Congratulations!

I'm happy to report that you all passed the AP exam! Our class average was 3.667. Pretty impressive. Come see me in August when we get back to school. Til then, enjoy the rest of your summer!

American Dream Source (Really Late)

This is an interesting video interview with Ron Reagan, Ronald Reagan's son, about how the American Dream is an overused cliche:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12903190

54th Regiment

The Robert Gould Shaw and 54th regiment memorial is located across from the Massachusetts statehouse. It serves to commemorate the first African Americans to fight in the civil war newly allowed by the Emancipation Proclamation. African Americans were allowed to volunteer, and the whole regiment served under the memorial's focal point, Robert Gould Shaw. This memorial is made of high-relief bronze and unveiled in 1897. The physical representation is that of the regiment marching south, along Beacon street.

Vendome Firefighters Memorial

This memorial was erected in memory of the nine firefighters who lost their lives attempting to stop the fire in the Vendome Hotel. On Father's Day, June 17, 1972, a tremendous fire erupted just a few steps away from where the memorial is today; although the firefighters stopped the flames, the Vendome collapsed with Firefighters inside due to a combination of fire damage and faulty construction. The black stone memorial points to the location of the fire and has a timeline of the event inscribed upon it. The stone bench nearby allows people to sit down and observe both the timeline and the site of the fire.

Anne Hutchinson Memorial

Anne Hutchinson was banished from Boston in the first decade of settlement because her religious views were different from those of the ruling ministers. She believed that both men and women could receive grace only from God and accused the ministers of preaching that “good works” signified holiness. She attracted women to prayer meetings she held in her home in part because her beliefs put women’s souls on an equal footing with men’s souls. She was banished in 1638 for heresy and killed in New York in 1643 by Siwanoy Native Americans. This statue was sculpted by Cyrus E. Dallin and depicts Hutchinson and her daughter Susanna.

The Boston Women's Memorial

Dedicated on October 25, 2003, the Boston Women's Memorial features three important contributors to Boston's history - Abigail Adams (President John Adam's wife), Lucy Stone (first woman to earn a college degree), and Phillis Wheatley (first published African-American poet). These three women, living in the 18th and 19th centuries, were committed to social change and women's rights. They are commemorated today for their writing and their impact on society. The memorial depicts their bronze statues in stages of "coming down off their pedestals" (as women have, symbolically) in order to use the pedestals as work surfaces.
Artist: Meredith Gang Bergmann

The Irish Famine Memorial

The Irish Famine Memorial was erected in downtown Boston, along the city's Freedom Trail, on June 28, 1998. It's purpose was to mark the 150th anniversary of the Irish Famine.
The memorial is made up of two statues - one depicting a family that is famished, poverty-stricken, and desperate, and a second depicting the same family, hopeful and determined. The intention is to picture the family leaving a starving Ireland and arriving in the thriving city of Boston. Around these two statues are eight plaques, each giving a small amount of historical insight.

The New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston

The New England Holocaust Memorial begins at the head of a paved trail between two facing, granite monoliths. Between the two monoliths is a buried time capsule preserving the names of perished family members and loved ones submitted by New Englanders. The memorial is specifically defined by six large glass towers. Each of the towers represents one of six death camps in the Holocaust. The towers are composed of glass plates inscribed upon which are millions of white registration numbers used by the Nazis and representing the lives lost in each of the death camps. Inside each tower is a quote from a survivor about life either before, within, or following their experience in the death camps. A path runs between each of the towers and through them. Lining the path and inscribed in granite are informative quotes about what happened throughout the Holocaust. While walking through each of the six towers you realize that you are standing on metal grates, from which rise heated steam, "like human breath as it passes through the glass chimneys to heaven," said the designer Stanley Saitowitz. If you were to get down on your hands and knees, which most visitors do not do, you would notice that beneath the grates lies a pit of sharp, jagged rocks, lit by searching lights and by one solid light. At the end of the walk rests a single granite monolith baring the famous quote,

"They came first for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.
Then they came for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up." -Martin Nieomeller 

Monuments and Memorials

Time to start thinking about what monument/memorial you are going to research. Here's a list of some of the ones we plan to see in Boston. You should each choose one and post a little background on it -- with a photo if possible.

