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Wednesday, June 3, 2009
conclusion
I hope you learned something by reading my Pieces either about me or the rest of the class. I also hope that you will be motivated in some way to learn about your community or search through that past at new tradition or maybe even find out what your real identity really is.This class has been a true adventure and a great experience ive learned so much. Im glad that i can share a part of it with you and teach the rest of the world a little about what ive learned. Its nice to reflect and be able to look back and feel happy about what ive learned over this quarter. I like to know that in some way ive made a difference either for myself or the rest of the community. You have seen what ive learned and i hope you leave my blog today with just a little more knowledge than you came here with.
Thanks for reading
Thanks for reading
writers choice
Board Of Board Games?
Ever played the board game Life or Monopoly with family or a group of friends? In each game the player collect money and other prizes that add to his or her final score. Both games were invented in the early 1900’s and were originally designed to be played with paper money. Today with the worlds ever growing pop culture, entertainment such as board games are trying to keep up with modern times. Life and Monopoly have both upgraded to a credit card machine and have completely ditched the use of paper money. Board games are an ongoing tradition that pop culture has twisted and pushed to the limit. Pop culture has affected the traditional board game and manipulated its characteristics to fit in today’s world. Games are no longer as simple as they used to be, now they require batteries and players no longer have to count money. The new edition of the games are designed to reflect the way transactions between consumers and merchants now take place.
When I go on vacations or want to waist time with friend’s board games are occasionally played. I am 20 years old and in my life time there has already been an evolution of board games. In the book “Remix: Reading and Composing Culture” the chapter about tradition states that “Traditions are practices that have been handed down to us by past generations” (176). My generation will always remember Monopoly and Life as a game with paper money. Generations to come will see board games as a computer with credit cards. Children will be trained that they can buy what ever they desire on a credit card and that paper money is no longer necessary. The new versions of the games are now teaching children to be reckless with their money. Having a credit card in the game with no boundaries is training kids about the “buy-now-pay-later” aspect of pop culture.
A definition of a board game is “games that help develop practical skills for everyday life”. Practical skills today are being able to understand the technological world like credit cards and computers. If board games prepare children for life in their community, then updating the resources that teach kids about pop culture is essential for keeping the trend going. Pop culture is morphing what we used to see as a simple board game. Now society has created a new tool in promoting their culture. Starting with something as simple as board games and targeting it at young children pop culture is trying to embed their mark now so they survive the future. Also from the book “Remix: Reading and Composing Culture” the chapter states “for many people, the term tradition has a some what old fashioned connotation” (176). It seems that pop culture is trying to please the groups of the community that don’t believe in ‘old fashioned’ traditions. But at the same time thinking about the other half of people who don’t except change as easily and need some familiarity.
Although pop culture has challenged the traditional board game they still have kept the same basic idea. In Life the player is given the chance to have a car, children, house etc. But now the player can upgrade his or her car to a sports car or mini-van. Also the player can decide weather he or she wants kids or if they want an education or even upgrade their house. Each decision the player makes ultimately effects their final out come. The way to win the game is by having the most money and or life experiences. Pop culture is attempting to make a game similar to “life” its self and it is kind of a preview for young children into the “real world”. With the content of the game changing, adding the “life pod” to the game Life has been a new addition. Before games haven’t had any technologies to represent the present world. The “life pod” now helps children understand a little bit about the “real world” and how to spend money. The down side is kids aren’t learning how to count money like in previous games.
The next time a board game is played just remember how pop culture is trying to form the world as we know it. Remember past traditions and how they once represented a time where things stayed simple. Also don’t forget that the culture will always be changing everything in the community. Pop culture is what shapes new traditions by building off of old ones. Sometimes the past has to be destroyed to start something new. Pop culture thinks mainly about its own survival and what it has to do to stay alive. The ever changing culture has made its impact on the traditional board game and has transformed it to survive in the modern world. It may just be a game but its also one of pop cultures “training” games for life.
Ever played the board game Life or Monopoly with family or a group of friends? In each game the player collect money and other prizes that add to his or her final score. Both games were invented in the early 1900’s and were originally designed to be played with paper money. Today with the worlds ever growing pop culture, entertainment such as board games are trying to keep up with modern times. Life and Monopoly have both upgraded to a credit card machine and have completely ditched the use of paper money. Board games are an ongoing tradition that pop culture has twisted and pushed to the limit. Pop culture has affected the traditional board game and manipulated its characteristics to fit in today’s world. Games are no longer as simple as they used to be, now they require batteries and players no longer have to count money. The new edition of the games are designed to reflect the way transactions between consumers and merchants now take place.
