Buddah

                                                                             Buddha

        Even before the class that we had that discussed religion, I was interested in Buddhism, but it was only after the class that I actually reached into it. I wanted to enlighten myself as to the ways in which that religion is different from any other. I was baptized catholic and raised catholic as well but have found much pf what they say to be very one-sided and incomprehensible for me to understand completely and be able to adhere to in my everyday life. Therefore I decided that maybe the best thing for me was to look elsewhere for the faith I needed. My father has always been interested in the eastern religions so it was not hard for me to acquire information on the subject as well as the wealth of information you can find on the Internet. Though if it wasn’t for the class we had the discussed religion I might not have taken the time to look into it further, or at least it would not have been anytime soon. In this paper, I would like to explain why the Buddhist culture has made a difference in my world.

        In class, we learned that Siddhartha Gautama, or Buddha, lived around 6th century B.C. in northern India and while there he lived unhappily and had an intuition that there was something more to life so he went out in quest. Eventually, he found a tree to sit under where he discovered 3 main truths and they were 1. Life is suffering 2. The root of all suffering is desire and 3. In order to give up suffering, we must give up desire therefore gaining enlightenment. He also came up with the eight-fold path that states it’s “ all about the moment”, also that the value of experience is more important than knowledge and that the mind does not equal knowledge. After learning this I decided to investigate this subject some more. I learned the Buddha truly means “he who is awake” and Siddhartha Gautama became awake after many tries at finding the true answer to his dyer question of how one loses the feeling of suffering. He was born prince of Sakya, a tribe in Nepal, and about the time he was twenty-nine he went out in search of this answer. He left his wife and new son to eventually find himself immersed in life under a fig, or bodhi, tree. He went first through deep concentration to free him of mind filling worries, and then through mindless meditation, which brought him freedom of all thought. Once free of all thought he was brought to sheer enlightenment that allowed him to see all his previous lives and all that was going on in the world. With this enlightenment, he went around for forty-five more years teaching what he had been privileged to experience under that tree.

        After reading about how Buddha came to be I wanted to learn what it was that he had to teach. I found the Seven Factors of Enlightenment were:

• Mindfulness
• Investigation
• Energy
• Rapture
• Tranquility
• Concentration
• Equanimity

Then the Five Hindrances:

• Sensuous lust
• Aversion and ill will
• Sloth and torpor
• Restlessness and worry
• Skeptical doubt

After that was the Ten Perfections, or Paramus:

• Generosity
• Morality
• Renunciation
• Wisdom
• Energy
• Patience
• Truthfulness
• Resolution
• Loving-kindness 
• Equanimity

Then the Four Aggregates, or Skandhas, which form Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water:

• Feeling (Pleasant, Unpleasant or Neutral)
• Perception
• Volition
• Consciousness

Then Lastly the 10 Fetters of Existence:

• Self-delusion
• Doubt
• Clinging to ritual
• Sensuous lust
• Ill will
• Greed of fine materials
• Greed of material existence
• Conceit
• Restlessness
• Ignorance

I learned so much more but it would take pages upon pages to explain it all so I will stop at this.

        In conclusion, because of my Communication Skills IV class, I learned more about Buddhism and what it took to get me to look into it more so that I would gain a greater appreciation for it and about it. I will leave this class this semester taking that with me in hopes that it will bring me greater peace in the long run so that I may approach my goals in my education and life with less stress and greater appreciation and love for the people and things around me.

Goth

                                                                             Goth

        Goth is the one co-culture that most parents dread their teenagers ever becoming involved with. Why? What is gothic? How can one co-culture be any worse than any other? Stereotypes are one reason, and misconceptions of what the true gothic subculture is, is another reason. The true definition for gothic doesn’t even have anything to do with its subculture we have grown to know it by. The true definition pertained to a literary style of fiction that was around in the 18 and 19 centuries. We disregard this definition and look to Marilyn Manson, the sole product of the media, to provide us with the real definition. I would like to explain in this paper the gothic scene and why looking at it from another angel might shed light on a dark subject.

        The gothic co-culture is full of ambiguity and misconceptions. Marilyn Manson and vampires may be gothic looking but are in fact not gothic at all. Bands like Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, and Alice Copper are actually in the heavy metal shock rock category while Industrial and classical are the music of choice for those practicing true gothic living. The same goes for vampires they may look very gothic and dark but movies like the “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, which is funny and upbeat are sooner watched than “Interview with the Vampire”. Like any true co-culture, the real definition of who is truly gothic is subject to change all the time depending on the person. The Gothic co-culture is more about being an individual than being part of a specific definition.

        The date of origin has been placed back to 1979 when “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” was released by the Bauhaus band. Due to its eerie sound, it inspired a co-culture later defined as gothic. Many are not sure if it was the band or the media that coined the term gothic but whichever it may be it has sucked for over twenty years. The United Kingdom is where the first generation of gothic followers originated around the early eighties with the release of “Bela Lugosi’s Dead”. The gothic co-culture also originated as a stem off of the punk subculture. By the mid-eighties, the first generation of gothic children started to subside but by the early nineties, a new group of children revived it with bands like The Shroud, Rosetta Stone, and London After Midnight. The early nineties was also when the gothic co-culture gained ground in the United States, pushing as many limits as it could on its way. The third generation of gothic children then came out in the late nineties, making enemies with the first and second generation Goths. Most of the older generation Goths wanted to be unassociated with the younger generation Goths due to the attention from the media brought on by bands like Marilyn Manson, Pantera, and Prodigy. The older generation was not into the exposure that this brought to the co-culture they established and were proud of. This was becoming a movement from the underground to the sound stage. It was hard after that for the older generation to respect the younger generation, and to not question their authenticity and wonder what was going to happen to the quiet co-culture they had established twenty years prior as it moved through the 21st century.

