Read Responses

Week 1

Each of these essays expresses ideas of identity. In “Captain America In a Turban”, Vishavjit Singh, challenged the way New Yorkers perceived superheroes based of the knowledge they had received from society. When the name “Captain America” is brought up one may instinctively associate these words with a fair- skinned, muscular man in a red, white, and blue costume and may identify him as a superhero. This man sought out to prove that any American could be Captain America regardless of race or hue. Although many enjoyed the costume, others questioned his authenticity, including a boy who said that captain America did not wear a turban. Singh writes, “but his brain couldn’t make sense of it: Captain America in a turban?” perfectly explaining how society tends to put people into categories and classify them in a certain manner. He wanted to show people that whatever conceptions our culture held about people who looked like him were misjudged. That they were not all “terroristas”.

In “Faking It”, Lewis narrates the story of a 15-year-old boy posing as a 20-year-old legal expert on Askme.com. He created this online identity for himself to which he could escape to after school once he got on the computer. As his rankings continued to climb he feel important and had such a strong sense of pride that he did not necessarily feel in his day-to-day life. A quote toward the beginning of this essay perfectly sums up the concept of the writing. It reads, “The Internet offered him as many opinions as he needed to find one he liked. It created the opportunity for new sorts of self-perceptions, which then took on a reality all their own.” In today’s culture, the Internet can be used as another world where people can identify themselves and depict themselves any which way they desire to. I believe this quote is exceptional because it is the quintessence of the entire article. People can escape from their own realities into a place where they can be anyone they want.

In “Black Men and Public Space”, a man recounts of his days in Chicago and New York and how he was viewed by society at those times. Many time people feared his presence, just him walking alone a night caused people to associate him as a threat or predator. His identity as a black man was taken as dangerous due to the high percentage of black men as perpetrators of violence at the time. Even though he describes himself as someone who “is scarcely able to take a knife to a raw chicken”, he struggled with society accepting him for who he actually was. His race defined him and because of what culture presented at the time, he was viewed as menacing in many circumstances.

Week 2

In Shrinking Women, Lily Myers says, “You have been taught to grow out. I have been taught to grow in”. I think this line perfectly sums up the message she urges to bring attention to- gender roles in society. It is clear that Lily yearns to break out of this cycle that has been reoccurring in her family, but she struggles to find a way out. For her and many young women alike, it is so easy to fall into this cycle and it happens to Lily almost unconsciously because she is so used to the ways of her mother. Even though it feels wrong to her, it is very difficult to reject. She mentions how confidence and independence are slowly faded out of women as they are raised, while men are encouraged to speak freely and individually.

Awareness and consciousness are reoccurring themes in “This is Water”, a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace. He urges us to assess how we choose to interpret and view things around us. Life can sometimes seem very routine and mundane, causing us to lose sight of our individuality and what is really important to us.

Cunningham’s piece sheds light on societies expectations of women to always be cheerful and have a pleasant attitude because “life’s not that bad”. Many times women feel like they need to put on this face of “happiness” to others just so they can be seen as normal- going against this expectation would make them stand out in a negative way. However, by agreeing to fit this mold, women can feel void of their  true self. 

Week 3

Reading this article definitely provided me with some new insight on how to conduct an effective interview. Constructing the right kinds of questions that get the interviewee responding how you want them too is very difficult- many times interviews can get off topic quickly and its hard to reel the person back. I found Oral History tip #2 to be useful because it is so important while interviewing for this paper to get particular examples or instances involving their that the person can elaborate on. Asking questions that can be answered with yes or no are more unlikely to provoke those types of anecdotes. I think #5 was particularly helpful. Many times when I’m interviewing someone I want to jump right into the “hard” questions that I really desires answers from. However, this tip points out that starting with the delicate questions is more useful because you become more acquainted with the person and establish trust. I found it surprising that this article stated that it is better to go with a negative approach over a positive one.  Overall, reading this helped to give me a good sense of how to craft the types of questions I ask, as well as how and when I ask them.

