TOW #13: Visual Text (Beyoncé Pepsi Commercial)

PepsiCo is no stranger to celebrity endorsement. From Michael Jackson's in 1984 to Britney Spears's in 2001, many Pepsi commercials have featured pop culture icons. One of the most recent in the lineup, Beyoncé's Pepsi commercial aired in April of 2013.

The advertisement features a present-day Beyoncé Knowles in the middle of a set of mirrors. She drinks a Pepsi, and each mirror suddenly contains a younger Beyoncé from earlier in her music career. The personas reach as far back as 2001; Pepsi recreated her pink costume from the Destiny's Child "Bootylicious" music video, before she was even a solo artist. They all dance to a song that at the time had yet to be released, culminating with Beyoncé breaking away from her past selves and drinking a Pepsi. The slogan "Live For Now" is displayed on the screen and a voiceover states, "Embrace your past, but live for now."

The commercial relies heavily on the audience members' cultural knowledge; they must realize that Beyoncé is confronting past versions of herself, or else the advertisement makes little sense. Luckily, Beyoncé is popular enough that the average American would recognize her and make the necessary connection to the slogan. Even if they didn't, however, the commercial would still be effective due to the entertainment value of the singing, dancing, and animation.

I think the commercial was most likely successful in fulfilling its purpose of selling Pepsi products. PepsiCo was wise to choose Beyoncé as its spokesperson, since she is about as popular today as Michael Jackson was in 1984. Prior to this commercial, Pepsi sent her to perform at the Superbowl to put her back in the public eye despite being between album releases. The fact that the commercial features an unreleased song creates even more talk about Beyoncé and the commercial, thus making it more well-known and more likely to sell its product.

TOW #12: IRB (I Am Malala)

An activist for education and women's rights, Malala Yousafzai has run a blog for the BBC, starred in a New York Times documentary about Pakistan, and been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize. Only fifteen years old, she was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban in October 2012. She survived the assassination attempt and became even more successful; she was named one of Time's "100 Most Influential People in the World" and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. With help from Oxford-educated British journalist Christina Lamb, Yousafzai wrote I Am Malala as equal parts autobiography and memoir.

The best parts, in my opinion, are when Yousafzai uses anecdotes to let the reader know what her life really feels like. Even when not much is occurring, the writing becomes more detailed and relatable when Yousafzai writes a first-hand account. For example, she writes, "That morning we arived in the narrow mud lane off Haji Baba Road in our usual procession of brightly painted rickshaws, sputtering diesel fumes, each one crammed with five or six girls" (3). Because she experienced this herself, Yousafzai is able to convey the event better than if she had simply researched it. The anecdotes often include imagery and sensory details that allow the reader to imagine the smell of diesel fuel or the sight of the brightly colored rickshaws.

Although the autobiographical information is interesting, Yousafzai (likely with some prodding from Lamb) sometimes gives a lot of information that I, as a reader of a book about Malala Yousafzai, do not find necessary. She dedicates a large section to her father's background and beliefs; the information seems both impersonal and slightly irrelevant. (After all, the book is not called I Am Ziauddin.) I realize that Yousafzai and Lamb are trying to inform readers, but unless this information becomes necessary later, I feel like it was distracting and forced. Other than that complaint, the book is generally well-written and the authors are so far entertaining and informing me in the way that they wanted.

Malala's School

Included in I Am Malala

TOW #11: Article (Catch a Cold, Go to Prison: The Recidivism Debate)

"Catch a Cold, Go to Prison: The Recidivism Debate" appeared on the Los Angeles Times website on November 26, claiming to have been written by "The Times editorial board." Because I do not live in California (as most of the Times' readers do) I was previously unaware of the problem of high recidivism in the Californian criminal justice system. Recidivism is the rate at which previously paroled prisoners partake in additional illegal activity. Attorney general Kamala Harris recently opened a division to reduce California recidivism rates, an action which the authors say was pointless and unnecessary.

