Unrequited Love

Dear Cheater,

            What do I have to say for you to stay loyal to me? Do you not find me interesting? I need you to try and see it my way. I find myself doing everything to please you and following your demands, yet you discard me. I thought you, out of all people, would understand. Yes, like any person I have made mistakes in the past, but I try to correct them to please you and the rest of the world. Why are you so impressed with those others, who do not share your interests or thoughts. I want you to change your mind. Come back to me! The fact is, without you I have nothing but ideas in my head. I just need you to listen to me, otherwise my writing is meaningless.

From, Your Jealous Author

            Writing, like love, is wonderful, but it can be quite frightening. In dating you have to put yourself out there and be yourself. This can be dangerous because of the assumption others will have about you. This is the same in writing. According to Joan Didion, an American author, writing is “the act of saying I, of imposing oneself upon other people, of saying listen to me, see it my way, change your mind.” When putting fourth one’s ideas it can be intimidating, there is always this fear of rejection and that your opinions and viewpoint will not be excepted.  Jacques Derrida, a well known 21^st century philosopher, said in an interview that his subconscious thought that his ideas were too bizarre and offensive and that he should not be writing them. However without him taking the risk of exposing his theories, the world wouldn’t have known. One of his theories is deconstruction, which  is  actually him teaching us how his mind works. It is analyzing text and interpreting it’s alternative meaning.

As writers, we try to please the reader by writing safe. Joan Didion, tells us in her article Why I Write, that she tried to follow Derrida’s theory of deconstruction and failed. She described it as “trying to think” and not being able to “think in abstract.” She would get distracted and write what is considered inoffensive. Because of the intimidation of being yourself when dating someone, people tend to try to be the person they think that person would like. We do this in writing also. In school we have grammar rules and set topics that we write about. Academic writing is about information and thoughts on another authors work. There is no room for being  thinking outside the box. Students find it dangerous to use a different font size let alone to write something abstract.

Do you have any advice for those of us starting out? Just like dating location is key. If you go to a crowded restaurant, with so many distractions, it might be difficult to have an intimate meal with the other person. If you go to a private more secluded restaurant it could be more expensive. Ron Koertge, who wrote the poem  Do You Have Any Advice For Those of Us Just Starting Out?, says that to write you should leave your house or apartment and “go out into the world.” In the poem he makes small statements about childlike things. For instance having a notebook with a kitten or spaceship on the cover. He also says that the library is a good place to write next to the aisle to see a child playing. Koertge says, “be like the child… laugh so loud everybody in the world frowns and says, ‘shhh’.” Children have huge imaginations and come up with ideas a grown human being would not think of. This is Koertge’s way of saying, when writing have a child’s imagination. So put yourself in a childlike environment and the feelings and memories will follow.

I find writing difficult, because I do not know how to captivate the reader and to make them want to listen to me. I have always tried to write what I think the readers would want to read. Didion, Derrida, and Koertge have shown that readers want something new and different. To think in abstract or like a child, brings about a new perspective for audience.

Chapter 4 Breaking out the visual

  Digital image claims to have more authenticity and able to give out information with greater immediacy then print. We are bombarded by images everyday from commercials, billboards, phones, and computers. Scholars are saying that image will take over the written word, but does that mean that print is being threatened?
   Print today is continuing to remake itself so that it can keep up with the digital media. A good example is the USA today. This magazine/newspaper makes its layouts look like a computer screen. The index now has summaries gathered in a column with a small picture included like an icon button. Newspapers are now looked at as visual experiences to dictate what people should feel when they read a story rather than just gathering information. So which is in control image or visual?
   It doesn't matter the ratio between image or text but the way an image supervises its reading. Graphs are a good example because they don't show a lot of words but give off a lot of information. You can see what has a higher percentage and what is being compared with just a few brief words. You can also use words to show a visual image by using metaphors or descriptive language. Today we have many print styles that show every possible visual relationship between word and image. Traditional non-fiction books in which the word dominates and art books or billboards where the image dominates.
 

