Discussions on Writing and Rhetoric

Transcript Episode 24 Many students can get stuck in the idea that college is just time spent waiting between high school and actual adulthood, confined only to completing coursework before heading off into the real world to get actual experience. But what if I told you there are plenty of opportunities already to get your voices heard? Hannah Benton, a UCF Writing & Rhetoric graduate who worked in the writing center, is here to clear up those misconceptions. Writing an Honors Undergraduate Thesis, “Fanfiction as a Reflection of Available Representation: A Critique on Mass Media,” and presenting it at Knights Write, UPenn’s National Research Conference, and the Conference on College Composition and Communication, instilled her with the confidence that has helped in pursuing her pedagogical interests. It’s crucial for us writing students to recognize our value, so join us as we make a place in the conversation! Time Stamps · 00:07 - Intro · 01:46 - Hannah’s Writing and Rhetoric History · 11:09 - How Hannah Views Disability Studies · 14:14 - Fan Culture and the Need for More Fan Studies · 20:47 - Hannah’s Research/Problematic Disability Representation in Comics · 36:04 - Fan Culture Influencing Mass Media · 41:09 - Hannah’s Perspective When Tutoring/Teaching · 46:51 - Allow Yourself to Take Up Space Rhetorical Concepts · 21:50 - Adrienne Raw, “Normalizing Disability: Tagging and Disability Identity Construction through Marvel Cinematic Universe Fanfiction” · 31:42 - Narrative Prosthesis · 37:50 - Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding Model

Transcript Episode 23 Internet comment sections can be a complex space for human interaction, to say the least. We’ve all been tempted by some particularly enraging user to throw on the virtual boxing gloves and engage in some rhetorical fisticuffs. But how can we best engage with the Wild West of the internet and its many algorithms as academic rhetoricians? Dr. Joel Bergholtz, currently teaching Composition I and II and ENC 4416 Writing in Digital Environments, is here to answer just that as we discuss his research into social media pedagogies, online circulation, LLMs, and if we’ve gone post-human. It’s always important to re-evaluate our rhetorical understanding as the forms we communicate in evolve, so join us as we brave these uncharted waters together! Time Stamps · Introduction - 00:07 · Joel’s Goals: Compassion in Rhetoric - 02:09 · Context, Intent, and Bridging Ideologies - 07:30 · How Culture is Engaged with and Circulated Online - 16:42      o Are We Post-Human? - 23:46      o How Social Media Platforms are Run - 27:41 · "R-R-R-Reeeemixxxx” - 35:53      o How AI Retrieves Info - 43:43      o What Makes Productive Political Debate - 46:40 · Engaging with Rhetoric Going Forward - 50:14 · Closing Thoughts - 59:48 Rhetorical Concepts · 05:38 - The Rhetorical Situation · 15:37 - Doxa After Digitality · 54:22 - “The Perils of Not Paying Attention,” “Made Not Only in Words” · 1:00:24 - Doxa, Nicomachean Ethics, techne

Our guest for this episode is Dr. Esther Milu, Associate Professor here at the University of Central Florida. Dr. Milu’s research includes language diversity, multilingual pedagogies, translingual writing, immigrant Black literacies, and Global Black Rhetorics. Dr. Milu has been published in multiple publications, most recently including Composition Studies, Rhetoric Society of America Quarterly, and College Composition Communication, along with contributing to several books. 

Our guest on this episode is UCF Assistant Professor Dr. Kara Taczak. Dr. Taczak is currently co-editor of  College Composition and Communication, and her award winning research examines composition theory and pedagogy, with a focus on teaching for transfer and reflection. Her work has appeared in numerous edited collections as well as in CCC, Writing Spaces, International Journal of Work Integrated Learning, the WAC Journal, Composition Forum, Teaching English in a Two-Year College, and Across the Disciplines.  This episode also features our Assistant Producer, and DWR Podcast Intern, Madelyn Alvarez joining in the conversation.  

