Sexuality in our Culture

          Today’s reading was pretty out of the ordinary to what we’ve been reading for our blogs but it was pretty interesting. The reading was pretty much about how sexuality especially amongst females plays a big role in today’s culture. I have to agree with the author because sexuality is everywhere. Whether it be in movies, on TV, or even in magazine ads such as mine, sexuality has changed our culture in a big way. In my magazine ad, the two “main” characters are two attractive, young, looking women dancing close to men. Both of them are sporting sleeveless shirts in what it looks like to be some kind of club. The magazine ad conveys sexuality because why else would the girls try to wear the minimum amount of clothes to a club in which they will be near men for the whole night? Sexuality and gender have been a huge part in culture in past decades. For example, some of the most famous singers from the past include Madonna and Britney Spears. These two singers have made such a large impact on not only girls, but also guys. When young girls saw Britney Spears and Madonna, they wanted to be just like them because they saw them as role models, but on the other hand, when guys saw them, they were thinking that they are two of the most attractive sex idols in their time. So if the guys were digging them, girls taught that guys would dig them too if they were just like them. Sexuality is everywhere, including sports. Many female athletes not only make their money from playing their sport, but also modeling. When these female athletes model, it brings out a different kind of sexuality that many people aren’t used to seeing them as. Ever since the past, girls have learning from role models and celebrities to be sexy and attract guys while guys learned to love the adapting girl. Sexuality is not an entirely bad thing as many people have become rich and companies such as Playboy have boomed because of the surge of sexuality. In today’s age, I think the sexuality and gender roles in our culture will stay the same forever.

Preparing for the Final Draft

          For my magazine advertisement, I feel like there is a lot of work to be done. Based on the reading for today’s blog, professional writers see first drafts as the time to begin writing. I’m no professional writer, but I know there is still a lot of work to be done. First of all, I kind of just went into it without really introducing what I’m writing about. I just made one large body paragraph without splitting up the information in the body paragraph and making an introduction and conclusion. As for the information, I feel like I can go way more in depth in analyzing the magazine advertisement. Looking back at my first draft, I feel like I repeated myself a lot but I see where I’m coming from. I really wanted to emphasize the importance of each subliminal hint the magazine advertisement was trying to convey. Some other information I can look into is where the magazine advertisement is from. Finding where the advertisement originally was would help me see who the advertisement was targeting more considering I mentioned in my first draft that the ad can be targeted toward either males or females. Another good idea is to find out the year this ad was released. Finding out the year is important because you’ll be able to relate to the current events of when the ad was released. For what you know, the ad was used in an ESPN magazine during the playoffs of some sport. Besides some things I was missing, I feel like I was able to get the gist of the magazine advertisement such as the literal meaning. To me, it was clear to see that the advertising team went to replace the word fun with the Bud Light bottle. Just thinking about as a potential consumer makes me visualize fun and Bud Light going hand in hand. Other than that, I’m sure there could be some things that I’m missing and once I do catch what I missed, I will be able to add it to my first draft so I can prepare my final draft.

People Magazine

          The National Magazine I chose to do research on is the People Magazine. This magazine is geared towards people, mostly adults, who want to know all about the latest celebrity gossip. Its main audience is primarily female adults. I have some additional information because my mom subscribed to this magazine and she reads it as soon as she gets the new edition. To be honest, when she was done with it, I would read some stories as well. You won’t really find many teenagers reading through this magazine because teen magazines already exist and People is more about the older celebrities and actors. On the front cover of a People magazine, it always shows the biggest news or conflict between celebrities. For an example, the head story can be about someone having a baby, a divorce, or even a fight with another famous person. The headlines of the main story on the cover are often printed in huge letters to catch the reader’s attention. Also, on the corners of the cover, there are also smaller news that may attract readers as well. Inside the magazine, the majority of ads include beauty products. These beauty products consists of hair coloring and makeup. I don’t think men would be very interested in those beauty products so its safe to assume that the magazine is geared towards women. Some of the other ads in the magazine include advertisements for tv shows that are also geared toward women.  On the pages, the stories’ titles are often written in giant letters. Having big letters for a title help catch the reader’s attention so they will read the article or story. The stories often include pictures of the celebrities the story is about. These pictures are obtained through paparazzi. Another big thing about the magazine is that at the end of the magazine, there are a couple of games that the reader can enjoy and play. Two examples of these games are crosswords puzzles with the questions and answers being about actors and celebrities and a “spot the differences” picture. In the “spot the differences” game, the magazine shows two almost identical pictures of a celebrity but something in the background or something that they are wearing is changed so the objective of the reader is to compare the two pictures and find what changed in them. These changes can include a missing button on a shirt, different stripe pattern on pants, etc. So overall, this magazine contains all you want to know about the latest gossip in the celebrity life.

