Chapter 3 Discussion Questions; (1) and (2)

Bernie Goetz also know as the 'subway vigilante" is a man who lived in a crime filled New York area. One day while riding the Seventh Avenue 2 express subway he was approached by four men who we've "allegedly" going to mug him. But it was discovered that not one of them even posed any sort of threat to Mr. Goetz. I am not real sure why he went ahead and murdered these four young men. He said that there were words said to him that hinted they were going to mug him. I don't find enough evidence here to think that the four boys were going to harm him. I'd say he is a cold blooded murderer.

There are a few ways to answer this (number 2). hen the wall of Berlin was to come down, everyone was there to witness and help tear down the wall. When things like that occur it's an epic moment to remember. Because how great must it of been if your family was on the other side and after such a long time being away from them you finally get to see them. Another example of dictated behavior is when the people of the USA have to decide who's our next president. When it finally comes to the final race between the top two competitors, members of the republican and democratic parties will do anything in their power to make sure their representative is going to win. That means small riots, picketing, or arguing on national T.V. These are two bi factors that will get a lot of attention and buzz swarming with dictated behavior.

Session 2

In this session there were three girls presenting and their names are Laken Tassos, Heidi Zibara, and Amanda Petrunack. Laken talked about the presentation that IUP alumni Bill Strickland once gave. Some people did not like him but most people did for his contributions to IUP. He is a close alumni to the IUP family and was looking to donate money and she felt that for an alumni to give back to IUP the way Bill wanted to that it should be recognized and more frequent. She showed a huge amount of respect for what he wanted to do and Laken had a great appreciation for him. Heidi talked about the major issue of why americans treat muslims so differently. She was making the argument that they should'nt be treated any different than any other american just because they dress different, hair looks different, and have a few different traditions. She went on talking about how people that don't like islamics for those reasons have a high case of "Islamimophiba". Amanda was my favorite presenter due to the fact she was a great reader and presented her article very well using good "volume" in words. She explained the importance of family. Explaining that alot of restaurants are family owned and that thyey will always have a great staff because of having family as your employees. It is also good for a family to go through such experiences because it will pull you closer together. If you can work with the people around you being that they are your relatives that will lead to a happy working environment and a better business.

Session 1

I learned the impact of writing certain words and saying words a certain way speed can really uplift a story. The two girls that presented did a noticeably nice job in their presentations. Kelly Johnson presented a poem about her father dying. It was sad obviously, but at the sametime I really liked how she used certain adjectives and metaphors to help put her message acrossed. Kelly alos did not make it a long, drawn out, and sappy story when she easily could of. She made it clear though how much she loved her dad and misses her. I can relate to losing someone that close because I lost my mom of cancer when I was 14.

Then there was the girl by the name of Jessica Sabol. i actually graduated high school with Jessica and have known her most of my life and she is a very interesting young girl. She was in drama club, theatre, and is a very outgoing person. All of these showed in her presentation as well, she had a couple different selections that ranged from heart wrenching to sexually humiliation. She read all of them out loud, and did a great job with each one. Using a lower and scared voice for the one of her grandpa dying and for the one she talks about a "whore" using men like tissues she used each characters voice the way it would be if it happened in front of us.

If either of these girls had read there poems in a boring monotoned voice I would've lost interest within minutes of them starting. But because of the way they emphasized certain words and the way they would change the mood of there voices for certain sections, I was able to listen and picture what was going on as a listener and really could feel the emotion that the reader was putting off on to us in the room.

chapter 2 reflective writing

The main topic in chapter two is the "word-of-mouth epidemic". Gladwell explains that just by talking we tend to move peoples minds and opinions in different direction everyday. So by doing this we actually create and buzz whether it be in a negative or in a positive manor. He shows us through examples, and in different views. Just like if a new restaurant opens up, at first not many people know until it gets promoted through ads and radio etc. On top of that there is promotion through word of mouth and by that I mean once people start eating there they will be telling everyone who asks about it what they thought and what they think. If someone has a bad experience then they are going to say bad things, that then tells people to not go there. The people that are being told will not want to go just through the simple fact they don't want to waste money or be disappointed.

Then there are connectors, they are the people that can talk to you and you know right away about there gift to click with a conversation the second you start talking to them. They can talk about anything and it will normally be an easy going smooth conversation. They are the ones that have a serious gift to society and socialism and for some reasons they always have they have the ammo of knowing the right people and having good connections.

