TOW #25: "Castles in the Air" by Emily Nussbaum

Reading goals: understand and correctly identify the author's purpose

Writing goals: include all information about the article and rhetorical devices in a concise, coherent writing piece

     Talking shape-shifting dogs, kidnapping ice kings, scientific candy princesses–author Emily Nussbaum correctly describes all of these things as "dreamlike" but also "druglike." Whoever may come across these adjectives may think that they are being used to describe some crazy dream or a painting by a modern surrealist. However, Nussbaum is describing a TV show that airs on Cartoon Network: "Adventure Time." In her article "Castles in the Air," Emily Nussbaum discusses the complexity in a story that otherwise seems childish and harmless. By using vivid diction, Nussbaum achieves her purpose of illustrating what many may not know about the show "Adventure Time"–on the surface, the children's TV show seems very frivolous and trivial, but the background hints at something much larger and more complex than an everyday cartoon.
     Emily Nussbaum is a writer who previously worked for New York but is now a TV critic for The New Yorker. She writes about various popular TV shows, including "True Detective," "Mad Men," and "Sherlock," telling adults who read The New Yorker about shows they may want to keep an eye on. "Adventure Time" sticks out on her list of reviewed shows because it isn't one that most adults have watched or even heard of. Nussbaum initially describes "Adventure Time" as a light-hearted story in which "a good-hearted human boy named Finn and his dog, Jake, a gruff-voiced wingman type, were brought up as siblings." Sounds simple enough. "But," she continues, "as the series progresses, an eerie backstory emerges." She reveals that the show is actually about a post-war world in which all humans have either died or mutated into something else, besides Finn. She continues this thought by studying some of the eccentric characters the show offers–the Ice King, "who keeps trying to kidnap princesses and marry them," and Marceline, "a punk-goth vampire [who] has a mobster-like dad." Behind what seems like a very quirky and cheery atmosphere is actually a world ruined by war and other conflicts: "the background hints at a ruined world: missiles poke out, and abandoned technology is everywhere. Bodies morph grotesquely–when Marceline's father gets angry, he transforms from a businessman into a demon with an ass face" Nussbaum writes, possibly hinting that no matter how ridiculous "Adventure Time" is, it is still as real as any realistic fiction TV show for adults. By describing parts of a children's show as "goofy" get "grotesque [at points,]" Nussbaum effectively achieves her purpose of showing adults that even a show about a little boy, his stretchy talking dog, frustrated lemon-heads, and southern elephants can have an insightful message.

"Adventure Time," a quirky, colorful children's show, can actually tell you much about the real world

TOW #24: Volkswagen Park Assist Advertisement (Visual Text)

Reading goals: identify many rhetorical devices/strategies present in the ad

Writing goals: keep things consistent and refrain from being too formulaic in writing

     Volkswagen, a popular car company, effectively achieved its purpose of advertising its new precision parking feature in its new advertisement through the use of humor and analogy. The advertisement depicts a single porcupine surrounded by goldfish in plastic bags, with the only text being, "Precision Parking. Park Assist by Volkswagen." By using these animals, the advertisement has a very lighthearted and humorous nature that helps Volkswagen appeal to its audience of drivers of any age. The analogy of a porcupine to the viewer's car and the bags of goldfish to surrounding cars goes hand-in-hand with this humorous nature because although its use of animals is funny, its analogy is very real: parallel parking a car can be as dangerous as trying to fit a porcupine between delicate bags full of goldfish.
     This text also plays a role as an enthymeme: it conveys an argument as its purpose is to persuade viewers to buy Volkswagen cars with the new Park Assist feature. The major premise states that a porcupine has to be carefully "parked" between bags of goldfish while the minor premise states that Volkswagen's Park Assist can park cars between other cars as carefully as the porcupine is parked between the goldfish. By using this analogy, Volkswagen can easily get its point across about its Park Assist feature without being as dull and overdone as other car advertisements.

IRB Post MP 4

     Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife is a humorous scientific book written by Mary Roach about the possibility of life after death. In this book, Roach takes a scientific approach when she investigates what a "soul" is and what happens to it after one dies. There is also research on reincarnation, mediums, and out-of-body experiences. Roach, aside from reviewing books in the New York Times and working with the Mars Institute, writes many best-selling non-fiction books that cover a range of scientific topics, including Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, My Planet: Finding Humor in the Oddest Places, and, more recently, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. All of Roach's books, although written about seemingly-serious topics, are very lighthearted and funny.
     I chose this book because I am very interested in the supernatural and I'm interested to see a scientist's view of paranormal phenomenons, since many scientists probably do not believe in those kinds of things. By reading this book, I hope to learn about how Roach uses both humor and logical analysis to achieve her purpose throughout her discussions.

