Juveniles Don't Deserve Life Sentences

      Its crazy to think that a juvenile as young as 13 or 14 years old could receive a life sentence without parole for committing certain crimes. However, "nationwide 79 young adolescents have been sentenced to die in prison" (NYTimes.org). How could the government allow for these kids to be placed in prison for life, even if they did commit a crime. It has been proven that adolescent brains are not as developed as adult brains, meaning that they do not fully understand the consequences of their actions. Therefor, how can we as a county put them away for something that they truly do not understand. It is ruining a life to lock them up forever, and these laws put in place by the government are way too harsh. It is not the law about a life sentence, as that applies to all "adults", but it is the law that lowers the age that a child can be tried as an "adult." By lowering the age, it is opening up the harsh ability to put the youth of America behind bars for life.

      Gail Garinger seems just as outraged as myself. Because of this, her pathos appeal is the strongest in this article. But it is a strange pathos appeal, as it isn't her own emotions that get the reader, but a different technique. "These children were told that they could never change and that no one cared what became of them" (NYTimes.org). Obviously, this idea that they were shut off from the world and that no one cared was meant to target the emotions of the reader. However, there are other appeals in this article as well. Being that it is about government laws, a logos appeal adds another dimension. "Young people are biologically different from adults. Brain imaging studies reveal that the regions of the adolescent brain responsible for controlling thoughts, actions and emotions are not fully developed" (NYTimes.org). This scientific citation shows that adolescents are different than adult, and it does well to prove Garinger's credibility and show that it is more than just an angry rant.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/15/opinion/juveniles-dont-deserve-life-sentences.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Give the Ref a Gavel

Many of you may have heard about "bounties" that take place in the NFL. If you haven't, a bounty is the targeting of a specific player in order to injure them. Sometimes they are known as hitlists, but either way they are still a very talked-about subject. Eldon Ham, the author of this article, discusses his experience with bounties, as he was a lawyer for the Chicago Bears' quarterback Jim McMahon in 1986. McMahon was "slammed to the turf" by a defensive player from the Packers, and injured his soldier. Ham states how he wanted to sue, but in a game of such brutality it was almost impossible. And that is the main complaint. We see football as manly, and because of this we seemingly accept when awful things like this become normal. And Ham argues that legislation must step up in order to make it easier to process issues like this in courts. Obviously, he sees this as a major issue, and yet almost every team still does it. In fact, the New Orleans Saints, praised for being a good-hearted and fun-natured team, have just been discovered to have put out "bounties" on players from the 2009 to 2011 season. Obviously this proves that bounties are more common than many may think.

Ham seems very passionate about this topic. This pathos appeal probably comes from his personal experience being a lawyer for a bountied player. He definitely feels as if these acts are near criminal, as he uses words such as "ruthless" and  "tragically" to show his disappointment in the league and the players involved. He also shows his feelings about legislation and his own opinions when he says that "this criminal conspiracy should be punished beyond the N.F.L fines and suspensions that loom." Clearly, Ham feels that the government isn't doing enough to make processing these attacks easy, and being a lawyer he uses this to his advantage to try to push his issue. In the end, it seems as if this is a persuasive article, as instead of complaining, he actually poses a solution, which in turn gives him more credibility as a writer instead of a complainer.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/08/opinion/prosecute-excess-violence-in-sports.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Jeremy Lin's Team

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     Tebowmania has come to an end (sorry Hank Foster but it has and since i've noticed that you post about Tebow a lot this might sadden you to hear) and it is time for Linsanity. However its not just Linsane, but its Lincredible, and it's time for the world to know about the "Linja," the "Fortune Rookie," or any other Linsane nicknames that the world has given Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks. However, this popularity is actually very well deserved. Playing at Harvard after being recruited by no major collegiate sports programs, Lin became a free agent in the NBA and had been cut by two previous teams before ending up on the Knicks bench. And when Carmelo Anthony got injured, Lin got his chance to shine. His first start he scored 25 points, and he never looked back from there. He went on to beat out hall-of-famers like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson for  combined points in first five starts, where he scored cumulatively over 100 points. The Knicks now have an eight game winning streak, and the city of New York is beginning to believe. However, as the author of this article puts it, they are winning in a different way. The Knicks usually rely on their two superstars, Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. But with Lin on the court, they have begun to play unselfish basketball, and it seems to be working. All of this winning is truly a Linderella story.

     While it is unclear if this author lives in New York, he certainly seems like a Knicks fan, or at least a Jeremy Lin fan. It is quite clear throughout his article that he is excited over the Knicks recent Linning ways, and this excitement is able to transfer to the reader. His admiration for Lin transfers into certain conclusions by the author. "He is its emotional center and playmaker..." (NYTimes.com). It is obvious  to see that the author thinks that Lin is taking over, and his pathos appeal through his excited tone is able to persuade readers into seeing just how much of a big deal this "Linsanity" really is.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/17/opinion/jeremy-lins-team.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

The Internet Makes Magic Disappear

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Everyone can appreciate a good magic trick. And while most people know that all tricks are just illusions (and if you didn't know sorry to burst your bubble right there) they still like to ponder how someone can perform these somewhat "magical" feats. But one Santiago Wills feels like the internet has spoiled the magicians experience. He remembers when he was a kid and he got interested in magic from his father, and how moving on in his life he found an impressive magic shop and spent most of his days there learning the ways of the magician. However, he is seemingly disappointed with how the internet has ruined this experience. The internet allows young children who see a trick or who want to learn some illusions to go online and within seconds they are able to learn the "tools of the trade."Youtube and Google offer all the magic a kid could want, and Santiago is very saddened by this as it is leading to magic shops like the one that he visited when he was a kid to disappear.

