TOW #29: Letter to a New APELC Student

So, here you are. You've survived the summer assignment and you now find yourself sitting in #APELC2K16 on the first day of school. Congratulations. The simple act of making it to this point means that you have the grit and determination, and probably the writing talent, to survive this class. That being said, I bet your'e still awfully nervous, with a lot of (rhetorical) questions still bouncing around your head. Are the writing assignments as hard as people say? Are we really expected to write full-length essays in forty minutes or less? Will Yost approve of my fantasy football draft picks?

The answer to these questions? Yes. For all of them. But probably not the last one. The truth is that this a hard class. Undoubtedly harder than Honors English, and maybe even harder than 12th Grade AP Literature. But you already knew that, didn't you? The simple fact that you chose to sign up for this class means that you're already determined enough to succeed in this environment. It also means that you probably consider yourself to be a pretty good writer. And even if you don't think that you are, this class will change that very quickly. As you embark on your journey through this class, there are several pieces of advice you should take to heart, and refer back to whenever the going gets tough.

#APELCTIP #1. Accept the fact that you'll probably do more writing here than in any other class in high school. 

Yes, it's completely true, this is a class that features writing. An awful lot of it. It's not hard to get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of writing that this class requires sometimes. The sooner you can accept that you'll be pushed to your limits as a writer in this class, the easier the year will be.

#APELCTIP #2. Cherish the fact that you'll do so much writing here.

The truth is that doing a lot of writing, and receiving a lot of really good feedback on your writing, is the best way to grow as a writer. That's exactly what this class provides, so appreciate the fact that you will leave this class a better writer than you were when you entered (whether you like it or not!)

#APELCTIP #3. Don't be afraid to seek help from #Yost and #Pronko, or even just drop by to review a draft with them.

Mr. Yost and Mrs. Pronko are your greatest resources as students in this class. They're usually available to review drafts and always appreciate the chance to help students through the writing assignments that they give. And trust me, you'll want to review at least one piece of writing with them during the year (It'll be the Certainty vs. Doubt essay. Consider yourself warned.)

Take these pieces of advice to heart, and you'll be well on your way to success in this class. I wish you the best of luck and hope that this year is as transformative for you as a writer as it was for me. Don't forget: only 254 days until the #APELC Exam!

TOW #28: TOW Reflection

1. Perhaps the biggest change in my TOW posts, from the earliest ones that I completed in July of 2014, up to my more recent ones, is simply the efficiency of my writing. In considering the many ways that I've grown as a writer during this class, I think that this is the most important and most meaningful way that I've progressed this year. I also feel that my writing has lost the edge of verboseness that I carried over from the gifted program, and became more approachable in nature.

2. I've mastered the art of extracting meaning from quotes within a passage, among other things this year. I look back at my analysis of Foster Wallace's Consider the Lobster, and my later analysis of Mark Twain as evidence of this. I think I've also grown tremendously as an analyzer of visual texts. During the summer assignment, I struggled with extracting meaning from the images that accompanied many of the works of writing in our textbook. Having analyzed a great many visual texts during APELC, I now feel that some of my analysis of visual texts, as in my analysis of the Ferguson, MO. political cartoon, to be some of the best writing I did for this course.

3. Too many things to list. More than anything else, I would still like to improve my time management skills. Even on the AP Exam, I felt that I took too long working on the pre-writing, and the quality of my writing itself suffered as a result. This is the biggest thing I still see a true need for improvement on after this course. 

4. The usefulness of TOW posts can't be overstated, in my opinion. There is only so much time that the class can devote to formalized writing activities, which is precisely where the value of the TOW posts lie. In a class where the date of the impending AP exam was constantly hanging over our heads, in a very literal sense, the value of weekly time dedicated to writing and analyzing diverse documents played a big role in my success in this class, and my success on the AP exam.

