Definition of My Three Genres

 Genre #1:  Interview
Important Characteristics:  In an interview, one person asks someone of more than one person of a certain identity or group a set of questions.  In the interview, the person asking the question asks the person/people answering the questions a series of questions about actions or opinions they have taken on a particular subject.  The person asking the questions may also ask the person answering the questions about an action or opinion that would be the opposite that the answering party would have taken.
Purpose:  The interview will cover whether revenge is a justifiable action.
Audience:  The intended audience will be those that have been hurt and seek to enact revenge.
Stance (tone/voice):  The tone will be accusatory in one aspect and understanding in another.
Media/Design:  The media of the interview will be print.  The design will follow the guidelines of the classic interview, in which one person asks a question and another answers it.


Genre #2:  Lyric
Important Characteristics:  A lyric is a piece of literature that is built with the form of a poem or song, usually arranged in several verses.  A lyric will most likely have one to three distinct rhythms that keep the listener or reader’s attention and make it easier to listen to or read.  Oftentimes, a lyric will rhyme in order to further garner the listener or reader’s attention. 
Purpose:  The lyric will cover the storyline of the novel, and will start off with his great life in the beginning of the novel and will end with how he feels at the end.
Audience:  The intended audience will be those that have been hurt and believe they have a right to take revenge.
Stance (tone/voice):  The tone will be spirited, sometimes dark, and sometimes enthusiastic.
Media/Design:  The media will be print.  The design of the lyric is that the piece will be read to the rhythm of a popular song, one that I have not decided upon as of yet.



Genre #3:  Comic
Important Characteristics:  A comic is an image or series of images that usually contain dialogue and attempt to humorously attract the reader to a certain subject and influence or draw attention to the reader and the writer’s opinion on the subject.  A typical comic contains about three panels that develop a plot, which in turn satirize an actual event or thought.  Sometimes, several comic strips are related to one another and are put in a so-called comic book to let the reader read them in order and follow the story easily.
Purpose:  The comic will cover the high points of the novel, but in a comical way.  It will show the plot of the novel, yet will poke fun at it at the same time.
Audience:  The audience will be anyone who has read The Count of Monte Cristo.
Stance (tone/voice):  The tone of the comic will be humor, for it is a satirical reenactment of the novel.
Media/Design:  The media will be print because I will have to draw the comic.  The design will be in the classic comic format, with a collection of several panels satirizing the novel.

Bruce the Wolf

Bruce the Wolf

Late Sunday night, on October 23, Bruce the Wolf, a 46 year-old red wolf, passed away outside the home of Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, Mrs. Mastema.  He died after enjoying one of his favorite past times, devouring the weak members of a close family.  Sadly, a hunter had noticed that something was wrong in Mrs. Mastema’s home and found Bruce there with her and Red Riding Hood in his belly.  As the wolf was sleeping, the hunter cut him open, released the two women, and filled Bruce’s stomach with rocks, killing Bruce as he later left for home.  On top of hunting the human species, Bruce enjoyed playing cards, chasing his tail, and going for long walks.  Bruce is survived by his loving wife, Claire, and his three young children, Adam, Christian, and Anne.  Those that constantly avoided his attacks will miss his vicious need for human flesh.  His funeral will take place Wednesday at noon, at the edge of the forest where his family lives.  In lieu of meat, please honor Bruce with donations to his favorite charity, Meat for Pups, an organization that teaches young wolf pups get meat for themselves and their families.  Mrs. Mastema, Red Riding Hood, and the hunter are hereby told to be careful, for the whole wolf population will be searching for them. 

