Annotated Bibliography

HIV Particle Photo by AJC ajcann

"The HIV Epidemic Can Be Stopped." Nature.com. July 7, 2015. Accessed September 24, 2015.
This is my original Nature article with which I will eventually construct a Scientific Issue Analysis. This article involves procedures and preventions for potentially curing the disease. I will be analyzing this article and constructing a counter argument against it.

Cummins, Nathan W., and Andrew D. Badley. "Can HIV Be Cured and Should We Try?" ProQuest. June 1, 2015. Accessed September 22, 2015.
The source describes why HIV is in fact incurable. It also states several process and methods to accelerate the process of potentially finding a cure. The sources ultimately decides that while HIV is not cured at the moment, there are several things that could be done to minimize the spread of the disease and the effects of the disease.

Hopkin, Michael. "HIV Can 'never Be Cured'" Nature.com. February 14, 2008. Accessed September 23, 2015.
As is apparent in it’s title, this article discusses how HIV will ultimately “never be cured.” The article cites that HIV infected cells will remain in the blood stream basically no matter what, most likely in the gut area. Although it ultimately comes to the conclusion that the disease is incurable, it does provide a sense of hope, as it ends with the comment by a British chief medical officer that, “There’s a push to get wider testing, and I’m personally very much in favour of it.”

Hill, Alison. "Why There's No HIV Cure Yet." PBS. August 27, 2014. Accessed September 24, 2015.
This article delves into specifically why HIV has not been cured yet. The article begins by referencing a story in which a child was falsely “cured.” The source goes over history of the treatment of the disease and explains that there is no cure now but there could be reason for hope.

"Vaccines - Why Is It so Hard to Make a Vaccine against HIV?" HIV & AIDS Information ::. Accessed September 24, 2015.
This article discusses the challenges of making a vaccine for HIV. This article argues that “the discoveries that are going to lead to a successful vaccine have not been made yet.” The article also has several details as to the issues that stand between where researchers are now and where they will need to be in order to create a vaccine.

Gene Drive Bibliography and Summary

Individual genes depicted in a basic DNA strand

There has been minute amount of experimenting with gene drives and few people know what they actually are. The gene drive itself is the process of changing the gene structure of an organism for beneficial purposes... in theory. As it can be easily imagined, this is super sketch. Below are some sources cited from my early research on gene drives, from a variety of perspectives, yet all have agreed that caution is key.



"Driving Test." Nature 524, no. 7563 (2015): 5. Accessed September 24, 2015. doi:10.1038/524005b.

In the opening of the editorial the author reiterates researchers claims that this cutting-edge genetic technique called a “gene drive” could lead to “unanticipated ecological consequences”. The author then goes on to give a short analysis of what gene drives are in a very brief paragraph. The perspective of esteemed researchers and also of the science community have discussed ways in how the gene drives shall be used. The conclusion of the editorial restates the caution advised to investors and researchers on the impact of this technique.


"Safeguarding Gene Drive Experiments in the Laboratory." Science AAAS349, no. 6251 (2015): 927-29. Accessed September 23, 2015. doi:10.1126/science.aac7932.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/349/6251/927

The author states that gene drives have the potential to benefit science and contribute to health, yet with this great power of gene drives comes great responsibility. As spoken on in the Nature article, this article gives great depth into the cautions that should be taken and uses terminology that assumes you are familiar with this field. Specific confinement strategies are listed out with the constant reminder that basically anything can happen and could potentially harm our ecological system. At the very end this article applauds the steps taken thus far in addressing this new phenomenon.


Gurwitz, D. "Gene Drives Raise Dual-use Concerns." Science 345, no. 6200 (2014): 1010. Accessed September 24, 2015. doi:10.1126/science.345.6200.1010-b.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6200/1010.2

The main concern raised by the author in this article is that gene drives might be regulated by organizations and nations however the technique could fall into the wrong hands. The example is offered that just how mosquitoes can be removed of diseases they can also be altered to spread dangerous bacteria. Obviously war is in the mind of this author when comparing the secretive blueprints of the atomic bomb with how the genes construction should be kept under lock. Overall he makes a plea to continue the caution mention in the other cited sources.


