Post 13

Communication is very important when you’re playing ultimate Frisbee. You can play as hard as you can, but if you don't play smart it doesn't even matter. Basically, play smarter not harder. You have to have a plan and everyone on your team has to be doing everything they possibly can to make the plan work. When you play man defense you still need to play it as a team. If everybody only focuses on their one guy, then you will be scored on. You have to be aware of what your teammates are taking away and their position on the field. If you are guarding the offender furthest down the field you are responsible for helping anyone going deep.
When playing we use many reserved words. Some are universal to all ultimate Frisbee teams and others are unique to our team. Some of the universal terms include the force, no inside, and no around. All of these terms are used to help the defense to take away more of the offenses' options. The force attempts to "force" the offense to only throw the disc to one side of the field, so any defender not "marking", (guarding the person with the disc), should be on the force side. The non-force side is called the break side. When an offender throws to the break side it is called breaking the mark. When the mark gets broken the whole defense breaks down. When you get broken you are letting your whole team down and you are basically saying, ”hey I don’t care you can score on me.”
No inside and no around are called out to the mark, usually from a teammate on the sideline, to try and make it as difficult as possible for the thrower to throw the throw that would be the most dangerous. Terms that our unique to our team include called plays and certain formations. When a word is called out everyone on the field is on the same page; there is a first option, usually the easiest, and if that doesn't work there are backup options. Once every option has been attempted the disc is reset and you run through the play again until it works.

Post 11

A discourse community I am currently involved in is the OU Ultimate Frisbee team. At the beginning of the school year we set several goals for the year including winning Sectionals, never losing to another team in our Region, and making Nationals. Everyone on the team is part of a listserv, so we can communicate outside of practice and notify everyone of upcoming events. If there is a sudden change of plans and it is too late for everyone to check their emails one of the captains will mass text everyone. When playing we use reserved words and have called plays so we can communicate to each other and other teams don’t immediately realize what we are doing. For example, on defense when we are going to run a zone defense we call a force before the point starts and if we want to switch to man defense someone calls "Athens" and everybody forces which ever way we called on the line. Participation is expected from everyone at practice and at tournaments. Even when you are not playing you are expected to talk to your teammates from the sideline.  The team is constantly adapting as the years pass. Three years ago there were only enough players to have one team, but now we have an A team and a B team. Every year some of our best players graduate and leave the team. At the beginning of every year we have tryouts to see who makes the A team, nobody is guaranteed a spot, even players who were on the A team last year. Anyone who doesn’t make the A team is on the B team. Members on the B team focus more on developing fundamental skills and learning the system of the A team. So if they make the A team they are ready to go.

Post 10

In "Pencils to Pixels", Baron discusses the evolution of literary techniques and advancements. He notes the advantages and the difficulties that the advancements bring. He also draws attention to how there has been opposition to every advancement from the beginning of writing to modern communication and computers. New writing and communication technologies have affected everyone's life. Both our lifestyles and the new technologies have been adapted to best fit the modern world. While new technologies and advancements have made life fast paced and the world seem smaller, I think overall these changes have made life better. We have so many ways to communicate to each other. Phones, email, and Facebook have made it so easy to meet up, share ideas, take actions, and make changes. Now with smartphones you can walk around with the internet in your pocket. The convenience of smartphones is amazing. Within seconds you can get directions from where you are to anywhere in the world. You can find the closest restaurant, gas station, anything you’re looking for whenever you need it.   

In "The Future of Literacy", Devoss et al discusses how technology keeps becoming more attached to literacy. His biggest concern is that the education system isn't advancing as fast as new technologies are being developed. In many areas students are more familiar with digital literacies than their teachers. Many teachers are not willing to learn about the digital world from their students, even when it’s in the best interest of both parties. Besides alphabetic writing another type of "composing" (knowledge construction) I practice is communication with my teammates. We use many reserved words when playing. Some are universal to all ultimate Frisbee teams and others are unique to our team. Some of the universal terms include the force, no inside, and no around. All of these terms are used to help the defense to take away more of the offenses' options. The force attempts to "force" the offense to only throw the disc to one side of the field, so any defender not "marking", (guarding the person with the disc), should be on the force side. No inside and no around are called out to the mark, usually from a teammate on the sideline, to try and make it as difficult as possible for the thrower to throw the throw that would be the most dangerous. Terms that our unique to our team include called plays and certain formations. When a word is called out everyone on the field is on the same page; there is a first option, usually the easiest, and if that doesn't work there are backup options. Once every option has been attempted the disc is reset and you run through the play again until it works.  

