Tow #10 "For Millennials, It's Not Practical"

The NYTimes article "For Millennials, It's Not Practical" is written by Elena Sheppard, a writer and editor for NYTimes and in charge of arts and entertainment at PolicyMic. In her article, Sheppard writes about the financial struggles artists face who are trying to make it in "the real world". She states that "becoming a successful artist requires a cocktail of connections, financial support, talent and luck, so many of us are opting for more stable paths". Indeed, as a result, the rising creative class of artists is now largely determined by money. In "For Millennials, It's Not Practical" calls attention to the plight of Generation Y artists in the U.S. through her use of anecdotes and counterargument. Sheppard also establishes credibility with her audience by identifying herself as a struggling artist. However, she notes that she is more fortunate than many due to her advantage of growing up in New York City. Unlike many others, Sheppard was able to live at home and pursue the beginning of her New York career of unpaid internships and entry-level salaries. Without this opportunity, she may not have been able to seek the field of journalism and may very well have chosen a different career path.
Sheppard also quashes the "you-can-do-anything" dream that anything is possible as long as one persists. Seriously misleading, she points out that artists have to face student loans first, and unpaid internships. In the end, Sheppard makes the point, "no matter how passionate you are, at a certain point, finances trump all". Artistically, millennials have been labeled the "me me me generation"but in reality, Sheppard thinks they are practical. With huge debts and petty income, if the pay for the arts fails to increase, the creative class will remain monopolized by the wealthy.

IRB #2 Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is written by Mary Roach, a New York Times bestseller, a 2003 Barnes and Nobles Discover Great New Writers pick, one of Entertainment Weekly's Best Books of 2003 and other numerous awards. I became interested in this book last year during our nonfiction unit when Mrs. Minges introduced it to us along with a few other books by this author. Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers is a nonfiction, humorous book about our bodies postmortem, especially in the science and medical fields. This includes some of the oddest undertakings in France's first guillotines, NASA space shuttles, and being crucified in a Parisian lab to test the authenticity of the Shroud of Turin.

Tow #9 Swedish Fish

Swedish Fish are a staple at the U.S. candy scenes, appearing at almost every movie theater snack stand and grocery store. First imported to the U.S. in the late 1950s from Malaco, a Swedish Confectionary company, the fish shape candies were called "swedish fish", named after the huge fishing industries in Sweden. It immediately became popular in American and Canadian markets and the candy became a part of U.S. culture, inspiring many different varieties and even a Rita's water ice flavor. But why a fish? And what makes them so popular?
Swedish Fish lovers would probably first mention the unique cherry/strawberry/fruit punch flavor and texture that seems to be unparalleled to any other candy. However, interestingly, the packaging and the appearance of the product itself may play just as large of a role in its popularity. The logo, the small red fish with the word "swedish" imprinted on its side shapes the candies and appears on the front of the wrapper. The use of this fish not only enforces the idea of the brand of candy, it also appeals to the customers' sensory details that make the candy more interesting than just the average gummy. In fact, it has become so iconic it is probably immediately recognizable to most Americans. In addition, the company also appeals to pathos through the wrapper's design. The whole package is painted with vivid shades of the three primary colors, red, yellow and blue, simple yet effective. Yellow gills decorate the background of the whole package and "Swedish Fish" stands out  in bright, bold red lettering across the middle. Underneath, a Swedish Fish is swimming from the right side of the bag, which is see-through allowing the audience to view the product, towards a pond of water. The creative juxtaposition of the cartoonized package and the real product contributes to the overall effect of the scene depicted. The rich colors and iconic logo effectively embody what Swedish Fish candies are to the audience and its particular packaging design is unique but simple enough for customers to remember and recognize the brand.

Tow #8 IRB The Glass Castle

The second half of The Glass Castle focuses on Jeanette's transition into adulthood from her adolescence to the present. During Part 3, Walls primarily focuses on her life during her teenage years. Compared to the first half of the book, Walls' family life seems to deteriorate even more, especially during the winter seasons. The children have to fend for themselves as Rex and her mother make no attempt to find a job. Out of desperation, Jeanette is forced to hide in toilet stalls during school and scavenge the left overs of her peers. However at home one day, Brian discovers their mother hiding underneath the blankets secretly eating a family sized chocolate bar. Walls specifically chooses this memory to tell the audience because it appeals to pathos. The audience pities the children because they are forced to live in such poverty with no way out of it because they are so young. It also gives the readers a deeper view of the mother's selfish personality and allows them to realize that she isn't as helpless as she seems. By Part 4, Jeanette is almost an adult and has moved to New York City with Brian, and Lori. Rex and mom, who are homeless soon follow. In these chapters, as some of their merits are revealed, Jeanette learns to come to terms with her parents' lifestyle and accept who they are. When Jeanette decides to quit college because doesn't have enough money to pay tuition, Rex scrounges up nine hundred dollars and a mink coat for her from gambling, covering her tuition. It is in these moments, just as Jeanette wants to give up on her parents, that they redeem themselves. At the very last chapter, Walls depicts a scene of the whole family together during Thanksgiving dinner. When  Brian says, "you know, it's really not that hard to put food on the table if that's what you decide to do", Lori tells him to let it go by saying, "Now, no recriminations." Brian reminiscing of the their childhood represent how their past will always affect the present. However by forgiving their parents and moving on as Lori says to do is how the family survives and remains in touch.

