"What are you afraid of?"

“What are you afraid of?” asked Luke

“Oh, I don’t know, what do you think I’m afraid of?  Maybe the giant spider standing in front of us?” replied Jake.

“Come on man it’s not that big”

“Are you are crazy? It’s huge,” screamed Jake.

“That’s what she said.” Joked Luke.

“Man stop joking around, we need a plan quick.”

“Alright, you stay here, and I’ll go around the side and go out the way we came in.” said Luke

“No, no, no you stay here and I’ll get away if you are so tough.” Said Jake.

“Alright, alright I got it.  Do you still have that peanut butter and jelly sandwich?” asked Luke

“Are you seriously thinking about eating at a time like this?”

“Just give it to me I have a plan.” Said Luke.  Jake reached into his backpack and pulled out a pristine looking peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a whole wheat bread.

“What are you going to do with my sandwich?” inquired Jake.

“Everyone knows that spiders love peanut butter and jelly.”

“Are you kidding me right now? Nobody knows that.” Yelled Jake.

“Just trust me.”  Luke ran up onto a giant rock above the spider’s head and hurled the sandwich behind him.  Almost instantaneously the spider turned around and began moving as fast as he could the other way toward the sandwich. Luke calmly walked back over to Jake with a swag that said “ya I’m fucking awesome.”

“How did you know that that would work” Jake asked with his mouth on the floor.

“Oh that? It was no big deal.” Luke said brushing off Jake’s question.

“No come on, how did you know spiders love peanut butter and jelly?” asked Jake.

“Oh, everyone loves peanut butter and jelly.  Why would a spider be any different?”

"What's in the bag"

“What’s in the bag?” The first masked man screamed at the woman on the ground.

“Nothing, I just wanted some water.” She responded in fear.

“Give me that bag, you don’t need anything.”

The two masked men paced back and forth through the bank, stepping over hostage after hostage.

“Man, you said that we would slip in and slip out no problem.  Now the cops have this placed surrounded, I don’t want to go to jail, I can’t” one robber said the other.

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down! Nobody is going to jail, we are getting out of here and then we will be living the life of kings. OK?

Suddenly the bank land line phone rang.  It kept ringing over and over again.

“Should we answer it?” asked the robber.

The second robber didn’t say a word.  He simply walked over to the phone, looked around and picked up the phone.

“Hello?”

“Sir, this is Officer Thompson, from the Kane County sheriff’s department, I need you to come out with your hands up and no one will get hurt.”

“We are not coming out until our demands are met.” Said the robber.

“Ok, ok, what do you want?” asked the officer.

“We want all of the officers to go to the east side of the building.”

“Ok, ok, but we will need you to release all of the hostages first.”

“No, I’m not stupid. I know that these hostages are the only thing that is keeping me alive.” Replied the robber.

“Well I’m sorry but we can’t make a deal until you relese them.”

“What do you think Rob?” the robber asked his campanion.

“I don’t think we have a choice.  I think we have to take our chances and release them.”

The robber sighs and then returns the officer’s phone call. “Ok, fine I will release them but then move all of your officers to the east side of the bank.”

“Ok send them out one at a time” Officer Thompson said.

The hostages exit the building and run to safety.  And the officers move to the east of the building.  But little do the robbers know that the snipers remain on the roof.

The robbers see the officer’s move and begin to move out of the west side of the building.  The snipers take aim just as the robbers begin to make their run.  The officers watch anxiously as they wait for their trap to take action.  The officers wait and to their amazement the robbers keep running.  They get away.  The officers enter the bank and go to the top of the building only to find all of their snipers shot dead.

Definition Proposal

Chris Behr

02/23/11

Assignment #3 Proposal

1.      I will be defining what it means to be a leader.  I think that many people believe that a leader is simply someone that is in charge of others, but it is much more than that.

2.      I am in the Air Force ROTC program here at Penn State, and the Air Force stresses strong leadership in every aspect of your life.  Immediately after graduation I will be “in charge” of roughly 100 people.  But I do not believe that the day that I graduate from college, I will be a leader.  I need to learn from those around me, both superiors and inferiors, what it means to be a leader.

3.      My audience will be anyone looking to take on positions of leadership in their life.  Every person of society should have a quality set of leadership skills.  I want to persuade everyone to learn how to lead now to excel in the future.

4.      I will use a dictionary definition of what a leader is, and then I will go into what I have learned in my life to be a leader giving personal examples of leaders in my life.  I may pull some quotes from my Air Force book as well as they seem to drive home this point well.

5.      I will use pathos in my stories about leaders in my life.  I will use logos in saying what a leader is and what a leader does. And I will use ethos to show how morals and values come into leadership.

proposal

Assignment #2 Proposal

1.      My topic will be that rap music is a very valuable music style to today’s society.  Rap tends to get a bad rap (no pun intended) for corrupting children however cleaned up and in the right situations, it can lead society.

2.      I am writing about this topic because many people of older generations accuse rap music as the root of all of teenage problems these days saying that it is not music.  I would argue that it is as much music as doo wap or swing music is.  It leads society just as music of their day did.

3.      I am arguing that rap music is a very valuable type of music, and that it should not be blamed for child corruption.

