Brian Gerker
ETHN 101
Reading Journal Entry #16
11-12-2007
Dwight McBride, “Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch”
1. Thesis from “Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch” would be that McBride hates the store because of their idealization of whiteness. Abercrombie is only focused on selling clothes to the upper-middle class of society, and mainly white people. The whiteness is displayed everywhere in stores and ads. McBride hates them because the store sets whites above others in many ways.
2. In “Why I Hate Abercrombie & Fitch,” McBride is stating mostly his reasons for hating the store and their policies. She begins by giving a brief history of the creation of the store, starting out as an outdoorsman, wilderness shopping store. McBride states that the store really didn’t become the way it is until 1988, when the ownership changed. McBride is mostly concerned with the “Look Good Book” which displayed how people should dress to “look good.” Once he establishes the main points and details of what certain people should wear, as well as accessories, he moves to the lawsuit against Abercrombie which did not come about until 2003. Some points to the lawsuit were the “Look Book” and the unfair hiring of employees, as well as advertising billboards. After this, McBride moves on to his interviews he had with former employees of Abercrombie and their experiences their. In most cases the interviewees were in lower management positions and ended up quitting or getting fired because they did not have the “Abercrombie” look. McBride’s main reasons for hating Abercrombie and Fitch seem to be that they cause white supremacy and privilege, and also cause society to need to follow these ideologies of being included in the Abercrombie society.
3. One question that can be raised against McBride is, is it necessary to hire “good looking” employees and advertise good looking people to eventually earn them maximum profits as a business? For the people that Abercrombie is trying to seduce into buying their products, their ways of business apparently are working. However, they do seem to single out whites for their target customers. This is being discriminatory, in agreement with McBride, because they only want to sell to whites, and they only want to hire whites to work for them. And on top of everything else, they only want the whites that “look good.”
4. In much of the same ways I agree with what McBride had to say. I personally hate the store myself because their stuff is just too expensive. Now, after the reading, I realize this is because I am not the type of person Abercrombie wants to sell to anyways. I am not an upper class person so really I don’t appeal to the “Abercrombie look.” For the reading itself I thought it was rather lengthy and strayed away from the main subject at times. Overall though it was a good reading and will be great for class discussion.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Entry #15 Ronald Takaki, "El Norte, The Borderland of Chicano Americans"
Brian Gerker
ETHN 101
Reading Journal Entry #15
11-4-2007
Takaki, Ronald “El Norte ‘The Borderland of Chicano America’”
1. In “El Norte, The Borderland of Chicano America,” Takaki’s thesis is that the United States to the Mexicans was “El Norte, the land across the river.” The United States “became the stuff of boundless dreams for Mexican immigrants. In growing numbers in the early twentieth century, they began to cross the northern borders, with extravagant hopes.” Mexicans immigrated to the United States in hopes of finding better jobs and to get away from Mexican revolutions.
2. To summarize “El Norte, The Borderland of Chicano America,” things seem to start with revolutions in Mexico. In the early twentieth century, revolutions were taking place in Mexico, one of which was started by Pancho Villa. These revolutions caused many things, like economic depression, and living expenses became unbearable. The Chicanos then looked to the north, who had built a new railroad leading from Texas to Mexico, where in America they could find better jobs, and opportunities. Though in some cases, things did not always work out, where Chicanos often had to work the same hard labor jobs in the U.S. that they had to in Mexico. Mostly, it was families that immigrated trying to avoid the revolutions and find a better home. Also, the Chicanos were discriminated against in the working field. Where a white man would earn $5 a week, a Mexican would only earn $4 a week for the same work. It was supposed to be equal opportunities, but for many things did nto work out as they first believed.
3. The immigrations of Mexicans to the United States was caused by several factors. Takaki presents that income was a huge aspect in the migration. Also, the revolutions that bothered the safety at home was a reason for people to flee to a safer environment. And also, the Mexican economy had become terribly bad, as prices of every thing soared. Mexicans could not afford to live there and thus had to leave to find a new stable life.
4. This reading was actually quite interesting. Takaki did a great job of giving good details and keeping my attention. This was definitely a good reading as it provides much information for discussion. I also did not know about all the reasons Takaki presents for the Mexican migration. I knew about them being able to get better jobs in the U.S. but I did not know in great detail the effects of the revolutions.
ETHN 101
Reading Journal Entry #15
11-4-2007
Takaki, Ronald “El Norte ‘The Borderland of Chicano America’”
1. In “El Norte, The Borderland of Chicano America,” Takaki’s thesis is that the United States to the Mexicans was “El Norte, the land across the river.” The United States “became the stuff of boundless dreams for Mexican immigrants. In growing numbers in the early twentieth century, they began to cross the northern borders, with extravagant hopes.” Mexicans immigrated to the United States in hopes of finding better jobs and to get away from Mexican revolutions.
2. To summarize “El Norte, The Borderland of Chicano America,” things seem to start with revolutions in Mexico. In the early twentieth century, revolutions were taking place in Mexico, one of which was started by Pancho Villa. These revolutions caused many things, like economic depression, and living expenses became unbearable. The Chicanos then looked to the north, who had built a new railroad leading from Texas to Mexico, where in America they could find better jobs, and opportunities. Though in some cases, things did not always work out, where Chicanos often had to work the same hard labor jobs in the U.S. that they had to in Mexico. Mostly, it was families that immigrated trying to avoid the revolutions and find a better home. Also, the Chicanos were discriminated against in the working field. Where a white man would earn $5 a week, a Mexican would only earn $4 a week for the same work. It was supposed to be equal opportunities, but for many things did nto work out as they first believed.
3. The immigrations of Mexicans to the United States was caused by several factors. Takaki presents that income was a huge aspect in the migration. Also, the revolutions that bothered the safety at home was a reason for people to flee to a safer environment. And also, the Mexican economy had become terribly bad, as prices of every thing soared. Mexicans could not afford to live there and thus had to leave to find a new stable life.
4. This reading was actually quite interesting. Takaki did a great job of giving good details and keeping my attention. This was definitely a good reading as it provides much information for discussion. I also did not know about all the reasons Takaki presents for the Mexican migration. I knew about them being able to get better jobs in the U.S. but I did not know in great detail the effects of the revolutions.
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