{"id":536,"date":"2014-03-11T16:51:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-11T16:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning201314\/?p=536"},"modified":"2014-03-11T17:32:35","modified_gmt":"2014-03-11T17:32:35","slug":"bryant-16-learning-more-of-the-d-c-rhetoric","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/2014\/03\/11\/bryant-16-learning-more-of-the-d-c-rhetoric\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryant ’16 Learning More of the D.C. Rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Group1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Patrick Bryant ’16<\/em> – The students of the Rhetoric Department\u2019s Voices of America course send you greetings from our nation\u2019s capital.\u00a0 As you\u2019ve read over some of my classmates\u2019 posts, you can tell we\u2019ve already had a great day and a half exploring the sites and examining the rhetorical strategies behind the nation\u2019s most iconic monuments and museums.<\/p>\n

Today was a great opportunity to make site visits, gain some insight into the lives of some of Washington D.C.\u2019s professionals, and have a chance to ask both policy and \u201cday in the life\u201d questions.\u00a0 The site visits included stops at the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, a visit at the U.S. Capitol Building through Senator Joe Donnelly\u2019s office, and an evening talk hosted by D.C.\u2019s very popular Newseum.\u00a0 The conversations and the sights made for a very worthwhile day and it was an honor to meet with Senator Donnelly for a few minutes this afternoon.<\/p>\n

I want to talk specifically about some of the rhetorical agents witnessed in our visit to the U.S. Capitol.\u00a0 This was my second visit, and we were very fortunate to have the assistance of Andre Adeyemi \u201912 and Senator Donnelly\u2019s office, to enjoy a semi-private tour.\u00a0 We watched the 14-minute introductory video in the Capitol Visitor\u2019s Center.\u00a0 The video highlighted the strength, prominence, and evolution of the nation\u2019s legislative branch.\u00a0 Approval ratings and congressional gridlock aside, the video is meant to put the Congress in a light where it\u2019s a direct representation of the American public. \u00a0It talked about the evolution of ideas, through the legislative process, to become the laws of this land – no mention of special interests, the power angling, and the debt crisis.\u00a0 The movie and the ensuing guided tour through old chambers of the legislature and Supreme Court made for a tremendous history lesson, and rhetorically the unity between new and old demonstrated the keen importance of tradition, but the message of the movie coupled that with an eye towards progress.\u00a0 The movie highlighted the discussions of slavery as the nation grew in the first half of the 19th<\/sup> century, but the tone changed as civil rights legislation took center stage in the 20th<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n

Meeting with the Senator and hearing what he had to say gave us some perspective into the rhetoric that encompasses his role.\u00a0 He referred to his office as \u201cour\u201d office, the office of the people of Indiana.\u00a0 In a geographical area where symbolism is king, Senator Donnelly\u2019s comment certainly garnered my respect.<\/p>\n

I want to extend my thanks to the leadership of our classroom professor and leader of this trip, Professor Sara Drury, and the assistance of Professor Shamira Gelbman of the Political Science Department.\u00a0 This has been an incredible experience and without the generosity of the friends of the College, these immersion experiences would not be possible.\u00a0 I certainly hope that you take time to read the posts from my classmates as they share with you more stories from the week\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patrick Bryant ’16 – The students of the Rhetoric Department\u2019s Voices of America course send you greetings from our nation\u2019s capital.\u00a0 As you\u2019ve read over some of my classmates\u2019 posts, you can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"w_featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2014\/03\/Group1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=536"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536\/revisions\/540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.wabash.edu\/immersionlearning\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}