The Last One

As the term comes to an end, students are required to write out or answer evaluations sheets in efforts of providing feedback to the instructor. I typically stay away from the evaluations because I don’t think my opinion really matters in a sense of how a class is structured. I have accepted my role as a student and realized that it is the instructor who shapes and organizes a class. There are some classes I will love and some classes I will hate, but as a student I must still put the necessary effort in to each class in effort of achieving a good grade and actually getting something out of the class.

As for this class, I think it was structure pretty well. There are always things that are talked about in class in which I have no interest in. The topic in this class that I had a hard time talking about was politics. Personally it’s a dead subject, I feel as if every political figure is saying the same thing. These political figures always seem to have the right answer in how our country should be ran, yet there are still tons of problems within our country. Enough of about politics. The required readings for this class were kind of out dated. This was a pop culture class and the readings were from the 90’s. It was sort of difficult to tie the two together.

Now to the positives of the class. I think the activities were amazing. Starting out by eating pizza in the class was something I have never experienced. The activity that required us all to take out are cellular devices was kind of scary. I had no clue what was the purpose of us taking out are cellular phone. I thought Dr. Goodnow had something up here sleeves, you never know with the Dr.

As far as discussions, I think the biggest class discussion was about fashion. I think the discussion drew so much attention because we all come from different places and have our own unique fashion. It was nice to see pretty much the whole class involved in the discussion defending the fashion of their choice. There is not enough time and space for me to continue to talk about my loving of the blogs assignments.

The blogs assignments were a good change up for me. I was able to write letters to thank you letters to family members. I also got a chance to see where all my money was going when we had to document our expenses during the first couple of weeks.

Overall the class was pretty good. Although, I didn’t have the most enjoyable time reading the material, I think Dr. Goodnow did a very good job of explaining the readings and relating them to the discussions in class. Dr. Goodnow may have done an exceptional job running the class, but it was having class at Clods that made this class one of the best class ever.

ads

Wow, have times change in the advertising industry. I can recall a period of time when advertisements, whether it was seen on television, listened heard on the radio or featured in a magazine newspaper etc.., would actually feature the product. Now day’s theses advertisement may only feature a catchy phrase in efforts of gaining the attention of the consumer. “The argument here is that advertisements used to tell us how valuable and useful a product was.” (Strinati 214). Sometimes these advertisements make sense, other times I'm simply left wondering. Strinati, goes on to explain modern day advertisements, “they say less about the product directly, and are more concerned with sending up or parodying advertising itself by citing other adverts, by using references drawn from popular culture and by self-consciously making clear their status as advertisements.” (Strinati 214).

The contemporary advertisement print I chose to analyze for this exercise was Mercedes Benz advertisement I stumbled across during one of my weekly readings of Cosmo while on the toilet. The Mercedes advertisement actually took up two pages in the magazine, yet the actual car product was not even featured no where in the two pages. There was the Mercedes Benz logo in the sky, similar to the Batman logo, the Benz symbol was inserted into the moon as people walked the streets. I the logo symbolized Mercedes Benz was a savior for car or possibly the car amongst cars to have. The advertisement was simply unexplainable and didn’t make sense to me.

For clarification purposes I thought it would be best to surf the web of old automobile advertisements, specifically Mercedes Benz ads, in effort of seeing the difference in the advertisement history. As I looked at older ads, they all seemed to have one thing in common, the actual product was there. It was interesting that the advertisement was plain, simply having a white or black background and the car. There was nothing fancy about these advertisements at all.

I think the time period in which were in now, the car really doesn’t have to be present for individuals to be interested in the advertisement. Seeing that Mercedes Benz are known as one of the most popular luxury cars that are affordable for a middle class person, it doesn’t take much effort on the Mercedes Benz part to sell their product. “Although the intention is still to sell, it is contended that nowadays the postmodern effect is achieved by seemingly overt efforts within advertising to undermine this purpose.” (Strinati 215). I think it’s more acceptable for ads with the popularity of a Mercedes Benz, or a Coke cola. I say this because they products have been apart of our lives forever and with the popularity in which they have gained we recognize and accept them as a part of culture, which leads to advertisement company putting out these ads such as the one I mentioned in this blog. Ads have and will be around forever. I think one, were comfortable with the product and two, the advertisement writers are running out of ideas to sell their product.

The Historic Cartoon

I shall start off by saying politics is not a subject of interest for me. My lack of interest in the topic steams from a mixture of things. My knowledge of politic is one of my primary reasoning for having no interest in the subject. I’m just unaware of things in which are discussed with I politics. Its not that I don’t care about the topic, its more of a sense of not understanding what is actually going on and what politics deal with. I have tried speaking with others about the matter in efforts of being informed and trying to create an understanding of it, yet I have failed and I am still at level one in terms of politics. I have even played devil advocate in political conversations amongst friends, still no results. For this assignment I was hoping to find out a little more about politics by observing politics in pop culture.

The assignment was for us to view something that incorporated both, politics and pop culture. I decided that if anything in the world can help me understand an issue it would be no other than the beauty of cartoons. While searching for the cartoon that featured some form of politics, I stumbled across a few newspaper cartoon stories. The one that caught my dealt with the presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The purpose of the cartoon was actually in the title, “The Historic Next President.” Throughout the cartoon clippings Briscoe, the author of the cartoon, pokes fun at the thought of having either an African American man as the next president or a women running our country. The clips state that the democrats are trying to set history while the republicans are keeping it the same with another old white guy running. Maybe this is an inside joke because I didn’t get it. The cartoon even goes as far as questioning whether we shall be racist and not have Obama elected as president or sexist and not have Clinton elected as president. I understand its purpose is supposed to be humorous but with my lack of understanding politics I considered the jokes to be offensive to both the candidates if anything. The thought of being racist or sexist kind of takes away from a simple election in which people vote based on their acceptance of what is said by both candidates.

