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Thursday, June 4, 2009
Reflections
Hello all. My name is Anthony Castaneda. This is actually my first year in college, and my third quarter as well. I decided to attend Everett Community College right out of high school since I didn’t feel quite ready to enroll in a university, even though I had a very good chance of getting into one. I’m working part-time (kind of) and outside of work, I work on computers. I’m actually working on my Associates in Information Technology through the college, and I plan on transferring to a university. I’m actually surprised that the class went by in a steady pace. During fall quarter, I felt that all my classes were going by painfully slow and winter quarter going along too fast. Although the class went by smoothly time-wise, I felt that I didn’t do that well of a job. I wasn’t pacing myself correctly, and looking back, it seemed like I wasn’t even trying.
Throughout the course of the quarter, I had to work with identity, community, and tradition. After working with those three major themes, my eyes were more opened about diversity. I never thought about how much those three things were important in our lives. I didn’t care too much about the whole diversity aspect of the class that much and the only thing that was on my mind was just finishing the class and getting it over with. After reading the text and watching the movies, it made me more open to the world around us. I never thought of culture as something that is always changing. I always thought of culture strictly tied to a foreign country, but reading Richard Rodriguez’s essay “’Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans” it made me realize that the three major themes are what build culture and that “culture is fluid. Culture is smoke. You breathe it. You eat it. You can’t help hearing it – Elvis Presley goes in your ear, and you cannot get Elvis Presley out of your mind” (123). With that quote in the back of my head, it gives me a wider and definite view about living in a diverse society.
The four chosen pieces that I’ve chosen for my portfolio are the intermission one movie discussion board post, my community essay, my blog post on my wallet, and the tradition discussion board one post. I decided to choose these four pieces because I think they help me express what I feel about the subject and that it showed my full capabilities of analyzing text and movies assigned to us. More specifically, I chose my intermission one discussion board post since I felt that I demonstrated my critical thinking skills successfully. Choosing a piece that demonstrated my skills as a writer was somewhat difficult, since almost all of the papers I had trouble with sticking to the prompt, but I believe that my community essay displayed that it needed a lot more work than the rest of my papers. I thought that my blog post on my wallet was a good example of awareness of my audience and voice, since it’s something I feel that everyone that will stumble upon my blog can relate to, or to inspire someone to write about their own wallets. Finally, I chose my tradition discussion board one post as my writer’s choice because I feel that answering some of the questions that were presented for that discussion board post helped me answer some questions that I had within myself as well.
Even though taking this class proved to be difficult since I had to work during the day and go to school at nights, I still enjoyed it. I’m also thankful for taking this class, since it opened my eyes more to the world around me.
Throughout the course of the quarter, I had to work with identity, community, and tradition. After working with those three major themes, my eyes were more opened about diversity. I never thought about how much those three things were important in our lives. I didn’t care too much about the whole diversity aspect of the class that much and the only thing that was on my mind was just finishing the class and getting it over with. After reading the text and watching the movies, it made me more open to the world around us. I never thought of culture as something that is always changing. I always thought of culture strictly tied to a foreign country, but reading Richard Rodriguez’s essay “’Blaxicans’ and Other Reinvented Americans” it made me realize that the three major themes are what build culture and that “culture is fluid. Culture is smoke. You breathe it. You eat it. You can’t help hearing it – Elvis Presley goes in your ear, and you cannot get Elvis Presley out of your mind” (123). With that quote in the back of my head, it gives me a wider and definite view about living in a diverse society.
The four chosen pieces that I’ve chosen for my portfolio are the intermission one movie discussion board post, my community essay, my blog post on my wallet, and the tradition discussion board one post. I decided to choose these four pieces because I think they help me express what I feel about the subject and that it showed my full capabilities of analyzing text and movies assigned to us. More specifically, I chose my intermission one discussion board post since I felt that I demonstrated my critical thinking skills successfully. Choosing a piece that demonstrated my skills as a writer was somewhat difficult, since almost all of the papers I had trouble with sticking to the prompt, but I believe that my community essay displayed that it needed a lot more work than the rest of my papers. I thought that my blog post on my wallet was a good example of awareness of my audience and voice, since it’s something I feel that everyone that will stumble upon my blog can relate to, or to inspire someone to write about their own wallets. Finally, I chose my tradition discussion board one post as my writer’s choice because I feel that answering some of the questions that were presented for that discussion board post helped me answer some questions that I had within myself as well.
