TOW #19

U.S. Scrambles to Contain Growing ISIS Threat in Libya

Eric Schmitt

The New York Times

            Isis has carve out a swath of territory across northern Iraq and Syria. That is where the heads of the terror organization are and that is where most of its money comes from. Their primary income is from the sale of black market oil. But Isis is not content with just dominating on region. They are expanding their influence across Africa. Groups formerly aligned with Al-Qaeda like Boko Haram are now announcing their partnership with Isis. While most news attention focuses on Syria and Iraq Isis is slowing amassing forces in Libya. They are turning an already lawless nation into an all-out warzone. While they do not have the funding that their counterparts in the Middle East do they are gaining lots of power in the area. Disenfranchised youths from across Africa are streaming into Libya to join the Isis’s ranks. The Islamic State’s growing interest in Libya is clear, “About half a dozen senior Islamic State lieutenants have arrived from Syria in recent months to build up the franchise, these officials say” (15). The world needs to realize that of the 8 Isis affiliated organizations the one building up in Libya is quickly becoming one of the most dangerous.  It is also frightening because it shows that Islamic State is very capable of spreading across Africa. There are many young men on the continent who would be more than happy to pick up a gun and fight for a job and three hot meals. If Isis is allowed to gain a foothold in Libya is wouldn’t be hard for it to spread into neighboring nations. Special Forces from America and other western nations are currently training soldiers from Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and other African nations. I think Colonel Guirane Ndiaye, a Senegalese zone commander said it best, “ISIS is spreading even to here, “If we do not have a multinational effort, ISIS will spread even more.” We are at serious risk of losing more nations to this new “evil empire” and if we don’t stop them now we might never be able to.

 

TOW #13

Protesters in Oregon Seek to End Policy That Shaped West

Kirk Johnson and Jack Healy

The New York Times

            Usually when we hear about protesters and wildlife refuges they are in support of each other. However that is not the case in one small town in western Oregon. Here the Bundy family has occupied a federal wildlife refuge through the use of fire arms. They are fighting against the government’s protection of land that they think they should be allowed to graze their cattle on. The authors paint these radicals as extremely conservative republicans. Showing a picture of Cliven Bundy and Ammon Bundy the reader can see them with their cowboy hat and boots. If that isn’t enough to convince the reader they describe a “draw Muhammad” contest organized by Cliven Bundy in Phoenix. The protestors describe the protection of natural prairie land as “tyranny of law”. This shows just how ignorant these people are to think that the government is stealing this land from them. When in reality it is being preserved for the next generation. They can’t afford to buy their own grazing land so they think that they deserve the land that has been set aside for the planet. The stupidity in their plan is even more apparent when the reader reads the interviews with other townspeople of Burns. They do not support these rebels and want the police to take care of it quickly. Even extended family of the Bundy’s do not like what they are doing and do not believe in their cause. And like any uneducated American they take quotes directly from the constitution and interpret them how they like. This has been an American pastime as long as there has been a constitution. All in all it’s just a sad story about a sad situation that will hopefully be resolved without violence. One family member of the Bundy’s said it best “In my idea, he should pack his bags and come home”. 

TOW #15

Unraveling

Austin Siadak

The Cleanest Line

            “In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks” (John Muir). The picture below was placed at the beginning of the article. It gives the impression of hope and excitement for the coming adventure. Unfortunately things didn’t go complete according to plan for Siadak and his expedition. 7 days of blasting snow storms dumped feet of snow on them and kept them huddled in a cave. At first spirits were high among the group, “We sip hot drinks, sing songs, talk about girls, fill out crossword puzzles. We smoke cigarettes, crack jokes, dream aloud about the climbing we’ll do when the storm stops” (Siadak 3). But as the storm wore on people began getting on each other’s nerves. This is where the title of the article suddenly starts to make sense. Siadak writes that he truly believed that they would still be able to make the big wall ascent they traveled to Patagonia to make. It is interesting because the author is writing about his own experiences but because of how different the two versions of himself are it feels like he’s telling a fictional story. The days of cramped existence took a toll on Siadak, he writes, “If I’d been more aware, I would have recognized that confidence for the selfish hubris it was” (7). When trying to emphasis a point to the audience he sometimes repeats a word making it its own sentence. In one case he wants to show how meaningless and stupid their arguments are, “We bicker and snap. We fight over salt. Salt” (6). This technique is extremely effective and makes the article sound more like it is coming right from the mouth of this mountain adventurer. They don’t make any assent and the irony is that it was their own selfish desires to climb the peaks that unraveled their plans to get there.

TOW #14

North Korea is a joke. And that’s the problem.

