The Reflections of an English Survivor

So far in class, we have been working on editing our drafts for paper 2, and all I can say is the first part of the paper was the most difficult. Especially the instructions for the paper which highly made no sense whatsoever. However, the other two drafts for this paper seem to be a bit more simplistic rather than complex. For our second draft, we were to convert our disciplinary articles into either a fable like the children's fable The Tortoise and The Hare, a parody, or a rhetorical narrative. Obviously I chose to do fable instead of the other two options because of two things: 1) I  cannot make any text funny, humor is one of the most difficult genres to ever put on paper, and 2) I do not even know what a rhetorical narrative was. Thus, conversion from my article into a fable was the most easiest.

 Ever since I was in kindergarten I have read many children's books like fables, fairy tales, scary stories, mystery, and nursery rhymes. Therefore, I already have had experience and knowledge to make my second draft work. Most fables contain dialogue, a story, sometimes in third-person narrative, characters, and a moral. Yet, I also needed to use the actual article's information to make the conversion work, otherwise you get a story without its connection to the information you have to the article. However, I still did not enjoy working on this assignment as I am a student who does not enjoy the teachings of literature, english, composition, writing, and other themes in the English profession.

Subsequently, we have been learning english terms used in literature that targets people in an ideological manner. Things such as the "invisible narrative" are the assumptions and "stories" that underlie the things we write and think about. As a follow up, we learned other terms related to the invisible narratives such as ideology, stereotype, and norms (short for normalities, I think.) We were introduced to different types of examples for each of these terms like norms with one example such as women are like "mothers", therefore they should behave like "mothers." Since I started to work on the the third part of the paper, I am to find any invisible narratives that are seen in the article and then to reflect upon them.

Other than that, I would have to say that the class is good with great classmates, a teacher who teaches the material with fluency and shows responsibility, and alright work. This still does not mean that I like the class, but  it is not something that I would do again. English by far is still the toughest subject course that I have ever taken, even though I am passing this class with an A does not not change the fact that I continue to struggle in this material. As for students who love the course, I will show them respect for it. All I hope is that I can survive another semester in college without the probabilities of failing any of my courses.
             

The Affect a Word or an Image Can Have

The Affect a Word or an Image Can Have

First let me say the material we are learning in this class, I love! Although is very different from the typical BORING English classes I have been in the past, it sure has changed my way of thinking about how the world around us is in reality. I noticed that English teachers are so focused to following one specific structure to teach their students that they leave out so much information that we can come to use in our daily lives.

When I was in high school I was in an AP Spanish class and AP English class and my teachers would always have us analyze every word in the text we were assigned. I never understood why the heck they would make us do that. But they would say, “You’re going to have to do this for every text in college,” but they made us do it in such a boring way that made me dread to look at any text that had to be analyzed in college.

BUT!  It wasn’t until I began to learn aboutInvisible Narratives in this class that I finally found analyzing a text was actually pretty exciting and very interesting. I finally understood how analyzing a text could be so informative.

Looking at a text from a different lens has made me look at everything I hear and see different. I analyze EVERYTHING I tell you! Which then again I am not sure if I over think things sometimes!

  

After exploring different articles that have explore invisible narratives, I find that they are exposed via our rhetorical choices; they are simply hidden myths, bias, stereotypes that are expressed. 

When we began to learning about the topic, I felt disconnected because I didn’t really look at my reading through a deeper lens, until I read the article, The Sperm and the Egg,” by Emily Martin where I discovered an invisible narrative through a science text discussing the reproduction system! Like what the heck! It never crossed my mind the way an author could write that can have a deeper meaning just through a text.

Invisible narratives could be anywhere not just in a text, but also in ads, TV, etc. They could be anywhere! They are assumptions and stories that underlie in the things we write, think and judge in our daily lives. It maybe that sometimes were just aren’t aware that we too are creating invisible narratives!

Now, I am just more cautious of what I write or say because learning that Invisible narratives can affect others. Which brings me to a term I had never heard about HegemonicPower Structure. This is a structure that is an internalized hierarchy that privileges certain people over others and sometimes we don’t see it because it’s from within and we can come across oppressing ourselves.

I never considered that WORDS or IMAGES could be so powerful! This topic on Invisible Narrative has made me want to be more cautious of what I say or write and help others understand that what they said or write could also affect others as well as themselves.

This semester we have learned a few different things that have surprised me a little. So many things that during high school English teacher never taught us. English classes are so much different now because we get to learn new stuff, stuff that for some reason was in a way hidden from us.

Metaphors during high school we defined much more different than they are now. Now a metaphor is what you actually mean when you are talking. We hear metaphors everyday all the time because everyone speaks his or her own metaphor. You never know what the person you are talking to actually is thinking in their head. When we learned this I was really surprised because I thought that in order to talk metaphor you had to do with comparing two things that had nothing to do with each other. Know I know that I talk metaphors all the time and I am doing it right now too.