Even though taking this class proved to be difficult since I had to work during the day and go to school at nights, I still enjoyed it. I’m also thankful for taking this class, since it opened my eyes more to the world around me.
Putting my brain to work
During one of the intermission periods of the class, we had to choose a movie that explored issues of identity and discuss the challenges that were presented to the characters in the film, and if we could relate to the situation each character is facing in the movie. From the list of movies, I decided to choose Freedom Writers. Although I’ve seen the movie four times, I had to choose it again. When I watched the movies the first three times, I only watched it because it was just a movie, something that I could enjoy. I chose it again in that list because I thought to myself, “Ha, this should be easy to get full points in since I’ve seen the movie a million times.”
Well in this case I was wrong about it being easy to get full points. This assignment I actually had to analyze the film and watch it thoroughly, and try to find what makes a person an outsider in a community. While I was doing that though, a lot of things came into mind as I watched the movie the next couple of times. In ways, I felt that I could put myself in the characters shoes and it would feel like some experiences that I’ve had in the past. By doing that, I was able to give a get a good analysis of the main characters of the movies. After realizing what it meant to be an outsider, I came up with a conclusion that being an outsider to other people was to not share similar interests with those other people. Here’s a small snippet from that post I have made about why Erin Gruwell, the main character of Freedom Writers, was viewed as an outsider.
At one point during the movie, where Ms. Gruwell was talking to the assistant principal about the materials she needs for their class. The vice principal treated Ms. Gruwell's students as outsiders only because of the crimes they committed and because of their reading level; she casted them as outsiders because of that, even though she doesn't even know the students at all.
Although all of the other units had helped me realize what culture is all about, the identity unit and the first intermission made me realize the importance of identity, and helped me sort out who I am and what I am.
Well in this case I was wrong about it being easy to get full points. This assignment I actually had to analyze the film and watch it thoroughly, and try to find what makes a person an outsider in a community. While I was doing that though, a lot of things came into mind as I watched the movie the next couple of times. In ways, I felt that I could put myself in the characters shoes and it would feel like some experiences that I’ve had in the past. By doing that, I was able to give a get a good analysis of the main characters of the movies. After realizing what it meant to be an outsider, I came up with a conclusion that being an outsider to other people was to not share similar interests with those other people. Here’s a small snippet from that post I have made about why Erin Gruwell, the main character of Freedom Writers, was viewed as an outsider.
At one point during the movie, where Ms. Gruwell was talking to the assistant principal about the materials she needs for their class. The vice principal treated Ms. Gruwell's students as outsiders only because of the crimes they committed and because of their reading level; she casted them as outsiders because of that, even though she doesn't even know the students at all.
Although all of the other units had helped me realize what culture is all about, the identity unit and the first intermission made me realize the importance of identity, and helped me sort out who I am and what I am.
"Our story, our words"
Even though I've seen all the movies that were given on the list for this week, I decided to choose Freedom Writers because of the stories the students in Erin Gruwell's class told. What I did notice from the movie is how they presented difficulties in establishing and maintaining identity.
All the students were affiliated with some gang, but in ways, they thought of themselves as the gang as a whole. To me, Eva seemed like an example of this and how she would always represent her crew, or in this case, the ones that stay close with her that have the same ethnicity as her. I thought of her as someone that wasn't exactly aware of her identity, and was only able to figure out who she is after finally trusting someone, like Ms. Gruwell.
At one point during the movie, where Ms. Gruwell was talking to the assistant principal about the materials she needs for their class. The vice principal treated Ms. Gruwell's students as outsiders only because of the crimes they committed and because of their reading level. She casted them as outsiders because of that, even though she doesn't even know the students at all.
The film did present a situation where it displayed conflicts between the 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. Victoria, the honors student, did not like how the honors teacher was egging her on about "The Color Purple" novel, and how he expected to know about it because she was black. The teacher then saw Victoria as an outsider since she decided to switch over to Ms. Gruwell's class because she felt that she would be an 'insider' in her class and not feel targeted all the time.
Lastly, it's hard to describe if the film created sympathy for either group. It's hard for me to come up with a spot to place who to where. If anything though, the film did sympathize and share hope to others to people that were like Ms. Gruwell's students before they met her.
