letter

Dear reader, As I entered English 1 I came in with little knowledge, with just the basic information. For example, an essay needed five paragraphs the introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion needed. English has not been the easiest subject for me. I have gone through a lot with my writing skills just because I am not so into the subject. Going into this English class I did not expect so much from it. I thought it would be boring as all my other English classes have been. But this English class with Professor Rowley was entertaining because even though we had a lot of work to do we were able to do class work with friends. Also try new things for example moodle where we would have to turn in our homework in there at a certain time. What I mostly enjoyed about this class was that Professor Rowley would get everyone to participate and join the conversation. I enjoyed that she would try to get students to participate because if the professor spends most of the time talking students doze off especially I would doze off when it is just the professor lecturing. Also when we had to do class work we would be able to work with our classmates make the work easier and also get to know a classmate better. I learned a lot in this class from reading, exercises, and essays we had to do for class. For example the readings I enjoyed this semester would be “Shitty Fist Draft” because it talked about how not every paper you write the first time would be perfect. Also another reading would be “Teacher Who Changed My Life” it is about a young boy who he felt that no one believed in him until he went in to an English class of his and met his teacher that would push him to do what she believes he can do and ended up being close in the end that she attended his wedding. Also things I learned in this class would be how to write my thesis, to write essays about arguments, citing, and how to revise work. What I enjoyed most over all would be writing the essay on feminism arguments. Over all my English 1 class was not what I expected. I expected it to be boring as my usual English classes. But Professor Rowley knows how to entertain the students and to get them involved with the class conversations. Also she always kept reminding us what we had to have done by the next class meeting. Unlike other professors they expect you to write it down but Professor Rowley would send out reminders to all the students. Sincerely, Cecilia Camarena

life transitions

Life Transitions Life transitions are big steps in life and sometimes they’re not the easiest. After students graduate high school and start attending college, they realize they are on their own. College is a big step. It has changed me by helping me manage time, learn what is important in school, and become independent. When I was in high school, I used to be into softball and just enjoy being around friends. I would find any excuse to get out of doing anything that involved school. I was not really into going to class and doing class work. After time passed in college, I realized I would not be able to do what I did in high school to pass. College has helped in many ways but one of them is to balance my time more now between school, working, and having family time. I am busier and have to see what should be done first. In high school, I would not do much of my homework or assignments, just enough to pass the class. The only thing that made me want to get a passing grade was to stay in softball and not be benched for having low grades. I was more focused on softball and going out with friends. Once I got to college, I noticed it was not that easy to just do enough work to pass the class; I had to actually make time to do homework and study. School had to be my number one priority in order to pass my classes. Whenever I was not at work or in class and had homework to do, that was the first thing I did if I wanted to go out later on. There were many times when things came up with my friends or family at the last minute and I would have to stay and do homework when I should have done it earlier. For example, either my friends or family members would ask me to go out to the movies as a group and I had to say no because I decided to slack off on my homework and study time. I do not have as much time as usual to just slack off and watch television or just be on the phone. I have to see what had to be completed for school before doing anything else. College has made me realize what is important and what is not. Studying and making the right decisions are made with more thought than before just doing. Instead of just guessing and doing the homework to show that I did it actually put effort in it. In high school I would just put random things into my work and act as if I did it just to get credit out of it. Now, in college I put effort into it because it helps me in the long run. I have noticed that subjects of the homework comes up in class discussion, so I can know what is going on in class. College has made me realize if you do not do your work and put effort into it there will be a lot of times that the work comes up and you realize you could have known the answer only if you did the work you were suppose to do. Also, college has made me realize that a sport is not as important as education. For example, in high school I would prefer to play softball than attending class. The environment from coming out of high school into college has taught me how to be more independent, too. Professors are not going to be like high school teachers who hold your hand and tell you that you are falling behind. It is all up to you to figure out if you are doing well in the class or not. Also, not asking questions when you need help will get you nowhere. For example, I learned if I did not understand an assignment, it was best to ask a question than assume what the professor really wants. For example, when a professor assigns an assignment that it is worth a lot of points and they go over it, the professor is not going to go to each student and ask what they do not understand. I have learned to be more sociable in class rather than just keeping to myself, too. There have been times I noticed it is best to get to know classmates in your class in case you are not able to make it to class and have questions on what you missed out or have a question on an assignment. Most professors do not talk face-to-face about a problem you have in class; they expect you to notice and ask for help. In high school if I did not turn in an assignment the teacher would call me up and talk to me about how it affected my grade. Also in high school teachers would let you turn in late work or re-do the assignment. In college, you only have one chance. When I did not like a grade on one of my assignments I would have to go up to the teacher and ask if I can re-do the assignment for a higher grade. Usually the teacher would say yes, but not a perfect score and only a limited. The environment of college has also made me notice that I have become more mature compared to high school. College classes are mixed with different age groups, and students in college actually are there to learn and not to fool around during a lecture. In high school I would not pay attention to class; I would just talk with my classmates or be on my phone. Overall, college has changed me into a better person. College has taught me to manage my time with school, work, and still going out and having fun with friends. I have learned not to slack off and to keep up with everything. Also, it has helped me see what is important and what is not, like thinking twice about a decision. Finally, it made me more independent; now in college I do not have someone to hold my hand and tell me how I am doing in class.

