Final group project

We are planning on doing a campaign for more TCU free student transportation. We have decided that TCU does not provide enough transportation to students. Rhetorically we have chosen to use more logos to appeal to the TCU students with some ethos as well. The logos is going to come from facts that TCU does not provide bus service to certain areas. The ethos will come from the fact that having more bus service will cut down on drunk driving.

group work

Generally I am the leader in a group. I like to be the person who dictates who does what, and organizes everything. I generally am the most organized in a group so it is easy for me to be the leader of the group. I am also very good at keeping people on track and helping promote communication through the group. I am also rather creative and I like to design things. So not only do I like to organize but I also like to do some of the creative work too.

Authors Note on porfolio

Over all my papers are over an article I read about a bill being introduced that would allow liquor stores to be open on Sundays. I'll explain each piece below

My letter to the editor took me a few times to get where I wanted it. At first I was just restating the article and I didn't really understand that I was replying to what was said in the article. I think that I stated my opinion on the subject quickly so it set the style for the rest of the letter. I believe I used good ethos, pathos, and logos to get my point across.

The op-ed was a bit more challenging to me. At first I did not understand what it was. My first draft was a lot more like a letter to the editor. With some help I got the paper to a point I was happy with. I definitely think it uses ethos, pathos, and logos well to support my view of the subject. I stuck with my article as a basis for my paper. It deals with the same issue with a greater focus on the tax benefits. I am happy with the paper and it took me a lot of time to get that way.

My humorous argument I am very happy with. I had some good suggestions on my blog but in the end I was happy with the picture I drew so I didn't change much. I think it is funny and not offensive to my audience. It is a good use of my topic and it conveys it well.

Humerous authors note

My funny argument is a picture over my topic. I decided to try and draw what I thought was funny about the article I read. I am by no means an artist but I think it is done well enough to display humor. It is a picture of a pastor giving a prayer and in the middle he looks at the time and thinks to himself that he needs to get liquor and that the liquor store just opened. He then dismisses the congregation so he can buy liquor.

humerous argument

I have decided to draw a funny picture for my humerous argument part of the project. Since my topic is having liquor stores open on sunday I have decided to draw a picture of a pastor of a church wrapping up a sermon at noon on the spot so he can make it to the liquor store before the big game. I am not the best artist but I think it will turn out pretty funny.

http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/rma/lowres/rman900l.jpg

I found this cartoon about a man robbing a liquor store, and he uses the excuse that the liquor store was over stocked. I think it's pretty cute, but it matches my article because it has to do with a liquor store but also the issue of the store being over stocked as a interesting connection. Opening up liquor stores on sundays could possible lower the stock of liquor stores and cut down on the amount of robberies... just a thought. There are a lot of people with opinions about the subject and a cartoon like this lightens up the subject a little bit, adding a new light to the issue.

authors note for op-ed

This is my first draft of the op-ed portion of unit 3. It is still unfinished, no conclusion yet. It is also a bit short but hopefully with the addition of a conclusion and a few tweaks it will meet the requirements. I am unsure if what I have written falls into how a op-ed should be written. I would like some guidance on where my paper needs improvement, mechanically as well as substantively.

