Issue With the Campus 7.28

Well, there are a few issues with the campus. None of them are major, but they're enough to tickle a feather. The first issue is that parking is miles away from the campus. The second issue is that the rooms are about 30 degrees below zero. I believe that the architect and air conditioning guy are to blame. My point of view is that there should be more convenient parking and more comfortable room climates. With this summer heat, students shouldn't have to walk so far to get to class. You could die from a heat stroke. And it shouldn't cost so much for a parking spot, we're already paying for the tuition. Also, you know that the rooms are cold when students are wearing sweaters in the summertime in Florida.

Influence of Media Article 7.27

The article called "The Future of Children" by Soledad Liliana Escobar Chaves and Craig A. Anderson mainly addresses the negative influence of the media on American society, more specifically on its children and adolescent audience today. The article shows various examples of media, such as TV shows, with their commercials, movies, video games, the Internet, music, music videos, and print media and their effect on children who watch/play/experience high levels of the specific media. The article cited many studies of different types, including, experimental short term stuides, longitudinal studies, and cross sectional studies. Each type of study had results which concluded that an increased exposure to media and media forms has lead to and will continue to lead to an increase in obesity (due to an increase in calorie intake and a lack of movement), smoking, alcohol use and abuse, sexual experimentation, and especially violence and or crimes. The studies all conclude that their is not enough data to specifically locate or predict outcomes of this trend but they also show a definite correlation between hightened media exposure and negative behavioral traits.

7/26 Lexis Nexis Article

LEXIS NEXIS ARTICLE: PHOBIAS

Canberra Times (Australia)
February 4, 2007 Sunday Final EditionConfronting our worst fears Phobias can have a huge effect on sufferers' lives, ELIZA YOUNG reports.BYLINE: The Canberra TimesSECTION: A; Pg. 23LENGTH: 672 words

TO THE average person, a spider is nothing more than a common nuisance; to a handful of people, however, it induces terror.
The mere thought of a spider can induce sweating and clammy palms, dizziness, breathing difficulty and a racing heartbeat.
It can take up to 30 minutes for the panic attack to subside.
Arachnophobia a dread of spiders is one of the many phobias that can make life a misery for the afflicted.
Canberra-based psychologist Jenny O'Donnell defines a phobia as a marked and persistent fear which fixates on a particular object or situation.
"A phobia can be about any object you can think of, and there are some pretty weird ones out there," Dr O'Donnell said.
"I wouldn't necessarily say a phobia was an irrational fear because sometimes people have a form of logic.
"But it's slightly skewed as is the case for those who are phobic about flying or driving a car."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, about one in 10 Australians have a phobia.
While the jury is still out whether there is a genetic predisposition to developing phobias, Dr O'Donnell said exposure to other sufferers, particularly family members, can be a trigger.
A phobia can generally be attributed to a situation in a person's past, which they may or may not remember, and may or may not relate directly to the phobia.
"I once treated a woman who was phobic about seeing other people's vomit," Dr O'Donnell said.
"Turns out when she was younger her mother had made her eat a banana when she didn't want to and she'd been sick."
The most common phobias seen by Dr O'Donnell are arachnophobia (spiders), acrophobia (heights), and pteromerhanophobia (flying).
Generally, phobias are upsetting and inhibiting to the sufferer, but the stimulus and its accompanying panic attacks can be avoided with effort.
However, situation-based phobias including social phobia (social situations/groups of people) and agoraphobia (leaving familiar or safe situations, like home) are much more difficult to manage.
Dr O'Donnell said she had heard of many cases where agoraphobics would not leave their home for many years.
"When it's something like being frightened to go outside, this can have a huge effect on your life.
These people need professional help."
The majority of phobia victims also suffer from depression, as well as a secondary phobia of having panic attacks.
Along with the serious side, there are also the quirky, offbeat and downright bizarre phobias.
An internet search produces 531 possible phobic ailments, including:Arachibutyrophobia: a fear of having peanut butter stick to the roof of your mouth; Bogyphobia: a fear of bogeys, or the bogeyman; Electrogeniphobia: a fear of urinating during an electrical storm; and Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia: fear of long words.
Treatment is available to help phobia sufferers although there are no specific support groups for phobia sufferers in the ACT.
Instead, there is a range of anxiety-based groups which phobia sufferers can join through the ACT Mental Health Foundation.
Exposure therapy (or flooding) remains a widespread treatment.
With gradual, controlled exposure to the phobic stimulus, a person is able to change the thought processes surrounding it from negative to positive.
Another proven technique is symptom management where the person is coached by a psychologist to combat the physical symptoms of a panic attack learning to control their breathing and keep the anxiety at bay.
Both techniques are practised by Dr O'Donnell.
There is also a technique known as energy psychology, which involves a person using acupuncture on themselves while thinking about their phobic stimulus. The acupuncture allows the release of negative emotions with the onset of a panic attack.
Canberra-based practitioner Angela Cartland, who operates Psycho-Sensory Therapies, has practised energy psychology for two years and swears by it.
"Sometimes it only takes one session and people can go away with the tools to combat a simple phobia," Ms Cartland said.
Contact the Mental Health Foundation ACT on 62826658.

