Dear Reader,
I do not know how you came across this blog but hopefully by viewing my blog, you get a glimpse at ethos, logos, pathos, and my interpretation of things through my writing.
English 201 has really given me a new perspective on writing and arguing through writing. This class has also given me a new outlook on public literacy, as well as the ways to approach it, through literary criticism. I feel that the writings in this blog reflect the skill that I have gained from taking a course on public literacy. I also feel that I have gained a better understanding of the importance of reading and writing public texts because they show the opinions of people throughout the public sphere. Through my writing, I hope you see my interpretations and arguments as effective pieces of the public sphere.
Out of all the assignments that I did for this course; I feel that the content analysis was the most difficult piece to write because it required a lot of effort. Even though the public sphere project required immense amounts of effort, it was easier to get into because I was not restricted to just using the Courier & Press and other newspapers as resources. It was also more difficult because it dealt with the city of Evansville, which to me, seems rather uninteresting to write about, so that was a challenge.
Public sphere week was helpful because it allowed me the opportunity to give out information on something that was really important to me. I feel that it was worth all the time and effort that I put into it and that it should be done again. My only problems with public sphere week are as followed. I feel that the location was not the best place to have it and the time that it was done was not very effective, (for my class at least).
Overall, I enjoyed my time in the class and I hope that they continue with the public sphere projects, and hopefully that will evolve into something bigger and better. I believe that the tools that I learned in this course will help me down the road in my college career and they are worth learning and knowing.
-Brannon-
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Content Analysis Blog # 2
For this particular blog, I have decided to write about the preparation for writing the Content analysis paper. Overall, the process of finding information was not hard or rigorous at all. Over the course of two weeks, I collected The Shield and The Courier & Press. I also looked up statistics on Evansville and whatnot.
The hardest thing was coming up with a specific topic and having a thesis to back it up. That took me a good hour or so of thinking to get the specific thesis that I felt would work for this specific assignment.
The hardest thing was coming up with a specific topic and having a thesis to back it up. That took me a good hour or so of thinking to get the specific thesis that I felt would work for this specific assignment.
Public Literacy Documents
Click on the pictures to get a better view of them. These were the public documents that I had for public sphere day.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Full Proposal
I remember when I first heard about the public sphere day project, I had absolutely no idea as to what I was going to do for it. I thought about a lot of things, but nothing really interesting came to mind. My mind then went to the thought of women’s rights, and that evolved into wanting to prevent sexual assault from happening. For some reason that just seem to stick with me and I went on to forming an idea around reducing sexual assaults.
I remembered that my friend Joseph was a part of this group called MAARV(which stands for Men Allies against Rape and Violence) and since there was no other group on campus really like them, I decided to go with MAARV. MAARV is mainly a group that helps out in activities related to groups that deal with sexual assault, domestic violence, and is a fairly new group that is still in developing a set goal. I e-mailed Dr. Schroer who is the head sponsor for the group and got the approval that I need for using them for my public sphere project. I figured that it would be a good opportunity for the both of us because I could give information about sexual assault to college kids, and the MAARV name would get more attention.
I have managed to find some really good research on the topic of sexual assault. What I am going to focus on more specifically is the statistics that deal with the college scene and ways to prevent sexual assault from happening to people. I will also focus on the factors of alcohol, and possibly the dangers of fraternities. The main focus will be information directed towards college students because the people I will be distributing the information to will primarily be college kids. I plan on distributing in a number of ways.
The first thing that I will do is make some really simple, but effective flyers to attract people to my table. I will do my best to make sure that what I advertise is not offensive. I will use flyers as my main means of advertisement. When it comes to distributing information directly, I will make up fact sheets and possibly pamphlets for people to take with them. I will include Dr. Schroer’s email because he is an expert on the subject matter. Another thing to attract people’s attention to the table could possibly be a poster or a sign that I make for the table that I am running. I may put a variety of fact sheets for people to take. Possibly one sheet that has in-depth statistics as well as, one that has tips on preventing sexual assault from happening. I will distribute them by simply having people pick them up from the table. Although simple, I feel that my method of distributing information about rape and sexual assault can be really effective.
I remembered that my friend Joseph was a part of this group called MAARV(which stands for Men Allies against Rape and Violence) and since there was no other group on campus really like them, I decided to go with MAARV. MAARV is mainly a group that helps out in activities related to groups that deal with sexual assault, domestic violence, and is a fairly new group that is still in developing a set goal. I e-mailed Dr. Schroer who is the head sponsor for the group and got the approval that I need for using them for my public sphere project. I figured that it would be a good opportunity for the both of us because I could give information about sexual assault to college kids, and the MAARV name would get more attention.
