We have become dependent of three iconic institutions. We can agree or disagree as to their significance, but, as Americans we cannot escape their influence. The trio of powerful institutions bend, shape, and influence the way we live, and view ourselves, in the 21st century. Judith Ortiz Cofer, Professor of English, Nora Ephron former reporter for the New York Post and Eric Scholosser correspondence Atlantic Monthly, relate in three essays, the significance of public schools, mass media, and McDonald's Corporation.
Judith Ortiz Cofer's "The Story of My Body" shares personal esteem issues she incurred while attending public school #11, in Patterson, New Jersey. Wile a young student, at this institution, she was called "skinny-bones" and "shrimp", by her classmates. This description, by her classmates, at this institution, led to the realization that,"size"was one of the ways others perceived her. Thus, shattering the view she had of herself. She had always been considered beautiful by her church community, in her barrio, and by her mother. Consequently, she developed a dislike for public school. It was on public school playgrounds and sports fields that other size-related torments begin inflicting deep emotional wounds. She recalls"waiting to be called for softball or volleyball", only to be picked last. Painfully aware of being 4 feet tall, short, skinny and bespectacled, she became increasingly withdrawn. There were other lessons to learn. Her skin color became the next arrow in the quiver of adolescent torment. At school she recalled, White girls were chosen, for the big parts in school plays, then pretty Jewish girls, Puerto Rican girls and finally the Black girls. Public school had a significant impact, in the emotional development, of Ms. Cofer, as a child.
Nora Ephron's "The Boston Photographs" raised the question of censorship in the institution of mass media. The debate focused around three critically powerful photographs, taken by Stanley Forman of the Boston Herald American. The controversial topic was, should they be released for public consumption? The content or the three photos, was the failed rescue attempt, by the Boston fire department, of 19 year old Diana Bryan and infant child. The photos became the subject of intense debate across the United States and elsewhere. Were the photographs publicly acceptable as news or a morbid curiosity? The newspaper editors received mixed responses from the public in letters-to-the-editors section. Most responses read like this: "Invading the Privacy of Death", "Cheap Sensationalism", "I Thought I Was Reading the National Enquirer." The Washington Posts Ombudsman, Charles Seib, thought the pictures where fantastic and should be printed. The Question was how should they be displayed? Could the photos of a woman's last seconds alive be shown tastefully? It is clear that this essay gives the reader an inside look into the critical thinking process with regards to censorship, at the top levels, in the institution of mass media.
Eric Schlosser's "What We Eat" explores the ascendancy of fast food and how it has become a significant institution in America. Fast foods can be purchased in drive -thrus, at stadiums, airports, zoos, high schools, elementary schools and universities. Every town in America has a fast food strip, with a McDonald's. The experience of buying fast food has become routine, like brushing your teeth. Fast food has revolutionized the way Americans view mealtime. Ancient Romans claimed a nation's diet can be more reveling than its art or literature. Therefor fast food and the consequences are inescapably bleak, when we consider the medical consequences. The extraordinary growth of the fast food industry has been driven by fundamental changes in American society. Nationally a lowering of real income, since 1973, has forced both parents into the work place. The result is, at the end of the day. They are both to tired, therefore, they settle for take out on average three times a week. Americans, sadly, spend more of their disposable income on fast food then they do for their children's college. The fast food industry critic and farm activist, Jim Hightower, in 1970, warned of the impending "McDonaldization of America".
The majority of Americans attend and are educated at public schools. We read newspapers and watch television to get important local and national news. Most Americans eat take out three times a week. We rely and depend on these three significant institutions.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Saturday, February 13, 2010
No One is Safe `
Whether you are a poor farmer from a small village in rural China. Or if you are a black citizen living in the USA. Life is inherently dangerous as evidence by these three short stories "No Name Women", "The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society", "Nobel Lecture".
M. H. Kingston is currently a senior lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Her book "No Name Women" Is shockingly painfull. The mob mentality inflicts periless consequences on a small family. A young Chinese women's pregnancy, either by rape or consensual sex, ignites a storm that shatters her family and leads to her and the newborn child's suicide in the family well. The mob i.e., village neighbors and friends become hostile judge and jury. Mob justice destroys the family farm. This behavior is primitive by modern standards but common to the (round) Chinese society. Most everything needed, for the family to survive, farm animals and crops are killed or ransacked. Sadly the girls name must also never be spoken, she is to become a ghost. Can you imagine how awful this must have been.? I have three sisters fortunately they were not exposed to this type of terror. We must all be mindful of mob justice, to prevent and promote fair justice under law whether in a rural farm village in China or the streets of LA (Reginald Denny).
C. West is currantly on the faculty at Princeton , his novel"The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society", raise several questions, are blacks in America in danger physically, emotional and economically, because of their skin color? C. West claims "you have to situate yourself in tradition that links the past to the present" to understand the black plight. I have always strove to understand what it is like to be of a different race. I don't differentiate but judge only a man's content and character. We must never forget the heinous injustices perpetrated on the West African population by European slave traders. Also as citizens of the United States, since emancipation the black people in America have been continually at peril. All we have to do is remember "Jim Crow" where blacks in the south faced the danger of being hung from trees if they drank from a White Only water fountain or glanced at a white women. Blacks have been demonized, ostracized and victimized in this hemisphere and elsewhere for over four hundred years. W. E. B. Dubois asserts "Being Black in America is to be a problem. A fetishization, black bodies in white space, "pigmentocracy" Blacks didn't gain the right to vote as equal citizens in America until LBJ signed historic legislation in the 1960's. C. West claims "if you don't include everyone, economically and politically, democracy is at danger". We must look beyond color, race, economic disposition, or we will face the very real possibility of another civil war.
