Blog #10: Class Evaluation

In this class I've truly learned the importance of literature and books.  Without both of these, our society could easily turn into any of the terrible societies that we read about in the novels we covered this semester.  After this class I plan on making more of an effort to pick up more books to read, especially books that I normally would not have read on my own.  I really liked the set up of this class, how we were able to discuss the books in class and were not taught at, only nudged in the right direction.  I feel that I become a more critical reader when I had to analyze the books I read myself, instead of being told what the books were supposed to mean.  This is a great new skill because before I could not analyze a book to save my life, I could never see the deeper meaning and never knew how to go about looking for that deeper meaning.  This class has been one of my favorite of my college career and I am likely not to forget what I have learned in this class.

Blog #9: Censorship

A world without books would be a terrible place, the world would be filled with ignorant, dumb people who are addicted to TV just like Montag's wife.  Everyone would be so plugged into technology, more so than they are today, that they wouldn't even notice the world around them.  I would miss having books around so much, I really like reading in my spare time and for relaxing.  I would probably still try and read books and try to hide it if I weren't allowed to anymore.  Whenever Hollywood makes a movie out of a book they are metaphorically "burning books", because the movie is never as good as the book, it lacks detail and takes away the reader's imagination.  One of my favorite parts of reading books is being able to create an image in my head of what is going on in the book, but whenever I go see the movie of a book I read it never looks anything like what I imagine.  Movies and TV ruin the imagination that reading sparks, if we were to ban all books our society would become simple minded and there would be no originality.

Blog #8: The Hunger Games

I thought the plot of this book was highly disturbing, but I was so enthralled by it that I couldn't put it down!  Which was even more disturbing...  It reminded me of reality TV and how we do the same.  We watch really dumb shows like "Jersey Shore" where we can barely stand the character but we love it!  And I still don't understand why.  I thought this book was very good, as disturbing as it was.  It was definitely my favorite book we've read so far.  The theme of the book was pretty similar to the rest of the books that we've read in class in that it's about how society can easily go by the wayside and become a dystopian society.  While reading this book it reminded me a lot of the TV show Survivor and how people seem to act a certain role instead of being themselves in order to win the game.  Like in the case of Judd aka Fabio, who played up his role as the "dumb blonde" who everyone loved and thought was hilarious.  Which he eventually won the game because he went the entire game without making any enemies.  In the link posted below Fabio shows how "dumb" he is by peeing in the pool and acting like everyone does it.

Survivor: Fabio

Blog #7: Reality TV

For the purposes of this blog I decided to watch an episode of "The Jersey Shore", it just so happened to be the season finale.  This episode was more tame than other Jersey Shore episodes, but there was still a lot of drama in the episode since it still is the Jersey Shore.  The beginning of the episode started with the couple in the house who are always fighting, indeed fighting like usual.  Ron and Sammie were fighting over a boy that Sammie had dated 3 years before the episode,  thought it was the dumbest fight ever! Who cares who Sammie had kissed 3 years ago? Does it matter? No, but they love drama and make everything dramatic because that's what we like to watch on TV.  And that also includes me, I thoroughly enjoy watching them fight about dumb things that don't matter.  The second part of the episode was pretty boring since they were all getting along with each other since it was their last day at the shore together.  Which just goes to show that reality TV is only entertaining because it is dramatic and fun to watch people argue.  Which is also why half of "The Jersey Shore" is probably somewhat scripted just to make sure it stays entertaining.  I'd assume that about half of what happens on the show is real, but I'm sure the producers tell them to do things to cause drama in the house with the rest of the cast.  What I think is "so darn entertaining about reality TV" is that you get to watch the drama unfold, but not be dragged into it and be involved.  Being a spectator is the draw to reality TV.

Jersey Shore Season Finale Highlights

Blog #6: "Big Brother"

Whenever I think of "Big Brother" I think of the "Uncle Sam Wants You" posters for some reason.  I guess it's because in both posters there's a creepy guy looking at you? Lol I have no idea why.  But that also makes me think of the government as "Big Brother" because they regulate everything that society does and keeps the order.  Whether it's the President of the United States, or a local police officer, the entire government is in charge of running our country, and part of that is keeping tabs on the people who live in this country in order to keep it safe.  Especially with possible terrorist plots, it is extremely important that our government know what is going on inside and outside of this country in order to prevent catastrophic incidents like 9-11.  It is because of incidents like these that I believe that we should sacrifice a part of our privacy in order to be able to feel safe in our own homes.

