SONG MIX

1. Man in the Mirror – Michael Jackson
2. How Did You Get Here – Deborah Cox
3. White Man’s World – Tupac Shakur
4. Hey There Lonely Girl – Eddie Holman
5. Through the Fire- Chaka Khan
6. God Bless the USA – Lee Greenwood
7. You Don’t Know Me – T.I.
8. Bag Lady – Erika Badu

I chose this collection of songs because they say more about the way I live my life than I could describe myself. Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror and Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA shows how I am compassionate about the world around me. White Man’s World by Tupac shows just how hard it is for me as an African American female in today’s society; I have got two points against me: being black, as well as, being female. Tupac’s song actually coincides with T.I.’s You Don’t Know Me, which is how I feel when people try to judge me before they get to know me. The song, How Did You Get Here, by Deborah Cox reminds me of my relationship with my husband. I had been hurt so many times before he came along; I never thought true love was possible. The remaining songs describe how I feel at different times, especially with what is going on in our society today, sometimes sad, lonely, or happy.

David Steritt, Face of An Angel
Samuel L. Jackson, In Character

Both of these passages really hit home for me, although both were a little surprising. Hollywood’s portrayal of African Americans in movies recently had certainly been much better than it was before. However, I believe that they still have a long way to go. I agree with David Stetitt and Samuel L. Jackson when they say, “Hollywood’s portrayals of African Americans continue to be stereotyping, patronizing, and even racist (424). I remember watching television when I was a little girl. Back then, it seem that in order to even get a good role as a black actor, the actor would have to make fools of themselves. I remember watching Wesley Snipes dress up in drag in order to land a decent role in films. I also remember, a while back, recently, when a black man played Jesus in a play. I remember people being so upset by it and I really thought it was unnecessary. Why cannot anybody, rather black, Asian, white, or Jewish play “Jesus” in any movie or play? Hollywood is certainly making an effort to cast black actors as equal to their white counterparts, however; I believe that this may never actually be done. At least, it will not be done anytime recently. Our society is still focused on things like “white” Jesus and a “black” devil and this is how it has been portrayed in most movies and this is how it will be portrayed for some time in the future.

Britney Spears: The Pop Tart In Winter
Adam Sternbergh

After reading the article entitled, Britney Spears: The Pop Tart in Winter, written by Adam Sternbergh, I was surprised (371-375). I have never been a Britney Spears fan; however, I cannot blame her nor can I blame her producers for the image that she is portraying. In fact, most Hollywood musicians and actors alike all flaunt themselves in one way or another. For instance, when you see Beyonce perform on stage, she is wearing a short dress or some other outfit that enhances her sex appeal. When actors, like Eva Longoria are accepting awards for an outstanding performance or just going to an award show, they are usually dress in an outfit that flaunts their figures as well. Unfortunately, this is what sells records, as well as, movies. Our society today is focused more on a person’s body image than it is on a person’s talent. Sex is portrayed even on television and in children’s films. Kids learn at a very young age, about what is sexy and what is not. For instance, in the film “Aladdin”, Princess Jasmine wears a rather skimpy outfit. Yes, this is a movie geared toward young people. And yes, this is what our children see and I am sure it is what they will continue to see in their adult lives. Having a sexy body image is what our society expects from celebrities and I do not think it will ever change.

IN CLASS WRITING
In English, over the last couple of weeks, we have been talking about romance. We discussed romance between heterosexual and homosexual couples. We have even discussed romance as it relates to people and their pets. However, there is one area of romance that is really disturbing that we did not discuss. It is a problem that is plaguing our society everyday and is, in my opinion, downright disgusting. What is this problem? The problem is people’s desire to have relationships with underage children.
There have been several articles recently that address this particular problem. In California, an 11-year old girl was apparently raped by a group of college students (“Fresno Police Say More Arrests…”, 2006). In Minneapolis, a teacher pleaded guilty to sleeping with two of his students who were only twelve and fourteen years old (“Alexander Pleads Guilty…”, 2006). In addition, let’s not forget, the teacher who gave birth to her thirteen year old student’s love child a few years ago (Faulkner, 1998.)
What explanation can a person give for wanting a relationship with a minor? Is there an explanation? Could it be a sickness? Or is it just a naturally occurring phenomenon? Many people that I know claim that a lot of underage children, especially girls, are very enticing, especially by the way that they are dress. So a person thinks, “why should I not be allowed to have sex with her?” I agree that children do dress very provocatively these days; however, this fact alone does not justify the act. I believe that having sex with any child is an immoral and unforgivable action. Since we are a moral society; we should not condone having sex with underage children regardless of the circumstances. A person who has a relationship with a child, rather it was consensual or not, should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. If the punishment was extreme, twenty-five years to life in prison, for instance, I think that people would more carefully examine just what they are doing before they have sex or any other kind of relationship with anyone who is not of legal age.

