Black Friday

I choose not to participate in the consumerism driven "holiday" that is Black Friday. I may not have a lot of money to spend on gifts and necessities but I would rather spend a few more dollars on any other day of the year than go out and get trampled by the masses of crazed bargain hunters. I like online shopping too, if I am feeling especially demophobic, because sometimes I can get the same great deals and not have to worry about finding a parking space in an overcrowded parking lot or waiting in a line that stretches a mile long just to pay for the unnecessary items that I may have been compelled to buy because of the tempting displays or just from the adrenaline pulsing through my body. Black Friday does not do any good to society. People should be spending time with their families while they all have the time off. The people working in the stores on Black Friday should have the day off too so they can spend time with their family. Black Friday is an unofficial holiday made only for the benefit of the big corporations. Getting up at ungodly times in the morning does not do anyone any good either because then everyone is either tired and grumpy or on a caffeine high which can make people act out and the stores can become dangerous places. I do not participate in Black Friday now, nor will I ever.

Holding Back

In this high school, I took a class very similar to this one and I feel like the content is mostly just review. I know a lot more of the answers than I actually voice aloud but I hold back because I do not want to be one of those annoying, know-it-all kinds of people. I cannot think of a certain discussion where I wished I had contributed more but in general, I wish that more people would talk so there would be more to discuss and debate. The class is early in the morning which probably does account for some of the quietness of my classmates. It is difficult to engage in anything that early, let alone thinking critically. I enjoy the class because I feel like it actually helps to wake me up and engages me after having just rolled out of bed. I wish that some of my fellow classmates would find the same enjoyment in the class that I do and that they will engage more and make the class even more interesting than it is already. The professor tends to answer his own questions when he teaches because there is normally an awkward pause after the questions when no one answers. Hopefully, the class will become more engaging for all of us and we will all be able to contribute these last few weeks in the semester. We shall see….

ObNoXiOuSnEsS

I do not like to wear shoes. Strange, I know. What I do not like even more than wearing shoes, is having someone tell me I need to wear shoes. I believe that it is fine for anyone to go without shoes in most situations (job interviews, etc. probably not such a great idea). The other day, I walked to the caf, barefoot, as usual. I walked all the way there from my dorm which is the farthest dorm from the caf on upper campus. When I walked into the caf, the annoying blonde cafeteria lady looked disapprovingly at me. "Great," I thought to myself, "she's gonna make me walk all the way back to get shoes, isn't she?" Sure enough, that obnoxious woman told me I could not go into the caf without shoes. "Fine," I muttered as I turned around and walked back out. I walked alllll the way back to my dorm, in the door, up the stairs, around the corner, down the hall, unlocked my door and walked in. I grabbed a pair of flip-flops and marched out the door, locked it, walked down the hall, around the corner, down the stairs, out the door and allllll the way back to the caf. I did all this walking barefoot, by the way. The shoes were still in my hand when I walked in the door to the caf. When I knew she was looking at me, I tossed the shoes on the floor and shoved my feet into them before sliding my card and walking into the caf. When I found my friends, I took my shoes off at the table and went to grab some grub. Does a piece of quarter-inch plastic between my feet and the floor really do anything at all? I mean, really? Did I really have to walk all that way for that? What is this world coming to? So many questions. No real answers. So, my solution? Rebel.

Racism Portrayed in Crash

In the movie Crash, racism is not just an underlying theme, it is the entire story line of the film. After pulling over a black couple simply because they are black, an LA cop sexually harasses the woman and her husband does nothing to stop him because he believes there is nothing he can do for her without getting himself arrested. He is not truly being selfish. He was just giving in to the white supremacy that is a major part of the film. For hundreds of years, black people have given in to whatever white people want simply because that is what has been beaten into them after many years of slavery, etc. Black people may not be slaves here in America anymore but they are still treated as lesser beings by many white people. The new target of the white supremacist movement is against anyone that looks middle eastern. Americans see middle eastern people as a threat because of the attacks on September 11, 2001 and the fact that America is at war with some of the countries in the Middle East. In Crash, there is a Persian family that is continually harassed for being "Arab" even though they are not. The Persian father seems to not have very much common sense due to the cultural differences here in America which ends up getting him into a lot of trouble. The mayor and his wife are two white people who get car-jacked at gun point by two black guys. Both the mayor and his wife are extremely racist. This comes out the most when the wife demands to have the locks of their house changed again in the morning by someone who won't go out and sell the keys to his buddies because the locksmith is Mexican. As it turns out, the Mexican locksmith is the least racist, most lovable character in the film and he has a wife and daughter that he cares a lot about. The locksmith also tries to fix the lock of the Persian man's shop but discovers he needs a new doors instead. The Persian man does not understand and is very rude and racist to the poor locksmith. After the shop is broken into and torn apart, the Persian man goes after the locksmith and almost kills his daughter. All the racism in this film connects all the central characters to each other.

