Extra Credit Blog

I think that I learned a lot about my writing skills in this class. I did expect to do a lot of work but it want that hard. I thought I did a great job writing for the most part. In my college writing I class my professor critiqued us maybe a sentence here or there on a finished essay and that was it. Whenever she gave us our papers back you got a grade and a few sentences on why we she gave it to us. I was a little skeptical about my first paper because I thought it was fine but I got a full page on the things that I did wrong or could have done better, which now I am very grateful for and a lot of professors don't do that. This class has definitely made me a much better writer than what I was before. This was also my first experience ever blogging. I thought that was pretty interesting too. To have someone you don't know or probably will never meet read your opinions about things is cool. Overall I am really glad I took this class if it was with some one else I probably would've missed out on a great learning experience.

My Biggest obstacles for the final project

I think that one of the problems that i might have would be time and organization. I have decided to try and interview each person twice maybe one in person and once have them answer some questions down on paper just in case i think of something new or i forget to ask them a question that may be important for my argument.I have a good idea as to what I want to argue about I'm just afraid that i might go off topic a bit and start to turn the paper around and write it all about me and what i think. Sometimes I forget to include sources or cite quotes from people. Another huge thing would be organization, when i write i write down exactly what I'm thinking and i don't put my thoughts into certain categories. I could be talking about my thesis in the first paragraph and decide to add more to it in another paragraph on another page that has nothing to do with what i was talking about in the beginning.

Klosterman Group

1. Klosterman talks about how he'd prefer to ask questions rather than answer questions. Answering questions requires that a person be somewhat engaged with their own thoughts and sort of "know them selves." Asking is much easier because one can avoid being misunderstood. With respect identity, talking is a portrayal of oneself (accurate or not).

2. Why do people feel compelled to answer questions in the first place?

3. Basically, people talk just to talk. Morris mentions that if people are expected to talk, they do. It is exactly as Klosterman says, "something instead of nothing."

4. To an extent, you can trust an interviewee and to some extent you can't. Morris says that self-deception makes the world go round. People are generally going to try and put out what they think is true even if it is not. They create a narrative that they honestly believe in and therefore the interviewee is being dishonest with themselves first and then the rest of us as a consequence. People are constantly giving their view and position on the world and from another perspective the world appears very different. So this is why we are not usually the best informants of ourselves because we can easily deceive our self. At the same time other people will see the version of you they want.

5. Klosterman says that when interviewed people want to do two things: say something interesting and be perceived in the way that will be likable. Morris and Klosterman claim however that rarely can the both of these be accomplished, usually one is accomplished at the sacrifice of the other. Being interviewed allows the interviewee to become misunderstood and misrepresented. So if people were truly reasonable, they would indeed avoid interviews and avoid this dilemma altogether.

Something Instead of Nothing

I thought that this article was good. I thought it was interesting that she found interviewing other people interesting. I do agree that interviewing a person is the best way to get to know them. Just being able to ask them whatever you want is great. She said that the result was a semi-real conversation. I think that giving an interview is a real conversation after all you are talking to this person and trying to understand the way they are and what are their views in life so you would have to have a real conversation. I also like it when she said that in an interview the interviewee is trying to promote a product or a concept of themselves. I think that is very true. Some of the interview i have seen with people whether they are a celebrity or just a regular person on the street the conversation always gets reared towards themselves. I think that the interviewer has most of the control in the conversation. They can bring up whatever they want. I really couldn't answer the question on why people feel they that they have to answer a question. I do agree with Morris because some people so like to talk and explain things even if they don't fully understand what they are talking about. Humans just like to talk its what we were born to do.

Simpson's Coolhunt - In Class.

Homer was just basically trying to find a way that he could be cool, but according to the article, in order to be cool you must be instinctively cool. In the Simpsons episode, we learned that if you don't care if you're cool or not, you aren't cool. And, if you have to be told that you're cool, you're not cool. This is the same idea portrayed in the article. The "cool" kids that Baysie and DeeDee sought after were just cool - they didn't try to be cool, and they didn't have to be told they were cool.

Homer finally realized that what was cool when he was young isn't cool anymore - he was made fun of for being his version of "cool." This coincides with the fact that the word "cool" is very, very subjective, and what it defines is ever changing.