In Loving Memory:  Bruce the Wolf (1965-2011)  

Calvin and Hobbes Analysis Outline/ Rough Draft

I.                   Thesis

As I read this comic by Bill Waterson, I thought about how people are fixated on learning about wars and not peace, how children pretend to battle each other instead of pretend to make treaties and agreements, even how many people are hungry to go to war.  It made me sad that at a young age, children are taught that wars are exciting and fun.  The comic strip also forced me to think about how impractical war really is.  In a war, two sides struggle to fight and kill the members of the opposing side until one of the sides feels that it has lost too many of its members and resources and surrenders.  Typically, both sides lose an unfathomable amount of soldiers and resources, making it seem as though no one has really “won” the war.  It seems useless to fight to the death when it would be easier to make agreements and treaties instead.  Bill Waterson, in his comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” successfully makes the argument that war, although for some reason is exciting and more intriguing than peace, is in itself an outdated and unneeded concept in the present day.  It aims to show the audience why neither side in a war is a true “winner.”  It also explains why people are intrigued by wars and not by peace settlements.  The intended audience of the comic strip is politicians, for politicians are the ones that start and end wars.  Soldiers do not start and end wars, for they are only the tools with which wars are fought.  Politicians usually do not physically fight in wars they start, so they do not have first-hand experience of what they have caused.  The comic strip displays a young child pretending to go to war with his imaginary friend because there are too few role models in peace making, a reason that should not exist in the youth’s minds.  The strip also demonstrates why war is, to put it simply, stupid.

II.                Supporting Evidence #1

a.       Bill Waterson uses dialogue in order to show why war, although fascinating, is something that Earth can clearly function without.

b.      For example, Calvin says, “We’re at war, so if you get hit with a dart, you’re

dead and the other side wins.”

c.        After playing the game, Calvin says, “Kind of a stupid game isn’t it?”

d.      Hobbes offers up an interesting question at the beginning of the strip, “How come we play war and not peace?”

III.              Supporting Evidence #2

a.       The author of the comic also uses the pictures in his strip to demonstrate his thoughts on war.

b.      Calvin and Hobbes get hit with a dart at the same time, showing the usual events of war.

c.       In the strip, Calvin and Hobbes stand directly next to each other when they shoot at each other, showing one of the defects of war.

d.      Calvin is wearing a military helmet, in order to depict the image of a real battle in the reader’s mind.

IV.             Supporting Evidence #3

a.       Bill Waterson uses the art of role-playing to further persuade the reader to accept his own thoughts.

b.      In the strip, Calvin assigns roles for himself and Hobbes to play “war” as, in order to give the reader a sense as to how nations view themselves in a war.

c.       Waterson shows that there is always an assumed “good” or “right” side; that depends on which side you are.

V.                 Supporting Evidence #4

a.       The author uses humor in order to show the atrocities of war without actually frightening the reader.

b.      The cartoons use dart guns in order to fight a pretend battle instead of real ones.

c.       The battle lasts only a few seconds, for the cartoons hit shoot each other at the same time.  In a real battle, battles can last from minutes to months, while wars usually last several years.

VI.             Conclusion

War is an evil that is often celebrated and reenacted by many in order to experience a fraction of the thrill it brought.  However, war is a concept in which both sides usually end up losing.

Schultz and Trudeau Quiz

2. What main argument does Schulz make about writing, editors, and revision? What evidence from the text supports this interpretation?

            In this particular comic strip, Schultz argues that editors have too much power over what a writer writes.  Editors can send a piece back to the writer if they don’t like it, even though the piece may be exactly what the writer wants to say, or needs to say.   Whether or not a piece is published is up to the editor, and the editor may not publish a piece just because he/she does not like it.  This leads to a bias in newspapers, magazines, etc. Revision can be good for a piece, especially if the piece has confusing or missing parts in it.  Revision can get out of hand though, like when one is forced to revise something that is perfect and exactly how the writer wants it.  Occasionally, the writer’s peers will revise his/her piece, and although this can offer some new perspectives on the piece, the writer is encouraged to change what he or she wrote based on what others want to see in it.  This is bad, for it limits individualism on one’s own writing.

2. What visual and written evidence from the comic strip suggests that Trudeau is critiquing higher education and not the K-12 education system in general? What visual and written evidence suggest that he is critiquing the American higher education system and not another country's educational system?

