“A home without books is a body without soul.” --Marcus Tullius Cicero

The world without books would be mass chaos. Even though, I, myself, don’t really read for pleasure, everyone reads to learn. If we didn’t have books, how would we know what people tell us is true? If there is no written record, couldn’t someone simply just make something up and tell others it’s the truth? How would anyone be able to challenge this “truth”? We rely heavily on books as far as education is concerned. We begin to recognize letters and numbers at a young age, and begin to read in first grade. If books didn’t exist, it would be it difficult to learn these simply things. We wouldn’t have books, but would we be able to write and recognize words? While reading, people often build their vocabulary by seeing a word they are not familiar with and looking it up. If books didn’t exist, I believe we would be “dumbing down” our society. For one, as mentioned, it would make teaching nearly impossible, it would be hard to reference things, and our vocabulary wouldn’t be as broad as it is with books.

Personally, I wouldn’t miss books, but as a mentioned in one of my peers’ blog, in the future, I feel like it will be a hobby I will pick up. However, I have enjoyed reading Feed and Hunger Games, but if they weren’t required in our reading, I can’t say I would pick up either of the books and read it in my spare time. On the other hand, if we didn’t have text books for college, I would be completely lost. I like to read before lecture so I know exactly what the professor is talking about and I like to be able to reference the material. At this point in my life, I can’t really see myself “breaking” the law to try and get my hands on a book if all books were banned. 

In today’s society we do “burn books” everyday. We burn them by reading SparkNotes and by watching the movie counterpart to the book. I’m sure everyone has used SparkNotes at some point throughout their education career. I used to SparkNote everything in middle school and even in high school. For me, it was much easier to spend the time reading the summaries, the plot, and the character analyses, rather than spending the time to actually read the novel. I discovered that even though I spent the time reading the material on Spark Notes, it would have been more beneficial to actually have read the novel. So once I started college, I began to read everything and said good-bye to SparkNotes. Another way we burn books is by watching movies that are based off the book. A lot of people would rather watch a movie instead of reading the actual book. The problem with this is that sometimes things are eliminated in the film that happened in the novel and sometimes the movies are much different than the books. For example, I actually read My Sister’s Keeper and then the film came out a few months after I read the book (this is one of the rare exceptions that I read a book for fun!). Since I had already read the book, I knew exactly what was going to happen….until the end. In the film they “killed off” the other sister! They completely changed the whole ending and who died. I was outraged! 

As you can see, books (even if we don’t want to admit it) do play an important role in our society. They record important things regarding laws, and government documents, educational material, entertainment (reading in spare time), etc. It would be hard to determine what was actually true in society because everything would be verbally passed down. And we all know from playing the telephone game, that when the secret gets to the end, the statement that was made in the beginning is often changed drastically. We need to stop “burning books” in our society, and take advantage of the opportunity that some other places do not get the privilege to have. 

"If I can overcome step one, I can face the 99"

I remember when Dr. Mortimore first had us read “The Lottery.” I was quite confused how this all would tie back into our theme, but then as I began reading Hunger Games, it finally occurred to me. I can easily say out of all the books we have read this semester that Hunger Games was by far my favorite. I read the book in two days… which is shocking to me because I am a slow reader and because I don’t really enjoy reading. I found it difficult to put the book down. Half way through the novel before they announced there could be two winners if they were from the same district, I immediately had an urge of excitement—Katniss and Peeta could both survive! I was also led to believe that Katniss and Peeta were genuinely falling for each other, which I was disappointed towards the end of the book to discover that although Peeta was genuinely in love, Katniss didn’t reciprocal the feelings. I knew that she had some sort of special bond with Gale, but I thought with everything she has been through with Peeta, that her feelings would surely change. But for the most part, I really enjoyed the book. I may even buy the next book in the series because I am dying to know what happens next!

The novel definitely works into our conversation for the semester. Each novel that we have read has an element of control. In Culture Jam, the element of control was the “American brand” and the influence on everything we see and hear. We have become obsessive and have created this brand. In Feed, the element of control is everyone’s feeds. All the characters in the novel have a feed except for Violets dad. The concept of the feed was created and everyone jumped on the opportunity to get one. The feed runs the characters lives and people can’t imagine living without feeds and thinking for themselves. In 1984, Orwell created a society that was controlled by the Party and Big Brother. Every aspect of their lives were watched and scrutinized. If they did one thing in spite of the Party, they would soon get caught. Orwell creates a utopia that people dread. Last but not least is Hunger Games. In Panem, all twelve districts are run by the Capitol. The Capitol is control of each district and they reinforce this idea through the Hunger Games. There is a reaping each year to decide which boy and girl will be sent to the Games. As you can see each novel has the underlining topic of some sort of control. 1984 and Hunger Games seem to be the most familiar because they both hold the same idea—government control. 

