Monday, October 27, 2008

Baca's "Past Present"

In Baca’s “Past Present” narrative he uses two different kinds of writing, narrative and persuasive. He blends these two types of writing together in order to make his story to what I believe to be much more effective. Baca used narrative essay in the entire beginning of his story. He used narrative essay to explain his own personal experience in jail. In his story he was the writer of a film that required him to return to jail for a month of filming. The entire time he kept thinking about and referring in detail to the hardships and problems he faced when he was in jail nearly twelve years before. He said, “While my mind told me I was free, my spirit snarled as if I was a prisoner again, and I couldn’t shake the feeling.” Eventually in the story Baca started incorporating persuasive essay into his writing. He used this technique to show his hate for prison. Although most people in the world already know the horrors and terrible background around prison, Baca’s strong anti-views of it seem to bring one to even have a stronger passion against it. He used his personal experiences to convince the reader of how terrible prison is. He ended his story saying “I was struck with pity for those who had to stay, and with simple compassion, too, for myself: for the pain I had endured in this month, and for that eighteen-year-old kid I once was, who had been confined behind walls like these and had survived, but who would never entirely be free of the demons he met behind bars.” He said this to show readers a lasting impression on what his life was and is like now. I found Baca’s story to be very effective. The way he blended his use of narrative and persuasive essays was very effective in influencing me into his beliefs and thoughts. He made me feel sympathetic for him having to revisit prison unwillingly and on different terms.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

"Sanitized Reality"

“You just won the Super Bowl. What’re you going to do now?” asked a reporter.
“I’m going to Disney World,” said the athlete of the winning Super Bowl team.
Disney World is a famous amusement park full of games, rides, princesses, and cartoon animals. Disney World is one of the most famous attractions for children and families. Its popularity grows to lengths of attracting professional athletes. In this article however, Salamone and Salamone possess a completely opposite view of this popular attraction. They believe Disney World to be a place of “sanitized reality.” People go there to escape the realities of their lives. They go there to escape the everyday norms that bring stress into their lives. Spending a day at Disney World means a day without paying taxes, a day without going to work, a day without doing chores at home, and a day without so many everyday tasks that people do not look forward to in their lives. Although children are thought to be the main prey of Disney World promoters, Salamone and Salamone believe adults take advantage of the idea in order to escape the realities of their own lives.

In the United States today there are many other cases that could be considered of “sanitized reality.” The life of a movie star’s child would be an example of “sanitized reality.” The child’s life could consist of getting everything they wanted, and basically never having to work for any of it. They would have no real grasp of reality and what real life is suppose to be like. They would never learn the true value of a dollar, nor would they understand the concept of working for their own money. All they would ever know and understand is getting everything they wanted and asked for.