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Friday, June 8, 2007
Table Of Contents
Reflection Letter
When I was seventeen I moved out of my parents house in Kenmore, WA where I grew up. After I graduated from high school, I worked at a Christian camp for a few months. A few months later, I went to a Bible school in New Zealand, where I was challenged on my views of society and my beliefs. For the last year and a half, I have been working as a plumber's apprentice. This semester I learned a lot about analyzing movies and how much there is to learn from watching these films. It was interesting to look at how poplar culture has progressed and changed our tradition. I don't think that my views of the themes discussed this quarter have changed, but rather the discussions and assignments have reinforced my opinion that today's concepts have continued to erode the moral and family values we used to hold. In doing so, they have destroyed a large and growing portion of respectable society.
When the quarter began, I had already researched and formed opinions about identity, community, and tradition. I found that the views of them have changed over the years, so all the discussions only leant support to what I've already found. Identity has grown from a very community-oriented view to a much more individualistic or "me first" attitude. This is a primary root of greed, selfishness and deceit, because one is distanced from how one's actions affect others. The ideas of community are directly related to the ideas about identity. As identity has become more individualistic, the ideas of community have become much more vague and withdrawn. This is very apparent in neighborhoods today, where most people don't know more than one or two other families that live on their street. It used to be that the neighborhood was a close-knit community that came around each other to help out when one of the members needed a hand. This was shown in the end of the movie Remember the Titans, when Boone's neighbors cheered him on in the finals. Tradition has changed from a formal, conservative view to a very "tolerant" and "open minded" view.
The effects of this change in the way we view community and tradition are seen in how many music lyrics now openly condone violence, licentiousness, and disrespect in general; clothing has become much more revealing; and promiscuity is much more prevalent. These aspects have had a destructive effect on the family unit and have shortened the average time that a relationship lasts. This is because the members in a relationship tend to be distracted by the physical aspects and many issues between the partners remain indiscussed. The tension this creates breaks up many relationships.
The changes have come with some positive affects as well, though. Equal rights are one of the biggest, along with many advances in medicine and psychology. The capitalism and the relative prosperity that our nation enjoys, as compared to the rest of the world, is one of the positive effects of the individualization of identity. In discussion board three, "The Museum of Me," it talked about how the Internet has been affecting our society and the relationships in it. While the essay had a negative tilt on it, we seemed to decide in the discussions that the ability to create and maintain relationships over long distances is a huge benefit to our society. Julie expressed in well in her post: "The people on those computers are conversing with someone at the other end. It's also a huge way of communicating with family and loved ones. It's much easier for me to shoot an email to my Grandma that it is to write the letter, buy the stamps and go to the post office." The way these ideas have changed over the years has both benefited and degraded our society in different ways. Each person has his or her own ideas about which effects are negative and which are positive, and whether the cost of one is worth the reward of the other. I'm sure that my opinion is readily apparent.
I tried to chose four of my writings that best displayed my opinions and personality. For my first writing that demonstrated my critical thinking skills I picked my first timed write Remember the Titans. That's pretty self-explanatory, I was simply analyzing it in respect to discrimination. The next work had to show my revision skills. My second blog relating to a community that I was apart of seemed to fit the bill. My essay on finger food had to do with a family tradition relating to food. This was a good choice for illustrating my awareness of audience and voice. The last one, my favorite, is all about my wallet and me. This work is a wonderful description of me and it exudes my voice.
When the quarter began, I had already researched and formed opinions about identity, community, and tradition. I found that the views of them have changed over the years, so all the discussions only leant support to what I've already found. Identity has grown from a very community-oriented view to a much more individualistic or "me first" attitude. This is a primary root of greed, selfishness and deceit, because one is distanced from how one's actions affect others. The ideas of community are directly related to the ideas about identity. As identity has become more individualistic, the ideas of community have become much more vague and withdrawn. This is very apparent in neighborhoods today, where most people don't know more than one or two other families that live on their street. It used to be that the neighborhood was a close-knit community that came around each other to help out when one of the members needed a hand. This was shown in the end of the movie Remember the Titans, when Boone's neighbors cheered him on in the finals. Tradition has changed from a formal, conservative view to a very "tolerant" and "open minded" view.
