TOW #31: Letter to a Future APELC Student

Dear Future APELC Student,

Wow, you’re finally a junior in high school.  No longer are you an underclassman who everyone blames for ruining the school but the one doing the blaming.  You have made it through the past two years of high school, and hopefully you are still relatively sane.  You have taken challenging classes.  You have aced a test.  Maybe you’ve even failed a test.  The point is, you’ve made it through to junior year.  Most importantly for the intent of this letter, you’ve made it through to take AP English with Mr. Yost.  Now that you’re here and sitting in my former chair, take some advice from a retiree; make the most of this class!  In order to do just that, attempt to do the TOWs to the best of your ability, speak up in class, and get help when the going gets rough.

In order to succeed in this class, you must try to complete the TOWs to the best of your ability.  Now, you’re probably wondering what a TOW stands for.  I’ll be honest; I don’t remember.  It’s something of the week.  Though, maybe?  Anyway, during the school year, you are going to have to write a blog post every single week Sunday that has to be in at either 11:59pm or 9:59.  I know you probably think that sounds ridiculous, and honestly, I agree.  We shouldn’t have to be stressed to get something in at a certain time and possibly have to work one of our two free days around a TOW if we’re super busy.  However, Mr. Yost’s intentions are good; he wants us to get sleep because unlike a lot of other teachers, he shows that he cares about us.  Anyway, I personally found the TOWs the most monotonous assignment, but I don’t want you to feel that way.  The TOWs are meant to broaden what you read so you have ideas to draw from in your own writing and to help improve your writing for class and for the AP exam.  If you put a lot of effort into these TOWs instead of just going through the motions to complete the assignment, your writing WILL get better, A LOT better.  In terms of the TOWs, put your best foot forward and do whatever you can to work your writing.  Focus on both your strengths and weaknesses because there is always something to refine.  I’m sure you’re already a good writer, but working hard on the TOWs can make you be a great writer.  

One thing that you must do in order to make the most of AP English with Mr. Yost, and occasionally Ms. Pronko, is to speak up and speak out.  Although I do talk in class, I didn’t really speak up as much as I should have, and it made it harder for me to enjoy the class.  You see, I noticed that whenever someone spoke up and their ideas weren’t agreed with, the whole class would sort of come down on them and make them realize how wrong they were.  That obviously makes someone feel bad and ruins their confidence.  I’m telling you that no matter what, express yourself.  Even if your ideas aren’t always in accordance with the rest of the class, defend your thoughts.  NEVER be afraid to let your voice be heard like I was.  If you talk more, you are bound to feel more comfortable in the class and with Mr. Yost.  From what I’ve witness this year, Mr. Yost tends to be a lot closer and friendlier to the students who speak out more, so if you want a strong relationship with him, talk!  

To be successful in this class, you must seek out help when you’re feeling down or feel like you’re not living up to your potential.  One thing that Mr. Yost said throughout the year was that the class was not a race but more of a marathon.  You might not get the grades you want right away, but if you keep working hard throughout the year, you’ll steadily improve and end up with a good grade.  At least, I think it was something like that.  Anyway, the marathon is a bit tiring and it does take up a lot of sweat and tears.  You see, we have numerous in-class writing prompts that make everyone nervous.  Everyone worries what the prompt is going to be and if they’ll do well.  Although you think you may have done extremely well or extremely poor, you never truly know because your peers will be giving you your scores.  Your peers, as intelligent as I’m sure many of them are, don’t know exactly what to look for when grading and don’t always give out accurate scores.  When you think you did well but end up with a really bad peer-graded score, you feel very unconfident and like you have no clue what you’re doing.  At least, that’s how I felt when it happened to me.  Luckily, Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko are always there to wipe away the sweat and the tears.  Mr. Yost looked over my work and said that he would have graded it higher and really made me feel like my writing wasn’t worthless, which is how I felt.  Ms. Pronko, the one time I actually spoke to her about english, listened to my problems and offered great advice.  I just wish that I hadn’t waited until March or April to speak with my two coaches.  Please, don’t do what I did.  Talk to Mr. Yost and Ms. Pronko whenever you can because without them, you’ll never get to the finish line at a decent place.  

