The Feast of All Saints

 Choose a current issue that our world is facing. Explain the issue, and then find a saint to whose intercession would be the most helpful and argue why that saint is the best choice. 

So, two jobs, one is to find and articulate a current world problem about which we need to pray. Your second job is to research a saint whom you think would be helpful to us in regards to this problem. 

Finally, on the Feast of All Saints, which is Sunday, November 1, say a prayer to that saint about the issue you have listed. After every classmates blog, respond, AMEN. 

“Is This the Country the Founders Envisioned?”

 This is where you will post the essay you will be reading aloud on to a disc or a usb so that it can be turned in and heard by the judges at the Emporium VFW. Your audience is a group of men and women who are Veterans of Foreign Affairs. Think about your audience. You are being tasked with answering the question, and then supporting that claim. Remember, a good rhetor establishes authority or appeals to the shared values of the writer and the audience. The writer can also garner support for the argument by using statements from outside sources that support the claim.  A good rhetor also appeals to logic. How should your argument unfold? What are the ways that will most effectively reveal your argument so that it is not only easy to follow, but that will make it clear and convincing? Comparisons, maxims, deductive reasoning, inductive reasoning? And last but not least, you  must consider the emotions of your audience. These are men and women who love their country very much. They are proud to have served their country and many of them made sacrifices that many of us cannot even fathom. So, think about this before you sit down and just blast something out with your thumbs ten minutes before the deadline. These men and women deserve more than that, and each of you are capable of more than that. Be honorable to yourself and to your gifts and to everything you have learned about how to write a good, solid argument. 

I will be editing these before you are going to be permitted to record it. Post it on blogger and then print it out and bring it in on Monday. No late assignments will be accepted. 

Practicing our LOGOS with a little creativity!

 Fable Writing 

A fable is a short narrative that exemplifies a moral or principle of human behavior; that is usually stated in the conclusion of the story. The characters, setting and actions become a symbol of human nature. 

Directions:

 Go online and research Aesop’s fables at https://aesopfables.com/

 Read some of the fables you find and gather some ideas for your own writing. 

After researching, you will write your own fable. 

Criteria:

 Entire fable less than 250 words 

Title

 Plots actions must lead to the moral 

Moral must be given in last line of the story

 Keep it simple and specific 

Be original (not based on example fables) 

Uses appropriate language

 Use correct grammar, punctuation, etc.

Old Sojourner Due Sunday, October 4 by midnight

This is another rhetorical analysis essay. I DO NOT want you to split this essay up in logos, pathos and ethos. We need to get out of that poorly formed habit. So, in order to avoid that, I am posting a link to a video that will help you. 

Helpful video

Do NOT use the words logos, pathos and ethos in the essay. If you need some help, there are ten million rhetorical analysis essays online, even samples from this exact prompt. Fake it till you make it is not a bad strategy. HOWEVER, if you cut and paste an essay into this blog, you will flunk for the quarter, so while it is okay to look at some samples to get an idea of what you should aiming for, do not cheat. If you cheat in college you get kicked out, and this is a college class. So, proceed with caution. 

After her escape from slavery, Sojourner Truth became a vocal supporter of the abolitionist movement and the feminist movement. In 1851, Truth attended the Women's Rights Convention in Akron, Hhio, where a group of men monopolized the audience with biblical evidence for keeping women subservient. Truth, who had not planned to speak, felt compelled to respond. She stood and gave the following speech. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Sojourner Truth makes to convey her message that women should have more rights. 

 Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter. I think that 'twixt the negroes of the South and the women at the North, all talking about rights, the white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all this here talking about?

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain't I a woman? Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man - when I could get it - and bear the lash as well! And ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain't I a woman?

Then they talk about this thing in the head; what's this they call it? [member of audience whispers, "intellect"] That's it, honey. What's that got to do with women's rights or negroes' rights? If my cup won't hold but a pint, and yours holds a quart, wouldn't you be mean not to let me have my little half measure full?

Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him.

If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back , and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.

Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old Sojourner ain't got nothing more to say. [1]

First Blog of the Year! Due Monday, September 28 by 7:30 am

 Respond to the following prompt and post it. Then, comment on responses from a minimum of two classmates. Your response to the post should be no less than 300 words (that is the bare minimum) and the comments should not be there to tell them they did a good job. It is to question or qualify their opinion. The comments should be no less than 25 words. 