No Electronics Blog #3

So this is the last day of not using any electronics and I must say it's been a pretty long week.  I can't wait to catch up on all my favorite tv shows and check my facebook and text my friends! Going the whole week without electronics wasn't bad, just knowing that I can now use electronics makes me realize how much I've missed them.  I've kept myself busy with school work and reading and trying to go outside when the weather isn't terrible, but now I can't wait for mindless entertainment.  I think the first thing I'll do is catch up on the episodes of How I Met Your Mother I've missed, that's my favorite show.  Oh and I should probably call my parents so they know I'm still alive haha.  But all in all, this week went pretty well.  I'm very surprised by myself :)

No Electronics Blog #2

So far so good! The nice weather really helps with the whole no technology thing, I've been doing a lot of stuff outside the past couple days.  Friday I went camping, the weather was beautiful but that night it got pretty cold because it was so windy.  But to make up for that we woke up early enough to go watch the sun rise on one of the out crops on the side of the mountain.  The view was amazing! I took a panorama of the view Friday right before sunset.  It was even more beautiful Saturday morning watching the sun rise over the valley.  I thought that was pretty ironic since we had just talked about when the last time we saw the sun rise in class last week.

Blog #5: Creative Blog

If I had the "Feed" and had to watch random pop-ups in my mind all day I know exactly what they would be.  One would definitely be about sports, most likely Nike since I like their ads because they always have a deeper meaning and are pretty inspiring.  One Nike ad in particular that would pop-up on my "Feed" would be the commercial that Lebron James made for Nike where he asks "What should I do?" about his decision to leave Cleveland.  I thought the commercial was a great response to peoples' anger towards him for leaving.
Lebron James Nike Commercial
 Another ad that would always  pop-up on my "Feed" would be the commercial for M&Ms where a guy goes to get a snack from the cabinet and the snacks start flying at him and hitting him in the face then it shows the M&M guys standing in the cabinet and the guy says "Get in the bowl" and the M&Ms say "You get in the bowl."  This commercial would definitely be on my "Feed" because I love chocolate, especially M&Ms, and also the commercial is hilarious.
M&M Commercial
Another candy that I really enjoy is Snickers, not only because they taste great but also because of their recent commercial campaign "You're not yourself when you're hungry."  My favorite of all the commercials is the Betty White commercial where she gets tackled into a mud pit.  But I also really like the new one with Roseanne when she gets knocked over by a giant log.
Betty White Snickers Commercial
Roseanne Snickers Commercial
One commercial that I really enjoyed this year during the super bowl was the Eminem commercial for Crysler, I really liked how the commercial was so upbeat and pushing people to buy American cars.  I also really thought it was a great way to boost Detroit's moral since the city hasn't been doing so well in the past couple years.  It really shows the city in a good light, which doesn't happen very often, people always look at the bad things about Detroit and overlook all the history and how it was once such an important part of American industry.
Eminem Crysler Commercial

No Electronics Blog #1

Well the past five days have been difficult, I have no problem finding other things to do besides watch tv and check my facebook, but the cell phone is an issue.  It's been very difficult if not impossible trying to get in touch with people without using my cell phone.  I've been relying on my roommates a lot to inform me of what my friends are planning to do for the weekend and little things like when we're getting dinner at Reisner.  I didn't think it would be this difficult.  But spending my free time away from electronics is no issue.  Friday night I went rock climbing all night with some friends, and sunday I went for a drive and then a short hike with my boyfriend.  So far things are going well but I need to learn how to get in touch with people better, or I may starve!

Blog #4: Thoreau's Experiment

I could live in a place like that for a whole year, but I wouldn't be able to do it alone.  I could do without technology and everything but I would need at least another person to do it with me so I wouldn't go insane from being alone.  I'm the type of person who rarely needs alone time and most of the time I enjoy being with other people.  Like I can't even go to the bathroom when out with friends without asking someone to come with me, I'm that dependent on people.  Living in a simple cabin like the one in the picture would be no problem, for New Years I spent three days in a cabin pretty similar to this one, no running water, no electricity, no nothing, but I had the best time ever.  It was great getting back to the basics and not having to check my cell phone every 10 minutes to see if someone texted me or called me.  And being without facebook for three days was amazing! It was total freedom haha.  Thoreau's quote "Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!" is exactly how staying at the cabin was.  It was life in it's simplest form, just surviving.  We didn't spend any time doing anything that was unnecessary to surviving or just plainly to enjoy the time.  Though I had fun that weekend I definitely have to say that it was because of the people I spent it with.  There is now way I could have spent those three days in the cabin alone. 