Dr. Miller's Lecture

  Dr. Miller a professor at Rutgers University gave a lecture on teaching in the digital age. He brought up some great points that I never thought of as a student. Since the internet information has become "ubiquitous" and because of this students have loss curiosity and creativity. Websites can be very shallow. Websites are information cramped into about three pages, compare that to a book that is over 300 pages. The internet has everything so how can you find good information. We think that research is just getting information, it is about opening up a new realm of experience. Students need to have the motivation to not just answer the question being asked but why that is the answer or how that is the answer. Since he was talking to teachers about teaching in the digital age he advised them to use Drigo for teaching. It moves reading into the public eye by publishing the research. Other ways of using the internet to our advantage is blogging, which is what I am doing now. Dr. Miller made the statement "If we release all the time we spend infront of the television we can build a better world."

Chapter 5 The Electronic Book

   The third group looked like they understood what Bolter was talking about. When they showed a slide or quote they would not just read the quote but explain it. They first talked about the writing changing from a papyrus roll (25 ft long) to a codex. Codex is a leather bound book with a pre-numbered amount of pages and introduced mass reading. Bolter describes "illuminated manuscripts at its finest (pg. 79)."Codex gave the sense of closure and with the digital technology that closure is being diminished. They explained that E-books are trying to imitate the physical appearance of the codex.
   The encyclopedia was created to store a vast amount of information. Britannica was the first to come out with a series and also the first to come out as an encyclopedia in technology. Internet as a whole became an encyclopedia. People now are thinking that libraries are going to go extinct. Bolter thinks that libraries are going to be around for a while but there is talk of a digital library, in which books are stored in machines.

Writing in the Dark

1. The earliest encounters I remember with writing and reading is when I was three years old. My grandmother was living with us ,after my grandfather died, and her and my mother would write these stories for me and would let me draw the illustrations after I read them. After that I started to write my own stories with them. The stories usually rhymed like the cat sat on the mat while the rat ran with a bat. It was very trivial but some of my fondest memories. We still have the stories that we wrote together in the office at home. This is something I will never forget.

I feel like Im repeating myself....

1. How does this electronic space refashion its predecessor?

    Eletronic space refashions its predecessor not by the physical facts, like turning pages in a book to now pushing a button that says next page with an arrow; it is the amount of written work that can be published. Buying a book on the Kindle or buying a book in Barnes and Noble is not going to create a homogenous audience. Electronic text does not create a homogenous audience. People are still going to read what interests them. If someone likes nonfiction murder mysteries, they are not going to go look in the science section because now they have so many books, blogs, or any other form of published work to choose from. They are going to stick to what they know and what they like. What it is going to change are the authors. If I decided to write a murder mystery and can not get mine published in a literal book or a book you can buy on the kindle I can just blog it and name it murder mystery. Someone can go on google type in murder mystery stories and they could stumble across my story. I might not be paid but I did publish my work and someone did read it (I hope). Electronic text only creates HOMOGENOUS AUTHORS.

    2. How does it claim to improve on print's ability to make our thoughts visible and to constitute the lines oif communication for our society?
   One thing that is cool about electronic text is the ability to communicate to your audience. If you would like to comment on my story or give me advice of what I should have done you are able to. This brings the author and audience closer together, giving the author an idea of what type of people read their work and their response.

Writing Evolution

  Jay David Bolter talks about, in the second chapter of Writing Space, the shift from writing to typing as a natural part of life, and gives many examples of the shift of writing through the ages. He talks about the Greeks beginning to write on papyrus rather than telling stories orally. Then they went from papyrus to codex. And in Western Europe handwriting to print. Will electronic text take over print text, just as the others took over?
  This  transition between print to electronic text, that is taking place, is similar to the western Europe movement of handwritten books to print. This caused a huge controversy especially with the Catholic Church. Since books were handwritten there were very few copies and only the influential seemed to own them. When print came about and it was possible for the lower class to own a book, most importantly the Bible, the Church was furious and skeptical. Did this cripple the Clergy's power over the congregation when ordinary people who weren't ordained by God were allowed to read the Bible? Did this movement make the audience homogenous?
   This question is being asked today with the conversion of print to electronic text, but with a twist. Instead of the audience being the same, are the writer's being homogenous? With electronic text my writing and many other amateurs writers are able to publish there work and have the same chance of people reading it as the next best selling author does. The fact is I am a terrible writer but I can still publish my work speeling mistaks and all. Who gave me permission to let people read my work?
 I left these questions unanswered so that you may tell me what you think.
 

