Freakonomics: Perfect Parenting, Part I

When I first opened the book to find the title of this chapter, my first impression was what an oxymoronic thought. That there could ever be perfect parents, or for that matter perfect children is, to me, just is not going to ever happen. In the same sense I am not a perfect child, nor am I a perfect parent and I certainly did not help produce the perfect child. This chapter covered a number of interesting subtopics. All of which, as we are discovering, hold some degree of merit in their own unique ways.

The first subtopic covered was the notion that parents are poor risk assessors. I had to agree whole hearted with the gun in the home vs the swimming pool in the back yard. After better than 27 years as a full time emergency services responder, I have experienced one accidental shooting of a child under the age of 10. On the average, I responded to an average of 4-5 child death incidents each year of my career. The majority of those deaths were directly related to traumatic injuries such as falls, pedestrian struck and motor vehicle crashes. Falls off bicycles, down steps, out of windows, into pools and even off hay wagons. Struck by vehicles backing or forward both at high and low impact speeds. Lastly were those from motor vehicle crashes. The majority of the remaining cases I responded to, the death of the child was due to parents, or parent's significant others causing traumatic injuries. SIDS deaths accounted for only 2 of the incidents I have encountered. Not one child died of a gunshot wound caused as a result of a handgun in the home. In essence, I concurred with the authors on this subject.

I loved the author's assessment of experts as well. That the "experts" consistently contradicted each other and even themselves is so true. Just in the lifetime of my child the "experts" have waffled and or flipped opinions on so many child rearing issues. In part, it's sorta of like medicine. Wait long enough and what was once considered outdated will once again come back again as valid treatment.

The neatest information though had to be with the Chicago Public School (CPS) study. Wow! What I had thought made a difference did not and what I had thought would not make a difference did. The surprising "not" factors to me were;
*Intact family
*Mother not working between birth and Kindergarten
*Parents reading to child every day
*Visiting museums and regular spankings.

Surprising "were" factors were;
*Adopted
*Many books in home
*Child's birth weight and mother's age

Overall another very interesting and thought provoking chapter. Now if the authors could only show me sources for being a better parent to teenage girls!

Why do drug dealers still live with their Moms?

Once again the authors ask another question that makes you go "Hmmm". I have spent at least 20 of my last 30 years working in urban communities in Michigan and Pennsylvania. I got to know a lot of the dealers, prostitutes, their pimps, their territories and had the opportunity to hear quite a few their life and/or death stories. Working in their world while different isn't all that different from corporate America, as the authors tell us.

The consumers, products and the clientele are different but the principals are similar. That being said however; being involved usually means when you fail you pay in jail time, violence and death rather than unemployment lines and job seeking web sites. I really loved the question asked and answers via real life analysis given the reader. I felt the authors really researched their subject and told the story in a meaningful and educational way. They were blunt, as life can be. Nice job, look forward to the next chapter.

Freakonomics; KluKluxKlan and Real Estate Agents

What an interesting correlation. The author's once again took an outside the box look at two old institutions. The section on the leaking of KKK information to "main stream", for the time, media and it's effect on membership, attendance and activity was eye opening to say the least. The fact that once the Klan's activities became public whether due to social pressure, fear factor or maybe just that if everybody knows it's not a secret anymore mentality drove members or prospective members away.

The second section was very good as well. How interesting that the same Real Estate agent that urges you to sell is the same one who will wait an additional 2 weeks for an extra 10 thousand dollars. Not surprising when the study puts things in black and white. When selling your house for an extra 10 thousand dollars the agent only makes $150. So when he/she advises you to sell what's the motivation. Is it; "I need to pay bills and I need the money now" or "$150 isn't enough to make me want to answer another 20 phone calls and do another 5 showings over the next 2 weeks". I have heard agents talk like that. One agent told me in conversation that she "probably could have gotten $20k more for a particular property" but at the time she hadn't sold anything in 4 weeks, her husband was laid off of his job and her mortgage was due. She rolled her eyes and said it hurt her to advise the sale. I never thought about the poor guy who just took her advice and didn't get the extra money to pay his bills.

Another great chapter. Am looking forward to the next one.

Freakonomics; Chapter 1, Reading assignment for 3/22

What an enlightening reading. Firstly, I found the authors' style refreshing and interesting. Secondly, I liked the way they looked at the subject matter. Teachers and Sumo wrestlers. A good "outside of the box" look at the subject matter.

