Blog Entry 22 Farmers Market

            Above are some of the pictures that I took at the Farmers Market at Union Square.

            It was sunny when I got off the train at Union Square at around 10:30 A.M. I walked around the Farmers Market, but I found out there were not many booths or people at the time. Most business trucks were parked behind the business booths, so people could easily unload the foods from the truck into their booths. I think there are usually more business booths, but today there were only a few selling vegetables, fruits, plants, flowers, cookies, and bread. Maybe it’s because more people visit the market on Saturdays instead of Fridays.

            In the afternoon, more people came and I could see the businesses were earning more. Chen Qun came a little bit later to join me in shopping and taking photos. We spent a few hours in the market. I bought apples, red potatoes, and lettuce. Qun bought some vegetables and a plant. We both bought a jar of fall season honey brought down from upstate New York.

I noticed that all the vegetables and fruits there were fresh and they showed you where they came from (the farms' names). The cookies and bread were organic, but pricier than those from a normal supermarket. The owner who sold the honey told me that he went to three markets to sell his honey and had to stay in a hotel two nights to go to each place from upstate New York. I learned that doing business is not easy, that you have to make money to survive through hard work. Overall I really enjoyed the nice, sunny day at Union Square today.

 I bought different types of apples, red potatoes, lettuce, and a jar of honey form the market. 

That's how I made this big dish: First, I fried the potatoes and put them at the bottom of the dish. Then, I added sliced apples and lettuce and mixed them up. At the end I put some cranberry trail mix on top and drizzled olive oil on it.

Blog Entry 21 Reflection

            It is almost the end of this semester. Looking back through all my blog entries, they are like journal records about how I open my vision starting from "The Allegory of the Cave" in this English class. I feel that while I'm learning English writing, I'm also studying philosophy, and using that philosophy to think and to write. I have never had this experience before in my other writing classes. I chose blog entry 8, 13, and 15 to be considered as my best work because I put a lot of thought into those writing pieces and followed the writing structure.
            Writing online is different from writing on paper. Sometimes I feel it is a bit easier because when you spell a word wrong, it will correct you right away, and if you type fast and think fast, you will finish your essay faster than writing on paper. Writing blog entries has helped improve my writing but I'm afraid it will slow down my writing on paper if I'm not used to it. I felt that the online work was a shared experience because I could read others work online and we did many online activities to interact with others. Sometimes I read other students' online work and I got the impression that they read my blog too when they left comments on my blog.
            Overall my experience in the class, it has taught me to free my thoughts by using philosophy in my writing. I like all the assignments that we did in class because I was able to chain them together and think about how they were related to our society and affected to our lives. Through all the films that we watched in class, I discovered many problems and learned many good lessons that exist in our society. I feel that my ideas are still low compared to other students', but at least I have had a basic understanding of writing strategies. Meanwhile, there are many memorable things in this class, especially all the films that I watched. The most memorable was the interactive online activity of the Matrix. That was my first time interacting with other students. I felt excited and understood the film better through others' discussion. I will recommend students to take this class next semester because we can gain not only writing skills, but open our vision. I think in the future, most classes will be held online.
            Thank you all.

Blog Entry 20

            As Lijun Zhou explains, "Memo is going to fight for his hometown and the people like him, because some business company took away the natural sources for their own benefits." I agree with Lijun. When Memo's father was killed. Memo finally understood why his father cared about the village. In his memory, he could always see how his father threw the stone hardly into the dam's wall. He knew he needed to fight for this unfair world and this was also his father's dream. He released his anger on Rudy who killed his father. Together they succeed in breaking the dam with Rudy's jet and returned the rights to the village people. I believe people will fight for their rights if there is unfairness or if someone tries to take over their land.

