Whitney's AP Comp Blog

lying in bed

2008-06-03T06:28:00.001-07:00

Read “Lying in Bed” by G.K. Chesterton and write a blog post that analyzes the 4-5 most important strategies used by the author.

rhetorical strategy 1: metaphor
He compares his carpet to turkish delight
"I found the Turkey carpet a mass of unmeaning colours, rather like the Turkish Empire, or like the sweetmeat called Turkish Delight."

rhtorical strategy2: allusion
He makes an allusion to a bible passage verse when discussing his wallpaper
"I could not understand why one arbitrary symbol (a symbol apparently entirely devoid of any religious or philosophical significance) should thus be sprinkled all over my nice walls like a sort of small-pox. The Bible must be referring to wallpapers, I think, when it says, “Use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do.”

rhetorical strategy 3: parallel sentence structure
This sentence has a parallel structure separated by a semicolon
"Especially this is so in matters of hygiene; notably such matters as lying in bed.."
the parallelism is "matters of something"

rhetorical strategy 4: descriptive words
he uses lots of descripritve adjectives to spice up the writing
"rich and mingled colour like some strange fairy rain;"
rich, mangle, and fairy all make the writing much more fun to read

preparing for synthesis question

2008-06-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

Read Preparing for the 2007 Synthetic Question and blog a bit (100-200 words) about what you learned from the advice and where the advice seems to fall short.

the article gives a really good job informing us how we should get started. Like how to read and analyze the information give and how to start off wit the thesis. it is helpful advice in that regards. Getting started can sometimes be the hardest part. But, the advice falls short in describing HOW the sources should be included in the essay. It is important not to just plop the quotes in and the article doesn't really give good examples of how to really SYNTHESIZE the sources! It kind of misses the big picture!!!

a modest proposal

2008-06-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

Read A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. In a 300 word blog post: What’s the purpose of this piece? How does the satire serve a rhetorical purpose or put forth an indirect claim? Please excerpt 3 sections and comment more directly on them.

The purpose of this piece is discuss teh numbers of poor and homelsss women with fatherless children.
"I do therefore humbly offer it to publick consideration, that of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed,
twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one
fourth part to be males; which is more than we allow to sheep,
black cattle, or swine, and my reason is, that these children are
seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much regarded
by our savages, therefore, one male will be sufficient to serve
four females. That the remaining hundred thousand may, at a year
old, be offered in sale to the persons of quality and fortune,
through the kingdom, always advising the mother to let them suck
plentifully in the last month, so as to render them plump, and
fat for a good table. A child will make two dishes at an
entertainment for friends, and when the family dines alone, the
fore or hind quarter will make a reasonable dish, and seasoned
with a little pepper or salt, will be very good boiled on the
fourth day, especially in winter."
this exerpt from the passage seems like it should be a sarcastic joke, but i can't tell if the author is serious or not. IT seems a bit strange to recommend that people eat children. I don't know what to really think from this passage. It also talks about breeding children like cattle and basically diminished children as not human and on teh same level as teh animals we breed and eat.

hamlet blog

2008-06-03T06:21:00.000-07:00

1. Why does Hamlet wait so long to kill Claudius? What are the reasons for his hesitation? How valid are they? How many times does he have the opportunity to attack Claudius? What are his reasons for not doing so?

hamlet has doubts at first that the story he has heard from the ghost is actually true. They are valid doubts because he has no proof that his uncle has killed his father. He has 2 opportunities to kill his uncle. The first time it is because of his doubts and the second because his uncle is praying and if hamlet were to kill his uncle then, he would go to heaven and hamlet wants his uncle to go to hell.

2. Hamlet claims that his madness is feigned, an “antic disposition” which he puts on for his own purposes (I.v.172). Why would Hamlet want to feign madness? How can an appearance of insanity help him achieve his ends? Is he really sane throughout the play, or does he ever cross the line into madness? What about Ophelia’s mad scene? Is it real or feigned? Is there “method in her madness” as well, or is she entirely irrational? Why has she gone mad? (What two reasons do her songs suggest?)

hamlet feigns madness so his uncle doesn't find out that hamlet knows the whole story. This way his uncle will be caught by surprise and hamlet has the advantage. I think he crosses the line into madness when he calls of the wedding and when he kills ophelia's father because he is just blindly attacking and killing anyone that appears to be his uncle. He has "gone mad" with hate. Ophelia's mad scene is real though. She first goes mad when hamlet rejects her in marriage and the then when her father is murdered.

3. Pay attention to the treatment of the women characters Gertrude and Ophelia. Is there any basis for the Freudian interpretation of an Oedipal attraction between Hamlet and his mother? Hamlet does seem obsessed with his mother’s sexuality. How old is Hamlet? How old do you think Gertrude is? Is Hamlet’s disgust at Gertrude’s sexuality justified? To what extent is Gertrude guilty? Was she “in on” her husband’s murder? Has Claudius confided in her since the murder? How does Hamlet’s perception of his mother affect his behavior or attitude toward Ophelia? Why does he tell Ophelia to go to a nunnery? Does Hamlet really love Ophelia? If so, why is he cruel to her?

Hamlet and ophelia kiss and he is obsessed with her sex life with claudious. Hamlet is in his 20s and i think Gertrude is in her late 30s-40. I think it's justified because it creeps him out that his mother is with his uncle/ the man who killed his father. Gertrude is guilty that she is with his uncle. No she was not in on her husband's murder and no claudious has not confided in her since the murder. Because of his mother's incest, Hamlet turns bitter towards women and rejects ophelia He tells her to go to a nunnery and not get married because he wants to bad marriages because he is so creeped out. But he really did love ophelia because after she dies he tells his brother he really did love ophelia. he was cruel because he was bitter.

4. Suicide is an important theme in Hamlet. Discuss how the play treats the idea of suicide morally, religiously, and aesthetically, with particular attention to Hamlet’s two important statements about suicide: the “O, that this too too solid flesh would melt” soliloquy (I.ii.129–158) and the “To be, or not to be” soliloquy (III.i.56–88). Why does Hamlet believe that, although capable of suicide, most human beings choose to live, despite the cruelty, pain, and injustice of the world?

hamlet concludes that people chose to live in pain because of fear for what will come next after death. I think there is also the religious aspect since suicide is a sin and those who commit it will go to hell.

5. Choose a soliloquy in the play to look more closely at. Paraphrase it and then connect it to the larger themes in the play.

I chose the first soliloquoy "o,What a rogue and peasant slave am i!" act 2 scene 2 lines 555 to 635. This soliloquoy is where Hamlet plots how he will catch Claudious and make a final judgment of whether or not he is guilty of murdering his father. HE goes on a rampage about his trap to test Claudious if he reacts guiltily to watching a play that mirrors the murder of his father. This is connected to the larger theme of the play on wether or not: claudious is guilty and hamlet is mad.

downe essay

2008-04-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

Bring home “As he himself puts it” and write a sample paragraph for the following prompt in which you include a quote from the prompt in your response and use the qualities and advice suggested by Graff/Birkenstein.

Downe tried to convince his wife that America is better than england by giving her an anecdotal story in which he actually experienced a better life. "a farmer took me one day in his waggon int o the country, from Hudson, to see a factory, and I dined with him, and he would not have a farthing, and told me I was welcome to come to his house at any time; they had on the table pudding, pyes, and fruit of all kind that was ins season, and preserves, pickles, vegetables, meat, and everything that a person could wish and the servants set down at the same table with their masters." This is a story of great wealth especially in food and the kindness of the people in America to share this wealth. This is something that differs from life in england that is better.

oppising opinion on social issues

2008-04-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

HW: Blog post: Write two paragraphs putting forth an opinion about an important social issue (Gun control, Affirmative Action, Cats are better than Dogs). Choose an issue you care about but write one paragraph according to how you actually feel and the other according to how someone who disagrees might feel. Try to make is so that someone from the outside wouldn’t know which of these you agree with.

opinion: abortion

first opinion: If you were a rape vistim and became pregnant, would you want tobring a baby into the world? Not only is that unfair to you as it is a constant reminder of the traumatic experience, but for a child to know that the only reason for their exsistence is from rape, that is positiviely barbaric! I would certainly not want to be that child and i don't knwo many people that would. Abortion is a clear reason to handle this issue. Prohibiting abortion in this instance is unnecessary and does more harm than good.

vs.

Second opinion: Life, all stages of life, is a precious gift and should be treated as such. As soon as an egg is fertilized, there is life. Destroying this life destroys teh possibility of a future contributing human being. In essence, abortion is murder. And the worst form of murder, murder on the helpless. An embryo clearly has no choice or say in their death and abortion makes the choice for them. Abortion is evil.

Juxtaposing Essay

2008-04-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Women During War Times

There are two images that convey the spirit of the time and the power that women bring to the table. In this case the table is the balance of power both in America and in a global setting. One comes from World War II during a time when 15 million American women were building 8,000 aircraft models monthly. This is an incredible image is also apparent with Rosie in full color and minimal context. Vanessa has more subdued color but an abundance of visual context.

The effect of these images is striking. These women are significant and not to be underestimated. They empower other women, and empower our nation. The sense of nationalism nearly jumps off the image as these two icons show the world what is right about America.

Does Vanessa inspire other women to enlist and become gunners? The answer is undoubtedly yes. She conveys strength, composure, confidence, and importance. She commands respect. She makes women proud to be making a difference where they were forbidden just a few decades earlier. How do our adversaries view this when their view of women suggests they have minimal rights and are not entitled to education or positions of power? This image may have far more effect on the women outside America than those inside. Imagine the feeling of awe to a young Afghan woman who is afraid and confused about becoming the property of an older man in her own life, and then sees that much is possible in a different part of the world for young women

With this background understanding of the two images, the comparison is not yet complete. There are more interesting aspects to explore in each image’s visual rhetoric. Color was used as one way to enhance the messages behind the imagery. The primary colors in Rosie stand for the basic need for women. In the image there are three basic colors, red and blue and yellow, which contribute to our understanding of this basic need. By not complicating the poster with multiple colors and leaving it simple the message comes across loud and clear: your country needs your help. In Vanessa’s photograph the colors are different shades of grey and blue. These bland colors enhance our understanding that she has a tough job with tough decisions. Nothing is black and white and no color dominates the image. This color balance present in the images adds to our understanding in a subconscious way.

Each of the compositions further adds to their impressions. In Rosie, she is dead center with nothing going on behind her; she is the main and only focus of the poster. Once again the image was made simple, which made it effective. Vanessa, however, is overshadowed by the arterial weapon and pushed to the right of the image. This makes it so that the weapon and her job come across as the most important part of her life.
The focus of the painting, where our eyes are drawn to, is a third tool used. When first looking at the Rosie image, my eyes are drawn immediately to the bold words, “We Can Do It!” and then to her determined face. This is effective because her determinedness empowered the words for women as if Rosie is adding to them saying, “You bet we can do it!” In Vanessa’s photograph, my eyes are drawn immediately to the huge weapon and then to her face. The weapon also draws our attention because Vanessa is not the center of the image like Rosie was. Having the weapon first grab our attention and then seeing Vanessa’s face exaggerates the surprise that a woman is manning this heavy, powerful weapon.

The women individually give insight into their message by their stance and facial expressions. The posture of both women in the images is different, but for a reason. Rosie is flexing her arm to show strength and symbolize power. Vanessa, however, is at ease to show that she is comfortable in her job. She looks natural. But a similarity between the two images is the confidence they secrete. Rosie has one eyebrow cocked, which seems to make her say, “Dare to question me?” With her ‘muscle pose,’ set jaw-line, intense stare, and pursed firm lips she oozes confidence in herself. By having her not smile she becomes more powerful and serious to show that helping the war efforts is no light task. Vanessa also displays this same confidence level with her intense stare and set jaw-line. She too is not smiling to show her seriousness and power.

