Chapter 6

I enjoyed reading this chapter. Since I have a really common name , which is Ashley, I sometimes think about what makes me different from everybody else with my name. I always felt that my name didn't really bother who I was. I am my name, my name isn't me , meaning my name doesn't define me in any way, shape or form.

Pertaining to the book, I found the story about the sons Loser and Winner very funny and ironic. If anything I would think that because his name is "Winner" , he would feel pressured to excel in everything he attempted. On the other hand, I would expect Loser to have a low self esteem because his name automatically down grades him. But then again when I think about it, Loser might in fact be driven to work 10 times harder than Winner for the simple fact of his names negative meaning. Also , as I stated my name doesn't define me , so I guess Loser felt the same way !

On page 183, the author brings up the question "does the name you give your child affect his life?" I think it does and then again it doesn't. For example when it comes down to the business aspect if life, an outrageously ghetto name on an application or resume would have a negative impact on the possible employer compared to a more "sophisticated" and average name. But I also feel like it's about a persons performance and motivation and overall attitude that gets them through life and the name is just a small apart.

More so I thought the statistics on the cigarettes were funny. Newport's being more popular in the black teenage community , while Marlboros were more popular in the white teenage community. (another form of "segregation")

Also , I sort if understood why some black people shied away from naming their child a "white name" , because people of their community would judge them , assuming they are trying to be white. However , if that would help their childs' future or if thats what they liked, I don't see how they could let another's selfish questioning change their mind?

I knew a lot of people who had names from both the "blackest" girls name and the "blackest" boys names list.

On page 191, I thought the conclusion to why a Jake and a DeShawn would have the same or different life outcome, which was due to the same neighborhoods and same familial and economic circumstances. But because in most cases the parents of a Jake might not live in the same area as a DeShawn, the two buys life outcomes are different, and not because of their names.

Lastly, I really liked the saying on page 192 ... "anybody who bothers to change his name in the name if economic success is-like the high-school freshman in Chicago who entered the school-choice lottery-at least highly motivated, and MOTIVATION IS PROBABLY A STRONGER INDICATOR OF SUCCES THAN , WELL, A NAME." Proving my point of a name not defing anybody.

All in all , I liked this reading. See you all in class ..

p.s. LAST BLOGG , HIP HIP HUR-RAY !!! ;)

Chapter 4 Freakonomics

So far this is the BEST chapter in my opinion . I really really really was into this reading. First off in the begining, reading that the king and queen bugged their OWN childern to ensure their loyalty, was crazy to me. It just showed me hoe greedy people can be, regardless of who you are to them. More so , I agreed with the statement that basically said punishment wasn't that servere so criminals comtinued to commit crimes. Thats like if I got caught texting on my cell phone and my punishment was just satying after school for ten extra mins, and that was it, Im pretty sure me and a lot of other students wouldnt care if we were caught on our phones. The tedious punishment doesnt frighten us at all therefore we continue to commit the "crime". Same goes for criminals.


I never knew , or I dont remember learning, that a single inmate cost 25,000 dollars to keep locked up! Now Im wondering what kind of lifestyle the inmates are living. Comfortable ? Relaxed ? Technology based ? What kind of meals are they being severed ? What does their showers look loke ? 25,00 dollars for a "criminal", makes me wonder if jail really seems like jail or a free (for the inamates) vacation.


Personally, Im against the death penalty. I believe no one has the right to take some elses life, besides God. However, I thought it was interesting how capital punishment DIDNT have much to do with the drop of crime and criminals. Being as though is the CAPITAL punishment I would think a lot of people would be scared and want to avoid crime. Again, I would think more police would lower crime because with the sight of police throughout the day I would think people would be nervous and hesitant to conduct ant illeagal activity woth police less than miles away.


I was EXTREMELY excited when I came accross this next part ... "the broken window theory" ! I learned about this during my 12th grade year in high school. Knowing more than what this book explained, I totally understand why crime lowered. It's sort out of the box thinking, but when you sit back and think about it makes a world of sense. Small things lead to big changes. AGAIN small things lead to big changes. For example of I had a small pep rally of about ten students, talking about the danger of alcohol, that small few could spread the word to a bigger crowd, resulting in a even bigger change.. less people may drink alcohol. Point being that fixing a small problem can lead to fixing of bigger problems and but haults on epidemics.


Also, I was shocked to know that if handing out guns, you would run out of adults before guns. Thats a lot of guns laying around! I dont support that Brady Act at. Like the book says, there are so many guns out there and so many straw purchasers that anybody can gget a gun and whenever they want it. I dont think background checks would help, especailly whenthere is illeagal gun purchasing going on. People cam easily lie or hide information.