All the students were affiliated with some gang, but in ways, they thought of themselves as the gang as a whole. To me, Eva seemed like an example of this and how she would always represent her crew, or in this case, the ones that stay close with her that have the same ethnicity as her. I thought of her as someone that wasn't exactly aware of her identity, and was only able to figure out who she is after finally trusting someone, like Ms. Gruwell.
At one point during the movie, where Ms. Gruwell was talking to the assistant principal about the materials she needs for their class. The vice principal treated Ms. Gruwell's students as outsiders only because of the crimes they committed and because of their reading level. She casted them as outsiders because of that, even though she doesn't even know the students at all.
The film did present a situation where it displayed conflicts between the 'insiders' and 'outsiders'. Victoria, the honors student, did not like how the honors teacher was egging her on about "The Color Purple" novel, and how he expected to know about it because she was black. The teacher then saw Victoria as an outsider since she decided to switch over to Ms. Gruwell's class because she felt that she would be an 'insider' in her class and not feel targeted all the time.
Lastly, it's hard to describe if the film created sympathy for either group. It's hard for me to come up with a spot to place who to where. If anything though, the film did sympathize and share hope to others to people that were like Ms. Gruwell's students before they met her.
"Don't get too cocky, kid!"
Out of all the papers, timed writes, blog posts we’ve had to write in class. I’ve chosen my community essay as one that needs the most revision. The community that I wanted to focus on was the gaming community since I’m very active in it. I was feeling pretty cocky about the paper, acting like a know-it-all about the gaming community. Since I was getting ahead of myself while writing the paper, I started to go off track writing the paper right after the introduction paragraph.
The whole objective of the paper was to describe the community aspect of a community, not to describe what the community was. Unfortunately, due to me being overexcited about a paper I want to write about, I put on the paper what I wanted to write about, not what the paper should be about. Although I had a thesis going, which were the similarities and differences between arcade gaming and console gaming, that thesis was just sitting there as the rest of the paper was just rambling about how the gaming community is involved with so many other things outside of gaming, other than talking about how both types of gaming has changed over the years.
There was one strength that I would like to point out was that I was able to proofread effectively, missing a few points on some things like quotations and citations. The paper looked like a clean and well written paper. The weaknesses present in the paper were practically everything. I couldn’t stay on topic, and I didn’t even follow the prompt. Another thing that I messed up on was quotations and how they just dropped in the paper, and seemed ill-fitted with the rest of the paragraph. The last things I messed up on were finishing sentences. After reading parts of my paper prior to writing this introduction, I noticed how many sentences were missing some words as well, making a lot of the paper not make sense. Here is an example where all of those weaknesses are present in one sentence.
Although arcade gamers and home console gamers are two different, both are basically in the same community, except both have slightly different values and beliefs of their own, and different ways of interacting with each other from meeting up with a group in a well known place, to communicating with fellow gamers of the internet.
My target with this revision is to make an introduction and conclusion that doesn't focus on the generalities of the gaming community, but community as a whole.
For my revision, I decided to completely change the thesis into something that fits the prompt, which was to compare and contrast a community that we have chosen from then to now, which was the gaming community. I also changed the conclusion paragraph that would seem more fitting to the introduction paragraph. Here is a snippet from the introduction after it has been revised:
Although arcade gamers and console gamers are two different groups of the gaming community, they are still involved with the gaming community, but have different values and beliefs when it comes to game play, and having social interaction with each other.
With those slight revisions, it seems like it flows more and is not cluttered. Unfortunately, I feel as though that the whole paper would take a week to revise since it’s unorganized, and poorly written and that just this simple introduction would not cover be able to cover all of the errors present in my paper.
Since my paper goes over the three page limit, I'll only be revising the introduction and one of the paragraphs. Please bear with me though, I think this paper is extremely terrible and little things can't fix it. The only solution to fix the paper is if I were to rewrite the paper.
The italicized parts are original pieces.
The whole objective of the paper was to describe the community aspect of a community, not to describe what the community was. Unfortunately, due to me being overexcited about a paper I want to write about, I put on the paper what I wanted to write about, not what the paper should be about. Although I had a thesis going, which were the similarities and differences between arcade gaming and console gaming, that thesis was just sitting there as the rest of the paper was just rambling about how the gaming community is involved with so many other things outside of gaming, other than talking about how both types of gaming has changed over the years.
