I believe in retail therapy.

For as long as I can remember shopping has always been a mood lifter for me. Regardless of the state of mind that I was in if you took me shopping it would be like instant rush of serotonin. Since I started working at about 15 years old I would love to get my paychecks and go on a little shopping spree. Sometimes I would save up the money so I could shop more, and other times I would go out with my smaller budget, but regardless of how much or how little I bought, it always made me feel better. Some people might say this is a super materialistic thing to believe in, but I have genuinely felt a rush of happiness whenever I shop.

It’s not just a specific store, or me going to shop for clothes, or just shopping for myself. I get a rush anytime I spend money. If I look from a responsible point of view, this is actually not the best because one should save their money, have emergency funds, and not blow through their money. I don’t go through all my money, but I do have a spending problem, and I do love to spend money even if it’s not for me. I love buying gifts for others, shopping for clothes for myself, buying food or groceries, and going to Target and buying the absolute most random things that I think I need.

I believe in retail therapy because when I feel down, I will go online and look at things I want to buy, and even if I don’t buy it it is fun to just look through and plan what I will be buying. If I wake up not feeling the best I get dressed up, get ready, go out to Target, spend a few bucks, and feel so much better. I can’t explain it but it’s like I have a rush of happiness, it’s basically a drug, addictive and gives you a rush of some sort. I have had so many occasions where it has truly elevated my mood and the whole point of retail therapy is to basically shop and improve a persons mood by doing so.

It’s not everyone’s cup of tea, I have friends who hate spending money or going shopping, and others have different ways to feel a rush of happiness, but I also have friends like me who love to indulge in shopping to better their mood. It is my personal way to feel better. Whether it’s buying myself food, buying myself a new cup from Target, some paint so I can paint at home, or clothes. It makes me feel better and overall makes me feel better!

I believe in retail therapy.

We are now in the year twenty twenty one, and like every year people, the world, and our own selves change. I know I changed tremendously within from the beginning of 2020 to now. My take on the state of civic life today varies. I want to look at it through COVID-19 and how people approach it, and I think that it is still a very huge part of our lives and apart of the political atmosphere.

I know I am supposed to be talking about the current state of civic life, but first I want to talk about when the virus first came out. I’m not going to lie when it first started happening I was selfishly excited like other kids around the world for getting a two weeks break from school. Little did we all know it was going to be a lot longer than two weeks and that a lot of restrictions would be coming along with it. All graduating students of 2020 lost their senior year, most lost their prom, and some lost their graduation. I say some lost their graduation because most people I know got a make-up graduation, but like my high school, and probably a few other high schools as well, we didn’t get a make-up graduation. Now the same thing is happening for the graduating class of 2021. I can’t even begin to imagine how bad it was for college graduating students to lose their graduation. Now this isn’t about what we have lost from the Corona Virus as students because there are people who have lost their lives, family, friends, and co workers from COVID-19. Yes we as students can be selfish and upset for what we have lost, but when it comes down to it, we had to move on and be apart of something bigger, which is trying to bring the world back to a more safe place.

When I think about civic life in America, a few things pop into my mind. For instance I think of what it means in my view, which is to be promoting, helping, being involved somehow in the community either in a political or nonpolitical way. To be participating in something bigger than one, that as a whole we make something with. I think about different ways one can do their part in civic life today such as by voting, volunteering, do basic responsibilities, etc. There are many more things I could think of as well like I think how it is your civic duty to help someone who may look ill, like if you pass a person on the street and they collapse, don’t just walk away, but rather approach them and call for help, or another thing I think of is don’t kill anyone. Another thing is if you hit someone’s car while parking in a parking lot in front of Target for instance, leave a note with your information instead of just leaving and pretending like it didn’t happen. These are all basic things one should be doing, but not everyone does it. When I think about basic things one should be doing now, I think they should wear a mask, they should be responsible and test, they should isolate themselves if they feel sick and let anyone they came into contact with know, I think people should respect each others space, and be very careful with being clean. If you were to ask me a year ago today what the basic things I thought civic duties pertained, I would have said the first things that popped to my head which are voting, abiding the law, being active in ones community, but if you ask me now, I still would say the basic civic duties I listed, but one of the first things I would say is to wear a mask and respect everyones safety.