Petophilia #1
Jon Katz

Jon Katz makes an interesting point in his essay, “Petophilia.” He states that some people treat their pets as much more than a companion (327). According to Katz, “these people use their pets as a substitute for the children they do not have or the spouse that they do not like. (327)” I am an avid pet lover and can relate to loving my pets unconditionally. However, I believe that there is a limit to the amount of affection that you can give a pet.
For example, you cannot love a person in the same manner that you would love a pet. People can say that they love their pets by providing them with gifts and showering them an enormous amount of affection. However, what people fail to realize is that pets are not human. Although pets are loyal in some ways, pets do not make an exact substitute for human companionship. For instance, a pet cannot ask you how your day was. A pet also cannot take you to the hospital when you are sick. I believe that people who claim that their pets are more loyal to them than other humans have been hurt by others. These people are just using the pets as an excuse to not trust another person. However, I can agree that animals can be loyal companions. Nevertheless, I do not believe that a pet cannot show the same type of affection that a human being can.

The End of the Affair #1
David Sedaris

According to David Sedaris, the lovers in the movie The End of the Affair symbolize romantic love by implying that love is perfect until one of the characters of the movie gets killed (273). I agree with him to a certain extent. Most of the romantic comedies that I have seen have ended with something tragic happening to one of the main characters. However, I have also seen some romantic comedies that have not ended in this way. For example, the movie 13 Going of 30 has a happy ending. However, the interesting thing was that the conflict involved her not getting the guy she wanted. He was going to marry someone else. Nevertheless, in the end, the main character actually gets the guy that she wanted. Therefore, it did not end tragically like Mr. Sedaris claims that all romantic comedies do.
However, I did not agree with Mr. Sedaris, when he said that couples who have been together for a long period of time tend to follow the same routine (273). I have been married for over four years, and my husband and I are still unpredictable. There are certain things that he does that I am not accustomed to and I am sure that there are things that I do which he is not familiar. There are even things that we do as a couple that are not part of our normal routine. I believe that this is what makes a marriage strong, not being able to predict one another’s behavior.

IN CLASS WRITING

My first thought at the beginning of the film, "Tarnation" was "Here's another one of those true story movies. It's going to be all about someone who had an tramatizing life and overcame it in some way." However, this movie turned out very different from what I expected. It was very heartbreaking, scary and most of all, weird.

The first part of the movie was very heartbreaking. I found the beginning of the film outrageous. It was appalling that doctors would tell a child's parents to give him or her shock therapy just because he or she fell off of a roof. It was very tragic how they could turn a beautiful young girl into a psychofrenic adult. I believe that this is why her son, Jonathan was so emotionally distressed. This was probably why he was sudicial every week. I could not imagine growing up in a home where my mom was in and out of a mental hospital all my life. Although Jonathan blamed his grandparents for his mother's condition, I believe that they were naive to the situation. They listened to what the doctor's told them. However, instead of using more sound judgment and seeking the opinion of other doctors, they were careless and chose what the doctor ordered, shock therapy. Shock therapy? To treat paralysis? Even if her parents believed that Renee was faking her paralysis, they should have sent her to a shrink first, not do something as extreme as administer shock therapy. It just didn't make sense to me.

Toward the middle of the film, I thought that Jonathan had somehow inherited his mother's condition when I saw his performance as the two women. I thought that somehow he had went crazy, as well. But after watching the film some more, I realized that this was part of his desire to become an actor. He was just acting as the women and was not psychofrenic, like his mother. However, he did a very good impersonation of a woman.

The scary part about the movie were the images. I had never seen a movie with images as raw and as detailed as these. There were scenes of nudity, although they were very brief. However, I did not think that they had much to do with the movie. I think that the movie should have had one centralized focus, on Jonathan's life and hhow his mother's condition had influenced it.

Overall, I thought that the movie was very interesting. However, I could not see the point of the film. I did not understand what the conflict of the film was, nor did I understand what the movie was trying to say. It just seemed to be all over the place. One moment he was talking about how his mother's condition affected him as a child, then he talked about how he was in underground films, and even his sexual prefences. The whole time I was sitting there thinking, "What on earth is he trying to say? What does all this have to do with what happened to his mother? What is his point?"

