Letters on Covid-19 Re-engagement: Rhetorical Analysis Possibilities

Due to the need for clear and caring messaging during re-engagement within the Covid-19 pandemic, many service providers and businesses have been compelled to write letters to their clients, customers, or community members.  Certainly, these notes could be included on the front of websites, but I find it interesting that I have received so many letters in the mail.  Perhaps I belong to or use services where a letter was needed since they did not have email addresses or had folks who did not have one.  Mail--even these form letters--have become more appreciated in the past few months because many people were sequestered in their homes.

These communications are meant to alleviate fear about returning to services.  My first decision about whether to return to a service was to go to get my yearly mammogram in May.  The radiography department is within the local hospital.  I did not get a letter or any information about what they would be doing to make me safe or feel safe.  I had to call myself, and they told me what I would be doing to make others safe.  

These letters, on the other hand, included information about what “we” were going to do, in addition to what “you” would be required to or could do.  They were each carefully crafted.  Thus, I believe they offer an opportunity for faculty to help students note the rhetorical urgency of these letters and even suggest the importance of learning to write with rhetorical sensitivity to students who may not think they will have this need in their future workspaces.  I will analyze three letters--especially format, greeting, and point of view--as a model for rhetorical analysis for composition or humanities courses in the early fall.  And I will try to use a rhetorical strategy myself--writing as briefly as I can.

These are the three that I am choosing to analyze:

• From a dentist, on colorful, business-designed stationery including bullet points
• From a church, two full white pages with some bullets in which a participant has to answer “yes”
• From a massage therapist, full white two pages with numbered guidelines and bullets of suggestion and a graphic at the end with two hands held together with roots coming out

The textual conventions of bullets or numbers work to make the message clear and easy to read.  The letter from the dentist is crammed together with no spaces between lines, clearly attempting at making a one page letter.

All three use a formal letter writing strategy in a “block” format that includes their address at the top.  The greeting is carefully considered to create a caring tone:    “Dear Patient,” from the dentist; “Dear Friends of Christ,” from the church; and “To my amazing clients,” from the massage therapist.  The first line from the dentist and the church focuses on the care in safety and wellness.  Surprisingly, the massage therapist’s letter begins with her feelings and connecting them to others:  “waking every morning to a new episode of the twilight zone...challenging in completely new and sometimes scary ways...Transitioning our…’new normal’...a steady decline...makes it feel like the sun is shining once again.  I feel you.  I am right here with you.  We are all in this together.”  This letter shares raw feelings as a way of connecting to the clients.  

All of them have a “we” voice at some point but then shift to a “you” point of view. The dentist begins:  “We have been thinking about you and hope that you and your family are safe and healthy.  Everyone has been through a lot.”  This sentiment is in all of the letters, a reassuring acknowledgement of community experience.  Then the letter shifts back and forth between what “we” will do (e.g. wear masks, allow more times between appointments) and what “you” will do (e.g. come alone if possible, wear masks).  Though the letter from the church is also written by one person, it quickly shifts from “I” to “we” (we have decided, we have limited space, we need volunteers) and then moves to what “you” will be required to do.  

The attempt to modify fear is a purpose with comments like “[we have] extended the dispensation for the Sunday obligation to all the faithful until August 30th.  No one should feel obligated to attend Mass, nor should anyone risk the health and safety of another person to attend.”  Likewise, the letter from the massage therapist discusses what “we” will do and then shifts to what “you can do to help.”  The letter also includes qualifiers:  “Is it perfect? No. Can we guarantee 100% protection from pathogens?  Unfortunately no.”  Somehow admitting that there is an understanding that there are still risks feels comforting.  Both the dentist and massage therapist acknowledge information from the CDC and professional organizations.  Although all of the contact information is provided in the letters, only the dentist actually offers patients to call if they have questions.

The challenge in analyzing letters in the fall might be that some students did not get letters or they threw them away.  If they can recall any of interest to them, they could ask for another letter from a service provider or business.  Some of the letters might even be included on a website.  During campaigns I use flyers that reach my door to teach rhetorical analysis, especially for school boards and other local candidates.  Although letter writing in the form of a “cover letter” is seen as a technical writing component and needs to be a part of their writing repertoire for job-focused students, analyzing letters together might help expose students to the need to consider rhetorical choices in their writing in specific and unexpected situations that we will encounter in the future.  This pandemic has given us many opportunities to connect the world to the classroom, and I believe that analyzing these timely letters is one of them.

Usually in our village there is a large ceremony at the cemetery, but because humans here are so creative, at 11 a.m. there will be taps played in procession, trumpet players lined up every 1/10 of a mile for two miles.  I’ve been reading every story phrase of the 1000 lives the NY Times gleaned from obituaries all over the country as a sample of the 100K.  I love ones like Kerry Lehman, 62, Jackson, Mich., shining light and an uplifting presence and Frances M. Pilot, 81, Wall, NJ, known as Big Mama to all who loved her; I am amazed by ones like Philip Kahn, 100, Westbury, NY, World War II veteran whose twin died in the Spanish Flu epidemic and Jerzy Glowczewski, 97, NYC, last of the WWII Polish fighter pilots; and we honor Idris Bey, 60, NYC, EMT and former Marine who rushed to the World Trade Center on 9/11 and Don Osceola, 77, Hollywood, FL, decorated Vietnam War veteran and member of the Seminole Tribe.  Humans are so varied and creative both in their lives and in their expressions to honor them.  Selah.

Sidney--who I wrote about earlier as a master of 
creative responses--has been accepted to the Art 
Institute of Chicago!  So happy for her!

