Letter to future APELC Student (TOW#29)

       As a newcomer to the APELC class, I was filled with doubts and questions. I was uncertain of my chances of success and plagued by horrible rumors from the mouth of many graduating APELC “veterans”. Whether or not you have the same mentality I do not know, but I know that you want success and happiness. Therefore, remember this one wisdom even if you will eventually forget all other aspects of this letter: work hard but work with purpose.

       In hindsight and to your relief, I realized that many of the terrible rumors about APELC are inherently not true. Yes, the class may be hard, challenging, and even annoying at times, but the class will never be impossible as long as you show your effort. The Plato readings and unit exams you will confront are going to challenge your analytical minds, but you will also find so satisfying sense of success once you began to understand the Plato readings and improve in your unit exams. The difficulty of the class will always be the same, but I am convinced that you will find the class increasingly easier as the year goes on. Trust in your instructors because they are skilled and are capable of stretching you to a new level of maturity and insight. The assignments may be few at times know that they serve a bigger purpose collectively, so always remember to put effort into whatever you do for this class.

       At the very beginning of class, Mr. Yost told us that “it’s just school”. The statement is not to degrade the importance of trying in school but to give us a bigger picture of our life. School is important, but your life and my life do not fetter themselves to our level of successes in school or in APELC. The value of our lives lies within us; I remember the first semester of APELC really gave me a tough time, especially on the unit exam, but all the stress I felt was but a insignificant point in my past now. All the worries I had about my grades were so trivial. The value of APELC is the knowledge it offers, and the grade, if you work, will follow.

Tow reflection (TOW #28)

       The TOW assignments throughout the school year have significantly bettered my writing in two areas: wording and description. As the TOWs progressed, I noticed the increasing refinement of vocabulary words in my writings. Introductory sentences such as “Both the newspaper’s influence and the cartoon’s simple manifestation helped readers to instantly grasp the core idea of uncertainty in an atomic age yet to come”(Tow8) became shorter and more succinct, gradually developing into “Published in 1944, the short story details the origin of insanity: the normal human tendency against overtly motley manifestations” (Tow16) and “The way to the Rainy Mountain is the way to the Native American culture, a culture recalled by the wistful description of Momaday, a culture that is struggling for survival”(Tow23). The use of more sophisticated words such as “motely” and the use of parallel structure to enhance description were rarely seen in the first few Tows of the year. I am excited to see my Tows develop into more descriptive and understandable writings as the year progresses.

       With numerous writing practice opportunities brought by Tows, not only did my writing itself improve but also my analytical insight. I began to comprehend more of the choices made by authors, such as the particular wording of their essays or a specific symbol in a political cartoon. I learned to incorporate the writer’s style in my analysis so that the readers can have a taste and did so with increasing mastery. However, a constant issue that comes along is trying to find a perfect balance between evidence and analysis. For analytical essays analysis is like the keystone of the pyramid; nevertheless, evidence is almost everything else. I still need to develop in my insight so that I can spot the balance point between evidence and analysis, a goal I will strive to accomplish in the next several years.

       Overall, I believe the Tow assignments truly expanded my knowledge and whetted my analytical mind. Though only one Tow is assigned each week, the search of different topics and styles of writings, ranging from the sentimental “The Way to Rainy Mountain” to the awing “The Life of a Cell,” has exposed me to a variety of different authors and thinking. In addition, the Tows allowed me to exercise the analytical tips given by my instructors, so in hindsight Tows really were helpful.

Exaggerated reality (Visual TOW#27)

       Every now and then a delicious, appetizing, and infatuating burger will appear on the TV screen between shows and whatever food the viewers had in mind immediately changes to a trip to McDonald. However, little did McDonald fans wonder the reality of McDonald burgers compared to those on advertisements. Exactly how much resemblance do the virtual and real burgers have? To answer the interesting, yet infrequently asked question, an organization called Web Odyssem compared real burgers from McDonald and those from advertisement, reaching the disappointing yet questionable conclusion that a hyper-hyperbole is used in advertisements.

       The primary strategy Web Odyssem used to convince the viewers of McDonald advertisements’ exaggerated reality is through juxtaposition of virtual and real burgers. The viewers, upon seeing the picture, are immediately attracted to the incongruity of a handsome looking burger on the left and a pale, even sickly, looking burger on the right. Upon closer inspection, the viewers then realize the caption “advertisement” on the left and “reality” on the right. The brilliant use of juxtaposition of two dramatically different images allows the viewers to imminently realize the drastic differences between real and virtual burgers and acts as a convincing evidence for the organization to assert the fraudulence of McDonald advertisements.

