Hello Students
I'm looking forward to starting a new semester with you. I hope you all had a great summer and are ready for classes. Please use this blog to reflect on the various readings you will do for English 111. I look forward to reading your responses and having you share them with your classmates. Best of luck for the semester,
P. Wesser
Response to Book Wars:
ReplyDeleteThis story was very touching. Though I could not relate to it personally, it still had a lot of emotion to it. In the country where this boy lived, certain books were banned and some of his favorites were. Even though he had tons of illegal books that if the police found his family would be dead, he still read them because he had a passion for them. I would never do anything that would possibly get my family killed, but i understand that he loves it and nothing is getting in the way of what he desires.
Heather Boulette
Response to Binky and Toodles:
ReplyDeleteI personally could not relate to this blog at all. I live in the suburbs where the only animals I have ever owned was a cat and a dog. My parents and older siblings mostly dealt with the responsibilities of them too. It seems that the author, Allisa grew some sort of attachment to these animals because when they were killed, she pictures them "loping free in the Happy Hunting Grounds of the Great Spirit of Strong Moral Fiber. One thing that disturbed me about this memoir was that after caring for those animals and basically having them as pets, they killed them and saved their meat. If I had to kill one of my animals, I certainly would not eat it.Those are my thoughts on that memoir.
Heather Boulette
Book War- Question #3
ReplyDeleteThe complication in “Book War” is that the people are in China are not allowed to read any books besides the ones on a list. They could only read books that were not considered “poisonous weed.” At stake in this memoir are the lives of the two girls, not just themselves but their entire family. If anyone was caught reading books not on the list, the result would be “catastrophic.” The narrator struggles with the values of not only her mother, but the views of the Cultural Revolution in China. Wang’s mother had buried a chest full of the books. When Wang dug it up her mother was furious and made her rip out the pages and throw them into the burning stove. In the end, both Wang and her mother’s values win out. Wang does indeed destroy the books as her mother suggested, but she also keeps the stories with her and passes them down throughout her family and friends. The resolution is clear, Wang obeys the laws and gets rid of the books, but as she states in the last line, “The books had been burnt, but the story went on.” This explains that she kept telling the stories, because she loved them.
Word of My Youth- Question #2
ReplyDeleteThe Wiffle ball is used in many different ways throughout this story. The boys are in fact playing a game of Wiffle ball, but it has some other kind of symbolism. In the beginning, I feel as though the Wiffle ball describes a certain outcome to situation that you aren’t completely sure about. For instance, when the ball is hit and you think its going one way but then it unexpectedly changes direction. It’s saying that the outcome of a situation is going in one direction but then it takes an unexpected turn. Towards the end of the memoir, the narrator and his friends start calling each other “dumb jews.” Obviously this statement is offensive, but people in 1971 took it more with a grain of salt. After the narrators mother hears him saying this statement she gets furious. She literally drags him in the house by his hair and lets into him. She asked him where he heard the new catch phrase from and he said “…it just seems to have been out there,… like the way a Wiffle ball whips and dips…” There really is no rhyme or reason why he was saying that phrase, just there is no specific way to describe the path that a Wiffle ball takes.
The Way to Rainy Mountain#2
ReplyDeleteFive places where Momaday uses visual imagery:
• Sweet clover takes hold of the hills and bends upon itself to cover and seal the soil.
• At a distance in July or August the steaming foliage seems almost to writhe in fire.
• The great billowing clouds that sail upon it are shadows that move upon the grain like water.
• My line of vision was such that the creature filled the moon like a fossil.
• The long yellow grass on the mountain shone in the bright light, and a scissortail hied above the land.
• SOUND: The sound of his grandmother praying at night.
• TOUCH: The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet.
• SMELL: The meat his grandmother was turning over in the great iron skillet.
• TASTE: The food they would all eat after the prayer meetings.
-courtney bussiere
Salvation
ReplyDeleteLangston Hughes
Question 3
I believe that the theme that holds this memoir together is fear. Hughes was scared that if Jesus didn't come to him or that if he didn't see him, everyone in the church would hate him. He lied and said he saw him just to make everyone else happy. He regretted this greatly though because he went home and cried the entire night. I believe that this affected him because he just wish he told the truth instead of lying and he believes he will hold guilt and regret this for the rest of his life.
