Writing

When Richard is told to pray by his grandmother, he instead decides to write about an Indian girl. Writing gratifies Richard because it is his way of making sense of the world. He created something that is his own, that no can take away, no matter how it was made. He created something that is tangible in the world even if it is nothing, and that is what empowers him in all the meaningless. Even more so, when he goes to show it to the girl next door, she doesn't understand. That affirms his place above someone else and her inability to grasp what he has done makes him gratified. He now has a relationship between writing and expressing himself.

Nothing Can Be Done

When Wright’s mother goes through paralysis, he is very timid to see her in pain. The thought of her not being there for him, as she was the only real person to always be in his life, is very frightening. It is also very scary for him because she is usually very strong person and he is now seeing an entirely new side of her – one he doesn’t want to see. Even more so, Wright associates pain with hunger, and for that to translate into his mother is not a good combination.

However, Wright is forced to grow up after his mother’s illness hits. He writes his grandmother a letter for help and also asks for money from his aunts and uncles. Wright doesn’t like the loneliness he is experiencing and feels as though he has been thrown out into the real world, having to take on a new length of responsibility.

After his mother’s 2nd stroke, “Her illness gradually became an accepted thing in the house, something that could not be stopped or helped” (Wright, p.100). Everything begins to come together in Wright’s mind, realizing that like the racial roles, nothing can be done about them either.

Playing the Role and Picking the Fights

In chapter 2, Wright is exposed through church that Jews killed Jesus and that they are evil. This concept is furthered while he lives with his religious grandmother; she enforces her prejudices and teachings on him. Eventually it is socially engrained into Wright’s head that Jews are bad people through the people the hangs out and by repeating the rhymes the other black kids shout at Jewish people. We “began to play our traditional racial roles as though we had been born to them, as though it was in our blood, as though we were being guided by instinct” (Wright, p.84). He is learning the behaviors [about hating Jews] through the way people interact with each other. Wright says it is his “cultural heritage” to hate Jews and plays into the racial role. He is doing what is expected of a black boy and is picking the fights.

Hunger

Richard Wright is physically and emotionally hungry in this book. Physically hungry because his family is so poor they can’t afford to buy food. But when Wright talks about his hunger in the first chapter, he is associating hunger with his father leaving him. His father was the provider for his family, and now that he has left, his mother has to get a job of her own. Wright resents his dad and has constant hunger because of it.

I’m really interesting in find out what exactly Wright is hungry for. He seems to be hungry for attention and to be noticed, but I think there is something more to that.

The Need for Education

Gatto has some very good observations about school systems. He believes that education is not working because for one, the students and the teachers are bored! You can’t expect to learn from someone who isn’t interested in a subject. I definitely agree in his point that we should be taking an education, not receiving schooling. Gatto also makes the observation that we really don’t need school to perform our best. I’m not sure I entirely agree with that, even though he backs up his point with political figures. Sure they are good citizens and good people, but in today’s world, people need some help. (Although some people that have gone to school and are political figures need some help too cough cough George W. Bush)

I think school helps push people to the next level in getting them to think outside of the box. I know if I didn’t go to school, I would never have thought to push topics such as this or the rhetoric in advertising. I do think though that we go to school for too long. Five times a week, 7 periods of focusing for 45 minutes, break, focus, break… it gets a little intense, private schooling or not. I mean take a look at a college schedule. Students don’t have class after class after class everyday and they even enjoy what they’re doing.

So I think that we definitely need schooling of some sort and not just completely cut it out. I would say that school systems just need some redefining to them.

Nonacademic Education

Looking at my course load right now, I would say that I value what I learn in our English and government class the most because I’m actually applying what I’ve learned from class and using it in the real world. I definitely value nonacademic education for that reason.

I wish that more of my classes taught less academically because I think that sometimes teachers get caught up with what is going to be on a test or what they have to get through for that year, that they skip out on the lesson of how it applies to us. I, personally, don’t value many of the classes I’m taking because I don’t see how it will affect me in the long term. And while that seems a bit… selfish… how I am suppose to take anything away from learning about polynomials or the Farmer’s Alliance? What does that have to do with the real world?