When I go on vacations or want to waist time with friend’s board games are occasionally played. I am 20 years old and in my life time there has already been an evolution of board games. In the book “Remix: Reading and Composing Culture” the chapter about tradition states that “Traditions are practices that have been handed down to us by past generations” (176). My generation will always remember Monopoly and Life as a game with paper money. Generations to come will see board games as a computer with credit cards. Children will be trained that they can buy what ever they desire on a credit card and that paper money is no longer necessary. The new versions of the games are now teaching children to be reckless with their money. Having a credit card in the game with no boundaries is training kids about the “buy-now-pay-later” aspect of pop culture.
A definition of a board game is “games that help develop practical skills for everyday life”. Practical skills today are being able to understand the technological world like credit cards and computers. If board games prepare children for life in their community, then updating the resources that teach kids about pop culture is essential for keeping the trend going. Pop culture is morphing what we used to see as a simple board game. Now society has created a new tool in promoting their culture. Starting with something as simple as board games and targeting it at young children pop culture is trying to embed their mark now so they survive the future. Also from the book “Remix: Reading and Composing Culture” the chapter states “for many people, the term tradition has a some what old fashioned connotation” (176). It seems that pop culture is trying to please the groups of the community that don’t believe in ‘old fashioned’ traditions. But at the same time thinking about the other half of people who don’t except change as easily and need some familiarity.
Although pop culture has challenged the traditional board game they still have kept the same basic idea. In Life the player is given the chance to have a car, children, house etc. But now the player can upgrade his or her car to a sports car or mini-van. Also the player can decide weather he or she wants kids or if they want an education or even upgrade their house. Each decision the player makes ultimately effects their final out come. The way to win the game is by having the most money and or life experiences. Pop culture is attempting to make a game similar to “life” its self and it is kind of a preview for young children into the “real world”. With the content of the game changing, adding the “life pod” to the game Life has been a new addition. Before games haven’t had any technologies to represent the present world. The “life pod” now helps children understand a little bit about the “real world” and how to spend money. The down side is kids aren’t learning how to count money like in previous games.
The next time a board game is played just remember how pop culture is trying to form the world as we know it. Remember past traditions and how they once represented a time where things stayed simple. Also don’t forget that the culture will always be changing everything in the community. Pop culture is what shapes new traditions by building off of old ones. Sometimes the past has to be destroyed to start something new. Pop culture thinks mainly about its own survival and what it has to do to stay alive. The ever changing culture has made its impact on the traditional board game and has transformed it to survive in the modern world. It may just be a game but its also one of pop cultures “training” games for life.
revision
Do You Know Who You Are?
People choose who they want to be in life, and there are many different factors that go into the final product or what gives someone their identity. The personal choices someone makes are what help’s form their identity. A person creates his or her own identity by choosing different characteristics like clothing, personal habits, even their own name. Those examples are part of what gives each person his or her own identity.
One thing that plays a role in establishing someone’s identity is his or her name. Although someone doesn’t have a choice when it comes to their name but it plays a part in their identity. In the “F-Word”, Firoozeh Dumas tells a story about how she went through periods of changing her name because it was difficult to say. She decided to change it, but in the end she didn’t feel like that was her true identity and that she was living a fake life. Having a name is a part of what makes someone who he or she is, otherwise someone would become just “that girl with the blonde hair” or “that guy with a face”, and that doesn’t really give someone an individual identity.Dumas tired to change her name “I went from having an identifiably “ethnic” name to having ancestors who wore clogs”, but by changing something so seemly simple as a name threw off her entire identity. It was Firoozeh’s personal choice to experiment with different names to try and form her own identity.
Although someone may be given a name at birth and you can later change it. Someone may see a person as one way when they are really trying to have a different identity. For example someone may see a person as snotty or stuck up when he or she is really trying to be nice. Also what a person looks like can alter other people’s perceptions of someone. A person could dress in all black and look like a bad person but really be the nicest person in the world. I just watch an episode of Britain’s Got Talent and there was a woman named Susan Boyle and she walked up on stage to sing and everyone was laughing at her and making fun of her before she even started to sing. As soon as she started to sing everyone was amazed and immediately stopped laughing. Her voice was so incredible everyone was stunned and began cheering and clapping with a standing ovation. One of the judges even said, “That was the biggest surprise I have had in 3 years on this show.” Identity can change the way people think about other people. In this case Boyle’s physical identity made the audience think that she was just some old woman. But when she sang she blew them away and proved them wrong that just because of her looks.