TOW #27: To Build a (Better) Fire by Burkhard Bilger

As public concern has shifted more and more in recent years towards the idea of our own survival in the face of mounting climate change, many individuals have taken it upon themselves to seek their own solutions to the problems of our time in the face of failure on the part of the world's governments. Chief among the efforts of these individuals are efforts to return the power to halt climate change to the common people. In the opinions of these individuals, the common people shouldn't have to wait for government policy to change their lives. Instead, they should take it upon themselves to achieve the change they desire for themselves. These ideals are perfectly embodies by Dale Andreatta and Peter Scott, two homegrown engineers with a desire to solve a global issue by tackling its fundamental cause. These two intriguing young men are the topic of 2011 Conservation Magazine article To Build a (Better) Fire, by Burkhard Bilger.

As the article is more of an editorial than an opinionated piece, there is no essential argument to the piece, more an overview of the belief system and actions of two men, and their coworkers who support them in their endeavor. In this regard, Andreatta and Scott both feel that solving the issue of food production among the least technologically advanced members of the human race is essential to improving our species as a whole, as the emissions from the fires of these aboriginal peoples produce the same amount of carbon dioxide as a running car. Solving this issue is the primary purpose of Scott and Andreatta's quest to build a better stove for use in tribal environments. 

Given the topic of the piece, as well as the nature of the publication that it was published in, it is reasonable to assume that the audience of this essay is liberal in their political persuasion, and could also be considered environmentally conscious. More than simply being conscious of their surroundings however, the reader of this sort of an article is most likely an active participant in efforts to stem the tide of environmental change, and promote a healthier planet through conscious efforts to inform the public of the harmful effects of climate change. This is evidenced by the sort of articles that this publications tends to feature, most of which are more politically radical than this. 

In considering the effectiveness of the article in achieving its purpose, I am immediately inclined to say that it is extremely effective. This is the case primarily because it makes an effective claim to an audience that would most likely be willing to accept the claims and provisions that the article features, and able to affect the specific sort of change that the article promotes. The article features evidence of both the empirical and the data-driven sort, and effectively makes a two-pronged argument, which centers around the engineering efforts of a small group of dedicated men and women, and the positive effects of their actions. As is pretty typical for publications of this sort, the focus of the essay could also be considered the need for greater action to occur, while effectively striking a delicate balance between a concerted call to action, and a celebration of successful efforts already undertaken. In this way, the article succeeds tremendously in accomplishing its purpose. 

TOW #26: Dead Poet's Society as a Visual Text

This weekend, I had the pleasure of watching the classic film Dead Poet's Society for the first time. Given the topic of the story, and the fact that much of what happens throughout the film centers around classical texts and the impact that they have on modern characters, I think it serves as the perfect visual text to analyze in an APELC setting.

In considering what the director of Dead Poet's Society, Peter Weir, wishes for the audience to take from the film, it is essential to examine the social climate of the film as a whole, and understand how this affects the film's main characters. The story's setting at the Welton school can only be described as a place where conservative values of private education and institutionalism clash with the progressive ideals of youth, and those of John Keating, played by Robin Williams. As the film's tagline cites, Keating acts as the inspiration for the young men of his English class, who have been subjected to the rigged cultural ideals of the Welton School their entire lives. This is best evidenced when Keating reads aloud the absurd introduction to the classes English textbook, which instructs students to use an X-Y Axis to rate a poem's perfection, then allows the students to tear the book apart. In this way, Keating exposes the students to their first real taste of freedom and self expression in an educational environment. This is the first of several instances of Keating exposing the students to educational freedom over the course of the film. In the way, he challenges his students to question the social and political norms that define life at Welton. This leads Charlie to publish an article arguing for a coeducational environment at the school, and leads Neil Perry to take up an interest in acting, despite his father's stiff punishments.

Overall, this encouragement of doing what others might frown upon for the sake of "finding oneself" is the film's main message. Keating acts as the embodiment of the ideals he discusses in classic works such as Ulysees and The Odyssey. The relationship he shares with his students, and the outcome of these relationships at the end of the film, serves as an overall metaphor for the importance of questioning authority in all of its forms, and shaping ones identity not for the sake of others, but for the sake of oneself. It is important to note that Keating does not act a savior for his students, but rather that he acts as a tool for them to find the savior in themselves. It is through his lessons that his students go on to shape their own lives, and defy the rigid authoritarianism that surrounds them in the conservative environment of Welton, as well as the pressures they face from their at-home environments. Professor Keating enables his students to realize that they are more than mere products of the educational system, but individuals, capable of unique and wonderful things. He also attempts to instill in them a desire and a consciousness towards their ability to change the status quo of their environment. The films final scene, in which all of the members of the Dead Poet's Society stand on their desk's in a silent salute to Mr. Keating,  reveals his success at this endeavor.

