Rhetorical Modes

I have yet to decide the exact direction of my essay. I am still in the brainstorming process. Based on what I am currently thinking, I would say that my essay will most likely feature the following rhetorical modes: Description (Heavy), Definition (Light), Exemplification (Heavy), Cause/Effect (Light), Division/Classification (Light), Compare/Contrast (Light), Narration (Heavy), and Process Analysis (Medium). I tried to classify each depending on how much I am planning on using them but please don't hold me to this list as it may change the more my essay develops. You may notice I omitted the use of Argument but that may also change. I plan to explore the concept of "getting lost" in a metaphysical sense instead of a literal one. 

Losing It...

What does it mean to "lose it"?


To "lose it", in the simplest of terms, means to lose control of your emotions. It's that moment when something or someone absolutely pushes you past your limits of patience. To "lose it" is to ignore all reason and logic. It is precisely the moment where civility ceases and primitive impulse begins that defines "losing it." Some say that to "lose it" is to show weakness. Such is the case when "losing it" is expressed in sudden bursts of anger or violence. However, to "lose it" is simply to change, if only temporarily, the process of thinking. It is the reevaluation of priorities and it can serve as an effective means of accomplishing many tasks. If composure is left unaltered, "losing it" can provide for a focus of energy. It is this focus of energy that can allow people to dedicate themselves to overcoming their obstacles. Essentially, "losing it" is a critical part of human development. It can be the root of personal demise or the catalyst in realizing your true potential. Reaching your breaking point and "losing it" is simply reaching a fork in the road on your journey through life. Choose wisely however, for while this decision can be neither right nor wrong, it is most definitely a defining moment. 

Effective Metaphors

"You were the wind and I the sea."- (From "After Love" by Sara Teasdale)

I believe the author is using the metaphor as a means to express the love she once felt. The statement indicates that while she is no longer with her lover, at one time they were as perfect for each other as the wind and the sea. 

The award for "Best Sentence" goes to...

I have yet to decide which was more excruciating:  the thermometer-shattering heat blazing off the scorching sun or the boredom that made every moment sort of mesh together like a scene from Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day. 

Profile Essay Survey

1. I will profile the Lancaster Super Sport 24 Hour Fitness location. I worked there for nearly three years. 
2. The dominant impression I wish to convey is what that gym means to people and what it symbolizes.
3.  I will use the first-person perspective to write this essay. 
4. The beginning will introduce them to the gym and how it is I got to work there.  
5. The middle will provide the physical description of the gym as well as encounters I had with members. 
6. The conclusion will discuss the changes that occurred within me because of the gym. It will discuss what the gym meant to me. 
7. Dialogue will be professional, but conversational. I want the paper to read like I am telling you a story. 
8. My essay will feature some of the most profound characters I met throughout my tenure at that gym. 
9. I will try to use appropriate adjectives and powerful anecdotes to describe the gym and its members. 
10. I want to use language that can create images so vivid and powerful that the reader can feel what I felt. 
11. The paper will be speaking about the gym in past tense. 

Desert Byways

I really enjoyed reading Desert Byways. I feel that the writer did an exceptional job of utilizing a mixture of precise detail and appropriate diction to convey vivid images of Death Valley to the reader. The strong point of the profile is by far the use of such "illuminating details"which provide the imagination with the necessary tools to recreate the settings being described.

Analysis Essay Thesis

A little late to the party but here goes:

The meaning of a photograph, and moreover the life of that meaning, is as potent as it is malleable. There is a powerful message and connection to be found in all photographs, that message, simply depends on the emotions it evokes from the viewer thereby throwing itself upon the mercy of its audience. Essentially, one photograph can have a million different meanings to a million different people.

Kracauer's Truth

"While time is not part of the photograph like the smile or the chignon, the photograph itself, so it seems to them, is a representation of time. If it is only the photograph that endows these details with duration, it is not at all they who outlast mere time, but, rather, it is time that makes images of itself out of them." - Siegfried Kracauer

I like this quote. Recently I have indulged more than my fair share of reading material concerning interpretations of photography. Of all the readings I have done, I find this quote to be one of my favorites. Essentially, where people believe that photographs are a method of preserving oneself, Kracauer proposes the theory hat photographs are simply time capturing time. That is, Kracauer suggests that images, on the broad spectrum of time, lose the photographer's meaning if, and when, the former outlasts the latter. I agree with Kracauer to the extent that, if everyone who can identify and relate with the image as the photographer intended has ceased to exist- short of historical documentation proving otherwise- then that image no longer holds the same meaning as before. This quote serves as evidence to a previous suggestion I made: Images are subject to interpretation and, as such, can carry a plethora of meaning to be decided by the audience.

"For the first time in history, photography brings to the fore the entire natural shell; or the first time the inert world presents itself in its independence from human beings." - Siegfried Kracauer

Kracauer suggest in his essay that memory and photography, while related, should be considered independent matters. Kracauer indicated that memory was the mind's method of preserving truth, albeit by forgoing specific details and retaining only what was considered to be the heart of meaning. Conversely, Kracauer believes that photography itself was the first time the opposite was considered, or rather, photography does capture the "specific details" of an event and more, but omits the actual meaning of the event. I feel that both photography and memory work together to intensify meaning and that one must never consider them mutually exclusive.