Coca Cola vs. Pepsi

          With Coca Cola and Pepsi being among the most popular sodas in the world, their advertisements have many similarities, but also many differences. Both companies know that each other are their main competition. In advertisements, they often take shots at each other to show consumers that they produce and sell the better product. Similarly, both Coca Cola and Pepsi seem to both try and appeal to their consumers by happiness. In both ads, they portray their product with either a celebrity or a good looking person holding their product. The words in big letters are used to catch the consumer’s attention. Both ads use happiness or refresh in their ads. Both companies are trying to appeal to the same audience because they are competing against each other. Both companies use celebrities or good looking people because it shows that only attractive people drink their products. Not only do they have many similarities, but also many differences. In many Pepsi ads, it seems like Pepsi uses their rival in their ads to show consumers that their product is better. While on the other hand, Coca Cola doesn’t seem to take many shots at Pepsi in the ads. In Coca ads, they’ve used the polar bear and their latest advertisement being sharing a coke with a friend with their name on the label. In recent Pepsi TV ads, Pepsi made fun of Coca Cola because Pepsi gives opportunities to consumers to win trips or tickets to concerts while Coca Cola has names on their labels or the polar bear. Besides different tactics for advertising their product, there isn’t that many other differences amongst the two product’s ads. They are both trying to appeal to the same audience so the only way the two products can separate themselves from the other is by having more clever advertisements. Both products use happiness to draw their consumers in to buy their product. Overall, both Coca Cola and Pepsi have the same audience and have similar ideas in the advertising, but some of their advertising ideas differ from one another.

Group's Personal Narrative Essay Reviews

          Starting with Monica’s Personal Narrative essay, I personally enjoyed reading it. I can’t relate to obtaining a job in high school but I can relate to the stress and becoming independent. I can also relate to losing contact with friends and mustering enough courage to confront a family member you’re not in good terms with. I’m sure other people could relate to her story better than I can. I feel like she went in depth with her stories and explained her feelings and thoughts as certain events were happening. She was very descriptive in her stories and allowed me to picture her situations such as the awkward car ride with her mom. I personally felt scared for her when she writes about the part on how she made her mom drive her to the job interview at Red Lobster but the first Red Lobster they went to was not there anymore. If she can make the reader feel the way she feels at a certain part in the story, it allows the author to connect to their audience. In the beginning, I wasn’t really sure what her story was about, but that’s not a bad thing. Not only does her story conveys independence, but also overcoming struggles, determination, courage, and putting family first. Overall, I thought it was great story telling, relatable, and contained powerful messages in which readers of this essay can take in.

          With Anthony’s Personal Narrative Essay, I thought it was an interesting read. His story contains a different stories and experiences that all had to do with ice cream. I too, enjoy ice cream myself and I’m sure the love of ice cream is relatable to a lot of people. To start, his story had different voices through the course of the reading. In the beginning, he tells a story about when he was at a very young age so his voice in that part seemed to be young and wild. In the middle of his story, he mentions having girlfriends but is able to keep his story still about ice cream. In this part, I found it funny and had me grinning to myself. But at the end, around the conclusion, he gets in a more serious tone and explains that ice cream can bring people together. He shows his audience that he learned that ice cream isn’t just about the food but a common interest that can be shared with others. Not only was his story about bringing people together with ice cream, but I personally feel like he was growing up as the story progressed. His story started at a young age and ended with him in or just out of high school. Overall, I thought his story was both funny and serious and his thoughts on ice cream are a great way to draw his audience in.

          Finally, with Jacob’s Personal Narrative, I really enjoyed his story. His story can be really relatable to readers as many kids in their young age are willing to spend more time with their friends than their family. I can relate to this because at a young age, I would always be eager to leave the house and spend time with my friends. I liked how descriptive he was during the car accident scene. He couldn’t provide much background information because in reality, he couldn’t remember anything and woke up in a hospital. I can relate to this because 2 years ago, I had a seizure in my sleep and woke up in an ambulance with no prior knowledge to what just happened.  At the end of the story, he finally realizes that his family is very important to him and should spend as much as time as possible with them.  My only criticism I have for his story is to change his story from a 3^rd person view to a 1^st person view, but otherwise, I really enjoyed reading his story.

