Statement of Purpose

In choosing a comic, I wanted something that was I knew a little about. I looked up political cartoons, and I kept going back to this one with Dick Cheney. It had something that I could connect with personally. I remember hearing things about Dick Cheney and the torture that he allowed, and becoming furious. I have a connection with the comic, that goes far beyond its meaning. It is almost like I'm ashamed to admit that the comic is true. Dick Cheney denies that the U.S. does not torture, and later goes back and says that he's glad for what they did. There is a lot of conspiracy that goes along with this comic also, which draws my attention even closer to it. There are the die-hard Bush fans who back up anything that happened during the Bush era, and then there are the people that didn't exactly agree with everything that went on in the White House.

A title is the first thing that someone reads of a piece of art, literature, or multimedia element. It's the thing that draws us in, that catches our eye, making us want to read more. It's not necessarily the title that draws us into this piece, if we were just to read this title we might be curious as what Dick Cheney went to get a procedure for, but the title really doesn't have an affect here. Instead its the overall appearance of the comic itself. You see a drawing of Dick Cheney looking scared, embarrassed, almost sheepish, sitting on the doctors bed. While the doctor simply says, "Don't worry we don't torture!" At this moment we can only assume what is going through the mind of Dick Cheney. He once said that the U.S does not torture, and then turns back on his word saying that what he did was right and wouldn't do it any other way. So first he comforts the American public, saying that we do not torture, and then he goes on to say that we do, but only because it became legal. Which is also disputable, some say that it was simply a lawyer writing in his opinion that it was the right the thing to do, which does not make it a legal action, when it is a illegal action. Then there are the people that believe Dick Cheney, that he wouldn't do that if were not legalized first.

As discussed in class, different dialog can also affect the way we interpret the meaning of a comic. For instance, if the doctor were to say, "It's ok you don't have cancer." That would give the comic a whole different perspective. It would make the expression on Dick Cheney's face seem scared instead of ashamed. It might also make us wonder what is actually wrong with him. If it's not cancer, what is it? Also, the way that the word "torture" is bolded, almost is like the doctor is taunting Cheney. Just like you said, we don't torture either. Which gives it a funny approach to a not so funny topic. Facial expression also goes almost hand in hand with dialog. If a person is smiling, we assume their happy. We don't really know if that their happy, we just assume that they are, because when someone smiles that usually means that they are in a happy state of mind. We can see that by the looks of the Dick Cheney's face that he does not know what's going to happen. He also seems to be embarrassed, ashamed of what he has done. Hypocrisy is something that should not be done in politics, yet it happens all the time, and you can tell by the way the author drew Dick Cheney's expression that he feels like Cheney should be ashamed. We don't know if Dick Cheney really is ashamed that he tortured those people, but we can assume that the author wants us to think that he is ashamed.

Writing Project 1

Authors Note
In picking out my photograph, I immediately went to "Through the Eyes of Children". Something about how these children were taking photographs in order to raise money for their orphanage got my attention. After looking through all of the photos on the site, I was drawn back to a picture of ten young boys sitting on a rail near a lake. I was intrigued by the way the boys are arranged, and the colors that stand out. The boys are darker than anything else in the picture, making them the visual hyarchy. The sky is a yellowish color, that makes everything else have a yellow tint. I started off with how depressing the the lives of these children must be. To be left at an orphanage, many after the loss of their parents during the Rwanda genocide. I couldn't imagine a more horrific experience than losing a parent so tragicly. Not all of these children's parents were killed during the genocide though. Some of them were put there because their parents simply could not afford to feed another mouth. Living in America, we live a fairly nice life, sure we have struggles, but nothing like these kids have experienced.

Through all of my rough drafts I made some improvements that have made it more interesting for the reader. The first draft I really didn't know exactly what was being asked. So, I wrote how I felt about the photograph, and the struggles the boys that the boys have gone through. After the first peer editing, I realized that I forgot the rhetorical part of it. So I changed that almost as soon as I got back to my room. I then added more rhetorical appeal about my photograph, talking about pathos and ethos, and also about framing. I then added more detail of why the Imbabazi Orphanage was important to this photograph. I also added a Works Cited part of my essay that I did not have before. After the second peer editing I realized that my rhetorical appeal was not entirely clear. I then went back and added more detail to make it more clear to my readers. I then added more hyperlinks that would make more since with the words that I chose, and also with what I was trying to get across. I rearranged some of my multimedia elements as well. After this, I then changed a picture of a lake for a picture of some boys that looked sad, because that seemed to fit what I was trying to get across, than a picture of a lake.

