English 1A Weekly Blogs

https://vimeo.com/138235461

What got us all involved in One Love before we even knew what it was was the Escalation Workshop hosted by our school Santa Clara University. The video was very powerful and definitely left a message for Sam, Kevin, and me. So much so that we decided to choose this organization for our third essay even though we only heard about this organization not too long after being assigned the project.

The first step to our plan was to obviously join Team One Love

at www.joinonelove.org. The picture on the right is sent to you via email when you have joined the team. We then further explored their website to learn more about the organization, Yeardley Love, unhealthy and healthy relationships, and how to help out. Their ten signs to healthy and unhealthy relationships was a great introduction to us about the topic for the project. In fact, most of the things on the website were very helpful to us. They even had a merchandise website; I wished we could have preordered some gear to show our support but we would not have enough time for our campaign. We decided to split up the work for our project. Kevin and I did the poster about the organization with statistics and warning about unhealthy and/or abusive relationships. Then for our social media, we had Sam post those posters as well as some more statistics about unhealthy relationships, signs of unhealthy relationships, etc. We also sent linked and clips of other videos that the One Love Foundation made other than Escalation, whether it was to further analyze Escalation or a completely different video on unhealthy or abusive relationships. Since I am not a person who uses social media frequently, we saw that as the best solution without unevenly dividing the work. Some of the things we did and/or utilized will be scattered throughout the blog. The One Love website has a section called #ThatsNotLove at https://www.joinonelove.org/act/thats-not-love/. The #OKforPetsNotPartners was a hilarious and entertaining way to start it out. This section of the site is a meme generator stating that pets occasionally taking advantage of us is acceptable but not for partners. We were able to start a lot of conversations online and in real life during our campaign with other people discussing unhealthy relationships. A lot of the conversations dealt with signs, more detailed statistics, why they occur, and why a breakup or divorce is not a simple solution. It made them more wary of their friends’ relationships and/or realize that unhealthy relationships are much worse than they initially thought.

Unfortunately, we could not do Yards for Yeardley, The Scarlet Bookmark, and Stick It To Love events due to the allotted time of the project as well as due to how bus we were. However, we did make some Because I Love You flyers as well as added songs to the #ThatsNotLovePlaylist, which I thought was fun. However, our efforts to stop unhealthy relationships and introducing the One Love Foundation does not have to end with this project. When we get more time, events like Yards for Yeardley seem more reasonable to do. I am also open to discussing anything about relationships to other people, whether it is something major like abuse or even something small like “Will she like it if I do this?” or something along those lines. Although I have never been in an abusive relationship, I empathize with those who have and want to stop just as much as they do. This has honestly been a very enjoyable experience, and I like seeing other people smile knowing that there are people that are willing to help, so I do not want to stop where I am now.

When put in the situation where he and Katniss are the final two contestants, Peeta said he was willing to die to let her win. This was very selfless and considerate of Peeta, sacrificing his own life to save the one he loves, the leader of the rebellion. However, was this really as selfless and considerate as it might appear? Peeta had a rough childhood, with a family that doesn’t support him and he can’t look forward to after he wins. The only person he does love and can look forward to is Katniss. She, on the other hand, is a very loving person, who does have a family to look forward to after she wins, and Peeta used it to his advantage. He put himself in a situation where either she lives a life full of guilt or finds a way where both of them can live. We quickly find out that she has a caring soul and that the latter occurs. However, even if she was an inconsiderate person who has no feelings towards Peeta, he would probably rather die anyway; with no family to congratulate or love him after the long, hard-fought battle and no one else to love, he would only experience negligible happiness compared to Katniss. However, regardless of his true intent, Peeta was able to convince Katniss to do an all-or-nothing situation, where either both of them dies or someone intervenes allowing them both to live, which will be what happens. Peeta may continue to live, knowing that there is someone he loves that is too alive and may look forward to seeing and bonding.

 

One Love is a story about Paige and her abusive boyfriend Chase, based on the real-life situation of Yeardley Love with her abusive boyfriend. Now, why do abusive relationships occur? If both sides love each other in the relationship, theoretically, abuse should never occur. Unfortunately, not everything follows its theory. Abusive relationships can occur due to insecurity, a false belief that they have the right to abuse, the “satisfactory” feeling of dominance, and/or it not being true love for both sides in the first place. As for Chase, any one of those is possible and applicable.

