E-Portfolio

link: Marvin's E-Portfolio

intro:

Welcome to my E-Portfolio!
My name is Marvin Johnson III and I am a Psychology BA major, Spanish minor, and Schreyer Honors Scholar at The Pennsylvania State University (Class of 2014). Please, allow me to introduce myself and my E-portfolio further.

Fall 2009 - Spring 2010 -- Non-metriculating PSU Student:
My collegiate career with Penn State technically began in my senior year in High School. I became a non-metriculating student through a partnership between the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology in Jamison, PA and the Penn State Abington branch campus. I took 8 credits in 3 Penn State courses: Mammalian Anatomy, Physiology, and Physiology lab. By doing so, I started off my collegiate education strong by receiving an A- in each of the most rigorous courses I have ever taken.

Fall 2010 - Spring 2011 -- Freshman PSU Honors Scholar:
Before I could finish my education with Penn State Abington, I accepted a full-time undergarduate student offer to the Schreyer Honors College at Penn State University in University Park, Pennsylvania. I entered my freshman year with 24 credits and would finish the year with 59.5 credits. With my selected major of Psychology BA I hope to take my experiences in college to lay a foundation for a future career in counseling. Outside of gaining experience in three courses of Psychology (Honors introductory, Career, and Social Psychology), I began the process of completing a Spanish minor; with it I hope to become fluent in the language.

E-portfolio Introduction
This E-portfolio will act as a space for the compilation of works throughout my collegiate education and will serve to encapsulate who I am as a student. I will continue to post my written (essays) and verbal (speeches) work, and my internet weblogs (blogs). Finally, if you would like to reach me personally, you may do so under the contact page.

Kindle Ad Magic

Considering my readership is made up almost entirely of the individuals in my LA101H group, I thought I would pay tribute to our successful presentation with a little more Kindle fun. Since I absolutely love quality advertisements, I have to hand it to Amazon for its marketing campaign of their popular ereader. Whilst perusing Kindle’s Youtube page, there was not a bad ad in the bunch, but my favorites were surely the original commercials.

Today’s technology seems to be most successful when the complexity only comes from the number of features it allows a consumer to discover. Otherwise, the goal for marketers is to make their products seem simple in order to give them character. Kindle understands that the consumers they truly need to win over are those who love the simplicity of books and are wary about the coldness of an electronic device as opposed to the nostalgic warmth of a book.

This commercial surely delivers the desired appeal with a creative and stripped-down stop animation approach; Amazon makes it perfectly clear from the start that with the Kindle they hope to preserve the simple artistic pleasure a book brings with their new gadget. The music lacks complexity as well, as it is only a piano and a woman singing. Nothing about it sounds or looks "electronic" in any way; on the contrary, everything has a home-made warmth to it. Meanwhile, Kindle literally answers the question it poses in the song: “Will you fly me away?” as if they are answering the inquiries of skeptical potential buyers who are not sold on whether or not kindle will give them the escape into the stories that they find in the pages of a book.

Colorful, creative, and simple; Amazon portrays its kindle in a light that is contrary to the perceptions of those clinging onto the traditional book. The commercial mirrors a product that has character, not the cold, calculative feel that resembles an image model such as Apple’s . While Steve Jobs and company embrace the seemingly sterile yet streamlined design of their electronics, Amazon hopes to maintain a sense of charm that is palatable to book readers who are fearful of the potential tech domination of ereaders.

Advocacy in Civic Life

Today’s Rhetoric and Civic Life class centered around the concept of advocacy, which is essentially the placement of one’s support behind a cause, a group, or a concept. What I found most interesting about advocacy is that a person is changed by what he or she advocates and he or she in turn affects and shapes the advocacy group in question. I was personally intrigued by a story by my classmate John Lee regarding how a light suggestion for him to swim turned into a position on the team and furthermore roles as a lifeguard and a swim instructor. Looking back on his story, I thought I might share my own experience in an advocacy that has changed me and I hope to change.

