Seattle + Sports

In Jerry Brewer's article, Fanatomy, he argues that Seattle has generally been ignored as a place where fervant fans come out to support successful sports franchises.  Seattle suffers from West Coast isolation and has historically had trouble hanging on to its sports teams (the recently relocated Sonics and the Pilots, who moved after only one season in Seattle).  Brewer argues that despite its isolation and the perception that Seattlites are more interested in promoting a culture that doesn't value sporting events as much as some other institutions (like museums, for instance), its fans prove otherwise.  These fans are passionate people, and despite Seattle's brief and mostly unsuccessful sports history, they make Seattle one of the most underrated sports towns in the nation.

Brewer writes  his article in a way that seems to validate current Seattle sports fans, remind those who haven't been to a game in a while what they love about it, and let the rest of us know what we're missing. Brewer argues that Seattle fans are a different breed of fan, one who doesn't show up just for the winning team, but is a dedicated follower even when the score tilts in the opponants favor (which it often does).  He adds that Seattle teams are often representative not only of Seattle, but of the entire Northwest, a point that isn't often brought to light when considering Seattle's fitness as a competitive and entertaining hub for sports.  Other teams in the nation have closer sports competitors, which adds to the tension of rivalries.  Seattle's fans, on the other hand encompass the entire region.  Brewer sees something in Seattle fans that goes beyond the game, a comraderie and passion that is funnelled into rooting for the home team whatever the weather.

Sharing Spaces

The rules that arise from a "communal" living space, a living situation where two or more people share a space are contingent on those living in the space and the restrictions that are outside of their control.  In my current living situation, there are two layers of rules, the explicit rules that are set in place by our landlord, and the rules that my housemate and I tacitly agree upon. 
The explict rules are usually uncontested and fair.  They are those that were initially outlined on our lease agreement and include things like not having pets, being responsible for paying the rent on time, and taking care of general maintenance duties. 
The implict rules fall under courteous conduct for the most part.  Since my housemate and I are good friends we usually split the chores and expenses, go in our rooms to have telephone conversations, and host guests after asking or notifying the other person.  What makes our implicit rule system function so smoothly is that we know each other rather well and are similar in our preferances for a comfortable and enjoyable living situation.  In a case where we had different ideas about what made a good living space, this implicit rule system would be much less likely to function well.  Because we agree on the implied rules, they seem fair. 
The criteria by which we evaluate these rules are comfort, safety, openness, respect, and fairness.  Most of the rules set in place by our landlord and those that we tacitly enforce are subjected to this kind of catagorical analysis.  If a rule seems like it infringes on of those expectations we begin to question its functionality and necessity. 

Press Release: SU Supports Haitian Victims With Jesuit Tradition

The disasterous situation caused by the earthquake in Haiti is inspiring Seattle University students to dig into the tradition of Jesuit institutions and turn their attention to helping its victims.  The Jesuit tradition of Seattle University and its commitment to helping the poor makes assisting the earthquake victims a critical issue. "This tragedy brings home to us their reality as our sisters and brothers in dire need," says Father Stephen Sundborg, Seattle University President,  "We must respond as individuals and as members of this university with its special commitment to the poor."

 Thursday night, Seattle University is hosting mass in honor of those impacted by the earthquake.  Seattle University students and affiliates who will be filling the tills at the next Sunday masses for victims of the earthquake.

Sundborg is asking students to attend  masses held in honor of the earthquake victims as well as encouraging them to offer their educational, human, and spiritual support.  The response he hopes to inspire is an "outpouring of our generosity and personal sacrifice, empowering those on the ground in Haiti to provide rescue, food, water, shelter, medicine, etc." 

Students are also being encouraged to turn their prayers toward Haiti and to apply the fruits of their education to helping others and offering support to fellow students.

In addition to the Thursday and Sunday masses, held in the Ecumenical Chapel and the Chapel of Saint Ignatius, the University is also offering emotional support through its Campus Ministry services, where Social Justice Minister Sean Bray will be spearheading the university's efforts.
 
In the near future, Seattle University will be partnering with Gonzaga University, another Jesuit institution in the region, in order to further assist the people of Haiti.

The ongoing debate: Should we be eating high fructose corn syrup?

The focus on health and obesity in America has led many to ask whether it is wise to consume high fructose corn syrup. It’s often difficult to navigate the storm of critics and proponents of a sweetener that is in some very unlikely places. Wrapped up in the debate are issues of health, food processing, government subsidies, and environmentalism.


Jennifer Goldstein of Prevention Magazine says that high fructose corn syrup is an easy target for those looking for a bad-guy on store shelves. Because it is in everything from salad dressing to soda, it’s a likely culprit for anyone looking for a product to blame for the obesity epidemic.


