The Ad Council

Several of the ads that I saw written about in those articles I was able to recognize myself, which just goes to show how effective they were while they were in circulation and even after. I personally believe that the effectiveness of these ads comes from the ideology of “I’ll only believe what I see”, and these ads from the Ad Council do just that. I could be told “don’t play with matches”, or I could watch a house burn down and then have a talking bear tell me “don’t play with matches.” I think the more effective approach is obvious. I remember there being one ad from the Ad Council that almost made me cry. To make a long story short, a man drives under the influence, swerves, hits a curb and then drives through somebody’s fence. On the other side of the fence is a little kid playing soccer, and the car hits him. His father runs out, and is crying over his dead son’s body while the man driving the car just stands there and watches. Yeah, it’s really tough to watch. I’ve never seen an ad that was so effective in my whole life, which is pretty amazing considering we see so many commercials everyday. What I was very impressed with was the I Am America campaign. I remember those after the 9-11 attacks, and I am thoroughly amazed at how those ads were put together in a matter of ten days. It just goes to show how attached we are to the media and how attached we are to visual stimulation. Tell us not to drink and drive, and we forget in a few minutes, but SHOW us not to drink and drive, and we will never forget what the ad is trying to tell us.

Social Citizens

I’ll be honest, I haven’t really “read” most of the articles that have been assigned this semester; but this one made me stop and think. I read the whole thing! I’m so used to, like so many other people my age, of being “observed” and “concluded about”. Most of these observations have always been more or less attacks on my generation; they’re attacks about how we are brainwashed by social networking. But I was pleasantly surprised to see just straight observations about myself that I definitely agreed with. The biggest one I noticed is how activism and causes and volunteering are such a huge part of our lives. I needed to do hours of community service for Boy Scouts, church, National Honors Society and several other organizations that I was a part of. In fact, as I read the article, a Habitat for Humanity commercial aired on the TV, and Kermit the Frog told me that “volunteering was great”. If I volunteered, I would receive a day pass to Walt Disney World. Causes have, in a way, become more and more business-like over the years. Yes, they are still non-profit, but they still advertise and merchandise just as much as for-profit companies. I think the reason for the huge growth in social awareness and causes is that my generation is constantly reminded of our negative impacts on the Earth with consumerism and carbon footprints. I can sort of see us validating our consumerism because we feel that we give back. For example, you want a really expensive pair of jeans, but you feel less guilty about buying it because your purchase is donating money to a cause such as breast cancer research. We recycle and consider ourselves environmentalists, but in reality, are we really environmentalists. So maybe we recycle, but then maybe we climb into a gas-guzzling SUV and drive to work.

Student Activism

“Activism” as Spanier calls it, has definitely declined over the past 40 years on college campuses, but I see his argument as nothing short of nostalgic. He has the attitude in this article that so many people have, the attitude that their college was at its best when they were there. What surprised me the most is that Spanier failed to take the times into account. The world has changed significantly between 1972 and 2008 (when this article was written). Forty years ago, the fear of Communism was at a high, and most importantly, the Vietnam War was going on. Vietnam was the reason why there was so much activism on campuses. With the draft, there were so many kids between the ages of 18 and 22 over there fighting, and those that were lucky enough to stay home and go to college had their brothers, their cousins, and their best friends over in Southeast Asia fighting an extremely bloody war. Everybody, no matter who they were, was affected. This is quite different than today. Yes, there is a general negative feeling about the wars in Iraq and in Afghanistan, but the difference is that there is no draft. When people go over there to fight, it is their own will and desire to fight for their country, so not as many people are greatly affected by it. You will also see that most protesting the war have somebody close to them over there fighting. Spanier, at the end of his article, made my argument for me in a sense when he said student volunteer rates have been steadily increasing. In terms of “activism”, which is more active? Standing on a podium and demanding change, or building a house with Habitat for Humanity and sending aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina?

