Masters of Desire

Summary

In the article “Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising” by Jack Solomon, he talks about how commercial makers use different techniques to get customers for their products. Solomon also makes a claim by saying that the American dreams are as paradox. He states the commercial makers are the masters of desire. He writes that the commercial makers can play on people by showing them the life of their fantasy or by playing on their fears. Solomon also gives various examples of the techniques used by the ad makers. One of the examples he gave us is the old McDonald’s commercial stating “Eat a Big Mac and you won’t be stuck alone at home on Saturday night.” This tells the audience that McDonald’s is the place of their fantasy. McDonald’s commercial makes this imagination of the place full with people, enjoying the burgers with friends and hanging out. Solomon leaves the article stating the predictions of future realism and what’s the future of American dream surrounded by the manipulative masters of desires.

Response

I really enjoyed reading this article. The tittle of the article is very magnetic that it gets your attentions so quickly. I really do agree with Solomon on his claim about how these asters of desire are controlling basically our mind. He gives so many good examples of the commercial makers making their sharp moves by using the techniques. I gained so much knowledge from this article. It really tells you the reality of the ads and how they get customers to buy their products. I enjoyed the real world examples including the age differences and the gender. Overall it was a very knowledge and interesting article.

"Working Mothers Are Benefiting the Family" By Supreet Mann

Summary

In the article “Working Mothers Are Benefiting the Family” Supreet Mann talks about how working women are benefiting their families and teaching their children valuable life lessons. She claims that working women are helping many families with the financial support and also setting up a role model imagine for the kids. Mann explains how her life was affected by her mom working full time shoulder to shoulder with her dad. Mann also argues the point made by Michel Noer in “Don’t marry Career Women” that the women with jobs are more likely to get divorced. Mann clearly writes that it is not right to blame everything on one gender. Mann gives various examples and personal experiences in her article.

Response

After reading the article “Working Mothers Are Benefiting the Family” by Supreet Mann, I totally agree with her. I also believe that working mothers are really benefiting the families rather than just staying home. There are several more pros over cons and Mann has really stated them all very well in her article. I also disagree with the point Michel Noer is making about women with careers more likely to get divorced. I believe it is not always the story and Mann proves it by setting up another example of Elizabeth Corcoran’s personal life. She restates Corcoran’s point that how she is a working woman and she is still happily married to her husband. This article definitely is so inspiring and written in such a positive way.

Why We Crave Horror Movies by Stephen King

Summary

In the article “Why We Crave Horror Movies” Stephen King talks about how people are mentally ill for liking the horror movies so much. He claims that we all crave horror movies for their excitement and to also prove ourselves that we can. King also relates horror movies to a roller-coaster, he says that horror movies always get the audience unpredictable like a roller-coaster and also make them scream. King supports his claim by giving various examples such as, horror movies feed the alligators that are in our brain, which are craving to do the crazy things we all want to but know are wrong to do. He writes that horror movies give us relief from the stress. He uses very intelligent tone towards the readers.

Response

After reading the article “Why We Crave Horror Movies” by Stephen King, I felt totally agreed with him. King was very confident on what he was stating and also proved to be right with his strong examples. I learned that he is a well experienced writer and do a good job convincing his readers. I also believe that we crave horror movies because we are mentally ill. We all want to see things that we cannot do in real life and I believe that’s what make the horror movie genre so unique. Horror movies have been always my love and I love watching them. As king stated “We watch the horror movies, to show that we can” this is exactly what I think when going to watch a horror movie. Horror movies are so much fun. 

2b or not 2b?

Summary:

In article “2b or not 2b” Davis Crystal discusses why he believes texting is not that big of a threat to the language. He states the texting is bringing in a new way of communication to the modern world. Crystal also argues that texting is not the main reason for student’s low English grades perhaps he supports his claim by giving a proven piece of research by Coventry University that the children who were better at spelling and writing used the most textism. And the younger they received their first phone, the higher their scores. Crystal gives several example of texting being helpful to the modern society such as SMS poetry which has brought back the trend of poetry but in a new form. SMS poetry allows the writer to play with the words little bit more and gives a chance to show their creativity. Crystal also states the texting is only making the language better.

