TOW #10—“Gay Air Force Veteran Sues to Earn Honorable Discharge” by Jason Silverstein

In the 1940s, Hubert Edward Spires was undesirably discharged from the United States Air Force for being gay. Today, Spires, now 91, has filed a lawsuit asking for an honorable discharge. The case is not yet over, but Spires, who had a very close encounter with death, has filed the same lawsuit before and has failed. Author Jason Silverstein, a national breaking news reporter for the New York Daily News, shares the story solely to inform the public of the case and the changes in society since the 1940s.

                Although Silverstein is seemingly unbiased in the article, his diction proves to create a sympathetic tone towards Spires. Silverstein, after telling about the case itself, goes into Spires’s past. He uses words such as “kicked out”, “sacrifices”, “threatened”, “horrific and unbearable”, and “grilling”. Though the rest of the article seems unbiased, these few words build to create a mood of sympathy towards Spires and his case. It develops pathos which lends the readers as to why Spires acted and is still acting in the ways that he is and why it is important to his audience. It also helps Silverstein refine his audience. This slight emphasis draws the attention of gay rights activists or those in the gay community. Though a news source, and therefore unbiased, Silverstein easily draws in the people who will most support his article.

                Silverstein additionally uses quotes from many people close to the case. He quotes the complaint itself as well as Spires’s lawyer. Though never quoting Spires himself, Silverstein adds in a video of an interview with Spires, again promoting sympathy. He also, however, develops his own ethos by utilizing such tools. Silverstein himself was not included in the case at all, so his knowledge of the case may be questionable. But by using the people involved instead of his own thoughts, he proves he has learned about the case more than sufficiently and can be trusted with the facts. 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gay-air-force-veteran-sues-earn-honorable-discharge-article-1.2881158 

IRB #2 Introdution Post

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo follows the lives of people living in Mumbai slums. It evaluates their hopes, dreams, and aspirations while also telling about the hardships they face from religion, sex, and economy. The book has been recommended to me by my mother, sister, and step sister who have all read it themselves and have been deeply affected by the messages it conveys.

TOW #9—Visual text: JB by Archibald MacLeish

Over the past several months, I have worked on the crew of the production of JB in our school. Being one of the leaders in stage crew, I was given a script to follow cues and to learn about the play. JB is a tragedy, based off of the Book of Job in the Old Testament. In the play, it was modernized, based in the 1950s, when it was written. It follows a man named JB and his family. JB, a very faithful and good man, is challenged by Satan, or Nickles in the play. Mr. Zuss, the equivalent of God, allows Nickles to take away JB’s blessings. Slowly, JB’s children die and he loses his job, his money, and his health. This fear and depression and, ultimately the survival of JB’s faith, can be seen through the cover of the script itself.

                The cover consists of mainly brown tones. However, there is a large white patch in the center showcasing the title and the author. This contrast of light and dark is highly symbolic of the two main conflicting forces in the play itself. God, often represented in lighter colors (and wearing white in the play), fought with Satan, who is traditionally represented with darkness (and wore black in the play). The overpowering brown also has a symbolic element. Although God won in the end, Satan became controlling of the situation, even taking over a person’s life, much like how the brown is taking over the entire front cover.

                In addition, the brown could represent impurity, whereas the white is pure and clean. This is not only literally, due to a bomb in the play, but figuratively. Satan’s, or Nickles’s, motivations were to reveal the impurities of JB’s faithfulness to God. Though this never occurred, it does not mute the dirtiness of Nickles’s actions, or even of JB wife’s reaction to the situation. Ultimately, she agreed with her husband and stayed faithful, but during the play she comes to curse God as she is dealing with her children’s deaths.

                Simply by using contrasting colors on the cover of the script of JB, Archibald MacLeish explored the depth behind his play. 

TOW #8—“Smoke Gets in your Eyes” by Caitlyn Doughty

TOW #8—“Smoke Gets in your Eyes” by Caitlyn Doughty

                In Caitlyn Doughty’s book “Smoke Gets in your Eyes” she discussed the treatment of our dead. Doughty became a mortician after college and continues her work today. In the last half of the book, she further discusses the different cultures and traditions in regards to dealing with the dead. She often states that she finds our system to be quite detached and believes that families should have a larger part when deciding and carrying out the actions they should take in dealing with family members who have passed away. In order to do this, she utilizes a colloquial tone to make death familiar and allusions to relate death to everyday life.

                Death is often and foreign and terrifying idea to the general public. Doughty wants to reverse this belief and show that death deserves a more intimate approach. To do this, she writes with a colloquial tone. She often uses sarcasm, makes jokes, or uses interesting language to lighten the tone of her seemingly-dark memoir. For example, she says “Dead. Finito” (Doughty 176). By using a colloquial tone like this, Doughty makes death seem like a lighter idea instead of a dark and formal process. She introduces and explores the idea as if it does not deserve heightened and strong language; as if it should be a problem discussed by not only intellectuals, but of every person, regardless of intelligence, race, gender, etc. Overall, this decreases the amount of fear people have towards death and helps to show that death should be a more intimate process for their loved ones.

                Later, Doughty compared a grieving family to well-known Jane Austen novels (Doughty 179). She also mentions other books, movies, and even celebrities in her memoir. These people, books, and movies, are generally well known by the general public and have been at some time a household name or object. She compares death to a familiar idea in everyday lives, which gives the idea of death a more personal approach. Like her colloquial tone, this helps to break down the fear and emotional walls surrounding death and welcomes death into their homes. This, paired with her colloquial tone, inspires families to take a more personal approach when deciding what to do with passed loved ones. 

TOW #7—“Students Across America have Voted, and they Chose…” By Katie Wallace

TOW #7—“Students Across America have Voted, and they Chose…” By Katie Wallace

                Katie Wallace, writer for CNN news, published her article “Students Across America have Voted, and they Chose…” on November 1, 2016, recounting the events that occurred throughout high schools and colleges in the United States. She informs readers of the results of multiple mock elections and the statistics gathered by many college students, predicting the winner of the 2016 election and putting emphasis on the importance of the results. All in all, the mock elections put Hillary Clinton ahead by around 5% each time. While Clinton was predicted to be in the upper 40’s, Trump was predicted to be in the lower 40’s, percent-wise. This is a good indicator of who will win, her article says, because it has been accurate in the election of the five previous presidents. Wallace recounts these events, all while staying organized and trustworthy.

                Because there were multiple elections and sources, information was abundant in Wallace’s article. With so much information, it isn’t hard for readers to become confused. Wallace prevents this confusion by organizing her article with subtopics and then going deeper into a main point. She includes sections such as “Student mock election has perfect record” and “The prediction breakdown” (Wallace). By doing so, she allows the readers to not only understand more clearly, but to gain insight on the significance of these events. Her organization allows for a clearer interpretation and, thus, an understanding of what these mock elections mean.

                Though Wallace does not have any well-known experience in politics, she establishes her credibility by using a surplus of statistics and quotes. She includes quotes from students, teachers, officials involved in government, and statistic from trustworthy and well-known associations. She often uses the phrase, “according to the American Statistical Association” (Wallace) throughout the article after she identifies them as the organization which conducted the mock elections. These references to well-known people and organizations allow for a trust to be developed among the readers. It also aides the readers to understand the importance of what they are reading as commentary can be reported on from many intellectual and informed officials. Wallace’s inclusion of quotes and a surplus of statistics helps not only build her credibility, but helps show the importance of her writing as well. 

http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/01/health/students-mock-presidential-election-results/