Jlapolla's Weblog

Final

jlapolla — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 06:25:27 +0000

This week’s readings, along with the discussions and classe work were by far my favorite of the semester. I grew up in a little town in Michigan which was predominantly caucasion, and the culture shock when I moved to California, even to another small town such as Norco, was very extreme for me. I’ve always held a pretty open mind about race, culture, and the differences between humans, but after living here for about a year now, I have come to realize that there is so much that I did not understand about the differences between everyone in the world. The essay by June Jordan opened my eyes even more than ever because I have never really thought about eubonics as simply another language formed by a culture. It was interesting to see the translations compared to the translations that I am used to doing in Spanish class and I was surpised to see that they really were very similar. I think that it is absolutely the most important thing in the world to understand and accept the cultures all around us which are different than our own. It is important to me to surround myself with as much diversity as possible so that I can get the most thorough understanding of as many cultures as possible. Reading these texts made me want to study culture even more than ever and diversify the materials or books that I want to read in the future. Also, I just finished reading the book “Black Boy”, and I think that everyone should read that book. It was great and helped me to understand better the hardships and struggles that African Americans endured in the early 90′s. The thought that some of those prejudices still exist today is appalling, but it makes me realize that we are still not all in sync with each other in the modern world and that it is something that we all must strive for in order to achieve peace and happiness.

Thomas Burke

jlapolla — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:04:40 +0000

Well, first off, I understand what Burke is trying to say about identification. Identification is a very important part of humnaity and rhetoric as well. In order to persuade someone of something, it is helpful to provide some sort of identification for them. If they feel that they can relate to you or a situation you are speaking of, then it is much easier to convince them of your opinion. The thing I don’t understand is how that 909er video had really anything to do with Burke or his theories. I mean, I understand that it showed happy people in pictures to help persuade potential home buyers, and a few other small details such as that, but thirty minutes of monotone dialogue, bad recording, and the most boring video I have ever seen is not worth the insight I gained from the video. Anyway, besides that, I actually really enjoyed Burke’s text and theories more than any of the others that we have read thus far in the class. It was clear and concise and makes the most sense to me. Burke’s ideals have shown me ways that I can be more persuasive myself, in my speech and writing and that is something that has not occured before now and is of great value to me. I am always looking for ways to make my writing more persuasive and I think that the identification theory is definitely going to be useful. It is simple and it’s true that nothing will convince someone better than identifying with them, because there is nothing anyone loves more than themselves and their problems and their lives.

Cicero

jlapolla — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 06:24:00 +0000

In Al Gore’s Columbine memorial address he uses the cause of honorable to introduce his speech. He begins with sympathetic words and the unanswerable question of why humans do evil. Because of the nature of this speech, Gore does not need to use much rhetoric to convince his audience of anything. Since his audience already had the same mind set as he did, he focused instead on the little comfort he could provide through his words. His exordium leads very fluently into the rest of his speech, using Cicero’s suggestions under the situation which he, and the rest of the United States, faced. The introducation was very effective as to expressing his sorrow and the comfort he wished to show the families and friends of the Columbine victims. He expresses that the friends and families of these victims are not alone in their sorrows and grief, that the entire country has been affected by these losses. It seems that Gore’s speech was well accepted by his audience, as genuine and with this, Gore would be an excellent orator, in Cicero’s opinion. Al Gore’s speech showed his good intentions and won over his audience unhesitantly. The introduction he chose fit well with his audience and the purpose of his speech; to inspire hope and comfort in his audience. I think that Gore’s exordium was well written and extremely effective, and I believe that Cicero would agree.

Slam

jlapolla — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 23:48:23 +0000

Dr. V, I am so glas that you had us watch this movie in class this week because that is the kind of teaching I am interested in. Education is one of the strongest tools we can use to reform people who have commited crimes in the past, and this is the kind of education that will really make a difference in the world. A lot of the guys in the movie were probably under privileged and under educated when they were younger, which could possibly be the reason they got into trouble in the first place. They didn’t have the means to get a job to support themselves, so they sold drugs. Or they just got caught up in the whole drug situation and made some bad decisions, but the point is, it all stems from education. Education is the solution to everything, as far as I’m concerned and it seemed to me like their teacher in the movie, Lauren Bell, made a real difference in the lives of those men.

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the program where you go around and teach students in the United States who live in uneducated or under privileged areas, but I would love to be a part of something like that. It’s somewhat like the Peace Corps, because you don’t really get paid for the work you are doing; it’s based on volunteer work. I really would like to participate in a program like that or do something like Lauren Bell did in the movie Slam.

Barack Obama

jlapolla — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 04:19:26 +0000

I watched the first video that came up on the youtube page for Barack Obama and it was about Virginians who are campaigning for Obama. The entire video used pathos to convince voters that Obama is the right choice for America. It spoke mainly about how Obama truly cares about the troubles Americans are going through right now, but it never says how he is going to make a change for the better. There are no practical ideas brought up in the video; instead it focuses on trying to appeal to the emotions of the voters. It shows the dedication and passion these campaigners posess during this presidential election. It shows all of the long hours and hard work they have all put in to getting Obama elected. It tries to make the voters appreciate the depth their campaigning has gone and win votes in this way. Although an appeal to emotions is very important in this election, as many Americans are struggling and want to be able to relate to each other and our potential president, and are reaching out for the hope that this president will bring about change to the country, I don’t think that pathos is the best way to win over an audience of intelligent voters. I think that logos would be the most effective, as it would show what exactly the changes Obama promises to make are and would provide a more substantial explanation of why Obama is the best choice for president. Ethos could also come into play concerning the more controversial issues Obama supports such as gay marriage, etc.

