Leeann Barrett
Proposal
For my research project, what I intend on studying are the Greek community. When I say Greek one my think that I am talking about people who are born or live in Rome but what I am referring to is the Sorority and the Fraternity community; more specifically historically black Fraternities and Sororities. This community can be found mainly at accredited colleges around the United States. Some Fraternities and sororities have also opened their wings to foreign countries for example the West Indies, South America and Japan. This society is most seen as the ‘jocks and cheerleaders’ of college. Just like in High School where it seemed as though they were in control of everything and no matter what they did they still managed to succeed and do well in school, it is the same with the Greek community; t he good version of the ‘untouchable’. The only difference is that this power that they have does not end when graduation comes. Members of these societies are often part of other organizations other than the brotherhood or sisterhood they are a part of. They have known to help with student affairs, administration and participate in outside organizations like the Big Brothers of America program for children that need a mentor in their lives because of the lack of a parental figure and the Breast Cancer Association. They are the future leaders of America.
The reason I choose this topic is mainly because I am interested in joining a sorority. I found that not only can this be an interesting group to observe but also that this will be a valuable learning experience for me. Through doing this research I will be able to better educate myself as well as serve as a vessel to maybe impact another individual in their decision of whether they would like to join a brotherhood/ sister hood. Their personality and the wonder of their secret society is what caught my interest. They are the over achieves of society. They may be in the background but if one looks at many firms and within congress as well as look at many of our former presidents, a majority of them are part of a brotherhood/ sisterhood or have pledges.
Some questions I would like to answer are:
• When did this idea of creating Fraternities and Sororities come about
• How does this translate to their everyday (for active and inactive members)?
• How their families deal with them being part of a secret society and not being about to fully explain and tell them what the brotherhood/ sisterhood is about?
• Why do people join?
• What is the general relationship between the different sororities and fraternities? Is there any animosity or rivalry between them?
• Is there a ranking system lie in the military?
• How do overseas branches function in the same way?
• What recruitment events are done? What types?
• Average number of people pledge each year
• How Greek symbols are chosen and what they mean
• Why some fraternities and Sororities step/ stroll when presenting themselves?
• How they decide which philanthropy is chosen for them to participate in
• What is the Elite Eight and how were there brotherhoods/ sisterhoods chosen?
• How does one become an honorable member? The head of the fraternity/ sorority?
I have done some previous research on Sororities and Fraternities by their official visiting websites (for example www.aka1908.com and www.pbk.org) and also by getting some back ground information about their history and other fraternities that they may be a part of or have some connection to. One other thing that I did is to read some of the Greek blogs that are up for people who want to join or get a feel of the sisterhood/ brotherhood.
How I intend on doing this research is though the interviewing of different members of these sororities/ Fraternities. My first plan in doing this is by getting in touch with some people in the community who are apart of a brotherhood/ sisterhood and by visiting the Alpha Kappa Alpha Queens headquarter in St. Albans. I will also research some events that are going on. Another thing I am planning to do is use articles from project muse and jstor.
Some obstacles I am going to face is the idea of confidentiality. Some aspects of the brotherhood/ sisterhood members cannot express to outsiders. Some things I have to consider is that I am trying to rush also so I have to be careful what I ask and how I present the sorority. Another obstacle I might face is the events that I am planning to attend. If they are scheduled during Sabbath then I will not be able to attend and some of the events may include travel to another campus outside the tri-state area or I may have to go upstate.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
“I can’t explain myself because in not myself, sir… everything is so confusing”
Leeann Barrett
The Story of Alice in Wonderland I never paid too much attention to because I was told that it was a story about a child who is potentially on narcotics. But this theory about her being on narcotics actually feeds in to what is said on page 55 of “Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination” by Deborah Ross. It says, “From that time till the present, conservative authors have used romances and novels to teach girls that their dreams are dangerous and of little relevance to their daily lives.” Being taught that Alice is really having this fantasy, because she is drunk and on mushrooms and that the caterpillar in the story is actually smoking opium, is justification of this being a story to teach me that my fantasies will get the best of me.
The story begins with Alice not wanting to do her studies. He aunt I believe gives her a book which she is supposed to read for school. Alice doesn’t want to read the book and in attempting she falls asleep and this is when the ‘delusion’ begins. Alice starts with singing a song about this magical world that would be the perfect place to live and it will be called “Wonderland.” This is the world that she believes that she should live in where things go as she will like. She sees this white rabbit that leads her into a whole that just happens to be the passage to her fantasy world.
