Outside Readings

Editorial Column

Opportunities and Perils for Obama in Military Action in Libya

By JOHN HARWOOD

Essentially this piece revolves around what Obama is doing in the Middle East and what the national reaction is to this act of war. All though reporters are supposed to be biased, it is never true, some are just better and hiding it than others, and Harwood is not very good at it. While he never came out and said it, it was obvious that he supports Obama and his actions. Harwood relies quite a bit on syntax, short, high impact sentences riddle this work. These short sentences not only draw attention, but they also help to build emotion in the reader, the emotion that is trying to be created by Harwood is support for Obama. Another form of syntax he uses is the spacing between paragraphs, most of his paragraphs are short, and some only consist of one sentence. This again draws the eye and thus creates more emotion then it would hidden in a large paragraph. Detail is also used in this piece quite frequently, he uses the apparent failings of other presidents to draw attention away from Obama’s own, and when he does address Obama’s short comings, Harwood merely glosses over them.

 The voice of Harwood is praiseful of Obama, and seems to take on an angry tone when he speaks of his opposers. For most readers the techniques mentioned above and the author’s own tone might inspire some good feelings towards the president. But for me as a reader this gross adoration of Obama and his poorly hidden biased behavior, disgusted and repulses me. Unforchantly this piece would work as an AP essay; poor journalism is again unforchantly not a disqualifier.

Book Review

WITCHES ON THE ROAD TONIGHT

By Sheri Holman

Reviewed By JULIE MYERSON

Published: March 25, 2011

For me this book review was quite succsesful, it draws the reader in and inticises their curiosity, or perhaps it was just me. The one reviewing the book is Julie Myerson who adopts a Formalism perspective when she rewivews this book.  She does this though focusingon the  heavy use of imagry, syntax, detail, and tone throughout the book. Myerson kept a proper tone, and while she of course talked aboutt he strengths of this book, she also disscussed its weakness. The general tone I got from the author and the blurred line between fantasy and reailtiy this book promises reminds me of Heart of Darkness. I recive this connection from the line between fantasy and reality that the author has ententially blurred. While Myerson took it way beyond whast Conrad did, the concept is still the same.

Reflective Essay

Matt Willis
Lincoln University, Class of 2007
From Jefferson City, Missouri

The Cultural Contradictions of American Universities

Through out this piece it was impossible to ignore Willis' strong, formal, passionate tone, it was very easy to see that he truly cared about what he was writing about. This intensity from the author is very hard to reproduce if they author doesn’t truly feel that passionately about what they write, thus this intense tone draws the reader in and emotionally commits them. Willis creates this strong tone through the use of syntax, when he wants high impact he either separates that sentence from the entire paragraph, or he uses the more convention short sentence. His diction is also quite a big part of this overall tone, his word choices are that of a highly sophisticated man, and mostly the words are emotionally charged words. Overall my response to this essay is one of agreement, his formal, passionate tone, as well as his reasoning make it hard not to agree with him. The overall structure, flow, and simply the style of this essay would fit perfectly for an AP essay.

*Ms. Holmes- I talked to you in class that there has been reconstruction in my house and thus I haven't had access to a computer and that’s why these outside readings are late.