Tow #3 "Mrs. Kennedy and Me" (IRB)

Emily Moyer

Tow #3 “Mrs. Kennedy and Me” (IRB)

September 21, 2014

APELC

Mrs. Kennedy and Me

            Clint Hill, a retired member of the United States Secret Service, shares his time serving socialite and first lady Mrs. Kennedy in his book Mrs. Kennedy and Me. Clint Hill not only worked as a Secret Service agent, but he also was the assistant director of the Secret Service. He wrote his book along with the help of Lisa McCubbin who previously wrote The Kennedy Detail, an award-winning and New York Times bestseller.

            The fascination of Mrs. Kennedy has grown since her role as First Lady. As a close member in her life, Clint Hill writes his memoir for those who want to know more about Mrs. Kennedy’s life. Mr. Hill insightfully shared his time with Mrs. Kennedy to allow readers to see the portrayal of Mrs. Kennedy other than a socialite, but the realness of her being a mother. Mr. Hill provides for such knowledge through short personal experiences with her, anecdotes.

            While Mr. Kennedy was focused on the children of the world, Mrs. Kennedy was always fearful for her two children John and Caroline. After the assignment of Secret Service agents, Mrs. Kennedy shares with Hill, “I’m just so worried about Caroline and John growing up in such a restricted environment. I want them to have as normal a childhood as possible” (Hill 34). Likewise, Hill included his experience with Mrs. Kennedy at their secretive home Glen Ora. In speaking of Kennedy, he shares, “In fact, Mrs. Kennedy was usually doing what she loved- spending time with her children and riding, and always trying to keep out of the public eye” (Hill 50). In sharing his own personal time with Mrs. Kennedy, Hill negates the common portrayals of Mrs. Kennedy. To the public, she is often seen as a socialite and fashion icon, however, Mr. Hill sees her entirely different. In letting the audience know of their time together, the readers acknowledge that most of her time was spent focusing on the safety and growing of her children, not the media. Readers learn from Mr. Hill’s personal accounts that she actually despised the restricted privacy her family was faced with. Mr. Hill effectively included his personal anecdotes with Mrs. Kennedy. In knowing her first hand, he is able to portray her in a way that the media and pictures cannot. Their conversations change viewers perspectives that she is just a socialite, but rather she is a mother first who cares little for growing publicity.        

 

IRB Intro #1: "Mrs. Kennedy and Me"

IRB intro #1: Mrs. Kennedy and Me

            I have chosen to read Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill. Clint Hill was the Secret Service Agent to Mrs. Kennedy throughout her time as the First Lady. He was skeptical at the time, but found to love her grace as all of America did. I am excited to read this non-fiction book because the story follows someone who spent almost every waking minute with a women who changed the White House. I look forward to reading his perspective on the time of success in our nation, and a time of tragedy.

Tow # 2: "Breaking My A.L.S. Promise" (written)

Tow #2: “Breaking My A.L.S. Promise” (Written)

            Sharon Fiffer, a contributor to The New York Times in September and author of mystery series, speaks of the popular “A.L.S. ice bucket challenge” that has been taking over social media. Sharon Fiffer wrote this op-ed piece to share her story of A.L.S. in that it took the life of her husband Gene. The challenge has received a tremendous amount of differing views and she is skeptical about it as well. Fiffer wrote her piece for all skeptical, and shared why she partakes in this challenge.

            As one who has seen the negativity brought on by A.L.S., one would think Fiffer would take a great stand with the challenge. However, she shares that her husband’s wish was for her to not let the deadly disease run her life. Her purpose in writing this piece was to share her story of why she now partakes in the challenge, and so others are less skeptical of the challenge and bring awareness.

            Fiffer included a personal anecdote to enable readers to see the importance of the A.L.S. challenge. An anecdote is a brief instant in one’s life. Fiffer writes of a time when her husband and her had lost hope to A.L.S. “I had imagined a doctor and a lab and a research center that would give us a bottle of pills, a shot in the arm, a plan, a reason to hope. Instead, we’d found a widow” (Fiffer). Sharon Fiffer struggled to accept that little was known of the terminating disease. This past event in her life appeals to reader’s emotions. The anecdote involves pathos which makes readers feel for Fiffer. Readers will then wish that this disease would be cured, so that no other couples and families lose hope. Her anecdote is effective in that it makes readers want to take a stand. Her purpose in writing had been to enable readers to see why the challenge is important, and in sharing her family’s struggles, she makes readers wish for a change. Sharon Fiffer achieved her purpose because her use of an emotional story leads readers to take a stance. Sharing her experience with A.L.S. will help others to recognize the hardships families face, and take part in the challenge so that someday other families will not have to lose hope.      

