Jeannette Walls

Jeannette Walls, author of The Glass Castle spoke some inspiring words today. A lot of students who were attending her speech only went because they had to or they needed the extra credit, but most walked out actually happy they went. When your teacher tells you have to go watch a speaker most people instantly assume it will be boring and just a waste of time, but from the second Jeannette was on stage she kept it interesting.

Although The Glass Castle is a nonfiction book some of the stories Walls tells in it are very hard to believe. Walls came on stage thought and recollected on some of the stories from the book and you could tell that was the life she lived. Walls stated that she had wrote the book with one goal at first, for the "rich" kid ("meaning the kid whose parents payed their bills on time") to pick up that book and for it to change their life. For them to not look at the "poor" kid the way they used to. Then she went on to tell us she had met a girl (who was on vacation with her parents in the Caribbean) who told her that after reading The Glass Castle she was not going to pick on the kids she used to in school anymore. After Jeannette had accomplished that goal she made another one, for the "poor" kid to read her book and to gain some hope their future like she did from reading her favorite book.

I think everyone who attended her speech today got something different than they expected. I heard some very inspiring words today and I am sure many other students did too. Walls told a story about how she used to believe to feel good about yourself you just had to put someone else down, but that quickly changed when she tried to do so and failed. Hearing this made me think about how we judge people today, people we don't even know, without thinking about how it is going to make them feel. This book truly did inspire me to not be so judgmental about people, and for any student that just skipped reading the book but went to the speech today, I'm sure they are now inspired too.

envision journal chapter 3

Spencer Teeter

ENG 103

September 20, 2011

Envision Ch. 3 Composing Arguments

When an author begins to compose a persuasive or a paper of an argument they need to carefully construct it to properly capture their audience. There are a number of steps an author needs to go through in order to properly compose and argument. These “cannons of rhetoric” are invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. Each of these is essential in the construction of persuasive communication.

Invention is the process of coming up with ideas. Authors need to gather enough information and have a strong topic to discuss before they can begin to arrange their thoughts into a paper or article. Next is arrangement which is when you will organize your thoughts into a well constructed paper. If points and topics are spread out all over the place and don’t flow into a smooth paper readers will become confused and not finish reading the article or not pick up what the writer is putting down. Organization is key in all papers. Style is also very important because it complements the writers’ arrangement of the paper. Without style a paper is just notes and it doesn’t flow as it should. Style is a big part that is going to keep your readers interested and continue to read your paper. Memory is where the writer recalls supporting ideas to emphasize certain parts of their paper that they really want the audience to take away from the publishing. The final part is delivery. This is the single most important part of the whole process. Delivery is presenting the main argument points to your readers in such a way that you will swing them to go along with your argument. This is what is going to make your audience leave your paper physically but keep them mentally.

envision journal chapter 2

Spencer Teeter

ENG 103

September 20, 2011

Envision Ch. 2 Logos Pathos and Ethos

This chapter focused on the different approaches to rhetorical writing authors or advertisements may make. These three different approaches are called Logos, Pathos, and Ethos. These terms are Latin and date back to 500 BCE. These terms don’t always have to be separate, they one or more of them may be in the same article of ad you encounter. Now I will explain what all three of these terms mean, how they are used, and how they appeal to different people.

Logos is the approach of rhetorical writing that would be more aimed at people who are persuaded mostly by logic and statistical evidence. Many advertisers using the Logos approach will opt to have a before and after shot of what they are advertising to show that it actually works, or they may throw out a bunch of percentage numbers at you on how they are cheaper and more economic than their competitors. Many times these techniques exaggerate the truth by not specifying how many people were interviewed for their stats or including that number in fine print quickly. People watching will think the facts include all of the U.S. and could be convinced on the spot that what is being advertised is the real deal.

Pathos is the technique utilizing the emotional factor of viewers. Advertisers and writers will try to capture their audience by attempting to draw them into a certain emotion. For example for ASPCA (animal rights) ads they play slow, sad songs and show pictures of big eyed droopy eared animals in cages who appear to be in despair. This sight will draw in most tree hugging liberals to donate money to the cause. The approach can also be happier in nature like adding humor in ads or cracking a witty joke in an article.

Lastly Ethos is a persuasion strategy that uses the speaker’s character to influence readers. This relies on the credibility and authority of the writer. Most major companies use Ethos every day with one little symbol such as the Nike swoosh, Arbys hat, or the Shell gas stations shell symbol. Just by seeing these symbols we already know all about the company who owns them and that they are a reliable source of what they sell. Ethos can also use major athlete stars and celebrities to endorse their products. If you see David Beckham using a certain pair of cleats you know they are good.

I Think I'm Getting Dumber!

In the article is Google Making Us Stupid by Nicholas Carr, he discuss how the internet is making readers lose the ability to read lengthy articles or books without losing focus. Carr says that he feels something changing in his brain. He now struggles with reading the things which came easy to him in the past. Carr noticed how his mind would drift away from his reading on to something more interesting, only after a couple of pages.

I have also noticed the same thing Carr has noticed in his mental capability of reading. Reading was never my favorite thing to do, but if I had to read a chapter or article, I would read it without skimming and be done with it. This was before I used the internet daily. However, now while reading a lengthy article or a chapter in a book I get distracted and taken off topic. Even while I was reading this article, after the fifth paragraph I stopped reading and got on Facebook.

Some of Carr’s literary friends and associates also notice the same change Carr was experiencing. In today’s society people mostly skim through things instead of actually reading through the article or book. “My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles.” I think Carr tries to get the readers of this article to notice the change in them as well by writing a very lengthy article. He wants the readers to see how many times and how long it would take for them to stray away from the article on to something else on the internet.

Death Penalty: Right or Wrong?

The Death Penalty: Right or Wrong? Good or Bad?

i chose this article because i am a criminal justice major and it is a major controversial topic in my field of study. this is a good article to right on because the author, Dr. Boys, argues for the death penalty and aims it towards different demographics.

Bullying Can Cause Suicide

I picked the article "When Bullying Turns Deadly: Can it Be Stopped?" because bullying in schools is a big issue right now. I also picked this topic because I had a friend in middle school who was bullied and ended up committing suicide. We are not sure if he committed suicided because of bullying but he was bullied so this topic is close to my heart.

Abortion

I chose to base my topic on abortion. The article i chose is titled, Conservative Credo: Abortion Conclusion. I chose this because it is something a feel strongly about so it is easier for me to follow along with what an author is saying and why he is saying it as long as we share the same strong opinions.