I'm black, Your White,Who's Innocent by Shelby Steele

I thought that this was a well written but I didn't agree with what she said. I think that many people in America need to get over the fact that there is a lot of racism in history. We can't move forward if we are consistently looking backward.

I have lived with many different people with a lot of different backgrounds and race didn't mean anything to us. We just felt like brothers even though we looked different.

I feel like there are so many things for people to worry about now days that in order for someone to want to bring up the issue of racism is dumb. Most people don't say anything because there is nothing to talk about anymore, its a past issue.

Rough Draft for Wall-E paper

Michael Schmutz
English 2010 M & W
06/29/2009

Wall-E and Obesity
Obesity is overtaking the United States. More than 58 million people in the United States are overweight. 3 million are morbidly obese. Obesity shows a lot of problems for health care in the United States and continues to hurt the American society by causing a number of different diseases, the most common being type II diabetes (Obesity). Throughout the years many producers in Hollywood have made films to show the problems with Obesity in our nation. Wall E was produce for this purpose of showing the nation how obesity and laziness can become such a big problem that we as a people have to move off of the planet because we destroyed the environment. As the people depicted in the movie left the planet they found the easiest way to get a long in life, which made them lose a lot of muscle and bone mass, and gain a lot of fat.
In the distant but not to unrealistic future the earth is contaminated to the point that all people on earth leave in order to stay alive. The atmosphere has become so bad that only a small cockroach and robots can survive on the face of the earth. Wall E was a small robot left on the earth to clean up the trash left by the humans. When he was cleaning up trash one day a large spaceship came down and left a robot named Eve that stole Wall E’s heart. Eve was a robot sent to see if there was any kind of life growing on the earth again, so Wall E showed her a plant that he had found when he was picking up trash. Eve and Wall E were taken back to the main ship after the humans found out that they had a plant, and the humans from living in a life of luxury and watching TV all day had become little whales floating around on hovering chairs (Anonymous). Within the conflict of this movie the human beings are shown to become the most obese and overweight living thing in the universe. They were not even able to chew their own food because of the lost muscles, so they had to drink everything out of a straw.
In addition the producers not only directed and produced what might happen to mankind if we don’t change our ways of becoming obese. They illustrated the loss of bone and muscle mass that we need to do everyday things. An article in Peak Performance.com uses the “Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology” to get the facts that even for endurance athletes the two key problems are the loss of bone density and muscle mass when they get older. These issues cause them more difficulty when they try to run, swim or cycle. Also the loss in bone mass sometimes causes Osteoporsis (Bone). As shown in the movie this is the biggest problem that the humans had because they were not able to fight against the machines as they tried to take over the spaceship. The humans had lost so much of their bone structure and muscle mass that they were barely able to stand up or do anything that required physical activity.
Furthermore obesity and laziness is obviously a big problem in our society today. Wall-E shows us what could happen to us in the future if we don’t change our ways and try to take care of ourselves and the environment around us. Although Wall-E may have gone to extremes to get a good rating and make money, the problem for America is beginning to be worst than it ever was before. Men, women, and children are becoming victims of their own mouths.
One has to wonder if the blame should be on the corporate giants like McDonalds for serving us food that is very unhealthy and full of fat. Is it their fault for marketing to us poor citizens of the world and brainwashing us into thinking that their food is the best, or is it our fault for not being smarter and taking care of ourselves. Is it our fault for not taking more time to eat healthy and exercise? The Nation seriously needs to look inside themselves and believe that it is themselves and they need to not be induced by the easy way to get food, but look for the nutrition side of things. One has to think what would happen if everybody became conscious about how they spent their lives and what they ate. Would it lower the cost of health care? Would we be able to get past environmental issues? It could only get better or worse from here. We decide which it will be.



