Final reflection

I had a really basic level knowledge of Superman upon entering this class. I feel that having gone through the class and looking at the philosophy of the character, I've grown in a deeper understanding of the character. 

I didn't have any ideas about Batman change, because I've always known about the majority of the concepts that we'd talk about in class. I had enough background knowledge that was supported by our readings in talking about sidekicks, and more specifically his relationship to Dick Grayson. 

I think I learned the most about myself through our short time discussing the Hulk. How we react to anger is a subject that has interested me for a long time, because we all react in different ways. I think it's interesting to think about what can come out of being angry. In the Hulk's case, anger turns into a world of hurt for whoever pisses him off. I'd say that's pretty much what happens to everyone else, but I think there can be other things to come out of being angry. For example, when I'm angry, I'm able to focus on more complex tasks and become more determined to finish things. 

I think it would have been neat to talk about both Wolverine and Hulk when it came to anger, because it seemed that the angrier they both get, the more someone in their way was bound to be in trouble. I think that it'd be cool to compare both of them, because unlike the Hulk, I would think that something inside Logan might make him feel more remorse than the actual Hulk would.  

I think having the knowledge of what it means to be a superhero, and what those heroes do to go above and beyond plays into the role of being a good citizen. I think out of all of the superheroes we covered in class, I think that Superman is the best citizen. I feel like out of costume and in it he does what is right for everyone and I think that as an alien he works hard to protect his new home.

Reflection 11

Coach tells Thom that he can no longer be on the team for a list of bull$hit reasons ranging from his seizures and the insurance liabilities that could occur to him being "different." The coach had essentially been super judgmental towards Thom. If it'd had been me, all hell would have broken loose. No one deserves to be treated any differently at all despite any situation they might be in. My parents would be the same way, to say that my parents are overprotective is somewhat of an understatement. My parents would literally pounce on anyone who crossed their kids. I was thinking about my experience during the alternative spring break program last year when i was doing the poverty simulation and remembered  how people were told to "treat us like homeless people" and I was so happy to see that those people pretty much told the program leaders to grow up, and that they'd treat anyone the same regardless of class.

Ruth is esstetially saying to Thom that the things he wants won't just fall into his lap, he's got to be proactive and seek out what he desires. I don't wait for happiness to find me, I go out there and get it. I've done too much waiting around for good things to come, so I make them happen for me if that makes any sense. I have taken control of my own happiness.

I think this happens to most people, but not to the exact same caliber as Thom. For Thom, he overcame a lot of obstacles and put those who would judge him to shame in that moment and that's why I think that moment was so important to him. For other people, I think that the experience is a tad different. Everyone likes the recognition that comes with cheers from an entire crowd, and that's what most people gain from times like that.

I don't know that the perfect first kiss is something that actually exists. I think that the awkwardness of the "first move" and the dysfunctional-ness of it all is what makes it feel perfect, but I think that, that depends on the couple. Crushes on famous figures are pretty common, my celeb crushes are mainly on ladies like Zooey Deschanel, Natalie Portman, Emily Blunt, etc. All B-E-A-utiful actresses. I think we have these crushes because the idea of having a relationship with your crush can provide an escape, just like comics.

I finished the book today, and if you haven't yet, all I can say is holy moly! 

Reflection #10

Let me start my blog by saying, Holy WATCHMEN! What a read that was! I remember Dr. H saying how much analyzing could be done on just a few panels. With how long and detailed the comic is, I wonder what it would be like to sit there and analyze the entire thing. I'm sure it would be super intense! I can't say I've ever been a huge fan of the Watchmen, nor did I read the comic before this class, my first experience was the midnight premiere of the movie that came out a few years ago. The group of friends I went with had all been crazy about the watchmen, a kind of nerd crush on them. They were determined to see it no matter what, and although we had the means to get to theatre, getting into the R rated movie was going to be an epic challenge on it's own. The first R rated movie I ever snuck into, and I was freaking out the entire time because I was so nervous. The movie was good, but reading the comic was way better! It was a long comic, but it was so good! Every panel was just like a movie and I couldn't wait to get to the next page.

