TOW #14 - EPhone 900 Advertisement

Phone: "How to dodge a snakebite." Caption: "Fast Internet access when and where you need it. EPhone 900." Source: funnyneel.com

            In the EPhone 900 advertisement, there is a picture of a green snake that is opening its mouth, ready to strike any second. The humor of the ad comes in once the audience, probably a group of consumers of the new EPhone 900, notices a random phone with the text "How to dodge a snakebite" in the Google search bar. The way the picture of the snake is opening its mouth threateningly makes the audience to panic while the way the hand is casually pressing the Google Search button seem to slow the time down. This unique and indirect juxtaposition, the idea of a snake in the wild being in the same picture with a brand new technology, is the main element of the humor in which the viewers could clearly see that the situation is too crazy to be true. Once the ad captivates its audience with the little gag, it shows a caption that says "Fast Internet access when and where you need it. EPhone 900." All of a sudden, the funny message is clear: EPhone 900 allows the consumers to  have an Internet access so fast that they could look up how to dodge a snakebite even before the snake could strike. The caption that mentions the EPhone 900 is very significant in the advertisement because without it, the audience could easily make a mistake that ad is about Google and how it might save someone from danger by giving quick survival information or something. With that said, I believe that the ad is effective and attention grabbing, but if there are some things that I'm a little discontented about is that for an ad that is solely for a new product, it shows too much of the snake but not enough of the EPhone 900. If the placement of the product and the snake is somehow rearranged, the ad would be much better. 

TOW #13 - The Fault In Our Stars Book Review by X. October

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is about Hazel Grace Lancaster, a three-year stage IV-cancer survivor who meets and falls in love with Augustus Waters, a fellow cancer survivor.

                X. October's book review shows exactly what he thinks of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green to his audience of young readers: not bad but not amazing either. As soon as he starts his review, he establishes credibility by acknowledging that he is a big fan of John Green and is a Nerdfighter* himself, which tells the audience that reviewer that he has a perfectly logical reason behind giving the book three stars out of five. X. October explains carefully that his main problem with John Green's book is that the characters are just not believable, and that the interaction between the main characters, Gus and Hazel, just would not happen between "real, emotional, scared, awkward, virgin teenagers, let alone ones with cancer who have been socially cut off for much of their lives" (X. October 2). The reviewer shows that there are many great elements in the book, but soon admits that the part in the book where a character flirts is "funny and witty and entertaining" but is also "the flirting of an experienced 25 year old" (X. October 2). Another main factor that prevented the reviewer from giving the book perfect five stars was that the main characters all had similar characteristics, same voice, thought pattern and high intelligence level as one person. Namely, John Green. X. October uses repetition at the end of the sentence to emphasize this point: "Hazel is John Green. Augustus is John Green. Hazel's mom and dad are John Green. Isaac is John Green." (X. October 3). The only good part of this is that "the person they are is an interesting person, which is why it's still a good book" but the book is still "just not the OMGOMGBESTBOOKEVER book that the 600+ 5-star reviews imply" (X. October 3). In conclusion, the reviewer believes that overall, The Fault in Our Stars is a great book, but lacks certain elements that can make it better. My Opinion? I believe that I need to read the book myself.

*Nerdfighteria is an internet subculture created by John Green and his brother Hank Green.

TOW #12 - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire Review by Susan Wloszcyna

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins is the second book/movie in the Hunger Games trilogy. It was released at November 22, 2013, and it has been receiving great ratings and reviews. Source: www.rogerebert.com

                        

Susan Wloszczyna's review on The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is directed at all the fans of the ever popular Hunger Games Series that features  a girl named Katniss Everdeen who is forced to play a deadly game of survival with other tributes from each districts. By the way Wloszczyna describes the second movie of the trilogy as something that "makes my inner feminist-leaning 13-year-old stand up and cheer" and gives the movie three stars out of three stars, anyone could guess that her intention of the review is to get more people to see this new popular movie. Throughout her review, Wloszczyna first summarizes her favorite part of the whole movie, when "Katniss...suddenly twirls about in her would-be wedding dress during a TV interview meant to distract the downtrodden populace of Panem" (Wloszczyna 2), but then moves on to symbolisms and deeper analysis  about the plot and characters that makes the plot of the whole story more intriguing. Wloszczyna discusses about the elements that makes the movie effective such as the plot, great actors with great talents, connection to the real world, Spectacular director and Oscar-winning writers, but she also shows how  the movie is criticized "from the same 'something old, something borrowed' disease that is the enemy of originality in too many Hollywood efforts of the late" (Wloszczyna 9). Apparently, there are many references in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire such as "Lost" and "Survivor", Star Wars, "The Running Man", and Roman and Greek mythologies, but Wloszczyna argues that there is one truly original invention, and that is Katniss, "the perfect antidote to the surplus of male superheroes out there" (Wloszczyna 11). To make sure that her review is not just a boring statement of facts, Wloszczyna uses allusions to other films and real life ideas, vivid dictions, and specific details to make a humorous yet very informing piece of writing. I believe that the author definitely persuaded me to go and watch The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

