All the Light We Cannot See

Right off the bat, this passage stuck out to me. It had countless instances of descriptive imagery, connections I made, and portrayed a feeling of suspense. I enjoy how the book has taken off and how it can create important and detailed moments throughout.

This passage had a handful of descriptive imagery such as “An avalanche descends into the city…” and “the single bulb in the ceiling winks out”. To give more context to the situation, this grand city that has withstood centuries of time is occupied by Australians. Being approached by an unknown force of bombers, presumably US, the city is being attacked. As the bombs begin falling, the author describes it as a descending avalanche, combined with a hurricane. He transmits the sense of chaos and destruction through these natural disasters. Furthermore he adds in details of how loud and powerful the scene is. “…roar becomes loud enough to separate membranes in the middle ear”. This creates am incredibly strong sensory image, allowing us to imagine just how loud and chaotic it was.

Alongside that, the mentioning of a proverb form the Old Testament is referred to. This caught my attention and was able to immediately recognize the connection. Referring to locusts who work together without a leader, but as one unit, is exactly what the bombers appeared to be from down below. This added context and created a connection to the Bible without mentioning more then then the locusts. The author is able to intertwine many different elements, such as connections to other sources or literature, and imagery to create an immersive story to follow.

All the Light We Cannot See

This is the book I choose to read, which takes place during WW2. When choosing a book, I wasn’t sure which one to pick because I had a harder time getting into a book or it wasn’t interesting for me. Some other books I looked at were Secret Honor and The Night Watch. Both of these revolved around the same timeframe. All the Light We Cannot See is a great book so far, and the author Anthony Doerr does a great job at immediately captivating the readers attention.

The book smoothly introduces the characters and the position of the war. Marie-Laure who is a blind girl, and Werner Pfennig who is a radio coordinator. The book has detailed aspects and I’m looking forward to reading more.

Mentor Poet Post 5

For my fifth post, I choose a longer poem then before. Anthony Anaxagorou “London’s Dead” is much more descriptive but also with a much more serious tone. It is a poem that focuses on everyday life in London. The Poem starts out by describing the conditions found inside of London. “The gallows of blank skills your concrete rats and over worked workers that throw themselves from windows nameless slaves that dance with needles in their arms”. This sets a very strong and serious image in the readers mind. It touches upon death and drug abuse, these being as a result from the conditions, or from being apart of London.

The poem continues to touch upon the depressing and terrible conditions, such as “purple knuckles of fury and smashed walls of slashing violence and alchocol that staggers home”. This shows what London’s occupants or people face when presented with the different circumstances. Looking at the title of the poem as well, “London’s dead” now makes more sense in what it is referring to. It refers to those who as metioned earlier who jump of windows from substantial pressure of living as apart of London, but also those who suffer and attempt to live in London.

At the end, Anthony finishes with “And so I leave you behind like the loneliest picture in the world.” With this mic drop like stanza, Anthony aims at leaving the loneliness of London, and all of its problems and implications. I think Anthony is trying to draw attention to the situation of London, and awarness of how the workers and people shuffle through repetitive and harmful motions in their life.

I choose this picture because I found it represents the cold and hard atmosphere of London as it is described in the poem.

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Mentor Pet Post 4

“In three minutes” was an interesting and thought provoking poem. It was Anthony Anaxagorou’s most gloomy and somber poem as well. The title and first stanza encompass the overall theme of the poem as well.

To start, Anthony begins by stating “Fact”. The fact that ties in the previous stanza, “In three minutes a person you do not know will die”. He uses this to grasp the audience’s attention by drawing interest to why this relates to the audience, and why it should matter. Anthony uses this technique of a one word stanza sets up the rest of the peom.

Continuing onto the main stanza, the reader is introduced to the concept of death “by developed bullets”. In other words, Anthony is referring to the different wars and conflicts throughout the world, and what they all have in common; the death of people for a cause. He continues to refer to this as “these bleeding times” followed by “slowly slowly”. Which can be interpreted directly in the context of passing of smiles, but also passing of time. The passing of time that accounts to the “three minutes”.

