Writing Project 3: The Personal Voice: Identity, Diversity, Self-Discovery

Weird Al Yankovic, “The Saga begins”: Although this isn’t the official music video to “The Saga Begins” as I was browsing through I noticed it and how it was made. This video is done using Lego characters. It tells the story of Star Wars by using these Lego characters. It’s done in a very creative and aesthetically pleasing manner. This video demonstrates the versatility of Legos and how they can be used to create just about anything one would want. Looking back to my pre-teen years, I realize that I was infatuated with Legos. Legos did not just play a minor role in my life; they were my life. Legos can be used in so many different forms. I remember getting some of the big 1000 piece Legos sets and building them one day, and tearing them down the next. These big Lego sets were amazing. They contained desert and jungle adventures. There were also cowboy forts and ninja palaces. There was anything that you could imagine. The cool thing about Legos is they give you a feeling of omnipotence. You are able to construct anything that you want, and you’re also the one who decides who the good-guys and bad-guys are. It’s up to you to decide who lives and who dies. This was what made Legos the most fun for me, being able to control what happened. Because as just about every other young boy I didn’t have much that I was in control of. Legos were pretty much the only thing that I could.

Weird Al Yankovic, “Amish Paradise”: This humorous video describes the life of the Amish people in a way that is very appealing to an audience. It makes one laugh while at the same time making them think how fortunate they are to not be Amish. The video focuses a lot on how eccentric the Amish are and how crazy they appear by not using automobiles, telephones, or even electricity. This is a view that is often used upon people who are home-schooled. A lot of the time those who attend public schools think that home-schoolers are insane and do not possess the same capabilities as the “normal kids” who went to a public or private school do. As a home-schooled student myself (up until high school), I know that this is true. Many cold looks and quizzical stares were pointed in my direction my ninth-grade year (the first year I was not home-schooled). Classmates whispered softly to each other while giving subtle glances in my direction. Finally, when one was brave enough they would ask a question such as, “Do you have a television?” or, “Do you use microwaves?” These questions continued all the way up until the end of my tenth-grade year. The questions that were being posed to me were very stupid and immature. Just because a kid is home-schooled doesn’t mean that he’s dumb, or that he doesn’t have a TV or microwave. These are simply juvenile thoughts. However, even though these questions seemed ridiculous, looking back, I know that I would have asked them too.

Linkin Park, “By Myself’”: Although there is not an official music video to this song, there are a few videos of live performances and just random acts being performed to the song. I did find a video of martial arts. Basically what is going on in this video is just a bunch of fighting. There are a lot of martial artists just beating the crap out of each other. Martial arts played a huge role in my life. I was involved in taekwondo from ages 8-13 and it helped me to become who I am today. Some of the goals of taekwondo were to teach students respect, courage, and self-discipline. There were a few more traits that taekwondo really encouraged, but these three were the ones that it focused on most. Taekwondo benefited me a lot. By going to regular taekwondo class and various competitions, taekwondo helped me to form some bonds with people that I still hold. It helped me to develop my ability of making friends, while at the same time teaching me discipline. By winning at the competitions, taekwondo also taught me to be confident. It gave me a sense of “I can do it, no matter how hard it may seem.” In taekwondo there are different ranks. If someone is a higher rank than you, then you are required to call them either “sir” or “maam”. This taught me respect, which is very important to have. All these traits are important, and because of taekwondo, I carry them to this day.

Green Day, “The Time of Your Life”: In between scenes of the singer sitting on a couch strumming away on his guitar and singing the song, we see everyday people doing everyday things such as sitting at a bus stop or at a store. They all appear to be missing something although it’s not quite clear what that something is. However, from the lyrics we can assume that they are missing out on the time of their lives. Everyone at some point has a time of their life. It can be a place you go, or something that you do. It can be anything. A school trip to Mexico is what it is for me. As a junior in high school, I was involved in a trip down to Mexico. It was an amazing experience. As we were on our way to Mexico, we stopped in San Antonio, Texas and visited the Alamo, and saw the Riverwalk. When we finally got to Mexico, we stayed with host families in Tampico and became immersed in the language. While we were there, the group I was in did some missions work with a missionary who visits Mexico quite often. We went to some of the extremely poor villages and brought food and clothes. The people swarmed to us like the fish at the Henry Doorly Zoo swarm to a chunk of food. It was one of the most eye-opening and beneficial trips of my life. That’s what the time of your life should be, enjoyable, but at the same time it should give you something worthwhile.

