Firstly, check out the very thoughtful responses to last week's posts. The three ladies did an excellent job, but pay particular attention to Elizabeth's. Well done, ladies!
Two pieces from the Wall Street Journal.
1. An Homage to Hummer by Penn Jillette: That's right, Penn of Penn & Teller, laments about the loss of the Hummer. If GM doesn't find a buyer by May 1, the Hummer will be no longer. In an interesting and slightly unexpected essay, Penn ties the Hummer to a loss of freedom. hhhhmmm. He's a bit fast and loose with his sentence structure, but what do you think of his message? How does his form complement his purpose?
2. Altered States — U.S. Secession Efforts: Part U.S. history, part fantastical story-telling, this piece was on the front page of the Weekend Journal. Why? That's what I'd like you to comment on. Is this timely? Relevant to issues coming up today? And did you learn anything new from this piece?
15 comments:
Katie Eiseman
Hummers:
I don't like the substance of this article. I think that it is funny and I definitely had a couple laughs, especially at the end when she starts talking about her blood pressure and physical fitness. I don't really understand her argument though. It seems like she took this piece of current event (the Hummers) and came up with an unnecessary significance that they have. I don't think that we have this problem with our newspaper. I think our problem is the opposite - often reporting what is obvious. Other than that, I don't see this article turning into anything for our paper.
Secession:
This article is super interesting! Who knew? I had no idea that California once considered splitting, along with all of these other states. Also, it made me think about state boundaries and how arbitrary they are. I think that the idea of parts of states seceding though is a bad one. We are a democracy and if we aren't able to share a state with people who have ideas that we oppose, then I don't think we are practicing democracy at its greatest. I read an article a while back that talked about the United States splitting based on political lines. It was a funny article that described the Republican's country and Democrat's country but eventually came to the conclusion that the split would be extremely challenging because the political parties are all mixed and tangled throughout the US and no one would want to move. Regardless, while I do think it would be easier to live in a country with all democrats and would likely be more in favor of may of the laws and policies, I think it would be limiting one of the most stimulating parts of our lives in the United States: disagreement and in the end would be a negative development.
Ilana S.
An Homage to Hummer by Penn Jillette:
In the fashion of the theme of his article, An Homage to Hummer is Penn Jillette taking advantage of his freedom to be stupid. I feel as if the piece was simply written so that Penn could prove to himself that, despite the loss of the Hummer, stupidity and freedom to express it is still allowed. Penn Jillette’s argument, or point of view, is long-winded, and definitely a stretch. Jillette makes many substantial points throughout his piece, yet they are sort of hidden by his chaotic sentences and offhand way of writing. Penn Jillette’s connection to the loss of the Hummer and to the loss of freedom is chaotic and sort of offbeat, so the structure of his article is somewhat suiting. One of Penn Jillette’s ideas that really stuck with me was our country’s loss of freedom. Although this connection might be a stretch, (once again, in Penn Jillette’s fashion) his association with the reduction of stupid peoples’ freedom reminds me of the Patriot Act and how, when it was passed, limited our freedom and rights as U.S. citizens.
Homage to Hummer:
I have to disagree with Katie and Ilana here. While Penn may be something of a goofball and dance around the point a little bit for comedy's sake, I think he actually touched on something pretty important in this piece. His comparison of the freedom to do dumb things (like drive a Hummer) to our freedom as citizens is really true. In a way, the Hummer represents America and how inefficient, obscenely proud, and often backwards we are. America has a reputation as this boastful, fat country, and the Hummer is about as close as a physical object can get to representing that. That's not at all to say that we want to be viewed this way, but Penn recognizes that our mistakes show our character, and maybe losing the Hummer equates to losing a little bit of our country's identity.
U.S. Secession:
This is a really interesting piece, especially in light of a Chronicle piece from a few months ago about Jefferson's continued efforts toward statehood. As far as the relevancy of this article, although it is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the piece, I feel like this would promote discussion about the divisive nature of current politics and whether state realignment could force cooperation between parties. However, it also raises the question of how much current events affect the discussion. Like the recent discussion of floating realignment in the MLB, the debate is based on current problems/divisions. Each of the examples discussed in the article came about because of a change that put one group at a disadvantage. In a matter of time, the issues will change, and the proposed boundaries will change. It's difficult to make realignment changes that fit the big and small pictures, so it should be discussed whether it makes more sense to simply deal with the problems that we have now than to deal with ones unintentionally created by realignment.
