Grizzly Man

We have been talking a lot in class about the similarities between Timothy Treadwell and Chris McCandless. I could sit here and write about what I think are huge similarities and differences between the book and the movie, but that is not why I am here. I am just going to focus on Treadwell and the movie for right now.

Overall, I think that the documentary was not as good as it could have been. What we see in this movie is a man that is living among bears in hope to educate children about how "harmless" these bears really are. One question I had when I heard that was, "How do you expect to educate children with all of the profanity you use?"

Another thing that I saw was a man who was not at all "in tune" with the world, which is why he went into the wild. But that is not at all the case. Treadwell, I believe, went into the wild for his own personal strength. Instead of being "in tune" with society, he wanted to be "in tune" with bears. The thing which troubles me is how he got to this conclusion, however. After years of struggling with drug addictions and overdoses, he finally decides to trade that in for life in the wild. Clearly, this man was in no shape to educate little children.

One thing I would like to know coming out of this movie, is what the intention of the documentary was really about, Timothy Treadwell, or the bears? In my opinion, it was more about Treadwell than the bears, but was that how the documentary was marketed? This is a review I found of the movie online. Apparently, a lot of people thought this movie was going to be a documentary of bears.

So was Timothy Treadwell in the right state of mind? To some, maybe. But for me, definitely no.

TV Tokenism

On Thursday and Friday in class, Mr. Bolos talked a lot about TV Tokenism. As we were watching the different clips and hearing about how this plays into our television dramas so much, I felt very naive. I have never ever looked at a TV show like through those kind of eyes before and I feel like I never will look at a TV show the same again. After Friday, however, I got home and was showing different TV websites to my sister, and I saw a very big contrast from the dramas today and those of the past. It really shows today that shows that have started in the past couple of years are getting better than those who started in the 90s.
Here is an example: ER, a hospital drama that started in the 90s had its season one dvd case as any other one before the turn of the century. But in Grey's Anatomy, which started after the turn of the century, all of the characters are intermixed.

Parallel Between Into the Wild and the outside world

During class today we talked a lot about the parallels and contrasts we see in the book. One that really stuck out to me today as we were discussing was the parallel between McCandless giving his real name and social security name while applying for the job at McDonalds, and suicide. We kept talking about this subject as I made more comparisons. One, for instance is how Chris left his car behind, or gave away his car, to the wild and then left and went off. The car was the one thing that Chris took with him when he left on his journey, and then he decided to give it away after it broke down. When someone is about to committ suicide, some consider giving away or leaving behind something that meant a lot to them to a specific person. Others, could take things with them when they take their life, and similarly, Chris took some of his belongings with him after abandoning his car. I could take this a little further and compare it to the tradgedies of the shooting that happened in Omaha yesterday. A nineteen year old boy who was said to be slightly ill-minded opened fire in a shopping mall and killed nine people, including himself. In this situation, he left behind questions for his family and the victim's family and everyone else in the shopping mall at the time. Instead of just committing suicide, he took with him the lives of nine other people. This tragedy his very unfortunate. So, there are comparisons all over the place relating to this book.

The Political Compass

So yesterday in class we talked a lot about the Political Spectrum and the Political Compass. I came home last night and had a long conversation about it with my parents. As you might know, I am not one for all the Political Talk, so I didnt have much to attribute to the conversation except from what I learned in class, which was a lot. At the end of our conversation my dad turned to me and said, "So, what do you think you are?" Not knowing exactly how to answer that question, I quickly changed subjects, but in my mind, I could not stop thinking about it. I came to the conclusion that if I had to guess, I would be right where Ghandi is in the Liberal/Liberitarian quadrent. I just took the quiz on the Political Compass website, and it did tell me I was a Liberal/Liberitarian, but I was also kind of close to the middle. I would post my chart, but my computer froze right after I took it, so here is one I found right off of google. I am a little up and right of Nelson Mandela.

Geography: Our Destiny?

So on Friday during class we took a poll about if you agree or disagree with some item on the "US and us" paper. One of the controversial items that we picked out as a class was the one that said, "Geography is our destiny; where you live determines who you become." On the sheet, I said I disagreed with the quote, but now, looking back at it, I realize how strongly I disagree with it. I do not at all believe that where we live determines who we become. Just because we live in a community and go to a school that is more well off than other places, in Chicago, or even the rest of the world, does not mean that we are going to be more successful in life than those who do not. I strongly believe that the people in the world who do not have any money or any place to live could become one of the most successful people in the world, because they challenge themselves to do so.
Another point is that because Chicago is such a nice place to live, we get all of the supplies we need to survive. If I went to New York City, another nice place to live, I could struggle and become an entire different person with an entire different life there. However, it is true that some people in New York do live the same lives we do.

Is the US lost in Geography?

