November 24

I read the first sample essay. I thought that the presentation of the ideas were in a good order. By the end of the essay, I was agreeing that the hosts should be getting part of the servers’ tips. The examples of other people getting part of the waiters’ tips also helped persuade me into feeling that the hosts should get more money. The description of what a host actually does helped because I had no idea that they did so many things to help the restaurant and the servers.

The calculation of money was probably the most effective part of the article. When the author suggested that 1% of the tips should go to the host, I thought that seemed like a lot of money, but once the calculations were made I was able to see that it didn’t make that much difference for the servers. What it really did was help the hosts out a lot. The difference in overall amount of money that a server got versus the host was amazing. The entire article grabbed my attention and persuaded me very quickly, so I would say that the article was very effective. 

November 18

C.P. Ellis’s story does give a credible example of overcoming hatreds. The fact that he was a Klansman, a very severe group of people, and then changed his views is extraordinary. It seems like an example that people should follow because it was a slow process but eventually he realized that he was wrong and was able to shift his views. I do think that exposing people to other ideas like Ellis did would help people change their views on different topics. It would be possible to do it on a large scale because once one person starts to change their views, it can be contagious and people would start discussing the issues. That would lead to either more people changing their beliefs or at least having a better understanding of them. The idea that information and people could slowly influence other people would definitely help people change their views. 

November 17

Yoshino means that there is not really mainstream, it is the belief of people that someone can have the ability to be mainstream or normal. It is more of a belief now than it used to be. His reasoning is very persuasive because of his definition for mainstream. He says, “because human beings hold many identities the mainstream is shifting coalition, and none of us are entirely within it” (Yoshino, 605). This definition is very easy to put with his reasoning because it shows that there is not a true mainstream, because everyone is different, making the idea of it being a myth correct. His argument is also persuasive in the fact that he says that no one is normal, making it hard to have mainstream when there is not an example to follow off of. I would describe mainstream as something that encompasses the general public. It can’t include everyone, so I would describe it as the most common of traits or characteristics in a population. 

November 13

The life that Linda had wanted in the North was not the same one that she ended up having. She encountered many problems one of them being racism and having to run from the people that owned her in the South. Linda finally gets her freedom when Mrs. Bruce bargains with Mr. Dodge to buy Linda and allow her children to be free. Mrs. Bruce pays three hundred dollars for her, but gives Linda her freedom. Linda is happy to be free, but she doesn’t feel it was right that someone had to pay for her freedom. Mr. Dodge didn’t technically own her; Mrs. Dodge did, so the money really shouldn’t have been given to him. Linda also did not fully agree with it because she didn’t think that people should be bought since it was treating them like animals even if it did give her freedom. 

November 10

The passage that I picked described how Dr. Flint beat Linda when he found out that she was pregnant with Ellen. The description of Linda’s hair being cut off was hard to read. The way the author describes her hair, it seems that it is one thing in her life that she likes, and the way that Dr. Flint just walks in and cuts it off made it seem like he was cutting off a part of her. The author also refers back to abuse in the past, the look back in time shows that the physical abuse is not something new, so it causes the reader to feel even worse about the situation. The quote from the doctor saying that he will not hurt Linda again is also an appeal to emotions because I want to believe it so badly, but from her past experience I know that it will continue to happen. The author makes the abuse seem so real that the reader can only begin to imagine the pain that Linda was going through. 

November 6

The reason for using truth in the book is to make it heavy and make the reader feel the emotions that the author had. It would be harder to take the book seriously if I knew that everything that was happening was made up. The fact that these are true stories shows all the terrible things that she went through and makes me as the reader get a true idea of what she went through. It is important that the language is not clear because it shows that slaves did not get an education and lacked many of the things that we take for granted. The content adds to the idea of truth, if the information was not given exactly how it happened, it wouldn’t have the impact on the reader that it does. The fact that she went through these terrible things shouldn’t be hidden because otherwise, we will never know the pain she was put through as a slave. 

November 4

I watched the presidential elections on CNN from about 8 to 12:30. I remember parts of the elections from 2004, but it was nowhere near as exciting or as interesting to me as yesterday’s election. It was very interesting to hear what CNN was saying and then flip to another channel to compare what the other channel was saying. Since CNN is usually more Democratic than other stations, they always had Obama winning more electoral votes. It was interesting that the stations would project who got each state and although it wasn’t official the candidates spoke after the projected winner was announced. It seemed weird to me that they were able to celebrate their victory or mourn their defeat before it was officially announced.  Many of the projections were made with only a few percent of the precincts, which seemed that the results wouldn’t be accurate but in the end, the projections were correct. It was amazing to watch Obama’s speech and know that it was a major turning point in our history.  

November 3

One confrontation about race I have seen many times is one that happens while standing in the security line at the airport. Every time I go through the line, I see people that look Middle Eastern being searched and wanded down more than every other white person in the line. The Middle Easterner never puts up a fight or says anything but they know why they are being searched instead of someone else. I am sure that the experience was frustrating for the person, but it was also frustrating to me because I felt that if they were going to search one person they should search everyone. I am not sure if I understand this experience any differently. I see where the book is coming from, but I also see it as inconvenience for the person. 

October 31

According to Vincent Parrillo, the socialization process is the process where a child picks up the beliefs and ideas of their parents. He says that since they are our parents, we accept their idea without realizing it and it changes the way we act in our adult lives. I agree that beliefs are formed this way. It is very obvious in some cases where the children believe the exact same thing as their parents even if they don’t think it’s because of their parents. A great example of this is with politics, every child when they are little “supports” the same candidate as their parents because they don’t know any differently. There are beliefs that I have gotten from my parents because of this process. Religion would be a very strong example of where my parents directly influenced my ideas without me noticing, until I was old enough, to realize I believed the same things as them.