TOW #16 - What's Next for Women's March Movement

Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris, Melbourne and even these United States. Hundreds of thousands of people came out on January 21st to protest the new President, Donald Trump and to unify women, people of color, all genders and sexual orientations. While an extremely low 193,000 people came to watch the new president's inauguration, an estimated 1.15 million people attended The Women's March in Washington D.C, according to authors at heavy.com. If these numbers are true, then this will have been the largest inauguration protest to date. But this is not my point. USA TODAY author, Heidi M Przybyla, says, “This is the moment of the beginning of the revival of the women’s movement,” and I agree 100 percent. We live in a country where we are fortunate enough and privileged enough where we are able to exercise our basic rights. Countries like Burma, North Korea, Turkmenistan Libya, Cuba, Syria, Eritrea and Uzbekistan have to abide by strict censorship laws. This is what America stands for. But should we really be protesting things like equal rights for all in the year 2017. The fact that women have to protest this is an abomination and is unfair. How is it the year 2017 and people in the LGBTQ+ community are still fighting for equality? How is it the year 2017 and people of color are still being oppressed constantly? How is it fair? This is why people like Meryl Streep, Madonna, Miley Cyrus and so many more are using their public platform to help gather and get people to rise up. This protest is an open letter to Donald Trump. This protest is a battle cry. Protest like these are the ones that made this country what it is today. This is what exercising your rights look like. This is what America is.

TOW #15 - I Have A Dream

Martin Luther King Jr. Activist, teacher, fire-eater, friend, literary and rhetorical genius. In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I have decided to analyze his famous, "I Have A Dream," speech.

Dr.King uses anaphora frequently in his speech, repeating the phrase, "I have a dream." King repeatedly says this to put impact on his views towards the racial divide in the at the time. He also uses a few metaphors sporadically throughout his speech, for example, "In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check…It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”(King 1963). Martin Luther King continues to use more rhetorical devices like allusion when he says something similar to a quote from the sixteenth President of the United States and the "Great Emancipator", Abraham Lincoln, "Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s words have impacted so many peoples everyday lives and the way many people think. If you really think about it, slavery ended in 1863 which isn't as long ago as we think. Jim Crow ended in 1950, which isn't even 100 years old. Martin Luther King has influenced groups like Black Lives Matter to protest peacefully instead of using violence.

TOW #14 - How Far I'll Go in 24 Languages

This week, I went to the movies and saw the new Disney animated film, Moana. I really enjoyed this movie because Moana solved her own problems, with very little help from her male counterpart, Maui. But this is beside the point. I mentioned the movie because while I was browsing through my twitter feed, I saw a video of the star, Moana, singing the song "How Far I'll Go" in twenty four different languages.

I heard all of the languages and it was so beautiful. This video reminded me of the Coca Cola commercial where various peoples from around America were singing "America the Beautiful' in their preferred languages. This proved that America is the land of immigrants and the land of the Melting Pot. A plethora of people were upset by the Coca Cola commercial, claiming that the true "American language," was English. I searched on twitter if there had been any hate towards the Moana video.

There was no surprise that many people were hating on the video. While there was nothing said about the true American Language, the internet trolls came out of their hiding places to make the other speaking people feel poorly about themselves and their countries.

I think the authors point of view was to show how beautiful the art of language is, not to spark a hate war on social media websites. This brings me to question, what is wrong with the people in America? Why is there so much hatred towards the unknown.The people of other countries were expressing great feelings of admiration towards the song. Why can't Americans be like this? Is it because of the feelings that we are more superior than other countries. Not only does this make me angry that Americans can so easily show hatred in their hearts, but it makes me sad because Americans are not seen spreading love.

TOW #14

The author of this article eloquently uses personal anecdotes when speaking of the White Resentment on the Night Shift at Walmart. Author Tracie McMillan shares with her audience how rapidly the world is changing. She shares that in 2008, her small county in Michigan was all for Barack Obama being the next President of the United States. She mentioned that the whole state of Michigan was in fact a democratic state. Later in the next election, she told the audience that her incredibly small county in northern Michigan was still democratic but only by a small margin.

McMillan then mentions that in the most recent election, the whole state was red. Even more so, the whole county was red. That puzzled her because the people in Trump's cabinet are fighting to lower the minimum wage. She was very confused because the minimum wage was what she and all of her other co workers worked for everyday. Members of the Trump administration proclaimed that 10 dollars an hour was way to high, but Walmart workers barely make nine dollars an hour. But then, the realization hit her. Donald Trump's presidency was focused around appealing to the uneducated, poor, white man. The people who work at Walmart fit the standard because she mentioned that most of her colleagues only had high school diplomas and a few of them did not even graduate high school.