op-ed prewrite

Op-ed Prewriting

· After reading a fair amount of articles from the Fort Worth Star Telegram I noticed that the op-ed’s were fairly argumentative. Most people did not agree on what the editor was writing about. The letters were addressing either the author or the original audience of the article. The unique thing about most of the letters I read where a lot of them used facts to support their argument. I didn’t expect people to do the research necessary to support their side but they did.
· The specific issue that I am going to focus on in my op-ed is the issue of having liquor stores open on Sundays to produce more tax revenue for the state. More specifically the pro’s or cons (haven’t decided yet) of passing this bill. My choice for the topic will be how this would affect the state specifically. Whether or not it would have a positive or a negative effect on Texas.
· Since I am leaning on supporting the advantages of having liquor stores open on Sundays I will support the bill in my paper. This bill is a good way for Texan’s to show their support for lower taxes through alternate measures. No one wants to pay high taxes and with more creative ideas like having liquor stores open on Sundays lowers everyone’s taxes and lets people who need liquor able to buy it on one more day of the week.
· I think all the rhetorical appeals will work pretty well in my argument. I think that ethos will be the most effective because having liquor stores open on Sunday’s has been a very emotional argument since the early days of the 20th century. It seems like everyone has an opinion on whether or not to serve liquor on the Sabbath. Especially since Texas is part of the “Bible belt” it ought to make things interesting when people’s emotions get riled up. On top of the emotional response from liquor on Sundays I think logos will work equally well because the underlying fact for the bill is for high tax revenue for the state of Texas. Using valid facts to support the argument that having liquor stores open on Sundays will increase our tax revenue, while lowering private household taxes should be a good way to sway people into my way of thinking. Using pathos is another good way to support my argument because there are a lot of credible people out there that have opinions on the issue and using their knowledge and more importantly their title will be beneficial in a good argument.
· As I mentioned above, using peoples strong emotions about this subject will be a good starting point. When people get emotional about a subject it is much easier to talk them into supporting your opinion if they aren’t vehemently opposed to it. Using facts that play on people’s emotions will be a good way to lure the reader into my way of thinking on the subject. Evidence in others experience will also be a good persuasion builder. Personal experience will be another although I don’t have much personal experience with liquor stores I do have general alcohol experience.
· Lastly, I need to research hard facts about the subject. Getting quotes from political leaders supporting my side and getting facts the shed decent light on my side are good uses of resources.

April 6th op-ed blog

The reason op-ed is ineffective in the way it covers my topic is because it is only my point of view. I cannot use persuasion from other people's point of view to persuade my audience. An Op-ed is supposed to be a specific point of view argument and with this style it is hard to bring in outside elements, especially facts. It seems to me like an Op-ed is more opinionated then factual. This is also an advantage because when people read an op-ed they have in mind that it is an opinionated statement so you can use your opinion and some ethos to persuade the reader. Most writings are supposed to be so factual and not have the writers opinion anywhere in them. Having the ability to input your opinion can be very beneficial.

Article

I have chosen to write about the new bill introduced to Texas law makers that would allow Texas liquor stores to be open on Sundays. The article writes a lot about the history of the laws for liquor stores as well as what this means for stores if the bill is passed. the main reason the state is doing this is because it would boost state tax revenue immensely. The state would profit, people would profit, and liquor stores would profit, why not do it?

letter to the editor

I am writing a letter to the editor about an article that talks about the new bill introduced to the Texas Government to let Liquor stores be open on Sundays. For quite a few years now liquor stores could not be open on Sundays or past 9 pm at night on any day. Texas is considered part of the Bible belt and this is where the law originally stems from. Letting liquor stores be open on Sunday's would be very controversial because in many ways Texans still have an old fashioned feel to the ways of the past. Tradition is highly coveted in Texas and letting liquor stores be open on Sundays would ruin many traditions and "degrade the Holy day." Whether or not this actually happens is up to the Texan Government.

Authors Note

Author's note is on my final draft.

how my rhetorical case study has developed from the previous drafts

I have added quite a bit more analysis. Before I had just had a bunch of history but now I am adding more analysis about the articles specifically. I have also cut quite a bit of the history section out and am focusing more on the analysis of the article instead of the content in the article.

I have also neatened some things up and added an intro. I am still working on the conclusion and on sighting my sources.

It is coming along nicely.

How rhetorical analysis affects local community

The financial crisis GM is currently in affects everyone, even people here in the DFW community.  Not only is there a huge General Motor's plant in Arlington, but the auto industry provides a lot of third party jobs in the metroplex as well.  If General Motor's decides to cut back on production or discontinue any of it's large SUV's, which are made in the Arlington plant, then there would be a lot of jobs lost.  Unemployment would rise and the metroplex would be directly affected by the auto crisis.  

