Innocent, But Paying for The Crime

In a country built off of the belief of innocent until proven guilty, it seems that quite the opposite is happening in a Texas case. In 1988, Ben Spencer was convicted for murder and robbery. Later, it would be concluded that the testimony which had led to his conviction was false. The judge at the time said that his conviction should be overturned. But it was not. Instead, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said that there must be evidence presented against his conviction in order for an appeal to be considered. In a case where the conviction appears to be unfounded and without evidence, it is quite contradictory to our national belief in "innocent until proven guilty". This NYT article written by Brandi Grissom describes the case of Ben Spencer and calls attention to the ridiculousness of the fact that his case has gone unnoticed and remained dormant. Grissom presents the article in what seems to be a neutral tone, but in doing so still is able to persuade the reader that Spencer deserves justice. Accompanying the article is a picture of a man who is in the distance and covered in darkness. It is used to illustrate the exact spot and distance where Spencer was claimed to be seen committing the act. By including this picture, the reader can really see how unfounded the evidence really is. This picture was essential for the reader to understand the problem that Grissom is describing. If the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has any sense of logic, it is only a matter of time that Grissom is finally exonerated, otherwise our justice system is truly broken.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/10/us/declared-innocent-in-a-killing-but-still-behind-bars.html?src=recg

The instability of stocks: no longer able to fail?

"Too big too fail", a term which has been used over and over again to describe how banks have developed and been propped up by the government. They have been made failsafe to keep the economy stable. This article from the LA Times by Tom Petruno argues that the same phenomenon is occurring with the typically unstable stock market. The government continues to pump money from the federal reserve into the stock market, thereby making the market "bullish". The author also argues that should the market crash again like it has in the past, there really would not be the same level of economic destruction which has occurred in the past. Petruno presented a great deal of statistics and looked back at trends from the 2009 market crash and also presented numbers which showed the bullish stability of the current market. Although this topic would typically appear to be dull to present, Petruno takes some creative liberties and attempts to say things in a manner which keeps the reader's attention, such as quoting the typical responses of stock brokers when the market falls; "Depression!". This style keeps the reader's attention to a topic which can be boring to present, while at the same time getting his point across. It is interesting to see how the government tries to prevent further economic collapse, especially considering how every fix that our government makes seems to be a small little patch which is eventually bound to fail.

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0303-bull-market-20130303,0,7845800.story

Freakonomics post: Relating Economics/Numbers to Real Life

When looking at statistics and numbers, there is much more tied to them than just the numbers themselves. There is always some reason for the statistics to be the way they are. What Freakonomics sets out to accomplish is to pull the reasoning for each of the statistics and then connect them in a huge web, explaining common phenomena's in society. These explanations always tend to  explain everything from a very odd perspective, one which many people would not see. In the first section, Steven Levitt explains how incentives, a core to economics, can be flawed. One of the strongest examples he presented which resonated with me is teachers and standardized testing. Teachers have cheated just to score better on standardized testing and therefore have done a worse job teaching their students by cutting corners. This example was very relatable to all the readers and therefore made the point on incentives very easy to understand. It also hit home with me, because I have seen many teachers cling to the standards put in place and do a poor job in actually teaching content. By choosing a very relatable example, Levitt is able to convey his point convincingly and effectively. The perspectives that Levitt presents make the reader question daily occurrences, looking at the world differently. This is a very ambitious challenge and I am excited to see how the rest of the book plays out .

A glimpse into a Syrian Tragedy

News desensitizes death. Every single story that comes from the news seems to be something that really isn't too far out of the norm. Every day news is heard about who has been killed in combat, who has been murdered on the street, and which celebrity had left the world either of old age or a tragic ending. It's the daily standard, and because of that we have become accustomed to death occurring often. But what pictures can achieve which text or spoken word cannot, is bring out the true emotions, the unbiased take. This allows the viewer to actually become sensitive to the situation. Syria had been something talked about in the news every day. And although numbers had been attributed to the death count from the tyrannical regime put in place in Syria, one could not really connect those numbers to their own life. This image taken from the Syrian conflict hits every viewer close to home. A child, wounded, in the arms of his father. This is something that not one parent would ever want to have to try to endure. This picture is very relatable to the viewer and creates a very strong connection to the reader without much work at all. The bloody child is the main focus of the picture with the dad weeping over him, it looks as if his world has been turned upside down. This image gives the entire conflict relatable human qualities. No longer are the numbers of the conflict just numbers, they are all human lives and families, everything simply destroyed. Images like these allow readers to further understand tragedy, and put simply, should be a necessity for all stories, so people can better understand what is really happening. 

