Krista Ramsey Blog Post

http://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/columnists/krista-ramsey/2014/05/22/krista-ramsey-thanks-parents/9468497/- The Third Column

Well Done, Mom and Dad. Well Done.

Summary of the Column

In this column, you learn to appreciate. Krista Ramsey uses her time to emphasize how thankful we should be for all that our parents have done and sacrificed in order for us to have the successions and opportunities that we have today.

The Best Written Line
"A choice to mold a character that usually didn't want to be molded." -Krista Ramsey. The impact this line has on the reader is the fact that we all know what it feels like to be stubborn against a parent. We all have had a time where we redundantly refused to understand a parents' decisions. I believe that we don't think that what a parent is doing in the present will affect us in the future. We don't realize how much we truly appreciate a parent till it comes time for us to leave them and we look back on your past and you that your parents were a a pertinent component in your success and your character. This line is impacting any reader because everyone can relate to this, everyone has had a parent figure in their lives that has tried their best to form a great kid, though that kid may not want it at the time. Some observations that I noticed in this line was her diction. By using simplistic words, anyone can easily relate to this, whether they are parent or child. Even though these words are simplistic, they help us imagine and understand what Ramsey is trying to get across. Using the word 'mold' helps us imagine a parent, watching their kid grow up and making decisions that will shape who they will become. Also, the syntax in this line was unique because Ramsey tried to connect the child to the parent. She in a way rephrased the first part of the sentence to fit how the child was feeling, while the first part of the sentence showed how the parent was feeling. Choices made by Ramsey in word choice and sentence structure help create an impact on the reader and help them connect to her words.

Ramsey's Writing Style 

Krista Ramsey takes her writing and emphasizes it by adding in specific examples. By observing three of her columns we see that in some form, Ramsey lists of examples to prove her point. Like in For Better Vision, Kids Need Time Outdoors. Ramsey says, " “The visual field is being artificially restricted,” Clark says. “If you train your eyes or use your eyes in only a narrow visual field, that will become your limitation.”With the brain, as with other parts of the body, it’s a matter of use it or lose it, Clark says. “When you use less and less of the peripheral retinal cells, less and less signal gets to the brain from that area and it gets less strong or goes away. So there may be more brain processing power dedicated to a task like watching a computer screen – but it may come at the cost of peripheral vision,” he says." Ramsey uses an outside source to list off reasons, scientific reasons, to prove her point. Another example we see is in Super Bowl QBs Score Points for Great Style. Here Ramsey says, "If you’re the parents of the bride who put thousands of dollars into an elegant wedding, you might well feel a pang when people arrive in jeans with sunglasses atop their heads. The sight of sports jerseys and sweat pants at a carefully planned memorial service could be hurtful. And as you look down at your fitted blazer and heels in a sea of shorts, T-shirts and nylon jackets at your daughter’s college graduation, you probably wonder why you bothered. Keep bothering." We see another use of listing off events to prove a main idea. Ramsey utilizes this and makes us understand where shes coming from. We can understand her point of view better with examples given. Now in the article we just read, Well Done, Mom and Dad. Well Done. Ramsey says, "If we were having coffee and I thanked you for these things, you would wave them off as nothing. Just what parents do, you'd say. But each of them was not an obligation but a choice. A choice to put the promise of someone else's future above the ease of your own present. A choice to believe in talents you couldn't yet see. A choice to mold a character that usually didn't want to be molded. A choice to invest your time, money and – most perilously – your heart in a project that would largely succeed to the degree it cut its tethers to you." Here we see her style again. She is really emphasizing her main ideas by giving us examples that helps us understand better and more. Krista Ramsey always brings her style out in a different way in her columns, no matter what the topic, you will see her defending her point with ease.

Three Questions for Krista Ramsey

1. What inspires your vast variety of topics? Do you like choosing out of the ordinary topics?


2. Have you always known that writing would play a major role in your life?


3. How do you create a voice in writing? How do you know that when someone reads your article they know that it is Krista Ramsey?