TOW #22: Nike; Find Your Greatness

This simple Nike commercial shows an overweight boy running down a country lane. There is no sound except for the scuffling of his shoes and the narrator in the background. As he is running, a narrator discusses what "greatness" is, and how anyone can be great. This implies that by having the motivation to keep running, the kid is showing greatness. Throughout the commercial, Nike employs an appeal to pathos and a testimonial of sorts to show the importance of its product.

The most effective aspect of this commercial its appeal to pathos. There is no doubt that many people struggle with their weight but feel like they lack the motivation to go out and exercise. By showing this young teen who has the drive to keep on running, Nike immediately creates an ad that is connectable and relatable to a large chunk of its audience. And the uplifting message of working towards a goal is something that all people can relate to. Nike also uses a real person to further the connectability of this ad. In the left-hand corner of the ad is a link that leads to the teen's actual TV interview and progress after this commercial was filmed. This shows that he actually achieved his goal, and that you can too. It is also important to note that there really is no mention of Nike or really what this commercial is advertising for except until the very end. This is effective in that the audience can take the time to relate to the commercial on a personal level without any brand being peddled in front of their face. However, this may detract slightly from the beginning since the audience is not aware what the commercial is for at first. The audience for this commercial is probably all Americans who exercise or want to get into better shape.

Nike is a sportswear company that specializes in shoes. Founded in 1964, its current CEO is Mike Parker.

TOW 21: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

In this memoir by Jeanette Walls, the author and her family constantly move during her childhood across the West. Both her father and mother are free-spirited souls who seem unable to completely settle in one place, partly because they were constantly accumulating debts. Her mother is an artist and her father  works odd jobs to make money. Jeanette was forced to grow up fast as a child, learning to take on responsibilities such as managing money and getting food for the family. However, she still loves her parents despite their irresponsibility. Currently, the family is staying at Battle Mountain, their longest place of residence.

Throughout the story, Walls uses imagery and metaphors to vividly describe her experiences. She writes, "Brian and I loved to go to the dump. We looked for treasures among the discarded stoves and refrigerators, the broken furniture and stacks of bald tires. We chased after the desert rats that lived in the wrecked cars, or caught tadpoles and frogs in the scum-filled pond." This detailed imagery gives the memoir an almost fantastical quality, adding to the story-telling element of it. Walls recounts her life as the adventure it truly was, full of constant action. Even though her story itself is interesting, these devices make it easy to imagine her as a child, searching as all kids do for treasure, only in the middle of a small desert town while constantly on the move.

Jeanette Wall's purpose is probably to tell her story and share her unique childhood with her readers. She achieves this marvelously, partially through her undoubtedly interesting experiences but also through her vivid descriptions. This also makes her memoir suitable for all audiences because it is very readable and suspenseful. Ms. Walls is a regular contributer to MSNBC and won the 2006 American Library Association Alex Award with The Glass Castle.

TOW # 21: Ukraine's Drama, Obama's Weakness by John Bolton

In this article about the recent Russian invasion of the Crimea Region in Ukraine, author John Bolton discusses the Obama's Administration's ineptitude at handling this crisis as well as previous internaitonal issues. He goes into the history surrounding the previous Soviet region and also discusses the failure of the EU to fully incorporate the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Through his appeal to logos and detailed timeline, Bolton explains why Ukraine is currently in the situation it is and why the those in power are not doing enought to address the issue.    

Bolton begins with some examples of the failings of those in Washington in terms of international affiars, such as how Obama's vision to "fundamentally change" America has caused a lack of focus outside of the borders. He argues that the president has not done enough when faced with previous issues similar (Syria comes to mind). He compiles the inadequecy of the administration with the failings of NATO and the EU in general to help Ukraine transition into a more Westernized country. He writes, "Ukraine's turmoil shows why. When the Soviet Union dissolved at the end of December 1991 and its constituent republics, some unwillingly, split off, the West had an enormous opportunity to bring these newly independent states into its orbit. The path was clear, as the central and eastern European states freed from the Warsaw Pact's chains demonstrated by immediately seeking NATO membership." When NATO and the EU did not follow this plan, Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovich then began having increasing ties with Russia rather than the West. It is ultimately, as Bolton spells out, these chain of events that led to the current situation today.

Overall, the author did not fully address  his purpose because he didn't focus enough on what the Obama administration should actually do. It's easy to say that Washington isn't doing enough: but how exactly it should procede given the circumstance of this extremely sensitive sitation with Russia is a much harder arguement to make. This article was probably meant for a layperson as it gives a detailed history of Ukraine and the region to give background information that is affecting the issue. John Bolton is a former U.S Ambassador to the U.N

TOW #20- Challenger Speech by Ronald Reagan

 

