Dating Advice for Upside-Down People

How to Seduce Any Woman in the World must be the most misleading title of any article I have ever read. I found the advice within to be misleading, irrational, and just plain stupid. This is, of course, looking at the article for what it is trying to be and not what it is. 

Let me elaborate on that statement. This article is trying to be a how-to on dating advice for men, well more like sex advice I suppose. What it really is is an in-depth look at the different ways sexuality is thought of and acted upon in other countries. It is a shame to see that this piece's fatal flaw is simply that it is packaged in the wrong way. It contains information that would be abstract and fascinating were it not for its insistence on turning that info into advice. Just because these methods may work in other nations does not mean it should be given as advice for American men. However, the article was entertaining and that is what it aims to be. In the words of George W. Bush, MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Amazing Violinist

What I enjoy most about this article is that it is centered around one small event and the entire article is information that hypes that event up. It makes it easier to follow because everything relates to a single focus point. Being a former violinist myself, I could appreciate this guy's musical talents. Of course, I must admit that at 7:51am I wouldn't be too thrilled to hear a violin playing, no matter how good it may sound.

I think it is important to not criticize the people too harshly for not stopping to hear this guy play. The world is set up to keep us constantly moving. We don't have the time anymore to stop and hear good classical music or smell the daisies. We must instead be worried about our jobs, our families, and the millions of other distractions, which we created, from the simple things in life.

Overall, I think there is little room for this article to be improved upon. It was an enjoyable read and brought a great issue to the surface: the lack of appreciation for the things in life that deserve to be admired. Sad, but the appeal of art is only really appreciated by fellow artists these days. It will live on, but may never shine as brightly as it once did.

Outline: Getting a Girl and Keeping Her, Too

I. Girls X, Y and Z
                A. Derrick and Girl X
                B. Teezy and Girl Y
                C. Peezy and Girl Z
II. To The Reader
                A. Who you are: the loser
                B. Who you should be: the winner
                C. How we will get there together
III. Expert Advice
                A. Tips for success
                B. Getting to the next step with Girl X
                C. Why Girl Y ran away
                D. Talking to Girl Z

The Courage of Detroit

Already what I like about this piece is its scene-setting lead and the fact that the writer has put himself into the story. I like that because when I read a story sometimes I am skeptical to how the writer gets some of the information. Now I can see that he isn't just making things up to meet his deadline. I believe the writer actually investigated.

I enjoyed the writer's segue from the story about the church to talking about Detroit and its optimistic views in times of struggle. It sets up the piece to be all about the struggle of a dead end town trying to be much more than that. It is reminiscent of the masterpiece, Touchdown, Tyler by Derrick Naylor.

It is amazing what an NFL team and industrial power say about a city, and for Detroit the final verdict is failure. It's a shame because the more that reputation grows for them, the more they will struggle and no one will want to live there. The line, "We want to scream" pretty much sums up their frustration.

By the way, Barry Sanders plus Joe Dumars in a room equals "Hey man"? I thought they might have more interesting things to say, but it seems not.

By the end of this article, the writer had romanticized some life into the dead city of Detroit. The way he speaks of it throughout the piece is not of a failing city with uncontrollable violence and poverty, but rather a fallen hero trying to keep from hitting rock bottom. I enjoy pieces like this and hope to write something similar someday.

Interview Questions

For my gender studies teacher


1.) How do gender roles and identity shape the dating world?
2.) What is expected of a man on a date with a woman? Vice versa?
3.) What would happen to someone who decided to step outside the boundaries of these gender roles?
4.) Why is it that women love feminine men as friends but want a masculine man to date?


For a health center counselor

1.) How often do people come to you because of relationship troubles?
2.) What do you find to be the biggest issues within those relationships?
3.) How serious do you believe relationships are in college? Are we looking for true love or just a good time?

99 Bottles of 30A

First off, let me state that I found this article to be extremely drawn out and boring. It sort of rambles on about alcohol, which as an IU student is like a typical conversation you would overhear on the bus. Why be so picky about the taste of the drink? Most drinkers I know do it for the effect. If it was all about taste, it wouldn't matter so much that it was alcohol. No one, regardless of what they say, enjoys the taste of straight alcohol with no flavor.
I thought this was going to be an article all about cool drinking games that people like to play. Instead, I'm not sure what the article is going for and maintaining an interest in it was difficult. I did enjoy the part about the Mixe Indians and their drunken fist fights. Who fights so much while drinking that it becomes a tradition? That's pretty messed up if you ask me.

Goodbye Gideons

I suppose this would qualify as a trend piece, though I'm not exactly sure the qualifications for such. It is true that the world is becoming more secular, and at the same time there is an increased push for religious tolerance. The traditional Christian views upon which this nation were founded on are being pushed back by the views on religious freedom which also founded the nation. With these changes becoming more obvious, it is no surprise to me that less Bibles are appearing in hotel rooms. My immediate response to this article? Duh!