What if the fictional Rosie could meet with Vanessa and talk to each other? Sixty years of cultural differences would make for interesting conversation. They would have much in common through their experiences. Rosie was the first to be recruited for a war effort moving away from the domestic focus. Vanessa is the first to be a female aerial gunner in the US Air Force.

Through the power of the images and the history behind them, the comparison of the two women becomes clear. Their similarities and differences, both through imagery and historical context, enhance the messages they send; Rosie with “We Can do It!” and Vanessa with “I have proved we can do it!” Vanessa is the completion of Rosie’s campaign showing that women can break the stereotypes and fulfill their lives. Both women are symbols of power and strength; they’re just from
different eras in the United States.

Bibliography

“Rosie the Riveter.” Image. County College of Morris. 01 Nov. 2007. 15 Apr. 2008. .

“Vanessa Dobos.” Image. Dave Hayes.edu. 5 Feb. 2006. 21 Apr. 2008. .

Widener, Chuck 2nd Lt. “A new breed of gunner.” Airman. 2003. 21 Apr. 2008. .

“Women in War Jobs - Rosie the Riveter (1942-1945).” Ad Council. 2008. 21 Apr. 2008. .

“WW2 Aircraft Production Numbers.” World War II. 1988. 21 Apr. 2008. .

kennan ap question outline

2008-04-22T11:38:00.001-07:00

I. Intro
Thesis
The power we give our country lies in the opinion of the citizens nt in a central government like other countries.
II. Keenan believes that our power is not concentrated:
Different government branches
Small levels governments
Majors and governors
All the way to executive branch
President
III. The opinion of the public has the ability to move officials.
The design of our government is for the government officials to represent the opinions of the people
When congress issues a draft it usually ends wars because it’s wildly unpopular
Vietnam war
IV. I think he’s correct
Britain is very similar
China is very different
Most countries like china
African countries and Asian countries and a little bit of S. America Countries
V. Conclusion
Restate thesis

kennan ap question outline

2008-04-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

it's complicated image rhetoric1

2008-04-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

We’ll write a short blog post on this using the vocab we received from Ms. Chase.
The photographer of the "it's complicated" images uses a lot of lighting contrast to make his statements. He uses contrast, color, and balance. The contrast comes from the lighting. There is focus of the lighting and how it centered on their faces. Some pictures have the light coming from behind them that makes the person seem like they "can't see the light."
Color actually comes from the lack of color seen in teh photographs. You can, however, see tones in shades of gray, white, and balck. These tones make the pictures more simple so you can really focus on teh subjects. They aren't complicated with a bunch of bright colors.
Balance in the photographs comes from the balance of objects in teh photographs. Some pictures have a lot goiing on in them while others are very simple. The two ommish girls don't have much going on in teh background but the debutante does. It's a difference of livestyles represented by the balance in the photographs.

Defense of poetry

2008-04-18T09:57:00.002-07:00

Percy Bysse Shelly’s “Defenese of Poetry.”
For the literature of England, an energetic development of which has ever preceded or accompanied a great and free development of the national will, has arisen as it were from a new birth. In spite of the low - thoughted envy which would undervalue contemporary merit, our own will be a memorable age in intellectual achievements, and we live among such philosophers and poets as surpass beyond comparison any who have appeared since the last national struggle for civil and religious liberty. The most unfailing herald, companion, and follower of the awakening of a great people to work a beneficial change in opinion or institution, is poetry. At such periods there is an accumulation of the power of communicating and receiving intense and impassioned conceptions respecting man and nature. The person in whom this power resides, may often, as far as regards many portions of their nature, have little apparent correspondence with that spirit of good of which they are the ministers. But even whilst they deny and abjure, they are yet compelled to serve, that power which is seated on the throne of their own soul. It is impossible to read the compositions of the most celebrated writers of the present day without being startled with the electric life which burns within their words. They measure the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive and all penetrating spirit, and they are themselves perhaps the most sincerely astonished at its manifestations; for it is less their spirit than the spirit of the age. Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.
…and summarize, explain the claim, note the strategies, and comment on our opinion of the claim’s validity.
The claim is that poets are underappreciated. They are to inspire and relaly seek teh deper meaning in nature and serve humankind in this fashion.
The strategies used are short statements connected with semicolons and huge analogies. The sentence states witha statments and then supporting statements to the subject of the sentence are done in short statements. "Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves." Poets is the subject and then in each statement that follows there is a metaphor and no subject, just the repetition of 'the.'
I think the claim is valid. poets i think are underappreciated but i don't know what kind of appreciation they really want. There is a lot of life in poetry that is written and it takes skill to move people with words like poets do.

how to talk about a book you haven't read

2008-04-18T09:57:00.001-07:00

Write a blog post that uses some of these strategies in responding to either the French Twist essay or Harry Potter and the Ignomious Cop Out by the same author.

I chose to write about "Harry Potter the Ignomious Cup."
In here the author's main point is to convey the ridiculousness of the the Harry Potter books. The fact that he didn't die left eh author feeling a big "gyped." After harry's luck in surviving everything thrown at him, the author felt that he was "owed" harry's death. By letting harry live....."Rowling seems to misunderstand the power of catharsis. It’s not simple reassurance, it’s a primal release." The author believes that the author ignored teh rules of writing.

The rhetorical strategies used are metaphors and humor. "This is roughly the equivalent of Oedipus Rex’s tearing his eyes out, then stumbling across a wise old friend who tells him: “Hey, guess what, buddy? You know how you just killed your dad and slept with your mom, like the oracle predicted? Well, since you did it all with totally innocent love in your heart, it doesn’t count! Go tell your mom to untie that noose! And look, your eyes just grew back! All is well!” teh author compares Harry potter to Oedipus Rex here in ahumoruos way.

fog of war

2008-04-18T09:55:00.001-07:00

Please choose and read 2 of the critics and in your own blog post, reflect on the rhetorical purpose, strategies, and effectiveness of the movie. Also refer to the two critics you read (link them!) and explain whether you agree or disagree with what they have to say. Please finish by Thursday because we will use it in class then.

A big strategy used was using pictures with someone talkign behind it. The effectiveness of this was it made it more interesting for the listener and the words had more meaningwith visual aid! Also when the speaker would talk and the scene would be a close up of a negative word, i think that that was most effective.
Another strategy used was to show the speaker not answering certain questions. It shows how political he has become over the years and how certain things are still not talked about. Even though the speaker wasn't in office anymore, he remained political in teh way he talks and answers questions.
I think the movie did an excelent job of conveying just how political war can be where it's so complicated that people still can't talk about the events that happened behind closed white house doors 40 years later.

Liam lacy [Morris] gave him a stage -- and Mr. McNamara took it -- to chart the tragedy of Vietnam and prove that war is too complex, too dangerous for fallible human beings in power to know what they're doing.
I completely agree with what Lacy is saying. He accurately captures a main point behind the movie and effectively conveys that.

Bruce Newman i think hits upon the main movie claim from Mcnamara as well. "It is a profound examination of the troubling proposition that good or well-meaning people can help create horrible and evil events -- and be swept along in the turmoil they unleash."

2nd semester senior

2008-04-18T09:54:00.001-07:00

Tell me a story. Create a typical 2nd semester senior and write me a short story about what happens to him/her. Remember to use good storytelling technique: set-up, crisis, resolution. Have the story tell us something interesting/useful about what it means to be a 2nd Semester Senior.

Emily, a second semseter senior, is told in march that there will be an esay due in three weeks. the essay isn't supposed to be a diffficult one, but it will be a couple pages long. So Emily, being the second semseter senior she is, procrastinates. Facebook and bubbleshooter are much more pressing matters than her english essay. Then, teh night before the test comes around. A classmate reminds Emily of the Essay and she responds with @#$@#$^&*^&*#$#. Oh yes, she is a second semester with a sailors vocab, like all second semseter seniors. The essay is due 3rd period. So The DAY OF the essay's due date, in first period Emily frantically types away on her hady dandy laptop. The essay is somewhat compelte and Emily manages to rush off and print it, after scrambling to find a print card, and turn it in. Hooray for Emily
A few weeks later the Essay's are returned and emiliy gets a B. What does it mean to bea second semseter senior? You have acquired almost 4 years of procrastination and BS skills to pump out an essay in a 100 min class period the day it is due. Thank you High School!

family portrait

2008-04-18T09:52:00.000-07:00

“Two Family Portraits: The Peales and the Bellellis.” You’ll read it and then complete a 300-4o0 word blog post that analyzes the methods Canaday uses visual rhetoric terminology to analyze the two paintings. Then, you’ll make your own observations on the two paintings and agree/disagree with Canaday’s conclusions.

canaday analyzes the pictures based on a lot of color, line, and balance.
The peales seem like a happy familiy because most of the family membors are touching and the colors are warm: brown, red, yellow, etc. canaday also takes note of a "connection" between the family membors because of the fruit laying accross teh table and teh connecting eyes of the man drawing the portrait of his mother and her grandchild. Canaday also takes note of the slight awkwardness present in the Peales family portrait. The Arm of the grandmother is a "rubber arm" because it continues on too long and the hands of a sister are too large. This shows the difference between American and British painting, according to Canaday.
Teh Bellellis, on teh other hand, is a huge contrast to the peales family portrait. The only physical touch present in teh painting is between teh one daughter and the mother. This, according to Canaday, is to show how they are much closer whereas the girl in between parents seems to be caught in teh middle. Since the father is in exile we cannot see his face ad it seems that the author was more favorable to thefather because of this. the mother seems very austere in posture. the colors in this painting are cool colors like blue, and gray and black.
I definitely agree with Canaday's conclusions. he didn't become an art critic for nothing. I tink he does an excelent job of paying close attention to detial and drawing the analysis part of the paintings. it is like an essay where you set up the quote/painting then put it there, then have to analyze what that means. I think he does a good job of this and a clear example of that is through teh fruit drawn accross the table of teh peales painting. I much prefered that painting myself and the connectison he draws are well done

the soiling of old glory

2008-04-10T13:13:00.000-07:00

The photographs in the essay are wildly powerful. The one of the 19 year old woman and her two year old goddaughter is horrific and i cannot imagine being int eh photographers shoes. I thinkt he essay is wonderfully written in that it does address the problems, but it doesn't really go beyond that. There is no discussion of what can be done and merely addresses teh problems represented in teh photographs. Particularly the busing incident photograph of 1976. It was clearly taken some time ago and i wonder when the essay was writte; if any analysis of how racism has changed, or not changed, since then could be made. I think more could be done on the analysis part but i think the author did a good job taking advantage of the photographs powerful images.

Picture Analysis

2008-04-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

The first guy who is refusing to have his picture taken seems to be more embarrassed than the guy who is proud to have his picture taken. It shows a difference in personality between the two men as to whether they have pride in themselves or not. A picture is the quickest way to see into someone’s soul. Maybe the first soldier has something to hide? The both appear to be fairly serious though, especially since they are showing up to a parade in their full soldier uniform.
A lot can be said by looking at/ into the eyes of a person. The solder who wanted to have his picture taken has deep serious eyes that show pride in himself. His lips are pulled tight into a forced smile accentuating his solemness.
Maybe the first soldier was not supposed to be at the parade and was supposed to be working or something. or he was with someone he wasnt supposed to be with. We may never relaly knwo why he would refuse to have his picture taken.

book review

2008-03-18T10:10:00.000-07:00

In reading the book, "In cold blood," I find myself captured by Capote's writing. It skips around a little bit from the story of the two murderers and the story of the people whowere left behind in Holcomb, Kansas. In summary, the book follows the story of two men, Perry and Dick, as they commit the "perfect crime." Dick had received word from a "source" in prison that a family named the Clutters had $10,000 in a safe in heir home in kansas. Dick convinces Perry to join him on his journey to the clutter home where Mr. and Mrs. Clutter lived with their two youngest children, Nancy and Kenyon. When the two men arrive at the home late at night, they find that there is no safe in the room where it "should be"" They wake up the etire family, and finding no money, murder to family so ther are "no survivors." They then leave the state and go down to mexico where they stay until they have no money. Dick and Perry return to the states to replenish their money and it is during this return trip that the are caught.

