Week 1 Thlog

              The rhetorical analysis essay by Laura B. Carroll was a huge refresher for me. I haven’t taken a serious writing class since my senior year of high school. None of my other General Ed. writing classes ever used the word “rhetoric”, so I had pretty much forgotten what the concept meant until Carroll so thoroughly explained how to analyze its parts in a text. I appreciate that she provided more than one method for rhetorical analysis; she provided multiple options—such as the pathos-ethos-logos approach, the “rhetorical situation”, and the “rhetorical triangle”—just in case one was more helpful than the other. I can honestly say that I partly enjoyed reading this essay, because she gave so many relatable analogies and, like the kids’ art education essay, used humor to keep her audience’s attention. The aspect that stood out to me the most was when she discussed pathos and how it is used over ethos and logos to win people’s attention in a short amount of time. Facts and credibility are important in persuasive writing, but now I believe that pathos may be the most important aspect of the piece. One can sound really smart and sensible, but he can’t truly persuade an audience unless he can tap into their emotions.

              Peter Elbow’s “Two Kinds of Thinking” was unique in the way that he emphasized that intuitive, uncensored thinking is just as important for good writing as critical thinking. I have seen previous writers discuss the importance of freewriting before structuring an essay, but never has one made it such a critical point. First-order thinking has actually always been difficult for me. In elementary and high school I was mainly trained to focus on the organization and structure of my writing that I think I forgot how to not think when writing. Even in daily life, I’ve realized that I overthink EVERYTHING, and it’s exhausting. In class this past week, when De Piero would tell us to pull out our journals and write down the first things that came to mind when introducing a topic, I found myself stuck; I had to force my thoughts to jumpstart, to switch out of “careful thinking” mode.  For instance, when we put in our journal entries for different types of genres and were asked to just jot down what types we've encountered in school and outside of it, people listed so many examples and I could barely think of any. I didn't even think of poetry, personal statements, and diary entries as genres. I think I'm incapable of thinking outside the box, and the box that I think inside of is awfully narrow. Hopefully as this course progresses I can teach myself how to let my thoughts flow.