127 Hours: Documentary

I watched 127 hours, which is a documentary about Aron Ralston, a man who was trapped in a canyon in Utah. He was by himself climbing the canyons and was trapped by a falling boulder which suspended him underground. The film shows his 127 hours without food or water, where Aron had to drink his own urine in order to survive. In order to release himself from the canyon, Ralston had to cut his arm off with a pocket knife. The film shows the cutting of his arm in gruesome detail which shows the audience how horrifying his experience was. The documentary was very vivd in detail which added to the suspense of the audience, and created a sense of pathos. The audience felt the same fear and adrenaline that Alston had felt during his time in the canyons. When Ralston yelled for help, and kept screaming for someone to save him, the audience really got a sense of how alone and stranded he was. Overall, I thought the documentary had very disturbing yet impactful details while appealing to pathos which engaged the audience in a very suspenseful way.

TOW #29: TOW Reflection

REFLECTION:

When we were first assigned TOW's, I chose unsophisticated topics to write about weekly. I think that over time, my writing changed and I began to read about more political or controversial issues, which influenced the way I wrote my essays, specifically the argument essay and analysis essay. I think I could still improve on reading nonfiction IRB's because in the argument essay, it would have improved my argument if I could have used a specific book to defend my claim. 

In the beginning, it was easy for me to do a TOW every week. About halfway through the year, in February, I stopped doing them. I think that the TOW's would have been more beneficial had they been graded on a weekly basis. But on the other hand, AP English is a college-level course and it should be expected that students will follow the curriculum without being constantly reminded to do the assignments. The fact that the TOW's weren't graded and rarely checked greatly influenced by lack of motivation to do them. But as I said before, this is a college-level class and I should've looked passed being graded on my TOWs and focused more on how the TOWs would improve my writing. 

I think the purpose of the assignment was to help our analysis and argument essays improve, given that we were told to rhetorically analyze a piece of writing. Not only did the analysis help us think about rhetorical devices, but the articles themselves helped us gain knowledge of different events and people. Overall I think I benefitted from the TOWs, but I do think that checking them on a weekly basis and giving students a grade for the assignment would ensure that students do them when they are expected to. 

TOW #26 IRB

Running With Scissors (IRB):

I recently started reading Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. The book is a memoir written through his perspective when he was a child. Augusten has a mother who is mentally unstable, so he lives with his mothers psychiatrist. The psychiatrists family is disorganized and often times deeply disturbing, which is why I find this book to be so interesting. The author uses point of view, tone, voice, and imagery to add to his memoir. I found the imagery to be the most developed rhetorical device because, when reading the story, I can visualize everything that is going on in Augusten's life. For example, the imagery he used to describe his mother made it obvious to the reader how crazy she actually was. Augusten states, "My mother began to go crazy. Not in a 'Let's paint the kitchen red!' sort of way. But crazy in a 'gas oven, toothpaste sandwich, I am God' sort of way." I found his detail and description allowed the reader to understand his situation to a better extent, given that the situation he's in is completely abnormal. He also uses tone to show his perspective, which I also found to be really useful. It's obvious to the reader how he feels about the situation he is in, and it's obvious how he feels about the characters in the book. One of the most important relationships in the book is between himself and his mother, and I think his tone as well as imagery shows the reader the instability of their relationship. 

TOW #25: SC Mom, Shoots Family, Killing Her 2 Kids

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/suzanna-simpson-shoots-family_n_3275773.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Suzanna Simpson, mother of two children, allegedly killed her 5 and 7 year old, while severely injuring her husband. Suzanna had tried to commit suicide but couldn't bring herself to do it. She instead went on a rampage killing her children and injuring her husband. Afterwards, she told authorities, she tried to kill herself but "couldn't bring [herself] to do it." The author of the article portrays Suzanna as being crazy and mentally unstable, which I think plays a role in how the audience views her. The author begins with her mental instability and then leads into the crime she committed. I think the author does this so that people understand that she wasn't a stable person, but also that her actions are not justifiable or any excuse. The authors use of diction about the mother of the two dead children allows the audience to see what a monster the woman is, but also see how ill she was.

