TOW #29 Reflection

Dear Future APELC Student,
Hello, you poor unfortunate soul. I am only kidding, this class is not as bad as you think. There are lots of boogie man stories that will say that you're gonna fail or that you'll cry during the exam, but most of of that is not true. With that said, don't go into the class expecting an A, because it's not just an easy A kind of class. A's are hard to get in this course, and B's are completely ok! So with that all said, let's get down to the nitty gritty.
There is a good amount of reading to be done in this course, just make sure that you keep up and know what what you are reading about. If your life gets crazy and you can't get get some homework done, just make sure that you can contribute to the class and aren't just sitting around in silence during class.
Timed essays are also a great part of this class. Of the first few you will write, you will most likely not finish most of them, and that's ok because you will learn to be faster and formulate your ideas better. The score you receive will also not always be ideal, but it is all about the learning experience and you will improve before the exam.
Take home essays will be assigned over the course of the year, these are the essays that you are used to writing in your traditional english class. These are usually very easy and shouldn't be too hard to write; but ensure that you have met with someone before you turn it in because it will greatly help you.
With all of that said, I hope you have a great year in AP English next year!

TOW #28 Reflection

It is hard to believe that this year has passed by so rapidly and that our class are on our final two TOWS. As I look back at the humble beginnings at TOW #1 and then back to TOW #27, I can see a progression in my posts. As the year progressed, I saw that the diversity of my topics greatly increased and that I was willing to write about different topics and deviate from my "comfort zone." The format of the texts that I was analyzing greatly differed. I went from only writing about things that were exclusively printed to things like speeches and posters. The writing in the posts also seemed to get better as I learned as a writer. Some things that I believe that I mastered... Mastered is a tricky word, because I don't believe that you can master anything when it comes to writing, there is always room for improvement. With that said, I believe that I have gotten good at identifying rhetorical devices and finding their purpose in the passage as a whole. I also have a very good idea of what a well crafted topic and transition sentence. As for what I need to improve, I need to work on bringing it full circle, making sure that my analysis is complete. I also have trouble elaborating on my analysis and expressing my ideas in a circumlocution. Finally, has this exercise helped me progress as a writer throughout the year? I think it has been a good in the fact that it kept me writing through periods where maybe we didn't write as much in class so it helped keep my writing from slipping into a state of not knowing how to write. I also found that it made the words flow much easier and made me a much quicker writer. At the beginning of the year it took me about an hour to do TOWs, but now I can crank one out in 35 minutes. I also found that as the year went on, I cared less and less about how I wrote my TOWs. The fact that they weren't that impactful on my grade made it more like a duty that had to get done as quick as possible rather than an assignment and even if it wasn't up to par it was good enough. I believe that these TOWs can be helpful to keep students honed throughout the year, but need to be to make them mean more than they already do.

TOW #27

This week, I read a review of the Oculus Rift, a new gaming device that puts the user in a virtual reality by strapping on a headset, by a man named Andrew Gumbel. From the title, Gumbel’s review sounds like it will be promoting this revolutionary device that, “appears to be on to something”, but by the end becomes a condescending reproach on not only all virtual reality divides but the gaming community. Gumbel starts out his review with, “I have seen the future, and I’m worried it’s really going to mess me up” this could mean that he is either scared of what’s to come or humbled by how advanced this technology is, giving the reader mixed impressions. After this he talks about his test of the Oculus Rift, but nowhere tries to establish any sort of credibility whether it be a connection to the gaming industry or prior experience with this technology or any technology. His argument also doesn’t connect with the reader because he separates himself from the gaming community, which is the assumed audience, by saying things like, “what the virtual reality geeks refer to as” or, “a watershed moment for gaming freaks” which not only puts space between him and gamers, but also insults his audience by calling them “freaks” and “geeks”. Beyond his connection to the gaming world Gumbel’s article is poorly formatted and very choppy, he starts by talking about the Oculus Rift and what problems the company has faced, to describing another companies device, then back to the Oculus rift and its developer. These several leaps between topics with almost no transition are very confusing and make it seem like Gumbel is doing his research as he goes and is writing whatever the next hit on Google is. Overall Gumbel’s argument is ineffective and at sometimes insulting towards its audience and offers little to no value. 

