Bright-Sided Questions

1. The author hints that the Hurricane Katrina was not unanticipated, nor the September 11th attacks, but due to American "optimism" the signs were ignored. Should there be an extent to positive thinking? Does it cause more harm than good?

2. We tend to think of the USA as the greatest nation. Militarily yes, but we are behind in healthcare, technology, and even education. Has positive thinking masked the true identity of America?   

3. Ehrenreich believes that cancer has become a "right of passage, not a "tragedy to rail against." Do you agree that the views on the severity of cancer has changed?

4. Do you think a positive attitude has the ability to cure diseases?

5. People who think negative are not the only ones who die of cancer; "positive thinkers" do too. Can we really argue that positivity has an effect on disease? What determines if the person is cured or not?

6. From personal experience, do you think laughter and happiness has an effect on the body?

7. Is something as serious as survival influenced by something as simple as your attitude?

Bright-Sided Questions

How do you accurately measure happiness if everyone’s view of happiness is different?

What factors make America, The land of dreams, number 23 in Happiness?

Chapter 1:
Do you think laughter and humor can really boost ones immune system?
Is the medical field responsible for breast cancer due to the lack of research on drugs prescribed  to women to prevent heart disease?

Chapter 2:
Do you think Arlie Hochschild study can be proven correct about people being emotionally depleted by the requirement of being constantly cheerful?

Is all news negative? Can the news be perceived differently in peoples minds?

Chapter 3 :
Is overly rapid expansion and change really the cause of invalidism, is invalidism even real?

Is it even possible for pessimistic people to purge all the negative people from their lives to become positive if it is in their nature to be negative?

Bright Sided Discussion Questions

Intro
1. What do you think that Ehrenreich means by dissecting the idea of Americans as positive thinkers?
2. What could the concept of Americans as positive thinkers have to do with the place concepts discussed in our previous readings?
Chapter 1
3. Do you think her portrayal of individuals with cancer in America provides a good first chapter for her work, or should such a drastic and contrasting topic be placed later in the book?
4. Why do you think Americans wish to focus on positive thinking, even when it comes to situations like cancer?
Chapter 2
5. The term magical thinking is thrown around often - do you think that magical thinking and positive thinking should be classified as different terms or the same term?
6. Can you think of any examples of Magical Thinking that you have experienced in your everyday life?
Chapter 3
7. Ehrenrich's analysis of the origins of America's optimistic side displays the slow corruption and disillusionment that America has been undergoing for years. Do you believe that this is on purpose or has been occurring inadvertently?
8. What causes besides the ones listed can you think would inspire America's sense of false optimism?

Pictures I have collected

I am just beginning to collect pictures for the project but I thave come across some interesting things.  One picture in particular is of Angelina Jolie.  She was at an awards ceremony and stuck her leg out from the dress.  It should have been  a provocative pose but it only showed how malnurished she is.  Interestingly, Heidi Klum struck the same pose and she looks sexy and healthy.  It would be interesting to see how people perceive both women in today's pop culture

blog 2

Genealogy of Place

This chapter discusses how place can exists and can change according to many different things. One thing that struck me in this chapter was place as home. The book says "The home is an intimate space where experience is particularly intense." to me home is where i have made most of my memories good and bad. But iv'e never really thought about what home meant to me until i read this chapter.

"In the modern World, Relph argues that we are surrounded by a general condition of creeping placelessness marked by an inability to have authentic relationships to place because the new placelessness  does not allow people to become existential insiders." I liked this quote because it made me think alot. after this the book goes on to say how Relph sees American homeowners moving every three years and therefore weakening place. It reminded me how i have moved multiple times in my life and while the building i was in changes the people im around do not. I tie my family to home more than the house itself.

blog 1

2. How is place defined?  How does narrative shape our understanding and experiences in place?  What are the implications as “undifferentiated space becomes place” (Cresswell 8)?  How is landscape and place shaped by fiction and visual arts?  What does it mean to “inhabit” place?

