TOW Post #3- Article: "The Case Against High-School Sports"

         

  High school is one of the most important four years of someone's life, it basically is the end of your childhood and the introduction of a new life chapter; adulthood. Unfortunately, high school is not an easy run through. With papers, exams, and projects, it's likely that students are often stressed. Fortunately, there is something that relieves the stress; sports. Today sports have become a huge part of American high schools.

            In The Atlantic 2013 October issue, journalist and graduate of Cornell University, Amanda Ripley, wrote an interesting article about how American high school sports are taken more seriously than academics. Throughout her article she tries to communicates to the superintendents of all American high schools that they should pay closer attention to how balanced sports and academics are. She incorporates foreign student perspectives and interesting statistics to bring up the question if sports and academics are balanced.

            Ripley focused on comparing American high schools to other high schools around the world. A South Korean girl named Jenny had moved to New York in 2011 and Ripley interviewed her about her thoughts on the American school. One of the first things that got her attention at  her new school, Shawnee High School, was that "sports are a big deal here". Many people in the United States wouldn't see high school sports as a huge deal when it comes to time and commitment, simply because we're use to it. On the other hand to foreign students it seems as if we praise high school sports. As Jenny continued talking to Ripley, she mentions how her classmates would play "pickup soccer on a dirt field at lunchtime," and if they were in the newspapers "it was usually for their academic accomplishments." Ripley also interviewed a german student who as well thought the same: that American students care more about sports than they do. Also Ripley mentions some shocking facts in comparative to other high schools around the world. She states that "more than 20 countries are pulling off better high school graduation rates" than the U.S. The average school pays about "$1300 per player (in this case football) but only $618 per math student." Ripley also includes this shocking fact that "93 percent of South Korean students graduate from high school, compared to 77 percent of American students." With these shocking facts and interviews from foreign students' perspectives, Ripley makes American superintendents rethink about how well their high school balances the importance of sports and academics.

Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/10/the-case-against-high-school-sports/309447/

TOW Post #2- Visual Text: "FedEx Advertisement"

           In the world today, not only is it easier and faster to mail a letter or a bill, but it is also the same  for shipping packages. There are plenty of different companies, such as FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc., that say they offer the "most convenient" and "the best" service but are always competing with each other for the most customers. Commercials play a key part in gaining customers, whether through humor, heartfelt, or personal connections. However images are also important to helping a company gain more customers; even the most simplest images can reveal the most about a company to its customers. 
            FedEx is well known for its straightforwardness in their advertisement images: as seen in one of the most recent images above. Through this image, the company without a doubt communicates the goals of their service to the customers. Firstly, displayed in the image are hands of two people who are passing a vase effortlessly to each other through the FedEx box. This represents an important goal of FedEx's service: to make the customer's shipping experience facile. In a busy world today people do not have the time to spend hours with the process of sending a simple package. With this depiction through the image, FedEx easily attracts more customers to their service.
            FedEx used pathos through this image as well. One can see that the object being shipping is a vase that looks delicate and special, might be a vase passed down through generations, enhancing the special quality of it. Notice the way the two people people are holding the vase: with both hands having a good and careful grip of it. This really communicates to the viewers that FedEx handles their objects with care, and makes it their job to prevent any damage, definitely drawing in more customers. Through these definite rhetorical decisions made by the FedEx advertisement designers, the company is able to gain more customers each and every day. 

Image Source:http://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/outdoor/fedex-express-vase-12992155/

IRB Intro Post: Marking Period 1

         
             For the first marking period I decided to chose the non-fiction book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This book is about why the outliers, people who stand out from everyone else, are so different and how they got that way. Malcolm explains why most good hockey plays are born in the winter, why Asians are so smart, and much more. I selected this book, because my English teacher from last year read my class an excerpt from the book, and I found it very appealing. I enjoy learning new things and like how Malcolm explains why things are with his research. By reading this book, I hope to learn to look at success in a different way and gain appreciation for non-fiction.

