Jason Klemp

Coffman

Wed, 02 May 2007 03:00:51 +0000

As I went to Coffman I didn’t really know what to expect to see or what to write about. I thought it seemed kind of creepy just sitting and watching individuals or groups of people function. As I sat down next to the escalators on the same floor as the bookstore I just sat for a while and took in my surroundings and tried to see what people has in common and then I looked for the differences between people.
Some of the similarities that I saw were that most people sat either by themselves or in groups of two or three, I never saw a group larger than three. It was mostly just small pods of people. Most of the people there had laptops out or a couple of textbooks. Another thing that I found kind of surprising was that just about everyone was listening to their MP3 player. The reason that I found this surprising is because I also was listening to mine. The last thing that I found that almost everyone has in common was that most people had a coffee, soda, water, or energy drink.
Some of the differences that I saw between groups of people was some people were dressed up in a shirt and tie, some were just casual, and others were just dressed down to be comfortable.
There also were many people that just passed through on their way to somewhere else. Another thing that I noticed while I was there was that it was fairly quiet. There were some conversations going on but nothing really loud, the situation kind of reminded me of a casual library.

Advertising and People of Color

Wed, 11 Apr 2007 02:20:42 +0000

The part of this article that appealed to me the most was the part about how some sports teams are named after Native American slurs. It said that these names were offensive to Native Americans and that the teams that have these representations should change their name. I don’t think that a team should have to change its name because a few people think that it is offensive. For the most part the large majority of people do not think that these names are offensive. I know that there are many high schools and colleges that have to change their mascot or are in the legal process of debate. The schools and organizations that are under fire about this topic I believe should not have to change their mascot. Just because a few people think that something is offensive does not mean that it has to be done away with. If we as Americans did away with everything that anybody thought was offensive we would have a fairly boring culture. Everything would just be watered down to try and cater to everyone’s needs. This would not even be possible, there are always going to be complaints one way or another. If the “offensive�? names are removed from the teams the teams are just going to come back saying that there freedom of speech and representation is being violated. Not everybody is going to be pleased and that is just the way it is. I personally do not believe that these names are offensive to people’s cultures, I personally am not a Native American but I have no problem with people using Vikings or anything of the sort. I just do not see the big deal with teams using figures of the like for their mascots.

Disney

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 19:52:13 +0000

I don’t believe that Disney is trying to influence generations of young children with their movies. Most of the movies that Disney has made are based off of older stories thought of a long time ago that are just being turned into kids cartoons. I personally don’t think that there is anything wrong with the movies that Disney has made. I grew up with these movies and I feel like I turned out just fine. I mean little kids aren’t going to pull out some of the deep and almost just ridiculous meanings that were presented in the reading. When I was a kid I liked the movies for their entertainment purpose; they are the type of movies that are straight to the point and don’t leave the viewer with questions at the end. The movies that Disney makes for little kids always have that happy ending that kids like. I mean most kids don’t like it when the hero of the story dies at the end, so they writers give the movie a stereotypical happy ending that one would see with most fairytales. People say that they should diversify the basic plots of the movies, but if you ask me they’re doing the smart thing. Even though they’ve been making the same stereotypical movies and even just re-releasing the same movies for years they’re making a ton of money doing it. I mean the Disney Company is one of the largest corporations in the world; they must be doing something right. If I were in charge I’d probably keep doing the same sort of thing that has been making them tons of money over the past fifty years why take the gamble and change now?

Racism

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 01:36:37 +0000

Racism is one of those things that nobody likes to talk about because everyone thinks that they are innocent in the matter. In all reality however everyone has thought a racist thought at one time or another. I’m not saying that racism is a good thing and that it is okay to think like this but that we as people need to know what the thoughts are; in a lot of cases people don’t even know that they are thinking racist thoughts. We need to figure out what these thoughts are and correct our held beliefs about a certain race of class. A lot of the racist ideas these days are things they we have always heard about a certain group. Something that we hear every day that is considered normal and something that we think is true about the particular group.
This is the problem in our era now. We don’t mean to be racist but it just happens and we don’t even mean it. We need to address these issues because if let to go unchecked than they could turn into even bigger problems that would lead to full out racism and hate toward a particular group from another group. If these small problems are stopped now then these thoughts will not be aloud to turn into much worse thoughts and actions.

People Like Us

Thu, 15 Mar 2007 23:24:29 +0000

In the movie people like us every single person it seemed had a different had a different opinion about class. The topics that most brought up were about how class is determined using the amount of money you make. I agree that class is determined with how much income you make but also how much education you have will play a major role in what class you are considered to be in. Most people in the movie said that a person could never move out of there class in their lifetime. I don’t agree. If you were middle class I’m sure you could move up to high class if you wanted to. If you were smart enough you could go to an east coast Ivey league college and get a good degree and then got a good high paying job you would be able to move up, especially if you were a good people person. Class is something that can be changed but it takes a lot of work to do so.

