Welcome to WRIT 1622! I’m looking forward to getting to know each of you as students and writers in the next ten weeks. To start us off, I’d like you to use your first post to our course blog to introduce yourself to the rest of our class.
In your post, tell us a little more about who you are. What’s unique or interesting about where you’re from, your family, the high school you attended, your first quarter at DU, or your dreams for your future? (Or anything else about you that you think might interest the rest of us.)
Reflect a bit, too, about what kind of writer you are. What do you like to write? What are your strengths as a writer? What do you think makes writing “good”? How would you define the word rhetoric? (Have you ever studied rhetoric? If so, what did you learn about it?) Last, please conclude your introduction by telling us what you hope to learn about writing from this course and you're looking for as a writer or as a student?
Please post your response as a comment to this post. Aim for at least 250 words. I look forward to reading more about all of you.
Marin Klostermeier
ReplyDeleteProfessor Geoffrey Bateman
WRIT 1622-2
January 5, 2012
I am from St. Louis, Missouri, the home of the 2011 World Series Champion Cardinals, the Fox Theater, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, and a fabulous Art Museum. Despite what a recent article in The Onion stated in a less than satirical way (satire being its usual weapon of choice), St. Louis is a wonderful place and I am lucky to have grown up there. (P.S. the only reason why we have such a high crime rating is because St. Louis City and St. Louis County are counted as two separate entities when larger metropolitan areas combine the two).
My hometown is filed with things that interest me, and that I care a lot about; maybe growing up in that environment conditioned me to want to write about things that interest me. St. Louis is amazing, but it is far from perfect, one of its biggest difficulties the weak public school system of the City of St. Louis where some schools have lost their accreditation. This topic has been the subject of or inspiration for two school projects, impart because just a 30-minute drive away from those schools is the school where I went, which was ranked by Newsweek as one of the top 100 public high schools in the nation, thinking about the this difference honestly makes me sad. When I think about when I have written about this topic I remember how the passion I had made me write with words that had more power behind them, which is why I tend to favor writing by other authors when I can tell that they have passion about what they are writing.
I define rhetoric as the way in which someone conveys a message that they are spreading in order to convince people that what they are saying is right (this is usually brought forth by someone who is passionate about the topic on which they are writing). The AP English Language and Composition class that I took last year was built around studying different rhetorical strategies, identifying them and determining whether or not they are effective. In this class I hope to hone the skills that I have begun to develop, with the main goal being to be able to more clearly and concisely communicate what I am trying to say with my writing no matter the subject.
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ReplyDeleteI’m originally from Dallas, Texas but I've lived the majority of my life in Aurora, Colorado. I graduated from Rangeview high school. On my mom side I'm the middle child but on my dad's side I'm the youngest. Right now I am a political science major seeking to become a lawyer. What type? I really have no clue. I’m thinking about corporate law but I'm open to change. In high school I use to volunteer as a student attorney at my local courthouse. The program is called Teen Court. When a teenager commits a juvenile crime they have the option of going through the Teen Court process and having the crime erased from their record or they can pay the fine and have the act written on their record. When the teenagers would come they were already guilty, as attorneys our job was to argue what their sentence should be. For example, should a 13 year old who brings 13 ounces of weed to school be given 10 hours of community service or 45 hours? Should he take a drug an alcohol class? We would argue and defend questions such as those.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy writing. Do I write in my free time? Honestly no, but when I have to write a 10 page paper for a class I definitely do no dread it. My love for writing stems from the fact that I've always been a weak test taker and writing is my space where I can explain and elaborate. If there’s a big writing assignment I know that I won't fail especially when it comes to more argumentative type of writing. This is essentially what rhetoric means to me. Being able to go beyond just making a claim but defending it with detail and applying that information to ultimately determine why your side is best for the future. I might not be very argumentative in person but when it comes to writing I know how to properly research and defend a claim. However, in order to go to law school you need strong writing skills and you definitely need an eye that catches errors. That along with being a more engaging writer is what I hope to gain out of this class.
