One more Good Bye...

Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain  -- unknown


This quote compelled me because in class we talked so much about language and it being a mediator, so this quote made me think of those conversations and just one more way in which language operates. It's funny as well, and that caught my attention. Plus, it's very true. I know too many people who use language a means to bitch more than they do to communicate praise or anything else. 


Like all of human kind's inventions, language is used and abused.


In my imitation I changed the pronoun "man" to include women. And, I feel that everything good is abused terribly by someone somewhere, and language is one of things. So much so, that people are starting to complain about language itself :-)

Last Week: Good Bye Post

It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right, I hope you had the time of your life--green day

I liked this line from Green Day's because I don't think anyone predicted how well this class would actually end up going. It seems we all learned so much and walked away feeling as though we had a little something extra in our writing toolbox now--by analyzing so many style manuals and creating our own in the end, we learned how to gauge the styles around us and even find our own. Plus we were the first participants of this course :-)

I really hope everyone had the time of their academic lives at least. I sure did :-)

Imitation: It's something predictable (class ending), but in the end it's not (can never know how well a class will go, how much  you'll actually learn), I hope you have the time of your academic life.

My imitation turned the original into a line that would apply directly to us. I butchered the original, but hey, what can ya do?

Khaled Housseini, A Thousand Splendid Suns

A society has no chance of success if its women are uneducated.

This compelled me because a man wrote it for starters, and because I feel it's a very wise thing to say. It's one of those lines that really gets a person thinking. And with this one, I started to think of female history. I went as far back as I had knowledge about, and thought about how--for the most part--women have been chained down in societies. I find it particularly interesting how our world has evolved into this technological power house; how medical science has saved humans from conditions that no one would have survived even 50 years ago; how education has become available to anyone; how charity organizations have become common place; how class distinction no longer--for the  most part--determines the kind of life a person can lead; etc. And all of this has happened in the last hundred years; I don't think it's a coincidence that this new evolution started to pick up speed around the time women began fighting for their rights--when women won their rights. So, I believe the quote is truer than we might think at first. 

Imitation: Women make everything better, period. 

In my imitation I got more to the point and was bolder in the point I made. It was also just a more comical play off the original. 

"No matter if you’ve burned it in protest, used it to brandish your bosoms with pride, bemoaned its biting brace, benefited from its enhancing boost, or bought one for a boo, the bra has an interesting biography." - As found on plannedparenthood.tumblr.com
I thought this sentence was interesting due to the author's usage of consonance in order to highlight the benefits of wearing bras. This stylistic choice was an interesting way to highlight a woman's issue, in my opinion.
My imitation would be:
"Regardless of the roughness of what the average person thinks of as rhetoric, (which is related to the right or wrong applications in everyday life), if we understand the richness of rhetorical analysis and the rhetorical situation, real change is within the realm of possibility."
For my imitation, I chose to focus on rhetoric and the rhetorical situation (which is what this class is about, of course). I chose to use that same alliteration and positivity of message of the original.

Meta-Authorial-Analysis-Meta-Meta

Some writer recently said: "The story[titled "The Man Who Lived Underground", by Richard Wright] ending with the death of [Fred] Daniels shows this purposefulness in society’s refusal to accept the truth. Just as his killer, Lawson - who might be closer to the truth than anyone but Daniels - says, “You’ve got to shoot his kind. They’d wreck things” (Gates Jr 1470). They would “wreck things” by finding a way to share the truth: that all of American society is equally guilty for racism against African Americans in this country and the way to the truth is through accepting responsibility, just as Fred Daniels had." Is this author in tune with a certain style here? Is it good? Is it effective? Is there a voice, tone, or stylistic emphasis that would make it better? Does this writer owe it to his reader to be his best, or is it the readers duty to be HIS best - as one of us might suggest - ? What if he said "I", or "motherfucker"? Who is the audience? I say there is certainly a style, based on what is here. It seems efficient, but "good" - I do not do. Effective? - it seems, because I get the idea even with the short excerpt. The voice seems academic but interpretive. The final couple of questions are not for me - well who read this anyway naw? THE END IS NIGH! ?

Macrorie

"A great judge remembers how hard it is to be good." Ken Macrorie from "Circle of Implication" in College English 1967, page 459.

The context for this quote was Macrorie talking about how we are automatically judging when we decide to write. Just choosing to write about something is applying some judgement on the topic: "This is important", "this is beautiful", "this is wrong", etc.

I think this is good advice for anyone approaching a paper that is evaluative or argumentative in nature. It helps a person to remember empathy, and taking an empathetic position will only make a person more credible, more believable. As we all have experienced in life, taking a position of extreme judgement or anger only hurts our arguments in the end, squashing the logos aspect of any argument. It just sends the wrong vibe and makes ap person seem too heated or emotional about the topic to analyze it logically. That's why this quote appealed to me. It's a great view to adopt when writing, and it encourages empathy; which in the end can help me to understand the subjects of my topic even better.

"The best judge is an empathetic one."

In my imitation, I used a word choice that would sum up the last bit of Macrorie's quote: empathetic. I went with imitating the structure of those Chinese proverbs, trying to put judge and empathy in the same context in order to say they are one in the same--or should be.

