I just received my midterm grade for Rhetorical Theory. It has me pleased. This is the first exam I’ve taken where I wasn’t nervous or worried. I went into the exam with several thoughts: I’ve been going to class, I’ve done all the reading, I’ve been making charts and taking …

Yes, I know “Rhetting” is not a word, but I wanted to use it anyway. Took my 20th Century Rhetoric final. It thoroughly blew my mind. The final consisted of four questions we were to answer as thoroughly as possible within the three-hour time limit. I talked of Bakhtin and …

NO WORDS can describe how I feel right now. Despite the fact that I have two studies to write and three finals to take within the next five days, I am done writing major papers.
My 20th Century Rhetoric paper, “The Power of the Spirit: Rhetorical Moves of Maria W. Stewart” …

One day, I want my voice (within academic discourse) to be as good as Johnson’s. Was reading a plethora of articles and books over the last four or five days and began to wonder where “voice” was within academic writing, and then I sat and began to read Johnson again …

There is so much that can be said about these chapters.
Johnson’s discussion on “dumbing down” is an interesting one, and it instantly made me think about composition courses. Out of frustration or because some institutions actually think it’s for the students’ benefit, some institutions seem to “dumb down” composition courses, …

I dig Johnson. For many reasons, but specifically because he writes in a way that is easy for me to understand for…and because he’s so audience-centered in his approach.
In the preface of Johnson’s work, we get a brief overview of other fields’ contributions to the question Johnson initially poses: What …

…Rhetoric can never be reduced to symbology. Logic is increasingly becoming “symbolic logic”; that is its tendency. But rhetoric always comes to us in well-fleshed words, and that is because it must deal with the world, the thickness, stubbornness, and power of it.
Richard Weaver, “Language is Sermonic”

Finally nailed down a topic for Kemp’s 20th Century Rhetoric. Found an African American orator/feminist from the 19th century that interested me: Maria W. Stewart; I’m always interested in “the firsts” – those people who seem to be a voice for a generation of others to come along and promote …