Week 4

Since MLA format and citing sources has been drilled into me since elementary school, one would expect to be an expert on it by now. However, this is not me. I have always grasped the importance of citing other work I have used, but numerous formats and methods of citation have made citing sources an enigma on many occasions. 

I think one of the most annoying aspects of citing sources is when you find a website full of really strong and pertinent information and then you go to cite it and cannot find key information like the date it was publicized or the author. Citing then becomes difficult and very confusing. Many times when this happens I question if I should even use the source at all. 

I actually learned quite a bit in the “annoyance” section Stedman’s article about better ways to incorporate quotations into writing. Many times I fail to properly set up a quotation with sentences leading into it.

Lastly, normally I would be entirely bored by an essay about quotations and sources but the author manages to incorporate humor and have a very light-hearted approach, which made for an enjoyable read. 

Week 7

After going through the 20 most common errors, the most common errors I recognized in my own paper dealt with pronouns and tense. The tabs that exemplified the mistakes I was making were vague pronoun reference, lack of subject verb agreement, misplaced or dangling modifier, and unnecessary shift in tense. Some of these errors that I was making were harder to spot than others, and other were silly mistakes I should have caught. Thankfully, the website helped me to spot mistakes I didn’t even realized I was making so I could fix them.

In the piece “Joy”, Smith describes her feelings of joy and pleasure and her internal conflict with joy. She does a great job of weaving her personal experiences into essay, and this helps the reader to get a better understanding on the claims she makes about joy throughout the writing. In between these anecdotes is where a lot of her logically thinking comes in play. Since a lot of her logic is derived from emotion, I think it would be beneficial for Smith to include some scientific research on the way we perceive joy and emotion. It would add an interesting component to the piece without taking away from the main substance.

Week 7.5

Sarah Smarsh effortlessly combines her personal experiences, society’s misconceptions, and research to create a very successful, thought-provoking essay. While the primary subject of the writing is about “poor teeth”, there are many underlying themes and messages that she clearly states and implies dealing with the faults in our society and political system. What made me enjoy this essay so much were all the different methods she used to explain her identity. Right in the beginning of the essay she set the scene by talking about a character in popular TV show Orange Is The New Black. Being familiar with the show, I was able to make a connection to what she was talking about right away. I think opening up an essay with something people can easily identify with is a great way to capture the reader’s attention and is something I hope to edit into my paper. Smarsh also does a good job of combining facts and research with her personal experience, each backing up one another and therefore supporting her claims. I need to create a better balance of personal experience and research in my own essay. My paper is definitely lacking in personal experience. Smarsh’s essay is a good template of how to talk about identity in an interesting manner.

Week 8

In her essay, Karen Swallow Prior weighs the arguments of both writers Annie Murphy Paul and Gregory Currie in their essays on reading and then progresses into her own realization on reading. The majority of her essay is taking a look at the impacts reading has on people according to these writers. She uses a lot of quotes from both of the writers' pieces and sets up them up very well by providing both background information and brief summary. 

To me, the most convincing part of her essay is found toward the end where she brings in her personal experience with reading literature. She talks about how the books she has read over the course of her life have shaped her in such an immense way. To affirm this, she lists the specific books she found impactful and why they left a mark on her. I wish this paragraph was more developed or she was able to weave more of her personal experiences into the essay because this is the section where her argument is most clearly made. 

I did find similarity between this essay and the Said piece we read in class, primarily because both pieces revolve around taking another person's argument and disputing it. However, I did feel as if Said's piece was more successful because he was more direct in his writing. Prior takes a longer time to get to the heart of her argument which I found to be more confusing. 

Life as Middle

I have always thought about my place as the middle child in my family- what it means for me and if it has really had an effect on me. I am the middle child of three children: I have an older brother and a younger sister. My birth order has definitely had an impact on not only my personality, but also the characteristics, values, and outlooks that make me “me”. Moreover, as I have grown, my outlook on being a middle child has developed into a new understanding and appreciation. The middle child is often referred to as the “neglected” child, but many middle kids can tell you, that this characterization is often very wrong. Although some may agree with the “neglected child” claim, there are alternative sides to the stereotype that are often overshadowed.

