Interview - Addie's Bag

Addie's bag initially struck me as a comfortable, utilitarian bag. It is large enough to be a bookbag, yet retains the look and shape of a purse. The blue, cream and green flower design is elegant. It reminded me of a purse that I had bought a friend a couple years ago.

She bought the bag last January at the Alley Cat store on High Street, beside Cold Stone. She considered a black bag instead of blue, but decided the black one would be too similar to a black and green Vera Bradley bag she already owned for over a year. Addie noted that Vera Bradley bags were the only items in the Alley Cat store that weren't meant for old women -- they specialize in more conservative items such as crafts. The bag was the first thing she had ever bought with a credit card.

Addie bought the bag instead of a traditional backpack because it was a more common style for college students. Even though she bought the bag to carry her books, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays, she now uses it everyday, carrying her books to class, as well as using it for carrying her laptop. She also takes it to work. Even in the summer, she uses the bag everyday. She has also used it as a carry-on bag on a plane, as well as using it on weekend trips. My initial assumption that the bag was comfortable was correct -- she loves the bag's fabric. The design reminds her of her friend Molly, from Maryland. Addie jokes that the bag has a high class, snobby look to it, much like Molly's decor in Maryland.

2/5/09

The Sierra Club is a good example of a public interest group that is trying to use persuasion to further its goals. Its web site's purpose is both to educate new-comers about what its overall goals are, as well as to provide a way for members to stay connected. The website's clean layout is visually appealing, and the main color scheme - green - logically represents the natural environment that the Club is trying to protect.

The site gives many different examples of how it is striving to achieve its goals. For example, it gives a brief summary of its Curbing Carbon Intiative, which involves working with Congress to decrease greenhouse gases. The Club's multiple goals are listed in this fashion, which makes for an effective presentation. The site also features several pages on the history of the foundation, including its founder, John Muir, as well as famous supporters such as Teddy Roosevelt. This is a persuasive tactic, in a way, because it may convince a prospective member of the organization's prestige. The site also features links to newsletters, magazines, blogs, and radio - all ways for members to stay updated and enthusiastic about their membership. For all of these reasons, the web site achieves what it tries to do: convince its audience that is a bonafide purveyor of a worthy cause, and keep its membership enthused and motivated with regularly updated features.

2/3/09

Jack Selzer references a prior publication at the very beginning of his article, when he mentions Janet Emig's The Composing Processes of Twelfth-Graders as an important document in studying writing habits. He uses Odell's Research On Composing as a guide to analyze his subject's writing. Later, Selzer mentions the authors Perl, Pianko, and Stallard, who did research in the same field. He compares the statistics of his subject to the subjects of these authors, as well as Donald Murray and Nancy Sommers. Finally, Selzer quotes Cooper and Odell by pointing out that research in composing "is tentative, subject to continual revision," and pointing out that researchers in the field don't submit to "the fallacy of reducing the composing process to a simple linear scheme," which is a quote by Sondra Perl.

These references to prior publications give credibility to Selzer's article. By showing us that he is aware of the previous research in his field, he ensures us that he knows what he's doing. He is also able to use these prior publications to emphasize certain points, or to compare and contrast with his own findings.