Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My Playlist

Song 1: "I Miss You" by Miley Cyrus - I'm not a fan of Miss Cyrus but I am really connected to this song because I dedicated it to my great grandma. She died a while back ago and it really hit me. She was such an inspirational woman and always had a great attitude. No matter what anyone said, she was dedicated to making herself happy. I remember one day she was trying to go home with my family but my dad insisted that she stayed with my great grandpa. She was so persistent in going with us. My dad loves my great grandma, so he ended up caving in. Now that she's gone, it feels like Pandora accidentally let out the good stuff too. Every time I feel sad now or lonely, this song helps me find my great grandma again and the good she stood for. I miss her so much.



Song 2: "Because of you" by Keith Martin - The lyrics of this song always makes my heart melt. I found this song when I met my boyfriend and it's stuck ever since. When I listen to this song, I think of my friends and boyfriend. They had a choice to love me and to be good to me, which they did and are. It's hard for me to accept people into my life so when they broke down my walls, it felt precious. I couldn't imagine my life the same without them.



Song 3/4: "Ours" by Taylor Swift and "Who Says" by Selena Gomez - I am a huge fan of Miss Swift and Miss Gomez so when these songs came out, I was really happy. The lyrics and the beats truly represents me. The lyrics, to me, talk about being strong. It's telling me not waste anytime doing silly things I don't care about. The songs tell me to be who I am. The beats are very positive and exciting. Every time I hear these songs, my lips just start moving and my feet follows after them. I think of my family, my friends, my boyfriend, my classmates, and my teachers after listening to these songs. It's because we all must do what we want and I don't know one person who regrets their life after doing what they want. The reason why I put these two songs together is because they match so well together. After listening to one of the song, I have to listen to the other. Like how Taylor Swift and Selena Gomez are best friends, these two songs are also best friends.





I couldn't imagine my playlist without these four songs! They represent my life and me. Each song tells a heart-felt story to me. These are the songs which make me happy to be a live and have my own, original life.

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Quoting & Citing - Art Programs

"Tourism is strong linked to art-art activities are believed to stimulate tourism in a community, and vice versa." (Riley, 2002, p.22)

Riley, K. (2002). Art: A recreation thing. Parks & Recreation, 37(7), 22-29.


This article consists of reasons why public art programs are good for the community and ways to increase art programs. The quote that I have chosen is a good representation of how public art programs can encourage children to continue to do what they like best. People, overall, work better if they receive appraisal.

"More recently, school music programs may have contributed to the perceived quality of public schools by virtue of the success of their school music groups in local, statewide, and national school music competitions." (Langbein, 2004, p.84)

Langbein, L. (2004). Public school music: Notes on the public provision of a quasi-private good. Public Choice, 121(1-2), 83-98.

This article is also a combination of a research. The author looks at how the community as a whole can benefit from public programs such as music. Music programs offer many types of settings and public goods. This quote shows how we can help our children expand their experiences in school. Music programs offer competitions, music festivals, and other musical events which children can attend.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Abstract on Ch. 10, Ronson & Thoughts on the Psychopath Test

In chapter 10, Ronson was invited to join a Scientology banquet. This banquet gave Ronson the chance to meet many people including Robert Spitzer. Spitzer was given the chance to become the editor the DSM-III. He was the person who started the whole banquet in the beginning. It was a chance for psychiatrists to yell out potential, new mental disorders and debate over them. Spitzer also shared a story from David Rosenhan. The story was how him and fellow friends faked being mental ill. This was to prove that psychiatrist can misdiagnose. The whole chapter wrapped around misdiagnosing and the effect that it can cause. In chapter 11, Ronson was able to talk to Tony again. Tony was eventually released to start his life over again.

The book was overall very good. Many of the chapters were very exciting and few were boring. I wonder how long it took Ronson to write this book and the process of publishing it. All of his stories were adventurous. He went all over the US and Europe to collect information for his book and because of  the first mystery Ronson solved. My favorite chapter would have been chapter 10 because it talked a lot of misdiagnosing. Throughout this whole book, I questioned if and how many times have people been misdiagnosed. Ronson was able to show that even though it was important to find the sick, this may have gotten out of hand. If I was to read this book again, I would like to mark the stories that seemed interesting to me.

