WRITTEN WORKS
On this page, you will find a variety of essays that I wrote for my Rhetoric and Civic Life class. These essays varied widely on the content, but all focused on employing various rhetorical devices to best create an argument. Click on the titles of the pieces themselves to be taken to a pdf.
Should we legalize marijuana? This is a question that would have been nearly unthinkable just a few short decades ago but has recently gained the international spotlight after Canada became the first major global economy to legalize the drug. In this essay, I not only discuss my own stance on the issue but examine what the factors were that drove this once inconceivable idea into mainstream politics and news.
In this essay, I conducted a rhetorical analysis of a civic artifact. Specifically, the old wartime poster that depicts Uncle Sam pointing at the viewer and telling them to join the war effort. I discuss what made this poster so successful when hundreds of other posters, even those created by the same author for the same purpose, have fallen by the wayside. What aspects of this poster have made it endure through the decades, to the point where it is even recognizable today?
It is no secret that gun violence is becoming an epidemic in the U.S. With every new death it is becoming increasingly obvious that the current situation is not sustainable; something has to be done. However, the solution for the future may lie in the past. This brief argues in favor of re-introducing the Manchin-Toomey proposal to Congress, which was first introduced in 2015 in an attempt to make background checks required for a larger subset of firearms sales.
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