsibility.  I would like to argue in support of federal or state funded childcare.  From my research, I have found two main forms of justification.  One of these forms revolves around the potential developmental benefits surrounding childcare, and the other is to encourage parents to work, in hopes that they will not need to rely on welfare.

I would like to take a deeper look into these two justifications as my persuasive essay topic.  My civic issues blog on single parent families has opened my eyes to the struggles that they face on a daily basis, and the bulk of it seems to come down to childcare.  I think it is important to educate people on this topic, and to be honest, I would like to learn more about it myself.

I Believe in Disneyland

I’m taking slow steps down Main Street.  On my left is an old-fashioned candy shop, filled with bright red peppermint sticks and apples layered in caramel and peanuts.  On my right there is a penny arcade, with children screaming with delight as they play their favorite game.  A little farther up ahead, I see an ice cream parlor, with it’s checkered floors and sticky countertops.

And then…I saw it.

The landmark of this magical place.  A symbol.  A work of art.  A castle built with beautiful pink and blue stones.  And just like that, I realized why I was here.

Only a week before, my great-grandmother had passed away at the age of 102.  I never really knew her…she lived more than 2500 miles away for the entirety of my life.  California is pretty far away from Pennsylvania, especially for a family with two smaller children.  As a second grader, I still didn’t completely understand the meaning of death, and the fact that I barely knew my great grandmother didn’t really help me to comprehend this part of life.  So when my entire family decided that they were going to go to Disneyland the day after her funeral, I could not seem to understand why.  Why would they want to go to “the happiest place on earth” when something so sad had just happened.  This wasn’t a vacation, after all.  We were here for a reason.  But the second I saw that beautiful castle in the middle of a bustling amusement park, I understood.

Funerals don’t have to be about mourning someone’s death.  Death is a powerful and overwhelming thing, especially when it comes as a shock to people.  I understand that everyone needs time to mourn the loss of a loved one.  It’s one of the most important parts of healing.  But for one day…or even one hour, maybe we should take the time to celebrate one’s life.  To celebrate all of the memories we made with them, even if you were only three years old and barely remember making them. To laugh about the silly things they did as a child, a teenager, a parent, a grandparent, or a great-grandparent.  To celebrate the person they were and the impact they had on everyone else.  It can be such a relief in a time of pain.  And, at least for my great-grandmother, I know that what’s she would have wanted.  This is why I believe in the power of celebrating.  This is why I believe in Disneyland.

Jan. 16 Homework Blog

Possible “This I Believe” topics

One of the ideas I have for the “This I Believe” assignment is to discuss my belief of equality between genders.  I am also considering writing about and discussing my belief that laughing is one of the most important things that we, as humans, can do.  I have not thought much into either of these ideas, so I do not have a more solid thesis for either.  I do plan to think more about these in the coming days, though.

CI Blog Ideas

One thing that I think would be really interesting to write about is issues surrounding single parents, in particular, single moms.  I think that, while this is not a widely discussed issue, it would be very interesting to examine and learn more about, while also educating others about the surrounding issues.  For example, I am curious about the difficulties of being a single parent, including finding employment that fits your children’s schedules, providing for children with only one source of income, etc.  It would also be interesting to look at these issues from the perspective of a single teenage mom.

Another idea I have for the Civic Issues blog is to discuss the power of the NCAA and its effects on colleges and athletes alike.  I think this would be particularly interesting in light of its sanctions for Penn State.

Possible Passion Blog Ideas

At this point, I plan to keep my passion blog for this semester, but I do have some other ideas.  One idea I have is to write about different TV shows and movies that I watch.  This would be interesting because I do not watch the “mainstream” shows and movies that most people watch.  With this passion blog, I would hope to give insight into media that isn’t as popular.

Another idea I have is to make a blog about recipes that college students can make in their dorms or in their apartments.  I think this would be interesting because it is very relatable, and I am always looking for new things to make from the comfort of my dorm room.

Ideas for improving my blogs

This semester, I hope to make my blogs more relatable to everyone with my language.  For example, I hope to be able to reach my audience in a new way by using more conversational language instead of more formal language.  In addition, I hope that by telling more stories, it will make my blogs more relatable.  While I thought I did all of these things well last semester, it is something I can always improve on, and it is something I hope to focus on even more this semester.