Oliver, Keith, and Greene Wayne. "Jumping Genes Drive Evolution." ProQuest. September 29, 2009. Accessed September 24, 2015.
http://search.proquest.com/docview/223694315?pq-origsite=summon

In a unique perspective on gene drives, this article ties the recent technique and links it to evolutionary effects. The article predominantly focuses on the “jumping gene” and how that explains rapids cases of evolution. Within this unique case of gene alteration, a species can evolve beneficially, which flips the previous notion that jumping genes were junk. Gene drives would essentially be able to create the same effect of jumping genes, yet it would be intentional rather than by accident.


Esvelt, K. M., A. L. Smidler, F. Catteruccia, and G. M. Church. "Concerning RNA-Guided Gene Drives for the Alteration of Wild Populations." ELife 3 (2014): 21. Accessed September 24, 2015. doi:10.7554/eLife.03401.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4117217/

In this very detailed article it summarizes the overall situation and the impacts of gene drives. More than the other articles, this one focuses on the benefits and the splendor of technology demonstrated with this breakthrough. Embedded within this article the author assesses the various types of gene drives to educate. The majority of this article is theorizing the possible outcomes of the recently discovered process using qualified knowledge by the authors.

A photo of Pluto from the New Horizons mission in July

These are some of the sources I'll be using to base an argument in opposition to source 1 (the Nature post). That post will come sometime next week. In regards to the sources, you'll find the full citation as well as the link or doi code for the sources below. Additionally, you'll find a brief summary of each explaining how the source relates to the discussion of Pluto's planetary status as well as the New Horizons mission.

1. “To Pluto,” Nature 522 (04 June 2015): 6, accessed September 24, 2015
doi: 10.1038/522006b

The commentator in this nature editorial state a number of facts that lead to a “how did the ‘planet’ of pluto form” discussion. They reference another study published by nature that used Hubble Space Telescope images to study Pluto’s moons, which returned with photos of an inconsistent surface of Pluto and its moons, raising questions about how the quaternary system of Pluto formed. The editorial explains dwarf planet’s uniqueness in its formation as well as in its orbital tendencies, having 3 moons spin around a relativity low center of mass. Overall, the op-ed discusses why Pluto deserves to be studied more closely. 

2. “Pluto, here we come, whatever you are” The Los Angeles Daily News, January 29, 2015, accessed September 24, 2015
http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/20150129/pluto-here-we-come-whatever-you-are-editorial

The author argues the importance of the New Horizons mission, which included NASA sending an unmanned, 200 watt vehicle to take photos of the icy pseudo planet. This is the first real mission to specifically explore pluto and it strange moons. Many other missions were axed in the 90s as a result of budget cuts. He points out the irony in CalTech running the mission which was essentially the same entity that stripped Pluto of its official planetary status. The piece doesn’t take a stance directly on the issue of whether Pluto is a planet or not, but they mention both sides. (Proponents of planetary status - it’s a large enough object. Proponents of dwarf status - it’s a big asteroid with a bunch of little asteroids around it. The articles main point is to highlight the significance of the mission.


3. Stuart Clark, “Of course Pluto Deserves to be a Planet. Size isn’t Everything,” The Guardian, July 15, 2015, accessed September 24, 2015
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/15/pluto-planet-size-nasa-new-horizons

The author, Stuart Clark, argues that Pluto is a planet since size isn’t a reason to demote its status. Again, the article focuses on the New Horizons mission, in which he comically points out, was launched in 2006 to study Pluto and was supposed to take 9 years to reach the planet. The voyage took 9 years, but arrived this past July to a dwarf planet, as the International Astronomers Union demoted the very thing they had set out to study from full planetary status in 2007. The article cites how the requirement of pluto to clear its trajectory (to orbit freely without running into other objects) makes little sense since Jupiter orbits with 25+ moons. The article preaches the notion that denying pluto its planetary status would be “also to deny the cultural history if astronomy” and would just be ignorant in general.


4. “NASA’s New horizons opens up a great future of space exploration,” Deseret News, August 1, 2015, accessed September 24, 2015
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865633652/NASAs-New-Horizons-opens-up-a-great-future-of-space-exploration.html?pg=all

This editorial by an unnamed commentator argues the significance of the technical side of the New Horizons Mission. The author describes the difficulty inherent in the act of shooting a probe smaller than your car at a target over 3 billion miles away. The article focuses on the impressiveness of the scientists to be able to accomplish such a feat with 2006 era technology. Now that we are collecting the fruits of our labors over 9 years later, the article cites this as a precursor to what we will be able to accomplish in another 10 years. The main idea of this article is that nothing is out of reach in our solar system now, attempting to debunk theories that trivialize space exploration and brush out previous accomplishments off as cold war propaganda. In a side bar at the bottom, the author quickly mentions how pluto should be a planet essentially just off principle since the article provided no evidence to support this claim.