Aside from metaphors we have also learned about the different discourses we are acquiring and the ones we brought with us from before. Maybe we thought that we talked to every person in our lives in a different way but now we have learned that it is not like that. That every time we meet a person we come up with a whole new discourse. The one we will use when we are with them. For instance, we talk differently to our friends than we do to our parents; we have a different way of talking to every little group or individual in our lives. When I learned about this I was actually very surprised and couldn’t understand but after our class discussion on it I understood why. Things such as having a word that only the people in that little group know about because it doesn’t appear in dictionaries is a discourse. 

source: universityherald.com

Lastly the most recent thing we have been discussing and are also something that I had never learned or though about is invisible narratives. We were always asked to analyze writing for class but we never did it in such a deep manner as we are doing it now with the articles professors recommended. Looking deep into what the writer of this article actually means is something that we have always done, but looking for parts where maybe he doesn’t mean what he says but something completely different is something that I am just learning now. There are invisible narratives everywhere: in adds, professional writing, maybe even just as I write I am in a way creating an invisible narrative.

So many different things I have learned and have yet to learn sometimes make me feel excited because if they are as interesting as the ones I have just discussed I am definitely looking forward to that.  English classed have never been as exciting as the ones I am taking now at this point of my education. It is true that during high school you learn a lot but we should also be taught many different ways of writing and analyzing.

Your 78 cents, their dollar

Women occupy almost half of the workforce and on average, a women who holds a full-time,year-round job is paid $39,157 per year while a man who holds a full-time, year-round job is paid $50,033 per year. This amounts to a $10,876 dollar difference! Studies show that women obtain more graduate and college degrees compared to their male counterparts. However, on average, women continue to earn noticeably less than males.

Female full-time workers make only 78 cents to every dollar earned by men. This is a 22% difference! Women tend to earn less than men in almost every occupation where there is earnings data to calculate an earnings ratio between women and men.Unbelievably, some people respond to this by claiming that a few percentage difference is too small to worry about. If it’s so small, I suppose these people would happily give up a percentage of their salaries? I didn't think so.

The gender wage gap has been progressing at such a slow rate that researchers predicts that it will take up to 50 years for women to finally reach equal pay. We are in the 21st century, yet, women are paid less than men doing the same job just because they are female.

You think what I just said was bad? Well, you haven't even heard the worst part. Women of color face an even greater wage gap. African American women are paid 64 cents and Latinas, 56 cents, for every dollar paid to white males.

So what does it exactly mean for women to earn less than men? Well, these lost wages mean that families have less money to spend on goods and services. If these wage gaps were dropped, a working women in the United States would have enough money for at least 86 more weeks of food for her family, more than seven more months of mortgage and utilities payments, 12 more months of rent or 3,208 additional gallons of gas. As you can see, their lost wages could traumatically benefit families everywhere. 

Being able to overcome barriers to equal pay is not going to be easy, however, speaking up to address this problem will help reduce the wage gap. Women deserve to have equal pay for equal work and it's only up to you to help future generations receive equal pay by speaking up to raise awareness. Women are a part of your everyday life; your mother, sister, significant other and maybe grandmother. Don't you think that the most important women in your life deserve the best? They deserve to be paid equivalent to a white male in America.

Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/16/business/to-solve-the
-gender-wage-gap-learn-to-speak-up.html?pagewanted=all

The Media and the Portrayal of Women

Women in Magazines

 

“Feminism? Women’s rights? Women’s right to vote? Women’s suffrage……..Hahahaha yeah right like that’s going to make society better?” (Sarcastic tone).

YES! Yes all of these contribute to giving and representing value for women in society and has definitely made a great impact on society today.

Women have been ranked as lower status compared to men in our world for a very long time. But what makes a women undermined and overthrown is society’s whole portrayal of what women are really like. Who is to blame for this very disappointing idea? The media is the criminal of this false, and crazy perception of how women are. Yes, the mass media of television, internet, radio, newspapers, magazines, are all part of our everyday life. Yes, it is a powerful tool that provides us with information and entertainment. And yes, it reflects our society by its influences the way we think. We create our identity in relation to the images we see around us from a young age. That is why we may not realize is the demonstration of unequal portrayal for women in the media through this powerful tool.

Sexualizing Women in Advertisement

For example when people are repeatedly shown images of women as victims, sexualized, or in domestic roles in the media, then they are more likely to accept these images as normal. Or even when women are portrayed as passive, dependent or weak, it can seem unusual for them to be active, independent or powerful in society. Needless to say, all these activities assumed that images of women in the mass media have some sort of detrimental impact upon both individual consciousness and collective social life. This leads to encouragement of this whole concept of lowering women and their role in society.

The perceptions the media offers for the representation of women in society are by the “standard” female roles their given in shows, news, on the radio, and all over the mass media. A 1971 study revealed that advertisements appearing in an issue did not present a full view of the variety of roles women actually play in U.S. In television shows, women are always given a “feminine” role or are either shown very sexually. The Medias deleterious role models, when internalized, prevent and impede female accomplishments. They also encourage both men and women in terms of men (as sex objects) or in the context of family (as wives or mothers).The media has been criticized for its portrayal of women as objects whose value is measured in terms of their usefulness to others. It becomes difficult to see them as thinking, feeling, and capable people. This then becomes a human rights issue.

