For some, capping the number of work hours for employees might seem like a relief. However, for others, particularly surgeons, Pauline W. Chen declares this is not the case. In this New York Times article, Chen, a surgeon, author, and columnist argues that the effects of minimizing the work hours of training significantly impact surgeons' performance and skill. Chen first starts off with an anecdote to emphasize the importance of time and practice in honing one's skills. She describes an encounter with a friend who had started out like them, as "a lowly resident of the medical center" but returned 10 years later as a dexterous surgeon with refined skills and could easily operations in a single hour that took others three or four. When asked what his secret was, he describes to Chen the hundreds of operations that he had completed over and over again, to the point of familiarity where he could of done the operations with his eyes closed. With her short anecdote of how her friend was able to succeed in his profession only through years and years of experience, Chen effectively sets the background information for her argument. In the second paragraph, Chen addresses the recent problem that has been affecting surgeons all over the U.S. In response to pressure from politicians, unions and sleep experts, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has worked to limit the number of hours residents are allowed to work. The recent 2011 limits specifically, have reduced work hours to 80 hours for all in-hospital work. Chen argues that with the number of hours lost, surgeons suffer an impact detrimental to opportunities to perform more operations, especially new trainees who need it the most and are only getting "two maybe three operations each week". Calculating the total hours lost, Chen says that young surgeons-to-be are missing as much as a year's worth of valuable experience. And the results sure show it. After a year or two of training, recent residents have been incapable of "operating or making clinical decisions on the their own. Nearly a third can not perform even the most basic operations like a gallbladder removal on their own". By listing these consequences , Chen convinces the audience that the surgical field is in grave trouble as a result of these working limitations. With hours being cut just as the skills surgeons need to know expanding more than ever before, Chen adamantly urges the hour confining laws to be overturned.
Mary Roach introduces the subject of death in a rather interesting manner; she compares being dead as going on a cruise. "These cruises take their passengers to unknown, unimagined places. They give them the chance to do things they would not otherwise get to do"(1). Roach then goes on to justify this heavy topic of using human cadavers for experiments with humor. She describes Cadavers as superheroes and lists a bunch of "abilities" that they possess: the ability to brave fire, withstand falls from buildings, gunshots, and being in six places at once. She then concludes the paragraph with a statement that leaves the audience thinking, "What are shame to waste these powers, to not use them for the betterment of humankind" (3). This thought provoking sentence helps sway audience members who have previously been hesitant about reading a book about corpses and convinces them to keep on reading. Roach continues to clarify her book by stating, "this book is not about death as in dying" (4). Dying is sad and profound because it is the loss of a loved one. She characterizes the dead on the other hand as hulls and just the shell of a person who use to be. By contrasting between death and dying, the audience can see that Roach approaches this subject in a humane matter and they are further able to understand the position Roach is taking on in her book. Besides the use of humor to approach as touchy subject, Roach also employs the use of perspective to her advantage. Stiff is written in first person and third person as well as both the past and present. When writing about historical events, she uses third person and appears in the past tense, taking on a tone that is less intimate and more objective. Here, her primary focus is to communicate information to the reader, and not necessarily to be humorous. However, when she appears in the first person in the present tense, Roach seems to be "very present" to the reader and establishes humor as well as intimacy and immediacy. By alternating between these two tenses, Roach effectively alternates her tone and mood of her writing to suit the situation.
During 2008, to advertise one of its slogans "more fruit than before" for their All-bran cereal, Kellogg's brought in none other than the iconic Snow White in one of their advertisements. In it, Snow White is in a setting familiar to most of its audience, a similar wooden cottage to that portrayed in childrens' picture books. Above on a fancy ribbon made of a wooden shaving is the phrase "more fruit than before". Right off the bat, adults should immediately be transported to their childhood memories and children should make the connection to their storybooks. However, what jumps out even before the background is Snow White standing transfixed at the sight, in an overflowing pile of shiny, red apples filling the entire cottage. The advertisement's use of apples references the symbolic image of Snow White and the apple that all audiences are familiar with. In the ad, the pile of apples is so immense that three of the dwarves are even buried underneath them. All the audience can see is their pointed hats sticking out through the heap. The overflowing abundance of the fruit helps illustrate "the extra fruitiness" of the new cereal. The whole image has a sort of fantastical, dreamy feel to it.With the use of humor and symbolism with an iconic character, Kellogg's effectively appeals to pathos in the audience and triggers childhood memories. In addition, in the bottom corner of the ad is a picture of fresh fruit and cereal, boxed and in a bowl. Contrasting from the fantasy- like image above, the photograph brings the audience back to reality as if to say "look, the fruitin our cereal actually is as fresh as it appears!" Through the symbolism of Snow White and the apple, and the contrast of the top and bottom images, Kellogg's ad will raise a chuckle from audiences both young and old.
For this years Movies Issue, New York Times Magazine commissioned a group of screenwriters, responsible for some of the best scripts of 2013 to each write a single captivating line of monologue for 11 short films directed by the Oscar winning cinematographer of Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List, Janusz Kaminski. These lines were then given to 11 talented actors and actresses to perform. Kaminski describes these short vignettes as "slightly whimsical and off-center. Each short evokes a particular style and conveys an emotion through the lighting, music and tone that is translated to the audience with the juxtaposition of the setting and diction. The actors' bizarre lines often contrast with the background settings of the scene, creating just the right dose of confusion to peak the interest of the audience. My personal favorite with 'Blue Jasmine' starring Cate Blanchett and written by Andrew Bujalski. The scene opens with dramatic orchestral music with a view of an elegant booth at a restaurant. Then with a 'crunch' the camera zooms in on a fish that has just landed on the plate, followed by the 'zing' of a knife and fork. Just as Blanchett picks up the utensils and is about to cut into the fish, the dramatic music is interrupted by a loud thump as the fish eyeball pops out of the fish and rolls to the plate. Blanchett then simpers at the fish, "show me where the bed is...put a blanket over me... and don't ever... let me see you again." She then proceeds to drape herself across the booth as the dramatic orchestra hits a crescendo and the camera zooms out to juxtapose her with the fish. The allure of these vignettes simply comes from the juxtaposition of the melodramatic scenes and climactic music with the quirky, and out of place lines. It it completely bewildering to the audience and it's genius.
