TOW #24 - Letters to Sam

Since it's my last TOW, I figured I should talk about my last IRB. I recently finished Letters to Sam by Daniel Gottlieb, a story about a paraplegic grandfather giving a lifetime of advice to his autistic grandson. Gottlieb wrote the book because he knew he wouldn't be around for all of his grandson's childhood, so he figured leaving behind a physical copy of all the advice he would ever give him was the best possible choice. Personally, I really enjoyed reading this story, and I'm glad that I didn't gloss over it like I have done so many times before. It is filled with inspiring words of wisdom and mantras, one of my favorites being the grandfather's lessons about pain. (This 'lesson' really hit home for me.) He writes, "All pain is about longing for yesterday--whatever we had before, whatever we used to be." Upon reading this I didn't understand at first, but when you think about it it really makes sense. Longing for something we can never get back will only bring us pain. I took it as Gottlieb's way of saying to live for now and look ahead. This junior year of mine started off with life changes great in size and number, and I had trouble (I still am) not getting caught up in thinking about how things used to be. This is the biggest reason why I was so happy to read this book; it gave me a helpful reminder that we can't change what has already happened, only what will.

TOW #23 - "What You Learn in College"

This week I read a piece of creative nonfiction written by Karen Donley-Hayes to reminisce about her college days and the underlying sadness and anxiety of the memories of parties she attended. As she gets more and more into her story, she speaks directly to the audience and uses a form of anaphora to express these hidden feelings, which I found to be very effective.
Donley-Hayes squeezes in her anaphora between each paragraph (for a few paragraphs) as she relays an uncomfortable memory of her and her classmates playing a game of drunken strip-spin-the-bottle. This form of anaphora involved the repetition of an entire sentence, rather than the beginning word of a sentence. She writes "The bottle spins." After each paragraph with the start of the next paragraph expressing an increasing level of uncomfortableness and anxiety. Not only does this show the author's emotions in this memory, it projects them onto the reader and allows them to experience the same feelings she did in that memory. This was an effective way to tell her story because it allows readers to quickly identify the purpose that Donley-Hayes is trying to convey. She wants to show how not all 'going-out' nights in college are going to be good ones, especially if you are surrounded by people you do not trust, or have stepped out of your comfort zone.
Besides this projection of emotions onto her readers, the author also speaks directly to the audience by using pronouns like 'you' and 'we' when describing her reactions to reliving these uncomfortable memories. She ends her essay with a pondering, "But the regret isn't gone. It will never be gone, and you don't need to learn that. You already know it." By speaking to her readers this way, she is instilling a sense of personal attachment to her own memory, making it more likely for her purpose and argument to resonate with them. In other words, even though the readers did not experience these memories firsthand, they are still able to, through empathy, understand how/why the author felt the way she did during her own experience.

TOW #22 - "In the Grip of the Sky"

This essay by professor Sonya Huber takes the traditional non-fiction essay and adds a creative spin to it. She takes two topics of her own concern--her own chronic joint pain and global warming--and combines them into the essay to show how even though the effects of each can be crippling, we must be strong and find other ways to fix them.
She first uses strong imagery as a metaphor to compare the brewing storm in the sky (which caused her joint sickness to badly flare up) to the brewing pain in her bones. She says, "If [I] could map [my] pain, the constellation of joints would glow on the map, lit to follow storm fronts and hurricanes." It was interesting to hear her talk about her pain not only because lupus/rheumatoid/psoriatic arthritis is something I have not experienced, but also because of the fact that the weather going south made it worse. At first it might not seem that out of the ordinary; I know many people who get 'rain headaches', but when you think about it, being forced to succumb to your couch because of extreme pain every time there is a rainstorm must make one tough person out of you. Her use of the extended metaphor throughout her essay makes sense because it must be so unfathomable (I certainly know I had trouble wrapping my head around it) for others to understand her struggle. I think this was an amazing way to get her point across, and provided such an effective way of showing her readers what it is like to be in her shoes.

TOW #21 - "Women shouldn't..." visual text

This week for my visual text I chose to analyze the advertisement I picked for our inductive/deductive reasoning activity in class. Because I think the advertisement's message and presentation are so powerful, I thought it would be perfect to analyze for a TOW.

