Page 15 Question 8; My Year of Meats

In my opinion, there is many indigenous groups of people, plants, animals, and cultures. I think having these different groups make up our world. Without all of the diversity we have now, I think there would be more disputes in our world, weather we are all the same or we are all different, there is always going to be times when people don't get along. Wars will never come to an end, and there will never be world peace. Both humans and animals have the natural nature to want to fight, and to want to compete, and that will always be one of our traits. Species are disappearing, I believe these species are disappearing due to mankind itself. Species will come and go, as well as war, diseases, and many other aspects of our lives. That is the world we live in, and I think it will be that way for many years to come, if not forever.

My Year of Meats chapter 5-8

~~~How do the families selected by Jane for the television series round out, challenge or reinforce the stereotypes about the American family?

In, My Year of Meats, Jane chose to focus on a couple of American families for the new show, My American Wife. The couple's that Jane chose to focus on seem to her, like they are typical american families and she wants the people of Japan to really see what american men and women are like in their homes.

One of the families Jane looked at was the Purcell family. The couple, Helen and Mr. Purcell, was a poor african family with a very different culture than the average whie family. When Jane chose this family she was thinking that it would be a good idea for the people of Japan to see a variety of families and not just your typical white family like on most shows.

Of course another one of the families Jane chose to look at was the Flowers. The Flowers was a white family and had the typical white life. They were a happy family and had no real problems they had to face in their lives, unlike the Purcell family did. The Flowers were probably the most common stereotype, especially to people in foreign countries like Japan.

The last family Jane looked at ended up being the stars of My American Wife, and that was the Bukowsky's. Jane chose to look at this family to give the viewers of the show a sense of hope and to show that if you stay positive, good things can happen. This was a very interesting family for Jane to look at, this was a struggling family with a daughter that was crippled. The mother was losing her job and everything was just going wrong for them. Until one day, when the crippled pretty much came back to life.

Shonagon's List

Things that make one’s heart beat faster:

1) Standing in front of a large group for a public speech
2) A first kiss from a boy/girl
3) When a man proposes to a woman
4) When the team you like wins the super bowl
5) The feeling of paying off a maxed out credit card
6) On Christmas, when your about to open all your gifts
7) Getting on the back of a motorcycle and going 100 mph.
8) Going to an interview and getting the job
9) Getting your first tattoo or piercing
10) Your first day of school

Non-Traditional Analysis of "Red Shoes"

Dear Ms. Griffin,

I recently read your story, "Red Shoes" and I just wanted to send you a short e-mail and express my opinion of the story to you. This is a very interesting story, I really like how you focused on the life of a woman. Being a woman it makes the story that much better. I found it very effective and really interesting to read. I have never really come across a story that has been written in this form. I was curious as to why you chose to write in the style you chose. I actually found it some what confusing and almost hard to read because of the way you had it set up.

One thing I found very interesting was how you connected different colors to different emotions. I found it very interesting how you talked about the lives of women and then wrote a story of your own life, while the story stories are somewhat related. I really like that you took a factual story and intertwined it with a personal life story. I also like your choice of title, I know there was a fairy tale written called "The Red Shoes" and seeing another title of the same nature would grab the attention of a lot of people. I think having the title of "Red Shoes" would also naturally grab the attention of women. Is that one of the reasons you chose to title the story "Red Shoes"?

Well I hope I didn't take too much of your time, I was writing a short e-mail to let you know you have fans out here, and to let you know of what a great job you did. Overall I would say that the story was effective, and written beautifully. I hope to see some of your other stories, and if you get the chance please e-mail me back with some recommendations of stories to read. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Julanne Payton

Rhetorical Analysis of "Red Shoes"

When Susan Griffin was writing this story, I think she was trying to tell the readers of how women were viewed as well as tell a story of her own about the red shoes. She mentions her grandmother and mother and I think she wanted people to know about what their views were like and how they were. I think the statement of purpose in this story is to educate people on a woman’s society as well as share her personal story.

I think it was definitely her choice to take two stories and intertwine the two together. I personally did not like the way the story was arranged, I have only seen a few pieces of writing that were arranged in the way. The story starts off in regular text talking about the imprisonment of a woman’s mind and then the next paragraph is put in italics and starts a story of her own life.

