Category: Catherine Dodd Corona

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Catherine Dodd Corona

America the Marvelous

A Response to Gills Main Aim

Progymnasmata: Proverb

Americans are stupid, crass, ignorant, soul-less, naïve oafs without attention, irony, or intellect. These same people will use every comforting, clever, and ingenious American invention, will demand America’s medicine, wear its clothes, eat its food, drink its drink, go to its cinema, love its music, thank God for its expertise in a hundred disciplines, and will all adore New York.

In recent times people are quick to trash America. I suspect it is because critically analyzing the challenges the States faces is too difficult, so their solution is to trash talk Americans and use them as a scapegoat. People outside of America seem to be extremely critical of what we do and how we do it. Funny, because most of the time they only offer cynicism and no constructive feedback. Somewhat like a bully in the third grade. Even though I am praising the point above, I completely understand that America faces real obstacles and could improve on many structural aspects of our country. However, people often forget the tremendous accolades America has produced. They reap the benefits from our scientific discoveries, and cultural exports, yet they seem to sit on a high horse above it all, while they feed it a Big Mac and scroll through the internet. I remember while traveling through Southeast Asia, people would ask where I’m from. The moment I said the states I was then an ambassador for all Americans forced to go to defend the many issues people were consumed with. At first I agreed with most foreigners, but after a while I started to argue for the greatness of the States tooth and nail. How could I betray the place that raised me and gave me everything I am today? The best response I started to come up with was simply nodding my head and then asking, “Why do you care so much about what we do in the States?” Their response was often because we are so darn terrible, but I always tried to say, “You care because of how important we are. You care because America’s decisions affect the world, when was the last time people cared so much about your country?” It was a very arrogant response, but also very American. Gill goes on to mention that Europeans love to turn their nose at smelly Americans, yet our decisions historically and today still affect their lives. But sadly Americans seem to do that too. There is a lack of gratitude for what this country gives the world. Again I do not want to negate the palpable and massive issues America needs to fix. Although, I believe what Gill is pointing out is there needs to be some gratitude or validated patriotism for the States. He nor I am saying to blindly support this country while belting the star spangled banner, but think critically about what the States has done and given you. Be as critical as you want, but have it be constructive criticism. Stop trashing the states because it makes you feel smart, educated, and above it all. 

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Cardell and Douglas

Selfies

Progymnasmata: Comparison

Cardell works through the reasoning, popularity of the selfies and how it pertains to travel. She emphasized the premeditation people put into their selfies and why there is so much thought behind it. She stats that, “Selfie-takers are routinely pathologised as vain and narcissistic, a simplistic con- struction that critics have increasingly begun to complicate (Rettberg 2014; Senft and Baym 2015; Warfield 2014).” Even though a person taking a  selfie is not always a way of bragging and living a life for an audience many people have clinged onto that vain aspect of a selfie taking. Cardell works to dive into the self fulfilling fasist of selfie taking through academic writing while another women does it through art. Stephanie Leigh in an interview with Insider states that selfies in her opinion are ““bragging” in the context of “I was here”.” (Millington, 2019) Therefore Leigh create “Stedfies” a form of anti selfies. When she finds herself at a picture worthy landmark, she lays on the ground as if she were dead and has someone take a photo. It does not fit the typical selfie template but the media and society has deemed them as such. The message Leigh sends with her anti selfies is quite different from what Cardell defines as a selfie. Leigh’s art building on the vain themes Cardell discusses, especially with Leigh’s message being, “It is my hope STEFDIES promotes the idea of ‘everyone is perfect exactly how they are, and not a damn thing has to be changed,'” she said “Don’t wait for the perfect time or the perfect shot — just be you, and that is good enough, and at the end of the day, incredibly interesting.”(Millington, 2019). Her followers eco this message by saying, “Many school groups follow the STEFDIES series, as they consider it a good tool to teach young adults there are alternatives to the perfectionism of selfies and online culture,” she said. “STEFDIES welcomes everyone to participate, and doesn’t care about about status or perfection.”(Millington, 2019).

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Catherine Dodd Corona

A Journey into Night

Mimicking David Sedaris’s Essay: Journey into Night

Progymnasmata: Narrative

The flight from Charles De Gaulle to JFK takes the same time as New York to LA, but the international destination alters the environment of the plane. With the time difference, the flight takes a full night to get to Paris, but the actual duration is about 5 hours. The airline tries to mimic a full night by serving dinner, dimming the lights and four hours later serving breakfast, as if the time between was a full night of rest. 

