E-Portfolio Site

Link to site: Kayla Wong's E-Portfolio

INTRODUCTION:

Hi my name is Kayla Wong, and I’m an undergraduate student at Penn State University Park (class of 2015). I would like to provide you with an introduction about me, and my academic endeavors. 

 

I came to Penn State with a clear understanding of what I wanted to study, and what my career would be once my educational studies were completed. As a sophomore in high school, I had added responsibility of caring for my younger cousins who were placed in my home through the foster care system. I’ve witnessed them go through so much physically, and emotionally, and it didn’t seem fair that kids so young had to face so much hardship. I thought about all the other children who had dealt with similar circumstances, and I knew that my career would involve helping young children who were living in non-stable growing environments. From that moment on, I knew that I wanted to contribute to the world by helping young children in the field of psychology. In my first year at Penn State, I’ve taken an array of courses ranging from anthropology, to statistics, and even Chinese. None of my classes have failed to teach me something knew, interesting, or guide me to perceive things differently and with an open mind. After taking a variety of courses, I have realized that I love learning about the mind, and what influences people’s behaviors. My psychology courses, and specifically my child development courses, has taught me so much about the ways in which people conduct themselves and helped me to understand why people behave or interact in particular ways. I’m always amazed at the new things I learned in child development because it teaches us about our lives from the very start and ways in which we go through a variety of developmental stages of growth, but still remain unique individuals. My college academic experience has allowed me to deeply think about my values and beliefs, continuously develop my views on society, and each semester brings me a step closer to pursuing my career.

Change in a Decade

"Kids born in the 90s have lived to see 3 decades, 2 centuries, 1 millennium, and most of us aren't 21 yet" (online quote). I was born in the 90s, raised thought the 90s and early 2000s, and it feels like I have live a completely different life. There has been so many changes since I was a child, in terms of fashion, trends, an array of new acceptance (race and gender wise), and a major and rapidly changing technological transformations. Many peers within my age group witnessed the change from house phones to smart phones, and for a large part most of us feel comfortable with technology in ways that our parents might not, and the younger generations will never understand. But for some reason, the 90s is commonly refereed to as a "simpler time" and there is just so much that we miss about the 90s and it truly wasn't so long ago. It seems like a far beyond time, but even with such advanced and efficient technological changes, we still yearn for the past experiences we had without them, and its crazy to imagine that my younger sister may never get to experience the great 90s that I miss so much.

The 90s seemed like best of times, our parents dressed and dressed us in things we would never be caught dead in today, we have special pop artist like N'sync and Spice Girls, our large array of television shows that are so much different than the ones today, and those simple toys we had that we could play with for hours and they did so little compared to the Xbox 360 game system. I know I miss the 90s, and I truly feel like that time and the essence of that time is apart of my character and the shared character of all of us early 90s babies. Maybe I can't return to the 90s, but I can re-vist my favorite part of my youth, and re-live it with my favorite television shows. With youtube and its large array of playlist collections, I can simply type in 90s shows, and watch my favorite seasons of Kenan & Kel, Recess, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Animaniacs, Doug, All That, A Different World, and so many more. I just love going back and re-watching and remembering how excited I was to watch it on my once huge television thats now a flatscreen. It seemed to me that the style of the shows back then are so much different from the shows that they make for kids today. I watched some later television and family shows, and it was interesting to me how they would approach topics about teens and drugs or other family issues, and how they played out on the shows and then were discussed as an important issues after. It seemed like it was at that time, there was such a greater connectedness an need to examine issues as a socitey. When I watch reality shows and other television programs today, the ways in which they present topics and handle situations is now done for laughs and shows like "Jersey Shore" just seem to "kill my brain cells" because I feel like there is no more "messages" and "connectedness" that there once was on television shows. I've realized that in a short amount of years, our television programing has gone so far off of invented creativeness and with the larger variety of shows, it takes up a lot more time in our day just sitting around than being as active as we were in the 90s. I understand that we can't change our programming to be fitting to the 90s but looking back at all of our shows at that time, tells a lot about the logos of style about how programming has changed, and how the differences affect the ways in which we counteract in our society.

