Blog #1: Rhetoric

What is rhetoric? This is one of those words I’ve heard time and time before. I’ve heard it briefly mentioned but never expanded upon during high school English classes. I've heard of rhetorical questions, ones that do not actually expect an answer, but rather have one designated ahead of time. The notion of rhetoric seemed vaguely familiar to me, and I felt like I should know its definition. When asked to produce a specific one, however, I felt a little lost.

I had quite an obscure definition of this term in my mind before reading Herrick’s chapter. I believed it to be the art of communicating one’s opinions and views to either a single person or many people. I believed rhetoric could occur in many forms, whether it be a written paper or a speech. I didn’t have a positive or negative connotation when I thought of rhetoric.

While Herrick’s definition is broad as well, it showcases the many other components rhetoric has and highlights the fact that it is multi-dimensional. He emphasizes the fact that because rhetoric has so many sectors, it is seen throughout our daily lives. Herrick defines rhetoric as achieving clarity and a sense of beauty through symbols, and creating an understanding using symbols. I liked how Herrick pointed out that we use a series of symbols to create language, on which rhetoric can be based. Herrick also displays the connection between persuasion and rhetoric, and emphasizes the importance and presence, although sometimes unrecognized, of persuasion in our daily lives. It was interesting to see that Herrick viewed rhetoric as “response-making” but also “response-inviting”. While someone expresses their ideas they in turn created the opportunity for someone to agree or disagree with them.

Herrick’s reading did change my understanding of rhetoric. My new definition of it is still somewhat broad, but I am now aware of its many different dimensions. I now know that rhetoric is the process of effectively communicating with an audience. The term coincides with a very involved and engaging method that activates our reasoning, interpersonal, and persuasive skills.

Blogging: What's that?

Other than being able to turn on a computer, email, type decently, and surf YouTube, I do not have much computer knowledge. Computers and I are not best friends, and I will admit that I am not the most technologically-savvy person by any means. So why am I in this English 201 class? Well, actually I was expecting something a little different when I signed up. It came as a bit of a surprise to discover that we would be focusing on blogging and even touch on web page design during the course of the semester. Initially, I was wary of jumping into writing online. The fact that my blog would become completely public was a little intimidating. After thinking about the idea of blogging, I became less apprehensive. I now think of the whole process as an opportunity to learn new procedures that will be helpful in my future, especially within my career.
My name is Becky, and I am majoring in Elementary Education and minoring in Language Arts Education. I've lived in Wisconsin my whole life, yet definitely prefer sunny, warm weather over the bitter kind we've been having lately. I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which is between Milwaukee and Chicago. Madison's always been a big part of my life because I have close relatives that live here.
Now that I think about it, this whole blogging process shouldn't be so bad and actually has a number of advantages. I will gain basic knowledge and will be able to use this information to carry out specific projects. And I may end up enjoying myself!