Portfolio Project - Intro and Project 3 - The Harm In Ethnic Humor

 

I found this third essay to be extremely hard at times. I'm usually good with argument essays but providing feedback for this project was difficult for me. I had trouble picking what to write about because I'm neutral when deciding what side I’m on when to ethnic humor. I couldn't find enough points for one side of the argument. I started with the same routine. Sketch and then find ideas for the updraft. After thinking and research I could find ideas but I couldn’t put them in order. I had trouble with descriptions too. I would read the articles we saw in class related to Key and Peele. I also ready writing of John Montreal. Toby Amies’ article was also great help. I had all these ideas to put in my paper but I had no idea how to accept them and in what order.

    The day I gave Villanueva my updraft for her to review was the day I could finally organize my paper. She pointed out many ways I could fix my problem with assembling my ideas and connecting them all together. I had to look into the book The Curious Writer to find ways to organize. I also relied on the book to help my thesis go with my paper. I guess what I learned the most was accepting people’s views and directions on how to fix my assignments. Even bad feedback is good feedback. I also wrote about the movie “Blazing Saddles” which did add to my argument. I learned how to cite properly by the end of the project.

 

Andres Argaez

English 101

Hollie Villanueva

Dental draft

 

The Harm in Ethnic Humor

 

            Humor is a language known worldwide. The beauty of humor is the connection it brings between people. Unfortunately, it also brings conflict. Not everyone seems to agree with one another when it comes to humor, especially when a persons’ life is being targeted. My view on ethnic humor is simply, “don’t take it personally”. Although many seem to let ethnic humor pass, not all people feel the same. There are those who are more delicate and take offense to certain jokes. The main point I want to argue in this paper is that although ethnicity can take part in a good joke, much worse can come out of ethnic humor and it shouldn’t be taken lightly.

            One reason why ethnic humor can be bad is that it can simply offend a person because of their ethnic background. How many times have you heard that social networks are so much drama? Ethnic difference is the reason why the internet spreads hatred. How many YouTube videos have you seen involve violence because of ethnicity? Ethnicity is a very delicate subject and shouldn’t be taken lightly. Instead of ethnic humor people should rely on making jokes on other less delicate subjects. For example, in Toby Amies’ article “The Art of the Perfect Prank” he mentions a prankster by the name of Karl Power. Karl would pull pranks in England. He liked to base his jokes on sports. In 2001, he decided to pull a prank at a soccer match between Manchester united and Bayern Munich. While Manchester United was getting ready to take a team picture, Karl quickly dressed up in the same uniform as Manchester United and sneaked on the pitch to join them. His prank was a success and he was loved by the fans of football. Instead of making ethnic jokes, Karl chose a less delicate subject and was successful. Maybe people should tone down or avoid ethnic humor. No harm came from Powers’ prank.

            Maybe ethnic humor isn’t the best way of expressing how funny you are but there are exceptions. In Key and Peele’s’ article “Make fun of Everything” they suggest, “To not make fun of something is, we believe, itself a form of bullying”. Their theory is that by making fun of every ethnicity and race, they remove their “target” and nobody feels like they are being attacked personally. An example of this theory can be found in the movie (Blazing Saddles) where three different groups of ethnicity sing at a railroad track. This scene is filled with satire and racial stereotypes. Even though it’s filled with harsh humor on race and ethnicity, it seems to not offend as much because blacks, Caucasians and Native Americans are all being targeted. Now if only one group was being targeted then it would seem more offensive. The point to Key and Peeles’ theory is to make fun of all races not just specific ones to avoid targeting specific ethnicities making it hard to take.

            With the exception of targeting every race, I believe that ethnic humor does more harm than good. As I’ve said before, humor is an international language that we humans all comprehend. It is beautiful and we must not taint it with ethnic hatred and racism continuing in the world. John Montreal wrote a piece that says’ “Perhaps the most extreme manifestations of the contagious laughter is the ‘laughter epidemic’ in which large numbers of people are made to laugh convulsively not by any organic cause but just by the laughter of others”. Laughter should unite people not seclude one another. I also believe that we should our best not to offend each other when it comes to ethnic humor. Either target everyone, not just a specific race or avoid ethnic humor.

