The Rights Of Woman Response

I really enjoy the fact that she wants to encourage women to make themselves equal to man. Its really important to stress that women dont have to always be cared for by the man, in reality i believe thats its more the woman taking care of the man than the other way around. Wives are supposed to cook for the man clean and even clean the mans laundry so what if he brings a paycheack home to pay the bills, women are the ones that do all of the reall work. In reality though most women do have a job and dont stay home these days and have just as much will power as men to be just as sucsessfull as them. Just because some decide that they are not as equal as men doesnt mean that females should belittle themselves by saying " oh im too weak to lift this" or 'im not smart enough to do that" they should try thier best to be equals and ask for help when they truly need it. Women should be able to hold themselves equal with men because if not then we are almost no better than slaves to be ordered around.  Wollstonecraft's use of words confused me though, probably because it was written in 1792 and i just dont understand the dialogue fully, but thats ok because i understood the concept she was trying to get across. Her essay aslo brings to my attention the reaction this must have brought to the women of her time. They must have been appaled by the idea of being equals with men, and thought it imposible to change the role of women. I think womens desire to be equal was in evitable, and is still going on today. Soon there wont be any more descrimination between genders, and it may even take a couple generation to fully be that way.

Response On Signs And Symbols

In Signs and Symbols there is major differences in how animals and humans use signs and symbols. Langer states that " a signs causes us to think or act in face of the thing signified, whereas a symbol causes us to think about the think symbolized." She also explains how we use both signs and symbols and how animals only use signs to communicate and read thier surroundings. I believe this to be very true, and it is amazing to think that we can still communicate with an animal even though the do not speak, thanks to signs. It's also curious to me why can't animals use symbols too? What makes them not understand the concept of symbols? Or if there is any possible way for them to learn symbols? It may just be that animals simply cannot grasp language which most definitly separates humans from animals. As Langer says " The birth of language is the dawn of humanity." By using our words to symbolize a feeling or concept humans can easily communicate and acually think and contemplate over something. Which is trully great because it sets us apart form any living thing on this planet, and makes each and every one of us different because we can think about different things and like different things. It's scary to think, what if we couldn't use symbols? The human race would probly resemble any animal group found in the world. It really makes me think about the other differences humans and animals have. One difference I especially like is how animals evolve to suit thiere needs in the wild, whereas humans evolve the things around us to adapt to our needs. Its possible that humans are able to adapt the things around us because we can use symbols in such a way that we find new ways to do things by thinking or talking about the problem that faces us to make our lives more comfortable. For me i think this essay really stresses the importance of language and where humans would be without it, and also the differences in how animals and humans comunicate and understand things using signs and symblos. 

The Cove

The Cove was an intense documentary. I believe that they structured the film in such a way to capture the attention of people and to make them feel strongly that dolphin slaughter is very wrong on many levels. The director filmed the scenes more like an action movie more than the typical "boring" "not-very-exciting" documentary. They used night vision scenes to pull viewers in and depict danger as the people were sneaking into the dolphin coves to plant their rock cameras to uncover the unethical killing of dolphins. The film makers probably left out the not so exciting scenes because they wanted to have their audience on the edges of their seats. Also every time they drove somewhere they were always being followed by other vehicles which also contributed to the action factor of the movie. By making the film more action based i think the movie was very successful in getting viewers to want to get involved and feel passionate towards eradicating killing of dolphins.
A New York Times reviewer described the film as a "trojan horse" I think the writer used this term because they used cameras disguised as rocks to infiltrate the cove to get real sound and video footage with out being noticed. Just like the trojan horse the cameras were used to bypass the coves barriers and reveal information to the public.
I think the over all reaction of the Japanese would by total shock. Little to no Japanese residents probably knew that dolphins were being slaughtered and being sold for their meat (disguised as whale meat). I would hope that the Japanese people would jump at the chance to stop the slaughter since it is very unethical and because the meat isn't even good to eat because it has such high mercury levels. Yet even the Japanese head of whale protection was in denial that dolphins are being slaughtered there. I believe that many Japanese would also be in denial upon watching The Cove.

Salvation

Hughes feels the impending pressure to "come to jesus" and be "saved" as he attends his church's revival. He is eventually the last one to stand an be saved but he felt that he didn't feel anything only the pressure to conform and be apart of his church. If Langston had denied he probably would have been shunned for his actions. Why does he eventually conform to something he didn't believe in? Why do we sometimes lie to ourselves to become a part of a group? I believe he stood up for the soul purpose to not be left behind and looked down upon by his church. He choose to keep his stature and thus become apart of his church. We as people may do it for other reasons like, going along with your family's, friends, and churches views. People seem to go along with these two groups even at the cost of their own unhappiness, or in Langston's case
Langston's faith in god is also put to the ultimate test (as is our own everyday) by enduring the revival. He comes to the point where he decides if he really believes in God. It's a point in which he truly decides something for himself. I like this idea of deciding for yourself because religion is one of the only things you can truly decide on. You either  believe or don't believe. It's totally up to you. People can still go to church but it doesn't necessarily mean they actually believe in god. Sure some of the stories in the bible teach good morals but does the idea of god being there have to come with it?