Sample Q

In sample Q the author makes the statement that an image can be just as effective in creating an argument as writing can, just in different ways. Going on to say that images "have more room for interpretation" and "allows the mind to create its own meaning." But how can an image demonstrate the author's or artists's argument if it is left up to interpretation? If this is the case, how can the author or artist be certain that what the audience is interpreting is their argument? People may depict and relate the image to their own experiences and own opinions that can change what they think is the intended claim. In the Fire montage their was a picture of someone smoking a cigarette. One person, who might smoke, may look at this image and think of relief, and a break because that is what they feel every time they go outside and smoke. Another person may look at this image may feel disgust and think that smoking is an awful habit. But throughout this no one knows what the author or artist was contemplating while presenting this picture. An image can make an argument, the image like writing has to be clear and precise to know what you are arguing.

jsuhdf ehdiusjh

    A cavestudent goes to Caveman University and is lugging his stone books to class. One of his friends looks over at him and asks why he doesn't buy the new type of books that are made of paper. They are easier to read, carry a lot more information, and are lighter in weight. Fast forward into todays society, a student is lugging their books around and a friend asks them why they don't buy a kindle it has all your books for classes on it, gives you more information, and is lighter in weight. This may seem dumb, impractical, and not historically correct, but this is what I thought of before I read Jay Bolter's "Writing Space: Computers, Hypertext, and the Remediation of Print." I thought that the electronic text would take over and there would be no reason for printed text, because throughout the centuries we have been making appliances to better ourselves and to bring about an easier lifestyle.
  What I found from Bolter's argument is that there are still reasons why there will be printed text in the future, besides the fact of people liking the feeling of having a book. Many authors find that publishing their writing electronically is too easy. At this moment I am publishing my writing on the internet by blogging. It is more of an honor to have a book published, rather than having your writing publicized on the internet. "Writing on the internet threatens the definition of good writing." There are no rules, restrictions, or constraints with inscribing on the internet. Although it is nice to have the freedom to express yourself, there is still this distinction of being recognized by editors and publishers and haveing your work printed in a book.

Stitch Bitch: the patchwork girl

BODY NOT WHOLE
Oh Shelley Jackson, if I only knew what you were talking about. So I am going to do what Dr. Lay told me to do, just BS because you usually get it right. Shelley is saying that the body is not whole and that it is made up of different parts. We don't have to remember to tell our heart to beat or to tell our cells to divide. Our mind thinks that we are whole. In life and in writing we have to change the way we think. We must see the whole picture instead of picking and choosing of what we want to see or hear in reality.

NO PLACE
Shelley is comparing writing or reading a book to writing or reading hypertext. She feels that if she writes a book the editor takes out parts that show her personality or her style.In hypertext she can express herself and fits Shelley's writing routine. With hypertext she could "invent a new game, make a novel shaped like her own thoughts" with no restrictions.

Taylor Mali

  In the two versions of Taylor Mali's poem "Like You Know", it gave me a different sense and a clearer understanding of his poem than if I was to just read it on paper. I did prefer the video where Taylor Mali was in front of the audience and you could see his facial expressions and body movements. Seeing how someones expressions change with the tone of their voice makes the message clearer. What made the other version, the one with the visual text, not very good is that I was distracted by the effects and movement of the words. Although you heard Taylor Mali saying the poem, I was drawn away from the meaning of the poem because I was fascinated with the visual text. I found myself reading the text instead of listening to Taylor Mali read the text and hear it the way the author interprets the poem. How you read and hear a poem makes all the difference to your understanding.

