HW24: A Room of My Own

In chapter 5 of A Room Of One's Own by Virginia Woolf she writes, "For all the dinners are cooked, the plates and cups are washed; the children are set to school and gone out into the world." (93 Woolf) In this quote I think Woolf is talking about how woman used to be treated and how they had no rights. All they were allowed to do was sit in the house to cook and clean. However in chapter 6 Woolf says "... each of us and rooms of our own; if we have the habit of freedom and courage to write exactly what we think..." (118 Woolf) I think this quote describes the woman of 2007. Woman have come a long long way over the years and they know have the rights to get out of the house and work evenly on the same level as men. I myself feel that i have a room of my own. I have the right and the ability to think and express myself in anyway that I feel is appropriate. I have things that I own such as the computer i am typing on and the cell phone in my pocket. I feel though that with this oppurtunity that woman have been given to be equal with men, comes a lot of responsibility. I don't think that it is something that was just given to woman they had to earn it over the years and we as woman have to up hold all the horrible things the woman before us went through to get us where we are today. Equality should be respected and not taken for granted.

HW23: With Apologies to Virginia Woolf

Analyzing the blog, Ugly Business: Modeling Industry Still Loves It Some Leggy White Blondes
By Dodai on ugly business, in the style of Viginia Woolf (page 63).

It is pitiful that woman of different races can not get equal jobs, no matter who beautiful they are or how dedicated they are. Can these models help themselves? I ask is the modeling industry being racisit or are we just not ready for the change that needs to be made? These woman must have spent many years modeling, practicing, and getting their bodies "perfect", and they are being torn down and denied jobs because of there race and color of thir skin. These models should be given a fair chance at the job. We as buyers will never know how a model of anothe race will affect the clothing we buy if we have never experinced it. Our world is changing everyday and the job oppurtunities need to change with it aswell.

HW22: Patriarchy it's still Kickin

“The most transient visitor to this planet, I thought, who picked up this paper could not fail to be aware, even from this scattered testimony, that England is under the rule or patriarchy” (Woolf 33). I think Woolf says this because the paper was written by a male, and in the chapter she tells the reader everything else he owns like, “He was the Foreign Secretary, and the Judge. He was the cricketer; he owned the racehorses and the yachts. He was the director of the company the pays tow hundred per cent to its shareholders” (Woolf 34). In my Social Problems class my professor said “America is run by men for men,” and I think that is kind of what Woolf is trying to tell us. Then males in the society at the time she is writing still had control over the woman and they owned things and woman were just another piece of property. I think in today’s 2007 society in some ways it is still a Patriarchy Society but not anywhere near what it used to be when my grandparents were younger. I think if people came here that had no idea about the changes American’s have seen over the years, that they would see a Patriarchy Society because males are still in all the high positions and I personally feel that males have the final say in everything that happens in our society.

HW21: Dear Trevor <3

Dear Trevor,
I can completely understand why you don’t understand this book, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf. In chapter 1 she mentions that her thesis is “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction,” if I could possibly define this chapter in simple terms, I would say that the chapter is very important but it strays from the thesis a bit. In chapter one Woolf takes us as readers into another area and tells us about fiction. In the story the Woolf begins to tell about “Oxbridge,” she tells us about how woman are treated in this certain time frame. She mentions that woman are not allowed to walk on the grass, and that they are not allowed into the library without a male figure present. Woolf then goes on to describe how the luncheon went at the college and she begins to compare it to a luncheon post-war time. She compares the two using poetry to show how much things have changed since before and after the war. At the end of the chapter Woolf talks about poverty and the effects it has in our lives.
Hope it helps,
Love Cj.

HW19: Censoring Blogs and Social Networking

In the book Blog! how the newest media revolution is changing politics, buisness, and culture by David Kline and Dan Burstein, the reading Web of Influence by Daniel Drenzer and Henry Farrell, they talk a lot about how blogs are used internationally and how they are being censored in certain countries. They mention that China filters what their citizens read from foreign blogs. Although some readers may agree, I would argue that people should have the option to read the blogs they chose and have the right to respond to those blogs in the form that they feel is right without being worried that they will be forced to face some form of punishment. Even more importantly, restricting access to the internet as Drenzer and Farrell have mentioned, is not the best answer to stopping people from having their own opinions. Either way, the citizens of a country are going to have certain feelings about their democracy and if they are not aloud to express themselves through a blog or some form of the internet they will most likely just find another way to have their voices heard. And if they don't and they keep it bottled inside, it is more or less guarentted that the more pressure and aggravation that builds up they will eventually burst, and end up in trouble anyways. But above all the fact that Drenzer and Farrell mention that people are being punished for expressing themselves in blogs and social networks just boggels my mind. I could not imagine living in a country that I could not voice my opinion on the way things were being run and how I felt about the democratic system in my country. I think it's crazy that these people are letting people control their thoughts and how they talk about their feelings.

HW18: My Least Favorite Blog

The blog I read and disliked this week was “Some Like it Hot” by Sacha Pfeiffer (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2007/10/07/some_like_it_hot/?page=full). I least liked this blog because I thought it was pointless. The post talks about how the “baby boomers” are eating way more hot and spicy foods than ever before. Contrary to popular belief as every human grows older they are going to lose taste buds there for looking for food with more of a kick than they did when they were in their youth. And the youth are going to eat spicy foods because their parents and grandparents are eating it. I do not think it is such a phenomenon that it needs to be written about in a blog. As anything in the world things, including food and people, go through phases in their life times and this is just another phase. I least like this blog because I feel like they just had nothing better to write about, though at the same time I found it interesting that a blogger from The Boston Globe would write about spicy foods. I think the blog could have been more interesting, maybe it’s just me and I don’t find the subject all that interesting to me.

HW17b: Applying Graff to Cox

In the readings “Blogging the Presidency: an interview with Markos Moulitas Zuniga” and “Sex, Lies, and Political Scrapes: an interview with Ana Marie Cox” from Blog! How the newest media revolution is changing politics, business, and culture, by David Kline and Dan Burnstein, the blog that would most likely influence the way I would vote in the upcoming election would be Ana Marie Cox’s blog at http://www.wonkette.com. Her blog would influence my decision of a presidential candidate more because she writes on a more personal level and he blog page is more interesting that Markos Moulitas Zuniga’s blog page. Cox’s page includes pictures and videos that are more interesting to young adults, like myself. She writes things that are interesting and that capture our attention, things that the media will not show in fear of getting sued. As blog readers and writers, I believe that we come to realize that these presidential candidates are regular people like you and I, and I think that Cox’s has a very unique way of showing her readers that. I can understand though why people would rather read Zuniga’s blog because he is a more serious writer and talks more about the campaign instead or the sexual aspects and funny happenings. But without those funny happenings, I feel that we as Americans feel inferior to the presidential candidates.

HW14: Respond To Denton Using Graff

I agree with Denton, as a result of people having obsessions with many different things and aspects in our everyday lives, they will use any form of communication and information to feed and fulfill their obsession. As an illustration, my roommate likes to read the hype about Hollywood Stars, and has just informed me that she read a blog about how Brittany Spears lost custody of her children. To put it bluntly Denton mentions how in blogs, if you write about things people are passionate about they will be drawn to it, and will feel the need to read it. While yet Denton also talks about how blogging is not actually a new phenomenon and that it has actually been going on for years, I believe it is hitting a new place and a new age group. Furthermore I think it is becoming used for many different reasons than anyone ever antisapaited, I do not honestly think when the first bloggers began blogging that they thought KSC would have a course all about blogs. As a result, I think blogging will stay as a form of communication and information, but will never replace mainstream media.