3. What does a study of place in America reveal? About what or whom?

According to the book "place is a word that seems to speak for itself."  Place can be geographical or a memory or an experience. It can be a house or a room or just where you are. Undifferentiated space becomes place when we begin to associate a space with experience or experiences. We make landscape from things we hear and things we see in media and art and from talking with people. To inhabit place we make that space our own. We begin to associate certain things in the place to represent who we are as a person. The book uses the example of a student decorating a dorm room. 

The study of place in america reveals that peoples places in america different to many people. Each person might see there place as something different. America is also unique to because of how large it is and because of how many different cultures inhabit it. Because of this many people will see place differently and therefore view America in a different light.

Review of Culturalpolitics.net

I think that culturalpolitics.net is a great website and will be beneficial in expanding our views and engaging more in class. This website incorporates many aspects that pertain to cultural politics. Clicking around, the most interesting part was the Popular Culture page. On this page, it lists many different forms or popular culture and issues. This website is very useful when looking for research or news on any issue. The cultural theory link takes you to different theories on cultural theory and is very interesting. I believe this site is very useful, and contains good information and resources beneficial to understanding cultural politics. I was impressed with this website because of how much information it contains. While reading the social movements and culture page, I learned about many movements like the anti-Nuclear movement, the art activism, and labor movements that I did not know anything about before.

In Chapter 2 of Place the book focuses on how geography directly relates to place. It shows us that there are a lot of different views about how place can coincide with geography, but it is evidently clear that geography is very important to where place is. When we talk about geography we instantly think that the location, region or area is what we would call our place. As Cresswell tell us it is not just the location, but how the location shapes our culture that makes up place. Another thing that chapter two talks about is the importance of politics involved in how place relates to geography. Creswell mentioned that Chinatown was not just defined by culture alone, but more or less in how it was a failure of epic proportions when you talk about the drug problems, prostitution, and gambling. This is an example of how the government can persuade the public to believe things are bad verses good. Another example of media portraying images in order to get people to follow is the war we are in now. The new only shows the worst, never the in between and the good things that happen which gives people a bad opinion about everything going on without getting the full representation.

The genealogy of place begins the element of people's geographical inquiry. The place will take begin based on what people experience and that differs from person to person. Therefore the perspective of places expands. Just as in the Cresswell's chapter 2, there are many different perspectives of coming to a conclusion of defining a place and these perspectives have depended on the people's experiences.

The different perspectives have brought many researchers to conclude important factors that define place in the world. For example, some include that place involves the level of dwelling of humans connection with he natural world. While others have concluded that universal thinking can leave out how differences places relate to person to person. Then, within those differences there are purposes throughout regions that influence the the change or motive of change.

I thought at the end of the chapter of how researchers have concluded that "place should not be thought of in terms of stasis and boundedness but are instead the product of processes that extend well beyond the confines of a particular place" was a great ending to understand a universal idea that place's definition is limitless.

Haltunen Speech/ Genealogy of Place

Reading Haltunens speech and Cresswells Genealogy of Place, how we as people define place will always be different. Place can be as small as the corner of a room or as large as the earth itself: that the earth is our place in the universe is a simple fact of observation to homesick astronauts.( Tuan 1974a )  Growing  up I remember watching the Wizard of Oz, and as Dorothy goes through her journey that leads her to her place of home she is reminded of her Ant Em and Uncle. Also learning more about herself on the way.

Place can also lead to a sense of placelessness.  Halttunen recalls the disaster of Hurricane Katrina leaving hundreds dead and thousands homeless. I can only guess the atmosphere in the dome, sense of abandonment, anger, fear. A middle-aged woman at a Baton Rouge shelter said, when the first truckload of supplies arrived, “It makes you feel like a person again, not a displaced person”—voicing her fear that to be placeless was to forfeit humanity. (Halttunen 6) As a society, no one should feel like this. Of course amongst other issues in this world this is minor problem as some would say unfortunately will never change. Yi-Fu Tuan developed the idea of Topophilia, meaning a bond between people and place.

Which in all summarizes what we have been talking about since day one what we know or do or see on a daily basis is our sense of place. Our sense of belonging.

