Extra Blog

1.  How have you managed a memory rhetorically? (100 words)

There are a lot of things that I hope to always remember and then there are those things that I wish I could forget.  Some things make forgetting easier, for example getting rid of all the evidence can be helpful.  But for things that we want to remember we try to keep every artifact and every memory we have of it.  For example, family members that pass away, I always want to remember the most I can most I can about them.  Every picture there is out there I want to save every memory I have I want to remember, all of their features and qualities I want to remember.  By doing this I feel like we decide what we want to remember and what we want to forget.

2. How do you feel about expiration dates for information?

What problems and benefits do you see? (100-150 words)

I feel like expiration dates can be a good idea.  There are many people that go through different stages throughout their lives.  When people change their lives towards a different direction, if they are trying to improve their lives, an expiration date will be very beneficial for them.  They won’t have to worry about their pasts coming back to haunt them.  A problem with expiration dates might be that we will forget things that are important to us.  Mayer-Schonberger (2009) notes that “such memory helps us to note ideas and capture moments that will bring us joy and fulfillment when we look at them later” (p. 10).  If they have an expiration date they will disappear one day and the memories will be lost.

3. What sort of information about yourself do you wish was deleted or has expired and why? This information can come from the web or from another data storage device or medium.(150 words)

Information about me that I wish I could delete would be mostly pictures.  I think that there are a lot of pictures that have show me doing things (e.g. drinking) that would not look very professional.  I am going to be a teacher just like Stacy from the article was going to be.  It would not be good if I lost job opportunities because of pictures that were posted.  People could get the wrong idea about me, and if students’ parents would see it they might not like that.  I need to be a good role model for the students and even though I feel like I am, people could think differently just by seeing pictures.  Even though it is not illgal to drink and I am not doing anything wrong, others might think so because they are only seeing a synecdoche of me.  I would not like it if activities I did outside of the classroom affected me, even if I was being a good teacher.

Works Cited

Mayer-Schonberger, V. (2009). Delete: The virtue of forgetting in the digital age.  New Jersey: Princeton University Press

Blog #10

Select one term Villanueva uses and describe why you think it is important for your research on Assignment #2 and #3. Think about how you might be able to apply it (150-200 words).

“Racelessness” will be an important term in my assignments because this can be found anywhere.  There are many cultures that have trouble “becoming American.”  People like me, who come from a different country, with a different family background, with different beliefs, with different customs.  What happens to all of these when we move to the United States?  In many cases they become erased or forgotten.  When this happens we feel like we are neither from here nor there.  My family moved to the United States when I was two years old, I haven’t been to Mexico ever since.  I feel like I still have a lot of the traditions, and I still have my language, still have a lot of the foods, but it is not the same.  If I were to go to Mexico, I would not fit in.  I would not act like every other person there, I would stand out.  In Mexico I would be viewed as an American, but in the United States I am viewed as a Mexican (Villanueva would say a Hispanic or Latina).  So where do I fit in?  I’m not just one or the other, I’m a little of both.  I think there are many people like me and many places that demonstrate this.  Beginning with the internet, television, radio, etc. all of these places, tend to mess with the race.  As Villanueva (1993) said “it is the denial of other-culture affiliation, a denial of the collective, any collective; it is the embracing of America’s dominant ideology, the ideology of individualism” (p. 38).  This term could be applied to my assignment since this happens everywhere.

Write one multiple-choice question on readings from 10/12to 11/4.

Villanueva would agree that biculturalism is…

a)      an equal ease with two cultures

b)      the tensions within, which are caused by being unable to deny the old or the new

c)      having to cultures, but being involved with on more than the other

d)     none of the above

Now write a True/False question/statement from the same reading.

In “Spic in English” by Villanueva Japanese are more likely to suffer discrimination because they speak English with a “foreign” accent.

Works Cited

Villanueva, V. (1993). Bootstraps: From an American academic of color. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.