In Class: Free Write

Well its almost THE END and this time it really is the end...I graduate on May 9th and I will no longer be in college. I still don't know if that's exciting or not...I still don't know what I want to do and I'm trying to understand that that's ok, there are many people in the world who don't know what they want to do. I do have a job for May though (ok well its not like a big job) but I i'm going to the Cannes Film Festival in Nice, France and I'm so excited! This is something people would love to go to and some how I lucked out and got the position. I will be working for American Pav and I still have no clue what we really do during the day but we are supposed to be there to network with as many people as possible. Lately I have been trying to get ready for that and also working on all my end of the yr projects! well wish me luck and I will for sure post pics of Brad Pitt if I get to see him!

Unit 3

My group had decided to take on the task of  arguing the legalization of marijuana.  We have decided that hits many audiences and in order to hit everyone we will be using a piece of argument that reaches out to our own age group, our parent's age group, and elderly.  I really feel like our group is on its way to a great project!  We are all very motivated to get the project rolling and not procrastinate!  I hope we end up with an excellent project, which I'm sure we will.  

In Class: Visual Arguments

After reading chapter 14 I found it to be very insightful to helping us with our group project. The most interesting question I found was the last one. How are you directed to move within the argument? Are you encouraged to read further? Click on a link? Scroll down? Fill out a form? Provide your email address? Place an order? Every visual we have looked at even in class I find my

In Class: Chapter 12

Last nights reading was about style in arguments and how even the slightest common or period can change how effective our argument is. I actually enjoyed the different things it had to say because I think some of the things they said can be easily over looked. The slightest change in sentence stucture could make or break the argument. When reading this chapter I thought back to the different arguments I had read for my Unit 2 paper.
This chapter will be most helpful to our group project because we want our project to be as effective as possible!

In Class: Chapter 12

Group Project-Role

I am actually looking forward to this project and don't think we will have very many problems since all of us are going to be pretty busy for the rest of the semester!!

I have decide to take the role (drum role please.....) the ORGANIZER!  When we first started talking about the different roles we would need, everyone wanted to name the leader.  I have learned from past experiences that sometimes if you title a head person some people feel like that person should be in charge of EVERYTHING and if something goes wrong its all the leaders fault.  That's the main reason why we are calling it the organizer.  

I will be in charge of making sure we are informed of everything that is going on with meeting times and what we need to have for each up coming meaning.  I will also make sure every part of this project is staying on track and that we all agree with direction we are going.  I will also be in charge of the presentation and make sure we have a powerful presentation on the final day.  Making sure that our communication is on track will be the most effective thing I do for the group because if everyone is informed on what we are doing and when we are meeting, this project will be a breeze (or at least I hope)

We have talked about discussing legalization of pot.  I don't believe we have completely decided on that topic but I think it would be a good direction to go in.

My other group members include: Jenna Hayes, Brenan Gordon, and Jeff Gettel

In Class Free Write

Well last semster I had seriously 7 group projects one in every class and in one class 3!! In years before I had had horrible experiences mainly because they were freshman level courses and the maturety level was a ton lower than what it was last year. Last year I actually managed to only have two horrible group projects and one was with a guy that was a good friend of mine that decided to go to Vegas and not come back till the night before!!! He had said that he was going to put the power point together but of course since he didn't get back till 3 in the morning he was just going to wake up early and do it before class!! I filped! I hate not having things does especially waiting on the power point the night before!! But I ave learned also that if you divid up the work and hold everyone responsible for their own part they will do better, especially if you have peer evalutions at the end.

I think this will go pretty well mainly because all 3 of my group members are athletes and I have had tons of projects with athletes and since they have such a busy schedule they are super motivated to have their part together and are usually very motivated to get going on the project. I have high hopes for this group mainly because I doubt this is any of their first time on the mary-go-round.

There is usually a leader in the group and in this project they will probably be the one to make the last call on something and to divid up all the work aka who's responsible for what part in the project. I'm hoping that there is someone that will step up with an amazing idea because I really can't think of one off the top of my head. I think there should be a main person or maybe even two that research what is being said about our topic before we jump right in. I also think there should be an editor that over looks all of the work that will be turned in, especially the writing part.