The media brings us back to the idea of unequal rights, false perceptions, and gender roles of women in society because the media( television, magazines, newspapers)  greatly impacts their viewers to be have the idea that women are actually like what they see in the media. And because of that idea it leads to discrimination and unequal rights for women for society because of the way they are treated. Women have fought for their rights for a very long time and they will continue to do it even if the media takes a toll on them. We can make a change, and make women’s and men’s rights equal. All it takes is a voice within a community to speak up.

The Media and it Influences

We are all social spectators living in a heavily influencing society. Today, more than ever, the media plays a huge roll in our lives. We are exposed to more media than ever on a daily basis due to our technology. As a society we’re slowly accept the media as an involuntary ideology due to so much exposure in the time era we’re living in.  Some of us can’t take to account how powerful or how heavily the mass has been influenced by the media in our society. It’s quite disturbing realizing that over the time, the media plays an important aspect to us. Thus, with such powerful influencing powers, the negative portrayment of gender/race stereotypes, misleading information, and the inequalities shown in our world today. Today in our modern day era, young individuals, particularly males, are influenced by the media. In today's media, specifically in gangster rap aspect, heavily portrays lifestyles and myriad illegal ways to obtain capita that appeals to the youth. Therefore, with such miss-guiding imagery forces young males to self consciously thinking the lifestyle there exposed to may be suitable or  appropriate to them resulting into negative ingrained actions in their mind due to gangster rap.

One aspect in gangster rap that influence young men is the lyrics that stereotype women. With an abundance of misleading lyrics that promotes women as objects leaves the listeners to believe and play out the roles that are being labeled for women. One clear example that labels women in a derogatory manner is former artist Chris Brown song, “Loyal”. What this song demonstrates is that all women ain’t loyal. The song explicitly demonstrates that women are materialistic and would do anything, but I mean anything (according to the song) to get what they want. But overall the take back from of this song is that all women while in a relationship would cheat, have a side lover, and easy to get/approach (with disrespect).        

Another aspect that drives and influence the youth are the promotion of drug use and violence. While rappers or lyricist promote a certain lifestyle, whether its from rag to riches or promoting to be the tough guy or belong to the toughest clique, spectators soak that in and try to seek that lifestyle due to it being glorified in the media. And unfortunately who tend to be fully active spectator than any other age group on this topic tend to be the youth. Although some rapper express that there lyrics represent their struggle or present/past life in a distinct way over an instrumental, it still heavily promotes the lifestyle which is appealing to the youth and makes them pursue it.  

Are coupons really saving us money?

Sometimes buying cheap is not the best choice for you. Sometimes there is something behind all that discount you are getting. Sometimes you spend more than you later wish you had.

It is completely normal for people to cut out coupons that they find in their mail; coupons that are usually sent by the stores themselves in order to later go redeem them. It may seem like you are saving tons but why don’t you stop and think; how much would you actually buy if you did not have the coupons with you? Or if there was not a big sign in front of you saying “50% off”? Maybe less than what you are buying when you see the saving propaganda. Coupons are not really helpingyou; they are helping the store to make you buy much more than what you actually want and need.  For instance a coupon says something is 50% off with the purchase of another then what do you do? You go and buy two but why? Because it is cheaper to do it that way. But do you ever wonder if it really is? It is something natural all humans do. To go buy extras because they are n sale and then let it go bad. We tend to even buy stuff we don’t even like because the fact that it was on sale made it more appealing. Have you ever thought that there’s a reason for all this deals they have and that maybe it is not only to please the customer but also to help the store? Are the items being sold in good quality? Appearance? Or do they look weird and old/ maybe the object has been in a storage room for a long time and you are not being told about it.

source: fitoverusa.com

I personally do not use coupons and I admit that I had never thought in debt about how expensive it actually is to buy with them. You tend to spend more without noticing, you get home and realize that you got stuff you do not need or like. It is only natural for you to do so when you have so many “offers” to take advantage of. Stores want to make some profit and they know exactly how to do it. They know that as soon as the customer sees that something has a certain percentage off they will feel forced to buy.

My mom is someone that like most others feels like buying whatever is on sale is best for our family, in order to save for later, and she goes for it. She is someone that might not over do it like others do sometimes. She knows that buying too much even with coupons will make her send more than what she has. I have only seen her over due it a couple of times. She does definitely use her coupons for burger king coupons whenever she can to get more from her money.

When you walk into a store you automatically start looking for savings you can get. You look for the coupon book and see what you can use. But we should at some point stop and think; how are these actually helping us? How much more would I actually save if I didn’t use the coupons? How much longer would I keep my stuff? These are questions that nobody asks himself or herself before spending tons of money on stuff they don’t need. How much less would we spend if we didn’t have any coupons? It would be nice to know and a way to show people that coupon could not be as helping as they seem. Sometimes what the cheapest the prize the cheapest the quality.