Quick Blog 1/13/14

It is ok to love an object less for what it is than for what memories are attached to it in a few cases. One of them is death of a loved one. If a loved one dies, there will be sentimental attachment to certain objects of theirs because they belonged to the person, rather than it's value as an object. Like an old shirt could be worthless today in monetary value, but could be priceless to you because it was your late fathers favorite shirt.

Analysis Paper Intro

We all love television shows that can appeal to everybody and all different kinds of emotions. A prime example of the is Benny Medina and Andy Borowitz's (among others), The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Medina and Borowitz convey many emotions and situations that all can relate to through the Banks and Smith families ranging from happiness to crippling sadness. They also appeal to all kinds of audiences of many ages, genders and backgrounds.

Hurricane Katrina Coverage

September 2, 2005. The Tuscaloosa News

In this newspaper front page, there are two separate articles, one titled "Victims Growing Hostile as They Wait," and the other being titled "More Evacuees on Their Way Here."  In the "More Evacuees on Their Way Here" article, all the victims are referred to as "evacuees," which is the more politically accepted term as opposed to "refugee." In that article, the language used to describe the New Orleans residents is pretty neutral.  For example, "Although it's almost impossible to pinpoint exactly how many Hurricane Katrina evacuees will relocate in Tuscaloosa...one thing is for sure- more are coming."  Here, the survivors are labeled "evacuees" and there is not a negative stigma attached to them coming into Tuscaloosa.
In the "Victims Growing Hostile as They Wait" article, the New Orleans residents are only referred to as victims, but this article focuses mainly on the negatives of the people in the aftermath of the disaster.  For example, the author talks about the violence in the city if New Orleans. "New Orleans descended into anarchy Thursday as corpses lay abandoned in street medians, fights and fires broke out, cops turned in their badges and the governor declared war on looters who have made the city a menacing landscape of disorder and fear." Here there is absolutely no mention of any rescue efforts or anything positive at all, all they talk about is how bad the people of New Orleans are.

September 1, 2005. The San Francisco Chronicle

The first thing that you see when you look at this page are the words "Monumental Challenges". Which gives you a negative feel from the start. However, on this page, there is both negative and positive bias. The Hurricane Katrina survivors are referred to as refugees which is the non-accepted term for them. Using the term refugees gave a disrespect to the New Orleans residents. There is also mention of chaos and looting after the storm.  But, there is also a positive focus on this front page. The first section on the right side talks about the relief efforts by President Bush and the U.S. corporations. Also, towards the bottom it says "African American churches throughout California scramble to provide relief". That quote makes people think about the positive influence of the African American community. 

Zeitoun Interview

Picking the Mind of Zeitoun

By: Quinton Garvis

Abdulraham Zeitoun is a man who was born in Syria, and came to the U.S. in 1988 and began working for a contractor in Baton Rouge. There he met a friend that introduced him to Kathy, who would later become his wife. He and Kathy have 4 children total, but not all of them together. He eventually owned his own business, Zeitoun Painting Contractors, LLC. He is a Hurricane Katrina survivor.

Garvis: Zeitoun, you grew up in a household of many strong male role models. Did these family members impact the choices you have made in life? If so, how?

Zeitoun: Yes, my male family members have influenced my life choices a lot. My role models have had a big part of shaping me into the man that I am today. My father Mahmoud had a large influence on how I raised my children. He forbid me from raising my children on the sea (23). So I took a job as a contractor, so now I'm always on land.

Garvis: Yeah, you seem to be very devoted to your job as a contractor. That is the reason that you stayed behind while your family evacuated. Is your job more important to you than your safety?

Zeitoun: No, it isn't, but I do try to be a selfless person. I wanted to stay and help others. Also, I had to secure all of my job sites, because any damage that was done to a property that I was working on I would be accountable for(50). But on top of that I have lived in New Orleans for many years, I have been warned to evacuate many times before when nothing really happened. Just a few downed trees and a day without power, nothing major. So I didn't think much of Katrina.

Garvis: Many people would not have been as brave as you to go out and rescue people and animals. How did it feel to do so much good?

Zeitoun: It felt great to serve a purpose and to help those in need! Being out there paddling around in that canoe reminded me of my father, and of my brother. I wanted to be remembered as a hero.

