TOW #6 - Maryland and the Marriott

Jonathan O’Connell is a reporter for The Washington Post. For the past five years, he has been writing about land use and the connection between government and community, as well urban and economic development. In his writing, O’Connell shows the influence that corporations have over U.S. states today. Specifically, Maryland was recently under pressure to keep the Fortune 500 Company Marriott in their state lines because there was question as to whether Marriott would leave or not. Currently, Maryland cannot afford to lose Marriott because the corporation helps to fuel Maryland’s economy by providing thousands of jobs. Also, Marriott’s big name looks good and Maryland officials want to keep it in the state. O’Connell writes The trap that causes states to give millions to corporations like Marriott primarily for the people of Maryland, who would want to know how their economy can be affected. O’Connell uses an anecdote and state government officials’ statements to inform Maryland’s residents of the influence that Marriott has over the state.

O’Connell accomplishes his purpose well. To start the article, he uses an anecdote and ties it directly into the context and topic. He writes,

In 1999, then-Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening was under pressure from J.W. “Bill” Marriott Jr. for millions of dollars to keep the hotel giant Marriott International in the state. Wrestling with how to respond, Glendening stepped into the Annapolis office of fellow Democrat Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., who offered some advice. “He said, ‘Listen, you don’t want to be the governor who lost Marriott to Virginia,’ " Glendening recalled recently.

O’Connell then writes that “17 years later, nearly the exact same thing has happened.” Having the history of the interactions between Marriott and the State gives Maryland residents a better understanding of what is happening and what the likely outcome is. The anecdote also gives a clear understanding of how corporations influence the state and gives insight into the way state government officials think when making decisions. Simply, Marriott’s stature gives it the power to influence the state. With the anecdote, O’Connell uses statements made by state government officials to show Marriott’s influence. When talking about Marriott’s possible departure, David Ianucci, who helped decide the deal with Marriott says, “It was something we had to do… There would have been a fallout of the state’s business climate, reputation had they left.” O’Connell’s use of statements gives a clear example how Marriott effects the state of Maryland and why it cannot leave. Marriott’s departure would greatly impact Maryland in a most likely negative way, and state officials did not want to be responsible for it.

TOW #5 - Double Solitude by Donald Hall

Donald Hall is a critically acclaimed poet, writer and editor. His writing often exemplifies his love for nature and peace. In Double Solitude, Hall gives the reader his perspective on solitude and how his love of it has affected his life. In Double Solitude, Hall is 87 and reflecting on his life and his marriages. This essay was written for people who choose to be alone; to let them know how the solitude that they love will take a toll on them in the long run. Hall effectively conveys this message with a couple of rhetorical strategies. Using repetition and heart-warming irony, Donald Hall lets solitude lovers know how he felt after a life of solitude, in order to prevent them from feeling the same way.

Throughout the essay, Hall uses repetition to draw emphasis to his love of solitude. In the start of the essay, Hall writes, “I spend my days alone… and lie back in the enormous comfort of solitude.” Later after he details his marriage and divorce with his first wife he writes, “For five years I was alone again, but without the comfort of solitude.” Hall’s reiteration of the “comfort of solitude” gives the audience an understanding of how Hall views solitude. His repetition lets his fellow solitude lovers relate to him while it allows other readers to have sympathy for him. After his use of repetition throughout his essay, Hall reveals his purpose with irony. After he tells the reader of the “double solitude” he shared with his second wife Jane, before she died, Hall writes, “Last January I grieved that she would not be beside me as I died.” Hall puts heavy emphasis on the comfort of solitude and then writes that he does not find that comfort in the end, and that he wishes he was with his wife. The ironic shift in Hall’s perspective unveils his purpose and shows his deep regret.

TOW #4 - IRB Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Ta-Nehisi Coates is an African-American,  award winning writer and educator. He grew up in West Baltimore and studied at Howard University. Coates primarily addresses cultural, political, and social issues in the U.S. In the first half of Between the World and Me, Coates begins his letter to his son and attempts to delve into the unanswerable question: “How do I live free in this black body?” (12). The book is a letter to his son David, who is becoming aware of the tragedies many young black boys like him  face. Coates writes in order to help his son start his own journey of investigation of the answer to his question and also to enlighten his son and others of the history of African Americans. To do this, Coates tells his own story. While Coates primarily writes to his son, he also writes to anyone who can relate, and those who seek more information in their own investigation for answers. In order to enlighten his son on the plight of African American people, Coates uses emotional anaphora and thought provoking metaphors.

When detailing his memories of watching videos in grammar school of the Civil Rights Movement, he writes, “The black people in these films seemed to love the worst things in life—love the dogs that [rip] their children apart… love the men who raped them… love the children who spat on them” (32). Coates’s repeated us the word “love” emphasizes the number of troubling things in the lives of African Americans. It puts emphasis on how ingenuine the video seemed. Also, the irony between the word “love” and the negative event after it creates a depressed mood in the reader. The combination of the emphasis and the mood created gives Coates’s son a feeling similar to what Coates felt in grammar school. The combination allowed his son to feel the history rather than just learn it. In order to help create a vivid picture of the past, when describing his experiences in West Baltimore, Coates writes, “North and Pulaski was not an intersection but a hurricane, leaving only splinters and shards in its wake” (22). His tone and use of metaphor gives his son a more genuine account of what life was like for him. Coates does not want to sugar coat his stories because they weren’t sugarcoated when he was experiencing them. The raw realness of Coates’s account even further allows his son and others to understand the history.