This ties in to the final stanza, which says “Now, a person you know just died”. Throughout the second stanza, Anthony uses imagery, hyperbole, and personifications to inform the reader of who the “person you do not know” is. I liked this poem, and how Anthony used techniques to interest the reader.

https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26source%3Dweb%26rct%3Dj%26url%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fm.poemhunter.com%2Ferrors%2F404.asp%253F404%253Bhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.poemhunter.com%3A443%2Fpoem%2Fin-three-minutes%2F%26ved%3D2ahUKEwiq0c__zdTlAhWLjVkKHRHNCK4QFjAAegQIBBAB%26usg%3DAOvVaw39Xc-3hGA1p1dUz8UGNApV&t=OGEyNWI3YjEzMTU1YzQxODkyZWM2NmY1MGUwY2IzYWU1MzZlNjc2MCwzZDZkZWE3YmE2ODExODA4OTNiMmMzNmU3ZjQ0NDEwY2M3OWVhZGZm

Mentor Poet Cheat

Hanif Abdurraqib

The poet I chose to look at was Hanif Abdurraqib. Hanif showed to have interesting poems and topics he covered. He is similair to my poet Anthony Anaxagorou. One specific example is how in my previous post, Anthony talks about a dear friend or relative who passed away unfortunately. Hanif also touches upon the topic of loss, such as “Brandon’s mother” leaving him, along with the “older brothers who never found their way back home”. Along this, both poets are men who’ve had years of experience with their youth, but also adulthood. Being able to see the similarities between the two helped choose my second cheat poet and poem.

With this in mind, I agree with your statement before when you explained how Hanif uses what he see’s, like the wooden frame in your earlier post, and relates it back to him. But, I disagree that he always relates it to himself necessarily. In his poem “The summer A trive Called Quest Broke Up”, he relates the physical earth, like the basketball courts, to the “boys of the hood”.

Furthermore, Hanif uses other techniques to expand on his poem and the idea of loss. First, he talks about the boys in the hood with their “wallets unearthed in cities”. Unearthed contributes to the idea that something is hidden, secret, or was gone at a certain point. Later on, another place was towards the end with “decide to gift us with a kind of feral silence”. Feral refers to something wild, or even animalistic to a certian degree. This would be the loss of comfortable peace, but rather agitated silence. Tying all this together, Hanif finishes on the subject of basketball courts and older brothers. Hanif had two brothers and a sister, and their favorite place to be together were the courts. As he grew older, he moved out, like his siblings before him, and the childhood ties he had with his siblings were put aside.

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jad-fakhoury :

Mentor Poet Blog #2

This week’s poem by Hanif Abdurraqib is titled, “WELCOME TO HEARTBREAK” and comes a few pages after the first poem I analyzed. To start, the poems title and first line gets you thinking about the idea of self reflection. I believe that Hanif really wants readers to read the first line and think about the old versions of ourselves and if we would most wish to dance with them too. The poem continues on and then there is a particular spot I want to look into. “I thumb the edges of the picture frame & consider the wood - what tree had fallen in order for this younger & smiling version of myself to have a home. It is killing season again.” These two sentences really caught my eye for a few reasons. First, when he talks about holding the picture frame, I feel like he is writing an observational poem as he holds this old frame of himself. We did a similar activity where we described and observed things in our lives so I thought this was cool. Second, when he mentions the tree that had to fall, I think that he is using it as a metaphor for heartbreak or love that is now dead. This also related to why he says it is killing season. Hanif really takes what he sees, the wooden frame, and related that wood to the death of the tree and ultimately love, which is heartbreak. This part of the poem also got me thinking of the theme or what Hanif wants to get at through this poem, and I think he simply wants to talk about heartbreak through his observation of an old picture of a loving and happy version of himself.

For my featured companion, I wanted to chose something to do with self reflection so I chose an article by The Blissful Mind that covers the benefits of self reflection. 

https://theblissfulmind.com/2018/01/14/importance-of-self-reflection/ 

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Jad, I really liked how you focused on the idea of self relfection. I liked how you extended on Hanif’s personal connection with the “open palm” and self reflection.

