Friday, June 5, 2009
Intro to "Influenced Reality"
This piece is the third of my major writing assignments for English 101. I picked a topic that I was interested in and spent a lot time prewriting and organizing my ideas, but I had a hard time narrowing my topic because there was so much to say. While writing the piece I didn’t want to include too many details because I was concerned that the main point would be lost, but essentially the opposite happened and I had an essay with a good framework, but not enough details and examples. I was excited to go back to this piece and add those details I had prepared before, but was overwhelmed and did not include. My writing is now included in this portfolio with revisions based on my own analysis of what needed to be improved and my instructor’s feedback.
Influenced Reality
Memories of growing up as a child in the 80’s include watching shows like “The Wonder Years” and “The Cosby Show”. These shows were popular with families, because young kids and teenagers could watch the shows and relate to the storyline, but parents still felt that the shows included appropriate topics for their children to watch. This type of family programming can still be found on TV listings, but as one flips through the channels on the television they will more often stumble upon shows that are not considered appropriate for children even though they are televised during daytime and after-school hours. One of the main offenders of this standard is reality shows. Reality television shows challenge traditions of regular family programming by exploiting family’s problems in a way that is glamorized for television ratings.
Our society has become a reality entertainment industry. There is not one major network or cable television channel that does not host a reality-based show because these shows are popular and they get high ratings. Reality shows take many different forms. Some of these shows are a competition in which contestants win something at the end or achieve a goal, like dating to find a soul mate, competing in cooking competitions to earn a position as head chef in a restaurant, or showing off talent to land a recording contract. Many celebrities have their own shows, and even your average all-American families are being taped from the inside.
Before reality television, family programming included shows that depicted the average family who worked through their problems together. Although children watching the show might wonder how a middle class family could afford such a large house and seem to not have any problems that couldn’t be solved within their thirty minute timeslot, the answer given to children about these shows was, “it’s not real, it’s just TV.” Now the popularity of documenting family lives has created this type of reality shows all over television programming. These shows are meant to be tailored to a family audience, but often the episodes show “reality” life as more “Hollywood” than reality. Families cannot answer their kids with the same response, because these shows are taping an actual family and not just “TV”. They are meant to be real.
While watching reality shows, one wonders if the producers are really showing us these families’ average daily lives. It is natural to wonder how much of the show is cut and edited to create drama and events that will keep large audiences watching the show. In Kevin Arnovitz’s article “Virtual Dictionary” he describes that “reality TV, like most professional worlds, has a nomenclature all its own” (438). He goes on to explain a term that is used in the reality television industry, frankenbite:
“An edited reality show snippet, most often found in contestant testimonials, that splices together several disparate strands of an interview, or even multiple interviews, into a single clip. A frankenbite allows editors to manufacture “story” efficiently and dramatically…this is the reality show editor’s most potent tool for manipulating viewer perception of the contestant” (438).
If these shows were reality, the viewer would see the family struggling to pay the bills and deciding what extra activity would need to be cut out that month. Instead most episodes show the family taking off on amazing costly adventures, which leaves the audiences wondering if the life were are seeing is achievable without their TV paycheck.
It seems that each of these families in the early days of their show were struggling to make ends meet while driving averages cars and wearing average clothes, but after a season or two of filming, this once down to earth family is now jetting off on expensive vacations, and going on trips for book tours and speaking engagements. They have become instant celebrities. For example, Jon and Kate Gosselin from TLC’s hit show “Jon and Kate plus 8” began as an average family from Pennsylvania. About five years ago, after giving birth to sextuplets, the family was taped for a documentary on The Learning Channel. The popularity of that one hour special led to a full-time show with multiple episodes. This show has now been taped for a few seasons and the family has become so well-known that they have bodyguards and the paparazzi following them everywhere. This family who originally didn’t have funds to diaper, clothe, and feed their eight kids, now lives in a million dollar home and does not need to work aside from their TV show. This income does benefit the family in many ways, but the drawbacks have not been considered until it is now too late. The fame-hungry Kate Gosselin may have driven her marriage to divorce and these children are practically working full time at age five and nine. When do they get a day off?
