Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Non-verbal Communication

The episode where no one could talk in Buffy the Vampire Slayer was quite interesting. They used many ways to communicate with one another. They mainly used body language to show the person they were trying to communicate with, what they were trying to say. That was quite funny actually as there were many misinterpretations. They also used a pencil and a notepad, or a white board and markers to write down what they were trying to say. They also used eye contact to try and understand one another. They also made sounds as well whenever necessary. They mainly had to assume or guess what the other person was thinking or trying to say so it was a good thing that they knew each other particularly well, otherwise they would have had a much harder time trying to communicate with on another.

About Sex and the City Episode

In this particular episode of Sex in the City, most of the women were portrayed as easy, or sluts. The main character and the narrator of the show, had sex with her bisexual boyfriend I bleive after 2 or 3 dates. Miranda employed a new worker mainly because she found him attractive. She then later fired him in the episode so she could have sex with him. The character that dressed up as a man, had sex with her photographer when she first met him. I forgot their names so please bare with me. The character who had her boyfriend living with her, was portrayed as the man of the relationship, not taking into account her boyfriends feelings. It was later reveiled that the reason she was acting like that was because she was scared of loosing him.
I find it sort of funny how women complain about the way they're portrayed when they enjoy shows that portray them as slutty. That's not to say all woman act like these particular characters. But if women really wanted shows that depicted them negatively, of the air, a lot of their favorite shows they watch would be missing from tv. The men's role in this episode I found strange. One of them portrayed men as confused but outgoing with the bisexual. Another man was portrayed as weak and dependant on the woman seeing as how he always stayed at her apartment. The worker Miranda hired was more common as he came off as an asshole, which most women label men as. The photographer could be considered a hoe but at the same time a player as well as he got a woman he barely knew to sleep with him. The gender roles in Sex in the City are a bit different from reality, but you can still find some relations within the show.

Hair

This particular reading was about a mother's hair, as the title states. Her hair has not been touched for a long time, since her marriage. She wondered what kind of hairstyle she should get or what she should do with her hair. Her husband never really touched her hair at all. This reading makes it seem like hair is very important to many women. It also helps show their feminine side and differentiates them from men. Of course their breasts do to, but their long hair also helps as well.It goes on to talk about other peoples hair and the many different hairstyles available to many different women. Again I'm a bit confused as to why we're reading things like this, but it was a good read all in all. It wasn't really interesting to me mainly because I am a guy, but the reading was good though, well decent.

The Disposable Rocket

In this particular passage, it primarily focused on the male body and guys as a sexual race. I honestly didn't really think anything much of this reading. I actually wondered why I had to read it. I found it a bit confusing because this is a Language class, not a health class. But the reading focused on the male body and compared certain body parts to other things. It also spoke of the many different functions and how the male body is nowhere nearly as complex as the females body, which I agree with and is an obvious observation.

Reflection on Mad Men episode

In that episdode of Mad Men, there were many forms of advertising evident that the company came up with to display to the general public. One of the methods discussed was reverse physcology. In this particular episode, the reason they were trying to come up with a new slogan, or advertisement, is because of the publics fear of cigarettes being dangerous and unhealthy. So one of the ways to change this was by saying, "yea it causes death, but so does vehicles when people are involved in crashes.... you're going to die any way, just enjoy life before you die". It was something like that, but the owner of the company didn't particularly like that method. Another method I remember, was comparing competitors cigarettes, to their own cigarette and labeling their cigarette as the best one on the market.
The gender roles were, the men ran the show, and the women were more of the supporters. That is why he got offended when that one particular woman of power yelled at him, because women were considered inferior to men in business then, and they still are unfortunately. One of the ways women were able to move up in business, was to sleep with someone that had the higher power within the company. That actually still goes on today, but not as much as it did in the past. Women were basically expected to give men sex as well, it seems like it was a common thing back in the 1960's for a woman to give up sex to a man easily. Now we have to work for it in most cases. Women are definentley more looked at in the business industry as a person of power as well. In most cases, women are treated with respect. Men are still considered superior to women in large companies, and most businesses, but women are treated with far more respect now than then.