Heather Boulette
Salvation #2
ReplyDeleteLangston Hughes
I do believe that the way children and adults think does differ, and that adds to the conflict in this memoir. Children think in concrete terms because that is what their parents tell them, that is all the children know. The children have one “concrete” explanation for something, and that is what they go off of. For instance, when Langston’s aunt says “that when you were saved you saw a light, and something happened to you inside! And Jesus came into your life!” Langston took that literally like he was actually going to see Jesus, but his aunt meant that Jesus will come into Langston’s life theoretically and save him. Now because all Langston had to go off of was what his aunt told him that is what he did; he did not get off the bench until he saw Jesus. Clearly he never actually saw Jesus, but he had to pretend to in order to satisfy the church. By having these words of wisdom passed on to Langston, he had to endure extreme guilt. He was feeling remorseful because he lied and said he actually “saw” Jesus when he didn’t. If his aunt would have explained it in terms that Langston could relate to, he would not be feeling bad about his decision to stand up, and save himself.
-courtney
The Good Immigrant Student
ReplyDeleteBich Minh Nguyen
#2
Five reasons why Nguyen felt like she was not fully a member of the Grand Rapids community are:
-When they first moved in, the neighborhood was predominately families who had Dutch heritages and everyone was Christian Reformed and conservative Republican.
-She had a Latin stepmother, and a Latin sister, Cristina. Her father, sister, and grandmother were refugees from Saigon. She also has a half-brother.
-No one in her family was white. They were multicultural; Latin and Vietnamese. So of course they had a different skin and hair color than the majority of the population.
-The kids in her classes would pull the corners of their eyes back while she was giving presentations.
-She did not dress like the rich white kids, they wore Esprit and Guess; while she was wearing parachute pants and oversized shirts, always mismatched.
Because a lot of the kids in her classes would stare at her and make comments she felt as though she had to be quiet all the time. Since she was always quiet, she missed out on making friends and the chance for people to actually get to know her instead of what is just on the outside. On the last page of her memoir, one of the girls in her classes states that “my mom said I can’t sit by anyone who’s brown.” The parents in Michigan weren’t giving their children a chance to be diverse because they have drilled a concrete statement into their brains from day one.
The Good Immigration Student
ReplyDeleteHeather Boulette
Question 3
Nguyen had a very hard time fitting in at school. One way she tried dealing with it was by being silent. She got great grades, did all her work, yet said a word. I do not think that this made her fit in, but it did make her not stand out. She finally started to fit in when she went to Spectrum. She said she finally felt comfortable. Then after that she went to City School where she fit in there too. I believe that she will always feel like an outcast, but she has somewhat resolved this conflict.
2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman-Road Test
ReplyDeleteHeather Boulette
Question #2
This evaluation does have a lot of information about the Mini Cooper that draws my attention to and make me possibly want to drive one. Another good thing about this evaluation is that it is not boring. It doesn't just keep listing facts where you just skip to the end and find out about the car overall. The writer throws little jokes into it and a few question that keeps the readers attention. Overall, I strongly believe that it is a good evaluation.
2008 Mini Cooper S Clubman-Road Test
ReplyDeleteCourtney Bussiere
Question #3
I believe that the evaluator delivered the technical information easily, and directly. I did not find it to be overwhelming. Although in a few specific paragraphs there were points where I was totally lost. When he was talking about percent of front distribution and liter turbos, I had no idea. I will say it probably was not because of the way it was written, but because I have little education with mechanics. On the other hand, the evaluator should have written this evaluation so it was easy to read by someone who had no idea about cars.
Why We Crave Horror Movies
ReplyDeleteCourtney Bussiere
Question #2
Stephen King's style is very interesting, and throughout this article he is supposed to be comparing good horror and bad horror movies. He does give characteristics of both, but he throws in strange sentences that make you take a step back and wonder if what you just read was right. The first place where King surprised me was the first statement, "I think that we're all mentally ill," I do not know why this sentence was put into place, but it intrigued me to finish reading the article. Another place wehre King surprised me was when he told the joke about the truckload of bowling balls, and the truckload of babies. Although Stephen King does have distinct taste for gory things, I though this statement was especially gruesome. The last place where I found the statement astonishing was in the last paragraph; "It was Lennon and McCarthy who said that all you need is love, and I would agree with that. As long as you keep the gators fed." I just thought that after the last paragraph is moving towards a lighter style, but then we he hit me with the gators thing I was completely taken aback.
