Writes Story

Wright feels gratitude after writing his story because he finally found a way to express himself in a way where no one could judge him or punish him.  he created a short story of an indiana girl that silently drowned herself in the water showing no pain or suffering.  All his life he was always getting in trouble for things that he didn't mean to do wrong, but people took them as horrible behavior.  He never knew how to explain his behavior to his mom because she would never listen or think that he was making up excuses.  Wright found that writing was a whole different way to express the feelings he had bottled up inside.  it was like a releases of emotions.  Wright described how the women has a puzzled look on her face after he read the story of the indian girl to her.  He said that any time  he thought of her face that he would smile.  I think this is because for the first time he expressed his thoughts, but there was no repercussions or punishments for his actions.  This women could not do anything but look puzzled, and I think her confusion made him happy.  

Wright dealing with his mothers paralysis

Wrights initial response to his mother becoming very ill almost near death with paralysis was opposite of his actual personality.  He become very quiet unlike his usual questioning self and stay very reserved.  He did not want to seem dependent on anyone because his mother was sick.  This was probably because then he would be admitting that he was in need of help and it would be accepting the absence of his mother.  Wright had been receiving help from others all his life from food to places to stay, and he never felt guilty for that.  But after his mother was no longer in the equation he suddenly felt that he would become helpless if he accepted gifts of food from friends.  Wright also tried to be forth a conscious effort for the first time in the novel to keep out of trouble.  He knew that if he did anything wrong then his chances of finding a place to stay with his relative would be slim.  Richard changed in the sense that after his mother become ill he become much more responsible and lost most of his childish ways.  he realized that he was on his own and that he had to stop relying on others and start providing for himself, which was something he was not accustomed to at the time. 

Wright and his view on Jews

Wright was brought up to believe that Jewish people were inferior compared to the black race.  They were taught that Jews were evil because they cursed Jesus and didn’t believe in Him.  It became expectable from a young age to ridicule and say racist remarks against the Jews because it is what everyone around them did.  It was normal for Wright and his friends to go around spitting racist and extremely rude remarks to Jew’s as they passed by them.  No one thought to except their religion or consider the actual story behind their belief.  This is very ironic considering the prejudice that they would instill upon Jewish people was the same types of prejudices that they experienced from whites.  Blacks were accustomed to being treated like animals by the whites.  Wright was in constant questioning of his mom about why whites and blacks were so separated, because as a kid he doesn’t really see a difference in people besides how they are treated.  Wright didn’t know at the time that calling the Jews names was anything but normal, and he saw absolutely nothing wrong with it.  In fact, it was the one thing bad he could say to another individual and not get beaten by his mother for it.  Even though it seems that because blacks were treated horrible by white they would not return the behavior to other ethnic groups, but that was far from the case.  They probably felt that it was okay because they had some other group of individuals that they could treat lower than the status they felt.  And, this would help them feel more human

Why is Wright Hungry?

In the literal meaning, Wright is actually starving due to the lack of money his mother has.  His father mysteriously leaves, which leaves his mother home alone with no job or money.  For awhile Wright and his brother had no access to food because his mother was unemployed.  The metaphorical meaning of Wright's hunger rooted from longing to be understood and obtain a feeling of belonging.  Wright was constantly getting in trouble for things that an average 4 year old wouldn't normally explore like setting the curtains on fire or hanging a cat.  Wright obviously is very intelligent, he just is misunderstood.  He has a hard time understanding why he gets in trouble for the things he does, because at the time he doesn't think of the action as bad.  For example, the reason he hanged the cat was in order to prove to his dad that the words that come out of his mouth can be taken literally, and he wanted to prove his obedience.  Wright's reasoning for things is beyond his age, but is always misunderstood.  I believe that Wright has a Hunger for someone to understand his actions, and to not be thrown under the bus with punishment when he is trying to express himself.  

Do we NEED to go to school??..

Of course I think that receiving an education is important and a necessity in life, but I do think that could be taught in many other ways then the conventional schooling system that we have established.  For the most part I think that University does a pretty okay job at keeping the topics and learning interesting yet educational, which strays away from boredom.  But, many other schools students are simply spitting back facts that really have no connection to actual life, so with that aspect schools should be reformed not removed all together.  I do think that school takes up a ridiculous amount of life, and a lot of that time I spend working on school work that the second I turn it leaves my head.  I'm sure most students would agree with me that school has become less about actually learning things and more about grades.  I work hard at school for the grades.  Sometimes school can get very repetitive because I view it as work work work, good grade, work work work, good grade.  This is a dangerous cycle because I can get a hundred on a History test or on a vocab test, and then a week later I could easily fail the same test.  I retain info for the test, but I don't actually learn it.  This usually just applies to classes that information comes from a text book, not classes that revolve around ideas like English because then I am forced to think of my own thoughts, which teaches me the real information.  So, for most schooling, yes, I would agree that we don't really need to go to school to receive a proper education because the majority of the time I don't think I'm learning rather than spitting out useless facts that I forget days later. 

Non-Academic Education

All my education I have ever received has been taught with a nonacademic/ progressive type to style.  Learning how things relate to the current world around you rather than reciting subject matter from a book helps a great deal in forming a well rounded education.  Learning things that don't relate in some way to your current life is useless in my eyes, but unfortunately it is what most schools teach.  I am confident that the style in which i am being taught is going to give me a good foundation for dealing with things and shaping my ideas in the future.  What does sometime make me nervous though is that because I have really only been taught in this style what happens when I have to go to college, and perhaps they do not conform to what I am used to.  The rest of the world is very behind in this idea of nonacademic education because they teach to test not for the sake of letting their students actually learn.  I am really bad at purely educational all from the book type of informational tests, like the SAT.  Even though I have learned how to get around taking them, and can come up with a decent score now it has been hard for me in the past.  I think this probably has to do with the fact that I never was taught to think in that way, or learn in that style.  

