TOW #20: IRB Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (And Other Concerns) by: Mindy Kaling

Mindy Kaling, my biggest (unrealistic) friend crush of all time has crafted one of the most interesting autobiographies I’ve read. Actually, it may be one of the only autobiographies that I have read in my lifetime (but still). Right from the very beginning of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), Kaling makes us fall in love with her genuine heart and spirit. In her book, Kaling employs an explicit purpose and a casual tone which both make her writing extremely effective.

Kaling explicitly states her purpose, which helps the reader to know why she wrote the book. Many authors write autobiographies with just themselves in mind, because they want to discuss their incredible achievements. Mindy, on the other hand, has an introduction section in which she answers frequently asked questions about her book. In it, she says that she, “wrote this book in a way that reflects how [she] think[s]...[she’s] only marginally qualified to be giving advice” (3). Mindy later on talks about how her book is just really a manifestation of things she would like to say, times in her life that are worth talking about, with a few lessons thrown in, that hopefully gets a lot of laughs. Mindy being extremely up-front about how she writes first, to entertain people, and next to talk about things that are relevant to her make her writing effective in that it helps the reader to know the underlying purpose to all of her stories and opinions. Thus, if the reader is curious about why she told a specific anecdote, they realize that it may be just because she was trying to entertain.

Kaling also employs a casual tone throughout her book in order to relate to the reader on a personal level. Kaling occasionally says random things directly to the reader in the middle of her writing in order to create a dialogue between herself and the reader. In her second chapter, called “I Am Not an Athlete,” she begins it directly by saying, “I know, I know. Did you put down this book in surprise?”(21). This sense of causality allows the reader to relate to her on a personal level because she is not speaking down to the reader like the superior writer of the book. Kaling seems like she is just having a casual conversation with you as friends.

In conclusion, Kaling utilizes a clearly stated purpose and a casual tone in order to entertain and relate to her reader in an extremely effective way.

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TOW #19 Princess Cartoon

Reading Goals:

• Identify the relationship between the picture and caption
• Check to see if use of color could be strategic
• Analyze the purpose from many different aspects

Writing Goals:

• Clearly identify purpose(s)
• Fully analyze what each device does for this purpose, and connect it back
• strong introduction

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In today’s society, girls have very different attitudes than they had just a mere fifty years ago about success. Women's ability to climb the socioeconomic ladder without the help of a male counterpart in America is an important cornerstone of life our country takes pride in. In this cartoon from The New Yorker's weekly cartoon section, illustrator Christopher Weyant's purpose is to first shed light on the fact that women in today’s society have very different views on success, but on the other hand, to make the reader question the severity of modern day feminism. This is evident in the juxtaposition between traditional and modern mindsets, and humor drawn from the little girl's comment.

The juxtaposition illustrated in this cartoon brings to light the modern difference in cultural views because the cartoon replaces what you would expect with something completely different. In this cartoon, a father is reading a little girl a bedtime story. If one were to just see the cartoon without the caption, one would think the little girl is asking the father when the princess will find her prince. Instead, the caption reads, “Skip to the part where the princess climbs to the top of the corporate ladder”. One would think the little girl would be looking forward to when the prince comes to save the princess, but this young girl, encapsulating feminism, sees success as a self-propelled thing. This sharp contrast brings to the forefront how society today has changed in its views of women’s roles because this  dialogue differs from the expected. This juxtaposition adds a certain shock value to the cartoon that humor then drives home.

This cartoon utilizes humor in order to somewhat undermine the ridiculousness of over-the-top feminism. In the cartoon, the girl wants to see the princess “climb to the top of the corporate ladder”. This statement is humorous because girls that young usually don’t even know what the “corporate ladder” is. Thus, the underlying point here is that feminism is creeping into even something as innocent as a bedtime story. This cartoon may be trying to tell us that sometimes we may be going too overboard on the women’s equality issues, and this may be tainting sacred aspects of our culture, such as the traditional bedtime story.

In conclusion, the juxtaposition in this cartoon allows the illustrator to  show the difference between modern society’s views and past views on women’s rights, and humor works to shed light on the fact that sometimes modern feminism can be too sensitive and over the top. However, the best thing about this cartoon is that the illustrator crafts it in such a way that many different messages can be taken away from it, depending on the reader’s persona. One could see this as a cartoon praising women’s newfound social mobility, or one warning of the danger of too much empowerment.

