Class Diary #3

Im a huge fan of 80s movies. I love The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles and many more. There is something that I realized with some of these popular 80s films, most of these movies discuss and show different classes in some way or form. That the kids who are "not cool" are poor, and the "rich" kids are popular. Even though the kids who were supposedly "poor" really weren't, they were still looked at it as that because they don't have the big houses, pools, fancy cars and all that other kind of luxurious things. John Hughes showed the truth how people judge each other by their class. But he also showed that some of the kids who weren't really "poor" were looked at as poor. This was especially shown in the movie Pretty in Pink starring Molly Ringwald, who is a popular actress from the 80's, and she was judged because she didn't live in a big house, but she still had a car, and a nice size house. I just found this interesting how class was perceived in these 80s films.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOkNIUw0c2s

Without a Net short stories

My favorite story out of the four that we read in the packet had to be " The Catholic Leg" because I have seen the movie," Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio" which is what " The Catholic Leg" is based off of, and written by the daughter of the Ryan family. It is a memoir about her mother, and how she kept the family going and running. It is truly an incredible story. Here is the trailer for " The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA7bs2Cbik8

This movie is very well done, and its so interesting seeing how much this one family has achieved, and what the children in this family have achieved coming from a working class family. Evelyn Ryan, the mother who made things possible for her family, was a housewife who helped her family keep on living by entering contest, where she would win all kinds of things like bicycles, freezers, washers, trips to Europe( she cashed in those trips for money for her family) it was incredible how well she did to support her family. Her husband, Kelly Ryan, failed to support his family. He spent his money on alcohol.

Even though they were a working class family, they were a very successful family in the end. With Evelyn's leadership and taking control of where her family would be successful and do well. She proved to them to never give up, and to fight for your dreams and to never back down. All of the Ryan children have all been very successful and have never given up on their dreams. Their mother taught them well.

Occupy Wall Street

While I was going through the articles and videos on Occupy Wall Street, what I have found so incredible about Occupy Wall Street is how everyone is working together. The 99% is showing the 1% that we have a voice and that we do not appreciate what the 1% has been getting away with for the longest time.

All throughout Wall Street there have even been celebrities going out and protesting about what’s been happening in our economy. Fellow actors/actresses like Roseanne Barr, Mark Ruffalo, Michael Moore, Tony Danza and Susan Sarandon have gone out and protested on Wall Street. It’s very interesting and good to see some very well known celebrities going out and fighting for something like this.

The occupation Wall Street movement has moved to over 100 hundred U.S. Cities and it has also spread all throughout the world. Occupy Wall Street has officially marked one month today at Liberty Square. It is very incredible to see so many people being out there protesting for weeks. I want to go to Occupy Providence sometime very soon to protest. This is a change that needs to happen.

I think its really great to see that we, the 99%, have a voice and we aren’t afraid to use it anymore. There are too many people that are loosing their jobs and homes because of the economy that we have going on, and the 1% that controls all of it. We are fighting back. When I was watching some videos on YouTube on Occupy Wall Street, a little boy said that it’s like Robin Hood, which I found that to be a great example of what’s going on. That the 1%, the richest, is stealing from the poor, the 99%.

http://occupywallst.org/

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/opinion/rushkoff-occupy-wall-street/index.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/occupy-wall-street-thousands-join-movement/story?id=1474603

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG_TKAJyV6k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5Zyz8njQb8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbSye1jTwL8

Class Diary #1

There is this new TV show that has come out recently on ABC called” Suburgatory”. It’s about a young girl and her father that move from the city to the suburbs.

What I find interesting about this show is how it displays the suburbs. I’ve watched the trailer for this show so many times, and it’s making the suburbs come across as where all the rich people live. The people that live there also get nose jobs and other kinds of plastic surgery. They are all also snobby. This show reminds me a bit of Desperate Housewives, and showing that kind of Suburbia.

What I also found interesting too was how class is being displayed in this show. It is also showing that everyone who lives in suburbia is rich and part of a higher class. I grew up in the suburbs, and it is a very diverse community. It’s not like how it is displayed in this show, and other TV shows. Heres the trailer for the show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScPgXgJXjrI&feature=related

A Working Class Hero

I think this is a good song that describes the working world:

Working Class Hero by John Lennon

Heres the link to the song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njG7p6CSbCU

As soon as your born they make you feel small,
By giving you no time instead of it all,
Till the pain is so big you feel nothing at all,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
They hurt you at home and they hit you at school,
They hate you if you're clever and they despise a fool,
Till you're so fucking crazy you can't follow their rules,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
When they've tortured and scared you for twenty odd years,
Then they expect you to pick a career,
When you can't really function you're so full of fear,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
And you think you're so clever and classless and free,
But you're still fucking peasents as far as I can see,
A working class hero is something to be,
A working class hero is something to be.
There's room at the top they are telling you still,
But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,
If you want to be like the folks on the hill,
A working class hero is something to be.
A working class hero is something to be.
If you want to be a hero well just follow me,
If you want to be a hero well just follow me.

what is the value of a class analysis?

The reasons why we should bother with looking at the world, history, our disciplines, through a class lens is because it allows us to see things in a different way. Sometimes we’ll look at something on TV in one way, and then looking at what’s on TV in a class lens, everything looks completely different. It opens your eyes more to what’s really going on in the situation, and what the media is hiding.

In the article, Six Points of Class by Zweig, he discusses in the article about the victims of Katrina. Zweig says its about,” rediscovery of race and class in America.” How media puts its own slant on reality. After Hurricane Katrina, blacks were not the only ones who were devastated from the hurricane. There is a large population of whites, working class people that were affected by Hurricane Katrina. “ Eighty-five thousand whites are among the working poor in New Orleans-area labor force. By contrast, there are about sixty-five thousand minorities.” When President Bush made cuts “ It hit equally hard at black and white communities of construction workers.” The decisions he made regarding section eight housing equally hurts black and whites.

It was really interesting when reading this article. “ In the typical media coverage, “race” meant “black” and “class” meant “poverty”, both joining in the common identity of the African American trapped at the New Orleans Superdome and Convention Center”. As often portrayed by the media, there is reality and then there is the media slant on reality. I think it is important to look at things in a class lens, because I feel that it opens your mind more to seeing the truth and reality that the media is hiding from us. Knowing that there is a lot more to the story than what is being shown or said.

About Me

Hi my name is Alexandra, but I have everyone call me Alex. Im a Junior. Im a Women Studies Major with a minor in Communications. My semester is going good so far, I am taking five classes this semester. Im in this class because it has to do with my major, and it also sounded very interesting. When Im not in class I'm either doing homework or hanging out with my family and friends.