5. “Pluto, up close, will always be a planet,” cleveland.com, July 25,2015, accessed September 24, 2015
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/07/pluto_will_always_be_a_planet.html

In contrast to its name and the other sources here, the editorial board of cleveland.com didn’t push the issue of pluto planetary status. The editorial recognized the existence of the Kuiper Belt (the astronomically large asteroid belt that Pluto sits in the middle of, and is the reason of the debate over its planetary status) as a reason Pluto would not be considered a planet — the same issue in source 3, but with a different opinion. The OpEd links out to other sources that discuss the same issue about how Pluto has yet to sufficiently clear its trajectory, and probably never will. They expand on the logic that if Pluto is considered a planet, then many other obscure but equally qualified objects in the Kuiper belt would have to be considered for planetary status as well, and if Pluto got special treatment for being Pluto, then thats illogical.

Photo Credit to Ringling.com (labeled
for reuse)

Not all of one's writing can completely reinvent the wheel. Very rarely are completely new ideas introduced in any manner without first building off the work of others. This is why we use citations, the crediting of another author when you use their creation in any fashion to base your own stance. Not only is it courteous to the author (while also helping the legality of your piece), citing your sources and giving credit where credit is due can help the overall cohesiveness of your writing. For example, if you decided to write an editorial on why GMOs in foods are detrimental to your health and you included no citations, well, I don’t know anything about GMOs and if you include no outside sources to corroborate your theory, I now still know nothing about GMOs, I have no reason to believe anything you’ve said, and you’ve effectively wasted my time. The moral of the story is that if you use citations effectively, you can make yourself more credible on your topic by giving the reader access to your sources to decide for themselves if your argument is valid.

Here at Creatively Decisive, we’ll use a modified Chicago style citation system mainly because it retains the integrity of a classic citation, but without the nonsensical formatting that MLA and APA have. We’ll also link out to our sources that have links to use, since that probably makes sense to you internet wandering blog readers — you found this page after all. But really though, we’ll link to what we can, having a proper citation makes no sense if you can just link to it all the same. However, if you’re into vintage stuff, all the sources, linked or not, will be in Chicago style at the bottom of the post for your fact checking enjoyment.

How You Explain Style: A Rhetorical Analysis of He Spoke Style

Your life would probably be a bit easier if you could somehow absorb the meaning of information in all forms, writing, art, music, science, or speech, in some sort of telepathic way. You could read the most complex paper or decipher the most intricate piece of art which PhDs of literature or design would argue for hours on end about the artist’s purpose. Well, unfortunately you can’t, unless you already have predicted exactly what the rest of this post will cover, word by word. If yes, then you might want to get that checked out. For those of us not as in tune with our inner Nostradamus, us normal folks resort to rhetorical analysis, the study of how artists, authors, or any creator, brings across their point and argument to their audience. An example of a work that has a fantastic use of rhetorical devices is the internet blog He Spoke Style which I mentioned I’d be covering in the previous post. He Spoke Style is a men’s style blog which uses visuals and a spectacular layout to create an inviting forum to present applicable style options to men who want to dress well.

Brian Sacawa, professional musician and former world class cyclist, started He Spoke Style in 2013 to fill the apparent void in they men’s online style blog universe. A New York Times reviewed soprano sax player and successful athlete, Sacawa definitely comes off as a credible source on how to be a successful person, not just some guy off the street. It is understandable how Sacawa could appear as pretentious at times, but he generally comes off as a likable guy who just wants to share his wardrobe and style ideas with people who read his blog. Those who tune in are typically males, I’d say 20 to 45 years in age (so pretty diverse), who are interested in dressing well. While it’s not like FashionBeans, another men’s style site, but with a flair for a pretty extreme and flamboyant way of dressing, it’s a site where I’m not sure the audience would be interested in if they had no base knowledge of attempting to dress well. In other words, if someone had nothing but athletic shorts and T-shirts in their closet, I’m not sure they would find this site to be of any use. I believe if you got all the readers of this site together in a room, they’d get along pretty well. This site caters to the guy who wants to be the most well dressed person in any room they walk into, a unique personality trait, in my opinion.

