The first person that i interviewed was a 14 year old in my neighborhood about what he expects prom to be like. Throughout most of the interview it seemed that his main concern was who he brought. It was such a big factor because in his eyes who he brought affected how other people look at him. When i asked him if he knew what color suit/tuxedo he would wear he said, "Black tux with a black tie". This to me showed that he had a pretty good understanding of how he expected prom to be. Even though he will not be going to prom for 3 more years he is already thinking about it since it was in his mind "a pretty big part of the High school experience".
The second person that i interviewed was my older brother about his experience at prom. Since he did not go with someone from the school to prom he said that it was in some ways awkward. It wasn't like he had a bad time or anything but he did feel like he was responsible for her and responsible for making sure she had a good time. He said, " It would be much different if i had brought someone from school, she would know people and i wouldn't have to worry about introducing her to people". He told me that his favorite part of the prom was actually the limo. He said that he "felt important" since he was in a limo which people look at and usually imagine someone famous is inside.
The last person that i interviewed was my dad. My dad did not go to his high school prom for one main reason. He did not feel the need to be with the people at his school more then he had to. He told me that, "When the school does not create a good environment to make friends in its pretty hard to make yourself want to be friends with those people." Although he said he did have some friends at the school who he would have liked to spent time with in his eyes it wasn't really, "worth the time and money". He also told me that prom has always been an expensive event even when he was a teenager.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
HW 57 - Initial Thoughts on Prom
Prom in my mind is basically an event that is set up for the students (mainly seniors in high school) to give them one last big event before they go off to college. When the students show up they are all dressed up in the nicest pieces of clothing they can find to give them the idea that they are like celebrities. The whole entrance and picture taking aspect of the prom makes them feel important and like a celebrity would with everyone watching their moves. As the prom drags on the thought of the after party comes into play and the whole excitement about the actual prom tends to fade away into somewhat of a distant memory. The after party is pretty much the highlight of the night in the way that they are independent and have all this money to spend on what they want that night.
My thought about the whole idea of prom is that in a way it is just another reason to try and bring a grades community together. The thought of that one last thing to remember makes the students want to make it as special as possible. But prom is also a very expensive night. A ticket at our school costs around $140 and on top of that your going to want to have extra money for whatever you want to do on prom night. Then if you want a limo that could be about another hundred dollars. By the end of the night you have spent a couple hundred dollars for what is supposed to be one of the most memorable nights of your life, but what happens if it isn't? If your whole night turns out bad then you just wasted a lot of money to have a bad night.
Questions:
1.) Why do the students feel the need to impress others with what they wear to prom?
2.) How is prom looked at in the perspective of those who have never gone to a prom?
3.) Why does it matter so much to a person when it comes to picking a prom date?
My thought about the whole idea of prom is that in a way it is just another reason to try and bring a grades community together. The thought of that one last thing to remember makes the students want to make it as special as possible. But prom is also a very expensive night. A ticket at our school costs around $140 and on top of that your going to want to have extra money for whatever you want to do on prom night. Then if you want a limo that could be about another hundred dollars. By the end of the night you have spent a couple hundred dollars for what is supposed to be one of the most memorable nights of your life, but what happens if it isn't? If your whole night turns out bad then you just wasted a lot of money to have a bad night.
Questions:
1.) Why do the students feel the need to impress others with what they wear to prom?
2.) How is prom looked at in the perspective of those who have never gone to a prom?
3.) Why does it matter so much to a person when it comes to picking a prom date?
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
HW 56 - Culminating Project Comments
Javon,
It was very interesting to me that even at such a young age your mom already has her plans for what happens to her when she dies already figured out. Unlike my mom who hasn't even thought about it i think that it was smart of her to plan out her arrangements so early just incase.
Rossi,
I think that it was very interesting that you decided to interview the women that you did. Do you think that having someone to help you with forming your questions helped you shape your post? and also how do you think her being so comfortable in the interview helped you remember key information?
