Ethos with an Artist

Russel Hanson

Ms. Chastain

English 104, Blog assignment

February 24, 2011

Johnny Cash

                I have chosen to investigate Johnny Cash. This is one of my favorite artists of all time because of his originality. Johnny established ethos with his listeners by singing about real life situations, having a very deep voice and freight train style music that was never heard before and being rebellious but humble at the same time. Cash was considered “a lens through which to view American contradictions and challenges” which made listeners relate to his songs, because everyone is faced with difficult challenges. People were tired of hearing those same old songs, and wanted something new. I have to say however, that what made “the man in black” so popular was that his music had a part in several different genres. Johnny’s music was country, rock, blues, and gospel all at the same time! So not only did Mr. Cash quickly gain ethos with country listeners, he gained way more than just that. Johnny recorded a song for everybody to relate to, whether it was funny, a couple song, a sorrow song, a redemption song, or just a fast paced fun song. Johnny found a way to relate to everybody, and 2 people relating to each other somehow is definitely the fastest way for them to build credibility for one another.

Blog #3

Ms. Chastain

Russel Hanson

English 104, Blog Assignment #2

February 10, 2011

Ethos, Pathos, Logos

            Ethos seems to easy, and pathos doesn’t seem very deep. Logos it is! I don’t have a topic selected yet because I just started looking into this assignment. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do though. I am going to find a story, argument, or presentation, and destroy it. I have always been very good at looking at the “other side” of things. Whether I agree or disagree with a topic, I will bring up the possible arguments to it, whether it is to prove the topic, or to make the writer/presenter wish they had never created it. I am going to find something, hang it up on a hay bale, and unload an entire magazine into it. These are all metaphors obviously, I am not some psycho just talking about weird stuff, but I have your attention now! I am using the “shoot holes in your story” method. I will demonstrate logos by showing my audience how a writer or presenter was overlooking facts, statistics, and details.I have a few ideas for what specifically I will use, however I have to do more research on them because I don’t want to be the one that seems ignorant in the end! Please let me know if this seems within the acceptable means for this writing assignment!