TOW #3 - "The Marginal World"

This sixty year old essay by Rachel Carson caught my eye as I was flipping through my copy of The Best American Essays of the Century. Since the title, The Marginal World, seemed like it had a philosophical tone, I decided it would be perfect for me to read. The first half of the essay is Carson talking about her experiences and love for how infinite the joining of the earth and the sea is. She said that for as long as there has been a sea and an Earth, there has been this connection.

I believe her audience is those who share the same love for the beach as she does. She sees the sea and the land coming together as a representation of how adaptable we are as a human race for being able to live in such an ever-changing environment. The theme of how this kind of connection in nature can be found in so many other elements of life is kept throughout the essay. Because of this, it is easy to see how Carson keeps a running metaphor as the main purpose of her essay (which is interestingly spelled out at the end rather than the beginning). She says, "there is a common thread that links these scenes and memories--the spectacle of life in all its varied manifestations as it has appeared, evolved, and sometimes died out" (Carson 219). I found her purpose to be very similar to the idea behind string theory, again pertaining to the philosophical tone.

Personally, I think Carson's essay has done a beautiful job of combining philosophy, science and nature into one description of the mundane thing that is a beach. She uses her great talent as a writer to highlight the beauties of such a thing that we might otherwise miss when put in this type of environment.

TOW #2 - "The day I left my son in the car"

When searching for a non-fiction essay to write about, I decided to look in a list of best essays of 2014, assuming I would find some good ones that way. I was right; I came across the #1 essay of 2014, called The day I left my son in the car by Kim Brooks. From the start I thought I would be reading about a helpless mother's horror story (something I wasn't very excited to read about), but I figured if it was ranked the #1 personal essay for that year, it must be pretty good.

Brooks is just a regular mom with two small children and not enough hours in the day. When the story of the essay took place, she had two hours to run to the store, wake up, dress and feed her daughter, and get her entire family to the airport, through security and onto a plane within two hours. (Believe me, reading that sentence stressed me out too.) Her sons headphones for the plane broke and he insisted on coming to the store with her to get new ones. Upon arriving, he refused to get out the car. Because the mother was so stretched for time she made the split-second decision to leave him in the car for 5 minutes. It was 50 degrees and overcast, so she didn't seem much harm in doing so. However, she couldn't have been more wrong.

Her husband was waiting for the family at baggage claim, and all he said to greet them was "Call you mother...". As it turns out, someone had called the police and reported the license plate because her son was left in the car, and Brooks ended up getting to cross 'being criminally charged' off of her bucket list.

Throughout the story, the author was using her credibility as a mother and the art of suspense to convey her purpose. She wanted to both educate her audience about the true consequences of leaving a child in a car unattended, as well as scare them into staying away from doing so. In my opinion, I think Brooks did so successfully because even though I have no children (and I don't really ever plan to) this essay instilled a sort of 'healthy dose' of paranoia in me so that I'll never do this.

IRB Intro #1

My first IRB was recommended to me. Ms. Pronko introduced me to the renowned author and inventor Temple Grandin. I was told that she had a form of high-functioning autism and used it to form a deep connection with animals. So far, I found out that she first discovered her love for and understanding of animals when she started riding horses as a young girl. I found her story of how she could feel the pain and fear of the previously abused animals really interesting.

Grandin has written many books, but because I have so much love for animals, I decided to read this one first. So far, I have found this work of hers to be a combination of breaking the stigma of autism through ethos. Because Grandin has autism herself and has dealt with it her whole life, she is able to give first-hand experiences to abolish the common thought that people who are autistic cannot be 'smart'.

Obviously this is wrong because of the great work she has done. She created not only an invention to calm herself down when her autism 'over-excites' her and starts a type of panic attack she used that same technology to help calm animals down on their way to slaughter. In that same field, she invented a new way to corral the animals through a sort of maze and keep them from becoming too stressed. I cannot wait to finish the book it has given me a new outlook on both autism and the way animals work.

TOW #1 - 9/11 as a Political Cartoon

The author of this visual text is political cartoonist Steve Breen. In this particular work of his he wanted to take a well-known topic like the tragedy of 9/11, and create a lesser known perspective about it that many people could relate to. His audience is most likely Americans who have slightly more extensive knowledge about 9/11 details, because otherwise they would not understand the focal point of the text. Breen created this image on the fourteenth anniversary of the event. He uses rhetorical devices such as pathos to convey his purpose for it.

The Statue of Liberty is such a well-known image in our country, and is certainly a mark in American history that will not be forgotten. Breen incorporates the three locations affected by terrorism on 9/11 into the torch of the statue to represent how the event is also a historical landmark that should not and cannot be forgotten. The stark contrast between the tragedy of 9/11 and the symbol of hope that the Statue of Liberty exemplifies the widespread shock that was felt on that day. 

Since Breen wanted to create such a different representation of 9/11, he needed to appeal to his audience's emotions so that the true meaning could really sink in. As a part of that audience, I think Breen was successful in achieving his purpose. I have never seen anything like this political cartoon in relation to 9/11 and it certainly gave me a new way to look at it.