My e-Portfolio

   Before coming to the Pennsylvania State University, I was an international student and have never received education in America. Although my teachers were instructed to teach the courses strictly in English as it was the unifying language between diverse cultural groups of students, I found many obstacles in concisely and effectively arguing my stances in essays and speeches. But I came to confront my weaknesses and improve them through the Rhetoric and Civil Life Honors course, which my portfolio is mainly dedicated to.

      I've learned in this course that I need to look beyond the grammatical errors, but instead how I argue as a whole. Discussing Aristotle's three modes of persuasion, ethos, pathos and logos, I realized what was required to become a persuasive rhetor. I first needed to build ethos, to appeal myself as a honest speaker either by maintaining professional organization of the essay or attire during speeches. Then, pathos would be added as a response to the audience's emotions in the form of a passionate delivery or visualizing my arguments clearly through use of metaphors and/or similes. Finally, I would have to apply logos, where I explain the logic behind my stance by supporting it with facts and figures.

      As I acquired the steps of becoming a persuasive rhetor does not conclude that I would take advantage of this knowledge to become an abuser of rhetoric. One crucial lesson that I have learned through analyzing rhetorical situations, such as the controversial Dove's evolution campaign, was how powerful yet deceiving a rhetor could be. As a consumer of rhetoric and a proud student from Pennsylvania State University, I promise to be a rhetor with high integrity.

      The trait of being an ethical and sincere rhetor would guide me to be a virtuous lawyer that I wish to become one day. Under law, I wish to assist those in the right direction when dealing with family issues. By continuously implementing the lessons that I have obtained from this course, I not only want to grow as a respectable creator and consumer of rhetoric but also to be an engaged citizen who is capable of being a fair judge of good and bad rhetoric.

Sally Lee's e-Portfolio 

Essay Writing's Number 1 Rule

We discussed in class today how even the introduction of your paper can help you develop ethos of yourself, as the writer. Whether or not you decide to write the font size too big or print in cursive typed letters, it is entirely up to how you wish to present yourself. I thought it would be helpful for me to point out some of the mistakes that many can make while writing a paper, especially in college.

Firstly, the awkward font sizes:

It could be 36 or 8 but the best will always be either 11 or 12. Another trick that many of my friends use is to make the periods into a bigger font. For example, your actual essay will be font 12 for the most part except the periods would be 16 or 18. It lengthens the essay and most importantly, does not show! But...when you have to hand in an electronic copy, many of the professors and TAs notice. My friend's essay went from A to a B- for that. So, watch out.

Secondly, the childish and difficult fonts:

When I was young, I never wanted to write...so I chose verdana. Everything just seemed faster that way. But now that I'm in college and writing serious papers, I can't choose that. I need to choose the good ol' Times New Roman. I have a young cousin who just turned 12 years old but whenever she types something up in word document (which is very rare), she never goes for this type of font but cursive ones or ones that look like 'natural handwriting.' Then...why type?

Lastly, lack of structure:

We were told, ever since 4^th grade that an essay should have an introduction, multiple body paragraphs and a conclusion, no matter what. But I see from time to time in my InArt class that most of the people handle 500 word essays in just ONE paragraph. No....no...It's an essay, remember?

I know I'm not perfect in writing. I have issues with grammar and sometimes my sentences are too awkward. So, I proof-read. I edit and proof-read again to make sure that my essay represents my arguments in the best light possible. In terms of its external looks, I make my font size 12 in Times New Roman and structure them for the readers to easily follow. That's one rule I never break regardless of how much tedious essay writing may be.

Your Song

      Elton John is sixty-four years old. As a talented English singer-song writer, composer and pianist, he had sold more than 250 million records during his four decade long career, which makes him one of the most successful artists of all time. I've had the fortunate opportunity to attend his concert at the Bryce Jordan Center with my parents.

      I'm not going to lie—I don't know most of his songs and plus, he is not one of those artists that I tune into when I hit the gym or listen to for leisure. Although I was hesitant at first, I decided to join my parents to his concert because I knew that they would enjoy my company and spend quality time as family together.

      The concert soon started as we arrived to our seats and I could easily notice that the majority of the audience were between the age group of thirty to fifty. Nevertheless, I quickly became engrossed to Elton John's entrance and his opening act. Two hours quickly flew by and I noticed that it was going to end. It was way too soon. I felt like there was something missing...

