Blog Hw 2

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents had many strong themes and message but the thing that i most took away from it was that I am proud of my culture. I am very grateful to be born in raised in the U.S. their are many things that living here has taught me. That i should appreciate every meal and my lifestyle because others do not have the privilege of living it.  The Garcia Girls struggled to fit in to American culture I am very glad that I do not have to adapt to a new culture because I can imagine how hard it would be. Here in America we are very blessed to be a part of a bigger picture. We produce and sell products and ideas. Isn't it cool how an idea can be sold? Other countries with more flourishing economies such as China produce items which may be a better idea overall but they do not sell ideas like we do here in America which is why I think I am blessed. In other countries like the Dominican Republic jobs and luxuries are harder to come by which is one thing The Garcia Girls taught me. I am a musician and in America it is possible to live off your music but in the DR such a passion can only be a hobby. Overall I Didn't like the book but the messages it sent were worthwhile it really gives you an appreciation for your homeland and your culture. Every aspect of my culture I take for granted and reading a book like this really helps to open my eyes on such a matter. So remember appreciate the culture you were given because it is the only one you'll get, or is it?

Blog Hw 1

Ever since I was young I wondered should I be a republican or a democrat? I never even considered being independent because the independents never seem to have power. However the choice still beckons, should I be conservative? Should I be liberal. I was brought up in a household where it seemed as If both of my parents voted Republican. My Mom had at least been brought up a democrat, but both of my parents were educated people. I just couldn't figure out how they decided to choose which party to align themselves with. With my Mom as a registered democrat and my Dad as a registered republican it was time I chose a party. I would have to make this choice soon because I am almost 18 and I would like to participate in the 2012 election. So I did a little research of my own. On this site (http://townhall.com/columnists/carolplattliebau/2010/11/01/six_good_reasons_to_vote_republican) I found that Republican celebrate economic success and not penalize it, something that seems promising in my young mind. It also said that voting republican is voting to be free and voting for the right to disagree with democrats without being slandered. The article was however very opinionated so I decided to take a look at the democratic standpoint.  I stumbled upon many negative, sarcastic articles on why to be a democrat but then finally found one that actually appealed to me. I went on this site(http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2004/07/why_i_am_a_demo.html). It said thing's like "I'm a democrat because I believe in helping those less fortunate" and "I'm a democrat because I believe everyone deserves a chance" these things I agree with and I actually am torn between which party to choose so i decided to take a survey to determine what party it thinks I should be in. It said I was almost smack down in the middle but I leaned slightly towards the conservative side. To test yourself go to (http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz). I guess my venture is at an end but when time comes who know which party I will choose. 

Blog 7 Art Review: Spartacus Blood and Sand

Spartacus: Blood and Sand is a Starz original series starring Andy Whitfield and Manu Bennett of New Zealand.  It revolves around Spartacus a man of Thracian decent who made an alliance with Rome and broke it in order to save his home village. His betrayal lead to his execution sentence in the Arena and his wife to be sold into Slavery. He survives the Arena and his bought so he can become a gladiator. This show is the perfect show for any mature male audience member and many females who can handle the gore and nudity. This show has an excellent sense of drive. It revolves around Spartacus' love for his wife and his need to get her back. You fall in love with all the gladiators because the character development is done on such a high level. Every time you watch a character die in the show it's like losing a personal friend. Everyday the gladiators fight in the ludus and train for their glory in the arena but not Spartacus he fights for love. He fights for freedom and he fights for honor. After many losses to Crixus champion of the Arena Spartacus finally proved himself by defeating the giant. Crixus received near fatal wounds in the Arena and Spartacus was honored as the bringer of rain and the champion of Capua. Later Spartacus and Crixus were to become great friends. They overthrew their own ludus and started a slave rebellion that would take on the likes of Rome. Spartacus and Crixus lead their army with the help of Oenomaus their former teacher. They freed slaves from other ludus' and continured to cripple roman armies with their mighty army of trained gladiators. The show portrays humanity at it's worst and finest. It is like the old saying when good men stand and do nothing evil flourishes. Spartacus stood up for what he believed in and literally killed thousands of men so that thousands more could stand as free men. Spartacus was now a free man he had fought and bled for his own freedom. Although his wife was killed my his former owner, Spartacus fought so that no other man or woman would have to endure the same fate that he was doomed with.