Anticipating the Birthday

The closer it gets to our birthdays, the more we anticipate the day and how we will celebrate it, or at least I do. The minute March approaches, I always start thinking about things I want as gifts, things I'll do, and the people I'll hear from. Being away from home and at college, somehow I anticipated that this birthday would be more special. After turning 19 this wednesday, I realized how much more special spending birthdays with my family members was. This birthday turned out a lot more different than I expected. Coming down with the flu the night before, I realized that this birthday wouldn't be as joyous as the rest. I barely made it to classes, and the only thing I wanted to do was sleep. I thought back to what it would be like celebrating at home, and how my grandmother would make be soup and cater tea until she felt at ease with my health. I also considered the fruit cake my grandma always made me, and no East commons cupcake could compare. I missed waking up to my mom surprising me with things I've always wanted but never directly asked for. Being sick in bed on my birthday was unfortunate, but it was everyone else's response or blessing of how that day should have been for me that made me homesick.

Like my mother, I always understood that my birthday is just a normal day like any other in the year, so I don't consider there to be some major life changing event that happens once I become a year older. Everyone called me to wish me, "an amazing day," "a crazy night," "one of the best days of the year," and "a beautiful day." I sat there reading my facebook birthday notifications, and all I could think was it was the complete opposite of what I anticipated it to be, as well as what my family and friends anticipated that day for me. Walking back from class I was stuck in a penn state bizarre and random hail storm, and I became so sick that I didn't want to leave my bed. It was the birthday comments that said a lot about peoples relationships with me, that spoke to the ethos of my character. I have so many cousins, and rather than them just wishing me a great day I got, "I miss you so much," "I wish you were home," "remember when we did this..." And my favorite of all was the pictures my younger sister posted of us, making my birthday wish to just be home with them. I loved explaining to my baby sister about being a teen and how that was different than being an adult. I think the ways in which people spoke on our relationship or my character was the logos in which it influenced how I responded to them and considered the importance of celebrating my birthday, or just my 19 years of experiences and memories.

Our Daily Bread

I've always enjoyed being apart of a community, and working to advance my community in any way I can. Since middle school, I have taken part in multiple community service opportunities ranging from planting flowers, to hosting a christmas party for kids in shelters escaping abuse. Each time I find that not only do I enjoy community service, but especially when it involves making other people happy, I love it more. As a freshmen I've only recently taken part in two community service opportunities at Penn State, and I hope to take on a lot more. The first was the Martin Luther King Day of service where we counted out stamps and sent boxes to stamp collectors. Again I felt good in being able to make someone happy, but my latest community service act seemed to change my outlook on service. I always felt like I was making someone else feel better in my community, but this time I realized it was so much more.

This wednesday for the first time, I went to help out at St. Paul's church for their bread basket. When I first went to the church, even though I was there to help out, because it was early, they made sure to feed me and show me around the kitchen. My job for the day was really simple, just to fill the water pitcher and carry the used dishes to the kitchen. While I ate, I sat with other students, some were foreign penn students, and others graduate students (so I haven't ever met them before). I also socialized with the other elderly people who came in. The man who was showing me around the kitchen stressed how much more my part in community service was effective in socializing rather than working. And after talking to other students about their majors and where they were from, I learned that he was completely right.

One graduate student who I found out was also a psychology major like me, told me about the importance of starting lab research early on. He didn't start until his graduate schooling, and thought that I should take his mistakes and start early on in my schooling with labs, and told me about the vast amount of undergraduate lab opportunities and students needed for them. Being from Mexico, he also asked me about New York City, and I learned how mind bottling the city appeared to other people. Most of all, this was the first community service opportunity where I learned that I could take away and learn so much more in my experiences and that it was not just about helping others feel happy.

