Table of Contents

Table of Contents Dear Reader Letter Introduction to Remember the Titans Remember the Titans Introduction to Reality Television Take Over Reality Television Take Over Introduction to Myspace is a Community Myspace is a Community Introduction to What’s in Your Wallet? What’s in Your Wallet?

Dear Reader Letter

Dear Reader,

My jump into the New Year was a shaky one for me. A lot of things in my personal life made it difficult to concentrate on school work. My mom had a major surgery after battling with cancer for two years. She suffered complications after the surgery and it was going to be several days before she would be stable enough to come home. I was told by my family to go home and work on my school work, they knew I had papers to write. Well easier said then done; however, I knew that successfully completing this class would put me one step closer to reaching my ultimate goal of becoming a registered nurse and I knew I had to focus. Although it has been an extremely challenging quarter for so many reasons, I have managed to find a balance between my personal and professional life and was able to stay focused on school. Miraculously my mom recovered and is home doing well. She assured me that I should stick to my school work and not worry about her because she was going to be fine. Aside from my personal challenges this year, I have found English 101 to be a big step up from English 98. In the past major writing assignments came easy to me, but not this quarter. The topics were challenging and the standards set for the papers were even higher. It really hit me that I was enrolled in a college level course. I did enjoy my time in this course and I am really excited to complete another class. The online experience suited me this quarter, since I needed time with my family and I will admit I do like coming to class in my pajamas. I was surprise to find out that a part of me missed coming to class because of all the laughs I had with friends in English 97 and 98 and I loved getting face to face feedback from my teacher, it always helped tremendously.

As of right now I work with children at an early learning center and I enjoy it very much. It is a satisfying job to help with the learning and growing process in a child’s life. My interests in working with children have led me to the fact that I would like to continue working with them, but in the medical field. Thinking about my career as a nurse excites me; it helps me to stay focus on completing school, and allows me to keep in site of my goal. So far I feel a sense of accomplishment in knowing that I am determined to get there.

This quarter we talked about identity, community and tradition. We learned how to explore different ways of thinking about things, through discussion boards, blogs, groups, and papers. When we talked about identity, I took a deeper look at who I was, and where I came from. There are so many different factors that make up a person’s identity, which I had not thought about before. In the community unit, I learned that everyone has their own ideas about what makes up a community and what are the most important needs of a community. To me a community is any group of people that can offer their support to a person when they need it and that person can offer it back. With the tradition unit I have fun. I got to take a look at what I do for holidays with my family and I thought about what new traditions I would like to start one day when I have my own children. I also enjoyed it because we got to talk about pop culture and about how times have changed and how traditions have changed, whether accepted by society or not. For example people believe that it is traditional to make a friend or get to know somebody in person and that meeting people on the internet is not the same thing. Where as others who have accepted the new forms of communication find it to be easier to chat with friends over the computer instead of in person.

I chose only the pieces for my e-portfolio that best reflect by abilities as a writer and I hope that you enjoy reading each piece as much as I have writing them. Thank you for taking the time to view my e-portfolio.

Sincerely Tasha S.

Introduction to Remember the Titans

The first piece I have chosen comes from the first timed write. I selected a film that reflected upon the different classifications people are automatically placed into by society and how that can change a person’s own identity. The film I chose was Remember the Titans a football team not only known for their great winning streak and football abilities, but also for being a team of white and black players. In the time of the film took place it was uncommon for high schools to have white and black races together. I picked this particular piece because I feel that it demonstrates my ability to critically think about topics such as insiders versus outsiders. I used several scenarios from the film that showed just how people can switch from being and insider to an outsider, just by not having an open mind and accepting change. In a part of my writing I talked about a boy named Ray who is white and is on the football team, his best friend Gary is the team captain and has chosen a new best friend names Julius, who is also on the team, but is one of the new black teammates. Ray chooses not to accept this and becomes an outsider himself. “Most of them do, when they see how well their new football team is doing; however, a small group including Gary’s old best friend Ray remains against them and ends up realizing that he is now the outsider of the school and not the black classmates.” The film goes on to show how a game like football can take a group of outsiders and make then winners.

