Power Team

Sharon Mazer, author of "The Power Team: Muscular Christianity and the Spectacle of Conversion", creates a visual and makes many points in her article. When I began to read it, I was confused and not sure what exactly she was talking about. I understood that it was a religious congregation of some sort that also showed some types of strength and body building. As never being exposed to this before, I was confused and found myself trying to picture such a scene. To get a more accurate picture, I went on YouTube and found this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyohLJ2Dl2E

This video was actually more shocking to me than the article. I was thrown by the contrast of the religious music paired with the body building activities that had no relation in my mind. I fully understand and respect that everyone has a right to choose their own religion and religious views but this was something that seemed hard to grasp for me. Maybe it was the fact that after reading a certain section in the article about how the objects that are broken can be prepared to make it easier changed my views. Yes, maybe they are changing lives and reaching out to people in a different way. I just feel that maybe there should be a lot less emphasis on the strength and a lot more on the sermon. As being a frequent church - goer, I understand that sometimes it is hard to relate to the old ways of the church. But this, to me, seems a little too far fetched. Once again though I state that people are entitled to their own views and I will not think less of anyone who follows the Power Team, but as for me, I will be found in the traditional church setting on Sundays.

A Plague of Tics

This passage was sad yet intriguing to read. OCD is a condition that I have learned about before. Although I have learned many facts about the condition, I have never been exposed to OCD in quite the same way as when I read this story. It really describes the everyday life of a person with OCD very well. You may think that what they do is habitual, which it is, but you never think about what goes on in their minds. It was interesting to me to really get inside the author's head. To read the type of questions that he would have racing in his mind was shocking. Instances like if the lid on the mayonnaise was tight enough or not is something that doesn't normally cross our minds. Although, I have to admit that I have some weird habits myself, such as making sure place-mats on a table are perfectly straight, I couldn't even imagine having to live with something as intense as his condition. Granted, my "tics" are probably more me being anal about weird things and are a lot less harmful than his. On his side, it is more of his brain TELLING and FORCING him to go check that mayonnaise. On my side, I am not losing sleep over any place-mat that is not perfectly straight. This passage was extremely interesting to me and I now have more sympathy for those who live with such extreme cases.

Urban Art

In my paper, I plan to answer the question “How can an art program have serious life-changing effects on young students in urban areas?” My working thesis statement is that by incorporating the arts in urban area schools, students can help remove violence from their lives, help build secure relationships with teachers and families, and help improve their learning experiences within the schools. I do not know a great deal about my topic but I do know that the arts are in serious need of help in school districts. As an easily removable target in schools, arts are often eliminated due to a cut in costs in a district. I am also familiar with high violence rates in urban settings. I realize from personal experience that artwork can help relieve stress and express yourself in ways that may otherwise be hard to do. Therefore I found it extremely interesting that when you combine art and urban school students, the results are quite amazing. Art influences these young kids and young adults to be better people and in return helps them to be more successful in school. I still would like to find out more statistics and case studies for these art therapies working in cities. Arguments that may oppose the one I plan to make may be ones such as saying that strictly educational subjects such as math or science make a student better at learning and building life skills. That art does not affect a student’s educational experience, but is simply a break in classes for arts and crafts. Although most people see art as just arts and crafts, it can have immense effects on not only the artist but also the viewer. I have looked at many different sources up until this point. They all vary in topics and media forms. From academic journals, to case studies, to a video on YouTube, I have come across many interesting resources. Journals include “A Renaissance on the Eastside: Motivating Inner-City Youth Through Art”, “Art and Anger Management”, and “Art from the Heart: A Relational-Cultural Approach to Using Art Therapy in a Group for Urban Middle School Girls”. Books and newspapers include “Working with Traumatized Youth in Child Welfare” and “Peters Township principal receives 'creative' award”. Finally, included is a video titled “The Art Therapy Connection”.

