cth001's blog

This week in honors, we were assigned a few readings that deal with Occupy Wall Street movement and how people are protesting all over the world about it. It’s weird to think that people in foreign countries are giving their thoughts and opinions too. You wouldn’t think they would really care about what is happening here in America a whole lot. I suppose when a major country like the United States goes through a financial crisis, it affects a lot of other powerful too. While the first article was mostly facts about the situation, the second was about interviews with people who are partaking in these protests. Although all of these people’s views on the subject varied person to person, it was clear that they’re all determined to have something changed.

Summary: This weeks reading , Strong Arts, Strong Schools, was about how the funding for art programs in high schools are being reduced and in turn, that money is going towards the science and math departments. The author, Charles Fowler, states that schools that have good art programs therefore have a better overall curriculum. He also states that by having strong art programs, it gives students more options and broadens their view. It requires no right or wrong answer, which allows the students to make their own decisions and come up with solutions to problems in whatever way they find easiest.

Response: I thought this was a fairly interesting article. Personally, I have never really been involved in any art programs; the closest thing was band until my sophomore year and show queer my sophomore and junior year (you can imagine what I thought of it). Since I was never really apart of it, it’s hard for me to have “hands-on” perspective of it. However, based off of the reading, I’d say that it is a great thing for schools to have strong art programs. Nothing but positive things could come from it. The best part about it would be that it broadens one’s view, and helps them to approach tasks from a different perspective. If you can look at something and analyze it from all angles, that is a huge advantage.

Summary: In honors this week, we were given two things that are sort of related to Halloween: and article on urban legends, Vanishing Hitchhiker, and a podcast about hitchhiking. In the podcast, the host describes how hitchhiking has all but disappeared over the years, and his reasons on why this is happening. He says that nowadays, people’s perspectives on hitchhiking are very skeptical. Everyone is afraid to do it, even though statistics show that it is actually a safe way to travel.

Response: When I was a kid, my parents would always harp about the dangers of getting into a stranger’s vehicle, and to me this made perfect sense. Why would I want to ride with someone I didn’t know, especially when I didn’t know their intentions? One of the people interviewed in the podcast said, “When you get into a car with someone, you’re literally putting your life in their hands.” And that’s so true, even if it’s with your best friend. When you first think about it, though, hitchhiking would be a great idea. What would it hurt to tag along, or have someone tag along, if the person has room and is going to the same place as you? Personally, I don’t think I would ever hitchhike to reach a destination. I would only do it if I had another male friend with me (no offense females, but guys are much better fighters).

Summary: In honors this week, instead of being assigned something that deals with beauty, or any theme at all, for that matter, we were assigned a reading that deals with Christmas. The author took a deeper look into one of the most celebrated holidays of the year; he researched how Christmas started, what is was like in early America, and finally present-day Christmas and gift-giving. He goes on to say that Christmas, or the birth of Jesus, anyway, never used to be celebrated. People focused on His death and resurrection instead. He also states that gift-giving was nonexistent. There used to be such things as festivities and great meals, but giving gifts of personal affection didn’t arise until the 1800s.

Response: It is kind of hard for me to believe that Christmas never used to be celebrated, or at least recognized as a great day. How could the day our Savior was born not be a very special day? After reading this, it was also difficult to believe at how much Christmas has changed over the centuries. From not being celebrated at all to being everyone’s favorite time of year, and also from there being little to no gifts given to little to no gifts left in the stores. I do believe that people have lost sight of what Christmas is truly about nowadays. Instead of celebrating the birth of Jesus, people are selfish and only care about how much their gift weighs or how much it costs. I do like, however, how regardless of how you view it, Christmas brings families and friends together to spend time and celebrate together. A lot of family memories I have have come from family Christmas gatherings.

Summary: In honors this week, we were assigned to read two speeches given by Kurt Vonnegut: one given at Bennington College and Clowes Hall. Kurt Vonnegut is an American writer and is extremely pessimistic. He infuses his pessimism into his speeches. This pessimism comes across as very humorous and sarcastic. The reason for his pessimism – he states in the first of the two speeches – came after experiences he had in World War II.

Response: These speeches were kind of difficult to read because I didn’t believe anyone was that pessimistic. I ended up feeling like a very optimistic person in comparison to Vonnegut. He is on such an extreme end of the spectrum that you wouldn’t even have to be very optimistic at all to feel like an extremist next to him. He turns an event like graduation that is almost always a happy day looking forward to the future and still had a pessimistic view of it. His pessimism was pretty funny at times but overall it was distracting from the points he was making.

Summary: This entire video had to do with math, something that I am not a huge fan of. I’m pretty good at the subject, I just don’t enjoy doing it. This video was mainly about fractals and how it’s “beautiful” in math. These fractals are everywhere in the natural world. We see them and don’t even know it. Almost everything that transpires in the natural world can be explained or broke down with a math equation. That, for me, is hard to believe. These fractals are also a major contributor to the research of medicine.

