Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Dreaded ";"
Why in the world do we have a Semi-colon? For the most part I don't know how to use it and think it is unnecissary. Well It definately helps for when you are listing people and their profession like, "This is Mike Marigold, the butler; Janice Jory, the maid; and Mr. Body, the owner. You are I think you are supposed to use it when combining like ideas, too. Such as, "Bill is going to the store; however, he has to do his homework first. HERE Gives a good example of these things.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
When to use apostrophes
For the most part apostrophes are pretty easy for me. It is when you get into the all complicated stuff like when you are talking about "Back in the 1950's" or "the 50's" I don't know if it is supposed to be 50s or 50's. Or when you are talking about your Father-in-law's remote, or is it your Father's-in-law remote. Then if you pluralize it and say each of my Fathers-in-law's coats, or is it Fathers'-in-law coats, or Fathers-in-laws' coat. HERE shows that it is possible if you would like to put the 1950's but also you can put an apostrophe at the start to show an ommission of "19" in 1950 by putting '50. HERE has a good example of the Father-in-law question.
Looking For Work and What we Really Miss About The 1950's
In these two essays the authors look at the family life around the 1950's. In Looking For Work, the author tries to have his family dress and look like those he sees on tv. He also explains what his childhood was like even though his family wasn't like those families on tv. Near the end his brother tells him that he can't hang with him and so he goes and starts looking for work in a happy atitude.
In What We Really Miss About the 1950's the Author explains why a lot of people feel nostalgia about the 1950's using facts, comparing other eras, looking at the political scene, economic scene, and media scene.
In Looking For Work I feel the author did a great job of using description to paint the scene of his childhood which really draws in the reader into the setting he was in. You could get the general mood of how he felt all the time and that in spite of his wanting his family to change and be different he really did enjoy his life as a child. The intro was great as it just hooked you from the start by putting you into the middle of the story like it was the pensive out of Harry Potter and you just jumped into someones thoughts.
In What we Really Miss About the 1950's the author didn't have to good of a hooking intro which made it really hard to focus on what she was writting about and what was so important about it. She used a lot of statistics throughout her peice and I feel almost to many numbers and facts were thrown at me to keep anything strait between the different decades that were talked about. Although all the facts did help to point to the fact that there were things that were better in the 1950's than in any other time, but also showed that it didn't just stop with the 50's but that it continued on into the 60's but people associate it with the 50's because that is when the good stuff started to happen.
From these two essays you could say that these authors are showing why people long for the "Good ole' days." It seems that people as they grow up and older most of them always look back to their child hood and how simple it was and enjoyable it was. This could be what these authors are driving at.
These two peices do challenge the ideals of the 1950's of what a family should have been like, mostly they understand that families weren't at all like the tv shows of the time which is what a lot of people associate with the 50's. A lot of the younger generation which have no clue about what went on the 50's only have those old tv shows as their example of it and the essays shed the light that that isn't what it was like. People even today want to structure their families after the perfect families of the tv 50's and wish that their families were perfect, although it is a long way off of that.
I think it is interesting how in Looking For Work, the author could maintain a happy go lucky attitude even though things weren't going the way he would have liked them to go, whereas today if things aren't right then we get mad, even, or revenge, for the most part. The two essays showed how in the 50's the neighborhoods were more of a community and they enjoyed one another where as today we would just rather have people stick to their own business and not have them bother us.
In What We Really Miss About the 1950's the Author explains why a lot of people feel nostalgia about the 1950's using facts, comparing other eras, looking at the political scene, economic scene, and media scene.
In Looking For Work I feel the author did a great job of using description to paint the scene of his childhood which really draws in the reader into the setting he was in. You could get the general mood of how he felt all the time and that in spite of his wanting his family to change and be different he really did enjoy his life as a child. The intro was great as it just hooked you from the start by putting you into the middle of the story like it was the pensive out of Harry Potter and you just jumped into someones thoughts.
In What we Really Miss About the 1950's the author didn't have to good of a hooking intro which made it really hard to focus on what she was writting about and what was so important about it. She used a lot of statistics throughout her peice and I feel almost to many numbers and facts were thrown at me to keep anything strait between the different decades that were talked about. Although all the facts did help to point to the fact that there were things that were better in the 1950's than in any other time, but also showed that it didn't just stop with the 50's but that it continued on into the 60's but people associate it with the 50's because that is when the good stuff started to happen.
