Fair Folks & A Goat. A Hidden Treasure
My article is about Fair Folks and A Goat. A membership based coffee shop in Greenwich Village, New York. For $25 a month its members get unlimited coffees, teas, espressos, and lemonades. They also sell art, clothes, home design pieces, and alcohol. They have around 1,000 members and have built up their reputation by creating an exciting environment with live concerts and an interesting interacting client base.
I define rhetoric as the act of persuasive speaking or writing through the use of figure of speech and other techniques. Rhetoric is being used in this article through pathos, ethos, and logos. I actually had some trouble finding articles on small businesses. I was specifically looking for some type of article related to some sort of mom &pop small business. I realized I was using Bing which in my opinion sucks, and switched to google. Within minutes I found the New York Times database for articles related to small business, and found this article on this hole in the wall coffee shop in New York. (The New York Times, I discovered offers a 3 month free trial that doesn’t require a credit card. I may consider.) In terms of rhetorical analysis I guess ethos pulled me in because I find The New York Times to be a very credible source. I wasn’t conscience of being pulled in because I was trying so hard to find an article I found acceptable for this blog I felt like I pried myself in instead of being pulled, but I was definitely excited when I stumbled upon it.
The article was written in the New York edition of the New York Times this October. The writer’s motives for writing the story are to spread the word about a hole in the wall coffee shop that does things different from “the norm”. The writer doesn’t seem to be personally connected to/ or be a member of the shop but respects the community aspect it’s formed for its members who rave about the friendly environment and other members. The writer is most likely aware of all of this. The technical aspects of the writing reveal some of this. One of the most used words is “said” because a healthy portion of the article is quotes from members discussing what it is Fair Folks & Goat Coffee means to them.
The rhetorical cannon arrangement is easily noticeable in this article. This is important when it comes to persuasion because the arrangement of the article needs to be set up in a way that strategically sparks interest then sucks you in. The New York Times strategically set up this article to first tell you what this coffee shop is, then interestingly describe what makes it special throughout the rest. The arrangement in one article may be better than another if it is filled with pictures that entertain people and the paragraphs are set up in a chronology that is easy to read and makes sense. The writers do all of this consciously.
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(Ethos) The writer is credible. His credibility is situated because his article is for The New York Times, so although I’ve never heard of the writer and know nothing of him to make his work credible. The New York Times is an established source of information that I trust to post real articles. The writer has a strong vocabulary but doesn’t use any difficult or impressive words throughout the article, he does arrange some of his sentences in clever ways. The writer’s ethos could be affected if everyone hates this coffee shop and he is writing articles about how cool and good it is online. The writer is putting an article out for the world around to him which in its own way could be considered related to panopticism. The writer is a female presumably in the middle class in New York. So she probably does identify with the readers, because she herself is the same type of person who would drink coffee at this shop.
(Pathos) The writer intentionally appeals to the audience’s emotions with clever word choice. She does this writing about a hole in the wall coffee shop, where it seems that “hipsters” would go to drink coffee and hangout. She’s appealing to the culture of this coffee shop through his syntax. The writer may be unconsciously appealing to the readers emotions in ways she might be unaware by possibly making them consider a monthly membership coffee shop if they spend more than $25 a month currently on coffee. Or joining a shop to get the friendly community atmosphere and hang out with other people, which doubles over as drives and desires of the readers. If the reader would rather be a member of this club instead of spend money at Starbucks they may feel guilty realizing all the money they could have saved the past month. The write says the baristas are “equally” intriguing which connotes that everything about this club including the customers are interesting.
(Logos) The writer writes that the coffee shop is a special hole in the wall establishment. It costs $25 a month and has about 1,000 paying monthly members. The article includes a picture of the shop. This all is effective in persuading the reader, especially locals of Greenwich Village, New York to actually go and join the club. Especially young people who can thrive and interact in the clubs hip environment. The argument in the article is for you to have knowledge of this coffee shop. The thing that makes the coffee shop special is its environment of interesting people getting together and hanging out. When interesting people get together and talk, the result is interesting and innovative ideas and thoughts, which this world needs more of. If the writer means what I think when she says “free dumplings and gin festival”, then it is not an example of topoi but if not than it is.
Certain words in the article relate to the middle class of New York probably in the 20-30ish age range. The writer doesn’t necessarily suggest anything about anything specifically relating to the role of women in society. The writer doesn’t appear to be a feminist although she is a woman. I define a feminist as someone who wants equal rights for men and woman in society. Although I feel the results from the movement are flawed as men have more rights in some places, while women have more rights in other areas creating a flawed system. All men and women should be treated equal in all ways. The writer doesn’t suggest anything regarding race, and doesn’t ignore any racial issues because they aren’t related to the article.
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The writer is spreading the word of a membership based coffee club that costs $25 a month to help people who may spend more than that learn about a place where they can save money and/or engage in interesting conversation with others. I actually do think that the write does believe in social mobility that benefits the lower class. The writer does not suggest inevitable economic arrangements that benefits the upper class. There aren’t many social/political goals from the writer besides promoting people getting together and talking to produce ideas.
The article “Never Pay Sticker Price for a Textbook Again” is relevant because just like this article changes the way we think about acquiring something in a way that benefits the consumers more than it had previously. The article “Communication Style Makes a Difference” is also relevant because it stresses the importance of communication which is a part of the appeal of Fair Folks & Goat.
I found the article intriguing and the author to be persuasive to a certain audience of young adults in New York. If I lived in New York I may have gone and checked this place out after reading this article. I found it interesting that unlike other coffee shops like Starbucks, Fair Folks & Goat promotes that you stick around a while after getting your coffee. They have live music and have created an environment that encourages interaction and discussion between its interesting customers, which is important because it promotes interesting and innovative ideas in the minds of its clients.
Vortex(t): (re)Inventing & Delivering Information 
