TOW #13 - Why I've never seen a 'Star Wars' movie

This week, while a majority of the population got overexcited for the new Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens, there were a handful of people sitting unenthusiastically, because they had never seen Star Wars before. Similar to the text "What Really Keeps Women out of Tech," which emphasized the stereotypical computer programmer as a white male with space posters in their rooms, "Why I've never seen a 'Star Wars' movie" from Business Insider by Tanza Loudenback showed how people who were never exposed to sci-fi as children aren't usually interested in the topics that are seemingly landmark and significant. This is a light text that used a casual, relatable tone and humor to convey the message that people who've never seen Star Wars before shouldn't feel bad about themselves and that one can have plenty of fun without watching these seemingly remarkable movies.
Loudenback starts off her text by quoting classic responses she receives when she tells someone that she has never watched Star Wars. "'You're kidding, right?' 'What is wrong with you?' 'Do you hate fun?' - these are just a few of the stunned responses I get when I confess I've never seen a 'Star Wars' movie" (Loudenback 1). This is not only a funny way to open up her text, but it's also a classic response that most people are familiar with and can relate to, no matter if the reader has watched Star Wars or not. Whether someone has said that to somebody else or has heard it from somebody else, it makes the the author feel like an acquaintance or somebody that the reader can have a nice conversation with. After getting the audience to relate to her, she adds humor to show her readers the fun she can have without watching Star Wars.
When someone who has not been exposed to Star Wars feels alone, they can tune into the BBC radio station that Loudenback introduces called "I have never watched Star Wars before." The fact that such a radio station exists gives the reader some amusement as well as give inclusion to those who has never watched it before. She also adds up all of the hours in the Lord of The Rings and Harry Potter movie to show how much time she has saved: 54 hours, in which "I could even hike from California's Big Sur to San Francisco with a couple hours to nap. And in 108 hours, I could train and run a marathon. In that same amount of time, I could also climb more than halfway to Mt. Everest base camp." By putting her situation under this classic light of "In the time that would take me to do that, I could..." idea.
Loudenback addresses the idea that although loving Star Wars was the movie that the nerdy, geeky kids watched, that concept is the current trend and whoever not in that "nerd" mold are now the social outcasts. As someone who watched Star Wars for the first time only recently, I can easily relate to her ideas. For some people, these movies were a big part of their childhood and something that makes them excited decades later. However, no one thing is suitable to everyone, and sometimes the most popular movie or book in the country right now could just be something to be humorous about, as shown by Loudenback.

TOW #12 - Nickel and Dimed (IRB Part 1)

     As interesting as it sounded, Nickel and Dimed was also interestingly written with many different rhetorical devices that worked together along with the investigation itself. As Barbara Ehrenreich flew around places to observe what it was like to live on minimum wage in American cities, I found myself right next to her, following her around, which was a sensation that I'd only felt in fiction novels or emotional memoirs, not an informative nonfiction piece like this one. Although Barbara Ehrenreich keeps her duty as a writer and journalist in reporting facts of what happened during her investigation as a minimum-wage worker, she incorporates metaphoric language and appropriate quotes from her surroundings to keep her reader engaged and feel like they're a part of this way of living.
     Throughout her book, she incorporates facts and figures from this personal experience that she went through while cleaning tables as well as research from outside sources. She organizes her personally collected data by clearly stating the situations of her fellow employees at restaurants in indented forms:

"Gail is sharing a room...for $250 a week...The rent would be impossible alone.

Claude, the Haitian cook, is desperate to get out of the two-room apartment...

Marianne...and her boyfriend are paying $170 a week for a one-person trailer."

