Magizine ads

                The ad I chose to analyze is a jewelery ad from a Teen Magazine. The jewelery is designed by Kimora Lee Simmons, and she is modeling the jewelery in the ad. When looking at the ad it is a half body shot of the model only showing her from the waist up. Kimor Lee Simmons is in a profile position naked with her forearms pressed against her chest. The jewelery designers forearms are then completely covered with the green beaded bracelets she is trying to sell. Kimora Lee Simmons represents a very powerful and wealthy women in the celebrity world and the mood set in the ad makes you will feel that you too can be sexy and be powerful like Kimora if you have one of these bracelets. What was strange to me was the written part of the article was more serious and down to earth, whereas the photograph is sexual. The caption at the bottom of the ad is saying that these bracelets were made from biodegradable elements of the earth and fifty percent of each bracelet will be donated to a Diamond Empowerment Fund in Africa to help those who mine for diamonds. I think that this ad is drawing in the wrong crowd. If the visual portion of the ad was done more tastefully it would draw in more of the adult crowd, who are more likely to purchase these bracelets to help the foundation. 

                  The second ad I chose is an bicycle advertisement. The center focus of the ad is suppose to be the brand of bike, but instead your eye focuses on the attractive women next to the bike. Awkwardly the women is wearing an evening dress with her hair and make-up is completely done, but yet she is holding a mountain bike with flames running up the frame. On the side of the ad is written text that says "Perfect fit". These words make it seem that the women is a perfect fit for the reader, but it is really intended the the bike is a perfect fit. This ad is awkward with the way they tried to use a women's sex appeal to get readers to purchase a mountain bike. But I think the bike company is trying to make a point that this bike can be a perfect fit for anyone who purchases it whether it is an athlete or not.

           The third advertisment I chose was an magazine advertisment for a mens magazine called Che. In the ad, the main focus is on the attractive women centered in the ad wearing only her undergarments. She is laying on a bed with her forearm resting underneath her to help support her into an upright position. The women's right arm is then draped over her right leg. The model has a look of lust on her face with her tossed hair falling over her eyes. The only unusual part of the ad is the video-game controller sitting directly in front of model. Insteadof the controller being hocked into a video-game receiver, it is connected to the women's belly button. In the lower portion of the ad is written text that say, "keep dreaming of a better world." This inscription is saying that the "better world" consist of men controlling the women. What the photograph is saying is by having the women hocked up to the video-game control the man can use the controller to make the women do what he wants, like a robot. This ad is also trying to saying that if you purchase and read this magazine it will help you move toward the fantasy of a "better world".

Album ad

Stay at home mom

When looking at the historical advertisements, I chose to look at the ad of a women eating icecream with her two children. At the bottom of the advertisement is a quote that states "What idiot coined the term stay at home mom?" Then, if you look closely in the background there is a sign that says "Fiftys". At a first glance of this ad, the Fifitys sign is blured in the background and looks like that is the name of the store the women purchased the ice-cream for her kids. But I think there is a deeper meanind to the sign in the background. Back in the fiftys women didn't work. It was in consittered normal that the wifes staied at home with the children, made sure the familys needs were met and kept the house in mint condition. To answer the quote at the bottom of the ad, it was the era of the fiftys that coined the term "stay at home mom". Nowadays, wifes and mothers are frustered with the term "stay at home mom", because they are not recognised for all they do. Most people think the term "stay at home mom" literally means they stay at home and do chorce around the house all day, and thats it. By this ad showing a mother out of the house with her children, is stating a point that there is more to the lable "stay at home mom". There are statistics that say a mother that stay at home and does all the household chorce, grocery shopping, arons, planing events, monitoring the household expence and bills this is an equivalence to having a full-time job. But most women are frustered because nobody acknowledeges this, and this is what the advertisement is trying to state.