In this episode we are joined by Heather Vazquez, a lecturer here at the University of Central Florida in our Department of Writing and Rhetoric. Heather is the Education Coordinator and an instructor with the Florida Prison Education Project, or FPEP, working with incarcerated Central Floridians to achieve an undergraduate degree. Additionally, Heather is one of our designated UCF Global instructors, teaching student populations of international students. Beyond FPEP and UCF Global, her teaching and interests include first-year composition, multilingual writing, language diversity, translingualism, and World Englishes. 

Transcript Episode 19 Two of the most valuable programs offered by DWR are the Writing Internship course and Stylus, a writing journal that publishes first-year UCF student projects. So, it’s incredibly exciting to be joined by the person in charge of both, Professor Megan Lambert, who also teaches Composition I & II, Professional Writing, and Professional Editing. She goes all in on why an internship course is beneficial, tips and tricks on how to find the internship that’s best for you, and the unique and eye-opening opportunity Stylus offers to young writers. Seeing our work get published and officially recognized is what every writer strives for, so join us as we discuss how you can make that dream a reality! Time Stamps · 00:07 - Intro · 01:28 - What’s the Value of an Internship Course? · 13:34 - Advice for Finding the Right Internship · 18:09 - The Value of Writing & Rhetoric Everywhere · 21:39 - Stylus Editorial and Publication Process · 37:12 - Complicated Screening Process · 46:32 - The Transformative Experience of Stylus · 51:55 - How Professor Lambert Teaches Professional Editing · 1:03:16 - Closing Thoughts

Transcript Episode 18 Part of our job as rhetoricians is to continuously investigate and challenge the boundaries of language and communication, and what forms writing can take to engage in radical new forms of knowledge-making. Which is why we’ve brought on Dr. Rebecca Watkins, who’s taught Composition I and II and is preparing to teach ENC 4434 Visual and Material Rhetorics. With her, we discuss her pedagogical interests in new materialism and craftivism, how it’s inspired her writing (including the award-nominated “Blonde Venus”), and the creative empowerment it unlocks in the classroom and beyond. We should always take opportunities to broaden our understanding of writing, so join us as we discuss the meaningful ways it can exist beyond the page! Time Stamps · Introduction - 00:07 · Personal and Social Significance of Material Rhetoric - 1:16 · Subverting Genre and Form - 9:49 · Composing Materially in a Digital World - 17:39 · What is New Materialism? - 23:37 o Metacognition - 27:49 · Empowerment Through Knowledge-Making - 31:04 · Dr. Watkins’s Writing Journey - 37:49 · Being Vulnerable as Writers - 43:34 · Closing Thoughts - 50:52   Rhetorical Concepts · 05:06 - Craftivism · 6:31 - Jody Shipka · 14:02 - Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences · 18:30 - Susan Sontag, On Photography · 21:38 - Techne · 29:29 - Shipka (again) · 35:58 - Donald Murray and Peter Elbow

Transcript Episode 17 What’s rhetorical about a solar eclipse? That’s what we’re discussing today as we look back on the Not So Total Eclipse event from April 28th, 2024, where students and faculty alike gathered to view a partial eclipse from the reflecting pond, with Professor Gardiakos collecting their thoughts and feelings. As we listen back on these interviews, we discuss the importance of coming together for communal events, what eclipses have meant throughout human history, and how they’ll continue to live in our hearts and minds going forward. So join us today as we try to answer what it is about solar eclipses that captivates us. Time Stamps Introduction - 00:07 A History of Eclipses - 07:29 First Batch of Interviews: Personal Significance - 12:47 Michael Zmed - 13:31 Natalie Madruga - 14:17 No Name Given - 14:57 Cassie - 15:22 Muhammad - 16:10 Sydney - 16:29 Coming Together as a Community - 17:18 Second Batch of Interviews: Community - 20:46 Megan Lambert - 20:56 Daniel Manrique - 21:45 Name Not Given - 22:27 Ariada - 23:51 How People Interpret Eclipses - 25:03 Last Batch of Interviews: A Moment in History - 31:09 Kevin Yee - 31:12 Rachel - 33:03 Steve Eikenberry - 33:55 Veronica Donoso - 34:40 The Most Beautiful Government Document Ever Written - 36:36 Goodbyes - 39:05 Rhetorical Concepts · 3:35 - Kairos · 18:18 - Writing Happens in Communities

