TOW #27: College Rejection

    In an article on The Onion, there was a spoof on a "tragic story" of a boy, Kevin Grant, who didn't get into his first choice college and proceeded to go on with a positive attitude. The article went on to say that beyond Kevin's optimistic responses, that his life was over and he was now never going to go anywhere in his life. It claimed that resulting from this his social class will be lowered, he will never get a decent job, never be able to pay for a house or afford a family, his living standard will go down and his whole life will be completely changed for the worse. This article is a depiction of how much modern society stresses about the decisions of colleges and education in general. Students and parents put so much emphasis on getting into not only good schools, but the school of the kids choice. The large emphasis creates a "life or death" scenario in which a precedent is set that if the student does not get in, their life is over and there are no other viable options. This idea that has lingered over the present generations is ridiculous and proof that our society is moving more toward a materialistic, competitive one in which we isolate what we want and only work toward that in order to be "successful." I enjoyed this article because I feel it was an accurate depiction of the irrational behavior that overcomes many in the process of picking a college or job, and the precedent many believe that that choice sets for one's life.

TOW #26: Hawaii

     CNN recently launched an article on the progression of Hawaii's transition to 100% Renewable Energy. Being islands with so much natural resources such as water power, volcanoes, etc, Hawaii is the perfect state to start this challenge. They have already begun the transition with total of 23% of Hawaii already completely reliant on renewable energy. The islands hope to achieve the 100% by 2050. While that seems far in the future, they are aware that they have to pace themselves, regardless of already having a huge amount of renewable energy being utilized. The use of this renewable energy would be less expensive than the usage of natural gases and other forms of energy. Many parts of Hawaii though, are experiencing some issues with the full transition. On the actual island of Hawaii ("the Big Island') many hotels are hesitant to take this leap because they power their hotels using generators which run on fossil fuels. While although many parts aren't sure about the effectiveness of the full change, the change will come slowly but surely over time. Many other places around the world and cities in America have also attempted to go completely reliant on renewable energy and have been successful. Many find it important that eventually all states and countries get on board with the changes.
     This article appeals to logos due to the excessive amount of statistics utilized throughout it to depict the changes occurring and the timeline of the project. It also appeals to ethos because many knowledgable people are cited that are experts in the fields of energy and environment.

TOW #25: Football

This political cartoon is representative of the Super Bowl this past year. There was a popular incident in which many believed the Patriots deflated the ball on purpose to help them win the game. Many contradictions were posed in result of this assumption all surrounding the upcoming Super Bowl. This cartoon shows the assumption that the referee was in on the scheme and allowed the ball to have low pressure regardless of the violations it posed for the game. One of the players is depicted as annoyed and as an elephant, which usually stands for a Republican. This shows how this issue transcended into a political problem due to the view points surrounding it and how it can possibly reflect on the political affiliation of the teams. I enjoyed this cartoon because it reflected a large issue that was at hand just a few weeks ago and it utilizes a socially relevant topic to political issues. It was also very effective in getting its point across to represent the contraversy at hand.