TOW #27 Nature by Watson and Crick

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 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.’”