Hi I'm Annemarie and I'm from Durango, CO. Durango is a small town with a population of about 14,000. It was a very unique place to grow up being so small and Hi I'm Annemarie and I'm from Durango, CO. Durango is a small town with a population of about 14,000. It was a very unique place to grow up being so small and because it is so far from any major metropolitan area. It may be hard to believe but I’ve never driven on a big highway like I-25. Durango is a great place for things like hiking, biking, kayaking and really all outdoor-adventure sports, but being so small it also lacks in some activities that living in Denver I now take for granted. For example: we don’t have a bowling alley, the only place open after 10 pm at night is Denny’s, there is only 1 high school, and the only chain clothing store we have in town is a Walmart. Although this may seem like an alien planet to people who live in the city it made Durango a unique place to grow up. The sense of true community that has been created is something that can be both comforting and annoying. It can be nice to see someone I know every time I go anywhere public, but it also can be hard to deal with.
ReplyDeleteWith that in mind I decided to come to DU with hopes of some things similar to home while getting all the great advantages a large city has to offer. I am an environmental science major and so far I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m in the ESLLC and I really have a passion for sustainability. When it comes to writing I think I have two sides. When I write something that I’m passionate about and I can both relate to and enjoy my writing is filled with my voice. This really made writing my college essays a breeze because I could just talk about whatever I wanted and let my real personality through. If I am writing something for a serious assignment or that I don’t really care about my writing is very analytical.
My interpretation of rhetoric is that it is persuasion. Rhetoric is the approach taken in order to persuade an audience to see from a different point of view. In this course I am hoping to learn more about the rhetoric of the American west and improve my writing abilities.
Hi I'm Annemarie and I'm from Durango, CO. Durango is a small town with a population of about 14,000. It was a very unique place to grow up being so small and because it is so far from any major metropolitan area. It may be hard to believe but I’ve never driven on a big highway like I-25. Durango is a great place for things like hiking, biking, kayaking and really all outdoor-adventure sports, but being so small it also lacks in some activities that living in Denver I now take for granted. For example: we don’t have a bowling alley, the only place open after 10 pm at night is Denny’s, there is only 1 high school, and the only chain clothing store we have in town is a Walmart. Although this may seem like an alien planet to people who live in the city it made Durango a unique place to grow up. The sense of true community that has been created is something that can be both comforting and annoying. It can be nice to see someone I know every time I go anywhere public, but it also can be hard to deal with.
ReplyDeleteWith that in mind I decided to come to DU with hopes of some things similar to home while getting all the great advantages a large city has to offer. I am an environmental science major and so far I’ve loved every minute of it. I’m in the ESLLC and I really have a passion for sustainability. When it comes to writing I think I have two sides. When I write something that I’m passionate about and I can both relate to and enjoy my writing is filled with my voice. This really made writing my college essays a breeze because I could just talk about whatever I wanted and let my real personality through. If I am writing something for a serious assignment or that I don’t really care about my writing is very analytical.
My interpretation of rhetoric is that it is persuasion. Rhetoric is the approach taken in order to persuade an audience to see from a different point of view. In this course I am hoping to learn more about the rhetoric of the American west and improve my writing abilities.
My name is Libby Pinkerton and I am from Tulsa, Oklahoma. When people here that I am from Oklahoma, they typically respond with some question similar to, “So do you ride a horse to school?” The answers is, no. Contrary to popular belief, Oklahoma is a pretty cool place. I’d say it’s worth a visit, or at least a trip to see my favorite team, the OKC Thunder, dominate in basketball. Durant for MVP.
ReplyDeleteI went to the same school from Kindergarten all the way up until my senior year. I graduated with about 76 in my class. Since I had known almost everyone since the age of 5, by the time graduation rolled around, when names were called during the distribution of diplomas, I had little problem reciting in my head everyone’s middle name.
By the time I was a senior, writing had quickly become one of my favorite areas in school. Since our school did not offer AP classes or curriculum, I had the opportunity to take some interesting courses, such as Satire and Postmodernism, which allowed me to write about my own fields of interest. I prefer to write analytical essays because I enjoy researching and synthesizing various articles.