The way I see it is even if you are not scared of the virus, and you think it would just pass through you, or you don’t believe in it, or think it is not as serious as everyone says it is, it doesn’t change the facts of the amount of people that have died from it, the amount of people it has affected and hurt, the amount of people that have lost loved ones, and more. I am very much all over the place with the virus and how I feel about it. I had it in March, and I ended up being fine after the two weeks, but I let people who I came into contact with know, I stayed isolated, and I was very careful because I didn’t want to risk giving it to anyone. After having it I have not been that worried about getting it, but then again my antibodies are gone now and I could get it again, but regardless, I was careful toward others regardless of my opinion. I believe that it is our choice to do what we want individually to ourselves, but this is a worldwide problem, and it is something we all have to get past together. Acting out and purposely putting others at risk all because one doesn’t “want” to wear their mask, or be safe and get tested, and things like that are being selfish and are not doing their civic duties.

With the vaccine out now, I feel like there is going to be a huge controversy between people thinking everyone should take it, and that they will be forced to take it, and people thinking it is a choice to take it, and that not everyone has t0 nor will they. However, this has a much more depth problem facing religious differences about vaccines, and forcing one to vaccinate is also going against their freedom as a person, but then you look at the other side, and how this would be helping the world move on from a devastating pandemic that has ruined lives and killed people. But it is not that simple, and I feel as if you had your basic vaccinations as a kid, like when you went to school or when you were born, that you have the capability to get the COVID-19 vaccine once it is available to the public, and once the vaccine is able to be obtained, that as well will be considered a civic duty in my opinion.

This whole blog was basically me explaining why I think it is a civic duty to be safe during the pandemic, but it was supposed to highlight the difference of peoples approach to this virus. I described the people who are doing their civic duties by being safe and protected, and then I described the people who are not doing their civic duties by putting others in danger with their ignorance for COVID-19. I believe that the status of civic life today is a little all over the place mainly because of how split some people are between what they believe is right and wrong pertaining the COVID-19 virus. And because people are like this, I believe that not everyone is fulfilling their basic civic duties to the world. My take on the state of civic life today is simple, I think it’s very polarized, and I fear that the state of civic life won’t be changing from this state for a while.

 

A national social issue I would like to see change during the next United States Presidents term is the stance on abortion. Not to get too political but I believe it is a women’s right to choose what she does with her own body. This social issue is one of the most controversial issues in the United States currently and it has been for a while. I am aware with the United States Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade from 1973 where the court ruled in favor of allowing a woman to choose to obtain an abortion without having excessive government restrictions, but since then times have changed and states are trying to ban the rights for a woman to receive an abortion if she chooses to.

After the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg on September 18th, 2020 many women across America started to fear that their right to an abortion will soon be taken away without her in the U.S. Supreme Court to advocate for them. Many states across the country have been trying to make it difficult and implement restrictions for women who are trying to get an abortion. The state of Louisiana alone has laws that still have restrictions in effect such as insurances not covering abortion care, biased counseling requirements to access abortion, they impose unnecessary waiting periods, and more.

Conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court are trying to undermine abortion rights along with anti-abortion legislators at the state level continue to try to implement dangerous and unnecessary abortion restrictions. These laws affect those whose access to abortion care is already limited which include people of color, young people, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, and those who have a low income.

I believe that the next President of the United States should spread a message across and advocate for the rights of women that they have a right to choose to receive an abortion, and that there should not be any unfair or unnecessary laws implemented to make the process of getting an abortion more difficult than it already is. This is not about letting people who made a decision to have unprotected sex to have a child only to realize that they don’t want them anymore, but more for the protection of the lives of innocent women who for example might have been raped and are now carrying a child. Rape is sadly a very common thing to happen in today’s world and women do end up getting pregnant from these incidents. If the right for an abortion is taken away imagine how destroyed a women’s life will become if they are forced to birth and raise the child that their predator impregnated them with. There are also many young girls across the country who may have sexual intercourse at a young age, get pregnant, and then not be able to take care of the child, or the baby’s father might leave because he doesn’t want a child and therefore the young girl would be raising a child alone without ever finishing school, and they believe in their mind that abortion is the best option to go with.

I believe the next president should spread the message of choice for everyone. It is a women’s choice what she does with her body, and states should not be getting newer laws implemented to try to lower these women’s chances of receiving an abortion. The message that should be spread is that there will be no interference with Roe v. Wade, and the rights for a women to choose what she does with her body will be protected.

Everyone knows what a TED talk is, and the basis of what one consists of. I watched a few while I was in High School. If you ask me what they consist of I think there is a common theme in most TED talks. Each TED talk starts off with a compelling story that is based off of real events that happened to them or someone they know. They draw the audience in by sharing their story while trying to connect to the audience in an emotional or logical way. Whenever I have watched a TED talk I noticed that I feel more drawn to their story and feel more open to what they are saying when they share a story about a personal experience.