She writes that sugar and high fructose corn syrup have the same number of calories but, because there have been very few studies on high fructose corn syrup, its best to eat it in moderation since it isn’t yet clear whether or not it is safe. She says that the proponents of corn syrup are trying to mislead the public when they claim that high fructose corn syrup is natural since it is actually highly processed. Goldstein writes that though high fructose corn syrup might have indirectly contributed to rising obesity in Americans because it made sweet foods much more prevalent and affordable.


John S. White, a food and beverage consultant representing the Corn Refiners Association believes high fructose corn syrup has been unfairly blamed for causing an obesity epidemic in America and has been wrongly criticized as being unhealthy. White argues that high fructose corn syrup is one of food scientists’ best tools and a darn good sweetener to boot. He stresses that the nutritional profile of high fructose corn syrup is very similar to that of natural sweeteners.


According to White, high fructose corn syrup is more functional as a food additive because it has properties that make it convenient to manufacture and transport, more apt to stay fresh during transport and during a product’s shelf-life, and because it comes from corn and is produced in the United States, it is not vulnerable to hurricanes, which often decimate sugar cane crops in tropical regions. White also argues that some properties of high fructose corn syrup are highly desirable in foods. It makes cakes and breads brown and fragrant, creates chewy cookies, gives flavor to low-calorie energy bars, and enhances fruit and spice flavors.


Michael Pollan, author and environmentalist, wants conscious Americans to look beyond the grocery store when they think of high fructose corn syrup. Pollan argues that because corn is produced in a vast monoculture, it leads to pollution caused by fertilizer and pesticides. Since there are no other crops using the soil, nutrients are depleted, requiring fertilizer to make up the difference. He argues that these chemicals are responsible for the dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico and around the coasts. He also emphasizes that subsidies make corn cheap and easy to grow and that the surplus caused by the amount of corn makes it necessary to create products like high fructose corn syrup that can use the surplus of this product. Agreeing with Pollan, Author Eviana Hartman argues that American’s should look at the labels on their food and buy fewer products that contain high fructose corn syrup. Hartman argues that it’s environmentally responsible to forgo high fructose corn syrup in favor of local natural sweeteners like maple syrup and molasses.

Plea to a 14-Year Old Gamer

Everyone needs a vacation.  And when you're fourteen, enduring middle school, putting up with parents excessive pleas to do chores, and pushing yourself to the brink with hours of grueling hockey practice (not to mention the two hour drive to and from said practice), a physical vacation isn't nearly enough.  You need a mental vacation.  A little psychic rejuvenation.  You need to downshift the synapses and kick back.  And when all it takes to get a little relaxation is flopping on the couch, sliding on a headset and firing up the X-Box 360 (aka the 360) for a round of blowing the brains out of friends and strangers, who could blame you?  Its fun, its social, you can do it on the couch, and it involves a gun.
The thing is, as soon as the little green light goes on and you sign in to X-Box Live, your existence in that other world--the one with parents, chores, and such--fades into the distance.  And the more time you spend in the game the more that distance is felt when you exit it.  Your trigger finger may be a blur of action but your conversations are suffering.  I like games.  I like guns (the virtual ones anyway).  But I don't like that every time I call you I have to stay on hold while you finish a running around a bombed out warehouse throwing grenades and gathering enemy intelligence.  Or that you put me on speaker phone so that I can 'Give a Shout Out' to your online buddies over your headset and listen to their grunts and distracted replies.  I'm glad you're including me in all this, but its really not my thing.  
While I like that you have a hobby and I understand that gaming is a big part of your life, as a big sister, I'd love it if you'd consider pushing pause for 5 minutes so that we can catch up without the roar of shrapnel clanging in the background.
Yes, everyone loves a vacation, but let me tell you a little something about it.  One thing about vacation (even a gaming vacation) is that its best shared with the people you love and those who love you.  If you do it too often and you always go alone, sometime, when you finally decide to extinguish that green light and come back home, you may find that you're the only one there.

Weekly Writing 2

1. Eric Wilson, in his article The Triumph of the Size 12s (New York Times, 01/13/2010) writes about Crystal Renn, a size 12 plus-size model who has been very successful in the fashion industry as of late, booking spreads in Baazar, Vanity Fair, Glamour, and Vogue. Wilson attributes Renn’s popularity and the recent proclivity of high fashion magazines to include spreads or entire issues featuring plus-size models to the public outcry against “alarmingly thin models”. These magazines have been encouraged, says Wilson, by positive reader response to such features. According to Wilson, plus-size models are often criticized for being smaller than the average woman (a size-14) and often retouched to look larger. Crystal Renn, in her book, Hunger, complains that normal is the new overweight and professionals in her industry are often telling her that she doesn’t look fat. Stephen Gen, the editor of V, the most recent magazine to devote and entire issue to plus-size models, remarked to Renn that she “doesn’t look big”. Wilson closes with a quote from Renn’s book, “I’m fighting for something,” Ms. Renn said. “I believe fashion can be a place of diversity. It’s not going to happen overnight, but do you want it to?”



