Whiplash!

     Fletcher's claim that "there are no two words more harmful in the entire English language than good job" is backed up by the example of "Bird" not becoming the great saxophone player that he did if his teacher had told him he did a "good job" messed up. Although Fletcher had a good example and I agree that telling someone they did good when they really didn't is untruthful and harmful, pushing a student to do their absolute best should not condone cruel words and behavior. 
      Telling someone that they did something perfect or sounded good when they actually did horrible is an act of lying. Telling the truth is always the most important thing that can be done to help someone continually grow and succeed in their skill. From my experience the saying "the truth will always come out" holds true. I remember when I was about eleven years old my mom asked me if  I had let out the dog, but I was already comfy on the couch, so I lied and said yes. Later that day I went downstairs to actually let the dog out only to find she peed all over the floor. I tried to clean it up, but my mom could smell it when she came downstairs. I was grounded because I had lied and thought to myself, "If only she hadn't peed on the floor, I wouldn't be grounded because Mom wouldn't have known." Little did I know then that every time I lied, someone would always find out the truth. 
       Lying is also harmful, especially when it is preventing them from the opportunity to learn and expand their skills. I know from experience; I have taken piano for five years and at the beginning my teacher would tell me how good I was doing although my family knew it sounded choppy and awful. At my piano recital, I messed up so horribly that I had to restart four times. I was completely embarrassed and upset with myself because I thought I sounded good from what my teacher said. My family talked to me about how I could use that experience to work harder next time. Because of their encouragement, I had the motivation to work harder for the next recital and ended up not messing up once. 
       Pushing a student is actually encouraged, but it doesn't condone cruel words and actions. The purpose of a teacher is not to tear the students down but to encourage them to do better. At least that is how I learn. I also take voice lessons from an amazing teacher that also believes in strengthening students rather than degrading them. We set goads for me to achieve and he will not let me move on until I have accomplished it. With his way of teaching I enjoy working hard to sound beautiful instead of being scared into being better. Music especially is not something that can be forced; it must be felt and experienced. 
      In retrospect, the claim , "there are no two words more harmful in the entire English language than good job" made by Fletcher to condone his way of teaching, is not completely true. There are far more harmful ways to prevent students from fully grasping the extent of their talents. Breaking their hearts and crushing their dreams with cruel words and actions doesn't make students want to grow and learn. By encouragement and setting goals, students will want to continue to work hard to learn because they enjoy it. 
           
   

Extra Gum: Sarah and Juan

Extra gum presents us with the beautiful love story of Sarah and Juan to persuade us to by their product. Sarah and Juan meet in high school when Sarah offers him a piece of extra gum after helping her pick her stuff up. After their first date, he draws their kiss on the wrapper. For the rest of their dating relationship, when they have a special moment, she gives him a piece of Extra gum. He always discretely draws their moments on the wrapper so she doesn't notice. When she sees all the wrappers framed on the walls, it has a larger emotional impact on her, especially when she sees the last one of him proposing. The claim for the commercial is obviously to buy Extra Gum. The warrant is that if you give extra care into your relationships, then you will get extra special results in the end. The backing for the warrant is Juan and Sarah's relationship. Juan put in extra time and care to keep their memories on the Extra wrappers, so he could propose to her in a fun personal way. They had some tough spots in their relationship, but the fact that he still kept the wrappers shows his commitment and hope for their future. Because of the little extra time and effort he put into their relationship over the years, he produced the perfect proposal, and her reaction was worth it all. Extra gum encourages people to put in extra time, effort, and love into their relationships to get something extra special in the end. 

Always #LikeAGirl

          In the “Always #LikeAGirl” video kids and teens are asked to run, fight, and throw like a girl. Always presents a strong argument that girls are not limited, but society tries to limit them by portraying  them as weak, and girls start to portray themselves the same when they hit puberty. Always wants to change the audience’s view of the phrase “like a girl” from as insult to a compliment, and they did that by making some very strong points to support their argument. These include the contrast between different people’s view of girls, when the phrase “like a girl” became an insult, and that girls should not be limited.

             At the beginning of the video, the older girls and guys are asked to run, fight, and throw like a girl. They all reacted the exact same way which was very slow, weak and complained the whole time. The older teens reacted the way they did because society has labeled girls in general as weak and slow. The girls ran weak not because that is how they themselves run, but how the phrase “like a girl” would imply they run. When the younger girls are asked the same question, they ran as fast as they could with determination, and put all their strength into the exercises. When the little girl was asked what it meant to run like a girl, she said, “It means to run as fast as you can.” The younger girls didn’t understand that “like a girl” was supposed to mean be weak and not try hard. They interpret it as, “Well, I am a girl, so I should show them how well I can run.”

              The phrase “like a girl” becomes an insult when girls are going through puberty. It’s at this time she is most vulnerable, so it becomes confusing for her. She is trying to figure out who she really is and had thought she was a strong, confident person, but everyone is telling her that she can’t be strong and confident because she is a girl. Because of a girl’s vulnerability during puberty, she believes all of the lies society says about her. It’s insulting, and even the little boy in the video knew it was an insult, but didn’t fully understand that by saying girls are weak he is insulting his sister as well. Society limits girls and crushes their self confidence with this one phrase. 

