Monthly Archives: September 2012

Battle of the Sexes Paper

Overall, I think the paper is very well written and is a pretty good narrative but if I was simply given the paper I probably wouldn’t label it as being rhetorical analysis. Of course there are definitely pieces throughout that seem more like rhetorical analysis than others. For example, even when Kyle is describing the physical appearance of the two players and uses the chart it seems as if this is developing credibility for Billie Jean King (ethos) while kind of tearing down Riggs. Moreover, Kyle develops ethos throughout the paper by citing credible sources and having many statistics, facts, and quotes, yet it was hard for me to decipher what he is proving if he’s trying to prove something. I initially thought his thesis was “I propose to view the match as an argument ostensibly about gender which held deeper implications for how the interrelationship of gender, class, and economics could play out in the cultural realm of sports” but the essay was too long and scatterbrained for me to see this fully developed. I still think, however, the essay was well written and well researched throughout but perhaps the reflection/commentary on the research could’ve been more oriented towards one purpose for the paper to be technically considering rhetorical analysis.

Rhetorical Analysis Ideas

1.http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/webtexts/hour/, The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin. would be a very interesting piece to analyze because it shows an interesting twist in perspective of a woman who has been recent widowed. There is an effective use of pathos, but I feel that the story might be hard to analyze because it’s hard for me to identify what forms of persuasion are being used if any.

2. Atticus Finch’s speech in To Kill A Mockingbird which I discussed in my last RCL. Every form of persuasion is used throughout and the speech would be simple to analyze. The problem with that would be it would be hard to choose which form of persuasion I wanted to focus on.

3. http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/wells-lynch-law-speech-text/. I think it would be interesting to analyze a feminist’s rhetoric. Perhaps I could ask Anna for help!

my face = sinx

Whattuppp. Although I’m not taking any math courses this year I can’t avoid seeing math as a part of my new life here. My whole life is a series of graphs. Like legit. Here are a few examples:

The quality of my face is a sin curve. It goes up and down and up and down. I just want my skin to stay the same. Why the eff can’t it be a y =100 line?!?

My work ethic is a 1/x function. It progressively gets worse and worse. The only difference between 1/x and my work ethic is that the graph of my work ethic is not asymptotic. It has hit zero. And it’s like the third week of college. GREAT.

My awkwardness however approaches no limit (technically infinity) as x grows larger. Therefore, it is a 10000000^x function. What is the variable in this graph? Time. As time goes on I’ll only get more awkward at an alarmingly high rate.

The amount I care about how I look is like an absolute value curve. Decreasing until it reaches a point of ultimate lowness (basically right now…when I wear men’s clothing on a daily basis) then it begins to increase again. Just imagine a bunch of absolute value graphs one after another.

Anyways now that I am thoroughly mathed out (may be I should rethink this engineering major thing…) I want to end off with a piece of advice. DON’T EAT AT OTTO’S OR THE LIBRARY CAFÉ’S BECAUSE YOU WILL GO BROKE AND HAVE NO MEALS POINTS LEFT. Xoxo.

twin-sized bed struggles

I’ve always been one of those people that no one likes to sleep next to. I kick, hog the blanket, and sprawl out so that no single inch of a bed it’s in close contact with my body.

At home, I have a queen sized bed. And although honors hosuing is nice, it’s not that nice, so I’ve been forced to squeeze my wild sleeper into a tiny twin bed (it being extra-long doesn’t really help considering I’m pretty short).

This morning after having a rough night of barely any sleep because of my crazy econ professor I somehow managed to roll off the bed onto the floor. I have bedrisers so it’s a pretty long drop. Waking up to the nice hard fake wood flooring and a back searing with pain was pretty fun. It really just helped me get in the right mood to start of a day loaded with classes and a shit ton of homework. Not.

My mood didn’t improve after leaving my room. Walking to my 8 am econ class was no fun with all my joints aching and so after sleeping through fifty minutes of complex graphs and weird examples of marginal propensity to consume involving squirrels I decided I was going to take the bus home. That would’ve been a great idea, but…I’m a freshman.