TOW #24: Woman Dies After Assault Rifle Goes Off

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/17/anastasia-adair-dead-dies-assault-rifle_n_3293336.html

With gun control being a big issue in society, the use of firearms and rifles is controversial. Anastasia Adair, a Colorado woman, died after holding a rifle and accidentally shooting herself in the head. While handing the gun over to her husband, Anastasia accidentally shot herself in the head, and when she fell to the floor, the gun went off again. The author, Andres Juaregui, composed his article including many quotes from the woman's husband. Much of the quotes advocate for the importance of never handling guns when intoxicated, and always being extremely preventative and careful. Andres is able to address his argument by using the quotes without simply stating that guns are extremely dangerous and should always be handled properly. The authors diction is very simple as well, in order to appeal to all audiences and in order to make sure all audiences understand his message regarding gun control in American society. Cases like Anastasia only fuel the government to make stricter and stricter laws about gun control and its continued use in society.

TOW #23: The Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Empathy Problem

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/05/the-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-empathy-problem.html

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, there is a lot of controversy over our legal-system, and how the government should handle the recent attacks. In the article, the author talks about how many people are saying that they feel bad for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and that they are empathetic toward him. The author of the article, unlike any other articles I've read regarding the Boston bombings, writes from a psychological standpoint which majorly effects the audience.

The audience is able to think about the psychological part of the crime, and stray away from the hard evidence supported against the brothers responsible. The author talks about how looks are a very important role in peoples feelings. In a study, many people stated that Tsarnaev looks like a good, friendly, kind man, all because he is attractive, whereas in other criminal cases, people despise those being tried in the court of law because of their unattractiveness. I think that the author has a very interesting standpoint, and is able to support his or her claim by going into the psychology behind the attack and straying away from the attack itself.

TOW #22: Political Cartoon

http://www.newyorker.com/politics/cartoons#slide=5

The New Yorker published a political cartoon with two men in an ambulance. The one man says to the man who is holding a man on a stretcher: "This guy's organ-donor card specifies 'for any deserving conservative.'" The black-and-white cartoon is aiming toward the democratic party showing how republicans are self-centered and almost selfish. The illustrator of the cartoon doesn't reveal the face of the person who is lying on the stretcher. I think the cartoonist does this in order to keep his or her argument central, and not have the audience focus on the race or age of the person who is hurt. The cartoon is very simple, but the caption makes the audience think a lot about the situation. By saying that the organ-donor car specifies for "any deserving conservative" the cartoonist is able to directly attack the conservative party, but while adding the word "deserving" the cartoonist allows the democratic party to feel as though they are being attacked by these people as well. Overall, the cartoonist's diction plays a major role in the effectiveness of the cartoon.

TOW #21: When Celebrities Share Secrets, Good Things Happen

http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/16/opinion/wexler-celebrities-share/index.html?iid=article_sidebar

This week, Laura Wexler, writer for CNN, wrote about Angelina Jolie's double mastectomy. The news was astonishing to many women because usually women in the later stages of breast cancer undergo a double mastectomy, not women who are just trying to be proactive. Angelina Jolie had a recent scare while receiving her yearly mammogram, and decided to get a double mastectomy. Being one of the most famous sex-symbols in todays society, the media was all over the story. Jolie stated that being preventative is important and shouldn't be glamorized in Hollywood, since breast cancer takes the lives of thousands of women each year.
The author of the article, Laura Wexler, supported Jolie's "coming out of the closet" by remembering previous celebrities who have done the same. She alludes to Billie Jean King, and other women who openly admitted to getting an abortion. Wexler explains how this sense of openness between celebrities and their fans allows their fans to become proactive themselves and follow in the footsteps of their idols. Wexler's use of supporting details to defend her claim that celebrities who share secrets cause their fans to do positive things, effectively supported her argument.