Tow #19 Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

So far in Mary Roach's book Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, she has described several of her numerous journeys with people whose ideas are most charitably described as unconventional, including  talking to a professor of obstetrics, going on a ghost hunting tape recording trip, and taking a "Fundamentals of Mediumship" course in England. Most of the people Roach talks about in Spook are more likely as she calls, "nutters". In these beginning chapters, Roach effectively communicates her journey to tackle the question of whether the afterlife exists to the audience with the use of her witty rhetorical questions, humor and dialogues of her encounters.

Roach's use of humor often integrated throughout the book with other rhetorical devices such as her wacky rhetorical questions she asks herself and the reader. In the chapter, The Large Claims of the Medium: Reaching out to the dead in a University of Arizona lab, Roach muses that dead people never seem to address the obvious things that the not-yet-dead are the most curious about such as "Hey, where are you now? What do you do all day? What's it feel like being dead? Can you see me? Even when I'm on the toilet? Would you cut that out?" With these ludicrous questions, Roach appeals to the audience by making them laugh with her absurd thought process but also connects to the readers by making them feel like she is having a personal conversation them by reflecting back to her thoughts at those exact moments.

To draw the audience even more into the experience, Roach frequently records the highlights of the dialogues that she has with interesting characters she meets. In the chapter You Again: A visit to the Reincarnation Roach records a conversation that a medium has with a ghost who asks it all sorts of bizzare questions from "What do you do every day?" to "what type of "body" do you have?"

With the amusing use of rhetorical questions and dialogues and her always present unique sense of humor, Roach is able to make her audience feel like they are participating in part of her crazy experience.

Tow #18 "Sochi Olympics TV moment: Shaun White's loss is NBC gain"

During the Winter Olympics every four years, snowboarding is without a doubt one of the most highly anticipated events. All eyes were on Shaun White yesterday as he tried to land his third consecutive gold medal in the Sochi Games. However, not only did White drop one of his snowboarding events, he failed to medal in the halfpipe and received fourth place to the disappointment of many. In this Latimes article, Steven Zeitchik writes about the events leading up to this important moment, and the effect it has on the TV channel broadcasting it, NBC. Through the use of repetition and short syntax, Zeitchik effectively recaps the events and argues that Shaun White's loss benefitted NBC's ratings.

To introduce the last nights events to the audience, Zeitchik unravels the story with anaphoras. He begins each paragraph with the phrase "even if" to suggest that yesterdays halfpipe, just like every year is always one of the most anticipated competitions of the year regardless of the unforeseeable events that occurred during it. He then contrasts this past certainty of the event, with this years twist of events- whether White would be able to win the gold medal again? This uncertainty or "doubtful ending", Zeitchik explains is what will give NBC a finale filled with anticipation and excitement, and rake in millions of watchers and ratings.

Zeitchik's writing mirrors the tension of the half pipe event that kept the audience on the edge of their seats through the use of short syntax that created a dramatic, tone. Sentences are split into short phrases through the use of commas and dashes, creating a sense of urgency. He writes, "through the disappointment, through the strained facial muscles, through the gritted teeth, he smiled". The terse pauses in between the phrases dramatizes the situation as the scene unfolds to the audience.

Zeitchik not only effectively uses repetition and short syntax to create a dramatic tone and build up the anticipation through his article, he also is able to provide a convincing argument on how NBC benefitted from White's loss. He concludes the article with a note of uncertainty mentioned in the beginning of his writing "even if", suggesting that the Olympics hype is not yet over and there is more to come.

IRB #3 Intro Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife is written by Mary Roach, a New York Times bestseller, 2003 Barnes and Nobles Discover Great Writers pick, one of Entertainment Weekly's Best Books of 2003 and other numerous awards. After reading her book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers I realized that I really enjoyed it and wanted to read another book in her series. In Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, Roach explores the topic of the afterlife and takes the readers through a scientific exploration on whether there is a soul that survives death. I'm interested to see whether she ends up proving or disproving the theory of life after death through her research.

Tow #18 "When Pedestrians Get Mixed Signals"

In the NYTimes article "When Pedestrians Get Mixed Signals" Tom Vanderbilt explores the topic of jaywalking and whether the pedestrians or drivers should take the blame for the accidents that result. He argues that the pedestrians should not be blamed for jaywalking. Instead, through the use of citations, stats, and anecdotes, Vanderbilt claims that better walking infrastructure, slower car speeds and more pedestrians will increase the safety of the pedestrian and decrease the need for jaywalking. Vanderbilt introduces his article by explaining why enforcement and education about jaywalking is not working. He presents a counterargument by citing a Los Angeles police officer who says, "We're heavily enforcing pedestrian violences because they're impending traffic and causing too many accidents and deaths". Vanderbilt refutes the idea aggressive enforcement, by pointing out that the rules for jaywalking vary greatly between states and internationally and the lack of constancy is confusing for pedestrians. Jaywalking in Canada, Spain, Poland, Singapore and Australia is considered a harsh offense but in Scandinavia and Britain is not considered a big deal. In addition, he provides a general stat that attempts at educating teenage driving films and seat belt usage awareness campaigns have barely had an impact on lowering teen accident deaths. Vanderbilt then explains that he personally jaywalks with his daughter frequently because he feels it is safer then following the pedestrian light. "..the times we came closest to being hit by cars were when we had the "Walk" signal and a driver attempted to make a turn". Finally, Vanderbilt makes a claim of policy and urges that “rather than punishing people for opting out of the system, a more effective approach is to opt in”. He argues that pedestrians are more likely to cross against the signal if lights exist to tell them how long the wait is and encourages cities to be proactive by installing these lights for pedestrians.