In Class Free Write

We are finally getting to the end of this semester and as I look at all the writing I have done on here I'm actually surprised! I had never blogged before and I have close to like 16 blogs on here not including what I've posted on other classmate's blogs. To be honest I kind of enjoy it and I have caught my self reading local Fort Worth blogs about different resturants to try and different places to see since I'm getting to the last months of actually living here. I personally liked the days where we could talk about whatever in our free writes because it was a good way for me to destress my self in the morning. (yes its still impossible to find a parking spot) Like for instance this morning I got up to print out my paper for this class and my next class and my printer would not work it just kept saying error error over and over again. So that made me a couple mins late because then I had to get here and try and fina a parking spot.

Anyways pointing being I like this idea of blogger our thoughts, its a good way to process all of the random information we have floating around in our head about some many differnt things!
(yes in color as always!)

In Class:Free Write

What is the same about all 3 articles?
The main connection is the all make some pretty dramatic statements about this issue. All but one have a hard time taking a side and stating a true option. All the articles try and validate what they are saying by using some one's direct quote. The person they chose to quote would always have some impressing title to go along with their name, like chief of the USA Gymnastics.
How are they different?
I used a cartoon pic as one of my primary sources mainly because I find them quit halarious, and by looking at a picture you can see that even a drawing tries to argue the same way. It made a dramtic stand on how young the Chinese Women really looked. My other 2 were writen text that were both published in the U.S. I found it interesting how different the background evidence was that they both gave. One went into detail about what the actual rule on age was and the other gave prier knowledge about how strong the American team always is.
What meaning can you make about these simularities and differences?
What common knowledge must we already know?
We must know how drastically young the girls look and what is about a woman that makes her look young. Since in most cases athletic woman do not have the full figure of what a "standard" woman has it doesn't give that a strong backup. As the China coach is quoted saying, "this is our nationality and how we look (small and short)" Common knowledge would also be how their size effects their athletic ability and how they will perform in gymnastics. To some people that don't know that beging small and short can actually be an advantage in gymnastics they don't understand what the big fuss is all about.
What conclusions can you draw from all 3 when making a statement about argument in the U.S.?
As an American we almost don't have time for it if it one: doesn't catch our attention in the first 2 lines of reading it and two: if its not dramtic and three: if we don't struggle on who's side to take.
All 3 of my articles make a very striking first couple of lines along with a very strong heading. We as a reader continue reading the article to find out what happened. The reading its self can not be blan, we don't like blan food, we don't like blan reading. We emblesh our words to make it sound more appealing and more dramtic, the only thing that hurts is sometimes this hurts the writer creatability because they start to sound "over dramtic"

Unit 2 Proposal

I thought about many different topics before I came up with what I am now going to do. After stating that we should pick an event instead of just something that happened, I thought of all the controversy over the age of the women's Chinese gymnastics team in this past summer's Olympics. I have grown up cheering and tumbling so the best part of the Olympics to me is the gymnastics competition. When I saw China's team I was blown away on how young they looked and think so did the rest of the world. I think I will be able to find MANY articles surrounding this topic, many which I read while it was happing. I really hope I don't get stuck in doing my research because I am really interested in this topic.

In Class: Rhetorical Thinking

I accidentally read this last unit which I was kind of glad I did because it had a short piece on Victoria's Secret and Bob Dylan that I thought was very relevant to what I was saying Victoria's Secret was saying. I think rhetorical thinking looks at ideas kind of the way I always look at things. Instead of just going along with what something is clearly stating you beyond that and ask your self "what are they REALLY saying here." If we never really rhetorically think about anything we would all morph into somewhat the same person, ok well not that extreme but pretty close. Advertisement agencies would love this because instead of us being thrown off but say the picture with the little girl smoking a cigarette we would know automatically what they wanted us to see, which I'm personally still a little thrown off by it. Rhetorical thinking is a lot simpler than what most people think it is. We are born to question most things, or at least hopefully you were, other wise we would believe everything we saw. They could put a pic of an allen sitting in a classroom and we would believe it....seriously!

