To laugh or not to laugh

To laugh or not to laugh, that is the question... Apparently no one in America understands this question, let alone knows how to answer it. After reading through Chuck Klosterman's "Eating the Dinosaur" I really thought about all the different misuses of laughter in American society. Although I am a huge fan of laugh-box comedies like Friends, and Seinfeld, I suddenly realize how stupid the idea is. Canned-laughter is simply someone in the back of your head giving you the green light to laugh when something is supposed to be funny. I liked how he talked about Germans being very frank (no pun intended) and generally evasive towards laughter in common conversation. This is strange for Americans to comprehend considering we use laughter as an everyday tool of communication. American laughter is purely conditioned by the entitlement to politely, obligatorily, and reflexively laugh at anything that might seem funny during conversation (Klosterman 187). The whole idea of canned-laughter suggests that Americans are to dumb to know when to laugh, and I really don't know if I can condone that behavior anymore. The world might be a better place with more laughter, but does laughter also make the world a dumber place? I don't know the answer, but I will say that I kinda like the fact that Americans enjoy lots of laughter. It makes us seem a lot more human, and a lot less like those super serious Germans. Besides, German is a dying language anyway.

Bibliographic Annotation Post, thoughts, experiences

"The Foreign Language Annals"
Produced by members of the ACTFL (American Council on the teaching of Foreign Language).

The professional journal, "The Foreign Language Annals", was what Dr. Eileen Glisan referred to me as the most effective form of communication in the Spanish Education field. I can describe it as a peer edited journal in which members of the ACTFL submit professional articles on new forms of educational approaches. Thousand of articles are submitted to be in the journal, which is printed quarterly, but only 10 are chosen to be published. This journal enables Foreign Language teachers across the United States to communicate their views to each other in an effective manor.


The following is a quote on the effectiveness of the content in The Foreign Language Annals, that I feel are appropriate to post in this Blog-liographic Annotation. "The resulting document represents an unprecedented consensus among educators, business leaders, government, and the community on the definition and role of foreign language instruction in American education." This quote defines the who's and what's of the professional journal. I can't really assess it anymore than by summing it up with the previous exert from the summarization of the annals.


In conclusion, "The Foreign Language Annals" was a relevant article for me to read, and I am pleased with some of the information that I have acquired. It is the official journal of Foreign Language learning techniques amongst American teachers, and therefore their most prestigious form of communication. The interview assignment allowed me to gain insight on this Journal, and hopefully i'll find use for it sometime in the future.

-Sorry for the boring post everyone; sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do!

Hooked on Gadgets and Paying a Mental Price; here's my opinion

Well, after reading this article, I feel that I might have some useful information for the rest of you. First off, I want to address whether our focus is being undermined or enhanced. Although I would like to say undermined (take for example the Bing commercials for search overload), my gut instinct tells me that our overall focus benefits from technology. Its possible that our focus might be diminishing from multi-tasking, but our brains are now being enabled to focus on multiple things.

My personal belief is that technology is the new coffee in the world today.

We crave it, need it, can't wake up in the morning without it. This need for technology free's up personal time by doing necessary tasks quicker, and letting us check our e-mails and look up more exciting information in our new found free time. Anyway, "the bottom line is, the brain is wired to adapt" -Steven Yantis.

All era's have experienced a sense of distraction whether it be Beatlemania in the 60's, or the Disco party lifestyle brought about in the 80's. It is our generational obligation to address our deep seeded problem with technology, and find out how it is affecting our brains. Anyway, this is pretty much all I want to say via blog. Hope you enjoy and agree with the things that i've previously mentioned.

The Intro to my life

Well, now that I've went through the actual process of setting this blog up, what should I talk about? I guess the first thing i'll do is just give you a little overview of who/what  I am. I am a 20 year old Indiana University of Pennsylvania (yes the nickname "I Usually Party" does explain us well) who loves college, has already started to explore the world, and wants more than anything to just make a comfortable life for myself in the future. I like to think that I am driven for success, and that small day to day events pave the future for the men and women we have yet to become. Optimism is the key to success. Go Steelers, Go Penguins!

Okay, I feel a little bit to much like Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Network" right now so, good bye and stay tuned for some of my future thoughts. Thanks!