Santiago takes a very personal approach to this article. He starts off by citing a story from his past, illustrating to the reader how he came to be so interested in magic. This gives the reader a foundation for the rest of his article, as he uses mostly a pathos approach. By stating his own experiences and love for magic, the audience is able to pick up on how emotional he is about this topic. It is obvious that he is saddened by the outbreak of internet trick tutorials, and his emotions are meant to appeal to the reader by reminding them of something that they love being destroyed.

http://www.salon.com/2012/02/11/the_internet_makes_magic_disappear/

Super Bowl 2012: The Best and Worst Commercials You Probably Wont Agree With

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While the game itself is obviously the main character in every Super Bowl, there always have to be some supporting roles in order to make it a good show. Every year, those supporting roles are the insanely funny Super Bowl commercials that companies create to display during the biggest sporting event of the year. Companies save up their best ads and pay millions of dollars just to get air time during the Super Bowl, and it was worth it. While this article by Dan Levy was about his favorite and least favorite articles, I made a list of my own favorite commercials that were displayed throughout the game. My award for the number one ad has to go to the M&M commercial, where the brown M&M is talking and some guys think that she is naked, but she actually is just a brown coated M&M. But then the red M&M comes in and yells something like "oh so it's that kind of party huh?" and rips off his red coating thinking that the brown one is actually naked. My second favorite ad goes to the Sketchers dog add, where it has a fat bulldog in a dog race against greyhounds, but the bulldog is wearing sketchers. He starts off slow but then blasts ahead of all the competitors, and even has time to moonwalk across the finish line in his red and white sketchers sneakers. Finally, the third place finish goes to the commercial for the voice. While I hate the show itself (they try to make it so dramatic when its basically just American Idol), the commercial that they made was pretty funny. It started with all four judges in a hotel and they hear this amazing voice coming from a room upstairs, and they fight each other to get to the room first. But when they get there, they find out that its just Betty White coming out of the shower. However it goes further, with Betty White saying something along the lines of "finally im being recognized for something other than my body." Overall, these three just stole the show.

While I disagreed with Levy on some of his choices, his analysis and reasons were actually very good. He goes in depth as to why certain ads were successful and why others weren't. He describes how some went for a cute and funny approach, while others, such as the Fiat commercial, drew on the idea that "se sells" (Salon.com). He also includes each commercial, making it easy for his readers to decide for themselves which commercials they like and which ones they don't like. By doing so, he is able to both state his opinions and analysis', but also give his readers the option to interpret them for themselves. It turned out to be a very efficient strategy.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1054697-super-bowl-the-best-and-worst-commercials-you-probably-wont-agree-with

The Amazing Portable Road Signs of Rural America

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Yes, by looking at the title this is a blog about road signs. But hey, it's my blog and I wanted to do one about road signs, so lay off. From the sound of it Gail Anderson, the author of this article, has the same sort of weird fascination with road signs that I do. It isn't really the informational signs that I like, in fact those are really boring. I don't care that there is 5% off snow cones at a store 28 miles from my house. However, what I do like are all the possibilities that come with a road sign, and especially the people that use them as their own personal joke-board. You can put anything on that sign (as long as it doesn't violate any major rules or laws). How funny would it be to be driving down the road and see this

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Really, its just all about the possibilities.

Because of her odd fascination with rural road signs, Anderson relies mostly on her own pathos as the strong point of this article. She uses her own emotions and the kinds of crazy thoughts that she has about road signs to draw people into the article. Also, she likes to include pictures in order for the readers to further understand her fascination over these signs. By including these pictures, she is able to show some of the funny reasons why she likes road signs, and it might even go as far to develop that same odd obsession with the road signs that they see.

Super Bowl: A Tale of Two Catches

How could he drop that pass? It was so perfect and it was going to be an automatic touchdown and probably win the game. This dropped ball that I am referring to is obviously the dropped pass committed by Wes Welker in the late fourth quarter of this years Super Bowl. And then, of course, to top it all off, Mario Manningham comes back three plays later with an insane grab and both feet down before being pushed out of bounds. Obviously for any Patriots fan this amazing catch may bring back memories of the David Tyree velcro-helmet catch that allowed the Giants to defeat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42. This time, we all thought that it would be different. "There's no way that Brady is going to allow the Giants to do it to him agains." Of course this was the talk of every New Englander prior to the game. And then what happened? They did it again.

For this article, Gary Kamiya relied heavily on a strong pathos appeal. He knows that almost everyone that watched the Super Bowl has some sort of emotion about the outcome. For Giants fans, he knows that describing the amazing catch by Manningham is going to bring up very strong positive emotions, while at the same time discussing the incompletion to Welker is going to target those sour emotions felt by almost every Patriot fan. However, the technique that Kamiya uses to make this article seem "intense" also helped appealed to the reader. Certain passages such as, "Facing this explosive offense was a flawed Patriots’ defense, its Achilles heel its secondary" and "Plus, there was the Patriot mystique — their three Super Bowl victories and their brilliant coach Bill Belichick" (Salon.com) gave this article the feel as if it were a Super Bowl itself.