The Beauty of Written Annotations and the Danger of Technology

Growing up with two older brothers, my mother had always attempted to avoid the extra payments for books needed for my classes, so she gave me their previously annotated books when I needed them for my own classes. In the beginning of the year when we were buying books, I wanted to use my brother's annotated copy of The Great Gatsby, but there were far too many annotations covering the words, making it nearly impossible to read the book. So I bought my own copy, and forgot about the one that my brother had thrown all of his thoughts into years ago.

Today I looked up at my bookshelf and found the old copy again, now curious of how his thoughts circulated in the beginning chapters of the book, and read his annotations surrounding the chapters we've read so far in class. His ideas were so profound to me, his feelings expressed in each and every word he wrote in the margin. Our similar thoughts and ideas astounded me, and really led me to believe that my brother and I were more similar than I could have ever imagined.

I never really understood the power of words and annotations in books. Whenever my teachers would complain that they lent their annotated copy of a book to a friend and never got it back, I never understood how truly heartbreaking this would be. Even looking back at books I read last year, it's intriguing to see how I look at these books differently now, and how, with knowledge, comes even more mature and developed ideas.

This is why, a technology is becoming more and more advanced, I begin to wonder if society faces a problem in the absence of written word in hard copies of books, and with the rising numbers of Nooks and Kindles, this is becoming an ancient beauty.

Another theme I see with the increase in digital book sales is laziness, as Americans can't even go to the bookstore to pick up for a book, we can't even wait the time for a book to be shipped; we need a device that will download it in less than a minute right in front of our face. In an article called Technology is Making Us Lazy, Sherilynn Macale said, "Inventions like the Kindle are doing so well that they are actually putting stores like Borders out of business and forcing physical book stores to adopt to the emerging trend in digital book reading." This isn't even with books though, this is with everything! Technology is making all information easier to access, but the question is, is this a good thing? Or will this eventually have negative repercussions due to the aspect of laziness that comes with it?

Class as a Social Construct in America

Today, I came across a video on YouTube called Le poids des apparences, or the Importance of Appearance. In the video, a man wearing worn and baggy clothes falls and asks for help from many people, but nobody comes to his aid. The same man then dresses in very dressy clothing, and falls in the same location, but doesn't even need to ask for help due to the people who are rushing to ask if he is okay. It's so interesting to see that appearances can dictate whether we, as human beings, help someone or not.

Sure, the Bystander Effect comes into play, but the fact that not one person even helped him in the first instance is sad; for all we know he could have been truly dying and in need of help from professionals. Is that what it has truly come to? That if someone looks more put together and important than another, we automatically help the one person and ignore the other?

This video really made me realize that society makes some people seem more important than others, as celebrities and those who are extremely wealthy are put on such a high pedestal, while others are forgotten, but are some human beings truly more important than others? It's sad that the only thing stopping people from helping someone out, and potentially saving their life, is how someone looks.

Update: After learning more about class as a social construct in America, I can see where that ties into this story as well. This nicely dressed man seems to be of a much higher class than the man with the torn clothes and ragged appearance, which shows that most people really look up to the higher class and almost pity the lower class, as you can see by the people's faces who walk by the poorer looking man. This shows just how much your class in America affects how you're treated by others, and I find it sad that just because someone may have more money than another person they are valued more in society.

Post Junior Theme

I know this post is long overdue, but, having turned in Junior Theme early last week, the most accurate word to describe how I feel is relief. I am so glad to finally be done with such a huge portion of junior year and be able to say that I finished it. I'm happy to say that through my research I became well aware of many reasons, or rather, theories, as to why the income gap is growing in the United States. I really believe that my writing has greatly improved this year and that was expressed in the final draft of my Junior Theme.

On that note, I'm looking forward to reading The Great Gatsby!

Junior Theme 2

After having a couple of weeks to look at the issues of the inequality, and gaining more and more information on the ideas and theories of different professors, I find that it's getting harder and harder to simplify and prioritize the ideas. There are so many thoughts by highly acclaimed experts that I could easily use for my paper but there is almost too much information that I have found.

Right now I am focusing on grouping together major points to make paragraph blocs and using other, not as major points, for addressing the other side. I almost always forget that we have to complete an annotated bibliography for this paper, and upon remembering I always try to record one or two more sources that I have found over the last few weeks.

So far, I'm happy to say that this process isn't as difficult as my initial thought and the ideas that I have found have helped me better understand my junior theme as a whole.

Junior Theme

For my junior theme topic, I am exploring the widening gap between the rich and poor in the United States. This jumped out at me right away because I've always been interested to know just why the middle class in the United States is slowly disappearing, and what can be account for these changes over the years.