TOW #11 - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir by Bill Bryson

A cigarette ad from the 1950s. Back then, people believed that cigarettes actually were healthy, "by soothing jangly nerves and sharpening jaded minds" (Bryson 69). Source: www.google.com

            In a chapter in his book The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson gives the readers who may or may not know about the 1950s a detailed account of the time period when he was a child. He shows that 1950s was an age full of dreams, endearing innocence, and excitement when people thought about delivering letters via guided missile, people setting fires on the White House were simply released into the custody of their families, and atomic bomb testing areas were the hottest tourist attractions. This was the time period when food, TV, car, and atomic weapon productions started to grow immensely, and when Disneyland was first opened. During that time when Bryson was a kid, he had a father who "was a fiend for piling us all in the car and going to distant places, but only if the trips were cheap, educational, and celebrated some forgotten aspect of America's glorious past, generally involving slaughter, uncommon hardship, or the delivery of mail at a gallop" (Bryson 79). However, just before Bryson's ninth birthday, his dad decided to go on a winter vacation, something that did not happen so frequently. Stranger still, the vacation is actually interesting to the point Bryson admits that "I had seldom - what am I saying? I had never - seen my father so generous and carefree" (Bryson 84); the family goes to great places like the Rockies, the lush Imperial Valley, Big Sur, Los Angeles, the beach in Santa Monica, and to top it all off, Disneyland. Through the use of humor, the author effectively shows how his kid-self fitted right into the age of excitement and allows the readers to view the time period through his eyes. Because Bryson experienced all these events firsthand and because he explains the time period so vividly, I and the other readers could tell that the author is very credible.

TOW #10 - Animals are not Clowns by Acção Animal and LPDA

"ANIMALS ARE NOT CLOWNS. Roll up, roll up, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls for the crack of the whip against the animal's stinging wounds. A big round of applause for the flaming hoops, the injuries, and the electric shocks. Come and see the famed number of cages and tightly binding chains allowing no escape from endless training sessions. Laugh, applaud and join in with the repetetive choreographed routines typical of depressed animals under great stress. All the fun of the circus travelling from city to city exhibiting animals as human caricatures. Clowning around that's no fun at all." Source: www.webneel.com

                                                                     

                In Acção Animal and LPDA's advertisement, a lion with a clown makeup could be seen behind the cage bars. On the side, there is a text that says "ANIMALS ARE NOT CLOWNS" and explains the atrocities against animals in circuses. The intention of the poster's creator is clear: to prevent circus and other organizations from abusing animals. The audience, consisting of people who know the experience of a circus, would be well aware of the animals that are used in dangerous stunts and would be willing to look at this situation from the animals' perspective. This advertisement is very effective because of the juxtaposition of the picture and the satirical tone of the text. The lion's happy looking clown makeup goes against the sad expression of the lion, the bars of the cage, and the stark, dark background, ultimately creating the effect that the element of happiness is artificial. The creator of this advertisement uses a tone similar to a ringmaster's, except with a use of satire in order to mock the people who enjoy seeing animals suffering and the people who cruelly trains the animals. "A big round of applause for the flaming hoops, the injuries, and the electric shocks" shows how these torturous actions had become a form of people's entertainments. Because people "Laugh, applaud and join in with the repetitive choreographed routines typical of depressed animals under great stress," this makes humans look no better than the tamed beasts suffering from their masters. As if this isn't bad enough, the creator of the advertisement refers the animals as "human caricatures," implying that they aren't worthy enough to be even treated as living, breathing creatures. I personally believe that the advertisement strikes its message into the audience's hearts effectively because of the creative use of the picture and the text.

