Political Satire and Postmodern Irony

This reading reminded me a lot of a theme we studied in high school. It discussed satire and irony of today. Satire reaches it goal of shocking the audience. So this leaves the audience or viewer with the question: Is this just for entertainment or is there a deeper meaning? Is there a deeper goal or is the producer’s goal to purely entertain?

What is Art For?

Art is like play in many ways. In this article, Dissanayake discusses art involved with evolutionary biology. The two stories I read were interesting and it is hard to write an ending for them. However, they are all similar in a way that the main characters seem crazy or thoughts aren’t straight. Play helps kids use their imagination. Therefore, that is how it ties in with art. I liked how he mentioned play was unplanned. Play  just happens and it goes with the flow.

Are Schools Suffocating Creativity?

Robinson discusses some points about creativity. He tells scenarios and conversations of people. He believes creativity should be just as important in education as literacy. I feel that classes should not be split into age groups because not every one learns the same from year to year. Also, not all kids should be put on ADHD medications because it is suffocating creativity also. I mean yes some kids really need it, but then you are just hiding their true selves.

Spend Money Like It Matters

My opinion of merit-pay is that it is a good system. This system does have its negatives and positives, but the positives outweigh the negatives to me. This system, if used correctly, will help schools excel. Not only would schools excel, but they would excel during times where other systems are on a decline. Other things mentioned were the equality of pay compared to employee’s productivity. I believe that people should get paid on their productivity; however, it is hard to determine employee’s productivity. Tests seem like the answer to this, but that is not always the case. Just like people learn differently, they would obviously test differently. Therefore, this would not work to determine productivity. This is only my opinion on this weeks topic though.

Performance Enhancing Drugs

The article begins by introducing the Olympics. Then goes on to discuss drugs combined with cheating. Also, how if taking drugs would be fair or not. The article mentions possibly reasons for taking an enhancing drug – becoming wealthy, simply excelling, or being successful. Overall, this is a topic that has multiple sides. However, I choose to not take a side. I think if they were allowed to everyone, sport events would be more amazing to watch because athletes would be performing outstandingly. Also, there would be no worries to who is or is not taking a drug. Everyone would be allowed, so there would be no need for testing. On the other hand, it would be hard to determine who really is the “best” out there. I believe if people have naturally occurring “genetic mutations” that are an advantage, then that should be okay. In the end, this will probably be a topic that will always be debatable.

Campus Security

Morningside staff have informed me about the security very well; so I do not have very many questions. However, I do wonder where I can and cannot park? Also, are there cameras anywhere? One story I heard involving campus security was my friend parked in a wrong spot for less than 3 minutes to go check his mail, and when he came back he had a ticket. Also, another girl said she got a ticket and the very same day when she went to pay, she ran into the security office to pay and when she came back out, there was another ticket on her car. Those are the only stories I heard and I don’t wonder about any other things about security.

Trauma

This article discussed the researching area of memory and the brain. It suggested many different solutions to forgetting tragic events. From simply talking it out to taking different types of drugs. A few points that I found interesting were the talking it out part; I had a tragic event happen to me and talking it out didn’t work. I guess that is why the article showed various ways of “forgetting.” It just points out that all people deal with events in different manners. Also, only certain ways work for certain people. I found, too, that the fact that there was a compound researchers found. That the act of remembering will possibly be a choice in the near future. So with this in the process of growing, research in this area should keep advancing positively.

What’s “manly?”

1.) Summary: The first of the two articles discussed what people thought was manly. They used Sergio Romo as an example. He chose family over career. They used him as an example for the internal view of the world. They didn’t just point out his “bad” decision because his decision was wise. The second reading stated many points. These points ranged from ethnicity to gender to televised sport combinations. 2.) The first article was interesting because in the beginning it asked men only to look at themselves; but me being a women had a chance to look in at men-to-men thoughts. Obviously women’s views are going to be different; and obviously I’m going to agree with Romo’s choice. The second reading had a lot of interesting points in it. However, it is sad to see that women do not have jobs with in the televised sport stations and shows. Also, I don’t really understand why ethnicity is such a big deal. What does it matter if a white or black being televises something. Just my thoughts on that part.

Health Care

1) Summary: Understanding Heath-Care reform was an action I wasn’t able to do until after reading this article. The article discussed many facts about people who would be affected by proposals on the table. It mentioned the percentages of people getting health benefits from their jobs, buying health insurance on the open market, being covered by Medicaid and/or Medicare, firms offering health benefits, and lacking health insurance coverage completely. 2) The one point that caught my attention is the comparison between the constitution and the health-care reform. The constitution wasn’t perfect at first so give the health-care reform a chance. Building on the good of the reform sounds like a great idea. People need to stop focusing on the bad and focus on the good. Yes, I know you can’t ignore the problems, but giving this reform a chance isn’t a bad idea.

The Future of Chocolate

1) Summary: Of course, we all know that chocolate is an extremely favorable treat. Therefore, it is safe to say that the demand for it is growing. This articles points states that chocolate is derived from cocoa powder made from seeds of the cacao tree. From there it goes on to point out that the cacao tree is under threat from surrounding factors. For example, climate change and pests are threatening this precious tree. However, researchers and scientists are focusing on helping this fragile tree through selective breeding, farmer education, and novel planting, irrigation and pest-management techniques. 2) I am a huge fan of chocolate and to find out that it is at risk of not existing anymore frightens me. I mean, I’m sure someone in the world would find a substitution. However, it would not ever taste the same as real chocolate. I believe farmer education alone would help greatly in helping the cacao tree. So when putting all these methods and techniques together, the cacao tree would be able to “last” longer than predicted.