        Fashion is one of the biggest parts of this co-culture. It explains visually the mood of the culture and the attitude of the individual. Just by the symbols they wear and the clothes in which they choose to display, they are able to let whoever crosses their path know that they are not without feeling. Their fashions are also a reflection of their actions and motivations for those actions. Even if they wear no symbols and only black in the simplest form it says something very loud about that person’s character. Though not everyone who is in this co-culture is in it for what it truly stands for, and many consequently do not know why they are wearing what they are wearing besides the reason, “it looks cool”. Most dress to express. Fashions include anything black, deep blue or deep red in color; silver jewelry instead of gold, maybe a spike collar or a ribbon around the neck. Black and stark white make-up is worn with black lipstick and black eye-liner for both men and women to display paleness and pureness. Some like to look stark white for an authentic Victorian nobility look or because they are protesting in their own way to skin cancer-causing tanning. Dying of the hair is also a way to display ones self, many choose black, others may choose red, purple, or whitish/blond. Anything leather, patent leather, latex, plastic, velvet, rubber, vinyl, P.V.C., or with a corset can be worn as everyday clothing. Lingerie and cloaks are also acceptable to be worn under or over one's everyday clothing. The list actually goes on and on for the possibilities that are out there for one to wear as acceptable in this co-culture. One thing remains throughout all of it and that is that you are showing how you want to be seen, that it is dark, and that it is comfortable to fit your mood. The theme in the gothic co-culture is not really what you wear but how you wear it, why and what does it explain about your specific personality.

        This co-culture is different because of its likes and dislikes, its views on society and the world as a whole. The true gothic co-culture is not destructive or to cause specific chaos but to be as one with each other and be different than the typical sports team cliques known to be in every high school across the whole world. Gothic interests include anything artistic and creative, literature, history, and philosophy and going to plays. Going out for a cup of coffee in the middle of the night or sitting in a graveyard discussing anything that interest them are other things Goths typically like to do. This co-culture is one with dimension; it has three major components to it and many sub-components that makeup why Goths are the way that they are. One way is their social scene; Goths are not unlike other co-cultures in the sense that they provide a sense of belonging for the members of the group. However, they establish hierarchies between the members and conduct themselves a certain way when out in public that is unlike that of most other co-cultures. Second would be the gothic personality, much like other groups, to be gothic is to be unlike any other. There is a main focus on anything intellectually stimulating and controversially dark. Things most people would not dare to discuss they do with bluntness and assertiveness. They believe in who they are and are not about to hide their inner hurt, disgust, pain, or angst just to please someone else. Third is gothic music, just like those of the techno co-culture or the hip-hop co-culture, the gothic co-culture has a form of music all their own. It can be easily said that the group is driven and bound together by its music. After all, it was started and centered on music.

        On a personal level, I choose this co-culture to report on not because I didn’t know anything about it but because I do know something about it. I myself do not dress the typical part nor do I listen to their kind of music alone but I do enjoy the quiet aspects of life. I enjoy the part of life that not many people talk about, the part where you look deep within and see the inner demons, face them, and conquer them. It makes me happy when others show pain, it shows me that they too are human and go through the trials and tribulations in life that make us all different and worth the space we take upon this earth. I appreciate this co-culture because of their views on society and their close-knit relationships with their members. I also admire them for their guts to dress the way that they do and speak the way that they speak and act the way that they act. In my communication skills class, we have learned that in most instances we have terministic screens up and can’t or won’t look beyond the very obvious right in front of us. I hope that after reading this paper my reader will be more open to the possibilities of the world around him/her and realize that to be a part of all society you do not have to change outer appearances but inner outlooks on the world.

        In short, the gothic culture may seem more depressed than the rest of society but if you look at it in another light maybe the gothic culture is expressing outwardly the depressed feeling that societies feel inwardly. No matter what the case is, know that it is okay to feel dark and gloomy sometimes. Just like the weather can’t always be sunny everyone in the world can’t always look happy. Nothing could ever be that perfect and while it may be a fact that the members of the gothic co-culture are capable of feeling immense sadness they are also able to feel incredible happiness as well. There are no rules or guidelines to this co-culture stating so. Goth is all about the beauty that lies under every rock. I hope that I have shed a new light on this gloomy subject for all those reading this.

Once Upon A Time.. (Class Assignment)

Once upon a time...

