Elizabeth Wilby

English 202D

Textual Genre #1: ______

Opening Campaign Speech

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #1:

● Exigence: Why this: to open up his campaign. This is his first speech so it contains his running points and
opinions. Why now: He has to give a speech to kick off his campaign.
● Writer: Dan, but also his campaign team (John, Darcy)
● Primary/Intended Audience: Voters in the area. Parents of Lincoln High School in Mayfair (North East
Philly mostly)
● Secondary/Peripheral Audience: those who could be in a position to support him in a way that helps him
market himself during the campaign (Businesses, donors,
● Author’s Purpose/Goal: Dan is trying to get people’s attention to gain votes in an election happening in a few
months
● Context/Background Info: he’s introducing his ideas and plans for his community in this speech to gain
support and grab the attention of possible donors or big time supporters. This is his first time running in a
mostly blue area. He’s somewhat on the radical side but gaining a lot of support especially from city workers,
religious groups, and other blue collar workers. Dan is also Republican.

(Copy/Paste Textual Genre #1 here/below): taking place outside on the property of Lincoln High School on
a Friday afternoon
My name is Dan Smith and I’m running for State representative in Pennsylvania. I chose to do this because as
a native philadelphian I looked at what was happening around my home and I decided something needed to be
done. I am running to enact change within the city to give our children better education, to bring back our values,
and to fix a system that hasn’t been working for a long time.

The public school system is a big problem to take on with a lot of issues both internally and externally. We
don’t know where our money is going, who’s taking it, or who’s spending it. I promise to get to the bottom of it and
put the money exactly where it needs to go. I will fund after school programs to keep kids out of trouble as well as
offer religious counseling for students who wish to seek it. The health systems embedded within this schools has
corrupted young students and made them think they are either invincible or able to “overcome” the risks that
come with teenage copulation.

Let this segway into a return to values. I do not wish to seek to force a path for young students, I just simply
want to see it be available for students. Public schools offer a wide variety of help for students but living in such a
diverse city means each student has different needs. I do believe that, as a Christian, God offers redemption
through our action. I myself as a young man was very thankful that in times of stress I was able to freely turn to
God and feel that comfort without being judged.

I vow to keeps drugs out of schools as well. I would like to introduce a bill which forces any student
participating in an extracurricular activity to pass a drug test. While this will not affect every student, we know it
will affect those who wish to be active members in their schools, thus forcing those students to set an example for
students who may be on the fence about where they stand with this policy.
 Again my name is Dan Smith, running for Pennsylvania State Representative. I’m here to fix the system which
has been a burden on our shoulders for so long. Welcome to a Better Future.

Metacognitive “Moves” I made for Textual Genre #1

This is just some insight on who I wanted Dan Smith to be. I wanted him to be a politician who’s politics weren’t
actually that good, that way I could create a scandal which kind of goes against exactly what he stands for.
Obviously I would never vote for a person with these ideas but I think it would be interesting to step into the shoes
of his campaign manager trying to diffuse that fire and defend him. This is also his introductory speech and first of
the campaign.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Textual Genre #2: ______

Public Address

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #2:

● Exigence: This address is very urgent and needs to be “nipped in the bud” as soon as possible. Dan being
accused of a sexual scandal has brought up questions and given a lot of positive attention to his opposers team.
● Writer: Dan Smith and his team, mostly Dan on this one
● Primary/Intended Audience: The media, his supporters, and attackers. Most of his attackers are younger,
particularly young females and some community leaders and influencers.
● Secondary/Peripheral Audience: the other campaign and other candidates team as well as his accuser. His
accuser is never named to “protect her”, but we find out later that Dan’s campaign gave him information on
who the person is and how to possibly navigate into spinning this accusation into a false one/ discrediting the
accuser AND the opposing campaign.
● Author’s Purpose/Goal: Dan needs to keep his reputation and uses a public statement to officially say that
what he is being accused of is a lie. Dan has been accused of having an inappropriate relationship with a girl in
high school, however, she is 18.
● Context/Background Info: Dan has been accused of cheating on his wife with a woman who is very young
and needs to make the claim that it didn’t happen.

(Copy/Paste Textual Genre #2 here/below): Given once publically in the City of Philadelphia
Representatives office, but also a picture of the address is posted to his twitter account and Instagram
account.
To the concerned citizens of Philadelphia. Those of you who have supported and continue to support me do not
need to worry about these false allegations. I have been happily married for 25 years and have two beautiful
daughters, one of whom is close to the same age as the accuser.

