Creative Project



I have decided that one of the most important moments in my life was graduation. So many people don't get a fair chance to go to school; they don’t have the honor of graduating and moving on to do better things. As we read in the article written by Kearney, she talks about girls in the early 1900's that had to stay at home and work in the house as another "mother." Only the rich and wealthy girls were able to go to school. Not only did I have this honor, I had the great honor of having amazing friends and a great school who prepared me for the real world. Graduation was a big day for me since I was one of the first in my family to actually receive my diploma, so they were all really proud of me. It was really great to finally be able to say that all the hard work that I went through throughout school was worth it when I was able to stand in front of the town of Sheldon and my class accepting my rewards of being in the top 15% of my class and in the National Honor Society.

 I chose the song lyrics Graduation by Vitamin C to go along with this picture, because it kind of reflects so much of how I was feeling at that time. I was so scared knowing that I had to start over, happy knowing I had made it this far, nervous and excited for what was to come, sad at having to say goodbye to the life I knew in my hometown, and of course I wanted more time with my friends and family. I was mostly scared to go to a whole new town and starting completely over. Being a girl, I am always self conscious about what I look like and about what people are saying about you, especially those of your age. In college, I feel like it is a huge pressure to make friends because everyone is always judging, and girls are always looking to impress guys and they don’t always get what they want. In the article by Bordo, they talk about how so many girls develop eating disorders because they are feeling the pressure of looking like models and actresses on T.V. so they can impress both guys and girls. So many girls have eating disorders and they don’t even realize they have developed them. Because I was like so many of these girls, I felt very pressured about going out of my room.

I will forever and always remember this important day in my life with all of my best friends and my family members there watching me. I thought I would be able to go through the ceremony without crying, but that did not work very well. One of my best friends gave one of the speeches at the ceremony and she included some good stories about all of us becoming such good friends and shes started to cry. Once she started to choke up, I could not help myself. Graduation brings back so many good memories that I really miss now being in college. I loved my high school years and friends. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives
Where we're gonna be when we turn 25
I keep thinking times will never change
Keep on thinking things will always be the same
But when we leave this year we won't be coming back
No more hanging out cause we're on a different track
And if you got something that you need to say
You better say it right now cause you don't have another day
Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down
These memories are playing like a film without sound
And I keep thinking of the night in June
I Didn't know much of love, but it came too soon
And There was me and you, and then it got real blue
Stay at home talkin' on the telephone and
We would get so excited, we'd get so scared
Laughing at our selves thinking life's not fair
And this is how it feels

Chorus:
As we go on, we remember
All the times we had together
And as our lives change, from whatever
We will still be, friends forever

So if we get the big jobs and we make the big money
When we look back now, will that joke still be funny?
Will we still remember everything we learned in school?
Still be trying to break every single rule
Will little brainy Bobby be the stockbroker man?
Can Heather find a job that won't interfere with her tan?
I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly
And this is how it feels

*Repeat chorus*

La, la, la, la; yeah, yeah, yeah
La, la, la, la, we will still be friends forever

Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?
Can we survive it out there? Can we make it somehow?
I guess I thought that this would never end
And suddenly it's like we're women and men
Will the past be a shadow that will follow us round?
Will these memories fade when I leave this town
I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye
Keep on thinking it's a time to fly

*Repeat chorus 3x*

Blog Entry 2

Slumdog Millionaire is a film directed by Danny Boyle which portrays the life of a young man, Jamal Malik, from the Juhu slums of Mumbai, India. Jamal appears on the Indian game show of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Surpassing everyone’s expectations, Jamal reaches the final question that would win the $1,000,000.  Because he was just a “slumdog” who couldn’t possibly know all the answers, the police attain him and beat him trying to get him to confess he has cheated. While being beat, Jamal has flashbacks of his life that signify why he has known all the answers. Through these flashbacks, we see the struggles and accomplishments he has attained being a young man growing up in the slums of India. After seeing each of Jamals flashback’s, the audience gets a feel of what it is like for both girls and boys growing up living in India versus the growing up experience for boys and girls in the U.S.

            Some of the flashbacks we are shown of Jamal are of him watching his mother being beaten to death in the Bombay Riots that took place in Mumbai in December 1992, and January 1993, where nearly 900 people died. In those 900 deaths, close to 600 were Muslims and 300 were Hindus (Mumbai.) With no mother, Jamal and his brother are forced to take comfort among the streets where they find a little girl also from the slums, Latika. The three stick together and are found by a gangster, Maman, who tricks out children and later makes them blind and trains them how to become singing beggars to make more money. Understanding the situation they are in, Jamal and Salim escape on a departing train, leaving Latika behind. Having no home, money, or parents, the boys are forced to make a lifestyle of picking pockets, working as dishwashers, and pretending to be tour guides where they steal people’s shoes and sell them. Latika was recaptured by Maman who turned her into a prostitute and was selling her virginity for a high price. The boys rescue her by shooting Maman and flee where Salim pulls a gun on Jamal and tells him to leave so they can be together. Jamal, being all alone, finds a new job where years later he is able to communicate again with Salim, who is working with a crime lord, and Latika who is playing maid to the crime lord. Needing the answer to the last question on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Jamal calls Latika where she helps him win and is soon reunited with him after being helped escape by Salim. Salim kills the crime lord where he is soon to be shot and killed by his coworkers.

