Wright in regards to his writing

Wright feels gratified by his writing because it is the one thing in his reality that, he feels, provides him with power. In other aspects of his life, he feels like he has no power over his situation. Even religion does not do this for him. He contemplates that most people can use religion as an outlet for their suffering because it provides hope of an eternal paradise that will make earthly suffering seem unimportant. Wright does not understand religion. He says that he will believe in religion if he has any evidence that it is there, but without evidence he has no reason to believe that there is anything in the world besides suffering. Writing, however, does relinquish some of the helpless suffering that Wright feels. When he sees the reaction of his neighbor to his writing, he realizes that this writing can have a substantial effect on the world and thus, empower him. Because Wright discovers that he can have some sort of control over the world through writing, he discovers that this would be a good thing to pursue, because with practice, he figures that he can craft his stories to benefit him greatly.

.ɹǝɥʇoɯ s,ʇɥbıɹʍ ɟo sısʎ1ɐɹɐd ǝɥʇ oʇ uoıʇɔɐǝɹ s,ʇɥbıɹʍ puɐ ɹǝɥʇoɯ s,ʇɥbıɹʍ ɟo sısʎ1ɐɹɐd ǝɥʇ

Wright is very unhappy about hearing about his mother's paralysis. Before his mother had a stroke, Wright says that he felt like he had some control over the world and how it worked, but when his mother had a stroke, it changed all that. The few truths that he had established in his mind about the world had been broken, and with nothing left that he felt like he had power over in the actual world, Wright felt compelled to create a different mental world because then he feels like he can have some control over the outcomes and his happiness. He had previously been interested in superstitions for a similar reason. Even though they have very little effect on the world as it runs, the fact that it seems like they do and that he can control them made it worthwhile for him to live in that reality. There is very little left, he realizes, in the current reality for him to stay and appreciate. Wright builds this new reality, and he wishes to remain there, for in this reality, the things closest to him will not suddenly disappear. 

2

Wright says it is his cultural heritage to dislike jews because he has realized that he is inheriting the attitudes held by his parents to such an active degree that even his mother convinces him that it is a bad idea to resist conformity. At first Wright does not understand the difference between races, and when he refuses to sell a white woman a dog at a lower price than he wishes to do so, he later finds the dog dead. Rather than displaying active anger toward the white community, the mother, having already completely reformed, blames the boy for not selling the dog when he had the chance. In a sense the mother advises the boy to conform to resist the tension and problems that arise when they try to establish equality with another race. Wright does not know why he is being told to be inferior to whites, but as most young children do, he is blindly listening to what his mother says to better develop his image of the world. As such, when he is informed that he is supposed to dislike jews, he takes it as truth and does not question itto the degree that an individual of more advanced years might. 

African American Macbook

The boy is hungry because he is looking for affection and is suffering from the abandonment of his father. Because his father is usually the one making money, he has linked his father with food. In a primitive effect, he has related his father with a physical need. Thus, when his father leaves, he is left feeling abandoned, lonely, and a sense of hunger that cannot be cured through the ingestion of food. The boy did not particularly love his father, but he hungers for the sense of security that he had once his father abandons him. This is illustrated when the father gives the boy a nickel and he refuses it. He even states that he wants the nickel, but he does not want it from his father. He understands that while the nickel has monetary value, voluntarily receiving it from his father portrays a sense of dependency that he is looking to avoid. His mother agrees with his decision to decline the money despite the value of what was being offered. The boy therein chooses to sacrifice the real satisfaction of hunger in the hopes that his emotional hunger created by the relation of food to his father will diminish.

Schooling

The question of whether I agree with schooling is a difficult one, for while some schooling is clearly necessary,  schooling placed at too high of a degree has the potential to induce apathy and lack of motivation to learn when pursuing an education. I believe, however, that even apathetic school can be beneficial to society. Gatto says that school induces a great deal of consumerism. Consumerism, however, is a good thing. It keeps a flow of money moving through society and stimulates the economy. Seeing as we are in the middle of a recession, I have to say that Gatto's forced school performing poorly, and assuming he is correct, why not pack in a few extra years of forced schooling? Maybe then the economy will get the boost it needs. This is not the only point he makes, but society has created school for a reason. Sometimes it prepares a person for his job and sometimes it does not. The fact that information is at the tips of our fingers is important. We are genetically designed to live without an education, so if nothing influences a person to pursue an education, that person will likely not pursue an education. (insert anecdote here) When I was a young lad, I wanted to learn how to hack into computers partially because i wanted to protect myself and partially because I was a devious fellow. After spending hours on the internet, however, I could find very little, (probably for a reason). That whole time I just wished that I could take a class that taught me that information quickly and easily. After manifesting more effort than any logical person could ever be expected to exert in one field, I came out with only a very basic knowledge of what I wanted to know. Some might argue that it was a lack of schooling that established such a curiosity, others might say that I do not fall under Gatto's argument. Now that I have rambled for long enough I will express my opinion in a few sentences. I believe that it is important to have schooling to teach basic skills and to serve as a form of advertising or, in a sense, to stimulate the interests of students, but I think that more advanced schooling should be performed out of one's own inspiration, which is already in effect, it is called college.  