TOW #25: Future of the Library

Published on CreativeNonFiction.org in 2007, this short essay seeks to paint a bright, if not troubled view of the future of the modern library in American society. This essay seeks to make these points in response to the massive decline in the quantity of American libraries in the wake of the growth of Amazon and other alternative forms of book consumption.

Specifically, the artist's purpose behind the essay is to illustrate her hope for how the library can remain an important physical institution in our nation, as society grows increasingly digitalized. It does this by depicting the life of a young woman in the late 2020's, recalling the history of the library over the past decade or so. This is designed to imitate a common tactic favored by authors paving a bright future on their own ideals; imagining the world as they would wish for it to appear. 

In depicting the future of the library in this fashion, the essay evokes several important ideas, all of which are intentional. The first, and perhaps the most significant, is that it indicates the recent issue of digitalization in America. By showing the issues that arise from a completely digitalized society, including the supposed death of printed texts, and the loss of physically important national institutions such as local libraries, the author illustrates why it is important to avoid these grim views of the future while it is still well within our reach.

Overall the essay effectively achieves its purpose of offering a commentary on the optimistic future of the library, the wrongful nature of American over digitalization , and providing a unique, most likely unconsidered take on the future of the library in an increasingly non-physical society. It achieves these purposes through the use of a single rhetorical device; the authors examination of a future with and without libraries, offered for the purpose of internal self-reflection on the part of the reader.  Most short essays are necessarily are brief in their textual offerings, while others rely on no words at all. This essay is effective at achieving its purpose because it allows the reader to clearly grasp so much from a series of admittedly narrow anecdotes.

TOW #24: Visual Text Analysis

As tensions flared once again this month in the St. Louis, Missouri Suburb of Ferguson, political cartoonists once again turned to the Midwestern town for comedic inspiration. In this comic, four locations are depicted, each being described as a "police state that suppresses journalists." While three of the locations are longtime, well known violators of journalistic freedom rights, the fourth plays off of current events to juxtapose an ongoing domestic situation with a number of less relevant, but equally comparable examples.

This comic, as published in The Week several weeks ago, is directed towards the educated masses of the American public. This is the case due to the fact that this publication's primary audience resides in the United States, and international publications of this publication are scant. It is directed more specifically towards the educated American public because the primary audience for a publication such as this would be politically conscious, liberally opinionated, highly-educated individuals. While this comic in and of itself is easily understandable, much of the content published in The Week is aimed at this sort of an intellectual audience. It is important to understand who the intended audience for this sort of a political cartoon is, as that viewership plays a large role in determining the sort of rhetoric that the comic makes use of.

In so far as this rhetoric is concerned, the comparisons being made between Ferguson, Mo. and the international hotbeds of human rights violations it is contrasted against is blatant, but nuanced. While the comic can easily be taken at face value,  as a visual text showing a domestic occurrence of a mostly-international issue, the level of nuance that the comic features are worthy of discussion, Perhaps the most interesting trait of this comic is the harsh way in which Ferguson is depicted, even compared to active dictatorships and war zones around the globe.

Comparatively, Ferguson is visually far more assaultive to the viewer than the other panels; Syria shows a bombed building, Iran is a sleepy old man in front of a temple, and North Korea is a row of soldiers in step, but Ferguson is the only panel to show actual violence, and the only to depict a civilian facing the repercussions of the censorship taking place. In showcasing this, the artist most likely wants to convey that the atrocities in Ferguson are perhaps even worse than those being committed across the globe, because in Ferguson, there are strict guidelines and legal infrastructure that prevent these sorts of abuse from taking place. In depicting Ferguson more violently than the other locations, the artist effectively accomplishes the above purpose.

