And the Topic of the Day IS…
What are the gas prices today? Up to five dollars? No? Back down to three? No, two? Oh my goodness! In the one dollar range?! What’s the price per barrel? Why did the gas prices go up again? Oh, it’s St. Patrick’s Day again, and everyone is out traveling to see their families in Ireland, so they stuck those gas prices to them.
*DATA*
Seriously though, gas prices have become the hot topic, especially during summer vacation, spring break, and -most of- the holidays. However, gas is not the only essential product that has increased in price in the U.S. Of course, anything that is made from oil has increased as well. The price of milk has gone up. The price of paper products has gone up. The price of any typical services has gone up. So why have all of these prices gone up? OIL PRICES HAVE TOO! That’s why.
Our country is so dependent on foreign oil that we have little to no control over the prices of oil-based products in our country.
*CLAIM*
Our country needs to become more self-sufficient when it comes to oil. Our country can become more self-sufficient when it comes to oil if we would just drill offshore.
*REBUTAL*
Now, many let’s-go-greeners say that “we MUST find an alternative cleaner energy source, and we MUST find it now!” However, let us be more realistic. Yes. We must find an alternative and cleaner energy source, and we do need to find it soon. Wind power, solar power, hydroelectric power, and biodiesel are all going to take time.
*WARRANT*
If we would start now, we might have everything converted where it would run on one or some of those powers in ten to fifteen years.
*QUALIFIER*
But, there is a more obvious and logical solution to our problem — offshore oil drilling.
*BACKING*
The U.S has perfect places for offshore oil drilling. The Outer Continental Shelf (OSC) has a record in the oil industry that is “quite astounding,” according to energy studies’ expert Kenneth B. Medlock. Although the drilling poses some threat to the ocean life, it has beat the challenges of recent hurricanes such as Katrina and Ivan.
Much of the OSC is off-limits for drilling (even areas that are not susceptible to extreme hurricanes), but if it could be drilled, then we could produce more of our own oil. In return, this would make the prices of our much-loved oil-based products decrease. So, while our oil prices our down and we aren’t thinking about how high they are, we could probably focus more on finding that alternative energy source that we are in desperate need of. We need to stop wlimiting our abilities that would help us to become more self-sufficient, and we need to grab our opportunities by the horns.
Shopping for Style
It’s Black Friday. Avid shoppers are lined up at the doors of their favorite stores from the time that they open, and they run in and out until they are forced out by exhausted workers who are ready to close. All day the shoppers have been in search of clothes, appliances, furniture, and -my favorite- shoes. Everyone is shopping for items that suit their own personal style. Much like the avid shoppers search for their style, avid readers shop for style in the rhetoric of writers. They shop and search in magazines, books, newspapers, and other types of literature that strike their style-savvy eyes. When readers finally find the perfect style, they fall in love, much like a shoe shopper falls for the perfect pair of shoes.
Examples of Rhetoric (all from Marley & Me by John Grogan):
- Anaphora; We were young. We were in love. We were rollicking in those sublime early days of marriage when life seems about as good as life can get.
- Epistrophe; The prior owners, a retired postal clerk and his wife, loved the color green. The exterior stucco was green. The interior walls were green. The curtains were green. The carpet, which they had just purchased to help sell the house, was green.
- Polysyndeton; Not a cheery kelly green or a cool emerald green or even a daring lime green but a puke-your-guts-out-after-split-pea-soup green accented with khaki trim.
- Parallelism; The literature was filled with glowing testimonials about Labrador retriever’s loving, even-keeled personality, its gentleness with children, its lack of aggression, and its desire to please.
- Simile; He quaked with joy as he burrowed his head into my stomach and nibbled the buttons of my shirt, his tail slapping the steering wheel like the needle on a metronome.
Just as the perfect shoe is hard to find, excellent rhetoric is also. However, it is out there, and it can be found if searched for hard enough. When it is found, the shopping trip has been worthwhile. But for the most part, rhetoric is everywhere, so go out and shop for some!
My Mini-Saga
As I was reading Pink’s chapter on stories, I started thinking about my family and all of their wild and crazy stories. When my family and I get together with all of my dad’s family, things are bound to get interesting. Tipically, we gather on holidays like Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Easter. Usually about fifteen to twenty people show up at my grandma’s house, some of which I do not know, and others are not even part of the family. I always meet someone knew when I go visit my dad’s side of the family. All in all, it is pretty fun, but what makes it so fun are the stories. Now, my dad can sit around for hours and just be telling one long, elaborate, exciting, action-packed story and every single person will be hanging on his every word. It is about the same way with my grandma as well. Those two can really tell some stories, at least I think so. Due to my crazy story-telling family, I chose to take Mr. Pink’s advice and try writing a mini-saga. Which came out looking like this: Continue reading this entry »
L.A. Times Music News RSS Feed
Scientific American Topic – Stress RSS Feed
What I Was Looking For
As I sat down and started to read several student blogs, I became overwhelmed with all the well thought out extremely profound blogs I found. Of course, I started to stress a little, or maybe a lot. Who knows? That is just me. After I finally calmed down, I found the three perfect blogs that I had been stressing so much over trying to find. So thankfully, I finally found what I had been looking for. Continue reading this entry »
The Meaning of “Life”
The biggest moral dilemma of stem cell research between religious leaders and scientist is the definition of that simple four-letter word, life. Continue reading this entry »
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