Help: Multigenre Argument

Kids, here are the links that I told you about in class today...

A link to a brief summary of argument, with more active links that give detail on Classical, Toulmin and Rogerian argument. Google these terms if you want more information...there's tons out there.


Here is a link to two lengthy multigenre papers -- one entitled "The Feminine Ideal: Women in the Media" which is closer to what we are working on; the other on censorship, called "Gilead Revisited..." will be more germaine when we study Huck Finn, I think...plus, there's a MG newsletter created about genetically engineered foods -- it may be useful for you to examine these texts to see how effective multigenre papers function.

A search of "multigenre research" or "multigenre paper" will yield multiple hits and links for you to explore.

Choosing a genre IS a rhetorical strategy. Why is some information set up in a chart, while another piece of related information is best explored in an editorial, or in a letter? Choosing the VEHICLE for the content is a decision made by a writer who is considering how their identified audience will best receive and understand that content, and be somehow moved to act or respond or to expand their worldview...

Don't stay confused. Get help from each other, from me, and from the big fat world of information out here at our fingertips.

Let It Be...

Though I realize, this may not exactly be the right place, I find this as a place to post thoughts and opinions, in order for some form of positive feedback, and in times such as these, positive feedback is in great appreciation... Today at Mayfair High School, we lost not only a teacher, or a colleague, we lost a friend, we lost a wonderful person, and we lost a life. Although I hardly got the chance to appreciate her, and the life that just to surge through her with every smile and every word she spoke, and though I was not as blessed with this opportunity, for the short time I had with her, I grew quite fond of Dr. Linda Evans. And it seems incredible to me, that I can feel such sorrow, and such remorse for someone I had just barely knew, but I can't even imagine what her family must be going through, and i wish upon them the utmost strength and love, as well as most of all hope, I ind at times like this, that music does not only comfort, but it was also, such a major part of her life as well... so, by the title of this post, In recognition of Dr. Evans, I turn to The Beatles....Let it Be"... because that, is all we can do.


-Ravin Marmolejo

More Fuzzy Boundaries

I was listening to NPR and there was a story about an American soldier stationed in Afghanistan who was being charged with murder. That always sort of strikes me as odd -- we send these young kids over there to kill people, but if they don't do it they way they are supposed to do it, follow the established rules of engagement, they are guilty of a war crime -- in this case, murder. Murder!

If we can draw that distinction, can't we find a way to draw a distinction with how animals are or are not protected under the law? How they have a right to live a life -- despite their ultimate purpose -- with some pleasure, relaxation and happiness in it?

OK, be good and be sure to miss me.

The Harsh Cruelty Some Animals Have to Face

In an editorial piece entitled "A Beastly Kind of Cruelty" published by the Los Angeles Times (Aug. 17,2007), John M. Gilonna examines the changes that have been occurring involving farm animals that have been part of "an increasing number of animal cruelty cases." Gilonna offers examples of examinations made by several authorities which indicate that these cruelties are made by people who are not mentally well, but in other words may later in the future commit higher crimes. Gilonna suggest that we recognize what is happening around us and try to work as a community to find the responsible criminals for these cruelty actions. Gilonna's informative column is targeted to concerned rational people who care for animal rights, and believe that this is inhumane treatment, and using an alarming and informative tone, carefully builds his request for aid through providing appropriate examples of cruelty in different places around the United States.

Fun Found in Killing Animals?!?!?!

In the article titled" A Beastly Kind of Cruelty," John M. Gilionna examines the animal cruelty that has been going on due to the lack of teenage supervision as well as teenage boredom. Gilionna sites different mass killings of animals that have taken place throughout the cattle raising community. Gilionna is making the knew found pleasures of troubled teens known, and he feels that adults need to reach out to the children who seem to be emotionally struggling with some deeper force. Gilionna seems to be purposing these facts to animal loving individuals, and any adult who wants to reach out to troubled children.

Rifkin: A Change of Heart about Animals

In the article A Change of Heart about Animals by Jeremy Rifkin, it says how we ought to consider animals feelings on how we treat them. I would disagree with what Rifkin is saying because yes animals have feelings but I don't think that we as humans have to give them quality time and only think about how they feel. I don't think animals will get upset just because they didn't have a toy to play with or they were not able to do sign language. Also as I was reading the article it shocked me that Rifkin is telling us that we should consider animals feelings but at the same time he is doing experiments with them and he eats meat. Don't get wrong by this because I'm saying I disagree that we should consider animals feelings because I do like animals, but I like eating hamburgers too. I think Rifkin wrote this to make us relize that animals are creatures on this earth and they need love too, but why would Rifkin write this and then do experiments with them?

Rifkin - a rhetorical precis

OK, kids, be sure to deconstruct this writing sample. Look at what it is supposed to do, sentence by sentence, and see if I did it.

In an editorial piece entitled “A Change of Heart About Animals” published in the Los Angeles Times (Sept. 1, 2003), Jeremy Rifkin suggests that recent animal research demonstrates that humans have more in common with animals “than we ever imagined.” Rifkin offers examples of research that seem to debunk the notions of what makes humans unique among creatures: our emotional lives, our sense of self and individualism, our awareness of mortality and grief, our brain chemistry, and our ways of teaching and learning between parents and children. Rifkin suggests that the next step in the evolution of human thought is to recognize all that we share in common with animals, in order to broaden our empathy towards them, and to extend rights to animals under the law. Rifkin’s argument is targeted at a fairly sophisticated newspaper audience (the reader who makes it to the editorial pages), and assumes that human rights are a shared value, and utilizing a conversational, informal tone, makes his appeal through emotion and logic, and carefully chosen examples.