In addition, I hope to make my blogs flow a little bit more.  I hope that they come across as a conversation or a story, rather than just words coming out of my fingers on the keyboard. With these things in mind, I hope that I can make my blogs even more successful this semester.

 

Rhetorical Implications of Editing

After reading the editing basics section (step 3), I found some very interesting rhetorical implications of the editing process.  By editing our footage, video, and audio, we can make our video make more sense and be more rhetorically stimulating.

One aspect of editing that does this is trimming.  By trimming videos down to their most important parts, viewers can focus on the parts that are most imperative in the understanding of the main concepts.  In doing so, it gives the film a more pointed message, and this can really add to the overall meaning of the video.

In addition, transitions can help to bridge the gap between different visuals, as well as different ideas and points throughout the video.  This can create more focus throughout the video, and it makes it run more smoothly.  Instead of just cutting to a different scene or photo, it creates a smoother transition that can help the audience piece things together more easily.

Lastly, the sound used in our video will be able to create the type of mood that we want for our viewers.  This will be very important, as choosing the correct type or style of music can be extremely instrumental (no pun intended) in creating this mood.

These three aspects of editing can be extremely beneficial in creating a more rhetorical setting for our video.  In using these, we hope to be able to make our video more successful in many different ways.

A Blog About Blogging

As I was trying to decide what to write this blog post on, I realized that one of the greatest newer forms of civic engagement was (literally) right before my eyes: blogging.  Blogging is a way for people to express themselves through writing, and it is becoming increasingly popular.

I personally know people who spend hours each day reading, writing, or commenting on blogs.  It is many people’s favorite pastimes, and the reason why is because it is so civically engaging.  By expressing yourself, your beliefs, and your ideas through a blog, you are opening the floor for other people to respond, whether that is by commenting on it, sharing it with a friend, or even just thinking about what the blog says.

Many people even develop relationships through blogs (and I’m not just talking about romantic relationships, although I guess that’s a possibility).  When you think about it, when we read each other’s blogs, we develop relationships with the people who’s blogs we are reading.  While I have only talked to maybe 40 percent of our class, I feel like I know a lot more of you just by reading your blogs.

I definitely don’t mean to sound creepy by saying that, but I think it’s true for all of us.  We have formed “relationships” with each other just by reading each other’s thoughts and opinions.  We have read about each other’s passions, and we have commented on our own experiences with similar matters.

It’s funny to think that I know more of you online than I do in person, but I guess that is what our world is coming to in modern times.  I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with that.  It’s just different.  It’s crazy to think that just by expressing ourselves or telling our day-to-day stories, we can form new relationships, intentional or unintentional, and become even more civically engaged.

TED Talk: Benefits of Music

You can watch my TED Talk here.

My preparation process for my TED Talk was not at all what I was hoping for it to be.  Because I was to present on the last day, I had really high expectations for myself as to how prepared I wanted to be for the presentation.  I planned to have my speech written by Saturday and to start practicing my speech by Monday at the very latest so that I would be as prepared as possible come Thursday.

I had my speech written mostly on Friday, and I put the finish touches in on Saturday.  At that point, I was so proud of myself for finishing things even farther ahead than I had planned.  I read through my speech once or twice on Sunday, but I planned to really hammer it out starting on Monday.  I figured that I could use a day to mentally prepare myself and really look through my speech to make sure it was what I was looking for.

I woke up on Monday to an extremely sore throat and a huge headache.  As the day went on, I felt worse and worse.  Tuesday was even worse.  By the end of the day Tuesday, I had ran through my speech two whole times, and I could not remember a single word of it when I tried to do it memorized.  On Wednesday, though, things got even worse.  I skipped my first two classes after being up the entire night being sick, and I finally went to the health center that afternoon.  That night, I went to bed at 9:00, after practicing my speech as many times as I possibly could, but I still did not feel at all prepared.

