Response to Eric Schlosser's Kid Kustomers

Precisely as the introduction of this reading suggested what to appreciate this essay about, I was able to identify Schlosser's brilliant ability of making a strong indictment without sounding harshly judgmental or polemical.  Schlosser indeed showcased his ability to lay out intensive facts and maintain his objective, therefore, trust worthy tone and voice throughout the entire essay.

The claim of facts insisted by the author throughout the entire reading provides a straightforward warrant where children of our society have been victims by the lustful greed of the advertising industry, and it's only gotten worse since the 1980s, 'the decade of the child consumer.'

The main claim that Schlosser made in this essay is Madison Avenue has sought after children, as young as age of two, their immature prey.  The advertising industry has invested and constructed their strategic schemes with arsenal aiming at the youngest of the country for not only childhood, but a life time consumerism.  Schlosser pointed out, "Hoping that nostalgic childhood memories of a brand will lead to a life time of purchases, companies now plan "cradle-to-grave" advertising strategies."  He continued, "They have come to believe what Ray Kroc and Walt Disney realized long ago -- a person's "brand loyalty" maybe begin as early as the age of two. Indeed, market research has found that children often recognized a brand logo before they can recognize their own name."  In essence, the advertising industry has and will continue to stalk our young citizens incessantly. Its seize will not cease, especially, as the Internet has become common and regularly used.

Madison Avenue inspects and surveys, purposefully, their young and impressionable audience, the children, their tastes, and their behaviors.  From their finding, they build and design commercials satiable for children even to affect their beliefs.  They plot and design, carefully, the characters of the commercial to speak directly to the children, the effect on children even shown in products that are not age appropriate such as cigarettes and beer.

The industry has been reckless in predating kid kustomers to feed their insatiable greed. They entice the children to whine and demand their guilty and pleasing parents, who spend less and less time from being with their children at home.

My Thoughts On Sherman's Controversy

My dad had himself a nickname, Black Palms.  He was a typical hard working blue-collar man, and his hands were always dirty from the grease and grime at his work.  He raised me to be thankful for what I had, and to be loyal to my family as he had modeled it for me.

Because of the love I had for my father, I grew up with compassion and respect for the working class, I always held high regards for the labor they had to put in for their jobs, the communities they served, and the families they raised. 

Children from working class families, inevitably, have a special spot in my heart.  They often face more challenges to stay safe, and to gain access for education and opportunity to succeed.  

This is the primary thing I have, as a person, to relate to Richard Sherman, the American football cornerback of Seahawks of the NFL in the event of the entire post-game interview controversy.

Even though I am never a big football fan, for I have not yet learned to understand how the game plays, I choose to rally and cheer for Sherman since the controversy of his post-game interview swept the social media spectrum when Seahawks won the game against the 49ers of SF on January 19, 2014. After reading and viewing articles and recorded interviews on Sherman, I have concluded he is a fellow man who works hard for what he wants out of life, and he is intelligent and of integrity. He, also, is black.

Sherman grew up in a highly troubled inner city neighborhood, where his father has worked as a garbage truck driver for the city of L.A for over 3 decades. Sherman has been an academic marvel throughout his youth in his community. He grew up among most peers that have rarely made it out of the ghetto, safe or well.  In fact, Sherman has earned a degree from Stanford with a BA degree, and is in the process of pursuing a MA degree while playing at NFL.

I respect him being a hard worker, academically, and also professionally as an athlete. I enjoyed viewing the link titled, Student of the Game, where I learned of some secrets to his success in his own word. He studies diligently to know other players and teams well. He analyzes and strategizes, intelligently, the games his team has to play and win. He is strong, he pays great attention to details of his subjects. That's why he is the best cornerback in the Game. I toast to anyone who works hard to pursue excellence.

Sherman also gives back to his communities. He encourages the inner city kids to work for a better life, schools, and dreams.  He advocates for growth, for changes, for better life and future and for excellence. He goes against the social expectation and stereotypical labeling, but perseveres to grow to be his own person, and have his stand. He advocates for all to thrive.

I respect Sherman.  Even when he is rowdy and loud, especially when he just played an epic game like he did on January 19, 2014 against 49ers of SF.

It seems to me any of these attributes are not enough unless he is soft/well spoken to be acceptable socially.  Sherman was not soft-spoken at all during the post-game interview, given the fact that the nature of the game was physically intense, hence the adrenaline level was rocket high to say the least.. to critique Sherman's character and the value he has as a person based on the act of that interview showed me the 'classiness' of those who blowing the whistles.