Sex in the Media

Is there really to much sex in the media? To be honest, the amount of sex in the media is fine to me. Maybe not perfectly fine, but there is not too much or too little, the amount of sex in the media is just right. When I was a ten year old child, not many children were having sex at that age. But when I think about it, I heard all my classmates talk about sex when they hit puberty, which was around 13 or 14 years old. So basically, children are still engaging in sex when they hit puberty apparently, it just happens to be at a younger age now. Let's face it, sex is a part of human life. It isn't appropriate for people under the age of 17 to have sex, but if I had a 14 year old child, I would rather them have sex than to kill another human being if I had to choose. Sex isn't necessarily harmless, but it's just part of life. Parents just need to do a better job of regulating what their children watch on television. Don't put cable on your child's television that they have in their room. Put pornographic blockers on the family computer or be there when your child uses the computer if you have the time.
If your child does view pornography, it may warrant concern depending on their age. I believe if they're over 15 or 16, I don't think you should be too concerned because it's simply a part of living and that is a perfect time for them to find that out. Parents should also talk to their children more to build a connection with them so that when and if they view pornography or see anything involving sex, their child will feel comfortable discussing it with them. It is extremely hard for an adult to stop a child from viewing sexual activities or engaging in any form of sexual intercourse. It is almost inevitable, so instead of trying to find ways to block it, I think we should ease it into their lives at an appropriate age. If sex is approached towards our cildren in an appropriate manner, maybe they won't want to engage in sexual activities. I believe part of the reason why kids even think about having sex, is because we try our best to hide it from them and label it as something wrong. As a child, they're going to want to engage in something mommy says not to do out of curiousity as to why they shouldn't do it. I'm not saying we should tell children to have sex, but I believe when we talk about sex to children, instead of saying don't do it, I believe we should talk about it in a serious manner and say, when you feel your ready for sex, talk to me about it again.
Sex is natural, it is the human way of reproduction, and it makes us feel good to, if it's done in the right way or with the right intentions of course. If anything, there is too much violence on television than sex. A lot more violence is shown than sexual scenes on tv. So it's okay for our children to pick up a gun and shoot someone. We have a sex talk with children, but how come we don't have a talk about the violence they view, or the violent lyrics they may here in music? Children are able to view actual murder scenes, shootouts, and killings on public television. They may not be as gruesome as cable, but you'll almost never see nudity on public television, but you'll see blood, you'll see a man firing a gun, you may even see a guy killing another person. What does this imply? Don't have sex, ,shoot someone? What kind of encouragement is that for children? I honestly don't know why America makes such a big deal about sex. It is inevitable, you are going to have sex at some point in your life, but are you going to kill someone at some point in your life?
Look at other countries in the world and the commercials they have. Most of them don't edit sex on national television as much as America, so how come they don't have as much young children having sex as in the US. Think about it, at some point you want your children to have kids for themselves as well right, but would you want them to kill someone at some point in their life too? The appropriate age for sex for me is when you believe your ready for sex, but if your child feels like they're ready at the age of 13, ,then you have to talk to them. I don't find having sex at the age of 17, or beyond that age inappropriate. By that age, hopefully your child knows about responsibility. But no matter how old you are, it is absolutely inappropriate for a child, or an adult, to murder another person. Violence should be more offensive than sex, but I believe it is because a majority of this countries history was founded on violence, Americans are less offensive towards violence, than they are towards sex.

Affirmative Action

The definition of Affirmative Action sounds like an idea that will help everyone involved in the law, taking positive steps to increase the representation of women and minorities in areas of employment, education, and business. But to be honest, Affirmative Action probably does more harm than good. I understand what Affirmative Action is trying to do. It's so-called giving people an equal chance, particularly minorities. But in essence, it's technically making things more difficult instead for us all. First and foremost are the women. Affirmative action would do women more help in the past verses the present. In the past, it was much more difficult for a woman to own her own business and they were limited on the jobs they could do. As time passed, constitutions were ammended and the way of life in America slowly changed due to that. In today's world, many women already own their own businesses and are working a variety of jobs. In many work places the number of women who are employed are higher than the number of men. So to me, Affirmative Action sometimes gives jobs to women who don't deserve it. If a man and a woman are applying for the same job, and the man will do a better job than the woman, Affirmative Action would give the job to a woman when she is not as skilled at the job as her male counterpart. What if this is a police officer, a doctor, a stock broker, an accountant, because of Affirmative Action we would get less quality out of that particular service. This not only hurts us, but the businesses as well.
As for the minorities, in a way it is helpful because racism still exists today. It is just not as evident as it was in the history of the US. There are still many minorities that do not get employed because of their race when they are perfectly qualified for the job. So in a way Affirmative Action does clean this part of the US up a bit. But again you have to go back to if it's deserving. Does one African American deserve to go to this highly prestigious college despite the fact that a white man of the same age is a far better student than he is. It is also not treating everyone equally because before a college or a workplace can seriously look at employing people or accepting people for their skills, they have to worry about getting the first ten black and asian people into their business or university. So instead of viewing them as intelligent and a person that is very deserving of the job or occupation at a university, they are looked at as a quota to fill. That doesn't jelp anyone, it only hurts us. In a sense I still agree with this part of Affirmative Action because at least it gaurantees some minorities a chance at a job or attending a particularly difficult university to get into. Overall Affirmative Action is not fair at all and it does more harm than good. America is better of without this law as the times of this country has changed. The struggle for the particular group that it tries to help out, although is still evidently there, is not as difficult as it was in the past.

