A Modest Journal (10)

I would not have know that Swift was kidding at all if I hadn’t been told so before. It may easily be that the language of his day sounds a lot more serious than I am used to in the present, but I also think Swift had an incredible dry sense of humor. This proposal is effective because it really makes the reader think; his solution is so absurdly ridiculous, so there has to be something better, which makes the reader think.

Swift structures his piece like we talked about in class. He introduces and explicitly defines the problem, the poverty and famine in Ireland, and he even paints a portrait of the infants and beggar children on the streets. He then proceeds to introduce his solution, and give examples as to how it would work, why it is effect, and silences his dissenters. Swift points out that eating babies would get rid of unwanted children, give mothers a source of income, and thus more rights because they could provide a commodity. It would provide another meat to be eaten by those with money, and could be considered a delicacy. It would take a lot of poor children off the street also, and prevent such insane increases in population. Swift supports his solution by claiming it will rid the country of papists, give poor people something of value, help the economy of Ireland, relieve mothers of the burden of caring for their children, make new delectable dishes for taverns, and help the institution of marriage.

I think this piece of effective because of its serious tone. As with all satires, the more ridiculous the solution the better, as long as it is presented with evidence and sincerity, which Swift has. He makes his solution sound like the only option left because all the others don’t work, or don’t quite have the positive effects his do. The thought of eating babies is so out of the question for most people, they read this and go “what the helllllllll” and start thinking of a million better ideas. I think the purpose of satire is to really raise awareness about a problem or situation that is going on. Swift’s famous proposal did just this.

His satire was meant to mock the British government who hadn’t done anything to deal with the crisis in Ireland. Subtle digs in the piece really expressed the tension between the two nationalities.

Journal Nine

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/08/news/economy/Pennsylvania_Corbett_budget/index.htm

The topic of the crazy spending cuts proposed by PA’s governor really gets my attention because it directly affects me, as a full-tuition paying student at Penn State. Governor Corbett is looking for ways to cut spending to deal with PA’s atrocious $4 billion in debt, which I completely agree with, but I don’t agree with cutting so much from education. I agree that we could deal with some cuts to school budgets, but getting Penn State’s funding slashed in half is going to make tuition payment a lot more painful for me. People will still go to college, its almost a necessity now, but a lot more might have to chose community colleges. I think it would be better to examine the spending of individual schools and make cuts at that level. For example, my high school district is in major debt, but the school boards makes about $100,000 plus bonuses, and they get a pay raise every year. Cuts can be made there without affecting the students.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/19/60minutes/main4813571.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

This article deals with the issue of raising the drinking age to 18, the pros and cons and possible effects. College presidents signed a petition the other year saying that the 21 limit for drinking wasn’t working, it was just causing more teens to drink in an unsafe way, as under the radar as possible, and also causing more alcohol related deaths. Opposing arguments state that this would lead to a lot more incidents of drunk driving fatalities, as statistics prove. I agree with lowering the drinking age, but not because I’m a raging underage alcoholic. I think that once 21 comes around, people drink more responsibly because they are out in public doing it: in the bars with a lot of people, or out in clubs. An 18 drinking age would put more responsibility on kids, and would publicize their drinking more, therefore controlling it. 911 calls because of binge drinking might be more frequent, just because people wouldn’t be so terrified of getting an underage.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/10/eveningnews/main6666078.shtml

K2 is a scary new drug designed to give the effect of marijuana, but is in fact a lot more dangerous than it. It’s a legal substance, and has sent many many more people to the hospital than marijuana has. Overdosing on this drug is easy, while there is no real research on overdosing on marijuana. These dangerous replacement drugs are made as legal subsitutes of marijuana, meant for the true addict. I think that legalizing marijuana would take care of these untested sub drugs. I also think that legalizing marijuana and taxing the crap out of it would make the government a decent sum of money they could use to start paying off our trillions in debt. It would also save money and prison space.

The Bottle Vs. Can: Journal Eight

Bottles vs. Can

The glass bottle: an object begging to be held. The long elegant shape fits comfortably into the hand; it is not so small one has to squeeze it, nor to big you have to recruit the help of another hand. The neck is the perfect place to grab when trying to carry more than one bottle at a time for transportation purposes. And the mouth of the bottle fits perfectly into the mouth of a person, the only problems being the act of suction and the vacuum created in the bottle as consumption takes place. The art of leaving a little gap for air to flow is a fine one. Drinking ends with a satisfying chink as the bottle meets the table.

The aluminum can: the glass bottle’s baby cousin, who isn’t really so young anymore. The body is also an easy shape for the hand to grip, though sometimes can feel too short and lead to hand overhang, which makes one feel as though they have bear paws. The can opens with a crisp sound, which entices the thirst, and the placement of the opening and the lip of the can fit comfortably into the mouth. It leads the consumer to leaving a gap for air to fill the can as the beverage leaves it. The hollow ding as an empty can hits the table sounds wimpy, but the crunch of crushing said can is animalistically rewarding.