IRB #2 - The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir

            The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson is a memoir of growing up in the 1950s in Des Moines, Iowa. The author gives a detailed account of his memories of running around as a superhero named "The Thunderbolt Kid" with a football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a cape on. Using these memories to paint a bigger picture, the author explains all the unique aspects of his native city half a century ago when "automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you" (Bryson). I thought that this would be a very interesting book to read because with all the new technologies these days, a period of time where there were no smartphones seemed unthinkable. I also picked this book because, being a guy and all, I was naturally attracted to the idea of being a superhero when I was a kid too, and I hope that this would help me to relate to the author more easily. By the end of this book, I wish that I will have learned about the advantages and disadvantages of living in the 1950s. I also hope that I would  be able to go through Bryson's memories through the eyes of the author's younger-self and experience every great experiences that he experienced in the past.

TOW #9 - The Boy Who Was Brave By Scarlett Lewis

"Jesse was a first grader with an ever-ready grin whom God had given a warrior's heart." Source: Reader's Digest

            In her writing, Scarlett Lewis gives her personal account of how her son Jesse bravely helped other kids escape before dying in the hands of a gunman. Her last morning with her son was pretty typical: Scarlett playfully waked Jesse up, then Jesse's father Neil took him to school as Scarlett went to work. All hell broke loose when she received a call while working. Two calls. Then another. They all told Scarlett one thing: there was a shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary - Jesse's school. The Lewis family quickly reached the school and learned that Jesse was dead from the shooting. Apparently, Jesse was at his teacher's side when she was hiding the children in different areas of the classroom before the gunman came in and shot the teacher. Jesse, his head wounded from a bullet fragment, bravely faced the gunman as he yelled to his classmates to run while the gunman was either fixing his gun or reloading, ultimately saving nine first graders before the killer took aim at the hero. Scarlett recalls that she was not surprised at all to learn that her son did such a heroic act, because Jesse was a kid "whom God had given a warrior's heart" (Lewis). Through writing this, Lewis intends to commemorate her dead son and other victims of the Sandy Hook Shooting with the audience who remember the tragic event. She also wanted to share how she and other parents felt when they realized their kids were dead, and she does this by using similes and metaphors such as in the sentence "Reality hit me like a kick in the stomach. My gut twisted into knots so painful that my knees jerked to my chest and I rolled into the fetal position" (Lewis). I believe that she did an excellent job of describing the pain she felt, but also her pride of her son by appealing to pathos. I could really relate to her feelings throughout the writing.  

TOW #8 - What Makes a Hero by Elizabeth Svoboda

Marjorie Taylor's piece of work titled Warm Glow is based on her husband's and his colleagues' fMRI scans of brains. The colored areas shown represent the brain regions that showed heightened activity that are related to making charitable decisions. Source: www.surfacedesign.org

                In Elizabeth Svoboda's article "What Makes a Hero?", the author makes an attempt to prove that there is a scientific reasoning behind heroic feats to the readers of Discovery magazines. Svoboda shows how characteristics like valor and fearlessness tie with a person's brain. She starts out with an anecdote of a woman named Shirley Dygert in order to hook her readers in and to put them in the shoes of a 54-year-old woman who was saved by a guy named Dave Hartsock. Dygert was skydiving for the first time with her instructor, but as they opened the parachute to stop their free fall, the chute did not open all the way and the backup parachute became tangled. Hartsock decided to position his body so that he could cushion Dygert's fall, and when they landed, he suffered a severe blow on his spinal cord, ultimately paralyzing him from the neck down. Dygert exclaimed that his action "absolutely amazed" her because he had "that much love for another person." "Why?" Svoboda asks, allowing the audience to participate and think. Apparently, when a person does a good deed, a place in the brain called nucleus accumbens releases the pleasure chemical dopamine. While egoists show less activity in this part of the brain when donating their money to charity, altruists show more. Svoboda draws the comparison between the satisfaction of giving money to others  and the satisfaction of ingesting an addicting drug to show how good it feels to do a heroic deed. Recent discovery shows how meditating can help people to train their minds to be more selfless, and the researchers found this out by having some participants to practice meditation while having others to practice a technique known as cognitive reappraisal. When both groups played the game, the participants who practiced meditation helped out unfortunate victims more than the other participants did. By adding all these details about the experiment, Svoboda increases her credibility a lot. I believe that her use of anecdotes, comparison, and descriptive details really allowed me to see bravery in a whole new way. 

