Captured Thought: The Media Loves a Bad Story

As I was watching a recent episode of the Simpsons in which Homer and Marge went to the winter Olympics and won the gold medal in curling, a sarcastic comment was made by a sportscaster. "This is the sort of bittersweet melodrama Olympic coverage feeds on," is what he said after Marge hurt her shoulder sweeping too hard. Then it dawned on me how one of the few things I remember about the last winter Olympics is Lindsay Jacobellis's showboating incident that cost her the gold medal in snowboard cross. But it's not only sports, but all types of media, magazines especially, that envelope themselves in what is considered "trash". But then if it's trash why do people keep wanting to read about the latest development in Brangolina's relationship status? An then it occurred to me that all the people on the news are famous and have an aura of perfection surrounding them and that when these people act like normal people and make mistakes, we can relate to them. We want to see these people act human. In a sense, the media is doing us a favor by broadcasting this "trash". The media is giving us what we want, what we need. And even though we know that we shouldn't find pleasure and comfort in another's misfortune, it's what we want to read, and we get it.

Connection: Postmodern View of Memory to History

As we were discussing memory and why there is a frame narrator in The Heart of Darkness in class it dawned upon me how just like the frame narrator is making Marlow a part of memory, so to are we a part of history. Marlow needed to be a part of the memory because this memory was too important to be one person's memory alone. His story and similar stories were all experienced in the jungle he calls the heart of darkness. We, and all the people of the past are a part of the great memory referred to as history. But, all history is based upon the writings and discoveries of those that experienced it, so it is not truly postmodern memory. Where is the purely objective history? Where is a record of all the events and cultures of the past without judgments or a point of view? The answer quite simply is that it doesn't exist. History is from everyone, and although everyone is a part of history, the vast memory called history is shaped by the ones that are a part of it. It is in the gray area between the modern and postmodern views of memory. But as I reflect back on The Heart of Darkness I realize that Marlow's feelings and observations are a part of the dialogue of the frame narrator, therefore the frame narrator is not entirely postmodern because an entirely postmodern frame narrator would eliminate the feelings of the people that are a part of memory because it is not a personal memory.

Metacognition: The 1st Semeter

As I progress through the year, I continuously feel that the area in English that I need the most work on is writing, and even more specifically clarifying my thoughts and formulating an effective opener. Maybe the issue with clarifying my ideas is that I am both my worst and best critic. I hold myself to high expectations, but then when editing I am too easy on myself and I miss many opportunities for improvement things. Sometimes I have a difficult time letting go of what I believe is a really creative introduction that doesn’t necessarily have perfect relevance. More frequently though, I find that for my opener, it comes out with a mystifying tone and overall feels forced.

Something else that I’ve discovered is that I prefer to demonstrate understanding and creativity in a theatrical way or with a presentation rather than with prose writing. I enjoy the interactions with other people that projects offer and like to test my comfort limits by presenting. So far this year, the King Lear skits have been my favorite assignment because it suited my preferences. I want to start to enjoy prose writing but I don’t how to start to have fun with it, especially when it is an assignment.

But, I have always enjoyed both reading and writing poetry. As I was doing Tuesday night’s homework I discovered that many of the poems have effective rhyming. I know that when I have written poetry, I have also done free verse writing because then I could just divide the words and organize and phrase the words where they seem to naturally fall. Whenever I have tried to rhyme it has always felt forced and it seems to break up the natural rhythm and flow of the poem. One thing that I really want to get out of this poetry unit is how to rhyme effective because when used effective rhyme is an incredibly powerful tool.

Blogging Around: Chelsea and

In Chelsea's post where she connects collaboration on the volleyball court to collaboration in a classroom, she talks about how there needs to be leaders and followers and how there needs to be a trust factor between all of the collaborators.

I found this very interesting how you tied sports to academics. Soccer season ended about a month ago and I could connect a lot of what you said to my team. I noticed how 90% of the time it wasn't the best team the triumphed but the team that could utilize the strengths and weaknesses of each individual player to reach a common goal. The leaders, whether they were given the title of captain or not, were the players who could unite the team and allow members to use their strengths.
I certainly agree with you on the importance of collaboration in school, but I feel that collaboration does not occur as often as it appears. I remember in junior high how there were, unfortunately, the people that no one wanted in their group. And often, those people would be excluded from the group because people thought that they had nothing to contribute. But, if you took enough time to figure out what that person was good at, then the project could be completed using everyone's strengths. This returns to your idea of balance, and how it is the leader's job to identify the strengths of each individual and the followers job to use their strengths, and when both of those roles are filled, then the goal can be reached in the most efficient manner.