I believe hotels and other facilities are changing their policies not to promote religious liberation, but to limit complaints and judgement based on such. It all revolves around doing what is best for the sake of business and losing money over something like religion can easily be avoided. Still, I imagine if I would be offended by a Koran in my hotel room and I can't see it becoming that big of an issue. Bibles are always in drawers and never out in the open, at least in my experience. However, the world is full of people waiting for the next reason to be offended, so none of this is surprising in the least.

Lead for Lead

With the city of Lead, South Dakota facing the downfall of its biggest business, the Homestake mine, only one hope remains for its future. That hope lies in a substance known and unknown as dark matter. Dark matter may be impossible to find and may not even exist, but physicists have headed to the small town's 8,000-foot hole to find it.

Lead is not the only city looking to discover one of science's greatest mysteries. Scientists all over the world are counting on this substance to be real in order to avoid invalidating years of subatomic physics research. The find carries with it the power to turn Lead into a booming business town again, but the reality is that another research team could beat them to it.

We're fully prepared that we might not find it ourselves," Shutt said. "But if we as a community don't find it, that will be awfully disappointing.

Where Nerds and WIMPs Unite

I will do this post a bit different than before. I will write it as I read the article instead of after. Why? Just an impulse really. Maybe it will turn out interesting.

My first thought as I am reading is to contemplate the benefits of a lab being so far underground, other than being able to call it the world's deepest underground lab. Good luck ordering a pizza there (See? This is going to be funny!).

I would call the first mention of dark matter a Colonel Trautman moment for sure. I'm so interested to find out what this stuff is. Whew. I thought this was just going to be another story about digging holes.

By the way, I'm glad the author clarified the city's name. I thought maybe it was named after Lead the metal because maybe at one point it was in great supply there.

I am doing my best to keep up with the technobabble, but not sure what "the can" is exactly or what ghastly skeleton they are using to seek out the dark matter. I feel as though the author is aware that many readers will not understand exactly what he is talking about, but he explains it in great detail to emphasize what a complex process this all is. I expect the story to come around by the end.

Wow. They went through all that and now have to try again tomorrow. Interesting that they pose for pictures after. Must be a very motivated crew.

Yes! They are talking more about dark matter, which is the coolest name of anything real I have ever known. Props to Fritz Zwicky, who sadly owns one of the uncoolest names I have ever heard.

After the scientific explanation, I guess dark matter is still cool. Ok, maybe slightly less. Who came up with the acronym WIMP? I bet it wasn't Zwicky.

Well, I'm done reading the article. Sad, yet a good ending that they still have not got the can to fit. The stakes are so high, especially with the author's language in regards to finding the secret to understanding the universe. This was a little too technical of an article for my sleep-deprived mind to fully comprehend, but I got the layout and the main point of the story. Truly this was a well-written article.

Story "Idears"

Getting an idea is fine and all, but get yourself a well thought out "idear" and the sky is the limit.

1.) How-To story on Study methods
In this article i would explore some of the wacky study methods I have encountered since school became challenging enough to need to study. If possible, I would revolve the entire article on my own study methods. However, I could also ask some of the people I know. I once knew a man who would give himself a beer for every 10 pages he read for class. The only problem was that by the end of the night he would be too hammered to remember what he read.

2.) How-To on Finding a Good Woman
For two and a half years i have been looking for a girlfriend with no success. However, like anyone who writes on the topic, I don't feel this should deter me from encouraging others from using my methods. This would be humorous, but also an in-depth look at gender relations. I would even talk to some actual experts on the matter to give the story more depth.

Apple Rules/Drools

Apple products are great. Apple products are the bane of my existence. These two facts will remain true as long as I live. I own an iPod and it has truly been the most influential electronic device in my life, just in front of Playstation 2 and 3. iTunes is the best music organizer I have ever owned and will most likely remain so  for the rest of my life. Still, for reasons made clear in the article, "How Apple Got Everything Right By Doing Everything Wrong", Apple will always be a heartless company run by a mad man to me.

In the  opening to this piece, we see that Apple is run by a no-good stealer of handicap parking spaces named Steve Jobs. For me, that stood for a lot of things. Apple has been stealing handicap spaces for a long time, attempting to monopolize the entire electronic industry. Jobs, the notorious micromanager, makes his employees swear to secrecy about its inner workings. Why? To disguise Apple's plans for world domination. Here is the picture of the earthling as Jobs' dreams. He comes home from a long day at the office using his Macbook all day, possibly sneaking in some iTunes listening while his boss isn't looking. He sits on the couch to watch his Apple TV and lye down on his iPad(what are those good for again?). He then listens to his iPod and falls asleep, dreaming of how his life would be meaningless without Apple's guidance. But i digress.

