In the essay “30 Little Turtles” by Thomas Friedman, he talks about the 20-year-olds of India. His voice is compassionate. He clearly wants to help these young people, since this experience started while he was sitting in an “accent neutralization class” (176).

The audience for this piece is 20-year-olds. Friedman wants 20-year-olds to stop taking ( Read more... )

In the essay “I Agree with Me” by P.J. O’Rourke he talks about politicians. Since I know close to nothing about politics and do not keep up with it. I found this piece extremely difficult to understand. Between the language and my personal lack of knowledge in regards to politics, after reading it three times I feel just as puzzled.

I assume the ( Read more... )

In the essay “Japan’s Kamikaze Pilots and Contemporary Suicide Bombers: War and Terror” by Yuki Tanaka, he talks about kamikaze pilots. He explains why someone might be a kamikaze pilot, and the difference between suicide bombers and kamikaze pilots.

Tanaka’s tone is very neutral. There was no point I found him to be bias or even persuasive. He ( Read more... )

Isabelle Leymarie’s piece “Rock ‘N’ Revolt” is an essay that discusses the effect music has on emotions. The main focus of this piece is the relationship between music and violence. She also demonstrates the effect music has on plants and animals to emphasize her point.

Leymarie’s tone throughout this piece is concerned and accusatory. Every time ( Read more... )

I liked being able to really get an insider’s view on this matter. Yes this piece was a little hard to follow, and not to mention a tad offensive. But in the end, it was a perspective I would have never gotten to experience otherwise.

Taiaiake Alfred is a first nation Canadian who gets his point across in a blunt, passionate and provocative tone.

He’ ( Read more... )

When I was 17, I remember my best friend moving away to Montreal because she had been accepted to McGill. By her second semester I remember her calling me and saying she had started to dumpster dive. She had found one dumpster in particular, belonging to a grocery store, which she would visit frequently for food that’s “best before date” had ( Read more... )

To be perfectly honest, I’ve never been a fan of history. So reading this piece didn’t exactly spark interest for me. I would have been much more fascinated to know more of the science aspects. What sort of tests did they do besides condemn those who had imperfect genes?

This piece is directed to other scientists, especially geneticists. No, there ( Read more... )

This piece is heart wrenching. All of the imagery was unbelievable. Dying people not only piled on beds, but on floors. Don’t forget the woman “kneeling by the side of a bed, embodying anguish and despair, rocking violently back and forth” who was “crazed by loss, watching the nurse firmly place a sheet over the body of an infant and take the ( Read more... )

“Letter to America” by Margaret Atwood is written as a letter addressed to a friend. The friend being America of course. Right from the beginning she really focuses in on her own generation, making references to “Mickey Mouse”, ” Huckleberry Finn”, and “Elvis” all iconic celebrities from her early years. Other references such as her analogy of ( Read more... )