Category: Reading Response

Reading Response Columnist’s Social Media vs. Columns 9/28/16

The Columnist I chose to explore was Nicholas Kristof. He mostly writes about politics the Syrian crisis. In his columns have some biased comments towards Hillary Clinton, especially at the moment because of the debate. I am kind of surprised at his social media pages. I expected his Twitter account to be a little more normal and about his life more than about politics, but it is just as political as his columns. His social media is even more opinionated and biased than his articles. His Facebook page has even more political topics than his twitter. All of his pages are public. You can definitely see what he believes in because of how opinionated he is on his social media. Kristof’s Facebook and Twitter are full of Trump slander and some jokes about Trump along with Clinton supporting posts. He uses pathos about the Syrian topics and logos and ethos on posts about his support for Clinton.

Reading Response “How Omran Daqneesh, 5, Became a Symbol of Aleppo’s Suffering.” 9/21/16

-Purpose is to inform readers of what happened to Omran Daqneesh and what made him so popular and a symbol of the tragedy everyday in Aleppo, Syria.

-to emotionally effect readers in order to make a point about what is happening in Syria

-to show that this happens everyday

-he uses pathos to effect the reader

-he uses the video and the pictures of Omran and quotes from witnesses, doctors, and medics.

-he uses some rhetorical devices like syntax (rhetorical questions and juxtaposition)

-the pictures make it extremely emotional and effective

-it is bias towards having more involvement in Syria and helping them

-the effect is extremely powerful and sad, but very true and factual

-most effective strategy is the pictures and using pathos to speak to the reader

Reading response 9/20/16 Notes on “Do You Care More About a Dog than a Refugee?”

Purpose..

-to bring attention to refugees

-responding to criticism of his recent column persuade readers

-persuade readers to support military intervention in Syria

-touch emotional points by using the pictures and make a point-pathos

-uses Logos and Ethos for logic and facts and uses Pathos for emotional appeal

-uses juxtaposition and rhetorical questioning to make points also

Search Engine and Frank Snake Church Kernal Essay 9/6

Both “Whatever Happened to Frank Snake Church?” and “Search Engine” from Sherman Alexie’s “Ten Little Indians” are about the main character truly finding themselves. In the beginning of both stories neither of main characters realize the true meaning behind their treacherous journeys. Frank and Corliss deal with different situations in their stories, but in the end they both find something out about themselves that they never knew before. I believe it definitely takes time to find yourself again after something tragic happens.

Frank Snake Church deals with the loss of his parents. As he tries to cope he meets many new people along the way who help him find himself again. The first thing he decides to do is to start going to the gym in order to play basketball well again and get in shape. “Trying to move exactly like his father, to honor his father through muscle memory…” (Alexie 204). I think at first he thought he was doing this to prove to his Dad that he could and to honor him, but later he realized it was for himself.

Corliss has a similar journey. She has to deal with her family’s negative opinions of poetry, which is what she loves. When she finds out Harlan Atwater, who she took so long to find, is not at all what she had expected it changes her views of everything. People can make a person feel like they are supposed to be a certain way because of stereotypes. Because Corliss was Indian she dealt with this. Not just from regular people, but also from her family.

In both stories, the main characters both had people come into their lives who changed their perspective on life and how they looked at things. These people are so important in the main characters’ lives because they help the protagonists grow and eventually find themselves.

Reading Response 8/25

Eric Liu’s “Notes from a Native Speaker” and Sherman Alexie’s “Lawyer’s League” from the book “Ten Little Indians” have a lot in common about race and social acceptance. In “Notes from a Native Speaker” Liu discusses the stereotypes that are “normal” for foreign people. He also explains how society has made it okay to label a person by their ethnicity and how they are supposed to act or talk. The passage talks about how he breaks the stereotypes and can be anyone he wants to be. “Ten Little Indians” is also very similar. Alexie tells this story about a man who also broke many stereotypes and has dreams and goals much larger than how people label him.

 

I definitely agree with these passages. I do not think it is okay how most americans automatically stereotype people because that is what they are comfortable. Many people say how they want equality for all races and genders, but they never actually follow through because that is outside of their comfort zone. I believe that everyone, no matter race, gender, religion, or stereotype, should be able to be anything they want to be.

 

Eric Liu discusses how many people looked at him much differently because he got along with white people and “acted white”.  “Some are born white, others achieve whiteness, still others have whiteness thrust upon them.” When Liu says this he is talking about how people of other ethnicities can be accepted by the white community by acting and talking a certain way.

 

People of different ethnicities are being stereotyped because of their culture and heritage, and this is important if that is who they want to be, but if they want to do or be something else, they should be whoever they want to.