Everyone has their own personal choice of what they do in their everyday lives. Identity is something that is a creation of someone, part of which is a mixture of who someone wants to be who he or she thinks they are and how they act. How someone lives their life contributes to their identity if someone wanted to be a rock star they wouldn’t sit at home playing video games all day. Identity is a personal choice that every individual makes in their life.
Someone’s identity can be what makes them who they are, or it can be a mixture of what they wear how and what they eat. Who they talk to and how they say what they are going to say. Even someone’s name defines someone’s identity all these factors contribute to the over all identity of a person. Personal choices and other decisions form people and create uniqueness for every person. Everyone is different in his or her own special and unique way and personal choices and they way people want to live their lives is what creates everyone’s own identity.
People choose who they want to be in life, and there are many different factors that go into the final product or what gives someone their identity. The personal choices someone makes are what help’s form their identity. A person creates his or her own identity by choosing different characteristics like clothing, personal habits, even their own name. Those examples are part of what gives each person his or her own identity.
One thing that plays a role in establishing someone’s identity is his or her name. Although someone doesn’t have a choice when it comes to their name but it plays a part in their identity. In the “F-Word”, Firoozeh Dumas tells a story about how she went through periods of changing her name because it was difficult to say. She decided to change it, but in the end she didn’t feel like that was her true identity and that she was living a fake life. Having a name is a part of what makes someone who he or she is, otherwise someone would become just “that girl with the blonde hair” or “that guy with a face”, and that doesn’t really give someone an individual identity.Dumas tired to change her name “I went from having an identifiably “ethnic” name to having ancestors who wore clogs”, but by changing something so seemly simple as a name threw off her entire identity. It was Firoozeh’s personal choice to experiment with different names to try and form her own identity.
Although someone may be given a name at birth and you can later change it. Someone may see a person as one way when they are really trying to have a different identity. For example someone may see a person as snotty or stuck up when he or she is really trying to be nice. Also what a person looks like can alter other people’s perceptions of someone. A person could dress in all black and look like a bad person but really be the nicest person in the world. I just watch an episode of Britain’s Got Talent and there was a woman named Susan Boyle and she walked up on stage to sing and everyone was laughing at her and making fun of her before she even started to sing. As soon as she started to sing everyone was amazed and immediately stopped laughing. Her voice was so incredible everyone was stunned and began cheering and clapping with a standing ovation. One of the judges even said, “That was the biggest surprise I have had in 3 years on this show.” Identity can change the way people think about other people. In this case Boyle’s physical identity made the audience think that she was just some old woman. But when she sang she blew them away and proved them wrong that just because of her looks.
Everyone has their own personal choice of what they do in their everyday lives. Identity is something that is a creation of someone, part of which is a mixture of who someone wants to be who he or she thinks they are and how they act. How someone lives their life contributes to their identity if someone wanted to be a rock star they wouldn’t sit at home playing video games all day. Identity is a personal choice that every individual makes in their life.
Someone’s identity can be what makes them who they are, or it can be a mixture of what they wear how and what they eat. Who they talk to and how they say what they are going to say. Even someone’s name defines someone’s identity all these factors contribute to the over all identity of a person. Personal choices and other decisions form people and create uniqueness for every person. Everyone is different in his or her own special and unique way and personal choices and they way people want to live their lives is what creates everyone’s own identity.
Audience and voice
If someone were to look in my purse they would probably say " well theres nothing good in here" My purse tells nothing of my life or who I am just that i am a girl. My purse is a black suede with leather straps mainly meant for more dressy events. its about 5 inches tall and about 10 long and 4 or 5 wide. Inside it contains loose change (because I dont ever have any money) hand sanitizer (because i like to keep my hand clean so i dont get sick) ipod head phones a blue pen my drivers License school ID and Debit card. and thats it not even a wallet. I dont carry my life in my purse because if i lost it i would lose my life. my purse doesnt tell you that I love photography or that my boyfriend of 2.5 years is named Evan or that I know more about cars than some boys do. It doesnt tell you I have 7 dogs or 3 sisters or that I live in Bothell. I bet the only thing you could get out of looking at my purse is that i like things to be simple. You cant identify me from what I own only from who I am when you meet me.
critical thinking
In the Movie “Freedom Writers” that was Directed by Richard LaGravenese tells the story of many different ethnic groups of young teens, and how they fight their way to the top with the support of their teacher Erin Gruwell. Mrs. Gruwell influenced the kids in her English class to come together and succeed when no one else supported them. Even though it meant Mrs. Gruwell became more of an outsider with her efforts she gave up her personal life to help the kids. One of the students named Eva Benitez experienced being and outsider when a tragic event took place one day after school. Even with all the obstacles that were thrown in front of the students with the help and support of their teacher they still managed to come together and do something great. I felt like there were many different situations in the film where people were outsiders, someone could have been an outsider to one group and be more of an outsider to another.