                                 There lived a fair young princess named Angela Dannon. She was the sweetest and the most intelligent girl in her family. She had two sisters Brenda and Christine and a father, Zack. Her mother, a ravishing beauty queen in her own right, was however taken from Angela when she was only 5. The reason was never known, or at least not by Angela. She doesn’t remember much of her mother, but the one thing she'll never forget is the Flinstones bedtime stories her mother would read her. They lived in one of Europe’s only remaining castles that overlooked the beauty of the Atlantic. The house they were living in now wasn’t where Angela grew up as a kid. They moved after her mother untimely death. The house they lived in had so many memories it was painful to live there. The new house they moved into was perfect though it had more space for the girls to grow up in, and plenty of hidden treasures they found over the years. Plus they were right next to the park, which was really nice since they loved to play. One day they all decided to go to the park and play a game of soccer with the guys. Soccer had to have been their all-time favorite sport and they had to have been the biggest tomboys. Seeing as how they grew up around all men it's quite understandable how they became tomboys. Their father, aside from being away at work most of the time, was a great big influence on them and they did have an older brother Randy. He, however, was 4 years older than Angela and away at college at the present time. Between those two and a full male staff at their house they knew everything there was to know about guys, especially what they do. So they grew up around sports and now love them immensely. Forgetting it was spring and Angela having allergies the more she roughhoused around playing soccer the worse they got. Forgoing out that one sunny but windy day Angela ended up missing out on the chance of a lifetime “The annual Beckman’s spring ball”. The Beckman’s were one of the richest people in their neighborhood and as soon as you turned 16 you were allowed to attend the ball. Anyone who was anyone went to the ball, because it was the event of the year. Angela was devastated at the fact she had been so naive. She had been looking forward to this event for 7 months and now for the last 3 days, while her sisters fancied up, she spent her time all alone. She sat in her room with her television trying so hard not to pay attention to the magnificent sun calling her name from her bay window across from her bed. There was no one to take care of her except Pedro, this Italian guy her father just recently hired. He was gorgeous, kind of a 'Mr. Tall Dark and Handsome'. He had the most incredible eyes and dark skin and hair. Angela couldn’t help wondering if she were better if he would go to the ball with her as her escort. Pedro was the sweetest as he waited on her hand and foot, and he felt extremely bad for her. He knew her dad was in Milan taking care of business and the rest of the house was in ball frenzy. As he waited on her she started feeling even worse than he wasn’t out having fun preparing for the ball. Though, when she asked him if he had planned on going he said at first, “yes”, then retracting that he changed his mind and said, “but I know you'll need me so, no.". This iced her cake as she was determined to get better in time and now there was no way she was going to keep him home that night, whether he was taking her or someone else. Though no matter how much medicine she took or rest she got she just wasn’t getting any better. She still couldn’t breathe and sneezed constantly. She even felt so bad she begged him to go and leave her there and then come back and tell her all about it. He wouldn’t give in. He was willing to give up that night to be there with her. It made her want him even more but she bit her tongue and said nothing. The day of the ball came around quickly and Angela still sounded terrible. It was 3 o'clock and here came Pedro waltzing through her bedroom doors with the usual tasteless junk, antihistamines, decongestants, cough syrups, water, and a fresh box of tissues. Angela loathed taking medicine and getting her to take it was like pulling teeth. At first, Pedro thought of pulling her teeth just so she wouldn’t lock them together when he tried giving her the medicine but as she grew to like Pedro more she resisted less.

"I have an incredible surprise for you." He said turning down the television. 

"Excuse me that was Days of our Lives you just turned down." She retorted.

"You'll live." He said back to her completely ignoring the insulted expression on her face.

"This better be good if you’re making me miss the show that I live to see." She stated as she sat up in her bed and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Well, you won’t know that till later. Right now you have been beckoned to see your sisters."

"Why is it that Days has to get interrupted, why not the Young and the Restless?” she grumbled as she wrapped her moon and stars rob around her self and walked out of her room. 

        Pedro followed her as she sniffled and muttered under her breath. He just smiled pleased at what he had planned for her later. He was so pleased with his little surprise, he almost spilled the beans to her 3 times that day. She started to get frustrated with him around the 1st time and was just plain edgy by the 3rd, but he didn’t tell her, he caught himself every time. 7:00 rolled around pretty quickly and Brenda and Christine came down the front steps looking more immaculate than last year. They have already been to the ball 2 or 3 times. It made Angela so mad especially knowing it was her own fault for going out when she knew the consequences of it were going to make her sick. Brenda was all decked out in diamonds like their mother used to be and Christine was covered in pearls from head to toe. They looked so beautiful. Their dates were even decent looking this time. Christine's date Edward looked like a prince. He had sandy blond hair deep brown eyes, and if he wasn’t going with Christine, Angela would have definitely wanted him for herself. In the 10 minutes it took them to leave Angela started yearning to go even more and got even more disappointed and mad at herself. As the limo finally pulled out of the driveway the only ones left in the house were her and Pedro. The rest of the staff had the night off on account of the beautiful job they did preparing for the event. As she looked around she couldn’t find Pedro anywhere, it was almost like he left too. Finally, she found him waiting for her in the kitchen with a cheese pizza, a bottle of bubbly Sprite, and a television with VCR.

"What's all this for?" she asked with a huge smile on her face.

"Well since I purposely made them call you out of your room during Days I taped it for you, so we could have something to watch together tonight." He said sitting on one of the four barstools that sat around the island they had in the middle of the kitchen, where he had his surprise all set up.

"So you had this whole thing planned? You're slick." She sat down next to him and poured herself a glass of Sprite.

"I know I try, and by the way, I would have said yes if you would have asked me to go."

        She didn’t know how he knew she wanted to go with him because she told no one, but it didn’t matter to her because now she knew he would have gone with her and that’s all she cared about. The rest of the night was perfect they watched the rest of Days and took a walk together. Then when her sisters got home they stayed up till 4 a.m talking about how beautiful the ball was. Funny no matter what her sisters said to her after they got home mattered to her. She didn’t feel bad anymore cause she ended up having her own fun in her own way and there’s always next year.

Reviews of Plays I've Seen

                                                                   The Real Thing
                                                        By:


        In the play the Real Thing the two main characters Henry and Annie had a true relationship filled with trouble. Verbally you could hear it through the choice of sarcasm Henry used when Annie decided to do Brodies play. You could also hear Annie’s cry for love when she would turn her back to henry and walk away to the other side of the stage with her arms crossed or swinging down by her hips stiffly when he wouldn’t support her wanting to do Brodies’ play. He couldn’t understand why she would want to do such a terrible play written by and untalented actor. When it wasn’t about the play at all it about her need to feel needed and loved. The way that the co-star in Brodies’ play Billy would make her feel when henry and Annie weren’t together. Annie’s eyes also conveyed the hurt she felt inside. They showed her guilt when she looked into Henrys eyes after she had been with Billy all day and night. She expressed through her non direct communication of vague conversations on the telephone and talking over her shoulder while fidgeting with something in the apartment that she felt very sad about what she had done to Henry but that she didn’t want to feel guilty about it. She knew that it wasn’t bad to need love and attention and she didn’t want to feel wrong for having to go to someone else for it when henry wouldn’t give it to her. Music was played throughout the play as well and that helped they audience to know what was coming up. Slow depressing music was playing when they showed Annie and Billy together and Henry sitting in another spot thinking something was going on but not certain of it and trying to drown his presumptions away with alcohol. Lightening also played a key roll in this play by divulging what we were supposed to look at based on the scene and where. There was no dead space in this play either all the actors utilized all of the set that they needed to from front to back and left to right.