I thought smoking weed was going on todat more than using cocaine. To hear that people still use it heavy today is surprising for some reason. Maybe because I dont hear people talk about it to much and I thought you could face a really long time behind bars if it were found in your possession, so I guess I figured people stayed away from it.


I agree that a mothers decision to have an abortion should be completley up to her, and for what ever reason is a good reason at the end of the day. If a mother oisnt confident to have a child , why should the child have to suffer ? Regardless of shes an unfit mother or if the child will add to the statistics of criminals. Both arent good situations. Growing up in an environment where you dont feel wanted and loved can cause you to want to turn to other destructive things. A child may be looking for attention or just doesnt care about their future because nobody cared about them and therefore they might not care about where they end up.


I liked the way this chapter tied everything up at the end. Showing a correlation and providing accurate and excellent supporting details. Loved it !


See you guys outside ! Lol =)

Chapter 3 Freakonomics

To start off , once again I enjoyed this reading . It was more interesting and gave me more knowledge on certain issues. Also this book continues to broaden my horzion, by the at first glance "strange titles" and how they relate to each other.

I'm originally from Philadelphia. In 11th grade ny class did reseach on Philadelphia, looking at its accomplishments, historical background, tourrist rate , and lots of other things including crime rate. Our findings was that Philadelphia was way up thje chart as one of the most violent places in the world. Even though I often heard about violent acts on the news, it barely crossed my mind that it would be so high. During the reading I learned that Atlanta had a high crime rate and that police were trying to cover it up. That goes to show that it's hard these days to trust statistics. It seems like everyone is for themselves, just like the part about drug dealers mentioned.

It's sooooo predictable that the words black and poor would be in the same sentence ! It gets frustarsting when i keep reading about a poor black family, a black man who sold drugs, a black man who killed people or robbed a store. Im referring to the question that was asked to the gang. Seriously black people had it bad. Way worst than any other race in MY opinion. I feel as though at the end of the day to be dicriminated because you are DARKER than another, causing you to be killed, beaten, sexually assulated, or harrassed in any other way all beacause someone of lighter skin has determined that you aren't as worthy of the same freedoms as them, is so disturbing. My heart yearns for an explanation. When I really sit back and think about it, I have a lot to be thankful for. Somebody paved the way for me to have a better future and not have to fight as hard as them.

More so, on page 92 when the guy braks down the three catagories a black person can be which are : "nigger" , "African American" , and "black" . Between each name he sayd versus. I was wondering if he was implying that there was a lot of black on black crime? If so that's unfortunate because if black people couldn't depend on other races then all they had were themseleves and whatever higher being they believed in, so why turn against each other? To this day I ask myself the same question, because the same issue is still active.

I found it interesting that although the the people that stood outside on the corners knew they were risking their lives, they reamined in that postion as though they had already given up on thier lives every going anywhere else behond the street and drug life. But maybe they felt that they didn't have any other choice because of the type of ENVIRONMENT they lived in and the people they watched and were around. I truly believe that had a MAJOR influence in them.

WOW! "you had a greater chance of dying while dealing crack ina Chicago housing project than you do while sitting on death row in Texas." That's scary. Seriously, the drug business is not a joke. I couldn't even imagine living so closely to that type of environment or being a druig dealer. But who am I to knock someone elses hustle? I don't know people's situations or reasonings. Therefore I try not to be judgemental, BUT I do keep in mind of what's right and what's wrong. However, I would want them to go in a different path, a more positive and rewarding one.

I thought the prostitiute and architect senario was funny .. Lol.

That's about it for me .. See you guys in discussion =)

Chapter 2 Freakonomics

I really enjoyed this chapter much better than the first one . During our class discussion, I listened to everyone and how highly they spoke of this book. I was sitting back thinking what did they read because I felt completely opposite. However, now I feel like Im reading out of the same book !


I found this chapter eye opening and relatable . There were many examples given that I could understand and relate to . Also I could see a much more clearer connection between them , rather than in the first chapter . For example on page 64 theres a line that says "it has vastly shrunk the gap between the experts and public" , it referring to the internet . That statement stood out to me because of hoe TRUE it is . The internet has indeed made i hard for any business to keep people /customers, from not knowing certain information that could possible harm their business. Although consumers mat not know a lot, they know enough to make business decsions.


Another idea that touched home woth me was the part about how compaines lie or promote false information and hide tru information for whatever reason. Being as though my major is Communications, under Public Relations , I think about this sort of problem all the time . I think about one day possibly having to face this dilemma in my field of work, of having to sale a lie. Sometimes I get discouraged because I feel like people are so used to companies streching the truth , therefore it will be somewhat challenging to go out and try to promote something without people already assumning that whatever Im saying is a lie.


