Writing

I'm not entirely sure why Wright would have felt gratified after showing others his writing, except that when someone has created something that they are proud of, showing it to someone is always gratifying. Also, in a way, his writing was sort of like a miniature triumph over his aunt and grandmother. The fact that he was supposed to be praying, and he had made it very clear that he did not believe in the religion of his family was extremely frurstrating, and the writing was sort of a way to vent the frustration and use it in a productive manner. Also, his writing was something more mature and intellectual that he had begun- something he hadn't really been involved in in the past. Though he had loved to read stories, he had never actually created them, and the feeling he got from reading stories was very gratifying. The fact that he was now creating stories and had the hope that sharing them with someone else would make them have the same feeling he got from reading stories would have been very exciting.

Paralysis

After his mother had a stroke, Wright was afraid to go in and see her. He didn't want to see her in her weakened, paralyzed state because she was so frail. She was the only true authority figure that Wright had growing up, and the removal of that was extremely frightening to him. He had always viewed his mom as very powerful and strong, and when she is paralyzed and sick he suddenly sees a side of her that he has never seen before, realizing that all authority is still only human and can suffer and be weakened just as he. He becomes very afraid of not being accepted into the family of an aunt or an uncle, but when he does end up living with his aunt and uncle, he is unhappy (partially because of the "dead boy's room") and begs to go back to his mother. because he has not known anything but her authority, it is very difficult for him to adjust to any other type of lifestyle, escpecially with his desire to care for his mother but inability to figure out how to help her in any way.

Jews

It seems as though most of the racial tensions in Wright's life have to do with his heritage. People aren't born inherently racist- he demonstrates this when he describes the "white" and "black" people in parentheses, such as the part where the white man beats the black boy and Wright assumes that it is because the man is the boy's father. Same with the Jews- though he isn't in contact with too many Jews except the store owner and his family. In fact, he even saysthat the reason that he felt such racism against Jews is because it had been taught in his religion. Jews were considered "Christ-killers" and there was a lot of anti semitism at the time. Also, he felt the divisions of race very strongly because he was beginning to feel the divisions between himeslf and white people. The fact that Jews are generally white also probably caused him to feel more distant from them than if they were black. The fact that he was scapegoated and blamed for things as a black caused him to want to put someone else below him, which is human nature, so he did that to the Jews.

why is Wright hungry?

The simple answer to this question is that he is hungry because he is poor and therefore has no food. Since his dad brought home the food, and his dad left, he has no more food. His mom tries to get a job, ironically as a cook, (for a white family), and wright occasionally tags along to try and get scraps of food from the white family when they are done eating. What he doesn't understand is why he must wait until other people have eaten in order to eat, though he is the one that is starving. When he goes to the orphanage he is not fed. (If there was any deeper meaning to extract from that question, i didn't catch it. I figure he is hungry because his dad left and there is no food, plus it is harder for his mom to find a job because she is black and a woman, and he is not treated as well or fed as well because he is black.)

Education and Empowerment

I agree with Taylor's argument to a degree. Boredom does not produce good results- many brilliant students never realize their potential because teachers and school systems try to force them into some predefined mold. I am lucky enough to have always attended a school that has encouraged me to be actively involved with what I learn, and to make schooling inetresting. Though I can certainly not say that I have never been "bored" of school, I can say that the years of education that I have recieved- taken, if you will- will be well paid off. Many people that do poorly in school are bored. Not at a challenging school nessecarily- but at a regular school system with regular, "cell-like" classrooms and teachers. I know someone in particular who attended Carmel schools before eventually moving to Sycamore and then University. He told me once that he got very poor grades at Carmel, which obviously surprised me because he is extremely intelligent and a straight A student here. Upon being asked why, he simply said that he was so bored that he didn't do any of the work. Though I have not experienced this firsthand, I have heard many cases of this phenomenon- someone with a very high intelligence absolutely not applying themselves until they are given a reason to show that the work is worth their application. Some school systems have created programs for children like these- such as the Extended Learning Program at Pike- but other school systems try to lump all children together into one homogenous mass. When I shadowed at the Key School, which is in IPS dstrict and underfunded, Spanish 1 2 and 3 were all lumped together in one class. I have heard teachers complain about teaching "slower" and "faster" kids within the same class; I can't even imagine what it could be like to teach three different levels within a classroom!
This article makes me think a little bit about the movie "Freedom Writers", where kids- not well educated yet bright- were put in a high school freshman class with a new teacher who didn't seem to understand that they "did not posess the abilities" that other kids did. She slowly rekindled their love to learn by connecting with them. When I went to IPS school 54, many of the older teachers had just submitted to yelling at the kids until they did what they were told, while some of the younger teacheres became more involved in the kids' lives. It seems as theough some people that have been teaching for a long time lose the love for teaching, and lose touch with the interests of the kids. Just because a kid doesn't get good grades doesn't mean they are unintelligent. I can think of several very distinct examples of this.