While this gives a numerical view on what kind of financial situation her surrounding people are in, she also includes footnotes at the bottom of the paper to expand upon specific topics that she experienced. After she explains the home situation as shown above, she includes the researched statistic that "...nearly one-fifth of all homeless people...are employed in full- or part-time jobs" (Ehrenreich 26). This gives the readers the objective, journalistic side of the story in a microscopic as well as a macroscopic outlook. Although pure objective facts are pretty interesting, she puts these facts under a captivating light through her intricate language style.
     Ehrenreich's well-polished metaphors provides good imagery for readers to picture what it would feel like to work minimum-wage jobs, as compared to simply looking at numeric data. This is a part numbers cannot explain - only hands-on experiences can. While describing a busy, full-packed restaurant she worked in with a terrible sanitary environment, she tells the readers to "Picture a fat person's hell, and I don't mean a place with no food...The kitchen is a cavern, a stomach leading to the lower intestine that is the garbage and dishwashing area, from which issue bizarre smells combining the edible and the offal: creamy carrion, pizza barf...citrus fart" (29). Not only does she have to deal with this horrific-sounding atmosphere, but she also has to deal with managers that keep screaming, "Nita, your order's up, move it!" or "Barbara, didn't you see you've got another table out there? Come on, girl!" (34). Her descriptive language along with the dialogues she constantly heard around her places the reader in the spot where she was as a minimum-wage worked. This gives the readers insight to the direct experience that she had aimed to investigate and write about.
     This is one of the first nonfiction reads with so much numerical data I've thoroughly enjoyed and completely immersed myself into, but at the same time Ehrenreich's craft is very effective in story-telling as well. I hope to be able to broaden my scope and understand how life runs from other people's perspective as well. So far, Ehrenreich seems to be doing that job very well.

TOW #11 - I don't need a 'happy holidays'. Just wish me a Happy Hanukkah, please"

     As December - or even November - rolls in, holiday decorations start filling houses, and to be progressive and equal, many stray away from the phrase "Merry Christmas" and say instead "Happy Holidays." Although this seems like a tolerable, friendly approach to appreciating different religions, not everyone has the same opinion. Lilit Marcus, in his text "I don't need a 'happy holidays'. Just wish me a Happy Hanukkah, please" from the Guardian, uses personal anecdotes, common holiday sights, and logical arguments during holidays to illustrate his idea that the saying "Happy holidays" is just as meaningful to him as "Merry Christmas" is.
     Marcus starts his idea by laying his personal experience of growing up as the only Jewish kid in a large Christian community. By doing so, he establishes credibility that he has a certain authority to speak out this topic on a personal level. He also shows readers how neglected his culture feels at times, and that the situation is more than just about others saying "Merry Christmas" even though he's Jewish. He says that he has to constantly "explain the meaning of Passover...or be accused of 'wanting special treatment' when I took Yom Kippur off of work" (Marcus 1). He claims that matters are much worse if seen through the perspective of someone who is supposed to be benefitting from this new holiday greeting. After he shows how his culture was portrayed around his own environment, he connects it to how his culture is portrayed around many people's environment.
     Currently in parts of the country, many people such as teachers and retail workers wish their students or customers "happy holidays." However, a common American retail store around the holiday season has aisles filled with Christmas decorations, but there's a lack of Hanukkah decorations available in most stores. Walking into a popular retail store in a Jewish community, Marcus saw "seven aisles of Christmas gear and less than one-third of an aisle of Hanukkah stuff," which "barely counts as inclusion. It's separate, and it's nowhere close to being equal." Since many readers are able to relate to this situation, it puts Marcus's argument in a perspective that Christmas celebrators can understand easier and gets his point across more effectively. Also, readers can realize and understand how wishing someone happy holidays doesn't solve every problem nor place all religions and cultures on equal ground.
     Marcus takes these occurrences and winds them up into logical arguments that end up as his main points. Mentioning the 20-foot Christmas tree covering the "Happy Holidays" sign and the red-and-green holiday card, Marcus states that "Going through the motions of inclusion aren’t enough. Simply tolerating other cultures, religions and festivals isn’t sufficient: until we have the same amount of respect, all your pointless gestures of inclusivity ring hollow." These arguments all ultimately end up to his central point: "I don’t feel included; I’m simply reminded that my inclusion is, and always has been, an afterthought." Including these logical arguments make his points clear and articulately landed into his reader's minds, helping readers grasp this idea wholly.
     As society evolves and becomes more accepting, many people have changed their words and actions to suit such changes. However, there's no one-way cure to solving a problem, as shown by Marcus, and although some may disagree with him, he asserts through personal anecdotes, common situations, and logical arguments that he still feels undermined and under-appreciated with such verbal treatment. People have changed their words - now it's time to change actions.