Sherman knows himself well, and he is his own biggest fan. He knows where he has come from, and what it has taken for him to get to where he is, and  will be. He is not timid to celebrate the brilliance that he's partaken to possess and to exhibit. And that alone upsets people who have no ability to appreciate a hard worker, a brilliant hard worker, a brilliant confident hard work, and sadly but truly, a brilliant confident black hard worker that is successful and will be successful for more games to come.

I tip my hat for Sherman and anyone that fights a good fight against social classes and cultural expectations to take their stands. 

A Secret Told

Today a walk where trees stretch and twirl
yields

while the wind shyly inquires my inner peace 
sister chickadees caress the jolly marrow 
deep

Blog Entry #1: Upon reading E. B. White's Once More To The Lake

I often think of myself as a heart person, even though there's never anything wrong with my good mind.  I feel and think with my heart's mind, where I allow myself, as if by default, to reason and express unruly and unschooled. That said, I would easily conclude that I am a stronger feeler than a thinker. Taking this English class where reading, thinking and writing are daily disciplinary practices has kick-started my learning to think anew, otherwise, not as lazily.  

I am thinking to myself right now, "No wonder I like writing Haiku, where I easily hunt for 17-syllable words, then legitimately, I can cook the game."  (I know I am saying something rather true about myself here.) Towards the end of last year, prior to registering for this class, I was thinking to start writing regularly as in cultivating a hobby, also because I do enjoy crafting, linguistically. Little did I know, I would be forced, um I mean, disciplined to read, think and write likely every single day for at least an entire quarter.  With an ambition to get top grades for every class I take on this academic path, I know I will buckle up and do my work. Nevertheless, I desire to see myself grow and change, for the better, intellectually, as well as getting good looking grades just for the records.  I resolve to put this good mind of mine that was given to me freely to some good sweating workouts that might just bring on a makeover. After all, I have always wanted to write; now I will learn to work for it, so  I can write, and write well.

To connect, in reading, with great minds penned in literature, and be able to elicit and organize my own thoughts afterwards, and sculpt the work of my mind into clear and solid writing that would, somehow, also better contribute to my communities around me, wow, is a high life I can aspire to live right now. Wow.  Indeed, I am a lucky go happy, as always.

The reason I chose to say I could have been lazy to express the way I usually express in words, written or spoken is precisely the first thing that I thought of when I finished reading E. B. White's Once More To The Lake. 

It's a very simple story where the narrator and his own son spent a week at his very own childhood summer get-away at a lake. The author took great care and fierce devotion to journey the writing in impeccable details. I know such an abundant fruitfulness in great work like White's could only sprout and spread from a persistent die-hard willingness to work hard and harder.  

I love what White wrote about his experiencing a dual existence alike, in that week of revisiting the lake, as a dad to his own son, who was but himself as a son to his own dad.  I can easily relate to, White described it as a creepy sensation, where I am the parent speaking what my mother had once told me to my daughter, where I was the daughter being addressed to, almost at the same breath. Creepy, and even deeply intriguing. I wonder if my daughter would also have this experience, should she ever mother another daughter some day.

Whenever I manage to 'duplicate' experience from my childhood that I could share with my daughter here, away from my birth place, together we grow , and together we change from the previous to the present, yet we remain who we are, and who we have always been will always be, hence our immorality.   In the same light, generation by generation, Life evolves and lives on is maybe what I have learned from reading the story.

I absolutely resonate with what White said about life being life (if I am reading it right at all), growing, changing yet immortally existing still, just like the old and the new summer days at the Lake, and all that is in the Lake and around the Lake. Everything yesterday is the same everything today; except, the only difference being the waitresses' cleanly washed hair.

I see life in a big picture similar like that, life being immortal.  I don't deny all earthlings, the embodiment of life on earth has a defined and limited time frame here.  We live, we grow, we change and then we die (or not).  However, Life goes on being Life, no matter who lives or dies, no matter if it was every August at the Lake, or just this one week at the Lake, the fade-proof lake where the woods are unshatterable.

My heart's mind surely feasted luxuriously when reading E. B. White's Once More To The Lake. I went along visiting a mystical body of water where my curious eyes see the solar panels displayed on the dragonflies' wings resting on the fishing rods diligently, and my keen ears heard the cool damp summer morning air daringly quenching up the night's stiff thirst there at the Lake, for my host catered his offering generously, once more.