        In conclusion if I had a chance to go see this play again I would go in a heartbeat. It had lighthearted humor in it with the 80’s punk rock daughter and with the pie in Brodies face at the end. That was followed by a cheerful smile to Henry from Annie when he said a comment about marriages to actresses gave the play a good outlook on the future after being such a serious play about what women need from men and men need from women. They also used British accents that gave them a very proper and sophisticated sound to themselves. All in all I give the play two thumbs up and encourage those to partake in its wonderful portrayal of men and women and there needs towards and from each other. I also like it because it came along at a time in my life where I was going through the same problems with my boyfriend so I related quit nicely to Annie.







                                                             The Credeaux Canvas
                                                 By:


        This play had to have been the most moving piece of art I have ever seen in my entire life. Amelia, the girlfriend of Jamie, was portrayed with such drama and heart you feel it in every word that Jaime St. Peter, the actress portraying Amelia, said. Through out the play Jaime St. Peter expressed through the fidgeting of clenching her fists that she was stressed about the situation. And her constant movement all over the stage with her head tilted to the floor that she had some real reservations about being an accomplice in Jamie’s’ scheme to scam an art conasewer. Jaime St. Peter also had a way of speaking that she could make her voice quiver with ease when she was shaky about posing for the painting. She also cried with ease when she revealed to Jamie that she wasn’t in love with him that she was in love with his roommate Winston. The way that she quickly dropped her outfit when the appointing was to take place and squinted her nose and bit her lip to show her anxiety towards the whole situation. Then when it came to talking to Winston on a personal level in the play before he started to paint her she spoke with ease. Almost as if it was really her life up there for the audience to see and her passion for the character came from her own personal experience. I also thought it ironic that they played ‘I Can See Right Through You’ just before Amelia and Winston get naked and have their heart to heart talk and love scene. Almost implying that they can see right through each other to the true people that they are and have some internal connection. So that was a good choice in music to accompany the spectacular performance.

        In conclusion this play in my mind was an incredible piece of art. It told a story common to those of there age and the struggles that teenagers go through when it comes to love and money and how they choose to resolve their problems. Not only did Jaime St. Peter do an awesome job portraying Amelia but Michael McMillian and Jarrod Fry also played their parts to a perfection with as much heart and soul as 3 actors could put into one two hour long production. If in my life I ever get the chance to be an actress on stage and got to pick my role I would pick the roll of Amelia.







                                                                      The Serpent
                                                       By:

        A very deep portrayal of history and religion put together using as little verbal communication as possible. This play, however not the best I have seen, did pose the question, through their very unprofessional way, does the violence of yesterday and today have to do with Adam and Eve and what they start in motion many thousands of years ago? They actors/actresses did not consist of main characters, a plot, or climax. Instead it showed a time in history through various timed movements in slow motion that impacted our lives greatly. It showed a story of David and Goliath and Adam and Eve not for the purpose of being politically correct or giving us a historical accurate depiction of that time but instead a depiction of the consequences that came from one wrong decision. The actors/actresses wore specific outfits made of all white to stand for the purity of humanity while moving around in as little light as possible to give the effect of evil. They took complete use of their stage and spared no room, they also utilized the audience to keep them interested in what they were trying to say. Though not all together done in the greatest of taste the play did seem to have a strong message that without much verbal communication makes its audience think about what it has just saw. They used loud clear voices when they did speak, with the help of spot lights and certain phrases that were used over and over gave the words they did speak that much more power. Their eye contact with the audience was incredible, as they wanted you to know and understand what was going on. They also used their hands not to fidget with but to help describe and say what their words did not.

        In conclusion this play may not have been the best one that I have ever seen however I can say that I was thinking when I stepped out of the theater. It impacted me without the use of many words. So it goes to show that sometimes it’s not about what you do say but also about what you don’t say. Makes the statement believe more of what you see and only have of what you hear because actions speak louder than words seem as true as the gospel word. I wouldn’t recommend this play to anyone who did not have a completely open mind to the different aspects of art and speech but to those who can understand intended meanings and hidden messages I do recommend this play ideally.





                                                                  Fuddy Meers
                                                     By:

        Very appropriate title for a very fascinating and enlightening play. The character of Claire was played with ease. Almost as if the actress herself had no idea what was happening in this characters mind. That seemed to add the questionable tone to her voice when she spoke. She had no trouble looking directly at the audience and including us in on her personal thoughts about what she couldn’t remember. Claire’s’ lack of costume change also adds to the creative touch of the play. It expresses the lack of time she doesn’t realize she has and also that the other know they have. The way Claire hangs on to the book that her husband made her when she first developed the disease shows her need to hang on to something in a world where she feels she has nothing. Though the story was very touching and truly sad a tremendous amount of humor was added that not only caught the attention of the audience but also kept it while the story of why Claire had no memory unfolded. With mama’s lack of coherent speech, that was just plain perfection in speech control, to Binky the filthy swearing puppet, mixed with the pot head son and the way to pleasant for anyone’s good second husband the play seemed in all a well rounded piece of comedic genius. They all spoke with amazing clarity even mama who was suppose to be unclear. Not one character ever had his/her back to the audience making the audience that much more welcome feeling. Plenty of alliteration was used with similes for humor. Accompanied by a very well put together set, with lighting hitting only what the audience needs to see and music to enhance the flash backs, that Claire keeps having of her father and the dogs and the carnival music all create this wonderful masterpiece of theater.

        In conclusion, if you could not already tell I very much enjoyed this play. Not as much as I enjoyed the Credeaux Canvas but it ranks very high up there with it. The humor caught me from the beginning in the fact that her husband is like a male cheerleader with his fake all day long smile and kept me till the end where mama hurt Binky. I would by far recommend this play to anyone looking to enjoy a night of serious but lighthearted comedy.

