Favorite Video Post (Part 1 and Part 2)

The music video "Cookie Jar" by Gym Class Heroes featuring The Dream is one that creates visually stimulating images with high-class production. The music video shoots in a variety of locations, including a club, a therapy center, and even in front of a blank white screen. The song provides a story about how hard it is for this man to keep his hands out of a cookie jar. Hearing the song on the radio, a listener might think that this man is literally addicted to cookies. However, this music video allows the writers to show the true meaning of the lyrics. This man is addicted to sex and the idea of it. The cookie jar term is applied to any and all of the women he lusts for and cheats with while he is in a relationship. The aesthetics of the video are very good, as there is a pleasing change of scenes throughout the entire video. During each of the verses, Travis (the main singer with a plethora of piercings), is constantly popping his head towards the camera in order to emphasize his words. He also is singing actively, with hand and body gestures that add to the lyrics as well. The final verse that shows Travis in a sort-of straight jacket suit that suggests he needs help with this problem. However, there is also humor to this video in certain clips, such as when singing "….gotta sweet tooth that’ll never come loose…" the mouth action adds to the entertainment part of this video. A lot of this video is taken up by the group members standing and attempting to dance in front of the video, which doesn’t add a whole lot of excitement to it. However, I think the video gets message that the writers are making across to all who watch it.

This video presents a valid statement about the wants of today’s society. Sexual and flirtatious behavior has increased in extreme amounts in all aspects of the American culture. From the pornography industry to television, sex has become iconic. If someone does not look visually appealing, they are worth nothing to a lot of people. Women are viewed in fewer square inches of clothes than their underwear on a daily basis. This is a problem for a lot of parents that expect their children to grow up in an environment where they can control what they see or hear. The particular moral values that the parents hold should be passed down to them, but today that is hard to do with easy access to some of this sexual media. "Cookie Jar" is an example of what can happen as a result of too much exposure to these things. The man became addicted to the exposed female and the physical attraction to her. There are many examples of this in society. However, in these pictures, it can be seen that a woman can be attractive whether clothed or barely clothed. The point of these images is that less clothing does not equal more beauty, or whatever you want to call it. The moral fiber humans should possess should have a stronger bearing on what can and cannot be deemed appropriate for the public eye. Although "Cookie Jar" is slightly provocative, it has a good bottom line. The video can help people who are around sexual visuals realize that life is not all about sex and if it comes to that, that there are big consequences to pay as a result.

Writing Project 2

Throughout World War II, Americans and their allied forces were constantly devising plans for a quick end to the war. Part of these plans was to gain control of islands that were of dire use in the travel from home base to enemy lines. Iwo Jima was one of those islands. The island of Iwo Jima is located around 600 miles away from Tokyo, Japan and was thought to be a critical checkpoint for United States aircraft to land and refuel, if it was captured. Also, American forces believed that there could be many emergency rescues ran out of this location and that considerable time could be saved using this island. This island had three airstrips that the Japanese used for launching their kamikaze attacks. Japanese officials already had radar located on this island, and as a result the Americans were not able to pass through the area without being noticed. The United States was fairly confident that this island would be fairly easy to come by, however Japanese forces begged to differ with them.

Before invading the island, the American forces assumed that there would not be a lot of resistance there. However, after the troops landed, they quickly became bombarded by Japanese gunfire. The Japanese, who were well known for their low-key hideouts, immediately took the upper hand. After sustaining many initial blows on the beaches, the American forces pushed inland and gained control of the island. By the end of the battle, Japanese troops were starved and desperate, committing suicide or surrendering themselves to the allied forces. The battle at Iwo Jima proved to be severely detrimental to both sides of the war. The Japanese troops lost over twenty thousand men, while the American forces sustained over twenty seven thousand troop casualties. The victory at the small island of Iwo Jima proved to be a large factor in the allies win in World War II.

As a result of the victory, a memorial, the United States Marine Corps War Memorial, was constructed by Horace W. Peaslee in 1954. The sculpture was inspired by a picture taken after the victorious battle at Iwo Jima. A plaque beneath the sculpture says, "In honor and in memory of the men of the United States Marine Corps who have given their lives to their country since November 10, 1775."(U.S.M.C. War Memorial) From World War II to the present-day War on Terror, this sculpture is a reminder that the pursuit of freedom is a huge undertaking that is never complete. This piece of art, through the use of analogy and compare and contrast, employs patriotic pathos in an observers mind.