I thought the analysis of cheating, whether it was daycare parents, school teachers, Sumo wrestlers or bagel eaters was an interesting way to evaluate a number of social and moral issues all in one cohesive chapter. The process was unique, the statistical analysis seemed sound and the summary was spot on. The authors, by virtue of the reading, found innovative methods and manners to analyze multiple social trends from multicultural and multi class view points, state the thesis, analyze the thesis and demonstrate the answers in a believable and interest sparking view.

Following this chapter, I am interested in finishing the book! Good reading.

Marked Women, Unmarked Men

What an interesting essay. The author went into great and thoughtful detail to denote to the reader why she felt the women at the conference were "marked". In an almost Sherlock Holmes style she took us step by step into the female marking process. While she did not leave the males out of her observations, she did use their dress and styling as a classic example of why she felt they remained "unmarked".

Lets start with women. I agree that women tend to be more suspect to "marking" than the male gender. Her reference to the surname battle is a prime example. In my career I have met many women who had difficulties in deciding whether or not to take the husband's surname at marriage. If they did, I would agree that it "marked" them as married when introduced with the hyphenated surname. I will agree that a woman's title of Miss, Ms. and Mrs. marks them as well as opposed to the man's Mr. title.

What I did agree with was how women's dress, hairstyle, makeup and the like marks them as well. I also realize that this form of marking can be deceiving as well in both men and women. While a woman's marking may tell us what they want us to think and feel, is it a true reflection of how they really feel? Could it be that a woman's dress is more cultural than personal. That the decision to wear high heels on a hiking excursion more lack of experience then personal expression? I wonder.

Regarding males, while I agree that cultural norms have given men more latitude in remaining somewhat less marked, I disagree that all men aren't marked. From hairstyles, presence or lack of facial hair, body build, clothing and accessories are just the tip of the ice burg. Just as women may be more perceptive to other women's marking, males might be more perceptive of other male markings. While males may not "mark" as women, they mark with mannerisms and positioning. My observation is that males are more apt to position themselves in meetings and classrooms depending on their personal position regarding the subject, other participants, especially other males. This takes place by room seating choices, folding of arms, positioning of their body towards others by displaying or not displaying their power side. The power side is which ever side is dominant for that individual.

While I don't agree completely with the author, I think her point is extremely valid. To say I haven't personally utilized those markings in my lifetime regarding personality, status, whether or not to approach, or other perceptional labelling would not be true. Just as I look for other signs of marking that she didn't touch on.

2/17 - Star Wars And America

What an insightful essay. Prior to reading Ms. Black's work, I had never thought of Star Wars in an "American" old fashioned western sense. Please excuse the pun, but it makes sense. George Lucas just took the Hollywood "B" movie spaghetti western and moved the plot line forward a hundred years or so. Brilliant!

Ms. Black also nailed the thought regarding American values, good versus evil, tyranny and oppression. Not too long ago, I had the opportunity to re-watch two of the original Star Wars movies. It's funny how you notice what now are considered "old school" special affects, but in retrospect we all oohed and aahed over the original productions. The music, like today's Pirates of the Caribbean was played everywhere. Lets not forget the action toys too. Now I know why we felt that way we did about the movie. American values of democracy and goodness versus the evil dictatorship of the Empire. Nice job Ms. Whitney Black!

2/17 - Deciphering I, Robot

I really appreciate Jason Silverman's view of movies in general and I definitely related to his review of I, Robot. His assessment of the role of movie tricks and the use of style to seduce the movie goer into superimposing good artistic work over sub par movie making, to me, is right on. (see previous post) Appreciated also was his analogy of the role big business has on the film industry. Granted, 100 million dollars is a ton of money to outlay to produce and market one film, but as the author points out, what is sacrificed in thought provoking presentation or realistic story telling is replaced with slapstick comedy, sex, violence and chase scenes that sell the tickets and makes the money.

Case in point was Silverman's opine as to the departure from the original 1950 book by Isaac Asimov. Silverman makes the correlation that the book represents, as was the author's style, a mastery of clear, sharp logic. The movie then was it's antithesis by virtue of too many loose ends, plot-convenient moments and lack of rigorous thought.

That Silverman states that you have to "turn off your brain" to enjoy the movie is exactly what is wrong with popular genre movie making of today in my opinion. Almost all of the thought provoking issues are replaced by sex, violence and chase scenes. Chalk one up for the thoughtful insight of Mr. Silverman.

2/17 - Reading And Writing About Movies

Reading movies. Never thought about it in that way. It is true that we are all movie critics in one way or another, but reading a movie? Had to think about that for a bit. After some thought, I agree, we do read movies in a way. But in what context. I think 30 some years ago, I probably drew more social and cultural content from movies than I do now. I definitely am more cynical when viewing movies today and certainly am less apt to pay money on a regular basis to go see one in a theater.