Sacawa is able to convey the fairly difficult and opinion based topic of style with his heavy use of photos of himself (contributing to his overall credibility) in outfits that he deems to be stylish. He has a feature called the style guide which is categorized down to articles of clothing (jackets, footwear, accessories, etc.) that features hundreds of pictures of him in a variety of different outfits that usually have articles to complement them. He prefers to use images to articulate his point rather than words and its understandable with a site covering a visual topic such as fashion.

His site is hosted by Our Own Making, a host service that specializes in simple colorful sites, and He Spoke Style is no exception. The site has a feel where it seems like it’s meant to be used like a “field manual” for style rather than something you’d sit down to read on a weekly basis. For instance, there is a style glossary full of lesser known words that you hear in style often but not know the meaning of. This simple quick reference glossary is just one feature that helps the reader grasp the topic of style in a more interesting way than just reading a wall of text in an article.

The layout of this site is honestly second to none. This is like the exact opposite of a site like TMZ, where everything on the site demands attention, and there are very few features on the site I would change in any way. Along with the clean black on white layout with no gaudy advertisements or obnoxious sidebars, the countless photos to draw inspiration from, the useful features like the style glossary, or the advice page, the blog is inviting and makes you want to return.

Usually keeping his articles fairly brief, relying more on visuals than words, when he does write an extended piece on a topic, it’s usually written in a pretty casual way. Still in a professional and clear tone, but more in the way that a friend would write to you offering advice. The articles typically have an informative section where the topic is defined and the subtopics are explained, and then the article slowly wanders into the realm of an opinion piece. So, even if you didn’t care about Sawaca’s opinon on, well…anything…, the reader could just read the informative section if they so desired. He also links out to other articles on his site that pertain to the topic at hand. For example, there’s an article about panama hats that deals with the history of them as well as how to select one. Well, now that the reader has decided to jump off that stylistic cliff and actually go out and spend their hard earned money on a panama hat, of all things, the article links to another piece by He Spoke Style on what outfits you can even where wear a panama hat with, solving the conundrum that a proprietor of a panama hat would inevitably have. It’s the small details that go a long way in retaining a reader in the modern internet age with a dwindling attention span.

He Spoke Style is able to maintain its relevance by posting content that is applicable in modern society. If nothing else was done right by a style blog, the content would at the very least be relevant, whether you agreed with it or not. Going hand in hand with the sites relevance, the content is original. I read a review for the blog that described the style ideas of He Spoke Style as a modern twist of the classic 50’s and 60’s clothing trends. A specific topic, yes, but a very original one at that – I can’t think of any other style sites with a retro theme. While specific in content, the blog covers all the bases within their niche well by having a good about of breadth with their articles. From articles on formal wear, to casual style, to how to wear a tie bar, or what tech devices you need in your life, it’s a diverse array of topics, but all have the same “old school style” theme. The diversity of topics helps make the site never feel boring and none of the articles ever feel like filler content.

Contribution to the domain is a broad idea and is often very subjective and rightfully so, deciding what contributes to society and what doesn’t. I think any entity that helps and encourages people to better themselves in any way, shape, or form benefits society. Men’s living and lifestyle blogs like Art of Manliness or Complex all accomplish this, but only graze over the idea of dressing well, which is the point of He Spoke Style. So, I feel the blog is unique in the sense that it brings a unique and in depth perspective to men’s style seeing as the site can focus on fashion without having to worry about anything else.

As a creator of any creative work, presentation is key to engaging your listener, your viewer, or in this case your reader. Presentation not only enhances your content, it visually helps people understand your argument and why you are creating anything in the first place. This is why I give so much respect to He Spoke Style for taking the time to implement all the presentation and layout enhancements they have. Clarity is key when discussing a less tangible topic like style, so nothing is lost in translation. When you have original, relevant content that is presented well, you can explain style.

Rhetorical Analysis of Mashable

Mashable, I can say from first hand experience, keeps you reading for longer than you intended. After a good while on this site you look down at your clock, see it's somehow been an hour and ponder how in the world you got to this place? I think to myself “what was I originally looking at”? Oh that's right , then I clicked on this link to a related story, looked at the comments for a while, saw an ad for sneakers and now I'm scrolling through all the latest sneaker drops at Foot Locker? All of this to say Mashable is a master with this new social age stuff and can get you hooked. If someone were to break down Mashable using rhetorical analysis, they would be able to see what makes such a powerful social news source by picking apart its tendencies as a whole. As you can guess I'm that someone.