It was my first time taking the bus and I ended up taking one that takes you downtown and ended up even farther than my original class (which was a 20 minute walk away). After getting home I knew all I needed was a nap…on my evil bed. But I napped successfully, so successfully that I missed my next class which only has 20 people.

The day hasn’t improved too much.

Anyways, I don’t really know what the purpose of this post was besides venting about my struggles. May be I thought it would put me in a better mood but it’s kind of just made me madder seeing how sucky my day was in print. I guess my advice for fellow freshman is that you better get used to sleeping on your twinsized bed or get a sleeping bag for the floor (my plan for tonight). xoxo.

Atticus Finch killin’ it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8TgqenWW0I&feature=player_embedded

I can’t say I was the biggest fan of To Kill A Mockingbird while I was required to read it for 10th grade English but when we watched the movie my appreciation for the book, and especially the character Atticus Finch grew exponentially. His poise and inflection is impeccable and not to mention his incredibly logical argument when defending an innocent black man Tom Robinson.

Atticus establishes ethos from the very beginning. “To begin with, this case should have never come to trial”. The audience is immediately captivated by his confidence. Yet Atticus doesn’t stop at just making a strong statement. He supports it with not only one but several logical arguments. He uses cold, hard facts and smooth transitions to continuously shoot down any credibility that the opposing side may have established.

Atticus’s strong, logical transitions are epitomized when he states, “But, my pity does not extend so far as to her putting a man’s life at stake, which she has done in an effort to get rid of her own guilt. Now I say “guilt,” gentlemen, because it was guilt that motivated her”.  He effectively shoots down any pathos argument that the other side has made by stating that Maya is motivated to hurt Robinson.

Atticus’s closing statements are eloquently stated and show the power of combining the three means of persuasion:

“Now I am confident that you gentlemen will review without passion the evidence that you have heard, come to a decision, and restore this man to his family.

In the name of God, do your duty. In the name of God, believe Tom Robinson.”

Atticus’s confidence establishes authority, his call to religion evokes emotion, and his plea for the jury to review the case without biased emotions is highly logical.

Even though he speaks slowly, Atticus Finch uses every word as a weapon.

speech reflections

I thought that as a whole the speechs yesterday were excellent. I especially enjoyed Sam’s speech. Her speech seemed to have natural flow and she easily established both ethos and logos within the first minute. Her transitions were strong and she obviously knew (or seemed to know) what she was talking about. One thing the class overall could’ve done better was to have more effective introductions. Of course sometimes the rhetorical question works but I felt as if it was overused and rhetorical questions should be used sparingly.

Most presenters had good inflection and enthusiasm but a few seemed as if they really did not want ot be there presenting so that could be something to work on. I enjoyed how Armani had a personal connection to her speech and that really helped her establish pathos throughout and helped persuade us (her audience) that her analysis was spot on.  

My last critique is that people shouldn’t end their speeches with I guess that’s it or I’m done (although it’s so easy and I’m probably going to do that). We need to work on our conclusions.

striking the balance.(question 1)

I don’t think stereotypes are necessarily a bad thing. Actually I think they’re kind of funny. I’ve told my friends this multiple times and a lot of the don’t agree. Yet, stereotypes have basis in some truth and they’re accepted for a reason. From most of our experiences, a lot of the times stereotypes are spot on. So is it wrong of us to keep these stereotypes in our head if throughout most of our lives they’ve resonated? Not necessarily. I definitely live up to a lot of stereotypes of my race and am not embarrassed or offended when people stereotype me. And I don’t think stereotypes will ever be removed from society.

I think the important thing is making sure that one’s stereotypes don’t get in the way of them talking or interacting with people of a different race, gender, or age. We must be open to getting acquainted with other community members and inevitably we will realize, as the cliched saying goes, that we really are all human. Once we find a way to stop letting our stereotypes affect our interactions I think the overall level of intolerance or disrespect in the world will go down.

Civic Engagement Speech

My speech is going to be about a civic engagement opportunity presented in the form of a blood drive flyer.

