Post 13

My interviews  happened with the members of the current 110 drumline. Questions that were asked were "How do you see yourself within the drumline/band as whole?" which many people responded the same way; many people felt they were leaders to the whole band, even if they weren't given a leadership title in the drumline. Many people answered most of the questions similarly, proving that the drumline is very close and connected as a discourse community. Another question I asked was referring to the terminology on the drumline.  Many members talked about the slang we use and the inside jokes that have been reduced down to one word; the word "AHP" is commonly heard throughout the drumline because a story a member once told. Others statements such as "See ya Pyrak" are used as a humorous way to point out a failure in anyway. I haven't had many responses yet and things will continue to establish themselves as more answers come in.

Post 12

Wenger describes three types of new belonging: engagement, imagination, and alignment. Engagement is all about forming relationships and getting to know current members and trying to fit in. Newcomers generally need someone to follow before they can start to lead and always flock towards the more mature members of the discourse community who understand concepts and are smart. In the drumline of the Marching 110, freshman are assigned bigs whom they can look up to and go to if they don't understand something or need help. Imagination, to me, is where you see yourself in the discourse community. What do you do and how do you do it? And how do these things make up what you are and what you do for your discourse community? Finally, alignment is the two ideas put together. What are your plans and ideas for where the discourse community is going? How will things change and how are you going to make them change? A newcomer must understand these three points to fit in well into their new discourse community. In the drumline, all members are responsible for knowing and performing drill and music to their highest ability. Over the years, I've noticed that the freshman have come in with more talent year after year and that the ability of the drumline has risen to new levels of capability. This comes from the last two points, imagination and alignment. New members understand what's expected of them and they accept the challenge which makes the overall level of the drumline rise. This not only meets the bands motto of "better than the best ever" but it also makes playing much more fun and excited; the better you are, the more fun it is to play. 

Post 9

A literacy event is the examination of the relationship between spoken and written language within modern day society, it is defined by Heath, “a conceptual tool useful in examining within particular communities of modern society the actual forms and functions of oral and literate traditions and co-existing relationships between spoken and written language.” An example would be a presentation given using handouts and oral communication. There is a clear relationship to what is read and what is heard. 


This is considered necessary in Sherman Alexi's narrative because oral communication is the only way to pass down stories to younger generations. The kids did not go to school and were considered unintelligent, but in reality could tell elaborate, detailed stories and could sing many songs all from memory. This was the common practice in the tribe. Alexi himself is a good example of a literacy event learner, as he taught himself how to read by reading comic books. He associates the words with the actions and is able to put two and two together. This idea is similar to product identification. The kids who couldn't read were able to read content labels of foods and items at the store with what they associated the word with. 

Terrible Teacher

Terrible Teacher

            The “Terrible Teacher” meme is a popular meme on the Internet. It depicts a young teacher who seems to be confident, young and competent. Funny and often times demeaning quotations are inserted from Internet users who have had bad experiences with teachers.  These quotes are usually incompetent things that teachers do and say.  This meme has a lot to break down because it is so popular; the meme is seen all over the Internet and connects to the Internet population easily. Many people can relate to this meme as many people have had what they consider to be a bad teacher. The targeted audience, the student population, is very well versed in this subject.

           Caroll explains, “Another part of the rhetorical context is audience, those who are the (intended or unintended) recipients of the rhetorical message. The audience should be able to respond to the exigence. In other words, the audience should be able to help address the problem” (49). Knowing this, I believe this meme is so popular because of how well it connects very well to its audience, The Internet population. The general Internet user on these websites like memebase.com is around the high school or college age. This age is a great audience for a meme about a bad teacher because this age has the most experience with teachers in general, let alone bad teachers.  Many students who are stressed look for someone to blame for tough circumstances and usually point to their teacher or professor. This meme is a great way to get your point across or to blow off steam using humor while being anonymous.

            I think the best thing about this meme (and any online meme for that matter) is that the rhetor is also the audience. This meme can be changed and re-posted by anyone who has online access to it, which as stated previously, is largely a student population. This means that many students will be the rhetor and that the rhetor changes often. I think this makes this meme much more interesting.

         This leads to the exigency of the meme. Like most memes, this meme was created as a way to bring about humor to the Internet. With the rhetor being mostly students, this particular meme might have a link to them and their experiences with bad teachers or professors. To understand more about the exigence, Caroll tells us, ““you can begin to understand a piece’s exigence by asking, “What is this rhetoric responding to?” “What might have happened to make the rhetor respond in this way”” (48-49). This particular quote questions the reasoning behind a piece of work. This meme seems to be more of a way to relieve stress by, more or less, complaining about a teacher in a humorous way. Not only does this ease frustration for a student, but it is also shared with people around the world who can relate to that student if they had a similar happening in their own classroom.

            The constraints of this meme are few. The biggest constraint could be that some of the audience could get offended; this is a hard possibility to imagine because the audience is so often the rhetor. Other constraints could be if those reading this meme have never had a bad teacher and don’t understand the meme. There could also be a possibility of misunderstanding from different nations and cultures that don’t have the public schooling that America does. There also might be those who have not been educated enough to either read or understand the meme.