Blog Entry 19

            "According to those exploiting the planet's resources to make stuff, the people living in the countries with the resources do not have value because they don't own the resources even if they've been living there for generation, they don't own the means of production and they've not buying a lot of stuff." This statement reminds me of a film I watched before, it is about Botswana which is a country in Southern Africa that has rich natural resource of diamond. It was a very poor country before, now this country's economy is getting better because of the diamonds.  American big firms hire their people to produce most of the diamond products. People can have jobs and better lives, but still can't afford to buy diamonds even though it is their own resources. The benefits have belonged to their government and those corporations and they should be responsible for this reality. So, is this reality necessary? My answer is no because people living there don't need or buy these products. The demand is for rich countries and rich people because diamonds are expensive products. Since people live in the business world and everything involves business and profits, the third world which are poor countries, sell or use their resources to make products to rich countries, to exchange for their living. Now, our planet's nature resources are dropping. As we know, we only have one planet. If all resources are gone we can no longer live in the planet. It is not right for us to continue damaging our world. Some people are doing something to protect our world, but it is not enough. We should unite and use our efforts to change the world.   

Blog Entry 18 Outsourcing Labor

http://empowerednews.net/outsourcing-by-u-s-firms-add-to-unemployment-woes/185016/

             In the picture above, hundreds of people sit in rows in front a computer with a headset on to take phone calls from around the globe. I can assume that this is an outsourcing labor firm. Our technology today makes everything more convenient, easier, and faster. Many big American firms have set their working place outside the U.S. because a lot of jobs now are through the internet. People can connect to the whole world in one place. If you are online in India, you could connect with people in the U.S. As we know, American labor cost is one of the highest in the world. Today outsourcing labor has grown larger and faster since other countries' labor are much cheaper than the U.S. Through the film of  "Sleep Dealer," we can understand why American companies like to hire Mexicans because they do hard jobs for small earnings per day. Since Mexico is a poor country, the U.S. currency is a big amount for their people. That's why so many Mexicans cross the border to U.S. They work in America so that they can support their families. Technology is also another example for outsourcing labor outside the U.S. I remember three years ago, I had a problem with the Dell computer company for a money refund since I did not receive the laptop I had ordered. I made a lot of  phone calls but all answers were always from India, causing the problem to be extended over a long period of time. Technology development has changed the whole world including our labor resources. Many companies need to make profits by reducing their costs, especially the expensive labor cost. But the problem is when companies move their working place to another countries, our nation has less jobs for our own people. That is one of the reasons why the unemployment rate continues to stay high and why we are still in a difficult economic situation.               

Blog Entry 17 Reflection Food Unit

            In this food unit section, I like how The Meatrix's maker used "The Matrix" idea to create the characters of the pig Leo and  the cow Moopheus and direct people to find the truth in the food industry. Just like Neo and Morpheus in The Matrix, they are finding the truth of the real world. It is kind of similar plot but the topics are different. Since I liked "The Matrix," I also liked "'The Meatrix" film. Because of the connection of two films, it makes me pay more attention to food. I think the maker of The Meatrix film used The Matrix as the basis for their arguments, it is because they have the same purpose to finding the truth in our world. People might not ask where their food come from because they believe all the food they eat everyday is safe and has good nutrition. By watch The Meatrix film, people can realize most of the meat they eat everyday actually comes from factory farms instead of family farms. The film tells us what actually happens to the animals in the factory farm. The possible connection the food industry has to the idea in The Matrix is that the food industry is being taken over by machines, instead of the people. It is the truth that our world now is controlled by machines even though human creates all these machines. Now, here is the truth that the factory farms have almost taken over in the food industry. Workers,who work in the factory farms everyday, are fighting with the machines since they have to keep up with the fast machines. That's how the big firms make profits: by low cost with a fast produce. So, you will expect the good quality food to be expensive but you will get the poor quality food to come in low prices.
            I think I did okay in this section, but not very well. The last CAT writing was okay, but I needed to make many corrections and put more details when I rewrote my essay. I'm afraid for the real CAT that is coming because I still need to improve a lot in my writing. The challenge I am facing now is how to follow the author's main idea to develop my essay and to make good connections. The only thing I can do now is to keep reading and writing.