Five years ago I reluctantly began attending my church’s youth group in order to have something to do after school that my mother found constructive to my spiritual growth beyond Sunday school (which I had just outgrown). It seemed like the natural next step in my journey yet I did not really embrace it until I met lifelong friends in my first mission trip in Philadelphia. Since then I have been changed in so many ways; not only have I participated in missions from Montreal to Guatemala City, I have witnessed a spiritual growth within myself. I am currently with my third “youth group”, a campus ministry called Reformed University Fellowship (RUF), and while my youth ministries have affected me, I am poised to affect my youth ministries as well.

Although I am merely a freshman, I am prepared to take on any leadership roles that may come across my path in my coming years in college with RUF. I have led in one bible study already and have even returned to my high school ministry to lead middle school students in their study of scripture. This summer I also plan to begin work at my home church to coordinate a college ministry for students home from college starting this summer. The student ministries I once so hesitantly advocated became a force of great growth in my life, and in turn I hope to do the same in my mission to strengthen these groups.

"For Your Viewing Pleasure"; Visual Rhetoric

This week’s lecture in LA101H focused on the rhetoric of visual images. As humans we are a very visual species, and images can have a powerful effect on emotion and a strong influence on the way we approach things. Our love of aesthetically pleasing images has transcended the canvas, and now visual art has found a home in some of the most surprising locations. With the advent of the computer and sophisticated software in particular, technology pushes the boundaries of artistic expression in ways never before seen. One example of art is album artwork; the covers of music CDs and formerly records.

Album artwork is the first impression between an album and the potential consumer; it is the sales pitch which finds its importance in the fact that we simply can’t help but “judge a book by its cover”. These are some of my favorite pieces of album artwork from my own music collection:

One of the keys to an aesthetic image is the utilization of a focal point in order to present an image the eye can follow its focus upon. The album The Resistance by Muse does this so well with the clear lines formed by the bridge-like structure and all of the geometric shapes meet at the image of the earth. Meanwhile, a mosaic of hexagons creates an array of colors that give the entire image an interstellar, science fiction feel. Meanwhile, all colors are brighter toward the center, adding to the focal point, while the gray border enhances the color vibrancy.



Another intriguing cover is Audioslave’s Revelations album. Coincidentally, this cover also has an image of the earth on it, in this case featuring a continent shaped like the band’s flame logo (Visible in the “O” on the right-hand side). Focal points play a big role in this cover as well in that the image is of a portion of the earth causing the image to be broken up between the planet and the blackness of space. Meanwhile, the band’s name is spaced so that it appears to wrap around the back of the cover and the name of the album is offset from the artist name with a smaller font size and is interestingly upside down.  All images are slightly off-center and it serves an important aesthetic role in that it is much less boring than having all images perfectly centered.

Copyrights, Memes, and Clichés; Oh, My!

In class the other day, we learned of the importance of copyright laws and the powers they hold over electronic media today. On top of that, we learned the limitations of copyright in the form of fair use. One of the more notable examples of fair use we covered regarded the use of films. When using a copyrighted motion picture, the limits of fair use include the nature, amount, and commercial impact of material used. Basically only small portions of a film can be used in a way that does not serve as a substitute for the original work.

The use of movies often is found on the internet in the form of internet memes, which are ideas spread throughout the internet and take on a pop culture status. These concepts are both dispersed throughout the internet and are reshaped in a variety of ways; the memes are at the mercy of the creativity of those who find them. Memes are such a fascinating aspect of the internet that there is an entire website dedicated to following and analyzing them.

The website is called KnowYourMeme.com and it is a database attempting to organize the incomprehensible breadth of the countless memes circulating throughout the internet. Although it is not a perfect website (searching can be difficult and popups can occur), it is both informative and extremely entertaining.

One especially entertaining meme is titled “Supercut Movie Clichés”. This particular meme encompasses varying movie clips that share a commonality such as a catchphrase (i.e. “He didn’t make it”, “We’re not in Kansas anymore”, etc.) and cycles through the commonality in each of the different movies. The comedic value lies in the worn-out phrases in critically-acclaimed movies. It would seem like a no-brainer to avoid these lines (such as “no-brainer”), but they constantly occur in these films. With respect to copyright, the videos are applicable in that the clips of the movies are extremely brief and serve a separate purpose so as not to replicate the original work.

