Addario’s depiction of the British Consulate car bombing between pages 210 and 211 elicits feelings of alarm and apprehension. This image conveyed the horror that is strongly associated with domestic acts of terrorism; this form of violence is nightmarish, vile, and inhumane. I feel that Addario’s photograph emphasizes the vulnerability of all civilians in a state of war. As a result, this picture evoked anxiety and augmented the horrifying reality that terrorism can inflict pain on anyone—at any time—in the developing world. The photo prompted an unsettled, angered response from me: the debris of the pictured explosion is heartbreaking to view. Addario’s use of landscape orientation accentuates the sheer mass of the bombing; terrorism is ever-widening, reckless, and highly mobile in world civilizations.

Similarly, the image of the bandaged, hospitalized boy between pages 210 and 211 underscores the loss of innocence that is intimately prompted by war. The boy’s scars are agonizing to view; his pain resonates through the photograph and—quite frankly—touched my heart. It’s upsetting to see the aftermaths of war in the face of a child who has little to do with the political and social circumstances surrounding the violence in the Middle East. Indeed, innocent lives are lost during the battle for social justice; these casualties are heartbreaking and distressing. The emotional appeals of this photograph struck a poignant chord in my heart: the boy’s teary eyes elicit feelings of misery and anguish.

In my technology blog, I hope to incorporate multimedia in order to construct visual depictions of the innovations discussed in each post. Oftentimes, the ideas of entrepreneurs are intangible and difficult to clearly perceive; images and videos will reinforce leaders’ efforts to change the contemporary tech world and solidify their extraordinary ideas. I hope to take advantage of the blogging platform’s ability to display visual graphics by utilizing diagrams to explain emerging technological concepts and ideas; in my artificial intelligence post, for example, I employed concept art to effectively emphasize the potential of AI in hospital environments. The images and videos that I choose to implement in my blog will strengthen entrepreneurs’ lofty goals and ambitions and close the technological gap between dreams and reality.

Addario writes conflictingly of her decision to step away from photographing America’s War on Terror. At the beginning of Chapter, 7, Addario’s desire to “branch out beyond the daily demands of breaking-news photography” juxtaposes her passion to capture real-time moments of human remorse and emotion. Nonetheless, she mitigates this conflict by explaining that her opportunities as an Iraqi photographer were becoming limited in scope due to “violent, restrictive” conditions in the Middle East. She feels fettered and shackled by the political circumstances of the War on Terror, and as a result, she longs for a photographic atmosphere that unleashes her intimate creativity.

Addario makes her dilemma comparable to her audience’s experiences by declaring that she needed to “move on”: a phrase that so closely encompasses the feelings of growing up and transitioning from childhood to adulthood. As a result, Addario’s intents for moving her career to Africa resonates with her dynamic and perhaps youthful audience. She yearns for an environment that captures human emotions profusely; in Africa, she feels that she can “lose herself” into the sensational appeals that will surround her as she photographs the people of Darfur. Whereas her War on Terror photography was tremored by pain and suffering, she aims to add a much stronger humanitarian angle to her work in Africa. Addario’s utilization of kairos is effective in emphasizing her heart’s desire for a new, engaging experience: she feels that now is the “perfect opportunity” to begin to transition into mature work—a feeling relatable among teens who want to pursue sophisticated opportunities but are unsure of the exact moment (or chronos) of their departure from childhood.

While writing my passion blog, I hope to juxtapose my love for technology with my career as a freelance musician. Like Addario, I boldly understand the need to “move on”: although I enjoy playing the saxophone, I long for something that implements my skills as a writer, a critical thinker, and a mathematician. Oftentimes, I feel that I’m unsatisfied by my work as a musician; this is possibly due to the fact that I consider music a hobby, and not a profession.

I have considered including this personal conflict of mine in order to emphasize the uncertainty that lies ahead of many of the entrepreneurs, businessmen, and innovators discussed in my blog. Similarly, I hope to illustrate my dilemma involving my passion and my profession, employing it to help shape the complicated lives of today’s technology leaders and their decisions to turn away from their professions and pursue their passions.

Addario’s depiction of her New York arrival is an almost apocalyptic illustration of the aftermath of terrorism. Addario’s deliberate use of “mangled” and “solemn” reflect scenes of horror and dismay at the clutch of radical Islam; her morbid diction in the opening of Part II serves to juxtapose the bustling New York City ambiance that she predicts her readers would envision. The author’s subsequent use of “gasp” and “devastated” are intended to emphasize the dismal, obscene consequences of international violence—those she bravely chooses to unearth in her photography.

