News Post 1

The article “Is Journalism as We Know It Becoming Obsolete?” by Mathew Ingram is news because it is informing students like me and people already in the profession, that journalism as a career could possibly be threatened if people like Winer are calling it obsolete. It’s basically news about the people who contribute to the news.

I like how it gave two sides to the title. At the beginning there were quotes on why journalism is becoming obsolete with reasons why they felt that way. The second half was a different view on how one could look at journalism just evolving into today’s social media world. I liked how to wasn’t one sided.

The audience is meant to be targeted at people in the journalism profession, but since the article said anybody can be a journalist it’s actually to anyone who knows how to use the Internet and social media.

The lead is effective because it’s a question and you could say either “yes it is” or “no it’s not”. Then both of the possibly answers are touched on.

I don’t think that there is anything missing because like I said before both sides are covered and the conclusion that journalism itself won’t go away. Just the way it is presented like in newspaper form may be the obsolete thing.

I liked this article and wouldn’t have done anything differently.

https://gigaom.com/2011/09/02/is-journalism-as-we-know-it-becoming-obsolete/

Learning Narrative Essay

During the semester I got to read books that I had already read and even some new one’s. All of them, even the one’s I read before, presented me with new ideas through class discussion. Each story had a gender theme, particularly women protagonists. We read The Hunger Games, Pride and Prejudice, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure, along with other short stories written by female others. The stories all seemed to bring up ethical issues. Especially with The Hunger Games some ethical issues were brought to my attention for the first time, even though it was my third time reading the book.  It was also fun to read the short stories because “The Yellow Wallpaper” and “A Jury of Her Peers” each had darker mystery plots that had deeper meanings than what was being represented on the pages. It was fun to decipher the meanings of them.

Through this course I have definitely learned how to ask more questions while reading a book. Also reading in-between the lines is essential for this class so the discussion can be more engaging. The biggest challenge was bringing ethics into stories like The Hunger Games. For example, forcing children into an arena to kill each other as a reminder that the Capitol has dominant power and does not want any wars. (Even thought they are the ones building a war every year). My biggest “A-ha” moment from this class was that we all agreed killing wasn’t ethical, but self-defense is. So therefore, there is a  fine line between killing for pleasure and killing as a result of self-defense. I had never seen the that line before. We determined it was more ethical to kill someone as a result of self defense. Also the methods used for killing had some be ethical and others not. For example, the Careers were using knives and swords to kill people. Peeta killed Foxface without even knowing he was doing it. He was collecting berries that he didn’t know were poisonous and Foxface stole some from his pile and ate them. Her death was unintentional and has a different effect than stabbing someone with a knife. Then through discussion I learned that this type of dictatorship could possibly happen one day. Not necessarily the Games but just the government system itself. Overall I learned how to approach plots with different ethical and social view points.

Another pivotal point was learning about ethical climates. I did a paper on this topic and here is a passage from it. According to Blackburn an ethical environment is a climate in which beliefs and ideas surround us. This climate gives each a person a similar idea of what is acceptable and not acceptable within that society (Blackburn 1). In the novel The Hunger Games, written by Suzanne Collins, there is an unethical government system in the dystopian world setting.

I am interested in reading more classics like Jane Austen. They are of a different era, but still connect to female issues of today. I also really want to read more short stories. I really enjoy how there is so much details in just a few pages.  I would want my ability to critically analyze stories to continue to grow as well.

For my goals I would like to read more involved in free reading in the future when I am not so busy with school work. My goal is to look at all situations with an ethical viewpoint so I can understand both sides of the story. I also want to do a better job at engaging in discussions so more ideas can be brought to the table.

Wit

In Vivian’s opening monologue I was able to learn that she is very lonely and misses her teaching career. She talks of her love of words and poetry. She also tells of how she has cancer and that she is a research experiment. Just from her monologue we get that sense that she is a scholar who is deeply upset with the current circumstances. I honestly don’t know if I would like to have a professor like her. I feel like I would dislike the class and struggle with it. It would be a good challenge for me, but she seems like she is above everyone else. She seems like the type of smart person who knows that they are smart and seems to boast without even realizing it. I’m glad that she has a passion for poetry, but she has to realize that there is more to life. I would honestly be afraid of asking her for any type of help.

The scene when Vivian remembers back to her childhood shows how she first learned how to read and how she learned vocabulary.  It showed how her father was supportive of her reading and wanting to learn by helping her define a big word. I thought it was interesting how they would show the child version of her and then have the present Vivian doing the same actions, reliving the moment. It concerned me how she was imagining her Dad in the hospital room and how she was talking out loud to nothing. It made me wonder if she had any mental condition or maybe even depression.  That could be a possibility because she never had any visitors and she also never watched TV and just talked to herself.

