The American Dream

After reading over the New York Times graphic and finishing The Great Gatsby, I have come to realize that moving up and down in terms of class is very much so possible. Of course I knew moving amongst classes was capable, but having proof to back it up makes it that much more believable.

In the graphic that I analyzed, not only do people believe that it is possible to start out poor, work hard, an become rich, but up to at least forty-six percent of Americans believe that it is much easier to move up among the social classes (especially in America). Statistics were also shown in this graphic that nearly forty percent of people think that it is more favorable to move up in social class status than it was just thirty years ago and that their current class now was higher that it was growing up (the average income is growing significantly over the years). Many Americans can accomplish the quote on quote "American Dream" if they ever so please to do so.

With this, the American dream can very well relate to the central theme in Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. Gatsby encountered difficulties in his life and did not have much money at all, but through this hard times, he managed to work hard and accomplish many things making him very wealthy. He became very successful and very rich. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther..." (p. 180). This quote shows the hope and willingness Gatsby had. That no matter what he was not going to give up and keep working hard to see what tomorrow held.

It's evident to see that both the graphic and The Great Gatsby have many things in common and that will hard work and determination anyone can move up amongst the social classes. Go out in life with high dreams and goals and set out to accomplish them!

Robo-Readers…A big fat no!

It may sound like a great idea to incorporate these e-Rater machines, developed by the Educational Testing Service, into our daily lives, but in reality, it is pitiful. They can grade 16,000 essays in 20 seconds, take a heavy load off of a teachers back, and remain consistent, but when it all is said and done, these machines contain a lot of flaws (source B).

Not only do these machines face many problems, this automated reader can be easily gamed. In Michael Winerip’s article, he states that the e-rater “sets a very limited and rigid standard for what is good writing.” He also mentions the fact that they are unable to detect the truth. “E-Rater doesn’t care if you say the War of 1812 started in 1945,” if this happens to be true, what is the point of taking the time to actually learn and construct knowledge to write a good essay. Students like you and me will only learn to work the system and write a well written essay that the e-Rater wants. Students will begin to care less about the facts and more about the sentences, the sentence structure, and the length of these essays (source B).

Critics argue that teachers are remarkably inconsistent graders and having machines that can grade not only more efficiently, but accurately as well is something we should take advantage of. This way they will also be able to crank out more assignments and essays and “improve” the students writing and their writing skills (source D). With this said, I can say I agree to a certain extent. Students writing will improve, but in reality, they will lose a lot of their writing style. The e-rater does not like fragments, but it does like long paragraphs, long sentences, and the use of big words. If this is the case, students will only strive to meet the expectations of the machine. This will trick the machine into offering a better grade (source B and E).

Why would anyone want students to lose their sense of writing style? The e-Rater, from the Educational Testing service, not only takes away from a student’s writing, but it also contains numerous amounts of flaws that are not worthwhile. Sure it has its benefits and it may give teachers a nice break, but with students easily breaking the system and no necessarily even knowing what they are talking about, what is the point? I say, teachers can suck it up and continue to grade these essays. They may take a while, and sure they will make some mistakes, but it is their job! I don’t advise using the e-Rater machines, and I hope I will not have to deal with them in the coming years.

Map Map Map!

                This map, A New Description of Carolina, is really not that interesting mainly because it just focuses on Carolina. Some things that I do find to be particularly fascinating could include the pictures and detail imbedded within it. I noticed that this map has a huge symbol off to the left and this may be a focus point. I also noticed that there is a crest in the middling of Carolina that is inscribed in a different language. On top of the crest is a crown symbolizing that this land hopes to be prosperous and maybe taken over or owned by a wealthy person or persons. I believe that this land is unsettled due to the number of trees and land that is open. The names of the areas around the crest are American, but the names of the villages or towns toward the north of this map seem to appear to be Indian based. This intrigued me because I realized that maybe the wealthy, royal, or prosperous people are going to take over this land and basically boot the Indian tribes out. I get the feeling that we do not care about the Indians and our goal is to push them out, change their names, and gradually take over. This is basically what seems to happen in the future as well.

 Something I noticed from Babb’s piece that I believe relates to my map is a blurb from page 47. “American whiteness is essentially an English creation, arising in response to migration, encounter, and a need to sustain established social structures in new environment. This quote really focused on how essential it is to migrate and establish new social structures in new environments and this is exactly what I thought was taking place in this map. The “whiteness” or the rich, white Americans were slowly taking over the land, migrating, and establishing their territories in new areas towards the north of the map.

http://www.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1676s6.jpg

Sound and Fury

I really enjoyed watching this film and it really made me realize how little I am exposed to the deaf world. It is kind of sad to think about actually. I am privileged with being slightly more exposed than others because I have a deaf neighbor. He is a great guy and has a great family. His wife and two children can hear so I can imagine the frustration he has at times, but his wife teaches sign language and is exposed to the deaf almost everyday. Their kids are still pretty young and don't understand the whole situation, but they already know more sign language than most of us do. He is a normal guy and should be treated that way. He can easily understand what I am saying by reading my lips and he is very good at speaking; it's not hard to understand at all. Sound and Fury did an excellent job with touching both sides of the story and incorporating both of the discourses. I don't fully understand the difficulty there is with deciding to obtain a cochlear implant, however, based on the film and talking with my neighbor, I can assume it is one of the hardest decisions a person may have to make.

