Reflection

I found the blog to be very important to my increase of rhetorical knowledge this semester. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the classical rhetoricians. Sometimes it seems very difficult to understand what their riders were trying to say, but when we reflected in row blogs about them, I was able to better understand their writings. Though the blogging itself was good, having the opportunity to discuss our blogs with our classmates was even better. It allowed me to recognize other important aspects of the texts, as well as different point of view.

Looking Back on the Blog

Looking back on this blog it really seems the best tool I had this year.  First I think it was really helpful to be able to write something real down for most of the readings we did.  This facilitated for me a much clearer understanding of the readings.  It also helped me remember them.  I think the interactive nature of the blog helped a lot as well because I learned a ton from my peers.  After doing many of these readings I often felt a bit hazy about my comprehension.  The summaries and dialogues in the blog were a great resource for guiding and understanding the readings.

            From a rhetorical standpoint the blog represents the revolution in rhetorical forms.  The relationship to the audience is an interesting one.  In this case the real world ethos established in class plays out in my online usage.  For instance, if one of my classmates I making a lot good points in class one day, I will probably check there blog to see what I can learn.  The blog also facilitated pathetical appeals.  The memes and images and videos served well to put interesting thoughts in my head.  That functioned well for making me more inclined to agree with the often more logical appeals that accompanied them.  Logos of course played a big part in the simple analytical style of much of the blog.

            The dialogue contained in the blog felt somewhat classical.  Perhaps lacking the majesty of some of Plato’s rhetorical dialogues, there was still good back and forth discussion on a serious topic that truly made for effective knowledge building and discovery.  The forum is certainly different, but I would like to think you can still detect the classical influence in such a modern medium.

            We’ve been doing a lot of rhetoric about rhetoric this year, but this post goes even further.  It’s rhetoric about rhetoric about rhetoric. I begin with an ethical appeal, extolling the virtues of the blog, putting you all on my side.  Then we get in to some more logical and analytical discourse before entering this strange reflective bit.  And, so I shall proceed to my final appeal, one of a pathetic nature.

As we careen toward the end of a semester, the end of an era really, I can’t help but feel privileged to have had the profound honor of exposing the beauty of rhetoric with a truly talented group of young individuals.  Best of luck to you all, perhaps our paths shall cross again one day.  Happy holidays and Happy rhetoricking!

The Rhetoric Blog

     I generally like blogging for classes because it helps me get creative and louder on the subjects; and we get funnier, stranger, and more random ideas than we ever get to discuss in class (and pictures, gifs, and videos, woo!). I've had blogs for classes before and I think for this class especially, with readings almost everyday which we don't always understand right away, writing about it and being able to see other responses helped me to understand. There were specifics, like when Sadie talked about puns - instances that I completely glossed over were made clear. And I think the most important part was that I was able to reach these understandings before I got to class to discuss them. I wasn't ever coming to class without some sort of grasp.
     What I want to talk about most, though, is the idea that blogs aren't just for spewing random thoughts anymore. And what really sparked this revelation was Mandy's Critical Discussion project which she displayed in a blog format. She used a blog to portray the important discussion and claim of her entire project and the format gave way to even more subtle claims. This gave me reason to believe blogging could be purposeful and do more than just share varieties of thoughts in snapshots. So, with this in mind, when you look at our blog as a whole, now that we're wrapping up today, you can see a lot about us and about the class. Themes can be found even in a blog authored by twenty people - a reader can basically follow the class thought processes by just looking online.
     The rhetoric of blogging still stands to persuade. We were all trying to get our posts shared and heard and commented on. But what changes in this format? I have to persuade you to read my post before you even skim it. If it's a huge block of text with no surprises and no pictures, you're probably not going to be excited about reading it. We have less time to persuade and less time to earn trust and authority. And we have to make our arguments and claims before our reader gets bored; we can slip in a meme to get a laugh, but once we get serious again, we have to tread quickly.
     There's a lot more I could expand on, but I don't have any desire to write a second critical discussion. Ultimately, I appreciate the practice and learning I accomplished in this sort of modern rhetoric, side by side with the classics.