1. Anne Hutchinson – State House

2. 54^th Regiment – State House

3. The Holocaust Memorial – Faneuil Hall

4. Irish Famine Memorial - near Old City Hall

5. Women's Memorial - Commonwealth Mall

6. Vendome Firefighters Memorial - Commonwealth Mall

Anadiplosis

The repetition of a word or phrase from the end of a line or sentence in the beginning of the following line or sentence.

“My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.”

Syllepsis

A kind of ellipsis in which one word (usually a verb) is used in two contexts within the same statement. Many say "syllepsis" is interchangeable with the term "zeugma."

"You are free to execute your laws, and your citizens, as you see fit." 

Metonymy

Metonymy is the rhetorical strategy of describing something indirectly by referring to things around it, such as describing someone's clothing to characterize the individual.


For example: "suits" instead of "businessmen" 


"The pen is mightier than the sword," -Edward Bulwer Lytton (The pen stands for the written word.)

Your Visual Rhetoric Power Point Presentation

For Monday, you should find a print ad, a political cartoon, and a commercial and put together a slide show that analyzes these three products. State the "claim" or argument that each piece is making, and then break down the various elements of the piece, telling us how the ad, cartoon, or commercial accomplishes its purpose. Use the checklists in the handout to guide you. Mention any rhetorical strategies used.

Please email your PPT to me, so that I will have a copy and you can use my laptop for your presentation.

Rhetoric Term: Antimeria

Also known as Anthimeria, this term consists of using one part of speech as another. Typical use involves using a noun as a verb.


"The thunder would not peace at my bidding". (Shakespeare, King Lear, IV, vi.)

Chiasmus

(Sorry I didn't post this yesterday.)


Definition: A verbal pattern in which the second half of an expression is balanced against the first but with the parts reversed.


Example: "You forget what you want to remember, and you remember what you want to forget." - Cormac McCarthy

Speeches to analyze

This is a great speech website with analysis to boot.

Sententia

Quoting a maxim or wise saying to apply a general truth to the situation; concluding or summing up by offering a statement of general wisdom.

Example:

But, of course, to understand all is to forgive all.

Erotema

Erotema - A question that is asked without expecting an answer because the answer is strongly implied; a rhetorical question.

I.E. - “How long, O Catiline, will you abuse our patience? And for how long will that madness of yours mock us? To what end will your unbridled audacity hurl itself?”
-Cicero

Asyndeton

Sorry this is a bit late, everyone!

Asyndeton:
The omission of conjunctions between clauses, often resulting in a hurried rhythm or vehement effect.


"Veni, vidi, vici!" - Julius Caesar 

Anacoluthon

Sorry, this is so late.
Anacoluthon- A sudden break in a sentence's grammatical structure.
Example-  “So, then I pulled up to her house — are you still with me here?”

Photographs and memories

Write a Don-Murray-like reflection based on the photograph of your childhood that you brought to class last week (or a photograph you found this weekend.)  In other words, the person you are now should be reflecting upon the person you were then. I'm doing this too....this is my photo.

Synecdoche

Synecdoche: Figure of comparison in which a word standing for part of something is used for the whole of that thing or vice versa.


Example: "Give us this day our daily bread." -Matthew 6:11

Antithesis

Antithesis: The juxtaposition of two opposing phrases or ideas next to one another.

Example: "Our genes had to hustle to enable us to survive and thrive in all that chaos called 'civilization.'" -The Darwin Awards: Countdown To Extinction.

AP calculator

Here's the link to the AP calculator that I mentioned.

Epistrophe

Epistrophe:  Ending a series of lines, phrases, clauses, or sentences with the same word or words. Also known as epiphora. Opposite of anaphora.

Example:
"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny compared to what lies within us." — Ralph Waldo Emerson

from http://rhetoric.byu.edu/

Polysyndeton

Polysyndeton:the use of a conjunction between each word, phrase, or clause. The rhetorical effect is often a feeling of multiplicity, energetic enumeration, and building up.


Example: They read and studied and wrote and drilled. I laughed and played and talked and flunked.

Anesis

Anesis: Adding a concluding sentence that diminishes the effect of what has been previously stated.

Example: John was a hard worker and diligent student. He was intent on his work, incredibly focused, and persistent to the extreme, but his dyslexia resulted in poor English grades.