The effects of this change in the way we view community and tradition are seen in how many music lyrics now openly condone violence, licentiousness, and disrespect in general; clothing has become much more revealing; and promiscuity is much more prevalent. These aspects have had a destructive effect on the family unit and have shortened the average time that a relationship lasts. This is because the members in a relationship tend to be distracted by the physical aspects and many issues between the partners remain indiscussed. The tension this creates breaks up many relationships.
The changes have come with some positive affects as well, though. Equal rights are one of the biggest, along with many advances in medicine and psychology. The capitalism and the relative prosperity that our nation enjoys, as compared to the rest of the world, is one of the positive effects of the individualization of identity. In discussion board three, "The Museum of Me," it talked about how the Internet has been affecting our society and the relationships in it. While the essay had a negative tilt on it, we seemed to decide in the discussions that the ability to create and maintain relationships over long distances is a huge benefit to our society. Julie expressed in well in her post: "The people on those computers are conversing with someone at the other end. It's also a huge way of communicating with family and loved ones. It's much easier for me to shoot an email to my Grandma that it is to write the letter, buy the stamps and go to the post office." The way these ideas have changed over the years has both benefited and degraded our society in different ways. Each person has his or her own ideas about which effects are negative and which are positive, and whether the cost of one is worth the reward of the other. I'm sure that my opinion is readily apparent.
I tried to chose four of my writings that best displayed my opinions and personality. For my first writing that demonstrated my critical thinking skills I picked my first timed write Remember the Titans. That's pretty self-explanatory, I was simply analyzing it in respect to discrimination. The next work had to show my revision skills. My second blog relating to a community that I was apart of seemed to fit the bill. My essay on finger food had to do with a family tradition relating to food. This was a good choice for illustrating my awareness of audience and voice. The last one, my favorite, is all about my wallet and me. This work is a wonderful description of me and it exudes my voice.
Critical Thinking- Intro
In these piece I felt I did well on picking up on the discrimination surrounding sunshine. Because the focus of the movie was black/white discrimination, the discrimination of sunshine was overlooked in the discussions. I was also told by the teacher that graded the paper that the example with Burtiers mom was rarely utilized by students. That also made me think that I had done a thorough analyzation. I feel I also did a good job of reading into the authors underlying purpose of the movie and where they want the viewers sympathies to lie.
Critical Thinking-Remember the Titans
What does it feel like to be an outsider? In the film Remeber the Titans, many of the characters experienced what it was like to be an outcast and looked down on. Whether they were African American or white, they were both placed in the same catagory because they were friends. So we see that both those who are in an opposing group, or "them", and those who accept those who are, are in that group.
One of the characters, Sunshine, was discriminated against because of his apperance and beliefs. Sunshine was, bluntly, a hippie. He did not fit in with the Southern traditions and atmosphere, because he accepted African-Americans as regular people. He came from a different culture that had different values. There were a few incidences of discimination against him in the movie, but the one that stood out to me the most is when Sunshine tried to take two of his African-American team-mates into a white resturant. After taking one look at him and his companians, the owner turned them away saying, "We are all full. That goes for you too, hippie boy."
Julius is another character who is treated negitively. In one scene of the movie, Burtier wanted to invite Julius over for dinner. His strictly raised Virginian mother, however, had diffrent ideas. She did not even want to get the chance to get to know this young man because she perceived him as unacceptably different from her.
The film wants our sympathies to lie with the students who have overcome the out-dated social laws that their parents and community had raised them in. As a unit, they are discriminated against because they are breaking the cultural boundries that had been in place for centuries. In this sense the film challenges the cultural traditions of the day.