Why We Crave Horror Movies
ReplyDeleteHeather Boulette
Question #2
The first line of the article is strange and throws the reader off straight from the bat. "I think we're all mentally ill..." is quite the opening sentence. Another sentence that was odd was that "we are still light-years from true ugliness". I felt like this was a very random sentence. The last paragraph of the first page is very strange. It talks about 2 famous murderers and refers to them as "amateur-night surgeons". He throwa in random jokes near the end too. Overall King's style is to make us think differently about horror. He is a dark person, but uses humor to help hide it.
Lord of the Dance Doesn't Have Anything on Me
ReplyDeleteCourtney Bussiere
Question #2
Barry tries to disarm his critics by stating everything that they were going to say to him in their letters. In the first example, he uses some form of the word ignorance practically every other word. He also refers back to the story about the male dancer accidentally throwing the female dancer into the bushes at an outdoor garden show. He stated that a member of the Dancing Community would say that that would have been a "potentially career ending tragedy." Barry tries to calm down his potential critics by saying that he will suffer enough because his daughter wants to be a ballerina. He says that there is no need for the letters because dance would soon be his whole world. He says that his 2 1/2 year old daughter practices dance every day, and that she makes him dance with her too. I feel that because he played it off as being humorous, he lightened the mood, but on the other hand, I feel as though he may provoke more people to write back because some of his statements could have been taken offensively.
Apple iPhone 3GS
ReplyDeleteSteven Levy
Question #1
Steven Levy states that you can practically get all of the features that the 3GS has with only downloading a simple upgrade to your current iPhone. Although Levy does say that the iPhone 3GS is not all that he expected, he had some very positive feedback on the new phone. The 3GS is at least two times faster, making games and downloading various things a lot more sufficient. Also the 3GS has the hands-free feature called VOice Command. He can say who you would like to call, or what song you wish your iPhone to play. Levy says that it is better at recognizing names and numbers rather than artists and song titles. On the new 3GS you can now cut,copy and paste text, photos and objects. Steven is upset because the iPhone does not have the multitasking feature that the Palm Pre has. Another reason why Levy is not completely satisfied with the 3GS is because the service provider AT&T is jacking up the cost of the iPhone. The only way that the iPhone 3GS is cheaper is if you upgrade from a previous iPhone. Overall I would say that Steven is pretty satisfied with the iPhone 3GS and he will probably end up getting one in the future.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteThe Lord of Dance Doesn't Have Anything On Me
Question#1
Barry is not being very objective becasue he wants people to understand that although he doesn't like the ballet, he knows that it is a beautiful thing and it takes passion, desire, and skill. He just hates it. He can't stand to watch it but he undesrstands people do enjoy it. This makes this different from most evaluations because they will not give the other side of the argument benefit of the doubt.
Apple iPhone 3GS
Question #1
The first thing that makes it fall short of what than expected is that it is not as a dramatic advance as the other iPhones. It also says the camera doesn't have zoom. It says that the voice control mixes up what you actually want to do a lot and it is inconsistant. It says it has a compass but is pointless. TO upgradse if you have the older version of the 3G, you have to pay hundreds of dollars to get the new one. Overall the essay was positive though.
On Dumpster Diving
ReplyDeleteLars Eighner
Question #1
Eighner applies many different criteria to the "art" of dumpster diving. He even goes as far as to capitalize Dumpster because in his eyes it is a proper name, and as far as the term "dumpster diving" goes, he prefers the words scavenging or scrounging. While Eighner and Lizbeth were living in their apartment, they started to run out of money. They started to look for their necessities, they acquired everything but jeans from the dumpster. Their first order of business was to look for things that were alright to eat. Eating safely from the dumpsters involves three principles: using the senses and common sense to evaluate the condition of the found materials, knowing the dumpsters of a given area and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question "Why was this discarded?" The first item that he talks about is canned goods, they are found frequently in the dumpsters. When looking to see if a can is safe, it must not be punctured in any way, it should not have any bulges, dents or rust. Also if you open the can and the contents spill everywhere it is not okay. Next are the dry food: crackers, cookies, chips, and pasta. As long as they are sealed in their original package they should be okay. Hard candy is usually safe as long as there are no visible bugs on it, and chocolate is usually safe also because people throw it away when it starts to discolor, but it is actually fine. He challenges the readers criteria because I know for myself, I would not even think about eating something out of the dumpster. But he states that most things are still good, because our society just throws things out when they are still good, or if they are going to go bad in a day or so. The main thing that I got out of this essay was that in our culture, it's natural to be wasteful.