Response:

After reading the article “2b or not 2b” by David Crystal I realized that some of the claims he made are similar to my own personal thoughts. I agree with him and also believe that texting is only making the language better. If we look at the history, many languages had been changed time by time. Texting is just a modern way of communication and it is filtering the language to make it shorter. It is perhaps making it easy to learn and quicker as well. However I am still doubt the point Crystal made about students using the text language gets better scores in reading and vocabulary. It is something coming from my personal experience; I face difficulties in writing because of using many short words and auto correct messing up spelling skills.

Post #3 Two Years Are Better Than Four

Summary

            In the Article “Two Years Are Better Than Four” Liz Addison is responding to Rick Perlstein’s claim about how he thinks that American community college does not matter anymore. Liz Addison was a student of American junior college and she explains her reasons why she thinks Perlstein’s statement about community college isn’t truth. She states that Perlstein is from University of “privilege” which she means by college with more facilities and that’s why he thinks community college doesn’t matter. She also says that Perlstein might have never steeped in any community college so that’s why he is making the false statements. She goes ranting on Perlstein and uses very sarcastic tone towards him. She also explains how community colleges still matters. Liz Addison clearly states that how community colleges give students an opportunity to discover themselves which isn’t possible to do in most of the universities. She ends her article by stating that how college is a place for everyone.

Response

            In this article Liz Addison is responding to Mr. Perlstien’s statement “Community Colleges Doesn’t matter anymore”. Addison states that “It is here that Mr. Perlstein will find his college years of self-discovery, and it is here he will find that college does still matter”. I totally agree with her. As being an community college student I believe that community college is what we can call the “Next Step” after high school. Most of the time students an unaware of the field they want to major in and the community college really gives them the opportunity to come in and self-discover themselves rather than wasting time and money in universities making hard choices. Community colleges are also fairly cheap compare to the four year universities. I also agree with Liz’s statement on community colleges being opened to everyone. It is so nice to be in the environment of freedom. It’s here in the community colleges you can find flexible schedules and variety of classes to help students find their majors.

Essay #2 summary & response

Summary

In her mastery essay Crystal Polomino writes about how today's men are abandoning their children and leaving the mothers to support them on their own. Palomino points out the reasons why men are doing this. Palomino clearly states in her essay that "if you are not ready to have a child, you were not ready to have sex". She states that men don't think of the results and always run away from their responsibilities. Palomino also states that how men refuse to pay child support. She writes that "fathers act like they are too much of a man to have to take care of their children". Palomino uses a very sarcastic tone towards men and her purpose is to show why and how today's men are leaving mothers and children to live rest of their life without any support from fathers.

Response

After reading this essay I felt like Crystal Palomino is being sarcastic to every men. She does had some good truthful points but she also did not added any detail to them. I felt like she is blaming everything on men. There can be cases where mother doesn't want to take any support. Palomino confused me by writing stuff like "too much of man" in her essay because I didn't quite understood what she meant by that. However she had some really well structured and organized paragraphs. She stated very general and common reasons but in very sarcastic way. 

Duty

Summary:

     I am a reading person and I love to read. Recently I have been reading this I believe essays and what I found interesting was an essay submitted by a 13 years old girl named Ying Ying Yu – Princeton Junction, New Jersey. Her article called “A Duty to Family, Heritage and Country” was an assignment for her English class. In the beginning of the article she introduces herself as an immigrant from China. She states that she believes in duty. She relates her believe to her daily life that how everything she does is a duty. She says that getting good grades and being obedient is her duty. Yu mentions her background how 85 percent is considers a failure in her country and her family has higher expectations from her. She wants her family and country to be proud on her. She also mentions herself giving up on things many times but her “believe” (Duty) comes in mind and she continue on her difficult paths. Yu mentions her flash backs from her country how she use to get hit by ruler and failure was not an option. That makes her appreciate the effort her teachers and family is giving her now to build her foundation. Yu ends her essay by saying “Duty can bring me to an achievement that is greater than I am”.

Response:

     After reading the essay “A Duty to Family, Heritage and Country” by Ying Ying Yu I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that it is written by a 13 years old girl. She has presented herself as an obedient child and responsible student. Yu’s use of flashbacks made me sad but how she is appreciating her new home and teachers was a beautiful way to cheer me up. She has taken her believe in duty and made it to her lifestyle. I also have a same believe. I take my school as a duty. I want my parents and country to be proud of me as well. It is a beautiful written essay. Her use of personal story inspires the readers. It also gives the readers a pause to ask themselves if they are doing their duty.