To most people, this image would represent a woman breastfeeding. Although you are not able to see and confirm 100% that this woman is breastfeeding, a reasonable person would probably suggest that that is what is happening here. In reality, this image is one of a strong female, feeding her baby in public

despite strong opposition to public breastfeeding. To be clear about any bias I may have, I think that women should be able to breastfeed in public to whatever extent they find most comfortable. If it’s easier for a woman to nearly completely expose herself in order to efficiently feed her baby, well, okay then. Who am I to stop someone from efficiently feeding their baby. With my opinion in mind, the rest of this post may be a bit biased because to be quite honest I don’t really mind when, where, or how people decide to breastfeed which is the complete opposite opinion of some others. Getting back to the image itself, it’s a simple picture that shows the recent controversy of again, women breastfeeding in public, specifically without a nursing cover, scarf, wrap, etc. First off, this picture is attempting to show people the less “radical” side of public breastfeeding and also attempts to show people that public nursing should not be something women should be criticized about. With that goal, I think this picture is absolutely successful. When introducing people to a new idea that they don’t like, it’s typically more efficient to show them the mild side of that change or idea. In the photo, the woman is clearly breastfeeding, as you can see a bit of her stomach, but her actual breast is completely covered and she has multiple layers of clothes on. This eases people into the idea of accepting public breastfeeding more effectively than it would showing them a picture of someone nearly topless in public, breastfeeding. The picture also specifically portrays that the

woman is outside sitting down somewhere, leading the audience to the conjecture that she might be in a public park which contributes to backing up the argument of breastfeeding in public. Lastly, the photo shows what appears to be a relatively new baby. By showing a new baby, this appeals to both men and women parents because it forces them to think about when their children were that young and the special connection they made with that baby when it was born. This softens any disdain viewers may have about public nursing and can even open the mind to thinking about this new idea. Compared to other photos of public breastfeeding on the internet, this image is surely mild-mannered but still gets the point across. To learn more about the legal side of this controversy, click here.

The main idea of the ted talk that I chose was that you really can come from rock bottom and become something amazing. The speaker started her life living in a refugee camp and is now on the cover of British Vogue. Important aspects of the talk included a lot of inspiring success stories about how Halima Aden started feeling more comfortable in her hijab and once she gained self-confidence, that really turned her life around and got her involved with modeling. I definitely didn’t have a great understanding about minorities in modeling other than there still aren’t a lot of them, but this talk definitely increased my knowledge that the fashion industry is expanding to include minorities and in the speaker’s case, she was welcomed with open arms. I already had an understanding of the refugee situation in the Middle East, but hearing a story from someone who is actually there experiencing it first-hand always gives an understanding more depth which it definitely did in this case.

One huge strong point in this talk was the amount of credibility the speaker brought in about her career as a model and the hardship she went through to get to that place. I definitely think as a woman who doesn’t “cover up” or dress purposefully modest, it would be difficult for me to walk in a fashion show in a “Burkini”without my hair or my usual clothes, so I could completely understand how the reader struggled through that transition. One thing that I did find problematic was that the speaker didn’t go into a whole lot of detail about the barriers minorities face going into the modeling world because there definitely are a lot of barriers to break down. The speaker also does move a bit too much and maybe over does it with the hand gestures, but overall I thought it was a pretty good presentation.

I think it’s safe to say that we’ve all heard of the OJ Simpson case. OJ, “The Juice” Simpson, famed football star who won the Heisman Trophy, allegedly killed his ex-wife and her friend at her home. Well, despite the tempting discussion of the controversy over this case, this week we’ll actually be looking at OJ Simpson’s defense lawyer, Johnny Cochran’s closing statement within the trial. Not only is the closing statement full of real-time proof that the prosecution’s claims are false, but it’s also chock full with persuasive appeals. In utilizing hand gestures, a steady voice and pace, and eye contact, Johnny Cochran makes an extremely compelling and memorable statement, one of the lines becoming one of the most commonly known phrases in America, “if it doesn’t fit, you must acquit”. A quick clarification about this statement before we move on, Cochran was referring to a glove found at the crime scene that the prosecutions says OJ wore during the murders, but during the trial, Simpson tries on the exact glove and it is clear it simply does not fit his hand. Therefore, Cochran expresses that the prosecution should acquit Simpson (drop the criminal charges).

To start off the closing statement, Cochran starts off slow and then within the same sentence increases his voice pacing in order to pull the jury in. He starts off slow to emphasize that he’s going to explain something extremely integral to the case, and then speeds up, but not to a pace that’s hard to understand, in order to grip the jury’s attention. This pace stays thoroughly steady for the rest of the (2 minute) statement because as he’s placing a cap found at the crime scene on his head in order to show the jury how it could not possibly disguise someone, he needs to explain the significance of his actions. The hand gestures are mostly utilized to move a piece of evidence on and off of

Cochran’s head, but when he’s not holding the cap, he only uses these gestures to guide the jury’s gaze back and forth between the cap and and OJ Simpson through pointing. He does this in order to solidify the connection between the cap not disgusting someone, and that someone being OJ. Lastly, his eye contact stays locked on the jury. He looks down at the cap in his hands, almost as if to emphasize how deeply he feels that it could not possibly disguise someone, but other than that, even when he’s pointing to Simpson, his eyes are locked on the jury which compiles them to keep their full attention on the closing statement. Lastly, Cochran is able to deliver an extremely memorable last line which makes his argument that much more effective. Listen to this specific part of the trial here.