Rhetoric4's Blog

Gender roles

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:10:31 +0000

Gender roles, I believe is something that has been highly shaped by our society over the years. Wikipedia refers to gender roles as a set of social and behavioral norms within a culture than are categorized as either masculine or feminine. Masculinity and femininity describe both physical and behavioral features. Girls who are feminine follow the traditional idea of wearing make up, dresses, doing house hold chores like cleaning and cooking, taking care of the children and just a few to name. Masculine men are those who are muscular, don’t care about how they look and work to provide for their families. These responsibilites have started to shift and reshape how we look at feminine and masculine today due to something called the gender revolution. In an article in the Washington post, the author talks about both the negative and positive effects of gender equality at home and the workplace. They say although there are been more equality to women in the work place it has caused more problems at home due to an imbalance in how tasks are being handled at home. The traditional women was expected to stay home and take care of all of the responsibilities at home while the man when to work to provided for his family. Over the years with an increased interest in women to be able to join the workforce things at home have been overlooked. Yes, there are some men who have stayed home to take care of home duties while the women went to work but society often looks down upon these men which is while there are very few who actually are stay at home fathers. So, it has created some sort of imbalance in our society? There are also some gender roles that will always stick with us no matter how many years pass by. In a you tube video, they show these animated pink and blue shapes that are supposed to resemble male and female and they walk through different stereotype differences like when watching a romantic movie females usually cry while the male falls asleep. Where traveling men pack light and females pack heavy. When going to the bathroom males go by themselves while females always go in groups. Although I don’t support these differences, they are true and unfortunately they may become less far fetched but are still here and will always still be here.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/gender/gender22a.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_role

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIwWS2atEmc

Your baby can read program

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:10:10 +0000

I took a class on language development this past semester. One of the topics we covered was a program called Your Baby Can Read. This program was developed to apparently help a child start reading at a ridiculously young age. While discussing the development of language in young children it was clear to our class that this program was definitely something that was not practical. Children learn language starting at a very small level of sounds called prosody. They then move on to learn phonemes, morphemes and finally being bale to put words together in a sentence. The your baby can read program has parents showing their children videos of objects and words at the age of 3 months way before children are even able to distinguish small sound que’s. This program doesn’t allow children to the ability to learn is small stages rather throws them into language learning which isn’t an effective method. This program has gotten many bad reviews from parents and other scholars who argue the same points I made. Yes the program is cheap but not effective. I think the reason why many have bought the program is because it is so cheap and that is doesn’t really hurt to try administering it to children but it doesn’t really work. Some reviews state that its really just geared towards parents who are anxious to get their children talking and ahead of the game and not for those who actually have proper knowledge on how the program works.

There is also this program called your baby can sign. Which claims that teaching your children will help with having a larger vocabulary when they are older and eases communication tension between baby and child. Again, I don’t think this program is effective for later voacbulary development but do agree that it helps with decreasing frustration between the parent and children before the baby start to talk. If a parent starts to use sign for milk, diaper change and more for example within 5-6 months the baby will start to making these gesture to help communicate to their parents on what they need. Yes it doesn’t work right away. Babies need to be able to go through developmental stages before being able to sign so there still is increased frustration for the first 6 or so months.

Programs like the two above don’t have enough good research to prove that they work they way the developers and researchers claim they do. Parents need to be careful when deciding to use such programs for their children because it may have a negative effect rather than a positive one.

http://www.yourbabycan.com/?adid=

http://thechunkypurse.blogspot.com/2008/04/review-your-baby-can-read.html

http://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=569

Are the cost of weddings too high?

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:09:43 +0000

As you all know from my previous posts, I recently got engaged and am in the process of planning my wedding. At the end of last year after we got engaged the debate started on where and when to have the wedding. Keni didn’t want to wait long after I graduated to get married. He wanted me to move to the east coast ASAP after graduation which meant I had only 6 months to plan and wedding and graduate. He wanted a small wedding and being Indian the smalled we wedding we could have with inviting the closest family and friends was about 500. Yes, 500! So we decided to weed some of those who we had to invite by deciding on a destination wedding so we wouldn’t have to have so many people and maybe even cut some costs and have a cheaper wedding. Me being nieve thought we could have what was still pretty big for a destination wedding and small for an Indian wedding (guest count of about 180 people) for $30,000. Which is still A LOT of money. But, as the planning went on our cost kept raising and we are now well over that budget.

