an [not] unoriginal post.

This is it, huh? Well, that’s disconcerting. I kid, yet maybe there is a kernel of true in my rude satire.

It has been an eventful four months of coffee exploration. I have visited a total of nine coffee shops and have tried various type of coffee. My wealth of knowledge on the world that is coffee has grown ever so slightly. Yet, it has grown.

Maybe choosing a project of coffee was fitting for the pursuit of rhetoric. After all this time of experimenting, modeling, and imitating in the coffee world, I seem to have a greater grasp of the essence of coffee. I can tell you what good coffee tastes like, what an authentic coffee establishment resembles, and the difference between drip and hand-brewed coffee. With regards to my coffee endeavor, large strides have been made.

In terms of rhetoric, my understanding of the subject has been refined. Although rhetoric seems to be a ever-changing, ever-adapting form, I think I have tightened the net around this elusive subject. Throughout the semester, I have learned more principles of rhetoric. I have learned much more about the pursuit of rhetoric. I have greatly succeeded in figuring out good rhetoric opposed to weak rhetoric. Over the semester, my growth in my perception and argument within rhetoric may be evidences of my greater understanding of rhetoric.

Yet, is my understanding [of coffee or rhetoric] all-encompassing? No. It never will be. Yet, maybe that is the point. Maybe, by pursuing an discipline, venture, or ideal, you begin to understand it a little better [Obviously, sorry]. Yet, it’s a beautiful thing. For example, I see baristas. I see how some have been working for years because they love they coffee. They spend hours talking to customers about the benefits of buying local roasted coffee. Hundreds of hours are spent hand-brewing coffee. Research and time is spent partnering various flavors in bans to produce different blends and strains of coffee. A life’s work can go into making coffee. Yet, if you were to ask any professional in the field, the same answer would be repeated. There’s more out there. There’s more to learn.

That is the biggest tie/parallel between coffee and rhetoric. Both are ever increasing and require a life’s work in order to master. Yet, due to the breadth of the field one will still find more value and meaning each and every day.

So, was it worth it? Was putting the hours exploring coffee worth the knowledge that maybe I’m still a novice? Yes. Of course. Indubitably. In the words of Will Hunting, “at least I’m not unoriginal.” What I mean is that we live in a world where people have lost their passion. [The humanities are dead, as many professionals would attest to.] Yet, by taking the time to delve into something unfamiliar, I have cultured a part of myself otherwise dormant. The same goes for rhetoric. I hope to be a better student of rhetoric. By participating in the pursuit of rhetoric, I like to believe that I excel far greater in the ‘rhetoric of self.’ Is that cheesy? I’m sorry.