The Blogora | The Blog of The Rhetoric Society of America

Submitted by Maxwell on January 28, 2012 - 12:39pm

Dear Blogorians,

After watching the State of the Union Address (and following the conversation about it on this blog), I realized just how much the President acts as a historian in this speech and others.

Joshua Gunn on Graduate Education, Peer Review

Submitted by syntaxfactory on January 27, 2012 - 7:40am

Joshua Gunn on Peer Review and Graduate Education:
http://www.joshiejuice.com/blog/?p=2747

This reminds me of a tension I always face at the undergrad level: On the one hand, we want to offer students a safe space to learn in, and that means the ability to take risks and to fail without consequence. On the other hand, we want them to be professionally composed when they look for jobs. I regularly write syllabi that appear to favor the latter, while I try to behave in the classroom in ways which value the exploratory former. Sometimes, I think I need to rethink that mixed message.

The of State of Things....

Submitted by John W. Pell on January 26, 2012 - 12:52pm

I write this post having just completed reading the transcript of The State of the Union Address and an assessment of undergraduate education, specifically writing instruction, sent to me by a colleague at another institution. In both texts I found an interesting refrain: teachers and teaching are crucial to student success, but evaluating successful teaching is best done by external entities, which more often than not, are unfamiliar with either the profession of teaching or the discipline of rhetoric and writing studies.

Monsters in American Popular Rhetoric: The Critical Lede

Submitted by syntaxfactory on January 25, 2012 - 1:04pm

Benjamin Myers and Desiree Rowe at the Critical Lede offer one of the most entertaining podcasts in rhetorical/cultural studies in a long time -- an interview with W. Scott Poole about his new book, about Monsters:

Vibrant Voices of Public Address: A Conversation Series for 2012

public address

Submitted by syntaxfactory on January 25, 2012 - 2:00am

Vibrant Voices of Public Address: A Conversation Series for 2012

Texas A&M's Symbolic Violence Conference Hotel & Registration Information

Submitted by mercieca on January 24, 2012 - 4:38pm

Dear Blogarians,

We hope that you will join us March 1-4 for Texas A&M University's Symbolic Violence conference. Please find hotel and registration information below:

Registration information: Registration for the Symbolic Violence Conference is NOW OPEN. Please follow this link: https://secure.touchnet.com/C21490_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=75

Hotel Options March 1-4

See the three hotel options on google maps: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=209288555056361493623.0004b6596c471a...

A New Kind of Online University Born from True Engagement?

Submitted by Adria on January 23, 2012 - 5:31pm

I have mixed feelings about online education, I'm not going to lie. But I REALLY don't know what to make of Udacity, a different kind of online education, it seems. I need to dig up more info here. Anyone else heard of this?

Stuff Rhetoricans Say

Humor

Submitted by syntaxfactory on January 20, 2012 - 1:09pm

I usually want to think rhet/comp and rhet/comm people are basically the same. This humorous video marks a few of the differences.

The People's Will in Corrugated Cardboard

Submitted by syntaxfactory on January 17, 2012 - 9:18pm

4th Tokyo Conference on Argumentation

Submitted by syntaxfactory on January 16, 2012 - 6:51am

The Fourth TOKYO CONFERENCE ON ARGUMENTATION: The Role of Argumentation in Society