Wednesday's (4/1) Quiz

The title of this paper is "A Whole Lot of Substance or a Whole Lot of Rhetoric?". The author of this paper then must assume that he has set up a dichotomy for his audience, because he does not present the choice between the two as strange, but rather difficult. This article treats rhetoric as a cloak behind which the governor of Maine has hidden the substance of his policy. The author of this article also operates under that assumption that there is a discernible distinction between the rhetoric of a speech and its substance.

Based on specific examples from the latter two articles and one from an assignment in this class, is there actually a distinction between rhetoric and the substance of communication? If so, what is it? If not, why not? How does this affect you specifically.

Please prepare an outline to bring into class Wednesday. You will have half an hour to write this essay, and you will turn in your outline with the essay.

Originality

Last week we listened to a TED talk by Mark Ronson who talked about one of the most sampled songs of all time “La Di Da Di,” by Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh's from the 1980’s. I found this podcast to be really interesting because it changed my view on what originality really is. Wikipedia defines originality as the aspect of created or invented works by being new or novel, and thus can be distinguished from duplicates or derivative works. “Originality is synonymous with other terms such as innovation, novelty, ingenuity, and encompasses a new idea or approach that departs from the traditional or previously established forms (Timothy 1). Originality does not mean coming up with an idea that has never been thought about before, but it means taking old ideas and putting them together in new ways. In the TED talk Ronson talks about sampling which is reinventing something old to such an extent that it becomes something new. One of the things I liked the most about this podcast was when Ronson played “La Di Da DI” and then played another song by an artist who took his original lyrics and turned them into their own. One example he gave was in Miley Cyrus’ song where she took the lyrics from “la di da di, we like to party” and changed them into “la da di da di, we like to party.” She took an original piece and sampled it into her own words. Every idea, invention, or song is built of something that came before it. Whether we steal or we borrow, we are always re-inventing stuff from the past.

"Originality." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Ryan, Timothy. "The Art of Originality." The Art of Originality. N.p., 2015. Web. 30 Mar. 2015.

Homework for 3/25

Please listen to this piece: http://www.npr.org/programs/ted-radio-hour/?showDate=2015-03-20 and be prepared for a quiz on it on Wednesday.

Multimedia Presentation

http://prachienglish.blogspot.com/


For my mulitmedia presentation I created a blog that advocated the racial disparities in education. This project really showed me and hopefully others how much the educational gap between minorities and whites is not diminishing. Going into this topic, I was very skeptical on how I would feel towards the issue and how others would perceive it. I was fortunately surprised when I researched more about the topic and found out how interesting and controversial the research about it was. Also, I tutor students who attend to school in an inner city school, with a high level of African American minorities and I wanted to see things from their perspectives. This project enlightened me on how stereotypes and preconceived notions about other races play a major role in the educational field. The students feel every day they do not receive the same type of education as a white student from a predominantly white school. Also, many of the HIGH SCHOOL eleventh grade students I tutor, had never seen or used a graphing calculator before. I feel like this project really helped me connect with them on a personal level and I feel even more passionately about my topic.

The Appeal of Vacations

During spring break a question crossed my mind as to why Florida has always been so appealing to me, so I chose to try and answer it with rhetoric.

First off, I cannot think of a time where I was not in Florida during the spring break time period. For me, this has really heightened the appeal of all of the activities to do around Longboat Key because it brings back so many fond memories. Some individuals I know would prefer to always be doing something new with their vacation time, but the emotion that is attached to all of the things I have done in Florida keeps bringing me back every year. There is also the assurance that the condo where we stay will never change and neither will the area surrounding it. This gives the place where our family stays a sense of credibility. We know that there will always be the tennis courts, pools, and beach to provide us with an extremely relaxing and active vacation. Since the condo is family owned, it also helps that we do not have to pay for lodging every year. It wouldn’t make too much sense to go somewhere else since it would be so much more expensive.

Those are the main reasons as to why my family and I always choose to go back each year, and why it makes for such a good vacation. I’m sure though that I haven’t covered every single reason as to why a vacation spot can be tremendously appealing. There will always be the aesthetic values like weather, service, and luxuriousness to hook you, but I feel the reasons that run deeper than those are the essential ones.

