America as a melting pot

From the time the Europeans discovered America, there were always people of multiple nationalities living in America.  However, in the time following the Revolution leading up to the Civil war, the people living in America became more, well, American.  American culture as a whole became more developed.  However, in the years preceding World War I, Immigration into the United States rapidly rose. From this point, America started developing into the melting pot it is today.

America is a melting pot in that there are a multitude of people of multifarious nationalities living here.  These people have brought aspects of their culture here to America with them.  In Charlotte, if you go to a specific area of the city, you can easily find Chinese Dim Sum, Vietnamese BBQ, and lots of Mexican restaurants within walking distance.

Just as not all ingredients mix together, America is still struggling to accept and incorporate all the nationalities, partially due to stereotyping and discrimination, and just plain ole' superiority.  Some nationalities and cultures are looked down upon, which can cause massive amounts of tension.  Another example: Mexicans and Latinos.  Due to the mass influx of illegal Mexican and Latino immigrants, some Americans look down upon these people.  Centuries of superiority starting in America's age of Imperialism have engrained the idea that other nationalities should follow our cultural traditions, and racial tension will always exist, but hopefully with time, these tensions can be lessened.

positions and views

"How does your position in the world shape the way we think about identity, society, and culture?"


change we to you, and that's the question I'm answering. my favorite type of blog: an open ended question.


My position in the world is as follows: I am a 5 ft tall half Asian girl from the deep south. I also have this tendency to defy stereotypes(I'm the asian with a southern accent who can't do simple math, and the girl that's willing to try almost any videogame) 


Identity: The short half asian part of my identity was cemented into my mind from an early age.  Realizing just what being from the South meant to my identity didn't really come until high school. Because of these things, I view identity as a perpetually changing set of key characteristics that loosely define a person.  I take interest in people who are of non-American nationalities.  Identity is partially something given to you and partially something you choose for yourself.  


Society: A society is a group of people. Once again, there are some societies you are born into and cannot escape, and others that you voluntarily join.  You may be more involved in one society than another. 


Culture: Culture and Society are very similar.  Culture is the traditions of a society.  Cultures are inherited upon entering a society.  One may reject or adopt certain elements of a culture. 


My position in the world, as well as my own identity, have ultimately impacted my views on identity, society, and culture by making them far more flexible. I generally don't put much specific thought into these things; I accept them as key defining factors of human life and move on.

Chapter 6 synthesis

The pages we had to read in Chapter 6 focused on 4 things: outlines, the argument, integrating research sources, and beginning to write the essay.

An outline is basically a structured summary of a paper, and when well done outline is a very useful tool.  Outlines are the first real form that papers exist in.  When writing an outline, you begin to really think about how exactly you will present your argument.  Putting a lot of thought into the outline makes writing the paper a lot easier.  I, however, use an outline as an organization/brainstorm method.  I never really know what I want to write about until I start the paper itself.  Once I start the paper, I go back and strengthen my outline.

As a result of writing an outline, you must put thought into your argument and the manner in which you want to present it in.  There are a few different ways to present an argument. 2 are focusing mainly on the research sources and using your own words to tie them together, or creating the argument mostly by yourself and using research sources to support your arguments.  A good way of learning how to present arguments is analyzing other published arguments and looking at the way those are written.

One of the most important skills to have when writing research papers is the integration of quotes and sources into the paper. Integrating quotes is important because it helps keeps the paper flowing rather than just having random blocks of text in your paper, that are not in your distinct writing style.  One way of putting information from your sources into your paper is summary and paraphrase.  The two, while being extremely similar, are not the same thing.  Summary is more general, while paraphrase is a distinct rewording of a quote.  Paraphrase is often chosen because a quote is difficult to understand.  Summary allows synthesis of a lot of information.  However, when using summary or paraphrase, all information must still be cited.  When using direct quotations, it is important to integrate quotes: introduce them, and make them flow seamlessly into what you are saying.  It is important to cite everything you summarize, paraphrase, or quote as you put them in your paper or outline.  Doing so will help prevent accidental plagiarism.

The last topic covered in the selected pages is the process of beginning to actually write the first draft.  There are many ways to begin to write the first draft; you don't always have to start at the beginning.  It's important to keep the same level of passion throughout the entire writing process.  Passion often equal vivid language, which makes the paper a lot easier to read; it makes the paper less drab.  Peer review is a useful tool when writing a paper.  Peers can tell you if your paper is going in the right direction, help direct an argument, and point out any major flaws.  It's important to just keep going, even if the paper is of absolutely horrible quality.  It's better to force yourself to write when you have time to think and rewrite than it is to write at the last minute and have no time at all.

Once you finish the first draft, it must be revised.  The first attempt is far from ready to be submitted.  Revisions will turn the paper into a very polished product, ready to be shown off to the world.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster poster analysis

