Writing

Wright feels gratified after sharing his writing because he finally feels as if he's done something that's uniquely his and his alone. It gives him a sense of self-accomplishment. When the girl doesn't understand why he would write something or what it means, it makes Wright feel as if he's accomplished something profound- as if he's finally beginning to understand part of what part of his life means. So Wright feels smart enough to have surpassed someone's understanding like he's getting close to understanding something greater

Paralysis

When his mother gets paralyzed, Wright starts to lose interest in things that interested him before- like hanging out with his 'gang'. He feels like he has suddenly grown up. He's worried for his future. And later, in the end of the chapter, he explains that his mother's paralysis made his suspect that life wasn't intrinsically good; that there was suffering and it was meaningless. It made him want to try and understand what can't be understood.

I think that he feels like this because so far, his mother has been the one consistent adult in his life. He getts angry at her and confused with her, but she's still his mother and the only adult who hasn't left. His father ran off with another woman. He doesn't like Granny. His Aunt Maggie went off with a Professor to Detroit after his Uncle Hoskins got killed. He can depend upon his mother. Then when she becomes unable to help him, he has to be independent for himself. Because he's only twelve, it shakes his mind up more than it would if he were older and makes him wonder and suspect everything.

"Cultural Heritage"

Wright says it was his ‘cultural heritage’ to dislike Jews. Relate that to his own experiences.

In his life, Wright has been part of the oppressed population so far. People look down on him and treat him like he treats the Jews. So he knows what it feels like to be made fun of and disliked for being a minority, though he hasn't experienced it as much yet in the book as he will. So I find it strange that he can't empathize with them and realize what he's doing. So even though he hates whites for what they do to blacks, he treats Jews the same way.

Hunger

Original answer: Wright is really hungry because his father left his family because of some woman. They (his father and the woman) live away from Wright, his brother and his mother and don't help them, even with child support. At first, there's no food because there's no one working for money. Later on, his mother works and there's some food, but not much. So he doesn't have any food to eat and so is hungry.

Then we talked in class and found out there was a deeper meaning besides the fact that he was just plain hungry.We talked about how he was hungry for attention and knowledge and something he didn't know yet. I totally did not get that from the book, but I understand it now.

Are schools necessary?

I think that schools aren't necessary, especially if they're run like Gatto says they are, for the most part. (After all, homeschoolers do just fine, as he points out. And homeschoolers don't have to be just you and your siblings taught by you parents. There are homeschooling groups for the social part, where you gather at people's houses. Homeschoolers can join groups for more social interaction. You might have to be more motivated as a homeschooler, but they do work). I've never been to a public school, so I'm not sure if the 'Prussian' system is actually the norm or if it is just an exaggeration for argument's sake. My suspicion is that it is not acutally like that for the most part. Still, if the purpose of schools is to learn, both academically and socially, then schools aren't necessary. People can learn in groups, in unregimented educational systems, etc. However, as in some parts of the world, the purpose of an education is also to learn sanitation, health, good habits, etc. If one comes from a family in which all that is taken for granted, then that's fine. Or if not, and one goes to a learning place with kids/adults who know all that, then that's fine too. However, whether schools are necessary or not really depends on where you are in the world. But generally, they're not. And 'warehouse' public schools certainly are not.

Education Value

I value parts of the nonacademic education we get at school, in the way that Mann describes it. He has divides up school into parts like physical education, intellectual education as a means to remove poverty, political education, moral education and religious education. I do value religious education in the way he describes it: not converting students, but teaching them how to decide which religion is right. Learning about different cultures and religious is helpful in understanding conflicts in the world; being forced to believe in something is not. Therefore, I think the way that that works in school is a good thing.

I value the intellectual education as a means to remove poverty/to get rich a little bit. I'm not badly off, but since I'm not rich either, and if you do well at school, you get to go to college and graduate school and get a job, then you get rich, so I value school for that. I value some intellecutal education for its own sake- but Mann doesn't talk about that. I value the political education part. It makes a lot of sense to have to know what to vote and how to think about the world before you actually have a say in government. (Even if your say is negligible on its own and not en masse.)

