TOW #25: Donut Picture circa 1948

Reading Goals:  find the message and find at least one device

Writing Goals: Write a concise essay, even if I just have one device (change it up a bit)

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Everyone loves donuts. Kids used to line up at our neighborhood’s local KrispyKreme just to watch the donut production line. They would start bubbling in the hot grease, and move along to the oven, where they were warmed to perfection. Then, the glaze machine would pour the sweet sticky syrup of gods over them and they would be left to cool. Kids loved those donuts for decades. The donut is often the symbol for obesity. Homer Simpson is always pictured eating donuts, and cops who don’t do much of anything are stereotyped to be always eating a donut. This picture, photographed circa 1948, is aimed to illustrate how the American donut hole is getting smaller, but the actual dough amount is getting larger through parallelism.

Parallelism between the donuts of the different decades illustrate the prevalent difference in dough-to-hole ratios. As one can see, the donut is the largest in hole diameter in 1927, but has the least amount of dough. As the years continue, the picture includes the same setup but you can see the donut start to change. This parallelism allows the viewer to clearly see the difference in the donuts throughout the years. This difference in donuts brings the readers attention to the fact that with each passing decade, the donut hole is getting smaller and the amount of dough is getting larger. This brings to a point the underlying message. It shows that throughout the years, Americans have wanted more dough and a smaller donut hole. This alludes to the obesity epidemic in America. This increase in dough might be one of the many things that exemplify Americans’ mounting greediness and overall inclination toward more food. Therefore, this parallelism allows you to see the evolution and difference in eating habits of Americans.

Parallelism in this image exemplifies the difference between donuts and donut hole size throughout the years, which in turn gets the picture’s underlying message across: more dough in our donuts is exactly why Americans are becoming fatter. We just don’t need the extra food.

IRB Intro #4: Lies My Teacher Told Me by: James Loewen

  As we approach May, AP tests loom in my future. The one with the most hard-core information that I have to remember is by far AP US. History (APUSH). I will surely be cramming and re-cramming my brain with dates, presidents, and wars. With laws, legislation, and amendments. But, I will surely be thankful when it is all over, because I officially have the CollegeBoard's approval that I know all about United States History.
   My dad, however, disagrees. This past summer, when I was reading The Crucible, to gear up for APUSH, my dad was reading a book called Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James Loewen. He told me that I absolutely have to read the book. Lies My Teacher Told Me is specifically about United States History. It examines the flaws in American textbooks and teachings across the country, and, supposedly, tells the reader what US History was really like. It cuts out all of the extra fluff details about our founding fathers, and other "great" leaders of America. Occasionally it exploits the glorified leaders for who they really are, often, they are not the good men you would expect. Most of all, it attempts to tell history from other points of view than just who wrote history.
  I hope to learn a few things from this book, especially now that I've just about finish the AP course. I strategically did not want to read this before so that I would not mess up the information I need to know for the test (because we all know how important that is). But now, I will be able to compare my two sources of information and maybe find faults within the book's claim, or even our education ethics here in America about our own history. After all, the losers never get to write the history books...something that Lies My Teacher Told Me aims to set right.

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TOW #24 Secrets of the Brain by: Carl Zimmer

Reading goals:

• find an interesting article from a different source

Writing goals:

• seamless transition
• fully analyze each device & connect back to thesis

The brain, as recently educated journalist Carl Zimmer describes it, is an extremely complex organ. Scientists agree, but, to a certain extent they understand even more so how little we know about the human brain. In a sense, most scientists would say that Zimmer was understating the brain’s intricacies. We have only studied the brain intensively for only a few short decades, and we have just started to grasp it’s capabilities and inner workings. Carl Zimmer, journalist from the National Geographic, aims to put these new found discoveries in the spotlight in his article “Secrets of the Brain,” by utilizing both imagery and numerical data.