I have managed to find some really good research on the topic of sexual assault. What I am going to focus on more specifically is the statistics that deal with the college scene and ways to prevent sexual assault from happening to people. I will also focus on the factors of alcohol, and possibly the dangers of fraternities. The main focus will be information directed towards college students because the people I will be distributing the information to will primarily be college kids. I plan on distributing in a number of ways.
The first thing that I will do is make some really simple, but effective flyers to attract people to my table. I will do my best to make sure that what I advertise is not offensive. I will use flyers as my main means of advertisement. When it comes to distributing information directly, I will make up fact sheets and possibly pamphlets for people to take with them. I will include Dr. Schroer’s email because he is an expert on the subject matter. Another thing to attract people’s attention to the table could possibly be a poster or a sign that I make for the table that I am running. I may put a variety of fact sheets for people to take. Possibly one sheet that has in-depth statistics as well as, one that has tips on preventing sexual assault from happening. I will distribute them by simply having people pick them up from the table. Although simple, I feel that my method of distributing information about rape and sexual assault can be really effective.
Annotated Bibliographies
RAPE, ABUSE AND INCEST NATIONAL NETWORK. 31 Mar. 2009
RAINN, or Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, is a charity organization that runs a help-line, and is the nation’s biggest anti-sexual assault organization. They use information and statistics to back up their claims on sexual assault. The groups purpose to help victims of sexual assault through their hot-line, educate people on sexual, lead national efforts to prevent sexual assault, improve services to victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice. The overall audience is everyone but they want to inform everyone and make everybody aware of this issue. I feel that this website is an excellent source because it has everything that I need from statistics, to ways to prevent acquaintance rape from happening.
Albion Fellows Bacon Center • Help Is Available 24 Hours. Albion Fellows Bacon Center. 31 Mar. 2009
The Albion Fellows Bacon Center is a local center that helps with domestic violence and sexual assault. They do this with a crisis line and with a shelter program. Their purpose is to help those that have been affected by domestic violence and to educate people on those topics. The audience for them is everyone. I feel that this source is a good one because it has information on how to prevent sexual assault from happening.
A. Ayres Boswell, Joan Z. Spade
Gender and Society, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), pp. 133-147
Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?, the article by A. Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade, asserts that date or acquaintance rape is more likely to happen at Frats. They develop this through research and doing conductive studies at various schools. The purpose is to inform people of the dangers that frats can hold for women and show how alcohol is a major factor as well. Their audience in particular is college kids who are currently dealing with issues posed in the article. This article is a great source because it shows the social factors of the college party life and how rape is implemented in them, as well as shows how people define rape.
Sally K. Ward, Kathy Chapman, Ellen Cohn, Susan White, Kirk Williams
Family Relations, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan., 1991), pp. 65-71
Acquaintance Rape and The College Social Scene, an article by Sally K. Ward, Katy Chapman, Ellen Cohn, Susan White and Kirk Williams, talk about acquaintance rape on a specific college campus. They develop their article through close examination and research of the campus. Their purpose is to find out about how and why sexual assault occurs. Their main audience seems to be everyone, as they want to inform anyone they can about this endeavor. I feel that this article is a good source because it shows the college social scene really well and gives good info on date rape on the college scene.
Patricia Yancey Martin, Robert A. Hummer
Gender and Society, Vol. 3, No. 4, Special Issue: Violence against Women (Dec., 1989), pp. 457-473
Fraternities and Rape, an article by Patricia Yancey Martin and Robert A. Hummer, suggests that college frats will continue to violate women socially and sexually unless they change in fundamental ways. They develop this conclusion through multiply studies of fraternities on college campuses. Their purpose is to show how fraternities can be a danger for women and show what it will be like if fraternities do not change. Their audience seems to be aimed at everybody, to inform them about such activities that are occurring. This is a nice source, because it shows how dangerous frats can be, and I can use it to show people how messed up the frat thought process really is towards women.
R. Scott Ricker Public Health Reports (1974-), Vol. 107, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1992), pp. 226-227
Reduction of Date Rape on College Campus, a small article by R. Scott Ricker, suggests that date rape occurs a lot on college campuses, also implying that alcohol is a major contributor to it. He talks about an Oregon college, and the method it is using to stop date rape. His purpose is to show how effective the methods of the “Be a safe date” project from The University of Oregon are. His audience is geared towards everyone. This article is okay, because it shows a really good project on how to stop date rape.
Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, Brian Sweeney
Social Problems, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Nov., 2006), pp. 483-499
Sexual Assault on Campus: A Multilevel, Integrative Approach to Party Rape, the article by Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, and Brian Sweeney, shows how and why sexual assaults remain high on college campuses. They develop their conclusion through extensive interviewing, and research of a large mid-western university. Their purpose is to inform people about party rape, and why it is still really high. Their audience is everyone, but especially college students. This is a really good article because it has a lot of information on party rape and I can use it to inform other college students about these studies and the results.
