Interweb

In the beginning, the idea of having the internet even closer to your fingertips is a thrilling and exciting idea, being able to access everything by simply thinking about it. Think about it, no more school! Everyone could know everything about what was going on in the world, as well as having easier shopping! Connecting with any one of your friends in a split second and have them return to you in real time! Music and T.V. whenever, and wherever! All of that seems to be a good thing right? For a lot of things yes, it would be great. But on the flip side, the book feed talks about the fact that trees were cut down, and not just most of them or a lot of them, but ALL of them. The fact that when ever you saw the word cloud, it was always seen as Cloud™, showing that someone or some cooperation owned the clouds, they were probably fake. No trees, no clouds, there is one con. The fact that corporations run the world in the novel is an incredibly scary thought, the kids in the story didn’t have their parents around often due to the fact that they were working for big corporations that needed lots of little workers to keep the Feeds up and running. The idea of the eventual deterioration of Violet is also a frightening idea, the fact that the feed can in fact, well, kill. The truth of the matter is that the cons outweigh the pros as far as having that much information and capabilities right at your fingertips. Technology in general is something society couldn’t do without at this point, it has become a part of our daily lives, whether you turn the T.V. on in the morning to see the weather, use your computer/iPod for music, or use your cell phone everyday today’s society would not know how to function if technology disappeared for a day. Most people in America use their televisions, cell phones, and computers in the same day, and wouldn’t know how to do anything really without them. I think the point of the novel is that there does come many responsibilities with new technology, and the sheer fact that it can all to easily be too much too soon is a scary thought. Technology is something that needs to be regulated, to much and it can end up like it does in the novel, it can over load the senses and completely control society. To a point it already does, but currently at least people have the ability to turn off the computer/cell phone/television and walk away, if it is literally in your head then it becomes a little bit more complicated. All and all the idea is more so scary then exciting, I personally hope society doesn’t even come close to having this capability.

Black in America

500 word blogger entry on your general thoughts about the CNN Special "Black in America." What struck you as important, surprising, depressing, hopeful? What did you learn?
The special report, “Black In America”, brought up the obvious points of the difficulties of one of being in one of the major subordinate groups in America, the obvious difficulties, such as being submitted to racism during job interviews, and by the police were discussed. As well as the unseen side of it, that black men were more likely to go to jail, that they were often told “You seem very articulate!”, as Whoopie Goldberg said, “School B¡†©#!!!”. The fact that media has come into play so much, showing rappers that are pimps and ballers, effects how everyone, even blacks, view the black community. If there is an educated black person, he/she is made fun of, called white, and people are surprised when they are articulate and educated. The media however isn’t the only thing playing a part, the black community itself, with an absence of father figures in most homes, and crack/cocaine appearing so early in a child’s life, people in that situation feel as though there is no other way out, they grow up expecting to be a part of that. If they cannot rap and cannot play basketball well enough, to make a life out of it, crime, prison and cosine gets involved in their lives. Many of the “successful” black men interviewed talked about how they were seen as “the black man” at work, the opinion they brought to the table was black, the music, the lifestyle everything. However, they said that with their friends they were “the white man” because they were educated with a “white mans job”. These kind of prejudices are the barriers that still hold back society from getting the jobs and getting out of the place many of them are in. There were staggering numbers of the number of young black men in jail, many of them there on cocaine, laws that were meant to help the black community have done nothing but set them back. Many young black men say the law is unfair to them and is incredibly prejudice, the point is arguable, but the numbers would be an asset in arguing that point. For many it takes a life of crime to realize what they want to, and can do. The preacher in the special had been in prison and now taught young black men that had been in prison as well, helped them find work, as well as being a preacher. The two brothers, raised in the same home, went completely different paths, one not realizing the error of his ways until being imprisoned. The entire CNN special was hard to swallow, and at points hard to believe, but showing America this isn’t going to change, that won’t come for quite some time.

Epistolary Wrting

The epistolary style of the writing in “The Last Days of Summer” makes the book more unique as well as more entertaining to read. The epistolary style means that the book is not told from a narrator, and the dialogue is not all in conversations, instead, the book is written in the form of mostly letters, with report cards, ticket stubs, and telegrams thrown in. The book follows a boy named Joey Margolis, a twelve year old Jewish boy who has major troubles with boys on his street beating him up because of his religion. He begins writing to Charlie Banks, 3rd baseman for the New York Giants, to find someone to stick up for him. Joey and Charlie develop an very unusual relationship, as well as a very close one. Joey ends up going on a road trip with the New York Giants, and becomes very good friends with famous singer, Hazel. The style of writing makes this book much more enjoyable because of the fact that not only do you get the story, but you also get a form of cleverness that you wouldn’t normally see in a book. The hidden humor requires readers to pay much more attention to pick up on the subtle hints that are encoded in the book. The fact that we have the ability to pick up on the story is amazing with this kind of writing, but the fun part about it is that we can see the story from many different sides. For example, when Joey and Charlie are writing letters to Hazel, we hear one side of the story from Joey, making Charlie seem like a mean person that locked him in a room in the train. While when Charlie writes a letter to Hazel at about the same time at about the same situation, he makes it seem as though Joey was being incredibly difficult. The fact that we get to see the same situations from so many different sides adds a great deal of humor and enjoyment to the book. It helps to piece things together in a way that helps the reader to side with certain characters, and understand the situations that they are in much better then the typical style of writing.