TOW #23: M&M's Magazine Advertisement (Visual Text)

Reading goal: identify strong rhetorical devices in visual text and think about what kind of effect they have on the visual text's argument

Writing goal: effectively analyze and connect devices back to the thesis

     M&M's are popular bite-sized, candy-coated pieces of chocolate that have been around for a very long time. Mars, Incorporated, the company that creates M&M's, often utilizes the colorful, whimsical nature of the candies in its advertisements. This particular magazine commercial depicts the yellow M&M weeping chocolate while reading a card that says, "Thanks For Being So Sweet!" A caption right above the M&M reads, "Deep down, they're all chocolate." This advertisement's purpose is to remind its audience that M&M's are just candy; the sole purpose of candy is to bring joy and delight to all of their consumers, and it achieves this purpose through its use of humor.
     This advertisement uses humor in order to appeal to many candy companies' target audience: children. The yellow M&M's card is an example of humor because it plays on the fact that M&M's are sweet. Many people may find thank-you cards that say the same exact thing, but when the word "sweet" is used in the context of M&M's, it is given a whole different meaning. The M&M's tears have an effect very similar to that of the card's–in real life, people may shed tears when given a sentimental thank-you card, but the M&M is shedding chocolate tears. The caption reading, "Deep down, they're all chocolate" highlights the idea that M&M's may be hard on the outside with their candy-coated shells, but on the inside, they are soft, creamy chocolate. This advertisements achieves its purpose in stressing M&M's' role as candy through its use of humor as it is pretty much a parody of real life; a more eccentric, delicious version of real life. Its audience–particularly children–are reminded of  the fun, unserious nature and deliciousness of M&M's.

TOW #22: "The Neglected Suicide Epidemic" by Emily Greenhouse

     Six years ago, a man named Jonny Benjamin walked over to the Waterloo Bridge in London, and prepared to end his life. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia, and he had assumed that his life was never going to get better. However, things changed when a stranger (later found to be named Neil Laybourn) walked up to him and told him that everything was going to be okay. Benjamin did not jump, stating: "When he came along it burst the bubble of that world I was in. I felt faith, like I could talk to him." Such instances occur many times a day, but unfortunately most of the time there is no Neil Laybourn involved, and those who are in trouble stay trapped in their own "bubble." Emily Greenhouse's article "The Neglected Suicide Epidemic" was written in order to raise public awareness of growing mental health issues and remind everyone that they can make a difference in one person's life.
     Greenhouse supports her argument that everyone should take action in the so-called "suicide epidemic" by employing anecdotes. Along with Benjamin's story, Greenhouse wrote about Jerome Motto, a California doctor who tried several times to have suicide barriers erected on the Golden Gate Bridge, the world's leading suicide location. Motto mentioned that in the 1970s, he had visited the apartment of a suicide victim and found a note that read, "I'm going to walk to the bridge. If one person smiles at me on the way, I won't jump." This inclusion reminds Greenhouse's audience that they–ordinary people–can make a huge difference in one person's life: they can have the same effect on one person that Neil Laybourn had on Jonny Benjamin.
     Greenhouse also supports her argument by incorporating data and statistics in her article. She notes that in America, the suicide rates in middle-aged men and women have increased by 30% in the last decade, and that suicide has replaced car accidents in the number one injury-related cause of death. She states that this is not just an issue in the United States: 90% of those who attempt suicide in developing countries battle psychological ailments that do have cures. These facts and figures emphasize the horrifying truth that suicide is a rising health concern, but they also do the job of reminding the public that these maladies do have remedies, and that they can even help in finding these cures.

