Reflections on the Course

         It is amazing how quickly time does go by. Speaking of time, I thought I had pretty good time management skills based on my previous four semesters. This semester however was a bit more challenging. I took two online classes and both were quit reading and writing intensive. I really struggled with putting my thoughts on paper and experienced what, to me, was writers block. With that being said I am still not allotting enough time to finish my work in the fashion I would like. I have seen an improvement and that is why I am here. One skill that I learned was to just start typing. I used to write everything out longhand and then type it out. That was a very long process and I am getting more comfortable with starting right on the computer. It has gotten faster, but I find myself editing while I'm writing, which disrupts my thought process. It's a work in progress.
         I really enjoyed the work we did in class. This was really new to me. I have never spent so much time analyzing a single piece of work. It was really interesting how different things would stand out to me upon returning to a reading. some of my views  even contradicted my thesis, which added to my writers block. That in itself was a learning experience and taught me to make my claims with confidence while eliminating my first person writing style. Another new experience was the night I attended one of the literary reviews, I found it quit enjoyable. I have to say I expanded my cultural palate.
          I will say that over the years I have always enjoyed reading, but never a deep reading. I am not  well read in the sense that I could compare the authors that we studied to other authors. I liked both novels that we read and could relate in some fashion to both main characters. The movie Winters Bone was terrible but I enjoyed both the novel and the movie Up in the Air.
          I can see that my written communication skills have improved, and have already utilized that in rewriting my resume.
   

Up In The Air

Dean DeGroot

Eng. 102

Laura Cline

29 April, 2010

Up in the Air

            The novel, Up in the Air, is a story about a self-absorbed jet setting businessman by the name of Ryan Bingham [I]. Ryan has a shallow existence but claims to like it; he has accepted it anyway, and calls it home.

http://www.gizmocrazed.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/airplane-rain-clouds.jpg

            The movie, Up in the Air, is a story about a self-absorbed jet setting businessman by the name of Ryan Bingham [II]. Ryan’s existence in the movie is not quit as shallow as in the book, but it is obvious that it is an isolated one.

The novel, written in 2001, is indicative of society during affluent times and how easy we can get caught up in our pursuit of a “Holy Grail” while neglecting our relationships. The movie, which came out 8 years later, portrays a more emotional side to Ryan [II]’s character. 2009 was a much different world than 2001. We as a society were still recovering from 9-11 and in the middle of a recession unlike we had experienced since the great depression. Times of great loss can have a huge impact on the soul. Whether that loss is physical, or materialistic, makes us step back and take stock in what’s important. Jason Reitman, the director of the movie, recognized this and added a softer side to the storyline by focusing more on the relationships of the characters.

Walter Kirn, the author of the novel, has a unique style of writing that was, at times, hard to follow. His witty satire, however, did a great job making fun of the corporate business man while also hitting on societies infatuation with modern technology. Kirn’s desire to ridicule the silly achievements that society, or individuals, deem important was evident in a C-span interview. Kirn revealed that he was a rural farm boy from Minnesota that went to an Ivy League school on scholarship. In the interview he stated,

I grew to suspect that certain professors were on to us, and I wondered if they, too, were

fakes…to thinkers of this school, great literature was an incoherent con, and I, a born con

man who knew little about great literature, had every reason to agree with them…but I

craved acceptance into, my perception of, American hierarchy that I didn’t have a key to

and whose presence and power I resented…I thought that at the end of getting A’s and

gold stars there was going to be a celebration of Walter Kirn; it never happened…My

motivation ,I think, was a need for approval/love. ("Q and A with Walter Kirn")

This is Ryan Bingham [I], who was a con man; he fired people and told them it was an opportunity. His greatest fear was running into someone he had talked to about “free agency and self-directed professional enhancement” (Kirn 23)

 Ryan was pursuing a million airline miles for no reason, but dreamed of the celebration and the perceived status in acquiring his “Holy Grail”. He desires approval and love, but fears commitment. This makes his shallow existence in air world a convenient façade. Air world is an endless stream of airports and random encounters with other travelers that Ryan views as friends and casual lovers. “Fast friends aren’t my only friends, but they are my best friends.” (Kirn 6) He is a successful, well dressed transient. His only real contact with people on the ground is his family. He views their existence as a boring structured life that requires commitment. Through Ryan’s view of people on the ground is Kirn’s way of ridiculing American’s tendency to overindulge in pursuit of our American Dream. That pursuit can be so consuming when times are good, that we lose sight of what is important; our relationships.