The article's main rhetorical strategy is to define the word "recidivism." By defining the subject, the Times editors can make their argument seem more relevant and accurate based on the descriptions that they themselves gave. "Because 'recidivism' has so many different meanings [...] it has no meaning at all," the authors write. "Clearer language is needed to produce clearer results." The topic can be spun many different ways based on how one describes it, a fact that the authors cleverly noticed and effectively used to make theirs appear to be the only rational argument.

The definition is given through a comparison of two people: a man who missed a probation appointment after being paroled, and a cancer patient who developed a cold. You would not say that the cancer patient relapsed, the authors reasoned. Similarly, missing one appointment should not mean the criminal "relapsed," as is implied with the current, broad definition of recidivism. Juxtaposing these two people led the audience down a logical path: if the cancer patient did not relapse, and the criminal is in a very similar situation, then it holds that the criminal did not relapse, either. This current miscategorization drives up recidivism measurements.  "When technical parole violations are stripped out and the measure of recidivism is a new crime with a new arrest and a new conviction," the authors argue, "California's recidivism rate is [...]  just about the same as most other states." This logical argument was strong and seemingly effective at persuading the audience that Californian recidivism is not as urgent as it appears from the measurements.

CA Attorney General Kamala Harris

TOW #10: Article (Fixing Schools to Fix Chicago)

19,905 students graduated from Chicago public schools in June. In the same class, 9,310 students dropped out after ninth grade. This shocking statistic is the first used by the anonymous author of "Fixing Schools to Fix Chicago" in order to prove that the Chicago school system needs a drastic overhaul. He or she continues that only eight percent of public high school freshman in Chicago will go on to earn a bachelor's degree by their mid-twenties. After using these statistics to prove that dropouts are major problem in the city, the author lists reasons why the typical Chicagoan reader should care. The author explains, "Why should this matter to all Chicagoans? Because crime, joblessness, poverty — many of this city's ills — take root at home and fester in the classroom." He or she then goes into detail about how the high number of dropouts contributes to each problem. For example, dropouts are "140 times more likely to be in correctional institutions than their peers with college degrees." By using facts and examples, the author proves that this problem is both widespread and relevant to common interest.

The author ultimately wants readers to participate in a series of editorials the Chicago Tribune is running to plan a better city. Although the lack of a name attached to the article detracts from its credibility, the fact that it is part of an official Chicago Tribune project shows that the research and opinions presented are probably valid. I believe that the author's argument was convincing enough that many readers would have wanted to contribute to fixing the education system through this editorial series. Even if a reader has no children in the school system and does not have a personal interest in it, everybody wants less crime on the streets and wants to fund fewer food stamps. The author's argument was coherent and persuasive.
 
 

 

 Gerould W. Kern, Chicago Tribune Editor

This guy wants you to fix Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/plan/ct-edit-xproject2a-educ-1013-20131013,0,3575610.story

IRB #2: I Am Malala

Millions of people around the world know the story of Malala Yousafzai, the girls' education activist who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban. Last month with journalist Christina Lamb she published I Am Malala, a memoir about her family, town, childhood, and activism. 

Because my last IRB was so logic-based, I wanted to read a memoir this time. In my research, I came across Malala's memoir, which reminded me of a comic strip I saw a few months ago. I'm not interested in most current events but the illustration made me want to know more. I hope that reading this book will help me better comprehend the issue and give me some unpredictable insight into Malala as a person and activist.

TOW #9: Visual Text (GM Advertisement)

The above advertisement appeared in some sort of race car magazine (I could not, unfortunately, find the name of the publication) in 1988. General Motors published it with the goal of convincing car enthusiasts to buy the 1988 Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Trans Am. The most prominent rhetorical device used by GM is a literary allusion to The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, a novel in which the good Doctor Jekyll periodically transforms into the evil man usually trapped inside himself, Mr. Hyde. The theme of the novel is that all human beings have a well-suppressed wild side. GM uses this theme to its advantage, implying that the reader has a business-like persona and an excitement-loving one, and that the Trans Am and Camaro would cater to both of those interests. In this respect, GM also utilizes juxtaposition to show that most cars would suit either Dr. Jekyll or Mr. Hyde, but GM cars have the ability to combine the two.

