UConn ENGL 1010-22

The End

2008-12-08T13:18:00.002-05:00

This class was really entertaining. I have to say i expected freshmen english to be pretty boring, but it turned out to be interesting, with some different book choices. The papers were a bit tedious, but hey, i heard english 1011 was alot worse.

Class Overall

2008-12-07T20:08:00.003-05:00

This was definately my favorite class of the semester. Professor McClure made it easy to attend class with her enthusiasm on the course material and the way she conducted class in general. I can recall when the weather was nice, Nicole took our class outside to continue one of our discussions. I also loved it when she became annoyed with the desk arrangement and asked everyone to get in a circle so that we could easily see one another while conversing on the material. Our class discussions were extremely helpful with interpreting of the texts. I enjoyed assignment #3, as it was a nice change of pace to the usual five-page paper. Overall, I learned much more in our class than I thought one could learn in a freshmen English class. Specifically, I learned how fast food and the media have transformed our society. I hope everyone appreciates this class as much as I did because freshmen English at Northeastern University can't even begin to compare to the knowledge I acquired in our class as well as the wide range of books we covered.

class overall

2008-12-05T15:56:00.002-05:00

I think that in all the years I've had English, this was probably one of the best years I've had. We had so much freedom in the class. It was a loose atmosphere and enjoyable to be there. I actually looked forward to going to class...never though I'd say that. I liked the benefits of the group tutorials and got to see other peoples' writing styles for support. It's weird that this is the last semester of English that I'm going to take...EVER. It's liberating, but at the same time it reminds me of how old I am and that I'm moving on. It's been fun, guys.

blogging

2008-12-05T15:52:00.003-05:00

Ok..I'm going to go ahead and be the one to say it. I don't think many of us in our class blog in this format. We're used to IMing or facebook (cliche, but still true). I think blogging is for generations before us and we're just not used to the format. Still, I think 10 posts and 5 comments was a little extreme. I did like the idea behind it all, but I don't think it should be structured as having a mandatory limit. It should be less about how many I have and more about blogging when it's actually meaningful. For some people, 10 might be an easy reach for them. For me, it was a little bit of a hassle to keep up with it because I'm just not used to it...but that's just my opinion.

What I learned

2008-12-04T23:25:00.002-05:00

I learned how to contribute to a class wiki over the course of this semster. I learned that the books we read were okay, except I enjoyed Fast Food Nation. I learned to enjoy small group tutorials and that I was in a pretty cool class. The last thing I learned was the semster seemed to go by very quickly.

last one

2008-12-04T22:21:00.002-05:00

So ill give one last blog. overall, Delillios book was ok. i wasn't too fond of it during the first 3/4 of the text, but it grew better as the story ended. ill give it a C+. the best book we worked with was Killing yourself to live. Klosterman was the most exciting and easily followed author we read. Not coincidentally, his book was the most relevant to the class's age.

2008-12-04T21:57:00.002-05:00

I also want to just add one more thing about White Noise. I really enjoyed looking at White Noise from a critical view. I thought it was a great book with many great insights about American culuter and why we do the things we do. It used fictional characters that ironically depicted the American way of life and helped us see how we behave. The story itself is also very well written, there are several quotes in there that really stand out and show what an amazing observer DeLillo is.

2008-12-04T21:54:00.003-05:00

I really didn't like reading Fast Food Nation. The research part of the assignment wasn't bad but I felt the book was just really different from the rest of the stuff we were doing. It was about culture but it was definitely written in a different style than the rest of the books. The others were more personable. They were about life experiences and using them to look at the American culture and give some insights about it. I think Fast Food Nation was a really informative book but it just seemed a little out of place in comparison to the other books we read in class.

2008-12-03T23:20:00.002-05:00

i need posts on the blog so i am commenting on amanda's post about the almost plane crash. i think i would feel the same way. if i go though a near plane crash i would want it to be known so that they could learn from what happened. i would definitely feel bad if i went through something like that for nothing.

2008-12-03T23:17:00.002-05:00

i hated nick hornby's book. it was really hard to relate to something that was written in england. I thought fast food nation was kind of boring. I liked the other two books though.

2008-12-03T22:27:00.002-05:00

The only thing i didn't really like about the books we read was the consistent theme of death and illness throughout them. It makes me think that society has some obsession with it, which i think is sad. While there are people who suffer like Jack and Babette with an uncontrollable fear, i hope that most people don't think about it that much. It probably sounds cheesy, but people should be more focused on living then on dying.

final paper

2008-12-03T19:59:00.002-05:00

For some reason I found this last paper to be the most difficult to complete. I have analyzed books before for papers, but for some reason I found it hard to find a focus for this paper. At first I wanted to focus on technology and how it consumed all the characters, then I thought about writing about consumerism in the book, and finally I chose to focus on Jack Gladney and his inability to form his identity. Jack is always relying on technology, inanimate objects, and people to affirm who he is for him. Even though I found a focus it was difficult to stay on that focus; my writing kept straying to different aspects of the book that didn't go along with my thesis.

2008-12-03T19:55:00.002-05:00

I think White Noise was a good choice to finish the course with. Even though it wasn't my favorite of the books we read, it was very different from the other literature in the class and the paper was different as well. The books we read mostly involved a narrator who evaluted and studied society as a third party, but in White Noise, we were able to read from the perspective of someone who is just living their life from day to day, not trying to understand how it is being affected by society/culture and vice versa.

my favorite book of the semester

2008-12-03T17:38:00.002-05:00

My favorite book of this semester was White Noise. I really liked the plot. It was an interesting and an easy read. I thought the characters were very dynamic and you could never predict their actions. My favorite character was Heinrich; he was always making people second guess themselves with his philosophical reasoning.

2008-12-03T13:20:00.002-05:00

After finishing most of my essay and including all of my sources, I'm glad that his final paper is done. I feel as though I have put a lot of work into my paper, as I did change my thesis a couple of times... I got some good input from the people that read and edited my paper, as well as Nicole's track changes. I'm happy with the way my paper turned out and will be relieved when I pass it in with my final portfolio tomorrow :). I really did enjoy this class and loved the novels that Nicole chose. It was very different than any other English class I have taken and it was nice to learn more about creating the Wiki and posting to blogs.