In the beginning of his article, Zimmer describes laying in the machine to receive an MRI. He speaks of his thought process while laying in the machine, and mentions many parts of the brain, referring to how his “emotions were the creation of the three-pound loaf of flesh” in his head. He also mentions that all of the memories he is able to draw on were “coordinated by seahorse-shaped folds in the brain called the hippocampus,” and that the “web of links” that was his brain were firing. This imagery that Zimmer utilizes allows him to convey the brain as more of an operating system, or something that is alive. People commonly do not think about their brain and it’s functions so this is the perfect introduction to what the brain is like in simple terms before Zimmer talks about science-type things. Imagery helps the reader to begin thinking about the brains functions, and later on numerical data solidifies the new ideas that Zimmer presents.

Like any good scientific article, Zimmer presents the reader with numerical data in order to solidify concepts and theories for the reader. In order to convey just how much work barely dents the complexities of the brain, Zimmer describes researcher's brain mapping: “[they have been] charting the activity of 20,000 protein-coding genes at 700 sites within each brain.” Zimmer also is able to convey the magnitude of the brain. He states that even just for a mouse brain, it will take “another two years to complete a scan of all 70 million neurons in a mouse.” This concrete data appeals to logos in the reader. Who can argue the cold hard facts? Especially because it is a scientific article to an audience that is interested in science, these numbers will aid comprehension and make the information more believable.

Zimmer is able to shine a spotlight on new scientific discoveries about the brain while utilizing imagery in order to ease the reader into the topic, and then numerical data in order to solidify the validity of the research the article discusses. Thus, Zimmer is able to open up the eyes of the reader to a blossoming world in science.

(Robert Clark)

** Note: totally did not realize that my previous article was about neuroscience as well. I guess I'm unconsciously very interested in brains!** 

TOW #23: "Life and death at his fingertips: watching a brain surgeon at work" by: Erica Wagner

Reading Goals:

• find adequate (but new) devices
• be able to identify her purpose in using each device

Writing Goals:

• to be cohesive in the way that my points flow together
• a strong analysis of evidence

At the top of the article, “Life and death at his fingertips: watching a brain surgeon at work,” sits a simple picture of a wrinkled old man in scrubs. His hands are folded in front of him and he is standing against a white wall. His white hair peeks out of his surgeon’s hat and his round glasses match his equally round face. This is Henry Marsh, Ukraine’s best neurosurgeon. He is 64 years old and will retire next year. In this article, Erika Wagner, writer for the NewStatesman, examines his life and what it takes to be a neurosurgeon, especially in Ukraine, through imagery and a personal narrative.

Wagner’s imagery allows the reader to better understand the world of a neurosurgeon. Not many people can visualize what brain surgeons actually do, but when describing Marsh’s surgery, Wagner states that what she saw through the microscope was, “A glittering, undulating landscape of shining whites and greys and reds is revealed in vertiginous 3D,” she also compares the arteries and veins in the brain to “deltas of a river.” This allows the reader who does not know much about the brain or brain surgery to achieve a better understanding of the very basics of Marsh’s profession and the intricacies of surgery. Once the reader can really conceptualize the difficulty of Marsh’s day to day tasks, Wagner then can branch out and describe, through her personal experience with Marsh, what it means to be the best brain surgeon in the country.

Wagner utilizes a personal narrative in order to connect with Marsh directly, and thus examine his life more directly. Instead of taking a disjointed approach and describing Marsh’s life from a distance, Wagner speaks to him directly, and includes dialogue. “‘What proportion of the body’s blood goes to the brain?’ Henry asks me-- and for a moment my own heart is in my mouth, and I feel like one of the interns he questions in the meetings he holds every day at 8am.” This personal narrative gives the reader a stronger connection to both Marsh and Wagner. Not only that, but it displays their personalities as well. Wagner is able to add personal commentary as well. She thinks aloud: “Would I trust Henry if I were a patient, or a patient’s relative? I reckon I would.” This add an extra layer of dynamic to her writing, making Wagner and the story she is telling all the more interesting.

