English Lab April 17th

Since I missed last weeks class, I only saw about 45 minutes of the movie. I've never heard of it before but I thought it was pretty funny, from what I saw. It seemed to be about relationships and other issues that regular people deal with on a day to day basis. Although I'm not a huge Jack Black fan, I do like John Cusack enough to consider renting it on my own time. I usually dont like movies where the man character speaks directly to the audiance, but from the 45 minutes I saw of High Fidelity, it didnt really bother me that much. But yea, like I said, I missed the first half of the movie so I dont really have much to say. Hope this suffices.

Mediation Paper

The question I am going to mediate is: how does women's economic independence affect their freedom to engage in premarital sex and what sort of impact does it have on marriage?

Women have been gaining far more opportunities for economic independence, and in today's society, some have reached level comparable to those of men. The changing role of women has greatly affected the institution of marriage and all that it stands for. Women havent always had the freedom to choose their own husbands, as they do today. Family members played a huge role in setting up marriages in order to ensure a woman's status in society. Marriage was about finding a husband that could provide his wife with a stable life, someone with access to the all the resources necessary to ensure she will live a comfortable life. Because women today have immensly more opportunities to prosper in the workplace, they no longer need to look to men to take care of them. Women are getting married at later ages because they can afford to support themselves for longer without the aid of a husband. Women used to focus on making themselves suitable for men, and this often included the avoidance of premarital sex. Today's women dont need to scramble around looking for husbands after they leave their family, so it's less important to them how they are perceived by men. Women feel secure in enough areas of their lives so that if a man doesnt approve of her choice to engage in sexual relations, it doesnt have much of an effect on her.

In my paper, I will show both the positive and negative effects that women's economic independence has had on the issue of premarital sex and marriage.

Section 2 Suggestion for Writing (For Convincing)

The "soul-mate" marriage can only lead to unrealistic expectations and a quick outlet for escaping from a relationship. People believe that soul-mates are people that compliment each other so well, it's as if they were designed especially to be together. When people get this concept in their minds, they start building a set of criteria that another person must match in order to be considered the searchers soul-mate. whether people are aware of it or not, they be constantly overlooking people that they could potentially fall in love with, because they may not possess some mundane characteristic in order to be perfectly compatible.

Two completely different people may fall just as two very similar people could. Therefore, how do we determine what makes people soul-mates? The world is full of too many multdimesional people for any two to be considered perfect for each other. And on the same note, they're are probably more than one person that each of us coud fall in love with, its just a matter of time and place.

Searching for a soul-mate is a losing battle. It gives people an excuse to avoid love or give up on a relationship just because it isnt absoultely flawless. For example, in the section "who wants to marry a soul mate," it says that "87% of people agreed that they will find that special someone when they are ready to get married." This could cause problems because people may decide they want to get married before they have found the right person and then begin desperately searching for someone to fill that position. THis may cause people to either rush into a marriage becuase they have convinced themselves that they are ready or end up searching forever because their criteria is too unrealistic

Lab Autobiography

My Life in Six Words

Takoma Park. School. Chincoteague. Friends. Family.

Blogs by Midnight

1. Satrapi’s book seeks to convey a complex political history stained with national and individual tragedy. Would you say she’s achieved her goals while using a graphic novel?

I think Satrapi achieved her goals using a graphic novel. She described a complex political history through the perspective of someone who lived during through it. The story of the main character's individual struggle unravels as she tells the bigger story of national tragedy. By doing so, the storys intertwine, portraying the particular historical context from the inside out.

2. We’ve discussed the use of color as a way to evoke emotion. What does Persepolis gain or lose in its utilization of black-and-white (with no shades of gray whatsoever) illustration?

I think Persepolis only utilizes black and white in order to show the darkness of the times, but also the lack of expression. In my opinion, gray tones represent sadness and despair. Although I'm sure these feelings were present at the time, based on my interpretation of Persepolis, most people kept this feelings inside and simply except things the way they were. The Veils, for example, represent this theme of oppression. They keep the women hidden, almost as if to put a wall between them and the world around them. Everything in these times were in black and white; they simply were the way they were, and most people werent equipped to do anything about it.

3.Choose one frame (a single box on any page) to analyze. Briefly discuss its visual rhetoric: Who or what is being depicted? What emotion is being conveyed? What does the text add to or take from the picture? What tone (sincerity, irony, humor,information) does the picture exhibit? What figures in the frame remain stationary?What figures imply action? What is the purpose of this? What shapes are used? Is there a sense or lack of realism?

I chose the 5th frame on the tenth page. This frame is illustrates the police officers who kept people locked in a building while it burned down. The police officers are drawn much bigger than the people trying to get into the building, and they appear to be standing over them. This shows that the police officers have all the power and the other people are helpless and weak. There are flames of fire behind the police men. I think this is showing that the police men either started the fire, or are controlling it because they have done nothing to stop it. It also seems as though the fire and the policemen are standing together, meaning that they are both equally destructive. This frame exhibits a very serious and hateful tone. There are shadows across the faces of the policemen, depicting their evil and dark side. The fact that the policeman have faces, whereas the other people are just solid white figures, again represents the division of power. The policemen remain stationary while the people outside seem to imply action. This represents the fact that the policemen enforce the current political structure and hold most of the power while doing so, while other people try to change things. The fact that the police officers have there arms locked implies that they arent going to move out of the way.

This cartoon is related to Fidel Castro stepping down from power and putting his brother in charge of Cuba. I interpreted this cartoon as implying that although Fidel has techinically stepped down, he will still exert great influence over Cuba through his brother. The character in the front seat of the car represents Fidel's brother and Fidel is in the back seat. This shows how although Fidel's brother is the driver (leader of Cuba), Fidel is always going to be close by, involved in what is going on. Because the car has no wheals in the picture and appears to be broken down, this shows how Cuba is not likely to make any positive progression despite the fact that Fidel Castro is no longer in charge. I agree with the message that this cartoonist is trying to send. It seems to me that if Fidel had stepped down and someone other than his brother had gotten power, there may be more of a change in the country but with the current situation, things will probably remain the same. I think this cartoon is pretty fair because it addresses the issue from a pretty vague perspective. It's kind of hard to argue that Fidel won't always be close by, considering they are brothers.

Memorable Images

When asked to write about my most memorable images, nothing really came to mind so I did what I always do when I'm having trouble coming up with ideas: I googled it. I actually spent a fair amount of time looking through pictures because most of them were pretty interesting. However, I think this is the only one that will stick with me for a while. At first look, I didnt even realize that there was a little boy in the picture. The angle at which the photograph is taken makes the boy the center of attention because he is closest to the lens, but because he appears the same color as parts of his surrounding and lacks detail, it is hard to make him out as human. His placement at the bottom right corner of the picture allows the viewer to see him in the context of his environment which contributes to how desperate and weak he looks. Having the vulcher visible from only a few feet behind the boy, staring directly at him, creates the fear and sorrow that this picture is intended to provoke. The fact that the boy is curled up on the ground and the vulcher is standing up behind him shows how dangerous this situation is and that the vulcher is probably stronger and could easily harm him. I think that the amount of background that is provided in the picture is intended to creat a sense of lonliness and show the viewer that there is no one around to help him.