reflective paper blog

Throughout the duration of this course I have come a long way in broadening my skills. I have gained experience with many different forms of media and learned many different techniques along the way. This course helped me build a stronger base when it comes to my all around knowledge of media and writing. I had the opportunity to learn and experience things I, either, never knew how to do or even knew what it was. Now that I have expanded into new ways of communicating it will make many things for the future easier for me.

Some of the things we covered in this class that I have never done before are blogs, letters to the editor, wordles, genres, and a pod cast. All of these things surprised me and were much easier than I had ever imagined they would be in the past. I think before I took this class, if I didn't know what one of these things were, or just simply didn't know how to do it, then I would stray away from doing so. I wouldn't have taken it upon myself to want to get to understand these new methods because I thought it would be too difficult to learn. Walking through things and having good directions has made all of this very convenient for me. This class made me have the initiative to have to learn how these things work. Looking back on it now, I’m glad I have more resources and a better understanding of how, when, and for what type of media or writings these different methods should be used for.

Blogging is something I've always heard other people talk about, but didn't really know what they meant. To me it was one of those things where I knew what it was, but would probably never do it or have my own. Before this class I had no idea how to access a blog, how to create my own blog, or how to even post on a blog. Blogging alone increased my knowledge in different methods of communication and this is only one of the things I'm taking away with me from this class. Now, since I've created my own blog from class, I can keep mine running and still have an active blog site. I believe I will use this on my own and keep up with the blog postings. Not necessarily every week or about a particular topic but just making sure I keep making updates.

My favorite project over all of the others was doing a pod cast. This is one of the things we had to do in this class that I have never heard of before or never thought I would do one for that matter. Something about the audience not being able to see my face made it a little easier for me. It was like I could be someone else and actually I did create an alter ego/different personality and I was Marcus for this pod cast. Nobody knows when you make a mistake because you can edit what is already recorded or you can always start over. Making a story line and creating a plan for the order of events and the idea we wanting to get across to the audience was fun. We decided to make ours more of a sports radio show type thing when really, someone could use a pod cast for anything. This would come in handy for many different things and I can see this being useful to me in the future. Learing how to do a pod cast didn't only turn out to be a lot of fun but it will be very beneficial to me as well.

Blog post 10

This class has been an eye opener for me. I enjoyed it because I learned alot about the use of genres in writing papers. I enjoyed the blogs the most because I just got to write from how i how feel with no limits. I think learning the different genres is what made the class stand out because in other writing classes you don't get many selections of writing styles. The blogs gave me a chance to show my sense of humor which I find valuable because you don’t usually get to do that with other forms of writing. I also got a chance to write about more serious topics and give a lot of information in the two blogs: Not as Easy for Minors, and 9/11s Effect on Immigration. With those two writings I got a chance to do plenty of research and had to decide which things were the most important pieces.

Reflection Rough Draft

This portfolio is a collection of interesting writing experiences for me. As an English and Communication Arts major, I usually do two very specific types of writing. Writing for English classes is focused on close reading and analyzing thematic aspects of literature, and how the words on the page illuminate the greater concepts within the text, literary movement, or society. For Communications, the writing is centered around dissecting visual texts and looking at why decisions are made and how those decisions impact the rest of the text, and how they exemplify a certain style. Both “genres” are analytical rather than creative, and they both involve taking a closer look at someone else’s work and attempting to decipher their intentions. With this in mind, the writing I did for this portfolio was different than what I am used to.

Through the semester, I took some liberties with my writing because I am normally confined by certain expectations for my other work. Because we got to choose a topic that was interesting to us, it was often difficult for me to remove my own opinions from the work we were doing. Normally, I don’t get to choose to write about anything I want, so that was a new experience. It ended up being a little more difficult than I anticipated because I do not normally analyze baseball in the way that I had to for this class and project. I read articles about it, but I do not normally search for government and academic sources to back up the knowledge I pick up at espn.com. Also, when I am not specifically analyzing a text, and even sometimes when I am, it is very difficult for me to remove my personal voice from my writing. Even if I did not explicitly talk about my White Sox, or my thoughts on various players or issues that I discussed, my voice often comes out in any words I write on the page. I think this is most explicit in one of my early blog posts. Not only do I begin it with a nice little anecdote about my life, but you can just hear me throughout the entire post. It has everything that I bring to the table in my normal speech—sarcasm, humor, and a little bit of line crossing. I am still very proud of this blog post. I enjoyed writing it, and enjoy reading it back today, but I understand how this type of writing does not work for every assignment and every topic.

I think that my RP3 assignment shows a transition between that type of writing and a more genre focused type. It is on a topic that is extremely interesting to me, immigration in baseball, so the entire thesis of the paper is based on my personal opinion towards the subject. Since I watched a documentary film as one of the sources, I took the parts that pulled me in to use in my paper to draw in the audiences. In that way, some personal choice and voice impacted the reading of the paper. However, as the paper went on, it became more focused on the research and transformed into a more expository piece. I can see how having sources from ESPN and other sports websites doesn’t exactly make it strictly academic, though, but it was very difficult to find sources that fit this topic outside the sporting news world. For my revisions, I found a government-issued memo that amended the laws for athlete’s p-1 visas, but since my argument was more centered around h-2b visas for minor leaguers, I had to reframe part of my argument to explain what this memo means. After explaining it, I’m trying to show how this new law is another advantage for players who have already made the league, and there is still work to be done to share the wealth with minor league players.

Blog 8 make up...

As the president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers i think we need to go in a diffrent direction to help this organization. many people will not understand what im doing at first but in the long run this is the best decision for this team right now. after a lot of deep thought i have decided to sign the first african american baseball player in the major leagues. i was looking for a curtain type of player. they had to be athletic, hard worker, and a person that people could respect. none of those things had color to it or a name but now it does. his name is Jackie Robinson and he will be the next great player and human being in this league.
Many know that im a religious person and i think that GOD woulnt disagree with me when i signed him so thats all i had to deal with. of course i know im going to get critized for this for years but i am willing to except that and at the same time i had to get a player that would be able to deal with the things Jackie is going to have to deal with. going up to bat being booo by everybody in the crowd and mostly likely having things thrown at him. its going to be even worse when we go on the road with hotels and travel plans but i really think i got a person that will be able to deal with that even though the average man would not able to
this is just my statement later i will doing a live interview with Howard Cosell many of you might not know him but you should know him in the near future i also think he will be a great anouncer. i will be open to any questions about why i decided to do this or anything that comes to mind or if you have any questions about Jackie i will be open to answers those as well.
ok that was an introduction to what i was going to do but it will end up being a first person interview with Branch Rickey (thats who i was in that press confrence) and he will be interviewed by Howard Cosell one of the best announcers in that day

blog 6 make up...