This is why I don't really know whether I support the cochlear implant or whether I think it is a bad decision. My first assumption before even watching the film was to get the implant. I couldn't even understand why someone would not want to get it. Hearing is such a beautiful thing. But once I watched the film, I realized how proud the deaf are of their culture. They have never known of anything different and they are perfectly fine without hearing. However, their is a lot of difficulties they may run into in life that will cause them to struggle more than others. Communicating with family members and friends or getting a decent paying job could be a challenge in some cases. I can understand if the entire family is deaf why you would not support the implant. If a child did decide to get the implant, they would not lose their deaf culture because they still need to communicate with their family , but they would probably have a difficult time learning how to speak due to the fact that their parents are deaf.

I have finally made up my decision and I support the cochlear implant. I think allowing the child to decide on their own could be beneficial or at least not implant a small baby. I also think both the family and the child needs to learn sign language. They are still deaf when the implant is taken out, and they need to be able to communicate and understand the culture. It is important that the family members learn the language as well. The implant does not need to take away their deaf culture if they don't allow it to, and in the end it will probably make their life much easier. They can communicate with the deaf and the hearing and hopefully have to deal with less stress. With being able to hear, they can work in any field and do just as much as any one of us could.

I know the cochlear implant is a very diverse topic and obviously deaf families or family members might have different views. I can see both sides of the story and I really do not know what the better decision would be. But does anyone really?  However, in the long run I really do think that this new technology could change a persons life forever and it should be something parents take into consideration.

My fear...of Mice!!

I'm not one to be afraid of many things, in fact, the only thing I could really think of being afraid of would be being trapped under water and not being able to reach the surface for a nice breath of air...but isn't that something everyone would fear? I mean who really wants to be trapped under water? Soo after ruling that out, along with clowns, the dark, snakes, and heights, I decided that the only thing left to fear was simply...mice! You know, the little creatures that squeak, run a million times faster than you ever could, and are basically..well..ugly!! This is how my fear of mice began, now don't get too excited, this story really is not that great.

Picture this..its the time of year for the family festival, except this is actually when the family festival is fun to go to. It was the five aside soccer tournament (the tournament where like everyone got a trophy..i swear 10th place might have gotten one) and  oh yeah it was at the ice arena or the soccer fields if that is what you would rather like to call it. So I was in the five-aside tournament, I don't know exactly how old I was, maybe 3rd or 4th grade. But alls I do know is that my team was stacked! I was a thirsty girl, I mean it takes a lot of water to chase around a ball all day. Okay getting to the point...I had to pee! I decided to take the lazy way out and skip the actual semi-nice bathrooms in the ice arena and go for the quality porta potties! (I'm not that type of girl that really cares where she goes to the bathroom, a forest would be sufficient) The line was actually pretty backed up so I was eying the first one to free up. I waited patiently doing that little "I have to pee dance" the one where you jump back and forth on your tip toes, the one that doesn't actually help at all. When the first door opened, I ran right up to it and switched the little handle thinger to "occupied." I sat down to begin my pee, when all of a sudden a mouse crawled out of this hole located in the bottom right corner. I'm sitting on the seat (feet in the air) and this nasty little thing is spastically and frantically circling the floor of my porta potty. Screaming, I  hop up, try to pull my shorts up and do that "I have to pee dance" all over again. Except this time it was the "Eww I don't want that thing to touch me dance." Keep in mind this is all  happening in like the course of 5 seconds! Finally the mouse crawled back into his hiding space and I sprinted out of there. I mean it's one thing to have to pee in a porta potty, but another to have to be trapped with a mouse.

Ever sense I really have not been too found of mice. Porta potties on the other hand...I could care less about! But mice...eww! Not to mention they also seem to find my garage a nice little place to call home. Soooo...mice...you can go somewhere else to live, somewhere far far far away! That's my story of why I don't really like mice! I told you it really wasn't that exciting!

Semiotic Analysis: Cultural Trends

For my semiotic analysis I chose to look at and analyse my cell phone. After looking at my cell phone from a varitey of angles and answering the questions, I learned and discovered many things. I think a cell phone and other types of electronics sums up what our culture has turned into. Cell phones are small, easy to carry around, handle, and use. This small device seems to be attached at our hips and ready whenever we need to whip out a quick text, change our facebook status, or call a freind. Cell phones are basically everything we need--they can hold and take our pictures, email friends, look up and search the internet, direct us when we are loss, and now even purchase thing buy swipping your credit card. Don't get me wrong, not all cell phones are this heavily equipped, but in only a matter of time they probably will be. This small, portable, and durable little device says that our world is lazy and we expect so many things to come to us in two seconds. We have taken advantage of electronics and especially cell phones and expect things to be at the tips of our fingers. We don't know what we would do with out them and sometimes I wonder that we value them too much. Yes they are a great thing to have and have advanced the world we live in, but to a certain extent. I think that cell phones really do say a lot about our world and the things we value.

Political Dimensions of Language..the words presidents use!!

After reading and scanning through many of the presidents we have had throughout the numerous amount of years, I came to the conclusion that many of the presidents used and still use many of the same words. President Obama still uses the most popular word  "Nation" in many of his speeches. Following right behind are the words "Government", "World", "People", and "Peace". In my opinion, most of these presidents chose these words because several of them mean or refere to the same thing. For example, Nation and World are very similar, they may not mean the exact same thing, but they both have a big picture in mind. Maybe this is trying to say that America really has not changed that much over time, we happen to be fighting for the same things just in much different ways. One thing I did seem to notice was the word "Government" was almost always the most popular word used all the way from Washington to Hoover. "Nation" was used, but rarely ever the most popular amoungst them all. It was not until Franklin D. Roosevelt when "Nation" started being the most popular word used (including Obama). This is something that caught my attention and I wonder why this was the case. Overall, this was a very interesting activity to do; I had no idea that these were the words that happened to be used the most in presidential speeches.