One thing that I can’t stress enough is to be yourself, both in person inside the class as well as in your writing.  Even though there might be times when you think that you can’t be creative or express yourself because the class is based on non-fiction, there are always ways to incorporate your unique ideas and thoughts in everything that you do.  Don’t let anyone get you down and try not get too discouraged if you get a bad grade.  Keep trying and improve because, remember, writing is actually a skill that you’ll use when you graduate.  

Sincerely,

___________

P.S. Don’t write in the sloppy way that I did because you will get a bad score.  Be more organized!

TOW #30: Queen of Versailles and Bill Gates

One of the claims made in the documentary, Queen of Versailles, was that rich people are greedy.  Although I agree that David Siegel and Jackie, specifically David, fit those characteristics, I do not believe that being greedy accurately describes all people of wealth because there are many rich people who are not exceedingly ostentatious but are exceedingly altruistic.  

One such person who is unpretentious and extremely charitable is Bill Gates.  Worth at one point in 1999 more than $101 billion, Gates is overwhelmingly wealthy.  In fact, he is currently the richest man in the world, and yet, he does not portray himself to be nearly as greedy as David Siegel.  Although Gates owns a 66,000 square foot house, Xanadu 2.0, that is one of the only ways in which he portrays opulence.  He has worked hard for his money and should be allowed to buy a nice house if he wants to, as did David Siegel.  However, Gates was not as ostentatious as Siegel in other ways.  For example, even with all of his money, Gates did not buy a private jet until 1997.  Before that, not only did he fly on public airplanes, but he flew coach instead of first class.  A person full of greed would never have flown commercially on a flight full of people, therefore proving that not all wealthy people are greedy.  

Bill gates is also not greedy because of his philanthropy.  Through the years, Bill Gates has donated billions of dollars to numerous foundations that help out people of lower social classes as well as many other causes.  In 2000, Bill and his wife, Melinda, formed the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation in order to help others.  Not only does Gates make charitable arrangements within his family but also with his peers.  On December 9, 2010, he, Warren Buffett, and Mark Zuckerberg signed the Gates-Buffett Giving Pledge.  It is an agreement between the three of them to donate at least half of their money to charities during their lifetimes.  Gates tried to fulfill that pledge by also donating to universities.  Gates’ bountiful acts of altruism prove that not all wealthy people are greedy.

Bill Gates

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates

TOW #29: Documentary Rhetorical Analysis-"Queen of Versailles"

David Siegel, his wife, Jackie, and their kids lived a life of luxury due to David’s fortune from owning the largest timeshare company in the world.  However, the downturn of the economy caused their opulent lifestyle to end and a life of uncertainty to begin.  The documentary, “Queen of Versailles,” shows the Siegel family struggle to learn how to live a life of poverty after their money is lost, all the while having their dream home, Versailles, become stripped away from them as well.  Through the voices of David and Jackie, the general audience gets a clear visual of how the American dream of climbing up the social ladder can both be achieved and taken away.  In order to to demonstrate what a lack of humbleness does to someone and to show the real-life struggles of people during the recent depression, “Queen of Versailles” uses symbolism and depressing stories.

Three symbols used in the documentary are a chair, music, and fireworks.  At the beginning of the documentary, before the Siegels lose their money, David is being interviewed sitting on an ornate throne.  The throne represents the money, power, and greed that David has and exudes.  Later, at the end of the documentary after the money was lost, David is seen getting interviewed in a common chair instead of a lavish throne, thus demonstrating how he has been humbled by his experience(s) and how he no longer can be equivalent to a king, especially the king of Versailles.  Another symbol used was the change in the type of music.  At the beginning of the documentary when all was good with the Siegels, the music was somewhat cheerful, demonstrating that there were no problems for the family.  However, after the Siegel family’s luck spiraled, the music began to change.  Instead of happier tunes, the music became very gloomy in order to show how depressing the situation was.  Yet, the music would also start to become more cheerful whenever there seemed to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  Therefore, the music represents the effects of being too greedy and what happens when one is not humble.  A third symbol is the fireworks at the end of the documentary.  Fireworks normally are used for happy occasions but I feel that that is not the case here.  I believe that the fireworks show the crash and burn of David Siegel’s business as well as the shortfalls of the American dream.  