I can say one thing, though. This film was very different from any movie that I have ever seen. I did like the fact that Jonathan chose to show different aspects of his life within the movie. In addition, he did in such as unique way. I also like the fact that he used film that was recorded as it happened. That was a big plus for me. There is nothing like a movie where the actors are the actual people to which this tragedy has happened. It makes the story make more sense, since there are no Hollywood actors to overact and exagerate as to what really happened.

The end of the film was pretty interesting and ended a lot better than I thought it would. I was glad that Jonathan finally took his mom from Texas and let her live with him. I thought this was good for both of them. She could be with her son, instead of being in a mental institution for the rest of her life. Jonathan could be with his mother, instead of having to worry about her had she stayed in Texas.

Ayana D. Byrd and Lori L. Tharps
The Rituals of Black Hair Culture

I felt that I could really relate to the passage, “The Rituals of Black Hair Culture”, written by Ayana D. Byrd and Loris L. Tharps. As an African American female, I could understand exactly what they were saying about the use of hot combs and relaxer. In fact, I remember when my mom first used a hot comb to my hair. It was the most terrible ordeal of my life. I was burned several times. As a result, to this day, I still do not like having my hair pressed. Getting relaxers applied to my hair have not been any easier for me; the relaxers tend to burn my hair. Yet, I continue get them because as the authors said, “it is the norm for black women in America to have straight hair.” Several times, I have tried to keep my hair natural, but it has been very difficult to manage. I have also been teased when wearing my hair natural. Surprisingly, the teasing has not come from people of other races, but from other African Americans. If your hair is not straight, you are considered an outcast, especially by other black people and the teasing can really hurt. Therefore, after wearing my hair natural for about a year, I finally gave in and went back to getting a relaxer, although I still hate getting one to this day.

IN CLASS WRITING #2

Webster.com defines a community as “an interacting population of various kinds of individuals in a common location.” If this is a valid definition for community, then a virtual community can be considered a real community. In many online communities, people share the same ideas and interests as others within that same online community. In many Internet chat rooms, there are usually many people talking about one or more interests that they have in common. There are those looking for romance, which is a common interest. There are also those that talk about the latest sports event, which is also another common interest. These chats or talks are usually in one common location, a specific Internet chat room that is centered around on topic or common interest. Thus, it is a community because there various people all chatting in one common location who share similar interests.
Virtual communities are real communities; however, they are entirely different from face-to-face communities. For instance, in a face-to-face communities, you are aware with whom you are speaking. Since you are able to see a person within a face-to-face community, you can tell if the person is interested in what you are saying or if the person does not seem to care about what you are saying. You can also tell if you and the person have other things in common, such as speaking the same language, or growing up in the same region, or eating the same types of food. It is much easier to form a relationship with a person who shares your common interest. However, in a virtual community, the rules are entirely different. A person can type a response to what you said or he or she can, but you have no way of knowing if that person is sincere about the topic because you cannot see him or her. In addition, the person can lie and say that they share the same interest as you or that they like the same type of food that you do. How can you be sure of the person’s name?
Some virtual communities can be destructive, however, there are also those they can be supportive. I have come across a number of virtual communities who were supportive and have helped me many times in my life. This is why I think that virtual communities are an essential part of life for many people. I feel this way because I believe that without being able to get the support I needed virtually I would not have overcome the problem that I had as good as I did. It was easier since I did not need to reveal my identity.

Reclaiming Our Home Place #1

After reading the piece “Reclaiming Our Home Place” written by Maya Angelou, I felt moved. I am originally from the South, and I could definitely relate to the problems with the North to which she was speaking. According to Maya Angleou, the South was a representation of oppression and hatred during times of slavery. As said by Angelou, “People thought if they could get away north, get away from the cotton, the worn-out South, get away from all the hatred, from the mean sharecropping days, they would find milk and honey in the streets of the northern cities.” However, one hundred years later, she maintains that due to the fact that African American did not find what they were looking for in the northern cities, “many of them sent their children back to the South to be looked after.” Angelou also states, “ that Black Americans came back South due to congressional representatives that were coming form the South to plan a better world.” She also suggests in the passage “the South represents the roots of African American people. It is where the ancestors of African American poured their blood, sweat, and tears into bringing about the fruitful land of the South. Therefore, many African American people feel that they belong there.” Angelou states “the South is the home place for Black Americans and that they should consider returning to it.” I totally agree with her.