Cool Hunters

I think that a lot of people would be able to relate to this article. I used to think that a lot of the things in my life were cool when really they weren't. Like for instance growing up with six brothers and sisters we always had to have what was hot and what everyone was wearing like shoes. If you had on the latest pairs of shoes then you were the coolest person I knew. We used to spend all of your time finding out what was hot and what everyone at school was wearing so we could get them and wear them them. If i knew what i knew now I would have never wasted my time. I couldn't believe that i wanted all of the same things that other people had just to look cool. But I do think that the converses in the story will never die. I understand why DeeDee used teen speech in the article to set herself apart from other people so that she could fit in with them. Everyone I know has tried to be "cool" or at least become apart of it somehow. I think that now that term is way overrated. Why cant everyone just be themselves and act and look they way they want to instead of trying to look like someone else. The way people see them selves trying to keep up has gotten a bit ridiculous.

Google stupid questions

1. Carr's mind has changed based on technology and how we have come to view technology. He mentions how he and his friends can no longer sit and read lengthy material they just skim through things because technology, namely the Internet has made access to information so easy and quick. 2. The Internet has allowed mass amounts of information to be easily accessible and all in one spot. New ideas, revisions of old ideas, etc. show that information is constantly changing. The Internet allows things to be updated nonstop. There is also a constant flow of ideas from person to person on the Internet because we have access to so much of each other's stuff. 3. Carr mentions a study from the University of London about online research habits. The study showed that the Internet has created a "new way of reading" including "power browsing." He also mentions The New York Times now has short snippets of the news for it's readers; alluding to the fact the a popular piece of media (NY Times) had to recognize and conform to the way people now read & think in order to remain appealing to thier audience. 4. Carr is worried that we will automatically start to automatically rely on the mass amounts of information the Internet and Google provides to us. He mentions how we will become like "pancakes," wide and flat. So essentially, we will have a wide knowledge base full of mass amounts of facts and whatnot but we will be flat, meaning that we will have no depth to our thoughts. Carr suggests that our intelligence will become "artificial intelligence" which is what Google wants to do with the Internet.

Google

I think that media and the way we look up and view information has definitely changed. Now you can find almost anything on the Internet. I have also stopped reading books because you can find one online in just seconds. Everything has become conveniently easier. I don't believe that technology or Google has made us stupid it has just expanded the way we do things. I think that he feels this way because he and his associates didn't grow up with as much technology that we have now. So its understandable. I thought the research study that The university of London conducted on the study of online research habits was interesting to me because of what they found. They used the term new forms of "reading" which was intriguing to me because I think that we all use the same form of reading. Whether its skimming or reading something completely through and through we are still reading we just choose to take it in and interpret it the way we want to. I do agree that sometimes I don't read things all the way about a certain subject because we can just go online and find out more about with just a couple of clicks instead of just reading through a whole book or an article. We use the Internet to find information. Mostly little things so that we can better understand them. Unlike books the information is always being updated and changed. Sometimes I do wish that I could be able to sit and read a whole book and get a complete meaning. I think that our generation has become so lazy with all the technology that we have it ridiculous. I do wonder what it would be like if the Internet and computers was never invented we would probably have a lot more really smart people.

Billy Sim

1. We don't necessarily realize who we are exactly or what it is that we have to do until it is brought to our attention. Whether through other people or, in this case, through a video game that "SIMulates" reality. He attempted to construct a character that adequately represented him in real life...but like Klosterman says, nobody truly knows himself.

2. We feel that it contrasts with "Slumming" in that Klosterman's Sim's character was only happy if Klosterman was buying things for him. His happiness was soley based off of the purchases he made. In "Slumming," these rich people already had all these nice things but they wanted to live a less luxuorious life and they took to the streets abandoning all thier possessions. They thought this would make them happier.

3. Children definitely become computer/Internet literate very quickly, which is beneficial in our technologically-centered world. However, we agree that children do think more like computers. Everything on a computer is systematic and everything is all already there. They lose imagination in a sense. Once they leave the computer and are forced to do homework on paper, write in journals, or just play with toys they do not know exactly what to do because they have been confined to following certain rules a machine creates for them.

Final Draft of Who we are

I don't think that there is a final draft of who we are mainly because most people go through life wasting their days on trying to find out who they are. We discover something about ourselves everyday day. I think that there could be a draft but we would be changing it every hour of the day. Sometimes I wish there was a story written on who I am so I don't have to go through life trying to figure it out. Some people know exactly who they are and some don't, but I definitely think that there is no final draft.

Billy Sim

After reading this article i could not help but to feel so bad for this poor man. It almost seemed as if his life was over until he discovered the video game The Sims. I don't know how anyone could get so depressed that they would have to turn to a video game for some relief. If he felt that he life was that bad then he should have changed it. I absolutely hate games like The Sims because who would want to create their life in a video game especially if your life sucks. I really don't understand the point of it, but millions of people love this game. I think that he discovered a lot about himself by playing a pointless video game and that is sad.