i would have liked my podcast to reach an athletic audience or a political audience because it had to do with both sides weather it was sports or politics. since baseball has become a world wide sport i think the topic of immigration in baseball is a key topic to talk about and give the audience a since that baseball is not just a game for a lot of players and families. i would try and put this on sports sites like espn.com and national news like cnn.com in the sports section and maybe get it in some kind of world wide site but the best place would probably be youtube in this day and age. its a sports radio show so espn would be the best way to get this out.

the way i turned my argument to a audio to appeal to the audience was use a real life radio show "mike and mike in the morning show" and make my own up so that people could relate to it if you have watched it or listen to it before. we called it the "Marcus and Stacey in the morning show" we did our own re enactment of the show and put the points from my immigration in baseball into the show and discussed it with the other person in the show.

in the show i wanted to put a big emphasis on informing the audience what kind of things cuban defectors have to go through just to get a chance to play in america and the risk they take. not by them just having to escape there country by way of an unsecured boat thats probably made by someone thats not a professional, thats a big risk but another problem would be theres not many cuban players that make it big and end up making a lot of money at the end of the day so they are taking a big risk by coming over here leaving there family and there country.

i did a radio podcast so there weren't any visuals but i used the theme song from espn at the beginning for the show but i couldnt find the mike and mike shows song but there on espn so i figured that would be fine. the most difficult part of the podcast was trying to stay on the main points and not ramble on

Blog 9

For our multi genre essay we have chosen to discuss the role of African Americans in baseball. With this topic we can cover a variety of things such as, racism within the sport, contract issues, youth involvement, etc. I would say our main goal is to get baseball (MLB) involved with inner city communities by funding little league organizations, maybe give some tickets to the inner city kids to get then to become fans of the game and just provide some role models for those kids. I personally plan creating a collage which has pictures of past and present African American greats from baseball. Also, i plan on making a letter to the president of baseball, Bud Selig, just to explain why I think he should take a chance in getting baseball more popular in the urban cities.

blog 9...

In our mixed genre we decided to go away from immigration in baseball and go back to just blacks in baseball and how it first started. Im doing the diary part of it with Branch Rickey where im doing an interview of him through Howard Cosell one of the most famous commentators in the 50s through the 80s. I take quotes from Rickey Branch i found on the internet and make a fictional interview between the too its really in depth and i think will really inform people if you didnt know who either of these people were.

i wish i could have had a chance to cover the cuban defection part like in the last couple papers because i would have done a 1st person diary through the eyes of el dique when he was lost at sea for 3 days which i went over in my rp4 paper. im also doing the mixed genre part of our paper im going to take pictures that we found and put them on there. im also going to take qoutes from famous players or players like Jackie Robinson or Willie mays that had great significance. we have a youtube video from Ryan Howard that he discusses black baseball players in baseball.

kevin will be doing something similar so i will try not to over lap wuth what he has planned. it wont be like a regular paper its going ot be a lot of things put a page. pictures that re relevant and the wordle we learned how to do in class. our topic has been an issue for a while now with african americans in the majors dropped from 27% in the 70's to 9.5% in the present day but hasnt been brought in the public until a few weeks ago when tori hunter went out of his way to say that players from other countries arent better than black players there just cheaper to sign. Ozzie Guillen went on to counter that and say thats all cuban or latin american players know so thats why they do it and are good at it. were trying to fit that into are project because i feel like thats the biggest and hottest topic out there right now.

Blog 9 :)

For the mixed genre project, we have chosen an issue that has really taken off in the last month for sports fans. We are focusing on race in Major League Baseball, through both a historical survey and an interpretation of relevant current events. A main point of our project is to show the role that Jackie Robinson played in integrating baseball, and what he has meant to the sport ever since. Everything changed when he came onto the scene, and everything that baseball is today is because of him. For people looking at this project who are not entirely familiar with baseball, they need to get a real sense of how Jackie Robinson changed the sport and the Civil Rights Movement, in general. In order to do that, he is mentioned in the academic piece, and the creative piece focuses on Branch Rickey’s decision to sign him and what he thought it would mean to baseball before it happened. He will also be prominent in the visual aspect of the project. The other side of our project deals with the decline of African Americans in baseball through the past 3 decades, and what MLB is doing to help and hurt that problem today. With this side, we are looking at MLB’s RBI program, whose goal is to revive baseball in inner-city communities and start programs that will give African American children a solid foundation to play baseball. We are also looking at the decline from a statistical standpoint, because the numbers have consistently decreased since 1975, despite RBI’s 21-year existence. Because of this decrease, there have been comments from prominent black players in the media within the last few weeks about the role of blacks in baseball and a possibility of racism in the sport. These are especially interesting because they are coming from black players who have already made it big in the league, so they know first hand what it takes. The question, though, is why they would be drawing negative attention to MLB themselves, if the goal is to re-diversify. This ties into the exigence and timeliness of the argument because race and baseball has reemerged as an issue that has to be dealt with.

The academic essay makes an obvious logical appeal. It is a crucial part of the overall project because it shows with actual numbers how this issue is important to baseball. The decrease in black players from 1975 to today is unacceptable, and this gives people who need concrete data in order to believe in an issue the proof that they need. There is no arguing with the numbers, so it is an important part of the argument. The logos aspect of the argument does not act alone, however. The other parts of our project look at various other appeals. Bringing up racism in any form is an ethical issue. When we look at Torii Hunter and Orlando Hudson’s comments about baseball today, it raises the ethical questions of how MLB is run and how they make decisions on who to sign and why. For instance, when Hunter discusses how he believes Latino players are signed over black players because of money concerns, and how Latino players can be signed for “a bag of chips.” Obviously, the last part is an exaggeration, but it makes you question how the MLB makes these decisions, and what they should be doing to encourage signings of African Americans instead of discourage them. Hudson’s comments about racism in the free agent process are an entirely different kind of issue because he is talking about established major leaguers being passed over because of their race. That would obviously raise ethical concerns if it were true, and if it was not then it makes choosing baseball over other sports less likely for black kids. The mixture of ethical and logical dilemmas within baseball are hopefully made clear in our project, among other things, for both baseball fans and people who have never had much interest in the sport.