Patricia A. Frazier, Eugene Borgida Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 16, No. 3, Expert Evidence (Jun., 1992), pp. 293-311
The article Rape Trauma Syndrome: A Review of Case Law and Psychological Research, by Patricia A. Frazier, and Eugene Borgida, implies that there is a symptom such as Rape Trauma syndrome. They do this by researching cases over rape and showing evidence. The purpose is to make people aware of what could happen, should rape occur to someone. The overall audience is anyone and everyone. This source is alright because it shows what could potentially happen to someone if they get raped.
Harvard Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 7 (May, 2004), pp. 2341-2364
The article “ACQUAINTANCE RAPE' AND DEGREES OF CONSENT: "NO" MEANS "NO," BUT WHAT DOES "YES" MEAN?” by The Harvard Law Review association, stresses that there are degrees of consent when it comes to sex and rape. They developed their thesis through research of the degrees and certain intimate levels. Their purpose is to inform people of such degrees. The general audience is everyone. This source is good because it shows people what the degrees of rape are, what is considered rape, and what is not.
Stephen A. Small, Donell Kerns Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Nov., 1993), pp. 941-952
The article Unwanted Sexual Activity among Peers during Early and Middle Adolescence: Incidence and Risk Factors, by Stephen A. Small and Donell Kerns, asserts that adolescent children are also susceptible to sexual assault. They develop this through assessing a sample of 1,149 females and getting results from the data they collected. Their purpose is to inform people about the risk factors of sexual activity during adolescence. The overall audience is everyone. This source is alright, in the sense that it can show how sexual activity and assault can affect kids.
RAINN, or Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, is a charity organization that runs a help-line, and is the nation’s biggest anti-sexual assault organization. They use information and statistics to back up their claims on sexual assault. The groups purpose to help victims of sexual assault through their hot-line, educate people on sexual, lead national efforts to prevent sexual assault, improve services to victims and ensure that rapists are brought to justice. The overall audience is everyone but they want to inform everyone and make everybody aware of this issue. I feel that this website is an excellent source because it has everything that I need from statistics, to ways to prevent acquaintance rape from happening.
Albion Fellows Bacon Center • Help Is Available 24 Hours. Albion Fellows Bacon Center. 31 Mar. 2009
The Albion Fellows Bacon Center is a local center that helps with domestic violence and sexual assault. They do this with a crisis line and with a shelter program. Their purpose is to help those that have been affected by domestic violence and to educate people on those topics. The audience for them is everyone. I feel that this source is a good one because it has information on how to prevent sexual assault from happening.
A. Ayres Boswell, Joan Z. Spade
Gender and Society, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Apr., 1996), pp. 133-147
Fraternities and Collegiate Rape Culture: Why Are Some Fraternities More Dangerous Places for Women?, the article by A. Ayres Boswell and Joan Z. Spade, asserts that date or acquaintance rape is more likely to happen at Frats. They develop this through research and doing conductive studies at various schools. The purpose is to inform people of the dangers that frats can hold for women and show how alcohol is a major factor as well. Their audience in particular is college kids who are currently dealing with issues posed in the article. This article is a great source because it shows the social factors of the college party life and how rape is implemented in them, as well as shows how people define rape.
Sally K. Ward, Kathy Chapman, Ellen Cohn, Susan White, Kirk Williams
Family Relations, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan., 1991), pp. 65-71
Acquaintance Rape and The College Social Scene, an article by Sally K. Ward, Katy Chapman, Ellen Cohn, Susan White and Kirk Williams, talk about acquaintance rape on a specific college campus. They develop their article through close examination and research of the campus. Their purpose is to find out about how and why sexual assault occurs. Their main audience seems to be everyone, as they want to inform anyone they can about this endeavor. I feel that this article is a good source because it shows the college social scene really well and gives good info on date rape on the college scene.
Patricia Yancey Martin, Robert A. Hummer
Gender and Society, Vol. 3, No. 4, Special Issue: Violence against Women (Dec., 1989), pp. 457-473
Fraternities and Rape, an article by Patricia Yancey Martin and Robert A. Hummer, suggests that college frats will continue to violate women socially and sexually unless they change in fundamental ways. They develop this conclusion through multiply studies of fraternities on college campuses. Their purpose is to show how fraternities can be a danger for women and show what it will be like if fraternities do not change. Their audience seems to be aimed at everybody, to inform them about such activities that are occurring. This is a nice source, because it shows how dangerous frats can be, and I can use it to show people how messed up the frat thought process really is towards women.
R. Scott Ricker Public Health Reports (1974-), Vol. 107, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 1992), pp. 226-227
Reduction of Date Rape on College Campus, a small article by R. Scott Ricker, suggests that date rape occurs a lot on college campuses, also implying that alcohol is a major contributor to it. He talks about an Oregon college, and the method it is using to stop date rape. His purpose is to show how effective the methods of the “Be a safe date” project from The University of Oregon are. His audience is geared towards everyone. This article is okay, because it shows a really good project on how to stop date rape.
Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, Brian Sweeney
Social Problems, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Nov., 2006), pp. 483-499
Sexual Assault on Campus: A Multilevel, Integrative Approach to Party Rape, the article by Elizabeth A. Armstrong, Laura Hamilton, and Brian Sweeney, shows how and why sexual assaults remain high on college campuses. They develop their conclusion through extensive interviewing, and research of a large mid-western university. Their purpose is to inform people about party rape, and why it is still really high. Their audience is everyone, but especially college students. This is a really good article because it has a lot of information on party rape and I can use it to inform other college students about these studies and the results.
Patricia A. Frazier, Eugene Borgida Law and Human Behavior, Vol. 16, No. 3, Expert Evidence (Jun., 1992), pp. 293-311
The article Rape Trauma Syndrome: A Review of Case Law and Psychological Research, by Patricia A. Frazier, and Eugene Borgida, implies that there is a symptom such as Rape Trauma syndrome. They do this by researching cases over rape and showing evidence. The purpose is to make people aware of what could happen, should rape occur to someone. The overall audience is anyone and everyone. This source is alright because it shows what could potentially happen to someone if they get raped.
Harvard Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 7 (May, 2004), pp. 2341-2364
The article “ACQUAINTANCE RAPE' AND DEGREES OF CONSENT: "NO" MEANS "NO," BUT WHAT DOES "YES" MEAN?” by The Harvard Law Review association, stresses that there are degrees of consent when it comes to sex and rape. They developed their thesis through research of the degrees and certain intimate levels. Their purpose is to inform people of such degrees. The general audience is everyone. This source is good because it shows people what the degrees of rape are, what is considered rape, and what is not.
Stephen A. Small, Donell Kerns Journal of Marriage and the Family, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Nov., 1993), pp. 941-952
The article Unwanted Sexual Activity among Peers during Early and Middle Adolescence: Incidence and Risk Factors, by Stephen A. Small and Donell Kerns, asserts that adolescent children are also susceptible to sexual assault. They develop this through assessing a sample of 1,149 females and getting results from the data they collected. Their purpose is to inform people about the risk factors of sexual activity during adolescence. The overall audience is everyone. This source is alright, in the sense that it can show how sexual activity and assault can affect kids.
Content Analysis
According to the Webster Dictionary, focus means directed attention. (Webster) People are constantly arguing about what the real “focus” is for the betterment of humankind. Healthcare, money, jobs, housing, political issues, and numerous other topics often come up in the debate for real focus. In today’s America, things like healthcare, jobs, house and other issues are really important to people, yet, the people of America still get side-tracked and lose focus often. Often times, people, including newspaper writers will report on something crazy, rather than what is really important. Crazy, according to the Webster Dictionary means full of cracks/flaws, impractical, erratic, being out of the ordinary, etc. (Webster) How then can we lose sight on real issues and focus on things that are impractical or flawed? Why is it so easy for Americans, to lose direct attention? Are we too bored with all the political and economical news? Are we in denial about the issues at hand, that we turn our faces to what is crazy to distract us? Sure seems that way to the observation that one has made. It is from one’s understanding that people like focusing on what is crazy, because it pulls them away from the “boring”, “mundane” and, “fun-sapping” issues that are truly at hand. People have become lazy, and this mindset of, “it will take care of itself eventually” or “let somebody else deal with it” has been instilled in a lot of minds, making people lack real focus in their lives. Truly, the American society has become vain, and one could say that it is the media’s entire fault for changing the attitude of America. Instead of putting full focus on what is important, the media has everyone focusing on what is crazy instead. Such is the case, to a lesser extent, of a newspaper in a big town in southern Indiana.
Evansville is the third largest city (more like a big town, am I right?) in Indiana. Since 2007, approximately 349,717 people live in the metropolitan area. 91 percent of those people are white, 5.9 black, .2 % American Indian, .9 % Asian, 0 percent Pacific islanders, 1.1 % of two or more races, and 1.3 % of Hispanic/Latin-American. This shows that as far as diversity goes, this town is not the most diverse. Regardless of race, one is sure that Evansville’s Courier & Press gets out to almost all of the people in the metro-area. The Courier & Press, in a sense, is almost a direct reflection of the town itself. Then, one would figure that it reflect the issues that the people care about, such as jobs, the current economic crisis, current happenings around the local area, and so forth. The paper does that pretty well until; it takes the focus away from the important articles by putting crazy, irrelevant stories in the headlining pages, which in turns have people focus on the irrelevant, instead of what is important. It gets a person to talk about nothing, which makes them forget about everything that is relevant to their life. We are crazy about crazy subjects, which time and time again, detract from what is really going on in our town. It saps us of our rhetorical analysis and distracts us. We become slaves to what is irrelevant and crazy.