David, not yet comfortable in Business Elite, watches as people in lesser class seats cautiously file back to their seats. He thinks of their disappointment when they see his normal appearance after expecting someone greater filling a better seat. He thinks of how he was only rewarded this seat for a book tour in New York. He is seated next to a French man, as he drifts into sleep after popping some pill. 

The plane departs and the seat belt sign dims. Passengers slowly move about the cabin. Sporting loose pajama like clothing, and methodically lining up at the bathroom with toothbrushes and face wipes. Everyone wades in a similar place, a limbo of sorts. They await for air that smells different or similar. Some, are filled with anticipation of a new adventure. Others groan with exhaust from habitual business. Some more marinate in their past travels as they return to familiarity. 

Not long after take off a flight attendant approaches, addresses David as Mr. Sedaris and asks, “There is a man that is causing some other passengers to complain, would you mind if he switched seats? I am sorry for the inconvenience.” David responds “Is he a kid?” When the flight attendant responds with a no, David asks “Is he drunk?” He concludes that it would not matter but her vague description caused him to be curious. She explains that his mother recently passed and people are irritated with his crying. David says, “They are irritated by his crying?” 

“Yes sir, that is all” she responds.

David agrees and she disappears to the back of the plane. Moments later the man appears. His eyes red, and head most likely aching form the crying. His face was rough, with strong features and big hands. A man who could casually pull off a hat, and still come off as humble and well mannered. The flight attendant quietly thanks David and returns to her usual duties. 

David naturally reflects on his mother’s funeral, while he thinks of this grieving man’s condition. He recalls the heat of North Carolina, and some heavy hearted laughs with his sister. He wonders if he should offer some sort of condolences but concludes that the man wants to be left alone and diverts his attention to the extra amenities of Business Elite. Tuning into his private screen, and mashing the stiff buttons to find the most comfortable position. Dinner arrives and David’s new seat-mate refuses his meal. Though, he assumes the man is envious when he tears the foil off his meal. The man begins to cry again, not in a distracting way, but with a steady stream of tears. David is a little perplexed by the magnitude of grief. A good amount of time must have passed since he received the news. He imagines there must be some regret added to this man’s grief. He pictures an old woman, on her deathbed, pleading for her son to visit, but the distractions of the present got the best of him and he couldn’t make the time. Now she rests in a morgue, pumped with formaldehyde, eyes glued shut, make-up smeared on her face to give it a less dead look. He does feel sorry for this man and begins to reflect on another funeral experience. In high school a girl died of Leukemia. He remembers the unvalidated grief he had until another classmate expressed the same emotional turmoil. 

The serious energy and ignorance to the feasible pleasures of Business Elite urges David to decline whipped cream and a second serving. While the plane effortlessly bolts to New York, David could not help but to succumb to his reflections of past grief. His empathy and the lack of distraction peeled away at his normal emotional guards. Slowly past experiences crept out of the deep grooves in his mind, like gremlins crawling out a crevasse into his subconscious. His nose stung and the seams that held his tears inside slowly began to unzip. For a brief moment, not too long so the gravity of this man’s grief did not go unvalidated, they were two men crying quietly soaking in solitude. 

 

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Going it Alone

A Confirmation on Haile’s Rarely Discussed Observation

This story shocked me. I knew the American south and even the rural Mid-Atlantic was not understanding of diversity but some of her conversations and discoveries surprised me. Including the “Black face soap” and a man telling her she is not “Black-black”. While those interactions are telling of the struggles of being black in America, they are not the main aim of her article. She brings up a not often talked about struggle black people have which is their excitability to nature. Later in the article she mentions her connection to nature and the nostalgia and clarity it brings her. Yet, society does not cultivate a place or advertise the outdoors to black people so there is no encouragement to black communities to get out there, explore, and reap the benefits. She sums it up when she references Evelyn C. White and her essay “Black Women and the Wilderness”. She states, 

“It says to the minority: Be in this place and someone might seize the opportunity to end you. ­Nature itself is the least of White’s concerns. Bear paws have harmed fewer black bodies in the wild than human hands. She does not wish to be the only one who looks like her in a place with history like this.”