Jeffrey Lewis

The Washington Post

            This article was written in response to North Korea’s latest claim that they have detonated a Hydrogen bomb. The world now knows that the explosion was too small to be a hydrogen bomb and that North Korea was just bluffing. This has only furthered our view of North Korea as one big joke. Lewis wants to highlight the most outlandish aspects of this strange piece of the “Evil Empire”. So he poses a series of rhetorical questions in the opening paragraph. Lewis writes, “What other country could prompt U.S. intelligence officials to seriously speculate that a nuclear test was retaliation for disrespecting a state-run all-female pop group? What other country has a state-run all-female pop group?” (Lewis 1). Most Americans find there descriptions to be extremely entertaining (myself included). However Lewis wants to show that while “it is understandable that we would want to deny the North Korean regime any legitimacy” North Korea’s starving population concerned neighbors are nothing to laugh at. The article combines news on the latest development as well as commentary on how this fits into the bigger picture of how North Korea is seen to both the American government and people. At first it seems like Lewis is just going to laugh alongside us and add this fake nuclear weapon to the list of things to make fun of North Korea for. But as the article continues he reveals that while the nuclear weapon is not a hydrogen bomb it is an important step towards getting their nuclear weapons small enough to fit into the warhead of a ballistic missile. Slowly as the article continues the reader finds themselves questioning why they had originally seen this rouge nuclear nation as a big joke and wondering why their government is treating north korea the same way. 

TOW #12

Rocky Mountain Landscape

Albert Bierstadt

            Bierstadt painted this in 1870, during that time American painting was reflecting an era heightened nationalism. Americans saw themselves as a group of people blessed by god with a divine path to greatness. A large part of this was based on the natural beauty in the vast American west. This idea of “Manifest destiny” also became a driving force for immigration to America.  Bierstadt himself was an immigrant, born in Prussia, he and his family moved to Massachusetts when he was one. Rocky Mountain Landscape is mesmerizing, it has a striking beauty that not many landscapes come close to.  Bierstadt employs extensive use up both lighting and shadows. This gives the Cascades in the background an almost godly image. The cloud bank frames a snow-capped peak in the top left highlighting its far off remoteness. The image is sealed from all sides in a boarder of darkness giving the view the impression that they have stumbled upon a hidden valley. He painted “Rocky Mountain Landscape”, in his Rome studio he hadn’t seen the American West for 7 years. Many have accepted that this painting like his other famous work “Among the Sierra Nevada Mountains, California” are fictionalized landscapes of places that Bierstadt had dreamed up. However that doesn’t make them any less powerful. They are mashups of many of the sights that he had come across in his journeys across the west in 1863 and 1859. In his two year tour of Europe Bierstadt displayed landscapes similar to this one creating a sense of wonder and opportunity around the idea of America. 

TOW #11

To Those Who Loved Doug

Rick Ridgeway

The Cleanest Line (Blog by Patagonia)

            Doug Tompkins died on December 8, 2015. He was a “force for nature,” known for his founding of The North Face and creation of Conservacion Patagonica, a private nature reserve that covers . This article’s author, Rick Ridgeway is not just a journalist listing off this man’s life achievement he is a longtime friend of Doug. Even more astounding is that they were in the same kayak that capsized ultimately leading to Doug dying of hypothermia. So this is an extremely personal piece and Ridgeway’s writing conveys this. “In the days that have followed—days that seem like years—“survival” has been a theme that every one of us has raised independent of the other.” This shows how Ridgeway is himself still coming to grips with the death of a close friend and the reader feels like this piece is helping him find closure. The organization of the piece is equally as important. It begins with a description of the funeral, goes on to tell the story of the circumstances that led to his death, and finally closes again with the end of the funeral. By coming back to this funeral Ridgeway shows that the death is not the end of Doug Tomkins. For his true love is the national park he has spent his life creating so as long as that continues so does the memory of Doug. This message is easily inferred from his two closing lines, “Patagonia Sin Represas! The torch was still lit and the fire still burning brightly.” That phrase translates to “Patagonia without dams’, Doug’s Message of a wild natural world lives on and has inspired a new generation to pick up the torch. 

TOW #10

Pitch Simply: An interview with Major League Baseball player Daniel Norris

Adam Fetcher

The Cleanest Line (Blog by Patagonia)

            Before reading this article I had already read a little about Daniel Norris. For those who have not heard of him he is a Major League pitcher for the Detroit Tigers. Upon receiving his 2 million dollar signing bonus he purchased a 1978 Volkswagen van and has been living out of it traveling to various surf spots during the off season. He is a baseball player, surfer, photographer, adventurer, and cancer survivor.  Fetcher wants go beyond these surface attributes so his questions focus on the philosophies that led him to make this abrupt lifestyle change. He also wants to learn how Norris balances the different aspects of his life, so he asks him “You described a philosophy around simplicity through the experience of living in the van. I’m just wondering, how do you incorporate that philosophy into your training and bring it on the field?”(Fetcher 16). Fetcher is trying to emphasize the complexities that make Daniel Norris such a unique individual. The interesting element of an interview is that the reader gets to hear directly from the individual about what they have to say to question asked. So that means there are no authors to manipulate what the individual has to say. But the interviewer still has the job of facilitating the delivery of the information in the fullest sense. A big part of Daniel’s life is photography so Fetcher incorporates many of Daniel’s pictures so that again the reader is able to see an unobstructed view into who this person is.

Daniel Norris’s life is obviously intriguing to read about, but Adam Fetcher is also someone who has unique experiences of his own. Before he became the Director of Global PR & Communications for Patagonia he “was deputy national press secretary for President Obama’s re-election campaign and served in the Obama administration.”  And just to connect himself back to the article and seem more human he throws in that he is a Minnesota Twins fan.