Research Paper Thesis Statement

When parents buy Barbie dolls or Disney Princesses for their daughters such as Cinderella, they do not realize what negative effects these toys may have upon their children. These dolls portray what is considered to be "the perfect body", but in reality such body would be impossible to have. In today's world girls are pressured to be thin thus being exposed to such pressure in such an early age can be a start to low self- esteem.

Annotated Bibliography

Hanes, Stephanie. "Little girls or little women? The Disney princess effect." Christian Science  Monitor 24 Sept. 2011: N.PAG. Academic Search Premier. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

 Stephanie Hanes’ article argues the fact that girls are pressured about their body imagine as early as during their childhood years. Although Disney Princesses may appear to be animated characters and innocent toys, in reality they can cause girls to have eating disorders. Hanes mentioned a study by the University of Central Florida in which 50% of girls from ages 3 to 6 claimed that they worry that they are fat. This article also focused on the fact that princesses allude to the idea of wearing dresses and waiting for a prince.

 This source is very reliable as it contains information from professors, universities, and first hand examples such as the one of Mary Finucane’s daughter. This article is only two years old thus it is up to date and it contains interesting evidence about the issue of body imagine in girls. This source also brings to attention that parents should be concerned by providing excellent examples which most people would not realize.

This article will be very useful as it includes research that has already been done on the relation of girls and Disney Princesses. It has some great evidence that I will be able to use to support my argument such as Finucane’s daughter’s behavior.

Entertainment

My favorite article this week was "Hip Hop Life". I found it very interesting because I feel the same way about music. As DeSean explained how Hip Hop is not a style he stated "A lifestyle and a life are totally different". This is a very powerful statement because people do honestly get those two confused. There are always stereotypes about people depending on what music they listen to, but at the end that is not what matters. As he said how Hip Hop influenced him as he faced many struggles while growing up since he was from the ghetto, I was able to relate to that. I mean I did not have any struggles like he did but I do turn to music many times for inspiration. It's like sometimes music speaks to me too. Overall, this article was intriguing as I find it as an inspiration to follow your dreams and to disregard any negativity.

Good Interview

I think that this was a good interview because the questions asked were not "yes" or "no" questions, therefore the interviewer was able to get very detailed answers from the person. Also although I am not able to see the person interviewing, I can tell that there is eye contact as he looks up and straight at something while talking. Overall this interview had very good questions as the interviewer was given a lot of details.

Commencement Address

The reading I liked the best this week was "Commencement Address" by Jon Stewart. I liked it because he turned a typical boring graduation speech into a more meaningful but yet fun speech. What I mean is that he kept his speech comical and straight forward. His speech was very honest, which usually people want to keep their speech formal thus they cover up the truth by making everything seem perfect; however in reality we know that today's world is no where near being perfect. Thus Stewart did a great job informing the students that life is full of ups and downs but that anything is possible therefore we should never be discouraged but rather look at everything in a positive way and think that we will be okay. Overall this reading had a very powerful message about the real world that Stewart was able to share with the graduates without turning their special day upside down.

collage

My identity collage will be on my family and my heritage, as they trace back to my hometown Faial, Azores. Thus the theme for my collage is multi- culture. I will be using pictures of my homeland, family, my best friend, and other things that I value and that describe who I am, and I will be using Glogster.

Alter Egos

As I read Alter Egos: Avatars and Their Creators, I found it very interesting how the avatars that the people created were the complete opposite of who they are. It appeared to me that these people created someone with the life and abilities that they wish they had, as if they wanted to escape their real lives. A perfect example is Jason Rowe, who created an avatar with a lot of strength and with all the abilities that he does not have as he has many physical disabilities. Thus I believe that he looks forward into playing with his avatar because it allows him to be "normal" since nobody knows who he really is. In the text he said "the computer screen is my window to the world...virtual worlds bring people together" (Latterell, 56); meaning that people cannot judge him as they do not know what he really looks like so he can be himself. Which this makes me feel that people like him who have created avatars are unhappy with who they are and so they create these characters so that they have a chance to be who they want to be without anyone criticizing them. Overall I enjoyed this reading as it made me realize how you truly cannot know who a person really is just by what they make themselves appear online; their true identities come through when face- to -face.