For me, an author’s style makes writing “good.” I enjoy the book, To The Lighthouse, because I particularly like Virginia Woolf’s style. Books that contain aesthetically pleasing language I typically find more enjoyable. From my experience in the course Foundations of Communication last quarter, I would define rhetoric as a form of communication that allows a subject to identify with the text and therefore be affected by the text. Rhetoric does not necessarily have to change someone's views, but rather requires some type of response from the target audience.
Hello! I am from Denver, Colorado. Not only is Denver the home of the wonderful University of Denver, but also several other interesting destinations. One of My favorite activities is taking the light rail downtown with some friends and experiencing the shows, shops, and restaurants. Another great aspect of Colorado is that you can be outside almost all year round. Whether you like hiking, skiing, or white water rafting, it is always easy and enjoyable to enjoy Colorado’s nature. Also if you have not seen a concert at Red Rocks Amphitheater, it is an amazing experience.
ReplyDeleteI transferred to DU at the beginning of this year and have really enjoyed my time here thus far. I went to a large high school just out side of Denver where I quickly found my passion for and interest in writing. Throughout my previous writing classes I have become familiar with the concepts of rhetorical analysis, synthesis, and persuasion. In my definition, Rhetoric is the language choices that an author makes in order convey a specific message. I enjoy writing both analytically and creatively. Recently I have been concentrating on playing with aspects of voice and mood within my writing. If possible, I like to make academic writing unique sounding. In this class I would like to strengthen my ability to analyze text in a specific and significant manner. Also, I would like to explore how writing can defy an academic sphere and play to a greater societal audience.
I am Kathleen. I am from the scenic and beautiful Evergreen, Colorado. The highlight of my town is the lake which is used for concerts and boating in the summer and ice skating in the winter as well as events year round. I spend much of my time in Evergreen outdoors, soaking up the Colorado rays. This is accompanied by finding at least one person I know everywhere that I go (the blessing and curse of a small town). I was in a small school with 21 students in my grade from Preschool through middle school at which point I switched to the “large” 200 per grade high school. In high school, the majority of my time was dedicated to choir and shows. In my time at DU, I am working towards a Math major, which I know is many people’s worst nightmare. I have always been an anomaly in that Math and English are my academic passions and almost no one is appreciative of both subjects. I have taken the basic AP English classes, but have not explored much further into the matter. When writing, I usually prefer to tackle an argumentative essay because I tend to succeed best when writing about something that is dependent upon logic. In many ways, I think rhetoric is the avenue to logic as well as to emotion. Rhetoric is the way in which any form of communicator can convince, inspire, or change the audience by appealing to logic, emotion, etc. I have never studied rhetoric specifically, but going by my definition, I have been studying rhetoric as a tool for as long as I have been studying English. Throughout the rest of this year I hope to continue to improve my writing and learn about even that which I didn’t know existed.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Eric Grossman, and I'm from Deerfield, Illinois. To be perfectly honest, Deerfield is not the best place to be. There isn't really much to do beside sit on the couch and watch countless hours of television. Occasionally I may read a book or two, but usually vegging out on the couch seems far more appetizing than using my limited energy to open a book. This past summer I failed to get a job, and I knew that I couldn't sit on a couch for 3 months so I decided to take up running. Deerfield, being the little boring town that it is, turned out to be the perfect runner's hideaway. I began to earn a little money too by taking one of my friend’s dogs with me on my runs. The first two weeks after I came home from Denver for the break, I appreciated the tranquil state that Deerfield inevitably forces upon you. However, soon tranquility once again led to shear boredom. After failing to get a job again, I began to read Batman graphic novels as well as continue to run. Deerfield is precisely the reason why I decided to come to Denver. It's like you almost have to try to be bored here. I'm always either buried in school work, running, hanging out with friends, or doing some awesome outdoor activity. Going from Deerfield to Denver was like eating plain, bun-less hotdogs for 18 years and one day deciding to eat a fully garnished polish sausage with a toasted asiago bun. It's simply hard to go back to constant plain dogs.