“So He Dies” Anthony Anaxagorou Poem #2

“So He Dies” stood out to me because of its structure. It was unique in the way that Anthony shifted perspectives after the beginning. He starts off by “Some of us are born line saints”, and describes how such people are seen and how they experience life. But right after, he abruptly adds another stanza openly stating “Some of us aren’t”. After this, Anthony lists off different notions that those who aren’t saints face. Anthony uses descriptive techniques throughout the poem, adding phrases at the beginning such as “Perfectly filled with flavour, longevity, and crystal teeth” or others “born to taste…winds wilds breath”. These paint a picture in the readers minds of the type of people who journey the world, explore life, and enjoy different experiences. But with the saints comes those who aren’t, or those compared to “young and dead’”. Anthony makes it clear how there is a difference between these “classes” of people, and creates a black and white image for the audience. With this in mind, Anthony then adds four stanzas that move past the two aspects of life. He makes a personal connection by starting off with “Then you my friend”. Reading this, it is clear that Anthony this poem based on a close friend or family member. As the title is called, “So He Dies”, this refers to his saint-like friend who was unfortunate and passed away, not being able to taste the “winds wild breath” or experience the longevity of life. Overall, this poem’s tone fluctuates between postive and perfect, negative and low, to remorseful and memory.

POEM: SO HE DIES BY ANTHONY ANAXAGOROU

jad-fakhoury :

The poem that I chose to analyze and dive into this week was, “HOW CAN BLACK PEOPLE WRITE ABOUT FLOWERS AT A TIME LIKE THIS” by Hanif Abdurraqib. Right off the bat, Hanif caught my attention with the title of this poem. I think that Hanif places the title intentionally to try and provoke thought in his readers: what are the times he is talking about and why can’t they? My firth thought was that the times he is referring to are getting at the current social injustice and racism we see in our society. To be quite honest, I am not entirely sure if that is what he meant but since this title repeats with different poems throughout the rest of the book, I am sure that I will find out eventually. As the poem begins, Hanif uses a metaphor that really stands out to me, “dear reader, with our heels digging into the good mud at the swamps edge…”. The first reason that it stood out to me was because of the way he addresses the reader. It creates a personal sense in the poem almost as though he wants to talk to you through the poem. Second, the phrase “digging our heels” is significant because when you do dig your heels into the ground that usually means that you are getting pushed by something or someone and actively resisting that pushing. The last part about the swamp also prompts your thinking: what does the swamp stand for in this poem since we know it can’t be a literal swamp? Next, Hanif continues with his writing about nature by bringing up a dandelion head that is not a flower itself but is made up of many small flowers. Immediately after this statement, I noticed a significant shift in the writing. He writes, “…lord knows I have been called by what I look like more than I have been called by what I actually am..”. During my first run through of the poem, I thought this line was referring to how society views him as a young, black male which I still think is true. However, what I did not notice that he is drawing a similarity between himself and the dandelion in the way that they are both misjudged in how they are called which is why I think that he specially uses the word called after the shift. Considering this and the ideas presented in the rest of the poem, I feel like Hanif wants to attack the theme of how a given person (him, in this case) is presented in society. Are they called for what they look like or what they are? I am super interested to continue reading this series of poems that include the same title because I think they will work together towards the same theme or greater idea.

Featured Companion: Image describing stereotypes which relates to Hanif’s writing about how society views you. 

(492 words).

To start, Hanif Abdurraqib seems like a poet I’d be interested in as well. I find him similair to my poet, with how he address’s the audience with a sort of unclear meaning, leaving it up to the reader to interpret how they want to. I agree with the different meanings you’ve pointed out about how Hanif depicts sterotype and racism but I also disagree with you based on the way he starts off his poem “dear readers, with our heels” the use of “our” shifts the perspective from being a victim towards being a representation of a larger audience. I think that he is reffering to both sides of the coin, both unwilling to budge.

