TOW #10 - Attitude

"What you are being ejected into today is a world that is both half empty and half full."

     In June of 1983, award-winning writer Margaret Atwood was invited to be the commencement speaker at the University of Toronto. In her speech, she discusses the false helpfulness of college courses, the un-usefulness of a liberal arts degree, and the ultimate struggle of finding employment. All the while, she builds up to the idea that, despite so much difficulty to make it in the real world, there is hope: change can be made simply by one's attitude. She delivers this classic message in a way that makes it seem actually helpful and possible. Her speech effectively gets and keeps the attention of a hall full of fidgeting students and families, through an eccentric sense of humor and clever organizational choices.

     She begins by candidly narrating her struggle to prepare an encouraging speech for the "graduating class in 1983, year of the Ph.D. taxi driver, when young people have unemployment the way they used to have ugly blackheads." The use of real-world examples in an amusing way prods readers to envision the scene, and truly digest her words. She continues, "As for your university degree, there are definitely going to be days when you will feel that you’ve been given a refrigerator and sent to the middle of a jungle, where there are no three-pronged grounded plugholes." This analogy is rather ridiculous but it definitely makes the reader think a bit and invites a round of chuckles.

     She does spend much of her time discussing the bleakness of life, but near the end links a comment on stress-induced hair loss to a quote reference and life lesson: "I offer the following: 'God only made a few perfect heads, and the rest lie covered with hair…' Which illustrates the following point: when faced with the inevitable, you always have a choice." She structures it so cleverly that what seems like the oddest tangent leads straight into her main point about letting attitude determine one's life.

     Her chosen message and delivery is not dramatic, but structured in hopes that one or more of her simple quirks or jokes will stick in listeners' brains, for those times when they are face-to-face with the troubles of life that Margaret Atwood has already experienced and hopes to help them get through.

TOW #9 - The Exploitation of Paris

"Paris wasn't just a massacre. It was a megaphone to be used for whatever you yearned to shout."

     Frank Bruni's article "The Exploitation of Paris" is meant to put things in perspective, as a criticism of "the automatic, indiscriminate politicization of tragedy" (24). Bruni denounces news stations' blatant manipulation of this most recent tragedy to further their own agendas on virtually unrelated topics. As an experienced writer on a wide range of topics, he understands how to create a piece that is more than a news report, that honestly expresses the thoughts of a larger population. His writing skill ultimately justifies his criticism and shaming of all those guilty of the "politicization of tragedy."

     The article begins, "Can’t we wait until we’ve resolved the body count? Until the identities of all of the victims have been determined and their families informed? Until the sirens stop wailing? Until the blood is dry?" (1). Bruni immediately jumps on the topic's emotional appeal. He begins bluntly and in a way relentlessly (through anaphora), even including imagery of the "body count" and "blood," meant to convince the reader of the gravity of the issue.

     He later states, "I’d like to focus on the pain of Parisians and how that magnificent city reclaims any sense of order, any semblance of safety. I’d like not to wonder if Hillary Clinton’s odds of election just ticked upward or downward or if Donald Trump’s chest-­thumping bluster suddenly became more seductive" (23). By calling Paris "that magnificent city," he gives it the honor he is demanding others give. "Order" and "safety,"  two concepts with heavy emotional impact, are juxtaposed against the "chest-thumping bluster" of a politician to highlight the plainly ridiculous priorities of the media. He specifically uses names of American politicians because the article, from the New York Times, is aimed towards American public figures and news stations.

     Bruni understands that most of his audience will be ordinary citizens, and writes an article that speaks emotionally to them. He compellingly condemns those guilty of "politicization of tragedy" and also makes his audience more careful to not fall into that category. In this way, Bruni's argument is made effectively and successfully. 

IRB Intro Post #2

The Six Senses: Design. Story. Symphony. Empathy. Play. Meaning.

A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, written by Daniel Pink, delves into the necessity of creativity for success in a changing world. It seems our computer-structured, left-brain culture is giving way to an innovation-driven, right-brain future. I was given this recommendation due to my artistic and creative interests, and therefore I am absolutely looking forward to learning just how these abilities can help me out.

TOW #8 - Just Kids (Part Two)

"When I look at it now, I never see me. I see us."

     Patti Smith concludes Just Kids, “This is the story… he wished me to tell and I have kept my promise.” This is absolutely true: she writes an impressively detailed account of her time with Robert Mapplethorpe, living and loving and working ceaselessly as artists. Her work contains points of potential greatness, but they are buried within three-hundred pages of jagged anecdotes and unnecessary details.

     There is a definite appeal for her fans: they get a sneak peek into the early inspirations of some of her greatest hits. However, to those less practiced in 1970s music lingo, half a dozen name-drops in one paragraph is more overkill than incredible. Still, her tone is not pretentious in any way – it’s terribly honest and even innocent at times, such as in this anecdote: “Someone at Max’s asked me if I was androgynous… I thought the word meant both beautiful and ugly at the same time. Whatever it meant, with just a haircut, I miraculously turned androgynous overnight.” She has no qualms about revealing the blindness with which she fell into her rock ‘n’ roll life, and that bluntly truthful tone adds to her credibility.

     Smith also shows off her skill with syntax, as expected from a poet and songwriter of her caliber: “Robert dying: creating silence. Myself, destined to live, listening closely to a silence that would take a lifetime to express.” In these simple statements, she is able to portray the unbreakable bond between Mapplethorpe and herself, the foundation of the story.

     Despite these positives to her writing, the plot began to drag early on as a result of Smith's straight retelling of events. Perhaps it seemed impossible to make the story a beautiful one, with a well-scripted plot and enrapturing characters, and still have honestly told their story. Smith's straightforward approach is what some readers fall in love with. However, I cannot say this is a top book of mine – I certainly fail to connect with it in many ways, and I simply do not believe it appeals to a great enough audience with a great enough impact to be considered so.