Analyzing ads

Joe Camel

Back in the 90's, magazine advertisements for promoting smoking cigarets were everywhere. More often then not, it was difficult to identify what the ad was trying to sell from the caotic surroundings. The only small clue you were given was the large package of cigarets photoshopped in the corer of the ad and the small cigaret in the persons hand. The article I am analyzing is against smoking. This negative advertisement for smoking is a photograph of "Joe Camel" in a hospital bed. Joe Camel was a very popular advertisement animal for Camel cigarets. Except this time the camel is miserable lying in his hospital-bed. His eyes are sunken in, he is sickly skinny, and he has no hair on his body indicating his is going through Chemotherapy. In this advertisement instead of the words Joe Camel posted at the top of the ad, it says "Joe Chemo". There is a small caption at the bottom of the ad stating, "The Surgeon general warns that smoking is a frequent cause of wasted potential and fatal regret". In contrast the camel is sitting in the hospital bed sadly staring down at his sunglasses. These sunglasses, represent his past and how he used to have a great paying job and life, except he regretfully destroyed his life by smoking cigarets. He had so much potential in life, and the ability to life live to it's fullest, now he can't. This advertisement is saying that it is no longer considered ''cool'' to smoke, and if you chose to smoke you are wasting your life away with a guarantee to be diagnosed with cancer.

The mood created in the advertisement is depressing and I don't think it has a very big impact on the reader. Since this advertisement is a cartoon drawing of a camel with cancer, I think most people don't take smoking very seriously. If the artist was to incorperate family members of the camel, like children, I think ads like these would help guid people to stop smoking.

Cell Phones

       In the article, "When your brain is outside the car," Dave Downey states a very good argument about cellphone usage in cars. Downey explains that when a driver is talking on a hands-free headset, the drive is just as likely to get in a accident whether he or she is holding the cellphone for or not. I strongly agree with Downey in this article, a drivers full attention is on the conversation and not on the road. 

     In the second article I read, "Reining in cell phone use," Derek Moore discusses the uselessness of hands-free headsets. Moore argues, like Downey, that wireless handsets are just as dangerous. Moore goes into more detail about the dangers in regularly using a Bluetooth headset, the argument was, wireless headsets may encourage cancer or other negative side-affects. Bluetooth headsets causing cancer is something that has always crossed my mind and it scares me that scientist are fearing the same thing. 

      The third article I read, "Look who's talking" written by Howard Rheingold was an article different from the others I have read so far. Rheingold discusses the lifestyle of the Amish and how their live completely with out technology, with one exception, cellphones. I found it a little unusual that the Amish are against electricity, but yet they use cellphones. Another thing I found strange was in the Amish schools, it is a concern if a student raises their hand in class. By a student simply raising their hand, they are showing signs of individuality which is a sin. Even-though a few households are sharing one cellphone, when one wants to use the cellphone that person must go out the the fields to use it, in a way isn't that showing individuality?

      The fourth essay I read "The affliction" by Jose Astargo. Jose Astargo explains that people who have cellphones life for that contraption. Most often then not a conversation is interrupted by a cellphone call or text-message. Astargo explains that he too owns a cellphone but makes a point to keep it on vibrate so conversations with other people are not interupted. Astargo one day felt his cellphone vibrating at his waist, but when he ritched for it is was not there. Astargo soon realized that it was his stomach growling that gave the same sensation as his cellphone vibrating. This article shows that even those who know how ridiculous cellphones are can get caught up in the mayhem.

The First Technological

The First Technological Revolution and it's Lessons

Peter Drucker the author of "The First Technological Revolution," discusses the progression of technology and how it started out from a now simple notion of writing and has evolved into government, social class and institutions. Drucker shows his readers that the irrigation civilizations were more than just advanced kingdoms or empires, they were fully structured societies.  These large cities had fully established systems of living, crop rotation, irrigation, sewer, and an hierarchy of living. Drucker is trying to show us that it is because of these civilizations that we have had a blue print of how an society should be run.  It was frustrating for me to read this article because of how vague Drucker was, if I didn't already know about irrigation civilizations from history classes I would have been very irritated. I also found that is was hard for me to make the connection between our modern day life and that of a Mayan culture or city structure.  There is no doubt that irrigation civilizations were superior to that of other tribes in that time period, but relating it to present time is very hard.

