Fitting In

Fitting in has always been something that people have tried to do. But what does fitting in even mean? Like in the youtube video, the marketers who are "cool-hunting", looking for the trend-setters who are ahead of the pack. So does this mean that in order to fit in, you have to be able to afford whatever clothing the cool kids are wearing? This means that fitting in literally is all about how you look. Yeah I've seen this before, I know it is not unusual for "cool" people to be attractive. But it really isn't even about the attractiveness of a person. I've seen it all before. The person who has it all and shows it off willingly will get friends, regardless of their looks, their personality, etc. If they have the coolest clothes, car, house, everyone will want to borrow them, take a ride, and come over all the time. But how could that ever matter to someone? To me, yeah I mean I still think all of that is cool too, but if I only had a friend just because of all of their cool stuff but their personality sucked, that would be horrible. I couldn't handle it. Macklemore talked about how his shoes changed his life. In a way at least. But that dream that he had of being someone, it came at a cost, and nothing more. He could literally buy the dream he wanted. And I think a lot of people do that when they're younger (some when they're older too). From about sixth grade at least, until the end of high school, everyone cared about name brands. And my everyone I mean my group of friends. There were probably people in high school who already had it figured out that brands didn't matter. When I got to college it changed. Yeah there are still some things that you see every person wearing: Northface jackets, Lulu lemon clothing, Hunter boots, etc. So I guess what changed for me is that I don't really care anymore. I can find the cutest things in the least likely places. And they don't cost me a fortune. I am on a college budget as well. It makes me laugh actually that in the Abercrombie and Fitch video that guy is giving those clothes away to homeless people. Because I always wanted to have Abercrombie and Fitch things but my parents didn't want to pay their "outrageous" prices for their clothing. And now I look back and wonder what I was thinking when I wanted to wear their clothes. In my quizzes on Marie Claire and Men's health I got Casual and relaxed. And that didn't surprise me one bit because that's exactly how I am. Unless I am actually dressing up for a special event, I want to be as comfortable as possible. And the older I get the less I care about name brand. Yes, I still like some of the trends and latest styles, but I just go find them at little boutiques or wherever I want and they're probably way less expensive and look just as great. Some of the trends however I find gross. To me. No offense to anyone else. Like high wasted shorts? Nope won't ever do it. Yeah put those shorts up to your belly button just so you can show off the bottom of your ass? No thanks. I do like how cut-off/belly shirts are coming back into style though. See if I wore something like that and it wasn't "in-style" people might call me bad names that start with an "s" or a "w". But now that they're "in" I can wear them and be saved from not being called that. I probably shouldn't care what I am called anyways. But I guess I still have a little bit of that caring about whether or not I fit in. I'm sure I'll always have at least a little bit of it. Which is exactly what companies want.

7th Grade: Animals

            Initially after reading Rikki Tikki Tavi, I thought all of the pieces we were reading or watching were going to be sweet, touching, animal tales because Rikki Tikki’s story was so heroic, followed by Binti’s story in “Primal Compassion”. It truly astounds me how motherly Binti seemed to have acted towards the child that fell. I would be interested in seeing the pictures that the grandfather took during the whole thing. Although, I was a little confused to as why the parents just stood there. If it were my kid I would have freaked out trying to get my kid back…which probably would have scared the gorilla and made everything worse. So I’m glad it wasn’t me.

            But I can see the slope we’re getting at here. Start us off all high and happy about how great animals can be and then tear us down about how awful we are to them. Touché, Barbara. Well, actually, “Tango Makes Three” was kind of a random piece in there because it was more about how the children’s book was nearly banned in many places, not so much about the penguins themselves. Although I did find it interesting how the two males, Roy and Silo, cared for the baby penguin. I’ve never really thought about homosexuality in animals. I mean some species only have one gender…what do you call them? I really think that people are too sensitive about things like this. I don’t want my future child watching gay porn, or any porn for that matter, but honestly by that point in technology, if they want to see it, they probably will whether I like it or not.

            Now off the porn subject. Yikes. Oh yeah…this downhill slope of my conscience. First of all, I love cats. Dogs are my favorite, but I do enjoy a good kitty to play with. And I think the Trap-Neuter-Release idea in “Don’t fear the ferals” is a fabulous plan. It seems to save money and then there hopefully wont be so many cats running  amuck and having to be euthanized. It just shows there are better ways out there.

            As for SeaWorld and the “Blackfish” trailer, jiminy Christmas. I’ve never been to SeaWorld myself, or really looked into it much, but I’ve only heard bad things about it. My question is, if it is so well known of what goes on there, why do people keep it in business by going there and supporting what goes on? It’s ridiculous. And based on what little I know about it, it seems pretty obvious that it wasn’t the orca’s fault what happened to the trainer. Wild animals SHOULD NOT BE HELD IN CAPTIVITY. Unless it is briefly for science’s sake, and even then it’s iffy. We have enough entertainment between cell phones, internet, TV, sports, movies, games, etc.; why do we need to entertain ourselves watching wild animals lay around in a confined area? Freaking watch the National Geographic channel or the Discovery channel if you want to see wild animals. At least they will be doing interesting things in those shows.

