book review

In reading the book, "In cold blood," I find myself captured by Capote's writing. It skips around a little bit from the story of the two murderers and the story of the people whowere left behind in Holcomb, Kansas. In summary, the book follows the story of two men, Perry and Dick, as they commit the "perfect crime." Dick had received word from a "source" in prison that a family named the Clutters had $10,000 in a safe in heir home in kansas. Dick convinces Perry to join him on his journey to the clutter home where Mr. and Mrs. Clutter lived with their two youngest children, Nancy and Kenyon. When the two men arrive at the home late at night, they find that there is no safe in the room where it "should be"" They wake up the etire family, and finding no money, murder to family so ther are "no survivors." They then leave the state and go down to mexico where they stay until they have no money. Dick and Perry return to the states to replenish their money and it is during this return trip that the are caught.

The Hijacking of Multiculturalism

The Hijacking of Multiculturalism

When is Barack Obama going to play the race card? “The Toronto Star” published an article on March 8 entitled, "In U.S. politics, race card remains in vogue,” stating, “’the race card’ could still be played.” It claims that racism is part of the American “cultural and historical furniture.” Is multiculturalism defined by such racism and polarized thinking? When Obama’s parents married in 1960, there were still 22 states banning interracial marriages. Then, in 1967, the Supreme Court abolished all “race hygiene” laws. The concept of “race hygiene” is, in essence, the opposite of multiculturalism. There is problem with using the word “multicultural” to describe people of “many different skin colors”, not people of “many different cultures.” When skin color becomes the focal point the concept of multiculturalism has narrowed and become improperly defined by only one aspect: physical appearance.

Frankly I’m impressed Obama hasn’t “played the race card” since media articles are speculating and seem to be using it already . He is focused on appearing Presidential, not on being multicultural. Why does the media try to make it about race? John McCain has a culture but we don’t talk about his culture because he’s an elderly white male.
The United States has been considered the “melting pot” of different cultures for centuries. Yet the KKK, the black panthers, the Black Muslim movement, white supremacists and like groups all advocated for, and still argue for, “racial hygiene” during this same period of multicultural growth in America. There is no shortage of special interest groups that continue to work to hijack the multicultural philosophy that our country was founded on.

Look at the people around you and you will find that just about everyone is “multicultural.” No, not everyone is a mix of different colored skin, but the multitude of the United States population is not 100% of any culture. Being a “pure-bred” is rare in today’s society. In my circle of friends, being a “pure-bred” is neither a blessing nor a curse. I live and socialize in a multicultural setting every day. I find this is not about race and color. It is about their heritage, customs, and family behavior.

I look at myself and see a rich mixture of Dutch, British, Irish, and Scottish customs and family histories. All are European countries, but all have different cultures. So I am multicultural, but that’s not how society views me. To society I am a member of the white majority. Defined as a piece of white bread; I am “bland” by today’s expectation of what multicultural means. I do not have different races in my blood but why is this considered to be an absence of “culture”? Simply put, I believe myself to be multicultural.

In an article titled, “Multicultural backlash,” Rukhsana Khan makes the claim, “Others say that the term ‘multicultural’ is misleading because it is actually used to refer to other cultures in particular to ‘non-white’ cultures and yet each of us comes from a culture.” His point that minority pride is mistaken for multiculturalism is a valid one. We should resist making this mistake.

I made this mistake with a person that looked like me even though I believed I had nothing in common with him. During my sophomore year, my family hosted a foreign exchange student, Henning, from Germany. Exchanging cultural views with him was an extreme eye-opener as he expressed cultural pride every day. He felt proud and superior in America because he was German. It was offensive and I told him so. Did I do this subconsciously as well? Is that why it bothered me so much?

At the beginning of the year Henning and I did not get along. In his view products made in the United States were poor quality and products made in Germany were high quality. This extended to people and sports as well. The outfits he wore were polo shirts, a sweater tied around his neck, and expensive jeans and shoes. He dressed the way he did because he was trained to dress formally for school. Initially he resisted American culture and was uncomfortable in the sweatshirt and jean “combo” that is typical of general population for American teens. Henning expressed his national pride without hesitation.

