Dream Big

Arnold says he and Penelope were both suppose to be happy with their limitations, to not have big dreams, to sit still. Explain why dreams are so important to Arnold.


Junior is from a reservation where everybody's expectations of him are shallow.  Living a life where no one expects you to do anything meaningful with it makes having dreams seem unethical.  But Junior is not the type to follow in his parents foot steps, he wants to prove everybody wrong and actually do something with his life.  His dreams are the only thing he can rely on to keep moving forward.  Dreams are what gives Junior meaning to his life.  He took the first step toward his dreams by leaving the reservation and attending Rearden.  Already he has shown people he will not "sit still" with his life.  His dreams will take him far beyond people's expectations, and he is definitely headed down the right path toward accomplishing that dream.

The Obvious Difference

In Sherman Alexie's novel "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" Arnold, better known as "Junior" is growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation.  He decides to leave the "rez" and attend Rearden, an all-white school where the only other Indian there was the mascot. 

Junior drew this cartoon representing the obvious differences in appearance between Indian's and white's.  It shows the struggles young Indian's go through when their families are in poverty, having to settle for low quality clothes and unreliable school supplies.  White people have things like "a bright future" to look forward to, "positive role models" to look up to, and "hope" to hold on to.  While Indians have "a vanishing past" they wish to forget, "a family history of diabetes and cancer" to be afraid of, and a "bone-crushing reality" to face.  Not only is Junior portraying what they look like, he gives a clear cut image of what their lives are expected to be.  It leaves me feeling forunate and lucky to have the things in my life, and realize that others have it much worse.  Don't take anything for granted.

6 Simple Words

KEEP HOPE ALIVE

BE HERE NOW

BK Battle

I chose to analyze this because, well, her outfit is pretty intriguing.  A pretty good hook if I say so myself.  She's wearing giant armor made out of kitchen materials.  I would expect to see this ad in a food or cooking magazine simply because of what she is wearing.  The tag line "The Lunch Battle Is Over" refers to people not having long enough lunch breaks to eat a full meal, so they came up with mini-burgers.  Burger King is trying to promote that if people were to eat BK mini-burgers for lunch, they wouldn't have to deal with the stress of short lunches because with their mini-burgers, lunch is a breeze.  The primary audience for this ad are people with short lunch breaks who are looking for a wuick and easy way to fill there stomachs with nothing but deliciousness.  The secondary audience would be, well, everybody else.

VISA

Who would have guessed that a credit card company used a picture of a girls stomach with a devil tattoo to provoke people (in What Matters in America the tatto was of a cute looking devil with a pitchfork, obviously there was some major photoshop done).  The hook is the girl lifting her shirt up while showing her belly button ring and cute devil tat.  If the logo was not there I would have never guessed that the ad was for Visa. The image makes me feel like Visa has to promote girls showing their skin in order to be able to keep people interested.  Their target audience is probably young adults who are looking to have a good time with their platinum credit cards.  The ad even says "It's your LIFE.  How do you want to spend it?" whoch happens to be placed right next to the girl's tattoo.  The ad would best be placed in magazines like OK magazine, People magazine, or Elle magazine because those magazines' readers are mostly in their late teens and 20's.  I do not think the ad would be as effective if the tattoo were located on an arm or shoulder because it portrays a "dangerous" or "rebel" look with the tattoo near her bikini area.  Location is key.

150 Is Just Right

In Robin Dunbar’s essay “You Gotta Have (150) Friends” he argues that we can only maintain around 150 meaningful relationships online and off. I agree with Dunbar because people can have hundreds if not thousands of friends on Facebook but when it comes down to it, no matter how many friends you have on Facebook your true friends are the ones you come into contact with and are able to have real face-to-face conversations with. A meaningful relationship is not limited to the people who mean the most to you, but someone you wish to keep close to your heart and remain in your life. That is why Dunbar says we can maintain 150 meaningful relationships while devoting most of our social time to the 5 most important people to us. If I were to delete the people on my Facebook who I did not have meaningful relationships with, keeping around 150 seems just about right.

Blast Off

Hey. My family and friends call me Briana a.k.a Bri.  I found an ad about the Auto Pilot-Foundation Primer by Napoleon Perdis. They are trying to advertise their new Primer foundation product by having the background be yet another beautiful woman with perfect skin and a flawless complexion. They are speaking to the women of America.  Pure beauty is being portrayed in the ad leaving us with the image of the ideal skin we could have by using this product.  I found it in the OK magazine.