TOW #23- NBC Article

Credible author Rachael Rettner of NBC News wrote an article concerning sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) in the United States. The article explained information of SUID such as why it may happen and how it could be prevented. The exigence and purpose of this article was to inform an audience of babysitters and parents about the infamous SUID. Rettner used the rhetorical device: balance, in her article which helped accomplish her purpose of this infamous “disease” by presenting a problem in an organized and understandable way because balance allows readers to flow through the article without having to stumble across an abrupt, disorganized change in topic or examples. For instance, Rettner first described an interview with a mother, Dearea, whose son suffocated from an unknown cause known as an SUID. Then, Rettner goes in depth with SUID but concludes with more information about Dearea which helped balance the difference between Dearea and SUID. Rettner also used reliable information from people of the SUID Case Registry, Michigan Public Health Institute, and the American Academy of Pediatrics which appealed to ethos by presenting multiple reliable sources to support the purpose. For example, after describing Dearea’s situation, Rettner went on to describe the “Unclear Cause of Death” and “Prevention Strategies” of SUID according to reliable sources. Rettner gained knowledge from sources allowing her to provide suggestions such as to never let an infant sleep with toys, heavy blankets, or another being. The use of ethos and balance allowed Rettner to achieve her purpose.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/09/__utma=238145375.1249601239.1352668705.1352668705.1352668705.1&__utmb=238145375.1.10.1352668705&__utmc=238145375&__utmx=-&__utmz=238145375.1352668705.1.1.utmcsr=worldnews.nbcnews.com|utmccn=(referral)|utmcmd=referral|utmcct=/_news/2012/11/11/15078957-sweeping-child-abuse-scandal-shakes-bbc-and-other-british-institutions&__utmv=238145375.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc|health=1^12=Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=www.msnbc.msn.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Internal%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=265963980

TOW #22- John Legend: Let every child’s light shine

In present day, it is not common to hear about people opposing the way the education system works as a whole. Maybe it just isn’t publicized to keep people thinking there aren’t many people opposing it, however this article did exactly that. It is called John Legend: Let every child’s light shine. John Legend wrote the article, which gives it a lot of ethos. He uses his success to prove that he knows what he is talking about. He also uses personal anecdotes. He talks about his own experiences with discovering his true passion. He says he was a regular kid going through college planning on going into business but he always had a love for music. When he finally got a job outside of college, he wasn’t happy. He realized he wanted to pursue his passion for music. This made him not only extremely successful but also happy. He states that the only way to truly be successful is to love what you do, and his story directly proves that. Legend introduces his main point after this story. He says that the education system doesn’t allow students to find their passion. There needs to be more student-centered environments that help students discover what they love. After the author states the goal he also goes through many things people are doing to help. There are fifteen non-profit organizations joined with Understood.org to support parents whose children have learning and attention issues. Another organization is called Peace First, which is aimed to identify and support the next generation of peacemakers. He goes through many more including the one he was involved with, which was launching tonight. His hidden agenda, one could say, was to present his project known has LRNG to the world. He goes through how each person can help, which is what most articles similar to this lack. This article altogether was very convincing and made me want to do something for the cause.  
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/17/opinion/legend-education-passions/index.html

TOW #21- The Dress (Visual text)

      Over the weekend the internet exploded with debate over the color of a dress. Oh, it’s obviously white and gold, ask the person sitting next to you, and they say blue and black. All of the sudden, everything in life was a lie. Were colors the same for everybody? Did everything change colors? Are my Instagram edits ugly to some people? This story was on the national news. My father has no social media link and he even knew about “The Dress.” To summarize, there is a photograph of a dress that can either be seen as blue and black or gold and white. After this eruption, the company that sells the dress got massive exposure. It is an online story from the United Kingdom called Roman Originals. Soon after this explosion, they released an advertisement that naturally also went viral. It says “#thedress now back in stock” with a photograph of the blue and black dress. This company uses the already viral trend in order to help advertise their product. The internet was divided into two sides, black and blue versus white and gold. When the people who saw blue and black found this advertisement with a photograph of the actual dress, it immediately went viral to prove the naysayers wrong. It was smart of the company to act fast and quickly get a simple advertisement up. The simple quality makes it more likely to catch on because it gets straight to the point. Also, the company is now getting its name out there as the owner of the dress. They deserve recognition and will get a flux in sales in result of this sensation.