K. Annan's, "Nobel Lecture" dreamed of a world without inherent danger. For example, he suggested each human deserves to live in peace, that we can end poverty, prevent violent conflicts and encourage worldwide democracy. K. Annan was Secretary General of the United Nations, unfortunately he was only the figure head of a often limited organization. We live in dangerous times, on the edge of a steep cliff, where any false step will have catastrophic results. Iran and North Korea seek nuclear weapons, recurrant pandemic disease, wholesale destruction of habitat were just a few issues facing K. Annan and the UN. Each issue is inherently dangerous and very real. In addition economic demands on the UN are at all time highs. Several unresolved conflicts have no end in sight. What can the UN really do? Because the UN has no real authority they are often ignored and unsuccessful. As long as individual nation states place their own interests above that of the greater good, we will all live precariously on the precipice. Finally K. Annan will likely be remembered like other dreamers, who dared to make changes, but accomplished little. If we look back over our lifetime we will see that in theory the UN was a brilliant idea. When we dream of a better tomorrow we better remember what we have learned from our violent past. K Annan is an intelligent man, no doubt capable but how much of an impact did he have.
From man's first sin in the Garden of Eden life has been inherently dangerous. Man has waged wars over territory, food, ideology, religion, ignorance and race. There have been holocausts, genocides, and murder that defy reason. We must all challenge ourselfs. To guarantee, every man, woman or child the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happieness. It shouldnt matter if you are a young mother living in a small village in China, or a black in rural America. If we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it.
M. H. Kingston is currently a senior lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley. Her book "No Name Women" Is shockingly painfull. The mob mentality inflicts periless consequences on a small family. A young Chinese women's pregnancy, either by rape or consensual sex, ignites a storm that shatters her family and leads to her and the newborn child's suicide in the family well. The mob i.e., village neighbors and friends become hostile judge and jury. Mob justice destroys the family farm. This behavior is primitive by modern standards but common to the (round) Chinese society. Most everything needed, for the family to survive, farm animals and crops are killed or ransacked. Sadly the girls name must also never be spoken, she is to become a ghost. Can you imagine how awful this must have been.? I have three sisters fortunately they were not exposed to this type of terror. We must all be mindful of mob justice, to prevent and promote fair justice under law whether in a rural farm village in China or the streets of LA (Reginald Denny).
C. West is currantly on the faculty at Princeton , his novel"The Moral Obligations of Living in a Democratic Society", raise several questions, are blacks in America in danger physically, emotional and economically, because of their skin color? C. West claims "you have to situate yourself in tradition that links the past to the present" to understand the black plight. I have always strove to understand what it is like to be of a different race. I don't differentiate but judge only a man's content and character. We must never forget the heinous injustices perpetrated on the West African population by European slave traders. Also as citizens of the United States, since emancipation the black people in America have been continually at peril. All we have to do is remember "Jim Crow" where blacks in the south faced the danger of being hung from trees if they drank from a White Only water fountain or glanced at a white women. Blacks have been demonized, ostracized and victimized in this hemisphere and elsewhere for over four hundred years. W. E. B. Dubois asserts "Being Black in America is to be a problem. A fetishization, black bodies in white space, "pigmentocracy" Blacks didn't gain the right to vote as equal citizens in America until LBJ signed historic legislation in the 1960's. C. West claims "if you don't include everyone, economically and politically, democracy is at danger". We must look beyond color, race, economic disposition, or we will face the very real possibility of another civil war.
K. Annan's, "Nobel Lecture" dreamed of a world without inherent danger. For example, he suggested each human deserves to live in peace, that we can end poverty, prevent violent conflicts and encourage worldwide democracy. K. Annan was Secretary General of the United Nations, unfortunately he was only the figure head of a often limited organization. We live in dangerous times, on the edge of a steep cliff, where any false step will have catastrophic results. Iran and North Korea seek nuclear weapons, recurrant pandemic disease, wholesale destruction of habitat were just a few issues facing K. Annan and the UN. Each issue is inherently dangerous and very real. In addition economic demands on the UN are at all time highs. Several unresolved conflicts have no end in sight. What can the UN really do? Because the UN has no real authority they are often ignored and unsuccessful. As long as individual nation states place their own interests above that of the greater good, we will all live precariously on the precipice. Finally K. Annan will likely be remembered like other dreamers, who dared to make changes, but accomplished little. If we look back over our lifetime we will see that in theory the UN was a brilliant idea. When we dream of a better tomorrow we better remember what we have learned from our violent past. K Annan is an intelligent man, no doubt capable but how much of an impact did he have.
From man's first sin in the Garden of Eden life has been inherently dangerous. Man has waged wars over territory, food, ideology, religion, ignorance and race. There have been holocausts, genocides, and murder that defy reason. We must all challenge ourselfs. To guarantee, every man, woman or child the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happieness. It shouldnt matter if you are a young mother living in a small village in China, or a black in rural America. If we forget the past we are doomed to repeat it.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
college bound again
After 30 years of graduating high school, I am off to college again!! This Rocks. I never realized how much I would like this. Should have done this 30 years ago but now is as good a time as any. My classes include: Architecture of the World, English Comp and Literature and Western Civ. II
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