Jim Yong Kim, Dartmouth College president, tapped by Obama to head World Bank

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/official-obama-to-nominate-dartmouth-college-president-to-head-world-bank/2012/03/23/gIQAAPLiVS_story.html

This article discusses Barack Obama's decision to appoint Jim Yong Kim, Dartmouth College president, as the president of the World Bank. As the World Bank's major contributor, the United States is granted the privilege to choose the president of the bank, and the European nations choose the head of the International Monetary Fund. Jim Yong Kim is the first Asian-American to represent the United States in the World Bank. This article comes from the Washington Post- the most widely circulated newspaper covering information locally, nationally, and globally. It is also the oldest paper in the DC area, which demonstrates its high credibility to provide accurate information to the public. The context of this piece is causal because every five years a new president for the World Bank is elected by the president of the United States. The last president was elected in 2007 by George W. Bush and now President Barack Obama made his selection for 2012. This piece was written to inform the entire world about the new president coming into the World Bank and to describe his background and how he will ameliorate the global economy. Since the World Bank includes a multitude of nations, the audience is primarily everyone. The plethora of factual data within this article about Jim Yong Kim's success, a slight rebuttal to recognize the other side's hesitance towards Kim's future presidency, as well as the formal diction used to create a serious tone makes the author effectively accomplish his purpose.

7 Things You Don't Know About a Special Needs Parent

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/maria-lin/special-needs-parenting_b_1314348.html

This article discusses the struggles and triumphs a parent with a child with a medical and developmental issue has to undergo in everyday life. This article comes from the Huffington Post, an American news website that was launched in 2005 and still growing and expanding. The context of this piece is causal because it has been brought about due to the 6 million children in America receiving special education. The purpose for this article is to show from the point of view of a parent with a child with an intellectual and developmental disability how they truly feel. The audience for this article is the general public because special education children are all around them, and this touching passage can show them how their lives are so much different. Also, the audience is other parents with IDD children because they can share similar characteristics with each other and swap tips on parenting. The rhetorical elements used in this passage was the point of view written from the parent with a child with a medical and developmental issue because it created a more emotional piece and reality to the article. Also, the full circle ending puts the entire article into perspective and thus helps the audience (even people who do not have IDD children) to relate to this parent and feel her thoughts. Due to these rhetorical elements, the author accomplished her purpose and established her credibility well through the eyes of her life.

IRB #3- Post 2

Chapters 14 to 27 of Payment in Full delve into the life of Elvira, the orphaned African American girl taken into custody by a Jewish couple after they could not conceive themselves. Rebecca, Elvira's adopted mother, introduces Elvira to the African-American community as well as exposes her to Christianity. However, Elvira seems to be more interested in the Jewish religion. For example, Elvira's favorite foods are bagels and she enjoys watching Rebecca prepare Shabbat dinner and other Jewish remedies. The bond between Elvira and the Rosen family strengthens day by day, and she realizes that this is her family. Later in the sectyion, it is discovered that Elvira must move in with a colored family- one who is more like her. Elvira refuses to do so, revealing her love for the Rosen family. In the end, the judge allows Elvira to stay with the Rosen's, and it is official that Elvira is in the custody of the Rosen family. 

Henry Denker's stylistic approaches in this chapter often reveal allusions to the Civil War era through the prejudice that Elvira is experiencing while living with a white Jewish family. His informal diction to describe the slang used by African Americans during this time demonstrate the differences during this era between blacks and whites. The syntax is often very short, for most of the details are described through dialogues between people. The imagery used in this section reveals the context of the story because it describes typical scenes that one would see if they lived during this era. Every chapter describes a dilemma Elvira must overcome, with vivid details that spark an emotional connection between the audience and the characters, while enticing the audience to continue reading. This ratio, according to Burke's Pentad, is very effective in this fictional story.

Finding the Fountain of Youth

This piece discusses how moderate exercise can actually decline memory loss and increase hippocampus size, which, in terms of the aging process, increases a life expectancy rate of 1-2 years. This conclusion was seen when 120 elder adults between the ages of 55-80 were tested. One group was sent to an aerobics class and another was sent to a stretching class. The aerobics class saw the greater improvement with memory and hippocampus size because their kinetic ability increased. This article was written by Dr. Michael Otto from Psychology Today magazine. Dr. Otto has a Ph.D. in Exercise and Mood. The context of this piece is spacial because as people age, their memory decreases which is linked to hippocampus size decreasing. With this study of a moderate vigor to exercising, people can actually increase their memory and stop the hippocampus from decreasing as people age. This piece was written to convince people that exercising has more health benefits than just one, and it is important for everyone to be active in order to maintain a healthy physical and mental life. The specific audience for whom this piece was intended for are the senior citizens and elderly ranging between ages 55-80. However, the general audience is the public whom with this information can start at an early age to increase their life expectancy, memory, mood, etc. to live a happy and healthy life. The rhetorical devices used in this piece is an illusion dating back to the "Fountain of Youth" myth by Ponce de Leon which ties into this piece because it is said that the "Fountain of Youth" has been found through exercising. Also, the use of exemplification as a structure helps the audience to relate this finding to an actual test that people in their age group have performed to show how amazing these results truly are. Finally, the formal diction used is geared towards anatomy and bodily organs such as the hippocampus, which establishes the authors credibility as a doctor, for he was able to connect the hippocampus to memory to exercising. This demonstrated his understanding of the entire situation. The author accomplished his purpose because he not only talked about exercising as increasing memory, but he talked about the exponential amount of health benefits that exercising has to offer as a whole. Also, the author was able to provide a study that was shown to prove how moderately vigorous exercise does indeed increase memory and hippocampus size.