Eco-Friendly Weddings

Being eco-friendly is a very 'fashionable' thing, now even for weddings. In the Spring/Summer 2011 issue of "The Know-Texas" there are many weddings that are advertising eco-friendly elements such as; vintage brooch pin wedding bouquets, using glass bottles (jelly, beer, and other various glass cylinders) to hold flower arrangements, and even eco-friendly invitations. Throughout this issue there were 34 different ideas that were labeled as 'eco-friendly'; that number doesn't include the other ideas which could be considered eco-as well; for example wrapping wedding presents in newspaper.

There is also a lot of emphasis on 'recycle' in the wedding industry to fit into the eco-friendly trend. Some ideas in the magazine included; having your wedding near the holidays as to recycle the flowers churches use to decorate during different seasons. Reusing space is also an important notion throughout this issue of The Knot. By reusing space, they mean having the ceremony and reception in the same common space and have a fabric or recycled paper partition to divide the spaces. On page 302 there are questions and answers. One question states, "How can I go green?" This shows me that some brides are not just concerned with how they look & how well the reception goes; they (the brides) have a big concern for the environment as well.

The U.S population as a while is becoming very eco-friendly, and are aware that there needs to be a change in not only in our lifestyles, but our parties as well. Even the Christmas light display at Disney World is eco-friendly now.

Failure makes us stronger...?

Does failure really make us stronger? This video makes it appear so, I have watched it many times and it still makes me think that all the criticism I've received over the years for various things has paid off. When someone, anyone tells us we did something wrong, or not up to standards, or says it just plain stinks-it can cut deep, so deep in fact we completely give up. I have had that happen to me, I began playing the accordion when I was 15 years old. I got made fun of by every single person I knew and met, but still, I continued to play. My mother made me play outside for the cows (we had cows on our land, and they enjoyed my music) until one day I met a real accordionist at an Irish Dance Competition. This was a dream come true, and I wanted to get all the advise I could. He asked me to play something, so I chose my best piece, and he stopped me half way through and told me I should choose a different instrument because I didn't have what it takes to play the accordion. Devastated, I thanked him for his time and didn't pick up my accordion for three years. When I finally started to play it again I joined a polka band and have enjoyed it immensely!

About six months ago I found out what happened to that accordion player that shattered my dreams, he is now in rehab for drug addiction. Life has a way of making you stronger, without realizing it he made me a stronger person by telling me I wasn't good enough, much like the people in the videos. They are extremely well known people who have been famous around no only the U.S but the world.

While watching the youtube clip, (link above) it appeals to various parts of our brains. This uses all aspects of ethos, pathos, and logos. There is a strong bit of pathos involved, but it uses just the right amount of ethos in the speakers voice to really carry the message.

IDigital

We live in a world of instant communication. Mobile devices are great resources for digital media communication and other sources of entertainment. Any media within the World Wide Web is considered digital media. Most of the phones on production lines today have internet capabilities. The most popular Internet based mobile devices are the iPhone and iTouch. Between the iPhone and iTouch, each user has the potential to download almost unlimited apps every month, of varying types; games, shopping list makers, bill trackers, social networking, and more. With all this connectivity there are endless possibilities for exactly what limits are out there. There is emerging technology coming out everyday, like the new ipad for Verizon. The ipad has been a popular device, and it's popularity is still growing, much like the iphone-Mac came out with the new iphone last june and there's really no telling what will be next.

If we take ourselves back in time to World War 2 time, news took much longer to travel. People relied on word of mouth and the newspaper, now we rely on twitter and facebook. Emerging media, including twitter is keeping us connected, but will this soon be a case of 'over exposure'? I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we see the effects of being so connected. Just by looking around we can see the good and bad sides of this digital era. People spend hours already on computers, whether for work, school or play; but with games such as 'farmville' (a popular facebook game) it is eating up more time we could be doing other things such as grow a real garden, or take a walk in the fresh air.

Julia Stiles

The movie Julie and Julia is one of the best movies I have ever seen! I saw it recently for the first time when it came in my Netflix; then after mailing it back went to Walmart and purchased it. As I was watching it I became engrossed in the film and was inspired afterward to be a chef myself, (which didn't work out so well) This movie very much appealed to my pathos and then the logos came into play when I realized I am not a gourmet chef. A few days later I was actually in Half Price books and saw the Julia Child cookbook, and yes I bought it. I found myself in my apron in the kitchen with Julie and Julia playing while we both would cook. Then my sister (who I live with) pointed out how ridiculous I was being and I put a stop to it. It was fun while it lasted.