At the beginning of the film Mrs. Gruwell gets hired as a teacher teaching 10 grade English to a very diverse group of kids. In the beginning the other teachers and staff accepted Mrs. Gruwell but as her teaching career matured she quickly became and outsider. The students in her class were undereducated and she was determined to change that but the school wouldn’t provide the funds to help her. So she worked 3 jobs to provide the funds to support what she wanted to teacher her class. I felt that Mrs. Gruwell felt like she was responsible for the kids in her class as if they were her own children. The more Mrs. Gruwell spent on her students the more distant the rest of the staff was towards her because she was making the school look bad when she bought the supplies herself. My opinion on what Mrs. Gruwell did; I felt like was kind of a sacrifice to her life because the more she upset the school became the more they pushed her away. She risked getting fired just so she could help her students at one point in the film her husband even divorced her because of how much she was neglecting him so she could help her English class. I felt like she was bringing herself down to help others in need go up she lost a lot to help her class through school. Mrs. Gruwell jumped through a lot of hoops and pulled a lot of strings to teach a group of kids that were going through hard times and being involved in gangs and teaches them how to work together. Without her sacrifices her student’s education would have been poor.
One student named Eva Benitez was involved in a Hispanic gang while she was in school. Eva seemed to have the attitude that most of the other students had, they all felt like they had a reason to fight for their gang. I felt like all the students were oblivious to the fact that they were all fighting for the same reason. One of the main parts of the gangs was that everyone has every ones back and you stick up for them kind of like a family. When Eva was younger her dad’s gang member was shot and Eva’s father was wrongly accused and sent to jail. Years later Eva was at a gas station and most of her gang members were waiting in the car while she went inside to get food. An African American boy from their school was inside playing a game so a member of Eva’s group decided to shoot the African American boy but missed hitting and killing one of another group’s members. Eva later had to go make a statement in court and everyone expected for her to blame it on the African American kid but instead she ratted out her own gang member. I felt like she did this because partly her father being in jail for something he didn’t do and also because of the good influence she was getting from her English teacher. In the end Eva became and outsider to her gang for telling the truth, they beat her up and shunned her from the group. I felt that Eva knew what was going to happen to her if she told the truth but she did it any way because she saved the African American boys life by not sending him to prison. Eva sacrificed her place in the gang to do the right thing because of the lessons taught in school about how being in a gang is not the right path.
To me I always felt that an outsider was someone who wasn’t accepted in a particular group or even something bigger like at school or a job. An outsider in my opinion is someone who does something that a person or group of people don’t like or approve of. Also if they aren’t nice or if they aren’t into the same things as the rest of the group they might be considered an outsider. I have a close group of friends and we always hang out a lot and sometimes we hang out with random people that aren’t really in our “group”. I consider this one boy named Kevin to be an outsider to our group because we don’t see him all the time and he has an interesting personality that conflicts with the members of my group. Also he can be really rude at times and doesn’t have the same interests as the rest of our group. I think that we consider him to be an outsider because of the fact that everyone has the same opinion about him and he doesn’t work with the flow of our group. I believe that one reason that there are outsiders is because groups of people generally hang out with people who are interested in the same things they are and have similar personalities. When someone comes in who has conflicting characteristics it can throw off the balance of the group. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is an outsider to everyone he just needs to find where he belongs.
Even though Mrs. Gruwell gave up her spot as an insider, the sacrifices she made that forced her to become and outsider were more important to her than her own personal life succeeding. She took each of her students under her wing and gave them the opportunity that no one else wanted to give them. Eva learned valuable life lessons and turned her life around completely. She went from a rowdy sophomore to a well educated young girl within a school year all with the help from her English teacher. I think that Mrs. Gruwell didn’t really care about herself being an outsider, to me it always seemed more important when you were younger if you were an outsider or not. Ultimately many people in the film gave up things that were good and bad so they could better their lives in some way. They all did what they felt they had to do to stay on top of the ball, even if it meant accepting being an outsider.