There was one strength that I would like to point out was that I was able to proofread effectively, missing a few points on some things like quotations and citations. The paper looked like a clean and well written paper. The weaknesses present in the paper were practically everything. I couldn’t stay on topic, and I didn’t even follow the prompt. Another thing that I messed up on was quotations and how they just dropped in the paper, and seemed ill-fitted with the rest of the paragraph. The last things I messed up on were finishing sentences. After reading parts of my paper prior to writing this introduction, I noticed how many sentences were missing some words as well, making a lot of the paper not make sense. Here is an example where all of those weaknesses are present in one sentence.
Although arcade gamers and home console gamers are two different, both are basically in the same community, except both have slightly different values and beliefs of their own, and different ways of interacting with each other from meeting up with a group in a well known place, to communicating with fellow gamers of the internet.
My target with this revision is to make an introduction and conclusion that doesn't focus on the generalities of the gaming community, but community as a whole.
For my revision, I decided to completely change the thesis into something that fits the prompt, which was to compare and contrast a community that we have chosen from then to now, which was the gaming community. I also changed the conclusion paragraph that would seem more fitting to the introduction paragraph. Here is a snippet from the introduction after it has been revised:
Although arcade gamers and console gamers are two different groups of the gaming community, they are still involved with the gaming community, but have different values and beliefs when it comes to game play, and having social interaction with each other.
With those slight revisions, it seems like it flows more and is not cluttered. Unfortunately, I feel as though that the whole paper would take a week to revise since it’s unorganized, and poorly written and that just this simple introduction would not cover be able to cover all of the errors present in my paper.
Since my paper goes over the three page limit, I'll only be revising the introduction and one of the paragraphs. Please bear with me though, I think this paper is extremely terrible and little things can't fix it. The only solution to fix the paper is if I were to rewrite the paper.
The italicized parts are original pieces.
The Gaming Community
“Spacewar” was a game that was credited as the first video game that has been created. With this video game, it started the rapid growth of the video game industry, and the video game community assisted in its growth. Throughout video game history, people have united with their similar interests in video games to build a community. Those communities would help promote and expand video games for years to come. Like any other community, there are different branches of gamers. The two larger groups being arcade gamers, and console gamers. Although arcade gamers and console gamers are two different groups of the gaming community, they are still involved with the gaming community, but have different values and beliefs when it comes to game play, and having social interaction with each other. With gaming changing with new technology and different ways to play and socialize with fellow gamers, both arcade and console gaming are caught in change too, and the evolution of gaming has always altered gaming in a small way that creates a larger impact in the gaming community, and possibly the world of technology.
Even though “Tennis for Two” was considered to be the first game in video format, it wasn’t exactly considered a video game, due to the fact that it was actually played on an oscilloscope, but with the creation of “Spacewar!” it exposed people to video games and the endless possibilities one can do to create and evolve video games. Over the years, people have united from just meeting to local game stores, to large gaming conventions like the Electronic Entertainment Expo and it brought communities together, from home console gamers, to arcade gamers. Although arcade gamers and home console gamers are two different, both are basically in the same community, except both have slightly different values and beliefs of their own, and different ways of interacting with each other from meeting up with a group in a well known place, to communicating with fellow gamers over the internet.
With the continuous evolution of gaming, it’s fairly easy to see the differences from the hardcore lifestyle of the arcade and console gamers of the past to the more casual and people-friendly style of gaming today. Being a part of the gaming community, and witnessing the start of the casual era of video games has opened my eyes to the bigger picture of the gaming community and to community in general. In the future, another person might even write about today’s gamer’s lifestyles and communities, and compare and contrast to theirs. Even though there are other mediums that cause change in a community, time is the biggest contributor to change in a community. As long as innovation in video games and technology in general keeps growing, the gaming community will also be more innovative and larger in numbers.
It’s still difficult to discuss the difference between the two since both have made such an impact in technology, and how both have the same beliefs. The only thing that would differentiate the arcade and console gamer is their preference. Being a part of the gaming community opened my eyes to the vast amount of changes that happened over the years. Nothing could replace what the gaming community has experienced, with every change in the gamer culture always evolving into something beautiful. To think that something as simple as a tennis game on an oscilloscope would evolve into something so complex is amazing, and none of this would have been done if it weren’t for the gaming community. As long as both sides keep their interests, but have the same beliefs and values of each other, both communities will always be seen as one.