The political education we get is a good thing too, in my opinion, for the same reasons Mann says. It's essential to know how the government works and what the issues are before you actually vote.

As for the physical and moral education part- no, I really don't value it. I don't need to learn sanitation and health- common sense is enough there. I have a sport- I don't need physical education. Mann's praise of it just seems strange. I don't value the moral education, either. Maybe I lack school spirit or whatever, but our Core Values seem more like common sense and basic good things to do and not like something that needs to be instilled into the my head. I don't feel I need a moral education at school because I know what's right and wrong. I think it's good that schools encourage being a good person, but I don't really care or think much about it.

Commercial Comments

I thought the commercials from class were all very creative and very good. The two that I remember most are the hat one and that iball one. I remember the hat one because its message seemed clear (hats for everything! buy hats!), yet wasn't too obvious. It showed how hats were needed and for lots of things, and that that store could supply them, yet it didn't just say 'we have hats for everything'- it actually showed how hats were needed for everything. The hats were cool, too.

I also remember the iball commercial, mostly because I think that that's a very creative thing to come up with, that seems to be something that really would appeal to high school students. Also, I thought the product name was cool too, playing on the fact that everybody automatically assume that anything that starts with an 'i' is great. Or almost everybody, anyway. I also liked how it caught the viewer's eye by having Brittney jump in and out of the screen. And then Maggie's voiceover at the end was totally like what happens at the end of real commercials, too.

Pottery Barn

The way Pottery Barn apparently thinks up its designs and plans for products is really interesting, and I think it works really well. They go out and find cool-looking objects, listen to complaints about existing other place's products and look at how furniture is set up in places like restaurants. I think that that would give them a better idea of what people are looking for in products than simply selling plates because everyone like plates. I also think that it would be a really fun job to have.

It also seems fairly inevitable that Pottery Barn has decided to market to a larger audience. All for-profit businesses want to make as much money as possible (at least I think so), and selling first to children, then to teens would add a lot more business. The fact that the production team is trying to connect with the teen audience they want to sell to would probably make whatever things they come up with more appealing to the target audience.

Store

Explain the way in which the environment of a store you frequent tries to influence you.

A grocery/super-department store like Target, Marsh, Meijer's, Kroger's, Wal-Mart, etc., tries to influence you by being efficient. Some, like Target, have those things where you scan in your items to see how much they cost- so you don't have to 'waste energy' by finding and asking an employee. They have self-check counters for efficiency, and aren't architecturally artistic or creative or nice looking. They also usually have signs/posters advertising how cheap their prices are and what a good deal you get by buying there. They sometimes offer options in which if you do find somewhere else with a higher price, they'll refund your purchase or something. Some have music playing in the background. The music can be either elevator music or whatever radio station whoever is playing the sound system likes. During the early winter, though, they play Christmas music to make you feel all Christmassy and like buying presents. They offer holiday deals for most hlidays, too. So, all in all, those kinds of stores try to influence to buy there by being efficient, offering deals and making your visit 'enjoyable' by playing music. (Though the music really isn't noticeable.)

Superbowl

One Super Bowl ad I saw was one where giant carrier pigeons were carrying mail around. They had issues with that- they dropped things and threw cars through windows. Then two guys at the end said something like - "use FedEx". The ad compared non-FedEx mail service to useless giant pigeons and offered FedEx as a safe, effective way to send mail.

Another one I saw was one in which a girl in very tight shiny clothing was first walking, then dancing. A lizard followed her while she was walking. Then a whole bunch of lizards came and danced with her. It was a commercial for iLife water I think. It was geared to men a bit because of the girl (for obvious reasons), but it also could appeal to anyone because the lizards were cool and might be considered cute. I'm not sure exactly what the point of the lizards was, exactly, other than to get the viewer's attention.