Education?

jlapolla — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:55:14 +0000

John Henry Newman’s theory of education suggests the end of an authoritarian type classroom. He thinks that a classroom setting where the teachers and students are on a closer peer level, would be more beneficial to the student’s learning. In theory, it sounds good enough, but is it really practical in our current society? The tuition for a college education has skyrocketed and the competition as well. Students who are paying top dollars to attend the college of their choice are going to expect something in return. These students will expect for their teachers to give them all of the knowledge that they posess. They will not expect to be introduced to a classroom setting where they are expected to hold as much responsability for the knowledge they gain, as the teachers.

The only way to practically apply Newman’s theory is to change the expectations of the students. An education which is obtained by hands on experiences, exploration, and critical thinking will prove to be much more beneficial than an education gained by listening to lectures and writing papers. This should be the education that we all strive for, the one we are willing to pay thousands of dollars for, the one we all fight for. Students need to place more responsability for their education on themselves, instead of relying on the teachers for all of the knowledge they will gain. They need to realize that this education will save them all in the long run and that the more work they do now, the less they will have to do later. In this way, by altering the thoughts of students, John Henry Newman’s theory would work.

Children of Men

jlapolla — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:17:46 +0000

One of the things that I noticed about this movie was that it completely reminded me of concentration camps from Nazi Germany. Even the behavior of the men in charge seemed to compare closely to that of the Nazis. There was one part in particular, where one of the soldiers said, “You people disgust me”, that bothered me the most. I think that this movie greatly reflects the idea of Thomas Hobbe’s that the absence of a strong, central government will bring about destruction, greed, and all other negative qualities that men posess. This is shown throughout the entire movie, beginning with the immigrants who are all shoved into cages as if they were animals, and ending with the war surrounding Theo and Key as they try to make their way to the boat. The entire movie is completely chaotic and violent, and this is a reflection of the broken down government. There are no laws or authority figures to keep the citizens in check, therefore they resort back to the basis of their human nature. Another example is the greed shown by the group that was supposed to be helping Key keep her baby safe. Blinded by their obsession with using Key’s baby for their own good, they kill Julian, Jasper, and many others in their attempt to obtain the baby. This shows that this group, as well, has taken to their own evil human nature and disregarded any attempt to do good or help Key in an unselfish way. Without a strong government, London has fallen into chaos, showing the true nature of its citizens.

Week 5

jlapolla — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:44:13 +0000

From the very beginning of the recent Presidential debate, I felt that John McCain was lacking substanance in his answers. As Obama began responding to the first question regarding what was to be done about the economic crisis in this country, he outlined a plan that would pull the United States out of this crisis. He spoke of plans to create more jobs with construction projects, tax cuts for the middle class and long term plans concerning health plans and our energy program. When McCain answers the same question he basically gives a summary of the crisis we are in, instead of giving specific details. He keeps saying that he has a plan, but never expands on the actual details of this plan. Aside from that, McCain states that we do not need to raise taxes on anyone in America. This means that although our taxes, as the middle class, will not be raised, they will also not be lowered. Obama wants to help the working class; he wants to give tax cuts to all those who are earning less than a quarter million dollars a year. This is obviously going to be a great help to the majority of the United States. Another thing that bothered me about McCain is the comment that he made about him suspending his campaign to go to Washington and figure out the economic crisis at hand. It just seems like he is looking for praise for this. As a presidential candidate, it is his responsbility to deal with our country’s problems. Personally, I agree with Obama when he says that it is a little ridiculous that possibly the future President of the United States cannot multi task well enough to be able to juggle his campaign with a trip back to Washington. Basically, although I don’t think McCain would be a bad president, I don’t think that he would help the American people as efficiently as Obama would. This debate has only solidified my opinion.

Week 3

jlapolla — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:16:26 +0000

I found it very interesting that Ruth Benedict brought up the idea that although practices in one culture could be completely normal, in a seperate culture that same practice could be absolutely appalling. As the majority of the United States (about 77%) are Christian, oftentimes in school this religion is brought up, incidentally. Even without realizing it, or purposefully doing so, many teachers throughout my education have imposed the ideas of God and the Bible upon myself and fellow classmates. Through simple traditions such as the pledge of alleigance, God and the Christian religion has been imposed on us in the classroom since an age as young as four or five. I think that the Christian belief is so strong in this country that most people don’t think twice about the simple, daily statements made that represent their beliefs in this religion. Coming from a small, dominantly caucasion town of Howell, Michigan, the assumption of teachers that most of their students were Christian was much more prevalent than I have found it to be here. The way I see it, the bible is just a story, the same as Greek mythology, and should be looked at in the same way. I’m not saying in any way that my past teachers were bad people, but I think that as diverse as the United States is, as an educator, they need to keep much more of an open mind. If a teacher is going to reference Christianity in a lecture, assignment, or anything else, I think that references should also be made to other religions as well. It just shows how our culture is very inclined to this one specific religion. If someone from a different culture was to come to the United States and attend classes here, I would imagine it would be very transparent to them if they had a Christian teacher.

Me

jlapolla — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 23:04:44 +0000

I’m Jordan Lapolla. I just graduated from Howell High School (in Michigan) and moved here, to Norco, with my family. I plan on majoring in Political Sciences, with a possible minor in Spanish. After a year or two at RCC, I would like to transfer to a four year university. After school, I want to join the Peace Corp., and from there, I’m not sure where life will take me.