The final paper

What I see as being my biggest obstacle for this essay is conducting the actual interviews. I've never interviewed anybody before so I think it should be challenging if not interesting. Other than that the essay as a whole seems straight forward for what I plan to do. I think I have good understanding of what is expected. I don't know what the interview questions will show or won't so I think some of it will have to be trial and error.

Klosterman in class discussion questions

1) Depending on the type of person you are will influence or pseud how you answer questions when asked. this directly correlates to your identity. 2)Klosterman is trying to figure out HOW or WHY people answer questions the way they do. Why do you answer the way you do, do you answer honestly or directly or indirectly. Why do people even answer a question when asked? Human nature. 3)He gives 6 reason's to why he believes he answers questions when asked. Yes, different people may have other reasoning's for their answers. 4)When you are being interviewed and all eyes are on you, sometimes a person may stretch the truth or may state things to make themselves sound better. Also, we feel as though it depends on if the two people feel comfortable with each other, may have a direct influence on to how the interviewee answers. 5)In a sense it is unreasonable to ask random people to answer interview questions. But, in a way it could be reasonable to answer simple questions for a person if you are not busy. Overall it is up to a person and really depends on the situation.

In-Class Cool

Both the simpsons episode we watched and the Malcolm Gladwell article connected the idea of the irrationality of what is cool. At the end of the Simpson's episode, both Marge and Homer are perplexed by what is considered cool and ask Bart and Lisa several times if what they're doing is cool, but each time the kids respond that what their parents are doing is not cool. The article also talks about how the "cool-hunters" could spot who they considered to be a "cool kid". What is considered cool is often influenced moreso by the person that decides it is cool, as that person is a very influential figure in style and has a peer pressure type of effect.

I don't think so.

I disagree strongly with this article. I think he is looking way too heavily on the slideshow. While I can see what i he is trying to get at, he only describes, what I think, to be poorly done and executed presentations. Using powerpoint is only meant to aid a speech or lecture, he talks as if people only have the ability to marvel at a piece of technology while completely ignoring the content. I was taught, that when using a powerpoint to never make it distracting or that you shouldn't even glance at it during. This article has a total focus on the negative and barely even considers the positive.

In class, google questions

1.) His mind is changing by the way that he reads and processes the information that he is getting from the article. 2.) The ability to find what you are looking for as fast as possible. 3.) "I had almost lost the ability to read and absorb a long article" -Bruce Friedman 4.) Since google is so easy to use and always readily available, we are becoming very dependent on it and it is making us so used to it, and become less familiar with the old way of just reading.

"Billy Sim" - Group Questions

1) In this article the most interesting aspect related to identity is the fact that people are very materialistic in nature. In the game the only way to make your Sim happy is to buy him nice new expensive things.

2) This article relates to another article we read earlier in the year "All my life for sale" because of how each object a person has represents certain memories or happiness related to the object.

3) We believe that computers help to make children advanced faster. We also can see how it makes children think as computers such as not having as good as an imagination as they could if they were not always on the computer. Also, children are always using electronic forms of communication and lack interpersonal communication skills.

Sims

When I was a kid, I loved the sims. It was fun to me being able to create someone completely new and doing whatever you could think of. At the time I took it so seriously too, remebering to spent time with of the sim's friends, going to the bathroom at regular intervials, keeping him entertained, the whole deal. Nothing else really existed outside of the game when I started playing. It was like a second life to me and I really enjoyed it at the time. And it's funny to me now how interesting I found it, when now I honestly can't get myself to play.

Final Draft

Is there a final draft of who we are? No. I believe that we are always being “revised”. People grow and change in little ways every day, whether we realize it or not. A “spelling mistake” there, an added “comma” here, sometimes deleting whole sentences. As individuals we are constantly evolving into something slightly different, doing so till the day we die. We take day to day experiences with us and add them to our “paper”, not necessarily making it better or worse but making it unique to our life. Only final draft you will have will be submitted at your death bed.

Slumming

I felt that this article was really odd. I’ve heard of the this type of thing before, rich people wanting a taste of the poor life. It’s a pretty old concept. Saying that, I have never heard a story like this. All of the things that happened to the Keyes and their friends could have been avoided. Simply by not taking their money and lifestyle for granted and finding another less dangerous way to show them how to appreciate what they had. But I think the one think that I take away from this is just how stupid people can be. It’s one thing to be rich and want to see what it’s like to have nothing but the way they went about it, made it nothing more than game. And like a lot of games rich people play, it turned serious, and deadly.