In the poem Hubris at Zunzal, by Rodney Jones, he argues that there is "no image like literature". Jones thinks literature needs to be descriptive and should paint a picture for the audience. In the second and third stanza he portrays himself in the water at a beach as if he was stranded on an island. And then in the fourth stanza he stops and realizes his idea is not finished, as if to say "you may be finished with reading that sentence, but I am still here on the island". He says in the first line "then the idea I was not yet finished". Rodney Jones makes us question whether he can express what he is feeling, doing, and seeing and have us comprehend what he is going through.

3 Images of the Process of Writing

Fingers doing jumping jacks-
    I can relate to this because I tend to procrastinate when I am word blocked. I will eat, annoy people, or even sing to anyone who will listen.
Clown face Babies-
    I found this extremely disturbing. Babies usually look cute and to make them look like clowns which have been portrayed in movies like "IT" as evil is just wrong. It relates to me because when I look at the clown face babies, they scare me like starting an essay does.
Emily Dickinson-
   She is a famous author and many people look to her for inspiration. So when I am about to write a paper I will read a little bit of someone else's writing so that I could be inspired.

A Sentence

A sentence starts out like walking an old, frail woman up and down a hospital corridor. Her liver spotted hands shaking fiercely, while holding onto her walker. Back curved, always looking down at her feet that are not completely leaving the floor. And no matter how long she has been walking she is still in that same hallway in the hospital, never really getting anywhere. She turns to me and says, "HURRY UP!" with this cold, scratchy voice making you rather listen to nails on a chalkboard. We finally reach her dark room and as I place her in her bed I open up the curtains to let in some light. I turn around and see the woman getting comfortable and starting to relax. The physical exercise and treatment is over. Now on to the next patient.

This is how writing is for me. It is a slow process like walking an old woman and no matter how long I have been writing it is like I am still in the same place that I started. It is not till I am finished that I realized everything that I have done and have a short time to relax until my next essay.

This story of walking this woman is true. I helped my Dad over the summer at his job. He is a physical therapist and worked in the retirement home/hospital. There was one lady who always yell hurry up too.

Text Messaging

You are walking down a street and a sea of people come straight at you, what do you see? When I look at them I see people with their thumbs up, as if they were to say good job, typing away at a little keyboard on cell phones that are getting smaller and sleeker by the minute. Most people do not use their cell phones to hear another persons voice at the other end, but for text messaging, e-mailing, Twittering, Flickering, and Facebook. I have to say I am guilty of this. I use text messaging more than I do talking with my own voice. Their are many reasons why I use text messaging other than just calling someone. If I am in a place where people shouldn't or do not want to hear someone having a conversation. For example the library, in a restaurant, or classroom. I also do not want others to hear my conversations especially if I am complaining about someone. Another reason I use text messaging is because I am able to end a conversation whenever I want to with no excuse. When I am finished talking with you I can just stop I do not have to make up an excuse of going through a tunnel so I am going to lose a signal or that someone is calling me. Lets face it all of us have done it one time or another. It is also less intimidating when you are text messaging someone and not hearing their voice on the other end.

If I was BIlly Collins

1. Did you purposely choose to make some of your metaphors ridiculous?
        My metaphors are not ridiculous they are the truth. I decided to write this poem to my beloved to describe how I think of her. I am merely being honest and honesty is the main ingredient in any relationship. I identified my beloved as being the "bread in the knife", also the "crystal goblet and the wine". This is because she believes she is everything (especially in this relationship). To her the sun does not rise until she gets up. So since she thinks this way I decided to tell her what she is and what she isn't. My beloved "isn't the pine scent in the air". She does not smell that good. I would describe her scent as "the fish under the bridge". My metaphors aren't ridiculous they are just the truth.
2. When did you feel all of these different feelings toward your lover?
      When that awful aroma around her traveled across the room and up into my nostrils. But there are also good things about my lover. For instance she "is not a house of cards" that can fall down so easily. She is a strong woman that sticks to her beliefs.
3. Why do you believe the original poem failed?
       I believe the original poem failed because it doesn't quite capture the reality of a relationship. Although their are two people in a relationship, the two people tend to be more selfish and ask what they are getting out of the relationship instead of what they should be putting in. That is why I rewrote this poem and described not only my beloved but myself. 
    

