ARTICLE REFLECTION 3 - PAPA, THE PHILOSOPHER

      In the article "Papa, the Philosopher" the writer "Leo Buscagila" tells about his own experiences about being from a minority and being exposed to discrimination and undesirable attitudes by his friends at school. I found this article very educative and fluent at the same time. The author had written in such a manner that i felt like watching the cases which took place between Leo, his friends and father with my own eyes. I chose this article to write a reflection about because it tells about a very crucial point for most of the societies in which minorities live, and also it teaches the readers important lessons about how we should behave against people who are cruel and ill-mannered against different people. The father's attitude in the story suggests that we should be wise at all times and be insistent on behaving decently no matter what.

      This story is a good example for the people who are exposed to discrimination due to their cultures, nations and any other differences. What i liked most in the article is that it is clearly reflected no matter where ,why and how it occurs, different people are regarded as being negatively separate from the majority. We can witness the same situation in our country and era, as well. For instance, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals are the most distinct example of discrimination in Turkey and all around the world. Most people do not accept them as normal people and want them kept away from the public lest they should deteriorate the societal morals. Moreover, they mock with LGBT people's situations and swear at them.

     Another point that impressed me in the article is the immature child's being unaware of his own value as an Italian and wanting to be the same as the other children, namely American. In a Turkish movie titled "Hükümet Kadın", the motto of the main character was that : " The world is beautiful with the people who are not like you. It is beautiful with the knowledge, values and love that they give you. What would be the difference(in positive terms) of white if everyone was white? " This cue was repeated several times in the movie, and many people seemed to have been impressed by this point of view. Buscagila wanted to be the same as others in order not to be behaved cruelly by his friends when he was a child because he was not aware of the worth of being different at that young age.

     I liked the story as a whole, but there is a minor point which I think to be true but not applying to the daily life. This point is father's being too much passive and nonviolent. It is inarguable that not getting involved in a fight and acting maturely is a virtue. However, if you behave this way in everyday life, you are likely to be exposed to more unpleasant acts by the majority. In our era, people would think that you are weak and easily destroyable if you step back in the first attack. 

     All in all, I enjoyed reading the article and learning true stories from an interesting life. Although the story is too optimistic in some terms, it directs people to become wise and conscious individuals.

ARTICLE REFLECTION 2 - THE MEANINGS OF A WORD

     The article " The Meanings of a Word" tells about the effectiveness and superiority of spoken language over the written form. The writer, Gloria Naylor, argues that the words are believed to be harmless; thus, they have the true power. As a person who is interested in language and use of it in daily life, I have been drawn by the topic easily. The other reason why I wanted to write a reflection on this article is that in our linguistics courses, we have learned about sociolinguistics which is related to language and society interaction, and I wanted to learn more and see examples about it. I liked reading the article very much because true stories and examples rendered the article more interesting and fun.The writer, mainly, goes around the word "nigger" and explains its changing meaning according to time, place and person. In the article, the meaning of the word changes mostly according to people who use the word. I agree with the writer that it is possible to observe variating meanings and usages of a single word on different occasions. However, I think that many factors should be taken into consideration while calculating the meaning of the word.

     There 3 important variants which affect the meaning. The first one is the cultural background of the individuals who are involved in the conversation. For example, people who live in rural areas use the word "yosma" in order to refer to the "beautiful and graceful women" whereas in urban areas this word is used to define the "scarlet women" or the "jezebel" in Turkish language. It is obvious that there is a wide gap between the 2 meanings.
     The second factor that affects the meaning is the languages' being similar. In other words, if one language has resemblance to another such as Turkish and Azerbaijani, one word could be used to refer to different objects and characteristics. For instance, the word "pezevenk" is used to define a "pimp" in Turkish while it is used to refer to the people who are "famous and glorious" in Azerbaijani. This divergence in meaning might result in funny and critical events at times. To exemplify, one of the Azeri presidents addressed to Süleyman Demirel as "Çok pezevenk bir insansınız." which means "You are a real pimp." in English. However, the Azeri president, in fact, wanted to say " You are a majestic person." to Demirel.
     The last element which affects the meaning is the context. In our daily lives, we are involved in 2 different types of conversations . These are formal and informal speeches. While we use the dictionary meanings in formal conversations, we use the words depending on how our culture canalizes the conversation in informal speeches. To illustrate, the word "leyla" is used -in Turkish- only as a proper female name in formal occasions whereas it can be used to refer to the drunken people no matter what the gender is in informal occasions. Another example is that if we use the word "stupid" in a friendly atmosphere, it will, most probably, not cause any dispute between the people. However, if we call someone "stupid" in a serious occasion or inappropriate environment, it is highly likely that there will be a quarrel between the two people.
     To sum up, I agree with the writer on the arguement that the words do not have stable meanings, but the reasons of this change could be made more elaborate and distinct. Because the people change, the words, their references and senses are doomed to change.