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From Javon,
Max First of all I enjoyed not only reading your post but watching it. Your decision of not only writing but also recording the experience defiantly was a plus. During the interview with your Mother I noticed that she said ; "anything that might be helpful to another person" This lead em to the conclusion that death might be dreadful and horrible for one person but might be benefiting another person in a different way. She also mentioned that basically she wants her death plans to benefit her children. The video interviews were great. What you can improve on in the future is the depth of your analytical paragraph. By doing this people will be more drawn in and it will help describe the experience better.
From Rossi,
Max, I liked the way you went about the assignment. Making videos of the interviews made it a lot easier and more enjoyable to view rather than paragraphs of description. I liked how your father said, “it’s kind of like going home” which makes me think about places that are significant to me. He also mentioned music which made we wonder why he cared so much about things happening that he desired because he will not be the person to experience them, like the music. I wonder how he feels about the afterlife and the mind/spirit vs body contrast. Aside from this I am disappointed that your paragraph was not as elaborate or carefully written as I expected. It seemed carelessly written and I think that while the assignment was a good idea, especially with the videos, it could have been much better if your paragraph was more personal and detailed. Another paragraph could have even been added. Overall a solid and enjoyable post.
It was very interesting to me that even at such a young age your mom already has her plans for what happens to her when she dies already figured out. Unlike my mom who hasn't even thought about it i think that it was smart of her to plan out her arrangements so early just incase.
Rossi,
I think that it was very interesting that you decided to interview the women that you did. Do you think that having someone to help you with forming your questions helped you shape your post? and also how do you think her being so comfortable in the interview helped you remember key information?
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From Javon,
Max First of all I enjoyed not only reading your post but watching it. Your decision of not only writing but also recording the experience defiantly was a plus. During the interview with your Mother I noticed that she said ; "anything that might be helpful to another person" This lead em to the conclusion that death might be dreadful and horrible for one person but might be benefiting another person in a different way. She also mentioned that basically she wants her death plans to benefit her children. The video interviews were great. What you can improve on in the future is the depth of your analytical paragraph. By doing this people will be more drawn in and it will help describe the experience better.
From Rossi,
Max, I liked the way you went about the assignment. Making videos of the interviews made it a lot easier and more enjoyable to view rather than paragraphs of description. I liked how your father said, “it’s kind of like going home” which makes me think about places that are significant to me. He also mentioned music which made we wonder why he cared so much about things happening that he desired because he will not be the person to experience them, like the music. I wonder how he feels about the afterlife and the mind/spirit vs body contrast. Aside from this I am disappointed that your paragraph was not as elaborate or carefully written as I expected. It seemed carelessly written and I think that while the assignment was a good idea, especially with the videos, it could have been much better if your paragraph was more personal and detailed. Another paragraph could have even been added. Overall a solid and enjoyable post.
Monday, May 16, 2011
HW 55 - Culminating Project - Care of the Dead
The interview with my parents about what they wanted to happen with their remains after they had passed on was somewhat surprising. I have known for a while now about what my dad wants to do when he passed away so that was not the surprise. I was very surprised to hear that my mom did not have any plans on what she wanted to have happen when she died. I had actually never asked her about this because it is such a sensitive topic for me because I can not imagine life without my mother (and my father). When my mom said she wanted me and my brother to chose what happened to her when she died it actually made me wonder what i wanted to happen. I would like to find away to make sure i have her as close as possible without it being to emotional for me to handle.
COTD5
season 4 episode 7:
In this episode the director just tries to get everyone accustomed to what is going on in the show. He made me see exactly what the characters have to do with death and the situations that they face with death.
The way that the director shows us how the characters deal with death is that some of the main characters work at a funeral home. One of the characters had a near death experience which really affected how he dealt with death because everything that reminded him of his experience sent him into a state of panic.
season 4 episode 8:
This episode focused more on some of the cases that they had in terms of peoples funeral arrangements. The director really wanted us to see how people wanted their death to be taken care of when they passed away.
The most important part of this episode for me was when a man drives up to the funeral home and sits there and closes his eyes, then the scene cuts. One of the workers at the home comes to the funeral home and sees the man in the car, dead. Later while talking to his family they had told him that this had been his plan all along.
