As i’ve read through the work of James Baldwin in “Sonny’s Blues” I came to the conclusion that we can all be set in the same body of water but its actually up to us to teach ourselves how to swim. I also came under the impression that you could be the best swimmer of the lot but still fall prey to the dangers of the sea. This idea came into my head after reading something that the protagonists mother says when talking to him about his brother, where she states.” It ain’t a question of his being a good boy”…. “nor of his having good sense.” What this says to me is that his mother already has a good idea of the fact that in life things can happen to even the best of us. Branching off of that idea, I had come to make the connection that the best of us can fall prey to what is known as the “darkness”. This darkness clouds one’s judgement and leads them on a decline. This can be seen where the protagonist is speaking with a friend of his brothers, where he states, “they’ll let him out. And then he’ll just start working his way back again. You mean he’ll never kick the habit. Is that what you mean?” This idea is one even seen in shows demographically aimed for children. This idea of one being lead or leading themselves on a constant decline. The tragedy of this however is the fact that when compared to reality it can seem all the much better since in the show there can be an element of saving the person on the decline where in real life or reality, that’s not always the case for some.
Author: Xavier Diaz
Unit 2: Final Draft “Guido”
During the years of 2009 – 2012, if you were a person who watched a lot of tv and was a fan of reality tv and was fond of MTV then you probably at least once came to hear of a show called “Jersey Shore”. The show had brought viewers a different look on the face of reality tv. Even though the show wasn’t popular at first it would come to take the world by storm. The premise of the show being 7 random people coming to be roomates in a rented shore house where they would drink, party, tan, and have a grand old time for the price of working at a shore store. This would go on for every summer from 2009 up until 2012 and each season bringing something new to the table, whether it be a new place like italy or miami, to all new cast members and new drama. Although hearing mention of the show around the time it came out to the public, I wasn’t really into the genre of reality tv and all the drama considering I was only nine years old. However, I came around to watching all 6 season of the show 6 years later from the time it stopped airing. What I had found to get to that point however was literally me watching a few episodes of the sequel to the franchise, dubbed “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.”
The reason I bring this up is because, those said 7 roommates were not picked as randomly as it may have seemed. If they had something in common it was the fact that they were all italian or of italian descent. First off, we should ask ourselves as to why this is important, or at least in my case. For one, there goes a term for describing the types of personalities and conflicting characters that each of the cast members possess. The term of course being “guido” or “guidette”. The funny thing about this word is that I had only come to hear it during my watching of the show. They would use the term to describe themselves almost as if in a nutshell, but one question that remained for me were of the origins of the word.
Considering I had previously known nothing about the word, the only thing that was left for me to do was to perform some research on the word. I had come to learn that it was a term used mainly for people of italian descent. Through the show I had come to learn that these “guidos” are known for their 3 step daily routines; Gym, Tanning and Laundry. This was apparent due to it being the only 3 main things that all the guys in the show would do other than clubbing. Upon doing research on the word, I found no articles relating to the word when searching for databases on the word. When searching on websites on the internet I found varying details like the origin of the word being from Saturday Night Live television comic Guido Calabresi’s name or how it originated in Italy. However, these websites of course weren’t exactly reliable considering they home to blog posts or they were wikipedias. So no concrete answers for the origin of the word. The word obviously has made itself a name in the Italian community is something I can say though. Although I am not of Italian or of Italian descent, I can definitely see myself living by some of the habits that one partakes in being a guido. One of those being 2 of the tasks that the guidos of Jersey shore live by. Gym and laundry, although laundry seeming to be one of those things that are really supposed to come naturally. Of course I can’t talk about guido like routines without really discussing upon what a guido is.
So obviously now it’s time for us to discuss what exactly a guido is. A guido or as urban dictionary would put it, is a “A sad pathetic excuse for a male; not necessarily of Italian descent, but most likely; usually native to the New York/New Jersey Tri-State Area”. Other notable qualities of a guido is a guy who spends more time on his hair than his girlfriend, goes out clubbing, or spends a lot of time in the gym. It all basically comes down to someone who overly conducts themselves in a macho manner. That to me was a mild form of the word, for I thought of it as being a douchebag, in which I was somewhat wrong. The treatment people get from these “guidos” can vary whether we’re talking about in the case of relationships or even in friendships. Altogether I was wrong in thinking that however for being a guido isn’t really in the treatment of a person but rather the way you conduct yourself. Something funny that came with learning the term was that I never acknowledged guidos as being their own category when I filter people, but now that I know what they are and what they look like I can pinpoint a guido when I see one. One thing I was able to see was a guidette, but I never knew there was a term for it too.