I imagine the ad achieved its purpose very well. Its target audience was already obsessed with both racing and owning cars, and learning that they could participate in both would have been a massive advantage to owning one of the two featured GM cars. The only issue would be whether the audience would be able to afford the product. In many cases, these were probably just fantasy cars for the teenage gearhead, in which case they would not purchase the car no matter how well it was advertised.

TOW #8: IRB (Outliers)

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers continues to compare and contrast pieces of evidence throughout the rest of the book. As a reminder, Gladwell is a writer for the New Yorker and is trying to prove shed light on the specific factors that allow people like Bill Gates to be extraordinarily successful or Avianca flight 052 to go terrible wrong. Moving through the book, he increasingly makes use of anecdotes. For example, a chapter of is dedicated to a specific plane crash; because he is not a pilot, he interviewed Suren Ratwatte, an experienced pilot who explains what the atmosphere of the cockpit is like. Telling an anecdote about one of his own flights, Ratwatte describes, "At one point I was talking to three different people--talking to Dubai, talking to MedLink [...] and I was talking to the two doctors who were attending to the lady in the back. It was nonstop for forty minutes" (190-191). Although it is not his own story, Gladwell still makes use of it by analyzing it in a way that proves his point. He explains that Rutwatte felt comfortable communicating freely because Americans do not follow strict hierarchy rules, whereas countries like Hong Kong and Singapore do. This creates problems when pilots cannot clearly communicate with their subordinates, making their assistants useless and greatly increasing the likelihood of a crash. Gladwell's use of anecdotes is in a way another method of comparison: he presents a case that is both similar and different than the one being studied for the chapter, and explains why they did not end the same way. The personal aspect makes his point more relatable and easier to grasp. After finishing Outliers, I definitely believe that Gladwell achieved his purpose. His books are intended for intelligent adults, so if I understood and agreed with the point, I'm sure most of his audience does as well.

TOW #7: Article (The Other Side of the American Revolution)

This opinion piece was written by Clayton McCleskey, who "is a contributing writer for The Dallas Morning News based in Washington." That gives him some credibility, although he doesn't need much since this is an opinion piece and he is therefore not obligated to be entirely accurate (unless he actually wants to make readers listen). McCleskey begins by mentioning the use of the Union Jack in the American Revolution. A select few would be bothered by this, but it unfortunately destroys his credibility in my eyes; at the time (and even technically until today) the flag was only called the Union Jack when flown on a ship of the Royal Navy. Otherwise, it was just a flag.

McCleskey convinces the reader that America misunderstands much of history by appealing to the reader's prejudices. He writes, "Misconceptions abound, from Sarah Palin’s belief that Paul Revere warned the British to the tea party’s rather misguided view of the true tax burden on the colonists." Those who dislike Palin and the tea party are likely to agree with McCleskey lest they be as ignorant as they find their enemies. I personally do not agree with the referenced politicians, so I find the comment humorous and relatable.

To end the peace, McCleskey appeals to nationalism by writing, "In the end, the history of the American loyalists is one of reconciliation and unity in the wake of bitter divides." This warm and fuzzy lesson is meant to soothe the readers after McCleskey told them that their knowledge of American history was likely incorrect or incomplete. After all, what's an essay about America without some display of national pride?

In my opinion, McCleskey well distributed his ideas to whatever newspaper reader was bored enough to pay attention to the editorials. Despite the Union Jack mishap, he drew in an audience and presented his main argument as indisputable fact, making him sound knowledgeable and credible. I'm not sure how well he would do in his Texas crowd, considering the jabs at Palin and the tea party, but in normal parts of the country he would be successful.

This picture accompanied McCleskey's article.

How... charming.

