Internships, Experience or Labor?

          Most students in today's society have a general intelligence of their career, but to know the experience is absent. Students spend 2 or more plus years in college to attain their degree and that requires much time and patience. So I would not assume anybody would want to waste time on such an investment to have it turn bitter? Internships provides students with that first hand experience that they would not know until they began their career. The internship process opens up many doors because even if it is not relative to your career there are still connections that can be established. For example, I am an English major, but I want to grab any internships in business because I would enjoy that background, connections, and experience. An internship does not have to always be for a resume from what I hear in my experience because it can actually open your eyes to a different path that was made only by making this decision.
          The labor that is enforced is either paid or unpaid but that should be the reason to not do it. An internship is truly what you can take out of it because after all it is your time. Although internships are known to just be petty labor, this is not always the case. Regardless, work ethic is very hard to come by and the drive to work in the youth is a blessing for the future. Internships may be seen by many connotations, but one thing for certain is that it provides an incentive for your future.

-Devanshu Barot

Classification in a Contemporary Society

For centuries the nation has existed as a social environment divided by race, culture, and overall different ethnic backgrounds. Now in today’s contemporary society many individuals feel that classifying people should all together be stopped. Although, I believe in equality for each person, I completely oppose the idea of terminating the categorizing of different ethnic and racial groups. In fact, the notion almost seems absurd and somewhat impossible. In an overpopulated world we are all not meant to be classified in the same groups by any means. Furthermore, our racial identity is only one of many factors that distinguishes us from others. We all represent different morals, values, beliefs, and religions, and to do away with classifying these factors will eventually rob us all of our own sense of individuality. Classifying people by race and ethnicity should not be looked at as a means of dividing society but it should be a source to diversify a society ignorant of different cultural backgrounds.  Many people argue that the classification of different people groups is unjust but for ones heritage to be completely disregarded is even more unreasonable. Ultimately, I believe people in this growing civilization should attempt to discover more about different cultures and racial backgrounds in order to understand why we are divided. We are divided not to be against each other, but we are divided because we are all a part of a group that expresses our different interest, experiences, struggles, and overall lives.      


-Reginald Leach
      Voiceover

Facebook friendship

     Unlike Reggie I agree with Deresiewicz. I agree that facebook can be used as a way to keep in touch with friends and family much more effectively than email or phone calls. The internet has afforded  users the opportunity to stay well informed on local happenings with an alarming immediacy. I disagree that the article is discussing a "problem that does not exist" because the focus of the article as I interpret it is that the way we communicate and relate to one another is changing. The availability of information on social networking sites is such that it's no longer necessary to exchange news with one another in the traditional sense. The same general information that I can get over a phone conversation can be done while at work through twitter feeds and status updates. 
     Deresiewicz is not condemning social networks, but restating an argument that is fairly prevalent amongst those who remember a time when gossip was not stirred by a post saying "I don't want to talk..." or "sigh", but through direct information. The argument is not that people no longer have intimate relationships but that the way we relate to those whom we are only casually acquainted with is changing. 


Chris Greene

Facebook and the Collapse of Friendship

     Since it was first launched in February 2004, Facebook has become one of the most used worldwide social networking services, giving you the opportunity to interact with different friends, family, and other associates that are significant to your life. So why does writer and critic William Deresiewicz believe that Facebook is the reason why “friendship has become both all and nothing at all” (Deresiewicz)? In his article Faux Friendship, Deresiewicz criticizes Facebook and how it devalues the state of true friendship. The writer believes that the social site is a major source to the substantial change in real companionship. In fact, he asserts that the network has created an adverse effect upon friendships throughout most recent years. While I do agree that the status of friendship has changed within time, I disagree with Deresiewicz’s overall stance upon Facebook and its impact on relationships.                                                                                                        
           Deresiewicz’s creates an overly critical article in which he exaggerates a problem that does not exist. Deresiewicz  fails to understand the change throughout generations especially within a highly technological society. Instead he conveys a narrow minded perspective on “contemporary friendships” without highlighting the positive aspects of Facebook. The author claims, “ the new social-networking Web sites have falsified our understanding of intimacy itself, and with it, our understanding of ourselves” (Deresiewicz). In opposition to this statement, Facebook has become a source for people to express themselves through personal statuses, photos, videos, music, notes, and etc. The site has also been a way for many individuals to show intimacy and affection to one another. For example, couples can express that they are in relationships, post on each other’s wall expressing themselves and they can also show their affection through photos, video, and music. Ultimately, Facebook may for many people (just as it is for me) be a simple social website that allows you to have some fun with a few close friends and associates throughout a busy day. If something such as Facebook can truly alter the state of a person’s relationship with others then I believe there is truly a problem with that individual and his or her communication skills. Moreover, if technology can diminish a friendship then that relationship was not real to begin with.  Ultimately, true friendship and companionship is marked by trust, compassion, and reciprocity and neither a social network, or a change in generations and technology can change that.        

-Reginald Leach 
    VoiceOver