Brave New World #3

1. Did the castes result as the government wanting this type of society, or did the government evolve to be like it is 'now' around a new caste system?
2. What is Huxley's direct perspective on John?
3. Why do both 1984 and Brave New World put such an emphasis on the variables of sex?

1984 #1

Those in the Party certainly try many ways to form equality and conformity. They control the history, language, jobs, and even the thoughts of those that live there in Oceania. By not allowing free thought, sex, or an expression of individuality, they're created a sense of conformity where everyone's the same. In the sense of free religion, relationships, and individual rights, there simply aren't any. The people that live there don't get to make the decision of who they're going to worship and believe in, who they can have sex with, and their rights just don't exist. They've created this sense of conformity through many concepts of the Party. They have the telescreen, which promotes propaganda of the Party and how the Thought Police monitor the people's thoughts, the Ministry of Truth, which alters the history of Oceania. I would say that in Oceania, so far, we see a dystopia. The Party is making attempts to create a happy, ideal world for the people to live in, but all they've done is restrict every right that men are born with. For example, Winston finds, "war is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength", which we can put into our own perspective and look at ourselves. Our society, although it's certainly not a uptopia, recognizes war as unpeaceful, freedom as a right and privilege, and ignorance as a bad aspect. These meanings put forth by the Party show that their society is certainly not a utopia.

"Communist Utopia" by Thomas Hornug

1. The only aspect of this painting that really indicates communism are the eyes in the sky and the wall. communism is the idea of being censored and constantly watched. The eyes represent this because they're watching everything that happens.
2. The artist clearly doesn't approve of or support communism. The streets are all dark and dreary, which is represented by the dark gray colors. The trees don't have any leaves on them, which shows the absence and lack of freedom in that society. You can't see the face of the man: he's the same as everyone else, which is a goal of communism.
3. The title means that it's a utopia for the communists: the ones in power. In a world of communism, it's a perfect world: everyone and everything being watched and monitored.

**After discussing more in class, I understand the communism being more of an economic system and more ideas about the painting.

"Don't You Want Me" by the Human League

1. The subject matter is the relationship between a man and a woman. A lot of it involves what the woman becomes after she meets him. The subject matter is the same for both perspectives.
2. The difference is that the man's perspective is a little more desperate and needy than the woman. The woman is more teasing and not actually wanting to be in the relationship as much as the guy. She's a little more independent than the guy.
The man thinks that he's responsible for everything that she's made successful. The woman thinks that without him, she would've gotten far anyways but needs time to live her own life, "But now I think it's time I lived my life on my own".
3. I side more with the girl because she's trying to be more independent but still caring for the guy. But, I also side with the guy because he feels like they should still feel for each other, after he was there for her for so long. I understand both points of view.

Brave New World #2

1. In the eyes of the government, what does a good citizen consist of?
Throughout reading Brave New World, you understand that there are many ideas of what the good characteristics of a citizen are in this society. I would say that someone who is consistently happy is the perfect idea of a great citizen. The goal of a utopia is to promote happiness and coercion among the people involved in the society. If happiness and equality is already promoted within the government, then the idea of a perfect person is someone who’s happy and eager to go along with the government. This also includes someone who’s perfectly conditioned to do what the government wishes, never rebelling against anything, which includes taking soma. All of this shows the main goal of the government, as shown, "And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their inescapable social destiny.""
2. Why do they let people go out on the reservation?
I would assume that the reason they let the people go out on the reservation is that it reinforces the happiness that the government has created for them. They only let the very smart, top Alphas go out there, and it's a matter of ethos. If these people go out and see the savages on the reservation, they're going to know that they were grateful for the life that was created for them in their utopia. If the most credible come back and tell the rest of the people and castes how bad of a place it was, they're just going to believe them. Also, the government allows them to go out on the reservation not only to let them look at how happy they really are, but to reinforce the power to the government and encourage more support than before.
3. Why does the story put such a great emphasis on sex and the relationships?
I believe that the author really wanted to show the differences between cultures. Like discussed in the novel, there was confusion as to what sex really meant: was it to reproduce, enjoy, or just have? It's something that doesn't just die down, it's a constant motif throughout the book. I think that the author included all of this discussion and debate to show his own views. Many cultures don't have the same values on sex as American society, especially at the time written, and his views were supposed to help enlighten others about other perspectives.

