2

At the end of the book, Joe realizes that he is the future. By that, he means wars and the outcome of wars are the future. He believes that once people see him, they will see how horrible war is and would never want to fight again, and that could possibly prevent the horrible future that Joe believes in.
He is pointing the gun at the people with the power because all they do is just to declare war against countries and send troops to fight for the country, however they never do

1

I don’t know what kind of situations I could compare Joe’s situation to. So, I’m just going to assume that I am in the same situation as Joe. I think I agree with Joe’s desires. I don’t think I would come up with his desires right away. It would probably take a while for me to accept that I am stuck and there is no way out but for me to work at a circus to make money. However, I do agree that it I the only way out of the situation and I think it is very realistic of him to figure out ways to get out of the hospital. Also, I would really want to communicate with people around me as well. I think wanting to communicate with others is such a basic desire that people don’t realize how important it is.

EX

First off, I thought the musical was fantastic. It was funny and interesting. Interesting because I had “gender stereotypes” in mind. Like every other fairy tales, the Queen appeared to be insanely unreasonably unkind. Also, the red custom she wore in the beginning of the musical reminded me of a devil. The queen was portrayed as a typical evil and stick queen. For example, in sleeping beauty or Cinderella, both of the queens are evil, and they always seem to have the power to be extra mean. Also, even though there were some qualities that I didn’t really approve of of the king, like when he would chase after girls and touch their butt, at the end of the musical, he was the “good” guy. He gained his power (symbolized with voice) back when the queen lost hers. Also, when the Prince started to sing, his voice changed completely to a “manly man” voice, instead of his rather girly voice. If he were to sing in his girly voice, I think how people would have interpreted the song would be very different, since princes are supposed to be manly and brave. Also, I can’t remember Elise Vreede’s character’s name, but even though she wanted to leave, not particularly to solve her problems but to avoid conflicts, people sort of stopped her so that she could depend on her future husband.
By the queen, the prince was pressured to be “perfect”, and by the society the female characters were pressured to be talkative, dependent, and more.

wants

Joe wants to be a freak-show person in the circus, which will help him get out of the hospital. He also wants to get out of the hospital because he wants to go home. Therefore, working as a freak-show person will allow him to make, which, he thinks, will ultimately allow him to go back to America. However, it is not easy for him to go back to America because people tell him that it is against regulations. (But, really there aren’t regulations; people are just telling him that there are so he would give up.) It is “against regulations” because the people in power don’t want civilians to see what war can do to people. They don’t want to impose negative views on war, because they think the military would collapse.

Injuries

I never thought it would be possible to have no legs, no arms, and no face. However, now that I think about it, even though it is sort of creepy to think about how a person without no legs, no arms and no face would look like, it is possible. For example, I think Joe would look something like Voldemord in Harry Porter--But of course, not evil. So, Joe has no legs, no arms, and no face. This affects him because he can’t see, he can’t smell, he can’t taste, and he can’t feel. This is important because since he can’t move much, he is stuck on his bed pondering all day. Because of the injuries, he is more aware of himself, but at the same time he can’t communicate with others, which makes everything hard for him.

Marriage

The definition he uses can be divided into three groups. He talks about the social status that marriages gives you, the benefits that marriage provide you through the government, and lastly the relationship. I agree with his definition, however more details could be added on to it. Because marriage is for everyone regardless of the gender, race, and etc, they should be based off of the things that you are not necessarily in control of. For example, you as an individual cannot decide the benefits for being married. Also, as a society, we decide what kind of social status we are going to give to married couples.

household

I understand where he is going with this metaphor of a single parent household possibly being an airplane that crashes, but I don’t particularly agree with him. How I understood the metaphor is that the household with “natural” parents will have children who will be successful, but on the other hand, because a single parent household is not a “natural” one, their children won’t be successful. I guess it all really depends on how people define success, because only about top 10% of the population has the “power” such as big money and fame. I don’t think it’s anybody’s rights to tell people what to do or what not to do. Because somebody believes that “unnatural households” wouldn’t be as successful as the “natural households”, that doesn’t mean that people should dismiss them.
I’m still thinking about different ways to “justify” the “unnatural households”. I think it has to do with different terminologies. Misha and I were having dinner one night and we talked about this, and he and I argued about the term “marriage” and the effect of the term “marriage” on the society. Misha told me that because marriage is a Christian term, it’s not fair for them for homosexuals to call their “union” a marriage. Although, I understand that I didn’t really understand the importance of the term. Things change, and people change, why can’t a term “marriage” evolve into something that means more than just a Christian term that describes a “union” of a woman and a man?

appearance

I do think that we are often quick to judge people by their appearances. For example, if a man is “well-dressed”, then people can easily assume that he could be a homosexual. That is because one of the stereotypes of homosexual men is their ability to dress distinguishably nicer than straight men. It is easier for people to assume then to really figure out what’s going on. I think as a society, the assumptions that we made in the past still exist and they still influence people. I think because things like prejudices are often passed on to the children by their parents, it’s hard to change people’s opinion about this.

