TOW #19 - "Face Blindness"

Facial recognition is a skill most of us have had since birth, a skill, given its commonplace nature, that we often take for granted. However, for some, this ability would seem completely foreign. Kate Szell, a former partner in a law firm, recently won a science writing contest on the subject of prosopagnosia, a condition that makes it extremely difficult for a person to recognize faces. She aims to spread awareness and foster an environment of understanding for those suffering from the condition. As even our smartphones are learning to recognize faces, it is difficult to imagine a world without such an ability. To compound the level of understanding obtained through the analogy, Szell also offers insight from a person who suffers from the condition. A fourteen-year-old girl tells about how she once asked her best friend of many years who she was. “[S]he’d had a haircut, so how was I to know?” (paragraph 1). The testimony gives her credibility on a personal level and makes her reader feel sympathy for those suffering from prosopagnosia. A simple level of emotional connection to a real case of the condition facilitates the level of acceptance and patience Szell hopes to achieve.
Beyond personal testimony, Szell provides the logical appeal through facts she has collected and expert testimony to the reality of the issue. According to studies, she writes, around two percent of the population has prosopagnosia (paragraph 3). While the percentage seems small, it is not. Out of every fifty people, one has prosopagnosia. Such as statistic helps her audience to see how vital understanding is. Most people interact with at least fifty people in their lives, so awareness of the condition should be much more widespread than it is. Kate Szell’s contest-winning essay certainly takes the prize for helping people to, in her own words, “recognize the face of prosopagnosia."

TOW #18 - Apple vs. Africa visual

The powerful visual text juxtaposes the effect of the death of the iPhone vs. the death of the millions in Africa. The text claims that when one iPhone dies, million cry; while when millions in Africa die, no one cries. Society's attention is focused on the latest and greatest technology, rather the lives of millions in the African continent. When the first iPhone 6 in Australia was dropped on live television, it received millions of shares across social media and cringing from millions behind the screen. Society's obsession with the latest and greatest technology has people focused on all the wrong things. The simple dropping of an iPhone has witnesses waiting with worries, as the owner picks up their phone to reveal if they have or have not cracked their six hundred dollar phone. The author of this visual text brings up a very valid point, while one piece of technology dies emotions of sadness fill a person, but while millions of human lives are lost, those outside of the family don't shed a tear. Society has come to a point where it cares more about one single piece of technology, rather the human lives lost in another continent. We have become too fixated on innovative technology over the lives of those across the pond. True, it is hard to connect with people we've never met, but we've found ourselves attached to a little piece of metal. The author makes a valid point, society is focused on all the wrong things. Technology > Human Lives

TOW #17 - "Running Away with the Circus"

In “Running Away With the Circus”, Taffy Brodesser uses anaphora, and symbolism in order to share with the readers the lives of circus performers and the dying legacy of circuses. The author starts the article by introducing the different people involved with the Ringling Brothers Circus, a well-known circus that’s been around since 1884. He incorporates anaphora by beginning all the sentences in the first paragraph with “you could see (a person’s name)” and descriptions of them, such as their jobs or titles, then finish the sentence with what they do. For example, “You could see Edward Billings, the King of the High Stilts, as he confounded audience members with his height and balance” (1). With his use of anaphora, he is able to introduce his entire article with a satisfying rhythm and an interesting way of introducing the “characters”. Also in the beginning, the author tells the story of the first time people witnessed the light bulbs Thomas Edison had invented, and how amazed they were by the miraculous inventions. The light bulb, which became the symbol for the circus throughout the article, was the fresh and original idea that people were newly shocked by back then, but is now something that no one pays any attention to anymore, which is similar to the idea of circus. The author, when talking about the reasons behind the decline of popularity in circuses, states, “maybe they don’t have their new light bulb yet, but they already have a lot to work with” (20).  This shows that although they haven’t found the one thing or idea that today’s people will be amazed over yet, they are still working on developing new and improved ideas to please their audiences. With his use of anaphora and symbolism, Brodesser is able to successfully share the stories of circus performers and their dying legacies.