Writers Blog: Using one of the readings from this unit

Literacy: A Lineage by Melanie Luken 

Paraphrase:
Melanie Luken began focusing the most on her writing during the end of High School, when she discovered her love for poetry. During High School she would take English classes and would join literacy magazine. After High School her enjoyment for literacy grew. So she started taking English classes in College as well, such as Beginning Poetry, Intermediate Poetry, Honors 598, which than lead to her improvement in reading and writing. While taking these classes, she has learned that authors have to stand criticism and only focus on comments that can be beneficial for them. At this time her father would support her as well giving her feedback on what to do to continue to improve. One of the things her father recommended for her to do was to ignore criticism and to believe that she is a better poet than her father has ever been.  (134-135)


Summarize:
In Melanie Luken's essay, A Lineage, she explains how literacy can be more than just learning how to read and write. Literacy has become a family tradition for her and has noticed that parents can influence or encourage their children to enjoy reading. (135)
         Literacy is generally known as the ability to read and write. My definition of literacy is:                      the ability to read, write, and understand within a tradition. For me, this is a familial 
         tradition that has permeated my literacy experience. Parents have an incredible power to           
         influence their children through their own behaviors and attitudes, and it is certainly true
         that my father has impressed upon me his own attitude towards literacy and literature. 
         Now, every time we talk he asks me, "What are you reading? What do you think about it?" 
         We talk about what each of us is reading, as well as our thoughts and impressions. 
         In this way, the tradition continues. 


Quote:
From the essay, A Lineage, the author Luken believes that Literacy is just like learning a new language. In the similar ways as not being familiar with it, which can be difficult to quickly learn, but as we progress, with time, we will get better at it.
"I believe that my choice to major in French is also rooted in this tradition of language and Literature. Studying a foreign language can, at times, be just like learning how to read and write as a child." (135)

In Class Lab Ads 10/22

In Class Lab Ads 10/22

1.       Who published these ads?

PETA, Freedom For Animals, Mercy for Animals, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

2.       Who are these texts intended for?

Freedom For Animals ad seems to be intended for women, as their ad parodies a woman’s hair ad. Mostly they seem to be targeted at average consumers. Mercy For Animals specifically wants people to not go to Walmart, so their target audience is probably people who go to Walmart.

3.       How can we tell that?

Freedom for Animals is mirroring what popular hair care ads for women look like. The Mercy for Animals ad specifically targets Walmart, so you can infer that this ad would be for people who go to Walmart.  

4.       What is the purpose of these texts?

They all want to stop animal cruelty. The Freedom for Animals ad specifically targets animal lab testing, PETA ad is against wearing fur, Mercy for Animals wants to stop/improve the farm animal conditions cruelty that Walmart is doing, and American Society’s ad is trying to inform people of domestic “pet” animal cruelty, and trying to get people to adopt a dog in need.

5.       How do they seem to be working towards that purpose?

Most of the ads are focusing on our emotion response to anime cruelty. The Mercy For Animals ad show a pig locked up in bad conditions, asking it’s audience if we support that. PETA’s ad shows a man with what we infer to be his dog. It makes us think of how we love our pets, and uses that emotion to make us not want to wear animal fur. The Freedom for Animals ad shows a woman with “luxurious” hair, but also with a wound on her scalp. The ad tells us that this is what happens to animals that are being tested on. Ethically, we think it’s wrong to hurt people, and they say that this is what happens to 300,000 animals every year. The American Society ad shows a cute dog, and has text that appears to be coming from the dog. The way they phrase the dog’s “speech” makes the dog seem innocent and child-like, so we feel bad about what happened to him. This emotional response makes us want to help dogs that are abused.

6.       What evidence from the texts can you provide?

The phrases and images mentioned in #5.

7.       Can you come up with that would indicate what the ads do as a group?

All kinds of animal cruelty is wrong, and you don’t even know that it’s happening. 

Thinking About the Text : Rubin/ Advertisement R Us

1) What insight does Melissa Rubin offer about the Coca-Cola ad she analyzes, and what evidence does she provide to support her analysis? Has she persuaded you to accept her conclusions- and if not, why not?

 Melissa’s  conclusion was based on how companies accomplish to persuade consumers to buy their products by using ads; done through showing or telling the consumer the numerous ways their product can help. In every ad there is a message that is hidden and according to Melissa the message behind the Coca-Cola ad is:  "Their is a life to be envied and emulated, so drink Coca-Cola and live that life yourself" (180). The insight that Melissa uses to support her analyzes are history and reaction/result. On the ad she mentions how history can inspire someone to buy their products. During the 1950’s war and industrialization was growing, so having an image of the ideal community (surrounded with White Americans, happy veterans, the working class and the middle class) makes you want to join them as well; since in the Coca Cola ad the image represents a coming together to refresh with a drink of coca cola.

Yes, Melissa has persuaded me to accept her conclusion because, I think persuasion can be used many ways and one of them is through showing a happy community and their history. Another thing I noticed is that advertisers tend to use images of ads that are related to the bigger community, which can either be a belief, ethnicity, gender, culture and etc.

2) How does she incorporate historical context, and what does that information contribute to her analysis?  

Melissa incorporates historical context by mentioning ethnicity, lifestyle, the class and conditions during the 1950's. She notices that the majority of the people from the ad are white men and women. Her analyzes towards this is based on history; during the 1950's racial prejudice and segregation in the United State was a big issue. She also notices that the only time when a Black male was shown on an ad was only if he or she were famous. Melissa analyzes lifestyle; many men in the ad were veteran, middle class and working class. The setting of the ad was taken place during the 1950's when war and industrialization was growing. The evidence she has provided shows the reader when advertising took place. Melissa also doesn't forget to mention how this advertisement came to be persuading; which was done through showing the celebration of the community joined together and the setting of the place.

