One Story, Two Paths

As I a look at this picture of Jackson and Obama hugging you see a bond that has been created by to two struggling African American politicians. Both have had their troubles, and yet they were both rising stars in politics. This picture shows even more power with the story behind it. It seemed that these politicians had a polar effect on one another. Jackson was the golden child of African American politicians. He won many congressional positions against some prominent politicians. It is a valid fact that if Jackson decided to run for Senate in 2004 Obama would not be president today. It is a wonder why Jackson let Obama ran for the Senate in the first place. Maybe he had other ambitions, or maybe he thought Obama did not have a chance. Regardless, that win put Obama on the map as a rising politician, and Jackson realized he was not the only rising star.

Looking back at the picture we can sense a little tension. The Jacksons had supported Obama through his endeavors, but it was not until the Senate win that he realized Obama could compete with him. The young Jackson stepped up his game and went after more prominent political positions. Regardless, this was the start of the rise of Obama and the fall of Jackson. Once Obama won the presidential spot Jackson saw it as an opportunity to seize the senate position Obama left. Unfortunate it ended in disaster. The governor who was appointing him got arrest for soliciting money and jobs, and a friend of Jackson’s got accused of giving him large campaign contributions if he got picked. While Jackson denied it a House ethics committee investigation was opened. In 2010 it was discovered he had an extramarital relationship. By 2011 he did not even seem like a contender for the job of mayor of Chicago. He disappeared from congress in June 2012 announcing that he was being treated for bipolar disorder. He resigned in November and pleaded guilty last week to a felony fraud count for spending campaign funds on living expenses.

I look back at the picture of two African American politicians meant to change the world, but each had an entirely different outcome. At the same their unification has changed history. Without the Jacksons Obama would not be president. Their influence and guidance is what gave Obama the push to accomplish the many things he did. What is also interesting is the amount of distaste Obama got from the Jacksons after he became Senator and beyond. Even so, the Jacksons support Obama. They express no distaste. Jackson Sr. even called Obama “a rare genius”. That is proof of the respect that the Jacksons have for Obama despite the misfortune that has occurred. I look at the picture and I see two politicians who share a similar past and a driving ambition. After reading the article I see two similar people who both had the potential to be great. In fact, both are still great. The difference is while politics raised one of them it destroyed the other. It is sad, but not uncommon. What is uncommon is the large similarities and connections these two shared. It really puts things into perspective; no matter how similar a situation may be the outcome can be dramatically different.

Crossed Paths: Chicago’s Jacksons and Obamas

What is a picture worth?

A picture is worth a thousand words? More like a picture is worth a thousand words in context. That is what Errol Morris says in his New York Times column “Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire”.  Errol goes into the depth of a meaning of a picture. What was great about it was he took the reader through a process. He showed a picture of a ship and slowly added more details about it. At first I had only a slight idea of what it was. An old cruise liner? Maybe the Titanic or the Lusitania? In the end he revealed it was in fact a picture of the Lusitania in a news article about how it was sunk my a German U-boat. About 1200 people died, and 100 of them were Americans. This act was the final push that brought America into WWI  Then he showed the picture at the end, and I felt so much meaning in that picture. I knew the history. I connected to it emotional. I realized the significance of the picture but only with the help of the information presented. Another great example of this is in a New York Times article about an Army rocket killing at least 19 people in Syria. Just looking at the picture I see destroyed buildings and people gathering. It could be construction or it could be some natural tragedy struck the country and the people gathered to mourn the loss. As I read I discovered that the destroyed buildings were the effects of a rocket; it killed 19 people and more are still buried under the rubble. Immediately I see a strong internal conflict from the photo. I see a Syrian conflict that has been going on for years and thousands being killed because of it. At the same time I see the world coming together to help end the conflict and aid in the rescue of the survivors. I would never see that in the photo. No one could. The point is without context a photo is just a frozen moment of forgotten time.

Taking a Approach

“Taking an Approach” is similar to Harris’s previous points in how to rewrite. It kind of unifies previous concepts, but at the same time it is an entirely different way of explaining rewriting. Forwarding and countering are just small tools to this overall structure in rewriting. It starts with acknowledging influences which is noting writers who have influenced and provided a model for your writing in some way. Turning an approach on itself is asking the same questions of a writer that he or she asks of others. Lastly is Reflexivity. This is acknowledging the key choices you made in regards to language, methods, and value in constructing your text.

