Wednesday, April 23, 2014
IRB Intro #4: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling
For the fourth marking period Independent Reading Book I will be reading Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling. This is an autobiographical book about Kaling's journey from the obedient child of Indian immigrants to the hilarious star of the Fox sitcom The Mindy Project.
TOW #25 -Visual Text: Serena Willams Tampax Ad
This advertisement is about Serena Williams "shutting out" mother nature when it comes to her menstrual cycle. This, of course, if a reference to the Tennis term a "shut-out" or a win. The ad appeared in Cosmopolitan magazine; A magazine catered to women and designed to show women how to be beautiful. This ad shows a famous athlete in an accomplished success in "shut(t
ing) out mother nature's monthly gift." The bottom right hand corner shows you the product and obviously refers to a woman's menstrual cycle. The athlete, Serena Williams, is wearing white to show how there are no leaks (as depicted next to the image of the product). She's also wearing jewelry to show that women can still feel beautiful. The tennis court setting is in a sense Serena's daily lifestyle. With that being the set, it also portrays that women can go about their normal routines and tasks they come across day by day. In the background, it show's a woman being carried out by two security officers. The words "Serena shuts out mother nature's monthly gift" are purposely placed across mother nature so the reader implies that the woman is "mother nature", the pink present is the menstrual cycle, and the "shutting out" with the officers is the tampon. It's nothing but similes in this ad! The three people in the background are not in focus, so the reader's focus is on Serena and her accomplishment. The fact that they're not in focus also implies that a woman's period is in a way, no longer important (in the background) and if they buy the product, they no longer have to worry about it anymore (hence the security). They place some words in pink because females are associated with that color. the words "Outsmart Mother Nature" are in a different font so as to bring attention to it. The other text tells the reader that so-and-so trusts this products and like it, so you should to! It also give a minor illustration and bolded text as to WHY the product is better.
Sunday, April 13, 2014
TOW #24 - Article: "Now We are Five" by David Sedaris (New York Times)
Reading Goal: Read a text outside of current news and politics that is still challenging and thought provoking.
David Sedaris’s sister, Tiffany, committed suicide when she was 49 years old. While this was not the first time Sedaris had to deal with death, Sedaris chose to write about his sister because it was the first time he realized his group of six siblings was no longer. No matter how distant in geography or in their relationship he had become with his siblings, to him they were always the group of six, and with the death of his sister, he realized he had lost the identity he had worn for most of his life. The use of an anecdote as the formation of the essay helps to keep the reader engaged along the path of Sedaris's coping. Sedaris retells the events that went from first learning of his sister's death to eventually accepting it, which acts as the perfect guide for displaying and transitioning from each stage. By using a personal anecdote he is able to show how these stages play a role and exemplify how effective they are in helping a person heal.
Sedaris uses humor to explain a specific stage when he dealt with a loss. Sedaris describes his sister as she, “Laughed and rolled over onto her stomach. He implies that although they all knew their sister had fallen out and distanced herself from the family past years before, the family spoke of their sister only in a humorous, uplifting way to remember the good times instead of the bad. Sedaris displays the five different stages of coping and shows that eventually was able to accept his sister’s death. He states that this acceptance at the end of the essay when he talks with a rental agent and she remarks at the enormity of his family. “’Then you’ve got your brother,’ she observed. ‘That makes five—wow! Now, that’s a big family.’ I looked at the sunbaked cars we would soon be climbing into, furnaces every one of them, and said, ‘Yes. It certainly is.’ David Sedaris uses personal anecdotes and humorous diction to show that although coping with a death can be hard for some, it is possible to find closure.
David Sedaris’s sister, Tiffany, committed suicide when she was 49 years old. While this was not the first time Sedaris had to deal with death, Sedaris chose to write about his sister because it was the first time he realized his group of six siblings was no longer. No matter how distant in geography or in their relationship he had become with his siblings, to him they were always the group of six, and with the death of his sister, he realized he had lost the identity he had worn for most of his life. The use of an anecdote as the formation of the essay helps to keep the reader engaged along the path of Sedaris's coping. Sedaris retells the events that went from first learning of his sister's death to eventually accepting it, which acts as the perfect guide for displaying and transitioning from each stage. By using a personal anecdote he is able to show how these stages play a role and exemplify how effective they are in helping a person heal.
Sedaris uses humor to explain a specific stage when he dealt with a loss. Sedaris describes his sister as she, “Laughed and rolled over onto her stomach. He implies that although they all knew their sister had fallen out and distanced herself from the family past years before, the family spoke of their sister only in a humorous, uplifting way to remember the good times instead of the bad. Sedaris displays the five different stages of coping and shows that eventually was able to accept his sister’s death. He states that this acceptance at the end of the essay when he talks with a rental agent and she remarks at the enormity of his family. “’Then you’ve got your brother,’ she observed. ‘That makes five—wow! Now, that’s a big family.’ I looked at the sunbaked cars we would soon be climbing into, furnaces every one of them, and said, ‘Yes. It certainly is.’ David Sedaris uses personal anecdotes and humorous diction to show that although coping with a death can be hard for some, it is possible to find closure.
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