Several examples can be found on knowyourmeme.com, but this is one of my favorites:

“We’ve got company”

Something Strange in the Hidden Valley Pies...

Since I showcased my favorite motion picture advertisement, “Write the Future”, last week, I thought I would show you one of my favorite still picture ads for this week’s installment of Rhetoric and Civic Life. This one is brought to you by Hidden Valley Ranch, and I discovered it so long ago that I can’t quite remember how I stumbled upon it. All I know is that I can vividly remember the image of the boy stealing that broccoli pie!

The style of the advertisement oozes classic Americanism from the polka-dot drapes to the windowsill pies. Hidden valley is clearly trying to recreate the mid-20^th century in order to invoke a classic image. This is important because the dominant portion of the advertisement is the image of the kitchen itself. The old-fashioned setting invokes images of the simplicities of the 50s and 60s and may even conjure up images of grandma’s kitchen.

All in all, the image is one of familiarity, a common tool of advertisements (especially those of a more comedic nature). The goal is to begin with a familiar scene and then introduce an element of the unexpected. The setting is so large that it does not take the reader much effort to notice the kitchen, so in that regard it is recognized first. The unexpected occurs in the focal point of the advertisement, the image the eyes are easily drawn to.

Although the setting is apparent first, the eye is actually drawn to the image at the center of the ad, the boy sneaking a pie off the windowsill, neatly set apart from the inside by the window. Here we find the beauty of the advertisement: the alteration of the American image of the apple pie and the mischievous boy (a la Tom Sawyer) with a Hidden Valley edge to it. The viewer recognizes that the apple pie is in fact a broccoli pie with hidden valley ranch as the lattice. It makes the broccoli look downright decadent and it exemplifies the caption of “Where Vegetables Are Delectable”, a perception of a literal “Hidden Valley” where broccoli is as tasty as homemade pie.

One final point of note is the use of reds and greens; the two colors are complementary and make a clear contrast between the kitchen scene inside and the pie theft scene outside. Also, there is no accident over the incorporation of the boy’s red hair and the cherry tomatoes topping the pies for added aesthetic effect. I find this advertisement simply memorable!

Write The Future

Since we nearly wrapped up speeches today in LA101H based on rhetorical analyses of advertisements, I still find myself in a commercial state of mind. Up until the point in which I realized there would be a 4-6 minute time limit on the speech (including the time of the advertisement!) I had one commercial in mind. Sadly, the ad is a marathon clocking in at 2 minutes 53 seconds. It is definitely a worthy 2:53 spent however, and it is the kind of video where you pick up something new with each view and are never entertained any less than the first watch. However, such an ad would not possibly restrict itself to the time limit of the speech, so I thought this would be a better arena to state my case.

The name of the commercial is “Write the Future” and it is under the Nike label. As my classmate Tessa Johnstone so eloquently put it, often times Nike is not trying to sell a product; rather, it attempts to offer consumers a lifestyle. Although in this ad Nike clearly hopes to generate interest in the world cup (personally, they had me at “Drogba”), it makes the World Cup out to be a grandiose cosmic force of destiny impacting the players, fans, and nations involved instead of just a sporting event.

This epic advertisement takes the viewer from a meager home in the Ivory Coast to the halls of the British monarchy and everywhere in between while highlighting soccer's impact. Meanwhile, it is combined with the perfect blend of comedy (the lackey getting his butt kicked at table tennis is Roger Federer, priceless!) and soccer action to make a believer out of any World Cup doubter.

You may not know who Wayne Rooney is, but the commercial makes you want to know who that bulldog-faced Brit is and why he has England’s fate on a string. Even if you don’t recognize the mastry of Ronaldinho, you still want to know where you can see moves worthy of the emulation of Brazilian dancers and Kobe Bryant. The ad may even have female viewers hoping to get better acquainted with the Portuguese stud with the perfectly coiffed hair (Cristiano Ronaldo).

