Persuasive Essays

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/15/opinion/god-is-an-argentine.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

A piece written by an Argentinian about the inauguration of Pope Francis, this NYT editorial is critical of the effect that an Argentine pope will have on the culture and politics of Argentina. Citing examples of past tensions between Cardinal Bergoglio and Argentinian president Nestor Kirchner as indications of a tough beginning, the author is concerned that Argentina will become fixated on an figurehead that will be detrimental to the liberties and progress of the country.

http://reason.com/archives/2011/05/19/plentiful-fuel

Plentiful Fuel is an article questioning the legitimacy of environmental claims against fracking and natural gas. Taking a more skeptical stance, the author questions all sides: leftist accusations of corporate corruption, economic interests, and lax regulations. John Stossel suggests that while natural gas is not perfect, no energy source is.

Blog Reviews

Entechnoi

While searching through some of the RCL passion blogs, I came upon Entechnoi. The blog is a collection of original poetry written by RCL student Jake Russo. As I was browsing through some of the poems, I was struck by Jake’s commitment to his blog and to his passion. I thought, “this kid doesn’t cut corners.” Each week, Jake posts a poem that he has written and oftentimes writes a brief introduction or reflection on his work as well. His poems are personal, and ring with an honesty and sincerity that I really admire for a class assignment. Additionally, Jake has developed a very supportive readership community. He seems to have several regular readers as well as engages in well-thought-out conversations through comments on his posts. It really seems that Jake has taken his passion blog to heart and created a great little nook for self-expression and reaching out. Of course, this paragraph can’t do his blog justice, so I recommend reading it and discovering the appeal of this rhetorical space.

Brecken’s RCL Blog

The topic of the passion sub-blog within Brecken’s RCL Blog is one that I have never seen before. Every week, Brecken posts a famous historical photograph and explains the context and significance of the artifact. The photographs include the famous Napalm Girl and Tank Man. What is so great about Brecken’s passion blog is that each photograph is a bit of a mini history lesson about some well-known event. Looking through the posts, I realized that while I might have seen some of the photographs before, I wasn’t exactly sure exactly what they depicted or why they were important. Every well-informed person, however, should have some familiarity with historical documents. Brecken’s succinct and easy-to-read explanations provide both informative and thought-provoking insight on these primary sources, as well as speak to the power of photography. Great read.

Mark Travor’s RCL Blogs

Mark’s passion blog is an analysis of art of all sorts, from painting to sculpture to architecture. While Mark’s blog is mostly informative in nature, the tone of his writing is very inviting and Mark is responsive to his audience, with occasional posts aimed at gauging his reader’s interest in his blog. While reading his post on Gothic architecture, I almost felt as if I were on a tour of some of the incredible buildings in France and England that he was describing. Mark’s blog is really well-rounded and valuable to anyone interested in learning a little bit here and there about art, artists, or history.

Research Questions

The topic of my civic issues blog is the relationship between energy and politics. My posts have been informational for the most part, but I’ve brainstormed some research questions that I can hope to answer throughout my blog. As it happens, two of these questions have seemed to morph into an even mightier third question.

How is the current political situation setting the stage for future energy policy?

+   What direction is the public taking towards sustainability initiatives?
                                                                                                                                    

What is the relationship between the public and the government as it pertains to the next decade of energy and the environmental policy?

Since my first post was about the status quo on energy and my second was about public opinion, I’m thinking that I will pick my third research question and begin launching into these relationships in my next post. I’m a little concerned that I might not get the information that I’m seeking in pursuing this third question simply because it seems that both the people and the government are at a bit of a standstill on energy, but I’m going to try to dig up any data that I can. Perhaps a place to start would be to look into some of the grassroots/bottom-up sustainability movements that are currently taking hold and see what kind of work, impacts, or struggles these groups are having. That would give me a good sense of the relationship between the people and the government with respect to energy.

ThinkProgress: Climate

For my online deliberation assignment, I have chosen to be participate in the Climate section of ThinkProgress.org. The forum is intended to spread ideas about important civic issues including climate, the economy, health, justice, etc. The site is combines news-related pieces with editorial and there is an active commenting community which I will join.  Though ThinkProgress is labelled as a liberal online deliberation site, I intend to keep an open mind and respond productively to discussions.