Blog #2 The Genealogy of Place

In Cresswell's Place, Chapter 2 discusses geology in its relation to place. He gives the reader an insight into how the idea of place and its interest evolved over time. "Relph...in his book Place and Placelessness, [was] surpris[ed] that very little attempt had been made to actually define place and distinguish it from its sister concepts of region and area. Place remained a largely common sense idea." (Cresswell 18)  In other words, it wasn't until the 1970's ( that the idea of place was researched, and considered as having significance in relation to geography and human life.

Cresswell also includes the different aspects of geographers and philosophers who define place differently. Yi-fu Tuan argues that we define place through our perception and experience, and Relph describes place as more than just a location, but a dwelling that is also spiritual and philosophical.

David Harvey argues that place is moreso socially constructed, meaning that place is widely human/society influenced by giving that place meaning and materiality. On the other hand, J.E. Malpas and Robert Sack, though they do believe places are a result of society and culture, they also believe that geography or "what is already there" produces the idea of place. "Malpas and sack are arguing that humans cannot construct anything without being first in place." (32).

After reading the chapter, though I do agree with aspects of both arguments, I find myself agreeing more with the ideas of Harvey in that people or society gives significance to place. Yes geography/land is there, but we are the ones that make a place meaningful and of significance by building stores, homes, restaurants, parks, etc.

Blog #1 Place

Essential questions 2 and 3

2) How is Place defined?

“Place” has many different meanings and is also used in many different contexts. In “Place, a Short Introduction” place is defined in most basic terms, as space or location that has been made meaningful to a person. Place is also “not just a thing in the world, but a way of understanding the world.” (pg. 11)

What are the conclusions that can be drawn as “undifferentiated space becomes place”?

Implications that can be drawn is that space becomes a place, and it would be hard to define either without using both terms together. Also, space is made into a place when people put their own “touches” and make it their own and a somewhere they enjoy. For example, a few of the community gardens built and planted by the Puerto Rican community replicate buildings that resemble their home. They also drape flags and symbols that is a direct reflection of their country or what they love. Tuan states “What begins as undifferentiated space becomes place as we get to know it better and endow it with value” (8)

How is landscape and place shaped by fiction and visual arts?
Place is something that you are “in” while landscape is more visual and often something you look at from a distance.

What does it mean to “inhabit” a place? Inhabit means to live or dwell in a place, but more related to the book; t means to make space into a place, or make something into your own.

3) What does a study of place in America reveal? About what or whom?

A study of place reveals understanding about the world and also people and where they’ve come from. “But place is also a way of seeing…We see attachments and connections between people and place. We see worlds of meaning and experience.” (11)

Blog #2

Chapter 2 of Place focuses on how geography relates to place. There are many different viewpoints when it comes to how place correlates to geography but there is no doubt that place is important to geography. The terms, region and place are interchangeable when it comes to speaking about geography. A regional geographer’s job is to be able to,”…describe a place/region in great detail, starting with the bedrock, soil type and climate and ending with culture,” according to Cresswell (16). Particular things in a region define a culture, ultimately making it a place, as stated in chapter 1, is defined as a “meaningful location” (7).

Politics also plays an important role in how place relates to geography. Cresswell touches on how ‘Chinatown’ was not merely a place that defines a particular culture, but how it was also a place that was defined as a moral failure with all the opium dens, gambling and prostitution (28). It was portrayed in the negative light because the people in power have the power to define a place (media and government) (29). It is scary to think how much power the media and the government has.  

The meaning of place

Space is what makes up areas of place. All someone needs to turn space into place is meaning. Your hometown is a 'place' to you, however it is really lots of areas of space that were giving meaning and forming a larger area of place. This place is somewhere you feel comfortable and have memories, both  good and bad. Cresswell answers what makes a place by saying " they are all spaces which people have made meaningful. They are all spaces people are all attached to in one way or another. This is the most straightforward and common definition of place - a meaningful location". Any space you giving meaning will be transformed into place.

