Personal/Political

Just because

2010-06-11T21:37:00.000-07:00

My challenge to you all is to write about what you're grateful for in response or just because :) This is kinda like the final, assignment, that was unwarrented

idk, i'm feeling thankful about things and want to share that, so I hope you guys have things to be grateful for too, ie i'm grateful finals is over and we're all going to college :)

"I am grateful for what happens when blue and yellow make out"

I'm grateful that people are nicer than you give them credit for, I'm grateful to be alive and to be able to experience life and to have met all the people I have. I'm grateful for my friends, to have people who are so gracious and sincere, who annoy and also love me, but I also love and appreciate w/ all my heart, even if i forget that at times, i really really am happy to have you guys in my life. I'm grateful for the happy moments, and the sad ones that make me appreciate them, I'm grateful to the people I've meet who went above and beyond for me even when they didn't have to. I'm thankful and I want to say thank you, I've appreciated all of it.

Whether people read this or not, I wanted to put that out there :) thanks. for everything and anything. yeah.

Babies

2010-06-04T20:41:00.000-07:00

1. Did one culture, shown in the film, have a better way of parenting than the others?

Based on the movie, no one culture had a better way of parenting than the other. These parents all tried their best to prepare their children for society and attempted to instill the socities' culture in them from the moment they were born. They all tried to make sure the child was happy by dislalying numerous methods of affection (i.e. hugging, kissing, and singing gently).
The children are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family in Opuwo, Namibia; was left mostly to her own devices, but her mother held her on her back while she was working. Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, seemed to be left mostly with his brother or by himself and the animals, and I think this parenting style makes lead him to become more independent. Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan had alot of toys and care. Hattie, who resides with her family in the United States, in San Francisco, recieved constant attention; her parents seemed attuned to her every need and determined to satisfy her.

2. How did each family prepare the child to take its "place" in their society? Did communication, cuddling, supervision, discipline line up to "mold" the kid for that society? Or do you think that a kid from one society would have been able to transfer successfully/easily at age 1 to one of the others?

Each child's experience was diffierent in numerous ways. They learned of their culture by imitating what their parents and siblings did and in doing so they allowed each of their cultures to become a part of their identity. Parents and siblings showed them what was appropriate and what was not; they were who the child looked up to and saw as an role model. By age one, the child seemed accustomed to his/her style of life. By age one, Ponijao, the child from Africa seemed accustomed to walking around naked and singing tribal songs. It would have been difficult to bring him to a city where he would be fully clothed and immersed in a culture greatly different from the one he had experienced. The babies all had toys. Ponijao used rocks to hit other rocks, which helped wiht his cognitive development and learn that it made sounds and he could erode the rocks by putting it next to one another. Mari and Hattie, had toys that showed them that as well in addition to learning classes. Hattie had a baby yoga class and Mari had a mom and daughter class with other moms and babies, which got her used to other people and kids her age. Bayarjarul played with animals, sitting on the goats and cats. The parents would talk to the babies so the babies would pick up on the language of their culture.

3. What looked universal - common to all humans - from the film - at least as edited? Why is this universality significant?

Love and nurturing appeared universal from the film. Each parent displayed affection towards their child, taking care of him/her and playing with the child. They cuddled with their child, and played with them, by waving objects over their head. This display of love is very important because it's one of the most important things that a child needs to grow. A child needs interactions with his/her parents because it is neccessary towards the child's cognitive development. Affection is also important for a child's self-esteem because it makes them feel as if they are loved and it helps them grow into secure, healthy indvididuals.

Interviews and Survey Question

2010-05-17T08:40:00.001-07:00

Melissa
What qualities do you look for in a friend?
Someone who has similar values, interests, who likes to have meaningful conversations but also have fun. Not take life so seriously but have times that we do talk about big issues. Someone I can count on to listen when I need to talk and give me sound advice even if its not what I want to hear.

What kind of personalities do the people who are close to you have?
Kindhearted, flexible, openminded, concerned citizens.

What makes someone close and someone not close?
Somebody who is honest but not judgmental is someone I like to have close to me. Someone who makes it a point to be adversarial just for fun, I keep at arms length. I like to spend time with people who its comfortable and easy, even if they push my thinking, but not at the stake of me feeling like I always have to save face.

What shift/turning point made someone turn into just a friend to a close friend?
The people I become really really close with there was a natural connection from the beginning. In some ways its through alot of common time together that relationship becomes closer and more developed. Based on proximity time, and a general spark, initial spark of collegiality. Even a romantic relationship, I feel that spark is like with a friend, where their life is and how you can get close to that friend.

Na
What qualities do you look for in a friend?
Mmm...I guess someone who will understand and root for you, or if you choose to do something they tell you if its good or not and try to guide you and not just choose whatever and get on with it.

What kind of personalities do the people who are close to you have?
Understanding, Good listeners, Try to guide you

What makes someone close and somewhat not close?
Someone who's not close is just a hi-bye person. Someone who's close is someone you can talk to and stay with more than an hour.

What shift/turning point made someone turn into just a friend to a close friend?
I think when the other person is sharing things with you, they're saying I want to be closer than just friends with you.

Lauren
What qualities do you look for in a friend?
Loyalty, a good listener, honesty, good advice, humour

What kind of personalities do the people who are close to you have?
They're funny, honest, and give good advice

What makes someone close and someone not close?
Being able to call them whenever with your problems, someone not close you can only talk about subjects and keep very light.

What shift/turning point made someone turn into just a friend to a close friend?
When I felt comfortable opening up to them on a personal level.

I feel like everyone brought up some very distinctive and subtle points on friendship. Melissa bought up good points about how people get closer, through time and proximity, because alot of our friends who become close to us are close through spending a lot of time together. The things that she said she was looking for in a friend was also what I looked for with my own friends as well as people who are not friends, are also the people I also try to avoid as well, people who are adversarial and judgmental just to be adversarial and judgmental.

Common qualities that people seem to look for in a friend is someone who listens to them, and is there to give you sound advice, even at the times you don't want to hear it. I think Na and Lauren, distinguished certain things to tell how you know someone is a close friend or not. Like, being able to talk to someone for more than an hour and wanting to, and with Lauren, its also someone you feel comfortable enough to call whenever because you don't feel like you are bothering them with your problems, you can count on them to listen (which is also something Melissa brought up as well). What seems to really distinguish a close friend from just another friend is the comfort level you have with them. Like judgemental/confrontational aren't really things that make people feel comfortable many times, it makes them feel self conscious or defensive, so most people choose close friends that aren't that.

How close do you think you are to your parents? (1-5)

HW 55

2010-05-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Original Question: What are primary causes for bonding in relationships?

Revised Question: How do we fall in romantic love? What hormones/areas of our brain are activated to indicate this?

Touch- Emotional closeness can be indicated by physical closeness.
The more comfortable you are with people the more you're comfortable with being close and touching them. If you're not as close there is an invisible comfort zone to how close you can get voluntarily. It's intuitive and yet not necessarily obvious: It's the continual search for a basic, secure connection with someone else.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200812/hold-me-tight

For Romantic Love, several areas of the brain are activated:

-For a start, a relatively small area of the human brain is active in love, compared with that involved in, say, ordinary friendship. “It is fascinating to reflect”, the pair conclude, “that the face that launched a thousand ships should have done so through such a limited expanse of cortex.”

-The second surprise was that the brain areas active in love are different from the areas activated in other emotional states, such as fear and anger. Parts of the brain that are love-bitten include the one responsible for gut feelings, and the ones which generate the euphoria induced by drugs such as cocaine. So the brains of people deeply in love do not look like those of people experiencing strong emotions, but instead like those of people snorting coke. Love, in other words, uses the neural mechanisms that are activated during the process of addiction. “We are literally addicted to love,”

(From brain scans of people who said they were madly in love)

Fisher, Helen. "Oxytocin, Chemical Addiction, and the Science of Love." Economist 12 Feb. 2004. Web. 13 May 2010.

Oxytocin: Love Hormone

Oxytocin is released during hugging and intimate touch; it also plays a strong role in sexual relationships, which is why sometimes people we feel closer with we're more comfortable hugging. Any positive experience can increase oxytocin levels – and so can simply recalling positive events. Simply put, oxytocin is associated with positive relationships. Oxytocin reduces fear, increases eye contact, and increases trust and generosity. This love hormone causes people to act differently – though they don’t necessarily feel different.

University of California, San Diego (2008, February 14). Love Hormone' Promotes Bonding: Could It Treat Anxiety? ScienceDaily.

Things that affect why we fall in love

"Smell. We fall in love partly because of smell. The scent of a bouquet of red roses, for instance, is a cultural preference that boosts the chemistry in romantic relationships. Dr Kristal says, “Smell forms part of the framework that conforms to cultural attractiveness standards. For example, smelling like a strawberry instead of mildew [makes you attractive].” Smelling delicious could be part of why we fall in love.

Love pheromones. Invisible signals are part of what makes people fall in love. “Pheromones are unlearned, and perhaps unsmellable, signals that enter the brain through the olfactory system. They can function in sex, alarm, territoriality, aggression, and fear,” says Dr Kristal. He believes that we choose specific mates not solely due to pheromones, but for other reasons. Other sensory cues are better explanations for why we fall in love, such as touch, smell, and hearing.

The brain. We fall in love partly because of hormones. Oxytocin and vasopressin are present when people fall in love and stay together for a long time. Dopamine is also part of the chemistry in romantic relationships. So, when you’re wondering “Why doesn’t he love me?” you may have to look to brain chemistry as the answer. It’s not necessarily you, it’s just that your brain chemicals didn’t mesh. Lack of hormones could explain why we fall inlove."

Pawlik-Kienlen, Laurie. SuitePyschology. What makes people fall in love. 6 Januarary, 2008.

HW 54

2010-05-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

Extroverted (E) 54.29% Introverted (I) 45.71%

Sensing (S) 52.38% Intuitive (N) 47.62%
Feeling (F) 57.5% Thinking (T) 42.5%
Perceiving (P) 54.76% Judging (J) 45.24%

I seem right about 50-50 for most of it, give or take 3-7%. That makes sense since I've always been paradoxal in nature. I think if I took this test a year ago, I'd probably get a more introverted result, since I've lived more in my head then. But that's just me changing again. I tend to stay around the middle though, almost right in the middle for any personality tests I have taken. I'm leaning more towards extroversion in general. I find though that the more I talk, the less I think, because when I talk I just say whatever comes to mind, without review or filter. Which I find detrimental, when it comes to school assignments like this which require more analytical thinking and its like using a muscle you haven't warmed up or put to much use, the muscle has atrophied.

For the Big Five, I got this as a result.

Extroversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	46%
Emotional Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	58%
Accommodation	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	52%
Inquisitiveness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	48%

Extroversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Orderliness results were medium which suggests you are moderately organized, structured, and self controlled while still remaining flexible, varied, and fun.

Emotional Stability results were moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.

Accommodation results were medium which suggests you are moderately kind natured, trusting, and helpful while still maintaining your own interests.

Inquisitiveness results were medium which suggests you are moderately intellectual, curious, and imaginative.

It said my type is calm.

Calm
(6.6% of women; 16.3% of men)

not easily hurt, rarely if ever loses temper, keeps emotions under control, positive, not prone to envy, rarely sick, self reliant, trusting, stable, sturdy, optimistic, fits in most places, not defensive, likes change, if they were to live life over again they would not change much, content (possibly over content), believes in choice more than fate, good at building things, good at taking advice, does not make enemies, good at fixing things, admits it when they make a mistake, gets along with others, has more desire than fear, motivated, self confident, believes the benefits of freedom outweigh then benefits of attachment

HW 52- Initial Theories on Human Relationships

2010-05-04T18:54:00.000-07:00

This is more of an (basic?) observation than a theory, but we get closer to people by sharing things about ourselves. This may be deep and personal things or just the same interests and likes or the daily mundane details of our lives which we may find interesting. They're both as important in forming relationships, having those common interests in music, food, or books to having those deep and meaningful conversations. We feel closer to people who share things about themselves because it feels like we know about them a little more then we might others. So this process is reciprocal, and I guess our close friends should know more about us then people we might consider acquaintances or friends who aren't as close.

There's also a timing and way of receiving it, which influences how the disclosure goes. Sometimes people who disclose too much too soon might scare off the other person. But also when we disclose something about ourselves we want to be "understood" not just "heard" so how attentive and responsive the other person has a big impact on whether the listening that occurs leads to something more or falls to the ground.

Friends
We hold alot of friendships I think. Friends are supposed to support you and be there for you. Friends are supposed to be the ones who "understands your past, accepts your present, and believes in your future". They're the ones who stick with you even when times are bad. They aren't always like that, but good friends are. We've had all sorts of friends, good and bad. They're the ones who comment or criticize the things you do as "lame" or "stupid" just because it isn't something they would typically act, I think it kind of gets tiresome if you hang out with people like that all the time because they're basically rejecting that part of you. If that part doesn't do any harm to them or yourself, I don't see why it should be like that.

Relationships
In relationships people tend to change. Sometimes they lose themselves in a relationship, sometimes they mellow out, sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes they forget their friends because the person they're seeing becomes their number one priority. I think before people get into a relationship, they should have a strong sense of self, and don't lose that just because they're with someone else. I don't think people should change themselves just to appease other people, because in life people come and go, friends and family, and there's only one person that'll be there the whole time and that's yourself, so if you change yourself just to appease someone else they could go and you'll be stuck with the person that you changed it.

Lets Dance to this song

2010-04-27T19:57:00.000-07:00

this reminded me of this class
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJsp5WH-Yas

HW 50

2010-04-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

John Taylor Gatto
Gatto's take on the pedagogy of the American school system is that it is isolating and takes away a person's individuality by making them part of the system. They are trained to have predictable reactions to authority, compliance. He states that school is anti-life by restricting kids with little sense of the future and past connectedness because everything is determined by the next bell or the next course. It reduces them as people because they are given very little time for themselves when many of the hours are dedicated to schoolwork. The kids of this system are passive, spoon fed, and that is the result of how the system was formulated, to make them passive and indifferent.

In some parts I do agree with Gatto's take on school's affect on the individual, I don't think it makes them afraid of intimacy because students still very intimate in this day and age, at least the kids in this school, because the school is like a community and for the most part, the kids in our school aren't excluding in any way to other kids. So I don't think we fear intimacy too much. Many times its the opposite because people often give full disclosure of themselves with things like twitter, facebook, blogging or vlogging.
I agree though, that it puts limits on the individual in some ways.

"School has done a pretty good job of turning our children into addicts, but it has done a spectacular job of turning our children into children. Again, this is no accident. Theorists from Plato to Rousseau to our own Dr. Inglis knew that if children could be cloistered with other children, stripped of responsibility and independence, encouraged to develop only the trivializing emotions of greed, envy, jealousy, and fear, they would grow older but never truly grow up."

I think this part of it is true because when you take away responsibility from a child, they will start to act like a child in our sense of the word. Like Peter Pan, who has never grown up, he has no responsibilities. I think the system was able to achieve its purpose and in some ways its rather brilliant how well it has done that by doing these basic things. In other countries like Japan, the schools in small towns give children as young as five, tasks and responsibilities such as wood carving and washing dishes. The kids don't get hurt (as so many adults seem to fear) and they're responsible because they're used to the work. In the past the people of our age are doing "adult" work at soon as they entered their teens they were considered adults and they acted like it too, because they had to. They were given responsibility. But the kids today are babied and as a result act like babies too. In school we have to follow an authority, so we learn how to do that as well.

Paulo Freire
Paulo Freire states that the problem with schooling is in which the authority figure sees to themselves as the narrator, to pour their words into the students, who are the receptacles. Because schooling is seen in this way, Freire says it is not not natural because it presents information in a way that is unrelated to the real world. Students come to see this form of knowledge in a way that is not connected to how related to how the world operates. To Freire this way of teaching is a form of nepotism, "love of death" instead of coming from a love of life, because it treats knowledge like it is a static thing, which it isn't, it grows, is re-invented, is continuing. This form of teaching Freire says expects students to be, passive containers to await the teacher's words, because that sort of behavior is rewarded by being considered good students.

I think that rote memorization, in some ways are helpful for things such as math and once you have learned all those equations, you can move on to practical applications but not before or else you won't understand what you are doing. Other things like language are better learned by doing and experiencing, which have more of a learning curve. I think when we are young like in elementary school, it can't be helped that teachers will treat us that way, because we are learning from them. The role of authority comes in play too, because we are taught to listen to adults from a young age which continues on till when we are older (which we can see from the Milgram Experiments, which best exemplifies how compliant people are in the face of authority). This way of teaching can be bad because its expected of students to learn from teachers, as solely the pupil.

Lisa Delpit

Her Method of teaching is to adapt to the student's circumstances that they are from and adjust her teaching methods to them.

"I have found from working with both pre-service and practicing teachers, they have to be extremely open to their students. Their hearts need to be open. They have to know how to observe and listen to their students. More than just having strategies they need to find out about the children and their parents. I call this ethnographic teaching.Teachers can create a curriculum based on strengths rather than weaknesses, then they are teaching to their student's needs. "

She doesn't think that kids should be subjected to the "basic skills" curriculum because that is exceedingly slow and kids find it boring. "Not by being forced to attend to hollow, inane, decontextualized subskills, but rather within the context of meaningful communicative endeavors; that they must be allowed the resource of the teacher’s expert knowledge, while being helped to acknowledge their own ‘expertness’ as well" I agree with this statement because I was once in a class where it operated like this and the whole time I was just wondering why it was going so slow, because in the previous grade, the teacher was able to teach more material in less time and the students where still able to fully comprehend it. In elementary school, my third grade class was the hardest out of 4th and 5th because it was the most challenging and I actually liked it the most. I kept noting the difference in pace in 4th and 5th grade in comparison which seemed too slow. So I imagine for other kids, if kids are placed in "basic skills" curriculum it'd be even worse. In third grade my teacher always said, "no child is stupid, they're just lazy" and he was right in the context of the typical American student, which we all were/are. That was motivating to me because he was saying you guys can do this if you just try. It wasn't out of reach.

"while being helped to acknowledge their own ‘expertness’ as well"

Delphini says that kids have to feel like they're learning something or else they'll feel cheated, this depends on the child, but in general its true, though kids rejoice whenever there is a substitute with the actual teacher they expect to learn something and get something out of it. If they learn they are able to do something then they're more willing to do it.

HW 49

2010-04-25T14:47:00.000-07:00

In the film, the teacher is drunk, and in his drunken slumber he dreams of having intellectual discussions with them and sharing his knowledge with the students but the reality of it was very different. The dream represents his subconscious desire to make an impact on the students and to stir up the student's minds. When he wakes up, he tells the students off and makes a dramatic exit. The students don't say anything for a moment and then return to their conversations as if nothing had happened. Maybe this means that people's expectations are sometimes idealistic and they get disappointed when they aren't met, and their disappointment can sometimes lead to that person's meltdown which we see at the end of the film.

This is very different from most of the savior/teacher films we watched, where the teacher basically changes his/her student's lives. The dream that the teacher has is kind of like the typical teacher/savior film, like the Dead Poets Society where the words are really deep and insightful and the students are contributing to the conversations. But the ending, where the teacher wakes up, shows that doesn' t happen.

From the savior/teacher films, the message is basically to bring salvation to the students, and our education in our culture, is in part to do all that. Hopefully by teaching students about certain subjects they will be informed members of our society. Schooling is seen as a vehicle to salvation. That is why so much emphasis is put on getting a higher education. That once students get an education they can escape anything, their poverty, troubles at home, etc.

HW 48- Treatment

2010-04-11T08:03:00.001-07:00

Shot in the Office style, with interviews.

Scene 1:
Camera follows Jack Greene, a man seeking to fulfill his longtime dream of becoming a teacher walks into an empty classroom, he is very bubbly, he smiles happily clutching his work planner to his chest. He clears off the desk and sets his work planner on it. He writes his name several times on the chalk board, before finally deciding on a Script format making a star at the e.

Scene 1.5:
Camera set. Still in front of his desk, Jack Greene talks to the camera about his first day. "Today's my first day teaching. I am SOOO excited. These kids are going to be in for a real treat. I am going to make history come alive" He waves both his arms when he says "alive".

