Blog #12

My ideal university has many components. First of all, physically the landscape would be very aesthetically pleasing, with lots of beautiful landscaping and a clean living environment. This is important to me because living in a healthy environment helps keep students emotionally happy. Living situations would be a lot different as well. Sleep is something that a lot of us, as college students, end up sacrificing because of our busy schedules and different stresses. Class times are sometimes very unaccommodating for those students who have other commitments or are trying to get jobs. I think another important part of the ideal university is the available student services. Mason excels in this department, offering a variety of helpful learning tools as well as mental health services. My ideal class would be a creative learning class which would encourage thinking outside of the box and allow students participate in activities that force them to do things they wouldn't normally. The most important part of a university should be the way the staff motivates their students to excel and succeed. Having a bad professor can turn a student off to their entire learning experience, and the feedback of the students during teacher evaluations should be taken seriously and under advisement by the human resources department. 

Blog #10

1. The visual and textual rhetoric of the shirts doesn't elicit much of a response from me in one way or another. I know I had the shirt on the bottom when I was in middle school, and I used to wear it proudly because I thought it was a statement and I thought it was a cool way of letting people know that I am a religious person. I don't think I would have bought the shirt on the top because of the way it portrays Jesus as a "homeboy" in the literal sense, instead of saying it in a way that is usually interpreted as a term of endearment. When people use "homeboy", it can mean two different things. For the shirt on the top, it is meant to mean a "gangster," or a "hoodlum." For the shirt on the bottom, it is supposed to mean that Jesus is someone that you defend like one of your own "homeboys". I am probably the most religious person in my group of friends. I attend church every Sunday, and I grew up in the church. Neither shirt offends me, but I can see why some people might interpret it as offensive.

2. "Christians see it as a way to both show and propagate their faith." 324
To me, this is an example of why these shirts should be thought of as a way of exposing their faith and letting people know that they are openly Christian.

3. If the shirts only had the text, I'm sure some people would still find offense in them, but the the image portrayed in the second shirt is much different from the first. The second one is the generic image of Christ with his hands pointed towards the sky and his face looking humble and solemn.

4. The rhetorical message that interpreted was that yes, religion should not be considered a trend of any sort, but the idea of people being able to openly express their faith is a big step, and maybe the humor in the shirt is an easy way to let people know that you have some sort of religious beliefs.

People have their own personal relationships with Christ. In my eyes, whether you call him "Father God" or your "homeboy", the fact that you have some sort of interaction with your faith is what is most important. Either way, nobody has the same path in their faith, and nobody can really say whether it is wrong or right.