For those of you who are questioning my platform and candidacy, I implore you to take a look at the details. Aside
from my word I can only offer as much evidence as I can that this did not happen. My wife and children have
chosen to stand by me during this time and I will continue to make sure that being a good husband and father is
my primary duty, as it always has been.

To the people who have decided to attack me as well as my family, please take a look at what you are doing
carefully. You are not only trying to destroy a campaign, but a life. A life which I have worked very hard for. While I
have made it a point in my political career to make sure my private life stays private, it seems to have backfired
and made me susceptible to fake rumors.

It has also come to my attention that while I will respect the wishes the this accuser stay private, the young
woman, whom I have never met, is a friend of one of my opposers daughters. They went to the same highschool
together. Do with that information what you wish. While I do not condone assuming because that is how vicious
rumors start, I do hope you take this information into considerations as you talk about this at your dinner tables
tonight.

False sexual accusations have riddled the men of this nation in recent times. Let’s not make this new fear a
lasting one.

Thank you for your time, God Bless.

In hopes to Welcome You to a Better Future,

Daniel Smith

Metacognitive “Moves” I made for Textual Genre #2

Response to media outcry over sexual scandal allegation. At this point, it’s only an allegations and the campaign
has decided to state that it is false. Something made up by a young woman who has a connection to his opposer,
Greg Mason. The allegation was reported to have taken place 5 years ago, was consensual, however, the young
woman was only 19 years of age at the time. He decides to respond with an official open letter to the public. For
safety, the girls name is kept private for now, however apparently she has ties to the Mason family/
campaign.>>>a Public Address

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Textual Genre #3: ______

Negative News e-mail from Philly Design

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #3:

● Exigence: this is happening right now
● Writer: Karen L at Philly Design and John Sanders
● Primary/Intended Audience: Karen and John
 ● Secondary/Peripheral Audience:Potentially other people Philly Design works with or for, Karen’s team also
when she discusses if they will continue to work with them or not
● Author’s Purpose/Goal: Karen L works for a company specializing in marketing and has worked with John
before with other PR jobs he has done, but when her company hears about the accusation they decide to take a
very firm stance against the campaign of Dan smith by pulling the ad space they had previously agreed to give
them. John, in need of that space to market his client tries to coerce her into rethinking but can see that the
email was basically only sent as a courtesy and that changing the company’s mind is fruitless.
● Context/Background Info: After the allegation comes out an ad company who previously was willing to give
Dan’s team space on a billboard decided to revoke it

(Copy/Paste Textual Genre #3 here/below)

Subject: Ad space no longer available
John Sanders,

It is with some regret that I write this email to you and your team regarding the placement of three ads which were
supposed to be placed on three billboards (on on 95 Callowhill exit, one on the Schuylkill Expressway, and one at
Cottman and Roosevelt). We here at Philly Designs have decided not to support this campaign and will be pulling
our ad space.

We have worked with you in the past Mr. Sanders, and while we do feel that you normally represent positive and
creative campaigns, Philly Design does not and cannot be involved in the scandal which has recently unfolded.

Sincerely,
Karen L
Philly Design

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Response

Dear Karen,

While I fully understand your concern over the matter I would like to reach out and ask again if you and your team
would reconsider. Dan Smith is still an excellent candidate with experience and comfort in the political arena. We
truly believe he would be a great representative.

That being said, we would like to offer you better compensation if you are still willing to let us represent ourselves
on your billboards. Right now we are willing to commit two times what you originally asked for since we believe
your placement sees the most traffic.

If you are still unwilling to help this campaign please let us know with a follow up email as well. We appreciate you
reaching out.

John Sanders
Dan Smith Campaign
HeadOn Consulting

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Dear Mr. Sanders,

Thank you for the kind offer, however, after some deliberation, we still stand by our decision to pull the ads. Good
luck in the future.

Karen L
Philly Design

Metacognitive “Moves” I made for Textual Genre #3

After the scandal blows up, (He cheated on his wife with a girl just out of highschool > think Anthony Weiner) an
advertising company who agreed to post three billboards with his campaign say they have decided not to
advertise him.
Textual Genre #4: ______
E-mail of Wavering support from the Worker’s Union

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #4:

● Exigence: Urgent, need immediate response and to come up with something to maintain support
● Writer: John and Ron with the Rockledge Workers Union exchange e-mails
● Primary/Intended Audience: John and Ron
● Secondary/Peripheral Audience: The workers Union, Dan, and other people who would be involved in this
meeting
● Author’s Purpose/Goal: John’s goal is to keep the relationship alive and have public support from a major
group in the community
● Context/Background Info: The worker’s union notified John of a vote they would have in the upcoming
week to decide if they would continue to support Dan as an influential and collective group

(Copy/Paste Textual Genre #4 here/below)

To Dan Smith and his Campaign,

While initially our union decided to support your candidate through sponsorship and small donations as well as
volunteering to help spread the word, we now have reasonable concern over representing Mr. Smith. While we
fully agree with his politics, it is difficult to say whether or not Mr. Smith is the face we want representing us. We
are going to take an official vote on our stance on Monday night. We felt that it was important to give you notice of
where we are concerning our support.