Texting While Driving

Texting while driving is an obvious distraction from the road. When a person is texting and driving, they are no longer focusing their attention on their vehicle, the vehicles that surround them, nor the pedestrians and construction workers who can be in their path. This has caused devastating effects on drivers, victims and their families when people are distracted behind the wheel of a vehicle. We need to enact new laws in our country to protect our citizens against the damaging consequences that can result from texting while driving. While there are laws in place to discourage this practice, they are not nearly enough. My intention is to require the residents of the City of Chicago as to download a software solution that will disable the texting feature while traveling above 10 MPH in a vehicle.  If this solution is successful, other cities will hopefully follow my example and incorporate this feature in other cities. This could lead to the complete elimination of a problem that is becoming an epidemic in our country, regardless of the intent of our current laws.  

https://penningtonla.wordpress.com/about/

Multimedia Presentation

For my multimedia project, I chose to do a podcast for a few different reasons. Because my podcast is about illegal immigration in the community of Phoenix, Arizona, I believed that it would be most effective because there is a vast amount of data and statistics associated with this topic. Additionally, using images may convey the wrong message and have the appeal of pathos would backfire. The audience can feel sympathy or pity for the immigrants which goes against the message of my topic. In order to receive the extra credit for the project, I had to post it to a social media site and receive atleast fifty views on the podcast. I was able to post it on YouTube and by tonight I have a hundred views on the video. I did not realize the importance of how networking on social media is a very big factor in promotion and advertising. Within a few days, it is amazing to see how expansive the social networking site can be and connect to different people in other areas. At first, I texted my close friends from school and home and asked them to watch it. I also asked my parents and sister to watch it as well. Then my parents had texted their friends and also asked them to watch it too. Many of my parents friends live all around the country such as California, Chicago, and Virginia. Therefore, it is interesting to see how social media allows for communication between individuals all around the world and has greatly improved the technology era. I also received very positive feedback on the podcast from my parents' friends and different opinions about the topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prGfzfSsbCQ

Casino Gambling

My proposal is to outlaw casinos in Tunica, Mississippi. I believe that casinos usually cause more problems for a community. Areas with a casino have a noted increase in crime rate. The amount of personal bankruptcy has greatly increased as well as an increase rate of domestic violence and suicide. Casinos are completely designed to get people to spend as much money as they can get out of their customers and to get them addicted. They are almost like a drug dealer. It is not uncommon for people with a serious gambling addiction to commit serious crimes on their family, friends, and jobs to continue their addiction. Casinos are losing money, from 2008 to 2014, the gambling revenue went from $1.1 billion to $826 million. That is more than 25 percent. The biggest casino in Tunica, Harrah, was forced to close because it became too expense to maintain. I thinks that the revenue of casinos will continue to decrease as other forms of gambling increases like online gambling.

Check my website: http://keenank28.wix.com/casino

Credibility of sources

A few weeks ago, my favorite football team made a major move in NFL free agency by trading away their star tight end Jimmy Graham to the Seahawks.  They also traded away young promising wide receiver Kenny Stills  to the Dolphins, and a veteran  pro-bowl guard, Ben Grubbs to the Cheifs. Additionally, they released some other veteran players, such as Pierre Thomas.  This is a lot of moves for a NFL team to make over a few weeks.

During this period of time, there were many false reports written. For an example one report said that one of the teams cornerbacks, Keenan Lewis was on the trading block (http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2015/03/conflicting_reports_say_keenan.html). This turned out to not be the case. Another example was that Drew Brees was on the trading block.  (http://thedevotedfansopinion.sportsblog.com/posts/1949270/rumor_alert__drew_brees_on_the_trading_block.html).  

These false reports made me think about ones reputation as a writer or reporter. I think if you want to have a good reputation as a writer, you cannot risk writing something that isn’t true, just to get a lot of views on your article.  Although, some of these false reports got a lot of attention and views, the website and reporters that published these false reports, or rumors have hurt their ethos. Whenever people see a report from a reporter, or website that has previously written a false report, they tend not to believe them.   In this class, I think that one can learn from this example, by making sure what we write is accurate to build our credibility and ethos. 