One of the characters, Sunshine, was discriminated against because of his apperance and beliefs. Sunshine was, bluntly, a hippie. He did not fit in with the Southern traditions and atmosphere, because he accepted African-Americans as regular people. He came from a different culture that had different values. There were a few incidences of discimination against him in the movie, but the one that stood out to me the most is when Sunshine tried to take two of his African-American team-mates into a white resturant. After taking one look at him and his companians, the owner turned them away saying, "We are all full. That goes for you too, hippie boy."
Julius is another character who is treated negitively. In one scene of the movie, Burtier wanted to invite Julius over for dinner. His strictly raised Virginian mother, however, had diffrent ideas. She did not even want to get the chance to get to know this young man because she perceived him as unacceptably different from her.
The film wants our sympathies to lie with the students who have overcome the out-dated social laws that their parents and community had raised them in. As a unit, they are discriminated against because they are breaking the cultural boundries that had been in place for centuries. In this sense the film challenges the cultural traditions of the day.
Revision- Intro
The original draft was very poorly written. It had very little personality and was simply dry. It sounds like something a middle-schooler would write, jumping from thought to thought very abruptly and not flowing at all. It was a writing that satisfied the informational requirements, and that's about it. The only strength it has was that it gave the information needed and had it in the right order. In the revision I basically rewrote the paper using the same information and sequence. It made the paper much more comfortable to read and added my personality into it. Even though no information was actually added, the paper became much longer. For example, I took "I want to be part of the group to help the guys," and in adding more depth expanded it into almost a full paragraph.
Revision- Original Community Blog
Studying the Bible is a community.The group is made up of senior guys in high school. What really holds most of the group together is having common intrests like studying the Bible, sports, girls, ect and common obstacles like school, applying for college, work, parents, and that kind of stuff. A couple people in the group don't really get along the best, that's an issue once in while, and one guy who loves any kind of attention. It's really hard to keep him on track during discussions.I fit into this group as one of the leaders. I facilitate the conversation and small group time, trying to keep them on track and involved in the group. I want to be apart of this gorup in order to help the guys. They are my friends and I want to be able to pass on what I have learned since high school so that they can be more prepared and avoid the same mistakes that I made.
Revision- Revised Community Blog
Studying the Bible is a community. I am part of a Bible study group for high school seniors. We meet on Tuesday night during the school year for a couple hours every week. While most of the boys go to different schools and different classes they are held together by common interests. Things like sports, studying the Bible, and, of course, girls, are often topics of open discussion. Common obstacles bring the group together too: such as school, parents, work, and applying for college. Even though they do share many interests and obstacles, there are several that do not get along with the others or do not want to be part of the group. Every once in a while, another leader or myself has to pull them aside: sometimes to encourage, sometimes to pacify, and sometimes just to spend time getting to know them. Some kids love attention and will do just about anything to get it, like the kid who learned to take his boxers off without removing his pants. Those are the ones that we really have trouble with. They can pull a group off topic in the blink of an eye, and it's very difficult to get them to listen.
I'm one of two leaders of this group of young men. Between Reagan and myself we manage to keep them on-track with the discussion most of the time. We try to involve everyone around the table, and direct questions at the boys that are hanging back from the interaction.
Reagan and I lead this group because we want to encourage and help them grow into adult hood. We want to teach them how to be responsible with their minds and bodies and be respectful of those around them. We want to help them be strong in their convictions and understand what they believe. Not only that, but they have become my friends and I want to see them succeed where I have failed and accomplish their goals and dreams.
I'm one of two leaders of this group of young men. Between Reagan and myself we manage to keep them on-track with the discussion most of the time. We try to involve everyone around the table, and direct questions at the boys that are hanging back from the interaction.
Reagan and I lead this group because we want to encourage and help them grow into adult hood. We want to teach them how to be responsible with their minds and bodies and be respectful of those around them. We want to help them be strong in their convictions and understand what they believe. Not only that, but they have become my friends and I want to see them succeed where I have failed and accomplish their goals and dreams.