“Himself” Anthony Anaxagorou Poem #1

Himself Poem by Anthony Anaxagorou - Poem Hunter

“Himself” by Anthony Anaxagorou was an interesting and through provoking poem. It was on the shorter side, yet left thoughts and unanswered questions at first glance. To start, Anthony uses repetition in all of his stanza’s beginning them with “A man”. This immediately prompts the reader to wonder who this man is. Whether it is Anthony himself, a random friend or family member, or just a representation of life, Anthony lets this interpretation up to the reader. Furthermore, the poem contains many instances of oxymorons. As highlighted in blue and circled, he contradicts his descriptions with one another. Such as “Inside the noise of the world….all he (Man) hears is peace,” and later on “Inside the stillness of a virgin field…all he (man once again) hears is noise,”. These prompt thoughts about why this is the case, and what the author is trying to get at and say. We get more closure about this in the last stanza, which is only a line, that says “All a man ever hears is himself”. This made me come to the conclusion that the man is the disturbing force throughout the nature of this poem. The man is what leads to the causations of the oxymorons. Along with the oxymorons, is the shift from the “negative-positve” first stanza, to the flip in the second stanza of “positivee-negative”. Anthony uses this to draw attention to how the man affects the situation double edged, molding both possible enviroments. This poem overall, appears simple and but holds a much deeper understanding.

My mentor poet - Anthony Anaxagorou

When looking for a poet, I was looking for a younger poet, in hopes of being able to relate more to the poet themselves. I found Anthony Anaxagorou as a result. He also had some awards and recignitions such as being the first young poet to win the London Mayor’s Poetry Slam. This stood out to me as he has had some success along with accomplishments. With this, his works of poetry also stood out to me as unique and intriguing. I immediately knew I found my main poet. A couple of previous poets that I found interesting as well included Beth Bachmann and Joshua Bennett. One of Anthony’s poems that stood out to me was “Himself”.

A man stands inside the noise of the world,

But all he hears is peace,

A man stands inside the stillness of a virgin field,

But all he hears is noise,

All a man ever hears is himself.

jad-fakhoury :

This section includes the last chapters and epilogue of the book. This section was actually added onto the edition of the book I have, the second edition, and is not present in the first edition of the book. Glassner takes about how The Culture of Fear has changed but is still insanely present in today’s society. He focuses on the culture of fear grew during the time after the 9/11 attack and provides an interesting perspective. Terrorism was made out to be much more of a danger than it actually is. Americans are much more likely to die swimming or driving! Glassner also commemorates Obama for launching his campaign on the foundations of hope, and I loved that he said that. Another thing that I liked was how he looked at Trump and called him “ The Fearmonger in Chief”. Never before has America been so lied to and cheated before this current era. I really enjoyed this book because it brought new ideas to light I hadn’t really though of before. I think everybody should take the time to read this book and listen to what Glassner has to say because a society that acts based on fear and false information is not a society I want to live in or support.

For my sixth secondary source I chose an awesome video that truly captures how fear has taken over the minds of some American people through Trump and other previous Republican’s bullshit. It also shows how Americans are self deceiving themselves about what to be afraid of who is “killing America”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Sc3_V7Qyq4

I think the video really helps support Glassner’s point and the notion that fear can heavily controls society. Why do you think fear can influence so many people?

jad-fakhoury :

In this section of the book, Glassner really goes in to detail about just how fear mongering and dishonesty occurs in the media. He says something I thought was very interesting. For a fear to be instilled in people two things have to happen. There must be a social anxiety relating to that given thing and there must be some type of sympathetic example or appealing fact. Much of what this is relates exactly to the unit that we covered: Dishonest Arguments. Logical Fallacies are consistently used in the news media for a wide variety of purposes. Also, Glassner warns us to be on guard for how reporters manipulate words and numbers to make a point. He also stresses that the reason all of this is so bad, aside from the dishonesty and corruption, is that true problems, such as education, hunger and lack of insurance, are left un reported on.

My fifth secondary source relates directly to what I said above about the logical fallacies. It is a video where somebody explains the top 10 logical fallacies that are usually observed in society, and examples are given for each of them. It is good to see the examples and get a better understanding that you cannot get with just the definition and name alone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IawIjqOJBU8

It seems like Glassner does a good job at pointing out different flaws in society. I immediately connected this to your first secondary source, George Orwell’s politics and the English Language. Do you think that there should be more people and authors like Glassner that draw attention to this?

