RCL 5

Kars for Kids is a car donation organization whose profits go to educating children on their Jewish heritage in order to preserve a more well informed generation of people of the Jewish religion. They became known nationally upon releasing that god awful radio jingle that played seemingly nonstop on every radio station ever to exist. If you’re one of the few people who has managed to make it this far without hearing it, please allow me to ruin that for you by leaving the link to a 10 hour loop of the song right here. I apologize.

On their website they really get too deep into logical arguments. They start off on their “About” page with a cliche (that they admit is a cliche in the following sentence) about children being our future and how we have to invest in them in order to foster a brighter community for tomorrow by giving them the resources and know how to be active and willing participants in their community.

Most of their information on why you should choose them for your donation are centered around pathos rather than logos, which makes sense given that most people donate to charities they feel connected to rather than the charities that make the best argument as to why they’re worth hard earned money. The charity continues by saying that community has a huge impact on shaping kids into who they are. They then say that if they manage to foster a better community today, the effects will be felt down the road as better communities would in turn shape better people.

They also use their convenience and methods to show why they should be used. They promise the car you donate will be picked up within 48 hours and boast that they don’t use a middleman to transport the vehicle so all money goes to the charity.

Persuasive Essay Draft

It happens every autumn Sunday. Some poor receiver running a crossing route over the middle of the field goes up to catch a pass only to take a shot to the head from the nearest safety or linebacker. While many fans get excited over plays like these and for years plays like that were just considered hard-nosed football, nowadays the players, fans, and league are increasingly aware that these hits are causing irreversible damage to the players that take them and occasionally the ones that deliver them. Sadly, for years the league knew of the effects these hits could have and for years they swept that knowledge under the rug to avoid player and fan backlash. Now, the league is drastically increasing the rules to ensure player safety, forbidding any types of blows to the head of defenseless player and most recently forbidding use of the helmet while tackling. Football is obviously an incredibly violent sport and many fans of big hits argue that all these rules should go away because the players know what they’re signing up for, but it is the league’s job to ensure player safety to the best of their ability and head injuries are their number one concern.

Paragraph 1: Summarize a brief history of the NFL CTE cover up controversy. Timeline, important figures in both the cover up and the exposing of said cover up. (Pretty much a summary of the movie concussion.)

Paragraph 2: Science behind the concussion and cte issue and what preventative measures are being taken by the league and the players.

Paragraph 3: Opposition from owners and fans to rule changes as well as argument as to why this opposition is not only wrong but borderline sadistic.

Paragraph 4: Closing as to why it is the National Football League’s duty to protect its players to the best of its ability and make sure they limit the long term mental effects of the game.

Conclusion: Summary of argument and closing statements on the matter.

Deliberation Reflection

Our deliberation focused on the topic of sex ed from the perspective of 3 different issues, those issues being mental health associated with sex ed, social stigmas about sex, and sexual respect. Each topic was discussed at length among the group and those who came to listen in and voice their opinions. While we had some idea of where we would try to drive the conversation after presenting each topic, we were surprised with how the discussion went sometimes. People obviously have a variety of views and knowledge on this topic and some of them, especially from the ladies who worked in this field. I think we got a lot more discussion and legitimate education out of our deliberation than anyone was expecting, certainly more than I was expecting myself. There was disagreement, as was expected and pretty much necessary for the deliberation to be effective, but it was entirely respectful and informative and more importantly never got to a point of contention. With so many people in the room it’s nearly impossible to reach a conclusion as a group, and it’s difficult to even reach a legitimate consensus, but for the most part it seemed we managed to do this. In terms of mental health, most people in the room seemed to agree that steps should be taken to ensure the mental health in children and young adults in any way possible, and it seemed to be the consensus that teaching sex ed more in depth and positively would only help this matter. The social stigma part of the discussion had more disagreement than the other two. This discussion unsurprisingly circled mostly around stigmas about sex between genders, which naturally led to people disagreeing very strongly. The final part of the deliberation was far less controversial. It was generally agreed upon that sexual respect should be instilled in children from a young age. Overall this felt like a very successful deliberation that will hopefully have a positive impact on the community.

RCL 2

Sex education in the United States is a mess. The mandates on the subject are very vague and loose, and many developing students have suffered because of it. Under informed kids are at higher risk for STDs and teen pregnancies than students with more thorough sex ed. Two articles I read on the topic that interested me were “What’s The State Of Sex Education In The U.S.?” and “The Sex Study That Could Alter Our Understanding Of Campus Assault“. According to the first article, almost 100 percent of American parents support stronger sex education in middle school and high school. Only 34 states have a mandated policy to teach students about HIV and only 24 have a mandated sex ed class. In those states the guidelines are not remotely clear and do not require schools to teach much specifics, just that there is a sex ed class. The specifics of what has to be taught is pretty much entirely left up to the individual school districts which obviously leads to a gap in knowledge from school to school and especially from state to state. The second article is more about how college students interact with each other. It states much of their behaviors are crystal clear warning signs of students who either did not receive proper education on consent and harassment or even more frighteningly, none at all. Rape statistics in colleges are frightening across the board so if middle and high schools can do something to help that they absolutely should. The second article really shows the effects of the lack of sex ed discussed in the first article. We could use the information in this article in a number of ways. We could very easily use it to show cause and effect which would be effective and eye opening to our audience. There are a number of ways to work that information in but I feel that’s the best one.

