My Last Go-Around

So this is what goodbye feels like? I can't believe I've just finished my first year of college. But what better way to finish it off than with one more lesson:

Ethos is defined by Merriam Webster as "the distinguishing character, sentiment, moral nature, or guiding beliefs of a person, group, or institution." So what does this really mean? Basically it's how you assert yourself in a paper. It's what makes your audience know that you have experience or at least know what you are talking about in whichever topic you choose. For me, ethos was one of the more challenging elements to put into my papers. Of course everything I wrote came purely from me, but I've never been much of a charmer with words. Although, I am extremely jealous of people who are. It's a definite talent.


The first assignment I completed this semester was a blog about advertisements (which you can find below). I chose to analyze a commercial for Michelob Ultra. In this commercial hip, young people were showed living the "Ultra Life." I had to show my ethos as writer by explaining to my audience that I was a college student and somewhat understood how the party scene worked. Additionally, I analyzed the rhetorical situations throughout the advertisment such as why I thought the producers of the commercial chose specific actors or actresses, and why they put them in the situations they did.


The next essay was supposed to be about technology. Before we wrote our papers, we watched the documentary Digital Nation. I was enthralled by the program. I've never been much a technology gooroo and was a little surprised to find out that so many people rely on technology so much. I chose to write my paper on whether or not technology was useful in education. My side was that all in all, technology is a very good thing for education. Being a student myself, I think my ethos were written all over the place, so to speak. I researched and found that more students like learning and are excited for school or classes when they can interact with knowledge. Students do better with hands on learning and technology makes it that much better of an experience.

The final essay that I wrote was a Rogerian Argument. This was by far the most challenging assigment of the entire semester. My topic was organic food vs. non-organic food and the impact that both sides had on the environment. The hard thing about a Rogerian is that you have to stay neutral throughout the entire paper. You can never call out one side and say that they are right or wrong, better or worse. I'd like to think that all people want to be healthy and happy. My ethos for this paper was the fact that I wanted to become healthier as well as help my planet.

The take home message for this blog post is: BE YOURSELF!! You don't have to be the best writer out there to write an A+ paper of a best seller. The most important thing to do in writing is make a connection with your audience. They want to know that you are just like them. If you need anymore help when it comes to writing just contact Mr. Mitchell and he can help you every step of the way.

On a final note, here's a little about myself. I am now officially a sophomore at the University of Oklahoma. I love sports, especially Sooner football. I'm from a small town and have played sports my entire life. I'm a simple person loving a simple life. Fishing, hunting, and being on my Grandparents' ranch are some of my favorite things. I strive to be a veterinarian because of my love for animals.

Sincerely,
Coaster =]

Kids Growing Up Too Fast?

It blows my mind today how fast kids seem to be growing up. When I was younger, we played outside more than we stayed inside. We didn't have facebooks, myspace, and all those other social things. We didn't have cell phones until we were in junior high and for some the beginning of high school. I always seem to wonder if it's technologies fault for kids being the way they are. I meet younger kids all the time and I'm just like "me and my friends were so much different than you." I see young girls at the age of 12 and 13 wearing so much makeup they could pass as 16. Do they gets these ideas from television and movies? And all these young boys picking up these violent habits and cussing. The other day, I heard a boy that couldn't have been older than 10 cussing at this little girl in one of my friends neighborhoods. Do they get violent from video games? Could this all be because of technology or does it have to do with the parents? If you think about, we all grew up in a technological age. Many of my friends already are parents. I tend to think it's primarily because people are having children so young. Babies having babies as I like to call it. Now I'm not looking down or being judgmental on anyone who has a baby when they're young. I just wonder if it's because they are used to what is on television so they don't realize how harmful it can be when their child sees it as well. So whose fault is it, the parents or the media? Why is everything so uncensored? Now on most channels as long as they don't say the F-word they don't bleep anything out. Late at night you can basically find anything you want just on regular cable. It makes me scared to have children and for them to see the things that children see so early in life these days. Just food for thought.

Composition 2 Website's

Probably one of the funnest assigments we got to do this semester was create a website or a presentation giving tips and tricks on how to write the various assignments we created over the semester. I liked it because it wasn't just another paper we had to write, we got to pick how we wanted to present our information. My group chose to use Prezi to make our presentation. It was a lot of fun, although it was a little difficult to figure out at first. It gave our presentation a different appeal that we hoped would catch the eye of our audience and keep them interested.
Our class made some pretty great websites as well. One of my favorites was called Curb Your Writing. They did an excellent job of presenting all of the information a writer needs and in an easy to find format. Another great one was Technolgy in Life 2. They chose to analyze how technology as impacted aspects of daily life such as communication, education, television, and advances in predicting the weather.
I was really happy that Mr. Mitchell gave us this assignment to let our creative sides really come out. I'll definitely miss that about comp 2.

