Sports In My Life

Sports play a huge role in my life, besides playing football and basketball most of my life, I advidly play sport video games like Madden 2000-2011, and the 2K series. I watch ESPN everyday. I've been doing fantasy football for four years now. My life wouldn't be the same, sports is exiciting and its constant. It never gets boring, and I'm always entertained because I watch the NFL, NBA, College Football, and College Basketball and all of these sports are currently playing.

Thankful For a Classmate

I'm thankful for Shane Officer's wisdom in our class. How he always has a well thought out and informed answer to any question. Other than that im generaly thankful for everyone that's in the class. It's a fairly enjoyable class. I hope everyone's Holidays are trill and everyone has a raw winter break.

Direction of The Class

I like the direction of the class now, "How soccer explains the world" is a very good book and it is very reperesentative of modern issues. The book leaves a lot of room for us to interact off of it because it covers so many topics and is non-fictional. If I would suggesst one thing to add to the class is maybe more creative projects every unit to keep us interested.

Defend The Poet (DTP)..Huff

To the poet's defense (author of Dinosauria, We)I felt that the poem was very specific and made parallels to our society and world today ( I dont remember the exact year the poem was published)but it was head on and believable. Onto the larger scope, it seems that poets have no significant place in our society today which is sad, ( true poets, not musicans)it seems like a dying art which I believe is a sign of the times in our "express" culture. I think internet is to blame for a lot of the cintemparary arts and physical art dimenishing from the mass conciousness and relevancy. The world is always evolving and this new digital world has created new avenues in which to express yourself and to communicate to a large audience. In an era were millions of people devote their short attention spans to watching three minute clips of Fifty Tyson on youtube how possibly can a poet get notoriety? I think people have grew accustomed to having information at their fingertips and are not having to decipher deeper concepts or meanings. That is the true challenge to the poet. Can the poet change his media in this new frontier? It's possible, but the significance is the question.

Father-Son

I've got a lot in common with my father =, we both look alike, we both play football, we both grew up in Evanston, and we share similar interests. Even with all these things in common we are distant. Distant in terms of communication, growing up my dad never talked to me about his relationship with his father and him growing up. It's a distance between us and we are both concious of it but do little to nothing to try to change the fact. It's a void in my life and hopefully I'm more open with my son. Me going on 17 I think it's too late to address the issue as I will be out on my own in two years. I think it is unfortunate but nobody's life is perfect. On the flip side my dad has been with me my whole life and has took care of me my whole life.

How Do We Know What We Know?

How do we know what we know what we know? While there is no definite answer, I believe most of human's knowlege come from teachings from people who take that profession. These teachings are based mostly from scientific findings from the past and other findings over the course of human history. So, in a way we are "programmed" in a way by our society of facts and lessons they deem correct or acceptable. As a people we dont have to find knowledge for ourselves it is given to us.
I believe there are pros and cons to this method of the discovery of knowledge. One of the good things about this method is that it allows us to progress as a people instead of people learning the same thing over and over again and not going foward. It lessens the ignorance of people to an extent. The con is that you can program people to a point were people can't function by finding they're own knowledge and creating "dependent robots."
Another way we gain knowledge is through the five senses, for example knowing something is hot by touching it, knowing you like something by tasting it, and thinking something is beautiful by seeing it.

Our Meaning

Our meaning and exisistence in this world is a question that is not yet answered to me and I believe wont be solved as long as I live. Unless there is a breakthrough wheter it be scientifaclly or religiously. I don't know what phenomenon needs to happen to give humans a sastisfactory and universal answer to life. Im not sure they'll ever be a phyiscal "happening," where everyone is enlightened. Maybe that is the meaning of life; to pursue the great unknown for all time, maybe the universe was designed intentionally in a way in which it hid the unkmnown knowledges from humans. Maybe for all the years we've been on earth we've missed the big picture. Something so complex, we cant imagine to fathom. Maybe there is no life in other galaxies, and universes, and we seek the ultimate answer when there really is none.

