Extra Credit: Education Furthered Outside of Class

Education outside the classroom is extremely important because the real world doesn’t care if you over slept and in the real world there’s not going to be a clear or exact answer to every question.  For this reason, I think internships and job experience before graduation is a very important way to further my education outside the classroom.  During the past three summers I have consistently worked two part-time jobs and during the school year I am a part-time intern at my mom’s office, Wright Brothers Incorporate.  These jobs and internship have taught me a lot about holding responsibility in a job position and some realities about real life jobs as opposed to our current jobs as students.  Unlike in a class room, there are no excuses or really even room for mistakes.  There is no one there to hold your hand and guide you; you are expected to take the bull by the horns and get the task done in the time frame given to you.  You are expected to take immense initiative in the tasks given to you.  And I know what you’re thinking, these all sound similar to classroom expectations, but in a job setting the pressure is a different kind of pressure than school; if you get a bad grade in school, you can always do better on the next assignment and pull up your grade but if you do bad on a task at work it’s a strike against you and you’re now closer to being fired.  Not to mention the insecurities that comes with being the new employee.  It’s sometimes hard to get the courage to ask questions or to admit you’re unsure of what the explanation for the task meant; it’s intimidating.  Therefore, I think it’s good life experience to get my feet wet with job experience.                 

My link is to a site called Career Rookie.  This site is a search engine for finding internships and entry level jobs.  Although most of the students in our English 111 class are probably too young to apply on this site, it relates to my idea of outside education through work experience.  In one or two years, this website could be a great way to go about that.  I truly think internships and other types of job experience is a really important part of a student’s outside education and will be helpful when we’re mercilessly thrown to the corporate wolves. http://www.careerrookie.com/CC/jobseeker/jobs/jobresults.aspx?mxjobsrchcriteria_rawwords=Internship&siteid=sep_msn_CR_5066.15454e

Inquiry IV

Three Ideas:
1. Insensitivity to obese people on Miami's campus. Website and Audio Essay and Poem.
2. Difficulties of being handicap on Miami's campus. Website and Audio Essay and Poem.
3. Shopping addiction (<real thing and has been scientifically proven to give the same high as some elicit drugs) on a college students budget. Blog and T-shirt and Shoppers Anon. Simulation or a Public service announcement.

Top Choice: I don't really have a top choice I like them all but if for the activity I will pick the first one.  I would need four people including me; One to make the website, one to do the audio essay, one to do the poem and one to make the presentation.

God Grew Tired Of Us:Short Write

The affliction shouldered by the Lost Boys was overwhelming as they spoke so calmly of burying the dead before they were even able to understand that people die.  The fact that it didn’t faze them anymore, that they had become so accustom to this anguish at such a young age, was heart wrenching.  Thinking back to their stories it’s hard not to have a tearful disposition.  Although the entireties of their stories were hard to hear, their relentless loneliness and thoughts of whether their families were alive or dead affected me most.  I felt most strongly about these issues because of my position now as a college student and a reoccurring dream I had for several years when I was around five or six.  I connected with the loneliness because now being in college I’ve found a huge hole in my heart.  That hole has formed by malicious homesickness.  I never thought I would be missing my family and friends as much as I do but once it set-in it engulfed me like wildfire.  As for the fear of family members being murdered, when I was younger (around five or six) I had a reoccurring dream for several years that my family was being robbed and held at gun point.  Every time, the gunman would threaten to kill one of my family members and finally my mom would tell the man to kill her and just as he pulled the trigger I would jump in front of her and be killed.  I had a huge fear of my family being murdered.  Though my connection to their loneliness and dread of murdered family members is only one-millionth of theirs, it affected me most because I couldn’t imagine taking the homesick feelings I have now and the fear of my family being murdered when I was younger and feeling that pain and terror on their level.

I believe, as humans, we have the responsibility to spread the word of tragedies like this one; so that no one has to feel alone or have a legitimate fear that their family was most-likely murdered.  If we, as a global community, spread the word of such injustices and make them known then we’ll have the power of number on our side. And purpose is much better understood and easier heard when there are more people behind it and chanting it throughout the world.  I’m not sure what other responsibilities we have in this situation but I think that spreading the word is a good start.  Considering this film evoked such strong emotions and in depth contemplations about this tragedy I think it is a persuasive document.  The document motivates you to take action against injustices such as this one and stand up for what is right.  The film, “God Grew Tired of Us”, argues that no one should have to feel the pain and agony that these boys went through and that the human race should stand against injustice in the world such as this one. 

