Graphic Novels October 30, 2007

The graphic novel that I read was Pride of Baghdad. The novel told the story of four lions and what happened to them when the United States bombed Baghdad and the zoo was hit in 2004. There was one male lion, two female lions, and one of the female lion’s cubs. Right before the bomb hit the zoo, the male lion was trying to explain to the young cub about the wild; he was reminiscing about watching the sunset over the horizon. The young cub asked what a horizon was, and the older lion couldn’t find the words to explain it. One of the female lions disagrees about how wonderful freedom was, she had a much more horrible experience out in the wild and would much rather stay in the zoo. Right after this the bomb hit the zoo and all the animals began stampeding out. The four lions escaped and began to wander out in the open. They explore the ruins of the city and encounter many different obstacles, the biggest one being trying to find food. They finally come upon a group of horses that lead them into an abandoned building. In this building was a dying lion, it had been chained to the wall, he was being kept as a pet. On the other side of the room was bear, the bear wasn’t a fan of the lions and tried to kill them. All of the lions had to work together to defeat the bear. After this they ended up on the roof of the building, as the sun was setting. The young lion finally got to see what a horizon was. As all the lions were standing there admiring the view, a few American soldiers approach them. Before the lions even knew what happened to them, the soldiers shot and killed them all.

            I really enjoyed reading this novel. It was a wonderful story that I think I would have enjoyed even if it hadn’t been in the form of a graphic novel. I think the graphic novel is an interesting way to tell a story. It was a much different experience since I am so used to reading the traditional type of novel. The pictures helped you to see exactly what the author wanted you to see, and sometimes the pictures spoke for themselves, no words were even needed. I don’t think that it was particularly better than any other sort of medium, it was just different. It was quick and easy to read, and the pictures helped to keep your attention. I don’t think it was in any way better than a novel though. A novel lets you use your imagination to create the scenes and settings. Novels can go into so much more detail because all it is is words, so they have to create pictures for you with the words. I don’t believe that the graphic novel will ever actually take over the place of the traditional novel, but it could become a very popular second somewhere in the future.

Top 5 Movies October 16, 2007

1.       One of the top five movies in my opinion is Shawshank Redemption. I really loved the narration in this movie by Morgan Freeman. I also like how the ending comes together and they show you all the things he did to lead up to his escape. The movie was shot very well also, and I believe they used lighting very effectively since the setting was a jail.

2.       I think that the special effects and sets used in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean contributes a lot to the movie overall. The special effects of the pirates turning into ghosts and all sorts of other things make the movie seem real and really draw you in, and make you feel like you are a part of the movie. The sets, along with the setting and costumes, are all very authentic looking. All the little details are covered in this movie, making it seem very realistic.

3.       Another personal favorite movie of mine is Rent. This movie is a musical which I think makes it even more enjoyable. The music in this movie is the strongest part since it is how all of the dialogue is presented.

4.       A movie that I like that the way the story is presented is Oceans 11. I think it makes it so much more interesting how they go through the story but in the end explain how the whole thing worked. I think that movies like this keep your attention very well because you are trying to figure out how things work the entire time.

5.       The last movie on my top five list is Blow. I think that the directing in this movie is done very nicely since it was based on a true story.  Even though the movie is based on the founding of the cocaine market in the United States, the story is told in a very unbiased way. The story line is touching even though it’s not something that we can all relate very closely with.

Care Free October 2, 2007

                A place that I truly miss from my childhood is a lake we used to visit every summer. It was up in northern Wisconsin, about a ten hour drive from our house in Fort Wayne. We used to go for a week every summer in July. It was always nice escape for my family to spend a week together, bonding without any sort of agenda.  We stopped going when I entered high school, my brother, sister and I all became too busy with other activities to be able to make time.

 

                We always left very early in the morning and drove all day long, most of which I would sleep for. We would always stop and spend the night at my grandparents’ house then, which was about at the half way point of our drive. We would get up early again the next morning and finish our drive. I remember we would all be excited as we started recognizing things as we got closer and closer. We would pull up to the resort office to check in. This part was always the longest because we were so close to being to our cabin, but we had to sit and wait in the car while our parents talked with the owners. They would finally get back into the car and we would begin to drive down the long road that led to all of the cabins. As we pulled up to cabin number nine, we would be about bursting out of the car.