       And...I was right! He came back and after signing hundreds of signatures, he sat down on his piano and announced, “Thank you for being my fan all these years and I love you all. I wish you all happiness and prosperity and this song is for you.”

Your Song-

It's a little bit funny this feeling inside
I'm not one of those who can easily hide
I don't have much money but boy if I did
I'd buy a big house where we both could live

If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show
I know it's not much but it's the best I can do
My gift is my song and this one's for you

And you can tell everybody this is your song
It may be quite simple but now that it's done
I hope you don't mind
I hope you don't mind that I put down in words
How wonderful life is while you're in the world

I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss
Well a few of the verses well they've got me quite cross
But the sun's been quite kind while I wrote this song
It's for people like you that keep it turned on

So excuse me forgetting but these things I do
You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue
Anyway the thing is what I really mean
Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen

       In reality, I know that this is not true, despite how ideal it would be for it to apply to everyone. Elton John certainly cannot love everyone, let alone know all his fans' names. But in the context of a concert, everyone becomes one—whether they are good or bad, diligent or lazy, kind or mean, it doesn't matter. He refers to one person, not just a diverse group of his fans. Through this song, both its tunes and lyrics are words of wisdom from Elton John. Although they may not be applicable for everyone, he conveys that everyone is special in their own way...because life is wonderful when we're all in the world!

Pros and Cons of Video Projects

     As the newest assignment for my LA101H class, we were presented with the challenge to make five to seven minute long video that would deal with a particular theme. My group has chosen to work on the topic of music sharing and to what extent getting music online or sharing them is considered illegal.

      We have a lot to discuss-- from catchy introduction to the history of how music industry has changed, the regulations of RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the consequences it brings to the music corporations and artists, we're not totally sure how to go about this video project.

     This is challenging because video projects are not the type of assignments that we usually receive in classes. Not only is this new for me but the fact that we have to utilize computer programs like iMovie sounds completely foreign to me. It's not an exaggeration to say that I'm technologically challenged.

      As of now, before we develop our video project, I feel like it would be a lot easier if we were to do speeches rather than video projects. This is because we don't have to spend extra time on images and put them together to create flow with what we are arguing and presenting to the audience.

      However, this project will be a huge opportunity for developing my public speaking skills through another medium and improve my versatility in delivering a stance. Although we will not only be technologically challenged, as we will also encounter numerous clashes of meeting and getting things done, I'm excited to work with my team and create something that will get our audience to think about their actions when they just easily click and download music for free. It requires a lot of work and commitment but I'm positive that the experience will be worth it in the end.

Punishment or just a plain disaster?

               On Sunday morning approximately at 5AM when I was fast asleep, I woke up from my obnoxiously loud hip hop ringtone. First glancing at the clock, I thought to myself, “Who would call at this deadly hour?” Then I couldn’t complain as soon as my sophomore friend who had been enjoying herself at Punta Cana with her sorority told me in her shaky voice—“Have you talked to Julie? Japan suffered from a massive earthquake.”

                Julie is my best friend. I know that most of us have our best friends from childhood but I’ve only known her for only four years. But during those four years, which may be short to some, she was my buddy—a friend that I could pour my heart to and really be myself during my young adolescent years, despite our differences.  She pushed me to do better in school and as friendly rivals, we would study everything together and spend every moment of high school, to the point where teachers would ask me where she was if they couldn’t find her.

                Now that we’re in college and have separate lives, it’s hard to communicate. We’re limited to BlackBerry messengers and Facebook chats. But like a young child, she would always be my best friend and I would entrust with my whole life. So when something as devastating as the earthquake occurred, I didn’t know what to do.  My first instinct was to call her but I forgot her number. Then I attempted to text her…but there was no reply.

                For a split second, I thought of the worst. No, that can’t be. I shouldn’t even be thinking about it. This is the same time where I came across diverse pool of Facebook status updates and one status stuck out to me the most, “Remember Pearl Harbor.”

                What is that supposed to mean anyway? This is the matter of life and death but to a particular person, whoever they may be, views this catastrophe as a punishment. This linked me to what we learned in class—people realize a lot through events, where you might never become aware unless something happened.