Othering

1-3: The overall tone of all three parts is death-like. Many words create this tone, such as dark, gloomy, trembled, tragic, formidable silence, dusk, grotesque, quivered, and deathlike.
4: The tone is of someone who's scared. The tone doesn't change a whole lot. I think the narrator does this to show the contrast between the two cultures.
Benefits of othering: Sometimes these companies manufacture these ideas of the others so their trades/exports suffer and the manufacturing company looks better.

Emic Perspectives

1. The emic perspective is a realistic point of view from the inside of the culture. Its benefits are knowing the real information and ways the culture does it. The etic perspective is the 'outisder' perspective, where there's no way in to the actual culture. There may be parts of information that the researcher learns, but this may not actually be true to the culture. Its benefits are being able to compare it to other cultures and the differences/similarities. I would say that emic is better because it's a way into the culture and the truth.
2. These rules exist so there's a way to determine that a piece of writing is an ethnography and to be able to to compare different ethnographies.

"Rain on the Scarecrow" by John Mellencamp

1. This song is about abuse within a family. There used to be someone for him, but now he doesn't have anyone or anything. There's no hope for the son; there's blood on the plow. The boy is stuck, like a scarecrow in the rain.
2. Abuse in families is a conflict of this song.
3. Mellencamp used the rainy scarecrow to symbolize physical and/or sexual abuse and a person that can't escape the problem.
4. There weren't many specific connotations and word choices that made the song what it was. But 'blood' was a word that showed pain and hurt in someone.
5. I think the author of the song is on the side that feels like there's no hope after abuse and that a person who's suffered from this past can't rise above it. We see the author more on the side of the abuser and the one abused.

Claims about George Orwell

1. Orwell fears that if there isn't a strong community of organized people with opposing opinions, we will eventually have a totalitarian government.
2. Orwell opposed totalitarianism and communism.

Brave New World #1

The people of this society are certainly not choosing their own pathways in their lives, however, it's not a distopia. Everything in their society is controlled and conditioned in an orderly manner. Each social class is determined at 'hatching', where they're told all their lives that this is what was meant to be and there's no reason for them to ever argue with what they're told. The people of this society believe that they were made this way for a reason and there's nothing they can do about it. Also, they've been so conditioned over their lives since they were tiny children that the ways they know are the only ways they'll ever know and it's been justified in their minds ever since. For example, Betas have expressions that are known to them and that they keep with them for the rest of their lives, "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta."  I would assume from reading this so far that it's a utopia. Everyone in their own caste is equal, and everyone is happy, which is the main goal of a perfect utopia.

1984 #3

I would say that by the end of the story, Big Brother has won. O'Brien's ultimate goal was to get Winston to leave Julia behind and give up the resistance, and that's exactly what he did. We, as the audience, can assume that Big Brother's main goal is to receive support and conformity from the people of Oceania. Because at the end of the story, Winston learned to love and support him, Big Brother has won, which wasn't what was expected or wanted by the readers, which is clearly supported through, "But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother." I think that at the end of the novel, Winston simply just lives his life as anyone else did at the time. I believe that he went along with whatever the Party told him to, just like any other citizen. Or maybe, Winston's rebellions were to influence others later on down the line, as quoted from Chapter

Love Language

1. She was deaf.
2. The girl was deaf and the guy wasn't. It would be hard for them to have a strong relationship because she would never be able to hear him. She's grown up adapting to this culture and it's a conflict between hearing and not hearing.
3. She can't hear and he can.
4. This could be an internal conflic with the man because he couldn't know whether to go forth with this relationship.
5. The conflict wasn't really resolved because she's still deaf, but we could see in the video that they were communicating through writing.