Haulttunen Speech Blog #2

Haulttunen and Cresswell share very similar concerns with regards to 'place.'  Places are reflections of histories and culture of people.  Places have depth and they tell a story for all of those that inhabit them.  However, our places are being threatened by those who have the power to change places and as a result are being eroded and replaced by superficial things that have no meaning.  According to Cresswell Chinatown was not simply a natural reflection of Chinese culture but the result of negotiation with those in power to define place" (Cresswell p.29).  If this is the case then one must wonder are their any true places left?  If I have the power I can make any place in any image I see fit.  However, when you think about it this has always been apart of our history.  European colonialism in Africa is a good example of a place being replaced/ eroded by a way of life that is non reflective of their own.  Africans were pushed out of their native lands and forced to adapt to the Europeans way of life because the Europeans were the ones who had the power.  If you have the power to stand your ground then you can keep your ground.

CulturalPolitics.net

At first glance the website looks a bit boring and uninteresting. Once I started reading and reviewing some of the different categories/forums, I found the website to be very beneficial/useful. It's is very easy to navigate and has such a wide variety of popular culture topics. I think that the simplicity of the website gives that initial sense of being boring. If it wasn't for this class I don't know if I would have ever visited this site, but now that I know about it I will definitely use it in future classes.

Place

Place is simple and complicated (Cresswell, 1). Through our discussions in class, and after the readings we have found that place is everything. That is why it is so simple, yet so complicated.  It is different for each of us. Place is where I am right now, and it is also a place where my mind is at, or how my mind is thinking. Narrative shapes our understandings of place because we relate place to certain experiences. I don’t eat at Sonny’s BBQ, because of an unfortunate accident involving my stomach. Sonny’s BBQ is a place I relate bad food to, whereas someone else might see that fat guy and a pig and relate it to some of the best BBQ they have ever had because of their past experience. I like how Cresswell explains space and place. I really grasped the idea when Cresswell said, “If we think of space as which allows movement, then place is pause; each pause in movement makes it possible for location to be transformed into place (pg.8).” Understanding space allows us to make it a place. The book says we relate space to outer space. I think we do that because we do not know how to grasp the complexities of outer space. If we knew exactly what was out there, then we could consider it a place. We inhabit place when we grasp the understanding of that place. When we can put a meaning or reflect to a certain feeling we have inhabited place. Place is different for everyone. America means land of the free to us, but to a middle eastern 20 something year old, America probably has an entire different meaning. 

The Genealogy of Place Chapter 2

In chapter 2, Cresswell discusses place as it relates to geography. Place has many differences. One confusing aspect of the genealogy of place is that place stands for both an object and a way of looking (15). We can determine the existence by understanding how the place was developed.

In the geography of place, geographers describe place in great detail. This would ultimately describe the region. They would describe the types of soil, the bedrock, and the climate of the region. Humans and nature act differently to the geography of a "place". Creswell introduced the idea of "la geographie humaine" it looks at nature and human both acting together to define a certain place. To advance the idea of la geographie humaine, Creswell discusses two ideas that are derived from geographers Semple, Huntingdon, Sauer, and de la Blache. Semple and Huntingdon believe in the idea of environmental necessities shaping our culture. Sauer and de la Blache reject it completely. Sauer and de la Blache focus on the transformation of natural environment through "the ways cultural groups affect and change the natural habitats." In so many words, Sauer and Blache believe that the culture is developed from how the groups change existing environments.

They don't believe that the force of the environment comes from culture. Lukerman believes that place is simply determined by juxtaposition of nature and culture. Relph is against the idea of geography as a spatial science and defines place to be a concept of a "way of being," Tuan distinguished space and place by describing space as an area of movement and place as an area of stillness. Tuan says that place is determined by the bond between the place and the people, which he named topophilia. Relph concentrated on the value; how people belong to a place show the value of the place.

Place as a "home." Place helps us to develop our own sense of the places surrounding us and the parts that make it up. For me place is place. Nothing more nothing less. I feel most comfortable when I'm in my comfort zones. Such as places I grew up in. I feel more comfortable because I know those places, and I know the people around those places. The air smells a certain way, the streets look a certain way, the grass isn't "green", and the buildings aren't necessarily clean. When I travel outside of my comfort zone I notice the small differences but I never forget where I came from.  So for me place provides a little comfort. 

