TOW #4 Clear Channel Billboard (Image)

I think this piece of advertising is very witty, but also has a few flaws in its effectiveness. This billboard was placed by ClearChannel in order to promote healthy eating. This billboard, from a distance would obscure the comma and as a result cause the reader to think, "if I eat shit I will die." This is also more likely to cause the viewer to be peeved subconsciously due to the use of the color red, packaging the emotion of anger. This is an obvious message to get people to eat right. However, close up the comma would become more clear. The billboard now uses toilet humor in order to entertain the viewer, and simultaneously now uses the color red, not for anger but a symbol of health, as represented by the heart-shaped logo on the bottom right. It easily transforms an attention-grabbing jab at the viewer into a type of dark-comedy. However, although the idea is very witty and well-thought out, there is one glaring issue. The location. It is placed roadside. A person in a moving vehicle going 40 mph has almost no way of seeing this billboard properly. Perhaps if it were larger and more faraway, someone with non-herculean ocular muscles could comprehend that behemoth of text in the bottom left. Even in this picture, I cannot read the words. I think the word diet is in there, so it clearly is trying to say something about health, but at that proximity to the road, there is no possible way anyone could properly read what is written there. The road is literally right in front of this sign. The billboard was great in concept, but fails in its execution.

TOW #3 How To Lie With Statistics by Darrell Huff (IRB)

Darrell Huff writes a very good book about the ways one is able to deceive other people. The book could be interpreted to have different purposes depending on the the audience. Branching from that idea, the book has two main audiences that it attempts to appeal to. The first group would be people who do not want to be deceived. This book would inform the audience of the many strategies that can be utilized to tricked by misleading graphs and charts. Another audience would be a group would would want to learn HOW to mislead others. In which case, this book would serve as a didactic, teaching the future scumbags how to make the ignorant fall victim to their sleazy methodology. This book uses a very tongue-and-cheek type of approach, allowing it to be entertaining at times, however, the extensive use of allusion makes certain analogies anachronistic. This weakens certain parts of the author's writing because I feel like I've missed some important joke that may help me to understand the text more accurately. Regardless, the book is also very blunt. It makes use of varying sentences structures by having longer, potentially boring sections, and quickly sums it up in a few words directly afterwards. This makes the text more easier to understand and helps to achieve its purposes of informing and teaching, but it also helps the author's ethos in a roundabout way. The book is meant to teach about deception, and personally, I had a thought ringing, "What if this book is ALSO tricking me in some way?" of course, the bluntness of the author's style had quickly dismissed the thought, as it was so simplistic, yet sophisticated, that I felt there was no possible way to interpret the text any differently that I had. Overall, I would say the optimal reader would have to be older due to the more dated references, but I think the author can still achieve his purpose.

TOW #2 Confessions of an Ex-Mormon by Walter Kirn

“Confessions of an Ex-Mormon” by Walter Kirn is an essay that ran In “The New Republic”, a liberal political magazine that has been running since 1914. The essay informs the reader of the story of Walter, from his childhood to his current affairs and how Mormonism has affected his life. Kirn uses pathos almost exclusively. Though for something like an argument, this would be ineffective, however, in this specific case, it makes for a very powerful essay. The spiritual nature and personal experience of the essay is very captivating and works in Kirn’s favor. By utilizing different facets of how has religion has affected him, Kirn can connect to his audience on multiple levels as well. For example, his struggles with stereotypes, self-pride, questioning of religion are all very common issues in today’s society.

                However, the essay may be controversial. Despite my personal positive reaction to Kirn’s piece, it may not connect to all audiences. I think the ideal audience for this essay would have to be someone who is either agnostic, or skeptical of their religion. A zealot, or an atheist may disregard the essay as either a non-believer looking for an answer he’s not putting his whole heart into, or an ignorant person who refuses the leave the edges of spiritual desires and logical reasoning, respectively. Based on the ending of the essay, where Kirn states that despite the rejection of his religion, his poor religious habits, his drug addiction, and his shell of anti-Mormonism, he still desires the burning in his stomach that symbolizes his faith. I have seriously contemplated religion in my life and what to believe in spiritually, but in the  end this essay’s almost exclusive use of pathos has no grounding, nor reasoning. Only those who can truly empathize, rather than simply sympathize with Kirn can truly appreciate this essay.