How Obama Does That Thing He Does
ReplyDeleteJeff Shafer
Question# 3
According the Shafer, Obama treated the issue with race differently than any other presidential candidate has in the past. Bill Clinton openly invited African Americans to talk about their issues with race. Obama avoids the race issue with not bringing it up too much. When Obama does talk about race, he tries to put the traumas and issues of nonblacks next to those of African Americans. He puts them next to each other, but never directly relates other people’s issues. Although, in his 2005 speech honoring civil rights hero John Lewis, Obama directly relates himself to Sen. Dick Durbin. He talks about how each of them were raised by different ethnic backgrounds but still had to struggle with some of the same things. In his 2004 convention speech, Obama states that “there is not a black America and a white America and Latino America and Asia America—there’s the United States of America.” He is trying to make it seem like every race is unified, and most people believe him because he makes his words sound “genuine.” I feel as though his different approach made people think that he was more of an “average Joe” and I believe that that helped him in the long run.
What’s a Girl to Read?
ReplyDeleteLiza Featherstone
Question #1
Featherstone believes that magazines aimed at teenage girls should basically be written by teenage girls. The Blue Jean’s magazine is a Rochester, N.Y. ad-free magazine that is an “alternative to the fashion and beauty magazines targeting yet women.” Blue Jean changes the pace in the magazine industry; they interview athletes Mia Hamm and Venus Williams, author Veronica Chambers, and novelist Jean Crowell. Blue Jean covers all of the bases. Also, Blue Jean does not have any ads in their publication, so they need some type of outside support. Blue Jean urges readers to use word-of-mouth to build up their reputation. I personally like this aspect of Blue Jean because it makes the reader feel as though they are a part of something.
He’s Not Black
ReplyDeleteMarie Arana
Question #3
In “He’s Not Black” Arana states that public figures Tiger Woods, Halle Berry, Ben Kingsley, Nancy Kwan, Ne-Yo, and Mariah Carey are all in the same boat as Barack Obama. All of these public figures come from multicultural backgrounds, but we must identify them with a certain group. Berry is black, Kingsley is white, and Kwan is yellow. Although these may be a dominant part of their ethnicity, they are not fully one thing. Marie Arana is like Obama, she has a white mother from Kansas, and a foreign father. She wanted to know about her background so she took a DNA test. She found out that on her “white side” she was from an Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe. She was more complex than she thought. My take is that she feels as though Obama is not embracing his entire background because he only identifies with one group.
Sleuthing Patriotic Slogans
ReplyDeleteGary Sloan
Question #3
Towards the end of Sloan’s article “Sleuthing Patriotic Slogans,” he presents the question of when we see the slogan “God Bless America” do we really mean all of America. In the second to last paragraph, Sloan lists things that don’t really need to be blessed by God: fat paychecks, more cable channels, bigger boom boxes, and better face-lifts and liposuction. Granted, I do not know many people that think of those things when seeing the slogan “God Bless America” but I guess I was mistaken. Next, Sloan wants to know if by “America” we mean all Americans. Do we mean to include murderers, rapists, thieves, liars and cheaters? In some people’s eyes, everyone deserves to be blessed by God, but not in Sloan’s case. In the last paragraph he goes on to use references from the song “God Bless America.” Does “America” refer to land, spacious skies and amber waves of grain? The overall concept is, is everyone worthy of being blessed by God.