Statement of Purpose

Rough Draft 1

Rough Draft 2


In a troubled country, suffering from war and famine,Rwanda, live children full of hope. Children who were born into this madness, they we call war. They didn't have a decision. They could have been born anywhere and grown up to be doctors and lawyers. Instead, they were born into the poor country of Rwanda. Africa's most densely populated country, Rwanda, has 7.8 million civilians with a 1.84% population growth rate. Needless to say, there is very little hope that these children will live a long and prosperous life. But in this picture you see that the children still have room left to dream. In this photo snapped by a young boy named, Musa, you see 10 young boys sitting on a rail near a body of water by the orphanage. The boys all seem to be enjoying themselves. Not one of them looks sad or upset. They seem to be looking into the open world set before them. Maybe in hopes that they will soon live in a better place.

The Imbabazi Orphanage was founded by Roz Carr. She first settled in Rwanda more than 50 years ago, finding refuge near the Virunga Mountains. When the Rwanda Genocide started in 1994 she took several civilians into her care, by hiding them on her farm. When the insurgents found out about her farm, they immediately sought out to kill Carr. She found a way back to America and escaped death. Later that very same year she returned back to Rwanda. Only to find her farm and the villages burnt to the ground, destroyed, and lonely. It was at that time that she decided to start the Imbabazi Orphanage, to save and care for the lives of the children suffering in Rwanda. There the children still have room to believe that something good can come from a country that seems to be suffering. It is the only private orphanage in Rwanda. They help pay for tuition fees for secondary school and college students. They provide the hope that these children need to live. With the average life span in Rwanda only being 39, these children have a head start on their future. Some in hopes of being able to be in politics, or change their country around.

The photo that I have chosen from the Compose Design Advocate website "Through the Eyes of Children" is taken by a young boy named Musa. My chosen photograph is of 10 young boys that are sitting on a rail looking out onto a body of water. The boys seem to be enjoying themselves just hanging out on a lazy day. Before I knew much about my picture I thought it had to be in a poor country in Africa, by the way the boys are dressed. Their clothes look unwashed, tattered, and old. Some of the boys are not even wearing shoes. The pathos can be interpreted several ways in this picture. Some people may say that the boys look sad or upset, some may argue that the boys are just happy sitting there on the rail. Which is a hard thing to interpret because you can not see their faces. You simply are guessing how they are feeling by looking at the way they present themselves. Some people may say that they are sad by the way the picture is edited. It's edited in a way, saturation, that makes the dark colors seem darker, and the lighter colors more of a yellowish hue. Some people may consider them to be happy for the fact that they can just sit and enjoy a day down by the lake. Pathos is the artist or photographer in this case trying to make you feel in a similar way. How do you feel when you look at this photograph? Personally for me, I feel mixed emotions. I feel sad that they were born into such a war stricken country, but also I feel happy that they get to enjoy themselves just doing something that many of us take for granted. The ethos of a photo is a mode of persuasion. What the photographer wants you to focus on in the picture. Which leads me to focus on the boys, you can't see their faces. So it must not be important who they rather, what they are doing. In some photos the photographer wants you to focus in on one certain person, but in this photo you are focused on all of the boys. The fact that who they are is not important in this picture was very interesting to me, and it took time for me to develop an opinion on it. After I did some research on it, I realized that maybe the photographer is saying, it's not who you are thats necessarily important but rather, what you get out of life thats important. For instance the boys seem to be enjoying the simplicity of the Earth, looking out onto the water.

At first glance the photo seems to be simply of 10 boys hanging out, but if you look closely you realize there's more to it than that. You notice that there is another young man below the dock, but your attention is not directed at him. You would also notice that the it is a cloudy day, with no sunshine. You also notice that the photographer may have adjusted the contrast and the colors of this photo. As you can see the boys are darker than everything else, making them the center of attention. Or it could be the lighting of a cloudy day in Rwanda. Also the photo is not showing the whole rail, but rather taken at an angle. This is what we would call framing in the photograph. The photographer doesn't want you to see the whole rail, he wants you to focus on the 10 young boys. Also the boy farthest on the left is partially cropped out, leaving the audience to wonder how long does the rail go on. Is it a bridge, or is it just a dock? The fact that we don't know leads us to keep studying the picture trying to find the answer.