The Power of a Smile

When I consider rhetoric as the art of persuasion in speech and writing, I tend to forget that there are other ways in which people could persuade others without any type of vocal modalities. And then I realized that one of the biggest ways I've been persuaded, is by a simple smile. People have said, smile to someone random, and it'll make their day, but I never realized just how life changing a smile truly was.

RIP A.F.

In this last month, I've learned so much more about the power of a smile that I had never considered before. One of my friends from elementary school, always had a smile on his face. Even though I hadn't talked to him in maybe years, I would see his facebook profile picture, and his smile, and he seemed to be a truly happy person. What I learned the hard way, was that a smile can be more than deceiving. A kid that always smiled, and further always seemed to want to make other people happy, hid so much pain beneath that smile. Over spring break, I found out that this friend took his own life, and it was a surprise to almost everyone. How could a person who grinned in every picture, constantly tried to cheer his mother up through her own sickness, and always joked around to make others smile, not see life worth living? I considered all the hurt and pain he must have held and kept to himself, and when I look back on his old pictures, the smile he carries tells such a different story. I believe that his smile was a comfort to those around him, and although he's gone, I know he no longer has to carry his pain. But I will forever look up into the sky, and imagine that beautiful smile looking down at all of us, his friends and family.

Recently I met this young lady who I thought was absolutely beautiful, she spoke with extreme confidence, and her jokes constantly had me at the edge of my seat. When she started to open up about her pain and past relationship that was filled with years of abuse, I immediately started to cry. What shocked me the most was that I had assumed by her appearance that this young lady was a happy and confident person, and I can't imagine the facade she put on to her loved ones and friends while she lived with such abuse. These last couple of weeks, have taught me so much about the assumptions we get from a simple smile. And when I think about how much we don't know or realize about the secrets and sadness beneath a smile, I question the ways we express ourselves to the people around us. Yet, I've learned the importance of truly getting to know someone, and making myself available just to listen if someone ever needed. 

How we share.

It is all apart of human nature to communicate through requesting things from others, informing others of information, and sharing with others. How we communicate in these aspects all functions to help us be like one another and to fit into our society. Through rhetorical persuasive means, as well as self or image presentation, we communicate these means in social climates. Now that we have such an advanced technological society and social networking systems, the ways in which we present how we want others to interpret our image is mostly done over sites like twitter, facebook, and now the most popular; instagram. As a society we have learned to advanced our businesses, social networks, and self presentation by how we express ourselves and share with others on sites like twitter and facebook. How you go about doing this and conducting yourself online helps gain you online followers who will support what you feel or say, as well as provide the most current and up to date news relevant between our social groups.

With instagram rising as another popular networking site, it allows people to express themselves through a different means; pictures alone. Although instagram is a iphone, and just recently, android phone application, its popularity is growing tremendously. Rather than talk to specific friends out of many on facebook, or give daily notifications of your day, we are using pictures to express the things that matter to us, as well as give our own self depiction of how people view us individually. Even though we all can't be photographers, instragram allows us to edit the picture quality, and stature, making them just as we want them to be seen. Some argue that instagram is just a place where, "average people can pretend to be photographers" or "people just post pictures of themselves". Yet, there are so many more that argue that the pictures represent peoples perceptions and what makes them who they are. Even further, with pictures,   others can see their own interpretation of what makes a photograph beautiful and take on a bigger perception of our world and world views.

Common Ground

In my anthropology class we have been learning about the origins and evolutions of human communication. In our small discussion group, I always found that there was such a great ease to our conversations on facial discussions and gestures. Without really knowing each other, we all shared common knowledge about the ways we communicate, and especially through networking sites, we found that we communicate in similar ways. In this class, we learned about the definition of common ground, in which we share ideas about the norms of people's behaviors and appearances. Societal common ground might involve holding a door open for someone, and rather than question why someone would hold a door open for us, shared common ground teaches us that this is a polite gesture, and normative to our society. Common ground can even be personal, something shared between two people or more that are close you. For instance, if I guided my friends attention to my textbook through a pointing gesture, through shared experiences that friend could easily interpret my meaning. For that close friend we could have already complained about the length of our reading, and so with a simple point they would interpret that easily. While if one was to point to that book without having a shared experience with another person, it can be interpreted in multiple ways, and the person might have to guess if you were discussing maybe needing that book, not liking it, or anything else. 