       Despite the great use of juxtaposition, Web Odyssem lacks one serious element to fully convince their viewers of McDonald’s use of hyper-hyperbole: the missing of ethos. Though the picture is impactful, there were no explanations on how the real burger is obtained. The words on top of the real burger, saying “most attractive angle” and “slightly fluffed up” may be effective to McDonald haters, but to an ambivalent person these negative assertions, without any kind of backing, seem to be going too far. Real McDonald burgers may not be pretty-looking, but certainly the best-looking real burger is not that ugly of a mess.

       See for yourself? Try a McBurger and find out

The Disposable Rocket by John Updike (Text TOW#26)

       A gifted and respected Harvard graduate, Updike is well-known for his amazing ability to write, to perceive, and to describe. In his short essay “The Disposable Rocket,” Updike focused his scrutiny upon the common association of males. Nature has given humanity two types of people: men and women. However, the perception of these two genders is given by human societies. John Updike trespassed the multiple culture barriers and dived straight to the essence of masculinity: its essence and purpose. Appealing to male readers worldwide, Updike asserts that masculinity is both rough and fragile, driven uncontrollably by the desire to proliferate.

       Using a personal diction, Updike welcomes his audience to put his insight into masculinity to the test of their personal experiences and asserts his credibility as a writer, building both intimacy and convincingness. As he discusses the sensations of inhabiting a male body, Updike deliberately chooses to include words such as “I” or “our”, saying “My impulse to hurl myself from high windows and the edges of cliffs belongs to my body, not my mind”, saying “ I used to jump and fall just for the joy of it”, saying ”Our essence seems to lie not in cells and muscles but in the traces our thoughts and actions inscribe in the air” (Oates 551). The repeated reference of words such as “I” and “our” connects the audience, whom are presumably male, to the examination of masculinity Updike brings to the table. The readers can reflect upon their boyhood, their dreams, and their actions. The readers can re-call their desire to compete and to fly and the inevitable disappointment of falling.

       Assisting the use of personal diction is Updike’s extensive use of descriptive and slightly humorous similes, keeping the readers both engaged and aware. As Updike began to touch upon the sensible subject of male sexuality, he purposefully compared the sex organ to a “little brother”, stating “it is like having a smaller brother toward whom you feel both fond and impatient; if he is you, it is you in curiously simplified and ignoble form” (Oates 551). The delicate touch of comparing sex drive to a desirous little brother brilliantly avoided any discomforts a direct confrontation might bring to the male reader. However, the comparison at the same time appealed Updike’s opinion of masculinity with great clarity.

       Off the Rocket goes

The Marginal World by Rachel Carson (Text Tow#25)

       An international famous biologist and conservationist, Rachel Carson is known for her writings on the beauty of life, especially those living in the deep and inscrutable ocean. The Marginal World is another one of Rachel Carson’s beautiful work, fully exploring the beauty of organism that survive between the line of land and sea, the beauty of the edge of the sea.

       First published in The New Yorker, the Marginal World is a universal and interesting read for American audiences. Every person has a place in their heart for the caring of nature and of the environment which they live in, and Carson masterfully explores this tender spot, appealing to the Americans, and gradually to the world, of the importance of conservation and the unsurpassable grace of life.

       Carson in her short essay primary relies upon ethereal imagery and a magical tone to convey to the audience of the remarkable nature seen through her eyes. In portraying the diversity and vitality of life on the seashore, Carson repeatedly uses anaphora, saying “life descends into fissures and crevices; life tunnels into solid rock and bores into peat and clay; life encrusts weeds and drifting spars; life exists minutely, as spheres of protozoa and small as pinpricks” (Oates 215). In reminiscence of her meeting with the star fish, Carson was very specific with her description, reflecting how “ a little star fish hung down by the merest thread; it reached down to touch its own reflection, so perfectly delineated” (Oates 216). The specific scenes of life majestically portrayed by Carson and her repeated emphasis upon “life” all gave her imageries an additional convincingness. The imageries Carson portrayed can give the readers nothing but awe toward nature.

       Alongside Carson’s exquisite imageries of nature was the almost magical tone she used for her description, adding to the wonderful scenery of life. Carson included herself in her portrayal of nature, describing one scene as “ I look for the most delicately beautiful o fall the shore’s inhabitants, flowers blooming on the threshold of the deeper sea” and another as : I was filled with awareness that although abandoned briefly by the sea, the area is always reclaimed by rising tide”(Oates 216). The first person narration and the ethereal surroundings of “blooming flowers and “rising tide” gave the description an extraordinary feel, as if Carson, with nature has trespassed the mundane, and stepped into a place with much more perfection.