Now, I’m not telling you this for pity, and I am certainly not using this as an excuse.  I’m trying to explain how disappointed I was in myself, and how terrified I was to give this speech.  Being this sick was not something I had planned on, and it was definitely threw me a huge curveball.

I feel that, even after being that sick, I did the absolute best that I could, given the circumstances.  No, my speech was not memorized word for word, and no, it did not go flawlessly.  But I did try my absolute best to be confident and stay positive, even though I felt like I was about to fall over the entire 4 minutes.

I felt that, throughout my speech, I was able to give good examples, and I think that I, in general, kept the audience’s interest.  It was really hard for me to put a huge amount of passion and excitement into my speech when I felt like a zombie, but I really tried my hardest to put on that face.

I did get a bit flustered at a few points when I realized that I did not click a few slides forward (this could have been improved with more preparation), but I think I did a relatively decent job of covering that up.  Instead of delivering a speech, I did try really hard to make it more of a performance.  Again, I did not get to practice it aloud a lot, but I tried to make my vocal inflection interesting, and I really tried my best to give my talk as a story, instead of just a speech.

Public speaking has always been a challenge for me, and this challenge is something that I am working very hard to overcome.  I was really looking forward to this opportunity to showcase how much I have improved in this area, but I am very disappointed to say that I fell short of my own expectations.  I am, however, very proud of myself for overcoming the circumstances that got in my way, and I feel that I presented myself and my talk as best as I could, given those circumstances.  I look forward to another opportunity to increase my skills in this area, as it is a challenge I am really attempting to overcome.

TED Talk Topic

For my TED Talk, I am considering talking about what my paradigm shift paper was on: the n-word.  I think it would be especially interesting to examine the effect that the word has on the audience.

I was originally planning on picking a different topic for the TED Talk because I was very uncomfortable giving a presentation in which I would have to say the “n-word.”  But when I thought about it more, I think that my speech would be even more effective.

It could make people slightly uncomfortable (myself included), but I think that would encourage the audience to pay more attention to what I have to say.  I think that it would definitely affect the audience’s pathos, but I will have to be careful in my implementation to not offend people.

I am not totally sure yet what I want my thesis and actual point of my message to be.  I do, however, know that I would like it to revolve around people’s perception of the word, and how this has changed over time.  I would like to examine the shift from “nigger” to “nigga,” as that is a huge part of popular culture today.

The concept of audience in this case will be a little bit challenging for me, especially since the bulk of the “audience” will not actually be sitting in the room.  It will be a different medium which I will need to account for as I am rehearsing my speech.

Overall, I am very excited about the topic of my TED Talk, and I look forward to delving further into it.

“Got Milk?”

Unknown

This week I’d like to talk a little bit about the classic “Got Milk” advertisements that I guarantee everyone has seen at some point.  They are (or at least used to be) everywhere.  In case you haven’t seen them, they are posters and advertisements of hundreds of different celebrities with milk mustaches.  These can be famous historical figures, cartoon characters, athletes, movie stars, and pretty much any other famous person you can think of.

I think the  most obvious rhetorical device used in these advertisements is the relation from the celebrity depicted in the poster to the viewer of the poster.  The ads have the obvious message that “they drink milk, so why don’t you?”

Not only do they relate the viewer to the celebrity, but the people in the ad are always smiling.  I don’t think I have seen a single “Got Milk” ad in which the person is not smiling.  In both of these ways, the advertisements appeal to pathos.  They appeal to our emotions because we are drawn into the lives of the celebrities at hand.  If we drink milk, we can be just like them.  If we drink milk, we will be happy.  These are some of the obvious messages that the creators of these advertisers are trying to get across.

I think that these ads are very effective because they are so well known.  You don’t have to read past the first line to know what they are trying to tell you, and all you need is a quick glance at the signature milk mustache to know what the advertisement is for.

And yet, after the hundreds of this type of advertisement, they don’t seem to get old.  We still like seeing which celebrity will be the next model for them, and they always catch our eye and draw in our attention.  In these ways, I think the “Got Milk” ads are very effective.

What other ads have stood the test of time and have continued to entice us today?  And, going further, what part of these advertisements continues to draw our attention even after years of viewing the same type of ad?got-milk-superman