To summarize, I stumbled upon a show called Jersey Shore in which 7 roomates would bring so much drama and entertainment, overall taking MTV and bringing a new name to reality TV. This would go on for the summers of 2009 – 2012 and viewers would grow to know and love cast members Pauly Delvecchio or “Pauly D”, Deena Cortese, Nicole Polizzi or “Snooki”, Jenni Farley or “JWoww”, Mike Sorrentino or “The Situation”, Ronnie Ortiz Magro, Vinny Guadanino, Samantha Giancola or “Sammi Sweetheart”, and finally, the most despised Angelina Pivarnick. It would be because of this said show that I would come to also stumble upon the term. It can also be noted that due to the popularity and success of this show, other branches like Geordie Shore, Floribama Shore, and Acapulco Shore that take place in other places in the world have also appeared as an option on the screens of reality tv viewers. So until watching the show, I had known nothing previously about the term having never heard it in the first place. After doing my research I would come to learn about a lot of things surrounding the word, however, nothing concrete considering the information was found on websites that were nothing short of being unreliable. All in all though one thing that I know that was concrete was the love for reality tv that I was left with after completing all 6 seasons of the show. For it provided me with all of the drama and relatability that I so craved.
Unit 2 Draft
During the years of 2009 – 2012, if you were a person who watched a lot of tv and was a fan of reality tv you were probably aware of a show called “Jersey Shore”.  If you hadn’t seen it then you probably heard mention of the show considering that it had recently surfaced. Viewers are first introduced to 7 randoms that will come to know each other first as roommates then eventually as family. This would span for every summer for 3 years. Although hearing mention of the show around the time it came out to the public, I wasn’t really into the genre of reality tv and all the drama considering I was only nine years old. However, I came around to watching all 6 season of the show 6 years later from the time it stopped airing. What I had found to get to that point however was literally me watching a few episodes of the sequel to the franchise, dubbed “Jersey Shore: Family Vacation.”
The reason I bring this up is because, those said 7 roommates were not picked as randomly as it may have seemed. If they had something in common it was the fact that they were all italian or of italian descent. First off, we should ask ourselves as to why this is important, or at least in my case. For one, there goes a term for describing the types of personalities and conflicting characters that each cast member possesses. The term being “guido” or “guidette”. What’s funny about this word is that I had only come to hear it after watching the show.
Considering I had previously known nothing about the word, the only thing that was left for me to do was do some research on the word. I had come to learn that it was a term used mainly for people of italian descent. Through the show I had come to learn that these “guidos” are known for their 3 step daily routines; Gym, Tanning and Laundry. This was apparent due to it being the only 3 main things that all the guys in the show would do other than clubbing. Upon doing research on the word, I found no articles relating to the word when searching for databases on the word. When searching on websites on the internet I found varying details like the origin of the word being from Saturday Night Live television comic Guido Calabresi’s name or how it originated in Italy. However, these websites of course weren’t exactly reliable considering they home to blog posts or they were wikipedias. So no concrete answers for the origin of the word. The word obviously has made itself a name in the Italian community is something I can say though.
So obviously now it’s time for us to discuss what exactly a guido is or as urban dictionary would put it, “A sad pathetic excuse for a male; not necessarily of Italian descent, but most likely; usually native to the New York/New Jersey Tri-State Area”. Other notable qualities of a guido is a guy who spends more time on his hair than his girlfriend, goes out clubbing , or spends a lot of time in the gym. It basically comes down to someone who overly conducts themselves in a macho manner.
In conclusion I came to know the word through the sequel of a television show that aired from 2009 – 2012 named “Jersey Shore”. I had known nothing previously about the term having never heard it in the first place. I came to learn lots of things about the word, although nothing concrete considering it was on websites that were short of being reliable. All in all though I came to appreciate this show and reality tv a lot more considering it gave me a word that I never would have imagined talking about.
