What amazing sentence, phrase, moment would you like to share from your writer/blog? Wow us with your selection and tell us why you think your selection is wow inducing. And, wow inducing can be good, bad or ugly.
Since it's Labor Day weekend, you can post up until Monday night.
17 comments:
"The pernicious Bush economic orthodoxy — tax cuts as a magic elixir to both create jobs and reduce deficits — remains gospel even as two veterans of Reaganomics, Alan Greenspan and David Stockman, have gone public over the past week to disavow it."-- Frank Rich in "How To Lose An Election Without Really Trying".
I love the way the author uses words like "orthodoxy", "magic elixir", and "gospel" to liken Bush's policy to a sort of religious belief. Yes, all three descriptive words are very vivid, but what is especially cool is that they all fall under a common theme, and that together they say something interesting about Bush's ideas. Without explicitly doing so, the author draws a powerful comparison just by slipping these three words in.
"Oh, and don’t tell me that Germany proves that austerity, not stimulus, is the way to go. Germany actually did quite a lot of stimulus — the austerity is all in the future"-Paul Krugman in "The Real Story"
I like Paul's repetition of the word stimulus and austerity. By using both words twice he is able to reverse the claim that Germany "proves that austerity, not stimulus, is the way to go". I also enjoy that Krugman refutes claims so nonchalantly. Instead of him saying that the such information of Germany using austerity is incorrect, he uses more of a personal approach by treating it as if someone was talking to him
Jemele Hills writing style is very opinionated. She makes it very clear in her articles what her thoughts are and how she feels about the situation written. In an article about basketball player LeBron James and the curse of Miami Heat relationships, Hill makes her thoughts about the players’ personal life very clear. There is talk about a curse that makes the romantic relationships between Miami Heat players and their “significant others” fall apart. Shaquille O’Neal, a former Miami player and his wife divorced, and Dwayne Wade, Miami’s starting point Guard and his wife also divorced. When James makes a statement calling his girlfriend his “sidekick”, Hill took it upon herself to interpret what he meant. “James tells the magazine that with or without a wedding ring, he believes Brinson will always support him (ESPN.com, Will Miami spell end for LeBron James & girlfriend?).” "A person like myself always needs a great sidekick and a person you can rely on no matter the circumstances. And she's that," James told Harper's. "She's got my back, and I love her for that (ESPN.com, Will Miami spell end for Lebron James & girlfriend?)." The sentence I chose the stuck with me the most was: “Sidekick? Ouch. So does that mean his kids are his assistants? (ESPN.com, Will Miami spell end for Lebron James & girlfriend?).” The reason I chose this particular sentence is because it really shows how Hill puts her own opinions in her writing. She does not use only fact, or statistic; she writes off of what the person actually said and interprets it herself. This struck me because I find that my personal writing is somewhat like this. When I write, everything is my own opinion and how I feel at the moment I write it. When reading her articles I feel as though she is talking directly to me, or a group of close friends. It’s very relatable.
"Just when you thought the Republican far-right had enough enemies to keep itself busy — gays, socialists, Muslims, Arabs, illegal immigrants — it launched a new war against babies "dropped" (in the loving words of South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham) by illegal immigrant mothers"
I really like how in this sentence he is makes it seem that people who want to overturn the 14th amendment are attacking harmless kids. I like that he says "republicans...enough enemies to keep itself busy" because he shows that they are wasting their time dealing with an amendment that is guaranteed to every person born in the U.S. In my opinion it seems like he is mocking them for wasting their time on this amendment when they have other things to worry about.
"The threatened researchers belong to the Major Risks Committee... Major risk number one: membership in the Major Risks Committee." - Steve Mirsky, from "Scientific American" in his essay "Shaky Grounds"
I really enjoy this quote because of how tastefully sarcasm and cynicism are employed in it, despite the serious nature of the topic being discussed. Although Mirsky is describing an unfortunate situation in which Italian scientists have been charged for manslaughter for failing to correctly predict an earthquake, he uses his way with words to make the topic accessible to the reader and not to heavy to absorb. I like that he uses the words in the name of the committee to describe how the committee itself is risky. This line is a very creative way to illustrate the predicament that the scientists have found themselves in.
“When many Americans are scraping together pennies to finance a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, the notion that a child must be treated to Spain's beaches to celebrate her decade on the planet is a bitter pill to swallow.”
-Kathleen Parker, “Michelle Obama: Tone Deaf on the Costa del Sol?”
