Happy With My Flaws

In Nancy Mair’s essay, “On Being a Cripple”, she talks about her life with Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. It’s not that she is complaining she is describing how her disability set limits to what she can do. It seems as Mair’s is poking fun at the fact that many Americans complain about the little things. She knows that she has the disability and she is accepting it. Mair’s figure at the young age of 28, that she had the disease and it change her world forever. She doesn’t really see it as a disability. She feels as though she has a gift.

The essay made me realize that I should be thankful!! I have a sclerosis but not in the way that she does. It made me see that she is a remarkable woman and she didn’t give up on life. She kept on going even with her disability. She did not let it get her down. The best thing is that she had family support to help her get through the process of the change.
It true that many of complain about the little things. We as a whole have become so wrapped up in everything that we want and sometimes don’t take what we have for granted. People just like Mair’s don’t complain but they are thankful for being her.

It just seems that we are stuck in mind frame of “having our cake and eating it too.”
How do you feel about the fact that people take so many things for granted?

Happy With My Flaws

In Nancy Mair’s essay, “On Being a Cripple”, she talks about her life with Multiple Sclerosis. Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic disease of the central nervous system. It’s not that she is complaining she is describing how her disability set limits to what she can do. It seems as Mair’s is poking fun at the fact that many Americans complain about the little things. She knows that she has the disability and she is accepting it. Mair’s figure at the young age of 28, that she had the disease and it change her world forever. She doesn’t really see it as a disability. She feels as though she has a gift.

The essay made me realize that I should be thankful!! I have a sclerosis but not in the way that she does. It made me see that she is a remarkable woman and she didn’t give up on life. She kept on going even with her disability. She did not let it get her down. The best thing is that she had family support to help her get through the process of the change.
It true that many of complain about the little things. We as a whole have become so wrapped up in everything that we want and sometimes don’t take what we have for granted. People just like Mair’s don’t complain but they are thankful for being her.

It just seems that we are stuck in mind frame of “having our cake and eating it too.”
How do you feel about the fact that people take so many things for granted?

An Amazing Woman

Nancy Mair’s essay “On Being a Cripple” was my favorite essay this semester. I have an aunt who has MS and I know she really struggles and how hard it is on her family. This essay reminded me a lot of my aunt because she does not let it get her down. Like Mair she has a comical, selfless character that I truly respect and admire. My favorite part of her essay is in paragraph eight when she is talking about all the bad things that have happened to her health but then she say’s “Overall, though, I’ve been lucky so far.” She’s thinking on the positive side instead of dwelling on her problems. I know if I were in her situation I would’t be as strong as her. She also says to refer to her not as handicapped but as a cripple in paragraph two. She then goes on to say in the same paragraph “Perhaps [she] want them to see [her] as a tough customer, one to whom the fates/gods/viruses have not been kind, but who can face the brutal truth of her existence squarely.” She means that even though she’s crippled because of fate, any god’s powers or any illnesses, she’s still alive and going strong. Another paragraph that stood out to me was number eleven where she’s saying all the things she can do and the way it’s worded you can tell she’s making the best and still is thankful for the gift of life. She is an amazing woman.

In Mair's essay, "On Being A Cripple", she discusses how she suffers from MS. This condition is very serious and the symptoms are harsh. However, she continues to have a positive outlook. Many people are inspired by stories such as this and say "if I ever get diagnosed with a serious disease, I'm not going to let it keep me down. I'm going keep a positive outlook on life".

However, I found it hard to believe that people who currently have a negative outlook would suddenly just change after given more bad news. Sure it would be nice for it to be that simple to always have a good attitude, but if people aren't thankful for all of the blessings that they have, then it would be a lot harder to be content with life if you have a horrible disease such as MS.

Therefore, people should try their hardest to keep a positive outlook on life no matter what life throws at them. I believe this is Mair's main purpose, to motivate and encourage. Therefore be thankful for what you have.

Oh No....More Swearing.

