Friday, March 13, 2009
Reflections on English 101D:
This had been a hard class for me. I am a very traditional person and writings that challenge my views put me on the defensive, it is who I am, or my identity, as it were, to challenge such thoughts, and I found a great deal that troubled me in the book, “Remix.” However, realizing that this is a diversity class, and that diverse views are expected, allowed me to fumble through the material.
To me, diversity is nothing more than a buzz word used to make people feel awkward about their own views and beliefs. In fact, it has been documented by many that diversity and multiculturalism are used by the politically correct segments of society to cause disharmony rather than harmony. As one example, this Quote from Richard Lamm in his essay, "How to Destroy American", he describes it this way. “I would establish dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would “celebrate diversity.” “Diversity” is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other–that is, when they are not killing each other. A “diverse,” peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together, and we can take advantage of this myopia.” This is the kind of thing that has happened to every society that has promoted diversity above national pride. So by looking at diversity the way I do, you can see why this has been a difficult class for me. These feelings are also what have remained in the back of my mind when addressing the assignments.
To me, diversity is nothing more than a buzz word used to make people feel awkward about their own views and beliefs. In fact, it has been documented by many that diversity and multiculturalism are used by the politically correct segments of society to cause disharmony rather than harmony. As one example, this Quote from Richard Lamm in his essay, "How to Destroy American", he describes it this way. “I would establish dual citizenship and promote divided loyalties. I would “celebrate diversity.” “Diversity” is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other–that is, when they are not killing each other. A “diverse,” peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together, and we can take advantage of this myopia.” This is the kind of thing that has happened to every society that has promoted diversity above national pride. So by looking at diversity the way I do, you can see why this has been a difficult class for me. These feelings are also what have remained in the back of my mind when addressing the assignments.
The book had its moments, however. The one story that sticks out is “Masks,” written by Lucy Grealy, as someone who has worked with children and is also working on my teaching degree, this story touched me very deeply. When I sub for the local schools in my area, I always seek out the one student who others turn away from. Seeking out the identity of this young person is very important to me because I know that others have not taken the time to do so. One boy in particular that I have been working with lately has been labeled a “problem child” by most of the teachers, and many of the students at the school, simply because he is struggling with a hard family life, and a move that has caused him to separate from members of his family.
In examining his situation the subject of community came to my mind as well. How does one come into a small community when there are problems in a way that the community perceives the newcomer? The readings in, “Remix,” did a good job of discussing different communities and what we expect from them. What does this young man look at when he looks at a community who is so willing to look the other way, rather than get to the bottom of what is troubling him? No act of kindness ever goes unrewarded, and I firmly believe that in the short amount of time I spent with him, that I saw an improvement in the way he viewed the community that I love.
So with all of this in mind I selected the four writing in my portfolio for very personal reasons. I will be using, my discussion board on, "The Mask", as my writers choice piece, the first timed writing piece from, "Remember the Titans", as my revision piece, Struggling for Tradition as my critical thinking piece, and finally my essay #3, on pop culture versus traditions as my voice and audience piece.
Hopefully by the time I have completed my E-Portfolio project, not only will I have a better understanding about how I see the world, but also how it sees me, and that my writing will reflect the constructive criticism I have received in the class from both my teachers and my peers.
Writer’s Choice Piece:
For my writers choice piece I chose my discussion board writing on, "Under the Mask". Anyone who reads this can feel the pain and anger this poor young child suffered through, and is still suffering today. As a society we put far too much emphasis on looks, and what makes matters worse, the looks that young boys and girls are striving for is unattainable. The size 0 model or the Arnold Schwarzeneggers of this world lead to destructive behaviors such as starving themselves to death, or taking steroids to make themselves bigger. It’s not surprising than that those around this scarred face girl would treat her as if she was a nobody. Unfortunately, I don’t see an end to the constant desire for these kids to be something they are not, rather than be happy with themselves for who they are.
The Mask
What strikes me at first is the fact that not only did her cancer cause changes in her life, it also put her life on hold. Friends that she had grown up with were curious but distant. She missed a great deal of what most kids learn in the social climate at school. Entering sixth grade is not and ideal time to begin to learn these valuable life lessons. “Most of sixth-grade consisted were children I’d grown up with. They were, for the most part, genuinely curious about that had happened to me. They treated me respectfully, if somewhat distantly.” What I found typical, however, was that even the kids who seem to have everything together are just as unsure of themselves as she was, but for a long time she did not understand this, most kids don’t. Everyone wants to be someone else or have the things that others have, not just her, and I think towards the end of her essay she came to realize this, and it somehow changed her outlook on life.