        

Favorite American Vacation Destinations

    After watching the movie clip, "The Magic Kingdom at Walt Disneyland" I notice that the park looked like nothing had changed since I was last there. I thought it was interesting that this film was made in the 1970's, and the last time I was at Disneyland was the early 1990's. In my opinion, I think it is great that the Disneyland park has stayed almost the same for so long, I think people appreciate Disneyland more because it has gone unchanged for so long. As people continue to return to Disneyland they are able see the park just as they had left it and have everything exactly like they remembered. I am sure that Disneyland has changed a few things over the years, but they tend to keep the key attractions the same. For example, the famous "Teacup" ride and "It's a small world" ride will always be the same because that is what people want. 

       I also think our economy has become smarter with how to sell things to people, for example, the Reeses candy. This candy has been around for years, but whenever companies are selling their product to long they think it is time to change it is some way. So soon enough the market comes out with a new Reeses candy with white chocolate. The point is is that this altered version of the old Reeses candy is not selling as well because people want the old Reeses that brought back old childhood memories. I have noticed that no matter what age a person is in they will always smile and feel like a kid again when they see something from their past. I am bringing up this point about the Reeses candy because Disneyland in a sense is like the Reeses candy. People of all ages want to come back to Disneyland and remember everything and be able to have the same childhood feelings. 

Video # 1

        While watching the video "Canoeing on the Charles River," I noticed that every canoe that sailed by had a designated man controlling the canoe. Every man controlling the canoe was dressed in a white long sleeved shirt and some were even wearing ties. I thought it was out of the ordinary to be wearing a suit on a river, but then I realized, this must be one of the ways the people in the canoes traveled from one destination to another. I also realized then the nicely dressed men were controlling the canoes must have been the tour guides. They way the men and women dressed while traveling by canoe is very different from the way we dress today when we are in canoes.

         One thing that surprised me when watching this film was the women on the canoes. Since this film was made in 1904, I was not expecting to see any women on the canoes at all, but surprisingly I did. 

Video #2

          When comparing the video "Automobile race for the Vanderbilt cup" to current races today, I noticed the raceways are very unorganized. The people that are watching these races are eagerly crowding the raceway trying to see the oncoming race cars. Some of the viewers were swarming onto the racetrack, but our raceways today do not allow people this close to the road because it is dangerous. I also noticed that women did not attend these races, which I did expect because back in 1904 women did not attend most events men did.

Video #3

         When comparing the video "The ball game" to baseball games today, I noticed that the stadium in the video was much smaller than modern day stadiums. Also the players uniforms were not as flashy as they are today. Some other things that I noticed was the lack of safety for the players, considering the batter was not wearing a helmet. Lastly I observed that there wasn't any advertisement on the stadium, today that is a big part on how teams and the park get their funding.

" Why we travel" response

              In the article, "Why we travel" Pico Ayer makes a very unusual point about traveling. Ayer starts by explaining the difference between a traveler and a tourist. Pico Ayer says that a tourist complains about the environment they are observing, but a traveler indulges their surroundings. I agree with Ayer's in this point. When ever I think about a tourist i think of people that rome around all day aimlessly pointing at structure without knowing to meaning behind it. Tourist to me usually spend more money and time booking a room at a five star hotel than observing their surroundings. Then when I think about travelers, I think of a person that doesn't worry about the hotel their are sleeping in, they want to spend more energy on their sight seeing and taking as much as knowledge as they can. A traveler is someone that sees their surroundings with all of their senses, and interprets everything in a new way. 

               Ayer next  brought to my attention, that in order to be a traveler you don't have to go to a foreign country, Ayer explains that many people travel in their own cities. San Francisco for example, many people that live in this city have to walk ten blocks just to get to work. What Pico Ayer made me realize, was that in those ten blocks to work, you are seeing different cultures, structures and lifestyles. People don't need to travel to Africa to whitness poverty, you can simple venture down the street and examine your own community. My definition of traveling, before I read this article was, leaving your life and problems behind you and venturing to a new country. But what Pico made me realize is you don't have to leave the country you live in to be considered a traveler.