While in Wonderland all the male characters are ridiculed from the start. The rabbit that is always late for nothing, the mad hatter, the caterpillar and twiddle de and twiddle dumb are all portrayed as babbling fools who just talk but never actually listen to what Alice is saying. However the twiddle twins tell her a story which is supposed to be the lesson of the story I believe. Alice would be the Oysters who follow the walrus where their mother tells them that they shouldn’t. This is what will happen to Alice if she does not conform. Its funny how the twiddle twins are the only males that she names out rightly as dumb actually are the ones who feed onto the idea of dreams of another world will be dangerous. The oysters wanted to go to land because the walrus filled their minds with fabulous things. They then started to think about how the outside would be. And in thinking and fantasizing about it they ignored their mothers request for them to stay. In the end they were eaten. So in Alice’s case, if she did not escape and if she did not learn her lesson she would be killed.
The women in the story are seen as mothers, the posh and self- centered ladies of society and the in essence the future Alice. The mother figures always appear when Alice gets a little ahead of herself most obviously with the mother bird. She calls her a serpent because she is too tall after eating the mushroom. For her to call her a serpent is like calling her a demon of some sort. This is something that no one wants to deal with or have in their midst. Something with the self- centered woman of society. The flowers ask her what garden she is from and as soon as they find that they have no clue what she is, they label her as a weed. A weed is something that destroys gardens. The Queen treats her husband as a child and continuously says that thing mush always be “my way”. This echoes Alice’s song at the beginning of the movie. Alice wants everything to be her way but as the cashmere cat says “everyone is crazy here.”
To just lay off Alice’s Wonderland and call it and everyone in it crazy is like saying that she he self is crazy and that this dream that she is having makes no sense and will never be. Woman will never rule, men always make sense even when you may think they don’t and children should listen to the things that their parents tell them. Alice says twice in the story, once in the beginning and right before her third song while sitting on the rock, she always gives herself good advice but she always fails to listen. She might think that this is her giving herself advice but what she is actually doing is echoing something her parents may have taught her.
Ross says “She is saved, not by facing them down with dawning maturity and confidence, like the “real” Alice, but by waking up (57). Alice never gets too save herself. The queen is still running after her. Alice waking up is a symbol for her conforming to society and getting rid of her silly dreams. During the dream she realizes that what she wants is not right for her and the story is conditioned that way. Nothing ever seems to go right in the story. The only thing that goes right is when she learns how to eat the mushroom and judge what will make her tall and how tall (Ross mentions this too). If more events in the fantasy went right, like the queen being nice and the flowers not kicking her out, then I’m sure Alice would have rather stay there than to wake up. Alice would have died if it wasn’t for the door knob, which is a masculine figure also. All the males in the story help her along the way to get this idea that what she is dreaming is bad while the females all help it along.
The Story of Alice in Wonderland I never paid too much attention to because I was told that it was a story about a child who is potentially on narcotics. But this theory about her being on narcotics actually feeds in to what is said on page 55 of “Escape from Wonderland: Disney and the Female Imagination” by Deborah Ross. It says, “From that time till the present, conservative authors have used romances and novels to teach girls that their dreams are dangerous and of little relevance to their daily lives.” Being taught that Alice is really having this fantasy, because she is drunk and on mushrooms and that the caterpillar in the story is actually smoking opium, is justification of this being a story to teach me that my fantasies will get the best of me.
The story begins with Alice not wanting to do her studies. He aunt I believe gives her a book which she is supposed to read for school. Alice doesn’t want to read the book and in attempting she falls asleep and this is when the ‘delusion’ begins. Alice starts with singing a song about this magical world that would be the perfect place to live and it will be called “Wonderland.” This is the world that she believes that she should live in where things go as she will like. She sees this white rabbit that leads her into a whole that just happens to be the passage to her fantasy world.
While in Wonderland all the male characters are ridiculed from the start. The rabbit that is always late for nothing, the mad hatter, the caterpillar and twiddle de and twiddle dumb are all portrayed as babbling fools who just talk but never actually listen to what Alice is saying. However the twiddle twins tell her a story which is supposed to be the lesson of the story I believe. Alice would be the Oysters who follow the walrus where their mother tells them that they shouldn’t. This is what will happen to Alice if she does not conform. Its funny how the twiddle twins are the only males that she names out rightly as dumb actually are the ones who feed onto the idea of dreams of another world will be dangerous. The oysters wanted to go to land because the walrus filled their minds with fabulous things. They then started to think about how the outside would be. And in thinking and fantasizing about it they ignored their mothers request for them to stay. In the end they were eaten. So in Alice’s case, if she did not escape and if she did not learn her lesson she would be killed.
The women in the story are seen as mothers, the posh and self- centered ladies of society and the in essence the future Alice. The mother figures always appear when Alice gets a little ahead of herself most obviously with the mother bird. She calls her a serpent because she is too tall after eating the mushroom. For her to call her a serpent is like calling her a demon of some sort. This is something that no one wants to deal with or have in their midst. Something with the self- centered woman of society. The flowers ask her what garden she is from and as soon as they find that they have no clue what she is, they label her as a weed. A weed is something that destroys gardens. The Queen treats her husband as a child and continuously says that thing mush always be “my way”. This echoes Alice’s song at the beginning of the movie. Alice wants everything to be her way but as the cashmere cat says “everyone is crazy here.”