“My sister and her friends never had to worry about heir appearance, or so it seemed to me, so why didn’t they always feel as bold and as happy as I felt that night?” pg (43) Here we see her confusion about how others view themselves. Since her sisters did not have her deformity, they shouldn't have any problems, right. “For weeks I pictured the ruined estate where Zhivago wrote his sonnets, aware that the true splendor of the house was inextricably bound to the fact that is was ruined.” pg (44) Here the author is discovering that people, like things, can be both beautiful and ugly for the very same reasons. Although her deformity kept her from a normal life, it also caused her to see things differently, more profoundly.
“I viewed other people both critically and sympathetically. Why couldn’t they just stop complaining so much, just let go and see how good they actually had it?” pg (47) Here she is beginning to understand that each of us has a mask that we hide behind, something about our life, or ourselves, that we would like to change. Although she complains about it, she understands it perfectly.
Works Sited:
Latterell, Catherine. Remix, Reading and Composing Culture. Bedford/Saint Martin’s, Boston/New York, 2006
Revision Piece:
My revision piece is to try and do a better job on establishing the questions raised in the first timed writing piece, "Remember the Titans". The prompt asked us to question the differences of being an insider versus an outsider, and how the film affirms or challenges your own perspectives. My mistake in analyzing the movie was that I summarized along the plot lines of the movie to show the insiders and outsiders, instead of addressing how those in either situation were made to feel. As someone who has experience as an insider and an outsider, I can certainly relate to both the feeling of being part of a community, and the pain of living on the outside. In revising the piece I am going to make an attempt at rectifying these mistakes.
Remembering the Titan's
“Remember the Titans,” defines being an outsider as someone who is of a different race, who is thrown into a situation and is thus forced to find meaningful ways to deal with the problem. The movie introduces the audience into this dilemma from the very beginning of the story when the south does away with segregated schools in order to promote racial harmony. The problem is that while things look good on paper the reality of the situation is usually very different from the expected outcomes.
We see what can happen to a football team, a school, and an entire town when government tries to force a solution upon the populace. While I certainly agree that desegregation was valuable to the conscience of America, the people involved certainly had to deal with a myriad of problems.
The movie focuses on how a football team is forced to deal with not only the addition of several African Americans to the team. The existing players are filled with the emotions of having to deal with this. Many are afraid of losing their spot on the team, but many are reacting to the hate going on in the streets at the idea of having blacks in the community.
The coaches, on the inside, especially Coach Yoast views this all from the perspective of what is going to happen to his team as a result of the addition of new players. He looks on the team as his, he built it, he has coached it his way, and he is not going to let new players and the addition of a new coach have any effect on what he has planned for them.
Being an outsider, Coach Boone deals with the situation at hand by promoting unity, as he had done in the past among the players. He uses several techniques to accomplish this. First, he forces the athletes to share rooms with those of a different race in order for them to learn about each other. Second, he makes the team learn as much as they can about each other by telling them that if they are not able to answer specific questions about one another, then they will have three-a-day practices. Third, he uses the traditional camaraderie of the game of football to allow each member of the team to learn to rely on each other. Since Coach Boone has been an outsider all of his life, due to race relations at that time, he knew what his players were going through and did all that he could to make them comfortable. I also think because of the kind of the person he was, that he also felt what the insiders were afraid of, and he hoped that his strategies would work in addressing thier concerns as well..
While these strategies worked for the most part, there were still those unwilling to accept the newcomers. Coach Yoast faced situations where he was forced to choose between accepting the outsiders as part of the team, or working against them in order to further his own career. He ultimately made what was the best decision for his team, leaving out his own career objectives, which shows that he has grown though the experience and has come out of it a better man.
Not everyone was as willing as these great men to embrace this new world as a community in which they could all benefit as we see many forces at work within the school, and town, as the people who accepted the outsiders were ostracized from the rest.
The movie moves us along through a powerful series of events until we find ourselves cheering the outcome of how these problems were met and dealt with in constructive and lasting ways. “Remember the Titans,” gives us insight into how we can learn to deal with these problems within our own lives in order to not only help when we see an outsider tying to fit in, but also when we find ourselves in the outsider role.
