Tow #13: Visual Text: Mandela Political Cartoon by Jack Ohman



When I was searching through political cartoons this week I found many that were in tribute to Nelson Mandela because of his death the week before. Of all the cartoons I saw, this one by Jack Ohman, the editorial cartoonist at The Sacramento Bee, stood out to me the most.  Ohman is a professional cartoonist whose work has been syndicated throughout the country to over three hundred newspapers including The Chicago Tribune, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the New York Times. One of his most recent cartoons is the cartoon pictured above that sums up Nelson Mandela's life. Ohman uses powerful imagery and a quote from Mandela to show the American people that anything is possible and to pay tribute to Mandela. The picture in the cartoon that goes with the quote is a locked cuff and an unlocked one with a man, presumably Mandela, walking away from being freed. The image shows that Mandela was able to do the impossible and was freed from jail after being force to wrongfully serve twenty seven years in prison. By including this image, it shows that even if something seems impossible it still may be possible, because it seemed impossible that Mandela would be released from prison, but he ended up being released. Another reason why this political cartoon is powerful is because of the quote Ohman decided to use. It is short and simple, but pictured the largest because it is the most important part of the cartoon. The words came from Mandela himself, but it is the perfect quote for his tribute because it sums up his life. It seemed impossible that Mandela would be freed, but he was. It seemed impossible that South Africa would have a black president, but it happened. I think that Ohman successfully paid tribute to Mandela simply because this quote was such a smart one to use and the picture went perfectly with that quote.

Tow #12: Article: "Shameful Profiling of the Mentally Ill" by Andrew Solomon

Since the Progressive Era, the mentally ill have been discriminated against less and less due to reforms created by the government. However one problem still remains: border control of the mentally ill. Currently there is a law against allowing mentally ill people into America called the Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212. It states that anyone with a mental or physical disorder that threatens the safety of Americans will be denied entry into the country. However, this law is too strict because people with a disorder as common and harmless as depression are getting denied entry into America. Andrew Solomon, author of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, used the story of a woman who was hospitalized after attempting suicide in June of 2012 to argue against Section 212. Ellen Richardson, a Canadian, was not allowed to go to America because of her hospitalization from the year before. Because of this her Christmas vacation was ruined. Solomon mainly uses irrefutable facts and comparisons to prove to the American people that mentally ill people are still being discriminated against today. Solomon appeals to logos when he states the fact that people with a mental illness do not have have a higher rate of violence than people without a mental illness. This fact proves that Ms. Richardson should not have been denied entry. Also, this fact and many others Solomon included cannot be argued with because they are easily verifiable, therefore Solomon was able to successfully show that Section 212 may not be completely just. Solomon also compares this incident to when the United States denied entry into the country to people who were HIV positive. During the twenty years HIV positive people weren't allowed into America, potentially HIV positive people were not getting tested, so the country actually became sicker. Solomon claims that the same thing will happen if the President does not speak out against the Immigration and Nationality Act now. By comparing the current issue to an older one, Solomon attempted to show Americans that they cannot allow the country to make the same mistake again, therefore he successfully achieved his purpose.

Tow #11 IRB: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach (Part 1)

Mary Roach is a naturally curious woman that has written six books about different areas of nature, whether it was about the living or the dead. Stiff is the first book Roach wrote and it is about human bodies and what is done with them once they are dead. Although the book mainly addresses donation of the body to science, Roach also explains cremation and embalming all in graphic detail.  Roach is able to inform people interested in the subject with humor and comparisons of body parts to familiar items, most commonly food. For example, when describing what a brain looks like after three weeks of death, she says it "becomes like soup in there...chicken soup. It's yellow." Although comparing the cadavers to food may ruin that food for her audience, at least they can picture exactly what Roach was seeing at the time. The comparisons help the reader know exactly what the dead looks like, smells like, and even what the meat-eating bugs on the dead bodies sound like (Rice Krispies). In the first half of the book along with using humor, Roach is also uses a more serious tone. She makes it clear that dying is not funny and it is hard to deal with, yet it does not have to be boring. She acknowledges that her book may be controversial and that it is okay to disagree with her point of views. However, Roach makes her claim very clear by stating that it is "a shame to waste these powers, to not use them for the betterment of humankind" to not donate your body to science. By having a clear point of view, she is able to successfully support it in an unconventional way, which is through the use of humor. Overall I think she was successful in convincing people that her point of view is valid. She does not approach the subject of cadavers in a boring way, therefore I think that her audience will stay interested throughout the entire book and realize that they can do the amazing things that cadavers do once they are dead.