For my final secondary source, I decided to connect this inspirational video to my The Last Lecture. From the book and speech, Randy made clear that he wanted to leave an impact for his friends, colleagues, and most important his family. I choose this video because Randy accomplished exactly what the video is titled- Make An Impact. Through his decision to give his Last Lecture, he has affected millions of people. His book sold more then 5 million copies, translated in 48 languages. Through Randy’s fight with cancer, he was an inspiration to a countless amount of people, and all of his actions were centered around hope. Hope was his legacy.

For my fifth secondary source, I found an inspirational quote that represents exactly how Randy acted and what his mindset was. When trying to find the best one, this one reminded me of how Randy battled everyday against cancer, knowing chances were not in his favor.

Remembering The Last Lecture

For my fourth secondary source I have another article that adds commentary to The Last Lecture. It also gives additional insight on Randys family.

Living ‘The Last Lecture’ - Word&Way

For this secondary post, I found an article that gives additional commentary and about says more about Randys family. It shows us what Randys wife said after his death. On the other hand, it also expands on the idea of hope.

Throughout this whole book, every different and new section of his speech (this book was based on his Last Lecture space) there were parts that stuck out to me. Randy did a amazing job the entire book. His final words stuck out to me, and end the book on a realization that whatever challenges faced him, he still made the best of every moment he was given and never stopped being himself; a role model, professor, husband, and a father.

As Randy wraps up his lecture and comes to an end in his book, he does so with meaning. As he’s wrapping up, he returns to one of the main ideas of his Last Lecture. Dreaming big, and not holding back from dreams or opportunies when they present themselves in front of you. He wraps up this idea, by explaining how life had come to a full circle. From the age when his imagination created his first dreams, to decades later when that list of dreams was what helped him conclude his final words. Randy makes this powerful by drawing back to his early childhood, and not losing hope or giving up with months left to live.

jad-fakhoury :

In this section, Glassner shifts his focus from children to black men in the media and society. He takes no time to make sure we, the readers, understand the main issue that is taking place in the media with black men, specifically young men too. Time and time again in the news, black mean are portrayed as the perpetrators of crime. In reality,  Glassner tells us, “Many more black men are casualties of crime than perpetrators, but their victimization does not attract the media spotlight the way their crimes do.” Glassner goes on to explain the same problem with drug violence. Americans generally believe that all people have an equal chance of being hurt by drug violence, as said by FBI. Glassner exposes to us the fact that the largest group of people hurt by drug crimes, are young minority men. These two examples and a few others that Glassner point out work to show how the media takes aim at black males as perpetrators of crime and often times ignore them as victims. I am working to make meaning of this but my initial ideas want to think that these are just acts of racism and want to perpetuate a certain image to the public about black men. 

For my third secondary source, I chose a political year drawn by David G. Brown in 2018. The cartoon depicts an example of racial profiling. I believe that part of the reason for this occurring is the constant attention in the media that Glassner talks about where black men are repititively shown as the perpetrators of crimes. This proves to be super negative for our society and tears America apart where it should be strong: diversity.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi_uqvvi7rgAhVih-AKHYvrClsQjRx6BAgBEAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Flasentinel.net%2Fdavid-g-brown-editorial-cartoon-10.html&psig=AOvVaw1xO-XjMpQwSYW6hXnLIY9B&ust=1550194752088130

One thing that stuck out to me is your final sentence, this divide is, like you said, tearing at something that should be a positive aspect.

jad-fakhoury :

What sticks out to me from this section of my book is drugs. Glassner, in the section “Smack is Back”, wants to show just how incorrect and corrupt the combination of the President and the media can be. Across almost of every recent political campaign, there has been a strong push to stop the drug crisis. Every presidential candidate has made its mention and millions and millions of dollars have been towards trying to stop it and amplify it to the public through the media. This makes the “drug problem” the nation is facing much graver than what it really is. Glassner explains to the reader that all of this happens because the fight against drugs can gain support from both republicans and democrats. Speaking out against drugs and making the drug crisis a bigger issue than what it really is only pulls more support for political candidates. However, this is where it gets sketchy. By drawing attention to the drug crisis which includes legal drugs, America’s attention is being drawn away from the real drug crisis: the legal drug crisis. Glassner tells us, “More than half of those who die of drug-related medical problems or seek treatment for those problems are abusing prescription drugs.” Politicians do not want to turn America’s head toward drug companies because drug companies contribute billions of dollars to political candidates and have strong influences in the law making process. 

