The Year in Review

For me, literature is a type of written or visual work that expresses meaning and artistic value. By this, literature can be considered any type of novel, painting, movie, short film, etc. that has an impact on its viewers and signifies more than just the words/images shown. Thus, literature will likely call its viewers to action, point out flaws within society, or even show something good within society that will impact the viewer after that video has been seen. Because of this, a movie that only has fart jokes and no lasting motives after the movie is done is not a piece of literature, but a comedy movie that uses satire (like South Park at times) that is mostly intended to make its viewers laugh but still attempts to show its viewers flaws within society and its need to change should therefore be considered a work of literature. Most people would only consider written pieces literature, and although these tend to be the most common examples, artwork and videos can still be an empowering piece of literature that many times has more impact on this technological society.

For me, the most impactful piece of literature I have encountered is the movie Blood Diamond. Today, many movies/TV shows are solely created to entertain its audiences, but this movie did much more than just that. Through strong graphics and exceptional acting, this movie seeks to impact its audience for more than just the final scene. This is one of the few movies that shows the violence and wrong going on in certain places in Africa, like child armies, raided villages, and slave labor camps. Moreover, after watching a rich and empowering movie, the audience is triggered to react as the movie calls its viewers to contribute to ending this violence, even by simply just refusing to purchase a blood (conflict) diamond--diamonds mined in African slave camps. The movie was quite successful which led to a decrease in these conflict diamonds as the demand for such diamonds drastically decreased, and therefore the supply decreased as well. I specifically chose this movie because many times people criticize it as being a bit historically inaccurate (even though most parts are based off very true instances) and more graphic than necessary. For some people, this may be true. But for me and nearly everyone I have discussed this movie with believe that this movie has a lasting impact on us as we learn more about the outside world and seek to bring change. A piece of literature like this is much more than just entertainment, it is impressive and continues to play even after the final scene.

1) What did you learn this year?

One of the biggest things I learned this year is being able to analyze rhetorical strategies. I have become much better at looking at passages/films and being able to see what the creator did to perceive a certain message. 

2) What do you think you'll take from this class as you move on to your senior year and above?

I will become better with writing longer essays as well as the process of writing them. Peer editing was stressed a lot and I will more fully use that so I can continue to make better drafts rather than rushing it all in one night. 

3) What did you struggle with?

I struggled with Writing to Show. I spent a lot of time on the assignments but never really got a good hang of it. 

4) What did you wish we had done more of?

I wish we had more days where we did something different for a day, similar to like those days where we analyzed the poem about a highschool basketball player and the scene from the Halloween movie. These days are interesting for it's something new and different, and I feel like  I learn more because it keeps me more anxious to see what is next. 

Rhetorical Situation Report

Exigence

Only in recent years has legalizing marijuana become an issue that has actually been put into effect by a few states in the USA. Many states have actually legalized medicinal marijuana, but lately, states are beginning to legalize recreational marijuana. As of now, only four states have legalized marijuana recreationally (Colorado, Washington, Alaska, and Washington D.C.) and are soon to become five (Oregon). Throughout my research on this topic, I have realized that the legalization of marijuana is mostly separated between two issues: medicinally and recreationally. In order to condense my research, I decided to mostly look at the recreational benefits of marijuana yet still spend a portion of my research on the medicinal effects because that is still a factor in the legalizing recreationally. In broad terms, the main supporting factors of this issue seem to be its tax benefits and health benefits (for medicinal use), while the main counterargument is simply the negative effects of consuming marijuana. Since this seems to be the main counterargument, it gave me even more incentive to research on the recreational benefits for if I only researched medicinally, this argument would not make much sense. When looking at a common website that explores the use of marijuana, the Cannabist, I took notice of a fact that supporters of legalizing recreational marijuana would be very pleased to see: "Based on the Colorado Department of Revenue data, around $36.4 million of recreational marijuana was sold this January, compared with about $14.69 million sold the same month last year. 'This is really what we expected and hope to see: a shift in the underground market to a regulated market,' said legalization advocate Mason Tvert. 'It’s clearly generating significant revenue for the state'" (Cannabist). This information is a large reason why the notion to legalize marijuana recreationally even exists—to bring in tax revenue and slowly diminish the black market. When Colorado, the first state to legalize marijuana, reports back a heightened amount of tax collected, it brings forth incentives for more states to legalize recreationally. Still, even with a positive outlook on the tax benefits, recreational marijuana still does not "Keep in mind [...] that there are negative effects of smoking too much pot or using it for non-medicinal purposes. When overused or abused, pot can lead to dependency and mess with your memory and emotions" (Businessinsider). This article actually looks at all the medical benefits of marijuana, showing that its legalization will benefit millions of people medically, but consumers must still remember that it can have negative outcomes. 

