English1020classblog’s Weblog

The cut off point for extra credit is now…OVER!

I will comment on your blogs later on and let you know if you received credit or not. Check them for details or ask me about it in class (although I probably won’t get to them until after we’re done).

See ya.

~Jenna G.

So everyone likes to listen to music. And everyone has their favorite genre. My favorite happens to be country. Not that old western or southern bluegrass music, but more modern-day country. To me, country music is so relaxing. It is the genre of music that I listen to the most in my car. Even though I listen to all kinds of music, country is definitely my favorite.

I used to listen to country when I was younger because my dad liked it. He grew up in Kentucky, so it was typical. I remember going to the state fairs and going to little concerts such as John Michael Montgomery. I kind  of got out of listening to country until a few years ago because I was more into pop music when the Spice Girls, Britney Spears, and ‘Nsync came out. My friend Ashley actually got me into liking country music again. She stayed with me for like a whole weekend and would play nothing but country music the whole time. I was so annoyed by it at first, but then it grew on me. I now have to stations programmed in my car for country music.

My favorite country artists include Rascal Flatts, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. Country music is just so peaceful. It has a big influence on me. It is definitely the type of music that I listen to the most. It calms me down if I’m having a stressful day. Most of the time, country songs send a positive message as well. I just love it!

-Christina Justice

Ronza

Gender roles are the roles and norms that males and females are expected to follow in society. According to Merriam Webster, a role is defined as a socially expected behavior pattern usually determined by an individual’s status in a particular society, however, they define a norm as a pattern or trait taken to be typical in the behavior of a social group. I guess the main difference is that the role depends on the status of authority of the individual, but the norms are broader, as in apply to a larger group.

Gender roles of men and women used to be much stricter than today. Men were expected to work and support the family, while women were expected to sit home and take care of household chores. Women who worked were considered to lack a paternal instinct and the husbands would be considered weak and unsupportive. Very rarely were there male nurses, or female carpenters or firefighters.

These roles have recently changed due to social conditions such as the wars, in which there weren’t enough men to hire for weapon factories and such, and women were hired in those cases. This opened many doors to females, doors such as the right to vote. However, though it may seem that females took a step forward in social status, they still haven’t made it to the other side. For instance, females get paid lower wages for working the same hours, with the same task and same amount of effort as males.

Females, just like other minorities, will one day take another step, actually females always take steps, but these steps are small and take a while to add up. And the amazing thing is that they never stop adding up.

Another view of gender roles is in the Muslim religion, where males and females are created equal except have different roles in society. (I am not Muslim). This is a good view, but if men and women are equal, then it wouldn’t matter what roles they take, just as long as someone takes the role, for example, in a family, the wife may work while the husband home sits. I am not sure, but maybe that is the theory behind the Muslim tradition. I am a Catholic, and I am not sure about our gender roles in Christianity. But I do know that our view is similar to the Muslim view. Men and women are equal. They just have different expectations. And sometimes it is necessary to define them, for instance, men cannot give birth, so a woman must take this role in order to continue human existence.

Back to the subject of taking steps, in order for steps to be taken, a problem needs to arise, for instance, a man would need his wife’s support to help their family, and it is a problem if society looks down at that because isn’t marriage about a 50/50 relationship? A wife should be allowed to support her husband if its for the benefit for the family. The second step is for someone to speak up and get support, and defend their arguments. Even though these steps are obvious, they are not that easy for a minority to speak up against tradition and authority, but since it has happened, there is proof that it will continue to happen.

Ok so I am doing my final paper on “metal” and trying to distinguish how it has changed! I really don’t know where to start so I thought this blog would help. Cuz honestly I don’t know much about metal all I know is that I love listing to it. Bands like bullet for valentine, pantera, trivium. Nodes of ranvier and of course all the oldies like van halen, motley cr, metallica, black Sabbath. Boston, and poison. They all rock! But I don’t know what to say in my paper. Personally I think metal has changed a lot. In fact I don’t believe new and old bands should be categorized in the same genre. Sure they all still confined in similar styles such as long hair, black clothes, and of course sweet ass riffs. But they are so different compared to today’s metal old bands are soft as hell. They are still sweet but they don’t come close to the heaviness that today’s metal does. I don’t understand how pantera and van halen both can be considered metal. Can you? So the plan to my paper is to start out with defining metal music then I want to give a little history lesson about how metal came to be the way it is today. Like how in emerged out of blues then went on into grunge then furture to what it is today. After that I want to compare and contrast old metal to new metal. Then I plan discuss the lyrics of some of my favorite metal bands. While doing all this I have to strive to stay objective, which is hard because it is all pretty much my ideas. It is my idea that metal today needs a new name. Are any of you finding it hard to remain objective? I don’t know what to do I guess the best thing to do is to start writing and see where it goes from there.