ReplyDeleteI'm not quite sure what I want to major in as of now, although I'm hoping to figure that out as soon as possible. I'm thinking of possibly majoring in electronic media arts. I don't really know much about the subject but it sounds cool from the name. At times I greatly enjoy writing. I love to write when I love or at least like what I'm writing about. However, I find it very difficult and unpleasant to write in a conventional way about a boring and overused subject. I am looking forward to writing in this class because I think the subject matter is pretty unique. I don't really know anything about rhetoric besides the definition that we learned in class. I know that it has to do with persuasion, but I haven't encountered the word before so that's about all I know. The main goal I have for this class is to become a better writer and hopefully gain some sort of appreciation for the art.
I grew up in Bloomington, Indiana. Bloomington is home to Indiana University, and due to the academic culture of the school and the large effect it has on such a small town, Bloomington is a liberal haven in what is otherwise a conservative state. With one of the best music schools in the country, there is a fantastic local music scene, and downtown there are many funky shops, local coffee houses, and quaint and cozy bookstores which provide endless amusement. Abandoned limestone quarries are scattered throughout the town and surrounding area, and of course, the beautiful and verdant rolling hills of the southern Indiana countryside make for any cyclist’s dream. My father is a biology professor at IU, my mom is works at the children’s science museum in town, and my sister is graduating this year from Lewis & Clark College with a major in biology. As I am an English major and have a deep love for the arts, I seem to be the black sheep of my family. I attended a public high school with an enrollment of approximately 1,600. We were state champions in basketball the last two years, and the NFL quarterback Rex Grossman is an alum of note.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, I have written little for my own pleasure, outside of school. However, when I do, I have always been drawn to poetry, as it is perhaps the most artistic form of language and allows the reader to take away a large amount from a small amount of text; it really makes you think! I believe the best writing to be the kind that tells you something you already know or have already thought about, but which you haven’t found a way to express yourself (or even thought to express). When the written word has this attribute, it is more powerful to the reader and, I believe, useful. I would define Rhetoric as “persuasive discourse.” I know this is the definition we were given in class, but sadly I have forgotten most of the specifics I learned in my AP Language & Composition class junior year. In this course I look forward to improving the eloquence of my writing, as well as being able to express my ideas more clearly and quickly.
My name is Connor Thiret, and I am from Fort Collins, CO. Fort Collins is an amazing city, and I love everything about it. My favorite part of Fort Collins would have to be how close it is to the mountains. Basically, the mountains start right where the city ends. This means that there are places to hike, camp, mountain bike, ski, or snowboard that are only a very short drive away. I love the mountains, which is why I’m glad that I came to DU rather than going out of state for school. I am currently a physics major, but that may change at some point because I’m not entirely sure what I would do with a degree in physics.
ReplyDeleteI don’t exactly enjoy writing, but I certainly wouldn’t say that I hate it. My academic strengths have always been in math and science, so writing has never been my favorite thing to do in school. The composition classes I took in high school, however, developed my writing skills enough that now, rather than struggling and dreading writing a paper, I can simply sit down and write it with almost no problems. My strengths in writing lie in argumentative essays. I developed my ability to write these sorts of essays my senior year in high school in a composition class that was actually very similar to this one. We talked a lot about the idea of rhetoric in that class, and what I gathered from it is that rhetoric is the way in which an argument is made or a message is portrayed; basically, rhetoric describes how a writer attempts to convince the audience to agree with his or her thesis.
Hello everybody my name is Tyler Maydew! I am a mechanical engineering major from Arvada, Colorado a suburb of Denver. Arvada itself is pretty dull to be completely honest, because there are more churches than anything else. However, I went to a pretty unique high school. It was a Montessori school, and my graduating class was only twenty eight students. I took a class at my high school called Language Arts for Social Justice, which also focused on the study of how rhetoric can change society and effect the way we perceive ourselves and our world. I also had a fantastic first quarter at DU, where I was inundated with math and science. I had to only write brief paragraphs for a communications class so the idea of writing a large amount is frightening. Also, the prospect that the writing has to be well thought out and even halfway decent is more frightening.
ReplyDeleteI do not typically write for the entertainment, but I have always enjoyed writing creative pieces that make me think, and test my abilities to weave a story all the way through. I have found I like to begin a lot of stories but ending them is never fun or easy for me. Good writing to me does not have to be grammatically correct, well punctuated or any of that. It simply has to have a purpose and powerful rhetoric. Rhetoric to me is not simply a means of persuading someone to do what you want. I believe it is a lot more powerful. I have learned that rhetoric shapes the way we think, and changes our minds about subjects we have never even had opinions about. To be a great writer having powerful rhetoric is extremely important!
