Assignment 4

     "Standing By", by David Sedaris, takes place in an airport. I think he placed the story in the airport because there is such a variety of people traveling, there are people from all over the world. Sedaris's target audience are people who have traveled by plane before because they understand the environment. People who haven't been in an airport before may read this and still think it's funny but they can't actually place themselves into the story and become the character, it's not as realistic.
      During the time this story took place, Obama just became president. Sedaris makes this known by putting it into the story. He talks about the two men who are complaining about Obama and how terrible of a president he is, when he was just getting into office. I think Sedaris included this to show just how much people are stuck in their own heads. Sedaris mentioned these things to get people thinking. Like I said in my previous blog post, I think Sedaris wrote this as a challenge to his readers to try and change the way they act and how self centered people are.
    Sedaris is trying to prove a point to his readers. He's trying to change the way we think and act. Maybe he's trying to better the world by showing how shallow humans are. I think Sedaris wants the readers to be puzzled by this and question themselves on how they behave on a day to day basis as opposed to when they’re in an airport. There really isn’t much of a difference if you really think about it. Yes in the airport the way people act is more obvious because you’re forced to think about it more than on a typical day. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. It’s human nature to be judgmental and to complain about things. Everyone does these things daily, they just become more apparent when you’re stuck in a situation such as being in the airport.
     I think that this was published in a magazine because the audience is the most abundant. Most likely the article was in a travel magazine because that would be Sedaris's target audience. It also just puts his story out there. Anyone can have access to it and people would be more willing to read it if they picked out the magazine anyways. I don't think the message would have been as clear if it was published anywhere else.