TOW #29

Dear future APELC students,

To start off, it is really important to participate in this class because it will be less intimidating if you do so. This applies to discussions in general or symposiums. On the other hand, you should have an open mind and know that whatever Mr. Yost assigns it is for a reason and even if you are assigned a text that seems impossible to annotate, do not give up and just "wing" it, you entered this course for a reason. Your ability to close read and your writing skills will improve and prepare you for the exam completely. One thing that I loved about this class is that we got a lot of practice with the essays. Also, while taking a test DO NOT skim through the texts; close read them and I guarantee you will a receive great score. When you are assigned a take-home essay, do not be afraid to reach out to Mrs. Pronko or Mr. Yost if you think your paper needs to be proof-read. Overall, this course was a little challenging but worth the risk. Mr. Yost is a pretty cool teacher and you will definitely learn many things you have not before. Give this class your all and you will do great.


Sincerely,

Gabriela Angel

TOW #28

Looking back at my previously written TOWs, I noticed that I now have a better sense of what I want to talk about and how I would organize it instead of just writing whatever comes to my mind. Now, I think of what I want to say and how I want to say it and overall what I really learned from whatever I was reading. I think that I have mastered thinking a lot more rapidly. I really think this has to do with knowing what i want to put out there first before i write. I notice that I do not keep stopping in the middle of my TOWs and thinking of what I should say and kind of being in that "getting it over with" attitude. I know that in the beginning of the year i was a little skeptical on how this would really improve my writing skills since I thought I was just going to read something quick and write whatever comes to mind. The questions that are required in order to complete each TOW helped me to really read something that is worth reading and benefited my knowledge somehow. One thing I could strive to improve in my TOWs is to not procrastinate and understand that even writing something about you read once a week could really improve your writing and understanding of current issues or just simply understanding visual texts more. I feel like I really benefited from these assignments simply because it actually improved my writing skills and influenced me to write more just in general. I would honestly continue writing TOWs for my own use.

TOW #27

The TOW I chose for this week is a non-fiction essay called "This Is The Life" by Annie Dillard. This essay is about how humans nowadays take their lives for granted and they don't realize that not everyone in the world can have such an easy life. The author, Annie Dillard, was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and she is an american author who is best known for narrating non- fiction and fiction pieces. The audience of this overall piece is for everyone, considering that this text is about life and how you shouldn't take it for granted. I would also say that this text could be more towards those who are more mature because of the strong diction she uses. The context of this text is for people to appreciate their life more and for them to challenge them selves to look at the world more differently. An important rhetoric device that this author uses tone. In this text, Dillard uses a generous tone and she switches between a mocking tone and an annoyed tone to show that humans nowadays really do take their lives for granted as I said before and do not realize how others have it. She also describes how humans lived in the past and present and she was bringing up scenarios describing the “easy life” during a certain time. She also tries to get the reader to actually appreciate what they have in life and tries to open our mind more and look at the world a different way. The purpose for Dillard to write this text is simply just to show everyone that they have an easy life compared to other people around the world. The author did accomplish her purpose by using anecdotes of peoples lives to relate more to the reader. The author also draws the reader in during the beginning of the text by saying, "You enjoy work and will love your grandchildren, and somewhere in there you die."

TOW #26

The TOW that I read for today was a group of sources that argue about masculinity in todays society. One source was a photograph of a man smoking a cigarette which was a marlbolo ad many years ago. This photo was chosen because of the "intensity" of the photo and how it shows the representation on how a man should be. The second source was a man explaining how stereo-typical others can be when talking about an ideal man. This author was ashamed to say that he liked to write due to the idealistic role of those who write are women and not men. The third source was about how a mother was hearing her son say that he wants to play a sport because that way, girls will start to like him and he will have something to talk about in school. There are more sources but I come to discuss the main topic. In todays society, the spotlight is going towards women. Proving their independence with Disney movies such as Frozen, and many books that put a woman as the hero. Maybe this society is focusing more on women than they are with men? Of course, this is the time for women to shine after all these years of unfairness towards them and we have yet much to improve. But there is a very big stereo type for men and how they need to be masculine and strong and tough but are we repeating history? Why should a boy in elementary school be worrying about a girl not liking him because he does not play sports? Why do others characterize men as "computer-freaks" or the polar opposite of that, a "jock?" One source has stated that statistics show that women have a better learning capacity than men do. Apparently women also handle moving schools better than men do, as they start more fights. Maybe the reason for all this mayhem is because of ancient history. The men were the mightiest and strongest and could handle anything. Times has changed though and maybe men do suffer just as much as women.

