My picture

I feel like my picture is not a normal image of how most of us view America, but i think that often times we and other nations make up generalizations about eachother that are not true. I was looking to find a picture showing the everyday people that make up America, because I believe that is the heart of our society today. This picture shows two people sitting on a city park bench looking at and enjoying the sunset. They both look as if they are really taken back by all that they are seeing, and that they are in deep thought. In the backround of the picture there are many unfocused adults and children wrapped up their busy city lives. I think that is one thing we as Americans often do, we get so conserned with our day to day activites that we dont just stop to look around for a moment. It shows me how I need to stop every once and awhile to look at what is around me. Lifes to short to always be on the go and stressed all the time!!! This image makes me feel relaxed when I see the couple watching the sun go down. I put myself in their postion and try to imagine the sights that they are veiwing. All in all i dont know if anyone else see's America in this picture, but i really get tired of all the common American flags, and Bald eagles that are supposed to "represent" our country as a whole. I'm not saying that im not a patriot, I just believe that we Americans can have images that sybolize us better than the ones that are out there today.

been awhile...

My mind has been swamped lately and I haven't had a chance to post any blogs on the stories we were supposed to read. So this is going to be a super blog-post...I'll start with Lawrence Grossberg's "Youth and American Identity." I always find myself to be a little confused in the beginning of the essays. It takes a little bit to decode what the author is trying to say. Grossberg was trying to get some point across concerning the 'American Dream'. As a student said in their blog posting, nobody has ONE set dream. It definitely changes from person to person depending on what that person wants to get out of life. Some people are happy not having money and getting more out of the natural beauty of life whereas some people strive to be the wealthiest human alive! It's all a matter of choice.

Moving on to Mary Gordon's "More Than Just a Shrine." This was definitely interesting to read because it's so true and that is the problem with most Americans. We don't appreciate what we have, even if that was very little. I was born in America so I have not faced the hardships that many immigrants have when trying to come over to the U.S. We often take for granted how 'easy' we really have it. It was very surprising to read that some immigrants took their own lives because they couldn't become American citizens. That shows how bad they're lives in their own countries must have been, if they're willing to sacrifice anything to live here.

The essay "Indians" showed many different viewpoints on lives of Indians and what happened to them. There was a line in the beginning of the essay, on pg.413, second paragraph, that really stood out. "This essay concerns the difference that point of view makes when people are giving accounts of events, whether at first or second hand. The problem is that if all accounts of events are determined through and through by the observer's frame of reference, then one will neer know, in any given case, what really happened." That is a dangerously truthful statement. When you think about that, you start to question all history itself and even the little things in life. Could the entire American History textbook be written in bias because it was only one person/group of people's point of view?! We'll never know. It's hard to point the finger at any one set of people. The Indians could blame all their hardships on the Europeans, but the Indians could have also provoked them too. We won't ever find out the real deal.

Lastly, I read over Christopher Phillips 3 page essay and looked at Warren Neidich's pictures. It's kind of sad when you look at all the pictures because you can really see the facial expressions of the Indians, and they're all so emotionally moving.

Philips/Neidich

I read through the 2 pages in the text and looked through the pictures in the book as well as on the website. These pictures could say so much without even having words next to them. The pictures really spoke for themselves and you could tell what was going on in the pictures. You could really see the faces of the Indians on some of the pictures on the website. The faces of the Indians looked distressed and fearful. The Indians went through many triumphs which make it understandable for the expressions of their feelings in the portraits.

"Indians"

The essay "Indians" showed the different points of what could have happened to the lives of many Indians. The essay seemed to just point the finger at Europeans, and say that they are the reason why several lives of Indians were lost. I think that the argument could go either way because the Indians could have provoked the Europeans to do this to them, or vice versa. I guess unless there were exact records of the events that occurred, then we can't really committ to an answer to explain what happened. Other than alot lost their lives.

"Youth and American Identity"/"More Than Just A Shrine"

I have forgotten to post to blog for the past several stories I have read. So I guess I will start with Lawrence Grossberg's "Youth and American Identity." I personally had a problem following the essay. The point that Grossberg was trying to make seemed to make was about the American Dream. However, I feel that nobody has a real concept of what it actually is. I believe that it changes from person to person. For some people it is based on material comfort and others it can be based on personal sucess. Hopefully we can talk about this one in class because this essay was not too clear to me!

