Michaela Dempsey's Homework #2

       In Everything's A Text, by Dan Melzer, I found the passage about Mos Def's song "Dollar Day"  and how the purpose and the audience affect how a message is portrayed to be intriguing. While composing music, artists need to consider who they are trying to impact with their message. In Mos Def's case, he was attempting to attract the attention of young people and urge them to fight against injustices by calling attention to the president's lack of interest in helping those suffering because of hurricane Katrina, "And Mr. President he bout that cash, He got a policy for handlin niggaz and trash" (Mos Def 20). Lyrics like this, along with the screaming, angry tone he uses, I believe influence young people to adopt Mos Def's rebellion against the president and to feel upset with the situation. He successfully passed his ideas on to his audience simply by understanding what would attract their attention.

       I also liked the Coke ad's that emphasized the social roles in different generations. Particularly the ad with the 1950's woman and the quote next to her, "He's coming home tomorrow" (Coca-Cola 24). The purpose of the ad is to get people to purchase Coke. The company accomplishes this by showing an obedient wife preparing for her husband to arrive with flavored, carbonated drinks. Women in the 1950's would see this ad and buy Coke for their husbands to avoid being seen as a bad wife.

       In the introduction of the English Mercury Reader Rodney Kilcup is quoted to start a discussion on what makes a good writer. I agree with his ideas that good writing isn't just about the structure, or the writer's ability to follow the rules, but it's about what lies behind the writing and how that can make you think more critically about the subject. Writing has amazing powers that "stimulates, challenges, and stretches your mental powers while giving you a voice," (Ramage, Bean, Johnson 1).

       The passage about the differences between open and closed prose was interesting to me. Closed prose has been the basis of my writing for english classes my entire life, so the idea of open prose starts to sound much more appealing as it is breaking away from the typical five paragraph essay. I most of all enjoy the "Use of story or narrative as an organizing principle," (Pearson 5), because it gives the purpose of the writing a more casual feel that can often have more of an effect on the reader.