English1020

2006-07-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Musically speaking!

There is no way that I can find only 10 songs that define my life. At different times during different decades a particular song might have described my life, soothed me, energized me, and irritated me. But it was THAT time and that time is gone. Of course certain songs do invoke memories but they are too numerous to mention.

I love all kinds of music. Of course Motown http://classic.motown.com/ is undoubtedly my favorite genre but I also luv rock, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Led_Zeppelin alternative, classical http://www.mozarteffect.com/MoreOnTME/WhatIsTME.html and even country (let me qualify that SOME country).

However, I do have to say that the 70’s hold a special meaning for me as I experienced some special life events. I graduated from high school, actually was old enough to drink at 19 for a short time, then turned 21, and got married in 1978. So here are the top hits from that decade. Disco forever! http://ntl.matrix.com.br/pfilho/oldies_list/top/70.htm

Then came the 80’s for me and that was special as I had two children during that decade. Here are the top hits from that era. http://ntl.matrix.com.br/pfilho/oldies_list/top/80.htm

Now I will say that the song Harbor Lights by the Platters does hold a special meaning for me. I like this because it is my mom’s favorite song. When I hear it I remember her getting dressed up to go out. She would put on her favorite black dress and special black shoes dabbing on her favorite cologne, which was Ciro’s Danger. My mom is 77 years old and I know that one day she won’t be around and it will be nice to hear that song and remember her when she was young and full of life.

Perhaps Nietsche said it best. "Without music, life would be a mistake." - -- Friedrich Nietzsche

2006-07-18T12:45:00.000-07:00

Draft for my story

Discipline
http://www.busadm.wayne.edu/

Sample Recruiters for Finance Majors
Allstate Insurance Group
Ameritech Applied Technologies
Chubb Group of Ins. Co
Comerica Inc.
Consumers Power Company
DaimlerChrysler
Deloitte & Touche
Detroit Edison
EDS
Ford Motor Company
Health Alliance Plan (HAP)
Kmart
Michigan National Bank Corporation
New England Life Financial Services
Prudential Insurance Company
Sample Recruiters for ISM Majors
Ameritech Applied Technologies
Bank One
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Comerica Inc.
Complete Business Solutions, Inc.
DaimlerChrysler
Deloitte & Touche

http://www.ppom.com/

Anecdote/Community
http://www.masb.org/
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
http://www.wcs.k12.mi.us/
http://www.brazelton-institute.com/berrybio.html http://www.bellyrox.com/wwwbellyroxcom/puredance.html

http://www.yahoo.com/s/240226

http://www.sss.gov/
1984 by Orwell, George

Entertainment
www.ymca.net
http://www.pineknobmusic.com/

2006-07-16T11:23:00.000-07:00

A Scanner Darkley

I went and saw the preview. I thought that the film effect of rotoscoping was perfect for the subject of the movie. At times, the pictures looked almost like a regular film but then it took on this animated quality that was mesmerizing. The story of how one man's life was taken over by a police narcotics operative unit was eerie because it makes you think that this really could happen. I enjoyed it. I would see more rotoscope films.

2006-07-11T12:42:00.000-07:00

Off the Leash!

I have an English Springer Spaniel named Nike. She was named that by my oldest son, because she has this "swoosh" on her backside. It is really his dog. So why do I have her? Good questions, but he cannot take her where he lives at the present time. So Nike and I have had lots of quality time for approximately the last year. I take her for a walk every morning before work when the world is not quite awake and frankly sometimes I am not quite awake. Nevertheless, usually we go to the park close to my house where I let her off the leash so she can run off that boundless nervous energy she has before her imposed daily house arrest.

I have read recently how dog experts are recommending that taking your dog off the leash is quite healthy mentally and physically for the “Canis lupus familiris” (domestic dog).

So I got to thinking, about the parallel of when we “homo sapiens” get let off the leash.

Remember, when as kids a snow day was an ultimate day off the leash. Your mom doesn’t wake you up early. Then after you finally get up you and your friends go out and make snow forts until your fingers turn blue.

