Week 4 Post

This week we were required to email a few companies seeking out information. The information should be in regards to a certain title or job position I am interested in. With the intentions to get a closer inside look on what exactly these people are doing for a living. 

A couple years ago I lived in New York with my sister and her husband over a summer. I worked with my sister’s company as an intern, while working at a boxing gym in Manhattan. While I lived in New York, I managed to make a few fiends (crazy right!). Being that my sister and all of her friends are much older than I am, I thought it would be smart to network for potential jobs in the future. 

I decided to get int contact with one of my sister’s friends who works at Crossmedia, a media agency brand. Crossmedia plans, buys, optimizes and measures campaigns across every channel. They team up with creative agencies who produce the actual ads for the the clients campaigns, then Crossmedia decides how to go about distributing the creative content. They have major clients like Jagermeister, Adidas, RedBox, and Eastbay, just to name a few. 

I decided to reach out to my sister’s friend Lee, the lead marketing director. I want to get more insight on what kind of things these guys are doing over there in the big apple. I sent him an email on wednesday, reaching out to him for artifacts. He was stoked that I wanted to learn more about his position and said getting me some artifacts would be a problem. He was out of town the past few days so I was unable to get artifacts for this weeks class. He did promise me though he would send me over some schedules, mission statements, quarterly goals and anything else he could get his hands on. 

Along with emailing Lee I spent some time trying to wrap my head around this week’s reading. The article Backpacks vs. Briefcases was definitely not the most fun article to read but it was informative on different aspects about rhetoric. At the end of the article I answered the three questions.

1) We see examples of rhetoric seen or heard on a daily basis. One example is of course the use of advertisements to persuade someone into acting a certain way, thinking a certain way or just to inform someone about a certain idea or product. The people behind the advertisements do this for a living. They know that with certain services, or products, comes a certain audience that is trying to be reached. This means that every advertisement is thought of differently to accommodate that audience. 

2) Some ways we create rhetoric are with persuasion, contexts and reasoning. My personal favorite is the act of persuasion. Of course this power comes with great responsibility. Adolf Hitler was an amazing public speaker, able to persuade millions of people to act and think the way he wanted them too. If only he used his skills for the good of humanity instead of evil, he could have made a positive impact on our planet. 

3) One rhetorical situation that I have found myself in happened not too long ago. I was in the process of looking for a motorcycle, when I though I would tell my dad. He wasn’t excited and actually told me that its a dumb idea, and how he has known people who have gotten very hurt on motorcycles. This was a perfect time to use rhetoric to try and win him over. first I looked up the facts the the probability of getting in an accident, compared to cars. There was actually a higher chance of getting in a car accident! Next I at acted his emotions, expelling to him, that he’s the one that got into motorcycles in the first place. We use to ride dirt bikes all the time before I went to college and we ended up selling them. Finally I let him know that I would be safe and I wouldn’t be riding that often just for recreational use. 

Week 3 Post

Week three is upon us, school is beginning to get more familiar and homework is starting to get more fun.

For this week we were required to read two articles. One of which was a chapter from the clever book titled Everything's an Argument. The other was called "Murder Rhetorically," by Boyd.

I am going to talk about the chapter on identities in the book Everything's an Argument.

The purpose of rhetoric is to present a character that the audience can trust and relate to. Also rhetoric is designed in relation to creating passionate emissions through rational arguments.

Rhetoric really is an awesome tool for humans. When used correctly, rhetoric can be a weapon that can save lives, change laws, persuade governments, and bring people closer together,

Of course every situation rehires a tailored message based on the audience. For example, talking to kids about eating healthy might sound different compared to talking to a 40-year-old about health issues. One might sound more persuasive, with fun words and playful terms. While the other might sound more formal and directed to a more mature audience.

Also the roles people play can give them credibility on the subjects they are talking about. I don't know about you guys, but I don't think I would take advice about the stock exchange from a 4-year-old kid in elementary school. However I would take their advice on what the best equipment on the playground is, if I was in the industry of designing jungle gyms.

Response to Readings

After a very eventful first week of school, I start to get into the groove of balancing work, school and a social life.

In this Academic Writing course, we had some reading due for next class. Some of the content I found very interesting.

Lets start with the text Understanding Rhetoric. The first chapter acted as an introduction for the book. The authors casually explained their intentions and motivation behind the literature in relation to the illustrations. The authors believe that by explaining Rhetoric in such a unique way, it could help students become interested in an otherwise dry subject. The first chapter also briefly explained how to address different platforms of communication and the proper way to address them. In other words every situation is different and requires a tailored made message for that setting or point in time.

The second chapter in Understanding Rhetoric touched base on two famous philosophers. Plato and his apprentice Aristotle, are two guys who changed the way people thought was in ancient times and still influence the art of communication to this very day. Rhetoric was originally developed to facilitate discussion. Plato and Aristotle have very conflicting views of rhetoric. While Plato thought of rhetoric as a tool used to deceive and make people turn evil. Aristotle thought of rhetoric as a necessary tool for people to recognize the difference between good and bad. This chapter also explained the differences between Ethos, Pathos, and Lagos. Ethos is using ethics and credibility to get an argument across. Pathos is used as an emotional strategy to attack the heart of the audience. While Lagos deals with reason and logic to win over the viewer's mind. With these three weapons in your arsenal, you could convince anyone of anything. But be careful because with great power comes great responsibility.

The other assigned reading was out the book titled Everything's an Argument. In chapter 16, the author discusses academic arguments and writing. Explained in the chapter is how to differentiate academic writing and argumentation with other forms of communication. It goes into different characteristics of academic journals, debates and research articles. This chapter is very similar to a class I took a couple semesters ago. The class was "Argumentation and Debate". I learned a lot about conducting research in ways to win my side of the argument. This was fun because even if I didn't agree with the side I was on it really opened my eyes to appreciate and respect other's point of views. Not to mention it made me a very good arguer.

About Me "Blog Blurb"

Hey everyone!

My name is Dylan, named after Bob Dylan. Heard he's a pretty cool guy I guess, good musician to say the least. Well anyways enough about me. Do you come here often?

I was born and raised in San Diego. Chula Vista to be exact, its about five minutes from Mexico. I have one older sister who now lives in New York. I have exactly 3 friends, and a pit bull named Roxy. I moved to Santa Barbara after high school to attend SBCC. I just transferred over to AUSB this quarter. I am double majoring in Communication Media & Marketing.

At this exact moment in time, I'm sitting in an alley with a few homeless people, shootin' dice and steeling the wifi from Starbucks.

I love to surf, go on comping/backpacking trips, fish, workout/box, and cook! Most importantly I love to learn, laugh and make the most of my time on this small planet called Earth.

I work part-time at Nordstrom, currently saving up money to take a trip to Mars. Heard they have water over there, probably more than Southern California to be honest.

I have ideas of what I want to do for a living, but who knows whats going to happen. Maybe someone will walk up to me while I'm eating at a taco stand, then suddenly hand me a briefcase. What's in the briefcase you ask? Well its about 3 millions dollars! The stranger gives me a nod and encourages me to take the briefcase and move to France, where I meet my wife and my adopted child from the Amazon Rainforest. Now that sounds like a plan!

Well hopefully you have learned a little about me. If you ever want to hangout or crab some tea feel free to say waaasssuuuppp!