TOW #14 Justine Sacco Says She “Really Suffered” After Tweeting AIDS Joke

This article is about a woman named Justine Sacco who was publicly shamed last year through Twitter. She tweeted a joke making fun of AIDS and it blew up on twitter with people shaming her for the joke with the hashtag #HasJustineLanded. The tweet was, "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm white!" Which was seen as very offensive by many people in the twitter community. Justine Sacco was a public relations executive but lost her job because of the tweet and hasn't made progress in her career. She is in the news again because it is the first time she is speaking out about in in a new book called So You've Been Publicly Shamed, a book about people who have been famous shamees, shamers, and bystanders who have been affected. I was especially intrested in this because the man who wrote this book is Jon Ronson, who also wrote the book I am reading for my IRB right now. This is also interesting because after people have been "publicly shamed" on twitter, or tumblr, or facebook, you don't generally hear about them and what happened to them and even if you do there's no sympathy for the woman who is making fun of AIDS. There's no forgiveness and I think that's what the book is really going to be about, forgiving these people who yes made mistakes but have learned from them and are trying to rebuild their lives. The book talks a lot about how the internet created this fake persona of Justine Sacco that was a racist, loud, clearly evil woman and that was not the true Justine Sacco. It was interesting to see how this one tweet destroyed a woman's life and if she had just thought about this crass and inappropriate joke a little longer she would still be a successful executive. 

TOW #13 Can The Next Generation Of Morticians Breathe Life Into The Death Industry? by Katie Heaney

Article Here

Can The Next Generation Of Morticians Breathe Life Into The Death Industry? by Katie Heaney is the article I read for my thirteenth TOW. This article is about the lives of morticians students, and studying to become a mortician. It also tackles larger issues that realte not only to morticians, but to everyone, topics like life and death, how the dead should be treated, who should deal with the dead, and other big ideas with the morbid thoughts that come along with interview and stepping in the lives of young students choosing the life of death. The author, Katie Heaney, asks at the beginning, "The young, close-knit, predominantly female students in SUNY Canton’s mortuary school are fascinated with our most difficult, yet unavoidable, subject. But when it comes to changing attitudes about death and grieving, are educational programs like the one they’re in part of the problem?" Throughout the piece, Heaney gives fascinating commentary on the lives of these students and why they picked their area of study, but also questions their lives, questions the things they are doing and if they make sense. For example, she questions their air of superiority because they think they are the only ones that can deal with death when in fact, they aren't special they're just better equipped. One of the students tells the story of after a close friend died, everyone in her hometown came to her for help because she was the death expert but she had no idea how to help them, or help herself in her own grieving process because how to help the living isn't taught in mortiary school. The author challenges the belief that in mortuary school, all they should be taught is how to embalm. She believes they should be able to cremate, bury, other forms of honoring the dead, and bein gthere for the emotional support of loved ones. This was very effective for this piece because the audience were questioning youth and she is one of her audience, the questioning youth that find that there is something wrong with the world and want to change it.

TOW #12 Behind The Scenes Of The Cutest Cooking Show On Television by Emily Fleischaker

Behind The Scenes Of The Cutest Cooking Show On Television by Emily Fleischaker
This article is about the beloved show Master Chef Junior. This show is a lot like the adult version, but of course it stars little kids as the culinary masters. This article goes in depth in the show, showing all the backstage workings and how these kids really cook so well. This article is unabashingly honest, common for Buzzfeed and it does not embellish anything. For example, the author is writing about this show where the main man is Gordon Ramsay, but she does not put him on a pedestal. Fleischaker wonders why people still work for Ramsay in, "in the face of his insulting tirades and long list of scandals." And then she links the readers to this long list of scandals. Fleischaker also makes use of rhetoric questions like when she ask, "And who wants to watch kids being mean to one another or judges hurting their feelings?" or, "Are these kids as good as they seem? And if not, would that make the show any less fun?" These questions serve to show what the piece will serve about the show. She answers them all throughout the piece dealing with them in a good way. She also gives a lot of background of Master Chef, to make sure she is writing not just for people who watch the show, but also for people who are just curious about the inner workings of reality tv competition shows like Master Chef. "The adult version is based on a BBC show that initially ran from 1990 to 2001, and the brand was exported globally. More than 40 countries have adapted the show — there’s a Master Chef Italia, Master Chef Pakistan, Master Chef China, and more. The kid spin-off was first introduced in 1994 in the U.K. and has been produced in 15 different countries." Overall, Fleischaker effectively wrote an in depth piece about Master Chef and showed the world a little something they didn't know.