This Land is Your Land

**I was absent this day and am making up the work.

I believe that Guthrie's message is somewhat of an individualist one. It may sound like a positive, patriotic song, but if you look into the lyrics, you realize that it's an individualist ideal. He's saying 'you and me', but he wants to leave the land that he lives in. He wonders why 'his people' are all standing in line for welfare and why they're all hungry. He doesn't want to believe that his country of freedom and great opportunities is actually giving its people these bad things. In the song, he's pretty anti-government as he protests the way his country is going.

The Egg

Before the father was married, he was a cheerful and kindly man, as stated by the narrator. The father became a father after he was married. He and the mother both became very ambitious in life.
The narrator feels bad for the chickens somewhat, but still blames his bad childhood on the chickens ruining it.
The narrator also says that because so many things died on their farm every day, he wasn't optimistic about life. He said 'death was a daily visitor'.

American Friendships

Many cultures think American friendships are superficial because of the fact that Americans value independence. This value controls a lot of why Americans do things. It's a feeling of reciprocity that makes Americans feel like their friendships are a 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours'. Other cultures believe that friendships go much deeper than that and that one should lean on one's friends for help, not outside sources.

Collectivists vs. Individualists

1. In a collectivist culture, team work, being in agreement, and equality are all ideal personality traits. Originality, hard work, and unique ideas are all ideal in an individualistic culture.
2. I think this is part of a collectivist society. Like they mentioned, a nail that's sticking up will be hammered down. Being knocked down because of one's individual ideas is a theme in a collectivist society.
3. If Mr. Behler was a teacher from a collectivist culture and had his own child in his class, he would most likely favor the student in the classroom with special benefits because they're family. The value of family would clash in the individualistic culture because that would be unfair special treatment.
4. An acquaintance is someone whom you're sort of friends with, sort of not. It's kind of like a peer; it has a relatively positive/neutral connotation.

1984 #2

Winston isn't buying what Big Brother and the State are putting forward because he's starting to think logically and make sense of it all. When he wonders about these things that the government is saying and is skeptical of it all, he realizes that maybe the government's not right and wonders why so many people follow it. Throughout it all, he's protesting the Party and his acts of defiance are indeed protests. The difference between Winston's protests and the modern day protests is that modern protests aren't trying to completely overrule the government all at once and are doing so in a way that's legal in our law system. Protesting in the setting of 1984 was illegal, forbidden, and they were going completely against the government, not just parts of it.

"2+2=5" by Radiohead

1. This song is mostly about feeling trapped and stuck in a world where the speaker can't control what's going on. The speaker is completely unsure of what to think about his world and what to do about it. He complains about paying attention because when you think everything's fine and you stop paying attention to what authority's doing, they can change it on you.
2. The music behind the lyrics feels very creepy and weird. It gives off a feeling of confusion and being lost.
3. This relates to 1984 in how they change the basic things and principles of life, but Winston can't do anything about it because he doesn't have the power or authority.

Islam at Yale

1. The external conflict is that globalization is one-sided, and she talks about the head scarf for the most part.
2. Globalization only applies to one side and one part of the world. The head scarf symbolizes the oppression towards Muslims in America. Globalization doesn't include everyone because Western culture is one of the only societies that impacts the rest of the world and 'globalizes' other cultures.
3. One benefit of this type of globalization is the role models from Western culture.
4. The Quran and the Bible are two sources to follow.

Utopia

1. A utopia is the ideal place and the perfect world. It's what people imagine to be the best thing/place they could go, where their life is perfect.
2. My ideal world would probably be this world. I hate trying to come up with what would be perfect. I mean, if I were to say that my utopia were to have a perfect life, it'd come back to bite me in the butt at some point. If my life were perfect, then my life would be boring; everyone writes about how a perfect life is worse than somewhat of a messed up life, because "perfect is boring".
3. Very laid back music would be my type of utopia music. Not really sure how to describe that, but that would be my utopian-type music.