Shooting From the Hip
ReplyDeleteLibby Copeland
Question #2
Palin’s style has a reverse effect on people because she seems too good to be true. Her spunky attitude and overly energetic demeanor suggests that she is better than everyone else in one respect. Personally I am not a fan of Sarah Palin because I feel as though she is not serious in the least bit. Joking is perfectly fine and it keeps things like speeches light, but there is a place for it, and I believe that she does it too much. Also the way she speaks bothers me because she is trying too hard to relate to the average person in America. In Copeland’s article he talks about how when she gets cornered during debates she turns the cuteness on and tries to get her way out of it. Since she was running for vice president I would think she could actually answer the questions being asked of her. Lastly Copeland mentions how John McCain is a “maverick,” the thing that bothered me was when Sarah Palin stated that her and John McCain would be “mavericks” together. You can not be a “maverick” with someone else because a “maverick” is an independent person.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteHe's Not Black
Marie Arana
Question #2
Obama is more similar to Hispanics because:
1)Hispanics are mostly mixed race like Obama and they appreciate the boundary he crossed more than blacks
2)Hispanics and mixed races have been around a very long time so Obama can relate to them better
3) Hispanics give credit to African Americans and overcoming slavery for making their lives easier and having their own identity as Hispanic
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteSleuthing Patriotic Slogans
Gary Sloan
Question #2
Grammar errors do not bother everyone but they do bother the author and I can see where he is coming from. When people use slogans and their are grammar errors, it makes the person who is saying the slogan seem uneducated. If the person can't spell or use the right tense of a verb, than they don't seem very smart and why should people believe or agree with what that person is saying?
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteShooting from the Hip, with a Smile to Boot
Libby Copeland
Question #2
According to Copeland, some people can't stand or hate Palin because they find her annoying and irritating. She does little things that set people off like scrunching her nose, raising her eyebrows, leans her shoulder in, etc. People find her adorable or irritating and that is just the way it is.
Terror's Purse Strings
ReplyDeleteDana Thomas
In this New York Times article, Dana gives interesting insight and detail to the counterfeit clothing world. One of the most dominant items are designer purses. Millions of people flock to Canal Street in New York, and Santee Alley in Los Angeles just looking for these knock-offs. Towards the middle of the article, Dana touches on how by buying these imitation items, we could possibly added resources and helping out the type of people that are involved in drugs, terrorism, and other crimes. Dana went as far as to say that the sales of counterfeit t-shirts may have helped finance the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. I find this statement to be a little extreme, because although I do not like to stereotype, most of the people that sell the imitation items are Asian. And as everyone can attest to, the terrorist attacks have been brought on by people from the middle east. Overall I feel like this article was a good informational piece, however I do not believe that his will stop people from buying imitation items for less than half or the real items price.
Brain Enhancement Is Wrong, Right?
ReplyDeleteBenedict Carey
Question #2
The writers main point in this article is that people usually do not care too much about an issue until it becomes main stream. At the beginning of the article Carey talks about how performance enhancing drugs did not really become a big deal until sports stars such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens got caught, and it caused a big upset. I believe that Carey is arguing for people to recognize performance enhancing drugs as soon as possible and not just when they get popular. Carey is arguing against the use of performance enhancing drugs, not just in the sports world but also in the work place.
Oops! I'll Do It Again. And Again. And Again...
ReplyDeleteJames Bowman
Question #1
According to Bowman, failure is an important component of life that many of today's young people don't experience because their parents baby them. From personal experience I have noticed that parents are treating their children extremely differently than parents had been treating their children. For instance, after my cousins soccer game which they lost by 9 points, their parents told them that they played a great game and how they did so good. If it was my team ten years ago and we lost by 9 points, our parents would have told us how we truly did, and we probably would not have talked much on the way home. One of Bowman's arguments is that he wants people to see failure as a source of improvement. Also when people do not experience failure, and then they get rejected for the first time it is catastrophic. Bowman is in favor of trying to prepare children for the real world where everything is not sugar coated.
A Gay Man's Case About Gay Marriage
ReplyDeleteMichael Bronski
Question #3
In Bronski's article, he states the even though he is gay, he does not believe that gay/lesbian marriage is that important. Since Bronski is not in favor of gay/lesbian marriage, he still wants the same rights as male/female marriages would get. For example, when the 9/11 attacks occurred, only people who were married traditionally got compensation for the loved ones they lost. Gay marriage is not legal in New York, so if someone lost their partner in the attack, they received nothing. I do not think this is fair at all, neither does Bronski. One major reason why Bronski doesn't believe in gay/lesbian marriage is because over half of all traditional marriages end in divorce. He thinks that since gay/lesbian is not traditional, they will have a harder time succeeding in the long run. Bronski wants to fight for equally when it comes to rights, and benefits. He wants to make sure that if in fact gay/lesbians can not get married, that they will be able to obtain resources from their lost loved ones.
