After reading this, I am so angry. Throughout this article is it just showing how far White Male Privilege will get you in America. Being narcissistic is alright if you are a white male man living in America, but if you are
A women
black
a black woman
a feminist
any race other than white
identify as a women
are gay
are lesbian
are not straight
are pro-choice
anything but a cis white male man
you are basically screwed. By being you and having self-confidence makes you a terrible person and you are why all generations suck. I honestly think that the white male men who wrote the articles mentioned in the chapter we read, as well as those in charge of the country just felt threatened that they possible weren't the most important human in the universe and wanted to put others down. They are just bullies and it sickens me that we still have this going on. Look at what's going on in Ferguson, people feel sorry for the officer who wrongly shot Michael Brown and let him still remain on the force with no punishments. Feminism is called the "f word" making it sound inappropriate and something dirty. People are still racist and it just angers me so. What is wrong with anyone who isn't a white male straight man? Apparently everything.
There has been a lot of harsh feedback from those older than me claiming my generation is "the laziest generation." I would like to say that this statement is not true. Comparing myself to my grandparents, this past Friday was my grandparents sixty-first wedding anniversary. I was the same age as my grandmother 61 years ago on Friday and she had gotten married by then. By the year after they were married, they had their first daughter. Already my grandmother was 19 and decided not to go to college, since that wasn't the norm for girls to do. She has her high school diploma and now was a mother. I am not saying having a family is being lazy or slacking off, but my generation is waiting longer to get married and start a family, showing that we put careers first compared to what my grandparents had thought. Getting a job and into college is harder but my generation has prevailed and not just slacked off. Catherine Rampell who wrote "A Generation of Slackers? Not So Much," does have similar views to Joel Stein saying that Millennials are narcissistic, impatient, and lazy, but they both refute it. It seems to me that Rampell does a better job at doing this by providing facts while Stein's satire did go right over my head the first time I read it. Both articles are enjoyable but Rampell's article made me feel as she was more effective than Stein.
If the phrase “overprotective parents” was in the dictionary, you
would see a picture of my parents there. They are having a very hard time with
me being away from school and did not like the distance I was putting between
them. My parents set ground rules for me while at college.
Rules For Rachel While At College
·Must call or text them
every day
·Carry pepper spray with
me at all times
·Never walk alone at
night
·Let them know of all of
my plans in advance
·Tweet my whereabouts so
they can check my twitter compulsively
·Don’t have fun
·Don’t learn to be
independent
My mother is very offended when I don’t talk
with her every day and feels that I talk with my sister and my father more than
I talk with her. I do not intend to do anything like that but she does work
making it harder for me to talk to her. She also limited what I could and could
not do when I was in high school. If I ever wanted to hang out with anyone she
needed to know who would be there, what time we would get there and leave,
where would we be, what exactly would we do, and the list went on and on.
Now my mother didn’t have to do this when she
was a child, being the last of six she was the baby of the family and could do
what she wanted. She even was allowed to get on a plane by herself at the age
of sixteen and fly to Arizona to visit a friend of hers. This past summer I had
the opportunity to visit my cousin in Chicago alone and was not allowed to go
because “it’s a different world now.” That phrase seems to be uttered all the
time from my parents. The world is so
different from what they grew up in and they can’t accept that the world will
always be changing and evolving. For them,
their world was a lot safer. There wasn’t the threat of terrorist attacks on
every corner and it was more carefree. There are more worries in today’s world,
despite it being safer than the world she grew up in, according to Hanna
Rosin’s article The Overprotected Kid. What my grandmother had to worry about
was making sure everyone was home for dinner while my parents worried about me
getting picked up by a stranger to help them find their puppy.
Parents
are more overprotective because of the recent fear of terrorist
attacks. With the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11 having just passed, the
comparisons of what the world used to be and what it is now are extremely
different. Following 9/11 there have been so many school shootings with Columbine being the one that sticks out most in my mind. As a parent, there is that fear that something like that could
happen again and you just want to protect your kids. There's the fear that tragedy could strike and you can't help your child get out of it and save them. I understand that. At the
same time, your kids do need to learn to be independent and not go running to
mommy with every problem they have. Being the oldest child, I think it’s hard
for them to accept that I am no longer their little girl and am on my way to
becoming an adult all on my own. They have shaped me the best they can and now
need to learn it’s time for me to mature on my own. So for this I have decided
to take my parents to court (not really)
Their parenting styles now are considered the
norm, but in Hanna Rosin’s article “The Overprotective Kid” is quoted:
“Actions that would have
been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school,
forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your
child in your lap—are now routine. In fact, they are the markers of good,
responsible parenting.”
