TOW #10 "Give the kid a holiday break"

This article is from the opinion section of today's Philadelphia Inquirer and is written by Nicolaus Mills, a professor at Sarah Lawrence College. He argues, convincingly, in my opinion, that professors should be lenient in allowing college students to miss class during Thanksgiving week. Among his reasons he explains that travel home the day before Thanksgiving is very expensive for college students and that the amount of time that they are getting to spend with their parents is decreasing. This argument may resonate with me because I am a student with a sibling in college who has taken off school to visit family in the past. I think Mills's argument is valid and convincing to those who may come from a different situation, though he does base his argument on the assumption that his audience accepts that family is one of the most important things in life. Mill's comes to the piece with an established ethos as a college professor, and he reminds his audience of his experience in the first sentence by writing "Years ago, when I began college teaching," (Mills par. 1). Then he goes on to explain how he began by expecting his students to be in class the days before the holiday, but has changed his mind because of two major reasons: the expense students must cover to travel home and the decreasing amount of time they are able to spend with their parents. This, he believes, is due to the increasing amount of education costs students are required to pay and the their need to work to pay these off and get ahead. Mills cites statistics of the cost of college to impress upon his audience with how big a task the paying off college tuition actually is. He also makes a comparison between current college conditions and the ones he encountered as a college student. In the sixties "when I was in college and grad school, my friends and I came home most summers. We got jobs, lived with our parents, and used the money we saved to help pay for our educations. We entered the job market debt-free," (Mills par. 4). Mills compares this to the situation of college students today, who may not find a job at home and must live elsewhere to work, who need to take internships to get ahead, and who finish college with thousands of dollars in debt that they must pay off. Thus Mills concludes that college students should be allowed and enabled to spend time with their parents while they can, because the demands of entering the work force and paying of education debts may inhibit that valuable time in the future.

TOW #9 "Is it right to waste helium on party balloons?" by Tim Bowler

This is an article from the BBC News Magazine by Tim Bowler. It describes the increasingly limited source of helium and presents the potential issue of one day completely running out of helium. Ultimately, Bowler asks if we should be wasting this finite resource on such trivial things as balloons when it is highly valued for such uses as superconducting magnets in MRI scanners. Bowler writes that it is important to conserve and value rare finite resources but his purpose is more to inform the audience of the issue and open up further discussion on the question. The article sites quotes from several scientists on the issue. For example Bowler quotes "'We're going to be looking back and thinking, I can't believe people just used to fill up their balloons with it, when it's so precious and unique,' says Cambridge University chemist Peter Wothers" (par. 7). By including the insight of a scientist, Bowler shows that he has examined the viewpoints of experts working with the issue and knows his topic. He also presents a factual background on the nature of helium, that it is one of the most common elements in the universe but is quite rare on earth, and that it has the lowest boiling point, which makes it a key part of superconducting magnets. Bowler also appeals to pathos in his article by presenting a rather alarming situation. He quotes chemist Andrea Sella as saying "'But helium is unique. When it's gone it is lost to us forever'" (Bowler par. 4). By presenting a potentially scary situation, the complete elimination of a valuable, finite resource, in a dramatic way, Bowler captures the attention of the audience. Finally, defining the issue in terms of a commonly known product allows the audience to understand the connection of the issue to their own lives. Most people have seen those brightly colored helium balloons floating at parties and for sale in grocery stores. By showing the importance of helium for other uses, it's scarcity, and how it is "wasted" for trivial party balloons, the issue can resonate stronger with the audience.

Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24903034

IRB Intro Post: Second Marking Period

The IRB I have chosen for this marking period is Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell. Currently a huge name in nonfiction, Malcolm Gladwell has written several other books including The Tipping Point, Outliers, and most recently released this fall, David and Goliath. He is also a writer for the New Yorker, just like the author of my last IRB. Blink is about the quick thinking our brains do without our realization of it. In the first two seconds of reaction to a new subject, our brains draw conclusions and make decisions, and as Malcom Gladwell writes in the introduction "Blink is a book about those first two seconds" (8). I heard about Blink a couple years ago and have been meaning to read it. Last year I read Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell and really liked it, and I expect that I will enjoy Blink just as much.

TOW #8 "Malala and Nabila: worlds apart"

"Malala and Nabila: worlds apart" is an article from Al Jazeera by Murtaza Hussain. It describes the struggles a young Pakistani girl named Nabila has faced with her family. She and her siblings were injured and her grandmother was killed by a drone US drone strike on her family. When she and her family came to Washington D.C. to find out why this had happened, hardly anyone showed up to the hearing, and no one could answer why an innocent family had been attacked. Hussain then contrasts this action and response of the US government to its reaction to the struggles of Malala Yousafazai. He contends that the US and other powers praise and sympathize with Malala because she can be used as a symbol for the justness of their cause in fighting in the Middle East. However, they ignore those such as Nabila who they themselves are harming. This article greatly appears to pathos by describing the plight of Nabila and her family and how they were ignored by the US government. He writes of the tradegy "Seven children were wounded, and Nabila's grandmother was killed before her eyes, an act for which no apology, explanation or justification has ever been given," (Hussain par. 1). This image intends to make the audience sympathize with Nabila and to evoke emotions of sadness and horror. The further explanation of how this was annoyed by the government is also intended to evoke anger at the injustice and cruelty of the situation. However, this article is not only based on pathos, it also appeals to logos through a logical comparison of the reactions to Nabila and Malala. It also appeals to ethos, because of the presentation of shared values between the audience and the author, that the killing of innocents is wrong and that the government's response was unjust. Thus this article mainly appeals to pathos, but is built on a foundation of ethos and logos. Its appeals effectively target the audience to achieve its purpose of showing how the US has unjustly and immorally harmed millions of innocents in its operations.