Full House True to American Society?

The Full House episode ¨I’m not D.J,¨ questions the culture of American schools by bringing down the idea of fitting in, popularity, and peer pressure, and instead promoting the idea of individuality. Towards the beginning of the episode, Stephanie(one of the main characters on the show) is talking to two ¨popular¨ girls, who both have their ears pierced, and they tell her in order to fit in with the ¨popular¨ kids she must get her ears pierced as well. So she decides to try and get her ears pierced to fit in. Later in the episode she asks her father to take her to the mall to get her ears pierced and when he tells she must wait until she gets older, she says, ¨but Jennifer got hers pierced¨ and ¨how am I ever supposed to be cool?¨ This is an extremely truthful and relatable scene for a lot of children because they want something in order to fit in, and their parents decline them the opportunity to do or have it, and when they hear this the usual response for young children is ¨but how am I supposed to be cool?¨


The final scene has Steph talking to her father about why she got her ears pierced even when he told her not to. She told him she did it to fit in at school, but she also did it to be different from her sister. She said she wanted to be treated like an individual. Her father then tells her as she gets older she must learn to make tough decisions that are good for her and not for others and that being an individual is extremely crucial in life. The episode then ends like every other, with a happy ending. This Full House episode explores the culture of children in school and what they face in order to fit in and stay relevant. It criticizes this idea and instead promotes the concept of originality.

The True but False Reality of a Video Game, Grand Theft Auto V

Peter Tighil

Period 1 & 2

08/31/16

Cultural Analysis




Grand Theft Auto 5, the video game is both a true, and false representation of reality, and its many aspects of life. While somewhat giving you that freedom to overindulged in societies persuasive and addictive nature.




The works of culture that might seem promoting or perpetuating, is the consistent conviction of reality and its many problems that include, drugs, guns, and violence. Just like our everyday lives, we still struggle with gun violence, and people are shot and killed every single day! This is not a good thing, but it can connect exactly to the many issues we face directly and in the video game. We also have many drugs that are constantly being sold, and bought, that are putting many people at risk and in danger, for no reason. Although that is true and seems drastic and over the top, there are parts of the game that still show a nicer portion of the world. There are many unique features of the in game world that are very similar to what we might see, today, tomorrow, or the day after. For example the game takes place in the state of California. You might go out and see some very nice cars, maybe you want to take a stroll on the beach, or stop at the bar and have a drink. These features make the game seem so realistic. You just might forget that you’re playing a video game.

The works of culture that might be questioning or defying, is the inaccurate representation of what it is like to be a human in this world. You can do almost anything you can possibly think of in this game. That might have to do with stealing vehicles, killing people, and making money in ways no one has ever thought possible, and actually getting away with it. Without serving any sort of prison time, and getting away from the cops so that you are no longer in trouble. In the real world of America the land of the free, and the home of the brave, with as much freedom as we might have there are still many restrictions that help us keep our world safe, such as the law. Without these things we would be in a world of chaos, just like the game itself.

Welcome!

Welcome to the weblog for our American Studies class. Here's the place we will be continuing conversations from class and starting new ones. We'll be discussing and debating current events, historical controversies, and literary conundrums. We might even see a little poetry.

So, what's a blog? And how will we be using it class? For information on blogging and how to join and post to our blog, see "All About Blogging."

We're looking forward to a great year.

Make sure you check your e-mail for your invitation to join the blog. Also – and this is very important – the first step you should take after you accept the invitation is to edit your user profile so that you control how your identity and your communication preferences.  Click on the pull-down menu next to your name in the upper right corner of the browser and click on “Blogger Profile.” Then click on “Edit Profile.”

You can fill out as much of it as you want, but the only requirement is -- under “Identity” -- make sure your “Display name” is your first name and last initial only -- so we provide some anonymity while still allowing your classmates and teacher to be able to identity who you are. For example, change “Bernie Heidkamp” to “Bernie H.”

Should the US Take Immediate Action Upon Global Warming?

The United States does not need to immediately address global warming, because making huge changes to the way we live do not have the bang for the buck. It is also not our current generation’s fault so they should not have to make the sacrifice. In a post by Investor’s Business Daily, restates info from NERA Economic Consulting, saying that the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon rule for power would cost consumers and taxpayers, over 14 years, a total of $366 billion. That cost does not include possible restrictions imposed on automobile emissions, carbon taxes, and any sort of carbon-trading regime or the over-the-rainbow renewable energy programs that politics have produced (Jackson). If we were try and change global warming, we would not be getting enough of a change to realize, considering the amount of money consumers would be paying. Adams Frank stated in an article on NPR, “Climate change is not our fault...150 years ago when we started building that fossil-fuel based civilization, we had no idea of what we were doing. We’d found this black goo seeping up from the ground and it turned out you could do awesome things with it... We didn’t change the climate because we were greedy. We did it by mistake” (Frank). When our ancestors had discovered fossil-fuel, They had found out that it could do all these incredible and useful things. However, they were ignorant to the possible consequences. Now that we are learning about all these consequences, we are able to learn from our mistakes.

The Bermuda Triangle. Everywhere.

One day everyone is going to Catch Fire. The U.S. needs to address the situation immediately because otherwise the entire world could end up having tons of issues such as; droughts, high sea levels because of the glaciers melting, messed up seasons, extreme temperatures, and increased natural disasters. We need to stop using cars that run on gasoline so that the gas would stop eating up the Ozone layer, we need to stop using so many chemicals and stop wasting our precious water on water parks and pools, and we need to start taking better care of the world's land. Ms. Church from Scientific America, she has dedicated her time to studying this problem, she stated; “Drying and drought in Syria from 2006 to 2011—the worst on record there—destroyed agriculture, causing many farm families to migrate to cities,” the article goes on, saying some believe the “influx added to social stresses already created by refugees pouring in from the war in Iraq”(Charlotte). This quote from the article shows that global warming is creating problems with other countries also. The global warming issue is causing famine, which is causing people to become desperate and take desperate measures. Blair Trewin of Australia’s National Climate Center, he has been studying this topic as his career, so he knows it very well and she stated; “If a temperature data set is to be used for monitoring climate change it is important that it be homogeneous; that is, changes in the temperature as shown in the data set reflect changes in the climate, and not changes in the external (non climatic) conditions”(Sharwood). This quote shows everyone that something is very wrong if the weather stations are lying about the weather and acting like they don’t know what to use to get the correct weather. They know what to do or they wouldn’t be in that field. So the fact that they are lying shows that there is a large problem that they are not telling us. If something is not wrong then they wouldn't have any reason to lie.

If the Ozone layer could speak it would say. "The sun will set your arm on fire." -Ozone layer