Transcript Episode 16 Have you ever found assessment work interesting? If not, then you’ve never met Dr. Shane Wood, the current Writing Program Administrator and Director of First-Year Composition here at UCF, who’s here to break down why teacher responses are so crucial to students’ development, and give a riveting dissection of the reductive history/application of the letter-based grading system. Also discussed is the origin of Dr. Wood’s award-winning podcast Pedagogue, which aims to bridge institutional gaps in writing education, and how it inspired his recent book, Teachers Talking Writing: Perspectives on Place, Pedagogies, and Programs. How students receive feedback is the backbone to promoting learning, so join us in discussing how assessment can be made as productive as possible! Time Stamps: • Introduction - 00:07 • The Origin of Pedagogue - 01:42 • The Importance of Academic Institutional Podcasts - 12:02 • UCF’s Writing Department vs. Others - 17:16 • Why Writing Program Administration? - 22:21 • What’s Interesting about Assessment? - 26:12 • Subverting Assessment as Punishment/Reward - 32:53 • How Enthusiasm for Writing is Squashed - 39:37 • A-F Grading Scale - 43:17 • Collaborative Efforts - 48:26 • Inspiration for Teachers Talking Writing - 52:00 • Valuing Diverse Writing Voices/Identities - 58:20 • Closing Thoughts - 1:02:55 Rhetorical Concepts: • Teacher Response to Student Writing - 26:55 • Exclusionary Methods of Assessment - 34:44 • Punished by Rewards - 42:59 • Writing Tied to Identity - 58:47

Transcript Episode 15 The UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric holds an annual event called Knights Write Showcase to celebrate the work of student writers. This event began in 2010 as a place to highlight and share the research and writing occurring in the first-year writing program, and has since become a multi-day event that encompasses work in composition courses, writing across the curriculum, our three departmental publications Stylus, Convergence, and Imprint, and also The University Writing Center, undergraduate, and graduate student work. In this episode, we talk with the following students who participated in the event: (0.00-15:24) Rosalind Rohrbaugh “Stephen King Is Right: We’re All a Little Nuts, and That’s Okay” (15:25-32:49) Erick Rodriquez “How Course Requirements are Communicated to Students” / Imani Rodriguez “Online Identification of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Creators” (32:50-52:59) Evonne Simpron “Beta Incels vs. The World” / Jenna Sutphin “Online Book Communities” (53:00-1:11:45) Kaitlyn Pottinger “The Fool’s Journey to Enlightenment: How Tarot Cards Work” / Mikayla Crawford “Graphic Pathography” / Tasha Rentas “Graphic Journalism: The Stanton Energy Center”   (1:11:46-1:31:59) Bella Love “Scrapbooking as Narrative” Thank you to all the wonderful students who shared their experiences with us!  

Transcript Episode 14 Joining us for this episode is Natalie Madruga, Instructor in writing and Rhetoric at the University of Central Florida.  Natalie’s research interests include eulogistic rhetoric, public memory and memorialization, critical race theory, cultural rhetorics, and writing pedagogy, with a pedagogical philosophy centered on a foundation in testimonio. Natalie was published in 2023 in Writers:Craft and Context with the article “ What it’s like to lose Papi: A counterstory on Grief''. Natalie was chosen for HSI Faculty Fellowship through the Office for Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives for the 23-24 academic year, working with the Title 5 POTENCIAL grant to design and implement the faculty development component of Project POTENCIAL.