Tow #10: Article: "School District's Right to Divert Kids From Life of Crime"

This editorial was written in the opinion section of the Miami Herald. It tackled the subject of zero tolerance policies in public schools. The Miami Herald Editorial Board wanted to inform residents of the state of Florida about the changes to the policies in Miami-Dade and Broward County in order to hopefully create change in the rest of the state of Florida. The Miami Herald believed that by having zero tolerance policies in place, it would end up leading children into a life of crime. Prior to 2009, the Florida Legislators took a zero tolerance approach to all schools. For example, if a student threw a spitball, threw a punch, or cursed at a teacher, the school would have to call the cops. One bad decision led to a police record, making it harder for that student to get a job, a loan, or go into the military. According to the Miami Herald, if troubled students received counseling or mentoring, they would eventually learn to stay away from a life of crime. However, I disagree with the article. The Miami Herald mostly just used facts and statistics to prove their point, so I do not think it was very convincing. According to the article, Miami-Dade County and Broward County have had 30% less arrests and suspensions in their schools today due to the change in policy in 2009. However, does that fact even matter? Of course there are going to be less arrests and suspensions when the main form of punishment is counseling. Also, many of the teenagers that make minor mistakes will probably make major ones too if they do not get seriously punished. If the counterargument had been addressed and refuted more, I think that the article would have been much more effective. Before reading this article, I did not think that schools should relieve some of the zero tolerance policies, and after reading my opinion has not changed. Therefore, I do not think that the Miami Herald achieved their purpose.

Tow #9: Visual Text: Volkswagen's Amarok Print Ad

The advertisement above is from Volkswagen is advertising the fact that with one tank of gas, their car can go 620 miles. The car that they are advertising specifically in this print ad is a Volkswagen Amarok. Volkswagen is a well known car company that has been selling many cars for many years which makes them a credible company and therefore appeals to ethos. I think this ad is effective because there is a strong appeal to logos. With the fact at the bottom of the picture, it shows the logical reason for buying the car. I also like this advertisement because of its simplicity. When flipping through a magazine, there are so many colors and words that when an ad is plain grey with little words, it will make the reader stop for a second and look at the ad. In that second it is easy to understand exactly what the ad is saying because of the picture. It is clever to reshape the key into nature landscape because is illustrates that by unlocking your car, you are unlocking the ability to go on a long adventure. Then the reader will look at the bottom of the page and see that the long adventure can go on for 620 miles. The advertisement also has an appeal to pathos for anyone that loves adventure. The word adventure symbolizes a new beginning and a change that is fun. It symbolizes trying something new and enjoying it. The word had a strong positive connotation that sparks memories of someone’s own adventures or the excitement of starting a new adventure. Volkswagen seemed to be specifically targeting people that need a new car and like to go on long drives often. I think that Volkswagen successfully achieved their purpose of selling this car. The simplicity and cleverness of this ad is refreshing and hopefully it got the attention of car buyers. 

 

IRB Introduction #2: Stiff by Mary Roach

For the second marking period I am reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. I chose to read this because I was looking through a list of some of the best nonfiction books ever written and I recognized the title. My English teacher last year read a section of it to us and she recommended that we all read it. It is a book about dead bodies and what scientists do with them when those people chose to donate their bodies. Apparently it is humorous even though the book involves death, so I was curious and decided to read it. Hopefully I will learn from this book about how people can be useful even after they are dead.