Because my civic issues blog for this semester centers around energy and the economy, I’m hoping to get a lot of good information and learn about people’s opinions from participating in ThinkProgress. The forum seems like a good complement to my work this semester, as well as my overall knowledge and understanding of the current environmental landscape.

This I Believe

When people ask me what I want to do in my future, I usually respond “I want to save the world.” After that comment of course, I am typically prompted to specify that I want to become energy engineer and promote worldwide sustainability. Indeed, this a goal I have had since early on in my life, and while it sure has a nice ring to it, the realization of my goal is quite a while down the road. The biggest step I have taken is moving away from my life-long home and coming to Penn State to study with 44,000 other students with equally ambitious goals. This is an adjustment that took place in a matter of one day, yet it remains the biggest change of my life.

When I got to college, it was like stepping onto another planet. Suddenly (PAUSE), I found myself, an adult, living away from home on this big campus. I was given the necessities of student life and let loose. Surrounded by unfamiliarity, I found myself completely free; free from every constraint, every rule, and every habit I had assumed in high school. (EMPHASIZE)  I was free to act how I wanted and free to make my own choices.

Though the novelty of freedom was liberating at first, I quickly began to perceive that with such freedom comes a lot of pressure. As I explored Penn State, I became closely aware of the countless opportunities available to me, and I was able to pinpoint the exact reason for my feelings of pressure: I’m excited; excited for my future and for all of the possibilities that await me. I’m excited to make the decisions that will lead me down the path I imagine. I am learning that, I place high stakes in my education, and that it is up to me to use my newfound freedom to make the choices that will help me to achieve my lifelong goal of saving the world. Thus, I came to believe in self-empowerment.

Certainly, my discovery of self-empowerment came in stages. Just like an artist builds a sculpture or an engineer designs a system, my life too, is made in pieces. As it is essential for the artist or the engineer to begin with the end in mind, the same is true for me. Goal setting has become fundamental, and it all started with a list: (DEFINITIVE) I want hands-on experience, community involvement, and to pursue my passion for sustainability.

But sure, you say, it’s easy to formulate goals. What is most difficult however, is mustering the will to see them through. The world is full of ideas, many of which will never be realized. But it is within these shells of thought that action must be filled. I want research experience? I join a research group. I want community involvement? I participate in my housing activities. I want to pursue sustainability? I join a club, register for a class, and turn the lights out. Working with the force of pressure, rather than working around it: it’s not self-aggrandizing, it’s self-empowerment.

I’m still a freshman, and most would say I’m still in the beginning of my college life. Of course I still have a lot to learn, a lot to experiences to have, and many more people to meet. I know that there will be times discomfort, and times when I feel like I’m starting college all over again. But, I still can’t help but feel that the beginning starts now. The path, though it is continually changing, is widening, and it is up to me to take the wheel of my hybrid car and go.

Civic Issues Introduction / “This I Believe”

Civic Issues

West_Texas_Pumpjack-1024x768

For this semester, the RCL blog will be replaced by a Civic Issues blog. The purpose of the civic issues blog is to get students to follow a particular civic issue over the course of the semester and write about their issue.

After looking over some of the civic issues, I have chosen to keep my civic issues blog on energy. This should certainly be no surprise, as energy issues are one of my passions and encompass my career. However, my motivation for choosing energy does not stem from a great deal of prior knowledge that will make my blogging easier. In fact, I do not know all that much about the politics of energy in the United States or in the world. Further, I am expecting that my research on energy will shed light on greater world events, as energy is such a large sector of the global economy. I think this blog will both satisfy my interest in energy as well as my education of the civic issues surrounding energy.

The Civic Issues blog will be updated once every two weeks so that as new current events and publications occur, there will be enough time to further research or develop ideas about the issue. I am looking forward to my blog because I think it will make me a more informed citizen about an issue for which I am passionate.

“This I Believe”

To be perfectly honest, I was a little nervous about the prospect of writing a “This I Believe” essay. As a writer, I tend towards a more technical and informative approach, so writing about my beliefs is a little bit out of my comfort zone. That said, I’m going focus on bringing out my voice in this essay so that it is more approachable for a general audience.

