primetime you

I liked the imagery and the style of writing in this essay. It was a very unique style, but at times, I felt that there was just to much descrpitive information that did not relate back to the main point. However, it was easy to identify with the author about his views on the mainstream USA. It seems that much of the time, we find ourselves caught up in fads and the "cool" way to act or present ourselves to others. Not very many people are able to rid themselves of Cooley's Looking Glass Self (a concept in sociology where we see ourselves in the way that we think others percieve us).

Most poeple have felt that they have to keep up with technology by buying new cell phones, music devices, cars, household utilities (namely televisions) and so on. The author in Primetime You points out that advertisers target our gullible personalities to promote thier products and ideas. Everyone wants to wear the shoe that Lebron advertises even if its ugly and everyone wants to wear abercrombie colon even if its repulsive. The internet is perhaps the worst influence. Kids and people who are highly influenced by mass media can access basically anything and everything good and bad on the web. Still, trends are not all bad, they just tend to diminish the originality of an individual.

Not all media is negative, but the reality is that most advertisers do not consider the negativity that comes with their influences. However unacceptable it may be now days to ignore fads and social influences, the real douchebags are the poeple that look down on others for not being socially "up to date." So what if someone wears 70's style converse sneakers or trippy 60's hippy shirts. We don't all have to conform to the ripped jeans and fur coats of abercrombie. It is a matter of whether or not we can be ourselves. Still the truth is most of us have conformed to some mainstream trend.

1. Has the internet become a more negative influence than television?

2. Do young people rely too much on the mainstream fads that dominate our society?

My Artifact

I decided to use a website for me cultural artifact. The website is http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/skat10.shtml. I chose the site because it has an article from the Seattle Post-Inteligencer. The article is a reporting by Rebekah Denn of an annual event for skateboarers. The event invloves skaters of many different skill-levels. The diversity of the event gives it potential to reveal alot about the subculture.

The reporting of the event came from an un-biased source and it aids my interviewee's explanation of the subculture of skateboarding very well. The report corresponds especially well with the aspects of language, diversity, and unity within the subculture. The report surely lacks age discrimination completely; interviews came from people ages 13 to 28. I beleive that considering all these apects it is a good cultural artifact.

In Between Places

In her essay In between places, Mary Kate Frank, described the pain of returning home as an adult to live with your parents. It is common for people to move in with thier parents to "get back on their feet," but in Mary's case, it seems that her stay at "the nest" was prolonged, and quite unexplainable. Even in the shackles of debt, Mary made bad financial decisions and purchased things that just set her back further. Mary's tendancy to make these decisions was evidence that Mary was for some reason, not trying very hard to make it on her own. As much as Mary began to dread living at home, the comfort that her family provided her was something that she could not let go. Mary had no privacy, very little social life, and a complete lack of initiative. Even after Mary payed off the debt that she owed to her parents, there was an underlying force that was holding her back from stepping back out into the real world.

There were obviously key factors that led to Mary's return home. First of all and most obvious, her hasty financial decisions led her to debt. However, at one point in Mary's life, when she worked as a journalist, she was doing fine. Journalism brought much depression to Mary though; after a while, Mary could just not tolerate the harsh reality of the cruel world that she had to report. The world was just too overwhelming for Mary in general; she did not have the maturity to handle the harsh reality and truths of life on her own. Having her parents there to comfort herwas something that Mary could not give up once she returned home. Although she made no effort in her essay to speak of emotions between her and her parents, her need for thier affection and the "comfort zone" they provided were things that Mary did not want to imagine giving up.

I think that sometimes, home is the best place to be when times are tough. However, we cannot rely always on our parents because, as God intended, most of us will have our own families and have children of our own. Naturally, most of us will outlive our parents and it is our responsibility to learn to be strong and live on our own. A person that has everything handed to them by thier parents will never know what it is like to live a respectable life. I can understand that Mary was in dire need to return home, but she was also in need of motivation and strength to overcome the tribulations of daily life. The cruel reality of life is that it is a long hard rode, and sometimes we just have to walk it alone. Our parents "happy home" will not always be there for us to return to; not everyone has such a safety net to fall back on.

1. Is it possible that some adults develop a disorder that makes them believe they cannot survive away from home?

2. Would you be embarassed if you were forced to live at home for a while after school?
Would it make you feel like less of a man/woman?

The Waltz

This essay was extremely well written. I personally have had experience with OCD, just because I have researched it, written a paper on it, and seen a documentury on the lives of a few people with OCD. It is such a sad disorder. I cannot imagine having to deal with such illogical, trivial anxieties in a world that is packed full of problems and burdens to begin with. At first, I thought that Mary Beth had a rage problem, but as I read on, even before it was absolutely evident, I began to notice that she had symptoms of OCD.