"Chuck Baird"

1. The artist likes people.
2. African-American culture
3. The artist values the culture of African-Americans.

"You Were Right" by Built to Spill

1. Through the lyrics, we can infer that they were written at a time when the writer was depressed or going through a hard time. All the song talks about is how everything sucks for the most part. He says "...after the thrill of living is gone." The inference is that the author is depressed/suicidal.
2. The musical content of the song was created with a drumset in the background and we can infer that because of what we hear from the song.
3. The writer could've made the song a lot calmer, but he chose for the song to be loud and with those instruments to express his feelings. If he's depressed, then you'd think he'd be sad, allowing for a quieter, more flat kind of sound. But it looks like he's saying that it's the end for him, and it's kind of a mess for him. He's frustrated at his feelings and mad at his life, and that's why he made those musical choices for these lyrics.

"Young Life" by Bo Bartlett

1. The man likes to hunt: he has a gun.
2. The man and woman are in love: They're hugging.
3. The boy hates his parents: He's standing away from his parents.

From the painting 'Young Life', we can make several assumptions about the lives of those in the picture. Obviously, the boy and the man and woman don't have a great relationship. The artist portrayed this by placing the boy even further away from his parents. The space between them shows how he wants to be away from them, physically and emotionally. Also, the boy in the painting is holding a stick as if it were a gun. Even though the boy can't and won't shoot his parents, the unconscious thoughts of his holding a 'gun' represent his hatred toward his parents and how defensive he has to feel when he's around them. Bartlett made these choices to show the weak relationship of the son and parents, referring to maybe a bad childhood of his own.

"Shame"

1. The subject is shame and the tone is hopeful.
2. 'Boatloads', 'I swear', 'strutted'
     In the song, it seems like it's just kind of there, it's not really sad, mad, or happy. He's just showing his feelings and putting them in an easy way to understand, and this is why I think he used 'boatloads', 'I swear', and 'strutted'. They're general words that don't really have a positive or negative connotation, and that's how they set the tone.

Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out

SOAPSTone- Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out

Meredith Scroggin

Subject

The subject of Dave Barry’s Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is the difference between men and women. This difference is illustrated through women always wanting to clean and men always wanting to watch sporting events. Men don’t see dirt like women do and women don’t want to watch sports like men do.

Occasion

Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out was written in 1988. The essay’s time of creation is displayed by the author putting such a great emphasis on the World Series when that’s not usually the sport men care most about. The probable place of the essay’s creation is wherever he wanted it to be created.

The time and place of the essay’s creation influence the essay in no way at all and is irrelevant to his main points.

Audience

Barry’s specific audience for Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is adults, probably married, with a sense of humor. The audience is identified by dealing with issues that usually only adults would deal with. Anyone could benefit from this essay just because it’s so funny. It’s expressed through his humor.

Purpose

Barry’s purpose in Batting Clean-Up and Striking Out is to entertain the audience. There isn’t any real reason to write such a funny essay except for the fact that it makes people laugh. Part of the humor starts off in the first paragraph when he says “Babies of both sexes have a very low awareness of dirt, others than to think it tastes better than food.” This kind of quote gives it a humorous tone, making the purpose to entertain.

Speaker

Dave Barry, a columnist, believes we should laugh. This value is illustrated through his humor and how he tries to make us laugh while reading his piece.

Dave Barry, a humorist, thinks that men and women are very different. This value is illustrated by how he explains the differences between men and women, shown in the essay.

Tone

Dave Barry exhibits a humorous tone and attitude about the differences between men and women in his essay. These attitudes are expressed by his many jokes throughout the piece.  His tone is humorous, meaning to entertain, and they all link together in this fantastic way.

"American Tones"

   I think that voice in literature is your own way of talking and expressing things. Like, when you're speaking verbally, everyone has their own voice. Sometimes voices can be similar, but sometimes they're incredibly different, and I think this is true in literature as well.
    I don't think people intentionally create voices, it's just kind of who they are as a writer. They do this because that's how they are and what they've been around. Maybe we can tell where a writer is from, what their opinions are, what their age is all because of their voice.
    Voice distinguishes writers from each other and that's what makes writing so interesting. Different pieces of writing have different voices based on who the writer is and that's what makes it so significant.

