Pre Write: A middle class struggle

A history professor once gave a definition of middle class once, it went something like “the simple desire to give your children more than you had and the children’s simple desire to have more than their parents had.” If we put this into perspective this places a vast majority of our society in the so called “middle class.” Just as Mike Lefevre discussed in his interview about his desire to see his son go onto college and gain an education so that he can better provide for himself and his children. This is truly the cycle of the middle class citizen, the desire to achieve more. This desire to achieve or gain more was discussed in our first paper with the reading by Laurence Shames the “The More Factor.” It seems as the lower class in our economic society is hard pressed to simply make ends meet each month. As Barbara Ehrenreich discussed in her excerpt “Selling in Minnesota” how she took a minimum wage earning position at the local corporate giant Wal-Mart to explore the lifestyle that many low income families live day in and day out. She expresses some great points in how there goals are very different from those of the middle class, such as the pure goal of making sure that there is food on the table and clothes on the children’s backs.

Self Evaluation Blog

I was overall impressed with my compare and contrast assignment. Although as anybody would say or should say “it is never perfect, there is always room for improvement.” I made a few careless MLA formatting mistakes throughout the paper. I was impressed with the lack of sentence errors which I have come to unfortunately expect out of myself. It made me feel that maybe I am truly becoming a better writer in being able to convey my thoughts onto paper. I have had a history of making lots of comma splice errors and other grammatical errors; I can honestly say that I feel that those days of grammar errors are behind me.
I was happy with the way that Professor Roberts carried out the different steps of the essay process. I felt that it was organized and that I knew what was expected of me along the entire process of the paper. I felt like Professor Roberts gave some great tips and advice to make this writing process less painful and more interesting than any other paper that I have had to write. I look forward to learning more with each new paper that is assigned to us. I honestly feel that I will be a better writer for having taken this class.

Randy Lund Paper 1 Blogging

It has been interesting to read about the different perspectives of the fast food nation. One perspective has the stance that this mysterious being that hides behind a counter is dangerous and we must fear what it stands for. At first many feel that the book Fast Food Nation written by Erik Schlosser is going to be about how bad the food is for you. Wrong! This piece of work actually comes out of the gate exploring the idea of the boom behind the industry and what has made it grow like it has. Schlosser goes into the facts of how Carl Karcher gave the nation what it wanted along the McDonald brothers. This was the convenience of the drive through hamburger stands and hamburgers by the bag, not to mention implementing the assembly line theory into the business plan allowed for cheap production costs which in turn created cheap hamburgers. Paulo Friere touched a similar matter discussing the education system in his “Banking System” essay, he discussed how the educators have been similar to those depositors of America by depositing information and material into the heads of Americas youth, and then when the depositor feels it is necessary to withdraw the info they will proctor an exam, mostly from regurgitation.
I feel like the American dream is definitely still alive; however, I do think that the American dream has certainly changed over the decades. In the days of the Wild West the dream might have been to gain the claim of land and run your cattle and raise your children. This place may be where generations to come will raise their cattle and children as well. As today’s society has changed and we are much more a materialistic, it is now all about the car you drive and the boat etc. It seems as though the dream of still owning a home exists but many now are striving heavily for financial wealth. The best saying I have heard is that “A Hearst doesn’t have a luggage rack” George Strait.