REHUGO

REHUGO #1 ** The Overachievers Rhetorical Precis ** Robbins, Alexandra. __The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids__. New York City: Hyperion, 2006.
 * CITATION: **
 * CATEGORY: ** Book
 * PRECIS: ** Alexandra Robbins, an investigative journalist, in her book //The Overachievers: The Secret Lives of Driven Kids// claims that the current “overachiever” claims that the current overachiever culture is not only negatively affecting the educational system, but also today’s society. Robbins shows this by delving into the lives of 8 high school students, who she classifies as overachievers, and adding in bits of information, and statistics about similar topics to what the students are going through. Her objective is not only to show the pressure being put on these students, but also to show how it is negatively affecting the people around them, in order to draw awareness to the problem. Robbins uses the student’s stories to help keep her audience emotionally invested, and is easily able to get her point across.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY: ** I really enjoyed this book. Robbins was able to grab my attention easily, and I found the claim to be very true. After reading the book I have noticed people around me, and their habits, and wondered whether or not they would be classified as an overachiever. It also was quite surprising to me how emotionally invested some of these kids were in their schoolwork.

REHUGO #2

** Thinking as a Hobby Rhetorical Precis **
 * CITATION: ** Golding William, “Thinking as a Hobby.” //The Norton Reader, Shorter Eleventh Edition.// Ed. Linda H. Peterson and John C. Brereton. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 2003. 124-130.
 * CATEGORY: ** Essay
 * PRECIS: ** William Golding, Writer of the famous novel //Lord of the Flies//, in his essay //Thinking as a Hobby// explains his three classifications of thinking, and more specifically he promotes what he calls grade one thinking. Golding explains his ideas by using a narrative style, and using stories from his own life as examples. He is trying to convey ideas on thinking in order to get more people to be grade one thinkers. To convey his ideas to the audience Golding uses personal stories to show his credibility, and get the audience’s sympathy.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY: ** I found this essay very interesting. By using narratives Golding was able to capture my attention, more than he would have been able to with a normal essay style paper. I also thought that his ideas, and classifications were very interesting although I don’t necessarily agree with all of them.

REHUGO #3 ** CITATION: ** Neil Postman. __Amusing Ourselves to Death__. New York : Penguin Group, 1985.
 * Amusing Ourselves to Death Rhetorical Precis **
 * CATEGORY: ** Book
 * PRECIS: ** Neil Postman, celebrated author, in his book //Amusing Ourselves to Death// argues that today’s obsession with television and entertainment is negatively effecting what is important in society like education, religion, news, and politics. Postman shows this by giving the reader information about what the world was like when typography was the norm, and then showing the drastic changes that have taken us from typography to television. Postman’s objective is not only to show the how the world has been effected by television, but also to show how much better the world functioned with typography as the main source of communication, and entertainment, in order get people to stop watching television. Postman not only uses facts to persuade his audience, but he also uses his own ideas and evidence.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY: ** This book was very difficult for me to get into at first, and it took a while. However once I got past the first few chapters, and into where Postman began discussing the beginning of typography, I became very interesting. He presents many ideas that I would never have thought about, like how religion and education are being affected. I feel like he provides a totally different side to the argument against television.

REHUGO #4 ** George Washington and Phyllis Wheatley Rhetorical Precis **
 * CITATION: ** Wheatley, Phyllis and Washington, George. __Wheatley and Washington exchange__. :, 1775-1776.
 * CATEGORY: ** Letters
 * PRECIS: ** George Washington and Phyllis Wheatley, in their exchange show the similarities between social interactions today, and back in 1775. Washington and Wheatley show these similarities through the “adoring fan” letter, and poem sent by Wheatley. Wheatley includes a poem honoring Washington in order to show her admiration of Washington. The intended audience of Wheatley’s poem is to show Washington how much she admires him.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY: ** I thought that Wheatley’s poem was very good. I thought all the representation she used was really cool, and interpreting it was really fun.

