Wissinger blog 5

My original model citizen was a blond haired, muscular, democrat. I found playing sports, partying on the weekends, and being involved in the community ideal as well. My interpretation of the assignment was to make a citizen which I saw as the most popular, normal, or perfect. I picked popular music for my citizen to listen to, popular sexuality, popular movies to watch, and even a popular religion Christianity. This was my interpretation of an ideal citizen at a taller than average height and normal weight. I felt like all the traits I put down for my character were normal for the United States college student.
My new citizen would be similar in appearance to my first citizen, but different in personality. The new ideal citizen would stand up for something he believed in. He would not just be a democrat, but he would be a democrat with an opinion on some of the issues in the world. My citizen would be well read and show knowledge to back-up his opinion. The changes I made were based solely on the topic of service and having a legitimate argument. I felt like my first ideal citizen was neutral and that made him ideal, but having an argument and knowing how to support it is ideal. The course didn’t make me change my mind on appearance because I feel the same way about my ideal appearance as I did when the course started.
This course topic has showed me that by analyzing and researching a topic, it is much easier to formulate a legitimate argument. The course has made me look at service and activism in a completely different light because before this course I saw activism merely as people protesting outside of the Whitehouse or on the oval. By looking at music videos, attending events, and watching the Laramie Project I have seen the real side of activism. Along with activism I’ve looked at the word normal differently. Being ideal doesn’t necessarily mean being normal. Normal in terms of statistics means obesity, racist, and hazardous to the environment. These behaviors are not perceived as ideal by any means. With racism and sexism prevalent, it might be normal to be racist or sexist but it certainly is not ideal. The ability to formulate an argument and back it up with legitimate research is vital to becoming successful in the world and is ideal in my opinion.

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Wissinger Blog 3

The event I chose to attend was the 2009 Buckeyethon on February 28th. Buckeyethon was held to raise money for the Nationwide Childrens hospital. The cause was extremely worthy of such an event because the money could directly impact the lives of children. When people thought about dancing for 14 hours and taking time out of their hectic college life to raise money, an immediate response would arrise which I heard throughout the day "Do it for the kids." It's hard to fathom how much money was raised total because of the overwhelming support and number of college students in attendence.
I believe all three rhetorical devices; logos, ethos and pathos were prevalent, but the most prevailing device was pathos. It was hard not to support such a cause when children would get up in front of this massive crowd of people and speak about what they've been through, and to see families walking around with big smiles on their faces. Ethos was prevelant because the Nationwide Childrens hospital has credibility even if you don't exactly know where it is. The familes going through their individual situations also had credibility. One example of pathos is a story I heard about a little girl who had fought against cancer her whole life and for the most part beat it out. During one of her brain surgeries, a doctor dropped a tool in her brain which caused her to lose her memory to an extreme point. I was told that if you met her and introduced yourself, she could turn her back on you and forget you as soon as she turned back around. Stories like this are examples of the pathos and how hard it is to not give to this cause.
My direct experience and the story of this girl could help me to persuade others to join the cause and partake in Buckeyethon next year. The atmosphere of everyone coming together for the same cause is inspiring and there are many people who have went to this event every year of their college life. Overall I found it easy to give time and money to such a worthy cause.

English 110.01 Blog Prompt 2 (Ani Difranco)

The creator of this piece was a victim of 9-11. She created this piece to maybe shed some light on what happened that fateful day from a victims perspective. That's not the only objective of this piece, the other objective is too show a democrats hatred for the government and passion to see some change in the United States. Ani used logos by giving examples and stories of what happened that day and giving a perspective. She tried to show her knowledge of the subject by describing the ash falling on the streets, and giving specific street names. The repetition of "so far" also brings importance on the fact that the scene "looked more like war than anything i've seen", which enhances her logos. She used ethos by saying that she was in the building and transitioning into the poor government smoothly through a story and some alcohol metaphors. The pathos is found when she tries to get the reader fired up about the government and to take action! She also appeals emotionally when she shows how scared and frantic the victims were.

The intended audience of this piece is the American citizen. Anyone is supposed to read it, and not even necessarily agree with it but take a stance on it none the less. The rhetorical terms used were effective in getting the reader on the side of the victims and against the powerful government only interested on oil across the world. She showed a knowledge of the topic and evoked emotion so she succeeded in her rhetoric. The media influences my answers because I saw the media coverage and it was terrible which gave me (the reader) a set of emotions I had enstilled before I read the piece. This exercise integrates all the lessons learned in class by using rhetorical terms, find repition, and basically using the method to find out if we agree or disagree with the writer of this piece.

The name of my ideal citizen is Chris Johnson. It is an extremely generic name but go to the Columbus Ohio network and search for the picture of Brad Pitt smoking a cigarette. I chose this picture because let's face it Brad Pitt is sexy and I picture the ideal Ohio State citizen to be Caucasian heterosexual male, with the stylish shorter haircut and buff(not necessarily smoking but whatever). My ideal Columbus Ohio citizen is close to Ohio State so obviously he goes there. A majority of people are Christian, and the average college student is liberal so that's how the justification for those decisions.

In my opinion the jock sports player, and party goer are ideal as a college student. The ideal student doesn't just party though, he also studies an immense amount and cares about friends his future and family. The activities are as such because they go along with how I see the ideal college student so interests include women, sports, and friends.

The reason I chose the multimedia interests are they are just popular books, tv shows, and movies. I chose the movies because most people find them funny and are very popular to the college student demographic. The tv shows are similar because some are funny but all are popular to most college students. The books are a little different because I chose Harry Potter for its popularity, The Firm because some students have interest in law, and the Guiness Book of World Records because everyone has read it and has at least a little interest in it. The quotes were picked to show the interest in sports once again, and a funny side of the personality. The about me is just pretty much highlighting all the attributes described above.