Cracked.com cares about grammar

This article was on Cracked.com a couple of days ago, and I thought everyone might get a kick out of it (because it's Cracked, borderline-offensive material does appear, and it's probably NSFW, just FYI):

7 Commonly Corrected Grammar Errors (That Aren't Mistakes)

The author includes a nod to the long battle between the prescriptivists and the descriptivists, which the descripitivists keep winning, as well as picking up the performative technique of including grammar mistakes throughout the article like we saw Joseph Williams use in The Phenomenology of Error at the beginning of the semester.

The article takes an approach Crystal would approve of, for the most part, as it's examining how many of these so-called "grammar mistakes" that part of the population gets up in arms about have been used in common language for centuries.

But he does throw in a rather Trussian barb to apostrophe abusers at the end.

To Classmates - err Tiffany but not

I have placed the quote at the bottom rather than at the top this time, so that I can say fuck it why not, an then just to do it. I also was hearing classmates saying that they didn't blog, for whatever reason, so I assume you all don't read this anyway, and if you do, then this is actually geared toward an Ex... yes indeed. "This is an old well-known phrase that I have always loved and have made a part of my life. Although this phrase speaks for itself I love the meaning it has and the encouragement it gives when life gets rough and I find myself having a hard time with things I cannot change" Guess reason DOS for this dusey. Times up. I can't spell "dusey" - dewsy? doosee? Have we read each others' posts since Janruuarryeey? I just wanted to type "fuck", SLUT should be good too... Notice Tiffany's "dash-skewer" at "well-known" (didn't HAVE to skewer)... ya know, I just realized I have a hard time caring about writing this type of thing if no one will read it and if I am not being challenged more. I could challenge myself but time is an issue and who does that? I could just type words like tacit piss tacit words what is the difference the piss I guess the difference thank goodness and there you have it: STYLE.

Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem- Means to cease the day.

This is an old well-known phrase that I have always loved and have made a part of my life. Although this phrase speaks for itself I love the meaning it has and the encouragement it gives when life gets rough and I find myself having a hard time with things I cannot change. In the last few weeks of school, I have a lot of projects on my plate and with everything I am trying to complete, so that I can graduate, I am finding myself often stressed out and unmotivated, like many of my collegues. However, when I think about these two words it reminds me that anything is possible I just have to hang in there and keep working. I know my hard work will pay off soon, but with everything I am juggling it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Therefore, I often have to remind myself to cease the day and make each moment of my time, work, and efforts to count. If I want to graduate I cannot give up now.

Immitaion: Conquer today and tomorrow will be your victory.

To all my fellow classmates who feel the same as I do, don't give up. We are almost done!!

4/21 Blog Post

Things to do in Old New Mexico: Die, watch other people die, make pottery.

Evan V. Symon, Cracked.com

This simple caught my eye because it does seem to have an element of truth. Have you ever been to New Mexico? There doesn't seem to be much of anything there, except for dirt and brush. Of course, there's Albuquerque and the other Las Vegas...but that seems to be it.
I thought the author did something interesting when he says all there is to do is to "die, watch other people die...". But then he switches it up a bit at the end and adds "make pottery".  He seems to break a pattern, which gives the sentence a tone of humor. The description of "Old New Mexico" is also interesting.
My imitation would be something like:
Things to do in Lowdown Mile High Denver: Get high, get higher, try not to run over any of the obnoxious bicyclers as they dart in to traffic.

Oldie Goodie Quickie

"Don't quote me boy, I ain't said shit" - Eric "Eazy E" Wright I like this line because it is so often quoted, and it implies a sort of self-important sense that Eazy thinks he is quite quotable. It says, don't quote me because what I say is not important. And others have responded by quoting the very line, numerous times and in a variety of ways, for the last two decades. I always wonder how prescient Eazy E may have been, toying with people by saying something he knew would reverse psychologize everyone and cause the opposite of the request, "don't quote me". Then I remember he was a rapper, that this is a rap song about chillin' in the 'hood, and that Eazy was into a lot of things, likely not including caring about any of this at all. The line might have just come to him as a clever way to complete the hook for the song. Don't quote me on it. I thought it would be interesting to revisit my first Parole post - RIGHT QUICK. It might not be interesting but here it is anyway. I still agree with myself that: "I like this line because it is so often quoted, and it implies a sort of self-important sense that Eazy thinks he is quite quotable. It says, don't quote me because what I say is not important. And others have responded by quoting the very line, numerous times and in a variety of ways, for the last two decades." I also agree with the rest, more or less, but I would certainly write the whole thing differently, if for no other reason than I am not who I was then. I also have more words to use to talk about it. Hey Liz, it worked! So this is definitely low-style. Also a verb-style for certain. It has a tacit persuasion, which is where I came up with the "don't quote me because what I say is not important" interpretation (although it doesn't seem all that tacit, but he never says what he means outright). The punctuation, a.k.a. hieroglyphics, are mine, it would be interesting to see if in the early 90s Eazy E used commas and apostrophes when writing his lyrics. I am sure there is a lot more to say, but I have had enough for now.

