Add that dinge...

21 September 2026: "They paid to add dinge to this letter!" --a student in my ENGL 101 class, sharing his observations of a charity mailing I gave them to use to practice rhetorical analysis. He was so tickled by the idea of making something look dirty to motivate folks to make a donation. 

(This was a fun activity--one that I got from one of our adjuncts and that I've been meaning to try for ages.)

That's the good stuff...

5 October 2024: "I was always excited to do this, but I never fully expected such an astounding number of examples to work with. It opened my eyes to the presence of rhetorical tactics outside of just the classroom, and recently when I watched the JD Vance and Tim Walz debate, I felt that I had a better idea of the underlying tactics both candidates tried to use. I never expected this project to have any effect on me outside of the classroom, but I was proven wrong within a week." --a student reflecting on his rhetorical analysis essay (about an press conference before an MMA match!) in his cover letter. 

I mean, that's the good stuff. Made me really happy. 

"What Happens When I Write a 'Report'"

24 January 2020: "Without being experienced in thinking about writing through the lens of audience and purpose, I could never do this work. Thankfully, because I have been well trained in this area, I find that I can write reports about any subject." --John Warner

Made myself an absurdly ambitious to-do list for today and trying to get started early. But I am grateful for this great piece from Inside Higher Ed, a bit of validation on a Friday morning.

Back to Rewriting

30 April 2019: As this semester wraps up, I find myself looking towards the summer session and the (online!) section of Advanced Composition I'll be teaching in just a few weeks. Like the first time I taught the class (in 2011!), I am using Joseph Harris's Rewriting. There's a new-ish edition and I've been (re)reading it this morning. Once again, I am so charmed by his voice in this piece, particularly the way he frames the rhetorical act: charitable, gracious, fair, even hopeful. Just one example, from the Introduction: "For while the point of academic writing is never merely to explain what someone else has said, to respond to others you need also to offer an accurate account of their work. Effective use begins in generous understanding" (5).

I mean, isn't that also just good advice for talking, working, and living with others?

"We are not scared..."

12 July 2017: "We are talking about our lives here. When the NRA issues a public call to their constituents inciting violence against people who are constitutionally fighting for their lives, we don’t take that lightly. We know that we are not safe. But we are not scared, either.” --Funmilola Fagbamila, BLM LA

Two Quick Links...

1) I've been meaning to post this one for a long time: the unaired Buffy pilot. Worth checking out if you are a big Buffy fan. The biggest difference, of course, is the actress playing Willow. You can get more info about the pilot here and here.

2) Holla Back DC! Fighting back against street harassment. There's at least one good 4Cs paper in here, isn't there?

Bob Geldof on George W. Bush

A really interesting essay at Time.com. I like Geldof's tone here--he is clearly not a supporter of Bush's Iraq policy, but manages to engage with him respectfully and productively on the issues where they do agree. A key passage from the end:

"He is also, I feel, an emotional man. But sometimes he's a sentimentalist, and that's different. He is in love with America. Not the idea of America, but rather an inchoate notion of a space — a glorious metaphysical entity. But it is clear that since its mendacious beginnings, this war has thrown up a series of abuses that disgrace the U.S.'s central proposition. In the need to find morally neutralizing euphemisms to describe torture and abuse, the language itself became tortured and abused. Rendition, waterboarding, Guantánamo, Abu Ghraib — all are codes for what America is not. America has mortally compromised its own essential values of civil liberty while imposing its own idea of freedom on others who may not want it. The Bush regime has been divisive — but not in Africa. I read it has been incompetent — but not in Africa. It has created bitterness — but not here in Africa. Here, his administration has saved millions of lives."

"Yes We Can" Video

Again, I am staying as apolitical as possible on this blog, but this video some Obama supporters put together is pretty amazing. With rhetoric like this--messages of unity, hope, a promise for the future--it's hard to resist this candidate's appeal. And while celebrity endorsements usually leave me cold, the famous folks in this video somehow don't bother me.



As everyone else has been noting, this candidate is a force to be reckoned with--and if he's who the Republicans end up facing in November, they will have their work cut out for them.