The book talks about how pop-culture does not promote radical quick change but rather progressive, slow change, this cartoon is a clarification of it. After reading through the clips I have not made any radical change in terms of politics, I am still unaware of the seriousness in politic. Only thing this clipping illustrated was that history is going to be made with the Democratic Party being represented by either a black male or a female. This cartoon would defiantly be categorized under micro political. It is the work of an individual trying to make sense out a political issue by putting his own touch on it. The author is simply voicing his opinions of a political issue.

Peeping Tom

The three places in which I chose to play peeping Tom was the library, grocery store and the recreation center. Just sitting back and evaluating individuals and how they carry themselves was kind of creepy. There are times in which I look or recognize something special or unique about someone but it always came as a surprised to my eyes.

My first place of observation was the Valley Library. I thought this would be an interesting location to observe people based on what the library is typically used for. When I think about library I think studying, reading meeting up with a group for a particular project. I figured since people were going to the library for the reason stated previous it really didn’t matter what people wore. In fact I had no idea it would be a fashion show. As I sat in the reading area pretending to read, I noticed that the library was indeed a resting or meeting place amongst friends before class. In other words it was a pit stop. There was plenty of diversity in what was being worn by individuals. Manly, shorts and summer clothing because the sun was out and it was nice out. Even the summer clothing differed, some guys wore cargo shorts, some wore basketball shorts and others wore jean shorts. The females were either in shorts or mini skirts with flip flops of some sort. It seemed as if everyone was happy and in a joyful mood during this period of the day.

Things were quite different later on at night in the library. Although it was the same place, it seemed as if the focus had shifted. Individuals came into the library in clothing’s that were comfortable, not really caring how they looked. The dress was sweatpants, shorts and sweatshirt for both male and female. The interaction amongst individuals also changed. It wasn’t a joyful mood; it was more of a dreading mood. It seems as if they were now forced to be in the library.

My next location of observation was the grocery store. This was an easy evaluation given that everyone individual I saw was a college student and dressed up in some sort of beaver athletic attire. I don’t recall anyone outside the workers wearing jeans in the store. It seem as if everyone was in there own zone in terms of reacting to one another. People were there for their own personal purpose which led to little interaction if any. As I walked ale to ale I observed individuals looking at their list and getting their necessary products and avoiding others at the same time.

I have no clue why I chose Dixon but I thought it would be interesting to see how people react differently to the way others dress. My first observation started on the lower level basketball courts. This was the perfect setting for this assignment. Individuals typically chose teams based on the type of gear someone is wearing. It happens all the time and it is hilarious that people are judged based on they present themselves instead of their actual skill. There was an older gentlemen waiting on the sidelines in cut jean shorts and some old Nikes tennis shoes. The man was waiting to play for several games, yet he continued to get passed up on by the younger students because of his attire. When the older man got his chance to play he amazed everyone. Long story short, the man could flat out play ball and he couldn’t even get a look or conversation with others because of the way he was dressed.

I think how an individual is dress truly dictates how much interaction he/she receives. People react differently to different people based on the way individuals are dressed. The example of my experience in Dixon was a prime example. As far as the grocery store, it was more about actually accomplishing something rather than presenting themselves. So I couldn’t really draw any conclusions on the level of reactions an individual received. The library was a different story; it was a fashion show by day and cram session by night. People were dressed to impress earlier in the day but as the day wore on the wardrobe of individuals became restless and semi- pajamas. I think different environments require different dress.

Mom and Dad

The growth of technology has made it easy for people to communicate with others. There are several ways in which individuals can communicate using technology. Cellular phones, email, instant message, pagers and last but not least there’s the good old land phone.

For this assignment, which happens to be my favorite, I was required to write a letter of appreciation to two different individuals. One letter had to be handwritten and the other had to be sent via email. My initial thought was the letter sent via email would have a quicker response than the handwritten letter. I figured email is easily to access and respond to compared to handwritten letters.

The two lucky recipients of these letters were my lovely parents. My pops is getting old and has trouble using the internet and checking his emails. My mother is getting younger and younger and is up to game with the latest technology. I thought it would be a fun challenge to both of them if I sent the handwritten letter to my mother and emailed the other letter to my father. My strategy was to have both individuals step outside their comfort zone and see which parent responded sooner.

As I sat down and wrote the letter to my mother, I began to get a weird feeling. I love my mom and all that good stuff, but it was weird writing her a letter. When I think of hand written letters I typically think of my high school sweet heart and I exchanging these three page letters to one another expressing are love for each other not thanking my mom for being the best mom in the world. I put my weird feelings aside and put the pen to the pad. I wrote my letter out to her and expressed how much appreciated her for all the things that she have done throughout my life.

My next victim was pops. I sent the old man an email similar to the one I sent my mother. While writing this email I became a little bit nervous. Nervous because my dad is too manly at times and I didn’t want to come off as this little softy. The letter required me to think a little bit. I had to think about what words to use so that I wouldn’t appear to be too sentimental. It was a very challenging task.

The first response was in and it was my mother. Either my father doesn’t love me or he is truly computer illiterate because I have yet to receive a response from him at all. The no response from my father steams from his culture not being to dependant on technology.

I think technology has given us an easier way of communicating. I think people look for easy ways of doing things and emailing an individual oppose to writing an individual is easier. It’s less time consuming to write an email because you aren’t in titled to run the letter down to the post office and wait for it to get shipped out. This is what our culture is built around, quick pace and easy.

