I'm going to analyze somebody's rhetoric

http://nieniedialogues.com/

For some reason, the I can't find the post's actual link... oh well. It's the one from Monday January 19, 2009.

rhetorical situation:

writer: Stephanie Nielson -- popular mommy blogger, who has recently undergone dramatic changes in her life

audience: young mothers with young children, older mothers, women in general

issue: even though life is different and very difficult, she still has to be a mom, and she still loves it

Answering some rhetorical questions.. (ha!)

1) She's trying to show that even though she has many trials, she still feels blessed in her life

2) She uses a lot of emotional and logical appeal. Her audience really appeals to the emotional struggle and hard times in her life, and logically it makes perfect sense. She has gone through a very hard time, and she is still loving her life.

3)Her techniques make the audience feel that if she can live her life, they can live their lives without the trials she has.

4) She needs her audience to feel this so that she can feel like her life is not only precious to her family, but thousands of people around the world as well. It gives her purpose to keep going day after day, and inspiring others.

What I think of my opinion

Writing the opinion editorial for me was fun. To use a less formal way of writing I think was an effective way of getting my point across to readers in an interesting way. Sometimes writing papers with deadlines for a class is stressful. The deadline was a little stressful, but the process was easier than most.

Also, my paper solidified my desire to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Nobody tells me to exercise or not eat cheeseburgers everyday, so I need to build up the self-discipline to do these things on my own. The consequences of such a lifestyle can only lead to happiness.

And you can still eat cheeseburgers sometimes.. right?

Put Physical Education Back in BYU's Curriculum!

Students are rejoicing in their potential for obesity and heart disease: Brigham Young University has removed the health education requirement from their curriculum. Now students may sit back, relax with their high sodium top-a-ramen and work on their hours of homework while their body is working on storing fat.

                    +     = College Life  

This poses problems in the image that BYU has for their students, how this will affect the image that America gives the world, people losing their jobs, and students losing their long-term health.

This action is not consistent with BYU’s goal of sending complete and well rounded people out into the world to succeed. An excellent job is done of preparing the students spiritually; basically every class or activity provides the opportunity for spiritual growth. In previous years BYU has also done exceedingly well in being ranked among the most healthy schools in the nation. However, lifting the required classes that teach how to maintain healthy lifestyles could be detrimental to the school’s prestige. Both the spiritual and physical sides of the human body should be kept in mind when determining what makes a person whole and prepared to meet the demands of this modern world we live in. Now the physical side of the students is lacking, and BYU is sending their students out into America unprepared.

Morbid obesity is rampant in the United States of America. There is a constant flow of new reality television shows made about people who have gained the most weight, and who are able to lose the most weight in the shortest amount of time. There are infomercials claiming that they have found the one and only sure fire way to lose weight as fast as possible. Advertisements for work out equipment have increased so quickly that manufacturers have had to come up with new and strange devices that look like futuristic space crafts rather than a simple way to help you lose those extra few pounds. These tactics are not effective. People need to develop their own healthy habits so that these ridiculous measures are not needed, and health education classes can ensure these habits.

I think that the health education requirement should not have been lifted. However, throughout my public school education, physical education has been my least favorite class. Two of my least favorite activities are exercise and people telling me what they think I should do. Physical education combines these two things into a class that provides something for me to loathe. As strong as my hatred is for P.E. classes, they are the classes that will have the most far reaching benefits in my life. While physical education and health classes being cut across the nation has brought me somewhat of a joy and satisfaction, at the same time it is a detriment to America’s physical well being. Students need health education classes so they can form healthy living habits, and teachers need the students so that they will still be relevant in their teaching positions.

