Thursday, April 17, 2008

Henderson shows the ridiculously backwards priorities of Detroit in his recent article of the elderly couple and their ordeal with their garbage can. He does this by primarily using sarcastic tone. When writing about being ticketed for leaving their garbage can out a day late he uses saracsm by saying, "The nerve! It was time to crack down." This was an obvious use of sarcasm when contrasted with his first few paragraphs about how upstanding they were as citizens. The reader can hear a sarcastic voice saying that sentence, and it contributes to the tone because the reader's feel how exasperated Henderson feels. Henderson also says that they were ticketed by "an over-eager pencil-pusher". Here, his choice of words show his sarcastic tone. He goes on to describe the condition of the neighborhood, and made a good point when he observed that the trees being trimmed but the garbage and abandoned houses not being tended to. His sarcastic tone shows his effectiveness because the reader feels his irritation about this story. This could have easily been a dry, boring, non-descriptive article, but instead he makes it engaging (by using sarcasm) and he also has a point in writing this. After reading this, the reader goes away knowing exactly what Henderson was trying to say and he did this by using the this story.

Monday, April 14, 2008

It is obvious to me why Darnell's article impacted Detroit reader's so much. It was raw, personal, well-written and true. His whole paper was an obvious use of pathos, and he does this by using diction and compare/contrast.

Mr. Gardner used excellent vocabulary throughout his paper but a few words struck me most and added to the strength of his paper. He begins by countering a previously stated argument. He foresees people saying he is a bigot (just like Kwame accused). He counters this by saying my words are drenched in tears -- for my people and my city." The word drenched shows the extent of his sadness. It has weight; it weighs on the heart. He could have simply said "I'm really sad about what's going on in Detroit", but instead he uses a much stronger word that supports the tone of the paper.

Then he says, "
While Kilpatrick touts building up dilapidated neighborhoods and tearing down abandoned homes, I cringe as he fails to preserve what little beauty this city still has left." This is a great use of diction and compare/contrast, which I will discuss later. Tout is such a strong, proud word, and the word cringe gives a painful, uncomfortable connotation. Both entirely different words with different meanings. The contrast between Darnell's and Kwame's opinion is apparent.

He goes on to write about the poor education in Detroit and how it is evident that student's are not receiving enough education. He says that the teacher's have a difficult time grading papers because they are not legible. He says, "In fact, one of my peers asked me to proofread one of his essays, and I nearly began to sob halfway through it." He could have chose an alternative, weaker word, but sob has passion. It also shows the extent of his sadness. When he uses words like these, especially sob, it makes his paper so much more personal, which is the reason why his paper impacted so many.

He finishes by saying, "I am one of the many Detroiters who are pleading for Kilpatrick's resignation." If there was confusion about what his purpose was in writing this, he makes it obvious when he says that. He uses the word pleading which has just as much passion as the other uses of diction. Again, he could have used different words, like asking or begging, but those words do not have the same effect as pleading. They are weak words and although they would make sense in the context of the sentence, they would not have been effective. The reader can hear the emphasis on this word. It is not only a good choice of words but it has emotion behind it.
His paper was very powerful and showed that excellent students and writers still exsist in Detroit.
"But I did what many other Detroiters still do on a regular basis: try to uphold the image of our city. "
He definitely has.

Sunday, April 6, 2008

I found Kym Worthy's speech very well written. She touched on a lot of things I think Detroit has been irritated about, and she said it perfectly. She also made it very clear that the case was not about the sex or the texts which was very important to point out.

After reading her speech I concluded that Kwame Kilpatrick and Christine Beatty are being charged for perjury, but I was confused when Mr. Brandt asked for the charges. So I looked it up and found that they are also being charged for charged for "obstruction and willful misconduct in the text-message scandal." Since I only realized they are being charged for perjury after reading the speech, I will focus on that.

When Worthy uses ethics she is speaking about the importance of witnesses and also giving a broad definition of an oath. She says that it is vital that witnesses only speak the truth because their lies could have a great impact on the results of the case. She also gave both a definition of what an oath is and what an oath is not to highlight the importance of truthfulness. Truthfulness is an important part of character and everyone understands what is expected of someone that is truthful. She appeals to the the ethics by discussing the importance of the truth and she does it very well.

Worthy uses logos when talking about the justice system and the importance of oaths. She says,
"The fundamental principles of the justice system are fairly simple – they
aren’t hard. We learned them all as children:

Tell the truth
Take responsibility for your actions
Admit when you are wrong
Be fair and play fair
Don’t take or use things that aren’t yours
There are consequences for bad behavior

Even children understand that lying is wrong."

By using the phrases fairly simple, learned them as children, even children know lying is wrong she shows how obvious the situation is. Using children as an example strengthens her speech because she shows the common sense behind her point. It can also be seen as a comparison. It is almost like she is saying, "Children already understand the justice system, why can't you?" This appeal to the common sense of the situation is ethos in this case.

She uses pathos directly after this when she talks about the outcome if witnesses lie and why it is such a crime if someone does. She says, "If a witness lies, innocent people can go to jail or prison, people can literally get away with murder." She then goes on to say that at the end of the witnesses have to go back to their daily lives and risk the consequences of their testimony. Some by going home and "risking their lives in drive-by shooting cases." Then she asks the question, "How can we look another witness in the eye and ask them to come in and do these things if we do not follow the law for witnesses who lie under oath?" This is a good use of pathos because it brings real people's lives into account both the witness and the suspects; she does this by using the phrase risking their lives. With pathos it is very easy to place oneself in the situation and that is why it does such a great job of impacting the listeners. They can imagine how they would feel if they or someone they loved was wrongly charged because someone lied. When reading this I could even imagine the inflection of her tone when talking about this and that is a sure sign of pathos.