Work Cited

 

Morreall, John. "The Social Value Of Humor." The Social Value of Humor (1983): 51-55. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.

 

 

Key, Keegan Michael, and Jordan Peele. "Make Fun Of Everyhing." Time 13 Mar. 2014: n. pag. Print.

 

 

Amies, Toby. “The Art of the Perfect Prank.” BBC News 31 Mar. 2011: online

 

Blazing Saddles. Dir. Mel Brooks. Perf. Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, and Slim Pickens. 1974. DVD.

 

 

Portfolio Project - Intro and Project 2 - Robin Williams

    The second project was more challenging for me. I have written papers on a person's life before but never quite like this. I was really motivated to write this essay on Robin Williams because he was a great influence in my childhood years. That was the first difference than when I began to write the first project. After writing the shitty first draft I felt confident in what I wanted to write about. The difference between this and my past writings on a person's profile would be the amount of research I did for this assignment. I used different search engines and they were much more efficient. I also did not just research Robin William’s comedy but his personal life. I even watch his old stand-up shows to try and understand him as a comedian. I wanted to know how and why he made people laugh. It was a great joy writing about him.

    Something different that I tried was to have a peer edit my work. I think I missed class for the peer edit for the first project but I tried to attend this one. I noticed that even if I’m scared for others to judge and critique, their input is always a good thing. I should embrace people’s suggestions and let others help me write a better paper. For this essay we had to apply citations. This was good practice in how to write the citation page.

 

 

Andres Argaez

English 101

Hollie Villanueva

Dental draft

Robin Williams

               Born on July 21, 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, Robin Laurin Williams was a great comedy icon who embraced happiness through laughter. His mother was a former model from Mississippi and his father was a Ford model Company executive from Indiana. Robin had always been an aspiring person. The reason why I chose to write on Robin Williams is because he has always brought me many smiles with his comedy as I was growing up. Some of my favorite movies as a child are the ones Robin Williams was in acting as a goofball or impersonating people. I owe Williams so much. What makes Williams an honorable and successful man is his rise to stardom, his brilliant movies throughout the years and breakthroughs during his personal life problems.

           People think Robin Williams became successful because of his movies but there is much more before his appearances on the big screen. At the age of 16 Williams moved to California with his parents where he went on to continue his education. Later on he moved to New York with a scholarship to what is now known as the Juilliard School to continue his path to become an actor. After contemplating on what he wants to do, Williams chose to pursue in the direction of stand-up comedy. Williams went back to California and began stand-up comedy where people began laughing at what he had to say. What made him funny was his ability to be great at impersonations. I’ve never seen anymore impersonate any person or animal as perfect as Robin Williams. It’s one talent that sets him above many comedian. After his success in stand-up comedy, Williams began landing parts in show spots. After appearances in popular shows like “Happy Days”, Williams had landed his own television show named “Mork and Mindy”.  After this everything kept going uphill for Williams.

Williams started appearing in great films that we all remember and love. In 1980 he got the opportunity to star in the movie Popeye (1980). I remember this movie in particular because the character known as Popeye was one of my favorites. I guess at this point I began to appreciate every work Williams did. Williams kept on working and working, continuing to make many great films. The 90’s is where he made many movies I love and he changed my childhood for the better. I was fascinated with movies like Disney’s Aladdin (1992), Mrs Doubtfire (1993), Jumanji (1995) and Flubber (1997). I remember watching the movie Toys (1992) with my grandfather who I truly miss. We would watch it after we had lunch at his old house. I’d have to force him to watch it but overall we enjoyed each others company.  These are movies I’ve seen countless of times and have brought plenty of great memories and people into my life.  After winning many Oscars and Academy Awards, Williams suffered from a drug relapse and admitted himself into rehabilitation in 2006. A year later he was free and ready to keep making popular films such as Night at the Museum (2006) and Old Dogs (2009). Williams has not only gained my love and respect, but he has also won as much as 40 awards including an Oscar which he was nominated 50 times. Bringing much joy and happiness to people’s life, Robin Williams gave the world the great gift of laughter and smiles with his films.