When I think back to the 70's, when I first can remember going to see movies, I remember vividly, Jaws and Saturday Night Fever. The former scared me to death as I viewed it with my parents as a 13 year old the night before we left for a weeks vacation at the Jersey Shore. It took me years before I could go in the ocean without a great deal of fear. To this day I still think about that movie every time I'm at the beach. Less fearful, but still looking out into the ocean for fins.

Saturday Night Fever was more culturally influential for me. I was a sophomore in high school when that movie came out. Puffy sleeves, leisure suits, bell bottoms and disco music were the rage. John Travolta became the "cool" kid we all wanted to be and yes, I even tried to learn how to dance the way he did. I can still embarrass me teenagers with some of those silly moves in a heartbeat.

Today, I know that Hollywood and film making in general is a business. Studio's, producers, directors and even the actors go with the flow to make the big bucks. More special effects, more hack and gore, more story lines that sell like produce in a supermarket rather then tell us a story. I know that the lifestyles, clothes and interactions in the movies influence our culture, but to me, not in a good way much. Even my daughter tells me they ruin books by making movies out of them. The plots and characters change to make the movie sell. Historical remakes like the Flight 97 9/11 movie I didn't watch because you know right up front it's mostly speculation and hype to sell the movie. Nobody will ever know what really happened on that plane.

So with that I will tell you that I still enjoy sitting and "vegetating out" watching a movie. And I'll probably tell you that I still see movies that I'll say are good. But I'll say it knowing that I took a lot of the plot or story line tongue in cheek because I know its done to best capitalize on the almighty dollar, not necessarily because it's good art form or telling a real story.

Manor House Update

If anybody had been reading my blog about the Manor House, I apologize for not updating progress lately. Once all of this weather passes, I should have an update by the end of the week.

2/8 Reading Assignment: Tatum, "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?

This was an interesting essay. The author talks about the reasons why students of middle and high school age tend to group with kids of their own race. She discusses the importance Racial Identity Development may have in this process.

Basically she noted a shift from interracial elementary school days where kids of different races seem to socialize without regard to race. At around the 5th or 6th grade, children start to develop role models, lifestyles and images that are more closely aligned to their own culture group. Unfortunately, its also about this time that the child is likely to experience an event or events that forces the child to become aware of the impact racism may have upon them. In fact the grouping of children withing their own race may just be a reaction to the impact of racism. That being in a group of their "peers" may be a conscious effort to increase the child's comfort level or coping mechanism against perceived racism. .

I thought the essay was very well stated. It made me more aware of what children might be subject to in addition to all of the other social, moral and pubescent thinks kids are bombarded with daily.

2-8 Reading Assignment; Shamieh, Censoring Myself

This essay is written by an Arab-American author who was born in the United States and is christian. Her essay takes post 9/11 look at how Americans view Arabs. Her experience is a unique one in which she finds herself writing a play about an Arab girl with a terrorist brother. It was a monologue in which the Arab girl is sympathetic to those whom her brother may harm. In the process, she is invited to present her work at a festival marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks in New York City.

After she was invited to present, she actually had second thoughts and reservations about how she would be perceived. This led to her asking the promoters to have another actress perform her work so she didn't have to shoulder any criticism by herself. Subsequently she decided to write another work that was less sensitive but tells the story of a Palestinian girl on a plane hijacked by Arab terrorists. Upon the author's arrival at the festival, she finds that her work was rewritten without her knowledge. The event organizer's tell her it is because of time issues, but she notes that most of what has been omitted involves the direct discussions between the girl and the terrorists.

In retrospect the author relates how not only has the American society censored Palestinian views from the theater, that she participated as well by not producing any works of the Palestinian experience during her graduate studies at the Yale School of Drama. Additionally, she again censored herself by not doing her original work as asked for the 9/11 anniversary festival. By altering her work early on, did she sabotage herself with the event organizer's later? The author wonders if theatrical works involving the Palestinian experience, in essence, by seeing them more as human beings, would reshape the American thoughts and political policies toward Palestinians.

2-8 Reading Assignment; Gladwell, The Sports Taboo

The author utilizes this work to share with the reader his inside perspective of the association of Race and Ethnicity and sports. He specifically discusses the impact of stereotyping on athletes and sports from a first hand view. By comparing his experience in Canadian track and field with mathematics and marathon running he asks the question if race and ethnicity determines the runner's success or is it more a product of person's culture that sets the tone.