              An interesting comparison that Pico Ayer made was the notion between traveling and a love affair, these are completely different ideas but have the same meaning. Ayer proposed that a love affair can be like a journey to a foreign country. You can't speak the language, and you don't know where you're going, and you feel lost but in the same sense you feel complete. I have never related traveling in this aspect, it made me think when you travel you are in a different state of mind. You suddenly don't think about the past or future when you are traveling, you are only thinking about that moment in time, but you also do this when having a love affair.

Tourism

                  In this article "The Tourist," writen by Dean Maccannell, is a very bold article. What I mean by this is Maccannell discusses how tourist are wondering all over the world in search of what the world is really like. But the main problem with these tourist is they really have no idea what they are searching for or looking at. Once the tourist comes across their destination they wish that nobody was around to distract them or annoy them because they want to be able to see the statue. But what Dean Maccannell is getting at here is, you don't need to be alone with the statue to be able to see it, you need to see past the statue and into its history and worth in order to enjoy it.

               Another thing Dean Maccannell wrote about that I noticed people do quite often is they don't use the important area by it's full name. For Example, people all over the world want to come to California to see San Francisco. But now people have grown accustom to calling San Francisco, "The City". Now why would something with such significants be cut short by it's name? It just doesn't seem right that something stands before us with great worth and we cut it down my not using it's name.

             When reading this article it reminded me of the people that I know have traveled, and who are traveling for the wrong reasons. It is just two people in proticular that only travel for two reasons. One, because they have the money, and two just so they can say they did it. I am happy for them that they are able to do this and hopefully bring a little culture into their life. But in the same notion, their reasons for traveling bother me. There are many people out their that would love to travel and see where they were from or feel what it was like to live a certain way. While others take advantage of it and just travel to say they did it. 

"The lost of the creature"

          In the article "The Lost of the Creature," written by Walker Pierce, Pierce is trying to get people to stop and look at the beauty of the world for what it is. Just by looking at a scene, sush as the Grand Canyon, doesn't mean you are actually seeing what is there. But it is difficult for most to see the Grand Canyon for what it is, because other mediums such as post cards, books, and tourist folders have already formed a thought of the Grand Canyon for you to fallow. Pierce shows us that tourist already have an ideas in their head of what the Grand Canyon should look like from postcard. Pierce further explains that people compare things such as the Grand Canyon to what other medias have persuaded them to think about it. Once the tourist see's the Grand Canyon and finds out it looks exactly like the pictures they are satisfied and ready to leave. The real beauty and truth of the Grand Canyon was never discovered by the tourist because they had been blinded by a different source. Walker Pierce wants people to travel away from the paths and surrender and take in what your are seeing.

               Pierce then makes a good example of a family is lucky enough to have the entire park to themselves, they said it made the trip that much better. But how? How does having an entire park to yourself make it better? The park should be the same no matter how many people are around. Walker Pierce just wants us to breakaway from the faulty image of fun and how things should look, and start looking at the scene for what it is.

       When reading this essay it is sad to say that this is how people act. I can even recall past times in my life when I had a picture in my mind of where I was going and what it would look like. Except I didn't image what this place would look like, a book put this photograph in my mind. Once I arrive to my destination, I was disappointed in what I saw because it was different from the pictures. I admit that I was young and naive then, and I didn't take in what I was there and interpret it for what it was. It is sad to know that so many people think this way, I just sit back and wonder why people that think this way travel in the first place? If someone's only resource of their destination is a postcard, why go? Why don't they just travel by looking at pictures in a book, because to them there really is no difference.

Track 3 response

What does home mean today? To most people home is were they are taken care of and comfortable. To most that is an assistance living facility is where they feel at home. A home to most people doesn't necessarily have to be classified as big house with a yard and a dog. Most elderly today live in assistant living and love it. These elderly people are not capable of living on their own so they need additional help with a more scheduled lifestyle to keep them busy.

