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Forms of Rhetoric: What are we really learning?

Neil Postman makes me swoon. His book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business may have been first published in 1985, but it is absolutely still relevant today. I share with you a paragraph from his last chapter, entitled “The Huxleyan Warning”, in which he discusses the dangers of television: …

In the Media: Book Review of “Restitution” by Kathy Kacer

“Restitution” is the true story of a Jewish Czechoslovakian family immigrating to Canada during the Holocaust and their determination to reclaim four paintings. If you’re in the least bit interested in history, art, legacy, and the struggle to maintain the self within times of political strife, you will be able to take much away from reading this book.

The Practical Guide: Freelancing (Part Five)

As a freelancer, most of your work is likely going to be conducted from home. This means that you don’t have a boss looking over your shoulder or a clock on the wall that tells you how many hours you’re supposed to work for and when you’re allowed to take breaks. You have to be both your own boss and your own employee. Follow these tips to keep you on track and organized.

The Practical Guide: Freelancing (Part Four)

Check out our previous sessions of this Freelancing mini-series: Part One: Gaining Experience Part Two: Building and Preparing Your Business Part Three: Finding Work Part Four: Freelancing Fees When you first become a freelancer (whether it’s in writing and editing or something else entirely), one of the trickiest parts to figure out is what to …

The Practical Guide: Freelancing (Part Three)

Check out our previous sessions in this Freelancing mini-series: Part One: Gaining Experience Part Two: Building and Preparing Your Business Finding Work You have the experience, you’ve prepared yourself to have a real from-home business going, and now it’s time to get work! As we discussed in Part Two, it is important to have business …

The Practical Guide: Freelancing (Part Two)

Check out the previous session in this Freelancing mini-series, Part One: Gaining Experience. Building and Preparing Your Business Gaining freelancing experience is likely to take months and years – it’s a slow process, but it’s a work in progress. The more experience you get, the better the quality of your work (hopefully), and the faster …

The Practical Guide: Freelancing (Part One)

Welcome to our latest mini-series on Freelancing! In this series, we’ll address: Part One: Gaining Experience Part Two: Building and Preparing Your Business Part Three: Finding Work Part Four: Freelancing Fees Part Five: Organizing Your Time If there is anything else you would be interested in learning about with regards to freelancing, please don’t hesitate …

Forms of Rhetoric: Neil Postman on the Written Word

From Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman: People like ourselves may see nothing wondrous in writing, but our anthropologists know how strange and magical it appears to a purely oral people – a conversation with no one and yet with everyone. What could be stranger than the …

Forms of Rhetoric: Wording is Everything (Raw vs. No-bake)

Why is it that offering someone a dessert and calling it “no-bake” will often be seen as more appealing than if you call it “raw”? Is it because the word “raw” is, in fact, raw itself? “No-bake” implies nostalgic childhood memories of making goodies and working with gooey, delicious dough. It makes me think of …

The Practical Guide: Random Rare Word (Supererogation)

Courtesy of my friend Westwood, today’s random rare word is supererogation. She got it from a philosophy class some time ago and held onto it. Hurray for words! Supererogation (noun) The performance of more than duty requires. See also supererogatory (adjective), which comes from the Late Latin supererogatio from supererogare, which means to pay in …

Lifestyle Editing: What does your book club read?

This week, the sistertraveller began a book club compiled of about half a dozen of us. We’re meeting every week and we’ll be reading about one book every two weeks. I’ve never joined a book club before, so I’m incredibly excited to be a part of a group of women who are equally passionate about …