Tow #11 Visual Texts

“No More Landmines" by Columbian designer Viktor Manuel Barrera captures the eyes and hearts of many as his visual text shows the long-term effects on victims of landmines through pathos and allusions. Viktor’s design, one of one-hundred-twenty-two other designs on Graphic Advocacy Posters exhibition, depicts the cruel some effects of war and explains the purpose, “I wanted to highlight a problem that lingers long after countries have been at war. Planted like seeds of death and mutilation, landmines are indiscriminate, making victims of soldiers and civilians, children and adults. Most people who activate these mines will die, and those who survive often require amputations, leaving an imprint of indelible pain in their minds and bodies.” This poster is a result of the wars that America was involved in between the years of 2001 - 2012. In the design, whether an illusion or not, it seems as though there is a hand with missing parts of the finger. Viktor uses this allusion to draw attention to amputees. Yes, many people are affected physically by wars, but why does drawing a leg onto a finger add any significance? What if veterans who have lost limbs tell you that it’s not just a physical pain, but an emotional and mental pain? Not being able to run as fast, kick a soccer ball with as much force, it changes lives for everyone. For some families it doesn’t affect tremendously, others it’s a hard struggle to deal with on a daily basis. If only drawing a leg in the place of where a human limb used to be was that easy to help them. Veterans are still in wheelchairs, innocent civilians are affected by this too. Often happening in people’s backyards, it’s something that now prevents children from going outside and playing without a fear of dying. This design created pathos and an allusion that addressed victims of war. Viktor has truly and successfully captured the eyes and hearts of many through his design as it was put into the Top 10 Effective Designs in Graphic Advocacy Posters.

Url: http://graphicadvocacyposters.org/posters/

Tow #10 The Story of My First and Favorite 'No'

In Shonda Rhimes's "The Story of My First and Favorite 'No'", she uses descriptive details and references to historical events that use the word 'no', to portray her support for the weaponary word 'no' and that it is a very tough weapon to deploy. Many teenagers are excited to receive their licenses, some say the process of driving with an instructor is the most nerve-wrecking of the whole experience. Rhimes captures these nerve-wrecking experiences with descriptive details that help the reader image the event. "Butterflies zipping around my stomach, I looked at the instructor. Patient and kind, a little balding, he was known as a nice man. He smiled at me, reassuring. I smiled back and asked what he wanted me to do" (para. 4), without even having a conversation, the reader can sense the nervous atmosphere. Now that the stage is set, Rhimes uses her descriptive details to help move the scene along. Now moving to when she is actually driving. Once driving, Rhimes explains when she drove on the freeway for the first time as "I [she] had been scared literally out of my [her] mind" (para 5). Later on questioning her actions, "When the driver's ed instructor told me to turn onto the ramp that led to the freeway, why didn't I put my foot on the brake and put the car in park and look at him and say that one word that would have changed everything?" (para 5). It is not until she mentions Rosa Park's historical actions, during the Civil Rrights Movement when she said 'no' to a white man demanding to sit in her seat, that Rhimes reminds herself how important and impactful this word ‘no’ is as that it eventually lead to equal rights for people of color and women. Shonda Rhimes is the head runner, creator and executive producer of Grey's Anatomy and other tv shows (Scandal), her audience is from all ages. With her descriptive details and historical background, she was successful in letting people know the true power of the word 'no'.


Url used: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/shonda-rhimes/the-story-of-my-first-and-favorite-no_b_8591188.html

Tow #9 Attacks on Paris, France

For this week’s Text of the Week, it will cover the horrible terrorists attacks that happened in Paris, France. Oscar Lopez is the writer of this Newsweek’s update on Paris. Lopez  is also known for writing ten other articles dealing with struggles and events that occurred around the world. On late Friday night around 9:30, Guilluame Bonnet and Tristan Lebleu, both in early and late twenties, heard and witnessed the shootings and bombings of extremists groups towards innocent Parisian. Guilluame Bonnet had dinner with his parents then nearly a block away it was the sounds of guns going off, what many people guessed were fireworks instead. Fireworks quickly turned into people running, screaming, and hiding in nearby buildings, this then made Builluame fearful.  "That's when I started to feel really afraid” (Lopez 2), this fear building as later in the attacks he heard the terrorists opening fire on a restaurant that was extremely close to his home. That same time, Tristan Lebleu was exiting the soccer stadium, the location of two suicide terrorist bomber attacks and the death of four other individuals, with lots chaos and anxiety within the Parisians. The sense of reality hit Tristan when “Lebleu walked with a friend to the train station to take the train home, but none of the trains were running. Fielding dozens of calls and messages from worried relatives, Lebleu began the three-hour walk home,” (Lopez 8) hearing nothing but gun fire, explosions, and screaming as he traveled home. By having the experiences and thoughts from Gilluame and Tristan, readers were able to imagine the situation and the nightmare that they both were living. With the President Obama releasing a statement about the event, Snapchat creating a filter, and others showing their support for France in this hard time, it is obvious that something will be done to find the individuals who directed this act of cruel some killings and they will be prosecuted appropriately. Watching this event occur on this news brought sadness, confusion, anger, and most importantly sympathy for those who are there running to save their lives.


Link used: http://www.newsweek.com/survivors-paris-attacks-recount-tales-horror-394373

IRB Intro Post #2 How To Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen

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For this marking period, I will be reading How To Be Alone by Jonathan Franzen. This book is about John experiencing noisy and distracting mass cultures and events that would want someone to, or at least think about, being alone. I have decided to read this book because I'm interested in how an individual can separate themselves from the extraordinary or devastating events that are in their lives. Throughout this book I hope to gain a better understanding of how to appreciate the company of myself and learn to separate myself from a hectic environment.

Tow #8 Independent Reading book

For this week’s Text of the Week, Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals (my independent reading book), has come to an end. From the beginning of the book it tells stories of uncertain days, one being when she almost got raped. The deeply detailed anecdote was horrifying in how real it felt, the diction, attention to small details along with every emotion she felt during that time, created a first person view for the reader. As the pages kept turning, Melba’s life only got worse. While entering the school she applied to pathos and ethos. By all of the tension building up, it was only a matter of time before she cracked and would leave Little Rock high, so a reader thought.  Because of her turning her cheek towards the harsh remarks and commentary, it allowed us as the reader to see how brave she had been, how strong she had been, and how powerful she is as a person. Without these harsh times of segregation during Little Rock’s integration period that she went through, it would be harder to believe her by just talking about it, rather than writing it down in detail. In the book there is photographs that capture some of these cruelsome times, elaborating a whole lot more than words could ever. One picture in particular meant a thousand words, when Elizabeth Eckford went into the face of a mob right in front of Little Rock, her looking helpless and vulnerable, but nowhere near giving up. In the background there were caucasian people hollering at her, her face staying forward, not looking back or making comments. This allowed us as readers to visually see what being hollered, harassed, and segregated was like (if we hadn’t already experienced that). Although to me it was very hard to finish the book due to its high attention to detail and slowly progressing plot, it was a book that I recommend for other individuals who are also interested in the events that occurred to the Little Rock nine during this time.