What does the future hold?

The film Just Add Water displays the themes and values that are shaping the future of America. It seems that family is no longer important, as is displayed by Ray’s wife Charlene, and teenagers are getting more involved with drugs as is demonstrated by Ray’s son Eddie. Two articles, Michael Specter’s “Big Foot,” and Benjamin Phelan’s “How We Evolve,” can also be applied to the way our future is changing. Are these changes affecting the way we evolve? Are we even evolving?

About halfway through the movie, Ray finds out that his wife Charlene has been cheating on him with his brother throughout the entire relationship. His son is not even his. Charlene exemplifies what it is to have poor family values. She was willing to entrap Ray in this marriage (they only married because she was pregnant) for selfish reasons, and not because she wanted a healthy partnership that would give her child a better life. Phelan discusses a similar trend in his article: the fact that marriage is no longer about partnership as it was for thousands of years, but is now about love, and what effect this trend will have on evolution. “Mating is no longer a privilege that males beat each other senseless to secure. As a result, even the less fit get to pass on their genes. Promiscuity and sperm competition have given way to spiritual love; the fittest and the unfit are treated as equals, and equally flourish” (Phelan). Because marriage is no longer about finding a partner who will help produce the healthiest children, hopefully giving them a better life, having children is no longer about passing along the desirable genetic traits.

It is unfortunate that marriage has taken this turn. Many of my friends believe I am crazy for admitting this, but I do not think marriage should just be about love. Of course love is an important element in marriage, but there are other important factors to consider, such as: how my partner will handle financial matters, how they will be as a father, and if we will have a good partnership and agree on things such as how to raise our children, as well as what values to hold about others. People are quick to forget that the love they feel early on in a relationship is quick to fade, thus it is important to have a good base of a partnership.

Just Add Water also focuses on the burden of others. For example, when Ray is trying to overthrow Dirk, the towns own teenage meth-baron, he has to make sure that the others who are helping, his neighbors who are not nearly as smart as him, do not mess up the plan. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, America, as well as other rich nations, is becoming a burden due to the high amounts of carbon they release into the earth’s atmosphere. “Since 1850, North America and Europe have accounted for seventy per cent of all greenhouse-gas emissions, a trend that is not improving. Stephen Pacala, the director of Princeton University’s Environmental Institute, recently estimated that half of the world’s carbon-dioxide emissions come from just seven hundred million people, about ten per cent of the population” (Specter). It is extremely unfair to the poorer nations of the world that they are suffering from the effects of global warming when their impact on the situation has been so small.

If human evolution ceases to continue, how can we adapt to the changes that global warming will have on the earth? When it gets harder for humans to live on this planet, will they build new buildings and think up new machinery that will help them live? Or will humans be forced to forget about ‘spiritual love’ and form relationships with those who will help their children advance in this world?

Unfair

In John Broome's article "The Ethics of Climate Change" I read the line: "By emitting greenhouse gases, are the rich perpetrating an injustice on the world's poor?" This line really got to me. I completely agree with this statement because it really is the rich that are contributing to global warming. The poor do not have the money to use anything (cars, machines) that could contribute to global warming. And the rich really are committing an injustice because the lives of the children of the poor and their children's children will be different and there is nothing the poor can do about it. They can not stop the rich from emitting greenhouse gases and they can not do antyhing to help reverse global warming.
America's capitalist society is partly to blame not just for global warming but for the fact that we do not seem to care that we are also effecting the poorer nations of the world. Capitalism has taught people to worry only about themselves and the profit they are gaining. Ethics plays a limited roll in capitalism and it is unfortunate that these are the values that Americans are teaching their children. Even if people see the negatives of capitalism, these values come into play in all parts of life.

Music

Animalcules

I can not describe Smith's keen pleasure in observing the animalcules because I myself would never find pleasure in such a thing. I also have no interest in writing about this article, but I can however discuss what I would fine pleasure in, my number one being music. I have always loved music, as I have been playing the piano since the second grade. Music was what got me through high school when I was unhappy with the people I was surrounded with, and it has even helped me through my rough days of college. This semester, I picked up another instrument: the guitar. I've been having my friend teach me how to play things, looking up chords and tabs, as well as writing my own songs. It really is amazing how much of an outlet writing music can be, and I had never realized until this past week.

Are we evolving?