Tow #8 IRB: The Buried Book by David Damrosch (Part 2)

The second half of my independent reading book, The Buried Book by David Damrosch, was centered more around how the Epic of Gilgamesh was found by Hormuzd Rassam and the effect the text had on the world. The part of the book that I found most engaging was how the cuneiform tablets that the epic was written on were found. Rassam was an English citizen that was a victim of harsh racism. Because of this, Rassam recieved little credit for his discoveries and his career became a joke. The purpose of Damrosch including Rassam's story in The Buried Book was to clear Rassam's name and explain to people interested in history and literature about the truth of how the tablets were found. Damrosch, a literature professor at Harvard University, had to do an extensive amount of research in order to clear Rassam's name. I think that Damrosch achieves this purpose more effectively than some of his others throughout the book because this side story is the first one he tells that appeals to pathos. For example after "Rassam had made the discovery of his life" the British press and the British museum "increasingly failed to give him credit for his finds." By using the word "failed" it created a negative emotional reaction because the word fail has such a negative connotation. Also the fact that the word "failed" is preceded by "increasingly" shows that he didn't get credit for his work multiple times. This part of the book was effective because many people can relate to Rassam's story. Because of a negative reputation, someone may discover something amazing, but all the credit is given to someone else. In Rassam's case, his negative reputation wasn't even his fault. Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge, an upperclass collector that worked with the British Museum and a rival of Rassam, received most of the credit for the work that Rassam had done. Because of this Rassam was "long forgotten by everyone" until Damrosch wrote this book to achieve his purpose of recognizing Rassam's discovery of the tablets.

Tow #7: Article: "No to More Casinos in New York State" by The Editorial Board of The New York Times

The Editorial Board of the New York Times consists of nineteen people that write opinion pieces that reflect the views of the editor and publisher of The New York Times. "No to More Casinos in New York State" was clearly written because The New York Times is against adding seven more casinos throughout the state of New York. The purpose of this article was to convince voters to say no to the idea when they vote on November 5th. The Editorial Board uses statistics, data from credible sources, and examples of failed casinos in other states to convince New York citizens to vote no. I think that The New York Times will successfully achieve their purpose because they appeal to logos throughout the entire article. They use Atlantic City as an example of how casinos will be a negative addition to the state. According to a report form the Center for Gambling Research, in Atlantic City, "the unemployment rate is at about 18 percent, and the crime rate is almost three times that of the surrounding country." This statistic in the article is one of many that was taken from a credible source that showed how a city is negatively affected by casinos. The Editorial Board also refutes many counterarguments from the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. They said that there is no doubt that some of the cities in New York need an economic boost, but there are other more successful ways to do it. By including this argument, the article further appealed to logos therefore strengthening the argument. Although the argument was mainly logical, there were some choice words the Editorial Board used to generate an emotional response. For example, the topic sentence of the fifth paragraph states that "when the gambling revenues begin to shrink, taxpayers lose." The word "lose" has a strong negative connotation and appeals to pathos. The New York Times is basically saying that no one wants to be a loser, so why vote to lose. It is clear exactly what the New York Times was arguing and there was a lot of irrefutable evidence to support their claim, therefore I think they will ultimately achieve their purpose.

Tow #6: Visual Text: College Recruiting Pamplets

For the past couple of months, colleges have been sending my sister and me tons of recruiting pamphlets in the mail or via email. Although the pamphlets vary in size, color, and other aspects, they all serve a common purpose. That purpose is to convince high school seniors to apply to their school, and convince other high school students to plan on applying to their college. In this particular pamphlet cover above, Elon University is directly targeting people interested in arts and sciences because at the top of the page a male student is playing the trumpet, but below a female student is performing a science experiment. Although the college is based in North Carolina, they want anyone of any race or gender to apply if they are interested in arts and sciences. Colleges, including Elon University, are generally effective in attracting people that would be interested in their programs. I myself have considered applying to a few of the colleges I discovered in the mail because they explain their program and what their school has to offer thoroughly. However, one thing I find consistent and ineffective with all college recruiting pamphlets is the attempt to show racial diversity throughout. In the example above, a black student and a white student is shown. It is as if Elon believes they have appealed to all races by including only two of them. Earlier this week I received a pamphlet from the University of Connecticut. Inside there was a picture of six college students holding hands and jumping off of a ledge smiling ridiculously. These students were a mixture of four different races and both genders. This same picture can be found in almost every pamphlet, so it is ineffective because it is unoriginal. Colleges are blatantly including every race they can possibly find at their school and stuffing them into one picture, which is unrealistic. My sister and I find it so comical that we made it a game to see which college has the most races represented, which is not the college's intended use of their pamphlets. When will colleges stop trying so hard to show diversity? It is very distracting and the overall message can be ignored because these pictures are so ridiculous, therefore the purpose may not be fully achieved.