Blog Post 8

4/14/10

Letter to the editor

Dear Mr. Bud Selig,

There seems to be a huge problem with the game of baseball which is affecting many communities across America. The problem is there are few African American baseball players and this is hurting many of the urban communities. This problem is affecting those areas because there are few role models for the sport for young Afro- American kids to look up to. Also, I believe if baseball was more advertised in urban communities more kids from those communities would participate in the sport. By investing some money into the urban communities baseball could get a lot of fans for life, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt any of the teams to give a few kids from the inner city tickets to games to come out and enjoy the game. If baseball were to become active in the inner city it would help a huge number of kids stay out of trouble and give them something to do after a school. With most basketball and football teams being full of kids from urban areas, baseball could possibly be an alternate for the kids to choose from. In my opinion, some of the abandoned buildings/ apartments could be torn down to create baseball diamonds for kids who may not have transportation to play on. Not only would that help the kids but it could also help the city by cleaning it up and having something new for them to take care of. All in all, I’m a huge fan of the sport, but I would love to see more African Americans get involved in it. I honestly think that if you guys assisted in introducing it to the inner city more African American kids would participate in it and potentially help the game continue to be great in the future. Thanks for your time and I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Kevin Claxton

Urban City Activist

Racism in Free Agency?

I remember it like it was yesterday: October 26, 2005. I was a junior in high school, and my favorite sports team, the Chicago White Sox, was playing in Game 4 of the World Series. The Sox were up 3-0 in the series—going for the sweep, but the game was scoreless through seven innings. I was sitting in my bedroom by myself because I cannot emotionally handle watching big games with other human beings (seriously…even when the Bears went to the Superbowl, I watched alone…). That’s enough about my unfortunate personal quirks, though. This isn’t about me.
Like I said, the game was scoreless through the 7th, and the previous three games had all been too close for comfort. We had a runner on third base with two outs in the top of the eighth, and Jermaine Dye was at the plate. First pitch strike. Second pitch in the dirt. Third pitch up the middle, and my wildest dream was an inning and a half from coming true, as was Jermaine Dye’s. And it did. The White Sox were World Champions, and Dye was the MVP of the series.
For the next four seasons, Dye remained an integral part of our offense, until his second half slump last season, after which the Sox decided against picking up his club option. Keep in mind, even with a horrible second half, Dye still had a .250 batting average with 27 homeruns and 81 runs batted in. Not bad. Anyway, when the happiest day of the year rolled around in 2010—Opening Day—Jermaine Dye was watching games from his couch. I can’t help but feel frustrated for him. One of my favorite players for the last five years, and one of the more underrated hitters in baseball, was riding a figurative bench. Even if the White Sox no longer wanted him, how was it possible that 29 other teams could not find a place for him?
Many people attribute Dye’s unemployment to his mediocre defense, increasing age, and his pride. He refused to accept offers that he deemed “not enough to move his family for.” He has said that he would rather retire than accept an offer that he considered demeaning—which includes not being worth enough, being a fourth outfielder, or taking a full time designated hitter position. While this has obviously played a role in his being unsigned, there is another perspective on the issue.
While I didn’t mention it before because, well, it’s mostly irrelevant, Jermaine Dye is African-American. In a sport that has been integrated for over 60 years, this shouldn’t be worth pointing out. However, one major league player, Orlando Hudson, believes it to be the reason that Dye and other great black players are jobless. Hudson, while not explicitly saying racism was the issue, inferred it by saying, “You see guys like Jermaine Dye without a job. Guy with [good numbers] and can't get a job. Pretty much sums it up right there, no? You've got some guys who miss a year who can come back and get $5 [million], $6 million, and a guy like Jermaine Dye can't get a job. A guy like Gary Sheffield, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, can't get a job." When he was asked if he was saying that this was because of racism, he responded, “We both know what it is. You’ll get it right. You’ll figure it out. I’m not gonna say it because then I’ll be in [trouble].”
Since Hudson won’t openly discuss his thought process here, it is difficult to understand how he formulated these grand statements, but he does make an intriguing point. Whether or not players like Dye and Sheffield truly don’t have jobs because of their race, Hudson’s statements have the potential to be very destructive. In a time when African-American youth are choosing to focus on football and basketball, and the percentage of black players in the MLB is staying down around 8%, the league cannot have accusations of racism floating around—let alone from African-American players themselves. The MLB is doing a lot of work, with the help of prominent black players, to convince black youth to start playing baseball—with both advertising campaigns and building inner-city facilities. Hudson’s comments send mixed messages to these kids—why would they want to play baseball when the players who are supposed to be convincing them to think the MLB is racist? These comments need to be taken seriously, and if Hudson has no reasoning to back them up, then he needs to keep his mouth shut.

Group Project statement

We are looking at moving our topic from immigration in baseball to race in baseball because like the MLB, we had been overlooking the decrease in African Americans playing into the league. This is an issue that has been coming up a lot recently from baseball players themselves, so people are looking at reasons why and how it can change. We want to provide some historical information about Negro Leagues and Jackie Robinson, but also show how less black children are getting into the sport in the first place, and less players are coming into the league. One article that we want to remember is: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-dyehudson041210 in which Orlando Hudson made comments about racism in the free agent market, not just among amateur players.

Wot? You no believe me?

this article was very confusing just by the opening title started off side ways but i realize this is how the whole article was going to be about. this was more of a free style argument or opinionated article i liked the article about the kid born in Hawaii just to see the difference in culture over there even though there still americans. but the first article somewhat appealed to me with the slang talk that really seemed like an average text message i get from my good friends everyday. thats why i feel the first article was intended for young African American group as bad a s that sounds. i didn't really know where these articles wear trying to go or what they were trying to accomplish though?

the first article seemed the most effective because it was something or a language i deal with everyday that friends or family talk like in text messaging. the hawaiian person was really interesting as well it was more of a story of someone's life instead of the text messaging example of my life. but they didn't really go into detail about the difference or why they had such a big difference in culture then over here in the states.

i thought the article about the ancestry of hawaiians arranged the genres to fit the overall argument the most there is a handicap when it comes to there language i never even heard of the pidgin language or pidgin english they call it but it was still hard to really understand the article ad what they were trying to get across to the audience.

i think the difference in these articles and the ones we looked at in class is the ones you gave us for the blogs seem more realist or something i would believe i didn't know these were made up.