Aside from the most obvious aspect of the "women shouldn't ____" one-liners in the search bar, the fact that the search bar is covering the woman's mouth is what make its 'searches' so powerful. The metaphor it provides shows how the discrimination women face on a day-to-day basis is impossible for them to counteract because they have no say in what they are capable of. This powerful rhetoric makes for a very effective argument on UN Women's part.

This particular ad is just one of many that are part of this installment, each showing different kinds and severities of sexism towards women around the world. The most important part of these advertisements is how they show how something a man might say jokingly has such misogynistic undertones (that he might not even realize). Showing how sexism can hide in plain sight when one is not educated on the matter, or simply not on the receiving end. Overall, I think the UN Women sector did a wonderful job in the creation and power of these advertisements.

TOW #20 - "The Fine Art Of Quitting"

This relatively new essay written by an man named Poe Ballantine was quite an interesting read. At first the title does not seem to fit the piece, but becomes the most perfect title once the essay is finished. This essay describes the life of the author while he is living in a dinky studio apartment on the San Diego beach. While many folks who come and go saying how beautiful the city is, the author knows whats really going on as he watches the biggest cockroaches he has ever seen "carrying off whole hams". While the beginning of the essay seems more like a real estate review rather than a message about the fine art of quitting, it takes a turn towards Ballantine's career as a writer and why he chose (or was given) that path. His most fond high school memory was his teacher saying "she was so impressed [by his ending of the unfinished Twain novel Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer among the Indians] that she thought I should make an appearance on television and claim to be Twain's ghost." Because the author is such a gifted writer, it seems odd that he would title an essay about his career "The Fine Art of Quitting", since he tells everyone that he is one day going to win the Nobel prize for literature. However, the title could not be more fitting once the reader realizes that the author has not done his 'destined job' in a quite a while and does not plan to get back into the swing of things until he becomes the 'prime author age' between 32 and 36 and claims he just simply needs to find "something to write about" first. It was funny to read his descent into the satirical and metaphorical resignation from his 'job'. While the essay was filled with plot twists and witty remarks, it still kept a tone of sophistication--a prime example of his old high school teacher's words. This combination of slight vulgarity and formal tone ties back to why "The Fine Art Of Quitting" is so perfect for this essay's title. It mirrors not only the author's current point of view regarding his authordom, but also his unique style.

TOW #19 - College essay that worked

This week I read a college essay written by a student who was accepted to UC Berkley. The topic of the essay was to "Describe the world you live in" and this student took a very unique path in responding to it. They started with, "Most children acquire the same eye color or a similar shaped nose from their parents, but I've inherited much more: a passion for learning and and insatiable curiosity which has served me well throughout my academic career." (para. 1). This topic sentence of their introductory paragraph is the reason that their essay made such an impact on their admission because of its uniqueness and connection to the student's intended major (computer science). I feel that most students would answer this prompt in terms of their cultural and ethnic backgrounds, whereas this student, who may not have a very rich or involved cultural background, chose to describe what has ultimately affected their world the most. This is an excellent strategy because the student could have easily faked their way through an essay about how their German-immigrant great-grandparents have 'greatly impacted their life'. Instead they chose to take a creative and honest route, all while revealing why they plan on pursuing the major they have chosen. It not only provides a great platform for the integrity of their essay, but also gives a very personal touch.

TOW #18 - "Knoxville: Summer of 1915"

This beautiful essay by James Agee was written in 1938. After some research, I found that he had wrote it in a mere ninety minutes because he was practicing experiments with what we call free-form writing. Agee appeals to a lot of sensory factors, especially imagery when describing a "mid-summer's eve" in his hometown of Knoxville. The most emphasized symbol was a garden hose, which Agee spent nearly the entire middle portion of his essay talking about. "First an insane noise of violence in the nozzle, then the still irregular sound of adjustment, then the smoothing into steadiness and a pitch as accurately tuned to the size and style of stream as any violin." (172). This symbol was important in aiding Agee's overall purpose of describing how much times have changed since that summer in 1915. A garden hose is seen most often during the summer than any other time of year, whether it is watering a lawn or powering a sprinkler. To Agee, it is the ideal image of summer, and is what he remembers most vividly about the summer of 1915. Another symbol emphasized by Agee was the porches that wrapped around nearly every single house. He believed that something as simple as porches were an essential part of bringing families together, because they would gather on their porch together after dinner in summers to enjoy the sunsets and warm nights. It is important to realize that Agee is describing all of these events with a very nostalgic tone, because after the summer of 1915, his life would change dramatically. His father died the next year and the implementation of a television in every home on his street would mean families would no longer enjoy their time together outside on their porches. And so the lovely wraparound porch would no longer be built on houses erected after the summer of 1915. Agee's ways of describing this fond childhood memory are very effective in getting across his purpose, and he does a wonderful job of telling how important this summer was.