I know this sounds like an excuse to not respond to the prompt, but I feel taking an approach is something only the writer can see. When I look at a New York Times article I do not know where he or she gets his or her influences from. The only this I can somewhat analyze it their use of language and possibly values. Rachael Donadio wrote called When The Pope Retires, Is He Still Infallible? While the article was seemingly unbiased she seemed to focus more on the concerns of the Pope stepping down which might imply that she has more of a problem with it. Her use of language is at a level which any basic reader could understand it. At the same time it is intellectual and thoughtful. It is something I would read and believe is true. That is what I see. That is all I can see with this writing. I would need an interview with the writer to see more.

The Taliban Times: Enemy Awarded

The article I will be using is from the New York Times. It is the story about Obama awarding the Medal of Honor to former Army sergeant Clinton Romesha. He was awarded it for his courageous actions performed in Afghanistan. He heroically defended a remote American outpost in Eastern Afghanistan from an intense attack of more than 300 Taliban fighters. Taking out an enemy machine gun, calling in air strikes, and covering three soldiers as they recovered the bodies of fallen American soldiers he helped prevent the outpost from being overrun by the Taliban. This story portrays Clinton as a hero for defending his Country and saving the lives of his fellow American Soldiers. Although, I would imagine the story would be different if told to Taliban soldiers in some obscure newspaper they have. I imagine the story would be quite different. I am going to recreate what that might be. I am going to be using their perceived biases towards America to write an article that could be conceived as true in their eyes (for the sake of literacy I will be writing this in English instead of their native language).

“The Taliban Times: Enemy Awarded”

This is to all fellow Taliban fighters who are fighting against those who live in the West. This is to those who know of the crimes the infidels have forced us to endure. News has spread from an American newspaper called the New York Times. We have found that their newly re-elected leader Barack Obama has given their highest military honor to a soldier who committed crimes worthy of death and damnation. I am talking about the murder of 30 of our brothers as they defended themselves against the infidels of the United States Military. They fought valiantly and heroically, and in the name of their sacrifice during the war in Afghanistan the Americans choose to award a man for his actions against our brothers. While the war was many years ago the wounds still pain us. We remember what happened those years ago, and the infidels choose to spit in the faces of both our fallen men and us. This act is just another action the West has taken to insult our ideals.  We still are taunted by the western ideals that continue to plague us today. Democracy is becoming increasingly rampant in countries around the world. It is like a virus, infecting countries across oceans and beyond. The West needs to learn to respect our ways of life and stay out of our internal affairs. There is no international law that can affect us because we only follow a higher law. We will continue to fight the infidels in the name of Allah, and what we lack in numbers we make up in the spirit to protect the ideals of our past fathers. This act of “awarded valor” has hurt us, and we shall use that pain to aid in our struggle against them. We will continue to fight, and we will stay alive as our beliefs have for thousands of years. While the time may not be now we will rise again against the infidels for their “heroic acts” that have hurt us so. Thank you, and praise Allah!

Obama Awards Medal of Honor to Former Army Sergeant

Forward an Idea

Harris’ idea of forwarding is something that I have never really thought about  before he stated it. The concept of continuing a conversation with academic writing is something that I believe gives my writing more purpose. Harris describes forwarding as entering a conversation and moving it forward. One does not start or end the conversation; it is simply continued so the idea can keep moving forward. It is not just re-stating facts. It is about using what you have at your disposal to create something new. Anyone can summarize something or even re-write something. That does not aid the conversation. One needs to create something new and different to make it their own and viable. Forwarding can be seen across the web in relation to new stories. The New York Times did wrote an article on the storm that is hitting the Northeast. They wrote an article on the effects of the storm. Hundreds of thousands are without power. Many are still trapped because of the storm. At the same time blogs are also forwarding this information to the public. The Huffington Post is consistently giving updates on the storm. I would say that the blogs contain less credible information because it is not from a news station. At the same time the blog is spreading the story in a simple way so everyone is informed. I’m not sure is this is forwarding, but this is definitely helpful in regards to spreading a story.

What is The Press Sphere?