Blog Entry 16 Let Them Get Fat

            Fast-food has grown widely and taken place in our nation, especially in the poor-inner-city communities. Fast -food are targeting in such areas because of customer's economic status. In "Let Them Eat Fat," Greg Critser reminds us how fast food has caused many big problems such as high calories, getting fat and less physical activities in teenage boys' and girls' daily lives. I agree with the author when she observes that fast-food not only makes kids fat, it also makes kids addicted to it when the fast food companies such as McDonald's offer the cheap "supersizing" meal.
            Accoring to the article, high calories are one of the big problems that cause kids to get fat and leads to bad health. It says, "1340 calories represent more than half of a teenager's recommended daily caloric consumption, and the added calories themselves are protein-poor but fat and carbohydrate-rich." In fact, fast food, especially supersize meals, their calories are much higher than those numbers. Since fast food restaurants like McDonald's support supersized meals for low prices and great taste, kids like to hang around in the restaurant with others after school. I often see it happening in my neighborhood too. However, kids usually don't realize that while they are enjoying their meals, they are eating all the salt, sugar, and fat. That's how kids' calories build up and cause them to gain weight. As a result, the author is right that fast food has let kids eat fat and kids who live in poor areas are affected the most.
           Another reason is that kids easily become addicted to fast food because fast food companies always use strategies that attract kids to keep coming. They always promote the food with toys for the kids, support cheap packaged meals like "supersize" meals, and sometimes even free meals. In the article, the author mentioned that ads are saying, "If we don't recommend a supersize, the supersize is free!" I'm not surprised at how kids are addicted to these supersized meals and "happy meals." My friend Lily, who is a single mother, always brings her kids to McDonald's, and she told me that her kids like to collect McDonald's toys. For her, McDonald's food is cheap and she can afford it since her income is low. However, when I met her few days ago, she told me that her doctor said her cholesterol is too high now and she needs to take medicine. Now she said she is worried about her kids' health since they go to McDonald's so often. She always thought that fatter kids are better and she liked her kids fat. Kids are young and if they spend most of the time eating at fast food restaurants, it will become a habit they may not be able to get rid of since they have been going for so long.
           Furthermore, the author also states that " Completing this jumbo dietetic horror is the fact that the east availability of such huge meals arrives in the same years in which physical activity among teenage boys and girls drops by about half." In our society, we always see lots of fat kids on the street, especially when you walk around in the poor communities. When kids get fat, they usually become lazier. I have heard some fat kids saying that they don't want to join sport teams because they get tired easily. This is because they need to use a lot of energy to carry their weight. Otherwise, a lot their energy goes toward digesting food, making them feel tired too.
          Fast food has nothing good for kids since it causes so many health problems. But fast food companies' business keeps growing. Because they offer cheap food, they like to target their market at the poor-inner-city communities. So, it is not fair for the families of low economic status whose kids have more health problems then other kids. I believe the author has sent us a massage to consider our kids' eating habits while they grow up in today's busy society.
       