The DFW area also is home to many companies that GM contracts to supply parts to them.  Companies like Delphi, which supplies all of Chevrolet's power steering columns.  If GM were to cut back production or go bankrupt companies like this could also go out of business and there would be more unemployment spread throughout the area.  

GM is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan but their financial crisis has affect all across the nation, even here in the TCU community. 

prewriting

In my preparation for prewriting I discovered that GM has done a lot of survive, but the government is dragging it's heals to do anything about it. Without the United States auto industry this country will be in shambles. The auto industry is the backbone of America. I discovered that even though a lot of people thing that the auto makers should suffer their consequences, most of those people think the government should step in enough that no one declares bankruptcy. Bankruptcy would create panic among Americans because so many people would loose their jobs.

Unemployment his high enough right now, we don't need 100,000+ people loosing their jobs.

The more I get into this topic the more I learn, and the more interesting it gets.

Unit 2 Prewriting

What connects my sources?

- General Motors is the key component in all my sources. Since it is what I am researching It is what all my sources are about. General Motor’s financial situation is another idea that connects all the sources together. They all talk a bit differently about GM’s finances but almost all the articles are about how GM got into their present situation or how they are going to get out.

Summary (from above)

- The controlling idea of my essay is General Motor’s financial situation, more specifically how they managed to get into such a bad financial crises and how they are going to get out of it.

Order of sources I already have

- I believe my first source should be one that deals with how General Motor’s got themselves into their infamous financial situation.
- Secondly I’d like to use a source that ties the past years that GM hasn’t been doing things right into the time period right before the economy went downhill and GM used up all their funds.
- Third I would like to use a article about the present day situation that GM is in. Probably news from current Wall Street, USA today, etc.
- Fourth, If I can find one, I’d like an article about the future outlook of General Motors. About how they are changing and what the government decides to do about bailing them out for the second time.

How I am going to do this organization, justify my organization.

- The reason I have chosen to organize my paper like this is because I believe it portrays the best example of how GM got into their present day jam. I chose to do it chronologically because it is easiest to follow that way. It will start from the beginning stages and then follow the actual stages that GM took over the past years and more importantly months of crises. I will explain how they got into the jam they are in, I will explain what they are doing to get out of it and then I will describe peoples opinion’s about the future outlook of General Motors.

Go through and figure out how I am going to transition from source to source.

- I think my transitions are pretty simple since the paper is going to be in chronological order. Between the sources I should be leading up to the new information throughout my paragraphs anyways since I will be following the natural course of time. Although, I may try and tie in outside information in the transitions so it flows better and people understand the context that the auto financial crises is involved in. Since the whole world is in a bigger financial crises, and the auto sector is a small part of that I think it is important that people understand that. I will add some of that outside info into my sources because it will help tie in all the stats presented throughout the paper.

perspective on issue/topic

As I have been researching GM's financial crises, I've learned a lot about how the financial industry is run. Finance is a hard subject to fully grasp but through my research I am learning a bit more everyday. Before I began to research I was under the impression that things didn't start going down hill for General Motors until the second half of 2008. Which is not the case at all.

I have found out that GM had been suffering laking sales and high debt long before 2008. From the turn of the millennium GM has been loosing profits. A lot of that was due to cheaper, more reliable cars coming from Japan. Japanese cars have taken a lot of sales away from all the American counter parts because Japanese cars tend to be made better. Also Japan has instituted many new technologies into their vehicles which has lured buyers away from American auto makers.

With the onset of import cars and GM unwillingness to give up it gas guzzling SUV's it started digging the whole it is in today long before six months ago. I am still unsure which scenario I support more, Obama bailing out the auto industry again, or letting them fail and restructure. As I keep researching I'm sure I'll make new opinions about the situation day to day.

Prewriting for Primary Source Workshop

My biggest concern about the research I have already done is whether or not it is the right research. I still don't completely understand what we are writing about so I haven't been to sure what I should be researching and for what. Another concern is that my topic is still rather broad. It seems like in class we have talked about how we all need to narrow down our topic and I am not sure how to narrow mine down any further to where it will still be interesting. I feel as though to narrow of a topic gets rather dull and boring. Not only is a narrow topic boring it is hard to write about. A lot of my topic is based upon other outside information so I cannot exclude that all together.

