Maus

Ok, so I'm not totally sure about what I could write for my essay. I could talk about point of view and how the story is really limited because its only the father's view of it. Artie doesn't really ask anyone else their story and he doesn't find his mother's diaries because the father burned them. The father was pretty well of in the camps. He had a job and was able to survive. Also, this could just be me but I find that the father acted totally different when he was young and in the camp than when he was older and remarried. Yes, you should cherish things and not waste thing but when he's older, he is really crazy. I read the first book, Maus 1, because I was curious. It was really good and I could use some of that in the essay. McCloud was very interesting. Especially the part about how letters are just pictures that form words. The are separate and together tell something. Just like comic books. Separate, they don't make sense, or they are really brief (like Family Circus) but put several of them together, they tell a story like Maus does. Also I see a postmodern them in the book.... like so many. There is no absolute truth. You can't get the whole story to something. Artie tries but there are still holes in his story. Its always going to be limited. The father experience one camp. But how were the others? How were germans who sympathized with jews treated? Were there any other people discriminated besides Jews? So thats what I got out of the book. Thanks for reading.

Internet

We as human beings have changed a lot over the last 100 years.... scratch that, 10 years. We are so dependent on technology today that we get all stressed when our internet access is being a little slow. We freak out when the battery on our phones or ipods is low. Technology has helped us in so many ways. We can communicate faster (although not better socially) and find information faster. But is it really helping us? The author of the article commented on how reading an article has changed, The deep reading that used to come naturally has become a struggle." He noticed that his attention span has diminished and that he can no longer comprehend what the article is even saying. People cannot handle reading lengthy articles of books and just want immediate information. Like in a study they found that, "They typically read no more than one or two pages of an article or book before they would “bounce” out to another site. Sometimes they’d save a long article, but there’s no evidence that they ever went back and actually read it." I have noticed that people kinda don't remember how to spell words. Like the other day, I could not remember how to spell the word giraffe. I sounded it out and asked other people how to spell it. No one really knew how to spell it. So we turned to the almighty internet on someone's phone. It told us the correct way too. I've noticed in the way people write essays that it is kinda in a texting format.... weird. One thing I found with regarding the internet is that it separates us from other people. Its totally opposite the intentions of the creators in the first place. But its totally true we are so absorbed and we isolate ourselves from others. People would rather text others or facebook people then to go somewhere with that person. We spend so much time on the internet. We put the internet above even ourselves. We don't give personal time time but we give plenty of internet time. We forget to do things but we don't forget to check out the most recent gossip about Jon and Kate. Our brains have become like little children. Limited attention span and can only handle small doses of information.

Post post modernism

Dr. Alan Kirby believes that post-modernism is dead and that something new is surfacing. There is a more technical thing coming. As the video (Did You Know) showed with facts that the world is producing a lot of information and new technology every 2 years. People are learning and being trained for jobs that don't even exist right now. The belief now is how much information can you possible have. How quick can you get to information. Google has trillions of searches it has every day. It is exceeding every year as people seek for information. Kirby says said post-modernism was "one reads, watches, listens. " But now people use "phones, clicks, presses, surfs, chooses, moves, and downloads." No longer to people just absorb things. There is now an action that must happen and people want to be filled with knowledge. But we don't know what to do with this power. America is loosing its leadership in the world. Japan, China, and India are become the world leaders in education and technology. We are not socially capable of having more information produced. There are so many other problems that we have. Some people don't know how to read or write and we are wanting to add more technology and "help" people become more intelligent by having unlimited doors to information? But of course it may not even matter if someone knows how to read or write, as long as they can text and click a mouse. I see toddlers playing with phones and surfing the web. I think we need to go back and try to solve some problems that we have. How can China soon be the #1 english speaking country? (Did You Know?) Crazy! television, internet, phones, and ect. All require a certain amount of activity. It seriously takes no intelligence to find information. Wikipedia has information that is totally untrue. Articles that can be edited by anyone. Anyone can write on a page you put up and change the meaning. Its like a Cat's Cradle. its a never ending cycle and it just becomes more complex and you don't know what to do with it but just keep adding more and more to it.