Journey through "Journey Through the Fog"

In the multi-genre text “Journey Through the Fog”, Carbone is trying to share the hardships of having a family member with Alzheimer’s disease. It is inspired by her own family’s experiences, and the audience is anyone in a similar situation who needs help to understand what they can expect and what they are going through. Since having a family member with Alzheimer’s is such a different experience than any other disease, sharing her experiences is a way of helping others, and probably herself.
There were tons of genres in this project—collages, stories, letters, conversations, poetry, charts, quotes, definitions, scripts, puzzles, obituaries, short written excerpts, and more. Many of these genres made emotional appeals, such as the conversations that Carbone recalls from when she was a child, or the letters that her grandfather wrote to his wife before he completely lost his memory. Not only are these emotional for anyone reading, but they could especially trigger something in someone who relates to the situation. On the other side, having a prevention chart or definitions make the text go beyond emotional, to informational and helpful as well. The different genres also represent different ages and years and the steps of the family’s journey, which is an effective strategy for showing how Alzheimer’s can impact a person from the diagnosis to the end, and from childhood to adulthood for Carbone.
I think that the letters from Allie and Bill were the most effective genre in the text. Bill wrote his letter after he was diagnosed, and Allie wrote hers after Bill died. These letters showed how their lives had changed because of Alzheimer’s, from the moment of his diagnosis. I think that it is emotional, but also gives information about what happened in the family that you cannot get through photo collages and word searches. I think that all of the genres work together, but the piece as a whole would not function as well without these letters in it.
Since there were so many pieces to the text, I think that she did a good job breaking it up. There were not 6 poems in a row, or all of the letters, or all of the visual things. This kept me interested and wondering what was going to be next. Also, she would sandwich the more informational pages between little dialogue scenes or shorter pieces such as the “the many victims of Alzheimer’s” sequence that comes up a few times. Those were only a paragraph, and after a full page of information, it was refreshing. I think that this gained a lot from being a multi-genre project because it wasn’t boring medical information, but it wasn’t overly emotional to the point where it was unreliable. All of the pieces could appeal to someone different, and if you are looking at this text and going through a similar situation, no one can predict which one would stand out for you.
This text is vastly different from the examples we looked at in class. This looks like something that was years in the making, instead of a few weeks before a due date. I think that the fact that they had all of these different parts coming together really served their purpose, whereas the examples we saw in class seemed to be pushing it. Both of those started with an academic essay, which was useful to set up their topics but not the best way to get people interested in what they were doing. Then, some of their more creative pieces seemed out of place instead of furthering their argument or purpose. I definitely see the benefits of mixing genres like this, because it can be interesting if you choose wisely or do each part really well. Sometimes, though, finding all of these genres to go over the same point can either be difficult (for those with a lack of creativity, like myself) or overkill. Putting the same topic in 8 different genres might not necessarily make it better, it might just be stretching it too far.

Here's the Plan...

1. The first image that I am using is at a rally in which a woman is holding a sign that says, “Ours is a Country of Immigrants”. I want to start with this because my argument basically is that immigration and baseball are perhaps the two most important aspects of US society. The woman holding the sign is Latina, so she either is an immigrant herself or someone in her family history was (like all of us), so I think that it is an effective image.

2. This picture is of people getting off of the ships at Ellis Island in the early 1900s. I want to show how immigration has changed since the early days, and this is the way to do it. Today, people come in illegally or have to go through a visa process, but back then people risked death, disease, and uncertainty just to get a piece of the American Dream. This image shows how this country was essentially built on that dream.

3. This cartoon represents my “and this is what immigration looks like today…” thought to follow the image of Ellis Island. It pokes fun at the difficulties that this legal process gives immigrants, and also shows how it is contradictory to the original American values.

4. This image is very interesting because the white man holding the “stop the invasion” sign is staring back at a group of guys who, once again, are either immigrants or second generation Americans. Not only does this show the awkwardness of the situation, but it reveals that some people are anti-immigration. This sort of segues me into the basis of my argument.

5. I think that this picture of the baseball mitt, glove, and ball on the American flag exemplify America, in a picture. My lead-in to my argument based on the last slide is basically “I wonder what his favorite baseball team is…”, because baseball is America’s pastime. Today, it seems hypocritical to be anti-immigration and pro-baseball—like the two concepts of baseball and immigration are irrevocably intertwined, and every fan of baseball must be lenient towards immigration law. This is sort of personal opinion, but it is my presentation.


6. This picture allows me to get in on the argument. I’m still deciding if it helps my argument in anyway besides being something that I like to look at, but it is a photo of my bedroom wall and my fanatical shrine to the White Sox. I think that it establishes me as a crazy fan that has a [somewhat] knowledgeable opinion on the matter of immigration in baseball, but also baseball’s general importance to people and the country. It also leads me into the next slide by showing what the dream is for wannabe MLB players (maybe not exactly to be on my bedroom wall, but to be a part of the things depicted on said wall…)


7. This photo is of a 16-year-old Dominican prospect named Miguel Angel Sano and his family. He just signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins (poor choice) and received the largest signing bonus for a non-Cuban Latin American Player. However, the importance of this picture is that his family surrounding on him clearly looks at him as their only hope. Sano represents the dream of escaping poverty that I focus on in my paper.

8. This picture was taken at some sort of anti-immigration soiree because the sign says “Save American Jobs Support H-2B”. This introduces the idea of h-2b visas with their quotas that limit immigration, and also the way in which Americans fear for their jobs because of immigration. Minor league players, like Sano will be one day, need these visas in order to play baseball in the US. They are increasingly difficult to get.

9. On the other side of the Dominican players’ struggle is their own government. This picture is of Angel Luis Joseph, a Dominican baseball player whose parents were born in Haiti. He could not get a visa in the US because his own government would not give him his birth certificate in order to apply for one. This is an interesting twist on the immigration argument that most people are unaware of, and it is keeping him from his dream.

10. At the end of the immigration ordeal are players like this man, David Ortiz. He is one of the Dominican “it boys”—having made it to the US to enjoy a successful career. This image serves as “the light at the end of the tunnel” for the other stories that I have brought up. I'll also throw some information in about the p-1 visas that players like him get to use, only once they are called up to the big leagues.

11. This is an image of a newspaper clip that pictures Jackie Robinson shaking hands with his new manager. I feel like you can’t talk about people like David Ortiz without talking about Jackie Robinson. Even though he is not African American, David Ortiz’s skin color have kept him from playing baseball in the Major Leagues if it were not for Jackie Robinson. This slide serves to show where baseball has moved from in the past 60+ years.

12. This photo is a roster photo of the Brooklyn Dodgers after Robinson joined the team. I like it because you can clearly tell what the complexion of baseball was before he came along. If you looked at the Dodgers’ roster today, it would obviously look very different. This lead to many changes in baseball, which I begin to discuss after this slide.

