"This Land is Your Land" by Woodie Guthrie

1. Guthrie's message is collectivist. The song talks about the land, which is America, being everyone's land. The song repeats "This land was made for you and me". This means that the land should be shared and that everyone should live together in it as one body and not as individual and separate people. Collectivists share the same views of sharing and togetherness, which is why Woodie's Guthrie's message is collectivist.
2. I find this song to be anti-government. The song says, "Nobody living can ever stop me, As I go walking that freedom highway." From this I can assume that he is talking about anything that could hold him down and possibly take away his freedom, which government could. He wants nothing to stop him from living free with everyone in this land, which is why I think the song is anti-government.

"The Egg" questions

1. The narrator's father was a cheerful and kindly man before he was married. After they married, he became very ambitious and he had a passion for getting up in the world. He also became more and more discouraged with who he was.
2. The narrator feels bad and pities chickens. He views them as helpless and abused creatures. He uses words like "hideously", "naked", and "diseases" to describe the chickens.
3. The narrator claims to have had trouble being happy for many reasons. He talks about how, as a child, his mother and father struggled to make a chicken farm, so they decided to move to Ohio and make a restaurant. We are to suppose that he does not want to be optimistic.
4. The role that the father's collection of "grotesques" plays in the story is to be a symbol of his family problems. All of the chickens that he collects have some sort of mutation or defect, which shows a connection to his life with his family growing up. He had a bad childhood and his family struggled to be successful, which is how it is connected to his collection of "grotesques".

American Friendships

There are many reasons why Americans would be perceived as not having growing friendships by people outside of the country. One reason is that Americans highly value individuality and independence. We like to do things on our own so that we can feel accomplished and proud of ourselves. Also, unlike people in other countries, we don't like to reach out to our friends for help. Doing this in other places around the world is a sign that you are friends and that you want them to help you, but in America, we don't want to bother our friends and make them do work.

1984 Reading Journal #2

In my opinion, Winston is having a difficult time buying in to what Big Brother and the State are selling because he has memories of his family. Big Brother and the State are trying to force people to believe that things occurred in history that did not, which Winston has a hard time believing due to the memories of his family. He vaguely recalls things in the past and he remembers enough to know that what Big Brother and the State are selling is not right. I think that his small acts of defiance are somewhat a form of protest, but Winston is not protesting intentionally. I think that he is doing the things that he does for personal satisfaction and to know that he is not conforming to what everyone else is, but by doing it in private, I don't think that he is protesting. When people protest, they want to spread a message to get their point across, which Winston is not doing. Winston's protests are very different from current protests like the Occupy Wall Street protests. Today, we have the right to speak our minds and say what we want to say, so protesting is a common thing. In 1984, simple things such as making negative comments about the Party would get someone "vaporized". Because of this, Winston does not openly protest the Party, so it is very different from current protests.

Collectivists vs. Individualists

1. In a collectivist culture, some personality traits that are considered ideal are loyalty, family, and unity. For individualists, they are individuality, confidence, and hardworking.
2. This is a collectivist society because they are valuing family and if one person is different, they want them to be the same.
2. Conflict: If a collectivist teacher went to teach in an individualist school, they might want the students to do a lot of group work, which the students would not like and a conflict would be created. This would be an external conflict. The clash of values would be individualist and collectivist.
3. An acquaintance is someone you know a little, or you have met, but you don't know them very well. This has a positive connotation.

2+2=5 by Radiohead

1. Lyrically, the song is talking about someone not paying attention to what is happening in their lives, like in 1984. The people were not really paying attention to what the Party was doing, and soon their society was very different. By "2+2=5" they are showing that even that 2+2 really doesn't equal 5, someone would believe that if they weren't paying attention. This applies to 1984 as well.
2. The music is very strong and forceful when it repeats the words "paying attention". The message of the song is to get across the fact that they need to pay attention, which is conveyed through this loud, demanding music.
3. "2+2=5" is an allusion to 1984 because, like I said before, the people in 1984 were not paying attention to the Party and the things that they were doing. The party could make them believe whatever they wanted, even if it wasn't true. They could make them believe that 2+2=5, even though it doesn't.

