This is the annual day that all Americans are supposed to give thanks, and I need to narrow down what I am thankful for for the purpose of this post.
1. a healthy body that can run, walk, dance and move freely at my own will
2. Eyes that see, ears that hear, a voice that can sing and talk with others
3. a good job where I work with people who support and care about me, unlike other jobs offered to teenagers which are seen as places of dysfunction and dread
4. an able brain which can learn and think and process information
5. An imperfect family
6. a mother who never allows a shortage of food in the house...
7. a puppy who loves me and gets excited every time I walk in the door
8. A home in a safe neighborhood in a district of a prestigious public school
9. many different "families" who support me: Debate family, immediate family, extended family, lacrosse family, creative writing family etc.
10. semi-intelligent parents
11. my out of control hair
12. friends who will help me in any bad situation
13. the ability to travel and see new places in the world
14. indoor heating - although I don't think my mom turns it on often
15. my lifetime fitness membership
16. my cell phone
17. teachers who I feel safe to talk to about issues that you wouldn't talk about with any random person.
Of course there are many more things I can't think of that I need to express gratitude for, but for now this is what I will focus on as far as reasons for happiness.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Enjoy the beauty given, don't try to create it.
Humans do not respect the natural beauty that surrounds them. The glamour of Hollywood and the bright city lights of New York City are always acclaimed as being beautiful and inspiring, but the same people who value those artificially created symbols of beauty are damaging the remaining natural beauty left on this earth. The ocean has become a toxic waste dump, and its animals and other marine life have fallen victim to this deadly human practice. From oil spills and garbage dumping to other atrocities committed against marine life, my visual essay exposes this injustice to the most beautiful and precious resource on the planet. Garbage is constantly disposed of in the ocean, strangling innocent animals and clumping into floating garbage islands. Oil is spilled from huge tankers to kill seabirds and fish and pollute the once pristine waters. The worst of all are the sins committed directly by humans against the innocent animals that live in the ocean, the images I included as an example are from the annual dolphin slaughter that takes place in Taiji, Japan.
The main appeal was to pathos, because the graphic imagery evokes a sentimental or emotional feeling. The viewer would likely feel a twinge of guilt for their inevitable minor contribution to the degradation of the ocean. Personally, I feel as though there is a logos claim, because it makes sense, it is logical for us to realize that we need to save our oceans because from my imagery, not taking action leads to ugly, polluted waters, but care for the ocean means beautiful, sparkling coral reefs and abundant sea life. For an audience, I would want people who do care about the oceans and who are not resorting to ignorance to deal with everyday problems in life, because they are the ones most likely to be impacted enough to change their daily behavior to be more ocean friendly after viewing the video. With the clearly displayed examples of the problems, motivation should be generated to change human behavior to better suit the cleanliness and health of the ocean.
To order my photos, I arranged them in groups according to the “sin” being committed within each one, with the main ideas being garbage dumping, oil spills and the slaughters. At the end, I put beautiful photographs of the ocean in its best condition. This was to leave on a positive note, because complete negativity forces people away from choosing to take action and instead they just become scared and ignore the issue entirely. I didn’t repeat a specific image, but instead I put up pictures containing similar content but shown in different locations/situations. This way it helps to paint a realistic picture of how serious AND how widespread of an issue ocean degradation is. The gloomy/grayish coloring shows how the pollution sucks the life out of the once vibrant ocean, which is shown in the vividly colored pictures toward the end of the show. They reinforce the idea that human contribution to the problems of the ocean has sucked the life and instead replaced mounds of dirty gray matter, covering up its beauty and life.
The music I selected for my soundtrack is a composition titled “A Hymn to the Sea” by James Horner, which is from the final scene and end credits in the Titanic movie. This piece of music has melancholy mixed with a mysterious, almost spiritual drift to it. This music reminds me of a tragedy, which is likely why it was used in the Titanic and its theme is based around the sea, something I am speaking up for. Instead of using blunt, loud or shattering music to arouse a disturbing mental image, the more quiet and solemn melody creates a sadness in the audience, not just shocking fear. This way, the message is not overblown and I am not using the “scare-tactic” logical fallacy, but instead merely showing the tragedies that the ocean suffers due to human activity. The bagpipes are an instrument that would be heard at a funeral, which arouses a thought that the oceans are slowly being killed off; never to be experienced again if human ways go unchanged. I did not use any text because I wanted the images to speak for themselves. This way, the viewer is forced to think of why I chose this topic, they are not merely "filled in" on my issue but curtly shown the problem and backed into a corner of realizing they need to take action. This personal and inner struggle and realization is what I wanted as a response to my essay. Hopefully, this arousal of intrinsic motivation is more effective in gaining support for a huge problem and leads to action faster than irrationally shocking and overly disturbing images that arouse more fear than desire to make a change.