RCL 1

The title of our deliberation is going to be “Let’s Talk About Sex (ed) Baby.” It’s a bit on the corny side but it’s memorable and it was all we had. It should definitely grab the attention of people reading it.

Our deliberation is about sex education in schools in the United States, mainly focusing on high school sex ed classes but not ignoring the less detailed forms of sex ed given in middle and elementary schools. We are looking at this issue through 3 different approaches. The first approach will be focusing on the medical aspect of sex ed. STI’s, vaccinations, and how to practice safe sex will all be looked at. The second approach will look at social stigmas surrounding sex and education.The third approach is going to be looking at sex ed in terms of what consent is and how we can make sure to keep all sexual encounters safe and consensual.

My role is being in the summary and outreach mini team. I am going to be finding and reaching out to various people and organizations from this area and try to get them to come to our deliberation. We’ll also be providing a summary and post deliberation questions for people.

Right now my mini team and I are working on a flyer to hang up at popular spots around campus to hopefully entice them to show up and listen to what we have to say. The other day in class we found and listed a bunch of local organizations we want to ask to come listen. Tomorrow we will probably find a time to get together and contact these people to hopefully convince them to come. After that we’ll be coming up with post deliberation questions for our topic and then creating and providing a summary of all 3 of our approaches.

This I Believe

I have never been a normal kid. Ever since I was young I always noticed that I was just a little different from the kids I went to school and played sports with. Like a lot of kids who felt like outsiders, I spent much of my childhood as a very shy and self conscious kid. In pre school it got so bad that I could barely even talk to some people. After a bit of therapy I got past that, but I was still no social butterfly. I was still different. And children aren’t exactly the most understanding people when it comes to accepting differences. I got made fun of for a number of things. How skinny I was and my awkward personality were the primary targets. For years this went on and I always took it very personally. Each insult struck me hard. Then 8th grade rolled around. After years of feeling like an outcast and shying away from every insult that came my way, I started to take a look around me. I realized that kids that age pretty much make fun of everyone, and that I shouldn’t take every insult to heart.

It was just dumb luck that this personal revelation came just after I started getting into comedy, especially in the form of late night talk shows, my favorite being Conan O’Brien. I was inspired with how this lanky goofball managed to get up in front of millions of people and shamelessly mock himself in every way imaginable. That made me realize that the secret to overcoming my insecurities wasn’t to push them down and hope nobody notices them. The secret is to own them, accept and embrace them. I stopped letting my insecurities bother me and instead began to poke fun at them myself. Some people misconstrue this as a coping mechanism for self loathing, but I feel it’s just the opposite. Robin Williams, another favorite of mine, once said, “The world is open for play, everything and everybody is mockable, in a wonderful way.” What he is saying here, what has become my philosophy, is that life is better lived when filled with laughter. We all face pressures and insecurities, but they can all be made less daunting or crippling with humor.

I still have many of the same imperfections I had years ago, but instead of letting them become insecurities, I make them my very own punchlines, and I am happier because of it.

Contract

Group Members: Sophia Boudreau, Cameron McGovern, Matthew Hladik, Henry Deteskey, Mitchell Dobbs, Emilio Olay.

 

Topic: The commercialization of Christmas and other holidays

 

As a member of this group, I will take equal and fair responsibility of my assigned duties to make sure that this project is finished on time and completed to the best of our group’s abilities. We will conduct interviews, research, and will observe major shopping centers. We will try to understand the different ideologies between age groups to attempt to come to a consensus.

 

Signed,

Matthew Hladik

Sophia Boudreau

Emilio Olay

Mitchell Dobbs

Henry Robert Deteskey IV

 

http://www.newsweek.com/black-lives-matter-black-christmas-capitalism-724309

 

The Commercialization of Christmas

 

Group Members: Sophia Boudreau (spb5605@psu.edu), Henry Deteskey, Mitchell Dobbs (mfd5415@psu.edu), Matthew Hladik, Cameron McGovern (cpm5559@psu.edu), Emilio Olay (eso5042@psu.edu)

 

Group Responsibilities:

 

  1. Sophia – Any and all video editing, technology responsibilities, and filming
  2. Henry –
  3. Mitch – Research collection and synthesis. Aid in presenting and constructing script.
  4. Matt –
  5. Cam – Help find clips and images to use in the video and help with the writing for the video
  6. Emilio – Research collection and synthesis. Aid in writing script.