Use more comedy to get attention

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLuDXHH1Mec

This presentation did not seem as formal as the Pecha Kucha you showed us in class on Tuesday. He was more interactive with the audience and made more jokes then the introduction to Pecha Kucha. He took ideas that people already had but tweaked a few things to make them a little better or safer for people to use. For example he had a bench press mixed in with some sort of reclining chair so that if someone had dropped the bar on them selves it would give in instead of crushing your chest. The audience seemed like young adults or ages twenty to forty because of the fitness plans and the audience had to be pretty laid back because of all the jokes he was making. Most of his ideas were real far fetched that he drew on his on.

It seemed like he let his picture dictate how his speech was going or more like he was winging his presentation. He had really good images of his ides he had came up with and a lot of things that made you think that maybe in the near future these ideas he had could really be created. I still don’t know the format of the Pecha Kucha but it did not seem like he was following one. The one you showed in class was a recorded voice timed with pictures that would rotate. This guy did it live and went long with the pictures instead of the example one.

He drew a lot of his own lines in the pictures to show us visually what he was thinking in his head as he came up with the idea. I feel if he would have used still clips or jus one clip the audience would not of got a good idea or really good visual of what he was trying to create. I think if I would have pictures and a chance to visually show you what I was talking about in my RP3 argument it might have been felt more by the audience I was presenting to. I talked about how Cuban defectors were being taken advantage of by the Major leagues and some of the thing they had to do was take a little boat or waft to another country with sharks circling the boat and fifteen foot waves around them.

I had a nice picture of them in the boat but I did not have a chance to show what they were going through. It might have been better for me to use still clips instead of a video so the picture I would show could really sink in to the audience and they one in to what I am saying

Blog post 6 (late)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqZI4h4c3uQThis Pecha Kucha discusses different projects in industrial design. For example: a product that helps feeding your pets snacks while you are out and about, a product that gives feedback on energy usage and how much it is costing the user to use energy. I think it is also made for those who may be interested in industrial design. The video seems to be for an audience that may be funding industrial design projects. I personally don't think many people would support some of the products, the energy out putter is the only one that seems like it could be a necessaty.

I think it makes use of the form because there are different pictures for the designs that he has created and he uses the time to introduce what they are and why they are useful. The creator didn't use any music or sound effects which made it some what boring. And there weren't any transitions between slides, it just jumped from one picture to another. In my opinion I would say this was a very basic pech kucha presentation.

I don't think I would be able to transform my rp3 into the format of a pech kucha because I wouldn't want to feel like I'm leaving some information out. I think I would be able to use the format in another project that didn't have as much information, and one that i need pictures to get my point across.

Giving Pecha Kucha

This Pecha Kucha presentation was given by a woman named Jennifer Bolton, an auctioneer at Allegria Auction at a Pecha Kucha event in Seattle. Her presentation was on "giving", and every presenter had a different topic that they had to make into this form. Since hers was "giving", she told three stories about three different people who gave something to a complete stranger. One man provided someone with a ride to and from a gas station when their car broke down in the middle of no where, one man gave a child a pair of shoes, and one woman worked very hard to return something that did not belong to her. The presenter used these as examples of the positive impact we can have on others by giving. Her audience was obviously those at the event, but on Youtube, the video is tagged as "nonprofit and activism". Her audience is basically anyone who will listen, who she then hopes to inspire to give freely to others.

The form in this presentation is interesting--it seemed a little off with certain slides lasting a little longer than 20 seconds, and the presentation was around 9 minutes instead of 6:40. I don't know if she used more than 20 pictures or just talked about them for more than 20 seconds, but some of them did seem a little long. It did not seem like every single image in her presentation had a purpose that was specifically serving her argument in one way or another. After using some concrete examples and pictures to portray those, she also threw in some random ones of certain "giving" situations in order to continue her previous thoughts for longer than 20 seconds. While this wasn't a horrible thing to do, she could have found some way to get to the point she was trying to make sooner rather than having these "filler" images. There were no sound effects or music to go along with her presentation, and since she wasn't shown on screen, I could not tell if the pauses in her speech were for effect, mistakes, or if she was overcome with emotion. Sometimes, it felt like the latter, which was awkward. If that was not the case, then she just did a poor job transitioning at some points, whereas other transitions were perfect. She also did not mention that she was an auctioneer until 7:44 into the video, which is already over the allotted time, and that was evident. The stories about giving were nice, but the middle really lagged. Because of this, when she actually introduced the reason why she was brought to the event in the first place, it felt rushed and out of place. Her main purpose was to encourage benefit auctions as a means of giving back the way that the other people in her presentation did. That is why the stories were beneficial, but since the broader statements about what giving means seemed unnecessary when they were not directly connected to her purpose as she went along.

For my own presentation, I would hope to use the storytelling technique like she did, either to open the presentation or scattered throughout it. Stories usually grab people more than straight facts. I think that it also helps people to apply ideas to real life situations, so that the topic does not seem distant and incomprehensible. Maybe switching off between different stories and different issues would be helpful and beneficial to the organization of my argument. I’m not sure yet if bending some of the rules would be helpful, but I think that incorporating sound other than my own voice might be good for the presentation. Who wants to hear me talking for that long? Since baseball has such a rich media history, I would like to incorporate some of that into the presentation. That is the reason that people want to come play it so badly—because they can see players on TV, listen on the radios, and read about them in newspapers. I don’t know how I would do this yet, but it will come to me eventually.

Melissa's Proposal

I plan to address the issue of immigration in baseball. I am not sure how I will present this as a relevant issue to fellow undergraduates because it is not a pressing issue for students at this school. However, since UW is a sports-crazy campus, I think that it will be an issue that is at least interesting to other students. With popular athlete’s indiscretions often dominating the headlines, think: Kobe, A-Rod, Tiger, Michael Vick (for a nice, wide range), it is good for people to see what athletes are like before they have the opportunity to end up on either ESPN or Star Magazine.

In exploring immigration in baseball, I want to focus specifically on people. There are two sides to baseball, not offense and defense, but the numbers and the people who put them up. When scandals arise, the articles and sports news shows don’t just focus on how great of a player that athlete is, but they talk about what they know of their character. When Tiger Woods’ scandal arose, we talked about how he’s the greatest golfer on the planet, but also how surprising the incident was based on who we thought he was as a person. In this project, I want to show what the argument over immigration in baseball is through the eyes of the players who have to do it. What drives these players to work so hard to play baseball in the USA? What do they have to go through before they are throwing changeups at US Cellular Field (or Fenway, or Yankee Stadium, or [fill in the blank with your favorite team’s stadium])? What happens to the players who never get that far?