Eleanor Rigby

1. I like the original version better than the first one. It was easier to listen to the words and it sounded a lot more positive. That type of music is what I like a lot more than the second one.
2. I thought that the originial was a lot more aesthetically pleasing than the PAIN song. The PAIN song sounds scary and it's just easier to listen to the Beatles.

Kadinsky vs. Pollock

1. I like the Kadinsky piece more than the Pollock. It's cooler looking because it has different colors and shapes and it feels like there's more to look into than just the shapes. It seems like there was more of a thinking process that went into it than the other one.
2. I think that the Pollock painting is more pleasing to look at. Even though it has darker, 'grosser' colors, you don't have to think much about it to look at it. It's more pleasing to look at because there wasn't as much thinking in it and looks the same throughout.

'Sign Language'

1. There are many little things that we don't see.
2. -That all the people holding signs know each other.
    - Ben is into the girl but the girl doesn't know.
    - There's beauty all around that we don't know about.
3. I don't think the guy should have explained as much as he did. If they were to just show the things they did, the single effect would've had more of an impact. I think that it means a lot with just the signs and that would've taken away all the clutter of what he was saying.

Harry Nilsson 'Good Old Desk'

S- Desk/God
O- 1972/3
A- General audience
P- Expressive
S- Harry Nilsson
Tone- Positive
    He's probably talking about someone who's not dependable or caring, but of course, his desk is dependable and hasn't ever hurt him. He can always count on his good old desk to be there for him.
Three instances of symbolism:
- "To keep my hopes alive"
- "It's always there"
- "A giant of all times"

Shooting an Elephant

SOAPSTone- Shooting an Elephant

Meredith Scroggin

Subject

The subject of George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is a man trying to make a decision. The conflicted man is illustrated through him making up his mind to shoot the elephant. He’s a man in a foreign country trying to make a decision of what to do with the wild elephant.

Occasion

Shooting an Elephant was written during a time of imperial power in Britain. The essay’s time of creation is illustrated when he explains that “[he] did not even know that the British empire [was] dying”. During this time period was when he wrote it and imperialism was rising. The probable place of the essay’s creation is in Burma. Orwell explains the Burmese and the people of Burma in his essay.

The time and place of the essay’s creation influence the essay by how effective the piece was. The very first sentence sets off the occasion of when and where he was writing it. He wrote this piece to explain his emotions for imperialism, and the fact that imperialism was happening where and when he was when he wrote this played a large role in how he wrote it.

Audience

George Orwell’s specific audience for Shooting an Elephant is people living in Britain at the time. The author’s target audience is identified by him explaining the thoughts and emotions of the people living there at the time. This support explains how the political issues affected his decisions and thoughts at the time to write for this audience that would be influenced by his writing.

The author’s general audience for the essay is the people that understand the political messages underlying in the piece. The author’s general audience is expressed by Orwell explaining how people didn’t like him because of his job. This support reveals the audience because everyone can relate to it.

Purpose

George Orwell’s purpose in Shooting an Elephant is to express his opinions about imperialism. His wanting to share his opinions is illustrated by “there were endless discussions about the shooting of the elephant.” The quote explains the controversy and abundance of opinions at the time. There were so many ideas and opinions at the time, and the shooting of the elephant was just one example.

Speaker

George Orwell, an English journalist, doesn’t believe in imperialism. This value is illustrated by him hating his job. His job was provided by an imperialist society and he hated it.

Orwell, one for social awareness, didn’t believe it was his job to shoot the elephant. This value is illustrated by him hesitating to shoot it. It explained his hatred of imperialism.

Tone

Orwell shows a strong and opinionated attitude about imperialism in Shooting an Elephant. These attitudes are expressed by his many symbols and feelings and emotions. They help explain his feelings toward these political subjects.

