By Tyler Robert Sheldon
...No, listen. When I talk about pathos, it’s because everyone
in here is having kind of a crummy day. Do you think we all
have the bandwidth, the awakeness, the caffeine in our
systems, to start class in a mode where an appeal to emotion
means an appeal to sunshine and rainbows? Because let me
tell ya, that’s not what Tuesdays are all about. When I talk
about pathos, what I’m really pointing out is how this
is our last essay of the semester, the Research Paper, the big
kahuna—let’s put a pin in that one—and even though you
can borrow research from your previous three essays, you
still have to ensure that your focus, and your argument, are
all original. Does anyone have a question so far? Yes,
wanting to talk about fear in conjunction with writing
can certainly count as a question. How many of you are
a little bit spooked by this essay? Okay, that’s a lot
of hands. At ease, class. Back to kahuna. It’s not just
the burger Sam Jackson munches in that Tarantino flick
to intimidate Brett, who’s going to be shot in a few minutes.
No, this paper will not eat your breakfast then shoot you.
Kahuna, Hawaiian. It means shaman, wizard, sorcerer.
Because writing can feel like magic if you push past
the fear. It also means doctor. When we revise, we heal
our essays into stronger arguments that can stand
on their own. Kahuna can also mean wave, like how
this paper feels, crashing toward you and knowing how
we puny humans can’t breathe too well underwater.
But we build our authority by being the best riders
of waves. Which means now it’s time to talk about ethos...
Tyler Robert Sheldon, MFA Author of Everything is Ghosts (Finishing Line Press, 2024) and When to Ask for Rain (Spartan Press, 2021) Editor-in-Chief, MockingHeart Review (http://mockingheartreview.com/) Assistant Managing Editor, Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Pop Culture and Pedagogy.
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