One could argue that reality shows do show real life and not the sugar coated scenarios like some family programming. It does show real families living with real issues and sometimes these problems are bigger than what can be shown in a thirty minute episode. In a society with many single parent homes, some of these families could be role models to young people as they can watch families eating dinner together and working out their problems.
Reality television shows make for exciting television watching, but are not truly the reality they claim to be. These shows intrigue a wide audience, but are a modified form of reality that is showing children and young adults entertainment that is essentially exploiting other young children who are being constantly taped for television.
Our society has become a reality entertainment industry. There is not one major network or cable television channel that does not host a reality-based show because these shows are popular and they get high ratings. Reality shows take many different forms. Some of these shows are a competition in which contestants win something at the end or achieve a goal, like dating to find a soul mate, competing in cooking competitions to earn a position as head chef in a restaurant, or showing off talent to land a recording contract. Many celebrities have their own shows, and even your average all-American families are being taped from the inside.
Before reality television, family programming included shows that depicted the average family who worked through their problems together. Although children watching the show might wonder how a middle class family could afford such a large house and seem to not have any problems that couldn’t be solved within their thirty minute timeslot, the answer given to children about these shows was, “it’s not real, it’s just TV.” Now the popularity of documenting family lives has created this type of reality shows all over television programming. These shows are meant to be tailored to a family audience, but often the episodes show “reality” life as more “Hollywood” than reality. Families cannot answer their kids with the same response, because these shows are taping an actual family and not just “TV”. They are meant to be real.
While watching reality shows, one wonders if the producers are really showing us these families’ average daily lives. It is natural to wonder how much of the show is cut and edited to create drama and events that will keep large audiences watching the show. In Kevin Arnovitz’s article “Virtual Dictionary” he describes that “reality TV, like most professional worlds, has a nomenclature all its own” (438). He goes on to explain a term that is used in the reality television industry, frankenbite:
“An edited reality show snippet, most often found in contestant testimonials, that splices together several disparate strands of an interview, or even multiple interviews, into a single clip. A frankenbite allows editors to manufacture “story” efficiently and dramatically…this is the reality show editor’s most potent tool for manipulating viewer perception of the contestant” (438).
If these shows were reality, the viewer would see the family struggling to pay the bills and deciding what extra activity would need to be cut out that month. Instead most episodes show the family taking off on amazing costly adventures, which leaves the audiences wondering if the life were are seeing is achievable without their TV paycheck.
It seems that each of these families in the early days of their show were struggling to make ends meet while driving averages cars and wearing average clothes, but after a season or two of filming, this once down to earth family is now jetting off on expensive vacations, and going on trips for book tours and speaking engagements. They have become instant celebrities. For example, Jon and Kate Gosselin from TLC’s hit show “Jon and Kate plus 8” began as an average family from Pennsylvania. About five years ago, after giving birth to sextuplets, the family was taped for a documentary on The Learning Channel. The popularity of that one hour special led to a full-time show with multiple episodes. This show has now been taped for a few seasons and the family has become so well-known that they have bodyguards and the paparazzi following them everywhere. This family who originally didn’t have funds to diaper, clothe, and feed their eight kids, now lives in a million dollar home and does not need to work aside from their TV show. This income does benefit the family in many ways, but the drawbacks have not been considered until it is now too late. The fame-hungry Kate Gosselin may have driven her marriage to divorce and these children are practically working full time at age five and nine. When do they get a day off?
One could argue that reality shows do show real life and not the sugar coated scenarios like some family programming. It does show real families living with real issues and sometimes these problems are bigger than what can be shown in a thirty minute episode. In a society with many single parent homes, some of these families could be role models to young people as they can watch families eating dinner together and working out their problems.
Reality television shows make for exciting television watching, but are not truly the reality they claim to be. These shows intrigue a wide audience, but are a modified form of reality that is showing children and young adults entertainment that is essentially exploiting other young children who are being constantly taped for television.