First you have to understand rhetorical analysis, which is basically: How the author, text and audience interact to persuade. Looking at the author's first, when researching them on the blog site there were a lot of chief editors and officers which means there is a huge staff for the “chiefs” to be in charge of. There are only pictures of Mashable’s high-up staff, the rest are simply named with links to a small bio and their social media platform. If a common reader were to miraculously find these bios they would see how impressive the credentials of the “behind the scene” people are. Given that writers are all different, there's a similar type of tone that is exhibited in Mashable as a whole. Almost all the authors tend to bring credible facts and relatable quotes to their articles but there is a tone of slight sarcasm that gives the reader a sense that they know what they are talking about. Because of this ability to crack jokes throughout the article it shows they are very familiar with their topic and have emotions about it.

Every article in every subject throughout Mashable’s entirety utilizes the text to constantly get readers deeper and deeper into their site. I think it is pretty well known that people appreciate visuals and that words alone can not keep people's attention spans. The people over at Mashable have probably taken this concept and framed it in every person’s office….which may or may not be an exaggeration, just a hypothesis. With the array of categories up at the top, The pictures varying in size according to importance, and charts for each story to show what's “hot now” there is plenty going on. The blog page is borderline overwhelming by all of the information coming at you in this concentrated space, yet the layout is efficient to where this mass of info is not too much. Within the article there are a plethora of links, social media outlets, videos and sharing. The benefits of having all of this shows that the authors and the blog itself are trendy and familiar with the current age of technology. When people do share, it broadcasts Mashable’s brand to other places without them having to do anything. Pushing people to be social is a very effective marketing tactic and it also attracts more readers within blog itself when they see the volume of shares accumulated.

Mashable is very invested with bringing new technology experiences to their followers, and that speaks to who their target audience is. For me I see the typical audience member to be a tech fanatic at the core and has a good amount of well rounded interests beyond that. I have basically described the blog Mashable at this point. Their core is the newest and latest in tech and from there they expound upon anything newsworthy from various other categories (i.e. business, entertainment, world, and lifestyle). Now the content in those other areas is not slacking, it is just not what their main identity is.

Mashable has a goal to grow. This is reflected in their blog site. They are mashed to the max on their site and they have a desire to grow into the place of your news (and if there is a will there is a way). They want you to hear it here first folks! Then tell others where you heard it from. By going hand and hand with social media, for example, they have a snapchat story that gives you current articles mainly on tech. I get the vibe that the homegrown personal blog is not what they are aiming for. They almost follow apple in how you can see their drive to be bigger than life and their constant exploration in how they can achieve that. To accomplish this, they have to always be looking for new ways to expand their reaches and be able to adapt, which they have shown.

Just to show further proof of what Mashable is at the core and what they set out to accomplish…. they pretty much tell you in their article about the jets getting money advice. The author goes on to write about how the advice from a business mogul to the New York Jets is all too familiar to them at Mashable.

Rhetorical Analysis of Phil Galfond Poker Blog

Photo by: Phil Galfond Blog website

Photo by: Images Money

Photo by: Supl0v Poker

Phil Galfond: Casual Poker / Life Advice

By: William Hargett

English 101

Dr. Daniel Lupton



For my first major blog post, I have decided to create a rhetorical analysis of a popular poker blog site, Phil Galfond’s poker blog (philgalfond.com). Authored by renowned poker pro Phil Galfond, this blog is targeted towards beginner to intermediate poker players. The blog not only delves into poker strategy, but also shares personal experiences that demonstrate how the game has affected his lifestyle. Galfond uses casual and sometimes humorous diction to help the readers relate to his content. A simple and easy to follow website format combined with Galfond’s anecdotes also contributes to the rhetorical success of the blog. Using both a extensive comment page and by allowing users to submit questions that he responds to on the blog, it is evident that Galfond truly values connecting with his readers.



