“Then give up grandma Gertrude’s cedar chest. We already have her antique tables, her 1920 steamer trunk, her picture from the Friar’s Club and her ’50s TV that hasn’t worked since 1960.”
“But the chest is beautiful.”
This article was about the author's husband who she called "Junk Man" because he refused to give anything up. She gave a lot of examples of his bizarre accumulation of possessions, but this one got the point across the best for me. Having two chests from two different grandmothers when you already own a whole set of perfectly good furniture illustrated the difference between your average person who kept things for sentimental value and "Junk Man".
"Indeed, homeowners signing up for green power programs — that is, programs where a power company allows consumers to specify that they want their electricity to come from green sources — pay an extra 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour on average."
This is a pretty obvious example of green energy costing more. I think that for this type of informative article an obvious example is ok to use. The example is so clear that there is really no room for argument.
“Right now, candy sales are off the charts. There are simply not enough bullets to go around. Far too many people believe Wal-Mart is the one corporation that best symbolizes America. Upwards of 75 percent of students in Oklahoma cannot name the very first president of the United States. Then again, 25 percent can. Maybe we should be impressed.”
“Turns out, in any state where hardcore Christianity hovers over the collective worldview like a timorous cloud, teen pregnancy rates are sky high.”
These are just two of the many examples that Mark Morford uses in his article, FIRST CANDY, THEN THE BULLETS. GOOD NEWS, MEET BAD NEWS. HOW DO YOU PARSE AND SPIT AND SWALLOW? Although they support his points, these statistical examples worry me because of the lack of citation. This might just be the ill-informed opinion of a naïve high school English student but I thought citations are absolutely necessary, not optional. His examples seem like they should be right but in an article full of stats, some real some sarcastic, it is disconcerting to not see one citation.
"I can vividly recall being informed by more than one schoolteacher that the reason America was a great country was that any boy, even one of the unprepossessing ones in our own classroom, could grow up to be president. It never occurred to me to think of that as an unfair supposition."
This example was subtle, but it was the one that affected me most. The simplicity and ordinary nature of the story shows that it is probably a common occurrence, rather than an isolated experience. Without the last sentence, the example would not have the same meaning, yet by adding that sentence there is so much more complexity and emotion. In this example, the 'glass ceiling' to which the author alludes becomes quite obvious.
"A few months earlier, I flunked a genetic test and learned that I inherited a mutant protein from my father. He was 44 when he died. I was 45 and healthy by conventional cardiovascular measures, so the first symptom would probably be my sudden death."
This is the second paragraph of the piece, which is about how close to death the author feels and how much he is coming to value whatever time he might have left. This section sets up the tense nature of the piece and really brings home the idea of his mortality.
"While I was in a hospital in Boston, Binny was in a hospital in New Hampshire, choosing not to undergo another transplantation. She died."
This is about the author's friend, showing how he could have been the one who died that day in the hospital.
At the end of the essay, the author switches to show how he is valuing the time he has left:
"Anyway, she said, could you write a recommendation letter for me? No rush. It’s for study abroad.
No rush.
I don’t remember where in the world she wanted to go, but I do remember how happy I was to be there."
"Perhaps seeing how easy it is to mess things up in spite the best of intentions — and Anita is the first to say she completely messed things up — might make all of us pause and realize that we could just as easily become 'that kind of parent.'"
"Today’s parents are often too stressed themselves, leading them to be too quick to judge others."
The blog this week in "Motherlode" was discussing a recent news story; a woman had adopted a child, only to terminate and return the baby 6 months after. I like the author's use of the example, "That kind of parent" because it makes the reader wonder what "kind of parent" that would be, causing me to dream up all sorts of horror stories. Her take on the situation I thought was really interesting because she drew on a generality of the parent generation, which is a good example.
"BBC.com reported that 'it has emerged that an Al Qaeda bomber who died last month while trying to blow up a Saudi prince in Jeddah had hidden the explosives inside his body.' He reportedly inserted the bomb and detonator in his rectum to elude metal detectors. My God."
This is one of the multiple examples of recent acts of terrorism Tom Friedman uses to support his main point that "We may be tired of this 'war on terrorism,' but the bad guys are not. They are getting even more 'creative." He references three main scenarios as evidence, each described as directly and graphically as the one I've quoted here. By explaining in detail the horrific nature of these incidents, Friedman is able to trigger the reader's emotions more than had he just stated his main ideas without additional proof. Even though he doesn't go into detail about every incident of terrorism that has occurred, the reader is better able to relate to fewer, well-explained examples than to too many brief examples.
