A Maestro Sets the Tone

While I have never gone to listen to a live symphony, I can imagine the immense pressure and the feelings that are felt by everyone in the room. The musicians playing, the maestro conducting, and the audience sitting in the seats taking in every note. However, I cannot imagine the awkward feeling that filled the room  on January 10, 2012 when an hour into Mahler's Ninth Symphony a audience members cell phone went off. And this was not one of those silent ringing cell phones or even one that was on vibrate. Instead it let out a jazzy tone that could be heard by everyone in the crowd. It was, as some call it, the "elephant in the room," as people waited on to see how Alan Gilbert, the conductor, would react to the interruption. And in fact, many were surprised by how he reacted. He calmly halted the performance, turned to the man who's cell phone went off, and turned and simply said "are you going to turn that off? Will you do that?" With this, many people say it was a defining moment for Gilbert, as it showed his true character in a tense situation.

David Masello, the author of this article, finds it very hard to contain himself throughout this article. He was so impressed by Gilberts reaction that he couldn't control himself really. He mostly employs a pathos appeal, as he is very emotional on the subject (in a good way). By doing so, it successfully translates the impression that was left on the audience. In fact, seeing that Masello was at the performance, he has a first hand report on the incident, and it seems as if his "inside knowledge" really does well to detail that awkward feeling and the manner in which Gilbert dealt with it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/opinion/the-phone-that-interrupted-the-philharmonic.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Was Lena Del Rey Really That Bad?

Recently, I watched SNL with host Harry Potter and a peculiar musical guest named Lena Del Rey, or something like that. The skits were going pretty well, not the best but not the worst, and then it came time for this unknown internet singer to perform her only two songs that have reached some level of familiarity on the internet. And well she has been praised for her musical ballads, her performance led her into a straight nose-dive from popularity. Watching her stand up there on the stage, I felt uncomfortable for her. At first I thought it was part of her "repertoire" or it was just the kind of performer that she is, but that was painful. She even tried to liven it up at some points (maybe the worst attempts that I have ever seen) and all that I could think the entire performance was "why are they torturing this girl just give her the hook and give my eyes and ears a break."

While Mary Elizabeth Williams tried to remain unbiassed, it is easy to see that she too felt uncomfortable watching the internet star. She is able to show the crowds feelings on the performance by quoting certain tweets, which describe how people really were kind of freaked out by her act. She takes a strong pathos appeal, especially targeting the emotion of "awkardness", if there even is one.

Rights in the Workplace

While the "Occupy" movements have been dying down, that does not mean that the idea is going as well. However, the right for employees of a business to join together against their employers has slightly hit a speed bump, especially with the recent signings by millions of employees in order to keep their jobs. The conditions of keeping their jobs meant that any disputes that they had with their employers must be taken to arbitration rather than court. This makes it much harder for employees to join together in order to fight for what they think is right, and that doesn't seem fair. If a boss is mistreating many of his employees, they should have the right to join together and fight against him, not single-handedly file complaints and take him to court one by one; if this happens, odds are the boss wins. However, the National Labor Relations Board has shown that all arbitrary agreements do not have the power to trump a persons or groups right to join together to make group claims. Finally, a victory for the little people.

With this article being such a serious and questioning issue, the most fit way to present it was with a strong logos and ethos appeal. The authors logos appeared in many places, by stating certain court precedents and the backgrounds of many labor board members, which help to illustrate the seriousness of the matter while also giving hints as to how the debate might end. Also, the ethos used by the author is meant to question the readers, almost asking them if the agree with such conditions based on their own work experiences and the treatment that they receive. In the end, it was a very debated article and I feel as if it should work out in the employees favor in the long run.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/rights-in-the-workplace.html?ref=editorials

The Color of Water (memoir blog)

As of now, I am not quite fully into my memoir yet. I have started the book, and discovered the minor details, such as the fact that it takes place in Queens, New York. I have also already learned the premis of the story; it is about a young black child growing up in a mostly black neighborhood, but he has a white mother. All 11 of his siblings are black, or as his mother describes it as "mixed", and as of now his only wonder is why and how his mother is different form everyone else that he sees. That might turn out to be search throughout the memoir.

How Will You Use Your Leap Second?

While most people, if not everyone, are aware of the leap year that occurs every four years, far less people are aware of the "leap second" that will occur this year. This coming June 30, an extra second will be added in the night in order to keep Earth time and astrological time in balance. Also, it just so happens that this year is a leap year, meaning that we get an extra day and one second in the year altogether to do whatever we want. And this question is what this article is asking: What will you do with your extra second? While you can't do much in a second and it may not seem important, it is actually very much needed to maintain order with the universe. This second is calculated by the International Earth Rotation and Reference System Services, and they say that it is imperative to remain in balance with the universe.

The author of this article takes a very strong logos appeal in this article, as it is a very scientific topic. Not many people know about how astrological time and "Earth time" are similar and different, but the author attempts to use statistics and quote such scientific groups as the ERRSS in order to help his readers. By adding this logos appeal, it makes people aware of how important this extra second truly is to maintaining order in the universe, seemingly an important thing to do.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/opinion/how-will-you-use-your-leap-second.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Internet Access Is Not A Human Right

With everyone on their iPhones and Blackberry's, it seems as if internet access is something that we can no longer live without. But the question that this article asks is whether or not internet access is a human right, such as freedom of speech or the right to an attorney. Especially with the uprisings in foreign countries such as Egypt and Libya in the past year, internet access has been a major contributor in the overall success of those movements. People feel that they deserve the right to internet access, as it allows them to come together as a people and truly voice their opinions about what is right and what is not right. But in some cases, the government has denied people the right to internet access, as they feel that it is a privilege and not a right at all. In my opinion, while internet access is very handy and seemingly everywhere in the U.S., it is still not a right at all. In fact, I agree with Vinton Cerf, who wrote this article, that the internet access is not a right, but it is an enabler of rights.

