FS101.30JuliaHarris

The question I chose to place on my blog was the response to question 2.

2.) Both Theresa Wallace and Dana Elaine Owens are not known for their true, birth names. They are instead known for other names they gave themselves, Gevin Fax, and Queen Latifah, respectively. I think the individuals who change their names do it to fit the “new” person they have become, and want to be well known for. Changing your name can be a very powerful experience because it can basically change who you are altogether. It’s a fresh start, the first step in developing into a new, stronger individual. I however, would never change my name even if I was given the chance. I am Julia, and that is who I am proud to be. I would not like to think of something unique and different from my current name, because that is not me. I don’t necessarily think changing names is a bad thing, for some people it works. If I were ever to become famous like Gevin Fax and Queen Latifah, I would not want to change my name to something else, because I would want to be famous as myself, Julia, and not some other made-up name.

I don't know if anyone else agrees with me on this idea of not changing my name if I was given the chance, but I feel like in order to be famous you should be yourself, and not have to change your name.

This week has been a much easier week for me than last week. I only had a few quizzes, nothing too major to concentrate on. It was a nice break, although I know next week will be a lot more work. In class, I enjoyed the podcast discussions. I felt like everyone really learned a lot from listening and discussing the different topics found on the podcasts, and it was a good way to get everyone's perspectives. I enjoyed talking about something different than Sunday Morning, so it was a nice change of events. My group has our podcast due next Thursday, and all we have left to do is go over it a few times and make sure it meets the time requirement. I enjoyed the process of making the podcast, and I learned a lot about the topic we chose along the way. I'm interested to see how the class will react!

Although this was a short week in class, I enjoyed the discussions nonetheless. I have always been fascinated with coal mining stories, and of course, I have always loved the movie October Sky. I am happy we are able to watch the movie in class, because overall I think it truly shows life in that time period while living in a patch, and I also think the movie portrays a good lesson when the boys follow their dreams.

This is my response for question number four in the writing workshop:

4.) When the author states that when African Americans use the “N-word” among themselves it is a “damaging step backwards,” the author means that since society has battled with this “racially explosive” word for so long, it is insulting, and a step in the wrong direction for African Americans to throw around the word amongst themselves. I somewhat disagree with this statement, because I think that accepting the word is a way for African Americans to overcome the abuse they experienced with this very word many years ago. I view it basically as a way to fight against the hateful people who still use the word to demoralize African Americans.

I feel that this idea relates to the podcast we discussed last week, where we talked about how humor was a good way to help deal with things. I think by using the "N-word" in a humorous environment is a good way to take the harshness off the word, and maybe even stop people from using it in a demoralizing manor against African Americans.

Although a lot of the subjects discussed in class this week are very controversial, I felt that the class did a very good job of talking about the topics without becoming too overwhelmed with opinion. A lot of the real-life situations brought the the discussions really contributed, and made people look at different perspectives. The discussion that I enjoyed the most was the one that discussed sexism in our language. I never really noticed how sexist our language really is until reading the segment and having that discussion in class. Although I think it may be close to impossible to change, I feel that by just recognizing it is a step in itself.