Chase first met Paige through a nice, small deed; just picking up her books when he saw her drop them. The fact that they started dating just because of that one thing can be a sign that Paige could be overthinking the act and accepting his request to be in a relationship may have been too quick of a decision. However, Chase noticed this and continued this throughout their relationship; repeatedly doing small, nice deeds to compensate for the abuse he does. These deeds make the abuse seem “okay” or unintentional, and Chase was able to sneak his abuse past both friend groups, making them appear “playful” or “not serious” with the nice little things he does after, like buying her coffee. Chase had so much control over Paige’s life and feelings and stalked her on top of that. He wanted her to just himself and literally no one else. When Paige realized this and ended the relationship, he decided that if he couldn’t have her, that no one can, and ended her life.

The harsh ending made the video very powerful and emotional. Seeing how obvious Chase’s abuse to us due to a different perspective makes it feel as if we could have prevented the death of Paige. I watched One Love with my own girlfriend right next to me, and although it was somewhat awkward and and uncomfortable at the time, we grew closer quickly after our talk about it, so I thank the foundation for hosting it.

https://vimeo.com/138235461

 

"The Storm" (Freestyle) https://t.co/QLPjtgS5n3

— Marshall Mathers (@Eminem) October 11, 2017

Eminem made a bold decision on October tenth of this year: making a rap that he called, “The Storm.” But this was no ordinary rap, nor was it one to show that he is coming back after a while of not producing anything: a rap about our current president, Donald Trump. Although Marshall Mathers (Eminem) might fit the description of a Trump supporter, this rap discussed how awful of a president Trump is and that we should impeach him. He makes many references throughout the rap, most about Trump but some unrelated and a logical fallacy.

One of the more obvious but very serious references was “But we better give Obama props ‘Cause what we got in office now’s a kamikaze That’ll probably cause a nuclear holocaust.” Mathers was referring to Trump almost starting a nuclear war with Kim Jong Un and North Korea. Obviously, this is not good for the President of the United States to do, so Mathers would definitely criticize Trump harshly for it. However, not everything Mathers talked about in the rap was that serious; he even makes a reference to the Thing from Fantastic Four. “Racism’s the only thing he’s fantastic for (Fantastic Four) ‘Cause that’s how he gets his fuckin’ rocks off and he’s orange Yeah, sick tan.” Mathers concludes his rap with an Either/or logical fallacy, stating that you either support him or Trump (but not both). This indicates how serious he is about his opinion on Trump and that if you do support Trump then he does not want you to support him anymore.

 

The Hero’s Quest Cycle defined what a legitimate hero was due to its requirements that the hero must encounter. Although this initially made me think that heroes were significantly less abundant as my definition of a hero, The sitcom Community in the episode Advanced Dungeons and Dragons made me think otherwise. Every character in that episode fulfilled all or almost all of the requirements stated within the hero’s quest cycle, with Fat Neil being the most obvious; I was able to almost make Chang, who dies very early in the game, line up with the hero cycle. Even the “villain” of the episode Pierce qualified as a hero due to his actions. However, that reveals a flaw within the cycle. Besides Pierce, the rest of the cast were trying to make Neil feel better and reconsider any irrational decisions. Although his decisions, in the end, were heroic, his intentions were not. Therefore, I do not consider Pierce as a hero since I think intentions matter more than the result.

However, that reveals a flaw within the cycle. Although his decisions, in the end, were heroic, his intentions were not. Therefore, I consider Pierce as a hero since I think intentions matter more than the result. The outcome was all determined by luck, chance, and the fact that it was a sitcom, which would obviously favor the high risk, high reward. Pierce’s claimed heroism was literally a dice roll; had Neil rolled anything that was not an 18 or higher, the outcome may have been favored towards Pierce’s liking. Overall, I do think the Hero’s Quest Cycle is a very good way of determining the hero/heroes of the story, movie, etc.; there just needs to be a few more details mentioned.