Though it’s not poorly written, the audience feels very specific so I would imagine this piece being controversial. You either feel the passion or you don’t.

TOW #1 How To Say Nothing in 500 Words

Written by Paul Roberts is a piece titled, "How to Say Nothing in 500 Words," where he describes how to avoid getting C's and D's on 500 word essays. Paul Roberts, being known for countless English textbooks as well as taking a scientific approach to the language- understanding what makes writing effective or not- he is a worthy source of information. Roberts explains to its presumably college or possibly even high school level audience how to and how NOT to write essays. He combines rhetorical devices such as juxtaposition, ambiguity and wit in order to present his ideas to the audience. He will take an example of writing, and while the audience may assume this is an exemplar, but then he throws out several paragraphs of writing, and makes it clear that, "THIS WAS ALL A LIE." By using this strategy of betraying expectations, it acts as a signal to the reader, telling them they should be sure they are paying attention. This allows Roberts to assure his readers are not only skimming the context and exposition of his essay, but truly understand the meat of his points. He also uses convincing perspective, by providing the audience with the perspective of the teacher/professor that is grading the work. Small details such as getting a C or D depending on the teacher's mood supplements his writing by adding realism and a bit of humor to the scenario, creating a more convincing argument.

I think Roberts does an excellent job at portraying his point. By keeping the reading very interested and focused using his witty juxtapositions, making his essay relatable through his football analogy (Having to write on a topic you have an insubstantial stance on), and the way he gives purpose to every little detail, he makes very clear and helps tips to allow students to understand the secrets to bad writing, and how to improve it.

Essay #5 El Camino Delrosso by David Searcy

This essay has a very distinct purpose: Showing the reader the ephemeral nature that life presents. The truck had been gotten rid of swiftly, even the man driving the truck had his life taken away swiftly. The essay overall is relatively depressing. There is not much to go by the credibility of the author, however, his message is so universal, and the essay was so anecdotal, assuming the reader can trust his telling to be true, Searcy does a good job at portraying his purpose. By spending the majority of the essay on the obtaining of the truck, and quickly and brutally killing the kitten, taking the truck, and killing of Tracey, it really helps to emphasize the fast nature of life.

Some Say life is short. But wouldn't this essay argue that it simply moves too fast? 

Picture Source: http://www.sevenrefrigeration.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/fast-track.jpg

Essay #4 Epilogue: Deadkidistan by Michelle Mirsky

This essay attempts to discuss the experiences a woman goes through after dealing with the death of her child Lev. Although a heart-wrenching story and experience aimed for all audiences, I feel as though the overall purpose was no executed well. I think the use of comic relief and several comparisons, such as a the boat and captain metaphor were used very well in Mirsky's favor, however, 5 1/2 pages of grieving was not compensated by the message at the end. The message that the essay attempts to convey is supposed to be something along the lines of, "Don't worry about the bad things, because good things happen everyday!" However, the final paragraph has poorly placed comic relief. The humor with the pun-self-created words were needed to lighten the mood and make the reading more emotionally bearable, but the remark about some people being natural assholes just ruins the mood. Nor is there any specific events that the author leads up to to logically reach this conclusion.