Like okay, take for example the differences between my history class and my government class. Both have to do with how our country runs and how it came about, but my government class (in the whole week or so I’ve been taking it) is already is being used in my life. In my history class we learned about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights but now in my government class we actually have to memorize the first 10 amendments. I think that is a great idea because, hey, we’re living in America and we really should know what our rights are! I think that if we had had to learn about what impacts our daily lives or how things came out, instead of having to memorize who Sitting Bull was, that would have been a lot more effective.

Maybe I’m totally off in that last paragraph but what I am trying to get across is that nonacademic is valued because it translates over in the real world and stays with us.

You know, when I talk to my dad about our school, he says that he likes University because it teaches us to think- it challenges us to think critically and outside of the box. I’m questioning what is presented and not just letting it go in one ear and out the other. I value nonacademic education because it allows me to do just that. I’m experiencing new things and applying how to view things in different ways. I’m not simply memorizing a lesson from a book; I’m learning from who and what I’m around and what is presented to me.

Rhetoric on the Town Take 2

So this is the second post in response to the blogs! Get excited. Oh and by the way, it’s Valentine’s Day – just in case you didn’t know.

And in spirit of the Hallmark Day of love, I’m going to post about Mallory’s presentation! I loved that she talked about the differences between Victoria Secret and Gap Body. The two are selling the same kind of products but Victoria Secret’s products are a LOT more sexed up.

Victoria Secret tries, successfully, to represent the feeling of sexy with provocative advertisements. One thing I didn’t really notice before was why they only use red tones and black. It makes sense that they use those colors to represent sex and being “naughty”. GapBody on the other hand is all about being comfortable, while looking good. They use a lot of white in their campaigns, which represents innocence. I think what is the most interesting about the two stores was that they take opposite routes in selling similar products are both successful. I think if Gap started to do raunchy things with their mannequins in the windows of their stores, the company’s reputation would be ruined. They have to keep their innocence because they have other stores like GapKids and the GapBaby.

Rhetoric on the Town Take 1

After missing class on Tuesday, I only got to see one day of the presentations for Rhetoric on the Town but never the less the presentations were great! I was expecting them to be a bit more formal, though I thought having them be presented informally made everyone a lot less stressed about presenting.

Ethan’s presentation really made me laugh because well… the thought that he had never really seen a woman eat a hamburger seems bizarre to me! (And that it was unattractive to him!). Getting past that though, I thought what Ethan had to say about rhetoric in the Fashion Mall was straight on and I never really thought about it in the way he had before. The Fashion Mall has narrow hallways because the people that go there aren’t looking to shop with crowds. Also the fact that they bring in nature with the trees and the windows on the ceiling makes the space more open and inviting. The type of people who are going to that mall are more up scale and have particular tastes, hence why you don’t see for example, the Hat Shop or Build a Bear there.

Good job everyone!

Zoom Zoom

I thought the commercials today were great and I was pretty impressed by how well our class did! Every group was very creative in getting their product across by using what-the-hell was that, crazy, out there salesmen, simply showing how the product drives, or setting up scenarios in which the product would be needed.

I thought Nick M, Elise, R.J, and Liz’s commercial of the Crossfire, er… well now I can’t remember what they advertised what the car was, sorry, was done the most professional and resembled a commercial the most. In the beginning Nick and Liz were in Nick’s pick up truck that was obviously struggling and they were in amazement when they saw the really pretty and shiny car zip by. I thought that was a smart move because it showed worst and best type cars. For the rest of the commercial we saw various camera angles of the car winding down a road. That really is how car commercials are. I think it would have been cool to add some sort of voice that said, “zoom zoom” or something of the sort to spice up the commercial.

Good job everybody!

Justin Timberlake and Pepsi

Okay so I did my blogs a little backwards and now I’m going to post about the Sunday Superbowl ads.