When I first read this sentence, it reminded me of the many times teachers have tried to teach their students how to write descriptive sentences, by first starting with a plain, boring sentence, and then transforming it into something more descriptive (e.g. “He ran toward the noisy dog.” --> “He hurried toward the yelping Chihuahua.”). This sentence struck me as the end product of one of those exercises because it was incredibly descriptive in the contrast between the “many Americans” in the first part of the sentence and the “child” in the second half, but without the overuse of adjectives or adverbs. I especially like the phrase “scraping together pennies” to describe the financial hardships that many families are going through and the use of “Chuck E. Cheese” because it is familiar enough in the American culture so that the audience understands the point that Parker is trying to make, but still not entirely obvious. Finally, I thought that Parker’s use of “decade on the planet” to get her idea across was an interesting synonym for “10th birthday” since in a way, it downplayed the importance of a 10th birthday, which in some cultures, can be a huge milestone.
"There is more drama on this corner than on the silver screen, and I see it from three angles at once: I am the geek (when I was 12, I imagined the word was meant for me personally since my initials are G.E.K.), and I was at one time the cool camp counselor with the shades and the enigmatic smile, and now I am a parent and quite familiar with trauma." --Garrison Keillor, "A Parent's Prayer"
This comes from an essay examining the traditional voyage to summer camp from different points of view, and this sentence captures purpose and perspective perfectly. I love Keillor's use of details, especially the quandary his initials present. The vivacity with which he describes the stereotypes in his past makes each of his characters spring off the page. I can easily imagine them all, both in myself and in other people I've met: the nervous parent, the cool counselor, and the eager kid, raring to go to a place where the friendships are easy. I also love his rhythm and how the sentence keeps you entertained--normally such a big sentence makes you lose interest, but he just keeps running with it and the result is great. If he used shorter sentences to describe one life, I think that some of the generational change and fluidity he conveys here would be lost.
“Finally, we need to shore up our balance sheet and weaken that of our enemies, and the best way to do that in one move is with a much higher gasoline tax.”
In this article “Superbroke, Superfrugal, Superpower?” Thomas Friedman talks about the frugality of America’s power due to our nation’s economic problems. I found this quote interesting though because it was the one quote throughout the article that stated a potential solution to help the U.S. economy while at the same time addressing one of the U.S.’s main problems. He proposes we implement a “higher gasoline tax,” referencing the fact that much of our economic instability is rooted in our dependency on foreign resources such as oil. Typically I would not consider demanding more money from our citizens in hopes of boosting the economy, but Friedman’s proposed idea makes me think that I may need to reshape my approach to problem solving.
"In the real world of America’s increasingly two-tiered society, you have to laugh at the idea of these janitors trying to get the ear of Jamie Dimon, who counts his wealth by the hundreds of millions. He is royalty, and they are from the peasant class. Mr. Dimon’s universe is orders of magnitude different from the one that Martha Escobar is scrambling around in. He talks to the Geithners and Bernankes and Larry Summerses of the world. The paycheck Ms. Escobar used to get wouldn’t cover Jamie Dimon’s dinner tab." -- Bob Herbert, "Of Janitors and Kings"
Here, Herbert is comparing laid-off janitors to the man to which they are attempting to complain about their job loss. I really enjoy how Herbert furthers the image of "America’s increasingly two-tiered society" by describing the situation in a somewhat medieval way, using dichotomizing words such as "peasant" and "royal." Also, the way in which Herbert describes Dimon's lifestyle is so intriguing because he fully uses this idea of Dimon as "royalty," only associated with famous economists, who has disgusting amounts of wealth, to compare to the helpless sounding janitors. It really sets the scene.
"This is not the stuff of heroic American narrative, of shining citadels or beacons to mankind. Obama, subtly but persistently, is talking down American exceptionalism in the name of mutual interests and mutual respect, two favorite phrases."--Roger Cohen in "Obama's Post-Iraq World"
I like how Cohen uses some of the same classic symbols of American exceptionalism that we studied last year -- such as the "shining citadel" or "beacon to mankind" imagry--in the context of declining American power. I like how Cohen is able to put our conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan in context in order to show his view of a changing America. This, in turn, gives Cohen more crediblity when he explains how Obama is trying to compromise and negotiate as opposed to relying on unlimited American power because negotiation is in both parties best interests.
"Thank you, Barry Bonds. And while we're at it, thank you, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens. And you, too, Sammy Sosa. Thanks for turning us into cynics and skeptics, even nonbelievers."
I like the way that Gene Wojciechowski uses sarcasm in the beginning of this quote to get his point across. This quote is addressing the amazing Home Run year the Blue Jays Jose Bautista is having. Wojciechowski talks about how steroid use in previous "sluggers" is making it hard to believe that home run hitters these days are being honest about their use (or lack thereof) of HGH
“The basic concept is that users can write up (or record) the story of, say, a chess trophy or a silver bracelet and upload it to TalesofThings.com. Slap on a sticker with a newfangled bar code, and anybody with a properly equipped smartphone can scan the object and learn that the trophy was won in a 2007 tournament in Paris and that the bracelet was a gift purchased in Lisbon.”