When I got to college, I was introduced to an entirely new world, one in which I am completely free to do what I want when I want. At the same time, I have so many goals and so many opportunities available to me at Penn State, but comparatively little time. This means that every moment counts. I began to realize that I was completely in charge of my future and that the choices that I made every day would help me work towards my goals. Thus, I discovered self-empowerment, and this will be my essay topic.

I did a brainstorm of what seemed to me to be the most important aspects of self-empowerment, and these were my three topics: goal setting, focus/motivation, and “it’s not about other people.” I’m thinking that I will use these as jumping-off points for my explanation of what self-empowerment means.

Goal setting: knowing what I want

Focus/Motivation: doing the work

“It’s not about other people”: taking personal responsibility for the outcome

I’m still unsure as to how I want to conclude the essay, although I suspect that once I begin writing, the conclusion will come naturally.

Public Controversy

What I’ve gathered from the past few classes is that rhetoric is more than just writing and speaking. Rhetoric comes in many different forms, and multimedia is one such type of rhetoric. Learning how to effectively communicate via audiovisual means is both a relatively new and increasingly important skill.

Up until this point, my group has only prepared a script and outlined an organizational structure for our project; we have yet to determine exactly how to go about transitions. However, in thinking about how our video would look, I’m imagining a documentary-like format that includes narration, pictures, and videos. In particular, I suspect that it would be easiest for the narration to be the thread that holds the entire video together, with the visuals reflecting whatever information is spoken. Considering that our group already has a script prepared, this would also be the most logical choice.

In class we discussed the interplay between audio and visual components of film. Varying the timing of the images and the corresponding audio creates a more textured video experience by avoiding the repetitive “PowerPoint” syndrome of matching visuals and audio exactly. Hopefully, we can create a more sophisticated relationship between audio and visuals by playing one off of the other.

In terms of overall structure, our topic lends itself to two intertwining subtopics: nuclear power and nuclear energy. While the project needs to be organized and clearly state the information, it would be interesting if the structure of the video could reflect the tension between nuclear power and nuclear energy. Perhaps split screen effects could work to demonstrate this conflict.

Learning to become fluent in audiovisual media is just like learning to write or speak; developing the skill requires both time and practice. This assignment is an excellent opportunity to present research in a modern context.

TED Talk Reflection

Looking back on the experience of my TED talk and watching the video of the presentation, I am very pleased. My talk met the length requirement, got the message across, and accomplished its purpose without too many awkward hangups.

My biggest concern with giving this talk was blanking, or forgetting what I was going to say. Fortunately (and remarkably), this did not happen to me at any point. I did notice that there were a few times when I needed to explain something in new words for the first time during my talk, and it was clear that I was searching for the right words to say. These instances were not as awkward to the audience as they perhaps felt to me. With this realization, I have recently been thinking: Is it better for a speaker to pause to search for the right words or to sound “good” but not have anything substantive to say? Ideally, either every word would be perfectly rehearsed or the thought process would be seamless. Realistically however, speeches require a lot of practice and sometimes moments of thought are just a part of the art.

One thing I did that I felt helped prepare me for my talk was to type up a sample speech (my last blog post) and then record myself saying this speech in front of the PowerPoint. Being able to listen to this prewritten speech, though it was not completely memorized, was extremely helpful for learning the material. Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned from my first speech in RCL and this TED talk is that public speaking, unless by a skilled and experienced speaker, requires a great deal of thought, rehearsal, and practice.

While I did find the preparation and delivery of my TED talk to be stressful, I gained so much from this experience, namely, a sense of how to approach conversational public speaking as well as confidence in my ability to give a speech.

TED Talk on the Edge

Unfortunately (though I suppose fortunately in the eyes of some), technical difficulty has delayed my TED talk until Monday. I had practiced my talk for several hours and felt ready to present, however I will make the most of this delay by giving my TED talk another few days to settle in my mind.

I think the best way for me to further prepare at this point is to continue practicing my talk as if it was the real thing. Though this is the kind of practice that is typically done vocally, I will use this Works in Progress blog post to refresh myself on my topics and main ideas. This is entirely note-free free-writing, and it is also how I envision my talk sounding:

Imagine that you are putting on your socks one morning when you realize that they have holes in them and they are beginning to look worn. What would you do? If you are like most people, you probably throw your socks away and go to the store to buy new ones. Now imagine this same situation, but during the 1700s. Now what would you do? If you’re fortunate enough to be able to buy handmade socks, you will probably do that. If you are like most people at the time however, you will most likely have to knit your own socks, which would require both time and effort. As a result, you would probably value your handmade socks more than the socks you would buy at a modern-day store. This example illustrates the profound effects of industrialization on our society.