Muisc

My preference of music has always been rap. As a kid growing up in Los Angeles, California I was trapped into listening to rap music. Outside of the jazz music my father listened to and the gospel music my mother listened to, it was rap music that my ears grew accustomed to. I thought rap music was the only thing out there for children. Every little kid I knew listened to rap music. If you didn’t know the latest Tupac Shakur or Snoop Dogg song you weren’t cool. I was unaware of the message that was actually being delivered in the songs due to the fact that the radios played the edited version of songs. Personally, if the song had a catchy hook and a nice flowing beat, it became one of my favorites. Sadly but truly Adorno is right when he describes popular music as being dominated by standardization and pseudo individualization. Growing up we based our opinions of our favorite music on whom the artist was and how cool or catchy the hook was.

Personally I think artist use the same formula of making music and differentiate it from others by using their own experiences in it. Indeed I do think that it standardized in a sense. People tend to listen to music that they can relate to, and growing up rap music was something the local kids in my neighborhood related to the most. As far as pseudo-individualization, people individuals are attracted to catchy things and the uniqueness of the hook to a song can typically dictate how popular the song is.

For this assignment I listened to music ranging from Kenny G to Rage Against the Machine. There was a little Brittany Spears and Tim McGraw in between. These songs differed so much. Personally I feel as if the artist of these songs new the formula that was necessary in making popular songs in their respective genre. Kenny G’s music dealt with a couple of words here and there but mainly featured instruments. It was kind of a soothing to the soul type song. Rage Against the Machine was completely opposite, it was more of a let’s rock and get the party started type thing. My apologies to those who may have a problem with my choice of wording but I have no other way of explaining the mood in which I was in listening to this music. I felt kind of bad listening to Britt Britt because I’m 22 years old and the song featured Brittney, just wrong in my eyes.

Throughout these songs the message differed. Rage Against the Machine, talked about rebelling against the government and issues going on in the world. Kenny G fount a way to deliver a soothing message by offering a mixture of lyrics and live instruments into his song. Britt was a fox, her song dealt with being seductive, and at this day and age I would agree that no one is turned on by Britt anymore. Tim McGraw had me feeling pretty good in his duet with Nelly. The message that was offered in this songs provided advice for individuals in which face re-occurring acts.

Adorno talks about the challenges of creating serious music and how it typically would make individuals think about what theyre listening to. I think out of the songs I listened to, the collaboration of Nelly and Tim McGraw stood out the most given that they are from two different world and they came together and made a great piece of work.

TV Shows

After the long discussion and the bad reviews this show received amongst my classmates I figured it would be best to experiences the Shot of Love show for myself. The second reality show I watched was Snoop Doggs Fatherhood.

I am not a big fan of reality television. Yes they are entertaining but personally I think there as fake as can be. To have a camera man follow these celebs around every minute of the day is sort of believable, but the way these celebs act is simply unbelievable and often times the acting from the celebs seems scripted.

As explained in class, this Shot of Love show is truly a train wreck. The show is centered on a bi-sexual woman who dates both men and women in efforts of finding true love. The episode I had a chance to view was the beginning of the new season and wasn’t as bad because it was simply meet and greet amongst Tela and the contestants. My disinterest over the show comes from the highlights that were shown of the previous season. To me the first problem with this show is the theme of it. How is an individual who doesn’t know what they want, male or female, going to find love? This is one confused individual, yet people still tune in and are entertained by it. As Fiske writes, individuals find pleasure while others experience embarrassing acts.

This would be a perfect example for Bakhtin to uses for his carnival theory. I honestly can say there was nothing tasteful about this show. I think its offensive to individuals who are bisexual. First, who knows for a fact that Tela is even a bisexual individual in real life? Secondly, how does an individual find love by putting other individuals through competitions, what is true love? Bakhtin talks about this carnival world allowing one to have creative and playful freedom. The show allows Tela to have the creative freedom yet at the same time she is playing with the values and moralities of others by trying to find love in this way. By understanding that love is typically not going to be determined on a competition, this show allows viewers to step inside this carnival world and think what if. What if it was possible to find true love by having both male and females compete over you in ridiculous events?

The second reality show I watched was Fatherhood. This is a show involving famous rapper, Snoop Dogg and his family. The camera men follows Snoop and his family around throughout the day. The purpose of the reality show is simply an illustration of how Snoop balances being a father to his three children and continuing his super stardom.

The show isn’t as bad as the one talked about earlier but it still bugs me a bit. The problem I have with the show is that it’s not reality television. The horrible acting provides reasoning that this show is scripted. The writers or producers of the show place Snoop in his family in situations that are not very serious, yet seems to be important to the family. For example, the show I watched featured snoop and his family going to London for a concert that he was schedule to perform. As the family get over there they are unsatisfied with the food so Snoop decides to calls a friend in need of help. Throughout the show the family is starting to fall apart and become angered towards each other because they can’t have their typical fried chicken. There is no social order in this at all. I don’t think I ever heard of any family becoming upset with each other over chicken, yet people find laughter in this. A family usually represents a strong bond amongst all individuals, and I don’t think getting upset over not having a certain type of chicken classifies as a strong bond.

Whats Popular to Dray, Isnt Popular to Grampa Dray and Poppa Dray

For this assignment I thought it would be best to interview my father and my grandfather. I figured it would be best to interview my mother’s father because interviewing my father and his father may provide some similarities given that the two lived in the same household for plenty of years and shared similar likes and beliefs.