Reflection Letter
Although I have been through college programs before, I am now completing English 101, the second college class of many on my journey to becoming a nurse. I spent most of my late twenties working in various jobs trying to find one that suited my abilities and personality. I kept finding myself in jobs where I did well, but I did not feel my job meant anything. I wanted a career that I had a passion for. Through all of my searching, nursing found me. I had previously completed a personal trainer program at Ashmead College which led into my jobs at therapy clinics. Although I enjoyed this work, I realized that I really wanted to work in a hospital setting. I took the first step and got certified as a nursing assistant through Edmonds Community College. I have been working in assisted living facilities as a nursing assistant for three years now and am ready to take the next step in my career toward a degree in Nursing. Completing my first class last quarter and now continuing this quarter has allowed me to see that a Nursing degree is attainable for me!
I struggled at the beginning of this course thinking that my computer skills may not be up to par for an online class. I have gradually felt more successful throughout this course though! Not only have my computer skills improved, but I have realized that although I have never considered myself a successful student, I can be. The feedback I have received from my classmates and instructors has helped me identify my strengths and areas for improvement in writing. I have learned that I enjoy expressing myself through writing. I have found that I am easily able to put my voice into my writing and my sentence structure has improved, but I still need to work on organization and including examples.
Besides my growth in the area of writing, another important element to this course was our themes: identity, community, and tradition. I have always been reflective on my own identity and how that has developed based on my upbringing and the experiences I have had in life, but I know that the readings and responses from this course have helped me to gain a deeper understanding about identity and specifically how it is related to community and tradition. In this respect, I am glad I am one of the older members in the class because I was able to use the information from our readings to reflect on the life decisions I have made and how my life was shaped throughout my teens, twenties, and early thirties. I particularly learned from the assumptions that were included at the beginning of each of our units. These assumptions helped me understand the belief points about each theme that many people carry. They also helped me to identify how I viewed identity, community, and tradition.
To illustrate the growth I have made this quarter, I have chosen four writing pieces to include in my portfolio from various stages of my learning in this course. The selected pieces highlight my strengths as well as showcase revisions I have made as my writing has improved this quarter. The first piece I have chosen was a discussion board assignment in response to Emily White’s essay “High School’s Secret Life”. I feel that this response demonstrates my critical thinking skills. Next, I am including a piece that shows my skills at revising my work. This piece about pop culture was our third major writing assignment. I chose to write my paper on the topic reality television, which is a topic I am very interested in, but unfortunately I had so many examples to share than I didn’t end up finding ways to include them effectively in my paper. I have revised this piece and am now excited to share it to readers to see the improvement I had made in the paper. Next, I included a discussion board posting to our first Movie Talk group about the movie “Freedom Writers”. This discussion board shows my awareness of audience and voice. Finally, I have selected a blog assignment about community for my writer’s choice. This piece gives the reader the essence of who I am and I like the way this piece shows my ability to write effectively while introducing myself.
Please enjoy my great works of writing!
I struggled at the beginning of this course thinking that my computer skills may not be up to par for an online class. I have gradually felt more successful throughout this course though! Not only have my computer skills improved, but I have realized that although I have never considered myself a successful student, I can be. The feedback I have received from my classmates and instructors has helped me identify my strengths and areas for improvement in writing. I have learned that I enjoy expressing myself through writing. I have found that I am easily able to put my voice into my writing and my sentence structure has improved, but I still need to work on organization and including examples.
Besides my growth in the area of writing, another important element to this course was our themes: identity, community, and tradition. I have always been reflective on my own identity and how that has developed based on my upbringing and the experiences I have had in life, but I know that the readings and responses from this course have helped me to gain a deeper understanding about identity and specifically how it is related to community and tradition. In this respect, I am glad I am one of the older members in the class because I was able to use the information from our readings to reflect on the life decisions I have made and how my life was shaped throughout my teens, twenties, and early thirties. I particularly learned from the assumptions that were included at the beginning of each of our units. These assumptions helped me understand the belief points about each theme that many people carry. They also helped me to identify how I viewed identity, community, and tradition.