MY RESPONSE:

I enjoyed your article on article on phobias. I find phobias fascinating and mysterious. I recently completed a research paper on phobias and found much of the same information that you provide. I agree that social phobias and agoraphobias are the toughest to cure. I like the fact that you discussed some of the "bizarre" phobias. I also find many of the phobias very odd. But I think those phobias need to be mentioned to show that a person can have a phobia for almost anything. Also, I thought that the acupuncture form of treatment was interesting because I found nothing about it during my research. Overall, I thought that the article was well written and brief, but to the point.

6/30 Reading

Alex Hudson
Composition I

This article is about a man named Jerry Waxler, a man who has tried to understand how his mind works since he was a teenager. He believes that he has finally found a way to make sense of his mind, through memoirs and writing stories of his own life. Waxler is discovering how his hopes and dreams have lead him to where he is today. He believes in principles that say people can change the way they feel by changing their thoughts. As Waxler studies the relationship between writing and the mind, he determines that writing can be therapeutic. He believes that questions about healing and the mind may be answered through storytelling and reflecting on his own life. I found this article quite interesting. Personally, I’ve never really tried to understand how my mind works. I’ve just sort of accepted it. I am a little curious as to why Waxler is so obsessed with this concept. He says that he’s been interested in this idea since high school. Nevertheless, I view Waxler as a very intellectual man who has an interesting perspective on life. I even agreed with most of the principles and theories he discussed.

This talk was between Antoinette Franklin and her niece, Iriel Franklin, who discuss the effect that Hurricane Katrina had on them. Antoinette talks about multiple things that she misses about New Orleans with sadness in her voice, while her niece talks about the toughest part of the whole experience. Iriel says that the hardest day was not knowing where Antoinette and her Dad were. Iriel also said that this experience has made her grow up in a hurry. The hurricane was a test of maturity and character. What I found interesting was that they still sounded devastated. It appeared to be very hard for them to talk about. It was obvious that Katrina was still effecting them. The most memorable part of the whole conversation was when Antoinette said, “I’ve learned that love and family is more important than anything in the whole world...I used to say it...But now I know it.” This showed me that Hurricane Katrina brought them closer together.

1. Has Jerry Waxler written any novels?

2. Did Iriel lose her father in Katrina?

3. How can disasters, such as hurricanes destroy people’s lives as well as enhance them?

7/20 Three Youtube Videos- Phobias

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ta-FGE7QELQ
Maury: Fear of PICKELS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjJVN_RkbTw&NR=1
Maury: Fear of Balloons
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NogoZpeeiE4&feature=related
Jackass 2: Bam's fear of snakes

Graphic Design and Satrapi Interview Summary

This article is in majority an interview with graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi, who is most known for her comic Persepolis with a brief introduction into the prevalance of comics and cartoons in everyday life. The author of the article and interviewer, Root questions Satrapi on her methods as a graphic novelist. Satrapi attempts to explain the difficulties in creating a comic which is largely autobiographical. In this sense, Root deems Persepolis a graphic memoir. Satrapi explains the search for truth in fictional stories with historical background. Root also inquires as to why Satrapi chooses to write in a graphic form instead of merely textual. Satrapi replies that not only is she horrible at writing but "there are so many things that you can say through images that you cannot say with the writing". For Satrapi, comics present convenience even though she is unclear on to how she actually creates a comic with text attached, she claims that it all happens at once for her. Satrapi believes that everything is a story even if it has a historical basis. The events in Persepolis are largely based upon her childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution and other historical events, though she has changed the names of the characters and some of the dialogue. Satrapi states that her main limit in creating a comic is crossing other people's personaly boundaries. She openly admits to being "rather nasty" but also tries to learn from her mistakes and consequentially, does everything she can to protect rather than intentionally cross other's points of view. Satrapi also goes on to explain the creation of Persepolis the animated movie. She says that seeing her characters in motion for the first time made her feel like a god and though she is used to creating her comics by herself, with solely her vision, during the production of an animated movie many hands are required to draw all the sketches which brings in other peoples perspectives as well. Satrapi admits to liking the challenge that her work presents her with. She enjoys doing things that are difficult for the satisfaction found in their completion.

