The aesthetic beauty of the natural world is of great importance to the individuals who encompass it. To witness the rolling mountains of the San Fransisco Peaks and to smell the formidable pine wood trees is breath taking. This is the main reason I came to Northern Arizona University. It provides me with an environment for which school work is enjoyable. I love to sit out in the grass and breath in the fresh air while writing a paper. It not only offers a relaxing environment, but creates a world in itself. One can become entrapped within the bounds of this phenomenal world and not even know it. It's absolutely great. Plus, I find doing homework out in the open a applicable way of attaining superior work. In the end, the environment that surrounds us has a great impact in terms of our behavioral and social outlook. Thus, the way we view the world is in direct correlation to the way we view ourselves. In turn, the aesthetic environment can bring about a positive outlook toward oneself; not only bringing about positive self-awareness but also portraying life as great!

Fast food within the United States is an ever growing multi billion dollar industry that feeds off of the ever expanding ideal of quick and fast paced living. This industry, in my opinion, is one of corruption and deceit. Like a parasite feeding off of its victims, the fast food industry, too, feeds off its customers. I mean, can we truly classify eating at Burger King or Mac Donald's a choice. I mean, with all the subliminal messaging through advertisements and the media, our way of life sort of emulates around fast food. Its enough that we have to drive down the street and pass fifteen different fast food restaurants, but to have to witness the grotesque operation 24/7 through television, radio, bill boards, and posters is utterly despicable. The food that comes out of these various joints is anything but good for you. Plus, the various individual corporations themselves put chemicals in the food to make you more hungry. Is it just me or does that concept seem wrong! This industry is a plague to this earth and needs to be stopped. In the end, I believe the fast food industry needs to have stricter government regulations regarding what they can serve people.

Nuclear Power vs. Fossil Fuels

Is nuclear energy a cleaner and more reliable source of energy compared to fossil fuels? I would have to answer this question with an yes. Albeit the waste products of such an operation as an nuclear power plant are extremely detrimental to nature and life in general, the amount of energy produced from this type of plant is gigantic. In fact, in terms of mass proportion to energy yield, the amount of energy that nuclear power plants produce compared to fossil fuels is phenomenal. So if nuclear energy is so much more efficient than fossil fuels, why are we as a nation so bent on burning as much fossil fuels as possible. The answer, in my opinion, is the resistance to change. We, as a nation, find it incredibly difficult to change our way of life to better our own world in which we live in. We find change too tedious of a task to endure to save our planet. And I mean, nuclear energy is the most plausible source of energy we could use to sustain our way of living today. It would be spectacular if we as a country could some how find a way to use purely based natural, clean energy; for example, solar power or wind power. But in the end, we seem too occupied with our daily lives to care. In the end, this world seriously needs to consider an alternate form of energy besides fossil fuels. Our planet is on a tension line of disaster and its only time before this line breaks.

Brave New World vs. Allegory of the Cave

Brave New World- In a world where governmental control is in the form of drugs and chemicals, Aldous Huxley presents a fictional world of chaotic control. The system is no longer dependent upon the people but the people on the system. "Joy" in the form of "happiness" is no longer a personal feeling but an emotion granted by governmental distribution of drugs. Welcome to a "Brave New World".

Allegory of the Cave- A life of imprisonment and solitude, Plato presents the concept of governmental control through means of confinement. Perception is reality in this fictional depiction of grotesque human cruelty. The means of human growth is defined through the control of the information given. Humans are no longer able to think for themselves but are told what to think. It is indeed a concept of human peril.

Similarities-

Joy Synthesis

"I see joy as a pleasure beyond happiness. Most people see little difference between the two, but I see them as two different meanings. Joy is more of being content with what you have and the life you live. It has nothing to do with material possessions. Joy does not come gaining worldly possessions, happiness does. Happiness is a superficial feeling, while joy is much deeper than that. Joy is being glad for what you have." --Jeremy

"The feeling of complete happiness. The desire to do nothing else in the world except that one thing that makes all your fears, troubles, and worries disappear like the dark shadows of night when the sun comes up." --Brian

Synthesis- Joy relinquishes all fears, worries, and stress in life; it's the one feeling that surpasses happiness and delves deeper into the spiritual realm of the individual.