   Analyzing a theatrical poster.... this is a first for me.  Typically when I see these posters I'm on my way out of the theater and don't pay them much attention.  I may exclaim that I want to see the movie being advertised or make note of the graphic design if I find the poster especially aesthetically pleasing, but normally I look at them and continue on with life.  However, I now realize just how much planning must go into making theatrical posters, having to essentially summarize the entire movie in a single picture.
   The first poster, chosen for the DVD release, makes the movie appear to be more of a documentary due to its simplicity.  4 people are depicted against a white background; a sticker stating the name of the movie along with the credits covers their faces.  Covering the people's faces gives them a sense of being the everyday man: you don't know exactly who these people are, so they could be anyone from the most powerful boxer to your next door neighbor.  Using this more simple poster as the DVD cover more immediately gives the consumer a true sense of what the movie is.  When looking to buy or rent a DVD, the consumer often has a sense of what they're looking to watch.  People probably are more inclined to watch a documentary via DVD rather than in a movie theater.  A more simple DVD cover works well because if a person wants a particular DVD, they will get it at that moment in time when they see it.
   In contrast, the second poster portrays Bigger Stronger Faster as being a superhero movie.  The strong focus on well built people and the American flag, as well as the storm clouds and lightning add to this effect.  The text is done in the classic superhero movie style.  Film festivals this movie has been played in are shown at the top, separated by Greek (I think it's Greek...) style leaves, demonstrating power.  The people are standing on a mountain of pills, giving the consumer a sense of what the movie deals with.  This poster needs a more strong approach because it likely was placed in theaters and people saw it as they were walking out of the theater.  This poster is more memorable and will likely stand out longer in the consumer's mind, making them want to research the movie and view it.  People in theaters are more likely to want to view big ticket movies and this poster markets Bigger Stronger Faster as being one.
 

Avoiding Plagarism

One of the most important things I learned in high school was to cite absolutely everything.  The greatest evil of IB was plagiarism and we were all terrified of being caught.  We never lost the terror of submitting papers to Turnitin.com. The best way to avoid plagiarism is to take very careful, specific notes. I do all my note-taking in a marble composition notebook, so that I don't lose anything.  I label which chapter each group of notes comes from, as well as what page.  Sometimes I use a color coding method, especially if I'm looking for many different things. I almost never actually write full quotes; I use a lot of ellipsis because I'm  too lazy to actually write down the entire quote.  Also, when I take notes I almost never paraphrase.  I only paraphrase when I'm actually writing the paper.  This makes the research process move a little more quickly.  When I utilize pictures, I either bookmark the page I pull the picture from for future reference, or, if the picture is from a book, make a note of what page the picture is on.
The best way to avoid plagiarism is to take careful notes according to what citation style is being used.  I found the table comparing the different citation styles interesting.  I hadn't ever thought about the reasoning behind each method, or why there are so many.  Also, the correlation between MLA in-text citations and the work cited page was a major lightbulb moment.
So basically, Chapter 7 summed up in a sentence: Note carefully and note often to be able to create specific citations.

The different interviews

The first interview was a little difficult to follow.  There were no questions; it was more of a simple dialogue centered around military and technology.

The second interview is structured more like an interview.  Thought provoking questions about Ritzer's views on the "McDonalised society" were asked.  These questions were obviously prepared in advance, and it's possible Ritzer's responses were as well.  This is a more structured interview than the first was.

It appears that the New York Voices interviews would follow a middle ground between the first 2 interviews:  a sort of  directed dialogue.  This allows those being interviewed to truly put their personal touch on the interview.  The goal would be to make an impact on the person watching the interview.  My computer refuses to let me watch these interviews.  It's telling me a plug in is missing but won't tell me which one.

When I interview someone in person, I generally prefer to just allow that person to talk about their area of expertise.  I ask some questions to guide them onto the topics I need more information about. If something they say sparks a question, I ask it.  I also like being able to go back and listen to the interview and have a follow up in the instance listening to the original sparks questions.  When I conduct interviews via email, I create specific questions because emails aren't very conducive for rambling thoughts.
I use interviews as quick ways to gain lots of information from an expert.

Viewpoints on Stereotypes

Almost all types of media form viewpoints on issues.  In the reading, there were newspaper articles, excerpts from books, and a few transcripts that take deeper looks into many modern stereotypes.  The first article about stereotypes in sports promoted the message that we have stereotyped black basketball players and made them into the former black vaudeville, where white actors would paint their faces black while portraying a black person.  The author argues that todays black athletes are beginning to behave in a black vaudeville manner--the manner society thinks they should behave.  The next article argues that hip hop is driving the stereotypes of athletes, especially basketball players.  Hip hop and basketball have become intertwined, and hip hop has become associated with black culture as a whole.  The third article changes the focus from black athletes to Latin American baseball players.  He argues that young dominican boys are having their dreams made to seem a bit too easily accessible.  They are told of all the players that make it to the US and play in the major leagues; however they are not told few of these players actually get any play time.
After this, the focus shifts to women, first in sports, then in gaming.  2 Sports Illustrated covers were shown featuring women.  These women are depicted as strong, yet still maintaing a sex appeal.  In the transcript of the news report, an interesting point was made: women are followed outside of the athletic field more than men are, mainly because of their sex appeal.
The next 3 articles are about gaming and are an article or excerpt from a book.  The first focuses on female gamers and the fact that young girls don't really have any games to grow up to.  Society expects girls to basically stop playing video games around the pre teen age.  There could potentially be a large market of females looking to buy video games if the right games are developed.  The second is the article in this group.  The author argues that females within games are not properly portrayed and are there mainly for sex appeal to males.  The challenges of making practical female characters are discussed.
The final article we had to read discussed the effect of violent games and was basically promotes video games, especially the cultural aspect of the games, that is, they unite people and bring them together.

So basically, information about stereotypes is being thrown at us from all angles and all media types, even if we don't quite realize it.  Every word written and every picture published has a specific reason for being there.

That was a massive amount of reading for this blog.

Also, foo fighters and system of a down rock.  that is all.  goodnight.
^I'm sitting next to Rooks as I type this blog and he hijacked my computer to type that in; I decided to leave it as a personal touch.