IMHO #2

According to the Associated Press article, "Canadian Woman loses benefits over Facebook photo", a woman did in fact lose her work benefits because of Facebook photos. The woman, Nathalie Blanchard, had been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year. She was diagnosed with depression, and was receiving monthly benefits from the insurance company Manulife. All of a sudden, in the fall, her benefits dried up for no apparent reason. When Blanchard called the insurance agent, she was told that there was several pictures proving that she was no longer depressed.

According to Blanchard, her doctor told her it would be beneficial to her condition to try and have fun, and hang out with friends in order to try and forget her problems. The pictures in question, depict Blanchard at a her birthday party at Chippendales, and another at a holiday.

The question is weather the insurance company acted hastily, and in who's interest. In my opinion, Manulife was obviously looking out for their own best interest, and had been investigating Blanchard, or else these photos would not have been found. According to the dictionaries definition of clinical depression, "...the reaction to unfortunate life circumstances is more intense or prolonged than would generally be expected". It seems that a few pictures could not have accurately portrayed Nathalie Blanchard's depression over the last year, and definitely couldn't diagnose her as being cured. The fact that Manulife stopped her benefits because of the pictures on a social networking site is troubling. Of course the Manulife is going to say that that isn't the case, but there is no way it was a coincidence, plus the agent told her that was the reason. There definitely should have been some sort of second opinion by a doctor, done by the insurance, or some sort of communication with Blanchard at least. Hopefully the truth comes out, and Blanchard gets the help she needs.

Story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091122/ap_on_re_ca/cn_canada_facebook_insurance

Fish out of Water: Vietnamese Party

The social event I attended was a birthday party for my aunt Mimi at her house. She is Vietnamese, and everyone who attended the party was Vietnamese, except for a few Mexican’s including myself. The party was for my aunt’s 40^th birthday, and she decided to have the party at her house because it wasn’t going to be that big of a party. There were about 15-20 people at the party, and there was a lot of food. My aunt was in the kitchen cooking along with her mom, sisters, and aunt’s. There was a lot of mingling with the family, there weren’t many friends of my aunt, and it was mostly just her family.

When it was time to eat, my aunt took the food out, and thanked everyone for coming. My aunt’s mother did a prayer in Vietnamese, and everyone joined in, then they began to eat. The food consisted of two different types of soup; steam rice, and a few chicken and pork dishes. The food was amazing, and it was fun because everyone talked at the table and conversed while they ate. I’m used to the table being for eating only, and also not even eating at the table. My home life is a lot different then my aunt’s when it comes to eating.

When everyone was done eating, they all sat on the couches and chairs and talked more. The talking between families was very important at the party, and must be important to my aunt. There was no Television, or computers, there was only mingling, and conversing between the people at the party. There was also a lot of alcohol, and drinking was pretty normal. Everyone seemed happy at the party, there was no conflict, people even tried to talk to me and they didn’t know me.

The party definitely gave me a different perspective on the Vietnamese culture, and it was a lot of fun to be apart of the event. I was there mostly as a guest, and conversed with people and took part in the activities at the party. I wasn’t used to eating that type of food, I usually eat a lot of traditional Mexican food at my house, so it was nice to try something new. Another thing that was different was the language; there were a lot of people speaking in Vietnamese. At my household, even though we are Mexican, we mostly speak English. Overall, the party was fun, and I learned a lot.

Targeting Audiences

Ad 1: The first advertisement I found was in UFC magazine, which has to do with the sport of mixed martial arts (MMA). It focuses on the UFC organization, which is one of many organizations that promote mma events. The advertisement was for the UFC Undisputed video game. A targeted individual could be male or female, ages 16-40, and can work for a variety of companies, mostly chains like Target, or Best Buy, but can range from being a distribution manager at an internet start-up company. The average audience would have education ranging from high school or less, to a college degree. As far as income is concerned, the target audience is broad, ranging form wealthy celebrities, all the way to people who are just making ends meet. The basic lifestyle for the average audience is middle class, enjoys watching the fights to unwind, and release some built up anger, maybe not getting that promotion. Also, the average audience aren't rattled by the sight of blood or gore, the UFC is violent, and sometimes brutal. It is a sport, so the audience believes in a sense of sportsmanship, maybe they've played in some sport when they were younger.