I found myself responding to Katniss. I admired how self-sufficient she was. Ever since her father died she was the one that held most of the responsibilities to ensure her family would survive. She could hunt, sell/trade items, had some gathering skills, and picked up some tips from her mother about healing. I also admire how she stepped up at the reaping to take the place of her younger sister Prim. She couldn’t bare to see her sister go into the Games because she feared she didn’t have the skills in order to survive. Not many people would do this. In fact, in the novel it was stated that there hadn’t been a volunteer in a long time. They were even rusty on the rules when someone volunteered. I really liked her character throughout the whole book, but as mentioned before, was somewhat disappointed at the end to learn that she did not have feelings for Peeta. Originally I wanted her to be with Gale, but after the Hunger Games and everything she went through with Peeta, I thought they established a “real relationship.” 

I found a clip of the movie trailer for the movie “Hunger Games,” which is supposed to come out in 2012. When I first began reading I was thinking to myself that the novel would make a great movie and then I was shocked to learn that it is becoming a movie. I will definitely be going to see it in theaters. I really like the song featured in the trailer. It’s very suspenseful and goes along really well with the graphics and clips they show. It basically shows an outline of the plot line with the most dramatic parts of the song along with the most climatic parts in the novel. The trailer is below:

I found a song that I thought went along really well with the novel called “One More” by Superchick. This song connects directly to Katniss and her drive to survive; in essence I think it “narrates” Katniss’ experience in the arena. She is constantly pushing herself. Every time something happens that knocks her down, she gets back up and continues on to fight for her life. The lyrics talk about needing to go 100 steps to go, but she will go 99 tonight. This just shows the urge to succeed. The last part of the song is as follows:

“I have everything to lose

By not getting up to fight

I might get used to giving up

So I am showing up tonight

I am my own enemy

The battle fought

Within my mind

If I can overcome step one

I can face the 99”

The last part of the song is basically saying if I don’t try then I am being my own enemy. I will be the cause of my own death. But, if I try and take one step then I can finish the remaining ninety-nine to succeed. I think this song could be featured in the film. I could see this song being placed in the film after Katniss sees the hovercraft come and take Rue’s body. Katniss is angry and determined to get back into the fighting mode. There are other parts within the story plot that the song could be used as well. I just really like not only the context in the song, but also the element of suspense. It is kind of a dark song too.

The Real World: Las Vegas

The reality television program that I decided to watch for this blog entry was The Real World. The Real World, which was created by MTV, is a reality show that is tapes the lives of strangers that get placed into a house together. Sometimes there are seven members in the house and other times there are eight. In this particular season, The Real World: Las Vegas has seven cast members; four guys and three girls. Usually MTV chooses to cast a people who differ from one another. They usually cast a homosexual or bisexual, people from minorities, people from majorities, and someone that is very conservative and religious. This video below is the season preview and shows all the cast members (Adam, Dustin, Heather, Leroy, Michael, Nany, and Naomi):

Reality programming would not exist without viewers and fans. We play an active role in this programming and make it as big as it is today. We, as viewers love drama when we are not directly involved in it. On reality programming you will see drama, violence, and sex; three things that we love to watch unfold. We influence the “games” themselves because we demand them. If no one watched the reality programming, no one would continue to watch it. We find it entertaining.

I watched the third episode of The Real World: Las Vegas which previewed for the first time on Wednesday evening. The roommates are still getting to know each other in this episode and we learn new things about cast member Adam. Adam, pretty much the wild child of the house smashes a beer bottle out of rage because he hears his roommates talking about his drinking issues. He gets in an altercation with Leroy (http://www.mtv.com/videos/real-world-las-vegas-ep-3-stands-by-me/1660532/playlist.jhtml). Eventually, Adam tells three of the house member’s part of his past—he spent most of his teenage years in juvenile detention center. Some view this as an excuse for his wild behavior, whereas others do not. Nany seems to be very attracted to Adam and we know from previews for the next episode that they will become involved. Heather and Dustin discuss a kiss that occurred during a truth or dare game between Heather and Michael. Heather and Dustin take things to the next level and have sex although they know it will only complicate things.