Last American man

Why does Gilbert believe Eustace is the last American man?
Gilbert believes that Eustace is the last American man. One big reason is because Eustace is the one and only American who lives a wild life. For example, he wrestles a buck instead of using a gun to “hunt” him. He represents masculinity that de Tocqueville once mentioned to be one of many qualities of American men. Even though Eustace does have personal issues, aside from his personal life, how he lives and behaves represent the American man. However, I think Eustace is more of the ONLY American man rather than the LAST American man.

fairytale

There was this one Korean story that I read when I was young. It was about a young girl about 16 who lived with a single dad who was blind. She was responsible for doing many things around the house and also taking care of him. It was very hard for her to earn money being a young female. Then, one day she found out that her dad had borrowed some money from the temple and it was time for him to pay them back. However, it was impossible for her to pay the temple back, so she decided to sell herself to fishing boat in order to pay off her dad's debt. She ends up getting "sacrificed" for a successful fishing season by being forced to jump off of the boat in the middle of the ocean. But then, she somehow manages to survive and marries a wealthy man. And after she left, her dad miraculously managed to see again, so he goes out to look for her, and ends up finding her. So the story ends nicely. I thought this story thought me to be selfless, hardworking, and respectful, then in the end, everything will pay off.

la Obra~~

This year is my first year of taking art at University High School. Though, I loved art even before this year, I really appreciate art more than before. Through art, people are able to express things. Also, it is very enjoyable.
This piece is called Wooden Room. I was looking through the website for a long time, and this piece sort of jumped out at me. It is a just a simple piece, but it looks so realistic and organized. It also has this depressing tone that makes me feel solemn. "The artist, who was born at the fall of the Third Reich, examines Germany's troubled and often suppressed recent history in his works." (www.moma.org) He sure did a great job of expressing it!

realization

At the end of the book, Wright realizes that nothing is perfect and people will always fight for something that is not there. (At least I think that’s what it is.)
He sees problems in his country, he sees problems in organizations, and he sees problems in himself. He realizes that people will always struggle through their differences. For example, he moved from the south to the north in order to escape from racism, which was a major and the only obvious problem he had, then in the north, he faces problems that people have regardless of their race.
He also realizes that he is alone. He realizes that he needs to do things for himself and think for himself. When he was going to go talk to his friend about how he was feeling, he turned back and decided against it. That is because he knows nothing would change. It is just a cycle of feeling depressed. It’s like the blues. (in this case, loneliness.) It never goes away.

Opposite

I agree with Wright’s theory about artists and politicians. However, in my opinion, an artist can be a politician, and a politician can be an artist.
The theory is that often, artists are more individualistic and deep than politicians. Where politicians have their own personal opinions and such, their job is to connect to the general public so that they could get elected. Therefore, politicians often collect different ideas and facts from various groups of people. On the other hand, artists don’t have to worry about connecting with the public; therefore it is easier for them to explore their identities and such, which makes them more individualistic. Through arts, artists express themselves. They ponder about life and deeper meanings to their existence.

change

At the end of part I of the book, Wright moves to Chicago. I think this is a positive change for him for several reasons. First off, he wanted to leave the south for such a long time, basically his entire life. It was almost a goal for him to leave the south, not just a want. He achieved this “need” based goal, which, by itself it’s great, but furthermore, I think it gave him something that he could believe, believe that he could achieve something. It was also good for him to start planning his own life out. He gets to be independent. Even though being away from his family might be hard for him, I think it is almost better for him because he doesn’t have to worry about his family or anybody around him getting mad or upset about his decisions.