NSync, “I Want You Back”: This humorous lip-synching take of NSync’s song takes place at the United States Military Academy (USMA) in West Point, New York. Two cadets at the academy seem to have a little too much time on their hands and have come up with a very entertaining spin on “I Want You Back” by NSync. Not only was this video very creative, but at the same time, it also required a lot of teamwork, which is very important for a cadet at USMA to have. That was one of the very first things told to me when I visited West Point in October 2006. The two Plebes that I stayed with for the weekend were adamant about making sure that I knew if I went to West Point I would have to have the ability to function in a team. They told me that it was probably one of the most important things to have at West Point because otherwise it would be impossible to make it through. This video also shows the humor that the two guys who created it have. I learned that this is also another important trait to carry while at West Point. In order to keep your sanity at West Point it is essential that every once in a while you are able to laugh and have a good time. If it were not for moments like these, then no one would ever be able to get through the four years at USMA.

Vitamin C, “Graduation”: The video itself is not the best. It simply shows various people hanging out with their friends while the singer randomly appears singing her heart out about all the good times that friends have together. However, even though the music video is lacking in quality, it really speaks volumes to me as I graduated high school. Graduation from high school is an important step in anybody’s life. The feeling I got while standing up on the stage as I gave the valedictorian speech was incredible. It was a feeling of being on top of the world. However, that was not the only feeling that I felt as I stood on that stage. So many emotions ran through me. There was excitement. It was exciting to know that I was done with high school forever. There was confusion. I didn’t really know what I was going to do with the rest of my life. And along with that last emotion came fear: fear of the unknown and the fear of losing my friends. Although fear of the unknown may not be in the list of top-ten fears it is still a very common fear that many people face every day. The fear of losing friends is a little less common, but it hit very hard on graduation day. Everyone was going their own separate way and I had no idea if I would be able to stay in touch with all of them. Despite all these fears, however, graduation was an amazing day and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Linkin Park, “In the End”: Although the music video itself has very little to do with reality (people normally don’t stand on top of giant statues and sing) the lyrics to this song are very powerful. There are so many places where someone gets so far, “but in the end, it doesn’t even matter.” USMA played that role for me. Receiving the letter of acceptance from USMA put an infinite amount of pressure on me. People started telling me how I needed to run the rest of my life. People told me I should go, people told me I should stay. Eventually, I decided to go. As a new cadet taking part in Cadet Basic Training (CBT), every day was a struggle. From getting up at 5am to do PT, until TAPS at 10pm, a war was raging viciously inside of me. The war was a battle of emotions. It was between my pride that wanted me to stay even though it was apparent that choosing to come was a bad decision, and my humility that was telling me I needed to leave, this wasn’t the right place to be. Eventually my humility won, and thus began the process of leaving. After two weeks of out-processing, I was finally on a plane headed back to Nebraska. Reflecting on what happened this past summer, it is apparent that the trip to USMA, as a whole, was beneficial in maturing me. However, it is also apparent that it is more important to do what you want to do and not what others tell you. Because in the end, what they say, it doesn’t even matter.

Timbuk 3, “The Future’s so Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”: This is a rather interesting, and slightly confusing, music video, but throughout the video a clear message is delivered. Nothing is impossible to achieve as long as you are willing to work for it. As a freshman at Nebraska Wesleyan University I am finally starting to realize that. Throughout high school, thinking about the future was something that I chose to avoid. High school was just about here and now. Being in college, however, has really opened my eyes to what is actually important in life: building strong relationships with family and friends, a good work ethic, and always putting God first. By doing these things I have begun to realize that there is nothing out there that can keep me from having a successful future. There is no individual, no test, nothing that can hold me back. This is very important for me because there are sometimes when studying for a test that I simply look up at the ceiling and just think, “This is impossible.” That is the wrong attitude to have. Nothing is impossible. There are just some areas in life where we struggle more than in other areas. But that doesn’t mean that it is impossible. It just means that we have to find a way to get through it. We have to persevere. An area where I struggle is in writing. Writing something clear and concise is something that I have a problem doing. However, by realizing that, I have already taken the first step towards finding a way to become better.