An Homage to Hummer by Penn Jillette:
I did not Penn's writing of this article at all. First of all, it bothered me when he used stupid for three consecutive sentences when describing his feelings and hate towards the hummer. Similar to what Katie said, the author made a way greater deal than anyone would have thought of when asked to write about the problems of hummers. I thought that this article was mostly going to be about the economical and environmental importance of the removal of the Hummers. However, Penn wrote an article about people loosing stupid things that they have. I did not like that Penn never took the other side of the people that have the Hummers. Yes, he commented that it amused him when people did stupid things, but he never thought to himself, what if I had a traumatic experience with a small car, thus I needed a protective car such as a Hummer to keep me safe on the rode. Our writings in the Voice may at times seem pretty obvious; however I do not think we need to take Penn's form of writing to convey our articles.
Hummer Article:
I think I have to agree with Andrew on this one. And in addition to the connection between Hummers and the freedom in America, the entire article displays a way to do stupid things through freedom of the press. First off the article is titled, "AN Homage to the Hummer." I think that was meant to be grammatically incorrect as a play on the perhaps stupid subject. Also the ranting/choppy style of the writing makes it seem as if Penn is slightly crazy while arguing his point. Maybe our paper doesn't need articles such as this one, but attention to detail can make our articles creative and interesting.
Altered States:
Really cool piece. I had heard brief facts/rumors about these successions before, but I definitely learned a lot from the article. In our Youth and Government program this year, there was an initiative made by a group of lobbyists for California to succeed from the Union. This initiative got loads of signatures and was put on the final ballot, where it eventually did not pass. But nonetheless, California's youth seems to have a great pride for the state and obviously would consider its succession, making it something that I believe will resurface as our generation comes to power. As of right now, California is in no economic state to do anything of this sort. We are in great debt and need the money we get from the National Government. I think its a waste of state senates' time to be arguing and debating these propositions while theres hardly enough money to fund education.
An Homage to Hummer:
I had never really thought of the Hummer as a stupid possession, rather I thought the people that owned (and that were aware of the consequences and negative impact on the environment) Hummers were stupid. To generalize Hummers by calling them "stupid" takes it a bit over the edge for me. Maybe from an environmental standpoint they are, but in actuality they still do their job: transportation. So, maybe Jillette's point of view wasn't quite justifiable, but I disagree with some of the above posts about Jillette's writing. I mainly disagree with them because Jillette is taking a risk here. It's not everyday that you open a newspaper or a website and read the same word (in this case, "stupid") twenty times in one paragraph. Jillette must've had some serious confidence to go out there and write "stupid" twenty times. What I liked about the piece was that as I read it, I heard Jillette's voice throughout the entire thing. Sure, the argument might've been stupid in itself but the structure and humor of the piece grabbed me. The repetition and constant anecdotes thrilled me. After all, who doesn't want to read something that'll make them laugh?
Altered States:
I found the substance of the article fascinating. Secession, at least for students, isn't talked too much about, especially specific examples. Reading about areas that have actually attempted to secede was both eye-opening and entertaining. Compiling many different secession stories, as well, made the article more coherent and comprehensive.
While I did enjoy reading about the specific secession stories, I thought some aspects of Trinklein's writing was thought-scattered. He seemed to dive from little stories into how secession actually works back to little stories; this method could have been very successful, but I thought his execution made it somewhat confusing. I also felt like the writing went on for a while. He lost my interest after about a paragraph of how secession works, and I had to read it a second time to get all of the information. While I did enjoy learning about this topic, and I do think that it is somewhat relevant (Long Island tried to secede recently), I would have been even more interested in the piece if Trinklein's writing had been up to par with some other great news stories.
Altered States:
I loved this article! it was so off the wall and something I'd never think about, but yet it seemed like something that seems to pertain to citizens and regions all over the United States. Personally I had no idea that there were talks all over the United States. I mean I had heard that California had numerous attempts at splitting into multiple states, but I had never realized that there were attempts at making places like Long Island its own state. I liked how they used a lot of statistics too which supported the cause. Such as the fact long Island is bigger then Rhode Island, and would have a higher gross product then 20 other states.
It is also really enjoyed the humorous side of the article which explained the different affects names, of proposed states have on the popularity or likeliness of the state actually being created.
This article really made me think, and question how the adding of new states would affect politics and the Presidential race. I wonder if Long Island really did become a state then, then how would that affect the number of electoral votes that New York had.
Overall this was a really thought provoking and interesting article, which was very well written.
Altered States:
This was a very clever piece that appeals to a very large American audience because I know that everyone in this country definitely has some state pride. It's interesting to think about that at one time or another our beloved states were possibly going to be cut up and renamed. And even more intriguing is the notion that this idea of secession or absorption is not that far fetched and could happen in the future. To me, I will always think of the United States of America as the "50 States" even if Puerto Rico joins the union, or Long Island separates itself from New York. I would not be surprised if we see the 51st state in our lifetime.
