TOW #3: Non Fiction Post

In the memoir titled Lessons From a Hustler, Peter Mountford tells the story of his unstable yet exciting life while working at a pool hall in Washington D.C.  Mountford, an American novelist and writer of numerous short stories, goes through these chapters of his life using various types of rhetorical devices in order to add imagery into the reader's head.  Through these uses of rhetorical devices, I believe that Mountford manages actively entertain his audience.  While at times the entertainment concept of Mountford’s writing takes away from his purpose, Mountfords vivid imagery in the story allows for him to give his audience exactly what they want: entertainment.  These rhetorical devices include, imagery, similes, as well as colloquialism.  These descriptive devices further allow the reader to embrace themselves into the memoir; causing them to not only relate to the events, but live them.  While Mountford looks to entertain his audience through his text, he also wishes to get across to his audience the point that the past is something that relies on perspective; that there is never a right answer as to how something may have occurred.  As stated at the very end of Mountford’s memoir, “We had a blast.  Then again, maybe I was the only one having fun” (Mountford 65).  Being that many of his colleagues faced struggles as racism, poverty, and hospitalization at his time working there, he cannot say that the experience was joyful for everyone else, in fact it remains a mystery to Mountford; he will never know exactly how his friends and co-workers felt about Babes, the raggedy old pool hall in Washington D.C.  Not only could this essay be seen as a source of entertainment for an audience looking for a story on hustlers in Washington D.C., but it can be seen as a cry for help from the author: a cry stating that he is afraid that the most wonderful moments of his life could have potentially have been the worst for those closest to him.  

TOW #2: Piece of Non-Fiction

In the editorial Crazy Talk at the Republican Debate, The Editorial Board at The New York Times writes and further elaborates on the points brought up at the Republican debate, along with the negative connotations with them.  The Editorial Board attempts to establish ethos into their editorial by directly quoting the Republican candidates; giving credibility to the author in order to further prove their point that the Republican candidates are in way over there heads.  One example of this in particular would be how the author refers to the parties views on illegal immigration.  The author even goes as far as to correlate these views on immigration to “a 21st-century Trail of Tears” (www.nytimes.com 5).  Through this comparison, the author makes the Republican party to appear as not only the party that is wrong for this country, but as a violent and unforgivable force to people of all races other than Caucasian.  While this editorial may appear to be one aimed towards Democratic supporters, it is actually aimed directly towards the supporters of the Republican party.  This is because this editorial is meant to persuade more American citizens to support the Democratic candidates over the candidates of the Republican party.  While The Editorial Board manages to bring up some excellent points as to why to support the Democratic party rather than the rather violent Republicans, I believe that the editorial was poorly put together.  Yes, the evidence was there to support their point, however, there was no counter argument as to why someone should support the Democratic side of the election over the Republicans.  Because of this, the essay can easily be seen as an informative editorial rather than a persuasive one.  This is where the author lacked as far as the content of their editorial went.  I do believe that the editorial had the potential to be very strong, however, this was a mistake by the author that cannot be made up for.    

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/18/opinion/crazy-talk-at-the-republican-debate.html    

TOW #1: Visual Text

In this political cartoon, Banksy, a graffiti artist/vigilante from London, England who has gained a cult following in the world of political satire, attempts to get his point across to his audience that the government is holding people back from achieving their own dreams.  By spreading his views through the work of vandalism, Banksy spreads the message to his audience that he is opposed to the social order set by the government; wishing to not only to be seen by the public as a role model, but also as a foe to all social injustice.  Through this piece of work in particular, Banksy is speaking to the people of England who have had dreams in the past and ended up never following them.  While this could be for many different reasons, anyone who has left their dreams behind can relate to what is being said.  Bing that the “cancelled” sticker is emphasized in this piece, it can be said that Banksy is trying to get across that dreams are something of the past; they are not postponed, they are forgotten.  Much of the public has forgotten their true desires due to the urge for civilization to grow up in a society where currency and social order are the biggest concerns; not our own desires  People do things not because they wish to, but because they need to; that is what Banksy attempts to get across to his audience through this text.  Being that Banksy creates most of his artwork through graffiti, I believe that Banksy takes a creative standpoint on how to get his message across to more people (by putting it on buildings for the public to see) and that by doing so he is more likely to gain a following on his views on social injustice.  Banksy is a talented and powerful artist and has achieved his goal in effectively spreading his views to his audience in appropriate manner for the purpose.  

IRB Intro #1

For my IRB I chose the book The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger.  This book was recommended to me by my father so I decided to give it a chance.  Although I do not know much about the topic itself, I believe that it will be an interesting book to read and that it will allow me to become more comfortable with reading non fiction books on topics I am not familiar with.