 

                As we all piled out into the heat, we would begin to sweat and remember how the summer heat never died away up there. We would begin carrying our stuff into our cabin, still sweating because there was no air conditioning. As the week wore on, we would complain non-stop about the heat, but the whole time loving being there. We had been there so many times before that when we arrived; it was always as if we had never left.

 

One of our first tasks upon arrival would be helping my dad as unload the boat into the lake and park it at the dock. We would want to go for a boat ride, go swimming and tubing, all as soon as we got there. The water wasn’t nearly as warm as the air so it was always extremely refreshing. After all our other jobs of unloading things were finished back up at the cabin, my siblings and I would race back down to the dock for our first boat ride. It was always a great way to start the week, the wind in our faces as my dad raced the boat around the lake. Nothing ever changed; the lake was always the same lake to come back to. As the week went on, we would spend a majority of our time in the boat, or in the water rather. We would go out to the middle of the lake and swim, which the best escape from the heat. We would all take turns jumping in from the side of the boat. As you hit the water it was like jumping into ice. Your head would plunge under for what felt like minutes. Finally, after what was actually only a few seconds, you would pop back up, smiling and laughing. We all loved the water; we would get pulled around in the tube for hours on end, just having the time of our lives with each other.

 

It’s been over four years since I’ve been back to this place. It holds special meaning to me; it was a place where I could always just be a kid. There were no responsibilities, no worries all week. It was always an escape from everyday, scheduled life back at home. I would get to spend time with my brother and sister, and our fighting was always minimal during the week. It was a break from my friends and my house and everything at home. For that one week each summer I could truly just be a care free kid.

Streetwise vs. Postcards September 18, 2007

In the video Streetwise the information is presented from the children’s point of view.  All of the information is very straight forward and harsh. I don’t believe that the information is judgmental, it doesn’t seem to have any actual aim. I would say that the video is more hands on than the essay because the information is coming straight from the kids standing on the side of the street.

The children in Streetwise and in “Postcards From the Edge” have a few similarities. Some of the children in both stories still have contact with their parents, some even have the option of going home if they wanted to. All of the children live out on the streets and are all on their own. Both sets of children are harassed by cops in their areas. These children are all in the same type of situation, having to take care of themselves at a very young age. These children also have many differences though. The children in Streetwise have a society with each other, they interact on a day to day basis. Also these children lead a much more dangerous lifestyle. They are involved in selling drugs, prostitution, and gun violence.

I think that the photo essay is a very effective medium, but still not as effective as the documentary.  In the documentary you learn so much more about the children that you almost feel like you know them, and you want to know more about their everyday lives. With the photo essay you just get little bits and pieces about them. The photos are very effective though in showing you where these children live and the sort of things that go on around them.

I think that the documentary is more effective than the essay because you get to actually see and hear from the children. When you see these kids standing on the side of the road, just hanging out in day to day life, it really makes you realize that it’s real. My emotional reaction to the video was much more saddened than my reaction to the essay. I believe it is this way because you really get to see what it’s like in the video rather than having to imagine it yourself. My intellectual reactions were similar, both reading about it and actually seeing it made me wonder how these kids could ever live like that.

I think that the subject was handled fairly by both mediums. Neither medium seemed to have any sort of agenda or negative feelings, they were both just there to give you the facts and let you interpret it for yourself.

Body Image September 11, 2007

I thought that this essay was extremely relevant to everyday life.  Just as I was reading last night I saw things all around me that related to it.  Its incredible how body image is portrayed everywhere you look.  I felt it as I sat there and ate while I was reading, thinking that I really shouldn’t be.  I saw it on the TV show my friend was watching as I read, an impossibly skinny girl in her bathing suit.  I saw it when I went to work out later that night.   There is really no escaping it.