"Bone Density and Muscle Mass." Peak Performance. Sporting Excellence. 29 Jun 2009 .
"Obesity Statistics for Adults." annecollins.com. 29 Jun 2009 .
Anonymous, "Plot Summary for Wall-E." IMDbPro 2008 Web.29 Jun 2009. .

Grammar Post

Well I have learned a lesson this week that I need to post on. Chelsi said in our interview that if we use to many to be verbs than it makes the sentence lose its power. For example i wrote on one of my sentences that somebody had done something, but you can rephrase that to be like the work performed by somebody was... It sounds a lot more sophisticated, but also it packs more of a punch.

Two ways a woman can get hurt: Advertising and Violence by Jean Kilbourne

I agree with this article because a lot of what the nation is facing in violence and pornography stems from advertisments and women being used as objects rather than as equals to men. I didn't like the story because of all the graphic images and I don't think a lot of people like them, it makes me wonder sometimes why we put up with it and why somebody doesn't come out and say its wrong.

I wonder what would happen if some advertising agency did adds against pornography and undermining womens sanctity. I wonder if would change anything.

Killer Culture by David Kupelian

I really liked this article because Kupelian stated a lot of similarities between the different societies of the past and ours now, and how we are going down the same road they are. I also liked the fact that he said the we need to focus on the families and the great programs like the Boy Scouts and churches that strengthen moral and the family.

People also need to realize that if they don't teach their kids then society will and the product will be what we see as druggies and people with no stability.

Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption by Diana Kendall

Kendall in this article states all of the things that are wrong with the media in America. I agree with her because she states that the media has a big impact on the different classes in America.

I liked her article because she shared the impact that media has on people. How alot of people try to look like their rich and go excessively into debt. Also she said that if the media were to focus more on issues that really effect us as a nation then many more people would be more interested in them and than maybe we would get better politicians, and policies, but for now people mostly care about who is going to be the next Idol

Money by Dana Gioia

This poem is very interesting because it shows all the different ways that money is used. It shows the difference between how the people throughout the ages used money and how many nicknames it has.

I liked it also because it shows the difference between how rich people and poor people see money. Its different word structure really helped to understand the poem and see the authors meaning.

Grammar Post

When to use exclamation points. Sometimes called the exlamation mark it is used at the end of a sentence or interjection to show strong emotion or emphasis.

Some examples are:

Exclamatory sentence; The rain didn't stop for four days!

Command; Be back by 10:30 or else!

Interjection; Wow!

These three different sentences use the exclamation mark/point to show the power of the sentence.

Serving in Florida by Barbara Ehrenreich

Serving in Florida by Brabara Ehrenreich is a very interesting story because it kind of hits home to me. She starts off her story by saying if anyone ever thought about dropping out of college and just working mineal jobs to get by please read this first. As I started to read I felt like I had seen the vision that she was trying to show now.

I grew up in a farming community just a half an hour away from St. George, Utah. There I learned that if I wanted to I could stay in that little farming community all my life and work on the farm, but my parents taught me that I needed an education, or else I would be fighting someone else that could work for a lot less, for the same jobs.

I had always worked on the farm and realized that in order for me to fully be happy with who I was I needed to stretch myself and become something besides a manual laborer. That is why I am in college now, and thats why I will continue to jump through all the hoops to get my degrees.

When to Capitalize

Since I was having a little trouble the other day with capitalization I decided to do a post on it. I found this list online and it goes into a lot of detail about when to capitalize and when not to. I hope it helps anybody else like it did me.