TOW #7 - The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard

Many of the famous pirates people know today such as Samuel "Black Sam" Bellamy and Edward "Blackbeard" Thatch came from the Golden Age of Piracy. Source: www.crwflags.com

                In a chapter in his book The Republic of Pirates, Colin Woodard explains to his adventure loving audience about the people who played crucial roles during the time between June of 1716 to March of 1717 in order to set the stage up for the great event where all of these characters' lives would be intertwined. Samuel Bellamy was a penniless sailor who became a commodore of a gang of pirates within a year. In search of recruitments after a failed attempt to capture a French ship, Bellamy went to a harbor named ST. Croix to avoid a gale where he accidentally found a band of lost and hungry pirates. Eventually, they captured a great battle ship called Whydah by using the essence of fear as a weapon. At a young age of twenty-seven, Bellamy officially became a pirate king. Meanwhile, Captain Benjamin Hornigold, a pirate who still considered himself as a servant of his county England, decided to give a captured sloop that would be an excellent pirate vessel to his protégé, Edward Thatch. Thatch, better known as Blackbeard who would one day be the most powerful pirate in the Atlantic, finally had a ship that he could control for pirating purposes. During all these commotions at the sea, a former privateer Woodes Rogers was planning to end piracy once and for all by forming a corporation named The Copartners for Carrying on a Trade & Settling the Bahama Islands. His wish of being a governor and garrison commander of the Bahamas was granted, a wish that he would soon regret. Throughout the chapter, the author uses metaphors and personification in order to help the audience to imagine each event with clear details. When describing the harbor of St. Croix, Woodard says, "On the reef guarding the harbor entrance, the surf battered at the charred remains of a vessel" and the rhetorical devices used here strengthens the descriptions. I believe that the author did a great job explaining all the necessary information in order to show how one man ultimately ended the Golden Age of Piracy.

TOW #6 - Bikinis versus Burka by Malcolm Evans

But who is really being dominated here? Source: http://thesocietypages.org

            In Malcolm Evans's cartoon, Two women can be seen with very different attires, one in bikinis, and the other in a burka, a full body cloak worn by some Muslim women. The two are looking at and pitying each other as they are passing by, thinking that the other woman is living in a "cruel male-dominated culture". Obviously, the woman on the left with the bikinis represents a stereotypical U.S. woman who is not used to the idea of being "forced" to wear a piece of clothing that covers everything except for the eyes, and she believes that women in the U.S. are the most liberated . The woman on the right, on the other hand, represents a stereotypical Muslim woman who believes that wearing bikinis or any other forms of clothing that reveals too much skin oppresses  women because of too many evaluative eyes and possible negative appraisals, and she believes that Muslim women are more liberated than U.S. women. This cartoon is for everyone, but it is specifically aimed at two different groups of people - Americans and Muslims - to show that their ideas of women's oppressions might be different from others'. Evans, a very experienced cartoonist, probably wants both groups to stop feeling sorry and to respect each others' views on personal freedom, because wearing bikinis or burkas might be out of their own choice. The author wants everyone to know that both cultures have their benefits and drawbacks. It is true how in some countries, women are forced to wear certain attires, but  wearing burkas might allow women to care less about their physical looks, unlike many women around the world looking for plastic surgeries. Evan's successful use of juxtaposition shows deep comparisons and contrasts between the clashing cultures. The juxtaposition also creates a sense of humor (despite the seriousness of the topic) because the two women with vastly different cultural background think the same about the women's oppression. I believe that the cartoonist was successful in getting his ideas across his audience without being heavily biased.

TOW #5 - Arrest in Baby Hope Case Brings Closure to Police by Coleen Long

A flyer in the neighborhood where Anjelica's naked, malnourished corpse was discovered. In it, pictures of the girl and a photograph of the cooler where her body was stored can be seen. There is a $12,000 reward for any information that could lead to an arrest of the murderer. Source: thenypost.files.wordpress.com