Coates vs. City of Cincinnati

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coates_v._City_of_Cincinnati Coates vs. Cincinnati

This court case means the United State Supreme Court define the meaning of the word, annoying. In 1956 Cincinnati, Ohio passed a local law which that stated: It shall be unlawful for three or more persons to assemble, except at a public meeting of citizens, on any of the sidewalks, street corners, vacant lots or mouths of alleys, and there conduct themselves in a manner annoying to persons passing by, or occupants of adjacent buildings. Anyone who has broken that law would be fine for fifty dollars or placed in jail for less than 30 days. Appellant Coates, a student, was involved with several other people who were having a demonstration and picketing about a labor dispute. Coates appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court. He claimed that the law violated his first and fourteenth amendments given to him by the constitution. The first amendment protects free speech and peaceful protest. The law was made so vague that it violates fourteenth amendment, due process. By a 5–4 vote, the Supreme Court made the Cincinnati's local law null and void. They talk about how different people find different things annoying. The majority stated that the courts will not uphold a law that vaguely limit the rights of individual given to them by the constitution. They further stated that laws must have a clear outline of what is allowed and what is not allowed. This case is important as the law was designed to limit local protest but the ruling of the Supreme Court prevents other cities from making similarly vague laws.

Find Your Voice Article

After reading the “Find Your Voice” article, it sparked me to research more about deepening my vocal chords.  As a musician, I found that strengthening my voice could benefit how I project my lyrics to my audience.  There is a video on Youtube with Morgan Freeman explaining the techniques he uses to develop his awesome voice for his exceptionally popular documentaries and rolls, such as “Through the Wormhole”, “Conan the Barbarian”, “War of the Worlds”, “The Dark Night”, and even the roll of God in Bruce Almighty.  https://youtu.be/wiE0dYDXcIQ  Morgan Freeman reveals that yawning can make your voice sound deeper and more interesting.  Though yawning might not make your voice as awesome as his own, as Morgan Freeman rightfully brags about in the video, relaxing the vocal chords can lower the frequency of your voice, making your voice more powerful and interesting.  There is another guy in the video that tries to sound like Morgan Freeman but fails, because he is trying to sound more powerful with his voice, making him sound like a fool, instead of yawning and using his voice naturally.  I always thought that my voice sounded strange and higher in pitch on my recordings.  With a deeper voice I can, not only sound as manly and awesome as I am as a person, but affect the tone of my lyrics to create a better portrayal of sound and emotional effect for my audience.

Tone

I am an Anthropology major, and in my class we are currently studying linguistics and the reflection they have on the gender, ethnics and socioeconomic standards of people.  During the lecture I noticed a lot that seemed to relate back to our class and the presenting we are doing on Friday.  Starting with the presentation, we discussed report versus rapport, which sociolinguist Deborah Tannen studied and labeled as a gendered speech difference—but more importantly described the implications of both in official public speaking.  Rapport is a softer, more relationship and conversation oriented form of speech.  This is characterized by heightening tones at the end of a sentence, leaving your words more open to interpretation and less confrontational.  Rapport is more often than not a negative form of speech in presentations, and many public speaking classes actually try to teach away the heightening tones and instill reporting instead.  Report, claimed is a man-dominated form of speech, is characterized by the lowering of tones at the end of a sentence.  This is meant to exude finality and dominance and is the ideal form of speech for a presentation.  The finality and sureness has been shown to be more respected.  While I am not sure I necessarily buy into the female/male difference, I do agree that the lowering tones shows far more confidence in what you are saying.  It gave me a good insight to tone usage and will be helpful for me to keep in mind when I am practicing for my presentation.

Drugs and Alcohol in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin

            It is clear that a drug and alcohol problem exists among teens in the town of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. In a survey conducted, 88% of teens from Wauwatosa East High School said they knew at least 10 people who frequently use drugs or alcohol, with 69% saying they themselves participated at least once a week. There is no arguing that this is a problem, but there is room for discussion on what the best solution is. Currently, there are virtually no public places for teens to go, with the recent parental guidance law at the local mall and bitter cold weather. Many teens resort to using drugs or alcohol for fun because “there is nothing else to do.” One possible solution to curb this intoxicating problem would be the creation of a teen center close by the schools. That being said, creating a teen center is a huge project, with countless individuals involved. Many pros and cons need to be weighed before a big financial decision like this is made, and this analysis will touch on a variety of these factors. Would creating a youth center for the teens of Tosa be worth it in the end?

Check out my website: https://tosateensinneed.wordpress.com

Find Your Voice!

This article should help you find your natural pitch. Again, the audience is nominally men (since it's a man's lifestyle blog), but it's written skillfully enough to be widely applicable. Your thoughts on this articles or on any of the readings we do for this class are, of course, perfect material for posts or comments.

