Reflection #5

This week I talked to one of my really close friends from home. We've never really talked about how much we appreciate each other before, even after 20 years of knowing each other. Since high school, we really haven't had a chance to talk very much so it was nice to have an excuse to talk about this. She's been my best friend for as long as I can remember, clearly since I'm only 21. She goes to college in Wisconsin and even stayed over the summer, so we rarely see each other. Before this exercise was assigned, she put me down as a reference for a big brother/big sister program. They gave me a call and of course I talked about all of the great things about her, so before going into this, I already had in mind what I was going to say. We decided to skype since we couldn't actually sit down together and at first we talked about how life was as kids together and how much fun we had. Then I got to telling her how much she meant to me as a friend. She reacted in such a positive way and even said some things back to me. It made me feel great! We've always been close, but I believe we became closer as a result of this assignment. It was also nice to talk to her again, and we've made plans for the summer to lunch. I can't wait to actually hang out and catch up in person.

Reflection #4

It's mid-October and my friends and I finally have a day off from working at the All-Star Resort in Disney World. We decide to go to Hollywood Studios. This is the perfect time to be down in FL because the park is in it's slow season and the cast members definitely use it to their advantage. There was no line for Tower of Terror, which isn't unusual for this time of year, and get right onto the ride. Before we walked in, one of my coworkers said that she was gonna sit this one out. She said that she had a bad feeling about it, and just didn't like the ride too much anyway. So the rest of us got into the elevator, strapped on our seat belts, and it took us up. We watched the movie-star family get electrocuted (which is a normal part to the ride), went up another floor, and started to move forward through the hallway into the elevator shaft, that's when it all went wrong. The elevator brought us up to the top and we got stuck. It wasn't dropping like it was supposed to. Suddenly, all over our seat belts came undone, we heard a maniacal laugh, and then we heard a very loud snap and I shouted, "Everybody, hold on!" The elevator started to drop. I know that's the point of the ride, but this was definitely not going to end well. I was hanging on for my life and parents were hanging onto their children. It was total chaos, everyone was screaming. In a matter of seconds , which felt like minutes to all of the passengers, we heard a thud at the top of our elevator, and we started to slow down until landing gracefully at the bottom of the ride.  When we finally weren't too scared to open our eyes, we saw Superman standing over us on the elevator's chain-link cover. "Don't worry, citizens. You are safe now." He flew down, pried open the ride doors, and took off up the elevator shaft to deal with the villain. We all walked out of the ride and my coworker who sat out came running towards us, "Did you see that?" She was pointing to the sky. We all looked up, and there was Superman, flying off to save more lives.

I experience nostalgia almost every time I go back home. My family and I love to watch home movies and we even quote them sometimes in our normal conversations. We love sitting around and watching them together. I think what I long for, when I watch those movies, is to go back to simpler times when I could have a tea party with my Dad in my new Minnie Mouse tea set. Back to times when my mom would help me and my sister build a fort around the TV so we could have a movie marathon, but really only get through one and a half movies. Back to a time when my sister and I would play polly pockets for hours and keep our little town set up so we could play with it again tomorrow and continue on our story. When I think back to these times, I realize that I need to keep making sure to take joy from the simple things as I did when I was a kid. I know things may be stressful in life, but that doesn't mean you can't take ten minutes to enjoy coloring in a coloring book.

Reflection #3

This week, we are to reflect on anything and I'm going to talk about a couple things that are different in my every day life since taking this course. First, superheroes have taken over almost all of my conversations. I can't talk to someone without bringing up something I read in one of the books or the articles we have to read for class. Last Friday night, I stayed up with one of my sorority sisters until about 2:00 am talking about superheroes and morality. Superheroes are almost all I can think about now. It's definitely taking over my life.

Second, since studying the different superheros, and reading this opinion in an article, I've come to find Superman to be my least favorite hero. I know he was the first, and without him we wouldn't be where we are today, but he's almost too perfect. Nothing could stop him and he always won. I haven't read too many of his comics before, but from what I know he's not that interesting. I find his personality to be a bit bland.

Last, I used to like DC heroes more than Marvel, because of Batman, and Batman is still my favorite, but, overall, I like the Marvel Universe better. It seams more realistic. Not just the cities, but the superheroes act how I think superheroes should. They can't be perfect, like Superman, all the time. Each one has their faults, which makes them easy to relate to. Any problem you have, whether it be with family or the loss of a loved one, there is a Marvel superhero there to help you through it.

Reflection #2

Superheroes have a lot of moral codes they need to follow. If they killed the bad guys, instead of just bringing justice, they'd have the making of a super villain. Super villains are they ones who work for their own benefit and they break any rules they need to to get what they want. They work for their own self interest, which is why we have superheroes to react to what they villains are causing.

Along with talking about morals, in class, we talked about a superheroes secret identity and whether it's necessary to have one or not. It protects the people you love, but what happens when the people you love find out you're a superhero? They'll start to wonder if there are any other secrets you could be hiding from them. A superhero also uses the identity to protect themselves. They don't want to trust someone who would go around telling people that they know Batman or Spiderman. They also have to be careful about how a person would react around their superhero identity. If they got hurt or captured, a loved one would be more likely to get upset than just some random person on the street. When it all comes down to it, the superhero has to decide whether or not to tell anyone who they really are.

Superheros aren't the only ones with multiple identities. We all have them. I'm not saying we all go by different names but different personalities. Many of us act one way around our family, a different way around our teachers, and a different way around our friends. It's not a complete personality change, but we may be quieter or more outgoing depending on who we are with and how comfortable we are with them. I'm definitely quieter when I'm out of my comfort zone where other people's nervousness may cause them to talk a lot more. We all act differently depending on who we are and the situation.

Reflection #1: Who's Your Favorite Superhero?

I was never really into the superhero genre as a child. Of course I knew who Superman and Spiderman were, but I never knew a lot about them. Then one day I walked into the family room and saw my dad watching a Batman movie. It was Batman Forever where Jim Carrey plays The Riddler. I sat down next to him just soaking in everything I was watching. I was amazed that I had never seen anything like that before. That's when I started paying more attention to Superheroes.

My favorite one from that day on would have to be Batman. Not only do I like him because his movie was the first one I saw, I also like him because he's easy to relate to. He doesn't have any super powers which makes him seem like a regular human being, but he has amazing fighting skills and super cool gadgets. I've wanted my own utility belt since the first time I saw him use it.

His villains are also some of my favorite. Because my first experience of Batman was in Batman Forever, I've grown to really like Two Face. But back to Batman.

Batman always knew what was right. In the new trilogy that was made, no one in Gotham really appreciated what he did for the city and called him a menace. Yes, his methods were a little different, but he was on the same side as the police and only Commissioner Gordon saw that in him.

When thinking "What Would Batman Do?" I definitely wouldn't do as he did. I wouldn't dress up in a cape and stalk the bad guys in the dead of night. I wouldn't use his methods, but I would use his thinking. People who do wrong things, shouldn't get away with it. Batman always confronts the villains, he doesn't hide from them hoping they'll just go away on their own. Knowing that, I confront people when I have an issue with them. A lot of people are scared on confrontation, but Batman is not like a lot of people.

Since growing up and talking about the Batman movie that started my interest, I've realized that a lot of people don't like Batman Forever or Batman and Robin. I know they're not the best, but I love watching them because they bring me back to my childhood. To the day when my dad was watching them on TV and introduced me to all of the characters in the movie. Thanks, Dad, for bringing me into the world of superheroes.