This article does a good, honest job of portraying Apple as a company. The reality of what they do makes all the sense in the world, though it pains me to admit it. I would run my business similar to how Apple rules theirs: with pure evil.

Legalize Hemp

Not quite sure what to say about this article. It is interesting how marijuana is that kid that hangs with the bad kids, yet isn't really that bad of a kid. You know, the one that does something good every once in a while, but still is classified as a troublemaker. But why? There is a 1936 propaganda movie called Reefer Madness where it is argued that marijuana is highly addictive and causes people to commit horrible crimes. All of its false accusations about marijuana have been since proven false, yet the child is still in timeout.

Oh yeah. The article. Growing marijuana is fairly interesting and I had  no idea that these facilities were so close to Indiana. At the same time I can't believe there aren't schools all over Indiana that teach how to grow kemp. The article itself bored me in its format. It luckily is on a topic that interests me somewhat.

One thing I didn't understand was why the guy toward the end doesn't report the stealing of $15,000 in weed. That's a lot of weed! He never gives a reason why he doesn't report it. Poor guy. Still, the guy that made out with his stuff is one lucky man. It's crazy.

I think that by having these schools around, the students and those involved will discover that weed isn't that bad. We are trained as youngsters to believe hat it is bad and wrong and all of these horrible things. Why? Don't ask why, that's why. It's time we realize that marijuana, though maybe a potential crime escalator, might as well be legalized.

Profile: The Extra Point

Tyler Melchior played football for Bosse High School for 5 years. He developed talent that earned him All-State selection in the region as well as as the nickname, "Touchdown Tyler". Though talented, he played on an inner city school with only about 25 players on its roster. The team struggled, because of its size as well as other factors, and barely managed to win two or three games per season. Coming from that, it seems unlikely that a football player would continue on to play division 1 football.  He will step onto the football field as a nobody with only his body as a testament to his abilities. Yet this spring Touchdown Tyler will give it a try as his former teammate, myself,  did. I will be a character in this story, as I have agreed to help him train for his tryout and succeed where i failed. It is a story about taking the final shot toward greatness before we must become conforming members of society and the bonds that form toward common goals.


Why does my subject matter?

The subject of my piece fits into a category of people from small places with big dreams. This is more than just wanting to be on a team. We want to show the world that Bosse High School is more than just anothe struggling school. It can produce greatness. This will be the main focus point for the story; showing how my subject is reaching for a goal that in all logical aspects should be far out of his reach. The challenge is to make this  goal about more than football. It must be about an internal journey that all people go through, regardless of which star they are reaching for.

What sources will be encountered?

Myself, Waylon Schenk,  a football coach closest to Tyler, Wayne Harvey, who has known Tyler nearly his whole life, and any IU football coaches that will talk to me.

Mister Fucking Rogers!!!

I attempted to read this article with an unbiased eye. I didn't really watch Mister Rogers when I was young, but I was aware of it enough to remember it fondly from my childhood. The picture I got from the article of this man was honestly what I expected from his on-screen persona: a neat and tidy man with a kind heart.

The start of this article really plays to the emotions of the reader. Most people had stuffed animals that they adored as kids. The beginning anecdote tugs at the heart strings of the reader, only revealing later in the story the significance of it. I enjoy how the story is a collection of different little stories, each giving the reader a deeper view into the life of Rogers. Each story begins with "once upon a time", giving the imagery of Mister Rogers telling a story on his show. It gives the entire story a heart-warming overtone.

I do feel that no real conflict comes into the story until the second to last page, when they visit Rogers' hometown. I suppose just the fact that this is about Rogers is enough to make it interesting, but a bit more conflict would be nice. Maybe Rogers has to save 30 children from a burning building. Or 30 burning children from a building. Never mind.

I feel overall that the article only touches the surface of who Rogers is internally, but focuses mainly on the things he does for others. Perhaps it is the author's way of saying that this is who Rogers is internally: a loving man who desires to help others beyond any normal human being's sense of such.

The Peekaboo Paradox

The first thing I noticed about this article was its conversational writing style. The story is driven heavily by long periods of dialog that move the various themes throughout. Much of this is due to the fact that the writer and The Great Zucchini seem to have a relationship that exceeds the typical writer-subject relationship. The two seem as very close friends, sharing secrets as well as hanging out for prolonged periods of time. It makes for a more interesting story, but at times made me question the validity of the author's words. Though the piece was fairly neutral, it would be hard to believe that someone so close to GZ would ever put him in a bad light, aside from calling him "a complete idiot".