Tow #5: Article: "One Possible Future for Movies: Projecting Them in 270 Degrees" by Leslie Finlay

ScreenX 270 degree experience

Leslie Finlay, a woman from New York who now lives in South Korea, wrote "One Possible Future for Movies" for The Atlantic to inform American movie-goers about a new technology developing in South Korea. This technology is called ScreenX. ScreenX display allows the audience to be fully immersed in a 270 degree motion picture in order to create the effect that the members of the audience are actually in each scene. As shown in the picture above, there are three screens to create this 270 degree effect: the traditional one in the front, and a screen on the left and right sides. Finlay truly believes that ScreenX could be the future of movies and was informing movie fans of this possibility. However, I love movies and I completely disagree with Finlay. ScreenX has no chance of being the future of movies because 3-D and IMAX movies are novelties that have yet to completely replace traditional movies. ScreenX seems like just another novelty that a person will enjoy once, but then never watch again. Finlay attempts to show that ScreenX is a possible future for movies by using quotes from the director of the first ScreenX movie and audience members' reactions after viewing the movie. Also Finlay appeals to logos by addressing the counterargument that ScreenX is better than traditional movies and IMAX. However, Finlay was not smart to mention that the director said the movie was a nightmare to film and that it was hard for the crew members to stay out of the 270 degree camera's way. If the director struggled to make this movie, which was only a half hour long, how hard will it be to film a full length film? I believe that Finlay was ineffective in achieving her purpose, mostly because she failed to refute all counterarguments. She never once mentioned the idea of buying a movie and watching it at home. How would a person be able to watch a movie with three screens at home? She does not answer this question and many others in her article. Overall, I agree with Finlay that Hollywood will try to incorporate this technology soon, but I, a frequent movie-goer, am not convinced that ScreenX is even a possible future for movies. Based on the comments listed below the article, I'd say that most movie-goers agree with me.

Tow #4 IRB: The Buried Book by David Damrosch (Part 1)

For my independent reading book, I chose to read The Buried Book written by David Damrosch, a professor that has his Ph.D from Yale University and currently teaches Comparative Literature at Harvard University. Damrosch did an extensive amount of research on the people that discovered and deciphered the Epic of Gilgamesh and so he decided to write this narrative. Among those people were George Smith and Hormuzed Rassam, which were the two men that were most emphasized and seemingly the most important people part of this discovery. It is obvious that Damrosch was writing for an intelligent audience of college students or professors because of his informative, almost robotic, tone. Also the structure of the book so far has been starting from the end, the discovery of the two thousand year-old cuneiform tablets in the 1800s, and getting closer to details about the time period when the Epic of Gilgamesh was written. Because of this structure and the sophisticated language Damrosch uses, that indicates the audience was not someone looking for a bit of light reading. So far I think that Damrosch has been effective in informing his audience about this piece of history. Although it seems like a history textbook at times, it is effective because there is no "fluff" to make it more fun to read, but instead all of the information is either straightforward and relevant or it seems like it will be important at the end of the book. However, to keep readers interested, Damrosch tells relatively extensive side-stories about the key players in this discovery. For example, with George Smith, Damrosch informs his audience of how Smith was able to translate the cuneiform tablets that the Epic was written on over the course of fifteen years, and the fame he gained after the public found out he was translating the dead language. Rather than leaving it at that, Damrosch goes deeper and provides background information on Smith's wife and letters he sent to his wife before he tragically died. I predict that after I read the last half of the book, Damrosch will tie in every main story and side story he tells to reduce confusion and hopefully achieve his purpose to compile all of his research and retell the story of the rediscovery of Gilgamesh.