TOW #10 - Visual Text: These are the Things a Manic Security Security Policy Can Keep Out

After the terrorist attakcs in Paris on the thirteenth, almost every single news page is filled with information regarding this event and the reactions that preceeded. This political cartoon, titled "These are the Things a Manic Security Security Policy Can Keep Out" by Tom Toles from The Washington Post addresses the immigrant safety precaution hotly debated in America right now that uses common American cultural beliefs and humor in order to accuse strict foreign policies of doing more harm than good and to persuade for a change in this course of action.
The visual text, explicitly stating the "American values" commonly established throughout the country and what America is believed to be a foundation of, emphasizes the ineffectiveness of foreign policies. By putting American ideals of "acceptance, openness, inclusion, immigration, and tolerance" that are ruined by strict security behind a fence on the opposite side of "security," the viewer can clearly see the juxtaposition and the shortcomings of strict security measures. This evokes a feeling in viewers that puts these policies in a negative light. Toles does this by including humor in order for Americans to be able to self-reflect.
By using humor while accusing the American hypocrisy in its immigration rules, Toles is able to more gently persuade the viewers into self-reflection. Although this cartoon does sharply criticize, it approaches it in a funny way, where the politician enforcing strict security to Uncle Sam creates a funny and pathetic scene. It accuses in a way that the accused can laugh at it also, which makes them think for themselves instead of violently pounding an idea into their heads. By doing so, American viewers can reassess whether such strict safety measures are what Americans should be doing as a culture of openness and tolerance, leading them to favor more open immigration laws.
The embracing and appreciating other cultures and everyone regardless of their background is the true American spirit, as defined by the visual text by Toles. His incorporation of American core values and humor allows Americans to disfavor such strict security measures that are putting refugees at risk - so that hopefully, as Toles wants, the doors of America will open as it should to those who seek freedom and happiness like true Americans.

TOW #9 - Teaching Peace in Elementary School

Mental health is a subject that I observed has been addressed frequently, which it should be. Just as mental health affects physical health, the text "Teaching Peace in Elementary School" from the New York Times describes a learning program that strengthens mental health and social skills in children to improve their academic achievements and overall wellness. As a proponent of the S.E.L. (Social and Emotional Learning), journalist Julie Scelfo uses common, relatable experiences, quotes professionals, and uses certain examples of SEL that provokes pathos in order to promote a mental health-based learning style for elementary school children.
Scelfo, in the beginning of her text, asks questions in order to make the reader relate to certain situations. She asks, "Feeling left out? Angry at your mom? Embarrassed to speak out loud during class? Proponents of S.E.L. say these feelings aren't insignificant issues to be ignored in favor of the three R's" (Scelfo 3). Mentioning certain situations that almost everyone experienced develops a connection with the reader, and including the 'three R's' that almost every child has learned establishes ethos. By connecting such experiences to S.E.L., Scelfo attempts to persuade readers into thinking that S.E.L. can be a beneficial teaching tool.
In addition to establishing pathos by making the readers relate to the situation, Scelfo also quotes authority figures to establish credibility. She includes a research where, "...researchers from Penn State and Duke looked at 753 adults...evaluated for social competency...while in kindergarten: Scores for sharing, cooperating and helping other children nearly always predicted whether a person graduated from high school on time, earned a college degree, had full-time employment... or had been arrested or held in juvenile detention" (11). Penn State and Duke are credible universities where their researches can be trusted. Because she is not a researcher herself, she makes her points valid through quoting such figures. By including reliable facts on the impact of social competency and mental health, she makes her readers more leaned in favor of S.E.L.
She wraps up her essay through an emotional ending. She sets up an image in the reader's heads, where "the hallway outside a third-grade classroom is decorated with drawings made by students showing their aspirations for the current school year. One child hopes 'to make new friends.' Another wants to 'be nice and help.' And as for Leo...wrote: 'My hope for myself this year is to get better at math.' If S.E.L. strategies work, he will be better equipped to reach that goal" (20). Such a setting evokes pathos by imagining hopeful little third-graders whose innocent and helpful dreams should be met. Although there was a lot of research-based data in the middle, ending the text with this image in the reader's heads provokes their soft side, and that the feelings of third graders should be protected through programs such as S.E.L.
By connecting her readers to the text, using credible resources to back her argument, and wrapping it up with a sentimental and therefore powerful ending, Scelfo calls for the use of S.E.L. or other education formats that emphasize social skills and mental health in children. Scelfo has reached high academic skills, and she promotes social skills and mental health through these skills.

IRB Intro Post #2

My next IRB is a book that I've been looking forward to reading since the beginning of the year. Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich explores the problem of poverty in America through an investigation where the author, as an journalist undercover, observes how the working class was affected by the 1996 welfare reform act. Poverty is not only a huge problem but also something that people outside of the working class can't fully perceive unless they have been in the poor's shoes, so this feels like a very interesting read, as I was told by former APELC students who read this book.

