Black Boy response 4

Wright feels gratified after he shares his writing because he finally has something that makes him proud of himself. Throughout his entire life Wright was put down by friends, family members, and people who judged him based on his outward appearance. The world in which he lives is one where it is difficult to be an individual because you are expected to fit into the culture that the society has created for you based on what you look like. Wright writes about a young Indian girl who decides to kill herself by silently drowning in a river. He feels as though he can not share this with his family because he knows that they will look down on him because of his writing. Instead of talking to his family, Wright runs over to his neighbors house and he decides to read his short story to her. After he finishes the story the girl is confused and does not seem to comprehend the point of writing the story. Wright tells her that he wrote the story because he wanted to. She still does not understand this. Wright feels gratified about this because it makes him feel a large sense of self value and he finally feels like he has something of his own that he can be proud of and that makes him happy. 

Black Boy response 3

When his mother becomes ill, Richard grows up. Richard quickly realizes that his mother can not support or care for he and his brother any more it is because of this that Richard not only obtains a series of various small jobs to pay for small portions of food but that he also writes to his grandmother for help so that she can help to take care of his sickly mother. During this time Richard realizes just how alone he is in the world. Because he is the eldest, although still a small child, he assumes the role of the provider in the family. When his grandmother finally comes they have to beg for money from his family. Although Richard dislikes this he knows that he must comply with the wishes of his grandmother. One thing that Richard won't do is accept food to him that is offered from his neighbors before his grandmother arrives. I think that because his mother became ill Richard grew up because he realized how he needs to take care of the family. Richard did things that he did not like because he knew that it would benefit himself and his brother, like staying with his uncle to be close to his mother. This proves that he grew up from the illness that his mother had. 

Wright and racism

Wright treated Jewish people with the same disrespect that members of his culture were treated on a daily basis. Wright and his friends felt as thought it was ok and natural to taunt Jewish children and adults with hurtful songs that were meant to bring them and their culture down. Wright blaims his dislike of the Jewish people on his cultural heritage yet he is hurt when he learns that white people treat colored the way that he treats Jewish people. 

We first see that Wright has to deal with the way he and his family are treated by white people  in chapter 2. Although he can not fully comprehend its meaning his uncle was killed by racism and it seems like that does not even ring a bell in his head when he is taunting the various Jewish people in his neighborhood. Wright has experienced various forms of racism in his life by this point in time in the book and he has yet to comprehend the meaning and hurtfulness that racism can bring to the cultures involved. He still needs to learn why this is wrong and I think that throughout the book he will begin to understand he is like the Jewish people himself. 

Hunger: Wright

Wright's hunger is an issue that this book discusses many times in the first chapter. Although Wright is literally hunger because his mother can not make enough money to get a lot of food for him and his brother the hunger that Wright is trying to portray is more of a longing. Wright is 'hungry' for a change in his life. Wright wants someone who will take care of him and be kind to him regardless of the things that he does. Wright's father abandoned him and his mother and brother at an early age when they first arrived in Memphis and times became increasingly harder when this happened. 

Wright is also hungry for a drastic change in his life because he wants to be more then he is heading for. It is obvious that Wright enjoys learning and is a very intelligent kid but he does not have the ability to attend school on a daily basis and reach his full potential.  I think that Wright's hunger comes from his want to change the course of his life and his want to have a figure in his life who truly takes care of him and who has the means to take care of him. 

Against School

School is boring. All day we sit in class listening to various teachers talk about subjects that we probably will not think about the second after we graduate. Even though these two statements are true, and as much as I do not want to admit it, we need school. There will always be the subjects that students are bored in and that they have no interest in ever thinking about but there is always that one subject that a student falls in love with and wants to study for the rest of his or her life. 

I disagree that we do not need to go to school. It is important to learn things even if you find them boring because it expands the way you think about ideas and problems. Education is meant to expand the minds of students. Going to school teaches students about things that they would never be able to understand on their own. It is very important to go to school for that very purpose. Students are going to be the next generation and because of that we need to be aware of all the subjects that we learn in school. I completely disagree with Gatto that it is not necessary to go to school simply because students should learn all that school has to offer them. 

Nonacademic Education

Yes I value the nonacademic education that I have received at Orchard and that I am receiving at University. In my opinion a nonacademic education is a way for students to understand more about their personal interests as opposed to what they are forced to learn during the average class schedule. I think that it is more rewarding to learn based on your own interests as opposed to what the administration makes you learn.  When students grow up and get jobs they are hopefully going to choose a job that interests them. Because of this I think that it is important for students to be able to choose what classes they want to take. Not all of us are going to be scientists or mathematicians  so why should we have to suffer through math or science classes when we would enjoy a nonacademic course like choir or art more. I value the nonacademic education that I am receiving because it allows me to understand what I like and what I don't like. Having a nonacademic education also enables me to figure out what kind of career that I want to have when I am older because I get to explore my own interests. 

