TOW # 20 "A-Lister Opportunity" (Article)

Kat Mittman Kobak is a law student, turned pilates instructor, turned small business owner. She is also a close friend of my family, and is now making jewelry for celebrities, such as Taylor Swift, Jenifer Hudson, John Mayer and Miranda Lambert. In the Style and Soul section of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Elizabeth Wellington promotes Kat’s business, by using background information and well-known celebrities to invoke logos and ethos.

The author, Elizabeth Wellington, gives a brief history of Kat in order to make her likeable and sell her products. Wellington writes how Kat graduated from law school, but never took the bar, worked as a pilates instructor, became a mom three years ago and so on. By describing her life, Wellington makes Kobak more relatable to the audience and convinces the people who are just like Kat to buy her products. Wellington also gives examples of famous music stars, which wore Kat’s products, to appeal to both logos and ethos. The celebrities like, Taylor Swift, make Wellington’s audience want to buy Kat’s jewelry because they could be wearing the same jewelry as the people they see in magazines and people they listen to on the radio. It is the same as when, Julianne Hough, is promoting Proactive on TV, it makes regular people want to buy it. These two forms go hand and hand because they both try to convince people who are just like the designer to buy the bracelets, necklaces, and earrings; as well as, make the designer seem very impressive.

As someone who has seen Kat’s work first hand, and who has worked for her making bracelets, I can honestly say that Wellington fully captures how amazing Kat and her jewelry is.     

TOW # 19 "I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced" (IRB)

            I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced is an amazing story about a young heroine. With the help of a co-author, Nujood tells her story with such sophistication. However, Nujood’s age does affect the way her story is written. Her use of interesting narration underscores her horrible injustice and explains how these injustices need to be taken seriously.

            Nujood’s interesting way of narrating her story is two fold. She writes as if she is experiencing her situation, each step she took, for the first time. Her point of view allows her readers not only to experience the plot with her, but allows her readers to read what she is thinking in that very moment. “It’s hot under my veil, I have a headache, and I’m so ashamed… am I strong enough to keep going? No. Yes. Maybe…” This way of writing is difficult, because Nujood is remembering these specific moments and what she was thinking during them, not reliving them, which makes this writing sophisticated in my mind. Also, the way she thinks about herself in these moments, she is “ashamed” or “weak”, highlights the horrible injustice that was done to her. She has been beaten and abused both physically and mentally almost her whole life, but still wants to fight. The second effect her use of narration has on her story is due to the childlike innocence she portrays and its affect on the character development of her story. Nujood’s character in her book has been through unbelievably rough circumstances, but the way she is able to bounce back and her determination for justice represents the childhood innocence she still has, she still sees the good in the world and the possibilities she could have in it. This develops a strong, independent character, a heroine. This type of character attracts attention and gives inspiration to others like her. Allowing the whole purpose of this book to be achieved, to have these injustices be considered by the public, and to fight them until they no longer exist.

            Nujood and her story are an inspiration. I can tell this without finishing this book, which is why I believe her use of interesting narration is enough to achieve her overall purpose of defeating these injustices.

TOW # 18 "Personal Brand Is In Your Strengths" (Article)

What is your brand? This is the question Erin Arvedlund, writer at the Philadelphia Inquirer tackles in her article, “Personal Brand Is In Your Strengths,” where she addresses the relationship between brand and passion. In this article Arvedlund uses clear “directions” for her readers to develop their brand, and insightful expert testimony in order to achieve a greater purpose that by expressing how anyone can be successful if they stick to their strengths.

How do you find your brand? This question is what Arvedlund uses her clear directions to answer within her article. Without understanding what a brand is or what your personal brand is, there is really no point to this article. Therefore, first Arvedlund defines “your brand.” “Your brand emanates from your most authentic self… it is in your natural strengths,” Arvedlund defines personal brand as such, and then moves on to teaching her readers how to discover their own. She uses expert testimony from Lisa Penn, a managing director at SEI Private Banking, to clearly explain this part, “Think when the time flew by... when people were telling me ‘I was doing a great job.’ That’s when you were using a strength.” Arvedlund defines a persons brand as their strengths, and by doing so in this article she allows her readers to understand her argument and hopefully believe it.

Meg Hagele is the poster woman for this article, both in the words and also in the photograph at the center of the page. She represents how finding your brand and honing it can lead you to your success. Arvedlund writes how confidence and enthusiasm are her brand and her passion is coffee, calling it the “Barista Brand.” The author notes every step Meg took, from creating her own coffee blend, to sending out newsletters and talking across a bar to spread the word of her new coffee shop, in order to show how Meg’s confidence and enthusiasm, her brand, made her successful. Arvedlund uses Meg’s personal experience of starting her own business, by doing what she is good at, to show that anyone can make a living doing what he or she loves and anyone can be successful doing so.

I do not believe that Erin Arvedlund achieves her purpose in this article. I believe she needs to include more evidence if she wants her argument to be considered.

"I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced" (IRB 3)

For my third independent reading book I choose to read "I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced." This book was written by Nujood Ali with Delphine Minoui. This book tells the story of the first child bride in Yemen to win a divorce, Nujood Ali. In her story she talks about her father marrying her off to a man three times her age, the physical and psychological abuse she endured, and eventually, how she gained her freedom. I found this book in my house and was automatically captivated by just the title.

Interestingly, Nujood was hailed by Hillary Clinton as, "one of the greatest women I have ever seen," but at the time she was only 10.

TOW # 17 "Arms" (Visual Text)

In warfare there are weapons; there are citizens who make the weapons, and soldiers who fire the weapons, but when we picture a soldier we do not picture a twelve-year-old boy with a machine gun in his hand. In this political cartoon the artist addresses the issue of child soldiers in African countries. The artist uses juxtaposition and coloring to highlight this problem and address underlying points that accompany this matter.

When children are forced to go to war in countries like Sudan, Somalia or The Democratic Republic of Congo, they are not seen as children, but as killers with a purpose. The use of juxtaposition in this cartoon addresses this underlying issue. The child arms at the top of the page, and the weaponry arms at the bottom of this page juxtapose each other and the quote “children are born with these arms not these arms” connects the two. The quote and arms themselves allow the artist to highlight this problem, but symbolically they show a much greater one. The symmetry of the juxtaposition turns the actual arms into guns. In these African countries the children are being turned into weapons, they are being robbed of their childhoods, and being forced to become killers. The artist creates this image and invokes empathy within their audience.

The coloring of this image provides a less obvious service, but it is key to gaining the audience’s attention. The arms reaching out at the top of the image are blackened, like a silhouette. This allows the audience to imagine their own children or their children’s children, being forced into a cruel life for no good reason. It allows the artist’s audience to connect with the image. Also, black and yellow are the two main colors of this visual text. These colors are two of the three colors of the ANC (African National Conference). The ANC has been addressing this issue and many others for years, and the colors of this picture allow the artist to attribute that. However, their audience must also be aware of the ANC and its goals.

All in all, I believe this visual text achieves its purpose of highlighting the atrocity of child soldiers in African countries. Through its use of juxtaposition and coloring the image connects with the audience and highlights underlying points that accompany the issue.