class evaluation

I think the class is going pretty well so far. Some days it's alot of work. I feel like I'm not really getting the whole textbook thing, with the readings that we have to do in it. I was confused on the gists. I thought they were supposed to just be what we thought of the story not a whole analysis. I don't always like coming to class because it always seems so negative in there. I really liked getting to choose our own stories! I like working in groups and doing hands on stuff.

little mermaid

The setting of the story would be on both in the ocean and on land. It's hard for me to figure out why she would want to go up to the earth and live there when the ocean is sooo pretty, especially her castle. Everything is so perfect down there and she just wants to leave it. It's located at the way bottom of the ocean that nobody sees except for them. Having the setting set down there makes it seem so awesome, why would she want to leave. It's like the author made it seem like she was making a bad choice and she couldnt just be happy with how things were down there. The fact that the witch's house is in such a creepy place lets you know that she's not a good person to be around. She's pretty sketchy and is probably going to screw you over. It's just gross down there. I think if her real house was in the ugly part where the withc lived she would have wanted to leave. But why would you leave such a pretty place? I don't think the color red or crimson has anything to do with setting, but it is brough up soo much in the story and really stuck out to me. I associated the color of red with blood right away so then I was like woah this is creepy stop talking about red and then I figured something bad was going to happen and it did.

birthmark and bartleby- compare and contrast

I think that the plots were pretty much the same. They were both in chronological order. They didn't really have anything in common and they were both weird. I really don't think that the stories were that relates at all, except for the characters having stuff in common and the plot taking place in the same order. The characters were all motivated, plausable, and consistant in both stories. Both stories had to do with helping others and trying to make them better.

Racism discussion

Today's class discussion really bothered me. I never really thought I was "racist," but last year in my sociology class our teacher asked me a question kind of like your dark alley one. I was shocked when I heard my answer. I totally agree with what you said about how everyone is somewhat racist. I think what you learn in school has a lot to do with everything. You are taught all the negative things about minorty groups and are taught that they were the bad ones and we were just helping them. I really think that if people didn't put such an emphasis on the differences between our skin colors there wouldn't be such big problems. Having to check the caucasian box on tests is stupid, it shouldn't mattter what your skin color is. Everyone is taking the same test to measure their abilities, not to see if they are smart because they are asian. My mom grew up in Sisseton, SD which has a reservation. My grandparents still live there and it's not even an hour from our house so we go there alot. I have friends that are Native American that I met through gymnastics and through my grandparents neighbors and they are awesome. One of my cousins is Native American and at her wedding we were the minority, but it wasnt a big deal. I think that being exposed to them more than any other person my town has kind of helped. I feel more comfortable and I'm not scared because of the stereotypes they hold. People always think of the bad things when they think of Black people or Indians. White people kill people and live off the government and do drugs too, but I think that is just more hidden and its not thought of as oh they did that because they're white. Sometimes it's scary the stories that my mom would tell me when she was younger about what would happen at school. It's weird going to my hometown and all my friends talk about how that town is soooo scary and parts of it are, but they'll only hate on you if they know you're from Milbank since our towns are HUGE rivals.

twitter

It's really scary that people can just make up a fake account of someone else. If that ever happened to me I'd be super super pissed. I just don't think that you should try and make someone else's life your own. People just need to mind their own business. If they have enough time to make someone else a twitter and update it with stupid comments all the time, they really need to get a life. It sucks that there isn't a way to monitor who makes accounts, but that would be really hard. Especially since there's no way to prove who you are on a free site. It makes you think about limiting your profiles and trying to be careful about what you post on your profiles because if you have all sorts of things on there about your life it will be way easier for someone to jsut make another one, since they would already have all your information.

First Paper

I thought my first paper sucked. I couldn't really get my point across and it was way not in order. I just kept jumping from topic to topic. I can't figure out how to analyze a paper and not just make a summary. I can't figure out how to go deeper and find the real meaning and it's kind of really bothering me. I thought meeting with you really helped. It was better than just having comments on a paper and then handed back to us because we could ask you questions and throw out ideas too. I didn't use my outline. I thought it was too confusing for me, but I've never liked doing things like that. I like just starting and seeing where I go, instead of planning it all out. It's probably more work that way, but it just is easier for me. I put off doing my paper and notecards so that way sucked because I was pushing the clock.

Metamorphosis

It's weird how at the beginning he isn't even freaking out about the fact that he is somehow a bug. He doesn't ever think how it happened or why, he acted so calm like it wasn't even a big deal. He is more worried about missing work, but then he thinks how he wouldn't even be working at the same place if it weren't for his parents because he needed to support them and his dad had debt to his boss. It's weird how he still pans to go to work when he's a bug and can't even do anything. I never understood why his sister was so sad and was crying before he even came out of his room. It was like she already knew something was way wrong with her brother or she was scared. Gregor and his sister seem to be really close. He wishes that she was there when he came out of his room because she would be able to keep everyone calm. It makes me mad that they literally lock Gregor in his room and move the keys to the outside of the doors so he can't get out. Which is probably one of the reasons he becomes so depressed and eventually stops eating. I feel bad for him because he knows they're talking about him and they don't like taking care of him and there isn't really anything he can do to make it easier on them.

works cited

Gibbs, Jack P. "Social Control, Deterrence, and Perspectivevs on Soical Order." Social Forces 56.2 (1977): 408-23. Academic Seach Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

Munck, Ronaldo. "Marxism and nationalism in the era of globalization." Capital & Class 34.1 (2010): 45-53. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

Zamyatin, Yevgeny. "We." Trans. Natasha Randall. New York: Modern Library, 2006. Print.