One ad that stood out in my mind was for Pepsi Stuff with Justin Timberlake. I enjoyed it and thought it worked because it involved a celebrity doing something embarrassing and funny. It was full of crazy, wild stunts that Justin actually did himself.

The whole concept was a girl sipping on a Pepsi and Justin was “magnetically attracted” to her from across town. Justin gets pulled out of Southern Comfort and is dragged up the side of building where SNL’s Any Samberg makes an awkward and humorous appearance dressed up as a girl. He then gets thrown into a river and is pulled into the suburbs, where he runs into Cowboys Tony Romo, runs straddle-style into a mailbox (several times), and finally gets hit in the back of the head with a flat screen TV.

Basically the concept came down to every sip you take gets you closer. That could be seen as a little disturbing with the sucking of a Pepsi gets Justin Timberlake closer to you. I didn’t think of it like that though, so I don’t think it would be a big deal.

What I found really interesting was the amount of product placement in this ad, all at the same time. You have Justin Timberlake himself, Southern Comfort (which happens to be JT’s new restaurant), Pepsi, and AmazonMP3’s. I thought that distracted away from the main product, Pepsi. But hey getting an ad during the Superbowl is pretty expensive, so you have get some help from other products to cover the cost.

Pottery Barn = <3

So I looked at the assignment sheet and it said that the environment post was for over the weekend… but the updated schedule says it is due tonight… guess that means I’m ahead? Or maybe I’m behind because it looks like everyone else posted about super bowl ads.

Bah, I’m going to post about the “Pottery Barn Style” article anyway.

For starters, I thought this article was pretty ironic because I just got my PB teen catalog in the mail today and the Pottery Barn catalog came a couple days ago. The article was pretty on target (no pun intended) when it mentioned the difference between their product and Target was the design and the “total-lifestyle” look to it. Pottery Barn offers a variety of classic pieces of furniture with special accessories to go with, which is what makes them successful.

I thought Pottery Barn’s requirements of the 5-point test to their lines were pretty innovative. The product has to look good, but not too cutting edge, or fashion forward that it can’t be a classic piece. The direction has to match with the rest of the home it will be placed into. It also has to feel good and be durable against the little monsters that will most likely be jumping or spilling things on it. When you look at PB’s catalog they have a variety of covers that can be placed over furniture so, in case it does get ruined, it can easily be fixed for an affordable price. The fifth test the product or line has to go against is if the people who designed the piece would buy it or give it to their best friend. I find that to be really smart because if you design something you aren’t going to buy, who will?

Pottery Barn does a great job in selling to an audience that wants pieces of a collection that can be intertwined with what’s already in their house at an affordable price. The products and lines they sell are going to last for a really long time, and that is what gets people more bang for their buck.

Setting the Stage

Ok so the blog assignment is to write about the way the environment of a store we go to often tries to influence us.

Well, my favorite store is the Buckle and they always have outfits, with matching jewelry, displayed along the walls and throughout the store. Obviously they are selling their new items right when you walk into the store. The Buckle also usually has an entire table in the front and back of the store devoted to clothes on sale.

Side note - I think I read somewhere that stores will strategically put women’s clothes on the left side of the store because that is where we look first. I’m not sure if that is actually true but the Buckle and Hollister follow that.

Another way the environment of a store tries to influence us is by the lighting and the music. I notice the lighting the most in dressing rooms, especially with Victoria Secret and Hollister. Victoria Secret’s dressing rooms have dimmed lighting along the bottom of the walls. I sure they do that because harsh lights are just not going to make you look your best, especially if you are trying on clothes/lingerie.

Music is also another factor in the environment that can either make you feel happy or sad. The store wants you to feel you’re best and probably have you subconsciously associate their clothing with that emotion.

It pretty much comes down to that the store’s environment is going to have a huge influence on whether or not you buy their clothes. They are going to set the stage – meaning putting new clothing in the front of the store, the sale tables with big signs, dimmed lighting, and feel-good music.