In order to show the effects of the economic downturn, the documentary shows interviews of both the Siegels and humble people, thus appealing to pathos.  The interviews of the Siegels after they faced hardship are used to show a humbling experience.  Before, the Siegels had interviews where they seemed very arrogant and domineering.  However, as the family goes deeper and deeper into debt and  cries and complains about their issues, their problems, the audience gets moved to feel bad for them.  The audience feels even worse for the people who never had obtained wealth, such as Jackie’s friend, Tina, who lost her house and the Siegel’s nanny who struggles to make money for her family back home.  Seeing these interviews of the how bad people struggle in order to fulfill the American dream causes the Audience to be humbled and hopefully realize that life could be worse than it is.

“Queen of Versailles” showed how even when people believe they are on the top of the world, they can always be toppled.  Yet, it also showed how even though people can fall, they are never out of the running to rise again.  

The Versailles Mansion

http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/david-siegel-unfinished-mansion-75-million-westgate-resorts-tiger-woods-37835.html

TOW #28: Reflection

Although I have complained throughout the school year that I hated doing TOWs every single Sunday, which I will now be forced to say about Tuesdays, I will admit that I did benefit from my weekly works at the end of the day.  At first, I thought that the TOWs were going to be a serious assignment that would be graded harshly, but then I learned that that was untrue.  As a result, the TOWs simply became a tedious exercise that I felt did not help me at all in the AP English.  They weren’t being graded, they weren’t being critiqued, and they were never looked at in class. Therefore, they seemed to be a waste of time.  However, I did want to improve my writing so there were times when I had a free schedule where I put more effort into my responses.  Looking back at those TOWs, I can see how the influence of the course shaped those particular works to be better than the rest.  However, it was really the grading that forced me to work harder and truly benefit from the assignment.  When I knew that I was getting points for my TOWs, I worked especially hard to complete them with a higher standard, even the ones that I was pretty sure weren’t going to be graded.  Just the threat of having my class grade dip caused me to apply what I had learned in class in order to make my writing better.  As a result, of my distaste for the TOW assignments, the desire to do better, and threat of grading, my TOWs changed throughout the year.

Looking back through my TOWs there were a few noticeable changes, all of which are positive.  However, nothing has been mastered and everything can still be improved upon because there is always room for improvement.  The first aspect of my writing that I noticed had changed was the organization.  Back in September, I had a simple structure for opening my TOWs, I would maybe give a sentence or two of background information and then talk about the credibility of the author or open the other way around.  I would then answer most of my assigned points in the next few sentences just to get them out of the way.  Then, the rhetorical devices used by the author(s) would get analyzed.  This same structure continued on for months and has even continued until this very month.  However, I now might add a few extra sentences and space the assigned points out so that the TOWs seem less rushed and more coherent.  Coherency is the next aspect of my writing that I noticed had changed over the duration of the year.  At the beginning of the year, it seemed as if I was just stringing random sentences together that had little to no connection(s).  There were minimal transitions which caused my TOWs to seem as if I was just listing pieces of a summary instead of analyzing evidence for rhetorical devices.  Now, I use more transitions and evidence to prove my points, causing my writing to be elevated to a higher level.  Besides more evidence and coherency, my writing would not be elevated if my introductions and conclusions didn’t improve somewhat.  Although neither my introductions or conclusions are perfect, they have definitely gotten better since the beginning of the year.  My introductions now sound more profound and my conclusions are usually at least two sentences in length instead of one.  However, if they are only one, it’s because my evidence has improved so much that I couldn’t write more without going over the word limit.  Anyway, the one aspect of my writing that I noticed has not really progressed is my thesis statement(s).  For the majority of my thesis statements, the structure generally stayed the same and never improved.  Out of everything that I still need to work on, my thesis statements are my number one priority.