Perhaps I did not read the article closely enough, but the whole article did not seem to be about self-inflicted extinction, but just about the ways that humans are evolving... even if it is a sort of backwards way of evolving. Phelan made a great point about why we are not evolving the way we used to: "We nurse our sick back to health, and mating is no longer a privilege that males beat each other senseless to secure. As a result, even the less fit get to pass on their genes. Promiscuity and sperm competition have given way to spiritual love; the fittest and the unfit are treated as equals, and equally flourish." These days we do not need to marry people who will produce children with the best chance of living because it is hard to find a child who does not have a good chance of living.
It is funny that we had to read this article because just the other day I was thinking about this and wondering if we evolve. Our environments are so easily customizable that I can not think of any traits that actually hinder someone from living. For example, if it is too hot, we turn on the air conditioner. My father suggested that people of the future will need longer fingers because of things such as blackberries where people have to text very fast, but it's not as if having stubbier fingers hinders someone from texting and makes it harder for them to live.

Food Miles - "Big Foot" by Michael Specter

Michael Specter makes a valid point when he says "Possessing an excessive carbon footprint is rapidly becoming the modern equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter." Although I think this is an exaggeration, because nobody knows the exact carbon footprint of anyone else, I still think it holds true. It is hard to find a person who does not contribute to the problem of excessive greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but some do more to decrease their emissions than others. And those who do nothing to decrease their emissions, or even contribute to the problems excessively (I'm looking at you Hummer drivers) are definitely judged their peers. However, in terms of food miles, unless the subject is being followed in the supermarket, nobody will know their footprint. I do not even know where any of the food I buy comes from. When I first read John Elkington's claim, "We are in an era of creative destruction," (292) I was unsure of what he meant, but the way I translate it is that although we (human beings) are unable to stop destructing our planet, we are finding 'creative' ways to attempt to reverse the effects.
There is no question that I contribute to global warming, because as a consumer in a capitalist nation it is impossible not to. I do not think I excessively contribute, but I am sure I could do more to be more conscious of staying green. I should unplug my phone charger when I am not using it, but unfortunately I never think about this. After reading this article though, my eyes have been opened and I will try to walk more places and be more conscious of my actions.

Phelan comments that humanity is self extincting. How does G. Carlin’s routine reinforce this notion?

- George Carlin does a very good job of making a mockery of all the people who say we need to go green or the earth will die. While I do think we should be conscious of our actions and how they affect the earth, after watching Carlin’s routine, I am almost convinced that maybe everyone is going crazy over nothing.

What emblem/image/symbol best exemplifies the film “just add water”

I am unsure how to answer this question, and I do not see the point. It is probably going to contribute to the next paper we have due, but I am not even sure when that is due or what the premise of that is. I will surely find out before I have to hand it in. It is hard for me to focus on this question right now because I am so tired and all I want to do is jump in my bed and sleep.

Examples people are giving:
Football field
Sand
Stevo the turtle
Chevron station
Rite Value
Lightning
Love seat
Tin box
Rotting flower
Tumbleweed
Poster from the movie "holes"
Grandma's secret recipe

What is a writer? Am I a writer?

I would label someone as a writer if they enjoy writing and do it in their free time. However, if someone labeled themselves as a writer, I would not ask them if they met this criteria. In most cases, I think if someone labels themselves as something, we have to accept it. We can disagree behind their back, but who are we to say what labels another person fits? While I do enjoy writing poems in my free time, I do not think I would label myself a writer.

Just Add Water

I’m really not sure what is meant by a free write on the term ‘just add water.’ Just add water to put the fire out? Just add water to dilute the mixture? What does just add water mean? Unless I zoned out and missed something essential to decoding this phrase.

The Writing Center

Although my writing center experience was not the most helpful, it was at least interesting. I pulled an all nighter the night before I had my writing center appointment because I had a huge load of homework to do. Unfortunately, due to this I was extremely tired and unfocused during my appointment. My writing center tutor realized how tired I was, but we worked on the paper nonetheless. Before the writing center appointment, I had a page written, but was having an extremely hard time thinking of anything else to write. My tutor told me to analyze every line of the sonnet, and I followed her advice.
Unfortunately, I do not have my first draft saved, but the way that my essay changed is instead of just writing about what the characters of the Twelfth Night were like and the general theme of the sonnet, I analyzed every single line of the sonnet and applied it to the Twelfth Night.

“Do we create what we observe through the act of our observations?”

“Do we create what we observe through the act of our observations?”

I do not agree with the statement that we create what we observe through the act of our observations. How can we create something that already exists? If multiple people observe the same thing, are they all creating the same thing? It makes no sense to me. I can barely even understand this entire article just because it uses so many words I do not understand. Also, I never took a physics class, let alone quantum mechanics. When we observe something, we are creating our perception of it, but we are not creating the actual existence of it.
The strength of Roebke's thesis is that it is something that makes the reader stop and think. Any time someone poses a deeply philosophical question, the reader or listener almost always takes a second to think about it, so atleast Roebke is engaging his audience and creating a means for which them to use their brains. However, this is the only strength that I find in it.

