Jan 22

cut up method

For me the cut-up method was all about creativity. I didn’t quite understand the reasoning behind it but I can respect it. I like that genre of written but I didn’t really understand the times until reading this interview. i noticed that he recollection of places and times reminded me of Earnest Hemingway’s Moveable Feast. Poetry is for everyone and so is creativity. I never tried the cut-up method and perhaps I never will (of course I will). I just didn’t like the random aspect of it but I did enjoy what it could create. I also enjoyed the aspect of making up words, a creative practice that some, citing an oratorical technique frequently deployed by Jesse Jackson, "Jesse Jacksonisms." I’m all for creating something that out something. People always say create something out of nothing but I’ve always felt that was impossible. The Jazz aspect was perfect for me because what is jazz but the melody behind the note or the note behind the note. And what is the cut-up method but the note behind the note or the word behind the word. It’s the YOU part I like because its all about you and what hear or what your mind can create

jan 22

God's little toys

I must admit that I hadn’t heard that much about Burroughs but now I’d like to now. When he was mentioned in class I knew the name but didn’t know the man. This method they use kind of reminds me of Pulp Fiction in the parts are moved around to get a better upstanding or even less of an understanding.

jan 22

the periodic table

i really dont know that all the terms mean but i like it. i know it will be helpful in the future and its a great resource.

jan22

Free Sound

I still havent figured it all the way but i know now how to add different things to my page. it was a fun toy to play with. i just havent added anything because I in Los Angeles as I'm writing now and I'm just getting to a computer to enter my thoughts. Ive had a great time cant wait for class and i cant wait for our projects to start

Letter from Birmingham Jail

ethos:

The writer's character or credibility

logos:

Logical argument

pathos:

Appeal to audience's emotion

I’ve read Letter form Birmingham Jail more than a dozed times. I started reading the letter because like many of us it was assigned to me by a professor or teacher. Yes, I am Afro-American or whatever term you’d like to use to define my race, but I actually prefer Negro. Why “Negro”, some would say? The term “negro” was used when we as a race and subculture in American were at our finest. It was used when we started to stand up and be counted on a local level, a national level, and an international level. It was a time for great pride in our race because it was time of leader preceded Martin and eventually Martin himself. Frederick Douglass called himself a Negro; W.E.B Dubois called himself a Negro and finally so did Martin.

When Trey mentioned the letter on the first day of class of was excited because it was something that I’d read the night before while talking history with a friend of mine. I do consider myself an intellectual, a thinker, and a contemplator on Negro condition, and for a person like me the letter holds so much meaning. In this letter he borrows from the some greatest minds in human history, and for me that shows a man that may not have all the answers but he has at the least contemplated the questions to a great degree. In the Negro community Martin meant than words could explain. In a society where we use the term hero so loosely and we lend the word great to mediocrity it is refreshing to reflect back on a leader like Martin. I didn’t say a man like Martin because like any man he had his faults, but in rare occasion in human history a man’s calling or service take upon greater meaning than him or herself.

However, I digress to answer the question put before me, but every time I read this letter a picture comes to mind. It is a picture that I remember as a child form an Ebony magazine. This picture has stuck with me through all my years and every time I see it creates a conflict in me of angry versus pride. The picture was taken during sanitation strike in Memphis (Martin went to Memphis to help with the protest and was assassinated), and it shows black men holdings signs that read “I AM A MAN”. For me, in this letter, that’s basically what Martin is saying

Ethos:

In the Letter form Birmingham Jail Martin does something brilliant and it’s something that we as writers can all learn a great deal from. He does the most thing and the basics can sometimes be that thing most over looked. Martin recognizes his audience and he relates to them on that level it gives him credibility. Although his creditability may not be respected by his audience it can not be denied. Martin does this right at the start of his letter with, “My Dear Fellow Clergyman”.

