Assignment 1

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/world/asia/02diplo.html?hp

"Japan's landmark election presents the Obama administration with an untested government, creating a new set of imponderables for a white House already burdened by foreign policy headaches in Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea."

This excerpt from "U.S. Is Seeing Policy Thorns in Japan Shift" has a nice opening style but can possibly be distracted by the second half of the sentence. We can gather that the article is about an issue in Japan that will affect America, but we are also reminded of the other issues America is currently dealing with regarding these three other countries. It's works well as a good attention grabber because to the reader it shows urgency. This is something that perhaps we should be worried/concerned about because our country is already dealing with issues in other countries, now another?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/books/02moore.html


"Lorrie Moore had just begun working on what would become her new novel, "A Gate at the Stairs," when she told one interviewer that she was writing a book "about hate." Later she recalled telling someone else that it was a novel about chores. In May, speaking to a roomful of booksellers at BookExpo America, the publishing industry's annual convention, she said she had written a book-- her first in 11 years-- about a 20-year-old woman because she viewed 20 as "the universal age of passion."

This excerpt from "Hate, Love, Chores: Lorrie Moore's Midwest Chronicle" seems to be all over the place. It isn't clear what this article is going to be about, and frankly it seems as if Lorrie Moore doesnt know what shes writing about. It is not compelling because there is nothing gravitating about the language or the content.