Our Last Class

2008-12-02T23:03:00.002-05:00

I thought that it would be appropriate for my perspective last post on the blog would be to wrap up how i felt overall about this class going into our final one on Thursday. I am very happy with my decision to take 1010 over 1011. The selection of books was excellent and the writing assignments were very thought provoking. I liked having time to work on the assignments and also have leniency on due dates and how things worked. I enjoyed the relaxed nature of the and the open discussions that we held each week. I found this the best way to generate ideas for my papers and run ideas past classmates. I would like to thank everyone who i have worked with on a paper or editing and whatnot and those who i didn't work with it was nice having you in class and i hope to see you around campus or in class

Bass

White Noise and Killing Yourself to Live

2008-12-02T22:58:00.002-05:00

As i stated in my previous post our novels were pretty well connected. These two both focus mainly on the theme of death. The characters in White Noise feared death and made sure to avoid it at all costs. The rock stars highlighted in Killing Yourself to Live lived life to the fullest and didn't care what happened to them. They abused their bodies and pretty much killed themselves without a fear in the world.

Songbook and Killing Yourself to Live

2008-12-02T22:47:00.003-05:00

I thought that the four books that we read this year were really interesting and connected pretty well. Songbook transitioned perfectly into Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live. The focus on music and life goes right with the theme of music and death. Both books were very interesting as i enjoy reading and hearing about pop culture and i feel like i understand more when i know what the author is talking about.

Interesting things that happened in White Noise

2008-12-02T20:17:00.002-05:00

As we all know, White Noise is full of many interesting things and or events. A few that I found amusing or different was on page 192 "the dogs had arrived from New Mexico, parachuting into a meadow in a daring night drop." I'll let you remark over that bit of the book. Another interesting thing for me was Heinrich and how he played chess with an inmate. I know I already addressed the Jack and how he could not speak German issue earlier. Post or comment if you found these things to be funny or different or your thoughts on it. Also post/comment on things you found interesting!

2008-12-02T18:45:00.001-05:00

It is weird how many things were similar about the Klosterman book and Delillo's book. The theme of death comes up in both. Also, in both of these books we read about dysfunctional relationships between the characters. I didn't realize how similar these books were until I started hearing about everyone's paper and writing my own. I think by analyzing these books it was easy to find many similarities.

2008-12-02T18:41:00.002-05:00

This class was a lot of fun and I am glad I chose non-fiction instead of fiction. The assignments that we had were challenging but helped me to improve on my writing a lot. My favorite assignment was assignment #3 on Fast Food Nation. I really enjoyed learning about the fast food industry and everything that went along with it. I will write more about this in my statement!

2008-12-02T18:39:00.002-05:00

For assignment four, my essay is about how the characters in White Noise are fascinated with disaster and destruction. I focus on Jack and his family and their obsession with disaster and destruction. Before I started writing this essay I didn't really pick up on how much this theme ran throughout the book. It was interesting to see how many examples of this idea were really in the book.

2008-12-02T18:36:00.002-05:00

Thinking about what waves and radiation means I can only come up with one idea. Just like waces and radiation are a part of our everyday life whether we want it to be or not, so is the media. We are affected by the media everyday, and the ideas it puts in our heads. We are affected by these ideas because throughout our life we will revisit the idea.

2008-12-02T18:35:00.003-05:00

After watching a clip of "Dark City" in class we thought about how it related to the book. I thought about how in White Noise, Jack and his family are somewhat controlled by the media. One example that comes to mind is the airborne toxic event and how Jack thinks that he won't be affected by it because he isn't poor. This is an idea he got directly from the media.

2008-12-02T18:33:00.002-05:00

After finishing White Noise, my reaction was that it was random. I feel like there were random thoughts rather than a story line. One thing I really liked about the book was the characters. My favorite character was Denise. She cared about Babette so much and was very smart and observant.

Second rough draft

2008-12-02T12:41:00.002-05:00

My second rough draft is on how jack has an abnormal fear of death compared to other people. I mentioned that he debates with Babette over this, yet secretly wishes that he would live over her. I was also going to mention the gas station incident where he "breathed" in death, also his discussion with the SimEvac man, then try and focus on the dylar incident where he became really desperate for the drug in order to "forget" death, and lastly probably focus on his last discussion with Murray. I was wondering if I had viable scenarios or sources that were related to my topic. Thank you for your input!

any ideas?

2008-12-02T12:03:00.002-05:00

I'm writing my paper about Jack Gladney and how insecure he is with who he is. Jack lacks the confidence to make decisions for himself and always looks to technology and others to make decisions for him. I am going to analyze when Jack goes to the ATM and when Jack talks to the SIMUVAC man for technology. And then I was going to discuss how Jack looks to authority figures for answers; such as doctors, other professors, and even his son Heinrich. Finally I was going to talk about how, due to Jack's lack of confidence to form his identity, his roles with his family are reversed. His children act like mini adults and Jack always goes to Denise for information. Now that I'm writing about Denise I can't seem to connect how Jack going to her information parallels Jack's inability to form his own thoughts and ideas. Can anyone think of any connections? Thank!

2nd draft

2008-11-26T15:20:00.002-05:00

After finding my two scholarly sources they really opened me up to other ideas on the same subject.

2nd draft

2008-11-23T22:09:00.002-05:00

I meant to write this after the small group tutorials but i forgot.. I felt like the group tutorial was really helpful. I needed to focus my paper and I didn't really know what i wanted to do with it. But after the meeting i felt like i really wanted to write more about Dylar and what that did for Babette and its role as a substitute for fear. I think DeLillo gave a very insightful view through Dylar and Babette and i tried to focus my second draft on that aspect of it. Dylar shows that no matter how rich or privileged we may be there is nothing that will stop the fear of death.

2008-11-22T17:27:00.002-05:00

I am working on my second draft for my essay. I am writing about how the family uses objects to hide and cover up things about them. Does anyone know where they talk about the visor that Steffie wore? I seem to be missing it.

2008-11-21T15:33:00.001-05:00

So after my peer editing group, I realized that I need to work a lot on my essay...although I kind of knew this before. Nicole helped me to revise my thesis which I think is going to help the layout and organization of my paper. She suggested a part of the book/quote to include about when Jack commented on Babette always wearing her sweat suit. Does anyone know where this is/remember what chapter, I have tried to look for it a lot and can't seem to find it.

2008-11-17T22:52:00.002-05:00

My paper is about the fear of death and after looking through the book for quotes relating to my paper I found some great quotes from the end of the book that I would like to post. Murray's conversation with Jack at the end of the book gives great insight to death and how it fits into our lives. As Murray states " nothing is stronger than death" not even love can conquer death. It seems kind of sad to put it this way but it is true. Jack also points out that "the deepest regret is death. the only thing to face is death. there's only one issue here. I want to live." This quote shows how most people view death, we know we cannot run away from its inevitability but we still want to avoid it. Simply because we want to live and the death is the unknown something that provokes fear. Facing death is the only thing we really do in life, everything we do in our lives leads up to death, that one moment when we will face death.

