This American Life

All of these videos we watched in class had the similar theme of escape.  None of them actually went anywhere but they all seemed to create and identity that let them be the person they wanted to be that helped make them fell safe.

In the first video with the disabled man i think he feared never be to live his life on his own and always needing from someone like his mother or caretaker at the time.  He wanted to escape from that life and those thoughts by trying to you his disability money to be able to live on his own to where he has to take care of himself even though it doesn't seem like he should.  I felt like his reason for escape was fear because he didn't want to be dependent, he just wanted to live like a normal adult even though he was far from that.

In the video about the kids at school i felt the main focus dealing with escape was that when you get to a place like high school you can kind of create your own identity and be whoever you want all the kids around you to see you as.  In yearbook pictures everyone looks exactly the same but in reality everyone is different and you can be as different as you want to be when you first start highschool.

The last video invoving the two men in prison obviously wanted to escape from the life they were living in there.  they wanted freedom and would do whatever it took to try and get it even if they didn't deserve it.  and the man who created his own town with the action figures was basically in my opinion trying to live through them.  Because he could kill or hurt whoever he wanted and he would remain safe no matter what.  there would also be know consequences for any of his actions in an action figure world.  The incident he sufferd outside the bar scared him for life and his own fake world that he escapes to and makes him feel safe.

i believe this can all relate to writing because when you write you can tell as much truth or as much of a lie as you want.  You can create any character or any story that you feel comfortable or safe with, and no one can tell you its wrong.  People can live through their writing by telling stories that they aren't capable of doing in reality.  Writing can be anyones own way of personal escape with no consequences or harm.

Obituary

Over Confidence

Your born inside of everyone and you age very well. Your presence lies inside of everyone but is not always felt, and in many when your presence is known it may never leave. In some you last a lifetime and others just a few days. You are a great motivator and help many to over come fears and obstacles they never thought were possible.  There are many levels to over confidence from very small to helping you make new friends at school or try a new sport you have never played.  Then there is a very high level, which can convince many to take crazy, unnecessary risk such as yelling at your boss cause you think your better then them even if you may not have the same qualifications or trying to hunt for your own food with no prior training.  I guess you could say with you there comes many positives and negatives, but in many you lead to a fake false hope. A temporary spark in a higher self-esteem that may lead to bad judgements a ultimately a huge fall in ones actual self-esteem.  In many lives you are either the cause cause of the rise or fall of the way a person comes to fell about themselves.  If people can not see your presence you can be dangerous, but if they can recognize it then you can be prevented and turned to a positive.  We'll do our best to remember that positive impact you may have on a life and try to hold that as our lasting memory.

Endnote:  This was an example I got from reading the article "High sel-esteem is not always what its cracked up to be" on the science daily website where they talk about a jump in confidence that may not be from a particular source can lead to a jump in high self-esteem that can cause laziness and for lack of a better term big headedness. This all stems from a person having confidence about things they know nothing about, which eventually will hurt them and ultimately lower there self-esteem.  An example of how high self-esteem will not always lead to success.  

Tabloid

Since i cannot create my own tabloid ad myself i am just going describe what it would consist of if i was able to.
My magazine would be titles "THE EVERYDAY SELF"
The pictures would be of famous people with with nice things with articles titles "THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE" and "TO ACHIEVE HAPPINESS"
The famous people would be wearing really nice things such as expensive cloths or or jewelry.  There may even be really nice cars in the tabloid.

Endnote:  What this tabloid would represent is that if want to be like the rich and famous celebrities you see on tv and may idolize then you have to dress like them, or drive the same type of car as them.  The tabloid would make it seem as simple as that not including the handwork that you may need to put in to become successful.  I feel this would be a good example because from doing my research not even all successful people are happy no matter how high their self-esteem is. 

Comic strip

Endnote:  My comic strip is demonstrating two people having a conversation about the cloths they are wearing and the cost of them to be more specific.  After researching my topic of the highs and lows of self-esteem one of the more constant statements i kept hear is people with low self-esteem will try and surround themselves with nice things to try and make them feel better about themselves.  The expensive cloths are used as a cover up to make him feel bigger and better then everyone else, even though that may be far from the truth.

Group 6 activity

I choose this magazine ad because i thought it was funny how they tried to be very direct to there audience which i would assume be high school teenagers or college students.  This is a age group of people that is known for self-esteem issues and they obviously need back packs to go to school, so i liked the very direct approach they took in this ad to show what there product is for.  I think there trying to say people look for material things to help build them as a person, and it shouldn't be that way, so this product will only help get you where you want to go.

spoof ad

Research log 4

Lyness, D'Arcy. "How Can I Improve My Self-Esteem?." kidshealth.org. The Nemours Foundation, march 2009. Web. 19 Oct 2011.


The article "How Can i Improve My Self-Esteem?" by D'Arcy Lyness was mainly about self-esteem in younger kids from the early ages of life to ones teenage years. This article gave examples and exercises for young kids that will help them practice how to build health self-esteem.  They laid down simple steps such as; set goals for yourself, have fun, try new things, and take pride in your opinions and ideas. "Self-esteem is all about how much we feel valued, loved, accepted, and thought well of by others — and how much we value, love, and accept ourselves."  I liked this quote because it was just one of many this article had about self-esteem.  They had many different definitions because they claimed there were many different ways it can be interpreted.  The author got these definitions from multiple sources such as other professors in child studies.  They talk about how authority figures such as parents and teachers, and when kids are young they can not knowingly break down a kids self-esteem that can last a long time.  


The main reason i choose this article was because of the fact is was based on young kids and how it starts at such a young age because kids tend to tak things very serious and are very impressionable.  So far ive mainly focused on research on the effects self-esteem has on people my age or older so it was nice to get some perspective on where problems may start and then seeing ways those problems can be fixed at a very young age.  It was also nice to get a wide variety of definitions because not everyone can understand things as clear as they want from one persons point of view.