Galfond’s diction is a crucial element in his rhetorical strategy. He utilizes informal and comical diction to connect with his readers and seem more credible, and therefore, become more relatable. For example, Galfond begins each blog post with “Hey Guys.” Galfond also implemented some humor into the blog with his contact and bio page. The contact page on the blog reads that if you need to get in contact with him for some reason, then you should “try to find someone who knows me.” Additionally, in the post titled “Poker and your life,” Galfond is discussing life choices related to poker. He asks humorously, “Do you think you have what it takes to be a very good poker player? Great! That means you're a person.” He uses this humorous intro to go into personal traits required to be a good poker player, such as humility. The bio page is also interesting, as it opens with “I feel like anyone who’s made it here knows plenty about me and my poker career.” I found this particularly interesting considering that I am a casual poker fan who stumbled onto this blog having absolutely no idea who Phil Galfond was. Other aspects of Galfond’s diction on the blog include what could be interpreted as self-centered. Galfond states in his bio page, “Outside of poker, I like lots of things. Read my blog sometime, and maybe you'll hear about them.” These parts of the blog may be conveyed as boastful but are most likely implemented in the blog to show that the author is confident and congenial.




Galfond’s format furthers his connection with his readers. With only three sub-tabs (“Blog” “About Phil” “Contact”), the site is very easy to navigate. It also shows a menu of all of the recent posts with previews, which provides links to see the full articles. This allows the reader to quickly gauge interest in a large amounts of articles. The relatively plain format of the articles, with text and only picture or video, also demonstrates to the simplistic feel of the blog. The subtitle of the blog, “pro poker player. person,” is another example of how Galfond tries to connect with his readers. Galfond is acknowledging his poker prowess while also trying to emphasize as more than simply a poker player.




Galfond’s personal experiences are the backbone of the entire blog. His very sophisticated and experienced poker expertise provides credibility with readers. There is a complete section of the blog labeled “personal,” where Galfond explains parts of his private life to the reader in order to be perceived as more of an average person or a friend, as opposed to a guy on an online poker blog who only provides instructions. Galfond has essentially dominated both the online and table games in his career, and he stresses in the more intimate sections of his blog that you should maintain a wholesome life balance. He provides all kinds of advice such as how poker affects your relationships and your education. For example, he includes a section concerning dropping out of college. He advises that “I would almost always recommend that someone plays poker on the side of their main job/education until they can be certain that they are very successful at it, and that they still love to play.” Galfond’s advice concerning relationships and poker is “Spend time with people you enjoy, people you love. Be good to everyone, but especially the people most important to you. That is where your happiness will come from in the long run.” After each blog post, the comment section is typically full with remarks and questions. Galfond also reaches his readers by encouraging these question submissions to him. He addresses some of these questions personally in his blogs and through other mediums. This is another example of how he reaches his readers by becoming more than just a source of internet poker knowledge.




I chose to do my rhetorical analysis on this blog because I have had a passion for poker since a very young age. I hope that one day that my blog’s clarity and originality compare to Phil Galfond’s. That is all for my first big blog post! Thanks for reading!

Preview Review: Mashable

MASHABLE


In the coming days I plan to post my full rhetorical review of the blog site Mashable and breakdown what it does well and not so well. With this particular blog it will be interesting to dive in and see what it utilizes to attract the near 40 million loyal readers. At face value someone might think that Mashable is a site that is affiliated with Facebook just by how interactive and social people can be through this blog.

To be completely clear, I plan on reviewing this site through rhetorical analysis which by definition is......" The examination of how the author, text, and audience interact to persuade." In the past few weeks our class has been using rhetorical analysis to break down blogs with varying themes and for this particular site it has been a common place I have visited. Through my growing familiarity with Mashable I've seen the authors create posts that have significance but also I've seen others lack depth. These are just a couple of observations, I will further illuminate what else I have seen and what works for this blog which has it's eyes set for the stars. During this ongoing review I hope to uncover their boundaries for what they speak on and their formula for continuous growth.