In Allan Ehrenhalt’s article “Maledictoratory”, He expresses how our society uses more swearing now than it did in past generations. Which I cannot help but to agree with. Swearing for most people has become part of his or her daily vocabulary. Without uses of certain words they may feel restricted of how they are suppose to act and what they are use to saying.

It is hard to avoid being around people who use profanity, because it seems as if they make a hobby of swearing. People seem to forget that not everyone wishes to hear how they want to express themselves. I am not saying that everyone who uses profanity is evil but other people may wish you would keep your “foul” language to yourself. Like last week on my way to class, some guys were using profanity and even though it was a conversation amongst themselves, I did not want to hear every bad word that came out of their mouths. Was I wrong for feeling this way? For the most part, I believe people swear in order to prove a point of; I am grown and if I chose to swear then it is my decision, so be it.

I once watched this movie on television where one of the actress made a comment about people who used profanity which I cannot help but to support her. She states “profanity is a sign of an ignorant mind trying to express itself"(Beauty Show), and I believe people who use profanity majority of the time does not see how it makes them look. In my opinion, if people took a good look at how foolish they look, than maybe they may stop swearing for good.

Without out further do, I am not saying that I have solved the problem of the use of profanity like Mussolini thought he had. In reality, it is up to the individual if they wish to cut back or even stop the use of profanity. Like Ehrenhalt states at the end of his article, “…God only knows” (par. 23).

Ungrateful Humans

When I saw the title of Nancy Mair's essay,, I was immediately drawn to it. "On Being A Cripple" is a truly empowering essay about Mair's struggle with multiple sclerosis. She deals with her "left leg now being weak" the "right side of my body is weakening", and she uses an "electric wheelchair". Reading this essay makes you realize that she is an amazing woman, with amazing strength and power. She loves herself and realizes that she is who she is, despite the "degenerative disease".

What I found most empowering throughout the entire essay was when she says, "What I hate is not me but a disease. I am not a disease." She realizes and wants her audience to also realize that, yes, she does have a disease that will eventually prove to be fatal. But she will not let it beat her, and the disease should not constitute who she is. She is Nancy Mair. Thats all she wants people to know. She does not want to be characterized by this disease.

When I finished reading this essay, it surprisingly made me very emotional. I sat at my desk and shed a couple of tears, because people do not realize the blessings and gifts that they have been so graciously been given. Human beings take advantage of the gifts they have been given every day. We complain when we do not get to eat a meal on time, when we don't get that car we wanted for our sixteenth birthday, or that iPod we so desperately wanted for Christmas. We complain about all of this, when Nancy Mair is sitting in her wheelchair, dying of multiple sclerosis, and simply happy to be alive. I personally think that we are an ungrateful people. Maybe we should put ourselves in Mair's shoes for a day. Maybe then we would understand and be grateful for what we have.

We Should Be Thankful

In Nancy Mairs essay "On Being a Cripple" she describes her life after being diagnosis with multiple sclerosis. For those who do not know "multiple sclerosis is a chronic degenerative disease of the central nervous system, in which the myelin that sheathes the nerves is somehow eaten away and scar tissue forms in its place, interrupting the nerves' signals" (par. 7). Even though Mairs is not able to do some of the things she once loved she still describe everyday as "a kind of gift" (par. 6).

After reading this essay I realized how we as Americans sometimes complain too much. We are sitting around complaining about little things and there is people like Mairs whose left leg is so weak that she has to walk with a brace and cane. "[She] no longer have much use of [her] left-hand" and her right side is starting to get weak, but she does not go around complaining all the time. She goes with her life raising two adolescences and taking care of her husband.

People waste time complaining and taking things for granted instead of being thankful of what they have and are able to do. I think that Mairs is a remarkable woman for not letting her disease get the best of her. After reading this essay I realized just how blind we are to what the future holds for us. Mairs was not always "crippled," but an unexpected illness turned her to be. I feel that we should be thankful for what we have and are able to do and need to stop complaining about every little thing that goes wrong in our life.

After reading about the things that Nancy Mairs go through with her illness and how she copes with it, how do you feel when people complain about little things?

