TOW #21: "The Gettysburg Tweet"

          This visual text has displayed one of our well know presidents as just a regular guy standing next to a skateboard and tweeting his Gettysburg Address instead of delivering it in a speech. While this can be seen as just a humorous idea to show the effect of social media on our life, I think it goes a lot deeper than that. The idea of the Gettysburg Address is iconic. Our president shared his words about not wanting those who died to have died in vain and although it was rather short, it is considered one of the greatest speeches in history. While displaying the words as text speech could be considered mildly insulting, it is a great display of the immense power that social media has taken in our society, especially in politics.
          With the presidential election in full swing right now, everyone is talking about Donald Trump's infamous tweets or Mitt Romney's responses. While this would probably not happen face to face if they were standing next to each other, the ability to just tweet out your opinions like they are doing has completely changed the way the elections work now. People can express their extreme dislike or support for candidates before the poll numbers are revealed. President Obama can express his grief when there is a mass shooting, which is extremely similar to what happened with Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
          There's no doubt that social media has completely changed how the world works today, and this is yet another example of how it works. Because of this, I completely agree with their message of how social media can make the more famous politicians seem like regular people with their ability to address the nation through social media.

TOW #20: "The Color of Water" (Part 1)

          Some might describe the color of water as clear, colorless, or something not worth acknowledging. James McBride, author of The Color of Water wrote an autobiography paired with a journal entries from his mother's life. Growing up with a white mother, mixed stepfather that his mom married after his black biological father died, and 15 mixed siblings and half siblings, the issue of race would seem like a big deal to him. But, it wasn't. He would see his black friends' mothers look at him oddly for holding a white woman's hand, but McBride's mother took it all in stride. She had a family that she loved and was proud of, and that's all that mattered. Whenever James would ask his mother about the color of her skin, she would just claim that she was "light-skinned" and change the subject. Yet, as James got older, he realized the enormity of what his mother sacrificed for her family, and he wrote this as a tribute to his mother.
          McBride used historical references to provide context before he would tell a story from his perspective. On page 25, the author mentions how in 1966 at the age of nine, black power had permeated into every aspect of their lives, how Malcolm X had been killed the year before, that afros were now in style, and mentioned the Black Panthers. It gives the readers the chance to "catch up." I personally have never lived in that time period, yet I do know the history, and it helped me to connect more to what I was reading. Another tool that McBride uses to connect to his audience would be similes. He states that his mother's "contradictions crashed and slammed against one another like bumper cars at Coney Island" (McBride 29). This also creates the sense of imagery that helps a reader understand what is happening and is more interesting to read. I think his purpose, other than sharing his story, is to display the message to younger readers that your race was actually an issue and people judged you for it. Using these tools, he is then able to connect to a whole other demographic in his audience, and can therefore teach many young people this valuable lesson.