Rachel Landreau

Okay I know that we went through spaces and talked about them and I wrote a blog that probably examined every kind of space available, but I still have more to say.  I have two jobs right now.  They are both food related.  One is at Olive Garden and one is at Dairy Queen.  I am lucky to work at both of those places because they are both the busiest of their type in the Metro-Detroit Suburb area.  Now both deal with food and both deal with customers and their satisfaction.  Both are big for their type so both have to use up the space one way or another.  That’s where a difference pops out.  As soon as I started working at Olive Garden I knew that this was going to be an experience that I will never forget because I noticed right away how the two jobs use their spaces differently.

                The first thing that I noticed was the color.  When I walk around Dairy Queen the colors used are bright colors like red, blue and yellow.  There are red and blue sailboats designs on the tables!  A lot of the back lays to all the designs are white.  And everything, like the pictures and ads, stick in your face screaming “notice me!”  When I walk through Olive Garden, the colors are more subdued and traditional as well.  They are more neutral colors and the walls have kind of an olive green look to them.  There are no obscure designs on any of the tables and all the pictures hung up are sepia.  Nothing sticks out screaming “notice me!”  In fact a lot of things whisper “I’m not here.”  I started in December and until now there are things that I am discovering carved in the wall, such as carvings of lion faces and gargoyle looking creatures.

                The next thing that came to me and probably should have been obvious but wasn’t at first was accommodation.  In Dairy Queen, we have a total of 20 tables.  In Olive Garden, we have a total of 69 tables not including the 8 café tables.  Each place uses their space differently according to how many people they have to accommodate.  Obviously, when people come to Olive Garden, they want to sit and eat lunch or dinner and maybe finish it off with a glass of wine or some Tiramisu.  When people eat full meals, it takes them about 40 minutes.  If they want dessert or wine, it will probably take a full hour.  People are still going to come and want to eat regardless of who’s already there, so we need more tables to seat them in.  In Diary Queen though, we are a fast food restaurant.  People want the fast food because it’s quick to make and quick to eat.  So they don’t stay more than half an hour.  We also have a drive-thru, so not all the people come in the restaurant.  That is why Dairy Queen has so few tables.

                The third thing that came to me was people.  Now you may think “What do people have to do with spaces?”  It has everything to do with spaces.  Because the type of people that live in the area or come to a certain type of establishment also dictates the way a person uses the space.  At Diary Queen, our prices are generally fair and our food is sweet and fattening.  Those options invite people that are young, broke or overweight.  No offense intended.  Those factors put together are probably the reason why we have bright colors or chairs with no sides or ads stuck on the walls.  The fact that we have a lot of kids that come through is why we put up Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and etc decorations up.  Our Dairy Queen is also located right near I-94, so there are a lot of people that come and go near us who are on the go.  That is probably why the owner decided to use some of his space to put a drive-thru.  For Olive Garden, our food tastes diverse, our prices are fair but not cheap and everything is hard to pronounce.  So we attract people that aren’t food picky, have money and don’t mind a different culture.  Usually people like that don’t like that are subdued in nature and do appreciate our Earthly colors and designs.  Olive Garden is also located in the middle of an aging Italian population and right near the mall so there goes another reason why we need more seats and why we need to be Italian.

                In conclusion, this was just another explanation of how people use spaces differently.  They use it differently even if the goal might be the same.  Satisfy the customer.  This was right under my nose and for a while I didn’t put it all together.  Maybe if there are any other two jobbers out there, I’ve inspired you to look.

