Author Archives: EMELY AGUERO

In the article ” Padma Lakshmi: Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris Moved Me to Tears” the author expressed her joy in having Kamala Harris as president. She mentions how happy she is for having a black women in offie helping lead the country. Kamala Harris winning vice presidency send out a big message to so many young girls. It shows them that nothing is out of their reach. If you believe in something follow your dreams and you will achieve it. This is the first time we have a female president and this achievement is for the books. Personally, I found everything pretty effective throughout the whole article. I like how she gives some background information about Kamala Harris and what has taken her to get where she is now. I really liked every time she quoted things Kamala had previously said. I found that pretty effective. In the article she says ” While I may be the first woman in this office, I will not be the last,” she assured us. “Because every little girl watching tonight sees that this is a country of possibilities.” This message is so important cause spreads hope to every young lady who doubts herself. The impossible is possible.

This election has been one for the books. There has been many times where I sat down and said ” wow this is happening.” The most memorable moment was waking up a few days ago and my sister rushed into my room and said ” Biden won.” After so many days of being on edge this was a relief for me. That same day I could sense how most of the country was happy. On instagram you’ll see people dancing all over time square and that really surprised me. I hope that are country continues to to unite and we continue to use our voices. Our voices were definitely heard during these elections. This proves how much power we have when we are united.

After reading the article ” Gen Z is about to got to the polls…” the top three things that stood out to me was what they were saying about voting, They said one big reason they are voting was because America is no longer recognizable , our votes make a change even if people tell us they don’t, and we are women there was a point in history where we weren’t allowed to vote. I feel like this reading does a great job showing how aware, in tuned, and together this generation is. I personally feel like I fall right into these descriptions as well. I am aware of a lot and in tuned with everything that happens in my community. If I were to get interviewed about why I would vote I emphasis that I am a Black young adult in America and just a few years ago I didn’t have the right to vote. So If my ancestors fought for me to vote why wouldn’t I? These readings made me appreciate my peers a little more for the simple fact that we are so smart and resourceful.You can also learn a lot from each other even when we don’t agree. I don’t have any suggestions on what to add or change because we see what Gen Z is all about with these texts.

After reading “Backpacks vs. Briefcase” written by Laura Bolin Carol I got the chance to grasp on a lot of information that I didn’t know before. One of the biggest things that I learned was that we be tend to forget that we see Rhetoric Analysis literally everywhere. On tv, Magazines, and even when we meet new people.Rhetoric analysis isn’t just in writing or in speech but in our everyday lives. Another thing that I learned was the term ” exigence.” Exigence is ” the circumstance or condition that invites a response.” It is a latin word that comes from ” demand.” Last but not least I also learned that the best way to get to your audience is to know them. In the text it states that ” Understanding the audience helps you begin to see and understand the rhetorical moves that the rhetor makes.” I find this extremely important because persuading people can either be a easy or a hard job for someone. But a rhetor who understands their audience and knows what they want can say exactly what they want to hear. That is also what’s happening when we take time out of our day to scroll through instagram and the ads of the shoes you’ve been wanting pop up on your screen and then you end up being convinced to buy them because the ad says they’re ” limited.” Thanks to this article I will go back to my speech and look for the obvious. Things like the clothes the speaker is wearing, their background, hand gestures, and even their posture says so much about them. I will go a little deeper in my analysis and make as many educated conclusions as I can.

A post that really caught my attention was one that I saw about 3 days ago and it was thanking everyone with a platforms who is encouraging voting. As we are getting closer to the election I have seen more and more posts about voting than ever before. Even social media platforms have posted ads and facts about voting. It’s so important to make everyone understand that everyones vote matters. Seeing so many celebrities insisting on everyone to go vote is important. So seeing that post thanking everyone with a platform just made me think of how many more people are now going to vote. Unfortunately, I don’t have an actual screenshot of the post.

In the essay ” Politics and the English Language” written by George Orwell he makes some important points about the english language. In his essay he speaks about how over time the english language has become ” inaccurate and ugly.” He says that the decline of the english language has to do a lot with political and economic issues. Although theres a significant decline in our language there is still hope. He says ” Modern English, especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble.” From this quote which I find very significant he’s also letting it be known that not only have we been loosing the English Language but we have been loosing our originality right now we are just reading and listening to peoples mistakes and repeating them. Orwell says that political language ” is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectful…” Our language has become vague and meaningless. In politics language has been used to cover up the truth. To tell a story but not really tell it. In his essay he says ” In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of political parties.” Political parties will take events like this and sugarcoat it without having to get into details of what actually happened and then having their people believe what they want. We see this all the time in modern day politics. For example ” let’s build a wall” became a very famous phrase as Trump continued to use it during his candidacy. But what exactly does that mean? Saying ” let’s build a wall” doesn’t specify on how immigrants are going to be treated. It doesn’t say that Children and families will be detained which continues to occur. People in power use the English language in their favor. I personally am guilty of a lot of the things that Orwell mentions. For example I might say that I am a christian but I won’t mention certain things I can’t do or i’ll hide some truth to it. It is something that comes pretty natural to people not because they want to lie or be vague but they fear disapproval. I feel like having that fear has also played a big factor on why the English language has declined. I feel like George Orwells critique is valid and he has a good point.

