My noodle

William Shakespeare was a man who has influenced the theature arts from his very first play to his last.  Not only did he provide entertainment, and has gone down as one of the best play writers in history, but he also influenced the English language in more ways than one.  So when asked to pick a piece of literature that is important to our society, the balcony scene in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet came directly to mind.  It is a classic scene of forbidden love, hidden from those opposing it, and appeals to every audience.  It is a piece of literature that cannot be re-created or made better because of it originality and classic style.  Thought Shakespeare had many plays, the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene is know as his most popular and best work.  It is a piece that should be remembered and passed down because of its important role through history as well as literature.  The two lovers, from rival families, spill their love to each other, calling down from the balcony into the bushes “Romeo, Romeo, where for art thou Romeo.” With the depth and romance this one scene holds, interpretation and enjoyment is endless.  As a society, people enjoy nothing better than a good love story, and within this scene lies the beginning of a love tragedy made to be remembered.  Not only is it a classic piece of literature made to be remembered, but also proof of Shakespeare’s profound influence on English today.

As I examined the many book covers provided, the reoccurring images were those of fire and firemen. Though I have not yet read the book, I have come to understand, through class discussions and other sources, that this classic novel deals with censorship and the burning of books.  It seems that reading is against the law, and if anyone is caught committing such a crime, the “firemen” confiscate and burn the books.  With most of the covers sharing the image of literature burning, complete with firemen overseeing the destruction, it makes more sense that the book is about destroying literature all together.  After analyzing all 15 covers, I came to realize that one affected me more than any of the others.  The second book (the 50th anniversary edition) really painted a clear picture to me about the book.  This cover shows an illustration of a man on fire.  However, this man is no human, but rather the shape of a human, with a body of words and pages, symbolizing a “book man,” if you will.  The book man is shown covering his face in pain and grief, showing that these important pieces of literature being burned are actually harming “mankind” in general.  The man is shown standing on a stack of books, all of which (himself, and the stacks) are burning.  Below it reads, “Fahrenheit 451,” and in the middle of the cover it reads, “RAY BRADBURY,” which establishes ethos, because obviously if the author’s name is in the middle of the page in full caps, he is credible, and his name will attract readers.  With all of these things combined, it makes the cover interesting, mysterious, and candy to the eye.

An invigorating pastime of  American youth is easily lost and forgotten with all the hype of bats, balls, cleets, and nets.  That pastime is the art of drumming.  Many hours can be spent beating on the skins in the peace of  your own room, even though everyone in the same house is far from “peace.”  Drumming is the best way to relax, while at the same time  providing a great workout, relieving stress, but create intense emotions, and giving huge adrenaline rushes.

 Where to start?  Well, no one can just pick up a pair of sticks and be Neil Pert, but it’s a start.  First find “your pair” of sticks.  Personally, I feel the most in power with the Vic Firth 55-As (sold at Guitar Center), but that is just me, and everyone is different, so there is a pair for everyone.  There are different sizes, weights, and styles, each looking to find a perfect match.  Once you are matched it is smart to stretch.  Stretch, you say?  This is no track meet where, without proper stretching, you will tear a muscle, but by stretching out your forearms, fingers, and thumbs, you not only increase speed, but accuracy as well.

It’s almost time.  You are matched with your sticks, your arms and hands are loose, and you ready to play.  Now it is time to adjust your set.  Once upon the drum throne, you, as a drummer, must decide how you like your setup.  I personally like to be closer to the ground with a snare, tom, floor tom, and double pedal kick, as well as 5 or 6 cymbals.  Now that is a basic setup, but as a drummer, you have the ability to customize however you want, depending on personal preference, as well as style of playing.  A jazz drummer isn’t going to want a 14 piece drum set with china cymbals and 22 inch rides, just as a metal drummer couldn’t function with a single pedal, snare, and three cymbals.  It’s all about how you like it.