I enjoyed reading "More Than Just A Shrine" by Mary Gordon. This essay showed how much we take advantage of being a U.S. citizen and how great we have it. Most of us are just born into the U.S. so we did not have to experience the struggles of many immigrants. I found it shocking that many immigrants killed themselves if they could not become citizens. And it just showed how willing people are to give up the life they have just to take a risk of coming to the United States to try to become a citizen. I also thought of how terrible it was when the immigrants were checked for diseases and the ones who didn't have the diseases were probably infected after the testing was done. This essay really demonstrated the triumphs and hardships of immigrants arriving in the United States.

More Than Just A Shrine

I found this essay very intriguing and a sort of eye opener to me. I've been living in the U.S. since I was born, so in the eyes of an immigrant I may take it for granted. Of course I am overly privelaged to be a middle class American and I'm going to college and I've lived a financially mediocre life. I thought it was an interesting revelation when Gordon touched base on the point that she hasn't seen most of the American Landmarks when there are so many travelers that visit America to see this landmarks. It was eye opening because I realized that I haven't seen most American landmarks and I should be, because it's America's past history...which is a subject I'm not good at and I live here and was taught it in my past schooling. I just thought that was a very important part of the essay and eye opening. I think most Americans may take this easy life for granted sometimes. I always think about how hard it is all around the world, and it's just so easy here. We take the littlest conflicts and make them seem like they're a lot worse than they are compared to some places around the world. I don't know much, but I do know that we should all be a lot more grateful for the lives we live.

More Than Just a Shrine

It was a struggle for the immigrants coming to the United States in this essay. They tried very hard and even some of those who didnt make it in would commit suicide. These people must be coming from a bad place if they would rather kill themselves than return home. This essay made me appreciate being a citizen of the united states. Our country is the land of the free, and come on. . who wouldn't want to live here? It's a beautiful country and has so much to offer. The essay also made me feel bad for those immigrants who couldnt get in because they have almost nothing to return to that is desirable. And people who obtain a college degree in and then immigrate to the U.S. can't even use them. I just don't understand why it is like this. I personally think they should allow these degree's to be accepted.

section of my paper, based on stereotypes

Sitting back in my desk chair while writing this paper and saying how everyone is affected by stereotypes and how I feel it is wrong makes me fell like a hypocrite because in actuality, I stereotype as well. I can recall many instances where I was stereotyping others, may it be calling someone a “prep” or “gangsta,” these are common day occurrences, not that I do it on purpose but it just happens out of instinct.
Now this instinct I talk about isn’t something I was taught consciously, but rather subconsciously. It’s not like I wanted to learn it, but it’s more along the lines as growing up with it and just using it and not realizing it. I can actually recall to this past day when my friends and I saw a group of people, consisting of parents and their teenagers walking out front of our dorm, and immediately, out of instinct, we started hooting and hollering at them things like, “Hey, look at the new alcoholics,” or “Visitors,” to “Fresh meat!” Now these may not seem that bad, well a couple may, but they just come out and we look stupid, and it was all because it was out of instinct. My friends and I actually talked about this today as to why we do this, and my friend Matt came up with this, “We do it because it was done to us.” Now, right there, that is exactly where I am coming from with “instinct,” it has happened before to us so we must pass it on. It is a never-ending chain, which is not rusting nor breaking anytime soon.

Indians

I liked this essay. I like how she point out that you always have fact like who was in charge and that they smoked but never who caused the problem. The only way to know what really happened is to have an exact record of it, like a video, or to have been there yourself. On the Indians side there was probably a bunch of them that didn't like Europeans. Some Indians may have caused them trouble, killed, robbed, or did some form of mean thing to the Europeans. On the other hand, some of the Indians may of liked Europeans, helped them, and got along with them just fine. As for the Europeans its probably the same situation. Some hated the Indians and looked down on them. Others may have respected them and viewed the Indians as above Europeans. A few Europeans might not of like other Europeans. In the end all we know is that a lot of Indians died. Some Europeans did cheat Indians out of land and mistreats them. The Indians may have done the same. In the end the Europeans came out on top. That's all we can prove.