While Gladwell concedes genetics of a specific race or ethnicity factor into a person's ability to be a good sprinter, miler or distance runner, he also notes that the athletes were steered into specific sub-specialties by coaches early in life by stereotyping. For instance, he noted that on his Canadian National team , West Indies (Caribbean)-Canadians were the ones chosen to run the short sprint races. The example he used was a white runner who ran the quarter-mile race. Gladwell notes he "expected" the white athlete to eventually fail just because he was white.

Another point Gladwell makes is that sometimes athletes are shaped and defined by their culture and where they live. African men claimed 13 out of the top 20 finishes in the Boston Marathon, black men make up 80 percent of NBA players, Tiger Woods is one of the few black golfers and in a track and field world rankings the highest ranked white athlete is 23 on the list. It this because of genetics of race or ethnicity or is it because the athletes have been groomed from an early age by way of stereotyping?

Gladwell seems to think that maybe its both. That while genetics do play a part in the athlete's success, he suggests that culture and society plays an even larger role. His examples of the latter include a comparison of white and black NBA players Kerr and Jordan, mathematical test scores and male vs female rankings and the impact of Dominican and Latin American baseball players and Major League Baseball.

In the end the author concedes that the success or failure of any particular athlete is a result of stereotyping the affect that has on a person's perceived ability. If the white athlete does not believe he or she can be successful, they won't try thereby fulfilling the stereotype myth. He closes by relating personal story in which his two white running mates prepare to run backwards up a particularly steep hill. His response was to turn around and run back home. Why? Because the white athletes were willing to go to greater lengths than he to develop their talent not because of their race or ethnicity.

Reading And Writing About Race And Ethnicity

This particular section deals with how uncomfortable race and ethnicity makes us feel, whether we read or write about it. For me it is uncomfortable more to write about race or ethnicity. Mostly out of fear that what I say will be misquoted or misunderstood. Reading about ethnicity makes me uncomfortable if it's negative or grossly slanted. The authors of the text used this section to discuss race and ethnicity in a social versus biological setting as well as giving the reader information on the history of race and ethnicity in America.

I agree that our perception of race and ethnicity is shaped by social values we learn throughout our life. While the visual appearance of people may lead us to believe that person may have a certain set of values and cultural standards, do we really know what that person really believes or feels? The authors, I feel, want the reader to understand that you must not judge a person by outward appearance. How we feel about the subject is based upon our perspective or our self-perception of our race or ethnicity.

The other important issue discussed is how past discriminatory practices have and continue to shape the present social, economic, political and cultures of our country. In our country's past we have placed "labels" on and done great disservice to various races and ethnic social groups such as Native Americans, African-Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Irish, Italian, Catholic, Islamic and Hispanic just to name a few. These digressions have in whole or part led us as a nation to engage in war, enjoin in civil rights movements, place entire ethnic groups in detention, enact laws to end segregation and establish affirmative action programs. All of which affects everyone of us in some fashion daily in our lives.

Unfortunately, politics have also shaped our view on race and ethnicity by campaigning specifically to different social groups or even coming up with new group classifications in the interest of getting the votes. Race especially is still in the forefront of our news even with all the progress we've made in our society to date. Even our social class shapes our view on the subject as well.

The NEXT Plague: Mtv's Sexual Objectification of Girls and Why It Must Be Stopped

This next reading (pun intended) reading was a student essay written by Maribeth Theroux. The thesis of her essay is that MTV's reality show NEXT, girls are taught to be sexual objects through seeing contestants forced into that role and that the show polices female appearance and behavior in specific, harmful ways that rob girls of their control, power and worth as individuals.

In this show 5 girls are placed on a bus and a male "dater" one by one calls the girls out for "dates". If the girl does not meet his liking, he calls "Next" and the girl is summarily dismissed back to the bus and the next girl "date" is sent out. The girls get rewarded one dollar for every minute they spend with the "dater" before being "nexted". If the dater chooses a girl for a second date she must forfeit any prize money before opting for the second date.

The author notes that this reality show is seen in the male dater with 5 females, female dater with 5 males and in the homosexual mode involving both sexes as well. Her point was that MTV is the number one cable network for viewers in the 12- to 24-year-old demographic range with viewers in 342 million homes nationwide. She also notes that 12- to 19-year-old girls make up over 30% of the viewers. This seems to support her stance that MTV's influence on our society's young is compelling.

She presents a strong and startling argument that not only does the format of the show objectify girls, the commentary by the female narrator, the girls participating and the the commentary and actions of the male dater further "police" and enhance the objectification. Specifically, she uses one statement made by a male dater who states that he "nexted" a girl simply because "I just had to see what else is on that bus". Not "who" else, the author notes, but "what" else. This, Theroux notes, "exemplifies the blatant objectification that occurs on actual episodes of NEXT.

