Had a wonderful time at the introduction to the Black History Month program last week :-) The program opened up with an African performance spoken in their native tongue which, in my opinion, was rhetorically genius in that it pulled viewers into what the program was about. The speakers of the day was Stanley James and his use of irony, humor, and sarcasm kept me on my toes the entire program. Learning how ignorant some people are about culture other than their own was absolutely baffling to me. "Sarah Palin thought that Africa was a country and that Martin Luther King was its leader... he [MLK] led Africans to the U.S in the 1960s because she never saw them on T.V. before then..." (Stanley James) This is just a small example of what was gone over this past wednesday; i for one can not wait until his next speech Feb. 16th!!
I posted a link to the TELA class on the tabs onto my blog - you should check out some of the things folks are talking about. I suspect they might be of personal interest to you. You, of course, are welcome to comment and join the conversation there, too!
ReplyDeleteHello! You and your sister stole my blog . . . smile! I wanted to let you know that I added a tab on my blog (toward the top of the page) that links to the TELA blogs. I've got posts and students there that you might find interesting. Do comment there, too!
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to Professor James' talk this coming Thursday. I'm curious about the rhetorical strategies and evidence he will use to make link up his two topics: Barack Obama and Jim Crow. I want to learn what Professor james has to say so that I will have something to counter when people say that the criticisms of Obama have nothing to do with race. I wonder how different it will be in a more formal setting; the speech you critiqued was in a pretty public space and the talk this Thursday will be a bit more intimate.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about hearing what Professor James has to say about Barack Obama and the New Jim Crow. I want to know how to better respond to people who claim that there is no racism behind the critiques some folks are throwing at our president. I know there are valid criticisms of Obama, but I suspect that some of the nastiness is fueled by racism. As well, I'm interested in the kinds of evidence Professor James will use. Wonder what rhetorical strategies he will use?
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