More Than Just a Shrine

In Gordon's description of Immigrants comming to United States it seemed like a struggle. I was amazed when it talked about how those who could not get into the US would kill themselves. The essay not only gave me a better appreciation for being a citizen in the United States but it also made you feel bad for all of those who had to immigrate. Sometimes its really sad when you hear the someone was a doctor, or a lawyer in their country but then when they get to the US there "nothing" they have to get all there degrees again. Also I thought we were all once immigrants right? So why is there such a prejudice against those who are only doing to same thing our anncessetors once did?

Oh no!!!

I am soo confused!! I don't know if the paper is due tomorrow if Prof. Mahoney isn't going to be here because of his conference. Cause of the blog he posted said to post parts of our papers if we wanted? If someone can email me by the time I am done work tonight I would appreciate it because I don't want to rush to finish it when it's not even due!

More than Just a Shrine

This essay seemed to just be all about immigrants and how they have their own history. Gordon talks about how people would leave everything to come to America even though they might not make it in. She mentions that there were three thousand suicides on Ellis Island. So basically if they didn't make it in to the US they were dead. I can't imagine how that would feel to leave everything and travel across the ocean to be turned down, must of been terrible. It was just funny how Gordon talked about the civil wars and all that stuff not being apart of her history, because now that I think about it its not a part of mine either. My family is more diverse then hers. I remember hearing stories about family members coming over on boats worrying about Nazis. It's just wired to think about. Most of the people I know have families very similar to mine. Its just kind of funny how after a few generations people forget that they were the immigrants at one time. They lose their understanding and develop a we don't need any more of them attitude towards new immigrants.

Youth and American Identity

I didn't really understand what Grossberg was getting at. He starts off talking about the American dream and how we are a nation of immigrants. Grossberg also says how America is like the youth and Europe is the grown ups. I guess what he was trying to say is that America is still young and full of ideas and dreams about the future. Then there is Europe who is the adult that sets the rules and America is the youth who asks why, but all Europe will say back is, "because I said so". That's just my interpretation. I think Grossberg tries to say that they people always refer to the American dream, but no one really knows what it is because it is not one concrete thing. Its kind of like how can there be an American dream if no one knows what it is. Another problem is that American can not be young forever because everyone grows up. I liked this question. "How can this generation possibly fulfill its own identity and become the American dream--because a future which is always as yet unrealized and unrealizable?" I'm not what I like about it, I just found it interesting I guess. I guess what he is getting at is how do you expect to tell people that their goal in life is to achieve the American dream when no one really knows what it is.

On my way to Chicago

Hello all...hope everyone had a great spring break. As you may remember, I am on my way to a conference in Chicago this week. I had hoped to get a late flight out of Allentown today, but unless I wanted to spend an insane amount of money, I had to get a flight earlier. Matter of fact, I am writing you from the airport right now. I love wireless.

Anyway, I thought we could move our class discussions on line for the week. I don't want to let too much time pass without meeting, and this seemed an effective way to use the class blog and to keep our semester moving.

So, post your thoughts! Let me know what you think. What issues would you like to address? Can you post segments of your papers? Let's hear your stories!

I'll be checking the blog daily...so happy posting!

Virtually yours,
Kevin

Paper topic

In my paper I am going to talk about how difficult it is to survive in this country. I am going to bring some information that the author Barbara Ehrenreich in " Nickel-and-dimed: on (not)getting By in America" along with this on how difficult it was for my mother to survive in this country with four kids and with a little support of my father. I am going to say a little bit about the many low paying jobs there is in this country and why many people come to this country to have a better life, because in other countries are verily surviving with little bit of money just like in the story that Tom Hayden and Charles Kernaghan in " Pennies and hour and no way up"

Paper

I have decided to do my paper on homeless people in America. The story that i will talk about is when i was a child, i was going to give a bum some money but when i went to hand the money over to the man my uncle grabbed it from me and told me to never give money to bums cause it will only be spent on bad things. I now look back and what happened and i dont think that my uncle's judgement was very fair. I want to be able to talk about in my paper how all countrys should get together and try to kill poverity in the world.