            “20 Pounds” was interesting to me because I love to go fishing every chance I get. However, I tend to fish well-stocked, non-endangered fishies, so I am hoping that makes it okay. I’m happy to know that this special, large, species, Lahontan Cutthroat trout is still alive and kicking.

            And then there’s “The Scarecrow”...

I don’t know if it was Chipolte’s purpose to make me cry, but it did. Those eyes on the cow as the scarecrow looked in really did it for me. So sad. This video was a good wrap up actually, regardless of its depressing song and mood, because it tore me down making me never want to have dairy again, but then it gave a good solution for the problem at the end, which I loved. “Cultivate a Better World”. And that pretty much sums up the solution for every problem we read about.

As if its that easy.

Grade 9: Man v. Man

            The readings start off with the ultimate man versus man situation: kill or be killed. Most Dangerous Game may seem extremely barbaric and insane, but is it really much different than competitions man participates in today? Sure, football might not be as wild as hunting a man down with a rifle or triggering a spike pit for the other to fall in. But it is man to man (sometimes woman) combat over a pigskin ball and pride. Don’t get me wrong—I do love watching football—but when you compare the articles about football players developing CTE and bad concussions with the Most Dangerous Game, aside from the sole intent to kill, they really aren’t all that different in their goals and definition of success. It is a good thing for men in football to hit (tackle) another man as hard as he can. And even after the game he might brag at a party about how he put another guy in the hospital. He might. There is a chance he wouldn’t and that he feels bad about concussing one of the other team’s players, but how bad can he really feel if next week he plans to play the same game and possibly do the same thing? Probably not that bad. But then I also think there are a difference in players as well. There are likely the players who wish to seek fame and fortune for making it in the big leagues in hopes that one day everyone will be chanting his name. “Rudy”…”Rudy”…”Rudy”. Just kidding. Sort of.

But then there are those players who seek the thrill of the game. Those who feel a rush out of getting a really good tackle. And even those who may feel proud to have put another man in the hospital.

            Now I’m not saying every player is one or the other. Obviously some gray area exists and players can fall anywhere on the scale. But just the fact that there could be men out there in those uniforms who honestly bear much resemblance to General Zaroff, is quite frightening. This makes Bob Costas’ commentary on gun control seem a little more reasonable. But can we justify one bad egg in several dozen or more as a cause for concern? Perhaps.

            Let us look at the racial articles to get a better idea of it. The “When will it end?” article lists murders and even a lynching of black men and black adolescents in our history. Many of which were due to racial indifference, if not all. What do we think about this compared to Most Dangerous Game? At least in the story General Zaroff just wanted decent competition regardless of who they were. These racial stories show that the men doing the killing (likely most were Caucasian) sought only to kill the men because of how they looked. No competition necessary whatsoever. Man versus man? In their eyes it was man versus something less than man. And the “9 rules for the black birdwatcher” shares this idea as the author compares the black bird watcher to black birds. An anomaly. Like Tiger Woods is as a golfer to the black community. Don’t really fit in with anyone at all. The black man, the black bird watcher, the black bird, the black golfer—minority, but still what they are and treated for what they are not. 

Mr./Mrs. Right? or Wrong?

Wow. That was a shocking and somewhat random bunch of pieces. Well, first of all I don’t think there is any one ideal Mr. or Mrs. Right that would fit the mold for every person. I think it is an individual choice on whether or not a person feels right for someone else. There is no specific checklist that every woman or man uses when picking someone to date/marry/etc. That being said, clearly the woman in the “It’s not about the nail” clip wants a man who can just listen to her explain her problems without trying to tell her what her problems are. She wants him to accept her, flaws, nails, and all. And as a woman, or anyone really, I can relate to that. Sometimes I just want to complain about everything without someone trying to tell me what to do about it or trying to fix things for me. I can see how this can be frustrating for a man who experiences this in a relationship because I feel like generally they just want to know what the problem is and find a way to fix it and move on.