The Hijacking of Multiculturalism

2008-03-13T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Hijacking of Multiculturalism

When is Barack Obama going to play the race card? “The Toronto Star” published an article on March 8 entitled, "In U.S. politics, race card remains in vogue,” stating, “’the race card’ could still be played.” It claims that racism is part of the American “cultural and historical furniture.” Is multiculturalism defined by such racism and polarized thinking? When Obama’s parents married in 1960, there were still 22 states banning interracial marriages. Then, in 1967, the Supreme Court abolished all “race hygiene” laws. The concept of “race hygiene” is, in essence, the opposite of multiculturalism. There is problem with using the word “multicultural” to describe people of “many different skin colors”, not people of “many different cultures.” When skin color becomes the focal point the concept of multiculturalism has narrowed and become improperly defined by only one aspect: physical appearance.

Frankly I’m impressed Obama hasn’t “played the race card” since media articles are speculating and seem to be using it already . He is focused on appearing Presidential, not on being multicultural. Why does the media try to make it about race? John McCain has a culture but we don’t talk about his culture because he’s an elderly white male.
The United States has been considered the “melting pot” of different cultures for centuries. Yet the KKK, the black panthers, the Black Muslim movement, white supremacists and like groups all advocated for, and still argue for, “racial hygiene” during this same period of multicultural growth in America. There is no shortage of special interest groups that continue to work to hijack the multicultural philosophy that our country was founded on.

Look at the people around you and you will find that just about everyone is “multicultural.” No, not everyone is a mix of different colored skin, but the multitude of the United States population is not 100% of any culture. Being a “pure-bred” is rare in today’s society. In my circle of friends, being a “pure-bred” is neither a blessing nor a curse. I live and socialize in a multicultural setting every day. I find this is not about race and color. It is about their heritage, customs, and family behavior.

I look at myself and see a rich mixture of Dutch, British, Irish, and Scottish customs and family histories. All are European countries, but all have different cultures. So I am multicultural, but that’s not how society views me. To society I am a member of the white majority. Defined as a piece of white bread; I am “bland” by today’s expectation of what multicultural means. I do not have different races in my blood but why is this considered to be an absence of “culture”? Simply put, I believe myself to be multicultural.

In an article titled, “Multicultural backlash,” Rukhsana Khan makes the claim, “Others say that the term ‘multicultural’ is misleading because it is actually used to refer to other cultures in particular to ‘non-white’ cultures and yet each of us comes from a culture.” His point that minority pride is mistaken for multiculturalism is a valid one. We should resist making this mistake.

I made this mistake with a person that looked like me even though I believed I had nothing in common with him. During my sophomore year, my family hosted a foreign exchange student, Henning, from Germany. Exchanging cultural views with him was an extreme eye-opener as he expressed cultural pride every day. He felt proud and superior in America because he was German. It was offensive and I told him so. Did I do this subconsciously as well? Is that why it bothered me so much?

At the beginning of the year Henning and I did not get along. In his view products made in the United States were poor quality and products made in Germany were high quality. This extended to people and sports as well. The outfits he wore were polo shirts, a sweater tied around his neck, and expensive jeans and shoes. He dressed the way he did because he was trained to dress formally for school. Initially he resisted American culture and was uncomfortable in the sweatshirt and jean “combo” that is typical of general population for American teens. Henning expressed his national pride without hesitation.

I didn’t always enjoy Henning’s demeanor but I later respected his cultural dignity. The experience taught me to be more receptive to multiculturalism. What I thought was arrogance I gradually understood to be cultural pride. In my circle of friends I can identify Korean, Turkish, Indian, Egyptian, Japanese, Peruvian, and African American cultures. Henning has made me appreciate these rich cultures as well. It’s about accepting people for their race and culture.

Video

We have one excellent example of multicultural success center in our backyard: the neighborhood of Ballard. Seattle.net posted an article about Ballard’s amazing ability to embrace multiculturalism. The article says:

“Once the domain of Norwegian and Swedish fisherman, Ballard is an increasingly desirable place to live, shop, and experience the [multicultural] music scene and nightlife. This is not to say Ballard has lost its identity. Seattle still has a fishing fleet (located across Salmon Bay at Fisherman’s Terminal) and plenty of Norwegian speaking codgers hanging around coffee shops eager to tell you about the good old days. The Locks are a popular day destination, as is the Nordic Heritage Museum. Ballard is changing, but it has a pretty big reservoir of character.”

Ballard has managed to use its reservoir to benefit from multiculturalism showing the positive effects of accepting many cultures. But, all of this effort could be wasted if the issue is defined skin color and minority pride. It would also be wasted if Ballard became exclusive in favor of only Nordic Heritage.

Even here in and around Shoreline, there are cultural events going virtually unnoticed. From the time I was 1 year old until I was 8 years old, every May 17th I would plant myself with my family on the curb, or rest on the shoulders of my dad, on Greenwood Ave and watch the Norwegian Independence Day Parade , even though we do not hail from the fjords of Norway. The parade itself was multicultural because there were Filipino, Chinese, and Latino community girl drill teams. But, I myself did not remember this cultural experience until my father reminded me of it. In all the efforts made to raise awareness for minority ethnic groups, we could lose the cultures of European nations, which add to the multicultural society we live in. Thankfully all these cultures continue to march and celebrate together each May.

The word multicultural can be abused so easily. It often suffers from a deviation towards referring to minority cultures and not on the wide birth of cultures both of ethnic minority and European majority nations.

If Obama plays “the race card,” multiculturalism will be hijacked by his campaign and the media will celebrate this. It will suffer a blow because we will not be talking about Presidential qualities anymore. We will be talking about race and it will divide people. People will vote on color not on context, further dividing us into exclusion from other cultures. Multiculturalism will be diminished by those seeking to define it as racial pride and preference. We will be once again fighting “racial hygiene” as we saw in the 1960s.

me talk and kitchen

2008-03-04T07:07:00.000-08:00

HW: Read “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Lost in the Kitchen” in 50 essays. Analyze them for humor. How do the authors use specific details, hyperbole, and writing style to make you laugh (or at least smile?) Write a short blog post analyzing their styles of humor.
Me talk pretty ones day uses extreme humor in her interpretation of what the teacher is sayign in frech. SHe uses made up word spellings to show how she doesn' understandthe language. "Well you should ave been vkjsd more lsdkcds." The teacher says this to a girl in the class in france, but she only heard jibberish because she didn't understand what was being aid. That made me smile. I can relate because soemtimes when i hear a foreign language that is exactly what it osunds like to me.
Lost in kitchen uses exaggeraed truth that makes me smile. "but there is a famous law of physics that goes, 'you cannot watch small cildren and the detroit lions at the same time, and let's face it, the detroit lions are more interesting." Clearly there isn't a physics law taht says this, but it is amusing to think what it would be if men truly had a law for this. He makes use of stereoptypes ina funny way without trying to to belittle anyone. It appears that he is demeanign men more than omen for not helping out in the kitchen, so it seems to balance out He kind of pokes fun of himself.

Rasselas

2008-03-03T23:23:00.000-08:00

1 In the beginning of the selection, what complaint does Rassalas have against his sister’s method of argumentation?
He complains that she exaggerates only on the dark events that rarely happen like a car fire
2 Summarize the 2nd paragraph. Why is “calamity” not so bad?
OFten dreading omething is wrose than the acual event. We can be so fearful and anxious for something to happen that when it does, it doesn't eem all that bad. And life will go on, so it's important to keep ploughing forward.
3 Why does Rasselas believe that “marriage is one of the means of happiness?” What is his sister’s response?
Rasselas believes that marriage is dictated by nature and that men and women were made fr each other. HIs sister, however feels different. She sees how opposite some people are and how they argue and she doesn't feel taht marriage is so wonderful.
4 Summarize the 6th paragraph.
Rasselas is bringing up the point that his sister said that being celebate is a fate worse than marriage. So because she doesn't want to mary ut also doesn't want to remain celibate, these two opinions collide and cancel out, makign so that her mind can be clear to hear the "truth" whatever that may be.
5 The Princess’s response (“To the mind, as to the eye, it is difficult to compare with exactness objects vast…:”) is pretty complicated. What is the philosophical point she’s trying to make?
She is trying to make the point that whn we take in the whole picture of something not jsut look at it in sections, it is easier to let our opinions not show. So how her brother looks at marriage and how she looks at marriage are totally different, but if they step back and take look at marriage as a whole, things opinions won't matter.
6 What argument do the two have about marriage? What good does Rasselas see in it and what evil does his sister see?
Rasselas thinks that marriage is sacred by nature because men and women are made for each other. But, his sister believes that men and women are too different and too violent to be married. She doesn't like the arguing and passionate rage that comes with marriage. She sees evil in the arguing and how people are too afraid not to be married.
7 What rhetorical strategies do you see employed by both speakers? Be specific.
I think both speakers use logos. They are bringing up logical situations where marriage is good and where it is bad. Specifically i think there is parallelism in sentence structure used. "While Courts are disturbed with intestine competitions and ambassadors are negotiating in foreign countries" Noun verb, description. the syntax flow is very important to both speakers

In Cold Blood (outside reading book)

2008-03-03T23:15:00.000-08:00

I have observed quite a lot about Capotes writing in, In Cold Blood thus far through the novel. Capote's writing is very distinctive in the way he uses description. Capote paints such a clear picture with not only the landscaping, but also the actions of people. He goes into such tiny details to how the eople thought, like hoe Mr. Cluter liked "apple eating weather" and how Mr. Clutter felt about Kansas being perfect if there hwas just an inch more of rain.
I do wonder how he managed to paint such detail of each family members final day(s), however, since they clearly cold not be interviewed. I think it is possible that he used some fiction , especially for Mrs. Clutter. She was so reclusive that it seems impossible to have reconstructed her last day factually.
THe book is well written with respect to detail if not just a bit over detailed in some spots. ther are times when the details become overwhelming and no longer do i have a clear picture in my head, but i am falling asleep. But, regardless of my opinion, i find the book fascinating to read thus far and will continue to!

The Truth About Beauty

2008-03-03T20:40:00.000-08:00

Read The Truth about Beauty and analyze it as a definition essay. 250 word blog post. How does she define the word? What claim is she making? What examples does she use to back it up? Is she right? Explain.

The author is defining the word "Beautiful" as Dove does: That it is in everyone, people just need to recognize it. “Every girl deserves to feel good about herself and see how beautiful she really is.” But in addition to this, she claims that most women don't describe themselves as beautifulfor the same reason smart people don't describe themselves as geniuses: they don' feel they qualify. The author uses dove's campaign for the "regular woman" to back her claim. Dove made advertisements that stressed the unrealistic beauty of billboard models. They did this by showing how an "average" woman cbecoemes billboard flawless through touch-ups and heavy make-up. but, she also uses an example of a woman philosopher who would pay any amount of money to gain 15 points to her already above average IQ, not for plastic surgery or hair dye. This example showed now that the woman thought of herself as flawed, jsut that she wihed she had more. I do think she's right. I know very few girls who would consider themselves beautiful, whether out of low self-esteem or humbleness.

