Collage

My collage represents a little of myself and my identity over the past four years. Four years ago I started playing poker for a living. I worked very hard at it and it ended up working out very well for me. A photo of one of my bigger wins is in the center because poker allowed me to live the life that I have over the past years. After success at poker I traveled a lot, I lived in las Vegas, and I spent a lot of time just having fun. I have some photos of my travels, some from Las Vegas and some of me doing things I love all represented in the collage. I think this collage represents that i'm a very laid back, fun person who enjoys traveling, being outside and just living life to the fullest.

      Images and identity are linked in several ways.  Without speaking to someone, or without knowledge about them, images are the only way we could try and figure out someones identity. What people do, who they do things with, and the images they choose to show people can show a lot about their identity and character.  By looking at images of someone, you can tell what they like, the type of people they surround themselves with, their values, and many other things about that person. I think the type of images I associate with are those of people having fun. I was a very straight kid in grade school in terms of being very disciplined and goal oriented. I never even had my first drink til I was 21. I think I started to associate and try to emulate pictures of fun and partying after my poker success because I had never had any time to just let loose and experience some of those things I had missed out on. Now that I have gotten that phase of my life out of the way, I now see myself associating more with images that display success because I am ready to settle down a bit and work hard to achieve my new goals.

America 24/7

In this article, Patrick Cox talks about the collection of photos in "America 24/7". He mentions that the photos are "the true essence of American character and communities". Without seeing the pictures, I would assume the pictures are just of everyday people like he talks about, doing everyday things. The pictures are not biased or trying to persuade you of anything, they really just show what Americans are doing and how they act. After looking at the photos in the album, I have to agree with him. The pictures look like they really are just people doing normal everyday things in non staged situations. It looks like they are just caught in the act of doing whatever they are doing in the pictures and it really shows how diverse and similar Americans are.

NPO

http://linksinc.org/heartlinks/charlotte_chapter.html

Ordinary picture

Picture turned out a little blurry but this is an "ordinary" picture of me watching TV.

Class review for the week

I really enjoyed this weeks english classes. In our first class, we had an in depth discussion where everyone got involved to analyze Michael Moore's documentary about capitalism. I am always very interested in discussing how the world works, politics, economics, etc so this was fun for me. In our friday class, we did another exercise I enjoyed. I had never really practiced analyzing photos rhetorically before or analyzing the many ideas and interpretations a photo can have. In the pictures we analyzed from the book, it was very interesting to think about how all the different people in the picture, and all the different audiences interpret the picture. When you really stop and think about what the picture means to different people, its amazing how the same event can be thought of in so many ways.

Reflection of week and of Capitalism: A love story

This week in English I finished my Research Proposal and turned it in.  I have a much better idea now of my topic and how I am going to go about writing it. In my research proposal I stated my goals for my timeline of the project, and in the next week I will spend time doing research in the Atkins Library and online.  Once I have all the sources I think I will need I will complete my annotated bibliography due on the 22nd.

In class this week we watched the movie Capitalism: A love story.  This was the second time I have watched it as it caught my attention scrolling through netflix a few weeks earlier.  Overall I'm not a fan of Michael Moore.  I think at times he seems anti-American in his films and views and he also is somewhat of a hypocrite, using issues that probably don't affect him that much or that he doesn't put much time into outside of the movie for profit. I agree it is good that he is brining some of these issues to light to be talked about but think he could go about it in a different way or help more than he probably does.  In this movie I think the main point he is trying to prove is that capitalism is a system that isn't working.  He is trying to argue that it is failing because of the greed of the wealthy and powerful in the hierarchy of the United States.  He makes a strong argument, appealing at some point in the movie to all three of the main types of rhetoric, pathos, ethos, and logos.  He also uses many of the other types of rhetorical arguments and examples such as analogies, story telling, compare/contrast, and many others. I think I have to agree with some of the message of his movie.  Capitalism is a great system but when those at the top become greedy and try and grab all the power and wealth they can it really does start to hurt the system and those who rely on it just to survive. I believe that capitalism is great and is what should drive the American economy, but I believe it should be regulated to help protect the everyday people who are lower on the economic totem pole. 

English - Week of 1/30 - 2/5

   This week in english we started off both classes with a review of information learned in the past weeks. In the first class we reviewed what we learned about researching in the library, and in the second class we reviewed the rhetorical situation and thesis statements. The new material we learned about this week was more information on how to find and evaluate sources and we talked more about our research proposals and how to write them. I was able to brainstorm more about my topic this week and have narrowed it down to obesity in elementary schools. I think this will be a fun topic to write about since I struggled with it myself in elementary school and I have a lot of ideas of what I can write about. On my topic, I could write about the problem and about some possible solutions. Some of the possible solutions I have in mind are adding more sports programs and p.e. to the schools, improving school lunches, educating parents on the importance of their role in their childs health, creating a rewards/incentives program for good health, after school programs, and many more ideas.