The Industrial Revolution began in the late 18th Century as a result of two important technological advancements, namely the steam engine and interchangeable parts. The concept of interchangeable parts is relatively simple. Take guns for instance: If guns are created by producing identical, standardized parts that fit together to create the same type of gun, than it is possible to make more guns than if each individual part was created specifically for each individual gun. Coupled with the benefits of steam power, which greatly reduced the need for human labor, the Industrial Revolution resulted in a mass production of goods at lower prices. Thus, a consumer culture was born.

The Industrial Revolution had several positive effects on society. For instance, women were welcomed into the workplace at unprecedented rates. This is especially true during World War II, when women were expected to fill the factory jobs of men while the men were off at war.

The Industrial Revolution also resulted in the birth of materialism. As I previously mentioned, industrialization created a mass consumer culture in which a lot of goods were available at low prices. This birth of materialism is often epitomized by the “keeping up with the Joneses” mentality of the 1950s. This era saw a shift from possessions being viewed as essential to survival to possessions being viewed as items of convenience and social status.

While the Industrial Revolution did have positive effects on society, there are certainly some negative impacts to be discussed. All of the goods that we need and want are made from materials. However, the Earth only has a limited supply of raw materials, and material shortage is a serious concern facing the world today. It is estimated that within 80 years, important materials such as phosphorous, a common ingredient in fertilizers, and tantalum, a metal used in cell phones, will be expended. The rate at which we are consuming the Earth material resources is not in line with the scarcity of Earth’s resources.

Other negative impacts of industrialization are pollution and global warming. As factories and industries produce goods, they emit pollutants, such as those seen in this picture of Mexico City, and they emit greenhouse gases, which trap the sun’s radiation on the surface of the Earth and contribute to global warming and climate change.

The realization that industrialization can have negative effects on the planet and its inhabitants is a relatively new concept. In 1962, Rachel Carson published her classic book Silent Spring, which analyzed the effects of DDT, a chemical that was commonly used in pesticides, on the ecosystem. The significance of the book is that it brought the topic of environmental pollutants to the public attention for the first time. Silent Spring is considered by many to mark the beginning of the Green Movement.

In the 1970’s, the National Academy of Sciences published a study which suggested that global warming may have detrimental effects on the planet. Though the study did not fully verify global warming, it did suggest that the problem should be further researched to discover what real impacts it may have.

This brings us to the modern day. In 2006, Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was released in theaters. The significance of this film is extraordinary because it brought global warming into the mainstream and into popular culture for the first time. Most people have either seen, read, or at least heard of An Inconvenient Truth.

Clearly, the Sustainability Movement is becoming a prevalent part of our society. Energy is now a political issue that candidates must address to appeal to voters. Even little things such as recycling are now becoming commonplace. It is not uncommon to see a recycling bin on the street and when you walk out of a classroom, you are usually confronted with a variety of recycling options, all responding to societal concerns about material scarcity.

This is what is happening today, so let’s step back and take a look at the big picture. We see an initial shift from a preindustrial society where goods are mostly made by hand, to an industrialized society based on mass production and materialism. Now what we see today is a little bit different from what we saw during the 1950s because there is a change occurring towards a more sustainable, greener society in the future.

So “the future,” what is it? Well, we don’t really know for sure, although scientists and engineers are giving us hints about what it might look like. Whether it is solar farms in the countryside or iPhone cases made entirely of bioplastics, the future is certainly coming and it is certainly green.

Reflecting back on the idea of what you would do if you saw that your socks were wearing out. Let’s be honest: It’s the 21st. Century. You’re going to go to the store and buy new socks. But perhaps the question is not, “what would you do?” but rather, “how will you do it?” Will you go to the store and buy socks with the intention of throwing them away in a few months, or will you buy socks with the awareness and understanding the Earth’s energy and limited resources went into making these socks?

I would like to end with a quote to encourage you to think about the impacts and future of sustainability on our society: “When the winds of change blow, some build walls, and others build windmills.”