TOW # 8 - The Tao of Pooh (IRB Part 2)

The ride with Winnie-the-Pooh so far has been pretty uneventful and flowy...nothing too mind-boggling or completely mind-blowing but calm and slightly amusing. I can't say I've been completely blown away or enlightenened, but I've definitely learned a couple of things from this Pooh-bear, and I think that's exactly what the author, Benjamin Hoff, was shooting for. Hoff says through Taoism is - essentially - everywhere we go through quoting people and relating events to Taoist concepts in his book The Tao of Pooh.
One thing I noticed in the second half of the book that wasn't present in the first half was the concrete use of real-world examples. Although the first half mentioned many hypothetical scientists and normal people in society who act unlike Taoists, the book never really mentioned a specific real-life person or event. However, the second half of the book transitions from explaining Taoist concepts through allusions to Winnie-the-Pooh to tying those explained concepts with real-life people and events. For example, after explaining the Taoist concept of listening to one's own instinct rather than the comments of others, Hoff mentions Thomas Edison and how he became a well-known innovative genius despite the criticism from others that failed to strike him down. This creates a smoothe transition where readers can find Taoism in unexpected characters like Winnie-the-Pooh and then naturally in people that we often hear or learn about like Edison.
Hoff continues this transition from Pooh allusions to real-life figures in order to create the feeling that Taoism is omnipresent. In the first half, Hoff quotes Taoist texts and excerpts from Pooh to explain Taoism and to show in a pleasant way that Taoism exists in seemingly uneventful characters such as Winnie-the-Pooh. In the second half, Hoff quotes famous figures that we're more used to hearing from to establish an even more universal connection. Hoff quotes Claude Debussy, who said, "Music is the space between the notes" to show the Taoist concept of emptiness and anticipation. He also quotes our good old friend Thoreau, who said, "Men say that a stitch in time saves nine, and so they take a thousand stitches today to save nine tomorrow," in order to explain the Taoist concept that one cannot save time and therefore should rather focus on spending time wisely. By using such figures, the reads can notice that Taoism is found in many intellectuals and in events happening around us.
Obi Wan Kenobi said to Luke, "Remember...the Force will be with you. Always." Although I doubt Benjamin Hoff is the same Ben as Ben Kenobi, they both essentially have the same message. Everywhere - even in places where we wouldn't expect it to be - Taoism exists.

TOW #7 - Visual Text: New American Airlines Logo

I said goodbye this Friday to a group of German exchange students at the airport and still feel a little sentimental. Naturally, I thought it was a good idea to do my TOW on something related to that, and it seemed perfect, as American Airlines just merged with U.S. Airways on October 17th and came up with a new logo.

American Airways had always used the red and blue colors, along with an eagle, which they kept in their new design. The red and blue are obviously patriotic colors, and the addition of the white eagle improves the color scheme and makes it even more patriotic. The new logo incorporates an eagle into the shape of the wing of an airplane to add more motion, resulting in a logo that seems ready to take off.

One thing that I thought that could have been improved was that the new logo doesn't use anything from the logo from U.S. Airways, which was a blue (sometimes gray) rendition of an American flag with a tiny square in place of the stars. Although the former logo wasn't the most effective, the shape of the American flag was one way to provoke pathos in customers with "American pride", but that was sacrificed for the airplane/eagle shape. This new logo doesn't give an impression that the two companies merged but rather a feeling that American Airplanes has simply changed their logo like Google did recently.

The simplistic overall view of the logo seems to match the recent trend, which is to make logos and layouts as clean and simple as possible, instead of adding intricate details. The former American Airlines logo had a bit too much details on the eagle and U.S. Airways might have had too many stripes relative to most of th logos that are updating. The new logo is more visually appealing to most viewers now and seems more elegant than tacky. Personally I like this logo better and think that the new company did a nice job.

TOW #6 - Does Creativty Scare You?

We're told from an early age, "Be creative!" "Let your creativity flow!" According to the text "Does Creativity Scare You?" by Oliver Burkeman, we humans are actually pretty scared of creativity, and no matter how much emphasis we put on it, we're just wired to be scared of it. But the old advice still applies - we do need creativity. Rather than let our fears take over this creativity or completely reject it, Burkeman says accept the fear that's there and try to work around it.