In conclusion, I feel as though my TOWs may not necessarily reflect how much my writing has grown as a result of AP English, but they did help me reflect on my strengths and weaknesses.  The reflection that was caused by looking over my TOWs helped me constantly readjust inside of the classroom in order to better succeed.  Therefore, even though I don’t really like writing TOWs, I will admit that they were very beneficial to me.

TOW #27: "Land a Summer Internship as a High School Student" by Delece Smith-Barrow

Everyday high school students here something about college talked about in the hallways.  They know that their future is coming soon and that responsibility is looming over their heads.  They also know that regardless of how sick of school they might be, college is still the answer for them.  Therefore, they want to beat out the competition to get into good schools.  One way to do that according to Delece Smith-Barrow, an author for U.S. News, a credible source since its an acclaimed agency, is for high school students to get internships.  Barrow’s purpose is to show her audience of high school students and their parents that having an internship in high school is beneficial.  Although her purpose does get targeted by her use of quotes from expert Lauren Berger, I feel that her purpose is not accomplished since the essay does not seem very focused.  

Barrow initially starts her essay off by saying how beneficial high school internships are because they provide an advantage for kids to get into better colleges and get jobs.  However, she then uses Berger as an expert to talk more about the how of getting an internship rather than why internships for high schoolers are so great.  For example, a quote from Berger says,”They're more willing to look outside of the box”.  The they’re she’s referring to are smaller companies, locations that she deems are more likely to hire high school students instead of college students.  This is irrelevant to the purpose of saying why high school internships are important; the quote is more interested with showing how to get internships.  Anyway, it is not really until the end where Berger says that “You're doing this internship to figure out what you want to do with the rest of your career” that the importance of high school internships is mentioned again.  

Therefore, although Smith-Barrow’s purpose may have been hit on, it was not hit over the head.  As a result, her purpose was not completely accomplished.  To get her purpose better accomplished, Smith-Barrow should have used more statistics from other sources.

High Schoolers are Interested in Internships Too

https://mhsseniorinternship.wikispaces.com/

TOW #26: Micromax Mobile Advertisement

In this day and age, the market for electronics, particularly cell phones, is quite competitive.  As a result, numerous companies, such as Micromax Mobile, a credible Indian electronics company, have started to make new innovations to both their phones and their advertisements.  Micromax Mobile’s purpose is to persuade its audience, people in need of a phone or future phone buyers, to purchase the Micromax A70.  This purpose is successfully accomplished by the advertisement’s use of mockery of the iphone and the coloration.

What this advertisement does relatively successfully is convince people to buy the Micromax A70 by mocking how expensive Apple’s iphones are.  The first way in which this is done is at the top center of the ad.  In black writing, “i” and “phone” are written separately.  However, there is an orange arrow between the two words pointing up to more orange wording that reads, “can afford this”.  The end result is that unlike the iphones which are ridiculously expensive, people can actually buy the Micromax A70 because it is reasonably priced.  The iphone comparisons also extend to the next line of the advertisement where Micromax A70 is presented as “the affordable android”.  By placing the text write underneath the iphone wording, Micromax Mobile is trying to promote their product while mocking Apple’s extreme prices.

The coloring of the advertisement attracts viewers, therefore attracting people and might buy the phone.  The background of the ad is gray and white, a rather dull coloration.  However, the black phone and its bright screen contrast with the white background and pop out more, thus attracting viewers.  Around the phone and its side view are little, colorful arrows that point to words which highlight the good feature of the Micromax 70.  The bright colors of the arrows and wording also contrast with the white and gray background, making the likeable features become highlighted to consumers.  Therefore, the result of the coloration is that people become more attracted by the ad.  Since people get attracted to the advertisement, the purpose of the advertisement is accomplished.  