I think that he tried to create another identity for himself, maybe he wanted to see himself have a better life in a video game but it turned out wrong. I guess he found out that his character was just like him in real life, sad and depressed. I couldn't understand how long it took him to figure that out. if we are going to create someone like us in a virtual world then they have to be like us in some way. It did seem to me like he was in a midlife crisis and he was just trying to see if he could get out of it. After all I just felt bad for the poor man, the fact that he was so into this game shocked me. I don't know a lot of people who would play their lives out on a video game so it was a bit funny.

Slumming

I thought this article was quite intriguing fascinating and angered me all at the same time. I started to feel myself getting a little angry. Just the fact that rich people would even want to know what its like to live like the poor is the stupidest thing that I have ever heard before in my entire life. I think that they should be ashamed of themselves. It was almost as if they were mocking the poor. If they think they could hold these little special charities and parties on the weekends because they think that they are doing someone a favor, then they are sadly mistaken. Even some of the parties that they hosted were absolutely ridiculous to me. A silent auction for irritable bowl syndrome, that sounds stupid for someone to even think of.

I don't really believe in stereotypes unless I have seen them for myself, but I know that a lot of people say that the rich are nothing but a bunch of materialistic people who blow thousands of dollars on things that normal people can't afford just cause. But then there are a lot of them who take their lives and helping people very seriously. This story kind of paints the rich in a very negative way. I think that they felt like they were doing people a favor, like they were actually helping someone. Although this seems to be a fictional article which I am glad it is, it did affect me in a way. Maybe to not believe that people like this actually exist in this world. But I do believe that there are people out here like this.

Evan Ratliff: Vanish

I thought this was a pretty interesting story. Sometimes I cant help but to wonder if I could do this myself, which i doubt because my mother would have the U.S Marshals looking for me and my face would be on every television new station in a matter of hour. I think that he was asking some really good questions on why he wanted to do this. He wondered how hard it is to vanish in the digital age. I don't think that is a hard question to answer. Now and days people can track where your are right from your phone. Sometimes I think that its a bit ridiculous, but it could be used as a great tool to find missing people and things like that.

I wondered why he changed his whole appearance. I know his intent was to eventually get caught but how would somebody who never saw him really know its him if they only have a picture of him or seen a picture of him once. I thought that he should have just kept his appearance and just go into hiding. that would have made the search even more exciting. I was shocked by how many people were on to the chase just a couple of hours of wired.com posting it. I thought that people would look at it as some kind of joke and just not really pay attention to it. Maybe it was the money that convinced them that he really went missing, because that would have convinced me but in all a really interesting and fascinating story it really shows us how good our digital world really is.

Do you call yourself a writer

I think everyone are writers. I could classify myself as a writer, because I do write everyday. Even if it is facebooking or writing a simply e-mail to someone the fact is that we are still writing. I think there are just different levels to it. A writer is someone who expresses there thoughts and opinions down on paper or electronically, most people in the world do that. I might not be up to par with people who have written articles and books on writing but I am a writer. Writing is an essential part of our lives in order to communicate electronically. A lot of the things in the world has changed now and days most of our assignments have to be typed up, and we have a lot of online work. So we have to get used to a writing technique. So yes i would consider myself a writer.

Literacy and Voice Questions - In Class

1. Well, of course in order to be literate you need to be able to understand what you read and write. However, being "technologically and digitally" literate involves a lot more. If someone doesn't know how to use a computer, they might be considered to be stupid by some people, but they might be brilliant in other areas.

In order to be able to text, you need to be able to to understand "text speak" like "idk", "idc", "ttyl", "omg", and all of the other crazy things people come up with to save time and energy.

Not only should you have a basic grasp on that, but to be technologically literate you should be able to operate and maneuver around a computer. So much of our lives are connected with the Internet that you almost have to be able to understand how it works.

4. So many people use other people's words and ideas on Facebook instead of coming up with our own way of saying how we feel. People post videos, lyrics, movie quotes, or quotes from other people (scholars) who actually can put together their own ideas.

It is difficult to create an original voice just for yourself.

We do think it is possible to use your own voice, but it isn't easy, and it isn't common.

5. People definitely view other people's voices as more authentic than others - and sometimes more authentic than our own. By using someone else's words, we are deeming their thoughts more credible than our own, so we use them in order to appear theway we want to Facebook or on other sites.