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20110701-clayton-mccleskey-the-other-side-of-the-american-revolution-.ece

TOW #6: Article (London Can't Become Home Only to the Rich)

Unfortunately, this article on The Guardian's editorials website does not have a cited author, which damages its credibility. Fortunately, this is the only flaw I can find in the piece. Its overall purpose is to persuade readers that London is being overrun by billionaires investing in property and driving the lower classes out.  It begins with a list of past Londoners' achievements. The author writes, "Hiram Maxim perfected his machine gun there; Sebastian de Ferranti his dynamos and Guglielmo Marconi his electric telegraph. Clerkenwell's people were cabinet makers, brass workers and glass shade and globe makers." This list evokes a sense of pride and accomplishment surrounding the city. The author then explains how London is being changed by the congregation of the wealthy and eviction of the poor. The article states, "Already some senior business leaders have voiced fears that the capital is likely to lose out to cities such as Berlin in the race to become Europe's major digital hub since London is simply unaffordable for many young enterprising tech workers." By contrasting London's successful past with its grim future, the author demonstrates the kind of economic and cultural center that England is at risk of losing due to limited diversity. The article also utilizes numerous statistics and numbers that add credibility to its argument.

I began reading the article knowing only that London is an expensive city, but I now agree with the author that the rich need to stop investing in London property if the city has any hope of flourishing. Although I am not a typical reader of The Guardian's editorials (and am neither British nor an adult), the author's success in persuading me probably indicates that his or her purpose was achieved among the target audience, as well. The article was well-written and seemingly accurate, making it an effective persuasive essay.

Earl's Terrace, Kensington

The most expensive street in England and Wales, according to the article.

Kensington is a district of west London, according to Wikipedia.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/20/observer-editorial-london-preserve-rich

TOW #5: Visual Text (Book Cover: Eats, Shoots & Leaves)

Eats, Shoots & Leaves

Lynne Truss

In order to sell Eats, Shoots & Leaves to a wider audience than grammar sticklers and English students, Truss (or rather, her publisher, Gotham Books) designed its cover to appeal to the common consumer who may not necessarily care about grammar. The illustration on the front cover appeals to ethos in two ways. First, the potential reader sees pandas, which make any object infinitely cuter. He or she then realizes that one of the pandas is holding a gun, which shocks him or her enough that "The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" does not effect as much terror or disgust as it typically would. The front also appeals to ethos using the advertisement, "The Runaway #1 British Bestseller," with #1 large and bright red. Such a possible book must be accurate and entertaining, or so the logic argues. The back cover appeals to both ethos and logos by citing positive reviews from respected and varied sources. Again, if this many people loved the book this deeply, then so will the common reader. The short explanation of the title is a humorous misunderstanding that implies that the book will be equally amusing. The story finishes with the sentence, "So, punctuation really does matter, even if it is only occasionally life or death." This conveys the book's purpose of teaching the importance of punctuation without alarming the reader with textbook-style writing.

In my opinion, Gotham Books designed or at least chose the cover well. It downplays punctuation enough that it doesn't look boring, although it is still the obvious topic of the book. It was a bestseller, so something must have been done correctly (and it probably wasn't just the content, unless British people care about grammar a lot more than Americans). Gotham actually managed to make a book about punctuation popular.

TOW #4: IRB (Outliers)

Malcolm Gladwell has written five books and has been a writer for The New Yorker since 1996. In Outliers, he examines the stories of outstandingly successful people and explains how their circumstances allowed them to achieve higher success than their peers. To demonstrate the significance of these circumstances, Gladwell frequently compares and contrasts similar subjects. For example, he explains why Christopher Langan is jobless while Robert Oppenheimer (who once attempted murder) became the scientific director of the Manhattan Project. He begins, "Oppenheimer and Langan might both be geniuses, but in other ways, they could not be more different" (98). The primary difference, Gladwell says, was their upbringings. Langan was raised by a poor mother who couldn't teach him the social skills that Oppenheimer's wealthy parents enforced upon him. After a series of unfortunate events, Langan was unable to defend himself and achieve the college experience needed to be a credible author, even though he has the talent and knowledge that Oppenheimer did. Oppenheimer was taught how to socialize effectively, allowing him to downplay his past and win a position in the Manhattan Project. Multiple comparisons like this one provide a thorough understanding of Gladwell's differentiation between success and failure.