The Cradle Will ROCK: Blog Six

1) A famous person alive today who I admire is Dave Grohl. Dave Grohl has been playing with the Foo Fighters for over 17 years. He also played with revolutionary band Nirvana from the early 80's to the early 90's. The reason I admire Dave Grohl the most is because he almost single handedly is bringing back rock music to the mainstream which is my dream. He is a funny, creative musician who continues to rock the continental U.S. When the infamous westboro baptist Church protested his concert he protested back. He dressed up like a hick and started singing about equality. In addition to this he can really rock the house. Late autumn, Dave Grohl played a show in Philadelphia at the wachovia center. Two mediocre bands opened up for the Foo Fighters but when it came time for them to play the crowd was rumbling. They played a 3 hour plus show. Being a musician I realize how hard this is to do, he had to sing and scream and blow out his vocal cords for three whole hours.   He is also a coffee addict and proficient on at least three instruments including drums, guitar and vocals. He is a true inspiration to all musicians regardless of their musical taste or background.

2) The thing that annoys me the most is teenagers and their disregard and ignorance to talented musicians. In modern day America the media has censored music in an aspect. The crap that gets played on all the hit stations is generally speaking rap, and pop. It is not to say that these two genres do not have their place in this world, but there was a time when Rock and Roll ruled the mainstream. The time when true music ruled the world. Many of the people who are sponsored on these hit stations are not talented at all, they are just good with a computer. Now I'm not saying that isn't a talent, but I am saying it is not musical talent, for it is only musical talent by definition. People need to step back and open their ears and start listening to people who are good at their instrument. It doesn't need to be Rock and Roll my personal choice but it could be country or bluegrass or folk. Something with a meaning. I want to listen to a musicians heart not their talk box and that is the true beauty of music.

3)Hey you girls out their take some advice from a guy stop being annoying when you text. Stop saying "hey hey", or spelling words with like 8 extra vowels for example. "heyyyyyyy youuuuuuu". I dont need a god d@*& smiley face every time you think something is remotely happy, and stop typing lol, because somehow I doubt you are laughing out loud. My true advice is to be yourself and to be who you are. A guy isn't interested in how good you can make yourself look with makeup but he is more interested as to who you are as a person. A guy would much rather date a fun loving girl then a girl who acts like she has fun doing the things that the guy she is interested at the given time has fun doing. Stop taking things to heart. For the most part guys don't mean the nasty or even the not nasty things they say. They are a guy we suffer from man-disease. The symptoms include: Potty Mouth, Ear Troubles, Poor Attention span, and CFS or can't find anything. So maybe some advice from a girl to a guy would be stop suffering from your imaginary disease.

Blog Five

1) Events that Yolanda underwent definitely helped her understand her own Identity. In The Joe Chapter. Yolanda had at first lost her sense of sanity after a long term dispute between her and prospect husband, John. She started not to fully trust John because he made a strong claim about her sanity. He thought she was too intelligent for her own good. He made a pros and cons list about marrying her which deeply offended her. Yolanda also struggled with affection after this for she found herself in able to kiss or make love to John. She left him to go to her parents house. Her parents too questioned her sanity because she was speaking in references to other things like literature. Her therapist recommended that she be committed to a mental hospital her parents agreed so she reluctantly went. It was here that she finally overcame her "craziness" and obtained a part of her Identity that she had lost. She became to smart and was unable to listen to others. Here she overcame her fear of words such as "Love" and "Alive" and obtained spiritual growth to move on with her life. This gave her a brand new sense of identity she learned to be stronger than she had and obtained old feelings that were much desired.

2)In The Daughter of Invention Chapter Laura, Yolanda's Mother had trouble fitting into American society. After moving to the Americas she had lost her social status and didn't really fit the description for American standards in motherhood. She began to invent in her head all these strange ideas such as a can opener attached to the side of a car bumper that would be handy for picnics. Her daughters teased and rejected their mothers ideas. They wanted her to embrace American Culture more instead of working on these silly ideas. Now bear with me We're getting to the positivity. Yolanda had to write a speech for school and she was inspired by Walt Whitman, she wrote the speech to quickly and got in trouble for plagiarism. That night her father was upset and made threats about returning to the Dominican Republic and he was upset with Yolanda and he called her a name which deeply hurt her feelings. This is when Laura swoops into the rescue and helps Yolanda rewrite her paper and the teacher actually liked the new one. The next day her father bought her a typewriter and apologized for his behavior which is another positive note. And the final note is that because Laura found something else she could do she never had to invent things again. In this situation it is a person vs. person positive note.