6. It is really hard to get around using something from someone. Pretty much everything we say has come from something else. No idea is completely original - chances are, someone has thought about the same thing before. Not to mention, it is must more convenient to copy and paste a chorus that explains how you feel instead of making your own "status."

Joan Didion Why I Write

I thought her article was alright, when most people write they do write to persuade. I do agree with her when she says writing is an act of saying I, I tend to do this a lot when I am writing a paper I sometimes use the words I and like a lot, and I get off subject and start to write the paper about myself and what I think of the subject or different things. Your basically getting the opinion of the writer and how they view the subject they are writing about.

I can also relate to her when she says that she has a hard time focusing on either what she is reading or writing i think that is very common. It is hard to sit and read an article or a whole book because sometimes you get distracted. Writing definitely can bring some of the biggest distractions, just a simple mark on the wall can take your focus and attention off what you are doing.

The rest of the article she talks about comparing writing to maybe imagery. I don't think I imagine pictures when i am writing i just try to stay on topic and focused. I don't see how seeing pictures and images is going to help.

Why Write?

I think that writing is good for the mind. It helps people to better understand things. Kind of like a learning tool. I don’t like to write but I feel that’s it’s a better way for me to express myself instead of talking. People tend to interpret your words their own way when reading your work. You can give a lot more detail about a subject then to try and verbally explain it.

Writing could also be looked upon as art some people take it very seriously. I think that it could be a skill, something that takes a long time to master. Not a lot of people are great at it but writing is good because it is another form of expression.

Obama's Edits - Response.

We think that Obama's edits helped the speech sound more personable. He made it apply to everyone - Democrats and Republicans. We think that he wanted to help his audience feel a sense of unity. Some worked with Ted Kennedy and knew what he stood for, and Obama's goal was to simply remind them of that. The matter was something that both Republicans and Democrats agreed on and worked together toward.

The blogger says pretty much the same thing:

"He drew individuals, members of Congress generally, and the American people as active agents into a joint national project of compassion and positive action."

Obama also spoke in first person throughout his speech saying things like, "I know," "us" and "we" making himself sound credible and relatable.

He thinks that through Obama's edits, he gave his audience a sense of "YEAH! We can do this!" Obama mentioned that hard work should pay off and the blogger felt that Obama gave a feeling of hope when he said, "the government has to step in and deliver on that promise."

So as a group, we agree with the blogger.

Thoughts and Questions on A&P

1. We have decided that the end feels more frustrating than anything else. Sammy now has to find another job on his own, and start over somewhere else. When he said, "I quit," I'm sure he felt liberated and relieved that he was finally done with that place, but once he got outside and looked back I feel like he regretted his decision.

3. This story really shows Sammy's personality, and therefore, his identity. Throughout the story we get to read his thoughts and see what he's thinking. He ends up quitting his job because he was upset that his boss embarrassed the girls in the store. I feel like he wanted to impress them and be the person they might want him to be, but it didn't work. Once he got outside of the store, he realized that he now has to find a new identity and a new place of work because he just threw his job away for a girl he will probably never see again.

5. As a group, we have decided that we would not have made the same decision. Even though he tried to be the hero, it didn't work out for him. It was a stupid decision that he couldn't take back. Keeping a job and trying to keep your boss happy (even when they are stupid) is a little more important than a scantily clad girl and her friends. They shouldn't have been going around town in just their bikinis anyway - it was in the 1960's, for goodness sake. Hahahahah.

Updikes A&P

This article probably has to be in one of my top lists for very confusing. I had to read it twice over just to make sure that I understood everything right. It seemed to me that it was a story about a guy working at a mom and pop store who gets a crush on some girl, who walks in with her friends. Then he's just sitting there and fantasizing about talking to them, his boss kind of embarrasses them because they barely have any clothes on and then he just decides to up and quit.

That is what I understood from it but everything in between was very confusing and hard to get through my head. Especially the part where it starts with "Oh Daddy" I'm guessing it was one of the girls talking to her father. I started to think that I was reading a completely different story. I felt like it was narrator jumping from character back to narrator, which is what goes on in a story. I don't know maybe its me, maybe I have a hard time reading things like this, it was pretty late in the night and I guess I got confused.

Although I have to admit that it was a pretty funny and interesting story I actually enjoyed reading this. It is a little better than the other articles we have read so far. I read this story all the way through. I think that this is a piece that many people can relate to. I know a lot of people who have worked at grocery stores and absolutely hate their jobs because of the customers that they have to deal with on a daily bases.