As adults we get off the leash when we take vacation time, hug your kids, have sex, eat a good meal, read a good book, see a good movie, listen to a good joke or perhaps even when we take a walk with the ole’ canis lupus familiris. Hmmm, which brings up the question of just who is walking whom? Does it matter? No, life is short so just enjoy the time off the leash!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question

2006-07-11T12:37:00.000-07:00

At the end of his essay de Botton favorably compares comics to other artists. What does he see as the role or purpose of art-particularly comedy-in a society?

Alain de Botton says that comedy fits into Matthew Arnold’s definition of art as a discipline offering criticism of life. MA states that their work strives to correct both the injustices of power and the excesses of our envy of those positioned above us in the social hierarchy. Like tragedians, they are motivated by some of the most regrettable aspects of the human condition. (Matt Arnold 1822-1888 English poet, critic and educator) This reminds me of The Three Stooges comedies where their anti-Nazi message was clearly defined in some of their work.

I do think that it is important to occasionally poke fun at those institutions or people who have become self- serving or arrogant with their positions of power. It may sometimes be hard to listen to some comics as they slice and dice their way through catastrophe’s like Katrina but I think they also are making some important observations. Observations that perhaps help the public ask the right questions of those who make or perhaps neglect to make important decisions. This reminds me of the

De Botton also says that the unconscious aim of comics may be to bring about the world where there will be less things to laugh about. Yes, I would definitely like to hear one less joke by Jay Leno or Jon Stewart about the war in Iraq. Unfortunately, until there is withdrawal or peace we will just have to keep laughing.

2006-07-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

Laura Kipnis should not watch the movie, “The Notebook”. I can hear the retching noises now, as she is totally disgusted with Allie for being so in love with Noah.

Both characters in this very romantic movie are the antithesis of her argument, “Why has modern love developed in such a way as, to maximize submission and minimize freedom, with so little argument about it”. In Notebook, it seems like the lovers always argued even to the point of physically slapping each other. Which by the way, kind of bothered me that they did get that physically abusive. Nevertheless, I believe it was Noah who said something like, “It’s what we do, we get mad at each other”, after one of their raucous meetings. I believe Noah and Allie went down the love’s path kicking and screaming yet enduring. The enduring relationship challenges yet another of Laura’s declarations that, “most of us pledge ourselves to unions that will far outlast the desire, that impelled them into being”. Noah, or Duke read to Allie everyday from her notebook till they both expired in each other’s arms.
Sure it’s a movie and who knows how many really bad days Noah and Allie really experienced as Laura Kipnis steadfastly proclaims couples will be subjected to over time. I even agree with some of her analysis of the manipulative nature of this so-called modern love. Yet, I can’t help but think that somewhere between Utopia and Laura Kipnis couples can have emotionally satisfying relationships without sacrificing their souls. I say “l'amour est grand”!

2006-06-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

First, I would like to say that the movie, “The End of the Affair”, is a favorite of mine. It is pure romantic escapism. Ralph Fiennes and Julianne Moore are believable and they made you want to be them. I believe that we all would love to fall under that magic spell where the earth stands still and we feel the endorphins of love.

Ralph was so handsome, witty, sarcastically intelligent and had qualities that epitomized what would attract a woman. Julianne classically portrayed the long-suffering diplomat’s wife who was looking for just the right spark. Fiennes was that spark. Hollywood always picks handsome and or quirky guys and unhappy, bored wives.

Passion, deceit, tenderness, self-sacrifice and intrigue is a formula that Hollywood learned long ago to perfect when it came to telling a good love story. Plus, World War II was the perfect backdrop of tension for this love story.

Then the coup de grace was the tragic ending – so Hollywood yet we (the viewers)buy it every time. There must be something very appealing about a storyline that enables one of the lovers going through life loving someone that they will never see, grow old or sick and who they will miss ad infinitum.

2006-06-20T16:36:00.000-07:00

Tarnation was a comment on the human condition. Normal? No not by most people's experiences. Yet, for Jonathan and his mother Renee, abuse, psychosis, sadness, loss, confusion and anger ruled their lives. Both had spiraled into the depths of mental illness so acute that there was never a chance to return to any semblance of a clear, concise, positive though process.

