For our first essay, which is a critique, I have chosen to annotate the essay “The Satisfactions of Housewifery and Motherhood,” out of our book.

Right off the bat, Hekker starts off with a negative tone, mentioning how the problem with her is her occupation. Also she mentions how her husband and son have to lie about it to make the family look better. You can tell where this article is going basically from the first few sentences. Her tone seems arrogant, yet jealous of others since she is a rarity, a housewife. When I think of her approach to being a housewife in a world where they are depleting, I think of a newly elected president. When a president finds out they are elected, the stress of winning and making it into office is gone, however now their mind is burdened with the fear of what they have to deal with the next four years.

To me she just keeps pumping out negative comments and statistics about her life when she wants to be a wife that stays at home anyway. She says “fewer than 16 percent of American families have a full-time housewife-mother.” Also she refers to herself as a carton of yogurt labled to expire and never return. I think if that is what she wants to be, she should stick with it and not care what anyone else says or does. If her family life is something she loves then she shouldn’t worry about what outside sources have to say.

The criteria I think I am going to use in my critique essay are: why is she complaining so much when her profession is something she chose and loves so much; why is she so worried about everyone else’s opinion on her, as long as her son and husband have her back; and lastly what can she do to make her life appear more meaningful so she has a better self image.

Last week in class we were shown a new method as to how we are going to respond to what we read. This method is called a “Readers Response Log.” It is different from what I have done in the past but not completely. Readers Response Logs are basically a more thorough version of what I have done previous to this class. In my previous GSW class (1110) when we were asked to write a brief summary on the articles we wrote. This is basically what the Readers Response Log is trying to do, however it is more organized than what I have done in the past. I personally like the method for the simple reason that it is much more organized.

There are five instances that are discussed in the article “Debunking Myths about Marriages and Families.” The topics include: The Universal Nuclear Family, The Self-Reliant Traditional Family, The Naturalness of Different Spheres for Wives and Husbands, The Unstable African American Family, The Idealized Nuclear Family of the 1950s. According to the article, all of these myths include stereotypes of how families were and are. The bottom line is, every family was different is different and will always be different.

Most of these myths generally include white middle class families. They claim how families “back in the day” were totally perfect and in a sence everyone had to fake how they felt to get by. The myth about Unstable African American Families states that negativitiy surrounds african american families. However considering the claims of the myth, in perspective, there are probably an equal amount of, if not more, unstable white families.

I think this article is somewhat effective. It gives some great detail about the myths, however the part where it is attempted to be debunked seems like there is not much backing information or any sources. Readers need to see the article clearly and not have any doubt as to whether the info they are reading is accurate or not.

For class last week, we were asked to read an article in our textbook about a house wife who doesn’t appreciate the way she is treated. The way things are today, house wives are becoming fewer and fewer. The lady that wrote these articles is a house wife and is sick of being treated negatively since she is a stay at home mom. Other people around her treat her as if she was inferior to them. She seems very angry and has a pessemistic approach to everything.

In her second article she talks about how everything she had built upon in the first article had fallen through. Now her and her husband are divorced, and she is even more bitter about life. She is angry at herself for not having a plan for the future and she feels very vulnerable and upset for being chased away from her mairrage of forty or so years. I feel like she needs a new approach on life and she needs to refocus on what she does have. Being in her position is unfortunate, but sometimes thats how life goes.

Personally, I feel as if I am a weak writer. However I do try to comprehend what I read to the best of my ability. I can remember one of the first books I have ever read for fun on my own. I read the first Harry Potter book, and from then on I was hooked and read the rest of the series. When reading the first few, I had difficulty processing what was going on in my head because I would get distracted a lot with what was going on and think of something else. I would have to look away from the page and re-focus on what was going on in the book. After reading more books and more articles I have less difficulty with the more experience I have.

Now that I think of it, I think when I read, I tend to look at the design on a page and lose focus a right away because of the design it presents. I may not be used to the design and get distracted to what the point is, which is to read and find out what is being said in the article. From now on I think I should probably look at the page for a good amout of time before i actually start reading and look at the designs, look at the titles and headers, and also look at the other details on the page that I may get distracted by.

Taking a step back and looking at the type  of reader I am and how I read will help me in the future for becoming more efficient and reading with better methods. Reading always comes as a burden if I feel that it may not be necesary, however, if I can improve upon it, I can make myself more obligated and interested in it.

1. I play the guitar and piano.
2. I ran hurdles in high school.
3. I love to eat sushi.