Extended Blog #1-Online Dating

Popular culture is defined as a contemporary lifestyle where items are well known and generally accepted. Magazine advertisements are one of the biggest instigators of popular culture in North American today. Companies will depict almost anything in order to get their product to sell. In US weekly, I came across an online dating website advertisement called Match.com. It portrays a young doctor wearing an expensive watch and holding a stethoscope up to his heart. On the bottom of the advertisement it says “All new! Match.com. It’s okay to look.” Match.com along with other dating company advertisements attempt to sell themselves in very similar ways. They depict their advertisements to direct their aim to present a status quota that must be met in certain people, to successful people who have had difficulty finding someone special, and people who are not looking for someone but, just want to browse.

The advertisement depicts a status quota that most people look for in a mate. The young man who is a Doctor in the picture appears to be wearing a very expensive watch. By wearing an expensive materialistic object it portrays him showing off his status as a professional. Many single women in society today look for someone who is professionally established. This may be achieved by analyzing the type of materialistic objects he may possess from the clothing he wears to the type of car he drives. For men I personally feel that it is slightly different. Some successful men may not want professional women but, simply a good looking girl to ‘look good all the time.’ However, some men are not this shallow and prefer successful women who are at the same status quo as the male. As a result, online dating websites appears to be one of the norm sources to meet someone with a particular status quota.

Many career-oriented and people who are busy in professional school often have a difficult time meeting people because they are very busy making a life for themselves. They are so caught up in becoming successful that they often forget to look around to meet someone special. When they become successful they desperately begin to search around for the perfect mate. They are sometimes introduced to friends of friends or they might even meet someone in a social setting. However, this may not be very easy for everyone. As a result, online dating websites such as Match.com appear to be a practical source today for successful people to meet other successful people. They can easily chat with someone with similar interests and dislikes. If they don’t like the person they can simply just move on to the next interesting person that appears down the internet page.

In bold the advertisement writes “It’s okay to look.” Analyzing this quote it appears that they are trying to sell the message that even if you are not searching for a relationship it is okay to browse. Many people I know find it very odd to search for relationships online because of the stigma it has of ‘meeting strangers on the internet.’ However, oddly enough I find these same people browsing these online dating websites just looking at other stranger’s profiles for the fun of it. I find that many people do not want to admit that they are desperate enough to search these online dating websites. Thus, I feel that the bottom line comes down to the fact that many professional people use this as their last resort when they are desperate to find someone to settle down with.

The Match.com advertisement appears to be one of the norm advertisements in magazines and internet ads today. Through popular culture our world has become very small in that many people have the ability to look for relationships through the internet. Also through magazines a company has the ability to sell itself by instigating the fact that you have the ability to meet successful and rich people through their online dating website. With more and more online dating websites developing I am afraid that one day people will discontinue meeting people in social settings but, instead only resort to the world of communicating with others through the internet.

Blog #3

Throughout my University career I have been given numerous opportunities to write a variety of different types of papers. These types of papers ranged from argumentative sociology essays to scientific research papers.

In my freshman year of University I had to write two sociology essays for my sociology class. I began the essay process by first choosing a topic that I could be interested in. My topic of choice for the two different essays included interracial marriages and the effects of domestic violence on children. I then began my research at the University library after choosing my topic. I found it useful and less time consuming to structure my three main points first and then working backwards to write my thesis. Once completing my research I then basically sat down to write two very great argumentative essays.

In my sophomore year of University I predominantly focused on taking biology courses. A few of my biology courses were intense lab courses and as a result I was required to write all my lab reports up in a scientific research form. These papers required an abstract, introduction which included the hypothesis, materials and methods, results, and conclusion. It was interesting to write these papers because through the results that I obtained I was able to confer a reasonable conclusion as to what has scientifically occurred.

From the above past writing experiences I would have to say that I enjoyed writing scientific research papers the most. It was very exciting to discover from my results that I may have completed an experiment successfully. Regardless of completing it successfully or not I would always learn something new about biology.

Blog #2

Flipping through the course syllabus and calendar I see a great deal of writing and discussions relevant to the pop culture scene. There are many interesting topics to be touched upon in this class. I think from personal experiences and fellow students past experiences we can have very argumentative discussions. That is one thing that is very important to me which is actively listening to others in hopes to learn something new about a particular topic of interest.
I primarily expect to enhance my writing capability in this class. With the “SF Writer” and the “World is a Text” I hope to get helpful hints on how to make my writing more engaging and exciting for the reader. Also with the opportunity to peer review I look forward to reviewing other papers and receiving positive feedback from my peers. From past experiences, I have mostly used APA to document my sources. During the MLA Workshop Day I learnt how to document basic sources through that method. I know with learning about each source and with practice and I can begin to use MLA to my advantage for writing better papers.
I also hope to learn how to properly structure formal papers in a University manner in this class. With this in mind and the practice we will receive from the three papers I hope to write more interesting papers that the reader will enjoy. With the knowledge and support from Nancy Welter I hope to better my writing capability so it will stay with me forever.

Blog #1

Hello to everyone in English 1020. My name is Mehtab and I was born and raised in London, Ontario, Canada. At the present time I live in Windsor, Ontario. I transferred into my junior year at Wayne last semester from a Canadian University near my home in Canada. My major is biology from which I will complete my degree next year and then apply to dental schools both in Canada and the United States.
I have two very loving parents and am the youngest and only girl out of two brothers. My background is of the East Indian origin and in less than a week I will be 21 years old. Growing up in a city of approximately 350,000 people I have come to appreciate the culture and joy that a small city provides. Such joys include the excitement of running into old friends and acquaintances from elementary school and high school. Also, since London has a large Indian population I have grown up learning about and experiencing the culture of my ancestors. By living nearby to Detroit I am looking forward to experiencing the excitement that a Metropolitan city can provide.
One of my favorite books that I have read in recent years is The Prophet, written by Kahlil Gibran. It is an intellectual book that provides enlightenment on day to day encounters. I feel it is a great book to read to bring your spirits up whenever you are feeling down. I enjoy listening to all genres of music, even country. My current favorite genre of music is Techno and House. I enjoy listening to the fast tempo of these genres while working out and while relaxing. I am looking forward to English 1020 and being able to incorporate past experiences into class discussion and into my essays.