Bringing It All Together

I want to start off by saying that I really enjoyed the things we've read and covered in this class. I almost dropped it when I found out we were going to be studying new age literature, and topics such as gaming. I thought it sounded weird, and I thought I wanted to read the classics. I also did not look forward to writing these blogs. I had thought only losers wrote blogs. I now see that they can be a useful way to share opinions. If I ever become a high school English teacher, like I want to be, I will use them in my class. I am very pleased that I stayed in this section. I read some things that I would have never read on my own; my eyes were opened to things I never would have realized.

One thing that this class made me do was look at reality television in a whole different light. I always thought it was just something put out there for me to enjoy, with no consequences for me or the stars of the shows. I now realize that watching these shows can hurt the stars, or actors. I never thought that the Jersey Shore cast could be different if they weren't thrown into stardom by a television program.

My favorite part of the class was reading The Hunger Games. I never would have picked up this novel on my own time, but I am very happy that I read it. Quite honestly, it is one of the best books I have ever read. Not only was it a good read, but it linked well to reality television. It made me think about how like our reality television shows this "game" was. Could a game like the one in the novel happen in real life? I think, maybe, it could. I think our culture would quickly wrapped up in the excitement that the game brings.

Another thing this class made me do is look at literature differently. Previously, I had read books for two reasons: because they were recommendations for class, and for pleasure. I had never read a book for pleasure and considered linking it to something else that I had read or seen on television. Now when I read, I consider other things that I have experience with that relate to what I am reading.

The last thing that I want to talk about is the class discussion we had on censorship and freedoms. I had never really thought about how giving up privacy at the airport took away some of our freedoms. I know see that this is so.

I really enjoyed this class. I now see the importance of books, and how drastic it would be if we lost them. I enjoyed this class, and blogging about what we read and learned. It's been fun!