Analyzing my Personal Narrative Essay

          I think my Personal Narrative Essay is an effective and relatable piece of writing. Its main purpose is to encourage readers to embrace who they really are and although making decisions can be hard, there will always be a light at the end of the tunnel. To be honest, I think the piece is successful because it’s definitely relatable considering almost everyone went to high school and experienced some form of drama. Its not like I had a special situation. I’m sure people who went in to high school with friends didn’t graduate while still be affiliated to all of them. I think losing friends in high school is pretty common amongst teenagers considering you spend 4 years with different people with different interests and goals. Many, if not all high school students can say they changed is some form of way whether it be physically or mentally. As I stated before, I believe this essay is targeted towards pretty much anyone but mostly high school graduates. Reading about someone else’s problems in the past may not be so interesting, but people can relate and think about how they got over their problems in high school. Readers of this essay can learn to be who they are and make genuine friends. People still in high school who read this can probably learn what is to come in their 4 years in school because high school is definitely not a walk in the park. I feel like I drew in the audience by starting it in a way that they might question themselves about genuine or fake because this is definitely not targeted to just genuine people. People who know that they are not genuine can realize what they are doing to someone and maybe change their ways because being fake is never a good thing. The only real problem I have with my writing is that it may seem like I’m dwelling in the past and I’m complaining about problems but its safe to say that I’m over every problem and situation I had in high school. To make a better draft, I could make my intro stronger and not so straight to the point.

Learning Experience for All

          The short story, “Only Daughter”, was an interesting read and I can clearly relate it to the personal narrative paper I’m writing. In my point of view, I felt like the father was the one who learned something rather than the daughter. Coming from Mexico, the American culture is different so the author’s father never understood why she wanted to write instead of working with her hands. As the author was growing up, her father never realized that hard work doesn’t just come from the head, but also from the hands. As the story went on, the author grew up and became very successful in writing. To me, it seems like for her whole life, the author set a goal to prove her father wrong and to show him that she can work hard with her hands too. At the end, there is a nice ending in which the author shows her father one of her successful pieces of work. When the father read it, he realized that the story was about him. Her father finally realized that she didn’t waste her time in college and that his daughter is a hard worker with a lot of heart. Some people may look at this story and say that the daughter was the one learning but I think it was the father. In the beginning, the father seemed stubborn towards his daughter. He expected her to work hard with her head to and get married but his daughter didn’t do any of that. Now, the father understands that there is more than one solution to get to the other side. The father thought he was trying to tell her what’s best for her because of the Mexican culture he came from. With the new American culture, the father knows he was wrong and is very proud of his only daughter. This story is relatable to the personal narrative I am writing because like the father, I’ve learned and experienced new ideas. While what we learned in our past is completely different, we still learned that everything can’t go your way and have to learn to accept the truth. From this story, I’ve learned that there’s more than the main road to get to the other side, but also side streets and shortcuts. If the ultimate goal is to get to the other side, no matter how you do it, no matter what road you take, if you believe, anything can happen.

Genuine Narrative About Being Genuine

          Out of the list that I currently have, I think being genuine sticks out the most. In order to be genuine, you have the be the person you say you are. Being fake has always been something I’ve always tried staying away from. Times in life to be genuine are pretty much 24/7, but mostly in public with other people. I learned that being genuine is the most important character trait in a person because I’ve seen and met too many fake people to become one of them. I’ve also learned from my elders such as my parents and relatives. I’d have to admit that I wasn’t genuine back when I was younger but through experiences and learning from good people, I’ve changed for the better. Being genuine is never a bad thing. Another word that goes hand in hand with being genuine is trustworthiness. Even from a very young age, my parents would always ask me, “Can I trust you?” Not only does it build good character, but being a trustworthy person helps you grow up and learn to be independent. I’ve learned that being a liar and a backstabber have never been good qualities to be known for. I’m not saying that I’m completely innocent of being a liar, but compared to some people I know, at least I know it’s wrong.

