An individual might not fit into the normative space OR the queer space. There are spaces in between. People might belong in different spaces – but even that… people don’t need to “fit in,” period.

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=queer&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cqueer%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2Cqueer%3B%2Cc0

We spoke about applying queer rhetoric in class – I thought of the article I assign in my 201 class, “Dude, You’re a Fag.” I assign the article as one of five and students usually do really well with it. The author doesn’t spend much time on sexuality and instead focuses on gender performativity and toxic masculinity in high school students. After discussing queer theory, I think it would be super beneficial to give students a quick lesson on queer theory before assigning the article (in future classes). This made me realize, I could do mini lectures on different theories for each article I assign. For example, I could have students interact with post-colonial theory before assigning “Multicultural Barbie,” an article about the misrepresentation and under-representation of ethnic women in children’s dolls.

Also, I thought the information on the site we looked at about the military was interesting – as it is viewed as an anti-gay institution. In class there was a discussion about how homosexuality has been prevalent in the service for years (I totally believe that) and how it is completely frowned upon now. I’m not sure why, but I feel the need to add that this isn’t my (second hand) experience with the military. There are many openly gay officers in the Air Force and while I’m sure they receive unfavorable reactions from some people, I know that they also receive a lot of respect and admiration from their fellow servicemen.

This article highlights the need for women to take themselves back from man. Cixous encourages women to rewrite Woman, erasing what man has incorrectly written for us. In class we discussed the reference to us all being “Lesbians.” I read an article recently that used this term as a way to explain the need for female-female relationships. There was mention of sexuality, but it was important to note that the word lesbian didn’t carry a sexual connotation. Expectations of women/views of women need to be created by women, not men.Feminist Rhetoric- 

1. Development and implementation of theories that are dialogic 2.Transactions 3. Aware of alternative means of delivery and knowledge production 4. Directed to and delivered from marginalized positions, and deeps committed to hope and responsibility.

• Who isn’t given (allowed) a voice -What is the difference between rhetoric/persuasion/argument
  • Different levels of trust – Different levels of power

This week we chatted about the ways that students try to navigate different discourses and how certain rhetoric (academic for example) can exclude certain people.

We spoke about the gap in students’ rhetorics. It is the educators responsibility to help a student to reconcile that gap.

We also discussed cultural borderlands: the merging of cultures. Some students have to deal with multiple discourses that they belong to. They have to adapt.

While it might not be possible to completely bridge the gap – educators can assist students in combining their different rhetorics.

I personally think it’s an effort on both sides: teacher and student. They both need to be willing participants in bridging the gap. I’ve had huge successes and huge failures with allowing students this type of flexibility. I believe if a student is putting forth the effort then the instructor should be willing to adjust and assist the student in the classroom.

Panopticon – a way for someone to be in a place of authority by gaining information through spectating.

In class we made this connection to our smart phones and information stored; is anything ever really safe? really private? I think about how my husband is shopping for Nikes and all of a sudden I’m seeing ads on my Facebook when he never used my computer and he doesn’t even have a Facebook. It seems like an abuse of power. Observing to gain information and use it to benefit…

Dr. Crane mentioned the idea that we are able, as instructors, to view student activity. I hadn’t thought of myself as the spectator! But it’s true, I find myself checking on students who are falling behind to see whether or not they’ve even been on Canvas… and I wonder if that changes my views on certain students… subconsciously.

When focusing on digital identity, my in class partner and I compared our Amazon recommendations page. We unknowingly were helping Amazon curate our digital identity. My page lay out was different than his. Mine was covered in categories like women’s clothes and jewelry, baby items, children’s books, 19th century literature. My classmates’ page had video games, books in Spanish, Anime items. Looking at our lists could tell a stranger a lot about us.

Jim Ridolfo’s term, rhetorical velocity: “We are proposing the beginning of a field conversation about how composers strategically design texts for re-appropriation by third parties.” 

I really appreciate this image as it illustrates the different levels of re-composition.

Kairos is also an important term – described as intentionally noting/using the right moment to reach the audience.

It seems kairos is the fourth sibling that everyone forgot about – the black sheep – but is equally as important and relevant as logos, ethos, pathos.

This week we looked at a website dedicated to the school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Looking at the rhetorical devices used by the creators of the site was really informative.

My group decided to use Porter’s explanation of the 5 components of digital delivery to explore the website: Body/Identity, Distribution/Circulation, Access/Accessibility, Interaction, Economics.

We noted parts like the simple header, showcasing large font and #BringBackOurGirls…the use of video, portraits, live/moving photos, text…the white letters and dark background… the way pictures and texts would pop up then go away as I scrolled. I noticed some women wearing bold colors (red), exposing their backs, making eye contact. It felt interactive, although it was incredibly easy to navigate, a user would only need to know how to scroll. The narrowly focused images of the individual women made me feel connected to them. This reminded me of Bill Viola’s exhibit in St. Paul’s cathedral in London.

This piece represents ideas of action, fortitude, perseverance, endurance, and sacrifice.”

