boyd's Inequality: Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions?

Danah boyd explores the topics of racism and inequality through social media in her piece, Inequality: Can Social Media Resolve Social Divisions? She focuses her attention on a school in Los Angeles, in which white students and black students are divided in much of the school. The students call these areas, “Disneyland” and “Six Flags.” boyd uses video to interview the students and to discuss why the students accept the normalcy of the segregation. boyd utilizes other methods such as personal examples and data to support her article. The fieldwork that boyd employs is up close and personal. She inserts herself into the conversation and story, and uses her commentary throughout the article to tell the story she creates.  Much like Jacob’s article Consider the Lobster, boyd uses first person narrative to speak to her audience and to create a “dinner table” type conversation. Boyd invites many of the students to the conversation by interviews and surveys in order to give their voice to the topic. By looking at social media, boyd explores how these platforms should be helping to eliminate racism but instead support it. She mentions that the friend groups and chats online are an indication of how segregated and divided the online world is. This exploration speaks to the modern reader and adds a relatable spin to the article. boyd’s incorporation of personal narratives helps to develop the pathos of the author. In comparison to Jacob’s article, boyd focuses mainly on interviews and in depth explorations of society, where Jacob follows a personal exploration of his views and how society should question itself. Both articles ask questions to society and follow an exploration of the question through research and fieldwork.

Consider the Lobster analysis

In the article Consider the Lobster, by David Foster he explores the concept of eating lobster in New England. There, its considered to be a valued tradition and something everyone partakes in, especially during festivals and other celebrations. The focal point of his article centers around how lobsters can feel pain and the way they are killed to be eaten causes them great distress. Many organizations, as Fosters lists, are against the way lobsters are eaten and killed. Organizations like PETA have protested outwardly against the festivals in New England and have tried to encourage other people to not eat lobsters. On the other side of the argument, many who do not eat lobster have little knowledge or opinion about how lobsters are killed and how they feel pain. Foster provides many expert examples and data collected from scientific tests in order to organize his point. Foster’s set up of the piece relates to Huxley’s second form, moving towards object, historical facts, which are the concrete evidence displayed in this article. This speaks to the logos of his writing. The ethos appeals to the reader’s sensitivity to boiling lobsters alive, even though the majority of the argument is based in facts rather than personal appeals. This article is mostly informative as many people do not stop and think about how a lobster is prepared for them, nor do they think about how lobsters actually have pain receptors. In the title of the article, Foster phrases it in such a way that asks readers to question something they might not have thought about otherwise. Overall, Foster has chosen a point of interest where the standpoints are polar extremes. One is either incredibly passionate about it or they do not care at all. It provides another perspective without swaying the reader to one side or another.

Inquiry Essay Proposal

For my inquiry essay I plan to do an experiment. I have always been interested in living a more active lifestyle but life tends to throw curve balls every now and again making it difficult to commit to a routine. In my experiment I plan to regularly go to the gym for 30 minutes at minimum every day to see the effects it has on my mood. What I am trying to ask is will this improve my mood, keep it the same, or reduce my mood? If I skip a day, what effect will that have on my mood for that day? Many people struggle with anxiety, depression, and stress everyday. Often times, excessing can eliminate some of the negative feelings that are associated with stress and anxiety. I have struggled with anxiety and stress for many years and I am interested to test the theory that exercise boots mood and improves overall well being. Exploring what causes my stress and anxiety and then testing how exercise affects that is the main goal. I will also consider the length of exercise as well the types. There are many people who have tested this theory so there is plenty of data to prove the case. But the hardest part is actually testing the theory, to see first hand whether or not it actually works. If it does, it gives me a healthy outlet to manage my stress and negative feelings. If it does not, at least I am still leading a healthy and active lifestyle. There is no downside or negative aspect to this experiment. 

Overly Documented Life analysis

A.J. Jacobs recounts a self-conducted experiment about documenting one’s life in his article, Overly Document Life.  The statement that drives this article is that the human memory is generally unreliable and fails to completely store information. Jacobs creates an experiment in which he dons a small camera and films his every day life for an extended period of time. Not only does he film everything but he utilizes apps and computer programs in order to track every emotion, every meal, and even the amount of sleep he gets.

Jacobs uses many rhetorical devices to enhance his article. The personal examples given by friends and family during his experiment help to shape the tone of the article as well as give it a less scientific feel. It is not about the data but more about the experiences he has and how it shaped his outcome. Jacobs employs pathos through the interactions and conversations he has with the people he comes in contact throughout his journey. Most notably are the times when he is interacting with his sons, by teaching them lessons or through the argument he has with his wife.

