Homework 12 April 15, 2012

1.         Over this last week I took pictures of many things. The things I believe best represent our culture were a big traffic jam and also a busy mall. I feel like the busy mall represents how Americans are always moving and always in such a hurry. It also emphasizes our need to spend money constantly. I’m the type of person, as are many others, that are impulsive spenders. Even though not everyone in America is, I still feel like it shows our culture just a little. And also the immense diversity you see throughout the mall, people of all shapes, colors, and sizes. It also shows how we have everything available in one place, in many stores, whereas in many other places it’d just be a single outdoor market or store. I feel like the traffic jam also shows how diverse we are. You not only see different people, but you also see different cars and maybe even hear different music. It also shows how in a hurry we are. You see different people around you reacting different ways and everyone has somewhere to be. It makes you think. Where are all these people going? Is that woman late for work? Does that man need to get somewhere important? I think it just shows how different everyone in our culture is, and also just makes you think.

2.

“Anthem For The Underdog”

You say you know just who I am
But you can’t imagine
What waits for you across the line
You thought you had me
But I’m still here standing
And I’m tired of backing down

And I’m here now feeling the pain
Of a thousand hearts
Been to hell and back again
I won’t take this

You try so hard to bring me down
You can’t break the broken
You still don’t seem to understand
It’s your turn to see just
How it feels to be me
How it feels to be knocked down

And you’re here now feeling the pain
Of a thousand hearts
You’ve been to hell and back again
You can’t take this

Remember
This feeling

How it feels to be alive
Now you see me through my eyes
And we’re here now feeling the beat
Of a thousand hearts
Coming back to life again
We can make it

Remember
This feeling
Remember…

The song I chose to represent myself is Anthem for the Underdog by 12 Stones. It talks about rising up, and basically defeating people that don’t believe in you. I feel like I’ve done that a lot in my life, as have many others. I’m the first in my family to actually go to college, and I feel like that’s a big step. I’ve also overcome many other obstacles, such as my parent’s divorce. Children of single parents usually don’t thrive as much as those with “normal” families. I’ve also never had a reliable father figure, which many people say makes people very emotionally unstable. I might be emotionally unstable, but at least I’ve thrived, and will continue to thrive throughout my entire life. Even though the odds may have not been in my favor, I’ve come very far from the expectations of many.

Homework 6 March 4, 2012

1. I think many things have shaped my views regarding body image. I think the main has been the media. We’re constantly seeing thin girls with perfect bodies, faces, and hair. Whether it’s on tv, in magazines, movies, or advertisements, we’re constantly being shown what the “perfect” girl should look like, thin and gorgeous. I think I’ve also been influenced by growing up in a thin family. My brothers, mother, and father are all very thin, and so I’ve always thought that was how I was supposed to look.
2. I definitely think that America has different expectations with men and women’s body type. I think in American culture, men are meant to be big, buff, and rugged. Women are supposed to small, thin, and soft. In American culture, men are supposed to take care of the women, so they are meant to be tough and rugged, while the women are supposed to be feminine and somewhat helpless. I don’t think that this is only in American culture, I believe there are other culture that see men and women the same as we do in the US.
3. Muscles-I just think of being strong, manly, and masculine when I think of big muscles.
   Cars-I think of men when I think of cars, because they’re manly and fast, and men usually are very interested in cars.
   Strength-This kind of goes along with being muscular, but I think a lot about strength not only physically but mentally.
4. I think one way American males are pressured to be masculine is that they are always supposed to act tough. Men are supposed to always be strong and not show much emotion, unlike women. Another way I think of men being forced to be masculine is when something goes wrong, men are supposed to be able fix it. From cars to household appliances, men are supposed to know what to do with it. If you’re a man and you don’t know how to change the oil or fix a faucet, you may be looked down upon. I know every time something is wrong with my car, I go straight to my grandpa or my brother and not my mom. 

Homework 3 February 13, 2012

1. I think that it will come to a point where a situation along these lines could happen. I don’t believe it will happen in our lifetime, but definitely within the next couple hundred years. Technology is rapidly evolving with new forms coming out almost every day, from calculators to laptops. I feel like if something like in the reading would happen, humans would feel both safe and endangered at the same time. People would feel safe because terrorists and what not are being found so easily, but also fearful that their plane may be shot down at any moment.
2. I feel like it is inevitable that some day artificial intelligence with human capabilities will be created. With the speed of technology evolving so quickly, I feel that our great grandchildren will be living among robots. I feel like this will highly affect humans because we will no longer be the dominant race, there will be robots which are equally as intelligent as us living along beside us. It will affect identities by making everyone second guess where they are from and how they are made. I feel like everyone will have self-identity issues because of it. Everyone will be asking “who am I?”
3. Positives: they could do everyday tasks that we dread, they could teach in schools, they could run things without human help. Negatives: they could possibly overtake us, minor jobs would be obselete for humans because the robots could do them, and you couldn’t have relationships with them, because they probably will not have emotions.
4. When I came to school, I brought my laptop. It was a little over a year old, but I had never had any real problems with it, except for the occasional freeze, but everyone has that. I was typing a philosophy paper first semester, when I dropped my computer off of my bed, which is a good three to four feet high. It seemed fine. Not even a week later, working on the same paper, my roommate accidentally knocked it off my bed again. The screen started going black and I could not see anything. I had to restart my philosophy paper that I had worked on for a week and a half because my screen would not light up and I could not retrieve my paper.

 

Homework 2 February 6, 2012

1. My gut reaction to the question at the beginning of the page was to answer Mother Teresa. After I read farther into the paper, I changed my mind. I think Norman Borlaug is the more admirable person. He did everything he could to create a “green” lifestyle and working with agricultural science to help feed the hungry. He did all this with little attention from the media, unlike Mother Teresa and Bill Gates. Mother Teresa did a lot of good, but she was recognized for it many times. Borlaug continued to work his hardest even without recognition.

2. If I had to choose two living people that are the most admirable, I would pick my mom and my pop. My mom has been with me through everything I’ve ever done and has supported me through everything I’ve wanted to do and try. She’s given up a lot for my brothers and I, and still does. She stayed with my dad years longer than she should’ve, to try to keep our “family” together, for the sake of my brothers and I. She’s made so many sacrifices for my family, and I don’t think there’s anything more admirable than that. As for my pop, he’s been through a lot too. He was in the army, he dealt with three children, cancer, and the death of his wife, all the while keeping a smile on his face, and looking out for his three grandchildren. He’d do anything for my brothers and I, not to mention his three children. If any of us need anything, we know we can always turn to him. He’s always understanding, even if what any of us have done makes him a little angry. He’d live on the streets rather than see any of my family suffer. After all he’s been through, I find my pop to be an admirable person. I guess it says that I make moral judgments based on those I want to be like, and also on those who have done remarkable things in my life, even if they haven’t gotten awards or recognition.

3. I believe we are born with what is labeled as a “universal morality”, to an extent. I feel that, like the text says, we know to comfort people and to share with people, even when we are little and not taught to do so. I think we are morally inclined to do many things. Then we’re taught other terms of morality, such as rape is wrong, which is a moral that is pretty much seen universally.

4. The five elements of morality that the text mentions are harm, fairness, community, authority and purity. I think Americans tend to rank authority first. In America, everyone craves power. If you have authority and power, it seems you have everything. Though this is not true, I believe authority is what Americans tend to rank the highest.