Drum rudiments are important in helping you becoming the best you can be.  Without fast hands, you are no drummer.  And just like any sport, practice makes perfect.  Run through the rudiments, twice daily, for at least 2 hours in order to gain speed and endurance.  Once the rudiments are second nature, all that is left is picking your style.  From pop, to jazz, to deathmedal, to hip hop, the driving force behind it all is the beat (the drums).  Once you find your style, the best way to learn is by listening.  Listen closely and play along on the dashboard of your car.  Anywhere you go have a rhythm in your mind, and walk to the beat.  Once you are ready, sit on the throne, put on your headphones, and work out the song.  Obviously it won’t be perfect, but the beauty behind drumming is you can make it your own, it will sound great, and it’s an original creation.

 Now those are a lot of steps to be covered, going through countless years of practice and work.  But to be good at anything you must practice and spend time on it.  So get your sticks, attack the rudiments, and go to town.  Who knows, maybe you will give Neil Pert a run for his money eventually…..

anthropomorphized–verb (used with object), verb (used without object), -phized, -phiz·ing. to ascribe human form or attributes to (an animal, plant, material object, etc.).  www.dictionary.com

2.) They are depicted as a little unstable, and creating many problems to deal with.

4. The parallelism shows that once we begin to change the food, it becomes somewhat harmful to us.

5. It is like a what would happen if, ending statement.  It is a bit more serious than the rest, because the dealing with a bigger issue.

6. It seems more ironic, seeing how it is serious, with comic relief with the funny comics.

Virginia Woolf’s Profession for Women is a paper in which she talks of the cliché stereotypical woman who affected her writing.  Now when “stereotypical” is stated, it means women who would cook, clean, and make huge efforts to make their husbands happy.  She speaks about writing reviews for men’s articles and men’s papers, and how the angel, or the stereotypical woman, would write a good review in order to please the man, and make him happy.  If she decides to be a successful, independent woman, she must kill off this angel in order to survive in a “man’s world.”  Ironically, she states this angel is dead, but that is in just her case.  Every woman has the angel inside herself,  which she must kill in order to be independent and stray away from man’s world…stick it to the man, if you will.  Once the angel is dead though, it can come back.  Within each young woman the angel lives on, telling her how proper Victorian-age women should act.  Woolf makes it seem that being a mother, someone who is compassionate, loving and caring, is like being trapped.  Another sort of angel women must deal with.  But within the world’s eyes mothers are looked up to and though to be the most independent, women of the world.  If you can successfully raise a child, there are few things you cannot do.  Woolf seems to believe that the way out of this entrapment, is to terminate these stereotypes, and kill the angels, when many times those are not necessarily looked down upon as much as she believes.

1. In paragraph 6, Csikszentmihalyi gives children a rather odd name, comparing them to something.  What is the name, and what does he mean by that?

2.  What technices does Csikszentmihalyi use to make his argument more clear in paragraphs 5-9?

3.  How does the use of latin words in paragraph 19 help his argument?

(Done in groups in class)

4.  In paragraph 3-4 he talks about positive practice mating and negative practice mating.  Why might it be more of an advantage to have both practices in a relationship v.s. just positive?

5.  In paragraph 9 he refers to a biologist.  What rhetorical move is this?

Discussion Q 3 

3. When Woolf asserts that a novelist should be “unconscious” she means the reader has to understand how they think.  To understand the author, you must understand the facts.  I’m really not sure if someone who writes fiction is unconscious, because fiction takes a lot of imagination.  By being “unconscious” it allows the conscious reader to take whatever their mind comes up with out of the article.  I honestly am not sure about this question. 

Rhetoric and Style Q’s 4, 9

4. She talks about the angel because it is within her writting.  The description gives a clear visual to the reader, and is representing her writting, or something to that effect.

9. The effect of “a girl sitting with a pen in her hand” helps the reader know what she is doing, giving them a mental picture in their head.  It makes the reader relate to how she feels when she is about to write.