Being Politically Correct Is Not Always Good

First, I would like to start off and say how much Nancy Mairs essay touched me. It really amazes me how people can take an illness such as Multiple Sclerosis and have the attitude that she has about it.

My favorite part about Mairs essay is when she talks about how she does not really like the other words that are associated with being crippled. She states that the word “cripple seems to [be] a clean word, straightforward and precise” (par. 3). I have always wondered how people who have a physical disability feel about the certain words that are used to describe them and after reading Maris essay it really made me think. Why has society coined these “politically correct” words? Is it to make the people, who those specific words affect, feel less bad about themselves? I have never met a “handicapped” person who actually liked being called handicapped. One of my friends who has a disability actually hates the word. She told me once that “just because I can not walk doesn’t make me any different than you.”

I can understand where the whole politically correct idea comes from. I think that it really stems from the idea that no one wants to offend anyone because everyone wants to avoid arguments, but why? I sometimes feel that using the so called “politically correct” term causes more damage than the word it is supposed to cover up. Maris actually gives a good example of this in her essay. In paragraph three where she talks about how the idea of political correctness “transformed countries from “undeveloped” to “under-developed,” then to “less developed,” and finally to “developing” nations.” This really makes sense to me, because even though people are trying to change the name of the situation it really has no effect. Like Maris said, “[The] people have continued to starve during the shift” (Par. 3). So why do people think that using the word “handicapped” or “differently abled” makes the person they are talking about free of their affliction.

So like I said before, why “beat around the bush” with how we use our words? I know this idea of being politically correct is not the main idea of Maris essay, but that is what really stuck out to me. Why should people like Maris be treated like children about their disability? Why do we have to sugar-coat everything we say to each other just to avoid “hurting” each others feelings? Thinking about this reminds me a little of William F. Buckley’s essay Why Don’t We Complain? Why do we have to avoid situations such as not to complaining to even the words we use?

Profanity Today

In Alan Ehrenhalt essay, “Maledictoratory”, Alan talks about swearing and how it is used on television and everyday life. In my opinion Ehrenhalt is right people now in days swear in every sentence they say and I believe that is not right.

Swearing use to be a thing that people were ashamed to use or be heard using that type of language. It use to be believed that if you cursed around your parents or elders that you were disrespectful. Now in days people swear around their parents and with their parents and I feel that is unacceptable and it is also the media and society fault.

Once upon a time you would never her curse words or any foul language on television but that is all you can hear when you cut on the television. When Ehrenhalt uses comments made in interviews by coaches and football players to show how swearing is on television. I think that was important because it shows people that young kids idolize and watch on a regular bases are being exposed to swearing. That is the sad part because younger kids look up to them and want to be like them. Kids hear them swearing and think that it is not a bad and start swearing because their favorite player does it. But I doubt that the player and coaches think about that before they swear on television.

My farther would not use profanity around my younger sister and I when we were growing up but he used it around my younger brother and he is paying for it because my brother embarrass my father every time he goes out in public because he curses out loud and thinks it is funny. I blame that on my father because he should not use profanity and especially around a child. I used that example to show how profanity is even changing how people raise their kids.

So what do you think we as Americans should do? Should we try what Mussolini tried to do and make a law banning profanity? Or should we just leave it alone and just let Americans swear as much as they want to? Let me know what you think.

I never thought about it

I have never really thought about what it must be like living with a handicap. The reason for this I suppose that I personally do not know anyone with a handicap or disease that can cause a handicap. Oh wait my AP Biology teacher in high school had multiple sclerosis. She never seemed to be troubled by it much so I never really thought about it. She sometimes mentioned that she had to take medication daily and that she was little tired on some days.

I know what multiple sclerosis is but I did not know how it affected a person’s everyday life. Reading this article really brought it home to be on how it does affect your life. MS “interrupts the nerve’s signals” (Mairs par 7). It can cause you to lose function in some of your limbs and some of your senses like your vision.