Mark the Perfect Man

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous man has his feet firmly planted on the Rock: the ungodly man builds everything on shifting sand." This is Psalm 37:37. It is interesting to me because of the style of the punctuation. Most of the quotes that I have looked at so far have been because of the words - their order, their meaning, the word choice, etc. I have never really looked deeply at punctuation. I am interested in these hieroglyphics because the use of so many subsequent colons seems like the Hoffmans would love it, Crystal would be interested in the first time so many colons were used one after the other, Truss would shoot the writer dead or beat him about the cranium with a bamboo shoot, Strunk and his protege would roll around in their graves - thinking that if they were alive they would have to break this glowning-miniature-color-typewriter, Trimble would encourage the author to avoid such a thing, and Lanham would say: "oh hey, that isn't hoitioteulocoptertelathon is it!". Grammar Moves guys, probably about where Trimble is..? I like that the colon after colon after colon visually and stylistically (and TACITLY) demonstrates that there is an order to these things; that one logically follows, or comes from, or is the antecedent. I also appreciate what it says to a point. It does also sound cool. Brilliant.

BLog post for week 4/10-4/12

"A small garden well tended is far more comely than a large garden that shows over ambition."

Writing With Style, John Trimble

I liked this metaphor for writing. I like the imagery of imagining writing as a garden. It works. I think it's a popular view among people that write because once when I was trying to explain the process of writing to my ex husband I used a gardening analogy. I just like the wisdom packed in this small sentence. And, that's one way it works. It goes along with what Liz was saying in class last week about our author analysis and how we sometimes try to do too much, focusing on too many things and, therefore, losing quality. It's better to focus on one thing and get the most out of it.

Sometimes it's best to give your full attention to a small issue rather than give little attention to many issues.

In my imitation I tried to say the same thing without using metaphor. Maybe by doing that I expanded the audience. SOme people may not care for gardens, and that would make them lose on what was being said. But I kept the wisdom of the words the original sentence carried.

Blog Post 4/14/12

“You know what that reminds me of? I used to practice law when I was a kid and it’s that old joke about the kid who kills both his parents and then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan. Who caused these jobs to be lost? Men and women? Before we came into office, the six months before, 3.5 million jobs lost. Before I lowered my right hand on that magnificent day, on January 20th with a million people watching, seven hundred and fifty some thousand jobs lost. Another four million before the first job bill we could get passed and begin to rectify this.”
—     Vice President Joe Biden in response to the Romney campaign’s claim that 92% of the jobs lost in the recession were women’s.
I noticed that Biden started this quote with an anecdote, which is a tactic detailed in Adios, Strunk and White by Gary & Glynis Hoffman. I don't think the usage of an anecdote works here, however. It's better for an anecdote to actually lead into whatever it is the speaker is trying to elaborate, but as I read, it seemed that his anecdote didn't have much to do with the rest of the statement. Perhaps that's because this may be part of a larger speech or something.

“O mio babbino caro” FREE!

“O mio babbino caro” My window to the world that didn’t seem to want me

Have you ever started a story, or a book or whatever, and wondered why the goofy ass author referred to that book or story specifically? And you thought, “why would I read this crap, why would I read a story if it didn’t make me pretend and take me away from the dumbass world around me..?" Freighting or Telescoping? Yes, Italian at first, but after? Low-style and not just due to attitude or "style" but the words - look at the words man! (Dash Skewer) - and the actual... you know, the silly-multi-syllabic-babble-none-sense (melted-together-word). And then the randomly joined-together-words that make no sense are..? Solve the puzzle andIi will give you half of a half of a late ticket FREE!

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan

This excerpt from Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan. I am reading this book for a reading project in my Teaching Reading K-6 course.
Her face crumbled. "Senor," she said, choking back tears. "Have you not heard? My...my papa is dead." Senore Rodgriguez stared blankly, then said, "Que pasa, nina?What happened?" She took a quivery breath. She told the story, she watched the grief twist Senor Rodriguez's face and overtake him as he sat down on the patio bench, shaking his head. She felt as if she were in someone else's body, watching a sadscene but unable to help. p.25.

This passage, along with the rest of the book, is very interesting to me because of the use of voice and the implementation of the spanish language. The story of Esperanza Rising takes place in Mexico and California where the spanish hertiage and culture is dominant. What I love about this passage, and the book, is that the author brings that spanish culture into her writing. As we can see in the above passage, there are several times where the author inserts spanish words or phrases into her writing. I think this is an interesting approach, considering how Esperanza's story is heavily influenced by her Mexican culture. I also think that because Esperanza and her family are spanish, having the author add spanish words and phrases into her text help contribute to the voice of Esperanza and her story and really bring her story to life. Also, as the author inserts the spanish words or phrases, she also writes them in English to help the reader understand what is being said. I think the use of spanish words helps the reader to understand Eperanza's cutlure, her struggles, and dramatic events that happen in her life. Lastly, the authors use of emotion and expression is fantastic in this book because she really draws the reader in and makes them feel as if they are living Esperanza's life. She creates a great sense of emotiona and really draws upon our human senses to bring Epernaza's tragic events to life. I love this book!

"“It is a word. Words are pale shadows of forgotten names. As names have power, words have power. Words can light fires in the minds of men. Words can wring tears from the hardest hearts. There are seven words that will make a person love you. There are ten words that will break a strong man’s will. But a word is nothing but a painting of a fire. A name is the fire itself.”", [Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind]

This has come up so often in class I could not pass up using this quote. This a very verb style way of writing and it humanizes words but shows you their infinite strength as well. Especially in places where words wring. Also a form of tacit persuasion as well as verb style with distinct and vivid action imagery. Even sentences have the power to evoke love or break a person. He also uses a periodic style which makes you pay attention to the words he is using and by making the whole paragraph periodic you pay attention and almost feel the strength of the words.