Matthew Winkler presents a very interesting thing about a lot of heroes in stories: that there is a pattern that exists between each and every hero from their call to adventure to the resolution. Although no trend exists during a hero’s childhood or background, it reveals like an equation to mathematics on how to write a story about a hero. However, this fact correlates to the introduction from They Say/I Say by Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. In the introduction, a template was recommended to be used for writing, especially for when learning how to write. In this case, the pattern that Winkler mentioned is an overview of a possible template that could be used to discuss or reveal a new hero. This could also provide evidence regarding professional writers using templates for writing their stories and/or books, further supporting the use of it. Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and many other popular books all contain heroes that follow this pattern. Therefore, this pattern reveals the steps a hero takes or faces that must remain consistent in order to create a popular story. Not every hero has to be Superman or Batman; heroes are more easily relatable when they are imperfect humans that do not have superpowers or the money to make up for the lack of them. Although superhuman heroes will always be popular with children, seeing someone being called to temporary, possibly dangerous situations filled with many obstacles so that he or she may grow and receive fame as a result feels much more reasonable and attractive to a more matured audience.

Charlie Gills presents a very interesting, yet pessimistic view on heroism due to how opportune it is to become a hero and the amount of “heroes” arising because of it. In his article “Let’s Redefine “Hero,” he makes the argument that “if everyone’s a hero, logic suggests, then no one’s a hero.” Although he is correct from a logical standpoint, it is not very practical to say that every person in the world sees everyone as heroes. Not only are there some people who are not heroes, but a majority people would not have the popularity to be publicly seen and defined as a hero. For example, in the following YouTube clip I included, Spongebob sees Kevin the Sea Cucumber as a “hero” and holds a lot of admiration towards him. On the other hand, Patrick Star identifies him as just “a nerdy pickle” due to his little to no significance to Patrick. This can be directly connected to other people’s choices of heroes; just because he or she is not your hero, does not mean he or she is not someone else’s. However, the lack of knowledge about another person is enough justification to not classify him or her as a hero.

Gills’s argument brings up a very interesting point: the fact that there are significantly more heroes in the world than one might initially think. Similar to the firefighter and kitten picture from class as well as the picture I posted below, even the ones who are saved can be heroes. You do not have to be a hero only towards random pedestrians; you can be the hero of another hero. Heroes can range from the typical superhero, mother, or police officer to the most discrete choices, like Kevin for Spongebob. Regardless of who you choose to be your hero, I think that anyone and everyone has the potential to be a hero, so there should be no shame in selecting someone unobvious.

 

(Ignore title of the video)

I thought that being an Olympic athlete would already be quite of an accomplishment, especially as an 18-year-old, but Yusra Mardini took it a step further: she and three other swimmers swam for three hours pushing a sinking boat that had 20 people to safety whilst entertaining the six-year-olds on that boat. Not only was that super exhausting to the point of pain, but she now has a fear of open waters. An Olympic swimmer who has a fear of open waters is not something you would expect; I definitely did not so my respect for her grew greatly as a result. Yusra is a young Syrian refugee who risked her own life and career as an Olympic swimmer to save 20 people that she did not know personally when more selfish options were available: wait for help, swim to safety solo, or even just choosing to not entertaining the children. Just based on these facts, I thought it would be extremely difficult to not call Yusra a hero. However, a fellow classmate introduced me to his non-heroic point of view of Yusra, and I admittedly see but do not completely agree with it.

Aside from any ridiculous arguments, like sexism, valid arguments against Yusra’s heroic act do exist. The entire incident was caused due to poor decision making by everyone on the boat, including Yusra herself. The boat was meant to hold six people yet there were 20; with over doubled the intended amount, an accident was bound to occur. Within the article, Yusra is the main focus on the incident, yet there were three other people who were also heroic. Besides Yusra’s sister, who may have only been mentioned due to familial relationships, the other two swimmers received little credit. They did not even get their names mentioned. Just because Yusra Mardini is the only Olympic athlete of them does not mean she deserves the most credit for the act. Although easily amendable mistakes were made, Yusra is still an imperfect human whose heroic deed outweighed her negatives regardless.