Elizabeth

Before we get into the meat of today’s podcast, I want to acknowledge a message I got from a listener this week about last week’s podcast. I got a lot of response to my thoughts on honorifics, and it’s great to know I struck a chord.

But one listener, Michael, had a bit of a quibble with me, and I think it’s worth mentioning. Michael grew up in the South, where calling people by the right title is a big deal. And so his thoughts are definitely worth considering. [Read More]

Academic Twitter has been all a buzz in the last week in their semi-regular dust-up about honorifics. What should you call people and what does it say about you as a person if you asked to be called something specific?

This is kind of an interesting question because no matter what you ask to be called, you are making a rhetorical choice. You are making some statement about your identity and how you relate to the people around you. So I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of these choices and consider why people get so up in arms about them. [Read More]

We talk a lot about speech on this podcast, and even legal rhetoric, but we don’t often give as much attention to the composition side of rhetoric. But in reality, writing and composition is much more central to most people’s lives than public speaking. [Read More]

We just celebrated July the 4th in America, our Independence Day, and if you spend any time on social media you know there is a battle for the soul of that day happening in some circles in the nation.

In some groups, the competition seems to be who can me the MOST patriotic. Who can have the MOST traditional American holiday and proclaim the most pride in our nation? Who can look beyond the troubles of the day to see the fundamental good at the heart of America and celebrate with the most exuberance?

In other circles there seems to be a competition to see who can have the most woke 4th of July? Who can center indigenous people most profoundly? Who can hate fireworks the most? Who will be the first to post “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” by Frederick Douglass? There’s a race to see who can demean the holiday the most and point out all the flaws that hound America. [Read More]

This week’s episode is designated “explicit” because we kind of have to get into the reeds a little bit in terms of language and speech. But, you know, that’s the nature of the First Amendment.

Last week there was a really important free speech decision handed down by the Supreme Court that you may have heard something about. It was the cheerleader case, and we want to give it a little attention today. It was highly anticipated, so when it turned out to be an 8-1 decision, which is pretty decisive, it was a pretty big victory for the citizens involved. What is notable about that, is the citizen in this case, was a student. A high schooler, at that. It’s been a long time since a student was successful in a free speech case, so this is a really important moment for young people. As supporters of young people we thought this was worth talking about. [Read More]