Confessions of a Tumblr Newbie

My name is Allie Greer. I'm a junior at University of Colorado Boulder. I'm studying Integrative Physiology and I hope to go to med school or PA school after college. I love hiking, playing tennis, and yoga. In my downtime I like to read, write, play guitar, and attempt to cook (usually doesn't go so well). I also spend an excessive amount of time planning vacations for the future because I love to travel and who doesn't like to imagine their dream life? I am extremely silly when you get to know me and I love to have a good time.

[allie99-blog-blog]

You're never 100% done

You can always go the extra mile. I find it kind of enlightening to go back and look at my work to see how I could improve, even if it was something I wrote just last week! Here's my revised rhetorical analysis; a little more condensed to compensate for the necessary additions. 

If We Talked About Straight People The Way We Talk About Gay People  your typical Buzzfeed countdown article, meant for ordinary people, (probably of the younger age demographic). It’s meant to be funny, but also to get us to think. 

Pathos: Showing pictures of excessively happy people who believe everything is a-okay is pathos working to illustrate that straight people can be oblivious to what they are insinuating. By making backhanded comments, they do not realize that they could possibly offend someone. 

Kairos: Gender can be a sensitive topic to some, and this article addresses it head on. Because the article was published on buzzfeed (a widely read website), it is open to a large audience that can read it at any time (because it is published right on the page).

Ethos: I think we all see Buzzfeed articles as fairly reliable sources because most of the time, they are about situations we all experience as humans: things we find awkward, funny, etc. Finding common ground based on everyday subjects creates a feeling of reliability. We have all heard people say these things, so we can relate and apply what the author is communicating to our own lives. 

Logos: By directly showing readers what it would sound like if gay people made comments like straight people, we are forced to see what it's like for gay people to experience this. We hear these comments all of the time, and by turning the tables, readers can see that it is truly not logical to say these things to anyone. 

I thought this was an interesting article because it really turns our perspective around as readers. By condensing all of these little comments into one Buzzfeed post, straight people can see how these comments can affect gay people. 

[allie99-blog-blog]

Ew... I turned this in for an actual paper?

BEFORE:

 Since the establishment of the colonies, racial mixing has occurred, leading to a plethora of different skin colors and shades. This racial mixing has also led to significant identity confusion and racism amongst the population.  In most cases (besides the almost completely black nation of Haiti) the citizens of these countries strive to be as white as possible. These race and class divisions are determined by how much African blood one has in their lineage, and how dark their skin colors are.

AFTER:

 Since the establishment of the colonies, racial mixing has occurred, which led to a plethora of different things: variable skin colors, significant identity confusion, and racism amongst the population. In most cases (besides the nearly black nation of Haiti) the citizens of these countries strive to be as "white" as possible. These Race and class divisions are determined by the quantity of African blood one has in their lineage, and how dark their physical appearance is. 

For this revision, I focused on Tools 6 and 7. I was mindful of the -ing's and took one out, but kept "racial mixing" because I was referring to racial mixing over time. I also combined the first few sentences into more of a condensed list so that my reader wouldn't lose interest. (Tool 7). I also just did some general cleaning up, mainly because I have come to realize how lengthy my writing is sometimes... 

[allie99-blog-blog]

My name is Allie Greer. I’m from Boise, Idaho. My birthday is April 26, 1994 so I’m a taurus. I’m studying Integrative Physiology and I hope to go to med school or PA school after college. One day I would love to do something that benefits children and adults with special needs. Growing up with a...

[allie99-blog-blog]

I know a bunch of random songs on my guitar, what I learned always depended on my latest obsession! I've been playing since I was 9, so that means I learned to play all of the taylor swift, avril lavigne, simple plan, green day stuff that I was obsessed with back in the day. I also love to play stuff by john mayer and jack johnson, they are so talented! (I don't really do them justice by playing their stuff though). 

As for traveling, I've been to most places in the US except for the Eastern seaboard unfortunately. I would love to take a big trip to NYC and all of those destination spots up there sometime. I've been to Mexico but besides that my world travel is pretty limited :( It's okay though, I have a lot to look forward to when I finally do get to do some world traveling! 

[kendallyoungman-deactivated2015]

1. This avatar is meant to show the stereotypical girl. She is very clean cut and put together. Complete with her dress and pearls she also has a halo and angel wings to represent her innocent personality. And yes, the cleaning spray was perfect to represent the “house wife” stereotype. I even...

[allie99-blog-blog]

I liked that you put so much detail into your avatars, especially the gender conforming stereotype! Not only did you make your avatar wear girly clothing, but I thought it was creative to add the cleaning supplies, tan skin color, and angel wings to show how women are held to an unfair standard of perfection. 

[mynameis-drake]

Gender Conformer: I hate pink even though its often considered a woman’s color, and with the South Park avatar maker every female looks pretty much exactly the same.

southpark.cc.com/avatar

Gender Rebel: So I don’t really know how to do this with an avatar app with fewer choices for...

