Organized

The Trimbur article seemed to be focusing heavily on organization and how a text stands in a larger context. He touches on anthologies and whether some texts should even be placed in and anthologies at the risk of changing their meaning. Personally, I always found texts in anthologies to be less cannonesque or less literature than the text on its own. Anthologies are sort of like a dictionary or greatest hits of English literature. Works grouped together almost become more referential and less meaningful to the reader.

It's also interesting to think of writing as types of signs. I immediately thought of the crowed bulletin board near the sub or a single stop sign with the word "war" graffitied underneath. Space, place, color, and other signs all factor in to how one relates to signs. I think this can easily be applied to various texts. There are definitely text that appear more visually boring than others, so I tend to pay attention less. Stream of conciousness writing with short paragraphs appeal to me. Long-winded paragraphs where the point is hidden deep behind metaphors appeal to me less.

My Viral Video

I witnessed this video on Monday Night Football last week and I felt compelled to share it. I added some music, a touch of text, and viola!

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk3egu2jLeg

Sosnoski thoughts

This article was published in '99, but it predicts the future of online reading and e-readers astonishingly well. The entire roster of Tampa Bay Buccaneers use Ipads before games. Textbooks are now offered in E-reader forms. It's only a matter of time before it becomes the standard way to read texts.

All of Sosnoski's pointz about skimming and lack of focus while online hit home for me. In many instances we have the ability to scroll through an article faster than we could ever flip through a book. Hell, there might be some students that use the Ctrl+F function to search through an article for key words.

For me, I read articles fully when I know that skimming them will not do them justice. in some cases, the author has to have an engaging voice or style to suck me in. Otherwise, my brain instantly recognizes an academic article and a "rhetorical voice" and locks down into "find the key statements mode".

Oops..

I just realized I needed to give everyone an introduction too....

I am a.... Virgo, a procrastinator, a 5th year senior, an MSU athlete, an only child, an avid outdoorsman, an aspiring chef, and a Montanan.

I like... switching from small talk to medium talk, language (both new and foul), streams, rivers, lakes, alleys, cheese, sarcasm, honesty, brutal honesty, obscene rap music, frozen lakes, and waterskiing.

Laborious Rhetoric Response

The Grant-Davie article places constraints as the "hardest of the rhetorical components to define" because of its vagueness, but in my mind its the most critical. Constraints are the meat and potatoes of a rhetorical objective. Exigence, rhetors, and audience follow the constraints that are set in place. It's the fuel to a machine that will perform vastly if changed ever so slightly. The rhetoric in my blog post, final project, or debate with a friend all have hurtles BEFORE worrying about audience and BEFORE worrying about authorial voice.

Seth

Welcome Writ371ers

I have arrived

Seth