One more rule, whoever posts LAST must post on Friday for the next blog. 

The United States participation in the Second World War began in 1941 and lasted until the Axis powers surrendered in 1945. During that period, on September 24, 1942, Congresswoman Clare Boothe Luce delivered the following address, “The Role of American Women in Wartime,” to a women’s banking committee. Read the passage carefully. Write an essay that analyzes the rhetorical choices Luce makes to convey her message that women needed to prepare to make more sacrifices as the war effort continued.

In your response you should do the following:

• Respond to the prompt with a thesis that analyzes the writer’s rhetorical choices.
• Select and use evidence to support your line of reasoning.
• Explain how the evidence supports your line of reasoning.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the rhetorical situation.
• Use appropriate grammar and punctuation in communicating your argument.

And now I am going to say something which I could only say among us girls. So far in this war we are still the luckiest women in the whole world. For instance we still have lipsticks, and even some silk stockings. And although many of us have gone into uniforms, they are still made of good cloth and are well cut. Sisters, for a lot of us, perhaps too many of us, important though the part we have played in it so far, it is still easy—and I almost said “glamorous” for us. But, believe me, for each of us these are the good old days now, my friends.

Now we have got to face a great, big fact. We have got to face the fact that the ‘interesting’ part of our participation in this war effort is just about over. There isn’t going to be any glamour in what we have to do from here on in. I realize that for most women there is little that is glamorous in a war, any war. But we have to be frank enough with ourselves to admit that in our effort to help, we have still managed to do a lot of things that are both helpful and, by a remarkable coincidence, attractive. We’ve been able, as we went about our wartime activities, to find time to wonder, as I say, a little about those uniforms. We’ve had time to be disturbed a bit about the freezing of fashion designs, about the lack of silk stockings. Yes, we’ve found time to look a little for glamorous.

But, from here on in to victory, glamour is out and toughness is in. From here on in to victory, girls, the way is going to be hard. From here on in, women and men and children, too, for that matter, are going to have to take on the serious task of winning this war. Our president has called this the “toughest war in history” and whether you here tonight class yourself as a political follower of the president or one of his political opponents, you must accept that definition as completely accurate.

What, then are we women going to do in the tough days that lie ahead? Well, we’re going to do a lot of the things we are doing right now, but we are going to do them a lot more intensely and, if you will pardon me, a lot more intelligently.

With our men, we’re going to work and fight for victory. We’re going to submit, but we’re going to understand why we submit to, rules and regulations; we’re going to take, and manage with, more and more rationing. We’re going to have colder homes, different foods, less clothing—we’re going to accept the challenges imposed by these conditions. We’re going to keep our homes and jobs going because we know, being women, what happens if we don’t keep them going.

The women of the next few years—and please believe that my use of the plural ‘years’ while pessimistic, is honest—the women of the next few crucial years are going to see that their children, those precious treasures for whom we fight, are kept healthy and warm and well fed and well schooled and as happy as possible under conditions which are bound to become less and less favorable and not at all glamorous for anyone from here on in.

Yes, ladies, the road ahead is going to be a bumpy one. It is going to be full of ruts and rocks, the ruts of endless, colorless effort, and the rocks of almost insurmountable obstacles. It takes no gifted prophet to foresee this road to victory. A soft war leads to a hard peace. A hard war leads to a happy peace. We must fight a hard war. I think we will not much long kid ourselves that this war can be won by an effort which, though extremely great, is still a comfortable one. I think we are coming to the grim realization that such dreams of comfort are insidious saboteurs of our war effort.

We have got to come to some grim conclusions in the days that lie ahead. We have got to come to the conclusion that it will not be won until we all fight to win it, every minute of every hour of every day, from here on in. We dare not measure our effort by its drain on our comforts; we dare to measure it only by its contribution toward the victory for which we fight.

 

PRACTICE ESSAY #2 Due Friday, May 15, 2020

After you are finished, cut and paste your essay into this blog post!

PRACTICE ESSAY #1 Due May 13, 2020

When you are finished writing your timed essay, cut and paste it into your post.