REHUGO #5 ** Give the Kids a Break Rhetorical Precis **
 * CITATION: ** Rushin, Steve. "Give the Kids a Break." __Sports Illustrated__ 2006:.
 * CATEGORY: ** Magizine Article
 * PRECIS: ** Steve Rushin, journalist for //Sports Illustrated//, in his article “Give the Kids a Break” argues that kids need to have recess if only to let them have a break from the constant work of school. Rushin develops his point by pointing out the reasons that recess could be cancelled, and then countering with all the fun things he did at recess, and what is being done to keep it around. Rushin includes these arguments against recess in order to show how ridiculous some of them are. He is able to keep his audience ingaged by using a playful tone, which he implements when he talks about playground games.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY: ** I thought this article was very interesting. I didn’t realize how many schools were cutting recess, or why they would want to. I really like how he made his tone kind of friendly, and playful by talking about himself, and different playground games.

REHUGO #6 **Declaration of Independence Rhetorical Precis**


 * CATEGORY:** Document
 * PRECIS:** Thomas Jefferson, a famous American, in the Declaration of Independence, states that the American colonies are now independent. Jefferson starts by stating his purpose, and then names all the reasons that the colonies have for breaking away. Jefferson is stating that the colonies are now independent; in order make everyone become aware that the colonies are now a country. Jefferson’s intended audience is basically the entire world.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY:** I never realized how many offences against King George were listed in the declaration. There are way more than I thought there’d be.

REHUGO #7

**Patrick Henry’s Speech Rhetorical Precis**


 * CATEGORY:** Speech
 * PRECIS:** Patrick Henry, a well-known revolutionist, in his speech at the Virginia Convention, argues that the American colonies will not prosper under British rule, and that they must break away. Henry uses several allusions, and evidence to make his point against the British crown. His purpose was to convince the delegates at the convention that breaking away was the only option, in order to get them to vote in favor of revolution. To get his audience to question their previous opinions on this topic Henry uses rhetorical questions.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY:** I thought that this speech was very good. Henry’s use of rhetorical questions caused me to think more about what he was saying, and it made is argument make more sense to me.

REHUGO #8

**//Common Sense// Rhetorical Precis** **CATEGORY:** Pamphlet
 * PRECIS:** Thomas Paine, a famous revolutionary, in his pamphlet //Common Sense//, argues that the American colonies would do much better under their own democratic government, than under the British government. Paine shows this by first explaining how the colonial government works, and then how the British government works, and finishes with comparing them. His purpose is to show the colonists how much better off they’d be as their own country, in order to begin a revolution. Paine is writing to the general public, and uses allusions, to help them better understand his point.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY:** I found this section very difficult to read. Paine uses a lot of very long sentences that are not found as much in more current works, and this made it more difficult to read.

REHUGO #9 **// America the Beautiful //**** Rhetorical Precis **


 * CITATION: **// America the Beautiful // . Dir. Darryl Roberts. Perf. Various. Xenon, 2007. Film.
 * CATEGORY: ** Documentary Film
 * PRECIS: ** Darryl Roberts, a director, in his documentary film America the Beautiful claims that America’s obsession with beauty is due to the overwhelming amount of media and advertising based around looks. Roberts uses lots of statistics, and several anecdotes to support his claim. He wants to show how the media is portraying beauty, in order to make his viewers aware of America’s obsession with beauty. He uses anecdotes throughout the film to keep the audience emotionally invested in his argument.
 * PERSONAL COMMENTARY: ** I really enjoyed this documentary. I normally don’t enjoy documentaries very much, but this one was really interesting. I always knew that body image was a problem in America, but I never realized how bad it really was, and to what extremes some people go.

REHUGO # 10 **// Growing Up Online //**** Rhetorical Precis **


 * CITATION: **// Frontline: Growing Up Online // . Dir. Rachel Dretzin. Perf. Greg Abbot etc.. PBS, 2008. Film.
 * CATEGORY: ** Documentary Film
 * PRECIS: ** Rachel Dretzin, a director, in her documentary //Growing Up Online// informs her viewers of the dangers children are could be facing, from growing up online. She is able to develop her point by using specific examples, and expert testimonies. Dretzin wants to inform her readers of what it is like for a child in today’s society, with unrestricted access to the internet, in order to create awareness of the dangers of being online. By using anecdotes Dretzin is able to make an emotional connection with her viewers.
 * PERSONAL COMENTARY: ** I thought this documentary was very interesting. I had never thought that someone would actually live their entire life online, like Jessica did, It was very eye opening to some of the things that children and teenagers can be exposed to that I had never thought about before.