Rhetorical Response #5

I converted my essay about The Freshman 15 into a powerpoint presentation. I chose to convert this essay because it is about the causes of freshman gaining weight their first year in college and since most of us are freshman and are in college, people can relate to this topic. Also, this topic is not old and outdated, so it is still somewhat interesting to some people.

I chose a solid light purple background for behind my pictures, because it doesn't distract my audience from the actual pictures, which help me get across the main message. I started off googling pictures that I though were main topics in my paper such as, exercise, drinking, and excess stress and workload. I made a folder for all the pictures I found, and sorted through it and figured out the main ideas that I want to get across. Knowing that I could only have five slides, I had to get rid of pointless pictures that did not contribute to my overall message.

My presentation starts off with a a picture of 'a fork in the road'. This is symbolic of a choice, and foreshadows that the freshman 15 is really a person's own choice. Also the song, "I love college" is the audio part of my presentation, that plays during the drinking slide. I chose this song because it is about loving college/drinking/partying/freshman. It helps set the tone of my presentation and gets the audience in the mood. My second slide consists of a lot of pictures of different people stressed/junk food/a melting clock. I used different pictures to help people really visualize time management, and how stress contributes to their diet. The next slide is about eight different pictures of beer, people drinking, and keg stands. This slide has the most pictures, because it is one of the most important factors of weight gain for college freshman and beer appeals to people, so they will pay attention. I also chose to overlap pictures on both the second and third slides instead of laying them out in an orderly fashion because everything in college piles up on top of each other, just like these pictures do, and its more chaotic. On the fourth slide, I put pictures of a couple of ways that people can take action and not let the freshman 15 affect them. The very last slide I asked the question, "Will You Let the Freshman 15 Happen To You?", to leave the audience thinking about what they just saw in my presentation. During this slide I chose the song "MMMBop" by Hanson to play. This seems random, but the song is kind of bubbly and makes me think, and wonder, therefore I thought it might be good to end with a light hearted song.

Making this presentation, I realized how much of a difference that visuals make. It is easier for people to look at a slide show of pictures and pay attention, rather than reading a paper that is trying to get the exact same message across with words. It was also easier for me to put this together than my actual paper, because I am more of a visual learner, so I enjoyed making a presentation better than writing a paper.

In Class: Sarah Haskins

Sarah Haskins claim:

First Video:
-"your not gonna find a hot chick using regular chick tactics"

Second Video:
-you have to have the coolest/hottest fashions to be cool

Support:

First Video:
She uses TV commercials to show different examples of some 'tactics' to use...
-body smells (gum, febreeze, etc..)
-burgers

Second Video:
-shoes that vanessa hudgens wears
-sears because of selana gomez
-walmart brand because of miley cyrus
-"rockstare"

In Class: Freewrite

I wish that I didn't have class at 8am.
I wish my roomate woke up after me or at the same time as me.
I wish I had my own thermostat in my room so I did not always have to be cold.
I wish my roomate did not wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.
I wish I had a gallon of milk, so I could have ate breakfast in my room instead of going to the BLUU.
I wish there was not a lady in my music class that walks around and supervises, because everyone on facebook gets us in trouble.
I wish they had chicken nuggets and corndogs every day in the BLUU, so I did not always have to eat a lame salad.
I wish I had the motivation to go to the REC.
I wish my dog was here so I could take him on a walk.
I wish I did not have to write a journal along with my reading for religion every week.
I wish I did not have mold in my sink.
I wish my dorm did not have a different disgusting random smell everyday.
I wish my neighbors were a little more quiet at night.
I wish we still had 24 hour visitation.
I wish the internet worked on the lawn behind Colby.
I wish the parking lot was closer.
I wish I drove my car more when it was here, so I did not have to leave it at home.
I wish students LOVED going to football games more.
I wish I took at least one more class to get some more hours out of the way.
I wish people cared about going to class, and succeeding.
I wish I took summer classes this past summer.
I wish we could sign up for classes whenever, instead of last, so they did not fill up.
I wish I knew what I wanted my major to be.
I wish I didn't have a fish, he smells.
I wish TCU really associated with the 'Christian' in their name.
I wish froggy 5-O would figure out their system better.
I wish my roommate would go in the hall to talk on the phone.

Provoke disagreement:
-going to bed before my roommate
-roommate on the phone in the room
-people caring about their class
-TCU being more associated with Christian
-Chicken nuggets in the BLUU
-parking
-students not going to games

Coming in to TCU, I did not realize that TCU was not associated with the 'C' for christian in its name. I think that with TCU having christian in its name, they should'nt be able to just be like 'oh we don't affiliate with christian anymore'. I have friends at A&M and Baylor who have the most amazing school wide church/youth events. Its not that surprising for Baylor, but A&M has nothing in its title that has to do with it being a christian school. I think having religious community events can bring a school together. We had that one event, afterdark, but that was a once a year deal. People have mini worship services outside on their football fields. This is so awesome because one, the football field is a main point of attraction, and two, it brings people together.

People who disagree will say that they are on their own now and have been raised always going to church, and doing church related things with their family, but now they are away and arent required to do anything. People who also disagree will say that people believe in whatever they want and should not be having to participate in something that 'everyone else' believes in. Some people might think that TCU being more christian might divide people who do not have the same religious beliefs, instead of bringing people together.

