“Higgs Boson: Rumors Erupt of 'God Particle' Announcement” Close Reading – December 9
For this weekend’s close reading I read an article about the coming announcement about the Higgs Boson by researchers at the Large Hadron Collider. The article, “Higgs Boson: Rumors Erupt of 'God Particle' Announcement,” explains why there is such excitement leading up to an announcement coming Tuesday about this important particle.
The author of this article uses diction, details, and syntax to express people’s excitement over the coming announcement and why.
Diction: O’Neill, the author of this article, uses fun diction to show why people are getting so excited for the coming announcement about the Higgs Boson. He opens with “This could be the announcement we’ve all been waiting for,” using “could” with emphasis, showing the buildup in tensions and anticipation for this announcement. Other fun choices in his diction include “’quenched’ (read: broke down in a very expensive way),” where he even adds the definition to make sure the reader knows what he’s talking about, and “gazillions,” to describe the number of particle collisions that have happened at the LHC. All of this fun diction helps to bring the reader in and start explaining why people are getting so excited.
Details: The author of this article also uses many details to show why this announcement is going to be so special. Some of these details include “the head scientists of the two groups will be there to give the Higgs update. ‘That in itself is telling – usually more junior researchers present updates on the search for the missing particle,’” as well as “At 3.5-sigma, the ATLAS measurement has a 0.1 percent chance of being a ‘random fluke.’” These kinds of details are very exciting to physicists; the chance of the Higgs Boson being found is getting larger and larger, now particle physicists are close to being sure that the Higgs exists.
Syntax: The syntax O’Neill uses also adds to the fun and excitement in the article. The opening sentence is one that helps to build the excitement, and that sentence alone is its own paragraph. Another example of this great syntax is “Apart from the heads of ATLAS and CMS being there, why all the excitement? “ The fact that the heads of the two projects are there is huge and with the syntax in this question he seems to be making it more fun.
“Lawmakers Trade Blame as Deficit Talks Crumble” Close Reading – November 18
For this close reading blog I read an article in the New York Times about the Congressional Deficit Committee’s apparent coming failure to agree to a deal that would determine how to deal with the deficit. The article is: “Lawmakers Trade Blame as Deficit Talks Crumble”
This article was effective in showing how hopeless the situation seems for any new developments to occur in this deal by Monday, their deadline.
Diction: The author of this article uses diction to show how hopeless the possibility of a deal being reached is, using words like, “stalemate” and “deadlock.” Then the article goes on to state what the parties are saying, those politicians attack each other with a great use of diction. One Democrat Committee member said the Republicans were “enthralled” with a pledge they made to a lobbyist instead of a pledge they made to the country, while a Republican member of the Committee said the Democrats hadn’t been “willing” to put a plan on the table that “actually” solved any problems. Diction was an important part of this article, showing the hopelessness of the talks in the article and the politicians attacking of each other also shows how hopeless this situation actually is.
Detail: This article was also very effective in showing hopelessness because of the topic it covered, the deficit talks have been unsuccessful for so long that the article was bound to be hopeless, but even the smaller details they included, like “the failure of the special Congressional deficit committee will be the third high-profile effort to fall short of a deal in the last 12 months,” and “aware that Congressional approval ratings are near historic lows in polls.” These details along with the details included in the quotes from the politicians themselves are enough to create a satisfactory hopeless feeling.
Syntax: The author uses syntax styles to create a hopeless feeling also, some sentences are short and their own paragraph, like this one, “The focus instead now is mostly on placing blame.” When an author uses a sentence like this it seems very hopeless that anything will really be getting done, the author is resigned to admit that nothing will get done and only the blame can be assigned now.
The author in this article uses good diction, details, and syntax to create a hopeless feeling for the reader, they know that nothing will be done by this committee to make advancements in how to handle the deficit, there is nothing more to do but wait for this committee’s time to end.
“After Alabama law, Hispanic kids being bullied” Close Reading – October 21
For this close reading I read “After Alabama law, Hispanic kids being bullied,” an article about the new law concerning illegal immigrants in Alabama. Here it is: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-20124241/after-alabama-law-hispanic-kids-being-bullied/ .
This piece uses diction, details, and imagery to show the atmosphere the new law is causing bullying and an unwelcome environment.