[allie99-blog-blog]

I think you made an interesting point with the gender rebel avatar. I think it's hard to define a "gender rebel" nowadays with modern fashion. Modern day fashions such as flannels, combat boots, menswear, blazers, and generally baggy clothing can be worn as mens or womenswear and is seen as perfectly acceptable. Maybe we can conclude that the fashion industry is on a path of gender rebellion as well? 

[genderclash-blog]

As I looked down upon the characters in front of me I was wondering two things, is my mac and cheese ready yet, and what do these characters in Understanding Rhetoric have to say about writing? It turned out my mac and cheese was indeed ready and the characters in the book said some important...

[allie99-blog-blog]

I agree with the last part of your blog post too. I think that if people post too much stupid stuff on facebook, (immature daily status updates, drunk pictures, etc.) when they really do have something important to say about social justice issues for example, no one is going to listen to them because they will have already lost their credibility. 

[gabhehir-blog]

When thinking about the writing process, my mind immediately goes to thoughts about essays you would write in class. The activity from the book made me realize that we are always using writing processes, whether it be formal or informal. If we become more aware of this, we would be able to...

[allie99-blog-blog]

I found this interesting too. I think I really could work on being more concise in all of my writing, not just papers. By doing this I could definitely be more effective in communicating, whether it be from text messages, emails, or just notes to people. 

[ceaseless-explorer]

Hello there.

My name is Jaima (dʒemɑ). I am a twenty-one year old concert-going, nature-loving, adventure-seeking, newly-blogging, chapstick addict. I am currently a student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, majoring in Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences, minoring in Linguistics, and working towards a certificate in happiness.

Also, I love The Beatles and I often have pink hair.

[allie99-blog-blog]

Jaima, I love the design of your blog, especially the title. I can tell just from the pictures you are adventurous and like to have fun! Your blog layout is aesthetically pleasing and really easy/interesting to read. I love the pictures too... Can I have your life? haha keep up the good work! 

[harrisonhirsh-deactivated201601]

Hello! My name is Harrison Hirsh (first on the right in my picture). I’m a senior geology major. I grew up in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and transferred to CU Boulder in the fall of 2013 from a small liberal arts college near Pittsburgh named Washington and Jefferson. I played football and wrestled…

[rhetoricofgenderandsexuality]

Hey Harrison,

I see you haven’t added any *bling* to your blog yet.. I suggest browsing through the free themes and finding one that is more “your style”. This way, viewers will learn a little about you through your chosen design and color scheme (think visual literacy). It’s your space to personalize- have fun!

I’m going out on a limb here, but I would guess that CU Boulder is a great place to be a geology major! Are outdoor, hands-on activities integrated into the curriculum at all?

[allie99-blog-blog]

Hey! Your bio sounds interesting, I feel like I never meet people from Pittsburgh! Also, your avatars were very unique too. I can tell you're pretty creative from the way you designed them! 

[gabhehir-blog]

About me

I am a junior studying Psychology and Elementary Education.  And after college I want to be a teacher because I love working with kids! I am originally from Glasgow, Scotland, but I grew up in Arvada, Colorado! Here at CU I am a Student Ambassador so I give campus tours to prospective students.  I love music and going to concerts so in my spare time I try to do that as much as possible!! 

[allie99-blog-blog]

Your blog is super easy to read and find things, especially for tumblr newbies (like me!) I think you're writing is interesting and engaging too, I can tell you've had practice with mindful writing! I'm looking forward to seeing what else you have to say!

[hamm1e]

Favorites

Tv shows:

shark tank, nip tuck, sons of anarchy

Movies:

Donnie Darko, the town, Apocalypse Now

Books:

slaughterhouse 5, scar tissue, girl with the dragon tattoo series

[allie99-blog-blog]

I love the way you include a lot of pictures on your blog to complement your writing. Like it explained in the book we read for class, pictures are just as important as words in social media! Also that's so awesome you play tennis! I feel like I never meet tennis players here at CU! 

[genderclash-blog]

¡Hola mis amigos! Me llamo Ben… Wait, this is an English writing class! I don’t think we’re supposed to write in Spanish.

Anyways my name is Ben and I am a Senior at CU with Psychology as my major and I will be getting my certificate in LGBT studies when I graduate this winter. My hobbies include...

[allie99-blog-blog]

Ben! I think your blog is awesome and engaging. You have a strong sense of voice in your writing that really holds my attention, and your creativity is clearly visible in all of your blog posts. It keeps getting better and better, especially with your anime descriptions! 

[allie99-blog-blog]

Me + Alternative versions

t

 This was the gender conforming version of me. For this avatar I chose bright makeup, long hair, a dress, and a skinny build. These avatar components are things that women are "supposed" to do or look like, according to popular culture and media. 

 This was gender-defying me. This avatar has the exact same physical features as the first avatar, but this avatar lacks makeup, has short hair, and wears seemingly boyish clothes. 

