SUMMARY:

During the past week in class, I have read Maya Angelou's " I know why the caged bird sings" learning that Maya is filled with a sense of inferiority in comparison to the white girls in her town, believing herself to be uglier and just generally less competent than her white counterparts. Her brother, Bailey, a more well-adjusted and confident kid, often sticks up for his sister when others attack her. Eventually, when Maya's about eight, their father reappears seemingly out of the blue and brings the kids to live with their mother in St. Louis. While this might seem like an improvement for the kids, it quickly proves not to be. Their mom, Vivian, works in casinos and is taken up with a man the kids call Mr. Freeman, who will eventually rape Maya. Freeman stands trial and is found guilty, only to end up brutally murdered, most likely by some members of Maya's family or someone acting on their behalf.  As a testimony to the trials of growing up as a Negro facing racial and gender discrimination in a rural community in the 1930’s, Angelou reflected, “It was awful to be Negro and have no control over my life.  It was brutal to be young and already trained to sit quietly and listen to charges brought against my color with no chance of defense.

RESPONSE:

Maya Angelou’s tenderness may come from being a woman; the strength and courage conveyed in her narrative emanates from within her heart and soul as a testimony to her own experiences.  The reader can feel that strength, especially from Marguerite and Momma as well as from Bailey and Uncle Willie.  As a young woman finding her way in life, Marguerite defies racism by being the first black conductor of a streetcar in San Francisco. Maya Angelou’s tenderness may come from being a woman; the strength and courage conveyed in her narrative emanates from within her heart and soul as a testimony to her own experiences. Angelou’s writing is reflective of her life and the difficulties she suffered as a young black child. Children feel at times that simply because they are young, they have no control over their. Maya Angelou is so inspirational to many people so reading about her childhood and adolescence was really special. I found her autobiography tragic and also hopeful at the same time. Things have changed a lot since Angelou's childhood, such as segregation, and colorism in the black community (to an extent). The fact that she went through that period of history and was alive to see the first Black president in US history is just wonderful.

SUMMARY:

How much do you think Social Media has affected society?

Technology is one of the most persuasive studies changing place in the twenty-first century. The unchallenging , and effortless use of new technologies has risen the significance and welfare of social networking. People are enlarging their ability to share  with other groups more quickly and maximizing productivity. Nonetheless the use of social networks has changed how people share or exchange information, their ways of organizing and carrying out correlation and correspondence led in some ways the loss of our privacy.. and although disappointing, it is true that people sometimes prefer to have additional interactions with friends through a social network, calls or texting than to be seen in person. The way people used to have coffee with friends on weekends, meet to chat about an important event that happened or just hang out with an old friend seem to have been lost along with the importance of real friendship. Now, people have more friends on Facebook that they used to have when social networks were not widespread, and probably they do not know 80% of their Facebook friends. In the article of Ian Daly “Virtual Popularity Isn’t cool-It’s Pathetic”, he writes “Take a good, long look at your friend list and ask yourself how many of these people would meet you for a beer- or how many you would actually want to meet for a beer.” (481)

RESPONSE:

Men and women of all ages want to feel as if they are significant, connected and more important to others as being independent. This controls the direction of fixation in a sense that no one wants to feel abandoned , but the price you pay for feeling included jeopardizes aspects of life that are far more reputable. People never really feel that they are missing out on something because they no longer give the things that are actually significant much importance. Ian Daly believes that if you resist the allure, you will be vindicated. Social networks inhibit actual relationships. The social network sites are time consuming, ‘it’s like a 24-hour obsession that you have to update and take care of. “There aren’t too many benefits to this site that can’t be realized via email and telephone, “says Daly (481). The author in a sense treasures old fashion communication and sincere relationships...