TODAY1)Icebreaker2)Reflective memo: what’s up with that?3)Reflective memo: write that4)Upload That: Niihka 5)Inquiry 2 introduction/discussion6)Visual Rhetoric in brief7)Homework

ICEBREAKER

Easy icebreaker again today. Say your name. Obviously.

Then answer this question: what’s the first thing you look forward to doing when your academic

week is over and the weekendstarts?

REFLECTIVE MEMOAs the syllabus says, and as I have repeated a few times, each submission in this class should include a writer’s memo. This should be an informal letter, written by you, to me, about the project.

Some projects will have their own special questions, but generally speaking, you’ll need to answer three things.

They are on the next slide. I will leave it upas we write.

MEMOThings to put in your memo:

1) Anything you want me to know before I grade—think of it as your chance to put an idea in my head.

2) Describe the process you went through writing the essay– did you work a bit each night, all at once,

where did you write, for how long, in what conditions, etc. In other words, think about the

actions/practices you undertook.3) You should explain why you made the major

choices you made.4) You should share what you think is

strongest and weakest in the draft as it is.5) And, for fun, tell me what grade you’d

give yourself.

AND NOW… NiihkaPlease now make sure you have your essay and your memo saved.

For my sanity, please name your essay your last name and the number 1 (e.g. mine would be alexander1.doc). Name your memo your last name and memo1 (alexandermemo1.doc).

Have those files in a location you know how to access– I recommend the desktop.

Login to Niihka.

When you get logged in to Niihka, pick the tab for our class.

Then, from the menu down the left side of the screen,

pick “drop box”

It’s about halfway down

Once on the next screen, you want to click where it says “add” and scroll to

“Upload files.”

You then use the “browse” button to locate and attach files. Make sure you also use the “add another file” choice so you can upload your

memo as well.

When both of your files are set to upload, click the “upload files now” button. And…

you should have success.

And now…Let’s talk about Inquiry Two.

In this inquiry, we will push much more on doing rhetorical analysis work. Remember– as I said in some of my responses on Tumblr and have said in class– we

have a lot of rhetoric to learn.

You are not expected to be masters yet.

Think about this as a time period wherein you are building a tool set. You wouldn’t go to the toolbox and

get the hammer to fix any/every problem.Rhetoric is the same way.

But first– let’s discuss the prompt.

To transition…… I wanted to make sure that since the assignment allows for non-alphabetic texts as your objects of inquiry, I wanted to give you a little taste of something much newer than the Greek based ideas we’ve been talking about.

It’s time for a very quick look at visual rhetoric.

We don’t loseAny of the stuff we’ve talked about already just

because we move to looking at something visual. What does happen, however, are some subtle

changes. It becomes about learning to look with the sort of

critical eye that we are learning to read with. There are many tools for this as well.

For now, I want to start you off with a relatively simple but powerful trope to add to our current set of

considerations: symbolism.

SYMBOLISM

Using an object or action that means something other than its literal meaning.

*later on in the semester we will complicate this with a bit of semiotics, but for now think of it alongside what we discussed last class*

Symbolism… is a big part of visual rhetoric. Visual rhetorical scholars seek to understand the meaning made by, appeals and arguments made by, and the better utilization of visual media. In other words they read and write with images (at least in part) and apply the same scrutiny that we have, thus far, applied to texts/speech.

The slides today contain art by the graffiti artist Banksy. We will talk more about Banksy later in the term, but for now, here’s a couple quick piecesof his work.

What do these pieces appear to “say?”

What’s up with this Banksy dude, anyway?

Banksy & SymbolismThe most obvious symbol here is the semi-recurrent

rat, but one of the things (other than the rat) that Banksy is famous for is juxtaposing things that don’t

seem to go together (like the kids with the balloon standing on the pile of guns, the Native American with

the trespassing sign, etc.)

His work can be a little on the nose. Like the previous slide.

Let’s look at some other images, looking specifically for symbolism.

X

Is the message here really “you can fish for a baby with a soggy dollar?”

What might the baby and the dollar symbolize? Might we see other tropes here?

If anyone here watched the FOX show Dollhouse, maybe you can explain to us what it was about and why we see the lead actor here standing with a store mannequins.

What’s going on here?

Isn’t that K-Fed’s ex-wife?

Why is she dressed like that dude from Memphis. Oh, what was his name…

Hmmmm…

And now…

Let’s do a little writing. On the next slide are two different posters for a relatively famous movie. I’d like you to pair up and take a few minutes– using anything we’ve discussed in any of our class meetings so far and anything you’ve gotten from the readings– to do a rhetorical analysis of one or the other, explaining in your analysis why you think it is the better of the two to sell the movie to audiences.

HomeworkFor Tuesday: Read for class: Zane on Hunger Games. *it’s linked from the inquiry 2 assignment sheet*

Forum Prompt: It’s week three. Post three things you’ve noticed about life at Miami and what those three things tell you. Remember: think rhetoric!