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.