Response: I think it’s mind-boggling to think that we look at these fractals every single day. I also think it’s amazing that a math problem can explain almost anything. With these fractals and math equations, people are making new discoveries in science and medicine everyday. I mean, the cure for cancer and other terminal diseases could be discovered this way. It’s weird to think a simple math problem could save thousands of lives someday!

Summary: In the article “What’s ‘manly,’ what’s not for athletes”, the author states two examples of where professional male athletes have been criticized for doing things that were out of the ordinary. A professional football player, Mark Sanchez, was teased countless times for being involved in a photo shoot. San Fransisco Giants pitcher Sergio Romo’s decision to attend the birth of his child instead of a few baseball games was questioned as well. There were also some comments about how women should not be allowed to broadcast for games or even be involved all together.

Response: In the case of both these situations, I, for the most part, disagree with all the criticism these men have received. First off, why on Earth would you not be there for the birth of your child? Yeah your team won the World Series the previous year and is on the border of not even getting a wild card this year, but to frown upon a father for missing one or two games because his family is in need? That is just not right. That’s what being a true man is all about: taking care of your responsibilities first, and family comes first, not your job. However, I will say that had the birth of his child come during the World Series, and if his team needed him to pitch, attending the game would be just as important. As for Mark Sanchez, I have mixed opinions about criticizing him. I don’t think it’s right to criticize him for the mere fact of being in a photo shoot, because there are many other superstars like Tom Brady and Kobe Bryant who have also done this. If you were a sharp-looking professional athlete that many people aspired to be like, why wouldn’t you do that? But in Sanchez’s case, the pictures he took were a little much. If you have seen them, in my opinion, some of them were not very manly at all. Overall, to criticize him for being in a photo shoot is wrong, but to criticize the type of clothes he’s wearing in some is understandable. As for the women being involved in broadcasting men’s sports, I agree and disagree with this. I do agree that they shouldn’t be in broadcasting. I say this because, like in the hockey video, to hear a guy get all jacked up over a play is much more entertaining than a women. Male announcers can relate to what’s going on in games because they’ve participated in them, where most women have not. Women, however, do make great reporters and analysts.

Summary: In Cicero’s book De Inventione, he talks about how eloquence is essential when used in speeches. He claims that when used in a speech, eloquence can be either a positive or negative thing, depending on how you use it. When used with wisdom, for example, eloquence can help to accomplish great things. In contrast, without wisdom, eloquence can be a very powerful tool in a bad way.

Response: This part of the book was rather tough to read at first. While reading, the wording seemed very confusing at first. However, it became easier as the paragraphs rolled on. Cicero made many points that I agree with. When listening to a speaker who incorporates eloquence into their speech, as opposed to listening to one who lacks it, I’m going to be more moved by the speaker that uses it. An audience of an eloquent speaker will have his or her views and beliefs challenged. This can be both good or bad. If you have an eloquent speaker like Martin Luther King Jr. that speaks out for a good cause, it is very beneficial for a society as a whole. On the opposite side of that, if you have an eloquent speaker like Adolf Hitler, that, obviously, could be very harmful.

The article Liking What You See: A Documentary is primarily about the controversial issue of how one’s beauty is so important in our society. In this story, there are opinions from a variety of people about a type of advanced technology called Calliagnosis, which blocks the ability for one to see beauty or ugliness in another person. Because a person infused with Calliagnosis does not have the ability to recognize beauty or ugliness, this allows for them to see deeper into people, discovering the beauty or ugliness inside someone. Calliagnosis, Calli for short, can be turned off at the age of eighteen if one wishes to do so. Calli’s main objective is to covey the issue of how much of an advantage beauty has in society, as well as how judgmental people are. As the story goes on, these different groups of people each give their reasons on why more people should have Calli and that it should be mandatory while the opposing side argues it shouldn’t be. In the end, the opposing side wins.

When I first began reading this, I thought that a device like this would be a brilliant idea. If there was no judgement in the world, everyone one would fit in wherever they wanted. I would definitely try it out for a short period of time. There would be some major lessons I’d learn from it. However, to make this mandatory for everyone would be an awful idea. To me, it’d be like the whole world is gray and dull, when life needs to be colorful and exciting. A huge part of life is being unique and setting yourself apart from other people, while at the same time fitting in. Also, not everyone is perfect, so to try and make everyone look the same, in a sense it’s making everyone “look” perfect. Little imperfections in people are what set them apart from others and make them beautiful. For example, a blemish on one person may be considered beautiful by another person, while a separate person could find it unattractive. It is a huge aspect of life to see people for who they really are and accepting them for that.

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