Well…. That was a rather interesting blog. I will do my best to try to understand it as I go. Today articles and news stories are written to please the press, and that is all. What Jeff Jarvis wants to do is use a new model of creating news called the Press Sphere. This can, “thanks to links, add up a story and to fulfilling the need or desire for news and information.” The press is still involved, but there is a whole plethora of other sources as well, and readers can be directly involved in the process. What I find interesting and confusing about this is the amount of collaboration this seemingly requires. It gives the impression that stories would be created from a more numerable amount of sources and critics. While this could create very true and reliable news stories, it seems like it would be impractical in regards to time. How would stories be written so that their readers have the most current information when the story would have so many to things to take into account. People want timely news. If another paper writes a story 3 days before the paper employing this method which paper will get the most views? The faster one. Maybe it has to be a step by step process as we add more to the press sphere. We see in blogging that links and the viewers opinions are strongly taken into account. That is what has made blogging so popular in the last 9 years. It creates a community of people who comment on others blogs and respond to it. The New York Times online is using more links to cites sources used in there articles. It is obvious they are drawing from multiple sources, and they are not writing only form the press. The news articles take into consideration more than they would have in the past making them more accurate and interesting to read.

I welcome any criticism to this post. I did my best to understand, and I welcome any other clarifying opinions on the post. Thank you!

Everyone Else and I

After reading so many blogs of my classmates information started to get blurred together. We all have remarkably similar sources of acquiring news. I seemed that the largest source was social media. Because of it the news it literally thrown into our faces. The things people post on our news feed help keep us aware of what is going on and keeps us aware. A common thing is to look at a status in response to an event and research it after the fact of learning about it. The New York Times was a very popular source among the class, and I must agree. I believe it has shown to be one of the lesser biased papers in America today. TV was another outlet of news whether it be Fox, CNN, or even comedy shows like the Daily Show and The Colbert Report. The one thing a minority of my classmates did was read a physical. I would say that I am a part of the majority of people who just do not read a newspaper. We do everything online which allows us to have access to more information. In regards to civic literacy I believe as long as people are reading respected articles it does not matter whether it is online or on a piece of paper. I’m sure Sullivan would agree to the idea of people going online for news, especially blogs. I just think people have to be careful of what they believe on social media sites and blogging. False news is rampant on sites like Facebook and Twitter. People new to learn the difference between news and gossip.

Reading the News!?

Reading the News York Times this quarter has been and enlightening experience that I hope I will have the diligence to continue when the class ends. Seriously, it has just made me more aware of what is going on in America and the world today. What is surprising is that it is not that hard to keep up with the news. One can maybe read one or two articles a day. After that people can just read that headlines to get an idea of what the article is about. I will say I stay on the main page in regards to what I read in the news. I read the articles in regards to Obama’s opinion and actions for gun control. I know if one dives deeper into the site you can find articles on almost any topic. That is probably what I have missed out on. I do not read many articles on education or science for example. It just does not interest me, and I do not feel the need to go look for them even though I would find them interesting after I started reading them. It is a matter of time as well. I would rather read the first interesting headline I see instead of looking in a less-than-popular category of news. One thing I have gotten good at is skimming articles and understanding the gist of them. I can pick out important details and ignore things that only drag out the article. This has made me a more efficient reader, and I only see it getting better.

Is News a Priority?

News today is literally at the finger tips of most everyone in society, and yet a majority of society does not keep up with current events in the world. It is puzzling, and yet I have fell victim to the lack of knowledge on world events. I would say most of the current events I hear about are from word of mouth or social networking. I listen to what friends talk about and I try to keep up to the point where I can a least have a decent debate with them. I even enjoy the mini-debates that occur on Facebook, but it usually ended with people criticizing others for their use of grammar rather than the validity of their comment. I obviously become more knowledgeable of world and domestic news stories from discussing them in our writ class; it’s just a shame I have to be late and miss most of the conversation. I will say that I enjoy reading a newspaper when I can, but I barely have time to sit and eat breakfast; The convenience of time is something I do not have. If I am reading the news the majority of it is in online articles. I enjoy how easy it is to get updates and skim articles when reading online. The only this is that I never read the articles in depth. I read lots of headlines and glance through a few articles. It is sad that I will read status updates for hours, but when it comes to formal articles I simply fall short like most Americans today. Even though I am busy as hell in college, I know I could easily find the time to read a couple articles a day. I just choose to use my limited free time elsewhere. It may be wrong, but until I acquire that driving desire to keep up with current events that is how it will remain.