         To further understand this meme, one must understand the thought behind it. Why is this meme funny? The logos of this meme are quite interesting. The meme shows a picture of a teacher who seems fairly confident in herself, however, every meme has a statement that a less than competent person would say. Every student seems to have had an experience with a teacher that said or did something less than stellar, so all these students know and understand what the rhetor means by what they type in the meme. Using the meme setup appeals to our pathos, or emotional side, as Carroll explains, “Appeals (as rhetoric that draws on pathos is called) used alone without logos and ethos can come across as emotionally manipulative or overly sentimental, but are very powerful when used in conjunction with the other two appeals”(52). Humor and understanding are used in this meme. Most of these quotes are considered humorous (at the expense of the teacher) and are made to make the audience laugh. The audience generally has an understanding, as stated previously, about the situation because they have experienced it before. Other emotions that could play a role would be frustration. Some of the quotes made the rhetor frustrated and by creating the meme, they are able to ease their frustration. This brings up the question of ethos, or the rhetors’ credibility. The biggest difference in ethos found in this meme compared to other sources of writing and an advertisement is the fact that the rhetor is so often the same as the audience, as stated previously. There really is no proof behind the words typed on a computer and put on the Internet for all to see, but because the rhetor is more than likely another student who deals with the same situations other students have, the audience feels a bigger connection and has more trust in the rhetor.

            This meme captures everything good you can find good in a form of entertainment. It’s very humorous and it connects well with the audience. I think that this meme sets a good standard for other Internet trends and fads. I think what makes it so interesting is that it is very unconventional, thanks to the Internet. Usually we see comic strips and funny ads in newspapers and magazines and we can only laugh at them or disagree with them. Now, we can finally retort using technology and make our own voice be heard using the same style of humor and exigence. The Internet plays a vital role in today’s society, but I think one that goes overlooked is how it unintentionally connects people. This meme is just one of many that connects people without ever having them directly communicate like they would on Facebook or e-mail.

Carroll, Laura Bolin. "Writing Spaces." Backpacks vs. Briefcases. Parlor Press, n.d. Web. 6 Feb 2012. http://writingspaces.org/sites/default/files/carroll--backpacks-vs-briefcases.pdf

Terrible Teacher. Memebase.com. Web. 9 February 2012.

Post 8

According to Brandt, a literary sponsor is one who provides guidance and advice to those who want to listen. A sponsor can be anyone, a parent, relative, friend, soldier, pastor etc. These sponsors have more knowledge and power than those listening, not to mention experience. The relationship between sponsor and sponsored doesn't have to be known; sometimes people are listening without the speaker knowing.

Malcolm X came across many sponsors while trying to get his point across to the world. He became envious in prison of someone else's ability (Bimbi) to read so he took up reading and writing and became very literate. This shows that his socioeconomic status and niche provided him with the sponsors that led him to whom he became.

Malcolm X became very interested in black history and was shocked at the thought that slavery had happened in our country. He went back to look for sponsors who could tell him the truth about what actually happened in those times and was able to find many.

This obsession with white oppression was probably his biggest constraint as a sponsor. He seemed to focus on readings that only talked about white being oppressing black people and made him very one sided. Another constraint of his could have been that he was only reading to please another one of his sponsors, Elijah Muhammad. Being one of Muhammad's sponsored readers, Malcolm X wanted to read things that Muhammad was interested in.

Really Rough Draft

Tim Martin

308J

2/5/12

           

                                                                        Terrible Teacher

            The “Terrible Teacher” meme is a popular meme on the Internet. It depicts a young teacher who looks innocent. Funny quotations are inserted from Internet users who have had bad experiences with teachers.  These quotes are usually incompetent things that teachers do and say.  This meme has a lot to break down because it is so popular; the meme is seen all over the Internet and connects to the Internet population easily.

            This meme is so popular because of how well it connects very well to the Internet population. The general Internet user on these websites like memebase.com is around the high school or college age. This age is a great audience for a meme about a bad teacher because this age has the most experience with teachers in general, let alone bad teachers.  Many students who are stressed look for someone to blame for tough circumstances and usually point to their teacher or professor. This meme is a great way to get your point across or to blow off steam using humor while being anonymous.

            I think the best thing about this meme (and any online meme for that matter) is that the rhetor is also the audience. This meme can be changed and re-posted by anyone who has online access to it, which as stated previously, is largely a student population. This means that many students will be the rhetor and that the rhetor changes often. I think this makes this meme much more interesting.

            The constraints of this meme are few. The biggest constraint I could see would be that some of the audience could get offended; this is a hard possibility to imagine because the audience is so often the rhetor. Other constraints could be if those reading this meme have never had a bad teacher and don’t understand the meme. There could also be a possibility of misunderstanding from different nations and cultures that don’t have the public schooling that America does.

            This meme captures everything good you can find good in a form of entertainment. It’s very humorous and it connects well with the audience. I think that this meme sets a good standard for other internet trends and fads.

            

Post 6

The "Terrible Teacher" meme is very popular among websites like Memebase.com. It depicts a young teacher who seems very smart so the student would trust her and believe she is a competent teacher. Every meme, however, always states a bad thing that a teacher would do. This is a humorous meme as we can all relate to bad teachers in the past and the kinds of things they would do and say. The audience for this meme is generally towards students, mainly in the high school to college age, as those students have the most experience with all kinds of teachers. Those who do well in school and don't seem to have a complaint about anything might be a constraint, but I can't imagine how many of those people exist. Another possible constraint would be those who don't go to school or who don't have bad teachers (it could happen!) or those too young too understand why or how a teacher could be bad. Grant Davie's ideas of these things are a little more straightforward and direct. He uses detailed descriptions and ideas to get his point across.