To illustrate the growth I have made this quarter, I have chosen four writing pieces to include in my portfolio from various stages of my learning in this course. The selected pieces highlight my strengths as well as showcase revisions I have made as my writing has improved this quarter. The first piece I have chosen was a discussion board assignment in response to Emily White’s essay “High School’s Secret Life”. I feel that this response demonstrates my critical thinking skills. Next, I am including a piece that shows my skills at revising my work. This piece about pop culture was our third major writing assignment. I chose to write my paper on the topic reality television, which is a topic I am very interested in, but unfortunately I had so many examples to share than I didn’t end up finding ways to include them effectively in my paper. I have revised this piece and am now excited to share it to readers to see the improvement I had made in the paper. Next, I included a discussion board posting to our first Movie Talk group about the movie “Freedom Writers”. This discussion board shows my awareness of audience and voice. Finally, I have selected a blog assignment about community for my writer’s choice. This piece gives the reader the essence of who I am and I like the way this piece shows my ability to write effectively while introducing myself.
Please enjoy my great works of writing!
Intro to "I am a Husky, We are Washington"
This piece about community is included in my portfolio as a “writer’s choice” because without it the reader would not fully know me as a writer. This piece was originally posted in my blog as a writing about community. As I wrote it, I realized that this piece connects the three themes of our class: identity, community, and tradition. One of the things I identify most with is Husky football. I was raised a Husky fan and I think that connection to a community and the tradition involved in college sports has shaped who I am as a person, such as competitive, loyal, athletic, and sports fanatic. A line from my writing best describes me “These die-hard fans literally bleed purple and gold!”
Intro to "The Insiders and Outsiders of Freedom Writers"
As I watched the movie Freedom Writers, I felt very strongly about its message and the theme of the story. Especially knowing that this is a true story I instantly felt connected with the characters. Also, since my girlfriend is a teacher, I was drawn to this storyline that portrays a young teacher struggling through her first year while facing groups of insiders and outsiders. As I responded to this movie in a discussion board that would be read by my classmates, I was able to show my voice through my writing since I felt so connected with the movie. In my response I wrote “This teacher, who thought she would be in an insider group with the other staff, begins to become more of an insider with her students. This in turn loses respect from her staff as she is clearly an outsider to their group, but this is also the point when she is making the biggest impact on her students’ learning.” This type of public writing challenged me as a writer because I had to put my voice into my writing even though I knew others might read it and disagree. Even though it was a public forum, I needed to share my true feeling while keeping my audience in mind.
Intro to "Who's In, Who's Out?"
For this assignment, our class read an article titled “High School’s Secret Life” by Emily White. While read this piece I was able to relate to White’s experiences and to make connections to my own life. Before writing a response for my classmates to read, I first thought about how I could relate to White’s feelings and imagine her experiencing “tribes” in high school. I used my critical thinking skills to analyze why certain kids form cliques with other and what makes some fit in or not in a certain group. As I said in my writing, “similar to Emily White’s definition of the social gatherings in the cafeteria, I can also the center of my high school universe being the cafeteria. In particular I remember this being the place where rumors would fly and teasing would begin.” After this analyze, I reflected on how my experience was also different from White’s.
I am a Husky, We are Washington
Being a Husky football fan is a community. The roar of the crowd, the sound of "Louie, Louie", sirens blaring after a touchdown - these are the sounds that Husky fans crave to hear on Saturday afternoons in the fall. To be a Husky fan means that one loves football and the traditions that go along with it, including tailgating, purple and gold, and being a season ticket holder. Members of this group proudly display UW and Husky stickers and license plate frames on their car, wear Husky apparel on a weekly basis, and most likely have a beer bottle opener that plays "Tequila" when it cracks open a cold one. These die-hard fans literally bleed purple and gold!