Paper Topic

I think I'm going to write my paper on the low wages that undergraduate or High School students have to work under. I'm writing about this because working under the certain circumstances of low wage but hard working, it can take away from a fun high school career/life, while also making it hard to afford college tuition which can lead to loans and whatever other form of money. Low wage working teens would have to work so many hours a week to afford the things they want for that week while still saving up for college tuition and extra costs. Most of the jobs around my area pay a real low wage and since most of them are NOT paid under the table (no taxes deducted, and only cash), it can also take away from financial aid that you could potentially recieve towards your college tuition. So basically, jobs suck and even though you're making money, unless you're making a hell of a lot of money and working so many hours a week, really, it's actually taking away from your life and money in the long run. Obviously I'm a little unclear....which isn't so great considering this is due in about 2 hours and 15 minutes. I work well under pressure.

Paper idea...

well, I need to start writing my paper but I have 3 or 4 other papers to write but I came up with an idea... i just need to get it down on paper. Prof Mahoney said to use your own personal experience and that would make a good paper. I work at a restaurant and I have worked their for over 2 and 1/2 years so I know the business well. I do everything there but cook and bartend but I supposed to start bartending soon. Neways I want to write about how between jobs pay rates differ and how the new employees come in and they start off at a higher wage than older people like me. How people dont know how to tip and thats what I live off of. Considering most of my friends there are going to school full time and or are single mothers going to school with a kid to support. This paper could possibly turnn into me complaining but I will try not to and keep it to a minimum. I want to use Nickel and Dimed to back up my paper because I make pretty good money but not enough to help me survive because I am balancing school full time, and a job in order to help pay for my schooling, my car, insurance, phone bill,etc.

new paper Idea

I feeel like I am going to write my next paper about growing up in a society where if your differernt than the norm, then you are outcasted, misinterpreted, judged and not able to show your full potential. Growing up, I was always seen, by adults, as a freak because I wore black, died my hair, had tattoos, had piercings, listened to very loud "screaming" "satanic" music, and didn't do what everyone else was doing. When in fact, I was a very diligent worker, student, athlete and most importantly a person. I hated being stereotyped as a freak, and other subcultures, and what I hated most was he fact that just because I acted different everybody treated me differernt. So my main point for this paper, is about how quikly people judge other individuals just on apearance and nt taking the time to get to know them.

Paper ideas

I'm not completely sure exactly what i want to write or say in my essay but i want it to deal with the fact that it costs a lot to stay alive these days and how the current wages most of the time arent enough to pay all of the bills especially for college students. I really dont know what else i could write about right now.

Im thinking that most of my paper is going to focus on low-wage workers in America today. I have a lot of personal experiences that relate right to this issue, because i worked in a resturant dinner for a long time during high school. I think that this paper is going to be easier than the first because we have to relate it to our own experiences. I'll have lots of things to talk about since I have some first hand examples. For the most part I'm going to be using Barbara Ehrenreich's essay "nickel-and-dimed" because that directly relates to the topic I am talking about. I can pull many examples from Barbara's essay and relate to them.

Paper

I have no idea what I am going to write my paper on. I just found out tonight that it was due tomarrow. So thats great. I was thinking I would work of the essay on the goths because I could relate to it the best. I've seen so many people do this or that to fit in or be an idividual. So I figured I had the most personal experiance with this one. But like I said I'm still pretty lost. I figure I was lost going into the first paper and that one worked out so this one should too.

Goths in Tomorrowland/Fortress Los Angeles

Goths in tomorrowland seemed to be more of a conflict between the adults and the teens. Things have changed pretty much since they were teens. Theres so much more technology which influences teens and theres a lot more music genres and other things that influence todays teens. Parents and adults are afraid of people who consider themselves goths because it puts them in a stereotype of satan loving druggies and alcoholics when in reality some of them are actually the opposite of that. But if you think about it... our parents already went through a part of thier life way back when, when there were groups of teens in their schools that could be related to the groups in todays highschools, and as the saying goes "Your parents know because they've already been through it"... Most of the time thats true. Plus they are just trying to protect their children from getting themselves in bad situations because they've either already been through it themselves and know what its like or they've seen it happen to someone close to them. The goth's have just as much right to be in disney as any other person, if they want to look and be unhappy that's their choice... and everyone else has the choice to look at them and acknowledge them or not. afterall we are in America where everyone is Free.