Islam, Globalization, and Gender

1. The conflict is about the head scarf. This conflict is external.
2. Globalization can create conflict because it is not spread throughout and one-sided. Globalization can happen in a way that everyone does not like, which can cause people to argue and have conflict.
3. The benefit that she talks about is that there are role models of what it really means to be a woman.
4. Source 1: Qur'an
    Source 2: Constitution

1984 Reading Journal #1

In the book 1984, the people that are in charge of the government, who, in reality, are in charge of everyone living in this "utopia", have done many major things to create a society in which everyone does what they want them to do. Led by Big Brother, the Party monitors everything that everyone does, whether it's having a simple conversation or eating lunch, through the monitors and the Thought Police. The people have been taught that the Party is right, always has been right, and always will be right. If someone disagreed with this, they would easily get rid of them in the middle of the night by some means, and they would never be seen again. This is how they created "equality". The equal people were the ones that obeyed the laws and regulations that they were given, and whoever broke these were the "unequal" people and, as I said before, they were dealt with. To be more specific, in the story, everyone was supposed to call each other "comrade" instead of "friend" or something of that sort, so that everyone is treated equally. To reduce conflict dealing with religion, relationships, and individual rights, the Party has erased anything in the past that they do not want their people to know, and even altered it to make it seem like the Party is better than it really is. They use methods like doublethink to confuse the people and make them think exactly what they want them to think, even if it isn't true. The Party has created "hapiness" of the people by making everything seem perfect. The government has special workers, like Winston, who work for a living on altering the media so that everything that Big Brother does or says seems correct. If the people think they are living in a perfect society, they will be happy and not question it. Through these methods and the things that the Party does to get into the minds of the people and make them believe whatever they want them to believe, I think that the society in 1984 is definitely a distopia.

Utopia

1. A utopia is an imaginary world where everything is perfect. A utopia is someone's dream world that they create in which life is exactly how they want it to be. Ex. The Giver.
2. In my ideal world, everyone would be nice to each other and get along. The weather would always be like it is in fall. Everyone would worship God together and share their faith. It would be a very peaceful and relaxing world where everyone would be perfect.
3. The soundtrack of my utopia would consist of a lot of peaceful, relaxing music. There would be a lot of music like Mumford and Sons and Christian music.

Chuck Baird

1. Claim: The artist values the human body and the things we can use to express ourselves.
2. Culture: African American.
3: Claim about culture: The artist is proud of the African American culture and likes to express that.

You Were Right

1. Inferential claim: The writer of the song is depressed. I can infer this through the negative lyrics, such as "You were wrong when you said everything's gonna be alright." Lines like this make me assume that he is a negative person, and possibly depressed.
2. Analytical statement: The guitar part in the song ruins the song. I say this because the music that the guitar is making seems to be unorganized and random, which takes away from the song for me.
3. Evaluative statement: The song has a negative effect on listeners. I say this because the lyrics were negative and created a sullen mood and the music was unorganized and did not seem to fit the song.

Young Life

3 Claims:
   1. The artist wanted to show the bond between couples and parents.
   2. The artist wanted to show the pride that men had in the painting.
   3. The little boy in independent.
3 Supports:
   1. The woman is shown standing very close and hugging the man in the picture.
   2. The man is shown standing in front of his kill, the deer, and holding his gun in front of him like he is very proud and showing off what he did.
   3. The artist drew the boy standing away from the older couple with his own kind of weapon, even though it is just a stick.

Paragraph:
In the painting "Young Life", the artist is intending to show that the  young boy is an independent individual. Bo Bartlett uses the placement of the boy and the use of other objects to show this independence. The young  boy is standing a small distance away from the attached couple, which makes him look on his own and not relying on anyone but himself. Also, the boy is shown holding a big stick in his hand. This shows that even though he does not have a real gun, he has something that he can use to protect himself when he is alone. Independence means that one has to protect and take care of oneself without relying on others, which is what the boy is shown doing in this painting.

Shame

1. I think the subject of the song is shame. The tone of the song is begging and regretful.
2. One word that pushes the tone is "undo". He uses undo to show how he regrets doing something and that he wants a chance to to do it over. Another word is "please". He uses please to show how he is asking and possibly begging for what he wants, which is for the shame to be lifted off of him. The third word that pushes the tone is "helping". He uses the word helping to show how he is begging for someone to help him lift the shame off of himself.