The Power Team

The Power Team, by Sharon Mazer was very interesting. It was a lot different from anything we read in this class, it was more in depth and harder to read than the usual class story. It dealt with Christianity and the evangelical crusades. She talks a lot about this guy named John Jacobs who runs the crusade. He and his group that does it are all body builders. They have really big muscles and say that Jesus gives them the strength to break through things like ice, cement blocks, and even "the devils handcuffs." She talks about how this is all a show they put on to raise money, and its all fake so they shouldn't say its because of god. I believe there are a lot of different religious scams out there. In my white collar crime class we learned how religious scams take more money from the public than anyone, also they tend to go after the old and young because they are delicate and will fall for anything. I think that things like this are okay, if they really do help people with their problems. For example the guy talks about saving a teenager from committing suicide. That's something that is very helpful. But when they take lots of money from people, and use different tactics like asking his little daughter to ask for money, that's not right. Overall i think this evangelical crusade is more on the scam side than for the better good. They take so much money from people and they cheat at what they do, that's not ethical.

Naked- My nervous tics

For our English class today, we had to read a story that was written by David Sedaris. He wrote this story in first person and it was really funny. I really liked the different ways he just explained his life like he wasn't embarrassed at all of all his crazy nervous tics. Some of them were quite out of the ordinary, for example every school year he would have a new one. First he had to touch and lick basically everything. Then he moved on to eye rolling, head rolling, and making squeaking noises. I felt the way he explained each of these tics was kind of amusing but you also could really relate to him. The way he wrote in first person made you feel like you were the one with the tics. I really liked the way he ended the story, with kind of relating cigarette smoking with a crazy habit. You never really think about it but in all reality it really is a bad habit that makes people go crazy, say, if they don't have a cigarette to smoke at any given moment. Also i watched the link that was posted on moodle of David Sedaris on David Letterman. They way he presents himself is quite interesting. Hes short and sort of dorky looking and his voice is funny. But the way he reads hi story sounds so realistic and funny that you just envy his style and the way he writes. Overall i really enjoyed his funny antics and his writing skills.

Writing journal #9

1.) There are many things i would like to touch while writing my research paper. The main question i would like to answer most thoroughly for my final paper is "Does the media percieve crime to be a lot worse than it is, and if what they put on TV and the newspapers, fact or ideology". To me this question is most relevant because it really explains my paper in one sentence. For my paper i want to talk about all the ways the media perceives crime. The different examples I thought of so far would be how the media puts everything on tv that was to deal with the bad things that are happening in the world around us. They only put happy things on once and awhile. By mostly putting on things like crime, it makes everyone who watches TV, and who isn't really an expert in the field of crime, think that crime is happening everywhere all the time, so they are living in constant fear. All of these ideas lead back to the main question i want to answer in my paper.

2.) Crime overall is a lot less frequent than many people today think. The media percieves it so well that it really tricks the general public to think differently. The media uses a lot of different tactics to make crime out to be something its not, whether its by using articles in the newspaper, or showing crime on the news everyday. Overall the media and television today uses a lot of ideologies instead of facts to run their buisnesses smoothly.

3.) There are a lot of things i know about my issue of crime and the media. Many facts point out the exact reason of the media expanding the truth. One statistic that i learned in my criminology class, is that the fear of crime is a lot more higher percentage wise than the actual crime amount. About 10% of crime happens to people, but 70% of people have a fear of crime, and they think that it will happen to them. To me this is a big problem because many people will live in fear due to things they watch of television, or read in the paper. I also learned how on tv their are a lot of shows and news stories that deal with different types of crime that don't happen near as frequently as people think. So this can cause real controversy on whether this information they say is a fact or an ideology. In another journal i have read it focuses in on how different media places can cause a buisness if it got caught doing something wrong, seem like they are innocent or guilty, even if they dont have any clue on which one is actually true. Also the media has a lot of different teqniques they use, to make the facts or the truth, be expanded or shrunk. Also i learned a lot about racial and ethical issues invloved in crime precieved in the media.

4. For my issue, i feel like i need more information on things like actual statistics, and stories that were portrayed. I think that having both of these to do my reseach paper will really help me show the readers of my paper, the different ways crime is and perceiced. It will also help me make it more visual for people. Another thing i need to learn more about is the details in the different ways the media gets away with fabricating parts of their true stories. Overall, i just need to read more into each part of my topic i want to cover, and really go into detail about it.

5. That violence is not caused moreso by watching TV or the media violence.
That media is a buisness, and in order to stay with good ratings they do whatever they can.
Media and TV put what they want on, because they can.
People have their own opinions on everything, so if they believe everything they hear its their own fault.

6. 1. "How not to Think about Crime in the Media." - Journal
2. "News, Truth, and the Recognition of Coropate Crime." Journal
3. Crime Prevention Approaches, practices, and evaluations. Print
4. Creating Fear- News and the Construction of Crisis. Print
5. Covering Crime and Justice. Racial and Ethical Issues. Internet Book

Summary of "Ha ha,' he said, "ha ha' " by Chuck Klosterman

This article caught my eye in many different ways, ive always been the kind of person that loves watching every kind of comedic show that is on television. To my suprise, i never really thought about the difference between shows with laugh tracks and ones without it. I guess im so used to laugh tracks, i never really distinguised a difference.

I have a really good sense of humor, so if something is funny i most likely will laugh at it. But now thinking back, i guess shows like friends and other ones with a laugh track, i found funny, but not as funny as shows without laugh tracks like the office. I believe what Chuck Klosterman is saying, the fact that laugh tracks are behind so many comedy shows, it really takes away peoples own ability to find their sense of humor, and you end up laughing at anything that has a laugh track.