After introducing the idea of "fearing creativity," Burkeman includes a personal experience that others may easily feel as well to set a connection with the readers and make the readers trust him more. He says, "For many, the thought of expressing themselves creatively is frightening. (Anyway, who am I kidding? I've often felt panic at the sight of a blank page" (Burkeman 2). Although the first sentence might have brought skepticism to the readers, the second sentences lays out a situation common, relatable, and understandable to many and even establishes ethos for the writer.

Burkeman references professionals in order to show the studies that back up these ideas. He references a study done in Cornell University, which actually says that humans evolved to fear creativity, as most creative ideas seem to go beyond the limits of safety. He also references the Creativity Journal, which shows that teachers tend to dislike the more creative students unconsciously, although almost all would say that's not true. By referencing these studies, the readers can see how prevalent this fear against creativity is, which surprised me as well.

Burkeman lays out a solution to this problem of fearing creativity through analogy. Creativity is an abstract concept that's confusing to explain using hypothetical situations or theory, but he clears that out with an analogy: "I much prefer [a certain professor's] approach, treating fear like an annoying younger sibling, or a beloved though rather trying family pet. The trick, if you can do it, isn't to ignore fear, or destory it, and definitely not obey it, but to make space for it. She uses that odd but useful analogy of a road trip. Fear always comes along for the ride, and that's fine - but that doesn't mean you need to let it anywhere near the steering wheel" (6). That makes sense - we shouldn't ignore a family member, but we shouldn't let them get everything they want either. This analogy of using fear effectively in creativity clears up previous perhaps confusing statements.

We're constantly told that creativity is a virtue that we should constantly cultivate, but Burkeman argues that and says creativity is both a vice and a virtue - and suggests that maybe the biggest virtue of creativity is that it's both a vice and a virtue.

TOW #5 - What Really Keeps Women out of Tech

     I often think of myself as a "nerd" (which is true) and have loved math since I was little. I've also been extremely curious as a young girl til now, but quite honestly, I hated the idea of becoming an engineer until just a couple of years ago and got dizzy even thinking about computer science. Why was that? This article by Eileen Pollack seemed to answer this for me. As a woman who used to work in the science and technology field, Pollack explains in her text "What Really Keeps Women out of Tech" that for women to be included in this field, certain restrictive engineering gender stereotypes must be removed through her use of personal anecdotes and referencing common settings of a technology work area.
     Eileen Pollack worked as a programmer at a lab in Tennessee, and she explains, "I felt out of place among my mostly male colleagues because I hated drinking beer and din't like being mocked for reading novels. Not to mention that the men who controlled access to the computer made me listen to a barrage of sexist teasing if I wanted to be given that day's code to run my program." Because of her mostly female-associated traits of not liking beer as much and reading novels, she was treated as a social outcast among her colleagues and wasn't as welcome. These gender roles and traits restricted people like her and other people with female-associated traits like hers.
     She also references the common setting and image associated with technology and engineering fields. She quotes a psychology professor from the University of Washington, "Dr. Cheryan theorizes that this decline might be partly attributable to the rise of pop-culture protrayls of scientists as white or Asian male geeks in movies and TV shows like 'Revenge of the Nerds' and 'The Big Bang Theory.'" This is a common setting and stereotype of a group of engineers, which shows a possible reason why girls may feel unwelcome in such a community.
     Certain gender roles that may seem irrelevant in such a seemingly open-minded generation may actually be the outdated factors that prevent an open-minded generation from thriving. Through her use of personal anecdote and explaining the common sight that people know and relate to, Pollack illustrates the need for an innovative change in such an innovative field.

TOW #4 - The Tao of Pooh (IRB Part 1)

INTRODUCTION
     In his book The Tao of Pooh, Benjamin Hoff uses allusions to old texts and Winnie-the-Pooh, builds a narrative structure, and make Taoist analogies to Pooh to show that in Taoism, the seemingly clueless and dumb people can be the best teachers of its deep and meaningful principles.
     Benjamin Hoff often refers to not only Taoist texts but also other texts from East Asian religions like Confucianism and Buddhism. This allows readers to both understand Taoist teachings as wells as establish ethos as a credible writer on this subject. He also includes certain excerpts and quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh to show how Winnie-the-Pooh closely related to Taoism. Hoff quotes a poem from Winnie-the-Pooh:

"Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,

A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly,

Ask me a riddle and I reply:

Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie..." (Hoff 39).