The middle child is neither the “firstborn” or the “baby” of the family so many, including middle children themselves, are inclined to view the middle child as having it the hardest. Middle children often face a multitude of stereotypes: confused underachievers, always outshined by their siblings, and snubbed by their parents. They also may feel out of place or “feel like they don’t belong—in other words, that they suffer from “Middle Child Syndrome” as Katrin Schumann, co-author of The Secret Power of Middle Children explains (Griffin). In an interview held with my longtime friend and fellow middle child Kelly Pizzirani, Kelly in a sense confirms having the Middle Child Syndrome that Schumann talks about when she states, “I’ve always felt a little bit of disconnect from the way my parents have treated me versus my siblings…I have recognized many times where I wasn’t receiving as much attention” (Kelly).

Attention seems to be a primary disadvantage “middles” have a problem with. Because of this, studies show that there are some psychological challenges middles face in relation to having this birth order. In a psychological research study on birth order, Professor Srivastava identifies “ordinal position is associated with disparities in parental investment, which can lead to differences in behavior, health, and mortality” (Srivastava). Some of these differences in behavior include acting out often, having low self-esteem, and being more introverted than one’s siblings. Other psychological studies have been done on how birth order affects personality. The most common affects stem from the way parents handle their children differently depending on age and also the relationships the child has with his or her siblings. Sibling relationship is key in understanding personality development of middle children. In many instances, middles are accustomed to seeing the unending support and pride parents have with their oldest and the sympathy and pampering that is given to the youngest. This causes many middle children to become more distant and independent then their other siblings. In my interview with Kelly, she touched upon being more reserved and introverted than her siblings. Toward the end of our conversation she comes to the realization that “(She is) definitely the most introverted out of my siblings and I think this could be due to the fact that I thought I was always being overshadowed. This made me keep a lot of things to myself and become a lot more independent” (Kelly).

If you are a middle child yourself, you may relate to these categorizations spot on. If not, you may have gathered your own ideas about birth order due to personal experience or even from what you have seen on television shows. Middle children tend to have a bad “rep” on televisions shows and sitcoms. Looking back on TV shows and movies from childhood, many personality traits are repeated over and over again. Writers of these shows tend to portray the middle child character as embodying the stereotypes society commonly has about them. For example, Stephanie Tanner is the middle child in the wildly popular 90s American sitcom, Full House. Even though Stephanie grows up in a more unconventional family than most, her middle child symptoms are persistent throughout the show. She is seen as the blabbermouth of the family always calling for attention with her exuberant personality. However, Stephanie’s call for attention always seems to be shifted to the backburner with her older and younger sisters’ attention taking the spotlight. She often results to defiant ways in order to become noticed and there is even an episode titled “Middle Age Crazy” in which Stephanie’s accomplishments are sidelined to the attention her little sister Michelle receives. Take another look at the more dated but beloved show, The Brady Bunch. Jan Brady is seen as the poster child of Middle Child Syndrome. Stuck in the middle of her sisters, Jan frequently has feelings of inadequacy and invisibility while constantly being paralleled to her perfect, polished older sister Marcia. Crystal Bates, author of the article The Fault in ‘Middle Child Syndrome’ and college student, explains her point of view on the way media portrays middle child characters. She argues that “Middle Child Syndrome’ is a personality trait that has been overemphasized in media, attaching a negative connotation to certain children just because of birth order” (Bates). Middle child traits tend to be exaggerated on television and sitcoms providing fuel to the fire of stereotypes.

In recent years, new studies on middle children have started to overshadow the undesirable characteristics of middle children that are popularly portrayed on the big screen. In fact, new findings show that is it an advantage to be the middle child of a family. Katrin Schumann continues her analysis of middle children in another article for Daily Mail by saying “the stereotype does not correspond to reality… middle children are more likely than their siblings to be successful and enjoy strong social lives and flourishing careers” (Schumann). The apparent disadvantages that middle children commonly face turn out to be very beneficial. For starters, middles get to have the experience of both being and older and younger sibling. They get to take on both the mentor and learner roles, which are both critical skills to have. Middle children also adapt proficient qualities and learn life lessons that they can carry with them throughout their lives. These qualities include but are not limited to skillful peacemakers, creative thinkers, and excellent communication skills.

