Oh Rhetoric..

Before reading Herrick's introduction, my original thought was that rhetoric was a form of persuasive writing. I had never dealt with or had to think about the topic before. So I was very much in the dark about how expansive rhetoric's meaning actually is.

After reading the introduction, I was surprised to find out how frequently rhetoric is used in daily life. Rhetoric is simply (or not so simply) a form of expression, not limited to writing. Even though its definition includes persuasion, it also is used to help define, to assert an opinion, appeal to a social group, discover new facts, and much more. Rhetoric is essential in every day life. We constantly have to use rhetoric when talking to others, be it telling about our day, convincing a friend to go somewhere with you, or what have you. It is also a very big part of blogging. Response is an integral part of both. Ideas, questions, mainly more rhetoric could not be developed without response.

I enjoy Herrick's definition: " the systematic study and intentional practice of effective symbolic expression" Being a com dis major, l know that language is a system of symbols to which we assign meaning. In other words, symbolic expression simply means expressing ourselves with language, which seems extremely broad and full of possibilities. So I think that really grasping rhetoric in this class may take awhile..

The First Step..

Since this is my "first step" in the blogging phenomena, introductions would be appropriate. My name is Liz. I attend the University of Wisconsin Madison and am hoping to become a Communicative Disorders major with a focus on Speech Language Pathology. I love music and other creative/expressive things like reading, writing, painting, drawing, knitting, etc. I also enjoy a lot of outdoor activities, such as hiking, canoing, camping, kayaking and fishing. Madison is a pretty big town for me. I've realized that I prefer small town life, but Madison has definitely been a fun experience.

I've never thought about making my own blog before, so this should be quite interesting. I'm pretty new to the whole experience and the only blogs I read would be those from craftzine. I'm doing this for a class (English 201), so hopefully I will learn quite a bit. Maybe an interest will spark in me to continue blogging.