Unit 2: word
Tato: Alright; Ok
“The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao”
While reading, “The Brief Wondrous life of Oscar Wao” I found myself very engaged being that the author, like I, was Dominican. Along with the fact that I was encountering a word that I had never before heard. I didn’t really find myself distracted with this one, since it had a numerous counts of humor in it with the occasional counts of spanglish in it, that made it overall easy to read. I hadn’t really found anything difficult, other than trying to wrap my head around the idea that some superstitious being was the cause of the misfortunate deaths and curses of many. In the text Diaz states, “that whoever killed Trujillo, their family would suffer a fuku so dreadful it would make the one that attached itself to the Admiral jojote in comparison.” Diaz continues on explaining that nobody but the “fuku” was the cause of none other than Kennedy’s death being that he had green-lighted the assassination of Trujillo, which in turn caused this so called “fuku” to unleash its wrath upon him. I found the text to be most disturbing at certain points like the one where Diaz kind of directs his attention to the skeptists and non-believers, where he states, “It’s perfectly fine if you don’t believe in these “superstitions.” In fact, it’s better than fine–it’s perfect. Because no matter what you believe, fuku believes in you.” With this line alone I found myself in a combustion of feelings, like those of confusion, worry, and dread.
Soapstone
Speaker: A married African American male named Ta-Nehisi Coates, who understands his place in regards to respect for his varying relationships with friends and family. This can be seen with his relationship with his father, being that he’s never called him anything other than “Dad” despite others addressing him differently. It can also be noted that Coates has 6 siblings, and friends of different demographics and races.
Occasion: Multiple cases of people of different demographics using the “n” word that have brought up debates upon the issue. The occasion here being him stating his stance and opinions on the issue. This being urgent due to it having been in discussion for such a long time, and the topics background coming from an unforgettable period in history that has been talked about everywhere for centuries.
Audience: The article of course would be intended for reader’s who identify as African American & those who identify as caucasian. We are led to believe this being that he goes so far as to mention the races of the people in his examples. Those races being African American and Caucasian.
Purpose: To inform readers on the reasons why his stance, being that African Americans should be the only people who should be allowed to call eachother the “n” word, should be taken into account. One of them being that it’s much like how women sometimes will call eachother “bitch”, yet that if a male were to partake in this, depending on the relationship between the parties, it would be received with much disdain and scorn.
Tone:Â The piece has very very light tones of underlying humor when comparisons are made, yet can also be seen to be taken very seriously anytime discussion about who gets to use the word, or the meaning behind the “n” word comes up. This can be seen through his use of diction and word choice. He uses strong words when talking about the use of the word.
Gatto Essay Draft
Most of us probably grew up knowing the struggles of waking up early in the morning to go through our same routines day by day for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week, 10 months a year, for 12 years. This system is known as K-12 or compulsory education/school. In his article “Against School,” John Taylor Gatto argues that the American schooling system is designed to have people grow into mindless, unindependent, and submissive consumers, which to an extent I agree.  He first begins talking about boredom and how students when asked are always claiming that they are “bored”. Somewhere further in the article, his claim on people becoming mindless, submissive consumers can be found stated in the article. Whether this is true or not can be found to be debatable.
In his article he begins with the topic of boredom which is something that I can vouch for when talking about the school system considering all the times that I found myself impulsive and distracted frequently. Gatto being a teacher of 34 years has always occasionally asked his students on why they were “bored” where they replied, “They said the work was stupid, that it made no sense, that they already knew it. They said they wanted to be doing something real, not just sitting around.” In other words, the students willing to put up with the pointless work that they do but still make it clear that they are most aware to the fact that they could be doing something that would make them feel productive. Being that I am one who has partaken and had experience in the k-12 system, like the students I can agree with my disdain for spending so much time learning things that I know will not help prepare me for the future.
Advancing further in the text leads you to where Gatto starts elaborating on the idea that the school system have similar pre-designed experiences for every enrolled student, in which the outcome of their journey will have them be mindless, unindependent consumers. My experience however isn’t all as Gatto makes it out to be where in his article he makes the claim that, “We have become a nation of children, happy to surrender our judgements and our wills to political exhortations and commercial blandishment that would insult actual adults.” What this essentially means is that Gatto believes that we are a nation grown on children who are willing to leave out the credibility on everything that deems questionable and are also willing to submissively take on political orders upon receiving them. I can not agree with this completely being that I am one who has seen a considerable amount of skepticism on the internet that poke holes in the credibility in nearly everything, and moreover that I can not simply come to agree that I have shared an experience such as the one depicted by Gatto.