In my dealings with those in my life, I will take the message of, "Remember the Titans", to find ways to promote unity among the students I work with. Cliques as communities are a very destructive force that causes hurt feelings and confusion. Things can happen in the blink of an eye to change the way these communities see its members. One who was assured of his or her place on the inside suddenly finds themselves on the outside with nowhere to turn. If I can find a way to help these kids see others for who they are, rather than who they pretend to be in order to be a part of a clique, perhaps the feelings of inferiority will lesson, and these kids can start to view themselves as worthwhile.
Critical Thinking Piece:
Are established traditions guiding influences or are they limiting? Wow, what a question. For my critical thinking piece, I took this question apart and looked at it from every conceivable angle. My answer to this question is that they are both, but for very good reasons. In a society that glorifies, “if it feels good do it,” perhaps having some limitations is an asset. America was founded as a Christian nation. In his famous "Gettysburg Address", Lincoln stated, “That all men are created equal.” And, our own pledge of allegiance clearly states, “Under God.” With these great words as an establishment of what it means to have a tradition of equality and morality, why then are our traditions questioned by so many. The answer, for me at least, is our traditions have shifted away to multiculturalism at any cost, rather than focusing on the benefits of being a member of this one nation.
Struggling FOR traditions!
Are established traditions guiding influences or are they limiting? Should we question the origins or purposes of our culture’s traditions?
Unfortunately, America is losing its sense of self in the glorification of multiculturalism and it has been shown time and time again that a country cannot stand when it loses the traditions, or guiding influences, that make it what it is.
I think the question should be, "Should we consider why some in this country work so hard to question the origins of our culture’s traditions?"
2. What takes precedence, our search for our own identity, or our adherence to our culture’s traditions?
We should find our identity within the traditions and make them our own.
3. If we shun our culture’s traditions, should we be shunned ourselves (or should we shun those who don’t follow them)?
Of course no one should be shunned for either accepting or not accepting our cultural traditions, however, it seems to me that more and more people are shunned when they choose to follow them.
4. When are pranks ok? Is society becoming more accepting of transgression?
Pranks are ok when they are harmless.
The most obvious answer is yes. Our society accepts transgressions by making those who don’t wish to tolerate these transgressions out to be the bad guys, all the while using clever catch phrases or labels to supress unwanted views.
Voice and Audience Piece:
When we examine pop culture, certain things come to mind, movies and television, music, and the media. No one can escape the effect that they have on our society, other than if one were to bury their head in the sand and block out any outside forces, as humans, this is impossible. Plato wrote about it in his work called, “The Cave,” when he relates how people look up and notice things around them, which in turn causes them to move out of the cave, and become a part of the world, to not do so is to die to oneself. But what we choose to take notice of can have a damaging affect on how we live our lives.
In my piece, “How Pop Culture is Eroding the Long Held Traditions of Faith,” I explore just one avenue of the affect it is having on our youth. Naturally, given that I have a deep love for these very precious young lives, my notice goes to them. In doing so, I used one of the best books out there in addressing the negative effects on how pop culture is hurting our youth, “The Marketing of Evil.” David Kupelian, who wrote the book, does an extraordinary job in laying out a case for the deceptive marketing ploys advertisers use to lure young people into believing cleverly despective messages by using techniques as devious as sending out young adults pretending to be teens in order to infiltrate and propagate these suggestive proposals to them.
I used this book to further the ideas in Catherine Latterall’s book, “Remix,” to show how insidious the pop culture can actually be to those children who are struggling to maintain their faith traditions in a culture that has abandoned everything they believe in.
After I planned on using this piece, I received feedback that I needed to broaden my scope, but in previous attempts, I have been told to narrow it. That is what I have done with this piece, and so I stand by its logical conclusion as I explore how pop culture challenges faith traditions.
How Pop Culture is Eroding the Long Held Traditions of Faith
Everywhere we look, whether it is in the movies, television shows, or the news media, we see the constant erosion of faith in our society. Instead of faith being a positive thing that guides us with a strong moral compass, we are taught, through pop culture, that faith is not only old fashioned and outdated, but only weak minded fools need faith in their lives to cope with life’s ups and downs.
