Tag Archives: violence

“Freedom Writers” Response

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In Ms. Gruwell’s English class the students’ initially resisted her efforts to teach them because they knew she could not control them- there is power in numbers. Ms. Gruwell is a new, young, vulnerable, white teacher teaching in a highly racially integrated school. She essentially is unprepared for the nature of the class and the student’s behaviors she is up against and has never been put in such a position before. The students in the classroom are all in gangs that hate the other gangs and there is always heightened tension. The students do not care about learning or their education they just want to live another day- violence and gang life is all they know. Overall, the students hate each other but are united by their hatred towards Ms. Gruwell. Continue reading →

Cusac and Violence

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I think I want to go in the direction of Cusac’s essay as Win did for this week’s blog post.  This may be a stretch, but I felt that Cusac kind of went in the direction of the typical violence in the media makes society more violent.

One thing I particularly liked about Cusac’s essay was that, like Dr. Seaman pointed out, she made it clear that she, personally, enjoys 24. Her essay really isn’t sided at all – ambivalent, a term that seems to have a new meaning based off of Cusac’s work. This was really refreshing to me because I find that it is rare that I ever am completely one-sided in an argument. I usually agree and disagree with both sides, and can pick and choose elements that I support or refute. I was always told in high school that when writing an argumentative essay, one had to pick a side and stick to it. It feels nice to have a newfound freedom. Continue reading →