The monument depicts six soldiers hoisting an American flag, the symbol of the United States of America. The objective here is emphasizing that the Americans were victorious in this battle. However, that these six dirty, tired, and battered men are merely going through a formality in the grand scheme of this war. The analogy of the tight, focused look on the men’s faces says that the battle may have been won, but the war was still not over. Several of the men were reassigned following this battle and were sent to Japan. The men here are not joyous; they are in fact still scared and insecure (Marine on Iwo Jima, 34). The cause of these looks is the extreme situations that they have faced in every confrontation they have been involved in. Seeing thousands of men die in a battle, along with persevering through bad weather, a lack of food, sleep deprivation, and other elements will make a person raw with emotion.

The flagpole is an important part of this statue as well. The angled flagpole signifies that work will always need to be done in trying to achieve freedom. The teamwork of all of these men lifting the pole can be compared to all of the men and women who were a part of this war, whether on the battlefields or in the medical tents. All six men are working hard, helping each other to reach the goal, which is to eventually get the pole to stand upright. This is compared in the war by allied forces pushing their way across lands and seas to thwart the enemy and eventually killing them or forcing the axis powers to surrender. In a narrative sense, this sculpture is telling the observer about a moment of time. This instant demonstrates the magnitude of this battle during the war and also, through the sculpture, makes the instant forever embedded in time. This instant enhances the idea of a continuous fight for freedom.

These rhetorical strategies all focus on how pathos is created by this piece of art. When looking at the sculpture, people feel an overwhelming sense of patriotism for their country. When people look at this they remember that hundreds of thousands of men have died fighting for America’s freedom over the last fifty years. While they feel sad for all of the lives that are lost during war, they also feel proud because soldiers died for them. People see the flagpole being raised and feel a sense of community because of the teamwork it takes to raise the flag. The comparison of the men’s faces to the war itself excites the person’s brain to remember what they have learned about the difficulties of World War II. The timeless instant of the statue shows the infinite progress towards freedom.

The USMC Memorial can be connected to the present day not only through the picture just discussed but also through comparing World War II to more recent wars the United States have been involved in. The War on Terrorism, for example, was started to combat any type, form, or representation of terroristic acts. This is a major undertaking and one that requires an immense amount of time and commitment by all of the politicians and soldiers involved. This is the same for any war, as in WWII women were even recruited to help in factories and in the medical field. The memorial’s flagpole can be compared to the progress made in the war so far, the war is not over yet. To look at this even further, perhaps in a more negative way, the statue is an event frozen in time. This could reflect the position the War on Terror, a debatable standstill. The men pushing the flag towards the sky represent the politicians, soldiers, nurses, and all other personnel involved in the effort to defeat any and all terrorists.

The United States Marine Corps Memorial is an object that has touched millions of American’s emotions. These emotions that are caused by looking at this statue can also be connected to the emotions that are drawn from viewing the similar image of the World Trade Center’s flag raising. The image of three men hoisting an American flag on September 11, 2001 also pulls pathos out of people in the form of patriotism. In both pictures, the flagpole is on its way towards pointing straight up, but isn’t there yet. These two pieces of artwork also illustrate crucial periods in their respective time frames. The USMC Memorial depicts a key victory and a turning point during WWII while the September 11th picture shows a cause for hope and a wish for better days ahead. The United States Marine Corps Memorial is an effective piece of rhetorical art in this era. All of these similarities tie the past to the present in the same way: showing that freedom will never be won for good, it will be won on a day-by-day basis.


Works Cited

Bomar, Mary A. "U.S.M.C. War Memorial." National Parks Service. November 16, 2008. http://www.nps.gov/archive/gwmp/usmc.htm

Cooper, Rachael. "Iwo Jima Memorial - U. S. Marine Corps War Memorial." About.com 2008. http://dc.about.com/od/monuments/a/IwoJima.htm

Pfeifer, Charlie. Marine on Iwo Jima: An Interview with Col. Thomas Fields. February 9, 2004. http://www.doingoralhistory.org/project_archive/2004/Papers/PDFs/charlie.pdf