Some of the reality I saw was a relationship forming between Dustin and Heather. Another aspect of reality was people hooking up and going out to party. Also in the episode they start their first day of work at the hotel. They work a motocross race event for Athlete Recovery Fund. I would say that the cast members are real people in real situations, but when they go out they have special privileges that your ordinary person would not have the liberty of. Some attributes portrayed are pretty girls, hansom men, people different races and ethnic backgrounds, and the cast members being the life of the party. There seemed to be a competition with Adam and Nany. Nany is involved in a long distance relationship that she has been in for years and Adam is attracted to Nany and wants to get involved with her. Although Nany is in a relationship, she is still somewhat attracted to her “badass” roommate. Michael is probably the most intelligent in the house and the most wholesome. He has had sex for the first time months before going to Las Vegas—he has strong morals and values. There is sex appeal present in each of the cast members. The girls dress provocatively and the men often have their shirts off. All the roommates for the most part are trying to “get some.”

I found this show to be extremely entertaining and will continue to watch it. The Real World: Las Vegas is so alluring because of the location and lifestyle of the cast members. They live in an awesome hotel suite, decked out with everything you could imagine. They have a really cool job and get to hang out and go out on a consistent basis. Who wouldn’t want to live like this? As a viewer my role of this show is to keep watching the show and continue to “wish I lived like this” and had the same experience the members of the cast are having. I would say the show is targeted towards teenagers into their twenties. Those who watch the show within this age range can relate to these people and the lives they lead. Most of the members have had rough upbringings, which allow the viewers to sometimes relate to them. Also, the people portrayed on this show are “ordinary” people who got selected to be on this reality show. I believe most of the programming in this reality program is actually real, unlike some other reality programming that have to deal with competition. Some of the show’s events may be provoked, but for the most part I believe it portrays what is actually going on in their Law Vegas penthouse suite. They develop a sense of community and become a family through the months they are spending every waking second together. Since they are constantly together, there are obviously going to be some altercations and people are going to get on each others’ nerves. Because people like myself watch the show is the reason why The Real World is in its twenty-fifth season. The second to last paragraph from Gabler sums reality TV well, “Reality programming is about the power of ordinary individuals, about the appeal of reality, and about the desire for community, even jerry-rigged community.”

Privacy Today

Whether we want to believe it or not, concepts from “Big Brother” exist today. Throughout the beginning of the book, the reader, as well as Winston doubted the actual existence of Big Brother in human form. Some of the concepts of “Orwellian” societies exist—especially the privacy concept. Here in the United States we have video cameras as well as cameras in public places. There are certain events and crimes that occur and businesses choose to have video cameras and cameras in order to protect themselves and their business. I could understand these businesses having video cameras and the uses of such devices in a way could help prevent a crime from occurring, such as shoplifting. People know cameras are watching them and therefore may be less likely to steal. Even if someone does commit a crime, the store or business has it on tape. People who commit crimes forfeit others rights to privacy in the public scene. When you’re in public, it’s pretty much understood that your privacy is somewhat restricted. There are other people around you that can see and hear what you do and there may even be cameras and video cameras in public. I think once you are in public, you are accepting the limitations of your privacy. 

As time goes by, I feel as if our right to privacy gets smaller and smaller. After our class the other day, I left thinking how scary it is that people can look up information about individuals on the internet, such as their number. This leads me to Google Maps. I think it is strange how you can enter an address on this website and a satellite view of the location is shown. Do you think this is an invasion of privacy? If you think that is bad, what about the website our classmate talked about the other day that essentially tells you really private information? In my opinion, why is it any of the public’s business? Who ever thought to find all this information and to make a website revealing this personal information? ….And then to think that you can pay a dollar or two more to get even more information. Some people don’t even know that they are on the website and their “private” information is out there for the whole world to read. 

Something else I wanted to bring up was Facebook. I’m sure almost all of us have a Facebook. Some people, for what reason I am dumbfounded, post everything anyone would ever want to know about them. For example, some people have their cell phone numbers posted on their profile page. Why would you want everyone on Facebook access to your number? I personally have a Facebook… however, I have everything blocked. People that are not my friend cannot view my page or information about me. Even those who are my friend cannot even access my tagged photographs. Also, many businesses check applicants Facebook pages to see if there is anything that will embarrass the company. Not only businesses check employees Facebook pages, but student athletes' pages are also checked. Honestly, I don’t think it’s the whole worlds business to see exactly what you have been doing in your life. I have my Facebook simply to communicate with my friends. Period. They have made privacy settings for a reason—use them if you don’t want strangers to know your whole life stories!

