Blog Post # 6 (Week of 3/11-3/17)

Due Sunday, March 17 @ 11:59 PM

Your task this week is to craft a sentence (or two or three) in which you make purposeful choices about diction. Make sure you select words that have a specific connotation about the subject of the sentence(s).

Part 1: Write your sentence(s) and underline the words in the sentence that hint at the underlying message the sentence is trying to convey about the subject.

Part 2: Rewrite the sentence(s) using different words that do not have the same connotation

Part 3: Explain/analyze the how the meaning of the sentence changes depending on the word choice

Example:

“Art is the antidote that can call us back from the edge of numbness, restoring the ability to feel for another.” -Barbara Kingsolver

“Art is the gift that can call us back from the edge of numbness, restoring the ability to feel for another.”

An antidote is something that counteracts a poison. By associating antidote with the restoration of ability to feel for another, Kingsolver implies that the inability to feel for another is a poison and that this poison is so noxious as to take us to the edge of numbness.

The use of the word gift instead of antidote weakens the precision of the sentence and takes away the power of association. Gift is a much more general word than antidote, and it does not offer the implicit judgement about the inability to feel for another.

Blog Post # 5 (Week of 3/4- 3/10)

Due Sunday 3/10 @ 11:59 PM

According to TIME Magazine Senior Editor, Ben Goldberger, “The best photography is a form of bearing witness, a way of bringing a single vision to the larger world.” As he and his fellow editors began to compile their collection of the “Top 100 Most Influential Photos of All Time,” they recognized that “there is no formula that makes a picture influential” and that “some images are [influential] because they were the first of their kind, others because they shaped the way we think. And some … because they directly changed the way we live. [Powerful photography manages to capture] turning points in our human experience.”

As we discovered yesterday, Susan Sontag suggests that the “single vision” Ben Goldberger describes might not be the most productive way to illuminate truths about our word, as it seems to obfuscate more than it reveals, in many cases.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR BLOG 5:

Part I

• Look through the list of TIME Magazine’s “Most influential Photos” and select the THREE that you find most powerful. Copy and paste these images to your blog.
• For each image, explain why you selected it for your top THREE. Why was it powerful? Why did it stick out to you?
• For each image, read the story behind the image and do a little bit of extra research from outside sources if you need to. In your own words, tell the story of each image on your blog, making sure to cite your sources. What about the story do you find interesting or compelling? Does the attached story make the photo more powerful or compelling? Does the photograph reveal more about the story or does it limit our understanding of what’s happening in the photo. Explain.
• For each image, identify the argument being made in the photo. Explain the elements of the photograph that help build the argument (think: rhetorical analysis).
• For each image, identify any information that is left out of the photograph that might limit the audience’s understanding of the scenario being depicted.

Part II

• Come up with  a set of criteria for what makes an image powerful and write your list on your blog.
• Reflect on why photography is a powerful rhetorical tool. How/why does photography make it easier to move an audience than, say, words or music? Explain your answer.
• Look through this resource and consider the relationship between speaker (photographer)/audience/and perspective.  Explain your thoughts.
• Finally, post two pictures that depict the same image from two different perspectives and describe how the story is different in each photograph. Which image tells a more complete story?

BLOG POST #3 (Week of 1/28-2/03)

Please post your completed research project proposals here for your peers to see. See Google Classroom for instructions.

BLOG POST #2 (Week of 1/21-1/27)

This week we discussed one particular stylistic element of good writing: syntactical variety. We discussed the impact of short sentences versus longer sentences and why it is important for a writer to consciously work to vary the length of their sentences within a piece of writing. We also looked at the effect periodic sentence sentence structure can have on audience members and why a speaker might choose to hold off on introducing the main clause until the end of a sentence. Finally, we looked at why writers might choose parallel structure and repetition as a way to reinforce or draw attention to important details.

Your task for this week is to write a creative blog post wherein you make use of varied sentence length, repetition, AND periodic structure. You have freedom here to get as creative as you want, but I want your post IN SOME WAY to be related to your research project. Because this is mostly a creative assignment, you can decide how long you want it to be, but I want you to make sure that the writing itself is impactful. You can have different paragraphs for each of the three syntactical varieties OR you can combine them in one paragraph.

In addition to the writing, I also want you to write a brief rhetorical analysis of your own writing. For each of the three strategies you’ve employed, write a says/does/connection to purpose and audience.

Remember this example:

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important.”

Remember what happens when you vary sentence length. Also refer to the handouts I gave you in class to remind yourself what examples of periodic structure and parallelism look like.

Have fun!

BLOG POST #1 (Week of 1/14-1/20)

Marketing is everything…

• Choose  a theme and build your blog around this theme.  Make any necessary changes to format, style, and design to match the look and feel you want to communicate to the audience.
• Quality over quantity..some of the best blogs are short but impactful. Consider this blog a space to express your thoughts, explore ideas, and reach an audience.  Imagine an audience as you write!

Getting to know one another…

• Introduce yourself!  Describe who you are in an interesting way.  Include pictures. Capture your audience’s interest.
• Next, discuss your TED topic so far and your  goals/driving questions…
• You can also include what ideas and interests would you like to explore in your writing (beyond the requirements of this class