"Leading a Double Life" By: Irene Sege

In this article, "Leading a Double Life" by Irene Sege, she goes on to talk about the phenomonon of Second Life, a website which is a virtual game in which users can start careers, go to school, earn money, have relationships, and even committ crimes. You can play almost anything in this virtual game that could happen in real life. Second Life is a website where users create animated cartoon avatars to represent themselves. Irene then gives us examples of users and what they imagine their life would be in this virtual game. She uses a man named Jeff Lipsky, a ordinary looking white 35 year old, t-shirt and jeans kinda guy. But when Jeff plays Second Life he becomes Filthy Fluno, a bearded, wide-bodied, fang-toothed, black gallery owner. So that just goes to show you that when playing this virtual game, you can design yourself into anybody who could ever imagine being. This virtual game has become such a big time hit that even other companies have joined in. For example, Millions of Us; helps companies esablish a presence in Second Life. In my opinion, i think Second Life is a great thing not only for children but for adults also. I believe this virtual game can become even more successful because people will continue to take interest into setting up there own character and playing a second life anyway they want to. I think it could even help people realize what they want to do in the "real life." We have seen this game become very successful and i can only see it advancing in our future with different aspects adding to the game; making more users wanting to play even more.

Response to Gerhardt's "The Rules of Attribution"

In "The Rules of Attribution" by Deborah R. Gerhardt, Gerhardt emphasizes how plagiarism is abused and wronge. The main point Gerhardt is trying to make is that plagiarism is everywhere in our world today, our elders should be the ones to be able to teach us the rules of writing, so we as students can go out into the world and not be tempted to commiting plagiarism because we would know that it is wronge. She gives an example about a smart women by the name Ms. Viswanathan whom she claims did not deliberatly plagiarize but evidence claims she has. Ms. Vismwanathan was accused of plagiarism after evidence proved she read two of Megan McCafferty's books and her passagers were very much similiar to Ms. McCafferty's. Ms. Vismwanathan was never taught the rules and aspects of writing so Gerhardt claims it really wasn't her faught. If she was taught the rules, this problem wold have never came about because she would have never plagiarized. The bottom line Gerhardt stresses is to teach our young people about plagiarism because it is a very serious issue in our world today. For example Gerhardt states " It is very unfortunate to see a promising young writer taken out of the game because she did not understand the rules." I believe as a student we are tempted to plagierize everyday. We have to write papers almost everyday and whoes to say those lazy students aren't just going to copy and paste from the internet and be down in less then an hour. Now i see how plagerism is delt with in our everyday lives of students but can alse agree it is wronge and its something we should stay away from. Gerhardt also states that the internet is a very easy way to plagerize now and days because of how our technology as explanded. It is so easy to just copy and paste and be done your paper. There are differences between intentional and unintentional plagiarism. And its good to ask yourself: was this intentional or not before you hand in your paper.

"Cultural Renaissance or Cultural Divide?" By: Bill Ivey and Steven J. Tepper

After reading this article, what Ivey and Tepper meant by the "Professionalization and nationalization of culture in the United States", as society created technology, it progressed and became more complex and correct. Over time as the technology become more correct, it became increasingly popular century by century. For instance The Metropolitan Opera and Museum of Fine Arts was founded in the late 19th century, by the 20th century it became increasingly popular and still continues to grow popularity to this day because of its reputation. Our everyday lives have changed tremendously. Today, our media has become highly advanced to things like on demand, which you can rent or watch a tv show at any time of the day to centuries ago not even having a tv to watch. Our advancement over the years has been so amazing that it actually has made people lazy. When Charles Leadbeater talks about "Pro-Am Revolution" i believe he is saying that people who are not professionals contribute to the community just as much as professionals have done. Those who are ordinary people have became the people who make it big, like celebrities, athletes and such. It is fair to say that amateurs are talented people who produce smart work. As a college student i can honestly say that now and days our lives are so much easier then the lives of teens my age years ago. We as students live in a time that is pretty sweet. We have our own laptops, cell phones, ipod's and etc. that back then teens wouldn't imagine of having. Trendiness in our world today is a big part of our everyday lives, many people want to have the coolest brand named clothes, the most expensive shoes. Our culture can also be pretty intense sometimes also, teens are always trying to live up to other teens, and to fit in, which can be dangerous sometimes. Popular Cultural is something i never thought i would ever get into but after thinking about this i can say that our culture is pretty amazing now and days.

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