Remember the Titans

The world is filled with outsiders and insiders. A person may not even realize they have become an outsider until put in a different situation. It does not take much to be considered an outsider; it can be based on appearance, culture or beliefs. An outsider is defined as someone who does not fit into a certain group and is not accepted by the insider group. In some cases people that were once insiders become outsiders by simply not being able to adjust to the changes happening around them. This is what has happen to a high school in Virgina that was once a school for the whites only has now become a white and black school. The film Remember the Titans has illustrated what can happen when the once insiders become outsiders.

Gary who is one of the films main characters is the white all American team captain of a white high school football team. He is considered an insider because he is white, is on the football team and has a girlfriend. To Gary's surprise during his time at football camp he becomes best friends with a fellow new black teammate named Julius. Gary switches from being an insider to an outsider when he comes home from camp and gets back to school. Other classmates were not happy when they have learned that Gary has teamed up with the black kids at school. Gary gets mean looks and comments from kids who were once his best friends and Gary's girlfriend refuses to even shake Julius's hand. He also experiences feeling like an outsider when he tries to bring Julius home to meet his parents and his parents are upset. They tell him that he needs to be in church and not out playing basketball with his new friend.

A side from all the changes and controversy in their town, Gary and Julius stand by each other and continue their friendship. The whole football team of white and blacks stick together in hope that their other classmates will soon follow in their example. Most of them do, when they see how well their new football team is doing; however, a small group including Gary's old best friend Ray remains against them and ends up realizing that he is now the outsider of the school and not the black classmates.

Some people make the change on their own to be different even if it means being considered and outsider and they know they will be looked down on by the insider group. The cafeteria during the first week of football camp consisted of the white players sitting at one table and the black players sitting at another table. A white teammate who is new to the team comes into the cafeteria and sits next to a teammate everyone calls Rev, who happens to be a black teammate. The white teammate is quickly put on the spot and is asked to defend is decision in sitting at the black table. He proudly stands by his choice and explains he picks his friends according to who he gets along with not based on skin color. This scene helped set the film into going towards the direction of everyone becoming one. Soon after everyone was sitting with who ever they wanted to.

The film pointed out that is does not just have to be about the color of your skin, when it comes to deciding who is an outsider and who is an insider. During football camp a white boy is dropped off at camp by his Dad. The boy is automatically considered an outsider to the entire football team because he has long blonde hair and appears to be hippy like. The players’ start to refer to him as Sunshine and assume he is too feminine to play football. He quickly proves them wrong on the football part, but struggles throughout football camp to fit in. He even takes a chance and kisses Gary as a joke. At first Gary is mad because now people may think he is gay, but then realizes so what if they think that it. When returning to school Sunshine has a hard time with the other boys at school due to his appearance, but when they find out that the girls of the school would rather hangout with Sunshine then them, Sunshine starts to feel accepted.

The film illustrates to main points one being that anyone who was once an insider can become an outsider by not accepting change or accepting new people into their lives. It showed that by having a school for white and blacks. Most of the students by the end of the movie had made new friends and the ones that didn’t were cast a side by not only the new black classmates, but also by the white ones and it has nothing to do with their color just their attitudes towards the new changes. The other point of the movie was that it is possible to not even be classed as in insider or an outsider, but that it is possible to come together as a whole. It shows how something as a football team can bring everyone together. The football team keeps winning and everyone gets so excited in the town they forget about all the racial issues and just start accepting everyone for who they are.