'Divergent'

In March 2014, 'Divergent' was a movie that was released in theaters, based off the novel by Veronica Roth. The theme of this film was Utopia/Dystopia, which is very common in pop culture today, with similar movies such as 'Hunger Games' and 'Maze Runner', which attracted a large audience of teens and young adults. 

What I liked the most about the movie, it is set in Chicago, but in the near future. As a Utopian/Dystopian fiction, it challenges social and political structures. In the movie, the population is split into groups or 'factions'; 
Abnegation, the selfless 
Dautless, the brave
Erudite, the intelligent
and Candor, the honest

They are each sorted into each faction and are expected to conform to the rules and expectations of each. 

The movie uses a lot of imagery and foreshadowing

Although the movie is set in Chicago, it doesn't look like it does in the present day. It includes important monuments such as the Willis Tower and the Navy Pier, but they are obviously worn down from an assumed war. This is an example of imagery, and also pathos. Chicago, being one of the most important cities in the USA, being seen as torn down and broken can bring out emotions of sadness, or worry of the possibility.

Since this is a Utopian/Dystopian fiction, foreshadowing is common and it shown to cause suspense and indicate the problems that will be later introduced in the film. The main character, Tris is born into the faction 'Abnegation', but when she finds out the she is Divergent, (more than one faction) , and leaves her faction for Dauntless, it is foreshadowing her fate, and what the future holds for her since she rebelled against the faction system. 

Affording higher education

My hometown is the college town, Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. Home to the University of Illinois. My town revolves around the university. Since this makes me unique to others and is local to me, I decided to write about and publish a website about the high tuition rates of the University of Illinois and how they are also increasing throughout the years. The goal of my website was to attract the attention of my audience and educate them about how tuition is increasing and making it harder and harder to obtain for the middle class. Higher education is valuable and not always easy to obtain. My website address the benefits of college education, the facts and figures of tuition in Illinois and a proposal of law.

http://english1900uiuc.wix.com/uiuctuition

Physical Fitness and the Western Diet

My project for the semester involves the health of elementary and grade school children and giving them a better education about physical well being and how important it is to their future lives. In the multimedia project I did a photo essay. The goal of my photo essay was to show the "Western Diet" and how it is unhealthy for us. My purpose was to present the unhealthy decisions that some people make when it comes to food and how we need to change this. It is especially important in early life that the habit of eating well is taught to children so that they will continue to eat healthy throughout their lives. In my overall project I would like to advocate for a change to the physical education laws in grade school, and as a result show children the benefit and hopefully make them want to be healthier in the future.





Photo Essay
In order to access the photo essay without needing permission please access it through your SLU email accounts. Thank you.

My Humbling Experience

For my topic in this class, I have been focusing on homelessness in the city of St. Louis.  For Assignment 3.1, I chose to create a photo essay that showcased homeless as a large problem for our city.  It was important to me that people should see the problem, and not just read about it.  However, in order to create these images, I had do to something that was completely out of my element.  I found a homeless man that I showcased in my essay.  His name was Rob.  Rob opened my eyes to a lot of things that I had never thought about before.  Everyone knows that homelessness is a problem.  It's hard to pass a homeless person without feeling some pity, but until you know what they go through day to day, they're just strangers that you pass on the street; beggars without a name.  Rob begs for 12 to 13 hours a day to try to get enough money to rent a hotel room for a night so that he doesn't have to sleep in the cold.  In that 13 hours, he makes around $40.  I think this is just atrocious. When he doesn't get money, he stays in abandoned houses.  I went to a house that he stays in, and it's in terrible shape.  The walls are falling apart, there's glass everywhere, and its still cold.  The only thing that it offers is protection from the wind and rain.  He sleeps in a closet, which he claims is the warmest spot in the house.  All of this is going on all around this city, and all around this country.  This experience was so humbling for me.  It was hard to go back to my warm apartment knowing that Rob might not get a warm place to sleep that night.  He might not get food that day, and he has to constantly worried about so many things.  It just made me realize how much I take for granted my life.  I have a family, and friends that will support me if I need it.  I am getting an education that will allow me to succeed later in life.  I have so many things in my life that are handed to me, and Rob has beg for a warm place to sleep.  I'd just like everyone who reads this to think about how they take things for granted, and make an effort to think about those in the community that are less fortunate.  I know that none of us have the power to give a homeless person shelter for any amount of time, but the next time you see one, maybe give them what you have in your pocket.  It could be more help than you could imagine.