Outliers begins with the history of Roseto, Pennsylvania, whose population consists primarily of Italian immigrants. In the 1950's, Roseto had astoundingly low rates of most causes of death, although its citizens had no visible advantages in diet or genetics. A physician named Stewart Wolf concluded that its lifestyle helped townspeople remain healthy. This was medically controversial, as it suggested that something so trivial as tri-generational households could have a prominent effect on overall health. Stewart states, "In Outliers, I want to do for our understanding of success what Stewart Wolf did for our understanding of health" (11). He wants his audience of intellects to recognize the seemingly meaningless details that ultimately allow a person to succeed, just as Wolf pointed out the "big picture" in health. Although I have only read the first of two parts, I think Stewart has already achieved his purpose. I might not know each of his specific points yet, but I understand that nothing is based solely on hard work or luck.

TOW #3: Article (Fed Too Familiar With Lost Labor Seeking New Message for Policy)

Caroline Salas Gage, author of "Fed Too Familiar With Lost Labor Seeking New Messages for Policy," has written for Bloomberg Businessweek since at least July 2011, making her a relatively credible source. The article was written in response to the Federal Reserve's decision to rely less upon the national unemployment rate as a measure of economic success. Gage tries to persuade readers that the Federal Reserve made a mistake in choosing the unemployment rate as an indicator of the current economy and guideline for policy-making. Gage appeals to logos frequently by writing statistics into every paragraph, quoting numbers such as the unemployment rate of each month this summer from June to August (7.6%, 7.4%, and 7.3%) and the Federal Open Market Committee's bond-buying rate ($85 billion per month). She also quotes experts on the article's topic, making sure to establish their ethos through a proper introduction. For example, she quoted Ethan Harris, "co-head of global economics research at Bank of America Corp. in New York." I'm not sure if this next tool has a specific literary term, but videos of several speeches that she mentions can be found on the side of the article, giving the reader extra context if they feel they need it.

I chose this article specifically because I thought it would be boring, and I was correct. I'm sure its intended audience of business-minded BusinessWeek readers take away exactly what Gage intended, but I personally didn't care and was more than a bit lost. Her typical audience would have a frame of reference for the statistics that Gage was so fond of including, but I would have needed them to be thoroughly explained. I think even the common person would have difficulty understanding the article; only a businessperson would really understand and care about her message. That being said, she seems to argue and support her point well.

According to BusinessWeek, this is Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

I'll take their word for it.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-29/fed-too-familiar-with-lost-labor-seeking-new-message-for-policy.html

TOW #2: Visual Text (Progresso Commercial)

This commercial was first aired in 2009, though I believe it still airs occasionally. Weight Watchers had recently partnered with Progresso to make a slightly more healthy soup that would fit in the Weight Watchers diet. As is the goal of any advertisement, Progresso's purpose in producing this commercial was to sell more of its soup.

The commercial follows the typical format of the Progresso commercial; a chef is working in the kitchen when a distressed customer calls over the can phone and complains about some sort of problem they have that is caused by Progresso soups' excessive superiority. Because Progresso is already well-known for marketing in this way, the advertisement is easily recognizable, allowing the audience to focus on the specific product because tit already knows the brand.

In a span of thirty seconds, the commercial appeals to ethos, pathos, and logos. Due to the formatting of the commercial, ethos receives a slightly unconventional appeal. Progresso wrote and produced every part of the video, but created a relatable character to speak as though she were an actual consumer, showing how much "real" people enjoy Progresso products. This woman caters specifically to the target audience, which consists of middle-aged women who have families, shop for groceries, and would like to lose a bit of weight.
She makes us laugh at her husband's expense: a slight appeal to pathos. An appeal to logos is cleverly slipped in without being explicitly stated. The main character makes the claim that those who eat Progresso's Weight Watchers-endorsed soups will begin to look like they did twenty years ago.

I believe Progresso's purpose was well achieved. The few seconds of humor with the husband allows viewers to see the commercial many times before getting bored and changing the channel, and more views leads to more product purchases.

