“Amor” by Pablo Neruda

Ay, amar es un viaje con agua y con estrellas,
con aire ahogado y bruscas tempestades de harina:
amar es un combate de relámpagos
y dos cuerpos por una sola miel derrotados.

Todo tu cuerpo tiene
copa a dulzura destinada a mí.

Amor mío, si muero y tú no mueres,
amor mío, si mueres y yo no muero,
no demos al dolor más territorio:
no hay extensión como la que vivimos.

Para mi corazón basta tu pecho,
para mi libertad bastan mis alas.
Desde mi boca llegará hasta el cielo
lo que estaba dormido sobre tu alma.

"Love" by Pablo Neruda
Translated by Felipe Navas

Ah, love is like a journey with water and stars,
with asphyxiated air and sudden storms of flour:
To love is a combat of lightening
and two defeated bodies for the same honey.

All of your body is a cup of sweetness destined for me.

Love of mine, if I die and you don't,
Love of mine, if you die and I don't,
Let's not give sorrow a moment:
There is no affection like the one we are living.

For my heart your chest is enough,
for your liberty my wings should set you free.
From my mouth I will deliver a message
of what once slept over your soul
and it should reach the sky.

“Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption” by Diana Kendall

Do you agree with Kendall's claim that the media distort our perceptions of social inequality?

Yes, I do agree with Kendall. The American dream has been altered by the media; perhaps, not with bad intentions but the result of this distortion of reality, has been critical. Many people find themselves caught in the web of deception fed to us by the media every day. The most vulnerable is the youth, who seem to be the focus of the media. From a business point of view, this behavior makes perfect sense. The media is investing in their future. Once the youth is addicted to their product the media has secured their own future. The media thinks for us and manipulates us through distortion of reality. They tell us what we should wear, drive and who we should look up to. We have become like puppets and the media is in charge of our strings. We get an education and learn to think critically and yet, we still allow the media to think for us through the magic of television. The definition of happiness has been lost somewhere in time thanks to the media. Now the new definition of happiness is: make as much money as possible even if you have to step on somebody else's toes. The objective in life is money; people are just means to an end. However, the land of opportunity still exists; get a few credit cards and use them to buy stuff that will make you look like your favorite star and then spend the rest of your life paying for it. Your idol will appreciate your support even if he never knows who you are. The executives of the credit card corporation will appreciate your interest as well. And when you are too old to work and can't help support their life style, don't worry, your children are well on their way to replace you in this vicious cycle.

“Serving in Florida” by Barbara Ehrenreich

What is the point of Ehrenreich's experiment?

To experience the struggle of people who by choice or by lack of opportunity ended up with low paying jobs.

What do you think she was hoping to learn by stepping down the economic ladder and what can you learn as her reader?
She was hoping to understand the people in these conditions; and understand who and why some people end up in these conditions. As her reader, I learned that she made an extreme effort to make her point.

Explain why you find her approach more or less effective than one that provides economic data and analysis.
The author could have given us statistics or some kind of report with numbers about how difficult it is to make ends meet when one is at the bottom of the economical ladder. But, this approach would have been just plain boring. Instead, she chose a more effective way of communicating with her audience. She definitely went the extra mile to get her message across. She left a more comfortable life behind to live in a trailer park and quit her job as a journalist (temporarily) to become a waitress and a hotel maid. This approach was more effective because throughout the vivid narrative the author helps her readers see the harsh condition which someone without a college education has to endure every day. A huge advantage the author had was that to her it was just an experiment which she knew she could abort when the pressure got to be too much. However, there are millions of people who cannot simply abort these conditions, they simply have to endure until they either retire or die.