How, what, why are the questions I kept asking. Altho I missed the first 15 minutes of the movie, it appeared that it started with Renee's parents giving her shock treatments for some kind of behavior that she displayed. Obviously, the parents were unstable mentally themselves yet the doctors who recommended this treatment have to share the blame. Perhaps this is partly what Nietzsche talked about in regards to identity and letting someone decide your identity. Rosemary and Adolph certainly let someone else decide their daughter's fate. Were they just bad parents or mininformed parents. Perhaps Rosemary and Adolph were abused themselves and that is all they knew. All they knew was how to continue the cycle of abuse. Was Renee's fate pre-destined? One would have to delve into far more family history to see why this really happened. Parents are supposed to protect their children. Rosemary and Adloph did not protect Renee. Renee could not protect Jonathan thus he became the next victim.

It was uncomfortable to watch Jonathan. His self mutilation, his premature entrance into sexual behavior while he was still so young was frightening. You had to imagine how some predators took advantage of him and how confused and scared he must have felt at times.

It is also puzzling as there is this flash of brillance Jonathan displays as an almost a genius like quality in filming his life story iin real time. There seems to be this fine line between madness and virtuoso. He obviously was capable of being in a loving relationshiop with David. Perhaps this gave him some stability someting he never had growing up. Which brngs to mind the anger I felt over the foster home program. How can our foster system be so screwed up. How many times have we heard in the last few years that children sent to foster homes are sometiimes in more danger than if they stayed with the parents. Perhaps, if Jonathan had been placed in a safe environment with parents who gave him boundries and love his life might have been different. Maybe or maybe not as Renee's inability to parent left it's indelible mark on him. As he said at the end, that despite everythig he loved his mother. She was part of him, body and soul and he knew he could not separate from her but he also knew he did not want to be like her. His movie was a noble attempt to do just that. Yes Tarnation was disturbing and frightening yet also honest and hopeful.

2006-06-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

On June 7 Carey Gillam of Reuters Health reported, “Across the United States, local and state officials are spending millions of dollars to plot strategies for dealing with a still hypothetical but experts say inevitable – pandemic flu crisis forecast to kill upwards of 2 million Americans.”

Every so often after what seems like a lull in the action the Avian Bird-Flu or H5N1 as it is commonly referred to, squawks it's way back into the headlines. How worried should we be and should we all be buying the “Avian Bird-Flu Preparedness Kit.” Trust me, just type in the words bird flu on any search engine and you will have a plethora of web sites from which to buy these products. Is this hype and greed on the part of those who would make money by playing on people’s fears or should we be taking this potential pandemic a little more seriously?

The USINFO.STATE.GOV web site special link lists ten things they think people should know when there is a pandemic outbreak. I will give you four that caught my attention:
Ø All countries will be affected
Ø Medical supplies will be inadequate
Ø Large numbers of deaths will occur
Ø Economic and social disruption will be great

Am I panicking? Nope. Am I concerned? A little. Are you?

http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/global_issues/bird_flu.html

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory

2006-06-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Careful to admit that food isn’t necessarily better at home, Pillsbury writes, “Many homemakers are not great cooks, nor do they care to be.” If it isn’t the taste of home cooking that’s at stake, what is it that he fears is being lost by replacing the at-home experience with a restaurant experience?

First, isn’t it ironic that we have a man named Pillsbury writing about dining out, when we all know that the word Pillsbury is synonymous with dining at home with light fluffy biscuits, croissants, and cinnamon buns that taste almost as good as if you made them from scratch. Let’s have a cheer for that doughboy.

The author’s lament is not about the food but about the journey towards togetherness a meal at home provides family and friends. No doubt, there are some women who will never match the culinary skills of Martha Stewart nor will all men live their life to say “bam” in the kitchen like the esteemed Emeril. Yet, what Pillsbury is saying is that we as society, as families miss out on a very important connection that happens when we gather to dine.

In my opinion, nothing substitutes a great big family meal with all your sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and perhaps a few close friends at holiday time. Yes, the gravy is lumpy, the turkey takes way too long but yet isn’t it about seeing and rediscovering each other and the art of conversation. One person also does not have to share the burden of doing all the work either as everyone should pitch in and help the cook/chef.

Also, eating at home is so much more comfortable than at a restaurant especially at holiday times. No reservations to worry about no talking over busy restaurant clatter. Just relaxed quiet and intimate conversation with Grandma about her gallbladder operation. Ah yes, no place like home.