Vivid imagery is employed especially in Addario’s first impressions of Peshawar, a hostile Pakistani city thwarted with terrorist factions. In this scene, Addarie utilizes figurative language to characterize Peshawar as ominous and foreboding, incorporating a metaphor to explain how the city produced an unsettling aura and explaining that “everyone [in the city] constantly looked over his shoulder” (70). Addario responds with a description of the concentrated media presence within Peshawar, employing parallelism to accentuate how quickly faces “darted, strided, [and] trailed” across the hotel lawn (70). The author unhesitantly emphasizes the emotional impact of style, one of the canons of rhetoric.

As I write about the impact of new and emerging technology, I aim to capture the reader’s imagination through anecdotal descriptions of each product’s viable role in the world. For instance, I plan to introduce my upcoming post on the iPhone X with a narrative depiction of a young Steve Jobs, as he struggles heart-achingly to solidify his dream for Apple against a manipulative executive board. Similar to Addario’s use of murky, disheartening diction in the opening of Part II, I hope to evoke an intense, emotional response from my readers by capturing Jobs’ life-changing dilemma.

Subsequently, I plan to incorporate figurative language in order to compare the technology I write about to everyday objects and household items prominent in our day-to-day lives. Artificial intelligence, for one, is a technology that elicits a particular fear in most readers’ minds. The real-world technology used to program AI machines differs astronomically from popular depictions of “killer robots” in science-fiction films, and in actuality, the function of AI is more comparable to how Google can search the internet and how computers can play chess. By employing extended metaphors and complementing my use of language with parallelism, I will strike a balance between the hypothetical world of innovative ideas and the concrete reality of technology in our information-driven society.

Addario manifests Nana’s missed chance of love to illustrate how true passion cannot be materialized. The tale’s deeper significance lies in the idea that passion is intangible and emotionally resonant, unable to be precisely defined. Through Nana’s story, Addario presents intrinsic proof that inward feelings can contribute certain worth to passion.

Whereas Nana’s love for Sal reflects an involved, captivating, and dynamic passion, her eventual love for Ernie is reticent and submissive. Addario employs Nana’s story to emphasize that passion cannot be fully unleashed until it becomes intertwined in one’s life, though this connection is painfully demanding.

Addario feels that her passion for photography will culminate when she is willing to endure its emotional and financial hardships. The consequences of Addario’s passion are an unsteady income, a general unpredictability of the future, and disconnection with her significant other, irreparably illustrated by Uxval’s decision to cheat on her. Addario is thwarted by tangible obstacles—war and death—yet she feels the emotional profit of photography exceeds these risks. Addario longs for the intangible: doing what she loves, capturing the world in times of crisis, and empowering individuals unheard.

In my technology blog, I hope to reiterate Addario’s theme of risk-taking and defying the status quo through a musical experience in my life. I had never faced a catastrophic musical failure in my saxophone career until my sophomore year of high school, when I was harshly rejected from a prestigious program due to my carelessness.

Since I had chosen not to prepare for this audition, the arrogance I displayed jeopardized my future as a professional musician. This major setback restructured my entire work ethic. Applying the Greek idea of kairos and acting at the right opportunity, I found that failure—even in a musical context—is essential for driving true success.

Failure is a stepping stone, a destination rather than an endpoint. Like the ambitious entrepreneurs and innovative startups discussed in my blog, I’ve found that a fear of failure hinders progressive thinking. Sometimes, the greatest lessons in life are learned from its greatest challenges.

My friends think I’m a daredevil.

But frankly, I’m anything but. To me, being a daredevil means you’re reckless, that you take risks without purpose or feeling. I don’t take risks because I’m unafraid; I take them because they set me apart from the crowd. They make things a bit more interesting. And it’s this exact thrill that shapes my own definition of happiness: doing something nobody’s ever done before.

Almost two years ago, I was offered a research position at a successful video game company in San Francisco, CA. When my contributions began to affect millions of players, I knew that my dream was to one day become an entrepreneur and launch my own startup. I plan to write a blog about exciting, futuristic technology that defies the status quo. My blog caters to casual tech enthusiasts and places a much-needed spotlight on virtual reality, electric cars, and other new and emerging industries. I plan to call it If Tech Could Talk (and yes, it can!).

As a saxophone player and recording artist, I love to perform on stage. But while music is my trade, I’ve always been fascinated by another, more unpredictable art form: cinema. My second pitch is a Christian movie review blog that captures the importance of morals and virtues in filmography. Contrary to a typical movie review, each post criticizes a film’s theme and core values as opposed to technical elements like animation and musical scoring. Due to the blog’s very specific niche, I may also critique secular, well-known movies to expand its potential audience.

My two passions greatly contrast each other, yet I’m thrilled that I can begin exploring both with much more depth. It’s exciting to begin writing about topics that can inspire amazing change in the way we think.