My grandfather was a little hesitant to sit down and talk about things that were popular back in the good old days. He felt as if I wouldn’t understand or appreciate what was popular to him when he was my age. After explaining my reasoning for the sit down conversation he was more willingly to open up. The first thing we talked about was sports. I figured he’d open up and talk about sports for the simple fact that it was a common ground that we shared. He had always been a big fan of baseball. My grandfather explained that the game has changed over the years. In his day it was a game that the local kids would play in the streets just to past time and nowadays people actually try to make a living out of it. The next subject we touched on was music. Often times my grandfather is a very understanding man but for some odd reason he just couldn’t understand the music in which I listen to. He talked about how back in his day; music had a story behind it that everyone could relate to. The popular artist was Frank Sentara and everyone loved Frank, according to Gramps. As far as clothing, he explained there really wasn’t any difference in the way people dressed, well except for church days. The common dress was simply a pair of jeans and a v-neck t-shirt. Everything seemed good and peaceful back than.

My father on the other hand was excited to talk about popular things in his day and age. I think the excitement steamed from his how easy living was in his day compared to how living is today. The way Pops explains thing about the late 50th early 60th you would think it was heaven back than. Pops has always had an eye for fashion so it would make sense that clothing was the first thing in which he wanted to talk about. According to Pops, actors in films dictated what was in and what was out. Everyone wanted to dress like their favorite actors. It was big to wear the suits that James Bond sported. As far as music, Pops felt that there wasn’t any better music than the music of this decade. Personally I agree with him given that majority of the music that is made today is sampled from the music of the past era. We talked about cars and he explained that everyone had to have a Chevy. Chevys were the muscle cars back than and it showed ones power by driving one.

As time goes by we establish our own form of popular culture. After talking with my grandfather and father I think its safe for me to say, what is popular to me, defiantly won’t be popular to my son once he becomes my age. In the book they talk about how we determine pop-culture and where does it come from. Personally I think it’s a common ground between both people in power and people below. Some may not agree, but I think things become popular when kids of are generation, rich or poor, have an interests in the same thing.

Money Spent

For the past week or so I have been keeping a daily tab on the thing that I have purchased. This assignment has helped me realized two things, I spend way too much money and I spend money on some weird and often unnecessary things.

The items in which I spent my hard earned money on range from an over priced three dollar notebook that was needed for an online class, to a $9.95 bottle of Seagram’s Gin. I used these two products as example for the simple fact one item, the overpriced notebook, is a need because it was required for the class, on the flipside the bottle of gin was a want because I could have certainly went on with out it. Another reason for using these two product as example outside of the needs and wants category that they fall under, was the fact that the two products were extremely opposite of one another in a sense one was school related and the other was adult entertainment related. It seemed like everything else such as, food, clothing, flowers, etc... fell in between the two products previously mentioned.

The “Needs” category had your typical everyday items. These items were bottles of water, body wash, my over priced notebook, books for my classes and a couple pair of underwear, boxers if anyone wants to know. I don’t know if it counts but I spent a lot of money on bills. A few bills that I would include in my “Needs” category would be rent, power/gas bill, some may argue against me on this one, but I would consider it a need for me and that’s my cell phone bill.

My “Wants” category may be very unique to several others for the fact I’m simply a weird individual. This section featured items such as, a Sony Playstation 2, a couple pair of jeans, a nice Los Angeles Dodger fitted baseball cap, lots of eating out at different restaurants, a bottle of gin, and last but not least some chewing gum. A few might wonder why I chose to put eating at a restaurant in this section and I admit it was a little confusion on my part on whether this would be a need or a want. I came to conclusion that because I chose to go out and eat rather than eat the food at home that was already purchase, this would be consider a want instead of a need.

As previous stated this assignment help me understand my weird and unique spending habits. I think I spend way too much money on unnecessary things. For example I ate out three times last week and the total amount for all three meals came out to $132.33. I spent this amount, when I had groceries at home and it would have been a lot cheaper to simply shift into Dray-boyar-d and throw something together in the kitchen. But this say something about me as an individual, I would rather spend money and have somebody else put something together for me rather than me actually making something. I think my preference of going out to eat also has to do with a mixture of being a college student and pop culture. I’m easily influence to go out to a restaurant and eat with a group of friends and have a good time. Being a college student, I attend classes all day long and it’s much easier for me to simply go out to eat and swipe my card when I’m done.

The Last One

This class was one of my all time favorites. The class provided me with the opportunity to study the wonderful cyber world. I think by understanding the difference between face to face conversations and on-line conversation can help individuals become better communicators.
In the beginning I was kind of lost in what was going on. Although I had a Google account I had no idea how to make a blog or anything of this nature. After creating my blog and realizing how easy it was I begin to post weekly. Posting blogs was kind of scary at first because I’m not to comfortable with people reading my writings. As a couple weeks went by and I received a few replies under my blog I became a lot more comfortable with posting my writings on line.

The assigned posts that we had to write on were some good ideas. My favorite assignment had to be the one in which I was able to join an online family. I got a thrill out of this. I had always read on the site but never thought about actually joining it. This course provided me with the opportunity to join the online community that I had been interested in.

Another assignment that I was pleased with occurred during week four. I got a chance to write two letters to two influential people in my life. This assignment provided me with the opportunity to write to two former coaches of mine. I think this was the perfect assignment for me. It provided me with the opportunity to express my appreciation to both my high school and college coach. These two men have helped shape me into the football player and person that I am today. The assignment was easy to relate to for the simple fact one coach was living in the same town as I was and the other was down in California. I emailed the coach down in California and sent my coach in Corvallis a hand written letter.

The assignment that really didn’t sit well with me was the research paper. I don’t mind researching a topic but the fact that I had to put aside my lazy ways and go to the library and used the book catalog was frustrating. It was the first time of my college experience that I used the catalog thing. This was frustrating because I’m used to doing my research on-line or with books I own.