A particular line of this essay really stuck out to me.  “Can it really be that we now think dressing our daughters up like tiny prostitutes is cute?”  It absolutely baffles me that any sort of parent would think that their little girl looking sexy and going out in public like that could ever be ok.  And that they think that it doesn’t matter because they are young.  It’s that mindset that they are now going to grow up with.  As these little girls grow older they aren’t going to learn that that isn’t what they are supposed to be like, that that’s not normal.  All they know is that their parents thought it was cute when they were little so it must still be ok now.   And by letting them dress like that, people are looking at them in a whole new way.  The essay says that it is more likely that a young girl will be raped by some she knows, like friends or family, rather than by a stranger.  Dressing them like that is definitely not helping to protect them.

As a female I know my friends and I always point out the girls that are too skinny and wonder why they would ever even want to look like that.  We say that they look like they are about to break, or that it’s just unhealthy looking and couldn’t possibly be attractive.  But on the other hand we all talk about how we shouldn’t have had that dessert, or that we need to stop eating so much in the dining courts.  And we’re always saying how badly we need to go work out.  So in a way we all want to be skinny, maybe not sickly skinny, but we are definitely afraid of gaining weight.  We reminisce about the middle school days when we could eat to our hearts content and not gain an ounce, and we wish we could still be that way.  As much as none of us would want to admit it, it is something we are concerned with and effected by.

Childhood Memory September 4, 2007

                I had never truly realized all the responsibilities of being a big sister until the day a Lego disappeared up my sister’s nose.  This is one of my strongest childhood memories.  It occured when I was five years old, and my sister was three.  The reason this particular memory affected me so much was because it taught me to be a more protective big sister.  It’s also good for a laugh every now and then.

            On this particular day my sister and I were building a city out of Lego’s.  It was only my sister, my mother, and me at home at the time.  My sister and I were getting along pretty well that day, we were working together to a build tower, towers being pretty much the only thing we were actually skilled enough to build.  Our tower was coming along great and I was looking for this small yellow Lego that I had just seen, I knew it was going to the perfect fit for what I needed.  I couldn’t seem to find it so I asked my sister what she did with it.  She started to giggle.  I knew my sister well enough at the time to be sure that if she thought it was funny, it probably wasn’t going to be good.  So I asked her again and again what she did with it and all she would do was laugh.  Finally after I had persisted enough with my asking, she revealed what she had done with it.  She slowly tilted her head backwards until I could see that she had shoved it up her nose.  And not even so that it was just sort of in there, it was seriously up there.

            My sister still thought it was funny even after she saw my reaction, so I ran and got my mom so that she could take a look.  As soon as my mom saw, she freaked out.  Which then made my sister’s giggles turn into tears, she had realized what she had done wasn’t so funny after all.  My mom picked up my sister and rushed her over to the neighbor’s house to get help removing the Lego that was then lodged in my sister’s nose.

            I was then home all by my five-year-old self, sitting on the stairs, crying.  I was so worried about my sister, who I should have been watching over.  I felt like this was all my fault, I should have known better than to not watch her every move.  I was beyond upset at this moment, because in my young state of mind, a Lego lodged in your nose was pretty much one of the worst things possible.  After what had felt like forever, my mom and sister returned home.  My mom’s emotions had turned from concerned to annoyed, and my sister still had tears on her face, but yellow Lego in hand.

            This whole ordeal taught me that it was my job to watch out for my little sister.  It was my responsibility to protect her and keep her safe when no one else was around.  I learned a lifelong lesson that day, and I thought my sister had too, until a few months later when she shoved a Tic-Tac up her nose.

August 28, 2007

My name is Katie Olson, I’m from Fort Wayne, Indiana.  I love to play golf and spending time with my friends and family.  I’m a freshman here at Purdue, and my major is interior design.  A misconception I had about college was how large my classes would be.  I expected most, if not all, of them to be hundreds of people.  Most of my classes only have around twenty people in them, the largest class I have is about one hundred and fifty people.  Another misconception I had was how busy I would be, but it turns out that I have a lot of down time between my classes.  This is extremely helpful with getting all my homework done so I’m very thankful for that.  The atmosphere is much more relaxed than I had expected.