elishaevans

For our next assignment in our English 102 class, we will be writing a cultural analysis, which will incorporate research on a cultural artifact of our choosing. A cultural artifact is usually an object we think about that was created by humans of a specific historical society that gives us in the same, or different, modern society an insight to what that society was like during that time. Many of these objects are actual artifacts that were once handmade, like crafts or pottery all the way to other inventions like cellphones. However, in today’s society, our cultural artifacts are becoming more and more abstract – things we can not personally hold – but they still have a major impact on our lives.

It took me some time to try to gather some ideas for a cultural artifact relevant to my own life that I would want to analyze.In our class, we have talked a great amount over the course of the semester about the effect of technology on our everyday lives and, also recently in class, we have discussed the role of advertisements. After some discussion, I decided to connect the two ideas together in a way that distinguishes how our culture now uses technology in advertisements opposed to what they did in, for example the World War I era.

Two distinct pictures I have came across so far was the World War I knitting advertisement campaign we discussed in class on the left, and a recent Burger King advertisement on the right.

Both of these pictures do have something in common, although it may be difficult for many to understand without an explanation first…

The American Red Cross ad was created to generate support for wartime efforts from the women inside the states so they could get involved somehow since they could not directly. In short, “SOX” is a discrete message in replace of the word “sex” implying thats what these men overseas really need from women. Futhermore, the soft, pliable yarn is a representation of a female while males are represented with the knitting tools – showing a form of penetration in the ad.

Contrary, the Burger King ad is by far more blunt with it’s sexual message its conveying to the audience – need I even explain?

This cultural artifact is something that has not gone unnoticed overtime. The first main difference I can clearly point out is the way the older generation poster uses other symbols to represent a woman in a sexual way whereas today the actual woman is the sex symbol. It is true that there may have been some older ads that were more sexual than the World War I example I provided, but as for the big picture many were conservative of the image of women.

This belief that women should be very conservative during the early 1900s could have also stimulated some of the resentment women have developed overtime for against those ways of their past. For example, a major turn for women’s culture was the Flapper that emerged in the 1920s and up into today were women willingly do ads, such as the one above because it is now acceptable, yet still inappropriate, in our society.

I plan to focus my paper mainly on the role women play in ads and the effect it has on the audience it is aimed for. However, I also want to draw attention to the role technology plays in advertising now as well. Opposed to cartoon drawings of women in older ads, technology today allows for the actual woman to be involved in the advertisement – whether it be a commercial or photograph –  and gives viewers a more realistic image of the woman, which makes a major impact on the message being conveyed.

After reading “Behind the Formaldehyde Curtain” by Jessican Mitford, I came to the realization it would be difficult for anyone to take in. I think in the back of everyone’s minds there is at least some common knowledge of what the process of embalming can look like, but after reading Mitford’s description – there is no going back to the image they once had. For myself especially, I cringed at the word choices she used to describe the process, “sprayed, sliced, pierced, pickled, trussed, trimmed…” (254). These vicious-sounding words are not what we want to associate with the human body; mostly because we relate to our own body being handled in this manner and our loved ones’. In our culture, death is not an easy topic for discussion. Dying is a major fear for many, and even for those who are not afraid of death themselves, still fear the idea of losing someone close to them.

As Mitford goes further into the gory details of embalming – the specific chemicals used, “mouth sewn together with a needle directed upward between the upper lip and hum and brought out through the left nostril” (256), a long, hallow needle “jabbed into the abdomen, poked around the entrails, and chest cavity, the contents of which are pumped out” (256) – she also incorporated a sense of dark humor when she has remarks, such as “every operator has a favorite injection and draining point” (256).Even though her writing was mostly directed to be informative to those oblivious to the process, after hearing these tones about a sensitive subject of death, I could not help but to pause and stop reading several times throughout the story.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/oct/24/embalmer-for-14-years-ask-me-anything Thegaurdian.com provides an interesting interview with an individual who has been an embalmer for 14 years to give you the inside look of what goes on beyond just the process from the professionals point of view.

