Matthai, T. (2012). A fine balance: The life of a Muslim teenager. In Blau, S, & Burak, K. (eds). Writing In The Works (197-200). Ebook: Cengage Learning.
In his article A fine balance: The life of a Muslim teenager, Thanos Matthai creates a profile of his acquaintance and fellow college student Mohamed Ahmed. The profile attempts to show the tension between Mohamed's Muslim faith and college culture by describing several situations in which Mohamed's faith is morally at odds with his surroundings. Throughout the paper there is the continuous sense that Mohamed is leading two lives – one in which he is a devout Muslim and one in which he is an ordinary college student, trying to fit in with his peers and maintain a social life – and that these forces pull him in two different directions, creating strain in his relationships and confusing his sense of self. The overall aim of the paper seems to be to help readers sympathize with Muslim students who act differently from their peers due to their religious beliefs.
By writing his entire paper in an anecdotal style, Matthai keep readers interested while also giving examples from Mohamed's life that help reinforce the theme of his article. The scenarios Matthai chose to include are typical college student experiences that his audience will likely relate with; however, he is able to show these experiences from a different angle by describing Mohamed's thoughts in each scenario. The juxtaposition between a familiar setting and an unfamiliar point of view highlights the way Mohamed stands out from his peers due to his religious beliefs, and the feeling he describes of not fully belonging to either his conservative Muslim family or his irreligious friends.
While Matthai is not necessarily an expert on the topic on which he writes, he refers constantly to quotes from Mohamed and his friends, which serve the purpose of describing Mohamed's behaviour from both points of view. These quotes also reveal that Mohamed's friends do not fully understand what motivates him to act the way he does, and help reinforce the theme that Muslims are often misunderstood in our society.
In general, this article is well written. However, it sometimes feels too fast-paced, jumping from one scene to the next with too little explanation in between. This makes it too easy to quickly skim Mohamed's story and go on to read something else without actually thinking about the issues Matthai brings up. This article will likely be helpful to those who wish to learn about the struggles that devoted Muslims undergo in North American society, but only if they have little knowledge of Islam or religion in general before reading.
Wednesday 26 February 2014
Monday 10 February 2014
Click, Click, Boom! Episode 3 [Podcast + Show Notes]
SHOW NOTES:
Michael Peto
CCT 110: The
Rhetoric of Digital And Interactive Media Environments.
T0108, Alex
Cybulski
Podcast Assignment
Click, Click, Boom! Podcast: Episode
3 - Steam Music and Google Glass
In Episode 3 of Click, Click, Boom! we look at the latest gaming news this week:
0:28 - Tom Francis announces new stealth game Heat Signature.
www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/13…ampaign=news
0:50 - Interceptor Entertainment teases new Duke Nukem Game.
www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02…eased-for-pc-ps4
1:12 - The Wolf Among Us Episode 2 Released on Steam.
www.gamespot.com/articles/the-wol…ry/1100-6417130/
1:34 - Airtight announces Murdered: Soul Suspect for Xbox One.
www.polygon.com/2014/2/3/5374242/…-suspect-xbox-one
1:58 - Valve opens Steam Music Beta.
www.polygon.com/2014/2/3/5374660/…c-announced-valve
2:25 - Google releases video showing off Glass minigames.
www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01…-game-prototypes
________________________________________
MUSIC/SFX (in order of appearance):
Ozzed. (2008). Seductive Space. On Lesser Than Three. Self-released. Used under Creative Commons.
Retrieved from:
ozzed.net/
Conor. (2011). Flyby Sound. (Sound effect). Used under Creative Commons.
Retrieved from:
soundbible.com/1891-Flyby.html
Retrieved from:
freemusicarchive.org/music/BoxCat_G…PG_Soundtrack/
REFERENCES:
Epstein, M. (February 4, 2014). Gunpoint creator Tom Francis' next is stealth game Heat Signature.
Retrieved from:
Gaston, M. (January 15, 2014). The Wolf Among Us Episode 2 is finally arriving in February. Retrieved from:
Matulef, J. (January 29, 2014). See the first Google Glass game prototypes. Retrieved from:
Phillips, T. (February 3, 2014). Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction teased for PC, PS4. Retrieved from:
Sarkar, S. (February 3, 2014). Steam Music will let you listen to your music library while gaming. Retrieved from:
Tach, D. (February 3, 2014). Murdered:
Soul Suspect is headed to Xbox One.
Retrieved from:
Saturday 1 February 2014
Malcolm Gladwell's "Small Change" - A Critical Analysis
Gladwell,
M. (2010, October 4). Small Change:
Why the revolution will not be tweeted. The New Yorker.
Retrieved
from
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/10/04/101004fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all
In
his article Small Change: Why the revolution will not be
tweeted, Malcolm Gladwell,
author of several bestselling psychology books, discusses the impact
of social media on protest movements. He suggests that social media's
focus on weak social ties keeps it from being an effective tool for
organizing high-risk political protests, as these type of movements
require very strong social ties in order to give the protesters a
feeling of solidarity and purpose. Gladwell continually refers
throughout his paper to the story of the Greensboro Four, a group of
black protesters who protested against racial inequality in North
Carolina.
By
starting the paper off with a detailed account of the Greensboro
protests, Gladwell is able to draw the reader in before introducing
his main topic. The Greensboro tale is woven in throughout his paper,
alternating with sections discussing the impact of social media in
modern protest culture. By juxtaposing a successful protest which
took place before the creation of social media with current examples
of protests involving social media, he is able to draw comparisons
between the organizational methods developed in both cases and their
effectiveness in creating a strong protest. The different sections of
the text are marked by a large drop capital which allows the reader
to transition smoothly from one topic to the next while creating
structure in the paper. Gladwell takes an informal tone throughout
this article, using contractions like “can't”, and “they'd”.
This tone was likely chosen to appeal to his desired audience, as a
simpler, less formal tone lends itself well to newspapers, making
articles much easier to read when in a hurry, and the satirical tone
he takes at the end is memorable enough to keep the reader thinking
about the topic after they finish reading.
Gladwell
is not an expert on the topic on which he writes, so he refers
constantly to the work of other, well-known researchers to back up
his points. This lends his ideas authority without having to rely on
his own Ethos, and creates a very convincing paper.
This
article is extremely well written. It flows nicely from one topic to
the next and presents a strong argument pulled from a wide variety of
credible sources. Gladwell's writing style makes his ideas accessible
to a wide audience while remaining both interesting and intelligent.
I would recommend this article to anyone who wishes to learn about
the impact of social media on society, or anyone interested in the
logistics of modern activism.
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