V-Week

Today was the 120 Dead ceremony at the student union.  I had never heard anything about V-Week before (which I guess I never pay attention) and as soon as we talked about it in class found out that the first event would be today.  They sold 120 shirts to male and females all over campus and then today we all gathered at 12:00 to show just how many people this really is.  While there we were handed a card with the ladies name that we represented.  It would have their name how old and where they were from.  It would also give a little short story on what happened to them. 

We all one at a time went up to a mic and stated the woman's name, age, and where she was from.  This really hit me emotionally mainly because you will not believe the amount of women that were under the age of 30! One was only 14 years old!! The other thing that really touched me is the fact that this is not just a big city problem.  Right before I went a woman gave a ladies name and then said "Kerrville" I thought wow mainly because I am from there, but also because it made me wonder why I didn't already know of this.  Kerrville is very small and usually everybody knows everything, but when it comes to violence it sometimes gets "pushed under the rug." This is an issue and one that every town should address because if we all try to raise awareness about relational violence maybe one day it will no longer be an issue.  

I am very glad that I got to be a part of the 120 Dead today because it really opened my eyes to this issue.  I am not going to be able to make it to either showing of the Vagina Monologues on Friday or Saturday because I have to work but you can Youtube them! I have already watched a couple and they are great!

Ethical Emotional Logical Appeals

Well as I said last week I am observing the space of Victoria's Secret.  This store is filled with arguments from sexuality to marketing product placement.  When it comes to the Ethical Emotional and Logical Appeals you can see them from the side walk of the store.

Unlike other clothing/appeal stores where the employees have to wear and promote the stores clothing, employees wear all black suits (even though they could be wearing the attire under their cloths).  Mainly because this would be a little inappropriate for women to walk around in their bra and panties or lingerie.  The employee's at Victoria Secret are trying to give an ETHICAL APPEAL by saying we are professionals here to help you, rather it be sizing you for a bra or helping you find the perfect piece for a weekend get away.  I think it is a good move on Victoria's Secret's part. If you go into Chico's undergarment store Soma the employees wear silk robs and to me it made me feel like they don't take there job as seriously.

The second you walk into VS you smell all there many different scents all ranging from "Sweet Pea to Berry Kiss" and everything is light pink to bright pink.  These smells and colors hit you with the feelings of softness and calmness and as gay as this may sound sexyness.  Think about when babies are born: its either baby pink or light blue and the girls get the pink stuff and the boys get the blue stuff.  So from the point we are born a female we had something that was pink.  Its the color pink that makes us feel like a female; it hits us very EMOTIONAL.

Victoria's Secret doesn't just want to promote sex obviously, it wants to pull in all different kinds of customers.  They aren't targeting the same customers as Fredrick's of Hollywood, they want everyone to feel comfortable stepping in there door which is why they LOGICALLY give you TWO doors to step into.  One door that goes straight to the bras and panties and one that goes to the products first.  

I'm excited to go more in depth with my observations coming up in our paper! Hope everyone else's places are going great!

In Class: Analyzing Visuals

My immediate attention is drawn to the little girl because she is looking straight at me. She is also a very pretty little girl with a very sad look on her face HOLDING A CIGARETTE. The little girl looks much older that she is mainly because her hair is down and around her face. Its also not worn in tight curls, its almost like they made it look like she had a rough night of partying last night. The main photo is in black and white and everything in the background is solid black, the little girl however is dressed in a solid white dress.

There is another little girl in the photo who is looking at her with her hands on her hips. She dressed in a darker dress probably to give her less attention. This little girl is standing with her back to us and we can see her face, but you can tell that she is a young girl because her hair is pulled back into a pony tail with little curls in it.

I think this photo is about children using cigarettes at a young age and how children now days see this all the time in movies or tv shows and are starting to think its normal. The title of the photo at the top says candy cigarettes and sadly these are sold around America.

I believe this photo is to raise awareness about what are children are seeing as normal now days. Instead of seeing movies that are projecting a reality of growing up and being a princess they are seeing more shows about children being grown ups. Perfect example is Family Guy, this show has a BABY that is more of a grown-up than his parents. He does everything from smoke to drink and become an alcoholic. WHAT ARE KIDS WATCHING NOW DAYS!

