October | 2012 | rcl blog 2012 October | my official blog to all rhetoric and civic life

October, 2012

RCL #8 – Rhetoric of Protest Signs

October 25, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The protest sign I chose is this one above clearly showing how in this day and age we’re still having a hard time accepting homosexuals. It shows how we’ve conquered the issues of women’s rights and African-American rights, but still the issue of gay rights hangs in suspension. It has gotten a lot better than it used to be, but nonetheless it is still a fight that shouldn’t have to be fought anymore. This sign definitely shows questions of conjecture and that there is a problem that needs to be discussed and resolved in some way. It also shows questions of definition since it states the issue of gay marriage in relation to the resolution women’s and African-American rights. Questions of quality come up in this image due to the fact that this is a debatable topic and there are different viewpoints on it, good and bad, fair and unfair. Lastly, I think it also brings up questions of policy because something does need to be done about this issue. Specific action should take place and sooner rather than later, so we are able to get past this issue as well. This sign is saying women and African-Americans had their time for movement and change and now it’s time for the gay community to have the same opportunities.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life, Uncategorized | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
WIP #6 Sources for Paradigm Shift paper

October 25, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

“History of Drama.” History of Drama. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://litera1no4.tripod.com/dramahistory.html>

This first website I found goes through the evolution of theater all the way back from ancient times up until around the late 1900’s. I think this website is really beneficial because it highlights two very important types of drama that came about in the 19th century, expressionist and contemporary. Both of these dramas changed theater performances and the thoughts of playwrights themselves since both involved thinking outside of the box. I do think this source is reliable since it goes through the transformation of theater beginning with ancient drama and covers quite a wide span of theater evolution.

“History of Theatre.” History of Theatre. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://www.glencoe.com/theatre/Timeline/timeline_content.html>

This website has a complete timeline of theater throughout the centuries. It has information about people, places, topics, and media in theater. It has a lot of helpful information going through the 20th century, pretty much year by year describing different events in theatrical history. I really think this timeline will be of use to me when carefully going through the 20th century to currently and for me to be able to find specific examples regarding just how theater changed from year to year.

“Theatre History: American Theatre History.” Theatre History: American Theatre History. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2012. <http://webhost.bridgew.edu/adirks/ald/courses/hist/hist_Amer.htm>

I particularly like this website because it goes through the major events that happen in American theater that have made it what it is today. I like that it points out certain movements and time periods, such as postwar, and how events in history have affected theater. I’ll be using the part with the new century of theater and the different events that take place throughout the 1900’s that influenced performances, as well as the movements that took place. This website seems like it has a lot of useful information that will be beneficial to my paper.

“The Feminist Spectator.” : âWomen in Theatre: Issues for the 21st Centuryâ. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://feministspectator.blogspot.com/2009/09/women-in-theatre-issues-for-21st.html>

I think this could be a subtopic in my paper, women in theater. This is an interesting perspective on theater and how women work in theater in particular. In the old days, men were the only ones allowed to perform in plays, so they would play the male roles, as well as the female. Now females are able to be a part of the performance and have an equal part in the acting process. So I think analyzing this part of theater could be beneficial to my paper and a good subtopic.

“Theater Evolution.” The Expressionist Magazine. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2012. <http://www.theexpressionist.com/2009/07/16/aug-featuretheater-evolution/>

I like how this website describes and provides pictures of how the look of the theater has changed throughout the years. It really gives the perspective of what the different stages of theater developed and I think this could be another good subtopic under the main one. The look and layout of theaters has changed throughout history and this website does a pretty good job in showing and describing just how this has happened. I think this is one of the more interesting sides to the evolution of theater, along with the changing costumes.

Category Work in Progress | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
WIP #5 – Focus for Paradigm Shift

October 17, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

I’m not too sure yet, but the focus I think I’m going with for my paradigm shift paper is the evolution of theater within the past century. Theater is one of my favorite things. I love being on stage and watching performances from the audience. It’s something that I thoroughly enjoy and would love to learn more about. So through this paper, I hope to learn how it has come to be the theater it is today. I also think this topic would be pretty interesting for others that don’t necessarily have the love I do for theater. Everyone loves a good show and it’s always interesting to see what goes on behind the scenes.

In the past century, theater has gone through a couple changes. One started in the early 1900s and is known as expressionist drama, including ensemble and absurdist theater. This type of theater focused on more frightening and more violent aspects to create a kind of nightmare onstage. Then as time went on after World War I and through the rest of the 20th century contemporary drama emerged. During the 60s and 70s expressing ideas through language was how most playwrights chose to write their plays.

