Rhetorical strategies for Unit 4 portfolio

Group A: Meghan, and Marian, and myself have chosen to talk about TCU Housing. We did begin our first discussion with doing a video and interviewing 2 sources that know alot of info about the huge lag in living spaces for TCU students. Today we decided to switch from a video presentation to doing a posterboard, key chain and t-shirt design.

Our group has chosen this topic because upperclassmen are definitely dealing with this situation. We are able to talk about this problem because we are TCU students and Meghan, and Marian are currently dealing with TCU ORS in trying to find housing. Because there was no space for them, they had to decide to live off campus. We think that using a posterboard will be good because we will be providing accurate stats and numbers as to how much cheaper it is to live off campus, then on-campus. Our passion behind this comes from TCU students pay an arm and a leg to go to the university and therefore deserve to have a space available for them to live the next year.

Roles in Unit 4 Portfolio

My goals in group work include:

1. I’m the organizer and the one that keeps everyone on task.
2. I also prefer doing the work, but only when necessary presenting it.

I think it would be cool if we did a t-shirt or a YouTube video. Virtually anything interesting that I can be proud of presenting or using in the future. I definitely want to appeal to TCU students on an issue that is worth talking about that does affect us in some way. I don’t think I would be good at doing the website thing, since I have never done one before, but if for some reason we want that route I would want it to look really awesome.

Author's Note for Unit 3 Portfolio

My unit 3 portfolio is finished and I am very proud of what I have written and drawn. For the letter to the editor, I have three drafts including the final draft and the prewriting. For the op-ed, there are two drafts including the final draft. I am really happy to have been able to write about the RA position. In the op-ed piece, it was therapeutic to write about my frustrations and when I finished that final draft this morning, I was able to look at it and add the positives of being an RA. In the humorous argument, I came up with the idea by Googling "office newspaper cartoons" and pulling from what I saw. When I had my meeting with my group at Barnes & Noble last Monday, Megan and Marian did not have any suggestions for me. They really liked what I had and thought that it tied in well with the op-ed and letter to the editor. After the in class workshop, I decided to redo the drawing after someone commented that it was a bit cluttered. I agreed with that and I think that the final draft of my drawing is cleaner, concise, and conveys the argument that RAs are overworked.

The theme that binds my letter to the editor, op-ed, and humorous argument is that the RA position is not understood. In the letter to the editor I point out that the economy is a driving factor in the spike in RA applications, but that people need to be aware of what they are getting themselves into because the position is overwhelming and stressful. In the op-ed, I give a more detailed description of what RAs do and basically, I try to bring awareness to my audience about how and why we need to be respected. Lastly, in the Humorous argument I depict how stressed an RA is and some of the crazy requests and calls that we deal with throughout the semester.

So that is my unit 3 portfolio. :)

Author's Note

This is the 2nd draft of my humorous argument. I really like the newspaper cartoon that I made. I researched some Google images about office cartoons and that really helped me to make my own. I am satisfied with my piece and I would definitely like to avoid having to make another sketch because when it comes to my drawing skills, once I get it right it won't be right again, but if someone wants to add some comments on how to make it funnier or make my argument more clear than that is fine.

First Draft of Humor Argument

My first draft of my humorous argument is a newspaper cartoon. It is set in a residence hall office with the RA on duty lying on the floor with exhaustion and stress. The type of humor I used is exaggeration and I thought that the newspaper theme would be appropriate since we have written a letter to the editor and op-ed. The humor in this piece makes my point that RAs are unappreciated and overworked by showing how much work we have to do in a setting where residents see their RA all the time. Also, some of the the requests that the residents make show how crazy some of the situations we deal with are. Overall, I am really satisfied with it and I can't think of any changes I want to make since I am not a good artist and I like it the way it is.

Humorous Selection blog

Extremely surprising to me, it did not take long at all to find a humorous piece to blog about. At first, I stopped by Colbert Nation because The Colbert Report is one of my favorite shows and I think Stephen Colbert is hilarious and a genius, but that is neither here nor there. I searched his videos for anything relating to college life, but did not get anything that really applied to being an RA which I assumed would happen. Then I started to think about my ULTIMATE FAVORITE TV show, The Office (which is the most brilliant and hilarious tv show on air right now).

The Office is known for its sometime subtle but other times brazen jokes. In this case in season 4, Pam Beasley went to New York Pratt School of Design to pursue her dreams of being an artist. In order for her to afford to go there, she had to become an RA. The episode does not go to great detail to express how she feels about being an RA, but there is a scene, in which her now fiance, Jim Halpert (heart skips a beat)surprises her at her dorm. Later on in the episode, the camera focuses on Jim in the lobby of the dorm watching tv because one of Pam's residents ran into her room crying because her roommate drank her soy milk.

For most people it may not have been funny, but this is an example of an inside joke and subtle humor made for past and current RAs. We constantly have to deal with our time being interrupted by various residents with problems.

This is the best that I could do, but I am pleased that I get to use The Office :)

Author's Note

This is the first draft of my op-ed. I get the feeling that I missed the mark on this one. I did do research before hand and found two other op-eds in college newspapers about RA stuff. Now that I think about it, this is really the 2nd draft of the op-ed. I threw out the first one because I was writing that one when I was angry so my mood is VERY MUCH reflective in that particular piece. The one you are reading I think is too informational and maybe not "op-edy" enough (I hope you understand that). If you can give me comments on what to eliminate, what to keep, what to expand on, I would sincerely appreciate it. As a resident, do you feel I should incorporate some more convincing examples to get the audience to believe that we have a tough job. Can you also say whether or not you believe my argument. This will really help to restructure it if necessary.

I hope I haven't overburdened you.
Merci