This next artifact is my online library.  It shows a list of books that I have read.  This site allows me to keep track of books that pass through my hands and I find it extremely helpful.  It also lets me recieve comments from other readers, and allows me to have coversations about the books we have in common.  The site has helped develope my people skills and has given me more confidence in speaking my mind to others.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/SunshineRaye

Near the beginning of this year my English class was given the assignment of reading a classic novel and then analyzing the rhetorical devices we found in it.  The novel I chose was Dracula by Bram Stoker, which I now consider one of my favorites.  The book was chocked full of rhetorical devices.  In doing the assignment I learned to read a book differently then how I had been doing it before.  It taught me to read the book as if I had written it.  I found that I had to, on numerous occasion, ask my self “Why do you think he chose to word himself that way?  Why would he use those words and not say it differently?”  I found that I understood the story so much more when I actually crawled into Mr. Stoker’s head and thought the way he thought as he was writing.  I have actually gone back and reread some books in the way that I had to read Dracula.  I really enjoyed doing this assignment, not only for getting to read such a great work of literature as Dracula, but also for acquiring a new way of thinking, reading, and writing.

Reading Rhetorically

                                                                                                                                                                        Halli Taylor

Halli Taylor Blog Posts

1.  Fur or Faux?

You see the beautiful women strutting down the runway in the sheik, yet sexy, brand spankin’ new fur line.  With the flashing lights, all the hair, all the make-up, you are instantly mesmerized, bamboozled, flabbergasted.  And you know right then and there you’ve got to be just like her.  And that fur coat is the ticket.  But if you really knew what went into making mink stole, or that rabbit muff, I just bet you would rethink putting that on your body.

If more people knew the horrors that the animals go through just to give you that fashion trend, then they would go completely to the faux lines. 

It’s common knowledge that animals have to die to achieve this article of clothing.  But “to kill the animals without damaging their fur, trappers usually strangle, beat, or stomp them to death. Animals on fur farms may be gassed, electrocuted, poisoned with strychnine, or have their necks snapped. These methods are not 100 percent effective and some animals “wake up” while being skinned.” 

With so many simple, attractive alternatives to the fur industry, fur is simply unnecessary.  No market can survive without customers.  And if there was no one to buy the fur, then there would no longer be a need to kill helpless (and down right adorable, if I might add) animals.  But as it turns out, some people just don’t care.  But I believe if they knew the truth about what goes into making that coat they so love wearing, then maybe they wouldn’t wear it after all. 

2.     What is Beauty? 

The history of the world is filled with beautiful people.  But was it just a pretty face that landed them in said category or something so much more?  Ask your self “Who is beautiful to me?” then when you’re done answering, ask your self, “Why?”  You might be shocked at what you discover. 

In doing research for this topic I saw that over the years the definition of “beautiful” has changed significantly.  Now this might sound a little bit off topic, but I just happen to be a great fan of the classic movie. 
Casablanca is my all time favorite.  My favorite actor is Carry Grant, and Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, and Maureen O’Hara are some of my favorite actresses.  

I believe that those women had a different type of beauty that actresses of today possess.  Now don’t get me wrong, I consider the present day actresses are indeed beautiful, but beautiful in a different way.  If you watch a classic film, then a modern film back to back, then I think you’ll see what I mean. 

I guess it might be because of how different standards were then than they are now.  In the days of the black and white movie it was considered scandalous for a women to even think about showing their midriff in public.  But then today a woman can have nothing on but some lip gloss and still be shown publicly, and in our homes.  Those women were famous, and exquisite, without having to bear it all. 

So all in all I believe that beauty is possessing elegance, and character, and an overwhelming sense of self.  Beauty knows no limits, has no boundaries, and holds no age restrictions. 

3. 
Africa.  A misunderstood Land. 

What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word “
Africa?”  Let me take a guess.  Probably HIV/AIDS, Malaria, and black people.  Am I right?  When I hear “
Africa” I begin to think of my favorite movie Casablanca, Pyramids, and African Elephants.  Random, I know… 

I am probably on of the few people that can say that
Africa is my most favorite place on this earth.  I have wanted to go to
Africa since I was 12 years old, and we studied
Egypt in Mrs. Bowie’s 6^th Grade class.  I hope more than I hope for most things to go there one day. 

It saddens me greatly that disease and death is peoples only knowledge of that continent. 
Africa holds many extraordinary wonders that not even I can name.      

I mean
Africa hold some of the most diverse species of animals than any other place on this planet.  It supported one of the oldest civilizations this world has ever seen.  And it has scenery that makes even angels sigh. 

Though it is true that underlying all of that beauty and history, there is the poverty, disease, and death.  And that tends to paint an ugly picture.

3.     To Tan or Not to Tan? 

Everybody likes to have that nice bronzy glow.  And artificial tanning has become a growing trend.  Epically during the winter seasons when sunning one self is not always an option.