In "Crash and the Self-Indulgence of White America," Robert Jensen and Robert Wosnitzer discuss the white supremacist nature of the movie and how the film itself is not a racist film. Just how the people in the movie are racist. They also talk about how the movie could "be summed up through one phrase from the studio's promotional material, which asserts that the film 'boldy reminds us of the importance of tolerance.'"

The relevance of Crash in American culture today is that it serves as a figurative slap in the face when it comes to racism. Although not everyone may be that extreme, we all have our moments where, even if its only in our minds, we judge people unfairly based on the way they look.

Flying Home

An interesting situation that happened to me happened this past weekend. I hopped on a plane and flew to Colorado to go home for the weekend. It was not completely spontaneous though, it was a planned trip for me to get my braces adjusted. When I was waiting in LAX on friday night, a gay flight attendant and another female flight attendant walked by me talking loudly and I thought to myself how much fun it would be to have the gay flight attendant on my flight. Sure enough, when I walked onto the plane, there he was. All three of the flight attendants on my flight were really nice. They were joking around with each other and all the passengers. The best part of the trip though happened when I was on my way to the restroom. They gay flight attendant was in the back of the plane unwrapping something and he almost hit me when he went to throw the wrapper away. He apologized in the most shocking way when he said "Oh, I'm so sorry, Dumplin'!!" I have never been called "dumplin'" in my entire life. Especially not by a guy. It was very interesting and it made the flight even more entertaining.

Grace v Pacifism

The connections between Bonhoeffer's Costly Grace and Hauerwas' September 11, 2001: A Pacifist Response are vague but they do exist. Bonhoeffer discusses the difference between cheap and costly grace. He says that cheap grace is "the justification of sin without the justification of the sinner." Costly grace is something to be treasured because of the price that was paid for it to be possible. In a biblical sense, "cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate" and costly grace "cost God the life of his son." Hauerwas talks about how he disapproves of the aftermath of the attacks on 9/11. He believes that Christians should not kill others but rather live a life of nonviolence which may lead to persecution and death. He also says that "more people [might] die because the just warrior refuses to do an evil that good may come." The connections between these two ideals are that they are both trying to tell the reader that the price has already been paid for us, so why are we fighting against what is already ours? We, as Christians, already have a place in heaven so death should not be feared.

"Student Expectations Seen As Causing Grade Disputes" Response

Grades are not just given to student by the teachers, but rather earned by the student. That is the basic idea of this article and I wholeheartedly agree with that. I believe that it is the duty of the student to make sure that they get all the work done on time and to the best of their ability. The ability of each individual student is the reason grades are given in the first place. If every student was only graded on whether or not they turned in an assignment on time, where would the learning process be? What would be the purpose of even trying to do well on the assignment? There would be no drive and school would just be a big joke.

During the course of the semester, all the students at Biola are given homework so they can learn how to apply what they learn in the classroom. If the students do not try their best, they should be given a lower grade than those who tried their best just as a general rule of common sense.

Professor Grossman, however, takes this idea to the extreme. He basically says that everyone should get the average grade if they only do exactly as they are told. Although this may apply in some cases where the assignment involves creativity, such as English, it would be completely unreasonable in other instances, like Math. In English, there is normally more than one answer and requires a certain amount of creativity to complete any assignment. However, in Math, there is only one right answer. How reasonable would it be to give out the "average" grade on a math assignment? It would be completely unreasonable because there is no way to go above and beyond on a math assignment. If Professor Grossman believes that getting an A is a 'sense of entitlement" that his students have, he needs to think again. If his students try their personal best, they deserve an above average grade and vice-versa. That is not a sense of entitlement, but rather common sense and universal understanding.

James Hogge's theory that students believe that "if [they] work hard, [they] deserve a high grade" is completely true. That is the mentality that we were taught to believe growing up. If grades are not given on effort and outcome, then they are merely worthless participation points.

In this class, this semester, we, as the students, should do our best and you, as the teacher, should give us the grade we earn, not the grade you think we deserve. There is a big difference sometimes. This is also how it should be throughout our college experience. We should be graded based on our effort and ability, not just timeliness and completion, or anything else, for that matter. This is already the idea we have grown to know and understand so why reinvent the wheel?