 This was my gender bender avatar. It is much harder to determine the avatar's gender, but it appears to have more of a womanly body type. I tried to mix both masculine and feminine components into this avatar, by giving it pink shoes and a necklace accompanying cut off jeans and a shirt and baseball cap with "boyish" colors. 

I used Bitstrips for all of my avatars. Bitstrips asks for your avatar's sex as the first creation component, and the only choices are male and female. Though you can make the gender interpretation ambiguous as I did above, this website is very black and white about sex since it only gives you two options for your avatar. I had never really thought about the fact that avatar websites should have other options for gender until we discussed it in class, and now every time I see paperwork, a website, etc. where gender affiliation is requested, I wonder if it will ever change to include other gender affiliations. 

[allie99-blog-blog]

We need to watch what we say...

This article, If We Talked About Straight People The Way We Talk About Gay People  was funny but also had a deeper message. The article is meant for ordinary people, (probably of the younger age demographic). It's meant to be funny, but also meant to get us to think. 

Every picture is associated with a phrase that straight people commonly say about gay people. We see that it is typically not meant to be offensive, but when we say the exact same phrases using "straight", it allows the readers to see how these things could be taken the wrong way. 

By showing us pictures of smiling, happy people who believe everything is a-okay, pathos is being used to illustrate that straight people can be oblivious to what they are actually saying. When they are making these backhanded comments, they obviously are not realizing that they are potentially saying hurtful things. 

Kairos is also used here. Gender can be a sensitive topic to some, and this article addresses it head on. Although taking a humorous approach to the subject, the article is meant to make straight people see the error in their judgement when they think saying these things are okay. 

I thought this was an interesting article because it really turns our perspective around as readers. By condensing all of these little comments into one Buzzfeed post, straight people can see how these comments can affect gay people. 

[allie99-blog-blog]

Always room for improvement.

Never have I read a book that so explicitly and simply told me how to improve my writing. Teachers forcing us to read boring (and usually lengthy) textbooks usually causes me to lose interest after a few pages... which causes me to perform a mediocre job of skimming the book.

Within a few minutes of reading this book, though, I had learned so much. Especially with tools 1 and 2, since I found them to be pretty similar. The jist of it was to start a sentence with the more interesting words (nouns and verbs) and including the less exciting (but still necessary) words after.

So, my attempt at applying this tool lies below. This was a formal research paper for my freshman writing class. 

Original:

Confusion about the pros and cons of HFCS are often caused by its misleading name. Some scientists, nutritionists, and advertisers argue high-fructose corn syrup is not bad for a healthy diet because it is made from corn, a naturally occurring substance. Commercials have been aired stating exactly this: that high-fructose corn syrup is all-natural and actually is a healthy natural sweetener. Some of the general public, though, argues that HFCS is unhealthy because the words “high-fructose” are included in the title. 

Revised:

The misleading name, "High fructose corn syrup" could understandably cause some confusion about the benefits and drawbacks of this product. Arguments by scientists, nutritionists, and advertisers state that HFCS is made from corn, a natural substance, and therefore is not detrimental to a healthy diet. Commercials have been aired stating exactly this: that high-fructose corn syrup is all-natural and actually is a healthy natural sweetener. Including the words "high-fructose" in the title causes some of the general public to argue that HFCS is indeed unhealthy.

So there ya have it. A rather uninteresting topic initially was made slightly less uninteresting by just tweaking the sentence structure. 

[allie99-blog-blog]

[allie99-blog-blog]

So you CAN learn from a comic book...

To be completely honest, I never really thought about the fact that rhetoric is everywhere. In this day in age with so much of the material we read being online, I knew pathos, ethos and logos were (supposed) to be used on Facebook, blogs, and every social media website, but I never had given it much thought. I feel like I subconsciously categorized those categories with things we are required to read for school, textbooks, speeches, etc. 

When I thought about the ways I applied these concepts to my own social media sites, I was surprised that I had unknowingly followed these concepts. I used my Instagram profile as an example.

Logos: I usually post one good, aesthetically pleasing picture at a time. I do this because I don't want to spam my followers with a million pictures at one time, and because it is kind of one of the unsaid Instagram "laws". Pathos: I post pictures that are important and meaningful to me so people can get a better understanding of who I am. Ethos: I usually only post my own pictures that I took myself. If I don't take that picture myself, I will usually use #regram or give credit to the person I "stole" that photo from. 

I also thought about methods people can use to be more rhetorically effective on Facebook and came up with a few. A lot of these came to mind because I thought of what not to do on Facebook. This is what I came up with:

1. Posting at appropriate times of day to maximize the amount of people that will see that post.

2. Correct spelling/grammar/punctuation so people take you seriously. (Whenever I see a post that is misspelled and grammatically incorrect, I lose interest and usually stop reading.)

3. Post cool pictures that people will actually want to look at. This shows people your interests, hobbies, and what you do in in every day life that sets you apart from others. 

My lesson for this week was that using rhetoric correctly is important in all written language, whether online or in print. If you want to get your message across, especially on the internet where people have a million choices of what to read, you need to be able to deliver it effectively and in a way that draws readers in.