Letter to a New AP English Student

Hello Future AP English Student,

I’m going to be straight with you, this class isn’t a walk in the park. In fact, it’s more of a marathon through a very long park, where you’re being chased by a hundred feet tall fire breathing dragon and you have no shoes. The other English classes you’ve taken were nothing compared to this one because this is the one English class where you are challenged and pushed to your limits. Getting an A is very, very hard, and if you manage to get one I admire you. But the thing is, throughout all uphill battles, you’re going to come out of the other side so much stronger. At the beginning of the year, I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t realize just how much I would improve and what a long way I had to go until I took that test in May. I’m telling you this now, you are going to feel prepared for the test. You’re going to feel ready and confident (even if you’re a little nervous), and that’s because you will have worked so hard to get there. You are not defined on what you get on the summer essay, because everyone’s sucked, and it’s just the bottom of the ladder. You will get better, you will see that improvement, and when you’re me, and looking back on the class, you’ll be happy you took it.

What else is there really left to say? Be scared, but also be excited. Do your TOWs religiously, but missing one or two is okay, don't stress about it too much because there are a lot more things to stress about junior year. Symposiums are difficult, yes, and the first time can be nerve wracking, but it gets so much easier. Don't interrupt people, but make sure you aren't blending into the background either. Also, don't forget about grammar homework, it might seem small but that boost could mean the difference between two very different grades. All in all, good luck, because you're going to need it. Fight for that A, but don't have a heart attack if you get a B. When Mr. Yost tells you it's "just school," try not to just blow that off, because though it may not seem true at that moment, it really is, and you can get through this pretty rough year. I'm rooting for you.  

Sincerely,

Maya Jog

TOW Reflection

Looking through past TOWs and seeing my improvement really shocks me, to a degree, because as the year went on, I didn’t really feel like my TOWs were getting a lot better, but now I can see that they were. In the beginning, there was no flow to my sentences, and it just really seemed like I was putting together the paragraph from a formula. As I went on throughout the year, my writing relaxed, and acquired flow, and it began to seem more like a coherent piece of writing instead of a formula that I was just putting words into. I think I mastered how to incorporate quotes, or ideas, from passages I read or pictures I analyzed because first I would just use big blocky quotes that interrupted the flow of the passage, but then I moved away from that and began breaking quotes up to get to the actually good information, using them to further my ideas, not having them be the main idea, and getting more out of them than I would have gotten in the beginning of the year. However, I'm still not perfect, as I could definitely stand to improve how I explain rhetoric devices. Throughout the year, I got better at identifying rhetorical devices, and began to see how they shaped passages and persuaded the reader to the author's side, but I still struggle with clearly articulating the effect they have on both what the author is trying to say and what the reader takes away from the article. I can see that in my last TOW, where I could have gone a lot farther in my analysis of the quote. I benefited from these TOWs because not only was I practicing my writing each and every week, I was also learning about the world through the articles I read and the images I analyzed. I even used something I had learned about from one of my TOWs on the AP test. While doing the TOWs weren't always my favorite, I think they were very useful in terms of gauging my progress throughout the year and showing how much my writing improved.

TOW #27 Nature by Watson and Crick

Article

 The study of the DNA molecule had confounded scientests for years until Watson and Crick, two renounced scientists in the field of microbiology, did nothing more than follow a pattern in their paper "Nature" by correcting and further developing the previous hypothesis of DNA structure. In their paper, they highly rely on logic as well as strong counterarguments to argue their hypothesis as the most probable. Firstly, their logic shows their strong knowledge of the subject and connects the dots between experimentation and hypothesis for readers. They state that, "It has been found experimentally that the ratio of the amounts of adenine to thymine, and the ratio of guanine to cytosine, are always very close to unity for deoxyribose nucleic acid [...] if an adenine forms one member of a pair, on either chain, then on these assumptions the other member must be thymine; similarly for guanine and cytosine" (Watson and Crick 1). By using hard results from thorough experimentation, Watson and Crick developed a structure that fit with the facts and that is widely accepted as the model for DNA today. The two scientists also argue against previous hypothesis for the structure, such as those of Pauling and Corey. The previous structure was believed to have the phosphate groups facing each other on the interior of the complex, where Watson and Crick point out that, "the negatively charged phosphates near the axis will repel each other" (Watson and Crick 1), and therefore proves the old model to be unrealistic and leads way for their model to take the spotlight. Today, Watson and Crick's model for DNA structure stands soundly in all biology textbooks, and is not likely to be argued against any time in the near future. Clearly, Watson and Crick made a sound argument for their model through unarguable logic and thorough counterarguments.

