jkoberstein

[jkoberstein]

I depend on the song “The Boys are Back In Town,” by Thin Lizzy, because it reminds me throughout the fall and winter months that my group of friends, called the Westside 88’s, will eventually be back in town.  In my life, I depend on my main group of friends; we call ourselves the Westside 88’s.  This past year, many of the W88’s went away to college.  Many parts of Thin Lizzy’s song can be extended to reflect my life because just like Thin Lizzy was happy to see “those wild-eyed boys,” I am also happy when the Westside 88’s come home; this means that we are able to resume our competitions and many games that we play.  This song helps me pass time without the Westside 88’s but also get me excited to see the boys when they are back in town.  Music has the ability to bring hope to people in tough times or when things aren't going their way.

[jkoberstein]

Music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxHQUvCkV20&feature=youtu.be

The song That’s All Right, by Arthur Crudup, is considered to be one of the very first rock and roll songs ever.  This song influenced music for the next fifty years. Although most people haven't heard of this artist, he was the person who influenced Elvis Presely. Elvis Presely ended up having a huge impact on society.

[jkoberstein]

I found this really interesting that astronauts have to go through customs when the return home from the moon.  Why do they still have to go through customs even when everyone knows that the only thing they really could bring back is moon rock and dust?  The astronauts mission was to go to the moon and bring back moon rocks and dust.  Everyone already knew that they brought rocks and dust back to the US.

A copy of the Customs form filled out by the Apollo 11 astronauts after their return to Earth on July 24, 1969.

That’s right, astronauts go through customs.

[jkoberstein]

Tannen

In the concluding paragraphs of the essay, "There Is No Unmarked Women," Deborah Tannen makes the assertion that women are always marked for everything they do and they do not have the same freedom as men to be unmarked.  I disagree with Tannen's assertion that men are only marked if they choose to be and that men have the freedom to be unmarked.  Whatever men and women wear marks them.  The way all of these men are dressed says totally different things about them.  The bottom picture reveals that this man enjoys being comfortable and does not care about his appearance very much.  The top picture reveals that those men are more classy and care more about their appearance.  Tannen uses clothes as an example in her essay the same way I used these men's clothes as an example of different markings.  In Tannen's essay, she observes several different women and the different ways that they dressed.  The different ways that they dressed reveals to us, the audience, what the women's personalities were like.  The men in the picture also reveal to us what their personalities are like.  Both men and women do not have the freedom to be unmarked.  Everything that men and women wear will mark them.

[jkoberstein]

Stereotypes

I have recently been stereotyped because I take a lot of AP classes.  This person told me that I never have any fun, and because of all of my AP classes, the only thing I do is homework.  Just because I am in a lot of AP classes doesn't mean that the only thing I do is homework and never have any fun. 

[jkoberstein]

"I beheld the wretch - the miserable monster I had created." -Mary Shelly

This quote relates to Staples story because Frankenstein created a real monster and the woman made Staples the monster.  In my group, we talked about how the woman made Staples into a monster because she created her own fear.  It is not the woman's fault for making Staples the monster; society played a role in her making Staples a monster because society says that all big black men are monsters.  In the story, she didn't know that she was making him into a monster.  Her first reaction was to run away.  Most people would run away if they were in the same situation as her because society has created the stereotype that all big black men are monster. 

[jkoberstein]

Other Works (6/6)

http://www.prb.org/images2/SimulatedEffects.gif

http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2005/SurprisingSocialFactorsLinkedtoRacialandEthnicDisparitiesinYouthViolenceintheUS.aspx

The first link is a picture that shows the probability and reasons for youth violence and the bottom link is an article about youth violence.

[jkoberstein]

Other Works (5/6)

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/23/books/review/the-anatomy-of-violence-by-adrian-raine.html

This article is about the nature and science of violence.

[jkoberstein]

Other Works (4/6)

http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/24/the-impact-of-another-soldiers-death/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

This article is about how the impact of another soldiers death.  Because a soldier is this man's group died, it had a huge impact on his own family.

[jkoberstein]

"Once I found the strength to be myself, I had no need to act myself."

