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