So, here's a question for all of you for that play video games. why is it that all "evil" characters are way more badass, or stronger than the heroes? This question was sparked from when some brothers of mine and myself were playing Playstation All Stars Battle Royale, a Super Smash Bros. rip off, where all the PS superheroes and some villains fight each other. I noticed that all the evil characters are way stronger than the good ones. If good is supposed to always win, why do these characters seem to put the hurt down no matter what?

Going off that, after the Real Life Superheroes lesson I thought about what if there were real life super-villains? Like i know gang related violence and other things are a the villains of the real world, but is there anyone that claims to have superpowers and uses it for evil? That was just one of the many crazy ideas I had about that documentary.

Reflection #9

If I were to make a costume to go out and realistically fight crime, I'd want something that could be taken seriously by adults but still serve as a symbol to children to look up too. The heroes from the documentary I would use as inspiration for my costume would probably be Life and Dark Guardian. I'd wear something that could be considered street clothes, and a simple mask that would just cover the upper half of my face. I'd want to conceal some of my identity, but at the same time not make me come off as menacing or a danger to society. I wouldn't have any martial arts experience or anything like that, because I've never been one to get those experiences.
If I were to be like the real life superheroes I'd want to be a role model for troubled kids in my hometown. I'm sure as with most poverty stricken neighborhoods, there is always some kind of trouble that young people can find themselves in. Gangs, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and/or some sort of violence. In the neighborhood I grew up in all of those things were present. Gang violence was above all the worst part of my neighborhood; we had guns going off, houses getting broken into and even as far as people getting shot just for looking at someone the wrong way. If it was up to me I'd want to help kids choose an alternative to these sorts of paths and figure out a way to succeed and not turn to gang related violence or other issues.
I think I identify with Dark Guardian the most. He wasn't afraid to run into a park with a megaphone and call out any drug dealer in his neighborhood. Life is another hero I'd identify with as well, because he cares about certain key people in his neighborhood and makes sure that they are okay. They aren't afraid to do it, of course, they still have some fears but it isn't crippling to the point where they won't do anything.

Reflection # 8

I don't know that I've ever faced a situation where I have pushed the limits of what I believe or anything  like Kyle did, but I can tell a story of when I reacted out of pure emotion.
It's going to sound silly, but here it goes. I participated in the Alternative Spring Break trip last year in Kentucky. It was a poverty simulation, and immersed the five of us who went into the lives of those who truly live in poverty. Although we were always in a safe environment and never in any real situations that would affect our health, we were going through some of the same emotions one living in those conditions would feel. The fourth day of the trip is when everyone (including myself) had their breaking point and were just so frustrated and angry that we all had separate miniature freakouts. I felt all this anger building up, and I knew it wouldn't do me any good to hit anyone or anything, so I threw my bottle of water in a fit of rage across the room and broke it against a door. ( I told you this would sound silly.) As soon as it broke against the wall and my anger was released, i felt immediately guilty. Of course I didn't feel sorry for the person who had upset me to my breaking point, but it wasn't their facility and I went and cleaned up the mess I had made. It felt good though, to have that breaking point and just let out all of the negative emotions that had built up over the course of that week. I don't know if that makes any sense or not, or even properly answers the question.

I think the most important difference that the two experiences have are how those people are treated. The social exclusion that Beast, Nightcrawler, and other mutants like them face are only because of the way people judge them. Beast and Nightcrawler especially are arguably the nicest and most caring mutants, but because people judge them before getting to know that side of them those that judge will never know the compassion that the two share. I can't really think of how they'd be similar other than the fact that they share a home and the fact that they all have a mutation that makes them different. Now with all of that being said, I can remember when I have been judged or when I have judged others based on their looks or some other characteristic. I think that the comics or any other medium that people interact with the x-men can really show how to accept that being different is okay, and for those that judge others, interacting with these mediums can show how people that we assume are different than us aren't actually that different after all.

I don't have a mutant that I identify with, but I know that if i had a mutation, depending on what it is, I don't think I'd want the cure. If i had a power like Rogue, I would definitely take it though. I don't think I could live with a mutation like that, not being able to touch another person without killing them? No thank you.

