The ART of Effective Communication
ARTICULATION:
Mental Health Policy Gets Much Needed Boost
For decades the U.S. government has neglected to incorporate mental health in our general healthcare policies. Meanwhile, 50 million Americans needing mental services did not obtain them due to negative stigmas and lack of insurance coverage, creating a vicious mental illness cycle. However President Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act address these issues as it incorporates mental health as an essential health benefit, thus improving the quality of American life psychologically and economically. Although the ACA is nowhere near perfect, the addition of mental health coverage in the new healthcare policy will drastically benefit patients.
Rhetorical
Analysis
Paper
The Future Looks Green
In the first decade of the new millenium, the United States saw a substantial paradigm shift towards becoming more environmentally friendly. This transformation into a greener mentality seemed like it occurred over night, however multiple factors contributed to this positive change that made our surroundings a prime concern in life. This paper explores the various things that sparked and maintained Americans' eco-friendly ideologies at not only the consumer level, but in the government and business worlds as well. Of course, sometimes this sudden burst of environmentalism is prone to marketing schemes and gimmicks like green washing, but as a whole our country and planet will see the benefits of the current 'save the planet' trend.
Paradigm
Shift
Exploration
Issue Brief
Policy Paper
Is It The One?
This assignment involved finding an advertisement from some type of magazine, commercial, or any other source of rhetoric to strip it down to it's bare bones and expose any hidden messages and underlying tones. I chose a Dolce & Gabbana The One commercial featuring Scarlett Johansson portraying an old hollywood diva like Marilyn Monroe. Throughout the ad, Scarlett is being interviewed and responding with playful flirtatious answers that fit what is expected of a famous actress and maintains this composed manner. Her answers though may seem rehearsed or phony as if she is putting on an act for the camera and trying to hide her true self. This raises important questions: What is true beauty? Who defines it? Does it come from more physical features or personality traits? Maybe there are no answers to these inquiries.
The commercial can be viewed here.
ACADEMIC PAPERS
Throughout my freshman year at Penn State, I was enrolled in the honors English courses English 137H in the fall and 138T in the spring. These courses push students to hone their written communications skills while exposing them to an array of topics, styles, and forms for expressing their ideas through writing. Below are a few of the assignments I worked on for those classes that demonstrate the complexity and variety of the papers for Rhetoric and Civic Life, parts one and two. To view the PDFs of my papers, simply click on the pictures next to the assignment description.