Counter Examples to Parenti's article

Wed, 28 Feb 2007 03:41:44 +0000

There are many movies that go against the way that Parenti says. There are tons of movies and T.V. shows that depict underclass people as gaining power and are respected. A few movies for example are: “Brave Heart�?, “Dodge Ball�?, “Mystery Alaska�?, “Rocky�?, “Rudy�?, and “Robinhood�?. In all of these movies show people that are thought of as not good enough to accomplish what they are striving for yet they seem to do what know one thought was possible.
Most people seem to like movies that depict stories where it seems like the main character is up against an insurmountable task yet they find a way to get it done. Everyone likes a good movie about an unlikely hero. In most cases the rich and upper class people in movies are depicted as snobby, stuck up, or they are the bad guy. People like to see movies where the rich get beaten by normal people because it makes us normal people feel good and it makes us feel like we have a shot at the impossible.
There are many movies that contradict what the author of this essay is trying to debate. I think that what this author says about how movies tend to glorify the upper class I don’t agree. Movie studios make movies that depict regular people as being better because that is how most people are, there would be no money in it for the studios if they made the average Joe look like he was nothing. So the studios make the movies depicting the average and not upper class person doing great things.

Facing the Facts of Bigotry

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 03:28:27 +0000

I would have to agree with the author of this article. I know that there are a lot of people that say I’m not racist. In some sense it’s true, but not totally. I mean for the most part everyone accepts everyone else’s cultures and stuff like that and. However we have all put labels on particular groups of people, we don’t always notice it but we do it none the less whether consciously or subconsciously.
I also agree with the fact that these thoughts can be monitored and controlled. They need to be and if they are monitored we can think of why we would think of something racist or anything of the sort, and we can then learn how to fix that problem and become better people because of it.
The part about this article that I didn’t like was how the writer didn’t offer any ways to fix the problem of our irrational thoughts. If the author is going to make an argument as aggressive and bold as she did she should have put some thought into how to fix the problem.

Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:44:09 +0000

“Cop Out�?

I kind of enjoyed reading this article. The part that I liked most was the argument of censoring the song “Cop Killer�? by Ice-T. I don’t think that it is up to the government to censor and ban music. It is every American’s right to choose what they do or do not listen to.
The reason that the government chose to put pressure on the recording industry and the artist is because they were getting pressured from the conservative public to get rid of the song. The government has no place telling an artist to throw out a piece of creative art even if it discriminates or is hateful to anything. I know it sounds mean and hateful for me to say something like that but that is how it is. That is what America was founded on, the ability to think and pursue the right of happiness what ever it may be. The only way that this right should be infringed upon is if the person or persons in question do something to directly harm any other human being.
So just because a song is hateful to a particular group or person no one has the right to say that that song cannot be made or listen to. It is up to each individual to choose what they do or do not listen to. Nobody is making anyone listen to the song “Cop Killer�? or anything like it. Besides the fact of the government deciding who can listen to what is the fact that this particular song was taken out of context. This spoke about the police brutality and yes it might have been extreme for Ice-T to voice his opinion in the way that he did but that is just my opinion. This was just his way to vent out the anger and to be heard over the events that happened. It was an extremely effective way to go about it too. I certainly got everyone talking about it and that might have been what he was trying to do all along.

Entry Two

Wed, 31 Jan 2007 03:57:08 +0000

“Shitty First Drafts�?

I thought that this weeks reading was really relatable. Most times my first drafts really suck too. Most of the time however it’s because I forgot about the assignment and just want to finish or it’s because I don’t really care about it and I know it’s just the first draft. That it’s a very good excuse however, but I just say to myself to make me feel better.
The part that I liked about the reading was just seeing that most everybody goes through the same thing. It helps to know that I’m not the only one. I know that I’m not the only one but it just helps to hear it sometimes. I also liked how when she said, “This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.�? This is true a bad first draft can’t get worse; it can only get better.
The part of the story that I did not like though was how most of the story was just about how this one lady deals with bad first drafts. I think that it would have been more effective and better if she would have wrote about how other people deal with it and how, maybe, somebody could write less “shitty first drafts�? to help with their overall writing.

Entry one

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:53:00 +0000

“Ways of Seeing�?

I thought that this excerpt was kind of difficult to read for me because I am not much of an art enthusiast. The one part of the reading that I could make the most sense of was the part about only seeing part of the picture at a time and the part that mentions how when art is turned into film it can drastically change the meaning of the piece.
I kind of liked the part about when you only see part of the picture compared to seeing the entire thing all at once. Just seeing one part of the picture, that isn’t the main focal point of the piece, can give you a much different perspective or can even make the rest of the piece much better and can bring it all together. I liked this part because sometimes when I look at a painting I will look at the parts in the corners and edges to see if there is anything there that one doesn’t normally notice but enhances the picture.
The other part of the reading that I liked and could make sense of was the part about turning a painting into a film. I like it because I think it can help tell a more in depth story about the painting or describe the painting in a way that you would have never thought about. The part about watching a movie about a painting is that I sometimes wonder if the artist were to watch the movie: would he or she like it, was it the message that they wanted to portray, or would they think that the movie enhanced it? These are the things that I sometimes think about when I see a movie about a painting