TOW #1: How to Say Nothing in 500 Words

Emily Moyer

TOW #1

September 7, 2014

How to Say Nothing in 500 Words

 

            Paul Roberts, an appreciator and instructor of the English language, shares his expert opinion on composing an essay in “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words.” Paul Roberts is notable for how he explains the ways of composing an essay. He includes not only what the writer should be thinking of, but also what a teacher expects of a writer. With a background in textbook writing, Roberts brings credibility and expertise in authorizing how to write an essay.

            “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”, is approachable to all students who desire strong writing skills. Strong writing skills go beyond the letter grade of an A, but pushes writers to be purposeful. In his essay, Paul Roberts exemplifies being purposeful in that he strategically uses figurative language. He intends to show readers the correct way of writing an essay, by being purposeful, so he provides figurative language to help prove his point.

 Figurative language is often seen when a text is not meant for literal interpretation. Roberts’ use of such a rhetorical device helps readers understand the composition of a well written essay. Moreover, the use of a metaphor in “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words”, enables readers to recognize that written word must be purposeful. Roberts says, “The writer builds with words, and no builder uses a raw material more slippery and elusive and treacherous” (Roberts 64). A writer and builder vastly differ, but the comparison helps elude to the fact that both must be thoughtful. A builder uses a material that is best fitted for the job of holding together a building. In the same style, a writer must choose a word that is straightforward and understandable for the reader. In drawing a parallel between the two, Robert allows readers to see that in order to achieve the skills of writing, one must be purposeful and thoughtful.

Paul Roberts succeeded in explaining to writers that having purpose is the convenient way of writing an essay. In looking deeper into Roberts’ essay, he exemplified what his entire essay was about by being purposeful. He purposefully used figurative language to his advantage, as he wishes other writers to do. “How to Say Nothing in 500 Words” is a prime example of what Roberts says is an “A” essay.

 

        

Graven Images

Saul Bellow

 

Saul Bellow, a Nobel Prize and Pulitzer Prize winner, was included in The Best American Essays of the Century, where he speaks of the good and evils of photography. Bellow wrote Graven Images, in order to show new generations, that have only known technology, that photography is not always the representation one sees of themself, and how photography can change the way one acts.

Bellow, uses the repetition and connotation of the phrase “Amoure Propre”, to reflect on the destruction of ones personal image through photography, and to show how photography can vastly change one’s authenticity. Amoure Propre, as defined by Merriam-Webster is self-esteem. However, Saul Bellow claims, “Broadly speaking, your amour propre is the territory invaded by the picture takers” (Bellow 564). In sharing a different view of the phrase, Bellow is suggesting that one’s dignity is chosen by how they are photographed. He included his own definition of the phrase so readers can fathom the power a photograph has on one’s self worth. Saul Bellow consistently wrote of “Amoure Propre”, to advise readers that photography can create a change in how one wants to be presented. Bellow wrote, “Amoure propre, with all its hypocritical tricks, is the product of your bourgeois outlook. Your aim is to gain general acceptance for your false self, to make propaganda, concealing your real motives- motives of personal advantage” (Bellow 565). Saul Bellow believes that photography has created an identity crisis in people, in that they wish to show someone whom they are not. Saul Bellow shares this perspective in an effort to show that photography, which is frequently present in society, presents a view that can be false representation of one, and it can create phoniness in one’s life due to the desire to be seen different.

Societies today only know of photography and the views an image can create. After reading Graven Images, by Saul Bellow, it is understandable that as humans, it is desired to be seen a certain way, but one single image does not always show this. Saul Bellow very much proved that photography is not the perfect representation of one’s self image, and that it can create falseness in one’s personality. Before viewing Bellow’s opinions, one from this current generation might find that photography does not have a destructive nature. However, Saul opens one’s eyes to see the downsides of photography, such as poor portrayal and acting differently to create a deceitful image.