One extremely interesting quote in an article that I came across while researching was, "Inequality in several advanced economies, including the U.S., has returned to levels not seen since before the Great Depression" (Talley). This sole quote was one of the reasons I wanted to research this, as it is obvious the inequality is becoming a huge problem in America, even more of a concern than people think.

I'm hoping to fully explore the concept and gain as much information as I can, though without including too much information that isn't as important to the paper. Finding this balance is going to be hard but I'm looking forward to exploring this topic.

All the Wrong Questions

On a recent TED Talk that I saw, interviewer Chris Anderson spoke with Edward Snowden regarding Snowden's actions involving leaking NSA documents to the press. It is quite a long video, so I'll just point out the only part that truly stood out to me. Anderson asked Snowden, "You've been called many things in the last few months. You've been called a whistleblower, a traitor, a hero...what words would you use to describe yourself?" Snowden responded with this:

"Everybody who is involved with this debate has been struggling over me and my personality, and how to describe me. But when I think about it, this isn't the question we should be struggling with. Who I am really doesn't matter at all. If I'm the worst person in the world, you can hate me and move on. What really matters here are the issues. What really matters here is the kind of government we want. The kind of internet we want. The kind of relationship between people and society."

To me, this was one of the most powerful statements I had ever heard. So many people say that Snowden was a traitor that betrayed the government, but if you consider the other side, Snowden was only trying to help the people of the United States to gain back the privacy we are guaranteed in the Constitution. But people are so quick to judge him and look past the government and their role in these issues. By taking a step back and looking at the big picture, it's interesting to see that this whole situation has become solely about Snowden and his mistakes, when really it should be about what his actions meant and how he was only trying to help, and the government's role in this whole situation.

So many people are pointing fingers at Snowden and labeling him as either a hero or a traitor, but those things are not what matters, as Snowden had said. It's interesting to see that whenever something happens concerning society and how it is run, the people always try to shift the blame to someone else, and often forget about the true issues at hand.

In the Eye of the Beholder

A recent app in the App Store caught my eye the other day; Hot or Not, an app in which people upload an image of themselves and others on the app can rate it either "Hot", or "Not". This app really surprised me, and in my opinion isn't something that should be encouraged and sold in the App Store.

There has always been an obsession with looks and beauty since the beginning of time. Old ads used to encourage beauty in the products they sold, claiming that you would become as beautiful as the model if you used their product. Here is an example:

If you can't see the quote under the picture, it states, "You'd hardly believe that the same face could become so beautiful, would you?". By this phrase, we can tell that the ad infers that the image on the left isn't beautiful until the model puts the makeup on. 

In the 21st century, these ads persist. One example that we see everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE, is this: 

Victoria's Secret. It's no secret (no pun intended) that they represent one body type that is seen as beautiful, and encourage people to buy their product to help mold into that body type. By claiming that it "adds 2 cup sizes", it is saying that to achieve this beauty you need to have a bigger chest, and the image shows that a smaller stomach and skinnier legs are sought after as well. 

So how do these ads compare to the Hot or Not app? Well, these ads show up in magazines, on billboards, all over the media making it nearly impossible for girls to miss. They encourage women around the world to care more about how they look, even causing them to turn to plastic surgery to improve their looks, searching for the beauty that the media represents. It even leads them to post pictures of their selfies to see if they are truly seen in other's eyes as beautiful, and have indeed achieved this goal. Beauty has become the sole importance to girls around the world, and it isn't fair that these ads are leading them to believe that looks are the only thing that matter, when really they should be confident in their own skin without relying on others for reassurance.

All Jokes Aside

Today, I came across a trending video on YouTube called "If Google Was A Guy". I found it a creative parody, and a funny approach to what people search on the internet. It's a short video, so I suggest you watch it, but if not I'll give you a short summary: There is a guy sitting at a desk, with the nameplate "Google" in front of him. It shows people in a line waiting to ask him questions in the way they would type it into google, and the man at the desk (Google) is quite judgmental of some of the things people search.

At one point in the video, there is a woman sitting at the desk, and says "Terror Pictures", which prompts another man in a suit to rise from behind the desk, to represent the NSA, and to show that they follow our searches and watch what we look up on the internet. When she corrects herself, saying, "Whoops, Terrier pictures", the man goes back behind the desk, the whole situation being a false alarm. It's quite an entertaining video, and although it is supposed to be a joke, it's quite true about the NSA and the power they have over our privacy.

Obviously, the people who created this video have a strong opinion of the NSA and are completely against the power they have, but instead of creating another more serious video they slipped the man in there to make a joke about it, and I think this is even more efficient. It's also funny because it comes off as a joke, but this reminded me of a time when my father was telling me something serious and told me a joke about it, but I knew that it wasn't a laughing matter.