Despite the invasions of privacies I talked about, we do still have some that exist. For instance, once you go into your house, you enter a realm of privacy. Unlike the book, we do not have someone constantly watching us, such as a telescreen. We are allowed to talk to one another about anything we want to talk about. We have the right to talk about our viewpoints and have the right to protest something when we agree. We still have a lot of freedoms that other people and countries do not hold. I am taking a Communication Law class currently the chapter we have been covering this past week is about invasion of privacy. Someone in my class, from Austria said in their country there are cameras everywhere! The student even said that there is one in every home. I found this shocking and a complete invasion of privacy. I bet if that was mandated in our country, everyone would be protesting! 

When it comes to the question asking if we are willing to give up our basic freedoms in order to feel “safe,” the answer you will receive depends on the person you ask. Yesterday in class when we did the activity towards the end proved my point. There were some people that said they are NOT willing to give up any freedom. Personally, I am willing to give up some of my basic freedoms in order to feel safe and secure. For example, I have no problem going through customs at the airport in order to assure not only my security, but everyone else as well. I also believe that our society has driven us to be “okay” with giving up some of our freedoms in order to feel safe. Certain events occur, such as 9/11 that makes us “okay” with stricter security in order to feel safe. Fifty years ago we didn’t have to worry about half the things we worry about today.

My Feed

The concept of the feed has some really unique characteristics. One concept in particular is how one can receive advertisements through their feeds. Advertisements sent to the feed can also be a bad thing. In my opinion, it would be beneficial to the person with the feed if advertisements that interested them popped up in their feed. If I had a feed, some advertisements that would pop up are as follows…

1. Nike

I really like Nike shoes and cleats. Nike makes really durable shoe products that last long. Since I play soccer on a regular basis, I go through a couple pairs of cleats a year and I always buy Nikes. I enjoy the way they fit and the lightweight of their products. Not only limited to shoes and cleats, Nike makes many other products—such as shorts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, sports bras, socks, etc. I am also a shopper of these other products. Nike products are somewhat expensive and therefore, it would be really beneficial to know when their products are on sale. 

2. Target 

Target has a wide variety of products. Target is one of my favorite stores and they always have great deals! It is much more organized and clean than Walmart. I really enjoy the plunder of products available and they always have really cute clothing and shoes. Since Target has a lot to offer (clothes, shoes, jewelry, household goods, grocery items, bathroom products, etc.), many people shop there. They also have a lot of cute home goods for decorating houses. Knowing the deals that Target offers would give me a reason to go and shop!

3. Clothing Stores

Of course all girls enjoy to shop—including myself! Some of my favorite stores are American Eagle, Express, and Forever 21. I don’t have time for a job while I go to school and play a sport so of course I don’t have as much money as I would like. This is where the feed would be helpful! As soon as a big sale started, the feed would inform me and could go to the mall. Clothes these days aren’t cheap and many people, including myself, jump at the sight of a sale.

4. TV Shows/Movies

-I am a huge sucker for movies and TV shows. On a weekly basis, I watch Desperate Housewives on Sunday nights, Gossip Girl on Monday nights, Jersey Shore on Thursday nights, and the different CSI’s (the original, Miami, and NY) on different nights. In addition to TV shows, I love relaxing and watching a movie. Going to see a movie in theaters is pretty expensive these days. It is also a pain to look up movie times. It would be really cool if the feed, with the knowledge of the previous movies you have seen made suggestions for new movies. In addition, it would be even cooler if the different times the movie is showing in different movie theaters. 

There are many other things I could see popping up on my feed, but above are just a few. I would enjoy the feed for one reason—SALES! For any other reason, I’m not sure I would enjoy the feed. The whole concept is pretty scary… advertisements and news pop up in your head. Also, people mchat through their feed. I have a problem with mchatting. I thought it was really strange that within the entire book people would mchat each other when they were together. When Titus and Violet were in a fight towards the end, they wouldn’t talk to each other in person even though they were sitting right next to each other in the upcar. It was almost as if they were too afraid to speak to each other face-to-face and somehow talking through the mchat was easier. But to tie it all back together, the concept of the feed is an interesting concept and there are both pros and cons to this “necessary” piece of technology. 

abandoning life as we KNOW it...?

I really like the quote mentioned in the blog heading... “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, to discover that I had not lived.” It takes a lot to abandon one’s lifestyle they have developed. Thoreau just gave up his lifestyle to go into the woods and to practice a more simplistic lifestyle. He wanted to experience nature and forget about all the possessions in his life. I really admire him for doing so. In reality, at least today, I believe many people would have an issue with giving up the life they know to go live in a cabin in the woods. They wouldn’t know what to do without their iPod, Blackberry, laptops, Facebook of course, TVs, etc. How would be spend our time in the cabin without our worldly possessions that our part of us? Personally, I think I could live without these possessions, by myself in the cabin for about a week and then call it quits. When it comes to giving up all of my worldly possessions however, I do not believe I would be able to live a life of solitude for a year in a secluded wood. 