Scene 2:
The students file into the class room. He introduces himself and underlines his name each time he says it. He plays a history game with them to remember their names. He precedes to sing a song about history exuberantly and tries to get the class to join along. They do albeit not as enthusiastically. He brings out a chest that he had been hiding and pulls out a huge turkey costume, shoots students reactions. He tells them that will be their new term project.

Scene 2.5:
Random Student Reaction. Camera is set in front of a studious looking student with glasses. She says Mr. Greene is weird. She pushes her glasses.

Scene 3:
The class are dressed in pilgrim and indian outfits and reenacting "Thanksgiving" One student dressed as a huge turkey is lying on the table. Boy student dressed in a Pilgrim costume fakes cutting into turkey and says it is good and asks about how the crops are going to another boy dressed in an Indian costume replies its good. Then Boy dressed in Pilgrim costume asks how the Indian boy feels about them taking the land. Indian boy replies ...bad but its okay because later the Indians are going to scalp them so they're good. Boy dressed in Pilgrim costume says cool.

Scene 3.5:
The bell rings and its lunchtime. The students leave.

Scene 4:
Camera set. Jack Greene at desk. Happy and smiling, "You know, I think I really got through to them today."

Extra Cred- The Class

2010-04-08T04:21:00.000-07:00

Students and Teachers have different agendas when going to school. The problem seems to arise when the teacher's agenda clashes with the students. The students at 14 and 15 are trying to find out who they are. But everyone is trying to protect their egos, the roles that they have made for themselves and when they feel that being threatened or challenged they lash out to protect the persona they've developed. The teachers are like the judges and give commentary on the students on what they have to work on and its only one way in the film. The school wants discipline, the teacher wants respect, and the students want their respect as well as the respect of their peers, but the teacher doesn't really give respect to the students. Maybe because his role as a teacher places him as a higher authority and because his goal is to "tame" the students. He thinks that he needs to teach them but only views it as a one way thing. Its like when he called the girls skanks he defends himself and tries to say he didn't say it like that because it looks bad for his ego.

"Teachers can complain about us and vise versa, right?"
"No, It doesn't work both ways."

It seems a bit hypothecritical to me and in Mr. Marin's mind, it shows where the distribution of power is in school. So it kind of culminates in resentment from the students because they're kind of looked down upon, they're not treated as equals. Its always a power struggle between the students and the teachers. Thats because the students know that their role in the system is very little and they try to get power in any form they can. "It's always the same" and they know that any form of power given to them by the system is a facade because they can't really do anything with it.

"Whenever we talk, you yell."

I think that's because Marin feels threatened when the students have a voice cause he's afraid that means he has less of one. The students need to respect the teachers but the same doesn't hold true in the system for the teachers, and the students lash out to have some semblence of power (like the beginning of the film with Khoumba and Mr. Marin and Khoumba leaves him a letter saying that). I think that's the basis of it, or at least part of it. The idealistic approach would address this, to start from treating the students as individuals and respecting them as one. Maybe its still possible to have discipline without looking down on the students and the students will reciprocate that respect. Part of it is listening the students and of course the same goes for students. Just go from there.

I think the teachers do want to help the students because at the end with Souleymane, Mr. Marin is trying not to get the disciplinary hearing, the route they usually take, which 12/12 will leads to an expulsion because he doesn't want to risk Souleymane being sent back to Mali. Everyone's human and everyone makes mistakes, so I think that Souleymane should be held accountable but at the same time Mr. Marin trying to help him is right too because it might be in his power to do so. We always have to try, or attempt to so even if it doesn't work out, we know we did try to do something and made an effort.

HW 47- Class Film Preparation 1

2010-03-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

Please compose a colorful list of 5-10 ideas that should be considered for inclusion in your section's version of the "Savior/Teacher" film. You could address plot, character, theme, tone, cinematography, dialogue, key images, tropes, references, or our collective process of making the film. Indicate which of the ideas are most important to you by putting an asterix by the one or few which you think are most compelling. Due the morning we return from Spring Break.

1. Trying to fix something that's not broken (Sam's Savior/Teacher film idea) where the teacher comes in with a "Lets save the students mentality" but the students are fine and there isn't anything really to save

2. Referencing Dead Poets Society- The teacher gets inspirational *cue inspirational music* gives a speech about going to college and tell the students to stand on their chairs. The students stare at the teacher and slowly stand on their chairs. *still standing* after a few moments, students are still standing on chairs *music stops* one student asks "now what?" teacher smiles and says "Just feel the inspiration." *music countinues*

3. Tone parody/satirical/silly

4. Trope- Blackboard Jungle- the teacher coming to talk to principal.

Parody version-

P: "I like what you're doing with the kids"
T: "I'm going to have them read Hamlet"
P: "Okay, sure if that's what you want."
T: "You can't stop me!"
P: "Okay..."
T: "These kids can do it I believe in them!"
P: "Okay, go for it."
T: Uh...what? You're okay with it?
P: "Yeah"
T: "Oh. Okay."

5. Cimenatography- Shot of cars or the brooklyn bridge (trope), have a shot of the school from the outside. Subway ride shot.

6.Trope- talk about death. The kids are on the roof, Teacher tells them to look around them. Asks them what they see. They say pigeons, buildings, a garden. Teacher tells them they're wrong, that its part of it, but what they see is the world that they're going to live in and to look carefully and things like that.

7.Go outside on a field trip

8. Shoot how school really is, with more than one class in a documentary style.
-have teacher interview or commentary about what they think about school and their classes
-have students interviews
-just one teacher so its not all over the place

HW 45- More Thoughts on Schools

2010-03-22T08:41:00.000-07:00

1. Do these theories contradict each other? Intellectually, emotionally, practically? In what ways do they? Could they be adapted to work together? Hirsh believed that students need to know a certain amount of background knowledge to be able to understand certain texts or passages. He emphasizes knowledge in terms of memorizing and remembering. Sizer was more focused on the community and the environment of the students and the teachers so students can develop their intellect. He wanted to focus more on depth than coverage. He wanted to push students intellectually to what they were able to do. Hirsh was more focused on the practical knowledge of school that there were certain things that students needed to learn in order to be able to understand things in this society and that this information was background knowledge that would help students understand more detailed text. I think though it is practical, because rote memorization and drills are useful, it neglects the emotional aspect of school, from community and relationships. I think these two theories could work together. Students can learn a wide arrange of knowledge that is considered (by whom?) neccesary and delve indepth in certain points of these, while in an environment that always pushes them to do better and think intellectually like Sizer proposes to have.

2. Which of the two theories do you find more resonant in your own experience? Has your education at one of Sizer's schools (he not only inspired SOF, he also came and visited) taught you to use your mind well, to be intellectually alert, to be able to think about important aspects of your life and society? Have you had any teachers that seemed inspired, now that you know about it, by Hirsch? For instance, would you say that the chemistry class's focus on molarity and ions and the periodic table of elements create an emphasis on knowledge?

I think math classes in general is more inspired by Hirsh, or it always has been that way even before Hirsh, because in my experience from elementary especially, we needed a background knowledge such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division before we were able to understand more complex equations. I learned much of this through rote memorization and flash cards (like the multiplication table). But it was even more useful when I was able to practice it after I had a basic understanding of it. I think I experienced Sizer's method of teaching in third grade, where the teacher is like coach to the student, because third grade, out of the other classes in my elementary school was one of the hardest. The teacher would always push us to learn and teach us more things. But at the same time he developed a relationship with his students and we really respected him because he would share things that he liked like Motown, or Hannah Barbara cartoons. He was strict but that was balanced because he was also fun. So there was a community aspect to it. Also the course was simple in the way it was laid out. It was clear what we had to do in each lesson so it wasn't haphazard or confusing. We had incentives, because on fridays, if the class was good, which it almost always was, we would be able to watch Hannah Barbara Cartoons (I don't know if this would work with high schoolers but in elementary it worked well). I think in SOF, there is good sense of community among the students and teachers. I can see how it was inspired by Sizer. I do think though, there was some sense to Hirsh's emphasis on basic knowledge, because in math and science we should memorize certain information but because we don't need to, we don't. I think, I've always been a bit contrary, especially last year, I would often overanalyze and over think things, I don't think I do this as much this year because I have been trying not to. I think its more of my personal choice, than of my schools, because I was influenced by my contact with other people that led me to this conclusion. Sometimes though...I want rote memorization, because I have more of a clear goal, I have to do x in order to understand y.

HW 44- Big Expectations for School

2010-03-11T06:47:00.000-08:00

Obama Speech
It presents education as a chance to discover ourselves and contribute to society. The basic message of his speech was that "Education is the road to sucess" and if you want to go somewhere in life, you have to have a good education. This is our society's basic answer for getting job, a career, and learning about what we want out of life.

In Obama's Speech, he addresses student responsibility to their education and wants students to put their effort in it. I don't see any harm in it, if you are using education to get a job, which most people are, you may as well put effort into it and be good at what you do. That is the basic premise of having an education in this country, that with good grades and a degree, it'll get you the career you want.

"We have a responsibility to ourself to discover what it that is" and find out what we are good at, which is something that going to school and doing well in it is supposed to help you do. Which I think it does along the subject areas we take in school because we find out what we like and develop our perferecnes. I feel like education is taken for granted, perhaps because it is so freely given it doesn't seem like a priviledge anymore, because it wasn't a choice, it was something we have to do, people usually value things more when they actually had to invest something to get it or if they feel like they chose something for themselves. "There is no excuse for not trying." He says that by not putting your effort in your education akin to letting yourself and your country down that's because education is our society's answer for what roles we are going to play in our lives.

Thomas Friedman
Education is in part capitalism--or at least it is partially what it is for. We see school as a place for learning and what are we learning for? To get a job. According to Thomas Friedman, traditional schools trains students to become employees and there should be an alternative school for entrepeneurs. It sets schools as the standard to having a prosperus society and that it needs to improve on school to help fix the current rate of unemployment. This is like what we said in class about people trying to fix institutions to fix society or in this case the economy. That perhaps if we created a new school that catered to entrepeneurs it would benefit students who wanted to be the bosses of businesses rather the employees. If they are focusing on the structure of schools and the way its structured and creating a more military structure with more emphasis on memorization, I think it'll be more like schools in Asia, that focus more on rote memorization as well. I don't know if having a school like this would automatically mean the creation of more jobs, but it might help. I think though if a school like this were to exist and work, parents would choose to send their kids there rather than a regular school because they would perfer if their kid was a boss rather than an entrepeneur. Its easier to attempt to fix the smaller problems through institutions and hope that by doing that there is a trickle up affect than to attempt to fix the larger problem by itself because fixing an institution is a more viable step for people.

Deborah Kenny
I think the top priorities of schools should be to try to foster a love of learning in their students, because once they accomplish that, the rest would be made much simpler if they actually want to learn and want to get better and grow as people and individuals. I think that's what this article is about, how this woman, Deborah Kenny, tries to create an environment where this is possible. Since this is a society that relies on this sort of system economically, socially, and in some ways mentally, then we should make this an institute worth going to and where kids can actually learn from. She focuses on developing good teachers, in addition to the cirriculum. Realistically, its not going to be perfect, but I do think having that sort of environment does affect the students and encourages them to try because students feed off the teacher and vise versa. In the summer, I got a job working with kids and part of the job training I had was be aware of our attitude, because our attitude affected the childs. We should try to encourage the kids to play in a group game, by wanting to play ourselves and being enthusiastic, because if a child sees you have a "oh this is boring" attitude, they'll copy you and adopt it and not play, but if you get up and do it, they'll copy that instead. Kids are very influencable, especially when they're younger, but even when they're older they're still like that. They can read what you're giving off. So, I think this is reasonable, that is something school is able to do, its not going to correct all the problems of our society, but at least it can get kids to learn.

HW 42-Significance

2010-03-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

I've been in America for a very long time. I guess this is one of those "what if" scenarios for me. What if I had stayed? What kind of person would I be today? Would I be more studious? My mom often told me that when I was younger, I was the first grandchild and everyone doted on me. When I visit my family in China, they're very affectionate towards me but I wonder if I would be closer to them if I lived there. So I wonder about this scenario too. What if I went to school in China? Would I be better in math than I am now? Would I like math more as a result? How would this kind of schooling affect me? The math and science levels in Asian countries is higher than it is in America. In 3rd grade they would be learning 5th grade math with respect to America and it is always 2 or 3 grades ahead in terms of math and science. I also know the methods of teaching are different too. Rather than Socratic discussions it is more based on textbook learning and reciting. So while I don't dislike my current scenario, I want to find out more about the different ways the two countries educate their students and satisfy my curiosity, because I'll never know this "what if" scenario for real and researching this is probably the closest I'll ever get, even if on a superficial level.

I know that in the future, our countries' economics and "progress" is dependent on the schooling institutions that these institutions have provided our students as it is from these crop of students come the future leaders, scientists, and innovators. With globalization, people are not only competing state to state but country to country, each trying to be the most innovative and cutting edge, we can see this form of competition from car companies like Ford and Toyota. People are looking to schools to educate their young to prepare them for the future job market. If we are looking at this from the global perspective many companies are hiring from other countries because the same resources and brains are available at a cheaper cost. International Capitalism creates global competition in a free market economy. It shows where each country's priorities are. Understanding the economic factors to how these institutions have formed is like understanding where they are going to take it. By looking at their motivations and their wants you see what they're trying to do and what they're doing now to get it. That to me is rather interesting and comparing what they have so invested in and how well they have prepared their students for this task.

HW 41- Initial Internet Research on Schooling: Edited

2010-02-24T20:19:00.000-08:00

Student Ethics Correlation with School Structure

Kassab, Monica. "Cultural Exchanges" Honors Today: Crossing Borders. University of Buffalo, December 2009. 13-14.

Its a first person account from an American English teacher in Japan. Monica Kassab talks about what she learned from the experience her three years in Japan as an English teacher. The dual perspective of an American teacher is helpful in comparing how students in Japan are treated and how they behave in comparison to how the American students are treated and behave and highlight cultural values that these methods of teaching are based on. It shows how the students work are influenced by the teaching method.

"Chinese students more organized, less imaginative than American counterparts". University of Florida. 22 August 2006. http://www.physorg.com/news75480082.html

It's a study done by Florida University that basically says that Chinese students prefer to have a more organized learning environment while American students want flexibility and creativity. It includes a little about gender learning preferences in different countries, similarities and differences in learning style preferences in different countries.

I think these statistics reveal a little bit about how the cultural values affect the way things are taught and the student's preferences in learning.

Wan, Guofang. "The Learning Experience of Chinese Students" College Student Journal. March 2001.

This article reports a case study on the cross-cultural learning experiences of two Chinese students in American universities. It described their experiences in the following areas: motivations for learning, frustrations and satisfactions, strategies used to cope with language inefficiency, assumptions of the impact of their learning on their lives, and awareness of cultural differences in classroom and daily life.

This study is helpful identifying the differences in culture, language, and social and political system between China and the United States and how it impacts the experiences of the student.

"Education reform in China: An interview with Aibe Chen". Kappa Delta Pi Record. FindArticles.com. 25 Feb. 2010.

It's an interview with Professor Aibe Chen who is from the Beijing Institute of Education in China. China is trying to adopt an American styled education so it will be less focused on exams and more "quality-orientated".

Aibe talks about the differences between American and Chinese Education and how he hopes the reform will help change the schools in China. I think this interview will help identify the styles and ways each country generally teaches in school.

My mom

She went to school in China and also went as a college student in the US. I think she can give differences in the external structure of the classroom because she knows how it is different, for example in China, the students stay in one classroom and the teachers change and go into the room rather the other way around like it is in the US. I think she can also give her experiences as a student as well.

Dillon, Sam. Study Compares American Students with Other Countries. New York Times, 15 Nov. 2007. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

A study called Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study, or Timss, that tested foreign countries. The article compare US scores to these of other countries, specifically science and math.

I think the test can correlate to how much each subject is emphasized on to the students in the respective country that took it and I'm planning to research the hours and the study time that students in other countries use to relate to the test scores.

Friedman, Thomas L. A Word from the Wise. New York Times, 2 March 2010. Web.
3 March 2010.
Talks about the lack of U.S. is lagging in developing the next generation of scientific talent as well as the lack of incentives to induce big multinationals to create lots more jobs here when compared to China.

I think this can bring to focus, China's emphasis on Math and Science as compared to America. It displays the cultural values in some ways and how the U.S. is now in terms of teaching subjects in that area.

Education Statistics by Country. Nationmaster.4 March 2010. http://www.nationmaster.com/cat/Education-education
This site give an abundance of statistics on education and a number of other things by country. For example Student Attitude was one of them and the percentage of students that found school boring.

I think I can use this to compare U.S. and China in different areas and find facts and statistics that might contribute to finding out about the education and the students in different countries.

HW 40- Five interviews and What are some things you would change about schools if you could? The freedom of rights. They limit that. What doSynthesis

2010-02-22T18:49:00.000-08:00

Middle School Student
How do you feel about school as a student?
Its okay.

What are some things you would change about schools if you could?
The freedom of rights. They limit that.

What do you mean?
Like. You know.

No, I don't. If you make grandiose statements please back them up.
Like when you're in trouble you don't really get to say what you want to say, they're just like oh, too bad and don't listen. Like this kid's watched beeped and my math teacher was like "Get out" and we're like what? its only a watch beep.

You're saying some teachers abuse their power and overreact?
Yes

What rights specifically are they limiting?
They are limiting our rights to speech.

So what would you do to change it?
Nothing. Nothing can be done.

Why do you say that?
Because no one will listen to a kid. They'll believe the adult of course.

SOF student- Henry
What have you learned from school?
Well I have really learned the most about social graces and how to interact. I have learned about the balance between work and socializing and how sometimes it isn't always crystal clear and honestly I think that a lot of the time the classes are an afterthought because it's all about the people

What are some things you might change about school that you think would make it better?
Well, I really think that's it's not the school so much as it is the student. School needs to have a consistent format and it needs to teach you certain things you might not like learning about because at the end of the day you don't always know what's best for yourself and the system works for the majority of people. If anything, I would say that the classes need to be more open, like more choices. More, shorter classes would expand people's horizons a lot and teach them more in the end if done right

Do you think fewer days per week at school would be more conducive to student learning or more detrimental?
Well I think that it could be either, and that depends on the student. It can work fantastically if the students pays attention and can keep up, but can crash into a wall if the students don't bring their A game. I also think that if this were done, you would need to have school until 5 or so, because a certain amount is needed

In terms of years, is the time spent at school too long and dragged out or is it fine as it is for the amount we learn?
I think that it is dragged out in a way. If you made school more specialized earlier you could teach the stuff that is really important to the people that would need it, while others might not. So somebody who wants to be a physicist could learn science and math while the writer would learn English and history. This would make things more concise in the long run.

How do you feel about school?
I like it. I have always liked it, because at the very least there is something that I find interesting in my day and I surround myself with people that keep it enjoyable. I feel happy about it for the most part. There is nothing that outright bores me or annoys me

Bard Student- Reggie
What are some things you might change about school that would improve it?
Take some of the years off i.e. middle school. Seriously, I learned nothing in middle school. They reviewed everything in high school. Take a year or two off elementary too. I mean how long does it take to teach kids to add and subtract? We spend enough time in school as it is and it just keeps getting longer.

Do you think fewer days per week would be more conducive to student learning or detrimental to it? It would be better. We'll have more time to get things done and sometimes my mind just needs a break and the ratios are retarded too, I mean 5:2?

How many days a week do you think school should ideally be?4:3. 4 days in school 3 days out

How do you feel about how school has changed?
In today's society you can’t really accomplish much without education. Now it’s all about the brand name colleges.

Do you think education focuses on the wrong things, i.e. tests and quizzes?
Yes, some schools base their entire course on regents but that's dumb b/c the regents really doesn’t cover all that much

College Student- Brian
What has school taught you? How to sit down for four hours without moving writing an essay. School teaches you discipline and work ethic.

How do you feel about school? It is a necessary part of society. That said it takes too much of my tax money and gives too little in return.

