TOW #24 - Text

In today's society, STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) education is often prioritized over areas within the humanities. These are considered successful career areas because they are money-makers, while an education in the humanities is associated with unemployment and lack of income. This article from the Huffington Post, written by Carolyn Gregoire, challenges these stereotypes by demonstrating how education in the humanities is important and leads to success. First, the author points out that future income is not necessarily the best way to determine what is a good major, and that it is more important for students to study what they love as they will be more likely to work to success in that area. Then Gregoire spends the rest of the article supporting her argument with 10 examples of well-known figures who were humanities majors in college and who have since been very successful. Some of the people she cites include 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney (English major), former CEO of HP Carly Fiorina (Medieval History and Philosophy major), famed author J.K.Rowling (French and Classics major), director Steven Spielberg (English major), and host of "The Daily Show" Jon Stewart (Psychology major). For each example, Gregoire included a picture of the person and a brief education and career history. Some of the people ended up in successful careers very different from what they actually studied in college. As Gregoire shows, the background education in an area of humanities gives students and wider experience base to build on later in life, one that can be applicable to many different areas. Philosophy major and co-founder of Flickr Steward Butterfield, another featured person, is quoted as saying "'...if you have a good background in what it is to be human, an understanding of life, culture and society, it gives you a good perspective on starting a business, instead of an education purely in business,'" (Gregoire par. 24). This quote helps to demonstrate how an education in the humanities can be important and useful no matter what career a student may end up in, while other career specific skills can be picked up in later training. Gregoire uses these ten people as living and, as the title says, "irrefutable" evidence that a humanities education is important to the future success of a student.

TOW #23 - Visual

Cartoonist Grant Snider depicts the rise of the book of the future: really the regular paper books that we already have. In the nine panels, Snider describes how e-readers would, in a futuristic society, inspire the need to revert back to normal books. It makes an ironic statement by parodying the modern excitement of the e-reader. Though most people still read regular books, the e-reader fits into our generation of excessive technology. At this time we are continuing to develop technology, but the cartoon describes how we will be unsatisfied by that technology and and will "create" a new one in going back to our old "device". It parodies the promotion of a new technology by exemplifying the issues of an e-reader, including ones about which people regularly complain. It proposes a solution to that problem by presenting the book of the future, which is really the book of the past. This irony continues to be played out through the cartoon by noting how the book solves the problems of the e-reader in ways that we have already used and taken for granted. Overall, the cartoon amusingly achieves its purpose by reminding people that we already have what we need with our old "technology". Though in the last panel, the cartoon concedes that e-readers are more convenient for travel (especially by jet-pack, in the potential future) it ultimately reminds the audience that while e-readers are useful and good for somethings, in our excitement over them and need for technology, we should not forget the merits of a good, old-fashioned book.

IRB #22 - Text

The Onion claims that you "are the center of everything" (par. 7) in their article and cleverly demonstrates the idea of narcissism in a satirical way by using drastic juxtaposition.

Throughout the writing, there are numerous examples of when you are compared with other people to illustrate how overly significant you are. Samuel Lerman, the study's lead author, specifically claims that "you are, in short, the only person who matters. The rest of us do not matter" (par. 4). Lerman further claims that while your words are "highly desired" and "desperately needed," other people's words are plain "monotony" and "meaninglessness," and that "what other people think or experience is completely irrelevant when compared to even the most minor thoughts and experiences in your everyday life" (par. 8). The juxtapositions used here are clearly exaggerated. No matter how important you may be, it wrong to say that the opinions of others are completely irrelevant, and that your existence is the most significant existence in the world. The juxtaposition in the article doesn't actually make you feel better about yourself; it allows you to question whether you are truly important to that drastic extent.
The Onion's article takes the quote "you are the hero of your own story" to a whole new level. By using drastic juxtaposition and overly positive diction, The Onion ingeniously attacks the idea of narcissism indirectly by placing the audience, you, as the main character of the article, because everyone knows that they cannot get enough of your ever-so-"gripping" story.