“The constant attack is a well-orchestrated one achieved by the elite media, those who work with newspapers, radio stations, TV channels and other media whose employees believe that they are more intelligent than anyone else, (italics mine) as explained in David Kupelian’s book, "The Marketing of Evil", which was written to expose the fact that the moral decay which surrounds us is not mere happenstance and is not merely a product of the evolution of a higher society. Rather, evil and immorality have been carefully, deliberately, and often brilliantly marketed to us. Radicals, elitists, and pseudo-experts have sold us corruption disguised as freedom.” (Kupelian Preface 6)
In Kupelian's words, “The plain truth, is within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped, and sold to us as though it has great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity, and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive—in a word, evil.” (Kupelian 24)
For Instance, the MTV generation teaches that sex gets kids what they want and that they need to use it to that end. The programming has gone from mere music videos to outrageous sitcoms and talk shows meant to teach young men and woman that sex with many anonymous partners is ideal, and in that maintaining that lifestyle they are certain to live a pleasurable life without pain. One just needs to spend a short time viewing the destructive trends presented to our youth through the programming on MTV to see exactly what I am referring to here. The music videos show scantily clad girls gyrating across the television screens. As well as sitcoms like, Engaged and Underage, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Sex with Mom and Dad, and Sorority Girls, flaunt an in your face attitude to teens that tells them that it is ok, as long as it feels good. In stark contrast, the traditions of the bible teach them that they are to refrain from sex and keep themselves pure until the time of their marriage, so that we will have a happy fulfilled life by maintaining their self-worth and healthy bodies. In stating this, I am not a prude, if adults want to watch this kind of programming than at least they have the ability to decipher between what is on the screen and what the reality of life’s choices are, kids don’t have the same recourse, and constant bombardment of this type has its effects. At the same time, I know that things are going to happen in life that take us all down the wrong path, we are all sinners, I am one of the worst, but children have enough to deal with in their lives, they don’t need any help from those who want nothing more than to confuse our young ones for their own gains.
The same thing occurs with television shows such as "90210" and "Gossip Girl " where the love of money and greed is flaunted in front of our children who see only that these people have a great life filled with their every desire, something in sharp contrast to building up treasures in Heaven. God teaches that they are to live their lives in service of others, so that all can know that God loves them, especially at times when it seems that no one else does.
We also see in many movies that Christians are portrayed anywhere from just plain dumb, to evil people bent on enforcing their will on the entire world. A good example of this is Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Max Cady in, "Cape Fear". Throughout the movie we are exposed to the religious tattoos this psychopath has all over his body, while he seeks revenge against the defense counselor in his case and his family, the producers cleverly used these images to equate faith with extremism. Films like this one are quite common, but we rarely see a movie where a young person is looked up to for cherishing the deeply held traditions of his or her faith, and demonstrating how having faith in their life makes them happy and fulfilled, and even someone that others want to emulate.
However, it is not just these types of media that has made Christians out to be hate mongers. The news media plays a very important role as well with its slanted coverage, as we hear about the radicals who bomb an abortion clinic, or express their faith in ways that are contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ. We never see news items reporting the many ways Christians reach out to those who need their help. The traditional view of feeding the poor and clothing the naked is not considered newsworthy.
In our schools, the theory of evolution is taught as fact, even though the so called proof that is out there to support the theory is extremely flimsy, and often falsified in many cases. A prime example of this is the Piltdown Man’s forgery, when an orangutan jawbone was deliberately combined with that of a modern man. These and other data which debunk the evolutionary theory are kept out and never mentioned in school texts. The very definition of the scientific method is that there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation, however, the theory of evolution has many discrepancies. This leaves only an extremely flawed theory, leading to the inescapable conclusion that since there is nothing beyond this world, what difference does it make what we do while we are here. Creationism teaches that we are all cherished by our Creater, and that what we do does matter, but unless kids are taught the traditional Christian perspective at home, they will never fully grasp its life changing message. Any form of debate is stuck down by the ACLU who refuses any other explanation but one. Numerous cases have been brought to court to have both theories taught side-by-side, but the ACLU has been victorious in keeping Creationism out of the classroom, which leaves the question, “What are they so afraid of?”