I myself do not like the word cripple it sounds so rude and mean to call someone a cripple. Handicap or disabled are better politically correct terms in my opinion. Nancy Mairs refers to herself as a cripple because I think she wants for people to really notice what she goes through and that she is able to handle it. She likes the word because “cripple seems to [her] a clean word, straightforward and precise” (Mairs par 3).

Mairs knows what the rest of her life might be like because of her disease but she is not letting it stop her from living her life. She mentions how she wants to be like a lady who she knows who also has MS but who has not let it limit her life. She mentions another lady who “took to her bed several years ago and has been there ever since” (Mairs par 24). I could never stay confined at home I would get so bored and depressed.

Mairs mentions when she first found out that she “thought about having MS almost incessantly and because of unpredictable course of the disease, [her] thoughts were always terrified” (Mairs par 26). If you were to be told you had a disease that would eventually handicap you and change your life in many ways what would you do? Would you go crazy thinking about it and only that or would you try to live your life to the fullest as long as you were able.

I Speak Therefore I Am

Upon reading Gloria Anzaldua’s essay and discussing the reading in class I began to ponder whether or not our language is part of our culture or our identity?

Gloria wrote “Wild tongues can’t be tamed, they can only be cut out.” What I think she means is that we cannot change something that makes up who we are. Simply because that quality is apart of us and will always be until we die. Sure a person can alter something that’s apart of them like their hair color but when the question of “what is your NATURAL hair color” is asked the answer is not what you dyed it, it is what you were born with. That is why I think language is part of our identity. It gives everyone in the culture a sense of who they are and where they came from.


Take the matter of people with accents, southern or northern accents it does not matter but it is how some people are recognized. Like I pointed out in class, when I first came to Greenwood and spoke with someone from the Upstate the first thing they ask me is “Your not from here are you?” or “Your from Charleston, right?” my response is always, “How’d you know?” and they say, “From your accent.” How I speak and how I pronounce things make up part of me.

What do you think is language part of our culture or identity?

Why people swear so much?

In Alan Ehrenhalt’s article “Maledictoratory, The high costs of low language” he is giving examples and wondering how nowadays people use more swearwords than they used to. I agree with him. People tend to swear a lot in today’s society. Why is that?

For most of the people swearing is an ethical question. Usually people tend to be either against it or for it. I think it depends a lot in what circumstances a child is being raised. If his or her parents cuss a lot, usually the child learns also that it is not wrong and finally starts to use bad language as well.

People who use swearwords usually use them to get their point across more powerfully. Or at least I think if one is using swearwords, he or she tends to be more masculine and have more power.

What makes people swear so much then? Do they think they need to swear to act cool towards their peers?

I was raised in a family that nobody was allowed to swear. I remember once when I was about 12 years old and I said a swearword to my mother and I regretted that long time. Swearing to me is kind of a bad thing to do. Nobody even from my relatives swear, which I now find kind of weird, because now I think that almost everybody swears.

I think people in today’s society swear a lot and that is why one can hear even as young as ten-year-old boys and girls using a bad language at the park or at the school. Isn’t that kind of shame? I really think so. We should ban swearing now and forever. What is the point of using a bad language? Does it make one more cool or popular? I don’t think so. I think that most of the time the consequences are the opposite. As usually older generations really look at people who swear downwards.

Is it Possible to Stop the Evolution of Swearing?

In his essay, entitled “Maledictoratory”, Alan Ehrenhalt discusses how swearing has become more common throughout the decades and how some words that used to be forbidden and avoided are now being used as a common part of our every-day lives.

Although I agree with the author on the sense that swearing has too common and that it is something to be concerned about, the only thing that bothered me about the essay is the fact that Ehrenhalt believes that there is no solution for the problem, and also that he doesn’t know who to blame, he just says that it happens, without giving good reasons for it.

In my opinion, a great share of the blame for the common use of such words is the media. How are people supposed to realize that swearing is bad and that some words should not be said in a formal conversation if they see examples of people doing it on TV, magazines and other forms of media everyday?