The main source that I plan on using is a documentary called “Road to the Big Leagues”. This film takes a deeper look into a country that loves baseball as much as Americans do, but does not have the resources to make their players into the superstars they can become in the MLB—The Dominican Republic. In the description of the film, baseball is described as “the pipe dream of many boys and an escape from brutal poverty”. Immigrating to the US to play baseball clearly is about more than just being able to play the game. There are social and political factors that drive these players, and this film will give me a better idea of what exactly they are. As for other sources, I have a few articles already that would be helpful in this argument. One is from “The Sports Journal” and it outlines all of the potential issues and influences on immigration and labor concerns for players coming to the United States. The other articles that I have found, so far, are more focused on Cuban immigration. I don’t know if I will do this for sure, but it could be interesting to compare and contrast the struggles of ballplayers immigrating from both of these countries

I’m honestly not positive how my argument might be a useful resource to other undergraduates here. I haven’t figured everything out yet, but I do know about a lot of the sources out there on this topic. They usually focus on the numbers and technical aspects of immigration—how many visas were given out to players, how many people came here, etc, but I want to bring these numbers to life and explain what this really means for baseball. The research could be surprising for readers because most people don’t know a lot about the issue. It’s not a huge controversial issue that’s debated all of the time, like normal immigration is, so people could be surprised at how the process is handled differently for athletes, but it also is not as easy as we think. From my early findings, I know that there are multiple categorizations of visas now, and there are quotas for how many are given out. Some players can get “exceptional athlete” visas, but that is obviously not an option for young players in the Dominican Republic who are trying to get any sort of chance. We forget about these types of athletes when overgeneralizing about how athletes are overpaid and privileged.

9/11s Effect on Immigration

For my assignement I plan on finding out how much the attack on 9/11 had to do with the immigration restrictions we have now. In doing so I plan on relating it to baseball if possible. I think my main argument would be should the government make the laws and restrictions different for athletes? Another argument could be has the event caused baseball to lose out on some very good foreign athletes? Also, has the event raised so much fear in government that they are afraid foriegn athletes will to become threats to the country.

I plan on finding out what exactly the restrictions are and find out the key determinig factors for those restrictions. After reading a few articles I came across a few that mentions 9/11 as one of the key factors. Like i said before I plan on arguing that the restrictions, due to the 9/11 event, have somewhat taking away a part of baseball history by not allowing as many players to immigrate over to play. I can expect a posing argument being that baseball is not as important as the safety of the country.

Im going about trying to get theses questions answered by reading different articles about 9/11 and immigration as a whole. I also plan to use public documents and different documents regarding the restrictions. I'm using these sources because they will have the most information and details since a fairly topic. For secondary sources I plan on using web-based articles because they are conviniant and usually contain a great deal of information.

According to CU immigration law expert looks at changes in U.S. actions since 9/11, the restrictions are made to make the country safer and protect our civil liberties. I don't think any of the research will be surprise. The main thing I'm looking forward to getting out of this assignment is how much has that one event effected so much of our society.

Guilty on 21 counts

http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/12/news/international/cuba_baseball.fortune/index.htm
Tim Arango, the author of “Agent for Cuban baseball defectors convicted”, recapped the trial and consequences baseball agent Gus Dominguez faced after smuggling in baseball players from Cuba. Dominguez smuggled in five players and was found guilty on 21 counts of smuggling and immigration violations.
There was two different arguments or sides to this story. One way the author may perceive Dominguez is “A business man trying to make a buck”, while on the hand the author may view him as “The agent as a family man and a heroic figure who helped young players flee oppression in Cuba”. Either way you look at it, whether he was trying to help or trying to make a buck, he didn’t handle the situation the right way and he is guilty of what he did. Even if he was just trying to help rid these immigrants from under Castro, there is a procedure you follow to be granted citizenship and he chose not take that route. There is a big enough problem the way it is with Immigrants illegally finding their way into this country and I feel like baseball is supporting that by doing it themselves now for their own benefit.
I understand that a lot today’s talent in Major League Baseball comes from Cuba and other foreign countries but for baseball to be their way out isn’t right. Not only are they illegal citizens, but just the fact that General Managers can get away with paying them no where near what they would have to pay an “American” player isn’t fair. Sure, Cuban’s and other foreign players are okay with being paid less because they are getting a free pass into the United States. Most illegal citizens and other immigrants would give anything to leave their home country and be able to come to the United States for free. Baseball isn’t just these guys way in, they’re also getting paid to come here. The pay may not be much but for them just being able to get smuggled in means more to them then the money I’m sure.

Not as Easy for Minors

According to Ronald Young, author of Immigration VISA Shortage Hits Minor Leagues with Player Shortages, while major league baseball players are usually easily accepted and brought over to the United States its not as easy for Minor leagues players. In Young's opening paragraph he states that minor leagues players are treated the same as summer hotel workers, seasonal timber laborers, and minor league hockey players due to the fact that they aren't able to get their H-2B temporary worker visas because there are certain restrictions enforced by the U.S. government. While major leaguers get P-1 Visas (P-1 applies to individual or team athletes, or members of an entertainment group (P-1B) that are internationally recognized. A maximum of 25,000 P visas are issued annually), on the other hand minors receive the H-2B which are usually for individuals who will be employed in non-agricultural positions which are seasonal, intermittent or that can be labelled a one time occurrence. Qualifying positions include those in the Hospitality, Restaurant, Tourism, Landscaping, Construction, and other unskilled worker categories. Obviously minor leaguers are not put on the same pedestal as there major league counter parts. For the most part of baseballs rich history there have been foreign immigrants playing without a problem. That changed drastically in March of 2004 when the government announced that there would be 13,000 fewer H-2B visas than in 2003 in which there were on 79,000 of the temporary visas. That was a huge blow fro baseball because those Visas were mostly being applied for early worker immigrants and being granted to them.
I personally believe that the author is arguing that with the restrictions and fewer visas, baseball will potentially miss out on some good foreign players. As Young mentioned there is plenty of competition for the Visas outside of baseball which will create a huge problem. I think another problem is that most of the organizations in baseball know that there is a shortage of the Visas so they all will be filing for the Visas early which create a huger problem than it already is.
I'm curious as to why there are restrictions now after it has been a breeze for baseball players to immigrate in the past. Young mentioned in the article the 9/11 incident but didn't specify if that was the cause of the restrictions or not. Is it that America wants more American players playing for our teams (I know that's something that could never be answered)? I think these questions and the details already attained will contribute to all the answers I may need for the larger research project that we have.
All in all, I think government should return the amount of Visas giving out to the normal number. They should also make it so that the rules for majors and minors be the same.

