The Golden Gazette

When reading this “comic” I found it really interesting how the author McCloud decided to both bold and italicize the words “normal” and “grow out of it” from the line: “It’s considered normal in this society for children to combine words and pictures, so long as they grow out of it ” (McCloud 139). This sparked a thought within me; what society deems as “normal” to teach children, and how quickly they’re supposed to “grow out of it”. I know that many teens and kids share similar experiences with their parents treating  them like a child one moment, and like an adult the next. It is extremely difficult to be expected to act maturely, yet be treated like a small child not worth respect. Just from personal experience, I know many parents and adults that expect their kids to behave like adults, yet they still say, “oh you’re still just a kid”. It can feel very confusing especially as a teenager to be in such a pivotal age where I have many grown up (for lack of a better w...

Social Media. Two words that are some of the most ubiquitous to be heard in today’s society. The big question surrounding social media is: Is social media empowering or harming teenagers? One of the themes discussed in class this week was the concept that one individual has the power to impact society. With such accessible and large platforms within social media, many people are given the ability to influence many others. This “power” can be amazing in spreading world issues, educating about certain worldwide topics, and to empower people, but it can also have the exact opposite effect. With such large figures on social media portraying society’s “ideal standards” (most of which are fake anyways) can greatly negatively influence younger generations. Young kids growing up assuming they need to look like one cookie cutter mold of a person is extremely toxic for self esteem and self image. Follower count and likes should not have as large of an impact as they currently do. The...

Welcome to a day in the life of my Monday mornings! My morning starts when the lovely radar sound alarm goes off followed a wave of anxiety, by an “UGH already”, and by hitting the snooze button. This cursed cycle continues for another 20 minutes until I finally get up and come to the realization that I can’t become less tired with <5 hours of sleep under my belt. The inability to open my eyes is soon ended by my makeup mirror’s ring of incandescent light highlighting my bag filled under eyes. All I can think is, “here we go again”. After the exhausting routine of my complex getting ready process, I’m consistently faced with a sense of panic of being late to school, even at 6:15 am. Trudging myself downstairs and out the door with my backpack that feels like it’s filled with bricks has become automatic for me, and before I know it I’m back in the school parking lot. Walking into the amazing building of Troy High School never fails to put me in an anxiety ridden mood of what my exc...

Every single situation can have many different truths. Which one is right? Are they all? Are none? The difficult parts of those questions are that there are no correct answers. Disregarding true statistics and concrete facts, all truth is, is your perception of it. Many things impact how we perceive and think of the truth, such as bias and different rhetorical devices. An individual's bias puts everything heard or seen through a unique lens. Rhetorical devices also go hand in hand with how everyone perceived the truth. Logos obviously show the direct truth through statistics and concrete facts, where pathos can call upon emotions that accentuate one’s bias. Pathos also aids in creating a personal connection with the audience and author, increasing the level of trust between the two. The third rhetorical device is what embodies that trust, ethos. Truth goes hand in hand with ethos. Ethos and credibility with author builds trust that what the aut...