     He then compares it to a Chinese philosopher Chuang-tse, who said, "You complain that your tree is not valuable as lumber... It is useless to you only because you want to make it into something else and do not use it in its proper way" (Hoff 42). It's obvious that a fly can't bird but a bird can fly, but people don't really remember this fact and try to hard to wedge in things into places they don't belong. By alluding to both texts, Hoff first shows the nature of Pooh and Taoism to his readers.
     Along with alluding to both texts, Hoff uses these allusion to draw parallels between them to now actually show his purpose. As said above, Pooh seems to perfectly realize deep Taoist principles and recognizing that everything in nature has its specific purpose, and people shouldn't be desperate to try to alter that or deem something worthless because it doesn't do what they want it to do. Saying things like "A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly" may make one seem empty-headed, but this actually represents Taoist teachings and shows that people who seem this empty-headed can be the best teachers of Taoist principles.
     Hoff's text is structured in a narrative style that makes it seem like a story of Hoff and Pooh's conversation while walking around Pooh's village. Most Winnie-the-Pooh stories follow a similar structure where Pooh is faced with a problem and he walks casually around places with his friends or to his friends and eventually stumbles across the solution along the way. By following this pattern, Hoff stays loyal to Winnie-the-Pooh's general spirit and the Taoist way of not purposefully scrambling to find a solution to a problem but rather allowing things to flow until a situation unfolds itself. Although Pooh's way of floating around to reach a conclusion may seem naïve or empty-headed, Pooh's way teaches the fundamental Taoist way to others.

TOW #3 - Bedtime Story is Key to Literacy

Most people have memories of being read to bed each night by their parents, and most would agree that kids start reading through this experience. However, this round of bedtime stories end someday. Less parents are reading aloud to their kids because they are spending more and more of their time working or commuting from work, and this is negatively affecting children's literacy. The Guardian's article, "Bedtime Story is Key to Literacy, says Children's Writer Cottrell Boyce" says that parents are now stopping the bedtime stories too early.

This text cites the famous children's author and direction Frank Cottrell Boyce, who is a credible source because he won the 2004 Carnegie medal for his children's book, Millions. He says, "The joy of a bedtime story is the key to developing a love of reading in children...They're being taught to read [in the classroom] before anyone has shared with them the pleasure of reading - so what motivation have they got to learn?" This decline in parents reading to the kids are lessening kids' interest in reading, which also harms literacy. By citing a famous and successful author, the text is reaffirming this claim.

Stastics about the frequency of bedtime stories are also included. According to YouGov and Scholastic, "many parents stop reading to their children when they become independent readers, even if the child isn't ready to lose their bedtime story." A fifth of surveyed parents stopped reading to their kids when they were nine, and about a third of kids around ages 6-11 wanted their parents to continue reading, but they did not. This fact gives credibility the fact that even when kids enjoy this reading time, their parents stop when they think the kids can read themselves. Even though the kids can now read, their desire and interest in reading isn't cultivated.

Finally, the text quotes another professional, Michael Rosen, a children's author, who said his parents read to him even when he reached his forties. Although that might sound crazy to some, Rosen said as he grew up, he was read stories such as Great Expectations and the Catcher in the Rye, and he was always able to enjoy reading. Because he has succeeded in the area of reading and writing, it becomes more convincing that a continuation of parents reading to their children advances a child's literacy and love for reading.

Many parents who read to their kids will probably wonder, "When should I stop reading to my kids?" This text simply answers: never stop. Not only does reading to kids improve literacy, but this also creates a time of intimacy to boost the relationship between the parents and their children.

TOW #2 - Visual Text: "Happy Never After"