When reading this article, I lost interest quickly once I discovered it was about a children's entertainer, perhaps the most unappealing topic I could imagine. However, my interest peaked at two crucial turning points in the story. The first was when the author revealed that this seemingly petty profession was making Eric Knaus $100,000 a year. When this is mentioned it raises the stakes. The reader knows that this man must be exceptional at what he does. The second moment is when it is revealed that Knaus has a gambling problem. It brings much needed conflict into the story. Obviously, not many men want to entertain children for a living, so I figured there was a darker past behind this man. These points in the story are crucial because they would not have maintained my interest without them.

This article begins by relying on a single question to pull the reader in: Who is The Great Zucchini? The appeal of this question held my attention for a few paragraphs, but I honestly would have stopped reading before it got interesting had this not been a class assignment. There are multiple stretches in this article where i lost sight of where the story was headed. One minute it was a discussion about a struggling children's entertainer. The next it was about Eric Kraus trying to hook up with strippers.

This story would have been much better if it were about 1000 words shorter. It just seems drawn out for no particular reason. It has a solid beginning and a circle kicker in that Kraus is doing what he loves again at the end of the piece. Perhaps the point of the story is that regardless of all the issues that Kraus struggles with, he can still make a difference in many lives as The Great Zucchini.

She Conned The Ivy League...Eventually

The build up to the article, "The Girl Who Conned The Ivy League" is one of the most drawn out series of words I have ever read. The intro was amazing and hooked me in, wondering how this girl did this and what will happen to her as a result. Getting to those answers became quite a dull experience, due to a drawn out back story and an almost storybook style of writing.

"The Girl", known as Esther Reed, lived one of the most dull and depressed lives I have ever heard of. Perhaps the author thought the best way to drive that point home was by telling the story in a dull manner, but I doubt it.

Anyway, I think that Reed's scam was well thought out and I must give her credit for finding a way around so many obstacles. Stealing identities is wrong and she is rightly punished for it, but wow. She had to have been an intelligent woman. It just shows that public school is in no way, shape, or form any indication of one's intelligence.

I do sympathize with Reed wanting to make something more of her life. She was brave in her decision to do so by any means necessary. Though I'm not a big fan of how this article is written, I can not deny that the story itself is fascinating.

Celebrity: The Arthur Kade Project

Arthur Kadyshes, or rather Arthur Kade, moved me with the story of his life. Here is a man who is truly a product of his environment and at the same time a man able to choose his own destiny.

The most astonishing aspect of this article to me is the power of blogging and how Kade attempts to use it to his advantage. I have honestly been doubting the usefulness of blogging as of late, but this article has spurred my interests once again.

The issue of Kade's views on women, I agree, is legitimate. Kade seems to view women as objects and unfairly places harsh criticism on their physical appearances. He uses sex purely as a means of enjoyment. However, for this I will not judge this man. I understand firsthand how difficult it is to connect with women coming from a home stricken by divorce. I imagine Kade was never able to see from his father the correct way to treat women; to deal with their emotions, connect with them, and develop real relationships with them. While in my case I retained respect for women, Kade clearly did not.

In regards to Kade's talents, I must say he seemed promising until the author deemed his acting "not believable". This part of the story is a huge turning point, as reality comes into effect. It was the first time in the article that I thought this might not be a Cinderella story. It may just be a talentless man following a far-fetched dream who has gained a great deal of attention. In any case, this sets up the conclusion to the story in which Kade expresses that "The Journey" is more important to him than his imminent success or failure.

J342 Story Ideas

Good profile candidates:

Guidance Counselor Lauren Kinzer
Director of Student Media Ron Johnson
IU Football's Ben Chappell

Profile personalities:

-anyone from a low income family trying to get through college
-determined individual whose dreams have not worked out
-student with an unusual skill or interest

"Good Morning, Megan Fox"

This Esquire article metaphorically takes the reader deeper into the mind of Megan Fox than any film or photo shoot has. It expresses how Fox, ironically, has much more to her than meets the eye. It is common knowledge that many celebrities are completely different than their on-screen personae. This article is a testament to that statement.

The horse Fox is riding, Bandit, exists as a metaphor for the struggles in her life. She needs to give the things which bother her "a command" and not be timid with them. Everything, from the paparazzi to her breakup with her boyfriend, threatens to take her sanity. This article follows that internal struggle.

What I like best about this article is the way it shows Fox's frailty without making her seem weak. To be human is to struggle with life and its many challenges, but struggling doesn't make a person weak. Fox's issues are expressed as legitimate problems that every reader understand. From this is gained a bit of respect from readers who possibly only see the young actress as a sex symbol and object of lust.

If you knew nothing about Fox before this article, you would leave knowing little about her. You wouldn't know where she grew up, her favorite color, or her favorite song. However, you would understand her on a deeper level, which is much more valuable information.