Patrick is using telescoping by zooming in on the topic of words within the field of names. He makes sure to spend an entire paragraph on the power of words in the course of an entire conversation about becoming a namer; knowing the secret name of objects like the secret name of fire or of stone, and once you know the name you can control it. This is very much like writing and style choices, once you know and understand the nature of a technique you can control it and use it effectively in your own writing.

Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3

"If you cannot protect yourself, then how can you ever hope to protect others? Strength Dante; everything depends on it." -Vergil (A Character from the video game series: "Devil May Cry"

The true epitome of verb-style rests in this as well as noun in my opinion also. The mere fact that he is directing such a passionately heated topic towards his blood brother in arms, Dante is truly a force to be debated with because, they both have outstanding fighting capabilities as well as vigor accompanied by a fascinatingly and nearly oxy-morotoic composition of their very beings/morals. They possess the powers of becoming super-strong "Devil Forms" (Devil Trigger Mechanism) although they defend humanity and other innocents from foreign higher-powers that seek total annihilation of humanity and all that is just. This quote remained with me well after seeing it in a fighting game that I personally own called Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. This quote is one of Vergil's win quotes after he defeats an opponent, winning the entire match-up for however many rounds set by the player. Hieroglyphics are used here with the abrupt and sweet pause that lasts even only a few seconds before he continues on with the rest of his dialogue. Isocolon rests within this rather faintly though, and the power of it seems to be deflected by the words of the passage alone. The humbling lens is by far the most powerful and "strong" of the techniques here that I see offhand. It in the most literal sense operates that way anyway in order to humble Dante and create a repoire between the two so that Dante can realize how much more he can still develope despite being as strong as he already is; even without the "Devil Trigger." (I've noticed many videogames borrow and use many mix-ups, martianing lenses and saturated verb-styles associated with "Devil.")

Alan Wake: "American Nightmare" For Xbox Live Arcade

"To change reality, you nudge it into the right direction. Your version of it is there, waiting; it wants to come true. All you need to do is to help it achieve its potential. The devil is in the details.

You change the details of the scene to match those on the page. If you get the details right, if you achieve that critical mass, the shift will come, and the rest of your new reality overrides the existing paradigm.

The lie -- no matter how outrageous -- is now the truth."





I recently decided to try and complete the second installation of the Alan Wake series for Xbox 360. I narrowly defeated the first game with a duty for finding the many scattered manuscripts through the game that actually foretell of events prior to them taking place. This stood out to me as a game series recommended for both those who crave non-stop action along with fairly quality storytelling in the midst of madness. Alan had to re-gather elements of a scene in which the "darkness" of his mind and what he has written seems to have birthed or re-manifests since the events of the initial game (literally called: Alan Wake). The protagonist (Alan Wake) in this game, must continue to battle the darkness spawned and woven out of the fabric of his very own creativity story-writing. This could also be symbolic of the daily struggles or pangs of writing in terms of the discovery process. Another verb-oriented style equipped with a riveting appeal towards the concept of "Devil's Advice" that we most recently learned about in and outside of class. Ironically, Mr. Wake even mentions "Devil" in the passage above. He further re-iterates this astounding idea with the notion of "re-writing history", thus, it can be assumed that he is inferring to us that one must view situations from all perspectives before re-writing them to fit the current needs of the individual or entities themselves. Slight telescoping here acts as a device for lensing/honing in on the target/premise of it all, and beginning steps towards enacting upon a solution for that. It seems also that a minute form/degree of time-warping is in effect here since the future and getting to that future is so imminent although I am still uncertain on this (I am not far enough in the game to know for certain as of yet, if the game even reveals this at all).

Soul Calibur 5

Transcendent history and the world.....a tale of souls and swords.-Soul Calibur Series (I personally resonate with the latest installment of this video-game titled myself, Soul Calibur 5).


This verb-style sentence stood out firmly for me in a number of ways. It captured a sense of urgency similar to a call to battle anthem or theme. This charged eagerness for it also being as though I am a fan of abstract as well as strength-building tasks (primarily of the physical sort). It also contains a heavy running style which causes the reader to flow with the fast pace of the sentence since a long pause here would ultimately kill or dampen the entire thrill of the occassion. Freighting is in place yet, in one of its earliest stages; greater emphasized by the pairings of two subjects and the details associated with them respectively: Transcending history in relation to the world as a whole and the tale that it tells which is exhibited through souls and the swords that they wield in order to tell their share part in the making of history.

Cliche Gumbo

I would rather burn out than fade away, I would rather be saved by criticism than ruined by praise, I would rather learn everything about something than something about everything.

I like all of these for various reasons but on a style level, they are also magnificent. The best way to cliche is in a low style. The use of oppositions and especially chisamus is also always effective when crafting a cliche (I did not make these but they are variations of things hve heard before). The persuasion isn't really tacit because the binaries literally state the hypotaxis, the fact that one is a better choise than the other. Trimble would want a stronger (clearer) thesis, multiple drafts, and some quality evidence to come next and say why the one is better than the other. Truss would shit herself because I feel she feels she is above cliches, and Crystal would engage me in a discusion of the etymology of these cliches and the words that make them. Adios has some odd name for using cliches but I don't know what. Sometimes a cliche is annoying only because it is so goddamn true (and obvious).