Blog Entry 15 Food Culture

          Over the past two decades, people's eating habits have changed since the fast food culture developed and extended all over the world. In "The Meatrix" film, the maker shows us how the big corporation took place and controlled most of the animal farming industries in America. Since the fast growing businesses need a tremendous amount of meat supply in the market every day, they have changed the natural way to produce their unlimited meat supplies. People might not realize that the food culture has changed since they are busy all the time and enjoy eating out. I deem that we are changing ourselves by following the change of the food industry, and are forgetting the natural way of eating.
           In the old days, people used to cook with fresh natural food. I remember when I was a kid in China, my mom used to bring me with her to buy food. There are many small food markets in my hometown; people there only sold fresh food like raw meat and vegetables. When we got back home, I would give my mom a little help with washing the vegetables. Then I would watch my mom cook. When I first came to America, I felt so excited when I shopped at the supermarket because there were no supermarkets in my hometown. Now, supermarkets are everywhere in China. Shopping at the supermarket is very easy and convenience because everything is either in cans or in boxes, you just pick what you want. Also, a lot of foods are ready to eat, you can just put the ready food into a microwave, few minutes later, your lunch or your dinner is ready on the table. See how easy for people to forget about the fresh food since those can and box foods are convenient to buy, easy and ready to cook, and the most important reason is save time.
          In the modern day, people have changed the way they eat. Preparing a dinner at home takes a lot of time. First, you need to shop for the materials, then prepare and wash them, and finally cook. After dinner, you need to do the last part by washing the dishes and cookware. Today, most people are busy at work and are tired to cook. So, eating out becomes people's habits. Not so many people can afford to eat in an expensive restaurant. However, since fast food restaurants supply cheaper food and are open everywhere for long hours, people like to eat there all the time. People might not realize when they enjoy their meal, that they are eating all the salt, sugar and fat. I watched a film called "Supersize Me" where a guy who ate McDonald's for a month almost died. This is a warning for everyone. We all have the choice to either eat fresh, natural food or junk food.
          With the growth of the fast food culture, America has become the fattest nation in the world. For me, I have combined both the Chinese and American food culture in my life. Most of the time I like to cook at home, but sometimes I like to enjoy eating out in different restaurants including fast food restaurants. I believe we have to realize that what we are eating now is not the natural way anymore. "The Meatrix" shows us the truth. We know that we are all involved in "the meatrix" world, but it is not too late to make a change.

Blog Entry 14

           The natural way to feed animals almost doesn't exist anymore. Now, feeding animals is mechanized. In "The Meatrix," the makers make the characters, Leo and Moopheus, in the film just like "The Matrix." The cow, Moopheus, offers the pig, Leo, to make a choice to find out the truth of the "real world" by choosing blue pill or red pill. Leo takes the red pill and goes into the real world with Moopheus. Leo sees how the real animal world looks like, and he is surprised by how different natural world is. It is true that there are many matters of facts that exist, including how people feed animals to grow faster to meet their needs in this world. The makers of The Meatrix film use The Matrix as the basis for their argument, it is because they try to warn us what the meat we are eating now are not natural; animals grow in the toxic environment.  

Blog Entry 13 The Matrix

            The film of "The Matrix" hits the nail on the head. It wants us to think about our world now and in the future. When we see the incredible technology in the film, we think about the technology in our world. We all notice that technology has changed the way we live. Will future technology be good or bad? Is our current technology good or bad? There are no doubts that technology surrounds people's lives now, and we can't live without it as it can't live without us.
             New technology has given us many advantages in our daily lives. A good example is the computer. we can sit in one place and connect with the whole world with the press of a few buttons. People can get as much information as they need from programs set in computers and the internet. As human beings, our memories are limited. We can't store every piece of information in our brain, but the web can. Also, we can't deny that the high speed of the internet can help us do things much faster. Now, whether we are at work, school or home, we always use the computer and internet because they are such useful tools that people can't get rid of them. For me, I like to use the computer to connect with my family members and friends, to get information, and do my homework. It is helpful, useful, and convenient.
             Back in the film of The Matrix, we can see our world was destroyed by technology. I can't imagine that the "real world" looks like that. I don't want our planet to be a fake world. However, this film sent us a message to consider what our world will be like in the future. Now, we can see we are damaging our world by polluting the air, digging up too much natural resources, and dumping garbage especially the technology's garbage. Our environment has been changed since we don't have much care for our earth. I believe we should care because we don't want to live the world like the "Matrix." We have to find ways to solve the problems in our world.
             The world has developed differently with technology than it would have naturally. And surely technology will continue developing without stopping. In the film, Neo is able to do incredible things like jumping between buildings through programming. I have also heard about how a human could insert a memory chip to identify who he or she will be in the future, although this may not be true. However, anything could happen. I worry about the war between humans and machines that might happen in the future because technology will become weapons so powerful that they will be able to destroy the whole world.
             All in all, there are many advantages and disadvantages with technology. We need technology but we must also have control over our technology.