While looking at this picture I want others to truly understand the hardships that these Rwandan children have faced. While some of them were lucky enough to be born after the Rwanda genocide, many of them were born during or lived through it. In Rwanda it is very common for children to die either at birth or before the age of five. During many labors the mothers die, leaving the child either to grow up with its father, or to be orphaned at birth. With the help of the Imbabazi Orphanage these children are getting a second chance. One that many do not receive in Rwanda. These children are not completely free from the government and the ways of their country though. They just have a better chance of surviving through the hardest time in their life, childhood.

Works Cited

The World Factbook "Rwanda" 7 October 2009.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium "Roz Carr and the Imbabazi Orphanage" 2009
http://www.columbuszoo.org/partners_in_conservation/rozcarrandtheimbabaziorphanage.aspx
Infoplease "Rwanda" 2005
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107926.html

Rough Draft 2

In a troubled country, suffering from war and famine,Rwanda, live children full of hope. Children who were born into this madness, they we call war. They didn't have a decision. They could have been born anywhere and grown up to be doctors and lawyers. Instead, they were born into the poor country of Rwanda. Africa's most densely populated country, Rwanda, has 7.8 million civilians with a 1.84% population growth rate. Needless to say, there is very little hope that these children will live a long and prosperous life. But in this picture you see that the children still have room left to dream. In this photo snapped by a young boy named, Musa, you see 10 young boys sitting on a rail near a body of water by the orphanage. The boys all seem to be enjoying themselves. Not one of them looks sad or upset. They seem to be looking into the open world set before them. Maybe in hopes that they will soon live in a better place.

The Imbabazi Orphanage was founded by Roz Carr. She first settled in Rwanda more than 50 years ago, finding refuge near the Virunga Mountains. When the Rwanda Genocide started in 1994 she took several civilians into her care, by hiding them on her farm. When the insurgents found out about her farm, they immediately sought out to kill Carr. She found a way back to America and escaped death. Later that very same year she returned back to Rwanda. Only to find her farm and the villages burnt to the ground, destroyed, and lonely. It was at that time that she decided to start the Imbabazi Orphanage, to save and care for the lives of the children suffering in Rwanda. There the children still have room to believe that something good can come from a country that seems to be suffering. It is the only private orphanage in Rwanda. They help pay for tuition fees for secondary school and college students. They provide the hope that these children need to live. With the average life span in Rwanda only being 39, these children have a head start on their future. Some in hopes of being able to be in politics, or change their country around.

The photo that I have chosen from the Compose Design Advocate website "Through the Eyes of Children" is taken by a young boy named Musa. My chosen photograph is of 10 young boys that are sitting on a rail looking out onto a body of water. The boys seem to be enjoying themselves just hanging out on a lazy day. Before I knew much about my picture I thought it had to be in a poor country in Africa, by the way the boys are dressed. Their clothes look unwashed, tattered, and old. Some of the boys are not even wearing shoes. The pathos can be interpreted several ways in this picture. Some people may say that the boys look sad or upset, some may argue that the boys are just happy sitting there on the rail. Which is a hard thing to interpret because you can not see their faces. You simply are guessing how they are feeling by looking at the way they present themselves. Some people may say that they are sad by the way the picture is edited. It's edited in a way, saturation, that makes the dark colors seem darker, and the lighter colors more of a yellowish hue. Some people may consider them to be happy for the fact that they can just sit and enjoy a day down by the lake. Pathos is the artist or photographer in this case trying to make you feel in a similar way. How do you feel when you look at this photograph? Personally for me, I feel mixed emotions. I feel sad that they were born into such a war stricken country, but also I feel happy that they get to enjoy themselves just doing something that many of us take for granted. The ethos of a photo is a mode of persuasion. What the photographer wants you to focus on in the picture. Which leads me to focus on the boys, you can't see their faces. So it must not be important who they rather, what they are doing. In some photos the photographer wants you to focus in on one certain person, but in this photo you are focused on all of the boys. The fact that who they are is not important in this picture was very interesting to me, and it took time for me to develop an opinion on it. After I did some research on it, I realized that maybe the photographer is saying, it's not who you are thats necessarily important but rather, what you get out of life thats important. For instance the boys seem to be enjoying the simplicity of the Earth, looking out onto the water.