Group Tutorial

2008-11-17T19:08:00.003-05:00

After having my group tutorial today i think that i am able to head in the right direction in finding my two sources as well as fixing up my thesis to make it work better with my whole paper. I am going to add and talk about Greek tragedy and how it relates to the tragedies that are prevalent in White Noise. I also want to talk about a few more examples which i left out of my first rough. I know that my paper needs to be more specific and therefore less broad so i will need to fix that as well. Good luck everyone else on your group tutorial and your paper.

Bass

white noise essay

2008-11-17T17:27:00.003-05:00

so i just had my group essay revision today. I wrote my paper on how the family is easily influenced by the media, yet Heinrich is the one exception. He does not let the media over take his life. I wrote about he is more insightful then the rest of his family. However, in my essay i began straying away from my thesis statement and i began talking about a whole other topic. Does anyone have any other ideas on how Heinrich proves to be more insightful and less swayed by the media?

2008-11-17T15:48:00.002-05:00

I don't know if anyone has read George Orwell's 1984, but White Noise reminded me a lot of that book. In 1984 the government controls everyone's thoughts, abilities and actions. The government wasn't controlling the characters in White Noise but the media and outside technology seemed to control the characters actions. In both books there was an outside force guiding the characters through the plot.

white noise

2008-11-16T21:02:00.002-05:00

after reading the entire book i think jack and his family change. Jack finally came to realize that there was white noise effecting his life. He throws away a lot of his possessions and realizes he does not need all these things because death is inevitable. i liked how the grocery store is related brought back in the end, and life is compared to waiting in line at the supermarket. its like checkout is inevitable just like death.

2008-11-16T12:58:00.002-05:00

I found it interesting as well that Jack was into Hitler Studies yet could not speak German. I find German to be very similar to English, maybe a little rougher on pronounciation and spelling otherwise it is not bad. Also it was interesting to me that other people came from Germany as last time I was aware his name was forbidden to mention in Germany, however I am not aware if they can study them. If you want here is a few sentences in German: Ich bin achtzehn Jahre alt. Ich habe eine Deutscheklasse naechste Semster. Ich habe die Deutschesprache fuer vier bis fuenf Jahre gelernt. Have fun learning the language!

white noise

2008-11-13T11:01:00.002-05:00

I really like the irony in White Noise. The characters all seemed to serve symbolic purposes and the sarcastic natures of the characters really showed through. For example, Jack is a famous Hitler studies professor, head of the Hitler studies department yet he does not know how to speak German and hates the sound of it. I think the beginning part of the book just serves as a character development section. There is very little plot in it but it sets the scene for the book and gives the reader insight about the nature of each character. I also found the irony of Simuvac to be very interesting. I liked how Delillo introduced this organization that tries to replace reality with simulations. But when a real disaster occurs, they do not know what to do and continue to treat it as a simulation training. I think in a way this parallels how we perceive reality in general. When we are faced with a disaster so terrible we tend to block it out and avoid it. Just as Jack and his family does during the Airborne Toxic Event, society as a whole is also the same way. We never think that anything terrible can happen to us and when it does we find it hard to face it as reality.

White Noise

2008-11-12T19:24:00.002-05:00

I thought that the book was really interesting and that it brought up many different points. The book touched on the topic of déjà vu, memory, death, the media and popular culture... all of which affect our lives, making it that much more interesting. It also touched upon the issue of families and divorce. The book was made interesting because of all the different characters and how each person was strangely unique. I wonder why Delillo made the family such a mix of people. What I mean is that each kid has a different mom or dad from the other kids, I dont understand what he was trying to express by doing this. I also dont understand Wilders purpose in the book and why Bab says that she doesnt want him to learn to talk. That just doesnt make sense to me!

white noise

2008-11-12T16:08:00.003-05:00

At first i was going to write about how people use the media as a safety blanket in order to avoid personal problems. However, after finishing the book, i decided to write about how people enjoy watching disastrous events because it gives people security that these events will never happen to them. In the novel, Heinrich is one of the biggest fans of disastrous events. He gets excited about the airborne toxic event, and the house burning down. It is also interesting that Heinrich is the only one in his family that does not get caught up in the media. I feel there is a connection between Heinrich getting excited about disasters and his disinterest in the media. I think Heinrich is not affected by the media's white noise, therefore, he is not afraid to face tragic events.

Assignment 4 Topic

2008-11-12T11:32:00.002-05:00

For assignment 4 i am going to write about how humans and characters in White Noise are attracted to disaster and death. There are many example of this throughout the novel. THe family is in awe as the sit around and watch disasters on tv and the same happens at the airport when the plane is falling out of the sky. Specifically i am going to focus on the narrator and main character, Jack Gladney, and his problems related to this topic.

2008-11-11T11:22:00.002-05:00

I thought about a lot of topics that I could maybe use for my paper, but kept coming back to Babette. There is not as much to say about her as Jack, but still she is a major part in everything that goes on in White Noise, fueling most of the plot around the drug, Dylar. As of now, here are some topics I was thinking of involving in my essay :

- unstable identity, goes from very very loving, to a cynical person, not wanting to tell Jack much, promised Mr. Gray she would keep things quiet, having to be talked into saying things now

- doesn’t seem too worried about losing Jack…?

- her other relationships with past husbands, and children

- she “never wants Wilder to change” – her way of escaping death, likes to see him look at something, then completely forget and move, maybe she wishes the same for herself

- when Jack is talking to or thinking about Babette, he says/things that Babette is the healthy women she used to be

2008-11-10T20:39:00.002-05:00

while reading, i am always thinking about what the white noise could possibly be. At first i thought it was the media distracting people from dealing with their problems. However, after further reading i think it might relate more to death, so now i am confused. "What if death is nothing but sound? Electrical noise. You hear it forever. Sound all around. Uniform white." Is white noise now somehow related to death?

2008-11-10T19:51:00.002-05:00

i think i'm going to write about how much technology influences the characters in white noise. It's as if they need technology to reaffirm everything they think. for example when Jack went to the ATM to check his balance. He had already been keeping track of his balance but he felt so much more at peace once the ATM told him that his calculations were right. If Jack hadn't gone to the ATM he would never know for sure if his calculations were right.