The Advertisement

http://www.technologymint.com/micromax-a70-mobile-new-iphone-review-and-specifications/

TOW #25: "Beats Music's First 100 Days: A Bumpy Start" by Yinka Adegoke and Alex Pham

Yinka Adegoke and Alex Pham, two continuous contributors to Billboard’s, a famous name in the music industry, discuss in their article, “Beats Music's First 100 Days: A Bumpy Start.” how Beats Music is faring since its recent launch.  Beats Music is a music streaming service started by two notorious people of the music business: Jimmy Lovine and Dr. Dre.  However, even with such talented folk running the show, Beats Music is currently a disappointment since it is still relatively unpopular.  According to the article, Beats Music is not necessarily reaching its intended audience but this article achieves its purpose of demonstrating the progress, or lack thereof, of Beats Music to an audience of music lovers by using referring to references and quotes made by others and by comparing the company’s progress to Spotify’s.  

Adegoke and Pham’s use of quotations from people of the music industry add extra insight into how Beats Music and its owners, Lovine and Dre, are truly faring in the first 100 days of the music streaming service’s existence.  In response to the company’s disappointing numbers, one senior executive said “Jimmy is finding out this is tougher than it looks.  This business takes time.”  Even though Beats music has accumulated some buzz and some describers, this quote demonstrates that the service is not running as well as its owners had hoped and that it is a struggle to run and maintain.  Had this quote and other similar ones not been included, the audience may have thought that Adegoke and Pham were exaggerating the failure of Beats Music; but they’re not.  

Although, Beats Music might seemingly be failing, Spotify, another music streaming service, is not and will soon become a tougher competitor for the fledgeling company.  Since Spotify has been so successful, many people of the music industry and Adegoke and Pham compare the two services.  The authors wrote, “Some label sources say Beats Music should scrap its original advertising-led approach and give away more free music. ‘We've learned from Spotify that you have to fund free for a length of time with users investing time, creating playlists and getting used to the service,’ says one senior executive.”  Neither Spotify or Beats Music were instant successes, but Spotify had a plan that catapulted the brand into being one of the top music streaming services.  Therefore, Lovine and Dre should take notes if they want Beats Music to progress at a faster pace.  

Lovine and Dre: The Creators of Beats Music

http://thesource.com/2013/05/15/dr-dre-and-jimmy-iovine-donate-70-mil-to-u-s-c/

4th Marking Period IRB Intro Post-"Love is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield

Many people believe that there is at least one song that can capture their emotions at any given moment.  Many people also believe that music can change and shape lives.  In the case of Rob Sheffield, a writer for Rolling Stone, it did.  Rob Sheffield’s ardent love for music eventually led to him meeting his future wife, Renee, and building a beautiful connection filled with lyrics and melodies.  The two lovebirds got married after graduate school and both became music journalists.  They were wed for five years when Renee died on Mother’s Day in 1997.  As a way of reflecting on his lost love, Sheffield shares in his book, Love is a Mix Tape, the mix tapes that he and his lost love created during their time together.  Put together from famous tracks of the 90s, the mix tapes represent both the wonderful musical era and the depth of Rob and Renee’s relationship as they demonstrate a connection that only two halves of the same whole can share.  In essence, Love is a Mix Tape has the purpose of showing how meaningful music and life can be.

The Book

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Is-Mix-Tape-Life/dp/1400083036

TOW #24: “Republican Governors Vie For Adelson Support" by Zeke J. Miller

Writing Goals:

• analyze rhetorical devices effectively

In “Republican Governors Vie For Adelson Support,” Zeke J. Miller of Times Magazine, a credible source since the magazine has been producing stories for years, describes a Las Vegas Conference where three possible Republican candidates spoke in front of the Republican Jewish Coalition in order to gain the support of Sheldon Adelson, a mega-billionaire.  Those three candidates were Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey, Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Governor John Kasich of Ohio.  Miller accomplishes his purpose of demonstrating how the governors vied for Adelson’s support to his audience of the general public and politically involved folk by using a cause-and-effect method and by simply sharing parts of the speakers’ speeches meant to entice the fat cat.  

