Cultural Heritage

As Americans we are able to break free of our cultural heritage.  We have the rights and freedoms to change almost every aspect of our lives, including traditions and beliefs that at one time we may have been raised to live by.  Although we do have the personal freedom to make decisions about how we want to live our lives, society does tend to try and keep us in line in some ways.  The strong belief that you should take pride and support where you came from is definitely an idea that is taught at a young age. 

I don’t think that there is danger in disregarding societal norms.  The idea that you can be and act in whatever way you want as an individual is becoming much more accepting than it has been in the past.  Creativity and being unique is rewarded and encouraged by most in America.   

 

Blog #5

"The Love of my Life"

China and Jeremy are condemned by their peers, as they should be, in the story “The Love of My Life”.  Together they committed the heartless crime of murdering their newborn daughter by throwing her away in a dumpster.  Boyle showed me how this event is possible, but the story did not make me understand why this could ever happen.  I could never imagine giving birth to my baby and have the slightest bit of interest in the child’s life.  Even if I didn’t want to keep the baby, there are places to anonymously take unwanted babies so that a loving family can have the opportunity to adopt the child.  This is what shocked me most about China and Jeremy, they were both very smart young adults and I can’t understand how they would handle the situation in the manner that they chose.  China knew she was pregnant and did nothing about it.  She could have had an abortion or gave the baby up for adoption and nobody would have had to know but Jeremy.  There is absolutely no explanation for their behavior, and should take responsibility for their horrible actions.

Blog #4

After Mondays class I felt that I received very good constructive criticism on my first essay.  My peers were really helpful with fixing grammatical errors in my paper that criterion didn’t catch.  It was also beneficial because they could help explain the errors in person so I would be able to better understand what I did wrong.  After reading their papers I felt relieved that we had many of the same ideas and that I was on the right track for the basis of my paper.  It was also helpful because it gave me ideas of extra points I can make to strengthen my ideas.