TOW #1: Article (Want to See China's Latest Top Secret Military Site? Just Google It)

On September 14, Time Magazine published Dan Kedmey's article, "Want to See China's Latest Top Secret Military Site? Just Google It." Kedmey appears to have written for Time since June 5 of this year, but that's all the information that can be found. His article topics have ranged from North Korea to internet in the Pacific Islands to One Direction. His only credit is that he has been consistently published in Time Magazine for a few months. This is the first strike against the article.

Kedmey begins by comparing the use of spies and satellite pictures during the Cold War to the Google Earth images of military intelligence we can access today. The comparison effectively shows how current technology far surpasses anything we have had throughout history. He explains that Peter Singer and Jeremy Lin, two military technology enthusiasts (experts?), wrote an analysis of the production of the first Chinese military aircraft carrier based solely on images found on public blogs. The reader learns more about the analysis and the current technology available to us, then is stuck with five hundred words of background information about Jeremy Lin and the online military forums he uses. Kedmey offers some information about the internet's ability to find and interpret confidential information, but focuses mainly on Lin, calling him a "digital-age Pocahontas, who could lead old-school intelligence experts through the unfamiliar terrain of crowd-sourced pictures." The allusion, in addition to going into far too much detail about a man the reader doesn't care about, is also inaccurate: Kedmey likely meant to compare Lin to Sacagawea. Strike two.

Fortunately, the article does not receive a third strike; it was neither fantastic nor awful. Kedmey's goal was to show the readers of Time Magazine the shocking ease with which military intelligence can be leaked. However, I believe he should have further explained the significance of this availability of information. In his final paragraphs, he quickly describes the CIA's center for open source intelligence, to which the general public submits information to be reviewed as possible evidence in threat assessments. Had he included more of this type of information and less on the background of the barely relevant military enthusiast, this article would have more impact on its readers.

Aircraft Carrier Production

The top secret Chinese aircraft carrier isn't so secret after all.

http://world.time.com/2013/09/14/wanna-see-chinas-latest-top-secret-military-site-just-google-it/

IRB #1: Outliers

Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers describes people who have gained overwhelming success and highlights the specific circumstances that allowed them to get there. Among others, Gladwell discusses the rise of Bill Gates and The Beatles. He explains why a disproportionate number of successful hockey players are born in the early months of the year. (Hint: Training starts at a young age.) The novel as a whole explains how certain people rise above others who may be just as talented.

I have recently realized that popular books usually become popular because they are valuable and worthwhile. Outliers falls in this category. The book is fairly well-known and has been recommended to me many times over the past two years. I usually prefer narrative nonfiction, but decided to try this one just because others have done the same. I hope to discover why so many people have enjoyed it, and am curious to see whether I'll enjoy it as well.

A Personal Essay by a Personal Essay

By Christy Vannoy

Vannoy is a columnist for McSweeney’s, an online magazine of sorts, which is where she first published this piece in 2011. “A Personal Essay by a Personal Essay” is by far the lightest and shortest essay in the collection. Vannoy wrote it as to criticize the competitive world of writing essays. Her narrator is an actual personal essay: one of ten being competitively considered for a magazine. The author writes, “The Essay Without Arms worried me at first, but she had great bone structure and a wedding ring dangled from a chain around her neck, so I doubted her life has been all that hard” (210). Vannoy’s use of satire borders on open mocking of the melodramatic nature of many essays. She implies that it’s nearly mandatory for a personal essay to be equal parts tragic and inspiring. Vannoy particularly utilizes humor in her exaggerated descriptions of typical essays, including one that followed “a series of miscarriages and narcoleptic seizures living in a work camp […] in communist China” (211). She realizes this is hyperbole, but uses it to highlight the trend in personal essays about grief and suffering.

Essayists and essay readers alike would enjoy Vannoy’s critique of the industry. She fulfills her purpose so well that the reader begins to reflect on the other essays in the same collection. There’s a woman hit by a bus, a risky 1960’s abortion, a mugging, a string of murders… The most popular essays, as Vannoy suggests, seem to highlight the misfortune of the author. Are we sadists? Vannoy’s narrator offers advice to other personal essays that might explain our love of hardship. The author writes, “You are not a tragedy, you are a personal essay. You must rise above and you must do it in the last paragraph with basic grammar and easily recognized words” (212). For an essay to be enjoyable (and therefore popular) it must leave the reader with some lesson or emotion; there is seldom a better takeaway than a protagonist’s triumph over stacked odds.