                I learned that this awareness is inconsistent between people as they vary, a lot. While a person sought this despairing moment as a lesson to be learned, I came to appreciate more for my friends and their families and the support I received from numerous friends in college.

What Dove controversy taught me...

      For class, we had to pick an ad and analyze it textually and contextually through speech and an essay respectively. I chose Dove's evolution commercial as it had enough depth for me to dig through...maybe a little too much.

      I love Dove. I love the scent of their shampoos and they always make my hair perfect the way I want it--not too dry or oily. When I evaluated the ad in textual terms, the one minute 'short film' successfully developed ethos of the company as reliable and trustworthy. It led me to appreciate Dove even more than I already did.

      However, after researching the commercial in contextual grounds, I came across the controversy of Dove and its affiliation with Axe. Dove established positive ethos through the use of kairos, setting Internet as the mainstream commercial pool, it attracted many female audience. Moreover, the response of exigence towards artificiality of beauty promoted by media manifested Dove as a compassionate and genuine company.

      Despite these achievements, the controversy is that Dove and Axe are under the same corporation, Unilever. Although Axe is similarly a line of teenage boy's toiletries such as shampoo, body wash, and deodorants, they differ from Dove in that since their target market is young men, they positioned their products that will attract women to men using Axe. Through the release of “Bom Chicka Wah Wah,” Unilever conveys that more Axe a man uses, the more gorgeous and thin supermodels will want them. This puts women as sexual objects, much different from what Dove is trying to communicate.

      If I have not researched about this and dug deep about Dove and its credibility, I would have just loved Dove and how they are different, better from other beauty product companies. It's something I should consider the next time I need my shampoo.

THON and its perfect context

     The IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, commonly known as THON, took place last weekend at the Bryce Jordan Center. This largest student-run philanthropy has the meaningful purpose of raising money to combat pediatric cancer. 

      For forty six hours, dancers cannot sit and sleep- they need to be constantly active for almost two days. To encourage and reassure the dancers, more than 3,000 organizations stand with them and cheer until they almost lose their voices. There are so much at this center-- not just the people, but action and emotion.

      Although its long, tiring and definitely puts much pressure on our legs and our muscles begin to weaken as minutes go by, we stand. We cheer, scream and clap for those dancers who have sacrificed the most essential thing, rest, for children and their families who suffer from cancer.

      As I enjoyed the music and magnitude to be a Penn State student working with others towards a common cause, one event that caught my attention and impressed me the most was the family hour. During this time, families whom have either gained hope from THON or lost their child and wants to spread awareness are free to talk to the students as we cheer and support each other until the last forty sixth hour.

      In school, we are taught to be objective. We are guided by our English teachers to argue from a third person narrative as it is a taboo to put “I” in your sentences. But at THON, the emotions and revelations that were aroused from speakers such as the father of Felicia Rupp didn't need objectivity-- his real life experience and motivation to spread awareness of pediatric cancer couldn't make his argument more valid and reliable.

      Approximately 30,000 Penn State students as the audience, Bryce Jordan Center suddenly turned silent as the father of Felicia Rupp spoke. “I want you [Penn State students] to dance-- I want you to THON. I want you to do this because I don't want you to ever have your child die in your arms.”

With sniffs and quiet sobs around me, I couldn't help myself to cover the streaming tears down my face.

      We walk through life everyday not hearing these heartrending stories. This is why most people are unaware of the extent to how much pediatric cancer changes lives of the victims and their family and friends. THON couldn't have possibly been a better context for these stories to be told—it is the greatest kairotic moment to appreciate those who have survived and recognize those who have not.

Aristotle's Wisdom

      As one of the most influential Greek philosopher, Aristotle's teachings are prevalent when discussing rhetoric. Out of many of his diverse and intriguing teachings, one ideology that stuck out to me the most is that emotional intensity alters in accordance with the spatial and temporal proximity of the people or situations that arouse them.

      The textbook gave an interesting example of how, if the person who dented the car is still in the lot when its owner arrives there, the owner would focus his/her anger more intensely on the person than if he can be only diffusely angry in general with people who dent cars. Aristotle argues than if the person who dented the car happens to be someone known to the owner of the dented car, the owner's emotional response will be intensified. In other words, when the person with whom someone becomes angry is close, either physically or relationally, anger will be felt more intensely.