For myself, death is a very common but still very sensitive subject to my family and I. My grandmother had always cared for my grandfather as long as I can remember with the help of all of our family members, until he finally required the attention of a nursing home. While he was there, my grandmother had fell ill of a serious liver disease and was immediately hospitalized. For a couple of months, my family had sat days in and days out as her health slowly declined – wanting to be there to say goodbye when she passed. One day as we were gathered in her room, my dad received a phone call from the nursing home my grandfather attended stating he was being transferred in, to find out he was diagnosed with pneumonia and congested heart failure. With the state of both of their conditions, we knew it we would be losing them both around the same time. My grandfather had passed March 20, 2011 and what seemed like an eternity eleven days later my grandmother had also passed. Since then, I have also lost a friend in a car accident, two great-uncles, an aunt, my great-grandmother, and my best friend’s grandfather I also felt like was my own in just a few short 4 years.

I feel like everyone has a story of their own when dealing with the topic of death. Some can say they’ve only been to a few funerals of distant relatives and some can say they’ve been to their own parents or siblings funerals, but depending on the person, they can be handled very differently or similarly. Some stories like Mitford’s could even anger reader’s, especially in our culture, who believe death and the human body should not be darkly joked and so gruesomely spoke about. Although it did not anger me, it did put mental images in my head of my loved ones going through this process, which I could have gone without knowing. All I would want to be aware of was the final image I got in my head of my loved ones after the process was finished for their funerals, which is the main point of the process to begin with.

Recently in class, we have read and discussed many articles and stories, such as “The Book-Writing Machine,” by Matthew Kirschenbaum – explaining his experience switching from writing by hand to on machine – and also “Why technology matters to writing: A cyberwriter’s tale,” by Jim Porter, which he records his development and stages of writing overtime. Both stories show the role technology played in their writing process, and the impact it made overall, such as the ideas of the writer and time consumption aspects. For example, Porter stated while discussing the discipline of handwriting, “this training led us to fixate on appearance rather than content” (377). This being said, he means while writing some can be more focused on making our writing look better opposed to simply typing our ideas on a computer without the worry. Kirschenbaum also states in his article, ”  I had always ‘constructed’ my books rather than written them. Until the IBM machine arrived I used scissors and paste to add paras, dump pages and rearrange sections of material” (3). Here, he explains the time consuming element pre-technologic times took on the writing process, which could also effect the career of the writer as well if it took a tremendous amount of time to create one work.

However, since Porter and Kirschenbaum have done well at clarifying how and why technology has changed the writing process, I feel as it is important to expand on a huge aspect of writing technology has played a huge role on: research. In academic writing, research plays a major key in the writing process – from gathering ideas, narrowing down topics, elaborating on topics, or collecting all your data to begin your writing – its all there now at a few key strokes and a click of a button. Not to say research should not be done inside real books, which are still great and reliable resources, but those resources now are being transferred electronically into databases. After going through training to navigate and effectively use databases, I realize how easy it is to narrow down searches on a computer to find exactly the source you are looking for opposed to skimming shelves in a library. Even after opening a document, technology has allowed us to “ctrl+f”, type in a word or phrase we are looking for in a document, and it will take us straight to it, rather than skimming through hundreds of pages of a book.

http://www.wired.com/2013/07/how-technology-is-changing-academic-research/ This article titled “How Technology is Changing Academic Research” by Ryan Smith, the co-founder and CEO of Qualtrics, explains how not only does academic research is changing scholarly pursuits, such as us college students writing papers for class, but also impacts every other parts of human life, such as economical, medical, and other humanistic purposes.

Overall, I feel lucky to have grown up in a generation accustomed to being able to use our resources in technology rather than other time consuming messages, which could turn me away from writing altogether. Although writing is still a major process, technology has helped alleviate some of the stress by reducing the amount of time we spend revising, being able to physically create a work quicker, research quicker, and even have more resources to advance our original ideas from.