Runaway

I really enjoyed reading this article. I, on a couple of occasions, have thought about just trying to disappear completely. Driving on the way home I might think "what if I just kept driving" what if I just kept going and didn't look back. There’s no real reason behind it, mostly it's just to see if I can. And I start getting into specifics, how far will I go, where I should ditch my car, ways to stretch my money. Overall it's a fun little day dream to have, but to see someone to read about someone who actually set out to do it was cool to me. I also liked the fact that he didn't just try to disappear; he tried to become a fugitive by challenge people to find him. I wish I would have been a wear of the article when it was happening so I could have been able to participate.

Writers?

Do I consider myself a writer, yes, in the technical sense. I believe anyone can be called a writer. How good or bad of a writer you are, is another matter altogether. I consider a writer a person who expresses thoughts, ideas, or stories through any medium that can be read. While it may not be my profession, or the profession of most, I do fall under this category, as I am asked write for a number of classes here at Kent. I also, sometimes write in my spare time, when I can find it. So in the simplest of terms I would call myself a writer. I think you would have a hard time finding anyone over the age of ten that could not be considered a writer.

In Class Questions 2/16/11

1) To be "literate" in our world today a person must be up to date with technology, such as face book, twitter, texting, having a smart phone. Being fluent with all medias.
4) It is hard to find your own voice when you feel like everyone else has already said everything that could be said or done. Just like Mr. Cash said you can take some things that other people do, but you have to do it in your own way. People need to put their own twist on what they do to make it theirs or create some individuality. It is very possible, the challenge is making something seem as though it is your own.
5) Yes, some people project themselves in their own ways better than others. For example comedian's must have their own individuality in order to draw people to them. Also, a persons ethos has allot to do with how a person projects themselves. If you walk the walk, you gotta talk the talk.
6) In order to base who you are you have to look up to someone or have an idol. This sets the foundation for who you would like to be, but you are able to be yourself at the same time. For example, if you want to be a musician, you cannot just come up with your own genre, you have to have something to base your style on.

Why Write?

There are many reasons to write, more than can be covered in 125 words. But more important reasons are commutation, and for recorded history. You can write to get your message across to someone or to a group of people. It’s a way to show them what you’re thinking or what you know. Writing for recorded history is tremendously important, it’s a way to learn from the past culture and events. Writing can also follow a more entertaining route. We write down our stories fiction and non, and past them down from generation to generation. A lot of the time people write just to remember certain thoughts they had, to later go over them or use them as notes for a writing they are working on.

Obama in class readings

We think that he made the changes mainly becuase he wanted to make his speech more personal to the reader and make it more engaging and captivating to the audience. It tugs on the heart strings.

We as a group agreed with what the blogger was saying. We think he hit the ball on the head with his thoughts and ideas of what Obama had in mind in why he did what he did. We agreed alot on the blogger saying that Obama wanted to add more detail and more of a personal touch to his words. He really wanted to engage the readers and make it as personal as he was able to.

A&P In-Class Questions

1) He was making a huge deal about quiting his job, when realistically he was only 19 years old and will have plenty of other opportunities to get a better job. We think he will get over it and it is not as bad as he thinks it is. It is sad in his perspective, but to us it is liberating because now he can pursue a better paying job.



2) His boss told him that he was making a mistake by quiting, but he didn't care and proceeded to quit. When he could have sucked it up and just kept his job and not try to impress the girls. We disagree with Gilbert, because it was more of a naive decision, trying to be the big shot. It came down to him being left by himself.



5) If it came down to us being in this position, we would not have gone about it the same way. We would have reinforced the managers orders to the girls and then continued to work.

The first item we looked at was the half-empty bottle of mouthwash. We assumed that the type of person that bought the mouthwash was most likely already following the website and wanted to be a part of the project. The buyer was probably intrigued by it because they thought it was a funny piece of memoribilia.

My Writing Process

My writing process is usually very informal. I take my topic and try to divide it into at least three different subjects with in the main topic. Then I take the length the paper is suppose to be and try to figure out how long each of those sub topics need to be. All of this is usually just in my head; I have yet to write anything down at this stage.

If the assignment is a research paper I would then begin to look for information. I might do this sooner if I have no knowledge of the topic, so I know how I want to divide it. After that my writing process is pretty flimsy, I just go from there, writing from topic to topic. After the paper is done, I’ll go back look for any mistakes, items I would like to change, like move sentences or paragraphs. On average that is how I write all my papers.