TOW #20 - Sully

In his autobiography Sully, Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger III writes about his life leading up to the emergency landing of Flight 1549 in 2009. Sully discusses the ways that these events have affected his life. In the beginning pages of his book, Sully introduces that he has always had a lifelong interest in aviation. He pursued his passion and served as a member of the US Air-Force and a professional commercial pilot. As per the dedication page, “Sully” wrote this autobiography for people that were affected by Flight 1549 as a means of remaining connected, In the beginning as well, he also writes that this book serves as a method of finding what really matters.

To reveal this underlying message, Sullenberger utilizes both spiritual imagery and actual pictures. In the very first chapter, he writes, “In many ways, all my mentors, heroes, and loved ones - those who taught me and encouraged me and saw the possibilities in me - were with me in the cockpit of Flight 1549.  We had lost both engines.  It was a dire situation, but there were lessons people had instilled in me that served me well.  Mr. Cook’s lessons were a part of what guided me on that five-minute flight. He was the consummate stick-and-rudder man, and that day over New York was certainly a stick-and-rudder day” (Sullenberger 15). Sully uses this spiritual connection with Mr. Cook as a way to connect with the people that were affected by Flight 1539.  He also shows just how important flying was to him. He wants the reader to understand just how hard that situation was, and just how hard he tried to save all of those people. Later in the book, Sullenberger reveals actual pictures of major events that took place in his life (Sullenberger 130). These pictures help show what Sullenberger actually values in his own life.  The inclusion of these specific pictures is an attempt at connecting with the audience by opening up in hopes that it will cause the reader to understand what they value in their own life.

All in all, I believed Sullenberger successfully and effectively achieved his purpose in completely connecting with audience with both spiritual connections and picture connections.  I cannot wait to finish the book!

TOW #19 - Bulbs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROEIKn8OsGU

On November 17, 2016 Apple, an American multinational technology company, released a short advertisement video promoting their new MacBook Pro.  This ad titled Bulbs shows a multitude of very important technological advancements that have happened in our time. Apple is able to show symbolism and show advancements in consequential order just to reveal how great their new MacBook Pro is.  In between each advancement, there is a line of hundreds of light bulbs, and as one invention happens a light bulb bursts and continues an ongoing cycle.  The bulbs in this sense, symbolize that as ideas progress and new inventions are being made, it is definite that ideas will get better and better, meaning that ideas evolve off of other ideas. This helps to convey the true purpose of Apple’s ad. The use of putting things in consequential order is also crucial to Apple’s argument. In the very beginning some clips are shown of a man rubbing metal and flint together in order to create a spark, and then followed by a man pushing a stone wheel.  Then videos of the first bicycle, steam trains, and so on.  This is idea of showing things in consequential order helps to convey just how great their new product is. As seen in history, inventions have been getting better and better, which means that the MacBook Pro is the best.  By finishing with their product it really just draws attention to the audience and really makes them believe. The use of the classical music also set a great tone for the video.  By ending the video with the finale of the song it helps to bring more excitement to this new product and really grab their audience’s attention.  Without these crucial components that are in the video, Apple may have not been able to show just how great the MacBook Pro is. I believe that Apple successfully swayed my opinion, and I definitely would like to look more into that specific product. Overall it was an eye catching advertisement, something that is hard to find these days.

TOW #18 - How the Anti-Vaxxers Are Winning

In the article How the Anti-Vaxxers Are Winning, Paul J. Hotez reveals that there has been an increase in children not getting vaccinated, which will bring devastating effects.  Paul J. Hotez is a pediatrician at Baylor College of Medicine, and also a director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, which explains that his argument is very valid through his experience.

Geared toward an audience of people who are against vaccinations, Hotez is able to expose the harrowing truths about this issue in order to show that not vaccinating your children is illogical. Relating to his hometown of Texas, Hotez states that “as of last fall, more than 45,000 children here had received nonmedical exemptions for their school vaccinations.” He is able to show the true facts that this issue is increasing and becoming more prominent is places like his own hometown. He goes on to explain that many people believe that vaccinations do cause autism which is a major reason why these numbers are increasing.  Hotez refutes this idea when he says that “the American Academy of Pediatrics has produced a 21-page document listing all of the studies clearly showing there is no link between vaccines and autism, in addition to more recent epidemiological studies involving hundreds of thousands of children or pregnant women that also refute any association.” Through the use of yet another bold fact, he is able to show just how illogical “anti-vaxxers” think.  He even goes on to reveal a harrowing truth that could leave an emotional feeling to those exact readers when he says, “Today, parents in Texas have to live in fear that something as simple as a trip to the mall or the library could expose their babies to measles and that a broader outbreak could occur.”  By showing that people don’t vaccinate their own children, he is able to expose their decisions and how that directly can negatively affect other people’s families. Ending with this horrible truth can leave an emotional appeal to readers and really leave them thinking about their own opinions on vaccinations.

In my opinion, Paul J. Hotez successfully refutes “anti-vaxxers” opinions and made my opinion on vaccinations even stronger than it already was.  I believe that not vaccinating your children due to the pseudoscience of vaccinations leading to autism is extremely irrational and quite idiotic. Not only can it harm other people, but it can create an outbreak that could have been prevented from one tiny little shot.   

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/08/opinion/how-the-anti-vaxxers-are-winning.html

IRB Intro #3 - Sully

For my third independent reading book of the school year, I have chosen the book titled Sully, an autobiography written by Chesley B Sullenberger III.  This book is about the crash landing of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River and the pilot's life afterwards. A classmate actually recommended this one for me, and I am quite excited to read it.  The movie for this story just came out recently and I found myself very intrigued about this event.  Hopefully I will enjoy it!