theme for English B

Theme for English B

The instructor said

Go home and write a page tonight.

And let that page come out of you

And then it will be true

Is this true? I am 16, mixed-race, born in a village not on the map

I’ve gone to the same school since 6^th grade

In a school in the woods

A school different from all the rest

As I cross the bridge, under the flickering lights

Watching the waves crash back and forth

All following the rhythm of the wind

Down the small road

Where the deer stand and watch as we travel back

To a home by the water,

Look right and you’ll see the naval base

And feel the sense of fear

That something so dangerous is so near

I go to my room

Sit on my bed and write

Every night as I sleep

I hear the water and the wind

In their endless tango

I hear my ancestors on the waves

Travelling island to island

I was raised white

I look white

Am I white?

If not what am I?

I’m not as different as others

I don’t get questioned because of my skin

So what box can I check, to describe who I am.

Being me, I know I can’t erase

Half of myself, despite all my differences

From two races so far apart

What am I?

And who should care?

We’re American

We’re mixed like the water

We all hold part of someone else in us

In which we do not choose

We learn from each other

And that’s the key

To finally have harmony

In this world

Divided by race

I learn from you

You learn from me

This is my page for English B

Gap Ad

In analyzing GAP ads we were asked to look at the language used and how it impacted the way we viewed the ad. In the ad for the young boy we recognized the key phrases as: Scholar, Genius, Future and His" these words bring  a positive sense to the ad, that the clothes being sold will bring success to the child, we identified "His" because it excludes girls and some people could view that word negatively. In the young girls ad we identified the key words as: Social Butterfly, Talk, and hers. These words have positive sense because it means she'll be popular. This could be viewed as negative because popularity can be a double edge sword and just because people talk about her does not mean it's positive talk. We learned how words  create different ideas and appeals to parents and audience. How potentially a parent could want these clothes for their children because they promise success or popularity.

This ad made me think about gender stereotyping with how women and girls are targeted with the promise they will become popular. While men and boys are targeted with the promise of success. Women are thought of to work their way up by knowing people in high places and not working, and thought of that they will talk their way up. While men do "Real" work and work their way up through that way. Women and girls are being stereotyped in these ads because the advertisement is not considering women working for their future and being in the academic sphere and having professions in math and science.

I found meaning in the text because of current events and stereotypes of women. The text in these ads made me associate them with other sexist and stereotypical ads. While these ads intended to market the clothes positively, association with other problematic ads made that message almost meaningless.

Advertisement reflections

https://drive.google.com/a/westsoundacademy.org/file/d/0B0kFIfFIzLvJQ1lfTHhfWlE3YUU/view?usp=sharing

Our advertisement was for a product called "Spy Kit Triple-O Seven" Which is a cheap spy kit for failing spies and private investigators. We came up with this product while brainstorming ideas for this project. Our list ranged from perfume to a pocket book of weird quotes from our teachers. Eventually we settled on a cheap spy kit for both failing spies and people who wanted to become spies. We chose the spy kit because it gave us a range of options for what to film and different ideas for scenes. When we created this we did not have a particular target audience, but as the product developed we got more and more ideas, which lead to us deciding to target unfortunate spies. We wanted to appeal to peoples sense of humor, since comedy has a tendency to make a lasting impression. 

We made our brand name by using a well known symbol "double-o 7" from James bond but added to it by making it seem like a cheaper version "triple-o 7" as a joke for people who have seen James Bond.  For our slogan we wanted something catchy and something that referenced our James Bond base, we settled on "James Bond on a Budget" trying to say: You can be as successful as James Bond but without the costs. The language we used was in attempt to appeal to people by saying: Our items are cheaper AND they get the job done. We chose words that were associated with success and affordability. This shows how people want products that promise success without tons of effort and training, something simple yet something that will produce quick and good results.

For publishing we formatted this ad as a traditional informercial that would be aired on television. We decided on the infomercial format because it is accessible and easy to understand. The style of this we wanted it to be flashy and classy, and have a James bond aesthetic, that is why for our logo we chose a very sleek font similar to the ones in movie, but when there was information we wanted to draw complete attention to that text. We wanted out ad to be funny, because comedic commercials have a tendency to stick in people's minds. Also with a more serious topic of spies we thought a light hearted approach would be better. This ad turned out exactly how I wanted it to, with the uses of colors, music and style. 

We tried to appeal to pathos and logos the most. Pathos by showing all the spies being caught and failing their missions, and making people feel pity for them. Then we appealed to logos by showing the kit working and have a testimony saying that the kit solved their problems. For our audience this could appeal by showing the kit working and showing that it leads to success. Our audience was failed spies and struggling private investigators, and I think we did appeal to them. 

Advertisement Analysis

This advertisement by Dove is revealing how women in America are often times labelled based on their appearances. This advertisement displays how women's appearances do not impact their professions. This advertisements target the everyday woman regardless of appearance. The majority of the ad speaks to women who do not follow a traditional path. The beginning part focusing on a female boxer talking about how people did not want her to fight claiming she is "too pretty," the next part focus'  on a plus sized woman who talks about how people did not believe she could be interested in fashion because "Only skinny women can dress nice." Each of these women's parts speak about how one part of them defies a social norm. The narration are the women speaking about there careers and what people have said to them, about being "too boyish, too heavy, too pretty, too old." During the advertisement it never really focuses on the women's faces but what they are doing. The language is not very loaded, most of what they say revolves around how a woman's appearance does not impat her career. They use negative language but it is used to empower them, how those words made them stronger. This advertisement strongly appeals to Pathos by sharing these women's stories and showing how regardless of appearance they overcome and followed what they loved. It also appeals to Ethos, by using people with impressive title, the boxer saying she's "Number one in the country, number two in the world." But it they did not use big celebrities which makes this ad seem more genuine in a sense. This advertisement appeals to the everyday woman which appears to be the target audience. This ad does not include openly LGBTQ+ women, but does show many women of different colors and body types.

Dialect Test blog post 1

On Friday I took a dialect test by the New York Times.
My dialect was most common in Salt lake city, Spokane and Tacoma. I wasn't surprised to find that I had a dialect, and I expected to have one. I don't think I have a dialect because I'm used to how I speak along with being surrounded by people who speak similarly, but if I were to enter a different setting with people who speak differently than me I'd think I would hear more of a difference in how I speak. What surprised me most was one of my main cities was salt lake city, because I've never been to Utah, and I have no family from that area. I do believe dialect and accents affect who people are and how they are treated, which can shape someones personality, this is mainly seen with people with different accents/dialects living in an area where their speech is not common. My dialect doesn't really affect me in anyway, because everyone around me speaks very similarly so it hasn't affected how I've been treated or who I am. I don't really think differently or anyone with an accent of a dialect, partially because half my family speaks with an accent and I've just never really cared about peoples differences in speech.