Shitty First Draft: Assignment 2

Lindsey Hogan

English 111: Rough Draft

Professor Strickland

9/27/2010

Do You Dare

Britney Spears is a world-wide sex symbol.  She exudes sexuality in her songs, music videos, movies and advertisements.  The brand she sells revolves around sensuality and promiscuity.  Curious, her fragrance, does not deviate from her well-known imagine.  The promotional advertisement’s for her fragrance projects images of sex appeal and heart-pounding romance with a model-status hunk.  The use of sex and the status of Britney Spears as a role model for young women appeals to the audience of teen girls.  In this rhetorical situation the use of techniques that apply to the speaker, the audience, the style, and the evidence make the ad convincing to young women that buying Curious will enhance their appeal to boys.

The commercial begins with Britney Spears approaching a hotel door where she innocently makes eye contact with a gorgeous, clean-cut young man.  An orchestra of tantalizing music from an a compilation of light, airy instruments begins as both, Spears and the young man, maintain eye contact and open their hotel doors simultaneously.  Spears’ is shown in the hotel room sitting on the bed, staring at the connecting door between the two rooms; then it flashes to the young man’s room where he, too, is looking curiously towards the connecting door.  Britney Spears stands up and walks over to the door; as she does so the music becomes faster.  She reaches her hands timidly toward the door and leans against it.  The music becomes rapid.  Images bombard the audience: glossed lips, lightening, hands against a dripping window, blooming flowers, the young man, Spears biting her lower lip, a little girl making dolls kiss, Spears and the young man about to passionately kiss, back-scratching sex, Spears running towards the bed in just a sheet, a love struck cartoon girl, hands gripping the sheets in ecstasy, a do not disturb door-knob sign swaying, bull riders, a nude man and woman tangled together, waves crashing, and Spears laughing.  The flashing images end; both, Spears and the young man are shown, aroused by the sexual tension backing away from the connecting door.  The screen focus on Spears face, and then blurs as Spears’ voice provocatively utters, “Do you dare”.  Then a picture of the Curious bottle appears with a black back drop and the words ‘Curious. Britney Spears. A New Fragrance.’.

[Connector]

Curious’ audience is…

[[DEVELOPE]]

[Connector]

The purpose of the speaker, in this rhetoric, is to appeal to the audiences emotions (pathos) and involve the audience in the passion shown in the advertisement; this establishes a memorable connection for the audience between sex appeal and the fragrance.  The speakers are: the symphony (for the majority of the advertisement) and Britney Spears.  The symphony’s role as a speaker in the commercial is to manipulate the audience’s emotions as the images are shown.  The music begins slow and calming and then as the intensity between Spears and the young man increases so does the pace and fervency of the music; which, in turn, plays into the assumed increase in the audiences heart beat and breathing as the scenes become more passionate.  As the intensity plateaus and the music along with it, Spears’ voice is heard whispering, in a seductive tone, “Do you dare”.

[Connector]

Spears, as a speaker, appeals to the audience because she serves as a celebrity testimony.  Since Curious is being portrayed as a product associated with sexuality, it makes sense that Spears appropriately fits the celebrity testimony that

[[DEVELOPE]]

[Connector]

The style/structure of the advertisement appeals to the audience’s logic (logos).  The commercial is organized in a progressive fashion.  It begins with Britney innocently entering a hotel room and spotting a cute guy; much like a teen girl might in the halls at school.  Then, Spears is shown wondering about the cute guy in the next room; similarly to the thought process of a young girl with a crush.  Next, images of what could happen between Spears and the guy occupying the next room are flashed rapidly across the screen.  Between the scenes of Spears with this guy are images of nature taking its coarse (i.e. flowers blooming, lightening, etc.) and young girls dreaming of love and romance (i.e. little girl with dolls, cartoon girl who has fallen in love, etc.).  This, easily looked over, detail is key in appealing to the audience because subconsciously these images are associating Curious with growing up out of innocence and blooming into a young sexually desired woman who is no longer an naive child.

[[CONCLUSION]]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZElUMthBPI

Ideas for Project Two

Axe Commercial: The way sex is used for the target audience and girl-guy relationships.
Brittany Spears Curious Commercial: The way they use signs that signify a passionate romance with a gorgeous guy if you wear this perfume.
JFK Inaugural Speech: The way he connects/appeals to the everyday American.