CLINTON OBAMA MCCAIN

2008-02-25T13:45:00.000-08:00

1. what are the benefits of good rhetoric to a politician? the limits?
In terms of pathos, logo, and ethos, a politician could use these to pull ppl to agree with them. Good rhetoric gets peple to listen to a politicins speech and agree with them. Politicians who know how to use good rhetoric can get voted into office simply on this. Rhetoric apppealing to the values and needs of the ciitizens can be used by politicians to basically get voted into office.
Used to get elected and stay elected
appeal to the people
But, good rhetoric can be used for bad things. Like, manipulating people to believe in something thats false or believe false things about something. Limits to what people will be persuaded to do.
aka : hitler

2. what do you already know about the 3 remaining candidates for President in terms of rhetoric?
obama: uses past speeches info from powerful figure in history (MLK)
uses "we"
personable

clinton: good in debates-relaxed
dodge around questions
answers questions she wanted to be asked not the real one at hand

mcCain: straight talk
scary- no smilehis experience comes through (referencees it)
acknowledge the fact that he isn't funny/ entertaining

why i want a wife

2008-02-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

1. What was your first reaction to the article?
My first reactionwas rage at the stereotyping present in the article. I couldn't believe all of the annoying and offensive things said about women.

2. What has changed (if anything) in terms of gender equality in our country? Would Sykes’s criticisms still be relevant today?
Women are becoming more corporate leders and there are less only stay at home moms. In the 50s women tyically ONLY stayed at home, but now its less common. It still happens though, like my mom only stayed at home when i was a kid. So, Sykes criticism would still be slightly relavent today.

3. Do you feel that women are discriminated against in our society and if so how? If not, what has changed?
I feel women aare definitely still discriminated against today because women make less women and are given lower jobs. Since teaching is typically a "woman's job," teachers make very little money. If it was mainly a guys job, they would probably make more. It's changed because now there you do see more women in ceo positions and there are laws protecting gender discrimination.

4. Could an equivalent essay entitled “Why I want a husband” be written? If so, what would it contain and what points would it make?
Yes, but the main thing it would contain is financial reasons for wanting a husband. The point of security through financial support, protection, and also having a husband's last name to promote yourself through society.

feminine mind 2

2008-02-25T09:53:00.002-08:00

Read the whole thing and in a 300 word blog post explain whether you agree, disagree, or qualify the main point Mencken is making about sex differences.

i agree ith any of the points that Mencken makes in his piece. I specifically agree with a few and they are as follows:

section 1. "She may envy her husband, true enough, certain of his more soothing prerogatives and sentimentalities. She may envy him his masculine liberty of movement and occupation, his impenetrable complacency, his peasant-like delight in petty vices, his capacity for hiding the
harsh face of reality behind the cloak of romanticism, his general innocence and childishness. But she never envies him his puerile ego; she never envies him his shoddy and preposterous soul."
There are qualities of males that women may envy, but above that she will never envy his ego and soul for she knows it is only troublesome

section 2. ""Human creatures," says George, borrowing from Weininger, "are never entirely male or entirely female; there are no men, there are no women, but only sexual majorities."'
no one is ever entirely male or female but a combination of the both with one side showing more favorably than the other

section 3. "What men, in their egoism, constantly mistake for a deficiency of intelligence in woman is merely an incapacity for mastering that mass of small intellectual tricks, that complex of petty knowledges, that collection of cerebral rubber stamps, which constitutes the chief mental equipment of the average male. "
Males mistake a lack of intelligence in women because she cannot do someone of the tasks an petty accomplishments males can.

I agree with each of these points being made. Mencken, i believe, supports his points well ith examples and does a thorough jo of convincing the audience to see and believe what he does. He has definitely convinced me, but iwas a little biased to begin with ;-)

Feminine mind

2008-02-25T09:53:00.001-08:00

1st paragraph graff

The general argument made by H.L.Mencken In his work, "The feminine mind," is that women are smarter and more aware than men. More specifically, Mencken argues that, women posses a higher intelligece and therefore regard men wih pity because of their brutish and arogant ways. He writes, "Women, in truth, are not only intelligent; they have almost a monopoly of certain of the subtler and more utile forms of intelligence." in this passage, Mencken is suggesting that Women are not only more intelligent than men, but contain a more useful forms of intelligence as well, like Gardner theories on multiple intelligences. In conclusion, Mencken's belief is that women are superior to men intelligentally because male arrogance gets in the way.

Listening to khakis article

2008-02-21T10:10:00.000-08:00

I liked the article! I think that the writer did a good job getting his points across and i totally agree. I like the folowing quote of..."Needless to say, it came from a men's magazine. "With men, you don't want the fluff," she said. "Women, though, participate a lot more in whatever they are processing. By giving them more cues, you give them something to work with. You don't have to be so literal. With women you can be more allusive, so you can draw them in. They will engage in elaboration, and the more associations they make the easier it is to remember and retrieve later on." He's saying that Women pay more attention to details and And actually like the details but guys don't want any details. It seems like men get bored with details, and i toally agree!

creative class dismissed

2008-02-05T14:19:00.002-08:00

But first, read this article called, “Creative Class, Dismissed.” about a teacher and her efforts to teach Rousseau. In a short blog post, summarize what Rousseau seems to be saying according to the teacher and how her students react to his argument. Then, compare and contrast that with your understanding of “The Creed of the Priest of Savoy” (Book 4 — scroll down to section 943).

"Rousseau has an overarching thesis that considers people to be good by nature but corrupted by society. My students like that, since it reassures them that it's not entirely their fault every time they do something bad, but rather that some larger social force "made me do it." And Rousseau articulates the longings in my students for more of a reason to live than competing for who's the best looking and smartest, or who ends up with the most toys."
The teacher is statig that Rousseau is explaining human fallicy by showing societies pressure upon them creating and adding to human fallicies.

"Many students tell me that reading Rousseau makes them conscious of the fact that ineluctably fascinating human wrongdoing almost always trumps the dullness of virtue, and that people who cheerily trumpet art (especially that which showcases bad behavior as entertainment) are blind to both art's power and its peril. One of my former seminar members recently wrote me that he was glad he'd read Letter to d'Alembert because he'd learned from it that, in the end, he prefers being miserable and loving art to his earlier childhood state of being happy and ignorant of it. This student was clear, at least: He was choosing art over virtue."
Students feel that they are more aware of their wrongdoings and the actions they commit against the arts.

"Whatever their ultimate opinions, I like to think Rousseau's essay humbles my students just a little, in just the right way, and at just the right moment in their lives. It reminds them that the kind of moral person they are becoming will never, ever hinge on the fact that they're getting a college degree. "
The teacher feels that students are more humbly aware of themselves and their actions from Rousseau's writing.

My understanding of "creed of priest Savvoy" is that the teacher in book 4 is telling students to have conscine on their actions of morality. Rousseaus work deals more with the arts and nature that the creed foes. Both do, however deal with the issue of morality and how best to act upon it.

animal liberation

2008-02-05T14:19:00.001-08:00

Read Animal Liberation by Peter Singer in 50 Essays and write a 2-paragraph Graff template post.

the general argument made by singer in his work, "Animal Liberation," is that animals should have equal rights as humans do. More specifically singer argues that animals shouldn't be disregarded when it comes to suffering (in animal testing) because they don't speak english, commujnicate as we do, and have a lower IQ than humans do. He writes that, "behavioral signs and knowledge of the animals biological similarity to ourselves together provide adequate evidence that animals to suffer." In this passage Singer is suggesting that we can tell by the actions of animals (that are similar to our own) and see that animals are suffering because no words are needed. In conclusion, Singers belief is that animals do suffer and shoud be given equal right to humans.

In my view Singer is right becausewords are ot the only awy to let someone know that you're in pain. More spedcifically i believe that language is a tool in letting otghers be aware of ones suffering, but behavioral sogns are a bigger clue. For example, young children (and babies), do not often use words to show that they are in pain, but we know tat they are because of the noises they make and the cringing and anguished actions they exhibit. Although Singer may object that other people may say that animal suffering is less than human suffering, I maintain that this is not so. Therefore i conclude that animals and humans sufer and feel pain in th same way.

socratic dialogue

2008-02-05T14:02:00.000-08:00

Write a Socratic dialogue in which you discuss with a Crito-like figure about Animal Rights. Use some of Socrates’s techniques of asking questions and leading his interlocutor to see an issue the way he sees it. He gets Crito to accept a general principle and then shows how his action fulfills that action.

C: why do you fight so hard for these anikmals who cannot speak as we do? There is no reason to believe hey feel as we do when they cannot communicate in our same manner

W: Crito do animals not make sounds of anguish when struck or beaten?

c: they do make sounds

w: are those sounds no painful to the ear?

c: they are

w: humans make paiknful sounds to hear when in pain as well

c: that i agree to

w: the who is to say that animals are in lesser pain becaus they do not speak when the sounds they make are in mirror to tthe sounds we make to let others know we are in pain. no words are needed to let someone know we are in pain. they need simply to look at our face andour eyes and hear the oujnds we make

c: that which you sayis true

w: what then do you have in rebuttle?

c: i have nothing to say

w: then i will continue to fight for these creatures for they too live, breathe, suffer, and die as we do.

exerpt from the coquest of happiness

2008-02-05T14:01:00.000-08:00

Questions

1) Explain the first sentence.
a. By todays standards, being happy and being “good” are one in the same. It assumes tat by being “good” you are happy.

2) Explain what Russell means by “In fact the whole antithesis between self and the rest of the world, which is implied in the doctrine of self-denial, disappears as soon as we have any genuine interest in persons or things outside ourselves.”
a. When we become interested not in ourselves but in helping those around us, then the whole conflict between ourselves and the world is useless and therefore disappears. There is no antithesis needed when we give up selfishness of our own accord

3) How effective is Russel’s simile of the billiard ball? Would he be better without it? A different metaphor?
a. I think it’s effective because most people in America that I assume he’s writing to, are accustomed to what a billiard ball is and therefore understand the metaphor. If he was writing to people inrural India he would need a different metaphor. But for the adience and oint to prove I think it works. It gets his point accros efeectively and simply.

4) Explain what Russell means by a “citizen of the universe.”
a. By not forcing one to choose between oneself and the world, a person is no longer limited to being a citizen of a nation but a citizen of the entire universe. They realize and receive a greater glory.

5) How is this essay like/unlike Singer’s Animal Liberation in style, tone, and content?
a. Singe uses more metaphors to explain his meaning I fel. He uses metaphors (references) to ifferent cultural struggles, people’s intlelligences, animal actions all vs. animal rights. I think his tone is much more “this is wrong,” where Russles tone is more, philosophical and “this is how I think it would help people to live.” Style is different with the pathos used in singer’s essay to get people to feel a certain way and then act on their felings. Russle uses more pathos in that it recognizes how people feel when they do certain actions for themselves and not, and then to get people to come together on common ground feelings. Content is widly diffeent because singeris discussing animal rights and their treatment by us, while Russell is trying to get people to feel differently abou how they act of selfishness towards people. Both deal with selfishness and conving someone to fel a different way about each of their subjects, but the more sspecific subjects are different between the pieces and how people are convinced each way.

dave barry like humor

2008-01-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

"it's ok, honey, you're blonde." Man if i had a peso for evey time i heard that, i could own an entire mexican village. Now what does having light hair have to do with intelligence is what a would likw to know?! Now i am aware that Paris hilton, Blonde britney spears and lindsey lohan, and elle woods don't do the blonde community justice. But i am also aware that the rest of us successful, pretty blones have to pay the price for these poor unfortunate souls (2 of which aren't even natural). Dyed blondes are about as natural as a screendoor in a sumarine. But the praise i receive after undestanding the punch line of a joke is quite welcome. It's nice to feel that i have just won the nobelprize weekly, which is the rate at which i fully comprehend other peoples jokes. i mean my jokes, oh theyre awesome!! But other people i guess just really aren't that funny unless theyre male, 6'5" with olive dskin, gorgeous eyes, and a body that could lift a hummer out of a ditch. Now those are funny people! And the blonde charm infused in my dna allows me to grab the attention of tese hilaarious people. i don't need an education. i have flaxen locks attached to my scalp and that justifys everything. But thats not my point! Wait what was my point?