The cost of weddings seem to be so unreasonable. Its supposed to be the happiest day of your life but having to deal with cultural and societal norms it makes it so difficult. If you are someone who has a budget to watch it can turn into being a very stressful event. For those who have tons of money, they are the ones who seem to be able to really have the happiest days of their lives. I’m not saying mine isn’t going to be. I know it will be amazing being able to share with those who we love and adore but having to be to keep costs to a minimum seems impossible. Indians have high expectations and parents of the brides sometimes have to do crazy things to be able to live up to it. Anything that is labeled wedding is 3 X the actually cost if it wasn’t for a wedding. Wedding cakes, decorations, cloths, food, alcohol and photography are some of the highest costs for any bride. The only way to cut around these costs is if you had a super small 10 person wedding which isn’t realistic for many brides.

Casual reading

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:09:23 +0000

It’s seems to be hard these days for students to get in time for casual reading because they are always swamped with having to reading piles of articles and texts books for class. Over the past few years I have started many books during breaks from college which remain unfinished to this day. Maybe its just my style because I’m a slow reading and get distracted very easily. But, one of my goals is to to start reading a book a month once I’m completely done with school. I like to read books non-fiction books to help broaden my library of general knowledge and time to time like reading some fiction as well. I’m so glad we were able to read Fast Food Nation this semester because it was a book that was on my list and was finally able to read it because I was required to for class. This bring to be realize that will I ever be able to finish a book unless I’m given a time schedule for when I have to finish it by? Makes me wonder. Maybe I will have Keni make me a timeline for when I have to have them read by. Maybe we can start reading together. Something to think about I guess. I think the reason why I have the reading habit’s I do are because I never was able to read as a child. Growing up in the family business and having to go through many struggles my brothers and I were always work when we were supposed to be outside playing or reading after school. These habits have unfortunately followed me into adulthood, as I am a hard worked to this day I haven’t been able to concentrate on school work as much as I am with actual work. I try so hard to concentrate by find and it so difficult and frustrating that I’m not able to keep up with my classmates.

Hopefully after getting married and getting away from the family business and starting a new life with Keni I will be able to get myself out of these habits and pick up casual reading which has been a goal for a long time.

Seasonal allergies

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:08:58 +0000

According to WebMD 35 million Americans suffer from seasonal allergies each year. This number is so high and there is no cure for it beside taking numerous types of drugs which can only help with easing the symptoms. There are both natural and also lab created drugs which can help with this. The WebMD article talks about some natural herbal remedies like saline solution which can help with easing the symptoms. Medicinenet also helps lay out some of the symptoms. They say that sneezing is a common misconception with allergies rather sneezing is related to colds. Allergies can last as long as you are exposed to the allergen which for some can mean all summer. Some of the symptoms are, large amounts of mucous, running nose, itchy eyes and difficulty breathing due to infections which can hinder your breathing pathway.

Allergies have a huge effect on a persons like. It physically drains you, making your more tired throughout the day because your body is worn out by having to fight the allergen constantly. My brother in-law has two infants and rarely gets sleep but during allergy seasons he turns from little monster with no sleep to a zombie who gets no sleep at all. I feel so bad for him and others who have to deal with this. A few years back I start to feel the symptoms of seasonal allergies as well and was equally drained as others. Surprisingly this year I haven’t had any symptoms which makes me very lucky but still is odd that I had the symptoms for two years and then they went away all of a sudden.

Good luck to all allergy sufferers this season!!

http://www.webmd.com/allergies/guide/relieve-allergies-natural-way

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=55042

Leaving my mom…

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:08:42 +0000

So I have lived in a family setting my whole life. I went to college from home and now after 23 years have to leave my mommy and move to a completely new state 1000 miles away. Never being separated from her, this is going to be a long an tough journey. My mom and I have grow dependent of each other over the years. As my mom had to work two jobs and help manage a family business. I took charge cooking for the family when I was in fourth grade since my mom wouldn’t get home from work until 9pm. This was the first time my mom was dependent on me to ease some stress from her life. I continued to cook dinner everyday for the family up until this day. My mom rarely cooks, only when I am super busy or we have guest coming. Most of the time if I can’t cook we just grab take out that day. As my mom worked, worked and worked some more I became more independent and started to take care of my self and time time taking care of her. When we go out I always do my moms hair because she doesn’t really have time to take care of herself and doesn’t know how. This doesn’t mean I dont relay on her thought. I absolutely hate doing laundry and always leaving it until I really have to do it or my mom gets annoyed with me and does it for me. Gotta love her. But, just because we pick up on each others loads isn’t why I’m going to miss her.

I’v grown used to being around my family and cant imagine my life without them. We have been through so much together and grow some strong roots for our family together. My mom relies on my brother and I to keep herself going. She works hours a week to support her family and make sure we always had everything we needed and more and I can never repay her or thank her enough for what she has done. She is the strongest but also the weakest when separated from her children. I love her so much and don’t want to leave her but unfortunately is three months and three days I will be on my own. My mom will be cooking for herself. We will be at separate dining tables for the rest of our lives except for those times we are visiting each other. It hurts so much to think about not being able to hug her when ever I want. I’m truly going to miss her so much. And now I’m crying like a baby and cant really write anymore.