All in all, I have two goals to achieve after this class. I have had a mental block on the proper use of a semi-colon for years and I believe I need to change this. Also I want to develop writing skills that allow me to get my point across without me losing my audience with too many words.
My name is Sumner Van Brunt. As you can imagine I always get mistaken for Summer, so much where sometimes I don’t even bother to correct the person who made the mistake. I am from Marin County, which is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. I absolutely love where I live. Not only do I dislike being so far from the coast while living in Denver, I miss the food from Marin so much my parents even offered to overnight ship me a to go order from my favorite restaurant. Don’t get me wrong though, at the end of first quarter this year, I didn’t even want to go home I loved it in Denver so much.
ReplyDeleteI have the same big dreams I’m guessing most people have, like getting married, having a family and a job I actually enjoy. However, little dreams or things I would like to accomplish in my life include building a tree fort by myself, living in France, traveling to Africa and Southeast Asia, living with my two best friends Molly and Ruby, and being able to play an instrument very well.
I am not exactly sure what type of writer I am. I do not usually enjoy writing an essay analyzing a book, which was the focus of my high school English classes. I like to read books for pleasure and having to analyze them takes that away that pleasure for me. I took Essay Exposition for a semester in high school and that was my favorite English class because we didn’t read a single book. It was all creative writing, open-ended where we wrote papers about things we observed in the world or ones just exploring ourselves. I’ve never studied rhetoric and know very little about it but I’d define it as a way of using text to convey one’s ideas in hopes of persuading others to feel or think the same way. As a writer I need to work on how to stay on a clear topic in an essay because I rarely make an outline before writing (which is a habit I know I should break) and then the paper tends to go off track. I am also interested in learning more about rhetoric and how it is used in writing and speech. Mostly, I just want to get to the point where I feel confident as a writer and I actually enjoy writing.
Hi, I’m Kaley Rickert. I was born and raised an hour south of Denver in Colorado Springs, so Denver is just a small upgrade. We are almost another thousand feet higher in elevation than Denver, and every morning I get to wake up to the view of the beautiful Pikes Peak (from the top of which America the Beautiful was written). My family means the world to me. They have built me into the person I am today, for better or worse; however, I am using DU to explore my own avenues of values, character, and interests. I have survived the International Baccalaureate Program (IB), though I still retain some scars (mentally and physically). That being said, it’s obvious that my first quarter at DU was the best 10 weeks of my life so far. There are multiple reasons, the most influential being my new friends, my new freedom, and my new job on campus. My job is very impactful on my happiness on campus as I work the athletic events on campus. On any given weekend, I can be found on the catwalk dropping Noodles and Co. tickets, to on the ice running Saturday Night Sumo, to tossing T-shirts into the student section at basketball games. It’s fun to get to know the athletes and fans in such a great way, and it’s a blast to experience the games from a behind-the-scenes manor. I also joined a sorority on campus, and being an Alpha Phi, has really increased the level of my positive experience on campus. Of course, being from IB I believe that I am a fairly strong writer, but I’m probably misled and ignorant of other forms and expectations of writing. My strengths in writing have always been in the history area, though I can write sarcastic college admissions essays quite well. If you take away my prior experience with all things rhetorical, I have studied rhetoric in IB, but briefly. I define rhetoric as the art of arguing, persuading, and getting your point across to the audience, and personally, winning the argument (even though I know the last part doesn’t have anything to do with the definition). I hope to learn more about myself as a writer in branching away from my conditioning as an IB scholar. Also, now that I have witnessed our class size, I hope to get to know the other five people in my class on a deeper level (for better or for worse).
ReplyDeleteHI, my name is Wyatt Stanland. I am a freshman majoring in Mechanical Engineering. I am from Old lyme, Connecticut which is a small town on the coast of the atlantic ocean who's population more than doubles in the summer. I love where I live because it is close to the ocean and it has been a bit of a problem living in Denver 2000 miles away from my town. A little bit about my home life, I have a brother who is currently a freshman in high school and a sister who will be graduating high school this year. I have a girlfriend who I have been with for almost 3 years now. She attends High Point University in North Carolina.