            After two decades, the murderer of a little girl nicknamed Baby Hope was arrested by detectives who did not give up on the case for all these years. Conrado Juarez, the cousin of the 4-year-old victim, was interrogated on Saturday, in which he admitted his sexual assault and smothering of Baby Hope in 1991. For many years, the case had been an enigma until the new DNA testing came out, revealing Baby Hope's mother and the real name of the girl: Anjelica Castillo. After these discoveries, it took little time for the detectives to find out that Juarez killed his cousin in his sister's apartment, put the body in a cooler, and then dumped the cooler in Manhattan with the help of his sister. Police commissioner Raymond Kelly praised Jerry Giorgio, Joseph Reznick, and other detectives who worked on the case for their efforts because "they were unrelenting". These detectives were the people who organized Anjelica's burial in 1993, in which hundreds of people came to express sympathy for the girl they never knew.  On her tomb, there are two little angels and a headstone that reads: "Because we care". The author of this news article was obviously trying to show the audience, possibly consisting of some people who knew about the case since 1991, that justice has been served, even though it took the detectives two decades to find the murderer of the four-year-old kid. The author tries to create a unified sense of sympathy toward Anjelica by mentioning her burial and her tomb stone. The fact that many people visited her grave shows that these people really did care even though they might have never met the girl before, and shows that the readers would most likely feel the same (I certainly did). While honoring the memory of Anjelica, the author also manages to establish her credibility by including exact date of each event and quotes in her writing.

TOW #4 - Kidnapped by Terrorists: One Boy's Story of Escape by Susan Svrluga

Gerfa's and Kevin's passports. The mother and son were held as captives by a group of Filipino terrorist group called Abu Sayyaf for months. They were doomed to die unless a ransom money of $10 million has been paid. Source: www.rd.com

            Susan Svrluga's writing, "Kidnapped by Terrorists One Boy's Story of Escape" is an account of a boy escaping from his captors after five months of hostage. The story takes place in the Philippines in 2011, where 14-year-old Kevin Lunsmann and his mother Gerfa were visiting family on Tictabon Island. The two were soon kidnapped by a group of terrorists before they could go back to Lynchburg, Virginia and were taken to a forested island where they were to be killed unless Kevin's father, a maintenance man, paid the ransom of $10 million, almost an impossible task. For a long period of time, the mother and son were put into a tiny makeshift cage, treated brutally, and fed with unusual foods that made them sick. Gerfa was freed after two and a half months when a part of the ransom had been paid off, but Kevin was still in captivity. After five months being a hostage, Kevin could not take it any longer and soon escaped when the only guard in the room went upstairs for a while. Eventually, Kevin ran into a farmer who soon called the police after hearing his story. Kevin was rescued by a helicopter, and he soon returned home just in time to celebrate Christmas with his family. The casual readers of the Reader's Digest would most likely feel sympathy and relief towards the Lunsmann family, just the effect that the author of the writing would want. Svrlug,a attempts to bring out the reality of one boy's dangerous adventure  by adding vivid descriptions to the story. When she describe the time when Kevin found a pair of boots in a empty hut, she informs the readers that "[Kevin] pulled them onto his blackened, torn feet and took off again" (Svrluga). This short description shows how much the boy was suffering while running away from the terrorist, which ultimately supports the author's purpose of creating a sense of sympathy in the audience. I believe that Svrluga's fast-paced story successfully helped me to feel concerned and relived throughout the story.

TOW #3 - The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Colin Woodard

This picture is a popular depiction of Woodes Rogers with his family.  Rogers is portrayed specifically so that his disfigurement from a musket ball wouldn't be shown. Source: wikimedia.org

            In a section of The Republic of Pirates, Colin Woodard attempts to give an account of the adventures of Woodes Rogers, a famous English privateer who legally plundered merchant vessels for his country, to the audience of adventure-lovers. Rogers's journey started with a visitor named William Dampier, a formal captain of his ship HMS Roebuck. Rogers decided to support Dampier's plan of plundering the Spanish treasure fleets that were shipping unbelievable amounts of riches from the new world to Spain. With the two ships Duke and Duchess, Rogers and his crew started to head towards the Pacific on August 1, 1708. The group faced numerous adversities such as mutinies, dangerous ocean waves, scurvies, bubonic plagues, and quarrels between officers. Along the way, the crew met and rescued Alexander Selkirk, a castaway who was once a crew member of Dampier's ship who decided to "take his chances on the island" (Woodard 76) due to Dampier's poor leadership. Selkirk would later inspire Daniel Defoe to write his famous novel, Robinson Crusoe. Much time had passed without a single treasure fleet in sight, when suddenly a galleon appeared on the horizon. The privateers managed to take over one Manila ship, but when the privateers reached their homeland, most of their plunders were seized by the East India Company's agents. Rogers received about £1,600 for his three years of service, and most of the crewmen received nothing even though the riches the privateers got were over £100,000. Rogers, however, forever became a national hero for capturing a Manila ship and circumnavigating. Throughout the story, the author uses raw diction in order for the audience to vividly imagine the adventures of Rogers. Woodard describes  the privateer by saying, "Rogers, his face mutilated, his foot mangled..." (Woodard 84), which creates a gruesome picture in people's minds. I believe that Woodard's account is accurate because he supports his claim with statistics and quotes. Woodard is also an award-winning journalist, adding on to the story's credibility. I think that he accomplished his purpose by successfully using rhetorical devices.