Nike might not be trying to push a lifestyle this time around, but if they are trying to sell us anything it is the idea that these players are titans who shape the world from the ends of their cleats. If you don’t know their names, you better start catching up.

Here is the commercial itself...

…And here is the “Making Of”

Letter by a Rhetor, Pt. 2

I suggest you read my post from two weeks ago, “Letter by a Rhetor” in order to understand this situation in its entirety, but I will still summarize here.

My roommate owns a very odd pair of shoes; they are called Vibram Five-Fingered shoes and they are essentially a low-top shoe with individual compartments for the toes (like toe socks except they are sturdy like a shoe). The two of us were in the fitness center two weeks ago when, to my roommate’s dismay, he was approached by a member of the staff and was asked to leave the fitness center and change his shoes because the Five-Fingers were prohibited due to safety concerns which the staffer did not specifically explain to my roommate.

My roommate was naturally less than pleased with the situation because his shoes re designed for exercise. Therefore, he decided to write a letter to the head of the fitness building in order to have his shoes reinstated on the grounds that they are exercise shoes and offer no less protection to the feet when walking around a weight room than a pair of running shoes.

He naturally hoped for some sort of acknowledgement, yet he has received no reply in any form in the last two weeks. He was aware that by this point his letter would most likely go unanswered without further correspondence from his part. Therefore, he wrote out a follow-up letter in order to re-establish his aims.

It is important to note that my roommate began by establishing himself as a patron of the fitness program and the sender of the previous letter. He then appeals to the director by underlining the redeeming qualities of the fitness center as well as the improvement in the behavior of the employee who curtly excused him from the premises two weeks prior. He demonstrates his desire to continue working out at the same fitness center with his attention to the qualities of the fitness center. Then, however, he makes a claim that the fitness center has the potential for further self-enhancement, yet this effort is being held back by “restrictive footwear policies”. He goes on to build a strong logos argument by reflecting on his professor’s dismay over the policy and by underlining the purposes of the footwear found on the Vibram website. He also makes it clear that he understands the goal of marketing on the website yet the information should still be considered. Finally, his call to action personally confronts the director and implores him or her to try these shoes for themselves to truly understand their benefits (establishing his ethos as an owner himself).

It is still in the form of a first draft (POSTED BELOW), so let me know what you think about it. What can he do to help this letter yield a timely response from the management and possibly a change in policy?
To Whom It May Concern:

My name is (Name), and I am an active member of the (Fitness Program) and regular (Fitness Building) attendee.  Two weeks ago I wrote a letter to the Director of the (Fitness Building) about an ill-fated encounter with a white building employee and my distress at hearing that five-finger shoes were no longer permitted on the (Fitness Building) premises.  This is simply a follow-up letter to confirm that the first letter was received and inquire about any review of policies.

Since the incident, the offending employee has acted with grace and professionalism toward me and my gym partner.  I can most likely attribute this change to effective management, and I thank you for any action you may have taken.  In general, the (Fitness Building) is an enjoyable place to exercise, play sports, and meet socially with friends and teammates; however, restrictive footwear policies keep the fitness center from achieving its maximum potential.

Over the past two weeks I have had discussions with friends and faculty about restrictions on five-finger shoes at the White Building.  Just yesterday I spoke with (Professor Name), a (College Name) mathematics instructor who shares my love for five-finger shoes.  When he heard about the (Fitness Building)’s policies he was taken aback, and informed me about his new favorite pair of shoes, the Vibram Komodo Sport.  Vibram’s website (vibramfivefingers.com) describes the shoes with sporty phrases like “with today's athlete in mind,”  “aggressive multisport design,” and “functional improvements that appeal to the most active fitness enthusiast.”  As I read the description, I thought about the kind of activities I do at the (Fitness Building) and how the shoes could improve my performance.