What are your feelings on middle school and high school? You're going to look back and realize that the days when you had no responsibilities at all were wonderful.

What type of school would you send your child and why? Private school where there are no teacher unions, where the acceptance rate is in the single digits. Unions are a general bane in American society.

Are there any flaws with the educational system? Moral integrity.

What do you mean? A lot of countries have classes teaching their students how to be good citizens and we don't, that’s why they end up being drunken idiots.

What is it doing right? Uhhhh..... well... we have really good literacy rates so obviously our kids can read and write which isn't that bad of an accomplishment.

What have you learned in school? High school or college?
HS be polite to people, you'll make enough enemies don't need to add more just because of rudeness

College? No one gives a crap about you so you better learn to stand of your own two feet. The professors don't give a crap about your excuses, you could be bleeding crawling to the door and the professors will mark you absent.

SOF Teacher- Melissa

How do you feel about school as a teacher?
I feel very conflicted about it. The whole emotion of school, I guess from my own personal experiences as a student and working as a teacher at SOF. I guess it is such a big contrasts. Hopes more opportunity for meaning making in school. I thinks Andy’s class is good for that. I think in some classes it’s not as easy as a Humanities class but I think the teachers in this school try to make it meaningful for students. I definitely feel the structures in school is very flawed. How stuck it is. So many hoops you have to jump through and things that confine you. At least in our world here fluid, we push the envelope even though it doesn’t always work. So much time is wasted experiences that you have to go through. I feel it’s important to question because we always know when it is happening when we’re having these experiences. Having awareness then trying to find ways to make them not occur or shift them in a way that feels more real.

How has your experiences effected your teaching?
So much, one of the reasons I went into teaching. There was no place to think about my own learning in school. My experiences also have shaped my career path and have informed my passion for being in a school where we try to not differentiate from students and put labels on kids and we just learn and grow from each other. I was raised in a tradition stuck setting where you have to muddle through one way. So I feel very strongly that there is not just one way, there are different ways, different entry points for kids to learn, and that will always be my passion for my career.

What is something you would change about the educational system if you could?
Oh my gosh, there’s so much I would change. Flexibility on schools supporting the needs of the student. I don’t think every school should be the same. What makes us successful is that we’re unique and students choose the school. A lot of times it’s the right one for them sometimes its not. I think it’s important for schools to have a vision, to create a diverse community of learners, from all backgrounds and socioeconomic situations and its starts from the schools. Because school is where students become young adults and if you’re in an environment with lots of people who are different from you. It demystifies it. It helps chip away those barriers because you form relations and see how other people live day to day. Its one of the most important aspects of school and I don’t think its valued enough where people learn from differences. That’s why we still have a lot of schools that are so segregated. It’s pretty pathetic.

Synthesis
I think I got a pretty varied responses but for the most part people seem to agree that there are certain parts of school that are not needed and things that could be changed because its not perfect. I did different ages and schools, mostly students to see what they thought about it. I think the most interesting insight was from the perspective of a teacher. To see what they thought about it and why they do it. One insight, that made sense to me was that by choosing our schools we're kind of choosing what learning style that we want and that different students will learn differently there is no one set way to doing things. I think most teachers do care a lot more than we think they do about teaching and they want students to be able to learn from them. All the interviewees were in a consensus that school has become a necessary part of our society, their reactions were interesting. Most excepted it, and even if they didn't want to, they dealt with it in one way or another. Some people like that and some people don't. It seems that its easier to point out the flaws than to say what it is doing right.

Hw 39- First School Assignments

2010-02-08T08:41:00.000-08:00

Part A:
Ideas
-People go to school just to have something to do even though they don't like it
-We become socialized through school
-People base their success in school with their success in life.

Questions

-When did school become the main route to success in our society?

-What types of schooling is better, homeschool, public, private, charter, boarder, or unschooling? Where would we be without school?

-What ways does school make us smarter and what ways doesn't it?

Experiences

-At moments I enjoy it, though now, I'm kind of looking forward to the next step already and feel like its been prolonged.

-There are the teachers, and then the students who all the other students go to for help to for class

-I get to know different people from school and mannerisms from school and learn social cues

Part B:
Please explore one aspect or moment of school in a 2-4 paragraphs. Show us what's strange or great or awful about it. Talk about how you feel about it - how do you think it came to be - what consequences it produces.

One theory I heard in class that was interesting was Rachel's theory that school is the government's way of civilizing us so that we will fit into society. Perhaps that wasn't the original intention but that is certainly a byproduct of school, becoming "civilized" and taught the right and wrong way to behave according to the rules of our society. Children are taught to behave and be compliant with authority figures. We learn the conducts of behavior. This relates to what Beatrice said about school being "a big kid day care center" which is what it feels like sometimes because we are always here during the day, out of our parents way so we're not left at home alone and we're given something to do and looked after by the teachers. Jakob said about school serving two purposes- to occupy and condition, which relates to what they both said. We're conditioned to fit into our society, we're socialized to get along with people, and school occupies our time while doing all of the above and more.

The way society is set up, school is the main option available to us because we can't get fully paying jobs without a high school diploma and studies show that the degree that you get is directly correlated to your salary; so its set up that the main way to succeed in our society is by going to school.

HW 38- Art Project Cool

2010-02-07T23:53:00.000-08:00

I made a MV to represent cool with a bit of what it means to be uncool as well. In the first half of the video I shot people in the park to show real life cool and the second half is a clip from a trailer of an action movie to show how media represents cool to contrast it with how people actually are in real life.People usually get ideas about what's cool and not cool from media and that doesn't always fit them. I guess what I hope that people will realize from seeing this clip that there are many different ways to being cool and not to let a label define them and find something that they think is cool thats real for them, their own personal cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKMAvJjuD4M

I thought the filming was fun. I got one of my friends, Regina, to help film and I kind of surprised them with it but they were into it and thought that it was a fun project. We basically trolloped throughout my neighborhood looking for people who were doing something that people might find cool or that was cool to them. When my friend and I were at the park she suggested we go to the soccer field since people were playing and I asked the players if I could shoot them. They were okay with it and I thought it was pretty cool. I think they played it up for the camera which I'm grateful for since I got to shoot someone scoring. The guy who was filmed doing martial arts was learning from another guy, I also got permission to film them beforehand. The trailer half of the video was not originally going to be in it but I thought it might fit well with the video and the song.

I was listening to music while I was adding the clips and this song seemed to go with it. It was a little difficult editing everything because finding a free editor took awhile and I'm not much of a techie in the first place, but my brother who had to do a video project as well found one online and downloaded it and I basically used that one after he was done. Lagging was a huge problem with my computer and the video editor I got, which was actually not that bad in itself, but every minute or so, a particularly bad lag would shut the editor down and I'd have to make sure to save or lose a chunk of work. It might be surprising but that 3-4 minute clip took around 3-4 hours to make and I think its mostly because of the lag and choosing what clips to use took some time too. I had shot a lot of other clips with my friend, some which didn't get included in the video. I think overall it turned out alright for the first try at it.

At first I thought it might not be cool because I wasn't sure what to do for it but I've always wanted to try making a music video so I thought I would do that for this project. What's surprising is that I actually liked it. It was a lot of fun editing and shooting everything in spite of the technical difficulties. I liked making the video and the whole process that it took to do it. Getting the timing of the clips with the music right felt pretty good. I spent the past few days doing something that I might not have done otherwise and it was something I had a great time doing too. I think its cool to try something new because drawing would've been a fallback for me since that's what I did last time and I didn't want to do that again for that reason. I feel pretty happy finishing this video.

HW 37- Cool Paper Done Draft

2010-01-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

“We are all products of our environment.” During the last season of “The Bachelorette”, one of the contestants said this as a way of understanding why another contestant behaved the way they did, because their culture and the place they have come from have shaped them as they are and was different from theirs. We are all cultivated by way of society, media, race, class and gender. We get environmental and social cues to guide us to becoming the person that we are right now. When our environment changes we do too, because the cues we are getting are different, our friends and family influence these changes greatly. That is why our versions of cool will have certain differences and similarities because they come from these sources, some that we share, and some that we don’t.  

From the cues that we get from our cultural maps, we develop the roles we play and who we think we are. Who we actually want to be comes from cues from our social environments, which is shaped by our status, gender, nationality, culture, and many other factors. We seek to live out the roles we have chosen from the ones available to us. From that we create our own hero’s journey and play the characters we’ve created through our actions (Goffman). How we choose to play out the scene that we’ve been given defines who we are as people. For example in this scene what would you do? Someone you know is being teased. Do we help, do we ignore it, or do we participate? Either way, we’ve made a decision, in that scene we are either the character that helped or the character that didn’t help. If we add enough scenes, the cumulative depicts who your character is. 

Because of the way our cultural map is made, we are more open to certain kinds of messages than others (Synder). Certain things will be cool for us to do and certain things aren’t. Much of what we will do and how we’ll act is based on our past experiences, whose foundation is provided by our cultural maps and what is expected out of us. Certain group cultures will tend to have preferences or leanings because of how their environment was. For example, most people from the black culture will prefer hip hop or r&b. That is an effect of how media portrays their culture and closely links the two (Merchants of cool). That’s why in general; there is a preference for music like hip hop over music like country. The images that are more commonly seen and that we associate with more are the kinds of images that we will find cool. Things that don’t relate to us or the values we have from our cultural maps won’t be on our radars. 

 Roles 

Our roles are seen through point of view, which is relevant in how we are seen by people because each person acts from foreknowledge from their cultural maps. So, whether they think you’re cool is based on values held by their cultural map. That doesn’t mean they only think cool is something directly related to their culture, but cool can also be values or qualities seen in a positive way in their cultural map. That’s why there are different versions of cool for each subculture. 

Although people act accordingly to what’s expected of them, it doesn’t mean they are condemned to that cultural map, it means they are more likely to follow the standard model of the cultural map, unless something happens that leads them to a detour and they find a different route. John Fanning was raised in a middle class family in a fairly conservative place, but he got a tattoo even though it wasn’t common in his cultural map. That’s because his cultural map didn’t make sense to him and he wanted to find a new one. When he joined his band, he felt as if he finally met people who were “real” and he could relate to them. His discontent with his current cultural map, led him to a new route and he discovered another one that made more sense to him even though it appears to be very different from his previous one. He wanted to find a place that he could belong and the previous place he was at wasn’t it (Fanning).  

For the most part, I’m comfortable in my own role. I experiment at times to see how people will react if I deviate from it or tweak it, because I don’t want it to feel confining or limiting. That is so I know that just because this is how someone sees me as; it isn’t what I have to be. But it depends on my environment too because if I see that people don’t really care if I act a certain way then I feel more comfortable acting that way. I keep tweaking my role(s) because I don’t find stagnation cool. I think exploring and finding out what suits you as role is cool.  

Nature vs Nurture  

Conclusion  

We take in social and environmental cues, our cultural map and everything else, but it doesn't mean we have to follow what they say (Huang). Having these maps is not necessarily a bad thing because we do have to draw from somewhere, otherwise what are we made up of? It’s unavoidable that these maps would be created because we are made from our experiences, our choices, and other people’s as well. But our cultural maps aren’t so great is when it is limiting or is limiting to us in a negative way. But the limits aren’t always as set or as immovable as we think they are. The child groomed to be a lawyer doesn’t always end up becoming one, they might be an artist or a teacher if they find that they actually enjoy that more (Jed). We use our culture maps as a basis of our structure for being cool, but we combine maps from several different people in order to create one that fits us, that person we want to be rather than the person we are “meant” to be (Jermanski).  

Works cited 

Dr. Beetle, "Twins and Evolutionary Psychology". 22 January 2010 . 

Frontline: The Merchants of Cool. PBS Online, 2001. Web. 7 Feb.

2005  Fanning, John. “Personal/Political – Tattoo Talk”. Social Studies Class. School of the Future. Room 605.  

Huang, Jia Min. “Personal/Political." Social Studies Class. School of the Future. Room 605.  

Interviewees. “What is Cool?” Street Survey. 02 December 2009.  

Jermanski, Rachel. “Personal/Political." Social Studies Class. School of the Future. Room 605.  

Snyder, Andy. "Personal/Political." Social Studies Class. School of the Future. Room 605.

Hw 36- Triangle Partner Help

2010-01-20T06:14:00.000-08:00

The comment box is missing so posting on blog first and will add to later:
Kate

Here's a rewrite/edit you could choose to use of your main idea. (Idk if its a good edit or not you can use it if you choose to.)

Cool is a mask we wrap around ourselves that hides our true self, a charade we must constantly play, with the risk of discovery of the fallacy of our acts. The performer hopes the audience sitting and watching don't rip apart their carefully created facades least they be charged as inauthentic. We have become products of ourselves. We choose to transform our selves into this image of cool. The only trouble is that cool is forever changing and means something different to each group and person. The definition is as forever changing as the wind. So to keep up with the constant shift, many roles and acts are played through out our lifetime. “And one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages” (Shakespeare). But why do we need these masks? Why bother trying to be cool and to fit certain aspects of what society wants us to be? This can be contributed to the fact that we try to cover up the hole we feel inside of us. We are all a little bit empty inside and instead of acknowledging this fact we try to fill the void (our lives) with meaningless attributes. People play roles to fit in, fit in to become cool,become cool get attention which all plays as distractions from what is really missing in our lives.

You have a lot of great details and topics in your post. There's alot of good stuff to go on for a first draft. I think since you have alot of topics, to try to connect them all to each other so it relates, so your not jumping, or title each different topic so its like a minichapter to introduce your new topic (haha jia min's did that so I think it might be helpful, I'm planning on using that too :)).

I think you should connect the henna idea back to the thesis because its mainly talking about profit maybe you can relate it to consumerism and how that feeds of of the emptiness people are trying to cover up. I agree with Sam about having the emptiness feeling together with your other topics since your topic seems to be talking about how cool is a mask that we use to cover up that feeling.

Jia Min
I like your post very much. The pictures are great and go with what you're saying. I think it flows together really well. You have good transitions.

"Thus, this puts us in a process that our inner self becomes the observer, gathering information from others as our outer self presents the representation of both our real selves and the “faces” we’ve created."

I think your main idea is that we observe what kind of faces we need to create in order to serve our roles, but even so, these roles we play are real because they are who we are becoming(?). Your topics and conclusion seem to support this well since you talk about your different roles with different people and situations and your feelings about it. I think its pretty true, what you said about why we play certain roles and how come we are more open to acting a certain way w/ our family or people close to us. It reminds me of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, when Cameron asks why is it easier to be mad at the people you trust and Tibby says Because you know they'll always love you, no matter what. Maybe that can relate some way to why we have these masks as well, so people will love us.

I agree that sometimes the roles we play are our "real" selves and sometimes they may not be. But how can you tell what is the real self or not? I think the only way anyone can tell is through how they feel about it. With these roles, feelings and perception are all that you really know and if you feel the role you are playing is real then it is and if you feel the role you are playing is fake then it is. I think of it like the "I think therefore I am" except its "if you feel then you are", and it depends on yhow you feel about it, because if you feel like its real then you feel like its authenthic and who you are and if you feel like its fake then thats you rejecting the role or its not the role you want to have.

These are possible topics you can think about. I really like your essay. Alot. Haha. You connect your paragraphs and ideas well. I think the only thing is grammar, but its not that big of a problem. Great job on it.

Hw 35- Cool Paper Rough Draft

2010-01-19T06:40:00.000-08:00

“We are products of our environment.” During the last season of “The Bachelorette”, one of the contestants said this as a way of understanding why another contestant behaved the way they did, because their culture and the place they have come from have shaped them as they are and was different from theirs. We are all cultivated by way of society, media, race, class and gender. We get environmental and social cues to guide us to becoming the person that we are right now. When our environment changes we do too, because the cues we are getting are different, our friends and family influence these changes greatly. That is why our versions of cool will have certain differences and similarities because they come from these sources, some that we share, and some that we don’t. From the cues that we get from our cultural maps, we develop the roles we play and who we think we are.

Who we actually want to be comes from cues from our social environments, which is shaped by our status, gender, nationality, culture, and many other factors. We seek to live out the roles we have chosen from the ones available to us. From that we create our own hero’s journey and play the characters we’ve created through our actions (Foucault). How we choose to play out the scene that we’ve been given defines who we are as people. For example in this scene what would you do? Someone you know is being teased. Do we help, do we ignore it, or do we participate? Either way, we’ve made a decision, in that scene we are either the character that helped or the character that didn’t help. If we add enough scenes, the cumulative depicts who your character is.

Because of the way our cultural map is made, we are more open to certain kinds of messages than others. Certain things will be cool for us to do and certain things aren’t. Much of what we will do and how we’ll act is based on our past experiences, whose foundation is provided by our cultural maps and what is expected out of us. Certain group cultures will tend to have preferences or leanings because of how their environment was. For example, most people from the black culture will prefer hip hop or r&b. That is an effect of how media portrays their culture and closely links the two (Merchants of cool). That’s why in general; there is a preference for music like hip hop over music like country. The images that are more commonly seen and that we associate with more are the kinds of images that we will find cool. Things that don’t relate to us or the values we have from our cultural maps won’t be on our radars.

Roles

Point of view is relevant in how we are seen by people because each person acts from foreknowledge from their cultural maps. So, whether they think you’re cool is based on values held by their cultural map. That doesn’t mean they only think cool is something directly related to their culture, but cool is made from values or qualities seen in a positive way in their cultural map. That’s why there are different versions of cool for each subculture.

People act accordingly to what’s expected of them. It doesn’t mean they are condemned to that cultural map, it means they are more likely to follow the standard model of the cultural map, unless something happens that leads them to a detour and they find a different route. John Fanning was raised in a middle class family in a fairly conservative place, but he got a tattoo even though it wasn’t common in his cultural map. That’s because his cultural map didn’t make sense to him and he wanted to find a new one. When he joined his band, he felt as if he finally met people who were “real” and he could relate to them. His discontent with his current cultural map, led him to a new route and he discovered another one that made more sense to him even though it appears to be very different from his previous one. He wanted to find a place that he could belong and the previous place he was at wasn’t it (Fanning).

The existence of cultural maps also brings up the question of nature versus nurture, whether we choose to be who we are today or were it created by our circumstances. The cultural maps suggest that these events are all circumstantial and to an extent it is. Some of it is nature, the two are closely intermixed, because a child with Asperger’s will not take any social cues because of the way their brain works. But that child could also be treated if it is caught earlier in their life (Autism Society). Our preferences actually begin from our womb. “Sounds, smells and tastes are amongst the first environmental cues learnt, ahead of vision” (Beetle). If a pregnant woman chose to eat garlic or vanilla, then the baby will choose a similarly flavored milk over normal milk (Beetle). Despite this, we aren’t condemned to whatever circumstances we’ve primarily been given, there is choice and that choice comes when you realize that you do have one. Otherwise it creates the mentality that you can’t do anything when you can and that’s self-fulfilling in many ways. The child groomed to be a lawyer doesn’t always end up becoming one, they might be an artist or an architect if they find that they actually enjoy that more than the other (Jed). In the 60s it was all about rebellion and going against capitalism. What was cool changed after he went to school because when he was younger he was okay with being a lawyer but as he got older he realized it wasn’t what he wanted to do.

Hw 34- Cool Pose-Cultural Maps

2010-01-12T16:55:00.000-08:00

I do have a cultural map. Here's proof: Ask me if I am going to go to college and unhesitatingly, I'll say yes. Of course. Not because I'm conceited or anything but because that is my cultural map and those are the options given to me. Not going to college isn't even a choice. At least not where my parents and grandparents are concerned. This seems to be one of the typical maps given by the Asian culture. In college, Asians are actually an overrepresented minority so its obvious that this is valued as a neccessity almost.

Sometimes I'll hear from an adult that college doesn't necessarily pave the way to success, that people have been able to make it without and own businesses without a college education and getting experience in the field is better. But ultimately my cultural map, trumps that because I'll rationalize that college can give me real world experience since many are now offering co-ops and internship as a supplement to what is taught in the classroom. In the end having a degree simply looks better on a resume than not. In today's world, going to college is, well, expected. Its in the media, teenagers going to college, whether they're depicted as getting an education or just partying. But the fact of the matter is, the rate of teenagers applying and attending colleges is on the rise.

