TOW #14 "Political Cartoon" Visual

I have always loved political cartoons.  Some Sundays, more often know that I'm graded for reading at least one of them, I just type in "political cartoon" into Google, and I come out with a new perspective on the political mosaic that is America.  Although I tend to lean more toward the right fiscally, I try to only analyze the political cartoons that remain neutral, or at least realize that no one person is responsible for the problems in America.  That's why I like this cartoon so much.


Let's start with the basic symbolism: the donkey is the liberal party and the elephant is the conservative party.  The paper the donkey is reading says "Tucson Tragedy".  This refers to the 2011 shooting of Gaby Giffords and eighteen others in Tucson.  In the aftermath of the shooting, conservatives and liberal took up arms against each other, each side blaming the other's key beliefs as responsible for this heinous act.

The cartoon gets at the heart of the political problems faced in America today.  Both sides appear to be friendly, as seen by the elephant and the donkey sitting together, drinking a beer, and wanting to return to the days where problems were discussed, not turned into radical extremism.  But, even with the two of them pretending to be friendly, their inner thoughts show a much different side to them.  Even after calling for "polite, political discourse", the two sides are still blinded by the stereotypes and stigmas that they hate each other.  And not only hate each other, they do not trust each other, as seen as they look at each other through suspicious eyes.  And that is the heart of the problem.  It's not the extremists, although they are very much a problem.  It is the people in power so blinded by their hatred of the other party that the success of the USA falls second.  This political cartoon is opening our eyes to how badly bipartisan politics in America is failing, and that people are hurt, like the nineteen injured or dead in Tucson.

TOW #13 "Evanescence Album Review" Article Post

As the dreaded thesis card on argument looms closer, I have decided to write a review.  Although I have not quite figured out what I am reviewing, but I decided to brush up  on the rhetoric that is used during the process of writing reviews.  I decided to read a review on music, going immediately to loudwire and typing in the name of one of my all time favorite band, Evanescence. The review, by Mary Ouellette, went over the new Evanescence album of the same name.  The writer starts out quoting the first line of the first track.  This was used to help establish the tone of the track.  Since the first line is dark, creepy, and powerful, the author establishes that, at the very least, the review will spin the new ablum in a positive light.  Which leads me to my second point: diction.  Ouellette ses the best diction in the line which is probably her thesis.  She writes "her lyrical content dissects the fine line between love and hate, gut-wrenching longing, and true despair and combines them with crunchy guitars, ethereal orchestral accents, and of course, her alluring piano tones".  With words like "gut-wrentching", "ethereal", and "alluring", we learn just how positive a review on Evanescence we are about to get. 

After her thesis, Ouellette lists each of the songs on the album, giving each a brief blurb about how the song helps make the album as good as Ouellette makes it out to be.  Again, she uses her positive diction, but also, she uses an appeal to the different.  She concludes her review with posing the implied question of "what category does this album belong to?"  She states, with colorful imagery, how Evanescence cannot be placed into one simple category.  They are fluid, moving between rock, indie, pop, and many others.  Now, kids who are really into music like bands that push limits, that define genres, and that are not afraid to make a new sound.  By establishing Evanescence as a multifaceted band, Ouellette makes them seem good for her audience, the kinds of people who love music but are looking for something new.  In my review, I will really need to focus on my audience.  Also, my diction will need to support my negative/positive review, whatever the subject matter.

http://loudwire.com/evanescence-album-review/

TOW #12 "The Blind Side" IRB

As you read before, I am not very interested in sports.  So when I picked up The Blind Side, I thought it was simply a biography about Michael Oher that I would pick up, think about how Oher overcame his poor childhood to become successful, but not feel as if I learned anything.  Couple that with the fact that it's a book on sports and I had some negative views in mind, even after seeing the movie. Boy was I wrong.  I was taken through the first half of a story of love, acceptance, success, learning, and just about any other positive moral idea you can think of.  Also, much like my last IRB book,  The Blind Side switches between two story arcs.  In In Cold Blood, it was between the murders and the investigation.  In The Blind Side, the story switches between the past, where Michael enrolls in Briarcrest Christian School and is adopted by Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, and the present, where Michael Oher is a successful football player.  As I have said, I enjoy when a story has two plot lines.  It keeps it interesting for me.

I think the part that got to me most of all was the author's, Michael Lewis, use of the repeated idea of the "blind side" in football.  There is an idea in football that the quarterback has the area where he cannot see, therefore cannot react to oncoming opponents.  It is the good of the offensive line to protect the quarterbacks at all cost.  This idea of protecting someone who is defenseless appealed to Oher, who is very protective by nature.  The idea of Oher playing offensive line showed his kindness and loyalty as a person.  That's when I really realized how deep this book could be.  It uses these metaphors to an extent that I have never seen before.  Mostly, these metaphors are saved for the world of fiction, where a story can be centered around one simple theme.  The Blind Side, however, uses this idea of playing football to represent what if right in the world.  How people risk injury to save a weaker friend.  How the kindness of one person can be transferred to another as they pay it forward.  I actually can't wait to see the movie again, so I can watch it with a deeper understanding.