Death is a very bleak subject. I think a lot of people will try to cling on to something to comfort themselves from the fact that someone important to them is now gone. Picture Source:http://skately.com/img/library/logos/large/death-skateboards.png

Essay #3 Channel B by Megan Stielstra

Channel B is about a woman with a baby. The woman is able to go through channels of her baby's safety camera, and stumbles upon channel B with another baby. The woman becomes obsessed with watching channel B, comparing herself to the other mother. The author's credibility in this passage seems a bit hard to be convinced by. She has enough detail in her story to make it coherent and allows the reader to infer certain things (Mainly about the other mother) but we don't know for sure. I feel like the essay seems solid enough to where the authors message of : You are never alone, was portrayed but there is a single inkling of doubt based in the author's lack of established ethos. However, in terms of establishing a more sentimental feeling with the reader, Stielstra succeeds. By using her repetition and compare and contrast, she is able to express an idea many can relate to: The grass is greener on the other side. I feel like this essay has a very broad audience, as the advice one would gain from this essay in particular is vague enough to apply to many aspects of life, but specific enough where the message doesn't feel like some sort of cop-out answer to a "How you should live your life" exam. Overall, I would say the author did a fine job at getting her point across. Her writing was very clear and her message was straightforward. Perfect for such a huge audience.

When you look in that mirror, you see someone better looking than you, but that person really is you. You're the same, you just don't see it that way. Picture Source: http://marriedpeople.org/couples/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/shutterstock_77277250.jpg

Essay #2 I'm jumping off the Bridge by Kevin Sampsell

Which view is right? Prioritizing your desires or prioritizing what you feel is better for everyone else?

 Piture Source:http://ctmiller.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/174403065.jpg

I'm Jumping off the Bridge is an essay regarding the motivations for suicide. After meeting with a man who wanted to kill himself, Sampsell started to think, perhaps his life was not worth living either. However, the essays purpose is not to tell the audience that life is not worth living. Just the opposite. A person with regrets or desires has no reason to die. At the end of the essay, the author discovers his reason to live. He is able to do so with his use of repetition and irony. The author merely listed things off that from an outside perspective would show it would be better to die, but from the author's personal viewpoint, dying would mean another, only this time, ironically his own perspective would tell him to live. This was an excellent use of repetition and the irony only served to strengthen Sampsell's point. I think this essay was definitely meant for an audience that has contemplated, but has not yet committed suicide. The memories are precisely build the author's credibility as well. Not only did he have personal suicidal thoughts, but he even helped another man he barely knew with that man's problems. These experiences in particular, along with the author's assumed 40-50 years of life experience serve to make Sampsell worth listening to. I think the author has done a decent job at attempting to get those contemplating suicide to look at things more optimistically. The author's narrative allows the reader to grasp the idea that life may or may not be worth living; it all depends on perspective. 

Essay #1 His Last Game by Brian Doyle

The essay His Last Game by Brian Doyle is one meant to show the inner-psyche of a person with ADHD. Two brothers on their drive to get some sort of Ritalin-like prescription are on a drive. They both make a couple bets down the line and start to reminisce about the past and their experiences. However, though the essay may be relatively interesting to read, I believe that it was not without its faults. Whereas the essay took certain stylistic liberties, such as having the sentence structure gradually change from shorter more focused sentences into longer more random ones, I feel as though the actual content of the essay and the memories ingrained within the words becomes lost. The bets and the basketball game are resolved in such ways that only the brothers would understand. However, I suppose since this is a simply just a memory, we should be  trustworthy of his experiences here.
I would assume this piece was written for two types of audiences with two different purposes. The first audience would be those with relative ignorance ADHD, and the latter being those with ADHD. I feel like the way the essay was written, it was supposed to be a gateway into the way one with ADHD would think. The Ignorant audience would be able to grasp the random and arcane nature of not being capable of staying focused and constantly  digressing and returning to and fro the subject that was supposed to be discussed. I also think the audience with ADHD was supposed to gain a more empathetic reaction, and moreso be able to be drawn in with the author's sentimental story and be swept by the author's pathos.
Though the piece was extremely confusing, I think it does a relatively fine job at being a sort of threshold for understanding those with ADHD. I believe that the author's experiences and his story was compelling enough to hold me for that.

A Closed window. Those outside the house can peer in (get a taste of ADHD) and see what it's like, and those already in the house can see everything that the author has to offer.

Picture Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Gordijnen_aan_venster.JPG