TOW #2 - Fingerprint Passwords for the NSA by Tom Toles

Are people really protected by the government surveillance? Source: synd.imgsrv.uclick.com

            The cartoon shown at the top takes place in a modern U.S. society, and it shows a man who is pressing his finger against his Smartphone, and right next to him is a National Security Agency (NSA) building.  The man, obviously thinking that by scanning his finger he will be safe from government surveillance, is actually being monitored by the NSA. His plans are completely backfired because the NSA obtains his fingerprint that he scans on his phone. To make the matters worse (or funnier, whichever works), the organization uses the man's camera in the Smartphone to take some mug shots of him. NSA takes the poor guy's personal information without being suspected at all by using believable ads. Tom Toles successfully uses irony of a guy who accidentally gives out his personal information in the process of trying to get some privacy to create a sense of humor that appeals to pathos. Using this rhetorical device, the cartoonist is able to persuade the U.S. civilians that  although NSA's job is to gather secret information, it may also eavesdrop on a group of normal people like the people reading this cartoon. Toles probably wants his audience to be careful with anything that might give away any personal information because nobody knows what groups of people might get their hands on it. Although this cartoon is very humorous, there is an underlying message that is very serious. It warns that "YOU might be the next one to lose your privacy." I personally believe that Tom Toles did a great job showing his message in his cartoon strip. The way the cartoonist drew the man and the phone very simply seems to show that he is not referring to a specific person that this kind of event happens to; he shows that this can happen to everyone, so everyone must be careful. 

Tow #1 - A Bookless Library Opens in San Antonio by Josh Sanburn

This is an inside view of the Bexar County Digital Library, the nation's first all-digital public library. Notice how there are no printed materials, but only computers and e-books. This future library is now here. Source: http://bexarbibliotech.org

            In his writing A Bookless Library Opens in San Antonio,  Josh Sanburn makes the lovers of their e-readers consider whether or not a bookless library is really a library. The author starts off his writing with the description of Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff who opened the nation's first all-digital public library. The ironic thing is, Wolff used to detest the idea of digital reading, and he still does not own a single e-reader. According to Sanburn, the library that was built with county tax money and private donations are filled with computers, iPads and laptops, but does not have any printed material. The author soon explains that libraries are adapting to new technologies and drifting away from print to provide different programs and services. However, there are funding problems for libraries, and conflicts with publishers over e-book access that might hurt Bexar County Digital Library. Because e-books never has to be replaced and can be shared among multiple library branches, Publishers feel justified in raising the prices of the e-books or not selling them to libraries. This is a big problem for the library because people might not use the library if they cannot find the e-book they are looking for, but Wolff believes that everything will work fine if he supports the library with his annual budget. Throughout his article, Sanburn includes many statistics to back off his points, making his writing very credible. The author interacts with his readers by using the word "you" such as in the sentence, "Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff isn’t the man you’d imagine as the visionary for the nation’s first all-digital public library" (Sanburn). He also uses the irony shown above as a hook, which allows the readers to quickly grow curious about the topic. His writing gives straight facts to allow the readers to decide whether digital libraries are a good idea, which might be the reason why Sanburn wrote the article in the first place. I believe that he achieved his purpose by remaining neutral throughout the entire writing.

IRB #1 - The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Collin Woodard

                The Republic of Pirates: Being the True and Surprising Story of the Caribbean Pirates and the Man Who Brought Them Down by Collin Woodard is an extensive research on the history of pirates. This book not only reveals the origin of the swashbucklers of the sea, but gives many detailed stories of famous pirates such as Blackbeard as well. When I first came across this book, I knew that it was the perfect IRB for because the topic of 18th century piracy was always fascinating to me. Even though pirates were no more than nomadic groups of raiders, the idea of these people live on through the characters like Captain Hook or Jack Sparrow. Because I grew up with these characters, I eventually began to embrace the pirates and the wonderful adventures they had. Through this book, I hope to learn the rise and the fall of the pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy. I also would like to understand how the piracy system worked, how certain pirates became famous captains, and how the pirates became one of the most feared groups of people during that time period. I hope that with the information in the book, I will be able to relate how piracy affects the world and how it changes the course of the history.