4.      I will argue my position by simply stating what music is and how it has influenced society over the years and show how rap is following this same trend.

5.      I belive that I am a creditable speaker on this topic because I am a target audience for rap music, however I also value the music of past generations.  I think that music has evolved into new and different types over the years, and just because it does not match a definition from years ago does not mean that it does not correspond to today’s definition of music.

"The password is 1272"

"The password is 1272" he whispered as he stood in front of a locked door.

"Enter" A kind woman's voice said calmly. The door swung open and the man and his son walked in.

"Now just stay quiet and let dad handle this." the man said.  They walked for what seemed like 20 minutes down winding hallway after winding hallway. Finally, they rounded another corner and the pair came face to face with a large man. He had to be at least 8 feet tall. He stood there in a hooded cloak, just staring at them.

"Who was this guy" the son thought to himself. "Why was he here?"

Suddenly he spoke. "Welcome 1014. I see you brought 1272."

"Yes sir, I did.  He is ready." said the father.

"Good" the large man said.  The large man turned and continued down the winding hallway as if to say "Follow me"

We walked for another 20 minutes or so and finally we came to another door.  We entered without impediment this time and suddenly we stood in a dark room with a single bright light pointed at a chair in the center of the room.

"Come, son, have a seat." said the boy's father.

The son, trusting his father, hesitantly walked forward, and sat down.

“Son, today is the day I have been waiting for for a long time.  Today is the day that you become a man.”

“What was he talking about? How could I suddenly become a man overnight?” thought the boy.

“Son, do remember when you were young and you would always ask me what my job was?”

“Yeah dad, I do.”

“And what is my job?”

“Dad, you are an accountant.”

“Well son, today I can tell you the truth….”

The boy’s heart was pumping. “What is my dad trying to tell me? Why would he lie to me all these years?” he thought.

“Son, I…”

“WAIT!!!!” A woman screams from somewhere beyond the confines of the room. “He is just a boy!”

The boy’s mother storms through the door and grabs her son. 

“He is only 10 years old. We agreed we were going to wait till he is 18 so that he could make a mature decision. Come on, we are going home.” 

She storms out dragging her son by the wrist.

“Well I guess we will try again next year.” The father sighs.

"Why did you look at me that way?"

"Why did you look at me that way?" He interrogated.

“Because you are dressed like Batman.” Josh responded.

“Yeah, so. What’s it to ya?”

“Well I just don’t think it is appropriate attire for a job interview, Tony.” Josh whispered as he swiftly looked around the room only to spy the interviewer heading down the hallway straight for them. “Just play it cool and maybe he will think it’s funny or something.” Sighed Josh.

“Ok booooyyyyssss……..Why are you dressed like Batman?” asked the interviewer.

“Well, I thought about the green lantern but I thought that might draw attention.” Said Tony.  There was a long silence and then all of a sudden as if he had just gotten Tony’s awful attempt at humor, the interviewer bursts out in laughter.

“That is one of the funniest things I have heard all week.  Come on in boys, have a seat.” He struggled to get the words out through his laughter.

Now, drying his tears, he turned to the pair and said “Now down to business.  My name is Ryan and I will be interviewing you both today to work for us.”

“Why would you make good additions to our team?” Ryan asked.

Josh was the first to jump in and say “Well I have managed to keep a 3.5 GPA while playing in 2 varsity sports as well as 2 club teams. I think I can anything you can throw at me.”

“Wow that’s impressive.  It sounds like you really have your act together.  And Josh, why should I hire you?”

“Well, I am very versatile.”

“Really? Care to explain any further?”

“Well, I am always thinking up new ideas. I am always able to climb to new heights. And I never back down from a fight.”

“Oh, those sound like great qualities. But don’t overdo it.”

“Well sir, how can I when Gotham never rests.”

Merchants of Cool

The video “Merchants of Cool” identifies the media as the root of all evil in this situation.  They are considered the rhetor in this situation.  They are the ones that influence their audience to act the way that they do.  They influence their audience, teenagers, to feel the way they do.  Teenagers are very perceptive to what they are told.  They want to be accepted by society; they want to be “cool”. 

The media tells teenagers that the only way that they will be “cool” is if they submit themselves wholeheartedly to what they are told.  Teenage males should act obnoxiously and wreak havoc on anyone who tells them differently.  And teenage females should focus on what their bodies look like because they will never amount to anything using their brain.

The video calls the media to stray away from the very perceptive teenage audience because they are the future.  This is the exigence.  The media can shape a society in both negative and positive ways, but as for teenagers they tend to focus on the negative, or rather the “fun” byproducts.

The video itself calls the media to reevaluate their advertising campaigns.  The rhetors in this situation are the teenage researchers.  They insist that the media may be causing irreversible damage to our future generation.  This is their thesis.  How can teenagers be expected to conduct themselves with any decency, if everyone and everything around them tells them to act in the contrary?  Teenagers are like sponges, they soak up everything around them.  They possess this burning desire to be “cool” or be accepted, and they are willing to do anything to scratch this insistent itch, even if that means abandoning all of their morals.  Teenage females are willing to give their bodies in pursuit of this goal, just as teenage males are willing to isolate themselves from everything they believe in.  Who knows whether the media shapes society or vice-versa, but either way it needs to stop.