Even though “Tennis for Two” was considered to be the first game in video format, it wasn’t exactly considered a video game, due to the fact that it was actually played on an oscilloscope, but with the creation of “Spacewar!” it exposed people to video games and the endless possibilities one can do to create and evolve video games. Over the years, people have united from just meeting to local game stores, to large gaming conventions like the Electronic Entertainment Expo and it brought communities together, from home console gamers, to arcade gamers. Although arcade gamers and home console gamers are two different, both are basically in the same community, except both have slightly different values and beliefs of their own, and different ways of interacting with each other from meeting up with a group in a well known place, to communicating with fellow gamers over the internet.
With the continuous evolution of gaming, it’s fairly easy to see the differences from the hardcore lifestyle of the arcade and console gamers of the past to the more casual and people-friendly style of gaming today. Being a part of the gaming community, and witnessing the start of the casual era of video games has opened my eyes to the bigger picture of the gaming community and to community in general. In the future, another person might even write about today’s gamer’s lifestyles and communities, and compare and contrast to theirs. Even though there are other mediums that cause change in a community, time is the biggest contributor to change in a community. As long as innovation in video games and technology in general keeps growing, the gaming community will also be more innovative and larger in numbers.
It’s still difficult to discuss the difference between the two since both have made such an impact in technology, and how both have the same beliefs. The only thing that would differentiate the arcade and console gamer is their preference. Being a part of the gaming community opened my eyes to the vast amount of changes that happened over the years. Nothing could replace what the gaming community has experienced, with every change in the gamer culture always evolving into something beautiful. To think that something as simple as a tennis game on an oscilloscope would evolve into something so complex is amazing, and none of this would have been done if it weren’t for the gaming community. As long as both sides keep their interests, but have the same beliefs and values of each other, both communities will always be seen as one.
This is me
As I was digging through all of my writings for the portfolio, I felt that my blog on my wallet would be a fitting for a piece that illustrated awareness for my audience and voice. My target audience was the average person just on the internet looking for something to read. I want to write something that would be entertaining, and I think I pulled it off nicely.
After figuring out what I wanted to put on my blog entry, I found it easier to just write about my wallet as if I was being interviewed by someone. I would ask questions that I’d imagine someone would ask about my wallet, like what are these cards for, or what are all these receipts doing in your wallet. It was tough coming up with some questions though, and I often caught myself grabbing my wallet and looking what the contents were. Even though my wallet is important, it’s just one of those things you don’t really care about until you lose it.
Although I was writing for an assignment in blog form, I didn’t feel any pressure at all to make everything perfect. I’ve had personal blogs before, so writing the blog was just second nature for me. It’s just that writing a blog with a prompt was different, but that was just a hurdle I was able to jump over easily. Working blogs for class, especially the one about my wallet, has given me the drive to start blogging since I think its pretty fun.
After figuring out what I wanted to put on my blog entry, I found it easier to just write about my wallet as if I was being interviewed by someone. I would ask questions that I’d imagine someone would ask about my wallet, like what are these cards for, or what are all these receipts doing in your wallet. It was tough coming up with some questions though, and I often caught myself grabbing my wallet and looking what the contents were. Even though my wallet is important, it’s just one of those things you don’t really care about until you lose it.
Although I was writing for an assignment in blog form, I didn’t feel any pressure at all to make everything perfect. I’ve had personal blogs before, so writing the blog was just second nature for me. It’s just that writing a blog with a prompt was different, but that was just a hurdle I was able to jump over easily. Working blogs for class, especially the one about my wallet, has given me the drive to start blogging since I think its pretty fun.
My wallet
I've never found a wallet or a purse lying around anywhere, but there has been about three times where I've misplaced my wallet and I'd have a random person return the wallet to me when I return. Now that I think about it though, I wonder what people actually think when they have to dig through my wallet to figure out who it belongs to.
Like any other person, I really hate losing my wallet. I start to panic and freak out when I can't find where my wallet it, because I always tend to misplace it when I have to leave to go somewhere since my drivers license is in there. Thanks to me always misplacing my wallet, I always check if my wallet is in my pocket or not every now and then, because I don't want to be caught off-guard and drive off somewhere without my wallet and getting pulled over by a police officer.