Introduction to Reality Television Take Over

The second piece I have chosen comes from one of my major writing assignments. The assignment was to come up with a narrow topic on pop culture. I selected reality television and I focused my paper on a show called The Hills on MTV. The reason I selected this particular paper was not only did the topic interest me, but I found my paper to be taken through every step of the writing process, from brainstorming all the way to the final draft. It was a paper I chose to revise over and over again, to try and improve it as much as possible. This quote from my paper demonstrates why I chose to focus on The Hills out of all the other reality television shows. “The Hills is not only well known for being a long running hit television show, it also displays Lauren and her three friends that are featured on the show Heidi, Audrina and Whitney, who are always dressed in the latest fashion trends, carrying designer bags and using popular technology devices like the I phone and the Black Berry Pearl phones.” I felt that aside from being a reality television show that it also featured a lot of different types of pop culture. I also wanted to focus on the topic reality television because during my discussion on my paper with my group, I realized that a lot of people have mixed feeling on reality television being a good thing.

Reality Television Take Over

Strangers with camera equipment and lights strewed around a house standing by for ever waking hour of every day just waiting to capture a person’s every move on film just to entertain the public. The concept of watching this is making reality television one of today’s biggest trends in the history of television. Reality television is taking over the sitcom era and has entertainment values that are appealing to audiences of all ages, where as sitcoms do not offer as much variety with their programs. For instance there is a show called “Super Nanny” and it is a show about families who seek help in getting their out of control children under control. The show reaches out to families in need of the services of a nanny’s help, while it also offers support and tips to families with similar problems viewing the show each week. Reality television is relatable to people’s own lives. Where as sitcoms have life problems that are simply solved in an unrealistic thirty minutes, although it is entertaining it is not as relatable or as personal as watching real people deal with real situations. Although sitcoms have been a tradition in the history of television, they have become predictable, where as reality television is a new fresh idea, which challenges the traditional sitcoms and creates new kinds of entertainment to its wide fan base. The traditions of sitcoms are limited to producing shows that involve censorship, appropriate behaviors, and has every move and line already planned out for the actors to perform. Reality television brings spontaneity to its audience, with allowing people to be their selves in front of camera and not pretending to be someone else.

Reality television comes in all forms from dating shows, to competitions and to just seeing what things are like for someone in their every day life. A reality show that is featured on MTV called “The Hills” is one of those reality shows that follow a group of four girls around in their daily and night lives. The star of “The Hills” is Lauren Conrad, a twenty one year old who moved out to Los Angeles, California, to start a career in fashion and to get out of a smaller part of California called “Laguna Beach.” It was her time on “Laguna Beach” that made Lauren Conrad a reality television star. “The Hills” is not only well known for being a long running hit television show, it also displays Lauren, and her three friends that are featured on the show: Heidi, Audrina and Whitney, who are always dressed in the latest fashion trends, carrying designer bags using popular technology like the I phone and the Black Berry phones when it comes to their night life it is an thing but ordinary because of the show’s recognition. The girls are let into all of Los Angeles’s top night clubs like Les Duex a night club that features top Hollywood celebrities on a regular basis like Paris Hilton.

“The Hills” is a show that targets a younger audience and has a huge entertainment value for drama. The girls always seem to get involved with problem oriented guys and that usually tends to cause tension between the girls and the camera’s of MTV are right there, so the audience does not miss a moment. The show has recently encountered a lot of controversy with people accusing the show of not being true reality and being scripted instead. The cast and the producers of the show deny these accusations, but do admit to some editing because with out some editing and embellishing, the entertainment value would drop.

People tend to argue the fact that making reality television shows are a way of producing entertainment to it’ viewers, while keeping a low budget; however, keep a low budget can sacrifice the quality of the television program. Hit shows like “Lost and “Desperate Housewives” are two long running series that require a much higher budget due to the fact that it has writers, producers and actors, but sacrifices nothing to it’s audience. With sitcoms having entire teams backing the show, there is a higher success rate that the show will keep delivering, what is expected from it each week. With each show having writer’s writing the scripts it is acceptable to assume that there will be a twist in the plot, a dramatic new discovery or an unbelievable break up scene. As with reality television show like “The Hills” it is not implied that every week something interesting or amazing is going to happen. It may be an entire half an hour of Lauren coming to and from work and school and it also is impossible to be a ten season series like most sitcoms turn out to be because reality television stars as they get older tend move on with their lives and they get tired of being constantly filmed. The entertainment value of the show relies on something dramatic happening in her life, since it does not have writers to create something for the show.