As I have three teenage girls in my household ranging from age 14 to 17. MTV is what's on frequently when I walk into the house after class or work. I have seen NEXT and find that I have to agree with the author. The way the girls dress, act, speak and are portrayed in the show are offensive to my personal view of how I my daughters treated and viewed by society. The essay also suggests that because of MTV and other influential reality TV such as "Girls Gone Wild" and "MTV Spring Break" contests conflict with feminist values.

This added to the statistics quoted by the essay's citation of Catharine MacKinnon noting that "only 7.8% of women in the United States are not sexually assaulted or harassed in their lifetimes." That statistic blew me away. To say that my daughters have a 92.2% chance of being sexually assaulted or harassed in their lifetime is scary to me and indeed has already occurred with my 17-year-old. So, how do we fix this?

Theroux calls this trend a plague. And as such should be "eradicated". If the young women of our society today are going to assert their worth in society as something more than that of a sexual object to be used and abused, that eradication of such societal influence must be eradicated. Otherwise they will never further the empowerment established my the women of our past. And that empowerment, states the author, is not only so deserved, but so rarely given the chance to achieve.

"Black Bart" Simpson

Our first of two reading assignments for tomorrow's class was an essay entitled; "Black Bart" Simpson: Appropriation and Revitalization in Commodity Culture, written by Peter Parisi. I have sat and read the complete article twice and some sections multiple times. If I understood the essay thesis, he used the Black Bart t-shirt craze of the early 1990's as an example of how the black and white cultures interact with each other. His dissertation also noted that the Afro-American culture actively upon wide areas of the dominant white American expressive culture.

Parisi takes the appropriation of "Bart Simpson" and subsequent revitalization into "Black Bart" and assimilates it with slaves taking protestant hymns, psalms and spiritual songs and reworking the structure using different rhythms, text and melodies. He further this assimilation by citing jazz and blues as appropriation and revitalization to take an element of the dominant culture uniquely theirs. That this co mingling of African and Euro-American cultures is a "complex and multi-dimensional" relationship. He went on to suggest that this co mingling of cultures was a two-way street and while it had become more visible was not completely studied.

The commodity aspect involved the t-shirts. The t-shirt of today has become a message board of our individual persona. The messaged whether stated or intoned say to people who we are, were we have been and identify those issues or objects important to us. What is unclear, according to Parisi, is who created the commodity. He notes that because of copyright infringements, the creators remain unknown. Koreans and whites, were noted to possibly be involved. The African-American cultural leaders expressed concern over the Black Bart t-shirts as well because of the messages regarding "Underachiever", and those showing disrespect for parents in particular were of concern. One comment in particular quoted by a Baltimore t-shirt vendor that "We are the only people in the world that let somebody take a White cartoon character, paint it Black and then sell it to us for 10 bucks."

The meaning of the t-shirt was also explored. School principals banned the Black Bart t-shirts. Some people condemned the show and made improper assumptions about show content based on the t-shirts messages. Children quoted in the article seemed very knowledgeable about show content one forth grader's quote seemed to reflect a perceptive observation about the show's portrayal of positive family dynamics.

I found some enlightenment into the role commodity plays in the expression of appropriation and revitalization of culture. That cultural diffusion is a dynamic process that moves back a forth between African and Euro-American cultures. It helped me to understand why the diverseness in cultures exist but yet is at it's core, an individual product of universal roots.

Reading & Writing about TV - Assignment 1-26-10

Our reading assignment for tomorrow's class focused on television. The authors begin by discussing how watching TV promotes passive viewing. That when we watch we aren't actively involved like we would if we were reading text of the show. Laugh tracks, welled timed applause and viewer driven scene settings are the root of sitcoms today. The authors note that TV of today has become predictable have no recognizable author are plot oriented and commercially driven. I have to agree with a lot of what the authors of our text wrote about.

TV of today has become predictable. While the punch lines on occasion still make me laugh, most of the plots involve upper middle class people with unrealistic portrayals of social, racial and economic situations most of society lives in. The commercials are long and the content is shallow and non thought provoking as the authors pointed out in the section on the lack of meaningful themes.

I personally do not watch a lot of the normal TV programing and tend to watch more of the Discovery, Science, Food Network and "off channel" educational content. It drives my kids nuts and allows me to spend lots of quality alone time, especially when I'm in control of the remote!