TOW #11 (IRB) The Psychopath Test Pt. 1

The first half of The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry, by Jon Ronson, was extremely fascinating, but also definitely not what I excepted. First of all, Jon Ronson has a distinctly British style of writing that just seems more winding and roundabout than an American counter part might have been. He has many anecdotes in this book, in which he weaves into one massive story concerning every single part of madness and the many layers of the psychopathy world. He starts of with an admittedly confusing but intriguing mystery about identical boxes filled with interesting objects sent to scientists all around the world for them to supposedly figure out. Many a moons are spent pouring over this box and its mysteries by the scientists but Jon Ronson travels around the globe just to find out that it was a random act by a psychopath. The very psychopath that would send him deep into the world of psychopathy. A rhetorical device Roson uses consistently is compare and contrast. He meets and studies many different people that are psychopaths and he compare and contrasts all of them to see what they have in common, what is different, all to define psychopathy. Another rhetorical device Ronson uses well is definition. Throughout the entire book he is building a definition of a psychopath and whenever he seems to have a definite definition, he learns something new and has to revise it. These rhetorical device make Ronson writing very effective because it seems like a story but it is also informative. The Psychopath Test is a study into psychopathy, but it is strung together using Ronson's stories and experiences. The audience is given an intimate look into a person who fears he is succumbing to a whole other type of madness, so he studies psychopaths to reassure himself he can't be worse than them. This was very effective and a good read.

TOW #10 Smoking Kills (Visual)

This advertisement is against smoking, featuring a young girl blowing out of a bubble baton, but instead bubbles coming out, smoke does. This advertisement caters mostly to pathos because of the sheer age of the little girl. Here's this girl, barely ten years old and she's already being exposed to harmful smoking chemicals that could harm her greatly. The audience of this advertisement is clearly people who smoke, but also people who have kids and smoke. This shows that secondhand smoke is very dangerous too and in most cases, a parent would want to protect their child greatly. The shock value of the ad is that it puts two things together that you would not expect. The deadly smoke coming out of a child's play toy is startling and in some cases, terrifying. This ad can make people realize that second hand smoke is very bad for children and can persuade parents to stop smoking in front of their children or at all. The ultimate purpose of this ad is to persuade people to stop smoking, especially if they have children. It is equally important that people without children stop smoking as well, but this ad caters to people with children. The thought that they may be harming little kids by their bad habit or addiction is a very heavy thought and just by looking at this ad, it may be able to persuade people to the path of not smoking anymore. I thought this ad was very persuasive because the amount of pathos in it is huge, and even though it does not have much ethos or logos, the emotion coming from a small child and dangerous smoke is a lot. The context of this is of course, the smoking epidemic that has swept the nation and claimed many lives. In conclusion, I believe this was an effective ad that used rhetorical devices well. 

TOW #9 The Hunter, The Hoaxer, And The Battle Over Bigfoot by Tim Stelloh

The Hunter, The Hoaxer, And The Battle Over Bigfoot by Tim Stelloh is an in depth informative article comparing and contrasting two very different sides of the Bigfoot myth. On one side are the never ending hoaxers, profiting from an urban legend by essentially lying for a living. On the other side is the serious scientists that truly believe Bigfoot exists and have put their very careers on the line trying to prove it to the world. Tim Stelloh, an accomplished journalist, traveled with each side trying to figure out why they do the things they do, whether the motivation is money or knowledge. Bigfoot is something people have debated for years and many people actually do believe in this colossal human-like creature, so this article reaches out to anyone the least bit curious about Bigfoot. The audience would be people that aren't in this world of searching for Bigfoot because it offers an in depth look into it. Stelloh's purpose was to show the different sides of the Bigfoot hunt and he did that extremely effectively by using compare and contrast. First he painted a portrait of a man that makes his living off of lying to people that he has killed a Bigfoot., then he showed a man who was a respected scientist and spends a lot of money and time in the hope that Bigfoot is real. Contrasting these two clearly showed how some people in the Bigfoot game just want money, but others are passionate for knowledge about this creature they believe exists. However, Stelloch also compared the two men, showing how their true purpose was really the same, both, " seeking to advance, in their own peculiar way, the mystery of Sasquatch." This showed that this subculture may be deeply divided between true scientists and lowly hoaxers but they're all push a similar agenda. Stelloch's purpose was to inform about the world of Bigfoot hunters and he did that very well using compare and contrast.