Dolce and Gabbana

Dolce and Gabbana’s Unrealistic Gender Expectations There are many ads on television, magazines, and billboards that target specific genders. For example, if they are trying to advertise something for men, they usually have sexy women to seduce them to buy the product. The women are usually wearing a bikini or some type of clothes that look tight to show off their body. Now, in a women’s ad, it is the opposite. They have sexy men showing off their abs tying to seduce women to buy the product. Although Dolce and Gabbana use sexual appeals on their campaign, it should change because they show unrealistic expectations for the consumers, which can lead me and women to feel imperfect and inferior. Dolce and Gabbana may be popular and entertaining, but their substance is problematic because it makes insecurities for men and women. In one commercial, for example, the female is wearing a white bikini and the male is wearing white underwear and they both come out of the water and start making out while the man takes off the woman’s bikini top. The ad catches our attention because it has an attractive male and an attractive female relaxing in a location with a nice view of the beach. The ad implies that if you get a fragrance like the Dolce and Gabbana fragrance, you can get either a sexy man or a sexy female. These can appeal to both genders. In a Luxury Daily article titled “Dolce & Gabbana Offers Social Entry Point to Brand Lifestyle” journalist Erin Shea says that “Dolce & Gabbana taps into that with a very sensual image of a man and a woman that people want to look like and in a relaxed and beautiful location where people dream of going” (para 20). When ads start to give these kinds of impressions with a nice view and having a sexy female or male on your side, it gives viewers an unrealistic expectation. If Dolce and Gabbana would redesign their ad campaign using females and males with more realistic bodies, consumers would be more able to relate and would not feel inadequate. Advertisers that want the commercials or ads to go out to a lot of viewers, spend millions of dollars. When they design ads, they think of what can catch more viewer’s attention and one thing the use are celebrities. Advertisers use the media because it is best known for most viewers. For example, the television, magazines, internet, and billboards are used because it is everywhere. Getting a celebrity to do a commercial can be difficult because they have to get a celebrity that is well known and does not have many negative comments about their career. If they do not get a good celebrity to show their product, it will not sell as they had hoped. Female advertisers can make men and women want to change. For women, the way they get their attention is by making them change for example by wanting to look as sexy and get that much attention. For men they would think if they get that they can get a good looking girl like them. For men, it is the same but opposite it can catch either men or women attention. For men it can make them want to look just like the actor to get the nice women. For women they would think they can get the fragrance for their boyfriend and think their man would look like that too. One Dolce and Gabbana commercial advertisement that is popular because it has a famous celebrity is one featuring Johansson McConaughey. In this commercial, McConaughey is being shown with colors of black and grey while he is wearing a suit with paparazzi chasing him and taking pictures as he enters a hotel. In the end of the ad, as he is entering his hotel room, he starts to take off his jacket and his button up shirt. Once he is shirtless, color starts to come in. This ad will catch female’s attention just because it is a big celebrity showing off his body. This ad implies that if you get the fragrance, you will get the same attention as the celebrity did. This ad attracts more females then males just because it has a man showing off his sexy body. In a Relax News article titled “Johansson, McConaughey together for Dolce & Gabbana The One journalist says “Meanwhile, McConaughey plays an older Hollywood screen icon in the style of Marcello Mastroianni, chased by paparazzi and women wherever he goes.”Matthew is the ultimate charmer. He is an outstanding actor, and a very handsome man whose good looks seem to be increasing with age. And he has also been blessed with style. Not to mention a clever with and boundless charisma” (para 6). When ads start to give these kinds of impressions with handsome men with a nice body being followed, it makes men think they need to look that way to get girls’ attention. This is a problem because this fragrance makes men feel they have to look good and always wear a nice suit in order to be considered successful and attractive. Dolce and Gabbana should change their advertisement campaigns because they give unrealistic expectations of what their products will do for consumers. Not every male has the best body, and not every female has a nice body to show off by wearing bikinis. Fragrance like these make people think of unrealistic expectations. The actors for these ads make the more common people think they are not good enough and have to change. This is how ads get consumers to change by getting people to want to be like the actors in the ad. Works Cited Bispo, Radames. “Dolce and Gabbana the one.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, web. 22 Oct. 2013. Shea Frin. “Dolce and Gabbana Offers Special Entry Point to Brand Lifestyles” Luxury Daily. 13 May 2013. Web 21 Oct. 2013. Watchfashionnews. “Dolce and Gabbana- Light Blue Fragrance commercial.” Online video clip. Youtube, web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Technology