Week 11 Blog Post

nobody’s going to save you. no one’s going to cut you down, cut the thorns thick around you. no one’s going to storm the castle walls nor kiss awake your birth, climb down your hair, nor mount you onto the white steed. there is no one who will feed the yearning. face it. you will have to do, do it yourself. - Gloria Anzaldua

Anzaldua uses anaphora (nobody/no one's/no one's) in order to convey the message that one can only free themselves through whatever means (but probably spiritual and mental). It doesn't seem to be an exact usage, but the idea she conveys with the similar words have a profound effect. This usage also denotes a pattern. In this quote, Anzaldua uses the metaphor of an archetypical princess who waits for her prince charming in order to tell her audience that we ultimately have to save ourselves. The last sentence seems to be an instance of of an implied chiasmus. (it) you will have to do, do it yourself.

Forget it, Jake. It's Chiasmustown.

So, I thought I’d take a chiasmus poll, because I was having a rather chiasmus-inspired evening last night.

I am currently in production for Sweeney Todd (Opens April 12!Hi, my name’s S. Hamless Plug.Free for Metro Students!) and I had a profound moment of philosophical-theatre-tacit-persuasion (merged words!). But the eternal, burning question remains: chiasmus? or -shmiasmus?

Stage Managers:
Represent tech to the actors and the actors for tech.

And later, on Facebook, I posted a chiasmus-themed status update:

To chiasmus or not to chiasmus, that is the question. But that is not a chiasmus.

The majority of my friend-base is made up of non-English-majors, and therefore give me blank stares when I use terms even as common as "rhetoric" so I wasn't expecting much of a response to this one. But to my incredible delight, a friend of mine from my hometown posted almost immediately in response:

Nope, just antithetical parallelism.

... Oh, and if given the option to chiasmus, to chiasmus is always the option.

A Glimpse of American Indian Writing

I found the following sentences in an article I had to read for my Eng. 3510 class. The article is called, Rhetorical Sovereignty: What Do American Indians Want From Writing? by Scott Richard Lyons. Overall, this article discusses the discourse of writing from an American Indian point of view; what it was like to learn how to write for American Indians after "The White Men" came to America and took over the land. The following sentences consist of both a quote from Standing Bear, A Native American whoexplains what it was like for Native Americans to become "civilized" and educated, and an explanation from Lyons who puts the "new technology" of writing into perspective and how American Indians would have to change everything they knew about language and representation of symbols:

"'Although we were yet wearing our Indian clothes...we were marched into a school room, where we were each given a pencil and slate. We were seated at single desks. We soon discovered that the pencils made marks on the slate' (Sioux 136.) Pulling thier blankets over thier heads to conceal both slate and the marks they would make upon them, a child's act of modestly, the children's first impulse was to draw scenes from their recently departed home life- 'a man on a pony chasing a buffalo, or a boy shooting birds in a tree, or it might be one of our Indian games-' and when finished, 'we dropped our blankets down on the seat and marched up to the teacher with our slates to show what we had drawn' (Sioux 136). Picture these children withdrawing into their blankets with a curious new technology, concealing thier texts from each other and the teacher until just the right moment, then emerging fromt thier blankets proud and eager to share the fruits of thier labor. They were, at least until this point, the same children, and the marks they made were earnest representations of their lives. Shortly, thereafter, however, this same technology would be used to change them..." (Lyons, 1128).

I like this whole passage and the ones following it in the article, because Lyons does a great job in using his reasearch and information to help us understand how the Native Americans' world was completely turned upside down and uses Standing Bears voice to help convey how learning to become "civilized" and educated was more of a nightmare to him and his people than it was anything else. I also like Lyons use of quotes to really capture the point he is trying to make on how Rhetorical Sovereginty is one: interpreted completely different today than it was in the past, and two: was used as a way to force Indians to make treaties with the "White Men" yet, later found the "White Men" betrayed everything they had agreed to. Lyons also uses running style and hypotaxis to make his writing concise and vivid, as well as, helping readers to understand the children's understanding of writing before they were stripped of their identify and made "educated". It is interesting to see how the discourse of writing has been forced upon Native Americans and having an education was not something they could appreciate in thier situation. Therefore, this piece really made me think about how I view writing and how it affects people all over the world. It also makes me fell sorry for the American Indians to be seen as "animals" so to speak, and be forced to live, speak, and wright the "right" way according the "White Men", our ancestors. It's kind of emotional and hearbreaking.

Spring Break Post

"O'Reilly Producer Interviews Spring Break Students on Obama: Hilarity Ensues"

This is the title to a video from the BIll O'Reilly show where the producer went to Florida to interview college students on what grade they would give Obama in certain areas of his presidency. The title is what captivates me. It drew me in. It was the combination of students plus spring break plus politics equals hilarity that made this work. The title covers so much. And the elements that the author chose to include seem to confirm that it will be funny like the it promises after the colon. If the title had just been something like "O'Reilly Producer Interviews Students on Obama" then it wouldn't have been so tempting. The video could be funny or could not be funny. Audiences wouldn't even know if the subject matter was supposed to be funny or not. Just by adding Spring Break" into the title, audiences would get a feel that they will see some crazy stuff since we all know what college students do during spring break in florida: drink. And being intoxicated while trying to answer serious questions is always comical. The bit "Hilarity Ensues" I think evokes suspense as well. Saying "Hilarious" wouldn't have been as formal, nor as suspenseful. Saying hilarity ensued conjures a visual of all hell breaking loose, like saying "chaos ensued." So I thought the author of this title was on his or her rhetorical game that day.