Logos:

For me the letter makes a strong argument in this area also because Martin uses his knowledge of the greatest writers and thinkers the world has ever seen. He refers to Socrates, Reinhold Niebuhr, as well as the most brilliant use of logos, in reference to Saint Thomas Aquinas. What person can deny the quote used by Martin from St. Thomas Aquinas? He even uses Jesus, which goes back to his creditability with his audience.

Pathos:

I can sum the question of Martin’s use of pathos with one quote form Jesus that Martin used in the letter. “Was not Jesus an extremist for love: Love your enemies, bless them that curse you , do good to them that hate you, and pray for them, which despitefully use you and persecute you”.

Feb 13

The importance of visuals:

I realize visual rhetoric is very important to any project. T the idea of “branding” is something that I’ve used in my projects in the real-world. A good logo is priceless and the logo can actually transcend the product itself. Or as with the case of Mercedes and/or Cadillac the logo can carry with it a certain mystique. I hope I can create a visual that can represent my idea as well as the examples shown represent their’s.

Free Blog

I changed the picture of Ali on my front page because that’s the way I felt when I was writing unit one. It’s like punching under water. I know exactly what I want to hit but I can’t: there’s just too many words and too much resistance against myself. I wanted the project to be a success but I’ve got a million ideas that just won’t come to fruition. I’ve never had a problem putting my words on paper and the problem I had with the memo was to balance giving a general idea against giving away my vision of implantation. I’ll find the balance. It’s good to punch under water because when you’re out of the water your punch is quicker.

Feb 20

Change of course

I think it’s time that I change my focus. The idea to propose an ad campaign to the Tampa Bay Rays was close to my heart but I feel that it can become far too large for this course. I will consider it as a life project and I will also work on the idea during the course of this semester so you all can follow its progress.

I have another concept that I’d like to challenge my self with. It’s another idea that close to heart but smaller in scope but is a great idea (I think) nonetheless. I am an avid reader of magazines line Esquire and GQ but to be realistic they are a “white man’s” magazine. There’s really no magazine for men of color. Sure there are magazines that feature mainly half naked or nearly naked women and I’m not against that at all, but those magazines don’t cater to the vast majority of men of color. There are a large number of us: Black, Latino, Asian, and Middle-eastern men that don’t just have the urge to read about car accessories, and rap music. We are professional and we date women that are the same and we buy things that reflect our professionalism.

My task is to cater to those men that would normally read Esquire or GQ, like my self, but feel that they only serve white males and only glance at issues that are important to people of color. It is my attention with this magazine to address those same issues as the aforementioned magazines but to address them form a standpoint that men of color can appreciate.

This will not be a hip-hop magazine or a low grade pornographic magazine. This will be a magazine for those men of color that consider themselves men of distinction. I believe that this demographic has been overlooked because they are located just beyond the grasp of the hip-hop generation but have not totally tipped over into the “white” forms of media/entertainment.

I think this is a great angle. Especially when you have personally experienced this noticeable lack of content. On the other hand, it is quite an undertaking designing a magazine and its content all by your loneself--with all of its entrapments. However, you could probably come up with an overview, template, major description of content and how these elements would be organized, featured etc. Perhaps if you approached the thing like a zine or mini magazine you wouldn't get totally overwhelmed and then self destruct...Just suggestions...~jess

Yes, yes, yes....Russel, this is a fantastic idea. In your definitional gambit, "this will not be..." you bring the 'zine spirit, and your blog post as a whole already begins to map out the contours of at least one piece (with rhetorical analysis/critique, and more), which could be the center piece for a precisely-tuned (in terms of audience) project.

Check this out....Between Brothers in Davis 130, tomorrow night.

ShareRiff

difference between web/print, between analog/digital

charlie rose clip (on youtube?)

print's response to the infoquake

an analysis and justification for a "'zine"

write an article...then interested audience members could follow provided links. To a wiki, perhaps?

interviews

solicit input from peers on the wiki, and beyond

-sync, marketing, audience - fine tuning audience recognition