Reflection #7

I've never been very good at meditating, so when I read the first part of the assignment for this blog post I thought I was going to be in a little bit of trouble. I'm constantly running around campus and barely have time to myself at the end of the day. Even when I'm home, I'm almost never home. So, I was pretty surprised at how easy it was to sit and meditate since I don't practice it often. In both exercises I found that I was extremely more relaxed when focusing on my breathing, anything else that came to my mind went away with a little effort to make it so. I've now thought a lot more about incorporating meditation into my life, especially during stressful weeks. Rev. Teri Ott does meditation group meetings every friday at 4, and since I'm on the email list for that I think I might join in. That would be really enlightening and might help me stay on track to meditate regularly.

It's really weird thinking about my friendships in the Aristotelian terms. In high school and the younger years i think I'd have to say i had friendships of pleasure. Now I'd say it's probably a mixture of Utility and Pleasure. I never needed much of anything from my friends when I was young, I mostly just wanted to be around kids my own age. Now I look to build networks with anyone and everyone I meet. It seems life is all about who you know now, so the friendship of utility definitely comes into play here.

I don't know if any of my friendships could evolve into a friendship of virtue, the one concept I don't quite understand is how I would determine if my friends and I were equals or not. I'm not saying I'm higher or lower than them, but I just don't know how that would work I guess.

Reflection #6

I'm going to start off by saying this is probably one of my favorite topics to talk about. My friends and I were pretty crazy as little kids and we had no limit to our imaginations.

As kids we spent the majority at one particular friend's house. It was pretty awesome because to us the house was a mansion, as he came from a more affluent family than anyone else in the group. We essentially turned every floor in the house into a different battleground as we created our own superhero identities and our powers, as clever kids as we were we usually made our powers up on the spot to beat out all the others playing with us. After awhile we took our after school adventures to school during our recess. We created the ultimate adventure on the playground, most of the time it was a "save the princess" game where we all attempted to either capture or save the princess who was almost always our love interest at the time. The one time that I was suppose to save the princess, I used a "secret passage way" (really a break in the playground equipment) to sneak in to the "jail" where our friend was being held hostage and sneak right back out. Ultimately, I was probably the coolest kid on the playground that day for using this magic break in the equipment to complete our game. It was the coolest day ever.

I'd like to think that I am still as creative as I was back when I was a little kid. I work at a mexican restaurant when I am back in my hometown, and my creativeness came through in how I managed to do multiple jobs at once. I would serve food, clean tables, and grab refills all in the matter of a few minutes. Sundays were our "hell day" as we had an all day buffet set up. This was probably the busiest day of the week and there was hardly ever a moment for rest. Clearing plates off tables (and doing other customer service related tasks) became somewhat of a strategy game for me. I would plan out my way through the restaurant grabbing plates, filling drinks, and cleaning tables. I would try to do it all before returning back into the kitchen. I would get into the zone, and make it as creative as possible.

The superhero that I'd like to discuss as far as creativeness to solve an issue is Tony Stark in the movie Iron Man 2. Throughout the movie we learn that Tony is being poisoned by the device that keeps him alive. In order to fight off the villain of the movie and keep himself alive he had to essentially build a new element to power his arc reactor and then was ultimately able to beat the bad guy.

O.M.G my bff Jill..well actually It's Amanda.

Pictured below is my best friend Amanda, a close friend from back home. I've known this girl since I was about ten years old, or however old I was in fifth or sixth grade. We've lived on the same street since around that time and hung out pretty much all the time with our other neighbor friends. We've been there for each other through a whole bunch of stuff. She helped me with the pettiest of problems I had when I was in school (relationship issues mostly if we are to be honest) we were there for each other when we were getting grief from family members or the infamous EVIL STEP-PARENT (who we nicknamed The Beast). As our friendship grew we eventually became protective of one another, especially when Amanda lost her father. Not only myself, but countless others flocked to her side to make sure she had all the support she could possibly want, even if she didn't want it at the time. 

