CW 1/31

When observing any place, it is important to not just be a spectator, an outsider, in the situation. When I do my observation I want to be partaking in the activities that my observed space has to offer, just as those who I am observing are. If i go to a restaurant I will order food. If i go to a book store I will look for a book. By actively participating in any space i believe that you will get a greater understanding of the space.

The time of day you choose to observe your space can make a major difference. If you go to a restaurant at noon you might see many workers on their lunch break eating. Whereas at night that same restaurant may have families eating dinner or a couple on a date. I want to observe my space during the middle of the day because this is often the time when people are most rushed and i believe this will lead to a more interesting observation period.

Going to any single place just once doesn't give you a true view of any space. For this reason, i plan to visit my space first without making any observations and then come back and make observations later. When making observations, I plan on just making a simple bulleted list and then expanding on my points, to determine their significance, after i leave the space.

HW 1/31

To build upon what I wrote last week, I am considering doing my observation at the In-N-Out burger on west 7th street. Although most restaurants might be hard to write an observation on, I believe that In-N-Out would provide a good opportunity for an observation because of its large popularity and somewhat cultish following.

For the observation I plan to focus on three major aspect the building, the food, and the clientele. Similar to many restaurant chains In-N-Out has a distinct cookie cutter style and layout to their restaurants. I would attempt to answer questions such as, What is the appeal of the simple color scheme? Why is a palm tree and a yellow arrow used as the logo? As for the food, I would analyze the appeal of a simple menu, the style of the packaging, and the overall quality. The customers would provide me with the largest source of information to analyze.

The customers of any business generally give you a better sense of a business than any other single source. Through analyzing the customers i would be able to determine what type of people eat at In-N-Out. From this I can determine the demographics of the average customer and determine how and why In-N-Out is appealing to them. Also through listening to various conversations taking place in the restaurant I can gauge the customers overall impression of the restaurant and compare that with the image the company is trying to promote.

Through this observation i hope to shed light on why the franchise has been so successful and popular. I will also be able to determine the image the company wants to portray to its clientele, as well as how it succeeds in doing so.

HW 1/26

Having lived in California all my life, living at TCU, in Texas, has been somewhat of a culture shock. However, there are some places in fort worth that distinctly remind me of my home in southern California. The most noticeable is probably In-N-Out Burger.

Founded in southern California in 1948, In-N-Out waited almost 60 years before expanding the chain outside the California region, giving the chain a distinct feel of a California culture and mentality. More recently, several In-N-Out burgers have opened up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Including one within close proximity to TCU.

In-N-Out restaurants exude a sense of old California style. Driving into the parking lot the first thing you notice is several fifties style roadster automobiles parked around the parking lot. Also several palm trees, a relative oddity in Texas, dot the parking lot. The building itself is entirely white with red roofing and the signature In-N-out arrow, giving the building a simple retro feel. The inside is much the same as the out side with white floors and walls with red trim on the booths and counters.

The food itself is also fairly simple, with the focus on quality not variety. The menu only offers three simple meals a cheeseburger, hamburger and the signature Double-Double. When your food arrives you notice the packaging it comes in have the same simple red and white theme as the building itself, no advertisements, on flashy logos. Although a perceptive customer may notice a discrete text block reading "john 3:16" or "revelation 3:20" if they look on the bottom of their soda cup.

By only expanding slowly and keeping a simple style and atmosphere in their restaurants, In-N-Out has created a reputation of a old time family owned and operated restaurant that is dedicated to quality food and service not just large profits. 

HW 1/26

The text “Everything’s an Argument” states, when arguing with pathos “some emotional appeals are just ploys to win over readers with pretty face, figurative or real.” This quote describes the primary tactic most add campaigns are using to influence us to buy their products.

The text gives an example of a soda add which subliminally promises an exciting life and attractive friends if you buy their product. In the mainstream media, emotional ploys indicating that happiness comes from a certain product are used regularly in commercial advertising. When was the last time you saw a commercial for a sporty car without an attractive woman in the passenger seat? Or a fast food commercial with an obese person gorging on a burger? Through the use of subliminal placement of desirable things, an attractive girlfriend or a fit physique, in advertising, the product becomes more appealing to the consumer audience. Advertising firms know this, thus the use of subliminal messaging in advertising has become the norm.

The text states that if we pause to think about the message behind advertisements, we shouldn’t be fooled by their claims. However in advertising today commercials rarely last more than 45 seconds, making it almost impossible to dissect meaning from an add before another one starts blaring in our face. The fact that television advertisements today are shortened to less than a minute benefits the advertisers in several ways. As already stated, it doesn’t give the consumer any time to reflect on the ad so, the consumer only comes away with his initial reaction to the advertisement. Also short advertisements are generally more exciting to the consumer. Two minute long infomercials focusing on the logos of buying a certain novelty products appear cliché and bore the consumer. Whereas, a 20 second car insurance commercial with the GIECO gecko can almost be seen as entertainment.

