TOW #3 – “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?” by KJ Dell’Antonia

TOW #3 – “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?” by KJ Dell’Antonia

            KJ Dell’Antonia, writer for The New York Times, wrote “Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?” on September 24, 2016. She explains how she has believed that she has been an introvert her whole life, but, suddenly, her views have changed. After reading the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking, Dell’Antonia looked at herself objectively, asking the question “Am I actually an introvert?” With a little investigation and research, she decided that she was just selfish, caring more about herself than others, as well as many other self-proclaimed introverts in this world. Her aim in publishing this revelation is to open the eyes of her audience, many of whom are self-proclaimed introverts themselves, to the idea that they may be uncomfortable in social situations rather than an introvert.

            In order to do this, Dell’Antonia organizes her paper as if she were investigating this revelation as it is being read. She starts out with the big question and breaks it down, including the thoughts and discussions she has, until she reaches the answer at the very end. This helps with two things in her paper; understanding and relating. The audience gains a clear understanding of Dell’Antonia’s process and thoughts, therefore understanding why and how she came to her conclusion. It builds her credibility as it proves that her conclusion is plausible and, frankly, highly likely to be correct. In addition to this, the audience can hear Dell’Antonia’s own struggle with her personality and can connect to this struggle. They may relate to a situation or a feeling that Dell’Antonia experienced which will then leave a lasting effect on them.

            As a smaller part of her writing, Dell’Antonia also uses widely varied sentence structure. She often uses short and to-the-point sentences, making her purpose stronger. These sentences create a tone of finality and allow the readers to relate to her situation. She utilizes the sentences to say, “I didn’t want to do it, but I did. It’s over,” when talking about social interaction. She separates these sentences, however, with longer, beautiful sentences.

URL: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/opinion/sunday/am-i-introverted-or-just-rude.html?src=trending&module=Ribbon&version=origin&region=Header&action=click&contentCollection=Trending&pgtype=article

Citation: Dell'antonia, Kj. "Am I Introverted, or Just Rude?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Sept. 2016. Web. 25 Sept. 2016.

TOW #2 - Visual Text: Political Cartoon by Nate Beeler

TOW #2 – Visual Text: Political Cartoon by Nate Beeler

                With the elections only a few short months away, everyone is starting to take notice. Political cartoonists seem fixated on the candidates, highlighting their flaws. Nate Beeler’s cartoon immediately draws eyes to the rather large Donald Trump with his internal organs showing. The cartoon, a critique on Trump’s released doctor’s note, shows an x-ray of Trump’s internal organs and a doctor analyzing them. Beeler has been a professional cartoonist since 2005, working at The Washington Examiner and The Columbus Dispatch. He uses his well-developed skills to put his thought about Donald Trump into a visual image.

            In this image, Beeler utilizes exaggeration as one of his main rhetoric devices. By giving Trump a large bile duct and a rather small heart, Beeler suggests his thoughts on Trump’s personality. A smaller heart shows that Trump does not feel much love or sympathy while a large bile duct suggests that he is a bile, or vindictive, person. This also suggests that Trump’s physical health is affected by his personality, implying that he is unhealthy because he is a bad person. Beeler also draws the doctor with a very small head, almost coming to a point at the top. This means that there is little room for a brain, or that the doctor is unintelligent. He cannot be trusted to analyze Trump’s health well.

            As well as this, the doctor says that “Mr. Trump is in tip-top shape and all internal organs appear normal, for the most part.” Beeler wrote the word “most” in red, whereas the rest of the sentence is black. This change in color puts an emphasis on the word most, showing that there are some abnormalities in Trump’s health and that his organs are not in perfect condition.

            This statement carries over the reality, where Donald Trump’s health was labelled as excellent. Nothing has been found contradicting the statement, though it is not convincing democrats that Trump can handle the job as President of the United States. Beeler’s cartoon highlight’s this, making an attempt to convince people that Trump is a bad person by drawing his insides.

Source URL: http://townhall.com/political-cartoons/2016/09/16/144821

Citation:

Beeler, Nate. Townhall.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2016.

ToW #1 - "Trump's Sexist Strategy Gets Assist from Matt Lauer"

On September 8, Peggy Drexler of CNN News wrote an article about Donald Trump. The article, titled “Trump’s Sexist Strategy Gets Assist from Matt Lauer,” focuses on how Trump has been using sexism to benefit in the 2016 presidential nominations, and how he now has support from Matt Lauer, host of a live forum on NBC. Drexler explains how both Clinton and Trump were questioned in the interview, though Lauer seemed to challenge Clinton more and gave her less time to defend herself. Drexler first starts the article by explaining the situation and, afterwards, she gives evidence of the speculation of Lauer’s equality in the interview by referring to social media. She quotes many tweets, including one from an aide to President Obama. Drexler, assistant professor of psychology at Cornell University and gender study scholar at Stanford University, wrote the article to inform readers of Trump’s sexism and Lauer’s support of this and to argue about his campaigning strategies.

                To achieve this purpose, Drexler develops a strong tone. She uses her examples and diction to create a tone that is colloquial and sarcastic yet aggressive. She allows her feelings of the Republican candidate to shine through her words. Her curt sentences, such as “As offensive as this sexism is, it’s not new,” illuminate her anger and present her information to her audience in a dramatic, almost suspenseful, way. This leaves her readers enchanted with what she has to say as the drama reels them in as well as walking away angry with Trump, thus lessening the support for Trump.

                In another effort to lessen support for Trump, Drexel includes graphics in her articles. She adds in recordings of phone calls, speeches, and even pictures of tweets that prove what she claims in the article is true, building her credibility. If the tone proves too aggressive for some, the graphics prove that she has a right to feel this way and discredit many counter arguments.

                Although my own bias might cloud my opinion, I enjoyed Drexler’s work and recognized how her rhetoric devices made a strong, coherent article. 

Article URL - http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/08/opinions/trump-gender-sexism-drexler/index.html

Article Citation - Drexler, Peggy. "Trump's Sexist Strategy Got Help from Lauer." CNN. Cable News Network, 8 Sept. 2016. Web. 11 Sept. 2016. 

IRB #1 Introduction Post

            Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, by Caitlin Doughty is a memoir about learning how to work in a crematory and how to care for dead bodies. Writen by a licensed mortician, the book has underlying meanings of how society handles the fear of death and how this fear has shaped individuals. With raving reviews from Oprah, Natalie Kusz from the New York Times Book Review, and many more, this memoir has been recommended to me by my mother, a seventh and ninth grade English teacher. I am ready to pick up Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and see how my unique view of death compares to Doughty's view.