Leading me into the other part that I liked, that says 'experts depend on the fact that you don't have the information they do." I couldn't agree more !! So many times I've seen my mom and grandma taken advantage of in deals. Number one them being women puts them at a slight disadvantage because men seem to know how to manipulate the opposite sex easliy. and two becasue they don't know as much and put "trust" into whomever is giving the sales pitch. Don't get me wrong, they're aren't fools ! But like everyine else the fall short sometimes simply because thet don't know as much as the experts.


All together, I had fun with this reading and relating it to my everyday life. =)

Freakonomics Chapter 1

Reading this book for the first time, I have to be honest .. I didn't enjoy it . In my opinion it seemed all over the place. It somewhat gave a lot of examples but they didn't connect to me. I was confused, frustrated, and bored. However, I did find some sections of the chapter interesting, not really the concepts but thewording.

For example when the books talks about teachers cheating for their students.
I found it amazing that the book kept referring to the teacher as "her" and "she". I guess because teahcing seems to be a female dominated field, but it's weird that because the teacher is CHEATING , because they want their students to pass, which is them involving their EMOTIONS, it has to be a women. This is typical stereotyping that goes on everyday in society.


Also the way the book goes on to add statistics but singling women out is interesting. On the the other hand, when I'm reading and there's a lot of numbers within the text I get distracted. When there's a bunch of numbers being thrown out at me it's easy for me to get bored and drift off especially when I dont understand where the numbers are coming from or why they matter. I honestly could not get into this reading. I got a headache while in the middle of reading this chapter ! It was just too much unnesacary data in the reading to me. Maybe if I had a better understanding of it I wouldn't feel this way.

Most importantly I don't understand the title of this chapter even after reading. I'm not sure as to how school teachers and sumo wrestlers relate ? Hopefully in our group discussion tomorrow, you guys will be able to better explain to me.

Good luck to group number one !
See ya =)

Is That A Man or Woman !? Gender ...

Within this reading I found the claims made very accurate. Gender absolutely plays a major role in society. Today it’s as if everyone lives and does what’s expected of them through society’s eyes. In my opinion I believe that our early child role models sculpt our ideas and views of how men and women are “suppose” to behave. However for me I grew up in a household with my mom. There weren’t any male influences or role models within my home. Therefore growing up I sort of developed the need and strive for independence. I think that due to the lack of a father in my home, I took some masculine, well as society would view them, traits. On the other hand I’ve always has my grandfather and uncles to look at as to what men are “suppose” to do. From that I know when I’m talking to guys and pursuing any type of relationship, I keep those notes in mind. I guess you could say it’s like a cheat sheet or a mental check list!

Also, the reading suggests that when people hear certain statements they automatically put a label on it as male or female. That was funny to me. For example if you hear that someone has went on a shooting spree on a school, who are you more likely to assume did it a man or a women? I would think a man. Why? Because shooting seems masculine and to me and a person shooting has to have a lot of aggression and strength, which is more common in men. Another statement that stood out to me was if someone tells you they have a wonderful new doctor, are you more likely to assume it’s a man or women? Personally, it depends on which sex told me. If a woman told me I would assume the doctor was a woman and if a male told me I would think it was a man. The sex of the person is taken into consideration for me because I think both men and women have different views on what a wonderful doctor is. If a woman thinks the doctor is wonderful I think it’s because he can relate to her, vice versa with a man.

So far I’ve enjoyed the introduction to this gender section. I find the documentation clear and relatable.

Reading 341-345

This reading was cool to read. I'm a visual learner. I grasp on best to concepts that I can see. Examples help me out a great deal. Therefore I find it very much tru that people tend to base their lifestyles off of what they see in movies. A lot of people are in love with the llife if the riches. Some even go to the extent of trying to keep up with that type of lifestlye, knowing that can't afford it at all. So I think they get this "fantasy" imgae of FALSE reality and try to make it ino something real. Its so funny now that I sit back and think about it, how cameras are angled to get across a certain point or theme. I already payed attention to the clothes worn in movies, because I love fashion and like to discover and examine new patterns, colors, shapes, accessories, and trends. Also I pay attention to the type of music used in movies. Especially in horror and supence films. Since Im a nervous wreck while watching them, the intensifying music sticks in my head ! It was interesting to learn about why many directors shy away from documentary flims. As the book mentions, making films can cost millions of dollars, so most directors dont make documentarys because they dont think a lot of people will go out to watch them. In order for directors to make any profit and get back the majority of the money they had to spen to create the film, they have to make films that people will go out and pay to watch. After reading that I understood more of the statement that Hollywood studios rarely have your best interest in mind. Like the majority of worker they are trying to make a dollar. Regardless if they stretch the truth, hide the truth, create fantasys, etc.

I enjoyed this reading.. So sleepy ! See you guys tomorrow =)