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.

"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.

A celebration of imminent triumph over all, for us all. For Sally

We are young! Right now, we are the envy of all those with drivers permits and wrinkles alike. We are shiny and bright, ready to take the world as our own. For this moment, the past is nothing more than what’s led us here, the future something we know is waiting for us with welcoming arms. In fact, let us not spend time on music at all unless it serves as inspiration of sorts for the revolution, which we will start. Let’s not waste time with buzz bands who are reviving the 80s and wear well-coordinated outfits. In a week, there will be another them. But in 100, even 1 million years, there will not be another US! WE ARE NOW! We can be loud and vapid and pretty and selfish. But, now is not forever so we must be angry but calm and forceful, strong and intelligent, faceless, with the lives of millions on our minds. Let’s not shop at the mall, but only in a rage against materialism and capitalism and monstrous displays of what we can afford to buy, separating us from those less fortunate. Let’s not treat people like things, to be traded and replaced to match our other accessories, no matter how much they beg for it in their actions and thoughts. Let’s give away all we own, for none of it is ours. We have our youth and its power, and those are the world—hidden, but there. Let’s never assume that we are anything more than animals with the coincidence of vocal chords and opposable thumbs and let’s never use these things to assert superiority over any other living things. Let’s keep nothing and share everything. Let’s take no credit nor blame for anything. It’s everyone’s. Let’s create beauty through change and change through beauty. Let’s view the world as never enough and everything—there is both the drive for progress and the means by which to achieve it. We have been chosen to change the world because we were born. So let’s never live in a shoebox on a street, the world is our home. Let’s never have money to count, we have nothing and everything. Let’s never allow personal contentment to lead to complacency and inactivity. Let’s live for wind and waves, not paper or plastic. Let’s never settle down and kick up our feet, but remain in motion even if our feet hurt. Let’s not die the quiet death of millions, but live the never-ending life of few. IF we do these things, we will have this life, youth, forever. Now will become tomorrow for us, never yesterday. Beauty, life, death, tomorrow, yesterday, now, will not distract us but inspire us and transform into one. at our hands and never fade because we are young! In bloom, rise above the water in the morning, crawling above onto land. Let's never wilt, or sink, or retreat. WE ARE YOUNG!

Analysis 1

September 11th, 2001. The moment stands frozen in our minds forever. The scenes of the planes flying into the trade towers replay over and over. Yet, the media likes to defrost this horrific event everyday, reheating it again and again, like bad meatloaf, for the public to watch. References to Sept. 11th feel endless, whether on television or on the Internet, they saturate our media. Seemingly harmless, these references call for patriotism, symbolizing freedom in a most abstract way. Recently however, controversy has clouded the plans surrounding Ground Zero. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/23/opinion/23fri3.html
The author of “Freedom or Not?” uses specific jargon in order to elicit certain feelings in the readers. For example, the author begins by using “censor” to describe the action that 9/11 families may want to take. The word “censor” automatically evokes controversy and strong feelings about the first amendment. The author makes the reader feel wronged before even knowing why the families would feel this way, building on ethos. In this way, the author sets up the reader to unconsciously dislike the families of 9/11 as if their argument for the use of Ground Zero seems ludicrous. Also, the author describes the Governor as he “capitulated” to a “misguided outcry from critics.” By using “capitulating,” the author partitions sides, creating a feeling of battle and tension. “Misguided” infers that the Take Back the Memorial movement remains unintelligent and confused. In this way, the author begins to set the stage for his dismissal of their argument.
The author uses the phrase “claim for themselves the right of” in order to portray the Take Back the Memorial movement as an organization intent on stealing the rights of innocent American citizens in order to further their own selfish agenda. By saying that the Freedom center “is not perfect,” the author attempts to seem humble while still coercing the reader to think that the Freedom Center obviously remains the better option. The author lightly touches on the flaws surrounding the Freedom Center, pairing each disadvantage with a statement intended to ‘soften the blow.’ The author uses “we” in his article, building his ethos by drawing on the fact that others agree with him. The author also attacks the politicians in charge of the memorial, calling them cowardly, as if they too play a part in a bigger conspiracy against freedom. Then, in the last sentence, the author uses a powerful pairing of death (“murder”) and life as a dramatic finish and a final appeal to the reader’s emotions. The author’s word choice significantly increases the persuasive nature of this article. Throughout the entire piece, specific words slowly convince the reader of the evils of the Take Back the Memorial movement. The author influences the reader’s thoughts in a subtle, sophisticated way.