It has been a while and most of us are embracing the dog-days-o'-summer in full form. I just wanted to throw out a quick post-to-ponder to keep the rhetoric blood circulating in my nearly atrophied brain.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of visiting the gorgeous Boulder, CO while attending RSA Institute 2011 (yes, the very one that will be bequeathed to us at KU in two short years). The plethora of workshops and seminars were enough to make any nerdy rhetorician salivate with delight. And salivate we did. Specifically I sunk my teeth into a "Rhetoric and Ethnography" workshop that was every bit as delicious as a New York Strip would be to a vegan with a Laquanian lack of animal protein. Yet in the process of developing an argument for rhetoric and ethnography one passage stood with particular aplomb:

"It is not that rhetoric culture could in itself provide the skills to rebuild a house after a flood, assemble arms against another attack, or eradicate the mosquitoes which have brought the disease, but it can move oneself and others to a common understanding and a common policy, which may then lead to house building, arms assembling, or mosquito eradication."

To borrow from Bon Iver's Holocene - "And at once I knew I was not magnificent." There is much to be done. A study of rhetoric for change, the study of discourses for justice, reaches toward that which I desire. It is there, within rhetoric culture, that I primarily find a sense of magnificent significance.

Thus, I realized in a revelatory way that this is why I study rhetoric. So this summer, as we venture into various projects of rhetorical vice, let us strive for magnificence as we proverbially build houses, assemble arms, and above all else eradicate mosquitoes!

English Language Learners/Heritage Language & Composition

The following may be of interest to our Rhet/Comp friends...or not, but at the very least, I was impressed and it made me reflect on the rich (and very messy) process of language learning, culture, and composition in a language not our own.

My brother Ladd composed a short film for his grad-level linguistics class. He interviewed 4 people who originally spoke a language other than English, got an hour and a half of material condensed down to 14 minutes, and ended up with a fascinating look at how languages/cultures influence our thoughts and our identities.

Profiles in Heritage Language

Though I don't know another language (much to my chagrin), it made me reflect on the structures of grammar, vocabulary, and how those things get remixed & mashed up when we try to learn another language. At the risk of sounding Farmer-esque, speaking between two languages is an act of bricolage--and the ways in which these folks did so is truly impressive to me.

Guest Blogger Evan Center on the Magic of EndNote

As I slowly saw off the chains of my self-imposed grad school sentence, I embrace the simple tools that make the arduous less so. Perhaps the most important tool for this task, thus far, has been EndNote. An hour investment in EndNote library tutorials during my first semester at KU paid phenomenal chronological dividends. Yet I notice that for many of my colleagues EndNote is a mythical beast to be conquered in post-comp dissertation purgatory. I also notice that there is a RefWorks contingent that would happily wage RefWars to my blasphemous EndNote praise. Quickly I’d like to define EndNote, challenge the former assertion, and encourage some deliberative discourse for RefWorks.

First things first: What is EndNote and how is it used? EndNote is a magical software tool (free from KU) that acts as an organizing fairy for bibliographical references; a fairy that also formats your in-text citations and references page. First, you build a reference library. You use the “interwebs” to import references automatically (e.g., just click the “import into EndNote function” on Google Scholar) and once you have them you can organize them into specific folders if you’d like (I have one for each class I take and each paper I write). EndNote also works with Microsoft Word. Once you have your reference, with a few clicks, you can add any reference in any format (e.g. MLA, Chicago, APA) and it will format it in your bibliography section automatically.

While EndNote is perfect for a huge project—like a dissertation—it is also perfect to keep track of all your readings during your grad school career. You can attach digital files to any EndNote reference for easy access to your notes and digital .pdf markups. Also, the library will scan in book sections if you give them a few days. Thus, when I find an important book chapter, I request the scanned .pdf so it’s easily on hand. This will also help as you compile your comp’s bib—as you now have everything you have ever read. You can also share your compiled “EndNote reference libraries,” just in case you might be missing something from a past class. Furthermore, if you have any other suggestions for EndNote helps, let us know, and post them below.

Finally, as I preach the gospel of EndNote, I am curious to the competing religious force of RefWorks. If you use it, what do you like about it? If you hate it, why does it suck? Do you know how many more miracles RefWorks has to have attributed to it to achieve magical fairy sainthood? Help us out, pick some reference fights, break your grad school shackles, and wage on friends!

PS – vote for Evan

Guest Blogger Lisa Stockton on feminist rhetorics

Feminism as a “movement” in America is largely played out. The work here is mostly done. Jonah Goldberg Los Angeles Times March 29, 2011

            When I read the opening lines to Jonah Goldberg’s column a few weeks ago, I was incensed by his careless proclamation. Many readers, I am sure, nodded in agreement, as they read his challenge to those who wanted to continue the fight that they should go to Afghanistan where “real” injustices abound. Two things, Mr. Goldberg: many feminists, both men and women, are fighting for the rights of women in Afghanistan already; and no, the feminist work is hardly done here as long as human beings are discriminated against, abused, objectified, colonized and exploited. Mr. Goldberg seems to be buying in to the Second Wave feminist myth--now that some women represented in the workforce are highly educated and earn a decent wage, we can close the chapter on the past decades of spotty progress and focus on more pressing matters for the women in the countries in which the United States has started wars.

            Recently, at the 4C’s in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to expose the “feminist project” I have been

Graduate Student Write-In

With one month left until finals' week here at KU, I'd say a few of us are starting to tackle, or worry about tackling a number of final papers. Luckily, I happened to notice a recent email about a Graduate Write-In today at Watson Library. From 10am-3pm the KU librarians and Writing Center representatives held a write-in on 4th floor Watson. There was coffee (essential, right?), tea, an assortment of pastries, muffins, fruit and more to munch on while we got our "write" on (I know, I know...I do not pride myself in excellent humor).

On the business side of things there were many consultants available during the whole thing to help with writing issues/questions and you could come & go whenever in both quiet and group study areas. The event was intended to help grad students work on whatever writing they had. I actually had a nice mix of productivity and fun since I was accompanied by KUAR members Jennifer, Joy and Kara. We were able to discuss resources and questions, and overall felt it was really helpful to be there together. That's about all I have to say on this but I thought I'd share in case anyone was interested in future events like this (or us forming our own type of "write-in" for Ars members). I thought it was nice to have a change of scenery...helps inspire creativity, collaboration, and community.

Does anyone have good writing tips to share? Do you have a daily or weekly routine that you follow throughout the whole semester? Secret gems you've discovered for research? Do share and look out for an announcement coming soon about another KUAR event at the end of April!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! -RMB

You're Invited to a Community Service Planning Meeting

Hope everyone is well and enjoyed the break!

I wanted to make sure that everybody in KU Ars Rhetorica knows about the community service planning meeting that's currently in the works.  At the last KUAR meeting, we discussed some possible service events.  One event we discussed was hanging out for an afternoon with some kiddos who are on the waiting list for Bigs in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program; another event on the table is an hour or so of conversation with adult English Second Language learners in a program for which KUAR co-chair Rachel Bloom volunteers.

Comparative Rhetoric, or Is My Game Slippin?

Today's question mark is brought to you by comparative rhetoric.

Or, rather, it was brought to me by comparative rhetoric.  And RSQ.  That's not a bad question mark, either.  It's a way of saying, "How did I miss this?"  So I figured I'd ask you smart folks.  Is "comparative rhetoric" something that I should have known about?  I'm feeling a little inadequate as a rhetorician right now...