Post 9

Heath defines literacy events as “any action sequence, involving one or more persons, in which the production and/or comprehension of print plays a role." Unlike American children who experience most literacy events though one-on-one readings with adults children in Trackton experience literacy events though communication. The responses they hear and provide are the means by which they learn. Adults in Trackton practice both oral and written traditions. The church plays an important role in the literacy events people in trackton experience. They read and sing hyms, they listen and repeat prayers, and they discuss the Bible. They also translated almost all of their printed texts into oral versions for the illiterate within their community. Since a large amount of the working class in Tracton are illiterate the local mills ask the workers questions and fill out forms for them instead of having the workers read documents and write their responses. Heath points out how the people of Tracton recognize their deficiencies and are able to accommodate for them. The main point Heath tries to make in her essay is that written and oral language and the relation between them is always changing and these changes cause different meanings for what defines literacy in different societies.

Sherman Alexie describes how he was able to become a success as an Indian boy and how other Indian children respond to living amongst non-Indians. He talks about how he would read anything he could get his hands on; books, backs of cereal boxes, newspapers, bulletins, mail, manuals, magazines, anything with words and paragraphs. Now he visits schools as often as possible and finds them scattered with Indian children. Some remain resistant and refuse to submit to how society defines them.  He tries to convince the children how important books and knowledge are, but he cannot make them read because he is not a superhero he is just a man.

Essay 2

Every rhetorical argument has four requirements; exigence, rhetor, audience, and constraints. Rhetorical situations are situations where the presenter, also known as the rhetor identifies a problem, the exigence, to audiences and uses rhetorical persuasive techniques like ethos, pathos, and logos to convince them take their point of view. Exigence is defined as an “imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be” (Carroll).  The exigence is supposed to help the audience understand what the rhetor is trying to accomplish. The rhetor in this commercial is the ISPCC, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. They use a child to deliver their message while he is being beat by his father. The message is titled "I Can't Wait". It goes like this,

"I can’t wait till I grow up. I have the right to be happy, to be kept safe; to be kept warm; to feel loved; to be listened to; to be heard; to never ever, ever, ever cower, or tremble or shake; or have my innocence punched or kicked or screamed away. I’ll fight for the rights of children like me who don’t have a childhood. I can’t wait until I grow up." 

Then the commercial ends with a narrator's voice: "join the fight for children's rights." The exigence of the commercial is child abuse. While child abuse is illegal it remains a major issue. The problem is that family rights outweigh the individual rights of children. Children can't apply for protection support without parental consent. Which is completely idiotic. What abusive parent is going to grant their child protection support so they can get arrested? The main audience this commercial targets is registered voters in Ireland. The ISPCC's goal is to get their message out and convince people to change the laws concerning child abuse. Though, they are not the only audience. If it were up to the ISPCC everybody in the world would have to watch their commercial. The more people aware of the situation the more support and donations they would receive. Constraints are the limiting factors that affect the way the message is delivered to the audience. Constraints can include language, facts, the intelligence, beliefs, and prejudices of the audience and anything else that could limit the effectiveness of the message. A constraint of this commercial is the ISPCC cannot force people to watch it; only a certain number of people will ever see it. People who don’t watch television will not see it. Also this commercial is probably only viewed in Ireland. Another constraint is that there is no suggested solution. Although at the end of the commercial they list a website where you can make donations. The rhetor has to rely on the audience to take actions and make the changes. Most people who see this image would be moved and feel sympathy, some people might express their thoughts, but very few people will actually do something.

This ISPCC uses pathos, ethos, and logos to convince its audiences to join their cause. Pathos refers to the emotional and the imaginative effect a message has on its audience, which moves the audience to decision or action. The most common way of using pathos is through narrative. Narrative can turn a logical abstraction into something you can actually feel. The audience is meant to feel what the rhetor feels and understand the suffering of the abused. Pathos is most effective when the rhetor connects with values of the audience. This commercial exploits pathos by showing the audience the abuse the child suffers, while they hear the plead in his voice. The boy who should be loved by his father receives nothing but neglect and abuse. The audience is meant to feel sympathy for the boy and any other abused child and want to offer their support and join the cause.  Ethos uses tone, style, and language to convince the audience of the good character of the rhetor or speaker. The idea behind ethos is people tend to believe people whom they respect. In the commercial the boy's tone is sad and dejected. Half the commercial he is staring at the floor as if he had done something wrong. The audience takes in the child’s body language and voice and it makes them listen to the child and want them to join the cause. Logos is the persuasive technique by the use of reason. Logos presents the message in a logical, effective manner using supporting evidence to back up its point of view. The demands the child makes in this commercial are simple and are ones that children should not have to ask for. Audiences realize the necessity to change the abuse some children receive from their parents. 