For my fourth secondary source, I am choosing an honestly funny example of how an American president tried to make the drug problem larger than it really was. On a national news broadcast, George Bush got a bag of cocaine and said it was seized from a park next to the White House. Really, he hired some people to go buy it from somewhere far away from the White House. This is exactly what Glassner is trying to explain and what I expressed above.

https://www.nytimes.com/1989/09/23/us/white-house-set-up-drug-buy-in-the-park-for-bush-tv-speech.html

I do think that drug abuse is a serious problem and should be kept in mind, but I can see how it can get stretched by media and some presidents as well.

jad-fakhoury :

The Culture of Fear By Barry Glassner Process #2

Glassner continues with the same topic of fear mongering in the media. However, this time he is more focused on America’s Youth. He goes into detail on multiple accounts of how American parents are fooled into thinking their kids are much more danger than they really are. He explains throughout these accounts that numerous companies greatly profit from a raised sense of fear in American parents. By using exact references to times this happened in the media and using numbers that have a reference in the back of the back, Glassner shows us exactly how this fear mongering is occurring. One example is how Time stated, “more than 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the U.S.”. This number doesn’t take into account kids who have ran away due to physical or emotional abuse or parents who simply “reject” their kids and put them on the streets. Glassner says, “According to criminal justice experts, a total of 200 to 300 children a year are abducted by nonfamily members and kept for long periods of times or murdered.” This shocking difference is really what plays into the culture of fear.

My second secondary source is an article on cracked.com called 5 Ways Statistics Are Used to Lie to You Every Day. This article points out similar ways that Glassner mentions the media uses to create a culture of fear in Americans. Each of the five ways is explained in detail with examples and really makes you question the news the next time you watch it. I like this website because it also has a “Why it Matters” section. This is similar to Glassner’s way of writing where he points out a dishonesty, corrects it, and tells the reader its importance.

I really like how you tied in your secondary source in this post. I feel like it fits perfectly and adds additional value to Glassner’s arguement in this section.

jad-fakhoury :

The Culture of Fear By Barry Glassner Process #1

After reading the long introduction and first 40-50 pages of the book, I can confirm that Glassner is arguing exactly what I thought he would be. To start, Glassner introduces us to an important and central concept: Many of the fears that Americans have are fear mongered by corporations and interest groups. These fears end up not even being what Americans should actually be afraid of and these groups only profit and/or benefit from the increased level of fear in the general people. Glassner begins to analyze errors and corruption in famous news stories. One that he points out that was particularly interesting was the surge of increased news stories saying violent TV shows and video games are the cause of many gun related murders and school shootings. Glassner goes on to prove with statistics that a huge amount of people were now concerned with video games and TV shows that could be considered violent. However, he proves this is the wrong fear to have by saying two things. First, if this were the problem then why do other countries who have the same media not have the same levels of violence. Secondly, maybe the reason behind the large number of murders and gun violence is related to the easiness of obtaining a gun and the unregulated market. Gun related interest groups and activists will try to bring upon every change but changes to gun control. Glassner uses an abundant amount of evidence to prove his points and backs up almost everything he says with expert quotes.     

My first secondary source is Politics and the English Language by George Orwell. I chose this as my secondary source because Orwell describes fundamental errors with language and how it corrupts thought. Much of what Glassmen does is find similar errors in the news media.  

This sounds like a very intriguing book, and one that would be interesting to read. I like how you explain Glassner’s approach to the topic, and put it into your own words. It helps to understand Glassner’s idea without even reading his book.

Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture

Along side the book, Randy delivered his last lecture in front of an audience live. This is the video of his lecture, and is extremely interesting and thought provoking. I wanted to watch the first few minutes, and ended up watching a lot more of it then I thought.