TOW #26 Visual Political Cartoon

For TOW #26, I am doing a visual political cartoon that depicts a smiling graduating student taking a selfie, as a giant snake curls around him and opens his mouth, both to “smile” for the picture and also to be in position to strike at the graduating student and eat him. The snake has the huge letters “DEBT” on its scales, while the caption of this picture is “Graduation Selfie.” This political cartoon is commenting on the gigantic debt facing incoming college freshman. As soon as they graduate from high school, the debt-snake is ready to eat them alive. They maybe be happy and smiling now, but that debt will soon bring them unhappiness. This cartoon is a political commentary on the state of the nation’s education, so its audience is both the general public, students and their families, and the politicians of America. He is showing how dangerous debt is, how readily it has graduates in its grasp. The snake has the graduate so entangled that even the tip of its tail is on the student’s graduation cap. Something very effective in this is the juxtaposition of the graduate’s smiling face to the snake’s smiling face. They are both very happy, the student because he is out of high school and the snake because he will soon gobble the student alive. Another effect device is how the snake is not completely biting the graduate yet, nor is he just coming to the graduate. The student is fully in the snake’s grasp, he just hasn’t bit yet and that is very effective to show how student loans and debt comes around where the debt hasn’t completely taken over the student’s life, nor is it far away either. It is a constant presence, always looming until it is ready to bite. I thought this political cartoon is very effective, which might be why its so popular. The artist succeeded in getting his point across, and he made his cartoon so it would resonate in people’s minds and they wouldn’t forget it, whether they are faced with student loans or not.

TOW #25 The 20-Year Hillary Clinton Humanization

Article

For TOW #25, I read the article "The 20-Year Hillary Clinton Humanization Project" by Ruby Cramer and Megan Apper from Buzzfeed. I picked this article because it is about the upcoming 2016 election, the one that most of the class of 2016 will be able to vote in. In this article, Cramer and Apper explain the strategy of Clinton's initial campaigning, what she's done before and how she is going to do the same thing now. Their biggest thing was how Clinton was going to overcome the legend of her name, the dynasty and history of the Clintons. The audience of this piece was most likely young liberal democrats, who are already leaning towards voting for Hillary Clinton. This is because the article was featured and debuted of Buzzfeed, whose demographics are teenager and young adults from the ages of late teens to late twenties. These sort of people are usually liberals, being young, and lean towards thinking social change is more important than anything else, hence, electing the first female President. A rhetorical device used in this article was the use of personal anecdotes, though, not from the writers, but from people who had extended their hospitality to Clinton and seen the real woman. Clinton had humanized herself by submitting to local customs and acting like a real, non-famous, person might.The anecdotes in this article serve as examples of how Hillary Clinton is actually human and they also reveal the true purpose of this article--to convince people to vote for her. It's disguised, but the intention is there because the authors paint Hillary in a solely positive light. Another rhetorical device used was the many quotes and saying from Clinton herself that want to further humanize her such as the final line of the article, “‘I hear these people and their stories… It’s like a movie that plays in my head.’” 