Technology Making Society Lazy As new technology is coming out and social networking is becoming bigger every day people are getting lazy. Fewer kids are being active and more are into their video games or Iphones. From the moment they wake up to the moment they go to bed they are on their electronic device playing a game. Not only are electronics making kids being lazy, but there are adults who would rather stay home and play on their playstation or Xbox where they play with friends and are able to communicate with each other as well. All these electronics are getting the kids attention and keeping them away from being active and making them become obese because they just sit around the house in front of a television screen. Ever since technology has become a big part of our lives, we have become lazier. As a result, there has been an increase in weight gain. Not just video games like the Xbox or a playstation but also our phones and television because we rather watch our favorite television show or play our favorite game that is in our phone. Now that our phones are more high tech, we spend a lot of time on them and ignore what is going around us. Our phones now have a way for us to look up information use social media anytime. For example, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and take up a lot of our time. It is a way people can communicate with each other by expressing some feelings or being able to share photos with friends. Also, now people in our society are stuck on our phones texting most of the time. DVR’s now are able to record shows that people are not able to watch. Also they use the excuse of “relax time” while watching television but are really just being lazy. Now that technology is becoming more advanced in our society, it is harder for us to get off the couch and go do something active; instead we are sitting most of the time on either our phones or playing video games. More devices are becoming portable and wireless, which make people want to be on their device more often than usual. For example a portable device is the iPad that has access to the internet, camera, face timing and being able to download video games. In an Examiner article titled “Why Are Teens So Lazy?” journalist Sara Broers says that “Teens are not getting the physical activity that they need on a daily basis. Look at all of the advancements that have been made in our world of technology. From cell phones, video gaming systems, to hand held gaming systems, to computers; our world is very different today than it was twenty years ago” (para 1). Now that technology is advanced, most teens do not think of going out to play with friends or just to have a conversation face to face with a person. Most devices for example the iPhone, iPod, iPad now have face timing so people do not really meet up to talk. With technology being everywhere people tend to lack fitness and spend most of their time being lazy on their electronics. In an Examiner article titles “Why are teen so lazy?” journalist Sara Broers says that “One could argue that teens are not lazy, as they keep their minds busy through cell phones and the internet. According to the website TeenHelp, The American Obesity Association states concerns that parents have in regards to this growing epidemic. 12% of teenage children are overweight, and a whopping 78% of parents feel that Physical Education should not be removed from the school day” (para 3). Teenagers in this society are not as active as it was before with technology being so advanced and keeping them more entertained. As time goes by there are more devices becoming portable and keeping people from not interacting with others and noticing there surroundings. Teenagers in this society are becoming more overweight than how it was before. Most teens spend time in front of a television screen watching their show or playing video games. They spend most of their time sitting down than being out and being active. They rather play a sport game on Xbox rather than out themselves playing with friends for example games like basketball, football, baseball, and soccer they rather be in front of a screen playing than out themselves being able to kick or catch the ball. Usually, when people come home from work they tend to want to relax and watch television. But in reality, they take too much time watching television and become lazy they do not realize the time they let pass. In an Inside Technology article titled “Computers Technology Laziness Society Digital TV Computer Internet Cell Phone – Yes” journalist Erich Heinlein says “Technology can make you lazy. It all depends on the person. But generally, yes technology has made us lazy. For example, what most typical Americans do when they get home from a long day at work is come home and then sit in front of the TV for a good portion of the evening” (para 1). The amount of television people are watching is more than what they should really be watching. People should not spend so much time watching television; rather they should spend more time being active. As kids see adults spend so much time in front of television they would soon emulate their habit as well. Then it will be harder to get them out of that habit because they were raised to spend most of their time watching television. What families can do to prevent this is go out as a family to a park and just have a family bonding time with each other. Also, just spending time watching television and not communicating with each other can create family problems; they will not get to know each other very well. All this technology computers, phones, game systems, and television are making our society lazier and dependent on technology. This kind of technology is making us more interested in all the advanced electronics and making our society obese. We tend to leave physical fitness behind to be on these electronics. As technology gets more advanced we are more focused on that rather than our health. Technology is taking over our time and we are not realizing it until it is too late. We realize until we are in bad health conditions. Even after realizing that we have bad health we tend to ignore it and go with our lives being lazy. Television and video games are the cause for this. They keep us entertain for a great amount of time that we tend to like being sitting down. People are not interacting as before. They rather talk in the phone or text rather than meeting up and talking face to face with a person. Works Cited “Why are teens so lazy today?”2013. Online. Web. 19 November 2013. “Computers, Technology, Laziness, Society, Digital TV, Computer, Internet, Cell Phone –Yes.” 2013. Online. Web. 19 November 2013. “Does Technology Make Us Lazy?” 2013. Online. Web. 30 November 2013.