As I said before it's like walking in a new location. We are unfamiliar with the surroundings until we find that one piece of comfort that allows us to identify with our surroundings.

Place is defined as a “meaningful location” (Creswell 7). A place is a stationary location that remains the same while everything else around you may be changing. Home is a great example of place. As we live our day-to-day lives, home is a place everyone can relate to as a meaningful location or comfort zone to always return to. All the events, memories and family that are in a home are what make it meaningful to a person and transforms the house into a home, or place. Once a specific location is given meaning, we are able to then call that location a place.  The connection to a specific location is what makes it a place.

Place in America has the tendency to reveal facts about us individually, as well as the people around us. The exact location of where a person lives in America can also make a different on their idea of place because, for example, a southerner would most definitely look or think about a place differently than a northerner may. The sense of security an American feels in certain places is also important. Being familiar with your surroundings, people, town, etc., brings that sense of comfort which makes that certain location “a place” in the eyes of that specific person.

What Is Place?

What is Place? If someone were to ask me this two weeks ago, the only answer I would have had would be "anything" is place and I would have felt like a fool for answering in that way. After reading Cresswell's PLACE, I have come to relize that, that answer isnt entirely wrong. Place can be anything or anywhere, to anyone. Not every place is a place for everyone. One place for me may not mean a thing for you, but everythplace can be a "Place"

To me Place is any givin space that holds a memory or feeling for someone. For example, my house is my Place. I grew up there, Igot hurt there, I had Christmas morning there, I put a hole is the wall there. There are reasons that that home is a place for me. I can associate myself with the walls ground and roof of that house and thats what makes it my place. Now if you take that same house and bring a random person from across the world to it, it is no longer a place. For that random person my place is sjust a space. It is a space with no meaning, no memories, nothing more than a house on a plot of land.

This example of my place is very similar to the example Cresswell gives in PLACE on page 9. On this particular page he talks ab out the native Americans and the settlers of the new world. These two different people had two totally different views on the world that they were both living in at the time. To the settlers the ocean that they crossed was a vast space in the way of the place that was the new land. They saw this new land as a place because of the great wealth that they could gain from it between the lumber and the crops and the gold. For this same reason the settlers saw the ocean as a space, that they recieved no direct benitis from. The Natives on the other hand saw this ocean a a mysterious place that was filled with monsters and obsticals.

This book puts in perspective evrthing that we take for granted in todays world. Place is a thing that can be related to everything and everyone.

I found this to be a very insightful website. It was simple and easy to navigate, which is always a plus. The site seemed to have the information I was looking for and it was up to date. I would use this website again. Usually websites with a .net domain name are pretty reliable. The only negative I could see was the boring color scheme. The website looked like they did not take the time to design something exciting.

CulturalPolitics.net Review

I found culturalpolitics.net to be a highly useful and interesting website. Though as everyone seems to have mentioned, it is not the prettiest of websites, but it is very straightforward and easy to navigate. I will definitely be using this website for some new television, movie, or comic suggestions. I already have a new show I want to look up called “Bomb Girls,” which I found under the AfterEllen.com link in the television section. I did wonder whether or not video games should be added to the website. I see references to video games in almost all forms of media and I definitely think they have great importance in popular culture. Otherwise, this website seems to be very comprehensive when it comes to pop culture and I’m excited to explore it further.

Blog #1 -Place
    Place is defined as a specific significance to an individual that has meaning to it or a meaning was created by an connection to that place. For example, New York is significant to me because I have never been there and while visiting there it became significant through the people I was with and popular land marks I went to. Also, Helen Georgia means a lot to me because I have an annual family tradition to visit Helen and pick pumpkins in the fall. Picking the pumpkins is not what is meaningful to me but that it is with my family. Therefore, a place is what you make it or what it becomes, but ultimately the connection it brings to you as an individual.The place is defined as a "meaningful location"
   I believe the narrative in a place is shaped by our own definition from how we interpret it to be. This interpretation can be positive or negative. Everyone creates their narrative of any place anywhere. An undifferentiated space can become a place because of people's narrative of the place. Before I went to New York, I didn't have a connection with it but then it became a place where I developed a connection. It is different for everyone because everyone has different backgrounds and experiences which then produces different interpretation. These interpretations are not wrong nor right but different, which is a huge part of what America is ... a whole bunch of people with different connections to a place.
   The landscape of a place that is shaped by how people see each landscape of a place. It's like the saying, "someone's junk is someone's else treasure." To inhabit a place means that it is a part of you. Maybe you are not next to or around it but you take it with you where ever you go. Like the saying " you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl." There are things that will be with us that a place has had influence in who we are and it can stay there for the rest of our lives. The study of place reveals a part of America. It's not just a place or how people interpret that place, but an essential part of how we can define America. That America means something different to everyone.