Humor story comparisons

2008-01-25T13:26:00.000-08:00

Read “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Lost in the Kitchen” in 50 essays.

Analyze them for humor. How do the authors use specific details, hyperbole, and writing style to make you laugh (or at least smile?) Write a short blog post analyzing their styles of humor.

kill 'em crush 'em

2008-01-24T20:41:00.000-08:00

ABSENT
borrowed from yi

"The fact that John McMurtry can no longer move his neck without pain or move his arm lends credibility because he has suffered a great deal of personal injury because of the sport that he is criticizing. Therefore, he has had a lot of personal experience and knows what he is talking about.
2. It's interesting to see how many ways that football can be compared to war. The fact that presidents used to compare wars with football games and the fact that football terms mirror war terms convinced me that football wasn't necessarily the safest sport around (aside from the statistics on injuries). This comparison appeals to logos because it shows how football and its destructive aims are comparable to war and how these two things are extremely similar when analyzed thoroughly.
4. These findings support McMurtry's argument against the brutality of football because they show that Americans are starting to break down their society and reflect the violent tendencies of football/war.
5. There is the passage where the author is talking about how he had to suppress his natural desires and tendency and become more violent to play the sport of football.
7. McMurtry's audience is definitely the general American audience who watches and admires the sport of football and violence in general. The audience does not need to know much about football in order to know that there is a great deal of injury and immoral teachings.

Author's conclusion: football and war are alike. both support violence. both are organized. and other liberal Canadian babble about how football is too violent. "

Shipping out

2008-01-24T13:31:00.000-08:00

Read Shipping Out and in a 200-300 word blog post analyze the rhetorical strategies Wallace uses to describe luxury cruise lines. What is the author’s attitude towards luxury and how does he signal that in his rhetorical choices?

Wallace uses Pathos in saying "i know, i've been there, listen to me." Through the entire piece, each sentence (but the last paragraph)starts with "I have" and is follwed by some verb (seen, heard, smelled) that is generally related to one of the 5 senses. "I have learned that there are actually intensities of blue beyond very bright blue. I have eaten more and classier food ..." This is an example of the reetition and parallel phrasing used. His use of syntax in these ares is very qualified is not a bit over qualified.
I don't know if his atitude is neggative or positive. He speaks of the good sides to pampering on cruises, but at the end confuses ith his negative tone with how the pampering ideals are presented. "The fact hat adult Americans tend to associate the word "pamper" with a certain other consumer product is not an accident..." makes it seem like he's blaming advertising for spoiling americans. ut, i think over all his tone is positive with all of the pleasant adjectives used and parallel syntax.

killer bee video

2008-01-24T09:05:00.000-08:00

Next, watch this movie and in a blog post describe what happens in your best descriptive way (metaphors, sensory language, etc.) in a 300-400 word blog post.

This video, although it didn't quite work, was very interesting. I can see a lot of parallels to the real world even though the story was of bees and birds. The message i took away was that if you want somthing done, then you need to take action on your own. Authority isn't always beneficial and although bad things may come your way, the end result will be worthwhile.

Th pastell pink, spotted flowers dangling in cages are used to in a giant factory. the only honey bee in my view is tired and drooping. The floer is squeezed rithlessly, and the resulting juice set into a glass. The glass filled with the wine-red flower juice passes along a conveyor belt to the bee. The bee throws the liquid down its beak and hiccups. Then he/she throws the liquid back up into the glass. Only this time the liquid is frothing, bubbly golden honey.

Hockenberry accoun of working at Dateline NBC

2008-01-21T22:26:00.000-08:00

, I’m going to ask you to characterize his persona by including quotes as you might in a rhetorical analysis essay. Then, how would you summarize in one paragraph what H is claiming about network news. Finally, explain whether you agree, disagree, or qualifyingly agree/disagree and explain in one paragraph what you believe to be true about network news. 300 words blog post
"you don't understand our audience."

"I can say with confidence that Murrow would be outraged not so much by the networks’ greed (Murrow was one of the first news personalities to hire a talent agent) as by the missed opportunity to use technology to help create a nation of engaged citizens bent on preserving their freedom and their connections to the broader world." Hockenberry makes references to sttrong news media historical figures to show that he's well educated and knows what he's talking about.

"This was one in a series of lessons I learned about how television news had lost its most basic journalistic instincts in its search for the audience-driven sweet spot, the “emotional center” of the American people. " This is essentially what the article is about: the lack of educational knowlege presented in media. All thats being presented by the media are stories that kep viewers entertained, its a sidestep of hollywoor. News has become an extension of hollywood films.

Hockenberry is claiming that news media is not focused on bringing about issues that further the development of the citizens, but on keeping the viewers watching like its the next soap opera film of the year. I totally agree because the stories I see are all 30 sec to 1 min long and are the "tear-jerker stories." I feel as though i'm watching a movie.

arms and the man GROUP discussion

2008-01-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

mayuri, cecilia, whitney, paige, lisa

Take a look at the hook and the “I first heard…” paragraph. Why do you think she starts this way? What is intersting to her about the Toughman competition?
I think she starts with "i first heard..." to set the stage for her story. This way the reader knows exactly what he/seh is going to read about without being confused. To Kathy Dobie, what draws her in is the ," cruelty and potential for humiliation--the risk every fighter takes and every skiny girls takes in the ring." She haeard about the contest from her photography er friends in detroit.

Characterize her attitude towards West Virginia? Is it affectionate? Snarky? Condescending? Realistic? What?
Her attitude towards West Virginia is an attempt to be realistic but comes off condescending. It seems a "realistic" place to go to Dobie visit because she has a scewed image of the cruel side to the Toughman Contest, so her attitude comes off condescending. "West Virginia seemed teh perfect place to watch a Toughman Contest: it's very white and deeply working-cass." This fits her image of the contest but seems to have a negative tone to the reader.

In the Clarksburg paragraph she uses all kinds of figurative language? Why? For what purpose?
The figurative language makes Clarksburg seems unique to match the unique contest going on. The figurative language shows the elements of the town to mirror image the contest. Also, the figurative language is used to set the stage and give the reader a picture in their mind of what Dobie is seeing.

Describe how Dobie captures the character of Jerry Thomas. What does she focus on? Why? What is he doing in this story?
She describes his physical features and gives insite to the different elements of Jerry Thomas. She gives details about him that you could notice in the first 10 minutes of talkign with him so that it's an image of what she and other people see. Dobie is giving us a window into her mind/ eyes. She focuses mainly on these physical features and demeanor easily noticed. She includes him because he is basically teh "boss/ big man" of the comptetition. By including Jerry, the reader gains an image of who is behind the contest.

How does Dobie describe the women at the fight? Do they fight differently? Do you find it sterotypical or offensive? How does the author juxtapose the male and female participants?
He describes the women as having "no finesse." The men seem tobe there for teh glory and ego-boost, while the women are there for necessity of the monetary prize to help them with their lives, or simply for teh pleasure. The women fight differently because they don't "run away", but seem to stick together and duke it out in "one spot" until someone wins. The author just smoothly transfers from girl fights to guy fights.

What does Dobie find when she interviews Ferrel and Cogar? Does this fit into her thesis? Would she put them in if they had awesome jobs they loved?
She gfins out that they're only here because, "they had nothing better to do." The believed their lives were worth next to nothing, so might as well! This fits into her thesis as to the differences in why guys and girls fight. I don't think she would put them in if they had jobs they liked because throughout teh story she makes it seem like this is teh best taht's going on there.

Look at the descriptions of the fighting itself. How does the author use sentence structure and detail to capture the fighting?
Dobie uses a lot of detail in teh fights. "In round three, John takes a hit, seems to get tangled in his own feet, whils around, and falls face first into the ropes." THis gives follows her suit of providig with descriptive details to the readers so they don't jsut read about teh fight, they can picture it in their minds and feel liek they are there. She shows instead of tells.
She uses sentence structure taht mirrors teh fighting itself with adjectives liek "whirl" and visual images of the fighting to let the reader visually picture it.

Take a look at the ending. What does the writer leave us with? What point is she trying to make about motivation and the Toughman?
She leaves the reader with questions about society and the struggles of teh world. She gives the reader a sense of the bigger picture out int eh world. Dobie is trying tomake a point about motive in the toughman taht people would rather settle their problems with physical force because it is something tangible that people can deal with on a physical level. Racism is not something that can be dealt with physically, it is an emotional struggle.

To what degree has the author put herself into this story? Where do we see her subjectivity and bias? Is that a good thing?
Grab an effective quote from any section of the piece and discuss why you thought it worked. Be specific.
In teh econd to last paragraph we see the bias of Dobies that she believes taht all people in Clarksurg hate their jobs and lfe. " He's worked hard all day...but can't say he likes his job. Maybe he and his wife aren't getting along." She interviewed two fighters taht hate their lives and now suddenly believes taht all Clarksburg citizens hate their lives. This is jsut her personal bias, so we don't think it's necessarily a good or bad thing. For me personally it would be abad thing to have a negative outlook on the people in the town based on the views of a couple individuals. The author uses her in teh story to show teh reader what she's seeing which gives the reader a window in to her mind.

shotting dad

2008-01-10T13:31:00.000-08:00

Read “Shooting Dad” in 50 Essays and analyze it rhetorically. What strategies does she use to tell her story? Alternatively, find a good section from the radio program This American Life to listen to and analyze.

Sarah Vowell uses conversationall language to appear personable to her audience. She describes her childhood in terms easily understood by the general audience. Her use of pathos is exquisite as she comes accross as a normal person that anyone can relate to (women more than men, however). "It has been me experience that in order to impress potential suitors, skip the teen Debussy anecdotes and stick with the always attention-getting line 'My dad makes guns.'" She uses such common but effective language. Vowell does an excelent job of using fun slang words like "goofy" and sentences like "It's just really really cool." Vowell can use educated words and phrases but also casual ones too; there is a perfect balance.

on dumpster diving

2008-01-10T13:29:00.001-08:00

Read Lars Eighner’s On Dumpster Diving (in 50 Essays) and evaluate it as a piece of descriptive journalism in a 200-300 word blog post.

Eighner (E) gives a descriptive tail of not only his fascination with dumpsters, but his survival need of them. He informs the reader that he gets his life's ecessities (ecxer for jeans he mentions) from dumpsters. E is careful to use only the best terms to describe dumpsters and the "art" of dumpster diving.
After describing his own dumpster diving life experience, E goes on to describe the route peope take in becoming dumpster dvers themselves, a bit of a generic whats what, and who's who. E gives a tale of a typical dumpster diver and the journey he/she takes to become where they are in life. Not many people willingly choose the life of a dumpster diver, but then embrace their situation as time goes on.
A good quote i think is, "I think of scavenging as the modern form of self-reliance." E has turned his dumpster shyness into openmindedness. And he makes sure to show his patronage to dumpsers by always capitalizing the D on dumpster.

Baldwin/Buckley Persona

2008-01-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

Read all of “Why don’t we complain?” and this selection from James Baldwin write a 200-300 word blog post that contrasts the use of persona between Buckley and Baldwin.

I think the purposes of the pieces were extremely different. Buckley seemed to write his for the concern of the greater society and Baldwin for getting his own voice hear about his life. Baldwin's piece is an autobiography while Buckley's is an outreach to society. For this reason the persona was completely different. Buckley is seeming to say "hey look this is what i see, and this is not good." Where as Baldwin is saying, "this is who i am, where i have come from, and how i got where i am today." Because the purposes are completely different for each pieces it shows trough their writing. Baldwin is more interested in getting the audience to feel his life struggle and feel with him so he talks about himself and how he relates to society but not about soceity. Buckley's piece is a cry to society to change their passive ways so he uses anecdotes to get his point accross that he has been there and knows how it feels to not want to complain but in the bigger picture knows that it is unhelpful to have an entire nation of passive people. He doesn't use the entire piece as a story about himself bt rather peppers it with different enecdotal experiences.