      According to the textbook's explanation, I can understand why having to personally know the person who deliberately harmed the owner's car will arouse more anger. This is because usually the people that we have personal relations with gains our trust and respect. However, when that person loses their reliance and deference as a friend or even an acquaintance, our faith in that person diminishes almost instantly and ultimately arouses anger in us.

      In a situation where the person intentionally sought out to hurt the other person, I comprehend their angry and upset emotional response. However, I believe that this is not the case for all situations where knowing the person will only arouse more anger.

      My family and friends are all well aware of how clumsy I am. I drop my phone roughly about five times a day and slip on the snow more than I really should. Thus, it's normal for me to knock over things- unfortunately, not all of what gets crashed doesn't belong to me. I would casually walk in and my bag would knock over one of my roommate's vases. With a sudden crash, I would stall and my roommate would assure me that all is fine and that it's just a vase. She knows me and she trusts me that I didn't do it on purpose.

      However, it's a totally different situation if a stranger who is looking for someone on the hallway crashes into our door and knocks down her mirror. The stranger would immediately apologize and even if she verbalizes that the person is forgiven, her facial expression would convey her annoyance. After the stranger's leave, she would rant about how careless some people are and of course, I couldn't say anything because...I'm that person.

      Therefore, I agree to Aristotle's argument to only a certain extent. Just because you know a person physically or relationally doesn't mean that their wrongs will arouse more anger than someone who is not known or never there. It might actually save you from situations if you do know that person as you earned their trust and respect.

Invented Ethos & cyber communication

     Cyber instruments such as email and texting are mainstream method of communication in our lives today. More often, people are prone to use email or text to communicate as they are more convenient and provides constant contact with everyone.

    As emailing and texting becomes more prevalent, the way we talk in person or on phones are perfectly emulated in cyber communication. In other words, we write as if we are talking in real life. However, the only difference is, we don't need to interfere completely with the recipient's activities. We have the favor of multi-tasking when we cyber communicate.

   Although cyber communication is expedient and requires no sweat, message senders must taken into consideration who they are talking to. If we email or text our friends and family members, we can write as if we are casually talking but that shouldn't be the case for writing to those who we do not know us or stands as a higher authority.

   Today in class we learned that the email etiquette should always include subject, greeting and correct grammar, punctuation and spelling. Our instructor also recommended that we respond back even if it's just a “thank you- I got it successfully.”

   I totally agree- sometimes we get too caught up in conveniently and rapidly emailing and texting that we forget to capitalize certain words or make spelling mistakes that convey informality and clumsiness. Those small yet apparent mistakes invent our ethos as a writer, and ultimately as a person.

   This tip of writing emails that invents positive ethos comes in handy especially when contacting professors in college who does not know you personally due to large class size.

   For next time...I will proof read once more before I hit that “send” button as I surely want my invented ethos to position me in a positive light.

Kairos and Public's Attention

After discussing in class the captivating notion of Kairos that refers to the right rhetorical moment or an advantageous time, it got me to really think of kairotic moments.

As noted in the textbook, “considering the interests at stake in an issue can help a rhetor decide the most advantageous way to frame an argument for a particular audience at a particular time.” This means that certain events or circumstances that relate to the argument may be beneficial in arousing interest from the public. Thus, consideration of the values and interests in circulation around an issue can help rhetors to generate arguments.

A frightening event such as the shooting at Virginia Tech University offered a kairotic moment. As nearly thirty people were murdered by Cho Seung-Hui before he ended his own life, people who heard and witnessed the heartrending experience of calling and receiving eccentric ring tones from phones attached to dead and wounded bodies. The grief must have been unbearable. However, ironically, the parents were told that it was not the right moment to question how the shooting had occurred.

It's engrossing and unfortunate that the aftermath of something horrendous as the shooting at Virginia Tech University is the “wrong” time to talk about security and ultimately, gun control. Although people talked about the shooting, conversations were more focused on the treatment of mental illness in universities, violence in the media and in popular culture, copy cat killings, alienation of immigration students and simply the question of evil.

It could be that gun control and changes in security policies do not draw immediate attention from the public as not enough events occurred between massacres to make weapons of mass killing harder to obtain. This may convey that reducing the number of guns will neither relieve mentally sick people to stop themselves from killing.