I believe that there is a solution for the problem, and that solution resides on the education given to children by their parents. I can’t say if that would work or not, but in my opinion, parents should give an example to their kids by not swearing next to them and by telling them that swearing is wrong, and also by regulating what kinds of TV shows they’ve been watching.

As I already said, I don’t know if these solutions would work, but it is better to try than to give up and only wonder what the future will be like for our children, as Ehrenhalt wonders in the end of his article.

Do you think that there is a way to end this problem or is this a fight which we already lost?

I curse, so I don't believe.

"The cheapening of profanity in modern America represents, more than anything else, the crumbling of belief. There are very few ideas left at this point that are awesome or frightening enough for us to enforce a taboo against them."

I love this quote because it really expresses a lot of thought relatively concisely. Alan Ehrenhalt, in his article "Maledictoratory, The high costs of low language," attempts an explanation as to why cursing is done so publicly in today's world.

I'm curious about what makes a word profane, so this article was actually very interesting to me. I have for a long time thought that it was only one's perception and use of a word that might make it profane. This article made me think again about that train of thought.

Ehrenhalt makes a good point when he notes that any culture needs a certain amount of taboos, if nothing else as "yardsticks by which ordinary people can measure...themselves." Like everything, society needs to see a "good and bad" angle on language. Good language is that which is used everyday in common society. Bad language is a curse word used to express extreme emotion. So why is it that that which was supposed to express extreme emotion is now casually tossed around between friends and family? Has humanity become so emotional in the last century that the casual use of words like f--- and damn is really called for?

Personally, I don't believe that for a minute. The nature of humans has always been to question and push boundaries, and I think that's all the deterioration of the modern language is. Frequent cursing used to only be seen among the "rebels" of society, those wacky kids that got tattoos and piercings in ungodly places, riding motorcycles and having a good time at life, regardless of society's taboos. These are the people that pushed boundaries and questioned what was right and wrong and traditional. They questioned society's beliefs and their own. Ehrenhalt is right when he says that casual cursing is a sign of disbelief. People today are losing faith in religion, in politics, in the general well-being of the world (and the people that inhabit it) around them.

I curse a lot, personally. For me, it’s more like a bad habit that started in 7^th grade. I think I agree so much with what Ehrenhalt writes because it explains why I started cursing freely, and I feel sure that others can connect with it as well. I wanted to push boundaries, to see how true my long-held belief was; that if I did say “damn” aloud, my mother would appear out of thin air, jump on me with a bar of soap in hand, and proceed to wash my mouth out.

Can anyone honestly say that they didn’t start cursing in a similar manner?

Language

Language is something that everyone has to learn to survive in this world. Language is used in our everyday lives. We use it to speak and communicate with others, write, and read. Language is different everywhere you go. In the south, people talk one way, but in the north, people talk another way, but both are speaking the same language. Anzaldua speaks Spanish as well as English. In her essay, she writes some sayings in Spanish, so it was hard to understand what she is saying unless the readers are able to read and understand her language. I think she did this to push people to try and learn another language. Knowing more than just one language is very useful and helpful. Language is a part of a persons identity and it's not just a skill. Sometimes using another language when told not to can get someone in trouble like at school like when Anzaldua was sent to the corner of the classroom for talking back to her teacher in Spanish even though she wasn't really saying anything wrong. Language is not just a skill because you really can not mess up a language, but if you say something wrong, it can be fixed. Language is a form of expression. People express themselves by the way they talk. People talk different depending on who they are talking. For example, the way we talk to our parents is not the same way we talk to our friends. Language is what we make it to be. People that speak a second language aside from English can sometimes be a "cultural traitor," according to Anzaldua because she was told "[she's] speaking the oppressor's language by speaking Englsh, [she's] ruining the Spanish language." She should not be called a traitor because she still speaks Spanish, but she is learning English because she needs to, to understand what is going on at her school and she really is not ruining the Spanish language.

Reading for Class on Monday

For class this Monday, you only need to read Ehrenhalt's essay "Maledictoratory"; we won't be discussing Gloria Naylor's essay.

If you'd like to look at a copy of Naylor's essay (perhaps to blog about it), come by my office and I'll get you a copy of it.

