HW #10

Zach Penrose

Dr. Jeff Dories

College Writing 101

4-8-12

 

One social interaction or lack thereof, which I encountered over the course of this week that exemplifies American culture is the use of technology.  Every day while walking to class I noticed the amount of students that walked through campus with their headphones in while listening to music, or who are walking to class tweeting, texting, or facebooking.  I encountered a situation where some kid walked past someone who I assumed he knew and said hello, the kid who he said hello to didn’t even acknowledge the other person because he had is head down listening to music on the way to class.  This really shocked me because I noticed that the way Americans interact now a days is completely different then it was years ago.  We think of the word “communicating” with someone else today we think of texting or talking on the phone.  Years ago, communicating with someone meant talking face to face with someone.  This is something that very few Americans do in this day in age.

An interaction I was involved in that involves culture was very recent actually.  My family visited my grandparents for Easter and we had a feast.  My family is very Italian and Easter is a big holiday for us.  Every year my whole family gets together and has a big Italian dinner to celebrate the holiday.  We have been doing this for as long as I can remember.  It is very unique because a lot of family’s have dinner for Easter, but not everyone has Italian food.  I love my family, and I look forward to Easter every year.  It is one of the few holidays my whole family gets together and gets to enjoy each other’s company and that is what makes it unique.

Over the course of this week an event that took place that exemplifies individualism for me was my track meet that I participated in.  Most sports are considered to be team sports but track and field is different in most cases.  I participate in high jump here at IUP and recently had a meet in Slippery Rock.  I placed third at the invitational and qualified for the PSAC championships.  This shows individuality mainly because it is an individual sport that I participated in.  Technically I am on the track and field “team” but the event that I participate in is all about me.  If I were to screw up and have a bad day, I wouldn’t affect the team it would only affect me.

HW #9 Individualism as a Cultural Value

Zach Penrose

4-1-12

English 101

HW #9

1.  Three topics that Americans tend to think of as rude topics include, talking about one’s social life, their income, and divorce.  All three of those topics are considered to be somewhat private in American culture and when we are asked about them we tend to think it is rude.  Americans value their personal space and privacy when it comes to all three of those topics.  When these topics are mentioned Americans feel as if their personal privacy has been invaded.

 

2.  In Thailand and many other Asian cultures they treat their elders with much more attention than Americans do.  Americans tend to not have as strong of relationships with their parents and grandparents as people in Thailand do.  If an older family member is sick in America their family normally hires help to tend to that family member.  Whereas in Thailand culture the younger family members take care of the older person themselves.

 

 

3.  I have been participating in sports from the day I could walk on my own.  I was raised in a very competitive household and was always pushed to my limits when it came to.  Other cultures might find this strange because that is just simply not how they raise their children for the most part.  They are taught that strong relationships are much more important than participating in sports or entertainment, which is very different in America.  We are raised to make it big in the world and earn as much money as possible, which is not always the case in other cultures.

HW#8 Introduction to American life

Zach Penrose

English 101

3-22-12

HW #8

 

1.   For a foreign student visiting IUP for the first time, they would find many differences then what they see in movies or on television.  One thing that they might not expect is the amount of diversity they might encounter.  They will meet many different types of people that they might not expect to encounter.   Another thing that might be different from what they see in movies and on television would be that in shows everyone looks like they have all the time in the world.  However that is not even close to being the case.  Americans are so strapped for time that they tend to forget things that might be more important like friends and family due to a job for instance.

2.  The pamphlet describes Americans view on time as frantic.  We get so caught up in being on time or looking at what time it is that we don’t even have time to enjoy our lives.  They mention that being on time for something is a form of respect, and people will do anything to be on time for example running stop signs or speeding to be on time for something and put other people’s lives at risk.

3.  The pamphlet states that Americans don’t like interruptions.  This is the case because it is something different than what we are used to.  We are accustomed to having one person talk, and the other person listen and then respond when needed.   If someone does something other than that, which is considered to be the “norm” they tend to get annoyed or frustrated.  The groups and clubs that I am involved in tend to look down upon interruptions.  They look down on them mainly because it slows down the process of the meeting, or get together.

4.  One sentence that I found interesting from the part called Status and Hierarchy was that Americans tend to give gifts to their significant others less than other countries do.  I found this to be interesting because I didn’t think this was true.  I feel that Americans give gifts fairly often, but other countries must give gifts much more than we do.

HW #7

Zach Penrose

3-18-12

1.  The introduction of a money based economy has distorted relationships between people, and made them more independent on things we didn’t even realize existed, because before people viewed money as an advantage, but now it is used to buy more exotic things people don’t even know exist.  People used to value friendships, but ever since money came into the picture, people will do whatever it takes to make more money.  Even if that means ruining friendships to get more money.

2.  In my opinion they were better off before they introduction of money.  I do believe that money is the main reason for many bad things in the world, for example, crime, drugs, murder, and greediness.  Without all that money circulating people would not feel the need to rob someone.  Before money was introduced to the Ladakhis, they actually valued ones friendships with others.  Now due to money, they are fighting over it.  That is why I believe they were better off before they introduced money to them.