Audience

As a healthy highschool student in the state of Texas, I likely fall into the group in which this topic will least involve. Nonetheless, since this topic involves such a vast majority of people and will likely grow in the future, it will very likely affect me later in my life. Bitzer even says that "a rhetorical audience consists only of those persons who are capable of being influenced by discourse and of being mediators of change" (Situation). By these words, the legalization of marijuana holds an audience that consists of each citizen of the United States. Let me explain. Since more and more states are pushing forward in legalizing marijuana while no state is pushing backwards, this issue will more than likely come to affect each state. Now, even if a state has legalized marijuana, it does not mean a citizen will have to take part in its consumption, especially if that citizen is younger than 21 and legally cannot consume marijuana. Because of this, people would argue that not everyone is an audience of this issue. This does not hold true because each time marijuana is bought legally, a certain percentage of tax will go to the government. The government can then choose to use that money in a way that can effect any citizen in that state, similar to how Colorado will choose to spend 2.3 million dollars made from marijuana in the last year to fund schools. In more specific terms of audience, the people that are most effected by this issue (in recreational terms) seem to be citizens above the age of 21 who are interested in consuming marijuana as well as government officials who choose what to spend the money made off its taxes.

http://www.thecannabist.co/2015/03/11/colorado-pot-tax-results-january-2015/31462/

 - this website may look suspicious for its odd name, but it specializes in the information regarding marijuana (both recreational and medicinally) and therefore has a lot a of expert testimony.

http://www.businessinsider.com/health-benefits-of-medical-marijuana-2014-4

Chapter 1: "The Medium Is the Metaphor"

After reading Ch 1 of Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, I couldn't agree more with his main claim: "how our own tribe is undergoing a vast and trembling shift from the magic of writing to the magic of electronics" (13). Although this book was written in 1984, it still resembles striking similarities to that of our culture today. In all honesty, the only difference seems to be that our culture has become even more severely "transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business" (4) than it was when this was written. Today, with the inclusion of the Internet—Postman's television—has brought an even greater transformation towards this era of entertainment. In actuality, if Postman were able to rewrite this chapter today, with the presence of the Internet, his claim would only be strengthened. The internet shows this transformation in work as it combines texts with images, yet people are much more attracted to the images than the text (you likely noticed the images down below before you read the word "after" in my first sentence).

Postman makes a very bold claim when he states, "that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death" (4). Like much of this chapter, this point seems to be exaggerated but it does make a good point: our lives have simply become long series of entertainment. By continuing to live lives where "we must look to the city of Las Vegas [...] as a metaphor of our national character and aspiration" (3), we invite a lifelong experience of mindless entertainment where our culture seems to almost come to standstill, unlike our past culture of moving forward. 

A recent event in our classroom that seems to support Postman's claim is when we evaluated different brochures from different Colleges. In most cases, students would be far more inclined to look over a Harvard brochure filled with bright colors and pretty pictures than the brochure of Berkeley, filled with black and white text and a few smaller pictures. To be quite honest, the brochure of Berkeley actually seemed to hold much more valuable and important information, but I too fall into the problems of society for if I were sitting in a waiting room and could pick one brochure to look at, I would evaluate the one of Harvard in a heartbeat. 

One final point that I had to make was as I was reading this first chapter, I couldn't stop myself from remembering the text I had to read over summer, The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr. Both these texts were remarkably similar for they both demonstrate the effects of a society shifting from a medium of technology over text. In fact, there were specific chapters in Carr's book where he mentioned how he, and the majority of others, would rather view something with striking pictures than plain text. This book, written in 2011, shows how our society hasn't really moved forward 26 years after Postman writes about the same ideas. That simple argument proves Postman's thesis. 

Who would you rather have as your president?

First Amendment

To many Americans, the First Amendment is treasured and therefore should be protected and not tampered with at all costs. To me, and writers like Charles R. Lawrence III--composer the of essay "On Racist Speech"--and Karl Sharro--composer of the essay Charlie Hebdo and the Right to be Offended--the first amendment is important but it should have restrictions for when it becomes something hurtful rather than a protection of one's freedom. The amendment was originally created so that people could be free of danger when speaking out against what they felt was wrong, in the founding fathers case, the British king. Now, it's becoming a discussion of whether or not people should be allowed to make racist remarks or bash on another one's Religion. These cases should have restrictions and shouldn't protect people for those remarks are not to speak out against what's wrong, but instead perform the opposite of doing the wrongdoing.
Now, even though I said there should be restrictions on the extreme, I still do believe that people have the right to be able to let their opinions and voices be heard, even if they may be mildly offensive. Only once it becomes extreme, like racism or mockery of someone's Religion, should an action be done against that person's speech. For example, back in my Middle School days, one of my fondest memories was when a student at our school put together a page on Facebook named "St Laurence Memes"--a website designed to have light fun of circumstances/teachers at our school. First, the website started off with funny memes designed for light humor against our teachers. The problem arised when one student decided to create a meme that was quite demeaning to one specific teacher, a picture that I still hope that teacher never has to see. Because of this incident, everyone that decided to post a picture was equally in trouble, something that I found wrong. Before, the students that were acting harmlessly never intended to do anything wrong and by having them be punished is an infraction of our rights. Yes, I do believe that that one person who posted something so wrong deserves to be in trouble, and in that same way I believe that the first amendment should be treated with some control for those extreme circumstances.
Moreover, the main discussion seems to be on whether or not there should any control on the first amendment, and I definitely do believe there should be. People should not be ridiculed by others freely.

- this picture is about the march in Paris regarding free speech after a terrorist attack-