 

Work Timeline

 

Thursday, November 30th – collect sources and begin to work on the ideal way to frame the commercialization of christmas and various other holidays. Video clips, articles, interviews, etc. will be searched for and collected, and placed into a google doc for group accessibility

 

Tuesday, December 5th – research will be finalized, with portions of the project divided up amongst group members Cam, Matt, Henry, Emilio, and Mitch. Each presenting member will be required to know the particular aspect of the project that he is responsible for discussing. Each member will speak for roughly the same amount of time, eventually committing the topics at hand to memory for Sophia to film. Filming will hopefully get started during this class session or shortly thereafter.

 

Thursday, December 7th – Presentation of various aspects will occur, with Sophia filming. If not during the class session, filming and editing will take place on Friday, December 8th, or when the group has time to assemble and present in an ideal location. Editing and revising will occur during this session.

Friday, December 8th – Sunday, December 10th – presentations, filming, editing, and the remaining facets of the project will be completed and finalized, with a final product produced by the end of the day on Sunday, December 10th. Editing and revising will occur during this session.

RCL 9: TED Talk Script

Comedy is a deeply routed facet of our society. Records of comedians go back all the way to Greece in 425 B.C., and in all likelihood extend back even further. As with literally everything that has existed in this time period, comedy has undergone multiple drastic changes to its style and form.

There have been major stylistic changes in comedy since its creation, but the changes that it has undergone in just the last 70 years are some of the most drastic and most civically intriguing. Comedy in the post-war era was very limiting creatively. Foul language was a huge no-no, language relating to the bathroom was right out. Words relating to sex? Forget about it. But those constraints became less and less stringent as the years went by. By the mid 80’s comedy was becoming less and less family friendly.

Comedy today often talks about social and political issues in unflattering ways, constantly employs foul language, and does absolutely nothing to avoid topics that are controversial in nature.

The controversy and vulgarity are extremely polarizing in today’s society. Many people think that comedians shouldn’t discuss these topics.

Society has a huge effect on comedy and comedy has a huge effect on society.

Popular comedy says a lot about our society. It shows what we think is funny, what we’re comfortable joking about and laughing at. It shows how far comedians will go to get a reaction out of the audience.

Why is comedy becoming more inappropriate?

What caused this shift?

Comedy is an ever-changing art, even more so than many others. We, as a society, shape it so that it, in return, can shape us.

RCL 8

For centuries now, humans have developed countless forms of entertainment. One of the most lasting and timeless of those forms is comedy. Since the dawn of civilization, people have sought out laughter for entertainment. While the idea of comedy is timeless, comedic styles have shifted drastically through the ages, especially in the last 50 or so years. What does this shift say about us? About our society?

In 60’s comedy was family friendly.Comedians rarely swore and told jokes about topics that were appropriate for most ages.

Comedians rarely swore and told jokes about topics that were appropriate for most ages.

Nowadays popular comedy is a much more raunchy and inappropriate brand that brings up questions about society.

Comedians constantly swear and joke about very controversial topics.

Comedy has become a form of entertainment known for causing controversy.

Comedians constantly push boundaries that can either get a laugh or enrage people.

Should we return to a time where comedy was more family friendly or should we allow them to continue to cause us to ask questions about ourselves?

 

Comedy is a reflection of our society. Comics write things that we laugh at.

Our culture is more comfortable now laughing about controversial topics than we did in the mid 20th century.

But why?

Is it because we have become numb to serious topics? Is it a coping mechanism for the general public? Are we just harder to offend than we were?

These questions are hard to answer but are very important. I believe the shift is a combination of the first two reasons. Offending people, if anything, is easier than it was in the 60’s. But I believe people cope with humor more than they used to. This coping has caused some people to become numb to serious situations and make jokes in especially poor taste.

RCL 7-It’s What I Do

Addario includes many powerful photos in her book. Seeing as she is a photographer telling her stories, this comes as no surprise. This is because Addario knows how powerful of an effect images can have on an audience. While many of the photos in the book had an effect on me, none were more profound than these two. Starting on top, this picture is really devastating. Thinking about that poor man dealing with all the dead is just tragic. My mind goes to thinking if he knew or was close to any of those people. I wonder if any of those lost were his loved ones. I have tried but I can’t even begin to imagine what I’d do if I was in his position. Now the kid, this one really hits me hard. Seeing his battered face is one thing, but those will heal. Seeing the expression on his face, the pain in his eyes, that’s what gets me. By around the age 8 or so, this kid has had experiences no person should ever have to. He has likely lost family and friends at an unfairly young age for no good reason. Those are the wounds that cut deepest, that will take longest to heal. This photo truly captures all of that at once.

In terms of my own blog, I have already begun to incorporate photos and videos to improve the quality of the blog. Addario knows that images can have a profound impact on a viewer and, as you probably already know, my blog is about movies, which can use imagery to achieve profound effects in the same way. Last blog I used videos to show scenes that I was talking about because, even though I could go on for pages about them, it will never compare to seeing it for yourself.