1 The first word of every sentence.
2 The first-person singular pronoun, I.
3 The first, last, and important words in a title. (The concept "important words" usually does not include articles, short prepositions (which means you might want to capitalize "towards" or "between," say), the "to" of an infinitive, and coordinating conjunctions. This is not true in APA
4 Reference lists (where we capitalize only the first word), nor is it necessarily true for titles in other languages. Also, on book jackets, aesthetic considerations will sometimes override the rules.)
5 Proper nouns
6 Specific persons and things: George W. Bush, the White House, General Motors Corporation.
7 Specific geographical locations: Hartford, Connecticut, Africa, Forest Park Zoo, Lake Erie, the Northeast, the Southend. However, we do not capitalize compass directions or locations that aren't being used as names: the north side of the city; we're leaving the Northwest and heading south this winter. When we combine proper nouns, we capitalize attributive words when they precede place-names, as in Lakes Erie and Ontario, but the opposite happens when the order is reversed: the Appalachian and Adirondack mountains. When a term is used descriptively, as opposed to being an actual part of a proper noun, do not capitalize it, as in "The California deserts do not get as hot as the Sahara Desert."
8 Names of celestial bodies: Mars, Saturn, the Milky Way. Do not, howver, capitalize earth, moon, sun, except when those names appear in a context in which other (capitalized) celestial bodies are mentioned. "I like it here on earth," but "It is further from Earth to Mars than it is from Mercury to the Sun.
9 Names of newspapers and journals. Do not, however, capitalize the word the, even when it is part of the newspaper's title: the Hartford Courant.
10 Days of the week, months, holidays. Do not, however, capitalize the names of seasons (spring, summer, fall, autumn, winter). "Next winter, we're traveling south; by spring, we'll be back up north."
11 Historical events: World War I, the Renaissance, the Crusades.
12 Races, nationalities, languages: Swedes, Swedish, African American, Jewish, French, Native American. (Most writers do not capitalize whites, blacks.)
13 Names of religions and religious terms: God, Christ, Allah, Buddha, Christianity, Christians, Judaism, Jews, Islam, Muslims.
14 Names of courses: Economics, Biology 101. (However, we would write: "I'm taking courses in biology and earth science this summer.")
15 Brand names: Tide, Maytag, Chevrolet.
16 Names of relationships only when they are a part of or a substitute for a person's name. (Often this means that when there is a modifier, such as a possessive pronoun, in front of such a word, we do not capitalize it.)
17 Let's go visit Grandmother today. Let's go visit my grandmother today.
I remember Uncle Arthur. I remember my Uncle Arthur. My uncle is unforgettable.
18 This also means that we don't normally capitalize the name of a "vocative" or term of endearment:
Can you get the paper for me, hon?
Drop the gun, sweetie. I didn't mean it.

I Just Wanna be Average by Mike Rose

I just wanna be average reminded me about my high school experience. I have a brother that many people think is a genius, including me. He graduated with a 4.0 from BYU and now he is attending UofU and is in the medical program where he is at the top of his class. In high school I can remember him not wanting to stand out because of his gift. I remember him down playing all his awards and feeling like they were nothing because they weren't the norm. This is what most high schools believe is that everyone is basically average, and the people that believe this are the students.

I also feel that one decides their own attitude. I for example didn't want to be average because I could see the acheivements of my to older brothers. They are very successful in life and so I decided I didn't want to be average at what I was doing. I focused and got through the last of high school with pretty good grades, but the grades weren't the part that i felt above average at it was the experience of being able to make as many friends as possible, and thats what set me apart.

I liked this story because it shows the difference that somebody could achieve with just a change of attitude.

Against School by John Taylor Gatto

John Taylor Gatto has a good point about how school systems are messed up, but I feel that in order for someone to become above average they have to realize it for themselves, and not just depend on a teacher to teach them. I have always thought that I become who I want to be, whether I am lazy and don't do what I have to in order to fulfill my dreams or not is up to me.

I realize that many people take to home schooling and I can see its place in society. I come from a community where there are a significant number of home schooled children. Growing up I could see the difference in my friends that were home schooled and those that weren't. I saw them struggling with reading, writing, and arithmatic. Also they were very socially backward because they weren't able to grow with other children and realize how to make good friends. I saw them grow and I witnessed as many of them destroyed their lives by choosing things that would hurt them. No I'm not saying that all of them did this, but that was what I witnessed and I always wondered why parents would do that to their children.

