David Brooks
Lady Gaga and the Life of Passion 
The New York Times
October 25, 2015

When I first saw the title of this post I was very intrigued as to what David Brooks could possible have to say about Lady Gaga and I have to say I wasn't disappointed with what I read. lady Gaga has always made a statement whether it be with her clothes, music or performances; personally, I always thought of her as being quite odd and taking things a little bit too far but Brooks has definitely put another perspective of her into play. He states that she always lives a life of passion and he goes on to discuss  what that means and what people who live passionately do. I really enjoy how Brooks discusses topics that are relevant to any and all ages; I think that this benefits him as a writer by enabling him to connect with everyone. In this article Brooks had the power to explain how passionate people live and it caused me to reflect on my own life and contemplate how I could tweak the way I live my own reality in order to achieve the feelings that he describes. 

David Brooks
School for Wisdom
The New York Times
October 18, 2015


In this article Brooks focuses on the education system by referring to a documentary called "Most Likely to Succeed". The documentary claims that the American school system is "unsuited for the modern workplace" because students aren't being taught what they need to be in order to thrive in the real world. Brooks argues weather or not the switch from content to life skills is the proper response because with one, you would have to sacrifice the other. Brooks appeals to logos by stating what could go wrong with a drastic change in how the educations system works and he gives an example of a school that has done this and points out the pros and cons of it. 

David Brooks
The Prison Problem
The New York Times
October 11, 2015

David Brooks sticks to the facts of his topics; he doesn't beat around the bush or give a bias opinion on the topic. Throughout his post about The Prison Problem Brooks sites Leon Neyfakh when discussing the releasing of drug offenders and John Pfaff  when discussing the Mandatory Minimum Theory; which is a binding length of time needed to be spent in prison depending on the federal or state crime committed. Brooks appeals to pathos in this post because he discusses releasing "once violent criminals" and I think that when a parent or even teenager reads that a shiver goes up there spine at the thought of violent criminals being let loose, weather or not they have proven not be violent. 

Monthly Pundit Project

Reading Guide

Eric Zorn
The Incredible shrinking Ben Carson
Chicago Tribune
September 7, 2015

In this article Zorn criticizes the Republican presidential primary debate, specifically focusing on Ben Carson's inability to become impassioned about topics. For example, when given the opportunity to "rip" Trump's "know-nothing  blathering" and point out that he is not only ignorant with medical matters but in general as well he didn't take any shots at Trump. Although, when reading this article I questioned why not trashing another opponent would be considered bad. Zorn claims that Carson is a wimp for not taking the opportunity to make himself look better. Zorn appeals to logos by using specific quotes from the debate and then criticizing how and why it supports his claim that Carson has no back bone. 

Eric Zorn
School strikers endure hunger, my criticism, to win
Chicago Tribune
September 13, 2015

Eric Zorn writes this article about how protesters have been fasting in order to get what they want as a response to another post that he had made on the same topic. As he explains his point of view, he is sure to cover his tracks by saying things such as "The hunger strikers had a good point. 

I never said they didn't." because, as he explains in the article, he was called out for not acknowledging the underlying issues at hand. The protestors goal is to get the Dyett High School in Washington park to reopen as a “green technology” neighborhood school; Even after the Dyett compromise, where protestors got almost everything the wanted, they still continue to push for more.

Eric Zorn
Change of Subject:
OK, what about this idea on pensions?
Chicago Tribune
September 7, 2015

In this post Zorn discusses the ideas on pensions and what an alternate solution to the problem at hand could be. He suggests to give each public employee a choice on weather or not to give up the compounded 3 percent annual cost-of-living increase guaranteed in their pension and accept a lower annual increase, or keep the generous COLA, but agree that any future raises that the employee will  receive will not count toward the salary which their pension will be based upon. Neither option is an attractive choice, but according to Zorn giving employees a choice is constitutional and will solve nearly every problem Illinois is having currently. In Illinois the constitution states that public employee pension benefits will not be "diminished or impaired" and recent court decisions have thwarted lawmaker's attempts to encourage employees to accept less than what they were promised. The two choices appeal to different age groups in the working force; the first, for younger workers and the second, for older. Madera says that having employees make a decision may seem unfair but that does not make it coercive under Illinois law.
 Zorn ends his post with the question of "Have a better idea?" which is very informal and also causes the audience to reflect on what he has just discussed; which is a wise move on his part because really, what else can they do? There is no other alternative.