We have to understand that there are different
concerns now in this world but there needs to be a line drawn somewhere. There
is also a double standard for women in this world. Just because I am a girl
that makes me weaker and defenseless against any attacker, even though that is not true. I have on my keys pepper spray and a rape whistle just in case
anything happens on campus. The media perpetuates that I being a girl cannot
take care of myself with news stories like Steubenville, hearing of school
shootings- I live about a half hour from Sandy Hook, and seeing girls being
raped in television shows such as Veronica Mars. The show was on the air from 2004-2007 on CW/the WB and addresses very real issues. (Veronica Mars is the best TV
show of all time and you all should watch it.)
The thing that bothers me,
especially in the Steubenville case, is that no one did anything. So many people witnessed this occurring and just used their phones and posted it on social media. It irks me so much that this was fine and the boys involved with this had their football careers ruined. I am very
aware of the issues that are occurring in today’s world and realize women are
treated less for being a woman. I am a feminist and I long to see a day where
we can be treated equally to men and defy the social norms that girls have to
be protected. Human beings need to be protected; women do not need to be
singled out just for being women.
Feminists aren't man haters, they want equality for all. Queen B supports it and you should too!
After ranting about how overprotective my
parents are, it may surprise you to know that I don’t hate my parents. I
actually get along with them very well. We tend to like the same music and I
don’t yell at them at all, compared to my little sister. Yes they are
overprotective but I really feel badly for my sister, as they probably will be
worse on her. I know that already they are talking about me and what they think
I could be doing right now and etc. I admire my parents, especially my mom for being the leader of our family and getting shit done. I don’t think my parents know they need to
balance their overprotectiveness in accordance to their letting me mature.
Hopefully they’ll find a balance soon and I can start to deal with my own
issues, like blowing the fuse in my dorm room. I don't know what it's like to be independent.
I don’t want to call my parents all the time but I do because it's weird for me
to go a day without talking to them. I've already called my dad today to thank
him for the Mallomars that came in a care package. My parents are great
although they are overbearing. It's nice they know me so well but I want to be
able to mature on my own. That being said, I am currently looking at how to get
home this weekend... isn't it ironic?
What is rhetoric? How does one rhetorically think and write? This is an important thing to understand as a writer. I define rhetoric as how one persuasively writes to convey their point across. They consider their audience and the statement they are trying to make in a way that won't offend anyone and won't make one sound all high and mighty. When speaking or writing rhetorically, doing your homework is essential and this way you won't be misinformed on what you are talking about. You do your research and analyze it in an effective manner. Your situation is important, and you have to understand who you are writing for and how you will say it. Considering context, genre, stance, medium, design, etc. You aren't writing for yourself but for others. Watson and Crick took this into consideration when talking about their discovery with DNA and used ethos, building their character, to have their audience trust them. You have to do your research so you don't offend anyone and also to make sure you are well informed. You do your homework on what schools you want to attend when applying to college. You don't just pick one at random and write a check for it. Writing rhetorically is important for writers because it helps them become a better writer being more well rounded.
If the phrase “overprotective parents” was in
the dictionary, you would see a picture of my parents there. They are having a
very hard time with me being away from school and did not like the distance I
was putting between them. My parents set ground rules for me while at school,
that I must call or text them every day and it now feels like we are talking
more here than we did at home. In particular my mother is very offended when I
don’t talk with her every day and feels that I talk with my sister and my father
more than I talk with her. I do not intend to do anything like that but she
does work making it harder for me to talk to her. She also limited what I could
and could not do when I was in high school. If I ever wanted to hang out with
anyone she needed to know who would be there, what time we would get there and
leave, where would we be, what exactly would we do, and the list went on and
on.
Now my mother didn’t have to do this when she
was a child, being the last of six she was the baby of the family and could do
what she wanted. She even was allowed to get on a plane by herself at the age
of sixteen and fly to Arizona to visit a friend of hers. This past summer I had
the opportunity to visit my cousin in Chicago alone and was not allowed to go
because “it’s a different world now.” That phrase seems to be uttered all the
time from my parents. The world is so
different from what they grew up in and they can’t accept that the world will
always be changing and evolving. It's not
fair that they lived in a different world and with them constantly breathing
down my neck, I don't know what it's like to be independent. I don’t want to
call my parents all the time but I do because it's weird for me to go a day
without talking to them. I've already called my dad today to thank him for the
Mallomars that came in a care package. My parents are great although they are
overbearing. It's nice they know me so well but I want to be able to mature on
my own. That being said, I am currently looking at how to get home this
weekend... isn't it ironic?
