Melisa’s Class Blog

Question 1. How have romantic relationships changed over the years?

Romantic relationships have change vastly in just the past 100 years let alone since the beginning of time as we know it. One major difference in the way romantic relationships are different from say, the early 20th century is the disinclusion of family. In more recent years two people can be engaged in a romantic relationship without their family’s knowledge. Back in the 1940s for example, one could not do that because for a guy to show romantic interest in a female required them to “court” her. This often involved going to her house and meeting her family (particularly her parents) and expressing some of their interest to the girl’s parents. Often times getting the family’s approval before the female’s.

2. How have the types of romantic relationships changed over the years?

A major change to the types is the relationships is the addition of the gay/homosexual relationship. With the changes in society, gay/lesbian relationships are now being more recognized and common then they were even 50 years ago. Even though these types of relationships have been around for many years it has only been in recent years that people have begun to recognize and accept those relationships. Even though not everyone supports this relationship, almost everyone recognizes that it exsists. Which is very different from days past when it was considered something you didn’t talk about or was behind closed doors persay. Another way it has changed

This week has been one of extreme stress and craziness so needless to say the only books I’ve read have been ones that I’ve been required to. (How I miss those days, when reading was fun and leisurely.) So the main book I’ve been delving into has been my Family Studies book. This course is actually been proving to be a god-send because it perfectly ties into what I am writing my papers on; Relationships. Right now the book is taking a look at Marriages and family systems. As well as socialization. It’s really neat to see how regardless of how much we may try to rebel, our view of life in general is vastly shaped by our upbringing at home as well as community. There are so many unwritten rules and ideas that we are inadvertently taught just through our life expriences. Some of these rules are fair and good but some are biased. Honestly if we took a good look at what some of our ideals about things are, and where those ideas came from, we would be surprised at how gender-biased or outdated they really are. I’m thinking that I’ll use my text book as one of my resources for the research paper because of the amount of information that it has about relationships and how they have changed over time. Hopefully I’ll have something more leisurely to read this next week.

So I just started reading a book called Wicked by Gregory MaGuire! I’ve always heard that it was a good book so yesterday I borrowed it from one of my friends.. So far, I really enjoy it. It’s basically the back story of the wicked witch of the west, from the Wizard of Oz. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE back stories (ex. Lion King 1 1/2, LOVED IT!!)!! I think it’s really cool to see what someone else’s opinion is on the life of one of your favorite characters. It make’s them seem more alive and real. And it’s also cool to see how they can be so much different from what you originally thought. Which sort of pertains to everyday life in a way.. If you view everyone’s life as an open book, when you see people on the street, on campus, in class, or at Wally world, you’re only seeing a chapter of their lives. And problem is most people only look at that one chapter and judge the book’s worth, not knowing that in chapter 15, the real story begins! Moral: Can’t Judge a Book by it’s cover! (Corny book humor) Back to the book, I really find this to be an interesting read so far not too deep, but not too light, so you can really get into the subject matter. I can’t wait to read it more!

Lately, I have been delving into the world of political sattire. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a very political person, but I do like to keep on top of my world issues. Just recently I read the book by Stephen Colbert called I Am America, and So Can You! The book is basically Stephen letting the world know his views on everything. In this book he covers everything from marriage to children to old people. The book is written completely in political sattire, which means it is not meant to be believed or taken too seriously. It is amazing the amount of people who take Colbert seriously, which make me feel sorry for the reader who unknowingly picks this book up at Borders. This book is utterly halarious and ridiculous, and is a very light read (which is great for me since I have no free time). In the book Colbert tells his opinion on life from a very right-winged conservative view point, but he tells it in such an extreme way that one must wonder who can really be that close minded. The book is Colbert’s first and even though he claims he is not a writer (he actually didn’t write it, he dictated it to someone else who wrote it), it is still a very good book, in my opinion. A little out there, but still an interesting read.

This year I’m finally accomplishing my dream of becoming an architect, which turns out to be the most time consuming thing EVER! Drafting pretty much takes up all of my life, I barely have time to eat and sleep, let alone read. But what I am reading right now is my course book for drafting which actually has proved to be quite interesting. The book is called Architectural Graphics by Dr. Chin. In this book, are pretty much the basics for anything architectural. It starts out with the tools for drawing, which one would think includes a pencil and a piece of paper. Nope. Not for architects. One of our main elements includes something called a T-Square (basically a stick with a fancy stick on top of it) which helps us to draw perfectly straight line. Then, there are about 3 different triangles (for angles) and about 12 different kinds of pencils. For this class,  I had to buy the most expensive mechanical pencil in my life, for $16. Just for one. I don’t even pay half of that for a pack of mechanical pencils! Aside from that, we have to buy a special pack of paper called Vellum. Once you have your very expensive versions of paper and pencil, you are ready to move on Chapter 2, a line, but even that isn’t simple. A main element to a line is the weight. A line weight is the thickness of a line. Who knew a line could be so complicated! Certain line weights pertain to certain objects on plans and such. Even to draw a line is difficult, the pencil must be held at a 45 degree angle and must be rotated in a half-circular motion as you draw. Exciting huh? Also in the the book we are learning how to look at objects, objectively, and how to transfer items from a 3d image to a drawing. All in all the subject of anything architectural floats my boat, as I’m sure it has for you in this short blog (ha). But I never really realized that there are so many elements to the little things in design and am excited about continuing to read about it.

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