7/11 Persopolis

The Hillary Chute article addressing Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis has some excellent examples of Satrapi's style and type of narration, which Persepolis employs not only in the form of an autobiography but also as a graphic novel. Upon reading the comic excerpts I never really took into much consideration the physical layout of the comical tiers. However, in her article, Chute does address the appearance of the comic, the way the pages are broken up and split apart. I who thought nothing of this was intrigued to read the idea that this was a conscious step to further articulate the suffering and torn childhood that the author, "Marji" endured. The article also points out that Persepolis is a groundbreaking graphic novel in that not only has it been worldly acclaimed and translated into more than twenty languages, but also it is written by a woman. An Irani woman at that. Through its publication Persepolis has undoubtedly broken the traditional views and standards of Irani women who are mostly subject to the rule of their husbands and are as shown in Persepolis forced to wear veils, hiding their faces and having little rights. The comic as told from Satrapi's ten year old perspective as Marji realistically dictates a child's imagination and lack of actual experience with violence to characterize its true horrors. The comic's being in black and white versus color also represents the normality of Marji's childhood in 1979, 1980 and beyond. Her childhood experiences through the Cultural Revolution and the Iranian War were probably duplicated and experienced through many other youths in Iran at the time of the repressive shah regime. In this way, Maji's testament to youth appeals to many others who have suffered and cannot forget the traumatic events that to many of us today are simply picture on the news or in a history book. It is a shame that Marji's story is banned in Iran but by the Irani government banning this historical account, they reitterate the points that Satrapi is writing about. I find it impressive that she also made a movie of Persepolis completely by her own gumption. Denying the appeal of Hollywood money and outside direction, Satrapi directed the movie herself which is aesthetically and ironically pleasing as it initially is her story to tell.

Memoir and Article responses 7.7

"Writing a Memoir: The Involvement of Art with Craft" by Frank F. Mathias

This article is about the difficulties of writing a memoir, as told from the memoirist, Frank Mathias. Mathias was a private in the 37th Infantry Division of World War II. He describes how challenging it was for him to write a memoir recounting events from the war. The main issue in writing his or any other memoir is establishing a balance of art and craft. A memoir needs to be historically accurate but also aesthetically pleasing. In this way, memoirs blend the art of being a historian with that of being a novelist. Memoirs also require imagination and memory, not imagination to distort the truth or fill in gaps falsely, but rather to recreate an event in such a way that a reader feels personally engaged. Mathias says that it took him a very long time for his memoir, GI Jive, An Army Bandsman in World War II to feel complete. In order for it to make sense to an outside reader Mathias had to do background research and also check his old letters and contacts to assure historical and factual accuracy. In writing his memoir, Mathias also debated whether or not to include dialogue. In the end, he decided that it would not only reveal character, but also “push along an otherwise lagging narrative”. However, with this decision, also came even more issues. Would including dialogue distort historical accuracy or dent the truth? It would also be difficult for Mathias to recall conversations some forty years after their occurrence. This being the case, Mathias prefaces his memoir with an admission of error in the exact wording of his dialogue passages, also stating that the overall tone of each passage and the underlying ideas are as close as his memory could allow. This even includes the use of profanity and expressions used perhaps exclusively at the time of the war and more importantly by the soldiers involved in it. Mathias says that memoirists are limited by choice or which memories to include in the memoir. After final selection is made and publication of the memoir is complete many “how come” questions may arise. These are to be answered with an “I’ll write about that subject in my next book” response.

"Above Us Only Sky" by James Slesinger

I think that this story was very well written. Slesinger describes the night very vividly, with detail that made you believe that you were there. It’s very clear that this night had a huge impact on James. He describes the evening as a “turning point, my crossing from happiness into unhappiness.” I also found his take on the Beatles very interesting. He refers to Paul McCartney as a “fool”, saying that he “wrote rubbish on the guitar”. Slesinger said that he couldn’t work with the band anymore. He said that Paul was “selfish and egotistical.” Overall, I found it very interesting to hear a story of that night from someone who was actually there.

"Knocked Up" by Nicole Filmore

I feel that this story portrays a very typical view of any sixteen year old that would be thrown into this situation. I was very interested in this story from the start, considering that pregnancy is a very relatable subject for teens, like me. I’ve heard about kids my age having a baby, but never with so much detail and insight. I thought it was interesting how selfish Nicole was about her sister’s pregnancy. Although I can’t say that I blame Nicole since she has never been in that situation before, and may be too young to understand the significance of it. However, I found it very touching that she described the baby’s cry as the “most perfect cry I’d ever heard.” Nicole also said “I can’t imagine my life without her. My everything.” I think that this experience made Nicole mature and was very beneficial for her in the long run.