Ms. Griffin strategically decided to organize her story in this specific way. She has two different stories that she is trying to have people read but instead of making two completely different stories, she kind of turns them into one by doing one paragraph of one story and then another paragraph of a completely different story but both stories relate to each other.

The one anomaly I can think of is that she doesn’t transition the stories together, they stay completely separate. I think the two stories have things in common but it makes the reading hard to read when there is no transition or when there are two completely different stories to be read.

I feel good about what I originally wrote, but I did forget to mention the amount of colors that she talks about. Ms. Griffin relates certain colors to certain emotions, and I failed to include that in the beginning of the piece. I think that she was trying to see if the people that read the story could possibly get the same reaction to these colors, or maybe even see if they get different reactions.

Julanne Payton, Travis Azeltine, Justin Haggare, Corey Bowling

Weld

With the font being handwritten it shows more emotion in the post card. It seems like this man is depressed due to the fact that he most likely works all the time, and has no time for a real life. So when he wears the welding mask and is working, he can be depressed and still have no one see what he is really feeling. This man took the picture himself, which shows that he either wants to hide his feeling from anyone else or just has no one to take a picture of him. It seems like he just has a simple life where, he just lives from day to day in this gray area where he calls work. The lighting in the picture is very light which is another sign of depressed emotions.

Wedding Ring Pic

The first thing you notice about this picture is the white back and the ring taped onto the paper. The woman that taped the ring is obviously hurting and most likely has been through a lot in her relationship and doesn't want to take it anymore. I think because she taped the ring on paper, she was probably in a abusive relationship. It almost seems like she wants to send the ring and just not even see his face anymore, which is another sign of abuse. The text is handwritten in lower case letters, which shows that she has been torn down, and can't show high emotion of anything. Saying that she doesn't want to be somebody anymore means that the relationship that she is in has changed her life in a way that she doesn't like. It's hard to say how she was changed but she obviously can't be that way anymore or live that life.

Wish My Man's Fiance Would Die

When looking at this postcard the first thing that you notice would be the black square in the middle of the picture. A black whole in the middle of a picture symbolizes emptiness, like either a broken heart or some is missing from your life that you want back. A woman is talking about how she fell in love with a man who is engaged to be married and basically that she can't have him and wishes death upon the fiance of the man. It looks like she chose this picture to show the happiness of the couple and that they are acting in a way that a happy couple would act. Also having a black and white photo shows dark emotions, maybe that she is depressed about the situation. Another thought that comes to mind is that the text is typed out and maybe that is a sign that this man doesn't even know that this other woman exists. Maybe this is a dream man for this woman and wishes that she could have him.

Postsecret Cards

Forever

This postcard obviously shows that a woman is tired of waiting for her boyfreind to purpose to her. I think that she has either spent many years with this man and wants a commitment, or possibly hasn't been with him for that long, but wants things to go faster than what he wants. Giving him a time limit will most likely scare him away or in a best case, he will end up proposing. With the steam coming out from her head, it shows that she is angry with him and is tired of waiting. Also she knows exactly what she wants probably from the ring all the way to the type of bouquet she wants to carry down the aisle.

Happy Birthday Wherever You Are

I think the card is probably about a woman who that when she was a young woman she got pregnant and wasn't in any position to raise a child so she gave it up for adoption and today is that childs birthday. Writing a card like this shows that she regrets giving the baby up for adoptio, and show that she still thinks about this baby at least every year on the birthday. By the look of the picture it looks like the baby is still young, because of he little deers and the pastel colors along with the birthday hats.

Pregnant

This postcard looks like a woman is confessing because she probably told a man that she was pregnant so that he would either stay with her or marry her. Scracthing off the faces of the couple on the photo shows that she is guilty and is lost. Now that she has the man she doesn't know how to tell him that she is not pregnant and is probably scared that he might leave her.

Scammer 3

Obviously this persons identity has been taken and their life has been messed with to a large extent. The picture shows a money order, which means the scammer has gone so far that they have taken over the persons bank account. I myself have been scammed and I know how it feels, thats how I can understand why the person says if he could find him that he will kill them. This person is probably so stressed now that he might actually hurt this person if he had the chance.