My second comment is on Fatima's iMedia post where she asserts that the female image of Disney characters teaches young girls that they should be really thin and seductive and young boys that they can only like the 'hot' girls.

Fatima I respect your opinion, but I just don't agree with you. I grew up on these videos, and I watched them for pure enjoyment. I didn't once think, "I can only like girls who's stomach is narrower than her hips." I find Disney's depiction on their female characters absurd and ridiculous like you do, and they probably have that depiction of them because of society's pressure, but I don't think that a young child is going to interpret that message from these movies. Maybe I have this view because I am a boy, but I remember having a discussion similar to this last year in English class and many people agreed with me, including girls.

iMedia: Pachelbel Canon in D Major

Song

This is a rather famous piece, and if you haven't hear of it then I would be shocked. It is the traditional wedding song that is played by a string quartet at some point be it at the reception or as the bride walks down the aisle. But no matter how forward thinking some people are or revolutionary, this piece is a must have. It is comforting to me at least to know that no matter how far we move ahead, we still maintain solid traditions from our past. It is sad thought that most of what we remember of the past is song. Ask anyone questions about history and my guess is that few will answer correctly. History is our warning. If we don't heed it, then it is bound to repeat.
Pachelbel Canon has always been one of my favorite pieces of music. I had this old cassette tape that I would fall asleep to each night that had soothing ocean waves breaking on the shore in the background. It was a part of my childhood, and it's one of my top favorite songs right up there next to The Gambler, the artist is escaping me. To me Pachelbel Canon always cleared my mind and help me relax. It is too bad that I ended up playing the tape one too many times, and now you can't hear the middle section of the composition, and I have misplaced it. The soft, placid notes will always resonate in my head when I want them to.

Connection: King Lear to the Erosion of a Mountain

King Lear starts off as a mountain in the beginning of the play and as the play progresses, the mountain slowly begins to erode and become one of the Appalachians, which in my opinion shouldn't be considered mountains. His daughters are the constant force of the elements that batters the cliffs and courses through the cracks in the rocks during Spring. Goneril is the wind howling in her wrath. Regan is the water that passively pushes itself through any obstacle, but sometimes turns to ice and snow and becomes a blizzard. And Cordelia, well, she is the animals that migrate elsewhere when the sides of the mountain become too harsh, but return when the snow melts the grass begins to appear. Seeing the four "major" characters in the way really helps me to characterize and understand who each of them is. Since I find Shakespeare difficult to understand, I find that I make sense of his works best when I can identify what type of person each of the characters is, and that helps me decipher there responses to the different situations and predict with more accuracy what I believe will occur. But, my analogies of the characters will change as situations that I couldn't explain with the existing ones are explained to me.

360 Degree: Grades

One of the first things that comes to mind when you think of school is grades. But, are grades important? Are they necessary?
School should be about learning, not about how well you do on a test. Why must we quantify learning? In doing so, learning no longer becomes enjoyable. It becomes a chore, a drudgery. You study to pass a test, not for yourself. Education becomes a game of survival where those who are most successful have the most opportunity. How high you climb in social ladder is determined by your grades in high school or even junior high. Should the weight of that all be placed upon the shoulders of adolescents who at that period in their life want nothing to do with school, unless, in my personal opinion, something has gone haywire in their head.
Without grades, where would the world be? Some people have to succeed and others have to fail in order for the world to function. Grades are a way of determining who those people are. Also, how would be know if a child needed help in an aspect of their learning if grades didn't show that to us? And, is there another option other than grades and test scores to determine those most in need? Without the competition in schools, how can we get students to achieve their full potential if there is no incentive? What I see when this happens though, is that there are some students who attempt to reach the incentive, and then there are others who decide that it is impossible to achieve and stop trying. Is is possible to find a middle ground or an alternative measurement for success?