This movie also reminds me of your website, the virtual rhetoric one in the about me section. I read it at the beginning of the semester, and was reminded again of it when I saw Julie and Julia. Julie was a cubicle worker who did not like her job yet tried to keep a positive attitude; she began an online blog as a nice project to make her happy and it ended up being a whole lot more. It took her a year but she cooked her way through Julia Child’s cookbook, it took you 10 years but you got your PHD! I was such an enjoyable movie, and I would recommend the next time you can’t decide on a movie to rent-rent this one!!!

Race is not equal because we are making it un-equal

The notion of race equality is something that baffles me; the University of Texas at Dallas has a club for every race, sexual orientation, religion, or career path possible, but nothing for ‘white’ people. So I decided to see what would happen and how people would react if I tried to start the “White Student Association”. Let me tell you, what I found out surprised me. I started this in devour at the beginning of the semester. First I applied through the UTD student organization to become a ‘registered club’. Next was where I ran into trouble; I needed a full time employee to sign off to be the ‘mentor’ which involved going to the club meetings and making sure it was everything it was supposed to be. Without this a club at UTD cannot exist. I also needed at least but not limited to 5 members for the club. I got five members to sign up, but no employee. In order to fulfill the requirements for a full time employee, I started off by emailing people on the staff email website available online to UTD students, I only heard back from one person asking if I had found someone to sign off on it; when I emailed her back I explained that I had not found anyone and asked if she would be interested; I never got a response.

There are signs and fliers all over campus for the Black Student Alliance, the Muslim Organization, and other clubs; I feel if we want to reach race equality we either need to have a White Student Alliance as well, or abolish these clubs all together, because its promoting staying in your one collective group not branching out, things will ever be cohesive if we keep these clubs and states of mind alive.

All or most of these clubs play on the emotions of the members and outsiders as well. The emotions of the oppression the club's members are trying to remember, the obstacles their culture has over come, and personal obstacles as well; but if we are to form a community with people who help one another these clubs cannot exist.

Presentations

The presentations that we have been doing in class have really opened up my eyes to things that I’ve never even thought about. The Twilight, True Blood, Buffy the Vampire Slayer presentation made me think about the gender roles that we see and how they really have changed throughout the years. The guys, who did the presentations on TV shows such as Family Guy, really surprised me; I thought most guys thought family guy was like gold. They were showing that it enforces negative perceptions on how to live your life. The television guy who used the Marxist approach really intrigued me, I myself have a television in my apartment but I don’t even have it hooked up to TV channels, just a DVD player. On average I watch two movies per weekend and during the week my television set just collects dust. His statistics are really believable and yet unbelievable at the same time. 99% of homes have TV’s, and 49% of kids don’t have their television monitored.

Also throughout while watching these I noticed that the presentations a lot of time is focusing on just how superficial our society has become. Also that we need to be more perceptive on how we are exposed to such lewd advertisements, television shows, and even music; it really is sad how our society is. After we turned in our papers I kept thinking of really good ideas that would have or could have been better than the topic I used, I had to write them down to keep in mind for a later class perhaps.

Disney has perfected ethos pathos and logos.

Today I am working on my blog from a motel in Henrietta Oklahoma, my boyfriend Preston is in ‘Cowboy camp’ learning how to bull ride. While working on school I have been flipping through the channels and landed on HGTV, a channel that I love. They are doing a special on Disney getting ready for Christmas! While watching this I realized that Disney is really a self-sufficient place, and it is much more than meets the eye. They grow their own poinsettias; have their own staff for everything, and so much more!

The grand Floridian Hotel at Disney world, there is a life size gingerbread house! Around the park there is a real working (you can’t ride it though) carousal, there is a gingerbread miniature village, and a gingerbread gazebo. They use 600 pounds of powdered sugar, just on the gingerbread alone. There are so many lights, millions and millions; so many that Disney employees don’t know the exact count. Disney really has captured the essence of ethos, pathos, and logos; they use each one in perfect harmony and that is why, I’m sure, they are growing bigger each year. They are known for making people’s dreams come true, and they make that warm fuzzy feeling come to life for everyone. They are also good at tapping into the minds of the more ‘sensible’ minded people with advertising how eco-friendly they did something, how they make things a ‘good buy’ and make you think it just makes sense.

They are also very good at making their employees, called ‘cast members’ see their goal and making them want to help in any way possible. My sister actually did an internship at Disney World, and my family experienced the Disney take over. She explained the cast members actually have contests who can remember the most obscure Disney facts that the normal people wouldn’t know. The Disney company has really perfected ethos, pathos, and logos.