Traversing nature and being outdoors is already uncomfortable and challenging, so one can imagine adding the discomfort of not belonging. And this discomfort proceeds the exciting comfort new experiences bring. In some cases it can be traumatizing. This trauma comes from the lost sense of belonging. Belonging is especially important, and that feeling is often a matter of perspective. As Pierre Bourdieu writes, “The relation to the world is a relation of presence in the world, of being in the world, in the sense of belonging to the world”. Haile is showing that there is a weak relationship between black communities and the outdoors.  I never thought of this dilemma but it triggers my memories of black classmates not being able to swim and not having any outdoor experience at all. Haile also touches on the history of the outdoors for black people. For a long time being in the wilderness was a matter of survival not leisure, yet Harriet Tubman is rarely commemorated for being an important outdoor leader. In a way saying black people should just get out there and experience the air is also ignorant. It seems like the opportunity for black people to get outdoors has walls closing in at all sides. But there are ways around this. The way Haile ends her article is exceptionally beautiful. She pulls quotes from a book that discusses the reasons for hiking the AT trail. The last one she quotes being, “I want to be a role model to black women who are interested in the outdoors, including myself.” She then goes on to acknowledge the power this hiking can have. Not only does Haile highlight the struggles of being a black woman in the outdoors, but shows how important it is to cultivate a more comfortable space and more importantly to advertise the outdoors to black communities.

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Jamaica Kincaid

Rhetorical Flaws of Jamaica Kincaid

Progymnasmata: Refutation

In no way is Jamaica Kincaid’s anger invalid, untruthful or dramatic, but her emotional blanket statements disvalues her rhetoric in her short story, A Small Place. I would first like to emphasize that her points are truthful and she should be taken seriously. In different places throughout the short story she seems to go on a tangent of rage toward the English or oppressors in general. This pathos in her story is an integral aspect but the frequency of it and the generalizations she makes forces her argument to be erratically emotional which does not give power to her argument. In her conclusion she remarks, “Not too long after, [Antigua] was settled by human rubbish from Europe, who used enslaved but noble and exalted human beings from Africa (all masters of every stripe are rubbish, and all slaves of every stripe noble and exalted; there can be no question about this.)” (p.80) These large blanket statements are not completely true on both the oppressor and oppressed sides. She uses extremely harsh language that juxtaposes her praising language, in a way that does not help her argument. While her anger and harshness is valid it does not help her argument. If you do not believe me think back to an argument you have had. If you discussed your points and communicated your anger how did that differ from screaming blanket and personal statements about the opposer. Even though the personal blanket statements may have truth to them, it does not help one’s rhetoric to carry red hot rage. Overall, it is not about what you are sharing. Kincaid should share her anger, it’s an important aspect of A Small Places’s pathos but it is more about how she shares her rage. 

After class thoughts:

After discussing this and revisiting some other passages I would like to point out where she does a fantastic job of using her rage to be persuasive. Page 32 is a great example when she discusses language. So my entry doesn’t exactly fit a refutation because I missed some areas where she does a great job of using emotion, so I am not exactly arguing against her rhetoric. I will say I remember the parts where she becomes especially erratic and not the parts where she does a good job, like on page 32.  Which does say something about her rhetoric.

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Anthony Bourdain

Anthony Bourdain

Progymnasmata: Encomium

 

If you do not know who Anthony Bourdain is. I suggest you get to know him. Personally, that is no longer possible since he tragically committed suicide in 2018. But it is still possible to become closer to him and his message through his books, essays, and travel shows such as No Reservations, Parts Unknown, and The layover. Bourdain will whisk you away to diverse cultures and educate you on the cultural facet of each destination. He is very good at his job and makes anyone interested in adventure itch for travel. I also recommended making something to eat before you watch him stuff his face with mouth watering hot, and spiced meals. 

Even though the aim of the shows he hosts are to vicariously travel, Bourdain makes these episodes unique. His experience in the kitchen, and his practice in analyzing cultures for his writing gives him the merit to observe and judge different cultures. Unlike many travelers, he approaches each place, as exotic or not, as a unique place worthy of thoughtful interpretation. This appreciation of the known and unknown, the simple to exotic is in my mind the most wonderful aspect of Bourdain. I am not saying Bourdain walks the streets loving everything and everyone he meets. Often he does the opposite. He is very critical and judgmental but in a way that still respects the culture, and most of the time is quite comical. For instance in the No Reservations episode on Egypt, there is a lot of seeing the alive animal in Bourdain’s dishes. This closeness to death is not common in western cultures (which frankly desensitizes westerners to death, which damages the soul), but Bourdain invites this aspect of Egyptian culture with open arms. Of course with humor, by naming all the animals he is about to eat “Ducky” or “Lamb Chop”. This ability to be respectful and inviting with a dash of arrogance and humor is such a wonderful combination that is less common in travel writers alike. 