Crazy, again means full of cracks/flaws, impractical, erratic, being out of the ordinary, etc. (Webster) One would then ask one’s self, “Why are we attracted to madness?” Why then, are we constantly looking for car crashes? Do acts of craziness excite us? Do we simply use them for distraction purposes? Whatever the case may be, people continue to do crazy acts, and we continue to watch.
Evansville’s Courier & Press is no exception to getting people to lose their focus by using crazy stories. In fact, out of every Courier & Press that one has examined, one has come up with this solution: Evansville is scatterbrained; therefore it is easy to lose its focus to crazy stories that are printed onto the paper. The reasoning is because scatterbrained people lose focus easily, and with crazy stories in the paper, it is not hard to get the people of Evansville distracted.
One example of a crazy story that was more than likely to distract people was this article titled Beloved Clinton cat, Socks, Dies. In this article, it shares with the reader about how the cat Socks has died after 18 years. Of those 18 years he spent all 8 years with the Clintons in the White house. He was then given to their secretary named Betty Currie in 2001, who took care of him until his death in February. Now, this article would not appear crazy, however, it is crazy when it appears in the headlines of the Courier & Press next to other headlines such as “Israel getting push to form unity government” or “Many feel punished by homeowner bailout.” Why would this particular story be put on the same pedestal as the other stories one mentioned? I strongly feel that for one thing, why would it matter if that cat socks died? Honestly who really cares other than the Clintons and their secretary? How does this article give me good information about the current state of my town? It does nothing for any Evansville citizen. The fact that it is wasting space, where a more relevant article should go is what is truly crazy. This to one’s self really reflects Evansville’s way of thinking; that it is okay to talk about some dead cat because it is somehow relevant to the people here. However, this is only one example of crazy articles that have no relevancy. Another article titled Teenager burned trying to kill lice talks about this young girl, named Jessica Brooks who poured gasoline on her hair in an attempt to kill lice. The fumes settled in and ignited the pilot light on the water-heater, resulting in a fire. The rest of the article goes on to talk about her getting taken to the hospital and etc. Now, first off, this article shows sheer idiocy. Not only that but, it shows the irrelevancy to everyone else in town. Who really cares if this idiotic person burned themselves? Surely the people who read this more than likely did not care, and thought this person to be really stupid. Overall this article is crazy because it shows a crazy person, doing a crazy thing and, it is amongst the headlines where it should not be. Barack Obama has become a hot topic in The Courier & Press and you would think that all of his headlines would be relevant, but even political figures can have irrelevancy written about them.
Because the Courier & Press presents crazy articles, there is also a hint of irrelevant information that comes from relevant articles. For example, there was an article about Obama’s trip to Canada titled, Cheered in Canada, Obama treads Lightly, which summarizes his trip in one big article. This article in particular actually puts some good information that is relevant to the reader of the article. However, what is important is overshadowed by what is irrelevant. The fact that he stopped in a market to pick up sweets does not matter to the general public, so why does Evansville Courier & Press focus on such things? It also talks about the discussion that Obama had with the Prime Minister which is actually important, and that is all well and good but, the fact that he gets gifts can be distracting to some and they may only focus on stuff such as that for the rest of the article. One cannot get why the Courier & Press beats around the bush?
I mentioned earlier, that the Courier & Press, in a sense, is a direct reflection of Evansville, which shows the true side of it. Scatter-brained because we are constantly at odds, distracted by crazy things that gear us away from relevant topics, and just plain crazy all together through our actions in the community. Our focus is long gone and we need to focus our eyes back onto what issues truly matter. Forget the award shows, who won what game, what Obama did this week (that only includes irrelevant info), and put our focus towards bettering the city. Evansville has been known to get together in a time of crisis, so why can we not get together and focus on the true issues at hand? How can we achieve this?
We can do this by getting rid of all the distractions in the media, as well as get rid of the irrelevant information in relevant articles. We as a community can become more frank, blunter in what we want to say. We can get rid of the crazy topics that nobody truly cares about, and we can voice our opinions. One good way to voice our opinions better would be to getting a better opinions section in the newspaper. It could show case a lot more information to the people and give the readers a better perspective as to what the whole town wants. Through rhetoric, we as a community can become more informed citizens and truly make Evansville a well organized and informed town that it is truly meant to be.