I have known since the whole issue of North Korea and the United States initiated that there was not something quite right going on there. From Kim Jong-un’s speeches to his own people and messages to the United States, he leads to believe that his country is developing and flourishing quite well – that his people are happy and healthy – and most importantly, he is to be given credit for its “success.” But, there are too many red flags, including insight from the North Korean citizens themselves, to believe the deceiving front Kim Jong-un has created. After reading “Sophie in North Korea” written by Sophie Schmidt, a few major things stood out to me that I had not heard of being disclosed from North Korea. First, no buildings were heated when Sophie arrived. Many stayed at a constant 30 degrees as the weather outside was nearly 10 degrees outside. It makes me wonder: Can the North Korean government not afford to run the heat in these buildings? Do they even have heating systems installed at all? Plus, if these government buildings they were taking their visitors to were not heated, it can only be assumed many citizens suffer from lack of heat in their homes as well. Another point Sophie made in her article was during a trip on the subway, the first encounter with average citizens, a power outage occurred, which resulted in all the commuters immediately pulling out flashlights they already had on hand. One can only presume North Korean citizens are accustomed to random outages that the government has not made a priority or cannot make a priority at the time. Last, but not least, on her trip, she made a visit into the Kim Sung University e-Library. Although the room was full of young students, each at their own identical computer desk, no one was actually doing anything productive on their screens. A few clicks or scrolls on meaningless pages, but what was even more confusing was no one reacted to the group of visitors entering the room as a normal community of students would. So, this leads to one question: Is this all set up and for show for the visitors? It is almost hard to argue that it is, knowing North Korea is on a completely separate part of the world with their own culture. Just because we live in climate controlled buildings, does not mean everyone should. Or, they are just taught to carry a flashlight with them like Americans are taught to carry wallets or purses with them wherever they need to go. Or, that they are taught to focus solely on their work and not let other stimuli distract you from it. However, the PBS video, “Secret State of North Korea,” released inside videos from every day North Korean citizens willingly putting their life in danger to expose the truth of their leader. There is no doubt the footage of starving and homeless children begging is the side of North Korea Kim Jong-un wants the world to see. But it’s also important to realize the same thing is happening in countries across the world, it just comes down to who steps forward and does something about it. Now this being said, Kim Jong-un setting up fake grocery stores and fake clothing stores is not helping his people rather than helping his image as a leader for the outside world. In the movie “The Interview,” although it is made to be a comedy, it does show some of Kim Jong-un’s tactics and strategies (the clip of James Franco heart-broken his new friend Kim Jong-un lied to him as he discovers the fake grocery store and artificial grapefruits) he uses to keep his “strong leadership” persona he has going to gain respect from his people and to remain a threat to other countries, especially the US. As it still remains a mystery what the conditions really are like in North Korea, with the help of undercover journalists and inside sources, we can slowly uncover the truth Kim Jong-un has worked so hard to hide from the world.

We have it pretty nice here at this campus. You don’t feel like going to class today? Skip it. You want to sit in your room and eat that whole Domino’s pizza you had delivered? Eat it. You want to watch “just one more” episode of Netflix instead of writing that paper due this week? Watch it (them). You’re an adult now at college, capable of your own choices. Who’s going to stop you?

This mindset is a huge problem among college students, which only leads to procrastination, grades falling behind, and not to mention poor health choices. But, would this be this big of a problem if your parents or guardians were here to watch you?

For myself, going through grade school and high school, I know when I was sitting at home trying to work on homework or study, my mom made sure I knew that she was aware of it when I was procrastinating. When she would walk through the kitchen carrying a load of laundry to laundry to the backroom and caught me paying too much attention to my phone, it would always be, “I don’t see you studying…” Although some parents do this being flat out strict with their child’s education, my mom was more there for motivation to make sure I was always working to accomplish my school work so I wouldn’t have to worry about it later on and to achieve to the best of my abilities.