Williams had brought much attention with his comedy and films but his personal life had also became famous. Williams had his ups and downs just like any other normal human being. Williams was performing as an actor as he always wanted to do; nonetheless, everything wasn’t uphill to Robin. Throughout his life he was involved in many romantic relationships which wouldn’t always work out. He had 3 children whose names are Zachary, Zelda and Cody. Robin Williams would also suffer from depression at times. Unfortunately, Robin had been doing drugs and alcohol at the time of his show “Mork and Mindy” and took him a couple decades to alleviate. Unfortunately, on August 11, 2014, Williams was announced dead in his home in California. It was said that Robin was dealing with severe depression.

Biography.com. "Robin Williams Biography." Biography. A & E Television Networks.  Web. 27 Mar. 2016. <http://www.biography.com/people/robin-williams-9532797#related-video-gallery>.

LIfetime.com. “Robin Williams Biography.” Biography. AETN UK. Web. 27 Mar. 2016. <http://www.lifetimetv.co.uk/search/q/robin%20williams>

 

Portfolio Project - Intro and Project 1 - Laughs

    Project 1 was a good start for me. I first thought this essay was going to be difficult when I heard what the prompt was and I began my usual routine as dreading an English paper. The idea to combine the curiosity journal was genius. The project was mostly done because I had already done the journals. All I needed to do was to combine all three and then write an introduction and a conclusion.

    This assignment wasn’t hard but it was challenging. It made me study people's behaviors and how they interact with each other. I have never really stopped and realized how and why people laugh until now. Its really helpful because you learn a great deal. It also made me remember parts of my life that I had forgotten. Not only that but this paper challenged us in finding research through people’s journals and/or articles. I have learned that finding articles and other work really helps your writing. This project was a great start to challenge our minds and get us ready for the next writing assignment.  

 

Andres Argaez

English 101

Hollie Villanueva

dental draft

Laughs

    Laughter has always been in not only my life but in everybody’s life. We as humans always laugh but never stop and start to wonder why or how we do this simple action. It’s always been a regular thing to giggle, chuckle and laugh hysterically but what causes you to laugh? Do we laugh differently than with others? Do the people around you affect how and how much you laugh? All these are questions I tended to ignore every single day…until now. Now I have began to look back at my experiences, observations and readings and realized the value of what a simple laugh can hold.

    Ever since I was a small child, laughter has always been in my life, especially since my family has always been jokeful and caring. My childhood was actually filled with smiles. I can remember numerous moments of my life which involved endless laughs. For example, there was a time in high school where I was sitting in class taking a test. It was an economy test which I was not exactly an expert in. As I was taking the test I was dripping in sweat and extremely nervous for it seemed difficult to me. Deep down I knew failure was expected and I had no confidence in myself. The class was completely quiet and surprisingly the girl next to me farted extremely loud enough for it to echo around the class. In a matter of seconds, the whole class seemed to be covered in hysterical desk banging and high pitched laughs. I tried my best to hold in the uncontrollable urge to chuckle so the girl next to me wouldn’t get shy but she was also laughing. As I let it all out I could remember the phrase my mother uses “ me agarra el tonto” which means laugh so hard making you feel stupid. Truthfully, that laugh made me feel great and added confidence in myself. After the class had settled down a bit I continued to take the test with a substantial amount of confidence and passed. I have much experience with laughing but I ask what else is involved with laughter?

    Recently, I headed onto the cafeteria and Starbucks of Arizona Western College as I observed many students in how they interact while laughing and how laughing affects their social skills. My observations concluded to this. First, the people in the cafeteria were my first objective. I thought it was the perfect spot to seek students chattering and sharing jokes. I noticed that there was always both genders in each group. Women seemed to be laughing more than males did for some reason. Males did laugh much but seemed to laugh more when it was a group of just males. As I kept close watch, I noticed women seem to have more of an obnoxious and louder laugh. Then I headed over to starbucks because I observed that people who barely graduated from high school seem to attend Starbucks. A great deal of “fake laughter” seemed to be present. Fake laughing is when you don’t really think something is funny but laugh anyways to be nice. Flirting was a huge contribution to the fake laughter in Starbucks that day. Curiosity laughs that naturally came out to flirt with a boy/girl to make it seem like they’re interested. I seemed to also find that every other person has a habit of touching another person while laughing, something as simple as gently touching someone's arm. I always get a positive vibe coming from those who laugh more than the people who do not. These are my observations but I also ask myself, why do we laugh? What in our bodies trigger how we laugh?