Tweens: Ten Going on Sixteen
ReplyDeleteKay S. Hymowitz
Question #3
The three problems that Hymowitz believes will come about because of this concentration of marketing to tweens are the age at which kids commit crimes,the age at which kids are becoming sexually active, and the age at which kids are getting into drugs and alcohol. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention reports that the the people who are on the leading edge of juvenile crime are under the age of 15. Many teachers and counselors have reported that during recess they have found students "in the bushes." One middle school counselor even said that "we're beginning to see a few pregnant sixth-graders." In my opinion that is completely unacceptable. Lastly, in the past six years, there has been a doubling in the number of eight-graders who are smoking marijuana. Kids do not think that smoking marijuana is that big of a deal, because "everyone does it." A lot of these behaviors have been brought on by what is in the media. When kids are seeing their favorite Disney stars preforming a strip-tease in their latest music video, it sends the wrong message, and before you know it they are imitating what they saw. In Hymowitz's opinion, kids are growing up way to fast. The social media is not the only cause to blame in this case. Where are the parents? When I was younger I constantly had my parents around telling me what was right or wrong. Now a days, kids talk back to their parents like they are their friends. In my opinion parents need to crack down on their kids, and show them whose boss. You don't want you kids growing up faster than they have to, and have them miss being a kid.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteWhy Suing College Students for Illegal Music Downloading is Right
Queestion #1
The benefits of copyright laws help out music artists. No one can steal their songs or lyrics. Copyright laws prevent the rich people and government from ruling. Copyright laws help people gain money from their hard work. We should preserve them for the good of protecting people's inventions or ideas and to not allow the rich and government run everything.
Challenging Veteran Stereotypes
Question #2
The problems with how the media portrays veterans is that it is wrong. It focuses on how they have been changed by the war, both physically and emotionally. But this doesn't happen to everyone. The author believes this should be showed, but it should also focus on the good the veterans did.
Why Suing College Students for Illegal Music Downloading Is Right
ReplyDeleteMarci A. Hamilton
Question #3
Hamilton compares the act of downloading music illegally to shoplifting. However some other people compare it to piracy. Shoplifters often see their activity as exciting, and it gives them some sort of thrill when they steal something. Pirates commit crimes their entire life, whereas shoplifters may stop after a while. The more shop owners monitor their store, less shoplifting will occur. Just like if internet hosts and schools in this case should monitor their users so they can stop them from downloading illegally. Once a student hears about his/her classmate getting caught for downloading illegally, they will most likely stop for the fear of getting caught.
Challenging Veteran Stereotypes
ReplyDeleteKen Harbaugh
Question # 2
In Harbaugh's article "Challenging Veteran Stereotypes," he states that many of the movies, books and documentaries today are made about "damaged" soldiers. He means that these movies and such are made to attack of emotions, and to feel bad for soldiers who have returned from fighting in a war. However, not all soldiers return that way. Harbaugh talks about many of his friends that have served in the military, and how they are proud of what they did and they would go back in a heart beat. The Labor Bureau suggests states that veterans are more likely to be employed than a common civilian, and that veterans are less likely to be imprisoned after they tour of duty. Harbaugh says that to see what life is like through the eyes of a soldier that comes back healthy and well would be a good experience for everyone to understand.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteIn Defense of Torture
Question #1
One example the author uses a hypothetical situation is saying a seven year old little girl is in a building with a bomb. I believe tortre is alright here because if you torture the person enough they'll give up and tell you how to stop it.
Another example is dropping bombs on Afghanis and Iraqis. Is it right to torture them with bombs? This is an example against torturing.
Overall, I think the first example is an exception to torturing.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteFriends with Benefits: Do Facebook Friends Provide the Same Support as Those in Real Life?
Question #1
Traditional friends and social network friends are similar because they both a "voluntary partnership". You can get happiness and confidence from commetns they leave you. They are different because traditional friends you keep in touch with, meet up with and hangout, and really care about. Social network friends are basically like aqcaintances. You just find out about them on the social network.