Reality television could potentially put talented wonderful actors and actresses out of work and average people could be taking over their jobs because having a reality television show does not require any professional acting abilities or experience. So why are people more drawn to reality television then sitcoms? A story titled “The Unreal World” by Jennifer L. Pozner says it best with this quote talking about why viewers are drawn to reality television like they are. “Viewers may be drawn to reality TV by a sort of cinematic schadenfreude, but they continue to tune in because the shows frame their narratives in ways that both reflect and reinforce deeply ingrained societal biases about women, men, love beauty, class and race” (Pozner 443). The quote sums up the fact that reality television plays into stereotypes of society and portraying women as being only beautiful, skinny, and living glamorous life styles but furthermore they also film twenty four hours a day and they do capture what people look like with out makeup and air brushing affects. Being made up all the time is impossible in reality television as where as sitcom actors always look their best in every scene.

Reality Television is not afraid to challenge traditional television in the way that it recruits participants who will do anything for television exposure. People will go to the extreme to win a date with someone, become a top model or completely modify their appearance. It is that kind of television exposure that people like to watch. It used to be tradition to come home and watch a whole some family program like “Full House” that only put out positive life messages, but now traditions have changed and people find curiosity in such shows like “America’s Next Top Model.” People tune in each week to see what extremes the girls will go to become a top model and how far they can be pushed before they become eliminated. The show stereotypes woman as being tall and very skinny and viewers may not see that has a positive body image, but will still watch. It also changes television tradition from way back to the era of black and white television, where the cameras were not even allowed to show a toilet on television and people were not dressed revealing or taking part in inappropriate sexual scenarios. With reality television it shows everything including people using the bathroom and it lacks boundaries. There is not a whole lot a reality television camera crew would not film. The new traditions in television have leaned to the reality way instead of the sitcoms for the simple fact that it is more entertaining to view a real person in a real situation then a fictional character.

In the future years to come for television it may be the viewers will prefer reality television over sitcoms or other scripted shows because of new reality television shows are being born each week, where as written shows are only appearing every so often usually during the fall season. There is something more intriguing that lies within the realness of reality television then with the fictional story line of written television series. Reality television shows like “The Hills” challenges traditions of television by offering new kinds of entertainment. The stars of the show are not afraid to put it all out there for people to view, and they hold nothing back by allowing people to know that it does not matter who a person is or what a person looks like because there will always be career mistakes, break ups, feuds with friends and people can relate to these young girls with problems in their own lives. With sitcoms people know that someone may have a fight with a friend on television, but they will go home and resume their regular lives, but as for Lauren, if she fights with a friend not only is it televised, but it’s broadcasted all over the internet and it shows up on every cover of every gossip magazine. That may not happen to everyone that has a fight with a friend, but it shows how her feeling were truly hurt and how everything around her becomes a constant reminder of that friend and that makes it harder to move on. Reality television shows the aspect of real lives in the way people react to situations, in dating, competitions or just in their regular lives and holds nothing back from its viewers and that has shown to be more popular with audiences of all ages and makes reality television here to stay.

Introduction to Myspace is a Community

The third piece of writing I have chosen comes from one of my blogs. I titled my blog Myspace is a Community. The assignment was to find something in my life that I was a part of and considered being part of my community. I chose to write the blog on myspace because myspace is a part of my daily life. It is a place where I can log into and check messages, view pictures, update my page and to keep in touch with people that are important to me. In my blog I talked about why myspace can be considered a community I wrote “People share all different kinds of interests, needs and values through myspace.” I think that interests, needs, and values are all part of what makes a community.

Myspace is a Community

Myspace is a community because it is something to log on to everyday to talk with friends, share pictures and offer support to people who need it. I think what holds the group together is that your personal myspace is made up of family, friends, co-workers and even people you met through myspace, that are all logging in for the same reasons friendships, relationships or just to chat with others who share common interests.