Tow #7 "Big Women Bare All"

"Big Women Bare All" is a Newsweek article written by Abigail Jones. Jones has written quite a few articles for Newsweek about life, style and culture. In this article, Jones introduces Yossi Loloi's Full Beauty project to the audience. "The Full Beauty project" is a collection of photos of obese women in the nude designed to challenge society's views of "acceptable" female bodies, beauty, and size. Jones quotes Loloi "The women depicted are targets of societal backlash, but they are strong. They fight for acceptance in a world that doesn't approve of the slightest bulging of a love handle, let alone 'morbid obesity' or the possibility that some people find beauty in... all those things women spend thousands of dollars on every year trying to erase". Jones clearly tries to debunk the view that big women aren't beautiful by using statistics, figurative language and counterargument.

Jones first introduces her article with a vivid description of one of the project's subjects to allow her audience to develop their opinion on the subject. "Her thighs and calves are so profound that her feet appear miniscule, like dollhouse accessories". She then challenges the image of the ideal perfect, skinny woman that mainstream media offers by asking why a nude fat women is labeled a "provocation" but a thin model isn't. Jones explains that although the models are vulnerable, they are courageous enough to to appear in Loloi's project to force people to face their assumptions about women's bodies. Staring at their stretch marks and veins, suddenly we, the audience become the vulnerable ones. Our reactions say more about us than the about the women in the pictures. Jones makes her point as if to say, "Why can't big women be beautiful too?"

The argument is further supported by world wide statistics. Jones argues that the fact that one-third of American adults are obese and more women are a 16 than a size 2 and 0 combined prove that the Full beauty project isn't a confrontation but a nod to reality. Instead of discriminating a more than common appearance, why not embrace it?

Tow #6 "The photographer behind 'Humans of New York'"

"They call me Cat Man. I've normally got about three or four kittens in my jacket with me. There's this empty lot in Brooklyn where this one cat keeps pumping out ten kittens every three months. She just won't stop. She's some sort of super cat. I carry them around and sell them for about $40 apiece." (http://www.humansofnewyork.com)


"The photographer behind 'Humans of New York'" is a CNN article written by Emanuella Grinberg, a journalist that has written many articles for CNN about style, culture, and arts. Although upon further research, the audience can find the numerous articles Grinberg has written, she is not well-known enough for readers to recognize her name. Therefore, she can't establish automatic ethos and must establish her credibility within the article.

Grinberg's article may be targeted towards new readers who haven't heard of HONY (Humans of New York), but is probably more likely aimed for readers who are already fans of HONY. Grinberg's purpose of the article is to introduce readers to HONY and promote his new book, "Humans of New York". HONY is a website and Facebook page launched by a photographer named Brandon Stanton. HONY started as a small, unnoticed website in 2009, but quickly became popular, getting millions of hits a day. Everyday, Stanton walks around New York City and takes photos of people to capture the culture of the city. But what makes HONY different from other photography blogs are the compelling stories that the subjects of the photos share with the audience. Each subject offers a snippet of their lives through their stories or advice that they share with the world. Each photo always provokes contemplation and mass debate on the website. In the article, Grinberg posts a transcript of an interview between Stanton and CNN, where they discuss his book, tactics of approaching people for photos and his everyday life. The transcript not only allows the audience to learn more about who HONY is and what it does, it also appeals to pathos and shows the audience that Stanton is a down-to-earth person who is just like them.

Grinberg is able to establish her credibility and introduce HONY to the readers by relying heavily on the readers' background knowledge about HONY and appealing to pathos. With most of the audience already enthusiastic and excited about the photography website, it isn't hard to promote HONY and its new book.

Tow #5 "Brainy Elephants: One More Way They're as Smart as Humans"

"Brainy Elephants: One More Way They're as Smart as Humans" is a Times article written by Veronique Greenwood, a journalist that has frequently written articles for Time about animals, marine life, and anthropology. Greenwood establishes credibility with her audience from her experience with related topics. However, she does not establish automatic ethos because she is not well-known enough for readers to recognize her name.

Greenwood seems to target this article for an audience that is interested in psychology, animals, and their interaction with humans. In the article, she primarily focuses on the gesture of pointing and how elephants respond to it. The article is introduced with the explanation that pointing is an "extremely complex cognitive skill". It indicates an understanding that not only do individuals have thoughts in their own heads but others around them have different thought and may share them. It may be simple to humans but that's only because we learn to recognize the motion when we are infants. In Zimbabwe, psychology graduate student, Anna Smelt, performed an experiment with 11 elephants in the area. She studied the effect of pointing at a specific food bucket on the decision of elephants to recognize the gesture. Smelt tried a variety of pointing positions and the the elephants chose the bucket indicated by Smelt a greater proportion of time compared to the empty bucket. With these results, Greenwood makes the argument that are extremely intelligent animals, possible even just as smart as humans. She also disproves the counterargument that elephants may have learned pointing from humans by stating that if this were true, elephants held in captivity the longest would be better at pointing than newcomers, which is not true. Furthermore, Greenwood concedes, even if elephants did somehow learn pointing from humans, "they still are a step ahead of any other species researchers have tested, who have never made the connection between pointing and the target".

Greenwood makes an effective argument by connecting the elephants' recognition of pointing to humans and addressing the counterargument with solid evidence and explanation. Her article is intriguing to elephant and animal lovers alike.