Post Secret Response

The post card that I was most drawn to was the image of people's legs in a parking lot.  I found the swirling effect that the artist did really interesting and it made me want to take a closer look.  On this card the author wrote, "Sometimes I try to convince myself that the reason I have no friends is because I'm so beautiful everyone is too intimidated to approach me."  The creator of this text is explicitly stating that they have no friends, but he or she is also implicitly claiming that she lies to her self to lessen the pain of being friendless.  By stating this the creator is appealing to the viewer's emotions, which is why I think the author aimed her post card at his/her peers. It seems like the artist really wants to be noticed, so by creating this card I think she is trying to communicate that desire. If those people were to read the card then maybe they would feel sorry for her and become her friend.  Also by writing her text in this way I think the creator of this post card is a young female, because those are the people who care most about their self image. Teenage girls in particular obsess about how they look and what others think of them, so by stating that her beauty is what drives people away from her the artist is trying to convince herself that she is just as intimidating as the beautiful girls on magazine covers. I think this is why the artist had the image blurry: to show her lie.  She is not really seeing the world the way it is but through a blurred perspective, so she created that same effect for the viewer.  I also found it interesting how the image became clear around one persons feet.  The swirling throughout the post card made it look like the image was revolving around this one part.  Initially this made me think the artist was conveying that he/she was the center of the world.  If you just view the card for it's content you could think the girl is selfish and snobby, but when you look deeper into the meaning you come up with an array of possibilities.

Hungry Planet Photos

As a collection these pictures made the reader see the differences in what is eaten and how much is eaten by individuals trough out the world.  I was able to observe that the people in wealthy countries and large cities were able to eat more because there was more available to them, but the people in underdeveloped countries were left with very little toe eat.  I think because of this food shortage they ate things that Americans would consider gross, such as bugs, pigs feet, and tropical fish.   Much of their food choice primarily comes from tradition but I think these foundations for what you are expected to eat come from a history of little to eat.  I think this is why Menzel called this collection Hungry Planet.

The Pleasures of Eating Question 3

1. Put a group together in your dorm to create a garden club.  The club will be able to rent space on the grounds of the university and plant a garden.  Also by haveing a group everyone will be able to take turns caring for the garden so it will not take up too much time.
2. Use the kitchens located in each dorm building to cook a meal when you can.  This could mean once a week or once a day.  Most likely you wont be able to organize a meal everyday but if you work with a group you will be able to cook in your dorm more often. 
3. Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that is produced closest to your home.  You can also use this knowlegde to pick local foods when in your campus food court.
4. Buy food from local farmer's markets when possible.  Find one in your city and make trips as often as you can.
5. Learn as much as you can about the economy and technology of industrial food production so that you can make healthier decisions.
6. Learn what is involved in the best farming and gardening. 
7. Learn as much as you can from direct observation and experience if possible.

I changed some of the points but many of Berry's suggestions can be applied to a dorm setting.  If the reader really wants to live this way then they will make the effort to find reasonable ways to follow Berry's suggested actions.  Also I did this asignment with USC in mind so our dorms provide kitchens and there are plenty of open spaces where someone could make a garden.

The Cooking Ape Question 1

Wrangham stated that how early humans were looked indicates that our food had to be more digestible than just raw meat.  By making this first link Wrangham was casually suggesting that these early humans had to cook to be able to eat their prehistoric foods.  He also stated that the way our bodies are formed is primarily shaped by what we eat.  Wangham then provides us with a time period in which he believes our bodies began to change as a result of a change in how we ate.  Wangham followed this estimate by talking about how long ago humans mastered fire, which happened to be around the same time that human quickly evolved.  By putting these two dates together the reader was able to see the connection by themselves.

I found that your paper flowed very well. I really enjoyed reading your paper and I'm sure that with some small revisions it will be perfect.
The first suggestion I can make in terms of flow is go back and make sure that each paragraph's content relates to it's topic sentence.  This will eliminate the feeling that your points are disconnected.  Also be sure to refer back to Blakley in every paragraph. And finally you need to make sure that you go back in and add more so that you fill the page requirments

Concerns for Rhetorical Analysis

One concern that I have about my paper is that I did not focus very much on pathos, ethos, and logos directly.  Will this hurt my grade?

Another problem I have with my paper is word choice.  I feel like I repeat words too often and some of my words don't feel like they are words that should be seen in a college paper.

Outline for Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetorical Analysis of “The Story of a Snitch”

Thesis: In his article “The Story of a Snitch” Jeremy Kahn, an independent journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, and The Atlantic, attempts to discuss how the term snitching has changed and developed in our society, what effect witness intimidation has on a case, and the effects both of these terms have in a community.  To do this Kahn employs a combination of pathos, ethos, and logos.