Post XIII: First Music Video

The first music video that I can remember seeing was “Bye bye bye” by NSync. I remember that my family had just gotten cable television because we had just moved into an apartment in town. We used to live in the country and we only got about five different channels. Then we moved and lived in town, and my family bought cable for our TV. I remember that my aunt was babysitting me that day and was watching television so I came out of my room to see what she was watching because I was bored. I don’t know why I remember this, but I remember that she was watching a countdown of the top ten music videos of the week, and I had just heard “Bye bye bye” on the radio so I told her that I thought that the number one music video would be that song. She disagreed with me and said that it had been out too long so it wouldn’t be that one. While we were talking the television was playing commercials. The number one video was coming right up after the commercials. So I remember that we both sat there and finally the commercials were over and the announcers on the television began to introduce the number one song and to my aunt’s chagrin and to my delight, the number one video was “Bye bye bye” by NSync. I felt great after that. From what I can recall, I gave my aunt a pretty rough time about it. I kept reminding her that I was right about the number one video and she was wrong. I kept saying, “shouldn’t you have been right, not me?” After a while she got fed up with me and just told me to shut up. So I did. Because even though I was right, she was babysitting me. And I wanted a snack.

Post XII: Least Favorite Music Video

It is kind of hard to completely determine what my least favorite music video is, but after much thought I would probably have to say the Feel Good Inc music video by the Gorillaz. I did not really want to have to choose that video because I actually like the song. But I just could not help myself. Something about that video drives me completely insane. I believe that it is the fact that it is animated the way that it is. Something about that animation really gets to me. I just do not like it at all. I never have particularly cared for animated music videos, but out of all the animated music videos that I have seen, Feel Good Inc by the Gorillaz is by far the worst of them all. I think that it must have something to do with the fact that the band that is playing in the video is a bunch of animated…things. They do not even look real. I understand that what they are supposed to be are gorillas, or gorillaz, but I really do not think that it is done in a clever or funny way. Hopefully they were not trying to make the video funny because in my mind it definitely was not. It drives me up a wall to see the animated, fake looking gorillas standing up there beating on their instruments. Personally, I like real things. I will admit, I am very practical and I like seeing things the way that they are supposed to be. I do not like stuff that is completely fake and unrealistic. It is just the way that I am. And the thing about this video is that I have tried to like it. Because like I already said, I like the song a lot, and so I wanted to at least make an attempt to like the music video. But I failed miserably. I can’t help it. It’s just too unreal for me.

Post XI: Music Video

The reason that I chose this video is because I really think that it is an entertaining music video. It is a music video of the song “Yeah” by Usher. I really like this video because of all the dancing that they do in it. I think that watching Usher do all of his dance moves is really cool and I think that it is very fun to watch. It has an upbeat tempo and I really like the music. If it was just something that was entertaining to watch, but was horrible to listen to, then I don’t think that I would find the music video all that good. I don’t want to have to watch videos with “mute” on all the time. However, I did not once feel the urge to do that while watching this video. In order to make a good music video, you have to use a song that appeals to the audience you are trying to please. That takes care of the audio aspect of the music video. However, that’s not all. You also have to have a good visual aspect and that is in the actual making of the video. It is essential to have both of these aspects at work in your video in order to make it a good video. I think that in this video there is a great combination of both the audio and visual aspects. The different colors of flashing lights really appeal to the visual aspect of this spectrum. They catch the viewer’s attention and can kind of enthrall them. This is great music for the audience that this music video was geared for and therefore does an excellent job the audio end of the spectrum as well. All in all, this video really encompasses all of the necessary aspects needed to create a great music video. I guess that’s why I find it so intriguing.