Noonan is back! She delivers a solid piece on William Safire's death and a general commentary of the "Elders," the old personalities of "journalism and the argumentative arts."
"At a gathering of Safire's friends and family this week, Bill stories were told with affection, humor, and a bit of awe."
This excerpt leads into a description of some of William Safire's strengths and characteristics. It opens the paragraph with a reflective tone suitable for the obituary-esque article and gives context to Safire's description.
"We were so faithful that the turnout slogan in my dear city could well have been: 'Vote for the Kennedy of your choice, but vote.'"
With this, Dionne illustrates the traditional liberal tendencies of his small town in Massachusetts, which he uses as a representation of the state. His point in the article is to try to show that to win this Senate race, each Democratic nominee will have to be as much like a Kennedy as possible.
"In 1995, the last time the league and its referees were locked in a dispute, the solution was fairly easy: The NBA needed to open its wallet. The '90s were part of the league's golden age. It was three years after the summer of the Dream Team. There was no crying poor. There was no case to be made for the NBA acting tough with its refs."
This example is from Michael Wilbon's column about the replacement of NBA refs. I believe this subtle example worked well because he compared and contrasted the situation now with one in the past. I think this example worked for the reader to understand the situation of the article without really knowing much about the context.
In this article, Brotman talks to the reader about organizing a canoe trip and how one can do it yourself. In this article Brotman uses herself and her friend as the example. It's a fun anecdote that makes her article topic more relatable and interesting to read
"Have you gazed down from a bridge at a narrow ribbon of river and wished you could plop a canoe onto it and paddle off into the woods? [...] My friend Barbara and I decided to find out."
"From time immemorial, collections of people have leveraged the fear of an enemy to keep their clans, groups and, later, nations from coming undone. Sallust, the Roman historian, believed that metus hostilis, the fear of enemies, promoted social unity, and that its absence fostered internal discord. (He thought the destruction of Carthage, Rome's longtime rival, created a vacuum that led to internal strife and contributed to the decline of Rome.) "
The article was about how America is divided and needs an enemy to unite it. I am rather interested in history and am always fond of historical examples. Historical examples are particulary useful when writing about politics or current events. They support the argument by providing a historical precedent which the reader can use to better understand the writer's point and make sense of what is happening in the present.
12 comments:
“I can’t live without great-grandma BuBu’s desk.”
“Then give up grandma Gertrude’s cedar chest. We already have her antique tables, her 1920 steamer trunk, her picture from the Friar’s Club and her ’50s TV that hasn’t worked since 1960.”
“But the chest is beautiful.”
This article was about the author's husband who she called "Junk Man" because he refused to give anything up. She gave a lot of examples of his bizarre accumulation of possessions, but this one got the point across the best for me. Having two chests from two different grandmothers when you already own a whole set of perfectly good furniture illustrated the difference between your average person who kept things for sentimental value and "Junk Man".
"Indeed, homeowners signing up for green power programs — that is, programs where a power company allows consumers to specify that they want their electricity to come from green sources — pay an extra 1.8 cents per kilowatt-hour on average."
This is a pretty obvious example of green energy costing more. I think that for this type of informative article an obvious example is ok to use. The example is so clear that there is really no room for argument.
“Right now, candy sales are off the charts. There are simply not enough bullets to go around. Far too many people believe Wal-Mart is the one corporation that best symbolizes America. Upwards of 75 percent of students in Oklahoma cannot name the very first president of the United States. Then again, 25 percent can. Maybe we should be impressed.”
“Turns out, in any state where hardcore Christianity hovers over the collective worldview like a timorous cloud, teen pregnancy rates are sky high.”
These are just two of the many examples that Mark Morford uses in his article, FIRST CANDY, THEN THE BULLETS. GOOD NEWS, MEET BAD NEWS. HOW DO YOU PARSE AND SPIT AND SWALLOW? Although they support his points, these statistical examples worry me because of the lack of citation. This might just be the ill-informed opinion of a naïve high school English student but I thought citations are absolutely necessary, not optional. His examples seem like they should be right but in an article full of stats, some real some sarcastic, it is disconcerting to not see one citation.
"I can vividly recall being informed by more than one schoolteacher that the reason America was a great country was that any boy, even one of the unprepossessing ones in our own classroom, could grow up to be president. It never occurred to me to think of that as an unfair supposition."
This example was subtle, but it was the one that affected me most. The simplicity and ordinary nature of the story shows that it is probably a common occurrence, rather than an isolated experience. Without the last sentence, the example would not have the same meaning, yet by adding that sentence there is so much more complexity and emotion. In this example, the 'glass ceiling' to which the author alludes becomes quite obvious.