2008-11-10T19:38:00.002-05:00

jack stresses the worry of what others think of him and shows how he wants to be accepted through everyday actions. he does not want others to know that he does not speak german. he is afraid that others will not respect him as a prestigious professor. he also feels acceptance from an automated teller. he feels pleasure when the teller accepts his request. he also feels a part of the system when he shops with his family. he enjoys his family helping him and the clerks waiting on him. i think that this feeling still bothers people today and it is evident in many parts of the book

Dark City

2008-11-09T21:06:00.002-05:00

For a reason unknown to me, probably boredom, I decided to search for Dark City on youtube and watch the entire movie. My impression of it was...muddled, to say the least. The Matrix made more sense to me, and that's saying a lot. I'm not putting down this movie, since it was a crazy ride. It's just a few of the things in the movie, like the plot and characters, went off into random tangents at some points. The ending was a little bizarre, too. Murdock somehow singlehandedly took control of the city, against an army of beings who were doing what they have been doing for their entire lives. It didn't leave you with a sense of completion or hope...more like a "wtf are they going to do now". It could have left room for a sequel, but I think it's better for everyone that they didn't. I'd say check it out if you get the chance and you're really bored like I was. My rating: 3/5.

...And this is just one opinion. You may absolutely hate it and want to throw the DVD in the road...or not. Your call.

white noise

2008-11-09T15:21:00.002-05:00

after reading the airborne toxic event, i realized how reliant these people are on the radio. For example, when the radio reported that nyodene caused sweaty palms, the girls started complaining of sweaty palms. "There's been a correction," Heinrich told her. "Tell them they ought to be throwing up." The girls are completely influenced by the radio, in a way it controls them.

2008-11-09T15:18:00.002-05:00

I wasn't sure if this was a viable topic, but maybe the world in which Delillo creates, could be in a war-like state, not that they are actually at war, but the effects of war. A few of my reasons for this supposed topic, are we see society collapsing more or less, people are more apt to conform in order to survive, then there are people who think they know everything, i.e. Jack. I also got this feeling that the world is an emotionally tense place, sort of bleak like. One last random point in a bid for this topic to work, the willingness of the people to listen to the media, thinking that the media is a good thing. I know the last topic seems a little out there, so any advice/criticism would be appreciated, very much so. Thank you!

Wiki

2008-11-08T15:45:00.003-05:00

I enjoyed using the wiki for our class assignment. As far as the revision process, I found it very easy to make or suggest changes. It seemed much more efficient than editing someone's paper and filling in the margins. Although, I encountered the problem of editing someone's work at the same time as another student, which made things difficult since I had to re-do all my corrections when I went to save my work. I liked how the entire class worked on different topics concerning the food industry because we were able to become more familiar with other topics through the revision process as well as have the opportunity to educate ourselves further just by reading through everyone else's work on our own time. Overall, the wiki was simply a nice change of pace from the usual "5 page paper."

Wiki

2008-11-08T15:28:00.002-05:00

I thought the wiki was a good idea but I also felt like we didn't get to research the topics enough. Since we were working on four different topics, it was hard to concentrate on one and really expand it. I liked how we could edit each other's works online but it was a little frustrating to edit the bibliography. The format of the website was also a little hard to understand and use. Overall it was an easy research assignment and I enjoyed it.

wiki

2008-11-07T19:56:00.002-05:00

I enjoyed the project because of its ease of use. It was easy because it had step-by-step instructions. I thought that it was a really good idea and it was interactive. It was also easy because i could do everything online and it was very easy to read and edit other people's entries. The only problem was that the bibliography was kind of hard to edit at times

class wiki

2008-11-07T18:38:00.002-05:00

I thought that the wiki project was actually a really good idea. it fun and challenging because it was something i'd never done before. though at somepoints it was a little confusing, it was also very interesting to create a collaborative work with classmates. i also that by doing smaller research papers for different topics, i was able to learn a lot more about the subject as a whole instead of just on one topic. this also helped when reviewing other people's articles.

Wiki

2008-11-07T17:31:00.002-05:00

I thought using the class wiki was very easy. It gave step by step directions on what to do, and i had no problems using it. I liked how we could write and edit all of our work online. The only problem, like mentioned before, was the editing on the bibliography. i thought this was a very good assignment.

Fast Food Wiki

2008-11-06T19:47:00.002-05:00

Our English 10-10 class has finally completed the class "wiki." Before this class, I had never heard of a wiki but now I am glad I have. Besides the fact that I do not enjoy doing research, I think the Fast Food Nation Wiki was a thoughtful project that now contains a wide variety of well researched information. I would have much rather done this wiki than a 5 page paper on only one of the primary topics. I also liked how our four assignments were not all the same size so once we completed the primary's, the secondary's were a breeze. Except for those slackers who did the secondary's first. (:]). Out of our three assignments so far, I definitely liked this one the best overall. Reading Fast Food Nation, watching Supersize Me, and researching about fast food has made me think twice about every fast food encounter I have. Wether it be on the tv, the radio, or in the drive-thru I am constantly analyzing the evil fast food industry. Yes I said evil. The outcome of this project is that I think fast food restaurants are evil. Thanks! :)

Fast Food Nation Wiki

2008-11-06T17:28:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed reading fast food nation and doing the wiki project. I liked how it came together with everyone in the class working on it. I found it easier to write short articles than have to make a 6 page or so research paper. We were able to split up what we wanted to write about into 4 sections rather than just had focused solely on one. Overall i like the idea of a wiki page for the class and this kind of project should be used for future classes

wiki

2008-11-06T15:44:00.002-05:00

Using the class wiki was confusing at times but I liked this research assignment a lot better than righting a long research paper. Doing revisions was more difficult than it was with having an actual paper copy of the assignments. However, the wiki also made the whole project a more collaborative thing. The topics we wrote about were interesting so I didn't mind doing all the research. Although research papers aren't my favorite thing, I enjoyed doing this assignment.

Wiki

2008-11-05T19:52:00.002-05:00

I thought the wiki was a great tool. It was slightly complicated, but really cool to use and navigate. Sort of makes me wish that we used earlier in the semster. Oh well. The only problem I had with it was I think if there were too many people on the website, then it sort of "crashed" or it wouldn't function. Other than that, it was cool to use.

wiki

2008-11-05T13:50:00.002-05:00

i think that the wiki was a lot better than a research paper. we were able to research different topics and learn about different aspects of the fast food nation. first of all, the topic we researched was something that is interesting to all of us. the collaborate editing allowed us to read other topics also. it was much easier to edit directly into the entry. if the person didn't agree with the change it he or she could easily change it back to what it was before. the only difficulty was figuring out how to navigate through wet paint. it was hard at first but after a while you learn how to use all the tools.

