Blog 7

I recently wrote my research paper on personality choice, and the question "why have you chosen to be who you are" is a very interesting one to me, especially because it pertains to my research paper. I wouldn't say that I've chosen to be who I am, because I believe my parents and the environment I grew up in decided who I would be. What I will discuss is who I'm striving to be, and what I'd like to change about myself. Up until now, I've considered myself to be shy and passive. I'd like to express my opinions more without caring about what others think. Of course I don't want to be rude and/or obnoxious, but I'd like to be assertive in terms of knowing what I want and what I believe. Caring about what others think has been a huge issue with me. It often prevents me from speaking from my heart. I'd like to change this, and I'm working on having more self-confidence and being more assertive with others. I need to accept the fact that no matter what, not everyone will like me or be happy with my beliefs. This, I think, might be a concern with everyone, at least to some extent. Maybe I'm wrong. In my head I know it seems irrational to want everyone to like me when I know that this is simply impossible. I just need to work with this realization, and in turn express myself without being afraid.

Reading Response 6

In my opinion, hate speech is geared towards influencing others to blame a certain group or stereotype. Toni Morrison mentions in her speech that oppressive language not only influences violence, it is violence. I really like the way she explained this, because it’s absolutely true. Oppressive language is the same as an oppressive act, just like verbal abuse is equally, if not more painful than physical abuse. Morrison stresses that words have as much power as physical acts and this revelation is one that should be taken into account by everyone. People constantly underestimate how powerful words can be. Words can motivate an entire crowd to commit unthinkable acts. Just last week, somebody did their power point on Hitler and mentioned how much power his words had on the country of Germany. Somehow, Hitler was able to turn everybody against an entire population of people. Hitler used hate speech when influencing massive amounts of German citizens. Hate speech consists of targeting a group or population, usually to blame them for something. It may or may not consist of derogatory comments, but whether or not it does, it is still awful. It always involves pointing out this group or population’s flaws, and why others should turn against them as well.

Blog 6

I went home this weekend for my sister’s National Charity League presents. She’s a senior in High School, I’m really excited for her! I got to see my family, including my grandmother and my uncle, both of whom I haven’t seen for a long time. My sister came down from UC Irvine for the event as well, and it was really nice to see her too! She told me she might be staying in Irvine this summer which would make me really sad! I’d miss her a lot.

This week is going to be really busy for me, because I’m going to be training for a new job I just got that involves teaching autistic children. I am extremely excited to be starting this job! I love working with children, and it falls along the career path I’m pursuing, which is social work. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity. I’ve taught swim lessons the past three summers, and I’ve learned a lot from working with so many children. They can teach you so many things that adults can’t. I know this job will be very challenging, but I know it will be rewarding as well. I’m also excited because it’s almost spring quarter!

Blog 5

I saw the film “Shutter Island” this weekend, and it was great! I was not expecting the plot to turn the way it did. One thing I like about Leonardo Di Caprio is that he has the tendency to choose good films, so the odds of one of his films being good are pretty high. This film was creepy, but not scary enough to prevent you from falling asleep the night after you see it. I feel like a lot of films try to pull off what this film achieved without any success. It’s not really that this film is scary, it’s more disturbing. The content and plot are a little difficult to handle, but nevertheless, I think the film was very well made. The idea of an institution for the criminally insane is thought-provoking for me. All of the patients in this institution were murderers, but they were declared insane as well, so they were taken to Shutter Island to live and receive treatment. The fact that every single one of the patients in this film had killed someone blew my mind. Using insanity as an excuse for killing someone is difficult for me to fathom, but I understand that killing can be the result of psychosis nonetheless… even though it is hard for me to accept.

Reading Response 5

The topic I’d like to research for essay three is personality. My hypothesis is that people, for the most part, do not contribute to the formation of their personalities; they are shaped by the environment and genetics. I think an individual’s environment contributes a significant amount to personality formation and I’d like to research just how much a particular environment can impact one’s personality. I am already familiar with many psychological theories contributing to personality development, but I am going to have to further research these theories and study experiments that have been conducted on personality. I’m going to need to find out the major factors contributing to personality development, and whether or not my hypothesis or the hypotheses of others have been already been proven right or wrong. In terms of a research plan, I’ll begin by listing everything I already know about personality development, including theories, books I’ve read, and what I’ve witnessed firsthand through the media. The sources I plan to use are psychology textbooks, journal articles detailing experiments or other personality hypotheses, and psychological databases. I plan on using the library for most of my research, but I will probably use internet databases and online journals as well. From these sources, I will determine how much information supports or goes against my hypothesis.

Reading Response 4

I found the essays “Are You Gonna Eat That” and “Doing Your Homework” by Ronny Smith and Malinda Barrett to be very interesting. I have never heard of “gleaning” before, and to be honest, the thought of it grosses me out. I do, however, support the gleaners’ cause, as it brings the issue of wasting food to our attention. I unfortunately am guilty of wasting food, and reading this article has definitely made me more conscientious of how much food I will eat and throw away in the future. Whenever I walk by a dumpster now, I’m probably going to wonder what is inside of it. I just don’t think I could bring myself to eat something that has been inside of a trash can or dumpster, regardless of the greater benefits it would contribute towards society.

Malinda Barrett’s essay about egg donations is very thought-provoking. I was actually on Malinda’s dorm floor freshman year, and it was cool reading one of her articles. It’s interesting, because I remember coming across an article in one of the Davis newspapers a while ago that was advertising for egg donors. I remember thinking how ridiculous the advertisement was, as it required the donor to have “green eyes, a slim, athletic body, high SAT scores, and a high education”, or something along those lines. This was a long time ago, and it may have been one of the advertisements Malinda refers to in her essay, as I remember discussing this with a few other people. I can’t remember if she was one of the people I was talking with about this, though. All I could think to myself was how shallow the people who had published this advertisement must be. I think I even laughed at how specific and almost unrealistic their requirements for a donor were. Anyways, the compensation money for this procedure is undoubtedly desirable, but the procedure is very dangerous, and I’m glad Malinda has brought the risks of donating eggs to our attention.

Reading Response 3

I read Anna Deavere Smith’s “Twilight: Los Angeles” my freshman year at UC Davis. Up until this point, I did not know very much about the Rodney King riots, or how they affected a wide variety of people. Anna Deavere Smith includes many different personalities in this play, and it is fascinating to see how each of them has reacted to this event. I also enjoy Deavere-Smith’s close attention to detail for each character she conveys. She describes everything about them, including what they are wearing, their particular mannerisms, and how they talk. This gives the actor a chance to really become the character that Deavere-Smith has written. This play involves many different racial groups, and Deavere-Smith does a great job of portraying the different feelings experienced during this time period. The Rodney King story caused different reactions from people; there are some who are in favor of Rodney King, and others who are in favor of the police. I also like how Anna Deavere Smith portrays characters from different backgrounds that not only include race, but also factors like profession and age. She pays very close attention to each character’s sentence structure, and in my opinion this in itself adds a lot to each character.