Blog 12 Reflection and Evaluation

           It has been half a semester and so far I have done 11 blog entries and some catw writing. Looking back at all my writing, I found that blog entry has organized all works that I did in this class. When I looked through all my writing, I could see the progress of my writing; I feel I can write longer essays more easily since I do my practices many times. Blog entry has given me the opportunities to improve both my writing and computer skills. Although I have got progress on the organization of my writing, I still need to work on how to make a good connection between paragraphs, how to come up some good ideas while I write my essay, and grammar and spelling too. Writing a good essay is not easy for me, the most challenges that I face now are the development of writer's ideas, the structure of response and word choice. For example, when I took the catw test of "The Dangers of Reality TV", I felt I didn't develop the writer's idea correctly even though I did come up some relative ideas on my own. I still felt nervous and I made many mistakes by choosing correct words when I took the exam, especially when the time ran out fast. So, I still need to do more practices before I take the real catw test. I will work on the weakness of my writing and I believe I will do better each time.

Blog 11 The Dangers of Reality TV

 In "The Dangers of Reality TV," Sexton shows us how reality TV has influenced people's mind with some dangerous messages. The example of the “Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire" show tells you life is only a competition. "American Idol" shows you that your image is more looked upon than your abilities. And the most dangerous message is to let you to think that making more money is more important than education. All of those reality TV shows make you believe what they say and change yourself to be what they want you to be. I agree with the author when he views that “reality TV reinforces several unsound messages that are molding the minds of its young fans.”

Today, reality TV is on all day long with news, shows, movies and ads. People like to watch TV every day because media knows how to get people, especially young fans attention with their incredible “message” shows. According to Sexton, one of the ideas is that “life is nothing but a competition that we continually engage in with each other.” This statement reminds me that I have watched many children’s competitive shows from Sino TV. Those shows are like “Who Is Smarter?” “I’m the Champion,” “You Will Not Know if You Don’t Attend the Test,” and “Can you Graduate?” In these shows, judges will score them and reward them. Of course there are some winners, but many of them lose. When I saw that some kids’ eyes were full of tears because they didn’t win the champion, I can see their feelings were hurt. I know those shows that people create have their commercial purposes; however, if these shows engage children to become competitive, their minds will have wrong messages while they are young. Therefore, media somehow has influenced young fans mind in our society.

Moreover, if reality TV tries to send us messages that “educations completely unnecessary to fulfill the American dream,” it will be the dangerous single to our society. Only those who “eat bugs, and walk away with a bucket of money,” I believe there is no shortcut to succeed without effort in people’s lives. We all know that education is very important to all of us, especially to younger generations. The reason is not only to make more money in the future; it is also because we can gain knowledge from what we learn in school. I remember in my communication course, my professor let us to talk about news and think about “is news always true?” In our society, news comes out every day. News reporters and analysts always talk about news with their viewpoints and opinions. We have used to listen and most of us believe what they say. We might not think if it’s true or not. There might be some control behind the scene. I believe that the author is right when he states, “in fact, they aren’t replicating society as it is, but rather as those in power want people to believe it is.” Therefore, without education you wouldn’t have knowledge to analyze the world, to discover the truth while you go into the reality world.

Reality TV has used its power to confuse young fans’ mind by sending some dangerous messages. We should fully recognize the true value of ourselves instead of following what they try to “mold” for us.

       

Blog Entry 10 Claim, Reason, Evidence

Claim: I believe the Matrix is the film that shows us how reality is going to change in the future.
Reason: Technology has changed the way we live now and will develop fast from now on to the future.
Evidence: In the film, Neo becomes the man who can do incredible things such as jumping between buildings by inserting program chips. In our reality, computers and its programs are taking place in people's lives. Now we know computer can do so much things at the same time that human beings can't. All because we create those programs that can work much much faster than our brain. That's how technology will change our world without stopping.