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Abstract on Ch. 8, Ronson

In chapter 8, Ronson met up with a woman, Rachel North. In that time that they met up, Rachel shared with him her story. Rachel is a survivor of a July 7th terrorist attack in a subway tunnel in North London. Including her's, there were 4 total terrorist attacks that day. After this tragedy, Rachel began to blog about her experience. Other survivors followed her blog and soon enough they all created a grouping. They would meet up for drinks every month. Later on, Rachel found out that there were conspiracy theorists who believed the bombings never happened. They even concluded in their minds that Rachel was not even a real person but a group of men who worked for the government. She also found out that David Shayler, a former M15 spy, was the leader of the conspiracy theorists. Ronson then went into research about David and interviewed him. David Shayler believed the 7/7 bombings were part of a act that involved special effects and actors, also that 9/11 was a government attack. David had this hologram theory that the US government bombed the Twin Towers during the air plane attack. He officially became crazy when he announced to the world that he was the Messiah. David said he talked to God and was really the Messiah that God sent down.

Chapter 8 was a quite interesting story. I understood why Rachel god mad because I found myself getting mad also. People always believe what they want to and they'll create any time of story to prove that they're right. I also found that the best way to support my argument is not to get into an argument with others. When we do that, we find ourselves frustrated with how the world works. David had too much going on in his head. I was surprised that he wasn't locked up for being crazy. I believe that the terrorist attacks were real and that the government had nothing physical to do with the attacks. Conspiracy theorists need to find something better to do with their lives. When David called himself the Messiah, I was not happy at all. I stood behind David's old landlady. The Messiah cannot do the things that he did. I was glad to hear that he was a cross-dresser because it added more to his craziness. Chapter 9 had a good story about they sexual psychopath. I'm not sure if I have anything to say about this chapter though. I liked it but it dragged on too much. I did like it in the beginning when Ronson gave the concierge an excuse not to be a psychopath. That was very sweet of him. We really have to understand or try to relate to other people before we can judge who they are.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Gladwell - "Something Borrowed"

In this article, Gladwell talks about plagiarism . He starts off his discussion with comparing "Frozen", a Broadway play, to a book called "Guilty Reason of Insanity" by Dorothy Lewis. It was apparent that the play had plagiarized the book that Lewis wrote. After reviewing the play script, Lewis discovered that it also plagiarized a profile article done on her, it was written by Gladwell. Gladwell then went into words and how it belonged to people who had written them. He used the Beastie Boys as an example when they got sued for copying an intro from another song. Overall, plagiarism had certain standards to live up to to be considered plagiarized. It is hard to understand. Gladwell states that the game will continue. People will end up borrowing, not stealing, from others to create success in life.

I think that this article was really sad in a way. There wasn't any justice to plagiarism and no one really won or lost. There is a standard to plagiarizing someone else work and how long it must be to be considered. I don't like how everything was played out though. There was a big lying game in this sense and it became a chain. Honestly is a big issue in the world of success. I wish there could have been a better way for Lavery to get permission from Lewis. They could have brain stormed together to make a great Broadway play. It is important to not plagiarize because it is not original and your own. 

Monday, October 17, 2011

Abstract on Ch. 6, Ronson

In chapter 6, Ronson first finds himself in Shubuta, Mississippi. He was doing background search on Al Dunlap before interviewing him. Ronson believes that Al Dunalp, a ex-CEO of a toaster corporation, may be a psychopath. Once interviewed, Dunlap agrees to most of Ronson's accusation, but that he's not a psychopath. Ronson meets up with Bob Hare afterwards to talk about Dunlap. Hare and Ronson may believe that Dunlap is a psychopath. Ronson finds out more information concerning Al Dunlap such as his success and misfortune.