Two days before the conference, Governor Jeb Bush of Florida was well-received by Adelson after saying he was against American passivity under President Obama.  As a result of this knowledge about Adelson being strongly against Obama, the governors decided to also share their distaste for the President.  Miller wrote, “Catering to the pro-Israel crowd at the RJC’s leadership conference, they brought heavy criticism of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy to the high-dollar donor conference.”  By speaking about subjects that they knew would be favored by Adelson and the RJC, the governors heightened their chances of gaining the billionaire’s support.  Miller’s purpose gets accomplished because he shows how the governors tried to get Adelson to invest in them by describing how the wealthy man’s opinions caused the governors to have specific talking points.  

Other talking points used to gain support from the RJC and Adelson included self-promotion and discussion of their own Jewish values.  According to Miller, Walker, “said he lights a ‘menorah candle’ every year with his Christmas tree and that his son Matthew’s name derives from the Hebrew for ‘gift from God.’”  Walker specifically spoke about his supposed Jewish values as a way to appeal to his audience.  Christie used a similar ruse to appeal to the audience.  Miller’s purpose is accomplished because he shares how the governors had specific talking points in order to cater to Adelson.  

Sheldon Adelson

http://dyn.politico.com/tag/sheldon-adelson

TOW #23: "Phillies' issues go beyond Rollins" by Jayson Stark

There has been news in the media recently revolving around disputes between Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies and the team’s new manager, Ryne Sandberg.  Rollins has been benched by Sandberg for most of the games during spring training and there has even been talk of trading Rollins, an older and seemingly unreliable player, to another team.  Jayson Stark, a credible author since he’s writing for ESPN, the company essentially linked to all things sports, however, accomplishes his purpose of proving to his audience of sports fans that although Rollins might be a problem, he’s not the biggest one of the Phillies right now.  Sandberg accomplishes his purpose by using statistics and comments from credible sources.

Besides Rollins, Stark lists 5 other players who are of greater concern to Sandberg and the future of the Phillies.  They are Ryan Howard, Jonathan Papelbon, Domonic Brown, Chase Utley, and Cole Hamels.  Stark backs up his claims of how much of a threat these players pose to the success of the team by using facts.  For example, Stark wrote about Howard, “The first baseman went into Thursday with 15 strikeouts and three walks in 40 at-bats.”  Those stats are horrible.  Howard is supposed to be a player who can hit a homerun when the Phillies need it, but he’s clearly falling short.  

Stark also uses quotations from baseball scouts in order to prove his point that Rollins is not the main concern of the Phillies this year.  Regarding Papelbon’s lackluster performance in the bullpen and on the mound, a scout said, “His fastball is 89-90 [mph]. His split does nothing. He’s got no out-pitch. I know it’s spring training, and maybe he’s just trying to get ready. But his body language is awful. He’s got no energy at all out there.”  As can be seen, the Phillies have a pitcher who is not doing what he’s being paid to do; win the games.  Rollins on the other hand has proven through quotes from other sources that he wants to play.  Anyway, Stark successfully proves that Sandberg needs to focus on more than Rollins.

Phillies' Shortstop Jimmy Rollins

http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/_/id/4258/jimmy-rollins

TOW #22: Sailor Moon Picture

Sailormoon is one of the most classic and ionic animes to have ever existed, and now, it's coming back and will hopefully be better than ever.  Toei Animation, a credible source since it has been known to be involved with the production of Sailormoon for years, has just recently released the first image for the new series.  The new series, which will premiere in July of this year, will hopefully show both a revamped but still similar Sailormoon to the original series.  Anyway, the image uses bright coloring to attract people to it and strategic placement of smaller images in order to attract attention and convey possible hidden meanings in addition to getting people excited for the new series.  .  

The picture itself uses very distinct and bold coloring in order to garnish attention.  The background is mainly dark but the main figure, Sailormoon, is highlighted by the light from the bright moon and the flower above her head.  Sailormoon is in her costume consisting mainly of red, white, and blue.  Her golden hair twirls throughout the entire image.  There are also rainbows enhancing the coloring of Sailormoon.  Basically, just seeing the image would get anyone’s attention but would also attract its intended audience of Sailormoon fans because the coloring is very recognizable.