In addition, Parents who want to instill the tradition of abstinence in their children are fought at every angle by associations that teach against abstinence. Associations such as Planned Parenthood, want to distribute condoms to kids as young as 13, and teach sex education to children as young as 5. Several newsworthy stories have come out about parent’s rights being subjugated by these organizations in the schools. For instance, David Parker was jailed and charged with criminal trespassing when he tried to get the officials at Estabrook Elementary School to provide parental notice when such lessons are going to be taught, so that he can have the option of pulling his child out of those classes.
Also, the tradition of fulfilling Christ’s commission here on Earth is attacked by the politically correct, who tell Christians to shut up and keep their views to themselves so that no one is offended, all the while perversion of any kind is hailed as liberating. A recent example of this has been brought to the forefront in the video, "Speechless, Silencing the Christians", which networks refused to air, and instead the producers had to air it on a website with the same name.
Along with all of this, political correctness has made even the deeply held tradition of sharing their faith something which our children shy away from due to fear of reprisals from teachers, school administrators, and the Parent Teacher Association. “The assumption is that this tradition can silence or disenfranchise people who do not share this particular viewpoint,” but what about the viewpoints of those who espouse them, are their opinions worth less? Where do we draw the line in keeping Christians from expressing their first amendment rights? (Latterell 182)
With so much working against them, however, I do see a silver lining. Some good things has come from all of the attempts through the use of pop culture to damage Christian's long help traditions, and it is that teens are fighting back for the rights they have been denied for far too long. The traditions of being able to talk about and share their faith to a hurting world are being looked at with new vigor, and are becoming staging grounds in order to offset the many deceptive pop culture images that are being propagated.
While pop culture is very influential in the lives of young people, by Christian teens standing behind the wonderful traditions of their faith, they can still reach past the negative influence of pop culture, and reach out to one hurting child at a time. And in so doing, begin to pave the way for expressing strong traditions of their own to share with their children.
“The constant attack is a well-orchestrated one achieved by the elite media, those who work with newspapers, radio stations, TV channels and other media whose employees believe that they are more intelligent than anyone else, (italics mine) as explained in David Kupelian’s book, "The Marketing of Evil", which was written to expose the fact that the moral decay which surrounds us is not mere happenstance and is not merely a product of the evolution of a higher society. Rather, evil and immorality have been carefully, deliberately, and often brilliantly marketed to us. Radicals, elitists, and pseudo-experts have sold us corruption disguised as freedom.” (Kupelian Preface 6)
In Kupelian's words, “The plain truth, is within the space of our lifetimes, much of what Americans once almost universally abhorred has been packaged, perfumed, gift-wrapped, and sold to us as though it has great value. By skillfully playing on our deeply felt national values of fairness, generosity, and tolerance, these marketers have persuaded us to embrace as enlightened and noble that which all previous generations since America’s founding regarded as grossly self-destructive—in a word, evil.” (Kupelian 24)
For Instance, the MTV generation teaches that sex gets kids what they want and that they need to use it to that end. The programming has gone from mere music videos to outrageous sitcoms and talk shows meant to teach young men and woman that sex with many anonymous partners is ideal, and in that maintaining that lifestyle they are certain to live a pleasurable life without pain. One just needs to spend a short time viewing the destructive trends presented to our youth through the programming on MTV to see exactly what I am referring to here. The music videos show scantily clad girls gyrating across the television screens. As well as sitcoms like, Engaged and Underage, My Super Sweet Sixteen, Sex with Mom and Dad, and Sorority Girls, flaunt an in your face attitude to teens that tells them that it is ok, as long as it feels good. In stark contrast, the traditions of the bible teach them that they are to refrain from sex and keep themselves pure until the time of their marriage, so that we will have a happy fulfilled life by maintaining their self-worth and healthy bodies. In stating this, I am not a prude, if adults want to watch this kind of programming than at least they have the ability to decipher between what is on the screen and what the reality of life’s choices are, kids don’t have the same recourse, and constant bombardment of this type has its effects. At the same time, I know that things are going to happen in life that take us all down the wrong path, we are all sinners, I am one of the worst, but children have enough to deal with in their lives, they don’t need any help from those who want nothing more than to confuse our young ones for their own gains.
The same thing occurs with television shows such as "90210" and "Gossip Girl " where the love of money and greed is flaunted in front of our children who see only that these people have a great life filled with their every desire, something in sharp contrast to building up treasures in Heaven. God teaches that they are to live their lives in service of others, so that all can know that God loves them, especially at times when it seems that no one else does.
