In the name of everything that's holy...give us a fall break!

So I’m sick of school. Welcome to the club right? I’m sick of homework and classes and walking what feels like 500 miles to class in 30 degree weather. I’m tired. I’m so tired of school that I sleep all the time. As I sit here and contemplate school, I have started to believe that all of this tiredness and sickness stem from one thing. A lack of a fall break. Fall break. Ahhh. Just thinking of those two words together makes me smile with pleasure, eliciting feelings of relaxation and Zen. And while I realize that now we are only about a week and a half away from Thanksgiving, the idea of a fall break a couple of weeks ago still seems appealing. Is it so much to ask for the university to take a simple fall break? It might be different if fall break was simply a fictional term, something created in the mind of a crazed, delusional student one day; however, fall break is a reality for many schools around the country. For example, a close friend of mine who attends Beloit College had his fall break October 14-20. John Hopkins University also had a fall break on October 17. When thinking back to October 12th ish, my entire body tenses with stress. Obviously other universities are doing it, why can’t Madison? I think that, while it may not alleviate all of the stress now, it certainly would have give us a mental break from school in order for us to reorient ourselves at that time. Plus, I probably would not be as cranky now about school and studying. Thanksgiving is simply too long to wait for a break from school. Psychology studies have proven that the most effective way to study is not to cram, but to study in 20 minute increments. Apparently after 20 minutes, we cease to remember things. Obviously if we spend an extended period of time at school without a break, we too will cease to remember things, rendering our education worthless. When discussing this issue with various peers last week, I realized that many students were overly anxious to get out of Madison, seeking any means to leave. For example, my roommate booked an extremely expensive ticket to Boston last minute this weekend in her desperation to leave. Her exact words were “If I don’t get out of this place this weekend I will seriously injure something.” I hate to think that we must reach this point of desperation and edginess (and pure violence, at least in the case of my roommate). A couple days during the middle of October would certainly help ease some of that pent up tension. It seems simple enough in concept especially considering that Madison is not exactly a slacker school. So I propose a petition to the University of Wisconsin – Madison for a fall break in mid-October. A fall break in the name of health, mental, physical, and emotional. It’s really a health hazard to attend school for so long without a break. Who’s with me?!

Rhetorical Analysis 3

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9929724/

The author of the article “Cheney Urges Exception to Torture Ban for CIA” uses specific word choice in order to elicit certain feelings from the reader. The author uses a formal tone throughout the article appealing to a mature, intelligent reader while still explaining certain concepts (for example, how the exemption process works) in an effort to not ‘talk over’ the reader’s head. He also splits up the article into different sections, with semi-titles highlighting the main concept covered in that section. This allows the reader to clearly follow the article’s flow and also to ensure that the reader understands exactly what the author meant by including certain information.
The author tries to dramatize the article using key words and phrases. For example, the title catches the reader’s attention immediately as the author uses a three pronged approach to grab attention. First, he identifies what he deems a startling issue, “Exception to Torture Ban.” Then further packs in the punch by surprising the reader with who perpetuates such an issue: “Cheney.” Finally, he includes who the benefits from it, equally as surprising: “CIA.”
Within the body of the article, the author builds drama and controversy by including certain facts. For example, he includes that Cheney “rarely speaks” at meetings which sets up his premise that this particular meeting was special. He adds to this feeling of unconventionality by saying that the officials who provided this information “spoke on conditions of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the discussion.” The use of the word “confidential” persuades the reader to think that this information was not meant for the public, further adding to the oddness of the event.
The author continues to add suspense to his sordid tale, introducing John McCain as an opponent to the proposition. He establishes McCain’s ethos and appeals to the pathos by including that he “was tortured while held as a prisoner during the Vietnam War.” By juxtaposing McCain and Cheney, the author sets up sides to the issue, presenting McCain as the “good guy” (through establishment of ethos and pathos) and Cheney as the “bad guy.” The author shows Cheney’s requests as wrongly timed, stating that his “decision to speak underscored both his role as White House point man on the contentious issue and the importance the Administration attaches to it.” The author also discredits Cheney by including later allegations of Iraqi abuse, introducing another problem within the article. It seems to me that the author possibly is biased against the “exception to the torture ban” and thus presents information accordingly within his article.