TOW #7 How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

Intro to How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

People often think that becoming a vegetarian means adopting a bland, monotonous diet that exclusively grains and vegetables. However Mark Bittman, New York Times Food journalist and author of How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food, constantly contradicts this line of thought by producing articles and recipes that highlight the clear benefits of vegetarianism, as well as its exciting palate. In the intro of his book How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, Bittman uses exemplification and non-judgemental tone to introduce vegetarianism to his readers as beneficial and painless practice that they should incorporate into their lives.

Many people incorporate becoming a vegetarian with a lack of variety and options, but Bittman contradicts this with exemplification. He writes that his book "contains everything you need to know to cook every vegetable, fruit, grain, legume, and dairy product you can readily find," as well as "everything from plain rice, to things you may have never heard of, like seitan." By including several examples, Bittman displays that being a vegetarian does not mean your diet is revered for vegetables, and can include a variety of delicious and exotic foods. Bittman also uses exemplification to explain the benefits of vegetarianism. He explains that not only is it healthier, but leads to better treatment of animals and a reduced environmental impact. Bittman exemplifies the variety, as well of the benefits of vegetarianism, making the practice appeal more to his readers.

Despite all of the political and environmental issues surrounding vegetarianism, Bittman has a reserved and nonjudgemental tone. Assumedly most of his readers are mothers, who may feel like switching to vegetarian may be a hassle in their already busy lives. He writes that he is not trying to convince them to become a full fledged vegetarianism, but that they can incorporate meals with less meat into their lives. This approach is likely to resonate with mothers, instead of one that accuses them of feeding unhealthy, meatfilled meals to their children, an approached used by many vegan and vegetarian advocates.

Through exemplification and a non-judgemental tone, Bittman successfully advocates vegetarianism as a healthy and easy practice that can be incorporated into any lifestyle

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, by Mark Bittman, the man who partially inspired me to become a vegetarian

TOW #6 The American Pageant

The American Pageant is an American History text book, written by David Kennedy, Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Bailey. The American Pageant is used widely across the United States for American History courses, including Wissahickon High School! Though mostly commonly used for AP and IB courses, the book is written at an eighth grade reading level, and is generally very easy to understand. The purpose of The Pageant, as is the purpose of any textbook, is to provide a mostly unbiased and interesting approach to history for a student, who assumedly has minimal to no prior knowledge of the subject.
The Pageant does it's best to be interesting, but it is still a textbook, and can be rather dry at times. The authors try to intersperse descriptive language to make the history seem more narrative. For example, in the chapter I was assigned to read the week (Chapter 8), the book describes General William Howe's personality: "Howe did not relish the rigors of winter campaigning. He evidently found more agreeable the bedtime company of his mistress, the wife of one of his subordinates-- a scandal which American satirists had a good deal of ribald fun." (152) While describing the affairs of General Howe does not directly help The Pageant achieve it's purpose (in the grand scheme of the American Revolution, Howe's scandal is relatively unimportant, and it is unlikely to show up on an AP exam), including this tidbit adds some drama to the text. It is an interesting fact that is likely to catch the reader's attention and stick in their brain. Subsequently, it can help serve as background information, and aide understanding of more important aspects of the text, for example, since I know Howe was inattentive and lazy, I can infer why his military strategy was rather ineffective. This narrative tone is used throughout chapters in an attempt to make the content more interesting for students.
The American Pageant also helps to alleviate boredom in the long text through its layout. The chapters are all further broken down into sections, allowing the reader to track their progress and pace themselves throughout the chapter. Also several pictures and primary source documents are included to break up the text, and make pages less intimidating with less text. I think this practice is only somewhat successful in making the textbook more interesting. While it does help to have a visual aide, I think many times students will skip over pictures and primary source documents in order to be done reading sooner.
The American Pageant is not an atrocity, but it is still a textbook. It tries its best to be interesting and unbiased, but is still lengthy and glosses over several tragedies. The book provides great background information, but with history it is always important to consider multiple sources. In APUSH we also read Zinn, which is a completely different approach to history. Neither is correct or incorrect, but as a reader one must be conscious of the purpose and context of the text before making conclusions about anything.

TOW #5 Teen Vogue Ad

Teen Vogue Ad

This advertisement appeared in the October issue of Teen Vogue. The ad is for Macy's Department store, particularly the Junior's or Women's Department. Found in a popular fashion magazine, it is pretty safe to assume that the purpose of the ad is to entice young women to shop at Macy's. The audience, someone who reads Teen Vogue, is obviously very fashion and trend conscious, and would want to recreate the looks they found between the pages of the magazines. The advertisement claims that they can do so at Macy's by saying: "The hottest trends. The coolest brands. The place you want to be."
The ad is also very manipulative in its layout. In an ad-heavy magazine like Teen Vogue, readers are likely to skip over ads to get to content, especially overly-wordy ads. However this ad is similar in layout to many of the photoshoots found in the magazine. It's simplistic format is likely to draw in a reader who is flipping through, who may mistake the ad for an article. By the time the reader realizes that it is an ad, they will have already viewed the ad in its entirety.
The ad also takes advantage of of technology in its delivery to extend the advertisement beyond the page. At the bottom of the page there are several icons, announcing which social media sites Macy's is connected on, inviting girls who view the ad to like them on Facebook, or pin this look on Pintrest. They also offer a url: "maceys.com/mstylelab" so that readers can "shop more looks" . By using social media and the internet, Macy's is able to advertise more than just the dress pictured in the ad.
The dress pictured costs $89 dollar, according to the label next to the dress. While this initally might seem pricey, and therefore actually do the opposite of the ad's purpose by driving people away, it is important to consider the context. This ad is found in a magazine filled with designer clothes that are often upwards of $300. By juxtaposing this dress and the designer clothing, it seems like an attractive affordable price for a dress.
All together, the ad knows it's audience, and uses that knowledge, to deliver the ad in an effective way.

TOW #4 IRB Post 1

Though still in the beginning, I am thoroughly enjoying My Life in France by Julia Child. Julia Child wrote this book with help from her grandnephew, who is a writer. Though written close to, and completed after her death, the book chronicles the happiest time in Julia's life. So far, I have read about how she moved to France with her husband, who had a job improving French and American relations after the war with visual art. She knew almost no French, and had never really been one for adventurous cooking and eating, however she discovered a love for fine French cuisine, that blossomed into a passion.
Julia Child expresses this passion through her descriptive tone. One of my favorite passages is when she has her very first meal in France, an eyeopener for her. She writes, "Then came the salade verte laced with a lightly acidic vinaigrette. And I tasted my first real baguette-- a crisp brown crust giving way to a slightly chewy, rather loosely textured interior, with a faint reminder of wheat and yeast in the odor and taste. Yum!" (19) My mouth starts to water! All of Child's descriptions of food are very vivid, like imagery for the taste buds (is there a name for such a rhetorical device). Not only does it convey her passion, but it also appeals to ethos. Julia Child is a renowned chef, and it is very evident through her delicious descriptors.
Also in her descriptions Child infuses French words and phrases. Like in the description above salade verte. Though she could have easily just said "green salad" using the French term provides a more authenticity to her writing. She uses French terms not only in descriptions of food but also of her everyday life. I think that sometimes parts of meaning of words can get lost in translation. Using French terms helps convey some of the French culture that Julia Child loves so much. I also really enjoy this because I love learning about French language and culture.
This book is perfect for me because it combines two of my loves: French and food. I can't wait to read on and discover more of Julia Child's Life in France.