              After watching this commercial I felt very sorry for the child and others like him, but it did not affect me to the point where I would actually try and make a difference. Child abuse is one of those issues that you would rather not think about, so you must be forced to think about. This commercial really puts it right in your face. There is no ignoring it. I think this is the right way to expose this issue. If you don’t throw it in people’s faces they aren’t going to notice. Even if you just say something about the issue it would not be enough to have any actual effect. People need to see the abuse before they will let it affect them. The ISPCC’s main goal in this commercial is to give children the right to seek the protection they need. It is a simple demand and it should be granted. I find it hard to believe that the ISPCC even has to advertise for something as necessary as this. You would think the only people who would be opposed would be abusive parents and guardians, who should only make up a very small percentage. The most shocking thing about this commercial was that it was banned in Ireland for being gender bias. This is how important issues like this one never reach a solution. Talk about missing the big picture. The commercial never even shows the face of the man beating the child because he is not important. Abuse is in the mind of the receiver. Sometimes children are beat by men, other times they are beat by women, it’s really the same issue. Gender biases show up in commercials all the time, but you rarely hear of a commercial being pulled because of it. Whenever a cleaning product is advertised you always see a woman using it. And whenever there’s a commercial about a truck it’s always a man driving it. In reality, an anti-child abuse commercial has about as much of a chance at stopping child abuse as an anti-smoking ad has at ending smoking.
 

Works Cited

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdHb6I0kSiM

2.  Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps Toward Rhetorical Analysis by Laura Bolin Carroll

Post 8

In "Sponsors of Literacy" Brandt defines literary sponsors as "powerful figures who were usually richer, more knowledgeable, and more entrenched than the sponsored". She also states that the sponsor and sponsored enter a mutual relationship where each can benefit from the other once the sponsored becomes a success. One person can have multiple sponsors. Sponsors can include any influential person in the sponsored life and can include people they have read about. 


Malcolm X entered prison in 1946 practically illiterate and barely able to write. In prison he met an inmate named Bimbi. Malcolm X learned the power that knowledge can command from Bimbi and was Malcolm X's motivation to educate himself. One of Malcolm X's sponsors of literacy was Mr. Muhammad. Muhammad connected with Malcolm X by noting how history had been "whitened"; meaning the history of the black man had been skipped over in history books written by white men. It was Muhammad who prompted Malcolm X to educate himself as thoroughly as possible concerning black history. Other sponsors that affected Malcolm X and the knowledge he received concerning black history and world history include Will Durant, H.G. Wells, W.E.B Du Bois, Carter G. Woodson, J.A. Rogers, and Fredrick Olm. He also learned from Gregor Mendel that the first man to walk the earth was black. One of Malcolm X's favorite subjects became slavery; the man's most monstrous crime. Malcolm X's most influential sponsors were determined by socioeconomic conditions based on his race and class because he shared common interests and could make the most connection with them. Some of Malcolm X's literacy sponsors constrained his literacy acquisition by defining his point of view. Malcolm X picked books based on what he wanted to read about. This was a limiting factor because it narrowed the variety of books he read. He didn't want to hear about white people doing something non-oppressive, so he didn't read about it. Although, nobody could deny the slavery, imperialism, and oppression white nations have thrown upon non-white nations or the anger and hate connected to these abusive times in history.
 

Project 2 Draft

Every rhetorical argument has four requirements; exigence, rhetor, audience, and constraints. Rhetorical situations are situations where the presenter, also known as the rhetor identifies a problem, the exigence, to audiences and uses rhetorical persuasive techniques like ethos, pathos, and logos to convince them take their point of view. Exigence is defined as an “imperfection marked by urgency; it is a defect, an obstacle, something waiting to be done, a thing which is other than it should be.” The exigence is supposed to help the audience understand what the rhetor is trying to accomplish. The rhetor in this commercial is the ISPCC, the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. They use a child to deliver their message while he is being beat by his father. The message is titled "I Can't Wait". It goes like this,

"I can’t wait till I grow up. I have the right to be happy, to be kept safe, to be kept warm, to feel loved to be listened to, to be heard, to never ever ever cower, or tremble or shake, or have my innocence punched, or kicked or screamed away. I’ll fight for the rights of children like me who don’t have a childhood. I can’t wait until I grow up." 