       Nature is truly beautiful.

Unsubstantiated fear (Visual TOW #24)

       Ebola, with the virus’s deathly rampant throughout the world, is immediately associated with fear, death, and foreboding. Hysteria finds its ground, especially in nations which had seen but not felt the devastating impact of the horrendous virus, and United States of America is one of the platforms.

       Ever since the Ebola epidemic broke out in Africa, millions were put into misery. Witnessing the tragedy, many Americans’ sympathy was overcome by their trepidation, resulting in calls for a renewed isolationist policy. However, the fear is largely unsubstantiated, and many critics even find Americans’ sudden turn toward isolation extremely ironic, considering their long-tradition of intervention. One such critic group, the Sacramento Bee, ridicules American’s conservative and fear-oriented view through a sardonic political cartoon comparing Ebola to other leading-causes of death in America, pushing Americans to realize the inherent hypocrisy of their Ebola-hysteria.

       The two main strategies the cartoonist employed to deride the Ebola fear are imagery and statistics. The cartoon features America is a fat, bold man drinking alcohol, eating fast-food, and smoking cigar while crying in trepidation “Ebola!” The image itself immediately arouses a sense of hypocrisy in the American readers. A nation characterized and enveloped by so many unhealthy traits screams like a frightened children in front of an emergent disease. Though the disease is deadly, the other insidious trends consuming American lives are not much better. Americans can daily just look pass the fast-food, the cigar, and the alcohol, but when Ebola emerges, they seem to lose their wits altogether.

       Acting along the picture are the numbers that convince the American readers even more of the innate hypocrisy of their Ebola fear. The numbers read : “Obesity 300,000 a year, Tobacco 450,000 a year, Alcohol 88,000 a year.” These enormous numbers are the number of deaths each cause annually in US, validated by scientific research. Americans are dying by millions and they are worrying over a epidemic disease that had yet to take more than ten lives on their home soil. The paradox is clearly presented and the American readers can have little choice but to acknowledge the ridiculousness of their Ebola fear.

       Let’s face the fact.

The Way to Rainy Mountain by N. Momaday (TextTOW#23)

       The way to the Rainy Mountain is the way to the Native American culture, a culture recalled by the wistful description of Momaday, a culture that is struggling for survival.

       Receiving a PhD from Stanford in both English literature and Native-American culture history, Momaday, a descendent of the Kiowas tribe, is extremely active in preserving and romanticizing the Native-American past. “The Way to Rainy Mountain”, one of his characteristic text, illustrates his nostalgic reflections of the associations between his grandmother and his tribe’s culture after his grandmother’s death. As he walks up the sacred Rainy Mountain, where his grandmother and ancestors is buried, his mind travels through centuries.

       Aimed primarily toward an understanding but non-Native American audience, Momaday wants his readers to comprehend the richness of Native-American culture and the sadness of his people’s exile, especially through the use of imagery and a nostalgic tone.

       With a detailed description of the Kiowas people and its culture, Momaday not only shows the uniqueness of one tribe’s culture, but all cultures of his people. When describing the Kiowas as extremely summer-loving people, he recalled how some elders “rubbed fat upon their hair and wound their braids…talked loud and elaborate full of jest and gesture”(Oates 317). When he detailed the sacred Sun Dance and lamented the white’s hostility, Momaday described specific scenes of  “The Natives can find no buffalo so they had to hang an old hide from the sacred tree”, of “slaughtered herds of buffalo left to rot upon the great Plain” (Oates 316). The imageries Momaday afforded are mixed. Some are beautiful; some are abhorrent. Nevertheless, the richness and decline of the Native cultures are presented explicitly.

       Assisting the vivid imageries is the nostalgic tone Momaday used throughout. Momaday is wistful about the memories of his grandmother, reflecting how “her long black hair lay upon her shoulders and something inherently sad is present in the hesitation of syllables”(Oates 317). As he stepped up the Rainy Mountain, seeing his ancestors, he “looked back once and came away” (Oates 318). The wistful longing is reflected through him recalling the sadness of his grandmother, through his inability to look back another time. Momaday is telling his readers of his sentiments not only over his grandmother’s death, but also over the fading beauty of Native culture.

       May the names on the Rainy Mountain rest in peace.