Plagiarism & Laugh Tracks

I found the homework passages quite interesting. Plagiarism is a term and concept that is commonly taught and highly stressed upon. It is something I have been familiar with for awhile now. Although this is something I am familiar with, this however does NOT mean that I am 100% completely aware of all cases of plagiarism and all of the ways to avoid such problems. For that reason, I found the plagiarism articles helpful and meaningful to me. However, the article I choose to talk about now is the "Ha ha," he said. "Ha ha." article.

This article was an intriguing article for me because as a fan of any form of comical show on television, laugh tracks have never crossed my mind before. I had never thought about the meaning or thought behind them. I believe that in most cases, laugh tracks are useless and in fact may even make the show less funny. Shows such as "Friends" or "Seinfeld" were never shows that I found humorous. This may be in fact that the jokes were not my type of humor but it may also have been from the cheesy laugh tracks. I am sure that shows such as "Seinfeld" would most likely have been more funny because the humor in it are experiences that we face on a regular day basis. Which in return, creates a more humorous feeling for the viewer because they can relate. Since the jokes are so easily relatable, it is not necessary for laugh tracks. Although, one of my favorite shows ever happens to have a laugh track, ironically. "Everybody Loves Raymond" is a show that I find myself laughing at constantly. As it being a show that I can easily relate to (family issues that are often brought up in the story), I think the reason I ignore the laugh tracks is because the jokes are so strong. I think that if the humor behind the laugh track is strong enough, people will just automatically tune out that cheesy audio.

I also agree with Klosterman about the fact that we laugh all the time. Now, I may be biased because naturally, I find everything funny. By everything, I really mean it. You will constantly find me laughing, whether it is actually funny, slightly funny, or not even funny at all. Another way I can relate is because I find myself not only physically laughing, but also via text messages. I often find myself filling in awkward texting with things like "lol" or "haha" where it is almost never needed. Also, if i find myself smiling or happy about a text, I often place "lol" where most people may place a smiley face or even nothing. Maybe I am just a naturally happy person and find humor in everything, but I could relate to the article. I think for the most part, comedies do not need laugh tracks because if the humor is strong enough, it is not needed. Needless to say, if "Everybody Loves Raymond" would suddenly remove the laugh tracks, I would most likely not even notice and continue to laugh hysterically.

*Included are two videos of some of my favorite comedies. Even though I included a video that has no laugh track, I hope that you still find the jokes humorous and the laugh track easy to ignore.

Everybody Loves Raymond - Sitcom with laugh track (but humor strong and laugh track unnecessary)

East Bound and Down - Sitcom without laugh track (hilarious and DEFINITELY no laugh track needed)

- Natalie

Topic Details

As a future art educator, the topic I chose to expand on is a huge influence on me. The fact that art programs are being excluded more and more everyday is a serious situation that is easily overlooked. To most people, the word "art" means fancy, abstract Picasso paintings or a clunky, weird-looking sculpture outside of a museum. What most people do not realize is that the word "art" applies to all artistic elements such as chorus, band, and of course art classes. When you think about music, it is an art. When you praise your favorite bands or artists, it is not for a random reason. It is because they use notes, rhythms, and lyrics to lure you into their song. They speak to you and help you relate their songs to your personal life. Without music, I am sure we would all have bad days more frequently. Paintings, drawings, and other forms of art have the same effect. The fact that we have so many great artistic options out there to seek, it does not cross our minds that if we cut a simple one or two programs from a school, it will affect our futures. Do you think any artist, music related or craft related became so successful without any form of learning, practice, or class? No. If so, there are very few. Young children and young adults need to always be exposed to this form of self healing we call art. Without these easily removed classes, our world would drastically change.

Possible Questions:

• What makes any other subject more important than art?
• Who makes the decision to cut these programs?
• When parents are already paying to rent instruments, is there really a significant cost of keeping such a class?
• Don't you think it is healthy to give students a chance to use their minds and imaginations to release the everyday tensions of a school day/life?
• By cutting these programs, are we sending out the message to children that artistic occupations are frowned upon or worthless?