In addition I read "Life According to TV" by Harry F. Walters relating to a Newsweek article from 1982. In the reading the discussion revolved around a study done by Georg Gerbner of Penn's Annenberg School of Communications. Gerbner's study broke down specific demographics of TV viewers by hours watched weekly, age, sex, race, work, and health. At the time of the study and probably seems like even today he was able associate, with good methodology, that the more a person watched TV the more likely the person would display TV influenced misconceptions of the outside world. A very interesting insight into the results of viewing TV.

The second essay I read was on Sex and the City by Dave Rinehart. I, like the author did enjoy the show and the recent movies. I also agree him that the series was capitalistic, classicist and consumerist. The shoe brands, places shopped, the eateries and the lives of the characters all supported the author's claims about the shows. In the section on Commodity Fetishism he was correct that the characters spent whole episodes wanting specific consumer items, or dated only older wealthy men and wanted only material or sexual happiness in their lives. This section really tied into the opening reading regarding character, genre and plot.

Overall, this was a good reading assignment. I thought that the authors gave us a new look at an old subject. A twist that allows us to be more active in our thoughts on TV as a media.

Reading Assignment 1/25/2010

The reading assignment for today involved Section One, parts 2, 3, 4, 5 & 8. These sections reviewed the writing process and gave the reader information on how to improve their ability to write at a higher level of intellectual ability.


All of the parts of the reading contained information on not only improving the writer's thought process but gave additional information to better structure the essay. What it really did for me was to reinforce a lot of the information we covered in class on January 20. The reading did go more in depth regarding developing arguments to support the thesis statement and part 5 covered researching popular culture which expanded upon the classroom experience. The last section reinforced that the text we write is an extension of ourselves. More importantly, our knowledge, culture and experience dictates the content and perspective of our writing.


What I learned from the reading made me go back and literally deconstruct my first two drafts of the writing assignment due Wednesday. As is usually my tendency in life, I rushed headlong into the project not fully prepared. It was, however, a great learning experience and I think will result in a better finished product. I will remember that writing is a dynamic process. Ever changing and ever flowing like the ocean tides with the writer's life experiences.

Manor House Update

This past week saw progress in the masonry work under the balcony at the courtyard, but other work has slowed considerably. The lead project manager/carpenter has been working on the forms for the arches and was able to get some rough waste line plumbing in for the kitchen sink and dishwasher. My work was slowed by a time consuming project in the living room and closet area. The third worker was only in two days this week and we kept him busy with mostly clean up and organization activities.

The masons have to be constantly watched. They do good work most of the time, but we've been noticing they are rushing through the job and aren't checking for vertical and horizontal level. Not checking level results in wavy wall facings. This week they are working on building brick columns that will support 5 arches and carry two additional lintels on each side of the series of arches. Lintels are what we call the supports to carry brick or stone work across the tops of doors, windows and other spaces that will have masonry work overhead. This makes keeping the tiers of brick in the columns critical to keep everything in line. During the day on Monday, on three different occasions, I went down to check on their progress and the column course of brick was up to a half an inch lower than the corresponding course on the back wall just 3-1/2 feet away. This resulted in having to tear out courses back to level and rebuilding that section of the column. As the masons get paid by the brick laid and not by the hour, these "redo's" do not make them happy. They've been doing much better the rest of week.

I've been working on a wall in the living room. Before my coming into the project, metal stud walls had been erected between what will be the library and living room to form a 4 foot by 16 foot long area. This area is being made into a closet and media control room as well as a small powder room. A decision was just made a few weeks ago as to the doors to be installed. Unfortunately I already had wires running through where the doors were to go. In addition, the owner wants to hide all light switched from view. So I actually spent the better part of two days, one was shortened by our Wednesday English class, to build a small wood cabinet with a sliding door that will house a 4 switch outlet box for lights. It was a first for me.

Some additional time was lost on Thursday and most of the day Friday as I was off with my daughter have her wisdom teeth removed. The project manger too got pulled Thursday for some repairs on one of the owner's rental properties and he normally doesn't work on Fridays anyway. Next week we are meeting Monday to discuss bringing in some extra help to make a push to get the 1st floor rooms ready for rough inspection by the township codes enforcement officer. While I would love help, it will really put the pressure on everyone involved to get the owner nailed down on final plan decisions. We've really been operating on a dynamic work scale, but if we're bringing in more work crews, the work plan must become static. In other words we need to have definite plans as to what, where, when and how we are doing things. That would be nice, although the "change plans daily" plan works best for my attention deficit disorder. We'll just have to see what Monday brings.

More to come next week. Have a greet weekend!

The World is a Text reading assignment.