Cerf's technique in this article is to focus on his readers emotions mainly, but he does so by using logic. He quotes facts and statistics that make it feel as if people need internet access, which makes them angry when they do not receive it freely. Also, by playing on the examples of Libya and Egypt, he brings up memories of turmoil and destruction, as well as determination, which play on both good and bad emotions of the reader, truly engulfing them in his topic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/opinion/internet-access-is-not-a-human-right.html?ref=contributors

Paying a Price, Long After the Crime

This article starts out by telling the story of a single father with two sons that got rejected from a janitorial position at a high school because of a drug conviction from over 20 years ago. Obviously, a drug conviction, while small compared to homocide or even robbery, is still a serious offense; but does that mean that it must define a man for the rest of his life? That is exactly the case for this offender. However, with the help of the Chicago Tribune, the man did eventually get the job. But that is not the point. Is it just to let a person be defined by a simple mistake that they made some twenty or thirty years earlier, especially if that same person has been clean and a model citizen for that amount of time. In my book, you serve the time and everything is clean. Obviously there are some exceptions to this, but I definitely feel like this man was cheated in the first place and I feel it unjust for his conviction to haunt him for the rest of his life.

Alfred Blumstein and Kiminori Nakamura use many different appeals in this article, but the most effective one is their use of logos. This is because this logistic appeal draws on the readers and emotions and ethics as well. By integrating statistics about how many people are convicted of minor offenses and how those offenses negatively affect their lives in the future, the authors are playing on the readers emotions, as it truly is a saddening fact. Also, they question their readers' ethics, as they describe their ideas on how bad a minor drug offense truly is, and causes people to question their own ethics as to how bad they think a drug offense really is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/opinion/paying-a-price-long-after-the-crime.html?_r=1&ref=contributors

Texting While Walking

The name of this article says it all. We have come so far as a nation in technology that we now have to worry about the dangers that we face texting while walking. The author of this article states his scenario of walking down a busy street in New York City, and obviously trying to text while navigating these sidewalks would be seemingly impossible. Everyone knows of the dangers of texting while driving, but apparently we now have to worry about any sort of transportation altogether and learn how to master the art of texting without bumping into people and yes, even getting injured. Obviously this fact seems proposterous, but ever since 2006 the number of pedestrians visiting the emergency room because they were injured while texting or using a cell phone has doubled every year (NYTimes.com). How obsessed are we as a country that we now have to worry about getting injured while we text?

Casey Neistat, the author of this article, seems as amazed as I am at the fact. In fact, his ethos appeal is what truly brings out his feelings on the subject. He uses a sort of questioning kind of approach, where he poses his ethical appeal to his readers in the form of questions, as he wonders how and why we are so obsessed with texting that we now must worry about getting injured while walking. He also states statistics in order to show that this texting addiction is a real problem, showing how many injuries actually occur from walking and texting every year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/opinion/texting-while-walking.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Should the World of Toys be Gender-Free

Everyone can remember their childhood days, and as we remember boys and girls played very differently. From my experiences, boys liked to build things and use action figures to crush and destroy their structures. On the other hand, girls pretty much stuck to dolls and role-playing with dozens of different voices for each figure. If this is true, than why is Hamley's, a popular London toy store, taking away their blue and pink toy figurines for ones that are red and white, what they say will be more "gender-neutral" as they pose it. Meanwhile, Lego has been making changes as well, however their's are on the other side of the spectrum. Lego has realized these differences in the ways that the different genders play, and have acted in a way that will support their idea that lego's are "for boys and for girls" (NYTimes.com). This argument poses a question however, and it is one that seemingly must be answered. Should genders be removed from the toy industry altogether. In my opinion, this argument is proposterous; when I was younger I wanted Bionicles not Barbies, and I certainly didn't want a plain red and white figurine that is so plain that a two year old could have designed it.

Peggy Orenstein seems to address all of the necessary points in her article. While there is seemingly no bias by Orenstein in this article, she does use many statistics that seem to support the idea of Lego's leaders over those of Hamley. In fact, when talking of Lego's point of how sex's play differently, Orenstein includes a logos appeal, by stating things such as, "As any developmental psychologist will tell you," which backs up her points with proof from masters on the subject. She also includes statistics and quotes to support the different sides of the argument, and by doing so is truly able to illustrate both sides of the argument accurately.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/opinion/does-stripping-gender-from-toys-really-make-sense.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Bless Me, Ultima final blog

With the conclusion of the story, I find myself with mixed feelings about how it ended. I am saddened by the death of Ultima, but the story that I have experienced has left me very satisfied with the book as a whole. I had always known that Tenorio would cause more trouble after Narciso's death, and my previous predictions are proof as to my thoughts on Ultima's death. I had thought that she might have been saved by Antonio, but that has been proved wrong. At first, I was almost angered at Ultima's death, as I was with Tony on his feelings of how evil can conceivably reign over good. It somewhat took me by surprise. Tony was running all the way home, and he had escaped Tenorio and made such a long journey, not only on his way home but as a man throughout the entire book, and I honestly thought that he would make it home. I had always known that Ultima's owl played a bigger role than we were meant to think, and apparently Tenorio had known that as well. In a way, I am at a loss for words, because I am still in shock at how Ultima could possibly die, and yet I have accepted it similarly to how Tony accepted it and learned from it. Overall, I find myself very pleased with this story as a whole, and am glad that I got to experience this journey.