REFLECTION JOURNAL 4 - INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION

   Adoption is a preferred way of having children for the people who cannot have one due to biological problems or want to take care of a child who is destitute.

   The reasons for why I want to write about this topic is mainly because the children are the most important component of a society and should never be abused no matter what the reason is! We should never violate their rights and be sensitive to any case which are likely to harm them.

   Adopting a child is regarded as a heartily act by many people, but the case is not the same in some adoptions. Countries such as China, Russia, Guatemala and Vietnamese, which are overpopulated or underdeveloped, were once the large source of foreign adoptions. However, these countries decided to put an end to their inter-country adoption agreements, because unignorable number of children had been abused or tyrannized by their adoptive parents. The people in the United States, Spain, France and Canada, receiving the most children, are looking for different countries and new ways to have kids , because children-giving countries made things really difficult for people who want to adopt children. They have brought new criteria to be met by adoptive parents such as being married more than 2 years, heterosexual, not divorced, under 50, not overweight and earning more than $80,000 a year.

   There are 3 main reasons for why the countries are reluctant to give their children up for adoption:  Firstly, they fear that these children will suffer without the knowledge of their indigenous culture, but some say that this reason is a pretense for falling birthrates, higher standards of living, higher infertility, and the increasing national honour in the countries which give up their children to be adopted. It sounds to be a rational excuse, because if a family has no reason to give away their children, why would they do that ? Secondly, it is discovered in the reports that 14 Russian children had been murdered by their adopter since the 1990s. After learning it, Russian government put a passing end to international adoptions. Maybe, it would not attract that much attention if these kids were killed within the country by Russian parents; however governments have defensive attitudes towards foreign countries.  As a result, we can say that international adoption is a relatively  better way of finding out the adoption-related problems compared to the domestic adoptions. The last reason for decreasing number of international adoptions is the baby-selling and corruptions in adopting a child. These illegal actions took place in Vietnamese. People who wanted to make use of the increasing interest in a dopting a child from Vietnamese forced poor parents to sell their children by suggesting that they would not be able to provide the necessary resources for the children. Within the hands of malicious humans ,such a blessed act like adopting a child has been misused. The government took precautions , and ended child- adoption agreement with the United States.

All in all, giving a child to someone else is an issue to be handled with an utmost care whether it is within or outside the country borders. Evil-minded people should be kept off from the circle of such a blameless act.

REFLECTION JOURNAL 3 - FREE MEN'S DREAMLAND-THE NETHERLANDS

   

   Have you ever dreamed of a country in which one can live without restrictions and does not have to limit him/herself  within the society’s borders. Maybe, you think that there is not a country which provides justice, freedom and felicity for its people. However, The Netherlands is really good at satisfying a citizen’s needs in many aspects. I have been to The Netherlands once and realized that it is a country which does not classify humans and enable people to live in tranquility; therefore, I decided to spend more time there and applied for Erasmus Exchange Program. Thankfully, I got the chance to study in one of the most prominent universities of Europe and will be there for 5 months next semester. I want to tell you about this small, pretty and strategically significant country which is an important part of Europe.

   The country consists of 12 provinces in Northwest Europe and 3 islands in the Carribean. The Netherlands is mostly known as ‘Holland’ in the world, but this name represents only North and South Holland which are just 2 provinces in the whole country. The country hosts one of the biggest seaports in the world, called Rotterdam Harbour. The Netherlands  has a long borderline in the North Sea cost, and the large part of the land is below sea level. Almost all the land in the country is flat. This situation enables people to use bicycles as a means of transportation. Biking is a common way of getting to somewhere in the country; wherefore, a person has at least 2 bicycles.

