No Place Like Home (click heels three times)

When Guterson says Green Valley is as much a verb as a noun, i think he is referring to the fact that not only is Green Valley a place, or home to many people, but is also a place of being. It has standards it must live up to according to many people's thoughts of what a gated community should be. On page 187, Guterson lists many rules of a gated community in order to "protect property values" this list includes the number of animals a resident may own, the exterior of the house, "plants in your yard, the angle of your flagpole, the size of your address numbers, the placement of mirrored glass balls and birdbaths." To many people, this may seem like an extreme exaggeration, but I know better. I have lived in such communities, and you have to pay thousands of dollars a year so a panel of rich snobs can tell you what you may or may not do with the house you paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for.
The tone of no place like home is extremely sarcastic. Guterson is literally shredding to pieces all people having to do with gated communities, from the builders to the owners. When he is interviewing home owners for example, he makes fun of the fact that they are deathly afraid of people finding out they said the things they did. He makes them seem extremely superficial. Another example is when he is talking about how gated communities really aren't that safe.
I believe that crime will be wherever humans reside. Simple metal structures will not keep out the hatred, jealous, ambitious species we have become, though they try. I live outside of Memphis, which has one of the highest crime rates in the country. My suburb has its stalkers, rapists, and robberies, but it is at a far less rate.

Home

1. i have 2 little sisters i would die for, they can be annoying little shits but they are growing into amazing girls and I would like to think that i had a lot to do with that.
2. a mother and father who would do anything for us
3. I have been with my boyfriend for two and a half years and am proud to say we have the most amazing relationship of anyone I know, adults included.
4. My family, boyfriend included, are all very close. We have been through our share of fights and pain but in the end, we pull eachother out.
5. My vain father is going bald.. haha

A different house every four years

Different cities, different states

Different rooms, colors, designs

A burned down tree fort

Nothing to hold on to,

Except family.

What Makes A Guy Hot

I do not care how attractive you are, if you can't hold a conversation I will not find you remotely attractive. I am very into intellectual guys and this is evident by my past relationships and the guy I have been with for two years and some change. I like personality with a whole lot of sarcasm and I like to laugh, so if you can make me laugh I will fall in love. When it comes to looks, I am not too picky. I used to be obsessed with blue eyes until I started dating blake (my 2 and a half yearer) who has brown eyes that can only be described as soulful. I prefer tall strong guys but I am not too picky.

Context Video

You have to know who these people are, their backrounds, what they believe in. You have to know what tina fay glasses are, even though I didn't so I kind of missed out on that one, everyone else thought it was funny though. You have to know that the vice presidents take over if the president dies in order to get her "I am a heartbeat away from the whitehouse" joke. You have to understand dry humor in general and also what has been going on in the presidential election thus far. You also have to understand the media in America, and how American people in general are reacting to having women running mates for the first time in history.

Justin?

If I woke up to find myself in a man's body, I would definately freak out for a good hour or so. Then I would probably go find a hot girl and see how the physical aspect of a relationship feels for a guy. Then I would probably go do manly things such as play football or soccor or go to a bar and hit on chicks, I bet I would be a stud considering how many times I have been tactlessly hit on as a girl. I would walk around and see how things look from a males perspective and I would definatley try to compare them to how I see the world as a girl. Then after about 2 days I would wish to be a girl again.

UT MAKE ORANGE GREEN

This image portrays University of Tennesse's new found attempts at being "green". All over the campus, the above signs are posted. The signs are telling everyone who sees them, whether they are student, teacher, parent, or vol fan that they can help to make this school environmentally friendly. The sign is written horizontally which automatically makes the reader turn their heads to the side and read it. Because reading it requires more effort, the message sinks in and the reader remembers it. The colors of the writing is extremely significant. "UT MAKE ORANGE" is written in orange and grabs the attention of any vol fan and green is written in green, which makes sense. There is also a green leaf which adds to the environmental part of the sign. The trees in the backround and the beautiful blue sky also contribute to this message. The center of this picture is the sign, more importantly the leaf. It appeals to the audiences pathos because it is telling them that if we don't start being more environmentally aware, we will ruin our planet.

Dear Kelsey

This weekend, as you know, was labor day weekend. 3 days off yay!! Well On Friday I came home (I can't believe I am calling the dorm room home) and did some homework, I feel like that is all I ever do around this place. I studied for a couple hours and then went and worked out in the "gym" downstairs. Considering how I haven't worked out in about 2 years, I felt pretty good about myself. I have actually been getting into it lately, I go down and do about 15 minutes on the stairmaster, do some ab workouts, and use the free weights. You should be proud of me, always begging me to workout with you and I never would. Well anyway then I went and took a shower and got ready for the night. I walked to Blake's and we tried to go out and party but we were both too tired and there wasnt really anything going on so we hungout on his balcony and talked for a couple hours, which was amazing. I feel like we havent done that in a long time. We woke up the next morning and he brought me breakfast in bed. We hung around the apartment for a good couple of hours until 4 when he had to go and work. I went back to the dorm, did homework for awhile longer, worked out and when i came back up florence had a bunch of people over and we all got ready and went to a couple frat parties. Sunday was the exact same as friday and monday was a recovery day. Hope you had a good weekend too!!