A newspaper article from the Chicago Tribune this morning wrote that United States Americans are one of the least knowledgeable people in World Geography today. There have been many surveys which have led to this conclusion, but why is it that one of the strongest countries in the world today can't even tell New York from Arizona? Although this article talked a lot about around the world geography, I am going to use some of my knowledge from years past in the US.
When I was in third grade, my teacher made it a point to teach us every where every state in the US is and what their capitals are. By the end of that year, I didnt even have to look at a map and I could go across the US from top to bottom and name every single state and its capital. My older sister had the same teacher as I did, but my twin, who did not, has never learned how to do this. Over the years, my knowledge has left about the states and their capitals, but I could tell you if the state is in the West or East quite easily.
My sister came home from college this year and told her that her room mates from New York could not even point out on a map where Illinois was, let alone their home state of New York. Knowing all that I do from third grade, and also knowing that these college students, who are at one of the top schools in the nation, I could tell that this is not something to be proud about. When I was little we had a puzzle in the house of the US and you had to put all of the states where they belonged. That was a great learning tool.
So I think what this article is trying to say is very good. Students should have to learn more aabout the geography of the world because it is a key factor to knowing baout current events in the world.

Moment of Silence Gone?

Last week in the newspaper, there was an article about how the new "Moment of Silence" law was on hold for the time being. When I heard that the first time, I could not help myself but to laugh. I found myself laughing not because it was on hold, but because after all of the trouble this new law has caused us for the past month or two, they have decided that they need to re-word it. A man found that the original title of the act, which was called the "Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act" was unlawful and unconstitutional. Going back to the discussion we had in class right after the Act was established, I definately agree with him. Especially for public schools where the students are very diverse, having an act mandated which states that we should take time for "Silent Prayer" is unlawful, and in some cases either mocking or going against some religions.

Witchcraft in Africa?

Today, I got the chance to sit in a college lecture called "Africa Peoples and Cultures." The topic that they focused on was the theory that witchcraft is actually going on in Africa today. The Professor talked a lot about how parents in Angola accuse their children of being witches for the sole reason that they want to get rid of them, so they do not have to go more out of their way to get them more food. I related this to The Crucible in that so many people were accusing the children for dancing in the forest. More children were blamed than were in the forest that night but, like in Angola, we are left with the idea that one kid represents the entire children population in Salem, or today, in Africa.
A question that the Professor asked was, "Is there actually witchcraft in Angola?" There is an article that was published, as Mr. O'Connor already posted on the AIS blog, that was published in the New York Times this morning about this subject. In reality, the answer is of course, NO. A word that the Professor used, which I am not remembering at this moment, meant that the cause of accusing, and the professor said that is "taking something very abstract, like witchcraft, and making it seem like it is a tangible thing." You could walk away from the New York Times this morning thinking that there is a lot of witchcraft going on in Africa. This also happened in Salem during The Crucible. Witchcraft was basically a rumor that spread too quickly. It started out really abstract, then with time began to form into something more concrete and tangible.
This is the article from the paper. What do you think?

The Election on 1800

Today in class, we did the recreation of the election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1800. I thought this was an excellent activity to participate in. From the view as one of the undecided people, it looked like the speeches that were spoken by the people who played Adams and Jefferson were written for an actual Presidential Election. The partisans did a terrific job of putting all of the posters and questions together, too. Also, the whole class ran so smoothly. Everyone knew exactly what they were doing and when to do it, on basically no class time to prepare.
During the speeches, I was thinking about what it was actually like to take part in that election in 1800. We know that Jefferson won that election, but in our class vote, Adams won. What made Adams more appealing? Of course, the cupcakes were a big part of the bais because all of the undecideds want one. However, with the actual issues, I think what made Adams more appealing was his ability to state the facts how they were. The only fault with the question and answer section was that Adams was kind of dodging questions when they were not expected to be questioned.
That is what made the class so entertaining. Everyone had terrific questions to ask, and if the candidates or their managers didnt know how to answer them, they would get around it. This activity was really well done and very interesting to be a part of.

Wiki-What?

While doing this project in class, I have noticed a lot of things about how different people do research. I saw that some people were using Wikipedia as one of their primary locations for information. Growing up, I have learned that you should never use wikipedia as a source for information, because the information may not always be correct. I think that this is very true because anyone can access and edit anything they want to on that site. Maybe someone had a really bad day, and they decided, "maybe I'll just go on Wikipedia and change all the information, so maybe the history of the world be altered." This is not the way to do research. If you really are desperate for information, go on google and get information from a place that only the makers can edit. I remember when I was little that I used a program called "Encarta" that was basically an encyclopedia in software. What happened to those days?

Wars of Choice

In class, we were discussing if the Afghanistan and the Iraq wars were wars of choice.

Alone, I think that the Afghanistan war is a war of choice because the Bush Administration planned to invade there even before September 11 happened. It has also been evident that the US would have gone into Afghanistan even if September 11 never happened. What did they want to do once they were in there? I think one of the motives was how rich in oil that territory is. Also, they have, or still had, a very strong government called the Taliban. So I do think that the Afghanistan War is a war of choice.

I think that the Iraq War is also a War of Choice. In a speech given by US Senator Robert Byrd on March 19, 2003, he states that "We cannot convince the world of the necessity of this war for one simple reason. This is a war of choice." It is inevitable in the world today to know that we are in the midst of a war. The war is a war of choice because the US government could have made the decision to not fight back after September 11, and we would have never invaded Iraq.