At the beginning of the film Mrs. Gruwell gets hired as a teacher teaching 10 grade English to a very diverse group of kids. In the beginning the other teachers and staff accepted Mrs. Gruwell but as her teaching career matured she quickly became and outsider. The students in her class were undereducated and she was determined to change that but the school wouldn’t provide the funds to help her. So she worked 3 jobs to provide the funds to support what she wanted to teacher her class. I felt that Mrs. Gruwell felt like she was responsible for the kids in her class as if they were her own children. The more Mrs. Gruwell spent on her students the more distant the rest of the staff was towards her because she was making the school look bad when she bought the supplies herself. My opinion on what Mrs. Gruwell did; I felt like was kind of a sacrifice to her life because the more she upset the school became the more they pushed her away. She risked getting fired just so she could help her students at one point in the film her husband even divorced her because of how much she was neglecting him so she could help her English class. I felt like she was bringing herself down to help others in need go up she lost a lot to help her class through school. Mrs. Gruwell jumped through a lot of hoops and pulled a lot of strings to teach a group of kids that were going through hard times and being involved in gangs and teaches them how to work together. Without her sacrifices her student’s education would have been poor.
One student named Eva Benitez was involved in a Hispanic gang while she was in school. Eva seemed to have the attitude that most of the other students had, they all felt like they had a reason to fight for their gang. I felt like all the students were oblivious to the fact that they were all fighting for the same reason. One of the main parts of the gangs was that everyone has every ones back and you stick up for them kind of like a family. When Eva was younger her dad’s gang member was shot and Eva’s father was wrongly accused and sent to jail. Years later Eva was at a gas station and most of her gang members were waiting in the car while she went inside to get food. An African American boy from their school was inside playing a game so a member of Eva’s group decided to shoot the African American boy but missed hitting and killing one of another group’s members. Eva later had to go make a statement in court and everyone expected for her to blame it on the African American kid but instead she ratted out her own gang member. I felt like she did this because partly her father being in jail for something he didn’t do and also because of the good influence she was getting from her English teacher. In the end Eva became and outsider to her gang for telling the truth, they beat her up and shunned her from the group. I felt that Eva knew what was going to happen to her if she told the truth but she did it any way because she saved the African American boys life by not sending him to prison. Eva sacrificed her place in the gang to do the right thing because of the lessons taught in school about how being in a gang is not the right path.
To me I always felt that an outsider was someone who wasn’t accepted in a particular group or even something bigger like at school or a job. An outsider in my opinion is someone who does something that a person or group of people don’t like or approve of. Also if they aren’t nice or if they aren’t into the same things as the rest of the group they might be considered an outsider. I have a close group of friends and we always hang out a lot and sometimes we hang out with random people that aren’t really in our “group”. I consider this one boy named Kevin to be an outsider to our group because we don’t see him all the time and he has an interesting personality that conflicts with the members of my group. Also he can be really rude at times and doesn’t have the same interests as the rest of our group. I think that we consider him to be an outsider because of the fact that everyone has the same opinion about him and he doesn’t work with the flow of our group. I believe that one reason that there are outsiders is because groups of people generally hang out with people who are interested in the same things they are and have similar personalities. When someone comes in who has conflicting characteristics it can throw off the balance of the group. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is an outsider to everyone he just needs to find where he belongs.
Even though Mrs. Gruwell gave up her spot as an insider, the sacrifices she made that forced her to become and outsider were more important to her than her own personal life succeeding. She took each of her students under her wing and gave them the opportunity that no one else wanted to give them. Eva learned valuable life lessons and turned her life around completely. She went from a rowdy sophomore to a well educated young girl within a school year all with the help from her English teacher. I think that Mrs. Gruwell didn’t really care about herself being an outsider, to me it always seemed more important when you were younger if you were an outsider or not. Ultimately many people in the film gave up things that were good and bad so they could better their lives in some way. They all did what they felt they had to do to stay on top of the ball, even if it meant accepting being an outsider.
Intro to writers choice
My finial piece I got to choose anything I wanted and I choose my third essay about tradition because I felt I had the most connecting to this essay. In previous essays I feel that it wasn’t my best work but this essay I feel that even if I didn’t get the best grade I still really enjoyed writing it. I felt a great connection to this topic and my professor said I even had a spark in my eye when I choose the topic. I feel that the topic I wrote about was a really fun topic and it got me interested even more and left me asking questions. In this essay I talked about the traditions of board games and how pop culture was threatening to make it extinct. I feel that this excerpt best describes my connection to the topic “When I go on vacations or want to waist time with friend’s board games are occasionally played. I am 20 years old and in my life time there has already been an evolution of board games.” I thoroughly enjoyed writing this essay and I feel I only connected it to myself as well as other people.
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