TOW #20- Me Talk Pretty One Day (IRB)

I decided to change my IRB to “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris. This book is a collection of essays about the authors youth and the challenges he faced growing up. One of these challenges was his speech impediment. Sedaris often writes about his issues with humor and sarcasm. Through his life he often found himself stuck in situations he didn’t like being in or doing odd jobs just for the sake of doing them. Even though in the beginning he did not want to become a writer, he had been discovered by a radio host Ira Glass while reading a diary he had written in his adolescent years. His ability to make these experiences humorous to the reader clearly makes him popular among those who enjoy comedy and also a true story.

            The reason I decided to read this book is because when I asked Mr.Yost for an actually funny book, this is what he handed me. Also, it’s not like other books because it is a collection of essays. I had heard of it before from many people, all of which said positive things. His use of comedy is also interesting because he manages to talk about things like his childhood speech impediment and his love for crystal meth and a lightheaded way. As I continue to read this book I hope to learn how to use humor as an emotional appeal and how it can evoke a response from the audience.

TOW #19- Bieber Roast

       This past week headlines have been pointing, once again, at Justin Bieber. This time, it’s not just the media making fun of him, he has also joined the party. After a long time in the making, Comedy Central finally agreed to “roast” singing phenomena Justin Bieber. He actually convinced the network to crack the controversial jokes after he decided he needed to turn a new leaf from his old disrespectful ways. He figured this roast would be a way to close the chapter of his life that was worth making fun of. However, this article written by Shirley Halperin discussed the ending of the roast. She uses direct quotes from the roast to establish credibility. The roast has not yet aired on television, showing that some inside source was needed to get these quotes. The quotes were jokes made during the roast and direct quotes from Bieber himself. The jokes included poking fun at his past lawsuits and ridiculous piles of money. However, these quotes are simply used as context. The relevant quotes are by Bieber himself talking about what he thought of the roast. First he makes fun of himself followed by a serious statement. He talked about the life he was given and his mistakes of the past due to inexperience. He claims that now he has started something new and “will not end up broken, pathetic, bitter or sitting on someone else’s roast.” Along with these quotes, the author includes a future context. What will be next for Bieber? The author of the article also touches on this, which adds to the article. Another quote from a journalist has a comedic twist that leaves the readers relieved and laughing.

TOW #18- Left shark is an artiste

     A reported 111.5 million people watched the Super Bowl XLVI on Sunday February 1^st. The halftime show featured Katy Perry dancing with animated palm trees, beach balls, and sharks. There were two sharks with comedic facial expression. These sharks went viral with their expressions as well as the left shark seeming to mess up. However, S.E. Cupp has a different opinion. She tries to convince her readers that the left shark did not miss his queue or mess up at all. In fact, he had an inspiring, interpretive, character-based dance. He was simply getting into character. The author uses multiple personal anecdotes to convince the reader that she knows what she is talking about. The first is about her appearance in the Nutcracker as a house mouse. She had to think of the deeper story of the mouse and truly become the mouse. Another personal anecdote was playing Arabian Coffee in the Nutcracker, which she also had to get into the caffeinated yet seductive character. She claims her most challenging role was an “invisible being of air” in a ballet called “Les Sylphides”. In this ballet there was no plot so she had to come up with her own character plot in order to truly become the character. These numerous experiences show that she knows a lot about dance and makes the reader consider that maybe the Left Shark did know what he was doing. Also, she has a humorous tone. She puts all of the hilarious rumors down. She states he wasn’t drunk, overwhelmed, or forgetful. He simply was getting into his character. This hilarious article ends with Cupp praising the Left Shark but leaving us with a cliffhanger. She claims that the Right Shark’s performance was not quite as good as the Left Sharks. What could be the difference? Had the Right Shark not prepared enough? Will we ever find out?

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IRB Intro Post #3- Assuming Names

For this IRB I have chosen a book called Assuming Names by Tanya Thompson. I found the book on goodreads.com and after reading the summary, I found that it's about a 15 year old girl who outsmarts numerous intelligent people as a con artist. Many of the reviews said that this was such an interesting story that it does not initially seem like non-fiction, however the author verifies that the story is completely non-fiction, every news paper article used in the book is verifiable, along with the rest of the story.