Summer Fowler Contemporary Literacy

  Is fast food the new tobacco? Well, first we must look at the properties of fast food and the properties of tobacco. Fast food is technically fuel for our body, and eating fast food is better than no food at all. Even though fast food is not good for you, it can provide comfort, convenience, and sometimes much-needed calories. Tobacco on the other hand is a substance, it has cultural significance, but it does not offer anything to you. Also, tobacco is highly addictive and has proven to cause more harm than good. You could argue the same about fast food, however, people need to eat to live. If all you can eat is fast food, then at least you are alive. People do not need to consume tobacco to live. Both tobacco and fast food cause harm to our bodies and the earth. But fast food does have some use as it is food. I do not believe that fast food is the new tobacco. Fast food and obesity is definitely an issue that Americans and people all over the world face, however, it is not nearl...

  Is pop culture good for us to consume? Pop culture is the spread of trends and information through media. Currently, we are living in a world where pop culture is coming at us at astronomical rates. With social media, the spread of information has rapidly accelerated. This makes pop culture as a whole more prevalent but also more diluted. There is no longer one movie, song, or style that is the main thing anymore. In the past, Star Wars, skinny jeans, and songs like The Gangnam Style were things everyone was aware of and following. Now there is not a consistent style, song, or movie that everyone is following or aware of. Phil Miller’s Ted Talk, Pop Culter is Dead! argues that this influx of information and things that are popular takes the power of pop clutter away. Saying that pop culture is no longer relevant. He makes this claim by saying that the extreme amounts of media make it so nothing is popular. In other words, Miller claims that pop clutter does not exist because not...

 Hi! My name is Summer and I'm a ballet major and part of the Joffrey BFA program. I am in my second year here, and I am really enjoying NYC. I like to dance, go to the beach, cook, hang out with friends, play with my cat, and just enjoy my time in New York. I am taking this class because I enjoy learning and talking about the world around us.  My journey with literature started around preschool and kindergarten when I enjoyed having stories and books read to me. I have always loved a good story, and my mom really helped to fulfill that, as she would often read to me and my little sister. Shed read us a lot of Little House on the Prairie, as well as The Berenstain Bears. Those memories are really special to me and I love that my mom was able to do that for me and my sister. However, when I started to learn to read, I did not enjoy the stories as much. Then and still now, I do not enjoy reading. It was definitely a struggle, and I did not feel literate (I probably was not). My...