2. In Eric Wilson’s article, The Triumph of the Size 12’s in the New York Times, Wilson writes about Crystal Renn, a size 12 model who has become quite popular in the fashion world. Renn, like many other plus-size models has gone from starving herself to fit into a size 2 to being celebrated for her crossover to mainstream modeling in publications like V, Glamour, and Vogue as a size 12. Wilson is correct to assess and address this phenomenon in his article. The fashion world has recently made such a fetish out of plus-size models that plus-size models’ photos are often retouched not to make them thinner, like thin models or celebrities, but appear larger or more curvaceous. It is a “perverse reality” in the fashion world that plus-size models or those with visible breasts or hips are fetishized. Wilson is right to argue that Renn is triumphant. She is the first plus-size model to break out into the mainstream. Even with the retouching, a healthy model is a better example than one that is unhealthy. Continued coverage of this issue, especially following the prevalence of anorexic-looking models, can only positively influence the public and the fashion industry.

3. In Eric Wilson’s article, The Triumph of the Size 12’s in The New York Times, Wilson argues that Crystal Renn, a size-12 model has become very popular due to a backlash in the fashion world against size-2 models and as a response to a call for diversity in fashion magazines. Wilson assumes that the inclusion of plus-size models is a turn toward acceptance of larger-sized women by the fashion industry and a turn towards diversification of the modeling industry. The fact remains though, that each magazine that includes a photo spread or devotes an entire article to plus-size models does so under the pretense that they should be celebrated for the risk they’re taking. They do so, not because these models are being accepted in the industry, but to make a point and sell more issues. Renn is only one model who is being accepted and shown off so that the fashion industry can congratulate themselves on how progressive they are.


4. The rhetorical situation: The author is a reporter for the New York Times. The author was prompted to write the article as a response to the recent conversations surrounding plus-size models and especially as a response to the issue of V magazine featuring only plus size models. Wilson writes under the constrains of the New York Times, a liberal leaning though very reputable national newspaper. The audience is readers of the NYT, and especially the readers of the Styles section of the NYT. Because of the publication in which this article appears, it’s expected that it will be largely representative of the situation and the dialogue surrounding an issue.
Crystal Renn is featured as a representation of a larger movement and perhaps the forbearer of that movement and Wilson brings up the issues surrounding her popularity, the fact that plus size models may feel pressure to do things like wear padding or expect that their photos will be retouched to make them appear even larger. This article appears at a time when the fashion industry appears to be at a crossroads, there are two sides, the older fashion community who believes that plus-size models are a fad and should not be a part of a clan where anything outside of sample size is not acceptable. The other side of this argument comes from a new movement that is striking out against unhealthy models. This side argues that models should be representative of the real population, of a healthy weight, and of diverse shapes and sizes.

Letter to the Editor: Response to Sue Rahr

In her address to the community ["Community kindness helps  law enforcers cope with tragic loss in their ranks", Opinion, Jan. 3] Police Chief Sue Rahr was surprised by the massive amount of community support following the recent attacks on officers in our region.

It remains a sad reality that it takes an event like the recent shootings to inspire our communities to support police officers.  Under normal circumstances, we're more likely to begrudgingly accept a ticket, silently cursing the officer as he drives away than to appreciate the enforcement of law and justice in our region.

 We need more efforts to bridge the gap between the people and the police on a regular basis, not only after a tragedy. With more interaction and more responsibility from the community perhaps the reigning sentiment would always be one of support, but despite the current community support, its going to take many more collaborative efforts from both sides to bridge the perceived gap between the law enforcement and the people.

Identifying Commonplaces: Sue Rahr's Thank You

In her address to the community at large thanking them for their support of Seattle police, Seattle Police Chief Sue Rahr makes use of several commonplaces including degree, conjecture, and possibility. These commonplaces reflect ideological convergences in a culture using rhetorical tactics   Chief Rahr uses September 11th, the perennially raw cultural touchstone, to connect the officers' feelings of tragedy, desolation, and helplessness to those felt by the American people.  This captures the degree to which the attacks on officers reshaped the force's attitudes and sense of security.   Rahr follows this with a conjecture couched in a possibility.   Following the attacks, the development of an "us against them" mentality amongst the officers--a possibility--was crippled by an outpouring of community support.  If the community had not supported the officers so visibly, its possible that they may have been loathe to trust people who were not members of the police force.   The conjecture is that a support system of community exists behind the officers. 