2006-06-06T16:37:00.000-07:00

3. Interrogating Assumptions: How do Communities function?

Communities do provide a sense of stability as shown in the Hostetler writing, "The Amish Charter." Here the Amish have a set of strick rules that everyone follows, no one is different. The sense of stability comes from the fact that they share a common belief and that they depend solely on each other. The Amish try to keep the world out which lessons the likelihood of instability. Separation from the world is a basic tenant of the Amish charter; yet the Amish are not highly ethnocentric in their relationships with the outside world.(pg 102) This means that because they believe in the stability of their community, they are able to let "others" on the outside live their life without judgment, comment or recruiting on their part.

Another community described by Mim Udovitch provides some stability for those who have an ED or Eating Disorder. Her "A Secret Society of the Starving", gives those who belong to this disturbing group of individuals a sense that there are others out there who like them are special. "Primarily the site reinforces the secretiveness and the "specialness" of the disorder." Davis says. This pro-ana web site provides some sort of safety net albeit a negative safety net in my opinion.
Yet, it is still a modern community thanks to the technology of the twenty first century. One has to wonder if there was no internet would there be such a large number of pro-ana's? Is there really such a large community of these individuals or the internet create the community because people wandered into it by just surfing.

Lastly,in The Land of the Setting Sun, Bill Donahue and Peter Cranser talk humorously about a closed community of retirees who are far from retiring from life. There are critics of Sun City like Marc Freedman who wrote the book Prime Time says that retirees shouldn't take themselves "out of circulation" but should instead remain in mixed-age communities to share their wisdom through volunteering. (pg 163) Yet those who live in these age segregated communities would take umbrage with the thought of not enjoying their golden years in this manner. They believe this is their reward for all those hard years of working. This closed community offers this older generation the stability of warm weather, people who grew up in an age where "cleanliness, honesty, and inegrity all go together", so says Waldo Smith one of Sun City's biggest pride members. (Pg. 166)

All of the above authors do define a community where by the strictest definition is a place whee a group of like minded individuals live or gather. In my opinion,this can be physically or virtually.

2006-06-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

According to Brooks, what is the Paradise Spell? What is that he believes sprawling exurbs represent? Focusing on the last few paragraphs of the reading, pull out several quotes that represent Brook’s explanation of this concept.

The Paradise Spell is a notion or belief those individuals can somehow attain everything they wanted meaning garnering a perfect life. Exurbia he says is just beyond what we consider the suburbs and is represented mostly by the middle class. He also feels that somehow everyone in exurbia lives in the shadow of golf. Brooks feels that it is because the exurbians have found a way to master their life much like a golfer masters each hole on a course. The exurbanites have founds a way to overcome chaos, nervousness and rushing around like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland who was always looking at his watch and proclaiming he was late while running out the door.

Brooks direct quotes on the Paradise Spell are on page 147. In one of them he says, “Born in abundance, inspired by opportunity, nurtured in imagination, spiritualized by a sense of God’s blessing and call, and realized in ordinary day by day, this Paradise Spell in the controlling ideology of national life, just out of reach, just beyond the next edge, just out in the furthermost suburb or with the next entrepreneurial scheme, just with the next diet plan or credit card purchase, the next true love or political her, the next summer home or all-terrain vehicle, the next meditation technique or motivational seminar; just with the right schools, the right moral revival , the right beer, and the right set of buddies; just with the next technology or after the next shopping spree there is this spot you can get to where all tension will melt, all time pressures will be relieved, and happiness can be realized.”

I think Brooks is personally looking at the world as a glass half empty, which I know is such an overused cliché. In fact, this cliché is probably used in the “next motivational seminar” that Brooks refers to in his very long one sentence description of the Paradise Spell. Oops, am I under the Paradise Spell? Maybe, but who doesn’t want a better life not only for themselves but also for their children. What is wrong with hope? Yet perhaps his point is that we ought to realize that what we have now is Paradise and like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz we should say, “-- and it's that -- if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own backyard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with! Is that right?”