Evansville is the third largest city (more like a big town, am I right?) in Indiana. Since 2007, approximately 349,717 people live in the metropolitan area. 91 percent of those people are white, 5.9 black, .2 % American Indian, .9 % Asian, 0 percent Pacific islanders, 1.1 % of two or more races, and 1.3 % of Hispanic/Latin-American. This shows that as far as diversity goes, this town is not the most diverse. Regardless of race, one is sure that Evansville’s Courier & Press gets out to almost all of the people in the metro-area. The Courier & Press, in a sense, is almost a direct reflection of the town itself. Then, one would figure that it reflect the issues that the people care about, such as jobs, the current economic crisis, current happenings around the local area, and so forth. The paper does that pretty well until; it takes the focus away from the important articles by putting crazy, irrelevant stories in the headlining pages, which in turns have people focus on the irrelevant, instead of what is important. It gets a person to talk about nothing, which makes them forget about everything that is relevant to their life. We are crazy about crazy subjects, which time and time again, detract from what is really going on in our town. It saps us of our rhetorical analysis and distracts us. We become slaves to what is irrelevant and crazy.
Crazy, again means full of cracks/flaws, impractical, erratic, being out of the ordinary, etc. (Webster) One would then ask one’s self, “Why are we attracted to madness?” Why then, are we constantly looking for car crashes? Do acts of craziness excite us? Do we simply use them for distraction purposes? Whatever the case may be, people continue to do crazy acts, and we continue to watch.
Evansville’s Courier & Press is no exception to getting people to lose their focus by using crazy stories. In fact, out of every Courier & Press that one has examined, one has come up with this solution: Evansville is scatterbrained; therefore it is easy to lose its focus to crazy stories that are printed onto the paper. The reasoning is because scatterbrained people lose focus easily, and with crazy stories in the paper, it is not hard to get the people of Evansville distracted.
One example of a crazy story that was more than likely to distract people was this article titled Beloved Clinton cat, Socks, Dies. In this article, it shares with the reader about how the cat Socks has died after 18 years. Of those 18 years he spent all 8 years with the Clintons in the White house. He was then given to their secretary named Betty Currie in 2001, who took care of him until his death in February. Now, this article would not appear crazy, however, it is crazy when it appears in the headlines of the Courier & Press next to other headlines such as “Israel getting push to form unity government” or “Many feel punished by homeowner bailout.” Why would this particular story be put on the same pedestal as the other stories one mentioned? I strongly feel that for one thing, why would it matter if that cat socks died? Honestly who really cares other than the Clintons and their secretary? How does this article give me good information about the current state of my town? It does nothing for any Evansville citizen. The fact that it is wasting space, where a more relevant article should go is what is truly crazy. This to one’s self really reflects Evansville’s way of thinking; that it is okay to talk about some dead cat because it is somehow relevant to the people here. However, this is only one example of crazy articles that have no relevancy. Another article titled Teenager burned trying to kill lice talks about this young girl, named Jessica Brooks who poured gasoline on her hair in an attempt to kill lice. The fumes settled in and ignited the pilot light on the water-heater, resulting in a fire. The rest of the article goes on to talk about her getting taken to the hospital and etc. Now, first off, this article shows sheer idiocy. Not only that but, it shows the irrelevancy to everyone else in town. Who really cares if this idiotic person burned themselves? Surely the people who read this more than likely did not care, and thought this person to be really stupid. Overall this article is crazy because it shows a crazy person, doing a crazy thing and, it is amongst the headlines where it should not be. Barack Obama has become a hot topic in The Courier & Press and you would think that all of his headlines would be relevant, but even political figures can have irrelevancy written about them.
Because the Courier & Press presents crazy articles, there is also a hint of irrelevant information that comes from relevant articles. For example, there was an article about Obama’s trip to Canada titled, Cheered in Canada, Obama treads Lightly, which summarizes his trip in one big article. This article in particular actually puts some good information that is relevant to the reader of the article. However, what is important is overshadowed by what is irrelevant. The fact that he stopped in a market to pick up sweets does not matter to the general public, so why does Evansville Courier & Press focus on such things? It also talks about the discussion that Obama had with the Prime Minister which is actually important, and that is all well and good but, the fact that he gets gifts can be distracting to some and they may only focus on stuff such as that for the rest of the article. One cannot get why the Courier & Press beats around the bush?
I mentioned earlier, that the Courier & Press, in a sense, is a direct reflection of Evansville, which shows the true side of it. Scatter-brained because we are constantly at odds, distracted by crazy things that gear us away from relevant topics, and just plain crazy all together through our actions in the community. Our focus is long gone and we need to focus our eyes back onto what issues truly matter. Forget the award shows, who won what game, what Obama did this week (that only includes irrelevant info), and put our focus towards bettering the city. Evansville has been known to get together in a time of crisis, so why can we not get together and focus on the true issues at hand? How can we achieve this?
We can do this by getting rid of all the distractions in the media, as well as get rid of the irrelevant information in relevant articles. We as a community can become more frank, blunter in what we want to say. We can get rid of the crazy topics that nobody truly cares about, and we can voice our opinions. One good way to voice our opinions better would be to getting a better opinions section in the newspaper. It could show case a lot more information to the people and give the readers a better perspective as to what the whole town wants. Through rhetoric, we as a community can become more informed citizens and truly make Evansville a well organized and informed town that it is truly meant to be.
