The Autumn of Multitaskers

Multi-tasking... something we all do everyday. In fact, I definitely bet you, as the reader, are multitasking right now?!!! Are you reading my blog, while working on homework, answering text messages, listening to music, and thinking about your date last night? mmmmm... I thought so!

Walter Kim's commentary, The Autumn of Multitaskers, makes this very point. One of the most alarming pieces of factual information he included is how studies have found "multitasking boosts the level of stress-related hormones such as cortisol and adrenaline and wears down our systems through biochemical friction, prematurely aging us.."(p. 313) Great... So our generation, the ipod generation, is going to prematurely age rapidly at an accelerated rate due to our propensity to multi-task?! Hmmm... this is alarming. No wonder we are all so stressed out?!

Back to the article, I enjoy how the author opens it with quotes, even before jumping into the lead. The lead is fun and different because it honestly kind of rambles. He talks about "party phone lines" and ends with amphibious cars. He also completes the article with the fate of the boat car cracking in half and plunging deep into the water. It is entertaining how he pokes fun at multi-tasking by doing so himself in the first paragraph. Instead of creating a lead that focuses on a central idea he rambles, thus multi-tasking.

While the article is filled with facts and examples to prove a point it is not dull or academic feeling at all. It reads more like a story, a testimony to the writers creativity and flowing design.

I think this commentary is enjoyable to read because it does have a clear voice without being too overbearing. The author uses examples from his own life to strengthen his point. He also uses humor and rhetoric to create a strong commentary drawing the reader in. When writing a feature about multi-tasking one might not think there could be a bit of a love story thrown in the mix but that it would rather involve fact based arguments. The author spices it up a little by writing about his own love story and parallels how relationships can be damaged by the dangers of multi-tasking.

I think another one of my favorite sentences, is:

This was the embryonic fallacy that grew up into the monster of multitasking." This sentence is so packed with meaning it stands alone as it's own paragraph. Good descriptive words there, Kirn. Who thinks of "embryonic fallacy growing into a monster of multitasking"?? Hats off to you, Kirn. I'm impressed with your descriptive writing!

This commentary is entertaining as well as being persuasive, witty, and full of pertinent facts. I hope I can draw inspiration and ideas from this piece when writing my own commentary.

Babes in the Woods....

Babes in the Woods by Caitlin Flanagan
I thought the style of this commentary was ingenious. Catilin writes in such a way that the piece is almost like a mystery story. She presents information with an obvious opinion and then ends with a twist. The ending makes the reader question if the subject of the story has switched over to the "dark side" or if the author is just making a point.

The subject of her article is the safety of public networking sites for teenagers. She backs up her research with carefully chosen research and personalizes it by putting herself in the story.

She writes descriptively using such unique phrases as " the only fly in the ointment" and "wearing their retainers, topped with multivitamins, radiating the good care and safekeeping that is their lot in life in America.." p.379. I get the impression she calculates and carefully considers the strength and value of each word before she writes it. This is indeed the mark of a good writer.

I also think the way she uses argument upon argument and fact upon fact makes the reader trust her point of view. Then, she offers a ingenious twist and concludes with the reader completely questioning whether the subject is holding to the argument presented or if she has switched sides and has now become the predator rather than the one being preyed upon. She uses this surprise ending to further strengthen her point.

We have all read many articles questioning the safety of social networking sites. This isn't breaking news to any of us. However, Catilin, brilliant writer that she is, takes this information and presents it in such a way, by her skillful writing, so that it becomes more of a real life story.

All in all, this piece is different from other commentaries we have read this week by they way it tells a story at the same time supporting an opinion or view and relating relevant facts and information.

Complication.....

Complication.. Webster's Dictionary defines complication as : a complex combination of elements of things.


As I read stories and hear the latest news on the Colorado boy hidden in a helium balloon the more I hear the more complicated the story becomes. There are so many angles the press can pursue on this story. The bits and pieces..... from one radio talk show claiming the mother said she and her husband believe they came from aliens.... to the boy saying "we did this for the show"... to the father telling the press how he had been through such an ordeal and how dare they be questioned..... so many different angles... so many ways to interpret news.

As the audience we always tend to clamor for the sensational. We are torn between feeling sympathy for a very scared 6 year old boy to feeling outrage at the man-power and expense put forth to find him when he was actually hiding the in the garage the entire time.

Complicated... I just think it's interesting to see all the different angles a story like this can take as the plot thickens we could write about so many different sides of the story.

Complicated... or do we make it more complicated than it actually is just for the sensationalism of it all?

Looking at the story from a writer's standpoint we can see a huge opportunity to take the story in whatever direction we want. We have creative license to pursue whichever angle we choose and at the same time we should remember our sense of ethics and make sure we don't overlook the emotions behind the story, the humans behind the characters, and the lies that cover the truth.

Casualties of War

Tear-jerking, poignant, and real. These words vividly describe this feature. Casualties of War is a different feature from what we have read in that it doesn't have a positive resolution or ending. It doesn't conclude with uplifting closure. It is real. Real in the sense that it describes the pain and life changing effects of losing a loved one. Grief is real. It can completely overcome you, cloak you with such a heavy blanket of sorrow that daylight is invisible. You can't sugar coat it. It's not ok. You won't be ok and yet... life goes on. You can may come out of impossible grief and become a stronger person or you may succumb to it. Somehow though, you have to stay connected to the memory of the one you lost and keep them deeply and ever present in your heart.