The problem with society today is that we don’t know what to do in the middle of the woods—us against nature. We have forgotten how to embrace nature. In our spare time, most people would rather watch a movie than go for a hike in the woods. Once again, we are going back to the idea that we love our technologies. I think part of our problem and our attachments with our technological possessions is that we grew up with them. There were TVs when we were younger, there was Internet, there were cell phones, etc. The previous generations really didn’t have much of the technologies we had growing up. They did other things to preoccupy their time… not the things we typically do. We are so dependent on our technology and it is something we do NOT want to give up or sacrifice. What would happen to the characters in Feed if they had to give up their technology aka their feeds? 

When the extra credit opportunity rose, some people believed that they could spend a whole week without technology. I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but I doubt that everyone that is signed up for the extra credit will be able to last the whole week without slipping. Personally, I think I could only last a few days... I talk to my mom twice a day, talk to my boyfriend throughout the day, eventually Skype with him at night, watch TV while I eat dinner, use the internet for homework, checking email, and of course Facebook. Of course I text throughout the day as well. I depend on technology as sad as it sounds. Don’t get me wrong, I really do love nature and all, but do I love our technologies more? 

Another quote I really liked was also from Thoreau. “We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep.” This is so true. We need to get out of our technological driven lifestyles. When having the discussion in class, we were asked how many of us use our cell phones to wake up in the morning. I, of course rose my hand, as well as about half of our class. Guilty as charged. None of us just wake up to the sunlight. This just goes to show we even depend on technology to wake ourselves in the morning. After reflecting once we read the Thoreau and Emerson quotes, I really thought about what they had to say. I want to make changes in my life. I want to lead a more simplistic lifestyle. But with our current society and the worldly possessions, is that even possibly anymore?

Dumbest Generation????

To start off, I have never heard of our generation being referred to as “the dumbest generation” and quite frankly I am offended. I do realize that our generation does not know some of the basic historical information that someone should be knowledgeable about. Bauerlein makes it seem as if our generation knows nothing! Although we do not know some of the things we should know, it doesn’t make us dumb. Our generation has grown up entirely different than many others. We grew up having televisions, cell phones, the internet, etc. They are things that we couldn’t imagine our lives without. However, the generations before us didn’t grow up with some of the same technological advances. Just because we enjoy watching TV, using the internet, talking on the phone and texting, doesn’t mean that we have ignored all else in our lives. We are still “just as smart and motivated as ever” (Bauerlein). I also don’t think it was fair for him to generalize our generation as a whole. There may be some people that may fit the standard as being “dumb” or others that have an average intelligence, but there are also those within our generation who have advanced intelligences. 

After taking the “quiz” today, I do believe that there is a sense of reality that can be taken from Bauerlein. I recognize that our generation may not know the most important things, but we are intelligent in other ways. For example, I scored a 4.5 (I got one part of a two part question right) in part one and a 2 in part two. I know… that is quite embarrassing! I knew more about present day culture and things you would find in the media than in the more historical questions presented in part two. I don’t really keep up with current events and if I did maybe I would have known more of the answers. The rest of the questions come from the past. I take some responsibility, but I also place some of the blame on teachers. Kayla already posted this quote in her blog, but I really feel as if it captures the essence of what I am trying to say. “Fair enough, but we suspect that if young people don’t know the Bill of Rights or the import of old COLORED ENTRANCE signs—and they absolutely should—it reflects not stupidity but a failure of the school system and of society (which is run by grown-ups) to require them to know it” (Bauerlein). Information that should be learned throughout elementary, middle and high school should be emphasized even after the material is taught. That way, the material will be easier to retain. Some of the information that we “should” know, we may have never learned in school. Different people, schools, and states have different ideas of what students “should know.”

In our group we talked about how easy it is for us to look up the information we do not know. Because we know how easy it is to look up an answer we may not know about, we don’t really actually “learn” the material. We simply read the answer and then when the question comes up again, simply just pull out the laptop and search for the answer online. In the generations before us, they didn’t have the technology to do so. They would have to go to the library and actually read in order to find the answer. I guess that is what makes our generations different. I guess you could say our generation is somewhat “lazy,” but technology has given us a reason to be lazy. 

All in all, I somewhat agree and disagree with what Bauerlein has to say about our generation. Some of the things he says, I take offense to, and other comments he makes good points. I would agree that our society does not know certain things from the past that we should know, but I don’t think that necessarily makes us the “dumbest generation.” There are some things that we are more intelligent with now, than we ever were.