Thinking about what others would think about when they dig through my wallet makes me feel somewhat insecure, I'm not really one that likes to describe myself either, so talking about my wallet is kind of like jumping through a flaming hoop for me. Anyway, in my wallet contains a ton of cards, each having their own thing. There are four cards that I practically use daily, one of them being my drivers license. I don't think that my drivers license tells too much, except what I look like in numbers, and the terrible photo of me. Another card is my military ID which I guess some people might be surprised about. My dad is retired Navy, but we didn't travel to other countries that much, my dad did most of that for trainings aboard ships he was stationed on. We did live in Guam and California though, but that's just a fraction of other places that Military families lived in. I know a few that lived in Japan and Italy which is awesome.
Two other cards that I hold high importance are my check card, and my debit card. I use these almost all the time, and after someone sees my picture on my ID's, some might think that I'm financially irresponsible because I'm a teenager. I'd like to throw it out there that I don't spend my money on one spot. I'm actually very conscious about my spending habits and I always budget. I'm not even saving up for anything, I only do this out of pure habit my parents forced upon me, and so far it has treated me well.
The rest of my cards are from mostly restaurants and recreational facilities. So one could really misinterpret that I definitely like to spend my money on doing fun things, and I do. I have profile cards specifically for some games at Gameworks, and a license for K1 Speedway in Redmond. I don't do those often though, and the K1 Speedway card I didn't get too long ago. I had to purchase one in order to drive a go-kart at my friend's birthday party.
More cards in my wallet include those stamp cards you usually get at fast food places, such as Coldstone and Auntie Anne's. I only have one stamp on both those cards since I don't eat those often. I'm not in the area to eat a pretzel, and I don't feel like shelling out five bucks for ice cream that's being mixed with candy. I've only gotten those cards because they offered them to me, so yeah, they just sit in my wallet crying to be used. I will never answer those cries, haha.
After digging through my wallet again, I found two cards that I totally forgot about, one of them being expired. I was certified for CPR/AED on adults, and Standard First Aid from the American Red Cross. I had to take a test on CPR for my high school health class for a grade, and I decided to take the Standard First Aid test for extra credit. It's bad though, I don't remember anything from my CPR classes. I do know how to fix up minor wounds though, but I just think that doesn't compensate for forgetting everything on CPR.
Last thing I have left in my wallet are my VIP cards for some stores like Foot Locker and Game Crazy. I don't really use my VIP card for Foot Locker, since I haven't really gone there in a while. Some people that might stumble upon that might think I'm a sneaker head, but I've been out of that game for a while now since I was running out of space to keep my shoes. The Game Crazy card though, I use all the time when I buy used games. So whoever finds that and interprets that I'm a gamer, they are 100% correct.
All the things in my wallet, excluding my four important cards, are seldom used. It doesn't really mean that I don't do anything though, because most of those membership cards I've obtained are mostly from being in the spur of the moment. I do a lot of things, but my wallet doesn't really reflect all of that.
So there you have it folks, just an average guy I guess. My wallet isn't so special. Haha.
Like any other person, I really hate losing my wallet. I start to panic and freak out when I can't find where my wallet it, because I always tend to misplace it when I have to leave to go somewhere since my drivers license is in there. Thanks to me always misplacing my wallet, I always check if my wallet is in my pocket or not every now and then, because I don't want to be caught off-guard and drive off somewhere without my wallet and getting pulled over by a police officer.
Thinking about what others would think about when they dig through my wallet makes me feel somewhat insecure, I'm not really one that likes to describe myself either, so talking about my wallet is kind of like jumping through a flaming hoop for me. Anyway, in my wallet contains a ton of cards, each having their own thing. There are four cards that I practically use daily, one of them being my drivers license. I don't think that my drivers license tells too much, except what I look like in numbers, and the terrible photo of me. Another card is my military ID which I guess some people might be surprised about. My dad is retired Navy, but we didn't travel to other countries that much, my dad did most of that for trainings aboard ships he was stationed on. We did live in Guam and California though, but that's just a fraction of other places that Military families lived in. I know a few that lived in Japan and Italy which is awesome.
Two other cards that I hold high importance are my check card, and my debit card. I use these almost all the time, and after someone sees my picture on my ID's, some might think that I'm financially irresponsible because I'm a teenager. I'd like to throw it out there that I don't spend my money on one spot. I'm actually very conscious about my spending habits and I always budget. I'm not even saving up for anything, I only do this out of pure habit my parents forced upon me, and so far it has treated me well.