Season 4 episode 9:
In this episode they had a man who loved comic books that had died and requested to be buried with his most famous comic. When he died his "friends" tried to sneak into the funeral home and steal the comic book because it was worth over $4,000.
Although the workers at the home did not personally know this person it did affect one of them greatly. When the funeral was going on he started to cry because it occurred to him that although he was a "nerd" it was still a sad thing to see for him.
These three episodes really got into the dominant social practices of care of the dead in the way that they showed their side of the situation. When someone came to them to do a funeral they did not act like it was just some person who they did not know they made the situation personal in a way. They tried to give these people their last wishes and make it as amazing as possible. In the case of the friends trying to steal the comic book they fulfilled the mans last wish by letting him be buried with his most prized possession and not letting it be stolen.
Also in episode 9 the mother of the family went down to mexico for a vacation. She went on a horse ride and the horse that she was riding got sick and had to be put down. This hurt her terribly inside and made her feel awful. For someone who has witnessed so much death and so many tragedies the death of a horse affected her so much that she cut her vacation short and went home. It is very interesting that how something so little like this can trigger some emotions that haven't been let out all this time.
In this episode the director just tries to get everyone accustomed to what is going on in the show. He made me see exactly what the characters have to do with death and the situations that they face with death.
The way that the director shows us how the characters deal with death is that some of the main characters work at a funeral home. One of the characters had a near death experience which really affected how he dealt with death because everything that reminded him of his experience sent him into a state of panic.
season 4 episode 8:
This episode focused more on some of the cases that they had in terms of peoples funeral arrangements. The director really wanted us to see how people wanted their death to be taken care of when they passed away.
The most important part of this episode for me was when a man drives up to the funeral home and sits there and closes his eyes, then the scene cuts. One of the workers at the home comes to the funeral home and sees the man in the car, dead. Later while talking to his family they had told him that this had been his plan all along.
Season 4 episode 9:
In this episode they had a man who loved comic books that had died and requested to be buried with his most famous comic. When he died his "friends" tried to sneak into the funeral home and steal the comic book because it was worth over $4,000.
Although the workers at the home did not personally know this person it did affect one of them greatly. When the funeral was going on he started to cry because it occurred to him that although he was a "nerd" it was still a sad thing to see for him.
These three episodes really got into the dominant social practices of care of the dead in the way that they showed their side of the situation. When someone came to them to do a funeral they did not act like it was just some person who they did not know they made the situation personal in a way. They tried to give these people their last wishes and make it as amazing as possible. In the case of the friends trying to steal the comic book they fulfilled the mans last wish by letting him be buried with his most prized possession and not letting it be stolen.
Also in episode 9 the mother of the family went down to mexico for a vacation. She went on a horse ride and the horse that she was riding got sick and had to be put down. This hurt her terribly inside and made her feel awful. For someone who has witnessed so much death and so many tragedies the death of a horse affected her so much that she cut her vacation short and went home. It is very interesting that how something so little like this can trigger some emotions that haven't been let out all this time.
COTD1
The first cemetery that i attended was the Woodlawn cemetery in the bronx. When i got there i was amazed to see all of the trouble that people went through to make sure that they were buried in the nicest way possible. Aside from all of the grave stones that were there in the cemetery their were also a lot of mausoleum's for some of the more richer people. Some of the mausoleum's that were there were much nicer then what some people are living in today. One of them which i believe was for the vanderbilt's was literally a castle. All of this trouble for someone who has died, i think its a bit ridiculous that someone who is dead felt the need that they needed to be buried in a castle. Some of the more famous people that were buried there were names like Duke Ellington and Miles Davis (jazz legends) and as i stated before the vanderbilt's.
The second cemetery that I went to was on 21st and 6 avenue and it was called the spanish and portuguse synaogog shearith for israel. This one was much different from the woodlawn cemetery in a lot of ways. First of this one was about 50 times smaller then woodlawn and was not as well kept as woodlawn was. Although i was not allowed inside of the cemetery i did stand outside for a half an hour and observed as much about it as i could. Unlike woodlawn these gravestones were not kept very nice, they were chipped away and it seemed as if the writing on them was fading. Some of them were falling over and were not clean what so ever. I think that they wanted to give it the original feel of a graveyard without changing anything up even if it would do good to the grave sites.