Tow #3: Article: "The Case Against High School Sports" by Amanda Ripley

Amanda Ripley, the author of The Smartest Kids in the World- and How They Got That Way, wrote "The Case Against High School Sports" for The Atlantic because she firmly believes that high school sports are ruining academic opportunities for students. She establishes her credibility by stating that she played and enjoyed sports throughout her high school experience and it is evident that she did an extensive amount of research before writing this article. However, I do not think she will successfully achieve her purpose of convincing American principals and school districts and to ban sports, especially football, in their schools. In the article, Ripley makes the argument that schools are spending too much money paying for their football teams and coaches. Also she uses many examples to strengthen this argument. There is a school district in Texas that would have had to close down completely if they hadn't gotten rid of all sports. I agree with Ripley in the sense that too much money is being spent on sports, but getting rid of sports in high schools across the country is a bit extreme. There needs to be a balance in the amount of money that goes towards sports and academics. Rather than giving a football team new uniforms and spending a fortune on artificial turf in the same year, the school could pay for one of those things in that year and spend the rest of the money on buying new books or hiring better math teachers that may not double as coaches. I do not think it was smart for Ripley to mention that in the school in Texas, many sports were put back into their school, such as tennis, track, basketball, and cross country. I believe the sports were put back in because it is part of American culture to have sports in our schools. Ripley also makes the argument that American schools are not testing in math as Korea, China or Finland. She uses statistics that are difficult to argue with such as the fact that 93 percent of South Korean students graduate high school as opposed to 77 percent of American students. However I do not believe that these numbers are directly related to sports. Also, 77 percent of our high school population is still a lot of people considering the size of the country, so why does it matter if there are a few bad apples. They made the choice to not go to college because they have the right to live life how they want to. Overall I do not believe that Ripley accomplished her purpose in writing the article because America is still producing enough intelligent, innovative minds that there is no need to take extreme measures to change anything.

Tow #2: Visual Text: Global Warming Deniers by Nick Anderson

When trying to find a visual text this week, I looked through many political cartoons, but this particular one made me stop scrolling and actually look at the message. In the center of the cartoon is a large turkey that immediately grabbed my attention because it is in a barren landscape with a dark orange sky. Nick Anderson, the cartoonist responsible for this political cartoon published this in the Houston Chronicle's blog on August 9th, 2012. He has won the Pulitzer Prize as well as other awards for his works because of the powerful messages they give. Even though this particular cartoon was published over a year ago, it will stay relevant for as long as global warming is an issue, so it was important that Anderson tackled this subject. Ultimately the picture is of a cooked turkey living on future planet Earth. The use of food, especially meat, planted a much harsher and less humorous thought in my mind. If a turkey will cook to death due to global warming, why not human flesh? I believe that Anderson intended to appeal to pathos and make people laugh while at the same time make them feel a bit uncomfortable. The dark, orange sky as opposed to a bright blue one makes the American audience feel angry and think dark thoughts. This cartoon is mainly a warning message. Although it is humorous because the turkey is lost to the world with its head stuck in the ground, it was published to warn Americans of what can happen in the near future. Specifically, Anderson is addressing the global warming deniers, because those are the ones with their heads stuck in the ground and burned to death. I think that Anderson achieved his purpose to most viewers, because instead of outright saying "we are all going to die" he shows a dead turkey to illustrate the death of global warming deniers.

Tow #1: Article: "A Young Gymnast's Body Is Mysteriously Transformed" by Lisa Sanders, M.D.

Lisa Sanders is a professor at Yale School of Medicine and has been writing a column called Diagnosis for the New York Times since 2002. In this column, she writes about people with a serious illness that is difficult to be solved. In this article, she wrote about a fifteen year-old gymnast whose body suddenly changed. Overnight, her stomach protruded to the size of a woman who is six months pregnant, preventing her from doing gymnastics. The young girl saw many doctors, but all of them couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Some even said that it was all in her head and put the gymnast on antidepressants. That was the part of the article that bothered me the most. When it comes to children and teenagers, many adults dismiss what they are saying and assume it is a lie. Sanders, a former doctor, felt ashamed that other doctors would think the gymnast was lying, so she included that moment in her article. When the gymnast was in her worst pain, she begged the doctor, "cut me open and take it all out" because "anything is better than this." Sanders included this quote in her article to appeal to pathos and hopefully make parents feel sympathy towards this child. The reason why Sanders wrote about this case was not only to inform people about this rare disease, but also to encourage parents to believe their child when they say they are in pain or sick and to never give up on finding a diagnosis. Eventually a gastroenterologist named Rayna Gothe figured out that the involuntary muscles in her digestive system were uncoordinated and working incorrectly. The gymnast was able to return to gymnastics after a few weeks of physical therapy. By adding this happy ending to the story, I think that Sanders achieved her purpose. She showed that even some of the most difficult cases can still be solved and cured, so a person should never give up.

