passport..

I think this essay hits the point about passports and identity and immigrants head on. In the United States when we see someone who isn't of the same race or ethnicity than us we look at them like they have eight heads or something. I'll be honest I do it sometimes too. I think that it got worse after 9/11. We look at muslims and others as they may be terrorists that we should keep an eye on them, or mayb just throw them an evil eye. Also we do the same thing when some speaks a different language. When I'm in a mall or a restaurant and i hear another language being spoken I get annoyed. I think that if you want to live in this country you should speak the language. If everyone spoke the language in public with everyone else then stares and dirty looks would be eliminated. If you are in your own home you can speak what you want but you are in a country that speaks English, than speak it! But I believe the essay got to the point and I agree with it.

response to nickel and dime and the cocktail waitress

the other essays we read to me were boring... i believe these two essays were much more interesting because the people are actually experiencing low wage jobs and how it is to not have much... i can completely relate to this... i remember my mom having 2 or 3 jobs just to get by to pay the bills and put food on the table... yes it was hard but if you need to do things to survive... i cant complain so much now... yes we do struggle but its not as bad before... people need to learn not to take things for granted because anything can be taken away from you... just be grateful of what you have...

Structure of Paper

starts off with the closing of another segment
introduce myself
introduce the segment that will be going on
introduce each peron individually
start off with the topic of lieteracy and go from there
im the middle person (host of the radio show)
pause between times for commercials
each author speaks
take calls from the audience listening to the show
give answers to questions
closing words
conclude radio show

Wages

In the story she gave up everything in order to see how someone can live off of minimum wage and the methods they use to survive. she dropped herself from the middle class to the lower class and put herself in there shoes to begin appreciating how they live and realized there work is just as hard and stressful as any other jon yet they were hardly making any money. she soon realized how hard it is to live off of $6-7

Nickel n' Dimed

Ehrenreich left behind her car, house, well paying job and ATM card to take part in an interesting experiment. She left behind all her middle class belongings in search for a lower class lifestyle. she wanted to see how mothers and other people that make minimum wage live and the difficulties they deal with everyday. She found it ironically hard to find a job that requires little to no skill becuase the main reason of hiring is job turnovers. She finally lands a job and finds it very hard to stay afloat only make 6-7 dollars an hour at a local resturant. I feel bad for the people that are in these situations but without these people willing to work these jobs our society wouldnt be functionable, they are a necessity to the work world.

the working class and minimum wage

I enjoyed both of these stories because I could understand them and relate to them in certain ways. In Barbara Ehrenreich's story Nickel-and-Dimed she takes us through the life of the underpaid working class. She introduces characters to us as well as a little bit of their background. She goes mainly into their living conditions, because that mainly is all they talk about. her story just goes to show you how hard it is to survive on minimum wage and to jsut get by with all the expenses in life.
The other authors James Spradley and Brenda Mann discussed a similar topic but less people based and more social grouping. In their essay they discussed how there are three classes or categories of people, customers, employees, and managers. From there on they give us a layout of the social network of a particular resturant, Brady's Bar. I didn't like this story as much because to me it wasnt really about the people. You didn't get to know anyone personally, but with the Nickel-and-Dimed story you did.

Ehrenreich, Barbara & Spradley, James/Mann, Brenda

Both of these essays were extremely informative. Nickle and Dime was an interesting read. I always have heard complaints against minimum wage but never was exactly told the difficulties of living on minimum wage. Ehrenreich does a great job in her essay explaining the lives of her fellow workers that were struggling to live on minimum wage. The story about the woman who had to live in her pick-up truck was very moving.

In the Cocktail Waitress essay you could see that companionship is created everywhere. When she first started, the waitress was very nervous and found herself in quite a few akward situations with customers. This was avoided once she understood the groups of customers that were in the bar she worked at.

Nickel-and-Dimed and The Cocktail Waitress

I found both essays very interesting and truthful. I think it was a good idea for Barbara Ehrenreich to change her life style to see how those who make seven dollars an hour survive. It’s funny to me because I used to think because I had a job I was independent and didn’t need any help from anyone. My mother asked me one day when I was running my mouth, “Shawde, you think you can live on your own making seven dollars a year. Your pay check wouldn’t even be able to pay half the bills. That’s when I began to think about people who have to take care of themselves making minimum wage.
“The Cocktail Waitress” was good because I believe that the amount they receive is not enough for what they do. The jobs that don’t pay enough are jobs that can take a lot out of an individual and be frustrating and stressful. Every job takes skill, like the cocktail waitress who has to learn the rules for operating in the network.

Passport photos

Why do people look at others strange when they see that they are different? Everyone should be except equally into America because none of us were originally born on this land. If you are full blown Native American you can actually say that this land is your land. But that is not the case. We all come from different countries and have different traditions making up the greatest land of all time. We are Americans. Lets share with each other and grow to be more respectful of diverse cultures. Learn to have a unique perspective of the world at hand.

The Working World

I have been working since I was 14 years old and I already want to retire. I strongly agree that people should work in a profession that they love to do. Who wants to wake up every day and go work for 8 hours doing something they dont want to do? It is a extra bonus to work and be happy at the same time. I wish I could get a million dollars just for baby sitting kids everyday because it is something that I enjoy doing. You only get one life, live it to the fullest.