Fairy Tales Affect the Human Psyche

                                                                           Abstract:

By having characters in fairy tales who believe in anything to satisfy human needs in turn effects the psyche of the children who listen to them. Maslow discusses how the human psyche needs to satisfy the physiological needs, the safety needs, the love, esteem, and self-actualization needs before it can obtain pure satisfaction out of life. Maslow explains what these needs are and by applying these definitions to “Cinderella” and “Puss in Boots” it is easy to see why Cinderella and the framers son do and think the things that they do. These fairy tales have such a strong impact on children, they inform the heart as well as the mind. They help children to uncover the mysteries of childhood in such a way that they do not come up with more questions to their initial question. Bruno Bettelheim also analyzes fairy tales and the child’s psyche when he talks about how important it is for children to believe in something like fairy tales. Children learn from these stories and develop their thought patterns around the theories taught throughout these fairy tales. Most fairy tales have a message that they’re trying to explain to children. Fairy tales open doors for children to learn and apply what they have learned to their life. Gale Encyclopedia and Amanda Craig also elaborate on these ideas. So basically fairy tales in themselves achieve needs such as safety, esteem, and love. While also giving children as well as adults something to think and dream about.

                                              Fairy Tales Affect the Human Psyche

        Sometimes we think of fairy tales and think of how much fun they are and miss that they have secret intended meaning. Fairy tales are meant to entertain us by using incredible imagery that just takes our breath away but they also have messages that they try to convey to us. However, since most fairy tales are geared toward the younger generation their explanations for who, what, where, when, and why are presented in such a simple way that most forget that they are trying for more than entertainment. This theory can be backed up by “The Uses of Enchantment” by Amanda Craig and “Fantasy” found in the Gale Encyclopedia. Examples of good fairy tales are “Puss in Boots” and “Cinderella”, found in The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. In these two fairy tales wonderful imagery is presented when they talk of the prince's ball and of the talking cat and all the wonderful activities it does to help its master out but along with being very colorful and imaginative, they both have a moral. The moral is that sometimes people believe what they know they should not because they cannot help themselves; they discover they have an inner need that must be satisfied.

        “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs” by George Norwood explains this very well. Maslow discusses how the human psyche needs to satisfy the physiological needs, the safety needs, the love, esteem, and self-actualization needs before it can obtain pure satisfaction out of life. Bruno Bettelheim also analyzes fairy tales and the child's psyche when he talks about how important it is for children to believe in something like fairy tales so they can obtain the knowledge needed to make important life decisions. Children learn from these stories and develop their thought patterns around the theories taught throughout these fairy tales. A child’s needs and thought process is also affected by the characters in the story. Each character has a need to fulfill, and through the story shows the child how to fulfill that need. Cinderella shows that she needs to be loved and show the right affection by trusting in the image of the fairy godmother. The farmers’ son shows that he needs to be self-sufficient by trusting in the talking cat to get him to a higher social status. How can someone put his or her whole future into something that doesn’t seem real? They can do this because the human psyche has an instinctive need for comfort and security that can cause them to believe almost anything that might satisfy that need. Having characters in fairy tales who believe in anything to satisfy human needs in turn effects the psyche of the children who listen to them.

        Amanda Craig explains the difference between a story and a fairy tale so well, she says that “Everyone knows that there are two kinds of stories for children: one in which good children live happily doing ordinary things; the other in which life is transformed by magic and adventure. "Fairy tales have such a strong impact on children, they inform the heart as well as the mind. Making a simple story like Cinderella into a teacher that says a prince will come looking for his princess one day and then the little girl waiting will be set and she will be able to live happily ever after. Puss in Boots turns into a teacher about going from nobody to somebody in a short amount of time with a little help from your friends. These fairy tales may present the happily ever after theme at the end but they also convey that the main characters were weak in their psyche to believe in things that were so far from reality. Meeting a dream man and becoming someone important with power almost overnight isn’t impossible but the likelihood of a fairy godmother creating the scene for it to happen and a black talking cat doing all your dirty work for you is beyond the realm of reality. Why did these two trust in figments of their imagination?

        Abraham Maslow believes that “ We are supposedly rational beings; however, we do not act that way.” (Maslow ) Instead, we believe, think, or do what we have to in order to satisfy our 5 basic needs. Those needs would be physiological, safety, love, esteem, and a self- actualization need. These needs would also be considered prepotent. “ A prepotent need is one that has the greatest influence over our actions.” (Maslow) Therefore Cinderella’s prepotent need was to find true love. She had the “desire to belong to a group such as a family because we need to feel loved and accepted by others.” (Maslow) Since Cinderella lost her mother and father at such a young age and was taken in by her evil stepmother and stepsisters and treated like a slave she had a dyer need to feel love, affection, and acceptance from others around her. So in her mind, she manifested a fairy godmother to satisfy her need. Because her need was so strong she believed with all her ability that her fairy godmother was really there. While in “Puss in Boots” the framers sons’ proponent need was self-actualization. He had the need to “become more…to become everything that one is capable of becoming.” (Maslow) Since he came from a run-down farm where he wasn’t sure how he was going to survive he strived to fulfill his need to be self-sufficient.

        Both of these fairy tales fit the Gals Encyclopedias definition of what fantasy is, and that is “ an important function that helps children confront their fears and desires in a safe context that they can control.”(Gale Encyclopedia) So for Cinderella going to the ball to meet the prince fulfilled her desire to be more than just a housemaid. Her desire became so great that it became a need for her to get out and go to the ball, therefore conjuring up her fairy godmother who made it possible for her to go. “ While fantasies often serve as a means of wish fulfillment, they can also express fears.” (Gale Encyclopedia) Like the fears that the farmers’ son had about not being able to survive with what his father left him when he died. His fear of amounting to nothing became so great he developed a need to self-actualize himself. Therefore conjuring up the talking cat that allowed him to achieve his need of high stature and never needing anything again. So here their desires and fears have manifested themselves into these indisputable needs to better their lives, where they conjure up images, more commonly known as imaginary images or friends, that they can confide in and trust to help them achieve their goals.