From these two essays you could say that these authors are showing why people long for the "Good ole' days." It seems that people as they grow up and older most of them always look back to their child hood and how simple it was and enjoyable it was. This could be what these authors are driving at.
These two peices do challenge the ideals of the 1950's of what a family should have been like, mostly they understand that families weren't at all like the tv shows of the time which is what a lot of people associate with the 50's. A lot of the younger generation which have no clue about what went on the 50's only have those old tv shows as their example of it and the essays shed the light that that isn't what it was like. People even today want to structure their families after the perfect families of the tv 50's and wish that their families were perfect, although it is a long way off of that.
I think it is interesting how in Looking For Work, the author could maintain a happy go lucky attitude even though things weren't going the way he would have liked them to go, whereas today if things aren't right then we get mad, even, or revenge, for the most part. The two essays showed how in the 50's the neighborhoods were more of a community and they enjoyed one another where as today we would just rather have people stick to their own business and not have them bother us.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
When to put a Comma
I actually do have troubles with Commas. I don't really know when it is necessary to add a comma. For the most part I don't have trouble with the comma splices, I just like to add to many commas, because I think it might need one, then when I get my paper back I have all these marks that mean take away the commas. HERE is a good place that gives 3 good myths about when to place a comma.
Rereading America
Alright, so this is the first blog. Well, I read the intro to the textbook, which I will be studying for the next 3 months, Rereading America: Thinking Critically, Challenging Cultural Myths. This section talked about how it was going to challenge the views of people who would read this text on many different subjects by looking at issues from different perspectives. It's stated purpose is to bring about critical thinking and spark controversy and conversation.
After reading this I have been asked What does it mean to you to be an American Citizen? As stated in the book a lot of people when asked this question only think of "America" as the U.S. This thinking reminds me of an experiance I had crossing back into the U.S. after visiting Mexico with my family. We pulled up to the boarder patrol and the gaurd asked, "What country are you from." my sister replied, "America" The gaurd asked her again, and again until finally she realized that she was from the United States. To be American to me means that we live in a land that has been perserved for a special purpose, to be free from tyrany and oppression. To live a life where we can live how we want under organized rules to keep order. We can freely express our own opinion and not suffer for it.
Another question, how might this text challenge or complicate your opinions? I feel this text will probably have different outlooks on some of the ideas I have grown up believing. I imagine it will have a lot of things that might shed light on some idea while others I will probably find in my own life to be false and absolutely wrong. I realize that I have a lot of preconcived notions that can change, for example, before I served a mission for my church I thought that all people who smoked were bad people because they were destroying their bodies and causeing harm to others. After I got to Oregon on my mission I had to go into many houses that people smoked. After the first one of these I realized that these people are good and want to do good but have made some wrong choices in their lives that left them under addictive control. Other ideas and preconceived notions that might come up I will keep my own opinion, most likely if the text says being gay is ok, I won't believe it.
After reading this I have been asked What does it mean to you to be an American Citizen? As stated in the book a lot of people when asked this question only think of "America" as the U.S. This thinking reminds me of an experiance I had crossing back into the U.S. after visiting Mexico with my family. We pulled up to the boarder patrol and the gaurd asked, "What country are you from." my sister replied, "America" The gaurd asked her again, and again until finally she realized that she was from the United States. To be American to me means that we live in a land that has been perserved for a special purpose, to be free from tyrany and oppression. To live a life where we can live how we want under organized rules to keep order. We can freely express our own opinion and not suffer for it.
Another question, how might this text challenge or complicate your opinions? I feel this text will probably have different outlooks on some of the ideas I have grown up believing. I imagine it will have a lot of things that might shed light on some idea while others I will probably find in my own life to be false and absolutely wrong. I realize that I have a lot of preconcived notions that can change, for example, before I served a mission for my church I thought that all people who smoked were bad people because they were destroying their bodies and causeing harm to others. After I got to Oregon on my mission I had to go into many houses that people smoked. After the first one of these I realized that these people are good and want to do good but have made some wrong choices in their lives that left them under addictive control. Other ideas and preconceived notions that might come up I will keep my own opinion, most likely if the text says being gay is ok, I won't believe it.
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