So, I have two female roommates, three girls all with boyfriends, living together in an apartment... On Friday night we sat around having a roommate night and watched Say Yes to the Dress on TLC. The show consists of several bridal consultants that are assigned to a bride for an appointment to find their "perfect" wedding dress.
Sitting there watching this show, I had only seen maybe once to twice before, we fantasized about going to New York City to have an appointment with a bridal consultant to find our perfect wedding dresses. As we watched all of the brides try on dress after dress and show their families and friends to ask for opinions, it was commercial breaks that made the show interesting. During the commercials we talked about the dresses that we each liked and why, we commented on what we wanted our own weddings to be like and how differently we would do things not only from the show but from each other.
The shows played one after another and seemed to flow from one to the next and before we knew it we had been watching, talking, and fantasizing, for three hours. There really wasn't much to the show, but for some reason we just could not stop watching. Did we stay fixed to the TV because we were enjoying the show or because we just became engulfed by the ideas we developed from watching other women have what every girl dreams of?
Before we went to bed that night, we talked about why we just couldn't change the channel. My one roommate said that it was the dreaming about our futures that kept us glued to our TV. The other said it was the comical aspect of the show, watching the brides be complimented on how beautiful a dress was or how blunt and honest their friends and families were when the absolutely hated what they had on. My thoughts, we were mesmerized by both a fantasy as well as comedic interest. I feel that as a view I am not only more drawn to this bridal store in New York, but I am also thrown into this whirlwind of society where when growing up, every little girls dreams of a big princess dress, and in reality not everyone gets that. Especially after not really watching this show before, I feel that it encourages women to fulfil that inner princess but it also shows how different every one's ending turns out.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
We are Smart!!
Reading these articles and listening to what Bauerlein is saying about our generation is really starting frustrate me. I understand how he can think that younger generations may seem less intelligent than him, but that does not mean that we are "dumb" in any way! I think that every generation looks at the ones after them and thinks that they are less intelligent or that they do not learn what they learned in school, that their use of technology is way too advanced for their age because when you were their age you never would have thought of being that technologically advanced. With each younger generation come a series of changes and adaptations that may have occurred later in life for the previous generation and with that comes a little bit of jealousy and animosity towards the younger generation and along with that, the thought that because it happened at a different time it makes them "dumb" or know less than the generation before at the same age.
For me, I feel pretty offended that Bauerlein thinks any one that is under the age of 30 is "dumb", I do not see why I need to defend my intelligence all the time. I worked my way through each level of school and got my self into college, that is not an easy task for everyone. If Bauerlein feels that we lack a well rounded educational background then why is that as college students we are still required to take the general education courses to graduate, we still have to study History, English, Communication, Sciences, and Mathematics. True, those classes may not interest every single student but that does not mean that they do not learn the material and not only learn it to pass the class but learn it and remember key information to keep their education well rounded.
I grew up watching and playing trivia shows and games like, Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Cash Cab and Trivial Pursuit. All of those games require both general knowledge as well as pointless knowledge about things like what are the names of the seven dwarfs in Snow White. The idea of being knowledgeable vs being dumb is not drawn by a solid black line. A person can a have a head full of common sense but no know the first thing about hydrothermal metamorphism, does that make them dumb? No! It means that they learned and or were taught differently from the person that can tell you what hydrothermal metamorphism is! This whole idea of being dumb needs to take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture, who are the people responsible for making sure the younger generations are educated, because with every year that goes by there are new educators thrust into the field and it becomes their job to pass what they have learned onto the next generation of students.
For me, I feel pretty offended that Bauerlein thinks any one that is under the age of 30 is "dumb", I do not see why I need to defend my intelligence all the time. I worked my way through each level of school and got my self into college, that is not an easy task for everyone. If Bauerlein feels that we lack a well rounded educational background then why is that as college students we are still required to take the general education courses to graduate, we still have to study History, English, Communication, Sciences, and Mathematics. True, those classes may not interest every single student but that does not mean that they do not learn the material and not only learn it to pass the class but learn it and remember key information to keep their education well rounded.
I grew up watching and playing trivia shows and games like, Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Cash Cab and Trivial Pursuit. All of those games require both general knowledge as well as pointless knowledge about things like what are the names of the seven dwarfs in Snow White. The idea of being knowledgeable vs being dumb is not drawn by a solid black line. A person can a have a head full of common sense but no know the first thing about hydrothermal metamorphism, does that make them dumb? No! It means that they learned and or were taught differently from the person that can tell you what hydrothermal metamorphism is! This whole idea of being dumb needs to take a few steps back and look at the bigger picture, who are the people responsible for making sure the younger generations are educated, because with every year that goes by there are new educators thrust into the field and it becomes their job to pass what they have learned onto the next generation of students.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Will it Really Work the Way You Want it to?
Cyberspace vs the real world is very controversial, who is to say where the line is clearly draw... A person who spends the majority of their time online might argue that it makes up their real world to them. While another person would argue that it is a waste of time to sit in front of the computer playing a game in a world that does not really exist. My focus is more on the relationship formed in these "virtual" worlds. Having had past experience and knowing someone who has been through an online relationship that began in a "virtual" world and moved into the "real" world I have seen first hand how these relationships can pan out.