IRB Intro Post #2

I chose "The Psychopath Test: A Journey Throughout the Madness Industry" by Jon Ronson for my second IRB book. This book is about psychopathy, how it affects individuals and how its definition fits many varied people. This book is well renowned, especially in England, and it caught my interest because of the intriguing title. 

TOW #8 I Am America by Stephen Colbert (IRB)

Note: Since I didn't have a chance to do a TOW on the first part of this IRB because of my concussion, this is a TOW on the entire book, not just the second half.

I am America by Stephen Colbert is a satirical commentary on American society from the view of an extremely over the top conservative United States citizen. This is the persona Colbert puts on to show the shortcomings of America and to parody similar conservatives that preach many of the views his character does. Throughout this book, Colbert discusses many controversial topics in American politics like education, LGBT rights, immigration, and race, but his tone is neither serious nor informational. He adopts a mocking, superior tone, preaching that his views are, "nothing less than the Constitution" (ix), and that, "your differing view is wrong" (iii). By using this tone, he creates a sense of humor because the ideas he's preaching are clearly wrong and in total opposition to what the audience and and he himself believe. The audience he wrote this book for are his fans, the "Colbert Nation." They are a group of young liberals, the complete opposite of Colbert's persona, but very similar to Colbert. He wrote I am America to pander to entertain them, but also to preach his beliefs, which he does very well. As a whole, this is a funny parody of a serious book about politics. Colbert employs a radically conservative voice and reversal to preach his beliefs, which are actually the complete opposite than what is actually written. For example, when he writes about gay rights, since he is a famous figure who is known for his liberalism, the expected thing would be him being completely for gay rights. However, Colbert flips that and writes about how he is firmly against gay rights, showing how ridiculous the arguments against gay rights is (106). I Am America effectively achieves Stephen Colbert's purpose by mocking conservatives in American politics and parodying corrupt parts of American society. 

TOW #7 Paul Revere's "The Bloody Massacre"

This piece of visual text is not particularly recent, but is a treasure trove to analyze. Paul Revere had this engraved in 1770, after the so called "Boston Massacre," where British soldiers clashed with American colonists. It was immediately spread through the colonies until it had reached and enraged people in all of the early American colonies. Paul Revere was very against the British and this conflict was the perfect event to get the colonies united and working towards secession. His purpose was to turn the American public against Britain, and he manipulated the facts to do so. "The Bloody Massacre" is clearly propaganda because many of the elements of Revere's engraving are manipulated or simply not true. But he did manage to persuade the colonies that this was what had happened, so this visual text was very effective. One thing that Revere used to show Britain in a bad light was that all the soldiers were smiling while killing seemingly innocent people. He made it seem that the British soldier were monsters, killing everyone around them at their fancy. This persuaded colonists to believe that the British were actually evil and no good would come with staying part of Britain. Another element Revere manipulated were the colonists involved in the conflict. He completely omitted the first person to get shot, a black man, because the colonists he wanted to persuade would be infinitely more bothered if it was a white man. He also portrayed the colonists as wealthy, high status people who weren't looking for a fight and were just going peacefully on with their day. In reality, the crowd was unruly poor men who were probably drunk and were armed with sticks and stones. He makes the colonists seem saintly, like they were completely blameless. The final symbol Revere included was the loyal dog, standing by the colonists. There was no dog on that day but he added it to show that loyalty was on the colonists' side, not the British's. This engraving was extremly effective in conveying the message that Britain was evil and that the colonists should no longer take the abuse because of the way Revere portrayed the event, not true to what happened, but to what would inflame the colonists the most.