The Drama!

Vannoy satirizes the trend in unfortunate and dramatic personal essays.

http://upstageproductions.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html

What Really Happened

By Madge McKeithen


Madge McKeithen has published books and essays in a variety of sources. Published in TriQuarterly magazine in 2009, “What Really Happened” recounts McKeithen’s experience visiting her friend’s husband-turned-murderer in jail. It has no specific audience to speak of; rather, it is interesting and universal enough that anybody might find and enjoy it. The most unusual aspect of this essay is its second-person perspective. Rather than a first-hand account of a jail visit, McKeithen seems to present her story as a series of instructions. It distances her from the events being described, but creates a more personal connection with the reader. The author writes, “Go through metal detectors. Pass through automatic doors that open and shut with a Star Trek-like whoosh. Continue inward” (139). The commands appear to address and contact the reader directly. They could also be emotional guards used to create distance and avoid reliving the situation. Though distanced, McKeithen allows readers to glimpse her thoughts, which is why this abrupt Star Trek allusion doesn’t break up the flow of the paragraph. Combined, McKeithen’s instruction-like phrasing and stream-of-consciousness style of writing invite the reader into her head as an active participant on her journey.

Over the course of the essay, McKeithen tries to come to terms again with her friend’s death. She might have written this piece to remind its readers of their own mortality, but I think it also helped with whatever stage of the grieving process she was experiencing. She seems to find a conclusion to the inevitable “What really happened?” question. McKeithen writes, “Say back What really happened is your life” (140). This is as close as one can get to accepting that a life has already happened and finished. By coming to that conclusion, she fulfilled her goal of helping herself and her readers (who came to the conclusion with her) accept mortality a little bit more.

Grief

Gene Gould, 1965

As artists express their emotions through paint, writers like McKeithen use language as their medium.

Generation Why?

By Zadie Smith


Zadie Smith, who has taught fiction at Columbia University and New York University, wrote “Generation Why?” in response to The Social Network, a movie that claims to tell the story of Mark Zuckerberg and the founding of Facebook. As a review, it provides far more analysis than entirely necessary, and as an essay it provides more movie discussion than necessary. Smith attempted to prove that Generation Facebook is more interesting and worthwhile than the website itself. As an essay, discussion of The Social Network was an effective starting point because it gave every reader the same basic knowledge of the topic, although it ran longer than desired. After many pop culture allusions—most of which barely alter the text—Smith finally relates the movie to the real-life Mark Zuckerberg. Smith writes, “Generation Facebook’s obsession with this type of ‘celebrity lifestyle’ is more than familiar. [...] But would Zuckerberg recognize it, the real Zuckerberg? Are these really his motivations, his obsessions? No—and the movie knows it” (189). She begins to debate Zuckerberg’s real motivations and explain how fundamentally the movie mischaracterized him. The Social Network makes him look like a fame seeker, businessman, and devoted ex-boyfriend, she argues, but he's really a self-absorbed man who enjoys programming and wants to fit in.

After providing a lot of information about the nature of Facebook, its founder, and its "generation," Smith demonstrates the reason why Generation Facebook is above its own technology. Using a quote from programmer Jaron Lanier, Smith declares that “information underrepresents reality,” which explains why a person cannot be accurately reduced to a web profile (193). She also argues that sharing these basic versions of ourselves is how Zuckerberg defines social interaction: another reason why the site is so limited. Smith made several other claims about the simplicity of advertising and the difficulty of removing one’s virtual identity, but she had already argued so many points that these were lost. Her purpose was already fulfilled, but it could have been clearer with less clutter. Perhaps Smith's intended audience (aged thirty and over) would have wanted or needed this amount of discussion, but as someone who grew up in the world of Facebook, I'd prefer it simplified.