1.      By using emotional diction and heart wrenching accounts of snitch brutality Kahn attempts to gain the readers empathy, however, this actually distracts the reader from his main point: that until witnesses feel safe to come forward they will continue to remain obscure.

a.       Kahn heavily relies on the experiences of John Dowery Jr., an attacked and threatened witness, to evict an emotional response from his readers. Although the main story that Dowery provides a real life example for Kahn’s argument it can be mistaken for the main point of the paper.

b.      Kahn also briefly focuses on a number of other horror stories related to snitching, but rather than make you feel angry at the criminals behind the attack these stories make you angry at the police for failing in their duty to protect them.

c.       An additional way Kahn tries to evoke emotion from is by his word choice.  Kahn uses emotional diction. 

2.       Kahn does a satisfactory job of providing views from both people on the street and police, but he neglects to acknowledge the other side of the argument.

a.        He provides quotes from people extremely against informing the police as well as attorneys and police detectives, which give the reader a well-rounded evaluation of the situation. 

b.      Although Kahn does give these peoples views he never provides a person who thinks that the laws are fine the way they are.  Kahn states proposed bills that have been shot down in the past but never provides a reason why. 

c.        At the end of his piece Kahn states a way this project can be fixed: by creating harsher laws, which is a possibility but he does not give any other alternatives and he neglects to explain how this change would help the problem.

3.      Kahn’s directed audience was society at large but concentrated his study to impoverished neighborhoods where this problem is a larger issue.

a.       This paper was originally published in the Atlantic, a paper that is primarily aimed at business men and women.  Because his article was published here Kahn needed to include the input of this type of individual.

b.      Kahn never pays attention to areas other than troubled neighborhoods, which narrows his argument to certain regions and lessens the ability to truly impact change.  Another thing that Kahn does which off puts his readers is by stating the price for making it safer for witnesses. 

c.       The title of the paper points the reader’s attention on to Dowery’s story further distracting them from Kahn’s argument.

Conclusion: Kahn does a good job of making his story readable however he does a poor job of making it relevant to everyone.  The reader is able to keep their attention because they are following a narrative, and although that is an effective way of keeping one’s audience it limits the impact of Kahn’s message.  Kahn’s main focus was on Dowery’s story, which let the focal point underdeveloped and poorly delivered. Overall Kahn’s paper was easy to read, simple to understand, but of little impact.

Working Thesis Statement

"The Story of a Snitch"

In his article, Jeremy Kahn focused on how the term snitch has evolved to encompass a much wider range. To do this Kahn used a lot of emotion and logic to persuade us to his point.

Lady Power possible response

Nancy Bauer, author of “Lady Power,” wrote this article to question modern feminist Lady Gaga and examine how old society roles still influence our way of thinking.  Bauer first takes the reader through some of Gaga’s claims about her role as a modern day feminist.  Then Bauer describes one of Gaga’s videos, “telephone.”  Following this description she begins to introduce her argument.  Bauer believes that our society’s view of women is still not equal to that of a man’s.  Women, she claims, are still seen as objects, however, unlike in the past men are not the only ones labeling us in this way.  Bauer claims that today women are putting this label on ourselves.  In her article, Bauer directs her argument at women who a relatively young.  By doing this Bauer is limiting the scope of her article down to only a portion of the population.  Bauer constructs her article using ethos and very little pathos.  Bauer appeals to us ethically by pointing out what she calls hook-up-hangover and by accusing us of allowing this to occur. These parts make us question how we act in our own lives and question why.  Although, Bauer does appeal to our sense of ethics she never offers a solution to this problem or offer an opposing view to her argument.  Bauer neglects to acknowledge any opposing arguments, which makes her own argument questionable. Also the lack of pathos makes it difficult to decide my feelings about this topic. I did appreciate how Bauer allowed me to ultimately make my own decisions about the topic but I would like to better understand how Bauer feels about modern feminism.  Overall I found Bauer's weak and slightly tough to follow.

The Story of a Snitch possible response 2

In this article Jeremy Kahn examines the concept of snitching and witness intimidation.  To do this Kahn introduces a story pertaining to witness intimidation and follows what happened to John Dowery Jr., the witness, after he came forward to testify.  As the story progresses Kahn also discusses how the term snitching has changed and developed, what effect witness intimidation has on a case, and the effects both of these terms have in a community. 

To develop the argument Kahn utilizes ethos and pathos.  He creates a strong ethos by providing quotes from police officers, civilians in dangerous neighborhoods, and people who have expressed a dislike for snitchers.  These testimonies provide proof of the issue and add insight into why the problem exists.  Another way the author develops ethos is by providing us with ways to reduce witness intimidation and lessen the bad reputation of snitching.  To appeal to pathos Kahn provided us with the account of what Dowery went through.  Kahn also provided other horror stories of witness intimidation, which developed a feeling of remorse for those attacked and anger at the people who were threatening the “snitches.”  These real life events illicit an emotional response from the reader and thus create a strong pathos.

 This paper Kahn wrote was directed not only at people who live in communities where snitching is considered a taboo but also to society at large.  In his article, Kahn focused on how the term snitch had evolved to encompass a much wider range.  He noted how rap music and modern television shows were now showing snitching as bad and as a result there was a drop in the amount of police cooperation.