MLK JR. Rhetorical Analysis
Rhetorical Analysis: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, with examination shows that this letter has forms of Pathos, Logos, and Ethos all throughout it. This letter, not only is it very well written but Doctor King used excellent rhetoric skills to get his point across to the clergymen.
One form of Logos is when Dr. King writes about the white moderate and their misconception of time. He writes, “I had also hope that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relations to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.” He paraphrases a line from a letter that he received, and he uses the concept of time for factual data. He also asserts the fact that time itself is neutral. He uses logic and reason to get his point across with this statement as well.
All through-out the text, Martin Luther King shows his disappointment with the church. However he is fair-minded with what he says. An example would be “I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non-segregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago. But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.” He mentions the fact that he is not a negative critic and that he still loves the church and he is fair in his evaluation of the church. All this is one example of Ethos because the letter is to clergymen and the evaluation is appropriate to the audience, he is fair, and has good grammar through-out the whole text.
In this specific text there are many forms of Pathos but, one that really stuck out was when Dr. King said this, “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored" when your first name becomes "Nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when your are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.” That whole paragraph is full of emotion, and vivid descriptions of what the African Americans had to deal with at that time. With this, he emotionally shows people why they are impatience and why there is a need to act. I feel like that he uses this to guilt trip the clergymen, but rightfully so, because he wants to them to see life from his and the African American’s point of view.
Martin Luther King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”, with examination shows that this letter has forms of Pathos, Logos, and Ethos all throughout it. This letter, not only is it very well written but Doctor King used excellent rhetoric skills to get his point across to the clergymen.
One form of Logos is when Dr. King writes about the white moderate and their misconception of time. He writes, “I had also hope that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relations to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: “All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively.” He paraphrases a line from a letter that he received, and he uses the concept of time for factual data. He also asserts the fact that time itself is neutral. He uses logic and reason to get his point across with this statement as well.
All through-out the text, Martin Luther King shows his disappointment with the church. However he is fair-minded with what he says. An example would be “I have been so greatly disappointed with the white church and its leadership. Of course, there are some notable exceptions. I am not unmindful of the fact that each of you has taken some significant stands on this issue. I commend you, Reverend Stallings, for your Christian stand on this past Sunday, in welcoming Negroes to your worship service on a non-segregated basis. I commend the Catholic leaders of this state for integrating Spring Hill College several years ago. But despite these notable exceptions, I must honestly reiterate that I have been disappointed with the church. I do not say this as one of those negative critics who can always find something wrong with the church. I say this as a minister of the gospel, who loves the church; who was nurtured in its bosom; who has been sustained by its spiritual blessings and who will remain true to it as long as the cord of life shall lengthen.” He mentions the fact that he is not a negative critic and that he still loves the church and he is fair in his evaluation of the church. All this is one example of Ethos because the letter is to clergymen and the evaluation is appropriate to the audience, he is fair, and has good grammar through-out the whole text.
In this specific text there are many forms of Pathos but, one that really stuck out was when Dr. King said this, “Perhaps it is easy for those who have never felt the stinging darts of segregation to say, "Wait." But when you have seen vicious mobs lynch your mothers and fathers at will and drown your sisters and brothers at whim; when you have seen hate-filled policemen curse, kick, and even kill your black brothers and sisters; when you see the vast majority of your twenty million Negro brothers smothering in an airtight cage of poverty in the midst of an affluent society; when you suddenly find your tongue twisted and your speech stammering as you seek to explain to your six-year-old daughter why she can't go to the public amusement park that has just been advertised on television, and see tears welling up in her eyes when she is told that Funtown is closed to colored children, and see ominous clouds of inferiority beginning to form in her little mental sky, and see her beginning to distort her personality by developing an unconscious bitterness toward white people; when you have to concoct an answer for a five-year-old son who is asking, "Daddy, why do white people treat colored people so mean?"; when you take a cross-country drive and find it necessary to sleep night after night in the uncomfortable corners of your automobile because no motel will accept you; when you are humiliated day in and day out by nagging signs reading "white" and "colored" when your first name becomes "Nigger," your middle name becomes "boy" (however old you are) and your last name becomes "John," and your wife and mother are never given the respected title "Mrs."; when your are harried by day and haunted by night by the fact that you are a Negro, living constantly at tiptoe stance, never quite knowing what to expect next, and are plagued with inner fears and outer resentments; when you are forever fighting a degenerating sense of "nobodiness" then you will understand why we find it difficult to wait. There comes a time when the cup of endurance runs over, and men are no longer willing to be plunged into the abyss of despair. I hope, sirs, you can understand our legitimate and unavoidable impatience.” That whole paragraph is full of emotion, and vivid descriptions of what the African Americans had to deal with at that time. With this, he emotionally shows people why they are impatience and why there is a need to act. I feel like that he uses this to guilt trip the clergymen, but rightfully so, because he wants to them to see life from his and the African American’s point of view.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Proposal Summary
For public sphere week I have decided to talk about sexual assault. More specifically, I am going to focus on the college demographic and focus on the party scene and acquaintance rape amongst college students. I will be giving out fact sheets with statistics about date/acquaintance rape, and prevention tips on another sheet, and possibly brochures/pamphlets of some sort with other information from my research. I plan to post flyers up around the campus as far as advertising goes. My ultimate goal for this project is to make college students more aware about date rape and have them know ways of prevention. I feel that my way may be simple, but effective to getting my point across. I am open to suggestions.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Content Analysis: Statistics
In 2007, the Evansville population was 349,717, a 6,902 increase from 342,815 in 2000. 91% of the people were white, 5.9 % black, .2 % American Indian, .9 % Asian, 0 percent Pacific islanders, 1.1 % of two or more races, and 1.3 % of Hispanic/Latin-American. The unemployment rate from 2005-2007 is 8.1%, 62.6 % of Evansville citizens are working and 12.6% are living under the poverty level. 82.3 % of people from Evansville have obtained their high school diploma and only 16.7 % have a bachelor's degree or higher. The total male population in Evansville is 54,266 male (47.8%) and 59,361 female (52.2%), with the median age being 36.6 years old.