While some members are really hoping to stay with the campaign as individual companies, if the vote comes to a
“no” then you and your team can no longer claim the support of our union.

We wish you luck in the future

Sincerely,
Ron Lucero
The Store Owners Union of Rockledge

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Dear Ron,

While we hear and understand your concerns, we do so hope that you will stay with our campaign. These
allegations are serious and we plan to do a full investigation of our own as to clear Dan Smith of the slander which
has been placed upon him during this election.

We also hope that your team will maintain its support as we believe that your Union is a major key to this
campaign’s success. Dan Smith has and will continue to have your Union’s back as well as make sure your
voices are heard when it comes to the community. You are, after all, the faces of this neighborhood.

Dan Smith also insists on reaching out to your group personally. He would like to set up a meeting sometime
before your vote so he can listen to you and reassure that he wants nothing more than to make the citizens he
works for proud and happy to support him.

If you are willing to reach out please contact us about a time to get together. Possibly this Saturday at 4 p.m.? We
hope to hear back soon!
John Sanders
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After some discussion we have decided we greatly appreciate Mr. Smith taking time out of his schedule to speak
with us. Saturday at 4 p.m. is a great time and we would like to congregate at Vincent’s pizza so we can eat and
discuss in a place with enough seating for everyone.

Sincerely,
Store Owners Union of Rockledge

Metacognitive “Moves” I made for Textual Genre #4

Some emails between HeadOn and a local organization created by other local businesses who originally wanted
the client to win the election but are now doubtful and thinking of pulling sponsorship.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Textual Genre #5: ______

Behind the scenes writing of the Public address

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #5:

● Exigence: Time sensitive
● Writer: Dan, Darcy, John
● Primary/Intended Audience: Dan, Darcy, John
 ● Secondary/Peripheral Audience: Other editors, Dan’s family
● Author’s Purpose/Goal: To edit and make sure that the Address hits all the right notes
● Context/Background Info: Dan, Darcy, and John are editing and making sure that Dan’s Public Address of
the situation makes him look as good as possible and making sure that they covered all of the ground they
could have. We also find out that Greg Mason, the Dem he’s running against in the election has a tie to the
woman who has accused Dan of the scandal.

(Copy/Paste Textual Genre #5 here/below)

Darcy and John,

Below I have attached a copy of the public statement I’ll be making this Wednesday. Feel free to give tips and
leave comments.

Dan
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Cc to Darcy
Dan,

Thanks! I think so far what you have is looking good. Make sure you target each type of audience member in this
so you can cover all your bases. Remember, we’re targeting a lot of audience members with children. We need to
reassure them that you are the best person to vote for. Continue thinking of new ways to connect with the
audience. I know the reason for the speech is pretty bleak but it’s still an election and a race and we need to pull
in as much support and as many voters as we can.

Use this as an opportunity to reflect and show how strong of an opponent you are. We found out that the girl who
also accused you of the affair is a school friend of Greg Mason’s daughter. Very fishy but consider mentioning it
briefly in the address.

John
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Cc to Dan
Dan,

So far so good! Great set up, clear message, I took the liberty of editing and moving a few words around just to
dress it up a bit. John has made great points and I agree with everything he’s said. If you do mention this girl
though make sure it doesn’t come across as too hostile. Still trying to appear wholesome as possible here.