Writing Project 2: Argumentation and the Public Sphere

I chose to analyze a political cartoon by Neal Obermeyer. In this cartoon we are shown many different images. We are shown Harvey Perlman, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor, in the center of the cartoon, shrugging his shoulders and with an oblivious expression on his face, saying, “Oops. Lol.” To his left, we are shown Steve Pederson, the University of Nebraska’s former Athletic Director (AD). Pederson is pictured running away with an enormous check. On the check we see how much it’s worth, what it’s being given to Pederson for, and who gave it to him. Another image that we see is that of angry people, presumably Nebraska football fans or the booster club, standing directly to the right of Perlman. We can assume that they are angry because their faces appear to be slightly distorted and their expressions are twisted into menacing sneers. One other thing that is important to note is that Perlman and Pederson appear to be in some sort of spotlight which is most likely there just to show that they are the center of attention.

This cartoon deals with the recent firing of Steve Pederson. In the eyes of Chancellor Harvey Perlman and many Nebraska Cornhusker fans, Steve Pederson was not doing a good enough job in his position. The problem was that earlier this year, the University gave Pederson a five-year contract extension so the University had to buy out his contract at $2,200,000 in order to fire him. The political cartoon is saying that Harvey Perlman threw away all of that money. First, he gave Pederson a contract extension and then, a mere three months later, Perlman decided to fire him.

I believe that this cartoon is making two arguments. One is that Perlman made a really big mistake when he extended Pederson’s contract. Then after he realized it was a mistake, he just shrugged it off with a little “Oops, sorry!” As though throwing away $2.2 million dollars was like spilling your milk at the dinner table. The second argument that I saw made in this article is that Perlman was essentially just letting Steve Pederson run away with $2,200,000.

I really like this cartoon because of the humorous way that it is presented. Presentation is a major factor in determining how effective an argument is. In this political cartoon, Obermeyer uses many rhetorical strategies. Obviously, he uses illustration, this is a drawing, but he uses much more than just that. However, I am only going to focus on one of those strategies: cause and effect. I believe that this is one of the most important strategies that is used in this political cartoon.

Cause produces an effect. This may seem elementary, but it is important that one has this understanding when talking about cause and effect. With that in mind, let’s talk about how cause and effect is used in Obermeyer’s cartoon.

There is more than just one cause in this cartoon. The causes in this cartoon are the actions that UNL Chancellor, Harvey Perlman took in hiring Steve Pederson, giving him a contract extension, firing him, and then having to pay him $2.2 million dollars. All of these actions produce some sort of effect and are therefore qualified as “causes.”

It is important to mention that actions are not strictly causes or effects. They can be both. Some of the causes in this cartoon can also be labeled as effects of another cause. For example, Harvey Perlman hired Steve Pederson. That is the base cause in this cartoon, the foundation for all the other causes. The effect of Perlman’s decision to hire Pederson was that eventually Perlman gave Pederson a contract extension. This cause meant that if Perlman ever wanted to fire Pederson before his contract ran out, Perlman would have to buy out the rest of Pederson’s contract. Three months after he gave Pederson a contract extension, Perlman fired Pederson. This was another cause. The effect of Perlman firing Pederson was that he had to pay him over two million dollars to buy out his contract. This effect is also another cause. This cause produced an effect of angry people, most likely the Boosters and other big money donors, involved with the University of Nebraska. These people are angry because of all the money that Perlman wasted throughout the entire process of hiring and firing Steve Pederson.

There are only three types of rhetorical appeals: logos, pathos, and ethos. Logos deals with rational arguments and reason. Pathos is more along the lines of an appeal to the emotions of and individual. Ethos is an appeal to authority or character.

Although all of these three appeals are present in some form or another, I believe that the most important rhetorical appeal that is being used in this political cartoon is pathos. This cartoon contains a lot of humor and looks as if it is trying very hard to appeal to the emotions of people. It is using humor to connect with the reader. It does that in a few different ways. The first way is by having Harvey Perlman say “Oops. LOL” when he’s talking about firing Steve Pederson. No one, especially a university chancellor, would ever talk like that at any time, and definitely not about something as serious as firing a high-profile staff member and having to pay him $2.2 million. Really no one ever uses “lol” when they’re talking. Lol just means “laugh out loud” and is generally used on the internet or in text messages. It is used to convey to the reader that the speaker finds something to be humorous. However, in the cartoon Obermeyer does this to make it seem like Perlman really didn’t care at all about firing Pederson and was just blowing the whole issue off.

