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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TOW #16: A Breifer History of Time by: Stephen Hawking

As I continued to delve into Stephen Hawking’s work, A Breifer History of Time, things began to make more and more sense to be, but at the same time confuse me. Obviously, all of his topics in his book are extremely complicated, so to put them into “simple terms” (still extremely complex to the average person, like me) is hard. Even in the second half of the book Hawking kept up his simplification skills with the continued use of pictures and metaphors to help the reader comprehend. Although this may not work for every reader, one reason Hawking’s rhetoric was effective for me was that it tapped into my “memory”.

Chemistry class technically is not a distant memory to me, but we are currently (and surprisingly!) learning about quantum mechanics. Hawking’s book is a great overview of all of the concepts that we are currently covering more in depth in chemistry. Therefore, although conceptually, I may not fully understand the concepts as I am reading (even with the metaphors and pictures), I start off in a much better place than the rest of my class because I have begun to already try to grasp these topics. Hawking’s effective overview helps me to get a head-start when I try to understand these concepts more in depth, and that is what partly, even if just for me personally, helps to make his writing effective.

In conclusion, I really did love A Briefer History of Time. It was challenging, intriguing, and, sometimes, truly mind-blowing. I can’t say that it fully changed my views of the universe as I know it, because I am still processing some of the concepts discussed. But, it has helped me to think in a more abstract sense, and given me a leg-up in school! Who would have thought! So, Hawking, thanks for an enjoyable and intellectual read, from one nerd to another.

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TOW #15: Smug Couples Patronize Singles to Feel Better About Themselves by: Samantha Joel

With Semi-formal coming up here at Wiss, everyone is vying for a date. For many singles, it may be a very depressing time, with all the couples that have their dates already lined up. But no need for the Wiss singles to worry any longer, Samantha Joel, a student at the University of Toronto has dating figured out. In her article, Joel aims to explain why people in a monogamous relationship tend to look down on those who are single. Although the concept is interesting, Joel struggles to achieve her purpose to educate about this phenomenon due to her lacking syntax and confusing order.
       As Joel attempts to explain this interesting topic, her syntax hinders how effective her message is because it is unacademic and basic. Joel uses very basic terminology to explain the premise of the study. As she gives background, she says, "For single people, they measured how difficult single participants thought it would be to find a romantic partner. For romantically attached people, they measured how difficult they thought it would be to leave their current relationships". Although this does explain the study very simply, these two sentences are identical in structure, thus making her argument seem less academic.
     On a less microscopic level, Joel detracts from her argument because of her confusing order, which does not lead the reader clearly through to a conclusion. Joel begins her article by defining what this phenomenon is, which is clear enough. However, as Joel begins to explain about the actual study, she gets confusing. She explains different parts of the study, but fails in some places to identify what these findings mean, which is essential to reader comprehension. Finally, in her conclusion, Joel basically just re-states the point that "people look down on people with opposing relationship statuses as a way to feel better about their own," without driving home the fact that the study she was reporting on proved that. 
   Therefore, although this could have been an extremely interesting an article, the way that Joel wrote the article did not do the subject a justice.

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TOW #14: Alec Baldwin Hulu Commercial

(Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHiJ7v18-EM)

The company Hulu is in an extremely competitive field. Hulu is stacked up market-wise against power companies such as Netflix and other live TV and movie streaming providers. Essentially, all of these companies provide the same service, to deliver streamed TV shows on any media device in the customer’s home. This commercial from Hulu attempts to reach the average TV lover and convince them that Hulu is a great way to watch TV.

Although overall this ad was effective, it does contain a few fallacies that detract from the overall message. The first fallacy that the advertisement has in the false authority fallacy. In the beginning, Alec Baldwin says that he’s credible for talking about TV because he is a TV star. However, Baldwin is not in fact credible because he has clear ulterior motives, such as gaining popularity for his own TV shows. Baldwin is just a star on TV, he does not necessarily watch TV so although he is credible in the acting realm; the watching, not so much. This Hulu ad may have been able to avoid that fallacy if they had used a TV fanatic to talk about why Hulu is great for streaming.

Not only that, but this Hulu ad is also based largely on the claim that many people believe TV will turn your brain to mush. The ad then uses this claim to create a satirical promotion of Hulu that shows that it is good that human’s brains become mush using streaming because the people at Hulu are aliens. Although entertaining and amusing, this claim falls to the ground if the audience does not agree that TV has the capacity to turn one’s brain to mush. Yes, this fallacy may be having to do with something extremely fictional but the difference in effectiveness of the ad if you don’t go along with the premise, even a fictional one, is substantial. So, although this advertisement is effective in that it is memorable and creative, fallacies take away from its credibility.