Send me any new drafts before it goes to press that way it’s perfect

Darcy

Metacognitive “Moves” I made for Textual Genre #5

A series of emails regarding the editing and creating of Dan’s speech after the accusation between John Sanders,
the head campaign manager, Dan himself, and an editor working for the campaign named Darcy Flynn.
 Textual Genre #6: ______
Media Interview

Rhetorical Situation Behind Textual Genre #6:

● Exigence: Happening right now, on a live broadcast. This interview happens a few weeks after the scandal
news breaks. While things seem to have calmed down a bit, questions still obviously pop up about the scandal
because it is still a major point that a lot of voters from every side have been discussing. After he goes to a rally
he plans a somewhat soft and short media interview.
● Writer: Christine Forte and Dan Smith
● Primary/Intended Audience: Christine and Dan
● Secondary/Peripheral Audience: The entire channel and its watchers
● Author’s Purpose/Goal: for Dan, to clear his name. For Christine, to ask him a few questions about the
scandal and capture his response
● Context/Background Info: Christine works at a local news station and sits down with dan for a short
interview after the scandal happens

(Copy/Paste Textual Genre #6 here/below)

Christine: Dan! So happy to have you on. We know you’ve been working diligently on the campaign but hopefully
you can see that hard work starting to pay off

Dan: Totally! We’re still even managing to have a few good laughs with each other. It’s important to keep yourself
and coworkers in the best mood possible, even under stress.

C: Speaking of stress, we’ve all heard about the accusations at this point. How has your campaign been feeling
the effects of this accusation?

D: Well it hasn’t been easy. I will say though, the people who have been affected most by this baseless
accusation is my family. My poor wife who has been the best thing in my life since I met her is getting harrassed
and it’s been hard not knowing why anyone would make up something like this. Even in today’s political
atmosphere this feels extreme.

C: I’m sure it has been very tough for your family. Are you planning on taking any private time for yourself before
the election?

D: You know, we did think about it, but at the same I didn’t want to waste any time when it came to shutting this
down. I decided to run because I wanted to help this community with positive change. I still believe I am the best
and most qualified candidate for this job.
C: Well we sure can see by the crowd around your campaign truck over there that you’re not the only one who
thinks that! Good luck Mr. Smith and thanks so much for sitting down with us for a quick chat!

Metacognitive “Moves” I made for Textual Genre #6

An Interview between an news host named Christine Forte and Dan Smith. She asks him a few questions about
the scandal and he is able to give a decent response on the spot.

Metacognitive Moves for this Project

When strategizing how I would create the rhetorical situation within my project I wanted to focus on

interpersonal communication. I created a situation in which a man running for State Rep is accused of a

sexual scandal during his campaign. This obviously throws a huge wrench into the campaign causing a

lot of stress and planning throughout the whole campaign and its interaction with the community. In

“Writing Identities” one of the clear first parts of the article say you need to create a character that

people trust. While I agree with that in a sense that you need to trust the character when they are the

protagonist, however I wanted to create non-protagonist characters. I wanted to give the audience a

situation that wasn’t really guided by myself as the writer and open a space where i think the issue

would be discussed if it were a real life situation.

The first textual genre I made was an initial campaign speech. I needed an introduction for the the

candidate and I needed the audience to know what he was running for, why he was running, and what

his points of view where within the race. I modeled Dan’s personality around a few other characters I

had seen on television and on other platforms. He needed to seem kind of starchy in personality as well

as have a political stance that seemed like it was leaning in a specific direction. This is because I’ve

noticed that with candidates who tend to be a little more polar, their voters tend to cling to them harder in

an election. In doing this I wanted to make it seem like it was actually creating a rift within a community

because his political stance might have been something strongly revered and not often seen but certain

citizens and voters.

 My next textual genre was an address Dan chose to give after he was accused of the allegation. I

wanted to make sure his family looked united, and that each part of his speech targeted seperate groups

within the community. He does not give up, therefore, he is still campaigning, even when addressing this

situation. By targeting audience members he manages to attempt to ease concern, thank his supporters,

and call out those who are publicly bashing him. In one part of the address he says “My wife and

children have chosen to stand by me during this difficult time.” I used the word chosen specifically to

show that this wasn’t a decision forced upon them but that his wife and children, like his supporters,

have made a decision on their own to support and trust someone that has a huge impact on their lives.

In my third textual genre I created a string of emails between a local ad agency and John, the

campaign manager. The ad campaign, which had previously offered space on billboards for dan to past

campaigning material on, wants to revoke its offer. This hurts the campaign in a very specific way. It cuts

off a form of marketing which is one of the most important aspects of a political campaign. I made it

seem like John was making some attempts to grovel and bargain with the ad agency by offering

additional pay and asking for a response even if they decide they still no longer wish to work with the

campaign. I wanted it to look like John was trying to make it hard to say not to him by essentially backing

them into a corner and forcing a response from them anyway. Since it’s only an email though and you

can tell by “Karen’s” tone, she has already made a decision and no amount of groveling will change her

or her agency’s mind. Since this is essentially a negative news email, John still needed to try and gain

the dominating role in communication by seeing if he could convince the agency to continue to work with

them. Once he realized that wasn’t the case, he didn’t put more effort into fixing the issue because he

realized that there was no upper hand to be gained at that point.