Ryan travels alone in the novel, but travels with a female business partner in the movie. Alex, a casual love interest in the book, has a bigger role in the movie and Ryan’s life. The movie has more relationship type emotions while spending a great deal more time with what Ryan actually does for a living. Firing people. This was a conscious decision by the director because of the current state of our economy. Knowing that loss of employment was taking such a huge toll on the American psyche Reitman made Ryan’s profession a larger part of the plot. He was still able to poke at Ryan’s silly status symbols of air world while compassionately dealing with the realities of his profession, a reality that Ryan himself is facing. Ryan is being grounded because; “spreading the gospel of successful outplacement” (Kirn 27) is being automated. An automation process that is being implemented by a young female counterpart. Ryan’s counterpart, Natalie, sees no problem with firing people via an internet teleconference. Ryan realizes that losing your job is very personal and feels it should be dealt with in person. This shows Ryan has compassion and feelings, but in his backpack speech he claims, “Relationships as our heaviest loads” (Reitman). He recognizes this shallow existence in his life and decides to come down and give Alex a chance, only to find out she already has a life on the ground. Ryan was her escape. He decides to go back to air world, but hits it at a slower pace. Ryan [I] would have liked to stay in air world but was grounded for health reasons.

The author of the book satirically portrayed life that isn’t fast paced, with immediate gratification, as drab and a way of settling. Everything has to be new and shiny, but nothing is real. The director of the movie recognized how relationships can be warm, comforting, and give depth to our lives. The comments by real life people, who had been recently fired, added a very real feel to the movie. They all were thankful for the support of their loved ones during the hard times. How sad it would be if, when someone fell, there would be no one there to help them back up.

Works Cited:

Kirn, Walter. Up in the Air. 1st Ed. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2002. 1-303. Print.

"Q and A with Walter Kirn." C-span: Web. 29 Apr 2012. < http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/287039-1 >

Reitman, Jason, dir. Up In the Air. Paramount Pictures, 2010. Film.

Up in the Air / Roughdraft

Dean DeGroot

Eng. 102

Laura Cline

9-April, 2012

Up in the Air

            The novel, Up in the Air, is a story about a self-absorbed jet setting businessman by the name of Ryan Bingham [I]. Ryan has a shallow existence but claims to like it; he has accepted it anyway, and calls it home.

http://www.gizmocrazed.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/airplane-rain-clouds.jpg

            The movie, Up in the Air, is a story about a self-absorbed jet setting businessman by the name of Ryan Bingham [II]. Ryan’s existence in the movie is not quit as shallow as in the book, but it is obvious that it is an isolated one.

The novel, written in 2001, is indicative of society during affluent times and how easy we can get caught up in our pursuit of a “Holy Grail” while neglecting our relationships. The movie, which came out 8 years later, portrays a more emotional side to Ryan [II]’s character. 2009 was a much different world than 2001. We as a society were still recovering from 9-11 and in the middle of a recession unlike we had experienced since the great depression. Times of great loss can have a huge impact on the soul. Whether that loss is physical, or materialistic, makes us step back and take stock in what’s important. Jason Reitman, the director of the movie, recognized this and added a softer side to the storyline by focusing more on the relationships of the characters.

Walter Kirn, the author of the novel, has a unique style of writing that was, at times, hard to follow, but I loved his satire. He did a great job making fun of the corporate business man while also hitting on societies infatuation with modern technology. Kirn’s desire to ridicule the silly achievements that society, or individuals, deem important was evident in a C-span interview. Kirn revealed that he was a rural farm boy from Minnesota that went to an Ivy League school on scholarship. In the interview he stated,

I grew to suspect that certain professors were on to us, and I wondered if they, too, were

fakes…to thinkers of this school, great literature was an incoherent con, and I, a born con

man who knew little about great literature, had every reason to agree with them…but I

craved acceptance into, my perception of, American hierarchy that I didn’t have a key to

and whose presence and power I resented…I thought that at the end of getting As and

gold stars there was going to be a celebration of Walter Kirn; it never happened…My

motivation ,I think, was a need for approval/love. (C-Span)

This is Ryan Bingham [I], who was a con man; he fired people and told them it was an opportunity. His greatest fear was running into someone he had talked to about “free agency” and “self-directed professional enhancement” (book 23) Ryan was pursuing a million airline miles for no reason, but dreamed of the celebration and the perceived status in acquiring his “Holy Grail”. He desires approval and love, but fears commitment. This makes his shallow existence in air world a convenient façade. Air world is an endless stream of airports and random encounters with other travelers that Ryan views as friends and casual lovers. He is a successful, well dressed transient. His only real contact with people on the ground is his family. He views their life as a boring structured life that requires commitment. Through Ryan’s view of people on the ground is Kirn’s way of ridiculing American’s tendency to overindulge in pursuit of our American Dream. That pursuit can be so consuming for all of us at times, especially when times are good, that we lose sight of what is important; our relationships.