Grieving

According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 45 percent of the professors all over the nation have tenure, which allows the professors to permanently teach in that college or university. According to the author, tenure is "the PhD's holy grail" (Durham 61). Source: laschoolreport.com

            Meenakshi Gigi Durham's story Grieving is about her husband, Dallas, and his passion for his job as a professor. The author, who did not like her job, could not understand how important teaching was for Dallas until he had been denied tenure at the University where he and Durham taught. The denial of the tenure came as a surprise to the whole family because Dallas was the kind of a person who "can walk into a room without notes or preparation and earn a standing ovation" (Durham 60). Unlike the author, he knew that he wanted to become a professor from the beginning and ran towards his goal until he was admitted to an elite doctoral program. Dallas had everything to receive the tenure, and yet he was denied, which caused him to grieve for a long period of time.  Dallas tried to persuade the administrator to review his file, and to reconsider the decision that the university made. Eventually, the provost reversed the tenure denial and apologized to Dallas that he had to "'go through hell in the meantime" (Durham 66). The author compares this situation with an another situation in which a woman was told that she had six months to live, but then the tumor she had miraculously disappeared. Durham uses this comparison to show how a life or a job will never be the same after someone experiences a grief. Because Dallas faced the denial, he was able to see the tenure in a different perspective, with a better appreciation. The author's purpose behind writing this story is to show the people who face hardships every day that without grief, many things will be taken for granted and will not be fully appreciated. Durham uses series of quotes and information that not only add on the credibility to the story, but also create a flow in her writing. I  thought that the author effectively wrote her story of her husband's experience to deliver her message and I now believe, as Ralph Waldo Emerson says, that "Grief too will make us idealists."

Long Distance

Forming a romantic relationship can be a challenge. It requires some guts to ask out for a date with an another person, a one of the reasons why many people are afraid to try to love. These people usually try to find an alternative solution, such as the online dating. Source: us.123rf.com

            Victor LaValle used to be a 350-pound man who used to date a fifty-year-old women named Margie by phone in his story Long Distance. For two years, LaValle kept this strange relationship with her, without ever actually meeting her once, because he enjoyed the phone sex they had together. However, when Margie's daughter's family moved in to her house, Margie had to stop calling LaValle because she couldn't risk the embarrassment of one the family members overhearing the conversation. The author uses a metaphor to show how he felt when he broke up with his girlfriend. He describes himself as an astronaut trying to reach Earth where "true couples dwelled," but the news blew him backward, "deeper into space" (LaValle 101). After that experience, the author tried to change to get a different perspective on relationships and sex. He lost about 155 pounds, started to date people for real, and had sex with a girl he really liked. LaValle was surprised by his transformation, which he describes as "my new hand, slim enough to show the wrist bones; the knuckles no longer lost in flesh" (LaValle 106). He finally was free from his self-loathing and found hope, and he most likely wrote his story to persuade other people to do the same, to take a new path and give it their best. The author probably wanted to leave a message that if he could lose weight and find a girl other than a fifty-year-old women to date with, the readers could practically achieve anything. In his story, LaValle includes a dialogue with Margie to illustrate how they were able to have phone sex. This particular part of the story seems to be the proof that he actually dated her, and all of the things he said, no matter how ridicules they sound, are his true experiences. I think that the author achieved his purpose by using humorous and creative style of writing that included slang words, metaphors, and interaction with the readers. 

Lucky Girl

These women are fighting for legal abortions which they believe go into women's rights. Before the Roe v. Wade case, abortions were illegal and unsafe, and unwanted pregnancy often had harsh consequences. Source: thinkprogress.org

