Article of the Week 10/3: IRB 1

For this quarter's IRB, I am reading "The Man Who Made Wall Street" by Dan Rottenberg. Rottenberg used to write a financial column in the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1978 to 1997. Another financial history book he wrote was "Revolution on Wall Street." Many years ago Rottenberg served as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. This section introduces the biography and Rottenberg discusses briefly about how Pierpoint (J.P.) Morgan was credited with the exponential growth of Wall Street, but he would not have done so if it were not for Anthony Drexel who mentored him for many years. He also talks about how Drexel's father Francis made a living as a painter and eventually moved on to currency exchanged. This influenced Anthony to enter the financial industry. He wrote this with the idea of educating people about a little known man in the financial industry who was one of the builders of Wall Street today, but many do not know about him besides his affiliation with Drexel University. Rottenberg wrote this book for educating many researchers and historians about Drexel and his contributions to Wall Street. His audience is the researchers and historians about Wall Street and those who are interested in the origins of finance. He accomplished his purpose by using full detail in stories and developments of Drexel's life. He also uses vivid imagery to show what 19th century America was like and how this impacted the financial industry.

Article of the Week 9/26: Economic News Cycle

This weeks visual is a political cartoon is from Joe Heller of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. The cartoon depicts an average looking man, probably American, watching a news channel that discusses the new piece of bad news that arises each day. It is satirical because at the end of the week the TV says, "So the week ends with nothing but bad news. Coming Monday, how will the market react?" This pokes fun at the economic news because it is the same news that happens for an extended period of time. The purpose he was trying to convey was that the economy has been in a cycle where, companies do poorly on the market, the have to employees, the government then spends money on the newly unemployed, and the debt continues to rise, thus leading back to a declining market. He is speaking to all Americans in the government, business, and the public, he tells them that everything wrong is a cause-and-effect and that it will continue to get worse until we hit bottom or try and fix one the failing areas. He uses repetition to show that each day a new piece of bad information is brought up. The man in his drawing also shows the same depressed look while watching the news. He also uses cause and effect by referring back to the previous day's news. I think he accomplished his purpose because he was able to show a link between all of the days and creating a cycle.

AOW 9/19: Word's with Strangers

This week's article comes from Meg Wolitzer of the New York Times.  Wolitzer wrote this article recently, also during this time "Words with Friends" has been one the most popular games on Apple's App Store. Although the game has been out for a few months this article was written about the mental aspects of different people who play the game. There are people who rarely talk or those who want to learn about their opponent. The purpose of this article was to state an opinion of playing strangers in online Scrabble as well as friends and family. Wolitzer talks about one game she was playing someone from Galveston, TX, she uses imagery and imagination to describe what her opponent could looks like and what he is doing at the present moment. She uses imagery to describe how her old, traditional games of Scrabble with the old mahogany board and the turntable board. She appeals to peoples emotions when she talks about her friendly games of Scrabble with her cousin. She uses diction to show her emotion about the games of Scrabble she plays. "And then a message comes up that so-and-so “has put you in their no-play list.” Again I feel slapped." When she says she feels slapped, it is an insult to her and slap is a powerful word that shows her distaste of her opponent. She talks to her audience about her stories and that those stories can be related to the common person who plays "Words with Friends" with family or friends. She accomplished her purpose by connecting with her audience by using multiple anecdotes and imagery to convey her ideas.

IRB Choice MP 1

The Man Who Made Wall Street: Anthony J. Drexel and the Rise of Modern Finance Written by Dan Rottenberg

Article of the Week 9/12: 9/11 Threat

This week's article is written by Susan Candiotti of CNN.com and discusses the heightened security and safety precautions that are taking place in New York and Washington DC. She writes about the discovery of intelligence founded by key U.S officials and from the raid at Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. Revenge is also discussed from al-Qaeda since the U.S Military captured Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda officials in the past few months. This piece was written to describe and discuss the precautions and sources for a possible 9/11 anniversary attack. She uses a variety of government sources to prove credibility of the topic and possibility of a threat. Many officials, including Vice-President Biden, have spoken about the intercepted communications from Pakistan and other sources, "'This is the first ... credible piece of information we've gotten,' Biden told NBC's 'Today' show." She uses these specific quotes to tell her audience that the government has found key information regarding a possible attack and they are taking the proper steps to prevent an attack from doing horrific damage. She tells the general public that the government is controlling the situation by declaring it a priority for the weekend. She uses euphemisms to calm the reader down and does not try to create panic among the audience. "No changes have been made to the president's schedule for the weekend," this quote assures the reader that the President is not concerned with the possible threat of an attack and will continue his schedule activities for the weekend. The audience feels secure because how Candiotti shows the President's confidence in his safety without saying anything about how the possible threat could change his plans. Candiotti demonstrated her purpose by explaining what was going on this weekend with the threat of an attack, but also reassured her audience that the government has taken precautionary steps to keep both New York and Washington DC safe.