TOW Post #1- Article: "4 Sentenced to Death in Rape Case That Riveted India"

       

 
            There has always been an argument about weather or not the death penalty should be legal or not. In the United States Constitution, the Eighth Amendment states that there shall not be any "cruel or unusual punishments," yet there are still states that rule capital punishment legal. Not only has the death sentence sparked a controversy in the United States, but also worldwide; in this case India. The death penalty certainly relates to an emotional aspects, where as revenge and angry play a part in reasons why people want the death penalty against someone. On the other hand, there is the moral aspect; is it ethical to decide if someone's life should end?

            Author Ellen Barry, George Polk Award and Pulitzer Prize winner, wrote an article about four men who were charged for a rape crime, after nine months, in New Delhi, India, where the death penalty is has now been sentenced. The four men had brutally raped a young women who, two weeks later, died from her injuries. The victim's parents and many women were celebrating after the four men were convicted to die by hanging. However with India's religious views, people are concerned with this sentence.

            Barry includes many opinions relative to the death sentence throughout her article helping her achieve her purpose: getting people to think about and take action on if the death penalty be a legal option. The only way this can be changed or remained legal are the people voting: who are putting the political people in power. One strategy that Barry uses is contrasting; showing two different opinions about the death penalty. She writes how one man believed that “after death, they will get freedom...they should be tortured and given shocks their whole life”; opposing the death penalty. Barry then includes how protests are shouting comments such as "Hang the rapists." With these to opposing comments, the reader is pushed to think about who's right and take a side.

            Another strategy that Barry uses to achieve her purpose is using statistics. She states how "polls show that Indians remain ambivalent about using the death penalty, with 40 percent saying it should be abolished". Barry also includes the fact "if convicted rapists were hanged consistently for a year: 10,000 neighbors, shopkeepers, tutors, grandfathers, fathers and brothers," would be dead. These two shocking statistics really make the reader consider how ethical the death penalty is. With these strategies, Barry does successfully achieve her purpose in writing her article.

Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/world/asia/4-sentenced-to-death-in-rape-case-that-riveted-india.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&ref=world

"Eddy Bensen" by Hilton Als

The question "What makes a person who they are?" is a common question that comes up in society. Some say that you are who you are because of the way you were raised. Others say that you are who are because of the way God created you. For Hilton Als, none of these popular reasons are reasons that explain who he is. Hilton Als is a staff writer from The New Yorker since the year 1994, and has also taught at Yale University, Wesleyan, and Smith College. He is the author of the article "Gay Marriage and Queer Life" which is relative to his 2011 essay explaining what made him who he was, in this case who made him who he was. In the essay, Eddy Bensen from The Believer, makes it clear that "It's the queers who made [him],"(Als 1) by starting off every paragraph with that statement.  Als reveals many memories throughout his lifetime that included those who made him who is: a gay man. Als's purpose in writing this essay is to explain to his readers, those who question "What makes a person who they are?", that the people you surround yourself with, is a big contributor to what makes a person who they are. Als uses the repetition strategy to highlight important ideas that he presents throughout his essay. For example, as I mentioned before Als starts every paragraph with the statement, "It was the queers who made me" (Als 1). Repeating this sentence highlights for the reader that this is an important idea that Als wants his readers to receive from this essay. Another thing that Als repeats and very often is the word "who." He starts off every sentence, but the first sentence of each paragraph, with this word. Als decided to do this to communicate that it is not always "what", but "who" makes a person who they are. In my opinion Als did achieve his purpose, but with a downside. With Als's repetition strategy he did not only make sure  his readers know that it is the "who" that contribute to what makes a person who they are, but he made it seem like it is the only contributor that makes a person who they are. Many people may not think the "who" is the only answer to the question "What makes a person who they are?",  making his readers believe he is biased. 

What makes a person who they are...what makes their identity?

 http://aphilosopherstake.com/2012/09/26/personal-identity-who-are-you-what-am-i/

Author information from: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/bios/hilton_als/search?contributorName=hilton%20als