        In Bruno Bettelheim's essay “ The Child’s Need for Magic,” he goes in-depth into how important an imagination and fairy tales are to a child. “Fairy tales leave to the child’s fantasizing whether and how to apply to himself what the story reveals about life and human nature.” (Bettelheim 56) This is saying that a child will develop based on what he hears and decides how to apply it into his life based on the story.

        “However, realistic explanations are usually incomprehensible to children, because they lack the abstract understanding required to make sense of them. While giving them a scientifically correct answer makes adults think they have clarified things for the child, such explanations leave the young child confused, overpowered, and intellectually defeated. A child can derive security only from the conviction that he understands now what baffled him before- never from being given the facts which create new uncertainties.” (Bettelheim 57)

        This was his most powerful point of view because he says exactly what fairy tales do for children and that helps them understand adult concepts. Fairy tales help children uncover the mysteries of childhood in such a way that they do not come up with more questions to their initial question. Therefore, they make discoveries about the real world while developing an imagination and a sense of creativity, which will in turn help them throughout their life.

        Fairy tales are significant to children because they give children an imagination, and then expand upon it so that they may develop a better one throughout their adult life. Imagination is a very important attribute to have; it allows the mind to wander off and think about whatever it feels the need to think about. It also contributes to the understanding of right and wrong and to the realities of day-to-day life and the events that may occur. Most fairy tales have a message that they’re trying to explain to children. Most of the time it is a message that is hard to comprehend when told in blunt adult terms but when told in fairy tales, the message is geared toward smaller minds. Fairy tales make everyday life sound fun and uses a lot of fantastic imagery that for a child is easy to understand because it is related to something a child would know about. They also build up a child’s creativity and that is something that can be carried throughout one’s life. Just by depicting a pumpkin turning into a carriage and a little cat defeating a chameleon ogre gives a child the ignition to create his own fairy tales out of his own experiences. “Fantasy provided through fairy tales…can play an important role in helping children interpret events in their lives and deal with fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy, and other frightening emotions.” (Gale Encyclopedia) This fantasy then extends into creativity that will help the child as he or she grows up with schoolwork as well as in the workforce and surely comes in handy with relationships. Fairy tales also give children a chance to sit down with someone they know and hear a part of history that has been passed down from generation to generation. “Cinderella” and “Puss in Boots” are over 100’s of years old and have been passed down so that all those children who come afterward can enjoy those timeless classics and learn their indisputable lessons of life. On every generation it leaves an imprint in the minds of all those it has touched; and with those imprint, in the minds of children, they start to understand what was once a mystery to them. Fairy tales are also good for grownups to hear as well because they bring them back to their youth and lets them remember all their good times in life. They remember the first time they heard Cinderella and how she swept her way into the prince's heart. They remember the words he spoke when the clock struck midnight, “ No one else shall be my wife but the maiden whose foot fits this golden shoe.” (Brothers Grimm 90) Or they remember sitting there listening to “ Puss in Boots” and dreaming about the day their cat starts talking and says “Listen, there is no need to kill me…. Have some boots made for me instead? Then ill be able to go out, mix with people, and help you before you know it.” (Brothers Grimm 652) No matter what fairy tale is being read there will always be something that imprints an image on the mind of the reader of the child listening. Fairy tales are just one of those things that are so significant because they give people young and old something to dream and think about.

        In conclusion, no matter what fairy tale it is they all have a character in it that has a need to full fill. Whether it be a physiological, safety, love, esteem, or a self- actualizing need there is still that desire that drives to make life better. While the main character is achieving his or her goal to become a better, more well-rounded person the child listening to the story is learning how to achieve those goals as well. Fairy tales open doors for children to learn and apply what they have learned to their life. It allows them to grow as a child and make decisions for themselves that best fit what they need in their life. Fairy tales also in themselves achieve needs such as safety, esteem, and love. When a parent sits down to read a fairy tale to a child they are assuring the child that no matter what happens in the story they are safe. The story also can give a child self-esteem, the child may think if Cinderella can become a beautiful princess after being a housemaid then its all right if their not the most beautiful they could still end up a happy young woman with a great guy. Or let the child know that even if they come from a poor background they can still become very powerful, well known, and wealthy. They can also feel love when someone reads to them. They feel accepted and part of a group or family. So fairy tales can affect the human psyche on many different levels from the characters to the children listening to the story, and no matter what the fairy tale has a creative way of dealing with the problems presented.


                                                                  Works Cited:

• Bettelheim, Bruno. “The Child’s Need for Magic.” The Conscious Reader. Eds. Caroline Shrodes et al. 8th ed. Neesham heights: Allyn and Bacon, 2001. 56-63.
• “Cinderella.” The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Zippes, Jack (translator). Bantam Books: New York. November 1992.
• Craig, Amanda. “The Uses of Enchantment.” New Statesman. Issue: December 4, 1998
• “Fantasy.” Gale Encyclopedia of Childhood and Adolescence. Gale Research, 1998 
• Norwood, George. “Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.” Http://www.connect.net/georen/maslow.htm. June 1996. Last accessed May, 2001.
• “Puss in Boots” The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Zippes, Jack (translator). Bantam Books: New York. November 1992.

What's To Blame?

                                               Violence and Crime: What’s to Blame?

