Writing Real World
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WRITING FOR A REAL WORLD Writing for a Real World 2010–2011 A multidisciplinary anthology by USF students PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF RHETORIC AND LANGUAGE www.usfca.edu/wrw Writing for a Real World (WRW) is published annually by the Department of Rhetoric and Language, College of Arts and Sciences, University of San Francisco. WRW is governed by the Rhetoric and Language Publication Committee, chaired by David Holler. Members are: Brian Komei Dempster, Michelle LaVigne, Michael Rozendal, and David Ryan. Writing for a Real World: 9th edition © 2011 The opinions stated herein are those of the authors. Authors retain copyright for their individual work. Essays include bibliographical references. The format and practice of documenting sources are determined by each writer. Writers are responsible for validating and citing their research. Cover image courtesy of Marti S. This photograph was taken in Havana, Cuba. Printer: DeHarts Printing, San Jose, Calif. To get involved as a referee, serve on the publication committee, obtain back print issues, or to learn about submitting to WRW, please contact David Holler <[email protected]>. Back issues are now available online via Gleeson Library’s Digital Collections. For all other inquiries: Writing for a Real World, University of San Francisco, Kalmanovitz Hall, Rm. 202, 2130 Fulton Street, San Francisco, CA, 94117. Fair Use Statement: Writing for a Real World is an educational journal whose mission is to showcase the best undergraduate writing at the University of San Francisco. Student work often contextualizes and recontextualizes the work of others within the scope of course- related assignments. WRW presents these articles with the specifi c objective of advancing an understanding of academic knowledge, scholarship, and research. We believe that this context constitutes a “fair use” of copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material herein is made available by WRW without profi t to those students and faculty who are interested in receiving this information for research, scholarship, and educational purposes. 2 Writing for a Real World 2010–2011 Executive Editor David Ryan Editor David Holler Associate Editors Brian Komei Dempster Michelle LaVigne Mark Meritt Michael Rozendal Copy Editors Carl S. Braun Giuliana Ferrante Program Assistant Tara Donohoe Publication Assistants Ana Kitapini Estephanie Bautista Sunga Journal Referees Veronica Andrew, Rhetoric and Language Brian Komei Dempster, Rhetoric and Language Leslie Dennen, Rhetoric and Language Johnnie Johnson Hafernik, Rhetoric and Language David Holler, Rhetoric and Language Devon C. Holmes, Rhetoric and Language Saera Khan, Psychology Kara Knafelc, Rhetoric and Language, Martin-Baró Scholars Program Moira Kuo, Rhetoric and Language Lois Lorentzen, Interim Associate Dean, College of Arts & Sciences Tom Lugo, Rhetoric and Language Theodore Matula, Rhetoric and Language Sean Michaelson, S.J., English / St. Ignatius Institute Star Moore, Leo T. McCarthy Center Angelika Rappe, Rhetoric and Language Michael Rozendal, Rhetoric and Language David Ryan, Rhetoric and Language Carol Spector, Gleeson Library Eleni Stecopoulos, Rhetoric and Language Ellen Thompson, Rhetoric and Language Stephanie Vandrick, Rhetoric and Language Fredel Wiant, Rhetoric and Language 3 WRITING FOR A REAL WORLD Table of Contents WRW as a Literacy Project 6 Honorable Mentions 10 JADE BATSTONE Cowboy vs. Mad Dog: An Analysis of Reagan’s Rhetoric Surrounding the 1986 Libyan Airstrikes 12 MICHAEL BRATEN The Marriage Act 1753: Drastic Alteration or Mere Development? 30 MELISSA FESSEL Maternal Mortality and Mayan Women in Guatemala 44 HEATHER M. FOX Appreciating but Resisting Nietzsche’s Chief Normative Worry 53 EVAN GIUSTO In Defense of Same-Sex Marriage 60 MICHAEL GREENBERG Public Sector Unions, Pensions, and Collective Bargaining Rights: Striving For a More Perfect Union? 76 LAUREN HILL The Guatemalan Civil War: The Prevalence of and U.S. Involvement in State-Sponsored Violence 91 MELISSA D. LEWIS Examining Marc Anthony’s Poetic Rhetoric in Julius Caesar 112 4 WRITING FOR A REAL WORLD AN MAI and JAMEY PADOJINO Yarn and Yarning: Communication Patterns of a “Stitch and Bitch” Club 125 DEREK POPPERT Why Peace Has Not Been Achieved Between Israelis and Palestinians 140 JILLIAN RAMOS In Honor of the Forgotten: A Search for Equity for Filipino–American World War II Veterans 151 SAMUEL WEISS Aesthetic Obsession in Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home 164 2011-2012 Submissions Information 194 5 WRITING FOR A REAL WORLD WRW as a Literacy Project RITING FOR A REAL WORLD was founded in 2002 with the Wfocused idea of illustrating exceptional undergraduate academic writing at USF. Since then, access to our journal has broadened, for teachers have integrated our essays into their courses as models of good writing. Our Gleeson Library has digitized every edition to allow others to read, study, and