What is waste?

Although the word ‘waste’ can be used in different respects, when I hear the word, I think of anything that could serve a purpose, but is either thrown away or disregarded. The prime example of this would be uneaten food. I rarely throw out my food. If I am finished eating it and there is more left, I put it in the refrigerator and eat it later. However, this is not the only form of waste. If I am finished with my clothing, I donate them to charity. I hate to see people wasting things that could be used by another, because there are so many people in the world who do not have either the money or the opportunity for such things. I always wonder why people just throw out things they no longer want instead of giving them to someone who does, but I am unable to arrive at an answer.

Collaborative Learning

In the article "Collaborative Learning and the 'Conversation of Mankind'," Kenneth A. Bruffee writes about collaborative learning style and the effect it has on students. He writes about how composition teachers are using it more often because, " It is viewed as a way of engaging students more deeply with the text and also as an aspect of professors' engagement with the professional community" (Bruffee). If this is the case, then it really is beneficial to work in groups as opposed to individually.

It is easy to relate to this article because of the fact that we have been doing collaborative learning in our composition class. An example of this is when we each picked a passage out of The Twelfth Night that we did not understand and passed the paper around for others to comment on before posting it on our blog. Not only did this help me learn by understanding the passage from the viewpoint of others, but I also enjoyed the exercise because it was interesting to see the posted paragraphs that were a mash-up of so many different thoughts.

I would recommend collaborative learning to all classes because sometimes it really is easier to learn from other students as opposed to the teacher. When we learn from our peers, we know that they just learned the material and will better understand how we view the material.

Concordance Data

1. What thematic strands have you located?

Disguise, veil, conceal, trick, hide, secret, false

2. Where is the data you retrieved found? What is happening in context when Shakespeare employs this particular theme or image?

The data retrieved for my concordance is found all throughout the play. Shakespeare employs this particular theme when the characters have something to hide, or do not want to appear as their true selves.

3. How does the data you retrieved support your first thoughts on Shakespeare’s obsessive use of a particular image? What can you argue about Shakespeare’s figuration?

The data I retrieved actually is not the way I thought the words would be used in the play. Although the theme of disguise is central to the plot, the words actually do not show up as much as I thought they would.

T.L.

"Now the melancholy god protect thee, and the tailor make thy doublet of changeable taffeta, for thy mind is a very opal." - Fool

The fool tells Orsino that his mind is always changing with the way he feels and thinks of things. He hopes the "god of sadness" will be there to protect him during this time, because I think the fool feels sympathy for Orsino in this tragic love story of this. Shakespeare clearly really likes this character and he puts a lot of the wisdom of the play out through him. I think here the fool is wishing Orsino well, but at the same time telling him that he needs more commitment and consistency in his life. He advises him to focus more on the things that matter in his life, as for the mind is "opal" meaning it changes. A wise 'fool' indeed.

Allnightersbeforepapernightsarebad.

For me, writing the small object/large subject essay was … tiresome. Though that was my fault for saving it for the last minute. Also, I had pulled an all nighter Wednesday night, and then did not even start writing the paper till late Thursday night. I was awake for 39 hours (with four hours of sleep mixed in there) before I finally got to sleep after finishing the paper. Unfortunately, this caused me to turn my alarm clock off in my sleep and miss Friday’s class. To top that off, I’ve been sick since last Tuesday. Let me grab a tissue before I continue writing. Though, blowing my nose barely helps, unfortunately. Anyway, back to the paper. Although it was tiresome, it was at least interesting. I just wish I had not put it off till the last minute. It’s hard getting my work done in a normal fashion because I live with all my friends. I live in the Netherlands complex in the Hague house and all my best friends at Hofstra live in the Hague. So, while I love it, it is frustrating because I never get any work done. Well, this is not true considering my first semester GPA was a 3.74, but this semester I’m finding it increasingly more difficult. If I continue free-writing, my mind will stray farther and farther from academics.

5 questions about Twelth Night

What good does Olivia think seven years will do? Why seven?
Why does Viola need to appear as a man?
Who was Toby trying to set up Olivia with?
How did Viola suddenly get accepted into the court?
Why is everyone so melodramatic?

I Like to Procrastinate

Q: When you revise, what do you actually do? What kinds of changes do you make? (Do you revise your writing? Or, is revision an after thought)

A: I rarely revise my papers. When I write a paper, the first thing I write is usually what I'm going to hand in. I might read over it once and make a FEW minor changes, but that's it. Though, this probably explains why it takes me so long to write a paper. I usually wait till the last minute to write a paper, and thus stay up all night writing it. Some would say this is a problem, but I have the grades to show it is not. If it works, it works, right?