stealing

Wright’s act of stealing is not right, however it was necessary for him at the moment. If he weren’t to steal, there was no way out for him. He would have been stuck in the south, unable to fit in. knowing him, he would not try to change. He would much rather give up living than how he was living in the south if it were to continue throughout his life. Obviously, he feels bad about stealing, however he is aware that it was the only way. It is unfortunate that he had to make a decision to steal because he knows it’s a “bad” thing to be stealing. And he does feel bad about stealing because when he is on a train on his way to the north, he cries. I think many things that Wright do are “justified” with unfortunate situations.

to live in the south

By ‘learn how to live in the south’, Griggs means that Wright needs to accept the harsh reality of the south and confirm to the lifestyle down in the south of a black man. Because Wright never really gives up being “right”, he is always in trouble. He doesn’t give in, which is problematic because all the white people view him as a trouble. Griggs is trying to tell Wright that his attitude is not suitable for the life in the south and he must understand that he needs to act differently around white people. It is important for Wright and other black people who live in the south to learn how to act around white people.

Speech

In a way, Wright is justified in refusing to say the speech. I completely understand his point of view. He is probably sick of everyone trying to shape him into something that the society is pressuring him to be. The principal tells him that he cannot give his own speech because of the people who are going to be at the graduation. It’s going to be a mixed-race event; therefore, the principal does not want Wright to misrepresent the black community nor the school. While I understand the principal, I think what Wright did was justified and very courageous. It was something that Wright had to do to prove to himself that he could actually do something and he’s not suppressed by the society.

Uncle Tom

Wright was angry with Uncle Tom because of Wright feels like that Uncle Tom has no right to treat him the way he did in the morning. Uncle Tom, whom, to Wright, is almost a stranger to him, wakes Wright up in the morning to ask him what time it is. Wright wakes up and tells him the time, however Uncle Tom tells him that he does not believe Wright is right. So, Wright double checks the time and tells Uncle Tom the “accurate” time. Then, Uncle Tom gets angry with Wright for not giving the “accurate” time in the first place, so he threatens Wright that he is going to beat him up. Wright defends himself with two razors. I think the reason why Wright is so angry with Uncle Tom and the situation is because this person, Uncle Tom, is a stranger to him that is telling him what is right and what is wrong. He appears out of nowhere and tries to control Wright’s life. I think Wright just does not want anybody to “abuse” him in any ways.

wirting

Wright feels gratified after sharing his writing with the girl next door because of how she reacted to his writing. She did not understand why he wrote for fun. It was something that “nobody” really did. It was unique and the fact that somebody could not understand about something that Wright was “proud” of, made Wright feel almost superior. It was something that he has never felt before. It becomes something that he enjoys doing and an outlet for his emotions. I mean, I would feel the same way about writing if I enjoyed writing and it was something not everyone could enjoy.

Mom

At first, Wright is very upset about his mother’s illness, however as time goes by, he gets used to the fact that his mom is ill. I think everything “new” in people’s life starts out with a shock, then people get used to them, whether or not it’s a bad thing. And I think that is what Wright did. He subconsciously trained himself to be okay with the fact that his mom is ill. But then, what was really sad to me about how he was handling this situation was that the fact he relates his mother’s illness to what’s going on around him. He sees the sufferings and he soon realizes that it’s helpless.

JEws

Wright does not handle his mother's illness very well. At first he was really scared, but then later in the chapter after his mother relapses he says that he grew numb to his mother's illness. And the family started to just accept the illness and used up all their money trying to help her. In the book on page 100, Wright says that his "mother's suffering grew into a symbol in my mind, gethering to itself all the poverty, the ignorance, the helplessness..." He also says that "a somberness of spirit that I was never to lose settled over me during the slow years of my mother's unrelieved suffering." His mother's illness had a profound effect on him.

Why?

Why is he really hungry? I mean, do we even know what he is hungry for? Is he searching for actual food or affections or material goods or else? In the book, he is obviously hungry for physical food because he is not well fed. However, it does not look like the physical hunger is the only thing that he desires for. It seems like his hunger is closely related to the absence of his dad. He feels hungry whenever he thinks about his dad being gone. Part of it is probably because of the financial situation at his house after his dad left. Also, he probably feels like his dad has abandoned him. So there is this sense of emptiness and loneliness that is helpless. Nothing can fulfill his desire for “food”.

the need to go to school.