Then there are the people who can push you to like something even after they just explained that they don't have any interest or exploit the subjects weakness. This person is the "salesmen" and they have a special ability to convince people as if its their job (at times it is their job which makes life as possibly a car salesman or sales rep a lot easier than others). They at times may even work against word of mouth, because if someone has something bad to say about something the opinions may be different and the salesmen will tell the opposite end of the story and at times they may convince the person that is curious with a different train of thought. My view on word of mouth is for things like opinions on shopping or dinning you should figure them out on your own because something that someone may dislike you may like and could be missing out on something great just because you listened to everyone else talk down about something

different readings

Like I have said before I don't care for reading unless it's something that interest me like sports. I just can't seem to get by my view on reading, why should I read something that I don't care about? Like reading for school for example, never once have I read a book and at the end cared about what happened. If it wasn't for assignments I never even would of read it. But that could be my problem, maybe I should be more open to reading and that way when it does come time to reading for class it wont be such a drag for me. At the same time again I find myself stuck reading for class. Certain amount of pages each class that I have to read etc. I could pick up a sports illustrated and read through the whole thing without any push for motivation period. the tipping point already has shocked me with the word "syphillis" alone. Definitely not what I was expecting at all, but it did make me a little more interested because that seems to be a catchy topic. Plus it's the point of the whole book. I just find readings like these (ones for class) very boring and I'd just sooner be doing something else.

free writing about my topic

I've decided to do my research project on the constant gripe and debate of the stereo typical upper, middle, and lower class of society. I want to find out why we have to label each other into these classes and whoever made the guidlines of who goes in what category and show my opinion as well. Because quite frankly I don't think it's right to label people due to what they own or how much money they make. I believe everyone should be treated the same regardless of how they are. Because at times the way people are labeled it almost seems like a "rich" person and a "not so wealthy" person can even be in the same room. I think people should be based on personality and personal traits not money or the clothes they wear. The whole idea that we have to and should fit a certain mold that is labeled as something as close as "perfect" is terrible. If you can make it through life and enjoy it the way you are approaching it you should be happy with that not just because your neighbor blows through life and makes twice the amount you do.

Intro blog

In the introduction Gladwell brings up various way of explaining the different epidemics that have taken place. He first starts with the hush puppies example and how it was a shoe going out of business but then busted on to the fashion scene due to the fact some kids noticed that no one ever wore them. Then it seemed like all the kids were wearing them to the clubs, cafes, and throughout the streets of new york. All for the simple fact they were not popular at one point, then one day a few kids decided to take it upon themselves to bring the shoes back into a major existence. The next example he used is the huge crime rate "tipping" point from the 80's to the 90's. At one point violence and murder within five years had dropped 64% to 770 and total crimes had fallen by almost half to 335,893. That allowed people to fill the streets due to the crime rate just being low and everyone felt safe again. The third example Gladwell uses is the yawning example. It is very true how contagious yawning is, I always thought people just made up that whole "hey don't yawn because then I'll start". But after reading the word yawn a few times in the paragraph I actually did yawn once, and after seeing him explain how if people watch you yawn they will start then the people watching them will start and on and on. I never thought of that but it is indeed very true. Most of the time when you hear the word contagious yawning is the last thing you think of but from now on it will one of the first to pop in my head.

Summary of Ch.1

In chapter 1 of "The Tipping Point" by Malcom Gladwell explains and examines the very big STD problem that occurred in Baltimore Maryland during the mid 1990s. There is a very big syphilis outbreak and sociologists explained that the statistics on a scale were on a graph and at one point went from being flat lined to a right angle because of the giant increase in the 90s.

This all started because of the bad drug epidemic that Baltimore was having. What is an epidemic you’re probably wondering? It is a function of people who transmit infections agents, the agents itself and the environment in which the infectious agent is operating. People from all over the rough neighborhoods were all doing huge amounts of cocaine and that then lead to bad and risky behavior. That lead to the start of the spread of syphilis, because everyone would meet up then they took the drugs back to their bad neighborhoods from wherever they came from and then after awhile the spreading just multiplied in bunches.

Another example that is listed is the lack of medical treatment had a major impact on the spread of it. Because there was no medical help due to the budget cut in clinics that forced everyone spread the disease even more.

The last example that Malcom Gladwell wrote about is when one of the local projects went down, the infected people were forced out and had to move away. But along with them came the same bad habits and the drugs and syphilis that they carried. So again this rule shows that it doesn’t take long nor is it impossible to keep such a trend from happening repeatedly.

After all of these examples we have come to the conclusion that there is more than one way to tip an epidemic. It really all just depends on what the trendy way of spreading something good or bad is working at the time.