So his position on wiping out schools. I don't agree with this, because a poor education can be better than no education at all- though, that is debateable- and though he used examples, it was still a time period full of ignorance, hatred, racism, and other various problems. Certainly schools should be imporoved- they should not be all homogenous, as children are not and have different needs that must be catered to- different types of programs should be enacted. Teachers should have to ability to connect with students, not just preach things at them. It's difficult to achieve in a school where the students don't pay to go and therefore the teachers are paid less. Often times the more talented teachers teach at private schools- which is fine- but in many ountries, public schools are no "worse" than private schools. the quality of the education recieved is very similar. People shouldn't have to pay to recieve a quality education- every school should be able to tailor to the needs of improving every individual. This is obviously easy to say and hard to do, but it is the only way to keep kids in school and keep them from being bored.

nonintellectual education

In a way, nonintellectual education- nonacademic, if you will- is more important than one's academic education. Many people overlook this fact, but the thing is, nonacademic education is a sort of training in order to get an academic education. In preschool and kindergarten, sure there is an academic education, but it is more focused on how to behave and function in society. At a higher level, such as this english class, we are not just learning how to write sentences, but to become beneficial and impacting members of society. Physical education is important as well- keeping the body healthy is important to keeping the mind healthy. Though academic classes are certainly important- no one could move forward in the world without them- people need to learn to question what they have been "fed", to be active and participatory in all areas of life, and how to respond to GETTING an academic education- traits that many people in the world do not possess. Many people go to school and learn things to take the tests but do not retain them beyond that- there are many extremely ignorant society members, and the biggest mistake is when the ignorant society members attempt to teach others. Though many people may disagree with me, one of the worst things to try to teach a person is to obey and believe everything they are told. Instead people should be taught to question in a civilized manner, present their own ideas, and therefore become the driving force in moving the world forward instead of the hook that keeps the world behind.

conservative vs. republican

I have always agreed with Alex's idea that liberal and conservative people should not be labeled as "democrats" or "republicans", because it often encourages voters to simply join a party and vote for said party without actually considering what the candidate has to say. It was very interesting to hear it from the perspective of someone who considers himself a conservative, because I have always sort of written off republicans as being the ones that are more likely to just choose a party as opposed to looking at the views. Obviously it's rather narrow-minded of me to believe that, and it's all because of those "political parties" that people group themselves into. I get a different idea about someone when they say that they are "conservative" as opposed to "a republican". It seems as if calling yourself "a republican" or "a democrat", using the noun, is defining to who you are. On the other hand, using "liberal" and "conservative" as adjectives is more like a trait, or part of the whole, which is more appropriate in defining a human being.

Presentations

My two favorite presentations were the Tony Eli Jordan Christina group and the Brittany Maggie and whoever else was in that group group (don't mean to forget, its just that brittany and maggie appeared the most in the ad). They weren't nessecarily professional by any means- I doubt that the charachters in either of the commercials would actually air because people could argue that their enthusiasm could have adverse effects and appear to be making fun of the product, but in the class, I think Brittany's enthusiasm (HILARIOUS) and basically Tony's entire commercial were extremely memorable. However, the Nick Martin, Liz, Elise and RJ group was certainly the most professionally done commercial. It was very polished, though I think they could have cut back on shots of the car driving, because that felt like it went on a little too long- but otherwise, judging purely by finesse and how well the commercial was done, theirs was probably the best. All of them were entertaining, and I think all of the groups had an element of humor in it which helped their appeal. A lot of commercials today try to be very funny, and i believe that those work the best. (I have mentioned this before).

Pottery Barn article

What pleasantly surprised me the most about this article was how much the company is looking for customer satisfaction. Of course, if a company is known for having happy customers, then it will be more successful- but the personal touch in it was how many of the furniture piece ideas were concieved from what the employees wanted for themselves. I thought i t was very interesting how the designers are encouraged to go out and do other things (besides sitting in an office and working) because for one, they will be happier that way, but most i mportantly they will be more creative and get better ideas from looking at the world and experiencing it. If a piece is designed and the designer hesitates when asked if they would want to piece or give it to their best friend, then the piece is trashed... because they produce what they would like to have, because they know that customers want the same kind of quality as the designers. I believe this is extremely positive marketing.

stores I frequent

A store I frequent is Forever 21, which is a women's clothing store. The store is painted all white, usually huge, and is somewhat delightfully disorganized. The main reason that I like it is because it has clothes that fit an array of fashion styles, but is usually rather cutting edge (when it comes to the fashion scene in indianapolis). Though I am not really a preson who pays close attention to fashion, the fact that it contains so many different types of clothing makes it sort of an adventure to shop there, and it will piece very interesting combinations of clothes on the mannequins to attract and encourage shoppers to branch out and try things that they may not have bought walking in. Though that is a obviously a ploy to get people to buy more things. Hoewever, it is an enjoyable store to shop at, and the fact that it is very inexpensive certainly adds to the appeal.

Superbowl commercials

There was one commercial in particular that reminded me a lot of the article that we just read. It was for SoBe Lifewater, and it featured a very scantily-dressed woman dancing, and then a gecko that appeared to be looking up her dress, but upon closer inspection was actually staring at the water. It was very similar to the ad that the article talked about, in which the boy appeared to be staring at the woman but was in fact looking at the product that was for sale. It uses shock value to sell the product, but in a very sexual way. It can certainly be seen as borderline offensive, but at least it had no underlying theme of violence like the ones in the article. However, many of the other commercials did not have a sexual theme, which was very pleasantly surprising.