Jacobs uses an informal voice to write his article. In doing this, it opens up a more personal platform for the reader to connect with Jacobs’ experiment. By using first person language and modern examples, it pulls the reader in and makes them feel like they are a part of the story as well. This story-like method of writing reflects the “dinner table” style of writing. It allows for Jacobs to invite other people into the conversation, such as his wife, friends, or even strangers that he meets. By including the conversations that he has with each person, it creates a conversational atmosphere.

The chronos of the piece is perfectly executed, since the digital age has completely taken over modern society. Technology is used to document, create, and store everything. Jacobs points to this as a motivation for his experiment, and to see just how well documented a person’s life can be. His overall findings lead to the conclusion that it is possible to document every minute of one’s life. On one hand, he remarks that he feels safe and in control of his everyday life instead of forgetting most things. Yet there are some set backs, as seen in the argument with his wife. Logging one’s daily life does not fix everything. 

Peer Review of Colin Kaepernick and the First Amendment

I think you have a strong introductory paragraph that provides a good foundation and background into your topic of Kaepernick and the First Amendment. Your thesis statement becomes a bit lost since your first three paragraphs feel like general introductory statements. The flow of the paper is very uniform and comes together nicely. Something to watch out for is that you overuse ethos throughout your paper, and reference it directly in every sentence that it appears. What I mean by this is that it feels like you think your audience does not know what ethos is, and you re-state it multiple times. You use that same technique for every rhetorical device you analyze and it becomes repetitive and nuisance. Try to explain in depth how the author uses ethos or pathos, rather than simply stating an example of it. The issue you have here is the opposite of mine. Many of your sources look at people who agree with Kaepernick, but to strengthen your paper you might consider finding sources that disagree with his stance. Your conclusion is strong, but since your thesis is pretty well hidden, it does not feel like you connected back to it. Another thing to add to your paper is what audiences your sources are trying to reach as well as how they do this. You reference it some with Fox but you could take a more in-depth approach to it.

Peer Review of Raising the Minimum Wage

The introduction to your essay is very well thought out and put together. Some things to watch out for are repeating phrases and awkward word choices. A few of your sentences seemed to be one right after the other and say the same thing. Another point is to improve your thesis by making it more specific to what you want your paper to be about. It seemed at some points that you started with one idea and then it evolved into something else by the time you got to your conclusion. You have many strong examples and they support your sources well. There is not much analysis of the rhetorical devices like ethos, pathos, or logos. Including more examples of ethos and pathos would be beneficial, or taking the examples you already gave and analyzing them further. You do a great job of showing the intended audiences and how the sources accommodate the audiences. The sentence structure in some areas tend to be run-ons and in some cases choppy, so try to be careful to avoid that. I feel that your conclusion could be improved with more evidence about what you learned from analyzing your articles as well as expanding further on your thesis. Overall you do a great job framing your argument as well as providing a strong background to the topic of raising the minimum wage.

Peer Review on Violence in Inner Cities

You do a great job of setting the tone of the argument and providing key examples to help support your claims about violence in inner cites.Your personal examples really help to strengthen the ethos of your essay. Small issues like run-on sentences and contractions take away from the paper and make it feel too informal. Your paper also lacked references to your sources throughout the main body. By including the names of the authors and the sources themselves, it gives you a better platform to create an analysis of the arguments the authors are making. The inclusion of rather emotional examples speak to the ethos of the paper which is great! However, you should try and look at other rhetorical devices and try to relate them to your articles. There is a distinct lack of analysis for your sources. By adding a comparison paragraph of your sources, you could strengthen your paper. This could be about how well each source executes their arguments, how well they utilize ethos or how they do not. The paper itself feels more like an op-ed about violence in inner cities and you cite plenty of evidence, but the assignment is about rhetorically analyzing sources, so you need to shift the focus towards that. You should use your thesis as a guideline and reminder about what you want to accomplish in each paragraph. In your conclusion  you should also reflect the the thesis statement and what you accomplished in this essay.  

Introduction and Thesis, Comparative Rhetorical Anaylsis

It’s Friday Night Football and the crowd stands at attention for the National Anthem. The camera pans around the field, and Colin Kaepernick is sitting on the bench. This silent protest has sparked numerous debates throughout the online world, as well as in many newspapers and news outlets. In real life, and online, thousands want to voice their own opinions, yet their very opinions are critical of Kaepernick’s choice. His protest highlights key issues in the media such as freedom of speech, police brutality, and racism. In various ways many have shown support of his decision, while many others still voice their discontent. The various social outlets, like Twitter and Facebook, offer ways different groups of people can express themselves. This essay will analyze the different forms of media used and show varieties in how effective the arguments are in persuading an audience to side with or against Kaepernick.