The Rise of the Imperfect (and Funny) Romance

In the late 2000's, a new kind of romantic comedy came into being, with roots in Napoleon Dynamite and Chocolat, successful indie films like (500) Days of Summer, Juno, and Away We Go reflected a new side of romance--the fumbling twenty- or thirty-something with insecurites, imperfections, quirks, and charm.  The teenager making mature decisions with a killer sense of humor, spouting wry truths and embracing the inevitiblity of life.  Films like these got the mainstream movie industry a little closer to depicting the human repertoire of anxieties, doubts, vulnerabilites, and triumphs in love by employing small-scale failures and successes and painting in nuances instead of grand gestures.   I expect to see more indie-films gone mainstream that take boy-meets-girl and affairs of the heart to a whole new level by using the endearing discomfort of reality and peeling away the glaze of perfection that has surrounded successful films of the past decade.

Why Joe Bar? I'll Tell You Why.

 Just off Broadway and across the street from the Harvard Exit Theatre sits Joe Bar.  Its much smaller than most of Capitol Hill's coffee and tea establishments and it feels more like a product of its neighborhood than a destination.  The interior is very comfortable, tables for two or three are nestled in the windows or on the small second floor balcony area.  Its warm and quiet inside save for the muffled hum of conversation and the periodic squeak of the door.  The baristas not only prepare drinks (which are delivered to your table) but also a large selection of crepes and the occasional soup and sandwich special.  Everytime I've been to Joe Bar, the same barista has been working with the owner bustling around in the background.  Both of them are always friendly and never rushed.  The intimacy of enjoying a drink and sharing the company of friends and neighbors at Joe Bar makes it the Seattle coffee shop that I frequent most often.

Weekly Writing One

The second tenant of Dr. Peter Marston’s definition of rhetoric, “rhetoric is addressed”, is especially relevant to Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. According to Marston, rhetoric is addressed to an audience and the specific audience of a speech dictates how it is delivered.  This includes the speaker’s choice of words and the content and themes of the message itself. At political events like the DNC, the present audience is as much a part of the speech as the orator.  The “addressed” portion of the speech becomes so pronounced that it seems like by analyzing how the rhetoric addresses the audience, Marston’s other rhetorical tenants also come into view. 

At the very beginning of the speech, Michelle identifies herself the way that she wants the audience to see her, as a sister, a wife, a mom, and a daughter.  She casts the audience in a role of middle-class, hard-working America.  These rhetorical choices are both situational and advisory. Rhetoric is advisory since the rhetor’s speech reflects the values and world-view of its audience.  And this particular rhetorical situation allows Michelle to work in the realm of middle class American culture and to rely on stories and anecdotes about American values and hard work.  Because Michelle is addressing middle-class Americas, she brings up middle-class concerns—having only one working parent, worrying about education, missing a family member who is in the military.  She casts her and her husband’s families as regular middle class families—her blue-collar father and stay at home mother make sure that their children are educated despite the hard work involved. The hidden mastery of this speech is evident in how Michelle uses examples that draw the audience to stand by her, relating with her (and, by extension, her husband), instead of gazing at her objectively as a politician.

With live and repeated broadcasts over the internet and on television, the wide expanses of engaged and emotion-touched faces, brilliant blue signs emblazoned with "Michelle" or, "Common Values, Common Purpose", and Michelle Obama’s gentle and encouraging speaking style are all stylistic rhetorical choices that are dictated by how the speaker wishes to impact the audience.  The style of the speech does not only include the verbal message, but also the elements that make up the atmospheric and visual aesthetic of the rhetoric of Michelle’s speech.  The latter sign reinforces the idea of unity that transcends hardship and celebrates achievement through hard work, collaboration, and sacrifice—ideas that Michelle emphasized with stories about her father's MS, Barack Obama’s single mother, financial hardship, and parenting.  The present and viewing audiences were certainly in mind when the aesthetic choice was made to incorporate signs that show support for Michelle and the values she addresses.  These images are recast in video format as a sea of waving blue signs with Michelle’s speech giving the narrative behind the images.  This rhetorical styling, employing visuals and a scale that complements the speech, gives the audience, whether present or viewing from afar, the impression of a speaker who shares their values with widespread agreement from other audience members.

            Michelle Obama recognizes her audience at the DNC and addresses them accordingly with her emphasis on values, her manner of addressing middle-class concerns, and the larger visual reinforcement of her message.  Throughout her address, she repeatedly links herself and her husband with the American people by employing situational, advisory, and stylized rhetorical elements that are tailored specifically to her audience.

First Exercise

In the text, "They Say/ I Say", the authors write that the best academic writing is posed in a discursive format, that is to say, as a response to an argument or as a contribution to an ongoing discussion.  According to the authors, the most effective academic writing relies on analysing what others have said and contextualizing the response. Based on the course description of this class,  rhetoric is an explorative process resulting in the construction of an argument. It is heavily research based and relies on critical analysis and the sharing and revising of ideas.  These two concepts agree that rhetoric and argument are shared discussions, they are not set in stone and require research, contribution, discussion, and response.