TOW #11

Time to end Child Marriage by Jacqui Hunt CNN

The following article comes from CNN.com and is an in depth look at child marriage and its worldwide effect. Great psychological and physical strains placed on the child brides are exposed and investigated. A pattern of rape, force feeding, sex trafficking, and female genital mutilation are usually present before marriage for these child brides. A lifetime of abuse awaits child brides and as a global community we are not doing much to help. Countries such as Kenya, Morocco, and numerous Middle Eastern countries have no or no strict laws protecting children from child marriage while other countries like Egypt and Iran are lowering the marriage age. The opinions expressed in this article are those of Jacqui Hunt, London director of Equality Now, an international human rights organization, which aims to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world. Jacqui Hunt runs the London office of Equality Now.  A lawyer who trained and worked with international law firm, Linklaters, she started her professional career with Amnesty International, working in campaigning and research at the United Nations and in press and special projects.  She joined the Board of Equality Now in 1992, the year of its founding, and was later asked to start the London office, which she opened in 2004. Her article is obviously written in such a way as to convince her audience of the horrors behind child marriage and support causes like hers against it. Her audience being readers and patrons of CNN.com interested in world news and humanity news. Facts, reasoning, and a tone of responsibility allow Hunt to express the tragedy of child marriage. I enjoyed reading this piece as outlawing child marriage is one of my beliefs but I also appreciated how well it was written. 

IRB Intro Post

Bossypants by Tina Fey is an autobiography and satirical telling of the life of Tina Fey from adolescence to adulthood. One of the first chapters is titled, “All Girls Must Be Everything.”  Fey goes on to list all of the outstanding expectations of women in today's society and environment. After listing and attacking countless examples of these expectations, Fey goes on to connect many of them to specific anecdotes from her life and references to similar experiences. I was surprised to find some gaping truths beneath the funny, and often sarcastic, tone of these first few chapters. The concept of girl-on-girl sabotage really struck me—from when Tina outcasts a young dancer who stole her boyfriend to when she goes behind Donna’s back to steal her desk job. I was surprised to see Tina cross Donna, considering the main thing she learned in that job was “how to be a considerate coworker.” Throughout the text so far the style seems to be that of anecdotes linking past stories and stories from her present life in order to convey a message or theme in ever chapter. Humor, satire, and anecdotes appear to be the formula for this autobiography. For those who are fans of Tina Fey it is particularly gratifying to see the roots of many scenes from 30 Rock and other works Fey had collaboration with. I am looking forward to seeing more of these real life experience that made it into Fey's works such as Mean Girls. The overall purpose seems to be the projection of female empowerment, perseverance, acceptance of all peoples, and life lessons. It seems like a very promising read.

TOW #10

Homless Polar Bear "Need more ice not oil"

The above picture was found on Google images and is named homeless polar bear "need more ice not more oil". The growing necessity of the government's participation in the effort against Global Warming is the issue being addressed. The "polar bear"shown is a protestor dressed in a slim, dirty polar bear suit in a trench coat holding a sign that reads "Need more ice not more oil". The protestor is standing in front of the capital building in Washington D.C and is protesting for more environmental support by Congress. The polar bear is shown as dirty and homeless looking to represent the melting ice caps and vast loss of the creature's habitat. The detriment to the environment caused by pollution has a direct correlation to the fate of this species. Global Warming, or as conservatives call it, climate change, has melted thousands of miles of ice that the polar bear inhibits. Need more ice not oil is a direct shot at the priorities of Congress and the American government itself. This protestor points out that climate change is bigger than corporate greed of the oil industry or fueling a power source that is bad for the environment as well. By doing this it forces values and morality into the issue surrounding environmental conservation. It demands Congress to ask which is more important, the Earth's well being, or fuel and profit.  This is an appeal to pathos, and through allusion to a homeless person, condescending Congress' priorities, and candid sign, empathy and support of enviormental conservation is established.

TOW (what should be) 9

Muting Marijuana’s High: Pot Without the Impairment by Maia Szalavitz Time Magazine

Imagine a world where regular marijuana smokers live without the memory loss, reduced motivation, and craving of the drug. Researchers, in light of Colorado's legalization of marijuana, have conducted a study that has found a way to block the THC in marijuana. Maia Szalavitz is a neuroscience journalist and is described as TIME Magazine as obsessed with addiction, love, evidence-based living, empathy and pretty much everything related to brain and behavior. Szalavitz has been awarded the American Psychological Associations Division 50 Award for Contributions to the Addictions and the Media Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. She uses examples, facts, and information about the drug itself in order to show the positive possible aspects of marijuana use without the high. The article goes on to describe the study, which was published in Science, the researchers found that pregnenolone is part of a feedback loop that regulates the the brain’s cannabinoid receptors, which bind to marijuana’s main active ingredient, THC. Mice given high doses of THC produced more pregnenolone, and this ultimately blunted the response of the cannabinoid receptors, preventing them from producing a high. Because pregnenolone affects cannabinoid receptors indirectly, it did not block all of the effects of THC. But it may inhibit all of the known effects associated with misuse of the drug, like memory problems and craving for more. The target audience for this piece would be marijuana users and those who support the legalization of marijuana. Moreover, you could say the audience targeted are those interested in the legalization of marijuana in general, or those interested in the economy or politics. The legalization of marijuana has such a far reaching scope it touches nearly every aspect of American structure. From the hemp industry and taxation boost to the economy and controversy in politics the readers of this article could be endless as to the demographic.