http://mashable.com/

He Spoke Style, but Hopefully in a Less Pretentious Way

Barring the name of He Spoke Style (which could use a bit of work) and before you even get to the content, I think you'll find the blog to be a layout and organizational masterpiece. He Spoke Style is a men's fashion blog by definition, but I think that sounds awkward, so I'd describe it as they would -- "a site with men's style inspiration along with practical style advice". What I (and other authors on this site who you should totally be reading) will be engaging in is called rhetorical analysis. Rhetorical analysis is the study of the techniques authors, and really anyone who creates anything meaningful, use to bring their point across clearly and efficiently. An example might be to link and source to everything to establish credibility, using charts to make data more tangible, or, in the case of He Spoke Style, the heavy use of pictures and images to help readers visualize concepts. This blog utilizes many rhetorical devices to convey their objective of sharing new ideas about men's style and dress. A few of which are relevance and originality, devices that are utilized excellently in this blog. If you did nothing else correctly while writing a style blog, you would at least need to be relevant and original. They accomplish this by not only bringing across ideas that are possible for the everyday person, but ideas that are original without being over the top or "flamboyant". Hopefully I can shed some light on the rhetorical techniques used over at He Spoke Style in an informed way since I like to consider myself someone who follows style, even if I do not always practice what I preach. I think specifically in this topic, it's important to be well versed in it before you can accurately judge the work of others. All in all, I think the topic of style/fashion, or whatever you want to call it, can be a difficult one to bring across clearly. It takes creativity to be able to convey the idea of what is appropriate dress and what is acceptable and what is not, so I'd like to better understand how it's done in the context of this He Spoke Style and how ideas are conveyed in other blogs as well.

William's Mid-unit post

http://www.philgalfond.com/blog/




I will be posting my first big blog post next week. The post will be a rhetorical analysis of Phil Galfond’s poker blog. Rhetorical analysis involves the way in which the author persuades the reader. I will be looking at the format/layout, author, and diction, while also analyzing the intended audience for the blog. I will also be looking into the clarity and relevance of the blog as a whole.




My dad sparked my interest in poker, as he would always watch it on TV. By the time I was in middle school, I fully understood the game and started playing against my dad a couple of times a month. The knowledge of poker I have acquired allows me to understand the blog’s poker terminology and strategy. Upon completion of my Unit 1 project, I hope to gain a deeper knowledge of the game of poker, while also learning what daily life is like for a professional poker player.

Ch.1 Intro: Hunter Alley

(Me)

My name is Brandon “Hunter” Alley and I am a recent graduate from CFA Academy. I have been in a Christian school since the age of three and I love it there because it gave me the morals and beliefs I hold. In high school I played basketball, participated in the National Honor Society, as well as graduated with Honors. I love the game of basketball and probably take it too seriously because I’m super competitive! I am the oldest of three and am very proud to be a role model to my brother and sister. At this current state I am studying at North Carolina State University and enrolled in the exploratory studies program. My interests include Sports management, Theology, and Psychology. Overall in life I just want to be open minded in wherever God leads me.

(Side note..... Favorite superhero: Batman from Batman Beyond, and person I would most want to meet: Kendrick Lamar.)

In this blog, picking apart other people's stuff will be our forte. To show the diverse use of rhetorical content our blog will look at works such as: arts, podcasts, and cultural experiences. Our goal is to embody depth, decisiveness (as well as fairness), visual creativeness, and fun into our posts to illustrate something our readers can relate to.

Intro Post

My name is William Hargett and I am a freshman at North Carolina State University. I am from Greenville, NC. I attended kindergarten through twelfth grade at Arendell Parrott Academy in Kinston, NC. While in high school, I played basketball and ran on the cross country team. During the summer, I like to spend my time on the beach at Emerald Isle, NC. I have prior employment experience at Piggly Wiggly as a Bag-boy/stocker and at Lazzara’s Pizza where I prepared toppings and delivered pizzas. In my spare time, I like to go fishing and play sports. Sports are a big passion of mine as I enjoy watching and playing pretty much any sport. I am also very interested in travel. My blog will include analysis of science, art, and interdisciplinary issues. The blog will be creative and decisive while also providing all sides of an issue.

Griff Matthews Intro Post

Greetings internet wanderer. Now that you’re here, you might as well get to know me. My name is Griffin and I’m a contributor for Creatively Decisive. My time consists of me listening to new music, drinking cheap coffee, sitting in class at NC State, running, or watching my pathetic Chicago Bears miss the playoffs again, and when I’m not doing those things, I’m might be writing here. Basically, the point of this blog is to discuss and analyze issues that are relevant to both of us, topics like art and science, without boring you to tears. By analysis, I don’t mean I’m going to tell you what you already know, I’ll try to point out things of significance that I noticed in said topic. In a nutshell, analyzing serious subjects in a variety of disciplines in hopefully a more interesting way than your 8 a.m. calculus professor analyzes derivatives. So bookmark this page before you leave aimless traveler of the internet. We look forward to your company.