Rhetoric images

Many of the rhetoric images I saw today were of places or storefronts.  The one that was different was Chris's photo of the boy's basket ball team.  I had never thought about the boy's uniforms sent our an example of rhetoric, but now I realize that rhetoric is in almost everything you see but we subconsciously realize it.  When I see all the boy's in matching uniform, now that i think of it, it does send me the impression that they are organized and play well simply just because they look put together and match as a team and look like a unit.  When this project first presented its self i had a hard time thinking of what I wanted to do, but now that everyone has presented i realize that rhetoric is in much more than I would think.  Of course, i realize that almost everything that we see is trying to send some kind os message, but when I look at these things I don't sit and figure out what they are trying to tell me, it just registers subliminally. 

Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption

Kendall's assertion is that the media molds how we live life, and it does not reflect it.  I would have to disagree to an extent.  I believe that the media is a mirror of our society, because if it wasn't then we wouldn't fallow so intensely what happens in the media.  In order to be successful the media has to cater to the audiences wishes and needs.  However, I do think that the media eggs on our values by making extremes out of all of them.  Like over emphasizing wealth, appearance, and power.  In this way they do control society.  They take our values and over emphasize what they can in order to sell it, and thats how they influences us.  I do agree with Kendall's claim that the media distorts our idea  of social inequality.  The media plays up the "American Dream," because they know that what people are most interested in.  People want to know and vicariously live through the wealthy by watching popular t.v dramas that usually revolve around the wealthy.  Because of this, the main focus of shows is around wealth, and people with no money or an average amount of money are played down as not important.  I don't think T.V is exactly what causes Americans to run up a credit card debit, but rather the need to have the latest technology item or the latest clothing trends.  But, this need and want comes from the media, which can be seen from television.  We get our ideas of what is in or popular from the media, which in return causes us to want it to fit in with everyone else.  

Images

For the pictures I took I concentrated on contrasting two different environments.  I went to Broad Ripple because I live pretty close to it, and then I went up to Carmel.  In Broad Ripple I took pictures of the various art installations they have scattered around randomly.  Most of them are all sculptures made out of some sort of metal, and all have extremely artistic characteristics.  This is common to see in Broad Ripple because the type of people and business they want to attract all fit within this arty persona.  I then went to carmel and look for art, sculptures, or monuments they might have around that compliments the characteristics they are trying to portray.  What I ended up taking pictures of was one of a couple big brick clock towers located next to the Village of West Clay.  I guess you could call it some kind of art, but what i found was very different than from Broad Ripple.  It was very dominate, proper, and wealthy looking, which is what Carmel is trying to portray in all there random things they put up to decorate.  It would be weird to think about a metal arty sculpture in the middle of a park in Carmel, because it just wouldn't fit. 

Gitlin

Gitlin feels that the streams of rhetoric that pour out of the United States have created a sort of global phenomenon.  He is saying that because many other cultures have adopted our products and ideas such as Coke, Disney, and clothing trends it has homogenized many countries cultures to our own.  It has brought the youth together "where they share some dreams of freedom, wealth, comfort, innocence, and power." America is a symbol of equal opportunity and freedom and youth that live all over the world want to adopt our idea and products because many people want to live in the culture we have created. So, they make it for themselves.   People want to be to have a connection with the American culture to feel that they have a sense global connection beyond the world that they live in.  I agree with Gitlin ideas.  Products and material items are very important to most Americans, and because of this American companies can thrive beyond those of many other counties.  Along with this people in other countries also look up to America as a free place where everyone has opportunities.  It makes sense that people would want to assimilate with all that products and ideas that Americans find important, because then they too will feel some sort of connection to being American. 

"Two Ways a Woman Can get Hurt"

According to Kilbourne, it is dangerous to portray women and men in sexual ways to advertise because it sends out the message that it is okay to depict people as sexual objects.  People are inspired and follow the media for the latest trends, and because the media is saying that people are nothing more then sexual objects for your own enjoyment than that is what people are going to follow and assimilate with.  It is bad for both men and women, but it is actually dangerous when it comes to women.  I would have to agree with Kilbourne when she states this.  Woman that are depicted as sex objects or controlled by men in advertisements then turn around and it becomes true life for actual women in society.  People so strongly follow what the media say that they believe it to be true life.  Kilbourne mentioned about a story where a girl was rapped and they used the slogan that Victoria Secret uses, which is that there lingerie will make them irresistible as evidence against her.  Due to the fact that she was wearing Victoria Secret underwear, she was asking for it.  Instances like this prove that people actually believe what companies advertise.  Women are at much more risk than men when it comes to this.  Men do not have to be worried as much about rape, harassment, or being beaten.  Men naturally have the upper hand because they are built to be stronger than women, and when ads are put out against them they do not have to deal with the consequences of their actions.  Its hard for men to understand this because they most likely have never experienced harassment or having to worry about being on street alone.  The main reason we have to have these concerns is because of how the media has depicted women to men. 

Super Bowl Ads

Like every years the common theme for the Super Bowl commercials was directed towards men.  The majority of the commercials this year focused on beer, cars, and women, which is not surprising considering football is thought to be a male sport.  What I did realize is that most of the commercials aim to have a funny pun that might or might not have anything to do with the actual product but they use that to get people to remember it. No body really cares about the actual product, because if they did they could get away with simply have a picture of what the products is and what it does.  But, that would not be affective.  The goal is to be the funniest commercial so the day after when you go back to think of all the commercials you saw throughout the game their commercial will be one of the only ones you remember, so you in return think about their product when you go out to buy something related to it.  This shouldn't be a legitimate way to buy a product, but companies have figured out that it works, and it does.