This class was my favorite this term and I hope it’s taught again.

As I did a little research on internet miscues, I found out that there was a lot more than what I expected. I chose to write my blog on an event that dealt with the solicitation of children via internet. I was really unaware of how much of this goes on. I’ve heard stories of this occurring but I never knew how high the numbers were for this crime. The article was about an FBI posing as a thirteen year old girl on the internet. The article talks about the numerous busts of predators that this agent catches.

The purpose of this article is to inform parents about this crime and a way to preventing it. Net Nanny is software that was created by the company Net Nanny International Inc., to help prevent and provide an awareness of these events of what may be occurring with their children. The Net Nanny provides a parental control device in which the parent is fully aware of what is being said during internet conversations. The Net Nanny has an instant scanner to scan words or phrases that are sent and received by all members of the conversation. The scanner focuses on words or phrases that could possibly harmful or leading to an unexpected event. Examples of these words and phrases include; names, telephone, swear words, credit card numbers, addresses, and sexual and/or violent terms, invitations to communicate by "phone" or to "meet" in physical locations.

The program was created after a 1994 case involving the solicitation of a minor in a chat room that took place in Florida. With the wide vary of different chat rooms and instant message programs out there; NET Nanny felt that this program would offer the best solution to stop these acts of solicitation of children by these predators. Net Nanny felt by giving the parents total access to their children’s conversation they can be aware of what is being talked about. While the conversation is going and the parent doesn’t like how the conversation is going, they can simply terminate the conversation. After the conversation is terminated it is up to the parent to re-establish the network connection for the children trying to access the internet. According to this report, Net Nanny feels that by giving the parent total control they can have the last say of what’s tolerant for their child and what’s not.

I think this is a great solution to catch these online predators. This program allows parents to be in total control at all times. This can potentially help avoid situation before they a rise. I think if my parents would have installed something like this on my computer when I was younger I would have been upset thinking more about my privacy instead of my safety. As a parent, I understand that safety is important and I would do everything possible to keep my child out of any kind of danger. The Net Nanny program allows internet conversations to be monitored and children can be much safer.

Good Relationship Gone Bad

The internet is a very dangerous tool. I say this because things appear throughout the internet can be very deceiving and misunderstanding. I have had several incidents in which my words or a photo was misunderstood by someone. Although there have been several issues in which the internet has made me out to be a bad guy, the one that sticks out like a sore thumb would have to be one in which I almost lost my girlfriend.

Back in the good old high school days I was in this lovely dovey relationship for three years. It was your typical high school relationship in which everything was perfect and my soul mate had been found. The relationship was perfect till the internet came through to the Drayton household. I created an instant message screen name on A.O.L. so that I would save my parents some money by not sitting on the phone all day running my mouth. Instant message was huge at the time everyone had a screen name. Instead of exchanging phone numbers we simply exchanged screen names. Well everything was cool till some of my conversations were read by the girlfriend.

The conversations were between me and my best friend that happen to be a young lady by the name of Kelly. Kelly and I had grown up together but attended different high schools. We talked frequently on aim and often told each other how are day went and plans that we had for the weekend. It was nothing more than friendly chit chat amongst us. Well, at least that’s what I thought. Things got out of hand when my girlfriend came to the house and read one of the conversations that had occurred between myself and Kelly. The conversation ended with two three word phrases, “I love you” and “I miss you.” These two phrases were all the fuel my girlfriend needed to ignite her fire. We argued for days about this conversation. It was difficult to convince her that these were words spoken by a best friend and they weren’t intended to be relationship phrases.

After all the fighting and arguing I thought it would be best if I had my girlfriend and best friend talk to one another. This was the best thing to do to resolve this issue. The two talked and Kelly explained that to my girlfriend that she meant no wrong when she ended the conversation with her two phrases. It was simply a friendship thing between the two of us and nothing more.

When the conversation was over my girlfriend did the unthinkable, she was had apologize to me for over reacting about the whole situation. Her and Kelly became good friends and kept ion contact throughout the years. In fact, Kelly introduced my ex girlfriend to her new boyfriend, how ironic is this.

To sum this up, this whole conversation would have defiantly been different if it had taken place face to face rather than online. The two phrases that Kelly used would have had non verbal cues that would’ve communicated a strong friendship between the two of us. The conversation would have featured a little friendly punch to the shoulder or a pat on the head, something friends would do.

The Fam Bam

The three people I chose to interview were my grandfather whose 85 years young, my father whose 47 years young and my younger brother who just turned 21. I chose to select all male family members because they all shared a lot of things in common. The men in are family get together and talk often. The topics range from sports to politics during these all male conversations. I figured since the three of them were all well educated on these topics that they talk about they must have researched these topic using some kind of technology, newspaper or book.

I thought it best if I interviewed my grandfather first. Grandpa James is really getting up there in age but will talk your ear off, which is a good thing. I gave him a call and asked him a few question about technology in general. I thought it be best if I beat around the bush a little bit because I had already had an assumption about his beliefs of the internet. I started the interview by asking question pertaining to the presidential election and how he felt things were going. As the conversation continued I begin to ask him questions on how did he come up with these beliefs and views. I felt the time was now for me to throw the question about internet usage at him. Grandpa James said he although he has a computer, brand new by the way, he has no use for it. He claimed that he receive all his information from newspapers or the five o’clock news. He went to provide reasoning into why he has no use for the internet. Gramps explained that growing up there was no internet or television. There were only radios and newspapers. So these two methods were what he was accustomed to. Gramps acknowledged that internet may be a good researching tool for some yet he feels no need for it.