The rest of my cards are from mostly restaurants and recreational facilities. So one could really misinterpret that I definitely like to spend my money on doing fun things, and I do. I have profile cards specifically for some games at Gameworks, and a license for K1 Speedway in Redmond. I don't do those often though, and the K1 Speedway card I didn't get too long ago. I had to purchase one in order to drive a go-kart at my friend's birthday party.
More cards in my wallet include those stamp cards you usually get at fast food places, such as Coldstone and Auntie Anne's. I only have one stamp on both those cards since I don't eat those often. I'm not in the area to eat a pretzel, and I don't feel like shelling out five bucks for ice cream that's being mixed with candy. I've only gotten those cards because they offered them to me, so yeah, they just sit in my wallet crying to be used. I will never answer those cries, haha.
After digging through my wallet again, I found two cards that I totally forgot about, one of them being expired. I was certified for CPR/AED on adults, and Standard First Aid from the American Red Cross. I had to take a test on CPR for my high school health class for a grade, and I decided to take the Standard First Aid test for extra credit. It's bad though, I don't remember anything from my CPR classes. I do know how to fix up minor wounds though, but I just think that doesn't compensate for forgetting everything on CPR.
Last thing I have left in my wallet are my VIP cards for some stores like Foot Locker and Game Crazy. I don't really use my VIP card for Foot Locker, since I haven't really gone there in a while. Some people that might stumble upon that might think I'm a sneaker head, but I've been out of that game for a while now since I was running out of space to keep my shoes. The Game Crazy card though, I use all the time when I buy used games. So whoever finds that and interprets that I'm a gamer, they are 100% correct.
All the things in my wallet, excluding my four important cards, are seldom used. It doesn't really mean that I don't do anything though, because most of those membership cards I've obtained are mostly from being in the spur of the moment. I do a lot of things, but my wallet doesn't really reflect all of that.
So there you have it folks, just an average guy I guess. My wallet isn't so special. Haha.
Awakening to tradition
I find it kind of strange that I would choose a discussion board post as my writer’s choice. During the tradition unit, I often caught myself in thought about traditions and lifestyles right now and how much they have changed from generation to generation. I would also remember my dad’s stories about when he was a kid and how his family had set rules in their household.
As I was writing the discussion board post and about how much culture has changed over the years, it has made me realized how much culture is evolving, and that tradition is playing a large role in that change. Here’s a sample of how tradition has changed over the years, especially with my family:
While I was reading the essay [Thoroughly Modern Dining], it reminded me about how back in the day, dining with the family at home was very important, and it was bonding time for the family. Now, it seems like we never have a well-kept schedule to have dinner with the family together because of outside influences.
If I didn’t have this piece in my portfolio, I’d feel as if the portfolio would be lacking in something meaningful. All of the English classes I’ve taken in high school always stressed having some kind of piece that you wrote in class that had meaning to you, and often I’d just choose something so I could get points for that section. With this portfolio, it’s different. Not only did I sharpen my skills with critical thinking, demonstrating revision skills, and writing for an audience, I learned more about culture became more self-aware of changes around me, from school and work, to home and that’s why this is my writer’s choice.
As I was writing the discussion board post and about how much culture has changed over the years, it has made me realized how much culture is evolving, and that tradition is playing a large role in that change. Here’s a sample of how tradition has changed over the years, especially with my family:
While I was reading the essay [Thoroughly Modern Dining], it reminded me about how back in the day, dining with the family at home was very important, and it was bonding time for the family. Now, it seems like we never have a well-kept schedule to have dinner with the family together because of outside influences.
If I didn’t have this piece in my portfolio, I’d feel as if the portfolio would be lacking in something meaningful. All of the English classes I’ve taken in high school always stressed having some kind of piece that you wrote in class that had meaning to you, and often I’d just choose something so I could get points for that section. With this portfolio, it’s different. Not only did I sharpen my skills with critical thinking, demonstrating revision skills, and writing for an audience, I learned more about culture became more self-aware of changes around me, from school and work, to home and that’s why this is my writer’s choice.
Dinner and T-Shirts
(I want to let everyone know that these answers are out of order. When I was doing the discussion board post, I thought we had to choose two questions from a set of four, but I guess we had to do all of them.)
