Tow #6- Why Women Still Can't Have it all

Feminism is a big topic among people of all ages. It’s been used to try and encourage women that they are able to “do it all.” Women are being told that they can have a demanding job while also being a housewife and taking care of their kids. Ann-Marie Slaughter, who has worked in several high class jobs such as a professor and dean in ivy league colleges, a CEO, in the directory of policy planning for the US government, and is also a mother, disagrees with that feminist idea. She wrote her opinion in her essay, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it all.” Her essay was written to explain to professional adults that despite the feminist ideas, it is not possible for women to balance their careers and family life. She explains this in her essay using many different devices. Slaughter quotes many other women with prestigious jobs such as Jolynn Shoemaker, Juliette Kayyem, and Mary Matalin, to name a few. Something else all these women have in common is their lack of ability to care for their children because of their demandings jobs. Using these other women gave more examples and evidence for the points Slaughter was making. Another strategy Slaughter used in her essay was taking quotes people believed to be true and breaking them down in order to show they were false. She dispelled quotes such as, “you can do it if you’re committed enough,” and , “it’s possible if you marry the right person.” This went against the ideas some people have, where a women would blame themselves for their inability to do it all. I believe Slaughter was effective in her essay. She explained all the reasons that women can’t have it all by using real world examples and evidence. Although it is not yet possible for women (and men) to do everything they would like to do, I still hold out hope that it may become easier in the future.

Tow #5- Can we End the Mediation Madness?

Meditation is no longer something only done by Buddhist monks, it is now something that many people do today. Everyday life can cause a lot of stress, so people will meditate in order to relieve some of that anxiety. Adam Grant, a professor of psychology at Penn and an author, believes that the public is becoming too interested in mediation. He has found that people who meditate automatically assume everyone else does, and they are rude to the people who don’t. He wrote and article for the New York Times, Can we End the Mediation Madness?, in hopes to convince the people who meditate that it is ok not everyone else does. He sees the good things meditation can do, but feels it is not necessary as all of the good outcome can come from doing other things. The way he proves this in his article is first by using humor. Grant shares that his friends will argue he should meditate because Steve Jobs did, he replies with,”yeah, and he also did L.S.D. - do you want me to try that, too?” The humor helps to not directly offend the people who meditate. The jokes allow Grant to call them out without them feeling victimized, while the people who don’t meditate can agree with him. Grant also uses logic and credible sources to prove his purpose. Grant starts his argument with, “Before we’re all swept into this fad, we ought to ask why meditation is useful. So I polled a group of meditation researchers, teachers and practitioners on why they recommend it.” This was a very smart thing to do as is showed his audience he knows what he’s talking about as he learned from credible sources. I believe he achieved his purpose. Grant convinced me that meditation is not “all that.” He gave many other alternatives to meditation and even explained how meditation can be bad in some cases. If I ever hear criticizing for someone who does not meditate, I will have to show them this article.

TOW #4- Me Talk Pretty One Day

In school, having a mean teacher can make learning much harder. What would be even worse, is if that teacher spoke a different language than her students. This is exactly what happened to David Sedaris in Me talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris moved to France to study at university while he learned to speak French. Sedaris felt awkward at school even though he thought because he was an adult he should be past that feeling. His French teacher was horrible and harsh to all of the students in the class, causing them to band together. Sedaris is an American author and humorist, nominated for three Grammy Awards. Me Talk Pretty One Day was written in order for Sedaris to explain that everyone can always feels awkward, no matter what age. He wrote this for other adults who can relate to his problem, but it is still relatable to a younger audience and his humor can reach anyone. To achieve his purpose, Sedaris used metaphors. He explains how he feels next to all of the other students, “As an added discomfort, they were all young, attractive, and well dressed, causing me to feel not unlike Pa Kettle trapped backstage after a fashion show...At my age, a reasonable person should have completed his sentence in the prison of the nervous and the insecure--isn't that the great promise of adulthood?” (Sedaris). These two metaphors are used to show his feelings around the other students. He feels uncomfortable around them and then compares that feeling to being in prison. This explains how he stills feels awkward even his adulthood, He also asks the audience questions.  How often are you asked what you love in this world? More important, how often are you asked and then publicly ridiculed for your answer?” (Sedaris).  Questioning helps the audience feel more connected to what the author is saying, Sedaris uses the audience's connection to help his purpose. I believe his purpose was achieved. I related to his feelings of awkwardness in teenage years and I now do not look forward to more of those feelings in adulthood.