In Defense of Torture
ReplyDeleteSam Harris
Question #1
In the blog "In Defense of Torture," Sam Harris uses hypothetical situations to persuade us in the direction of using torture as an acceptable means of punishment. He has the reader visualize the event in which his/her seven year old daughter is being slowly asphyxiated in a warehouse just five minutes away, and the man who put her there is in your custody. Then he says that if the reader will not torture the man for one child, he adds a whole bunch of other peoples daughters. I would undoubtedly torture the man for holding my daughter captive, I would put him through an immense amount of pain to free my daughter. Now, throwing all of the other daughters into the mix, I would do anything and everything in my power to have him let them go. I find this scenario extremely persuasive because it deals with peoples emotions more because once anyone hears this scenario, they automatically think of someone close to them that they love. Harris also uses having a bomb in the middle of downtown Manhattan, and the bomber being in your custody. Theoretically since there is still time for the reader to diffuse the bomb, the reader should in fact torture the man into diffusing the bomb. This argument is persuading, but not as much as the first one stated.
Friends with Benefits: Do Facebook Friends Provide the Same Support as Those in Real Life?
ReplyDeleteKate Dailey
Question #1
In Dailey's article, she describes friends in two different ways. A friend is a close, equal, voluntary partnership though Rebecca G. Adams a professor says that in reality "friendships dont have to be equal or close, and we know from research that friendships arent as voluntary as they seem. She says that friendships arent as voluntary as they seem because friends are often constricted to certain group, categorized by education, age, or background. A friend is also someone who you can confide with in reality, to feel their physical presence is a big part of being a friend, well to me anyways. Having Facebook "friends" is described like everyday is a wedding. In one simple click you are surrounded by people that you are close to, or people that you havent seen in years. It is a great way to connect and reconnect with people all over the country. One extremely good thing about having a Facebook is that at the age of 17 or 18 when everyone heads off into their own direction, you can still connect with your family and friends. Take me for instance, if I didnt have Facebook I wouldnt be able to see what my twin sister was up to, or how she was doing. Facebook is a way to know what you want when you want it. In my opinion Facebook "friends" arent the same as real life friends, but in a time of need or absence, your "friends" are always there to help you through it; no matter where you are.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteA More Perfect Union
Barack Obama
Question #2
After watching this speech on Youtube.com, the point definately comes over across much stronger than reading it. While seeing the video, I noticed the power and passion Obama had while giving this speech. I felt the emotion he had. I think all of his ideas and points came across stronger on the video over the reading. Some of the points didnn't stand out to me in the reading until I watched the video and saw his passion with it.
Heather Boulette
ReplyDeleteTV Watching-The Top Environmental Hazard for Children
Todd Huffman
Question #1
Overall Huffman's claims hold together pretty well. I believe his main claim is "when parents think about their children's exposure to environmental risks, they think of lead, pesticides, or grass pollens. In fact, the greatest environmental exposure for most children is television."
A More Perfect Union
ReplyDeleteBarack Obama
Question #2
Seeing this speech on Youtube gave me a better view of how Obama wants certain things to be perceived. The way Obama delivers certain lines, and his body language shows that he really cares about certain things. For instance, when he talks about his family his tone changes. The part in his speech where I could tell a lot of emotion was, was when he talked about how his white grandmother who confessed her fear of black men who passed her on the street. In the speech on Youtube, it was evident that this example hit him hard. Being surrounded by white people all his life, it must have made him uncomfortable if his own grandmother was "afraid" of him. Barack Obama does have a way with words, but when you actually watch him give a speech, his body language and gestures gives you the full effect.
TV Watching- The Top Environmental Hazard for Children
ReplyDeleteTodd Huffman
Question #3
In paragraph 21 Huffman compares a child smoking a single cigarette,to watching an episode of hypersexualized television. He says that every single cigarette smoked increases the likelihood of lung cancer, just as watching one episode focused solely on sex causes younger kids to engage in sexual activity. It doesn't matter if someone does it once of a thousand times, their chances of getting pregnant or contracting an STD is the same. As children are engaging in sexual activity at younger and younger ages, they are not getting the sexual education that they need. Just like the last line of Huffman's article; It's time parents retook that remote. This is so true because the parents should be monitoring what their children are doing and helping them make the right decisions.