refl ect on our student papers. Textbook publishers, as well, have selected some of our more remarkable essays to include in their textbooks. This scholarly interchange has prompted us to recontextualize our celebratory journal as a literacy project, one that allows us to see the kind of writing that is important to faculty and understand what subjects preoccupy our students. Because most writing assignments compel students to respond to other kinds of writing, WRW also instructs us as to what our students are reading, thinking, and concluding. Among the many things we can deduce from our project is that eff ective, successful writers are also diligent, perceptive readers—those who are able to off er deep insight into texts, discovering and explaining what a text does and how a text communicates its messages. Other students work to explain how texts are inscribed by the cultural, social, and historical forces that helped shape the reading. These academic eff orts speak to the aesthetic and epistemic interest in the power of reading and writing. Without a doubt, constructing a broader, more comprehensive inventory about what students are reading and writing from year-to-year (beyond what appears in WRW) would be helpful in identifying broader disciplinary trends as well as measuring student achievement at USF; however, there is no viable method to identify all the texts read or review all the papers written. Nevertheless, we believe that WRW off ers a small yet richly sedimented sample of well-written papers from varying disciplines. The power of such a varied collection derives largely from the academic choices of USF’s instructors and the more personal choices of students who are willing to test their ideas against normative traditions and emerging trends. 6 WRITING FOR A REAL WORLD Notes on the Selection Process Our referees reviewed carefully 97 entries. Every paper was read by at least two readers, and every winning submission had to pass the review of at least four referees. No names appeared on the manuscripts and reviewers who recognized their students’ work recused themselves. Here, then, we present 12 outstanding papers written during the 2010-11 academic year, and we acknowledge 12 more papers as Honorable Mentions. We thank our new as well as experienced judges for reviewing the submissions with great care and patience. Our list of referees is on page 3. Fr. Urban Grassi, S.J. Award In this issue, the Department of Rhetoric and Language announces Jade Batsone is our recipient for the Fr. Urban Grassi, S.J. Award for Eloquentia Perfecta, an award named after USF’s fi rst professor of English and Elocution. This award is given to the highest rated entry. Our reviewers rated Jade’s essay, “Cowboy vs. Mad Dog: An Analysis of Reagan’s Rhetoric Surrounding the 1986 Libyan Air Strikes,” written for Professor David Holler, as the most exemplary. Congratulations to Jade for her remarkable accomplishment! Acknowledgements and Gratitude With every issue, we re-affi rm our gratitude to those who support our project. We are deeply grateful to Provost Jennifer Turpin; Marcelo Camperi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Lois Lorentzen, Interim Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences; and Eileen Fung, Associate Dean of Arts and Humanities, College of Arts and Sciences—all of whom continue to support this institutional project with respect and admiration for our students. Our thanks extend to Associate Editors Brian Komei Dempster, Michelle LaVigne, Mark Meritt and Michael Rozendal for their continuous work. We also thank our two eagle-eyed student copy editors, Giuliana Ferrante and Carl S. Braun, for their detailed review 7 WRITING FOR A REAL WORLD of manuscripts and help with page layouts. Our program assistant, Tara Donohoe, and publication assistants, Estephanie Bautista Sunga and Ana Kitapini, deserve special mention for helping WRW meet its year-round deadlines. We gratefully acknowledge the work of Digital Collections Librarian Zheng Lu who helped digitize this journal as well as past issues. Thank you to Norma Washington and John Pinelli for helping us meet our fi nancial obligations, and a large debt, as always, is owed to Fredel Wiant, Chair of the Rhetoric and Language Department, for her long-standing commitment. We o ff er our special thanks to Ronald Hussey, Senior Permissions Manager at Houghton-Miffl in Harcourt Publishing, who generously allowed us to reprint so many of Alison Bechdel’s images in Samuel Weiss’s essay on Fun Home. Finally, the instructors of our authors earn our gratitude for composing their introductions during their summer break, but our deepest thanks are reserved for those students who submitted their work. As our Honorable Mentions list illustrates on page 10, we received many more commendable papers than we were able to publish. Congratulations to those who earned honorable mention, and, of course, congratulations to our winners, for all of our authors bravely enter the realm of writers writing for a real world.