-Silvia Mansoor

“Be who you are and say how you feel, because those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.” ~Dr. Seuss. Recently, I have decided to apply out of state of college. I am applying for the University of Texas Austin and San Antonio. My goal in life is to purse to field in broadcast and radio communications as well as become a successful entrepreneur. My dream is to move out of state for the reminder of my college years. I want something more than what I am finding living in Michigan. I truly feel my destiny is to live and be somewhere else. I don’t hate Michigan; it’s just not for me. My high years were kind of lame so I was excepting something different going into college. I want more out of life. I feel that moving away from home will help me find out who I really am. Living at home is very hard. I have ton of family always over. My parents constantly stress me out and sometimes my sisters drive me crazy. I want to be free and live my own life. Label #1 FEAR.  Questions I have heard: What has fear kept you from doing? Has fear convinced you to detour your life from your true passions? Have you stayed taken a crappy, safe job for fear of tackling new exciting job? Fear use to cripple me from becoming successful. I refuse to be fearful for the rest of my life. My parents fear me leaving the state for school with all of these student loans to pay off. My mom’s already giving me a hard time about whether she wants to co-sign student loans for me. I keep telling her I am going to make it. Don’t be afraid. I will back all the student loans I borrowed. She worried about her signing on the dotted line and who’s going to back the $$ back. My mom has nothing to worry about.  I need to go away to school, to live a new life, and discovered who I am.  My parents are old school. They want their kids to at home, go to school nearby and get a job in the engineering or healthcare field. They play it too safe. I guess that was how they were raised. I refuse to be afraid. If I go away to school, I know I will be so successful.  “People who successfully do the things the rest of us fear are not free of fear.  They just don’t let it stop them.  The ability to quiet our reaction to fear and to be able to face it down is one of the things that set apart the people who are living their dreams from those who just keep dreaming.” -Beth Miakinin honed her business, coaching and mentoring skills during her 25+ years of executive leadership experience in two Fortune 500 companies and as an independent coach and consultant. 

Worry Label #2. My uncle Reuben has told me to stay in Michigan, live at home and get a job nearby.  He is worried about me leaving Michigan. I’ll have no family, friends, or safety nest to catch me if I fall. I say stop worrying about me! I’ll be fine. How I am ever going to survive in life if I worry about every little thing. I go to school in one of the most dangerous cities in the United States (No offense to WSU, I happen to like the people there)? Why are you going to worry about me moving to Texas? My family use the label worry to constant brings down their lives. The label of fear and worry will not take over my life. The label people use most often in their minds- fear and worry. We are not our label, our emotions, we our conscious beings. I like book a New Earth say’s “Live in the now.” My uncle Paul has totally transformed and sparked my imagination. He actually persuaded me to look at all my options. He says I should go away to school, go to Texas, and live your life. The house is to distracting. I have known this all along I just did not believe I could actually move away. My Uncle Paul has traveled all over and he really knows. I says that people who travel and live in various place’s their minds our open to the rest of the world. They experiences new relationships with people, experience who other people live and it’s just the American one way of thinking.  You know what? My biggest fear is not failing it looking back 50 years from now and saying “I wish I should have gone away to college. I wish I should have lived the life I’ve always wanted” If my parents want fear there you go. I am sick and tired of my family being so afraid to live their lives. A great example of being afraid is my sister Maria. My father pressured my sister to get a degree in electrical engineering. My sister’s true passion is cooking, the culinary arts. She is the best cook and baker ever. She makes some amazing dishes and deserts. I love her brownies and cakes! She loves to watch the Food network channel. One of her favorite shows is the Food Network Challenge. It’s where top chiefs in the field of specialty desserts make creative huge sugar candy cakes and designs. The winner wins $10,000 and has a chance at $100,000.  Well, my sister was so afraid to live out her passion she graduated with a degree in electrical and computer engineering and she does not have the passion or desire. She works at a boring job. If she moved out, lived on campus and made her own decisions she would have found that she is the creator of her destiny not mom and dad. You know what? I am going to live on campus, move out and not worry about being afraid to make mistakes and fall down.  I everything is going to work out if I just believe. Live your life, Become Alive! I’m outJ

Jules Mendoza