To just lay off Alice’s Wonderland and call it and everyone in it crazy is like saying that she he self is crazy and that this dream that she is having makes no sense and will never be. Woman will never rule, men always make sense even when you may think they don’t and children should listen to the things that their parents tell them. Alice says twice in the story, once in the beginning and right before her third song while sitting on the rock, she always gives herself good advice but she always fails to listen. She might think that this is her giving herself advice but what she is actually doing is echoing something her parents may have taught her.
Ross says “She is saved, not by facing them down with dawning maturity and confidence, like the “real” Alice, but by waking up (57). Alice never gets too save herself. The queen is still running after her. Alice waking up is a symbol for her conforming to society and getting rid of her silly dreams. During the dream she realizes that what she wants is not right for her and the story is conditioned that way. Nothing ever seems to go right in the story. The only thing that goes right is when she learns how to eat the mushroom and judge what will make her tall and how tall (Ross mentions this too). If more events in the fantasy went right, like the queen being nice and the flowers not kicking her out, then I’m sure Alice would have rather stay there than to wake up. Alice would have died if it wasn’t for the door knob, which is a masculine figure also. All the males in the story help her along the way to get this idea that what she is dreaming is bad while the females all help it along.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Don't Think I Want the Cinderella Story Anymore
Leeann Barrett
“Cinderella in her most ‘perverted’ form- the patient, submissive, defenseless young woman, whose happiness depends on a man who actually defines her life.”(11, “Don’t Bet on the Prince”, Jack Zipes). Jack’s statement when I first read it I thought no this cannot be true but especially in our version of the Cinderella story, this is true.
The Cinderella story fits all the guideline of what it is to be a fairy tale according to the list given in Jack’s other article “The Changing Function of the Fairy Tale”. These rules in reference to Cinderella apply as such:
1) Cinderella is under the ruling of her step mother and step sisters
2) Cinderella’s name comes from the fact that her stepmother assigns her chores like to clean the soot from the chimney and because the soot would get all over her they began to call her Cinder-ella.
3) Cinderella (in the English version) has three villains who are her step mother and step sister but mainly her eldest stepsister. Her savior, which is her fairy godmother, appears from thin air and grants her wish by giving her clothing and transportation to the ball. The animals that Cinderella encounters are the rats and the rats that are then turned into horses and her trenchmen. And after all of this Cinderella promises to come back before twelve.
4) She has been tested of her good heartedness and through toils since her step family came into the picture. The battle that Cinderella faces is that she is being oppressed by her step family and the battle that they fight takes place at the ball where Cinderella takes way all of the prince’s attention.
5) Cinderella being the “bell of the ball’s” good luck suddenly fails when she sees that I is almost midnight and remembers what her godmother warned her about what will happen to her suddenly gained riches. She then rushes home and acts as though nothing happened
6) The Cinderella stories do not break a magical spell but she does get freed from her stepmothers rule. In other versions of the Cinderella story Cinderella gets the chance to meet the prince two time and the last encounter is when she forgets and cuts close with the time leaving the ball at the last minute.
7) The villains are punished by not getting what they wanted. Cinderella won the princes heart and is allowed to move into the palace away from her stepfamily while they have to stay in their home and do all of their housework by themselves.
8) In the end Cinderella marries that prince and lives in the palace where she owns all the rices of the land.
Even though all these pointers focus on Cinderella and he trial and triumphs, Cinderella really does not have an identity before the prince comes into the picture. It’s funny how the prince says nothing but he governs the whole outcome of the story. He is the character that is most in the background.
I see him more as an after though then a main event. The prince is the center of thee story and why this story is worthy to be told. If the prince had a wife already, the ball would have never taken place. Cinderella would still be a maid for her stepfamily, her father still has no say in what goes on in the house (even though the father character is only necessary in the beginning , which is the background of the story),and Cinderella godmother would never have existed. Cinderella would have just been a good girl who got the bad end of the stick.
Women do not hold a high place. The stepmother, one can argue, is a strong female figure. She has money, a husband who she tricked into marrying her and a step daughter who she makes a slave. That all seems like a woman with power, but, how did she get this money? All the money she has is obtained through previous marriages. The reason why she marries Cinderella’s father is because she thought that he had money. He fall is that he tricked her. She had money but was money hungry and Cinderella’s father needed the money as well as a mother for Cinderella. The only reason why the stepmother has this power over the father is because he is weak, financially and probably mental unstable from the death of his wife. The story never shows the stepmother working to make a profit. She is always home to tell Cinderella what to do and to supervise.