Mother Nature "Do What She Want"

http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/2966/

As long as there is life on this planet, and I do not just mean human life, species will come and species will go. Extinction occurs for all species at one point, and at this moment, the Torreya taxifolia, a type of tree, is facing this problem. Scientists differ in opinion on how this phenomena should be handled. Some are suggesting relocating the species to a different location. However, I do not think this is a good idea. There have always been species that become extinct, and why should now be different than before? If this particular species of tree is meant to die out, then let it be so. Humans feel the need to interfere with everything that has to do with nature. Perhaps they should let this one go.

Abstract for Virtual Iraq

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/05/19/080519fa_fact_halpern

In her article, "Virtual Iraq," Sue Halpern addresses not only how the Iraq War has effected soldiers, but how virtual reality is being used to treat PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. By using virtual reality exposure therapy, those who suffer from PTSD are experiencing less symptoms thanks to their increased exposure to the virtual reality that reminds them of their past experiences. These studies on virtual reality as a form of therapy are not just for the short term. Accoding to Albert Rizzo, "'The last one hundred years, we've studied psychology in the real world [...] In the next hundred, we're going to study it in the virtual world.'" Due to the evidence the article gave that this new therapy technique appears to be working, I think it should continued to be employed. As Paul Rieckhoff states in the article, "We’re a video-game generation. It’s what we grew up on. So maybe we’ll respond to it".

Keep the planet clean.

While industrial pollution is something we need to worry about, it is not the only thing. As the amount of electronic waste, or e-waste, increases, the risk of ruining our planet is taking on new forms. Because technology is changing so fast, electronic machines, such as computers, are barely lasting on the market before something bigger and better (or as we should say now, smaller and better) comes forth to take over. E-waste is not being handled properly, and this is putting not only our planet, but also our health at risk. Every time someone upgrades their computer or other electronic device, they need to realize that they are adding to the already high amount of e-waste.

Is a camera on my cell phone really necessary?

With the popularity of Facebook and image sharing websites, people feel the need to take and post pictures of everything they do. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t guilty of this. This need to record every single event in our lives is made obvious by the presence of a camera on most cell phones.
A few months ago, I flushed my phone down the toilet in my friend’s dorm room and had to get a new one. Because I was paying for it myself, I had to buy the cheapest cell phone, which happened to come without a camera. When I explained to people how much I hated my cell phone, I would say, “It doesn’t even have a camera!” It’s not as if it is necessary to have a camera on a cell phone, I never even use the camera when I have one on my phone, but for some reason, it feels necessary to have because you never know when the need to take a picture will arise.
My feelings that my phone was inadequate without a camera did not come out of nowhere. All cell phones advertised on television include cameras. The cell phone industry itself is showing how ‘necessary’ a camera is on a cell phone, yet I am surprised that they still even make cell phones without cameras.
I feel that the presence of cameras on cell phones speaks to a much larger issue within society, which is the fact that people can no longer just enjoy a special event or occasion. They are so obsessed with recording this event that they are not living within the moment. Cell phone creators understand this trend in behavior and are doing what they can to accommodate it.

Abstract for Is Google Making us Stupid?

There's a reason that today's generations are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on a task. Today's school children do not even know what it is like to be able to concentrate in class. Nicholas Carr's article, Is Google Making us Stupid? asserts that due to the vastness and speed of technology today, the way people think and make discoveries is changing. Thanks to such innovations as Google, Amazon, Twitter, Facebook, and CNN.Com, the word patience is a thing of the past. Information can be found at the snap of a finger. Even twitter is causing people to lose their ability to concentrate because instead of reading a newspaper article, they can find out exactly what is going on through quick 140 character tweets. The question remains whether it is fair to call the people who have adapted to this phenomenon 'stupid'. Why does quick, easy, and simple mean the same thing as 'stupid'? There's no point in spending hours in the library on research when the same information can be found so quickly.

Is Google Making Us Stupid?

While I would certainly not use the word 'stupid' to describe how Google, as well as the Internet is changing us, this change is definitely evident. Even as I was reading the article by Nicholas Carr, which was talking about concentration, I could barely concentrate. I did not even read the last few paragraphs because the article just seemed so long. It is ironic that my brain was demonstrating the exact flaw that the article was talking about.

For someone like me who is always interested in learning new pieces of information, and curious about practically everything, Google is the greatest tool I could ask for because as soon as I want to know something, I can have an answer in less than 30 seconds. However, I can not decide whether the benefits or negatives hold more weight. I am slightly fearful for how the internet will impact the generations who grow up with it from the minute they are born. Will ADHD rule the nation?