Cat's Cradle

Ok, so this book is ok to read. Its not hard and is very entertaining. So, I found that this book is saying that people have different backgrounds and that affects them. For example, the woman and the doghouse blueprints. The author shows her a blueprint of a doghouse that she wants. She says that she does not understand it but prior she claims to know everything about God. People are hypocrites for some of the things we say. But its ok. its how we are brought up with a mind set that they know everything. But really they don't even know how to work a toaster. Everyone is different have different ways of expressing themselves. Also, chaos will never end. Things get more tangled up and worse. This is evident when the father plays with a string and makes a cat's cradle. The process never ends and more shapes are formed. With so many things going on now, it is no wonder that things are getting worse and we are just digging ourselves a deeper hole. Things become more complex when you just add to the mix. This can be seen when you are in a business. If you too many workers, you start to lose money and profit. Also, when the two brothers were playing with fighting bugs, "the bugs wouldn't fight unless the jar was shaken." This is true with people. A person will not flip out unless someone provokes them. Like you say a minor critical statement (teasing) to your sibling. They flip out and get really upset. It may not be towards you but because you said something critical, they get upset. Its a cause and affect thing. Someone will get upset when you provoke them. So those are some of the things I saw that were postmodernism related. Thanks for reading my post. : )

Brave New World essay

Well, some of the things that jump out to me in the book is that the people are taught by computers and brainwashing stuff. There are no teachers and no one learns from personal experience or from others. There is a process that people learn and Bernard remembers how many times it takes for people to believe it. Lenia says it to herself some of the things she has learned to keep herself from doubting. Her feelings (which the society does not approve of) are telling her that what she has been told, not taught, are wrong. Like when Bernard and Lenia were watching the ocean (90). Lenia got really upset and started to doubt what she was told.

Also another thing I noticed was that there is no emotion at all with the people in the New World. People do not care about each other's feelings but about what they want and desire. Like when the two guys were talking about "trying people" (46). Not talking about the other person's feelings or talking about the human soul. Just the body. When the director was reflecting on his past in the savage land, he got caught up in the moment and had to straighten himself out (97). The people consider emotion a sign of weakness and not being productive. Also when the savage was by his mother's death bed, little kids were inspecting his mother and saying she was ugly and other comments. The nurse asked the savage if he was ill because he was sad. She did not understand. Also she told him that she would kick him out if he caused more trouble by being upset. She scolds him and says "can't you behave?" (206) The book says that she was not accustomed to people actually wanting to visit someone who was dying. People avoid having emotions as much as possible and take soma and other things.

So my thesis right now is: In Huxley's Brave New World, people do not learn from personal experience and therefore do not have emotion because it contradicts what they are told.

This is just a draft for my thesis. Thanks for reading my post.

Postmodernism

Ok, so myth and legends are narratives that are used by people to tell how something happened. To these people, the myth is true and is part of their heritage. To other people these stories are false and kind of childish. Cultures create myths to tell where they have been and about their ancestors. Its somewhat like a oral history book to the people.

Grand narratives are big myths that can explain lesser stories. Now postmodernist believe that there are a bunch of small narratives ''and not one of these little stories can dominate or explain the rest'' (33). There is not just one truth. Each story exists on its own and thats how it goes. I see that some narratives are linked some way. They each are similar somehow. Like a lot of myths talk about creation and the formation of the world. I see that they are linked but just different perspectives. Some see that their god or gods create the earth. Just different points of views.

Grand narratives can lead to oppression. That there is only one grand narrative and everyone must follow it or believe it. Some people will be oppressed because there is no freedom to believe one's own reality. This happened in 1984 and in Brave New World. There is only one narrative and all other kinds of stories or narratives are false or considered crazy. Like the people in Brave New World were astonished that people were born and had parents. They consider it wrong and that their way is the only way. Much like how one narrative is the only narrative. The author in Brave New World is trying to communicate that there are multiple narratives and that they are all linked together in some way. We are similar with our myths and our stories. We all tie in together somehow. There is no individual story that is just there. Stories are influenced by other stories or cultures.

So thats my reflection on the subject. Some of the stuff I'm still confused about because its somewhat new and crazy. Thanks for reading.