My next victim was my little brother. I thought I’d pick him second because it would be a good follow up to my grandfather. My little brother was total opposite of gramps regarding internet usage. If gramps was far right, my little brother was defiantly far left on the idea of internet usages. I started my interview with Dom, my little brother, by asking him how many hours a day does he used the internet. He had trouble figuring it out so I thought I’d rephrased the question. I asked him how many hours a day does he go without the internet. He replied quickly, “Only when I’m sleeping.” This was not surprising to me because Dom has always been a computer freak. He has access to the internet at all times. He has the internet on his mobile phone, on his laptop and has a desktop in his computer; the kid even takes his computer with him to the restroom with him. His reasoning for being so obsess with the internet was simple, everything was there. He explained that technology has made it easy for him to research topics that he was interested in. He also explained that the internet is a great way of networking.
My last victim was my father. Pops was boring. When asked about the internet, he basically said there was no need for it but it’s a good tool to have. What the hell does this mean? He explained that things can be researched in other ways yet the internet provides a faster way of receiving information. Pops really clarified his beliefs to me but I was confused, if a task can be completed faster wouldn’t everyone prefer to do it that way? Pops is old fashion so he responded in a typical old fashion way, “It’s not how fast you get something completed, its what you get out of it.” Boring.

After conducting these interviews I think it is well known that technology is taking over. The younger generation are more involved and up with the latest technology and the older generation view some technology such as internet usage as pointless. I think Gramps explained it best when he talked about what he was accustomed and why he was accustomed to these things. As seen in the interviews my little brother can’t stay away from the internet. My father stands in the middle on the topic of internet. He recognizes that it is a tool that can be used but he chooses not to use it often. My grandfather completely stays away from it. If I was to go out on a limp, I would make the argument that technology is being created for younger generations because it is growing just as they are.

My New Family

First I must start off by admitting I am a sports addict. I love sports and personally I don’t know what the world would be with out it. I decided to join the Rivals.com family for this assignment. It costs me an arm and a leg for the yearly subscription so I will be looking for my reimbursement from Dr. Goodnow at the end of this term. Now back to this Rivals thing, if you’re a sports fan Rivals.com is for you. It features stories relating to athletes from prep schools through the professional rankings. This cite always had the latest updates and breaking news throughout the sporting world. I’ve been a reader for a couple of months and I decided that it was time to indeed take the next step and become a member of the Rivals.com family.
Being a member of this cite allows you to have access to the discussion boards in which you can post your own opinions and belief on different issues that have occurred in the sporting world. The great thing about this discussion board is opinions that you are written by people all over the nation. Rivals.com discussion board allows you to read and response to people all over the nation. I think it’s a great thing because it allows someone on the west coast to get an understanding of how people on the east coast view sports and vice versa. It builds a strong family and there is tons of disagreement with one another on these message boards which leads to great conversations.
For me, it was easy to assimilate into a group because my knowledge of sports. I was able to jump into many conversations and voice my opinion in the early stages. Some of my opinions and views were strongly accepted and some weren’t, some of my views were even laughed at. It was hard for me to feel accepted in the first couple of days because these members had been writing on this cite for years and I was the new booty of the family throwing out these bold comment s. Although some of my opinions were accepted I still didn’t feel accepted. I felt that they were agreeing because it was obvious that I had the right answer it just happened to be that I was the first one to respond to the blog and everyone else simply agreed with my post. The day that I truly felt accepted is when I challenged one of the guys who had been around for years and was well respected by many of the members throughout the cite. The discussion was about the best player in the NBA. He felt that LeBron James was indeed the man on top of the league. Personally, I felt the title belong to a follower by the name of Kobe Bryant but I wasn’t going to sit around and try and prove my point by bringing up different stats and awards won by both because it would be a waste of time and the conversation would have never come to any kind of agreement. Instead, I went another rout with my argument. I stated that there was no best player in the league and argued that any player can be replaced and because there is a strong number of players that have showed and proven to be great talents we as fans can not possibly single out and appoint one individual to be the best player in the league. Honestly after writing that I felt that it wouldn’t get approved or accepted by others and they would respond and think I was some crazy little kid. Later on that day I checked my email and I found a couple of emails from guys on the message board applauding me for my comment and the way I viewed the situation. This is the day I felt accepted.

Women Coaching

After reading over the prompt for this week I thought about several different topics to research. I thought it would be easy to differentiate information gain over the internet and information that was provided through books. I settled upon researching women sports. Having a strong background in sports and being a man, I figured it by researching women sports I can have a better understanding and appreciation for women sports.

My first thought after selecting the topic of women sports was how outstretched this topic was. Honestly I thought this would be a benefit because there would be tons and tons of information out there in regards to women sports. I was wrong. I was wrong not about how much information was out there regarding women sports but rather this information being beneficial. This was evident when I typed the phrase “Women Sports” into the Google search engine. There were numerous of pages that featured women sports. I would start reading one article that supported a specific point but the next article took me in a whole different direction. I thought to myself that changing the subject was the best thing to do yet I couldn’t come up with a specific topic to research that dealt with women in sports. I was in a bind because I had such a broad topic and by far too much information on one subject.

Later on that day my problem was solved. I went over to the library and typed in Women Sports into the library booking database and found a specific topic in women sports to research. I selected to focus on the coaching aspect of female sports, how they are viewed differently then men and the extra precaution they must take while coaching.

I selected a couple of books to skim through such as Coaching Athletics Social Aspects and Sports for Women Coaching. The interesting fact that I noticed with the information that was provided in these books was the clarity and supported information to the points that were being provided.

