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.