If I were to visit a city for a week that I had never been to I would have to choose Dublin Ireland. My favorite book, P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern is set in Dublin Ireland. Ahern is from there and she constantly talks about the city and its environment. The cobble stone roads and the rolling hills just seem so peaceful. She has written other books too that I have read that take place there. I adore every one of them, but feel as though I may not if they we to take place somewhere else. I love the idea of a pub. Although it may just be a bar, it just seems a lot cozier than an American bar.
One of the things that attracts me most to Dublin is the way they talk. Although it is English, the use of phrases like “love” really makes everything more welcoming. However, this is the same thing that may cause me fear when I go there. The language may e the same here as it is there print wise, but just as American English, Ireland has a slang of its own. I would be afraid I would be looked at as a stupid American who couldn’t understand what people were saying sometimes. However I adore the accents the people have so I wouldn’t mind listening to their conversations and not knowing what was being said.
I also saw the movie P.S. I Love You and although it’s not set in Ireland as the book is, they do travel there and it is an amazing sight. They may or may not have actually filmed that part of the movie there, but they did, what I thought, a great recreation of it. The images from the film and the images in my mind from the books put together the ideal Ireland. I feel as though Dublin wouldn’t be as great and wonderful as it seems in the books but there would probably still be small coffee shops and other things that would make the trip worthwhile.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Detroit Interview
I interviewed two different people who both lived in Detroit at different parts of their life.
The first person I interviewed was Sandra Dennis. Dennis grew up in Detroit; the first street off of the Southfield Freeway. There was a fire station at the end of her street but after a while, she calims that the sirens became hardly noticeable. One of the things she remembers that was different growing up there than it is for kids growing up here is that in the city, garbage trucks came through an alley to pick up trash, instead of putting it at the side of the road in front of your house. One of her expiriences of living in Detroit was that there was a lot of violence. Her older brothers friend was in a store that got robbed and he got shot in the spine and is now paralyzed. Things like that don't happen to often in the suburbs. She recalls taking public transportation in high school to get to shopping mallssuch as Northland. During her college years, she had a car. Her car had gotten a flat tire on her way to school one day and she had to walk to a pay phone to call her husband, Jamal, to come help her. When she got back to her car from the phone, her battery had been stolen out of her car. These types of things could possibly happen anywhere but are sterotypical to happen in Detroit.
The second person I intervied was Jamal Dennis, Sandra's husband. Jamal moved to Detroit for college while his family lived in the suburbs of New York City. Jamal drove and old orange VW Hippy type van. He lived between Cass and 3rd where vehicles often got broken into by drug addicts and poor people. When his eight track player was stolen from his car, he was upset but not surprised. When he went to a gas station later that day, he saw it sitting on the counter. He told the guy working it was his and he told him he just bought it from his buddy for ten bucks. Jamal tld him that it was definitely his and if he didn't let him haveit he was going to call the police. Before Jamal let him respond, he took the eight track player and walked out with it.
When Jamal and Sandra got a house together, they didn't live in a great neighborhood. They lived in an old Alley House that was being lifed from the ground in certian parts (under the bathroom to be specific) by the roots of a huge tree. They also didn't have very goo neighbors. Their neighbors down the street stole their lawn furniture and put it in their own back yard. The neighbor across the street used to point a BB gun out of the window of his house and shot their cat, Tyrone, once. However, the bullet was lodged so deeply into his eye brow area that the vet said it was better to just leave it there. Another thing the expieriences living in the city of Detroit was the fruit man, milk man, and knife sharpener. There people came down the street to serve anyone in need of asistance. Because Detroit is so much more densely populated than the suburbs, this was a busy bussiness.
The first person I interviewed was Sandra Dennis. Dennis grew up in Detroit; the first street off of the Southfield Freeway. There was a fire station at the end of her street but after a while, she calims that the sirens became hardly noticeable. One of the things she remembers that was different growing up there than it is for kids growing up here is that in the city, garbage trucks came through an alley to pick up trash, instead of putting it at the side of the road in front of your house. One of her expiriences of living in Detroit was that there was a lot of violence. Her older brothers friend was in a store that got robbed and he got shot in the spine and is now paralyzed. Things like that don't happen to often in the suburbs. She recalls taking public transportation in high school to get to shopping mallssuch as Northland. During her college years, she had a car. Her car had gotten a flat tire on her way to school one day and she had to walk to a pay phone to call her husband, Jamal, to come help her. When she got back to her car from the phone, her battery had been stolen out of her car. These types of things could possibly happen anywhere but are sterotypical to happen in Detroit.