TOW #25

This weeks TOW is chose is an essay of Martin Luther King Jr.'s death and its effect. Due to his assassination, the civil rights movement was left at a sudden stop and many others were unsure of what was to happen next. The essay then explains the type of man he was, and how he fought for rights in a way with sermons and religion, the author then says that religion will no longer play a role in the fight for black rights. The author of this essay, Elizabeth Hardwick, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and educated at the University of Kentucky and Columbia University showing that her work is reliable because of her high level of education. Hardwick's work is also notable because she is a recipient of a Gold Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The context of this essay was written in a gloomy tone, and when the environment of Memphis was described as place broken in pieces that were left to be picked up after King's death. Hardwick's purpose of writing about the death of King was to reflect his life and to introduce what may become of the battle for civil rights. The  intended audience for this piece of writing is for civil rights activists at the time, and for people who were interested in King's life's work. To achieve their purpose, the author uses hypophora several times throughout the essay asking questions such as, "Was this a victory or a defeat?" and "What did they mean beyond a wish for the genuine act, a consoling communion with the garbagy streets?" She asks questions that her audience would like to see defined, then goes in to detail answering them. I believe that the author is well able to achieve her purpose because throughout the essay she acknowledges what was next for the battle of civil rights and also states that after King's death religion would most likely not interfere with the fight for African american rights. Hardwick leaves the reader with hope saying, "perhaps what was celebrated in Atlanta was an end, not a beginning—the waning of the slow, sweet dream of Salvation, through Christ, for the Negro masses"

TOW #24

My TOW this week is an Ernest Hemingway’s essay called Camping Out and it starts with Hemingway describing with how going camping can be either a relaxing vacation or a terrible experience based on your knowledge on the subject.  He outlines points that can make a camping trip horrible, leading the reader to believe that he has done this many times himself and he truly is an expert.Hemingway’s protagonist in this story is Wilson, the hunter who lives and breathes the great outdoors. The story to juxtaposes another character Macomber to Wilson while Wilson is the favored in that comparison due to his outdoorsiness. However, at the end of the story Wilson breaks the code to which he lives by as he hunts down buffalo in a car, an illegal act. .Two literary techniques are in play throughout the story that enliven the action and embellish Hemingway’s otherwise minimal descriptive passages. The first is onomatopoeia, and is best exemplified by “whunk,” the noise Macomber’s bullet makes as it hits the lion and “carawong,” the noise Wilson’s high-velocity “big gun” makes as it fires at game (p. 26, 34). Hemingway’s usage of these terms helps the reader imagine the noises of the hunt. The second technique Hemingway employs is simile and metaphor. The most notable example occurs in Wilson’s thoughts when Macomber asks if they should leave the wounded lion, “Robert Wilson, whose entire occupation had been with the lion and the problem he presented, and who had not been thinking about Macomber except to note that he was rather windy, suddenly felt as though he had opened the wrong door in a hotel and seen something shameful” (p. 24). This simile demonstrates Wilson’s shock at hearing Macomber voice such cowardly ideas. Macomber would rather leave the lion to suffer or risk someone else running into the lion and possibly being killed than face up to hunting it down and finishing what he started.

TOW #23

The TOW I chose this week is an article in The New York Times concerning obesity called "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food" by Michael Moss. This article is about how the big brand food companies that most people would consider "junk" such as Nestle, Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Coca-Cola and ect. are concerned with the amount of obesity that has been going on lately so they have decided to figure out what actually leads people of eating so much. These companies also felt guilty with the amount of people that are eating their products and it is the main reason why they're getting so heavy or overweight. The author of this article is named Michael Moss and he is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010 and he was an extra professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. The audience that this text was composed for are elder people since they are normally the ones who read The New York Times. The occasion of this article is during a meeting with all these brands deciding what they can do to help the obesity rates decrease in america. An important rhetorical device that the author uses to try to achieve his purpose in this article is logos since he states many statistics about obesity and how its increased over time. The author's purpose in writing this text was very vague to me because I didn't know what he was trying to come across. He wrote so much about the companies statistics and history of them but he didn't write about what they would really do to help end obesity. He also wrote in the beginning of the article that these brands were curious as to what leads people to eat so much so there we're many topics of this article that I couldn't find the purpose in it.