Julia Angwin discussed in “State of Surveillance” how just the thought of being watched, from the extent of placing cameras or just posters of human eyes, significantly changed the effects of some individual’s behaviors. Even if someone is not actually physically watching, the fear that they are can control someone’s actions. Now that I’m on my own in college, I always stop and think about if my mom was here to watch the decisions I was making, would I still make the same ones?

Of course my mom physically not being here cannot help me determine this, but I feel just living in the same dorm room with my roommate makes me more productive with my time. This being said, the fact I grew up with my mom always watching me doing my school work makes me think this has a major effect on me now, even though I know for a fact there would be no instant consequences to me being on my phone while studying or my roommate scolding me for not doing my homework.

Being watched while I do homework is just something I became accustomed to, just like other’s are used to being watched while walking down the street. Being watched is just something to get used to in general with this generation of society. With the amount of threats and crime that occur everyday, surveillance would of course need to be improved and deeper regulated for the protection of ourselves. Asking for criminals to change their ways to gain more privacy in our lives would be like asking for a pig to fly. Once someone abuses it, its taken away from everyone – that goes for everything good in this world.

Technology has advanced so quickly over a short amount of time it’s almost scary. As the Internet and computers first started, they were used by people would needed them for a significant purpose. Medical fields, scientists, computer techs all had the ability to manipulate technology to meet their needs and make lives of others easier. Now the stereotypical example, Larry, can sit in his parents’ basement, eating pizza, and abuse technological power to gain access to someone’s personal information.

After reading “Hacked” by Julia Angwin, I was not as shocked as I believe she intended her readers to be. My generation has grown accustomed to being aware of the advanced ways any average person can use your name to dig deeper into your life. Once any of your basic information is accessed, it is a chain reaction for a hacker. It can start with them knowing a basic amount of information about yourself and end with them knowing your address, work place, and even to the extent of your social security number. A couple hundred of Internet safety courses later, it becomes ingrained into our mind it’s only the strenuous work of a few clicks and pecks of a keyboard for a hacker to ease themself into your life. Its a scary thought how easily your life can be broken into by a complete stranger. Many before this generation wouldn’t believe how easy it was until they were personally victimized by a hacker.

However, today, we don’t see hacking as a technological fantasy like it is portrayed in movies. Its not just a nerdy individual  typing in codes to gain access to free music or movies, or getting the answers to an exam. Although those are considered crimes, many of the hackers today are in it for dangerous schemes – using personal information for identity theft or to the point of finding someone they have been stalking to murder, as Angwin discussed.

Its sad we have to grow up in a society where we just have to learn to accept someone can and maybe will try to steal our personal information – how its not even shocking to us when the bank calls to tell us they are sending a new card because someone hacked into a stores computers and compromised your credit card information. We can’t abandon all technology when it makes our lives so much simpler just because a person abuses it and makes it difficult. However, there are ways to reduce your risk of being targeted, like restricted availability to your online profiles, protecting your personal computer with some type of security software, or just not adding as much information online.

Even though this may not block a hacker from your life, the good news is if its that easy for them to find your information, its almost as easy for them to be tracked too.

Life online versus reality has become a predominant topic discussed in our society. By why exactly has this question became the topic across various cultures of all ages are talking about? Many parents could argue social media takes away the valuable connection they have with their children. Teachers could say it is a distraction in the classroom that takes away from the learning process, in addition to the bullying situations it creates. Even young adults could agree social media adds unnecessary drama to their already busy lives. Not to say social media is all negative. With the technology of social media, people can now connect with friends across the country or even the world in seconds. However, many today can consider themselves a digital dualist. In short, a digital dualist is one who believes what happens online is virtual and what happens in the physical world is what is actually considered real.