Being a character online, a person can become anyone that they could ever dream of being. They can have different physical features, they can become a different gender, and even be a character that is not even human. These persona's that the characters take on become a completely different person than the one that is sitting in front of the computer playing the game. They may have been made in their image or started out with their original personality, but they develop and become someone completely different eventually. When a game begins a relationship online they have come to like and enjoy the company of someone who is not actually around, they like a made up character in a game that has made up features and most likely a made up personality. When they meet that person in the "real" world, they are setting themselves up for a completely different person, a computer can hide a lot more about a person than it can tell by an online profile. Meeting these people and forming real functional romantic relationships is not an easy task. No one openly admits to their bad habits or quarks that make them unique online, there is no need to, so how would someone know if the person they are meeting is messy and disorganized or picks their nose, they wouldn't because those kinds of traits are kept a secret because of the anonymity of a computer. Relationships that begin in cyberspace seem to be very far fetched for me to think that they can actually work out. I watched one fail miserably and someone that I care about what deeply hurt and the healing process takes a long time to fix all the damage done by picking up and moving one's life all the way across the country to be with someone that you have never really met before that day that they pick you up at the air port.
I do not believe that these are functional and realistic relationships no matter what information one discloses about them self to another online... It is never the whole truth.
Being a character online, a person can become anyone that they could ever dream of being. They can have different physical features, they can become a different gender, and even be a character that is not even human. These persona's that the characters take on become a completely different person than the one that is sitting in front of the computer playing the game. They may have been made in their image or started out with their original personality, but they develop and become someone completely different eventually. When a game begins a relationship online they have come to like and enjoy the company of someone who is not actually around, they like a made up character in a game that has made up features and most likely a made up personality. When they meet that person in the "real" world, they are setting themselves up for a completely different person, a computer can hide a lot more about a person than it can tell by an online profile. Meeting these people and forming real functional romantic relationships is not an easy task. No one openly admits to their bad habits or quarks that make them unique online, there is no need to, so how would someone know if the person they are meeting is messy and disorganized or picks their nose, they wouldn't because those kinds of traits are kept a secret because of the anonymity of a computer. Relationships that begin in cyberspace seem to be very far fetched for me to think that they can actually work out. I watched one fail miserably and someone that I care about what deeply hurt and the healing process takes a long time to fix all the damage done by picking up and moving one's life all the way across the country to be with someone that you have never really met before that day that they pick you up at the air port.
I do not believe that these are functional and realistic relationships no matter what information one discloses about them self to another online... It is never the whole truth.
Monday, September 12, 2011
More, More, More...
"Most American have everything they could possibly want, and they still don't think it's nearly enough. When everything is at hand, nothing is ever hard-won, and when nothing is hard-won, nothing really satisfies. Without satisfaction, out lives become shallow and meaningless." P. 11
This quote struck me as not only true but very defining. It sums up and defines American culture in a way that everyone thinks to themselves, but no one will adimit out loud. Lasn is explaining this idea of "plentitude" that Americans have everything that they want and more than some could ever even desire, yet they still itch for more, for something better, something that will satisfy their taste, when ultimately, it might not yet exisit. We, as Americans focus way too much on material things and live in a very materialistic society, that puts quite a bit of pressure on us to strive for and achieve that level of being better than the last model. We have become much more focused on name brands and latest models that things like our education and family become less important. Did you know that more people can name the Seven Dwarfs than can name all seven Supreme Court Justices? I found this picture and it perfectly showcases how people can identify more logos and symbols than put their education to good use.
This quote struck me as not only true but very defining. It sums up and defines American culture in a way that everyone thinks to themselves, but no one will adimit out loud. Lasn is explaining this idea of "plentitude" that Americans have everything that they want and more than some could ever even desire, yet they still itch for more, for something better, something that will satisfy their taste, when ultimately, it might not yet exisit. We, as Americans focus way too much on material things and live in a very materialistic society, that puts quite a bit of pressure on us to strive for and achieve that level of being better than the last model. We have become much more focused on name brands and latest models that things like our education and family become less important. Did you know that more people can name the Seven Dwarfs than can name all seven Supreme Court Justices? I found this picture and it perfectly showcases how people can identify more logos and symbols than put their education to good use.
Well, hi!!
My name is Katie Johnson, I am 20 years old and an exercise science major here at ship. I love being outside and being active, sports are a MUST! I will play or watch just about any sport there is! I took Intro to Literature this semester because I needed to meet an English requirement and this class interested me the most because I love to read and being able to talk about what I have read. The last book that I read was Water for Elephants, it was amazing, I loved it! I am not really a big TV watcher, but I enjoy a few TV shows and definitely ESPN. I love to curl up and watch good movies with friends, anything that makes me laugh is great! To me, literature is a creative way for a writer to express an experience or tell a story from their point of view to an open audience in a number of different ways. I am really excited to be able to converse and discuss what we, as a class, will be reading this semester!
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