People share all different kinds of interests, needs and values through myspace. Some people post bulletins to sell cars, or to find a babysitter. I have found people from high school that share the same stories and experiences as me. I have also found others who have my same hobbies like ATV riding and snowboarding. It's a place where if you can't find someone around home to snowboard with you can probably find someone you know on myspace that would go.

The tensions that work against the cohesion of this community is that some people go on there and abuse it by posting inappropriate pictures or there are those on there seeking to find young people, but most people are on there just to keep in contact with friends.

I fit in with this group because it has allowed me to stay in contact with friends that have moved away and it allows me to share photos and thoughts with friends who want to know what I have been up to. It's a fun way of seeing what interest others have as well. I enjoy being a part of this community because it offers a lot of support for me. For example I have recently been going through some family issues and I have been able to log on and see that my friends have been sending me thoughts and prayers. It's a nice feeling to know just how many people care about you and I have really appreciated the support.

Intoduction to What's in Your Wallet?

My final piece of writing I have chosen to share is from a blog titled What’s in your wallet? I chose this piece as my writer’s choice for my portfolio because it was a unique way of looking at my own identity. The blog was about what would happen if someone found your wallet or purse and what the contents would say about your personality. Throughout my blog I talked about the contents of my purse and to me, the contents stated obvious things about me like the fact that I drive a Honda civic from the keys I have or that I have allergies because of the medicine I carry, but I did not feel that my purse really told anything about me beyond that. Here is a section from my blog where I focus on what parts of my identity are missing from my purse. “I hope that it would say more about who I am, but I don't think it does. Someone who found my purse would be unable to know that I work with children, but want to be a nurse, I have two dogs, I enjoy riding ATVS and I snowboard and that I also love my family and friends. They would miss the fact that I have a great appreciation for life.” I do agree that a person’s wallet or purse can reveal part of their identities, but not the part of knowing what kind of a person they really are.

What's in Your Wallet?

What is somebody found my purse? What would my purse say about me? My purse would leave somebody rather confused, for my purse is very deceiving. I am a fanatic for designer purses, but I am always broke. So maybe my purse would imply that I am a college student with very little money, but that I have a very generous boyfriend or would it say I am broke because I buy designer purses? Whatever it might say the contents of my purse in someway does reflect who I am.

The most important thing I carry in my purse is a small thin black wallet perfect size to hold adorable pictures of my nieces, a few credit cards and my driver’s license. A drivers license that gets me in to trouble when I go out as if I can help not looking over 21; however, it does imply that I am 5'2, blonde, and I am kind of close to what the weight says, but who tells the truth on that. It holds my two most important credit cards one to Abercrombie and Fitch, and the other to Victoria’s Secrets and don't forget my debit card. My wallet says that I am a fun girl, who loves to shop and rarely has cash to carry and is a girl who maybe in a little debt.

In my purse you will also find a pocket pack of tissues usually with a cute design on them, right now it's an elf, I got them for Christmas. The tissues go with a Costco supply of allergy pills which I take everywhere. Somebody looking into my purse can definitely assume I have year around allergies. Two small yellow sticks of Burt's Bees Wax are always floating around the bottom of my purse. I am a Chap Stick addict all the way. Close to the Chap Stick you will find one black hair band. You never know when you will need a pony tail and black goes with everything. Keys are also something I don't leave home with out. I am not one of those people who have a ton of keys and key chains. I can’t stand the clutter, so I just try to manage with the essential keys like house, car and work and one Roxy heart key chain to match my red car. Oh and there is that funny shaped key that belongs to my clutch lock in fear my Honda Civic may be stolen. Last but not least in a separate pocket is my cell phone. It's orange and is a text messaging machine, equipped with a full keyboard and a great camera.

I think that People would assume the obvious that I have allergies, long hair, unlimited text messaging, dry lips, a little paranoid and that I only carry what I need. I hope that it would say more about who I am, but I don't think it does. Someone who found my purse would be unable to know that I work with children, but want to be a nurse, I have two dogs, I enjoy riding ATVS and I snowboard and that I also love my family and friends. They would miss the fact that I have a great appreciation for life.