I started to think deeper about common ground, and how much more it is effective when considering rhetoric and the art of persuasion. Then I recognized rhetoric under this manner in social networking sites like twitter. Often we re-tweet comments that are interesting and cool, and personally I re-tweet things that I have a shared experiences on. One of my favorite tweeter to follow is @autocorrects, in which through rhetoric i am persuaded to check and follow its tweets because of its ability to tweet things that I feel are common to me. A lot of time I barely recognize daily habits that I have and share with others, but when people tweet about things I've experienced, I feel a closer connection to that person, and an even bigger assimilation to the people of my society. One of my favorite hash tags on tweeter are "#thatawkwardmomentwhen..." and it goes on to describe a couple of these moments. Most times I laugh at how much I realize I share in those awkward experiences, and it all falls into that common ground we hold as humans, and individuals in our particular societies and cultures.

What we Appeal to.

When I think of pathos, and its appeal to emotions, this can be visibly seen in how we relate, as well as feel a sense of comfort to many things in the world. As a young adult of a diverse culture, and background, I'm also diverse in the music I listen to as well as movies, t.v. shows, and books I read. What I've noticed about myself, is that I tend to read books of a specific genre, watch romantic movies over horror ones, and listen to rhythm and blues beyond anything else. What I've realized is although I'm very diverse in the things i do and or like, It is the ways in which they appeal to me as an individual that I'm more likely to find interest in the subject. As an American teenager, listening to hip hop of my generation is appealing to me because I can understand the lingo of the subjects, and the messages in the songs that are current to my age group. For my parents and grandparents they aren't able to appeal to it in the same manner because their interest and emotions show a greater connection to music of their own time. I would consider my music generation that of a "party" generation, so most songs relate to such and can be found more entertaining by my group of peers. While on the other hand, songs about peace and equality might be more affective and appealing to the emotions of my elders who lived in a time where they had to struggle through such barriers.

One of the most interesting things, beyond the cohort between generations, is the differences of appeal amongst cultures. Born and raised in America, there is a certain comedy to things that we understand or appeal to that other cultures fail to acknowledge in the same ways we do. Also being of Jamaican ancestry, we have our own sort of ideas of how we respond and represent our country, so I'm able to see as a child of Jamaican parents the appeals to this culture of people as well. When we consider music speaking on living in the "ghetto" or not having a successful life, a lot more Jamaicans and or Caribbeans can find this sort of music more appealing than maybe some parts of prosperous places in the US that would lack that sort of appeal. Still, when appeals to emotions through pathos are more general, we get a greater audience of acknowledgement. One example from both of my Jamaican and American culture, is the the music of Bob Marely. Bob Marely is known all around the world for his songs of inspiration on freedom, and non-violence. Peace is something many cultures struggle with, and especially in the time that Bob Marely was performing such songs, he pulled in such a grand and worldwide amount of fans. Everyone could understand the necessity and or desire for peace, so such an appeal was able to impact people of all ages, backgrounds, and ethnicity's. While to this day, Bob Marely's music still speak volumes to important issues, the technique he uses to appeal a variety of audiences to his music is still such an amazing event to this day. Other artists like Michael Jackson has had the ability to make general and worldwide appeals in cultures that many not even speak english, and this just goes to show the power pathos has amongst cultures and groups of many people.

How Pathos Expression Makes Us Feel.

Pathos can be defined in very complex ways, and the most simple is to understand that it is an appeal to the emotions of an audience or individual. Many times our emotions can surface when we view context that either we've experienced, or we can gain some type of understanding from. These emotions don't have to me positive or negative exactly, but can evoke some time of feeling anywhere from the expression of gender roles, ego gratification, reassurance of worth, creativity, love objects, power, and more that could involve our emotion placement and or needs. Without ever realizing it, pathos is such a significant term that can be used to understand, discuss or better understand why our emotions cause us to feel a certain way. In almost every advertisement, although logos and ethos are apparent, pathos is ever-present. Whenever we sit and observe a commercial, regardless of if we are conscious of it, we associate a feeling with it, and whether it is relatable or not, we will continue to associate those feelings with what the advertisement is trying to show or sell.