Garvis: You seemed so calm when the storm hit, while others were panicking. Why were you so calm?

Zeitoun: After the storm hit, it was like nothing I had ever seen before. It was like pure tranquility, everything was still. I felt like an adventurer canoeing through the streets. It was a day with nothing to do (78).

Garvis: What were your biggest concerns on your "adventure" canoeing through the flooded streets of New Orleans?

Zeitoun: Well, one of my concerns was looting when I found a random person on one of my rental properties, but my biggest concern was helping those people in need, like the elderly woman who was trapped in the house on Nashville (100).

Garvis: So, in closing, do you feel that it was the right decision to stay back?

Zeitoun: Looking back, absolutely. It gave me a chance to serve a purpose and help people. It also brought back memories of my days in Syria. There is nothing I would change about what I did and how I did it during and after the storm. Plus I became famous!

(Garvis and Zeitoun laugh)

Garvis: Thank you very much for your time Mr. Zeitoun.

Advertisment Analysis

In this ad, there is a female athlete who is wearing athletic clothes. There are words outlining her body on her back side. The words are almost like a poem or ode to her butt. The poem says that her butt being big is a good thing, while some advertisers say butts are bad. Also it breaks away from the typical model you see in adds with no curves.
This add uses pathos mostly to bring in women with larger butts to buy their product and lets them know that it is good to have curves. Lets them know that they dont have to be shaped like a pencil to be beautiful. It also uses logos through the words near the woman. The woman is basically giving logical reasons as to why it is good to have a big butt. Also using ethos through the woman spokesperson.

In this ad we see a Pepsi with a straw in it looking good, and we see another soda,which looks like Coke, with a straw bending away from it. The straw is fighting not to go into the "Coke" while the other one is happily in the Pepsi.

This ad uses logos with the straw in the Pepsi and the straw fighting to get away from the "Coke" in that it shows the Pepsi being better than Coke. The straw wants to go into the Pepsi because it is better and didn't want to go into the Coke because it is bad. This add is both promoting Pepsi and bashing Coke. This add also uses pathos since the straw looks almost frightened to go into the Coke, which would scare people away from Coke and into the arms of Pepsi since the straw is happily in the can of Pepsi. 

Leon Garvis

For this interview I interviewed my dad. What I found interesting was his response to the question, "what is the biggest challenge to someone your age?" he said that it was "to sustain financial stability". Which made sense that his favorite word was money! But he is a man who is "very straight forward, and what you see is what you get." So he said that in his opinion he isn't persieved too much differently than how he is. But there is no way for him to know other peoples opinions. His advice to a stranger is to "Live a life with no regrets"

These pictures illustrate what is on his chalkboard, "Family, nothing else" which was his answer to the question, what matters? We took these pictures at his parent's house in front of a wall with a bunch of pictures of his family. We thought it would be a good backgroud for the picture because of what we put on his chalkboard.

Pamela Finley

"No matter what I feel on the inside, I have to put on a happy face for my customers."

On the field trip down Nicollet Ave, I interviewed Pamela Finley. She was working at Town's Edge Cleaners & Launderers. During my interview I learned a lot about Pamela that I definitely wouldn't have known before. She really opened up to me and told me a lot about her personal life. She said she was a single parent who just recently found a good job. She was previously unemployed for over a year. She said the biggest challenge to someone her age is having and holding a job. Through out the entire interview everything she said made me think she was a very strong person.

She is also very unselfish, she told me her family (kids) come first above all. Her advice to a random stranger would be "May God bless you" showing she is always thinking of other people's happiness. 

Pamela knows all of her customers by name, which I found very surprising. Most people wouldn't take the time to find out things about their customers and bond with them on a personal level. When I was interviewing her a customer came in and she greeted him by name and asked if his dog was doing okay, knowing that he had been sick.

What I also found interesting was that Pamela told me that no matter what is happening at home or in her personal life, no matter what, she puts on a happy face and tells her customers to "Enjoy your day, which is more personal to me than saying, have a nice day." The second picture illustrates that, her face is frowning which is how she may feel on the inside some days, but her chalkboard reads "Enjoy your day". Even if her day is bad, she does what she can to make someone else's good.

During my interview with Pamela, one word stood out to me. STRONG.