Sullivan is saying that when he was acting himself, he was being the person that society wanted him to be, not who he wanted to be.  If you are not being yourself and doing what you want, then you are acting.  This quote relates to Woolf because if women are not doing what they want, then they are acting.  If women do not want to but have to stay home and have their traditional role in society, then they would be acting because they are not doing what they want to do.  Once women get a job that they want, then they no longer have to act their personalities.  If someone is not doing what they truly want to, then they are acting.

[jkoberstein]

Reading the Work (5/5)

“The point man’s shots had entered the right side of his head.  Blood and brains spilled out of the side of his skull.  In his death throes, he was still twitching and convulsing.  Another assaulter and I trained our lasers on his chest and fired several more rounds.  The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless” (Owen 236).

At this point in my book, The Navy SEAL's just shot Osama bin Laden.  The author give a disturbing but accurate explanation of what happened to Osama bin Laden.  Owen seems to not be disturbed by these images that he describes right after bin Laden is shot; he just did his job and shot him a couple more times to make sure he was dead.  Since Owen, the author, has been on so many deployments, he has seen all of the horrible things about war.  As soon as bin Laden is dead, the SEAL's take pictures and do DNA tests to see if the man they killed is actually Osama bin Laden.  At the end, it turns out that this man that the SEAL's killed was Osama bin Laden.  When Owen returns home to the US, he said that his phone started blowing up because his friends and family wanted to find out if he was part of the bin Laden raid.  He says that he just ignored all the messages for a while; he just wants to go home and relax.

[jkoberstein]

Reading the Work (4/5)

“We all knew this was bigger than us and bigger than politics.  Maybe the officers and politicians would benefit, but that didn't make us want to do it any less.  That was always how things went.  Our reward was doing the job, and we wouldn't have it any other way” (Owen 193).

At this point in the book, the SEAL's are in Afghanistan waiting for the president to send them to go kill Osama bin Laden.  The author knew that other people would take credit for this mission if it succeeds, and if they kill Osama bin Laden.  The Navy SEAL's jobs are to execute the mission, not deal with politics, and the author knows this and this is what he wants.  The author says that he would rather be doing the job (going to war), than be involved in the politics.  Although, Owen says that this mission is bigger than politics; they were trying to find and kill the world's number one terrorist. 

[jkoberstein]

In the class discussion today, we talked about how angels are good and how phantoms are not good and haunt women.  I think that this phantom that haunts women is that if women become equal to men, then they might not have the traditional role (stay home mom) that women have to fall back on.  If there is a point when men and women are both equal at having jobs and staying at home, it might be harder for women to fall back on their traditional role.

Phantoms

The phantoms that Woolf is talking about in the last paragraph is still the angel.  ”..when there is nothing to prevent a woman from being a doctor, a lawyer, a civil servant—there are many phantoms and obstacles, as I believe looming in her way.”  Even when women are allowed to have any job they want, Woolf is saying that the angel is still pressuring women to have their traditional role of being in charge of the house.

[jkoberstein]

Phantoms

The phantoms that Woolf is talking about in the last paragraph is still the angel.  "..when there is nothing to prevent a woman from being a doctor, a lawyer, a civil servant--there are many phantoms and obstacles, as I believe looming in her way."  Even when women are allowed to have any job they want, Woolf is saying that the angel is still pressuring women to have their traditional role of being in charge of the house.

[jkoberstein]

Woolf

Would I vote for a woman for president?

I would vote for a woman for president only if I agreed with her political views, and also if she is qualified for the job.  If I believed that a woman was the best candidate to become president, I would vote for her. 

[jkoberstein]

Gender

The first and most obvious reason a woman can't be more like a man is because they physically can't. Women's bodies are constructed differently than men's bodies. Throughout history, women have had different roles than men in society. That's just the way it was. Women received these different roles because of the traits that women have and men do not. A woman can't be more like a man because traditionally, women have been different than men. It is hard to break tradition.

[jkoberstein]

Other Works (3/6)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJ12PN81xnI

This is an interview with former Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. He talks about his expierience of being at war.