TOW #23: Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas

Lewis Thomas, an American physician, poet, and etymologist, writes on man’s misguided views of himself as being distinct from nature, and his misguided views of nature as some fragile, tenuous construction that man might easily crush. He reveals to the reader his views that man, while sitting at the top of the world's ecosystem, is still one cog in the vast mechanism that is life on Earth. Lewis organizes his essay into a series of items, similar to subheadings, each conveying a unique idea. The first of these is used to discuss Thomas' idea that humans, in their role as the planet's dominant organism, aren't even organisms at all. 
Instead, Lewis proposes that we humans are little more than collections of prokaryotic "tiny animals" (359) that invaded a much earlier ancestor of ours, and stayed there permanently. As these evolved, they came to form organisms, including us. It is Thomas' belief that this means we humans are in fact little more than vessels for these very small invaders. He uses this as a way to substantiate his belief that man does not sit above other animals, as we act as an unwilling carrier for billions of other "tiny animals," (359) that we cannot exist without. He then goes on to outline his belief that Earth is, in and of itself an organism. 
From this, he formulates his deeper belief that the Earth is most similar to a cell, and that man, in all of his complexity and superiority to the other animals of the planet, is little more than one of the "tiny animals"(359) that he discussed as being a part of us in his first item. Lewis studied medicine and biology at both Princeton and Harvard Universities. The accreditation he receives from these institutes means that he is a credible source to write on biological topics. In considering he context of the essay, I can only say that it is scant. It isn't written in any sort of a linear sense, and it doesn't follow a traditional format. At best, the context of the essay is simply Thomas' desire to convey his observations on man's role in nature to the medical community. Thomas' purpose in writing this essay is to convey his beliefs and observations on man's evolving role in nature, and his unusual belief that man isn't necessarily above the rest of the animal kingdom, given the relationship between our cells and us, and our shared evolution with the rest of the Earth's species, as shown in the graph above. 
Given that this essay was originally published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the audience is clearly the medical and scientific communities. Thomas makes use of an extremely unique format in The Lives of a Cell, and this technique suits the essay well. Instead of organizing his essay into the traditional literary format, with transitions, an introduction and conclusion, and other trappings of most literary works, Thomas simply organizes his thoughts into various "items," each conveying a distinct idea in support of his main message. The use of these items helps him to achieve his purpose by allowing him to most efficiently lay out his beliefs and observations without having to concern himself with grammatical flow. It also allows the reader to draw their own ideas and opinions regarding the relationships between the authors various points, instead of having the author merely spell them out for the reader. Thomas' unique essay format suits his topic and his writing style extremely well. Overall, the lack of transitions between topics allows the reader to draw conclusions regarding the connections between Thomas' ideas for themselves, and the conclusion of the essay provides a thought-provoking final remark for the reader to contemplate, and arrive at further conclusions independently. All of these characteristics are the trappings of a good scientific paper, as they provoke further thought and research.

TOW #22: Second Half of David and Goliath

In considering the purpose of the second half of Gladwell's David and Goliath, it is first essential to understand that the book seeks to build a completed picture of "the art of battling giants," as Gladwell phrases it. With this notion in mind, it is true that the essays that comprise the second half of Gladwell's David and Goliath are intended to act as a sort of groundwork for Gladwell's later expositions on the nature of battling more powerful foes.

The fifth essay of David and Goliath considers the biblical epoch from which the book takes its namesake. First, it offers up a consideration of the historical setting, including a modern day examination of the location, and the nature of the region comprehensively known as Judea as being a hotbed for political conflict, even dating back to biblical times. It then delves into the specifics of the engagement between David and Goliath on that fateful morning, detailing in exact detail how David used the precision of his slingshot to fell the fearsome Goliath. This acts as an interlude to the book's first primary purpose: discussing the nature of perceived strengths that are actually weaknesses, and the role that this plays in battling stronger opponents.

To examine this, Gladwell first explains how this idea can be seen in the biblical epoch. He outlines how Goliath's numerous swords, daggers, full-body armor, and other battle equipment served as nothing more than hindrances in a one on one engagement against a more nimble opponent who could strike from distance.

