text in context

            The theme I will be analyzing is stay-at-home husbands vs. women in the workplace using Modern Family and I Love Lucy.

It is a common image in America, the father returns home to his family after a long day at work, only to greet his wife who is in the kitchen preparing dinner. Since America is viewed as progressive and a place of equality, we have attempted to distance ourselves from stereotypes such as this one, allowing women to enter the workplace and men to stay at home instead of “bringing home the bacon.” Although it may seem as if society is increasingly accepting of the role of stay-at-home husbands, there has been no change in displaying the stay-at-home parent on television programs within the last sixty years.

            In Modern Family, the dad is shown to be returning home from work while the mom is preparing dinner in the kitchen. Later when everyone is eating breakfast at the table, it is the mom who becomes frustrated with the fact that each person is engaged in their own electronic device. She is seen as having control in the house. The dad backs up his wife when she is upset but does not initiate the "no electronics for a week" rule. The mom snaps and uses a computer to book a flight, showing that women are mentally weaker than men.

            In I Love Lucy, there is a challenge between the two couples to see who can last in the others’ environment the longest. Lucy and Ethel go to work in a candy factory and can’t complete the simple task of putting wrappers on the candy. Ricky and Fred attempt to stay home and do “feminine” chores such as cleaning, cooking, and anything else Lucy and Ethel would take care of in the house. The end result is that neither the men nor the women can take the others’ place, and they call of the challenge and apologize to each other.

            The media unchangingly portrays women as the stay-at-home parent/wife, cooking, cleaning, etc., while men go to work to earn the family’s income.

Journal 6

I think the Humane Society commercial was extremely effective in its use of pathos to translate its message to the audience. The creators of the ad knew that many households in America have pets that they care for very much, so it was not hard for them to build an audience. The images may have been the most effective part of the ad. To any animal lover, a picture of a dog beaten and dirty will bring about sadness and empathy. The creators also used pictures of cats and other types of animals so as to reach out to a wider audience. The music also brought about many emotions when I saw the ad. It was depressing, slow music that went along with the images very well. This visual and audio combination was hard to turn away from. Personally, it made me want to help or adopt each animal I saw because i felt so bad. It makes you think about how fortunate you are to be where you are, and it makes me feel bad whenever I spend money on something that really isn't necessary at all. This ad is one of the most effective I saw in class because it touches on something nearly everyone hates (abused/mistreated animals), and it reaches out to many different people.

Journal 5

I enjoyed this text because architecture is very artsy, and any form of art captures my attention. It also deals with societal issues such as race and socio-economic classes. These issues will continue to occur as long as there are different races on Earth and until we convert to communism. It is my opinion that a democratically elected communist leader could do great things for a country as long as there are checks on the government. But I digress...

Personally, I love technology, but when it comes to reading with technology it gets on my nerves. Give me a good old paper-back book and I'll be fine, but hand me a kindle and I'd probably toss it. Its cool that you can store so many books on such a small device, but I feel like it takes something away from the writing. I didn't mind the hypertext too much except that I'd rather read off a sheet of paper than a computer screen. After staring at a screen for a while it makes my head feel weird. The links throughout the hypertext didn't really bother me. To be honest, I didn't even notice them until I read the syllabus. It kind of reminded me of the Jesus game on wikipedia. I thought the incorporation of pictures was very cool, though. As I said, art captivates my mind, so throwing in a picture to go with the text helps expand my thoughts on the work.

Although I don't normally like reading texts using technology, I think the hypertext was a little bit more effective than the WR version. The pictures are a good addition, and I like the links because they didn't distract me, but I can go back and look into the issues discussed in the text with more depth and gain more background knowledge about the whole piece.

Journal 4

I was gone for the CESL activity, so I'm writing a reaction to Eula Biss' "Letter To Mexico." I feel like the narrator really emphasized her disgust for Americans, and I didn't enjoy this story very much. Yes, inhabitants of other countries hold stereotypes of Americans, but this is no reason to feel sick with hatred for you own people. To me, this is extremely ignorant. You should be yourself and not let what others think of you shape you. I have been to several Central American countries, including Mexico, and I have found that the people there are very receptive as long as you are a nice person. A lot of their economy is based off tourism, so obviously they will be extra nice to you, but you can show you are different from the stereotypical traveler by not acting like a jackass.