This passages is one of my favorites so far. It really stuck out to me, and is useful for everyone at any point in life. The title of this section was “If at First You Don’t Succeed…” This paragraph does a great job at sharing what to do when things don’t go according to plan. Randy is facing the biggest challenge of his life, yet he continues to stay positive and continues in his fight, a fight that doesn’t include somebody standing in front of him with fists raised, but one that will end up taking his life. On top of all this, Randy continues to push forward in his life.

My first secondary source is the link to a website. This website was one that Randy himself was part of the making, and is still growing and expanding to this day, almost a decade later.

Alice – Tell Stories. Build Games. Learn to Program.

This program continues to help students improve on skills, and Randy is still making an impact through this.

As Randy is giving the lecture, he COMES across one of his huge childhood dreams; to play in the NFL. As a little kid, he loved playing footbal, even though at first he hated it. Bottom line, he never accomplished his dream of playing at a professional level. But, he still highlights this as a very important adventure in his life. Randy brings out an interesting idea, and explains that sometimes not reaching a goal sometimes results in gaining more then you would from achieving a goal. He trys to show how when things go unplanned or unexpected, theres still something good that comes out of it.

To kick off his lecture, Randy begins with his childhood. As he’s telling his story of his childhood, he starts explaining the time when he was allowed by his parents to decorate his room with his own drawings. He focuses in and explains his fascination with Pandora’s box and the story behind it. What he really liked about the story was the idea of hope, knowing that there’s still a chance for change, or something better in the end. Randy mimics this himself, and adds “hope” to his own drawing and representation of Pandora’s box in his room. This is important to note, because this “hope” still hasn’t been extinguished by the cancer taking his life from him. He knows that deep down, regarldess of what faces him, the importance of never losing hope and to continue to pesevere, moving forward in his lifes last moments.

With every happening in his life, he (Randy) still got up on that stage. He’s ready to give his last lecture, the most important one he’s yet to give. With him battling cancer at that very moment, he doesn’t hesitate to stand up there and entertain, to teach, and to inspire. With his actions he exemplifies hopefulness and continues to persevere and not give up hope knowing how slim chances are in the future. He doesn’t view himself as different, or someone else because of his state. Rather, he see’s himself as just himself, and one who can give a positive impact on many.

Why I chose The Last Lecture

I choose this book because it had the idea of being hopeful and making the best of what is facing you in life. I think its also an excellent piece that focuses on how it impacts and reacts with audiences. It has the ability to change the outlook of the readers.

jad-fakhoury :

The primary document that I found had corrupt language was a piece titled “Screens In Schools Are a $60 Billion Hoax” and is written by Dr. Nicholas Kardaras. My chunk is the second and third paragraphs of the piece and contains Kardaras‘s claim. The first example of corrupt language that I noticed is use of extreme diction. Kardaras does this twice, and I think he does for the same reason both times. He wants to intimidate or create fear in his audience. This is a corrupt way of arguing because the audience is influenced by vocabulary as opposed to the real issue. An example of this is near the end of the second paragraph of the chunk when he says, “… seem to suffer from adolescent malaise that appears to be a direct byproduct of their digital immersion.” Somebody reading this may believe the malaise is a serious disease however malaise is merely general discomfort. Also, this discomfort could be from something else, not screens in schools. Kardaras also commits two logical fallacies. His first one is the straw man fallacy at the end of the first part of the chunk. He misrepresents an argument that supports screens in schools by saying that those people who argue that thing it’s “necessary and beneficial”. This makes it easier to attack for him but not every proponent of technology in schools believes it is “necessary”. The other fallacy he commits is false cause. He assumes that technology in schools is the sole cause of the health effects that he mentioned. Many other factors could be contributing to the health effects he mentions as the result of more screen time. Overall, this piece by Kardaras contains corrupt language and argues a stance dishonestly.

One part you metioned that can be countered, is the fact that he targets those who think technology is necessary and beneficial. That is a fair statement because many schools, and also well known schools have an important and successful technological program. From computer classes, to required online classes, technology is present everywhere. So, when Kardaras gives that specific example, he has a reasonable point.