After watching the ad I know that is targeted to all of the American citizens who plan on voting in the November 2020 election. In this video we see a mother who is holding up cards that represent everything that she is afraid to say out loud. She is suppose to represent the silent majority who want to speak out but are afraid to do so. I know this message is targeted to anyone who is second guessing on voting for Trump. In this ad Biden’s name is shown but not in a good sense. The biggest message that this ad is trying to send out to the public is that Biden isn’t fit to be president. It mentions things he’s done or plans on doing. For example it says that he plans on raising taxes, plans on giving amnesty to 11 million illegal immigrants and that his trade deals have already ” emptied our factories.” I believe that whoever is watching this is suppose to be afraid and concerned. The main goal is to raise red flags when it comes to voting for Biden. Although I don’t agree with some of the points that this ad makes many people might actually be concerned after watching it.

This ad is definitely negative. Throughout the whole ad negative things about Joe Biden are continuously brought up.The lady in the ad doesn’t look happy and the music throughout the whole ad is really suspenseful and sad. Although there isn’t much going on in the actual video you can get a lot from it. In the video the lady is sitting all alone in a room with postcards and as she goes through them the camera gets closer and closer. The clothing she’s wearing is also really dark. All these different details all set a serious mood. From my understanding this is a serious topic no matter who’s ad we are watching but for this ad its making it really crystal clear that Biden is the wrong choice. If Biden does win the presidential election the ” future is at risk.”

Personally I believe that the ad used some persuasive techniques. The visuals is one thing but they also did a good job setting the mood which would be considered Pathos. They tried to use some logic in the ad but it wasn’t very persuasive. In order to be successful in using Logos your evidence for a statement should be well researched. The things that were shown on the video looked more opinionated than anything else. If specific statistics would’ve been used the evidence would’ve felt more reliable.

Before Watching this ad I already had my opinions formed about both presidential candidates so for me the ad wasn’t too successful. But from a non bias view the ad did have a good way of giving off that concerning and sad mood which is very effective if that’s your goal. My main concern was that the statements that were being used weren’t specific enough. Everything always sounds better when numbers are involved.

After Reading ” Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott and ” Rethinking the Shitty First Draft” I can see that both essays have two complete different opinions when it comes to first drafts. One essays states that when writing your first drafts it’s okay to have mistakes and to let all your ideas pour out. The second says that your first drafts should be of high quality. These two approaches to writing all work for different people. It’s on the writer to decide what method works best for them. Personally, I could say that I agree with both articles but I do tend to be a person that likes to pour out all of her ideas even if I end up changing it at the end. I could say that the essay “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft” did give me a new perspective. I have always been taught that the first draft shouldn’t be prefect. Although there is nothing wrong with that, revising as you complete your first draft is pretty smart as well. On the other hand, even after being introduced to a new approach to writing your first draft. I still choose to pour out all my ideas without having to worry about perfecting it. Not having to worry about making a paper perfect at first gives you the chance to brainstorm more ideas. Your first draft will never be your last so take the chance to enjoy your writing and worry about getting all your ideas on paper and worry about perfecting them later.

In the essay ” What we Deserve” written by Angie Cruz we get some insight of what it looked like to live in the Dominican Republic in the 60s. She goes on to tell us about her family story and some of the hard decisions that her elders were forced to make. Just like many other immigrants her family was driven for a better life in America. They believed in the ” American dream ” a dream that is not as simple as it seems. For many years women all over the world have been ripped away from rights they deserved and they have been mistreated. This text resurfaces issues on how women have suffered over the years because of an unjust law system. In her story she explains how her mother was forced to marry an older man because he promised her a better life. Her Grandmother was put in a situation where she had to decide whether it was the right thing to give her daughter up or keep her in the life of poverty that she was in. She believed that giving her away would make her life better but what she didn’t know was that America wasn’t much different from the Dominican Republic at the time. This is one of the many hard decisions that women had to make because the justice system favored men over women. Cruz does a good job showing the imperfections within the law system and does a better job proving that the law system is still very unfair. In her story she also speaks about a young girl who was left without her parent because ICE took him. This is a situation that we constantly see now where immigrants are separated from their families with no forgiveness. In her text she said ” When you don’t have to look through the lens of desperation, it’s easy to question and condemn these so-called choices, but so often it’s children, girl children, who bear the burden.” This quote is significant because when you’re not in a rough situation it’s easy to judge the choices people made but for them is not just black and white. This story really touched home for me which is why I chose to write on it. Being from D.R and hearing how bad the country was once never sits right with me. Hearing the choices that my great grandparents probably had to make saddens me.Although times have became a little better there is still a lot more to work on.