Artist Email Draft

           Hey Tomac, it's Chris and I was wondering if we could have a sit down and talk your writing as an artist. Do you write only for business purposes or do you also venture into writing in a journal or logs? If you do keep a journal is it just about daily thing where you just write about your day or do you also bring art into your writing. Either through short stories, poems, etc. Let me know if you are willing to meet up to talk about this topic.

               - Chris Hunter

Week 2: Rhetoric

Despite the fact that both reading assignments use different engaging techniques - one through the use of a comic and one in the form of an essay - they both successfully engage the reader to understand the topic of rhetoric. After reading both texts I've come to realize the subconscious influence that my surroundings have on what I say and how I say it; which may influence how I act publicly in the future.

One specific part of the reading that stood out to me was "you order your thoughts based upon what is appropriate for your intended audience in that context". Whether I'm talking to my roommates or talking to my parents, my context and tone are different between the two. I've never really thought about this so deeply before, but now that I've had it explained in the two pieces of writing I now have an awareness of what I say and how I say it.
It's hard to decide which piece of writing I was drawn to the most. Since the comic provided the ability to swiftly skim the pages and understand the context through "visual literacy" it was less difficult to get through. However the essay provided an informal and interactive component that most essays lack, but the essay remained tedious to get through and I often felt compelled to skip to the next section.

The comic may have been more beneficial to my understanding of rhetoric mainly because by nature I am a kinesthetic learner - I learn better with visual representation and example - rather than simply reading text. This too has to deal with the fact that the creators of the comic are well aware of the benefit that visual literacy has to many students who can't maintain concentration on formal pieces of writing. Just like I mentioned earlier what "Murder! Rhetorically" states, "you order your thoughts based upon...your intended audience".

Genres and how the Destroy the Unique

After reading the essay referring to genres and how it specifically addresses the different kinds of genres there are for music really caught my attention.
However whether we are discussing different genres of music, movies, literature, etc. there is always a case of using a genre to overgeneralize a specific thing.

The topic of music in the essay reminds me about a different "genre" of music I listen to that is often generalized. I am a big fan of hardcore music - a genre often called "screamo" - by those who don't understand the music. Within the term "screamo" there lies multiple sub-genres that have actual names rather than an overgeneralized statement such as "screamo", and within that sub-genre to hardcore, is an entirely different culture than the other remaining sub-genres. A famous quote by a hardcore musician Derek Miller is, "screamo is a term that describes a thousand different genres."

To show the intensity of the overgeneralization, here is a condensed list of hardcore sub-genres:
Hardcore, christian hardcore, crossover thrash, punk, punk rock, deathcore, emo, electronicore, grindcore, hatecore, melodic hardcore, melodic metalcore, emo, metalcore, skacore, thrashcore, post-hardcore...

There's a lot more remaining, but this is just an example of the harm that genres can do to music, movies, literature, etc. When we put something into a genre, we generalize. Whether that's a good or bad thing is everyone's own opinion; but generalizing can do more damage than one thinks.

Once something is applied to a genre, a part of its unique aspects have been destroyed.

About Me

This whole "About Me" are always annoying to do because I'm never really sure what to say in them. So I'll probably talk about random crap like my spirit animal is either a sloth or a panda and just because both of them are slow doesn't mean that I am too... Maybe a little lazy at times. Oh, I have a one year old puppy named Zeke. He is a Blue Merle Australian Shepherd with a ton of energy and he has two beautiful sky blue eyes. He is quite the talker when I get home and if you ever meet him you'll see what I mean by that.

I'm a 2nd semester Pro Photo student that wants to do automotive & event photography. My mind may change over time and while at this school, so we'll see how this pans out. Right now I'm working with a off-road company that is slowly getting off the ground so I've been leaning toward off-road vehicles at the moment. 

I'm a pretty big car enthusiast and that's why I like to photograph them. I've always had an interest in vehicles and how they function. I'd say I have decent knowledge of most vehicles and their capabilities.

I currently have two big tattoos in the works. Left arm sleeve and front left side of my torso. Plan to get the left side of my back, down my spine, and more but those are what I have planned for now. 

I listen to basically all genres of music other than country. I grew up in a rural area and I still can't stand country music. I'm a festival goer for all music and styles. Luicdity, Soultruistic, and LIB for the hippie kind of vide. Warped Tour for post-hardcore. EDC, Hard Summer, (Nocturnal, Escape, Beyond) Wonderland, and more for EDM. 

Let's be friends please