I really like this sentence and whole idea that Rob Walker talks about in his weekly “Consumed” article, “The Back Story.” For one thing, I think Walker uses ‘easy going” words and phrases like “say” (as opposed to the formal “for example”) and “slap on” that backs up this whole idea that looking up the personal stories for everyday objects is a simple and easy task. However, I think the most powerful tool Walker uses is by choosing everyday objects such as chess trophies, silver bracelets and smartphones to keep his sentence entertaining, interesting and relatable. Everybody has those trophies and jewelry that they keep for their own sentimental reasons although to everybody else they seem like pieces of junk. And almost everybody living in America at this time knows what a smartphone is and what there capabilities are. Using everyday objects, in this case, strengthens Walkers sentence and point.
"In one 2009 analysis, scientists... estimated that household-based steps—as opposed to national policies like cap-and-trade—such as weatherizing homes, upgrading furnaces, switching to higher-mpg cars, changing air filters in a furnace, and not wasting power would cut U.S. carbon emissions by 123 million metric tons per year, which is 20 percent of household direct emissions and 7.4 percent of U.S. emissions." - Sharon Begley "Why We're so Clueless About Being Green"
I like this passage, because it shows that doing little things go a long way in the fight to stop global warming. Household ways to save energy are very effective in limiting our eco footprints. Upgrading furnaces, weather proofing homes and changing air filters are not very complicated or expensive, but if everyone did them we could drastically lower emissions. I like how Begley gets to the point in her articles, not sugar coating the facts. She also has a very dry sense of humor, that really ads a twist to her writing.
"The rage is directed at the Obama administration, which many activists say is reneging on a commitment to continue big annual increases in global AIDS spending. The panic arises from the knowledge that in some African countries, patients who want antiretroviral treatment are being turned away and will soon start dying."
I know this is two sentences but I think they compliment each other well. Brown did a great job of expressing the rage and immediacy of the situation at hand. He describes why the public is mad and who they are mad at (the context) all in a short blurb. I think the AIDs/HIV epidemic is a dilemma that requires immediate and forceful action in providing people in Africa with medicine. Through Brown's words ("being turned away and will soon start dying."), he alludes to the concept that this problem should not be happening in this day in age, because we do have medicine for the illness. Brown is just reporting the facts, but his words touch on the fact that something needs to be done.
"Let’s take a pause from the debate over which matters more, “change” or “experience”—a typically fatuous dichotomy that the media has been replaying for weeks—to do a postmortem on a candidate who dared to reject these buzzwords and present himself as ... himself: Joe Biden."
I like this sentence because I think her word choice is great. This is a pretty long sentence and could be said in very little words, but the length of the sentence and the words she uses is what makes the sentence powerful. I also like that she uses some humor at the beginning to make the reader want to keep reading. In this one sentence she is saying that perhaps Obama and McCain were not the only important participants in the election and that there was another side that needed to be looked at. The sentence made me want to continue reading the article and find out what her opinion of Biden was and why that opinion was important for the election.
Suspicion of outsiders, of people who behave or worship differently, may be an ingrained element of the human condition, a survival instinct from our cave-man days. But we should also recognize that historically this distrust has led us to burn witches, intern Japanese-Americans, and turn away Jewish refugees from the Holocaust. -Nicholas D. Kristof "America’s History of Fear
Nicholas Kristof is talking about the Islamic Center being built near the world trade center. This moment struck me because he goes from talking about human nature to American History. I like that he talks about the resentment towards the islamic center has a connection with other events that have occurred in the past. The line "But we should also recognize," is implying just because it is human nature to not trust outsiders does not necessarily make it correct to mistreat them.
Cara
"On the night we were reminded that George W. Bush ended up in the White House and heedlessly, needlessly started the war with Iraq, President Obama did his Mission Relinquished address from his redecorated man cave."
-Maureen Dowd- "Not-So-Magic Carpet ride
This is the entire first paragraph of her article and serves perfectly as a way to hook the reader in. It sets the tone for a sarcastic and critical article that will also amuse the reader. My favorite part Is how she uses "Heedlessly, needlessly" together. The two words rhyme which adds emphasis to how unnecessary Bush's actions were, and the two words are just different enough (both in meaning and spelling) so that it is not repetitive. I also really like the phrase "mission relinquished address", because not only does it sound impressive, but it is also a reference to Bush's famous quote: "mission accomplished". Dowd is brutally honest in a sassy and entertaining way, she uses humor in a very clever way to get her point across.
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