For the people who have read the Sailormoon manga or have watched the anime, they know that there’s a lot of symbolism.  That symbolism is also shown with the placement of smaller images.  For example, on Sailormoon’s broach and chain coming from her collar are four circles of the colors red, orange, blue, and green.  Those colors represent her four teammates, the sailor scouts.  Not only do those circles represent the sailor scouts, but they were not on her old uniform, signifying a change in Sailormoon’s costume.  Behind her in the dark solar system are the planets that also represent those sailor scouts.  The flower above Sailormoon’s head is the Illusionary Silver Crystal in the state it was during the movie “A Kiss from a Rose”.  These imagery placements are truly for the knowledgeable Sailormoon fans.  

Revamped Sailormoon Advertisement

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-13/2014-new-sailor-moon-crystal-anime-1st-image-story-intro-posted-online

TOW #21: How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg (IRB Post)

    The author of  How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous is Georgia Bragg, who has written three books, all of which demonstrate details about the lives of notable people such as Cleopatra and King Tut.  In the book, Bragg describes how the aforementioned notable people died.  Although I said in a previous post that Bragg wrote the book “in order  to show the medical conditions of the world at the times when the celebrities died as well as to convince her readers how lucky they are to have modern medicine,” that purpose has yet to be conveyed by any means.  As of now, Bragg’s purpose is mainly to inform her young readers of how the nineteen “celebrities” met their deaths, a purpose that is accomplished by the use of an informal tone and diction as well as repetitive structure.  

The use of informal tone and diction helps keep the subject matter light enough for Bragg’s young readers to enjoy while also providing them with the knowledge of how the “celebrities” died.  Bragg wrote, “Caesar went to Egypt to take over the place, but he met Cleopatra and his plans changed.  He kind of liked her, and he really liked all her gold. ” (12).  This quote neglects to show how serious an attempt to take over land is while also neglecting to portray the sexual depths of the relationship between Caesar and Cleopatra because Bragg uses words and concepts that are understandable to young children.  

The repetitive structure of all of the chapters helps Bragg never deviate from her purpose.  Almost every chapter is the structured the same.  First, there is a cartoon of the deceased, then a brief history of the beginnings of their lives, then the story of how they died, and then an extra section describing unique traits related to their demises.  By having such a repetitive structure, Bragg is able to swiftly achieve her purpose in each chapter.

    In conclusion, the purpose of recounting how nineteen famous died is effectively accomplished.  

The Woman Behind the Death

http://www.keenreaders.org/georgia-bragg

TOW #20: "Teen Spirit Helicopter parenting has crippled American teenagers. Here’s how to fix it." by Dan Griffin

Writing/Reading Goals

• Analyze rhetorical devices/strategies effectively
• Have decent transitions
• Read something somewhat controversial

We’ve all been coddled by our parents at one point in our lives.  We may have been annoyed when it happened, but our parents helped us feel good about ourselves and made sure we stayed focused.  However, according to Dan Griffin, a psychologist and therapist in Washington D.C. and author of “Helicopter parenting has crippled American teenagers. Here’s how to fix it.”, the pampering must stop.  He argues in the text that parents must take a step back from monitoring their kids in order for their children to learn about failure and become responsible for their own actions.  To his audience of overbearing parents, Griffin accomplishes his purpose of proving that they must loosen their reins on their children by sharing a true story about a patient.

The backbone of Griffin’s argument relies on a true story that proves that kids will have greater achievement without their parents’ aid.  In Washington D.C., a child’s parents oversaw the completion of his homework every night due to his lack of motivation and focus.  Griffin wrote, “Every evening, they reviewed his homework assignments, made a list of priorities, kept track of upcoming tests, reviewed long-term projects, and made plans to get a tutor if the work was confusing. Then the next night, they did it again.”  By supervising their son’s work and ensuring that he did well in school, “Ian’s” parents believed they were fulfilling their role as supportive, helpful parents.  In reality, the coddling was preventing “Ian” from reaching his true potential.  Since “Ian” wasn’t doing any work of his own volition, Griffin argued that he would fail later in life if always cajoled into accomplishing tasks.  His parents then stopped helping, causing “Ian” to experience failure.  As a result, “Ian” was forced to help himself.   By doing so, “Ian” learned that he must be responsible for his own actions if he wanted to experience success.  Being accountable for his own failures and successes has ensured “Ian” the greater probability of a prosperous life and has demonstrated that parents must stop trying to save their kids from failure.