At USI, 10.021 students are enrolled and 82% of people are accepted into the University.
At USI, 10.021 students are enrolled and 82% of people are accepted into the University.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Autoethnography
Growing up, I did not care for a lot of issues. Even after I began to form my own opinions about issues, I did not really participate in any events, write any letters, or put my opinions out into the public forum, and I still have not. My shyness has rendered me from being able to speak my mind properly. However, since being in college, I have discovered that I'm not as shy as I used to be, and I'm moving towards putting myself, along with my opinions out into the world. There have been many instances where I was able to put my opinions out, but chose not to. Here is one of them.
It was around the time of the fall festival, that my friends and I noticed this sign on the pro-life booth. I cannot remember what it said fully but, it had something to the effect of "Life Chain, Sunday October 12." Now, my friends and I are all pro-choice and my friend Joseph thought about maybe getting people together and protesting the life chain. Now, I know abortion is probably the most cliche thing to protest over, but I personally felt that with this, we could possibly get our opinions known. We wanted to show people that women had a choice and it was their body. In my mind, I felt that we wanted to get people to see the other side of the coin before they fully made up their minds.
However, we did not go through with the protest. We felt that it was a little late to get people organized and it would seem that we couldn't make a real impact with the little group, I felt a little disappointed that we couldn't go on with it, but at the same time I felt relieved because it would be nerve racking to have to stand in front of all those pro-lifers. I also felt a little let down with myself because I still could not express my own personal beliefs to other people. I believe that being shy and the fact that not many people would be there to back my friends and I up are what ultimately prevented me from making my opinions known.
Looking back on the whole situation, I feel that now I could protest them, even if I was just one person. I believe that even if I were the only one to protest the pro-lifers, I could have still made an impact on at least one person with my views. I believe that I am ready to do things that I need/want to make my thoughts public.
1.Do I stay on topic or do I go off?
2.Any grammar errors?
3.If anything sounds weird, point that out to me.
4.Any other mistakes you catch, you should point those out to me as well.
It was around the time of the fall festival, that my friends and I noticed this sign on the pro-life booth. I cannot remember what it said fully but, it had something to the effect of "Life Chain, Sunday October 12." Now, my friends and I are all pro-choice and my friend Joseph thought about maybe getting people together and protesting the life chain. Now, I know abortion is probably the most cliche thing to protest over, but I personally felt that with this, we could possibly get our opinions known. We wanted to show people that women had a choice and it was their body. In my mind, I felt that we wanted to get people to see the other side of the coin before they fully made up their minds.
However, we did not go through with the protest. We felt that it was a little late to get people organized and it would seem that we couldn't make a real impact with the little group, I felt a little disappointed that we couldn't go on with it, but at the same time I felt relieved because it would be nerve racking to have to stand in front of all those pro-lifers. I also felt a little let down with myself because I still could not express my own personal beliefs to other people. I believe that being shy and the fact that not many people would be there to back my friends and I up are what ultimately prevented me from making my opinions known.
Looking back on the whole situation, I feel that now I could protest them, even if I was just one person. I believe that even if I were the only one to protest the pro-lifers, I could have still made an impact on at least one person with my views. I believe that I am ready to do things that I need/want to make my thoughts public.
1.Do I stay on topic or do I go off?
2.Any grammar errors?
3.If anything sounds weird, point that out to me.
4.Any other mistakes you catch, you should point those out to me as well.
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