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.