Nickel and Dimed

What does nickel and dimes mean, well according Barbara Ehrenreich she did a little experiment on jobs that are available for the poor and welfare members. According to her there is very little out there (job wise) that can get these people to decent lifestyle.Most jobs for unskilled workers can only make 6-7 dollars an hour which is barely enough to afford the essential and to pay rent on their homes. Well i completely feel the same about this, that there is very little a person can do to pull themselves out of poverty, and it should be changed. We should enforce laws that can give these people a chance to have a decent life, like making jobs pay a little more. Also with this idea the increase in wages usually coincides with price inflation with everything from gas to groceries, well this should not be allowed because that will not doing anything to help these people. In reality it will just keep them in the poverty level.

The Cock Tail Waitress

Well after reading "The Cocktail Waitress" I can really see how this social network is true. I know from personal experience and I'm sure mostly everybody has felt like there has been some kind of connection between certain customers and waitress's. But i think that i really liked the terminology that was used in this story: creep, zoo, party, regular and real regular. It also seems funny that every single one the words used to describe different individuals does have a different meaning to it.

I would also like to add that in a way i have used a social network in the past, especially during high school. Where me and my group of friends actually label certain individuals that we did not, on what type of person they were. So i think this is a big reason why i can believe that this happens in the Brady bar.

the cocktail waitress..nickel and dimed

I liked reading The Cocktail Waitress more. I used to be a waitress myself and I understood very clearly what they were talking about in the essay. How they said there were regulars and jocks and all of those names for customers I had them at my job as well. Its weird how there are these status' for the customers that only the waitresses and the other employees know. It's like a different language that the waitresses use to help them move around their work place a little better. They get so used to it..that its easier for them to talk that way than just in plain simple English.
I also enjoyed reading the other essay. I think it was cool that the woman experiemented herself and didn't just listen to the studies she read about before. She actaully put herself in the real life situation. Like she said it wasn't just because she wanted to see how it felt..or how it was. She wanted to prove the studies herself. So she went out and started to study everything herself.

Having a good conversation?

OK--so here is the list of what you came up with today in class as part of a very basic "genre analysis". You can use this as a reference--and it will also be one of the ways that we "judge" or "evaluate" the effectiveness of your essay.

Talk Shows/Gathering with Authors:

• active listening
• be considerate of the audience
• respectable answer, not just yes/no
• questions that go beyond just regular ole questions
• making the audience feel comfortable

Interview-Office Setting:

• listen diligently/pay attention
• do not get side-tracked
• do not waste their time

Debate:

• get audience involved
• make sure each answer and question is understood
• interesting questions
• active audience

Reporter/Moderator:

• know your opponent
• stress their points of view
• follow-up questions
• give a summary of what the author said (in your opinion)

Talk show:

• summarize
• get the audience involved--have audience get involved
• [be interested in what you are writing]

Coffee Shoppe:

• keep informal
• work with environment (waitresses, drinking coffee)
• does not need to stay on topic
• counter-arguments commonplace

email chat-room:

• informal
• keep the text the same [i.e. with abbreviations]
• describe setting
• write in any distractions--other "windows"

Late-Nite Dream:

• short questions with loose-based responses
• steer off original question points
• stories--in responses
• no direct interaction with audience

Casual Friendly conversation:


Interview w/ no-place:

• keep personal but also professional
• get in good with person
• don't move away from conversation--but go beyond
• let them go on a rant about whatever they want
• give questions that allow person to talk about what they want

Radio Show:

• everyone listen to one another
• one at a time
• speak clearly so everyone can understand
• be informal
• callers involved--ask questions
• interesting questions (not boring ones_
• everyone should stay relaxed

Talk show:

• interesting topics
• speak clearly
• get audience involved--ask questions
• keep conversation flowing
• ask questions yourself

Newspaper article about interview:

• ask questions that will get people to go deeper
• summarize
• some quotes

Coffeeshop:

• other people interacting
• overheard them talking
• didn't know them bumped into them
• casual
• can be personal
• ask about childhood/background/education

Talk show:

• good introduction
• what is the topic of the discussion
• have guests
• give guests' background
• allow guests to talk--say opinions
• have your opinion
• host
• audience add comments
• commercial breaks
• have a great day

No setting group discussion--big comfy conference room:

• our class, two authors, and yours truly
• respect
• mediate--self-mediation
• conflict (everyone loves conflict)
• emotionally involved
• healthy disagreement
  
  

paper

In my paper I plan to discuss the different views from china vs. US on education. My main arguement is that in china Lu took crap for knowing "to much" (for example 3 lang.) but in the US many kids gduate from high school and struggle with the english language. Seizer may not come right out and say it but i belive part of the reason he writed his essay down to the minute is to show that there is too much energy focused on how to educate in the US insead of just doing it.