I feel as though a huge reason why more parents
are overprotective would have to be because of the recent fear of terrorist
attacks. With the thirteenth anniversary of 9/11 having just passed, the
comparisons of what the world used to be and what it is now are extremely
different. As a parent, there is that fear that something like that could
happen again and you just want to protect your kids. I understand that. At the
same time, your kids do need to learn to be independent and not go running to
mommy with every problem they have. Being the oldest child, I think it’s hard
for them to accept that I am no longer their little girl and am on my way to
becoming an adult all on my own. They have shaped me the best they can and now
need to learn it’s time for me to mature on my own.
Their parenting styles now are considered the
norm, but in Hanna Rosin’s article “The Overprotective Kid” is quoted: “Even though women work vastly more hours now
than they did in the 1970s, mothers—and fathers—of all income levels spend much
more time with their children than they used to…It’s hard to absorb how much
childhood norms have shifted in just one generation. Actions that would have
been considered paranoid in the ’70s—walking third-graders to school,
forbidding your kid to play ball in the street, going down the slide with your
child in your lap—are now routine. In fact, they are the markers of good,
responsible parenting.” We have to
understand that there are different concerns now in this world but there needs
to be a line drawn somewhere. If a parent was able to get away with something,
it’s not fair to limit your child. For example, during my senior year I went to
a party where there was underage drinking and when I noticed one girl was not
doing well, I stayed past my curfew to take care of her because it seemed like
the right thing to do. I wasn’t going to go a leave a girl who couldn’t take
care of herself at a party where she didn’t know anyone, it didn’t seem right
to just leave her there. Despite doing what I thought was the right thing to
do, I was still punished for attending the party. Even though I grew up hearing
stories of the time when my father threw a party and had the fridge full of
beer, I was the one who he kept causing trouble. My dad and I both did similar
things, while his was more extreme, I received more of a punishment for my
actions where I thought I was helping someone from possibly getting injured or
doing something they couldn’t consent to. I thought I was doing what my
overprotective parents would do and yet they were blaming me for doing it? It
just seems very hypocritical in my opinion.
I don’t hate my parents. I actually get along
with them very well. We tend to like the same music and I don’t yell at them at
all, compared to my little sister. Yes they are overprotective but I really
feel badly for my sister, as they probably will be worse on her. I know that
already they are talking about me and what they think I could be doing right
now and etc. I don’t think my parents know they need to balance their
overprotectiveness in accordance to their letting me mature. Hopefully they’ll
find a balance soon and I can start to deal with my own issues, like blowing
the fuse in my dorm room.
My parents are the worst when it comes to being laid back. They literally never let me do what I want to do without letting them know about every detail. Shoutout to France, Germany, and Poland! Love you guys. <3 ANYWAYS... They just try to limit what i do and they don't care how it makes me feel. Being an overprotective parent can have it's upsides but it also can have it's downsides and I feel that the kids have the downside advantage every time. It's not fair that they lived in a different world and with them constantly breathing down my neck, I don't know what it's like to be independent. I dont want to call my parents all the time but I do because it's weird for me to go a day without talking to them. I've already called my dad today to thank him for the mallomars that came in a care package. mallomars are my favorite food ever. They are cookies that are basically smores and just the bae. It is nice to know I am not the only one who adores mallomars:
My parents are great although they are overbearing. It's nice they know me so well but I want to be able to mature on my own. That being said, I am currently looking at how to get home this weekend... isn't it ironic?
After reading Anne Lamont's article "Shitty First Drafts" it was so nice to be able to relate. I typically have the worst first drafts. I don't elaborate on my ideas or even have a proper way to say what I want to say. It can be very infuriating but it is a crucial step to writing. The only time I don't draft what I want to say would be when I'm journaling because I am just getting everything that is in my head out on to paper. One of my favorite quotes on writing would have to be a quote from Hemingway which is: "Write drunk. Edit sober." I keep this quote in mind whenever I begin writing anything. It's easier to get everything out of my brain- all the ideas whether they are good or bad, and then edit later after I have a clean mind.
Everyone has shitty first drafts and hopefully edits to make their final product not so shitty. I like to outline what I want to say before I start writing as well. While that doesn't make my first drafts immune to the shitty-ness, it does help me organize what I want to be addressed in the paper and makes everything connect a bit better.
