Advertisement with Persuasive Strategies

This advertisement, above, claims that by buying PEDIGREE (a dog product), a donation will be made to The Pedigree Adoption Drive association will help dogs, such as the dog seen in the advertisement, find loving owners and homes. With this claim, the advertisement appeals to a wide range of audience members: to people who love dogs, dog owners, as well as those who would just like to help make a difference for the animals that need this care. Additionally, the advertisement is organized in a clean fashion and includes a wide variety of persuasive techniques. One specific strategy that is dominant is the use of ethos to create credibility and trust in the audience. The Pedigree Adoption Drive is an association and additionally a "Big Name," which gives the viewers a reason to believe the advertisement and address the advertisement's claim. In the lower right corner, written in fine print, the advertisement states that as of 2008, the total donations given were between $250,000  to $1 million. The use of the logos, or logic, supports the claim by using statistics and facts. At the same time, before anything, the advertisement captures the audience's attention with the use of the dog, Otis, who looks like he is sad, bored, or depressed, making that pouty face. This advertisement appeals to our emotions by using pathos. We, the audience, feel bad for the dog and hope that we can help make the dog happy and live a more pleasant life. Therefore, the usage of the emotional appeal captivates the audience. By simply buying the PEDIGREE product, we will indirectly make a donation through The Pedigree Adoption Drive, to help dogs find loving homes. 

Bullying Video

This link below is for a movie titled Cyberbully. This movie shows how cyberbullying almost leads to suicide attempts and learning to stand up for yourself eventually. Grab a tissue, because when you watch this movie, there is no holding back those tears!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shnAPc3wYbA 

New Year/New Semester Goals

"The power of setting goals is an extremely valuable life skill. The New Year is the perfect time to start discussing what the future holds and how we can plan for positive growth and change both individually and together."

For the upcoming academic year, I believe to create sub-goals in a matter based on my progress. Normally, when I create my main goals with sub-goals, I set those goals purely based on my PLAN for success. This upcoming year, I hope to be able to accomplish as much as I possibly can to achieve my GOAL by creating, more or less, a stepping stone goal. Each stone that I step across is a sub-goal that I have achieved, which leaves me one step closer to achieving my dreams.

With the first semester finished, I have been able to identify my strengths and weaknesses. More specifically, I am able to identify which subjects I am strong in and which ones are more difficult for me. For example, French for me is a subject I enjoy and it is one of my strengths along with English and Math. However, I feel and have noticed that my weakest subject is the hardest class that I am taking. From this experience, I know that the more challenging classes I take, the tougher it is for me to do well in those. I am struggling in World History AP, comparatively to my other subjects, since I have never experienced a college-level course. Now that I have experienced and identified my strengths and difficulties, I have found a way to make myself a more successful person. With each of my classes, I have definitely been able to understand and grasp the concepts and standards learned, but applying them to tests is an issue that I face for a few. Being able to learn new test-taking skills will be a useful tool and my future goal for achieving this brand new semester. Test-taking skills is a real broad and general tool, but I can use it to help me better myself in taking the PSAT, SAT, and subject tests, my other up and coming future goals. I just need to find a way and a method for channeling all of the knowledge I know into a stamp of approval, hence a test.

Not only does this new year give me a chance to brighten up myself academically, but through some more personal goals. As some of you may know, I am a dancer and have been dancing for the past 10 years. I truly love dancing, as the art form connects me to my South Indian, Classical roots. I have really been working hard in dancing, practicing whenever I have the chance to and EVERY SINGLE DAY. No matter whether I am sick, or tired, or busy, even just 5 minutes in that one day makes a huge difference. Just last week on Sunday, my dance teacher inspired me with her beautiful words of wisdom. "Dance is not just a sport. Dance is not just an art. Dance is your life. Dance is your best friend." I quickly shed a tear just listening to this. With my deep love for dance, nothing comes to compare to it or even come close to expressing myself and my personality and character. I have a future goal next year in the summer. I am planning on performing a 2 hour  graduation recital, or Arangetram. I have been waiting to perform this Bharatnatyam recital my whole entire life. But as many of you know, things like this do not come easy! Everyday, I have been practicing and improving and making sure that I enjoy the whole process every step of the way. There is no way that I can get this whole experience back. I can just picture myself standing on the stage after I finished me recital, thanking everyone, crying, and hugging my parents. With my friends and family, I know that I can accomplish anything with their support. 

Outside of dance, I have decided to stick with no New Year's Resolutions, but rather have one resolution every single day, whether it be dance for an extra 5 minutes, or try to write your essays faster. This way, I can control myself, without slamming too much pressure. When I am hoping to accomplish anything and achieve my goals once set, I think to myself. "Setting goals might be a hard thing, but actually reaching them is a whole different dynamic!" 

Q.O.D.-Allegory

An allegory is basically a literature device that uses a poem or even a picture to reveal a hidden meaning behind something. In simpler words, an allegory is a form of symbolism. Power is a form of allegory, as power can be interpreted differently and used differently be those who have power, in a moral or political form. Additionally, as seen throughout Animal Farm, more specifically, power is commonly seen being used in a corrupt manner by Napoleon (Joseph Stalin), while the Seven Commandments describe power as being equally diverse amongst the animals to allow equality within society. 