In this same episode Bourdain never goes to the Pyramids which touches on another aim of the show. There is an emphasis to stray away, eat and find what is currently Egyptian culture. Not the culture that was popular thousands of years ago. This concept is similar to Gill’s remark in his essay A Profile of London, and Welcome to it, “I doubt there’s anything I can say that will convince you that the best way to see Tower Bridge is on a postcard”. Both Bourdain and Gill are not arguing these monuments are anything less than they are. Their point is simply to find the culture of the now and not the culture of the past, because it is still diverse and enriching. This feeds into Bourdain’s appreciation of the minute and unsurprising. 

I sincerely miss Anthony Bourdain. I never met him, but it pains me that someone with his style of analysis, humor, skill, and appreciation for culture could be so troubled that he took his own life. It is a common theme with great creatives. Maybe his internal toil helped with his undying appreciation and creative juices. That may be the reason for this theme of mental illness and addiction in artists and writers. Regardless, when I hear people denote or even just solely focus on Bourdain’s issues with addiction and mental illness it angers me, because he is so much more. He is a complicated and deep character from what I have heard and seen, and most importantly is an idol for American tourists.

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Defining Visual Rhetorics

Advertising History and Gendered Environments. By: Diane S. Hope 

Progymnasmata: Refutation

While the majority of Hope’s arguments are valid and backed up with firm evidence there is a small claim she makes that is not true. In the beginning of the section titled “Advertising History and Gendered Environments” she argues that advertising companies in the 20th century were aware and did not try to cover the harmful effects of advertising commodity consumption. She writes, “ advertising did not hide the production process nor its effects on nature. Advertising’s paradoxical images extolled the benefits of modernity and mass production while insisting that commodity purchases reaffirmed traditional values.” While her argument that advertising caused environmental despair is correct, she negates to share that advertisement companies did in fact hide the “production process” and its effects on nature. Proven by the example of the Crying Indian advertisement. 

The Crying Indian advertisement was produced by the Keep America Beautiful and anti-littering foundation, in 1971. The scene opens on an American Indian rowing in a traditional canoe down a scenic river, the background then shrifts from lush trees to factories and smokestacks. The American Indian docks his canoe on a shore bed and the background shifts again to traffic, a man throws his trash out of a car and it lands at the American Indians feet. The camera zooms in on his disheartened face as a single tear trickles down his face, while the deep voiced narrator says, “People start pollution. People can stop it.” 

The Keep America Beautiful foundation was made up of the biggest plastic polluters in the world. Comprising thirty companies total, some notable figures are Dixie Cup Co., and Coca Cola but before their contribution the company was founded by American Can Co. and Owens-Illinois Glass Co in 1953.

These companies were not just trying to help clean up what they produced, they were actively against many environmental initiatives. Including the “bottle bills”, a set of proposed bills to mitigate the use of one-use plastic bottles. Keep American Beautiful lobbied so hard against these bills they once labeled the bottle bill supporters as “communist”. Even ten years before the Crying Indian premier, Keep America Beautiful coined the term “Litterbug”. 

Joining with the Ad Council in 1960, a character, Susan Spotless, prompted anti-littering tag-lines such as “Don’t be a litterbug” and “Every litter bit hurts”. This foundation and foundations like it shifted the responsibility of keeping the world clean from the producers to the consumers and it has remained a deeply systemic problem since. The power for change was no longer in the multimillion-dollar corporation but instead it lied on the shoulders of the individual American. Because of these advertising efforts the bottle bills were dropped, and one-use plastics skyrocketed.

