Picture "Perfect" Family Life

After reading "What we really miss about the 1950's" family life wasn't always as good as they say it was back then. I don't think I would want to live back then, 2013 maybe hard but every year has something negative about it. This essay helped changed my understanding of family because it shows how they can't be creative and themselves as a family because they are so concerned on how they should be acting when it really shouldn't matter to anyone.

Families were a big part of this time period though. Many people voted that the 1950's was the best time to live but didn't include the negative aspects of that year. Also they forgot to include that the years that followed were just as good and things were still improving. While wages were steady, there were less choices to be made, there was a family and social importance being shown, but at the same time women and minorities weren't treated fairly and poverty was higher then what it is today. Was the 1950's ideal for everyone? What was so great about that year that it won the vote?

According to Coontz "They watched them to see how families were supposed to live- and also to get a little reassurance that they were headed in the right direction" (33). So even back then in the 1950's people weren't living how they wanted to. They would watch T.V. shows to guide them and help them portray the "perfect family". These T.V shows only showed how other families acted maybe they weren't even ideal families. Why didn't they want to live there own lifestyle? What did the t.v families do that was so perfect?

 I think family life is completely different today then it was in the 1950's, not many families rely on t.v. shows to learn how to act. They live how they want to. Families in this year seem to still have a great importance but many parents are now divorced. Will the future eventually change typical family lifestyles? Will the divorce rate continue to drop? Also can families finally forget about how the typical family is supposed to act and just live how they want to?

Popcorn-Can

Niedecker's poetry is very interesting to read, and different from your traditional types of poems. One strong part of her poetry is the use of details even if they are simple. I think that because they are simple it is easier for the reader to relate to and be able to picture it. I always wonder while reading her poems, what is this poem supposed to be about? Her work can be very confusing at times due to line breaks or just the poem being too short. One of her poems that I found interesting was the one about the popcorn-can covering the wall. This poem was easy to understand the meaning, and it also created an image in my mind.

"screwed to the wall over a hole". Her use of imagery can be found in most of her poems. In this line from the poem the reader imagines this popcorn-can being put into the wall over a hole outside so nothing can come in, including the cold. Her simple descriptive words makes it easy for the reader to create there own image of what she maybe would have saw. I found it neat how she described "so the cold can't mouse in". I visualized the wind moving slowly toward the hole but not being able to get in. Her adding the word mouse make the poem unique and more interesting for the reader.

Her poems make me wonder many questions. What is the meaning of this poem? Why wasn't emotion/ tone added to each poem? Why the line breaks? Why are some of the poems so short? Why did she choose to write only about her life and certain topics? Did she really have a passion for poetry? Why did she like to write poetry?

I have understood from reading her poems though that she has a deep connection with nature and her life. From the poems I have read so far I can always visualize either one part of her poem or the whole scene. She does a great job in describing nature even if she uses simple word choice like colors, objects, size, and other words. I still wonder why she wrote her poems the way she did? Why is the subject of each poem so hard to understand?

Is it just society based gender roles?

Are women being seen negatively in advertisements and men look like the powerful ones? Why are certain tasks associated with gender? I have been reflecting on this question after reading "Two ways a woman can get Hurt": Advertising and Violence by Jean Kilbourne. Also by reading the other readings, I have some to realize that men and woman have certain responsibilities but on them by society.What gives someone the right to say that woman are this way and men are another way?

Through the use of advertisement, women are presented as weak and defenseless while men are all powerful and successful. According to Kilbourne, she talks about how in advertisements power is the main focus over another person. I certainly agree with this because even when you watch commercials the guy is in control or the only person featured in the commercial. Why can’t women be seen as powerful too? In this society women are responsible in most cases to have a job and sometimes even be single mothers and support the family. 

 In some of the ads in her article the women are shown with guns pointed at them. What is this teaching society? I find it very harming for the children of our society to see. It only teaches violence and not the well-being of others. I found this very alarming, and think women should have better rights when it comes to advertising.

Why does each gender have specific characteristics? I found it very interesting that in “Becoming Members Of Society: Learning the social meanings of gender by Aaron Devhor, that children are taught to adapt these traits at very young ages because that is what society wants them to do. 

These gender roles are predefined for them. I find nothing wrong with each gender having the same characteristics. Men and women should be seen as equal. Men typically want power/success and are aggressive while women are trying to have harmony and well-being. Why can’t each gender have both traits? Maybe they would act for the better then.

Gender roles are just traits of masculinity and femininity that cultures and people have made up through the years. I strongly believe that they aren’t always true to either gender. Advertisement of women needs to change to create more equality of both genders. Do you think gender roles are acceptable?

Is it just compulsory schooling?

Is school really worth going to for each student? In Gatto's essay "Against School" he views school as a place that children do not learn at. Gatto thinks school is banal because it teaches every student to act the same way as each other. What freedom is that giving them? For me and I'm sure many others that statement is true, we all get the same homework and not any freedom or creativity. There are no choices that you get to make when it comes to education. Everything is planned out for you The more alike the students are the easier it is to control them.  He refers to this as the integrating function. I find this function very damaging and it makes me worry about the future of the children involved.

Do most kids really enjoy it and love going or is it just taking up required time? When Gatto asked the kids what they thought "They said that work was stupid,that it made no sense, that they already knew it" (142).How is that helping the students then when the teachers don't even know what they are talking about? It's more just taking up time I think. I found this statement very interesting because it is true. My experience with elementary to high school proves this because each year you just keep building off what you already know and relearning new things involving the same concepts. Even in my college math class I'm learning information from high school again. He also talks about how most of the information they learn is not interesting or useful, just what society wants you to know, or information that can be memorized. Why arn't life skills being taught too?


For Gatto he views school as a boring place and not worth going to but on the other hand I believe school is useful in different aspects. Some information helps you like learning to read and write. You get to be among other children for interaction.What could you accomplish without writing or reading? Very little and your life would not be as engaging, and jobs would be hard to have if all you could do was talk. He even calls them "laboratories of experimentation on young minds, drill centers for the habits and attitudes that corporate society demands" (149). Are schools really that negative of a place to be at? So he encourages parents to teach there kids the right way to be and to reverse the things happening in the schools.. I hope I will be able to teach my students the right way to be so they don't become like the children he talks about in his essay. To help make the school system more engaging, give them more freedom and creativity, and eliminate those six destructive/ damaging functions.

What will the future be like in American Schools? The same old boring school or the new interesting creative, freedom given school?

Who am I?

A blog for composition one class? Sounds boring for me since it is something required but I'm open to giving it a try. I do not share my opinions very often so this will be a little bit of a struggle to write this blog. When I first thought about writing a blog it did not seem interesting to me. What would I write about? How would I think of creative titles to use for each post? I'm interested to see the different things I can learn about blogging. Also I hope to find writing each blog getting easier as time goes on. Hopefully people will find my blog posts even the slightest bit interesting.

So about me now, I love to take photographs, coach two all-star teams, and help children learn  new skills or information. Most of my time is dedicated to coaching the two teams. I spend about 5 nights a week doing this. Also I really enjoy watching sports such as basketball and football. I of course love the Green Bay Packers.

Thinking under the stars seems like the ideal place to come up with new ideas or maybe just relax. The night scene is very peaceful you can just forgot about the worries of  your day in that moment.