I recently watched a foreign commercial in another language, and without even reading the english subtitles, I automatically associated a feeling to it. There was a kid acting up in the grocery store, and automatically I thought about when I grocery shopped with young kids before and how my experience matched. I also began to sympathize with the father in this scene, as well as feel embarrassed for him because of how his child was acting out. I think pathos works best when it's a visual scene and no dialogue or ability to interpret the dialogue. This way the audience is better able to connect with the ad all on their own, and without the influence of words. Just as I was relating with the ad., the words "use condoms" appeared at the bottom of the commercial. This changes the whole element of the commercial, because at first we are connecting to it, and then these words create a placement of where the ad stands. So while reading "use condoms" some people might respond to it as a funny commercial, while others might take offense, and its interesting to note how that one word could change the entire interpretation of the commercial and it's message.

Disturbed.

buzzfeed.com

In our society, we are almost overwhelmed by the numerous ads we encounter on a daily basis. So much so that we aren't really conscious of them, nor the amount of times we see them, or even the affects they have on us. One could be waiting for a bus and encounter an ad, preparing to watch their favorite tv show, reading a newspaper, browsing the web and Facebook stalking, and more. As a  society we've in a way accepted ads as apart of our day to day lives, and while so may catch our attention over others, we are often driven to feel some type of emotion from such ads, and in rhetoric that technique of appealing to emotions in referred to as pathos. After reading about pathos, I found it to be one of my favorite chapters in my Rhetoric and Civic Life textbook. It has opened my eyes to not only take a deeper look at the styles and techniques of ads, but also notice the different emotions that unfold within myself based on the type of ad being presented.

While browsing on my Facebook, I came to view a post put up by one of my friends, from buzzfeed. When I first read the title "25 Extremely Upsetting Reactions At The Grammys", I immediately thought that it was a response to Chris Brown's Grammy performance, and that maybe a lot of viewers disliked it (as I did). But what I  was shocked to find out, was that a lot of women were responding to the Chris Brown charges of assault  to musical artist Rihanna, due to a recent court appearance. While watching his performance at the Grammys, no one was commenting on his actual talent or style of performing, but how much they loved him to the point that they thought it was ok for him to "beat" them?! This was extremely sickening for me to read, that in my own society, as well as generation, that abuse would ever be not only justified but asked for because of the type a talent or celebrity one was.

This certainly appealed to my emotions, and the definition of pathos, in which I automatically was moved by the comments, as well as held some type of self reflection. I considered what this meant about the females who actually wrote the comments and what it said about their self esteem, as well as the readers who in a way would feel some type of pity for girls who wrote this. As a girl myself, I couldn't imagine or believe that when it came down to it, such girls would actually advocate for domestic violence, and I'm sure for parents reading this as well that it would saddened them to know that young girls found this acceptable at all. Even viewing us as a society, one would think that we came along way from sexism and constantly campaign against abuse. We would suppose that this public domestic violence case would show young girls not to settle for but campaign against domestic abuse. Maybe it's the lack of true emotions that the young girls making such comments have, but hopefully we could make an even bigger example of Chris Brown to show just how serious and present domestic abuse is.

Kanye & His Ego....or Ethos?

Rhetoric is present within almost everything surrounding us and our daily lives. Yet, it is often credited through public speeches and writing. When you think about award shows like the VMAs, rhetoric is present through the style of performances in which the audience is entertained by the special affects, the voice of the artist, the message in their songs, as well as their self presentations through attire or even dance moves. Each artists understands that they can gain credibility through having "the performance of the night" and so they work hard to present this, as a way of persuading the audience into taking note of their talent and overall effort. Apart of creating this artistic means of rhetoric, involves styles a like ethos in which a person's character (and in this case, the artists' talent) is showcased by means of such. When you consider artists like Chris Brown, while his fan base and views of his moral character have changed due to his own personal actions, his music allows him a sort of redemption when he performs at award shows. His audience expects him to sing amazingly, have the best dance performance of the night, as well as look stylistic, and that's all what he incorporates into his performances.