TOW #3- Introvert Power

In typical American society today, extroversion is favored over introversion. Extroverts are viewed as more successful because they are considered outgoing, popular, and adventurous. While an introvert may still have these qualities, they are viewed as less successful since they would like to be on their own sometimes. This is all explained in Introvert Power, by Laurie Helgoe. Introversion, personality and desire, are Helgoe’s speciality in her writing and psychology. She wrote this book to go against the norms and explain that introversion is ok. Each section of the book is teaching introverts, or extroverts who would like to understand, different aspects of being an introvert, why it is frowned upon in society, and why it really is a gift to those who are introverted. To prove this Helgoe explains many different scientific studies. One she cited was done by Maya Tamir, director of the Emotion and Self-Regulation Laboratory at Boston College and Hebrew University. The study had different extroverts and introverts try to complete an “effortful task.” in their efforts, the extroverts tried to make it more enjoyable. For the introverts, trying to seek happiness made completing the task harder and so they tried to avoid any emotional stimulation. Although this may seem like a bad thing, it showed that the introverts in this study were more likely to complete their task faster or more efficiently. Helgoe also used personal narratives to explain that introversion is not a bad thing. She explains a feeling that is probably very relatable to every introvert. After a long day she goes to dinner with a few of her friends, “the women were exuberant, excited, and exhausting...I kind of wanted what they were having. They seemed to be having so much fun!...What was wrong with me? I wasn’t sharing any of these good feelings!” (73 helgoe). After the anecdote, she explains that this is a normal feeling. She creates a sense of belonging to every introvert who feels they are broken. I believe her purpose was achieved in this book so far. I had always wanted to be extroverted because that seemed better and easier, but now I’m not afraid to be who I am.

TOW #2- Glad Advertisment

This advertisement is meant to make its viewers do a double take. At first they will see nothing wrong, then it hits them. This visual text shows what appears to be a watermelon, but it instead has red meat on the inside. The argument is that if the watermelon were to have been covered in Glad Cling Wrap, it would still be a watermelon. Glad is a very popular choice for household items such a cling wrap or trash bags. The ad was created by DDB ad agency which is owned by the world’s largest advertising holding company. The problem Glad found, is if food is let out it will start to spoil and will taste bad, to prevent this it must be taken care of a certain way. This ad was clearly produced in order to convince consumers to buy this cling wrap in order to protect their food’s taste. Adult consumers are the people more drawn to this ad as they are typically the ones shopping for these types of products. To prove their point, Glad used symbolism to portray a watermelon, but actually showed red meat. They’re not really depicting red meat but they used it in the image in place of watermelon to show what the watermelon would basically become without the cling wrap. Hyperbole is also used as a watermelon will not literally turn into meat or have such a drastic change in taste. This advertisement requires its audience to assume some information. It is not stated why the watermelon is meat, once the text at the bottom is read it is inferred that the watermelon is portrayed that way because it no longer tastes as it should. I believe their purpose was achieved. The ad looks disgusting; it makes me uneasy. Now whenever I see food sitting out without anything to protect it I will picture this ad and will  be grossed out by the food.

TOW #1- The Healing Power of Hugs

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/the-healing-power-of-hugs/?_r=0

No one can deny in times of stress, a hug has the ability to make anyone feel better. Hilary Jacobs Hendel, an experienced therapist, noticed this after hugging one of her patients. After the hug, her patient told Hendel that she felt cured from her life long depression. Because of this, Hendel became curious about the actual healing powers of a hug, and if it should be more popular as a tool in therapy sessions. She wrote this article to explore these thoughts for other therapists or anyone who was curious about hugs and hugs in therapy. To decide on whether or not she believed hugs should be involved in therapy, she started the article with personal narratives. She included the one about her patient who claimed to be cured. Hendel also explained how instead of continuing to hug her, she instead had that patient picture being hugged in her head. Maybe picturing a hug would have the same effect as an actual hug. Hendel also decided to check factual sources to see if hugging was stated to not be allowed in therapy or not. She checked the ethical guidelines from the National Association of Social Workers and the American Psychological Association and it was found that it is never stated that a therapist cannot hug their patient. So although it was mainly known to be taboo, it was legal. In the end, Hendel decided that hugs were not a good idea to use in therapy. She writes, “So even when I think a physical hug would be therapeutic, I continue to rely on fantasy (Hendel).” I don’t believe she accomplished her purpose of proving that. Only in the very last paragraph does she state that opinion. She does not give good reasons for why she believes that. The whole article was Hendel debating either side, so there were good things and bad things to each side, there is nowhere her opinion is favored.

IRB Intro Post #1

The book I chose to read this quarter is "Introvert Power" by Laurie Helgoe. I chose this book because I am interested in how and why people think and act, introversion and extroversion are a big part of that. I am an introvert and would like to learn more about how to deal with the downsides of being one. I have heard this book is a big help for other introverts.