O'Reilly Producer Asks Spring Break Students to Grade Obama: Hilarity Ensues

In my imitation I just followed the rhetorical structure the author used; however, I thought pointing out that they were asked to grade him was more accurate than what the original title states. Using 'interview' seems too formal for this situation where he goes on the beach and selects students at random, asking them how they would grade Obama on gas prices. I think using 'asks' instead of 'interviews' would draw more readers in because it takes more of the formality out and gives it a more entertaining feel.

"who burned cigarette holes in their arms protesting the narcotic tobacco haze of Capitalism"

"They'll kill you just to take your feathers". 

No clue what this exactly is in reference to or what it truly is meant to mean.  It was said by Adawee The Wind.  I think he is talking about Colonialism and Imperialism and taking without restraint, thought, or care in general.  I like it.  Low style, some metaphor, simple period, and it reminds me of Howl, which is the greatest poem ever written.

English

"English is the only language that mugs others and rummages in their pockets for spare grammar"

A friend of mine told me this. Personally I like the sentence because it perfectly describes English as a language since we seem to have a lot of bits and pieces of other languages floating around in our own. The sentence is hypotactic in nature since the full thought isn't finished until the very end of the sentence.

Week: Mar 13--Mar. 20

My post comes from Susan Carroll's The Courtesan. I wanted to talk about her style via grammar because I think she is one of the best I've seen at it, so I'm going to use a few examples.

First, the way she uses ellipses is a rhetorical strategy of hers in an attempt to make the reader go along with the character at that time. She tries to bring the reader into the same actions and frame of thought using grammar. She uses an ellipsis in dialogue when a character trails off, when a character trails off in thought, or in exposition to create suspense.

Suspense finally resolved: In the book, one of the main characters has gone through a lot of crap to find out the name of a man who attacked his love interest, and finally, she delivers the name to the character and readers: "His shadow enemy now had both a face and a name...Danton."

Trail-off in dialogue: "Ask me for anything else and I will be happy to keep my promise, but as it is..." She trails off because she's bracing herself for Remy's anger.

Suspense: The main female character is the company of the man that attacked her years ago and she doesn't know it. Added to that, the drink is poisoned "It--it is all right," she rasped. "As you said, it is a foul night. Perhaps you should pour me another drink. Just one..." This ends the chapter and the next chapter goes on to the female character's hero, so readers are left wondering what is happened.

I don't think these ellipses are necessary to create these rhetorical situations, but I love that she does use them in the manner that she does. When I see the ellipses at the end of chapter, the sight of it just fills me with more suspense. It's a visual teaser to add to the mental teaser. Also, in dialogue, the ellipses let's me know it's a trail-off and therefore leaves no room for confusion, allowing Carroll to mimic real conversations that are choppy and scatter-brained, like real life, without having to explain any of that. For instance, she doesn't have to say, "Gabrielle trailed off" the ellipsis she used says it all. The same goes for her em dash use.

She uses this to signify cut-offs or interruptions in dialogue or in thought.

"This never was any place for you--"
"I saw Gabrielle." Miri cut him off. "She was crying."

In this example, Carroll tells in her dialogue that Remy was cut off, but by using the em dash instead of a period or comma, I already knew that. A comma would be too weak to represent an interruption, and a period could not represent one at all because a period represents an ending. So, I like that she uses em dashes for these reasons. Also, the ellipsis would be too weak as well to represent an interruption. It's perfect for those trail-offs she uses them for. Carroll also uses em dashes when she is narrating in third-person about what a character is doing or thinking and an interruption occurs; like, someone comes crashing through the door. By using these grammar marks for the reasons she does, I think she captures real-life instances of trail-offs and interruptions. Her prose in these scenarios flows well because of these grammar choices. Some authors would chose not have as many trail-offs and interruptions or would stumble around representing them with words, but she does very well with her grammar marks. See, grammar can be stylistic and say so much more than they're given credit for.

Picture people

Another forgotten post that sat in my journal...week of Mar.6 - Mar. 13

The Picture People (a portrait company) sent me a card for my son's first birthday that said, "You know what makes a party. The presents. The cakes. The giggles. The friends. But it's the memories that make it last. Now you can keep those moments forever with beautiful, professional photography that celebrates every birthday long after it has passed." And that's exactly how it was written.

This marketing attempt captivated me because, well, it worked. I wasn't thinking about having my son's portraits done at a studio before this card. I was just going to do them myself, but once I got this card I thought, Well I can't do them as good as they can. And they got all those cute props and backgrounds, and they do make a good point: the birthday can last forever with portraits...yada yada. What made this work so well, is the structural repetition that drove the image of a party into my head: "The presents. The cakes. The giggles." Then, they reminded me of how those all go away once the party is over, but memories, those last. And of course I wanted to keep my son's first birthday party going. Now that I saw professionals assuring me they could do that I wanted them to do it, no  longer trusting myself to do it. What if I don't get good enough pictures? They definitely will. So, it was a good marketing tool they used. Damn marketing people's rhetoric, making me spend money.

Presents, cakes, giggles and friends all disappear once the party is over, but memories last and pictures can capture those memories, letting the party live on through time.

In my imitation, I wanted to out-and-out say what they were saying, but still make the same point that convinced me.

