All Around the World

Although cultural diversity may be represented by different ethnicities among the student body, high schools should integrate a mandatory cultural education class within their curriculum to expand teenagers knowledge and awareness of the world around them.

The Hardest Blog Ever

This honestly was the hardest thing ever...I could not come up with a single topic to save my life, but here we go:

1) The issue with abandoned pets--specifically dogs

• How should this be prevented/resolved? (Laws, punishments?)
• What are the rights of these pets?

2) Everyone should be culturally diverse--or at least educated in diversity

• How can exposure to other cultures prepare us for college and future careers?
• What does this knowledge do for our own view on life?

3) Food Waste

• What are the shocking realities of daily food waste in America?
• How can this be reduced and be brought to awareness?

Let's Go On An Adventure And Find a Job in China!

I lived in Shanghai, China for the past three and a half years of my life, and let me tell you, life is not as foreign as you may imagine it to be there. Believe it or not, I spoke just as much English there as I did while living in Canada. Of course the Chinese people take up the majority of the population, but for the past decade or so, expatriates from all over the world—covering places such as the U.S., Canada, Australia, Germany, Taiwan, and etc.—can easily be found strolling the streets of Shanghai. Tourists? Nice guess, but it is more than that. A lot of these foreigners live, work, and have established their families in China. So why is it that they have chosen to leave their country? There may be multiple reasons such as a love of spontaneity, or a love of traveling, but ultimately, expatriates have moved to China to pursue their businesses, find prospective job opportunities, and to escape, perhaps, a struggling economy back home. At least this was the case for Jonathan Levine, a young man, “overeducated with a series of non-performingdegrees” and “fed up with the economic status quo in the United States.” He took action and moved to China. In Levine's "Go East, Young Man," he effectively employs a relatable tone, an active voice, and justifications of the counterarguments, to convince Americans suffering from the U.S.'s economic crisis, to move to China where new experiences and chances maybe found.

In his first paragraph, Levine immediately puts himself in the same position as his audience. He relates himself tothe “Occupy Wall Street protestors on TV, fed up with the status quo in the United States.” By doing this, he gives the audience a sense of relatability and the idea that he is just like all the other Americans out their who are victims of the economic crisis. The Occupy Wall Street protestors suffer from social and economic inequality, high unemployment, greed, corruption, and are highly frustrated by it—Levine found himself in the same boat, tossed to and fro by the rough waves of economic instability; which led him to address this issue. He captures his audiences’ trust and appeals to their troubled and protesting hearts by empathizing with them. By addressing their problem, he puts himself in their shoes; he then assures his reader that there exists an optimistic solution to all the frustration, headaches, and stress of unemployment by sharing his solution: move to China, where “job prospects are abundant.”

He further supports his position of relatability by appealing that he is really simply a typical, American guy. He is not extremely intelligent, rich, or prestigious, but an average guy, who like mostly every other American can speak English; thus, it scored him a job in China within a split second. “And guess what? I’m not that special,” he says in a tone that relates to the common man, “[but] demand for native English speakers is white-hot.” That’s what landed him “a job teaching American culture and English at Tsinghua University.” He continues to strengthen his position by speaking in a casual, everyday tone, which attracts all the many average, common man to find him relatable. Using this casualness, he expresses the positivity that has come from his choice of moving to China: “My work is fulfilling and my workload is manageable enough to give me time to travel. I have found friends among China’s large expatriate community, my colleagues and, of course, my eager students.” Levine professes to his readers that if he/she can speak English, like every other average American, China will treasure him/her like a gem. He boosts the confidence and esteem of his readers by using this relatable tone.

Levine uses an active voice throughout his article to put direct and distinct thoughts into the reader’s minds. Blunt, but bold statements such as, “leave America,” “China wants you,” “Pollution is bad,” forces an insistent drive into the readers mind. He does not try to beat around the bush to get the message across, and there is definitely not a sense of wishy-washiness in how he wants to get his message across. It is true that for the readers who have never considered leaving his/her home country to move to a completely foreign environment may find the concept surreal, frightening, or simply beyond his/her reach. To capture the readers’ surge of hope and motivation, he gives them no time to doubt, but expresses his own confidence in how he is able to call China his second home, through his active voice.