Audience and Voice-Intro
Food is something that really joins people and families together. This is something my audience could probably relate to. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of food either. It doesn't have to be a sit-down dinner to bring a family together and I think that most people would agree with that. My experiences, memories and emotions go into this piece to really show my voice
Audience and Voice-Finger Food
Our family was all over the place during the week, but every sunday night for as long as I was living at home, and even for a little bit after I moved out, we came together every sunday night to have "Family Night". My dad would make some king of 'finger food'- like fish sticks or nachos or pizza, something that you don't need silverwear for, and we would talk about our week with each other. Then one of us would read out-loud from the Bible or we would watch a home movie, or play a board game or something, and at the end we would talk about what we were having trouble with in our life and then we would pray for the person on our right. It really brought our family close together and its something that I am going to do with my family when I have one. It wasn't always something that I like to do, often times I would get bored and wish it would be over, but it helped to forge such a wonderful relationship with my family that, looking back on it now, I wouldn't change a thing. Now whenever I'm hanging out with friends and we have 'finger food' it makes me think of "Family Nights" and the love my family has for each other.
Writers Choice-Intro
I really liked 'What's in Your Wallet' because it was a fun assignment and interesting to see what I actually had in there. It was also interesting to see what parts of my life were not represented by anything in my wallet. I felt I did a good job of showing my personality through it and I liked the conversational feel. I think it was a very well written piece that captures the readers attention.
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Writers Choice-Duct Tape Wallet
There is a heck of a lot in my wallet. Some things that shows how weird I am, and some that I don't even know where they came from! If someone who didn't know me went through my wallet to figure out who I was, they would have a tough time piecing it all together.The first thing they would see would be a Brush -Up. It’s something that you stick on your finger to brush your teeth and then throw away. Looking at that they could see that I care about hygiene. Next to that is my driver’s license and credit cards, so they would find out the basic information pretty quickly: height, hair color, age, where I live, and what I look like. They might be mislead by that picture. I look like someone who just got out of jail! Next they would see photos of my family and friends, along with CPR cards, my plumber’s apprentice license, a punch card for swing dancing, and a random business card for a Swedish heating company. Now they know I'm in construction, possibly of ill repute from the picture; that I love dancing; and I have fun with my family. In our family picture we're all dressed like pirates!Gift cards for groceries, gas, movie rentals, and the Outback Steakhouse from two birthdays ago are all stuffed in a front pocket. The cards for the library, subway, and AAA are buried deeper in back with a few crumpled bills and lots of receipts. Let’s see, there’s one for cookie dough at Safeway, Bartells for silly putty, an auto parts store for what I need for a tune up, Fred Meyers for painkillers, a few meals at Burger Mill, and five quick summaries of my bank account! Hey, there's a pocket CPR mask back here too! Always be prepared! Now they know about my sweet tooth, that I work on my car myself, that I like fast food, have a glimpse of my random goofiness, and they would probably guess I was concerned about my finances and that I was having trouble with muscle pain and headaches, although those were actually for a friend.The more personal things are buried, and reveal way more than any photo or bank statement. Really deep in the money fold of my wallet is an old, worn note. It has been an encouragement for me in tough, lonely times. It describes the person a good friend of mine saw in me years ago, and the guy I hope I am with everyone. That's right next to picture of my class mates in New Zealand. They were, and still are, my family over there.I think my wallet itself is a better description of my personality than the things in it, outside of that note anyway. The wallet was given to me by a good friend from New Zealand. It’s made out of duct tape, the ultimate icon of industrial-strength functionality. Most of it is silver, but along the edge I added several strips of neon green, orange, and hot pink tape. It’s still just as functional but nowhere near as boring! Like me, its focus is on getting the job done, but still has a touch of definite color and adventure.Even though you can learn a lot of things about a person from their wallet, there is many things you would never know. If you were just to look at my wallet you would never know that I am an avid rock climber, that my dad and I go backpacking every summer, that my girlfriend and I do our devotional time together, that I like reading science fiction, that I have ADHD, or that I’m not a very good swimmer. There are some things that you can only know by spending time with me. It’s the difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone.
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