But then there is the health risks, which most people tend to ignore.  Now I’m sure that there is, in every regular tanner that looming whisper of skin cancer in the very back of there minds.  But they just don’t seem to care.

What most people don’t know is that the skin’s tanning is the body’s way of protecting it against harm.  It’s kind of like a scar that you get from a sun burn.  And yes it is considered attractive, but to do it artificially is completely unnecessary.

Why risk death, for trends, to look great in the halter top, to have that “sun kissed glow.”  It’s not at all worth it.

1.  Fighting the Power

2.  Behind the Fridge

3.  The Dumping Ground

4.  Thomas Brown’s AP Language and Composistion Blog

5.  Levy’s 12 Grade English Blog

6.  Just Read!

I have decided to take an adventure on the web in the wide world of blogs, and leave my mark here and there.  So read my comments above and enjoy!!

“Indians scattered on dawn’s highway bleeding, Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile, eggshell mind.”  (Peace Frog, The Ghost Song, Dawn’s Highway, Morrison, Krieger.  The Doors)  Make any sense?  I guess it really all depends on how you look at.  Ask yourself a question.  Does the beginning sentence look to you as just words picked at random to fill in the lines on a piece of paper, or does that sentence tell you all together something different?  Jibberish or Poetry?  Jim Morrison of the Doors clearly thought that one line so important that he featured it in not one, but three of his songs. 

Music is a great aspect in my life.  I guess you could call it a hobby of mine.  I love to listen to it, learn about it, and feel it.  I mentioned the Doors in the paragaph above, and to me they were one of the greatest bands in the 60’s.  If your a first timer at listening to the Doors, then you will find them odd, incoherent, and trance-like.  But to me the acid-tinged lyrics of Jim Morrison are like poetry I have never heard before.  It was a terrible thing to lose Jim Morrisom so early in his career and in his life. “The days are bright, and filled with pain.  Enclose me in your gentel rain.  The time you ran was too insane.  We’ll meet again, We’ll meet again.” (The Crystal Ship)

I don’t see lyrics like those now a days.  I’ve never understood how bands can sing something they didn’t write, though that is the path a great deal of bands choose to take.  And please don’t get me wrong I’m not say that bands who write their own music are better then those who don’t, I’m just saying that I think the music would seem more personal if they did.  But I also understand that some people’s talent lies in their singing ability and not in their writing. 

Music history has seen many great speakers of Jibberish and an even greater amount of Poets, though drug induced, or just pure writing talent, we’ll never know.

“People are strange, when you’re a stranger.  Faces look ugly when you’re alone.  Women seem wicked when you’re unwanted.  Streets are uneven when you’re down.” (People are Strange, The Doors)

Over Thanksgiving break Mrs. Huff sent us hunting. Hunting for what, you may ask. Our teacher sent us hunting for words, and how writers use them. So as I began to think on where I could find the certain words, I had an epiphany. Where better to find words than in books and music. So I went to some of my favorites, and this is what I found.

Anaphora

One ring to rule them all,

One ring to find them,

One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,

In the land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

- The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring

Asyndeton

Thou has by moonlight at her window sung with feigning voice verses of feigning love and stol’n the impression of her fantasy with bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, conceits, knacks, trifles, nose gays, sweet meats, - messengers of strong prevailment in unhardened youth.

-Egeus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Parallelism

Oh to sail away, to sandy lands, and other days, oh to touch the dream, hides inside, and never seen.

- Achilles Last Stand,  Led Zeppelin

Inversion

Indians scattered on dawns highway bleeding.  Ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell minds.

-Peace Frog, The Doors

Polysyndeton

Oh Madam Mina, good women tell all their lives, and by day and by hour and by minute, such things that angels can read; and we men who wish to know have in us something of angels’ eyes.

-Dr. Vanhelsing, Dracula

It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be to find all of these rhetorical devices, because I realized that authors use them all the time.  You just have to know the right place to look.

1.  Appenzeller, Tim.  Dimick, Dennis R. ”Signs from Earth.”  Sept. 2004:  National Geographic.  http://nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0409/featurel/

2.  Ball, Timothy.  “Global Warming: The Cold, Hard Facts?” Feb. 5, 2007:  Canada Free Press.  http://canadafreepress.com/2007/global-warming020507.htm

3. Gugliotta, Guy.  “Extinction Tied to Global Warming”  January 21, 2005:  Washington Post.  http://washingtonpost.com.wp-dyn/aritcles/A24732-2005Jan20.html

4.  Riebeek, Holli.  “Global Warming.” May, 2007: Earth Observatory.  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/GlobalWarmingUpdate/

In this video Al Gore testifies to the House Energy and Science committees on GB

The effects of GB (Global Warming) are present all over the world. This next website that I have found goes on to list all of the things that we can say goodbye to in our future due to GB. Things like baseball, Christmas trees, Frenchfries, frogs, and koala bears, just to name a few.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2007/09/climate_100.html
This piece is from the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s Mic Check Radio.