In Class: Logos

After reading Chapter 4 I found the Surveys and Polls section to be pretty interesting. I kept thinking about a persuasive speech I did my Freshman year against gay marriage. (I did not pick the topic my professor assigned it to me). Anyways when looking for way to persuade my audience I tried to find a percentage of how many people were actually homosexual in America. Well I don't know what I was thinking I would find because of course there is not a national census taken every 5 years of how many homosexuals there are, and even if there was how many would be willing to admit they are? Well of course I found some research with some numbers that were extremely low (proving my point that this is nowhere close to a majority of people that would benefit from getting married). This information can from fairly descent places with pretty good credentials but still I only used them because they showed number I could use to persuade my audience on to my side of the argument.

Proposal

As I said in class I am thinking about using Victoria's Secret as my public space and I actually went this weekend to check it out again.  I find this space appealing mainly because I find the store unlike any other store.  It promotes sexuality to all ages in many different ways.  I also find the Victoria's Secret Company as a whole a very interesting one.  Their magazine is seen by the majority of Americans, along with phenomenal runway shows which can now be seen 24/7 on VS TV.  I also choose it because if you have ever been in there and watch the people shop around in there it can be very interesting, especially when someone brings there husband/boyfriend in there.  Men's reactions to all the bras and panties everywhere is priceless!

I hope that I can find all sorts of people walking in, especially since Valentine's day is just around the corner.  I think it is so interesting that VS puts their P!NK line at the front of the store.  VS P!NK line is a line of lingerie directed towards teenage girls including things like sweatshirts and sweatpants to cute underwear and bras.  Another thing I find interesting is VS is a company that says they are looking for a "fuller" model but I don't know about you but I still think they are pretty little! VS carries a workout clothing line as well and I find it very interesting that it is placed next to the dressing room.  It's almost like its saying "Hey, didn't like what you saw in the mirror well here we carry everything you need to get in shape, including cute clothing."

I am part of the target audience, I'm a female that loves to have girly things and all that can be found in VS.  I think VS tries to get as many people in as possible as well.  When I went this past weekend I noticed that they are now promoting a Vintage Victoria targeted to the older women with more coverage and not as BRIGHT PINK anymore. 

I think I have just stated many of my pre-conceived ideas and hope that many of them will either stay or be changed just by spending time there.  I had an education class last year that I had to write observation papers for every week and I really learned to not pre-judge and to really write what I was seeing.  I look forward to working on this project...but if you feel other wise let me know!

In class: Ideas for 1st assignment

Have been thinking about this as I have been going around town. I first thought of the TCU rec mainly because I do spend a ton of time there (at different times everyday) but then I got to thinking that it might be pretty popular and I don't really want to do the same as half the class.
I starting thinking about places I shop and the first one that came to mind was Victoria Secert. They just released their annual swim catalog that I'm pretty sure is one of the most popular magazines because it gets sent to just about every home in America! The store is rather interesting to me mainly because the front of the store is laid out in all their Pink stuff which clearly attracts the younger girls and then the back (where you have to check out) is full of the more "sophisticated" wear. The store also cares all sorts of fragrances and lotions along with work-out wear, which is oddly placed closer to the dressing room, almost saying if you don't like how you looked in the mirror here's some work-out gear that might just help you get that look you want aka the huge poster girl we have hanging behind our check out counter.

In Class: Morning Parking Mess

So this year is my last year and for the first time I have given up on the parking situation! I have been parking in the sandage lot (which I think is a pretty weird name) and then a little bus takes you over here the only thing is if you ( like I did today) get there right when a bus is just leaving you are going to have to wait close to 10 mins and most likely be a little late. Meaning I got to school today at 9:15 parked and ready for class and since I just missed the bus, like it was leaving when I was getting out of my car, I was a few mins late to class! I hate being late to class, it gets me rushed, it makes me feel like the rest of the class I will be a little behind. I like getting to class getting my thing situated and then doing, check my e-mail, whatever I need to be ready! Sorry I'm a OCD.
Well the parking at TCU I don't think will ever get any better because the city of Fort Worth doesn't not want huge parking buildings because they think it will make their city look worse? Have they ever been to Baylor or SMU their parking garages look better than some of their buildings! Its just so fustrating that if you want a parking spot you have to be here on campus at least 30-40 mins before your class starts, and I don't know about you but that means I would have to wake up a ton earlier and that's just not going to happen. This is college and my last year to get to sleep till 9:00 because here soon I will have to be at work at 8!!! Hope all is well!!