Another humorous element in this cartoon is Steve Pederson running away with a huge check. This check is ridiculously large and brings a lot of attention to itself. I believe that Obermeyer is trying to show us something through this check and that’s why he made it as abnormally large as he did. I believe that through the size of the check, Obermeyer is trying to show the readers just how much is being wasted on firing Pederson. All that said, this image gives the reader the impression that Pederson is taking his check and running to the bank as fast as he can so that nobody can stop him. This is humorous because it makes it look like Steve Pederson is a criminal who just stole a lot of money and is fleeing to Zurich to deposit his riches before he is apprehended.

In my opinion this cartoon employed some very useful rhetorical strategies and appeals. I thought that the way that Obermeyer utilized pathos was exceptional. It was done in such a way so that it was humorous and yet at the same time meaningful, which is a very important trait in any argument. I also enjoyed the strategy of cause and effect that Obermeyer used. It caught my attention and also caused me to think about all of the different actions that took place in order for this cartoon to be what it was. I really admired this cartoon and thought that it made an outstanding argument.

Post X: Tom Osborne

It has been a crazy season for Nebraska football. First they start out as a possible top-ten team, but then, after a demoralizing loss against USC have plummeted down to the bottom of college football. Something needs to be done about this, and fast! Well, something has been done, or at least been started. University of Nebraska Chancellor Harvey Perlman fired Steve Pederson from Nebraska’s AD (athletic director) position on Monday, October 15. The next question was, “who would replace Pederson as AD?” Well, there is now at least a temporary solution. Tom Osborne, the legendary coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers when they won three national championships in the nineties, is back at UNL. He will be the interim athletic director until a permanent replacement is found. However, one has to wonder whether or not he will be the permanent AD now that Pederson is gone. I believe that many people are hoping that he will be permanent rather than just interim, and why shouldn’t he be? He has an amazing resume at the University of Nebraska and has become a fan-favorite for many years. He knows football and it just seems like the AD position at UNL would be a great fit for him. Many people believe that with Tom Osborne at the helm, Nebraska football will once again shine the way that it used to, rather than become an embarrassment to fans by losing by over twenty points a game. That’s not the kind of football that Nebraska fans want, and that’s not the kind of football that Nebraska plays. They are much better than that. With Tom Osborne as AD, we will probably see some changes for the best out of the program. Rumors are circulating that Osborne might try to bring back Turner Gill or Bo Pelini. Either way Osborne chooses, one can rest assured that it will bode well for the future of the program.

Post IX: The Gallup Polls

One of the most interesting jobs I have ever done is the job that I currently am working. I work at the Gallup Organization as a telephone interviewer. A lot of people think that what we do is sell stuff, but those people are wrong. What we, as interviewers, do is marketing-research. We do customer satisfaction surveys for various companies; companies like Wells Fargo, Experian, and the Wachovia. These are just a few of the many different companies for which Gallup does surveys. Gallup also does surveys about current events rather than customer satisfaction. These are the surveys that you see in USA Today and also on the television on news channels like CNN. Those numbers that they use don’t just come out of thin air. They come from the Gallup Organization.

However, despite all this, Gallup is not only an organization. At the same time, Gallup focuses a lot on making their workplace environment the best that it can possibly be. They are always striving for the workers to be happy with their jobs. At Gallup they believe that the happier one is with his or her job than the more productive they will be. If that is the case it will be a win-win situation for both the employee and the employer. The employee has a job that they are happy at and enjoy doing, and the employer is pleased because the workers are being productive and are getting all of the work done. One way that Gallup tries to reach to their employees is by using the Q12 survey. This survey is supposed to help the employer understand what needs to be done to get content employees. Some people think that this is stupid and pointless, but they might want to re-evaluate their philosophy. Because so far, this has worked well for Gallup, as they have been going strong for over seventy years.