TOW #4 Scotland vote: For the Queen, it's personal by Max Foster

Link to Article

Max Fosters, a journalist for CNN, wrote a piece on an important event unfolding in the world right now. Scotland is having a vote to decide whether to split from England and become an independent country, or to stay in the United Kingdom. This article was mainly about what the head of England, the Queen, believes. The Queen is supposedly neutral and is not supposed to speak out to the public as it may get in the way of democracy, but she has been cited with saying that Scots should "think very carefully about the future." Fosters goes in depth about why the Queen most definitely is not impartial and why this is a personal topic for her. The audience for the article was people in Scotland and the United Kingdom that are facing this huge decision. The Queen may need to stay impartial but the author's purpose was to sway the audience to the side of voting no to independence. He attempts to achieve this purpose by using diction to evoke emotion and make the the Queen seem sympathetic. Some of the words he uses to do this is "the Queen felt a great deal of concern" and "The Queen is above politics." His purpose was to portray the Queen as a concerned parent that just wants the best for her child. Another way he uses pathos is emphasizing how important and beloved Scotland is. He writes, "Scotland isn't some breakaway outpost of the British Empire; it's home turf which has remained uncontested since the Renaissance." This sways the leader into thinking that Scotland is just like Alaska for the USA and furthers the message that Scotland should not break away. I think he was mildly effective because as an American reading this, I began to feel like Scotland should not break away. However, maybe if a Scot were to read this, they wouldn't be as persuaded and they are the primary audience.

TOW #3 Best Recording Artist by Tom Stiglich

Tom Stiglich is a political cartoonist who had drawn for dozens of well known magazines, newspapers, and books such as The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Washington Post, and many others. His political cartoons are based on events happening in the world, mostly America, and he attempts to satirize the events. This political cartoon shows the NSA being awarded a Grammy for the best recording artist of the year. During the time this cartoon was put out, the NSA scandal of the government listening in on everyone's phone conversations and looking at everyone's emails had just broke. People were outraged and shocked that the government was violating their personal conversations and many felt like some of their constitutional rights had been breached. This cartoon's audience is the American public because the Grammys are a big thing in America and most people would at least know what it is and this breach of privacy was also a very big thing in America. Stiglich wanted to make light of this event, while still making a statement and his cartoon did accomplish this. He used humor to start a discussion on a topic which the American public was already incensed by. The shameful look on the personification of the NSA's face also serves to show how the NSA thought they were being covert. I believe Stiglich accomplish his goal because while this cartoon is humorous, it also makes a statement and shows a belief. In this case, Stiglich's belief was that the NSA was wrong for recording Americans' conversations and his cartoon shows that. The message of the cartoon is supplemented by the humor to get Stiglich's point across. I also think it is effective because it mixed a positive--winning a Grammy--with a negative--recording private conversations. The play on words is part of the humorous elements, drawing the audience in. This is a very effective political cartoon because it gets the artist's point, that the NSA was wrong in recording conversations, across in a funny and relevant way.

(IRB Intro) I am America (And So Can You!)

The book I am going to read is I am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert. This is a humorous book that satirizes American politics. Colbert is known for parodying conservative politicians on his television show and this book should be a funny read.

TOW #1 How To Say Nothing in 500 Words by Paul Roberts (Written)

Paul Roberts, author of How to Say Nothing in 500 Words, has had an accomplished career writing English books, making him qualified to lecture students about their dismal essays. How to Say Nothing in 500 Words is an analysis on what makes student essays boring and repetitive, and how to change that in our own writing. He uses example of a standard essay about college football, a topic beat to earth by countless years of students. Roberts points out all the things the hypothetical student did wrong, mostly that they were just trying to make the 500 word minimum, and then he gives examples of how to spice it up, not make it so monotonous. He clearly wrote this essay for students, to help them write better essays and stand out from the crowd instead of just blending into the background with basic writing. The way Roberts achieves this purpose is by using a specific, yet hypothetical scenario that is probably familiar to all students. He wrote an essay in his essay and gave it a background, a story that the audience could connect to. He compared the first essay, boring and lazy, to the second essay, which was on the same topic, but written with all the suggestions that Roberts had given to make it better. The contrast between the two clearly showed how much better the second essay really was. Roberts knew his audience well and used that to his advantage by creating a hypothetical scenario akin to one his audience might be in. By doing this, he made sure the audience would be engaged in his writing and be paying attention to what he was saying. Roberts' purpose was to educated students on how to better their papers, and I believe he did that well. Using his scenario and example made sure the audience was engaged and contrasting the first essay to the second highlighted how important it was to have good, interesting papers.

