My opinion of America

In my opinion, America is replaying events in a historical cycle. The picture that I took is that of a vacant house with an overgrown lawn and a for sale sign in the yard. In class we discussed how America today is similar to America in the 1920’s. There is mass consumption and materialism and hustling and bustling just like there was in the 1920’s; this is followed by a huge economic decline. Also, both times were post-war eras; in the 1920’s it was right after WWI and now we are almost in a post-war era following the Iraq/Afghanistan war that is going on right now. I did not have the ability to put in the see, think, wonder activity to my final on voicethread so I felt that I should now. In the picture I see lawn bags on a black driveway; I see a sad looking for sale sign in the corner of the lot. I see an overgrown lawn. I think the house has been vacant for a long time. I think that the house is in foreclosure. I think that there are lawn clippings in the bags that rest at the end of the driveway. I wonder how long this house will sit vacant. I wonder if this house was built for a family and now they are unable to afford the house. I wonder what will happen to this house.

Obama Appoints Supreme Court Justice

At the end of next month, Justice David Souter is set to retire; this gives President Obama a huge opportunity to appoint another supreme court justice. Yesterday, President Obama announced that he would like to appoint Judge Sonia Sotomayor to this position. Sotomayor is a Puerto Rican immigrant and would be the first hispanic judge appointed to the Supreme Court. With this nomination comes a lot of controversy about whether or not the U.S.A is ready for her and whether or not she is the right person to put on the Supreme Court. We were talking today about Sotomayor's life story and how it follows the very popular pattern of rising from the darkness into light. She was born in the housing projects in the Bronx, NY and neither her father or mother had a high level of education. She got a scholarship to Princeton and graduated top in her class; after which she continued on to Yale Law School and also graduated first in her class there. This is the classic redemptive arc that everyone loves to see in people who are public figures. The rest of the process looks like this: the U.S. House and Senate must approve her nomination prior to her being the confirmed replacement for Justice David Souter. My one question is about President Obama: Is this presidency going to be one of firsts only? President Obama is the first ever African-American president so was that just the beginning? What is your opinion?

The Flag: Reconsidered

So, as we all know our assignment for this week was to get a picture of an American flag and then analyze the choices that we made.  So, I looked all around for flags and what not and I discovered that it was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.  Flags are not all around the country like they used to be; on my block there is a total of ONE and it is at my house.  I pulled in the driveway this afternoon to discover my dad putting up a brand new American flag and removing our old tattered one.  He also happened to be wearing a sweater with an American flag on it.  These sweaters were made by my Aunt while she was undergoing chemotherapy.  Every person in my family had one, that is, when I was 7 and we wore them on Memorial Day to the town parade (all 12 minutes of it) and on Fourth of July if it wasn't very warm.  We quickly out grew those sweaters and gave them away to charity.  I chose to take a picture of my dad in his sweater next to our American flag because it symbolizes family, pride for our country and it reminds me of when I was younger.  Looking for the perfect picture for this assignment was very difficult.  I found myself driving around and every time I saw an American flag I would pull over and take tons of pictures of it.  Over the course of about an hours drive I found a total of 6 flags.  I find that to be pathetic.  Our country is at war and we have the audacity to not put flags up.  Our country is in distress with all the violence, the economy, the war that we have been fighting since 9/11.  The troops are fighting to protect our country, I do not believe that this is a just war, but I do believe that we need to at least show them, even if we do not believe we should be at war, that we support what they are doing.  The flag that I chose and the way I wanted to display the picture is for them.  My family may not support this war and may not believe that what George Bush did was the right thing to do, but we do support the troops.  My great uncle fought in Vietnam and has told us that he is embarrassed at how little support we now give to our troops.  I do believe that they should come home, but while they are away we owe them that much.  We owe them our lives and to show them that we are grateful we should fly our flags.  If American's believe so much in their flag or have that much pride in our country then why are they not flying their American flags?  I wanted to show that we have support for our troops and I wanted to point out that even if we do not truly believe in what we are doing, it is good to show support for the country, by flying the flag or wearing a shirt with a flag on it. 

SWEET RELIEF!!

Today, at 5:58 to be exact,  I completed my entire junior theme.  All of the packets have been put together, everything has been printed, and it is sitting in my back pack.  I am feeling very relieved after that.  It was very stressful for a week or so when I needed to get everything done because I knew I'd be busy for the days leading up to the day our rough draft was due and the weekend before our final draft was due.  I feel so great following this!  I am sure that I will feel even better tomorrow after I turn in the paper, but all I can say is THANK GOD IT IS FINISHED!! I enjoyed my topic and researching it, which made, it a lot easier to write.  I am just glad that it is finished. 

Most of Paper

Hey guys! So I have almost completed the draft of my paper and thought that maybe it'd be a good idea to post what I have done so far and have anyone read it.  Any constructive criticism is appreciated!

 “Poor Little Rich Kids”

            In 1983, American’s were stunned to learn that Karen Carpenter had been pronounced dead at a California hospital.  While being only 32 years old, she weighed only 108 pounds and her death was caused by cardiac arrest due to a strain placed upon her heart by anorexia (Young).   Karen Carpenter had suffered from anorexia for most of her life; her father, Richard Carpenter recalls that she was a “chubby teenager” (Young).  Not until she collapsed performing in Las Vegas and was told she was “35 pounds underweight” did she realize that she needed help (Young).  Even now in 2009, this is not an unusual scenario in the US; many celebrities have been treated for or watched for eating disorders.  While the media flashes the images of emaciated Mary Kate Olson or Lindsey Lohan young teenagers sit at home wishing they could look just like them.  The number of eating disorders diagnosed in the US has been consistently going up over the past few decades-particularly in affluent areas.  Why are eating disorders more prevalent in affluent areas in teenagers?  I believe that eating disorders are more prevalent in affluent area teenagers because of new diagnostic testing, pressure by the media to look like celebrities, pressure by men to be model skinny, and pressure by high-income parents to succeed.