This term is described by Nathan Jurgenson in his article “Digital Dualism Versus Augmented Reality,” but Jurgenson is on the other side of things. He more believes the two worlds come together to make up our life as we know it, a term he states as augmented reality. As a kid, going online and playing games as your own character did seemed like you were off in your own little world, but in today’s society on social media sites, such as Facebook, you use your REAL name and your REAL information that your REAL friends can see. There’s no doubt that something you post on a profile that is supposed to represent you as a person won’t affect you in your life.

Its actually ironic how people claim their Facebook or Twitter account is there own place to post obscene photos or posts of drug or alcohol use if that’s what they prefer, and always use the “If you don’t like what I post delete me” excuse, but have been let down by several employers and still wonder why. Although there could be a lack in other areas like personality or qualifications, many times people are denied jobs because one of a company’s first options is to check a person’s social media account to see what kind of person they are online. Just the other day in my speech class, my professor explained that there has been companies asking for passwords for their social media sites to see if they are fit to be a face of the company. Yikes, that’s almost taking it too far, but then again if you really wanted that job, would you deny your password? This being said, I can preach to you like all your high school assemblies, don’t put anything online that could prevent you from achieving goals later on.

There is definitely a fine line on what you should post and not post on social media, but you should always be yourself on it and not give a false impression to others, as Jurgenson described as a “cyborg anthropologist.” You are still going to go out, have drinks (of age), and still be successful in your job. However, its the extent of what you share of that side of your life online to others is what can make or break you in some situations, like job opportunities or personal relationships.

Arguments can come in a variety of styles and arise from certain questions associated with every day life. Should gay marriage be legalized nationally? Should abortion also be legalized, as well as marijuana? Many people can simply answer yes or no, but for one to influence another’s belief on the topic, they need to incorporate reasons to support their opinion. Arguments, such as these, can get quite sticky since many’s opinions on these issues are developed from the line between right and wrong that their morals have drawn. However, these moral challenging questions are not the only type of argument that is affected by an individual’s background.

The true definition of a word is a major argument influenced by one’s perspective on the subject. During a discussion in class, we were asked what higher education really meant to us. Was it a source to obtain a job? A place to acquire necessary skills for real world experiences? Training to better oneself or become a master in a certain field? Somewhere you went because your parents said so? There are certain exceptions for the meaning of a word that everyone could agree on, but I believe if someone has a strong viewpoint on a certain concept, such as higher education, there is not one set definition of it. An individual that was dragged to college by the pressure of their parents’ expectations would not agree higher education was the best way to better themselves. Nor would an individual willingly attending college agree that it was only a place to earn a degree to land a job later on. This being said, the only way to determine a definition is to look beyond the dictionary meaning and look deeper into a person’s background to why they define it as such.

I come from a small town in central Illinois, occupied by only seventeen hundred people. We are a small farming community that the only problems we have are telling who’s truck is who’s driving through our no-stop-light town. Although other subjects further than trucks, four-wheelers, and hunting are talked about among the younger crowd, higher education is not a predominate one. Many kids attending my town’s high school are lucky enough to inherit some type of farming ground from their parents after they receive their high school diploma, which they can work and make a living from. For most of these kids, higher education is not preached upon from their parents; resulting in little effort to make attending college a top priority. Furthermore, from my background, my mother attended SIUE and is now a registered nurse, and my dad had not attended any higher education passed high school and works as a utility worker. After I graduated high school I followed in my mother’s path and attended college. Yet, my brother followed my father’s non-college route and works for a trucking company. Now as we talk about higher education, we each have differing definitions: my mom’s and mine alike just as my dad’s and my brother’s are. Higher education has a different meaning and even a different value to each of us.

My family’s case is not the case with all people however. Many can see their parent’s lack of ambition to boost their own. Many can even see higher education as a blessing that no one should take for granted, even the kids who show no interest in it. Either way, an individual’s attitude on how they interpret a certain subject, whether it be influenced from others close to them or their inner selves, will write out that person’s definition of it.