THE Inauguration Under the Argument Microscope

The Inauguration of Barak Obama was eye opening to the world of argument.  It was also a historical event that will never be forgotten, and one that was seen by more than 1.4 million people live at National Mall in D.C. 

Let's start with the simple visuals at the inauguration. Something I noticed right off the bat was Michelle Obama's lime green outfit, along with the two daughters, one in a purple/blue outfit and the other in orange. What you choose to wear, as we have said, is very argumentative.  As they have said First Lady Michelle choose an American designer to design her outfit for the formal inauguration and the ball gown in order to promote American fashion.  The two girls outfits came from J.Crew, another American line.  I just wonder if that was the only thing she was promoting...couldn't you also say those colors were ones not usually seen on the first lady at past inaugurations, implementing the notion of CHANGE? I loved it!

Barak Obama's speech was exactly what America needed to hear and with saying that involved heaps of past, present, and future argument.  To start with the past, Obama says, "Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath.  The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace.  Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms."  He bluntly stating an argument of past.  Many people very involved in the economic downfall right now probably feel that no president has said those words and the economy be as atrocious as it is now (especially since you would almost be 80 if you were born on Black Tuesday).  

One present argument he makes is, "Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."  Not all would agree that this is a consequence of greed, in fact many don't.  

He states an argument of future as well, "They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America-they will be met."  We all hope they will be met, but there is no way to say 100% that they will.  I would say the speech Barak Obama was not sugarcoated and something I feel our country needed to hear.  One that informed us all of how he wants to see things ran.

In Class:Reading

After reading the first chapter Everything's an Argument, I really got a little more excited about taking this class. To me everything is an argument and I really saw that before I read the chapter. If we all agreed on everything wouldn't we all be settling on life. For example: I had a professor last semester that gave me a 75 on my first speech, her commits were great job, great information, nicely out-lined and then at the very top I had gone over the time by a min. So when I got my grade back I was shocked to see a 75, this was not my first speech class and in my major (which is mainly speeches-communication) I have a 3.78 gpa so I think I'm pretty good at it. If I would have just settled with the grade and not gone and talked to her about it I probably would have never recovered from the grade could have maybe got a B in the class. But if you know me, you know I went and talked to her about it.

The book gives some great examples as to how everything is an argument from the way something is laid out on a web site to simple street signs. I completely agree with Andrea Lunsford. I'm not a rebel per-say but I do enjoy controversy.

Hi! My name is Ashley Thomas and I'm a senior here at TCU and will graduate this May! (I'm not that excited about it though) I'm a communications major and RTVF minor. I'm from Kerrville, TX which is about 45 mins. outside of San Antonio. I'm very close to my family even though they are 4 hours away.

As far as writing goes, formal writing usually stresses me out, but I love communicating through technology like texting, facebook chat, IM. I feel like now days you have to be able to write because some people forget that you can actually use your cell phone to TALK on the phone. When I was younger I always tried to keep a diary but it never worked so now I use my agenda planner to keep up with what I do (sounds stupid I know) but literally I put everything in it (even if its already happened).

I do believe everything is an argument and I really took this class not just because its required but because I enjoy arguments sometimes, especially if I win. Without an argument we are all just settling on what we think. There is no way we all thing the same about everything. I'm really looking forward to the discussions we will have in this class!

And just a warning this is my first time ever to do a blog of any sort but I'm looking forward to the experience especially since I'm going to London in June and I think this will be a good way to keep all my friends and family up to date with what's going on! I agree to the terms of the course syllabus.