Of course, a company website must always champion its products, sometimes even with inflated words.  I encourage you to visit the site, as well as research other companies, read about both the medical faults and benefits, and perhaps even discover the joy of owning your own pair.  I was skeptical until I put on my own five-fingers and felt the closeness with the ground, the control of my body, and the thrill of barefoot running that only five-finger shoes can provide. The largest downside to the new method of activity, as Vibram strongly indicates in its literature, is that the athlete must learn to use the shoes properly and slowly. However, as with all equipment provided at the (Fitness Building), patrons must exercise with care and control.

Sincerely,

(Name)

“If you only knew the power of the Dark Side”

Today I was personally introduced to the dark side of rhetoric and civic life. I received news from home that a former teacher of mine was removed from my former high school due to a blog she published. In this blog, she vented her frustrations and propagated her disdain toward her profession by insulting students, parents, and other teachers.

Let me be clear that my goal is not to cast disrepute upon my former teacher and in no way do I feel joy from this situation; her class was a positive experience for me and I hope she will learn from this unfortunate mistake. That being said, the content of her blog was offensive, distasteful, and had no place online.

I naturally looked into this matter online to get clarity on the situation and see how people were reacting to it. On the Doylestown-Buckingham-New Britain Patch’s website, I found many comments located on both the story and directly on the teachers blog via screenshots that were posted on the site. To my dismay, many of the comments were inappropriate or utterly repulsive. I have learned in my study of rhetoric that although we have the freedom to speak our minds, it is a privilege we must exercise responsibly. The worst way anyone can treat another’s irresponsible rhetoric is by sinking to that person’s level to personally debase him or her.

However, there were some comments that were constructive; one user who claimed to be a member of my graduating class engaged in what looked like the beginnings of an open-minded debate with another user. Below is another notable comment, written by an employee of the site:

“I am almost finished my studies in secondary education and teacher certification at Saint Joseph's University so this story really hits home.

I just want to get out of the way that everyone makes mistakes. So I think this teacher should be given a chance to redeem herself, though she did not give her students that very same opportunity.

Now with that being said, there is NO way she should have posted her feelings about her students on a blog! Yes there is free speech, but sometimes we have to be sensible! You have to know that a stunt like this will cost you your job especially if you post on an identifiable blog. How could one be so careless?

Secondly, if you feel this way, and trust me teacher's deal with a lot and do need an outlet, why not keep a PRIVATE journal where no one can view it? It seems to me that not only does this teacher need a lesson on how to properly use the internet, she also needs a lesson on teaching. It seems from many of the responses, she was a horrible teacher, so maybe the students behavior was a reflection of her lack of classroom management.

This teacher needs to lay low and seriously consider whether teaching is what she was meant to do in life. If it's she needs to 1. Apologize over and over again. 2. Take classes on classroom management and teachers strategy. 3. Maybe take some anger management classes. And finally 4. PRAY that someone sees her efforts to rectify her mistake and give her another chance.

I HOPE she's learned her lesson!”

It is a quality comment because the author holds the teacher responsible for her actions without condemning her; meanwhile she provides possible reasoning for her actions and constructive solutions with which to move on from the situation. It is well organized, insightful, and informative; it was a far cry from other comments which were riddled with profanity and served no purpose other than as vulgar regurgitations of negative emotion.

The lesson to be learned here is that rhetoric must be used responsibly and appropriately; it should not be used to disparage others to provide an emotional vent for the rhetor. The teacher and the commenters are perfect examples of the false sense of superiority with which we equip ourselves when others act in a manner we find deplorable. By doing so, we threaten our own sense of dignity when our language becomes more caustic than that of the opposition.



Letter by a Rhetor

In class this week, we learned how to recognize and analyze rhetorical situations when they arise. I found it a valuable lesson since I had been having difficulty up until this point being able to find rhetoric when it is seemingly all around me. Indicative of my ignorance was that as soon as the class period ended I had a realization that some serious rhetoric was going on in my own dorm room.

