"Slang in America" Walt Whitman

1. According to Walt Whitman, American slang is a kind of language all its own. In order to understand it, you need to learn what it means, just like any other language. The difference is that not all English speakers understand all English slang. I believe that slang is the same way today.
2. Whitman lays the foundation for an essay on language, by first defining it. He describes what  language is, how it changes, and how important it is. From here he can go on and discuss the idea of slang.
3. By saying “lawless” he means to say that slang follows no rules, and is simply used in any way by its speaker. “Below all sentences” and “behind all poetry” means that slang is a hidden language in all forms of speech. It supports the words it hides behind. The last piece means that slang will always come back, and always be present in our speech. It gives language force.
4. One of the metaphors compares slang to “wholesome fermentation”. He also calls slang a “lawless germinal element”. Both are equally effective in their own ways.
5. Whitman makes his perspective simpler by using shorter sentences, as well as more easily understood words. He also gives examples of slang to explain what he means.
6. According to Whitman, slang is what gave start to old mythologies.
7. All of the examples given primarily support the point that slang is unique to different areas, an that slang is focused around the people who speak it.
8. Whitman claims that the laborers of America are more fun to be around that the “American humorists”.  I believe this statement strengthens his point of how slang and humor intertwine, and how the American people use slang.
9. The tone is intelligible, informational, and even passionate. Whitman shows that he knows much about the topic, and is passionate about describing his thoughts to the reader. The last paragraph really shows how fascinated Whitman is by including exclamation points.
10. In Whitman’s poems he often uses slang, and most of his work is free verse. Also, Whitman was a traveler and likely visited most of the places mentioned in the essay. He probably heard slang from across the country first-hand.
11. One word that has a slang meaning is “wicked”, often used in New England. It’s literal meaning is evil, but as a slang term it means something closer to awesome or amazing. The term has escaped its literal meaning and become something else.
12. What Dalzell says is true. Slang is a language used primarily by youth, I know this because I myself use slang language often.  

Mother Tongue

In Mother Tongue by Amy Tan, it is discussed how much language influences our lives. Tan talks specifically about her mother who speaks what can only be described as "broken" English. Her mothers English is difficult for some to understand, but to Tan it is easily understandable. AT one point in the essay Tan includes a direct quote from her mother. The quote is relatively long, but Tan includes the entirety of it. She does this because the focus of her writing is her mothers speech. She want to show the reader how her mother speaks by including this specific example. If she had shortened or edited it, the piece would not have the same effect on the reader. By reading the quote it becomes obvious just how "broken" her mothers English is.
A few times in the essay, Tan criticizes herself. She does not like to use the term "broken" or "limited English", but lacks any other way to say it. At another point she criticizes her past work and how proper her English was written. Tan used impressive words, and perfect grammar, to the point that it became slightly pretentious. I believe that Tan may have done this in an attempt to impress the reader.  Her origin may cause some to automatically expect her to speak unimpressive English. She wanted to prove them wrong. However, in doing this she found that her writing lost its humanity. The English in which she wrote was so impeccable, that it became something difficult to read. For this reason, she looks back on her previous work with criticism.
In the last few paragraphs Tan discusses how she realized that she wanted her work to be readable. So rather than hold it to the highest of standards, she instead writes with her mother in mind. Tan decided that she would write english in a way that her mother could understand and read.

Where's Your Home?

The word "home" often carries a different meaning depending on who you ask. Some may simply state that home is where you live, or your house. Others might say that home is where you're from, or where you grew up, and you'll always get that one person that says something like "home is where the heart is" (such beautiful poetry). The point is, "home" does not have much of a solid definition.
I believe that home is wherever one feels most comfortable. Home is the place where you can escape from the rest of the world to feel more at ease. For me "home" is my room, which doesn't seem like much of a home to some, but it perfectly fits my definition. My room is the epitome of comfort for myself, and I will briefly explain why. Somehow, I managed to get the biggest bedroom in the house (my parents are still upset about the missed opportunity). I have worked hard to make my room a comfortable place with a positive atmosphere. Plants on the windowsill, a bookcase full of books, a collection of small glass bottles, a wall covered in drawings, my computer and laptop, and lots of pillows on my bed. These are the things that make my room more of a home. Whenever I am feeling stressed I can always retreat to my "home" to recover. This is how I define home.
Some people believe that where you are born is your home. Although this may be true for some, I don't believe it is always the case. Some people are born in one country, but find themselves living in another. Often times they will considered the country where they live to be home. Others do indeed consider their place of origin to be their home. One may live in America, but recognize Africa as home. Home is wherever you choose it to be. Sometimes it is where you live, other times it's where you feel the most comfortable. Home can be where you are loved an welcomed. It can be a place you made, or a place you found. It all comes down to one's own definition of home.

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Activism

In the article "Small Change Why the Revolution Will Not be Tweeted" the author, Malcolm Gladwell, talks about activism and how social media has changed it. After reading the article I have come to some personal conclusions and opinions on the topic. The biggest question being asked is whether or not activism is effective on social media. It cannot be denied that social media is one of the fastest ways to spread information, and get one's voice heard.  However, it cannot replace real world activism. Social media is simply too unorganized, or loosely grouped. People come together under a common cause, but fall apart when it comes to specifics on how this or that should be.
Seeing real world activism is far more powerful than reading about it on a screen. When we see real people standing up for what they believe in, or fighting for change we are inspired to do the same. Seeing is believing and images can be more powerful than words. A video of protestors is likely to get more attention than an article. Social media's best use would be to assist in the spread of real world activism. Showing videos, sharing articles, and keeping everyone up to date on activism in real life is social medias most powerful tool.
In the end, I believe that real world activism will always be above social media activism. Social media can serve has it's purposes, maybe this isn't one of them.

