Archive for February, 2008

rh.et.or.ic

3 years ago

by dawn in rhetoric, video

I’ve often talked about the fact that rhetoric is not just the language that politicians use to get your votes. The simple fact is, though, that this is the type of rhetoric that we most quickly recognize and are prone to see because it is so public. Plus, it is often so blatantly in-your-face that we’d be hard-pressed not to get it.

Yesterday Erin sent me an email link to a video that I found to be a GREAT piece of rhetoric. This video gets at the heart of what I’m talking about, and in such a way that you can’t help but feel SOMETHING (whether it is disgust, hilarity, sadness, or whatever). It is persuasive in a way that forces us to feel.

It’s not just about the words being spoken, it’s about the looks on the faces of the participants and the words being flashed on the screen. It’s about mockery and genuine belief.

What does it say to you?

superhero pregnant woman

3 years ago

by dawn in poetry

american life in poetry: column 137by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006

Dill pickles with strawberry jam? Pregnant women are known to go for late night meals like that. And the senses can go haywire. Here Jessy Randall, of Colorado Springs, gives us a look at one such woman.

Superhero Pregnant Woman

Her sense of smell is ten times stronger.
And so her husband smells funny;
she rolls away from him in the bed.
She even smells funny to herself,
but cannot roll away from that.

Why couldn’t she get a more useful superpower?
Like the ability to turn invisible, or fly?

The refrigerator laughs at her from its dark corner,
knowing she will have to open it some time
and surrender to its villainous odors.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2007 by Jessy Randall. Reprinted from “A Day in Boyland,” by Jessy Randall, published by Ghost Road Press, 2007, by permission of the author. Introduction copyright (c) 2007 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

sleep

3 years ago

by dawn in poetry, sunday songs

american life in poetry: column 136

by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006

Here’s a fine seasonal poem by Todd Davis, who lives and teaches in Pennsylvania. It’s about the drowsiness that arrives with the early days of autumn. Can a bear imagine the future? Surely not as a human would, but perhaps it can sense that the world seems to be slowing toward slumber. Who knows?

Sleep

On the ridge above Skelp Road
bears binge on blackberries and apples,
even grapes, knocking down
the Petersens’ arbor to satisfy the sweet
hunger that consumes them. Just like us
they know the day must come when
the heart slows, when to take one
more step would mean the end of things
as they should be. Sleep is a drug;
dreams its succor. How better to drift
toward another world but with leaves
falling, their warmth draping us,
our stomachs full and fat with summer?

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright (c) 2007 by Todd Davis. Reprinted from “Some Heaven,” by Todd Davis, published by Michigan State University Press, 2007, by permission of the author and publisher. Introduction copyright (c) 2007 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006. We do not accept unsolicited manuscripts.

burrowing through

4 years ago

by dawn in animals, dakota, video

I love this video. I wish I had found it during the holiday season because I would have sent it out as a greeting.

It’s silly, I know. It reminds me of Dakota, though, and how he, too, would burrow through the snow just like Bailey does. He had done it since he was a puppy and it would make me laugh. He would disappear into the snow and pop out like a jack-in-the-box twenty feet away. The way he would do it was hilarious because it was like he was wondering why I didn’t following him under the snow.

Even as he got older and his bones started hurting him more, he still loved the snow. He still loved running and playing in it, loved pushing his nose along in it and then snort the snow off of it, like it was a wonder that the snow stuck to that wet nose.

I loved that dog.

your cheatin’ ways

4 years ago

by dawn in education, video

Students are ingenious when it comes to creating ways to pass tests. After watching this video, I had a few thoughts:

I might want to reward a student who put so much creativity, time, and thought into cheating;
If this much time is put into cheating, why isn’t this much time put into actually learning the subject matter?

This really is creative, but if the same person who came up with this developed an equally creative way to learn the test materials (and believe me, I hate tests — I don’t think they are a fair assessment of what is learned in a class), then perhaps even more people would benefit from an innovative mind.

via Michael Faris

Archive for February, 2008

rh.et.or.ic

superhero pregnant woman

sleep

burrowing through

your cheatin’ ways

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Archive for February, 2008

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