   The people of this country is called ‘The Dutch’. Dutch people are known as the longest peoples in the world . Surprisingly, my host family’s daughter was 3 years younger  yet  10  centimeters  longer than me.  Netherlanders are blonde, well-built and very friendly people. Contrary to the common belief that cold countries’ people are not easy to get along well with, Dutch people are the perfect match to spend time and have fun together.

   The Dutch Language is among the Germanic Languages and is similar to both English and German. The language is spoken gutturally, and it feels really weird J

   The Netherlans is commonly famous as a country in which gays and lesbians can marry, narcotic drugs are sold without legal restrictions. Moreover, it has a non-stop nightlife. However, in contrast to what Turkish people think, the country has a very orderly social and cultural life. In short, freedom is not misused.

   To sum up, The Netherlands is a marvellous country in all aspects. There are many more things to be told about my favourite land, but it is better to go and experience it personally. I exhort you to visit if you ever get the chance ! J

REFLECTION JOURNAL 2 - COMMON PSYCHOLOGICAL DİSORDERS AND SYNDROMES

Living in a metropolitan area has drawbacks as well as advantages. We spent most of the days trying to get to somewhere on time, fulfilling our responsibilities and allocating some time for our family and friends. In this busy schedule, we forget to take care of ourselves; thus, we cannot realize the changes within ourselves. Due to this exhausting life style we may come down with some psychological problems which should be taken and handled seriously.  Otherwise, irreversible mental disorders will be waiting for us. Here are the  6 most common of these disorders and syndromes, I researched them thoroughly. I hope you will enjoy and be aware !

•                 Obsessive – Compulsive Disorder

This disorder causes intrusive thoughts and uneasiness in patients’ minds. People with obsessive-compulsive disorder have thoughts which recur and persist in spite of the struggles to ignore and counteract them. For instance, compulsive people wash their hands very often thinking that every object around them is filthy or they pass the same road many times ( more than 10) , because they develop an obsession for a thing on the road. The examples can be multiplied, but the essence of the disorder is the same : Refractory and alarming thoughts occupy and exhaust patients’ minds irritatingly. The causes are both psychological and biological.

•                Borderline Personality Disorder

This disorder is characterized by unusual variability and depth of moods of the individual. People with this disorder have changing personalities; thus, unstable interpersonal relationships. They might be feeling sad and worthless while feeling successful, happy and worthy beforehands. They might praise you highly in one second and humiliate disgrace in another. The reason for this disorder is mostly genetic , but how the patient was treated in childhood and adolescence plays an important role, as well.

•    Body Dysmorphic Disorder

Dysmorphophobia  is a disorder in which the patient is excessively concerned with his/her physical

appearance. They find their body defected in one or more features. The distress caused by thinking too much about the body and appearance impairs occupational and social functioning of the individual. This disorder co-occurs with depression, anxiety and social isolation. The reason for this problem is different for each person; however, it, generally, stems from mental and physical abuse or emotional neglect.

•                 Excessive Empathy Syndrome

In psychology, empathy is defined as putting oneself in someone else’s shoes. However, in colloquial

language, it is described as taking other people’s ideas and beliefs important more than necessary; thus and so, someone else’s ideas affect the individual’s decisions and life style. A person with excessive empathy problem does not consider what he/she thinks and believes, and shapes his/her life according to others’ desires. Selfishness is in the minimum level with such people, which is an unwanted feature in a psychologically healthy person. These people do so to comfort  themselves, they think that anything that is performed with good intentions will please other people and will make them impossible to accuse of any action. The reason for this syndrome is the immaturity of the individuals both in character and social life. They do not have the ‘self’ notion and are exposed to neighborhood pressure for a long time.

•              Monday Syndrome

People who work or study under tiring conditions find it hard to start a new week after a lovely and peaceful weekend. No matter how nice the weekends seem, they convert these days into awful times. They cannot enjoy the moment, because they are deeply occupied with thinking  'the moment'.

ARTICLE REFLECTION 1 - FRIENDS, GOOD FRIENDS AND SUCH FRIENDS

     

           

           In the article "Friends, Good Friends and Such Friends", the writer - Judith Viorst - analyzes and classifies the types of friends. She divides the types of friends into 8 categories and illustrates what kind of intimacy and cases is experienced in each friendship. I chose this topic, because recently, I have been thinking about the value of friends in a person's life and how we should place them according to content of our relationship. I thought this article could be of use to make up my mind about the place and value of the friendships in my life. Due to the fact that a person spends most of his/her time with friends in a civilized society, we should save some time to think about this important concept. I read the article with a great attention, and tried to find out whether the writer is right at her point or not. It is understood that the writer had a thorough thinking process to enlighten the readers sufficiently. Although I agree with the writer on some points, there are a few parts in the article which I believe to be unnecesary and wrong. There are 3 divisions in the article which I think that should be reconsidered.

