Author Archives: joanna.aull

The whole concept of marriage is being lost. Getting a divorce has become so common that marriage doesn’t hold as much power as it used to. It’s not the sacred vow that once upon a time held so much power. Many people are now choosing not to get married. In some cases the only reason people do get married is solely for legal purposes and that’s where the advantage lies. Love is something that is and not many people find marriage necessary to bind that love.

The following article argues that because marriage is not as sacred as it used to be that it doesn’t really seem right to restrict some people who do desire it from marrying. The issue of raising children is also raised and it becomes apparent that there is no longer a traditional and ideal way that children are being raised. Many children are already being raised by single parents and if that so happened to be a gay couple then how could that be so different?

The traditional idea of marriage that so many are trying to keep alive is already being lost all over the world. Living together without being married is normal and even having a child out of wedlock is not so uncommon. Times are changing and people are beginning to see gay marriage as not that big of an issue. Its becoming a ‘why not?’ kind of discussion. People are becoming more open minded about marriage because its become a loose term and it’s not as serious as it once used to be.

While watching “Maid in America” I really began to wonder about the so called “American Dream”. The main reason why people come from other countries is for the purpose of creating a better life for themselves and their family. They come here with the hope that they will be able to live happily in better conditions. However, in coming to America and reaching a better lifestyle they do not realize that they could easily loose sight of what is most important.

When watching Judith go back to Guatemala to see her daughters it really made me wonder why she ever left. Sure, everything might not have been as developed as in America but it was where she was happy with her family. I feel like in America we loose that sense of family in the materialistic value and importance we place on money and comfort. We choose work and making money over raising our kids and for what?

The American Dream is just that, it’s a dream. People aren’t satisfied with what they have so they seek something better for the future, but in the process their losing the present.  In the following article it analyzes a story about Nola Kambanda, who is an immigrant seeking to live the American Dream.  He instead ends up fighting for what little he can to help him feel happy but it’s not even a shadow of what he came looking for. He ends up alone and instead of rising with the hope he had placed in America he is overcome with just the need to survive in this country.

We’ve been discussing advertisement and its effect on children and through reading this article it really makes me wonder where advertisement will take the future generation. Every household owns a television and when parents don’t want to be bothered with their children they choose to preoccupy their children by putting them in front of the TV.  I was amazed by how many commercials a child watches in one sitting.

It doesn’t help that times are changing, the things we were sheltered from when we were kids are now being casually thrown into any advertisement that a child may see. There is no limit to what a child may be exposed to. It’s as if everybody chooses to look away and not see what kind of culture we’re creating. We familiarize them with things they shouldn’t even have to think about for another decade.

Many advertising agencies see how it could be harmful for children but not enough care to take responsibility for the effect they may be having on them. I was surprised to learn that some countries ban advertisement to children until they turn a certain age because they see it as harmful to children. The fact that children don’t fully understand what an advertisement is makes them such an easy target, it’s as if they are being taken advantage of. There’s not limit to what they could want. In a way, they are being taught who they should be by being shown that it’ll make them cool and popular. Children have vulnerable minds that advertisement agencies jump to take advantage of.