HYPOCRISY

Prompt: Describe an experience in your life where you witnessed or confronted any form of hypocrisy:

This is not in anyway supposed to be discriminative of people of faith. This is simply an observation that I have made through the "religious"  group of kids in high school. I am well aware that teenagers may not be the prime example for Christians. I have a profound respect for faith and the sacrifices that some make for what they feel is a greater purpose. That is why it bothers me when people literally do not "practice what they preach".
In my high school the girls that were a part of the "Christian" group were the most promiscuous.
I remember on several occasions hearing debates in my classes between students and the "high almighty" self proclaimed "pure" girls. People should not be allowed to drink. No sex before marriage. No cursing...etc.


However they were doing A LOT more promiscuous activities than the rest of us.
I can recall one instance when one of the girls came to my friend's graduation party. My friend offered her a drink..(yes high schoolers should not be drinking.. but not going to be hypocritical.) She went on and on about why people should not drink and we felt she crossed the line when we were just trying to be polite. However all night long she was feeding one of our classmates drinks and by the end of the night she was locked in the room with him. In the morning she "could not find her clothes anywhere." HMMMM HYPOCRISY .
And I have no problem with people doing what they want to do, as long as they don't say they are above that.
" 

Free Writting:

Things That I Want to Accomplish (or Do) This Summer:

• ·         I will first, find a stable, and rather enjoyable job
• ·         I’m taking the summer off from school to work. I plan to save up a lot of money, and move out of my less than ideal apartment, and move into a nicer one (away from certain horrific roommate(s)) with a nice kitchen- marble (like) countertops and newer appliances, and at least two bedrooms. And for Talon to have his own room (decorated HOW I WANT).
• ·         I would love to spend the day on a boat with some friends.
• ·         It would be nice to reconnect with some of my girlfriends that I have been too busy to see in months.
• ·         I want to host some kind of barbeque bonfire/ hot tub party at my parent’s house with friends and family.
• ·         I want to cook all of the recipes me and my mom found for the summer, and serve them to family.
• ·         I also want to cook more for my fiancé, and have dinner ready when he gets off from work. (something that I have been too busy to do)
• ·         I want to learn some more family recipes.
• ·         I have decided I want to refrain from drinking alcohol until my 21^st in September so that I don’t get held back by any petty fines/charges on my record.
• ·         I want to take Talon to the park as often as possible, and invite Ceci and Cooper.
• ·         I know its juvenile, but I think it would be fun to go to white water.
• ·         I want to have many pool days with Bobby and Talon, and friends.
• ·          But I do want to have just one day where I lay out by the pool with a friend and not have to worry about ANYTHING-just like old times.
• ·         I want to make an appointment to FINALLY go wedding dress shopping.
• ·         I want to go hiking at Red Top, like I used to do often, (on a day that is not too hot)
•       I want to do early morning workouts with my best friend again at the gym.
• ·         I want to feel like I didn’t waste my summer, and have a lot more quality time spent with loved ones and money to go back to school with in the fall.

Is Troy Maxson racist?

Prompt: Is Troy Maxson racist?

A: I do not believe Troy is necessarily “racist”. I think it is more an issue for him for his race to be treated equally. There is little evidence, in my opinion, in the text that he is a racist, besides one unthreatening reference to whites as “crackers”. However, there is plenty evidence that supports he is frustrated with unequal treatment of blacks in the era in which he lived.  For example, he did not appreciate that at his job as a garbage man, whites were the ones who drove, while the blacks were the ones doing the heavy lifting. Troy brought the complaint higher up and got rewarded a position as a driver. I believe if Troy were a true racist that he would refuse to work alongside whites, if at all possible. I think it is more of a matter of bitterness toward the white man rather than hate. Also, Troy believed it to be a waste of time for Cory to play football. He has said that nothing has changed since the war, and that black men had to be twice as good as the white men to be on a sports team, and even then they would still be on the bench. He was just simply stating a fact by saying that. To me, that is not a hateful statement. I believe that his opinions are shaped from the era that he grew up in.

 I do not doubt that Troy felt resentment towards white people, and that very well could have disliked most of them (although that was not evident in the text), however;  I did not sense any true hate toward the white race in any of Troy’s conversation. If asked if I thought Troy was capable of racism, I would say yes (based on the fact he did MURDER a person, race unknown, but he did not spend life in jail, which is what I would assume would happen if he murdered a white man versus a little over a decade for a black man which society still believed was of lesser value)  but there was not any evidence in the text to support that he actually was in fact a racist, and I think if August Wilson wanted to portray him as a racist he would do so more obviously.

"The Only Thing You Got, is What You Can Sell"

Q: Prompt: Willy is a salesman, but as Charley tells him, what he doesn’t seem to understand is that “the only thing you got in this world is what you can sell” (1256). What do you think Charley means by that? How does it reflect the America of the late 1940’s? How does it reflect the America of 2012?

A: The context of Charley’s statement came after Willy had just informed him that Howard fired him. Willy commented “That snotnose. Imagine that? I named him. I named him Howard.” Willy was suggesting that Howard should have taken into account his long years of work and personal relationship before letting him go. That is when Charley says “Willy, when are you going to realize that [those] things don’t mean anything? You named him Howard but you can’t sell that. The only thing you got in this world is what you can sell” (1256). Charley is implying that the business world is indifferent when considering an individual’s needs when compared to the needs of the business. Whatever is in best interest for the business outweighs what is in the best interest for an individual.  I believe it was Miller’s intention to reference the lack of sentimental values business possessed during that time in America. Howard had said “business is business.” Perhaps Arthur Miller used Howard’s corrupted moral character to vilenize the business world (during that time period).

Although I lack considerable knowledge on how business is truly run today, I believe that although it is somewhat cut throat, there seems to be a lot more safety nets for employees. There is unemployment, and one can actually sue if there is not a valid reason for termination. However it also seems to be that the business world is always moving forward and looking toward the future, and that newer, and more efficient always trumps traditional and familiar.  Imaginably,  business has not changed all that much since the 1940s.