Dan Padden Writing Rhet. Exploratory Draft 22 Nov. 2011 1.

In this visual essay I plan to shed light on the terrible issue of homeless veterans. I will do this by first bringing my focus to honoring our veterans, and how they deserve the utmost respect and dignity for their services. Next I will show the statistics on how many veterans are homeless, and what contributes to this problem. Finally, I will end by showing people how they can contribute and help veterans experiencing this heartbreaking issue. 2. My audience is all fellow Americans who care about the men and women who keep their country safe. Basic moral fortitude should compel all of us to help these people in any way we can, solely because so many of them have given the greatest sacrifices, and many others who did not still suffer through injuries they received in their service to country. Veterans will benefit most, because they will hopefully be positively impacted by people contributing to keeping them off of the street. I plan to appeal to people who will see this as a terrible problem, and I plan on doing so by using images and videos of real veterans. 3. I plan to first use images and videos of glorious war and the idea of freedom isnt free to contribute to an overall feeling of debt to veterans. Next I will use visually distressing images and videos of homeless veterans to make my audience feel bad for them, and to make them want to do something about it. Finally, I will use images and videos of hope (veterans being helped) to show them that they can change things. I will also use statistics to help push forward the urgency of the cause, as well as using scholarly data to help people understand why so many vets are homeless. 4. Alphabetic texts will be used to help guide my audience along as I transition between my parts. Also, it will be used to inform people that it is not just pictures or random homeless people that Im showing, but of actual homeless veterans. I will also inform them of the most important statistics. 5. I think the only problems I may have with my essay is trying to understand the best method to use when taking pieces out of YouTube videos: how much do I take while under free use?