MLK "I Have A Dream Speech" Reaction

There were many differences between reading and watching the " I have a dream" speech. When I read it, I had to visually depict images in my head about how the area was like and the general atmosphere of the scenery and the people that were at the speech. Watching it, I saw how it actually was so my mind couldn't re-create the visual aspect of the speech. I felt more emotions watching the speech over reading it because I'm more of a visual person. Reading the speech stirred up a lot of emotions like pride, dignity, hope, happiness, and courage. Seeing the actual video only intensified these feelings and even stirred up more feelings inside than before such as hardships, and being greatful and appreciative of the things people like MLK did for my freedom. This speech was very significant for it's time because America was going through a racial struggle. This struggle resulted in violence many times and the fact that MLK preached peaceful freedom instead of solving blacks problems with violence, was a very positive thing.
Many lives were saved because of MLK and this speech was a big part in helping put an end to segregation. The racial climate of the early sixties was very harsh on blacks. African Americans were free but in a sense they were also not free. They didn't have simple rights such as the right to vote, they were placed in the poorly managed parts of public restaurants, and they were over all treated very harsh. Not as harsh as slavery, but the way they were forced to live was definitely unfair. They also had to fear for their lives as the KKK was on the rise in those particular times in history as seen in the movie, "Quantum Leap". I'm sure there were many white people like the main character in the movie that believed that blacks were just as equal as whites. This was the power struggle at that time to give blacks full equal rights. This caused a lot of tension and fear in the racial climate between both races. Both races feared violence was inevitable and it was only a matter of time before something disastrous would happen.
Again that is why the "I have a dream speech" couldn't have come at a better time. It showed the world that African Americans were willing to fight for their equal rights but in a non-violent manner. This helped the world to truly realize the harsh treatment the whites were giving blacks as they finally got to here the struggles blacks went through. They heard the voice of blacks and that made them second guess the way they were treating African Americans. Over time, laws and constitutions were passed that granted all colored people the same equal rights as white people. The "I have a dream speech" played a very significant role in the movement for equal rights. It is partly responsibly for how America is today.

Reaction to LAN 101 Movie

To be honest, I am not that surprised by the movie I saw on Monday. I knew AIDS was and still is a huge epidemic not just in Africa, but all over the world. I was surprised however by the number of people that had AIDS in New York alone. That to me was very shocking and if that number is so high, I can only imagine how high the number is for the infected all over the world. I have always been aware of AIDS but I never necessarily think about it all the time. The movie kind of makes me want to get tested because the people in the movie never suspected a thing. I have never taken any drugs so I don't worry about that. The movie was very deep and it really got me thinking. I hope that the world will address AIDS on a much larger scale than they are addressing it now. The movie was a bit scary to me as well. It's shocking how many people have AIDS and it just makes me wonder how many people in the world are not aware of the fact that the have AIDS.

English-Only Debate

I believe that proper speaking English should be the official language of the United States. I believe it should be the official language because it would bring the entire country closer together. Making business transaction, and engaging in a conversation with one another would be a whole lot easier for everyone. But I still believe that we should accept other languages because diversity is always a good thing and it brings more variety in terms of business to th US. I believe this country should have an official second language as well because it wouldn't be fair if English was the language you had to learn only and you don't have an option to choose another language. Whatever the second official language would be, it would appeal to that particular ethnicity to come to the US. Many other countries have multiple languages and it doesn't really effect them that much so it doesn't really make much sense to me as to why the US would have just one official language. There are some negatives having the US as the official language. Forcing others to learn the English language could be unappealing to foreigners when they think about coming to the United States. Foreigners may loose their natives culture in the process and some may find it a bit discouraging to learn a ne language but I still believe the English language should be the official language of the United States. It would make communication relatively easier.

Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin was the former mayor of Alaska for 2 terms. She is now the vice presidential nominee for John McCain. She also served 2 terms on the Wasilla, Alaska city council. These are all good qualifications but I honestly don't believe that she is qualified to be our vice president. She was the governor of Alaska as well but she was not governor for long. The city she was mayor of had a population of 9,000. She hasn't had power over a large population of people for a long time. Being head of the United States is a much higher level than being mayor of a population of 9,000 people. McCain is old with many health problems so the chances of her taking over aren't relatively low. He hasn't even known her for over 2 years, I'm sure not even he knows everything he needs to know to see if she's most qualified to run our nation should anything happen to him. The people of the US don't know much about her and most people don't even know her views or where she stands. In terms of politics, I believe she is a bit too young and fresh to head the US. She does has experience but not on a large scale.