We also see in many movies that Christians are portrayed anywhere from just plain dumb, to evil people bent on enforcing their will on the entire world. A good example of this is Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Max Cady in, "Cape Fear". Throughout the movie we are exposed to the religious tattoos this psychopath has all over his body, while he seeks revenge against the defense counselor in his case and his family, the producers cleverly used these images to equate faith with extremism. Films like this one are quite common, but we rarely see a movie where a young person is looked up to for cherishing the deeply held traditions of his or her faith, and demonstrating how having faith in their life makes them happy and fulfilled, and even someone that others want to emulate.
However, it is not just these types of media that has made Christians out to be hate mongers. The news media plays a very important role as well with its slanted coverage, as we hear about the radicals who bomb an abortion clinic, or express their faith in ways that are contrary to the teaching of Jesus Christ. We never see news items reporting the many ways Christians reach out to those who need their help. The traditional view of feeding the poor and clothing the naked is not considered newsworthy.
In our schools, the theory of evolution is taught as fact, even though the so called proof that is out there to support the theory is extremely flimsy, and often falsified in many cases. A prime example of this is the Piltdown Man’s forgery, when an orangutan jawbone was deliberately combined with that of a modern man. These and other data which debunk the evolutionary theory are kept out and never mentioned in school texts. The very definition of the scientific method is that there are no discrepancies between theory and experiment and/or observation, however, the theory of evolution has many discrepancies. This leaves only an extremely flawed theory, leading to the inescapable conclusion that since there is nothing beyond this world, what difference does it make what we do while we are here. Creationism teaches that we are all cherished by our Creater, and that what we do does matter, but unless kids are taught the traditional Christian perspective at home, they will never fully grasp its life changing message. Any form of debate is stuck down by the ACLU who refuses any other explanation but one. Numerous cases have been brought to court to have both theories taught side-by-side, but the ACLU has been victorious in keeping Creationism out of the classroom, which leaves the question, “What are they so afraid of?”
In addition, Parents who want to instill the tradition of abstinence in their children are fought at every angle by associations that teach against abstinence. Associations such as Planned Parenthood, want to distribute condoms to kids as young as 13, and teach sex education to children as young as 5. Several newsworthy stories have come out about parent’s rights being subjugated by these organizations in the schools. For instance, David Parker was jailed and charged with criminal trespassing when he tried to get the officials at Estabrook Elementary School to provide parental notice when such lessons are going to be taught, so that he can have the option of pulling his child out of those classes.
Also, the tradition of fulfilling Christ’s commission here on Earth is attacked by the politically correct, who tell Christians to shut up and keep their views to themselves so that no one is offended, all the while perversion of any kind is hailed as liberating. A recent example of this has been brought to the forefront in the video, "Speechless, Silencing the Christians", which networks refused to air, and instead the producers had to air it on a website with the same name.
Along with all of this, political correctness has made even the deeply held tradition of sharing their faith something which our children shy away from due to fear of reprisals from teachers, school administrators, and the Parent Teacher Association. “The assumption is that this tradition can silence or disenfranchise people who do not share this particular viewpoint,” but what about the viewpoints of those who espouse them, are their opinions worth less? Where do we draw the line in keeping Christians from expressing their first amendment rights? (Latterell 182)
With so much working against them, however, I do see a silver lining. Some good things has come from all of the attempts through the use of pop culture to damage Christian's long help traditions, and it is that teens are fighting back for the rights they have been denied for far too long. The traditions of being able to talk about and share their faith to a hurting world are being looked at with new vigor, and are becoming staging grounds in order to offset the many deceptive pop culture images that are being propagated.
While pop culture is very influential in the lives of young people, by Christian teens standing behind the wonderful traditions of their faith, they can still reach past the negative influence of pop culture, and reach out to one hurting child at a time. And in so doing, begin to pave the way for expressing strong traditions of their own to share with their children.
Works sited
Kupelian, David. The Marketing of Evil. New York, WND Books, August 2005
Latterell, Catherine. Remix, Reading and Composing Culture. Bedford/Saint Martin’s, Boston/New York, 2006
In Conclusion:
English 101D has been both challenging and rewarding. Although accepting criticism of one’s writing is hard, it is the natural process of becoming a better writer. In looking though the work of my peers, I see how each one came through the class with a better understanding of what it takes to make their writings both meaningful and clear. My hope is that others will look at my journey and come to the same conclusions.
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