Blog #3: Are We "The Dumbest Generation"?

After watching the interview with Mark Bauerlein I honestly felt offended by his statement that we are the "dumbest generation".  Every generation says the same thing about the generation following them, just like while discussing the interview in class my group and I all talked about how we aren't dumb, but our younger siblings and their generation are more dumb.  It's just like the famous quote that "history always repeats itself", every generation always blames the generation before them for the problems in the world and the generation after them for being ignorant and naive.  I wouldn't say we are the dumbest generation, but we do take a lot for granted because of the potential we have at our finger tips.  We have the most useful tool in finding information about anything and everything, the internet, but we would rather use it to be social than to better ourselves.  It's like we're more interested in knowing about each other than useful information about anything and everything.

As far as Ms. Teen South Carolina's speech, it is disgusting to know that there are people out there who are supposed to be role models and who are that ignorant to our country's issues.  To not even be able to answer a question in a coherent manner makes me think if she even understood the question to begin with, the question was about our country's education and she started rambling incoherently about the world's education about the U.S.  It's people like these who make us look like we're the dumbest generation, when really we're just a generation of lost morals.

Blog #2: Second Skin

The documentary "Second Skin" deeply disturbed me, mainly that people spend so much time and money playing these games, to the point where they are losing their jobs, homes, and loved ones.  The way these people's lives are affected is similar to if they were addicted to drugs or alcohol, there is even one part of the documentary where they discuss a 12 step program for gamers that was taken from directly from the program set up for alcoholics because both diseases are so similar.  To even have to go as far as have a half-way house for gamers who need to get their lives back in order is astounding to me.  That someone would let their lives fall apart so far because of gaming that they needed a place to get back on their feet is unimaginable.  I'll be the first to admit that I enjoy playing video games, when Call of Duty: Black Ops first came out my brother and I played almost everyday.  The difference is that we played when we had free time, and then it was only an hour or so maybe at a time.  Not 13 hours like the documentary said most gamers play per day.

At the beginning of the documentary there is a quote which when I first read it I thought it was ridiculous, but after watching the documentary I honestly believe it to be true.  The quote was "These computers on our desks are turning into portals to other realms of existence... realms that will one day be preferred to earth."  The idea that people would rather live in a video game world than the real world to me is sad, that these people could go days or weeks on end if they wanted without going outside is pathetic.  Or when they actually do go outside all they see is the graphics from the game, and everything else is blurry?  Personally I think this is incredibly sad that these people have lost that ability to enjoy the world around them.  I love the outdoors and believe there is nothing in this world that is more beautiful than the natural world around us.  To not be able to go outside and see that beauty anymore is extremely sad to me.

It also shocked me how global the MMORPG world is, considering how I had never heard of any of these games, besides World of War Craft.  The fact that people's jobs in China are to play these games and collect gold or other items that people in America want for their game and will pay actual money for it is ridiculous.  This just shows how America is a nation of consumers, and honestly no wonder no one likes us! We pay people to play video games and collect fake gold, while people in other countries are starving because they can't afford food.  The fact that this is even a legitimate problem makes me afraid for the world.

Introduction

Hey guys! My name is Katie and I'm a junior at Ship.  I'm a Social Work Major and I hope to someday get my Master's Degree in SW so that I can become a high school guidance counselor.  Something interesting about me is that I play on Ship's Woman's Ultimate team, the Lady Belle Wethers, I've been playing ultimate for about 3 years now and I love it!  I also played soccer since 1st grade and up until I started playing ultimate my life was about soccer.  Besides playing sports I recently started doing outdoorsy things, like hiking and camping.  Right now my boyfriend is teaching me how to rock climb! It's so scary but super fun! So basically I like anything that physically challenges me.  I also really like playing video games, right now my favorite game is Call of Duty: Black Ops. I also really enjoy reading for fun, so I'm excited to start reading some novels in this class.  The last book I read was "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien, I just finished rereading it before the semester started.  I had read it back in 12th grade but I couldn't remember how it ended so I just picked it up one day and started reading it again, I tend to do that with books.  I'm really excited for this class because it doesn't seem like your typical Literature class, where all you read are boring classical books that are so old you can't even understand the language even though it's in English.  The books we're reading seem to be more recent so I'm really looking forward to reading them.  So that's me! Go ahead and ask me some questions if you want!