"Violent Media is Good for Kids"

Jones helps his son overcome his fear by reading him old Tarzan comics, he taught his son that it is okay to take risks every now and then. Jones includes and addresses counterarguments in his essay when he says, "I'm not going to argue that violent entertainment is harmless. I think it has helped inspire some people to real-life violence. I am going to argue that it's hundreds of people for every one it's hurt, and that it can help far more if we learn to use it well. I am going to argue that out fear of "youth violence" isn't well founded on reality, and that the fear can do more harm than the reality (para 14)." Jones writes about the need especilly in childhood for a fantasy self, I agree that super hero stories helps kids think about their inner self and public self as they are growing up.

Technology

For the past two days I tried to avoid using any kind of technology. I realized that I spend a lot of time using the computer, phone, or iPod to keep me busy. I would spend most of on the computer for social sites like Facebook and Instagram rather than using it wisely for class work. Whenever I had something to do I always had my music playing with me so it can entertain me and so it would not be too quiet while I do errand or even while doing some homework. I realized most of the time I use technology is when using my phone because I will be texting. The time I spend using technology is not really well spent, just because I use it more of entertainment, when I can use more of the time for school. Using technology is different from using it in an academic setting because it is not just time being wasted away. For example, in high school we I would use the computer to check on my grades to see what I needed to do to improve. It is something that needs to be done for my education. Most of the time doing things for school it would be for me to learn things that I need rather than just being on social sights to waste time away. The technology that is asked to be used in school is minimal. Most of the time technology is needed is to just to print out work that is needed for the next class meeting. There are classes where they expect more technology to be used, either to turn in homework or to complete homework assignments online. The way I see that I am using technology is more of a waste of time.

In our generation people seem to be all into their electronic devices. Whether it s for work or just for entertainment. Most of the time people use their electronics for entertainment, for example, facebook, instagram, YouTube, texting, or even just to search things on Google or yahoo. Electronic devices have become a big importance in our life. Not many people can go without a day using their phone to go on social devices. Facebook has become a thing where you can talk to friend, find friends you have not seen in a while, or even just to meet new people. A lot of people spend their time talking trying to get to meet new people. Instagram has been another big thing that a lot of people like to use to post pictures about a great time they had or just a random picture. Youtube has been huge for a while now, people go on it to watch music videos or just random videos that they have up. Texting would be the number one reason why people are all into their phones. No matter where they are they are on their phone messaging a friend or a love one. Texting has been a distraction for students especially during a lecture. Electronics are also just used to research things or just being able to check on their email. Electronics has become a big distraction and not a lot of people know when it is appropriate to be using.