My trip to St. Andrews

Today I went to the 7:30 Mass at St. Andrews. It was only the second time I have been to a Catholic Church. I attend a Lutheran Church at home but know very few people here that are Lutheran and even fewer that attend church while at school. Instead of giving up something for Lent this year, I decided to start going to a service every Sunday during the season. The majority of the service was very similar to what I was used to. There was alot more kneeling and chanting and less singing than we do. Communion was a little different and of course I couldn't take it because I'm not Catholic but overall I enjoyed it and will probably attend again next week.

Cover Letters

I haven't written a cover letter yet so this was all very informative. I wasn't aware that it is supposed to be more about the company than yourself but I do think that is a good idea. I also really liked the idea of adding a post script. I think that's a great way to get the reader's attention and to show off. I also think it's important to be persistent without being annoying so I like the idea of going ahead and telling them exactly when you plan to contact them if they have not already contacted you. I also didn't realize that it was actually a bad idea to send your cover letter out all over the internet. I think a lot of job seekers make that mistake, specifically graduating college students. Now I know that a cover letter is used specifically for that company and a generalized mass email cover letter can hurt your chances of getting a job.

Tricky Interviews

First, I read the article about illegal interview questions. I thought it looked interesting because I didn't even know there was such a thing as an illegal interview question. Questions regarding race, age, gender, ethnicity, are all considered illegal. I thought the article was very helpful because it didn't tell you to report them or overreact. I can't imagine that the majority of interviewers would ask an illegal question on purpose. I thought the story of the woman asking the interviewee what her name meant was completely harmless and shouldn't even be considered an illegal question.
I also read the article regarding emergency situations in interviews including being tardy, stumped by a question or forgetting the interviewer's name. I think being stumped by a question is always a possibility in an interview so it's important to know how to react. As much as I'd like to be able to take a second by saying "that's a good question" I'm still pretty sure some um's and uh's would make their way in there. Forgetting someone's name is also a big habit of mine so I think you just have to accept that you made that mistake, apologize and continue on with the interview. I think it's important to just be as prepared and relaxed as possible and if mistakes still happen, don't sweat it.

"Yes, we can" http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/26/obama.transcript/index.html

Having read the MLK letter and listened to the recruiters in class, I can easily say that MLK had a strong grasp on what was required in a persuasive essay, and the recruiters...not so much. His appeal to ethos, logos and pathos was evident throughout the letter. What amazes me most is that he wrote it in jail without any kind of reference material when I can't even write a one page paper without my microsoft word thesaurus. The recruiters were not able to persuade our class while MLK was able to persuade a huge percentage of our nation.
With the 2008 election approaching, I thought it appropriate to use one of the campaign speeches as my third piece of persuasive writing. As a democrat, I am having a tough time deciding between Obama and Clinton since there are things I like about both of them. After having heard Obama's speech at Clemson, however, I may be leaning his way. The speech he gave after winning South Carolina was very similar so I have included the link to it. Obama's greatest strenght in this race is his appeal to pathos or emotion of the audience. Hope is something he talks about extensively and to a young person like me that has not had enough years to be jaded and cynical about our government, hope is something I can believe in. He also appeals to young people for the specific reason that the other campaigns are telling us not to vote for him - inexperience. He talked about this a little more in his speech at Clemson jokingly saying that his competitors wanted him to cook and stew a little longer until all the hope was sucked out of him. I think, we college students can relate to being told we're too young or too inexperienced for something and knowing for ourselves that that's not true. Appeal of the speaker or ethos is extremely important in an election. Through the entire process, competitors are digging up anything they can on you and it is all to reduce your credibility. In Obama's speech he cites things he has done in the past for this nation in order to ensure his credibility. And finally, his appeal to logic or logos is evident when he cites the things that are wrong with this country and and the fact that he can change them. Change is his platform and I consider this an appeal to emotion and logic. It is obvious that the past administration has let America slip economically and fall short in the eyes of other nations, so it is logical that a new and very different one is what we need and who is more different from George W. Bush than Barack Obama? Anyway, I hope everyone is getting involved in this election and will be watching Super Tuesday/My 22nd birthday!