            
         The American culture is surrounded by violence in the media, in our neighborhoods, and in the privacy of our own homes. Just one thing or person never causes violence either; it is always created by a group of people who have issues they have yet to deal with and too much time on their hands. Is violence ever the fault of someone or do we just point the finger at someone so we don’t have to think about the fact that it might be because of us? Maybe we create violence so we have something to complain about, for if society were perfect, then there would be no need for the five o’clock news. Maybe we create gangs to replace our existing families because our existing ones are not giving us what we need. Crime arises every day and we report about it. Gangs get made every day and we accept them as part of society. The products of violence are more a result of our own doing combined with a general acceptance for these actions. Any other reasons are more stereotyped excuses to pass specific blame onto more generic causes.

        There are many examples to be found which can defend the unresponsible parties being subject to ridicule for the current violence problems today. However, equally representing the points that blame such establishments are as follows; “We live today in a culture steeped in violence. From movies and television to music and video games, violent images so pervade American popular culture that many of us feel immune to their effects. But recent studies show we are anything but immune.” (Electronic Media) For no ligament credit should the movies or media take responsibility for violence? Gangsters, for example, more times than not, look to their homes for such knowledge concerning bank robberies, not the television or media. “But recent studies show we are not immune to violence.” Does are becoming desensitized to violence have that much of an effect on it? For no movie can be considered worse than that of everyday life. For example, violence occurs in the news every day, which is more than in any television show or movie, it occurs in the streets of our neighborhoods, in our schools, and even in our own homes where abuse takes shape in every way. So that statement proves what, that America watches too much television. This just helps proves that we spend too much time absorbed in violence and paying attention to what actors are trying portraying. “Extensive viewing of television violence by children causes greater aggressiveness.” (Klite, p32) Extensive viewing of home violence tends to make depressed and very violent children as well, but we hear more about media censorship than we do about abuse in the home censorship. America watches too much television and not enough time attempting to make peace with each other on a daily basis. America then turns around and blames such television for their aggressive attitudes toward life.

        Socio-economic factors are listed as some of the reasons for the rise in gang activity in the past years. The American society emphasizes on material goods and status. For those who come from a poor background crime and violence are the only ways they see they can gain that higher, more desirable status society says we should all have. “Children who are brought up in broken homes and unhealthy environments where the parents sit at home watching television collecting their welfare checks end up having no value structure instilled in them at all.” (www.onetime.simplenet.com) After all of that, we still blame the television and the media for our societies violence problem. For there’s no way to tell which came first; violence on television or violence in the media caused by people of today.

        As every day goes past the rate of crime in major cities is increased for no apparent reason. Take Los Angeles as one such example, criminal and gang activity in this area has reached an all-time high. There are around 700 active gangs in the Los Angeles area and the numbers keep going. In most active gangs, ninety percent of the members are arrested by the age of eighteen, while ninety-five percent of them do not finish high school, and sixty-five percent of them are dead or in prison by the time they hit their 20th birthday. (Braidhill, p5) Should we let ‘gang banging’ be considered any different than any other equal opportunity event in society? Let’s make that equal opportunity too. In today’s society, we now have female pioneers shattering the ceiling of the gang culture creating their own equally separate union for crimes. Gangster girls may still be uncommon but they are nonetheless just as dangerous as men. Gangsters usually join a gang to become a part of that gang family. Doing this mostly due to lack of affection or attention at home or sometimes due to more violent reasons such as abuse or neglect. Lack of those things can, therefore, create a void that becomes something so needed that they will take attention from whoever will give attention to them. This unfortunately results in spending little time caring about the consequences that may arise from their “trying to fit in to get attention’ misconception. So when all is taken into perspective, girl gangsters are just as bad if not worse than male gangsters are. This can be attributed to the fact that most females go through adolescents deprived of being able to feel and express themselves the way that they need to in order to grow and develop in a mature fashion. When deprived of certain psychological needs, the mind usually tends to react by rebelling against what is holding it from what it needs. Being deprived of those needs most commonly leads to depression, addiction, eating disorders, and unplanned teenage pregnancies. The single determining factor of violence among youth is not income or race but family structure. (www.onetime.simplenet.com) If a child is depressed and is not getting the love and attention it needs from its family, the child will attempt to look elsewhere for it. Gang members are just looking to find the answer to their adolescent identity crisis when they commit whatever crime they commit.

        Violence gives people not only gang members a sense of power, and power is the one thing that all people are trying to grasp in order to feel in control of what is occurring around them. Personally, I feel that gang members just have a lot less pride and feel that to get love and attention as well as fit into society they need to perform acts of violence. Many times the parental figures that care enough to make excuses to do it to cover up their own neglect. “So when violence among youth does erupt, as in the recent school shootings, parents look for a cause and blame the pale imitations of violence that their children watch on television. In contrast, anyone who has ever experienced real violence knows that the only two or three minimal scenes spread throughout the course of a story could hardly impact the thought process to the degree in which it rationally decides to bomb a school.” (Rhodes, p2)

        Perhaps a possible solution would be to spend more time away from the television and actually paying attention to our families then maybe we could breathe a little easier about gang's forming, crimes occurring, or violence arising. Violence is something that we create and accept every time we watch the news or commit a crime ourselves. Giving enough space for violence to occur just proves that without violence our society could not survive. Society would then be perfect and a perfect society would never last. Even gangs give our society another dimension that we accept and live with every day. I stress this question, which came first violence in the media or violence?


                                                               Works Cited:

• Braidhill, Kathy. “Where the boys are” Los Angeles Magazine, Jan. 1998: p45-55
• “ Girl Gangsters” The Electronic Text Center. Apr. 1999  <http://www.onetime.simplenet.com/girlies.html>.
• Klite, Paul. “ Media can be antibiotic for violence” Quill 88 Apr. 2000: p32-35
• Rhodes, Richard. “The Media- Violence Myth” Rolling Stone 854 Nov. 2000: p55-59
• “ We already have the solution to violence on tv.” Electronic Media 19 Oct. 2000: p8

Beneficial Arrest

                                                        Wanna-Be Rebel With A Cause

        I think everyone at some point in his or her life wants to be a rebel or date a rebel. I think it is completely natural to want to go against society and parental obedience. We may not realize it at first, but at some point in time, we need to feel that rush. Think about it. It gives a sense of power, a sense of excitement, it gives people something to talk about, and it gives the bad attitude that everyone respects, right? Rebellion, the one thing people are two-sided about. They love to hate it and they can’t live without it.