Rhetorical Response #4

I found the reading about the second amendment pretty boring compared to the other papers that we have read and wrote about. This kind of makes me nervous to write this paper because I hope I will be interested in what I am writing about. I personally never am around handguns and no one in my family owns a handgun, except my grandpa, so I do not connect that much with the second amendment. In the second reading, I found this, "no one in the district could posses a functional firearm in his or her residence" was really fair. This applied to everyone, no matter if they "honest, and responsible citizens" or not. What surprised me while reading the two excerpts is how close the 5-4 vote was and how people react to the second amendment. No one will ever agree on what they think the right to bear arms should entitle, therefore the vote probably will never be unanimous. It surprised me how much people and the government really are concerned about gun rights.

The first visual has a humorous spin. It seems like some people with guns do what they want, and then try and back it with the second amendment. I thought the second visual, was funny, but a bit dramatic. In the top right box, when the guy says "the erosion of freedom is not a pretty sight", I don't think not being able to own a weapon or have a loaded handgun in your house is even close to the 'erosion of freedom'. That is an extreme exaggeration. I think the second amendment is an important issue to try and clear up, but since people have their own arguments and will never agree, it is hard to completely solve the issue of the second amendment. I think it is important for the government to try and come to an agreement as to what the second amendment really applies to, but I also found it interesting that people are just now really concerned about what the second amendment is about.

After reading this I am a little nervous for this upcoming paper. It seems like it is going to be difficult and take a lot of time to write, to make it efficient and effective. Reading this helped me sort of figure out how to construct my paper. Both excerpts did a good job of not taking sides and used facts to develop the issue in a way that wasn't biased. I hope to make my paper a little bit more interesting than the excerpts I read from the common reading.

In Class: Freewrite

I was not as interested in the profile, "The Man in the Iron Mask" as I was in the profile about Erykah Badu. I thought that the profile was organized in a very unique way, which caught my attention. It was interesting how they talked about Colbert for a little while now, then they went back and told us the history of Colbert, which led him to be the man he is today. This was a better way for the author to catch my attention, because if it had started out with the facts of Colbert's family, I doubt that I would have been able to pay attention to the article at all. The article was not as personal as the article about Badu, but it had some elements that made me feel like I was apart of the story. The author used great detail describing Colbert before he went on the set, which helped me create a visual image in my head.

Rhetorical Response #3

The narrative "Home Girl" was a very interesting profile of Badu. I have never heard of Erykah Badu before reading this article from Texas Monthly, but the details of Erykah in the opening paragraph got my attention and made me want to read more. Hall makes Badu seem "real" by telling us what she was like in different settings. The story opened up with us being able to view Badu from her home setting with her four assistants, and dealing with her children. She seemed pretty normal besides the fact that she had four assistants. We then see her in the studio, dancing, and after that we see her actively involved in her community. Seeing Erykah Badu in all these different settings helped me really grasp an idea of who Badu really was. I felt like throughout the story I almost knew her because of all that the author mentioned her doing. Even though Erykah Badu is famous, the author focuses on her personally. He mentions the great accomplishments that she achieved, but he does not only talk about her achievements that make her famous.

 

 I personally was more interested in Badu because of how the author did not make her seem like such a celebrity. He used details to make her seem like a normal ordinary person, who I could relate to. The author uses really good details while describing her at the dance studio, and I could really grasp a good idea  of how Erykah acted in the dance studio. 

 

The author uses a great deal of details to help the reader picture , “A box of art supplies sat on a cluttered table next to a couple of palettes of dried orange and purple paint; on the wall were paintings of and by mom and her other child, nine-year-old son Seven. A piano and guitar sat next to the fireplace, and a hundred stalactites of colored candle wax descended from the mantel” This quote from the passage creates a visual of what it is like at Badu's home. Besides knowing that Badu is a celebrity, dancer, singer, and mom, we can have an image of her personal lifestyle based on this description from the author.

 

Another thing that stood out to me was the author's focus on Badu. He did not just say how famous she was, he focused on all of the elements about her. This sentence really stood out to me, "Next to the covers was a cabinet that held some twenty trophies, including her four Grammys". Hall mentioned her getting four Grammys, but he did not go on and on about her winning these awards. He mentioned them like they were just an ordinary thing, but this attitude about the Grammys is similar to Badu's attitude about being famous. She is truly a 'home girl'. You could tell this by her just wanting to be able to 'go to the store and buy milk'. This shows that everything that Badu is about is not just about what she has accomplished, and the author makes sure to focus on her, not what she has done and how famous she is. 

 

 Overall, I like how this was not just an ordinary biography. Hall uses an interview to help us see the behind the scenes of Erykah Badu. He focuses on Badu and keeps the reader (me) interested by using important details of Erykah's life to develop a narrative about who she is. Interviewing Badu lets the readers explore a more personal level of Badu's life. This is more interesting because it is not just facts that the author could research, its primary information from Erykah herself, which makes it that much more entertaining and personal. Not only does the author interview Badu in one setting, but he views her at all different aspects of her life. I thought this kept me more interested because I was able to see everything that Erykah Badu is about. 

In Class: Notes on Essay #3

what essay 3 should look like:
-focus on the person, not what they have done
-you argument should be simple/oriented in the person
-organization* --figure out a creative way to begin, usually the profile is structured by the story that you are telling
-don't include everything!
-can speak in first person
-every description the writer gives should help the reader understand the person
-you have to have a strong beginning, especially if the person isn't a celebrity
-talk about the person in different scenes/settings