Family
What's funny, isn't the fact that I have American values instilled in me , but the fact that being here has affected my mom's own cultural map as well. I think my mom has been here long enough that she is adopted values from the American cultural map. She doesn't want me to be a doctor or lawyer, she says she just wants me to do what makes me happy. That's nice, albeit slightly reminiscent of some movies I had seen in my childhood with her. It clashes too, because the next moment she'd tell me to get a job in finance.

I used to think my family was very conservative values wise. I think its part of American culture, to start romantic relations young, because its fairly common for kids in America to start dating as early as middle school; from what the signals I had gotten from my family, that wasn't as encouraged. When I was younger, my mom told me that I wasn't allowed to date until I was 27 because I should be focused on school (she was kidding about the age...I think). Most of my friend's parents are the same way with them...although they probably given a more reasonable age to start romantic relationships, some of them has started romantic relationships nonetheless. Recently though, my mom has actually encouraged me to start dating....along with my aunt. So their turnabout is a bit bizarre to me. I wonder if its another adoption from the American cultural map.

One particular situation in which my cultural map clashes with my mother's and aunt's is when my mom and aunt would tell me to find a rich guy to take care of me. I'd get angry at them for saying that and tell them that I'd be the rich one and that if I even end up getting married, I'd make enough to get a househusband instead of the other way around. That was my retort to them, because I saw their cultural map as outdated, and I thought and I still do think that I am fully capable of taking care of myself.

Books influence
I was a huge bookworm when I was younger, I still am today but not to the same extent. I think, alot of what I want to follow on my own map comes from what I've read in my childhood. I've progressed from novels to nonfiction to manga and now back to novels and nonfiction stories but I can kind of see from what happens with characters in those stories what I want for myself, that I would want to see in my life.

What I want is to find peace with myself and in my life. I have moments like that now and I want to continue having those moments. I don't really picture any drama or have any particular want for it. In the future I want to be able to continue learning and trying new things (I want peace with myself but that doesn't mean stagnation) and keep good relationships with my friends and family and have shared adventures and experiences with everyone. I want to live. I also want a cat. That's where my own cultural map seems to be leading. See, according to our cultural map certain things make sense to us and that's what makes sense to me.

Hw 33- Outline

2010-01-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

2. Coolness - as a heroic internal narrative and the successful command of attention and social significance - is a basic human need. We need to be cool - what are the best ways for us to do that, individually and collectively?

Thesis: In our minds, we all play the protagonist in the story that is our life. Being cool plays into the internal narrative that we have because it means that other people recognize that we are an important character. It means you're noticed and not on the sidelines. But this desire is something we all yearn for and always will because it is a basic human need. We want to be important, to someone-- anyone. So we look for things that make us different, that makes us special, to get that attention.

supporting points

Point 1: To be cool, people aggrandize themselves and one way is through dress.
- Cool hunting- Adornment to attract notice, peacocking.
-how comercialism, consumerism, and wealth play into cool

Point 2: The next way is through attitude, mainly detached or in a way that stands up to an authority figure
Cool stories-characters have attention of other poeple

Point 2: . But coolness shouldn't be just about adornment or having the right clothes, that can be part of it, but it shouldn't be all there is to it. It should go deeper than that.
-Tattoos- John Fanning, what it meant to him initially and later on. Forming a connection w/ his band.
-Cool research- what being cool really means, NYT, about it being something personal

Point 3: Why we want it- Wanting to be cool or wanting attention is a basic human need that comes with the human condition. We want someone to make an impact on someone before we're gone because we only have one life to live, and once its gone, that's it.

Hw 32- Tattoos

2010-01-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

Everything to us is symbolic. Titles are symbolic of status, which is symbolic of our position in life and how we view people. Tattoos act the same way. For some people, tattoo makes a great fashion statement, while others use it to reveal certain aspects of their personality. For some people, it is an expression of feelings of lovethat they have for another person. They reveal to people a part of who the tattoo wearer is or who they want to be. Many messages we get when we see tattoos stem from preconceptions people might have about tattoos. Whether true or not, it tells a story about the person, much like every action/non action a person does.

It can represent a part of who you were at a certain time as well. Like John Fanning's friend in Florida who got the rat tattoo. He wouldn't cover it up because doing that would be like denying the part of himself who got it at the time when he was a fifteen year old boy. People can get tattoos for as much as any other thing. For some people its about identity for other it may be about fitting in or it can be both. I found it interesting that it was an armour for Fanning because he had it, no one touch him because he knew who he was. Which relates to the identity thing too, its a physical representation of that. Its concrete and because of a simple thing like a tattoo, it protected him from whatever someone else may think of him because they didn't really get him and he knew who he really was.

A tattoo is like an idea in print. At the time that he got it, the times was different and it was something really out there, whereas now, its almost commonplace for people to get one. But a tattoo was and still is an act of rebellion. I think it means something different for him now then it did then, now its like a map of his experiences. His memories of the period he got them are attached to it. For his strength through wisdom tattoo, it helped him through his surgery and the message it meant was comforting to him. I thought he was really open sharing this with us and it was brave.

For me, I never really wanted a permanent tattoo but when I was in elementary school I used to have temporary tattoos, which are those paper ones that you sponge on and come off by rubbing. I didn't do it often but I remember it being fun at the time. The reason I did it was simple because I was more simple, it was a design that I liked and they appealed to me because they weren't permanents and when you're elementary school, that's good, because you're changing all the time and nothings too permanent. So for me, at that time, it was just expressing myself but I didn't want to keep it because that self was changing all the time.

Tattoos are pretty interesting. For other cultures it maybe a talisman or charm to protect the person or ensure happiness after death, but its revealing for the most part in American culture because its not required and those who choose to do it want to reveal in a conspicuous way something about themselves to other people.

Extra Cred- Tolstoy Cool

2010-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

a. How does Ivan's quest for status, advancement, prestige, and generally the approval of others endanger his chance to live a more meaningful life?

In this story Ivan Llynch is a man who has chosen to live life of status and decorum. Its a lot about the inner life and the outer life. He conforms to the values and rules of society and admires those with high social status and wealth as a result Ivan is fixated on obtaining material things. His social interactions, even with his own family are very proper. In the novel social prestige depersonalizes human relations necessary to living a fulfilling and meaningful life.

Even though Ivan is able to obtain those knick knacks, it doesn't make him happy, when his death bed he reflects on his life and the things he has now and it seems very fake and artificial to him. No one in his family is able to confront the fact that he is dying. The only person capable of facing death at all with courage and grace is Gerasim, Ivan's nurse, who accepts that this is something everyone must face someday. Gerasim is the only character in the story that can interact with people in an authentic and meaningful way. He breaks down isola†ion and creates meaningful bonds. Gerasim is able to comfort the dying man and interact with him and develop a meaningful relationship. Gerasim, who is a peasant is content with his social standing and what he has and he is able to develop mutually fulfilling relationships that give him the courage and strength to confront death. That is why it is not a coincidence that Ivan questions his life while looking on Gerasim's face.

"His mental sufferings were due to the fact that that night, as he looked at Gerasim's sleepy, good-natured face with it prominent cheek-bones, the question suddenly occurred to him: "What if my whole life has been wrong?" "

Because Ivan was so focused on obtaining social standing and material items, he pushed other more important things to the side, like developing meaningful human relationships. "It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was. I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me. And now it is all done and there is only death."

The pain in his side comes from his body's rejection of the way he has been living life. In the end he realizes that none of the social gain made him happy, that he was happiest moments were before he obtained any of it and that the more he is able to gain materialistically, the less fulfilled and empty he felt. He realizes that he has actually been traveling opposite direction intended in his life. When Ivan realizes his mistake and comes to a fuller understanding of the nature of life, he is reborn spiritually and experiences extreme joy. This novel shows how Ivan's quest for advancement and prestige endangers his chance to live a more meaningful life because he misses the point to what life is actually about, compassion and developing an emphatic connection with other human beings.

Hw 31

2009-12-20T07:42:00.000-08:00

Part A
One of my old friends- very low key, wears makeup but its not that noticible, its sheer most of the time, she's pretty open and honest I think.

Can I ask you some questions for my humanities class?
Sure. Go ahead.

What are your reasons for dressing in the style you do?
Its the style I feel comfortable with. That I learned through watching and trying out. It depends on my mood too, sometimes I feel like dressing up but most of the time I'm very low key.

When did you start wearing makeup?
Hmm.. I don't really remember when, it was awhile ago. I saw my mom wearing it and you know how kids are, they want to be like their mom and dad.

Why did you start?
What I said before and I wanted to look good. Partly for other people but mostly for myself. When I think I look good I feel good so that's why I started wearing makeup. Its just like an addition to my little routine. I'm fine without it too but I usually don't feel like wearing its when I'm feeling lazy or not like doing anything. Its just part of my "ritual". Make up isn't much different from clothes, its still another method of adorning yourself. Some people feel comfortable in certain clothes and stick to that style and other's like to change it up.

Her answer was kind of the "because I like it" answer but she admits that part of it is for vanity. I think her answer is true too that it is for herself as well as for other people. I think when you're only looking for one answer, then that's the answer you'll get, like if you expect people to have the "because I like it answer" you only see that one. But I think it could be true too that its a way that she expresses herself because she said she also uses it to show her moods. Which I have generally observed that she does.

Part B
I think I do sometimes is cooking. Cooking to me is interesting and so I assume other people will find it interesting too. I like the learning aspect of baking because you can always try out a new recipe and its like a little experiment. When I see the finished product I feel happy because its like "look I was able to do it". I feel like I accomplished something especially if it was a harder recipe. When I made popcorn with a kettle and kernels for the first time I felt that way. It wasn't hard but it was new and I kept burning it the first few times but when I was able to get it right I felt pretty good. I get to learn and develop a way to make it. That's exciting for me. I like being able to learn new things and try them out and baking lets me do that. That's why I find it worthwhile for me to do it. Its something I can share with people too. When I bake something that I'm proud of I want to share with my friends and have them try it out too.

I use to play the piano and I'm not an expert but I can play a few songs. I started because I saw a movie when I was younger and in the movie a character played the piano really well and that made me want to learn it because I wanted to be able to do that as well. I think that sometimes I do that to aggrandize myself because having a skill like being able to play an instrument is something people usually think of as cool. When I'm playing around other people I think I try harder not to make a mistake than when I'm playing alone. I think if they like how I play or think its good then I think I'm good. When I was younger and I first started, I kind of played to impress other people. They heard the song and they liked it so I kept on playing it. But the effect kind of wore off on me. When I play now, its usually because I'm in the mood to play even with other people are around. I'll try a little more to get it right if they around but when I don't, I don't mind too much either.

HW 30- Psychological and Philosophical

2009-12-17T08:21:00.000-08:00

Humans instinctively crave to be filled. They want to fill their stomachs rather than empty because that means hunger, like their stomach this is a hole that continually needs to be filled. This might be filled by a (constant) stream of love (don’t people feel empty when someone they love dies?), being needed, creating a sense of themselves, or a type of heroism. Some things fill the hole better and longer than others. The hole is like your stomach, you have to keep feeding it, because after it digests whatever you feed it, it’s “empty” again. But defining emptiness like this, it can be seen as a need, that we need to be met and when its not we’re looking for things that will meet it. Emptiness is then interpreted as a lacking.

Buddhism however believes that the emptiness and acceptance of emptiness is enlightenment. Emptiness is a key concept in Buddhist philosophy. Buddhists define emptiness as a state of mind. Once your mind is empty you can see the world clearer, better, and deeper. So in Buddhism, rather than seeking to be filled, Buddhists seek to empty out their minds so their mind has space to fill more things. Like drinking a cup of water, you need the cup to be empty to fill it with more water (Fu). Meditation is an important tool used in Buddhism to achieve this state of mind. In Buddhism, emptiness is defined as a state of being rather than nonbeing (nothingness).

This kind of emptiness is interpreted differently than the kind we have been talking about in class. That’s the problematic and magical nature of words; they often hold more than one meaning to the one saying it and to the one listening. The kind of emptiness we’ve been talking about in class is more emotional. It wasn’t clarity of mind, but a need that wanted and needed to be filled: for attention, for love, for someone to believe in you or look up to you. It really depends on what sense of emptiness we are talking about. In what sense is it used? In what sense does it mean? What sense do we hear it? What sense is it interpreted? The answers to these questions will be different if we are talking about different things.

Sigmund Freud believes the source for the sense of emptiness we have been discussing in class stems from separation from the mother at the womb and the trauma of being born. That the kind of attachment a child forms to their mother or caretaker is instinctual and being separated from them causes them to feel anxiety. What the child seeks afterwards is a sense of connection again. Anna Freud, his daughter and a psychoanalyst herself has some similar points. From her own observations, she found that although babies are completely dependent on a mother-figure, they did not seem to need a particular person to fulfill that function and quickly re-adjusted after separation. It is only when they are around 3 years old that the effect of separation was found to be particularly traumatic. They then externalize their grief from their separation and seek out to meet this need by finding substitute affections among peers when parents cannot give them this. Anna also observed that being buried under rubble was not as tramatic for children than a comparably brief separation from the mother. This reaction and feeling of emptiness is primal and biological, rather than learned, and it’s a instinctive need that people have to have a connection. Both Anna and Sigmund Freud argues that this feeling’s origin comes from the separation from the mother-figure.

HW 29- Merchants of Cool

2009-12-13T05:13:00.001-08:00

The way the media works and the way the media sells kids a product is not for the kid's best interest, its for theirs. To be truthful, everyone is very impressionable. Everyone is influencable. No matter what they say they are affected by what they see and the thing is; influence is power. It isn't used wisely in our culture. It is used carelessly to promote whatever product they can, usually in a way that is socially degrading and makes caricatures out of everyone. But what they do is effective. It's popular and its attention grabbing. People will still want to see it.

I think what the way the WB did these shows, was done in a more thought out way because it wasn't done in a way that degraded sex or sexuality instead what they did was acknowledge that this was a topic that was relevant for teens and they took it and said this is what happens, these are the consequences, good and bad. what MTV does is it shows sex as this one big party fest with no reprecussions and no strings attached. In a way all these ads have desensitized teens to seeing this.

Sex sells, and marketers will do whatever sells the fastest and attracts the most people. So what we have now is an oversexualized culture. Britney Spears type media, her audience was actually mainly preteen girls. The ones who are most impressionable and hardhit by this is this age group. "They are taught to flaunt their sexuality even though they don't even understand it yet". Should it have been done? No because it spreads the message that this is how kids/girls should be if they want attention. But coporations would have done it anyways despite the consquences because that is how marketing work. They find a point of interest and exploit it as best as they can to promote what they want.

I don't think kids are stupid though. They have just been shown one option of being and they attempt to reanact it at times but eventually they have to decide for themselves if that is really what they want to do and be. Sooner or later they get wise to all of this or they risk staying in this art mimicking life mimicking art loop.

Hw 28- Informal Research

2009-12-08T17:12:00.000-08:00

Blair aka juicystar07 "How to curl your hair: Celebrity Inspired" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn0hFQCyL1I Youtube. 27 November 2009
On youtube there are "gurus" which are basically people who show you how to do certain things and give tutorials. Coolness is associated with fashion and style and celebrities have a little following where people want to do things that they see celebrities have done and try to emulate them. This clip shows you how to style your hair and is inspired by celebrities. On the sidebar are the list of the products so people watching can easily buy the products and recreate the look.

This youtube clip exemplifies that part of our culture where people want to get the "celebrity look". Clips like this have hordes of views (this one has almost half a million) and it goes to show how popular clips showing people how to get a certain look are. Having your own style is associated with being cool but people tend to follow popular trends as well, which is one of the paradoxal natures of being "cool". How can you be cool when most things people do are fairly homogenous? In the grander scheme of things, anything you do is fairly homogenous as there are 6 billion people on earth, doing something that hasn't been done before is relatively one of the harder aspirations of coolness for people.

TV show- Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana is a popular kids show on Disney Channel and ABC a bout a girl leading a double life of being a famous singer and a regular girl. She is especially popular with preteen girls. Younger girls emulate people like Hannah Montana by dressing like her because she is depicted as cool, kid. Cool connotes a bit of celebrity and they want that. Why do people aspire to be cool? Because when people think they're cool they feel valued versus being uncool. People notice them and admire them. As a star, Miley Cyrus has fame and because of that plot, Hannah Montana so appealing to the kids who watch it, because Hannah Montana is just a regular kid but she's a star. Kids want that too. They want to stand out while fitting in.

Shampo, Diana "How to be cool at any age." http://www.ehow.com/how_5688564_cool-age.html Ehow. December 7 2009
This is four tips on being cool and its basically how cool people act. They don't say they're cool, they're interested in other people. They don't "fly off the handle" in a bad situation, they don't use language that's not their own, like slang.

I think cool is a certain attitude. If you're corny and you use slang to be corny and you know it, then its okay. If you're earnest in being who you are and being who you are doesn't hurt anyone, then it doesn't matter whether its cool or not and that's cool right?I think the trying to keep yourself calm and not flying "off the handle" is a good tip. She uses an example of a ten year old trying to steal your purse. If you freak out at a little kid then nothing gets solved and it justs looks pretty bad because you didn't handle the situation well. I think by that age, if you're an adult and yelling at a little kid....that's not that great since there are other ways to go about it. I think showing interest in people other than yourself is a good tip is a good tip because you're more open to the world and you might learn a thing or two.

Vognar, Chris. "Plano Resident's book argues that the concept of cool is yesterday's news." http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/121309dngdcool.3ffff0d.html. The Dallas Morning News. December 7 2009
-Ted Gioa
Ted Gioia, the author of The Birth (and Death) of Cool argues that cool is dead, that blunt earnestness has made cool obsolete. He cites Pop culture as one area where he sees the fall of cool. He argues that on reality TV shows, like American Idol, uncool earnestness (Taylor Hicks) often triumphs over celebrity cool (Katherine McPhee). Cool is "uncool".

"There are always new styles and fashions," he says. "But now people are drawing them more from their own group of acquaintances rather than these corporately endorsed cool trends. It's a fundamental change."

That's interesting that having a "blunt earnestness" trumps being "cool" and that may be because when people see someone openly working hard on a goal they think its admirable. But for his second argument, that status brands are not as cool to have as it was a few years ago because its mainstream, that cool is dead it means something else is cool. That now, being anti-cool is cool.

-Steven Soderbergh, Made Ocean's Heist Movies
For Soderbergh, cool isn't what you buy, watch or listen to. It's what you do.

"Doing your own thing is always cool and always will be," Soderbergh says in an interview. "Even if whatever you're doing is no longer interesting to anybody, to continue to do it well is still cool. That's different from hip, and it's different from popular.

I find this true too, Soderbergh defines cool differently from Goia. People admire people who can do their own thing. For Soderbergh cool is like a "personal earnestness". If you do something you personally find interesting, that's important to you, than that's cool. In general "cool" is different for everyone. Its a very subjective and broad term and may not be the same for everyone. "Cool is where you find it and what you make of it." One person's cool can be another's square (Vognar).

Hw 27- Informal Interviews

2009-12-02T14:49:00.000-08:00

Strangers:
The first person we interviewed was a man in his thirties holding a cup of coffee. He wore a med-length brown coat. Seemed in a hurry on 23rd and lex. Remy asks him "What makes a person cool?" He replies, "What does?" I tell him we're asking him that to see his pov. Then he says "Popularity."
"Do you think you're cool?"
"No, I'm too old to be cool" I don't think that's true, older people can be cool too.

The second person we interviewed was wearing darkwash jeans. Had a hoodie on and a cap, and plug earrings. Seemed to be in his twenties. "Do you think you're cool?" "No." I asked him if he thought other people thought he was cool and he said 'Oh yeah.' Which made me think he thought he was cool but didn't want to admit it. He told us he taught music and I asked what kind of instrument he taught he said "rock and roll guitar" and that he was in a band and traveled the world. I kind of thought he wanted to make himself seem more important because he mentioned his band and playing "rock and roll guitar". I thought that the part about his traveling seemed more interesting. Jia Min said. "That's cool." I think people are just narcissists by nature because people feel that they are important when they get notice, which is fine. Its apart of the human nature that is stronger in some than others but everyone has their moments.