This article follows the story of an average family, living a normal life as they deal with the death of their son, who was killed in Iraq. I think the author wants to pull the reader in with the "everyman" kind of family this is and how the men we have lost in this war are regular guys who aspired to a greatness beyond ordinariness.

The author also has a style of paying attention to details and using description to paint a vivid picture of what life was like for Chris, the young marine killed in Iraq. She doesn't sugar-coat his life, dwells on the difficult aspects as well as the positive ones, and by the end of the feature the reader feels as though we know him. The author endears him to us with his faulty grammar, collection of tattoos, choice of music, girlfriends, and down to the magazine choices he selected before being deployed, we start to feel a connection. Emotion is evoked and even though we know by the title that he will be killed in combat, we still tear up when we read of it actually occurring.

While the feature is sad and depressing, it's very realness inspires a feeling of hope and optimism. Paradoxically, hope is intermingled with grief. The last sentence could leave us with a feeling of hopelessness, as his parents comment on how they view the future as nothing to look towards. "ahead for us is nothing. It's just a hole." However hopeless this last sentence is, we still feel a slight bit of hope when we think back to the life Chris lived. I think this is why the author spent such a substantial portion of time writing and describing his life, in all the mundane details, in order for us to realize that it isn't ok. Nothing about someone dying is good, and yet for those still living somehow life has to go on

Underworld.....

Pulled down to the depths of the earth... Feeling a little claustrophobic... surrounded by a white that outshines the dark... and really hungry for a salt-and-vinegar potato chip... These are all feelings I experienced while reading the feature of the week, Underworld, by Jeanne Marie Laskas. This article is an excellent example of how we can use words so descriptive that the reader is actually pulled into the story and senses are engaged. An excellent writer can create emotion, inspire feelings and ignite interest. Laskas inspires us to explore an "underworld" not only from her perspective as a hands-on observer but also from the standpoint of the men who work in the belly of the earth.

I think Laskas pulls me in from the very first paragraph, when she writes in a way that is refreshingly real and blunt. We know from the first page this article is not going to sugar coat anything but will actually tell the story the way it is. She is honest and uses almost child-like description to paint a picture in our head. I still laugh a little as I picture the character nicknamed, "Foot" exclaiming, " You gotta stop shining your frickin' light in my eye, What did I tell you about that?" She doesn't embellish but speaks the truth so bluntly it's refreshing.

She spices up the feature with little bits facts and pieces of history, all the while sticking to a descriptive manner of writing that lets the characters tell their stories. The feature is longer than most of the others we have read but I found it so engaging I didn't want it to end. The feature is a prime example of how to effectively write in a descriptive manner. Now please pass a salt-and-vinegar potato chip, let's read this story again!

"Betrayed"

One of the articles we are reading tells the poignant story of how Iraq interpreters are treated by the United States government. It is a rather long magazine article. I found the manner it is written in that it tells a story and presents a factual account to be an interesting combination.

Before I read the article I really thought it would be more of a personal saga of a few Iraqi individuals, however, while the story does address specific people, it is also organized in such a way that facts, historical background, and numerical data are incorporated. I felt it is also written rather impartially, with clear sympathies towards the Iraqi plight but at the same time basing this sympathy on fact rather than emotion.

The author, George Packer, opens with a descriptive paragraph pulling the reader in and giving us a personal glimpse into the conflict between Sunnis and Shia ethnic groups. The beginning portion of the article continues like this, reading as a story and introducing us to various characters. Next, the author moves on to add a little more historical information by pulling in the story of an American. This American becomes instrumental in helping the Iraqi. The Iraqi find themselves in an impossible dilemma, outcasts from Iraqi society after helping the Americans but at the same time ostracized by the very people they are helping. The article lapses into various stories and personal accounts but continues to flash back to the American, Johnson, and his instrumental role in the lives of Iraqi interpreters.

As I continued to read the story I felt more and more ashamed of how the Iraqi people are being treated. They are risking their lives to help American and should be awarded for their valor. Why are we taking their efforts for granted and treating them with disrespect? This question is addressed by the article and the story ends with a very poignant sentence essentially summing up the entire article. When asked if he felt betrayed by America one of the interpreters replied, "Not betrayed, no, not disappointed. I can never blame the Americans alone. Its the Iraqis who destroyed their country with the help of the Americans, under the American eye. To this moment, I dream about America," said Firas, Iraqi interpreter for the Americans.
I think the author did a good job opening with a story and ending the article with a summation of the plight and indomitable spirit of many Iraqis who risk their lives to help America. It is a story of unquestionable courage, impressive spirit, and indefatigable hope. The ending is bittersweet, a mixture of hope and sadness. Facts and other essential information are woven throughout the article without detracting from the main story line. It is both factual and personal a direct parallel to the story of hope and despair the Iraqis face. It was an insightful read and well organized by plot and character structure.

Another idea.....

After I published the post regarding the reading, "You Have Thousands of Angels Around You" I ruminated a little more about the immigrant in the story, Cynthia. I began to think about how not only were others around her responsible for saving her life but how she herself was responsible for her own saving. Her story is one of survival, hope, never giving up, and how one act of kindness can go full circle. If she had not been driven by inner determination and a will to live she would never have fully embraced life. The human will to survive is incapable of description, it is an inner desire that becomes fully apparent when faced with situations beyond our own imagination. We never really know what we are capable of until we are forced to face impossible situations. A friend once told me, " Trying is going into something with the option of failure. No more trying, just doing." Cynthia didn't try in her life.... she set her mind upon a goal and proceeded to work toward it without looking back. Her inner courage inspired others to help and ultimately saved her from impossible circumstances.