Sample H and G

H
Moves
1. Great detail background information on ipod
2. Wording
3. Made me think of the ipod as "personal media"
4. I was well informed about the ipod
5. Described the ipod well: Simplicity, pocket sized, hipness, personal media
Unmoved
1. There was no argument
2. Just told me what the ipod can do
3. Boring
4. Not personal
5. Felt like I was being sold an ipod
6. Talk to much about the product itself and not the effect on society

G
Moved
1.Great vocabulary and wording
2. The sarcasm (1st page, second paragraph, last sentence)
3. Gave me new information about American society and a reason why many people drink red bull
4. well thought out/ organized
5. Showed different sources like Facebook
6. Personal made it more appealing
Unmoved
1. Some repetition
2. Shouldn't have waited till the last paragraph to bring up the argument how Red Bull is good for you when energy drinks have a bad rap
3. A few mistakes with the typing

Litany

1.) Do you believe your rewrite of this poem was better than the original poem?
2.) Does the author of the original poem connect metaphors to him or does he just say metaphors about his love?
3.) Have you ever been in love?
4.) Were some of your metaphors supposed to be sarcastic?
5.) How did you want the audience to react to your poem?
6.)Are your questions supposed to make you look better than your love?

  From sixth grade, like many other students, I was taught how the physicality of a printed essay should look. The essay should be in size 12 font, Times New Roman, double spaced, 1in. margins, with last name and page number in right hand corner. What most students know as MLA format. Sounds boring right? Well, because it is. This is something you are taught and are told, "If you don't do it like this you will be marked down!" SO not only are we worried about what our essay says, but how the essay looks. This is engraved in every students mind that we don't think we have a choice to change the physicality of an essay.

  So why is my essay written in MLA format? Because I am SCARED to do anything else!!! I cannot justify why I used it because if I had the choice I wouldn't have. My essay would have been written to look like you were reading a sugar packet. This is because my essay was on sugar substitutes and would have captured someones eye to read. I believe that teachers have us use this format so that every kid is equal. Everyone would have to write the same amount and could not cheat by writing less because they used a bigger font. It also makes the essay look clean cut and professional. It is also a way of expressing ones thoughts not through looks but through their writing.
  I have to agree completely with Will. This type of format is part of a "societal norm" and if we stray away from that norm one becomes an outcast. He is says it well that our society fixates colors with feelings and that when you read a serious paper one should not see what the other person is feeling, but should see it through the authors figurative language. Although I understand this I think it would be nice to have papers that do not follow this norm and let the author express their writings in different ways.

       "In thinking about a certain idea, many sentences and ideas can be drawn by using detailed words within this idea."
I honestly have very few comments on this sentence because I do not understand it. I may be alone here but what is the point they are trying to make. I know it has to do with an "idea" because they said the word three times. Is the sentence describing a Bing commercial. When one person says one word and another person takes that word out of context and gives them a completely different answer. Then another person takes some of that answer and tells them another fact or idea? Someone help me!

Kuaka

Don Stap's writing is unique for a science article. Instead of just an article filled with facts and statistics and what it all means he instead tells a story. He writes in first person and makes you believe that you are right there looking at the birds. In one of the parts he is saying how the codirector of the Wetlands Division at California's PRBO Conservation Science, Nils Warnock, is holding too many Godwits while trying to bring them to dry land that he was given a bird. Stap says, "Here, he says, handing me a warm bundle with long, kicking legs. “Don’t hold him too tightly.” I cradle the bird against my body and stumble through the darkness, the godwit’s heart beating like a trapped moth against my chest." When he describes the bird aginst his chest he makes you feel like you are holding the bird. His writing is very personal and in a way you are studying these birds with him instead of studying what he wrote about them. 
In Don Staps essay as he describes the birds and the scene he is also giving you facts about the birds and the birds history. Stap explains puts you in a scene with the scientists and then gives you the facts of their findings. For example, "At the side of the van, Lee Tibbitts, one of the USGS Alaska crew, holds each godwit up into the light from Riegen’s headlamp so he can measure the bird’s bill with calipers. Female bar-tails are larger than males, and bill length is an easy way to distinguish the sexes." Stap uses his descriptive language to paint the scene for us then tells us what we are looking at and for. After reading Don STap's article you feel like you just watched a documentary film about Kuakas on National Geographic.

