TOW #10

http://www.buzzfeed.com/maxseddon/notorious-anti-gay-activist-flees-russia-over-extremism-case

In Russia, neo nazi groups led by Maxim Martsinkevich have been spreading videos where they lure, capture, humiliate, and physically abuse young gay men around the country. Social media allows them to easily broadcast their cause to young adults and children, some of whom support it, especially when the Martsinkevich's actions align with the recent anti-LGBT law "banning gay propoganda to protect children." This video, however, prompted the Russian police to investigate, and found Martsinkevich guilty of hate towards the Iraqi gay subgroup. He then fled the country instead of facing a court hearing. The Russian police have currently searched his apartment and that of his parents, and his girlfriend has taken pictures of the searches and posted them to her instagram. The video of Martsinkevich shows him shaving the man's head, painting different graphics on his body, and hitting him several times before the screen fades to a graphic that says, in Russian, "no to violence." Hopefully he returns to the country to face trial for his crimes, and the support for the anti gay movement dies down.

TOW #9

http://news.yahoo.com/typhoon-deaths-climb-thousands-philippines-200523335.html

Typhoon Haiyan struck the eastern seaboard of the Philippines on Friday and left behind destruction and devastation in all affected areas. Houses were swept away, flattened, or simply destroyed by the force of the storm. In Tacloban, a ship was even pushed ashore and now lies amongst the wreckage and debris from ruined houses. The death toll from this typhoon sits somewhere around 10,000 at the moment, with more people missing and even more needing critical supplies like food and water. At the moment, typhoon Haiyan is one of the most powerful storms ever recorded, which explains why the cost was so great. Now, the Philippines looks to the rest of the world for support as they try to rebuild their community. This was posted on Yahoo news through the Associated Press, so it appears to be a credible article, especially because of the fact that multiple other sites and channels on TV have been reporting on the same story.

TOW #8

I'm finished reading the book I Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris. This book was a collection of essays about the author's life. Overall, the book was very funny and told a lot about the author's life and personality. David Sedaris is obviously a very funny man and has a comic talent, especially when it comes to telling personal stories. He's always able to put a twist on these stories to make them relatable, or at the very least, take something that wouldn't normally be humorous and make it funny and exciting. David Sedaris is clearly a credible author because he writes frequently for Esquire, does commentaries on NPR, and has written a number of New York Times best sellers. In this book, I believe that his purpose was to demonstrate his own skill as a writer and to allow the audience, the common crowd of readers, to learn something about him or get to know him better. He was also able to connect to the readers even though all of his stories were personal, and the audience may or may not have been able to connect to them. I would give the book a 5 out of 5 stars and recommend it to everyone who needs something funny to read.