I think it's interesting to see that the people who created this video make a joke about the NSA and the things they do, but in a way it's an efficient way to get a point across. Humor is a great way to inform someone of something without coming on too strong. One article I read stated, "Humor is one language that everyone can understand. It breaks down barriers between people. If you can share a laugh with someone, you've connected with that person. It is also a model of efficiency. It can generally get your point across with less effort and verbiage" (Creation).

Do you think this video was a powerful and efficient way to inform people of the power the NSA has, and how it is too much? Or did it undermine the importance of the issue at hand?

Schools Kill Creativity

Near the beginning of the school year our class had a discussion about how schools often want you to think in one way and that way is the right way. Those who have different interpretations are immediately shut down and told they are wrong. Thus, imagination and creativity is discouraged and even worse, forgotten.

I watched a TED Talk yesterday, the most watched in history (having about 25 million views), that was about how schools undermine the creativity that people are born with. Ken Robinson, former college professor and creativity expert, explains how schools often strip away the creativity that students have naturally. He says that although people think that people need to create their own destiny, they are already born with it but have lost it due to the education systems. I strongly suggest you watch it, and even though it's 20 minutes long, it's one of the most engaging videos I've seen in a while.

"Every education system on Earth has the same hierarchy of subjects. At the top are mathematics and languages, then the humanities, and at the bottom are the arts." It's interesting to see that there is always such a systematic and structure-filled approach to learning, and even from the way that classes are ranked by importance we can see that some classes are discarded because they are not taken with priority. It's almost sad that the humanities and arts are often so belittled that they become unimportant and unachievable in the work field, which undermines their importance in life.

Near the end of the video, Robinson states, "Our education system has mined our minds in the way that we strip mine the Earth for a particular commodity. And for the future, it won't serve us. We have to rethink the fundamental principles in which we are educating our children." I couldn't have phrased it any better, and I think that this American Studies class is the first step in this improvement, as our class encourages creative and innovative thinking and urges people to think things in their own interpretation of it, which should give other classes an idea of a more efficient and beneficial way to teach. 

The Things You Own Will End Up Owning You

Last week, my Spanish teacher was trying to access a video on YouTube to show our class. We demanded that she make it full screen, but she soon pressed the wrong button and another video began to play. She apologized profusely, as the class erupted in groans of impatience at the prolonged process of playing the video. It was then that I realized just how prominent of a disconnect there is between the past generations and the children of today regarding technology.

I was talking to my friend about this topic and she brought up the fact that in her American Studies class, which is obviously not as awesome as ours, they discussed that our generation, as in, the teenagers today, are the last to fully understand what it was like when technology was not at its full capacity. Even the kids I babysit, who are seven and nine years old, can easily navigate the iPad and iPhone and beg to use mine to play games on when I'm with them. What ever happened to board games and playing outside? It's weird to think that at one point, we didn't even have phones, and when I was growing up, all people had were flip phones whose only function was to call and text (if you were patient enough to press the numbers multiple times just to get one letter). There were no such things as apps. But the children growing up today never experienced life without technology; and this is a detriment to their growth as human beings. 

I read this article today about technology, and the author, Jeff Sorensen, connected a quote from Fight Club's Tyler Durden to modern day technology. In the movie, Durden stated, "The things you own will end up owning you." In a way, this is exactly how our electronic devices are today. We possess these deadly objects that could cause us to lose our distraction, proving to be a hazard on the roads, and create a huge method of procrastination. It seems that nothing else matters when you have your phone in your hands, absolutely blurring out the world around you. Sorensen brought up a blackout that occurred in 2003, claiming that after going three days without power, "People were actually reading books and talking like human beings again. They started learning how to live without the training wheels of technology" (Huffington Post). It's interesting to see how different people act in everyday situations when technology is inaccessible, and Sorensen proves a point when he warns his readers to avoid being "owned" by their cellphones, as they have the potential to take over our lives. 

Samsung Launches Galaxy S5 Smartphone

Today, in looking at my news online, I found that Samsung recently released the Galaxy S5. The very first thought that came into my head when I saw the article was, "Really? Another updated phone?" If you think about it, if the Apple and Samsung continue to release newer and updated versions of their cellphones, there will be a point where there there is no possibility for improvement.

It makes me sad that every couple of months a new phone comes out, the last one forgotten and now simply an older one, and not as cool as the newest and flashiest one. One of my brother's friends gets every new updated iPhone, and is always one of the first ones in line to receive it. Sure, the advancement of technology will continue to improve and make changes over time, but this is simply teaching Americans a bad lesson, that you always have to have the newest and best version of something, and you can never really be happy with what you have. You always need more and more, and there is really no end to it. It's a vicious cycle.

