RA Reflections

So, overall, I feel that the rhetorical analysis was a highly educational assignment.  I am not used to spending so much time and effort contemplating how others are likely to react to something that I have read, while simultaneously trying to suppress my own feelings and opinions about it.  I won't say that I would welcome with open arms another rhetorical analyses for that reason alone.  In addition to how much I had to think about others' potential reactions to the article, I spent an inordinate amount of time considering the various forms of rhetoric the author used.  This, again, is not even remotely normal for a reader.  In short, I learned a lot from the assignment because I had to go so far beyond the norm.  This is not to say that I did not like anything about the assignment.  On the contrary, it was indeed interesting to look at how the blog post was written, and how the readers are likely to receive the text and images.  I think that the increased reflection on the work led to a deeper understanding of the issue, as well. 

Compared to the OpEd process, this was much slower and much less personal.  It is also way more difficult to remain objective while writing.  It was nice to be able to voice my opinion freely and fully in the OpEd.  All in all, I much preferred the Opinion Editorial to the Rhetorical Analysis.