            Over the past 50 years, the ability to diagnose eating disorders and other psychological disorders has increased which has lead to an apparent increase in the eating disorders being diagnosed.  In the 1970s people finally began to publicly discuss a mental disorder that had been around since the 1870s (Kahrs).  Over the past 40 years, the disease has been studied extensively in both the United States and Britain (Kahrs).  Now in the 21^st century, the ability to diagnose various mental disorders is so much greater.  In a phone interview with an eating disorder specialist, Dr. Jamie Gayle said that there is usually an underlying psychological disorder such as “bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders or other addictive behaviors” (Gayle).  Since technology has advanced over the past few decades, the ability to diagnose these disorders has improved, therefore the perceived number of cases has gone up.  Because of increased ability to diagnose psychological disorders, the number of people with eating disorders has increased.

            In this new age of technology, the media constantly alters women’s ideas about

how their bodies should look based on how celebrities bodies look.  Teenagers in affluent areas “ [know] a thing or two about dieting, fitness, and cosmetic surgery” and they learn these things from various media sources (Martin 95).  But what they do not know is that every photo is retouched: a process by which editors remove excess body fat they do not like, put in ripped abs and cover up any blemishes.  Vanity Fair, US Weekly, and People Magazine, regularly have articles about the latest celebrity diet fads and exactly how to get that look the celebrities have.   After watching the covers change week by week, it seems that these magazines virtually never place pictures of an average sized woman on the cover.  As L.A. Times reporter Emili Veslind points out in her article, “Fashion’s Invisible Woman”,  “The average American Woman is size 14.”   Instead what these magazines offer are images of “miraculously disappearing Nicole Richie” or the “once full-cheeked Lindsey Lohan” (Martin 144).   The media is manipulating the minds of young girls into believing that skinny is the way to be and that they should do whatever it takes to be that way.  A study done by Anne E. Becker M.D. in 1995 on people in Fiji, saw an increase in dieting between 1995 and 1998.  She interviewed some young teenagers in affluent areas of Fiji, and they cited “the appearance of the attractive actors on shows like ‘Beverley Hills 90210’ and ‘Melrose Place’ as the inspiration for the weight loss,” (Derenne & Beresin).  The pressure that the media places on young girls to be skinny and look like the celebrities causes young girls to develop eating disorders to fit the mold.

            Boys and men place pressure on women to be the “ideal standard of beauty” (Worsnop).  Finding a true love or soul mate is always on the minds of young women from the time puberty hits.  One of the main things that most women worry about is that “they will never be able to attract the hypercritical male sex” (Martin 184).  This idea of attracting the hypercritical male makes most women worry about their body so they begin to diet excessively to keep their idea of what size a man wants.  Courtney Martin interviewed many men, in her book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.  She found that none of the men lust for “women who spend the bulk of their free time obsessing over the size of their thighs” (Martin 187).  Why do women still believe that men want a skinny mate?  It is believed this stems from the 1950s when women were expected to be skinny and the perfect housewife.  Even though most men will not admit that they want this “ideal” woman as a mate they do still hold that idea on a pedestal.  The pressures placed on women by men to have the perfect figure causes young women and women to stress more about their weight.

Junior Theme Intro

So, it just occurred to me that maybe I should post my introduction online so that other people can read it and give me constructive feedback. Please read and give me feedback! I'd love to hear anything that you have to say! Body paragraphs will be posted soon! So here it is:

“Poor Little Rich Kids”
In 1983, American’s were stunned to learn that Karen Carpenter was pronounced dead at a California hospital. At only 32 years old, Carpenter was 5 foot 4 inches and a shocking 108 pounds; her death was caused by cardiac arrest due to a strain placed on her heart by anorexia (Young). Karen Carpenter had suffered from anorexia for most of her life; she was the daughter of a celebrity and she was a “chubby teenager” who was always being watched (Young). Not until she collapsed performing in Las Vegas and was told she was “35 pounds underweight” did she realize she needed help (Young). Something that used to be so uncommon is now a usual scenario in the US; many celebrities have been treated for or watched for eating disorders. While the media flashes the images of emaciated Mary Kate Olson or Lindsey Lohan young teenagers sit at home wishing they could look just like the celebrities. The number of eating disorders diagnosed in the US has been consistently going up over the past few decades-particularly in affluent areas. Why are eating disorders more prevalent in affluent areas in teenagers? I believe that eating disorders are more prevalent among affluent area teenagers because of low self-esteem, pressure by the media to look like the celebrities, increase in diagnosis of psychological disorders, and pressure by high-income parents to be perfect.

JR. Theme Update

I am sitting in class just thinking about everything that I still have to do on my junior theme but instead of stressing out and having a panic attack I am calm. I feel really good about the whole paper. I have completed my interview, read many of my sources, worked on my bibliography, and gotten my introduction almost finalized. I am feeling really great! After some technical difficulties, my interview went great! I was soo relieved to have completed it! I interviewed Dr. Jamie Gayle, who works at Insight which is an eating disorder clinic that operates on the North Shore. She was very helpful and gave me a ton of answers to many of the questions. She also gave me very helpful information and statistics. Infact, she also asked me to e-mail her my paper when I have a final draft! I was ecstatic that she wants to read the paper. I feel good about my paper. Not very stressed out, however, I am planning on working on my junior theme for most of this upcoming weekend. I just have a request, could we PLEASE be in the library some more! I'd love it if that was possible!