Category: It’s what I do posts

Addario really caught my attention when she talked about the “Invasion” of Iraq. It starts on page 93 and ends on 97. The most common technique she uses is imagery. Everything she saw, she described in so much detail. The specific phrase that stood out at me was, “Behind us, all I could see was black smoke, a charcoal sandstorm billowing toward us.” The author could have stopped her sentence after black smoke but she instead used vivid words to allow the readers to fully picture what was happening.

 

Another way Addario draws in the audience is with ethos. The culture she was surrounded with was nothing like any of us know first hand. She described it as “not pro-American” and “hostile area.” All those phrases showed how dangerous the area was.

 

She also does a great job with pathos. After the bomb went off, she saw the pickup truck full of “dismembered bodies” and she explained how there were people’s insides everywhere. Addario also mentioned that some bodies were just hanging onto their lives. This plays on readers emotions because they never want to have to see that and picturing any person like that is horrifying.

 

I would really like to use vivid word choice in my blog. I don’t want it to be boring for the readers. I’d like to incorporate logos through proven facts and studies that have been taken. My whole blog is based on how someone feels about themselves so I hope that ties back to pathos. Another thing I’d love to do is make my passion help someone else. Even this one part of the book has so much information on things we wouldn’t know otherwise. Addario did a great job keeping the reader’s attention and always keeping them on the edge of their seat. I hope to accomplish the same with my blog!

At this point in the book, Addario was conflicted with who she loved and what she loved to do. She was seeing her passion and love life as an intertwined mix and didn’t know how to choose between the two. I think her Nana noticed this confusion and her advice was her own story about a chance that she failed to take.

Her Nana’s story was of Sal. Addario’s Nana was crazy for him, and had never felt affection towards anyone else like she did him. Sal was broke and had no promising future which lead Nana to go her own way. After they both pursued their own lives, they got to catch up and the intensity of their connection also rekindled.

Addario saw that her Nana was reminiscing in how great her life could have been. She ends it with, “And I never wanted to regret the kisses I missed.” I think that Addario is referring to kisses as opportunities not legit kisses. Her passion is photography and bringing a social change but she was starting to allow a man to stand in the way of that. The story of her Nana put her own life into perspective and she was able to fully accept the life of a photographer. Unlike her Nana, she didn’t have regrets about following her passion.

Much like the author, I had support and encouragement in my passion as well. Growing up, my best friend was Lauren. She started to get into a routine of working out and learning how to make home cooked meals. She really pushed me to do it with her. Every time I was close to quitting the workout or eating something bad for me, she would encourage me to keep going or suggest an alternative snack. Lauren was really the whole reason I got in touch the positive side of life. 

My first thought about this blog was traveling. I am so interested in different places and new experiences. I’m only 18 years old and I’ve been out of the country numerous times already. I have been to Europe, Bahamas, Dominican republic and many US States. I love documenting my trips through pictures too. I have had an adventure bucket list written for years and the things I want to do in each place. I would love to share with everyone the places i’ve been, my personal experiences there and the places I would like to go to. I think that happiness for me is brought through meeting new places and seeing new things.

Another idea I had was to write about personal fitness and a healthy lifestyle. I am a firm believer that a healthier person is also a happier person. I do like to workout and eat right but I don’t limit myself to what I eat. I also tend to “forget” to go to the gym some days because honestly, a workout doesn’t have to come from a gym. Saying that, this blog would be more about an average healthy person’s daily routine and ways to stay active. I would post meals, workouts, and other ways of exercising to it and keep it updated on my own journey. I also love gym fashion – workout leggings mostly so I would incorporate that into my blog as well.

A third idea I had was a music blog. My life has really been influenced and affected by all sorts of music. I love going to concerts and getting lost in the artist’s voice. I tend to listen to the words and find what they mean to me personally. I love every genre of music. I would write about different types each blog and include my personal favorite songs in them. The literal lyrics would be posted as well as the figurative meaning behind them. I think that music has played such a huge role in all of our lives and that I could write about it for days.