In conclusion, most of the ideas that are brought up, along with the claims that Gatto makes are heavily supported in his article with different forms of evidence and texts, however the idea of making claims based on the outcomes of what people’s experience are to be is completely different being that it can go one of two ways. It can either support his claims or hurt them, due to the fact that one is most likely not going to agree with the idea that they are unindependent, mindless and submissive. Overall, perspective plays a huge role in the credibility of claims made like that of Gatto, due to the topic actually being based on the experiences of people which can yes, be similar but are overall going to differ from person to person.
Gatto (Reread)
Steps I decided to take when reading included: 1) If I needed a break, I would take one 2) If I didn’t understand something, I would have reread it slowly. 3) If I found words that I didn’t understand, I would simply use the internet to define them. 4) If Gatto was repeating the same idea but just phrasing it differently, that I could take note of the differences between each of them. 5) Finally, I would listen to music as I worked.
So the first time I read Gatto’s “Against School” I found myself initially getting lazily by through the read, although finding it to be a pretty interesting one in the end. I found myself lost and not really invested in the read however, especially at the sight of vocabulary words in sentences. Because of this I made myself a list of steps that I would take to approach the reading to help better my understanding of the text overall. Those list of steps lead me to realize and learn a lot of things after I approached the reading again. This time I found the read to be a pretty easy one to grasp. The ideas were clear and fairly simple to comprehend this time around. The vocabulary words found themselves to have been defined on sight considering I had the power of a dictionary and the internet on my side. Focus wasn’t as big an issue in the beginning as it was the first time around when I first read the text, since I already had background on what the overarching point that Gatto was trying to get across I just had to figure out how he was going about it in that specific paragraph. Overall listening to music of course made this that little bit easier since I had something keeping me aware and active enough to keep reading. To be frank, I wish I had already known to take these steps prior to even having made them in the first place. Now for what I learned? I learned that Gatto is a man who is a veteran of 30 years in the education system, who once pondered why it was that schools were the way they were (students were bored, as for teachers) that because they’re designed to keep impudence, unity, and riots out of the nature of civilians. That they were to subtly train everyone to be subconsciously servile and submissive. He also spoke of ways that we could possibly get around the system although never explicitly stating whether we could actually “beat” it or not.
Against School
“Against School” by John Taylor Gatto, may have been one of the most enlightening things i’ve ever read. For the reason that it has really brought light to things I never had seen or though of before. At first the article was pretty boring to me and I found myself zoning in and out of the reading from time to time up until I finally found myself confused at where he asked the question of, “Could it be that are schools are designed to make sure not one of them ever really grows up?” This was due to me not knowing the grave severity of what was to come, but as I advanced in the text I also started to see and make sense of what Gatto was getting at. He had been asking a question that I myself have asked myself for nearly my entire life. “What is the point of school?” This question has always been followed by another question of “why can’t we just be taught the basics of reading, writing, and math then proceed to college, where we can learn what we WANT to learn?” Little did I know I wasn’t alone in pondering this. He then goes on to explain what the true purpose of school is, which to me is the part that really has made me feel as though I’d just been saved. He talks about how the school system is designed to make mindless and submissive workers of people. At first I found the statement to be outrageous, but it slowly made sense as he further listed out how exactly its executed in a series of steps that are of Prussian origin. This article overall has brought me to many questions like, “why isn’t this article well renowned?”, “could we possibly change the system?”
Your First Job
The author of “Learning (Your First Job)”, Robert Leamnson, informs readers on the necessary skills and habits that can be taken in order for one to succeed in college. One of these being, knowing the difference between knowledge and information, where he states, “The principal reason, however, goes back to the fundamental difference between information and knowledge. Knowledge is what has the potential for improving the individual and society. But websites are completely devoid of knowledge; all they have is information (and not all of that is reliable)” Leamnson comes to conclude that unless sense can be made of what is on the website, knowledge will not be gained and therefore neither will the actual learning happen. Leamnson’s point makes sense to me seeing that we more or less define learning the same, being that information is everywhere but knowledge will be found in what you can take from said information. This is important because growth can’t be found happening anywhere if one is ignorant on the principles of comparison between knowledge and information.