Fortress Los Angeles is kind of a touchy subject. And obviously not just for me but for many this essay made people a little angry or uncomfortable. Honestly, I can't understand why there are so many homeless people. There are so many places to get jobs ... and they must be homeless for their own reasons and by their own faults. I mean, most of them are druggies or alcoholics or something. And instead of spending what little money they have on food or finding a job or something they end up spending their time and money on getting more drugs or alcohol. If they dont put themselves in the position to become homeless, then they wont become homeless. You have to work hard to make yourself a decent amount of money and everything you cant just expect it to come flowing into your arms. If they dont want to be homeless anymore they have to do something about it.

Malls, Power, and Resistance

I liked the statistic that 80% of products fail. I just found that interesting. I didn't really agree with this essay to much. Yes I have gone to the mall a lot with friends never with the intent to buy anything. We just went for a lack of better things to do or to meet girls. We didn't go to rebel or start trouble or anything. We would come across someone selling at the mall but now and then or see people that were drunk. I really don't think the dealing or drinking was an act of rebellion in anyway either. I think the dealer just went to the mall because a lot of consumers are there. The people that go drunk probably are just bored and think it would be fun to go wonder around the mall drunk. I don't think teens actions are any more then that. I thought the part about old people going for walks in malls was funny because I ran into that for my first time when I was in Virginia. I was it bit confused at first.

Goths in Tomorrowland

The Goths in Tomorrowland just talks about kids finding their own identity. I think all adults basicly view teens as a whole. They see all social groups as the same everywhere. When in reality at one place jokes might be the druggies while at another school the goths are the druggies. It just all really depends on where you are from and who gets into what. I think the same kind of groups we have now where there when our parents were teen. The groups just changed just enough to the point where parents can't relate to them anymore. I really don't think our parents view us as dumb. I just think that they remember what they did as teens. At the time they thought what they did was so much fun. Now that they look back they see what the alternative could of been. All parents are trying to do is protect us from that alternative. I like the end statement of the essay. "Young people are caught in a paradox. They drive themselves to extremes to create space in which to be themselves. Yet the commercial machine they think they're escaping is always on their back, ready to sell then something new." I don't know why I liked it. I guess its just because it is true.

The Militarization of Urban Space

This essay is all about how Los Angeles basically spends millions to beautify the city, build skyscrapers, and all that good stuff. They want people to come back to Los Angeles and bring money back. He go on to tell you how a few blocks down from all this the city is trying everything to make the lives of the homeless as hard as they can. It is so dumb that they spend so much money to make live harder for the homeless. When they could be spending it to help them. The city wastes money on things like barrel-shaped benches that are uncomfortable to sleep on. Sprinklers were put everywhere in Skid Row Park so none of the homeless camp out there. One seafood restaurant spent $12,000 to build a trash can equipped with spikes to protect thrown away food. There is another place called MacArthur park where people live and work crappy jobs. The city plans to bulldoze the area to make room to develop. So that means more homeless people. I couldn't help but remember a story my girlfriend told me about how Philly is putting shoots over grates so bums can't sleep on them. I just don't understand you would spend money to make people more desperate and violent. The city could be using that money build shelter and help the homeless. It doesn't make sense.

Goths in Tomorrowland

Goths in Tomorrowland was an interesting essay. I underestand the growing concerns of parents that Disney is considered to be a "happy," "safe," "family" place, however, I don't think it's right that the theme park's administrators had the right to revoke passes to certain people. I think there's many different ways that they could've gone about fixing the problem before it lef to that. So many things have changed since our parents and grandparents were our age. Sometimes, I wonder if I'll end up like my parents. A lot of kids our age talk about how they're going to go about parenting their children, but how much of what we say now will we really follow through with? I wonder if our generation will end up like our parents, or even the people who called and complained to Disney. Will I end up losing sight of what it was like to be a teenager, or a high school student, or a college student?

I've been thinking a lot about my topic for this next paper and have decided to write it on Fortress in Los Angeles. During our in class discussion a lot of classmates had ill feelings towards my views of homeless people. Therefore I have decided to write my paper about the homeless. Through my paper I would like to inform others on my views of how experiences form opinions and how my experience with one homeless person influenced my present thoughts. Again I'm a little confused at the approach we should be taking during the paper. I am not sure if we should use more fact base information or base our papers on our own experiences that create our views. word.