Overall, although it is merely an article about an updated cellphone, I found that it encompasses a wide range of issues concerning these technology companies. I feel like this represents American ideals in that people are never truly thankful for what they have, and once they obtain one thing they go right on to the next thing without second thought, never truly being thankful for what they have.

Picture of Perfection: Attainable Ideals?

We see it everywhere: slim models on the face of Vogue, girls looking into the camera with bright eyes and beautiful smiles; these images of perfection that surround our media.

I'm sure many of you have either seen or heard of this commercial by Dove. It's absolutely captivating that so much work goes into one advertisement that we see. So many effects are used on this picture to make the woman an image of utter perfection, of perfect symmetry. But obviously the woman in the advertisement in the end doesn't even exist. She is simply a product of the woman in the beginning of the video, a flawless version of herself. It's unfair that the representation of beauty today is inaccurate and ultimately unattainable, as the uses of Photoshop and other editing sites are prevalent in the process.

Imagine you are a young girl living in this time period. You would have become accustomed to the gorgeous models around you, suddenly expecting that of yourself when you grow up. Becoming beautiful is represented as a top priority, the magazines and commercials giving you the idea that your looks are the most important thing in life. This is detrimental to all girls the same, negatively affecting the way they view themselves.

The American ideal has altered over time, but currently it is simply a product of Photoshop and other photo enhancing sites. It's important to teach people, especially children, that you're beautiful in your own skin, without the rather false image of perfection that is shown all over media today.

Mizzou Football Team: Role Model for USA

Today, in an effort to catch up on news I had missed over the weekend and curious of the trending stories, I checked CNN. The first thing I saw was this:

At first, I was extremely pleased that he had the courage and bravery to release this information that could potentially cause backlash in the media. But then I thought: What's the big deal? Why is this news becoming the most televised and circulated story of the weekend? Why does such a small factor of this boy's life have to have such surprising reactions that could make another gay player feel as though this is unethical or wrong? 

Upon further research, I came across this article. Apparently, Michael Sam could become the first openly gay player drafted by the NFL, which is why there is such a hype around this particular story. He informed his team of his sexual orientation in August, and "Mizzou not only played the entire season without leaking Sam's preference to the media; It supported him, made him a team MVP and watched him sack the quarterback 11.5 times" (CBS). Even from the name of this article, "Mizzou Treats Michael Sam's Sexuality as Non-Story" is so highly respectable, I felt utter content when I read the piece. 

It is such a large contradiction: the reaction of the media resulting in the hype of Americans worldwide, and the silence from the team, showing they believed Michael's sexual orientation was irrelevant. The NFL should take note on how the team acted and realize that it shouldn't be a big deal. But the very fact that there was such a hype from the mere sexual orientation of a potential NFL player shows that this idea is not yet fully accepted in media and worldwide. 

Do you think that this story should have gone public, to account for the bravery that Sam showed and the responsibility of the Mizzou team? Or should it have been left as a "non-story", that the very fact that he is gay doesn't have anything to do with his skill on the field and that it truly is not a big deal?

Racial Inequality in the Media

Today I was watching TV and a commercial came on advertising the company H&R Block. In the commercial, the first image shown is of an older black man putting large amounts of money on each seat in a stadium. Then it zooms out to an image of an older white man saying, "Last year, thinking they could do their own taxes, Americans left behind more than a billion dollars. That's $500 hundred dollars on every single seat, not just in this stadium, but in every professional football stadium in America." Don't get me wrong, that's an extremely riveting statement and an amazing statistic, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.

If you look at the dynamics of this commercial, the "big picture", you see a black man that is sweating and tiring over slowly putting bundles of dollar bills on every seat in the stadium shown. He is a part of this useless task in the background of the commercial, while the older, more official looking white man is in the front of the screen explaining the debt of America and the reasons for this. He is obviously shown trying to educate Americans on the importance of paying your taxes and receiving the proper help in doing so. The black man, in contrast, is simply doing a hopeless task that seems unimportant in comparison to the information the white man is feeding us.

What if the roles were switched? Chaos would ensue, and people would argue that the white man was not being properly represented. It angered me that I had seen so many commercials like this before that just went right over my head- I never truly understood how often this racial inequality came up in commercials shown on TV as well as other media shown to the public. It's sad to think that this racial inequality is something that comes up so often in the media that everyone just goes along with it, and it becomes a normal occurrence.

When are people truly going to stand up against racism and fight for racial equality in the media? And even after the Civil Rights Movement, in which an end to racial segregation and discrimination was pleaded by the social movements of the time, do you think that African Americans are at the point where they stand equal to the Caucasian race?