I think it really depends on the individual. We all have different learning styles and some people work better without people around you, and some people need people to motivate them in order for them to do a better job. In class, I mentioned that I thought homeschoolers were deprived of 'nonacademic' education. I still think that they are missing out on some social education, however I really think it depends on the individuals on how much the lack of social education is affecting them. My thought or concern was that even if they claim that they get this 'nonacademic' education from going to a church, playing sports, and etc, they are still in the "same group". They are not going to have a chance to meet someone who is completely different from them. Like Lamags said, there are those homeschoolers who reach out to people who are different from them and they succeed. Therefore, I believe that it depends on the individual.

Nonacademic

I think nonacademic education is very important. I'm sure there are people who benefit a lot from it and there are people who don't benefit at all from this. I value nonacademic education that I am receiving because it means a lot to me. Other than just learning 2+2 is 4, sky is blue, and more, also learning about how to properly interact with others, how to become an acceptable member of a society is important. Not only from the school, but I get this nonacademic education from my parents, and other adults around me. I think it really depends on the person how much she or he appreciates this kind of education. Because the environment in which a person is growing up is a big part of this ‘nonacademic’ education, or at least I think it is very important. I think that ‘nonacademic’ education definitely helps people to become “good citizens”, and also helps how the society is shaped.

pres 2

I never thought of Mr. Webster and his rhetorical actions. It was definitely interesting for me to see Maggie talk about how Mr. Webster represents our school by his actions. I think he does help shape our school as a community with the core values. Also, the poster that is in Maggie’s room that was supposedly put up by her sister (haha) was interesting. I do not even know how to respond to that. Well, first of all, I thought it was advertising the boots, not the jeans. The jeans did not even catch my eyes after Maggie pointed out that it was supposed to be an ad for that pair of jeans. The ad definitely did not really make me want to buy the neither jeans nor boots. It was just an awkward poster. And when Ieysha showed that commercial at the end, I was shocked. Was that really on air? The fact that its broadcasting was allowed on TV does not make sense to me. Who makes this kind of decisions?!

pres 1

I thought everyone's presentation was interesting. I never thought about the stores or commercials in rhetorical way, however after this project and presentation, it seems like I notice myself thinking about how things around me appeal to me in rhetorical ways. I thought one of Tony's examples, which were of a man walking under a light bulb, was cleaver. It definitely caught my attention and gave me a very positive impression abut the magazine; Impression that it is full of new ideas and more. Also, I liked Kendal’s example of Victoria’s secret. Now that I really think about it, it blows my mind that I don’t find myself shocked to see provocative pictures of women, half naked. I am almost so used to seeing such things that it is normal to me, and that is scary. It definitely does bother me to see the pictures, but I feel like it’s normal for me to be bothered by them and it’s acceptable for those pictures to be displayed.

the article

I think it's very interesting how a store could almost "control" the minds' of consumers. It is scary that people are actually falling for this. This shows how easily people can be manipulated with different ads and pompous words. I understand that it is a part of a marketing business of the store and it's great that this particular store is doing so great on advertising. I think this store has targeted its consumers very well because I think no matter how good the commercial is, if the person does not need the product then it is most unlikely for the person to purchase the product. Therefore, I think this store has targeted a good vulnerable group of people who would be easily convinced. And people who are happy tend to be more vulnerable to things than people who are unhappy. In this case, it's the newlyweds. They just got married, and they are very excited... Now, all they need is a new bed and their life will be perfect. I think that is what the point of this advertisement is, in a nutshell.

presentation

Today was fun. I thought everyone did a great job of presenting the commercial. Everyone seemed happy with his or her result. I thought it was cool that we got to actually apply what we learned in class and make it into a commercial. I had a lot of fun working with my group.
Even though I thought all the commercials were well polished and done, I wouldn’t purchase all the products. For example, I loved Kendal, Derek, Mallory, and Lauren’s commercial, however, I do not like the taste of sugary bubble gum, which leads me not to buy the gum…
Overall, I thought it was a fun project and really enjoyed it. I think we should do more projects like this.

sb ads

I would say most of the commercials were interesting. They were all very creative. However, there were a few that I thought were outstanding. Some of them were so convincing that I actually wanted to buy the product.
The Diet Pepsi Max commercial was very entertaining. The commercial started out with people looking fatigued, but then suddenly, a cart of bottles of Diet Pepsi Max shows up and everyone grabs a bottle. Then suddenly, people start dancing in sync. It made me want to dance like them, and try out the drink to see if it really gave me energy.
Another one was of Tide Stain Remover Pen, which obviously removes stain… There were two men in an office where one of them was interviewing the other. The person who was interviewing had a noticeable stain on his white shirt, which distracted the person who was being interviewed. The smart aspect of this commercial was that it emphasized the stain being distracting by whenever the man was speaking, the stain would wrinkle and unwrinkled to “talk” to interfere their conversation.
The Pepsi commercial made me want to buy the product because everyone looked so happy and energetic. Plus, I was thirsty at the time. The Tide commercial wanted to me to buy the product because I would hate to have a stain on my shirt, and have people be distracted by it.
I definitely think that different commercials appeal to different people because everyone wants different things!