Ryan travels alone in the novel, but travels with a female business partner in the movie. Alex, a casual love interest in the book, has a bigger role in the movie and Ryan’s life. The movie has more relationship type emotions while spending a great deal more time with what Ryan actually does for a living. Firing people. This was a conscious decision of the director because of the current state of our economy. Knowing that loss of employment was taking such a huge toll on the American psyche Reitman made Ryan’s profession a larger part of the plot. He was still able to poke at Ryan’s silly status symbols of air world while compassionately dealing with the realities of his profession. Ryan[II] referred to relationships as our heaviest loads in his backpack speech but decided to come down and give Alex a chance, only to find out she already had a life on the ground and he was her escape. He decides to go back to air world, but hits it at a slower pace. Ryan[I] would have liked to stay in air world but was grounded for health reasons.

The comments by real life people who had been recently fired added a very real feel to the movie and conveys that deep meaningful relationships are what keep people going through the tough times.

Up in the Air-Thesis

Dean DeGroot

Eng. 102

Laura Cline

9-April, 2012

Up in the Air

            The novel, Up in the Air, is a story about a self-absorbed jet setting businessman by the name of Ryan Bingham. Ryan has a shallow existence but claims to like it; he has accepted it anyway, and calls it home. Air world is an endless stream of airports and random encounters with other travelers that Ryan views as friends and casual lovers. His only real contact with people on the ground is his family. He views their life as a boring structured life that requires commitment. Even though Ryan is successful in his career his only real commitment is his pursuit of a million frequent flyer miles. His “Holy Grail.”

http://www.gizmocrazed.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/airplane-rain-clouds.jpg

            The movie, Up in the Air, is a story about a self-absorbed jet setting businessman by the name of Ryan Bingham. Ryan’s existence in the movie is not quit as shallow as in the book, but it is obvious that it is an isolated one. He travels alone in the novel, but travels with a female business partner in the movie. Alex, a casual love interest in the book, has a bigger role in the movie and Ryan’s life. The movie has more relationship type emotions while spending a great deal more time with what Ryan actually does for a living. Firing people.

The novel, written in 2001, is more indicative of society during affluent times and how easy we can get caught up in our pursuit of a “Holy Grail” while neglecting our relationships. The movie, which came out 8 years later, portrays a more emotional side to Ryan’s character and relays the message that deep meaningful relationships are what keep people going through the tough times.    

Mid-semester letter

DEAN DEGROOT

11938 E. Arabian Ln.

Dewey, AZ. 86327

April 1, 2012

Laura Cline, Instructor

YCC

Prescott, AZ. 86305

Laura Cline,

            A mid-semester review. My knee jerk response was, “How can I write a whole page about that”? First I would like to say that while I am in the middle of a semester, shooting from the hip and going through the motions, I don’t always feel like I’m learning. That realization usually comes later, sometimes not until the following semester.

            The first big hurdle for me was learning how to become a blogger. The technology learning curve has been a slight struggle for me since starting school two years ago, creating a blog and properly posting my work in the appropriate assignment folder was a new twist. Learning that I can copy and paste a URL into a paper and create a link, is probably the coolest thing I learned in that area, and has been utilized in my world history class.

            The effects of the readings, well I’ll start from the beginning. Nabokov’s lecture made some valid points, mainly to keep an open mind and consider the context while reading. What really stood out for me was the importance of rereading, something I have been trying to implement. Rereading, I’ve noticed, does improve, and at times even changes, my view of the text. After rereading “Good Readers and Good Writers” I was reminded of Nabokov’s view of a minor reader which he feels “likes to recognize their own ideas in a pleasing disguise.” (Nabokov, 614) My favorite line in his lecture is, “Every great writer is a great deceiver” (Nabokov, 616)

            On the topic of objective vs. subjective, simply put, is fact vs. opinion. View this video about this topic.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-t8JzRMkVQ. In respect to literary analysis it is impossible to be 100% objective. I have always considered myself an analytical person that considers alternate points of view, but never within collegiate guidelines and semester deadlines. These guidelines have broadened my critical eye and the deadlines have improved my ability to get my thoughts on paper. As I finish my final draft for Winter’s Bone, and start to formulate my analysis for Up in the Air, I am aware of how the context of my life is affecting my analysis. My general opinion of the main characters, in both books, is that they feel trapped in a life that they are both trying to escape. I am a 49 year old college sophomore doing the same thing.

            My goal, for the rest of the semester, is to give my academics the time they deserve, but like Ree and Ryan sometimes my life sucks me back in. I would like to note that that isn’t necessarily negative. Choosing between two positives is a hard decision.

            I would like to close by thanking you for your constructive criticism and, if time allows, I would like a face to face again next week.

Sincerely,

Dean DeGroot

Works Cited:

Nabokov, Vladimir. “Good Readers and Good Writers.” Norton Reader shorter 11^th Edition ( Date unknown): 613-17. Print.