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/best-photos-2012-year-pictures_n_2277480.html#slide=1863854

Wawa vs. Sheetz: Mac vs. PC on the PA convenience store realm

As a Philadelphia suburbanite, Wawa is in my blood. My sister, just cresting the 1 1/2 year old landmark is already chanting "WAWAWAWAWAWAWAWAWA". Pressing buttons on the elusive touchscreen and then walking out 2 minutes with a perfectly crafted meatball hoagie is just something you can't find anywhere else. Now that I can drive, I find that my money will be thrown out the window, as I am given full freedom to fulfill my wawa addiction, almost as if it is a drug. One time I had visited West Virginia for a cross country race. I remember seeing an obscure place named "Sheetz", to others who come to the Philadelphia area, this is what it must feel to first see Wawa. Sheetz has its own very strong following, though more based in the western portion of PA, like the Flyers and the Pens have their followers. This article was written by Trip Gabriel of the NYT to explain this rivalry to those who live outside of the battleground for these two convenience stores. For me, it was even an eye opening article, as my world only seemed to revolve around Wawa. Starting off the article, and peppered throughout, Gabriel melds an image of each of the two convenience stores and the clientele which frequent them. Wawa grabs the suburban crowd whereas Sheetz is the rural victor. Gabriel also alluded to Mitt Romney's experience at a Wawa when he was campaigning for President. This put the rivalry on the scale at a national level for the audience to better digest and it established the importance of the rivalry. Gabriel provided a map, with the contrasting colors of red and blue, something which seemed like each was representative of one choosing a political party.  This image helped show the spread that existed between the two popular chains. Spattered throughout the piece was quotes from each of the customers, providing a format which would have been similar to a political debate. By the end of the article I felt as if Gabriel was able to turn this rivalry into a political conflict or election, and I left more educated(and satisfied to hear the recognition of my beloved Wawa) on the two  chains. I have always dreamt of moving to other states(namely on the west coast) when I am older, but as I said when asked what I was going to miss most on my trip to Germany this summer, I will always miss Wawa.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/10/us/10convenience.html?hp

The Cages of Hong Kong

When many think of the only capitalist portion of China, Hong Kong, people think of a city full of beautiful and modern skyscrapers. But there is a darker side to Hong Kong; the cages. Some 100,000 individuals who are less fortunate than the very wealthy of the city live in 6 X 2 1/2 foot cages for about $200 a month. This article, written by Damian Gayle of the UK publication Daily Mail presents a look inside these homes. In the title Gayle utilizes an allusion to the immense number of Louis Vuitton shops in Hong Kong, even exceeding the number in France. This is shocking because  Louis Vuitton is based in France and is a very expensive luxury shop, you would not expect people to be living in cages in such a place. This article is unique in the fact that it presents a great deal of images rather than text. It allows the pictures to speak for themselves, and creates a more effective influence on my emotions. It was very shocking to see an image like this:

I was prompted to think of dogs in dog cages, and to think that this is an entire persons home is incredibly poignant. The collection of images were very effective in sending a visual portrayal of the homes, its was like I could smell the dirty situation that these people live in on a daily basis. Concluding the passage, Gayle provides a quote from a resident, "Sometimes I am worried a cockroach or lizard will crawl into my ear at night." Although this is a very simple statement, it really does create a further feeling of disgust, the thought of having a cockroach or lizard crawl into my ear is well, very scary and gross. People in the US complain about the widening gap between the rich and the poor, but it certainly could me much worse as evident Hong Kong.  This phenomenon hopefully will never spread to the US.

Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084971/Hong-Kongs-cage-homes-Tens-thousands-living-6ft-2ft-rabbit-hutches.html#axzz2JqSFcpGf

TOW Rewrite: Flashback to the Election

America is divided like never before. When facing the threatening fiscal cliff, lawmakers were finally forced to cooperate with one another to prevent the nation from careening into another recession. The 112th congress was ranked as the worst congress to ever be assembled, simply because they were unable to "work across the aisle". As Barack Obama is reelected as the face of the nation, he yearns to bring in bipartisanship and to get things done, especially considering there is much more lee-way with a second, term free of concern for reelection. But there is no way to ensure that this will actually happen, especially with the Republican distaste for Mr.Obama. The following cartoon was created to illustrate the divide still evident following the reelection of Obama and was published immediately following his reelection.  This cartoon was taken from the International Herald Tribune which is the global version of the New York Times, a very popular and credible source for US politics news. The author creates a very stark contrast between the Obama camp and GOP camp. He accomplishes this by juxtaposing the two images of each side. The left side is very celebratory and seems almost patriotic. In general, the sense taken from this image of Obama is one who is very positive and progressive, especially with the woman wearing the "forward" t-shirt, an allusion to Obama's '08 campaign. The GOP looks sinister on the right side of this image(note how the "left" is the liberal democrats, and the "right" is the conservative GOP) and refers to a common stereotype of the wealthy-business oriented GOP with the inclusion of the suitcase. When looking at the contrast between the two sides of the cartoon, the GOP seems very devoid of happiness without the confetti and smiles. It almost seems as if the GOP is shouting back and interrupting Obama rather than simply tacking on the statement, "of gridlock". In doing so, the author successfully creates a negative connotation of the GOP and a more positive connotation of the Obama administration, as if they are the protagonists of a situation marred with greed and failure. Following viewing this cartoon the author creates feelings of more distaste and anger towards the government, particularly towards the GOP. In this author's eyes, the future of our country and its success will be continually halted by the filibustering and political blockades out in place by the GOP, the sore losers. Only time will tell if this holds true, perhaps the 113th congress will surprise every American by lifting the nation back to its previous success.