Ammminals!

SANDY!

LUKE!

DRAGON!

Walking, Working

Ryan Larkin' short film Walking is a form of art because it incorporates dramatics, animation, and music into one piece and even without including any dialogue, a statement is made. As the person who was not clearly a man or a woman in the beginning walks along, diverse peoples are shown. Walking is used as a metaphor for the walks of life.

The short film does not defamiliarize the people within the artwork. The images used depict simple everday life of common people. It should not take the viewer any effort to see what is portrayed. The effort comes through associating what the images mean as a whole. This is not a difficult objective either, which is why the idea of combining artwork and film to show differences among the human race is moving--it's something we can all relate to and it easily makes a broad statement out of the piece.

I did not notice any images that I have seen before from famous works of art, so I do not detect any decontextualization in Larkin's film. The humans shown are in their natural conditions, which makes the film apealing in the first place. They're people we can relate to; these people from the outside perspective aren't out of place.

Walking away from viewing Walking, the viewer is supposed to relect on the humans of the American scene. The viewer realizes how much of society we really encounter as each of us goes about our daily lives.

I'm sitting here at work in the computer center at the Oak Lawn Public Library and the group of people in here reminds me of Walking. There are the regulars, the young, the old, the males, the females, an African-American woman, a Middle-Eastern teenager, the patrons I've never seen before... Even when I'm doing my usual job here at the library in the reference/non-fiction department, working at the library is a place where diversity comes together because from time to time all kinds of differnt people head to the library in search of informational materials.

Commercials, Woot!

Excuse me. I don't watch television, so I am a bit unfamiliar with commercials. It took forever to find these!

Suspenseful, semi-dramatic:
'80s Children's Tylenol Commercial

Because it's fun:
Garmin Commercial

A dozen eggs, milk, strawberry jam, and Oreos don't cut it

What is literature?

I was originally thinking that literature is like science. When science is mentioned, one wonders What kind of science? Chemistry? Biology? Library science?

Literature can be divided similarly. All types of literature can even be divided further--like science. Fiction, romance, westerns. Chemistry, organic chemistry.

What is it that constitutes literature in the first place? My final answer is that anything written with effort that is published in book or pamphlet form is literature, including musical publication, that can be seen and distributed to more than one person. A shopping list is not literature even if some thought went into finding what normal contents of the fridge are missing and needed and shared or distributed to others. That is just jotting down random thoughts so you don't forget because there are words to be associated with things.

From What is Literature

As Terry Eagleton points out, "we can drop once and for all the illusion that the category 'literature' is objective in the sense of being eternally given and immutable" (10). He goes on to say that our opinions and value-judgments are not neutral either, that "the ways in which what we say and believe connects with the power-structure and power-relations of the society we live in" (14). In other words, your opinions about literature are not just your opinions. They are related to how and where you were raised and educated.

Importantly, our environment encourages us to accept certain values, opinions, groups, etc. with which much literature is associated. I feel that the "acceptable" scholastic literary materials are mostly written accounts mirroring the ideas of the general higher interest. Therefore, how we define literature reveals what we have been taught to value and what we have been taught to reject based on the views and background of the people in charge of planning curriculums.

J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel Cathcher in the Rye probably would not have been considered literature suitable for schoolwork in the 20s. Scholars eventually came to relate to the novel, making it suitable scholastic literature. Someday in the future J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books might be alongside Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Our views and values will change.

Still, whether or not Raising Your New Puppy pamphlets or Gregory Maguire's Wicked make it to the "classics," the fact that they are published, distributed, and organized writings make them literature.

Useless Information

I just unwrapped one of those painfully shiny Dove chocolate hearts, and the underside of the wrapper said:

Trust with your heart, not with your head.

Now that is really, really bad advice. You will crumble to pieces and you could destroy your life if you do that. Never listen to chocolate--ever.

To B or not to B.

Are grades a form of operant conditioning?

Much like faith, not all people appreciate the hidden values of education, but that is not to say that all straight-A scholars are religious. Education--knowledge--is regarded with a higher level than it is to others where receiving an A or a D for a grade does not make much difference to the student.

From experience most of the students who respond to positive reinforcement for high grades were both apt and self-motivated to receive the marks in the first place. What positive reinforcement does for these students is insure them that their ability and aptitude is acceptable. Most of the time the reinforcement comes from the student his/herself. He/she decides that and A or B is good or that a B or C is unacceptable. The student then takes the initiative to make changes on his/her own.

The struggling student who continues to be reprimanded for their performance chooses to either improve or not make changes. Many times, a number of factors can come into play: family life and relations, self-esteem, what is valued to the individual, substance use, etc. It is generally true that these types of issues prevent academic success--or the will to achieve knowledge.

The fact that a D-student does not have an A does not mean he did not learn. Maybe he does not put in as much effort or just does not care about the letter grade. This is where the student loses to the outside world, but does that mean the student has lost? No. The knowledge gained still exists in the mind of the student, whether it be the whole curriculum or a smattering of material.

An A-student does not make a great person and a C-student does not constitute the common man. Not everyone is dedicated or motivated in the same way as everyone else.The cashier with a high school diploma and the doctor with an MD each have their part in society, and once some one is out in the world, their academic past does not necessarily haunt them. We cannot blame or depend on anything or anyone but ourselves for our academic performance.

What are the ethical implications?

The major ethical implications of a grading system in school are stigma and unequal opportunities.

Stigma: For the student who habitually receives D's, F's, and the occasional C, he/she is likely to be regarded as stupid. In schools, teachers who are aware of this pattern are likely to put little effort in to helping the student--regardless of what factors play a role in this trend.

Society often adheres to the fallacy that better students are better people. One's academic performance can define a person: the valedictorian, the drop-out.

Unequal Opportunities: Regarding scholarships, good students who are not in the top 10%, or bright students who are below-average to average students, do not receive equal opportunities. Scholarships are reserved for students who meet some sort of outstanding criteria, while everyone else may be left with out the means to help finance a higher education even if they are just as perceptive or motivated as the straight-A student.

At Moraine Valley, honors students got to register for classes first. The highest achieving students in life always seem to be offered more ways to get ahead. While this is a nice, and maybe well-deserved incentive, it is not always necessarily fair, especially for the students at the border line and the students who strive for their "lesser"successes.

What motivates you?

Schoolwork, housework, hobbies, books, etc.--everything becomes part of these lists I make. However much it may appear that I enjoy forming these lists, I enjoy more than anything to have crossed something off the increasingly lengthy to-do lists.

I would say that I have always been self-motivated. My younger sister is not a "very good student" who receives mostly C's and often a D or two. She has even gotten an F a few times. While my parents wish for her grades to be better, they do not treat her differently strictly because of her grades. I can tell that if there were some kind of reward for getting an A, it would not make a difference to her either.

My self-motivation must be a born trait. I cannot seem to analyze myself to where I can find the source of my need to succeed. A lot of times I realize that schoolwork really is not that difficult if you just do it. I do work for the A, the grade I want, and a B is not a good sign to me. While the occasional B is usually acceptable to me, a C is not good news. If I did not put in any effort, then I would have to deal with that grade. Since I put in the effort for the A, I look forward to the A. Here is where I suppose I can say that I am motivated because the resultant grades tell me if my methods of functioning are still working properly.

Condiment Complication

Though the time of promoting equality and embracing diversity is near, today it was confirmed to me that not all ranch dressings are created equal.