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Feminism: What's not to Like?

Feminism is a difficult topic for me to write about. Not because I find it uncomfortable or disagree with it's ideals, but rather because I have so many thoughts on the subject that that they often get jumbled. I struggle to gather my thoughts and piece them together because I will say something and then find an argument against it that leads to another idea, and I lose track of what I am supposed to be writing about. For that reason I apologize if this ends up sounding more like one continuous thought.

The article "Bad Feminist" focuses primarily on the issue of defining feminism. Particularly how to be a feminist. The author brought up some good points, and gave valid opinions. Being a feminist is sometimes described as "angry men-hating women" when that is not always the case. Feminism has been stereotyped and looked down upon because it's meaning has been warped into something that it wasn't meant to be. The idea behind feminism is that it was supposed to be a fight for equality between genders. It just so happens that women are the primary victims of the inequality and so the name "feminism" was adopted. The problem is that some people have made feminism to be a strange culture that hats men and wants women to have more power than them. I will not deny that some feminists think this way (unfortunately probably more than just "some") instead of the way of equality.

The strangest thing about feminism is that people fight against it, mostly men, but women as well. I can understand people being against the all-the-power-to-the-women destroy-all-men way of thinking, but why would anyone fight for inequality? Are the women afraid of change? Do they not want to define themselves as feminists because of the meaning that title carries? Do men simply want women to stay on the bottom? Are they afraid that if there is equality, they will be treated the way they treat women?

One of my favorite parts of the article was when the author was talking about liking pink, and long dresses, and rap music, even if it sometimes dehumanizes women. Some feminists believe that liking "girly" things or liking things that don't seem to like women is wrong and going against feminism. If there are things that you like, then you are allowed to like them! It is never "bad feminism" to enjoy something that brings you happiness. Just because something is stereotypically "female" does not mean that you should hate it because of it's stereotype. Why is it seen as "bad feminism" or even weakness to like something THAT REPRESENTS FEMININITY? In my opinion there is only one way to be a "bad feminist" and that is to fight against equality.

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You Can (Not) Be Imaginative

I'm not sure how to respond to that article. This is probably because I love Disney (even if its mostly just for the animation). When the author of the article spoke about Alice in Wonderland and how they believe that it discourages imagination, I was awestruck. I adore Alice in Wonderland. It is a fascinating, creative, and beautiful story. For me it provides a constant reminder to always be more imaginative because the mind is infinitely creative. This article dumbed down my favorite story to foolishness that is supposedly telling girls to avoid creativity. (I will admit that the books are better than Disney's movie).

While the article didn't hit the bullseye, it didn't entirely miss the mark either. Disney is an imperfect studio that often gets some facts wrong, or changes the point of a story completely. Even though the author makes a few decent points, and backs them up with sufficient evidence, she seems to take these movies a little too seriously. Her point is that these animated films are changing young girls' perspective on life, but what little girl is going to look at a Disney movie with such critique? The evidence that the author provides is so subtle that it likely has no effect on children. For Alice in Wonderland, she states that at the end of the movie Alice becomes afraid of her imagination and wants to go home. Well sometimes imagination is and sometimes you do want to go home, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be creative. Look at how much fun Alice has in the beginning of the story, and how by the very end she stands up to the Queen (and avoids decapitation).

Perhaps I am including too many personal feelings into this, but if we look at everything through too critical of a lens then aren't we killing our own imagination?

The one idea that I do agree with is that Disney (as well as other production companies) should not be   sending the message that girls only have one option in life; MARRIAGE. Why is it that the movie always ends when the female protagonist gets married? It's because some people are convinced that a girls adventure ends when she is married, and so the movie should end there too. Not everyone gets married, and for those who do it is not The End. Young girls are likely to watch these movies and think that because their favorite characters always get married, then they should too. (For some reason I never felt this way. Instead I always imagined myself as the male protagonists rather than the females. I suppose that could be another topic for discussion because some children will associate with their favorite characters instead of the ones that match their gender.) By refusing to show girls that they have options, you take away bits and pieces of their imagination.

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This Probably Should Have Been Done a Few Days Ago

It didn't take me a long time to realize that I am horrendously lazy. That sounds like an awful way to start a blog and a likely intro to self-depreciation, but it has been weighing on my mind and i have to write something. So here it is.

Right now it is 9:02 PM on Wednesday night and tomorrow this very blog is due. That may not seem like a big deal if you think about how homework is usually assigned the day before it is due, but this was not assigned today. It wasn't even assigned yesterday. This blog was assigned on Thursday of last week. The fact that I am sitting here typing this now and not a few days ago is what gave me the idea to write about my problem. Why would I wait so long to start this when I was told about it nearly a week ago? Did I think maybe if I don't do it, it will just go away? No. Do I find the subject boring and therefore lack motivation? Also no. After thinking for a while I realized that there is no decent reason for my procrastination, except for the undeniable fact that I am lazy.

I have a good amount of free time. Now that tennis season is over I will have even more, but will I use it wisely? No. This is the source of the problem. Time management is something that I (and I'm sure plenty of others) struggle with. * When managing my time I will usually put the things that I want to do first, and the things that I don't want to do last. The problem with this system is that most of the things that I don't want to do are things that need to get done. I almost always end up wasting my time and finishing my work much later than expected. This actually wouldn't be so much of a problem on its own, but my procrastinating leads to stress and that stress leads to panicking. I bring these things upon myself and I could fix them if I had a little more self-discipline, but I just cannot stop myself from waiting for the last minute to start a job that needs to get done. I'm told that this will change with maturity, and I certainly hope that's true.

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* -Perhaps you noticed this little star in paragraph three. I wanted to mention that at this point I stopped writing and read my book for about 30 minutes. I procrastinated my post about procrastinating.