How are class and culture reflected on peoples homes? It has been shown in statistics that most nursing homes and assistant living homes have a majority of white americans living in them and only a very low percent are black. Assistant living homes deffinantly consist of a curtain class. These homes are not cheap to pay for so they are targeted toward people who make a set amount of money each year. So the lower class citizens don't have a chance in living in a assistant living facility. 

Are consumer culture and the media affecting our fantasies of home? Yes the media is effecting our fantasy of a home. Sadly the media controls most peoples lives already with hypmatizing them with what to think, eat and even wear. I think the media promotes nursing homes as a positive thing and hospitals want to convince the elderly to come and live at their hospital because it is the best and no other hospital can compare. After reading the article "Quality of life in assistent living facilities," some of the senior citizen living in nursing homes are not happy with their choice. These people have desires living a normal life again. Most elderly are frustrated with their choice of living in a nursing, they simply need more independence. This is were the media had brainwashed some of our senior citizens into thinking they were better off at a certain hospital then an assistant living facility. I think it is very important to do research on your own and nor rely on media to give you correct information.

Problems people face with creating a home? One of the biggest problems people face today is money. Money is the ultimate decision maker of were you are going to live. Some people can't afford an assistant living facility so they settle for less. It is sad to see our elderly family members unable to afford to proper living and can't be taking care of properly. Money is always going to be a problem in this economy and it is only getting worst. My grandparents bought a house equivalent to buy a new Honda today. Now a days people are having to move out of California because it is far to expensive to live here. My parents struggled more then my grandparents did when buying a house, and it is only going to be harder for my generation. 

House Hunting responce

                  After listening to "House Hunting" by Todd Hido, it gave me a different outlook on what the suburbs are. When comparing Todd Hido's perspective on the suburbs to Bill Owens and Patricia Lahrmer's work, I found that they are very different from Hidos. Owens photography and Lahrmer's article to me shows that the suburbs is a boring place to be, but yet a great place to raise a family. Hido on the other hand has a very different view of the suburbs. One of the pictures described that Hido took was of a house with two lights on, one up stairs and one down stairs. Hido also explained a picture he once took of a house but this time with two T.V. lights on, one upstairs and one downstairs. Hido explained that two people that live in the same house watch T.V. in two separate rooms, he exclaimed that he saw this a lot. People just want their own space when they are home. A women in the broadcasting said that Todd Hido's photography of the suburbs scares her. The women said that he takes pictures of homes with people living in them, but the homes come across as "emotionally vacant". From what I have learn about Todd Hido, is he thinks that the suburbs is a lonely place. A place where people live there but that is it. A place where people aren't friendly and want to be left alone in their own space. Todd Hido shows the other side of the suburbs, the gloomy side. 

Lahrmer vs. Owens, suburbs responce

After reading Patricia Lahrmer's article, "Slowly calling the burbs home," and then looking at Bill Ownes photos of what he thought the suburbs was. I found that both of these authors views on the suburban life is very similar. First reading Lahrmer article, she talks about how living in the suburbs is boring, but at the same time it is nice to have neighbors close to you who care for you and what is going on around the neighborhood. Lahrmer talks about how nice it is to have a neighbor go out of their way to bring in your newspaper, knowing you forgot to cancel the service when you were out of town. Lahrmer also tells a story about when a dog was hurt in her court and the entire neighborhood was outside concerned and trying to help, to her that is what the suburbs was all about. Then, when I studied Bill Ownes photos of the suburban life. I found that Owens photos were exactly what Lahrmer was describing in her article. Ownes has many pictures of families together eating dinner, siting in the living room together and pictures of neighborhood block parties. I also noticed that in Owens photos he was trying to express that the suburbs was a boring place to live. In most of Owens photos you can tell he was trying to exhaust that fact that the suburbs is a family oriented place to live. Owens showed that with the many pictures of parents outside with their children, playing and eating dinner together, similar to what Patricia Lahrmer had said about the suburbs. I do think that Owens and Lahrmer have the same views to what the suburbs is.