My next step was to find information over the internet. I researched my topic through the Google search engine and found somewhat of the same information. Although it was the same information the information didn’t really have that same kind affect on me as did the information did through the hard copy of the books. The information that was provided via internet was to highlight certain situations and make people aware that there is a difference in coaching amongst females and males. I didn’t feel as the information really supported the points that were being made.

I was very surprised at the outcome of this research. I defiantly thought the internet would provide me with more reliable information on this topic. I anticipated using majority of the information from the internet in any kind of paper rather then an actual hard copied book.

When writing a paper on a research topic I feel that I would incorporate information from both into my paper. The information used from the internet would be used to point out issues that occur within women sports from a coaching point of view and the information used from the hard copy would be used to support my points. I would used this method because the hard copy seems to be a bit more reliable because it someone’s work that is published. The internet on the other hand is simply articles posted on the web that are some what reliable.

Sources

Microfiche. Eugene : Microform Publications, College of Human Development and Performance, University of Oregon, 2 microfiches : negative.

A cost/benefit analysis of declining numbers of women coaches [microform] : a social exchange theory perspective / by Sharon Candie Stevens.

Leadership styles of female collegiate field hockey coaches / by Jill P. Butcher. [microform]

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/coach/article.html?record=27

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/coach/article.html?record=575

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/grant_wahl/02/06/the.bag/index.html

Two Different Men, One phrase

Thinking of two individuals whom have had some sort of influence on my life was a simple task. I selected two coaches, my former high school coach and one of my recent college coaches.

Greg Gano, my high school coach is a man that has influenced me in many ways. Most high school coaches usually only care about winning and their players on field performance. Coach Gano on the other hand was more than a coach. Day and in and day out he demonstrated great character, dignity and great leadership skills. Coach Gano was the perfect role model.

The second letter that I chose to write was to my coach from this past season. For the past four years Mark Banker has also had a huge impact on my life. Coach Banker made my transition from high school to college a lot easier. Banks emphasis how important it was to work hard day in and day out. Off the field he was some what of a father figure. Being from California and coming to Corvallis, OR was a huge culture shock to me and Banks understood this and provided me with some very helpful advice and let me know that he was always here for me.

I consider myself lucky to have played and learned from both, Coach Gano and Coach Banker. So when asked to write a letter to two individuals who had influenced me, it was a no brainer. I decided to write both coaches a letter similar to one another of course they had some tweaks here and there but the purpose of the letter was very similar, just letting them know how much I appreciated them as coaches, mentors and as friends. My next task was to figure out which one I would email and which letter would I send via snail mail. I figured since I wanted both coaches to receive the letters at the same time it was best that I emailed Coach Gano who was back in California. With Banks being closer in distanced it was easier for me to hand write his letter and simply put it in his mail boxes.

I purposely delivered these letters on Friday to see which coach would respond right away and which coach would respond over the weekend. I predicted Coach Gano would respond right away due to the fact that his letter was sent through email and I figured Banks on the other hand would be too tied up in one of his numerous off-season obligations that college coaches usually face.

After waiting a couple hours I received a call from Coach. Surprisingly the voice on the phone wasn’t that of Coach Gano, it was the voice of Mark Banker. Although I was surprised that it was Banks rather then Coach Gano who responded first the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. I may have thought these two coaches would receive these letters at the same time but thinking about it later it was much easier for Banks to go through his mailbox then it was for Coach Gano to sit down and check his email. I know personally I check my email numerous times of the day and only check my mailbox once a day. It made sense to me, despite checking my email numerous times a day; it is my mailbox in which I check first.

My prediction was wrong and Banks was the winner. In fact neither one of the coaches wrote a letter back. The two choose to call instead of responding in a written letter. It shows how much technology is taking over in from a communicational standpoint. In Postman’s writing he talked about how information used to be sent through telegrams and only travel as fast as the train could go. These days with technology on the rise we can send letters and receive responses in the same day. As for both there response being via phone it just shows us the value of the mobile phone for communicational purposes and how easily it is for someone to simply pick up the phone and talked to someone rather than writing it down.

Facebook

I can admit I am a proud user of Facebook. I’ve had a Facebook account for about two years now. About two years ago Facebook was something that most college students had so I felt left out being the only one in the group without it. It took me awhile to create an account with Facebook because I had always told myself I would never get one because it was too much information being revealed about oneself. After talking it over with friends and discussing the privacy settings on Facebook, I decided to sign up for one.

After giving into the Facebook movement, it was now time to personalize it by putting information up and letting people now who the real Daniel Drayton was. I kept it real simple and basic. Of course I put my name up what network I was working out of, high school education, birthday and my instant message screen name. I have seen numerous of accounts in which people put addresses, phone numbers and other unnecessary things up on their accounts. In my opinion I think some information such as phone numbers and address should be left out of an account. Although people may argue that a phone number can be the same as a screen name, I beg the differ. Screen names are communicational instruments that only pick up messages when someone is online.

Next up was the picture section. This is the section that truly lets others know who you really are. I started out by posting pictures of myself playing football, having a good time with friends and pictures of my son. These pictures that I initially posted signified who I was. I tried to stay away from the pictures that would reveal too much. Pictures that reveal too much are those pictures that are taking at the bars and other places with similar settings. There’s nothing wrong with posing for a picture at the bars, there is a problem when the picture that is taken at the bar is unexpected. The unexpected pictures can create a false image of someone. Sometimes it feels like the paparazzi snapping away in bars and in clubs.

The good things that Facebook offers are the privacy settings. This allows someone to block out others, untag pictures they don’t feel comfortable with being up and keep certain information away from certain people. These privacy settings are defiantly needed on Facebook because too much information can be raveled. The privacy settings allow the owner of the account to be in control at all times.