Blog 9 Telecommute Report-out

           From the telecommute, I can see how well students engage in the discussion of  "The Matrix." I think the questions are helpful for us interact with each other. The question "what is the Matrix?" was hard for me since I was confused about which was the real world or the fake world. Through the discussion, now I think I understand that the Matrix is the fake world created by the machines, and the real world is where Mopheus' spaceship is, where he brought Neo to. In the movie, our world which is the fake world, had been destroyed. I can't imagine our world to look like that in the future where human beings would be controlled by machines. Also, I feel people are so brave because most of them chose the red pill instead of the blue pill. I believe they made the right choice with their decision. I like all the opinions they make in this discussion.

Blog 8 Responding to a significant topic in The Truman Show

          "The Truman Show" is a "perfect world" that was created by Cristoff for Truman. Truman lived in his world without any problems because everything was a set. People enjoyed watching Truman's life day after day and Truman didn't realize. When he felt something was wrong about his life since the same situations happened every day, he tried to figure out what was going on. All his efforts didn't work because no one would answer his questions; not even his best friend. So, he took a risk of chance to escape from the island by sailing a boat. At that moment, he was so happy about being free. But a big storm followed him and he fought until he failed. He was surprised that he end up in a place without the sky and ocean. Then he found out the truth that he was in a set and his world was not the real world. Cristoff asked him if he could stay in this world to live "happily ever after," he walked away without any question because finally he knew the truth.
           Truman chose to leave because he didn't want to be controlled any more. He wanted to be free and to made his own choices by himself. Same as Truman, I would not choose to live in Cristoff's world because his world is too perfect to believe; even Truman doubted it. Everyone there acts happy to make Truman happy. For example, Truman's wife always smiles when she faces to him and talks to him, but when she turns around her face changes. Those acts are such big lies. In fact, there is no such thing as a human being who is 100% perfect. In our society, problems will always exist, such as fighting, arguing, poverty and crimes. I believe Cristoff tried to avoid all the problems that exist in our reality, and that's why he created a "perfect" world for Truman. Truman was controlled without the right to know the truth or to make his own decisions since his birth. A good example would be when he tried to go to Figi many times, but failed because everyone there stopped him. In my opinion, in Cristoff's world, there is nothing good for Truman except the act of a peaceful island. 
          Before Truman walked through the door to leave Cristoff's world, Cristoff asked him to say something. And he said good morning, good afternoon, and good evening with the smile he always made. Everyone loved his innocent smile. When he goes to the real world he will face a lot of problems that he'd never had before. Perhaps he has to find a job to make a living, people might not nice to him anymore, and a thief might hit him, grab his cell, and run away one day. Any problems that might happen in our normal lives will happen in his life too. He needs to solve all the problems and face all the challenges on his own. Although it will be difficult for him, I still believe he had made a good choice to leave the fake world.

Blog Entry 7 Reflection and Evaluation

        For my English 099 class, I have done six blog entries, some class activities and one practice catw test. Everything is new for me in this class because all my homework is done on computer, which I have never done in other classes before. Now,  my college requires students to create e-portfolios, blogs and Facebook's to do their assignments. This class has helped me a lot to improve both my English skills and computer skills since I am not good at using computers. In my writing, the most challenging part is coming up with good ideas and finishing my articles in a certain amount of time. There are also some errors in my grammar and spelling. How to organize and make good connections from paragraph to paragraph is also a hard part for me. In the class, I have learned how to analyze the article by using annotations and written summaries using our own words. Today, I am learning the thesis-based writing and I feel that it is useful in my writing. "The Allegory or the Cave" is not easy for me and I need to read it a couple of times to understand it.
         I took a practice CATW test this Tuesday and I don't think my writing was too good, because I believe my idea is too general. My test was about "Internet dating: New format, Same result." I wrote about how internet dating is not the normal  social way to meet with people. People used to hide the truth and post their perfect image on the web. I doubt that people will really care about others since they are strangers to them. When they think they are talking to the people, they are actually talking to the machine. Machines have no feelings. When the real meeting comes, and you find out the truth and it might not match what you expected, you will feel disappointed. There are some bad things such as some murder that has happened before through internet dating. Therefore, in my opinion, I think we need to be careful when we date someone through the internet.
         I know I still need more practice to past the test.
              