Pride and Predjudice

Lady Catherine De Bourgh seems to be the opposite of most of the characters in Pride and Prejudice. Lady Catherine even seems to put Mrs. Bennet in her place with her blunt remarks about everything. She is used to being rich, spoiled, and having everything go her way. She doesn’t listen to anyone’s opinion except for her own. That is why it was such a shock to her to speak to Elizabeth. “Miss Bennet, do you know who I am? I have not been accustomed to such language as this” (300). She wants only the best for her daughter and that is why she is threatening Elizabeth not to marry Darcy because her daughter is intended for him. She really makes it known that she is of a much higher class than the Bennet’s.

Her values conflict with everyone around her. For example, Mr. Collins bends over backwards to please her high maintenance tastes. Elizabeth is really the only one brave enough to stand up to her and even she gets hurt by Lady Catherine’s selfishness.

With Lady Catherine’s selfish values her decision-making process is influenced to make decisions that only benefit her and not care about anyone else’s feelings.

As mentioned earlier the only conflict that this character has is with Elizabeth possibly marrying Mr. Darcy. Lady Catherine left that conversation knowing that at the moment Darcy and Elizabeth weren’t engaged, yet failed to get the promise that the two of them never would. We can assume she was furious when they did marry.

Extra Credit Event

I attended the video lecture with slam poet Ken Arkind. We had talked about him in my Honors class, so going into it I knew a little bit about him. He is from Denver and has based many poems on his hometown. He grew up with a rough childhood and was able to escape it through poetry. He is super passionate about everything that he writes and you can tell by the way he delivers each line with emphasis and excitement.  A lot of his poems tend to be humorous as well.

During the video chat with him, he talked about how he teaches at different schools and colleges in the Denver area. He has ties to HBO TV shows and many slam poet organizations. He has performed in 49 states and 7 countries.

He talked about how when a class of his first starts off, they don’t write they just talk amongst themselves so everyone can feel comfortable around each other. He also went on to explain that one of the first writing assignments is to not use slang; literally explain the real meaning of every word so someone from a different country can understand it. When we read Pride and Prejudice it is in a different language than we are accustomed to, so we need to break it down to understand what the words or slang means. It goes to show how everyone can enjoy literature.

Critical Perspectives on The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins author of The Hunger Games has a similar style to Shirley Jackson, author of The Lottery.  In both stories the government requires all the residents in the villages or Districts to gather and have one or two people to be sacrificed in order to maintain piece in the nation. Both stories fail to explain specifically how and why they have these events happen. The citizen’s don’t see the ethics in the situation either, but they are forced to obey this unethical law because an uprising could mean disaster. It’s scary to think that these are possible government systems that could be in effect in the future and the residents then wouldn’t give it a second thought.

It’s sickening how the people in the Capitol find teenagers killing each other as entertainment and to be completely normal. Katniss’s prep team are good examples of characters who saw entertainment in death.  “It’s funny, because even though they’re rattling on about the Games, it’s all about where they were or what they were doing or how they felt when a specific event occurred” (353-354). Katniss along with all the rest of the Districts see how unethical the Games are. Even people in the Capitol see that there are no real ethics in the Games and are even brave enough to show the Capitol that they are willing to fight against their own home. Like when the red-headed girl was trying to run away but ended up becoming an Avox. Cinna also keeps bringing back the mockingjay pin for a lot of Katniss’s outfits because he can see how it is a symbol for the Districts. In the other books the mockingjay becomes a symbol of rebellion.

Even in this world it seems like we are becoming immune to death and violence.

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The Lottery

Using the Social Contract while looking at the story “The Lottery” it seems that society was accepting of the lottery event that occurred every year. It was just another rule that everyone knew that they had to follow, even though they all seemed to resent it. In particular, the character Tessie Hutchinson was saying repeatedly that it wasn’t fair, yet she accepted the consequences of having the black spot. Under the Social Contract people are encouraged to live in cooperation. The village in the story mentioned how all the citizens gathered around every June 27, or there would most likely be some sort of punishment even though it is never mentioned. The author Shirley Jackson never tells the audience directly why the lottery has to take place, but one can assume it is enforced by a type of government. One can come to that assumption based on the character’s dialogue. For example, “”Some places have already quit lotteries,” Mrs. Adams said. “Nothing but trouble in that,” Old Man Warner said stoutly. “Pack of young fools””(706).

In Simon Blackburn’s “Being Good” he mentions how the ethical climate reflects  an ambition to determine what motivates and moves us to behave in certain ways (5). It makes me wonder what kind of ethical climate was the world in “The Lottery” has. What is the ethical reasoning behind stoning one person from your village every year? We definitely need more information on the past to be able to understand the motives for establishing the lottery in the first place.

In conclusion one can determine that there is definitely some type of dictatorship going on in this dystopian futuristic world. It has become the social norm to attend and perform the rituals of the lottery, but people are recognizing that there is no good coming from it.

Rachael Arnts