What do you think!

www.wizdomofoz.com/movie/18water.htm
http://members.tripod.com/~NASCARULZ/ozmain.html

2006-05-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

What questions can you ask to uncover the benefits and limitations of the assumption that communities serve our needs and are good for us?

1. What roles do individuals play within a particular community?
2. How does this community demonstrate its support for the individuals who are its members? How is this support defined?
3. What underlying values – whether positive, negative, or some combination – are revealed through this support?

All my answers to the above questions are based on educational issues in my community where I was a taxpayer, parent and school board member.

I was part of the WCS (Warren Consolidated Schools) Community from 1980 until 2004. I asked the local school board many questions regarding their decisions for the students in that school district. I questioned whether or not their decisions were enhancing the quality of education in our school district for all students. Conversely, when I was elected to two terms on the school board those same questions were asked of me.

Parents have plenty of opportunity to play a role in their community when it comes to the education of their children. They can volunteer in their particular schools.

A community can demonstrate it support for individuals by voting for people who support public education to their local school board. Campaigning for the individual(s) and encouraging others in their community to vote can define this support.

What you see when you or other individuals of a community run for a public office is often a lesson in human nature or other people’s values. It can be a negative and or positive lesson. As in all politics, sometimes people are misquoted and that misquote is often used negatively against a certain candidate. On a positive note, campaigning for someone you believe is the best candidate brings out a sense of altruism and loyalty. Supporting a candidate and believing in that person allow other people in a community to feel that they are a part of something important.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." Mead, Margaret American anthropologist (1901-1978)

2006-05-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Nietzche is saying that our identity is based on belonging to a human herd and following the rules of that particular herd. He says that we do what we are told even if it seems unconscious. His claim parallels those of some of the writings we have read in our text. As we went thru the first chapter about assumptions we speculate that identity is shaped by culture. Society questions what is normal and whatever is normal as dictated by your group or herd is what you as an individual behaves.

Emily White’s High School Secret Life certainly supports Nietzsche when she talks about how different groups act. Whether it is the Girl Scouts or the Popular kids there seems to be a set of rules that must be followed to belong to these groups. These groups have a few leaders that are followed and while the leadership might change there is always one or two students who everyone in the group seem to follow. Even those on the outside of the group obey the dictates of those groups and never seem to cross the line. Just going up and trying to join in would be a disaster so they let the few dictate their fate.

Even the Thornton piece about the Census talks about a form of dictation where society says you must choose race to be counted.

2006-05-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Thornton writes, “Race, we now know is a social notion, not a biological reality”. How does he support this argument? Do you agree with him? Why or why not?

Thornton supports this argument by correctly pointing out that it is society itself that chooses the identity a person must pick on a census. On page 67, hr says, “The black Indian child may think of himself as Indian, but if no one around him does, then he has to run up against the limit of his own power to choose a racial identity.” Thornton means that the black Indian child will be seen as “black” not Indian because society sees the color of his skin first. I agree that even though this child may be half Indian he may feel like he has to choose the African American identify because it is easier for him/her. Society will not question what they see to be their truth.

2006-05-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Pg. 19 Question 1:
White uses words like "tribes to describe the nature of the social scene among teenagers at this high school. Why does she use these comparisons? And to what effect? Reexamine the essay and find three of four more examples where her language choices highlight a comparison of teens to tribes.

The American Heritage Dictionary at dictionary.com describes a tribe as group of people sharing an occupation, interest, or habit. White's description of the students at Calhoun high share various interests, which equate with this definition of a tribe. Another American Heritage dictionary.com definition says that a tribe is also a unit of sociopolitical organization consisting of a number of families, clans, or other groups who share a common ancestry and culture and among whom leadership is typically neither formalized nor permanent. Can a high school be an example of a sociopolitical organization? Of course it can and the families or clans are the "groups of students". The leadership of each group is not formalized nor is it permanent as every year "some" of each group graduate, i.e., leave the group. A few examples of Emily White’s tribal/student comparisons are:

She refers to the cafeteria as the place where forms of human sacrifice occur. (pg. 16)
Between the extremes of the popular kids and the loners there is a vast middle region. The tribes within region are numerous. (pg18)
Some days messengers travel from tribe to tribe to tribe proving that webs can be formed even if they are fragile and fleeting. (pg 19)