Art Response Journal

Introductory paragraph
    At the beginning of the 1950's, there were a lot of things happening. It was after WWII and from the 50's to the 70's, there were many social changes and movement in America. People of all sorts wanted rights and change in their country. Whether it be the civil rights movement or women's movement, people wanted change, and this sense of fighting for what you believed in dealt with looking to the future and not the past. But when you look at Rockwell's painting, those powerful, moving emotions aren't what you feel. Instead, you get the sense that they want the way things were: simple and easy. The people in his painting were satisfied with their lives and weren't fighting for change. Rockwell's "The Runaway" overlooks the fundamental rift that was rising in America throughout the 1950's- an emerging counter culture that was not concerned with how things were, but rather how they are.

"Across the Universe" by the Beatles

1. "A million suns"
    "Sounds of laughter, shades of life...exciting and inviting me."
    "Words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup."
2. Where he says that words are flying out like endless rain into a paper cup, I imagine words shooting out of a paper cup. Even though that's not what he said, that's what I imagine. I think it's a symbol for when you blab out words and just keep talking.
    An angel has always been a symbl of perfection and peace.

Grammar Portfolio #1

Sentence I missed: "We started off the trip in great spirits."
Problem: I didn't know which to choose on this question, but 'in great spirits' seemed to be the best choice. I am having trouble using prepositions correctly in sentences while writing. I understand when and where to use a preposition, but not which one necessarily.
Interpretation: When I said 'in great spirits', that would literally mean inside of great spirits. The meaning of the sentence is to show that that 'we' were happy and glad about the trip, but being inside of great spirits isn't what was supposed to be used. The correct usage would be to use the word 'having'. This would signify that we had great spirits by the beginning of the trip.
Correction: change 'in' to 'having': "We started off the trip having great spirits."

"Semeadores" by Diego Rivera

S- Two men working in the field
O- This was painted during the Mexican Revolution by a Hispanic artist.
A- Working class
P- To try to create emotions in the audience and give a new perspective in the history that was being made
S- Diego Rivera, a communist who was working to persuade during this time period
Tone- I think that Rivera was trying to express a different approach and different thoughts to what was going on by showing these workers and I think that he's trying to show how tough their lives are

 I think that the artist's obvious theme is about the Mexican Revolution and working during that time period. He used colors that all blended together and weren't very distinct. You can't see the faces of the workers in the field and that's supposed to resemble that they're just a portion of these many workers. The lines drawn of the workers and of the field all blend together, which can attribute to maybe them being just part of the field and not being treated like actual people, which was what Rivera was trying to express.

Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis

    The overall feel of the song is very upbeat and positive. It's one of those songs that just makes me smile. It's easy to listen to, even if you don't hear the words very well.
    The constant beat of the song is very fast, and the guitar (I guess) put off that vibe. The instruments used in the song put off that vibe to the music, making it upbeat.
    The musician had to first decide what he wanted his song to sound like and how he wanted to protray it before he made those choices on how to create thesong. He had to choose the tempo, the instruments, pitches, dynamics, lyrics, etc.

Wilco song creations

1. For Wilco, they were saying that they all have to be in the room at the same time and they work completely together on it. One of the guys said that they come up with something and then reconstruct it again and again until they get something they like and are satisfied with.
2. I've never really thought about what my creative process for writing is, but I think it varies based on what kind of thing I'm writing. For example, for this type of writing, I kind of just write down everything I think of and then go back and organize it (if I can). But if I'm writing an essay or something, I write down possible ideas, and then go back and write out a detailed outline about what it will be.

Nostalgia

1. I'm not really sure what nostalgia is at all.
2. The first things I think of are two movies: Grease and Back to the Future. Not really sure why I think of Back to the Future, but probably because of the scenes where they have the dance and start playing different types of music. Then, it makes me think of Grease where they have the dance contest and Danny and Sandy are together. Then, listening to the song even more, I remembered that my grandpa made me a CD a long time ago of old songs with this one on it.
-- (New song) This song reminds me of my mom for some reason. I think of her when I was little in her big sweaters and she listened to this kind of stuff sometimes, too. I think of Patsy Cline, and I would always put Patsy Cline and my mom together because there was an album cover with Patsy Cline on it that resembled my mother. Again, this song reminds me of my mom.
3. A lot of people say that they miss their childhood, but really, I don't. I really didn't like elementary school and my childhood. There was nothing wrong, really, but that was my complete awkward stage. I was the nerdy, 'big' girl, and I was never the kid to play house, or with dolls, or play outside or anything. So when I think of my childhood, I guess I think of being at my grandparents' house on the weekends sometimes and getting ready for bed with my brothers and sister. They'd always take us out to eat or go do fun things, and that's what I remember a lot of. Also, it reminds me of the pool in the summer. When we were little, we would go to the YMCA pool every day with our family friends for the entire day. My mom would pack lunches and we'd have 15 chairs or so saved for all of our friends.