Source 1

• My first source I believe that my first source, which is a news article I found on the library database, is a good candidate for a primary source.
• I chose it because it seemed like a credible source, and it pertained to what I am doing my research over. It directly address my topic in that it is about how GM had to empty all their emergency funds.
• As stated above, the source is about how GM had to empty all their funds to stay in business.
• I noticed that this particular source was all logos, straight facts

Source 2

• This source I got out of the money section of the Wall Street Journal. That in it self should be enough for it to qualify as a good primary source
• I chose it once again because it pertained to my topic but it also had a lot of good information about the current auto crises.
• This source is about how GM and other US auto makers are going to cut costs to try and bail themselves out of the current predicament they are in.
• For being a business/money article I noticed more emotion and pathos in this article. Since there were a lot of quotes I think those are what added the more personal approach to the article.

Source 3

• My third source is more personal stories and articles from the General Motors website. These are very primary because they are coming straight from the people being affected by this auto crises.
• I chose this because I think it adds a good perspective on just how important this crises is. These are actual people and companies being affected.
• The source is in general about General Motors and their financial status and how that is affecting other people who work closely with GM.
• There is a lot of pathos associated with this website because some of these people who write these articles could possibly be out of work and whenever peoples lively hood are being threatened to be taken away people get very emotional.

research experiences

Through out my research I have learned a lot about General Motors. I am researching about how GM got themselves into the predicament they are in today. I am also researching how that is effecting everyone else. I found out that GM has been in financial trouble for some time, but until last last year they sugar coated it pretty well. Not a lot of press had been issued about how GM was losing money and had been losing money for many years prior to 2008. GM had been issuing a lot of statements about how they were moving in the right direction to turn around and start having quarterly gains again. If that was the case, the financial crises of September completely killed General Motors. I haven't found statements from inside GM to see whether they were in fact moving in the right direction but even if they were they obviously weren't doing it fast enough.

As ironic as it might seem, it has been rather difficult to find stuff about GM before they began asking the government for bail out money. As I stated above, GM did a fantastic job of covering up their moderate quarterly earning for many years prior to 2008. In a lot of the articles I found they all said basically the same thing, in that, GM is losing money but no one really knows why or how.

Since most all the sources are from some sort of news periodical they all come from similar sources so most of the information says the same thing, just stated a bit differently. I am still searching on a few sources that give me a different perspective on how GM got themselves into this mess.

Choice of Topic

I haven't quite decided on a topic yet, I am either going to do something with the failing US auto industry or something in the Travel industry. The auto industry would be interesting because everyday new news comes out about new developments in the industry. I also like the travel industry, and I believe that the failing financial situation around the world is going to have a greater impact on that industry very soon.

I suppose I will have to pick one or the other, I will probably pick the US auto industry depending on if anyone else picks that in class.

Authors note

Authors Note:
This is a very rough draft; in fact through half the draft I did not have my notes which made it very difficult to keep a central theme. I was not sure what I had already written; it was almost as if I had to write it twice. Serious revision is necessary.

Notes about Space

The public space I am choosing is the Vaquero Country Club.
While there I noticed all sorts of things that can be arguments. I’ll start with the space as a whole. The club house is where I observed. The outside of the building looks quite southwestern and Texan. The building is made of sandstone colored stone and has a greenish, black slate roof. Most all the fixtures on the outside are made of copper. It is a large building, in the neighborhood of 10, 000 square feet. The inside carries on the architecture of the outside. When you walk in through the front double doors you are immersed by a relaxing, log cabinesque interior. The front doors look an awful lot like doors from an old Texan prison. Aged dark wood and rebar. As you walk in straight ahead of you is a wide hallway leading into the bar. As you walk into the bar/great room to your right is a free standing fire place and on the other side of that is the more formal dining room. If you look to the left there is the actual bar and bar stools. If you walk in the front door again and instead of going straight you go to the right you go down a hallway again that leads to a stairwell and double doors. The stairwell goes up to the ladies locker room and the double doors go into the men’s locker room. There is more but I will leave that out for now.