American Dream Source

This website was an important source to me and the one I referred to the most while writing my paper, because it offered both an old world and a new world view of the American Dream.

American Dream Source

This is an interesting article about how materialism and the economic challenges people face today have destroyed the "Americanness" of the American dream. What is today's American dream?

Anamnesis

anamnesis: calling to memory past matters; more specifically, citing a past author from memory (so as to establish the writer's or speaker's credibility.

http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm

Examples: We who are religious should think twice before disparaging science, for in many ways their work is a work of great faith. As Albert Einstein once said, "the serious scientific workers are the only profoundly religious people."

Was it not Socrates who said the unexamined life is not worth living?

Rhetorical review

To facilitate the multiple choice question practice sessions we'll be embarking upon this week, it would be helpful for us to review some of the terms you are expected to know. Each day, I'll be asking someone to post the definition of a  particular rhetorical device with an example. (You will be earning credit for this, so please don't ignore the posting part of the assignment.  Others in the class will earn extra credit by posting comments with more examples of the device from your reading. Let's limit it to three examples/comments after the initial post. 

Here is the rotation to follow:
Monday: Allie; Tuesday: Sean; Wednesday: Gaelyn;
Thursday: Katie; Friday: Anthony; Monday: Lauren

What rhetorical device does my photo of Robin Williams from Dead Poets Society employ? What is its effect?

American Dream Source

This source gives an interesting opinion of how the American Educational System is destroying the American Dream and centers on the argument that "The main product of formal education-- of all kinds-- is dependency, not freedom."

American Dream Assignment for Monday

I'd like you to share one of your online sources from your American Dream research on this blog. I think it would be valuable to your classmates and will give us something to talk about on Monday. You'll have to share it as a post.
First, click on New Post at the top of the blog. The link function will be the fifth icon from the left. (But you probably all know how to do this better than I).

Here's my share: a really interesting article from the Wall Street Journal.

Your American Dream

One thing we really haven't talked much about is your personal (American) dream. (What it means to you). Read the following short article and then respond to the question at the bottom by leaving a comment to this post.

Have a good weekend!

American Dream research

I'd like you to post a comment to this blog entry that sums up what you discovered in your research today. These are the points you should try to address (some if not all).
1. Summarize your major findings.
2. Did you find a source that supports your thesis?
3. Did you find a source that does not support your thesis?
4. Have you changed your thinking about your thesis at all based on your research today?
5. What are your next steps?

#5 Thesis

Ericsson is arguing that it has become culturally permissible to tell lies, so much so that reality is distorted. The thesis statement is "Our acceptance of lies has become a cultural cancer that eventually shrouds and reorders reality until moral garbage becomes as invisible to us as water is to fish", and is located near the end. It is located near the end because she feels that it is important to be introduced to different types of lies, before fulling explaining her position. Oddly, the introduction of lie-types serves not only to inform, but also to persuade and strengthen the thesis, when finally presented.

Changing the assignment ALERT!

Instead of answering all the questions about Why We Lie, I'd like each of you to choose one question from # 1-7 and post a response to the blog. (First come, first choice. Once you've responded to my invitation, you can create posts and publish them to the blog.)

Please make sure that you put the question # in the title of your post so that your classmates will know that question is taken. You can illustrate your post if you wish.

Then, on old-fashioned paper, write a paragraph that addresses question #8.

The Ways We Lie

Read "The Ways We Lie," by Stephanie Ericsson. For homework, post your answer to one of the first 7 questions on this blog:
1. The sentence in paragraph 3 that begins: "We exaggerate, we minimize, we avoid confrontation...." is an example of what rhetorical device?
2. What is the rhetorical function of paragraph 36?
3. What is the intended purpose of the quotations at the start of each type of lie?
4. How would you describe Ericsson's tone? Cite specific words that lead to your determination.
5. What is Ericsson arguing? What (and where) is her thesis statement?
6. Ericsson begins and ends her essay with a similar reference point. Why?
7. What rhetorical technique does Ericsson use when talking about the "out-and-out" lie? Why?

Then, everyone needs to write a paragraph (on old-fashioned paper) addressing this question:

Ericsson says, "Madness is actually a sane reaction to an insane world." In a paragraph, apply this quote to something you have experienced, read, or observed.