I didn’t always enjoy Henning’s demeanor but I later respected his cultural dignity. The experience taught me to be more receptive to multiculturalism. What I thought was arrogance I gradually understood to be cultural pride. In my circle of friends I can identify Korean, Turkish, Indian, Egyptian, Japanese, Peruvian, and African American cultures. Henning has made me appreciate these rich cultures as well. It’s about accepting people for their race and culture.

Video

We have one excellent example of multicultural success center in our backyard: the neighborhood of Ballard. Seattle.net posted an article about Ballard’s amazing ability to embrace multiculturalism. The article says:


“Once the domain of Norwegian and Swedish fisherman, Ballard is an increasingly desirable place to live, shop, and experience the [multicultural] music scene and nightlife. This is not to say Ballard has lost its identity. Seattle still has a fishing fleet (located across Salmon Bay at Fisherman’s Terminal) and plenty of Norwegian speaking codgers hanging around coffee shops eager to tell you about the good old days. The Locks are a popular day destination, as is the Nordic Heritage Museum. Ballard is changing, but it has a pretty big reservoir of character.”

Ballard has managed to use its reservoir to benefit from multiculturalism showing the positive effects of accepting many cultures. But, all of this effort could be wasted if the issue is defined skin color and minority pride. It would also be wasted if Ballard became exclusive in favor of only Nordic Heritage.

Even here in and around Shoreline, there are cultural events going virtually unnoticed. From the time I was 1 year old until I was 8 years old, every May 17th I would plant myself with my family on the curb, or rest on the shoulders of my dad, on Greenwood Ave and watch the Norwegian Independence Day Parade , even though we do not hail from the fjords of Norway. The parade itself was multicultural because there were Filipino, Chinese, and Latino community girl drill teams. But, I myself did not remember this cultural experience until my father reminded me of it. In all the efforts made to raise awareness for minority ethnic groups, we could lose the cultures of European nations, which add to the multicultural society we live in. Thankfully all these cultures continue to march and celebrate together each May.

The word multicultural can be abused so easily. It often suffers from a deviation towards referring to minority cultures and not on the wide birth of cultures both of ethnic minority and European majority nations.

If Obama plays “the race card,” multiculturalism will be hijacked by his campaign and the media will celebrate this. It will suffer a blow because we will not be talking about Presidential qualities anymore. We will be talking about race and it will divide people. People will vote on color not on context, further dividing us into exclusion from other cultures. Multiculturalism will be diminished by those seeking to define it as racial pride and preference. We will be once again fighting “racial hygiene” as we saw in the 1960s.

me talk and kitchen

HW: Read “Me Talk Pretty One Day” and “Lost in the Kitchen” in 50 essays. Analyze them for humor. How do the authors use specific details, hyperbole, and writing style to make you laugh (or at least smile?) Write a short blog post analyzing their styles of humor.
Me talk pretty ones day uses extreme humor in her interpretation of what the teacher is sayign in frech. SHe uses made up word spellings to show how she doesn' understandthe language. "Well you should ave been vkjsd more lsdkcds." The teacher says this to a girl in the class in france, but she only heard jibberish because she didn't understand what was being aid. That made me smile. I can relate because soemtimes when i hear a foreign language that is exactly what it osunds like to me.
Lost in kitchen uses exaggeraed truth that makes me smile. "but there is a famous law of physics that goes, 'you cannot watch small cildren and the detroit lions at the same time, and let's face it, the detroit lions are more interesting." Clearly there isn't a physics law taht says this, but it is amusing to think what it would be if men truly had a law for this. He makes use of stereoptypes ina funny way without trying to to belittle anyone. It appears that he is demeanign men more than omen for not helping out in the kitchen, so it seems to balance out He kind of pokes fun of himself.