One thing I didn't understand very well was the interjection about the word "frontera," meaning "border." The narrator says frontier, according to her dictionary, means "the extreme limit of understanding." I suppose she may be referencing her difficulty with the language barrier, as well as being an American among other stereotypical Americans. The narrator thinks of herself as "distinctly different from other white folks-more educated, more articulate, less crude," however, the indigenous people do not see these traits. According to the narrator, they label white folks as white folks and that's all there is to it. I think the last statement made by the narrator is quite ignorant and extremely arrogant, two qualities I make sure to avoid when making friends.


I can see where the author is coming form, feeling uncomfortable in a foreign country not knowing the language, but that's no excuse to hate on your country and your people. Yes, the government is fucked up in a lot of ways, but if you don't love America you should leave it. I interpreted this story as an insult to Americans, especially since most do not fit the stereotype that many outsiders view us as. To me, you should me accepting of all cultures and populations, and you may find that they will receive you kindly.

Persona Text

I started writing lyrics second semester of my junior year, probably because of my creative writing teacher. One of my friends, Weston, messed around with Reason, a beat producing program, and late senior year bought an MPC (musical production center). We made some very basic recordings in a closet in my basement over the summer just having fun with it. The persona text I have chosen to write about is a song I wrote while in Costa Rica. My friends and I have said the hip-hop we like to listen to is pretty much an MC bragging about themself using similes and metaphors, so that's kind of what this song is. It's not really about one thing in particular, but I do reference my writing/rapping, drug use, and basketball. I chose this text because it is my favorite piece I've written thus far.
I don't think this text is comparable with any of the texts we have read in class because it isn't a memoir like the others. The persona this text creates is a somewhat troubled MC who thinks highly of himself. It doesn't tell one story but tells several smaller stories. Hopefully it will work out well.

Journal 1

In second grade I met one of my best friends and my favorite person to play basketball with, no matter what Jake was always down to ball. We moved on through the years into middle school and played for our eighth grade team at Centennial Middle School. Toward the end of the school year the realization of high school was upon us as was the somewhat daunting idea of high school basketball. Until then, the game had never been too serious and we always had fun with it, always. My freshman team consisted of most of the kids I had been playing with for the past several years, as well as a few new faces. I'm not going to lie, we were awful. Our final record was 3-9, two of which we won legitimately. The third was awarded to us because one of our opponents players was ineligible when we played them so they were forced to forfeit. I can't deny that that was one of the most fun seasons of basketball I had ever played. Sophomore year we improved to .500, thanks to a better coach.

Now came JV basketball, and little more seriousness. Out went seven of my teammates and best friends. They quit for different reasons, some wanted to snowboard and some just didn't like the new head coach, so we had to pull kids up from lower teams. Jake and I were the only juniors left on the team, but at least I had him there. Oh wait, before the season started he broke his back doing a backflip on a trampoline. He miraculously returned halfway through the season but it was rough for him. We weren't having as much fun as the previous years due to the loss of many good players and friends. Jake and I spoke a lot and finally decided we would both quit about three quarters of the way through the season. It was the biggest decision either of us had made and like many other things we did it together. Instead of playing for a hardass coach we played pickup on the playgrounds and at the gym. I've never had so much fun. I think quitting basketball, as much as I hate to be a quitter, gave me a different perspective on the game. I learned to have fun with it rather than being so competitive all the time. It's still my life as you can see on my shoulder, I just enjoy it for the way it isolates me in a carefree world of jumpshots and layups, dropsteps and sidesteps.


I enjoyed reflecting on my life and basketball. Sometimes I regret quitting, but I'm reminded of the fun I have the next time I pick up a ball. Nothing in this memoir was fictionalized, I just had to adapt the story a little because I couldn't remember exact dates/ages/statistics. I didn't encounter too many problems when thinking of what to write about, basketball's easy for me. I tried not to use too much basketball lingo, but an example is when I said we go to ball, it just means playing basketball.