Response to Brandon's Bonus 8 by Kyra Moore.

I think that most college students can agree with majority of the sentiments stated in this bonus. I know a lot of college students who also experience burnout, especially as this semester comes to a close. College is arguably one of the most trying times in a person’s life. More times than not, we have to juggle school, extracurricular activities, applying for professional development opportunities, applying to scholarships, church (if applicable), family issues, maintaining a social life, trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and the list goes on. College is where people from all walks of life gather in the name of one thing- education. I have respect for each and every college student, it is not easy by any means but I feel that it is definitely worth it. To every college student reading this, you have my unconditional respect. I am extremely proud that we have all made it thus far- however it is that we got here. Do not let societal constraints nor the opinions of others define you nor your success. Your journey in life is very specific to you and you only. While we all know that it is going to be tough and become overbearing at times, it is my hope that you find the strength to carry on as I know that we all can. It is absolutely okay to be a wreck, what matters most is that we do to remedy the things that are a wreck in our lives. Any stride towards success in adverse times is a magnanimous one.

My favorite part of the post was the actual layout of how Brandon planned to better his “body, ethic, and spirit.” I also greatly appreciated the acknowledgement of how these steps can be taken one at a time- “though it’s not necessary that every step betters each virtue all together, like a toddler its best to take it one step at a time.”

I am an avid planner as it pertains to how to efficiently execute all of the assignments that I have to complete, but never an avid planner as it pertains how to efficiently execute life. I think that myself, and other college students as well, would greatly benefit from doing this type of planning. It could potentially make the load that is getting your life together seem substantially lighter. In light of it being finals season, I think that I may implement this strategy fairly soon, especially in the summertime.

In addition, I am also striving towards some of the same goals presented in this blog post. I too am “trying” to live a healthier lifestyle. The time consuming apparatus that is college makes this fairly difficult I must say. Convenient eating, which is ideal as a college student, more times than not promotes me to make unhealthy food decisions. Currently, I am researching how to eat more clean on a college student budget. I plan to implement these tactics over the summer and have them carry on to next school year. Wish me luck!

Overall, this was a very enjoyable and refreshing read nonetheless. I have gathered some tips for life and found comfort in this read.

Our Sweet Hypocritical Grandmother by Kyra Moore

“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Conner I would argue was undoubtedly one of the most context heavy stories that we have read in this class thus far. I would also argue that it is the most intriguing story that we have read as I feel it has no clear or concise moral theme. She addresses a number of topics such as our prison system and its effects on it inhabitants, family dynamics and Christianity. Although she alluded to a number of concepts, the one that stuck with me the most is the concept of Christianity. O’Conner used the character of the grandmother and her persona in the story to speak on, or allude to, a number of concepts as it pertains to Christianity such as hypocrisy and the use of the religion.

In researching the personal life of Miss O’Conner, I found that her and her family were devout practicing Catholics. With this being said, this leads me to believe that she may be speaking of accounts that may be specific to her interactions with Christians and Christianity.

I actually primarily read this story in a college credit English course in high school. It is not until I was forced to further look at the literary work with an analytical eye that I noticed what O’Conner could have been saying about Christianity. The prominent character that can be associated with Christianity in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” is the grandmother.

Within the work, we are not aware that the grandmother is a Christian at all in the beginning of the story. Ironically, when the reader is fully aware of the religion of the grandmother is when she is in a high anxiety situation such as her looking face to face with death. In fact, we are made aware numerous times that she is immensely concerned with her appearance being “lady-like” before we are aware of the religion that she practices. O’Conner even goes as far as to say in the beginning of the story, “In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would know at once that she was a lady.” Ironically enough, as we see in the story, it is not her appearance or apparel that she uses to try to bring her out of a fate of death but it is her religion that she uses as an agent. When the grandmother realizes that she may be subject to death, she says things to the Misfit such as “If you would pray, Jesus would help you” and “that’s when you should have started to pray,” speaking of a particular time in the Misift’s life. Another time when the grandmother could not think of anything else to say when faced with adversity in the story she said, “pray, pray, pray.”

I think this is the phenomenon that O’Conner was trying to bring awareness to- the fact of putting Christians portraying themselves in a prominent manner but puts their religion on the backburner until it’s convenient for them. This is exactly the hypocrisy that we see in the grandmother, she only practices her religion primarily when she is faced with adversity.

Overall, in this story we can take a number of different angles as it pertains to Christianity, as O’Conner designed it to be, but the concept of hypocrisy and backburner Christianity is what stood out to me most. It also had a substantial amount of evidence to support the claim. In researching O’Conner and analyzing this literary work of hers, it entices me to read what other claims does she make throughout her works.

Bonus 11 by Kyra Moore

The concept of humor is one that I had not given much thought. Upon thinking about the concept that is humor, I struggled to give it a definite definition. Humor is one of those things in life that is not necessarily defined in any regard but is simultaneously a humongous part of culture and society. I would pose the argument that humor is subjective, being based on the crowd or environment that one is in. I would also like to pose the argument that humor is multifaceted, being able to look like a number of things. I personally think that comedy, with comedy shows being a great example, is an event of unity and comedy of some sorts. I pose the argument of comedy being an umbrella of unity because all cultures are subject to being the center of hysteria. This is supported by the racial gift basket video by Gabriel Iglesias- this video attacked a marginalized community with common stereotypes but there was no uproar. This more than likely attributed to the fact that people are aware that are cultures have been the subject of laughter, not just one particular culture. I also think that because the comedian was also a minority who may be subject to the same but different types of stereotypes is also why the jokes he made went over rather smooth.

This phenomenon of comedy promotes an all-inclusive culture in which everyone is on the same playing field- which is virtually inexistent in our current society. Overall, humor is an all-inclusive community that is complex in meaning and definition.

Though all our cultures, or groups, are present or subject to “exploitation”- what makes something funny? I think that something being funny could be dependent upon a number of things. Personally speaking, I am an extremely goofy human being and when I think of what makes something funny a number of answers occur to me. A number of examples are, if something reminds someone of a previous funny event, a silly tone, something that I can relate to and the list could very well go on. For example, my best friend Sophia and I find almost the SAME EXACT things funny. There were innumerable times in high school where something happened, Sophia and I would be the only ones who were dying of laughter. This is proof that humor is extremely subjective and based on the crowd.

In speeches of history, especially presidential speeches, it is extremely common for the person to “crack” a few jokes and I would argue that I would be worried if someone did not make one joke throughout their speech. Using former president Barack Obama as an example, he is infamous for including humor as an agent within his speeches. This is another testament on how humor is subjective and crowd-based. The reason that former president made the joke is because, more times than not, it is a political matter that everyone is aware of. If he were to crack a joke that is exclusive to his immediate family, no one would get it and the joke would not go over well. Overall, humor is an all-inclusive community who’s success I would argue is subjectively based on its crowd.