            After watching Slumdog Millionaire, the viewers get a view of just how much gender issues there are in the coming of age experience in India versus the U.S.. We watch Latika as she is captured and is forced to become a prostitute and her virginity was being auctioned off for a high price. Even after being rescued from his hands, Latika was just passed onto another crime lord who used her for her services, not caring about who she was. Latika had no choice but to follow their commands or she would be killed or left on her own. We also see how Jamal’s mother, a grown woman, was beat to death during the riots despite her age. In the U.S., girls aren’t always respected but they are also not forced to become prostitutes. When U.S. girls succumb to the prostitution life, it is hard to get out of that life just like in Latika’s case. Like in the story of Persipolis, Latika was also not able to express who she was because she was always being “owned” by a lord. In the story of Persipolis, she was not able to dress how she wanted due to the government “owning” the woman and telling them how to dress (Satrapi).

 For boys, we look through the eyes of Jamal and Salim who lost their mother at a young age, forcing them to have no one. In the U.S., there are group homes they can go to for shelter and stability. They were also captured to make money, and only found themselves on top when they were joining the evil ways of the crime lords. Even when the boys only had each other, Salim still turns on his brother only knowing force as a way of getting what they want. Their whole growing up experience included situations where there was always someone being in control of others. Also, because of Jamal’s background of being a “slumdog” the government and population saw him as knowing nothing. In order for Jamal and Salim to live, they stole from people because that was the life that they knew in order to stay ahead. This reminds me of the story by Allison we read in Without a Net, she was always stealing stuff because that was the life that she had always known growing up (Tea).

"Mumbai Riots." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 20 Mar. 2011.             <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Riots>.

Satrapi,M.(2003). Persepolis the Story of a Childhood. New York: Random House.

Tea, M. (2003). Without a Net. Allison (15-20)

Teen Mom

                 From all the T.V. shows, movies, and books being written about teen pregnancy, you start to feel like this is becoming a bigger issue in today’s society. Because of all these new media entertainments that focus on this topic, many people are starting to stereotype teenagers into the category of being irresponsible, sexually dependant beings. While there are a lot of teenagers that can be put into this category, it is important to note that there are many teenagers who are far from fitting into this stereotype. The media is also starting to paint a picture for generations of what a “typical” background a pregnant teen comes from. You see that a lot of the times in the media, the pregnant teens are very rebellious to their parents, they are not strong in their faith, they come from poor families, and they were naïve enough to believe they could defeat the chance of becoming pregnant despite their increase in sexual activity (Teen).

                One of the famous shows that take a look at some of these teen pregnancies is Teen Mom. The first season of Teen Mom told a story about a single teen mom, Farrah, and her daughter, Sophia. At the beginning of the show you see Farrah living with her parents who give her a ton of support despite her careless actions at getting pregnant. There are many nights a week where Farrah leaves Sophia with her mom so Farrah can go out to parties, hang out with friends, and find a new guy. Farrah being horribly irresponsible just assumes that each time her mom will be there to help her out when she wants to have her free time. The sad fact is that Farrah needs to realize that Sophia should be her number one priority right now, because it was her decision to be irresponsible in her sexual actions. Even though Farrah gets continual help from her parents, she chews them out when they are not willing drop what they have going on so Farrah can go out.

                Because of Farrah’s story, and so many like hers, everyone starts to see teen pregnancy as mom’s who were not ready to face the reality of having a baby. The way Farrah acts after having Sophia just proves to the watchers that teenagers are irresponsible and have trouble accepting the consequences of their actions. After watching Farrah’s story, it seems as though teens would see the reality in having a baby and decide to become safer or stop their sexual activities. Instead of thinking this, it seems as though many girls think, “She’s a spoiled brat, and I would be different.” In an article I read it states that Thirty-four percent of young women become pregnant at least once before they reach the age of 20 -- about 820,000 a year. Eight in ten of these teen pregnancies are unintended and 79 percent are to unmarried teens (Teen). This statistic is very high and it seems like the contributing factor would be words, “I love you.” Every girl wants to be loved, and in order to feel that way, she feels like she has to satisfy their man sexually before those words will come out.

                In the assigned reading written by Susan Bordo, she talks about how images on the media can inspire young girls to be like those actresses being starred (Bordo 456). This holds true for Teen Mom as well. T.V. shows are making these teen moms popular by bringing them money, fame, and it’s saying, “It’s okay to get pregnant, because then well make you famous.” There are many young girls who watch this show and see all the publicity they get just from becoming pregnant. The girls who see this and who want to be on T.V. may see getting pregnant as a way into their dreams and out of reality. Watching teens try and become pregnant to go on a T.V. show is irresponsible and just helps prove to all the negative stereotypes that teenagers think with their wants, not with their needs. These girls are the ones that help us get the finger pointed at us saying we are irresponsible and we don’t think about our actions.

Bordo, Susan. “Never Just Pictures.”  Twilight Zones: The hidden life of cultural images from Plato to O.J.  (1997): 454-466.

“Teen Pregnancy Stats, Facts, and Prevention.” Family First Aid 13 Feb. 2011 <http://www.familyfirstaid.org/teen-pregnancy.html>.