Transcript Episode 13 We are joined today by Associate Professor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric and Director of Writing Across the Curriculum in the Center for Writing Excellence both at the University of Central Florida, Dr. Laurie A. Pinkert.  In addition to these positions, Dr. Pinkert also coordinates an interdisciplinary fellowship-writing initiative that is supported by the College of Graduate Studies.  Dr. Pinkert's research aims to better understand relationships between writing and identity and to develop approaches to writing program design, development, and administration that can support writerly identity development.  Most recently Dr Pinkert has been at the forefront of developing an AI undergraduate certificate program within the College of Arts and Humanities in addition to coursework surrounding AI and the teaching of writing.

Transcript Episode 12 UCF Department of Writing and Rhetoric faculty members Blake Scott and Nathan Holic discuss their project "Strengthening Hospital Nurses’ Mental Health Resilience Through a Peer Support Training Program Using Comic Testimonials" which focused on introducing comic therapy to healthcare professionals. This won the 2021 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Innovation Award. 

Transcript Episode 11 At UCF, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric holds an annual event called Knights Write Showcase to celebrate the work of student writers. In this special episode we talk with several participants from the poster and panel presentations. The students and work featured in this episode are: Jamie Salter “Learning to Keep Up” (0:00-19:04) Megan Dever “Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Theatrical Literacies” and Parker Bowles “Who to Trust? Building Authority in Rhetoric” (19:06-36:53) Madison Fernandes “The Marketplace of Ideas” (36:54-51:27) Arielle Fedee, Mark McCleskey, and Mekenzie McElroy – University Writing Center Panel (51:30-1:13:20) Natasha Odom “Main Suspect: Crime Dramas” and Riah Smith “The Exigence of Paradigms” (1:13:22-1:32:50) Brendan Kelly “Rhetoric and Tragedy: An Exploration of Identification and Narrative in Sending Letters” (1:32:52-1:48:20)

Transcript Episode 10 Anthony Lince is a Latinx educator and scholar, and is currently a lecturer at University of California San Diego and other local institutions, teaching rhetoric and writing studies courses. His current work is focused on equitable assessment practices in higher education, which is the praxis in his courses where he utilizes labor-based grading. Anthony has published the journals California English and WPA Writing Program Administration, and has an upcoming chapter released in Effective Alternative Assessment Practices in Higher Education. 

Transcript Episode 9 Dr. Jeremy Carnes is a Postdoctoral Scholar here at UCF specializing in Indigenous rhetorics, particularly visual and material rhetorics. He is working on his first book on comics by Indigenous creators and the rhetorical affordances of comics as a visual medium for considering land-based practices by Indigenous communities. In addition to indigenous rhetorics, Dr Carnes’ research interests include: Comics Studies, Media Studies, Fan Culture Studies, Translingualism, and the Digital Humanities. He is also currently working with Dr. Jamila Kareem, a past guest of ours on this podcast, on a grant funded by the Sam and Virginia Patz Foundation in partnership with the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Transcript Episode 8 In this episode we talk with Jaclyn Gardiakos and Jessica Walters, who work in the field of professional writing and are both UCF Alumni. Jaclyn Gardiakos is the communications and public relations manager for Universal Engineering Sciences, the fastest-growing AEC firm in the US, and previously worked for Tupperware as a communications manager. Jessica Walters is a Content Strategist for Deloitte US, and similarly held a position with Tupperware as a content strategist. Our conversation touches on writing in professional environments, what it was like to be a part of the first DWR cohort of UCF, and the types of careers possible with a degree in writing. 