In conclusion my visit to these cemetery's was actually very interesting and thought provoking. I had the image that a cemetery was a depressing place where it was just a bunch of repetitive gravestones. But when i got to woodlawn it completely changed my views on this situation. There were such amazing statues that made me think so much about how people wanted to be treated after they die. It made me think a lot about if i want something like this to happen to me when i die or if i would want something else to happen.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
COTD2
The first character that I am going to talk about is the most important character in my opinion, Harold. Harold is a very strange boy who is not at all like any of the other teenagers his age. He does not like to hang out with friends or play sports, Harold spends his time going to funerals of people who he has no idea who they were. From the start of the movie aside from going to funerals Harold would fake suicide attempts to scare his mother (or at least try to). He became very into the idea of suicide and I think that had a big role as to why he is always attending funerals. The daily funeral seemed like a very common thing for Harold to do, just as common as going to get groceries. He was even so obsessed with funerals that he drove around a herse. Even when his mother got rid of his herse and bought him a brand new jaguar he designed it into a herse some how. All of these scenes from the movie show the significance of death and funerals in this characters life.
The second character I want to talk about is Maude. All though she was not the most important character she played just as an important role as harold did in the movie. like harold maude like attending funerals of those she did not know. She was a very rebellious women and was not really what people would picture an almost 80 year old women to be like. She attended these funerals and found harold who she immediately liked considering they were pretty much into the same exact things. She eventually fell in love with harold (as he did with her) and harold had planned to marry her. Maude would say through out the movie that once she turned 80 it was the end of the road. Harold never really caught on to that but on her 80th birthday she told Harold that she had just taken medication which would kill her within a matter of hours. This reasons show how this character had significance with these topics.
The third character I am going to talk about is Harold's uncle. Harold's uncle was in the army and had many experiences with death. Through out most of the movie he was trying to convince Harold to join the army considering everything that was going on with harold in terms of death and his obsession with funerals and suicide. What he does is that he tries to convince harold to join the army but Harold puts on a whole act to try and make his uncle think that he is to crazy to join the army (with the help of Maude of course). The uncle tells him stories of his experiences with war and most of all death and all of the people that he had killed in the war.
In conclussion the significance of Maude and Harold's relationship is that Maude tried to show harold how to live. Without Maude in his life Harold did not know how to live a normal life. Maude showed him that even a person like her who has seen so much death in her life (the holocaust tattoo on her arm) can still enjoy life to the fullest as he should be doing.
The second character I want to talk about is Maude. All though she was not the most important character she played just as an important role as harold did in the movie. like harold maude like attending funerals of those she did not know. She was a very rebellious women and was not really what people would picture an almost 80 year old women to be like. She attended these funerals and found harold who she immediately liked considering they were pretty much into the same exact things. She eventually fell in love with harold (as he did with her) and harold had planned to marry her. Maude would say through out the movie that once she turned 80 it was the end of the road. Harold never really caught on to that but on her 80th birthday she told Harold that she had just taken medication which would kill her within a matter of hours. This reasons show how this character had significance with these topics.
The third character I am going to talk about is Harold's uncle. Harold's uncle was in the army and had many experiences with death. Through out most of the movie he was trying to convince Harold to join the army considering everything that was going on with harold in terms of death and his obsession with funerals and suicide. What he does is that he tries to convince harold to join the army but Harold puts on a whole act to try and make his uncle think that he is to crazy to join the army (with the help of Maude of course). The uncle tells him stories of his experiences with war and most of all death and all of the people that he had killed in the war.
In conclussion the significance of Maude and Harold's relationship is that Maude tried to show harold how to live. Without Maude in his life Harold did not know how to live a normal life. Maude showed him that even a person like her who has seen so much death in her life (the holocaust tattoo on her arm) can still enjoy life to the fullest as he should be doing.
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