As I begin planning for a new semester, I am continuing to reflect on and theorize how students create their own expressions from their education.  I witnessed so many creative responses from students at the end of last semester. 

One student wrote about Logic's album cover Everybody and suggested that it reminded her of the School of Athens, though others thought it was more like The Last Supper.  She says, "The following is Logic's Everybody album cover. The only reason The School of Athens makes me think of this album cover is because of the overall balance and the vibrant colors of everyone's clothing contrasting with the neutral tones of the building on either side. Also, one thing I didn't know about this album cover is that it is actually a painting, I always thought it was an image someone had created in a computer program. If anyone is interested, I included a website that shows who everyone is on the album cover.

These are graphic design students, so they are interested in the art work on album covers.  For their sake, I'm going to post this obituary of an iconic graphic designer of album covers who died recently.

I am looking forward to learning more from students this semester! Here is one many interesting posts from Austin, a mathematics major. 

One of the most interesting topics discussed last week was Roman mosaics.  Mosaics are patterns created by organized hard materials of stone, glass, etc.  These mosaics can create stunning visuals like the mosaic below.

 

These kind of remind me of fractals.  Fractals are geometric figures created by taking a simple shape, like a triangle, and repeating it whilst shrinking the shape infinitely.  While fractals are mostly computer generated, they can also be found in nature, although their pattern is not infinite.  Some examples of fractals in nature include snowflakes, DNA, algae, trees, and more. 

 

Below is one of the most famous fractals called the Mandelbrot Set.  This is an example of an infinitely repeating fractal.  If you scroll down on this website, you will find an interactive image of the Mandelbrot Set where you can zoom in and witness its beauty.

The Latin Creare: Creative Responses in Education Regardless of Economics

Anxiety, silence, hustle, and gamesmanship--so much goes on in college classes so it is stunning when there is also joy.  At the end of every General Education humanities course, my classes take a group final where I offer a question and they discuss it without me and a student's name is chosen from a hat to answer for the class.  It is always a compelling experience.  It breaks down the I-just-care-about-my-grade college experience.  Last year I asked, "How is it that we created so much joy in this class together?"

I am interested in joy through the struggle of being a student, but I want to share students' experiences in making a creative education for themselves, those who make creative responses to school activities even as they have jobs and full lives outside of college.  I hope to share their stories here.

One way students make their own meaning is through connections to their “outside” of school discourse communities (as Gerald Graff might say in "Hidden Intellectualism.")  For example, Sidney is in my Humanities 101 class on ancient cultures.  She works at Herbs Etc. in Mt. Pleasant.  Here is a bit of her response to our class (used with her permission) in week two where she tells us about her job and Egyptian oils on the online forum:

I wanted to bring this to light because there are some very specific blends that have been named after several Gods and Goddesses. One of which is the essential oil blend Tjet. I know what you’re thinking. What on Earth does this have to do with this week's topic? Let me explain. In Ancient Egypt there is a Goddess known by the name of Isis (not that Isis)…

Oh struggling but joyful students out there,  how do you connect your job or hobbies to your college learning?

"I spent much of my childhood listening to the sound of striving."  This is the first sentence of the first chapter of Michelle Obama's Becoming.  I love it.  I think the first couple chapters of her experiences in kindergarten and early elementary would be so interesting for pre-service teachers.  

I also like the ways she describes the way she learns "college knowledge" and resilience.
I was learning all the time now...in the obvious academic ways, holding my own in classes...how to write efficiently, how to think critically.  I'd inadvertently signed up for a 300-level theology class as a freshman and l floundered my way through, ultimately salvaging my grade with an eleventh-hour, leave-it-all-on-the-field effort on the final paper.  It wasn't pretty, but I found it encouraging in the end, proof that I could work my way out of just about any hole. (78)

Later, she encourages students to plan ahead, start way ahead of deadlines.  Of course, the autobiography is an amazing inside perspective on campaigning, on being an ambassador as First Lady, on living on the South Side and on being a devoted mom while working for nonprofits.  I've imagined talking with Michelle Obama in my living room, and now at least I got to hear her voice and story in my living room!

I like stories about science.  I’ve enjoyed biographies about Copernicus and Einstein.  Recently, I’ve liked reading about 19^th century female scholars in science in Elizabeth Gilbert’s The Signature of All Things about a character who studies mosses and corresponds with Darwin and Barbara Kingsolver’s Unsheltered about a real biologist who corresponded with Darwin. 

In Kingsolver’s novel there is a character who is a science teacher—Thatcher Greenwood.  Though born in poverty without a mother and an alcoholic, abusive father, he helps doctors in the Civil War and one of them sends him to Harvard afterwards.  He ends up leaving Boston to a small town that is run by “moralists.”  He wants to take his students—mostly girls—into the fields and woods for data collection but is not allowed to.  He shares the history of science, introducing Darwin’s “descent with modification.”  Eventually, he is forced to speak at a public debate called “Darwin vs. Decency.”  The local media is all over it.  Though he carefully and patiently debates the principal, he loses and eventually loses his job.

Dana Goldstein starts The Teacher Wars:  A History of America’s Most Embattled Profession with the claim that public school teaching has become the most scrutinized profession.  I think it is good for us to remember the very old debates about “content” and also about “pedagogy.”  So courageous.

Here’s a couple of great lines:

“Thatcher himself in daily contest with the baby Jesus as he tried to hold their attention to the so-called imponderables of physics:  light, heat, magnetism, conservation of energy.  He was losing, to the more ponderable Virgin birth.  His fellow teachers advised against trying.”  (254-255)