Keep in mind you told me to be honest.

I think the film portrays the nation as a buch of whack jobs. It makes us look like a bunch of sleezy dirtbags. We all have some kind of secret and in the government that is very dangerous. I think in the film this makes us all look really gross. 

Theres always a certain darkness in the film. In just the very beginningn they kill that man like its nothing. There were no questions asked just done. These are the men that are running our country. How is that supposed to make this nation look? This can not reflect on us in any good way or put us in any good light. So I think that this makes us look terrible. If this were real, I understand that this would be a huge deal but I think that if we are just being portrayed like this in movies, how do people think of us in the real world?

June 10, 2011

Q4 Benchmark Reflection

What is your project about?

My project was all about me and what I used to be like as a baby and what I am like now. Compared to what I want to do when I grow up. I made a storybook because I thought that was the best way to get my creativeness out there. I also think that this was the best way to describe and show what I can do.

What did you like about it?

I liked that this was a very free project and that it was individual. I liked that I didn’t have to rely on anyone for anything and I could do whatever I wanted with my project. I also liked that we had many options on what direction to go and what to do with this project.

What would you do differently?

I would use more personal pictures and drawn less.

My cousins and I are sitting by the lake on the hot July day. We’ve been talking for a while when Johnny gets up and asks:

“Anything to drink?”

“Wooders fine,” I said.

“WATER?”

“Whatever!”

This is one of the many times my cousins from Jersey have teased me about my Philly accent. This happens to me wherever I go. Friends are always teasing my family and me about the way we talk. Its not annoying and I don’t get mad, its just one of those things that your reminded of a lot. Whenever you are outside your hometown, you tend to pick up on outside towns sayings. I think this leads to you creating your own language. Customizing your own English can either make you or break you.

There are stereotypes about the way that you “should” talk if you are from one place. But when it comes down to it you talk however you want. According James Baldwin “It (language) is the most vivid and crucial key to identity: it reveals the private identity.” This just goes along with the fact that you can make your language your own. There is so much slang in the world that you can make your language however you would like. Slang is one of something that people use. But when you use it a lot you can potential change your whole sound.

The way you customize your language can also be the way that you gain power. The less slang you use the more educated you tend to sound. It’s the way people think. When you use slang and other shortened words you can sound like you have less knowledge. “It goes without saying, then, that language is also a political instrument, means, and proof of power.” This is another quote by James Baldwin. I think that he means that when you say things people could get the wrong impression from you. This is important at things like interview, internships or even jobs. If you talk to your boss with a lot of slang they could think that you’re either being disrespectful or even looking down upon. There are many ways that you can give the wrong impression with the way that you talk. Even though no one deemed these words bad or rude for some reason everyone thinks that they are. It’s the same reason that we have negative and positive connotations. No one said that these words were bad. So why does everyone agree that they are?

             Another situation that I clearly remember is when my eighth grade class got a new math teacher. Mr. Minturn was from Ohio.

“A couple things you should know about me is” he would say, “My mum and pa live in Ohio.”

Our entire class would laugh when he would slip up with a word we were unfamiliar with.

“Why are you laughing?” he would say

“Your accent!” we would reply.

He always told us that we were the ones with the accents but we always thought he was crazy. By the time I graduated we had him saying “wooder” and “begal” like a pro. He told us that we could talk however we wanted in his class and that he would say “mum” and “ceulors” but we would laugh at each other just for the mere fact that we weren’t introduced to the words he said. It makes me think. If there was a child that never lived permanently anywhere for a long period of time, how would they talk? Whatever pleased them, I presume.

Because of the way different people talk, it gives you the freedom to make your own language. You can said “wooder” if you live in Brooklyn and you can say “tawkin” if you live in Ohio. Because we live in a Nation with so many different “English-es” we can modify the way that you would like to talk.