The Golden Apple response

The Golden Apple

               From the broadcast produced by This America Life, taught me that people really do shape the public space. Personally, I always thought that it was the place that shaped the people. I used to think that different restaurants presented a different atmosphere that attracted a curtain crowd, then I listened to this broadcast. At The Golden Apple, the people really do shape the restaurant. For example, the morning crowd is a very mellow group that comes strictly to eat. With tables that only have one person dinning the restaurant is silent, all you can hear are the forks clinging on the plates. The dinner crowd is usually filled with couples. The restaurant is filled with conversations about "couple stuff". Conversations about their future or the drama about their unresolved pasts. Then there is the late night crowds, usually consist of the drinks or people that are looking for a good time. The noise level in the restaurant grows and is full of more laughter. Each crowd that was interviewed was very different from the previous and brought in a new atmosphere.

              One specific example of how the people shaped the restaurant was the dinner crowds. There was a couple interviewed that had dated each other 3 years prier but were now seeing other people. In fact, the women at the table is engaged and the man can't stand the thought of it. Even though these two people are no longer a couple, they were still having the same "couple conversations" as every other couple in the restaurant. The only difference was, was their conversations had a hidden meanings to them. For example, a women walked past the window of the restaurant and the man at the table followed her every step with his eyes. The women at the table shrieked and told the interviewer that he does that all the time and i used to bother her when they were dating. The women explained to the man that when he stares at other women it shows her that she is not interesting enough to keep his attention, but the women is. Every conversation they had was secretly about their past.

             If I was to compare The Golden Apple to a chain restaurant like In-n-out, the two restaurants have some similarities. Although In-n-out is not open 24 hours a day like The Golden Apple is, they still have similar crowds that come in and make In-n-out what it is. The first crowd of the day is the early 11:00 lunch crowd, which is most all elderly customers. Most of the tables are parties of two and the mood is very quiet just like The Golden Apple. The dinner crowd at In-n-out is more of a family crowd, and the atmosphere is full of a consistent chatter. Families talk to each other about their day, as other parents are trying to control their screaming kids. The difference here is The Golden Apple is not a kid friendly place, actually very rarely a parent will bring their child in. The late night dinner crowd at In-n-out is more of the party crowd like at The Golden Apple. At In-n-out you will see all the people coming home from bars to get a bit to eat. The conversations are louder and full of laugher just like at The Golden Apple. You may even find people at In-n-out sitting there eating only because they have nothing else to do, or they are hoping to find people they know. At The Golden Apple the late night diners are almost identical to those at In-n-out. Although Inn-n-out is a fast food resturant, the people eat there change to feeling of the place just as those do at The Golden Apple.

"Criteria for a Healthy Landscape" response

Read response

            One of my favorite places to go is a hiking trail off Willowcreek road in Occidental. I feel that this is a "healthy landscape" for reasons that it brings so many different people together. People of different social class, race, gender, age, heritage and even sexual preference all come to enjoy their similar love for the trail. This trail takes people away from their busy lives and gives them a chance to only focus on the path and forget about their stresses. It gives people the chance to read its beauty, growth and unfound mysteries it holds. Once you reach this clearing at the top of the trail you can see the miles of rolling hills, the cold ocean and even a few homes if you look hard enough. This peek was named the sound of music, in my opinion it was named this because you can almost hear the music of the hills and the ocean. You can hear what nature is trying to sing to you if let it. This Willowcreek trail brings all different parts of nature into one area. What I mean about that is it brings people with their bikes, strollers, animals, people who are suffering from cancer, people who have survived from cancer, people who have lost a loved one and even those who have found love.

               Paul Groth's first criteria says, "A healthy landscape connects its participants to themselves as individuals" this statement really explains Kmart. What Groth means is by that statement is, landscape supports survival of basic life responsibilities such as making a living for yourself, food and shelter. The people that work at Kmart are trying to keep the dysfunctional store going in fear of losing their own jobs. Many Kmart stores have declared bankruptcy and if all Kmarts were to disappear nobody would even flinch, or would they? The people who work for Kmart would all be unemployed, not only the coworkers but their families would suffer too. When you walk into a store it is more then just a building, it's a persons life. What I mean by that is, many don't ecknowledge the employees stocking the shelves, taking inventory, filing paperwork and even ringing up your items. Each person who works in Kmart is there trying to make a living for themselves, and if each Kmart slowly went out of buisness it may not effect you, but others are effected.