Nonacademic education

I love my nonacademic education. University High School more than any other schooling location has taught me the more subtle aspects of school life. More than just Science and English, University High School has taught me how to talk to people, discuss problems with teachers, and develop valuable relationships with my peers. One of the more valuable aspects of University High School with regard to nonacademic education is the mentoring system. The mentoring system helps me deal with my problems in a rational way, but most of the time, I do not have problems that I need to discuss with my mentor. J-term is also very non-academicly valuable. J-term develops a lighter side to school, students, and teachers, by reducing stress, focusing on one subject, and through choice, allows students to focus on areas they are most interested in. With school established as a lesser problem, students can focus on nonacademic enrichment with each other and with their teachers. Extracurricular activities have also been a vital part of my nonacademic development. They allow me to get to know teachers and students in a nonacademic setting. That allows me to develop  myself non-academically. 

Blawg

The presentations were  great. I completely understood the rhetoric found in almost all of the objects in the pictures. I was so proud. I also found a nickel under my seat during one of the presentations. So as to not disturb the presenter, I decided that I would attentively listen to the remainder of his presentation before reaching down to retrieve the nickel under my chair. While one might think that it would be nearly impossible to ignore a perfectly good nickel under my chair simply to preserve the dignity of the presenter, as it came to be the presentation was genuinely interesting enough that I completely forgot about the nickel under my chair until the termination of the presentation.

The presentations were interesting because it surprised me how many objects that I merely pass by in everyday life have significant rhetorical purpose and are deviously trying to manipulate my subconscious mind into buying things that I don't need or telling my mind that I am having a better time than I am. 

I wonder how long i can make this title before it cuts me off so I am going to make this title extremely long in the attempt to determine this informa

Kendall believes that the media takes an existant problem in society and exacerbates it. I believe that this is true and has been true for about as long as the media has existed. The media's expansion of issues has been getting even worse recently as the media has depicted a more in depth image of the upper class as something that every person should aspire to. It is not depicted as something that coexists with the lower class, but something that every lower class man should aspire to become. This has created too many positive expectations. If the point of living is to be happy, it is bad to paint the idea of happiness as only one thing. This causes the lower classes to feel as if they have failed, often creating the need to disguise such feelings through the use of alcohol, worsening their condition. Kendall believes that the media needs to stop painting the lower classes as bad and the upper classes ideal, because in her opinion, this creates the idea that, in denial, a lower class person will purchase things above their means to experience that feeling of success that the media tells them they should desire. 

I found several photos that represent visual rhetoric. I found a photo a statue of a man helping a statue of what appears to be a small girl ride a statue of a bicycle. I also found a picture of a mildly large structure in carmel that has a sign atop it that says Carmel Arts and Design District. I also found a picture painted on entire side of a large old-looking building. These pictures have very rhetorical underlying purposes. The picture of the building with the painting on the side of a wall was clearly attempting to portray the artistic nature of the district. With my keen eye for rhetoric, I heroically spotted this and took a picture of the building so that I may wrote about it later in a project that I will have to do. I also took another picture. That picture is the picture previously described above about the carmel structure. This carmel structure wishes to send the message that Arts and Design is important. I spotted this clever ruse and now my blog is done. 

Gitlin

Gitlin makes the argument that almost all of the media present in the world can fit the definition of American. I agree with Gitlin. It seems that American media has become a standard in the world which other nations attempt to follow. Gitlin brings up the point that America now somewhat represents a marketplace of the world. Because other countries have so emulated the American environment, testing a product's success in America has become a great indicator for how the product will perform in the rest of the world, but this is not a fault in any sense, for if america is successful, it seems only logical that other nations will try to follow in its footsteps to emulate it. New technology is formed from standing on the shoulders of giants and business and media have simply utilized the same strategy. This makes sense to me and a completely agree with his point. America has become something of a role model for the rest of the world in regards to the media, and it will be interesting to see how the countries of the world will intertwine further in the future. 

Jean Kilbourne

Jean Kilbourne believes that it is dangerous to illustrate men and women as sex objects because it provides men with the image that they are dominant is extremely degrading to women. She believes that once they have been objectified to that level, it is then much easier to treat them with disrespect and disregard their opinions. This was historically illustrated in the holocaust in Nazi Germany. When the persecution of the Jews began, Hitler ensured that the view of a Jew was significantly lesser. Once they had been dehumanized and disrespected by the general public, he then had the power to do all that he wanted to do to them without inciting a strong enough rebellion to knock him out of power. In reality, the Jews were not subhuman; however, to admit this would be to sacrifice all dictatorial power and concede his religious conquest, for without such opinions the public would never have allowed the slaughter to occur. While Kilbourne does not suspect a gender holocaust, she wishes to admonish the public of the desensitivity that may arise if such media manipulation continues. 

Superbowl ads

I noticed that the ads on the Superbowl were more focused on making you remember them than convincing you to purchase the product. Furthermore, the ads utilized classic male interests as a method of inciting memory, through the use of woman pursuit, male actors, and interesting events like explosions. This is exemplified by the Budweiser commercials which featured a horse and a dog going through various mini-adventures. While this had absolutely nothing to do with beer, the fact that it had nothing to do with what it was advertising was enough to make remember the commercial. Throughout all of the commercials, I also never saw a woman star as the mail role of one of the commercial, illustrating the ad creators' compliance to the target audience. Finally there were no commercials for products that were designed mainly for women. Products regarding the skin or hair were not advertised during the Super Bowl. They were instead replaced by ads representing more manly interests like beer consumption, or soda.