3)Rubin's analysis is driven by this question: What can we learn about the culture in which a given ad is created by closely examining how that ad appeals to particular audiences? What other questions might you try to answer by analyzing an ad?

Some other questions I may try to answer by analyzing an ad are:

In what generation was this ad made?

What were the communities belief?

What are their goals?

What are their values?

4) This Coca-Cola ad reflects the values of its era. Can you think of a contemporary ad that projects the values of the era we live in? How do the two ads compare?

One main value advertisers project during this era for teenagers are to look “beautiful”. I’ve seen images of “good” looking people on posters, the internet and on commercials persuading consumers to buy their products. The comparison between the two ads that advertisers use are what seem to be the ideal image and their goals for the recent era.  

Analysis

Analysis

Analysis:

1.      Finding the theme in a piece of writing

2.      Finding the ways in which the writer attempts to persuade the reader

3.      Finding the purpose of the piece of writing

4.      Finding the symbolism involved with depicting the theme of the piece of writing

5.      Find the impact on the reader

Thinking about the Text

1) What is Heather Havrilesky's main insight about Mad Men? How can you tell? Point to specific passages that reflect this conclusion.
Heather's main point of insight for using Mad Men as an example was to show us how "crafty insta-celebrities . . . self-branding geniuses and social media" has impacted our lives by distracting us from reality.
"As absurd as it seems to cobble together a dream around a handful of consumer goods, that's precisely what the advertising industry did so effectively in the 50s and 60s, until we couldn't distinguish our own desires from the desires ascribed to us by professional manipulators, suggesting antidotes for every real or imagined malady, supplying escapist fantasies to circumvent the supposedly unbearable tedium or ordinary life." (175)

2) How does Havrilesky establish her Authority to write about this show?
Heather seems to know the show Mad Man well, since she tells the audience examples of what happened in detailed description. She knows all her characters; their personality and actions.

3) How does she appeal to readers' emotions? Identify specific passages where she does so.
Since Heather tells the reader the decision each character has made, who they are, what they want and etc. We become interested in wanting to know whats going to happen next. This interest makes us respond in an emotional way. For an example, when Heather mentions the character Don.
"Don has finally put his ambivalence toward Betty behind him: He's leaving his marriage and focusing  on the new ad firm as his true passion . . . But can someone as conflicted as Don commit wholeheartedly to anything?" (172)

4) If you were familiar with Mad Men before you read this essay, is this an accurate description of the show and of its impact on viewers? If you weren't familiar with it, do you now understand its basic premise - and has Havrilesky made you want to watch it? Explain
Even though I have not seen the show I can tell that the author did a good job in explaining to the reader each character and the decisions they made. I am curious in watching the movie. Curious about what is going to happen to the characters next.

Look For analysis in everyday use:

The two websites I was interested in analyzing are based in electronics, apple.com and vacation, travel.usnews.com. Travel.usnews.com was the one I believe to be more useful because it is well developed it helps the traveler or researcher get necessary information about a place quickly and easily.  Some of those helpful resources are places to stay, hotels, prices, weather, the news, plane tickets and the reason why you should go there for vacation. Among all of the helpful resources it provides the most helpful one is letting the researcher know about the news at that certain place.

                The other one is apple.com, the company sales good quality of electronics that can be useful for anyone, which is shown through the pictures of their electronics. It also tells detailed information about it, such as how many watts of power it has, the storage and memory it carries. The website also shows a variety of electronics they are selling. It is well organized, easy to use and buy. The only thing I change is the amount of pictures shown and more information on it about the product. Many consumers would probably want to know about the product more.

Think About your own use of analysis:

Small Decisions

My small decisions	How my life was affected?	About me
1)take English 101 in the afternoon	I realized that I should be taking classes at night rather than morning or afternoon that way it will give me time to be prepared for class, go to work with my mother and do any personal thing such as working out, cleaning, cooking, read.	I figured out that I am a productive person in the morning and afternoons. I dislike doing things quickly without thinking about it ahead of time. I am not productive at night time.
2)take Chem 131 in the afternoon	This one is the same was “taking English 101 in the afternoon” but to add to it I noticed my grades and the effort I put into my work is not the same. It as if during that time I have other things in mind and I get distracted.	Same as above. I noticed I like to make excuses such as “I’ll do it tomorrow it is not due until next week” so if I did my homework during my productive times I will be more focused on it. Just like I did on the Fall Quarter of 2014
3)start working out	I’ve been more motivated into living a healthy lifestyle. I start to eat healthier and I also feel better about myself.	I notice that when I do not work out I feel down. I am not motivated to improve.
4)be more productive in my decisions	I’ve become to be a more positive person as I see my results.	I tend to be a negative person but when I start doing something that will give me good results I start to have more faith start putting my effort and strength into it.
5)dye my hair/and cut	Dying my hair was a bad decision to me because it caused my hair to freeze more and I spend more time fixing it on days when I want it to look good.	I like to look decent in public. I do not mind about how I look in class but when I go out I do.
6)work with my mother when I can	Working with my mother has helped me much because the job we do is flexible in my schedule. It has also helped me financially.	I like to be productive and want to be more independent.

Big Decisions

My big decisions	How my life was affected?	About me
1)go to Olympic College	Going to Olympic college has helped me to get a step further into my career.	I like to learn new things
2)make plans to go to Seattle University	Planning to do things in the future has kept me motivated the only problem is the cost of it.	I realized that if I want to go to Seattle University I will have to work more and be more organized and careful on how I spent.