The First Amendment

There are certain kinds of topics that are protected or limited under the First Amendment. In the movie "Elf" with Will Farrell, there is a scene when he runs into some reandom diner that has a sign that reads "World's Best Coffee." When he gets into the diner, he screams, "Congratulations! World's Best Coffee! You did it!" We talked about this sign in class. Is it an opinion, or do companies really use that as their slogan? When I see a sign that says "World's Best ______" I tend not to pay any attention to them, because the company that product is coming from is just trying to promote and sell that product.
Another one of the questions that I could not pick a side on was if the First Amendment should limit or protect a government official if they campaign for one candidate. I know it is limited, and I understand, because whoever wins is ultimately running the whole country, but isn't it also right that they should have their own views and should be able to campaign for who they want? So, I have a little difficulty for this one, but I do understand that it has to be limited for equal opportunity accross the country.

Be Good, Smile Pretty

While watching the documentart Be Good, Smile Pretty, I was shocked at how much the mother and daughter had different views on how to grieve. The mother basically told the daughter, Tracy, that she should not feel pain for her father because she never knew him. I thought that was very out of line because if you lose someone close to you and did not know them at all, you still can mourn for them. Also, I did not like that the mother wanted to put away all of her old stuff from her husband after the documentary was made because that shows that she cares, just not enough to want to remember her late husband and keep his old stuff out.
I also had one other question: why did the author of the story of how Don died wait until thirty something years after the fact to publish it? Was it just that he didnt have the strength to write it before then, or that he just did not want the family to know how he passed? I think that he was very selfish in not writing the story earlier because he was keeping information that the family wanted, or even needed in order to actually know what went on.

What Kind of World Do We Live In?

Today in class we were discussing the different kinds of governments that we have in the United States. We discussed that democracy literally means rule by the people and repulic literally means to elect people to decide for us. Mr. Bolos then informed us that we live in a Democratic Republic, where we do rule by the people in that each person gets to vote. However, we vote to choose who will decide for us, so it is both. I was thinking in class as we learned this, what kind of world do we live in? We live in a world where most of the people who vote during elections know wrong from right. If they know wrong from right, then why would they re-elect a president who sent us to war for apparently no reason at all but because he wanted to?

Memories

Today in class we were talking about memories. I found this a very interesting subject. After listening to the Podcast and hearing about how to block out a memory, I wondered about if blocking out a memory is really the way to go, no matter how bad the memory is. I came to the conclusion that I think if someone has gone through a lot of trauma in their lives, I think it would be okay for them to get this treatment as a form of recovery. That way, they would still have the memory, but would not feel as much pain from thinking about it.
Another thing I found interesting is the thought of almost "conditioning" rats to dislike a sound or pitch by playing that tone and then shocking them. I related this to the novel Brave New World because in that book, they condition infants to dislike certain objects or emotions to make them become equal. For example, in one scene in the book, they bring out flowers in front of the babies, and the babies start crawling near them. As they get closer, a loud siren sounds and the babies start crying. They do this everyday for about a month, and after that month, every time they see flowers, they start crying.
I think that this part of conditioning the memory is not useful, but the getting rid of traumatizing memories is more useful, because it lets people feel less pain.

September 11, 2001

Throughout the class period, we discussed the happenings of 9/11. I can't believe that was already six years ago. One thing that we touched on in class that I found interesting was that the United States government knew that something was going to happen a month in advance, and decided not to do anything about it. Even, the night before the attacks, the National Security Agency (NSA) recieved two messeges that were not in English, and did not translate it until the 12th. If they had translated it before, the would understand that the messeges said "the match is about to begin" and "tomorrow is zero hour." As I researched this for a deeper understanding, I found that the government was provided with quite a few tips that something like this was going to happen, but never did anything about it.
So, why didn't they do anything, or take appropriate measures? I think they did not take appropriate measures because they didn't think any other nation would have the capabilities of doing anything like this, especially on American soil. Some government officials had known something big was going to happen since January of 2001, and they still didn't do anything about it. That either shows that there was a flaw in our government or they were just plain lazy.

Appearance vs. Substance

Is appearance better than substance on Network Stations?

Today in class we talked about how news reporters are becoming more attractive in appearance as years go on. I think that this is true because networks think that if people with good appearance report the news, then they will have more viewers. Networks are starting to care less and less about the substance of what they are telling viewers, and care more about if the anchors are looking good. This could create a bias against anything the reporters say, because the writers can pick and choose what information they are telling the world. This is how New Trier became known as the school with the "Cruise Ship" virus, because the writers or reporters decided to withhold the information of what the virus is actually called, or even that it is a virus that spreads through nursing homes too. So relating back to appearance, the Networks want to look good, so they make their reporters look attractive, and they put flashy headlines or report only interesting stories.

Secret Messages

When we read a sentence, it sometimes have a double meaning.

I live on the North Shore. This could mean that i live anywhere from Highland Park to Wilmette.

The secret meaning would be that maybe "I am more well off than people who do not live on the North Shore." Also, the secret meaning could determine the social class I am in or the religious views that I practice.