                Always wants to show girls that they should always do their best and not limit themselves by what society says about girls. Being a girl doesn’t mean that they are weak, can’t run as fast, can’t hit as hard, or can’t win, it means that they should be the best person that they can be. Always shows that girls should just be themselves when one of the older girls says she wants to run again but this time like herself. Society says that boys are better than girls, but the truth of the matter is not measured by who is better than who, but who works the hardest to reach their goals. The strongest point that Always presents about rewriting the rules in the video was, “Why can’t ‘run like a girl’ also mean ‘win the race’?” This point opened the viewer’s eyes to how girls can be winners and change the phrase “like a girl” to a complement that shows how amazing girls are.

                Always’ goal was to present a strong argument stating that girls are not limited, but society tries to limit them by portraying  them as weak, and girls start to portray themselves the same when they hit puberty. Always succeeded by giving points about how society views girls, how younger girls view girls, how during puberty the phrase “like a girl” becomes an insult that crushes their self confidence, and how Always wants to help girls to not limit themselves. Their ultimate goal was to change the audience’s view of the phrase “like a girl” from as insult to a compliment.

Children's Story: Narnia

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis is a classic children’s book series that ultimately tells the life of Jesus. It is especially portrayed in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Aslan represents Jesus Christ by his life, death, and resurrection in the book.

When the children first hear about Aslan from Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, they tell them how Aslan is the great lion and the son of the Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea, but when Susan asks if he is safe, Mr. Beaver replies, “Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he is good. He’s the King, I tell you.” This statement about Aslan is parallel to the nature of God. Following him never grants one a safe and easy life. He is powerful and should be feared, but he is loving and good and wants the best for us.

Edmund betrays his family and Aslan when he tried to join the White Witch’s side, but was rescued by Aslan’s army. The White Witch claims that she should posses all traitors, and Edmund should die on the stone table, but Aslan decides to take his place and give his life instead. This scene represents how Christ took the punishment mankind deserved and was crucified. And just as Jesus was beaten and humiliated, Aslan suffered the same. The White Witch shaved him, laughed and bound him as her demon army cheered. She then stabbed him with a dagger, and he died on the stone table just as Christ died on the cross. As Christ took his last breath, there was an earthquake and the veil in the temple, separating man from God, was ripped from top to bottom. When Aslan rose from the dead, an earthquake cracked the stone table in half showing that the curse is broken, and there will be no more bare, cold winter but spring will take its place with love, warmth, and joy as Aslan reigns. Just as in the Bible, Mary Magdalene, and the mother Mary found Jesus’ empty tomb when he resurrected, Lucy and Susan found Aslan. Before Aslan and the sisters head off to war, he goes to the Witch’s castle and breathes life into his warriors. This act represents the Holy Spirit breathing life into Christians as they fight in a spiritual battle. Aslan ends the battle by killing the White Witch, and in Revelation God destroys Satan, everything evil, and sin.

When Aslan tells Edmond and Lucy they won’t be coming back to Narnia he says, “In your world I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia appeals to children by portraying Jesus as a talking lion that isn’t safe but good in a magical land that is full of joy and color, but without the lion, it is cold and bare. In the series good always wins over evil although the children in the books are faced with evil temptations and enemies. C.S Lewis said, “Since it is so likely that children will meet cruel enemies let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.”



Kentucky Creativity

                The earthy aroma of Kentucky woods and the feeling of freedom that comes with adventure were all too familiar with my seven year old self. That little town of about 1,000 was not only the birthplace of my creativity, but also where I met my first best friend.  She lived just down the street, we went to the same church and school, and we liked all the same activities, so we did everything together. Our all time favorite thing to do was exploring the woods during the hot summer months. We’d climb stiff vines and swing on them across the streams and creeks while pretending we were saving baby tigers in the rainforest. Our imaginations could run wild in those woods.

            One day my first grade teacher asked us to write a creative story using our vocabulary words like adventure, explore, and dangerous. Naturally I wanted to write about Melanie and me, so I called it “The Adventures of Lizzy and Mel Mel”. We lived in a treehouse in the middle of the Amazon Rainforest with our sisters. In the story we rode zip lines everywhere, even to church and Wal-Mart. We saved baby tigers and tended to injured toucans with the help of our dog and cat, Ellie Mae and Boots. My first story was about ten pages long, but I still had plenty to write about. Every time my teacher gave us a writing assignment, I would write about Lizzy and Mel Mel. I loved putting all my creativity into those stories, and to make my imagination come to life even more, I drew a map of our little town in the Amazon on six pieces of paper taped together to not leave out a single zip line or swinging vine. Rolled up like a scroll, the map came with me on trips so I could plan out Lizzy and Mel Mel’s next adventures.

           The longest trip the map and my stories went on was on the move to Tennessee that summer. Melanie and I kept in touch and I continued to write about us and all the fun we could be having together. Her family came to visit us a year after we had moved. I was so excited to see my best friend again and could not wait for all the fun activities we would do together. But when I saw her, she no longer had that spark of mischief and adventure in her eye. All she wanted to talk about was boys, clothes, and shopping, and those were all the things I hated. I could not believe that my best friend, that I used to do everything with and like all the same stuff, had changed so much. I no longer had the desire to write about Lizzy and Mel Mel because Melanie and Mel Mel were not the same person anymore. I rolled up the scroll and the stories and hid them in a shoebox under my bed. I then focused my creativeness into drawing, piano, and singing. But every once and a while, I find myself on the floor with a shoebox lid in my hand and my eyes scanning over the misspelled words of a seven year old who longed to share adventure with a best friend.