The Edge Annual Question

2008-01-03T13:10:00.000-08:00

Alan Alda wrote a blog on how he changed his mind about how he viewed religion and his own personal beliefs on god. He has changed from religious to athiest to agnostic and is still contemplating and struggling with his views and a label for those views. It seems that alda's greatest problem is finding a term to associate himself with. he isn't religious but doesn't really believe he falls under the term atheist, since it's such a strong word, and so more closely associates himself with the term agnostic. i think he will definitely continue adapting his views and "labels."

New Years Question

2008-01-03T12:47:00.001-08:00

"What did you change your mind about in 2007." Do a 100 word blog post and then read at least 4 of the responses

I changed my mind about how much time I wanted to spend with my family. I started 2007 with wanting to spend as litle time as possible with my family to the end of 2007 where i spent many weekends sitting at home with my family watching movies and such. I changed my behavior to reflect my wish to be closer to my family. I believe this change in mind and attitude came with my realization that I was going to be leaving and going away to college in a year + less. As i went from junior year to senior year i decided taht i wanted to be spend as much time with my family as was possible since i would never again live under the same roof with both my siblings and my parents, which is very sad!

Presentation Zen

2007-12-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

The first article iread awas about presenting "naked," making your speech the honoset, simple, and fresh. He gives advice at the bottom of the post on how to give a "naked" speech. It is a long list that i included jsut to show an example of how he gives advice to his readers.

• Be present in the moment. Right here right now. Do not be occupied with thoughts of the future, of thoughts concerning what the results of your presentation might lead to. Do not ask about origins and ends leaving the moment forgotten. When you are with your audience, all that matters is that moment.

• Don't try to impress. Instead try to, share, help, inspire, teach, inform, guide, persuade, motivate... or make the world a little bit better.

• Keep the lights on. Find a compromise between a bright screen and enough room light for you to be seen. Do not hide in the dark — the audience came to see you as well as hear you.

• Forget the podium. Move away from obstacles that are between you and the audience.

• Use a small remote allowing you to have the freedom to move around the room/stage as you like.

• Don't attempt to hide. What's the point? Do not be evasive intellectually or physically.

• Do not become attached to your software — if your computer crashes, screw it...the show must go on immediately, not after you have rebooted. Stuff happens, move on. Your message is far greater than the technology helping you.

• Keep it simple. All of it. Simple goals, clear messages, and moderation in length.

• Are you just a bit cheeky? Then that should show in your presentations too. Let your personality shine through. Why hide one of your biggest differentiators?

• Be credible.

• Do not use "corporate-speak" — speak like a human being. You can not be naked if you say something like "best practices" or "empowering a new paradigm."

• Think of your audience as being active participants not passive listeners ("Passive listener" = oxymoron?).

• Be comfortable with yourself being "naked." It takes practice and it takes confidence. The confidence comes with practice. Audiences hate arrogance and cockiness, but they love confidence...if it is genuine.

• Never decorate your messages or your supporting visuals. Decoration is veneer. Think design, but never decoration. Design is soul deep, decoration is "Happy Birthday" placed atop a sponge cake.

• Think in terms of what makes a good meal and good design. Think balance, harmony, variety...and content that leaves them satisfied and delighted, yet wanting more.

He gives disclaimers to hi advice though too. The persona is that he is a logical guy giving logical information. he knows what he is talking about and therefore we shold listen! I could definitely use his advice on giving naked speeches for my pecha-kucha speech.

blog on political blog

2007-12-06T14:16:00.002-08:00

Read two political blogs and then blog yourself on how to blog attempts to persuade. How quickly did it take you to figure out the general orientation of the blog? Comment on the usage of logos, ethos, and pathos. What about the use of images? Comments? Links? Think about adding to their comments if you are so inclined.

The first blog i looked at was "instapundit.com." This blog had titles of the posts made on the main home page. In these titles, a few words of key important woudl be in blue and were the links to other posts or articles. By doing this, the author draws atention to his main focus and potentially his own opinion on the topic. He attempts to persuade readers by providing them with information, but information targeted toward a particular side of the opinion. I saw very quickly that this guy was not a Mike Huckabee fan sine there were many titles disputing or mocking him. There wer a few images and lots of links.

The second blog was "The corner." This article was a bit harder to figure out. Actually, I'm still not sure i really know what the over view of teh bloggers is. There were some pieces that were clearly pro a certain candidate, like Romney, and others, like ones about MIke Huckabee, are a bit more mixed and confusing. There were some that said he was a better theologist than political leader and others giving mixed message about his speeches given. I think the blog attempts to persuade by giving the people an option to get their own voice out there. There was one blog taht said this, "Romney wins in a romp. Positive and substantive.," which very clearly gets the point and opnion accross of this blogger. The overall blog is a piecing together from many different types of people. There aren't many links or pictures, mainly personal blogs.

op/ed story analysis

2007-12-06T14:16:00.001-08:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20071206/cm_csm/ysalih;_ylt=A0WTUcdgblhHs7cAOwb9wxIF

blog it by identifying the types of arguments used and their effectiveness, and plan a short group presentation of the editorial to the rest of the class.

The story i read was about a guy from Sudan. He gives insight to his own personal life about how what is hapening in Sudan affects him here in America. The author talks about the power of association in how people would associate the knews that they heard about Sudan to him, because he was teh only Sudanese guy they knew. Becase he was born here and it was his father who immigrated here during the 1970s, he feels "ashamed" sometimes of his heritage. When radical events occur in Sudan all he wants to do is disappear because the connection peple draw from him to Sudan is all to unpleasant. The type of argument he uses is informal pathos. He comes accross as a regular guy dealing with a probem and makes one feel empathetic to his case.

fallacies

2007-12-06T10:12:00.000-08:00

1. circular argument: " A viciously circular argument is one with a conclusion based ultimately upon that conclusion itself, and such arguments can never advance our knowledge."
2. slippery slope: A) non cuasa pro causa "If A happens, then by a gradual series of small steps through B, C,…, X, Y, eventually Z will happen, too. Z should not happen. Therefore, A should not happen, either."
B) vagueness "A differs from Z by a continuum of insignificant changes, and there is no non-arbitrary place at which a sharp line between the two can be drawn. Therefore, there is really no difference between A and Z."
"A differs from Z by a continuum of insignificant changes with no non-arbitrary line between the two.
Therefore, A doesn't exist."
3. either/or: simple contructive dilemna "Either p or q. If p then r. If q then r. Therefore, r."
disjunctive syllogism "Either p or q. Not-p. Therefore, q."
4. Post Hoc: non causa pro causa "event C happened immediately prior to event E. Therefore, C caused E."
"Events of type C happen immediately prior to events of type E. Therefore, events of type C cause events of type E."
5. anecdotal fallacy: personal experience/ story to prove a point
6. gamblers fallacy: "A fair gambling device has produced a "run". Therefore, on the next trial of the device, it is less likely than chance to continue the run."
ex "You have flipped a fair coin and gotten a run of seven "heads" in a row.
Therefore, the chance of "tails" on the next flip is better than half."
7. hasty gernalization: "This is the fallacy of generalizing about a population based upon a sample which is too small to be representative. If the population is heterogeneous, then the sample needs to be large enough to represent the population's variability. With a completely homogeneous population, a sample of one is sufficiently large, so it is impossible to put an absolute lower limit on sample size. Rather, sample size depends directly upon the variability of the population: the more heterogeneous a population, the larger the sample required. For instance, people tend to be quite variable in their political opinions, so that public opinion polls need fairly large samples to be accurate."
8. ad hominem: "A debater commits the Ad Hominem Fallacy when he introduces irrelevant personal premisses about his opponent. Such red herrings may successfully distract the opponent or the audience from the topic of the debate."
9. Straw Man: "In a Straw Man argument, the arguer argues to a conclusion that denies the "straw man" he has set up, but misses the target. So, the fallacy is not simply the argument, but the entire situation of the argument occurring in such a context."
10. Tu Quoque: "Tu Quoque is a very common fallacy in which one attempts to defend oneself or another from criticism by turning the critique back against the accuser. However, as a diversionary tactic, Tu Quoque can be very effective, since the accuser is put on the defensive, and frequently feels compelled to defend against the accusation."

PARAGRAH 1
I decided to go buy a brand new pair of ugg boots since I had read on the Vogue fashion website and talked to the Nordstrom shoe salesmen and they highly recommended the shoe. When I mentioned this to my friend Kelsey, she was aghast at the notion. She told me that her sister had a pair of uggs that only lasted for a month. After a month period of time the shoes leaked and started to fall apart. She thinks uggs are the worst quality shoe brand out there. She had to have toes removed because they got frostbitten when she wore the uggs in the snow and they fell apart. (anecdotal fallacy)

PARAGRAPH 2
There is no way I am going to side with you on this topic. You're saying that we should give less of the tax money to the public schools? How would we fund the schools without taxes? You don't pay for public school because it's required to attend. Without the necessary funding then the school systems would fal and students would not learn and become productive adults. How would we have a functioning society?

PARAGRAPH 3
I might go to school today feeling sick. But, by going to school feeling sick I might fail my calculus test. By failing my calcuclus test I could not get any good grades and then not get into college when I submit my semester grades. By not getting into college I will end up homeless on the street watching all of my successsful friends pass me by. Therefore, I should not go to school today because I am sick.

Malcom X

2007-12-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, we’ll listen to Malcolm X’s speech Ballot or the Bullet and analyze it according to logos, pathos, and ethos. For homework, write a 500 word blog post that examines at least 2-3 incidents of each.

Malcom X uses logical reasoning to convince his listeners that he is a reasonable person. "’m a Muslim minister. The same as they are Christian Ministers, I’m a Muslim minister. And I don’t believe in fighting today in any one front, but on all fronts. In fact, I’m a "Black Nationalist Freedom Fighter." Islam is my religion, but I believe my religion is my personal business. It governs my personal life, my personal morals. And my religious philosophy is personal between me and the God in whom I believe; just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe." Malcom X is using ethos to show that he is a logical fighter just like the Christian ministers he mentioned in above paragraphs.
Malcom X also appeals to anger of other black people by using the threatening style to show the white leaders that 'their glory days are over.' "By the same token, the time when that same white man, knowing that your eyes are too far open, can send another negro into the community and get you and me to support him so he can use him to lead us astray -- those days are long gone too." He is threating the white leaders that their days of controlling the black people are over. What the white political leaders were doing angered teh black people as well, which is why he is appealing to their anger. He also appeals to anger by stating, "So we’re trapped, trapped, double-trapped, triple-trapped. Anywhere we go we find that we’re trapped. " he uses a paragraph long explaination of the suffereing and pains that the black people face in Harlem, and elsewhere!
He uses logic to also say, "'Cause if you're black you should be thinking black, and if you are black and you not thinking black at this late date, well I’m sorry for you." This shows his reasoning and logic behind his own philosophy to life and religion. He is very blatent and bold about what he says.

synthetic essay

2007-11-29T14:16:00.000-08:00

how did i do on essay...what can be improved for my writing in the essay....general essay rules:incorporate the sources into writing...make it fit not just plug it in bcuz you have to