Some of the members of this community are current students, some are alum, and some, like me, have been fans for life because it's how we were raised. No matter how one comes to be a Husky fan, to be a part of this group one must have at least basic knowledge about the game of football, especially Husky players past and present. This specifically includes the ability to recall historical moments from Husky games as well as the ability to list Rose Bowl appearances and National Championships for the team. The most important part of being a Husky fan is to have a common, outward hatred of all Pac-10 rival teams, specifically Oregon, WSU, USC, and UCLA.
This group is united and the members are Husky fans through the good seasons and the bad. During a very poor season, such as the last one in 2008, the morale of the team as well as the community of fans can feel strained. Some members leave the community at this time claiming that they will not watch a game played that poorly or a game by the worst team in college football. Real fans are not fair weather though. They stick by the team through all their bad seasons, hopefully to see another year like we always had in the 90's.
I am a part of this community because I was raised a Husky fan. I used to watch the games on television with my father and I was able to attend a game or two per season as a young child. I am currently a Husky season ticket holder. Even though the team did not do well last year and the cost of tickets is expensive in this poor economy, this is something I make a priority. This is a community that I want to continue to be a part of because I have a love for football, I always have hope that the Huskies will have a winning season, and I love the feeling of community and togetherness between all Husky fans as we gather before the game at the Duchess for bloody marys, during the game to cheer on the team, and after each game to celebrate!
The t-shirt I wear to most games says it all "I am a Husky, We are Washington."
The Insiders and Outsiders of Freedom Writers
Freedom Writers shows the viewer that all people can feel like both insiders and outsiders. This film focuses on insiders being in groups related to race, but hits on many more levels. The first view we see of the courtyard at Wilson High has everyone in their own segregated groups or tribes. One quick look and you can see that the groups are separated by race and as the character, Eva narrates the names of the groups like little Cambodia, little Tijuana, etc. Within the groups these people feel like insiders. Everyone in their groups is of the same ethnicity and they are raised to stick up for their “own kind.” They are also just surviving the ghetto life together – doing what they have to do to stay on the inside. A person not in their group, they consider an outsider. They are all outsiders to each other.
The new teacher at the school, Mrs. Gruwell, is an outsider on many levels. At first she is an outsider to the staff since she is a new teacher. As she enters the classroom she is made to be considered an outsider as she was raised wealthy and is highly educated. Wearing her pearls and business suit and talking about a book the kids can’t comprehend, the students quickly show her she is an outsider. She was not even an insider to the only white kid in her class. He was not wealthy or in the honors classes. Later in the movie she is again an outsider as a teacher who wants to fight for her students and their learning while the others teacher argue that her students will drop out before junior year and are not worth better reading materials. This teacher, who thought she would be in an insider group with the other staff, begins to become more of an insider with her students. This in turn loses respect from her staff as she is clearly an outsider to their group, but this is also the point when she is making the biggest impact on her students’ learning.
This part of the movie is where I saw the theme of insiders/outsiders as well as identity come together. At some point, the students start enjoying Mrs. Gruwell’s lessons and she becomes an insider to them. This allows the class to bond as a whole making the classroom their “inside” group no matter what race or intelligence they were. This is also the point where I feel true identities were discovered. These kids who thought they knew themselves as gangsters and thugs and hard asses realized that they had an identity outside of that environment. This seems like something I can add to my paper about the relationship between culture and identity!
The new teacher at the school, Mrs. Gruwell, is an outsider on many levels. At first she is an outsider to the staff since she is a new teacher. As she enters the classroom she is made to be considered an outsider as she was raised wealthy and is highly educated. Wearing her pearls and business suit and talking about a book the kids can’t comprehend, the students quickly show her she is an outsider. She was not even an insider to the only white kid in her class. He was not wealthy or in the honors classes. Later in the movie she is again an outsider as a teacher who wants to fight for her students and their learning while the others teacher argue that her students will drop out before junior year and are not worth better reading materials. This teacher, who thought she would be in an insider group with the other staff, begins to become more of an insider with her students. This in turn loses respect from her staff as she is clearly an outsider to their group, but this is also the point when she is making the biggest impact on her students’ learning.