(Article and picture source here)

TOW #21: "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris (Part 1)

     In the first section of Me Talk Pretty One Day, David Sedaris writes much about his various struggles throughout his young adulthood, including his childhood ventures in Raleigh, North Carolina, attempts to become an artist, and job of working for a rich-yet-cheap foreign woman. Through all his short essays, Sedaris maintains the same idea of working through problems instead of giving up. His audience is made up of people who are willing to try new things, and his purpose is to remind those people that they should push through whatever stands in the way of their success.
     David Sedaris is an author and comedian who has definitely had an interesting life; he grew up with five siblings, went through his childhood with a speech impediment, and experimented quite a bit with hard drugs in college. Being a comedian, he writes about his endeavors with a humorous, light-hearted tone. For example, when reminiscing about the time he worked as an English professor, he stated: "As Mr. Sedaris I lived in constant fear. There was the perfectly understandable fear of being exposed as a fraud, and then there was the deeper fear that my students might hate me" (86). In the same essay, he included an incident when he and one of his students had a disagreement, but instead of giving in and apologizing, he stood his ground and reminded each of his students that he was who was in charge. "Who am I?" he asked. "I am the only one who is paid to be in this room." The student then asked him how much he was paid to teach, and Sedaris recalls, "I answered honestly, and then, for the first time since the beginning of the school year, my students came together as one. I can't recall which side started it, I remember only that the laughter was so loud, so violent and prolonged that Mr. Sedaris had to run and close the door so that the real teachers could conduct their business in peace" (95-96).
     Sedaris's humorous, light-hearted tone helps him achieve his purpose because it demonstrates the effect of staying optimistic through difficult situations. Even though Sedaris did not like teaching, he kept an optimistic view of it. After his students laughed at his salary, he might as well have gotten angry or sad, but instead he "close[d] the door so that the real teachers could conduct their business in peace." His use of the term "real teachers" implies that he is not a real teacher, and his self-deprecating humor has the effect of showing his audience that like many of them, he has had his fair share of struggles, but instead of giving up, he kept his sense of humor handy and accomplished his goals with an optimistic mindset.

TOW #20: "Killing My Body to Save My Mind" by Lauren Slater

Reading goal: carefully close read and analyze to find multiple instances of rhetorical devices in the reading; apply HECTOR to the reading

Writing goal: avoid being too formulaic in the TOW; make things flow naturally

    French philosopher Descartes once defended the concept of Cartesian Dualism: the idea that the mind and the body exist in separate realms. He believed that if one thinks, one surely has a mind, but does not necessarily have a body. Psychologist Lauren Slater ponders this idea in her essay “Killing My Body to Save My Mind,” in which she writes about her struggle between her depression and the physical health problems associated with her medication. Originally published in Elle, a pop culture magazine usually read by women, Slater’s story goes deep into the topics of mental and physical health issues. With her use of vivid imagery and juxtaposition, Lauren Slater effectively achieves her purpose of demonstrating the importance of mind over body.

    Slater uses vivid imagery when describing her crippling depression: “In the summer, my psychosis worsened, in part because I could not stand the contrast between my blackness and all the beauty everywhere around me and utterly inaccessible. From the window of the kitchen I could see my garden… this beauty seemed somehow menacing to me” (para. 5). To combat her psychosis, Slater started taking medication called Zyprexa, some of its side effects being excessive appetite and weight gain. She was desperate to feel better, so she took the medication and gradually started to enjoy life again. However, along with her new love of life came an extra 80 pounds. Once she realized how much weight she had gained, Slater began to juxtapose her new, happy-but-overweight self with her old, thin-but-depressed self. Remembering her pre-Zyprexa days, she notes, “When I was trim and healthy, I silently assumed...that I’d live well into my nineties” (para. 18), but as she currently looks into her future, she states that she does not see herself living past her seventies. However, she continues, she thinks she made the right choice: “Every day I step on that scale and every day it stays the same... But that’s just one sort of scale. In reality, my life is full of scales, what one might call the measure of our days, and on that scale I think I’m winning. I am tremendously grateful to be free of mind-distorting depression” (para. 19).

    Slater’s use of vivid imagery helps her achieve her purpose of demonstrating the importance of mind over body because her dark descriptions effectively convey her experience with depression. As one reads her descriptions, one cannot help but agree with Slater’s choice: that she should be a “happy elephant [rather] than a miserable hominid” (para. 8). Slater’s use of juxtaposition also aids her in achieving her purpose; she acknowledges the fact that she could live a longer life, yet she chooses a shorter-but-happier life instead. In a society with growing mental health issues particularly pertaining to body image, Slater’s essay can truly inspire people to make the right choice: mind over body.