ColemanReadingResponse2

Nathan discusses the aspect of community in this college environment. She starts off by saying "youth, pop culture, and getting a degree are pretty accurately the ties that bind together a public state university "community"" (My Freshman Year, 42, Nathan). However, the rest of the chapter she pretty much spends trying to convince the reader that there was no sense of community and very few aspects of diversity at this university. People tended to stick with what they knew, the friends they had already made and were unwilling to branch out. Nathan pointed out that people wanted to have a "close community" but inevitably when the time comes resist the opportunities to form one. For example with Greek Life, people seemed to complain the time consuming aspects of it and the group aspect but that is what being a part of a community is all about. One has to give up time for others, prioritize and know what is important. They must be a part of the group and look at it as a whole and not solely based on the individual. By joining events like Greek Life, Nathan found that students were more likely to stay in school. Nathan said, "This is what is meant by ego base: even these intimate forms of community are quite individual." What I took from this statement is that people tend to either stick with the same group of friends or they are extremely outgoing and quite the opposite. This depends on the type of person you are, whether you choose to get involved or stick with what you know. Diversity was another issue discussed. Nathan observed the lack of diversity from different stances, it was not just about races but exclusivity within clubs, sports and dorm life. What interested me the most was how people were not interested in meeting new people and becoming involved. In my opinion, that is a huge part of college. You have to become involved, try new things and not be afraid to meet new people. I tend to disagree with what Nathan had to say about diversity, maybe at her university it was lacking but I see plenty of diversity at Bloomsburg. People are friendly and it makes Bloomsburg feel like a big community.

With __The Mind At Work__ by Mike Rose the three main issues discussed were intelligence, work and skill. I found this novel very interesting, it gave the reader the knowledge on the idea of work and schooling and the intelligence formed. It was more then just facts but had a story behind it to make this novel interesting. The author portrayed the idea that work gave people purpose and affects who they are. It makes them feel accomplished and plays a role in the person you become. The workforce was like a community, just like the "community" talked about in __My Freshman Year__.This reading offered insight on the ideas facing how to apply ones knowledge to the work they are doing and how people tend to judge others based on their work ethic and intelligence. I tend to think this is wrong but the statement itself is true. Judgement is a big part of life and that's why I think it was so important for Frank and the mother to have work in this novel. It made them feel important and worthy.

Both readings focus on people working hard at what they are trying to accomplish like Frank with his job or the mother working at the diner from __The Mind at Work__ or even Nathan becoming a college freshman from __My Freshman Year.__ Nathan observed the action at the university while the daughter observed her surroundings while watching her mother work at the diner. These two pieces of work have many similar ideas and they are just written about in different fashions. "We're not just a brain in a bottle. We think in a material and social world. So when I can, I provide biographical information for the people we're observing, and I am able to provide much more of that kind of detail in the family sketches that run through these pages" (The Mind At Work, Rose). This statement talks about applying the information these people learned, taking their observations and doing something with them. This is exactly what Nathan does, she throws herself into a situation and comes out of it and writes about it. Lastly, both novels talk not only about intelligence but focus on the idea of culture. "Intelligence is culture-bound" meaning we learn from our surroundings and it is what we take from that, that makes us smarter.