It's Not all Fun and Games

Dr. Anthony Borgese extensively analyzed the issues with immigration in professional sports. It is an important text because it provides specific information that details the labor and immigration concerns of athletes—legally, culturally, politically, and in other ways. He begins by pointing out the discrepancy between Americans’ opinions of immigrants who come to work in any available labor position and immigrants who come to play sports. “Citizens get upset because when these immigrants arrive, they have to find jobs in order to survive. Most immigrants take on menial jobs that American citizens do not want, like a bus boy, or a food delivery person. However, most citizens turn the other cheek when the immigrant is a sports star.” Instead of being concerned with whether or not they are taking jobs from other Americans, we value foreign athletes, as long as they can help our teams. Since athletes are so popular to the fans, we often do not realize the different ramifications and obstacles that they face. We think that they just come to play the game, make money, and win championships, but a great deal goes into both getting them here and keeping them here. Borgese seeks to explain and these things so that us fans truly grasp what is going on with immigration in sports.
As for the legal aspect of immigration in sports, there is a lot to deal with. Borgese explains the categories of visas that athletes can apply for. One, the “P” category, is for “athletes and entertainers” specifically, whereas an “O” visa is for “workers with extraordinary abilities”. No matter what visa a player obtains, the primary stipulation of both of them is that they do not plan on staying in the United States permanently. They play their sport for the season, however long their career may last, and then they return to the country they came from. Borgese says, “Basically, what the government wants to know is that he will return to his country once he has finished performing.” This point is worth noting because it shows that the United States is willing to allow these athletes to come into the country to play, but if they wanted to stay here it would be a whole different ballgame, so to speak. This also means that Cuban athletes, who defect from their country, would have to establish residency in a country other than the United States in order to play in the United States.
Why does all of this matter? Well, Borgese’s argument is that while US citizens don’t seem to mind when athletes come to their country to play sports, they aren’t really immigrating to the United States. They are there temporarily, and are expected to leave afterwards. His argument is more for the education of these players, so they can be successful temporary citizens—paying taxes, having their visa in order, and other contract issues. They need representation that can help them understand all of these intricacies. While it appears as though athletes get special treatment when they are trying to come to the United States, Borgese is arguing that the treatment of foreign professional athletes is completely legal because of the different categorizations. It might be easier for them to get into the country, but most other immigrants coming in want to stay permanently, so there has to be a divergence in the handling of athletes and other foreigners.
Borgese’s piece is important because it answers questions about every aspect of athletes’ immigration, even though this just focused on the legal side. This could be beneficial to the project because it gives all of the information that is hard to find elsewhere in one place. It portrays playing sports in the United States as a complicated process that is not fully understood by anyone, maybe not even the athletes who have to do it. Most news about athletes who leave their homes to play sports in the US deals with why they would want to do that. What makes them want to come to the United States? Why would they rather play here than in their home country? This article deals with what the players have to go through to get here and once they do. All of the sections of this piece, not just legal, offer essential information about the immigration process, and shed new light on what it takes to play sports here.

Facebook Ruins Relationships!!!

Facebook is a very important site in our society today. its a way to social network with people, keep in touch with friends and family, and advertise your products. one the most important parts about facebook is the relationships you keep with males or females online. this video is on how facebook can ruin and has ruined many relationships.
As a male college student i know all about how facebook is like a gift and a curse you meet girls and make friends with a bunch of different people but its not private and all your buisness is out there and will cause you to have a lot of trouble. in the video they make it pretty clear you cannot trust the other partner. i feel the audience they are talkin to is younger adults who have not yet matured enough to handle having a facebook and being in a committed realtionship. trust is a big part of a realtionship and facebook can push that to the limit, with you able to see every conversation and everything is pretty well documented you have to be careful of what you say.
I think the rhetorical situation is facebook can do a lot of things for you but does the reward really out way the risk of having a facebook and your personal life. it seems the video could be warning people before they venture into the facebook world.i think people need to be able to seperate there buisness with there personal life.

Missed Connections

Well as Valentines Day approaches us there will be many desperate attempts to find "true love". And there will be those who will just be looking for just a date for the day.

Many people find themselves going that extra step to find the person that they belong with or think they belong with. In this case true love seems to fall right into our main characters lap (At least that's what she thinks). For some odd reason she falls madly in love with this guy who has no interest in her at all. (I personally believe the dog was more interested than he was). She expresses her love for him throughout the video the same way many others would but in a more comical way.

It shows how so many desperately try to grasp on to everything as a sign of true love when in actuality it's really nothing. I don't think this video was meant to ruffle any one's feathers or hurt feelings but to open peoples eye's a little about the facts of how "love/lust" could actually be.

I believe this video was made to maybe cheer up those "hopeless romantics" as Valentines day approaches us. Also, it could be a wake up call for many who may be in the same situation as this young lady, hopefully this video catches their attention. But i think this video makes sense and really could brighten someones day.

Preach on, Ginger Brotha...

When I was born, as the nurses were cleaning me up and doing whatever it is they do, one of them called to my mother, “She has red hair!” I do not know what the normal response to this statement would be after nine months of carrying a child and an exhausting delivery, but I do know that my mom’s response was to scream. Yes, she screamed at the thought of having given birth to a redheaded child. And so begins the story of my life…

Having red hair has always made me stand out in a crowd. People who dye theirs various, hideous shades of red come up to me and ask me if my hair color is natural—since I was a few months old actually (as if I would get my hair dyed as an infant)—and it is very easy to find me in a crowd of people. Just look for the bright red illuminating from my head. It was always a good thing to be a redhead, especially with role models such as Ginger Spice to look up to (kidding…). Then, however, the show South Park came along and changed the meaning of being a red head forever. If you are unfamiliar with the episode, Cartman gives a speech about how “gingers” (red hair, pale skin, freckles…check, check, and check for me) have no souls. He had a lot to say about my particular…species, and since this episode in 2005 aired, this term and ideology has spread like wildfire.

As a “ginger”, I have learned to accept that people think that this episode of South Park is hysterically funny. I don’t really mind it, and I agree that it is hard for us to survive in the daylight. However, some of my fellow gingers take serious offense to the message of this episode. One boy in particular posted his views in a video on YouTube. The video is entitled “GINGERS DO HAVE SOULS!!” I wish that I could tell you about the poignant, well-spoken argument that he is making, but that is simply not the case.

It is understandable why this kid would use the scene and genre of YouTube in order to get his message across. After all, the video has been viewed over 2 million times. These days, using YouTube as a genre of expression/”writing” is one of the best ways for everyday people to get a message across to a large audience. Not everyone can get an article published, or form a big enough gathering of people in order to make their argument. Even genres such as blogging that could lend themselves to a larger audience are restricted. It is difficult to just stumble upon interesting blogs unless it is on a site that you check regularly. Besides that, people are much more inclined to watch a video than read a diatribe about gingers (I suppose this would be a good place to apologize for making you read a diatribe about gingers). All you have to do is press play, sit back, relax, and enjoy this unstable boy.