Wall of Jack

Baffled by Barthes

Reading philosophy can be really hit or miss in terms of enjoyment. Depending completely on what you find interesting and what you believe, philosophical writing can be entertaining or it can be painfully drab. This particular piece by Barthes most definitely falls in the latter category. I don't find Barthes' writing confusing, I just don't entirely agree with his systematic analysis of images. That being said, I apologize if this entry strikes you as more of a criticism and less of an analysis. Although, truth be told, any entry worth reading should be a mixture of both.

"Hence in every society various techniques are developed intended to fix the floating chain of signifieds in such a way as to counter the terror of uncertain signs; the linguistic message is one of those techniques." - Roland Barthes

Essentially, Barthes is stating that images are simply empty vessels whose meaning is attributed to them in a combined series of messages. That is, without the added "techniques" such as the linguistic or coded-iconic messages, the image would not indicate a clear meaning and thus leave the viewer with an uneasy feeling of confusion and uncertainty. While it is true that linguistic messages can be used as a technique to guide an audience to a premeditated conclusion, I find it rather ludicrous to suggest that without a caption an image would lack meaning or depth. A photograph taken candidly (impartial and disorganized) and without a caption can still provide significance to a viewer. Nevertheless, the meaning and significance of the photo can, and certainly will, often vary from person to person.

"At all events, the denoted image, to the extent to which it does not imply any code (the case with the advertising photograph), plays a special role in the general structure of the iconic message which we can begin to define (returning to this question after the discussion of the third message): the denoted image naturalizes the symbolic message, it innocents the semantic artifice of connotation, which is extremely dense, especially in advertising." - Roland Barthes

Barthes is arguing that natural organization of the image (i.e. the pasta, tomatoes, onions, etc.) adds to the fluidity of the picture which, in turn, diverges the audience's attention away from the more obvious iconic messages (i.e. Panzani logo). In essence, Barthes is stating that the linguistic and coded-iconic messages will not suffice. Instead, a picture must be organized in such a fashion that the audience may perceive the general structure as being found naturally in that state so that the implications behind the image (in this case the image is an ad suggesting you buy Panzani products) are not forced on the reader but rather subtly suggested. Barthes views can certainly be substantiated by analyzing advertising images (on this much we can agree), but his systematic approach doesn't work so well for other images. For example, what is to be said of the meaning found in images whose general purpose is not to sell the viewer a product? What about images that are taken "just because" and have no caption? There can and will ALWAYS be meaning in every image simply because it is part of human nature. I'm inclined to believe that we are programmed to derive meaning and life from inanimate objects simply because we long to be connected; both to each other and to the world.

The Image World

"Photography, which has so many narcissistic uses, is also a powerful instrument for depersonalizing our relation to the world; and the two uses are complementary. Like a pair of binoculars with no right or wrong end, the camera makes exotic things near, intimate; and familiar things small, abstract, strange, much farther away." - Susan Sontag

I found this quote to be interesting because it truly illustrates the "double-edged sword" of photography. I don't believe Susan Sontag had any idea how much this would ring true almost four decades after she wrote it. The camera, if only by design, is objective. The photographer, however, still has the ability to manipulate how the subject is perceived. In an information age complemented by pervasive technological advancements, depersonalization has simply become one of the many by-products of photography. Photographs and media combined are responsible for creating an unnatural, coincidentally unattainable standard by which our lives are measured. Photographs of models, for example, depict people as objects who, in spite of undergoing extensive work via image editing software, are considered to be the epitome of beauty. Pictures of seemingly "perfect" families in middle-class American suburbia, complete with a neatly groomed lawn and well-behaved dog, have made any family outside of this mold feel strange, abnormal, and sometimes even broken. The disturbing truth of the matter is that we, as people, have allowed photographs to make us believe that what we see in pictures must be equivalent to what we live in reality. Unfortunately, the bitter truth is that giving such merit to a flimsy piece of paper provides for a dissatisfying life and an inevitable feeling of emptiness.

"But some trace of the magic remains: for example, in our reluctance to tear up or throw away the photograph of a loved one, especially of someone dead or far away. To do so is a ruthless gesture of rejection." - Susan Sontag

This quote actually precedes the first quote and yet I chose to write about it last so as to demonstrate a silver lining. I don't believe that photographs are evil by nature, instead I seek to use them sparingly and to understand, as with everything in life, that they are simply a mere piece of something much more vast and complex. I like this quote, however, because it serves as evidence of our humanity and it gives me hope for our future. I don't believe Sontag, at least in this sense, understood what it meant to hold a photograph of a loved one so dearly. The photograph itself is not what we value, it is the idea of carrying a piece of someone you love with you forever, so that you may never have to be without them. It isn't that the photograph replaces the real thing, far from it actually, the photograph simply serves as a comforting tool. I feel that, especially in today's society, it is important to use discipline and discretion in what we consume. It is true that there is a plethora of images available to us at all times, but what images we choose to view and how we value them is ultimately up to us.

This picture was taken in Hawaii on the island of Kauai. It is of a secluded waterfall I found while hiking in the mountains.