One example of how women are portrayed in media today that is alternative to what Douglass is talking about is plus size models. In Douglass’ essay, she talks about how women were portrayed with plenty of makeup for commercials of skin products and also other media that shows off womens legs and bodies which were slender and pretty. This media gives everyone the idea that they must look like this and buy these products to be beautiful. That women must be a certain size and look to be beautiful. But this isn’t true. And this picture is one example that you do not have to be like what media portrays you should be.
1) In this essay by Berger, he discusses history a lot. He talks about artwork and how it “embodies a way of seeing.” When he discusses history he mentions that we are “situated” in history. When we look at beautiful artwork, we situate ourselves in it. We don’t just look at it, we invision ourselves in this artwork and situate ourselves in it. It is more than just seeing it is being and feeling as well. It can also be political when talking about ruling classes and the history behind this. If we are prevented from seeing this art we are deprived of the history which belongs to us.
2) Berger talks about how many people view Hal’s paintings of high authority figures and people’s positive remarks on them. Critics use words like harmonious and unfogettable. However, Berger seems to view Hal’s work differently. While people may talk about how the art seduces us, he disagrees and says that this is “nothing less than the paintings working upon us.” We accept the fact that his painting is of his sitters. Berger observes teh peoples gestures and facial expressions. His impression of this artwork is based mostly on what he knows about this artwork, and that is that he has painted pictures of those Governors and the Governesses of the Alms House who gave public charity.
After reading Percy’s essay The Loss of the Creature, my ideas of a liberal arts college experience was really influenced by his ideas. In his essay, he discusses ideas including “preformed symbolic complex.” In the first picture of my dorm room, this is a typical example of preformed symbolic complex. Ever since before I came to college, I always pictured what it would be like in my mind. How classes would be, what the campus would look like, how my room would be arranged. I always had this vision of what college would be like from what I’d see in movies and what others would tell me, like this was what it was supposed to be like. The picture of all the books on my desk is also another example of Liberal Arts College and another typical example of preformed symbolic complex. After reading this essay, I realized his ideas were very true and I had a much different view on college.
Another thing Percy talks about in his essay is “consumer receiving an experience-package.” When it comes to this idea, it is basically saying that everything is laid out for us in school now days. We don’t need to make our own choices anymore, everything is done for us, and we just have to take it as it comes to us and make something of it. Liberal arts open a variety of different courses for us to study. And in this, we are given the opportunity to take or leave the knowledge and use it. It is all laid out for us and all we have to do is use it and make the right choices. It is the same basic idea that we are free to keep our mind open to many different courses and learn what we want.
In the picture of the white board and me holding a baseball in one hand and a book in the other, you see an example of “consumer receiving an experience-package.” They both show how I am offered plenty of knowledge and it is my choice of whether or not I want to take this information and use it. When I hold the book in one hand and the baseball in the other, this shows me being given the choice to take what I have been offered and decide whether or not I want to use the knowledge or not.
1) After reading “The loss of the Creature” I start to see the connection between the tourists and the students. The progress of thought represented from tourists to students shows similar ideas. In the tourist reading, it explains how the tourist goes to Mexico and enjoys the stay but still feels something is missing and need more. Same with the student in a way, when it talks about how even though a bio major is there to learn bio, one who isn’t a bio major can learn more from one simple experiment than the bio major that studies it their entire life. This is showing, in my opinion, that it is the simple thoughts and ideas that matter most. Something unspoiled and untouched. Something new is always best for the simple eye of someone who hasn’t seen before. From the Mexican Indian tribe to the dogfish.
2) The loss in the essay by Percy, in my opinion, is the loss of the simple things in life. We do not appreciate the simple things in life. We always look for more. Like at the Grand Canyon. Instead of taking pictures, one should stop and admire the beauty, instead of thinking of more. This is a matter of concern, because people don’t appreciate the simple things anymore. The interests represented here show that even the simple eye of someone can appreciate and learn more than the eye of someone like the biology major. People have lost the sense of happiness of nature. We must stop for a minute and enjoy.
The reading by Walker Percy discussed the face that someone may go visit a famous landmark, in this case the Grand Canyon, but not really seeing what it is. Sure one may go back home after visiting and say that they did go to the Grand Canyon and saw it, but what exactly did they see? Did they actually see the Grand Canyon? You cannot exactly see what it is from just gazing from above, one must go deeper in. It also discusses how many tourists may go on vacation to a place, like Mexico. They visit all the famous places that tourists visit, but in the end they feel that they have not gone somewhere different. A spot not visited by other tourists, “unspoiled.” Once they visit this certain place they can say they did “it,” and go home satisfied that they did something not all tourists get to do. They saw what real Mexico was.
This reading left me with certain questions, including what exactly does it mean by you are not really seeing the Grand Canyon? Do you need to feel it? Really go deaper than the breath taking view? is there more to it than that? What is the author talking about when he discusses this view on life? Why can he say that we have no really gone there and we need more? Something unspoiled?
When I read “The Loss of the Creature,” I did not struggle too much. I just thought to myself whether or not I get the deeper message to it. I am not sure if I understood what Walker Pearcy was talking about when he said that we may visit a place and look at it but not truely visit it. There is more to that.
Compared to our discussion of Cliche, this story is a little similar. When I read this story, I did stumble across some Cliche’s. One that caught my eye was “By virtue of the fact he has other fish to fry..“ This reading in a way contrasted the discussion we had in class and really showed some examples of cliche. It talks about how we may visit a famous land site but they soon become over visited and old. Over used, just like a Cliche which is over used and becomes part of regular speech today. We need to look deeper into it. Take back roads into the Grand Canyon, the rough route.
This is my dorm room. I believe this is a good example of Liberal Arts because it shows the living conditions of an average student today. It shows the different aspects of schooling and the freedom we have. In this room, there are two sides with a variety of different things on each side, showing the plenty of things that are offered going to a liberal arts school. On my desk are plenty of separated papers of different assignments for each of my classes, showing the diverse classes I can take and how I am not held down to one major.
On my desk are all my different books from each of my classes. These vary from Biology and Chemistry to Business and Psychology. This shows the many different courses I am taking this year. This is an example of a Liberal Arts school because it shows how I am not held down by one major and I can study many different courses and keep my mind open to many different careers like pre-med to business to psychology. In liberal arts you have many choices to what you want to do and it keeps your mind open to anything.
This picture of a white board is in my opinion a good example of liberal arts because it shows an empty space which can be filled by anything. It represents the open mind that is free to be filled by anything and not just one certain thing. It is a clean slate; a new start, which is free to a variety of different thoughts and ideas.
This picture shows me with three things: a baseball, a book, and a computer. This is a representation of the many things I can do at once. I can balance out three different things at once, which shows that I am not held down to one thing at a time. With a liberal arts education, my mind is open to many different areas of study, from western civilization to sports to computer technology. There are many different courses one can take and that is why liberal arts is a good choice so one isn’t held down by any specific major.