When Lamont talked about the different voices in her head as she writes and the hypnotist's method to put all of those voices into a jar, it reminded me of Rosin's article. When I write I tend to hear my parents' voices in my head, adding pressure that I have to write well and be attentive to everything. It is nice to get rid of the overprotectiveness while at college and not have them constantly looking over my shoulder to see what I do and how I write.
Shitty first drafts are an essential part of life. I feel like we go through shitty first drafts in thing other than writing. After going through a breakup this past summer of a relationship that dominated most of my high school career, I consider that to be a shitty first draft of what relationships should be. That guy wasn't a nice a guy and was very shitty, but now I know what to expect and what not to accept in return. Shitty first drafts are great, in my opinion, because they help you realize your full potential.
Whenever I have to write a paper for class, I dread starting it. I love to write, I keep several journals and try to write in at least one daily. Yet the idea of writing for a class gives me intense writer's block. After reading this article, it is very nice to see that I am not the only person who has writer's block. By no means do I consider myself an excellent writer, but it is reassuring to see that Allen also struggles with writing from time to time. Allen and I have similar feelings with writing and it's refreshing to see that while in college she struggled with knowing all of the rules. I hope with my time at school I can learn all the rules and be able to write well.
Allen talks about different formulas for writing, with the five paragraph being the one taught in high school for her (middle school for me.) During one of my English classes last year, the formula I used with writing essays for my teacher was very similar to the formula she tends to imitate by Patricia Bizzell. The formula is starting off very broad and narrowing it down -making it more precise, as she then uses two examples to further her point and help the reader understand why this issue is so important. While sometimes formulas can be for the worst, Allen turns to outside readers, and sends her drafts to people who are better writers than she is. I enjoy this strategy and have found myself already doing it with my past English teachers which makes me feel better about my own strategies. Allen writes because she is awed with words, I write for nearly the same reason. I write because I feel like so much is happening and I need to document it all now, whether it be what happened that day or analyzing a piece of literary work, the words spill out of me on to my medium of choice.
The toughest piece I've ever written is also my favorite piece I've ever written. I wrote it my junior year of high school and it was a literary analysis on my favorite novel, The Great Gatsby. This essay was the turning point for me that made me realize that I love analyzing and criticizing and just writing a paper. It made me realize that I was meant to be an English major. I was so thrilled to see that I had received an A- on it, as the teacher for that course was an extremely tough grader.
Allen points out a major misconception that even the best writers can write whatever, without any trouble. As I can suffer with some writing, it was refreshing to see herself and those she held in high esteem struggle as well.
While reading Peter Gray's article, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the last article I blogged about. Both Rosin and Gray advocate for risky play. I find this very refreshing when most parents today are so overprotective. Both writers discuss similar types of play (Rosin- Risky, and Gray hunter-gatherer) which I personally remember from my own childhood and enjoy reliving it. They also have conducted similar studies seeing what and how children play. Gray's perspective is different from Rosin's, as the hunter/gatherer play style is applied more to schools and discussed in modern times.
Gray's style is discussed through what the USA thinks of how we learn and compares that with other countries. They think that this hunter/gatherer technique is not helpful for children growing into adults even though Gray proves that things some children who found what they love to do by continuing what they loved to play.
Overall both writers provide unique perspectives to the idea of play and add to this discussion. It will be interesting to see how my generation acts when we become parents.
After reading this article about a very different type of playground. I was very interested in their reactions. While parents from WWII would find this playground insane due to being so different from the norm, I was fascinated by it and wanted to continue. I was reminded of my days at the playground where traditionally the parents hover over their children to make sure they are protected from all safety as opposed to letting their children explore freely as was done in the past. Personally I feel as though the children should be given some time to explore on their own and do not like when parents are "helicopter parents" and hover constantly over their children.
As a child, I remember climbing trees with my neighborhood friends (showcasing the first character of risky play), as we pretended to be whatever floated our boat that day. It was thrilling because we made up the rules and went as high as we wanted to go. By not being constantly monitored by parents, we felt as though we could assume the responsibility and the eldest became the leaders. It made us feel we were capable of doing what we wanted to and didn't always need our parents.
Looking back now, we didn't have all the cool toys that some kids have today. We relied on our imaginations and I feel like if I have children, I would want to do that. There is a balance between using technology and not using it that I feel most people don't know how to manage.
The comparison the author of this article uses of comparing millennials to his own son is refreshing. He attributes that some of the issues millennials face can be to blame because of "helicopter parenting" and a lack of free will from a young age. Showing his son adapt to his surroundings and enjoy playing and getting wet was a refreshing way to show that perhaps there is hope for the newer generations and leaves the reader feeling hopeful.