TOW #17 - "The Hills of Zion"

This week I decided to read "The Hills of Zion" by H. L. Mencken, which I had heard of before, but never knew what it was about. To my surprise, my interpretation of the title meant that the essay was set on Mount Zion Jerusalem wasn't all that wrong. Even though the setting was 1920s Tennessee, it had just as much religious fervor as Jerusalem might have. While Mencken had travelled to Dayton, Tennessee to attend the trial of John Scopes, he ended up experiencing something much different. Christian 'extremists' were rampant in the small center of Rhea county. A woman passing through was offered a Coca Cola before her returning journey in the hot sun, but she refused because it "...was prohibited by the country lady's pastor, as a levantine and hell-sent narcotic." (108). As strange as it might seem, the country lady was practically running out of town before the woman who offered her the Coca Cola could bring her ice cream that she asked for. This event in the essay along with many other provides vivid imagery for the reader, and is important in showing how religion affects the small community (as you will later see...). At night, Mencken decides to attend a sort of 'late-night' sermon on a townsperson's farm. Sneaking up, he can see that the pastor is borderline screaming in the name of the Lord, and as he finally takes a seat among the others, they are participating in the strangest form of worship I have ever heard of. The audience members of the sermon surrounded a girl who had 'asked for prayers' and began praying and speaking in tongues all around her. "Her head jerked back, the veins of her neck swelled, and her fists went to her throat as if she were fighting for breath. She bent backward until she was like half a hoop. Then she suddenly snapped forward. We caught a flash of the whites of her eyes. Presently her whole body began to be convulsed--great throes that began at the shoulders and ended at the hips. She would leap to her feet, thrust her arms in the air, and then hurl herself upon the heap." (111). This strange act of what seems like 'catching the holy spirit' was not an uncommon practice for the town. In fact, the whole thing seemed like just an average evening for them. This strange example of imagery is very important in helping the reveal the author's purpose because it shows how religion was such a governing institution at the time. From giving up Coca Cola, tea, coffee, and pies to convulsing in prayer on farm at midnight, religion was these townspeople's whole life. It was there when life got rough and helped them determine right from wrong. Ultimately, it gave them the stability they needed in such a rapidly changing society.

IRB Intro #3

I chose to read Letters to Sam by Daniel Gottlieb because it has been in my home for a few years now, and I figured I might as well get to reading since I have the chance to do so. The short subtitle on the front seems to describe a very good read, so I am excited to get started.

TOW #16 - "Coatesville"

This week I read "Coatesville" by John Jay Chapman, an account of the lynching of a black man in Coatesville, PA not fifty years after the abolition of slavery. He gave this speech during the prayer session held a year after the tragedy in remembrance. His belief that slavery was not an institution but a disease is what interested me the most. He proclaimed, "With the great disease (slavery) came the climax (the war), and after the climax gradually began the cure, and in the process of cure comes now the knowledge of what the evil was" (73). This metaphor of his got me thinking that he was both right and wrong in his comparison. It is true that slavery can be accurately viewed as a disease, and the Civil War can be viewed as the point of most-affected, but I disagree with his view about the "cure" to this disease. Yes, the country has come a long way in terms of the treatment of African-Americans, but we have such a long way to go. Unfortunately, racism is something that will never truly 'die out', similar to how a disease or infection is never permanently cured or proclaimed to be extinct. Also, I noticed how Chapman utilized the emotions of his audience by saying how the blame and the burden of the tragedy rests on the shoulders of not just those who participated in it, but everyone who knows of it. In other words, he wanted us to understand that it is our job as American citizens to ensure that the injustice that occurred on this day is not forgotten. It should serve as a reminder to all that the consequences of racism and discrimination lead to suffering. Another aspect of Chapman's essay I enjoyed was his comments on the fact that the men who participated in the lynching of this man were just everyday people. Reading this reminded me of an essay I read about the steps it takes to reach "hate" in concurrence with the events that took place during the Holocaust. Chapman and the author of this essay would have agreed that it doesn't take much to change an ordinary man into a ruthless one. For example, many of the Nazis were people you and I could have known, they simply joined Hitler either out of fear for themselves/their families, or blatant blindness. Men joining in with racism and race-related violence fall victim to the same idea. They either fear that the hatred will be turned towards them, or they simply do not know that it is wrong. All in all, despite Chapman's essay being quite heavy on the sad side, I feel that is was important for me to read. Therefore, I would also recommend it to everyone else looking for a quick read; it provides occasional but crucial reminder that we should not forget the injustices and tragedies of the past.