Blog Entry 6 Review Socrates' and Plato's Allegory

           In "The Allegory of the Cave," Plato shows us how a group of people see their shadow as the reality world. When a person gets out of the cave and discovers the exactly real world, he tries to tell his fellows the truth, but they don't understand him. When he gets back from the real world to inside the cave, they do not believe him also. If people block themsleve in certin area, their minds and visions will becom shallow. I agree with Socrates' and Plato's philosophy and how they view this intellectual world by using this parable.
          This allegory reminds me the similar situation that happen in China when I was a kid. In school I were told that my country was the best because we lived in the socialist country. Capitalist country like America is the worst and people there were very poor. That was Mao's era and people were brain wash. Even though China was poor in that period, we still believe what Mao said and proud of our country. We were all tricked by Mao's lies. Chinese people became ignorant and backward because Mao closed the door and blocked any news from outside of the country. We couldn't see outside the world and we lived in our own world with nothing to compare and without knowing the world was changing. After Mao died, Deng Xiao Ping opened the door and people suddenly woke up. When Chinese people realized what was going on in this world, it was too late, China was far away behind other developed country. When I immigrated to America I knew the truth that I was taught wrong when I was a kid. This is a good example to tell us how sad if people are prohibited from knowledge of the world.
          Although I lived in a restricted era when I was little, there is something that I could do. I remember I liked to watch the sky when there were many stars lighting up in the sky. My mother always came to me and we counted those stars together. She told me that each star represents different things and people, and the sparkling one was me. I always thought that those sparking stars were so little, but they were still too far to reach. I was so curious about stars and things around me. As I grew up, I learned more and I understood more. Stars are not little. They are planets, including our earth. In the article, people were chained and they couldn't move, but their mind could not be chained. I believe, as human beings, we have the ability to open up our minds and fix our vision to reach the intellectual world.

Blog Entry 5 Summary of "The allegory of the Cave"

            In "The Allegory of the Cave," Plato used his philosophy to tell a parable. There are human beings living in a cave since they were children. They are chained, so they can't move and can only face the wall in front of them. Behind the wall, people and animals walk through. Thus, in their lives, all they see are shadows of puppets reflected on the wall between a fire above and behind them in the cave. "To them, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images." Perhaps one day a prisoner is released, he get out of the cave and is able to see the real world. When he tries to tell his fellows about what he has discover behind the wall, his fellows don't recognize and understand him, all they can see is his shadow on the wall. Now he sees himself, the sun and the nature world. He gains knowledge in the visible world. He is glad for the change of himself and feels sorry of his fellow-prisoners. But if suddenly he goes back to the prison again , his eyes will fill of darkness, his fellow will not believe what he says. He can't even think of getting out of the cave again because he will be kill if he wants to try.
            In this parable, "the prison house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun." Socrates concludes that we have to judge our vision to reach the soul into the intellectual world to discover the universe. There is always right or wrong, God knows. As human beings, we have to always look for the nature, beauty of the reality world with our effort.

Blog Entry 4 The "Hype"

