TOW #10: "The Last Word On Stop-and-Frisk" byJeffrey Toobin

This article discusses the issues surrounding New York's controversial "stop-and-frisk" program, particularly the removal of a judge from the case. In August of 2013, federal judge Shira Sheidindlin ruled this program a violation of the constitutional rights of New Yorkers because, "while African-American and Latino New Yorkers comprise only 54% of the general population, they constituted 84% of all stops in 2012, and 88.8% of the people stopped were not charged." However, because she seemed to be very biased against the program and spoke a lot to the media regarding her view on "stop-and-frisk", she was disqualified from the case, and the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit is now declaring her ruling invalid.
The main purpose of this article was to inform readers about the highly controversial "stop-and-frisk" program by focusing mainly on the recent disqualification of a judge. The audience is probably mainly New Yorkers, given that the magazine is called The New Yorker, so this would be an issue important to them. The author begins with a pun, saying "stop me if you've heard this one". This is funny because under the program, police have the right to randomly stop cars if they are suspicious of activity going on. The author also employs a type of chronological organization that makes the story easier to follow, starting with Sheidindlin's ruling and progressing to the current state of affairs regarding the law.
Overall, I believe that the author did achieve his purpose, given the audience he was aiming at. New Yorkers would probably be at least somewhat familiar with the "stop-and-frisk" law so the author never goes into detail about what it is. The article was informative as to the issues surrounding the program and was focused on the contribution of one judge to this law.
Jeffrey Toobin is currently a legal analyst and commentator for CNN and writes for The New Yorker.

IRB #2: Hiroshima by John Hersey

Hiroshima chronicles the effects of one of the most devastating weapons made in human history on the lives of six different people. Among them, two are women, two are doctors, and two are religious men. The book starts with the explosion of the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, and ends with a postscript written by John Hersey that gives an update of each of the survivor's lives forty years after the atomic bomb was dropped.
I choose this book because a friend of mine recommended it. I know that the dropping of the atomic bomb was extremely controversial decision, and as someone interested in history I want to learn more about this event through people who have witnessed it first-hand. Only then, I think, can I really grasp the magnitude of the tragedy that happened.

Tow #9: Media-"Back to the Start" Chipotle Commerical

In this Chipotle commercial, a farmer starts with a free-range farm with his wife and newborn child. As time goes on, he begins to industrialize his farm into almost a factory, putting the animals into giant buildings where they follow a conveyor belt to be fattened with chemicals and processed. However, the farmer realizes the error in his ways and goes "back to the start", breaking down the walls and allowing his animals to be free-range again. The commercial ends with the farmer, now an older man, hand-putting a crate of goods in a Chipotle truck. His wife and son, now fully grown, watch nearby.
The main appeal of this commercial is to pathos. Chipotle very powerfully spreads the message that their meats come from humane sources. The suffering of the farm animals when they are placed into the dark buildings is clear. There is also a clear contrast of color throughout the commercial. At first, everything is green and sunny, with the animals happily grazing in the fields. Then, the primary color is gray as the farmer begins to industrialize his farm. The colors return to a cheerful green and blue when the farmer sees his error and returns to sustainable farming. Coldplay's The Scientist also adds to the mood with its haunting quality and swell at the end as the farmer goes back to his humane methods.
The target audience is the American public, particularly adults. Not many people think about where the foods they eat come from, especially in restaurants. However, Chipotle's advertisement not only makes people confront this problem, but it also shows how Chipotle is addressing this issue as well, making the restaurant chain seem humane and attracting customers not only because they enjoy the food, but also because they appreciate the philosophy.
The advertising here seems subtle, because views do not know it's about Chipotle until they see the truck at the very end with the Chipotle logo on it. However, it achieves its purpose marvelously by not shoving the product in the viewer's face but instead first showing a moral issue, which the view is likely to react to more. Now when they see Chipotle, they connect the chain to sustainable farming and organic materials, which are good for the viewers.

Tow # 8-"Dreams From My Father" by Barack Obama (IRB)

After learning about President Obama's experience as a community organizer in Chicago, the third and final section of his autobiography is entitled "Kenya". Obama travels back to his father's nation or origin to find out more about the man that he could only admire from afar but never really knew. In Nairobi, Obama meets his grandmother and his extended family. He feels hopelessly entangled in family politics and sees clearly that his father was not a perfect man, as Obama growing up had been lead to believe. In the end, Obama is not disappointed with his search, he merely has even more questions. The autobiography has an epilogue, where Obama returns to Kenya with Mrs.Obama, and he is optimistic that things will change for the better.
One of the most important rhetorical devices used in this autobiography is flashbacks. Throughout both the "Kenya" and "Chicago" section Obama uses extensive flashbacks into the lives of his mother and father. Although they no longer play the same central role in the autobiography in later chapters as they did in the beginning, Obama is continually influenced by his quest to discover his identity through the past of his parents.
The audience for this autobiography, the American public, will probably find it easy to connect to the autobiography. Particularly in the "Kenya" section, Obama seems to focus more on dialogue and action rather than description, emphasizing similarities in thought rather than differences because of the African backdrop. However, he does use Swahili terms at times.
I think that Obama did achieve his purpose of showing that he has seen more than the average political candidate. From "Origins" to "Kenya", there is a sense that by belonging to two worlds and thus uncertain of where he fits, President Barack Obama has gone on an incredible journey.