TOW #24 Inside “Empire,” The Most Talked-About Show On Television

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kelleylcarter/fox-empire-interview#.rxMwlmzzb

Empire, the musical drama show that centers around a hip-hop and entertainment company, is a riveting, interesting show that grabs its viewers and captivates even the most unwilling of viewers. This Buzzfeed article goes in depth on what it is like to work on and create such a diverse show that delves into hard American stories that are about real people, not caricatures. The main characters of the show are Lucious Lyon, a former drug dealer turned hip hop mogul, Cookie Lyon, his outspoken ex wife, and a host of other characters like Andre Lyon, Jamal Lyon, Hakeem Lyon, Anika Calhoun, Vernon Turner, and Rhonda Lyon. The article goes into depth about the racial undertones in the show and how it mirrors what African-Americans are dealing with today. The head of the show say, “This story is not just the African-American dream, But the American dream.” However, it is clearly focusing on the African-american dream. Rhetorical devices used in this article was direct quotes, like when the stars of the show and the writers of the show were quoted, and also predictions for the future. For example, "Considering its massive midseason success, Empire is clearly ready for the big time. The show will likely return in the fall with a full 22-episode season, though Fox has yet to confirm.The writers go back to work on Season 2 in the middle of April, and, despite adding a few more staff writers, Chaiken said, little will change." and For Season 2, they’re hoping to snag more legendary directors like Spike Lee (“I can’t say anyone else, but think that way,” Daniels said) and actors like Oprah Winfrey (“Cross your fingers,” Daniels said) and Oscar winner Denzel Washington (who, Daniels revealed, “was supposed to be on the first season. He was going to be the crippled guy in the third episode — the homeless witness,” but scheduling prevented it from happening)."

TOW #22 TEXT

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.

TOW #21 Bossypants IRB Pt. 1

Bossypants by Tina Fey is an autobiography, but I didn't realize that at first because it's so funny and seems more like a self help book about how to be more like Tina Fey, which is what we all want. The audiobook was actually nominated for a Grammy, which I didn't know audiobooks could be. The first chapter was about an attack she survived, but which left her with a scar on her chin. People would react very badly to it and for a while, Fey knew how disabled people and people that are supposedly "different" live because everyone was always staring at her scar. She said this taught her a lot about how sh lived life for a while from a different perspective and how that was very valuable to how she would live her life after the scar was healed. Most of Fey's book is little anecdotes like this, anecdotes that taught her life lessons that she would take on with her and use in later situations in life. These anecdotes show how your childhood does really affect your experiences, and what you know, and that it was very important for Fey to remember the hard experiences she went through when she was young. I was surprised to learn that Fey grew up in Upper Darby, PA, because that is relatively not that far away from where I grew up. I think it's smart for Fey to do this because it makes her relate to a lot of her audience. She has these little facts scattered around the book a lot because she wants the audience to empathize with her, feel her pain, and feel like she's a real down-to-earth person and not a mega star. Aside from the anecdotes and little facts about herself, she also uses humor very effectively because she is a comedian and that is what she knows best. I really liked the first half of this book and I'm excited to keep reading. 

TOW #19 Does The Best New Artist Grammy Curse Exist? by Monique Melendez

Article 

This article was about the urban legend of a "Best New Artist Grammy Curse." It's audience was clearly people who are familiar with both the Grammys, an award show, and past winners of the Grammys, like the ones cited like Milli Vanilli and the Beatles. These kind of people would probably young, but not as young as to not remember the people. So people in their twenties to forties who keep up with pop culture is the most likely audience that the author was aiming for. Does The Best New Artist Grammy Curse Exist? by Monique Melendez is an in depth exploration of this myth of the Grammy curse, and how it relates to what is happening today, what artists have faded away and which ones have not. The first half of the article is giving evidence of why the curse may be real, but the second half tries to disprove this. Melendez makes use of many rhetoric devices like using direct quotes from experts and rhetoric questions. Some of the direct quotes she uses is from past winners of the Best New Artist Grammy, like Taffy Danoff and Colin Hay, who both felt like they were victims of this curse. These direct quotations added weight to her argument because it was from people who could explain how this "curse" worked, and why it happened, as they had drawn the short straw themselves. Melendez's rhetoric questioning was also very effective in the second part of the essay where she was trying to prove that there wasn't a curse. She used the questioning to offer up new scenarios of why winners might face an unlucky streak after winning. In conclusion, I believe that Melendez was very convincing because in the first half she made me believe that their might be a curse but in the second half she flipped that on its head and showed why it wasn't true.