Zuckerberg's Facebook Profile

Facebook limits personhood to name, birthday, hometown, and profile picture.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/12/11/facebook-ceo-opts-for-a-more-public-profile/

Lucky Girl

By Bridget Potter


While compiling a social history of the 1960's, Columbia University student Bridget Potter published "Lucky Girl" in Guernica magazine in 2010. Potter describes her search for an illegal abortion after her black market birth control failed in 1962. She writes, "A wooden table, no anesthesia, a scraping sound, and a newspaper-lined metal bucket. I moaned. Be quiet, he demanded. Or did I want him to stop? No, no. Go on. Please" (153). Such attention to detail helps the reader empathize with Potter and feel the same terror and desperation that she felt at nineteen years old. Her stylistic decision not to use quotation marks reflects the confusion of her situation, as opposed to the clear-cut pauses evoked by punctuation.

In the final paragraphs, Potter puts her experience into perspective. "I was one of the lucky ones," she writes. "According to the Guttmacher Institute, in 1962—the year I made my trip to Puerto Rico—nearly sixteen hundred women were admitted to just one New York City hospital for incomplete abortions" (154). After winning the reader's sympathy with her own struggles, Potter utilizes this statistic to clarify that hers were the most fortunate of circumstances. She traveled hundreds of miles for a questionable abortion, but faced no prolonged consequence; she could have been one of the sixteen hundred at that hospital alone who faced injury, infection, or death. She illustrates the possible dangers of an illegal abortion with the emotion of a personal story and the certainty of the truth, easily fulfilling the first part of her purpose: convince the reader that limiting pregnancy options is dangerous.

Although the piece addresses life in the 1960's, it was written for a twenty-first century audience. Potter quotes a June 2008 New York Times article written by retired gynecologist Waldo Fielding.  He describes, "The familiar symbol of illegal abortion is the infamous 'coat hanger'—which may be the symbol, but is in no way a myth. In my years in New York, several women arrived with a hanger still in place" (154). Potter reminds her audience that many women are still driven to dangerous extremes, and in doing so fulfills the second part of her purpose: show the reader why this issue still matters.

Abortion in America

As more options become available, fewer women must suffer for their choices.

http://www.ncbcenter.org/news/roe-v-wade-40-years-after

Buddy Ebsen

By Hilton Als

Hilton Als writes for The New Yorker and the New York Review of Books. As the first essay in the collection, his "Buddy Ebsen" may come as a bit of a shock. The opening sentence reads, "It's the queers who made me" (1). The term "queer" is powerful in itself; when used by non-gays, it is considered a homophobic slur. It is typically used to convey identity and unity in the gay community. This first sentence becomes the most prominent of the essay as Als repeats it at the beginning of each paragraph. He writes, "It's the queers who made me. [...] Who died in a fire in an apartment in Paris. Who gave me a Raymond Radiguet novel when I was barely older than Radiguet was when he died, at twenty, of typhoid" (1). Als's juxtaposition of innocent memories and mature experiences demonstrates that he was very much "made" by the gay community, which had been teaching and nurturing him since he was a young man. He makes constant allusions to "gay culture," giving us brief glimpses into his community. We see signs that Als is maturing in his identity until the last paragraph; rather than showing the ways that others have affected him, he begins, "It's my queerness that made me" (4). Finally breaking his pattern, Als shows that his own sexuality is a source of identity and pride for him, even when it causes confusion and suffering.

Although Als first published "Buddy Ebsen" for readers of The Believer magazine, I believe he was his own intended audience. Due to his intentional disregard of detail, only he can fully understand and appreciate what he wrote. He describes, "It's the queers who made me. [...] Who took me to Paris. Who let me share his bed in Paris. Who told my mother that I would be okay, and I hope she believed him" (2). The reader can infer that these were significant events in the author's life, but nobody but Als himself can relive or even identify the emotions he felt in those moments. This gives the essay an almost diary-like air of mystery. I think Als, the only person who can decode it, wrote "Buddy Ebsen" more as an outlet for his own feelings and personal expression than for the entertainment or information of outsiders.

A Role Model

Meeting Jackie Curtis, his idol, helped Als become more confident in his identity and sexuality.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jackie-Curtis-Girl-1973-CBH.jpg