"Love"

Lest I sound like a cynical single woman, let me just begin by telling everyone that this post isn’t about me and some vendetta I have against love, but more about the power of society and the media in shaping our thoughts about love and how it’s disgusting. (This could also just be an expression of my own frustration with the media) Also, I cannot pretend that I am superior and don’t ever watch romantic movies, because I definitely enjoy them on occasion. (*while I obviously cannot speak to the entire female gender, I know enough friends and women that also believe in many of these myths that these films perpetuate to justify my broad generalization of women) That being said, these are just some random thoughts I had after watching one of these said ‘romantic’ movies this weekend.
‘Romance’ movies allow girls to believe in a false love. Call me naïve and impressionable, but for a while, I believed that my one true love was out there somewhere and that he would come and find me if I sat on my rear end long enough. These movies make us believe that men are just waiting to sweep us off our feet (thanks “Hitch”) and that if we want it to happen badly enough, it will (insert here any romance film in the history of the world).
In addition, all of these films are exactly the same. Boy meets girl, boy messes up, girl hates him, then boy does something spectacular to make up for it and boy ends up with girl and they live happily ever after in some alternative perfect universe. (keep in mind these gender roles can also be reversed for a new and refreshing point of view…see: “Ever After” and many more)
Furthermore, these movies are NOT realistic (which some would argue make them more enjoyable, see: my mom), something I find incredibly annoying. For instance, when, in the real world, would it ever be okay for a guy to watch your every move, track your love life, and then write a letter confessing his undying love for you? (see: Ethan Embry lusting over Jennifer Love Hewitt in “Can’t Hardly Wait”) If some guy ever did this to me, my first reaction would not be, “aww how cute” but probably “I’m calling the cops.” Romance movies virtually give guys an excuse to stalk girls. Even if I neglected to call the police on him, when, in real life, would I ever end up with a guy like this? Or think, “hmm, maybe after he gets done stalking me, we can grow old together?”
In reality, in order to get love to work out, you have to work hard, and even if you do, this does not guarantee success. Love does not follow a set formula, however much we wish we could just plug in a solution for a said problem to fix it. And men who stalk women are not ‘cute.’ While these movies provide temporary relief from the stresses and strains of work, at what cost? If we live in this false illusions of love and grandeur, then the burden is too much, but if we recognize these movies for the fallacies they have, then we can enable ourselves a few hours of carefree ‘love’ without any consequence.

Rhetorical Analysis 2

ACT, SAT, AP, IB, PSAT, PACT

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-10-19-our-view_x.htm

No, this is not a list of random letters. All of these are standardized tests that many high school students have taken by the end of their high school career. In the editorial, New tests in high schools? They have enough already, the author clearly disagrees with new legislation aimed to increase testing in high schools. Immediately, the reader can see how the author feels about the topic simply from the title of the editorial. The author quickly establishes creditability by including a quote from Margaret Spelling, the Secretary of Education. By including this quote, the author shows that he is at least some what knowledgeable in the topic and has done at least some research about it. Also, the author strikes up a conversation tone with the reader through use of informal jargon such as “Time out.” This conversation tone is meant to put the readers at ease with the author, building up, if not unconsciously, the concept that the author is not unlike you and I, whereas the opposition, (in this case Spelling), sits too high up in Washington D.C. to possibly be able to identify with heartland America or even everyday schools.
Also, it is interesting to note that the author actually does put a name and face to the ‘enemy’: Margaret Spelling. By pinpointing the opposition, the author further establishes his ethos. The author also attempts to make the impression that the other side has some interesting points as well, just simply does not go about solving the problem in the correct way. He does this in order to not discredit the other side, however, it weakens his argument. Overall, the author does a nice job of appealing to the average reader through the conversational tone and sweeping generalizations about high school testing. He also effectively uses specific examples of schools that over test in order to appeal to emotion in the reader.
Yet, academically this article leaves much to be desired. While the evidence for over testing appeals to the readers’ emotions, the author does not go into enough detail or provide other convincing evidence for his argument. A more effective editorial would include statistics on stress on high schoolers, perhaps even correlating higher suicide rates with more testing in high schools or something interesting. In addition, the author could have included statistics on minorities in education to further prove his point instead of making general statements without evidence to support them. Finally, the author should have included more ideas of what federal funding could do and the direct benefits stemming from those ideas.
As a reader, this editorial first caught my attention because the idea of over testing high schoolers has become a controversial issue, one that I am myself all too familiar with. Yet, the author only provides a watered down argument against more testing, appealing to emotion instead of building a sound argument. He takes no risks in identifying problems with the opposition or suggesting feasible solutions. All in all, I found the article to be extremely weak.

and she stares out her window, watching those below
her heart aches
she cannot join
she wants so badly to
belong
a gaping hole in her
she sees the sky and wonders when it will fall
she sees the day and wonders if it will ever become light
her eyes cry
with no
emotion
her life is a series of clichés
clichés are always right
happiness is lost
she knows that it was not supposed to be like this
she knows
the cloud spreads
poisoning
suffocating
those close to her
whispering
destructive thoughts
in her head
torturing
the allure of life
hollowness
her soul carved out of her
like a pumpkin on
Halloween
her mask
her life
and most
she wants to be more than mediocre
more than
average
more than just
everyone else
she wants so desperately to find herself
that she forgot where she began.