Diction: The author uses diction to show this unwelcoming atmosphere, quoting someone who says their child was called a “damn Mexican” just because of her looks, she doesn’t even speak Spanish. Also words like “unsettling,” to describe the atmosphere for immigrants, as well as language like “climate of fear and mistrust.” There is even “taunting” in the grown-up world, businesses receiving unfriendly reviews for a mistaken report that they employ illegal immigrants.
Details: Details like the story of a child being told by a fellow classmate “to go back to Mexico” and “If you’re not going I’m going to punch you.” It also includes a quote from a spokeswoman of the system saying that just because there aren’t reports of bullying because of this law doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, show that this atmosphere is not a welcoming environment and bullying happens because of the new law.
Imagery: The story opens with an account of a basketball game, but shows the actions that the article covers immediately,
“It was just another schoolyard basketball game until a group of Hispanic seventh-graders defeated a group of boys from Alabama.
The reaction was immediate, according to the Mexican mother of one of the winners, and rooted in the state's new law on illegal immigration.
‘They told them, “You shouldn't be winning. You should go back to Mexico,”’”
This imagery the author uses really shows how much of an impact this new law has had on creating an unwelcoming environment.
"Universe is Expanding, but Where Do I Park?" Close Reading – October 7
Article: Universe Is Expanding, but Where Do I Park?
For this close reading I read an article in the New York Times, “Universe Is Expanding, but Where Do I Park?” This past Tuesday, October 4, the 2011 Nobel Physics Prize was awarded to three scientists who discovered that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate, something unthinkable at the time (1998). This article didn’t focus on that though; it focused on the parking space of one of the three.
The author writes this piece to create a humorous article, something to make the reader smile; he uses details, diction, and imagery to create this.
Details: The author of this piece writes using very interesting details, the details all surround the key subject of this article, a parking space at The University of California, Berkley. To illustrate the illusiveness of the prize included in winning the Nobel, a parking spot reserved for life the author uses details like “university has nearly 50,000 students, faculty and staff members at any given time, and only about 7,000 parking spaces,” showing the importance of such a prize.
Diction: The author also uses diction to show how illusive this prize is, even more so than the Nobel itself, “envy” fills non Nobel Laureates, since the spots reserved for Nobel Prize winners are free, reserved for life, and right outside the building they work in. The parking pass for this award is even “golden.” Diction is used in a different way in this article too, it show the amusement people have at this idea of a prize, the audience “erupted” with “howls” of laughter.
Imagery: Imagery is also used to show the humor involved in this prize, “Large blue signs reading ‘Reserved for NL’ or ‘Reserved for Nobel Laureate at All Times’ mark the spots, as do white painted letters on the concrete,” and “University tour guides always point out the signs to impress prospective students.” How many colleges have you been to that have signs denoting parking spaces reserved specifically for Nobel laureates?
This article succeeds in being humorous, and it certainly made me smile when I read it.
"Clean Air Will Have To Wait" Close Reading - September 9
'Clean Air Will Have to Wait' – Obama Delays Smog Protections until at least 2013
The Sierra Club wrote a response to the President’s request of the EPA using a strong voice to criticize his actions.
http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=214701.0
A few literary techniques that can be found in this article include:
Imagery: The author of this response uses many phrases filled with imagery to express their discontent with the President’s request. Phrases like, “smog, an acidic air pollutant that when inhaled is like getting a sunburn on your lungs,” allow the reader to join in the author’s view, why would we want to continue breathing something so harmful? Another example of this imagery the author uses is seen in, “kicking the inhaler down the road will do nothing to protect our children,” another vivid picture of current actions.
Details: The details the author uses in his response are necessary for the press release, it requires that the reader is informed and informs them if they do not already know of the situation. The author talks about the request by President Obama, the effect on the economy a clean air bill would have, “these protections from smog would have improved our communities and saved billions of dollars in health costs,” and mentions that half of the families living in the U.S. live in air unsafe to breathe. These details help to inform the reader of the seriousness of the author and the situation and they help the influence the reader to join the author’s view.
Diction: The author also uses diction to influence the reader’s response, using words like “polluters” to describe the offenders, and “premature deaths,” and “suffered” to describe the kinds of health risks people face from inaction helps stress the importance of this issue and catches the reader’s attention. The diction also indicates the well informed background of the author and his attempt to sway readers into agreeing the view.