Reading goal: Analyze a piece besides a regular a news story

Writing goal: provide detailed but concise analysis
   
 There can be no progress without sacrifice. On January 28^th, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded upon take-off, killing all seven astronauts aboard. In his speech later addressing the nation about this tragedy, President Ronald Reagan expressed his grief and condolences towards those affected, as well as the impact of the legacy left by the astronauts. He spoke of the bravery of the astronauts and also the future of the United States space program. Through his use of empathetic diction and appeal to pathos, Reagan effectively consoles a nation shocked by such a tragedy.
     Reagan’s uses powerful diction throughout his speech. He says, “For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit …They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us.” By directly addressing the families of the seven astronauts and using the unifying word “we”, Reagan echoes the sympathy felt by all Americans . He also repeats the word “special” and “serve”, acknowledging the astronauts as invaluable individuals who exemplified service. Reagan furthers the power of his speech by appealing to emotion. He says “Nancy and I” when talking about his own reaction to the tragedy, making the statement seem more personal with the mention of his wife’s name. He also ends with a poignant allusion to a poem by  John Gilliepie Magee Jr., an American aviator who died before his time as well. Reagan says, “We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."”  By ending his speech on a uplifting note, Reagan is telling the nation that the space program will not be shaped by this disaster and will continue to advance into the future.
     Ronald Reagan was the President and speaker, and therefore the figurehead of American exploration and advancement. The audience of this speech is the American public, most of whom had seen the take-off on television. In his speech however, Reagan especially addresses the children, the future explorers and pioneers of the nation, who had watched the tragedy unfold while at school. In a fatherly way, the president explained that the future belongs to the brave, and that unfortunately accidents happen. The occasion is the Challenger tragedy, which happened to coincidently be on the same day as the State of the Union Address. This is why Reagan uses a solemn and grave tone throughout. Reagan’s purpose was to eulogize the astronauts and assure that the United States would continue to expand its space program.  Despite the great loss, seven heroic men and women died for the sake of something they loved and believed in.

TOW #19: Media-Coca Cola Ad

In this Superbowl Coca Cola advertisement, the song "America the Beautiful" is sung in quite a few different languages. Accompanying the song are images of American families of all different ethnicities. The advertisement displays just typical scenes like people eating, playing, or traveling. It begins with a classically "American" scene of a man in a cowboy hat and ends with a symbol of a Coca Cola bottle with the #AmericaisBeautiful. Throughout the ad., there is also subtle Coke advertising as the people are portrayed holding Coca Cola bottles in some scenes.
Coke mainly plays upon an appeal to pathos in this ad. Through the use of "America is Beautiful" and its depiction of the "American melting pot", it strikes a feeling of patriotism. The strong emotion associated with patriotism then serves to make the ad. more memorable.What's interesting about Coke is that it doesn't need to use explicit advertising, since most of the world already knows its product. The more understated ways the product is expressed in the commercial give the ad. a somewhat bigger purpose of celebrating the diversity of America, and not just promoting Coca Cola. At the same time, this ties Coca Cola with being truly an "American" drink.
Coca Cola's ad. is effective mainly because it targets the right audience. This ad. was shown during the Superbowl, which is considered as a pretty important yearly event in the U.S. Americans all over the country are watching, so the ad. is very easy to relate to since it's celebrating the beauty of the very country that the most of the ad's audience is from. And just as America is proud of its football, it's also proud of its diversity. By basing the ad. off this fact, Coca Cola successfully creates a strong emotional association with its product. Of course, it also adds the #AmericaIsBeautiful to keep people buzzing about the ad. on social networking sites even after the superbowl, further spreading the product.
The Coca Cola company was founded in 1892 Asa Griggs Candler. The current CEO of the company is Muhtar Kent.

IRB # 3 Post: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls

The book that I plan to read this marking period is The Glass Castle. This is a memoir by an author who had a very unconventional upbringing. She and her family constantly moved when she was a child, traveling from the deserts of the mid-west to Phoenix to Tennessee, often living in abandoned houses. Jeannette's mother was a free-spirited artist and her father a brilliant man who also drank and lied. One of my friend's recommended me this book, which is why I plan to read it. The author's adventures sound almost fantastical. Sometimes, just sometimes, I wish I would have an interesting upbringing like her.

TOW # 18: To Help the World's Poor, Give them Real Jobs by Charles Kenny

There is a discrepancy between what statistics show and what developing countries experience. In this article, Charles Kenny describes the world's "self-employed"- people who often make little money and are part of an unseen "informal sector". Most of the 1.3 billion workers who make less than $2-a-day work in this sector. Understanding the "self-employed" in developing countries is crucial to tackling the big problems of economy development and poverty and helping  citizens who continue to depend on informal occupations that make volatile pay.

Throughout the essay the author uses various rhetorical devices and strategies. Primarily, he focuses on statistics to make a cohesive logical argument. He writes, "That low productivity helps to explain why, even though only around 200 million people in the world are considered unemployed by the ILO, 1.3 billion workers lived in families below the $2-a-day poverty line." This includes statistics from various countries as well, which adds to the broader importance of his argument. For example, Kenny cities statistics from India's shop-owners to Chinese farmers. Kenny also uses a rebuttal-style organization, where he states what opponents may believe can help the economy of these countries and then uses statistics to back why they are either wrong or to show a better method of action.

Overall, Kenny does make a convincing argument. His audience was probably Americans who care about business, as the article appeared in BusinessWeek and was also fairly easy to understand. The use of statistics really added to the author's credibility. However, he doesn't really cite a viable solution to this issue. Although he says the current method of helping economies in developing countries is not working, his solution is vague, which detracts from his credibility.

Charles Kenny is a senior fellow at the Center of Global Development and author of The Upside of Down: Why the Rise of the Rest is Great for the West.