Rough (VERY ROUGH) outline:

Purpose of flyer:

To get the viewer to donate blood

How it goes about doing this:

small size —easily distributed

offers the chance to win autographed balls from Bill O’ Brien and other well known Penn State athletic figures

chances of winning football tickets to important games

pathos: trying to persuade viewer that donating blood is a reflection of school spirit by the “bleed blue” caption above the picture of the nittany lion and some other important football coaches I am guessing

ethos: “join us” shows that if you donate blood you will become part of a group of people doing (or at least trying to do) some good deeds. this makes one feel morally obligated. This sign isn’t as straight forward as some of the other ones that just say “BLOOD DONORS NEEDED”, yet this sense of civic responsibility expressed by donating blood still makes one feel obligated to join in.  COLORS: so much blue instead of red. (Penn State pride?)

logos: not only in this case is it logical to donate blood is you have the ability to help people in a relatively painless process (not on flyer). but the way this poster is set up it’s logical that if you donate blood you will have a chance of getting a reward. Whether it’s the autographed balls or the possibility of coveted football tickets.

Does it work:

I wouldn’t say the poster is highly persuasive or evokes any strong senses of emotion but the idea of a blood drive kind of speaks for itself and most people that will donate at this point will have already donated. Commonplace that donating blood is a good thing is expressed in the sign because there is not too many means of persuading. Donating seems to speak for itself.

Why is this a civic opportunity:

Brings community of people who want to help together.

Designed around the Penn State community (bleed blue)

Help people in need of blood across the country

free food = bad?!

Helllllo fellow freshman. It’s been three weeks. And they’ve been real. But before we get the impression that we’re settling in and becoming part of Penn State society we have to keep in mind, WE ARE….freshman. As much as we think we’ve learned about campus life, we sure as hell got a lot more to learn. Freshmen (at least me) get sucked into all the classes/clubs/events that upperclassmen know to avoid. Since we’re all on the same, uneven playing field we have to look out for each other. So I’m going to give you all a piece of advice: free meals don’t come easy.

We’ve all seen a bunch of advertisements for clubs and discussions and such that always say in huge, bold typeface “food will be served”. I’m not going to lie. I LOVE FOOD. So naturally I’ve attended multiple club meetings and events for the food.

Let me give you an example.

Today my friend (actually I don’t know if I can consider him my friend…we met like two days ago, but it’s weird to refer to someone as your acquaintance) Adi couldn’t attend a Schreyer faculty dinner he had signed up for. He said it was free dinner downtown and asked if I wanted to go in his place. Of course I was like “HELL YEAH!”.

When I got there (kinda late because the lady drawing my blood felt the need to stick the needle into my skin 5 different times) everyone else had nametags and was sitting down at a table across from a professor who taught some sort of sociology. Apparently the focus of the dinner was a discussion on the changing roles of adults. It may sound simple, but this guy was saying some complex stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I’m down for deep discussion sometimes but I was just not feeling it. So I basically sat through a two hour discussion about how Barbie dolls were sex instruments and how our generation sucks (which surprisingly was declared by most of the students and not the professor), while slurping my Mango Lassi and making snide comments under my breath.

I’m not one who likes mixing work and play, or I guess work and food so next time there’s an opportunity for free food I am definitely going to think twice. Hope you do the same. Xoxo.

wait…..what was the right thing?

For having such a concrete and seemingly simple title, Do The Right Thing was a convoluted movie. It was hard to follow which characters were actually “doing the right thing”, if any of them were. Watching the movie was a difficult experience because it was atypical, in the sense that it was hard to find a character’s side to take because they all committed frustrating acts. This may be because Spike Lee does a nice job of making his characters realistic in that they all have their redeeming qualities and their flaws.

While watching Do The Right Thing, I was reminded of the excerpt about Crossfire that we read in our textbook. The arguments in this movie seemed to be lacking either logos or ethos and were simply people swearing at each other. I am unsure of whether I still completely understand the meaning of rhetoric, but if my definition of rhetoric is not a misconception, I think that the society Lee portrays lacks the use of rhetoric.

Normally, the end of a film does a nice job of tying loose ends. However, this film left me relatively confused. By juxtaposing Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Lee leaves it to the viewers to draw their own conclusions on the use of violence. As any good work of art does, this film creates more questions than it answers.