3. The most powerful sentence from this essay, to me, is  “America’s main role in the new world order is not as a military superpower, but as a multicultural superpower.” Said by Federico Mayor Zaragoza.  It is very powerful because years ago America was so interested in having the highest military to defeat most countries that we welcome into our country now.

4. One positive of a multi-cultural world is that it introduces us to new things that we would not be familiar with otherwise.  Another positive of a multi-cultural world is that it keeps us informed on what is happening in other countries, other than the USA.  However, with any positive there has to be a negative.  A negative aspect of a multi-cultural world is that family values are becoming less, and less.  People of many cultures aren’t experiencing the real family value.  Another negative to a multi-cultural world is that the older generation is very old fashioned and don’t approve of all the new cultural changes happening around them.

HW #6

Zach Penrose

 3-4-12

English 101

1. When I’m asked, “What influences have shaped your views on body image?” one thing comes to my mind right off the bat, media. Nearly everything in our society today has to deal with being in shape, and trying to get our bodies to look like super-models. So naturally everyone thinks that is what they should look like. If the media didn’t manipulate people into having the “perfect” body then I feel that many more people would be less self-conscious of their body image, and be happy with the body that they have. It is very hard to attain that dreamy body that everyone wishes that they had. I feel like our society has become so brainwashed by the medias portrayal of body image that we tend to look past people who don’t have the “perfect” body.

 2. I do not feel as if we have different expectations of men and women when it comes to body image. I think that men and women both expect the other sex to have an amazing body image. If they don’t have great bodies, we tend to look past them because that is how our society has become. We don’t look for a good personality; we look at body image, unfortunately.

1. When I think of the word “masculine” the first three things that come to my mind are body builders, muscle cars, and protein. I feel that all of those things are thought to be masculine because that is what we have been told to think. Protein is more than likely to be a body builders main source of diet. And muscle cars even have the word muscle in the name, which is a common term to describe something masculine.

2. Males are pressured to become masculine first off by lifting weights. Guys tend to think that just because they lift weights that they are automatically considered masculine, but realistically it can be harmful to them. Starting to lift weights at a young age can be detrimental to someone’s health. Another way that males are pressured to become masculine is that they think that getting into fights, makes them masculine. But a wise person once told me that a guy who always starts fights is just a weak, self-conscious person.

English HW4

Zach Penrose

English 101

2-15-12

1.  To a point I do agree with Schor because I do believe that our consumer culture is alienating some people.  People think that they need nice things to fit in with other people in our society.  I do agree that some people buy consumer goods just to fit in with other people.  Even if people don’t necessarily “have” the money, they still feel the need to buy things to fit in. 

2.  If people’s salaries were to increase I honestly do not think that it would solve anything.  Anytime people have money, they feel the need to spend it.  If their income increased, they would just end up buying more things, even if they don’t necessarily need it.  Prices would also increase most likely if the average salary was to increase so it wouldn’t even feel like people had that much more money.

3. One social factor is that people just simply want to seem like they are higher up on the totem pole, so to speak, then they actually are.  People will spend money even if they don’t theoretically have money to spend by using credit cards.  Another social factor is that everything keeps improving.  If you have a phone, and a new better phone comes out, people feel the need to go out and buy the newest version of everything.

4. Competitive consumption can definitely have an impact on someone’s identity.  Sometimes it can have a negative impact however.  For example if you have a lot of consumer goods, people tend to think that they are better than everyone else.  That can shape your identity into something bad, that no one wants to be around.   It can also have a positive impact on your identity as well.  For example if someone grew up having nothing, and got a good job and bought a lot of nice things, then they would be a positive example to everyone else that grew up with nothing.

HW 3 Moral Machines

Zach Penrose

English 101

2-12-12

 

1. In my opinion likelihood of a catastrophic incident described in the text is very likely.  We depend so much on technology these days, that people just keep building and building.  It is very easy for something like that to happen in our lifetime because technology is always increasing, and as far as we know, could have a mind of its own.  The public reaction would be would be devastated and terrified if they know that some sort of technology was to blame for the death of many people.  They would be concerned that if it happened once, then what is stopping it from happening again. 

2. I think that an artificial intelligence will be created someday.  I don’t approve of it, but I do think it will happen.  I’ve seen the movie I-robot, and I think that it is very possible for something like that to happen.  It would affect our human identities in a negative way.  If the create robots to do the jobs of humans then we will all be out of jobs because the robots could do them for free. That is mainly why I don’t find the need for artificial intelligence.

3. There are of course some positives and negatives of artificial intelligence however.  They could do the chores, and everyday annoying tasks that us humans have to do, for example cleaning the house and doing laundry.  But with positive effects, there is always room for some negative effects as well.  Who knows what could happen if we create an artificial intelligence.  They could one day put us out of jobs, and take over the world.  I know that sounds far-fetched, but it could very well happen with the rate of technology increases. 

4. Many of times I have had technology fail, mainly computers.  My computer always gets disconnected from the internet, which sometimes causes me to not be able to do my homework.  Also it freezes sometimes which is really annoying and cause me to have to start what I’m doing all over again.