Reflection

I’m finding myself in the midst of some interesting self-reflection as I’m supposed to be reflecting on blogging this semester. While self-reflection isn’t the goal of today’s blog assignment per se, it seems oddly appropriate if I am ultimately to get to the truth of the work I’ve done this semester.

I’ll be honest, this has been a suck-tastic semester. I became a grandmother in August. This is supposed to be great, right? I’m sure it would be great if my son were in a healthy relationship and ready to be a father. Sadly, he’s not, so what should be joyous is in fact extremely stressful.

The first week of the fall semester, and two weeks after my grandson was born, my father died after a long battle with Huntington’s disease. After he sustained a traumatic brain injury two years ago and became progressively more debilitated, his death came as somewhat of a relief. I’m horribly conflicted about my sense of relief – am I glad that he is no longer suffering or am I thankful to no longer be called upon as a caregiver? I don’t know and I hate that.

The past few months have been an endless tug-of-war as my time is divided – assisting my mother to downsize 71 years (51 years of marriage) accumulation of stuff (I’m tempted to say crap, but that seems unkind) and to move to a small condo, fulltime work, family including babysitting duties, and school.  In the past, school was at the top of my list of priorities, but it has most definitely fallen to the bottom of the heap this semester.

So how is any of this relevant to a reflection on the blogging we did this semester? As I review the class blog, and my posts in particular, I can see not only my struggles to understand the material, but I can also see exactly where I was at mentally when I wrote each post. I am very thankful to have had all of your insightful posts to help me slog through this material. Our class discussions have been immensely helpful, too. I admit I spent more time fantasizing about withdrawing from classes this semester than anyone ever should; if it hadn’t been for the help I’ve received from reading everyone’s posts I wouldn’t have made it through this class. And, while I am super appreciative of the help your posts provided me, I’m afraid I did not make a significant contribution of my own. I’m sure I didn’t get nearly as much out of this class as I would have given different circumstances, but, thanks to all of you, it wasn’t completely lost on me.

Rhetoric: A Reflection

I’m currently holed up on the third floor of the library. I swore I wouldn’t return after spending 12+ hours here working on my critical discussion; short-term memory loss must be a side effect of finals. As I listen to the soothing (annoying?) sound of the fountain, I’m kind of struggling to start this blog post.

Perhaps that’s because I’ve been reflecting on this class all weekend. After an enormous push to write the critical discussion, I’ve been thinking a lot about how rhetoric shapes our daily interactions. For example, it wasn’t immediately easy to study cat memes from a rhetorical perspective. But after I tried—and realized it could be done—it made me appreciate how broad the term rhetoric is.

I know, I know. I’m supposed to get to the end of the semester and announce, “I understand rhetoric! I know what it is now!” I don’t mean to say that rhetoric is broad in that it is everything or indefinable. As many of you noted in your posts, we’ve come a long way from our first meeting where we attempted to sort out what rhetoric is or isn’t.

But—and this is where the blog comes in—rhetoric, to me, is broad in the sense that it can be applied to many subjects. In fact, I think Aristotle said something very similar to that in the beginning of our excerpt of Rhetoric (sorry, I’d quote, but I happily left The Rhetorical Cinder Block, I mean Tradition, at home).

I have truly enjoyed reading the ways in which all of you have applied rhetoric to diverse subjects. This semester, I’ve read about education, puns, Beyonce, text messages, psychology and many more topics. You have all helped to shape my study of rhetoric through your witty writing and thoughtful reading. Seeing you all have fun on the blog encouraged me to write in a conversational, humorous tone. That is something I value and don’t often get to share with my classmates and professors.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing your thoughts on this blog. Reading your posts inspired me to keep going, especially when our texts were dense and my margins were filled with question marks! And finally, I leave you with this:

Refection on Blogging and Rhetoric

Coming into this class I had no prior experience with blogging and very little experience with rhetoric.  As a result I had no idea what to expect from either experience.  However, as someone who finds it easier to express myself in writing than in speech I became comfortable with blogging.  It became a way to share ideas and get feed back outside of the standard classroom discussion.  Reading the comments on my post as well as others was probably my favorite part about it.  Seeing how peoples thoughts grew and interacted with each others was fascinating.  While I still wouldn't consider myself a "blogger" I do love what blogging brought to the class and I'm interested in using it in my own classroom.