Yo this bloggizzle is of the hizzle fo shizzle my nizzle!Word!

In Adam Sternbergh essay," Got bub all up in the hizzle, yo!" he gives perfect examples on how termanology from rap lyrics have entered I our everyday conversations. Sternbergh goes on to explain why "business" like terms aren't you used in daily conversations. He says,"The difference though is that business jargon exist only to create the illusion of innovation in the absense of new ideas." I translated this is in mind as him saying that " business jargon" is used to make thing seem more important then what they are, and slang terms gives new and exciting meaning to a word that keeps an audiences attention. Even though an english professor might critique you on your use of grammar, because what is "hip", isn't always appopriate.

Sternbergh also talks about how hip-hop lyrics are to comprehend. Sternbergh discuss how rappers use words because it rhymes, but it makes no sense like,"anthrax with tampax". This is how one couls sound if they only talked in slang, only people in your age group would be able to understand what you were trying to say.
I believe the point Adam Sterbergh was trying to get across is there is a time a place to use slang, but when it comes to professional conversations slang shouldn't be present.

The Virginia Tech Tragedy

I realize that in our classes this week we haven't discussed the shootings at Virginia Tech, and I have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, at this point in the semester everyone, myself included, feels the end-of-the-year pressure to keep going, to get everything done (on time and well, we hope), and it's easy to go through these last couple weeks of the year with blinkers on, ignoring the outside world. But, on the other hand, I don't think it's right to ignore such a shocking and tragic event.

Humans need to make sense of their world, especially at times when we're faced with tragedy. If you doubt this, just consider all the commentators on TV, the radio, the Internet--everyone wants to add his or her two cents. We watch and listen and read not because anybody's saying anything really insightful or useful, but because we need to wrap our minds around what happened, and just talking about it helps us do that.

I've just read in The Chronicle of Higher Education an interesting response to all the commentary. In "The Legacy of the Texas Tower Sniper," Gary Lavergne compares the shootings this week with another incident in Texas in 1966. Then he reminds us:

It is vitally important for all to remember that there is only one person responsible for what happened in Blacksburg, and that is the man who pulled the trigger. But in Virginia the diversions have already begun. As I write this, less than a half-day since the senseless killing of nearly three dozen innocent people, Web headlines on CNN, Fox, and MSNBC read: "Did Virginia Tech's Response Cost Lives?" "Parents Demand Firing of Virginia Tech President, Police Chief Over Handling," "Students Wonder About Police Response."

[...]

Before we identify and learn the lessons of Blacksburg, we must begin with the obvious: [...] innocent people were gunned down by a murderer who is completely responsible for what happened. No one died for lack of text messages or an alarm system. They died of gunshot wounds. While we painfully learn our lessons, we must not treat each other as if we are responsible for the deaths that occurred. We must come together and be respectful and kind. This is not a time for us to torture ourselves or to seek comfort by finding someone to blame.

Perhaps Lavergne's point is provocative, but I think he's right. We need to make sense of what happened, but to do successfully that we need to stop looking for someplace to lay blame.

Discrimination: Who are the ones to blame?

In Patricia Rice’s essay, she discusses the issue of racism and discrimination on the process of most companies when hiring people, using a research made by John Baugh concerning discrimination in most companies hiring process.

In his research, Baugh proves that companies use the technique of identifying the job applicant’s race over a phone call, and that the majority of these companies won’t schedule job interviews for some races, such as African Americans or Latinos.

Personally, I disagree with Rice and Baugh when they put the blame only on the companies’ shoulders. Instead of what most people think, these companies aren’t taking it personal when they don’t want to hire some groups, instead, they are strictly thinking about what is best for their business.

Employers are not refusing to hire Latinos and African Americans simply because they “ don’t like them”. Let’s analyze the case of Latinos, for example: Central and South America are composed mainly by poor countries with corrupt politicians who provide no conditions for the population to have access to a good education. On the other hand, education is much more valorized in countries such as Germany, for example. As much as I hate to admit it, if I was the employer in question, I would certainly pay more attention to a person with a German accent than to another person with a Latino one. And I am from South America.

