TODAY

1) Icebreaker – Mapping2) New Rhetorical term: Kairos and

super-short lecture on genre/occasion

3) Briefly touching on the reading, because…

4) Videos: Clint Eastwood and the RNC

5) Writing time6) Homework

ICEBREAKER

For today’s icebreaker, I’m going to draw the building on the board. I want you to then, to the best you can with scale, draw your Miami, as experienced these first few weeks, around it.

It’s basically a map of how you come to class, but include all the sites along the way that are part of your new world.

And, in some way, note where home is (probably just with an arrow in some direction, since the board is only so big)

KAIROSI mentioned briefly last class that while

we started to discuss rhetoric, we’ve only scratched the surface looking at

Aristotle’s triangle. Later we’ll look at Cicero’s five canons (not five cannons,

sadly), another sort of heuristic.

But before we hit another system with a drawing and such, I want to dwell a bit on a few rhetorical concepts that are of use

when doing analysis.

The first I want to talk about is my personal favorite, Kairos. There’s an

example of this on my Tumblr, if any of you read it over the weekend.

From Wikipedia, because Wikipedia rules:Kairos (καιρός) is an ancient Greek word meaning the right or opportune moment (the supreme moment). The ancient Greeks had two words for time,chronos and kairos. While the former refers to chronological or sequential time, the latter signifies a time in between, a moment of indeterminate time in which something special happens. What the special something is depends on who is using the word. While chronos is quantitative, kairos has a qualitative nature.

KAIROS

In my words:Kairos is “the right time” from the cliché “the right place at the right time.” There are really complex examples, but here’s a really simple one, on the next slide

KAIROS

So Kairos…

…is about time.

Luckily, we had a national event this past week, the Republican National Convention, that will allow us to look at Kairos in action in just a bit.

But first, a few other concepts that might be useful as we move into this next bit of activity.

Other tropesPersonification: giving human attributes to inanimate objects (like, IDK, an empty

chair). Also sometimes used with other living things, like animals or insects.

Metonymy: using an object– usually a symbolic object, like a crown to represent royalty—to stand in for a thing. Or maybe

to use, IDK, a chair for something.

Apostrophe (not ‘): addressing someone or something abstract that is not actually present. Like, again, IDK, what might be

in an empty chair.

We see……metonymy in the Street essay you read for today. Ironic that his name is Street and he’s talking about walking in the streets, isn’t it?

Irony is another rhetorical concept, btw. And funny aside: the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morrisette is ironic because none of the things she mentions in the song are actually ironic.

That was a digression– another rhetorical concept.

Back to Street: where do we seemetonymy in his piece?

And now…For the next few moments I’m going to

yield the floor to Clint Eastwood. Before I do, though, two things I want to say.

One: I love this Chrysler commercial because I think the tone is pitch-perfect.

Two: I am not taking a position for or against the Republican positions

expressed at the RNC. This activity isn’t meant to be about the actual opinions but

rather about the rhetorical situation Mr. Eastwood created.

The Kairos of Eastwood,Part I

Commercial, from halftime of the Super Bowl:

Where’s the……Kairos?

Notice as well the tone used here, the central thrust. I am not going to ask you

to all tell me these things out loud, but scribble this in your notes: who was the audience? What appeals did Eastwood use? What was the occasion? Was he

successful in your opinion? What worked?

The Kairos of Eastwood,Part II

Primetime Speech at the Republican National Convention, just before Presidential Nominee Governor Romney:

Where’s the……Kairos?

Think specifically about not just the audience that is present (I think we can

all see their reaction), but think about the TV audience and the occasion.

Remember, this speech was part of a break-in to National Television and was

the lead-in to Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech, confirming that he is officially the Republican candidate for President of the

United States.

Let me show you that slide from earlier again, too.

Other tropesPersonification: giving human attributes to inanimate objects (like, IDK, an empty

chair). Also sometimes used with other living things, like animals or insects.

Metonymy: using one smaller thing– usually a symbolic object, like a crown to

represent royalty—to stand in for a bigger thing. Or maybe to use, IDK, a chair for

something.

Apostrophe (not ‘): addressing someone or something abstract that is not actually present. Like, again, IDK, what might be

in an empty chair.

A little help…I didn’t want to lead you into the woods with no guidance, so I while I am about to ask you to write about these concepts, I wanted to give you one concrete example from what we just watched.

Metonymy, again, is a smaller thing standing in for a larger whole. Eastwood uses the President this way, to stand in for all of the spending and policies of the government as a whole during his three-and-a-half years in office.

While people get emotional over this topic, that is a logical fallacy.Obama, the man, did not, for example, raise the national debt.

Writing time.I would like you to do this particular

writing on your Tumblr, or if you aren’t comfortable writing in that space in class,

as a Word document that you can upload. I am asking not because I will be

grading this, but because I want to see how you are doing with these concepts,

and if the posts are on your Tumblrs, I can see them easily.

I want you to write a rhetorical analysis of the speech Eastwood gave, given that he

was asked to speak in large part due to the reception to the commercial I showed

before the speech.

Kairos is “the right time” from the cliché “the right place at the right

time.” It’s a specific time when something happens that can only

have happened in that special time.

Personification: giving human attributes to inanimate objects. Also sometimes used with other living things, like

animals or insects.

Metonymy: using an object– usually a symbolic object, like a crown to represent royalty—to stand in for a thing

Apostrophe (not ‘): addressing someone or something abstract that is not actually present

Now you’re thinkin’, punk……did he say to write for six minutes… or only 5?

To tell you the truth, I lost track myself in all this excitement. But being that this is English 111, the most powerful class in the world, it’ll blow your head clean off, you could ask yourself a question.

Do I feel lucky?

Well do ya, Punk?

Stop writing.

*what?*

Let’s talk.Any questions, or specific thoughts you want to share from your writing

time?

This is a space holder slide with no actual nutritional value. It fulfills 0% of your FDA recommended dose of

PowerPoint by volume.

Homework1) Don’t forget your Inquiry One essays are due Thursday.

We will write your memos and upload in class. Remember to bring your laptops.

2) Read the Inquiry Two assignment sheet from the course site.

3) Tumblr prompt: Pick someone you admire, and locate either their official website or one of their social media profiles. Subject them to what we’ve been doing to our own profiles and identities; what does that media presence say about the person. Don’t forget to include a link so your readers can see it.

4) Tumblr question: on next slide.

Posting your Tumblr Question1) Go to my Tumblr (follow the Tumblr link on the course site).2) Login to the site.3) Go here and click:4) Post your answer.

What questions do you have about the concepts we learned today?