God In 2010

I believe god is becoming less prevalent i n our society than it was was when our founding fathers created the constitution of the untied states. I believe the biggest component in this change has been the up rise in technology and machinery over the some odd two hundred plus years. As technology advances our society (and others) tend to break away from traditional beliefs like homosexuality, cryonics, abortion, physical manipulation (botox, liposuction), and many other things have now been deemed acceptable in our society. The more man advances the more he will question "god," and his existence. religion is still embedded in our societal structure but to the extent that it is used and implemented to the majority of Americans has totally changed. It no longer carries the same weight it did two centuries ago. Also, as man continues to expand technology into space, whatever that may be, I believe will have a huge impact on religion and the idea of "god" in general because so many religions incorporate space, the universe, and astrology.

Do Candide's Punishments Fit The Crime?

No, Candide's punishments are purposefully exaggerated and extreme to relay a message that ignorance and being naive can get you hurt, and that the actual world is harsh. If everyone believed in one philosophy there would be peace and justice in the world but unfortunately that contradicts human's natural behaviors and nature. One of the punishments that really stick out to me is Candide's flogging in which he losses all skin and his muscles are exposed. These type of radical consequences is more so a message to the reader about culture and philosophy than a resonable reprecussion. Later on Candide begins to form his own view of the world through cruel experiences and the reconecction with Cungonde in which he murders two people and slyly gets away with it by deceiving authorities. This is an ironic spin on how he went from "volunteering for a sacrifice," to getting away with murder.

Mos Def Modern Gadfly

For years Mos Def has been analytical of the world and his surrondings. He is a legend in the hiphop community and has enjoyed commercial success as an actor. In his songs he sends messages about politics, race realtions, and the black conciousness. Songs like Theives In The Night, and Mr.Nigga deal with how Americans see blacks, and how blacks see themselves. The song Dollar Day, which takes aim directly toward former President George W. Bush, displays Mos' feeling of shunning and ignoring the black community from the highest head in Government. He has starred on the Chappelles's Show multiple times, and one of the more memorable episodes is the Black George Bush skit. Mos played the Black Head of CIA in which he displayed to the press he had found yellow cake in Iraq, making fun of the actual incident. Over the past decade Mos Def has been one of the most respected and acclaimed concious black voices in America along with Spike Lee, Cornell West, Nas, and many others.

The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living?


What is the purpose of living life if you don’t know why you’re living it? The only true way to be happy in life is to question yourself. Question the way you think, what you believe in, who you are. Without doing this you walk through life blindly and you are swayed by influences in your society. Most of not all of the most influential people in history have had moments were they have questioned themselves about their lives, their actions. Malcolm X did this when he left the Nation of Islam, Muhammad Ali did this when he refused to fight in the Vietnam War, and the list goes on. To have true fulfillment in your life you must look within yourself for the answers, no one else. To give an example, let’s say there was a baker who baked pies. His whole life he’s been baking pies, as he took after his father and when he was old enough he inherited the family bakery. He made pies everyday, the best pie flipper in his city. Then one day he asked himself, “Why do I only bake pies?” Pies were all he’s ever known. That same day he wanted to try something different and started to bake cakes. He found he loved this and continued baking cakes the rest of his life. He expanded his reality simply by asking himself a question.

Eulogy

Xavier Omari Joy was a generous and respectful man. He was loved by his family and friends, and respected by his peers. Xavier will always live on in the hearts of the people in his life, and will be remembered long after his has left earth. He loved sports, music, art, politics, and travel. Xavier had a passion for football and he played the game for nine years. The game taught him life lessons and built his character and ultimately made him a better person. Football taught him hard work, how to compete, working through adversity, fighting through pain, teamwork, respect, taking advice and constructive criticism, learning how to follow, being a leader. Xavier comes from a very artistic and creative family, his father and grandfather are both artists, his aunt is an actress, writer, and director. Xavier appreciated art because of its power through many facets. Xavier particularly loved music because of its power through messages and substance. His taste for music was very diverse ranging from jazz to alternative. Some of his favorite artists and groups were Wu Tang, The Roots, Jay Dilla, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Madlib, Mos Def, MF Doom, Nas, Little Brother, 9th Wonder, Alchemist, Cold Play, Gorillaz, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Hot Chip, Flying Lotus and many others. Music was a way for him to relax and was a way to express himself. Xavier also loved to travel. He believed you not only learn more about the world, but more about yourself through travel. Traveling was always a great experience for him and he went to places like Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and all throughout the United States. Xavier always wanted to leave this earth with a legacy of helping uplift people and be an inspiration to someone, hopefully he has achieved this goal.