TOW # 26 Garnier ad

This hair advertisement uses some hairy tactics to appeal to its readers. The largest and most evident rhetorical device in this full page advertisement is juxtaposition. This ad juxtaposes the women smiling with their hair to make it seem like their hair is making them so exuberant. Because these women are so happy about their hair, it makes the reader think that because they used this product it has made them happy and confident. This ad also utilises inductive and deductive arguments. At the top it says "nourished hair means better color." It also uses an inductive argument to show that their product is the best for nourishing hair. By convincing the reader that their product is the best for healing and nouring hair and that nourished hair has the best color, it makes the reader want to buy their product because it would color their hair the best. It would also have to added effect of keeping their hair healthy.

TOW # 25 Obama Drone Strike

http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-fantasizes-about-ordering-drone-strike-again,38412/
Has one of the most controversial presidents of all time crossed the line into the the crazy? According to The Onion, President Obama recently fantasized about his own suicide by drone strike. The satirical publication, The Onion, has produced another hilarious but also politically relevant article, this time about the political policies of the President. This publication seeks to poke fun at the government's "overuse" and peoples criticism of drone strikes against the terror group isis by hyperbolizing a situation. The article frames the scene of the president dwelling on the thought of his death by drone strike with his last words being "God bless America." This image serves a dual purpose which acts as a double edge sword. It first criticises the government's tendency to use deadly drone strikes as a solution to the terror threat posed by isis. It hyperbolized the idea that if the government and the president keep turning to this deadly act of diplomacy, it is going to meet an untimely and unpleasant end with all of America as the observers. It also parodies the main criticism of these strikes being that it is overly brutal and overused and that feet on the ground would be much better. It satirizes the idea that Obama overuses these attacks so frequently that he is even going to choose it as his own death. But is this type of satiric article effective? The way that it communicates both sides and problems with an argument in a humorous and concise way demonstrates knowledge of recent political events and a well educated writer, and conveys its meaning to its readers well is very effective.

TOW #24 IRB

Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman, tells the story of Richard P. Feynman, an eccentric physics nobel prize winner. Mr. Feynman is a hilarious atomic physicist who has traded work with some of the greats such as Einstien and Bhor along with some other wacky shenanigans. This book is full of different rhetorical devices that translate Feynman's brilliance  to the reader. Feynman's main use of rhetorical devices are the ones that transfer his ideas and images to his readers. To best analyze this text I am going to use SOAPSTone. The speaker of this text is Richard P. Feynman, a scientist and nobel prize winner and in the story he speaks as a narrator in the first person while he tells the story of his life. His position as a storyteller gives the readers a good sense of his thoughts as well as a good grasp of what's going on in the particular anecdote. This story is written as a retelling of the influential moments of his life and occurs over a large span of years. Feynman's audience is mostly people who enjoy the field of science or are familiar with him as an accomplished scientists. This makes him alter his diction to include jargon from the field of science. His purpose is to convey just how zany his life has been and how that has influenced his career and his accomplishments. He makes the subject of this story is himself because it is an autobiography. His tone is very light and joking to convey how funny his life has been but also fascinated to show hos interested in his field he is.  

TOW # 23 Dave Barry "Revenge of the Pork Person"

"Revenge of the Pork Person", what kind of literature is that? Will they be talking about some mutated pigs that have become bipedal and started to walk? Well in a way it does. Dave Barry, the author of "Revenge of the Pork Person", is a passage about how the false standards given to women are making them uncomfortable with themselves and how they fit into the clothes that they buy. Dave Barry uses hyperbole to create humor and subconsciously convince women that these standards are unobtainable and unwise to try and meet. Barry's first example of hyperbole is his description of a male. He paints a picture of a greasy, gross, old man who can still be considered attractive. This is meant to convince women that they don't have to be perfect, or even to look that good to be attractive to someone, which is hopefully a confidence booster. He then tells the story of his neighbor who looked fine but was self conscious about her ankles not looking good. By giving an example of something ridiculous like that, the women in his audience can hopefully find a way to laugh at how ridiculous their insecurities are, much like how that thought the woman's were ridiculous. Finally, Barry describes the look of a perfect looking model. He describes a modern model as a person is tall like an amazon, who has been nipped and tucked, and is abnormally thin. This humoring of the model physique gives the impression that the standards set forth for women are completely ridiculous and should not be taken seriously.