For the first TED talk I watched, i_stepped_out_of_grief_by_dancing_with_fire, Danielle Torley starts off with an opening statement followed by her directly diving into her childhood story of being trapped in her house that caught on fire when she was only 6 years old which caused her mother to pass away. She drew in her audience by sharing a traumatic story and how she felt after the incident. She described how she had nightmares and how she was trying to get better from all the stress the incident had caused, but how even after years had passed she was in college, and she still had nightmares and terrors about the incident. She went on to talk about how she found a person that participated in dancing with fire with batons. She talked about how it terrified her, but after a lot of practice for months she decided to light the baton on fire ad try it. She did it, and danced with fire. She described how she was terrified, but after more practices she realized her perspective changed. She no longer felt utter fear from fire, but instead felt control over the fire. She said the more time that passed the more the nightmares and panic started to fade. She took something traumatic that happened to her and found a way to move passed it almost two decades later.

The second TED talk, why_children_stay_silent_following_sexual_violence, Kristin Jones starts off her TED talk by opening up about her own personal experience of being sexually assaulted and how it affected her. She draws in her audience by being very personal about what she went through and how it made her feel. Kristin Jones says it took her 22 years to open up about what happened to her mom. She talks about the shame she felt and how she felt it was her fault. She ties all her entire story into how she is now a mother and how she has caught herself telling her children to not let anyone touch them, to not put themselves into a situation where they can be taken advantage in, and to not let anyone do anything to them. She then proceeds to talk about how it is such an unrealistic thing that is said because it makes it seem like they are in control of what happens to them. Jones talks about how as much as she told that to her children it is not necessarily even up to them for what happens, but how it is in fact left up to the person that doesn’t respect boundaries and can’t take no for an answer. She talks about how she heard the message as something that she could have stopped what was happening to her, believed that it was her own fault, and that she was in control of the other persons actions, and she turned it around to how people shouldn’t feel the shame, hatred and blame they feel on themselves when it was not their fault for what happened.

The third TED talk I watched for this blog is different from the first two. In Aparna Nancherla’s TED talk about the_joy_of_taking_out_the_trash, she draws in the audience by talking about taking out the trash in a comical way. She brings in personal experiences and moments of the trash she feels the need to take out. She mentions how it can be the ball of hair on the floor, friends, or even family that you don’t need in your life while also talking about how it can be done to be beneficial for the world in a sense of recycling and reusing. It’s a different TED talk from the other two TED talks I mentioned because the first two shared a very traumatic and personal story and how they got over it and what they believe helped them and connected to the audience in a very deep way. While this TED talk connected to people in a whimsical way about trash and forms of trash in your own life, and how it should be taken out.

All TED talks have a similar compound that set up the basis of what they are talking about and how to appeal to the audience. All three talks I included appealed to the audience in one form or another. Whether it was emotionally or logically, all TED talks share a common theme.

“Halloween is a paradigm shift for a day.” When I first read this statement I automatically agreed with it because in a sense it is true. Halloween is the one night of the year where it is completely okay and acceptable to dress up in any way one wants. There are the ones that dress up as killers, there are the people that dress up in weird but funny costumes, there are the ones that dress up as supernatural beings, there are the ones that dress up as tv show or movie characters, there are the couples that dress up in matching costumes, and then there are the girls that dress up with barely any clothes on with their friends, and no one can say anything about them! Like the quote from the iconic movie Mean Girls, “In the real world, Halloween is when kids dress up in costumes and beg for candy. In Girl World, Halloween is the one day a year when a girl can dress up like a total slut and no other girls can say anything else about it.” This quote is very true in my opinion and is also part of the reason why I agree that Halloween is a paradigm shift for a day because it’s like everyone steps into this different world that it is acceptable to dress like anything we want even if there are barely any clothes on a person, and with that to either party the night away, or go around and beg strangers for candy. 

The part of halloween where little children go around and beg for candy from complete strangers is also part of the reason why Halloween is like a paradigm shift for a day. It’s like all the rules and safety measures parents tell their kids to follow throughout their whole life vanishes for the night of Halloween. Parents after a certain age let their kids go off with their friends alone at night, and go up to strangers’ doors, and ask for candy. Then they take the candy and eat it all. It’s like for a day it is completely okay to talk to anyone and everyone, let children out on their own, wear what they want, and then eat so much candy in the night that they get a sugar rush. It is almost like entering a different world for a day, and no one questions it.