Chapter 6 was very long and dragged on about Al Dunlap. The part in this chapter that I found most uninteresting was the last story. It was difficult to understand what "P/E on Nxt FY: 27.5X" meant. It bothered me that Ronson could not explain that in an understanding way. It was interesting to learn about Al Dunlap though. He lead an unusual and powerful life. It is sad that he no longer had the support of his sister and son though. In Chapter 7, Ronson got a chance to review all of his research with his good friend, Adam Curtis. Curtis brought up a really good point to how Ronson might be over thinking all of this. For me, I do have some connection with the checklist (even though I said I didn't want to read it). It is hard to except the truth but at least Ronson realized it with the help of his friend. A story was told in this chapter that made me look it up on Google. Deleese Williams had a chance to get facial surgery from ABC's Extreme Makeover. But after finding out that her family truly saw her as embarrassing and ugly, she was no longer able to have the surgery due to a budgeted schedule. Her story was very sad and made me think how much strangers can have an effect on people. Overall, these two chapters were long but good. I liked it.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Research Question

How has sex moralities changed over the years?

Every generation has a norm when it come to talking about sex and having sex. What I want to find out is how it has changed over time. It the olden days, sex was a personal thing. Only couples would have sex and usually they were married. As the years past, adultery and under-age sex became more common. The Greeks especially had experiences with that. But soon sex was once again a private matter among two married people. The years continued to go by, and soon enough homosexuality played a large role in sex history. While communities were trying to adjust to gays and lesbians, a baby boom exploded and it had seemed like everyone was having sex. Sex began to cause issues further than adultery and babies; sex soon involved STI's among men and women. A bigger issue recently appeared when teenagers began to develop their own sex norms. Unwanted pregnancies and unwanted STI's protection generated into something that people no longer feel as important as pleasure and sex acceptance in our current society.

I feel like I can do a lot with this topic. I am interested in further finding out information about sex moralities. I learned many interesting things from my Sociology 160 lecture, and that is what inspired me to write about this. Sex norms are changing all the time. This topic will give me a view of sex moralities before and after my generation.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Abstract on Ch. 4, Ronson

In chapter 4, Ronson was able to look into a psychologist. His name was Bob Hare and he studied psychopaths and how they were like. Hare believed that psychopaths could not be saved, but only made smarter. Hare's beginning experiments involved a shock test. His theory was that psychopaths could not feel pain. But after his shock test was brought down, Hare designed a survey-like test to test his new theories. Ronson joined many other people, in Hare's conference, to learn how to use this test. The test is suppose to find out who are the psychopaths. The way that the test works it that the number of answers you answer incorrect, you're a psychopath. Easily, this test was called 'The Psychopath Test". In Ronson's interview, Hare shared many of his experiences with psychopaths. This was able to help Ronson learn more about psychopaths and how they worked.


This chapter dragged on for a while but it did share a lot of good stories. The story that was most sad was the man who locked in mother up. I could never do that, but then again I am not a psychopath. It is interesting to see how many people are into the whole psychopath thing. In the very beginning of the chapter, Hare says that psychopaths can not be fixed. I 100% agree with that. From chapter 3, it just shows how psychopaths are able to learn and adapt to a certain criteria. I don't think I ever want to look at the Psychopath Test. It is kind of a silly thing for me.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Abstract on Ch. 3, Ronson

In this chapter, Jon Ronson went into more discoveries of psychopaths. He took it upon himself to study the works of Elliot Barker, a Canadian psychiatrist. Elliot Barker geared himself up to work inside of Oak Ridge hospital; this place was for the criminally insane people. Ronson went into his experiment of LSD-fueled sessions and some of the psychopaths involved. Many would call his experiment abuse, but many also applauded for Barker. With all the chaos going on in Oak Ridge, some of the patients did find peace with one another, forced to or not. As some were released, they either made a life for themselves or stepped back into their past. Jon Ronson took in a lot from this study of Elliot Barker and his fan winning experiment.

This chapter felt unsettling for me. The story of Steve Smith popped out the most to me. As a young boy coming into this hospital, he was quickly rushed in to becoming an adult inside of a prison. His relationship was Peter Woodcock was also very strong. They connected in a scary sense of way. This chapter made me think of current issues with psychopaths and how we’re dealing with them now. I don’t know if I should feel happy that they’re kept away or sad that they no longer have a life of their own. It seemed like Oak Ridge created a new identity for them.