ReplyDeleteSome of my hobbies include baseball, snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, sailing, long boarding and playing guitar. I love doing everything that I can and really getting all that I can out of life, which is why I have so many hobbies and things that I enjoy doing.
One of the most unique experiences of mine was a trip I took to the Dominican Republic. I went during February with a baseball team and our goal was to play with local professional training teams. We played with what I am sure are soon to be stars in the MLB on teams such as the Yankees, Cardinals and Mets. The coolest thing about this was that after the games, we got to hang out with some of those same players and swim and play beach volleyball and basketball. One of the most important things that I learned is that true friendship is not inhibited by language barriers.
As a writer, I feel that I have a long way to improve, but I am willing to put forth the effort. I do not mind analyzing books and writing about them, but what I do like are long thesis papers where I can really get into a subject that I enjoy. Also, I enjoy looking at topics and prompts in unique ways and finding cool angles and interpretations and writing that way. Overall, I am looking forward to the course and I feel that it should improve at least a small part of my writing.
Oh yeah and I almost forgot to define rhetoric. I would define rhetoric as the way an argument or a text is presented in order to evoke some response desired by the author of presenter. It may be the utilization of eloquence in vocabulary or in speech, it may be identifying words such as "we" or "our" that constitute a group of people (this is popular in politics), or it may be using techniques that appeal or sympathize with the audience. Rhetoric is an integral part of any text because it is used to draw and retain a desired audience.
ReplyDeleteLast quarter I took a class called Foundations of Communication, which focused largely on the rhetoric associated with communication.
Hello all,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Andrew McClaskey and I am from Broomfield, CO, home the highest police officer to citizen ratio in the state. I graduated from Broomfield High School where in my four years we won over 25 state titles including a current streak of 5 consecutive girls basketball championships. I can not find a single negative thing about my first quarter at DU. All of my classes were interesting and thought provoking and I feel gave me a strong taste of what being a full time college student is like. I am an avid baseball fan and love to talk baseball whenever I can, even if it gets heated and somebody starts bashing on my Rockies. Go Tulo! I am currently an international business major and learning Chinese, but I am pretty set on going to law school and becoming an international attorney. One of the biggest things on my bucket list is to set foot on every continent; I hope either via my profession or personal recreation I will be able to see the world.
I will admit that writing is one of my weaker areas. I have always been a numbers kind of guys, love Calculus and Physics, and Chemistry. Being so, I am well versed in scientific, lab type writing more than any other type of writing. I think the hardest part for me is just getting started and setting out my ideas in an effective manner. Once I do finally decide on the structure and what I want to say, I can usually hit the ground running. I think that "good" writing is something that sticks in the audiences mind. It gives them a reason to remember it. I have never studied rhetoric before so the subject is still very new, but from the little that I read, I would define rhetoric as the means of presenting an idea that is for an audience; ways that will provoke a response or reaction to the idea being proposed. In this class, I hope to further understand what rhetoric really is and how I can use the knowledge to make my writing more persuasive and leave a more lasting impression with my audience.