I was looking through a plain social media site when I came across this - and it made me freeze for a bit. This visual text is a campaign by Saint Hoax, an artist from the Middle East, and uses photoshopped images of Disney Princesses to raise awareness of domestic violence. The collection is called "Happy Never After," and has the tagline "When did he stop treating you like a princess?"
Disney Princesses are viewed as the iconic perfect fairty tale characters with perfect happy endings and perfect lived. These princesses are the last ones for people to have expected to be victims of domestic violence. By placing domestic violence on these Disney Princesses, Saint Hoax emphasizes the cruelty of domestic violence. A thought can easily run through people's heads: "How could anyone do this - to Jasmine? To Ariel?" Saint Hoax stresses the fact that anyone - even princesses - can be victims of domestic violence.
Underneath the tagline, "When did he stop treating you like a princess?" He adds, "It's never too late to put an end to it." The first thing anyone notices about this poster and about domestic violence in general is its cruelty. The graphics are gruesome and horrific, which can easily lead people to believe that there can't be a stop to it. However, with those tiny letters, he's giving the small but existent hope: "It's never too late to put an end to it." Many people don't realize that domestic violence can be stopped if the situation is properly dealt with, but many give up or simply succumb to it because they think they don't deserve better. Although it isn't one of the most obvious aspects of domestic violence, as represented by the tiny letters, it's still there - and people should realize it.
This is overall a very dark piece that ruins the childhood feeling of many, but that stabbing, hurtful feeling is what makes the campaign effective, and it's what raises awareness of domestic violence.

TOW #1 - Teachers Aren't Dumb

In America, "teachers" are adults who are present in our lives from kindergarten to until we're ready to leave the nest for college. Because America is known to give lower salaries to public teachers compared to other first world countries, the top students tend not to go that route. This results in a situation where most teachers are seen as people who were "not that smart" in high school. In Daniel T. Willingham's op-ed "Teachers Aren't Dumb" in the New York Times, Willingham claims that teachers seem to be "dumb" not because of they are actually dumb but because the teaching education they received is, in fact, "dumb."
Willingham explains that teachers weren't the low-level students by establishing logos and ethos. He says, "It's true that the average SAT score of high school students who plan to become teachers is below the natoinal average. But planning to teach doesn't guarantee that you'll...be hired. The median SAT score for those who actually do end up teaching is about the national mean for other college graduates" (Willingham 5). By using these numbers, he shows that teachers actually scored on par with the national average for standardized tests when they were in high school. He also acknowledges the opposite side's possible argument that students who want to become teachers tend to score lower on standardized tests. Then he proceeds to refute that claim, which makes his argument stronger.
He also includes facts to explain the low quality for teacher preparation to establish logos. He said, "In one study, 42 percent [of reading teachers] could not correctly define 'phonological awareness.' Of greater concern, those who educate future teachers don't know them either. Emily Blinks-Cantrell of Texas A&M University and her colleagues tested 66 professors of reading instruction for their knowledge of literary concepts. When asked to identify the number of phonemes in a word, they were correct 62 percent of the time. They struggled more with morpheme, correctly identifying them 27 percent of the time" (Willingham 8). These are facts that logically show how the education teachers receive is lower than what is expected for teachers to learn.
Willingham ends with a short metaphor: "Teachers who don't know these methods are not stupid; they've been left in the dark" (Willingham 14). This sums up the entire process pretty well, and is a simple way to wrap the text. If teachers were taught the necessary material, they would probably would be able to teach with good rhetoric like this text.

IRB Intro Post #1: The Tao of Pooh

For my IRB this cycle, I chose to read The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff.  When we learned religion in seventh grade social studies, my teacher briefly mentioned this book while we were talking about Taoism.  I always had that book in the back of my mind, but never got to reading it, but when we were introduced to the TOWs I thought this would be a good opportunity to start.  Winnie-the-Pooh and Taoism are two very different topics - or so it seems - and it'd be interesting to dig through the author's rhetoric to connect the two.  I've always loved Winnie-the-Pooh since I was little, so I don't think I'll have trouble liking the book, and I hope it's a fun read just as I've heard people say it is.

Coatesville

Blog Post 3

John Jay Chapman

American author John Jay Chapman gave a speech about the Coatesville Lynching of 1911 in “Coatesville.”  In this event, a Black man was lynched in public for a crime while many people merely spectated and basically no one attempted to stop the event. A year after the event, Chapman visited Coatesville to give a speech about this event.

Chapman notes that he is not giving this speech “for the purpose of condemning it, but to repent of our share in it” (Chapman 71).  He does not blame any small group of people but rather marks America and humanity having responsibilities in this event.  He makes the strong allusion to the last parable, “Someone may say that you and I cannot repent because we did not do the act. But we are involved in it. We are still looking on. Do you not see that this whole event is merely the last parable, the most vivid, the most terrible illustration that ever was given … of the relation between good and evil in this world, and of the relation of men to one another?” (Chapman 73) By mentioning the last parable, Chapman brings up cruel imagery to the listeners and emphasizes how strong of a crime people are committing even though it may not seem so.  Although there are direct contributors to this cause, they are not the only perpetrators.  Chapman also focuses less on these people but rather directs his words toward people who believe they are not relevant to this event.