Also i believe that laughing here in the United States, is a lot different than laughter and humor in other places. In his article he talks about how in Germany they only laugh when they actaully think something is funny, not out of curtiousy or politeness. He also talks about how he felt so dumb in the grocery store laughing about not having exact change. If you think about it, we all do this. I personally laugh at everything. A lot of the time i actually think something is worth laughing at, but in times when i feel awkward i laugh. Not because i want to, but because i think its the necessary think to do to get me feeling less out of place. Also i believe when someone is trying to have a serious conversation you tend to laugh it off or act like its nothing, when in fact you shouldn't be laughing at all.

Even though in some places like Germany, you only laugh at things that are humerous, i think its good to laugh at times other than humor. In my case when something bad happens i feel the need to find humor out of the whole situation. If you take everything seriously youll never be able to get through it. You jsut got to sit back, realize what was wrong, pay the price, then just go with the flow and laugh at something stupid you did in the whole situation. Life goes on.

Overall i really thought this article was a great one. My favorite thing he says is, "The only thing people in New York wont laugh at are unfamous stand-up comedians; we really despise those motherfuckers, for some reason." I think that this quote is so funny, but true. People will sit there are laugh at anything and anyone that comes in front of them, but when someones just trying to crack a joke up on stage, everyone turns into cynical critics that will only laugh if you force them. Its wierd to think about, i guess its just a part of life thats ironic. But in this article Chuck Klosterman really made me think about laugh tracks and society in general and how easily we are entertained.

English undergraduate program

I decided to attend the english undergraduate program for the Panel 12, the speakers that were there was Jenna Enright and Dara Fennell. They both read one of there own pieces. Jenna Enright wrote a short story called "Sitting Outside a Coffee Shop in Paris, France." This story was about a girl, who decided to study abroad in Paris, France. The whole time in this story, she was sitting at a coffee shop, pretending to read a book called love stories, and drinking a cappachino. She sat there all day, and thought about love, and how she never found it. So while she was sitting there she told the waiter that she was waiting for someone, even though she didnt know who that someone was. After sitting around all day, she decided to go sit by the fountain, and give up. Just as she did that the waiter went to her table got her book. and realized it was empty, wrote in it, and brought it to her, maybe soon to be the love she was waiting for.

The other speaker there, Darra Fennell, wrote a reseach paper, called "A Love-Hate Zombie Relationship? : Gender Eqaulity and in Price and Predujice and Zombies." This was a paper that described how the actual Pride and Predjudice book, was rewritten by someone else and they addede zombies into it. I never read either of these books so i thought it was interesting to here the different point of views on each of the books. It was also interesting to learn how such a well known book, published by such a well known auther Jane Austin, was actually rewritten. Overall this paper was very interesting, and it made me think of a lot of different perspectives you can have on something so unbiased.

Overall this program was very interesting, and only took about 40 minutes out of my day. I really liked listening to fellow students read something they wrote, other than hearing them read an original story, already written. It also helps you think of different ideas you can use in your own papers. Overall this was a good experience.

Introduction to the topics

There are two different topics that i am deciding between. The first is how incarceration of adults affect children, and put them into poverty. I first read an article on this through a journal i was told to look at. It came to be very interesting to be because i thought that the facts behind it was very interesting. Its about when a mass amount of adults are incarcertated, it leads to a problem with their families and children. It can cause them to live in poverty because when one of the parents is incarcerated, it can cause a major loss of income coming into that certain household. Also when the children become poor, it leads to many unwanted doors becoming open because they can take the wrong path, becuse they dont have as many opportunities being poor. I liked this topic for my paper becasue its very interesting to me. I would search many different questions on it for example, a lot of statistical facts and different studies that were done to prove this point. I also would ask a question of which minorty groups it affects most, and what's the usual family that is being problemized with this. Also i would look into different job offfers that have at different jails and prisons to see if there was any sort of way to revent this poverty. Even though this would be a interesting reseach topic, im not sure if its that biased so i dont know if i could use it.

Another topic which i am really leaning towards is, how mass media affects crime, and if its factual or an ideology. I found this topic by looking through the internet and trying to find different things that i thought were interesting. After looking and not being able to find anything, i was watching tv and all throughout the news was about differnt murders, rapes, robberies, and burglarys that have occured. And i thought to myself, they really amp up these stories to scare the public. I also learned that in my criminology courses. For this topic, i would search up and ask a lot of questions about the actual number of crimes that occur each year. I would also base a lot of my paper on how the media affects us, by putting so much fear into our minds about crime. when in reality its a lot less then we think. Another thing i would like to look up is how and where the most crime is happeneing in our counrty, and which news media is really taking it out of proportion. Also i would look on how different tv shows and commericals make crime up to be something its not. This is a really interesting topic that im probably going to choose to be mine.

full annotation

Defina Robert H. Hannon Lance. "The Impact of Adult Incarceration on Child Poverty: A County-Level Analysis, 1995- 2007." The Prison Journal.09 (2010): 377-396. Online.

. The article was about how in some cases, “incarcerating vast numbers of people from a restricted number of communities can create adverse social dynamics within the affected neighborhoods that can actually foster more crime”. By saying this, they mean that sometimes imprisoning high numbers of people, can cause more ex convicts to re-commit crimes. Also they say that because of this, it causes more children of adults who are incarcerated, are more likely to be living in poverty, because they don’t have the full support from their parent or parents. It also is due to many other factors like not enough jobs, and it also causes families to fall apart. Because of this, it then causes juveniles of these parents, to become more prone to be a criminal, because of the hard ships they are dealing with. Overall they talk about a never ending cycle of the negative things that come out of incarcerating at high numbers. I believe i could use this in my paper, to help better understand the difference between children with good parents, and children with parents in prison. Also it could help better understand the lives of prisoners and how they get by.

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