Talking Point; In this chapter, Joe Sacco brings out his reporting and interviewing skills very clearly.  As he timelines the events that led up to his story, Sacco shows his audience how he was able to gather such critical and detailed explanations and events. An example was when Sacco was in Nablus and using one person, the milkman, he was able to gather a tremendous amount of information. His selection of this particular person and his manner of approach details how Joe Sacco generally used different people. It also shows how good of a reporter he is as he was able to use the situation primarily to his benefit.

Connection; I find that Joe Sacco is extremely exploitive in nature. His use of people to simply create a story or to be able to tell the news is very evident in both the first two chapters. His intention of creating a story is shown when he writes up a detailed article on the events that have been accounted to him. He uses other people’s misery for personal profit.

Shivay Kundra

Talking Point; During the short period of a single chapter, Sacco displays and refers to many events and perspectives both in the past and present so that later on he can easily refer to the variety of the Palestinian perspectives on the fight since 1948. The accumulation of so many perspecives encourages the reader not to settle and focus on a single view point but rather to be able to explore  the rest of the book and Sacco’s account of the fight. Sacco’s visit to Israel is presented chronologically, and chapter one refers mainly to his arrival and his intial sights. Sacco uses many dramatic scenes and conversations between himself and the Palestinians to present the dialogue to narrate the ongoing events. Sacco provides his audience with a very complete picture not just visually but with reference to different conversations on a single topic. He often devotes a page or two to just visual appeal in most cases to signify the squalor and destitution present in Israel. This continuing rush of events, conversations and perspectives causes the information presented to reflect the destituation and unorganizatoin present in Israel.

Connection; Quite obviously Sacco’s novel is focused on the ongoing fighting in Israel, however, he brings in a very humane nature to the war with the conversations he has. Sacco’s reference to ‘Klinghoffer’ and his appeal in the media foils what he is trying to portray. That despite the relentless fighting for decades, media in general tends to focus upon human interest pieces and the war gets eclipsed in the media by more minor problems. The loss of focus on the war is a prevailant factor in most of Sacco’s conversations.

Shivay Kundra

 Top Gear Automobile Review Magazine – ‘Cheap Trick’
Just as any other product or creation, the Tata Nano has numerous critics one of them being Top Gear magazine’s Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson sarcastically discusses the Nano finally reflecting it as, not even a car but “as an alternative to the scooters and tuk-tuks that most Indians use to get around.” Clarkson uses many sarcastic remarks to express his opinions to the user and, thus, is extremely biased against the car. Despite his use of statistics, safety standards and other factors, Clarkson does not use these to specifically retaliate against the car. As his perspective though, Clarkson disagrees with the idea the Tata Nano delivers for future automobiles.

 Harvard Business Review – ‘Is the Tata Nano Really “The People’s Car”?’
The reference to the Tata Nano as the “people’s car” is a very strong statement as it immediately reflects upon the thousands of families that attain access “to an affordable car that projects social status and provides a safe, comfortable ride.” As Scott Anthony evaluates whether or not the Tata Nano can actually be conveyed as the people’s car, he keeps his personal opinion out all the time and instead refers to the opinions of his colleagues and basic data gathered. The problem that arises with this is that the audience is unable to determine an answer to Anthony’s proposed question despite the given potential problems.

Shivay Kundra

Top Gear Automobile Review Magazine – http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/Tata-Nano

Harvard Business Review – http://blogs.hbr.org/anthony/2009/11/is_the_nano_really_the_peoples.html

Shivay Kundra

Talking Point; Bradsher uses many statistical aspects of China’s economy and the energy economy in general to formulate an ethical appeal towards the United States economy in order to promote it. The clear use of logos to do this highly immaculate and is used effectively to complete its task. Despite a very unbiased approach to evaluate this reasoning Bradsher’s provision of some very specific statistics and facts causes the reader to appeal to the underdog in this matter; the United States economy. Being a news article I would hope for limited biasness to create my own personal perspective on the matter, however, this article severly limits that.

Connection; In a slightly dormant industry that is worth approximately a $100 billion, new and upcoming competition is always prevalent. One of Obama’s main focuses during the election process was to integrate peace and a livelihood between other countries. The current point of view in American government is to fight this development by employing excess resources in an inefficient American energy economy. I think this is slightly contradictory. In the article it states that “When a Chinese company reached a deal in November to supply turbines for a big wind farm in Texas, there were calls in congress to halt federal spending on imported equipment.” The allocation of labor expenses and material costs are definitely in positive favor of China, however, this is not something to be repelled against. It is, thus, an economical opportunity to create a unity among the two countries.

Shivay Kundra

Talking Point; Having two authors write one piece can often be devastating if not applied in the right context. In this news piece, however, the contrasting nature of two different writers has been applied aptly into the argumentative situation. It is difficult to spot the differences in the tone of the writing but the immediate diversions of the content are obvious. Evaluating this, the reader can spot that one writer has taken on a stance of providing statistics, facts and base information to satisfy the ethos appeal of the article whereas the other writer has taken on the approach to portray Amazon’s disadvantages in the situation to appeal to the pathos side of the argument. This style of argument continues to end of the article to solely leave the reader to reflect upon the situation.