News

Week Feb. 28-Mar 6.--I wrote this post in my journal but forgot to post it on here, eek!

"Evening news is where they begin with 'Good evening' and then proceed to tell you why it isn't."

This was posted by one of my friends on Facebook, and it captivated me because for one it's true, and two, I liked the contrast within the sentence; and that's what makes it work. These one-liners deliver the punch in so little space like they do because the author understands how to get a point across in little room and make it stick with the reader by providing that strong contrast: good evening news and negative news delivery.

News broadcasting is full of anchors that smile and act like everything is rainbows and butterflies as they talk about robberies and bombings.

My imitation sought to imitate the contrast and irony as the original did.

High Style

"Nobody likes science. You can tell by the fact that they teach it in school. There aren't any high school courses in pizza, pot smoking or car chases." - Joel Stein 2009

Look at that crescendo of syntactic complexity.  You have the subject-verb-object simplicity, then the same formula with a bit more, and the wow! look at that comma.  Should there be another though? Oh E.B. White help me! Truss? Anyone!?  Really though who cares, we all know it doesn't matter.  I like the low-style, straight to the point period-ness, and the subject matter.  Somebody probably like science, but EVERYBODY likes to smoke pot, eat pizza, and lead a car chase!  What if we Adios-panned it:

Nobody likes science, you can tell by the fact they teach it in school, there aren't any high school school courses in pizza...

Doesn't seem to be right... but I think it could be done this way.  I think the freighting idea is more at work.  Science sucks - here's how you know - here's how you really know.  Yes?

One for the Clause

"Tears are curious things, for like earthquakes and puppet shows they can occur at any time, without any warning and without any good reason." - Lemony Snicket, A Series of Unfortunate Events

Lemony Snicket is one for dependent clauses, repetition and nonsensical connections. I like this sentence because it's representative of his style - a term which here means the way he expresses himself through writing. He often repeats the same sentence structures, dependent clauses and even entire sentences verbatim. Sometimes writers use this technique and try to hide it because it's bad to be repetitive, but they want to give you some hint of connection. Snicket makes his repetition - a term which here means to say something over and over again - completely obvious by overdoing it. The effect is different because the technique does not assume the reader's inability to make the connection on his/her own. He does it almost as an aside to let us know that he knows that we know while making fun of the characters that don't know. His writing carries the same wink-wink nudge-nudge exclusivity as Truss's. He wants us to be a part of his club, and he accomplishes that by stylistically assuming we already are.

Something Blue by Emily Giffin

This is a passage from Emily Giffin's Something Blue, the sequel to Something Borrowed.  I particulary like this passage, along with many others, because of how Giffin writes her details. Her interesting use of combining periodic sentences and running sentences, as well as, her use of verb style helps to explain the scene of what is happening to the character. As she enters a room full of people, who are throwing her a suprise baby shower, Giffin writes the experience of being caught off guard well as she creates vivid imagery for the reader in order to understand how one minute she was thinking about the meeting she was about to enter and the next she was faced with a rush of chaos:

"And there before was the entire staff of Carolyn Morgan and Associates, all packed into the room, yelling 'Suprise!' and hurling thier heartiest congratulations at me from all directions. A gigantic blue box from Tiffany perched on one end of the lacquered table. An ivory frosted cake with pink gel writing sat temptingly at the other. My heart raced. Talk about your audiences! Talk about your drama!"

I love how Giffin writes this scene. It's almost as if you, the reader, are there in that moment and you can see all of these things appearing in front of you. Giffin does this a lot throughout her writing. She has a creative way of drawing the reader in and making you feel like you are the one going through the experiences of the characters.

Imitaion: This is not going to be nearly as good, but I will do my best:

I began to read my notes and prepared for the tidious meeting about to take place. As I opened the door and flipped the light I suddenly found my notes flying out of my hands. My heart began to race and butterflies began to form in my stomach as the entire staff of Carolyn Morgan and Associates shouted, "Suprise!" Before I knew it three girls were running towards me, flinging thier arms open. The room was filled with streamers and balloons, pink and blue linens covered the tables with pink and blue napkins folded so delicately. A small blue box with an elegant ribbion sat on one end of the table while. A three tiered blue-iced cake with pink gel writing sat on the other, calling my name. Talk about a suprise! Talk about your staff! Talk about your chaos!

From Sandra Hill's Rough and Ready

"… Her long hair, still wet from the shower, had been combed down her back in a wet swath. Hilda was sitting on the floor, her round, wet boobs still wet from the shower’s water. She dried off the water with a towel, which then became wet."
This passage is notable because it's hilarious. Really, it's a part of a romance novel, which I'm sure most of us know, is ridiculous. The author's usage of the words "water" and "wet" is redundant. I didn't put up the whole passage (which I found on Tumblr), because it was too long, but it's chock-ful of comedy gold.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

"Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!"

-William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act V, Scene 5

Oh, God, I'm using Macbeth again (I'm writing a sci-fi novel adaptation of the play, so it's on my brain a lot, especially when I have time like I did today to work on it a little).

But look at this line! It's gorgeous! All those tacit persuasion patterns. The diácope of Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow; the alliteration: petty pace, day to day, dusty death; the natural isocolon of his meter (10 syllables, 11 syllables, 10 syllables, 11 syllables, 11 syllables); the epizeúxis (emphatic repetition) of Out, out; the polýptoton of tomorrow, day, and yesterdays.