Introduction to "The World Is A Text"; pages 1-21

Our assignment was to read the introduction to the text book and blog our thoughts and feelings about the reading. From a reader's standpoint, I found it very difficult to physically read the textbook. Maybe it's my eyeglass prescription, but gee, I just was at the eye doctor and got new glasses last month. It must be then, in my opinion, that the text was way too small to comfortably read. I have already jotted a note to myself to purchase reading magnifying glass on next trip to the pharmacy. Already I'm off on a bad foot, or eyes, so to speak with the authors and/or publishers of the text.

As to the content of the reading, I found the authors have indeed broached on thought provoking insight, controversial thinking and pushing the reader's boundaries on what they perceived to be both the definition and scope of involvement in "rhetoric". That they would have the reader believe that rhetoric is the art of speaking was not new to me. That they would have the reader believe that rhetoric also includes the art of writing effectively, with emphasis and persuasion were new to me. When they noted the idea that rhetoric also included advertising and all forms of media made me stop and think. I understood that I could, in the writing process improve my ability to write by understanding the rules of writing, use of proper grammar and ensuring that I utilized my spell checker. What I didn't think about was how I could improve my writing by just reading or paying attention to other forms of media that bombard us daily.

The case studies were interesting. I never thought about the process of observation jotted down in such a fashion could lead one to the conclusions about what the business, Starbucks in this case, was trying to interject upon their customers with almost blatant subtleties. The case study on Fonts and the advertisements that are tossed at us constantly. I understood and agreed with the authors on. What I really found interesting, and had to agree with, is that you become more thoughtful and insightful when writing about what you read or thoughts you may have. I just never really thought about in that way.

For instance, normally after reading an article or other assignments, I put the book or text down and don't think about it much again until class time. Tonight, after reading the text I found myself sitting at the computer drafting this writing re-reading various sections of the text and in the process having to re-write or rephrase this writing. It also made me think harder about the material I read in order to make sense of the subject enough to formulate the writing. In essence, that's what the text is telling us. That by reading any form of media, or in fact all the elements that make up our world as we know it, and then writing about it makes us think about those "signs" we are given to read on a daily basis.

The introduction to the text also put forth to the reader how to utilize the text book and gave us an overview of the text book's content. The authors have challenged us to use the essay "suites" or groupings of essays about a topic that are meant to provoke us into thinking about different ways to approach or view a topic. By doing this the authors hope to inspire us to develop our own interpretations on specific sources of media input. The other goal of having us read these suites of essays was to help the reader develop a better idea of how writers write.

The Manor House

In last week's post I noted that I am currently helping to build a house. I am part of a small crew of 3, working to construct a 12,000 sq ft. English style manor house that will eventually encompass a small winery as well. The project is well known in the Palmyra, Hershey and Middletown areas. Just about everyone I describe the place to has some recollection of the property. The Manor, as it will be referred to henceforth, is located along Schoolhouse Road in Londonderry Township, Dauphin County. The project began over 7 years ago by a local man who had a dream to recreate a bit of Europe in this area. Set on 12 acres of what is left of an 19th century working farm, the Manor dominates the horizon as you travel north on Schoolhouse Road from Route 341.

Besides the size and scope of the Manor, there are quite a few features that make this project very unique. Many of the materials to build the house are recycled. The exterior walls are either formed concrete and concrete block construction making the core of the walls 8 inches thick. Then, for insulation, US Military surplus refrigeration panels were attached to the outside of the core walls. These panels are 5 inches thick and constructed of dense foam sandwiched between an exterior of wood then a metal coating. The military used these panels to make mobile refrigerators, freezers and even morgues for temporary encampments. House wrap, an air tight membrane was then applied to "seal" the house. Brick was then laid to complete the exterior finish. The brick are specially manufactured for color and form then tumbled to give the brick an aged, well worn look. On average the total thickness of all exterior walls is about 15 inches.

Double pane windows have been installed and salvaged stained glass windows will then be mounted inside so that the insulation value of the structure can be maintained. There are 10 fireplaces in the manor. The mantles for them have all been salvaged from old structures that have been torn down. Some of the more ornate items have come from a contractor's salvage yard in the Baltimore area called "Second Chance, Inc.". Second Chance seeks out older buildings to "deconstruct" to save unique and ornate architectural elements that are not being duplicated today. They use the deconstruction process to train unskilled, unemployed people in the area how to salvage these old buildings without damaging the unique and interesting items so that they can be reused in different ways or incorporated into new construction as we are doing here. It saves landfill space, provides a community service and preserves the beautiful and unique work of our heritage. The picture above left shows a marble mantle piece that came from Second Chance. It is late 19th century and made up of about 13 different marble pieces. In the picture we have put the mantle back together temporarily to check for fit. As the project progresses we will be re-assembling the mantle just as it was when it was originally installed with mortar and molten lead.

