Response is necessary

Response Please #5

SSC-327

(R.D.)

The concept of race has played a comparable role in how Americans think about their history as the frontier did in the past, if not more so. Long after the concept of the frontier has lost its allure, the concept of race continues to seduce many people into believing that the American experience is the great exception in world history, the great departure from patterns that appear to apply to everyone else. Classes may have fought over power and privilege, oppression and exploitation, and conflicting ideas of justice and right in other countries, but in the United States, these issues were pushed aside by the overwhelming subject of race.

That's why we call race a social construct: it's a classification system devised by humans. It was created to distinguish physical variations between people, but it has been more frequently employed as an instrument of oppression and brutality.

SSC-327

(R.R.)

The Author feels that it is important to understand race because Americans tend to classify people rather than genetically determine reality (Fish, pg 200). It does not represent a biological reality because your physical or social qualities doesn't determine your race.  Growing up in Southern California, I was always considered Hispanic or Latino due to my skin color and dark hair. My mother is Ecuadorian and my father was Italian. When I got to Florida 37 years later, I'm considered White. If I tell anyone I'm Hispanic or Latino they can't believe it and tell me there's no way you are White. The implication of race being defined socially and not biologically is that we can change our race just by getting on a plane. Just like the example Fisher used in his article "Mixed Blood". When living in San Diego it was easier for people to consider me Hispanic or Latino but when moving to Florida I was "white". Now I just use what the most rapidly growing census category is, "Other". More so because now I'm just confused what I am. I'm in favor of dropping the word rave just like Fisher. 

LBS-201

(E.M.)

The credibility of internet sources can be difficult to ascertain. Interestingly, after googling and searching other internet browsers for "how to evaluate the credibility of internet sources", I found that there are even websites and blog posts "teaching" readers how to identify the credibility of online content; all of which provide varying criteria for determining said credibility. This perfectly illustrates the need to understand what defines "credible" and how the information in our text is so important to being a critical thinker, especially in this day and age when anyone can freely express their opinions which they may call "facts" on the internet. I find this particularly true of influencers and social media. It seems large parts of society have begun to place value in anything we read or see online, especially if it in endorsed by people who have amassed millions of followers. Suddenly because someone may be charming, funny, interesting, etc. their opinions turn into something more valuable and more reminiscent of fact. Applying the tips we have read about in our text provides us with a better road map to navigating the loads of misinformation flooding the internet, and allows us to be better evaluate that misinformation to ultimately land on worthy information that holds merit. Reference:

 Browne, M. Neil, and Keeley, Stuart M. Asking The Right Questions. Pearson, 2018. 

LBS-201

(E.S.)

We live in a society which feeds upon misleading information via the internet. In theory anyone can publish a novel, a cookbook or even how to obtain a fake vaccination card ("How to Buy a Fake Vaccine Card"). Therefore, it is pivotal for users to of the internet to use their critical evaluation skills to carefully determine the credibility of the information obtained on the web. With the click of keypad or a mouse we have unlimited access to endless truths and falsehoods throughout the worldwide web the problem lies in altering what a legit source is against what is illegitimate. Easily accessible information such as media blogs can release misleading information which is why user should gather as much evidence as possible in order to ensure that the source is credible. 

LBS-498 #6

(A.W.)

I think Agee wants us to remember the relationship he developed with the tenant farmers. The Dust Bowl and droughts caused people to move west to California. He goes back to the house of one of the families and said it was “awkward, but he felt a union, as he ate his dinner” (Agee, n.d.) He didn’t want to be rude, so he ate all his food offered, in a religious way. As a Vegan, I like to eat offered fruits and plants and try to stay away from animal products and don’t eat meat. I think it’s important to set a good example and to help as much as you can, without hurting yourself. 

Works Cited:

N.a (n.d.). Inductions and The Reverent Voice. Retrieved November 22, 2021 from:  https://saintleo.brightspace.com/d2l/le/content/123319/viewContent/4993639/view .

LBS-498 #6

(A.M)

I think in going back to when Agee met the families and set up the scenario for a successful induction, Agee is trying to get across that he truly cared for these people.  He wants the reader to know what he was thinking and how he felt when he met them.  He didn’t want the text to be solely documentary.  He wanted to show that there was emotion behind his intentions, and that the emotion he experienced was love.  The love that he imbibes and directs towards these families is the brotherly love spoken about in the Bible, and he is excited by this love and realizes the rarity in which one truly experiences it.  He describes George and Annie Mae as his brothers and, in a sense, his parents (365).  This relates to some extent the Biblical verse in the Gudgers’ family Bible.  Malachi 4:6 says: “And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”  George and Annie Mae (as parents to Agee) turn their heart to him and show kindness and love, and Agee (as a child to George and Annie Mae) turns his heart and love to them. 

Up to this point, I would say that Agee is a depressed individual.  Although, not necessarily suicidal, he has no strong feelings about anything...he doesn’t seem to feel much or that he has a true place to belong.  The biggest feelings the reader gets from him is that he feels wicked in trying to achieve his goals of documenting their lives.  He feels unworthy to the task and downright sinful in even the attempt.  He calls himself a criminal and a spy often.  This feeling might explain the use of the Biblical verses at the beginning of this section (Psalm 43), especially the second part of verse 2, which states: “Give sentence with me, O God, that I may hear thee, and defend my cause against the ungodly people:  O deliver me from the deceitful and wicked man.”  In essence, Agee wants God to deliver these farmers from him and their enemies. 

Yet, at the same time, with these families, he finds what he feels would be his true home and family, but knows he has no right to it (365).  He states that his life was a “delusion, that it seemed, and that this was my right home, right earth, right blood, to which I would never have true right (365).”  He equates George and Anna Mae as royalty.  He says that he was “robbed of a royalty I can not only never claim, but never properly much desire or regret,” because of the life he has lived to this point (365).  I think Agee tries to use Biblical language in some of this section (using the word introit) to try to lend a spiritual aspect to what he felt he was experiencing. An introit is a psalm or antiphon sung or said while a Catholic priest approaches the altar for the Eucharist.  The Eucharist is the Christian ceremony commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus Christ and His disciples, in which bread and wine are consecrated and consumed.  Agee equates his nostalgic meal with the Gudgers late at night as a quiet introit.  Using Biblical references adds meaning and depth to Agee’s text and the addition of other disciplines in the work shows maturity. 

Reference 

Agee, J., & Evans, W. (2001). Let YUs Now Praise Famous Men. Houghton Mifflin Company.