Cruelty, Civility, and Other Weighty Matters

It's funny how when people hear or talk about the media, it always comes down to the whole weight issue. Whether your some annorexic, skinny girl to the overly obese lady you can't help but to pay attention to what the media says about being fat or overly skinny. What Ann Marie Paulin says is true. Being what the media calls "sexy" isnt the only important thing in life. She's definetly not the first or the last person to write a paper about how the media affects how people view themselves, but she does a really good job of backing up her opinion with actual book facts. The way she expresses herself through her writing is very inspirational to not be what the media wants you to look like just so you'll buy their products.

I thought that the story of when she was 12 and watching the news an seeing a girl getting hit by a bus, and only saying, " Yeah, but at least she's thin," was very sad. To see someone so young thinking that when she should be feeling great about herself. Not to mention the horrible story in Pipher's book Hunger Pains: The Modern Women's Tragic Quest for Thinness. Isn't it crazy that a mother would care so much into what her daughter looks like to tell her that she's fat.

Her point that being fat and wanting to lose weight shouldn't be for what other people want, but for being the healthy choice is a very good one that i think everyone should share. Personally i believe that obese people see how they're portrayed in the media, get sad, then eat some more. If the media used a more positive outlook on how bigger people could change to live a healthy life maybe that could actually make a difference.

All in all this was a very good persuasive draft with alot of added emotion, great book references and some personal experiences.

Crimes Agianst Humanity

I really enjoyed reading Ward Churchhill's perusasive draft on how the media is portraying the Native culture. I'm Native American and I also don't agree with school's mascots being the "chiefs" or "redskins." Most school's mascots are animals, so when they have the redskins as their mascot then they're calling Native Americans animals.

I thought his made up team mascot's kind of went a little far with the racial wording, but i suppose he was using it to prove a point and i think it worked. The way he mentioned Julius streicher and how he was killed for writing taking part in a raciest tabloid really made it look like the government did something that was wrong if they're not taking part in stopping the misuse of the native culture in the media.

It's crazy how people were taking part in involuntary sterilization of the Native American women. It's just sad how a race that was so great long ago had to suffer through so many illness', deaths, wars, and the stealing of land, and then to be portrayed as an animal.

I personally don't understand why the Native race has deserved everything that has happened to us. The US took away all our land, striped us of our culture, introduced alcohol to our systems. Throughout all of this it's still being done today. For instance the suicide race in Omak. Animal rights activist say that it's cruelty to animals, if you look at the statistics not that many horses get hurt. That race has been part of the Colville Tribes culture for thousands of years. Yet theres a chance that Suicide Hill is going to be closed down for horse racing. Then we're depicted as cruel "savages" in the old westerns you see.

We're being depicted as a lower unequal race compared to others. I'm happy to see that Ward Churchhill spoke up agianst the misuse of Native American culture in the media.

How I Lost the Junior Miss Pageant

I really like the way Cindy Bosley portrayed her emotions throughout the story. It gives the reader a special insight into what's really going on inside the writers head as she's experiencing this. An example is when she was crying after finding out that she lost and admitting to crying because of it being over not because of losing. She does use very good details in portraying her emotions.



The story was very sad, by the way she thought of herself and others. I don't think people should have to think of themselves the way that she did. She seemed to take everything her mom said into careful consideration, so that she kinda believed what her mother said. It was sad that she had to judge the ladies on the Miss America Pageant and make a point system on their flaws, even comparing herself to the other Junior Miss contenders. More sadly, was the thought that she had truly known that she was going to lose before she had even started.



The point that really got to me was in the last paragraph when every sentence began with "I'd lost..." To me it meant that the pageant wasn't really about the good characteristics about her, just the bad. She didn't want to do it. Her opinion was really laid out in black and white and I really liked how she concluded her story.

The Thrill of Victory...The Agony of Parents

As I read this the only thought that came to me was of course my own mom. She is probably my ownly true role model, besides those crazy out of the question miracles like Micheal Jordan. The more I think about it the more i believe that parents are crazy compared to the average teenagers like myself. They were ridiculous outfits, listen to those crazy bands that you've never heard of, and always seem to suprise you differently everyday.

Even though i think my moms a little crazy sometimes i do compare her to other parents, which leads me to a little story. In about 5 or 6 grade i became interested in wrestling. For a girl in a little town of 1500 people, that seemed to get quit a few people talking. I was the only girl wrestling. Somehow, beyond all the other parents snickering and trying to get me to quit my mom had my back. At one of the wrestling matches like many before i pinned a boy about my size, winning first place. Lets just say the father wasn't to excited to see his precious little boy lose to a girl. He actually got right into my moms face. The boy was bawling his eyes out as the father was then yelling at my coach and my mother. I felt really bad but what was i to do? It really did show me how crazy some parents can be!

That wasn't the only incident were i've seen parents get a little crazy. Basketball is one of the greatest examples. For me it's not as bad to yell at the officials just because it's hilarious, and most of the parents that yell know what they're talking about. Last year at the annual Freemen game my quiet, well-respected, on the school board neighbor, was kicked out of the game for yelling at the ref for a bad call. My god, it was hilarious! Not to mention, it just got our crowd even more louder. That's just one of the other incidents were parents really get involved in a game.

The wrestling story that i told is a great example of a what not to do for parents. It just cracks me up that parents always seem to get angry and frustrated about a game more than the kids do. Like my mom, parents should be supportive and there for their kids, even if they or other parents don't believe it's right. Also, parents sometimes should just bite their own tongue once in a while.