At first glance the photo seems to be simply of 10 boys hanging out, but if you look closely you realize there's more to it than that. You notice that there is another young man below the dock, but your attention is not directed at him. You would also notice that the it is a cloudy day, with no sunshine. You also notice that the photographer may have adjusted the contrast and the colors of this photo. As you can see the boys are darker than everything else, making them the center of attention. Or it could be the lighting of a cloudy day in Rwanda. Also the photo is not showing the whole rail, but rather taken at an angle. This is what we would call framing in the photograph. The photographer doesn't want you to see the whole rail, he wants you to focus on the 10 young boys. Also the boy farthest on the left is partially cropped out, leaving the audience to wonder how long does the rail go on. Is it a bridge, or is it just a dock? The fact that we don't know leads us to keep studying the picture trying to find the answer.

While looking at this picture I want others to truly understand the hardships that these Rwandan children have faced. While some of them were lucky enough to be born after the Rwanda genocide, many of them were born during or lived through it. In Rwanda it is very common for children to die either at birth or before the age of five. During many labors the mothers die, leaving the child either to grow up with its father, or to be orphaned at birth. With the help of the Imbabazi Orphanage these children are getting a second chance. One that many do not receive in Rwanda. These children are not completely free from the government and the ways of their country though. They just have a better chance of surviving through the hardest time in their life, childhood.

Works Cited

The World Factbook "Rwanda" 7 October 2009.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rw.html
Columbus Zoo and Aquarium "Roz Carr and the Imbabazi Orphanage" 2009
http://www.columbuszoo.org/partners_in_conservation/rozcarrandtheimbabaziorphanage.aspx
Infoplease "Rwanda" 2005
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107926.html

Writing Project 1

In a troubled country, suffering from war and famine, lives very intelligent children. Children who were born into this madness. They didn't have a decision. They could have been born anywhere and grown up to be doctors and lawyers. Instead, they were born into the poor country of Rwanda. Africa's most densely populated country, Rwanda, has 7.8 million civilians with a 1.84% population growth rate. Needless to say, there is very little hope that these children will live a long and prosperous life. But in this picture you see that the children still have room left to dream. In this photo snapped by a young boy named, Musa, you see 10 young boys sitting on a rail near a body of water by the orphanage. The boys all seem to be enjoying themselves. Not one of them looks sad or upset. They seem to be looking into the open world set before them. Maybe in hopes that they will soon live in a better place.

The Imbabazi Orphanage was founded by Roz Carr. She first settled in Rwanda more than 50 years ago, finding refuge near the Virunga Mountains. When the Rwanda Genocide started in 1994 she took several civilians into her care, by hiding them on her farm. When the insurgents found out about her farm, they immediately sought out to kill Carr. She found a way back to America and escaped death. Later that very same year she returned back to Rwanda. Only to find her farm and the villages burnt to the ground, destroyed, and lonely. It was at that time that she decided to start the Imbabazi Orphanage, to save and care for the lives of the children suffering in Rwanda. There the children still have room to believe that something good can come from a country that seems to be suffering. It is the only private orphanage in Rwanda. They help pay for tuition fees for secondary school and college students. They provide the hope that these children need to live. With the average life span in Rwanda only being 39, these children have a head start on their future. Some in hopes of being able to be in politics, or change their country around.

The photo that I have chosen from the Compose Design Advocate website "Through the Eyes of Children" is taken by a young boy named Musa. My chosen photograph is of 10 young boys that are sitting on a rail looking out onto a body of water. The boys seem to be enjoying themselves just hanging out on a lazy day. Before I knew much about my picture I thought it had to be in a poor country in Africa, by the way the boys are dressed. Their clothes look unwashed, tattered, and old. Some of the boys are not even wearing shoes. The pathos can be interpreted several ways in this picture. Some people may say that the boys look sad or upset, some may argue that the boys are just happy sitting there on the rail. Pathos is the artist or photographer in this case trying to make you feel in a similar way. How do you feel when you look at this photograph? Personally for me, I feel mixed emotions. I feel sad that they were born into such a war stricken country, but also I feel happy that they get to enjoy themselves just doing something that many of us take for granted. The ethos of a photo is the what meaning it has behind it rather than the overall look. Which leads me to focus on the boys, you can't see their faces. So it must not be important who they rather, what they are doing. In some photos the photographer wants you to focus in on one certain person, but in this photo you are focused on all of the boys. The fact that who they are is not important in this picture was very interesting to me, and it took time for me to develop an opinion on it. After I did some research on it, I realized that maybe the photographer is saying, it's not who you are thats necessarily important but rather, what you get out of life thats important. For instance the boys seem to be enjoying the simplicity of the Earth, looking out onto the water.

