Reading Response 6

This article was a little hard for me to follow. I understood what Torres was trying to say about how people should not be looking for the source of queerness to prove that it is "okay" in a homophobic society, but people should be simply stating that they are who they are and are happy and proud to be that way... It must be ineffably difficult to be both gay and a suppressed minority, and when Torres says that most gay people would never choose to be gay, I can understand where he is coming from. Our society in so many ways close minded and it is our insecurities that lead people to being homophobic.

It is truly difficult for me to wrap my mind around the idea that a person of any sexuality be treated differently than heterosexual people. I don't understand why their even needs to be the slightest doubt that people who are not heterosexual have some sort of defect. The subject of homosexuality really interests me and I like to read about but it also frustrates me that people are put through so much trauma for something that is such a huge part of their self identity.

Reading Response 5

This speech was both startlingly captivating and thought provoking. I truly enjoyed reading it and seeing how Morrison made her connection to the bird in the young person's hand to language. I really enjoyed her example of the Tower of Babel and specifically the sentence, "Perhaps the achievement of Paradise was premature, a little hasty if no one could take the time to understand other languages, other views, other narratives period. Had they, the heaven they imagined might have been found at their feet. Complicated, demanding, yes, but a view of heaven as life; not heaven as post-life." These are just a few of the sentences I found to be the most thoughtful and profound. I truly loved the end of the speech where Morrison speaks from the youth's perspective of being interested and curious as to what the old woman would be willing to do to offer them wisdom. The question to the old woman as to why she did not just reach her hand out at touch the bird was interesting. Had she done that in the first place would she have shown the children that there is more to life than searching for wisdom, because even the most wise people do not always know the answer. There will always be someone willing to question us and push us to our capacities.

This definitely gave me a lot to think about. I have had many discussions with teachers and peers before about how limiting and undescriptive language can be. It chains us and it is often our only means of expression in many ways.

Another sentence I really liked, "It is common among the infantile heads of state and power merchants whose evacuated language leaves them with no access to what is left of their human instincts for they speak only to those who obey, or in order to force obedience.

Blog 6

I don't know why but I have been so exhausted lately. I have been going to bed around 1 and waking up around 7 or 8. My body is so petty when it comes to sleeping it seems like I need 8 hours or more just to function. I could never be one of those students that pulls all-nighters before an exam. I really like the feeling of sleeping. Especially when my bed is set up just the way I like it. Three pillows (at least) to surround my head, that way no matter where I turn I can fall onto one of my pillows. The pillows are then complimented by my huge down comforter and a nice soft, squishy mattress. The bigger and fluffier the comforter is the better. When they fluff over you and don't squish you down yet still trap your body heat, you know you've got a perfect comforter.

Thats really all I can say about beds, but I am pretty excited that it's Friday. I will definitely be going to the REC pool for a little bit today. :) I can't wait for that 3-day weekend coming up!
Does any one have any exciting plans for summer?

Blog 5

For my research paper I wanted to write about the human-animal relationship and I know that I need to find a focus before I start going to in-depth with my research. Right now I am thinking that I could talk about the role pets play in the American household. Why do we feel compelled to own pets and what makes pets so appealing? Most kids in the United States grew up with one species of pet or another (some kids, like me, grew up with over 50 pets in and out of the house). Is pet ownership something we desire on a more intuitive and primitive level or is it strongly influenced by social pressures and encouragement? I think on some level humans are happy to own pets because of their need for power and control over another being, however it could also be an attempt to meet an intuitive need for emotional satisfaction and care; which animals tend to provide. My personal feelings towards animals are that they teach responsibility, compassion and patience as well as providing a friend to children and an overwhelming sense of joy and love (you can probably already see my bias). I don't know if anyone has any input as to how to make my paper a more dynamic and interesting essay. If anyone can think of anything cool or interesting let me know!

Blog 4

I'm feeling pretty good right now, I just got a ton of chemistry homework done and I'm feeling much better since my weird illness on Tuesday. I had over 100 degree fever Tuesday night and felt horrible. I am really worried about how I did on the midterm because I was so out of it on Wednesday... Wednesday was just a strange day all around. It was sunny when I left to class at 7:45am and cloudy when we got out at 10am, then I went to my chem class and it was pouring, then I left chem and it was sunny, then I got lunch and it was sunny out, then I needed to go to pysch and it started HAILING, and when I was in class it got sunny again! The weather just kept luring me in to the false sense that I could make it through the day and still go to all my classes (I hate missing class even if I'm sick) but then as soon as I was ready to leave it became miserable weather. I just still haven't gotten a grasp on the whole Davis weather patterns, and who knows if I ever will. I think my best bet at this point is to always have a raincoat, tank-top, jeans, and flip-flops on. Well, I am off to the DC for dinner :)

Reading Response 4

I really like Eduardo Galeano's piece Mirrors. I loved the style he used that so concisely and eloquently asserted his feelings about racism, ethics and morals. I truly liked the word choice he used and his way of summarizing huge, momentous events in history.

The sample essays for our research paper made what is expected of us more clear and showed me different approaches to establishing ideas, using resources and personal stories to create a dynamic essay. Although there were some minor errors in the essays they both were interesting, unique and showed obvious understanding of the topic they were covering. This is my goal for my essays, I would like to see that my writing can transition smoothly and seem focused even with an increased word count (for some reason when I have more words to work with I notice that my essays get a little distracted or hard to follow). I don't know yet what I will want to use as my topic for this essay. I hope that our discussion and work on Wednesday in class will help me figure this out.

The chapter in the Everyday Writer about getting essays started was also really helpful for my outline for the midterm. I hope that my outline will help me in class for my essay.