The Cinderella story is one of the most popular fairy tales of them all. However this story is what is embedded in my young girls and boys. Bruno Bettelhem in his article "The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales" by Bruno Bettelhem, he says "when children are young, it is literature that carries such information best" (4). Though the undertones of this story are not noticed but they are understood. Woman, if they are submissive, obedient and loyal, will go far in life and if they veer away from this then they will only succeed if they feed off of weak and widowed men. I once heard that the original lesson of this story (other than that your good ways and deeds will get you far) is that it, as well as other fairy tales like Snow White, are used to talk people what will happen if they remarry. Woman will come and abuse you and your children then use up all of your money and leave.
Before i read these articles i was looking to have the Cinderella story of true love and the "happilly ever after". The way i was taught to view this story is totally different than what it actually is. What is the Cinderella story any ways. It is really nothing and has no true substance but to embed lies into young children. This story is here to carry on the myth that they prince charming is always to come and save the damsel in distress. The prince never even knew Cinderella existed before the ball. Much less any of the other girls. The only reason why he came for her is because she looked "bad" at the ball. Come to think of it, he didn't even go out to look for her, he sent his loyal servant to go house to house having girls try on a shoe. Something that is material and that can he reproduced. How can some one find true love out of just a few glances. For all he know she could have had a disease or could have just been out for his money like all the other women. Why does he love her? Because she toggled his mind a little? Mesmerized him with her good looks? I mean come on that is SO not a happily ever after. It's funny to see what we have based true love on.
“Cinderella in her most ‘perverted’ form- the patient, submissive, defenseless young woman, whose happiness depends on a man who actually defines her life.”(11, “Don’t Bet on the Prince”, Jack Zipes). Jack’s statement when I first read it I thought no this cannot be true but especially in our version of the Cinderella story, this is true.
The Cinderella story fits all the guideline of what it is to be a fairy tale according to the list given in Jack’s other article “The Changing Function of the Fairy Tale”. These rules in reference to Cinderella apply as such:
1) Cinderella is under the ruling of her step mother and step sisters
2) Cinderella’s name comes from the fact that her stepmother assigns her chores like to clean the soot from the chimney and because the soot would get all over her they began to call her Cinder-ella.
3) Cinderella (in the English version) has three villains who are her step mother and step sister but mainly her eldest stepsister. Her savior, which is her fairy godmother, appears from thin air and grants her wish by giving her clothing and transportation to the ball. The animals that Cinderella encounters are the rats and the rats that are then turned into horses and her trenchmen. And after all of this Cinderella promises to come back before twelve.
4) She has been tested of her good heartedness and through toils since her step family came into the picture. The battle that Cinderella faces is that she is being oppressed by her step family and the battle that they fight takes place at the ball where Cinderella takes way all of the prince’s attention.
5) Cinderella being the “bell of the ball’s” good luck suddenly fails when she sees that I is almost midnight and remembers what her godmother warned her about what will happen to her suddenly gained riches. She then rushes home and acts as though nothing happened
6) The Cinderella stories do not break a magical spell but she does get freed from her stepmothers rule. In other versions of the Cinderella story Cinderella gets the chance to meet the prince two time and the last encounter is when she forgets and cuts close with the time leaving the ball at the last minute.
7) The villains are punished by not getting what they wanted. Cinderella won the princes heart and is allowed to move into the palace away from her stepfamily while they have to stay in their home and do all of their housework by themselves.
8) In the end Cinderella marries that prince and lives in the palace where she owns all the rices of the land.
Even though all these pointers focus on Cinderella and he trial and triumphs, Cinderella really does not have an identity before the prince comes into the picture. It’s funny how the prince says nothing but he governs the whole outcome of the story. He is the character that is most in the background.
I see him more as an after though then a main event. The prince is the center of thee story and why this story is worthy to be told. If the prince had a wife already, the ball would have never taken place. Cinderella would still be a maid for her stepfamily, her father still has no say in what goes on in the house (even though the father character is only necessary in the beginning , which is the background of the story),and Cinderella godmother would never have existed. Cinderella would have just been a good girl who got the bad end of the stick.
Women do not hold a high place. The stepmother, one can argue, is a strong female figure. She has money, a husband who she tricked into marrying her and a step daughter who she makes a slave. That all seems like a woman with power, but, how did she get this money? All the money she has is obtained through previous marriages. The reason why she marries Cinderella’s father is because she thought that he had money. He fall is that he tricked her. She had money but was money hungry and Cinderella’s father needed the money as well as a mother for Cinderella. The only reason why the stepmother has this power over the father is because he is weak, financially and probably mental unstable from the death of his wife. The story never shows the stepmother working to make a profit. She is always home to tell Cinderella what to do and to supervise.
