Into the Gray: Resurrecting Plato in the (Long) History of Rhetoric “The history of rhetoric” is and always has been a history(ies) composed of inadequate simplifications, of gross and destructive substitutions and easy answers, of early forecasts in uncertain clouds. Indeed, re-writing “the history” has become a favorite pastime of rhetoric … Continue reading Into the Gray: Resurrecting Plato in the (Long) Histories of Rhetoric
The history of capitalism is the history of marketing; the history of marketing is the history of communication; and the history of communication is, in part, the history of humanity’s ability to deliver and reach audiences. The media infrastructures of the 19th and 20th centuries convinced advertisers that the best way to … Continue reading Heating Up the Oven: Cookies, Bubbles and a Slice of Instagram’s Pie
Here's the proposal I've submitted to the Association of Rhetoric and Writing conference in October to be held in Austin, Texas. Crossing my fingers that I'll get in! The Activist UnEssay: Assessing, Deliberating, Responding Jacob Richter Clemson University Since the inception of the university, instructors of rhetoric and writing have historically … Continue reading Association of Rhetoric and Writing Conference Proposal
I'm making a podcast! 21st Century Sophist is a rhetoric and writing podcast produced and featuring Jacob Richter, RCID PhD student at Clemson University. In our inaugural episode, we explore how teaching circles in university writing programs can empower collaborative leadership capabilities and improve writing instruction and student learning. Future episodes will feature interviews, discussions, … Continue reading *Podcast Alert*- Introducing 21st Century Sophist
The recent surge of interest in “machinic rhetorics” within rhetoric and communication fields has contributed to renewed attention being applied to algorithms as acting agents (or in Gregory Ulmer’s vocabulary, egents) within digital rhetorical ecologies. Largely fueled by increased focus on application and practice of buzzwords associated with new materialism, object-oriented ontology, … Continue reading The Algorithm’s HR Complaint
I had the opportunity over the weekend to present on an outstanding panel at the Northeast Modern Language Association's 2018 meeting in Pittsburgh, PA titled Building a Better University: Creating A Culture of Collaboration. My presentation, "Putting it in Writing: Teaching Circles and Institutional Return on Investment," tackles how scheduled, officially-sanctioned meetings between writing program stakeholders … Continue reading NeMLA 2018: “Putting it in Writing”
Students always benefit from more rhetorical analysis. This is a simple statement that our disciplinary identities, the connotations that automatically form in our brains as rhetoricians and writing teachers, perhaps might function to cloud. What I mean to say here is not that (or not only that) students benefit from more rhetorical analysis assignments being … Continue reading Re-Framing RetroActive Composition
“One class down. Two more to go.” I can’t put a number on how many times I’ve whispered sentences like these under my breath over the past two years. Typically, I’ll find myself in a coffeeshop somewhere or perhaps at my living room table, hunched over a stack of papers that I’ve … Continue reading On UnGrading the Composition Classroom
Teacher Roles in Student Protests: When Passivity Becomes Rhetorical Action It’s spring break for my students and I in upstate New York, which means lots of snow, cancelled flights, undrivable roads and plenty of cancelled plans. It means there’s plenty of time for grading (and for procrastinating), and there’s plenty of time … Continue reading Teacher Roles In Student Protests: When Passivity Becomes Rhetorical Action
I spent Saturday writing and working with the Seven Valleys Writing Project and its members at Writing Matters V. This year's theme, Creating a Culture of Writers, was particularly attractive to me as I continue to pursue a career working within English and Writing departments within academia, and obviously as I prepare and construct pedagogies … Continue reading Writing Matters V (2018)- “Writing With Mirrors”