Wiki

2008-11-04T23:49:00.002-05:00

The wiki was a good tool to collect and share our ideas online. It was concise and logical. It was a pain to try to navigate it though, especially through my bogged down computer. There are a few things that still elude me, like how to link pages and connect websites. I'm not computer savy at all, and I know I should have addressed this before now...but all in all, I think it was a worthwhile project to do as it prepares us for future research projects and forums to post them on.

wiki

2008-11-04T21:05:00.003-05:00

At first I really liked the idea of doing the Wiki and was excited to be create a kind of archive with research from our whole class. I know that there were multiple purposes to this, but it honestly seemed like a very complicated process for just a research project. People had many many questions about the layout of Wet Paint, and I think that may have taken away from the importance of researching and citing our sources correctly. Although I am saying this, I did enjoy being able to edit others topics so easily. It was great to be able just to type in what we thought about it, and add little To-Do's. Very easy, which was excellent.

Revision Requirements

2008-11-04T09:40:00.002-05:00

At first I was not looking forward to doing the wiki at all... I thought it was going to be horrible! But now that it is all done I really liked the assignment and think that it is a really good idea. It was cool to research different topics and not have to worry about writing pages and pages on them, all you had to do was get the gist and move on. Also it is good to read the other wiki entries and (again) they are not to long, therefore they are to the point making then more enjoyable to read.

2008-11-03T19:31:00.002-05:00

It was interesting how in chapter 14, the family sits in front of the tv and watches footage of disasters and destruction and Steffie doesn't leave. When they watched comedies and programs that weren't as bad she couldnt sit and watch them but she is mesmerized by the program on disaster and destruction.

2008-11-02T18:06:00.002-05:00

in addition to lucie's comment below, it seems like companies will do anything to make money. fast food restaurants have developed over the years as people's lifestyles change. when cars became popular, drive-in restaurants were introduced. now people are trying to eat healthy. fast food restaurants that used to only sell hamburgers introduce salads to make people think they are eating healthy, when in reality they are just as bad. companies will try anything even if it means they lose money along the way, or their new idea is not successful. there is always fear of losing money that makes everyone frantic and desperate to try anything

Good work

2008-10-29T09:24:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to take a moment to tell you what good work you were doing on this blog. I have been reading over the past few weeks and have been very impressed with your comments and thoughts. In fact, I haven't commented because you guys were on a roll without my help.
Keep up the good work!

2008-10-29T00:42:00.001-04:00

I know we went over this in class and this doesn't count as a blog, but does anyone know how to cite things back to the bibliography? I was able to do it in class, but now when i press the link button it just comes up as enter an http:// address. I can't find where I link it to one of the pages on our wiki. Any help?

Meat Packing Industry

2008-10-28T09:57:00.002-04:00

When I was reading about the meat packing industry, I felt like it should have been something that happened a hundred years ago. It seemed like once you entered the slaughterhouses things like freedom of speech, health care, legal rights, etc no longer seemed to apply. It was almost unbelievable to read about the conditions of the workers who often had no other choice but to work in the terrible conditions of the slaughterhouses. It seems so hard for me to imagine that in the United States there are people who are under this kind of treatment which in a way is almost like slavery. These people who are often migrant workers are paid next to nothing and are expected to do everything. Reading about the cleaning crews was especially hard. Many of them even sacrificed their lives just to keep the places clean and since many were also undocumented, they probably were not even making minimum wage. And yet Schlosser mentioned how these people were still making ten times more than they could have at home. But then why is it that just because America can give them more money that they are forced into these conditions into these jobs. These people slave away so that we can have our meat and yet many of us feel hatred towards them for supposedly taking jobs away from Americans. No one else would be willing to do what they do.

2008-10-28T09:43:00.002-04:00

I don't understand why McDonald's is always trying to be something that it's obviously not. Like upgrading their restaurants to be more like a coffee shop with flat screens and couches and like Maddie mentioned below, a fancy sit down restaurant. McDonald's is a highly successful company so why does it feel the need to expand on that? If you have something that works for you shouldn't you try to stick with it? Will adding flat screens at your neighborhood McDonald's that cost thousands of dollars really make their profits go up? I don't see why they can't choose to spend that money on charities. It's true that they established the Ronald McDonald house for kids with illnesses but they shouldn't stop there. If you have money to waste on improving something that is already extremely successful why not just give it to the homeless shelters or charities who could really make a difference with that money? The fact that my McDonald's now has comfy couches is not gonna make me want to waste an afternoon in there. McDonald's was established to sell burgers and that's what they should stick with.

Ronald McDonald

2008-10-27T20:30:00.002-04:00

I don't know if any of you guys watched the Today Show back in the day when Willard Scott did more weatherman stuff and not just announcing old people's birthdays. Before he did that, he was the first Ronald McDonald. He wasn't the same, friendly looking Ronald that you grew up with. If you get a chance to google his picture in the costume, it looks like something out of The Exorcist. He's got on a paper cup nose and a coardboard tray hat, not to mention a very creepy face. This probably explains why he was only the clown for a year. I just think it's worth seeing the origin of Ronald and where he's gone today. It creeped the hell out of me the first time I saw it.

2008-10-26T18:42:00.002-04:00

I think that people are trying to rationalize what they eat for their own benefit. If you don't believe its bad for you, than that makes it healthy? Everyone always has the attitude that it can't happen to them. However, people need to admit that they are wrong. It's not bad to eat what you want as long as you can face the truth. You can't blame the company for selling you unhealthy food, when you are not forced to purchase it.

Just Sad

2008-10-26T11:05:00.002-04:00

I think that it is sad that we have McDonald's opening up establishments in churches. "...(a McDonald's recently opened at the Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston)..." (Schlosser 281) So now after people are done worshiping the Lord they can head right over to McDonald's! Perfect! I am who isn't hungry after church? Now you can go right from filling your self with good lessons and morals to filling yourself with a greasy, disgusting, fatty Big Mac. The people at the Brentwood Baptist Church in Houston have thought of everything.