Animal Farm-Theme

The theme I have chosen is that "In society, individuals are not treated equally." With this theme, the most prominent character is Napoleon, along with the clan of pigs. For example, in chapter three, the pigs and primarily Napoleon "steal" the apples, as those are the special food required for the pigs. The pigs "need" the apples because they are in control of the farm and without the apples, Mr. Jones would come back, since the farm would not be running smoothly. Squealer believes this to be the reason and the other animals are afraid to say anything, because they do not want Mr. Jones back and therefore go along with the idea of Squealer's explanation. This example additionally portrays ignorance for the other animals, as they do not understand or know what is occurring around them in these certain situations.

Another example demonstrating inequality amongst society is the right to vote given to each of the animals. Napoleon, being the tyrant and corrupt leader as he is, takes away the right to vote from the animals and ONLY allows the pigs to make the decisions. The animals, however, were extremely upset and angry, but since they were afraid to speak up and essentially dumbfounded, the animals did not speak up for what they believe in and were lost on what to say. Napoleon created a society that is highly biased towards the pigs and gives them the overall rights and power, compared to the rest of the animals on this farm. From Napoleon's usage of power, this example additionally displays Napoleon's corruptness and sincerely showcases how he is misusing the power just for himself and the pigs of his type, like a dictator. With Manor Farm being run by Napoleon, the leader, society is highly unequal to the animals and primarily focuses on the pigs to make the right decisions and have the special food, as they are the "brains" of the society. With this, Napoleon has begun to misuse his power and  no longer wishes well for the rest of the society. From the animals perspective, each and every one, except the pigs and Napoleon, is treated like a slave and put to work without an ounce of respect left. The society created under this leadership is highly unequal.

Exploratory Writing-Squealer's Speech

In chapter 5, Squealer explains to the animals the views of Napoleon. "No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would only be too happy to let you make your decision for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where will you be?" 

As one of the animals on the farm, my first instinct is the fact that Squealer brings up one of the most important and primary commandments out of the Seven Commandments: all animals are equal. Napoleon believes that each animal has a right for their own say and decision, that all animals make their own decisions for themselves. However, if he believes in letting all of us have our own rights to freedom of speech and action, why does he believe that our decisions could be wrong? Why does he believe that our decisions can harm us and lead to our ultimate downfall? Where will we be? Napoleon believes that if any one of us animals is a weak link, and messes up a wise decision, our society could be ruined and our chances of ultimately reaching our goal and approving Old Major's wishes on Manor Farm will be blocked. 

However, If Napoleon had the ultimate trust and belief in each one of us animals, he should not have the right to question our own authorities for ourselves. Why are his decisions "right" or "correct", while our decisions are "wrong" and can ultimately hurt us? Napoleon, in a sense, is being quite ironic, by believing that we, the animals, have our own rights to make our own choices, yet our choices are not the greatest for our community. Though Napoleon's views are not to be messed with, having the faith and trust in his own "comrades" should be given, as he is the leader and has trained us to be loyal under certain situations. 

The Qualities of a Good Leader

In the novel Animal Farm, intelligence, identified in and by the pigs, is the primary qualification for leadership. However, leadership cannot be determined primarily be intelligence. Intelligence is a term for someone who is smart and has the ability to acquire knowledge and skills. Though an intelligent one can acquire knowledge and skills, applying them in terms of leadership is a different task at hand. Now, what are the tasks for a good leader? A leader is not only someone who is able to successfully lead a group of people to victory in a battle or even be the boss at all times. A leader is someone who is respectful to each individual and thinks not of each man for himself, but rather values the idea of community and strong views of others. Letting each and every person's voice be heard is a plus for the community, as the leader has a clear vision and picture on how their society should run and what aspects should be involved to make the community a strong, bound-together extended-family. For example, you can view leadership as a painting. The "intelligence" is the plan for the painting: acquiring the knowledge and skills is similar to gathering materials and creating a plan. The actual result of the painting is the masterpiece: a community created with a strong leadership. Each and every color on the painting represents a person's thoughts, views, and opinions. With the array of rainbow colors comes the strength, found in a leader.

For our Animal Farm Society group challenge, our leader was chosen on three main qualities: responsibility, understanding, and willing to take order and contribute to our society. With responsibility comes respect and intelligence. One who is responsible enough realizes how to treat others and form a harmonious union of people, while still bringing order to the community. The term "understanding" not only means to be comprehensive, but to actually apply that understanding knowledge and be able to mend any issues found in our society. Lastly, but certainly one of the most important, comes willing to be a LEADER. When someone has the intentions of being a leader, they must contribute their efforts to actually getting their job and role done. Our leader was willing to be a leader and wanted to help our society to be as successful as possible, caring about each and every member of our group. Being a leader is no easy task, but having the courage and motive to be a leader gets you halfway there.