Everyone knows that business isn’t and will never be personal and that time is a big issue when hiring new employees, so we may just have to accept the fact that, unfortunately, some groups have to work harder than others. It is a sad situation, and it would certainly be ideal if differences didn’t exist, but they do, so the only thing that can be done is work our best to overcome them, instead of just complaining.

Do you think that the discrimination in the world is really made by the world of business or that maybe it is made by the world of politics and bad administration by some politicians?

Time and Place for Formal and Informal Language

In Adam Sternbergh essay, he discussed the use of slang by rap artists and he compares it to "business jargon." He describes the words in his essay to be fun and exciting. I think that the use of slang is formal whenever your around people who you feel comfortable and speak the same way as well. Sternburg uses rap artist 50 cent phrase "bub", he says that 50 cent didn't came up with the word but he popularized it.

Many young kids are listening to rap music at an early age. When kids listen to all the slang that is used in the songs they pick up on the words and start using them as well. So, when they go to school the teachers may have a problem because the kid don't know how to speak English language very formal. Young teens are becoming addicted to the use of slang that whenever their talking they really don't seem to realize that their talking informally. There is always a time and place to present yourself formally and informally. Also, Sternbergn stated that a group of young teens were shouting in a store, "Wal-Mart's got all the sick DVDs, yo!" Now this kind of act by a group of young teens is very informal and they shouldn't be talking like that unless their among a group of teens who speak just like them.

Sternbergn wrote that slang is becoming useful. He stated that nearly 15 years ago, Chuck D of Public Enemy used the slang term "dis" for disrespect in a phrase. CNN is now encouraging the use of "dis" in broadcasting. The term "dis" have now been included in the Oxford English Dictionary clearly filling a cultural void.

He later says that some rappers cant really rap. He says that they can't rhyme and they suck. He uses P. Diddy rap, " Now bump that, I pump that/Girl bring it to me, bump that", he says that he doesnt realize that he's using the same words repeatedly and has no rhyme.

Which is Better: Formal or Informal Language?

In Adam Sternbergh’s essay, he discusses current slang used by rappers and how it is better than “business jargon”. Sternbergh actually approves of new slang words and describes them as being interesting and fun. He believes that it is okay to use these new words as long as they are innovative and creative.

However, there is a greater question at stake than simply is rappers’ slang better than businessmen’s slang. The greater question is which is better for the English language—informal or formal language?

People such as Sternbergh like informal language because it is creative and innovative. Others would say that language’s purpose is to express one’s self, and informal language is more expressive; therefore, informal should be acceptable. Some are also more partial towards informal language because of the freedom and lack of restrictions that come with it.

However, others would say that formal language is much better. Some would argue that there is just too much history and tradition in the English language to simply throw it out the window. I personally like learning the formal English language and using it. It is the “proper” way to speak. Furthermore, if informal language was acceptable, then the language would be even harder to learn.

If informal language is acceptable, then our society is basically saying that rules don’t matter and neither does all of the progress former generations have made before us. However, some could still argue that without change, there can be no progress.

What do you think?

Sounding like Gibberish

In Adam Sternbergh’s essay “Got bub all up in the hizzle, yo!” His main idea for the essay was that rap actually does a lot for the English language by making it exciting and innovating. I think that rap is not all that he makes it out to be. The groups of people that listen to rap are teenagers and young adults. Today many of these teenagers and young adults have young kids that listen to the same thing. So what impression is this making on the younger generation about our language? As a child it could be very confusing to learn English one way in school and then go home and have English presented another way. A lot of kid’s don’t know how to distinguish between what’s right and wrong. So how do they know what English is correct?

Sternbergh talked about in his essay the famous song by 50 Cent where the chorus said, “You’ll find me in da club/ Bottle full of bub/ Mommy, I got the X/ if you into taking drugs.” Not only does this song have horrible grammar, it has a horrible message. If I were a parent I would not want my young child listening to the music. These lyrics if they were made into a movie, the movie would be rated at least PG-13. Yet this is being broadcasted all over public radio and public television.