After reading Maddie's post and then reading about this Church, it just shows how much McDonald's needs to back off.

an upscale McDonalds

2008-10-24T16:07:00.002-04:00

So I was flipping through tv channels and the Travel Channel caught my eye. There a special on fast food restaurants and coincidentally enough they focusing on McDonalds right when I stopped on it. It's title was the classiest McDonalds ever because it included waiters and waitresses and a piano with live music. It is located right in New York city and the announcer said that it gets very good business. The couple that was ordering asked for a Big Mac and then they were wondering if it came with fries. The waiter replied "Oh, of course." I find this kind of ridiculous. McDonald's now is trying to appeal to people who want to go out to a "nice" dinner with a loved one bt still go to a McDonalds. The couple was wearing very nice clothes, the women in a dress and the man in a suit, and the waiter was wearing a tux! Very bizzare. When I think of McDonald's, a sit down meal with a nice waiter expecting a tip does not come to my mind.

2008-10-22T23:41:00.003-04:00

i keep reading about all of these safety standards for food production, however reading the descriptions of all the slaughterhouses makes wonder how safe the facilities really are. i could never imagine working in one of the slaughterhouses. there are numerous injuries some of which are not reported because the company does not want to find themselves in trouble. the safety of food begins from the first step. are there standards that aren't being followed or are slaughterhouses really as gross as they sound

Beef

2008-10-22T21:42:00.002-04:00

I thought the beginning of chapter 8 was really interesting when Eric when to visit the slaughterhouse. I was shocked to read (on the bottom of page 170) about of the carcasses swing from the ceiling and you have do keep dodging them and watching your step. and if they hit you then you get thrown down on the bloody concrete floor. then Eric says that it happens all the time to workers. I just think that that sounds like a horrible job and I couldn't imagine people going to doing that every day of their lives. For a couple summers I worked on a tobacco farm with migrant workers, doing the same job over and over again all day long. Its probably the same deal for the workers in the slaughterhouse. Also what disturbed me was when Eric was talking about the worker called the "sticker" who is the one who has to shot the cow in the head and has gray matter and blood all over his face.... that sounds absolutely horrible.

Reaction to Supersize Me

2008-10-21T15:49:00.001-04:00

I'm not going to lie, i think i might never eat fast food again. After learning what can really be in those, and what those burgers and fries go through, I'm kind of repulsed. I think the movie over-dramatized the whole deal a bit, but it still got the point across. The point was that we ARE what we eat, and that's turning out to be not so good. We, as a country, have to start trying to find alternatives.

Last late one....I swear

2008-10-21T00:04:00.002-04:00

OK. Last one. One of the chapters of the book began with Klosterman talking about Fleetwood Mac members and how they wrote the album Rumours about their interrelationships. He talked about all of the scandals and cheating that went on between them and how it inspired all of the songs on their album. One of these songs was Tusk, one of my mom's favorite songs that she plays ALL the time, even on her concert DVD (I'm going to punch whoever got it for her). I never understood the song. All Buckingham sang about was "who's on the phone?" or "when is he coming back?" or something like that...I've tried to block it out. Then the entire second half of the song is the band yelling "tusk" over and over again, and the song ends. I never got it, but since I know it was written about cheating, it's about being back stabbed? In this case by a much bigger sharp object than a knife to further emphasize the pain of being cheated on? I don't know...this was all before my time. Any body have any ideas...if it matters now?

Another late one...

2008-10-20T23:52:00.002-04:00

This one also comes about from our discussion from class. We talked about funerals and that a lot of people only go to them for selfish reasons, only to fit in or appear to care to others. I'm sorry, but I just can't accept that people are that cold that they show up to funerals and have no feelings about the actual situation...that someone died and that peoples lives have been affected. I've only been to funerals to people I've cared about throughout life, first of all because I don't go to other funerals to people that I only knew of because I don't belong there w/ people who actually loved and knew them. I was at my grandfather's funeral...I know that the people and emotions there were genuine and sometimes impossible to bear. I just can't believe that people believe go to funerals without emotion...please find me an inhuman example that proves me wrong.

I got my blog to work again!...Just some thoughts I had about the last book

2008-10-20T23:40:00.003-04:00

I'm sorry for the discontinuity here guys, but I had a few things I wanted to say about the last project but was unable to because I was stupid and forgot my user name/password combination. After several permutations I finally found it and am going to say that I wanted to say...in order to better utilize my 10 posts (hope you understand).
Anyway, during the discussion about idea topics for out last paper in the round table format, we came across the idea that kids don't have any fear of death and that it's only for the middle aged and elderly. I disagree with this statement, and I can say that because I used to be afraid of the idea of dying back when I was in early grade school...I guess I like to plan ahead. Growing up in catholic school, which wasn't my decision, I was always taught that we were going to heaven as long as we were honest and faithful throughout life. I thought hey, existence has no limitations, I'm going to live in eternal bliss and have the peace of mind that I'm not going to expire, at least in mind not body. But my lovely sister, being the b***h that she was, broke it to me that there was no heaven and no Santa, and that I was going to rot in the ground and no longer exist. I had a fun childhood... For the following several weeks, I'm not ashamed to say that I sobbed most every night to sleep (I was five...give me a break) that I was going to die. Of course, then I had NO idea about the length of time I was going to live and how long it was going to take. But it just disturbed me that I finally understood the idea of death, but I guess we all come to accept it when the time comes and reflect back on life. Ironic, yet a little comforting in itself. Thankfully Pokemon made me happy the next day anyway.

McDonald's Kids Meals

2008-10-20T22:22:00.003-04:00

When I was little the highlight of my week was going to McDonald's. I was obsessed with the kids meals just because I would want the toy. Every day when I was watching Legends of the Hidden Temple or one of the other shows on Nickelodeon I would see the commercials for McDonald's. All the commercials would show the toy that the kids meal came with. When McDonald's had beenie babies as the toy I would try to get my mom to take me more than once a week so I could collect the different toys. I think its crazy how well McDonald's advertises to children. Going to McDonald's wasn't just about satisfying my hunger as a child it was about getting toys with my dinner.

2008-10-16T09:55:00.002-04:00

This post is kind of delayed but I would just like to say that I find it ridiculous that we think we can sue big companies just because they have a lot of money. Although the McDonald's case was thrown out and dismissed by the judge, there have been many cases where the plaintiffs have won. For example, in the McDonald's strip search incident, the manager who was responsible for the strip search sued for and won a million dollars from McDonald's on the claim that McDonald's policies for their managers was the cause for her lack of sense. It's true that McDonald's and other fast food places train their managers and employees so that everything is by the book, no questions asked. But is it fair to blame McDonald's for making you strip search a teenage girl that resulted in her being sexually assaulted? Why is it that we think we are able to just sue big corporations, are we really just that greedy? If their businesses are successful we start to question their marketing tactics. Doesn't McDonald's have the right to market their business just like any other business?