I think I did reasonable well on the essay. It is hard for me because I did not have APUSH last year so I have never done a timed synthetic essay. So I probably did not do as well as I feel on it. I think my writing needs to be improved. We wrote so much for AP english last year and I feel like my writing is slipping. I think I need to improve my analysis skills. That's somethign i worked really ahrd on last year but this year I haven't so my analysis and conclusion skills have dropped dramatically. For general essay rules I think for synthetic essays I need to work on not jsut plugging in quotes, like I may have done last year, but really incorporating the imformation so it's more fluid. I think the pieces are supposed to flow and feel like there is no break in thought event with a quote.

common sense- thomas paine

2007-11-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

a) a summary: Thomas Paine is discussing the pro's of society and the formation of soceity, and the con's of government. he is very pro-starting a society and keeping people united together for one cause, but believes that government ruling is evil. He goes on to describe a scenario where four or five men together can bild up a house, but one man alone can slave all day and accomplish nothing. People are naturally drawn together for want of safety but once people obtain safety, they no longer need governments.
paragraph one is making the statement that society = good and government = bad. introducing the idea that he prefers society over government. He says that other writers say that society and government are the same thing but they are very different in reality. Government is a necessary evil in his eyes because governmtn is there for bad side of our nature and society for the good side of it
paragraph two is about supporting his thesis made in teh first paragraph. government is there because our conscience isn't strong enough and we don't obey our conscious to the point of being just. governemtn is there for faults and lack of ability to listen to conscious. build government palace on lost innocence. badgeon ....metaphor to adam and eve having to ear clotes to us needing government.
paragraph three is an extended metaphor proiding an example to a claim before in the previous paragraph about the "design and end of government." people naturally try to connect with each other and they have lots of ideas of what they want it to look like, but one man can't do it on his own. They all have to work together. it's important for us to see that we need ea ch other and that we need each other because we can't do our own thing.

b) an analysis of the logical argument (fact, claim, warrant)
fact: To me it is unclear if he contains any facts in the piece since it is an incredibly opinionated point of view and discussion.
claim: he claims that people would be better off with no goverment and just society.
warran: he gives scenarios where people working together are more effective and beneficial than the instillment of a government.

c) rhetorical strategies: parallelism "happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices" demonstrate that there are two sides to one coin...yin/yang....
metaphor with palaces built on bowers of paradise.
logical arugment/ analogy." if the people are doing blank, then logically blank."

ARGUMENT BY ANALOGY*****
playing if-then / hypotherical

he $114.69 Speech Poplice

2007-11-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

Facts: University of Montana < $100 Condidatre spendy 2) a sum allocates fees 3) in 2004 Flint ran for student senate 4) Flint spent $214.69 on posters and pizza and won 5) there were posters attacking him put up around teh school 6) he exceeded the limit fo money allowed to spend on elections = Flint ki9cked out of senate 7) Flint sues and loses in district

Claims: Flint should be allowd to spend $ on candidency w/ only a few restrictions.

Warrant: It's not fair to let interest groups spend lots and other people less.

The warrant is implied. The facts kind of match the claim. The article is comprised mainly of a lot of facts. The author deals with rebuttals by

Freedom's just another word

2007-11-25T18:54:00.000-08:00

Facts: australians are required to vote 2) if they fail to comply they're fined 3)currently less than 51% of ppl vote in the US 4) 90%+ voter turnout in Australia

claim: if americans had this system people would participate more in voting

warrant: We are a non-participating democracy and we would be more traditional democracy if more people voted.

The claim is implicit. Yes, the facts match up with the claim. The author deals with rebuttals by stating that

Presidential Speech

2007-11-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

Never before has there been a question about the Presidential cabinet chosen. Questioning leads to confusion, confusion leads to chaos, and chaos leads to the destruction of what American’s hold dear: tranquility. I have had no part no this conspiracy that is leading people down the road to destruction. The people have asked of me, but now I am asking of the people. I ask all of the American people to hold faith in me, in their leaders, and in the democratic system we all hold so dear. There is nothing iIwant more than for the great nation of the United States of America to prosper and I am not willing to let this outlandish scandal to get in the way of that goal. I am your President and I am here to say I will do everthing in my power to make sure America stays along the straight path. Thank you

Thoreau

2007-11-06T13:23:00.000-08:00

I had/have an extremely challenging time trying to figure out what Thoreau is talking about in his piece, "Where i Lived, and What i Live for." I believe he's talking about living simply and living for oneself. He uses repetition of the word "simplify" and "simplicity," to get his point across in the second paragraph. Thoreau also uses long extended sentences with many comas. I think he uses this technique to show the invalue of life when we go for quantity not quality. He makes a point of saying we don't need a million objects but "only half a dozen."
i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if i could not learn what i had to teach, and not, when i came to die, to discover that i had not lived. - in teh woods is "real life" and everything else is "not life." a way for him to not focus on "petty" and unessential parts to life. Woods allows you to strip off modern and unnecessary parts of life. antithesis in "...and to see...." to the end. other stuff in life outside of woods is frivolous.
from begining of time life has had meaning so wants to return to roots of humanity (spartans).
live meanly = lives cramped and useless and unhappy

Singularity

2007-11-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

The Kurzweil article is a bit difficult to understand if he's speaking negatively or positively about technological advances. He says that it will eradicate diseases and end world hunger and pollution which to most people are good things. But, he has this negative under-tone that makes it seem like he believes that technological advanaces are not all good. Personally I am just confused.
McKibben's article is a lot easier to understand. He says all of the great thigns that science advacnements are creating but then goes on to say that it's destroying the very thing that makes us human: unpredictability. He says that theses flaws give mearning to life. It's teh "weight" taht holds us to grounded and he made a quote that once technological advances snip away all that is holding us, we will "float away to meaninglessness." That is a bit scary to think about!
Personally I do agree. I think flaws and bad experiences make the good times more meaningful because we have somethign to compare it to! IF there's no disease to threaten life, how will we be able to appreciate living? IF we can't die, how do we appreciate life? There are a lot of questions with no answers and just more "snipping" at the lines that keep us tied down to ameaningful and happy life

synthetic essay

2007-10-29T21:01:00.000-07:00

The impact of the television on the people of this nation has increased through each coming year. Yet, this influence is not necesarily all for the better. While the media does its best to send informatino out to the people, on the topic of presidential elections there is controversey. It apears as though the television has unsuspectedly help make presidential debates focused more on which candidate is more impressive on screen than who is presenting the best ideas.

Presidential candidates are asked to appear on talk shows of all ranges from CNN to MTV. These public appearances through television seems as though it would be of value to the public, but in reality actually backfire on the candidates. "...because of television’s celebrity system, Presidents are losing their distinctiveness as social actors and hence are often judged by standards
formerly used to assess rock singers and movie stars..." (Source B). Presidents judged and evaluated on the same level as movie and rock stars is certainly not the motive or point of their television interviews. The President of the United States of America has histrically been viewed as a person of dignity, honor, and respect. Television interviews change and demean this appearance by making teh President feel more like a peer than a leader. "...because of television’s sense of
intimacy, the American people feel they know their Presidents as persons and hence no longer feel the need for party guidance..." (Source B). Having a personable President is important but one that still stands out as a leader is more important. This is not attainable if teh Presidents are appearing on talk shows that demean their authority.

The image of the President is important but it should not be the governing factor as to which Presidential candidate deserves to be sworn in. Television has made it so that Presidents who have the most influencial appearance during a broadcasted candident debate receive the most support. '. . . “Our national politics has become a competition for images or between
images, rather than between ideals,” [one commentator] concluded. “An effective President must be every year more concerned with projecting images of himself.” (Source C)' Is not the object of becoming President to help create the best nation we can be? Having a President be elected based on appearance on television is not only wrong but terrifying. Poor Presidents could be sworn in simply because they appeared the most impressive. This is not helpful to the nation or its people. Theodor H. White "believed that Kennedy’s “victory” in the debates was largely a triumph of image over content. (Source C)" White had the correct idea that television broadcasted debates were, and are, increasingly unhelpful to the American peoples' ability to elect the best President for our nation. The television screws our views and opinions on who really is the best option.

There is, however, a positive side to all of the negativity. "One of the great contributions expected of television lay in its presumed capacity to inform and stimulate the political interests of the American electorate. (Source A)." Whether the broadcasting source decides to take full advantage of their power for the good of informing the truth to the public is entirely up the the specific news source. All of the potential is there for the television to help inform the American public on the presidential promised contributions to the country, but the news source needs help make a broadcasted presidential debate more aboutt he issues and less about image. Most of the power lies within the networks ability to lay out the raw facts and not scewed data. The cards have been laid. Who will draw the most correct, truthful, and helpful hand?

Women's Brains

2007-10-24T11:51:00.000-07:00

After reading the article about women's brains I almost wanted to go perform a masectomy. It is incredible how pig headed these male "scientists" could be. The only convincing point made to me was that the male ego was (is) too large. The "evidence" is way too vague to be considered credible They come up with information and then jump to a conclusion without drawing rational connections or considering the posiblity of other probable explanations.
I think the author does an ok job of keeping his/her own biasis out of the piece, but they could definitely do a better job. The beginning was more confusing and i had troule distinguishing the author's views from the views of Broca. As the piece continued, however, the author began to distinguish their ideas from the ideas of the scientists they were quoting. "I have reexamined Broca’s data, the basis for all this derivative pronouncement, and I find his numbers sound but his interpretation ill-founded, to say the least. " Here, halfway through the piece at paragraph 15, the author says that he/she don't agree with Broca's interpretation. This is the first instance I saw of the author's opinion disagreeing with Broca's opinion(s).
My reaction to the piece ccan be summed up in the word 'disgusted.' I supposed it's not that suprising how extreme teh male scientists views were on the "inferiority" of women since they lived in a different time, but I still felt the same gut-wrenching fury at their behavior. This type of research and personal bias interpretation in science would not stand today and I'm glad. It gives me reassurance in the progression of society.

Innovation

2007-10-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

All of the ideas that were discussed on Monday were excelent ideas. I didn't really have any of my own, so I will high light a few that I thought were the best. I really liked the idea of showing how technology connects different people of different cultures. I also liked the idea of going from black and white to color in the video. A small idea of my own is showing the evlutino of a product maybe, like the ipod. We could show how it went from tape to cd to mp3 to the many differnt forms of ipods. Or we could do it for the telephone or computer or many different objects. There are numerous ideas out there and I'm loking forward to seeing the final products.

Wikipedia

2007-10-18T14:19:00.000-07:00

I love wikipedia. If I can't find a topic on wikipedia then something must be wrong because wikipedia contains everything, to me. If something sounds fishy, it's possible to cross reference the information. WIkipedia provides the references used to write their articles and this is such a good idea; it gives people more articles to read on the topic of their choice without taking the information wikpedia provides as the almighty truth.
I do agree with Lanier that we need to approach it with some skepticism, but I don't think it's a bad site. I think people using Wikipedia just need to use commmon sense.

comparison death of a moth

2007-10-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

Anne's "Death of a Moth" has more of a detached feeling with the moth because she is describing waht she witnessed. Anne uses a lot of 'I's but doesn't really give the whole feel of becoming one with the moth and going inside the moth's mind. Woolf, however,portrays the moth as a person and not a detached object.
Anne's metaphor choice is the fact taht the moth dies, but its body/head burns for another 2 hours giving light for her to read. This is a metaphor to the fact that whn you write a poem, "your head should be on fire." Today we read the works from those whose bodies are gone but their "heads on fire." They have given us light to read.
Woolf's metaphor is more about the weak people, like the moth who died, and portraying them through the moth. The moth symbolizes the pathetic people in the world.
Syntax for Anne is more personal than the eloquent poetic form of Woolf's work. Anne does have some poetic parts but Woolf's entire piece is poetic feeling.

technology and science

2007-10-16T12:59:00.000-07:00

I love science. I am a total science nerd and love discovering new things about the world around us. When i grow up i am lookig to go into a sicnece field. This does not mean, however, that I feel everyone should think and act like a scientist. If we had a world full of scientists it would be pretty boring because there would be nothing new left to discover, everything would have already been done. Science helps those without scientific skill learn about the world around us. If everyone were to be involved in science there would be nothing and no one left to teach defeating teh purpose.
I don't know if there is a "best way" to look at the world. I think everyone needs to find what's right for them. Looking at the world in a scientific manner is what works for me but I know it doesn't work for my friend who is an english junkie. She does't understand things the way I do and that's fine. We are different and it makes our friendship more interesting. It's not really fair to say that the scientific method is the best way to look at the world. Just because it works for one person doesn't mean it will work for the majority.
Now technology is different. We have a very love-hate relationship. I love the conveniences technological gadgets provide, yet i hate it when they break down and don't hold up to my view of their "immortality." For example, I love having a cell phone and it's practically glued to my hand at all times. I cannot imagine what people did 20 years ago. But, when it breaks it seems as if my world is ending. How do I get a hold of people? How am I going to knwo when someone want's to talk to me? What happens is that cute boy I gave my number to tries to call? My head nearly explodes under the stress. So on that note, yes I do wish I could change my relationship status with technology. I would like he/she/it to stop leaving me and to stay with me forever. I am very needy when it comes to technology.