Rasselas

1 In the beginning of the selection, what complaint does Rassalas have against his sister’s method of argumentation?
He complains that she exaggerates only on the dark events that rarely happen like a car fire
2 Summarize the 2nd paragraph. Why is “calamity” not so bad?
OFten dreading omething is wrose than the acual event. We can be so fearful and anxious for something to happen that when it does, it doesn't eem all that bad. And life will go on, so it's important to keep ploughing forward.
3 Why does Rasselas believe that “marriage is one of the means of happiness?” What is his sister’s response?
Rasselas believes that marriage is dictated by nature and that men and women were made fr each other. HIs sister, however feels different. She sees how opposite some people are and how they argue and she doesn't feel taht marriage is so wonderful.
4 Summarize the 6th paragraph.
Rasselas is bringing up the point that his sister said that being celebate is a fate worse than marriage. So because she doesn't want to mary ut also doesn't want to remain celibate, these two opinions collide and cancel out, makign so that her mind can be clear to hear the "truth" whatever that may be.
5 The Princess’s response (“To the mind, as to the eye, it is difficult to compare with exactness objects vast…:”) is pretty complicated. What is the philosophical point she’s trying to make?
She is trying to make the point that whn we take in the whole picture of something not jsut look at it in sections, it is easier to let our opinions not show. So how her brother looks at marriage and how she looks at marriage are totally different, but if they step back and take look at marriage as a whole, things opinions won't matter.
6 What argument do the two have about marriage? What good does Rasselas see in it and what evil does his sister see?
Rasselas thinks that marriage is sacred by nature because men and women are made for each other. But, his sister believes that men and women are too different and too violent to be married. She doesn't like the arguing and passionate rage that comes with marriage. She sees evil in the arguing and how people are too afraid not to be married.
7 What rhetorical strategies do you see employed by both speakers? Be specific.
I think both speakers use logos. They are bringing up logical situations where marriage is good and where it is bad. Specifically i think there is parallelism in sentence structure used. "While Courts are disturbed with intestine competitions and ambassadors are negotiating in foreign countries" Noun verb, description. the syntax flow is very important to both speakers

In Cold Blood (outside reading book)

I have observed quite a lot about Capotes writing in, In Cold Blood thus far through the novel. Capote's writing is very distinctive in the way he uses description. Capote paints such a clear picture with not only the landscaping, but also the actions of people. He goes into such tiny details to how the eople thought, like hoe Mr. Cluter liked "apple eating weather" and how Mr. Clutter felt about Kansas being perfect if there hwas just an inch more of rain.
I do wonder how he managed to paint such detail of each family members final day(s), however, since they clearly cold not be interviewed. I think it is possible that he used some fiction , especially for Mrs. Clutter. She was so reclusive that it seems impossible to have reconstructed her last day factually.
THe book is well written with respect to detail if not just a bit over detailed in some spots. ther are times when the details become overwhelming and no longer do i have a clear picture in my head, but i am falling asleep. But, regardless of my opinion, i find the book fascinating to read thus far and will continue to!

The Truth About Beauty

Read The Truth about Beauty and analyze it as a definition essay. 250 word blog post. How does she define the word? What claim is she making? What examples does she use to back it up? Is she right? Explain.

The author is defining the word "Beautiful" as Dove does: That it is in everyone, people just need to recognize it. “Every girl deserves to feel good about herself and see how beautiful she really is.” But in addition to this, she claims that most women don't describe themselves as beautifulfor the same reason smart people don't describe themselves as geniuses: they don' feel they qualify. The author uses dove's campaign for the "regular woman" to back her claim. Dove made advertisements that stressed the unrealistic beauty of billboard models. They did this by showing how an "average" woman cbecoemes billboard flawless through touch-ups and heavy make-up. but, she also uses an example of a woman philosopher who would pay any amount of money to gain 15 points to her already above average IQ, not for plastic surgery or hair dye. This example showed now that the woman thought of herself as flawed, jsut that she wihed she had more. I do think she's right. I know very few girls who would consider themselves beautiful, whether out of low self-esteem or humbleness.