2008-10-16T01:21:00.002-04:00

i was a little sad after reading about walt disney. i loved all those disney movies (beauty and the beast is the best) when i was little. and disneyworld is awesome too, and i remeber when i went to Tomorrowland, and thinking how cool it was to see all the electronics and stuff. it's kind of disheartening to relize that most of disneyland was really just a hidden agenda for porfit. not that i didn't assume that that was really the whole point of the whole franchise and marketing children idea, but i'd just never really thought about it until i read it in the book. it was also a little sad to know that walt disney wasn't really such a nice guy, and a little paranoid about communism...

2008-10-14T18:05:00.003-04:00

There are a lot of additives that go into our food that we do not even know are there. I think that is scary. "At Burger King, Wendy's, and McDonald's coloring agents have been added to many of the soft drinks, salad dressings, cookies, condiments, chicken dishes, and sandwich buns" (125). I had no idea that coloring agents were in the chicken dishes and sandwich buns... gross! I will never be able to enjoy a chicken sandwich from McDonald's again knowing that it has agents in it that give it its coloring. Those colors are supposed to be natural! and the long list of ingredients that go into a just the artificial strawberry flavor in the strawberry milkshakes, on the bottom of the page, is another scary fact. Who would have known that all of those ingredients (most of which i cant pronounce) go into making JUST the artificial strawberry flavor. My question is who would have ever though to put all of those weird chemicals together?

2008-10-13T17:51:00.003-04:00

the movie is obviously a very extreme case of eating fast food. that is not the only cause of obesity. exercise plays a huge role is a person's health. life in america has become very lazy. you don't have to leave your house for anything. you can get food delivered and order things online. some people even work from home. even if you leave your house, there are drive-throughs so you don't have to get out of your car. in other countries, people walk everywhere, that means that where we live, we have to put in the extra effort to exercise on our own.

Drive-in Church?

2008-10-13T15:26:00.003-04:00

I understand the need for food to be fast and that people don't always have a lot of time to eat. So drive-ins and fast food places make sense to me. I'm not saying that they are not bad for you or that we should eat them all the time, but they make sense. What does NOT make sense to me is peoples need to stay in their car when they go to church. "In the neighboring town of Garden Grove, the Reverend Robert Schuller founded the nation's first Drive-in Church, preaching on Sunday mornings at a drive-in movie theater, spreading the Gospel through the little speakers at each parking space, attracting large crowds with the slogan 'Worship as you are... in the family car'" (19). I think that this is ridiculous. Seriously you cant get out of your car to go to church? There is something wrong with America...

2008-10-10T12:19:00.002-04:00

i don't really agree with the fact that fast food restaurants are the cause of obesity. it is a person's responsibility to choose what they eat. if they pick fast food that's their problem. there are fast food restaurants all around the world, and obesity is a greater problem in the united states. i think it has to do with americans being so busy. everyone is on a time schedule with little time to eat. when i go to greece, i feel like life is more relaxed. people are less stressed and have time to eat full healthy meals.

Supersize Me

2008-10-10T10:56:00.002-04:00

I definitely think that this film serves a meaningful purpose because it educates Americans on what exactly we are eating and how this can affect our health. This type of "muckraking" journalism plays a big part in how we progress as a society. For instance, the book "The Jungle" written by Upton Sinclair and published in 1906, revealed the contamination in the meat industry. The public uproar in response to this book lead to the creation of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration). Supersize Me has created a similar revolution, now involving the fast food industry. I believe that this documentary has played a large role in the great strides that are being made towards lowering obesity in America..

2008-10-08T19:24:00.002-04:00

i believe that Spurlock is serving a purpose because he is showing how unhealthy some people live and is documenting the effect this horrible food has on peopl. It is without a doubt McDonalds fault that people are becoming obese in America because they keep putting bigger and bigger portions of fat ridden food out for sale. The fast lifestyle of this country plays has something to do with this problem. We don't like to wait around for anything and these fast food companies allow us to get food quickly and then go.

Super Size Me

2008-10-07T12:51:00.002-04:00

Some things to think about....

Is Spurlock's documentary serving a worthwhile purpose to Americans? Why or why not? Is his approach a realistic vision of America's obesity problem?
How much responsibility should McDonald's (or any other fast food company) take in America's obesity? What do you think contributes to the popularity of fast food in this country?

2008-10-01T22:04:00.002-04:00

I think that Klosterman really brings up some good points, such as how there really is nothing at any of the sites he visits. That part really got through to me because it shows things are only important when people attach meaning to them. It's very true to, if you just look around campus. I think the police are a perfect example of that; if you look at them as protectors then you like them and appreciate what they do. If you look at them as cruel and there to ruin fun, then you don't like them at all.

2008-09-30T23:24:00.002-04:00

The only part of Chucks book that I did not like was knowing that the book is 85% of a true story. This always made me question what happens to him. Did he really do cocaine with someone he didn't in a truck in Warwick? Did he really have a conversation with a drunk girl at an ice machine at a hotel? It always made me wonder what he was telling the true about and what he was making up. But I guess the mystery of not knowing whether it really happened is what a lot of people like about the book. I really enjoyed the book and all of the conversations that he had but I just want to know if they are real or not. My guess is that many of the conversations that he has are not real only because they are always tied in with bigger pictures of society and deal with bigger issues. Im not saying that the conversations did not happen, I'm sure that they did but probably not to the extent to which he writes about them.

Thomas Jefferson

2008-09-30T11:52:00.003-04:00

On page 195, Klosterman states that Thomas Jefferson is the coolest president in American history. I highly disagree with this statement as Thomas Jefferson was highly racist. I know Klosterman is referring to the advice Jefferson gave Lewis and Clark, but I just feel that the background on the political views of a president should be researched before making such a statement. Many of our founding fathers were racist as Andrew Jackson was elected into office for his war efforts against the Native Americans. I also understand that these were the normal views of that time, but it's still not humane and I hate Thomas Jefferson.

Human Conventions

2008-09-30T11:41:00.003-04:00

One of my favorite themes in this book is how Klosterman constantly challenges human conventions. From page 190-191, a man tells Klosterman to wear a tie because he'll look professional and attract the ladies, yet Klosterman accomplishes everything in the real world without wearing a tie to work. On page 209, Klosterman says that as a kid, he purposely pretended like he was afraid of the dark because he thought it was socially normal. As an adult, he asks Quincy if all five-year olds pretended to be afraid of the dark as a social obligation. Can you guys find any other challenges to social conventions? Are social conventions certain?