The Cinderella story is one of the most popular fairy tales of them all. However this story is what is embedded in my young girls and boys. Bruno Bettelhem in his article "The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales" by Bruno Bettelhem, he says "when children are young, it is literature that carries such information best" (4). Though the undertones of this story are not noticed but they are understood. Woman, if they are submissive, obedient and loyal, will go far in life and if they veer away from this then they will only succeed if they feed off of weak and widowed men. I once heard that the original lesson of this story (other than that your good ways and deeds will get you far) is that it, as well as other fairy tales like Snow White, are used to talk people what will happen if they remarry. Woman will come and abuse you and your children then use up all of your money and leave.
Before i read these articles i was looking to have the Cinderella story of true love and the "happilly ever after". The way i was taught to view this story is totally different than what it actually is. What is the Cinderella story any ways. It is really nothing and has no true substance but to embed lies into young children. This story is here to carry on the myth that they prince charming is always to come and save the damsel in distress. The prince never even knew Cinderella existed before the ball. Much less any of the other girls. The only reason why he came for her is because she looked "bad" at the ball. Come to think of it, he didn't even go out to look for her, he sent his loyal servant to go house to house having girls try on a shoe. Something that is material and that can he reproduced. How can some one find true love out of just a few glances. For all he know she could have had a disease or could have just been out for his money like all the other women. Why does he love her? Because she toggled his mind a little? Mesmerized him with her good looks? I mean come on that is SO not a happily ever after. It's funny to see what we have based true love on.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
growing upon the internet
Hey guess this is me trying to lend a helping hand to any one who needs it. I have no clue how to upload a powerpoint presentation on this site but i do have an essay i did for my cs12 for anyone who is interested in doing second life or something based on the children and technology here it goes. i can get you the link for the broadcast as well if you would like
Leeann Barrett
Cs12
The PBS broadcast that we were watching is mainly focused on the internet and what is doing to our up and coming society. The documentary targeted some key aspects which are parents not being aware of what their children are doing, children being sucked in and not being aware of the effects of their actions, online predators, the effects of parents taking action and the way their children are responding.
The first thing about the documentary that I find interesting is the comment made about the smart classrooms and how they cannot successfully function or teach a class room of students a lesson without this technology. There is a man that basically mocks the teaching of students with a single teacher and a piece of chalk as insufficient. I personally cannot relate to that because all of my life I have been taught with that board and the piece of chalk. I was and still am able to learn with no problem. A social studies teacher in the documentary said that he has to keep up and entertain his students in order to cut through all the cyber junk and actually get them to learn. With me I think that all of those computers in the room and students basically emailing teachers the answers to questions takes away from: social skills, makes students inpatient and it is encouraging children to be on the computer 24/7. I know that if I were in that class with the computer in front of me. I would not pay attention and would be on AIM or face book updating something or looking at pictures. Something more intriguing than a teacher touching some board that has touch screen notes.
This leads to the other point that the documentary is bringing out. They stressed on the point that children would push everything aside just to go on the internet. There is a High School student in who says that if there was no internet he would not know what to do with himself, however, he goes on to say that he has no time to read a book. He would rather go on a website and read the revised version there. Teachers have tried to stop this from happening by doing things like blocking websites and making students submit papers to websites that detect plagiarism. But, how can you really block a site and to what extent and you justify yourself in telling someone that they are cheating. And this is the problem that the documentary faces. The internet is so unmonitored and free that one cannot tell another what and what not to look at. It is so easily accessible that you can go almost anywhere and get internet access. Even if you tell a student or block the websites the school, nine times out of ten the student will go to some other outlet in order to retain this information.
This does not only make teachers fret but it scares parents. Parents begin to wonder what their children are doing in this private world. Parents lose a sense of control because of the internet. Parents can go as far as taking computers out of their child house and using parental controls but, the children are smarter than the adults. They can hack into to parental controls or they can just simply go to a friend’s house, a library or to school and use the computers there. Internet is said to have caused “the greatest generation gap since rock” and this is because the parents cannot keep up with the children and children aren’t willing to share the knowledge and if they do it is only select pieces of information.
Because of this children see the internet as something that they control. Something made just for them to lash out and express the thoughts that they do not feel comfortable telling anyone else. Children do not really notice that even though no one is listening and the internet does not answer back, people are reading these blogs and watching these videos and come up with judgments of your character. The internet gives the feeling that you are talking to a blank screen when really, instead of talking to no one, you are talking to everyone. Children are sometimes so vulnerable that they write everything about themselves then when someone comments on their blog, picture or video it gives the feeling that they have a new friend that is theirs only that they can say anything to. The begin trusting someone that can be anyone. This is where internet predators come in. The look and feed over children like these. It is found that over numerous conversations with these people children are almost willing and begging to meet with these people. Some even what to run away with them. They tell children all that they want to hear and nothing less. All of this is to gain their trust, gain their liking and to get the child in the position that they want them to be.