In class rhetoric

  I thought that the presentations of rhetoric today in class were very interesting and many people chose subjects that I would never have thought of. Personally I enjoyed Erin's presentation because it was about advertisements on the front of the various stores. Erin showed an advertisement that was about American Eagle. This advertisement showed American Eagle clothing on people who were incredibly happy. This was interesting because you do not think about the message that is being put into your head when you look at various advertising. I also thought that Sammie's example if rhetoric was interesting because it focused mainly on art in the various small towns. I also found it interesting that the art that she showed was the work of her aunt. I also enjoyed Ian's presentation because I thought that his idea of showing a school bus with various designs was an imaginative idea. I thought that this project was very entertaining because it made me think about the use of rhetoric that convinces me to purchase things or to go places without my knowledge on a daily basis. 

Framing Class

According to Kendall, the media does not reflect our society but it depicts society as two distinct groupings of people. The first of these two groups is the wealthy and the other group is the rest of the American people. By doing this instead of representing every socio-economic group in America the media creates perception of not only what America is like but of what the American people are like. According to Kendall, and our society, the only way to get ahead in life is by associating yourself with the wealthy and powerful. This thought is shown in the media on a daily basis and Americans have come to believe this to be true. 

I agree with Kendall that the media distort our perceptions of inequality because the media makes it so that we can only see the wealthy and everyone else. The media has seperated Americans into two different groups and now we can not break free of those bonds. Now, we believe that being wealthy is the only point to life and Americans are striving for wealth more then ever. 

I think that watching tv makes people want to spend their money because they see material things and they want to purchase them so that they can live the way that the 'wealthy' do but what they do not realize is that the tv is scripted. People are striving to be wealthy because the television shows them that if they become wealthy then nothing is out of their reach. 

rhetoric on the town!

This weekend we were supposed to take different pictures of places around the town that we feel showed some sort of rhetoric. The three places that I visited were Clay Terrace, West Clay, and Broad Ripple. I found that each of these three places had very obvious examples of rhetoric simply based on their distinct appearances. 

Clay Terrace and West Clay were very similar to each other when it comes to an audience. They both were designed to be incredibly clean, polished, and similar in style. Both of these places are locations around Carmel. Carmel, Indiana is supposed to be the location of the wealthy and middle class people that live in Indiana. Because of this the architects of these two locations made everything in both of these places perfectly polished and shaped. West Clay is its own small town inside of carmel it is a village in which every house looks the exact same. Some would say that West Clay is similar to Stepford. Clay Terrace is an outdoor mall that is similar to West Clay in that all of the buildings are made of brick so that they all look the same and follow the same theme. 

Broad Ripple, on the other hand, was designed to appeal to an edgy younger audience as opposed to the upper-middle class Carmel was designed for. Broad ripple is somewhat arty and edgy and you can see this from the various bars, nightclubs, and small boutiques that line the short little town. 

Gitlin

According to Gitlin, the streams of rhetoric that pours out of America and into all of the other countries throughout the world impacts their societies greatly. Gitlin believes that our culture and our ways of communication through the media has become a source of "global lingua franca" (global trade). He believes that our culture going into other cultures has brought the young together to share the dreams that many of the young people in America share. It sounds as though Gitlin believes that our culture going into other cultures makes other cultures become similar to our own because they are now learning how we learn and they are thinking in the same way that we were taught to think within our own culture. 

Gitlin states, " Sampling American goods, images, and sounds they affiliate with an empire of informality. Consuming a commodity, wearing a slogan, you affiliate with disaffiliation." This only furthers his point because it proves that when our goods and media flow into other countries it has a major impact on the people within that country because many times the things we do are incredibly different that the things that people within that country do. I agree with Gitlin because our culture is one of freedom and it seems that the logos, magazines, and pictures that we release would have an impact on the other cultures because many do not get to experience life as we do and our culture would serve as an outlet so that they could feel free. 

Two ways a woman can get hurt: Engaging the text #2

Kilbourne believes that it is incredibly dangerous to portray both men and women as sex objects for a variety of reasons. By depicting both men and women as sex objects in the media people begin to truly believe that thinking of all men and all women in this way is acceptable. For men, it is not as big of deal because men are naturally stronger then many women and therefor they do not have to worry about the physical repercussions of them being depicted as sex objects. However, the main problem with men being depicted this way is that they begin to feel as if they have to fit the perfectly chiseled body and the manly persona. 

However, according Kilbourne the thought of women being depicted as sex objects is more troubling then men. This is true because women are depicted as being open to sex in every way. It is because of this that men begin to get the idea that they can take advantage of women. In many cases this had lead to violence like rape because the men feel as though it is ok to treat women the way the media tells them they can. I agree that it is more troubling for women to be depicted as sex objects simply because it is easier for them to be physically harmed. It is important for the media to change the way that it depicts women, and men for that matter, and I think that if they do this then there will be a drastic change in the way that men and women relate to one another. 

Superbowl

This years superbowl commercials were not as funny, in my opinion, as last years superbowl commercials. However, they all continued to show the same few themes. The first of these themes is that almost all of the commercials before, during, and right after the game seem to be completely directed toward men. We addressed this in class and of course it came true.  I found that the commercials related to beer were more directed toward men which makes sense because everyone knows that many men love to watch the game and drink beer. It is one of the common ideas of our society. The second major theme was the success story which we also talked about in class. This was in many of the commercials during the superbowl because it is about winning and beating out the other team. Obviously this is a major theme during the superbowl because the superbowl is in fact a sports game. I was not very impressed with the commercials during this years game and I felt like they were not nearly as funny, let alone original, as the previous superbowl games.