Paper #1: Literacies

I'll do my draft on Mike Rose and June Jordan. I believe I could carry on a full conversation with both of these people had I met them on the street, so they would be perfect for me to write "with." Both authors had to deal with troubles in their professions and learned from them. It may be difficult to relate personally but I believe I understood what they wrote.

draft ideas

I know in my previous blog i talked about doing different authors, but since we read the new essay about high school I believe I can relate to that one more. I also think that Lisa Delpit's essay on being a black educator will make for a good paper topic as well. Im going to compare and contrast the two essays and talk about how each authors view was different from that of our classes take on the subject. I'll ask them what they think about our (the class) view on what they wrote and if they can agree or disagree and why. I share my view points on what they wrote as well. I'll allow the authors to not only speak with me but with each other as well. Im also most likely going to write the paper in script form because I believe that would easiest to follow not only for myself but for whoever reads it as well.

First Paper

I decided to write my paper on the two essays I found most interesting, Rose and Delpit's. Both authors are working with students on the same social and cultural scale. There are some differences because Rose not only works with children and there literacy but college students who are not prepared, Vietnam vets, and adults. I decided to have a conversation with both authors and myself explaining there methods of teaching literacy.

Paper #1

I chose to form a conversation between Delpit, Min zhan Lu, and myself. I'm not so sure I can relate to Min's hardships but I find them interesting and should be easy to write about. I also chose to incorporate Delpit into the conversation, she also goes through tough times on deciphering how to teach her children and what the most productive methods might be. Both of these stories I interpreted well and were greatly linked to literacy and its importance amongst different cultures.

paper

I am going to use the essays written by Delpit and Rose. Delpit talks about how to educate two different social and cultural groups at the same time and to try to get them to both be at the same level. Rose talks about the different levels of education that people have. He talks about teaching older students how to understand words by using what they already know about the word. Both essays talk about the different social levels and how the lack of vocabulary and 'proper'/'standard' language can hold people back from going further in life even if they are fluent. I could have a conversation with the authors about the teaching methods that could be used with different cultural and social groups so that everyone could be educated equally. I could also go from the point of what is a 'proper'/'standard language and why can't certian dialects be accepted as much as other dialects.

paper

im gonna mostly use the artical on Min-Zhan Lu's life and the way litercay is brought up in that. how high school treated her and what she had to go through. Talk about how she was raised and made into the person that she is.

Paper #1

For my paper I am going to have a conversation between Min-zhan Lu, Mike Rose and myself. Literacy as impacted each authors life just in many different ways. Lu takes pride in how she is fluent with a few different languages and how that has helped her. Rose talks about how well you know a language determines your rank in society and i would like to speak with each other author and have a "conversation" with how literacy as impacted there daily lives.

High School Again

In Seizer's essay he talk about two ideas that most people can relate to. One of the ideas was Mark the normal high school student and tells about his day at school. Most of us would agree his day was like most high school students, more like a dictatorship and you just do what your told. When the school day was over you either go to work or go to practice. This to me was the cycle I was used too back in the day where I did pretty much the same thing everyday. Then he brings up the subject of how and what should be taught in schools. He does this by what two different states feel how their citizens should be learning. West Virginia and California were the two states in his essay. Since I wasn't a citizen of either of those states I feel I cant comment on their ways of doing things but I can tell you what I think about my learning. I feel that I was lucky enough to be in an area where schooling was important and the teachers and leaders lead me on the correct path. It must of work cause if it failed I wouldn't be sitting here.

I think for my essay, I will have "a conversation" with Mike Rose and June Jordan. I think the two authors (and I) all have very different perspectives on language/class association. I read a lot, I guess usually by authors who write the way I speak. Thinking deeply about what Rose and Jordan have to say could put a new perspective on the way I read and view literature.

Possible authors for the paper

I'm not entirely sure what I would like to write on. I'm leaning more towards either Min-zhan Lu or June Jordan ideas. Their essays were the ones that got to me most and what I think would be easiest to write about. Both had easy topics and talked about literacy in different ways. The topic of literacy in both of these essay's is discusses in a different way, but I believe both of them portray literacy in their own way.

Paper1

I'm not set on what i would like to write my paper about.... But I'm thinking I'll write about "What high school is" and then Min-zahn Lu essay. I'll pull on the difference in education due to living in different countries. High shool in the US is a joke, But from what Lu said it seemes more serious in china.

Mud Throwing With Sizer & Anzaldua

"When you throw a little mud, you lose a little ground"

Funny how Sizer throws this quote into his essay considering it reminds me a lot of Anzaldua's essay and her topic. I feel like Anzaldua is in a culture or society where different dialects and different languages are being thrown around like mud. Each time there is a slight change in a language, we lose a little of that ground that makes up our foundation. Anzaldua talks about literacy in the form of her languages and the changing of dialects, accents, speech, and everything else, while Sizer talks about the lack of dialogue between the students and the educators in high school.
I can relate more to Sizer's essay. I often struggled to get through classes where the teacher would just drone and occasionally call you just to keep the ball rolling. But what about the silences? What about the pauses? What about the out burts of opinions. Where are all the qualities found in dialogue? Absent. "Dialogue is strikingly absent." Our foundation is being lifted, scattered, and left out to dry.