The discourse community I want to target is soccer (football) fans who are from NY or maybe just sports fans in general who aren’t exactly soccer fans. I want to create a letter to to sort of rally the community to urge the NY government and the owners of the NYCFC soccer club to finalize a deal to finally start construction of a NYCFC stadium by the end of this year. I feel like a letter would be better than a speech because I feel like a letter is more “formal”. People from my discourse community have written letters before to the owners of the football club but that was years ago and I believe that now that NYCFC has won their very first championship, writing a new letter to the owners and even sending it to the new mayor of NYC would bring this issue back to light and they will be more willing to take actions to advance a stadium proposal.
In the beginning of the letter, I would address the people who I am writing to and I will say something along the lines of “this is not a stadium just for NYCFC fans, it is a stadium for NY as a whole”. I think that will be my main point. Building a stadium is not just for the fans, its not just for the players, its for NYC because it provides several new jobs to the city, not only will it bring construction jobs but even once the stadium is built, it will bring more jobs in the form of cleaning, security, concession stands, etc. It will also be another opportunity for special events to be held in that stadium like concerts and festivals, bringing more money to the city. It can also be a tourist attraction. My whole focus in my letter is to appeal to the NY government in the sense that it will boost the economy.
Pick a Model & Organize Your Ideas
I prefer the model of speech over the letter. By giving a speech, I think I would be able to express my message more effectively and I can spontaneously add more ideas as I speak. Speech is a stronger way of getting your message across because it’s easier to pay attention to the physical contact or the communication is direct. Also, it’s easier to pay attention when you are physically present right in front of the audience where they can see your facial expression and your tone. This way, your listener can pick up your point quicker. Another reason why I would choose this one is that people would rather watch you and listen to you as you speak rather than them curling up on a chair, head down with a craning neck, reading. I’m sure the majority will choose the most convenient and less straining way of listening to someone’s argument because nobody wants pain in the neck.
Whereas when you write a letter, you have to form a strategy, especially at the beginning of a letter to catch the attention of the reader and convince them to read the rest of your text. This form of conveying a message is challenging work. I feel like writers spend more time rearranging and reconstructing their ideas for the sake of format rather than focusing on making their argument stronger. And the problem with letters is that most people do not like reading especially in this generation where young people like myself prefer the modern form of communication which is media. We like seeing or listening to a person rather than reading a boring text. It’s very hard to convince people to read, let alone to convince them to read an entire letter. In addition, it seems to be a common method to use complicated vocabulary in writing. The problem is that most people have a hard time understanding technical or complex words. And this is a major factor that makes readers lose interest in reading.
If I were to make a speech, I would start off by addressing the issue, especially one that affects my community. I would list off each specific problem caused by the main issue and explain how it’s affecting my community negatively. I would give sample situations that are based on my personal experiences or observation to play out during my speech so the audience can understand our point of view better. I will make sure that with every problem I mention, the audience gets to sympathize and understand our side. And lastly, I will argue further why this is wrong and unacceptable to my community, and how we should put an end to or make a change on the said issue.
Cristian, I love the you say that letters have been written before but that now the moment is ideal to approach the problem again. And you have to great audiences, (the owners of the club or the mayor). But remember that how your present your problem will be partly determined by the audience and as you of on to explain some of the points you will make in the letter, it seems clear that you want to address the mayor and other NYC government officials. Finally, you seem to have a clear organization but more details, like which problems and effects you will discuss, will be more useful for you as you begin to write.