Aside from the fact that this focus on genre simplifies the way we consume information/arguments, it has to be interesting in some way in order to succeed. The genre of YouTube depends on word of mouth to spread in the way that this particular video has. It has been posted on my Facebook wall twice in a week. Why is it so compelling and worth so much attention? If you have to ask, then you clearly have not seen this video. This boy is yelling in the camera for 3 minutes about how he is teased at school because of the notoriety of gingers in the post-South Park episode era. His main argument is that we do, in fact, have souls. He responds to these accusations of soullessness by repeatedly yelling about how he is a Christian, and even goes so far as to mention how he has thought about killing himself. I’m telling you, you cannot make this stuff up. The fact of the matter is that this kid does not make himself appear likable to his audience, so the basic appeal of this argument/video is not really that he pulls at the heartstrings. It is compelling because he is insane. Screaming, swearing, and pointing his finger in the camera...thanks for perpetuating the “Redheads have bad tempers” stereotype, buddy.

Essentially, this kid’s argument would not be worth discussing if he had made it in any other genre. If it were written out in any form, it just would not be the same. As the audience, we need to see this kid’s, um, passion in an uncensored manner. Although his mental stability is now being questioned on the grand stage of YouTube, his genre selection was perfect because he is awkwardly speaking from the heart. If he had a delete key, it would destroy the experience of his argument, and it truly was an experience.

Television and internet is a big influence

if you look at society today people are most influenced by what goes on in television. You see this a lot in youths. the parents can only do so much these days with the internet getting bigger everyday and the shows on television. i know me growing up i did not really listen or at least take in much of what people were saying until Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals came in and talked about going to school and how important it was to go to college and getting a degree. i always heard those sort of opinion from teachers, parents, or any adult of authority but when a famous person that i watch on tv every weekend it really meant something to me. you also see that on important commercial. you put a famous face in it to influence a person because an average joe would not make a difference. or when you have a tragic event like hurricane Katrina or 9/11 you see famous faces on television asking people or the audience for donations instead of a regular person because society would actually pay attention. i dont think its a bad thing for the audience to listen to famous people because a lot of the time they are promoting something positive. in some ways it could be a bad thing when you dont have a stable good role model at home and what ever that kid hears or sees on tv is what he/she is gonna do

If He Likes it, So do I.. Ethos

Now a days celebrities have the power to influence people to get out and spend their money. Whether it be a new car, or those brand new Nike shoes, celebrities seem to have the power to convince people that they have to go out and get whatever the product is. In many companies advertisement plans there is a hot shot athlete or a beautiful actress endorsing the product. Although they may be famous and wealthy what makes them such an expert about the product? I mean do they actually test the product out themselves? I'm guessing most of them don't, which leaves me with the question of why people value what celebrities or people of high power say about products.

My guess is that people see that they are celebrities and they think that if they have a certain product then they are on the same level or maybe they are even a celebrity themselves (as foolish as that may sound). For example, professional athletes that endorse shoes or other sporting goods are good endorsements because there is a huge possibility that they are using the product themselves. On the other hand if an actor/actress were to endorse sporting goods or equipment it wouldn't be a credible or very good endorsement.

In conclusion, in my personal opinion companies should target people that have a direct connections with the product they are endorsing. By doing that i believe companies will see more profit for their products because people value celebrities opinions very much.

For Dessert? I'll Try the Ethos...

In today's society, people live and breathe celebrity culture. From tabloids to commercials, people are just obsessed with seeing celebrities, knowing what they are doing, who they are dating, and what they are buying. Reputation is a huge part of what makes people pay attention. Today, a movie star, athlete, or even reality television personality can mention something one time and people become fascinated by that. On a recent episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians (E!'s big hit, which follows the now famous family of Kim Kardashian, who became famous herself for absolutely no reason), the girls were shooting an ad for a cupcake bakery that they are now endorsing. Considering they also endorse a weight loss product, and publiclicize their diet routines, it begs the question of why on earth we would trust the Kardashian family's opinion on this particular product. Sure, they are famous, but what do they really know about cupcakes? Have they tried all of the cupcakes in town? Do they even eat cupcakes?

While ethos, or public image, is an important part of selling a product or idea, it seems that we have forgotten that part of “ethos” is credibility. It should not entirely be defined as whether or not someone is famous, but do they know what they are talking about? For instance, Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, can believably endorse basketball shoes, which is why Air Jordans were so popular. He should know a thing or two about good basketball shoes. On the other hand, some new Chicago superstars, Gordon Beckham of the White Sox and Devin Hester of the Bears, are the faces of Berry Chill yogurt (one of those natural frozen yogurt places in the city). While Berry Chill is incredibly delicious, what about being an MLB rookie or an NFL wide receiver and punt returner gives them the credibility to promote this brand of yogurt? Beckham mentioned Berry Chill was his favorite place to eat in Chicago in ONE interview with mouthpiecesports.com, and all of the sudden he has a yogurt there named after him. Unless this yogurt has magical enzymes that enhance an athlete’s playing ability, in which case I would personally provide a lifetime supply to both the Sox and Bears, Beckham and Hester are just as reliable at promoting yogurt as I am. In fact, considering “The Hester” is comprised of mango, pineapple, and GUMMY BEARS, I might just be more dependable when it comes to this yogurty delight anyway. NFL star or not, he clearly does not have a feel for appropriate yogurt topping combinations.

Today’s “ethos” is established with very low standards. A company chooses a celebrity, takes some pictures of them, and that’s that. The celebrities don’t have to say much more than “I love this cupcake” (or yogurt, or sunglasses, or lawnmower…whatever), and not only do they have a “deal” with the brand and a nice paycheck, but people just believe them. No one cares what they like about the product, what makes it better than similar products, or how the product changed their lives. People’s fascination with celebrities takes away the need for persuasiveness. Ethos has become nothing more than a superficial image, eliminating the need for not only established credibility but logos and pathos, as well. While reputation should affect an audience’s response to a rhetorical situation, whether it be a speech or an advertisement, that should not be confused with image or celebrity status. Just because someone is famous does not prove that we should believe everything they say about every issue under the sun. It is a different matter entirely when they are persuading an audience to care about an issue or buy a product that relates to their reputation in some way, like Air Jordans, or even when the celebrity explains their choice of supporting something, but allowing public image alone to persuade an audience is embarrassing and ridiculous.