Through the Eyes of an Artist

Last Friday, I attended the Gen Ed Conference. The session I attended was called Through the Eyes of an Artist. The presentations were all analyzing different works of art, and why the artists created them. The first piece was entitled Peacocks and Peonies. They are two stained glass windows constructed by John La Farge at the peak of the American Industrial Revolution. The windows (which have a Japanese style to them) depict a peaceful and serene forest landscape. The windows themselves were extremely expensive, and the owner would put them up in their mansion as to “block out” the smoggy, polluted environment that the US had become on the outside. The second painting was Circe by Kauffman. Circe tells the story of when Ulysses (or Odysseus as he is know by the Greeks). Although in history, Circe is seen as a weak, deceptive woman that Ulysses triumphs over, Kauffman tries to show how Circe could’ve been the stronger and more dominant force in that meeting. One interesting theory behind the painting is that Kauffman was trying to use Circe to depict herself in the art world in the 18th century. The final presentation was on Delacroix and French the Romanticism. French Romanticism, as I have seen it, is a very liberal type of art, and common motifs of it are rebellion and freedom. For example, Liberty Leading the People is a very famous romantic painting in the Louvre. The particular painting that was used in the presentation (although the title slips my mind) depicted people on a raft, having to resort to cannibalism to survive. There were many different viewpoints on the painting. One, being that as you move up and to the right in the painting, the subjects become closer to God; another suggesting that since the “hero” of the painting was black and faceless, that everyone is equal once they’ve fallen to that level. I learned more than I thought I would at the conference, and actually enjoyed myself a bit.

The Palestinian Bias

Losing one’s identity can be one of the most detrimental things to happen to a human being. This is exactly what is happening to Palestinians. Palestinians are from Palestine, but there is one problem. Palestine doesn’t exist. Now, the world is making these people out to be villains, extremists, and terrorists. Historical bias is now being used as a ploy by governments to instill a view on a people who have minimal resources to defend themselves. What makes Palestinians’ situations so difficult is that they are fighting with Israel, a nation created in 1948. It is a nation created for a race of people that three years before its creation, had almost been driven to extinction. It would be easy to conclude that because of the state of its own people, and its age, Israel should be one of the most non threatening countries in the world. However, its presence greatly disturbed Palestinians, and the endless feud that we still see today began. Western countries seem to be sided with the Israelis, maybe because of its vulnerability, or because they are remembering what had just happened to these people in the Holocaust less than a century ago, but it is obvious that Palestinians are labeled as the bad guys, and are constantly exploited. I am not saying that either side is right. Both Palestinians and Israelis alike are at some fault for the war raging in Gaza and on the West Bank, but Palestinians are at an unfair disadvantage. They have no country of their own, their people are scattered everywhere and are being exiled from almost every country they flee to. The West also seems to be bending history so that Palestinians are viewed as the wrongdoers. The United States, although trying to settle the issue, still sends a lot of aid to Israel.

A Recent Discovery

I made a discovery about five minutes ago. I was just sitting in GWTRC minding my own business when Professor Martin says, "A lot of you haven't been making your blog posts the 300 word minimum." Well, my blog posts are not even close to 300 words, so I figured that I definitely had to do something about it. Right now, I am very tired, but in the near future I will probably deal with it by revising all of my blog posts so that they meet the requirement. I believe this is an excellent idea because the blog is 50% of my grade. I have learned so much in such a short time. I've learned to pay attention to all directions, and when something may be important, I should make a more conscience effort to remember it, or at least write it down. There are some things that others can learn too. They can learn that following directions is important. If they've fallen off of the "follow directions" train, then I welcome them to climb right back on so they can learn more and recieve better grades.

