For essay #1 on rhetorical analysis, I chose an Android phone commercial titled, “Be Together, Not the Same.” This commercial shows cartoon rocks, paper, and scissors, as kids in school. And just how playing rock paper scissors is meant to play to the advantages and weaknesses of each gesture, the rock, paper, and scissors pick on each other. A new piece of paper shows up to school and get teased by the other papers. A pair of scissors ends up helping him out of the situation, and they end up becoming friends. On their way back from class, the paper and scissors help a rock that was being pushed around. In the end, they all become friends regardless who is paper, scissors, or rock. The implied underlying message of this commercial is that Android phones have a much greater variety and customizability than iPhones. And because of this diversity, it is a better choice than Apple products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsIYHwOfhM

In class last week we talked about “exigency” or the urgent need or demand for someone to speak out about a subject. This android commercial does touch on the important topic of accepting people regardless of ethnicity, social class, and appearance. This commercial encourages kids to be nicer to peers and to help those in need. This commercial can also be a message to the rest of America, to be more accepting of diversity as a whole. The commercial also shows at the end how people could even get along after being enemies, with the paper saving the rock, and the rock giving the friendly scissors a flower as a gift.

Hello, my name is Brian Hartmann and I’m a freshman here at SBU.  I am currently pursuing a major in Electrical Engineering. I grew up in Islip Terrace and graduated from East Islip High School, which is only about 30 minutes away. I’m a resident on campus in Mendelsohn Quad with a few of my friends from back home. My hobbies are playing on the Stony Brook Roller Hockey team, playing the electric guitar, longboarding, and, of course, video games. I work off-campus at a shop in Ronkonkoma, where I build heavy-duty flashlights.

So far my stay at Stony has been great, and I’m really enjoying it. The most exciting thing on campus for me is playing Roller Hockey.  On the team, we get to do a bit of traveling and play against other colleges. The only downside is that practices are Tuesdays and Wednesdays at midnight, and I have an 8 a.m. class Wednesday mornings.  We have a division 2 and division 4 team, and being a freshman I’m stuck on division 4, but playing is fun and being the leading goal scorer is funny in my opinion.

So far I would say my workload for my engineering major has been tough but manageable so far. Physics is one of the hardest subjects in my opinion, and I’ve been taking many physics courses over these past years. I would say that writing is my weakest area, and taking writing 102 this semester will be a challenge. Hopefully, I’ll be able to do well in all my classes this semester, and eventually graduate in four years.