            In "Hype," Lasn shows us how ads are surrounding people's lives whether they like it or not. Every day when you wake up, you can see and hear them whether you are at home or in the public. You can't escape from Ads because you have no where to hide. Ads are following you everywhere and get into you mind without you noticing. I agree with the author when she states that "advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic of the mental pollutants" and "no one is exempt and no one will be spared."
             Ads are one of the most popular roles played in our society. The reason that ads steadily increase and spread is because this is a business strategy that attract people. When people used to see and hear them everyday, more and more they will get into their minds without noticing. There are many kinds of brand name products in the market and people want to own them because of the ads attraction. When I first came to America in 90', ads were pretty new to me and there were not as many as today. Since ads go into my life and influencer me a lot, sometimes I can't get rid of them. I have many unnecessary products at home because of the pursuit of the ads. I can't believe I have so many things filled in my apartment compared to when I first arrived to America with two suitcases. Many of my friends also said that their apartments have become smaller and smaller because of the stuff. We used to buy things without thinking because we just want to update ourselves by the style of the ads. As a result, we can see how ads are so "prevalent" and can influence our mind just like "toxic of the mental pollutants" in our lives.
             Since ads today have become the tool of the companies' competition, we can't avoid seeing ads no matter where we stand. According to the article, it is "estimated 12 billion display ads, 3million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials" are shown every day in North America. I believe that the number is much higher today because of the networking. Everywhere you go, even in the wheat fields or in you kids' classroom, the ads are always right in front of your eyes. We can always see how companies give away so many small free package with ads, even small pencils for kids that has ads too. This is a good reason to show us that "no one is exempt" from ads. At the end, the author says sarcastically that in the silent moments, she hears "that kid singing the Oscar Meyer wiener song" ad, instead of "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony."
             It is for sure there are too many ads for us. Since we can't get rid of ads, we should make decision on our own instead of what the ads want us to be.
             

Blog Entry 3 Summary of "Hype"

           In "Hype", Lasn shows us how huge amount of the ads have shown and still increased without stopping in our society. Everyday when you wake up you can see and hear ads whether you are at home or in the public. You can't escape from ads whether you like it or not because you have nowhere to hide. Ads follow you around and influences your mind like "toxic of the mental pollutants."

Blog 2 "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

1. This activity makes me understand the article more easily before writing the essay, especially when we read the article twice.
2. I get the main idea of the article and the suggestion from the author which can be the other idea.
3. Annotating can be the first step which directs you to write a good essay.
4. I think annotating one main idea and one or two other ideas  will be better.

Blog Entry 1 "Hype"

            In "Hype," Lasn shows us how ads are surrounding people's lives whether they like it or not. Every day when you wake up, you can see and hear them whether you are at home or in the public. You can't escape from Ads because you have no where to hide. Ads are following you everywhere and get into you mind without you noticing. I agree with the author when she states that "advertisements are the most prevalent and toxic of the mental pollutants" and "no one is exempt and no one will be spared."
             Ads are one of the most popular roles played in our society. The reason that ads steadily increase and spread is because this is a business strategy that attract people. When people used to see and hear them everyday, more and more they will get into their minds without noticing. There are many kinds of brand name products in the market and people want to own them because of the ads attraction. When I first came to America in 90', ads were pretty new to me and there were not as many as today. Since ads go into my life and influencer me a lot, sometimes I can't get rid of them. I have many unnecessary products at home because of the pursuit of the ads. I can't believe I have so many things filled in my apartment compared to when I first arrived to America with two suitcases. Many of my friends also said that their apartments have become smaller and smaller because of the stuff. We used to buy things without thinking because we just want to update ourselves by the style of the ads. As a result, we can see how ads are so "prevalent" and can influence our mind just like "toxic of the mental pollutants" in our lives.
             Since ads today have become the tool of the companies' competition, we can't avoid seeing ads no matter where we stand. According to the article, it is "estimated 12 billion display ads, 3million radio commercials, and more than 200,000 TV commercials" are shown every day in North America. I believe that the number is much higher today because of the networking. Everywhere you go, even in the wheat fields or in you kids' classroom, the ads are always right in front of your eyes. We can always see how companies give away so many small free package with ads, even small pencils for kids that has ads too. This is a good reason to show us that "no one is exempt" from ads. At the end, the author says sarcastically that in the silent moments, she hears "that kid singing the Oscar Meyer wiener song" ad, instead of "Beethoven's Ninth Symphony."
             It is for sure there are too many ads for us. Since we can't get rid of ads, we should make decision on our own instead of what the ads want us to be.
              

What I expect to get out of this class?

For me, learning English is a challenge. I hope I can learn more English, especially by writing as much as I can. Also, I expect to pass the CATW test.