TOW #22

Have you ever noticed a change in weight with every generation throughout these past years? If you view the picture I displayed below, you'll really start to question this world. The TOW I chose this week is a visual text by an anonymous illustrator. If you analyze this visual text closely, you'll notice that the overall message of this photo is that our society is paying more attention to new technology than people, themselves or that the people are worrying more about technology than themselves. As you can see, on the first image, the time period is 1980, and the man sitting on the computer is very thin but the computer is very large, almost bigger than himself. On the right image, the time period is around todays time or 2013 and the same man is on a computer, relatively smaller, and he is completely overweight and struggling to even sit on the desk without his fat rolling all over the place. It sends the message that we worry more about our technology than our own being. This all leads to superficiality and materialism. The audience for this text is towards the upcoming generation or just simply to everyone. We all need to realize that this is a current issue that is going on today and we need to make action. We should care more about our own health than worrying about technology. The occasion of this visual text would we today at this time being. I would say that an important rhetoric device that the illustrator uses is hyperbole to exaggerate the fat in the person and maybe the comparison in sizes with the person and the computer, but I feel like that could actually happen. The authors purpose of making this visual text is to try and change others perspectives to show what's wrong with the image and change. I think the author did a well job because when I viewed the image, I could identify it's purpose immediately. 

TOW #21

The Disposable Rocket is what I am writing about this week. It is an essay by John Updike, an American novelist, poet, a literary critic and a short story writer. These traits make him credible knowing that he has written many stories, especially some being published in The New Yorker. This essay is about what the author thinks about human males and how they treat their bodies as being disposable to gain the physiologic purpose of reproduction. He compare's men and women's bodies and the physical changes that they go through, such as gaining more weight when you're older, and how they take their bodies for granted while they are young. The context of this essay is that men take their bodies for granted and they don't think ahead and they don't realize that it will affect them later on and they'll end up regretting it. The audience of this essay is towards everyone but mainly towards males. We all need to hear someone telling us what we're doing wrong and how we can fix it but Updike specifically uses males as examples throughout his essay. A rhetoric device Updike uses is tone. His tone is humorous and he also uses metaphors. An example of a metaphor that he uses is that he compares a mans body to having a bank account. The author's purpose of writing this essay tell the audience about their body and try to explain that when you're older, our 15- year old body is not the same as our 30 year old body or how we eat so much and think it won't affect us but we'll start to see change later on. I think that Updike did a good job with accomplishing his purpose because the way he uses metaphors describing the human body (male) it helps the reader understand his purpose more and he also uses his own life example, proving his point.

TOW #20

The TOW I chose for this week is a non-fiction essay called "This Is The Life" by Annie Dillard. This essay is about how humans nowadays take their lives for granted and they don't realize that not everyone in the world can have such an easy life. The author, Annie Dillard, was born in 1945 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and she is an american author who is best known for narrating non- fiction and fiction pieces. The audience of this overall piece is for everyone, considering that this text is about life and how you shouldn't take it for granted. I would also say that this text could be more towards those who are more mature because of the strong diction she uses. The context of this text is for people to appreciate their life more and for them to challenge them selves to look at the world more differently. An important rhetoric device that this author uses tone. In this text, Dillard uses a generous tone and she switches between a mocking tone and an annoyed tone to show that humans nowadays really do take their lives for granted as I said before and do not realize how others have it. She also describes how humans lived in the past and present and she was bringing up scenarios describing the “easy life” during a certain time. She also tries to get the reader to actually appreciate what they have in life and tries to open our mind more and look at the world a different way. The purpose for Dillard to write this text is simply just to show everyone that they have an easy life compared to other people around the world. The author did accomplish her purpose by using anecdotes of peoples lives to relate more to the reader. The author also draws the reader in during the beginning of the text by saying, "You enjoy work and will love your grandchildren, and somewhere in there you die."