Finally, Levine solves the “what ifs” and “buts” that his readers might conjure up by justifying and addressing the possible counterarguments. He appeals once again to the readers’ perhaps, still debating hearts by giving them positive and optimistic assurances to their doubts. Because he also has first hand experiences of living in both America and China, he understands best the differences in the two culture’s social lives. He admits to the fact that “there are problems here, [in China]”; however, they can be insignificant and harmless. By admitting to China’s faults and justifying them, he supports his decisions in a non-biased way. “China is a nation that unapologetically rejects Western democracy.” Levine understands that safety and freedom would definitely be of high priority and importance to Americans moving away from the United States. However, he persuades readers that “Chinese citizens and the news media have as much freedom as they do.” By stating this possible fear of living in a Communist country, Levine also positively justifies the counterargument and leaves readers with a sense of security and assurance.

Another specific problem that may be pointed out by critics is China’s food safety system—“the most famous being the tainted-baby-formula scandal of 2008”—was straightforwardly brought up by Levine. He assured the readers that “China meted out swift justice in that case to the perpetrators,” and then compared China’s solution to the problem to an American—which proves to be relatable—food safety situation, that resulted in corporations harming their consumers and remaining unpunished. He added an additional rhetoric tool of inserting a link of the article to further support the tragic incident that occurred in the U.S. By exposing his readers to the same situations that could occur in America, he helped them become aware that food safety issues may happen everywhere, and anywhere, but what really matters is how they resolve it in the end

Through Levine’s effective use of a relatable tone, an active voice, and justifying his counterarguments, he is able to convince readers that China and the opportunities you can find there can be a suitable solution to the troubling recession Americans suffer in. He also urges reader to consider paying him a visit where they can experience a fulfilling job with a manageable workload, be enriched by the Chinese people’s patience, courtesy, and hospitality, a burst of spontaneity, and simply, a break from a loss of hope.

What Did I Think??

So, what did I think about writing the Rhetorical Analysis? Well, first off in comparison to the Opinion Editorial, I found it easier to write the Rhetorical Analysis than the OpEd. I think this was mainly because it was easier for me to take the rhetorical tools used by the author and to analyze whether or not it was effective or not effective. I thought it was harder to write the OpEd because, either I'm not a strongly opinionated person or, I tend to ramble too much on a certain topic-- that probably didn't make much sense because those are two completely opposite reasons on the spectrum-- but, that's how I feel and how I feel like explaining things so, don't judge. Since this was also a more structured form of writing, I found it easier to simply follow the structured outline and to branch out from that-- I found my focus a lot easier through that process, although a downside to that was it brought limits to bits and bursts of creativity.

Well, I don't know what else I should elaborate on about the RA...other than that my "RA" in

my hall just got engaged! I'm sure that's a lot more interesting and exciting than my thoughts and feelings about a WRTG 150 assignment. Hopefully some of you have found this blog interesting enough to even read up to the exciting engagement news. Congrats to her, and YAY for us on finishing another writing assignment in this wonderful class of ours! :)

The Edit to Perfection Process

My peer review process for the Rhetorical Analysis was pretty much very similar to the peer review process of my Opinion Editorial, not only because I had the same peer, Seth Hoyt to help me with it, but also because we used the same process. During the peer review process, we were able to read our papers out loud to each other. I, especially liked doing that because first, I was able to catch some of the awkward sounding sentences that you wouldn't have been able to otherwise realize, and then Seth was able to help be restructure some of these sentences; it brought better flow when my transitions were strengthened between each paragraph. Overall, I thought that peer reviewing was very helpful and effective. It was nice to be proceeding down the path to perfection-- well, at least closer to a near perfected state of my paper!

At the Top of My Lungs

I love to sing at the top of my lungs. When I’m stressed or tired, that’s what I tend to do. This doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m good at singing at all; however, my friend who’s a vocal major did say that I have a pretty voice—…but come to think of it, I guess best friends are entitled to say nice things like that, aren’t they? Anyways, I just really, really love to sing with all my heart; because it cheers me up so, thus, I thought I’d blog about it! I apologize now for being overdramatic and passionate about this, but does anyone else feel this way? That when you’re having a bad day or overwhelmed with stress, singing out loud and pouring your soul out into a song you love helps release a lot of bottled up feelings and ‘ickyness,’ Well, at least that’s how I felt today. As I conjure up this blog post of mine, I am currently sitting in a Toyota four-runner with three of my best friends, road tripping to San Diego, California. And what’s the best part about road trips other than the whole getting away from school for the long weekend part? Yes, jamming and singing at the ‘top of our lungs’ to our all time favorite songs. From Katy Perry to Sara Bareilles, to Disney and then over to musicals, such as Wicked, we covered it all—at the top of our lungs. Cheers to the long weekend! Oh, and of course, Happy President's Day to all you Americans!