Death of a Moth

2007-10-15T18:49:00.000-07:00

Use metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, irony, and syntax to comment on Woolfe’s strategies, purposes, and style.
The metaphor of the piece is the moth for the people of pure life who don't know what's coming. Moth's are blind to teh dangers that are ahead of them. It is ironic that the moth's are so beautiful and pure of life, according to the author, and then it dies. So the fact that it is pure energy/life and then dies so it was ironic. The syntax of Woolf is long and eloquent just like the moth. The syntax is graceful, but confusing in language just as a moth is.

The Plastic Pink Flamingo

2007-10-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

I think the grader's critiques were very accurate. The essays were very dificult to read and the students gave many "glittering generalities" as Mrs. Hastig would say. They didn't give a lot of proof and explanation to teh rhetorical analysis points they were trying to make. I do, however, feel that all 3 essays were not quite ~4.31 material. The third one was actually written quite well and was consice and to the point, which made it pleasant to read. The first essay was so long that it felt like it was dragging on and was unpleasant to read. In general I would have given the essays an average of a 5 with the exception of the third essay which I believe deserved a 7-8.

"Learning to read"

2007-10-02T14:05:00.000-07:00

The article "Learning to read" discusses one slave's journey to becoming literate. Frederick Douglass uses eloquent words to show how he's developed from his former illiterate state to his "new found" education. He describes the process of self-education and education from young children and then his unquenchable thirst for books. A spark of knowledge ignighted his passion for reading.

"On the Pleasure Of Hating"

2007-10-02T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hazlit's "On the Pleasure of Hating" makes a point out of saying that we hate out of boredom, a will for variety, and delight in being michievious. He uses half a paragraph for examples ofpeople taking sport in "hateful" activities to draw analogies to the point he's trying to get across (as bystanders or participants) ex. id killing fly, men assemle eargerly to watch tragedy, etc.) During the piece he uses lots of exclamation points to make it seem as though he's permaently yelling to get his point accross (he's passionate about his beliefs)
"The pleasure of hating, like a poisonous mineral, eats into the heart of religion, and turns it to rankling spleen and bigotry; it makes patriotism an excuse for carrying fire, pestilence, and famine into other lands: it leaves to virtue nothing but the spirit of censoriousness, and a narrow, jealous, inquisitorial watchfulness over the actions and motives of others." This quote is significant because it's references the title and seems like a second thesis. Hazlit also uses very powerful words and large big words (it makes it seem like he's "spitting fire" with a "silvr tongue").
Hazlit uses an extended metaphor, hating a spider, to symbolize the hatred for a person. He personifies the spider by giving it human qualities (a personality of being afraid) and refers to it as a person.

MLK's "A Letter From Birmingham Jail"

2007-09-19T21:38:00.000-07:00

MLK’s “A Letter From Birmingham Jail,” is long and powerful in it’s rhetorical techniques used. In the very beginning of the letter he starts off appealing to the readers’ by complimenting them. “But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statements in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms.” He is complimenting the readers’ on their good judgment and character and starts the letter off on a high note. MLK then goes on to use examples from bible, other places (continents like Asia and Africa), and movements to let his readers’ know that he’s educated and rational. “…just as the Apostle Paul left his village of Tarsus and carried the gospel of Jesus Christ to the far corners of the Greco-Roman world, so am I.” He is appealing to the readers since many of them belong to the Methodist and other forms of churches in the south. MLK also thoroughly explains what he’s doing and more importantly WHY he’s doing what he’s doing to let the reader’s know that he is also a logical person.
“I think I should indicate why I am here In Birmingham-Several months ago the affiliate here in Birmingham asked us to be on call to engage in a nonviolent direct-action program if such were deemed necessary. But more basically, I am in Birmingham because injustice is here.”
MLK acknowledges the fact that people are questioning why he is in Birmingham and goes in depth to explain what called him to be there. This way he lets his readers know that he’s not irrational in his actions. Throughout entire piece he says, “well you may think or say or other may…” and then goes on to explain why he’s doing what he’s doing, sometimes in spite of what others think should be done. “You may well ask: "Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches and so forth? Isn't negotiation a better path?" You are quite right in calling, for negotiation. Indeed, this is the very purpose of direct action.” MLK makes a point of noting other people’s concerns and then goes on to confirm that their concerns have not been said in vain, but are actually the main driving force in the very campaign they all fight for. There are countless other rhetorical techniques MLK uses but the ones I feel that the ones I have noted are most significant in grabbing the readers and keeping them hooked into believing what he’s doing.

i believe essay comparison

2007-09-17T18:20:00.000-07:00

Both essays I read from “I Believe Essays.com” had very clear personal credo’s but they were distinctly different essays. Robin Baudier’s essay covered an unusual blessing in terrible circumstances, while George Bowering discussed the joy and divine serenity in music, poetry, and becoming involved in an artist/author’s mind through their work.
The two essay’s share a common ground when they speak of a divine and higher power. Baudier’s essay discusses her belief in divine power when she talks about being blessed even in unwarranted circumstances. Bowering’s entire essay is centered around his belief in the divine and a spiritual connection between people when they experience the mind of another person. Both author’s believe in a spiritual being having control in their lives.
Each author’s purpose differs as well. Baudier shares her experience in her essay, while Bowering is about explaining, demonstrating, and encouraging the reader to share in an experience that he has had. But, both are very effective with their rhetorical strategies. Baudier’s essay, however, uses a personal rhetorical strategy to connect with readers. She gets on the same level as the reader and uses descriptions of her family and doesn’t try to sound above the reader. Bowering, however, uses very visual descriptions to get inside the reader’s head and connect with them on that personal level.

Persona:
Bowering gives his persona by saying who he is and name-dropping big name artists. He makes a statement about his belief and then backs it up with examples and real-life experiences.
Baudier gives her persona by make it known that she is well familiar with her home-town and is well educated and persevering because she worked hard for two years to finally get the job she wanted, only to quit because of hurricane Katrina.

aztecs vs. greeks

2007-09-17T18:19:00.000-07:00

I believe that Charles Murray is right to a certain extent. He makes a valid point in that people of exceptionally high intelligence need to use their knowledge for the greater good. Their knowledge should not go un-used and un-appreciated, but only if they are using it to benefit the greater society. People with exceptional intelligence are blessed and should share their blessing with others. Therefore, they should be allowed to attend a different school to hone their talents, but a school that teaches and helps the students to use their talents for useful and beneficial activities.
What happens to those people who are not exceptionally gifted intellectually? They should definitely not be ignored! There needs to be a balance created between the two groups of people to great stability and harmony. A world with only intellectually gifted people would not only be boring but there would be no means for which to measure growth and learning, everyone would be the same. Each person has a gift, talent, opinion, etc. and whether they are intellectually gifted or not everyone is important to the progress of society. Everyone has something to give and should give it! It is not possible to ignore the greater percentage of society and look down upon them. Society should also strive to push for excellence in those people not exceptionally gifted. This way society can grow, develop, progress, and become balanced.
So yes, I do agree with Murray that those people who are blessed with exceptional talents should hone their skills and use them to be beneficial. But, I disagree that all attention should only be focused on those exceptionally intellectual. That would mean the rest of the population is “wasted.” Everyone should receive special attention and equal opportunities specified to their talents. This way everyone can benefit from those exceptionally gifted people ad flourish on their own.

Burke's parlor metaphor

2007-09-17T18:17:00.000-07:00

"Where does the drama get its materials? From the “unending conversation” that is going on at the point in history when we are born. Imagine that you enter a parlor. You come late. When you arrive, others have long preceded you, and they are engaged in a heated discussion, a discussion too heated for them to pause and tell you exactly what it is about. In fact, the discussion had already begun long before any of them got there, so that no one present is qualified to retrace for you all the steps that had gone before. You listen for a while, until you decide that you have caught the tenor of the argument; then you put in your oar. Someone answers; you answer him; another comes to your defense; another aligns himself against you, to either the embarrassment or gratification of your opponent, depending upon the quality of your ally’s assistance. However, the discussion is interminable. The hour grows late, you must depart. And you do depart, with the discussion still vigorously in progress."

RESPONSE!
According to Burke, intellectual discussion is unending. It has been started before our time and will continue on after our time. He uses the metaphor of a heated discussion to bring some visual effect into mind; and we are just a momentary addition to the never-ending discussion. We come into the discussion as if entering a river along the side bank, not at the source or mouth. The main emphasize of Burke’s commentary is on the timelessness of intellectual conception. In the second sentence he already uses the phrase “unending conversation.” Right off the bat Burke is setting the notion you are not beginning or ending the discussion. A parallel metaphor is to imagine becoming a student at Oxford University. The university was there before you attended and will continue to exist after you have graduated. You, the student, are merely a contribution to the great learning that goes on.
The metaphor Burke uses values the discussion in order to attain a deeper level of learning and intellectual growth. It is not possible to have an intelligent conversation where there is no presentation of opposing ideas to make people think deeper into why they believe what they believe. Simply stating an option does not necessarily mean someone has intelligence.
Burke’s metaphor does, however, skims over the growth that does happen during an intellectual discussion. Each new point made brings out new ideas and concepts that might not have been thought of before. The more thoughtful and challenging the question or statement, the more discoveries are made. It’s a two lane street not a one way road.

shooting an elephant

2007-09-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

The author of “Shooting an Elephant” uses phronesis to convey is attitude about shooting the elephant. He makes it very clear that he is a European and therefore higher up than a Burmese and by extension, more logical. I had committed myself to doing it when I sent for the rifle. A sahib has got to act like a sahib; he has got to appear resolute, to know his own mind and do definite things. When is in inner turmoil trying to decide whether or not to shoot the elephant, he goes about justifying his final decision to make him seem logical and not as uncertain and “spine-less” as he really was. Going through the agony of indecisiveness, the author came to some realizations about imperialism and the British Empire in general. The author then uses virtue to explain his beliefs and insight into the inner workings of tyranny. He makes the connection explicitly between his inability to go with his gut and not shoot the elephant when he has those 2000 Burmese behind him watching and imperialism. “And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man's dominion in the East.” The author gets a glimpse into the “behind the scenes” of what the British rulers may have felt with regard to Burma. His attitude gets conveyed and skewed by the subconscious pressure put on by the people watching even though he consciously considers the Burmese to be lower than him. Had he been on his own, the author would not have shot the elephant. But, with so many people watching him and expecting him to shoot it, he “knew” he had to because he didn’t want to appear weak and/or get laughed at. It’s the same type of feelings that teenagers deal with in social settings. Peer pressure is extremely powerful and, unfortunately for the elephant, extremely effective.