The objects in the club house are mostly golf or antique type things. The pictures are aged golf pictures or aged impressionistic paintings. All very dull black, white and gray pictures. Nothing flashy at all. There is a lot of statues either of copper or bronze. The statues are mostly of golfers or famous Texans. The furniture looks like something you would see in a log cabin if it was in Texas. It is aged and there is a lot of leather and wood. The tile on the floor is a slate looking tile. Once again it is all aged to look like it has been there for a while.

The people in the country club are very different and yet very similar. All of them are very well off, in fact it was just named highest per capita income for a single city in the United States. The people though range from CEO’s of large cooperation’s to Famous Football players and everyone in-between. Most of the people that are at the club are there for a purpose. They are either there to play golf, to eat lunch or dinner or to relax in the spa. I noticed a lot of people simply come there to socialize too, especially around dinner time. Most everyone knows each other so there is a lot of interaction between the people. I also noticed people treat the club house like their home. Most everyone feels very comfortable there and it causes them to relax more than if they were just in a typical space like Wal-Mart or something.

I observed the club once at night and once in the early morning and I was surprised at the different things people did at different times of the day. In the morning people are generally there to work out or to play golf. There is not a lot of wandering around. In the morning I noticed quite a few more women there than men. I’m not sure why though. In the evening most of the people were there for dinner. It seems as though most of the people that came also socialized quite profusely. The dinner customers too were also more polite and personable then the morning people. I accredited this to the people in the morning were still tired and probably were still trying to wake up. While the people at night were ready to go out and have a good time. I know from personal experience I am generally much more fun to be around at night then at 6am in the morning.

Arguments of Fact/Definition

The menu in the restaurant was one of the only arguments of fact that I noticed at Vaquero. It has prices set for the different menu items. The spa sheet was another fact argument I noticed. For example, a one hour Swedish massage is 210 dollars. It is arguing that a one hour Swedish massage with that particular massage therapist is worth 210 dollars.

There is a sign on the wall that says, "Golf Magazine 10 best private country clubs in the southwest." This is a good argument of fact because it is arguing that Vaquero is on of the best country clubs in southwest United States. I agree that it is, but someone else might not making it an argument.

Observations

This weekend I went and observed the country club I choose twice. I was quite surprised as to how much I learned sitting back and observing the action instead of being part of it. I've kind of grown up in this club so I thought I knew a lot of what went on but turns out I didn't. I went twice to observe once in the morning and once at night. The time at night was neat because I am usually around TCU at night so I didn't really know what went on there at night. I found out that a lot of the members come out and enjoy dinner with a bunch of their friends. Night was also a lot of fun for me because there was a whiskey tasting happening and I got to join in on that. Who doesn't like free alcohol, especially when it's some of the best whiskey throughout the world. Yum.

All and all I'm glad I went and observed because not only did a get a lot of useful info for the english assignment I also learned a lot about a place I thought I already knew a lot about!

Local Spaces

Since my first public space isn't located with in a reasonable driving distance I decided to pick one a bit closer. I'm choosing a country club which I spend a lot of time, the Vaquero Country Club in Westlake, TX. I chose this space because I do spend a lot of time there but I also enjoy the atmosphere. It's a has a strong Texan, southwestern feel to it.

I have not decided yet when I'll have time to observe this space. I'm going to have to move some things around but hopefully I'll be going up there sometime on Friday and then maybe on Sunday as well for their Super Bowl Party.

As I said the space is heavy in southwestern culture. It has a very laid back attitude and the decor is very comfortable and relaxing. It is a country club so it is obviously part of a golf course so golf has a strong influence on a lot of things that go on. Most of the people who live there enjoy golf at least recreational. I look forward to really observing in more detail about what go on in the club. I'm thinking I'll probably learn quite more about how people interact with each other.