I hope to get people to start thinking seriously about these questions. If there is any form of input you would like to add, feel free! :)

-Natalie

Annotated Bibliography

Game, Amanda, and Elizabeth Goring. "Pursuing Innovative Craft On the Value of Learning Through Doing." Metalsmith. 10-11. Print.

The article my professor recommended to read was published in Metalsmith magazine titled "Pursuing Innovative Craft On the Value of Learning Through Doing". This article was written by two Scottish authors that feel that art is getting lost in society now-a-days. It explains how we love to critique art, but we shun the actual process of making it. Such points brought up by this passage makes it clear to people how important art really is. The article talks vaguely about losing the value of craft and art. It would help support facts such as losing art in schools. Some schools cut out art classes to help fund other classes. Although it may be easy to overlook now, it will severely affect us in the future.

Speaking of Being Attached to Technology...

Introduction

Hello Everyone,

My name is Natalie Cerrone and I am currently an undergraduate student at IUP. My major is Art Education and I enjoy anything art related. I love painting, sculpting, and jewelry making. I love listening to music that makes me dance, laughing at anything and everything, and watching movies. This is not my first blog, in fact you probably saw my other one on my profile page. So on that note, if you are interested in studying abroad, check out my blog titled "Destination Scotland" to learn more about studying abroad and the adventures and experiences that come with it.

Response to Richtel's "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price"

Our assignment was to read Matt Richtel's article on being attached to technology. Ironically, when I went to go online to open the article I found myself distracted. The first website I visited was Imail to check Webmaster Justus' email about what to do for homework. I then found myself checking other, less important emails. Next, I visited Facebook and checked my profile and friend's profiles. I read a status about the weather and how an IUP student is praying for a cancellation of classes for tomorrow. That then prompted me to visit weather.com to check if that was even a possibility. So basically, 45 minutes later I was finally on nytimes.com beginning to read the article assigned. Do not be fooled though, my lack of distraction did not stop there. Within 30 seconds I opened the first link provided which was a interactive picture of Mr. Campbell's desk.

Once I got into the reading, which was also distracting in itself with all of the advertisements bordering the text itself, I found it interesting. The article claims that people think that multitasking improves their productivity, but it is shown by research that heavy multi-taskers have more trouble focusing and shutting out irrelevant information. Although that is a negative aspect, technology can also benefit the brain in some ways. It claims that internet users are more efficient at finding information and video game users develop better visual acuity. This in return can make them better drivers.

Some things mentioned in the passage were just completely ridiculous in my mind. I understand that being connected to technology can be resourceful in our society we live in but at one point it claimed that Mr. Campbell sleeps with a laptop or iPhone on his chest and checks his email as soon as he awakes. He also knows absurd facts such as it takes 221 seconds for him to lose connection when the subway train goes through the tunnel. These are things that a normal person would not experience in their everyday lives.

While reading this article online, I found myself 13 paragraphs in already bored and fighting back the urge to either get up or visit another tab. I also engaged in the distraction test linked in the text and of course the game too.

Overall, I found this article interesting yet sad to realize just how much our society is affected by technology. I am a huge fan of technology and use it anytime I can, but the Campbells, especially Mr. Kord (Thomas) Campbell, are way too involved and are ignoring the simple things in life. Mr. Campbell mentioned that he remembers a time when he used to talk more. His wife also mentioned that she wishes he could just "unplug" and spend some more time with the family. Sadly, technology has taken over their lives in a way that almost seems hard to reverse. They are truly addicted to technology in any form. Once again, I am a fan of technology but there needs to be a balance between the usage of technology and the act of simply "unplugging".

-Natalie Cerrone

*Note: The fact that blogger.com will not let me include tabs before my sentences is really bugging me!