The three speeches made by Olivia, Isabella, and Hannah all connect to todays world in a way therefore the connection I am making is temporal. To start off, I will address Olivia’s speech on the 6 feet apart song about COVID-19. Olivia discusses how the song was released May 1, 2020 during the national lockdown after the global pandemic of the Coronavirus hit. She talks about how the whole world had to adjust their way of life, how there are new norms now, and how the world will not be back to normal for a while. The next speech by Isabella is about Guy Fawkes and the fight against the England oppression. Izzy brought in kairos and how it shook England and their modern world with the symbol of a revolution that it started against a persecution of freedom. This connected to civil because of the representation against an oppressive government, and the way if impacted the people by causing the king to become more lenient, opening the eyes of others, and being able to get their message across. The third speech is by Hannah about the company Always and a campaign video they released that tried to break the stigma of a basic stereotype.The video portrayed older men and women mocking on how a girl may run or throw an object, but when the producers asked actual little girls to “run like a girl” or “throw like a girl” they did it with confidence, and completed the tasks well, like normal, and filled with a lot of confidence.

All three artifacts can be connected because they are all problems still brought up into todays world in the use of addressing how these problems never went away. Obviously the COVID-19 pandemic is very much still present in todays world since it only began in early 2020, but it is still around and will be for a long time. We have adjusted our lives to all of these artifacts in a way which I am getting to next. The Guy Fawkes artifact can be compared to the way the world works today in the sense of racism. No matter how hard people try and what they say, the problems our world faces today due to the oppression toward people of color that the government has yet to fix relates to Guy Fawkes in a form. The Black Lives Matter movement has been in the works for a while now and yet nothing has been changed by the government to take control and act on the problems. The world we live in has somewhat adjusted to finding it normal how an officer shoots a black person when they, according to officers, don’t comply. I don’t mean that it is normal, quite the opposite actually, it’s insane to me how it happens and the government has yet to do anything about it, but now we have the Black Lives Matter movement in hopes of change, and that relates to todays world based off of Guy Fawkes. The last artifact of the “like a girl” campaign video is another problem we face today. This artifact, as said by Hannah, shows an ever present patriarchy that men are powerful and women are submissive which affects how women grow up into the world they live in and might accommodate their jobs and the way they live based off of these stereotypical standards. The stereotypical view that degrades a women’s confidence is something we very much still face as a problem in todays world in the workforce, school, and everyday lives.

All three artifacts relate to a present problem in todays world and how it has yet to be fixed, and how they are all connected to something wrong in the world today.

The artifact I decided to use to portray the use of Kairos is the “I Have a Dream” speech by Martin Luther King Jr. This artifact was a very powerful speech given at the exact right time which is what Kairos is all about. The speech affected how people viewed things, changed some perspectives, persuaded people to support the civil rights movement, and showed the power a speech can have when given at the exact time it’s needed.

A good way to think of Kairos and how it affects an audience is to view it as a way it persuades an audience after it is given at a unique time where it may fit. The “I Have a Dream” speech made the point of how African Americans do not enjoy the complete freedom they should due to segregation, discrimination, and poverty. Kairos represents the speakers ability to take advantage of the right time or opportunity to make a convincing argument, and Martin Luther King Jr. did the exact thing. He used the perfect opportunity of talk about what he believes in during a struggling time in the United States to address a larger issue at hand.

The trope I decided to pick is apoplanesis. I got this from the website http://rhetoric.byu.edu that was provided to us. According to the Silva Rhetoricae website apoplanesis is defined as “promising to address the issue but effectively dodging it through a digression.”

Two examples I can provide about apoplanesis both involve the government and the Corona Virus. For the first example I will address President Donald Trump and his outlook on the virus, and how he has been handling it. There has been many news outlets addressing how he has yet to take a strong control over the way the pandemic is being handled. It is basically up to the states to decide what happens, which is not necessarily always bad, but he is the president of the country, and is participating in apoplanesis. According to the Washington Post, “When it comes to the pandemic, Trump has been behaving for months as if it’s on its way out the door. He is holding indoor rallies, inviting people to be largely maskless, and raising the risk that in these states he needs to win, he is playing a role in spreading the coronavirus rather than tamping it down” (Phillips). Instead of addressing the issue, he informs media outlets that he will get to it. The next example involves the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Today on September 25th, Governor DeSantis issued the next phase of the virus and how it will be handled in Florida from now on. This is different from the Donald Trump example because in this example DeSantis is doing something, and not just pushing it off, but he is not doing the entirely correct thing in the sense of safety and health. The third phase of reopening was released today which allows the entire state of Florida to have no restrictions on bars and restaurants which was basically the last thing they were limiting in Florida. As stated in a CNN article, Governor DeSantis stated, “‘There will not be limitations, from the state of Florida,’ he said” (Toropin and Vera). This showed the promise that the virus will be addressed and not dodged, but in the wrong sense, cases are already extremely high in Florida, and are only growing more by the day, so this is not dodging it in text, but dodging the virus as a whole, as if it does not even matter that it’s out there, or who it will effect.