Simonich, Milan. "Memorial Day, 2001: Marine from Franklin Borough never knew impact of Iwo Jima photo." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. May 28, 2001. http://www.post-%20gazette.com/regionstate/20010528strankreg3.asp

Art Object: Cultural Context

This artwork is the monument to the flag-raising at Iwo Jima. The reason I chose this work was because of its strong effect on the outcome of World War II. The island of Iwo Jima is located around 1200 miles away from Tokyo, Japan and could be a critical checkpoint for United States aircraft to land and refuel, if it was captured. Also, American forces believed that there could be many emergency rescues ran out of this location and that considerable time could be saved in doing so using this island. Japanese officials also had radar located on this island, and as a result the Americans were not able to get through the area without being noticed. This island had three airstrips that the Japanese used for launching there kamikaze attacks off of. The United States thought that this island would be fairly easy to come by, however Japanese forces begged to differ with them.

The battle at Iwo Jima proved to be severly detrimental to both sides of the war. Before invading the island, the American forces assumed that there would not be a lot of resistance there. However, after the troops landed, they quickly became bombared by Japanese gunfire. The Japanese were well known for their sneaky locations and took the upper hand at the start by being well hid from the front lines of the U.S. forces. After sustaining the initial blows of the first few days, the Americans re-grouped to turn the tables in their favor. Towards the end of the battle, Japanese troops became starved, and desperate, committing suicide or surrendering themselves.

The Japanese troops lost over twenty thousand men and the American forces sustained over twenty seven thousand troops. After the Americans took over Iwo Jima, the island was only mainly used for air and sea rescue missions and occasional stops for minor problems. After the war ended in 1945, many Americans looked back on the battle of Iwo Jima and wondered if the island was really necessary for the American force to win in Japan. It was, and the victory at the small island of Iwo Jima proved to be a large factor in the Allied win in World War II. The memorial is dedicated to all marines who have given their lives in battle, whether in World War II or in any other war.

On August 25, 2008, a new time of many people’s lives started. This was the first day of class for Nebraska Wesleyan students. For a lot of these students, this was the farthest away from home they had ever been. For others, it was a short drive from their house every morning. Some students went to a school times larger than this while others had come from a town with less people than this University has students. No matter which walk of life they came from, they all had one thing in common, they were freshmen.
When starting out, I think that many realized that they were going to have to force themselves to meet people, to make friends. Another issue facing these newcomers was to develop some sort of study habit to make sure they succeeded in all of their classes. Many kids made friends by striking up a conversation before class, maybe asking for help on a problem, while others boldly sat at a lunch table with kids they had never seen before. Sometimes, these first meetings grew into friendships that would last the rest of their college days.
Now that the first semester is coming to a close, the majority of the freshmen on campus have gotten into a routine that is consumed with hanging out in friends rooms, studying until the wee hours of the morning, and sleeping well past noon on Saturdays. With finals quickly approaching, students might (keyword might) be studying material from August trying to refresh knowledge that has more than likely leaked from their brains.
Over the past 3 months, these young adults have journeyed from a protective high school lifestyle to a self-sufficient one that for many is the epitome of college: Freedom.

Left - Handed

For this assignment i chose to write about being left handed. I am a twin, so the chances of me or my brother being left handed are fairly high. I was the fortunate one in my opinion and was blessed with the "southpaw" abilities. Left hander's are actually fairly common in my family, as my uncle and a cousin are left handed as well. There are only around 10 percent of the world's population that area left handed, making this group an extreme minority.

There are a few reasons for becoming left handed. One is a possible over-exposure to testosterone. Testosterone suppresses the left hemisphere growth as an unborn. This allows the right hemisphere to become dominant, which controls the left side of the body. Living in today's world there are a few everyday objects that are not left hand - friendly. Scissors, kitchen knives, and computer mouses are made to be used by right handed people.

From personal experience, I have been able to adjust to using scissors and the computer mouses without any problems. However, when my class was learning how to write cursive, it was a challenge because the teachers were not able to teach me left handed because they weren't left handed. As a result, my handwriting is almost legible, and I sometimes need to be careful when writing a paper that actually has to be turned in.

I have just researched this topic online and found that people who are left handed are shown to excel in academics and more artistic lines of study as well. This was shown in a research study performed by the University College London.

I can say that I am proud to be left handed, not only because of the supposed greater mind but also because it makes me unique.