Amanda and I now, of course, go to different schools but our friendship still holds strong. We catch up every now and again, talking about different kinds of music we are listening too, and the occasional life chat. When it comes to expressing emotion, I'm pretty low-key about that sort of thing. So when I started the blog assignment for this week it was might've come out a little awkward and that part of the conversation didn't last that long.

It went something like this: Me: Hey, so for my superheroes class, I have to talk about my appreciation for a friend and then reflect on it, or something like that. Her: Okay.... Me: Well, you know, you've had my back for a long time and you know I have yours. I just appreciate your friendship and everything you've done for me over the years. You know? Her: I appreciate you too dude!

That was it, that was the majority of that part of the conversation. I didn't feel too different after letting her know my appreciation for our friendship and she didn't seem to have much of a reaction other than appreciation for me telling her, and the rest of our catching up conversation carried on as normal so there was no major change. 

My friend Amanda and I playing a serious game of Air Hockey

Just another misunderstood mutant and Nostalgia

The following is an interview with Professor Charles Xaiver, founder of Xaiver School for Gifted Youngsters, meeting with Jake McLean who has just been dropped off at his facility.

Professor Xaiver: Hello, young man. What can I do for you?
Jake: I was told you can help me.
Professor X: That depends, do you want to be helped?
Jake: I don't understand what you mean. I'm here, doesn't that make it obvious I do.
X: Not necessarily. You could have been forced to come here or you came here on your own volition. Which is it?
Jake: I was dropped off. Abandoned. No one from back home can even look me in the eye without remembering what I had done. They're scared.
X: Come in and let's talk.
[Later]
X: Tell me Jake, what is it exactly that happened?
Jake: Last year was rough. It seems like it could have very well been the most stressful year ever. I don't just mean to say that it was my first year at college and I had a tough time adjusting, I mean that I found out I have superpowers. I'm a freak, or at least so I thought. It all started like this...It was finals week and the pressure was on to get the best grades I could. My dad wanted me to get straight A's (apparently he's never gone through discrete mathematics), my mom just wanted me to not become depressed, and it seemed that everyone else felt the need to constantly give me things to worry about. I went into the library to finish some computer science homework. I started getting frustrated, i started sweating a lot, I was getting uncomfortable and decided to leave. I started to run out of there and then it happened.
X:What happened?
Jake: I took the doors with me. Just ripped them off their hinges and kept moving, it didn't even slow me down in the slightest.
X:I think you'll fit in just right with some of our students here. We will teach you how to manage your temper, and use your powers. Would you be willing to meet a special team of mine?
Jake: I think I would love that.
X: Welcome to the team.

Nostalgia is something I have felt a lot since leaving home to come here for school. There's that saying that goes "You don't know what you have until it's gone." Though the things I have aren't necessarily gone, they have certainly changed significantly. I use to have a core group of friends that did everything together we watched one of our favorite tv shows together, and had other types of different traditions. It was a great time. As we went through high school and plans for college were coming to fruition, I found out I was the only one going off to college that would leave the group and since being here I fell out of contact with most of the friends I had back home. Of course I still have a few friends back there, but we have different arrival and departure dates from when we come home or go back to school. Whenever I go home I'm reminded that I have a group of friends I may never reconnect with and miss the heck out of them every time i'm home.

Reflection #3

Open topics always scare me, because I never know what I want to write about. Luckily through different publications around campus and discussions we've had through our class time, I think I have a solid subject to write about. In talking about identities of superheroes whether it'd be secret or not we talked about how an identity or costume defines the superhero. If you have picked up the most recent issue of the Monmouth College Courier, you should have seen the cover story "Taking the Liberal Arts Out of MC?" The article discusses how the admissions department seeks to remove the phrase liberal arts out of publications or marketing campaigns for the college. This may not seem relevant to the class, but think with me if you will, wouldn't taking the liberal arts part of the Monmouth name take away from our identity as students/staff?

The article says that liberal arts would still be an important part of the college, but would no longer be advertised to perspective students. I truly believe that this takes away from the experience that we share together as staff/faculty/students and really takes away from the previously mentioned Identity. This makes me think about what would happen if you took away identities of superheroes. What would our favorite superheroes do without key characteristics that make up their identity?

