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Carolina Cepeda ENC 3331 Rhetorical Citizenship Paper Crossing Paths: Understanding Rhetoric and Civic Engagement

The term rhetoric and I have crossed paths ever since I started college. However, it was never my concern to understand, or simply look into the meaning of the word itself. It often came up when it came to professional writing, and for me it just sounded like a complex and dense term. After several readings during my Writing and Rhetoric class, I finally got a hold of what this prominent word was all about. According to Paula Mathieu and her book Selections and Tactics of Hope, whom she also refers to Paul Loebs Soul of a Citizen, rhetoric can be defined as:

In hopeful and practical ways, how social change operates and the role individuals play in changing the world. He claimsand shows through many examplesthat social change is a mysterious process and that one rarely knows when he or she had affected another or when social movements really grow (Mathieu 47).

According to Mathieu and her analysis on Loebs work, rhetoric is based on the notion that the social action we play as citizens in this world, whether it can benefit usor others, or simply not make a difference, creates social change. However, I dont think that rhetoric is a mysterious process like Mathieu believes; rhetoric is a process that might not be recognized by us when we

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are being engaged in it, but once the person understands what it means, it is no longer a mystery. Rhetoric may also be considered by professionals to be part of discourse communication. I personally like the description that is given by those two wordshowever, rhetoric involves more than just a discussion, communication may be delivered in several ways, but a major necessity for it to be rhetoric is body presence as well. Patricia Bizzel, author of Academic Discourse and Critical Consciousness states,

Rhetoric is the study of the personal, social, and historical elements in human discoursehow to recognize them, interpret them, and act on them, in terms both of situational context and of verbal style. This is the kind of study one has to perform in order to effect persuasion, the traditional end of rhetoric (Bizzel 218).

Although I agree with certain concepts Bizzel provides about Rhetoric, she gives examples that are very specificis rhetoric always and only personal, social, and historical? What about political or economic issues? The problem with the definition is that it limits the opportunity to help those who want to understand the meaning by establishing detailed subjects in which rhetoric gets involved, in this case, exclusively personal, social, and historical elements.

Now, to understand what the notorious word means, I decided to make my own definition, which states,

Rhetoric is a form of communication that entails social, persuasive, informative, and energetic movements to develop and establish social change. Whether the

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change is beneficial or not, rhetoric encourages the principle that human discourse and physical activity promotes a cause and finds a solution for it.

In association to rhetoric and the process of understanding it, there are other terms and their meanings that correlate with rhetoric, which are civic engagement. Just like rhetoric, civic engagement forms part of our every day life, even when we do not notice we are using it, its still there in action. According to AACU, Association of American Colleges and Universities,

Civic engagement is "working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes." (Excerpted from Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, edited by Thomas Ehrlich, published by Oryx Press, 2000, Preface, page vi.) In addition, civic engagement encompasses actions wherein individuals participate in activities of personal and public concern that are both individually life enriching and socially beneficial to the community (AACU Civic Engagement Value Rubric).

AACUs idea of civic engagement illustrates the impression that when we are engaged, we are putting our energy to participate in a social cause. Like rhetoric, it is not always a beneficial outcome, but at least there is an aftermath to the energy we put into action. However, when we work together, it is not always putting energy physically, but putting energy mentally as well. Also, I disagree with civic engagement being an idea of simply making a difference, sometimes we can work with civic engagement to keep situations the way they are, without and avoiding seeking change.

Cepeda Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, Inc.

During a semester project for my Writing and Rhetoric class, around seven to eight of my classmates and I got involved with Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, Florida. This organization provides financial and legal assistance to citizens that do not have the economic needs to afford these services. Throughout this journey, I learned that being rhetoric and civically engaged does not always require body presence, but it entails language capabilities that can make others listen to you and your cause without being physically present.

During my volunteer hours, I had to make calls asking for potential sponsors for a recent event called Breakfast of Championsthis process was somehow challenging. Organizations often hung up on me, others listened but later on said Im not interested, and it made me wonder: Am I approaching them wrong? What can I do to improve my language delivery? At this moment, my presence was not needed; just my voice. I came to realize it was not the way I spoke, but the simple fact that these organizations were not able to provide this support at this particular time.

Another duty I came around with was to e-mail UCF professors and Florida lawyers to Like a Facebook page for fundraising. Once again; neither my body presence, nor was my voice were needed. At this moment, all that was needed from me was polite and grateful words. Unlike the phone calls, the e-mails were a more successful approach to gain Facebook Likes in order to profit the charity. When sending these e-mails, I could have been anonymous, these lawyers and professor would not know who I really was if it werent for my brief introduction. Yet, I was still being civically engaged and applying the idea of rhetoric in action.

My final responsibility was to attend the Breakfast of Champions, unlike the other

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responsibilities, this time I was able to use my body presence to represent UCF students that attended the event as well as myself. The fact that I had the opportunity to attend this event was inspirational, hundreds of people attended in order to benefit the charity (majority lawyers), and listening to the stories from some of their clients was extremely touching.

Volunteering for Legal Aid was at times struggling, confusing, and a bit rushed. However, I learned that being a rhetorical citizen is more than trying to persuade others into an issue; it requires dedication, responsibility, and participation. Also, this experience has proved to me that to be rhetorically engaged does not mean we have to take our body presence to take action; it can be by making phone calls and sending e-mails as well.

What is Rhetorical Citizenship?

When we talk about rhetorical citizenshipwe have to involve both the meanings of rhetoric and civic engagement. Like I mentioned before, both of these terms cross paths with each other. Amy Wan, author of In The Name of Citizenship states,

This emphasis on earning citizenship brings to bear the importance of personal responsibility, which could translate in our world to the expectation of responsibility with the literate skills taught in class (Wan 38).