School (?)

3.) Is what you learn at school really connected with your life?

In many ways no, school does not have much to do with the real world as a whole. No one is going to need every class that they take in high school. Not even half really. Looking at my own schedule, I know for a fact I will never need great books, geometry, ancient Greece, and chemistry in my real world experiences. All to often the question comes up in class “when are we ever going to use this in the real world?” and often the answer is not to reassuring, “well if your going to be an architect then this will be very helpful”. Very often the things we learn will never impact us. Many high school students have an idea of what they want to be in their lives, and the skills they need to achieve said career. Even if a student knows what they want to be, and the kind of classes to take to achieve that goal, students still have to motivate themselves to study the curriculum, and remember the ultimate goal they are working for. As far as how school helps us in life at this moment, it again really doesn’t. School now does not do anything for us, we don’t really need the classes outside of school, school really develops the social skills we need. School does nothing for us until it comes to getting a good job. School is something that really just helps us later in life, for school in our life today doesn’t do much for us in this current day, but keeps our minds open and to teach the social skills we need.

U.S. // Indiana

1. Even Bayh, Richard Lugar.
2. Jerry R. Torr
3. David Ford
4. Dan Burton
5. David Ford
6. Republican
7. Mitch Daniels, Jim Schellinger, Jill Long Thompson, Andy Horning

I'm Lovin' it.

The idea of personal responsibility, to cooperate responsibility, to government responsibility, is a hard barrier to decipher between, especially when it comes to fast food. The video Super Size Me, very clearly shows this controversy. Super Size Me shows the personal responsibility side of things, showing how the diet of McDonalds, which some Americans follow all to regularly, can be brutal to the heath of an average person. Cooperate responsibility is talked about in the movie, but not in a good way, saying how the McDonalds cooperation, just like any other cooperation’s, goal is to make money in whatever way possible, even if it is unhealthy for the consumer. In my opinion, government should come in to the picture to make companies advertise the things there product can do to the consumer, because as of now, as we see in the movie, it is hard to even get the nutrition facts of a McDonalds restaurant. Government responsibility, however, should end there, it is then up to the individual to know the facts and make the choice. More people then just McDonalds were not to thrilled about the movie Super Size Me, however. “Nobody I know and believe lives can eat and afford to eat only McDonalds food, and if they can and do, they are ignorant and I don't believe responsible so their views shouldn’t be believed as accurate. My brother and me eat McDonalds, and we are definitely not fat, neither is my Dad or Mom. Again I am ashamed that people have such narrow-minded views concerning the fast food industry. It should be left up to the consumer to exercise and stay healthy, no one makes them eat at McDonalds.” On those points, there is the debate of different life styles, people that are on the go all the time, and have no time for anything other then fast food, lower income families that can go to fast food places for a cheaper meal. There is also the point that much of the point of the movie is not just fast food, it is the debate over government, cooperation, and personal responsibility, the movie could have been based around smoking, everyone knows its bad, and yet people continue to smoke. The facts are out there for smoking, and awareness is raised, but people enjoy it and can’t seem to quit. The movie Super Size Me, in my opinion, has a good message at the end that the responsibility of the individual can’t always be trusted, regulations need to be there, and many times, they are not.

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3.) Is having a lot of material goods a help or hindrance to happiness? Why are some people able to be happy with little, while others with more are miserable?
No. Material goods would be, or is, the opposite of happiness for many people, weather they realize it or not. Material objects leads to wanting more material objects, wanting to show off more, wanting everything bigger, better. People become obsessed with wanting to impress, and maybe wanting to compensate for something they could never have, maybe as a child there family couldn’t afford a nice car, and so getting one now makes them feel better about how there childhood may have ended up. Material objects could very often lead to being fake, hiding behind what you have instead of finding out who you are and then showing that to the world. People could just see you as a lot of money, spoiled, rich, and nothing beyond that, however, some people could want to use their money as a mask. For many people though, money is not the key to happiness. The old saying “money can’t buy happiness” is a statement that still holds true today. For many people, money gets in the way of what is really important, their friends and family. Having enough money for a decent house, decent car, and decent education for their kids is all many people want, and for them, that allows them to do what they need to do, and get along on just that. People with a lot of money can be miserable with the circumstances for several reasons. Being stereo typed for one, called rich is something many people wouldn’t want. Feeling guilty, many people with more money then they need spend it in ways that they don’t need to, a bigger better house, a nicer faster car, lavish furnishings, and many things, then they hear of the poverty in the rest of the world and feel guilty, bringing on the misery. People with very little, but enough to get by are typically very happy people because they have learned to accept themselves, not having money or expensive, lavish things to hide behind. People with a smaller amount of material objects are quite often closer to their families and friends. They don’t have as much of a barrier, helping them to relate when someone is going through financial troubles, and in the end getting closer to that person. The contrast of someone with a lot of money, compared to someone who doesn’t have much, is very obvious by just being around them for a short period of time, in my own life I have noticed people with more money tell about things they have done, places they have gone, typically very costly things, while people without that lifestyle talk about people they know, fun memories that happened in their own living room. Having money or not having money doesn’t determened how happy a person is, the real question is how they spend that money, or how they view themselves that makes them who they are.