Going through John Lehrer's text of "Don't", I see that he uses dialogue to further explain the theory. He is able to give the point of view of both the testee and the tester. Mischel, who is the mastermind behind the experiment, was saying that "What we're really measuring with the marshmallows isn't will power or self control. It's much more important than that. This task forces kids to find a way to make the situation work for them. They want the second marshmallow, but how can they get it? We can't control the world, but we can control how we think about it." John has put this in here because it gives you the real meaning behind the theories and the statistics. It shows how passionate Mischel was about this project. The dialogue also lets you see what the children (at the time) were thinking as they were contemplating whether to eat the marshmallow or not. One of the children Craig said that when he realized their was no adult in there to see him he took a marshmallow. This helps Mischel and the reader to see what the reason behind not waiting to eat the marshmallow besides the fact that they wanted it.
Another tool that John uses in his essay is giving a short introduction or biography of the characters in the story. He describes Mischel with a shaved head and brooklyn accent. Telling us that Mischel acts out his sentences behaving like a four year old. When he acted this way Mischel said it helped to understand the children. Giving little biographies and introductions helps set the mood and lets you imagine what and how the process of the experiment looked.

   Its January 2 and your working out in the gym to fulfill your new years resolution. Just like every other American you want to lose weight and be healthy for the coming new year. Week after week your muscles begin to ache and you notice that you haven't lost much weight from when you started. Now your at home contemplating whether to go to the gym or not. You remember being on the treadmill and feeling the drops of sweat roll down the back of your neck and the muscles in your thighs and calves burning. So you decide to skip working out today. Then a thought comes to you, "If I don't eat and drink things with real sugar and calories I don't have to go to the gym".  Americans are obsessed with losing weight and being healthy yet no one wants to take the time and commitment to do so.
   There was an experiment done in recent years that tested the patience of children. Working with toddlers in an investigative study can be difficult at times. "We recently tried to do a version of it, and the kids were very excited about having food, in the game room." Any child would be excited to play a "game" with food as some sort of incentive. This reward makes them more interested and excited to play. In this case though they actually wanted to see and even measure their excitement. The more excited they were the harder it would be for them to resist the treat. That is why the investigators had them pick their favorite food initially. Clearly, the experiment is tied to the subjects instantaneous desire for the goodies.
   In a related way the American desire for sweetness with no calories bespeaks a cultural preoccupation that is problematic. The "I want it all/I want it now" mentality makes for citizenry that has forgotten the powerful appeal of the journey, of the process. Why do Americans demand such fast delivery of non-caloric sweetness? Why are Americans so compelled to want everything with no consequences? We are living in a world where there is no waiting. If you want clothes, but don't have the money at that time, you swipe your credit card and pay the bill later. If you want to eat, but don't want to take the time to make the meal; you drive down the street to a fast food restaurant.
   The point I am trying to make is that Americans do not have the patience to wait for things they long for.  So if we want to be healthy we don't show the will power to wait for the results from the gym, nor do we show self control to not over indulge with sweets. So we now have to have sugar substitutes so we can eat all the sugary treats we want and still think that we are being healthy. When you really won't see results with sugar substitutes and the many other health hazards that come with them. With all of this in mind we are forgetting the journey and the feeling of accomplishment from resisting our temptations and following through on a project.