I think the information that is put up on Facebook differs from one person to another. People have different reasoning and purpose for using Facebook. My reasoning for having a Facebook account is to communicate with my fellow students and friends in which I grew up with. These are my personal reasoning but some people have other reasons for using Facebook. There are some people who are looking for a relationship through Facebook. I’ve even heard story of people looking for jobs on Facebook.

I think Facebook and MySpace are great communicational online instruments depending on how there used. They can be used in a good way yet they can also be misused and someone’s life can potentially be in danger.

"You've Got Mail"

You’ve Got Mail

This movie “You’ve Got Mail”, is a perfect example how technology has taking over the world in which we live in. I have watched this movie plenty of times, yet I have never watched it with the intent on discovering or exploring the commuacative interaction between the two characters.

This movie takes place in the busy city of New York City. Kathleen Kelly runs a small business book store that has been in the community for many of years. Joe Fox is this big time business man who owns these large and well respected book stores. Fox plans on opening one his large book stores in the same neighborhood as Kathleen’s book store. With the emergence of Fox store it is well assumed that Kathleen’s shop, that has been a community favor, will fold and go out of business due to the lack of sales. Kathleen and Joe share two things in common. One, the two of them own successful bookstores and two, they both have an addiction to emails. Throughout the movie these two, unknowingly chat with one another and begin to fall in love with one another.

Kathleen Kelly and Joe Fox form this relationship in which they pretend to live in this fantasy world through the internet. The two chat often, whether it is about problems they face or just a simple hello to see how each others day went. There is no specific detail in these messages that are sent between the two which possibly strengthens their relationship. It strengthens their relationship because it helps create the fantasy world that they are in.

The two characters recreated their identities by not getting into specific details. By chatting on line it allowed the two to imagine and paint a picture of what the other looked like. They formed this perfect relationship based on their communicative style. By engaging in Asynchronous communication the lag time between the two allows them to think about their responses and respond whenever he or she pleases. Unlike a face to face conversation, the asynchronous communication style doesn’t require an immediate response. The ability to have more time to think about a response simply provides the receiver of the message to throughlly understand and create a well written response to the sender of the message.

I think these kinds of relationships can occur in the world we live in today. I think feelings can arise through online chatting. Now, are these feelings real or are they simply fantasy feelings because of the lack of specific details that are exchanged? I have heard stories of people exchanging messages on Facebook or AIM and actually started dating. Although Facebook differs for the fact that a visual picture can be seen, it still allows communicative skills between the two.I have even heard stories of people preferring to talk with someone online rather than face to face because a face to face conversation may put them out of their comfort zone and online conversations provides the person with a safety net of responding or not responding at all.

Abstinence

Access to the internet is a must have for me. Going without the internet for a whole 24 hours was simply torcher. I’m one of those of those students who carry my laptop with me wherever I go just to have access to the internet. After reading the prompt regarding life without internet I knew for a fact this was going to be tough for me. It was even worst because I recently picked up this new gadget that allows you to pick up a signal wherever you are. The internet allows me to check my emails, check sports scores, shop, listen to music and read up on current events going on in the world. The most important thing that the web allows me to do is attend class. I am currently taking two online classes in which I really needed access to the web.

I started my 24 hours of torcher on Thursday but it didn’t last that long as Dr. Goodnow puts it, I fell off the wagon. I fell off the wagon not because the urge to surf the web but because I had an important question relating to this class. Now the question might be asked “Well Mr. Drayton, why didn’t you call?” my answer is simple I did call but no response. So I gave in and emailed Dr. Goodnow and what’d you know I got a response. I was happy I received an email back from Dr. Goodnow and got some clarity but in the back my head I can only think about another day I would have to spend without the internet.

As I woke up Friday I thought of several things in which I can do to keep myself occupied so that computer usage would the last thing on my mind. I thought about staying in bed all day and leaving my computer in the living room, but that wouldn’t have worked. Next I thought about leaving my computer in the locker room and going down to Eugene with my girlfriend, but that too was a bad idea with gas prices raising the way they are these days. Then it hit me, maybe I should just leave my computer at the house and go venture out and explore the town. After I came up with this idea I immediately took a quick power nap to kill time. When I woke up my journey be gained. I started out by going over to the boys and girls club and spending a few hours there just hangout with the kids. After that it was off to the Dixon recreation center to play some intense basketball for another few hours. After Dixon it was off to the house to shower and prepare my night life with some adult social activities at the bar. I came home from the bar and went to sleep. I woke up the next morning with a smile on my face knowing that I did it; I went a whole 24 hours without the internet.

After going a day without the internet I can honestly say two things. One, I am an addict to internet usage and two; I hope I never have to do this again. As Postman writes about in the Judgment of Thamus, technology is taking over peoples lives. We now can do anything with the technology we have today. I had a tough time going without the internet for one day yet people for many years and some still today had to or is currently going without the web and are perfectly fine doing it. I think that’s what Postman was referring to when he talked about the children who were considered winners or losers based on their ability to use a computer rather then writing something out.

The internet allows me to communicate in many different ways whether it is email, instant message, facebook or a class assignment. The ironic thing about my falling off the wagon was the fact it was related to this class. I attempted to do the old fashion thing and call the office yet no one answered and I can understand that part about being a professor and being busy, but when an email was sent out a response was sent back to me. This is a way in which technology has provided more ways to help us communicate with each other.

The internet is very beneficial to me and the way I live my life. It allows me to explore things in life that I simply wouldn’t have without it. I know I can always go to an actual class but sometimes I like to take classes online to have a change up and the internet allows me to take advantage of this opportunity. The internet has come along way and many people incorporate in their everyday life and personally for me when it was taking away I had to really sit down and think what was I going to do and how I was going to spend my day without it.