progress?

I see brown sprouts reaching out, colors on the sprouts, shaped in a circle. I think the brown sprouts are branches; the colors are seasons, in a cycle. Nick Carraway says, “Cluster of leaves revolved…tracing… leg of transit…thin red circle in the water” (162). The seasons always seem new, but they repeat in the same cycle. America’s history repeats itself, in a cycle. Two parallels include the Iraq War to Vietnam, like the red circle of death and the recession to the Great Depression, both seem like the leg of transit of the economy. History is not identical, but similar.

welcome to san fran

I went to California this weekend for my cousins wedding and it was a very interesting experience. We spent quite a bit of time in San Francisco, and I experienced a totally different world. I have been there before but every time I go I see completely knew things. I will share a few of the many stories in this blog post. We took a public bus to the area we were going to shop in and it was interesting in itself. I witnessed all different types of people, looks, and smells. Most of the people on the bus in my opinion were out of the ordinary of my world. Once we got off of the bus, the streets were a whole new thing. One of the first things we saw was multiple groups of people spread out doing interpretive dances with music and strange movements and positions. There were street performers as well that were quite entertaining but usually crazy. There was this one man that wasn’t performing but he was making fur hats, the weird part of it was he had a dog, cat, and rat that would lie on top of each other like a tower and would lick each other and basically live on each other. He would say something to them and they would change positions. There were also many homeless people around and there was one that stuck out the most to me because he came up to my family and began pestering us. He was carrying a pretty big boom box but it had no batteries so he kept asking for batteries then would repeat this rap saying “all we need is a straight up beat” and dancing in our faces. It was entertaining but kind of scary because he wouldn’t go away and kept repeating the same few lines and questions to us. I could share many more stories but this blog would be pages long. San Francisco is definitely a people place because of the diversity of races and social class. I was thinking about social class and the markers that we see around us as I was in the city and then when I was in my aunt and uncle’s neighborhood where we were staying in Los Altos. Los Altos has less diversity and is much like the North Shore compared to the city of San Francisco or Chicago.
California is a great place! Everyone should try to go sometime!
Do you have any stories from California or any other vacations?

life in the North Shore

We have been talking about markers of class and class in general this past week. I feel as if the North Shore cares about making their markings of class more visible than other places. The saying “keeping up with the Jones’” is very prominent within this area. People feel as if they need to one up one another and get the newest and better things. I feel like it is pretty pathetic because it really does not matter in the grand scheme of things. It is not only with materialistic things though, it also occurs with colleges and careers. It feels as if everyone is judging you based on what colleges you get into and what college you decide to go to. Sometimes I feel like it is hard to live in this area when you’re not at the top of everything all of the time.

What are your feelings about living in the North Shore? What are the major markers of class in your opinion?

Proud To Be An American

I drove around my neighborhood to look for American flags and I made some very interesting observations. There were not many flags around and when they were the majority of them were not flying high and proud. The first flag that I saw was at a small bank and it was on the flag pole, it was one of the flags that were powerful. I then saw a flag in the window of an apartment, but it was a sticker and very small, it was in the midst of other stickers and did not make a strong appearance. Most of the flags that I saw were not the visible either. The flag that made the biggest impression on me was the flag that was completely tattered and looked like it had been through a lot and had been hanging outside for a long time.
During our discussion in class we were debating about when and where it is disrespectful to have the flag present. Some people believed that it was disrespectful to have the flag on silverware or on a dumpster, but I completely disagree with this. Shattering a mug that has an image of the American flag on it is not offensive, but tearing an American flag to pieces is offensive because it is the actual, tangible flag and the real symbol of America. When an American flag is completely tattered and dirty like one of the flags that I saw, it needs to be replaced. I think that is kind of insulting to hang an American flag that is destroyed. In my opinion it resembles vulnerability and weakness and that is not how America should be viewed. America is powerful and strong and American’s should have a lot of pride. The flag does represent that and I do believe that American’s should show that and the easiest way is to always have the flag raised or hung high and completely visible.

This is the American flag that was given to me and does hang in my house; it is not the flag that goes outside though. It is the flag that was flown over the capital and was dedicated to me.

This is the certificate that came with it as proof.

J.T. #5

I have just completed putting my packets together to turn in the final for junior theme. Although it has seemed like a long process to get to this point, it has really flown by. It has taken a lot of work and concentration. When we finally turn everything in tomorrow it will be a huge relief and burden off of our shoulders. There have been some very stressful moments but all in all I thought it was a pretty smooth process and a lot less painful then everyone makes it out to be. I can finally say that I have completed everything for my junior theme and it is a memory, not anticipation.

J.T. #4

I feel as if I am in a pretty good place with my paper. This week I completed my annotated bibliography, which took a pretty long time. It was helpful while I was writing my paper because I could look there to see what major points I got from my different sources. I also listened to my interview that I conducted last week to write down direct quotes to put into my paper. I have completed my paper. The one part that I have struggled with is successfully addressing the other side. I am going to keep working on it today to make it stronger. With where I am now I am hoping to have a final by Friday.

J.T. #3

The most stressful part of my junior theme so far was finding an expert on my topic to interview. I emailed at least 15 people and only a few responded. Only 1 of them said that they would be happy to do it. I interview her today and she was very helpful and gave great, thorough responses. I was able to accomplish the one thing that I did not have much control over for the paper. I have been working on a rough draft of my paper for most of the day today and I am close to being done. I have also completed citing all of my sources into noodle bib, so all I have left for that aspect are my annotations. The hardest part of all of this has just been getting started and getting all of the ideas out and flowing. Once that starts, it’s all downhill (in a positive way). Right now I am struggling with choosing my quotes for my body paragraphs and making sure they are the strongest and wisest ones. I feel pretty good about my position with the paper right now.