This was very eye opening to me because it made me wonder why so many people voted for Barack Obama. I mean he did have a strong base from the African American community, but why did the white people vote for him? He was not appealing to the poor man, yet he was not appealing to the rich man either. This shows that rhetoric in the way that leader's speak really can impact the way people respond; because with President Obama, he is very charismatic and warm hearted, but President Elect Trump is very blunt and sarcastic. Tracie McMillan shows the audience how the poor white men felt throughout this election.

TOW #12 - Violence Can Mark Children Forever, Featuring David Beckham

World renowned soccer player, David Beckham, has never been shy about his many tattoos. I was never interested in what they meant or how many he had, but when UNICEF released a commercial starring David Beckham's body as a canvass, I became interested.

The commercial advocates for children that receive abuse; whether is physical or verbal, the commercial's slogan was,

"Violence Can Mark Children Forever." In this, they use the analogy that violence and abuse will stick with the child forever, just like a tattoo does. In this advertisement, they also use dark imagery to show the audience that abuse can engrave horrible things into children's minds. Because UNICEF is using David Beckham's body as a sketchpad, you can see live drawings of various images. For example, one that was especially scary to me was a young girl that had been messaging a boy via a dating application. Then the audience is taken to a scene where the same girl is standing waiting for someone. In the distance, you see a young boy waiting but that same young boy turns into a man, that takes the girl away. That was really eye opening to me because in today's society, social media and social networking is extremely prevalent. That scares me because you never truly know who is hiding behind the computer screen.

I think the producer did achieve his purpose because he made his audience feel sympathy for the children. Without a doubt, this may have struck a nerve for many that might have suffered child abuse and for those who have seen others go through child abuse. I also really liked this commercial because they weren't asking for donations, but they have asked for awareness. At the end of the commercial David Beckham repeats for the second time, "Violence Can Mark Children Forever," which will stick in the back of my mind forever.

TOW #11 - Patrick Henry

The infamous Patrick Henry; one of the most revolutionary orators in the history of the world. His most famous speech was presented to the members of the House of Representatives on March 23, 1775. Although his primary audience was his fellow house members, I believe that he was directly addressing King George. During 1775 the American colonists were enraged with how the British oppressed them. From paying unnecessary and outrageous taxes during the sugar act, the tea act, and the Townshend acts to housing soldiers in their own homes, one can understand how upset the colonists must have felt.

Patrick Henry was a patriot who was not known to bridle his tongue, which makes his tone so important and influential. Within the first paragraph, Henry states, “… I shall not speak forth my sentiments freely and without reserve.” He is saying to his audience that he is restraining himself so he doesn’t offend anyone in the house that is a loyalist. He continues to say, “Should I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear or giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason towards my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly things.” In this Patrick Henry is saying that he feels as though that his is betraying his country and God because he is holding back on what he truly wants to say. He goes on to use metaphoric language when he tells his audience of who or what guides him, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. This helps him prove his purpose that the colonists need to speak up, and that they need to unite instead of fighting for different causes. Throughout the hole speech, Henry tries to refrain from unleashing his true thoughts, but I find it ironic that his last line was, “but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” By the end of his speech, he has let his words flow off of his tongue freely. This speech was not just an informative one, but a battle cry. A battle cry to his fellow patriots and some loyalist, to help show them that the colonist would rather die than be in bondage by the British.

TOW #10 - White Nationalists Celebrate 'an Awakening' After Donald Trump's Victory

In today's society, people all around the world get their daily dosage of the news from social media applications like twitter, snapchat, and instagram. Its very upsetting that even in the twenty first century, Americans still have their own terrorist groups like the KKK and other white supremacy groups. I haven't really seen much of them before the recent election but now I can feel their presence among America. Authors Alan Rapperport and Noah Weiland of the New York Times use a warning tone to tell Americans that the terror groups of the 1960s are back. " For years, they have lurked in the web’s dark corners, masking themselves with cartoon images and writing screeds about the demise of white culture under ominous pseudonyms," the authors from the New York Times describe these white domination enthusiasts as monsters by using dark words such as "lurked, ominous, and masking." The writers purpose for writing "White Nationalist Celebrate 'an Awakening' After Donald Trump's Victory" is to make Americans (especially minorities0 aware that these groups aren't nightmares of the past. I chose to read this article because my older sister goes to the Ohio State University and during our weekly FaceTime call she told me, "The KKK was spotted in Louisville." My family just moved from Fort Knox, Kentucky which is only about thirty minuets from Louisville. When she asked me this I thought, 'of course they were, Kentucky is a southern state.' But then that got me very curious to see if there were any other kkk spotting in America. To my surprise the KKK has been spotted in Louisiana, Indiana, Texas, Connecticut, and Georgia just since Donald Trump has been chosen to be the president elect. I think that its good that these groups are starting to show themselves more because then, I won't have to guess who is plotting behind my back. I think that the authors did reach their purpose because it is bringing awareness to people across America.