I have often found myself in a state of immense worry but it is only because I worry about my family. Obsessive it may be, but I worry about my father dying young because of his stress level; his father died at a young age and I fear that my father would die unhappy. This is not too far-fetched because heart problems can be hereditary. I am a religious person and I believe that my father will go to heaven, but he has a long life ahead of him and I could not imagine losing him or my mother at this point in my life. I also worry about my sisters, Uncle, and the rest of my family in general. Through reading this essay, I realize that my worry, is only a tiny fraction of the worry that burdens a person with OCD. I used to think my father was a bit obsessive, but he was just worried like any normal parent; I know that Mary Beth has a true problem because of her testimony.

However, no matter how outrageous Mary Beth's condition seems, it is evident that when Mary Beth has to carry out every day activities, she is quite capeable of doing so. Of course her disorder has created some roadblocks, but if OCD had complete control of her life, she would not have written such a breathtaking essay. I loved her style and her descriptions made it easy to understand the burden of OCD. Her style allows the reader to take a walk in her shoes. Yes, OCD is a horrible disorder, but it has not limited Mary Beth in the real world and it may have been the disorder itself that sparked within her such a creative and unforgetable style. If it weren't for her disorder, she may have never touched her readers in the way she did, or even aspired to write period. Mary Beth's life is surely a differentiation from the norm, but so is her creativity and her passion; I will not soon forget her ability to express herself; it was absolutely amazing.

1. Is heavy medication really the best thing to treat OCD?

2. Wouldn't a therapist who has OCD themselves be the best person for an OCD patient to interact with? (there may be very few of these people, but I believe that to relate to another, personal experience is a key aspect)

My Thesis on my subculture

When considering skateboarding, it would be very easy to conform to the stereotypes that take over most people's views on skateboarding. There are usually more negative preconceptions about this particular genre. I have been working on my thesis but I have not yet crafted one that I believe is perfect. My thesis so far is the following: skateboarding is a subculture that has been condemned for its correlation with punk, grafitti, drug use and mayhem; the subculture is notorious for bringing together rebellious types of people but it tends to cast shared freedoms on its members that are rarely matched in traditional lifestyle.

My thesis surely needs some works and it is possibly a bit too long but as my paper develops, so will my thesis. I have many good ideas, I am just waiting for the right way to bring them all together into a sensible thesis and tie them into the purpose of my paper.

Freewrite - Wher I'm at on Interview

I have conducted my interview already and it was a very good experience. I tried to limit my biased opinions but I couldn't help that I clung to a stereotype or two. I was right to an extent about my positive preconceptions of the interviewee; my preconceptions about the skateboarding subculture's lingo and music preference was very close to reality. I asked my interviewee 9 questions but I focused on the five stongest open-ended questions.

I have been fooling around with paraphrasing, quotes, and summary notes for my paper. I have not began writing the paper because I have mainly just been taking notes and blotting down ideas as they come to mind. I have a few good ideas for my intro, and I may use a quote to begin my second paragraph because I have a very strong quote that I feel needs to be introduced early on.

I am having a little bit of trouble learning to cite my works in text and in my works cited but it is a tactic that obviously just takes some practice. I have my everyday writer so I should be fine. I am usually pretty good at putting togethor a paper when it is on a personal subject that I have experienced first-hand. I do better on these type of assignments than boring, factual accounts that do not truly involve my opinion based on "true" personal experience.

Reasoning for Interview

I first chose skateboarding as my new subculture because of an event that I witnissed. Yes, Skateboarding has been an interest of mine for a while but it was a certain event that has helped me to decide on this subculture. Early in the semester, I was walking near the fountain by the student center and I noticed a group of skateboarders jumping a small curb and laughing and having fun. As a tall fellow walked by the curb, one of the skateboarders "beefed" it on his board and landed in front of the tall fellow. It was an obvious accident but the tall fellow didn't seem to think so. The tall guy said "watch where yur going faggot!" I then heard the tall guy murmer something about skateboarders in general. It was obviously a subculture that he felt was a nuisance.

As I walked to class I thought to myself, why did he deserve to be called by such a harsh name. The poor kid was just trying to hav fun, he had no intent to bother the tall guy. I began to wonder about skateboarders and the public perception of them. Are they really revered by a large portion of society? Why should they be made fun of just because they use the boards to get around and not thier feet? I couldn't figure it out. When I found out we had to interview someone for an unfamiliar subculture, I immeidately knew my choice.