HW 1/24

Reading through the chapters on pathos, ethos and logos, in "everything is an argument", one theme that perpetually reoccurred was the use of humor to drive an argument.

At first I found this notion that humor can be used to drive an argument to be unlikely. Aren't arguments supposed to be serious? Wouldn't people dismiss someone as childish when trying to argue with jokes? However when I thought back on the many formal speeches I've listened to, a large percentage of them started out with a small quip or joke before getting to the main argument. The text "Everything is an Argument" argues that the use of humor in an argument makes the audience more receptive to the argument and, I would tend to agree.

Using humor creates ethos. While authority is important in portraying your credibility to the audience, being a likable debater is just as important because it opens the audience up to you and your argument. By using humor some of the tension in an argument can be relived, creating a sense that you are not just a hard nosed arguer. In fact, making fun of yourself, on occasion in an argument, can greatly open up your audience because it shows, that like them, you have your limitation yet are unafraid to admit them. People love honest and likable characters and humor, when used effectively, can portray you as such.

Humor can also be used enhance the pathos of an argument. When arguments are particularly sensitive humor is occasionally a good tool to use in opening up your audience to a "sticky" or "taboo" subject. For example in the text, there is a passage, by Dave Berry in his "Owners' Manual" book, about why men never read instructions because they are to proud. If Berry had written this passage without humor it would have turned off and offended much of his male audience but, because he used humor we are less offended and more entertained by his conclusion. However, what the book doesn't show is when it is appropriate to use humor and when it is not. In order to use humor effectively to make a point, without offending your audience, you must own the subject of the humor. For example, Barry was able to make fun of the male refusal to ask for help because he is a man. If he were to make fun of the stereotype that women are bad drivers, the women in his audience would most likely be turned of to his argument because it is in bad taste. It is important to remember that while humor can be very effective in driving an argument, it can also be a risky rhetorical device that should only be used when the debater knows how his audience will react.   

 

CW: 1/19

Going over the first chapter of Everything's an Argument, a concept that seemed to be somewhat false was the categorization of the different types of arguments. While the text did a good job of organizing and giving examples for what it states are the various types of arguments, it failed to give concrete distinctions between the various types of arguments it states exists. For example it stated their were both arguments to convince and arguments to persuade. However it didn't go into enough depth to enable the reader to find any real distinction between the definitions of these two arguments they both seem to be doing much of the same thing. In the way the text describes an argument to convince as an argument to change a persons opinion and this is inevitably persuading them to think a current way, making it a persuasive argument as well.

On the other hand an aspect of the text that was both insightful and visibly true was the texts dissection of the definitions of logos, pathos, and ethos. Every example of an argument they provided in the chapter incorporated at least one and usually more of these rhetorical aspects in the argument.

Intro to Unit One 1/19

As this is the first post on this new blog i think it is important I let you know a little bit about me, the blogger. I was born and raised in Ventura, California, a small city on the coast of southern California. Currently I am studying both Biology and Chemistry here at TCU and am currently in my sophomore year of studies. This semester i decided to take the Intermediate Composition: Writing Argument course to finish my written communication requirement at TCU. this will be the focus of this blog.

Personally i feel that this class is going to be somewhat difficult for because i haven't taken a writing class since high school, due to my focus on my biology/chemistry major courses. However, I think that this class can and will provide for me an opportunity to expand my education in another direction and I am excited about this prospect. Like any aspect of aspect of life learning to write better comes primarily from practice therefore, to make the most out of this class i plan to fully engage in all the writing required and to continually critique my work in order to improve my writing skill.

Even though i have not taken a formal writing class in quite some time, writing is still an integral part of most of my work in other classes, as well as in life. I write almost everyday in emails and texts as a way to communicate with others and coordinate my life. Even though most of my classes are in the disciplines of biology and chemistry writing till plays a heavy part in them. I am constantly writing lab reports recording and presenting the results of my various experiments.

Essentially all writing is an argument, as described in chapter one of Everything is an Argument. So what have i argued in the preceding paragraphs? My first argument was one of information. By simply relying to you, the audience, some basic facts about myself I have created an argument. I have told you something you didn't already know. Also in doing so I have created a link between myself and my audience by casting us both as students and peers, appealing to my ethos. While this was intended to be the main argument in this post, I have written several other arguments, some I did not even realize. In my second paragraph the use of the "practice makes perfect" reference could be viewed as an argument to convince the audience that this is a true notion. The notion that even science classes place a heavy emphasis on writing, is also an argument to convince. Even my own acknowledgement of these arguments can be interpreted as arguments themselves, leading to a possibly endless deconstruction of any argument i make. This means that everything i write in this blog can potentially be viewed as an argument and be used as potential material for class discussion.