The 33-Year Old Rookie (IRB #4)

With his body weakening, his age rising, and his doubts growing, Chris Coste was fighting against the odds to do what he loved. His amazing story is highlighted in his autobiography, The 33-Year-Old Rookie, and explains his ascension on the baseball hierarchy. Coste's motivation behind creating his book: spreading the story of his amazing battle to save his career and become a major league baseball player. Coste's life goes beyond simply being a good enough athlete to reach the big leagues, but a rare display of perseverance and determination, despite the dwindling his window of athletic opportunity, that can inspire anyone to follow their dreams. Coste achieves this through his connections to the past, telling tremendous recollections of his first meeting with Charlie Manual, the Phillies' manager, and his first time playing catcher. Another effective strategy Coste uses in his book is a unique structure, placing his first Major League Baseball experiences in the first chapter and then moving back to his days in elementary school to begin his life's timeline. This excites readers and helps them in keeping a result or ending point in mind throughout the book. When reading, I found myself questioning what limits there are on what I can do, disregarding the negative responses people give me when presenting ambitious goals. Coste's book is able to provoke these thoughts, with an accurate depiction of his rollercoaster-esque career and the focus on victory despite many conflicting factors. It is a book I will surely recommend to others and remember when facing strong competition or battling the giants that face my hopes and dreams.

TOW Rewrite (From #7)

Marc Santora highlights the coming hurricane and the conditions that this storm will bring about in the upcoming days for northeastern states. However, the audience Santora seems to be focusing on is the western and central states, probably in an attempt to tell those not involved and, consequently, not informed on the storm of the serious implications this could have on the eastern coast. An interesting way Santora goes about revealing this information is through a comparison to Hurricane Irene, which struck just this past year, saying that the destruction and danger that Sandy presents depicts almost exactly that of what Irene challenged the East coast with. This use of comparison allowed the article to give more detail and more relevancy to the impending storm for the American audience, as it drew parallels to a well-known storm that occurred relatively recently. The states far from the impact points of Hurricane Sandy's path can connect the devastation that approaches the northeast to a similar encounter from the past. Santora also deserves praise for his use of personification, creating a character for Sandy that shows the unpredictable and impulsive nature this hurricane pretends to have. This use of personification makes reading the passage more interesting and more enjoyable for its audience. Through this comparison, the use of personification, and incredible detail in diction, Santora is able to achieve his purpose, spreading the message of the status of the northeastern states as they face an imminent weather catastrophe. Santora paints the picture of urgency and defense for the people living along the Atlantic and encourages bystanders in the western and central states to join support groups to aid the preparations for what looks like immense devastation.

The New Yorker Political Cartoon

Many people question the truth in political speeches and the true intellect of the people giving the promises. This political cartoon recently published by the New Yorker plays on the questionable image politicians have in a large portion of Americans. The cartoon has one main purpose: to portray the idea that the politicians we see on television are nothing without the advisers they receive aid from. This is scene in the dialogue between the speaker and his female assistant, with the woman saying, “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” This caption becomes humorous with the audience holding up their ‘JOB’ signs, making the issue of job creation and strengthening the economy a no-brainer. This conflict in themes makes this cartoon so effective, emphasizing the theory that politicians are not responsible for the amount of problem solving and decision-making that we the public give them credit for. For the New York citizens as well as Americans across the country, the cartoon creates a newfound awareness for the political stage and has the potential to change the way that Americans see and evaluate their vote. David Sipress, the New Yorker cartoonist who created this cartoon, is able to achieve his purpose of bringing about intrigue to the office and role of politicians in the scheme of the government. This piece creates an visual that draws on past anger towards public office and almost forces people to laugh at the scene, showing the success of Sipress’s work.