Cayla Lepior Blog #8

 

            While watching Suheir Hammad’s performance of “First Writing Since” I noticed she utilized logos, ethos, and pathos to affect her audience. She uses pathos most frequently as she continually speaks about the way she and other people felt on September 11, 2001. She uses ethics as she criticizes the things that happened and the decisions that were made whether they were good or bad. I found it really impressive how she was able to appeal to such a wide audience. There were so many different races of people in the audience and it was clear that she affected all of them. She states that although she is Muslim and possesses the same looks as the 9/11 assassins, that does not mean she is the same as them.           

            I found it really powerful when she says “And when we talk about holy books, hooded men, and death, why never mention the KKK?” I think she is relating this to the stereotype people have now that all middle-eastern people are out to get Americans. People have forgotten that it was Americans that killed their own people because of racial issues (the KKK). It is clear that she appeals to people’s emotions as people are showed crying in the audience, or when they clap when she says something they are passionate about.

            I think her argument in her poetry is to “affirm life” as she states multiple times towards the end. She says, “after the rubble and rhetoric are clear and the phoenix has risen, affirm life” maybe meaning that after all of the conflict and after we are all strong again and peaceful, everything is going to be okay and that life is good. She is very persuasive in her poetry in my opinion and definitely utilizes pathos, ethos, and logos throughout her entire poem.