Transcript Episode 7 In this episode, we interrogate writing with Dr. Martha Brenckle, a full professor and the Interim First-Year Writing Program Director at UCF. With the creation of her new class “Queer Rhetorics and Queer Writing,” we break down what it means to disrupt the status quo and question long held rhetorical beliefs. Beyond that, we consider the often overlooked digital rhetorics, the role that professors are meant to play in writing disciplines, and the arduous creative process. Join us in becoming academic theorists as we question everything and queer our writing. Time Stamps:  Introduction – 00:00:07  Meeting Dr. Brenckle – 00:00:46 History with UCF – 00:03:21 Queer Rhetoric and Queering Writing – 00:08:08 The Interrogative Writing Process – 00:18:32 Assignments to Queer Writing – 00:24:06 A Professor’s Role – 00:27:43 Identity and Digital Rhetorics – 00:36:47 The Creative Writing Process – 00:45:53 Exploring Memories – 00:53:24 Rhetorical Triangle through Centuring – 56:52 Plans for the Future – 00:59:28 Rhetorical Concepts:  Queer Rhetorics and Queering Writing – 00:09:51 Foucault’s History of Sexuality  – 00:16:02 Lacanian Psychoanalysis – 00:22:30 Paulo Friere – 00:22:34 Kairos – 00:31:28 Stasis Theory – 00:31:39 Gamification – 00:37:42 Technopanic and Posthuman Potential – 00:37:46 Rudyard Kipling – 00:52:49

Transcript Episode 6 What does writing for social change entail? With Olivia Soloman, a junior at the University of Central Florida and a double major in Writing and Rhetoric and Political Science, we discuss using your writing to effect change, not just inspire awareness. Not only do we touch on courses such as ENC 4353 – Writing for Social Change and ENC 4354 - Writing with Communities and Nonprofits, but we also reflect on strategies to make your writing effective in the political sphere. If you want to ensure your voice is heard or have a passion for politics, join us in this rhetorical inspection of activism. Time Stamps:  Introduction – 00:00:07  Olivia’s Classroom Journey – 00:00:46 Initial Approach to Writing for Change – 00:05:56 Intersection of Motivation and Strategy – 00:08:51 Counterarguments and Opposition – 00:11:47 Vetting Sources – 00:14:14 Presenting an Analysis – 00:15:22 Humanizing Statistics – 00:17:04 Writing Process  – 00:22:20 Course Work – 00:24:20 Grant Writing – 00:25:29 Current Projects – 00:27:38 Writing that Inspires – 00:28:56 The “Don’t Say Gay” Piece – 00:32:32 Vetting Candidates – 00:41:46 Sustaining Energy in Activism – 00:45:17 When is an op-ed done? – 00:48:04

Transcript Episode 5 Gaining insight from Sebastian Garcia, a senior undergraduate at UCF completing a double major in History and Biomedical Sciences, we explore what it takes to tackle research in ENC 1102. It can be difficult to find a way to transfer high school writing skills to the new challenges placed by college classes, but we cover everything you may need to know beginning with the very first step of finding passion and inspiration. Sebastian was selected as a panelist for UCF’s Knights Write Showcase in Spring of 2021 with his article “Is the Advanced Placement (AP) Program Really ‘Advanced”? A Critical Textual Analysis of an AP United States History Textbook” and was also published in the Spring 2022 issue of Stylus: A Journal of First-Year Writing. To learn more about crafting a college-level research paper, join us in this exploration of one student’s journey. Time Stamps:  Introduction – 00:00:07  Meeting our Guest – 00:00:45 Research Inspiration and Motivation  – 00:01:40 Methodology and Analysis – 00:09:15 Passion is Paramount!  – 00:17:27 Finding and Reading Literature – 00:20:30 Presenting Research  – 00:22:55 The Post-Graduation Future – 00:28:11 Finding Topics and Questioning Everything – 00:31:10 Transitioning from High School to College Writing – 00:36:44 Finding Gaps in the Research  – 00:42:58 Letting Context Inform Research  – 00:46:53 Looking Forward and Looking Back  – 00:50:47 Stylus Publication  – 00:53:08