Susan Bordo’s Source Annotation Of Ron Long’s The Fitness of the Gym

Long, Ron. (1997). “The Fitness of the gym,” Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review, Vol. IV, No. 3, Summer, pp. 20-22.

Ron Long is a gay theorist who has done studies on what makes men attractive in The Fitness of the Gym. His research is in the interpretation of what the “beauty” of a man is. He would therefore support that men are attractive to other men not just because of their“hard bodies” but because of their entire image. 
The idea that I use from Ron Long’s The Fitness of the Gym is that contemporary gay sexual aesthetics are closer to “lean, taut, sinuous muscles rather than Schwarzenegger bulk.” The reason this idea is presented is to note that there are many interpretations and personal reasons to why men may be sexually desirable—the desire is not just because of his muscles and buildup, but because of how the muscles appear. While the bulkier guy appears to be the sex symbol (the traditional way man were portrayed), the other guy presents more “dynamic tension”. When you see him, you imagine more than just a bulky guy, but you envision a guy with more flexibility, more agility—he is designed for movement; this allows your imagination to be limitless.

David Foster Wallace

I think that the most significant thing about the David Foster Wallace's piece is when he talks about actually taking in the information verses just sucking the information in to only spit it out later. This is very similar to what Pablo Freire was saying about understanding and applying what you learn to your life, as oppose to just taking it lightly.

Even though there are many different subjects a student may take in a semester, the student must realize that it is important to synthesize all of the information; but how one takes in the information varies between person to person. This fasinates me because I think that as long as the subject is meaningful to the individual--and it doesn't matter if the person "receive" what he or she should from the situation-- but yet the individual at least understands why the information  is taught or given.

Blog 4 "The Banking Concept of Education"

"The Banking Concept of Education," by Pablo Freire, deals with almost two definite sides explaining the way the teacher-student relationship exists. What Freire does essentially is deciphers how the relationship between the two should be: the job of the teacher and the position of the students should be interchangeable, the teacher must be willing to learn from the students and allow them to speak what they believe.

However, since the beginning of formal education, the teacher is the one who instructs, and the students are the ones who listen. Through this process, and strict mindset of what  a classroom is, the teachers are ones who dump knowledge into the students (the containers); then, "Education thus becomes an act of depositing. Freire attempts to gain all of the information presented.

I find that I relate to him in the sense that I felt that I had to work hard at learning and gaining an education, and that I often would work so hard that I would be overworking (doing more than above average). To me, one is either not working hard enough, or is working hard, but apparently, there is a such thing as working "too hard". I find that it is hard to tell when one is working "too hard". Whether it be out on the labor fields, or in a classroom. If you are getting the job done, you are doing the job. There is a such thing as working diligently, persistently, ect.

He works "too hard" perhaps because he spends a lot of time studying, a lot of time a way from his family. But I do not think that working "too hard" is an issue, I think that having good working skills is a plus, as long as it does not interfere with personal/individual development.