The American Male at Age Ten (TOW #10)

     Susan Orlean has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1992. She has also written for The Rolling Stone, Vogue, Esquire, and Outside. She is also a nonfiction novelist, whose most famous book, The Orchid Thief, was adapted into a movie. She has also received a Nieman Fellowship, a prestigious award from Harvard school of journalism.
     Her essay "The American Male at Age Ten" details the time Orlean spent with ten year old boy Colin Duffy. Orlean spends the essay giving many short anecdotes about Collin and frequently using dialogue that she takes from Collin and his friends. She opens the essay with a brief description of Collin, from his appearance to his interests. She then talks about his school, she details the social structure of the fifth grade classroom and shows us more about Collin through dialog. She continues on describing Collins social and home life. She focuses on many key aspects of Collin's life such as the girls in his class, his relationship with his friends, his dreams for the future, his obsession with money, and a rather detailed segment on Street Fighter II.
    The essay is centralized around dialogue between Orlean and Collin and thus, much like the inner dialogue of a ten year old, jumps between many different topics very quickly. This is done effectively however, and in such a way that helps to both characterize Collin very deeply in a very short amount of time, and support Orleans overall purpose in the essay. The essay acts as a general spectacle on the point in you at which one is between adolescence and childhood. When the typical naivete of children begins to fade. She highlights this masterfully in the very conclusion of her essay. When she explains Collins creation of a spider web trap.  It seems like a childish game but it also highlights Collin's increasing maturity and complexity. With him saying to her "You could do it with thread, but the fishing line is invisible. Now I have this perfect thing and the only one who knows about it is me."

IRB Intro 3

For my next IRB I will be reading A Short History Of Nearly Everything. I chose this book because it is a very detailed and interesting account of the history of life. The author, Bill Bryson, is also funny and was recommended to me by my father.

HRC Welseley (TOW # 9)

     In light of the current election i have decided to do a speech by one of the candidates, Hillary Clinton. This withstanding, however, i have decided not to use a speech from the recent debates. This is because we have already analyzed them. Rather i have chosen a speech i stumbled upon while browsing the internet, Clinton's Wellesley College commencement dress.
     Although today Clinton's ethos seems automatic, at the point of this speech it was far from that. Clinton was introduced before the speech by the dean of the school. She is established as both a good student and a charitable and kind girl, who the dean stated was a very obvious choice for the class speaker.
     It is also interesting to consider Clinton's audience in this speech. She is both speaking for and to her classmates. She both calls them to action and conveys their mass sentiment. For this reason her wording is both familiar as well as formal. She also takes great care only to use the first person plural.
     Clinton uses her speech to reflect on her class as a whole. She talks about the idea of reacting. she explains that her generation has spent years reacting to problems and aligning themselves with goals without doing much. She talks about how her generation developed themselves in people who acted for their beliefs. Clinton continues to describe the fact that in politics and history we have only thought of the possible, and no the impossible (and making it possible). She talks about this as their generation's goal. Clinton continues to talk about many people who doubt the girls of Wellesley college. She talks about devotion to the school as well as devotions to themselves. Clinton finishes, recognizing people may be afraid of change, but there is just no time for it now.

Stiff (TOW #8)

      Mary Roach is a notable science writer and journalist. She has a weekly column in Readers Digest and has published seven books, all revolving around points of interest in the science field. Roach's most popular book, Stiff, details the endeavors of the human body after death. Roach writes this essay to a general audience, using basic vocabulary and more elementary explanations. She establishes credibility with anecdotes of her own research and citations from many knowledgeable people.
     Roach's book essentially goes through and details the many possible uses for the human corpse after its inhabitant has died. Roach explains both the science behind the process the body undergoes during these procedures and elevates many misconceptions about them. Roach also gives anecdotes about these processes and how she has experienced them in her research. Roach continues to explain how these corpses can do good, and how their use can benefit society as a whole. Roaches over all goal throughout the essay is to sway her reader. She wants to both inform them of the power one corpse can have, as well as to persuade them to donate their corpse.
     Roach's most important tool as a writer is her great sense of humor. She is attempting to convince, a mostly begrudging audience to give away their body, even if it is after they are dead. She has a compelling list of arguments against her, from overwhelming fears, to cultural mores, to deep-rooted religious beliefs. However she uses facts and moral appeals to attempt to convince her audience. All the while she is certain to maintain a humorous and light tone. This is important, discussing death is treading into dangerous waters. It is a taboo that is typically avoided at all costs. But roach employs her light tone and dry humor to break through this taboo and convince her audience of the importance of donating your corpse, in one way or the other.

IRB Intro 2

My second IRB is Stiff by Mary Roach. The book seem very interesting and was recommended to me by my cousin, who is a medical student, and thought I would like it due to my interest in the subject,

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and The Importance of Imagination (TOW #7)

     JK Rowling is the author of the Harry Potter series. Although these works are by far her most well known Rowling has written an array of many other works under pseudonyms as well as her own name, JK Rowling in this essay is giving a commencement address. This role requires her as a speaker to establish herself as greatly wise and experienced, this is achieved through some degree of automatic ethos because of her widespread fame and success.
     The audience in this piece is the 2008 graduating class at Harvard University. The address relates two two core anecdotes from Rowling's own life. She opens her essay describing her own experience in college. Establishing a connection with her audience, as well as making a handful of witty comments and jokes relating to her more famous Harry Potter books and the typical college experience. JK Rowling moves on to explain her own experience in college. She recognizes that this may be a foreign concept to many of the people in the room, being that they are graduates of Harvard University. She explains her experience first out of college, when after her marriage fell apart, she was left penniless with just about nothing. She recognizes the pain failure can cause but also says that she made rock bottom the solid foundation of her new life. Detailing not only the importance, but also the inevitability of failure. She explains that failure allows you to learn more about yourself and those around you as well as bring out many positive traits you may have not known. After this Rowling then builds off the power as imagination, briefly mentioning how imagination was what sparked her success, but immediately after stating that the true power of imagination is in empathy. She details her experiences at amnesty international and all the terrifying and inspiring moments she encountered.
      Rowling's purpose is fairly direct in this essay. Her first and overarching purpose is to provide her audience with what she feels is the most important advice and wisdom she has to offer. She calls for the graduates to not be destroyed by the failures she feels they will face, and be shocked by, as well as urging them to do what they can to make a better change in the world. Rowling's final call is summed up in one of the last lines of the essay "we have the power to imagine better." Rowling then concludes the essay wishing her audience very good lives and thanking them.