Pamplona in July by Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway is a familiar name to many Americans because of his many novels, stories and collections that are American classics. He won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for his work, as well as influencing future writing styles for years to come. Pamplona in July is a glamorous narrative about the Pamplona Bull Run, an event every year in July. During the Bull Run, bulls run through the city enclosed in pens early in the morning. Men try to run in front of the bulls without getting hurt and in the end, the matadors fight the bulls. Hemingway describes the excitement in the atmosphere using many rhetorical devices, such as diction. He chooses exciting words, word that evoke movement and drama like "pounding and throbbing," or, "swirling and whishing," or, "snapping and whirling." These words make his writing seem more thrilling and flashy. He also uses a lot of imagery to set the scene in Pamplona, like when he first sees the bulls, "Eight bulls galloping along, full tilt, heavy set, black, glistening, sinister, their horns bare, tossing their heads." Hemingway describes the bulls so deeply so his audience can almost see the bulls, can feel the excitement in the air. He uses these rhetorical devices to clearly show the excitement of Pamplona, and show how different it is from America. He does this because his audience was most likely Americans who had never heard of the Pamplona Bull Run. Hemingway wanted to show this extravagant display of culture that most Americans probably weren't familiar with and I think he did achieve his purpose. He masterfully captured the excitement and turmoil of the event and made it accessible for the average American who was reading his work. He didn't use overtly extravagant language so it was easy to read as well. Overall, this is definitely not a dull essay and would have been a pleasurable read for Hemingway's audience.

Running of the Bulls, The Telegraph

No Name Woman by Maxine Kingston

No Name Woman, by Maxine Kingston, is a rich narrative told by a woman speculating about her forgotten aunt. Her aunt is the No Name Woman because she became pregnant with a man who was not her husband. She lived in a strict village in China where sexual acts were very taboo and for her to be pregnant was a terrible crime. The villagers destroyed her home and she was forced to flee, then she committed suicide. No Name Woman's niece speculates about her life and her secret lover in great detail, trying to understand this forgotten woman. The niece is the author of the essay, Maxine Kingston. She is a celebrated Chinese-American author who has gained much recognition because of the gender, feminism and ethnicity issues discussed in her books. Kingston's purpose in writing No Name Woman was to give her aunt her life back. This woman was knowingly forgotten from her own family, but Kingston brings her back and paints the story of her life with words. She definitely achieved her purpose because even though it was all speculation, Kingston used imagery to make it seem real. For example, when she was describing her aunt's pregnant belly,she writes, "But I did not think, 'She's pregnant,' until she began to look like other pregnant women, her shirt pulling and the white tops of her black pants showing." The imagery in this makes the No Name Woman real and makes the audience empathize with her. The similes and metaphors in No Name Women also lend to the effectiveness of the essay, for example, comparing the angry mob to a great saw makes the mood that much darker. The audience Kingston wrote this for was most likely for immigrant Americans who have their own stories from their homeland, and their own "No Name" people. It also seems specifically for women because Kingston first portrays No Name Woman as a victim, but then she turns the tide and and makes No Name Woman someone who made her own choices and knew exactly what she was doing, going with a feminist theme.

Pregnancy, Vanderbilt University

Life With Daughters: Watching The Miss America Pageant by Gerald Early

The first essay I read was Life With Daughters: Watching the Miss America Pageant, by Gerald Early. Gerald Early is an accomplished essayist who has a doctorate in English literature and has won many awards for his essays. In addition to his successful professional life, he is married with two daughters, qualifying him to write an essay so family-centric like Life With Daughters. This essay is an exposé on how beauty is viewed in America, and how it is inherently unfair to black girls. Early describes his family watching the Miss America Pageant and the ways his daughters are affected by the standards of beauty set by it. He uses two example to show this, white vs. black barbie dolls and his daughters' journey to accept their natural hair. Early utilizes many anecdotes throughout the essay, particularly to show how his wife and daughters struggled with the standard of beauty set for them. He also uses dialogue to show a conversation between him and one of his daughters on the subject of her hair. This is effective because it shows the child's exact viewpoint, without being paraphrased. Early's audience for this essay is most likely people who are familiar with both racial problems in America and cultural events like Miss America. It is also most likely for older people who may have been through the same things as Early's wife and daughters. Life With Daughters strikes out at a deep-rooted problem in America and Early's purpose was to shed light on this racial issue. He tried to analyze how the Miss America Pageant factored into his daughters' view of themselves and what that meant for black women and girls as a whole in American society. I thought that while Early explored beauty in the past and present using both his wife and his daughters, he just didn't capture the magnitude of this problem. He tried to enhance his argument by focusing in on the beauty pageant but instead narrowed it. This racial issue is a fundamental problem and in my opinion the focus on the beauty pageant cluttered his argument.

Miss America Contestants 2011 (3 out of 50 are black), Grand Rapid News