TOW #6 - While other countries turn Syrian refugees away, Canadians are taking them home

In this article published by the Washington Post, Robin Shulman illustrates the positive effects of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's new Syrian refugee admittance has on families fleeing conflict. He shows the readers how Syrian families struggling to have a normal life have flocked to Canada to escape violence and their new experiences in the face of a foreign country. Writer and reporter Robin Shulman accurately captures the struggles that these families face in order to adapt to a new environment. Shulman primarily writes for those unaccustomed to having refugees living near them, in order to illustrate that these people are not much different from everybody else. In the midst of Donald Trump's anti-Islamophobia, Trudeau's admittance of over 25,000 Syrian refugees is a slap in the face for Trump and his supporters. Shulman uses pathos to appeal to the readers emotions. For instance, in the passage, he writes, " The girls, who are wearing snow pants and bulky winter boots for the first time, are struggling to walk. They laugh and grab each other’s hands." (Shulman). Pathos is evidently shown in this quote because it portrays little girls, which evokes empathy from readers, which helps him achieve his purpose of showing how Syrians are not dissimilar to everyone else. They also have families, children to take care of, and just like everyone else, they also seek peace and a place to flourish  and live. The fact that the girls are struggling to walk show how young they are, how innocent. All these features appeal to the reader's emotions and help the author convey his message. Through pathos, Shulman actively achieves his purpose of showing the audience that Syrian refugees desire the same thing that everyone else does. 

TOW #5 - KUWTK Season 2 Poster

On October 21st, 1980, a legend was born in the name of Kim Kardashian. It wasn't until the early 2000s in which her name finally became known. As a result of her growing popularity and stardom, Kim decided to maximize her Kardashian empire and star in her own reality show, titled Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Kim is now a mega-module celebrity, proud business owner, star in over 3 reality shows in addition to making appearances in many other series, and wife to modern-day prophet, Kanye West.
In this promo poster, Kim's purpose is to attract viewers to her show. Her main target for the show are young people, most likely in the 20s, most likely because of all the partying and cursing that she, a 20 year-old, does during the show.
Being a promoter, Kim and her team come up with a catchy slogan to attract viewers. Using alliteration, which appeals to ones senses, "Keeping up with the Kardashians" and "Kicking it with the Kardashians" certainly lures viewers in. In addition to figurative language, the diction used on the slogan is put for persuasive purposes. "Crazy, Sexy, Fun" is creative diction meant to appeal to potential viewers to make them curious into what the Kardashian reality is really like. Using all these persuasive rhetoric devices to attract viewers, the Kardashian clan achieves their purpose of gaining popularity for their new TV show.

TOW #4 - The Shame of Fat-Shaming

In Gina Kolata's hard-hitting exposé titled The Shame of Fat Shaming, she explores the rejection and disapproval that obese Americans face every day. In the text, Kolata illustrates the ripples caused when high-influencing authorities make such fat-shaming remarks. Gina Kolata is a reporter at The Times, focusing primarily on science and medicine. Her primary purpose is to illustrate educate the reader on the devastating effects of fat-shaming to ultimately convince the audience to stop bullying. In recent events such as the Republican Presidential Nominee's scathing remarks about the obese, Kolata feels it important to bring the fat-shaming issue to light. Writing for the American public, she uses logos to illustrates how wide-spread the problem is among today's youth, “Dr. Puhl and her colleagues asked fat kids who was doing the bullying. It turned out that it was not just friends and classmates but also teachers and — for more than a third of the bullied — parent” (Kolata 1). By incorporating professional research into her writing, Kolata establishes credibility with her readers, which will make them take into account what she is actually saying. In addition to logos, Kolata also uses pathos to appeal to the reader's emotions in order to encourage them to end fat-shaming, “They shame and blame themselves for being fat and have the same sorts of thoughts about other people who are obese”. In showing how fat people often self-hate due to outside influences. Kolata's diction in words such as “shame” and “blame” evoke empathy from the reader, which serves her purpose in ending fat shaming. Thus, Kolata achieves her purpose of explaining and attempting to end fat shaming through using logos and pathos.