MSNBC Political Cartoon: Week of 9/14

This political cartoon, posted on MSNBC last week, depicts a cartoonist's point of view of the Romney campaign. As you can see, the presidential candidate is portrayed as a robot being programmed by elephants, or his campaign advisors. His strategists are having trouble setting up the Romney-bot, illustrated by his recent gaffes insulting "government dependents," or so-called 47% of the country. But a breakthrough has been reached, shown by the cord being yanked out of the socket. Overall, this cartoon illustrates the Romney campaign going out of control, and his Republican Party supporters are losing their patience and depleting.

Chris Weyant, the illustrator of this cartoon and long-time cartoonist for The Hill, uses a majority of his cartoons to assess political campaigns and other political events in the news. Around election time every four years, Weyant uses his talents  in drawing satirical cartoons to voice his opinion about political campaigners. The audience for this cartoon is readers of The Hill and other papers or websites that frequently post political cartoons. More specifically, ones who like to laugh at mistakes that presidential nominees make throughout the campaigning process.

One of the devices that I noticed was strongly incorporated into the drawing is the arrangement of each of the elements of the cartoon. For example, when I saw this cartoon in the slideshow on MSNBC.com, the first element that jumped out at me was Romney's face, followed by the "clank, clunk, whirr" indicating that something was not going too well.

Moneyball: Ch. 1-2

Moneyball tells the story of GM Billy Beane and how his low-budget Oakland A’s changed the game of professional baseball in 2002. That year, they tied the Yankees for 2^nd-most wins in the regular season, even though they had a third of the money. This unbelievable efficiency sparked the interest of Michael Lewis, author of the book, who decided to dive into the subject a year later by spending time with the GM of the Blue Jays, who aims to rebuild his team along the same lines as the A's.

The book starts off with the story of Billy Beane himself. In 1980, he is a huge prospect in the MLB draft coming out of high school. Instead of attending Stanford, he decides to be drafted. The story fast-forwards to 2001, where Billy Beane is now GM of the Oakland A's. He and Paul DePodesta, his young assistant hired out of Harvard, are disgusted by how the seasoned scouts pick prospects. It is the 2002 draft when the two begin to shake things up in scouting meetings. They look for performance-related factors instead of personal features.

The purpose of this book is to inform baseball fans how the 2002 MLB season changed the scouting game forever. A rhetorical element used is the description of frequent temper tantrums that Beane has. They grab the attention of the characters and the readers. Since I am only on chapter three of the book, I will soon find out whether Lewis accomplishes his purpose.  

  

NY Times Article: For Young Athletes, Good Reasons to Break the Fast-Food Habit

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/for-young-athletes-good-reasons-to-break-the-fast-food-habit/?ref=health

Every summer I work with kids at a summer day camp by being their counselor and supervising their sports, art, music, and other activities throughout the day. When lunchtime comes around, many of the campers order bagged lunches that the camp provides. Inevitably, the most popular lunch is always pizza.

Believe it or not, this may not be the healthiest choice for the kids' developing bodies. This article discusses certain facts about eating habits among athletes spanning from 6-years-old to high school-level sports. In addition, it provides studies showing the lack of fruits and vegetables that are needed for more reliable energy as well as how eating habits in childhood affect decisions in many years to come. Sindya Bhanoo, the author of this article, is a journalist who has written a few articles for the Times over the past year. She received a Masters in Journalism from Berkeley in 2008.

This text is written in reference to present-day United States because it is the home of obesity at its best, where over 30% of the adult population is overweight. The purpose is to show the article's audience, which are parents of athletic children, that eating healthy has its benefits for young athletes, both on and off the field. The author uses logos to support her argument with scientific studies and facts. In my opinion, Bhanoo elegantly explains to her readers that eating healthy has its advantages by convincing them that it increases performance in sports, as conveyed in the title.