However, it certainly aroused attention from the public on how to act as comprehensively and cautiously as possible in order to prevent the next massacre instead of punishing the latest crime. Although a large part of me feel as though the families who have suffered the loss of loved ones were receiving unfair treatment as question on how a student with history of mental illness could obtain a gun lacked public attention, I understand why conversations devoted to the future of safety in America became the dominant kairotic issue as it concerned everyone and held the possibility of preventing the next crime and eventually save sacred lives.

Thus, kairotic moments, as heartwarming or heartrending it may be, will either receive much or minimal attention from the public depending on the audiences' values and interests.

This I Believe: I believe in going on Facebook everyday

Problems with texting...and writing

In speaking, there's the option of using variation of tones and gestures so that you can emphasize and stress what is important. You can also use punctuation to convey your emotions. You can convey if you're excited or upset regarding the topic.

However, writing is ambiguous. There are only twenty six letters in the alphabet and the variety of punctuation is very limited. This is the reason why some writings are misunderstood and the message is not always clearly delivered.

This frequently happens to me with text messages. Texts remind me of small, quick and informal e-mails through mobile phones. You basically write as if you're talking. This is where the problem occurs.

Yesterday, my friend had misunderstood my texts and the situation became unnecessarily serious and filled with tension. This was our conversation that took place at 2:00PM.

Me: Hey, can you please take me to Target sometime this week? Pretty pleaseee.

Friend: Sure! I'm going with my friends tonight. Wanna come along?

Me: Oh my gosh, awesome. Thank you so much!

Friend: K, I'll let you know when I'm leaving.

This was our second conversation that took place at 10:00PM. I did not get a text or a call that my friend left for Target and I was wondering why there was no contact.

Me: Are we still going?

Friend: I already went.

(Before sending the text, I felt as though something was a little...fishy. The text was too short and the period added to the coldness of the tone.)

Me: Ahh, are you serious? Why do you do this to me dude??

(I tried to be sarcastically funny instead of asking why my friend left without letting me know because I was afraid a petty fight might occur.)

Friend: What? Why are you mad?

Mad? Why am I mad? I was far from mad. I was trying to throw in a sarcastic joke to break the tension and awkwardness I felt for him not asking me to go. Was I just not getting it? Is it my friend who is misunderstanding the situation?

This is the problem with text messaging and overall, writing at times. There are so many obstacles to being coherent, especially if you're not speaking but writing it. It's hard to tell what the other person feels or is trying to emotionally convey.

I guess for next time, I need to be more cautious in what and how I communicate my texts. Maybe I should avoid sarcasm because it's hard to catch on- I wouldn't want an incident like this to reoccur.

That's Just Your Opinion

     I came across something interesting and thought provoking while I was reading the textbook, Rhetoric and Civic Life. I realized that whenever I was in a debate or in a heated conversation where I had to prove my point, my opponents would always cut me off with a “that's just your opinion.”

     For some odd reason I would not know what to say back to that. The opponents would continuously argue that since it is my opinion, there's a lack of credibility and nothing can change my belief. Why is there this certain notion that opinions belong to individuals and to challenge a person's opinion is to denigrate a person's character? After reading this and wondering why I even hesitated to argue back, I finally got the courage to fight back a “that's just your opinion.”

     Today, my friend who constantly contemplated whether or not she was going to stay this semester at Penn State due to the fact that she misses home too much told me and my friends that there is a high probability that she would be leaving us this coming weekend. Not only did I want her to stay because she is such a good friend of mine but I told her that she has so much going on for her and the education that Penn State offers was phenomenal. Once again, she reasoned that it was only just my opinion.

     However, this time around, I calmly responded, “Listen- it may just be my opinion but you believing that home is better for your future is also just your opinion and an assumption. You can't have a conversation without having an opinion.” My argument derives from the reasoning provided by the ancient teachers of Rhetoric where they asserted that opinions are important and there's no such thing as “just your opinion.” Moreover, opinions are malleable because the point of rhetoric, after all, is to change opinions.

     This is what I truly believe and live by- disagreeing with a person's opinion is inevitable in life but it does not mean that you're disagreeing with the person for who they are because opinions can always change.

     My friend did end up leaving Penn State, not because I lost the battle of our debate but because at the end of the day, it was her choice. She appreciated that I had her best interest in mind though, which was something that I really wanted her to be aware of.