The second person I intervied was Jamal Dennis, Sandra's husband. Jamal moved to Detroit for college while his family lived in the suburbs of New York City. Jamal drove and old orange VW Hippy type van. He lived between Cass and 3rd where vehicles often got broken into by drug addicts and poor people. When his eight track player was stolen from his car, he was upset but not surprised. When he went to a gas station later that day, he saw it sitting on the counter. He told the guy working it was his and he told him he just bought it from his buddy for ten bucks. Jamal tld him that it was definitely his and if he didn't let him haveit he was going to call the police. Before Jamal let him respond, he took the eight track player and walked out with it.
When Jamal and Sandra got a house together, they didn't live in a great neighborhood. They lived in an old Alley House that was being lifed from the ground in certian parts (under the bathroom to be specific) by the roots of a huge tree. They also didn't have very goo neighbors. Their neighbors down the street stole their lawn furniture and put it in their own back yard. The neighbor across the street used to point a BB gun out of the window of his house and shot their cat, Tyrone, once. However, the bullet was lodged so deeply into his eye brow area that the vet said it was better to just leave it there. Another thing the expieriences living in the city of Detroit was the fruit man, milk man, and knife sharpener. There people came down the street to serve anyone in need of asistance. Because Detroit is so much more densely populated than the suburbs, this was a busy bussiness.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Detroit
Detroit is thought of as a very negative city by many people in the suburbs. We think of broken windows in worn out buildings. We think of homeless “bums” and people with guns. We have heard a few stories of robberies and other crimes and we are scared. We think that we are safer staying outside of the city limits. This may or may not be true but people get a very “ghetto” impression of the city from media so it becomes hard for them to form a different opinion.
The culture, language and even architecture of the city are very stereotypical. The movie 8 Mile definitely helped fuel this negative stereotype. With guns, fights and drugs, we really don’t get a very positive image of what it is really like. Eminem, the main actor of the film, is supposedly showing how his life was growing up in Detroit. His music is also very influential of the way people view Detroit. People who have never even been to the city may think all these things that aren’t true, but they believe everything Eminem says because he grew up there. I’m not saying that his views are not accurate to his life, but it is not accurate to all of Detroit.
The culture that Detroit is thought to have is a very poor, dirty culture made up of mostly black people. Granted, most of the population in Detroit is African-American, they are not all trashy. There are definitely different parts of the city that have different cultures than other parts. There is a strong Hispanic culture in the city which brings about a different culture in their community. Race doesn’t define a culture; the people who live within a community define it. There may be some parts of Detroit that fit this “ghetto” culture but not all parts.
The language of the city varies with culture. There are different languages between the Hispanic community and English speaking communities, but there are also variations among the English language too. Ebonics brings about different words and slang among different communities. You may hear someone speaking English, you may understand some of the words, but the meaning and pronunciation may be very different from what you know. This may cause for some of the conflict within the city.
Personally I feel that Detroit is a great place if you go to the right places. There are dangerous places and dangerous people within Detroit but there are other dangerous places with dangerous people outside of Detroit as well. It’s all about putting yourself in the right situations. Going down to Detroit for a Tigers game or a show at the Fox Theater is a great way to spend free time, but going down to Detroit to just walk around neighborhoods in the dark hours of the night is just asking for trouble.
The culture, language and even architecture of the city are very stereotypical. The movie 8 Mile definitely helped fuel this negative stereotype. With guns, fights and drugs, we really don’t get a very positive image of what it is really like. Eminem, the main actor of the film, is supposedly showing how his life was growing up in Detroit. His music is also very influential of the way people view Detroit. People who have never even been to the city may think all these things that aren’t true, but they believe everything Eminem says because he grew up there. I’m not saying that his views are not accurate to his life, but it is not accurate to all of Detroit.
The culture that Detroit is thought to have is a very poor, dirty culture made up of mostly black people. Granted, most of the population in Detroit is African-American, they are not all trashy. There are definitely different parts of the city that have different cultures than other parts. There is a strong Hispanic culture in the city which brings about a different culture in their community. Race doesn’t define a culture; the people who live within a community define it. There may be some parts of Detroit that fit this “ghetto” culture but not all parts.
The language of the city varies with culture. There are different languages between the Hispanic community and English speaking communities, but there are also variations among the English language too. Ebonics brings about different words and slang among different communities. You may hear someone speaking English, you may understand some of the words, but the meaning and pronunciation may be very different from what you know. This may cause for some of the conflict within the city.
Personally I feel that Detroit is a great place if you go to the right places. There are dangerous places and dangerous people within Detroit but there are other dangerous places with dangerous people outside of Detroit as well. It’s all about putting yourself in the right situations. Going down to Detroit for a Tigers game or a show at the Fox Theater is a great way to spend free time, but going down to Detroit to just walk around neighborhoods in the dark hours of the night is just asking for trouble.
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