TOW #7 - Ten Borders

Ten Borders by activist Nicholas Schmide is perhaps one of the most profoundly impacting articles I have ever read. It is a narrative describing how a man named Ghaith was able to travel from Syria to Sweden, and is perhaps the most well written and powerful accounts of his trek. His harrowing accounts of escape, pain, and joy creates an emotional piece and leaves the reader wanting to help the struggling refugees. Schmide wrote Ten Borders with powerful anecdotes in order to cause the reader to emphasize with embattled Syrian Refugees. This text was composed for readers who do not already sympathize with Syrian Refugees, and his aim is to convert these people. With his profound text, he succeeds. Gaith's story seems unreal, but it is experienced by many daily. He travels to places that abuse him, to places that welcome him, and everywhere in between. He made friends along the way, and helped other refugees to get to their desired destination, as well. The story of his reunification with his brother brings great feelings of joy, and his stories of dread along the way feel quite similar to a dystopian novel. The joyful ending leaves the reader feeling happy, but also reminds them that many refugees are not nearly as lucky as he is. Many die along the way, or are forced to live in refugee camps in anti-foreigner Hungary. It inspires the reader to pitch in and help in such a dire situation. The authors use of anecdote greatly impacts the effectiveness of the essay. When describing the horrors of a Lebanese prison, the example of a pregnant woman being surrounded by a pool of blood made the reader empathize with the pain experienced in the situation (para 17). An example of joy could be found in paragraph 36, where Ghaith reunited with his brother, a high of emotion. These anecdotes make the story, an more importantly make the reader empathize with the refugees, and in turn support them.

TOW #6 - Clinton News Network

This political cartoon was drawn by Henry Payne, a syndicated conservative political cartoonist who is well respected. It was created after the Democratic debate hosted by CNN, which was struck by controversy when many believed it supported Hillary Clinton over other contenders such as Bernie Sanders. In his political cartoon, Payne seeks to mock CNN for supporting Hillary Clinton by using a play on words and depicting Anderson Cooper as a buffoon. Many who watched the debate would probably agree with Payne, too. Hillary had more time to speak and seemingly easier questions in this debate. She emerged a victor, many thinking that CNN helped her in this regard. CNN has also been criticized in the past for being overly supportive to Clinton, a bias many think a news network should not have in order to report effectively. Many thought that they completely disregarded all candidates except for Clinton and maybe Sanders. Enter the rhetorical devices. To show the biases of CNN, Payne changes its name from Cable News network to Clinton News Network. The humorous play on words shows CNN's bias effectively while also making the reader laugh a little. The next thing to do would be to make fun of the moderator, Anderson Cooper. Cooper portrays himself as unbiased and a pretty great public figure, but the cartoon attempts to discredit this. By having his caricature wear a Clinton pin, it accuses him of supporting Clinton thereby destroying his objective nature. His caricature is also contorted and makes him seem like a buffoon, what the author is trying to convey. The overall success of the cartoon is debatable. Though it is humorous, it offers no substantive proof of the claim, so it falls short of its purpose. Obviously, any data to back up the claim could be found easily, but this makes the cartoon feel rushed and half baked.  

TOW #5 - The Case for Getting Rid of Borders—Completely

The Case of Getting Rid of Borders-- Completely contains the radical idea that nations should do just that. It is a piece that leaves the reader almost speechless in both confusion in wonder, it is clear that Alex Tabarrok did his job. He is an economics professor at George Mason University, so the piece focused mainly on the economic implications of this issue. He argues that people do not have mobility, and thus they cannot easily move to a place where their lives would be better or they would be paid more. He says that "Immigration is the greatest anti-poverty program ever devised" (para 5), an interesting idea that shows creates a new perspective on the issue of poverty. Before that if the developed world added one percent immigrant to its population, they would have raised more money than all foreign aid programs combined. This usage of statistics completely proves his point that the mobility to move to better places would help solve the issue of poverty. He also looks at the idea from the perspective of the privileged and still found positives. They would have access to a cheap work force, and would be able to focus on their work more. "The immigrant who mows the lawn of the nuclear physicist indirectly helps to unlock the secrets of the universe" (para 6) gives an illustration of this idea, and again proves his point. In the end of the essay, he blames the whole idea of physical borders on nationalism, which makes logical sense. He says that nationalism views immigrants as "others" (para 7), and thus undeserving to enter the nation. It is intriguing that he defines nationalism this way, as he is thus blaming it for much of the worlds economic troubles. Though this essay baffled readers with a new perspective and proved his point economically, there are many things unaccounted for in this study, such as ethnic, political, linguistic, and social disagreement. Perhaps this essay could be the groundwork for other analyses to be written on, and the world could be changed forever.

TOW #4 - My Beloved World

My Beloved World is a collection of poignant memoirs from Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's Life. The first half of the story describes the challenges she faced as a child and a young adult living with an alcoholic father in perilous sections of the Bronx. Through her juxstaposition of these powerful anecdotes, Sotomayor illustrates how she overcame adversity in hopes in inspire the disadvantaged who cling to their dreams. The story starts in her young life when she finds out that she has diabetes. She uses a powerful symbol in this story to show how she developed her independence at an early age, describing that she learned to give herself shots of insulin at the age of eight, a task far more complicated then in comparison to the simplicity of it today. This sets the stage for the rest of the story, and shows how she matured by herself, with her family members structuring her growth rather than leading it. She describes the her father's slow death from his alcoholism, and describes the angst she, her mother, and her brother experienced due to it. She then describes her school life, and the interesting friends that she made along the way. Her hard work and she displays throughout high school shows how greatly one's life can change if they put in the work, seen in her acceptance to Princeton University. She specifically juxtaposes these stories together in order to achieve her purpose, and she succeeds. It is not quite "homeless to Harvard", but "projects to Princeton" has the same profound effect on the reader and certainly inspires anyone, but it is specifically relateable to those who are disadvantaged but still desire to succeed. This piece achieves its purpose in every way, and is perhaps one of the most inspiring works of the decade.