TOW #15 - Saving the Twinkie

I chose to analyze this visual text because how hard I laughed upon seeing the facial expressions of the deranged citizens losing their minds over the end of the reign of Hostess. I think it is such an accurate representation of our society for more than just the obvious reason of America loving its fatty foods. Looking at the background, there is no landscape; the people are simply standing on barren wasteland, which emphasizes the woman's "SAVE THE EARTH" sign. Most people would think this is just about a cartoonist cracking jokes about how Americans acted so desperately upon realizing their Twinkies were going to disappear. It is a very thought-provoking way to show how because Americans acted so desperately about the Twinkies (along with many other occasions) they failed to realize the thing they should be most desperate about saving...the Earth they plant their feet on to protest about Twinkies. The author of this visual text was very clever in highlighting how many people often fail to see the bigger picture of things, or fail to think too far ahead for fear of what the future might actually hold. Instead of taking action individually, people are more likely to say to themselves, "Oh, well, there's plenty of people in the world, so someone else is bound to take care of the problem" when crisis-related issues (that require actual hard work) like the future of the Earth arise. BUT, when taking away one's ability to stuff their pie hole full of hydrogenated fat ridden, cream-filled sponge cake, we suddenly see the greatest call to arms since the war efforts of WWII. This has turned into a bit of a rant, but I felt it was necessary to get that deep into the idea behind the photo.

TOW #14 - "Notes of a Native Son"

This essay is one of the most complex and conflicted pieces of literature I have ever laid eyes on. It focuses on the characterization of James Baldwin's father, a man often filled with rage, and how his time being alive affected Baldwin more than his death. Upon starting the essay we are dropped in the center of recently segregated Harlem, where Baldwin spent most of his early life. His large family is constantly at the hands of his father's angry episodes. What I found most interesting about the relationship between Baldwin and his father was that no matter how loudly he yelled at Baldwin, or how angry he may have gotten, he never failed to show how much he cared about him. Despite a severe lack of paternal affection, Baldwin's father loved all his children deeply. However, not one of the children had even a flicker of a relationship with him, "When he took one of his children on his knee to play, the child always became fretful and began to cry; when he tried to help one of us with our homework the absolutely unabating tension which emanated from him caused our minds and our tongues to become paralyzed, so that he, scarcely knowing why, flew into rage and the child, not knowing why, was punished" (Baldwin 222). This way his father acted unfortunately led to Baldwin never really speaking to his father, and his death brought him now sorrow. I found it so strange that even though he loved his father, he never got to establish a healthy relationship with him, which got me thinking about the possible underlying causes to this. My first impression was that the father had some intense damage to his psyche, which would most likely have been caused by a traumatic event. Given the time period this essay was written (1955), it is possible that Baldwin's father had fought in WWII, and a lack of being taught proper coping skills for the effects of war would most certainly ignite an infinite inferno in someone's mind. It may just be a another crazy thought of mine, but judging from the father's constant '180s' between loving and 'losing it' really struck me. It also struck me oddly that the author did not make this a larger focus in the essay (more 'towards the surface' perhaps)...Baldwin ends his essay by noting how hatred can destroy a man, which I think is really important to remember because very few family/friends attended his father's funeral, and reading this was a very awakening and moving reminder how our demeanor can really affect our surroundings.