In Richard Pillsbury's essay "Thoroughly Modern Dining," he talked about the experience of having dinner at home, than at a family restaurant. While I was reading the essay, it reminded me about how back in the day, dining with the family at home was very important, and it was bonding time for the family. Now, it seems like we never have a well-kept schedule to have dinner with the family together because of outside influences. Me, I try to keep up with my dad on trying to hold down the tradition, and I honestly feel bad when I have to miss dinnertime with my family since I like spending time with them. I don't question why my dad finds family dinners so important, but I honestly think that everyone else's busy schedule is what's limiting our established tradition in the household, which makes me sad. "Home cooking, that is, actually preparing a meal--not simply opening a box or thawing a tray--has become a luxury, rather than a necessity" (191). After reading that quote, I couldn't help but feel worse, since my dad spends his time in the kitchen a lot preparing food for the family, when everyone else except me are present when the food is hot and ready.
In a different essay, Jenn Shreve talks about T-Shirts as a memorial for someone that has died. I just found her question "What good is a memorial if it's not lasting?" (250) and I feel that a memorial doesn't have to be lasting to be a good memorial. I think it's more personal to wear a shirt of a loved one that's gone because I feel that the person is still close to me. To think about it, if we were to shun this tradition of wearing memorial t-shirts, I think we should also just shun ourselves for having some kind of tradition since almost everyone would have the same feelings of someone elses tradition.
Our adherence to our own culture's traditions takes precedence than finding our own identity. Sure we are just trying to figure out who we are in our lives, but that doesn't take away from our own family traditions. Sure, we may modify it slightly, but the base of our roots is still there. I can relate to this since I have a lot of family that are practically gangsters, but when they're with home with everyone, they act like everyone else in the family.
Pranks are alright to an extent, but it really depends. If one were to cross the line when it came to a prank, it can seriously cause issues with the relationship between oneself and the person they pranked. Although Jon Stewart's commencement address isn't a prank, people will listen to his address and laugh, but a few years from now, they will be moved. In some cases, that can be like a prank, you can laugh about it when it happens at the moment, but maybe over time, one could get pissed off that it happened.
In Richard Pillsbury's essay "Thoroughly Modern Dining," he talked about the experience of having dinner at home, than at a family restaurant. While I was reading the essay, it reminded me about how back in the day, dining with the family at home was very important, and it was bonding time for the family. Now, it seems like we never have a well-kept schedule to have dinner with the family together because of outside influences. Me, I try to keep up with my dad on trying to hold down the tradition, and I honestly feel bad when I have to miss dinnertime with my family since I like spending time with them. I don't question why my dad finds family dinners so important, but I honestly think that everyone else's busy schedule is what's limiting our established tradition in the household, which makes me sad. "Home cooking, that is, actually preparing a meal--not simply opening a box or thawing a tray--has become a luxury, rather than a necessity" (191). After reading that quote, I couldn't help but feel worse, since my dad spends his time in the kitchen a lot preparing food for the family, when everyone else except me are present when the food is hot and ready.
In a different essay, Jenn Shreve talks about T-Shirts as a memorial for someone that has died. I just found her question "What good is a memorial if it's not lasting?" (250) and I feel that a memorial doesn't have to be lasting to be a good memorial. I think it's more personal to wear a shirt of a loved one that's gone because I feel that the person is still close to me. To think about it, if we were to shun this tradition of wearing memorial t-shirts, I think we should also just shun ourselves for having some kind of tradition since almost everyone would have the same feelings of someone elses tradition.
Our adherence to our own culture's traditions takes precedence than finding our own identity. Sure we are just trying to figure out who we are in our lives, but that doesn't take away from our own family traditions. Sure, we may modify it slightly, but the base of our roots is still there. I can relate to this since I have a lot of family that are practically gangsters, but when they're with home with everyone, they act like everyone else in the family.
Pranks are alright to an extent, but it really depends. If one were to cross the line when it came to a prank, it can seriously cause issues with the relationship between oneself and the person they pranked. Although Jon Stewart's commencement address isn't a prank, people will listen to his address and laugh, but a few years from now, they will be moved. In some cases, that can be like a prank, you can laugh about it when it happens at the moment, but maybe over time, one could get pissed off that it happened.
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