Static Pages, Moving Meaning

If you’ve poked around the rest of this site recently, you might’ve noticed something new.

“But what, pray tell, are you barking about?” you might be asking.

There’s now a Gallery Page featuring visual snippets from my book-in-progress, Scrolls & Screens: An Odyssey Through the Ages of Rhetoric.

Yeah, that is indeed Socrates. Yeah, he is omae wa mou shindeiru-ing.

Let me explain.

Why This Book Even Exists

Scrolls & Screens is my attempt to do something slightly rebellious in this field, even though one might argue that’s subjective and I’m really not creative at all.

Nevertheless, take rhetorical theory in all its ancient, intimidating, and “why-is-this-so-dense” glory, and make it visually ridiculous, somewhat narratively driven, but most of all, digitally aware.

Because rhetoric didn’t die with parchment. It evolved through the centuries that have passed us by without most of us even realizing it.

From scrolls to printing presses to comment sections, and even Twitch streams.

And I wanted the design to reflect that evolution so that my modern audience could learn all there is to know about the meaning behind everything within their digital landscape.

Classical Meets Chronically Online

The Gallery shows a few things you’ll notice immediately:

• A “Perfect Speaker Checklist” that’s meant to feel like it was taken straight from my notebook. It was.
• A timeline of rhetorical figures that jumps from BCE philosophers to 1997 internet magnum opera.
• A rhetorical triangle labeled “Using Tinder.”
• Socrates urging you to “Question everything, fools.”
• And some dude in a toga.
• ALso Man Ray ??? for some reason.

None of that is random, I tell you. It’s deliberate tonal hybridity.

You’re so welcome.

Rhetoric has always been about adapting to its medium. So, I let the visuals mimic modern meme culture, influencer aesthetics, and algorithm-era absurdity while still grounding the crux of the content in real scholarship (yes, the bibliographies are very real. I’m busting my ass over it, so please read this mamaluke once it’s complete).

Design as Argument

Every design choice in the Gallery argues something, and I do hope that pokes through.

• Handwritten notes → rhetoric is human, as are we.
• Selfie-stick rhetorician → rhetoric adapts as time does.
• Ethos/Pathos/Logos triangle → theory travels, found everywhere and applied to any situation.

I’m especially proud of the way the illustrations break up heavier theoretical sections, which will be clear once the book is released. Classical rhetoric can feel heavy, and with modern attention spans showing up to the attention span competition, only to realize their opponent is a piece of sheetrock, I chose to visually interrupt it.

Humor lowers resistance to learning. Once you’re chuckling, you’re listening. Or, at the very least, you’re acknowledging.

That’s rhetoric, too.

What’s Coming Next

This book is still in progress, and at the moment, there is no specific timeline.

The next major section dives into an ongoing research study of mine on how pathos-heavy content spreads faster through algorithms than logos-driven content, and just how that dynamic shapes what we believe online, amplify and share with others, and even choose to monetize.

Spoiler: it’s not accidental. All of those sob-stories and ragebait are meticulously placed.

Anyhoo, if you haven’t checked out the Gallery yet, go crazy, go stupid, and explore it to your heart’s content. Tell me which visual made you pause, chortle, or add me to your Death Note.

Some traditions deserve to evolve. This is just what I felt in my soul was right.

Peace ‘n luv.

Ps. That’s it. That’s the announcement. No extra memes to force this announcement to be funnier, which would just be me manipulating you with pathos-driven content. Couldn’t be me. Y’all stay safe out there though.