In the fourth genre I created another email string. The difference between this and the other emails

with Karen are that this time a local Union is thinking of pulling their support. Instead of dealing with a

big successful ad business, now John is talking to the local leaders of his community on Dan’s behalf.
These people seem to be eager to help make a change and they saw that change happening perhaps,

through Dan. John strategizes a face to face meeting between Dan and the Union and in doing so opens

a space for an opportunity to really connect with the guys in the Union. In the Union's response to John I

think you can really tell how much it’s appreciated by them by letting them sit down and have their own

sort of town hall session with Dan. In John doing this, he not only makes it harder for the Union to say no

directly to his face but also makes them feel important by letting them voice opinions, concerns, and

wants directly to Dan. While this email also deals with negative news writing I think it’s very clear that

John was aware of who his audience was and how he could potentially solve the issue at hand.

In the fourth genre I decided to go a little more in depth as to how the address was written and

edited. Given that this speech would be major key as to whether or not Dan could continue as a

legitimate candidate in the race, it had to be written carefully as to address issues, solve problems,

create new space, and discredit his opponent. Each paragraph is carefully written without using any

language of force. This was one situation where “trigger words” that created a negative image of Dan

and to be completely eradicated. He directly addresses what happened and how it has affected not him,

but his family, the true “victims” of the accusation. (Not the girl who made the accusation) He thanks his

supporters who have not doubted him first after that. I put each specific point in a very specific spot

based on how far he had to reach to literally reach the audience he was addressing. In the email string I

made, it gets brought up that the accuser was friends with his opponent's daughter, which I think makes

it very easy to make it look like this is a fake accusation. Darcy is careful to tell Dan and John not to

make his own accusation of the fake allegation seem to hostile and that he remains wholesome. So I

threw it in there at the end of the speech since I think it’s the juiciest part of the speech. If I had put it in

the beginning, it wouldn’t have mattered what he said after because no one listening would be thinking

of anything but that. So in saying that part last, he has his audience’s attention the whole time, but also

says that last, so it’s the last thing people remember about the address.
 The last textual genre I created was an interview between Dan and a local news person named

Christine Forte. I wanted to put Dan in a situation where he didn’t have his team speaking for him and he

had to come up with a response right then and there. Christin makes a big move after Dan’s first answer

to one of his questions. Dan mentions the stress of the campaign and she uses that to move onto asking

a hard question about the sexual scandal. He responds by bringing up again, how this isn’t something

that actually happened and that it has affected his family the most. He also uses the word “extreme”

which I thought was a great word because I think it’s a word that a lot of people are afraid of today no

matter where they fall in their political ideals. Then after his response Christine asks if he plans on taking

some time for himself with his family to recoup after the ordeal, Dan responds saying that the campaign

is the most important thing at the time. A little contradictory since he just said the accusation really

affected his family but now he’s saying the campaign is the most important part. I felt like it was

necessary though because I wanted it to look like, again, he seemingly had nothing to hide so shutting

down the rumors and being able to pull through and gain a lead was still a major possibility. The article

we read called “Collecting Data by In-Depth Interviewing” I think laid the groundwork for how to conduct

an interview. Even though I made the interview relatively short in the textual genre I think the moves

within the interview are very clear from both sides. It’s easy to to tell which direction both Dan and

Christine were trying to go in in order to both get what they wanted out of the interview.

I think the metacognitive moves I used where pretty strategic and created space for conversation and

to allow the readers to create their own opinion on what was happening. I wanted the textual genres to

not only include key details as to how the campaign was being ran and strategize but to also provide

some sort of evidence as to back up the reader’s own opinion. I decided to write about a political

campaign specifically because nothing happens by accident when it comes to responses or gaining

lead. Campaigning literally is strategizing to win a race by gaining support so the language that has to

be used when communicating has to be carefully planned.

 When I had my interview with AJ he said something along those lines to me after the actual interview.

He said he never really said something by accident. He would create pockets of space for small talk

sometimes and could close it again when he needed a specific answer. Sometimes to lessen tension or

ease the people he interviewed he would ask a question with an easy response. I think I used this in my

final project because you can see it through John’s communication skills that he sort of knows when he

can fix something versus when he no longer has the attention or support of an audience to keep pushing

for feedback or support.