ADHD in children

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:08:25 +0000

ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It is a mental illness which is diagnosed to those who are unable to concentrate on one thing at a time, they are constantly fidgety, and supposedly causing trouble.

In an article on CDC.gov they talk about how boys in low income families are more susceptible to being diagnosed. But, not only boys in low income but boys overall more commonly diagnosed than girls. They also state that 7.8% of children are reported to show symptoms of ADHD by their parents. I do believe that ADHD is diagnosed more often that it should be. Kids naturally have a lot of energy that needs to be expelled but doing physical activities, this is why children in elementary school as given recess. Its not just for fun, there is a reason it was developed. Also, boys due to preconceived gender roles naturally are more active and aggressive. The gender roles butt heads which the symptoms of ADHD. Society expects boys to be more active but when they are they are punished by being treated with a mental illness which makes no sense. According to an article on SRMPH.org, children are being given Ritalin at a very young age to calm down nerves which are natural in young children. Ritalin is psychostimulat treatment which is given to over 150,000 children each year. This is a very unhealthy number are something needs to be done to regulate how children are being diagnosed which this problem.

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/adhd/data.html

http://www.srmhp.org/0201/adhd.html

The Food Network Channel

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:07:57 +0000

I rarely watch TV but the few times I do, it is mostly always the Food Network Channel. I think this is because I have been cooking since I was in the fourth grade and truly have always had a interest in whats going on in the kitchen. Anywhere I good food catches my attention. Lately the food network channel has become more of a source of entertainment rather than a source for people to learn new dishes. They have to keep up with the huge demand of reality TV which take away from people like me who want to learn new dishes. I do like to watch the competitions and see who will win but it becomes frustrating that I’m being introduced to all these new dishes but no recipes! I want more of the old shows to come back where I can learn how to make the dishes rather than watched them being made in a highly competitive kitchen.

Some of my favorite chefs and their shows are, Paula Dean who is truly a southern charm. She is funny to watch and her food looks so yummy and also tastes yummy! I love making the desserts she shows on her shows. Barefoot Contesa is also another favorite, Ina makes super simple and fresh recipes from her garden. I love having family friends over and feed them and she has some great entertaining recipes. Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t go to a culinary program, but then I know the answer. I didn’t want to and couldn’t leave my family. Maybe when I move to Virginia i’ll start taking some classes just for fun and maintain cooking as a hobby.

Summer in Iowa City

punampatel — Wed, 19 May 2010 00:07:00 +0000

Birds chirping, the smell of freshly cut grass and flowers, the sound of bands in the ped mall during weekends and festivals, children yelling at the pools, little toddlers playing in the fountain outside of the library and barbeque’s in the back yard is only a small list of the things I love about Iowa City summers.

Summer in Iowa City is one of the most relaxing few months out of the year. I love the culture and diversity that the city brings to downtown. My personal favorite is the outdoor bands every Friday during the summer. I love listening to different types of live music and hanging outside with family and friends. Iowa City has development this program called the summer of the hearts which is a series of events which attracts local and national artists and musicians to the downtown area. It also gives an opportunity for some of the downtown businesses to survives during the months the students are done. Small business take a big hit during the summer and winter breaks because they relay heavily on students who go home during the break time. Attracting and giving the opportunity to Iowa City and Coralville residents and families to enjoy the down town area is gift. Not only does it help businesses and families but also the artistically talented to show off their work. Art festival is a time where artist fill the streets of Washington, Clinton and Iowa Ave to show off and sell their work. Jazz festival allows University students and other local talents to show off what they have been working so hard at over the years. It also brings culture and diversity to Iowa City. The Free Movie Series invites residents out to the pentacrest to watch movies under the stars. A new event that just started last year is Sand in the City where different student and local organizations build sand sculptures to raise awareness about what they do.

Iowa City in the summer is never boring if you take advantage of what the city has to offer and just step outside and take a stroll without working about traffic and the hustle and bustle of the busy American life. It’s its own oasis where residents can escape stress and wind down.

http://www.summerofthearts.org/summer-of-the-arts/home.aspx

Rhetoric

yuewonlee — Mon, 17 May 2010 15:18:52 +0000

Over the course of the semester I have enjoyed rhetoric a lot. To be honest I believed my essay writing skills was pretty satisfactory but I loved the practice I was getting, plus we learned a lot about topics that I was interested in. I enjoyed analyzing articles and the discussions we would have. I also really enjoyed the third paper we wrote, an Autoethnography, it was fun writing it even if I don’t think it was my best work, but writing something a little more creative is something that I’ve always wanted to do, and this class has let me do that. so thanks Rhetoric it’s been a lot of fun