          Lucky Girl by Bridget Potter is a personal experience of going through an illegal abortion, and it was most likely written to recall her past feat and to appreciate the freedom people have today in United States. When the author was nineteen years old, she had sex with her boyfriend, Michael, without using a birth control such as a diaphragm. When she realized that her period was late, Potter went to a gynecologist to make sure if she was pregnant, and when her pregnancy was confirmed, she desperately tried to get an abortion because unwanted pregnancy during her time caused women to be threatened by the law. Abortion, however, was a very difficult thing to do during pre-Roe v. Wade years, because it was illegal and often unsafe. Trying to find a cheap and safe one, the author eventually flew to Puerto Rico where she got her surgery for $200. After she came back from Puerto Rico, she realized how lucky she was to get a successful abortion. In the year 1962, "nearly sixteen hundred women were admitted to just one New York City hospital for incomplete abortions" (Potter 154), and way more than 17% of all deaths pertaining to pregnancy and childbirth in United States were caused by illegal abortions. These facts comes from the accounts from gynecologists, different institutes, and studies, making the author's story very believable. This story seems to be written for the people who faced abortions before so they could appreciate how they are living in post-Roe v. Wade years where they have more women's rights and safer abortions. These women also do not have to worry about being "'poor, alone, ashamed, threatened by the law'" (Potter 148) because of unwanted pregnancy. Throughout the story, Potter uses the technique of using short sentences such as "I used the pink foam. My period was late" (Potter 147) or "He asked my age. Nineteen. He shook his head" (Potter 152) to get straight to the point. Because she used reliable facts to back her statements, I believe that Bridget Potter is indeed a lucky girl.

Auscultation

Stethoscope is a symbol of a doctor for many people. It gives an impression of care and pain management. Stethoscope is used for auscultation, or listening to the internal sounds of animal or human body. Source: blogs.dixcdn.com

            Steven Church's Auscultation takes the sense of hearing to a whole new level for the people who 

cannot fully appreciate it. In four different sections, the author tells brief stories about the importance of the sound. In Chamber 1, Church starts off with the story back in August 2007 in Utah, where six miners were trapped 1,500 feet underground in a mine. The rescuers tried to rescue the miners by sending them a signal to make lots of noise, and then listening with electronic ears for any signs of human life, but the rescuers eventually gave up the rescue effort after they failed to detect any important sounds from underground. In Chamber 2 and 3, the author talks about the stethoscope, and how significant it is to a doctor by giving a humorous example of a doctor play-set that comes with a plastic stethoscope "because you can't dress up as a doctor without one" (Church 27). The author also gives his personal experience of the time when he first heard his daughter's heartbeats using fetal heart monitor, and tells the reader how significant the sound was for him. In Chamber 4, Church talks about an another case of mining incident, this time in 2002. The rescuers were desperately searching for the nine lost miners when they suddenly heard a constant hammering which was "the sole musical evidence of survival" (Church 30). Because of the sound that the rescuers perceived, the miners were saved. Through these loosely connected stories, Church shows how the ability to hear can be more significant than what many people think. By using real life experiences, events and facts, the author writes a very creditable essay. Church managed to use interesting techniques like the humorous example of a doctor play-set and the metaphor to describe the hammering from the underground to make sure that his story wouldn't put anyone to sleep. I am fully convinced now that sound is an essential element in life, thanks to the author's great examples and facts in his essay, Auscultation. 

What Broke My Father's Heart

This cartoon makes people wonder, "Is the treatment worth it?" Medical technologies such as the pacemakers can extend people's lives, but at a cost of extending people's sickness as well. Source: www.quora.com

What Broke My Father’s Heart by Katy Butler is a heartbreaking personal experience of the death of the author’s father, Jeffrey. Used to teach at Wesleyan University and coach rugby, Jeffrey started to suffer from dementia, a mental disorder that seriously affects people’s memory, thinking, judgment, behavior, and language, soon after he retired. His only source of lifeline was his pocket-watch-sized pacemaker that had been helping his heart to beat in a rhythmical pattern for nearly five years. The author writes that during those five years her family has been suffering from sharing her father’s agony. After realizing that the pacemaker was something that Jeff would have never implanted in his body, Butler and her mother decided to relieve him from his pain. Once the author's mother realized that dying naturally without the aid of pacemaker is the best way to die, she decided not to get any medical help during the last days of her life. This story brings up the ethics behind medical technologies that extend people’s lives. Could escaping death through pacemakers be the best answer? Could stopping someone's lifeline be justified, even if it is done as an act of mercy? Would the aftermath of relieving someone’s pain be better than that of letting somebody live on? Butler seems to have the answers for the people whose beloved family member is slowly dying. Through the story, the author warns not to try to escape death by the means of medical technologies because they will torture the users instead of helping them. She would most likely recommend the people to stop the pacemaker if they were to make a mistake of implanting one in sick family members or friends who are showing constant signs of agony. Butler went through this kind of situation for years and researched much about the ethics of pacemakers, thus making her suggestion more creditable. I thought that the author successfully accomplished her purpose to show how unnatural it is to extend someone's life by using symbolism such as “curious spiraled metal wires…mixed with the white dust and pieces of bone” (Butler 22).