Another major issue that BYU is dealing with is the hiring freeze. Once employees are gone, new ones cannot be hired. Since the classes are being cut, not as many health education teachers are needed. These People go to school for years to learn how to teach people good habits. They have been blessed in this life with the ability to be sports-minded. They not only can play the—seemingly complicated to me—sports , but they are gifted with the ability to be able to teach them. They take this gift and make it flourish by getting a degree in physical education. They come to acquire the knowledge of all of the ins and outs of all sports ever created, and can play and teach them all. Some may say that due to the financial crisis, that sports and physical education classes should be the first to go. After all they are not as important as the quantum physics or trigonometry classes that students must take in order to achieve the status of being a decent human. So the P.E. classes are cut leaving many teachers without employment and many students with useless information in their minds and flab on their bones.

            There are those among the student population of BYU who eat well, walk across campus all day, and then go running every night. The sports teams get regular exercise every day and also get a healthy dose of competition. BYU’s very successful dance program is rigorous and requires a lot of time and effort to be put into them in order to be anywhere near the standard. Many of these students may feel as if they do not need a health requirement, and adding something else would be overwhelming. However, the majority of the student population is not on a sports team, and many of them are too busy to use their precious amounts of free time to exercise. In order to accommodate the majority of the student population’s needs, a standard health program should be put into place. It would be an easy requirement to fulfill for the already sports-minded, and a necessary investment to those that are not endowed with this gift.

            BYU students, and students across the nation, would greatly benefit from being taught how to continually maintain a healthy lifestyle. No matter the monetary cost or time cost, the health of our bodies is priceless. I want to be able to move and function when I am older, not to be in constant pain and decrepit. Decide for yourself whether BYU’s curriculum would be helpful for you in maintaining a permanent healthy lifestyle by looking at the following core curriculum link.

http://saas.byu.edu/classSchedule/policy/fall/univcore.php

            

sleepy, exhausted, loving it!

After a long summer of sleeping in, working a little here and there, eating ice cream, star gazing, road trips.. plus infinity more wonderful summer activities, I chose to have a crazy school/life schedule starting this fall semester. I have 8 o'clock class Monday through Thursday, dance everyday, running (er.. sometimes) at night, homework, work work... all day everyday. Actually, I love it. I love being so active everyday, and I love the feeling of accomplishing assignments and learning. Who new?

Also, I love birthdays, more than anything in the whole world. And my 20th is on Monday, and I am extremely excited. I get to eat a corn pizza, and that to me, is heaven.

Giving my blog a push in the right direction

I love blogging. My thoughts get typed out, and I learn more about what I am thinking. When I read blogs, my mind is exposed to the way other people's minds work. Sometimes I really don't care for what the people have to say. That is another beautiful part about blogging; you don't have to finish reading them. They will never know, and never be offended.

I suppose that's what I want my blog to be more geared to. Expanding the way my mind thinks. Thinking about different insights and ways of life that I had never considered before. Hopefully, people will read my blog, think about expanding and challenging their minds, write it in their blogs about it, I'll read them, and then add more to my blog. The ultimate on-going goal then is to achieve a well-rounded way of thinking and expressing views. And for everyone else to do so if they please.

Op-Ed topic ideas

Possible topics for my opinion editorial could be any which of the following, or perhaps something completely different:

BYU should have escalators outdoors.
-the campus is on a hill, and it takes way too much effort to walk to school
-if there were better parking, then students would not have to walk, but since there isn't there should be escalators as too minimize school travel fatigue.
Possible opposition could include that students need the exercise, escalators are not a good use of tithing funds, there could be more accidents due to mechanical mobility.

The need for physical education in America.
Americans are generally very large and unhealthy. To improve American image, self-image, and self-esteem, education on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle should be maintained.
Opposition: Americans should already know how to do this themselves. Funds should be used elsewhere.

Music at LDS dances
-I firmly believe that music at LDS church funded dances are not filtered enough.
-for a church that promotes listening to uplifting music, the music played should be carefully listened to and approved
-Hymns should be played at dances before bad messages should be implanted into the minds of youth and young single adults.
Opposition: popular songs should be played so that people might actually attend the dance, the songs only have one bad part and may be edited.