To these people, Chapman states, “I say that our need is new life, and that books and resolutions will not save us, but only such disposition in our hearts and souls as will enable the new life, love, force, hope, virtue, which surround us always, to enter into us” (Chapman 73).  During the lynching, Chapman said there were many educated and proper citizens present but they did not have substance in the heart. Chapman successfully and effective tells people to go back to the heart where education and books cannot touch us – but the truth can.

The Guilty Spectators
During the lynching, there was a crowd of people watching the tragedy.  Although most were mere passerbys and not direct contributors, Chapman says everyone holds responsibility for this event.

http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/lynching/

Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood

Blog post 2

Richard Rodriguez

“Aria: A Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood” was written by Richard Rodriguez, a famous American writer whose native language was Spanish.  With his essay, he wrote to American teachers and children who, like him, speak languages other than English at home about the importance of learning English at school.  As a child, he strayed away from English because he wanted to preserve the intimacy felt when he spoke Spanish with his family.  However, he later realized that learning English was imperative because it allowed him to interact with certain people, and forgetting Spanish didn’t kill the intimacy he felt with his family.

He conveys such messages by repeating the word “intimate.”  When Rodriguez has the revelation that words don’t create intimacy but intimacy is delivered through words, he says, “After such moments of intimacy outside the house, I began to trust what I heard intimately conveyed through my family’s English…I’d hear myself addressed intimate – in English…Intimate moments were usually moments of soft sound. My mother would be ironing in the dining room while I did my homework nearby. She would look over at me, smile, and her voice sounded to tell me that I was her son. Richard. Intimacy thus continued at home; intimacy was not stilled by English. Though there were fewer occasions for it – a change in my life that I would never forget – there were also times when I sensed the deep truth about language and intimacy: Intimacy is not created by a particular language; it is created by intimates” (Rodriguez 461).  By constantly reemphasizing the word intimate, he shows that intimacy can be communicated with whichever language and whichever medium, and that it’s almost omnipresent if one constantly thinks about it.

By writing his own experience as a bilingual child growing from his family’s nest to the public, Richard Rodriguez was successful in delivering his message.

Unconditional Love
Rodriguez realized that when in a loving family or any sort of relationship, intimacy is not determined by words but rather the personal connection and the actions. His family's strongest connection was their common language, but when that was replaced with a language barrier, Rodriguez felt a weight of guilt. However, they overcame that barrier at the end of the day because his family didn't love each other because they spoke Spanish; they loved each other because they were family.

multilingualliving.com

How it Feels to be Colored Me

Blog Post 1
Zora Neale Hurston

Written by famous writer and civil rights activist Zora Neale Hurston, "How it Feels to be Colored Me" tells the reader about how Hurston views herself in a country where she is discriminated for her skin. While many discriminated Black people felt hurt and destroyed by their situation, Hurston let everyone know through her essay that she didn't let that bother her but rather focused on enriching herself as a person.
While many believed being Black in this time of history was undesirable, Hurston fully appreciated her setting, which she shows through her diction in the quote, "The terrible struggle that made me an American out of a potential slave said 'On the line!' The Reconstruction said 'Get set!'; and the generation before said 'Go!' I am off to a flying start and I must not halt in the stretch to look behind and weep" (Hurston 115). Expressions such as "On the line," "Get set," and "Go" have feelings of positive anticipation that encourages an athlete for a successful round, just as Hurston believes she has been encouraged by moments in history to pursue success and will not stop doing so. She also states that although being Black came with certain perks, she did not let only her skin define who she was. She writes, "At certain times I have no race, I am me. When I set my hat at a certain angle and saunter down Seventh Avenue...The cosmic Zora emerges. I belong to no race nor time, I am the eternal feminine with its string of beads" (Hurston 117). Using this metaphor, she emphasizes her presence in the world, how society's expectation of her race does not decides how she feels, and how great she feels to be herself.
Hurston effectively and quite powerfully tells the people who expect her to be broken in some way that she's not and never will be.

Colored in Her Own Way
Zora Neale Hurston lives with her own goals among a society where she isn't expected to. She enjoys her life the way she wants to in the skin she's in and the way irrelevant to the skin she's in.

http://www.autopoint.com/?attachment_id=10715