IRB Introduction #1: The Buried Book

For the first unit I have chosen to read The Buried Book: The Loss and Rediscovery of the Great Epic of Gilgamesh by David Damrosch. I chose to read this because it was recommended by my mother. She read this for her English class in grad school a year ago and said it was one of her favorite non-fiction books she has ever read. I also chose it because I am very unfamiliar with the topic of Gilgamesh and I wanted to learn something new about ancient history. After reading the introduction of the book, I realized that the book is essentially about a book and that book is The Epic of Gilgamesh. I hope I can learn a lot from this book about ancient history and about rediscovery.

Robert Boyers: A Beauty

Robert Boyers wrote the essay "A Beauty" for the literary magazine Agni to describe the most beautiful man he had ever met. When I first read the title of the essay, I assumed it would be about a woman or a piece of artwork, but it ended up being about a man named Charles Newman. Boyers met him in the 1970s when Newman was approaching forty years old and editing the journal he founded, TriQuarterly. Newman was also a gifted novelist. Boyers became friends with Newman, but Newman's beauty never went unnoticed by Boyers or anyone else they encountered. Along with describing the most beautiful man he's ever met, Boyers wrote this essay to explain the effect of beauty on people and to be read by adults of all ages and gender. In order to fully achieve his purpose he uses his friend as an example throughout the entire story. Many younger women liked to flirt with Newman and he enjoyed doing it back. Boyers also explained that the beauty had an effect on Newman himself. When Newman got married for the fourth and last time, he was also dating another girl across the country. Because he was so good looking, Boyers had the confidence to be in a relationship with more than one woman. It was actions like this that made Boyers only base his opinions of Newman's beauty from the outside. I think that Boyers only partially achieved his purpose. He did a wonderful job of describing his friend, which I believe was the main reason for writing the essay. However, I think he could have done a better job of explaining the effect of beauty on others, because he really only described the effect of Newman's beauty on others. It may have been completely intentional for Boyers to keep the focus on Newman, but I would have liked the essay better if he had tied in some other examples.

Charles Hamilton Newman (1938-2006)

from his wikipedia page

Francine Prose: Other Women

When Francine Prose was twenty-five years old, she was unhappily married and living in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Because of her problems with her marriage, she decided to join a feminist group to help her see the value in being a woman. Unfortunately, Prose's husband ended up sleeping with every single woman in the group, or that's how she likes to tell the story forty years later in Granta magazine. In reality he was only with two of the women in the group, but Prose uses exaggeration as a rhetorical device to achieve her purpose. That purpose is to inform women of all ages that they are equal to men and also that feminist groups do not always work in the way they are supposed to. The use of exaggeration works because she does tell the truth later and explains that the exaggeration is a way of expressing how "betrayed [she] felt by [her] husband and feminist sisters" (Brooks and Atwan 241). The women were supposed to support each other in the group, but instead Prose felt betrayal. Because this was exaggerated, it made me realize that the group really did not fulfill its purpose. Prose also talks about the subject of the war of men against women.  Her strategy in accomplishing this purpose is the use of repetition. Towards the end of the essay, she asks herself six questions starting with the words "do I think" and answering all of them with "yes". One of the questions was "do I think women are as smart and capable as men?" (Brooks and Atwan 242). With the use of repetition, it drills the message into the readers head, and it also shows that Prose is very passionate about her purpose. It is because of this passion that I believe Prose accomplished her purpose.

 
Feminism
from asap-asia.org
 

Works Cited

Brooks, David, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2012. Boston: 
       Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.

