The Grand Second Semester Meta-post

            My favorite post from this quarter was my most recent post about the relation between the economy and the presidential debate and how it was a construction. I believe that this post was one of my best posts because I bring in other texts like the article I read, and then quote it. The most important was my blog has improved this semester is that I now explain what I quote, like how I did in the second paragraph in this post. Furthermore, I then relate my posts to big ideas we are learning in class, like American values, or in this case how everything is a construction. I used real evidence by explaining both sides of how the different political parties are trying to frame the issue to show that it is a construction. Lastly, I end the post by asking questions to my reader to try to engage them in the posts and give them something to respond to. One way in which this post could be improved is by finding an image that more closely relates to the post I am writing about.

            Another reason that I think my posts this semester have improved is that many of my posts related to my junior theme topic which I was very interested in, so I was writing about topics that actually interested me. Last semester in my meta-post I said that " I think that I am starting to find the balance between taking what we learn in class and writing about the ideas from class that interest me the most." I believe that this semester I have found that balance. I found my posts about my topic ended up benefitting my junior theme, because it forced me to keep up with contemporary women's issues. Many of my blog posts also lead to inspiration for my junior theme, so it was a win-win situation.

            If I were to continue this blog for another semester, one minor thing that I would work on would be tying visuals to my post that may further enhance my research. One instance of a successful image I used was in this post because it added something new to my post and added extra details that I was unable to add in, and one unsuccessful image was in this post because I think it was just a filler image. Another thing that I would work on would be asking questions at the end of my post that relate to something in my post that I have not answered or is controversial and my reader would want to respond to.

            Overall, I believe I made steady progress and accomplished my goal for this semester of continuing class discussions on my blog and finding the balance between writing about topics that interest me and relate to American studies. 

Sag in Economy Could Reshape '12 Campaigns

As the presidential race has narrowed to President Obama versus Mitt Romney (and of course a slew of independent parties with names of people no one has heard of), the issues that are driving the race have begun to surface. A little while ago it was the birth control debate, sparked by comments from radio host Rush Limbaugh, which seemed to help Obama win favor of voters—especially female voters. The most recent issue is the economy. When I got the New York Times, the front page had an article on this exact subject. (The article can be found in its online version here.)

The issue is presented by the paper as this "The race may be a referendum on Mr. Obama, as Republicans want, or, as Democrats prefer, a choice between a president nursing the economy back to health and a challenger who represents the failed politics that caused the crisis in the first place". What struck me as very interesting in this sentence was how much of a construction this race is; it points out the two different ways the problem is framed by saying "as Republicans want" and "as Democrats prefer". There are always two sides to an issue, and voters must see be critical when deciding which candidate they trust more, because each side has a bias and has constructed the debate in a different way.

With all of the current emphasis on this side of the debate, I am beginning to think about what this says about us as Americans that we have decided that the economy should be among the most important topics to consider when voting. In my opinion, the recent focus on the economy as a driving force in the campaign highlights how materialistic Americans are. America has remained the number one buyer in the world, and our obsession with having things and having the money to buy things has been magnified by the race. We built the United States on a platform of democracy and freedom, but I think we have in some ways lost sight of these ideals and turned to material as a way to define our success as a country.

One study asked people what Americans' biggest problems are (an indicator of the issues people will be voting on). 

Do you think that the economy should be a driving force in the campaigns? What do you think should be one of the most important issues in the campaign? 

Oprah to the Rescue?

According to a recent New YorkTimes article, Oprah Winfrey has recently declared that she is reviving her book club, much to the satisfaction of fans, bookstores, authors, and publishers alike. The New York Times described her as "the publishing industry's unrivaled tastemaker" because when Oprah puts her stamp of approval on something, that something usually receives immediate success in both sales and critics' reviews. As the amount of reading in America seems to be going down, I must say I was thrilled to find out that she will be restarting her book club. Hopefully reading will increase because "an Oprah title translated into skyrocketing sales".

One thing that has been upsetting people is the shift from traditional printed books to electronic reading sources like the Kindle, Ipad, phones, you name it. Personally, I believe that reading is reading and the medium by which people read does not matter as much as the fact that they are reading. Reading is the gateway to knowledge, and in recent years America's position as one of the most intelligent countries in the world has been threatened by countries like Russia and Canada where 54% and 28% of the population respectively has a college degree, compared to the United States' 40% (article).

I wonder if at a time when America may be declining, if something like having more influential people endorse reading and education can help. But can someone like Oprah really help? Secondary school costs are skyrocketing in America, whereas in other countries like Russia, schooling is free as long as you maintain good grades and a full coursework. If the cost of a college education remains so high, then college will be reserved only for the wealthy people who can afford to pay for it and people who are willing to take out huge loans that they know they will have to repay for many more years after they graduate. Can you expect someone to read when the future use of his or her knowledge is questionable? 

Two things to notice about this graph is that it is not as recent as the
article from which I took my data and that many sites have discrepancies
between which countries have the most college graduates.