stores

My favorite store is Forever 21. However, I don't really see any ads from them. I go to that store because it has cute, trendy clothes at a reasonable price. It's got a big selection to choose from, which allows me to find my own unique style. I go to their websites sometimes and they always have new stuff coming out. Also, they offer discount on different selected items daily.
Another store I often go is Sephora, even though I RARELY purchase anything... from there. I see all these ads about them in magazines (the girly ones). They show what kind of products they used to make themselves "prettier" and say that they are all available at Sephora. So, even though I know I probably won't buy anything, I often go to Sephora to check out the latest makeup, perfumes, and more. Another place I like to visit for this purpose is M.A.C. I love that place because they give free full facial makeovers all the time except for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. However, they will do your free eye makeup or lips anytime. And similar to Sephora, you see all these beautiful women in various magazines wearing their products, which lures me into visiting the store...
Obviously, because of what I like and of my interest, my favorite stores correlate to each other. These stores use different things to attract customers. For example, for both M.A.C and Sephora, we are free to try on makeup samples. Sephora even gives out little samples if you ask for them! Also, they have a membership card where if you constantly spend money on their products, they will reward you with some kind of... gift. Furthermore, because M.A.C gives out free makeovers, it is popular for many girls, and occasionally guys as well. And by constantly having new stuff in, and having sales, Forever 21 makes the customers to want to come back to the store. These kinds of environment influence the customers and I would say most of them are effective.

discussion

It was hard to have a discussion because we weren't discussing about how we were going to solve the problem, but we were talking about the problem itself. What really made me upset was that it seemed like people were just trying to say what they have to say but not listen to one another.

It will probably take a lot more people than just one English class to let people know that it is offensive to most of the women how many ads subjugate women. I know there were people who did not care about the content of the ads, and because they didn't really pay attention to the ads, it didn’t really bother them at all. However, there are people who watch them. Like how Eli was talking about what a boy who goes to a public school might do to a girl. Their environment and how they are raised affect people. And, subconsciously, people are affected by the ads. How much you are affected may differ from other individuals, but because we are exposed to these ads from early on, we are almost immune to it.

Kilborune

Although, I am aware of Kilborune's argument being exaggerated, I agree with her. I think the purpose of this article was to spread the awareness of the issue. The ads that were in the book were examples of ads that use women to sell their goods. All the ads had some kind of sexual connotation that could be offensive to many people. While some people do not care about the ads and express that there are people who don’t pay attention to the ads, these sexually violent ads can trigger sexual harassments. There was this one ad where there are three men "lynching" a woman in a nice pair of jeans. The point of this ad probably was something like, people will be jealous of your jeans that they will do something drastic to take them away from you. I see how these kinds of ads could make a big shocking impression on people, which will cause people to think about the product. However, I think there could be an alternative way where it is less controversial and offensive.

Ads

I watched TV for an hour, and saw several different ads. Out of many that I saw today, I don't really recall that many. I only recall... maybe two. The first one I remember was about cookie crisp. There was an animated wolf trying to get the box of cookie crisp from two kids who were enjoying their cookie crisp. Nothing was really special about this, but the part where they were describing how it tastes like real cookies sounded really good. Perhaps it was because I was hungry when I saw this commercial. And the background voice that was describing how it tastes like was extra exciting, which, I think, helped me remember the intonation of it. The second one was about pampers diapers and cheerios. It was probably because the baby was so cute. I only remember that it was about pampers diapers and cheerios because the baby was wearing the diaper and playing with/eating cheerios. With the first commercial I saw, I think the appeal was the part where it was showing the actual food. And the second one, I think the baby appealed to me the most. She was just really cute. Also, the fact that she was really happy, laughing and giggling the whole commercial made it memorable. Like how we talked about in class, almost everyone is attached to babies, and by using the fact that people are attached to babies makes the commercial effective.