The third person we asked was a girl who seemed to be a college student. Around 19-20 maybe older. She had a tan jacket on carrying a brown bag. She was fiddling with a table hook which was kind of interesting and Jia Min and Remy asked her about that. Remy asked what is cool. She said "Confidence. And age" and that personality was important but some people pretend and you don't always know if they are. One of asked who is cool and she said "Everybody can be cool" which I thought was interesting. She differentiated cool from popular which was different from what our first interviewee thought. "cool and popularity are different things. Like an unpopular person can be cool such as someone who draws and is really good at it and is passionate about it."When we asked her if she thought she was cool she said "I think I am really cool." then she laughed and said "No." I guess it seems pompous to people to just say they are cool and they don't want other people to think that.

I asked her why some people thought cool was important and she said "Because its idealize in the society, and its a positive thing that people want to think about. Since everybody wants to be cool. It also depends on our own interpretation."

Friends:
Jo- She's a girl from my after school program and it was an in person talk
What do you think is cool? A nice person. I don't know. (I think she's pretty nice)
Do you think you're cool? I don't know (People never use their own definition of cool when I ask them this...)
Do you think you're nice? I don't know

Reggie-I asked this in person. She seemed kind of apprehensive with the questions.
Do you think its important to be cool? I don't know
Do you think you are Cool? No
Why not? Because I don't.
Why? Because I don't. This conversation is getting nowhere.
(Agrees and wonders why she won't tell me a specific answer. Every one I asked for this question will without exception say they don't think they're cool. I think its because people think its uncool to say you think you're cool since it might seem like they are full of themselves.)
Can give you give me a specific reason? I don't know because there's a set system
What is cool in this set system? I don't know being beyond norm but maintaining a connection to the norm.
What is the norm? Something established by society but viewed as something right. I don't know. (Alot of people seemed to do that as well, add "I don't know" after making a statement. I guess this topic kind of makes some people more guarded)

Curly
I talked to my curly-haired friend online and they seems more comfortable with the topic.
Can i ask you some questions for my humanities class
What do you think makes a person "cool"?
Hmmm....I don't no any cool people ._. (I thought his answer was interesting because that was the first thing I thought when we began this unit. I didn't really think of anyone as cool, just as different kinds of people.)
who do you think is the coolest celebrity?
I don't think there r any cool celebrities cuz if i think they're cool than that makes me think I'm lesser then them and I don't think I am so I don't really think anyone is cool.
What makes a person uncool?
LYING (thinks this is the first time I heard someone said this, wonders if he is referring to being true to yourself and all that since that's technically lying to yourself if your not)
About what? Anything. Well little white lies are okay and lying to not hurt people as long as it ultimately hurts no one thats okay but other than that any lie sucks.
Is there anything else that makes a person uncool? Um ya being clumsy is okay, but clumsiness in excess that's not cool (thinks I can get pretty clumsy, wonders if bumping your head into multiple objects counts as excessive) and I don't mean just lying not being true to yourself is a better way of saying it.
mm..Do you think being cool is important to people? To other people yes. To me no.
why? well theres no being cool for me there's only being uncool and if your uncool then I don't like you by my means of uncool not other people's.
What about for other people? Why is it important to them? Other people's view I don't care and its important to them for social ranking.

Family: Is talking to my cousin over the phone, who happens to be at a very noisy club...(surprisingly) but is nice enough to find a quiet spot(s) to answer my questions. There are many what?? moments that I didn't include in the transcript. They are in college.

Hi. Are you busy?
No. Its kind of noisy though.
Can I ask you some questions for school?
Sure.
What is cool? Is this my personal opinion or what society says?
You can do both.
You have a weird school. I personally find libraries to be very cool. Yes I like libraries and computers too.
What about people-wise?
A person I find Cool?
Yeah.
I find. Damnit. Who do I find cool? Tom Delay.
Why do you find him cool? Because he was an asshole.
You like assholes? Because he bullied people I don't like.
Who is that? Democrats (He used to be a Democrat by the way. Now he considers himself a Republican with Democratic values)
Hey!!
I'll make an exception for you since you're my little cousin.
Alright. *he is deaf*
What do I think is cool? Extremist people who don't go along with what everyone thinks because that's what they're told.
Do you think being cool is important? No.
In what way? No its not important to be cool, its very important to rich and then you will be cool.
What qualities do you find to be cool? There are alot. Intelligence is very important and Wealth.
Why do you think being cool matters in our society? It doesn't. Because people are dumb. When you are older you will realize that cool isn't the most important thing. *thinks briefly that he's is being slightly patronizing *
I know that already. Do you think you are cool? Yes, because I have money.
What are difficulties of being cool? The difficulties are obtaining enough money.
I feel like you think cool is synonymous with wealth. It is. If you have wealth you can buy anything.
Laughs. That's not true.
If you were in a store with someone and they bought you everything wouldn't you think they were cool?
No I'd think they're a piggy-bank and are trying to buy me with money.
If it was as a gift.
A gift? noo...still... *thinks that is alot of gifts for someone to have..*
What do gifts require?
Compensation? (was thinking in terms that you have to give something in return like reciprocating with another gift)
My little cousin has grown up so fast.
-laughs-
*background friends are in the subway*
Oh do you have to go now?
Yeah. I'm in the subway. Ask me any last questions.
So far, most people when I ask them if they're cool, all the people I asked said no and you're the only one to say yes. Why do you think that is? Those people are losers. Because they are losers and they know it.

My cousin's pretty funny. I think he is cool because he's not typical in his comments, he is in other ways. Even though he said that cool means wealth, he wasn't really being stuck up, he likes making extremist statements. I think he does mean it though, at least partly.

Interviews- HW 26

2009-11-28T16:48:00.000-08:00

Kate
What do you think is of a cool person? Someone who doesn't conform or care what other people think and such.

What makes you think a person is uncool? Bossy mean snotty people that look down on you.

Do you think you're cool? Not really, I'd like to think so, but I don't think I am.

Can you tell a person is conforming? Yeah, you can see how much they put themselves out there.

Do you think cool matters? No. Well. I can say no, but in reality everyone's trying to be cool and get attention.

Remy
Do you think cool matters? I think cool matters in terms of social stuff more and I think cool matters to me in terms of interesting stuff more.

Where do you think we get our idea of cool from? From society, but we sometimes build based on that on our preferences. We can also be influenced by our friends more than just what society tells us.

Who are people you think are cool? Damien Danziger is cool and I think Iron man is cool, Tony Stark.

What qualities that make them cool? Those people are cool because they're badass. They are...pretty much everyone Robert Downey Junior plays is badass actually. They just..I don't know..have certain badass qualities going on. The whole liquor and women thing..I mean i don't think the whole liquor and women thing is cool, I think the fact that they can get away with it is cool.

Jia Min
(Pic: N/A. She doesn't want to post her picture and thinks that is cool :))
Who are people who you think are cool? No one. --and Everyone! No one and everyone.

Why? I think because everybody has their own thing. I don't know what thing but that-that lets others notice about them, doesn't mean everybody will notice, that person. Sooo what I mean, umm that no one is cool is because we all notice different things through our eyes.

What do you notice? I notice that everybody has their own reasons to become cool or not.

Do you think cool is important? No, I think cool is not important because I say cool to people alot of times because of how their personality reveals to me.

Rachel
What kind of people do you think are cool? I think they're people who don't try to conform and they're just who they are. They have their own style. They don't care what people think.

Do you know any people like that? Kate or Carrie.

What makes you uncool? When you try to follow what everyone else says, you're not really being yourself.

Do you think being cool is important? Yeah.

Why? I guess its kind of like a status, a social status.

Na Lin
Who are people you think are cool? I think my cousin's really cool. She always thinking different things, she has her own style is pretty cool, she makes her own clothes. I think the character that my sister made is cool. She's really smart a young age, a prodigy, people will deny that now, skipping grades. I think its cool to graduate older grades at a young age. She's always carrying a laptop around even though she's a midget.

What are some cool qualities you think you might have? I don't think I have any. I just don't like that category all to myself.

What are some qualities that you have that people might admire?
Whatever quality I say someone will find a weakness in it. Some people say kindness is a weakness, but I think it can be a strength.

Imagine

2009-11-27T07:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2erwcpc37lY&feature=related

glee cover of imagine-john lennon

a scene from glee when the when the two glee clubs were singing together.

imagine there's no heaven
even if you try
no hell below us
above us only sky

imagine all the people
living life for today

imagine there's no countries
its not hard to do
nothing to kill or die for
and no religion too

imagine all the people
living life in peace

you may say i'm a dreamer
but i'm not the only one
i hope someday you will join us
and the world will be as one

imagine no possessions
i wonder if you can
no need for greed or hunger
a brotherhood of man

imagine all the people
sharing all the world
you, you may say i'm a dreamer
but i'm not the only one

i hope someday you will join us
and the world will live as one

HW 25- Story comments

2009-11-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

Rachel
Rachel, I liked the way you used another character to depict the new girl. She seems aloof and she's cool to other people because they don't know much about her and want to know more. She has a nonchalant attitude because doesn't try to impress people which is what the character is so impressed with. She also has physical attributes and a style people admire.

Jia Min,
When I read the story I can hear your voice in my head reading it lol. I liked how the girl gave advice to the little boy. The way she helped him is cool because she doesn't just save him she tries to get him to become stronger too. How she helped him is cool and she is admired for those qualities, plus she is very talented in archery.

Bao Lin
“Hey, I know. But seriously fishing doesn’t mean it is not cool. It is one of DJ Becareful’s favorite activities.”
“Oh! Cool. I still have to shoot a few more photos. See you and have a good one.”

I thought it was an interesting point that when a cool person does something, that activity is cool by association, even if it usually isn't. The twist at the end is interesting. Parkho is the cool character at the beginning because he's just doing what he likes, by taking pictures and kind of appreciating everything but he thinks Eddie is a loser for being the class clown. When it turns out the anonymous blog that he admires is Eddie he seems less cool because he was looking down on him. So in the end, it shows that people you think may not be cool may be cooler than you.

Dinorah
Damn it... I really should've said no...

I think this is so interesting how everything snowballs like this for the main character. The ending is like he knew he shouldn't have done it but he does it anyways because he wants to be cool, but he's not really cool because he's going along with what everyone else says and not what he really wants. The way you show that from the "times", "first time", "second time", is like we're really following along with what's happening. I wonder if there will ever be a "last" time.

Lauren
Lauren, I liked how concise this story is. The new girl seems to be cool because she doesn't let Regina phase her and we kind of know from your character's reaction that she is cool, when she considers talking to her tommorow.

I think the pattern I see is that the characters who were cool, don't really let things phase them and they have their own pace. With Lauren's, Jia Min's and Rachel's story their character's don't get ruffled by what happens. Lauren's character isn't afraid of Regina, Jia Min's character doesn't get scared of the bullies, and Rachel's character is kind of like the mysterious loner and doesn't get phased by girls who are jealous of her. The uncool characters in these stories are usually the people judging other people or trying to put someone down. Like the girls who are jealous of the new girl. Or how Parkho thought Eddie was a loser for being the classclown. Or the bullies in Jia Min and Lauren's story.

What makes the characters in the stories cool is that they accept who they are and other people as who they are and also having their own pace. Alot of times people's opinions factor alot into the way other people views someone and themselves. If everyone thinks a person is cool then that's what they become.

Alot of archetypes appear in these stories: the loner, the bully, the athelete/jock, the hero, popular girl, etc. They're all someone's personal idea of what is cool/uncool. In stories, when the main character or someone else is deems someone cool, the reader usually thinks so too, because they see it through the character's eyes. What the character does will fit in with some aspect of what cool means to them. That's somewhat similar to how we see people. I don't think its as one dimensional, (sometimes its two or three...), but in the stories we take in the actions of the characters as evidence of their coolness because that's how the writer wants them to be seen, and sometimes people do that to other people because that's how they want to see them. They make archetypes of each other. But sooner or later everyone realizes they don't fits perfectly into the set role and will eventually come to see them as just people. They aren't the nerd, the savior, or the villan, they're just people.

Possibilities-(Corny) Short story on what is cool

2009-11-22T11:56:00.000-08:00

(Sorry, sorrym sorry! I thought I posted it...but I posted it on the blog we had last year. Stupid, I know. I apologize for the overwhelming corniness of this story you are about to read...)

Remember when we were kids? When we thought we could be anything in the world? When we thought anything was possible?

"I want you to paint a mural, something that unifies us as a school." Said Principal Harding.

Jen stared at the yellow lines, orange strokes, and blue gradients. There was a light pinkish tinged of purple colors on the sides. In tiny meticulous strokes, Jen had written the words "Possibility" over and over a thousand times to create a large sunrise over an endless sky. Her hands and overalls were covered in blue and purple from the recent additions to the mural. She hummed to the music of her headphones as she painted in the hallway. She had been working on it for two months and it was almost done.

When we believed that we could do anything in the world?What happened to that?

"Do I have to say something?...Isn't the artist supposed to let the art speak for itself?" she asked. Her best friend, Jack, laughed. "Yeah, well when the school board let you paint something in the hallway of a public school; I think they expect a little public ceremony in return."
"Is it terrible of me if I confess I'm scared out of my wits just thinking about it?"
"Of course you're scared. You poured your heart and soul into that thing. Who wouldn't be?"
"Its just there. You know, for the world to see. To judge." She put her hands to her face. "Crap, and that feels so scary. It makes me feel vulnerable."
"You know what; I think it’s brave what you're doing."
"What exactly is that?"
"This." He waved his arm at the painting. "Look, Jen. All you can do is do what you like and care about it. You can't really control public opinion. But, being able to create something like this; it’s beautiful. Even attempting it is admirable in its own right and if other people can't see that, it’s their loss."
"Thanks. I feel better now."
"I'm just telling you what I think."
“Well, thanks for doing that.”

She stood in front of the crowd of students, before the unveiling. The mural was covered behind a dark blue cloth taped securely to the wall.“And now, the last of our Beacon High murals. I'd like to ask Jen Parker to step up, and share with us a few words about her creation.”

"Well, Principal Harding asked us to paint something that unified us and when you think about it, nothing really unifies us. I mean we’re all off doing our own thing most of the time. So the only thing that I could think of that unites us all, that we all have in common is...that we all start off in kindergarten thinking that we can be anything that we want to be, and by the time we get here, we… we've somehow lost that feeling. We've all started to believe whatever our parents or friends have told us about what we can achieve and who we can be in life, and... and we've forgotten about that possibility we had when we were younger. And that's what I think we all have in common, and that's what the symbol in my painting means - possibility. I painted it because I thought we could all use a daily reminder that, even when the odds seem stacked against you, anything's possible. So I hope you like it."

Applause.

She lifted the tape, and the covers fell, revealing the mural. The light shone in from a window onto the sunrise made of the words "possibility" and the mural gleamed from the wall as if it had its own light. The effect was one of those striking moments. The students clapped loudly when they saw. Jen smiled when she saw Jack. He was clapping with them and smiled back.

Anything is possible..

"You know what Jack? I think you're the coolest person I know."
"Huh, you must not get out much Parker."She laughed.
"You're the coolest one and you don't even know it. All this was able to happen because of you."
"As much as I'd like to take credit for this, it was all you Jen. You drew the mural."
"That’s just it Jack. That’s what you always do. You inspired me in a way that you inspire everybody. You're the quiet hero. The one who always steps in at the right time, lending your efforts, never asking for a reward in return. Like with the mural, I didn’t think that it’d turn out this good but it did and it makes me feel like anything is possible. That’s what makes you so cool too. You don’t do all that to get something in return; you just do it because you do.”She took a deep breath.“Basically, I just wanted to say thanks-- for being there for me.”
He laughed. “Anytime Jen, you would do the same for me anyways.”
"In a heartbeat.”

Possibilities.

The end.(Some of the things/ideas said in that paragraph is said by Joey Potter, a character from a TV alongside with some of my own thoughts) Ahh…I feel the story's message is somewhat corny... So I’ll admit parts of it are highly idealized. These are some of my ideas of what “cool” is. I think it’s cool if you are able to comfort your friend. I wish I always knew what to say or do, but I don’t, so when I do and when I’m able to, I’m pretty happy to be able to make someone feel better. I think it’s cool to be a good friend. I think it’s cool to support the people you care about. I think that’s what people need from each other, support, because in this world we can always find critique, but support is harder to find. I think….showing you care, even in simple ways is cool.

HW 23- What is "Cool"?

2009-11-16T17:31:00.000-08:00

Cool is a very elusive word. Companies want to bottle it and kids want to be it. Many things evoke cool, the cigarette-smoking-leather-jacket-wearing-motorcycle-riding-rebel is one image that comes to mind and the other is the "popular kids" which in movies are the "cool kids", most likely a cheerleader or the high school quarterback. All of these are such caricatures of the word that it is almost laughable. True, though, here, that type of cool or even people who would be outrightly considered the "popular" kid isn't that prevalent; it almost makes me wonder where the movies get that from. Perhaps a time when that was more common, or maybe it is common in the suburban high schools they're set in (just a guess since I don't know firsthand). Nevertheless, cool is something kids wanted to be, when it was actually cool to be cool.

We use that word alot. So what isn't cool? Its not cool to try too hard. Its not cool to try to be cool, it contradicts with the meaning and its obvious, and thus you are labeled "wannabe". To be honest, the kids I have met, don't really seem to aspire to that in the "lets be popular" way. That's just not how our social structure is like here. I think its defined more subtly than the glaringly obvious way books or television series depicts. When we think someone is cool, that feeling stems from a place of admiration and respect. Its not always pure, sometimes its a feeling tinged by jealousy. But basically, we admire something about someone and we think that is cool.

There are the cool instances, when someone does something that we think is cool, whether that is playing well in a sport or standing up for themselves, it comes from their actions in a circumstance and we associate that feeling with them. Then there are the generally cool people, who have a type of personality we think is appealing. These personality types can range from the bold do-first-think-later to the calm with emotions-in-check type. Sometimes in these instances we admire them and think they're cool because they have a quality we think we lack and we try to emulate them. I think that's pretty common, when we admire someone we try to emulate them. It doesn't always work because sometimes it will clash with our own personality, but that just shows you shouldn't totally copy, you can copy a little bit, but more create yourself, you have to make it your way.

Jackie Chan said something like that. (He is cool and wise!) I think he's cool because he's got a good philosophy and I admire the way he approaches things. He puts effort into his work and makes sure it is done well. He has a good work ethic. He has a sense of humour and values authenticity and will act even if he's afraid. Like instead of doing CGI, he actually set a building on fire and just started running once it started falling down. I admire that he can do something (his stunts) and do it well. Those qualities make him cool to me. People like that, I think are cool. People who aren't afraid of being authentic, and the things they are afraid of, won't let it hold them back. Those are traits I think are cool. His stunts are all real too, which is hard to grasp when I see him jumping off the roof of a ten story building onto the rope of a helicopter.

I don't think of myself as cool. I probably wouldn't be the first thing that comes to mind when people are thinking of cool either. I don't seem to fit into the that prototype. I'm too dorky and gluttonous for that. But that's fine. I think I'm just me and I'm "cool" with that.

Look I just used a pun!... which is exactly why...

(I infringe upon you one more Jackie Chan pic...I just finished watching a documentary on his stunts...and I can't delete the pic...No really. I can't delete it.)

HW 21- Art Project 1

2009-11-15T12:58:00.001-08:00

I think my art is a mirror. I wrote the quote because we're living in a world where everything has been digitalized and its sometimes easy to forget ourselves and that we're not digital beings and the technology we have been using ends up using us. We stay up late because we have alot ot work on, like technologyThat along with the media and all the messages sent with it gives us all of these roles that we are expected to fulfill. Like from the television we get that we should be young and pretty and that we should be outgoing. I think with western culture's media in particular values the trait of outgoingness. So if you are not naturally outgoing you should make yourself outgoing. So I guess with all these things we're supposed to be, its easy to forget who we are when all the time we're following all these inlaid rules. Even though there are two people in the picture, the "us" in the quote is all of us. The message is to find a place for us on our own terms, not ones laid out for us by other people or things. So I think its a mirror because it reflects that, the way we're all trying to sort through this technology and our way of life and find a place that we belong.