"Kmart has a lovable disorder" responce

          The essay, "Kmart has a lovable disorder" by Hank Stuever, was an essay none like any I have read before. The way Stuever creatively described Kmart was unusual, but yet he described it to a tea. In the sentence "a true Kmart is unashamed to be a Kmart. It has lipstick on its teeth..." Stuever creatively represented what Kmart was all about. I liked the way Stuever lists all the bad qualities to Kmart and makes it sound like a dump. At the same time Stuever's cruel statements make you almost feel sorry for the dysfunctional store and makes you love to hate it.

         So how does this essay qualify as a cultural landscape study? Stuever stands back and read the chaotic building for what it was. Stuever read the build as it was a bipolar person, he took all the stores flaws and transformed them into flaws of a person. The only problem I found, was judgment may have been involved in the way the author perceived the building. Stuever briefly talks about how 2,114 Kmart stores are declaring bankruptcy. That brief comment showed me that a little judgment may have been used when he was observing the building. Even though the statistics were true, that bit of information can change the way you see something. In my opinion that information could promote someone to see only the negative and not be able to see some good it has to offer. 

"The Monument and the Bungalow" response

After reading the article " The Monument and the Bungalow " by Pierce Lewis, it really showed me a different way to view the world we live in. Through out the article, Lewis tries to open your mind towards "reading landscapes". Pierce Lewis then talks about how two former colleague of his, wrote identical letters in hopes for tips on how to teach their own students how to read landscape. Lewis, at first finds it difficult to explain how to read landscape in his letter, but the task does not defeat him. Lewis explains in detail about how you need to have true eyes before you can read landscape. What Lewis meant by true eyes was, using non judgmental eyes. If you were to pass judgement onto the object you were looking at, in turn this would overpower you ability to read the landscape. I thought the way Lewis explained how judgement alters your mind was the most moving point in the article. I also try to use my "true eyes" in my day-to-day life, but often my judgement takes over. Although, I have never thought of this before until I read this story, but when I pass judgment upon something I too lose my vision and don't see what is really there. 

Also Lewis explained how college students fresh out of high school are less likely to practice their "true eyes". Which I would have to say I agree with. Most 18 year olds are still trying to find themselves and what they want to do in life. Most of all, these new college students are still very much into their appearance. What I mean (and Lewis explained it also) about that is, these young adults who are once again new to another school, and don't want to be caught dead kneeling on the ground observing gravel. So, Lewis' goal was to erase the way most students have been taught and a show them a new way of learning. Lewis is appalled with the way students today are being taught. It disgust him how students are being taught about the world by simple sitting in a class room and watching a movie. So, instead he takes his students on field trips to show them what life is really made of. 

Lewis also said in order to "read landscape" you must improve your vocabulary. The example he gave was a picture of hills and then he described the hills with only using two words, "alluvial fan". He then explained how these hills look like an alluvial fan and then explains the history of an alluvial fan. Lewis explained that the alluvial fan is created by a  running stream who's volume and velocity starts to decrease the stream is then forced to drop all the gravel and sand it was carrying to appear like an alluvial fan. These two words describe what the object looked like, how it was made and even a little background history of what these fans mean. This was a very creative word choice on Lewis' part, and that was another point he had made. Creativity is key to helping your vocabulary and view of what your observing.

What I also liked about this article was the way at the end Lewis courageously said he may be wrong about his theory, but doubts that he is. I really admired the way he admits to possibly be wrong about his theory. Just by Lewis saying he could be wrong makes you want to read into his theory a little more. I have always found it unappealing when a teacher, for instance, pushes their students to hard into believing in what they feel is important. When someone is confident in what they are presenting they can admit to possibly being wrong. I felt throughout this article that Lewis didn't try to brainwash you into thinking like him, and I find it more enjoyable to learn when someone isn't pressuring you into their ways.