I also really really really liked the interactive map. I was enamored with it the first moment I saw its vintage style sepia tone and font, but completely fell in love when I realized you could hover over the states for interesting little tidbits.
Homage to Hummer:
I actually liked how this piece was less organized than your typical opinion…it almost felt like Penn was making it up as he went along, which gave it a more distinctive voice, in my opinion. I definitely don’t think it’s a style that should be used all the time, but it works well every once in a while for opinion pieces. As for the content of the article, let’s not forget that Penn’s a comedian, and his points are probably exaggerated for comedy’s sake. He does a good job getting his points across, and while I’m not quite convinced that the loss of the Hummer is the death of the American dream, his points about freedom meaning the freedom to be stupid certainly got me thinking if nothing else. It definitely made me consider that not letting people do stupid things doesn’t make them less stupid.
"Altered States"
I enjoyed reading this peace frankly because I had no clue about all of these states that had tried and are trying to secede and form a new state. I am glad that the attempts of various states trying to secede have failed because I think it is important as a democratic nation to have its people be able to work out its problems within its communities instead of automatically trying to run away from their problems. It is ironic that although people live in the same state, their viewpoints and believes are so varied. This is significant because if a state had all the same believes then there would be no conflict. Conflict in a nation is necessary because it results in breakthroughs of how to resolve issues and obtain peace throughout the nation. I believe a piece similar to this one can be written in our paper by finding information about MA that no one knows about.
Hummers:
Though this article was funny, and amusing to say the least I don't tend to agree with what was said. I mean sure I can see the advantages of driving a car like a mini cooper in comparison to that of a hummer, but I do think that since this person owned a mini cooper, and not a hummer they were clearly biased. There was a slight exaggeration and clearly just thrashed the hummer, but didn't really take its advantages seriously.
In my opinion, If you have money and a liking for large cars that have poor gas milage then the hummer is a good car. It is intimidating, and rather cool.
However I also feel that the writier seemed to try to hard and went off on some wierd tangents throughout the article. I do feel it is important to defy stereotypes that andrew mentioned since while in Europe people always asked me as an American why I wasn't fat. we have the freedom here to do as we please, so I think that we should be able to take advantage of that.
Homage to Hummers:
Although this article was amusing, it didn't really say anything hugely important or revolutionary about the connection between stupidity and our freedoms or the fact that Hummer is probably going down in the near future. There are tons of people all around America that consider freedom to mean just that: the ability to do whatever you want within reasonable means even if it is stupid. And that's just alright. The problem is that I consider Penn Jilette's connection between the two to be fairly meek. The fact that nobody is buying Hummers anymore and the GM can no longer support the branch doesn't mean that the company should prop-up Hummer as a symbol of freedom to be stupid. That's just stupid.
Secession:
I had no idea that so many secession movements all around the nation in the last (nearly) 250 years have come so close to fruition! It is particularly interesting to me to consider this problem through the lens of state's rights, the Tea Party Movement, and modern dissatisfaction with big government. There are plenty of people all around the country who have been completely fed up with the last two administrations, and if they were to pick-up and secede, it would be a pretty heavy statement. Additionally, I wonder what would happen if this wasn't the United States...how similar are these modern movements to situations in the past 100 years when America has intervened in foreign countries in the name of self-determination to help one country or group of people distinguish itself from another? How possible is it that a county, part of state, a state, or even a group of states secedes from the (kind of) United States?
An Homage to Hummer:
Jillette's article was silly and may have been a little long-winded, but I do think he tries to make a good point about the freedom to "be stupid". There's definitely a bit of a grey area in how much the government should be controlling different aspects of our lives that Jillette is right to question (although perhaps not quite as dramatically as comparing the discontinuation of Hummers to the Holocaust), but part of living in America is giving up individual freedoms (like the freedom to steal from others or drive a wasteful car) in order for government protection (the protection to not have your own things stolen or the protection from having your house literally become a part of the ocean because of global warming, which is what the government is trying to prevent with the higher MPG standards). What I did like about the article was the tone it was written in, which reminded me somewhat of Joel Stein, my favorite columnist from Time magazine. Although the content of Jillette's article might not really be applicable to The Voice, I think the humorous and slightly self-deprecating style in which he wrote the article could definitely find a place in an Op/Ed piece or a special column that comes out each edition in The Voice, if we have a funny staff member who would be interested in writing such a thing.
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