The advertisement isn't very information rich, it has the consoles that the video game will be available to be played on, and also has the release date and tag-line. But, most of the advertisement is pictures, and screenshots of the in-game action. The advertisement seems like it's geared more to the mma fan side of the spectrum, not so much the gaming side. The realism is portrayed well in the screenshots, and the same line that is used in real-life events, "so you want to be a fighter", is used in the advertisement. There is also real fighters from the sport in the advertisements, so the fan base for the UFC would be interested, as oppose to just a gamer who is looking at the advertisement, and unfamiliar with the sport.

http://www.mmagearguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/ufc-undisputed-2009.jpg

Ad 2: My second advertisement was also from UFC magazine, and was for the clothing and fighting accessories company "Tapout". The intended target audience for this product would be mostly male, ages 18-35, eight-five job, and even minimum wage jobs. Education level would be some college and below, as well as a middle class income. Again, like the last advertisement, the audience needs to enjoy the sport of mma, and watch the fights regularly. The brand is not well known, or recognized by people unaware of the sport, so the knowledge and enjoyment of the sport is important to the targeted audience. The advertisement doesn't have many words, just a tag-line, a website, and a visual. The visual is sleek, and grabs your attention. The image evokes feelings of passion toward the sport, and brand loyalty. The unique selling point the Tapout brand exploits is that they've been with the sport, mainly the UFC, since its inception. The advertisement has endorsements from their owners in the ad, they are the three crazy looking guys in the visual. the advertisement is geared towards fans of mma, and not people who have never watched an event or heard of mma.

http://www.rapattacklives.com/images/TAP-OUT-AD.gif

Word #10

1. Reverberate

2. Found the word in an article entitled, "Marines' Memorial Club an elegant source of honor, inspiration and memories", on the Mercury News website.

3. "Footsteps reverberate through this tribute to those who have gone before like the echo of distant gunfire."

4. To reecho or resound, to rebound or recoil (verb)

5. The man heard the music reverberate in the mansion.

Copy Edit the World - Last 15 points

1. (above) There is actually three problems in this photo, they were both taken from a newsletter sent by the church my parents go to. The first is that "the" isn't needed in the sentence. The exact sentence was "This is the day when the whole Church remembers all the deceased throughout the world, in our parish and in our families." After the words "remember all", there is no need for the word "the". Another Problem was that the word Church should not be capitalized, because it isn't the exact name of the building, which is Holy Cross Church.

The third problem in the picture is that the next sentence starts off with "Masses as follows: ...", but it would sound clearer as "Mass is as follows: ...".

2. (above) The fourth mistake was in the same newsletter sent out by the Holy Cross Parish, a church my parents attend. The mistake is that P.M. should be lowercase, and it should look like 6 p.m.

All the mistakes are from a newsletter, so each should be four points each. (16 points)

Japanese Internment Sculpture

Due to the attack of Pearl Harbor, over 100,000 Japanese were put into camps around the United States. This happened because of an order given by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was pressured after the events at Pearl Harbor. Because of these events, and the internment that these Japanese citizens endured during this time, a sculpture was enacted in their memory. The sculpture is in San Jose Calif., and was sculpted by Ruth Asawa. The Japanese internment memorial is located in front of the Robert Peckham Federal Building in Downtown San Jose.

Ruth Asawa is a famous Japanese sculptor, who grew up in the time period she sculpted. She got her high school education in an internment camp. She later grew up, and wanted to become an art teacher. After that didn’t work out, she went into sculpting, and later creating the Japanese internment memorial in San Jose.

San Jose was one location in which many Japanese were forced to move to and live during 1942-1945. San Jose State was actually a location for many Japanese to check in before heading to the camps. The Japanese internment memorial pays homage to the Japanese and their suffering during this horrendous period of American history. The sculpture has a few vignettes, and also murals of daily life in the camps, and the journeys that many Japanese had to face during this period of time. The depictions are well sculpted, and the stories are a way for the viewer to go through the long road for the Japanese in the internment camps.

One vignette described the orders sent to the Japanese people, and the list contained rules on what they could and couldn’t bring with them to the camps. The list was very basic, containing clothing and bedding, but the formal way the list looked was very scary. The way these people must have felt is awful, hopelessness and fear of not abiding by these rules. It is impossible for me to image how it must have felt to receive one of these notices, especially the parents of children. They must have known the severity of the situation, but had to save face for their children.

There was a barbwire fence sculpted into the top of some of the sculpture, and an airplane soaring above it. The barbwire must have been a symbol for the containment both physically, and mentally, since many, if not most of the Japanese must have felt hopeless at this time. The airplane was a sense of hope, even though the conditions were tough, the Japanese would carry on, and eventually succeed in America.

There was also a picture of a ship that was next to a dock on the left side of the sculpture. This must have been how the Japanese were taken to the island where they would live for the next few years. Working in the fields, living in tight quarters, a sad daily life for many Japanese in America during this time. These may not have been extermination camps like in Europe, but the camps in the United States were shameful, and awful situations for the Japanese

Word #9

1. Perplexed

2. I read the word in an article on yahoo sports site. It was about Cole Hamels after game 5.

3. His quote did not sit well with some teammates, apparently, and even manager Charlie Manuel was perplexed by it.

4. (verb) cause to feel completely baffled.

5. The young boy was perplexed after being given a complicated math problem by his teacher.