This part of the movie is where I saw the theme of insiders/outsiders as well as identity come together. At some point, the students start enjoying Mrs. Gruwell’s lessons and she becomes an insider to them. This allows the class to bond as a whole making the classroom their “inside” group no matter what race or intelligence they were. This is also the point where I feel true identities were discovered. These kids who thought they knew themselves as gangsters and thugs and hard asses realized that they had an identity outside of that environment. This seems like something I can add to my paper about the relationship between culture and identity!
Who's In, Who's Out?
In Emily White’s Essay “High School’s Secret Life,” she paints us a reminiscent picture in great detail of the sights, sounds, and smells of the social life in a high school setting. She describes peer groups as tribes. During my time of high school, these same groups she describes as tribes, I referred to as cliques. I never really considered myself to be part of a clique in particularly, but I had a close group of friends who I hung out with more than others due to our common interest in sports. Even though I don’t feel that we were “cliquey” in that we didn’t exclude other, we did always seemed to get sucked into the rumors, which included discussions about recent breakups, cool parties, and what we assumed all those other kids in the high school were up too.
Similar to Emily White’s definition of the social gatherings in the cafeteria, I can also the center of my high school universe being the cafeteria. In particular I remember this being the place where rumors would fly and teasing would begin. Sometimes this was my peers’ ridicule of me. Most of it wasn’t worth worrying about at the time, but it’s natural to feel offended. I was at times made fun of because I didn’t go along with the group’s ideas. Although this was usually as innocent as a difference in style of clothes, I was sometimes teased for not choosing to participate in risky behaviors. At this point it often felt more like a gang initiation rather than just some innocent teasing.
I also had a unique situation in high school in that my stepsister and I were in the same grade. I would often be on the other end hearing rumors and true accusations about her and her friends. I always had to make the tough choice to choose between defending my sister or going along with the fun, at the expense of others, with my friends.
In contrast in White’s experience, I had a ticket to social expectance, which was my skills on the basketball court. Due to this gift, I hung out with others who were athletically inclined in some way. I never had to try to fit in with this tribe – it just all came naturally. My involvement in athletics opened doors into a more popular setting for me later in high school. Although this would have allowed for me to become part of a much more exclusive tribe, I never felt comfortable.
I was able to relate to Emily’s White description of high school in many ways and also found some differences. Now 12 years out of high school it sure is interesting to reflect on how high school and whether or not I fit into certain social groups could have shaped a lot of the person I am today.
Similar to Emily White’s definition of the social gatherings in the cafeteria, I can also the center of my high school universe being the cafeteria. In particular I remember this being the place where rumors would fly and teasing would begin. Sometimes this was my peers’ ridicule of me. Most of it wasn’t worth worrying about at the time, but it’s natural to feel offended. I was at times made fun of because I didn’t go along with the group’s ideas. Although this was usually as innocent as a difference in style of clothes, I was sometimes teased for not choosing to participate in risky behaviors. At this point it often felt more like a gang initiation rather than just some innocent teasing.
I also had a unique situation in high school in that my stepsister and I were in the same grade. I would often be on the other end hearing rumors and true accusations about her and her friends. I always had to make the tough choice to choose between defending my sister or going along with the fun, at the expense of others, with my friends.
In contrast in White’s experience, I had a ticket to social expectance, which was my skills on the basketball court. Due to this gift, I hung out with others who were athletically inclined in some way. I never had to try to fit in with this tribe – it just all came naturally. My involvement in athletics opened doors into a more popular setting for me later in high school. Although this would have allowed for me to become part of a much more exclusive tribe, I never felt comfortable.
I was able to relate to Emily’s White description of high school in many ways and also found some differences. Now 12 years out of high school it sure is interesting to reflect on how high school and whether or not I fit into certain social groups could have shaped a lot of the person I am today.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
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