2008-09-30T07:18:00.002-04:00

I wonder how Klosterman's women feels when they read about themselves in his books. When he gave Lenore a copy of his new book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs and the opening essay was about her, I wonder how she felt. I would be mad. I feel bad for her that her personal life has been written about for everyone to read. Also, I feel like Klosterman portrays her as someone who will stay with him no matter what, and I wonder how that makes her feel. I also like how at the end Klosterman goes back to Quincy. I think that even though he said he wants her to marry the architect, he doesn't. I think that he is devastated, even though he says he isnt. Overall, I really like this book, it was fun to read because it was entertaining and interesting!

This book

2008-09-29T18:22:00.002-04:00

This book is by far one of the easiest books to read that i have been assigned to. Not saying that it is infantile or anything, but it is like im in a convo with Klosterman, and the pages fly by. Read close to 100 pages in about 2 hours the other night. But as much as he has to say, i have no idea what to say for my essay. This is real last minute, but Im putting it out there. What would be better, his take on 9/11, or the ironies he portrays in his book?

Essay Topic

2008-09-29T17:55:00.002-04:00

I am hoping for some last minute input from the people who frequent our blog. I was not sure if this would be a good topic for the paper we have to write. I was thinking that maybe Klosterman was alluding to the fact that we are 85 percent true. Then I was thinking of asking if we liked it this way. Then I was going to maybe use Klosterman's relationships and how he is somewhat true and untrue to each one. I don't know if any of this makes sense. Any input would be great!

2008-09-29T17:10:00.002-04:00

I think that my favorite part of the whole book (though I have not finished it yet I feel that I can still make this statement because I loved this part so much) is Chucks conversation with the man at the bar at the Best Western Inn, pages 188-193. When I was reading this section I was actually really laughing out loud. What he thinks about life and about people is so funny and I have never heard people talk quite like this before. The first part that made my laugh was when the man talked about throwing the insurance agents into a cage with gorillas (page 189). But the part that made me fall in love with this man was on page 190 when he was talking about why men should always wear a tie. "Always put on a tie. Always. It only takes an extra 30 seconds in the morning, and it's always the smart move. Old-timers will think you're an up-and-comer, young folks will know you mean business, and ladies will think you're the kind of guy who might suddenly take them out to a decent restaurant. It's always the smart move." I agree with what he says here and I think its so funny how he has obviously thought about this at length before. I just wonder if this conversation really happened or if Chuck tried to make this part funnier when he was writing this book because on the cover it does say 85% of a true story. So it makes me wonder...

Essay Topic

2008-09-29T16:48:00.002-04:00

I have an idea for my essay and I wrote my introduction but I'm still unsure if it will work. I was thinking about writing about how Klosterman is hypocritical in that he ridicules certain aspects of our culture but he himself participates in some of the actions that he mocks. For instance, he talks about how he thinks it's pointless to go the grand canyon and the Washington Monument. He also describes the experience he had at the hotel where everyone wanted to stay in the room where the famous rock star killed his wife. He makes fun of these things, but then he gets off at an exit of a town whose name he recognizes from a song, only to find that it isn't the town portrayed by the song. I think he did this on purpose to show that we all fall victim to popular culture whether we want to or not. Even with his insight he is still vulnerable to this. My position would basically be that many aspects of our society are ridiculous but we can't really help but to fall victim to them. Many of these things stem from human nature and society, and that is just how it is. Does anyone have any feedback on this or other examples where Klosterman falls victim to pop culture?

Killing yourself to live

2008-09-29T11:19:00.003-04:00

I first want to start out this entry by saying that anytime someone reads the title of this book they say "oh my god why are you reading an emo book?" Although they have no idea that it is far from it. I genuinely enjoy reading "Killing Yourself to Live" and witnessing Chuck's thought process. I have no idea what to write about. Reading this doesn't make me feel controversial- it makes me laugh so I'm not sure how I am going to write against or siding with Klosterman period.

If I'm going to write about anything it will be his views on death. When he explains how much he loves the song "Crazy In Love" he claims it just makes him want to kill himself. Many things that he talks about somehow are described with words pertaining to death. I understand this is the theme of the novel but it extremely peculiar and exaggerative.

I will write more later I must go to class.

2008-09-28T14:40:00.002-04:00

so this really has nothing to do with the book and i'm probaly going to get yelled at for making such a broad generalization, but in my paper i wrote that music unites people more than anything else, but i swear, for guys it's definitely football. i totally have this image of chuck as being this indie guy who has no interest in sports and would maybe even be condescending towards it, but infact, he's quite the enthusiast. also, pretty much every guy i've talked to over the last two days have put sunday aside as "football day," and even if their team isn't playing, they plan on just watching the games anyway. and even guys who actually aren't super into football still know all the rules and the formations and can argue plays and stats and whatever else composes a game. i don't mean to sound like i'm stereotyping guys or saying that girls don't watch football, but i just think its cool that guys have such a bonding thing going on.

2008-09-28T11:33:00.003-04:00

I have always been a pretty big fan of Buddy Holly and reading about how his death somehow makes him luckier really bugged me. On page 148 Klosterman states, "I'm not sure being remembered a the narrator for The Dukes of Hazzard is a better legacy than being the unofficial namesake for an entire genre of eyeglasses." I feel like he's saying that if Buddy Holly had lived, what he may have accomplished can not live up to his simple "namesake for an entire genre of eyeglasses". Buddy Holly died at the beginning of his fame and I feel like he could have accomplished so much more if he had lived. Even if his music may not be as popular if he had lived, he would still have had a chance to experience a long life. To me that seems more important than anything else. Klosterman says that "in an unspecfic, mostly intangible way, Buddy Holly will always be around," but I'm not sure he or his family would feel the same way. Buddy Holly may be famous because he died young but that who's to say that his life wouldn't have been better than the afterlife?

2008-09-25T23:12:00.002-04:00

so i was reading this book and how klostermann talks about how people become famous when they die. i know someone who died in my class who wasn't the most popular kid but when he died everyone claimed to be his best friend. and this got me to thinking, why? why is that people have to pretend to mourn or be best friends with someone after they die even if they didn't know them at all. i think i am going to write my essay on this and how this applies to rock stars too. any ideas and tips would be awesome.