Assignment 11

Is the composer respectful of the audience, treating them as intelligent, thoughtful people?

         Yes. I feel that Stein is expecting that those reading her article are intelligent. Stein uses very extensive vocabulary that takes time and patience to understand at points. Also the ideas that Stein uses to explain the ad are very intelligent concepts. For example constitutive rhetoric, it is the idea that ads tell the viewer what they think and believe.

What does the composer assume the audience knows or believes?

         Stein assumes that readers do not know about the commercial and that they have never seen the commercial. She includes a very detailed synopsis of the commercial. This allows the reader to know what happens in the commercial even if they cannot view the commercial.

Are the emotional appeals appropriate to the issue?

          Yes. This is not an issue that people would normally get overtly emotional about. Stein approaches the topic in a professional way. She does not pour in emotion or freak out over how Mac went about their ad, instead she discusses it in an intellectual way.

[Group Work] Reflection

          I felt that my group worked well together. We all shared ideas and listened to each other. We were able to extrapolate and get link ideas together and form new ones. To me it was not hard to work with other people's ideas. It made me open my eyes and see that the way I see things is not the only possibility. When I think about how others may interpret things it expands my ideas and reminds me to not be rude in my writing. But instead I should be respectful to any interpretation. 

         I liked the conclusion one-pager. It wrapped up the ideas that were left behind by Stein. Once you have read the article the reader does feel like Mac was the way to go because it broke the monotony of IBM's Big Brother status. But the constitutive rhetoric that was used brainwashed people into believeing IBM was bad and that Mac was good. I do not know what Stein's view on the commercial or situation is. This group worked with my groups ideas, analysis, because in order to pick the conclusion apart you had to understand how Stein picked apart the article.

       The introduction one-pager was different because it lays down the path for the analysis of the ad that Stein will be doing.I do not see a question to answer on their one-pager. The intro laid the groundwork for the analysis section. She says that she is writing this article because the ad has not been subjected to extensive critical examination. All of the one-pagers make me think about the importance of the sections Stein breaks her article into.

CP I feel that Stein was detailed in her description of the ad because readers had no other source to view that ad.

Assignment 10

Why did Stein decide to write about this commercial? 

Why did Stein go so in depth when describing the commercial?

         In the 1984 superbowl Macintosh computers ran an ad at halftime. The ad was made to put down IBM computers and promote Mac computers. IBM was viewed as big brother in George Orwell's 1984. There is a woman who runs through a building and smashes an IBM computer symbolizing the downfall of IBM and rise of Mac. The rest of Stein's article dicusses the layers of symbolism that are in the commercial.

          I feel that Stein wrote this article to show how persuasive advertisement can be. The ad used constitutive rhetoric which does not give the reader an option over what they feel or believe but instead told them what they believed. After reading her article I realized that large corporations use advertisement in order to manipulate the way that consumers think and push them to purchase their products. I think Stein wanted people to know this so that they would not fall prey to large corporation advertisement. I feel this way because Stein stressed the use of constitutive rhetoric in the commercial which made viewers feel that they should desert IBM and resort to the new Macintosh products instead. While doing this Mac stepped right into IBM's shoes and became the monopoly for computers.

Assignment 9

       While working on my articles I am trying to connect to other readers of the same article. I am discussing my ideas as a new view for others to consider as they are looking for their own interpretation. I am using Orlean's writing and ideas about taxidermy and adding in my own thoughts and interpretations on her ideas to form explanations for her writerly choices. To me the ethical dimension of communication is the way one communicates their ideas and thought on an issue or object to others. My writing does not say that my ideas are right or wrong to any degree. It just offers possible ideas about Orlean's article, "Lifelike".  When I revise my essays I will try to make sure that is it interesting and will catch the attention of the reader. I want my essay to make the reader think about their own ideas and compare them to what I am writing.

Assignment 8

      I liked the different views and ideas I saw in other people's writing. It is neat to realize how many interpretations there are on one article and how many interpretations there are. I know that everyone has their own outlook on life and own way of interpreting things. I think that their own life experiences and outlooks shaped their interpretations. I plan to look at the articles and make interpretations with a more open mind. 

      I never really considered who my audience was when I was writing my assignments. In my article for "Lifelike" I will focus my writing more to be set for the portfolio readers who will be grading my work. My tone seems like it is critical and dissecting the article and the ideas that I have. My classmates have similar tones that are picking apart the things they found throughout the article.In my essay I offer views that show both sides of the situation. I feel that this offers a unique insight that shows how there are many possible interpretations for any type of article.

Assignment 7

Why does Orlean say you have to have many skills and be a nerd to be into taxidermy but then follow up with how one must be full of love and eccentric as well?

What is the use of the historic background Orlean includes?

        Orlean starts out by describing the types of skills one needs to be a taxidermist, "To be good at taxidermy, you have to be good at sewing, sculpting, painting, and hairdressing, and mostly you have to be a little bit of a zoology nerd." She purposely talks about how intelligent and talented those who are involved with taxidermy are but then follows up and almost discredits that. "You have to love animals...Taxidermists seem to make little distinction between loving animals that are alive and loving ones that are not. "I love deer," one of the champions in the whitetail division said to me. "They're my babies." Doing this took the taxidermist from a smart individual to a weirdo who loves stuffed animals.

         Looking at it from another perspective Orlean may have done this to show the multiple sides of a taxidermist. One view shows how smart and how much a taxidermist must learn in order to do their job. The other view shows that those involved with taxidermy are very passionate and care about the animals that they work with and that they care about animals in general. Also the history make the reader take taxidermist seriously. It causes the reader to realize that taxidermy has an extensive past and is not just some new fangled hobby that a weirdo came up with.

Assignment 6: Choices

      I feel that Orlean gave an extensive history abut taxidermy so that her readers would know that she did her research and that she was well informed. The history really helped me as a reader to understand what taxidermy was and how it has grown. I also did not know how large of a business taxidermy was, it generates $500 million a year. As a reader if seeing the history made me really think that Orlean cared and wanted to share what she was experiencing.

      Orlean included quotes from people who were involved in the national taxidermy convention. Being informed that people who are involved with taxidermy opened my eyes to how broad the passion of taxidermy is spread. It makes the reader realize that those who are into taxidermy are not freaks or cruel people. The quotes allow the reader to to relate to those involved with taxidermy. People who are involved with taxidermy are everyday people.

      In the last paragraph Orlean talks about a stillborn bengal tiger. She describes how the tiger was not able to live but the taxidermic display brought the tiger to life. This allows the reader to see how people involved in taxidermy love and respect animals. Many involved want to help preserve the animals that we have lost or are close to losing. The practice of taxidermy allows for the preservation of lost animals.