What would it be like without all that lovely textual juice?

Tomorrow and the day after that and so on creep along slowly until the end of time, and yesterday and all the time before that is just getting us fools one step closer to death. Life gets snuffed out like a candle with a short wick.

Booooring. Thanks for making the English language sound awesome, Will.

Cane

"If you walked up the Dixie Pike most any time of the day, you'd be most like to see her resting listless-like on the railing of her borch, back propped against a post, head tilted a little forward because a nail in the porch post just where her head came which for some reason or other she never took the trouble to pull out."

I love this sentence. Maybe it's the hypotaxis. Maybe it's the complete disregard for so many grammatical rules. But probably it's the grace with which Toomer pulls this off, how easy he makes it look. It's almost dialect, but not quite. Still it has all the implications of dialect, like a verbal texture almost. I don't have a mimicking sentence just yet, but I'll work on it. 

I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise.

Here is a speech that I quoted in class.

"My friends,

"I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey.

"If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally take the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

"But;

"If when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.

"This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise."

This speech was given on April 4, 1952 by Judge Noah "Soggy" Sweat. He uses only three pieces of punctuation, the period, comma, and semi-colon; each for specific reasons:

Semi-Colon - helps steady the pace because the pause created by a comma would be to short and that of the period too long. It also helps to separate the lists with lists. It also gives the meaning a sense of less permanence.

Comma - shows distinct but short pauses in the flow of speech. They are what separates the mini-lists held within the larger larger lists. These also have a sense of forgiveness and lack of permanence.

Period - Used sparingly and only for emphasis and to finish thoughts and lends a sense of permanence to the statements it is applied to.

He also makes effective use of euphony and cacophony with in the speech. Cacophony emphasizes the chaos the evil side of whiskey makes; euphony on the other hand lends itself to the flowing nature of the good contained by whiskey.

Within his last two sentences he makes use of great tacit persuasion; "I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise." are repetitive phrases and while I had not heard of this speech prior to being shown it in class I know those lines or lines similar to them. They are memorable and they make a clear statement about his argument.

Amended to Reflect Reflection not Eschatological Politics

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging
the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress
of grievances.

I think that I expected some noun style but this isn't really so.  It is a bit off though, not really verb style.  How about, "Congress shall not make a law in respect to a religious establishment, or prohibit such an establishment's  free exercise of religion".  Is that different?  There is certainly a periodic thang thang going on.  No chiasmus or isocolon for sure. But who needs a stylistically ornate government document?  Is there a Bureau of Style Ornamentation in Legislative Documents?  Middle style?  Or is it High?  I don't think it is Low.  respecting, prohibiting, exercise, petition sound Latinate (some are) but might be Frenchinate.  Oh well, whatever, never mind.

If ya scared, go to church.
If ya mad go, to the polls.

Blaam! Isocolon! (By the way, have you noticed to lovely letter O appearing in this word, more or less separated by one other letter in a sort of representation of itself? Look! (i)so-co-lo(n).  Magnificent.

A Tired Tool

From William Gibson's Neuromancer:
"A year here and he still dreamed of cyberspace, hope fading nightly."

I picked this line out a while back, only to file it into the back of my mind while I worked on my author analysis. But as I return to it, I find this sentence underwelming.

You see this structure a lot, and it's because of that dependant clause on its end. It's conditional in function, a modifier for the entire sentence. In  this sentence, it pairs the progressive verb with the time period in the main clause. In others, it's a hypotactic addendum to the primary source, it slows the reading if placed near the beginning and gives weight if added on to the end.

It works well for how simple it is. [Main thought], [connected thought] [verb]ing. It's just, I feel I've seen it everywhere, and there are better ways of writing this same sentence. There's a lot given to context, in the case of Neuromancer, it's atmousphere for the lead's world and is supposed to be brief. But if you want your condition to be experienced more than an afterthought, giving it its own sentence would be beneficial.

But another point of interest about this sentence: it is the first recorded instance of the word "cyberspace" ever. At least, Gibson is attributed with coining it, and Neuromancer is his first novel.

A Passage From Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart

Here is a passage from Edgar Allan Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. This is one of my favorite passages because his use of verbs and adjectives really draws the readers into the nervousness of the murder and gives the reader the same nervous feeling as the murder describes his every move in the attack of the old man.

"It was the beating of the old man's heart. It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage. But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man't terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment!-do you mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am."

In this passage, Poe's use of verb style captures the readers attention and draws them into the eerie feeling that takes place within the murder's plan. His verbs such as beating, scarcely breathed, motionless, hellish tattoo, quicker, louder, and terror are unique and are used to draw the reader into the story. Poe also uses the periodic style in this passage and throughout his whole short story to build the intensity and thrill in the murdering of the old man. The characters thoughts and plan is short and to the point. Poe does not write out the     character's whole thinking process in advance. Rather he writes the feelings and plan of the character as it is happening so that the reader's interest will climax along with the story.

From Toni Morrison's Sula

“The black people watching her would laugh and rub their knees, and it would be easy for the valley man to hear the laughter and not notice the adult pain that rested somewhere under the eyelids, somewhere under their head rags and soft felt hats, somewhere in the palm of the hand, somewhere behind the frayed lapels, somewhere in the sinew’s curve" (page 4)
Morrison's usage of "somewhere" in this passage is an example of isocolon.