For decades, conventional wisdom has assumed that middle children, those born in between older and younger siblings, tend to have a tougher time growing up. I have firsthand dealt with some of the challenges that come with being stuck in the middle of two siblings. However, throughout my experience I have realized all of the positives aspects on being a middle child and how it has shaped the person I am today. So for all the middles out there who feel like they get the short end of the stick, your position has perhaps put you in the luckiest position of all.

Works Cited

Bates, Crystal. "The Fault in 'Middle Child Syndrome'" Looking in the Popular Culture Mirror. Word Press, 14 Aug. 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.

Griffin, Lynee. "The Secret Power of Middle Children." Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, 8 Oct. 2012. Web. 2 Feb. 2016.

Kelly Pizzirani, personal communication, February 2, 2016.

Schumann, Katrin. "Middle Children Are MORE Successful: That's the Surprising Finding of New Research. So Is It True about Your Family?" Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd, 31 Jan. 2016. Web. 4 Feb. 2016.

Srivastava, S. K. "Study the Effect of Achievement Motivation among Birth Orders." Journal of Psychosocial Research 6.2 (2011): 169-78. ProQuest. Web. 12 Feb. 2016.

Interviewee - My friend Kelly who is a middle child of four

Topic- Being a middle child of a family

Method- Email

Date -  01/30/16

Interview Questions

1.      Briefly describe your experience of being the middle child of your family.

So I am the 2^nd child out of 4 in my family, however the youngest was born 8 years after the third child so most of my life I have been the third in the family. I’ve always felt a little bit of disconnect from the way my parents have treated me versus my siblings. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a neglected child like most people tend to think middle children are, but I have recognized many times where I wasn’t receiving as much attention as my older and younger sisters.

2.    Do you believe that there are misconceptions society has about the middle child? If so, what are they?

Definitely. Like I said in the previous answer, I think there seems to be a stereotype out there that the middle child is kind of looked at as like the forgotten child of the family and doesn’t receive the same amount of attention as the oldest or youngest in the family. They’re not the first-born or the baby so I think people view the middle child as being somewhere in the “grey area”. 

3.    What kind of advantages/disadvantages has this identity brought you if any?

I think the disadvantages would be the times where I did feel like I was almost being ignored or my accomplishments didn’t go as much noticed as those of my siblings. For example, I’ve played lacrosse my whole life and now go to college on a lacrosse scholarship. My older sister is a year older than me, and a very good field hockey player.  We were both being looked at by coaches for recruitment around the same time. When I received an offer from my top choice and my sister didn’t, I felt like my accomplishment was completely overshadowed by my parent’s sympathy toward my sister. It seems like they’re have been countless situations like this where I feel like my successes haven’t been recognized or appreciated.

But I have also gained some insight as I’ve gotten older about what I have learned about being a middle child. I always felt like I had to work so much harder, be a better student, or a better athlete than my siblings in order to stand out. This instilled in me a drive and determination that I am actually really grateful for. I know now that my parents love and appreciate me just as much but that time of being unsure about myself actually helped me gain qualities that I am proud to have.

4.    Do you think television series and sitcoms tend portray the middle child of the family in a certain way? Please explain.

I actually haven’t really thought about this before. However, after thinking about it, I do recognize some of the stereotypes people have surrounding birth order in the show Modern Family. Alex Dunphy is the middle child and also the smartest and most well-rounded child out of her siblings, yet she’s always overshadowed by the shenanigans of her siblings.

5.    Do you think being the middle child has affected your personality in anyway?

I think it has. I am definitely the most introverted out of my siblings and I think this could be due to the fact that I thought I was always being overshadowed. This made me keep a lot of things to myself and become a lot more independent.

6.    Lastly, if you could, would you want to change your position as middle child? Why?

             Four years ago I would have said yes! I always wished that I were the oldest mostly because of the attention I saw my older sister always receive. However, these days I am very content with my spot in my family.