The Coddling of Helicopter Parents

 

http://www.cambridgenannygroup.com/blog/helicopter-parents-when-helping-hurts/

TOW #19: "Winter Olympics in Sochi are offering summer temperatures, challenging conditions" by Dave Sheinin

According to Dave Sheinin, a Washington Post award-winning reporter, in his article, “Winter Olympics in Sochi are offering summer temperatures, challenging conditions,” snow has not been as plentiful in renowned cold Russia as has been on the eastern coast of the United States of America.  He wrote, “The high reached 61 degrees, which for comparison’s sake, was warmer than Monday’s forecast highs for Atlanta, Austin, Birmingham, Ala., and Myrtle Beach, S.C.”  Since, as he says, these are the winter and not the summer Olympics, the snow is inhibiting the competition.  The article, which helps interested Olympics viewers understand what’s going on in Sochi, such as why Jean-Philippe le Guellec of Canada ended up in 26th place, has the main purpose of showing how the lack of snow and the abundance of sunshine have impacted the winter games. The purpose is accomplished by Sheinin’s use of quotes to create a greater sense of credibility.  In order to appeal to ethos, Sheinin makes sure to include a lot of evidence as to the effect of the strange weather on the competition as well as quotes, almost all of which come after said evidence.  For example, Sheinin wrote about afforemented le Guellec, “Jean-Philippe le Guellec of Canada was leading the race when he crashed, breaking one of his skis. He dropped out of medal contention while waiting for a replacement and finished 26th.”  Here he shows evidence of how the weather has impacted the winter games.  A person who was seemingly about to win gold fell and had his dreams crushed because the course that he was on was too soft due to a lack of ice.  Sheinin then posts the athlete’s reaction.  le Guellec told the Associate Press, “Honestly, I want to punch a wall and hopefully break through it.”  Not only has the lack of cold weather caused numerous practice events to be cancelled, it has also caused the dreams of athletes to go down the tubes.  

Jean-Philippe le Guellec

http://www.canada.com/olympics/news

TOW #18: How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous by Georgia Bragg (IRB Post)

“How They Croaked: The Awful Ends of the Awfully Famous,” is written by author Georgia Bragg, who wrote two other books, one of which is also about famous people.  In the book, Bragg goes into detail about the deaths of nineteen famous figures in order to show the medical conditions of the world at the times when the celebrities died as well as to convince her readers how lucky they are to have modern medicine.  She writes, “Readers will be interested well past the final curtain, and feel lucky to live in a world with painkillers, X-rays, soap, and 911.”  In order to entice her younger audience and accomplish her aforementioned purpose, Bragg uses sarcasm and humor and unrealistic illustrations.  Bragg uses sarcasm and humor to appeal to her younger audience while also getting her points across.  In an excerpt of the book, she writes, “Doctors "treated" George Washington by draining almost 80 ounces of blood before he finally kicked the bucket.”  By having treated in quotation marks, Bragg demonstrates that she is making a sarcastic remark about the treatment of George Washington before his death.  As most people know, kids and teenagers love to use sarcasm so her use of the device establishes a sort of credibility with her readers as someone who is similar to them.  Also, by demonstrating how he died, without any real medical care, Bragg is able to accomplish her purposes of showing the medical world as it was back then and making her readers appreciate the world that they live in.  The unrealistic illustrations drawn by Kevin O’Malley also appeal to her audience because they are not very graphic and are in the form of cartoons.  Kids love cartoons.  Anyway, since I have yet to read the book, I don’t know if they aid in accomplishing Bragg’s purposes or not but I’m sure they will be relevant.  In conclusion, the rhetorical devices that Bragg uses seem to help accomplish her two purposes.  

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9111463-how-they-croaked