A Response to "Souls On Ice"

Metaphors are one of my favorite aspects of writing, along with irony. In Mark Doty's "A Display of Mackerel" (which he explains in " Souls On Ice") he uses metaphors in his poem that really makes his writing come to life from his point of view. Doty breaks down his poem in a way that shows how he felt gazing at the mackerel. I like the way he used short descriptive words in the poem to draw out the exact feeling of the mackerel at that time. He also mentions the fact that when we look at something and are captivated by it we seem to never get that specific feeling back by looking at the same object twice. It really makes me wonder how much i miss when viewing an object, but it also makes me great full because i can always learn more from something even if I've looked over it a thousand times. Its like looking at your favorite scenery your breath is always taken away when you look at it again, you get the same feeling but its now more familiar and you take the time to look at every detail. Doty also explains how there is a subject-beneath-the-subject how one or two words can mean two or more meanings, which i though was interesting because now it opens up the thought of everything we read or look at has multiple meanings behind it. In the last stanza in Doty's poem it says "How happy they seem , even on ice, to be together, selfless, which is the price for gleaming." this arises a thought about how we are all the same yet we are individuals at the same time (which Doty thought of too). Even in a big group we are thought of to be the same but when we stand on our own we become something entirely different, an individual. Through that individuality I think we become alone, yet not alone because we have others that are similar to ourselves. In this sense are we just a small unimportant spot on a larger painting or is there more to being a group? Maybe we feed off the group to stay sain as individuals, drawing strength and support from them to make us feel complete....

Music Can Be Art Too

     So i chose APlace Where You Go To Listen as the art pice i am writing about. It is composed by John Luther Adams and took from 2004-06 to create. He created it by using computers to make sounds corresponding with what is happening seismically and the fluctuations of the earths magnetic field. The room is located on the second floor of the museum next to the large rock carving of the polar bear. Inside the walls are white with a high ceiling, and covering one wall is a slightly curving square depression in the wall with colored lighting set into the top and bottom. Best of all there is a wooden bench in the middle of the room so you can just sit and listen.  On the walls are about ten speakers resonating the sound of the earth into the room. The bell like sounds comes from the top and that represents the earths magnetic field, then there is booming bass like sounds in the background which represents the seismic activity. The colored wall then sets the mood corresponding with the sun and moon's movement. All together i think room and music are perfectly put together to represent the sounds of the earth.
       Now on to the question i'm supposed to answer about this pice of art. What do you feel or experience as you view the image? My feeling for this pice runs very deep as i sat in that room. I felt like through listening to the music i became one with the earth and was able to bask in all its glory. I some how felt the music was a part of my life as it should be with every ones. It described what i lived on (the earth) and the air that i breathed in what no words could explain. I could look and hear how the earth was feeling through looking at the screen of color, and listening to the music before me. When i left the room all i could think of as i looked at all the other art in the museum was how that one room could have such an impact on how i now viewed the land scape around me. So before i left the museum i went back to listen more. I could tell right away that it was playing a sightly different tune, and it made me think of how the world is an ever changing place and that no moment is the same. Walking outside and actually looking at the landscape and the sky above me amazed me even more from when i walked in, i felt like i could still hear the resonating sound of the ground and the bell like chiming above me. "Everything around me is so alive" i said to my self, it made me truly appricate life and the change it goes through. That room will have an everlasting effect on my view of the land around me, and whats great about it is that i can carry it with me anywhere i go and know that the earth speaks to everyone of us. We are always apart of its existence, just as its existence is a part of ours, both deserve the greatest respect.

The Three Places

     The first place our class went to was a view point on campus just a short walk  from our class. There is a small parking lot to my right,  on my left is the way i came from my classroom, in front of me i can see in the distance hills, houses and part of town, and behind me a pathway leading to a building with the forest in close quarters. My favorite part of this place (an most out door places) is the horizon, particularly because i love the feeling of looking out into the distance, and because i know that there is always an animal near by. The very first thing that is different about this place from the others is the fact that it is out doors and that i've never been there before. Its snowy, cold (which some people might hate) but thats fine with me, and its a place i have never been. This place can shape the way i and others feel, or even how to spend our time, if people ever want to come back to this view point. I definitely  makes me want to be outdoors more and for summer to hurry up and get here.
     The second place we went too was the woods center. Of course indoors is a lot warmer and more comfortable there are manny places to sit in the woods center, and lots of seating can mean only one thing, there are people here. Unlike the view point where there wasn't very many people, there is an increased amount here, but yet it is not over crowded. There is all kinds of things in here pictures, plants, a place to get food, the sound of the voices. I think a lot of people come here because they like the atmosphere, it's very comfortable and has a laid back air to it, and there is always some thing to do here. Some might not like it because they might like a different place all together or somewhere thats more secluded and personal, where as the woods center is very public and open.
     The third place is my place. You can call it the wilderness, the out doors, outside any one of those will do. Anywhere there is sky above me ground beneath me, that is my place. I could describe this place in a multitude of ways with trees, rocks and grass, even snow on the ground. Mountains to climb, rivers to swim across, and trails through the woods to explore. So much could be discovered here in my place. But some may not like the outdoors because it's foreboding or possibly dangerous, or they just don't like the outdoors. It is very different from being indoors because indoors it feels so closed off from the wilderness, but outdoors i feel free to do as i please and i enjoy its wide open space that goes on for miles.

    My home is the house where i grew up in.