I think the most interesting aspect of making this is what I was thinking of while making it. It was Gestalt's Prayer, and even though its a prayer its not religious but it has that aspect of being like one in that its projects something we want out into the world.

It goes like this;

"I do my thing and you do your thing.
I am not in this world to live up to your expectations
and you are not in this world to live up to mine.

You are you and I am I.
And if by chance we find each other, then that is beautiful.
And if not, then it can't be helped."

I liked this because sometimes we're always trying to measure up to someone else. Someone who we think is great. But we are great in our own right and so the "You are you and I am I" makes sense to me because we aren't them, we are who we are and that is beautiful. So when I drew the drawing I thought doing your own thing and finding your own way of life, that too, is beautiful.

I think that probably counts as what doing this project made me feel and think. Other interesting tidbits, or maybe not so interesting tidbits, is all the changes this picture went through. I fixed this picture up, or at least tried to, alot of times. When it started out it was just going to be two people behind a text of letters, and then I changed it to two people in some place that was natural and simple and not so complicated, then I cut it out and drew in a background and a quote I wanted it to say. Then I scanned it and rescanned because I didn't like how it came out so I added some more things in. The scanner made the picture lose some of its color so its not exactly how it looks in real life but its similar. I tried photoshop because I thought the colors would be better that way but I didn't have the first clue about it and it took me a while for that to finally get that through my head, so I stuck to color pencils afterwards. Then I decided to color in the quote yellow so it'd stand out. It was a really long process for such a simple drawing. But I liked it so I didn't mind as much I guess. I think I just went on about the troubleshooting. That's behind the scenes for you. Well, I always think its kind of interesting to find out about that stuff. On dvds I always watch the behind the scenes and producer commentary if they have it. So I thought maybe this would be something interesting to include...I don't know if people will agree or not, but here it is anyways.

~End~

300,000 birds

2009-11-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Its a bird! It's a cloud! Its a bird cloud

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81wFZavdhPU&feature=related

Hw 14- Everything Bad is Good For You

2009-11-09T13:29:00.000-08:00

In "Everything Bad is Good For You", Steven Johnson talks about different aspects in technology that makes everyone smarter. He does this through analyzing things like tv and video games and the postive effects it may have on us.

In the chapter on video games, Steven Johnson talks about how it is not the content of the games that makes us smarter but the thought processes that the player goes through when playing the game. It teaches the player to analyze all the possibilites, make snap decisions, and strategize. Johnson calls this probing and scoping. Probing, exploring the game and find its limitations and using that and scoping, focusing on immediate problems while still maintaining a long term view. He argues this type of mental thought process can be applied in real life situations. Video games are designed to spike our dopaimine levels so we enjoy playing it and we learn these ways of thinking unintentionally as a result. He calls this the sleeper curve.

On Televison, Johnson says that it engages our brain in different things as well. It is more passive but He argues that since its invention, television shows have become more complex. Previously, things were spelled out for the viewer but it has come to a point where shows intentionally obscures so the viewers will infer for themselves. It makes viewers keep track of complex relationships which will engage the long term memory. But watching televsion has secondary affect. Watching actors go through a series of emotions, we learn to pick up emotional cues from their faces. In that way it would raise our emotional intelligence.

I thought the video games argument was interesting. Games are not much different from puzzles, you need to solve something. Instead of seeing what edge fits you encounter changing situations and have to make to make the "piece" was the right choice in order to go on to the next level. If puzzles are supposedly good for us, then video games should be as well, they both require us to use a mental function and they both are rewarding to us when we win. I thought it was interesting for him to say television is good for our memory because nowadays people don't have the extensive memory people as compared to people in history and this is because of technology. We no longer need to remember because we can write things down as notes. No one can recite the Oddesey from memory and that's because we can read it. So there's a mixed reaction on that. Remembering certain parts of a show does require the use of memory but that doesn't mean our memory is better than before. As for emotional intelligence, I think this can be true, because even though the actor is acting, they are portraying a feeling. That feeling has to arise from somewhere. I think we begin to recognize if its true or not. I bet we have had moments where we thought the acting for a show was horrible and that was because we could tell they were acting. The emotions were not realistic to us.

The most obvious way that EGIB4U and Feed contradicts each other is that one is saying Techonology is making us dumber, while the other argues that it is actually making us smarter. Feed does this by showing how the people in that society act, and is highlighted by Violet saying "We are raising a Nation of idiots". EGIB4U does so by analyzing what mental processes it might stimulate. But I think what they are analyzing is different. Feed is mainly analyzing the affects of technology and advertisement on people as consumers. But EGIB4U is focusing more on technology's direct affects on the brain, what skills people can gain from it. Feed is about the corporational use of technology, and the wayauthor of EBIG4U doesn't contradict Feed is that by citing all the positive effects of video games and television, he is promoting the products, which in turn promotes the advertisement that goes along with it. These books are about different things but have the same topic. They both offer different points of view and we can take different things away from both.

Hw 13- Feed B

2009-11-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

In Feed, Tobin's uses Allegory is try and reveal a more indiscreet side to technology. How overuse and consumption can affect the world. It's a mirror, reflecting the part of society that is so induced by a technological advancement. The people are consuming and being consumed. Feed "emphasizes the problem but doesn't offer a solution". Doing so makes the reader think, rather than proposing a solution, we have to find that out for ourselves. That's just as well, because much too often, we wait for the answer instead of searching for it on our own. Maybe that's the reason he left it as he did, so we would acknowledge the problem instead of ignoring it like we usually do. Maybe he did it so we would think about it and maybe even care. Maybe he didn't know the solution. Or maybe its e) all of the above.

In this aspect I think Feed, is a hammer as well. However deeply it affects you is, however deep an influence it'll have on you. If it has the ability to get someone to change their perspective or point of view than it has the quality of being a hammer. That is the quality in art that can be a hammer as well. I think all art aspires to be the hammer, to be able to affect someone and deeply move them. So I guess I'd like for my art to be a hammer. If you can change the anyone in some way, then that is the hammer you'd wield. That influence is power, and "with great power comes great responsibility" (Spiderman).

I think his book speaks to both adult and teenage readers. Even though its a Young Adult genre, adults could read it as well. Though its for teens its probably more geared towards the older teen. I read this book when I was younger, and I got the plot and the story, but I didn't fully appreciate it. I didn't understand many aspects and nuances to the book. I think at that point of your life you aren't supposed to. Its like when we read books, sometimes we get something different things reading the same book at a later point of our lives. That's because we're different people at that point of our lives. We're the same person, but not exactly the same as we used to be. Our experiences change us and affect how we'll read a book. I think that's why this is true. I think I understand the book a bit more now, than I had when I read it a few years ago.

HW 12- Feed A

2009-11-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

I think Feed is a reflection of our society. As an allegory of modern teenage life many points it is on target, like the relationships dynamics and the want of fitting in and getting along with others. That aspect of it rings true. Like when Titus is with his friends and with Violet, Violet is kind of rejected by them and hurt because of her differences and Titus just wants her to fit in. He wants her to get along with her friends but at the same time resents her for being different. In general many teenagers want to fit in to their group. The use of slang is also realistic too, like "null" or "unit". Kids today do the same things. They've always had. We say things like "cool" or "what's up". Though in the past it may have been "gee golly" or "groovy".

Other aspects of the lifestyle like the extent the technology is used is exaggerated at times. Since in the Feed, that is all their lives revolve around because they are never able to shut it off, not even in their dreams. For us, we can shut it off, and take a break from it. We can never go completely without it, unless by some drastic change forces use to, but we can pause and walk away just for a bit. We can go have a picnic at the park, run around, play, go to the pool. There's both aspects of it, times when we can't avoid it and times when we can.

Some tragic parts, is that like the "veal farms" in Feed, technology replaces things. To have technological advancement means something must be given up, whether that is tradition or some aspect of your culture, something has to be changed to make a place for technology. Right now, its not really in my own life, but in China, many pavilions and traditional houses with outdoor gardens are being torn down to make way for huge concrete buildings. Those buildings represent thousands of years of culture and the thought of them being replaced so easily and thoughtlessly saddens me. That and the fact that no one seems to mind either because China is so eager to "catch up" with the rest of the world. It is something we'll never get back, with technology, it is all about the need to be "current" and in such a world, where is the place for "history"? Does the modernness that technology brings have room for that? Is it possible for the two to co-exist? I hope so.

Final Draft

2009-11-08T13:27:00.001-08:00

Introduction
When we think of a modern society, we think of one involving technology. We think of one with machinery and computers. Technology has permeated our lives in such a way that it is entrenched in everything we do. Our overuse of digital devices persists in our culture because many, if not all, aspects of our lives become dependent on it, socially, economically, as well as personally.

Social Dependence
Finding friends, classmates, dates? No problem. There's a site for that. From social groups to online dating, people have turned to the Internet to connect. Sites such as Facebook and Match.com fills this quota in a simple and convenient way. With a click of a button you are "connected". There are more than 300 million active users on Facebook. 50% of these active users will log on to Facebook on any given day. The fastest growing demographic are those 35 years old and older (Facebook). This means even the older generation is getting in on this. This has changed the face of social networking in many ways.

"Technology, especially cellphone and texting technology, dissolves obstacles. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments." (Brooks).

The social etiquette of the past, has slowly been erroded by this form of technology. Everything is instantaneous and very informal. Its simple to post on someones wall and its an extension of the cell phone and e-mail. We still have that. When people are too far to see face to face, they supplement the relationship by talking on the phone or e-mailing until its possible to see each other in person. Until then, the phone, and words in the mail, will be your contact. In today's world that is common. Technology is made available in all forms of communication, from talking on the phone, to sending a message online and people have become reliant on technology as a way of social contact.

That's for the people you know. For romantic relationships sites like Match.com or Chemistry.com have become the modern matchmakers. It opens people to meet people they might otherwise have not met. It's their device to romance. Of course, people actually have to meet up in person. The downside to this is that people often can and will present themselves in way that is not completely accurate to who they are. Either by editing out things that might be a turn off to a potential mate or filtering e-mail responses to be a certain way. "Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments".The world of Internet dating is not always truthful. Of course, who in real life ever is? In some ways that is representational of the actual world, presenting a persona that you want to represent yourself. In the digital medium it just makes it easier to do so. As a new medium for setting up meet-ups, people are liable to using these match-making sites as a main place to look for romantic partners.

Historical Connections-(How widespread use of Technology came to be)
As Post World War I America grew in prosperity Americans earned higher salaries, worked shorter hours, and invested in the stock market and they began to shift their focus to leisure time activities. This was called the Jazz age, a time when wealth seemed limitless and everyone thought things were going to be like this for a long time. Since the 1920s, a nation of consumerism was borne(Shultz). "American society became increasingly standardized as automobiles, electric appliances and mass entertainment became available to ordinary" citizens (Filip). With the rise of consumerism, the industrial revolution provided technology that could be incorporated in the lives of the masses (Filip). The Henry Ford assembly line method made the widespread consumption and use of technology not only possible but affordable in the lives of everyday Americans.

Economical Dependence
Today our consumerist culture is aided by this technology. Using the technology that is available companies are able to reach a wide demographic. In Feed, Violet says "They're also waiting to make you want things. " (97). She is talking about the corporations and in our society corporations do the same things. Their goal is to make us, the consumers, want things, to need things and if they've done that they've done their job. They do this by putting advertisements in places where we can see it (Andy). When we watch TV or use the Internet there's always an ad lurking nearby. When we're walking down the street, there are billboards on buildings to displaying the latest product or a brand. What they want is for one of those ads to appeal to us and have us purchase their product. To get the product out there in front of the consumers, companies will run ads and those ads will be placed to hit their targeted demographic. For example ads from companies selling fitness gear are more often placed in fitness magazines and sugary cereals are placed on lower shelves where it is at a child's eye level. The economy is dependent on this cycle.

Personal Dependence
We use digital technology to keep us entertained and stimulate us. Things such as television, the Internet and video games distracts us from the dreaded boredom. Phrases like "I'm bored." often pass the lips of today's teen. Its funny, because when my mom sees me online she says that I am boring for being on there. But we use technology to keep us entertained and in many ways it is one of our main sources for our entertainment. Television, video games, and Internet keep us in a constant state of frenzy, going from one thing to the next. Sometimes the result of it is that we are overstimulated. Since the invention of electricity the hours that the average adult sleeps has dropped from 10 hours to 6.9 hours (NBC). Part of the reason why is because technology keeps people plugged in and the artificial lights disrupts their sleep cycles and their internal clocks. So instead of resetting like it normally would their times are scattered sporadically and they may not feel sleepy until much later. This is true for me. Sometimes I'll sleep later than I should and the only thing that's keeping me awake is the increased production of cortisol and adrenaline, pumping through my system (Breus). This rush of anxiety we sometimes mistake for energy that we'd get when we're sleep-deprived (Breus). Using this hormone rush to further stay awake makes me feel wired at first but I end up even more fatigued (Breus). Even with this result, technology is often the first thing we turn to when we have nothing to do because we can count on it to provide some form of stimulation.

Mental stimulation is not the only use of technology. Some forms of it encourage the lack thereof or as little as possible. Many people utilize tools like spell check as a replacement for proofreading. This along with our frequent usage of things like text messaging or messenger develops a familiarity in writing a certain way that involves technology. Its an impediment to our spelling and vocabulary. Online its faster to acronym and short spell words like "what" to "wat" or "I don't know" to "Idk" but as a result there are more moments where we get used to the misspelling and almost forget how to spell the actual word. But we think spell check will catch such instances. Our frequent usage has developed into a lazy comfort where we use technology as our crutch in dealing with things like writing.

Opposing Point of View
But some may say that we are not wholly dependent on technology and that it is possible to get on with our lives without it. For example, many developing countries like Africa or Asia are able to get by without technology. That's because in areas facing poverty, they can't afford technology, just having enough to eat on a daily basis is a greater problem than having a car or a computer. Technology is not necessary in their lives. Many people will walk or ride a bike instead of driving in a car. But even developing countries are trying to gain technology and though they have less of it, technology is becoming incorporated in their lives as well. One case being China, who's attempting to catch up to their predecessors, one way is through the growing use of technology, even in its rural areas. As a result for a growing amount of people in those areas technology is slowly taking over.

I find myself guilty of turning to technology for many of these things I mentioned. It is so ingrained in my way of life that it's hard not to. Technology is something that can be good or "evil" but something that it definitely is, is changing. The invention of technology has definitely changed many things; the pacing of our society, the way we interact, and our form of entertainment. But what does this say about the future if things continue along this path; would we soon find ourselves in the land of mechas--part human, part machine? Or in some way, has that already happened, and if so, was it worth it?

Works Cited
Anderson, M.T., Feed. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2002. Breus, Michael, Good Night,

Ehrenfeld, Temma. "Seven Facts About Body Rhythm." Newsweek (2008).Http://www.newsweek.com/id/144396. Newsweek, 2 July 2008. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.

Sleep Facts and Stats. Your Total Health. NBC, 2004. Web.

Filip, Lulia. "Rise of Consumerism and Mass Entertainment." History. Suite101, 3 July 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. http://modern-us-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_1920s_rise_of_consumerism_and_mass_culture.

Shultz, Stanley K. "The Politics of Prosperity: 1920s." Lecture. H102: Lecture 15. William T. Tishler, 1999. Web. 2009.

Facebook. RSS. Statistics. Statistics. Facebook, 2009. Web. 04 Nov. 2009.

Klemann, Jurgen. "Some Thoughts on Living in the Less Developed World." Emerging Markets. Escape Artist, 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2009.

HW 20- Big Paper Revised Draft

2009-11-05T20:40:00.000-08:00

When we think of a modern society, we think of one involving technology. We think of one with machinery and computers. Technology has permeated our lives in such a way that it is entrenched in everything we do. Our overuse of digital devices persists in our culture because many, if not all, aspects of our lives become dependent on it, socially, economically, as well as personally.

Social Dependence
Finding friends, classmates, dates? No problem. There's a site for that. From social groups to online dating, people have turned to the Internet to connect. Sites such as Facebook and Match.com fills this quota in a simple and convenient way. With a click of a button you are "connected". There are more than 300 million active users on Facebook. 50% of these active users will log on to Facebook on any given day. The fastest growing demographic are those 35 years old and older (Facebook). This means even the older generation is getting in on this. This has changed the face of social networking in many ways.

"Technology, especially cellphone and texting technology, dissolves obstacles. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments." (Brooks).

Its simple to post on someones wall and its an extension of the cell phone and e-mail. We still have that. When people are too far to see face to face, to supplement the relationship people can talk to them on the phone or e-mail until they can be able to see someone in person. Until then, the phone, and words in the mail, will be your contact. In today's world that is common. Technology is made available in all forms of communication, from talking on the phone, to sending a message online and people have become reliant on technology as a way of social contact.

That's for the people you know. For romantic relationships sites like Match.com or Chemistry.com have become the modern matchmakers. It opens people to meet people they might otherwise have not met. It's their device to romance. Of course, people actually have to meet up in person. The downside to this is that people often can and will present themselves in way that is not completely accurate to who they are. Either by editing out things that might be a turn off to a potential mate or filtering e-mail responses to be a certain way. Suitors now contact each other in an instantaneous, frictionless sphere separated from larger social institutions and commitments.The world of Internet dating is not always truthful. Of course, who in real life ever is? In some ways that is representational of the actual world, presenting a persona that you want to represent yourself. In the digital medium it just makes it easier to do so. As a new medium for setting up meet-ups, people are liable to using these match-making sites as a main place to look for romantic partners.

Economic Dependence & Connections
Since the 1920s the US has been a nation of consumerism (Shultz). As Post World War I America grew in prosperity Americans earned higher salaries, worked shorter hours, and invested in the stock market and they began to shift their focus to leisure time activities. "American society became increasingly standardized as automobiles, electric appliances and mass entertainment became available to ordinary" citizens (Filip). This was the beginning of the rise of consumerism and technology was now incorporated in the lives of the masses. (Filip).

Today our consumerist culture is aided by this technology. Using the technology that is available companies are able to reach a wide demographic. In Feed, Violet says "They're also waiting to make you want things. " (97). She is talking about the corporations and in our society corporations do the same things. Their goal is to make us, the consumers, want things, to need things and if they've done that they've done their job. They do this by putting advertisements in places where we can see it (Andy). When we watch TV or use the Internet there's always an ad lurking nearby. When we're walking down the street, there are billboards on buildings to displaying the latest product or a brand. What they want is for one of those ads to appeal to us and have us purchase their product. To get the product out there in front of the consumers, companies will run ads and those ads will be placed to hit their targeted demographic. For example ads from companies selling fitness gear are more often placed in fitness magazines and sugary cereals are placed on lower shelves where it is at a child's eye level. The economy is dependent on this cycle.

Personal Dependence
We use digital technology to keep us entertained and stimulate us. Things such as television, the Internet and video games distracts us from the dreaded boredom. Phrases like "I'm bored." often pass the lips of today's teen. Its funny, because when my mom sees me online she says that I am boring for being on there. But we use technology to keep us entertained and in many ways it is one of our main sources for our entertainment. Television, video games, and Internet keep us in a constant state of frenzy, going from one thing to the next. Sometimes the result of it is that we are overstimulated. Since the invention of electricity the hours that the average adult sleeps has dropped from 10 hours to 6.9 hours (NBC). Part of the reason why is because technology keeps people plugged in and the artificial lights disrupts their sleep cycles and their internal clocks. So instead of resetting like it normally would their times are scattered sporadically and they may not feel sleepy until much later. This is true for me. Sometimes I'll sleep later than I should and the only thing that's keeping me awake is the increased production of cortisol and adrenaline, pumping through my system (Breus). This rush of anxiety we sometimes mistake for energy that we'd get when we're sleep-deprived (Breus). Using this hormone rush to further stay awake makes me feel wired at first but I end up even more fatigued (Breus). Even with this result, technology is often the first thing we turn to when we have nothing to do because we can count on it to provide some form of stimulation.

