RIP Whitney

This past Saturday evening, Whitney Houston sadly passed away at the age of 48. While to some, this was no surprise but the majority of the world was shocked to hear such news. Everyone knew of Whitney's struggles with alcohol and drugs but she has been out of the spot light for so long that her problem almost seemed to disappear. Since Whitney first became popular, she build a fan base like no other. Similar to Michael Jackson, her followers stayed with her every step of the way and never betrayed her even when she was at her darkest times. Whitney had a voice like no other and she was not afraid to show it off, "She could have bludgeoned listeners over the head with just the sheer power of her voice — but instead, Houston approached her songs like an actress inhabiting a character, squeezing emotion from every lyric with sincerity, grace and elegance" (Zaleski 1). Although her autopsy results have not been released yet, it is suspected that she died of either an overdose or alcohol poisoning. It is sad that such an amazing icon had to die of such a horrendous cause. 


Annie Zaleski, the author of this article wrote about Whitney with such passion it was obvious she was a major fan. She did not let Whitney's personal struggles over come her success. When she spoke of Whitney's drug abuse, she never let them hold her back. For example, Zaleski included parts of an interview Whitney had where she talked about crack, We don’t do crack, we don’t do that. Crack is wack.” Zaleski followed up that quote by saying, "the latter catchphrase caused an uproar and did irreparable damage to her reputation. But Houston persevered — and eventually came clean about her private turmoil" (Zaleski 1). Zaleski did include logos in this article when talking about Whitney's successes as well as struggles but she relied mainly on pathos. She wrote about what a good person Whitney was and how much she had to offer to the world. Zaleski had a way of making Whitney's death seem more like a passing, rather than a permanent occurrence. 


A Voice That Touched Us All by Annie Zaleski
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/12/a_voice_that_touched_us_all/