Shitty First Draft

Lindsey Hogan


Paper 1: Self-Inquiry/Reflection

Mayhem

Senior year stormed by like a wildfire bulldozing through miles of trees racked with drought, leaving only the remaining embers. As the year dwindled so did the threads that held my infamous Ursuline skirt together. This was no good since the hem police patrolled the halls daily hoping to catch a disheveled school girl. The last days in sight I thought I had duped the police once and for all, only to find out that I was headed for a run in with the chief of hem police: our disciplinarian, Mrs. Bender.

She caught me strolling into homeroom early one morning with a wild-looking hem. Our eyes dead-locked as if we were in a showdown and I knew I had just bought myself a ticket to the finale. She sauntered up to me with a condescending look that screamed “silly little girl” and ordered my presence in her office after announcements. Hot steam shot out of my ears as my face turned fuchsia with fury. I thought, “Was she joking! One week left and she decides now, after my skirt has been in this condition ALL year, to address the issue of my hem?!” Sitting in homeroom I had begun to formulate a list of my counter-argument; Needless to say, as the time dragged on so did my list.

The announcements ceased and I began the walk to Mrs. Bender’s office. I arrived after much procrastination, entered the office and stood defensively, like a lion prepared to defend her kill. The surrounding staff had frozen, sensing the high tension and not wanting to be caught in Mrs. Bender’s wrath made no sudden movement; the silence was deafening. Then all hell broke loose as her jaw dropped and the rehearsed faulty-hem speech roared from her ________. She spoke her peace and expected me to follow protocol and sulk out the door with my chin on my chest in shame but she really should have known better from our numerous encounters. I composed my thoughts, looked her in the eyes and level-headedly explained to her why this was outrageous. “There are four more days of class, I’m not wasting money to get my skirt hemmed and even if I did it wouldn’t be ready till the last two days. I have ten projects, not to mention other homework to do and no time to hem a skirt. My dad does not sew; my mom works all day and has limited time to do things for herself and no time to sew a hem that will be used for four days. Every senior’s hem is messed up considering we’ve had our skirts for four years. I would staple it but you don’t approve. . . .” The list continued like this for ten more minutes until I had to take a breath.

The silence resumed as we seared holes in each other’s foreheads. Minutes had passed before she finally said, “I don’t care, get it fixed by tomorrow or you’ll have Saturday detention.” And although I hadn’t won the battle, the war was far from over and I had definitely rattled her cage.

In hindsight I did not have much working in my favor. To start off with my primary audience was my disciplinarian, Mrs. Bender. She was the specific person I was trying to convince I should not have to hem my skirt when there was only one week of school left. She had a ‘my way or the highway’ mindset, not to mention she did not have any faith that I was of good character or sense (ethos).

My secondary audience weighed a little more in my favor, although they had no weight in the outcome of the situation. This audience included: the surrounding faculty, the senior class, the underclassmen, and my family. The surrounding faculty members were included because they were in ear shot of the battle, wearing sympathetic looks. The senior class was a secondary audience because the ply for no hemming so close to the end of the year involved almost every senior whose skirts had fallen to the wear and tear of four years. The underclassmen were a secondary audience because, although some had already been caught for faulty hems, the more years they have under their belts the more likely their hems will deteriorate and they will have to deal with the skirt police. And finally my family was a secondary audience because they are an extension of me and definitely heard about the altercation.



Possible further analysis?

What order should I put this in?

• Proof

• Complications:

Logos & Ethos-facts of why I couldn't hem my skirt.

Pathos & Logos-no one in the senior class had their skirt hemmed but she picked me.

• Arrangement

• What have I learned?

Constrainsts & Complications

What constraints were you working against?
  The disiplinarian hated me, my family, my friends and their families (previous run-ins).
  I had a messed up hem most of the year.
  I was outspoken and got into past verbal fights with her.
  We had a mini war going on.
  She was crazy strict about the silliest things.
  She held power.
  She felt it was her way or the highway, no short cuts.
  My year was the 'bad' class, who got into a lot of big trouble.
What complications were there?
  Logos & Ethos-facts of why I couldn't hem my skirt.
  Pathos & Logos-no one in the senior class had their skirt hemmed but she picked me.