TOW #13- Big Magic

Elizabeth Gilbert’s writing is known for its authenticity and conversational tone. In her newest book, Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, she continues sharing her unique voice through her perspective about creativity. Gilbert’s personal anecdotes, illustrative similes, and paradoxes, bring her ideas together to reveal the beauty and importance of creativity.

An ongoing pattern that Gilbert does is providing personal anecdotes to demonstrate different concepts regarding the creative process. When she explained the subsection “Done Is Better Than Good,” she offered a representative example of an underdeveloped character from one of her previous books. Gilbert used this personal experience to show perfectionists that if she had waited to write this character just right, the book never would have been published. Another characteristic of Gilbert’s writing is her description through the usage of similes. She effectively does this while explaining her opinion that people don’t need to suffer in order express creativity. Her belief that “creativity grows like sidewalk weeds out of the cracks between our pathologies—not from the pathologies themselves” demonstrates this. Through this comparison, her insights are illustrated and made easier to understand. To conclude the book, Gilbert’s final subsection includes a listing of paradoxes to summarize what she wants her audience to gain from reading Big Magic.  She writes, “Creativity is sacred, and it is not sacred. What we make matters enormously, and it doesn’t matter at all. We toil alone, and we are accompanied by spirits. We are terrified, and we are brave. Art is a crushing chore and wonderful privilege. Only when we are at our most playful can divinity finally get serious with us.” She reminds her audience that there are burdens that come along with creative living, but that the rewards are just as important. Despite all the things that make up creative living, Gilbert’s message is clear. Big Magic wants readers to live creatively by “living a life that is driven more strongly by curiosity than by fear.” 

TOW #12- Don’t Let Kids Play Football

            As our understanding of brain damage in sports continues to expand, the question of whether children should continue being exposed to high-impact contact sports comes into focus. In Bennet Omalu’s editorial “Don’t Let Kids Play Football,” he uses his knowledge as a physician and elements of rhetoric to express why kids should not play football and other high-impact contact sports.

            To begin the essay, he juxtaposes restrictions with cigarette smoking, alcohol, and asbestos to the nonexistent restrictions made in sports. He makes the point that although all of these practices endanger our health, high-impact contact sports are the only ones that we have done nothing about. Through this comparison, he equates the risk factors of playing sports to those of smoking or drinking alcohol. He ends the essay with these examples by reminding the audience that there are legal ages for certain things and that the same should be done about “protecting the organ that defines who we are as human beings.”

            Omalu also uses rhetorical questioning to connect to his parental audience. He emphasizes the health risks that come along with repetitive hits to the head and asks, “Why, then, do we continue to intentionally expose our children to this risk?” As this question causes readers to rethink, Omalu informs us of the severity brain damage can have. After providing scientific evidence to explain the impairment that can be inflicted on this organ, he closes the essay by asking, “However, as a society, the question we have to answer is, when we knowingly and willfully allow a child to play high-impact contact sports, are we endangering that child?” These questions compel parents to think twice about letting their children play.

            Omalu’s ideas are effective and should be taken into great consideration. As his information reveals, our brains our extremely special organs and if protecting them means giving up “old practices in the name of safety and progress,” then these ideas need to be put into effect. 

TOW #11- You Are Not A Sketch

            Eating disorders have become a growing problem, especially in the fashion industry, throughout recent years. In 2013, Star Models, a modeling agency based in Brazil, released ads that each show two side by side images: a picture of a model in a fashion design sketch and a picture of a "real" model. Through this comparison and the words next to these images, this anti-anorexia ad campaign effectively raises awareness.

For each ad, the sketched model is drawn with the exaggerated proportions and long lines typical of fashion illustration. The "real" models to their right are depicted with the exact same proportions. The visual affect is quite disturbing, revealing the scary similarities that are seen on the catwalk during fashion week. The sketches brought to life are nothing more than skin and bones that resemble the unhealthy standards that can pressure women and men. In addition to the images, the visual text is emphasized with the tagline, "You are not a sketch. Say no to anorexia." It sends a powerful message to encourage a healthy body image and to expose the detrimental standards seen in the fashion industry.

As widespread as the problem of underweight models is, graphic anti-anorexia ad campaigns like this one have effectively raised awareness. As the fashion industry changes, our society must do the same. We need to be more accepting of all body types and embrace our differences that make us unique.