TOW #3 IRB Post "Madame President"

One of the chapters from my IRB, My Kind of Place, by Susan Orlean, is titled "Madame President". This chapter documents Orlean's visits to Martin Luther King Jr. High School in New York City, mainly focusing on the student body president, Tiffanie Lewis. (This would have been a while ago; the book was published in 2004). Orlean begins by recounting the story of Lewis's election, introducing the reader to Lewis herself, and describes her interactions with other members of her student government and body. She also writes about the school itself, which has been known as "Horror High" because of the incidents and issues the school has faced, but is also home to some of the highest-performing students in the area. Susan Orlean comes to the piece with some automatic ethos, being a writer for The New Yorker and already the author of other books. She further establishes her ethos by the inclusion of her interviews with the students and other related information: she clearly visited the school multiple times and knows what she is writing about. The main way that Orlean communicates her experience is through anecdotes. She tells stories of meetings on which she sat in and she records her conversations with the students. Besides establishing her ethos, as mentioned before, this helps her create an appeal to pathos, because it allows the reader to identify with the students of the school and understand them better. She also appeals to pathos by creating a contrast; she positions the lively, kindhearted, rather innocent students against the notorious, big, city school to which they belong. Orlean writes "When you are in the student affairs office... it's as if there were no metal detectors in the lobby and no school superintendent politics and nothing but the exigencies of being sixteen or seventeen," (52). We are shown these ominous aspects of the school but we are also presented with these active, animated students who manage to succeed despite their surroundings, and that connects to our emotions. This contrast is important to the purpose of this piece, which I believe is best exemplified by the last line, a quote Orlean includes from student Tiffanie Lewis. She says "Can I say this, people?... You know what? This is not a perfect world" (Orlean 53). This isn't a perfect world, and this fact has been made obvious in the previous depictions of a school that has experienced crime and tragedy and many students falling behind. However, in this piece Orlean shows that amidst all this good things can still grow. The proof is the caring students who do creative things.

TOW #2 "Stages of the Egyptian Revolution" Satirical Cartoon

This is a satirical cartoon about the Egyptian Revolution drawn by Khalid Albaih, a Sudanese cartoonist. The cartoon shows the progression of leaders who have taken power in Egypt since the revolution in 2011 while demonstrating the seeming lack of actual progress that has been made. The first face represents Mubarak, the leader of Egypt "before #Jan25" when he was overthrown. The second face, identical except for the beard, represents Morsi, who became president "after #Jan25". The third face, identical to the first two but without the beard, represents Mansour, who has been the interim president since the military ousting of Morsi on "#june30th". The hashtags are used to represent the role that social media played in precipitating the revolution. The beard is the only distinguishing feature on Morsi, representing him as an Islamist (traditionally the prophet Muhammad wore a similar beard), but otherwise, all three faces are exactly the same. This cartoon comes almost three years after the revolution in Egypt and ultimately what Albaih argues is that the situation in Egypt has hardly changed. Three leaders have come in and out of power and they have ruled pretty much the same way, the only difference is that there was first a secular leader, then an Islamist, and now a secular leader again.This cartoon definitely appeals to pathos, using humor to make fun of a not-so-humorous situation. He also uses irony to point out that despite the fact that Egypt has been experiencing a revolution, not many revolutionary changes have been made. I think Khalid Albaih has automatically established ethos, by the fact that he is a well-known cartoonist. Albaih's audience is people of the Middle East, probably specifically activists and the educated. I have browsed many other examples of Albaih's work and most of it uses Arabic text, obviously intended for Arab readers. However, some of them, such as the one analyzed here, use English text and may be intended for a wider, more global audience. The ones in a collection from BBC, where I found this cartoon, either are in English or have no text at all: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24142913. They almost all, however, deal with events and circumstances occurring in countries in the Middle East.

IRB Intro Post: First Marking Period

The IRB I have chosen for the first marking period is called My Kind of Place: Travel Stories from a Woman Who's Been Everywhere by Susan Orlean. She is the author of three other books as well as a writer for The New Yorker. This book is a collection of writings from many different places exploring a variety of topics, from the World Taxidermy Championships in Springfield, Illinois to climbing Mt. Fuji in Japan. I chose this book because I love to travel and I liked the idea of a collection of writings on many different subjects. I think it will be an interesting read for me, potentially giving me insight into places I wish I could go, as well as introducing me to topics I would never be inclined to explore. For example, I would never normally choose to read about taxidermy on my own. However, as part of a larger work, I am willing to give it a try. Susan Orlean's book presents places, people, and events in an unbiased light and I think this book will explore many new ideas in an interesting and engaging way.

TOW #1 "Children deserve better"

The piece "Children deserve better" was an editorial from today's edition of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The author is unnamed but he or she writes on a very timely topic: the budget cuts to Philadelphia's public schools. The schools opened this month, despite the inadequate resources and insufficient numbers of faculty and staff. The education budget has been cut by $304 million dollars and as a result the schools are suffering. The article states of the conditions of the schools "It is not sufficient to close school libraries because there aren't enough library assistants, or to have 40 children in a classroom, or a single guidance counselor for hundreds of students spread across several schools." Fortunately, many people in the communities helped to open the schools including parents and volunteers. However the author of this piece points out that state legislators are not doing anything to help. This article builds its argument on both ethos and pathos. The idea that children are getting inadequate education is frustrating, saddening, and angering, especially when it seems that lawmakers are doing nothing. The author appeals to his or her readers shared values: the ideas that education is important and that all children deserve a good education. Towards the end of the article the author writes "If the Corbett administration and some legislators think Philadelphia schools have sufficient resources, they should ask themselves if they would send their own children to the city's schools." In this way the author directs her ethos and pathos at her double audience. First, indirectly addressing the Pennslyvania government, she reminds them that the children suffering these budget cuts deserve the same education they would have for their own children. This also appeals to the ethos and pathos of the author's prime audience, the readers of the Inquirer, as they also desire the support of their government for good quality education for their children. In this piece, the author calls on the state government to start making decisions that help the schoolchildren of Philadelphia. Though the editorial may or may not be seen by actual legislators (probably not) the author makes a solid, strong argument that the issue of budget cuts to education needs to be addressed.