Mental stimulation is not the only use of technology. Some forms of it encourage the lack thereof or as little as possible. Many people utilize tools like spell check as a replacement for proofreading. This along with our frequent usage of things like text messaging or messenger develops a familiarity in writing a certain way that involves technology. Its an impediment to our spelling and vocabulary. Online its faster to acronym and short spell words like "what" to "wat" or "I don't know" to "Idk" but as a result there are more moments where we get used to the misspelling and almost forget how to spell the actual word. But we think spell check will catch such instances. Our frequent usage has developed into a lazy comfort where we use technology as our crutch in dealing with things like writing.

Opposing Point of View
But some may say that we are not wholly dependent on technology and that it is possible to get on with our lives without it. For example, many developing countries like Africa or Asia are able to get by without technology. Part of the reason is poverty rates (Kleeman). It is simply not an option. They are able to make do without technology in their daily lives. That's because just having enough to eat on a daily basis is a greater problem than having a car or a computer. Technology is not necessary in their lives. Many people will walk or ride a bike instead of driving in a car. But even developing countries are trying to gain technology and though they have less of it, technology is becoming incorporated in their lives as well. One case being China, who's attempting to catch up to their predecessors, one way is through the growing use of technology, even in its rural areas. As a result for a growing amount of people in those areas technology is slowly taking over.

I find myself guilty of turning to technology for many of these things I mentioned. It is so ingrained in my way of life that it's hard not to. But what does this say about the future if things continue along this path; would we soon find ourselves in the land of mechas--part human, part machine? Or in some way, has that already happened, and if so, was it worth it?

Works Cited

Anderson, M.T., Feed. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2002. Breus, Michael, Good Night,

Ehrenfeld, Temma. "Seven Facts About Body Rhythm." Newsweek (2008).
Http://www.newsweek.com/id/144396. Newsweek, 2 July 2008. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.

Sleep Facts and Stats. Your Total Health. NBC, 2004. Web.

Shultz, Stanley K. "The Politics of Prosperity: 1920s." Lecture. H102: Lecture 15. William T. Tishler, 1999. Web. 2009.

Facebook. RSS. Statistics. Statistics. Facebook, 2009. Web. 04 Nov. 2009.

Klemann, Jurgen. "Some Thoughts on Living in the Less Developed World." Emerging Markets. Escape Artist, 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2009.

Comments- tri rough draft

2009-11-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

Charles

Your paper looks pretty good. Great intro, it introduces your topic in an engaging way. Your arguments include alot from class, like interviews and Feed, maybe add in a mix of some research articles too.

Proof read a little bit more, its easy to let grammar slip sometimes. Its just grammar, but it helps to get your paper in order. Like in the intro, "People want to find a way to do things with out have to work hard, and this is the problem we have now."

it would be **without having to work hard. after looking over it. I think usually when we write things our eyes can pass over things like that because our mind just fixes it with what we mean to say.

Add in an opposing view point, and for connections, you could add how you think it became this way, either from culture or politics, whatever lens you pick. Add significance if you didn't already as well. I liked that I could see how your outline fleshed out. Its pretty good. Looking forward to seeing what you add to it.

Jia min,

You have alot of arguments too, and the transitions between your paragraphs are great. I thought the signifance makes you think. I agreed with it. The evidence is well organized. Add a little more to the opposing point of view. What you have so far to rebute it is good.I would say add on to connections but you'll probably do that anyways. You have alot of interestin points. I'm interested in seeing how it'll look like when your done with all the editing.

Hw 18- Big Paper Rough Draft

2009-11-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

When we think of a modern society, we think of one involving technology. We think of one with machinery and computers. Our overuse of digital devices persists in cultures like our own because many if not all aspects of our lives become dependent on it, socially, economically, as well as personally. Technology has permeated our lives in such a way that it is entrenched in everything we do.

Social Dependence
Finding friends, classmates, dates? No problem. There's a site for that. From social groups to online dating, people have turned to the Internet to connect. Sites such as Facebook and Match.com fills this quota in a simple and convenient way. With a click of a button you are "connected". There are more than 300 million active users on Facebook. 50% of these active users will log on to Facebook on any given day. The fastest growing demographic are those 35 years old and older (Facebook). This means even the older generation is getting in on this. This has changed the face of social networking in many ways. Its simple to post on someones wall and its an extension of the cell phone and e-mail. We still have that. When people are too far to see face to face, to supplement the relationship people can talk to them on the phone or e-mail until they can be able to see someone in person. Until then, the phone, and words in the mail, will be your contact. In today's world that is common.

That's for the people you know. For romantic relationships sites like Match.com or Chemistry.com have become the modern matchmakers. It opens people to meet people they might otherwise have not met. It's their device to romance. Of course, people actually have meet up in person. The downside to this is that people often can and will present themselves in way that is not completely accurate to who they are. Either by editing out things that might be a turn off to a potential mate or filtering e-mail responses to be a certain way. The world of Internet dating is not always truthful. Of course, who in real life ever is? In some ways that is representational of the actual world, presenting a persona that you want to represent yourself. In the digital medium it just makes it easier to do so.

Many people utilize tools like spell check as a replacement for proofreading. This along with our frequent usage of things like text messaging or messenger is an impediment to our spelling and vocabulary. Online its faster to acronym and short spell words like "what" to "wat" or "I don't know" to "Idk" but as a result there are more moments where we get used to the misspelling and almost forget how to spell the actual word.

Since the 1920s the US has been a nation of consumerism (Shultz). As Post World War I America grew in prosperity Americans earned higher salaries, worked shorter hours, and invested in the stock market and they began to shift their focus to leisure time activities. American society became increasingly standardized as automobiles, electric appliances and mass entertainment became available to ordinary citizens (Filip). This was the beginning of the rise of consumerism and technology was now incorporated in the lives of the masses. (Filip). Our whole economic system is one based on the theory that a large consumpiton of goods is good for the economy(Shultz). Today our consumerist culture is aided by this technology. Using the technology that is available companies are able to reach a wide demographic. In Feed, Violet says "They're also waiting to make you want things. " (97). She is talking about the corporations and in our society corporations do the same things. Their goal is to make us, the consumers, want things, to need things and if they've done that they've done their job. They do this by putting advertisements in places where we can see it (Andy). When we watch TV or use the Internet there's always an ad lurking nearby. When we're walking down the street, there are billboards on buildings to displaying the latest product or a brand. What they want is for one of those ads to appeal to us and have us purchase their product. To get the product out there in front of the consumers, companies will run ads and those ads will be placed to hit their targeted demographic. For example ads from companies selling fitness gear are more often placed in fitness magazines and sugary cereals are placed on lower shelves where it is at a child's eye level. The economy is dependent on this cycle.

Personal Dependence
We use digital technology to keep us entertained and stimulate us. Things such as television, the Internet and video games distracts us from the dreaded boredom. Phrases like "I'm bored." often pass the lips of today's teen. Its funny, because when my mom sees me online she says that I am boring for being on there. But we use technology to keep us entertained and in many ways it is one of our main sources for our entertainment. Television, video games, and Internet keep us in a constant state of frenzy, going from one thing to the next. Sometimes the result of it is that we are overstimulated.

Since the invention of electricity the hours that the average adult sleeps has dropped from 10 hours to 6.9 hours (NBC). Part of the reason why is because technology keeps people plugged in and the artificial lights disrupts their sleep cycles and their internal clocks. So instead of resetting like it normally would their times are scattered sporadically and they may not feel sleepy until much later. This is true for me. Sometimes I'll sleep later than I should and the only thing that's keeping me awake is the increased production of cortisol and adrenaline, pumping through my system (Breus). This rush of anxiety we sometimes mistake for energy that we'd get when we're sleep-deprived (Breus). Using this hormone rush to further stay awake makes me feel wired at first but I end up even more fatigued (Breus).

But some may say that we are not wholly dependent on technology and that it is possible to get on with our lives without it. For example, many developing countries like Africa or Asia are able to get by without technology. Part of the reason is poverty rates (Kleeman). It is simply not an option. They are able to make do without technology in their daily lives. That's because just having enough to eat on a daily basis is a greater problem than having a car or a computer. Technology is not necessary in their lives. Many people will walk or ride a bike instead of driving in a car. But even developing countries are trying to gain technology and though they have less of it, technology is becoming incorporated in their lives as well. One case being China, who's attempting to catch up to their predecessors, one way is through the growing use of technology, even in its rural areas. As a result for a growing amount of people in those areas technology is slowly taking over.

I find myself guilty of turning to technology for many of these things I mentioned. It is so ingrained in my way of life that it's hard not to. But what does this say about the future if things continue along this path; would we soon find ourselves in the land of mechas--part human, part machine? Or in some way, has that already happened, and if so, was it worth it?

Works Cited

Anderson, M.T., Feed. Somerville: Candlewick Press, 2002.

Breus, Michael, Good Night,

Ehrenfeld, Temma. "Seven Facts About Body Rhythm." Newsweek (2008).

Http://www.newsweek.com/id/144396. Newsweek, 2 July 2008. Web. 4 Nov. 2009.

Sleep Facts and Stats. Your Total Health. NBC, 2004. Web. .

Filip, Lulia. "Rise of Consumerism and Mass Entertainment." History. Suite101, 3 July 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2009. http://modern-us-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_1920s_rise_of_consumerism_and_mass_culture.

Shultz, Stanley K. "The Politics of Prosperity: 1920s." Lecture. H102: Lecture 15. William T. Tishler, 1999. Web. 2009.

Facebook. RSS. Statistics. Statistics. Facebook, 2009. Web. 04 Nov. 2009.

Klemann, Jurgen. "Some Thoughts on Living in the Less Developed World." Emerging Markets. Escape Artist, 05 Nov. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2009.

HW 17- Supportive Comments on Blogs

2009-11-02T22:22:00.000-08:00

Kate

Hi Kate,

I liked the metaphor with the strings to show how people are so connected with the digital products that they use.

Wall-e and Feed connected well with how the technology we use affects us. For the opposing viewpoint, what maggie suggests could work. Part of your argument is that its fake, so some parts of it could be real... Is it possible to have a real "moment" chatting online? What makes it fake the fact that it is not seen in nature but produced by humans? Just a suggestion if you decide to explore that kind of opposing view point.

I didn't know that about the updated Oxford dictionary. That was an interesting tidbit to include. You can relate that to our own vocabulary and see if you notice yourself using more words relating to technology or nature.

For your sixth paragraph you said, even though Violet was chained down with digitization she was able to loosen those ties, you can give an example of what ways she did that and whether or not people can do that today.

The job point was good, since most of the time, having technology is basically a requirement for a job, even in school. Look at what we're using to write our essays on. That really shows how entangled it has become with our lives.

In general spell check some words, but great start. There's alot of info and I think it can be edited down to be more concise.

Jia Min

Helloo Jia min,

I liked how you cited Feed and Wall-e to back up your statements. The specific examples are good, like when comparing the slang to the shorted words that are used in aim or talked about how your mom examines the fruits and vegetables before buying it(my mom does the same thing...she smacks the watermelons though -.-'').

In general, relate back to your thesis to say how it shows we are losing our traditionalism like why/how is "looking at the things other people have experienced and put it as one of our experiences and knowledge" different from how it was done previously. You do a good job of showing how efficiency is winning out but show what traditionalism is losing or being replaced also.

For the opposing point of view you can use EBIG4Y to cite how it makes you smarter.

The thesis is good, but could be edited to be more clearer. (I know mine does too....=.='') "Digital representative devices are losing the traditionalism that we have and brainwashing us with the word "efficiency"". Are the devices losing traditionalism? Clearly indicate what/whom the traditionalism applies to.

This is a good start, you have specific examples and cite them as well. Countine adding examples if needed. Looking forward to see how you'll continue it ^^

HW 16- Big Paper Outline

2009-10-31T18:31:00.000-07:00

Thesis- Our overuse of digital devices persists in cultures like our own because many if not all aspects of our lives have become dependant on it, from social use, economical, as well as use as mental stimulation.

Argument 1- how people have become dependant on it socially.

Finding friends, classmates, dates? No problem. There's a site for that. From social groups to online dating, people have turned to the Internet to connect. Sites such as Facebook and Match.com fills this quota in a simple and convenient way. With a click of a button you are "connected". There are more than 300 million active users on Facebook. 50% of these active users will log on to Facebook on any given day. The fastest growing demographic are those 35 years old and older (Facebook). This means even the older generation is getting in on this. This has changed the face of social networking in many ways. Its simple to post on someone's wall and its an extension of the cell phone and e-mail. We still have that. When people are too far to see face to face, to supplement the relationship people can talk to them on the phone or e-mail until they can be able to see someone in person. Until then, the phone, and words in the mail, will be your contact. In today's world that is common.

That's for the people you know. For romantic relationships sites like Match.com or Chemistry.com have become the modern matchmakers. It opens people to meet people they might otherwise have not met. It's their device to romance. Of course, people actually have meet in person. The downside to this is that people often can and will present themselves in way that is not completely accurate to who they are. Either by editing out things that might be a turn off to a potential mate or filtering e-mail responses to be a certain way. The world of internet dating is not always truthful. Of course, who in real life ever is? In some ways that is representational of the actual world, presenting a personal that you want to represent yourself. In the digital medium it just makes it easier to do so.

Argument 2- How people have become economically
Digital technology has even influenced our work ethics. Many people utilize tools like spell check as a replacement for proofreading. As a result of our frequent usage of things like text messaging or messenger, people get used to writing a certain way. Its an impediment to our spelling and vocabulary. Its faster to acronym and short spell words like "what" to "wat" or "I don't know" to "Idk" but as a result there are more moments where we get used to the misspelling and almost forget how the actual word.

Our whole economic system is digitized. The stock market is monitored by a ticker that updates people every few seconds on the change in stock value.

Argument 3- We have become mentally dependent on technology to stimulate us.

We use digital technology to keep us entertained and to stimulate us. Things such as television, the internet and video games distracts us from the dreaded boredom. Phrases like "I'm bored." often pass the lips of today's teen. Its funny, because when my mom sees me online she says that I am boring for being on there. But we use technology to keep us entertained and in many ways it is one of our main sources for our entertainment. Television, video games, and internet keep us in a constant state of frenzy, because we never. Sometimes the result of it is that we are overstimulated. Since the invention of electricity the hours that the average adult sleeps has dropped from 9 hours to 6.9 hours. Part of the reason why is because of technology people and they constantly plugged in and the artificial lights are kept on even when they should be asleep. Light communicates with our immune system and metabolic energy system and having it on after ours the light-and-dark cycles are interrupted. Another reason is that since technology has reigned the working people are able to work even after hours through things like.

Argument 1 people have become dependant on it socially.
-Online Chatting (Sources Feed)
-Online Dating-Match.com/eHarmony etc (NYTs)

Argument 2 How the economy is dependent on technology
-capitalism/consumerism/advertisements
-Stockmarkets

Argument 3 people are dependent mentally

-Spell Check

-Video games, Television, and internet

Hw 15-Treasure Hunting

2009-10-26T08:18:00.000-07:00

Jia Min,

I thought your post brought up a lot of great points. Like when you were comparing the books and was talking about how the Feed was doing the work for the kids and them expecting the feed to give them an answer and also related back to the Everything Bad is Good For You by saying how you’re using the net to connect and share your thoughts by writing this blog post. The last few sentences also brought up interesting questions to think about.

I think your main point was mostly about what the books where about and you touched on how these things related to your life. I thought you were trying to explore these topics because there were aspects of it you agreed with or disagreed and you didn’t know which side to be on because of it. I think they were both right, funnily enough.

I thought you could have add in your own experience with gaming since it relates to Johnson’s idea and adding can connect to it some more. But overall I thought your post was a good reaed.

Your post has also made me think about what other points there might be in this digital technology use and whether there was any middle ground in this or was it “good” like Everything Bad for you is Good seems to be saying or “bad” like Feed seems to say.

It was great reading your post. You brought up many interesting points. :)

Hi Na,

Your summaries of the book was really good, it talked about what the author said in a very succint way and people reading it could get what the chapters were about. All your paragraphs are really readable. I liked how you also added personal anecdotes and feelings when you are talking about the book, like when you are talking about gaming and the way it makes you feel.

When you said there are loopholes in everything, I agree and it’s in our nature to try to discover them. That’s why lawyers are able to manipulate the law the way they do and politicians. Maybe that’s what people are trying to do when playing a game, to see if an “impossible” situation has a loophole. The participatory nature of video games do make it more exciting and is what keeps us interested as well as the problems that crop up in the game. I find to some extent we do want to be challenged and want things that are harder to come by, like the way leveling works in virtual games, it gets harder to level each time you increase your level and that presents a challenge that is appealing, and even though people may complain about it, the feeling they get when they finally do level is greater than if it was that easy to level every time.

You said a lot of great reactions about your experiences in video games and television, you could develop what perspectives you find useful and what perspectives are not as useful and why. Haha, I found your comment a bit dramatic, to do away with reading altogether since reading has its own virtues as well.

Overall I thought this was very good and had a lot of good points like the way people might experience and learn from using technology. Great post :D

Hw 10- Internet Research

2009-10-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

Internet Usage Statistics
http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Asia has the largest users of the Internet in terms of number of people who uses it(3,808,070,503); but in terms of ratio of internet users to the population it is only 18.5%, lowest to Africa who's number is 6.7 %. Its interesting to note that North America who has a significantly smaller amount of people (340,831,831), the Internet has been taken to up to 73.9% of the people. It has the largest ratio of people who uses the internet. Being a person who lives in North America, the numbers are not surprising since Internet usage as it is integral and widespread in people's daily lives, but in comparison to some other countries it is very heavy on the Internet usage.

It seems as if countries that are considered "developed" like North America have the highest usage. While places that are considered less developed like Africa, has the lowest internet usage. In Asia, considered a developing country, their usage of the internet has increased by 516.1 %. It seems like the more technological, and "developed" a country becomes, the more they increase their use the internet. The longer they have been "developed" the more utilized the Internet becomes as well.

How does text affect student's grammar?

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080120212338AARFQi0
I think when students text alot we can get used to using text lingo. Oftentimes we use shorthand and lose grammar and punctuation in favor of brevity. Words like "what" become "wat" and "you" becomes "u" and there's also chat lingo like "ttyl" (talk to you later) or "cya" (see ya). But how does that affect student's writing skills? Does it have any affect?

I caught myself writing "wat" instead of "what" a few times when I was writing an essay or taking notes and it seems likely that it has happened to other people as well. Its convenient and used often enough that you slip and one girl on yahoo messenger answers attested to doing the same. I think because of this students can get lazy with grammar or punctuation. There's also something called spell check to fix it for them if they're writing an essay and it makes it easy to get lax on paying attention to things like that.

Moehizzy: "i was typing in chat lingo as its known on my college essays. the transition of typing is hard. i have to go thru spell check so many times and sometimes i still overlook it."

I think once you realize it or catch it, you can correct it, but you have to get used to it.

How does TV affect the developing brain?
http://www.brainy-child.com/article/tvonbrain.html
The article basically correlates short attention span and attention deficit disorder with high levels of television viewing. It says at an early age babies should be doing more hands on things like exploring the three dimensional world and learning about social relationships rather than watching TV. This is because some of the features of children’s programming like “rapid zooms and pans, flashes of color, quick movement in the peripheral visual field, sudden loud noises” that are intended to grab the views attention were modeled after advertising research, which determined that this technique was the best way to engage the brain's attention involuntarily. According to the article, “Such experiences deprive the child of practice in using his own brain independently, as in games, hobbies, social interaction, or just "fussing around." A young brain manipulated by jazzy visual effects cannot divide attention to listen carefully to language. Moreover, the "two-minute mind" easily becomes impatient with any material requiring depth of processing.”

That’s interesting since it seems like kids today have a shorter attention span and this might be a contributing factor for it.