3)After reading the Jeremy Lin story It got me thinking. Although in America minorities deal with racial slurs in a negative way they also embrace them. Asian people will call each other "chinks" and even themselves with a sense of pride and ambiguity. Jeremy Lin calls himself "the chinkballa" and he is now an NBA champion. Just as African Americans call each other "N!&&@" and truly mean friend. However race should not be a barrier. The negativity needs to end. It is stupid to think something like color, something so elementary, can define a human being. Scientifically speaking we all have 46 chromosomes (Except for our mutant friends) and we all breathe the same air. The ignorance is what will need to end. The color of your skin should not define what you do or where you will be. Nor can it. That is why we see people standing up like Martin Luther King Jr. to these oppressing matters. When good men do nothing evil prevails. Something as small as a comment can scar an individual just like it has the author of the Jeremy Lin article. It seems to me he has overcame he faced but it is up to the current mass of people to stop thinking through their televisions and begin thinking through their hearts.

The Wiesel, The Music and the V- Day

1) Elie Wiesel a holocaust survivor is outraged with Mitt Romney and The Morman Church. They have been performing posthumous baptisms on jews, they were supposed to have legally agreed to stop in 1995. I personally agree strongly with Elie, Mitt Romney should address the preposterous things that the church he is aligned with is doing. You cannot baptize a jewish person after they are dead, it just isn't right to use their name without consent so your name can be "pure". This article was bias however rightfully so. In my personal opinion there is no other side. Mormans cannot baptize dead jews, they have a right to their religion even after death. Who are they to decide who is a Mormon. I cannot believe the idea even fathoms the Mormon to baptize someone after they have passed away. That person has no choice in the matter therefor i think the entire procedure is void a post-humous baptization is just preposterous.

2) In my personal opinion sure M.I.A sold out. You can still sell out today. Artists that I love like Keith Urban do not write all of their songs. Sometimes they co-write sometimes they don't even have any part of it at all besides the actual performing of that song. As much as I dislike Bon Iver and like the Foo Fighters they both stayed true to their music. In a room full of frauds and pop-stars they managed to win grammys. The Foo Fighters won a total of six grammys for their completely original songs. That is not selling out. Bands like the Foo Fighters are likely never to sell out. "musicians" like M.I.A are always prone to sell out. So no I don't think it's impossible to sell out these days in fact I think it is very easy. Even if you don't sell out you can be one of the many button pushing musicians who manages to win grammys off their non-original beat driven songs. The article I read was not bias it represented both sides but i strongly choose to side with the one. Music is only music if it comes from the heart not from the wallets of big-time record producers.

3) Marriage and Love= more money you lose. This article was very bias in it's point of view but for good reason. Love costs, and it ain't cheap. It stated that the average American wedding costs about 27,000 dollars. every year on valentines day they are expected to gross 17 billion dollars on chocolates, flowers and heart shaped goods. Less and less men get married every year because every year marriage becomes more expensive and less men are good for it. Old traditions are lost, the idea of just love is all it should take is gone in the modern American culture. It only requires a little bit of love if any and a whole lot of cash. Only the richest of men can be successful in marriage. In my personal opinion one reason more and more men may choose not to get married is the high divorce rate in the states. With 50% of all marriages failing why would a man want to get married without a pre-nup. He loses half if not more of his money unless his lawyer is a superstar. Unfortunately in today's America love is money.

 BLOG 3

1)Today in America Men and Women are created equal. However it is not a perfect world. Although women have the same "rights" to achieve and do as men do the rule of the road is sometimes different. Men can be expected to be the breadwinners of the house and women are expected to take care of the children for the most part. However, today we find more and more dual-working families where both the men and father work and in rare cases when the father watches the kids and the mother goes to work. This is most likely due to the increase in respect and awareness of equality that women have fought for in the past. Men probably perceive women  the way television and life portrays them. Men perceive women as the motherly figures. Not to get inappropriate but the chemistry of love tells us that the opposite sex is for mating. So when a women sets her eyes on a man she probably sees him as a prospective life-mate. Women and men both have their stereotypes. Men are "pigs" women are "naggy" but these do not hold true for all people in all cases. I would say there are many advantages of being a man in today's world. Like I said equality is not evenly distributed throughout the U.S. Because of this men have an easier time getting jobs in the workplaces, they have an easier time being taken seriously and men in general receive better treatment then women due to shadows of a past culture.

2) If Carlos from How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents was asked what is expected of men and women in his culture he might respond by saying that Men are expected to bring home the bacon. Women are expected to stay in the house when it is not safe to go out alone. He would say that a women should marry within her culture and marry a man of the same ethnic background. He would add that daughters should be completely obedient to their fathers and not to disrespect them and appreciate all that fathers do for their daughters. Men are also expected to be the "patriarchs" as you listed. the oldest living male member of your immediate family should be the "go-to guy".