Figuratively Speaking

In the New York Times article, " Go East, Young Man," the author Jonathan Levine uses some figurative language to strengthen his appeal to the audience. There were no obvious ones like Onomatopoeia, or any "SETH sells seashells by the seashore, but there were a few such as Rhetorical Questions and Personification. Here are the examples:

-Rhetorical Question: He asked the audience in a casual tone: "Guess what? I'm not so special." This rhetorical question does not ask for a direct answer, but it helps the readers catch on to his casual tone, which he aims to use to support his opinion.

-Personification: He writes at the end of his article: "a soul-crushing cubicle," to put an image into his reader's head, and to further appeal to their feelings of stress or frustration.

My Thesis to Analyze "Go East, Young Man"

Analyze my thesis while I use it to analyze the Opinion Editorial: "Go East Young Man."

Here we go!

Thesis:

In Jonathan Levine's "Go East, Young Man," he effectively employs imagery, vivid and relatable personal experiences, and justifications of the counterarguments, to convince Americans suffering from the U.S.'s economic crisis, that there is hope and relief found in China.

I thought that, overall, he had a good and convincing editorial, laying out all the advantages of moving to China; however, I felt like it didn't apply to all people in America. What if I thought his OpEd was both effective and ineffective (judging by who he was talking to)? Can anyone let me know what I can do if I beg to agree and to disagree? Am I allowed to do both?

What to Analyze?

Picking an Opinion Editorial topic wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be. There were so many options and me, being an indecisive person did not make it any easier. However, I managed to cut down to three potential options out of the many, many, many options out there...Here they are:

1) Why Taiwan's future Matters - It was interesting (and sort of exciting, too) to see an editorial on my country, Taiwan. There have always been and still are conflicts between Taiwan and China; I thought it'd be educational on my part, to delve deeper into this issue.

2) School Nutrition: A Kid's Right to Choose - The Speakers have authority to speak over this issue as they are co-directors of the Cornell Center for Behavior Economics in Child Nutrition Programs. They speak to their Audience that consists of the Los Angeles School District, the Federal Government, the children affected by this issue, and the parents. The Issue at hand is that children are only given the option of all healthy foods (vegetables, no chicken nuggets, no chocolate milk...) at school cafeterias, causing them to throw out the food, to not eat, or to order pizza.

3) Go East, Young Man - After living in Shanghai for three years-- and gaining a lot of newfound knowledge-- I now believe and know for a fact that China has a lot of business and job opportunities for young graduates and for us, the future working generation. The Speaker in this OpEd has authority to speak over this issue because he had personal experience in finding a job in China. His Audience that he is appealing to consists of the people in the U.S. who are suffering from the economic crisis. The Issue that he discusses is that to solve financial headaches and suffering in a country swamped by economical issues, move to China where new opportunities can be found.

Write, Blog and Reflect

Well now with the Opinion Editorial out of the way, what did I think about it?

Write & Reflect !

First off, I enjoyed this style of writing, although I cannot admit that I'm good at it. I wished I had more practice because then I feel like I could've done better with the topic I had chosen. I thought peer reviews, conference with Chris, and going into the Writing Center were all pretty helpful. I get nervous having other people read my writing because I feel like it's never good enough, and also because I admit, I'm not very good at getting my thoughts down on paper. However, I felt like talking and getting help from different people widened my views on different angles I had in attacking my paper. One thing I found difficult when writing my paper on Mormons being judgmental was how I was to express my opinions without sounding judgmental myself. Also, it was difficult to cover all audiences especially since my paper was mainly targeting Mormons. Nonetheless, this was an overall enjoyable paper to write! Glad it's completed and 100% done, though! Plowing ahead onto Rhetorical Analysis, now! (Or as our teacher would say, steamrolling ahead!) :)