Food For Thought

        Daddy Dialectic's My Brief Wondrous Career as a Soccer Dad is a short story of a fathers experience with a child who doesn't want to do a sport.  He tells this rather ordinary story with rich diction and metaphors.  For this, I would characterize his voice as a s'more.  Yes, a s'more.  To me, it is a food which represents humility, familial context, and a sort of homeyness, which I sensed in the soccer story.  But within the story, there are layers of excellent word choice like 'cajoling', 'subterfuge to sabotage', and 'evolutionary slumber', which add depth to the text.  The author also uses quite a few metaphors throughout like when he compares his parenting to the way a natural scientist might approach laboratory experiment.  This made an otherwise normal story come to life, just as three otherwise normal snacks come together to make the surprisingly delicious treat known as a s'more.
        Loeffler's, I Banned Laptops from the Lecture Hall offers an opinionated article on the real life experience of a working professor with technology in the classroom.  He uses a fairly straightforward way of writing, first explaining his problem, then telling his solution, and finishing with the outcome of his solution, much like we were taught to do in high school.  The article is informative and does cause some reaction or thought about the topic, and overall it is simply a well-written piece.  For this, I would say the voice is tan, or any other neutral color.  This isn't meant to be a bad thing, because to me the story is relevant, and offers insight on the topic, but there doesn't seem to be anything stand-out about it.  When compared to the last post which was about an even more mundane thing, it doesn't have the same sparkle or excitement in voice than the other one.  So neutral-toned it is.
        Alex Horton has a voice of wisdom and genuineness.  He speaks with heart and meaning.  In On Getting By, he combines cold-hard knowledge with funny anecdotes to sort of ease the tension.  You can tell that he is being very honest yet serious about his own experiences, and wishes to help others. For this, I think his voice is like a chocolate covered pretzel.  It is bittersweet.  Horton gives advice on overcoming the struggle in transitioning back to a normal life and the annoyances that can come with that.  Even though the topic is somewhat heavy, he counteracts it by adding humor and funny references like Red Forman, hipsters and their ironic hats, and making sure to mention NOT to be a douche.  It makes it refreshing to read instead of a more serious post, and that is why it's like a chocolate covered pretzel.