Race & Ethnicity

I am going to start off with the first couple of sentences when the author refers to there being few absolutes when discussing race and ethnicity. Although this is very true, there are very few absolutes with anything! Next time your bored try to find an absolute in politics and let me know how it works out for you. Even the idea of fact can be twisted and manipulated to favor one sides view of something. It's incredible how complex everything is. When people argue whether a film was good or bad you will receive arguments from both sides of the spectrum. It basically comes down to personal opinion as do so many other things.

Back to the topic of discussion though.. I find racism in many different places today. Although people may clame not to be racist, if you get to know them better you will find an occasional instance where they might like their real feelings slip. Racism in my opinion is such a hinderance to so many aspects of life. We as people could acheive so much more and learn so much more if we could rid ourselves or the racial and cultural barriers that stop us.

Television, The Simpson, & MTV

I have to say my favorite reading and the text that shocked me the most was the introduction 5 pages. I new that tv shows were skewed from reality and built to get the highest ratings possible but I couldn't believe to that extent. I have always wished to have a choice in what kind of tv shows they put on the air. I mean, every third channel I flick through has some sort of crime scene shit. And me personally, I hate the whole ferensic crime deal they have going on at almost every major network. One of the reasons I don't watch much tv is because there are so many shows that are uniteresting to me. Sure I'll turn on the tv to see if there's a good movie with not too many commercials on or maybe get a laugh or two in with That 70's Show or the Office but it pretty much stops there.

The Simpsons essay did not hit me quite as hard. I attribute this to the fact that I have never watched more than 2 minutes of any Simpsons show in my life. The only thing that I know about the Simpson outside of a couple main characters is that the show sometimes caused controversy. I like the idea of the tshirts though. I found some of them to be very unique.

As far as the MTV Next show, I couldn't agree more with the author. MTV has gotten so far away from its origins that it really isnt even music television anymore. I would say that pop culture fashion and reality tv is more of what it actually is. You might see music on that station for 2 hours out of the day. Besides that fact that I think every part of the Next show is staged, I agree that it degrades the way people view women. If I were the author I would have taken it yet a step further and made the claim the it is a misrepresentation of men too. It gives off the image that guys are supposed to disregard personality and just look for a hott chick with nice tits. I mean yes, some if not a majority of men think this but it is just reinforcing the ridiculous.

Pondering the Intro

I'll be honest, I'm pretty bored right now. It's a Thursday night and I've been blown off not once but twice. Also, nothing of interest is on tv right now. Chris Rock's stand up comedy was by far the most entertaining thing there was to watch. That guy says some pretty funny shit! Anyways, this set of circumstances led me to rely on reading as my source of entertainment. Why I picked up my writing text book to read is a good question. I'm still not completely sure why. But since I've already browsed through the first 20 pages I'll leave my thoughts.

One thing that caught my attention over everything else I read was the manner in which the author chose to write about Starbucks. By writing down observations in the coffee shop the writer was able to have a first hand account of what he was writing about. Sure he probably could have written about Starbucks from his home computer and I'm sure it would have turned out just fine but a first hand account can only help a writer write about his or her subject.

Another topic that was of interest to me was the word as being a giant text. Some of the examples the author gave I found to be quite true. As a psychology major I find myself trying to analyze and interpret situations and personalities all the time. I also do a great deal of reading books and I agree with the concept of forming and reforming opinions upon new information you obtain through reading. Watching the documentary "Food Inc." made me look at fast food in a completely different manner. Before I watched it I was aware that McDonald's was far from an ideal choice of food and that animals were inevitably treated as inhumanly as possible in order to make the american dream of a greasy, carb-filled double cheeseburger super sized with an order of fries and a coke possible. However by watching the film I was able to "rethink" the way I eat and I explored the moral issues as well. Now I don't think that the satisfaction of eating at McDonald's is worth the moral guilt I would have once I was finished.

My "Roots"

A name is often overlooked. After all, there is nothing worldly that you can receive in your life that has more importance than your name. It is how you identify yourself when in the presence of other people. It's something that noone can take away from you. It has meaning so many people fail to appreciate the uniqueness of their own name. I recently read a book by the title Roots by Alex Hailey. The book traces the history of an African American family back to its origins in an African village in the 1700's. After the child was born the father took seven days to think of the appropriate name. On the seventh day there was a whole ceremony devoted to giving the child its name. It was treated as if giving the child a name was a sacred process.

My full name is Zachary Quinn Troutman.. I never really thought too much about how my name was chosen. I assume I was always too preoccupied with other thoughts or circumstances in my life to ever ponder my own name. When asked why my name is Zachary I couldn't even explain. It was kind of embarrassing actually.

I like the name Zach. Yes several people go by Zach but my name has no less importance. It sounds powerful and confident; at least I think it does. Also, the letter z is one of the least used letters in the alphabet so what better way to start a name than with a rare and unique letter. It turns out my parents simply picked the name Zachary out of a book of names. They claim it caught their attention more than most of the other names.

My middle name is Quinn. I didn't like the nam when I was younger. Most people used to call me "Quinny" or "Quinton", which always frustrated me. As I became older I grew more fond of the unique middle name I had. When I was asked to put my middle initial on a document or something like that I remember thinking about how many people that would see my name and then would attempt to guess what it was. My parents gave me the name Quinn after a person my father knew very well. Coincidingly, Quinn was the name of a character in a romance novel my mom had read that was popular at the time.

My full name always gave me a lot of opportunities for nicknames as well. It's cool because I can identify which groups of people are addressing me without even making eye contact with them. My lifeguarding friends know me as ZT so when they address me as such I know immediately it's them. My best friend in high school called me ZQ. It was awesome because she was the only person who ever called me by the nickname.