— Bill Viola

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/video/2014/may/21/bill-viola-martyrs-video-st-pauls-cathedral

The video has no audio, it lasts seven minutes, and focuses on four individuals. When I first saw this exhibit a couple years ago, I was moved, but after studying rhetoric, I can see that the deliberate rhetorical choices were the reason for its effectiveness.

I love finding images/tables/info that simplifies some of the theorists or rhetoricians we’ve been introduced to in class… so, I appreciated the one I posted above. It seems Habermas’ main focus was reason. He mentions the importance of really thinking things through and understanding them before acting. I find this to be applicable to our present day where we share a facebook post without thinking or believe a headline without reading. Social media/short and shocking articles/ridiculous news reporting has taken over and we react. Most of us are guilty of it – jumping to conclusions, agreeing with someone because of emotional reaction.

Goodnight mentions this crazed media, also.

I agree that media has control over public opinion, especially with the very one sided news sources we have today. I think of the way news stories are constantly contorted to manipulate the masses or the way certain stories aren’t told at all, completely avoided because they don’t push the agenda. It’s all very frustrating.

Perelman explains that the understanding of rhetoric is murky. To be honest, I haven’t always been clear on what rhetoric was… until I had to teach it to 101 and 201 students. The article, “The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning” defines rhetoric (“for the ancients”) as “the theory of persuasive discourse – broken down into five parts:

I appreciated the in-class assignment we had with the MLK speech. The group I was a part of looked at the speech with Perelman in mind. Perelman’s new rhetoric focuses on good intention, audience, rhetorical listening, and makes sure to be easy to understand (just to name a few). I loved this assignment so much that I had my 201 students do it as well. It was a great way to understand rhetoric and apply it to a relevant (and popular) speech.

Heteroglossia is not an unfamiliar term for me. In prior classes, I have learned that heteroglossia is the multiple languages an individual possesses. I don’t mean that I speak both English and Armenian; I mean that I have a one language I use to speak to my immediate family members and another to speak to professors at school… even more specifically, I have a different language I use with professors I’ve known for years and feel comfortable with on a personal level.

Bakhtin investigates “a unitary language,” a language in place that ensures an overall understanding between the people involved. There must be some level of understanding between the individuals communicating. Language is such an interesting thing – it is ever changing. One word can mean so many different things to different people. It both unifies and excludes – it is complex.

There is an “interactive relationship between speaker and addressee.” A word has no meaning if spoken to no one – it only has meaning when the person receiving the message understands it.

Kenneth Burke was interested in human motivation: What people did (act), why they did it (purpose), how they justified it. Burke explains that context is important. What is going on – what situation is the individual in. There is an example given of the shipwreck… different individuals will have different responses.

The article describes dramatism as the difference “between ‘action’ and ‘sheer motion.'” 1. Motion is required for action 2. Action is not required for motion 3. Action cannot be reduced “to terms of motion” … Burke considers the difference between faith and imagination – order and disorder. It’s interesting to consider how people rationalize and justify their actions that may or may not be socially accepted.

Rhetoric focuses on persuasion. To argue a point, one must successfully use rhetoric. Foss, Foss, and Trapp’s article describes rhetoric as a person’s “ability” to communicate with another (using symbols)…in order to persuade. In class we were given an example:

Major premise: Men are mortal

Minor premise: Socrates is a man

Conclusion: Socrates is mortal.

Seems like a logical fallacy – affirming the consequent. I sort of wanted to create a venn diagram, not to worry, I controlled myself.

Similarly, President Trump did the same thing in his speech addressing immigration. He argued that illegal immigrants bring in drugs and Americans are dying of drug use… therefore all illegal immigrants are killing all Americans. Hmm. I’m not buying it.

Bizzell and Herzberg’s article describes “graduate students and junior faculty members of the English department” teaching composition and leaving out “the outdated tradition of rhetoric.” I was amused.

When explaining rhetoric to my 201 students, I show them Aristotle’s rhetorical triangle: Speaker, Audience, Message.

Going back to the speech we watched in class… President Trump being the speaker – Americans being the audience – Immigration and the border wall being the message.

Watching this speech and speaking to classmates highlighted the importance of delivery in rhetoric, a point I now realize I usually overlook. Trump seemed to be on his best behavior; the delivery was pretty well executed. I spoke to my 201 students about rhetoric today and multiple students brought up the delivery of information and organization (arrangement) from their assigned articles. They critiqued one author for trying to put too much information on too little space and jumping from one point to the next then back again… sounds like someone we know.

I was glad to read (in our assigned articles) that rhetoric was being revived. In teaching English 101 and 201, I’ve found rhetoric to be a super important lesson to teach. I wasn’t taught the art of rhetoric as a Freshman and believe I would have greatly benefited from even a small introduction.

While considering the message (meaning) portion of rhetoric, I immediately thought of the sign, signifier, and signified. I noticed the Bissell and Herzberg article also mentions this. The article quotes Bakhtin: “Rhetorical genres have been studied since antiquity (and not much has been added in subsequent epochs to classical theory).” Theorists have had many different views on rhetoric (both limited and broad). It’s intriguing to view the popularity rhetoric has gained and lost over the years; it is clearly a valid and important subject that needs to be taught.