        When I was thirteen years old and in the eighth grade that is exactly what was on my mind all the time. How I could become a rebel with a cause. I was one of those little girls who were spoiled as a child because I was the only child. So when it came to friends I always wanted them, and when it came to what click of friends I didn’t want to see myself with any other click than the one that had the most respect. The West View Rough Riders, the badasses, the thieves, the hoods those were the kids I wanted to hang out with. They were the exact definition of cool. They had their own crew of dedicated followers, they always had something to do, they never had a dull moment, and they had the attention if not respect of just about everyone in the school. I was way too immature to realize that all the talk about them was trash and that all they did was wrong just to get attention. To me, they were who I looked up to. I never was one to say “ Hey I’m gonna be like Mike.” and look up to stars in Hollywood. It was all about the fact that they were the center of all the attention and that was where I wanted to be. I started hanging out with Miss Jewels and Pam. They weren’t the school's head badasses but they were up there in the click and the fact that I was in good with them said something for who I was. They were the girls who got me started, got me in, and got me my very first relationship with a black man, Justin. At that time, that was the ultimate thing to choose to do. Not only was it taboo in society but my parents flipped. They weren’t racist, so they said, but they believed what society believed and that was that interracial couples should not be. What would people think, would they think of my parents as cool and ahead of the times or completely out of their minds for letting me do such a thing? It didn’t stop at that. When I started dating Justin I acquired all his friends and all his traits and his basic way of life. Justin was the ringleader of the pact. He was to the guys what Miss Jewel and Pam were to me. They all looked up to him. He was the one smoking weed, getting straight A’s in school, the one with all the friends, and the one with the ID to get the cigarettes for the rest of us. The sheer fact that he could have anyone was amazing, to spite controversy, and the fact that he picked me over all the other girls was the greatest thing next to the invention of the phone. Our relationship lasted for about 6 months and then he cheated on me and I found out. He thought because I was blond I wouldn’t catch on, I showed him. Regardless of that incident, we remained best friends for years and it turned out to be the best thing, us breaking up. I became the best girlfriend with the girl he cheated on me with and she was probably the biggest influence on my life next to my family. Dana was her name and her status was above that of Miss Jewel and Pam. It was the height of my popularity at school. People asked about me, people wanted to be friends with me, people wanted to be like me. It was everything I was waiting for. I just took it too far.

        It was late March and I was starting to spend an obscene amount of time up at Dana’s’. To be honest, everybody was. It was the place to be. Her parents were the coolest and no matter what was going on with us they were always understanding and following with the punches. They were the ideal parents; they cared yet they never showed it in public. Therefore not to embarrass their kids. Anyway, Miss Jewel at the time was dating this guy named Dave. He was tall, skinny, and had the worst family life. Then there was Dana’s long time friend Connie. She was a winner and a half; she came from a coke-addicted household with nothing but the clothes on her back and the voices in her head. Pam was around but not as much as the rest of us were. Justin couldn’t stay away for a day. He always had at least two of his boys with him and not a day went by that he didn’t go to see his woman. Romantic don’t you think? It was March 31st when I accomplished my greatest feet, with the helping hands of Connie and Dave. Out of all my friends I had to be with those two pathetic excuses for human beings. We were supposed to stay at Dana’s that night but unfortunately, some rumbling through their walls was occurring and that wasn’t the day to stay. Connie, Dave, and I all were out of a place to crash so we decided to walk. We walked and we walked and we walked some more. We walked all night, I don’t think I ever exercised so much in my life. We walked to the Denny’s about 5 miles from Dana’s house, we walked to this apartment complex where we got about 2 hours sleep in the basement in the laundry room, and in the morning we walked to my destiny. Mind you at this time Miss Jewel and Dave were having a tiny tiff over this guy he was completely jealous of. Who truthfully didn’t even want anything to do with Miss Jewel except being friends with her. When we got to the destination it was shaped in the form of a beautiful ranch house. It was even more beautiful on the inside with its modern yet antique furniture and fixtures. Just to add a side note we were not allowed in this house. We never asked permission to enter it. Never intended to enter it with innocent intent. We basically broke in and robbed this house. I must say it was one of the lowest points in my life. However like I always wanted it gave me the popularity that I longed for. The price I paid to get it was more than I bargained for. When we got in this house we stole whatever money was lying about and the family credit cards. With them we went shopping.

        Breaking and entering, robberies, credit card fraud, receiving stolen merchandise were the charges. The expressions on my parents’ faces were priceless. They were Kodak moment materials all the way. We found me an attorney, went to court, got charged with misdemeanors, and sentenced to 100 hours community service one-year probation, and restitution. The crime happened in less than five hours yet I paid for it till I turned eighteen this past summer. After I was caught I was put on house arrest, that was by far when I learned the most. There was no textbook in the world that would teach me the cruelty of life and the consequences of making the wrong choices. I look back on it now and even though it was only five years ago it still feels like a lifetime ago. I feel like in five years, I did twenty years of growth. After that, I stayed friends with Dana and some of Justin’s’ friends but for the most part, I learned that popularity is just a high school image that fades with the babyface. It was a beneficial arrest in the sense that I got to find out who I really was and what was really important to me. Popularity wasn’t as important as my freedom. I love the thought of a bonified rebel but I think I’ll leave it to the movies and live my life to its fullest potential the legal way. I also learned something even more precious and that’s that my parents could never be Dana’s and I fully appreciate that.

        In conclusion, rebellion is something I will love to hate but something I’m glad I choose not to live without.