I think it’s really interesting how theater has evolved over time, especially since it’s something I love to be involved with. I’m pretty excited, as well, to research the evolution of theater over the past century and learn more about how its changed. I still don’t know a lot about it, only from looking at one source, a website called history of drama, but I don’t doubt I’ll be able to find much more information on the topic. I only wonder how much more it’ll change in the future.

Category Uncategorized, Work in Progress | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments
RCL #7 – Kairos online

October 17, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The example of Kairos that I found on the internet was this ad for the Joseph Kony campaign of 2012. This ad really characterizes the main idea of kairos in the sense that the best time is now to combat this issue. For those who don’t know about this campaign, it first came to light by a young man named Jason Russell who made a short film Kony 2012. The organization is called Invisible Children and their goal is to make Joseph Kony famous and have him arrested for his abuse towards children. He kidnaps children from their homes and makes them become a part of his army and if they don’t do what he says he kills them or their families.

The definition of Kairos is an oppurtune moment. An oppurtune moment to act on something. This ad is a perfect example of that. It even states, “nothing is more powerful than an idea who’s time is now”. It’s a campaign that’s saying we can’t wait any longer to get involved and make Kony known, this has gone on too long so let’s change it now. It also displays the republican elephant and the democratic donkey coming together to form a dove. The dove is a sign of peace and for everyone to come together and fight against this horrible man and the horrible things he’s doing to people in Uganda.

I think this ad is very effective for me. The first time I saw the promotional video for Kony 2012 I couldn’t believe what was happening over in Uganda. It’s been going on for so long too, it’s hard to imagine no one knows who this Joseph Kony actually is and how he hasn’t been caught yet. So, I am definitely motivated by this ad and the whole campaign in general. Something needs to be done about this and the ad clearly states the “time is now”.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
Yoga Fixes Everything

October 17, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

This past weekend, my roommate and I decided to change up our usual Saturday routine (when there’s not football game) and get out and get active. We were coming off a rough week of papers and tests and knew we needed to do something that would relieve the stress of the week before. Let’s face it. We’re college students, every week is stressful. So we thought what better way to do that then to go to a yoga class!

I had never done yoga before this class and thought what better time to start then now! My week had been a stressful one and it was like all the stress was removed within the 45 minutes of that class. It was definitely something that I could go to every week and that’s what my roommate and I are going to try and do. Every Saturday at 5:15 we will relieve the stress by doing the downward dog and cobra.

It wasn’t all easy either. People may think that yoga isn’t hard, but it’s actually a pretty tough workout that gets a person to work up a sweat. At the end of the 45 minutes, the class is instructed to just lay down and breathe and relax every bone in the body. This goes on for a good 3-4 minutes. It was easily the best part of the entire class and probably the most relaxing. I just wanted to lay there forever. I can’t wait to go to the next class and get this stressful week out of my system.

Category Passion | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
WIP #4 – Writing Reflection

October 15, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

I was actually pretty surprised to find that writing this essay wasn’t as difficult as I though it was going to be. After finding my artifact for the paper it was just figuring out what I wanted to focus on and how to present it throughout the paper. I knew we had to talk about logos, ethos and pathos, so I chose to split my three body paragraphs into those three topics respectively. At that point, I just had to analyze the song further in depth and organize my paper in such a way that it hit on all three: logos, ethos, and pathos.

The hardest part for me was probably coming up with a thesis and just starting the paper in general. I’ve never been too great at theses anyway and in high school my teacher would always help me revise it. Now that I had to create it and revise it too, it was a little more challenging. Despite that, I think it came out very well and I feel pretty good about it.

As I worked through my paper, I kept going over the lyrics in the song and realized that I could add some examples to the each body paragraph that would just further enhance my analysis even more. So as I was writing, I would end up going back and forth between paragraphs adding in more lyric quotes and more analysis, which I think gives the reader a greater understanding of my analysis of the song.

Category Work in Progress | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
RCL #6 – Pathos online

October 11, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

The example I found that evokes strong pathos is this ad for National Family Week in 2007. The ad says Life is Unpredictable. Make Time for Family. This message is particularly strong since family is probably the most important thing to all of us and it’s basically saying that you never know what life is going to throw at you, so spend time with your family now. Pathos is being strongly executed here since most everyone should feel some emotion towards what this ad is trying to get across to people. It does put life in perspective somewhat and maybe does make a person want to call their parents or spend more time at home with their family.