Tompkins' Article

The history of the American Indian after the arrival of Europeans has always been a controversial topic. There are so many perspectives on the topic that the truth is very vague and obscure. Some sources claim that the Indians were violent savages, and completely inferior in terms of civility to the European white man. However, there are also sources that claim that the white man brutally treated the Indian, and took away the Indian's land, which they had no right to. There is rarely any historical account that is completely objective and unbiased, and there has to be a bit of perspective and bias for a piece to be interesting to read. Using the Indians as an example, it is impossible to write a good piece about them, or really any topic in history without a bit of an opinion. When you think about it, there was no “foolproof” evidence, such as the camera or camcorder, to document history as it was at that moment. Most history that we know is based on the accounts people made of the event afterwards. We don’t know how their opinions or emotions at the time could have impacted their accounts.
Even today, when we can use photography to forever capture events as they are happening, there are always opposing views and counterpoints no matter how obvious the truth may seem. Today, it is just more difficult on some topics to draw certain opinions. 200 years ago, it may have been obvious that the white man was at fault, the Indian was at fault, or both were equally at fault, but because there is no foolproof evidence of what happened, any of those viewpoints could have substantial credibility. Since we never will know what truly happened in the past, we have to make an opinion from everything that we know.

Revisionism

Historical revisionism has become a very popular topic over the past few years. The publications of such novels as The Da Vinci code have brought new light to historical events that were always taken for granted. Many of these alternate historical theories can easily be tossed aside since the evidence is sloppy or ridiculous. I find it completely understandable (on a societal and cultural level) that historical revisionism creates so much controversy. If a society was built on a certain event, or believed something a certain way for thousands of years, that could have serious effects on their culture. Yes, there are some historical events that wouldn't affect much if they were in accurate, but if the conspiracy theory proposed by The Da Vinci Code was true, the repercussions would be drastic. Then again, when there is a piece of history that no one alive today was there to see, we don't have absolute proof that it happened the way we think it did. We can only make a very good guess. The one issue that I found with this article was that it was definitely written for a British audience. The allusions made were mostly from British history, and for readers outside of Britain whom do not understand these examples, the article is missing universal connection. I would very much like to see this article rewritten for America. I know I would be able to better connect and understand the arguments trying to be made when I can relate to the arguments being presented. George Washington and the cherry tree, JFK’s assassination, and the kidnapping of Charles Lindbergh’s son are all occurrences in American history that have been subjects of revisionism. Historical revisionism is unique to a group of people, and no matter what, someone is going to be affected and stand against it.

Is Wikipedia Reliable?

For years, we've been told not to use Wikipedia because it is chock-full of false or misleading information. Anything found on the site cannot be taken for granted. However, Dunkel's article "Word War III" challenged that opinion. Wikipedia does, in fact, have a very complex system that holds up its integrity. I personally believe after reading this article that Wikipedia, when used in moderation, can be a very reliable source of information. The user just has to be wary of what good info is and what isn't. As long as the reader can tell that the entry is unbiased, and that the information is not ridiculous, the information can be trusted. In fact, there have been several occurrences where I’ve been looking for a certain piece of information, and Wikipedia was the only place I was able to find it. The vast majority of Wikipedia is correct, and what is incorrect is very quickly and efficiently controlled. There are so many administrators and other integrity conscience Wikipediers that most false and/or biased information is corrected within minutes. The fact that pages can also be locked down also shows how considerate the administrators of Wikipedia are of the integrity of information. For those, that just have to put their opinion in, Wikipedia provides a discussion board, where users are free to post any opinions they have, no matter how ridiculous their biases can be. Wikipedia is also an amazing research tool. At the bottom of every page, credible sources are cite, and they can be used to see the original information found on Wikipedia. Wikipedia should not be 100% trusted on everything, but it shouldn't be taken out of the game. It is the only source in the world that can be updated or revised by anyone in the whole world at anytime. Readers just have to use caution, and know how to pick out false information.

Sondra Perl's Composing Guidelines

1. a. I wrote down a list of everything that had been on mind lately, and that list was quite long. I ended up choosing the topic that is most significant to my current life.

b. When I would pause, or draw a blank, i would reroute myself back to the basics of the topic. If my mind had been going on a certain path, and all of a sudden i reached a dead end, I realized that i would have to retrace my steps, and then take a new path.

c. I wrote down everything and anything that came to mind. It didn't matter if I thought it was stupid, or if I had already written it down, I would write it down again. I just wanted to keep the thoughts flowing, and not stop because I am always feeling something, and I tried my hardest to analyze what I felt at all times.