Ken Murray: How Doctors Die

Ken Murray quit being a doctor ten years before he wrote the essay "How Doctors Die" for the Zocalo Public Square. Although the essay is titled "How Doctors Die", it is more about how the average patient is overtreated. If someone is terminally ill, they do anything they can to try to find a cure, even if the doctor knows the procedure is useless. However, according to Murray, doctors will never overtreat themselves. Murray wrote this essay to convince terminally ill people and families of terminally ill people to die how doctors die: surrounded by family. The main strategy that he uses to persuade is the use of examples. He uses the example if his mentor Charlie, a highly respected orthopedist that died of pancreatic cancer. As soon as Charlie got the diagnosis, he stayed at home to be with his family and ended up dying several months later. Charlie died a happy man, but Murray would not have accomplished his purpose unless he included a story with an unpleasant death. That was the purpose of including the story about one of his former patients. She was the attorney of a famous political family that had severe diabetes and poor circulation throughout her body. After Murray refused to do a surgery on her, she went to another hospital that would perform the surgery. Unfortunately the surgical wounds did not heal and she ended up dying. This is the example that made me agree with Murray. If that woman had only stayed with the doctor that knew her better, she may still be alive, or at least have been alive for a little longer. People should not try so hard to seek out a cure, especially terminally ill people. I believe that Murray accomplished his purpose because he knows that modern medicine has its limits. He made me think that when given the choice, its better to have a life of quality, not quantity.

Overtreatment

 www.cchsr.iph.cam.ac.uk/519

Dudley Clendinen: The Good Short Life

Dudley Clendinen was a sixty-six year old recovering alcoholic and reporter when he wrote the essay "The Good Short Life" in the New York Times Sunday Review. The essay was about how Clendinen planned on committing suicide in the near future. Although suicide is awful, I'm surprised that I actually found myself agreeing with his decision. Clendinen was suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease) and did not want to become a burden to his family because the disease has no cure. The purpose of Clendinen writing this essay was for adults to talk about death more openly and to explain to loved ones and fans of his why he wanted to kill himself. He explains his purpose by putting his situation into terms that most people can relate to. Clendinen said that the cost of keeping him alive is too much if he is just going to die anyways. He also stated that if he were to be kept alive by a machine, he'd be "maintained by feeding and waste tubes" which would leave him with zero quality of life (Brooks and Atwan 64). Other people can sympathize with him because most people want to die happy and leave their families with enough money to take care of themselves. The strategy of putting his situation into common terms makes me think that he did accomplish his purpose. I believe that he accomplished his purpose of trying to get adults to talk about death more by talking about death himself. According to the New York Times he said that "we act as if facing death weren’t one of life’s greatest, most absorbing thrills and challenges...believe me it is" (McFadden). Unfortunately, Clendinen died at the age of sixty-seven last year due to his disease. His daughter, Whitney, said it was not done by his own hand (McFadden).

Dudley Clendinen at age 66

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Works Cited

Brooks, David, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2012. Boston: 
       Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.

McFadden, Robert D. "Dudley Clendinen, Reporter and Editor, Dies at 67." The New 
       York Times. The New York Times Company, 31 May 2012. Web. 13 Aug. 2013.

Lauren Slater: Killing My Body to Save My Mind

Lauren Slater, in her twenties, was an active young girl with the perfect body. By the looks of her, the average person would think she was perfect, but the average person would not know what was going on inside her mind. Slater struggled with depression and no drugs seemed to work until she tried Zyprexa. This drug cured her mind, but it also caused her to become extremely overweight and prediabetic. Slater is now in her forties, five feet tall, and one hundred and eighty pounds. I believe Slater wrote this essay to inform middle-aged men and women that living until you are ninety and having the perfect body is not worth it unless you are happy. Although Slater's body is having a "breakdown", as she describes it, her mind is not emotionally breaking down. She helps support her purpose by explaining to people that having a perfect mind or a perfect body is a choice. There are people that sued Eli Lilly, the maker of Zyprexa, for causing excessive weight gain. However Slater stated that she will not sue Lilly for "making a drug that saved [her] life" even though it is "leaching it away" (Brooks and Atwan 259). She knows what she is doing to herself and she explains that she is fully accepting of it. I think that Slater accomplished her purpose of writing the essay because of her acceptance. She stated that she made her choice and she is no longer depressed. Also, I think she realizes that not everyone is strong enough to make the choice she made, but she doesn't regret her choice either. I personally do not agree with her choice. I do not suffer from depression, but I would definitely stop taking the pill if my cholesterol rose as high as hers and I became prediabetic. However, her purpose was more informative than persuasive. Not everyone will destroy their bodies to become happy, but now her audience knows another way for happiness to be possible.

Thin to Thick

from picstopin.com

Works Cited

Brooks, David, and Robert Atwan, eds. The Best American Essays 2012. Boston: 
       Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Print.