In the real world children experience many different things and suffer from peer pressure almost every day. The internet allows these students to become whoever they want to be or wish they were. This can be a good and a bad influence on children. Some children use to the internet as a refuge from the real world. In the case of Autumn Edow, the internet was a form of self expression. The father commented saying that she is “creating art.” In the real world Edow’s was not like and barely even noticed but, when she found the internet it is as though she transformed and became this whole new person that everyone wanted to know and be. It empowered her and gave her self confidence that she never had before. The internet is where she had her time to shine even though it is not who she really is, she became someone that she loved. Who she loves is the model named Autumn Edow.
This freedom of speech can also be taken in a negative way. In the documentary there were two instances of this negative influence. The first is with the teenage girl who wished to be thinner. She talked about how she would go a website where other anorexic and bulimic people would write, comment and compete about how much weight they lost and how little they ate that day. These weren’t only grown people writing but young teenagers. These websites encourage and support these children making them want to harm themselves more and more.
Another instance is with the boy who was suffering from cyber bullying. This is actually two in one. This boy was not being tormented by one person but he was teased by a group whose sole purpose was to tear him apart and bully him. And this group led the boy to want to kill himself. The boy found a way and did kill himself but, not with the encouragement of another boy who has a site all about killing and suicide. So to any question, want or yearning you have, the internet has an answer to it while parents have no idea about what is going through their child’s mind.
But what happens when parents do find out? In the case of Autumn Edows and the High School Senior, the results were not really good at first and really good in the end. I found out that when parents find out the go ballistic and to the extreme. One was so surprised to the point that in one case one parent when and decided to email all the other parents in the neighborhood and this got everyone in trouble. In the case of the high school student he felt and told his mother that she ruined his high school years. She appears as though she doesn’t understand because in her heart she thinks that she was doing the just thing. No she reports that she is quiet and does not really talk or share his feeling. It’s as though he closed up. And this is just like Edows. When her mother found out, she made her delete all her files and pictures in front of her which was basically deleting her from her world. Her parents have come to acceptance of her double life however to this day Edows thinks that her parents will never really understand her. This show that she really does not trust them and that there is a void between them.
There is no real way of controlling teens or to monitor the internet. The internet is pushed so much in our society that it’s almost too hard to remember a time where there were no computers and no internet. What is funny to me in the documentary is when the parents were asking the children to give them the passwords. Parents should be savvy enough to know that their children will say no and is they do give then their password nine times out of ten, it will be a fake password or their child is planning to change it in the next three minutes. My views on the internet are neutral. Yes it could be a little safer however, who is to say who can go on the internet and who is allowed to write what. The accused can easily say that this is them exercising their freedom of speech. I just that it as whatever you seek you will find and the answer is the internet.
Leeann Barrett
Cs12
The PBS broadcast that we were watching is mainly focused on the internet and what is doing to our up and coming society. The documentary targeted some key aspects which are parents not being aware of what their children are doing, children being sucked in and not being aware of the effects of their actions, online predators, the effects of parents taking action and the way their children are responding.
The first thing about the documentary that I find interesting is the comment made about the smart classrooms and how they cannot successfully function or teach a class room of students a lesson without this technology. There is a man that basically mocks the teaching of students with a single teacher and a piece of chalk as insufficient. I personally cannot relate to that because all of my life I have been taught with that board and the piece of chalk. I was and still am able to learn with no problem. A social studies teacher in the documentary said that he has to keep up and entertain his students in order to cut through all the cyber junk and actually get them to learn. With me I think that all of those computers in the room and students basically emailing teachers the answers to questions takes away from: social skills, makes students inpatient and it is encouraging children to be on the computer 24/7. I know that if I were in that class with the computer in front of me. I would not pay attention and would be on AIM or face book updating something or looking at pictures. Something more intriguing than a teacher touching some board that has touch screen notes.
This leads to the other point that the documentary is bringing out. They stressed on the point that children would push everything aside just to go on the internet. There is a High School student in who says that if there was no internet he would not know what to do with himself, however, he goes on to say that he has no time to read a book. He would rather go on a website and read the revised version there. Teachers have tried to stop this from happening by doing things like blocking websites and making students submit papers to websites that detect plagiarism. But, how can you really block a site and to what extent and you justify yourself in telling someone that they are cheating. And this is the problem that the documentary faces. The internet is so unmonitored and free that one cannot tell another what and what not to look at. It is so easily accessible that you can go almost anywhere and get internet access. Even if you tell a student or block the websites the school, nine times out of ten the student will go to some other outlet in order to retain this information.
This does not only make teachers fret but it scares parents. Parents begin to wonder what their children are doing in this private world. Parents lose a sense of control because of the internet. Parents can go as far as taking computers out of their child house and using parental controls but, the children are smarter than the adults. They can hack into to parental controls or they can just simply go to a friend’s house, a library or to school and use the computers there. Internet is said to have caused “the greatest generation gap since rock” and this is because the parents cannot keep up with the children and children aren’t willing to share the knowledge and if they do it is only select pieces of information.
