Eryk Trela-Reading Responses

1- A moment that I found mind-boggling was the umpire’s call against Serena Williams for a “foot foul” whilst serving an unhittable ball towards Kim Clijsters. In the excerpt, it stated “No foot fault, you definitely do not see a foot fault there,” says McEnroe. “That’s over officiating for certain,” says another commentator. Even the ESPN tennis commentator, who seems predictable in her readiness to find fault with the Williams sisters, says, “Her foot fault call was way off.” (Page 123). It is extremely heartbreaking whenever you see an official (umpire in this case) making bad calls against a player in an individual sport because of their personal vendetta against the said athlete. To add on, it’s the worst when you make a bad call when it’s so obvious. For example, in the quote, you have professional commentators for tennis who completely disagree with you.

2-Rankine uses pathos an abundant amount of time within the excerpt in hopes of persuading the reader with the use of emotion. Rankine uses Serena’s emotional explosion after a bad call, followed up with a justification. Rankine does this so the reader can empathize with her justified in the moment rage (Page 123, Paragraph 2). In addition, Rankine tries to get the audience to empathize with Serena’s actions by stating “Serena lost context by abandoning all rules of civility, it could be because her body, trapped in a racial imaginary, trapped in disbelief—code for being black in America”. The feeling of empathy is getting achieved by stating how she could be trapped in her body. 

3- There have not been many moments in my life where I have communicated effectively and persuasively without using words. Yet, I do have one single moment that stands out. I was in a soccer tournament with a close friend at the time, and our time had been struggling, but we knew that there still is a small chance to win and go to the semis. At half-time, we were losing 2-0 in a bad fashion. However, the one good thing is that we were not getting dominated. The first half ends, I and my friend are walking to the locker room, no words are said. I put my arm around him and shook him so he could at least smile, which he did. After that, I physically turned his body in the middle of the field facing a goal. Then we start communicating with our hands, I show him with my hands the key passes he needs to make, and also the runs he needed to make for us to at least have a chance to tie the game. The second half, starts we simultaneously nod at each other knowing the game plan. A couple of minutes within the half all the plays I showed him are being completed to a tea. In the 57th minute I score, 60th minute my friend scores, 62nd minute I score again, 67th minute he scores again. The game ends 4-2 for us.