IRB Intro Post #3 Bossypants by Tina Fey

For my third IRB book, I choose Bossypants by Tina Fey. I choose this book because a friend recommended it highly and I had read the book of Tina Fey's fellow comedian Amy Poehler. Bossypants is basically a retelling of Tina Fey's life, in obviously a humorous way because she is a comedian. I am excited to read this book and laugh at its many jokes.

Tow #17 (IRB) The Psychopath Test Pt. 2

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry, by Jon Ronson was a better book than I thought it was going to be. It first intrigued me because I had heard people talk about it, both my friends and other famous people like Vine stars (which, looking back, I now realize was very good product placement), but I didn't think it was going to amaze me or tell me something I didn't know. I just wanted to find out if I was a psychopath or not. In this way, the book has a great hook, which is the title. "The Psychopath Test" just screams exciting and pulls people in, especially when it is from a fairly well-known author and got fantastic reviews from reputable sources like newspapers and tv shows. Ronson had started the book out with a story, and that was how he continued the book, weaving information in through seemingly unrelated mini stories that all came together in the end. I found it very interesting how he wrote from first person as well using words such as "I" and "me." This was a little off putting as first, as the book is not a story, it is actually a recount, or a telling. And it does seem like he's there in the room telling you his story of delving into the world of psychopaths. As he goes into the world of psychopaths, he also reveals his flaws, the amounts of crazy in himself, and it makes this book a book of psychopaths yes but also how 'normal' people are all a little bit crazy too. I thought this was a very interesting read, however, I never got a definite answer on if I'm a psychopath or not so that was a little distressing but I recommend this book to everyone 

Tow #16 (Visual) Teen Court Flowchart

This is the Teen Court Law Process flow chart intended for jury members, judges, and teenagers on trial to use. It was part of a bigger article about Teen Court. This is a very informative flowchart, but there is not much style to it. It simply states the rules and how the court works but doesn't do much to do the audience's attention. However, it isn't for a matter that should be taken lightly so in this case in might actually work. Because there isn't much picture and imagery and has simple colors and a simple font, it makes it seem more important. And in something the adults might scoff at, like Teen Court, this is very important because they want to be taken seriously. The wording and the diction of this flowchart is also very serious, somber, and no slang or regular language. It uses words such as "respondent" and "qualifying" and "referred" to create a sense of authority and seriousness. This is clearly supposed to be taken seriously by the audience, and since the audience might be mostly teenagers, the language and the imagery provokes the serious tones. The purpose of the teen court flowchart was to inform people about the workings of teen court, not to pull people in, or entertain them in any way. And I think it was very effective in doing this because of the simplistic design and font, and because of the diction throughout the piece.

Tow #15 Paris attacks: Millions rally for unity in France

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30765824

This article is about the attacks in France and how they have affected the people living in Paris, people travelling to Paris, or even just people all around the world. There was a rally supporting the the deceased people who were shot by the terrorists and governments reported that it was by far the biggest rally for a singular event that France as a whole has ever held.  More than 40 world leaders joined in the march and it was a real show of solidarity and strength in this time of great hardship for France. People all over the world are tuned into this horrible event and news stories have been covering it for over a week. It shocked the western world so much because it was literally in the heart of Paris, one of the most modern, and the safest cities in the world. This article assumed that the reader would know what it was talking about and dove right into the topic, which I thought was very effective because there was no meandering around the subject and the article got right to the point. Although, it did add some extra information, mentioning that the walk was not just for the victims of the Charles Hebo attacks on the cartoonist newspaper, but also in the kosher market where more were killed. The picture were also a powerful part of this article, as they showed the scale and the importance of the millions of people that showed up for the rally. There was one picture with a woman holding a sign that said "Who is Charlie?" and then everyone behind her holding one up saying "We are all Charlie." This is building on the show of solidarity that the French, and the world is showing for the victims of the attack. This article was very in depth and laid out everything we knew about the attacks, so the common man could understand what happened. Through the use of the pictures, the minute-to-minute scenario, and the powerful emotion-evoking writing I thought this piece was very effective.