"I have talked to many parents of children diagnosed with attention deficit disorder who found the difficulty markedly improved after they took away television viewing privileges." (Healy)

Is that a coincidence? I think there should be studies on this.

update: there are studies http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=ADHD%20Toddlers
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-04-05-tv-bottomstrip_x.htm

Hw 9- Video Project GHIJK

2009-10-02T15:15:00.000-07:00

Hi Kate,

Thanks for the comments. It was very helpful. You were definitely right about the part where you said I should show the actual technology I was interacting with. I thought the same thing when I finished uploading. I was focused on the reaction, bIt would show more that way in terms of showing someone interacting with it instead of just the reaction when interacting with it.

I'm glad you could relate to the uploading process, it took me hours too. It was like yay, someone gets it after reading your comment about it because it seemed like everyone else got it and knew what to do. So I really enjoyed your reaction to it, when you said "but here we are two kids unable to do a simple upload" because I do feel like its kind of expected of us to know how to work things like that.

We both seem to realize that its not entirely possible to cut out digital devices in our lives (not forever at least) and nor would we want to considering that it has its uses in todays world, but are there ever instances where its shouldn't be used? Or is that relative again? So is the question end up being how we use it?

Hi Charles,

Thanks for your comments, it had a very warm and enthusiastic tone, kudos. Yes, the computer screen was just THAT interesting lol. Actually in this video at least, I was busy staring at the time for part of the video because I didn't want to go over the time, but it happened anyways. So in a sense I was concentrated on the computer but not completely. There are plenty of other times where it happens though, like when I are playing a game, chatting, watching a video or reading something that interests me online.

I wonder how this affects the way we think, having all this digital technology. I mean alot of people can become very engrossed by it and how does this affect us in the "real" world. Some people say that it makes us more impatient since things aren't as fast as it does digitally. Where you click and get whatever it is that you want. Does that mean that using digital things alters the way things are wired in our brain? It might considering that when we do things over and over it reinforces the neural pathways created from doing a repeated action. So I was wondering how that is accounted for with our (over?)usage of digital devices.

HW8- Video Project Comment

2009-10-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

Hey Charles,

It was interesting to see all the electronics you were using at once. I thought it was really funny, you're reaction to seeing yourself in the video because I think alot of people react that way and the other half are used to it. I think you probably do see yourself in third person point of view in pictures, but its different on video because you can see certain nuances in how you move that pictures don't capture.

Its interesting that you say you're hooked on all these things and you seem to be really into it. If you don't want your kids to be doing the same thing you are, would you cut back on it on your own time? Because I think kids are really influenced by the people around them and they just take it in. They learn from you and so if you use it alot they'll probably think its normal.

Your video was pretty cool and it seemed like something you would be doing normally, so it was realistic. I like that about it and you were eating while doing all that and food is always a plus.

Hey Kate,

It was interesting to see you watching tv with your cat, it was so normal and real. You seem very focused on the TV but not completely because you had your cat there. I agree that usually when we are on the computer we do not want to be disturbed or interrupted. I think its probably easier for pets to snuggle up or interrupt their owners when its something like tv, because more than one person can watch it at a time, while on the computer its just you. I wonder what pets think when they see their owner watching tv or playing computer. Its interesting that people pet their pets absentmindedly when they're doing something like watching tv.

When you were talking about the wii since I was thinking about my mom when she uses wii fit and I think its kind of funny watching her play it, because when she is running or jogging she's pumping her arms wildly and yells at the wii characters that are ahead of her. So, I agree, its pretty active in comparison to video games that only use controllers.

I liked the video cause it showed how people really interacted with a digital device in their daily lives.

Hw 6- Video Project

2009-09-27T17:35:00.000-07:00

When I watched this video, I thought it was weird to see myself on a video. I'm in my at home clothes and had bed head. My mom's talking in the background. I was checking my mail, chatting, doing hw on the computer and eating pizza. I get a bit self conscious when I'm aware of being filmed but I acted as I normally do. I think you're more self aware when you're watching yourself on video. I was going to play music but I wasn't sure if that was background music so I didn't. My eyes are half closed because my laptop's on the floor and I managed to sneeze twice during this video. At the end of it I say 2:40 because I realized I went over time (I wasn't looking at the camera). It took me a long time to upload the video because I've never done it before. It was an arduous process and I'm feeling computer illiterate. I realize it was actually simple and I'm feeling illiterate once more and a deep kinship with middle aged people who are still somewhat new to this.

I learned something new from this. Uploading is simpler than you think and you don't need to convert your video in mp3 format, which for some reason, I was convinced I had to do. Would I want my little brother or future child(?) to spend alot of time doing this? No, I wouldn't want them to spend too much time on it. I rather they play in real life. For practical reasons- exercise, mental well being, human contact. I start getting fidgety myself when I spend too much time on the computer. The state of inertia is just too much for me. I don't like sitting in one place for a long stretch of time; which I do when I'm on the computer. But I wouldn't take it away completely either because its also practical to learn how to use it. Its not one extreme or the other but somewhere in the middle. I'd let them play with it but not too much and try to encourage them to develop more interests outside of the computer.

I think the difference between interacting with a digital device and being on a digital device is that, interacting is what you are presently doing and being on it, is the recording of what you were doing. The recording only has one angle when recording what you're doing (unless you move it around) and in real life there is a bunch of different views. Its weird watching myself though. But I think everyone's a bit more aware when its themselves and watches it more carefully.

Here's the link to it on Vimeo (I still have to learn how to imbed..I promise after I pester a few people on how to do it, I'll have it up)

update: Oh my, you just paste it on the blog. I finally figured it out. Thanks Na <3

Me playing on the computer from Yu Liu on Vimeo

Hw7- Interviews and Surveys

2009-09-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

Family Member & Best Friend- Interview/Survey

Best Friend
What is are your thoughts on digitization? they make life more convenient because without digital technology you can't take photos

Why do you think you think that? because I'm so used to having technology around me

In class we were talking about how in Roman times, the poor was given free bread and a circus do you think that digital technology is our circus and it keeps us from rebelling against our society? NO, I think the technology doesn't keep us from rebelling, we're more in touch with the rest of the world and if anything we might be more prone to because we know more.

Can you give me an example?
The invention printing press, we can form our own opinions about how the world around us operates, whether it is doing well or not. Like the "The American Revolution" people were kept updated with the newspapers.

Me: Like, there are more women's rights movements called Women Thrive and they focus on changing U.S. policy, rather than directly giveing money to women in need and they are able to spread the message through sources such as the internet or news articles . Many charities or groups learn about causes through this information, which we would never have otherwise.

Do you think that the newspaper articles causes us to take in their opinions instead of forming our own? Sometimes. The way its presented makes you more liable to take on their opinions.

Have you ever pretended to be someone else online? No

What do you think do you think about child predators who use the Internet to prey on children? It makes it easier for them to pretend to be someone else. But it also makes it easier for us to keep track of them, since there's a website called watchdog.com that lists the names of child predators and the areas they are in.

Cousin
What are your thoughts on digitization? What?

Like the internet or the TV. When I think of the internet I think its a useful tool because its a network of networks that contains different sources including different newspapers

*explains about free bread and circus* Do you think digital technology is our circus? umm.. no I would say no b/c its too expensive to link every american w/ free internet

--well not the free part, the part of entertainment? Yes I think people would rather dream of the possibility of being rich than face the reality of being poor.

Do you think you'd be able to survive without technology? yes but I would not enjoy it.

Why not? b/c i think it would be hard due to the strain of exercising

Do you think the internet pervents you from enjoying things like going outside, to the park, enjoying the sunset? I don't think enjoy is the word...more like forced

What do you do for fun? I read books

Have you ever pretended to be someone else online? yes

Why? because it was amusing

Why? b/c i got to see how a hormone driven 15 year old boy reacted to a girl

You do not count yourself as a hormone driven boy? No, I am pure *insists*
Are you going to write down I pretended to be a girl online? or any embarrassing thing like that?

Me: No, I'm just writing what you say

How do you think this has changed your life? I gained weight.

....I think it also depends on the people you ask. Their answers can range on the same question.

Street Interviews

Young Man
Do you believe there should be a time limit to internet or digital usage? No

Do you think the internet is bad? Good if used properly

How many hours do you use digital devices? 40 hours a week

What do you use those hours on/which digital devices? 10 video games, 30 internet

Shonna photographer- (I thought she had alot of interesting things to say)
Do you think people would be happier without it? They can live without it.

How many hours do you use digital devices? Several

How many hours do you use it a day? That's a good question. I've never timed it. 3-4 hours

What do you think about children's access to it? Do you think it should be limited? I think you have to take care. Some people don't give a crap which is very unfortunate because there's so much good stuff. 1/5 of the time should be games and the rest not. You guys are so lucky. I was 35 when I learned to use the computer and that was when it became that you had to.

How do you think the view differ from us who grew up with it to someone who saw it change? The world is at your fingertips and you don't even know that. We use to have push phones, where when you call someone you would have to push buttons.

Me: Yeah, we had those phones where you had to turn it to the number. *makes motion in air*
Shonna: You guys remember that?
Na: Yeah.
Me: I still had an antenna tv till awhile ago.
Shonna: Oh yeah, its quaint for you guys that stuff.
*thinks not really*

Shonna: I live with my grandparents and so they still have a 1950s phone number. The phone numbers were based on where you live. They lived on Murrey Hill so it was MU and Chelsey was CH, BU was butterfield.

Me: Wow, I didn't know they did that.

Shonna: Its a 59 year old phone # and when I tell people that they are always amazed. It makes me feel ancient.. but excited that I adapted you know? Older people today are much younger. It was very proper back then the way they dressed and everything. We're always influenced by the things around us.

*agrees, she seems very young even though she's older*

In what ways do you think it has changed? You're tapped into so much, the world, one another. We used to call and leave message on machines, its nonstop. The access everyone has to each other. You can be anywhere in the world and call someone. We wrote letters and not phone calls or e-mails. Vacations are no longer vacations, you read a book, and your e-mailing. We didn't do that back then because it was inconvient. It was just easier to write a letter than to call someone.

Do you think we can live without it? No. Everything was so slow, now everything is so fast. There's instant communication and unless they took it away from everyone, it would be like you're denying yourself change and you'd be stuck in your ways.

I'm going to -----, do you know where that is?

M: *thinks* No
S: It's across the bridge and its so nice, you can see the sky. It's a concrete jungle here, and its easy to get closed off in NY, in your own orbit, but its so important to see the sky. It reminds you that you're not the only one and when I'm there I'm small compared to the rest of the world. Get a perspective you know? Sometimes new yorkers are so focused, not in the good way, like horses wearing those *cups the sides of her eyes*
M: Blinders?
S: Yes! wait that doesn't sound quite right
M: Yeah, but I get what you mean.
S: I try to keep myself open. People can be rude sometimes but I don't be rude back, I try not to be like that because I believe we recieve what we put out there. Instead kill them with kindness. I'm pretty friendly, right? I was talking to this lady on a line, it was a very long line like a hundred people and I didn't want to wait forever so, I walked up to where the first ten people and started a conversation with this women and we exchanged numbers afterwards.
M: Thanks for letting us interview you, you gave very indepth answers and that was nice.
S: Oh, I'm just very relaxed right now.

I thought she brought up alot of interesting points and gave some good advice too like the being rude thing, since I agree, if you're rude to someone they'll probably be rude back or vise versa. I liked the phrases she used, it was very quotable.

I think the questions depend on who you ask.. as some people respond more than others depending on their mood.

Hw4 & 5- Comments & Response

2009-09-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

Jia Min:

Hey Jia Min!

I agreed with what you said about the many many versions of one technology can get a tad bit obsessive at times especially when the only change they made to it was change the color and add a button or something. Its nessary because they want to make it more advanced, although, for me I think as long as it has the basics its fine. I liked all the little comics you added to the blog after each paragraph, its like a short break or breather.

I can imagine someone who locks themselves in their room and plays the computer or video game and that's all they do. Imagining that can see how this could negatively impact our health, mentally and physically. You know how you said that your eyes kind of hurt in the beginning of the blog? I'm kind of feeling it right now, the glare of the computer screen is hurting my eyes! Lately my eyesights been getting worse and that's a pretty bad sign. Probably a testament to how much I use the computer. I'm wondering if I say I use it to read does that make it seem less bad. I actually do use it for that DX. But if it hurts your eyes....then we will have bad eyesight together!~ haha. Actually...that's not a good thing.

I think you can develop more about the parents comments about technology it was a bit random because it wasn't talked about too much. I think its true people say things like that, not neccesarily limited to our parents...though its probably more likely coming from them. Maybe add a conclusion that connects everything together. But other than that I thought it was pretty good.

When you talked about moving to a rural area, I wondered that too, what it'd be like to just up and move to the country or something like that. How it'd be like to fare without all the electronics for awhile. I think the change in scenery would be nice. It also makes me think how much we use the electronics is influenced by how necessary they are in our environment. Its like we have tv and a computer because alot of the things we do require it of us; like hw, printing, researching. Its also one of the primary things that are used to keep us entertained in this culture. Maybe if we lived somewhere where work was the only thing we had time for, where its not needed as much, we wouldn't be using it so much.

I liked reading your thoughts, it made me think more about some things like the idea of disconnecting for a while from the technology, and how there are new social mannerisms to account for technology, like having headphones in your ear and how some people think its rude. I'm excited to read a new post from you!

Amber:

Hi Amber,

Hearing your thoughts on this topic was pretty interesting. You used alot of different examples to support your arguments which made it stronger. Like the way some people use technology to be updated on other people. I also liked that you spaced your paragraphs out or made it distinct so its more neat.

Alot of what you said was about how it was taking up our time and if we could manage that time we'd be able to "control ourselves" and stopping from using technology so much. It made me think about how much I use the electronics and how much time other people do as well. I think we can get on without it, but in this time and age, its neccesary for how we live. So it'd be impossible to unplug totally unless we lived as hermits or something. I think we can go without a day or a month as long as we don't have to do anything on the computer because right now for school, we need to, almost daily.

I guess I would say, some of the points could be shortened to be more succint like the point about us being able to live without electronics if we tried, that could be one paragraph instead of being part of two. There are some points where it doesn't seem exactly related, "People seem to care more about what is going on with other people and tend to know more about their friends instead of their families. The reason for all this is that when not engaging in using the digital and electronic devices, people tend to be doing the things that they need to live like eating and sleeping, then they resume their use of electronics." What does the use of electronics have to do with why people know more about their friends than family? Address what specifically they do, whether its reading their friend's update on aim or facebook or just talking to them more. I think if you proofread or got someone to proofread for you it'd help. It's pretty good, you still have some ways to go as a writer, but you'll get better as you write more. The topics are good, just need to be developed. Its decent so far. I feel somewhat like Simon on American Idol after writing this...But really, I'm not trying to be mean so don't get the wrong idea? (My friend usually asks me to proofread her essays and somehow I got stuck in that mode reading yours. Soo this might be why I'm so focused on this right now, that and I am supremely sleep deprived/tired at the moment. *Is proofreading sleep deprived paragraphs so grammatical errors are limited and is readable* Point is, I'm very neurotic when sleep deprived.)

When I first read "Looking at the environment we live in now, nobody would be able to survive a day without any digital/electronic media usage, unless if someone is willing to take the risk, the question is who will be the first to do so?" I thought I think that many people have gone a day without digital/electronic usage because I was thinking of someone I knew who went on vacation and left all electronics at home and just brought books but then I think most people probably don't do that. See, I can't help but take questions at face value. I think there are approximately 7 billion people on this earth. At least a few million have done so. But if I think more generally, in our society that's pretty rare since someone always has some electronic device with them, whether it is a cellphone or mp3 or radio and while it may not be the "first to do so" it's still pretty rare.

Anyways great first post Amber! I look forward to seeing more ideas :)

Jia Min:

Thanks for commenting, even though it was for hw I enjoyed reading it. I appreciated the thoughtful tone of your post, it makes it seem like you really thought about it and came up with your own original ideas relating to it.

What was helpful was hearing your own thoughts about it because it makes me think more about the things I said as well as the new points you brought up. Such as when you talked about reality tv and youtube that it makes the person stand out and popular and as observers you talked about how "a lot of times, we take it for granted, and what I said before, people entertaining other people but as we comment on their videos or blogs, etc do we actually appreciate it or are we just saying thanks so easily?" It made me think that about why they are so popular because we want to turn our attentions to something and be entertained and they fulfill that purpose. But at the same we don't always appreciated it, we just take it in and watch and if we enjoyed it we'll like it. Maybe that's our way of appreciating something that we think is done well-- by enjoying it. I think that's why they create it in the first place anyway, so people will enjoy it.

It also made me realize I could have expanded more on that topic because I only talked about how it made people famous and how people seem to have a great need for it that they're willing to put their lives on view to the public eye. So I could have talked about the audience more, why we're so willing to receive that and watch. When you talked about how sometimes it'd be easier if your life was on tv, I realized that I thought that way once or twice in the past. I use to think if this was out on display it'd be easier because then I wouldn't have to explain anything or maybe something funny would happen and I think I wish we captured this on film so we can share this with people.

We both seem to be interested in how the digitalization affects us and our lives- what do you think will happen to us in the future? Thanks for reading :)

Thanks Na o^u^o

I'm really glad you liked it. Plus you go in depth about what our technology is doing to the planet. Kudos, because its affecting us right now and its sometimes easy to forget that when people are online or using the electronic devices.

Digitalization is like a cheat sheet and its the quick way to get an answer, that's pretty true with google and everything, though we may end up wasting our time anyways with it. I think even though things like google do make it easier to do things like research, that doesn't make that method any less valid, its a natural developement considering humans like to do more things in a way that expends less energy on their part.

I will add more cons to it next time. I liked reading the tone of your comment hehh.. it was fun and like how we usually chat on aim so its easy to read. Plus its very encouraging XD

I didn't really notice any grammar mistakes in your post anyways ^^

Bye Na, thanks for reading! =D

HW3- Thoughts on Digitalization

2009-09-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

For me personally, I don't think its strange, the digitization age we live in now. Because we grew up as it was developing and as it was changing the way things have been done before. Sometimes I think because of this, we're very use to having communication instantaneously since it was what we have always known. Snail mail is replaced by e-mail, researching is made simpler when with the press of a button you can pull up any subject via Google, we can text instead of passing notes, call anyone anywhere, be cool in the summer heat, etc. I guess what's strange is how dependent we seem to have become on these little technological advances. Many people can't see their lives without a phone or a computer because it has become that ingrained in what is everyday life. There are the good and the bad of course, as there is with all things.

One way it has changed things is in the way of social etiquette. Social etiquette has become since a lot more informal than it has ever before. I think in part because we can communicate the way we do, through texts and ims. Although many of the things that have been considered "normal" or "appropriate" by the older generation, is not the same for us because of this. I think some of this can be seen in the way people e-mail or smiley faces or even aim lingo. Some young people do this even for a job resume or when communicating to their boss and for people who are not use to this, it can be surprising because it would usually be considered very inappropriate in a business setting. The way we use to speak has changed. The norm has changed. Part of why this is the global world, television is able to show many different areas, people, cultures. With being connected to so many people there's really no longer one trend or one set standard anymore.

In terms of TV and television, fame is more accessible to people. Its pretty interesting how much "Reality TV" there is. The amount of people willing to open their lives to the public and the amount of who are people willing to tune in is a testament to how into this world that people are. Celebracy has reached new heights. There is Internet celebrities, YouTube stars, Blogger and more. Many people have been able to become more famous through YouTube and land a record label that way. There's so much going on the internet, many niches and communities have sprouted up because of that.

For me, I can see two paradoxes to the way we can communicate now. In some ways it can bring us closer and “connect” us into this community, ie sites such as FaceBook or Twitter. In other ways it can alienate us from other people. Like when people talk on the phone while they’re with other people, its like they’re there but not really. Some people find it even easier to talk to people online than face to face in the real world. They find it easier to communicate online. In some ways it is so personal because its impersonal because there is that computer between them because it makes it less real it somehow easier to say things you normally wouldn't say in person. That's all well good but communication tools such as facebook and aim should by no means be replacement for real life human contact but a supplement to maintain your relationships.

There's also the environmental aspect to consider. What is it taking to fuel this digital world? Alot. Many resources are used up in order to generate electricity and fill those cars we drive. Pollution is a problem in many areas where there are nuclear power plants or landfills. All changes in consideration what does this mean for the future, for our future way of life and the future generations'?