What's morality?

Class discussion on Friday was pretty great. The article that my group and I focused on the most was the Layman article "Why be Moral?" There was a specific idea that stuck with me really well. Throughout the article the question seemed more to ask, Why be a superhero? Someone mentioned in class that doing the moral thing seems to be a burden, and i agree. Why would someone go out of their way to do the right thing even if it is sometimes dangerous? From that I would further ask why someone who doesn't have superpowers would ever go out of their way to do something that is moral. Some say that doing good things is just the "right thing to do." I would agree with that if there was a more concrete definition of what is right and what is wrong, and that delves deeper into what my group and I started to talk about in class. Where do we get our definition of morality? Does it differ from others depending on geographic location? culture? or is it something else entirely? The only one of the reasons that Layman gives for being moral that makes sense to me is "It pays off in the long run (with long run meaning afterlife)." The only reason it makes sense to me, is because it is something that I have heard time and time again in church services as a kid and all of the bible study classes I had to take.

Secret identity is of great significance to most superheroes because it is how they protect themselves and their loved ones. This is seen most clearly through the Superman character. Superman is a humanoid with super strength, great intelligence, and other super awesome powers. To protect himself and family he becomes the clumsy Clark Kent, and later of course he keeps his secret identity to protect Lois from any harm. The same can be said for Spider man and other superheroes. I think we all have different identities in a sense. Everyone has a presenting self and an actual self at the very least. I tend to be somewhat professional in my conversations with certain professors and staff at the college and some members of the Monmouth community. Of course with people I am more familiar with (friends, family, etc.) I'm a little less professional. My different identities are not complete opposites or anything by any means, but they do have some differences. I usually bite my tongue on a lot of issues that bug me or cut down on my sarcastic humor with people I work with or have a professional relationship with, but with my friends and family I'm usually pretty blunt with whatever I have to say. I'm only human so of course I slip up every now and again, so to try to prevent it from happening I let each of my identities mix together in certain relationships I have. This has been a beneficial plan of action because it allows me to build stronger relationships with the people I interact with on a daily basis.

How to pick a favorite

I can't say that I've been an avid comic reader or a super follower of any particular super heroes, but I've dabbled in a few comics and watched a few movies which ended up being enough to pick Spider-Man as my favorite super hero. Spider-Man, as mentioned in the documentary, is probably one of the best superheroes that identifies most with the problems of teenagers. I had watched a number of different animated versions of Spider-Man (The Amazing Spiderman, Spider-Man and his amazing friends, etc) when I was a kid, and then when I was about fourteen or fifteen years old, I started reading some Spider-Man comics. 

The web-slinger and I had a lot in common when I was going through high school, and I don't mean the getting bitten by a radioactive spider part. I got bit by a spider, but it wasn't radioactive....unfortunately. The thing that sets Spider-Man apart from all the other superheroes in my mind, is that he seemed to be going through the same normal problems I had been going through at the time. I was the kid who would get picked on from other students, had some relationship issues, and even my situation at home was a little weird. I developed a connection with this character over time and, as weird as it may seem, turned to the comics as an escape from my own problems during school. 

When I was younger, my friends and I constantly played our imaginative game of superheroes. Some of my friends would argue over who would be which super hero, some chose Iron Man, some argued over being the Incredible Hulk, but I was always Spider-Man. We'd chase imaginary foes around for hours on end, and protect the damsel in distress. We would always add in a hint of drama into our heroes' respective lives. The popular hypothetical situation for me as Spider-Man would always consist of Mary Jane or Aunt May getting captured and having to pull of a rescue mission. 

Building off of what Loeb & Morris said in their article, living by the values or beliefs of Spider-Man would definitely assist me in making some better life decisions. The famous line from Uncle Ben, "With great power comes great responsibility" resonates with Spider-Man both in his crime fighting and in his own personal life. Having the conscience or moral judgement that Spider-Man has and applying it to my own life would definitely be a good life tool. I feel that it would provide a better understanding of my own problems, and create a path towards making the right decision from the wrong one.