An even bigger showcase of rhetoric among award shows, are the celebrities winning speeches. Everyone listening is interested to know how one feels and thinks about receiving the award, as well as their approach in going about expressing such feelings. My most memorable award speeches have been those that have brought people to tears, have been funny or entertaining, as well as a few of those highly inappropriate ones that continues to be talked about to this day. It is all in the style, presentation, and approach of these speeches that when found moving or original to the audience, will forever remain memorable. For artist like Taylor Swift, winning her first VMA award was an exciting moment for her. She expresses this in her facial expression when she receives the award, and as she continues to thank the people that helped her along the way. What she didn't expect was Kanye West to take that happy moment away from her and embarrass her, by telling her that she was undeserving of her award. There was something so morally wrong with his character which can also be viewed as his expression of ethos, and it wasn't just that he was being harsh, but that his announcement wasn't an either appropriate place or time. 

In the style of rhetoric, Kanye West wasn't able to be persuasive in his argument about who was more deserving of the award because of his overall handling of the situation. Having prior knowledge of Kanye Wests having a history of an outspoken and often inappropriate character, it became immediately difficult to hold any sympathy for him and his actions. If Kanye and his "ethos" went about the situation in another way, like maybe writing an article describing Beyonce's achievements compared to Taylor's and was able to do so professionally and efficiently, than the public wouldn't have been as disapproving and judgmental towards his character. As a society, we often look to celebrities to be sort of spokes people that are expected to express good morals and have proper self presentations. Where we went wrong was with expecting Kanye West to follow the norms of society, as well as uphold a sense of ethos in establishing his artistic presentation of character. 

This I Believe.

I believe in Paris and Germany.

Nows the Time.

There has been many times throughout history, where particular events has become the spotlight of our society. The response to such events comes forth in such a dramatic and explosive way, that it is often represented by immediate emotional reactions and actions rather than thoughtful consideration. Yet which one is more  appropriate? Some may argue that its is of greater value to discuss situations or events while they are at hand, and others prefer to grasp a better understanding of what the event is an expression of, and then go forth from there. This idea of expressing rhetoric at a particular time or rather opportunity, can be defined by the Greek word, kairos. Ancient Greek thinkers valued kairos as an important means of discussing timely issues with an audience before the impact of the issue diminishes. In today's times, our society is so greatly influenced by the media that the process in which we take on and interpret information has mostly been fabricated and presented by means of creating an intriguing story through a very competitive manner. So when news often comes to us through these means, it is often the story we receive from one source that we react from without taking consideration of all other perspectives.

In my own opinion, I believe that within every story or report that it is on the basis of the story's context in which we should decide how and when to speak upon it. When traumatic events take place in which the society is divided on sides to take, the reactions to events are shown to be just as traumatic. For example, in LA when news broke out about the "Rodney King" case, almost immediately riots broke out. While it held no actual benefit (as many riots don't) perhaps speaking or discussing the need for equality and justice prior to these events, could have prevented the danger and violence that had followed.

When we hear news reports of "student killed while driving and texting" its so prevalent and possible in the lives of many that it becomes a significant topic to discuss. From there we consider how to optimize the means in which we take on the report, and act from there. In this situation, the timing is completely important and should immediately be discussed to stop such horrific and preventable deaths. If we were to wait and not reflect on this report as sad as it is, then the "texting and driving" epidemic would only continue to worsen, and as a society I'm sure many can agree at seizing such an opportunity to take action. Already so many have created petitions to vow that they wouldn't text and drive, while it continues to become outlawed in many states.