"A Pinch of Poverty"

1. I think that a lot of what contributes to poverty is just chance. Anyone can lose their job quickly, anyone can grow up in a poor household, and there are a lot of environmental factors that contribute to poverty. But, I also believe that being careful can help prevent it. A careful, smart person doesn't necessarily make a lot of money, they're careful to save it, use it wisely, and have back up options in case something goes wrong. But for someone to grow up where that's not evident,  it's difficult to get out of that trap.
2. I think that this artist obviously portrays poverty in this as negative, and that the title 'A Pinch of Poverty' really shows a lot. It shows that it can happen to anyone, and theis mother and children are just a 'pinch' of the rest of poverty. It's sad to see just the mother and her children (no father) but also displays how they're innocent victims and argues against how many think poverty is caused upon themselves.
3. I think the artist is trying to get across that poverty can happen to anyone and that it's not from being lazy.
4. A.) The colors are very dark, dull, and sad. It shows poverty as negative.
    B.) I feel like the bars and lines of the gates behind them show how they're somewhat trapped into poverty.

Poverty Reading Response Blog

   Based on the two articles that we read, there are obviously some differing opinions of the issue of poverty in our world. One author, Chitra Divakaruni, argued that even though we may still be able to try to fix something, it's not always the best idea. It's easy for us, living in America, to point out that child labor is wrong, but in other countries, knowing that they have a job and security is better than going without food at all. Even if there weren't child labor laws in these third world countries, the children there wouldn't necessarily be happy and free all the time. Even though we can do as much as we'd like to believe that we're helping children that live in poverty, we may be doing nothing at all, as he pointed out: "A bill like the one we've just passed is of no use unless it goes in hand with programs that will offer a new life to these newly released children." These children won't have anything, not even a job, if they were to have laws against child labor, and it's not using our time or money wisely.
    Peter Singer, the author of 'The Singer Solution to World Poverty', had some very interesing and controversial points made throughout it. Singer tried to show how easy it is to give money to donate and save a child instead of spending money and income on luxuries. He says that even though we have no personal connection to those in third world countries and would most likely like to spend the money not used on necessities on nice things, "whatever money you're spending on luxuries, not necessities, should be given away." But just how far do you go with your money; what's enough of a sacrifice for you to still be able to sustain your life normally or save a child with $200? I thought that this article was nice and different because it pulled out many counterpoints and then argued with their side again.
    Coming from a well off household with a steady income in modern America, I have a strong bias towards the first article, 'Live Free and Starve', and against 'The Singer Solution to World Poverty'. In my family, like many families, I have bought things that I just wanted, not necessarily needed, and I believe that it's perfectly okay. I work for my own money, and if I want to spend it luxuriously, I do, which is the same for my parents (except they're obviously more cautious and save more). So coming from that kind of background, I think that I agree a lot more with the first article about not knowing if our time, money, and concerns will actually help those in poverty. I think that this is because maybe I'm making excuses for myself and what I do, but my opinion still stands more in line with 'Live Free and Starve'.

"Round and Round"

In the song "Round and Round", I think that my facts somewhat influence my opinion. For instance, I thought the song was somewhat odd, and that could be because of how much it changed in the middle with the mix of the many voices. I think that because I don't listen to this type of music personally, I picked out the parts of the song that are different from the type I like. I don't think I have much of a bias, but my opinion did play somewhat of a part of what I picked out.