Dear Grandma,
This weekend was a three day weekend and was a lot of fun. I got some homework done, hungout with Blake a ton, worked out, ate gross cafeteria food, went to a few parties, ran from cops... you know the drill. I love you and hope you had a good weekend too!!

Your Brain On Drugs Videos

Observations For Video One
1. The video is only 11 seconds long
2. A man is speaking
3. The sizzling butter in the pan represents drugs
4. The fried egg represents what drugs do to your brain
5. The man ends the video asking if the audience has any questions.

Inferences For Video One
1. The video is extremely straight forward, the point gets across even if it is only 11 seconds long.
2. This video was made during a time where women didn't have as much power as they do now, it was more effective to have a man speaking.
3. The butter in the pan looked pretty gross, it was brown and oozing.
4. A fried egg is a great metaphor for a brain fried from drugs. It is extremely simple but still makes the audience think.
5. By asking if there are any questions, the man ends the video with a certain finality.

The intended audience for this video is probably aimed toward teenagers, but the way I see it, anyone can do drugs. Therefore this video could pertain towards anyone, from 10 year old people to 60 year old people. The tone in the video is somewhat condescending, especially towards the end when the narrator asks if there are any questions. I think the people did this in order to get their point across: if you do drugs, you are stupid. As I mentioned in my observations, this video was created many years ago when men still had more social status than women. I think it was for this reason that a man is the narrator.

Observations For Video Two
1. The egg still represents your brain
2. The pan reprents heroin
3. Rachel Lee Cook is not only the narrator but also on screen
4. The video is thirty seconds long
5. The video ends with Rachel Lee Cook asking if anyone has any questions

Inferences For Video Two
1. Obviously the first video got its point across so the people that made this video decided to keep the same central idea and just put a few twists in it.
2. The pan is more of a visual, the audience can see "your body on heroin" and how it affects your friends and family
3. Rachel Lee Cook was a good choice for this video. She is extremely well known but is one of the few celebrities without a bad reputation. She is beautiful so people are automatically going to listen to her and actually pay attention.
4. Thirty seconds can still be considered a short amound of time, especially with a topic as deep as drugs. But as in the first video, the point got across and if it would have been any longer, it would have taken away from the effect.
5. As in the first video, the audience is asked if they have any questions, which again puts a certain finality on the video.

The videos had many similarities. Both were geered towards younger audiences but could pertain to anyone, both had the same tone, and both had the same purpose: to make people think about how harmful drugs really are. The second video had more effectiveness for many reasons. You could actually see the person talking to you. She looked straight into the camera with a certain confidence, daring you to contradict her. Although both videos use ethos, the second video does it much better. It shows more effects of drugs, that they not only "fry" your brain and ruin your body, but hurt everyone around you and ruin your future.

2008 Olympics... The Fourth Picture

Observations:
1. there is a huge hot air balloon thing floating around the ceiling
2. there are thousands of people
3. The colors in the center are oranges, reds, yellows but as you move out, they get darker
4. there are flags on the bottom of the stadium, I think I see England's, but I can't make out the others
5. many people have their cameras and phones out and are taking pictures
6. there are people on the bottom of the stadium, they look like performers

Inferences:
The first thing I see when I look at this photo is the beam of light below the center, it reminds me of aliens coming to abduct humans. This photo makes it obvious how hard the Chinese tried to impress the world. There are intricate designs on ribbons, beams of light everywhere, a huge new stadium built specifically for the Olympics. This picture has many colors, from reds, oranges and yellows to blues and blacks. The only emotion this photo gives me is anger. Instead of buying a rediculously priced, over-large hot air balloon, the government could have used the money to feed a few of their many orphans.

observations
1. translucent
2. bite marks all over the end
3. black ink
4. has a striped black and white grip
5. It is a bic ultra
6. simple object
Infering
1. I like being able to see through objects, or people for that matter, in order to understand them better.
2. Whenever I am concentrating, I bite my pens and pencils. Usually they don't last too long, but this one has been with me for awhile.
3. Black ink is standard, I don't like distractions (brightly colored ink) while I am trying to do work.
4. The grip, in my opinion, is the most important part of the pen. I hate getting indentions on my fingers from writing too much and the grip helps prevent this. The fact that it has some sort of decoration makes no difference to me.
5. Honestly, the pen is not of the highest caliber. I have seen pens that are around forty dollars a peice, this one is worth about forty cents. Why it is called a bic ultra is beyond me, but at least it writes smoothly.
6. People today take many things for granted and I think pens are one of them. A hundred years ago, people had to use a feather quill and ink.