TOW #19

Budweiser commercials are known for that heart- throbbing advertisements including the stories of the horses and how they interact with their loved ones. The TOW I will be talking about this week is the Budweiser Superbowl commercial.Whether its reuniting with an old trainer after a big parade, or it’s a horse's training montage run by a Dalmatian dog to become a great show horse, these commercials are usually the most remembered after the championship game. That is their purpose, to create these heartfelt stories used as their advertisements. The norm for a commercial is for the audience to laugh so they would not be forgotten. Budweiser choses to be different by using animal personification in a good way since the audience will definitely never forget it. The animal personification is used in the advertisement to make a connection with its audience. Everyone of course has feelings, so by giving animals these human-like characteristics, the audience is able to connect with the animals on a deeper level for the one minute that these ads air. Also by using animals instead of people, everyone can relate to the animal, instead of a person who not everyone can see their reflection in the image, but with animals everyone equally shares a connection with the animal. If an ad uses a girl as their main character, then usually only women will connect to it, and the same with a male character. But the gender of these animals is never revealed, leaving an open interpretation of whomever it could be. With animals having human-like emotions, everyone can relate, making this ad unforgettable A feeling of accomplishment, love, and sadness is shown in this ad. When one of the animals is sad, it is raining, when one of them is happy, it is a bright sunny day. And there is always a bittersweet melody playing in the background to connect to both the sad, and happy parts of the ad. We can see how these characters are feeling through their actions and emotions, because there is no sound besides the background song. This well-acted advertisement really sets itself apart from the other ads trying to be funny. This strategy Budweiser uses works very well. All of their commercials are by far the most memorable. 

TOW #18 IRB #3

The IRB I chose is Diary of a Young Girl is an auto-biography written by Anne Frank, a Jewish girl living in Holland during the Holocaust events of the late 1930's. Throughout the auto-biography Anne documents her life, She is a very intelligent girl who is a great first hand resource on the event of one of the world's most infamous genocides.

TOW #17

My TOW this week is an Ernest Hemingway’s essay called Camping Out and it starts with Hemingway describing with how going camping can be either a relaxing vacation or a terrible experience based on your knowledge on the subject.  He outlines points that can make a camping trip horrible, leading the reader to believe that he has done this many times himself and he truly is an expert.Hemingway’s protagonist in this story is Wilson, the hunter who lives and breathes the great outdoors. The story to juxtaposes another character Macomber to Wilson while Wilson is the favored in that comparison due to his outdoorsiness. However, at the end of the story Wilson breaks the code to which he lives by as he hunts down buffalo in a car, an illegal act. .Two literary techniques are in play throughout the story that enliven the action and embellish Hemingway’s otherwise minimal descriptive passages. The first is onomatopoeia, and is best exemplified by “whunk,” the noise Macomber’s bullet makes as it hits the lion and “carawong,” the noise Wilson’s high-velocity “big gun” makes as it fires at game (p. 26, 34). Hemingway’s usage of these terms helps the reader imagine the noises of the hunt. The second technique Hemingway employs is simile and metaphor. The most notable example occurs in Wilson’s thoughts when Macomber asks if they should leave the wounded lion, “Robert Wilson, whose entire occupation had been with the lion and the problem he presented, and who had not been thinking about Macomber except to note that he was rather windy, suddenly felt as though he had opened the wrong door in a hotel and seen something shameful” (p. 24). This simile demonstrates Wilson’s shock at hearing Macomber voice such cowardly ideas. Macomber would rather leave the lion to suffer or risk someone else running into the lion and possibly being killed than face up to hunting it down and finishing what he started.

TOW #16

The TOW I chose this week is an article in The New York Times concerning obesity called "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food" by Michael Moss. This article is about how the big brand food companies that most people would consider "junk" such as Nestle, Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Coca-Cola and ect. are concerned with the amount of obesity that has been going on lately so they have decided to figure out what actually leads people of eating so much. These companies also felt guilty with the amount of people that are eating their products and it is the main reason why they're getting so heavy or overweight. The author of this article is named Michael Moss and he is an investigative reporter for The New York Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting in 2010 and he was an extra professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. The audience that this text was composed for are elder people since they are normally the ones who read The New York Times. The occasion of this article is during a meeting with all these brands deciding what they can do to help the obesity rates decrease in america. An important rhetorical device that the author uses to try to achieve his purpose in this article is logos since he states many statistics about obesity and how its increased over time. The author's purpose in writing this text was very vague to me because I didn't know what he was trying to come across. He wrote so much about the companies statistics and history of them but he didn't write about what they would really do to help end obesity. He also wrote in the beginning of the article that these brands were curious as to what leads people to eat so much so there we're many topics of this article that I couldn't find the purpose in it.