The music that our parents listened and still listen to had and have morals and lessons in them. They were happy and talked about PG things. They motivated people and gave a positive outlook on life like U2’s song “Beautiful Day” from the album All That You Cant Leave Behind he says, “It’s a beautiful day, don’t let it get away.” This is the kind of stuff that I would want my young children to listen to. The song has good grammar and it is very positive. Its feel good music and you don’t loose brain cells listening to it.

Every time I hear rap I feel as if I am loosing brain cells because not only is what most rappers sing about ridiculous, the grammar is horrible. Sternbergh states that “You’ll find very few arguments however, praising rap music for keeping the language alive.” I think it is making the language less innovating. If this is the kind of music that sells and people insist on listening to and defending, soon we will all sound like we’re speaking gibberish.

Racsim is still alive

Can you believe that certain companies discriminate over the phone? Companies discriminate due to the sound of your voice. If you sound African-American or Mexican-American some housing agencies and job employers won’t call you back or tell you that the house or job isn't open any more.

That's ridiculous that we as Americans still battle racism. Last week the MLB honored a great player in Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier for Major League Baseball. He was honored by over 200 players from the league wearing his number. That shows us that we are getting better but there is still racism out there. Like the telephone incidents that Rice describes in her article. The tests that Baugh runs show that racism is out there. I amazes me to know that Baugh being a doctor in education and has a lot more credentials cant get a house just because his English is a little different.

Baugh said he cant speak in different types of english he can speak standard english which is just like white people. When he called them and talked in his standard english they called back and when he talked in his regular voice they didnt. Baugh also states that it was comical to see the housing agents when they finally saw him after they thought he was white.

Todays society needs to learn how to treat everyone with the same amount of respect. The world will be a happier place if everyone would get along. If everyone would just love everyone would we go to war, would people get mugged and would people get murdered just for a couple of dollars. If the world would learn to love each other no one would ever be in pain.

I'm Thankful

In Frederick Douglass's "Learning to Read and Write", he tells his story of how he came to be an educated person. It was a long and hard struggle for him. His mistress went from being "kind and tender-hearted" to her "tiger-like fierceness". She realized that slaves were not supposed to be treated like "regular human beings" so she decided to begin to treat him like a slave. He attempted to try to read and write on his own, and in the end, he came out victorious.

Going back to my childhood, I do not remember a time when I was not reading or writing. The school I grew up in thought it very important to teach that to us students at a very young age. I can't imagine not being able to be allowed to read or write, let alone not have a teacher to help me out. I consider it a proveledge in the United States to have all of the opportunities that we have out there for us.

I have been in classrooms when the children moan and groan when they hear their teacher tell them that they have a story to read for homework, or an essay to write in class. I truly believe that these children do not understand the hate and adversity people like Frederick Douglass had to go through to get us to the point we're at today. Were it not for him and so many other people, we may not even have the privelege to read and write freely today. Because of this, I truly am thankful.

Thirst to Learn or Not

Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X both grew up a situation is which it was hard to learn to read and write. Douglass was a slave and Malcolm X was imprisoned when he was twenty. Douglass learned to read and write by copying directions from a local shipyard and competing against other friends to see what they knew. He used these competitions to further his education. Malcolm X began to read and write by copying words from a dictionary at the prison. After learning so many words he began to read other works that were available to him, including black history, which he had a “thirst” for.

Now on the other hand, other students were forced to attend school. I was able to learn to read and write in school. The government makes kids go to school until they are seventeen and by that time most students are in the eleventh grade with only one grade left. I think nowadays kids take this for granted. What would it be like if you were not able to read or write? Would there be a void? Would you have the need to fill the void?

In my opinion, there would be the need to learn to read and write. I would feel like I was being left behind in life. And I would not be able to keep up with society. I would not be able to read if I wanted to talk to friends from a different state unless it was on the phone.
What would you do in the situation? Would you have to fill the void or would it matter to you?