At first glance the photo seems to be simply of 10 boys hanging out, but if you look closely you realize there's more to it than that. You notice that there is another young man below the dock, but your attention is not directed at him. You would also notice that the it is a cloudy day, with no sunshine. You also notice that the photographer may have adjusted the contrast and the colors of this photo. As you can see the boys are darker than everything else, making them the center of attention. Or it could be the lighting of a cloudy day in Rwanda. Also the photo is not showing the whole rail, but rather taken at an angle. This is what we would call framing in the photograph. The photographer doesn't want you to see the whole rail, he wants you to focus on the 10 young boys. Also the boy farthest on the left is partially cropped out, leaving the audience to wonder how long does the rail go on. Is it a bridge, or is it just a dock? The fact that we don't know leads us to keep studying the picture trying to find the answer.

While looking at this picture I want others to truly understand the hardships that these Rwandan children have faced. While some of them were lucky enough to be born after the Rwanda genocide, many of them were born during or lived through it. In Rwanda it is very common for children to die either at birth or before the age of five. During many labors the mothers die, leaving the child either to grow up with its father, or to be orphaned at birth. With the help of the Imbabazi Orphanage these children are getting a second chance. One that many do not receive in Rwanda. These children are not completely free from the government and the ways of their country though. They just have a better chance of surviving through the hardest time in their life, childhood.

Statement of Purpose

To find my statement of purpose, I need to really look at the purpose of my whole writing assignment. The audience and context are a huge part of it. To address an audience I really need to find something that would be entertaining to read about. Something that would keep them hooked on what I am trying to say. I wanted to connect with everyone that is reading this. Whether it be my fellow classmates, teachers, or the whole cyberspace. I wanted to address the problems in Rwanda and the effects it has on the children there. The country of Rwanda has one of the highest percentages of orphanages in the world. One of the top orphanages in Rwanda is the Imbabazi Orphanage. It has provided a place of refuge for troubled and traumatized Rwandan children. The country of Rwanda is settled in the east-central part of Africa.

Most countries of Africa suffer from poverty, civil war, and lack of health care. Especially in Rwanda, where most of the children end up in orphanages across the country. For the simple fact that, people can not take care of their children, let alone bring food home for themselves. So they look for help. The only help in Rwanda, is an orphanage for their children to have food and support with a roof over their heads. What started this horrible problem of poverty and the constant need of food, started in 1994. With the Rwanda Genocide, hundreds of thousands of people were murdered. It was thought to have started from the killing of Juvenal Habyarimana, the President of the Republic from 1973-1994. Which you would think would start a country wide grief. Instead, it started a country wide killing spree. Most of them being from the ethnic group that Habyarimana supported, called Hutus. While it may seem unbelievable to most Americans, it's common for most African countries. For most African countries, the problems of poverty, orphanages, and war, are an everyday occurrence. The children learn this at an early age, some even know about the dangers of these at the time they are born. Some children don't know their parents, or there are those that did know their parents, but got put into an orphanage at an early age.
Children in America may define family in various ways, but they all run along the same lines, a mom, dad, and siblings. Sometimes along with grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins. Children in the undeveloped countries of the world have a different perspective of family. They might describe it as, mom and dad, with siblings. Or it could be, lots of siblings and guardians in an orphanage. While we all have different opinions on family, one thing might stand out more than the others, love. Whether it be from family, friends, or loved ones thats the one thing that a family has. So to my knowledge, as long as a child feels love, and knows happiness, they know the meaning of family. You can't help who you are born to, or what you're born into, you have to grow up and learn to change it. I've known many people who have been born with nothing, and grow to become successful people in today's world. Many famous people around the world have grown from nothing, Abraham Lincoln for example, who is one of the country's greatest President's. My point of this is, although these children have been born into poverty and have grown up in orphanages, does not mean that, that is their destiny. I believe anything is possible. These children can grow up to be successful people in their country as well. They might not be able to turn their country around, and get them out of poverty, but they have the opportunity to grow and thrive. They might not have gotten that if they were to have stayed with their parents in a hut or on the streets. The children who stayed with their parents could have died from starvation, disease, or lack of care. So although these children are living in orphanages, they sometimes have a better chance of being successful, than those who lived their life on the streets.