Getting a sense for rhetoric and how to talk, discuss, and write about it came to me a lot slower than blogging.  I definitely feel it is one of those thing where the more you know the more you realize you don't know.

With that being said I'm surprised at how much I have learned over the course of this class.  In the beginning I had no definition for rhetoric and while my definition is constantly changing it's there.  I have gained a new understanding of rhetoric and my growth in the field has been eye opening.

Ahhh.... Rhetoric & Blogging

I came into this semester hating blogging and studying rhetoric. Learning about the history of rhetoric and beginning to understand the roots of what we know as modern rhetoric healed my hatred of the topic. Most of my hatred or even fear of the topic stemmed from the ambiguity of the term 'rhetoric'. As an English major, it was frustrating that I was taking class upon class about rhetoric without ever being given a clear definition of what rhetoric was or encompassed. Now that I know that the term has meant a variety of things, it is comforting, to an extent, that the term still holds a variety of definitions. The blog mostly served as a confidence-boosting source for me. It helped me realize that I was not alone in much of my frustration surrounding the term 'rhetoric', Reading my classmates' blogs affirmed that I was not alone in my confusion of a reading or in my annoyance of the ambiguity of rhetoric as a term or as a topic.

The comfort I found in reading other's blog posts didn't come without aversion to blogging, however. I found that the strict deadlines for blogging made me wary of blogging at all. For me, Mondays are always packed with due assignments and readings, as well as meetings and appointments. Getting blogs done by 11 am sharp wasn't always an option for me. While I would do my best to plan ahead and get my readings done during the weekend, 11 am Monday morning always sneaked up on me. I also feel like blogging has become a norm (and annoyance)  for many of my discussion-based classes. Having 3 different blogs to keep up with quickly became a huge amount of reading and blogging each week. It almost seems as if blogging creates an overwhelming amount of information and opinions to parce and add my own little blurb each week. 

There has to be a way to get the discussion out of blogging without overwhelming students with over-blogging.

On Fear, Freedom, and Friendship: My Adventures in Blogging and Rhetoric

I must admit, I was scared out of my wits on the first day of class. I had no idea what rhetoric really meant, let alone the ability to comprehend any of the readings we were assigned. Frustration abounded that first week. Somehow, though, the blogging helped alleviate those stresses.

I'd sit at my chair every Sunday evening, textbook resting on my lap, and attempt to process what I had just read. Thoughts tangled themselves up in my head, scarcely giving me a chance to decipher what I wanted to say. I'd sigh and open up a new document, letting a few scattered ideas land hesitantly on screen. Somehow, something would click into place, and I'd flip back through the text, pull out a quote or two, and fly through the post. There was always a split second of terror right as I'd click the "Publish" button as I wondered if my post would make any sense to anyone else, but then there it was, out for the world (or at least our class) to see, and suddenly I'd feel better. It's freeing to print your words on paper (or screen) rather than releasing them in conversation to simply dissipate into thin air. I'm grateful for the chance to share ideas within a context that feels substantial and lasting.

To not only publish my own work, but to read the work of everyone else, was enlightening. Passages that hadn't struck me as particularly compelling were elaborated on by all of you, opening up new ideas and conversations. Modern parallels and historical frames were presented in ways that challenged and changed our class discussions. You are all so incredibly brilliant, and you made coming to class enjoyable. I feel as though the blogs helped me to get to know you on a more personal level, and I enjoy the sense of camaraderie that has developed. Thank you, Kate, for a difficult yet rewarding assignment. I truly enjoyed my time in our class.