TOW #11- I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - IRB

I think this book has been really interesting so far. In the first half of the book, Angelou has described her childhood in Stamps and the different experiences she had that shaped her life such as her visit to her mother. It is an interesting memoir and I like it so far, at least partially because it is so different from my own experiences. I like hearing stories, and especially stories that have a purpose. Her story is not just of a country childhood but of an African American girl as she grows up in a segregated south. Almost everything I know about segregation is from history books and it was interesting to see a real life perspective. It was a story of growing up and accepting your past experiences like what happened with Mr Freedman. She also automatically had ethos because it was a story about her life, and there wasn't much of an obvious argument being made. She is trying to tell the audience however, that this is what her life was like and what the world was like. Some of the strategies she used would include imagery and colloquialism. I really enjoyed her descriptions, of people, places, and events. She also spoke the way you would expect someone from the south to speak, which was an interesting effect and I think it wad effective because it makes the story seem more authentic, since she's using the language she would have used at the time. I enjoyed the narration style, it seemed to have a proposed rather than just retelling events. We learn what it was like to grow up in such a places and the hardships that people suffered, liked the cotton gamers who were tired and dirty after long days of work and still went to church. The purpose was hope. That even in the darkest time, there is hope that things will get better and that nothing bad has to last forever.

TOW #10 - "Why gendercide is the real 'war on women'" - Written

Link to Article

I know a talk a lot about feminism and other social justice issues here, but I found this article and I thought it was really interesting. It's about "gendercide", or the killing of young girls either through abortion or murdering the child after birth. The author is Reggie Littlejohn, president and founder of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, an international organization that opposes forced abortion and sexual slavery, as well as advocating for women's rights in general. This establishes her ethos on the topic. The article was attempting to convince people to help stop "gendercide", as well as promoting the organization towards the end. The article used statistics in order to support the argument that was being made, including the statistics about China and India, how in China 118 boys are born for every 100 girls, due to sex-selective abortions. In China, sons are preferred to daughters and this has led to the abortion of female fetuses and the high human trafficking in China. The article also describes similar problems in India, such as the "sterilization camps", where many women end up dying, showing that the problem is deadly not only to young girls, but to adult women as well. The statistics used definitely enhance the argument, supporting it and providing evidence for the true existence of a problem. It also appeals to pathos, which is an important part of the argument and will make readers much more likely to take action, or at least learn more about the problem, which is not clearly visible to many people, especially the primarily American audience who is reading the article. The topic is highly emotional, preventing the deaths of young girls, and it obviously benefits the author to appeal to this, especially if promoting her organization. Appeals to pathos can be found throughout the article, including "We are stopping gendercide, one baby girl at a time", which appeals to pathos because everyone loves babies, and arguing that change is possible, and they are making strides to create the change that is needed.

IRB Intro #2

I chose the book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. I chose this book because I've read poetry by Maya Angelou before, and really enjoyed it, so I want to see if I enjoy her prose. Also I don't usually read autobiography/memoir type books, and I thought I would give it a try.

TOW #9 Arms (Visual)

I thought this was an interesting visual text, and it attracted my attention as I was looking for one. It was an interesting juxtaposition of human arms and the firearms. It sends an interesting message about the artist's opinions on guns. I think this ad was targeted towards people who are against more strict gun control laws, primarily parents, because they would tend to like children. The author's purpose was to tell people that by allowing uncontrolled firearm use, we are perpetuating violence against other people. It was interesting that the image brought up children, because people know that children are very important to our future, and we don't want to be teaching our children the wrongs things, because they will be future leaders of society. It is saying that children don't naturally seek violence, that people are inherently peaceful, but they are taught violence by things like the presence of guns. The juxtaposition is interesting because the arms and the guns are in similar positions, and it makes the image more effective because it is visually interesting. The background color makes the image more noticeable to people. The overall color scheme is very jarring, and attracts the reader's eye immediately. The image is very obvious and clear, and the simplicity of the design makes it very effective. The font choice is interesting as well, it is not a very smooth or pretty font, and it draws attention to the idea that this is an ugly issue. This choice of font is very good for the purpose of this image. The image also appeals to pathos, because the creator knows that no one wants to do damage to children. It is also interesting for the creator to associate guns with children, which are not usually things that are associated together. This causes the reader to think about the message. Also, the simplicity of the design is good because it makes the message more clear and doesn't have an excess information or clutter to distract from the purpose of the image.

TOW #8 - How to Be Alone (IRB Part 2)

As I continued to read this book, I didn't particularly feel much changed. The rest of the essays were continuing the same themes as the first half of the book, although there was a larger variety of topics, including the prison system, and his favorite authors. They all served to define what being alone means, and whether being alone is a good thing or something that causes harm. Although the essays themselves were interesting, I think overall the author seemed to be a little bit pretentious, because he wrote a lot about things he's done, and saying that people who read serious fiction or fiction that is difficult to read are somehow "better" than people who don't do that, or that people who don't own modern technology are "better" than people who do, because they are caught up in what is popular or new. Much of the language he used was elevated as well, which could make the audience less able to understand the points he is trying to make, as well as alienating readers who aren't interested in trying to decipher the language. He also seemed to flaunt his accomplishments frequently, such as reading The Recognitions. Overall, I do think the essays provided interesting perspective on what being alone actually is, and whether you actually want to be alone. He definitely developed his ethos throughout the book, he made sure people knew he was credible to speak about the topics, some of which were about his personal life. Also, much of what he said was based on personal experience. At some points though, it was a bit difficult to understand what his point actually was, because he would jump from one topic to another without explanation or warning. His version of alone was not necessarily being isolated from others physically (such as in the prison described in the Control Units essay), but often mentally as well, such as his father having Alzheimer's or not embracing technology. Some of them didn't even focus on the individual, but rather on a unit, such as the city of Chicago on why they were an outlier in mail delivery. I don't think it was how to be alone exactly, but rather how being "alone" affects us.