TOW #18: Storm buries Northeast; 16 inches of snow in NJ by: Kathy Matheson and Michael Rubinkam

My father is convinced this winter is the worst he’s ever seen. Almost every day he says some variation of, “I’ve lived in this area all my life; I’ve never seen a winter like this.” Of course, who does not know that we have been bombarded with blizzard after blizzard. With another monster storm looming, I googled “snow in Philadelphia” and came up with pages and pages of articles. I clicked on one, by citizens/Yahoo writers Kathy Matheson and Michael Rubinkam, and got sucked into their description of the peril that the snow has brought us. Through descriptive diction and mini anecdotes, Matheson and Rubinkam are able to paint an accurate picture of winter here in the Northeast that makes readers feel for this area’s unlucky inhabitants.

In order to transport the reader to the frozen tundra that is now the Northeast, the writers use descriptive diction. In describing this storm, words were extremely varied, and evoked an image in the readers’ mind. The storm was a “fierce blast of winter,” “swirling,” and “stinging” people’s faces. Instead of conventional words, these more descriptive adjectives bring new life to this storm. With language like this to paint a picture, I could practically feel the snow on my tongue even if I was in Texas.

Working in conjunction with descriptive diction, mini anecdotes work to illustrate the dire conditions and evoke sympathy within a reader. One person was described to be “squinting to read the destination on an approaching bus in near white-out conditions”. Another was “wearing just a thin jacket huddling underneath an overhang as snow stung his face”. These short but effective anecdotes make the reader feel the same pain (or something far-off but seemingly close) as the poor victims of WINTER 2014.

In conclusion, Matheson and Rubinkam do a good job at attempting to convey our widespread pain here in the polar vortex. They use fresh and descriptive words, and construct a string of short anecdotes. Both of these achieve the desired effect: the reader inevitably thinks “oh those poor people!” Yeah, we know.

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IRB Intro: Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by: Mindy Kaling

  Every Tuesday night without fail, my mother and I sit down to watch one of our favorite shows (just second behind The Bachelor/ette), The Mindy Project. In this show, comedian/actress Mindy Kaling plays herself as a female gynacologist who owns a small medical practice in New York City. Sure, this show isn't the most sophisticated humor ever, but we think it's hilarious. I relate to Mindy's awkwardness and love of food on such a level that I think we're long lost sisters. Anyway, I love Mindy, and remembered my good friend Marta telling me about how she loved reading Mindy's book. 

  So, when I was watching the season finale a week ago, it came to me what my next non-fiction book was going to be: Is Everybody Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns). Mindy's personal memoir covers all of her life experiences in a collection of humerous tales with an interlacing of Mindy's commentary on the lessons she has learned throughout her life. This is no self-help or woman-empowerment book; it is just a book by a really funny woman written to hopefully help give girls just like her someone to connect to or laugh with. 

  I hope to just have fun with this book and enjoy my favorite TV star's personal stories. I can't wait to enjoy some of Mindy's humor away from the TV as I wait with baited breath for her show to be back on in April. Maybe, I'll even learn a life lesson or two, but I'd be just fine with getting a few laughs.

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TOW #17: Sophomore Sensations by David Rahme and Patrick Stevens

College lacrosse is the highest level of women’s lacrosse that exists today besides the national lacrosse team.  That means that the game’s biggest stars all take the field during the NCAA championships in May. In the latest issue of Lacrosse magazine, two freshmen stars were featured in the article “Sophomore Sensations”. The article about Syracuse’s Kayla Treanor and Maryland’s Taylor Cummings highlights what the world has seen from these two incoming sophomores, and what we can look forward to in the coming season. In “Sophomore Sensations,” David Rahme and Patrick Stevens aim to highlight and inform about these two rising stars by using direct quotes and strategic images.

The article’s use of direct quotes allows the authors to include information about each player, but in a creative way. In talking about Treanor, the article makes use of a quote from Syracuse’s head coach, Gary Gait, he says that “[Treanor] has the potential to be the best I’ve ever coached,” (44). Similarly, the article includes a quote from Coach Cathy Reese about Cummings’ nerves freshmen year. She said to Cummings, “‘What are you nervous about? It’s lacrosse and you’re awesome’” (46). These quotes work to supply essential information that makes the athletic journey of both girls interesting, but while also keeping the article informative.

Next to the columns of text are strategic pictures that draw in the eye, in order to grab the reader visually as well. The magazine had both Treanor and Cummings pose in the same athletic ready position in the shoot for the article. This enhances the imaging of both girls as tough athletes, and also adds to the comparison the two sections of the article have to both of these freshmen superstars. The pictures also work to draw the reader in, making them want to know more about these mysterious girls who look beautiful but dangerous all at once.

In “Sophomore Sensations,” Rahme and Stevens accomplish their goal, to inform the reader, and to even excite the reader to watch these two girls step on to the field this upcoming lacrosse season. As for me, I was excited to follow this years’ NCAA tournament regardless, but now I have two young stars I can root for, because I feel like I know them personally.

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