Don’t worry, I will definitely be referencing The Lion King in this entry. This isn’t a cop-out like the last one. I want any readers of this blog to note that this is due in around 2 hours and I am just starting. To be honest, I had no idea this thing was even due on Sunday. I thought it was due Friday and I just planned on getting a late grade, but by the grace of whatever omnipotent spaghetti monster you may believe is in the clouds watching our every move, the due date was moved to Sunday at midnight. Honestly, with that kind of luck, I should’ve gotten a PowerBall ticket. Not the point. I’m writing this blog not as a student trying (not so) desperately to get through his English class but rather as a person who has actually somewhat enjoyed this style of freelance writing on his own time, limited only by his attention span and the minimum word count. While we’re on that topic, let’s talk about this week’s prompt.
Visit three fellow students’ blogs, adding comments on at least one entry per student. For your own entry this week, compare and contrast the rhetorical styles of your peers.
I did as instructed and visited my classmates’ blogs and commented on three that stuck out to me. That’s a lie, I chose the people I knew and commented on their most recent entries. Are you surprised? I did, however, find that their writing styles were at least somewhat similar to mine. They all focused less on structure and more on captivating their audience, which I would expect from an informal piece of writing. I’m not trying to lull the reader to sleep, and neither are they. Their language is very modern and whimsical. As for content, I can confidently say that they have all put much more effort into these than I have. I can’t really help that though. I have trouble writing any kind of big piece, even if I’m enjoying it. It’s a miracle that I even get these done, as half-assed as they are. Enough with the self-deprecation. I really am proud of what I’ve accomplished with these blogs. I’ve gotten much more comfortable with my own writing, and like I said earlier, I found it enjoyable and even therapeutic. It’s nice to get these kinds of thoughts off my chest. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Time to analyze the rhetoric in their blogs and compare it to mine.
“Hakuna Matata.” It means “no worries” in Swahili (it’s a rough translation but who cares? It’s from a Disney movie that everyone loves). Much like Timon and Pumbaa, I live my life with this phrase as my motto. I have written all of these blog entries with this saying in the back of my head. It reflects in my writing that I try to keep worry and anxiety as far away as possible. With my classmates, it seems they use their worry about the assignment to their advantage, pouring their hearts and souls into each entry with no concern for scraping by for the grade. Their writings appealed to logic through clever use of language. Through emotion by sharing personal experiences. Through character by opening up to interpretation. I noticed this more and more as I read their blogs. It’s actually pretty inspirational. I felt more motivated to write this one than any of the other entries because I felt the need to say (or at least write) what was on my mind. My takeaway from this assignment is to not focus on the grade, but to write for the sake of writing.
The Alley Way 