What is Joy?

Joy is a personal feeling of great euphoria. It is a feeling of delight and happiness.

"Allegory of the Cave"

In this short fable, Plato seems to strike the reader with the main theme of perception being reality. From the above picture depicting Plato's short story, the audience is able to draw a mental image of what the actual story is illustrating. From the story along with the picture above, it appears that the "slaves" are being taught inanimate objects from the "real" world. The world that is known to most individuals. It is from this process that the audience is able to relate to the story so well. Because we as individuals have a pre-conceived notion of the real world, we are able to commiserate with the slaves. This relevance along with the emotional aspect of the cave makes the story what it is. The reader is able to relate to the slaves on a more emotional standpoint. This gives the reader the opportunity to make the story his/her own in terms of the meaning. In the end, most readers come to the conclusion of the meaning being perception is reality. The slaves are perceiving reality through images cast about on a wall. These images are of great significance because it is the only thing that the slaves know to be true. After witnessing the "real" world, though, they begin to perceive everything through a new light. It is this notion that brought me to my conclusion of the theme being perception is reality.

In this image, the author is reffering to the downfall of societal functioning by means of portraying a gender role switch. In this image, the dad and mom seem to have switched roles as parents of the house hold. The underlying effect is anarchy. In my opinion, the author seems to be over exagerating the point. It seems the author's view of gender roles is a little skewed due to the current day living. Obviously it's easy for me to agree with the previous notion, but an intitial reaction to this poster would galvanize the conception that this author is a sexist.
In addition to its original meaning, one could interpret it as being a feminist movement. Conveying to the audience that being a house hold wife isn't a "easy" job. Again switching roles, the audience is able to empathize with women of that erra; creating awareness of the sexist standards of society at that time.

In the above picture, a 'Caution Wet Floor' board was placed near an Eatalica burger signboard. The board itself reads 'Oogling at the burger may involuntarily cause drooling which may in turn lead to a wet floor. Issued for your safety by the management of Eatalica restaurant'. An American-Italian Food Joint in Chennai, India, this restaurant is definitely appealing to Pathos and Logos. Asserting to the notion that the audience are hungry customers, this ad acts directly on the emotions of joy and fullfilment. It also appeals to humor but on a much more subtle level. For example, a walking customer stops and reads the sign. Chuckling at its witty humor, the customer realizes that the burger does, indeed, look appetizing and that to eat one at that very moment would bring about great joy and fullfilment. So..the only option that seems rational is to purchase one. The burger would not only satisfy hunger pains but would psycologically satisfy the regret of not buying one; putting at ease the thought of missing out on what seems to be the world's greatest burger. So, by this token, the author uses logos through a simple if/then factor. If the picture potentially causes drooling, then the actual product will down right nock my socks off! In the end, this ad demonstrates a good utilization of pathos and logos. It creates a positive awareness of the product; not only using humorous appeal to draw in the audience, but logical appeal to instigate action on the audience's part.

To me, writing is neither tedious nor fun. In fact, I find the actual process to be banal. However, the end result seems to outweigh the actual effort, and it is this insight alone that influences my perception of it. People put forth an strenuous amount of work to achieve perfection in the form of words. Whether the ultimate goal is to persuade, inform, or merely entertain, writers of all backround seek it. It is this perfection that permeates and instigates great writing for me. Witnessing countless works of art and seeing first hand how a great piece of writing can influence decisions, I have discovered that I want my writing to be analogous. For this to be plausible, though, I must first develop a good work ethic in terms of the writing process. As of now, my writing process is neutral. I tend to write nonchalantly without any interest or care in mind. My revision consists of a quick read over along with a few word changes, and the only thing that I seem to be remotely natural at is vocabulary. But that's just because I was drilled like a marine on it. In terms of my actual writing time, I tend to write quickly. This might hinder me in the end, but like I said in the beginning, I find the writing process banal. So, in order for my writing to improve, I believe I need to form a habit of slowing down. Not only would this improve the actual thoughts that I have to say, but it would most likely improve the tinier aspects of my writing such as syntax and structure. In the end, my writing needs experience and from this blogging, that is exactly what I plan to receive.