Connection; In most underdog stories, the underdog eventually comes out on top at the end of the story. In this case, however, the underdog, Amazon, had to bow to the wishes of the publishing giant. I find it inconceivable that when such stories are being told, as humans we often appeal to the underdog and yet one of the biggest contradictions to this is the economy. We believe in growth, however, if everyone is not growing at the same pace, average growth is limited. This article supports this negativity and having it flaunt this factor is demeaning. Having the Amazon Kindle and the Apple iPad support each other to attain a general growth is what should be done but of course in the current economic competition, this is just not possible.

Shivay Kundra

The argument presented in this article strengthens itself as the article proceeds. This cumulative build up of the argument presents a situation for the reader to be forced to read further. Also the representation of this case as a “knife battle” accounts for an interesting approach to an economic situation. The unorthodox nature of it encourages readers to read the article.

2.       Can Winnie Mandela’s heroism outshine her crimes?

The personality about which the author has created Winnie Mandela’s image is extremely striking to the reader and creates intrigue among the readers. Almost stated as a split personality; hero or criminal, John Thynne discusses both her flaws and her positivity in form of a historical account. This timeline keeps the reader in sync with the discussion throughout the article.

3.       Preschools Add Brush-and-Spit to Day

Zezima represents governmental intervention as both often times helpful and sometimes a little too much. The question this poses is about boundaries and is something most readers should be able to relate to. Just by posing this question and by evaluating the opposing sides of the question, Zezima keeps the reader’s attention until the end.

4.       Case Stokes Haiti’s Fear for Children, and Itself

Thompson captures the reader’s immediate attention very well through the beginning of the article by accounting the shocking case at hand and representing both sides of the case. After this point, however, the reader begins to lose interest in the article soon after since the main highlights have already been displayed.

5.       Obama’s 2010 budget: deficit soars amid job spending

This article portrays its initial perspective well but seems to lose track of the point of view. This causes the reader to lose focus very easily. The use of statistical data is extensive but it is unevenly related to the article and is quite distracting.

Shivay Kundra

LOGOS – To appeal from a consumer’s point of view the use of logos in this article is minimal, however, is not nil. To reflect the obsession of some apple consumers to the products, research statistics such as time spent just reviewing Apple news, are given. A few times the article refers to market data to show the size of Apple’s fan base to further strengthen the article’s perspective.

PATHOS – This article indirectly displays the emotive nature of the market appeal that Apple products have by using examples of consumers and how they feel about their products. Often times the article refers to the visual appeal of most Apple products which denotes a certain appeal for the reader of the article.

STRUCTURE – This article has formed two sides of the argument to display a mostly unbiased nature throughout the piece. It has utilized mainly consumer reviews, and quotes to evaluate upon all sides of the argument. The article starts off by introducing a new Apple product as a basis for the argument and immediately brings in a consumer perspective to discuss it. Following this it states a few market aspects and consumer aspect to legitimize the information for the consumers. From this point on until the end of the article, Sutter balances out both sides of its argument by using different consumer reviews.

Shivay Kundra

• http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/01/25/apple.fans/index.html

Shivay Kundra

Talking Point; Only under severe emotion is often when friction against the world is created. Jerry Adler refers to Mary Jo Bang’s traumatic situation in order to reflect the friction and also what it was able to create. In theory Adler says that art can be created from everything around us but it especially good when it finds inspiration in places that have spark. Mary Jo Bang found this inspiration in her son’s death just like many artists throughout time have found inspiration in unique and bewildering situations. Bang subconsciously retaliated against the fact of her son’s death using what she knew best as a writer; her poetry. Thus, she was able to create art. Her art, for her readers was simply poetry, but for her it was her connection to her son as she says she would feel his presence on stage. It was a major personal triumph and alongside this a public triumph as well as she was able to publicly release her poems. It is rare that individuals get to express this level of emotion in any form, however, Bang was able to do so and her poems have created an intense level of expression that many readers can probably relate to.

Connection; I have often hear the saying that ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’. This practically means that pictures are more effective than any other form. I do agree that oftentimes visual depiction is the most vivid form of communication but on occasion the one thousand words can be much more effective. Adler reveals this to the reader consistently throughout the article. Firstly with John Gunther, the single detail about the hands cannot be easily identified in any picture of his child it simply is a memory on paper. In similar aspect, Mary Jo Bang is able to create the memory of her son as she says, “I’ve conjured a body” plus the intensity of her own emotions in a few single lines of script. The script is now her link to her son and not some image. Another thing to be relished is that the time taken to write was almost a year. In this aspect writing is able to capture not a single spot in time but a cumulative view on that period in which she had time to dwell on her emotions and evaluate them.

Shivay Kundra