The Rhetorical Memorial

Rhetoric is often present among us, and especially in speech. Beyond speech, it is it's overall presentation that I believe speaks measures. So while persuassive speech is highly important, I've come to note that rhetoric can be present in how one can relay a message or belief through either their own self image or body language, visual aids, songs, and most importantly actions.

In my anthropology class, we were asked to view the Joe Paterno memorial, and to take note on the audience and their expressions, as well as the speakers. I found myself taking note to the countless rhetoric the speakers used to describe the entire life of one man, as well as the communication means they sought to get through to the audience that sometimes required little to no words. We listened to them speak of this legend and hero that so much of them found inspiration by, but it was their expressions and images of the great Joe Paterno, that moved me the most. So while I considered rhetoric to be present in speech, and anthropology by communication and body language, I came to see how the two merged together.

The Big Ten Network, www.psusac.org.

In recent readings of rhetoric, I learned of the word 'exigence' and how it can be portrayed through many means. Some of which I never considered beyond speech and writing, and this including advertisments, cards, invitations, online networking, videos and more. When defining exigence, it involves the use of any sort of context that provokes one's interest, or stimulates a response. So while the rhetoric of the speakers in the memorial did just that, I witnessed the power of exigence beyond the audience at Bryce Jordan, but the viewers watching it at home. The slideshows of images from early on in Paterno's life to his very end, seemed remarkable as you watched the black and white images from so many years ago come to life. Then also the videos of Joe Paterno coaching, seemed to bring even him alive in his passing. Such visual exigence, had the power to move people, bring back memories of Joe Paterno, give those who never met him an idea of the kind of man he was, and provide for a great memorial of his life.

Rhetoric...Every Sunday Morning

Defining and understanding rhetoric is a fairly new subject to me. So as I began to apply its definition to the world around me, I noticed that the connections I made were very vague. I pondered over rhetoric in the media, online, within different sources of entertainment, and political debates. What I found was that while rhetoric was present amongst many things, I held no personal feeling or response to much of it. When picturing rhetoric, automatically I consider persuasiveness in speech, writing, and maybe even body language. So when it comes down to it, I wanted to consider personal moments in my life that I was persuaded by speech that challenged the way I thought, felt, and even approached the world.

Many times in my life I have spoken to people that have added to my perspectives on life, and such persons has ranged from a parent, sibling, friend, mentor, and more. Yet, one of the most powerful forms of rhetoric to me has come from the hour or two I get from church sunday mornings. It wasn't until I began to read into "rhetoric and civic life" that I realized how much pastors and preachers apply the use of rhetoric to uplift people through religion. Many members of a church, enter and listen to sermons with prior belief and knowledge in their religion. So preachers have the advantage of knowing their audience through means of shared religion, as well as sharing a common ground on the importance religion has on their daily lives. Often times, I have realized that when I get the most out of church attendance is when the pastor uses persuasive speech, to get a clear message across through a sermon or speech that challenges and magnifies my thoughts and beliefs. If I had to take notes on how a preacher uses rhetoric in church, it would be endless. From the very start of the sermon, preachers often start by welcoming the congregation which allows them to feel more comfortable. He or she goes on to provide the audience with underlying messages by drawing on stories from the bible as well our everyday lives, which at most times are quite relatable. A lot of people have been stressful if not more than one time in their lives, and so immediately if we were to hear a sermon on what stress is and how to get through it, it basically speaks and guides each person individually. It seems that their ability to 'get through to' a whole group of people, especially continuously every sunday would be helpless without rhetoric. Many pastors have a loud and strong voice, that many times grabs the attention of their audience. Within the way they carry themselves upright and by their facial expression, shows their seriousness in beliefs as well as helps them to appear knowledgeable in each sermon they give. I know for myself that when a pastor stops to take their timeout to talk to me or even look me in the eye as they preach, it feels the utmost sincere. So while the use of rhetoric is helpful in the media to get people to buy or believe a certain view, I quite enjoy the rhetoric of speech through the sermons I get sunday mornings that enhance my beliefs as well as uplift me throughout the days to follow.