          Firstly, the writer puts the friendships into 8 groups and explains them elaborately, but I see that there is not a distinct difference between these categories. It all seems to be alike. When I read the article I felt that Judith Viorst did so to prolong her writing and make the readers think there is an important topic discussed in the article. However, that is not the case. This situation causes readers to be perplexed about friendships rather than providing a clear perspective about them. The writer should have classified the topic into 3 groups as " Best Friends, Friends and Acquaintances" and explain what goes on each of them instead of unnecessarily confusing us.

          Secondly, the writer talks about, mainly,  women friendships. She indicates that she would not even tell anything about men's position in friendships if one of her friends did not force her to do so. Judith Viorst briefly mentions the men's role in friendships and gives an example, and that is all! I think that is a wrong point of view, because in the contemporary life, there is no segregation between the sexes and the situation applies to the friendships, either. The writer should have included the men in her article in each category. She should not have regarded men and women as different in terms of friendship, because for the last 20 years, men has started to take his place as women's social friends. They, men and women, can talk about private matters, make suggestions related to other relationships and even gossip.

            My last criticism on the article is about the way the writer organizes and develops her article. She mostly focuses on under which circumstances and where we meet a friend and why we end these friendships. However, this is a totally different point of view compared to my perception of a friend. I believe that where and how you meet a person is the least important factor in a friendship. What matters is what goes on after we meet, how we behave, how often we see each other and share our life experiences. For example, one can meet a person on the bus and build up a healthy relationship if the basic requirements of a friendship is achieved. These requirements are:  respecting, helping each other and keeping in touch.

            To sum up, I congratulate the writer on developing such a well - thought and elaborate work. It may help us think about our friendships in a proper way. However, I found some parts flawed and misleading about the friends.

REFLECTION JOURNAL 1 - VOLLEYBALL

VOLLEYBALL

In this journal, I want to inform you about my favourite sports- volleyball. Volleyball has a considerably important role in my life, because it is the only connection between me and the sports. Although I do not like sports and anything related to it, I find volleyball very entertaining and useful in terms of social life and athletic improvement. According to me, it is not a sports branch but a passion which makes the world a livable place for me.

Volleyball is one of the most prominent and common team sports in the world. Among the sports branches in championships and Olympic Games, it is the most essential and indispensable element for me. I will inform you about volleyball’s history, basic rules and its place in the world of sports. Volleyball is played by two teams which is separated by a net. Each team has six players, and just as in any other sports, each player has a specific role in the game. We call these roles as positions in the game. These positions are : setter, outside hitter, opposite hitter, middle blocker, and libero. In volleyball, the team which gets 3 sets in the match becomes the winner. Each set consists of 25 points under normal conditions ( the game might be extended if the point difference does not go beyond 1 such as 24-25). The team which manages to ground the ball on the opposing team’s court by conforming the rules scores a point.

Originally, volleyball was created and developed in 1895 by William G. Morgan who was the physical education director of YMCA ( Young Men’s Christian Association). In the beginning, the game was organized as a pastime activity which was convenient to be played indoors and was called “Mintonette”. By the time passed, the game evolved, its rules and name was changed and with the continued developments, it took its modern form. In this process of developments, volleyball has been affected by handball and tennis and its playfield has gone beyond indoor sports hall. Currently, it can be both played on the beach and artificial grass field.

As I stated before, volleyball takes an important place in the sports world. In 1947, FIVB ( Féderation Internationale de Volleyball ) was founded in Paris to regulate the rules of the game and unite all the organizations related to volleyball. Thus, volleyball has become an organized and eminent branch of sports in the world. The first World championships matches were held in 1949 for men. It was in 1952 for women, and this championships goes on being held in each 4 years. America, Brazil, Russia and China are the most successful countries in volleyball. We can regard them as the authorities of the game. All in all, although I had to give up playing volleyball due to my dense exam calendar when I was on the 8th grade , I am still keeping up with it by watching the matches, reading the comments on the matches and following the celebrities in the volleyball world.

( a rudimental volleyball game)