It’s no wonder men get frustrated with women! Just kidding. I had to find a tie-in to the other article and there it is. Abuse is nothing to joke around about. A statistic according to the “Women and Girls in the Criminal Justice System” states that overall, 26.2% of arrests in the United States were female. It also talks about the main contributing factors for women being arrested or imprisoned are due to substance abuse, mental illness, and spousal abuse. I can see how even those factors could tie into one another: woman is depressed, husband gets frustrated with her gloomy mood and starts abusing her, so she begins to drink excessively or take prescription pills and eventually it causes her to commit some type of crime. Obviously that is not how every case would go, just a possible scenario. And many couples may marry before they truly know one another causing tension in the relationship, but rather than getting divorced they try to tough it out making tensions worse and worse. The divorce rate is so high because this happens too often; people marry for the wrong reasons or marry before they truly know the person they’re taking lifelong vows with. As with the Princeton article or the Monstrous dating profile video, it is easy to see how people marry or get together for the wrong reasons whether it be looks or money. We see it time and time again in real life or in movies: old man marries young woman for her looks and she marries him for his enormous fortune. Look at Hugh Hefner for goodness sake. How many young women has he married? Too many to count. And what would their interest in him be, aside from fame and fortune? I don’t think it would be for the sex because by the looks of the women he marries, they could certainly have a younger, hotter…did I say younger?...man to marry. He just might not give them the fame or fortune. It disgusts me quite honestly.

           

Then there is the Trifles story. It actually frustrated me immensely how rude the men in that story treated the women. Like they couldn’t have anything on their minds but quilting or cleaning. It’s not like the women stand up for themselves, although they do try to stand up for Mr. Wright’s wife. I would say this story is from a time when women did not have the rights they do now and they were more inferior to men, but who am I kidding? It may have been from that time but that type of treatment from men to women still occurs often today, obviously not as much, but some men today still feel the need to put women “in their place”. Yet some women tend not to leave their “Mr. Right” because he “loves” her and supports her (financially and otherwise).

“Hanging Fire” is this sad poem about an adolescent girl who wants to grow up but is afraid she might not make it there. She is just beginning to realize how the color of her skin affects her life, likely because it is the time of puberty and such. On top of that the boy she loves is still too childish, but so is she whether or not she realizes it. And through all of this she has no one to turn to for help or care because her mom closes herself off from her daughter. She wants a fairy tale but is realizing her life is real. Too real.

Blog 5: Superheroes

           Where the “Camelot” trailer and the “Crowning of Arthur” story make out the story of him to be majestic, (help with instrumental music in the trailer), and hero-like in the “Crowning of Arthur” because he proves to be king-worthy despite his non-noble association of the mask of his true identity. It all gives a very positive image of King Arthur and a negative image of the noblemen because they judge Arthur by his class. However, in the “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” video, King Arthur is made to seem like a careless dictator. In “Crowning…”, Arthur is of the commoners and they offer their support for him whereas in “Monty Python”, the commoners are shown hardly knowing who King Arthur is and showing him no respect. Why such a large difference in the portrayals of King Arthur? Well, one idea that came to my mind is perhaps in “Monty Python” King Arthur has had many years of reign, is older, and has changed in character and become less hero-like to the peasants. That could just be one possible reason for the difference in the pieces though.

            In regards to race, gender, and superheroes, it is clear that most superhero comics consist of generally white males. We do not see very many female-led roles in comics, more side-kicks and victim characters. Even in the “Superheroines…” article it talks about Charlie’s Angels being a female-led hero group, they still follow men in their missions whether it is Charley or Bosley (both presumed to be white men—John Forsythe in one and Bill Murray of the other). Despite the lack of female superhero leaders in comics, we now see more female-led hero protagonists in movies and books like The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen and Disney’s Brave’s Merida. To me, this is just the beginning of women-led heroes.

            In the article’s “What if the X-Men were Black?” and “Who Gets to be a Superhero…” we read about the inequalities of race in superhero comics. Both articles discuss the issues that come with trying to change the races of superheroes, like Wolverine for instance, if he was black, he might just be seen as a wild black man. If this is the case, then change it. Change the storyline if necessary to make it how you want it to appear. Yes, I do see the issues with all of the superheroes in comics being generally white (males), but as we see in “Meet the New Muslim-American Green Lantern” they are changing the race of the hero and character using Simon Baz. And as pleasing to the eyes as he is, I never really pictured Ryan Reynolds as a Green Lantern character anyways, in my opinon, and I could see the comic portrayal of Simon Baz to fit better.

            And my other issue with these articles is that if you cannot change the race of one of the classic superheroes, why not get creative and make a new superhero? All of the classic superheroes (Batman, Superman, Iron Man, even Spiderman) have been done so many times and changed and improved and made worse etcetera, etcetera. Make a new classic and make him (or her) exactly as you want to portray him (or her). Maybe there are already comics that were made with a different race, I really don’t know. But to me, that seems like the best solution at least in regards to making a non-white superhero. I know that it doesn’t change the issues with the current superheroes but it would be a step in the right direction.

            And finally, “Superman and the Jumper”: the relation I see between this and the previous articles is that we have our typical white male superhero, a white damsel in distress, and a tertiary male black character. I just think this is an example of what all of the superhero articles are expressing.  