"A few months earlier, I flunked a genetic test and learned that I inherited a mutant protein from my father. He was 44 when he died. I was 45 and healthy by conventional cardiovascular measures, so the first symptom would probably be my sudden death."
This is the second paragraph of the piece, which is about how close to death the author feels and how much he is coming to value whatever time he might have left. This section sets up the tense nature of the piece and really brings home the idea of his mortality.
"While I was in a hospital in Boston, Binny was in a hospital in New Hampshire, choosing not to undergo another transplantation. She died."
This is about the author's friend, showing how he could have been the one who died that day in the hospital.
At the end of the essay, the author switches to show how he is valuing the time he has left:
"Anyway, she said, could you write a recommendation letter for me? No rush. It’s for study abroad.
No rush.
I don’t remember where in the world she wanted to go, but I do remember how happy I was to be there."
"Perhaps seeing how easy it is to mess things up in spite the best of intentions — and Anita is the first to say she completely messed things up — might make all of us pause and realize that we could just as easily become 'that kind of parent.'"
"Today’s parents are often too stressed themselves, leading them to be too quick to judge others."
The blog this week in "Motherlode" was discussing a recent news story; a woman had adopted a child, only to terminate and return the baby 6 months after. I like the author's use of the example, "That kind of parent" because it makes the reader wonder what "kind of parent" that would be, causing me to dream up all sorts of horror stories. Her take on the situation I thought was really interesting because she drew on a generality of the parent generation, which is a good example.
"BBC.com reported that 'it has emerged that an Al Qaeda bomber who died last month while trying to blow up a Saudi prince in Jeddah had hidden the explosives inside his body.' He reportedly inserted the bomb and detonator in his rectum to elude metal detectors. My God."
This is one of the multiple examples of recent acts of terrorism Tom Friedman uses to support his main point that "We may be tired of this 'war on terrorism,' but the bad guys are not. They are getting even more 'creative." He references three main scenarios as evidence, each described as directly and graphically as the one I've quoted here. By explaining in detail the horrific nature of these incidents, Friedman is able to trigger the reader's emotions more than had he just stated his main ideas without additional proof. Even though he doesn't go into detail about every incident of terrorism that has occurred, the reader is better able to relate to fewer, well-explained examples than to too many brief examples.
Noonan is back! She delivers a solid piece on William Safire's death and a general commentary of the "Elders," the old personalities of "journalism and the argumentative arts."
"At a gathering of Safire's friends and family this week, Bill stories were told with affection, humor, and a bit of awe."
This excerpt leads into a description of some of William Safire's strengths and characteristics. It opens the paragraph with a reflective tone suitable for the obituary-esque article and gives context to Safire's description.
"We were so faithful that the turnout slogan in my dear city could well have been: 'Vote for the Kennedy of your choice, but vote.'"
With this, Dionne illustrates the traditional liberal tendencies of his small town in Massachusetts, which he uses as a representation of the state. His point in the article is to try to show that to win this Senate race, each Democratic nominee will have to be as much like a Kennedy as possible.
"In 1995, the last time the league and its referees were locked in a dispute, the solution was fairly easy: The NBA needed to open its wallet. The '90s were part of the league's golden age. It was three years after the summer of the Dream Team. There was no crying poor. There was no case to be made for the NBA acting tough with its refs."
This example is from Michael Wilbon's column about the replacement of NBA refs. I believe this subtle example worked well because he compared and contrasted the situation now with one in the past. I think this example worked for the reader to understand the situation of the article without really knowing much about the context.
In this article, Brotman talks to the reader about organizing a canoe trip and how one can do it yourself. In this article Brotman uses herself and her friend as the example. It's a fun anecdote that makes her article topic more relatable and interesting to read
"Have you gazed down from a bridge at a narrow ribbon of river and wished you could plop a canoe onto it and paddle off into the woods? [...]
My friend Barbara and I decided to find out."
"From time immemorial, collections of people have leveraged the fear of an enemy to keep their clans, groups and, later, nations from coming undone. Sallust, the Roman historian, believed that metus hostilis, the fear of enemies, promoted social unity, and that its absence fostered internal discord. (He thought the destruction of Carthage, Rome's longtime rival, created a vacuum that led to internal strife and contributed to the decline of Rome.) "
The article was about how America is divided and needs an enemy to unite it. I am rather interested in history and am always fond of historical examples. Historical examples are particulary useful when writing about politics or current events. They support the argument by providing a historical precedent which the reader can use to better understand the writer's point and make sense of what is happening in the present.
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