It all started when I went to the gym with my roommate. He was very fond of his unorthodox shoes which encapsulated each of his toes which I could only describe as “toe socks but in the form of a sturdy, rugged low-top”. At one point in our workout I watched from afar as one of the employees approached my roommate and it turned out he had to change shoes since they would not permit him to wear his “Vibram Five-Fingered Shoes” in the gym, citing safety concerns as the reason. The dissatisfaction lingered on and he decided he would write a letter to the gym in an attempt to lift the restriction on his brand of shoe.

As I look back on the situation, it is a perfect example of exigence; the issue at hand that compels the rhetor (or sender) to attempt to make a change in order to rectify the situation. The exigence is clearly the prohibition of Five-Fingered Shoes, and my roommate plays the role of sender. Naturally his argument begins with his personal account of the incident in question. Also, he understands that his audience (the receiver) will most likely be some sort of manager presiding over the facilities or staff. Therefore he utilizes pathos to invoke outrage by explaining the behavior of the employee; he uses some of his strongest language to express his strife to a nearly hyperbolic level. He has an understanding that he cannot rely solely on pathos, however; he must use logic and commonsense to go from a complaining customer to an informed patron. Therefore, he launches into a logos-based argument through his past experiences backed by statistics he researched. Also, he makes an attempt at building his credibility through ethos by explaining his background with wearing the shoes and his experiences with accepting their benefits. As the sender, it is my roommate’s job to understand his receiver so that he can properly convey his message and settle the exigence to his benefit.

Here is the letter in its entirety:

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is (Name), and I am an active member of the (Fitness Program) and regular (Gym) attendee.  On Tuesday of this week, a gym employee approached me and asked me if I “had another pair of shoes.”  When I replied that I did not, he asked me to leave the primacies.  His objection stemmed from my Vibram Five-Finger shoes, which he claimed were against gym policy.  As I continued to inquire as to why my shoes were objectionable, unsafe, or hazardous, the employee became increasingly belligerent.  He appeared to have no basis for his request, and when I sought to understand his reasoning, he grew angry, began insulting me, and proceeded to belittle me with derogatory language.  Understandably, I sought to avoid a long cold walk back to my dorm, but eventually conceded and went in search of alternative footwear.

Upon return, I showed proof of my new shoes as to avoid future conflict.  As I walked away, I heard the employee converse with a coworker, audibly calling me a “Jackass.”  The ordeal was disappointing, not only because of his lack of professionalism, but because his request marks an end to wearing my five-finger shoes at the White Building.  As a member of the Penn State fitness program, I have worn my five-finger shoes to exercise in the past without conflict, injury, or incident.  The shoes are designed for running and lifting exercises and naturally strengthen calve and ankle muscles.  I use them for sport training and, because of stronger lower legs, reap the benefit of added agility, speed, and balance.

Appropriately, the advent of five-finger shoes has shocked the fitness world.  My home gym in Lindenhurst, Illinois is a satellite of Northwestern University’s research hospital, and the gym struggled with permitting five-finger shoes.  Eventually, the shoes became popular among the gym staff (it was a staff member who first brought the shoes to my attention). Unlike other minimalist footwear (such as water shoes or sandals), five-finger shoes are closed toed, form fitting, hardy footwear that provide adequate protection both on the foot’s sole and upper skin.  Some trainers express unease about the danger of dropping free weights on five-finger shoes; however, the thin mesh or durable upper on running and athletic shoes provides no more protection to falling weight.  A study by the University of Arkansas found that only 14.6% of fitness related injuries were foot related, and of those 17.8% occurred at the local gym.  Many of these are stress fractures and contusions found in long distance runners who simply work their feet too hard.  I have never experienced an injury from wearing five-fingered shoes; the light, heel-less strikes of running in five-fingers have improved my running style and reduced stress on my knees.

After my embarrassing encounter with gym staff this week, I felt compelled to recount my experience, if not to encourage professionalism in customer service, then to suggest a review of the gym’s footwear policies.  Five-finger shoes are not a “hippy” trend or fashion statement, they are a legitimate tool for fitness improvement and sports training.  Those individuals who wear five-finger shoes are knowledgeable of the ideals of a healthy lifestyle and dedicated to personal fitness.  I strongly encourage the (fitness program) to evaluate the benefits of all types of footwear and teach employees proper protocol in handling difficult interpersonal situations.