The above right picture shows part of the front property wall constructed of barn foundation stone from Lancaster County. When finished, the wall will have 8 foot tall columns above what you see in the picture with 12 foot long by 4 foot high sections of early 19th century wrought iron salvage by Second Chance from Washington D.C. and welded together on site here. Another interesting find is a pair of Oak doors 7 foot high, 3 foot wide and 3 inches thick that were salvaged from an old Federal court house in Baltimore.

Other recycled items include an 8' diameter granite fountain base, front entry door and stone trim from another government building, fireplace inserts, early 18th century bar and back bar with copper counter top and a 1200 gallon aquarium from a bar in the Baltimore area. The sub-floors are used shipping pallet bottoms and tops. Steel I-beams and floor underlayment are recycled from old mobile homes. Heating of the manor will be done in part using geothermal radiant floor heat. US Military sleeping pads will be used to protect the plastic piping for the radiant heat system.

As for keeping the project green, all rain water from the roof of the manor is directed into 2 - 2000 gallon underground storage tanks. From there it goes through a filtration and UV light system into 4 - 400 gallon storage tanks in the basement. A pump in the basement will pump the water up into 2 - 400 gallon storage tanks in the third floor and will be used to flush toilets and shower. All of the 400 gallon storage tanks are surplus shipping containers used in food manufacturing. These storage tanks will also be used to supply water to the fire sprinkler system that is being installed using salvage water pipes.

For the past 4 weeks we have had a 2 person mason crew on site completing the brick work on the walls surrounding the formal courtyard. We have the whole area covered in tarps, which are recycled 48 foot by 14 foot advertising banners, so that we can maintain a temperature in the 50-60 degree range to ensure the mortar sets up without freezing. The picture above left is the courtyard from this summer. Above right shows the area underneath the balcony as the brickwork continues. By tomorrow, we should be setting up forms for 5 arches that will compose the areas around and between the metal poles in above right picture.

Each week I will use this blog to track the progress of the manor's construction. This project currently has no plans in writing only the owner's ideas. Each day is like a new adventure. Sometimes it's frustrating because with no set plan the changes are frequent. There are times that you end up undoing things because the original thought or idea won't work. The up side is that there also are wonderful moments of serendipitous discovery. Those are the moments that keep me going.

A Winter Wonderland

This picture was taken after the December snow storm just before Christmas. Pictured is "Baby Boy", a Llama I care for at the farm where we're constructing a one of a kind 12,000 sqft English Manor style house and winery. The streak of grey to the right of the picture is one of my dogs, Rosie. She is part Brittany Spaniel and Blue Tic Coon Hound. Rosie often accompanies me to the farm to work.



The llama and dog have an interesting relationship and really look forward to seeing each other. Rosie gets restless before we make the final turn onto the road to the farm. With her head out the window, regardless of weather, her front paws begin to nervously move and tremble. By the time the farm comes into view she's back in the van looking out the front window. If the llama is in the front pasture, Rosie begins to whine in anticipation.

The llama perks up the second my vehicle starts to slow down to turn into the driveway. By the time I drive around the barn, he's headed for the area were I park. If he sees Rosie's head out the van window he starts running to greet her. Once we're parked, Rosie's headed over to greet him. Usually just touching noses. Then they're off chasing each other, at least until Rosie catches sight of one of the many farm cats. Their interactions have brought me great contentment at times and those moments sometimes had great timing to snap me out of stress related thoughts or down moments. Their play never fails to remind me how simple and fun life can be.

My Name - Assignment

My first name, John, was given to me in honor of my paternal grandfather. He was born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1907. As a young boy he experienced firsthand the horrors of World War I. Following the war, his sister met and married an American soldier. Once she arrived in the United States, she sponsored my grandfather to come here as well. he worked many obs upon arriving here in America and even owned a gas station and a lumberyard at one time. Eventually, he migrated west to a Los Angeles suburb. He was a great story teller and was a true "jack of all trades". His mastery, however, was in his knowledge and skills of creating and maintaining his organic garden. One of my most vivid memories of him was the first time I visited him in California and seeing his garden. There was no grass. Literally every inch of his property was either structure or garden. His neighbors initially complained about the odors from his compost piles. The complaints stopped when he began sharing his three harvests a year with his neighbors. I am very proud to have known him and honored to have been given his name.

First Class Assignment

This blog is part of an ongoing class assignment for Penn State University English 15 class. On a regular basis you will find both general entries as well as class assignments written here. Enjoy!