October 2020

Julie Cavallaro 

October 23, 2020 

Writing 101

Mr. G 

 

10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation Blog Post 

For this week’s assignment, I watched and listened to the TED talk “10 Ways to Have a Better Conversation” spoken and presented by Celeste Headlee. The TED talk was on the topic of ways you can have a better conversation with someone, and focused on 10 main points. These points include don’t multitask,  don’t pontificate,  use open ended questions, go with the flow, if you don’t know, say that you don’t know,  don’t equate your experience with theirs,  try not to repeat yourself, stay out of the weeds,  listen, and to be brief. Celeste Headlee opened her presentation with a few striking facts about conversations. One that stood out to me the most was when she stated that “we don’t listen to each other” in regards to conversations. I found this to be one hundred percent true because I have found myself in a conversation where the other person would not listen to anything I would say to them. This also related to a point she made when she was discussing the second topic, which was to not pontificate. Headlee stated that we should “enter every conversation assuming you have something to learn.” That point stood out to me as well because I have found myself in a conversation thinking I won’t learn anything or that it’s all stuff I know, but then I find myself discovering new things from it because I listened. 

Julie Cavallaro 

October 7, 2020 

Writing 101 

Mr. G

 

Rhetorical Analysis of “Chicken Fried” 

 

If you’re a country music fan, or honestly a fan of music in general, then you have probably heard of the song “Chicken Fried” by Zac Brown Band. A classic country music anthem that is perfect for blasting in your car with the windows rolled down. This song was first recorded and sung in 2003, and was then rerecorded in 2008 and  featured on their album The Foundation. The September 11th terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers was the main inspiration behind this song, as well as all the finer things in life. The lyrics in this song all feature influences of pathos, ethos, and logos and are used to paint the picture of all things and characteristics of the South. This song is the perfect song to play at a family barbeque or even at a tailgate with your friends. 

Zac Brown Band uses pathos, the first of the three appeals in his lyrics. Pathos, which is used to evoke emotion. For example, in this lyric verse from the song pathos is visibly shown. The verse is “I thank God for my life And for the stars and stripes May freedom forever fly, let it ring Salute the ones who died The ones that give their lives so we don’t have to sacrifice All the things we love” This verse can be seen as having an emotional appeal because it connects all the sacrifices people have made for our country. I can relate emotionally to this verse because my dad was deployed in the military a few years ago, and I can relate to the sacrifices they make, as well as the sacrifices families of those loved ones make too. 

The next of the three appeals is ethos. Ethos is usually a method of persuasion or a characteristic of a culture. In the song, ethos is also used multiple times. For example ethos is used by explaining all the finer things in life. Some verses of ethos include “A cold beer on a friday night” or “A pair of jeans that fit just right” and even “I like to see the sun rise.” These are all examples of persuasion because they make the listener want to do those things, such as watching the sunrise or finding a nice fitting pair of jeans. 

The last of the three appeals is Logos. Logos are used to explain facts and not opinions. Logos are not mentioned in this piece. This song is about how Zac Brown Band feels about life, and it can be very different from how other people view their lives. 

This song is personally one of my favorites and I always enjoy listening to it, especially the lyrics.

Reading Journal

 

Copy + Paste this template into a different document (do not try to type directly on it). Then fill it out and post to your blog. 

 

Title of Article + Proper MLA Citation for Works Cited page	Author(s). “Title of Article.” Title of Journal, Volume, Issue, Year, pages.  Bibliography grant-davie, keith. rhetorical situations and their constituents. tyler and francis ltd, 1997. rhetorical situations and their constituents, http://www.jstor.org/stable/465644.
Summarize the article — include your reaction, thoughts, anything to help you remember its claims. 100 to 150 words	The article written by Keith Grant-Davie discusses the steps a writing student should take to analyze rhetorical situations to understand why they happened. This piece discusses both rhetorical exigence and discourses and how to find each one when writing. I learned a lot about discourses in writing and some ways to find and solve it. The main objective of discourse is to bring the audience to a central agreement and find a solution to fix the issue. Discourses are often solved completely but sometimes partially. Discourse can be addressed to audiences such as the general public or colleagues. Other times it is invoked towards people who the rhetor hopes to reach and the “roles suggested by the discourse itself” (270).
Define new terms and concepts by quoting or paraphrasing the original author.	Rhetorical exigence, an issue that demands discourse to resolve it can be analysed by stasis theory
How does this reading connect to other articles from class and/or your own research?	This relates to articles from class and the podcasts we listen to because it all teaches us important strategies to use when it comes to reading and writing.
Based on the reading, craft one question to act as a springboard for class discussion.	Have you ever used these rhetorical strategies in your writing before?