Gender and Production Analysis

In many ways, this site is doing for the public something that should have been done a long time ago. Reading into all the areas that are covered on this website truly astonishes me. Looking into the gender portion of the website made me smile with all the feminism topics covered throughout the page. One thing I like is that it solidifies the fact that feminism does not mean that an individual prefers a woman, per se, but it means that you will fight for a woman to be viewed equally to a man regardless of gender. When I looked into the production analysis, all I could do was agree with their findings. In the first couple of paragraphs, it was stated that because of this 'media monopoly' currently taking place, not many controversial issues are being covered in this area. How this relates to gender is that many of the feminist issues are minimized and shrunk in the media because it is such a controversial issue. Facts that would show the population how truly of a problem this gender inequality is is not produced or taken to a broad stream media. In conclusion, the severity of the situation is not aired to the population. I have heard many times that for lack of knowledge, we perish. Researching this page just solidifies this concept, so thank God for this site.

Kristen Brown

CulturalPolitics.net Review

I found the Cultural Politics website to be very useful in the sheer amount of information that it provided. They said that it's rare to find a website that hosts all of the information needed on a given topic, but I would wager that this one comes strikingly close. It not only hosts information on a broad topic such as pop culture, but it goes a step further and hosts information on very specialized topics, Asian American film was something interesting that stood out to me. It would certainly be possible to sit down at that website and fumble through the links and come out being a pro on the subject matter - or at least well-versed enough to convince someone that you know what you're talking about. A few of my classmates commented on the bland design of the website, but I found it to be very simple and professional, and made it very easy to navigate. I appreciate that they held off on vibrant colors or taxing graphics, because after a while of going through the pages, it would certainly lose its luster.

The Idea of Place

Cresswell's statement of Place as a "meaningful location" seems to be the main focus of many interpretations of his work; however, I interpreted his ideas as just that, an idea. To try and solidify a meaning with a certain location would be a futile effort since there are so many different individuals to interpret one place and establish a different meaning. In fact, one person could have multiple meanings for a particular place and the meaning could change based on the individuals state of mind. 

To fully grasp the meaning of this concept we must first be able to grasp the understanding of our own perception. Imagine somewhere you spent time at as a child, a grandparent's house with it's tall ceilings or your grade school with long hallways and imposing maze of corridors - everything was so large and impressive, but upon returning you realize it is no longer like that. Even if the physical place has not changed your perceptions of it have. The ceilings are never as tall as you perceive them as a child and the corridors are never as long or as winding. The eyes of a child perceive reality different than ours, and while it is true that your body has grown, it still does not explain why our perception has changed so greatly. 

The logical reasoning would be that the place has changed, but that is incorrect, it is still the same place that you once knew, but it is different in your mind. Place is merely a perception that you project onto a physical area, a piece of yourself that you use to create connections with a home, a garden, a cafe, or a city. Everyone has their own perceptions and their own Places, places that they have projected themselves upon and places that gain human characteristics through such projections. 

Cresswell's interpretation of Place being a "meaningful location" is in one sense true, but in a greater since it is more than that. Place is apart of the people who establish these connections, and like people and their interpretations place is always changing. Place is simultaneously the memories that we have from previous visits while the current interpretations of present visits. Place is a stream of interpretations by a multitude of individuals at the same time, and it is never the same interpretation twice. Place is always different, yet always the same. Place is yet another paradox of life created by the human mind.