            Trudeau shows that he is critiquing higher education by drawing a campground in the background of the scenes of the comic strip and by showing students traveling across campus to different buildings.  Most schools in the K-12 education system do not have a campus, for the students go to one school every day for their classes.  They stay in that school all day each year until they advance from elementary school to middle school, from middle school to high school, and from high school to college.  At a university or college, students typically have to go to different buildings for different things: their classes may be in different buildings, they may live in a dorm on campus, and they may eat in a cafeteria inside of a different building that their dorm is in.  In the comic, one of the men begins to bring up security, which is unique to higher education, for most K-12 schools do not need security to maintain order.  One of the men mentions courses on “The Simpsons,” which is a television show in the United States.  This shows that Trudeau is critiquing higher education because “The Simpsons” is a show that originated in and continues to be a popular show in the United States.  “The Simpsons” is a major part of recent American culture.  Students in American universities are allowed to wear civilian clothing, while those in foreign countries are often forced to wear a uniform, which also contributes to the claim that Trudeau is critiquing higher education in the United States.

Katrina

In my opinion, there appear to be several intended audiences for this photograph.  One of these audiences is the government.  The government, especially the Federal Emergency Management Agency, was harshly criticized for acting slowly, for it took FEMA several days to bring food and water to the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and to transport them to a safe area.  The assistance the government needed to provide was poor and unorganized, on top of the agonizingly long time it took for it to arrive.  The photograph shows one man dressed in military apparel attempting to aid the victims of the hurricane, while the victims appear distressed, most likely because there is not enough aid and that much has happened in the time before the aid arrived.  One of the greatest accusations during Hurricane Katrina and the events afterwards was the government did not provide as much aid to African-Americans as it did to the white people affected by the storm.  Some even went so far as to say that the government’s delayed response was partially due to the race and class by those it was to help.  The photograph shows several African-Americans that appear to be in much trouble, with no endangered Caucasians in sight.  The man dressed in camoflouge brings a question to my mind:  why would there need to be military in the response teams?

The Blackspot Unswoosher

The relationship between megacorporations and consumerism in “The Blackspot Unswoosher” is that large megacorporations, such as Nike and Adidas, have control over what consumers of the products they make purchase.  Only a few corporations, including Nike, Adidas, and Converse, dominate the shoe industry.  This makes it hard for people to buy shoes from local, small-business companies.  Another fact about these megacorporations is that they outsource their jobs to foreign nations where the employees will require less compensation.  They also contribute to the decline of unions and pollution, and do not use eco-friendly material.  Although consumers may not approve of these practices, they are forced to buy the products made by the corporations for there are no other alternatives. 

The Blackspot Unswoosher is a shoe made by the Adbuster’s Media Foundation.  It is made in a union factory with all-vegetarian and recycled material.  This is given as an alternative to the shoes that the corporations make through their non-progressive and cruel conditions.  There is a picture of the Blackspot Unswoosher (the name of the shoe), and, although it may not be the most elegant-looking shoe, it does get the job done and one can tell that it is made as it is described above.  Included features of the shoe are vegetarian leather, recycled tire soles, and organic hemp shoelaces.  The shoe is a great alternative to those made by the megacorporations.

Reading Quiz: Lianne George Essay Post

Lianne George, in her essay, explains that children in our society are being manipulated by snobby rich women such as Paris Hilton that want them to look like models and behave as if they were goddesses.  She also goes as far as saying that allowing young girls to wear lip-gloss and nail polish will eventually lead them into a life of a sex-crazed diva.  Now I don’t believe in what George is saying here.  Of course girls want to dress up like the beautiful women they see on tv and in magazines.  What’s wrong with trying to look nice?  Someday, they will eventually realize that it is not what is on the outside that matters, but what is on the inside.  And sure, even after realizing that they will try to look nice and wear nail polish and other stuff.  Using these kind of accessories does not change their attitudes; it does not turn them into snobby, stereotypical blonde girls like all these people say.  They don’t turn into a diva because they wore nail polish when they were six.  Of course, having parents tell them that they aren’t beautiful unless they use those accessories will do that, but that is a whole other story.  Most of the girls that wear this stuff have good, knowledgeable parents.  They will not dress provocatively either just because they wore nail polish at the age of six.  Girls for some reason enjoy decorating their body, but will not try to look like sex-crazed animals when they grow up because of it.