James Howard Kunstler's The suburban project and Ralph Kramden's apartment is, as the article that we read by him recently, a little over the top. It addresses the issue of blame in the matter of the rise of suburbia. Interestingly, despite all of Kunstler's radical opinions, he doesn't seem to blame anyone in particular in his blog and in fact contributes the rise to a combination of certain aspects of American culture after World War II. The blog implies that Kunstler supports the traditional neighborhood and, in particular, urban neighborhoods, but he never really takes an obvious position in the short paragraph presented here.



As far as multimodality goes, Kunstler's overexaggeration about the general public's opinion about the city is well supported by the picture he provides. He appeals to a part of American culture to which many can relate, the show the Honeymooners, and through doing so invokes a sense of comfort. The reference gives a somewhat comedic take on his serious topic and the picture, which is of the show's laughter inducing main character, further catalyzes this aspect of his blog. Kunstler's use of comedy helps to get his point across by dulling the heat of his strong opinions and makes his blog more comfortable. At the same time, the reference gives his blog a form of credibility due to the time period in which the show took place: post World War II. The picture taken in Ralph Kramden's cramped kitchen gives credibility as well by enhancing his image of a typical WWII home in the eyes of popular opinion.



Kunstler does a good job in his blog, despite its short length, of reaching the reader through its balance of light-heartedness and firey scorn and of multiple modes of relaying information.

-Andy Van Deventer