Wagner is able to capture the meaning of Henry Marsh’s career and the implications of what he has done so far in the surgery world through imagery which furthers understanding, and personal narrative which allows the reader to connect to Marsh and Wagner.

(http://www.newstatesman.com/lifestyle/2014/03/life-and-death-his-fingertips-watching-brain-surgeon-work?utm_content=buffered8d3&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer)

TOW #22 Save The Twinkie by: Nick Anderson

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Recently, there has been much backlash after Hostess, the company that makes twinkies, has discontinued them. To many Americans, Twinkies have been a staple throughout their entire life, and the thought of their childhood favorite no longer being available is, well, unthinkable. In this cartoon, artist Nick Anderson argues that there are way bigger problems than the death of the Twinkie, and that people should stop focusing their energy on trivial causes.

Parallelism helps Anderson to create his argument because it shows the difference between support of the two causes in this picture. On the left, there are two lone people holding a small “Save the Earth” sign. To the right of them, there is a mob with a huge banner reading: “Save the Twinkie.” The difference in support for the two causes are highlighted by the layout of this picture and the parallelism between the signs which differ only by one word. This helps to show the reader how ridiculous the amount of support for the Twinkie is compared with the cause that is beneficial to society.

Parallelism helps to bring forth the argument in a very prominent way, but the background colors and setting are more subtle devices that Anderson uses. In the cartoon, the setting is nowhere distinguishable. The ground is grey, and the sky in the background, is a blue-pink haze. This creates the feeling that the woman’s “Save the Earth” sign is targeting pollution. The simplicity of the background also works to draw the reader in to the central argument made without distractions. Thus, the argument is subtly clarified and the focus is drawn to the main image in the picture.

Anderson is able to make the argument that the hysteria surrounding the Twinkie dissemination is ridiculous through parallelism and a minimalist background. Thus, the reader is left feeling almost ashamed to be a part of a society that holds Twinkies in higher importance than the planet they live on.

TOW #21: Revenge is Sour by: George Orwell

George Orwell is a well-known British author who was prevalent during World War II. His article, “Revenge Is Sour” was published in the London Tribune in 1945. In his article, Orwell examines the true meaning of revenge when it comes to finally being able to punish the Nazis after the war. In order to fully examine the true effect of revenge, Orwell utilizes both similie and personal anecdotes.

In the beginning of his article, Orwell uses a simile to describe the officer he met when he visited a war criminal prison. Orwell describes how the Jewish officer who oversees the imprisoned Nazis kicked and verbally abused the men constantly. But Orwell makes an intelligent observation: “he wasn't really enjoying it, and that he was merely — like a man in a brothel, or a boy smoking his first cigar, or a tourist traipsing round a picture gallery — telling himself that he was enjoying it, and behaving as he had planned to behave in the days he was helpless” (para. 7). This simile is essential for Orwell to be able to examine the extent of the fulfillment of revenge because he is characterizing it in a tangible way for the reader. The reader can then understand that the officers only think they enjoy it because they would have enjoyed it when the war was still going on. Yet, they don’t now that the Nazis are pathetically easy to target. Not only do similes help the reader to conceptualize the concept of convincing oneself revenge is better than it actually is, but personal anecdotes help analyze this feeling too.

George Orwell uses a personal anecdote of a fellow journalist in order to appeal to pathos. Orwell writes how he was traveling with another young journalist on the only bridge into a decimated German town. Beside the bridge was a dead German soldier. The young journalist had never seen anyone dead before, and he immediately began acting different towards any German. Orwell uses this anecdote to appeal to the sympathy within the reader just as the journalist was suddenly sympathetic enough not to carry out his own forms of revenge (in this case by harboring remorse). This, by invoking sympathy within the reader, they finally understand that sometimes revenge just is not worth it.

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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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