Blog 3

It was amazingly beautiful out today! I had such a nice relaxing weekend. I went to get fro yo just a little while ago and now I am ordering Chinese food for dinner with some of my floor-mate, cant ask for anything better.
Ok so now for some venting, my roommate who has been so mean to me all day just ate my food and didn't even ask!! haha I actually don't care and am totally kidding.
I'm going to describe three items on my desk directly to my left!
1) My new room mascot, a squishy penguin wearing a firefighter hat named Mark. He is really cool looking and he watches over our room.
2)A bottle of aloe vera gel from the dead sea. I used it today after I spent the day outside in the sun doing my UWP reading.
3)A set of neon, pink plastic vampire teeth from Halloween. I secretly still like to wear them while hanging out in my room. I am actually wearing them right now....
i have about ten different colors of nail polish and i hardly ever paint my nails... this seems like a waste. i also have peach scented hand sanitizer. I have two problems with this; one, i hate using hand sanitizer, two, "scented" is a really weird word to me...

Reading Response 3

Wow. The Twilight readings were truly hard to believe. I knew very little about the Rodney King incident and I certainly had never heard about it from the perspective of individuals who were there. Not only were these excerpts incredible at illustrating different perspectives from that time but they also were very powerful and moving to read. Hearing all these individual's stories made me feel upset and frustrated. Like one of the women talks about, the way that the media struck fear into the white people of that area was unbelievable. People who normally would have trusted each other and lived peacefully together were now suddenly torn apart by rash, untrue stereotypes and generalizations. And the craziest part about this was that nothing had changed for black people or white people. They were all the same people. All anyone wanted at that time was for there to be justice for black people, Mexican people, Korean people. Everyone wanted to just be treated fairly. This happened in my lifetime. I think that is what upsets me the most. This happened 2 hours from where I grew up. How is it that a society as technologically advanced as ours is in so many ways morally and ethically stunted?

Blog 2

Today was so sunny and beautiful. Also, my mom came to visit so it was nice to spend the day catching up with her. I am currently listening to my iTunes and trying to unwind before I have to finish up the rest of my homework for this class and my others.

I was relatively productive today considering that my mom just got in today, but I was a little upset that when we biked over to the barn to check on Red Dee (my horsey) she was limping on her front left leg. I noticed she had what looked like a cut and a bruise so I am assuming she got kicked by another horse out in the pasture. I hate when she is limping, I feel so bad for her. And also, Tuesdays I have no classes so it's the best day for me to go down and exercise her so that was a bit of a bummer. I am just happy it was a beautiful day today and it is hard to be upset very long on nice days like this.

Anyway, this was a nice little blogging session I would say. I should probably get back to studying, after I have some thin mints with cold milk first :)

Reading Response 2

I loved the "Big Man on Campus" article. It truly summed up the most frustrating parts of the tuition increases for me. The way Yudoff idolizes himself and sees no fault with the way he operates his "business" and the way he feels no need to explain and defend his decisions are all just too much for me to sit and accept. It is easy to feel helpless within such a huge system and Yudoff knows this. He can say nearly anything with little repercussion.

The student essays I found extremely interesting as well. The first essay truly did shock me with his/her very effective examples of just exactly how much the tuition has gone up and its toll on families from all social classes. It used to be that any student who wanted an education could pursue one with very little dependency on their parents. At 200-300 hrs per year to cover tuition costs it truly is completely reasonable to expect a part time school year job and even a full time summer job could cover these costs easily. The third essay, however, also posed very significant points in my opinion as well. The author made some very strong points in their argument and I must say I agreed with their logic with much of what they were saying.

Reading Response 1

While reading the many articles about the transformation of our public universities it is difficult to not have a strong opinion about the exploitation of the students and the misleading facts about where our tuition money is going. Our universities are more importantly a profit gaining organization than an educational facility. The UC schools, under Mark Yudoff, have become primarily an “every-man-for-himself,” profit-focused system that does not allow for students the option to receive the best possible education at the most affordable cost. Instead, students are paying tuition more and more like private school but having fewer resources, small classes and financial aid assistance. My first instinct when hearing about the fee increases was to ask “where is this money going?” If myself and 20,000 other students are paying close to $4,000 a quarter why don’t our professors deserve to be paid competitive salaries to establish a better qualified teaching staff? Why shouldn’t every student be guaranteed that the classes they need will be available for them and not necessarily in 500 person lecture halls? And why shouldn’t there be less concern about turning a profit and more concern over turning out an enthusiastic, well-prepared and competitive work force? When I read about how much of our money is being gambled away in the risky market investments and unnecessary construction projects it is hard to not feel used. It should be the cost of tuition is at its bare minimum that would allow any potential qualified and interested student have the option of receiving a four-year degree.

Blog 1

How do we use language to establish authority? Most people seem to feel as though authority is based on a few main factors such as knowledge on a subject, presentation of ideas and active participation to make those ideas known and respected. These factors can all be channeled through writing, speaking, and reading/interpretation of others' thoughts and perspectives. Language can be used to share ideas and potentially command respect from peers, colleagues and any followers of said leader. Writing can be used by an authoritative figure to preserve, spread and consolidate his/her mottos, teachings, and expectations. When individuals read what has been published or distributed by an authoritative person those individuals have the option to interpret the readings however they would like. A strong leader will be able to convey what they wish in a very persuasive and eloquent way to maintain structure and position.

However, despite the need for a vehicle of expression and publicity a leader must have a strong foundation and background. There are many components to a successful leader and it is with the formation of language and the ability to document teachings that people are able to achieve far greater positions and roles in society. It is just up to individuals to utilize their ability to speak, write and read to show others what their potential truly is.