          Basically, everyone who I’ve known taught me about becoming genuine. Whether it was my friends and family teaching me that being genuine is a good thing or fake friends and people teaching me that being fake is one of, if not, the last trait you ever want. I remember from having a lot of friends back in middle school, but as the years went on, my friend count started to diminish. I’ve let go of many friends back in high school. In my opinion, you should never lie and pretend to like someone. It may hurt the other person’s feelings initially, but it would be worse if they found out you were pretending you were their friend. A saying that I can relate to goes like “honesty is the best policy”. I feel like I’ll live with that for the rest of my life. I feel like everyone has that one friend that they can’t stand but they can never muster enough courage to tell them the truth. In my eyes, you have to tell them. That’s what being genuine is. Having fake friends has both been a blessing and a curse. It’s been a blessing because I’ve learned from my mistakes and see people for who they really are. It’s a curse because people who I used to trust and care about never really reciprocated those feelings back. For example, around my freshmen/sophomore year in high school, I had a pretty big group of friends, both boys and girls. When we would hang out together, it was always a good time. Until someone couldn’t hang out on a certain day. Almost everyone in that group just felt obligated to talk shit about the people who weren’t present. But the insulting behind their backs wasn’t the end of it. Following the shady insults, ignored calls and texts, never asking to hangout again, and just becoming a completely different person towards that person came after. People were just “kicked out” of the friend group. People getting kicked out was pretty often. It became so often, that we would make jokes about who is next on the chopping block. To be honest, not everyone was fake in that group. It was mostly agreeing with someone else so that they don’t get kicked out of the group. I felt like there was a ringleader in our group. And I have to say that she wasn’t the brightest or nicest people I’ve met. And that’s where being genuine comes into play. I pretty much kicked myself out the group after so many people were. I couldn’t stand hanging out with not only just fake people, but people who believe in fake people. I couldn’t be the only one to have a realization that this whole thing was wrong but I guess I’ll never find out. For a good couple of months, I really didn’t have any friends because I pretty much let go of most of them. I can’t stand lying in front of someone’s face. To be honest, they aren’t really your friends if you have to lie to them. A huge component to a friendship is having trust within each other, and I just couldn’t find it in that friend group.

          But I mean, as people grow up, they change, some for the better, some for the worse. I like to think I grew up in a good way. I’ve learned that I can’t have it my way, every single time. But actually, not having it your way all the time is good. It helps  you embrace and learn other ideas, and most of all, to grow up to be independent adults. If that’s not the goal of growing up, than I can’t think of anything else better than that. Learning from these bad situations helped me strengthen my policies in being a real, genuine person. Without these experiences, I would probably be just like the old fake friends that I used to have.

Strange Story

          In “Plague of Tics”, David Sedaris goes through childhood memories. In the essay, Sedaris shared his school experiences from the start of school at a young age to college. Throughout his stories, Sedaris describes his strange actions. Some of Sedaris’ memories include licking the light switch in his classroom, pressing his nose against windows and mailboxes, and tapping his forehead with the heel of his shoe. Every year, his teacher would come and have a conference with his mother. His mother would always make jokes and imitate gestures and actions that Sedaris does in the classroom. Every year, Sedaris’ mother would know exactly what he is doing in the classroom. It seems like Sedaris didn’t really understand what was going around him. His brain seemed to function in a completely different way from normal human beings. Throughout the essay, Sedaris mentions ways his parents disrespect for having problems. An example he mentioned is when his father told him not to press his nose against the window and when Sedaris’ instinct kicked in, his father stopped the car and gave Sedaris a nosebleed. From the essay, I think its safe to assume that Sedaris’ parents did like him, but were unknowledgeable about that the diseases in his brain. Towards the end of the essay, Sedaris mentions that he has been diagnosed with Tourettes and OCD.  He also states that his symptoms diminished after being introduced to cigarettes in college. When I first read this essay, I was creeped out all throughout the story especially the ending in which he mentions that he basically killed people through the use of a hot air balloon. I’m not really sure if that last part is real, but it was really disturbing. To draw in the audience, David Sedaris explains stories in childhood that are completely abnormal. From his strange interactions with light switches, mailboxes, and other objects, I as the audience was completely drawn in to this insane essay. From beginning to end, I had no idea how this was going to end. From the reading, you can tell that Sedaris’ voice is probably confused. Sedaris’ actions in his younger years seem to be completely normal for him. Sedaris looked at everyone else’s actions as abnormal. In conclusion, Sedaris goes through his childhood and shows the audience his perspective with his symptoms of OCD and Tourettes.