Sugar Substitute

  Sugar substitutes are a healthier way to sweeten your favorite foods without adding the calories and health hazards of real sugar. Many of these substitutes like Splenda, Sweet'N Low, NutriSweet, Equal, etc. promote how they are low in calories and can help people lower their intake on sugar. One type of sugar substitute is the artificial sweeteners like Stevia. This has great health benefits like weight control. Since it has no calories it is easier for someone trying to lose weight or not gain weight unlike sugar that have 4 grams in one teaspoon. It is also good for those with diabetes because artificial sweeteners usually don't raise blood sugar levels.
  The main thing that sugar substitutes try to show is how you can use them in almost anything you use real sugar in. One of Splenda's commercials from 2010 it explains all the different ways you can use Splenda like in shakes, popsicles, sprinkled, or mixed in coffee or bake goods. On their website they also give you recipes that you can use their product in. From personal experience it can be used in almost anything that sugar is, but it is often sweeter than sugar so you might not have to use as much as you normally would use.
  These products also promote healthy lifestyles. On their websites they give advice on "simple changes" that you can do to stay healthy. It also teaches you how to read food labels so you know and understand what you are buying and how it affects your body. They are extremely concerned about the health of diabetic patients since they are a major portion of their consumers. They have special pages dedicated to diabetic patients and showing them how they can enjoy the food they did before but instead with sugar substitutes.
  Artificial sweeteners are a huge thing to an American consumer because it is the newest fad. It is all about being healthy, starting over, and "natural" products. There is a big problem of obesity in this country and the producers of these sugar substitutes try to let us eat the same food that we love, with the same taste and still lose weight.

Work Cited:
sweetnlow.com. Sweet'N Low Professional. 3 Feb. 2011 <http://www.sweetnlowprofessional.com>.
splenda.com. Health and Wellness. 3 Feb. 2011 <http://www.splenda.com/health-wellness.com>. "Artificial Sweeteners: Understanding These and Other Sugar Substitutes."mayoclinic.com. 9 Oct. 2010. Nutrition and Healthy Eating. 3 Feb. 2011. <http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/artificial-sweeteners/MY00073>.

 Taking another look at the Pantene Commercial I realized that there was a lot of gender and racial stereotyping. The commercial is about  a deaf asian girl who plays the violin and is in a classical music competition. She has a rivalry with another girl in the competition and feels like quitting. She gets the courage and support from a homeless man who also plays the violin (who initially inspired her to play), and ends up shocking the audience. At the end Pantene says you can shine too, just like the girl, but instead with your hair.
 One of the racial stereotyping in the commercial is that Asians play classical music. The main girl is playing the violin and the antagonist is playing the piano. This could have been used because in America we think that these instruments are popular in that country, so we would understand where it took place. The gender stereotyping was having the girl be a weak character and a man coming to her rescue. What makes this even worse is that it was not just a regular man but a homeless man. Someone who is not usually looked up to in society.
 They used these stereotypes in the commercial to parallel the Pantene product. The girl was weak and broken just like how people's hair is without the pantene. The homeless man supports and "restores" the deaf girl in the story and she shines at the end while playing the violin. The homeless man is like the PAntene hair product and the girl is like the broken damaged hair.

Writing Material

    Writing my response to Emily Dickinson's poem "Tell All the Truth"in crayon brought me back to  when I was younger and your imagination could go wild. I cheated at first by writing an outline with a different paper and pencil instead of writing it in crayon first, but even with the outline I started to change my way of thinking when I started to write my response in crayon.
     If a culture only had crayons as their writing implements I think that their culture would be more creative then ours. Being a mass media major I learned in my classes that in films and television shows the background music is the director telling us what to feel at that time. The dialogue in the movie and the actor's reaction to events is showing us what the character is feeling but the music helps us FEEL what the character is feeling, so that the movie because more real to us. This way when the character goes through a break up we are going through a break up or when a character is frightened we are frightened.
     The crayons are the background music. What the author is writing about is the actors dialogue, but the color they choose to write in is what they are feeling and what they want you to feel. With crayons being used as a writing implement I think that it would cause people to think in different ways and be able to dissect the point someone is trying to get across with their writing. This would turn into creative thinking by not only telling people how they feel in literature but showing them.
     I would like to do an experiment of people only being able to right with crayons because it makes me curious to whether my idea of using crayons can cause more creative ways of expressing yourself instead of black ink. Looking at everyone else's reactions to Emily Dickinson's poem you could tell little things about them and how the poem affected them in their writing. For example on part of the poem that a student thought was important was about truth being slanted. The student wrote his reaction slanted and made each paragraph a different color, which shows the different ways of telling the truth.