I have read many articles on how we laugh and what in our bodies trigger us to produce this action. According to Dunbar, laughing involves the muscles from the diaphragm working hard. In the reading “Laughter as Form OF Exercise” written by Gretchen Reynolds, Dunbar explains that laughing for a prolonged time can be a painful experience, hence the term “laugh so much it hurts”. Dunbar is a very experienced scientist and know much about the biological side of laughter. In “Scientists Hint Why Laughter Feels So Good”, Dunbar talks about the physical part of laughing. He says that simple muscular exertions trigger an increase in endorphins which are the brain chemicals that are known for their feel good effect.  So Dunbar gives us the biological part of laughing and by looking at the biological side, it can give us a different perspective. Now we can know why it hurts when we laugh and why our jaw hurts as we continue in prolonged laughter.

Now that I’ve looked through my experiences, observations and readings, I can continue life learning more and more of what laughter is. To us it’s just a simple thing that we do which gives us a tremendous feel good feeling. As we start to notice why things happen, we seem to have a higher understanding of the way things work. We have to make the best of every situation and become one. What I enjoy most about laughter is the connection is gives between to people and how it can bring them together in a positive way.

   

 

Portfolio Project - Opening and Reflective Letter

“Mistakes are always forgivable, if one has the courage to admit them.

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you'll never get it done.

To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.”

-Bruce Lee

    This quote is from one of the most influential people in my life. I believe this quote justifies many things I’ve learned in my English 101 class. The point of the quote would be to stop thinking too much and do what you set out to do. Get your point across. Through writing sketches I noticed that there is going to be grammar, organizational, and citation mistakes. The next point is to correct them and better your writing. It all begins with mistakes.

May 12, 2016

Dear Hollie Villanueva,

    Thank you for the most influential English class I believe I have ever had. Not only that but it was actually enjoyable. I’m absolutely positive I have never said an English class was enjoyable. I must admit I’ve never believed in myself as a writer. Throughout my years of writing, all my professors and classes have been nothing but a bore. I’d also be terrified that other students would notice that I wasn't the best writer. However, at the beginning you mentioned that we weren't going to be graded on how good our papers are but if we did them correctly. At that point I felt greatly relieved. It takes so much stress off and actually made me focus on writing how I feel comfortable and not have to follow “the rules of writing”.

    The personal essay turned out to quite successful for me. I remember the first day you told us about our first essay. I also remember my hands getting sweaty and my throat becoming dry as I dreaded having to come up with ideas on what to write about. Then you mentioned our prompt. At that point I started to love doing curiosity journals because they tie up and connect with our writing assignments. Not to mention it was fun going out and observing people and how they react with other individuals. I also found how people laugh to be very interesting. I had done most of the writing assignment through curiosity journals so it seemed quite relieving and I was glad to write it.

    The profile essay was a bit more difficult but I had great determination to write a good paper because of who I wrote about. Robin Williams is very important to me and I had no problem researching and writing about his life. I actually enjoyed learning from this great idol. I believe this paper was my best from the assignments I did. I learned a great deal from this assignment. One thing I learned from the assignment I the importance of peer review. As I said before I hate being judged on how I write. When the day came to get in groups and peer review, I had to grow courage and let people read my work. Of course people wrote more educated with rich words but it encouraged me a bit more to write with rich vocabulary.

    I found the argumentative essay to be really difficult. Argument essays are usually my strongest writings and I felt very amateur with what I was writing. Maybe I just had trouble with the prompt. At one point I had ideas but I was lost in how to organize my ideas on paper. After finishing my updraft I knew I needed help. Then a great opportunity came up and you said you were to review our updrafts. I took the opportunity to come to your office and get input. I must say I was a little bummed out by looking at how many errors I had on the paper but it led me in the right direction. Everything went uphill from there and I tried to make a better paper.

    I feel like I have improved during this semester in your class. I now know how to correctly cite my sources. I also have developed a better way of preparing for a final paper. I understand the significance of other’s views and inputs in my work. I can research easily now. I have came a long way from the beginning of the semester and I see much improvement but I still have along way to go.