Then the commercial ends with a narrator's voice: "join the fight for children's rights." The exigence of the commercial is child abuse. While child abuse is illegal it remains a major issue. The problem is that family rights outweigh the individual rights of children. Children can't apply for protection support without parental consent. Which is completely idiotic. What abusive parent is going to grant their child protection support so they can get arrested? The main audience this commercial targets is registered voters in Ireland. The ISPCC's goal is to get their message out and convince people to change the laws concerned with child abuse. Though, they are not the only audience. If it were up to the ISPCC everybody in the world would have to watch their commercial. The more people aware of the situation the more support and donations they would receive. This commercial could also give hope to mistreated children.  Constraints are the limiting factors that affect the way the message is delivered to the audience. Constraints can include language, facts, the intelligence, beliefs, and prejudices of the audience and anything else that could limit the effectiveness of the message. A constraint of this commercial is the ISPCC cannot force people to watch it; only a certain number of people will ever see it. People who don’t watch television will not see it. Also this commercial is probably only viewed in Ireland. Another constraint is that there is no suggested solution. The rhetor has to rely on the audience to take actions and make the changes. Most people who see this image would be moved and feel sympathy, some people might express their thoughts, but very few people will actually do something.

This commercial uses pathos, ethos, and logos to convince its audiences to join their cause. Pathos refers to the emotional and the imaginative effect a message has on its audience, which moves the audience to decision or action. The most common way of using pathos is through narrative. Narrative can turn a logical abstraction into something you can actually feel. The audience is meant to feel what the rhetor feels and understand the suffering of the abused. Pathos is most effective when the rhetor connects with values of the audience. This commercial exploits pathos by showing the audience the abuse the child suffers, while they hear the plead in his voice. The boy who should be loved by his father receives nothing but neglect and abuse. The audience is meant to feel sympathy for the boy and any other abused child and want to offer their support and join the cause.  Ethos uses tone, style, and language to convince the audience of the good character of the rhetor or speaker. The logic behind ethos is people tend to believe people whom they respect. The child in this commercial speaks to the audience throughout the commercial, while being beaten. His tone is sad and dejected. Half the commercial he is staring at the floor as if he had done something wrong. The audience takes in the child’s body language and voice and it makes them listen to the child and want them to join the cause. Logos is the persuasive technique by the use of reason. Logos presents the message in a logical, effective manner using supporting evidence to back up its point of view. The demands the child makes in this commercial are simple and are ones that children should not have to ask for. Audiences realize the necessity to change the abuse some children receive from their parents. 

After watching this commercial I felt very sorry for the child and others like him, but it did not affect me to the point where I would actually try and make a difference. Child abuse is one of those issues that you would rather not think about, so you must be forced to think about. This commercial really puts it right in your face. There is no ignoring it. I think this is the right way to tackle this issue. If you don’t throw it in people’s faces they aren’t going to notice. Even if you just say something about the issue it would not be enough to have any actual effect. People need to see the abuse before they will let it affect them. The ISPCC’s main goal in this commercial is to give children the right to seek the protection they need. It is a simple demand and it should be granted. I find it hard to believe that the ISPCC even has to advertise for something as necessary as this. You would think the only people who would be opposed would be abusive parents and guardians, who should only make up a very small percentage. The most shocking thing about this commercial was that it was banned in Ireland for being gender bias. This is how important issues like this one never achieve a solution. Talk about missing the big picture. The commercial never even shows the face of the man beating the child because he is not important. Abuse is in the mind of the receiver. Sometimes children are beat by men, other times they are beat by women, it’s really the same issue. Gender biases show up in commercials all the time, but you rarely hear of a commercial being pulled because of it. Whenever a cleaning product is advertised you always see a woman using it. And whenever there’s a commercial about a truck it’s always a man driving it. In reality, an anti-child abuse commercial has about as much of a chance at stopping child abuse as an anti-smoking ad has at ending smoking.