1. I tried to track down the kid who "beefed" it, but it was too hard. (campus is huge)

2. I kid in my dorm, Paul, is a skateboader, but because it is so easy to choose him to interview, I chose not to.

3. I chose to interview a kid I met while he was boarding: his name is Jarrod.

Red Spoon

When I read "A Red Spoon for the Nameless," the first thing that came to mind was it's correlation with the summer reading project: "The Namesake." The author's mother reminded me of Gogol's mother and her expectations of her son. Just like Gogol's mother, the author's mother wanted him to marry as soon as possible and start a fruitful life in the traditions of his ancestry. Although the author's mother hints to him in subtle ways of her plans and expectations for him, it is obvious that she is very firm and quite demanding.

I knew the author was a homosexual as soon as he mentioned the name Stephen with such importance. The man in the story hints that Stephen is important because he is worried about something is little as Stephen finding out that his mother cuts his hair. The author is a homosexual but his preference has led him to be lonely. He misses Stephen, but he has never had the key component of happiness in his life in general. He feels like an outcast; his lifestyle is far from what his mother hoped it would be. He feels that even though his mother does not know the truth, he has been a bad son. The author truly feels that he has failed and he feels empty because he cannot be honest with his own mother about himself.

When the author brought Stephen to dinner, Stephen was given the red spoon. This spoon is symbolic of his differences; the spoon is a mark of sin more or less. Although the author's parents do not confront him as a homosexual, they surely look at Stephen in disgust and it is obvious they wonder about thier own son. At the story's conclusion, the author sees himself ending up just like the man his mother spoke of who apparently wasn't a "real" man at all. The author eats dinner with his mother at the essay's end. Considering his failure and his choices that shame his family, he feels at that point that he deserves to use the red spoon. He ends the story at a point in his life where he is unable to find a true identity for himself.

1. Is it possible that the main character's conscience is the producer of his emptyness or is it more just his inability to find the right companion?

2. Is it possible that the main character's mother cut his ear out of frustration?

My New Subculture

I have chosen the "skateboarding" subculture. I chose this particular subculture because as I was growing up in a small town, I recognized alot of cliques and groups. I immersed myself in many of the subcultures: "partiers", "jocks", "artists", and "rockers." The fact is, although the skateboarding subculture has been around me my whole life, I never found out anything in particular about it. I knew that this group must have involved many rituals, standards and norms but I always just figured the group's members liked to skateboard; I did not analyze the subculture any further than that.

I know that skateboarding is a subculture because I did some research on the group. I found out that they are a very close-knit group (loyalty and belonging) and normally, the more talented skaters are looked up to and followed (leaders). I also found out that there are definately certain slang, gestures and rules for conduct. The dress code is important; you cannot be in a skateboard clique if you only dress in abercrombie sweaters and khakis. All of these factors together surely make up a subculture. I know that skateboarding is a subculture and I am looking forward to learning about the rituals, organization, and all other aspects of the subculture first-hand.

Sex and the Sickbed

I enjoyed this story because I liked how the author was so open with her situation. It was very sad how her lover "Neil" had Leukemia. I cannot even begin to understand being "in-love" with someone that you know will die at some point. It takes a very strong person to give thier heart to a person that they know will leave thier lives in a number of years or even days.

I cannot relate to being "in-love" with a cancer patient but my cousin who I love and am very close with, Sarah, had Leukemia when she was just a little girl. I can remember it vividly. We were watching her play softball one afternoon when she said her leg was bothering her. We soon found out it was Leukemia. With God's help and the help of therapy and doctors, in a few years, she overcame the sickness and she is now completely back to normal other than having to take a few medications.

I respect the author because of her bravery. She did not turn away from Neil or try to hid from the truth; she embraced his problem completely. It believe that her confrontation with Neil's illness made it much easier for her in the end. It seems strange that the author devoted her life to someone who had a terminal illness but it was obvious that she was in love and, as the author and Neil proved in this essay, love can conquer all.

1. Did the author made the right choice emotionally to be with Neil?

2. Did the fact that the author stayed with Neil through his sickness possibly give him strength to further fight his illness?

"reading bodies"

My neighbor is Cory. My first impression of Cory was that he was a sporty kind of guy; I saw that he wore a wrestling seatshirt and he was bigger(alot more muscular than me). I saw that cory had a cell phone so he must have alot of friends or atleast someone to talk to. He also had coughdrops, so he must get sick like everyone else; he actually had the same coughdrops as I had the week before, wonder if he feels like he got hit by a train like I did. Cory wears a lip ring so I figured he is either a "rocker," or he likes the look of it. I noticed that he made it to class almost every day so he must have some early morning "determination." That is all I know from just "observing" Cory, the guy beside me.