Marielle Therese Frattaroli
My name is Marielle Therese Frattaroli. I am currently a freshman at Wayne State University and about to bring an end to my first semester here. I have recently changed my major from chemistry, what I though was my calling, to film and media studies. I spend most of my free time picking up the coolest vintage clothes at Salvation Army, knocking shows off of my list of things to watch on Netflix and listening to bands that were big when I was still in junior high because the music scene has gone downhill ever since. Originally I am from Sterling Heights, Michigan. It is much like any other metro Detroit city though it does have its quirks. Although I grew up having quite the normal life living in a suburban neighborhood, I have always taken a special interest in Detroit. I guess that’s what brought me here. Moving to Midtown and living smack dab in the middle of it all has definitely been a great experience. I graduated from Stevenson High School where I was pretty heavily involved with the arts. In my earlier years of high school and even junior high, drawing was my passion. I don’t quite know when that changed, but I then became involved in the drama department working on lighting. I also played the saxophone for seven years and was part of the marching band. I think being in the music and theatre programs was definitely the best decision I have ever made as it soon consumed my life; if I go on about the details I will surely bore you.
After high school, those things slipped away and I found myself broadening my horizons. The way I was taught things in high school didn’t challenge me very much. Most assignment were the ‘read, answer questions, read some more, answer some more questions’ type. English was especially painfully boring and easy. Every aspect about our readings, assignments and essays were so incredibly structured, all that was asked of us was to pay attention and to write with good grammar. If we did those two things, life was easy. I was never given the chance to write anything with passion though. Most class periods were spent reading various pieces of literature and then writing a short two to three page paper summarizing, evaluating a character, or my all-time favorite, explaining the theme. Writing workshop days were very rare and it seemed as if the teachers weren’t even interested with the content of the paper. As previously mentioned, the main focus was on grammar. Clearly, things have changed.
After high school, those things slipped away and I found myself broadening my horizons. The way I was taught things in high school didn’t challenge me very much. Most assignment were the ‘read, answer questions, read some more, answer some more questions’ type. English was especially painfully boring and easy. Every aspect about our readings, assignments and essays were so incredibly structured, all that was asked of us was to pay attention and to write with good grammar. If we did those two things, life was easy. I was never given the chance to write anything with passion though. Most class periods were spent reading various pieces of literature and then writing a short two to three page paper summarizing, evaluating a character, or my all-time favorite, explaining the theme. Writing workshop days were very rare and it seemed as if the teachers weren’t even interested with the content of the paper. As previously mentioned, the main focus was on grammar. Clearly, things have changed.
Before being in an introductory to college writing course, I believed my writing to be decent…enough. As it turned out, I was missing out on a lot of different techniques available to my disposal. Before Jared Grogan’s (my best professor at Wayne thus far) English class, I couldn’t tell you what the word rhetoric meant to save my butt. Along with learning what rhetoric is, I have also learned how to use it. Three of the main techniques I have learned to use include the invention process, writing with exigency, and the rhetorical tools of pathos , logos and ethos. Every essay that I wrote in that
college English class started with the invention process to help get things
moving. The invention process helped a
lot, especially when getting started on my ad analysis paper on Chrysler’s “Born
of Fire” commercial. Answering questions
such as “what are the claims this ad is making” or “what are the affects this
ad has on its audience” helped to fully understand the ad and come up with a
lot of information which I would have otherwise looked over. I have also learned how to write with exigencies, or urgency. I feel like a paragraph from my paper on body modification did this quite well. “
The guy with the spikes coming out of his head: freak. The girl with the breast implants and fake nose: whore. The guy with tattoos and piercing all over his body: cold and heartless. You get the picture. These images have been forced into the mind of society for ages and the tattooed and implanted don’t stand a chance. When going on an interview for a job, scholarship, etc. this picture remains prevalent whether you are qualified for the position or not. Many of these people that have undergone body modification are often looked down upon because of these stereotypes. This needs to end. Body modification needs to be understood as having many reasons behind it. I mean, no one gets a tattoo hoping to be called a freak. “ It is clearly stated that there is a problem with the way modification is viewed which needs to change. Understanding the tools of pathos, ethos and logos really came out in my paper on the book by Jean Twenge, "Generation Me." Most of the paper was evaluating how she used those techniques in her own book. "Another way Twenge proves many of her points is through pathos. She uses quotes and memories that connect to the readers because they are from normal everyday citizens." I then go on to give examples of these quotes and show how they relate to pathos.
The guy with the spikes coming out of his head: freak. The girl with the breast implants and fake nose: whore. The guy with tattoos and piercing all over his body: cold and heartless. You get the picture. These images have been forced into the mind of society for ages and the tattooed and implanted don’t stand a chance. When going on an interview for a job, scholarship, etc. this picture remains prevalent whether you are qualified for the position or not. Many of these people that have undergone body modification are often looked down upon because of these stereotypes. This needs to end. Body modification needs to be understood as having many reasons behind it. I mean, no one gets a tattoo hoping to be called a freak. “ It is clearly stated that there is a problem with the way modification is viewed which needs to change. Understanding the tools of pathos, ethos and logos really came out in my paper on the book by Jean Twenge, "Generation Me." Most of the paper was evaluating how she used those techniques in her own book. "Another way Twenge proves many of her points is through pathos. She uses quotes and memories that connect to the readers because they are from normal everyday citizens." I then go on to give examples of these quotes and show how they relate to pathos.
While writing these papers, I generally tended to keep most things the same between my drafts and final versions. It usually takes me quite a while to write even a paragraph as I like my draft to be almost as good as the final copy. I take time to consider how certain sentences sound and if it could be written better with a different syntax. I often change a sentence around two or three times before I like it as well as the order of the paragraphs. When revising my paper after getting it evaluated, I take into consideration the comments given to me and make those changes as well as other minor ones. I feel like if I like the way the paragraph or sentence is written to begin with, I should not make any major changes as it would affect the rest of the paper.
In the future,I hope to continue to write and develop a sense of exigence in much of it. I also hope to improve on writing directly to my audience as I have previously had much trouble with that.
When it comes to one of the main topics of this English class, rhetoric, it is questionable whether it and truth are one in the same. As much as I would like to say that, over the years, rhetoric has essentially become truth, I can see that it hasn't. In life, there are certain truths that you have to live by, for example 2+2=4 or that the sky is blue. No one can convince you that these are not true when we know it and can see it to be true. Other, more controversial topics in life, such as politics, I believe to be full of rhetoric. Most, if not all politicians are very good rhetoricians and can persuade very well. Much of what comes out of a politicians mouth is either a claim or an argument. These can be talked up and can seem like they are the greatest ideas or thoughts in the world that they are believed to be true. To me, it is very desirable and possible to determine truth from rhetoric.
In the future,I hope to continue to write and develop a sense of exigence in much of it. I also hope to improve on writing directly to my audience as I have previously had much trouble with that.
When it comes to one of the main topics of this English class, rhetoric, it is questionable whether it and truth are one in the same. As much as I would like to say that, over the years, rhetoric has essentially become truth, I can see that it hasn't. In life, there are certain truths that you have to live by, for example 2+2=4 or that the sky is blue. No one can convince you that these are not true when we know it and can see it to be true. Other, more controversial topics in life, such as politics, I believe to be full of rhetoric. Most, if not all politicians are very good rhetoricians and can persuade very well. Much of what comes out of a politicians mouth is either a claim or an argument. These can be talked up and can seem like they are the greatest ideas or thoughts in the world that they are believed to be true. To me, it is very desirable and possible to determine truth from rhetoric.