This example not only exemplifies Hope’s argument that advertising companies forced American consumers to switch from traditional long lasting commodities to easily replaceable products while still supporting “traditional values”, but it also shows that companies were intentional about subliminal messaging. They did try to hide their intentions. They created companies that fought for one value when in reality they were trying to distract and deter people from the real issue. This contradicts Hope’s point that, “advertising did not hide the production process nor its effects on nature.”. They did try to sweep it under the rug, and distract the consumer from their real intentions. While that one claim is not valid, the evidence that proves its validity also supports her main aim that advertisement companies shifted the way of buying and selling consumer goods.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/business/media/decades-after-a-memorable-campaign-keep-america-beautiful-returns.html

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Wallace Part 2

Wallace Vs. Iyer

Progymnasmata: Comparison

This quote from Wallace challenges the opinions of Iyer, but only in the modern form of travel. Both Wallace and Iyer are well accomplished writers, with a good education and both make opinions based on observation and fact. Iyer argues that the diversity and progress a place can gain from tourists can make that place better and more authentic. The problem with this argument is that tourists while influencing a place do not make it more authentic when they are following commercialized and distorted advice. By distorted advice I am referencing travel information that has been commercialized as travel became more feasible. The commercialization means the recommendations are no longer honest but are instead ads paid by the business owners. Wallace touches on this when he analyzes the review of a large cruise ship. He realizes the description is “dishonest, but what’s insidious is the cumulative effect that such dishonesty has on us: since it offers a perfect simulacrum of goodwill without goodwill’s real substance, it messes with our heads and eventually starts upping our defenses even in cases of genuine smiles and real art and true goodwill.” He explains that the dishonesty originates from the argument between cruise ship and author. Furthermore, that dishonesty diminishes the substance of the text and confuses the reader. This type of travel writing and the result from people taking it seriously contradicts Iyers opinion. 

The evolution of travel writing makes it so tourists are seeing what the host wants them to see, which is clearly not authentic. The tourist is no longer free but is subject to stealthy commercialism. They still may have a great time and benefit from travel information in a large way but it is not a completely authentic experience. Since it is not an authentic experience how could the place still be its authentic self with tourists spending their money and time in places that were advertised to them? Maybe the two ideas are disconnected, and the place is still authentic with tourists following guides but the lack of goodwill in dishonest reviews attacks the integrity of the information.  

Note: Last week I did the assignment for this week, so this week I am doing the work that was do last week.

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Catherine Dodd Corona

‘‘Parachute Artists’’ or ‘‘Tourists With Typewriters’’

The Authenticity of Guidebooks

Progymnasmata: Chreia

“In the golden age, writers personally knew the companies’ owners, the companies’ offices were convivial spaces for rest in-between travels and everyone was interested in travel and culture first and money second.”

This is a beautiful point. As travel became more feasible the commercialization of travel also increased. It is a well known concept of the non tourist traveler. The person that wants the local dives and hole in the wall treasures, but in an age of rapid communication that is becoming harder to accomplish. But how can anyone find those places without research. Nowadays that research is tainted with companies paying to put their restaurant or attraction in a travel guide, (regardless Lonely Planet recommendations are still pretty good). It in a way is no longer the only locals dive bar that your cousin found on his trip to London, but that does not mean a tainted brochure is a tainted trip. In ways it is good that money is no longer second. It allows people from more walks of life travel. That being said the aim of this quote is to illustrate the authenticity of older guidebooks and how the connection between writer and companies gave the book/brochure some merit. 

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Catherine Dodd Corona

Shipping Out

Mimicking Wallace

Progymnasmata: Fable

I have never stepped foot on a cruise ship. I have rode the ferry to Haines, Alaska, a less popular cruise ship destination. I have collected mussels on the shore and watched people file out of a cruise ship. I have seen them look like a bird about to take flight, at the rim of the ridged mountains. I have watched them shop for chachkies, silicon magnets so they can place it on the refrigerator back home and be reminded of the special break they took. I have helped find the right size Xtratuf boot, the guides say rain boots won’t cut it. I have seen them point digital cameras at the ten eagles sitting on one tree. I have felt their fear as my dad explains how cold the water is. If you fall in you can swim for five minutes or go into fetal possession for 45 and hope someone gets you before hypothermia. I have seen them distinguish themselves from one another as the raft threads its way through glacial rivers. I have admired their ability to work together to lift the boat out of sand traps. I have giggled at the less ambitious passengers complaining about the cold, or the minimal paddle work. I have observed one paddle from an ignorant passenger make much more work for the oar-man by leaving it in the water. I have cheered people stiff from the small cabin sizes, pick up a boat and rest it back in the water. I have seen people pet a porcupine, feed a moose with their mouth, and watch rehabilitated Lynx and bears smell their foreign scent. I have picked up their litter and picked blueberries with them. I have never been a cruise ship passenger. I find cramping myself into a materialistic, consumption heavy boat with hundreds of other people unfavorable. I find many of the people that do, curious, kind and respectful but of course in any sample of people that big many are awful, demanding and disrespectful.