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ReplyDeleteHello everyone my name is Skyler Meyer and I’m from Salt Lake City, UT. I’d like to say that I enjoyed my childhood in the state of Utah but, that would be an unfortunate lie. Utah is a great place to raise a family as has an incredibly low crime rate and there are almost no problems with drugs or alcohol, largely due to the highly religious culture of the state. However, it is this culture that gave me so much trouble throughout my high school years. It’s always a rough learning experience to grow up in a state that looks down at you because of your religion. Because of this feeling of being constantly looked down upon I wasn’t ever really open about who I was in Utah the thought of telling people you’re a Democrat is terrifying, throw in the word gay and it’s like committing social suicide. Don’t mistake this post for being entirely negative, although I did not like my time in high school I greatly appreciate it because it allowed me to grow closer to my family and above all my experiences in high school made me a stronger individual that is able to look above petty arguments and insults and focus more intently on my future. It is these lessons that I have brought to DU as I have promised myself that I will no longer look away in shame of who I am as I was sometimes forced to do in my previous home.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of my writing style it is one of an individual that has been driven to the brink of insanity with papers. As a survivor of the International Baccalaureate Program I started my training in learning to write in an academic style with a baptism by fire method. Because of this iB background I have always found writing easier for me as the words just seem to flow at times. It was this natural flow of writing that led me to join my high school debate team and the mock trial team here at DU. It is through my debate background that I became familiar with the art of rhetoric. In my eyes rhetoric is the ability for words to persuade and tell a story. Last year when I won the state competition for debate is was my duty to properly apply and adapt rhetoric in order to persuade judges that were experts in the fields as well as simple parents that were willing to give a few hours of their time. It is this adaptability that makes me want to greater expand my knowledge of rhetoric. In taking this course I really hope to further improve my writing and to study the ways that Social Justice are changing in this world as I find myself at the center of some of the greatest social justice issues of our time.
Hi everyone, my name is Rachael Scoggins. I grew up in Portland, Oregon and loved every minute of it. Portland is a great place to grow up or raise a family. There are so many distinct parts of Portland that there’s something for everyone. One of my favorite things about Portland is that Mt. Hood is only an hour east of the city, while the Oregon Coast is just an hour and a half west of the city, which means that it’s easy to get up to the mountain in the winter and down to the beach in the summer. I went to St. Mary’s Academy for high school. My high school was unique in two ways: one, it was an all girls school, and two, it was located in the downtown Portland business district. This only increased my love for Portland as it meant that I could more easily access all that Portland has to offer. For example, in art class, we would walk to the ballet a few blocks away to draw the dancers and we would go to Powell’s (a four story bookstore taking up one square block of the city) in English class to find books for various projects. It also meant that I always had a ton of great food options for lunch thanks to the food carts. My one complaint about Portland is that it’s extremely liberal, almost to the point where it can be oppressive, especially among people who are high school and college age. One of the nicest things I’ve found at DU is that there is a lot more diversity of opinions among students than Portland.
ReplyDeleteI’m a Biochemistry major, and to be completely honest, I enjoy math and science a lot more than writing. The hardest parts of writing for me is getting my ideas on the page in a concise manner and creating an essay that has a natural flow to it. In order to have “good” writing, I think that a paper must have a clear argument that it fully backs up with evidence, whether from text or other sources. Additionally, I think a writer must use varied vocabulary and sentence structure to not only keep readers interested, but to communicate her point in a more articulate and compelling manner. I’ve studied rhetoric a little bit at the beginning of AP English when we were discussing persuasive writing, but I don’t remember much. I would define rhetoric as the way in which the author communicates his ideas after considering his audience and deciding what the best use of ethos, pathos, and logos would be. I hope that this class will improve my ability to write concisely and my ability to effectively argue a point I’m trying to make, as well as make me more aware about some of the social justice issues relevant to western America.
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ReplyDeleteMy full name is Charles Kirwan Carlisle. I’m from Northbrook, IL, a suburb of Chicago about thirty miles north of the city. I went to Glenbrook North High School, the school where everyone in my town goes for high school. Some things that many people don’t really know about Glenbrook North and Northbrook is that they are the school and subsequent town that director and movie writer John Hughes based some of his famous movies such as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Buehler’s Day Off. In fact, many parts of my high school and town are shown in these movies. A scene from Uncle Buck was actually shot three houses down from my house. My mom is a small business owner and I think one day I may try and do that myself. I also enjoy seedless watermelon, steak, and being outside.
ReplyDeleteAs a writer, I think that I have a lot to improve on. I think that I can write research paper-style papers reasonably well, but beyond that I am pretty weak. I feel as though I need to find better ways to show and not tell when doing descriptive writing. In addition to that, my transitions and overall organization for my writing needs work. I think that these things are what really make writing “good” and are areas that I should personally strive to improve on. I would define the word rhetoric as the means to which one can inform others about information, using the specific presentation of this information as a means of persuasion. I hope that this class will be able to allow me to become a better writer overall, and to help me appreciate and enjoy other styles of writing beyond the strictly academic formal paper style.