Because of this children see the internet as something that they control. Something made just for them to lash out and express the thoughts that they do not feel comfortable telling anyone else. Children do not really notice that even though no one is listening and the internet does not answer back, people are reading these blogs and watching these videos and come up with judgments of your character. The internet gives the feeling that you are talking to a blank screen when really, instead of talking to no one, you are talking to everyone. Children are sometimes so vulnerable that they write everything about themselves then when someone comments on their blog, picture or video it gives the feeling that they have a new friend that is theirs only that they can say anything to. The begin trusting someone that can be anyone. This is where internet predators come in. The look and feed over children like these. It is found that over numerous conversations with these people children are almost willing and begging to meet with these people. Some even what to run away with them. They tell children all that they want to hear and nothing less. All of this is to gain their trust, gain their liking and to get the child in the position that they want them to be.
In the real world children experience many different things and suffer from peer pressure almost every day. The internet allows these students to become whoever they want to be or wish they were. This can be a good and a bad influence on children. Some children use to the internet as a refuge from the real world. In the case of Autumn Edow, the internet was a form of self expression. The father commented saying that she is “creating art.” In the real world Edow’s was not like and barely even noticed but, when she found the internet it is as though she transformed and became this whole new person that everyone wanted to know and be. It empowered her and gave her self confidence that she never had before. The internet is where she had her time to shine even though it is not who she really is, she became someone that she loved. Who she loves is the model named Autumn Edow.
This freedom of speech can also be taken in a negative way. In the documentary there were two instances of this negative influence. The first is with the teenage girl who wished to be thinner. She talked about how she would go a website where other anorexic and bulimic people would write, comment and compete about how much weight they lost and how little they ate that day. These weren’t only grown people writing but young teenagers. These websites encourage and support these children making them want to harm themselves more and more.
Another instance is with the boy who was suffering from cyber bullying. This is actually two in one. This boy was not being tormented by one person but he was teased by a group whose sole purpose was to tear him apart and bully him. And this group led the boy to want to kill himself. The boy found a way and did kill himself but, not with the encouragement of another boy who has a site all about killing and suicide. So to any question, want or yearning you have, the internet has an answer to it while parents have no idea about what is going through their child’s mind.
But what happens when parents do find out? In the case of Autumn Edows and the High School Senior, the results were not really good at first and really good in the end. I found out that when parents find out the go ballistic and to the extreme. One was so surprised to the point that in one case one parent when and decided to email all the other parents in the neighborhood and this got everyone in trouble. In the case of the high school student he felt and told his mother that she ruined his high school years. She appears as though she doesn’t understand because in her heart she thinks that she was doing the just thing. No she reports that she is quiet and does not really talk or share his feeling. It’s as though he closed up. And this is just like Edows. When her mother found out, she made her delete all her files and pictures in front of her which was basically deleting her from her world. Her parents have come to acceptance of her double life however to this day Edows thinks that her parents will never really understand her. This show that she really does not trust them and that there is a void between them.
There is no real way of controlling teens or to monitor the internet. The internet is pushed so much in our society that it’s almost too hard to remember a time where there were no computers and no internet. What is funny to me in the documentary is when the parents were asking the children to give them the passwords. Parents should be savvy enough to know that their children will say no and is they do give then their password nine times out of ten, it will be a fake password or their child is planning to change it in the next three minutes. My views on the internet are neutral. Yes it could be a little safer however, who is to say who can go on the internet and who is allowed to write what. The accused can easily say that this is them exercising their freedom of speech. I just that it as whatever you seek you will find and the answer is the internet.
Monday, March 9, 2009
Can we ever truly escape the hidden transcript?
When I was younger I would always go around thinking, “we live by the masks that we wear.” I thought this was coincidental because this is so true. Like I would literally sit down and think about society and how it governs, molds and makes us seem as drones in our individuality. I’m not sure if that made sense but it is kind of true. In class we talked about the public transcript. This public transcript, one of my questions is where did it come from and who made it so? But besides that we all have a common knowledge or understanding of what the public transcript is. It is interesting about how this “agreement” is so much embedded in us. This performance is automatically triggered without thought or question. For example in class we know that we have to be studious and pay attention and use big words just so that we stand out amongst all other students. But what is all this for? To intimidate the other students or is it to satisfy our oppressor the professor? We masks even when we don’t have to. And it’s crazy because to a stranger we don’t have to act any way but we still condition ourselves. But at another look can we really remove the mask. And in the mask isn’t there a loss of self. In the mask how do we really know who we are? Is it only the thoughts that are trapped in out head our self? What if we lose our identity within thesemasks. Is there a true self after all or are we living in a bubble?