2. a. I usually would just choose the first thing that came to mind because it seems easiest that way. It wouldn't matter if it wasn't important to me. Also, I rarely took into consideration how broad the topic was, and if it was too broad, how I could narrow it down.

b. I usually never had problems with the open-ended process, but a few times I ran into walls. Sometimes, the topic was unstable or too broad or too narrow. Perhaps it was sometimes insignificant or too difficult to find substantial research for.

c. There was no path. I would choose my topic and stop. if a teacher told me I had to narrow it, then I would narrow it down, but i wrote about a lot of broad topics. In argumentative papers, that's difficult to do since the writer rarely gets into specifics that would really challenge the thoughts or values of the reader.

3. My writing is quick and sporadic. I usually don't have many problems with mechanics, but I have to make sure that i go back and read what I wrote. Sometimes my writing is jumbled and has no clear chain of thoughts or actual meaning. In terms of language, I am more of a person to persuade via ethos and logos rather than pathos.

The Art of College Management

There are few things more relevant today in universities than cheating. Nathan hit the nail on the head when she decided to do a study on it. Although she provided both standpoints, I felt she was biased towards the “all cheating is wrong” viewpoint as I expected. For the most part, I agree that cheating is unacceptable, but she never gave thought to perhaps the small absurdities associated with academic dishonesty at many universities, including JMU. For one, collaboration on homework can be considered cheating. I personally don’t see that as dishonest as long as all parties are making contributions. When working together, new ideas and methods can be brought up, passed around, and maybe after all is said and done, those who collaborated have a better understanding of the material and the assignment. The idea that learning should be done individually is so wrong and unlike the real world that I cannot even begin to fathom it. There are few things in the world that are done completely individually and without the input of others.
Nathan also makes a point that the reason students cheat is because of the environment that surrounds them, and I completely agree with that. Universities are very dynamic and social places. When asking the average college student why they love college, they will probably respond with an answer such as, “because I have a lot of fun and all of my friends are here” as supposed to “the academic rigor and stress are really shaping me into a responsible adult”. Now, don’t get me wrong, academics are the most important part of my time here at JMU. But living with my peers creates almost a completely new environment where my social life is very important. With this, comes peer pressures, including pressures to cheat. There are many places these pressures come from including stress and competition amongst other students. I’m not saying that I am planning on cheating, but I’m saying that it is impossible to stop. Cheating is going to happen, in fact, most of the time it will go unnoticed.

Writer's Profile

Personally, my attitude towards writing is varied. When it comes to writing plays and fiction, I find that I can truly enjoy myself and let my mind wander. My passion is acting, and I know for a fact that when I read a book, watch a play, or act in one, I want to be entertained. It is for this reason that on a creative writing aspect, my interests deviate from poetry and favor literature. I’ve always seen poetry as thought provoking and tedious rarely enjoyable. Literature, however, can more easily tell me a story and entertain me. When I am entertained, I am more likely to critically think about the piece. I guess you can say that I’m a people pleaser since when I write, I write to engage an audience. But it isn’t in a conformed way; it is in an entertaining way.

I’ve always told myself that I hate expository writing, but I’m starting to learn that that is not necessarily true. Whenever I’ve written a paper in an English or history class, it has usually been a case of, “Ok class, this is the topic you’ll be writing about,” or, “Here is a list of topics to choose from.” Well maybe I don’t have an interest in any of these topics, and after extensive research I still don’t have an interest. Being forced through that is mentally futile. At that point, I am writing the paper for the teacher or professor to grade, and get it over with. However, when I get to choose my topic, and I have an interest or an opinion on the topic I am writing about, I will go that extra mile to do more research, write that extra paragraph, or strongly reinforce an opinion. So much work will go into that paper, and it will be truly edited and revised and improved because I really want to talk about this topic and get my point across. It is there that I can feel myself develop as a writer.