Local Spaces

Local spaces in my community... hmm there are so many. One of my favorite places is a little hotel that my coach's wife runs in Bormio, Italy. It looks like an average northern Italian style building. Wood, stucco, copper and anything else that one might associate with northern Italy. It is right outside of a ski resort and it's located at the base of the main mountain.

I think one of the reasons I consider this part of my community is because I ski, and this particular place is very intertwined with the history of skiing. I love this hotel/ restaurant because it is one of the only places in the world where I can forget about everything else and just relax. I can get away from the rest of the world and be who I want to be. Not who coaches, sponsors, or professors want me to be.

Pathos, Ethos, Logo's Example

My example of Pathos is a picture of a cemetery and throughout the entire picture as far as the eye can see is white crosses, burial sites. Except in one small patch of grass there is a circle where there is no crosses. and overlaid in this area are the words "non smoking area." It is an emotional argument to try and get people to quick smoking. If is signifying that people who do not smoke will not die as soon. This certainly should open people’s eyes to the subject of smoking and how it is bad for your health.

Chapter 1

What I found suprising in chapter one was how it reshaped my view on arguments. Before I thought that an argument was a disagreement that always ended in some sort of fight. Well that is clearly not the case. Like the example of an agrument to inform. Who knew a street sign could be considered an argument? In fact an agrument is just simply discovering a truth, and a street sign definitly helps someone discover a truth.

An agrument to convince also suprised me. When ever I am trying to convince someone of something I am always thinking of the other persons comeback. Yet I never actually thought that I was doing that. Sure enough when ever I am persuading or convincing someone I am thinking of their opinion and shaping my side to counter act what they might have to say. And that is an argument too.

Even though the first chapter was the author trying to convince me that everything was an argument, I still wasn't fully convinced. Sure he made some good points and it opended my eyes to a new view of arguments but there are somethings that were just a little to much of a strech. such as an argument to explore? I mean yes I can see how exploring a subject can have a lot of sides but it just didn't fit into my newly opened definition of an argument. Exploring anything to me would be considered more of research than arguing. When do you see doctors exploring new ways to fight cancer and they are arguing with themselves or someone else about their new research. How funny would that be to see a doctory yelling at a Petrie Dish? "you darn cancer cells stop arguing with me!" haha

More Intro

I forgot to add the last part of the question to my blog, so here it is!

I'm not really sure what kind of argument my blog is making? I guess I am making an argument that I consider myself from two diferent places and not just one? Or that people at TCU are sterotyped, and I don't think they should be. I also believe that I am making an argument that I will do well in this course because I did the assignment as assigned?

I also have read and understand the terms of the course syllabus.

Introduction

What up, My name is Mark Brown. I grew up in Grapevine/Southlake Texas. I went to Grapevine High School. During high school I split my time between Texas and Colorado. So I also consider myself from Colorado as well. I am currently a Junior here at TCU. I am double majoring in Accounting and Entreprenurial Managment.

I am taking this course obviously for the required credit, but I would also like to work on my general writing skills. I have a tendency to be a terrible speller and I would definitly like to work on that.

Most of the writing I do is in Emails or over the internet on websites and for school work. I don't really feel anything about my writing because usually I'm in so much of a hurry to get it done I don't have time to think about it. I suppose the course will help me feel a tad better about my writing and I hope to enjoy writing more when it is over.

As I said above I am from Texas and Colorado. Right now my current residence is in the Grandmarc across the street from campus. I also still live in Colorado on many weekends and a lot throughout the winter. I have a house in Telluride, Colorado and a few apartments with friends throughout Colorado. I am not a huge fan of Texas, I love the people here but I hate the weather. So I usually associate myself more with Colorado. Saying I go to TCU always gets an interesting reaction from people. A lot of people, esp from the westcoast (where I spend a lot of time) think that TCU is full of a bunch of farm boys who like to shoot things. Even though that is true to an extent I usually try and tell them that TCU is pretty diverse although the majority of people are from Texas and in greek life.