Blog 4: Dystopian 10th grade

            One of my all-time favorite genres of reading are dystopian fiction novels. I do not know what the lure is of them. Since I read Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 in the seventh grade I have been obsessed. So I can see how Goodread’s “Dystopian Timeline to the Hunger Games” makes sense for the rise in dystopian readers. It starts with students having to read these types of books in school and with all the excitement of the Hunger Games it is no surprise that the trend is increasing. Harrison Bergeron is like the short story version of the Hunger Games or any other dystopian novel really, and there is no happy ending per se. But with dystopian novels, there tends not to be a fairy-tale happy ending.

            So what do dystopian novels have to do with zombies? Well in dystopian novels the government is controlling its people and in some zombie movies it is usually the government’s fault for a zombie apocalypse by some outbreak of secret formula they are trying to produce like in the Resident Evil movies for example. I enjoyed how in the “Why do we love zombies?” youtube video that the guy says we like them because we see ourselves as the protagonist overcoming the odds. Also looking from that perspective, I could see overcoming the odds as overcoming a zombie apocalypse or overcoming a totalitarian government. I seriously love dystopian books and movies but I don’t know what I compare myself to them as described in the video. I am not totally anti-government but I’m not for everything the government does either. I think I personally like the idea of overcoming something way bigger than oneself like in the Hunger Games, Divergent, or even in the book like The Giver. Another thing I’ve noticed in almost ALL zombie and/or dystopian movies and books is that the protagonist has to face someone they know well or love who has either been brainwashed and turned against them or turned into a zombie. I noticed this in The Night Of The Living Dead and the guy having to shoot two people who I assumed friends by his reaction. In a zombie situation the protagonist either has to kill their friend or be killed by them. You see this in the Hunger Games with Katniss and Gale, and in Divergent with Tris and Four: both lovers in the books.

            Also in like Night of the Living Dead, we sometimes do not see a resolution for the protagonist and even through everything becoming resolved, they still die. This happens also in the Hunger Games and Divergent in the ends of the series.

            Finally, with the “Night Vale” podcast we see many of those things all wrapped in one: government secrets, “angels”, zombies. After reading about the podcasts I found how they incorporate all of the conspiracy theories in one. I also found it was one of the top listened to and purchased podcasts on Itunes. This just goes to show how much these topics interest people nowadays: what with the current hype of the Hunger Games, (newest movie coming out later this year is very anticipated…especially by me), and possibly a new craze with the Divergent series first movie coming to theaters this spring. It is such an exciting and fascinating genre. 

Blog 3: Just Dreamin'?

            I was initially very confused about the connection between the first three pieces and the last video—until I saw what the topic was: “Just Dreamin’”. Ah, now it all makes sense. Between the first three media, I saw a connection with race, or in this case racial minority. Also, the topic of rich versus poor is seen in these pieces as well. In The House on Mango Street, Esperanza wants to escape her poor, small, red house, not necessarily to be rich, but to be on her own in her own home. That is her dream. And then in the New York Times article, I linked the connection with minority race (or races) and the poor trying to succeed in their goals—in this case three girls making it through college. That article was very frustrating to read as someone who relies on scholarships and financial aid myself. And then in the Chris Rock video, Chris tries to get a wealthy neighborhood to change one of their main boulevards to ‘Tupac Shakur Blvd.’ who was an African American rapper. From what I saw, Chris mainly asked white and possibly some middle to upper class people to sign the petition. Many of them completely rejected him, some laughed, and some also agreed to sign his petition.

            So far, in all of these pieces we see similar dreams to escape poverty despite race or current class; and then there is Chris Rock trying to move Tupac up into a class all his own. But still moving forward. And if it had stopped here, I would have expected the next piece to be the song “Movin’ on Up” by Ja’net Dubois (because of the lyrics and the relation to race in the themed show “The Jeffersons”). But no, we get Green Day’s “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. A young, white, possibly lower class couple in which the boyfriend goes off to war. From what the boyfriend says in the video, it seems a possibility that he agreed to go to war to support the couple financially. Whether or not that is true, that is my guess for the relationship between the video and the other pieces.

            There are correlations here between class and succeeding in school, class and race, and the difficulty of “moving on up” in class, just within these three pieces. The struggle to achieve dreams seems to be more difficult the lower the class one is, and even more difficult when combining lower class with a minority race.

            However, in contrary to all of this and despite hurdles based on race or class, the people in these pieces make attempts to overcome these challenges. We never truly find out if the people in these stories “succeed” or fail, but that also depends on each person’s definition of success. The girls in the NY Times article may have seen just getting into college as a success. It all depends on the individual and what their dreams are. Some may achieve those dreams, some may have changed their dreams, and some may still be striving towards those dreams. It is all a matter of perspective. There will always be difficulties, especially when it comes to race and/or class, but it shouldn’t stop those from reaching for their dreams. Very inspirational.