The big thing in this ad that stood out to me is the graveyard in the background. It’s funny I didn’t even see what it was until after I had read the message first and that’s when the ad hit me. I understood what the impact of the ad actually was after seeing the image with the message in front of it. When putting the two together, it actually is a very powerful ad and does evoke the right amount of pathos to be effective, at least for me. I think with this kind of ad people just have to take it for what is literally saying and that’s just to spend more time with family because you never know what could happen, rather than blow it out of proportion and worry everyday that something could happen and you haven’t spent enough time with your family. Overall, I do think this ad evokes the right amount of pathos to be effective.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments
Lifestyle Change

October 9, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

I’ve never really been “the athletic one”, or known as “the athlete.” I’ve always been more of the theatrical type of person and always wanted the attention in front of my family and friends. I played soccer for a while, but never was as aggressive as a player needs to be. So, since I don’t really play sports, I had to start doing something physical. This past week I set a new goal for myself, to put my gym membership to good use and start working out.

I never really thought I needed to work out, just because of my body type. I’ve never been particularly “bigger” so I started to believe I would never need to go. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that working out doesn’t necessarily mean losing weight, it can also just be to get healthy and fit. It is something that makes me feel happy and good about myself. Coming to college has definitely been a factor in my decision to start going to the gym. The freshman 15 is not a myth and it something that I have come to realize is very possible. Since coming to college, I eat a lot more than I did at home. Whenever I’m bored or doing work if I see food, even if I’m not really that hungry, I will eat it. This is the kind of problem that I’m glad I have realized and I can actually take action and do something about.

Last week, my roommate and I made a pact that we would go to the gym together at least 3 times a week and help each other stay healthy. Working out for me isn’t exactly about losing the weight, that’s not what I’m going for. Rather, it’s for a greater sense of pride in myself for doing something I can stick with and benefit from. There’s something about the feeling you get after a good workout. A feeling of accomplishment. It’s a great feeling and I think everyone should feel it with something that is important to them.

Category Passion | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments
RCL #5 – Response to Hazlitt Essay

October 4, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

Hazlitt’s main point in his writing is that a great speaker may grab and keep the attention of the audience, but when faced with a paper and a pen suddenly doesn’t know what to say. That as great as the person is at speaking, they become blank when challenged to pick up a pen and write an essay. I don’t know of I fully agree with this statement just because I think if you are a good speaker and you know to grab the attention of your audience, then you can definitely write an essay or a story and grab the reader’s attention effectively.

He also writes about is that speaking in general is easier for some people basically. He says “less is required of you” and with writing a person has their “own time and subject.” I think this means that some people are just better at speaking. It’s just more natural for them to get up in front of people and speak. Then there are those who are better at working on their own time, whenever they can spare it, and write for hours. To support this idea of some people just being made for either speaking or writing is when Hazlitt says, “mount them on a dinner table, and they have nothing to say; shut them up in a room, and they are inspired.” This just emphasizes the point that there are those that are just better at one or the other.

For me, writing and speaking are different in many ways. I am a lot more comfortable with writing than getting up in front of people and speaking. I do a better job on my own time, by myself writing than when I have to prepare a speech and speak in front of people. I think with writing, a person can just get so into it and write from the heart and with speaking a person does pretty much the same, the audience just recognizes it in a different way, if that makes any sense. I do like what Hazlitt had to say and I agree with him on many points he had. This reading also made me reflect me on my own speaking and writing and got me thinking on what I can do to make each one better.

Category Rhetoric and Civic Life | Tags: rcl25 | 2 Comments
WIP #3 – Topic for Rhetorical Analysis Essay

October 1, 2012 by Taylor Kantner

where is the love?

The artifact I have chosen for my Rhetorical Analysis essay is the song “Where is the Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas and Justin Timberlake. This is one of those songs that when I heard it for the first time it really stuck with me. It’s one of those songs that gives me chills every time I listen to it and makes me want to listen to it over and over again. It also makes me think about what’s happening in the world and how I can try to make a difference. Even though this song was released nine years ago, it still applies to the world today.

This song has a lot of meaning behind the lyrics and I think it is worthy of an in- depth analysis because of the ethos, logos and pathos it contains. Every time I listen to this song, I hear a different part of the song clearer than I did before. I think people that have gone through some of the things they mention in the song should listen to this song and try to come up with a plan to make a difference in this world to make it a better place.

This song was the Black Eyed Peas first top 10 hit. People around the nation listened to this song, making it the number 8 song in the top 10. I think that really speaks for something. This song has touched a lot of people; a lot of people can relate to this song and agree with what they are singing about. It really is a powerful song and contains a message we all can understand and try to do something about it because “WE ONLY GOT ONE WORLD.”

Category Work in Progress | Tags: rcl25 | 3 Comments