Our public system may not be the best, but it is the best alternative.

Idiot Nation by Michael Moore

This story was very interesting and I agree with some of what he said. I do believe that teachers should be paid a lot more and that they should be treated a lot better, rather than the scum of the earth. I think a big problem with our society is that we decide everythings worth by dollar amounts. Teachers don't produce money for the system and so they are put at a lower level than a corporate officer.

I do think though that Michael Moore should lay off with the insults. Nobody is perfect in every way that he wants them to be. Maybe he is very smart with facts and history, but maybe he is a total idiot when it comes to other things, like business, relationships, or anything else. Not everyone is always going to please every one and thats just one thing Michael Moore is going to have to get used to, or else he will live a long sad lonely life.

Grammar post

When to use semicolons or colons

I chose to do this for a blog because I need to work on these.

Semi colons should be used in sentence that are combined by compound sentences or use a lot of commas in the sentence so that a reader won't get confused. An example is:

I have recommended this student because she communicates well with other students, faculty, and staff; completes her assignments ably and on time; and demonstrates an ability to organize people, materials, and time.

Also a semi colon could be used to put to sentences together that do not already have a coordinating conjunction, here is another example:

Comparisons are often used to emphasize a basic idea; however, they are more often used to explain something complex or unfamiliar by showing how something we don't understand relates to something we do.

Colons act in almost the same manner as the semi colon the only difference is that it does not combine to sentences, it could emphasis or combine a sentence with a reaction, phrase, or a list of procedures, an example is:

The use of these punctuation marks often confuses students: comma, semicolon, colon, hyphen, and dash.

This was really helpful to me. I went to this sight to find this information: http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/punct/col-semi.html

Changing American Families

Judy Root Aulette wrote Changing American Families. This book talks about the different classes that compromise the US, and what those classes do for many of the people that are in them. This book I thought was very intriqueing because I was able to see the different views of the different classes in her writing. Though I thought the most intriqueing part of the book was talking about the African American families in the poverty classes, I did want to talk about one thing that I have learned this semester and that is once you are rich it is easy to stay rich, but once you are poor its easy to stay poor. I think this is because of how people shape their lives and roles in their classes. People who are rich will do almost anything to stay rich and stay in their upper class, while people who are poor find it a comfortable way of life and that is what they know. I feel that if people really look outside of the box of modern society and really see what makes families happy, and what one person could do they could change the world, but most people take the easy road and stay in those classes.

I thought the poverty society was very intriqueing because of the way that they networked together to help each other out. If everybody would do that then there wouldn't be any poverty. I also thought it was interesting the way that they weren't stingy with what they had as you would think that would be the case, but everybody needed help so everybody helped.

What we miss about the 1950's

What we Really miss about the 1950's by Stephanie Coontz, was a very interesting story. As I started to read it I felt that I had been born in the wrong time. The jobs were increasing and people were doing better. Than I realized that this was only the case because of what the 1950's were following. It was a post war era, and it came right after the Great Depression, so many people saw this era in their lives as a very peaceful time, although their were many problems that the TV shows didn't point out.

One in particular that I wanted to point out was the fact that women were oppressed everywhere. From the TV Shows of the age to the way the government worked people thought that women were inferior and that men should control everything. I don't know how this worked because in my own life I have seen how when do great things. It was a sad time for a lot of women and a lot of people that weren't middle class white males.

Right now I am glad that I don't live in that era because their is so much more opportunity to grow for everybody. Although many people abuse that opportunity.

About me

Well as you can tell from my picture I am married. My wife Heidi and I have been married for about a year. I met her speed dating if you can believe it! It was the first time either of us went and the last time too.

I grew up in Enterprise, UT, its just about an hour north of St. George. Some of my favorite things are getting to know good people, and making friendships with them. I like all sports and I love to barbeque and be outside. My passions are Entrepreneurship, Helping people, and physical fitness.