This I believe Podcast

YouTube Stars: Why So Popular?

I was browsing through new videos on YouTube and I realized that although I was aware that YouTube ranks its users by number of subscribers in various different categories, I never really thought to peruse the videos of these “top dogs”. For some of these users, the concept is simply the host giving his or her take on current events and various other topics he or she deems of interest to the audience. I wanted to examine the rhetoric of one YouTube sensation and see why he is so successful, entertaining, and persuasive to viewers.

With 270,953 all-time subscribers on YouTube, user “The WillofDC” holds the top spot for most subscribers under the news & politics category with his show “YouTube Winners and Losers”. According to his info page, he shares YouTube news each Monday, shares videos, channels, and tweets, and comments he enjoys each Wednesday, and finally he discusses the winners and losers of YouTube based on all-time subscriptions every Friday.

 So, what is it that makes him so successful? I watched his most recent video (A Monday episode), “YouTube News: Homepage Horror?!?!” He starts off his video by appealing to his twitter followers’ topic requests for the video and jumps right into his thoughts on the new YouTube homepage and, by doing so, he makes viewers understand that he listens to their concerns. He clearly disagrees with the homepage changes, yet he goes about expressing his opinions by not taking a stance against YouTube by praising it, taking a “learn to love it” approach on the changes, and blaming users who wouldn’t stop the change from happening while putting down the new changes enacted by YouTube. He makes a clear call to action to organize YouTube, but it is strange how he outwardly expresses his political stance as liberal (perhaps because it is not a political channel, but it seems unnecessary).

All in all, I believe that what makes TheWillofDC so successful his that he clearly puts a lot of effort into his videos; he does his homework and he appeals to the fans and interacts with the audience in a relaxed manner (On top of that, he consistently responds to viewer comments). I am not a rabid enough YouTuber to need to follow news around YouTube close enough to subscribe, but he demonstrates a passion and understanding of YouTube that would easily appeal to a dedicated YouTube follower.

50 Years Later: John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address

Brief Introduction: In this blog, I will be exploring each week the use of rhetoric in life, television, and various other means of communication I come across as a part of my English and speech course, LA101H. Hopefully my understanding of the intricacies in speech will develop as I continue to grow and learn throughout this course and it will be reflected in my posts.

It has been half a century since President John F. Kennedy began his legendary presidency in historic fashion by delivering his stirring inaugural address to the people of America and of the world. Throughout this speech, President Kennedy makes it clear that the scope of his audience lies beyond his own countrymen; he calls out to the global community that a new era will be ushered in and the people of earth (both friend and foe) now possess the power to write the finale of the race of man on earth. Kennedy opens his speech by impressing upon his audience the foundations of the United States by using phrases such as “revolutionary beliefs” and the “rights of man” and repeating the word “forbears” as a means to instill unity as a nation before addressing the world. He continues his call to unity by pledging to stand by the friendly nations of the world in support of their freedom, well-being, and advancement in this new era. He reaffirms each call to action with noble justifications by appealing to God and to the values of freedom and liberty. Meanwhile he continues to evoke emotional bonds by referring to nations “sister republics” and to the UN as “our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace”. Kennedy then addresses potential enemies and recognizes their role as well in preserving the earth during this era of constant nuclear threat; he delivers a request (instead of a pledge) to urge for peace for the sake of mankind. President Kennedy then goes on to repeat the phrase “Let both sides” in reference to these adversaries, but each time speaks of ways in which these sides can come together to quell the threat of mass destruction, for peace is the only way to truly ensure the safety of the world in a nuclear age. Finally, he closes by calling his audience to action by making the people aware that their time to make history is present and in asking them rhetorical questions like “Will you join in that historic effort?” and reminding the people to “ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country”. By doing so he puts the power in the hands of the people while at the same time instilling hope that he will lead with them as their president.