 

 

“A photograph that made me look worse than the Ruins of Athens”

(Saul Bellow New York Times)

Heaven and Nature

Edward Hoagland

 

The Harvard educated war veteran, Edward Hoagland, who was included in The Best American Essays of the Century, shares his particular views on the causation of suicide in elders. In his essay, Heaven and Nature, Edward Hoagland tries to change the minds of those who believe all suicides are alike due to mental illness. In writing this essay, Hoagland analyses the contrast between suicide in men and women.

In supporting his beliefs that the motives of self-murder between genders are dissimilar, Hoagland uses the strategy of Hypophora, proposing a question to engage the reader and responding with a fulfilled answer. Edward Hoagland questions why the rate of suicide for men is three times as women. In asking this question, he first sets up readers to doubt their own beliefs that suicides are alike between genders because he provides that the rate vastly differs. He later succeeds in changing the readers’ minds by answering his inquiry. Hoagland states, “Men often compete with one another until the day they die... Men greet each other with a sock on the arm, women with a hug, and the hug wears better in the long run” (Hoagland 514). In being competitive and prideful, men do not want to show weakness, such as asking for help. Since women have less envy in their personality, they are able to seek guidance. The differing characteristics between men and women answers why men have a higher suicide rate. The stubborn and competitive drive in men can keep them from accepting that they cannot solve all their problems without help. The hopelessness and feeling of taking matters into their own hands leads to suicide. Women are less likely to commit suicide of this reason because they are not always trying to beat out to competition. The use of Hypophora in Hoagland’s essay is essential in persuading readers that suicide is different within genders.

After reading Heaven and Nature, readers are moved to believe that suicide does vary between genders. Before reading Hoagland’s essay, most will believe that desiring to kill oneself is a mental illness. However, Hoagland’s use of answering and providing reasoning to statistics changes one’s mind. It is now understandable that suicide is much deeper than a mental illness, and that personality traits that clash between male and female, often create suicidal thoughts. Hoagland has succeeded in writing Heaven and Nature, because his thoughts will change many people’s thoughts on suicide.

 

Only Similar in Name

Credits to : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082398/Surprise-Men-women-really-ARE-different-Sexes-share-just-10-cent-personality-traits.html

 

 

 

 

 

The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch

Richard Wright

 

Richard Wright, a renowned African American author who is included in The Best American Essays of the Century, distinguishes what it is like to live in a world of racial indifference. In his essay, The Ethics of Living Jim Crow: An Autobiographical Sketch, Wright enables younger generations and unmoved readers to grasp the distress that African Americans had faced throughout the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.

In guiding readers to recognize the mistreatment of African Americans, Richard Wright incorporates several anecdotes. An anecdote is a short synopsis of a particular event in one’s life. As a young boy, Wright lived in Arkansas where the characteristics differing between the white and black sides of town were quite distinct. He reflected on an incident where a child from the other side of town had caused him pain. When he shared what had happened to his mother, she replied, “How come yuh didn’t hide?” (Wright 160). In addition, his mother had beat him because she was upset that he had even been involved. By bringing up a memory of his past, Wright proves to the audience the harsh treatment that African Americans received. The narrative not only shows what pain the white child had caused him, but the resulting pain he accepted from his mother. After being a victim, he had to welcome a wrong idea that it was his fault for standing up against the white children. His mother, out of fear from white people, had her son take blame for such an event. In sharing such personal details, Wright fulfills his desire to bring recognition to the suffrage of African Americans. Richard Wright faced physical pain, as well as emotional suffering which is clear when looking at this episode of his life.

Richard Wright successfully implemented a message to readers on the ill actions towards African Americans. Readers from a younger generation can identify how poorly African Americans were treated. Today it is a crime to discriminate based off of race, so to those who have never experienced discrimination it is eye opening. In reading of his first confrontation with a white child, readers feel for Wright. The vivid details of being hurt first by a white child, and then again by his mother for engaging with a white child, allows realization of how horrific this time in history was. Richard Wright had significantly achieved his purpose of bringing awareness as to how African Americans were treated.

 

The Other Side of Town (credits to Arthur S. Siegel)