The main appeal was to pathos, because the graphic imagery evokes a sentimental or emotional feeling. The viewer would likely feel a twinge of guilt for their inevitable minor contribution to the degradation of the ocean. Personally, I feel as though there is a logos claim, because it makes sense, it is logical for us to realize that we need to save our oceans because from my imagery, not taking action leads to ugly, polluted waters, but care for the ocean means beautiful, sparkling coral reefs and abundant sea life. For an audience, I would want people who do care about the oceans and who are not resorting to ignorance to deal with everyday problems in life, because they are the ones most likely to be impacted enough to change their daily behavior to be more ocean friendly after viewing the video. With the clearly displayed examples of the problems, motivation should be generated to change human behavior to better suit the cleanliness and health of the ocean.
To order my photos, I arranged them in groups according to the “sin” being committed within each one, with the main ideas being garbage dumping, oil spills and the slaughters. At the end, I put beautiful photographs of the ocean in its best condition. This was to leave on a positive note, because complete negativity forces people away from choosing to take action and instead they just become scared and ignore the issue entirely. I didn’t repeat a specific image, but instead I put up pictures containing similar content but shown in different locations/situations. This way it helps to paint a realistic picture of how serious AND how widespread of an issue ocean degradation is. The gloomy/grayish coloring shows how the pollution sucks the life out of the once vibrant ocean, which is shown in the vividly colored pictures toward the end of the show. They reinforce the idea that human contribution to the problems of the ocean has sucked the life and instead replaced mounds of dirty gray matter, covering up its beauty and life.
The music I selected for my soundtrack is a composition titled “A Hymn to the Sea” by James Horner, which is from the final scene and end credits in the Titanic movie. This piece of music has melancholy mixed with a mysterious, almost spiritual drift to it. This music reminds me of a tragedy, which is likely why it was used in the Titanic and its theme is based around the sea, something I am speaking up for. Instead of using blunt, loud or shattering music to arouse a disturbing mental image, the more quiet and solemn melody creates a sadness in the audience, not just shocking fear. This way, the message is not overblown and I am not using the “scare-tactic” logical fallacy, but instead merely showing the tragedies that the ocean suffers due to human activity. The bagpipes are an instrument that would be heard at a funeral, which arouses a thought that the oceans are slowly being killed off; never to be experienced again if human ways go unchanged. I did not use any text because I wanted the images to speak for themselves. This way, the viewer is forced to think of why I chose this topic, they are not merely "filled in" on my issue but curtly shown the problem and backed into a corner of realizing they need to take action. This personal and inner struggle and realization is what I wanted as a response to my essay. Hopefully, this arousal of intrinsic motivation is more effective in gaining support for a huge problem and leads to action faster than irrationally shocking and overly disturbing images that arouse more fear than desire to make a change.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Entitlement
Why do some people feel as though they are entitled to have their cake and eat it too? Entitlement is the idea felt by some individuals that they have rights to certain luxuries in life and that they have certain rights granted to them, they are not to be earned. So many people, typically of the Western culture, believe they are entitled to lives of splendor, including the new shiny cars, giant flat screen TVs, McMansion homes and all the works. Many students feel entitled to good grades, because they "try" hard, even if they do not necessarily earn the grade they believe they deserve. Entitlement is a problem because it is an attitude that generates social perceptions of arrogance and affluence, which irritates persons with little to no feelings of entitlement. It causes a lot of frustration between workers and bosses, friends of varying socioeconomic statuses and people of different cultures.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
KDWB
The argument I heard this weekend was on 101.3 radio station - KDWB. It was in a commercial for a night club, and the announcer sounded like a young guy, probably mid-twenties. His voice had really intense inflection - it sounded fast paced and high energy to get listeners excited about the club, and the background to his voice played pulsing music, creating more energy. His arguments included - free cover for ladies and ladies drink free 9-midnight. He paused between talking about all the benefits that women would experience when they go there and all the benefits for men, this created a feeling of separation in the ways men and women are treated in society in my opinion. In the commercial the announcer yelled NO COVER! in an excited voice, definitely emphasizing his point that ladies do not have to pay a cover charge to get into this club, which would compel me if I was 18 and could get into this club. This advertisement for the club made it sound like a fun place to go and it also made it seem like it is a place that a lot of people go, so this was somewhat of an emotional/bandwagon type appeal.
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