He uses this principle to introduce his sixth example, of a girls 11-12 year old basketball team who made use of their opponents hidden weaknesses, which conventional logic viewed as strengths, to achieve their goals.

The full court press is a tactic rarely seen in modern basketball, at any level, because it often seen as a "dirty," even dishonorable, play to execute. It is far more conventional and well-regarded to allow an opponent to inbound the ball in a traditional sense, and focus defensive efforts as close to the basket as possible. When battling giants, however, this simply isn't a viable option.

Gladwell uses the example of a Californian 11-12 year old girls basketball team to illustrate this first principle in a modern setting. Where the good teams in their league seemed to dominate under the basket, it seemed as though the not-so-good teams were content to rely on traditional tactics, and suffer losses as a result. One team, however, decided to make use of an unconventional strategy, the full-court press, and capitalize on the fact that their more powerful opponents had no practice dealing with defensive efforts away from the basket.

This example aptly illustrates Gladwell's intended principle, and provides for an intriguing glimpse at a modern application of ancient biblical principles.

TOW #18: Man on the Tracks by Erika Anderson

In this brief, yet poignant and deeply emotional narrative of Anderson's experiences one afternoon on a New York City subway train, the author makes use of several rhetorical devices to achieve her purpose of conveying her feelings in that moment to the reader. She conveys these feelings of shock, fear, and confusion even at the time of writing through repetition, and a poetic examination of the days and weeks following the incident.

"When you watch a man on the tracks before an oncoming train, that’s exactly what you do: watch.
     You can shout at him.
     You can yell, “Train!”
     You can grip your New Yorker and suck in your breath.
     You can exhale when the Brooklyn-bound A stops twenty feet short.
     You can widen your eyes when the man stumbles in your direction, toward the platform"

This is how the essay begins, and the use of repetition empowers the text by conveying the frenetic atmosphere of the moment. This serves the text well because its main purpose is simply to convey the authors emotion. This sort of rhetorical repetition can be seen again at the essay's conclusion, when the author writes 
    "They say, “Wow.”
     They say, “Are you okay?”
     They say, “That’s horrible.”
     They say, “New York moment.”
     They say, “Survival of the fittest.”
     They say, “The train hit him and then what?”
     They change the subject.
     They say something else."

In this sense, the repetition is just as effective as it is in the introduction, as it conveys the disappointing nature of the reactions of the authors colleagues. The repetition is effective here and before because it manages to convey the entire emotional context of the incident; the shock and initial confusion, and the melancholy disappointment that follows in the days and weeks after the incident. The concluding lines of the essay also serve to encompass the entirety of the second rhetorical tool that Anderson makes use of. 

The examination of the disappointing reactions of those around her to the bizarre subway incident serve to showcase the nature of incidents like these. At the end, all she is left with is a number of unusual tidbits like the races of those who helped the man off the platform, and a feeling of lingering confusion.

Overall, the authors rhetorical strategies are well chosen and they support the intention of the piece quite nicely. the use of repetition frames the incident nicely and conveys the same sense of confusion and uncertainty surrounding the event, and the essay's conclusion helps to frame the way in which the author's feelings lingered following the event. 

IRB #3 Intro: David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell

For my third IRB of the school year, I have chosen to read David and Goliath, by Malcolm Gladwell. This book comes highly recommended from my father, and APELC seems like the perfect environment through which to understand the book at it's deepest levels. David and Goliath is a series of essays, ranging from such diverse topics as the impact of population decline on public views concerning elementary class size to early leukemia treatments in Chicago hospitals. Each essay is tied together by a progressive analysis of how the main character or characters in each essay overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve their ends. What is unique about this book, and about Gladwell, is his ability to extract a network of meaning and symbolism from seemingly disjointed events across time and space. This can be seen in the title text, which bills itself first as an examination and critique of how it was that, in the famous biblical epoch, David managed to defeat Goliath, and is expanded upon in each progressive text, until a complete picture of how the David's of the world beat the Goliath's of the world is achieved. I look forward to reading David and Goliath, and hopefully gaining more knowledge about the world as Gladwell observes it.