All of these questions run through my head but I don’t think that they can truly be answered. I do not think so because any answer will be tainted or answered through a mask. The person will condition themselves to answer in a way that they think that I will understand and agree with. To an extent that is a mask too.
All of these questions run through my head but I don’t think that they can truly be answered. I do not think so because any answer will be tainted or answered through a mask. The person will condition themselves to answer in a way that they think that I will understand and agree with. To an extent that is a mask too.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
confusion in advertisment and emotion
Howard says “Vanity pages are often placed on commercial servers that mix advertising with the personal content” (194). Earlier this week my professor made the statement “ ‘I’m devastated’ that’s not a Facebook post.”(S. Altschuler) I was funny when she made this comment but it is also true. If someone dies this is not the kind of thing that you post on Facebook. Commonly it would be a time of mourning but to place this statement on Facebook, does it give it a new meaning? As we were talking in class we questioned if this is to be taken as serious as it is or if one should comment asking what happened or are you ok. This broadcasting or advertisement of sacred inside emotions is part of this internet folklore.
The internet, even with its limitations, is a space where anyone can be who they want to and express themselves freely without anyone looking or immediately judging them. To me it is like a world that coexists with the actual world. With social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook you can set up a profile and just let your imagination go wild. Like others I have found these sites to be a way to keep in touch and have a relationship with other people that I would not have if it were in actual life. As I walk though campus I notice that many of these people- some time or another- I have had class with me and are my friend on Facebook. However, I have never exchanged phone numbers or talked to any of these people a day in my life. But as far as Face book is concerned, they are my friend. On these social networking sited you can control how popular you are and how people see you. If you do not like someone or if you want to send them a message to leave you alone all you have to do is delete them as a friend. When this happens it comes off as official that you don’t want them in your life. You do not have to say one word to them unless you chose to.
This informality is what is what seems to be the same thing that is going on with the comment “I’m devastated” but in a different way. Online I feel like, some extent, it is a portal to my mind at times. So things I don’t want to or don’t feel comfortable saying out loud I’ll but as my status. Though this is not the ideal or what these social networking site are for, you cannot help the urge for at least one other human being knowing or questioning your wellbeing or at minimum knowing how u are feeling. In this fast paced world we do not have time to sit down and discuss our day or our feeling to one another. And many of us do not really trust anyone to the point that we will tell then what is going on in our minds. So why not tell a complete stranger or test who really does care about you by just writing a status update.
By doing this it almost opens your life for interpretation and it is a form of entertainment in a weird and awkward way. After people comment you feel good about yourself or content. I would not go as far as to post that someone died and say that I am devastated, everyone does not have to know that. However, I still believe that some things should stay inside and some emotions or anxieties should not be soothed by the internet but the internet is a venue whether it be good or bad. Writing that you are devastated is one for of this blending of advertisement and personal content. You become so intertwined that this posting is an advertisement and you life is played for everyone to see by just the press of a button.
The internet, even with its limitations, is a space where anyone can be who they want to and express themselves freely without anyone looking or immediately judging them. To me it is like a world that coexists with the actual world. With social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook you can set up a profile and just let your imagination go wild. Like others I have found these sites to be a way to keep in touch and have a relationship with other people that I would not have if it were in actual life. As I walk though campus I notice that many of these people- some time or another- I have had class with me and are my friend on Facebook. However, I have never exchanged phone numbers or talked to any of these people a day in my life. But as far as Face book is concerned, they are my friend. On these social networking sited you can control how popular you are and how people see you. If you do not like someone or if you want to send them a message to leave you alone all you have to do is delete them as a friend. When this happens it comes off as official that you don’t want them in your life. You do not have to say one word to them unless you chose to.
This informality is what is what seems to be the same thing that is going on with the comment “I’m devastated” but in a different way. Online I feel like, some extent, it is a portal to my mind at times. So things I don’t want to or don’t feel comfortable saying out loud I’ll but as my status. Though this is not the ideal or what these social networking site are for, you cannot help the urge for at least one other human being knowing or questioning your wellbeing or at minimum knowing how u are feeling. In this fast paced world we do not have time to sit down and discuss our day or our feeling to one another. And many of us do not really trust anyone to the point that we will tell then what is going on in our minds. So why not tell a complete stranger or test who really does care about you by just writing a status update.
By doing this it almost opens your life for interpretation and it is a form of entertainment in a weird and awkward way. After people comment you feel good about yourself or content. I would not go as far as to post that someone died and say that I am devastated, everyone does not have to know that. However, I still believe that some things should stay inside and some emotions or anxieties should not be soothed by the internet but the internet is a venue whether it be good or bad. Writing that you are devastated is one for of this blending of advertisement and personal content. You become so intertwined that this posting is an advertisement and you life is played for everyone to see by just the press of a button.
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