A Day Without Technology

A few weeks ago for my composition 2 class we were told to write a blog post about spending an entire day without a piece of technology and then compare our day and thoughts to an essay written by Wendell Berry.
Since I'm not that hooked to my computer or Facebook, I decided to go an entire day without my iPhone. At first it felt really strange, like I was constantly forgetting something. After I got over this it was kind of relaxing to not feel my phone vibrate every so often from text messages, e-mails, or phone calls. I felt mischevious, like I could go anywhere or do anything and no one would know where I was. This feeling didn't last long though. I soon realized that I had forgotten to tell anyone that I wouldn't have my phone that day. My mom thought I had died and my friends were all frustrated with not being able to get ahold of me to make plans for meals, to study, or to just hangout throughout the day. I also found myself having nothing to do when I was bored. I have an iPhone, so when I'm just hanging around my room or something with nothing to do I'll play a game. That wasn't an option on this day however.
After reading Berry's essay I somewhat agree with his first reason on not buying a computer, to stay connected to nature. As a girl I am somewhat a romantist and I love the idea of exchanging letters instead of a phone call, e-mail or text. They seem like they would be so much more intimate. They'd be like a present that you looked forward to. And I also agree that not owning technology would definitely be a lot cheaper than owning it. But there's so many things that technology connects us to. I just think that we should learn to not be dependent on technology.
It's a scary thought to me that people can become so dependent on technology. I just remember watching Digital Nation and being amazed by the folks who were talking about how in love they were with World of Warcraft. Some of them had never even met people that they considered their "best friends." I guess I just don't understand using the internet to meet people. To me, the internet is used to stay in touch with friends using things like e-mail and websites like Facebook.
It's also weird to think that just a few years ago when you bought a cell phone it was used to simply make phone calls. Now when you buy a phone it's hard to believe that people even use it to call others. There's millions of games and other apps to do just about anything you want it to.
With all that in mind, I'd say that Wendell Berry had the right idea with trying not to get wrapped up in technology. Being born into a technology-driven world I can't really say that I could live happily without technology because having it is what I'm used to. It's a nice thought though, to just be able to reconnect with nature. I just hope that our world doesn't take technology too far. I'd prefer for us to be controlling it, instead of technology controlling us.

Michelob Ultra With Lance Armstrong

We've all heard the saying "live life to the fullest" at least once in our lives. But how often have we heard the saying "live life to the Ultra"? Michelob Ultra is taking life to the next level with their new Ultra beer. Unlike most beer commercials that merely show a man loves his beer, Michelob has decided to make their beer part of a certain lifestyle, the Ultra life. This commercial starts off showing the beer's label as a catchy song begins to play. The viewer is soon emersed in the life of an Ultra drinker. They are shown as fearless, fun-loving, and extreme. One part that I actually enjoy is when it says "and even though they live like there's no tomorrow, they already have plans for tomorrow." As sad as I am to admit this, I can easily see why this could make someone believe that drinking this beer could help them achieve the "Ultra Life", which is exactly what this advertisement is going for.


The composition of this ad is a little more complex than the typical advertisement you would see on televison. It shows multiple scenes of Ultra beer drinkers doing fun activities such as getting together with friends and mountain biking. Although the people throughout the commercial may be of a different race or sex, they are all united by the fact that they are drinking Michelob Ultra.

Another interesting feature of this commercial is the use of Lance Armstrong to promote the "Ultra Lifestyle." Armstrong is a familiar face to most Americans. He is known as a profound and dedicated athlete who is also a survivor of cancer. Seeing him could make viewers further believe that drinking this beer could help them further achieve great things, which may or may not be true.

Just as some extra information, possibly to make it easier to understand where my views are coming from for the readers of this blog, I'm neither against drinking or for it really. In moderation, I don't see it as a bad thing whatsoever. I've been to my share of parties and am generally just a social drinker so it's easy for me to see both sides of drinking.

One thing I do disagree with, however, is the fact that when it comes to most alcohol advertisements of commercials the people are portrayed in an unrealistic fashion. The companies who produces these things seem to make it seem like anyone who drinks is thin, beautiful, and happy. We all know that's usually not the case although sometimes it could be. It makes me worry about the younger viewers that might see these ads and think that their life can only be that great, or that they could only achieve certain things if they drink.

The main downfall to this commercial is the things not shown. It goes right along with the trend and shows Ultra drinkers as athletic, trendy, confident, and happy. It's as if the message of this whole advertisement is "drink our beer and you can become like these Ultra-lifestyle lovers." It wants the viewer to think that by drinking this beer, with its 95 calories and a mere 2.6 carbs, is the best choice over any other beer and a way to success. Throwing in the beers nutrition facts is also appealing to customers and could cause them to choose this beer over any others. I understand you can't make a bad commercial and expect to sell your product, but I think they could make them a little more realistic.

The overall subject/ focus of the commercial is to sell more beer. Michelob chose all these different people in many different scenes to show that anyone can "live life to the ultra" as long as they're drinking Michelob Ultra beer.

This commercial probably appeals to an audience of younger adults. I would consider young adults being of the age between 21 and upper 30s. They are generally still quite active and still into going out with friends often. Even though I don't particularly like beer, I think this advertisement adequately represents the young adult drinkers. I can easily identify with the events and things shown in this commercial, I mean I am a freshman in college. On the other hand, this commercial may not particularly appeal to older adults, which I would consider to be 40 and up. Older adults are likely to not be as active as young people and may not be able to identify with the party scene anymore. Instead of going out to bars and parties, they may see beer as a relaxation tool and would prefer to be at home while they enjoyed it.

Taking all the various parts of this advertisement into consideration is still doesn't make me want to drink their beer just because of the things they've shown. Mainly because of the downside of the commercial, all the things they seem to leave out. They don't show many of the negatives of drinking beer that I have seen throughout my years such as getting in trouble with the law, car wrecks, bad decisions, beer bellies, and the dreaded freshman 15. Not only is the "Ultra Life" a little farfetched, there are not enough pros shown to outweigh the cons.