As I watched the youtube video posted on the blog for the third time, I realized if I hadn’t found a hole by now, I wasn’t going to.  Though I know there is a hole, I could not make the connection so I decided to argue it anyway.  I believe this man does a great job describing all the possible outcomes of global warming, through his collum v.s. row logic.  Climate change may or may not be real, so who is to decide if we should act upon it.  If there was a rumor saying Russia was planning an attack on American soil, we would make sure that we had cold hard facts that there would be an attack, before we chose to retaliate.  I believe global warming is similar to that.  The man in the video seems to think that we should focus on what collum to choose, some what like buying a lotto ticket.  If you choose the “Yes” collum, the outcome is all around better.  If we choose to do something and it is false, we loose money, but would still be alive and would have just been taking percausion.  If it is true and we choose to do something about it, we can in the end stop it from happening, but it would have to start now.  On the other hand, if is false and we do nothing about it we are in the same position with nothing lost.  But if it is real and we choose to do nothing about it, economical, political, socail, environmental, and health problems would occur durastically.  So which collum has the better outcome.  I believe we should do nothing, until the problem at hand has merit.  With that kind of opinion we would have a ”smiley face” world in the end no matter what.  Just as if there were rumors of Russian’s attacking America, we would be finding out if that is true the moment they caught wind of it.  It should be that way wit global warming, because both are dangerous.  We should research until we know for a fact climate change is real or fake.  Once we do we pick our collum, and no matter what we will be right because we put in the time and research.  That way we save money, and end up smiling in the end.

1. Her rhetorical strategy is to go more in depth and explain by using examples, which makes it easier to understand.  These exaples help Talbot’s point of view.
2. By applying personal experiences it helps her credibility. By applying her own experiences into the mix, the article become more personal, and readers can relate a lot easier.
3. Valedictorians, Parents ofvaledictorians, people who were very close to becoming valedictorians, and from principals/ teachers points of views.
4. Talbot’s audience is that of students currently in high school who may or may not have a valedictorian at their upcoming graduation. She gives so many examples to show that there are an overwhelming amount of issues with the topic of choosing valedictorians. There has not only been one instance, there are issues with it all over. This may show kids how hard it is for their principals/ teachers to choose a valedictorian, or who their school no longer has a valedictorian.
5. If she would have opend the article with the historical information, it would have changed the final outcome of the essay. Though the information is good, it is not the main focus.  Opening with it, would trick the reader into believing they were reading about the history.  Once the main point came around, they would be confused and think the author had trailed off.
6. Yes, it is valid. Both quarterbacks and valedictorians are picked based on skill, and accomplishment.  If some one can throw better under pressure, they deserve to be quarterback.  If someone has a better GPA after 4 years of highschool, they deserve to be valedictorian. 
7. Logos, because it is mostly made up of facts, and logic.  There are few cases of pathos, but it is mainly factual.
8. Talbot’s sympathies lie for those who have to choose who gets valedictorian. She believes the award should be taken away, because there is to much criteria to decide who is the best.  Her tone is very confident, and strong.  She knows what she is talking about and wants to get the message across.

Support example 1

In my mother’s Health magazine there is an article inside titled “Allergy Relief: Now Blooming.”  In it, it speaks on different discoveries that help relieve alergies.  In the 3rd paragrpah it talks about how James Dillard MD, a medical director of Columbia Univerisity’s Rosenthal Center for Completmentary and Alternative Medicine, says that acupuncture can help relive alergies.  The support is a medical director, from a very creditable school, and his word that states acupuncture relieves alergies, backed behind the extended research he has done on the subject. 

 Support example 2

In the May 2008 edition of NEA Today magazine there is an article entitled “Dance of the Trapezoid,” it talks about how many schools these days are cutting arts to focus on math and reading, because of the no child left behind law.  But many teachers say integrating arts into acedemic lessons helps students learn more deeply because they use more senses and different ways of thinking. An anecdote is told by Charene Ellingson, who gave an assignment to students to come in with illustrations of neurotransmitters and synapses, expecting to get diagrams.  Instead, a girl who spoke little englsh, came in with a metaphoric painting.  She drew a soda machine with different types of soda pouring through tubes into cups, the way neurotransmitters pass through synapses.  The support was the anecdote.