Brave New World- lessons

So first off, after reading the first couple of chapters of this book, this book is pretty crazy. Its a world, I personally would not want to be a part of. One, because they reject emotions a person has. Like when the man was talking about how the world use to be. The words he used were "Family, monogamy, romance" (40). When he said these words the boys flinched and were awed that people use to say those disgusting words. Family is considered wrong because it excludes people and every person in the population are the same. Monogamy is considered a sin because all the people share and no one belong to one person. Romance, is despised and being on autopilot and just doing things is the norm. Also, people don't say they like another person but say "you should try her." It is not an emotional statement and is now just logical opinion. People are not considered a person with a soul but a person with a body.

Another thing I noticed was that there are no teachers. People do not learn from their own experiences or from other people. The people learn everything to do with the world when they are created. They listen to certain phrases that are forever in their brain. They hear it so many times that they consider it as fact. This can relate to us today- stereotypes. Labeling a person without even knowing them because of the way we have been brought up. People learn from their parents that a certain race is evil or other things are bad. People do not learn from personal experience anymore but from what they have heard. I think that is one thing the author is trying to get across. To stop listening to the gossip and untrue stories we have been told and just learn from experiences. Anyways, those are two things I noticed about the book that I felt were important. Thanks for reading. : )

History

Please do not consider me to be a racist or anything of the sort because I'm not. Before jumping on my blog and calling me a hater and stuff, please wait and try to see the point of view I am coming from. In other words, do not be hasty.

So the question that was brought up during the discussion on Wednesday was if minorities were represented enough in U.S history. A minority is considered a cultural group that is smaller compared to the rest of the population. They represent a small percentage of the mass population. Now that percentage can change in certain areas of the U.S. Like Latinos are a minority in Maine but are the majority in New Mexico or other areas in the Southern U.S.

American history begins with colonial time. But it can also be considered even earlier than that when Leif Ericson landed in North America 500 years before Columbus. History could include the Native tribes that were occupying America. But the U.S History that students are required to learn are about how the U.S became a unifying group. That unifying group first settled and were the Pilgrims and other "religious" groups. The current textbooks are not pushing for religion to be the center of history- but it sure did have some effect on our foundation. In order to talk about a specific group or culture, their habits, beliefs, and customs must be discussed. Now back to the minority subject. Yes, minorities were around when the U.S was being shaped. But Anglo-Saxons were minorities when thy first came to America. The Native Americas had a larger population than the settlers. So why should not talk about the settlers?

Yes, the U.S is arrogant and only wants to talk about the settlers than the Native Americans. But the U.S history textbook would be extremely long and students would be dropping out of school at age 13. Publishers and other writers of history books cannot include every single detail about cultural groups in one book. So a group of people come together and discuss about what should and should not be in U.S history books. Yes, it is somewhat wrong that they are deciding on what we learn in schools. But like we could do it better.

Every person would want something that appeals to them because of their background and experiences. That is why there are some books that we like and some that we hate. I, for one, would love more stuff in our history books about Minnesota. That is where I am from. There is nothing about Minnesota in history books. Because we were not really involved in the Civil War.... We were trying to keep warm from blizzards. There is hardly any stuff in our history books about Scandinavians either. We all want something different in our history books. Some people want more religious stuff because it pertains to them and they are curious. Its not that they are forcing it upon people, people want to share their culture to others. People want to show their beliefs, customs, and history.

America was settled on the eastern coast. As the settlers grew and became a little more daring (or crazy) they migrated West. Yes, there were Native American that were around and the settlers did cruel things to them. It is written in our history books about some of the cruel things they have done. But they are not discussed much in our books because they were to part of the U.S. They were considered an independent nation. But when you look and actually read the text book, you will see that African Americans become more represented in history in the 1800s. Same with other groups. As America got bigger, "minorities" are discussed more in history. Its like if you want to be known to every person on your school campus, you have to do something big. Then you will forever be remembered at your school. But if you do not do anything and you are just a part to the school population, then you are forgotten.

To sum this blog up for the people reading, the people who are writing our history books are only doing what every human would. Excluding some things from history. It does not mean that they are forgotten or are nothing. Different cultures talk about their own family history to their own children. I know some of Minnesota's history because I lived there and because of my family. There are just certain basic things that we must know. People are only thinking of themselves and only want people to know about certain things in history. But stories do go on orally or written down. We do have history books that are devoted to certain cultural groups. We have not forgotten those small groups that did contribute to America.

So thank you for taking you precious time to read my blog.