Wan explains how citizenship becomes a personal responsibility that we take as a challenge, this way other can hold ourselves accountable. I agree with Wans idea of expectation because we put ourselves in the position where we want to accomplish our goal by involving ourselves in any type of issue, whether it is political, economic, or social. Makes sense, since we want to achieve those objectives we set when we take a project like the one from Legal Aid Society

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In order to be rhetorically engaged, we dont have to be present physically, as long as we achieve all the purposes we set ourselves to do; for example, throughout my volunteer work at Legal Aid, I had to use my voice, words, and body separately during every task. We need to be available for those who need us in the community and be able to communicate with them on a daily basis. Show interest, be involved, and be accountable are my main tips for someone who wants to be rhetorically engaged. No matter how we make ourselves accessible, whether it is through social media, or body presence.

After my journey at Legal Aid Society, I learned that is not only what we say and deliver the message, it also involves of how we say it. Communication involves body presence, speech, and/or language, and it can be delivered in any type or form. What becomes relevant when we communicate is being able to have an approach that makes others comfortable. Its not always about achieving a goal because we might not always want to change the way situations are, but we might just want to keep them that way.

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Mathieu, Paula. "Writing in the Streets." Tactics of Hope: The Public Turn in English Composition. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 2005. Print.

Bizzel, Patricia. Academic Discouse and Critical Consciousness. Pittsburgh UP, 1992. 218. "Civic Engagement VALUE rubric ." . Association of American Colleges and Universities AACU. Web. 6 Nov 2013.

Wan, Amy J. "In the Name of Citizenship: The Writing Classroom and the Promise of Citizenship" College English 74.1 (2011): 38. Print.

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Date Friday, Oct. 4th, 2013

Activity

Time Started

Time Ended 5:00 P.M

Total Time 2 hours

Resources used Car

Notes on civic engagement Meet lawyers from the firm and how the worked as a whole.

Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

Went to 3:00 P.M meet Donna Haynes from Legal Aid to figure out how to get started. Went to 3:00 P.M Legal Aid. Meet PNCs Business Banker in order to get them involved in the charity.

6:00 P.M

3 hours

Car; drove classmates back and forth to campus.

Thursday, October 9th, 2013

Prepared my script to make calls to sponsors.

8:00 P.M

9:00 P.M

1 hour

My computer, as well as the information gathered from Mrs. Haynes and the charity.

Thursday, Went to October 10th, Legal Aid 2013 and started the real work: call for sponsors!

3:00 P.M

5:00 P.M

2 hours

My computer, as well as the information from the Chamber of Commerce.

Interesting to meet the PNC Business Banker and see how their company could be incorporated as a sponsor for the Breakfast for Champions event. I had never written a script like that, asking money for a charity (pressure to know if its good enough to get money). Got rejected by many sponsors, but learned to be more comfortable and used to the fact that its not an

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easy journey. Wednesday, Went to 3:00 P.M October 16th, Legal Aid 2013 and got the directions to e-mail, or call UCF Professors to like their Facebook page. Friday, Recruited 1:00 P.M th October 18 , my 2013 Facebook friend to like the Young Lawyers Section Facebook page. Wednesday, Went to October 23rd, Legal Aid 2013 and emailed around 20 lawyers in order for them to like the Facebook page. 3:00 P.M 5:00 P.M 2 hours My computer and my cell phone in order to look for phone numbers and e-mails. My computer to send requests and messages, as well as my cell phone to send SMS. My computer, as well as my car to drive classmates back and forth to campus. Succeeded with several calls and emails and made some professors like it.

2:00 P.M

1 hour

Learned that it is easy to make close friends like the Facebook page, but got less likes than what I expected (20). Did not receive an answer right away. But I knew I had to be polite and personal towards these lawyers so they would be more understanding (send personal emails, instead of a mass email). Managed to e-mail around 20 more lawyers, as

6:00 P.M

3 hours

Thursday, Went to the 5:00 P.M th October 24 , Florida Bar 2013 Organization web page to

6:00 P.M

1 hour

Used my computer, as well as the

Cepeda 10 send more e-mail to lawyers. information received from Mrs. Haynes. before, being personal and not general in the e-mails, so they can tell Im being professional and interested. Used my At this point, I computer, had received as well as various the responses information from received Altamonte from Mrs. lawyers. I Haynes. started to email Clermont lawyers at this moment. Used my car Was able to to drive to witness what Downtown Legal Aid Orlando and does; heard pick up from their classmates own clients at the UCF stories. campus.

Saturday, Went to the 10:00 A.M October26th, Florida Bar 2013 Organization web page to send more e-mail to lawyers.

12:00 P.M

2 hours

Thursday, November 7th, 2013

Went to Church Street Ballroom to attend Breakfast of Champions

6:30 A.M

9:30 A.M

3 hours

Total: 20 Hours.

Cepeda 11 Draft Corrections from Xenecia Farrell

Carolinas Letter My goodness from the first page of the paper I was intrigued. I like how you posed other peoples definitions and agreed and disagreed with some parts of them, but not only that. You explained WHY you disagreed with certain parts and then establish your voice of strong opinion with stating that youve come up with your own definition as a result. The section about Legal Aid could be expounded. That idea that your voice we the sole tool for persuasion could be linked to rhetoric explained more. I think your point was that there were so many ways in which you used rhetoric in a non-physical manner. This is such an interesting point I feel like you left me with a cliff hanger. Please expound, I beg of you. Other than that continue to work on organizing your ideas to increase flow and readability and youll be golden.