My expansion essay is mostly focused around Barbera Ehrenrich's "Bright Sided" essay, where she claims that America is seen as the most optimistic nation in the world. However these days, that can be considered far from the truth, especially for Dana Malbank, who wrote "Americans' optimism is dying", and shows national statistics that chisels down on Ehrenreich's claim. Malbank and his colleagues performed a national survey asking Americans if they believed their children would do better in life they did. The common answer is a bit pessimistic to say the least. Malbank says that "The gloom goes beyond the wealth, gender, race, region, age, and ideology. This fractious nation is united by one thing: Lost faith in the United States." Basically what this shows is that no matter who they asked, the answer was usually the same: that they believe their children won't lead better lives than them. Well this is quite a downer to students busting their rumps to get a degree, but this sort of pessimism isn't too surprising to be honest. I feel that we forget to realize what era of time we're living in. We're in a period where all of the good and bad can be seen at our fingertips. More specifically as a nation, we constantly live in a tense paranoia under the threat of terrorist activity, and on a related note, we all witnessed the biggest attack on U.S. soil. It's strange times that we live in. Scandal after scandal, beheadings broadcasted globally, and an infinite amount of finger pointing, both middle and index. It's shown that the older generation has little faith in the future of this country, but what needs to be known is that our younger generation has the opportunity to turn the nation around. I can't say I am optimistic or pessimistic about our country's future, all I can say is I have no clue what this country will look like in 30 years; but that's up to us, because us young folk will inherit it, and we know it's flawed. Hopefully we'll do something about it so we can prove the other generations wrong.

In The Things They Carried, Tim O'Brien explains to the reader the importance of making one's stomach believe when telling a story; a story that is true, but may have never even happened. This is story truth, and what does it mean exactly? The way I see it is every story has truth to it, even the most fabricated of tales. How though, can a made up story be true? It goes back to making the stomach believe. What's true about a fictional story is when your mind is focused on what happens, and your heart begins to race, and you just have to know what happens next. The events are fake, but the feeling and emotional response is as real as can be. I think that's the whole point of telling a story really. What's known as "happening truth" is indeed a story, but more of a retelling of an event. There's no moral, no message, possibly an emotional response, but overall just the simple relaying of an event that's happened. I don't mean to downplay stories of happening truth, it just simply plays a different purpose as to story truth. Happening truth is all about, obviously, what happened, whereas story truth is all about the story, not just what happened. There's a meaning and a purpose perceived by the mind of the storyteller, who may add details and events that never happened to make one's stomach believe. Even though there are fictional areas in a true story, the feeling in the story truth will always be more true than the happening truth, which serves better in the art and function of storytelling.

With my most recent essay, I felt a bit scatterbrained and overwhelmed with my topic, since it is very broad with many different sides. In Bright-Sided, Barbera Ehrenreich discusses how positive thinking is undermining America, and I added how exactly it does so. Themes of entitlement and what it means to live a truly happy and fulfilling life are brought to the table, yet I believe that Ehrenreich and I neglected to give the other side of the equation, of how positive thinking is a great mindset to hold for everyday life. I believe that even though positive thinking can be seen as undermining America, there's a reason Americans from coast to coast have adopted this philosophy. I plan to give a less cynical approach to the topic and shine light on the good effects of positive thinking. Yes, I'm being positive. Gasp.

The day in age where everyone is connected, ideas and emotions are transmitted quickly from one to another, and are branched of to more and more people. Are these ideas truly a look into one's own personal narrative though? Could it all be a front in order to show others, or even oneself, that they are truly happy or content? What a cynical way to look at things you may think, but my hopes are that these fronts that we put up for people to see will eventually deteriorate, and that social media feeds will fill with more than just posed pictures and cryptic comments. This is the same idea Barbara Erenreich has in her essay Bright Sided, how there is indeed an issue with the plastic positive barrier many Americans put themselves under, and that it undermines America. Don't get me wrong, I love my social media, but the communication is so washed over and shallow that the efficiency we all gather information from others is a bit redundant. Are what we see on Facebook and Twitter good representations of our societies happiness? God, I hope not. What we see there should be hoisted up and chucked out a window. No more mutual and mundane expressions of dull and drudging dialogue. Let's talk about real stuff, and let the real satisfaction sink in!

Enough about you, me, everyone. Brian Williams makes a beeline to the many issues that have risen from our celebratory culture in his brief essay "Enough about you". Williams brings to attention our everyone-wins mentality, and the shortcomings that come with it. Williams states, "Today everyone gets celebrated, in a part to put an end to the common cruelties of life that so many of us grew up with." I believe that statement is quite accurate, and upon first glance it sounds like a step up in our society. Upon second glance, you may also notice a slight jump of entitlement in our general culture. Or at least I have. In a time where you get a trophy for participation, one has to wonder where the drive to succeed comes from. I for one am motivated not by the desire to succeed, but from the very possible outcome that I may not succeed. In the real world you have to compete, and you won't be rewarded just for participating. So why on earth do people bestow this false reality to the younger generation? Yes, it may hold instant gratification, but it also gets them used to the idea that simply participating will make you a winner. This sense of entitlement can really stifle ones personal growth. Is this kind of treatment really worth it over the "cruelties of life"? I don't believe so. I think the biggest winners know very well what it means to lose. It's those losing moments that shapes us. We all start out as a blank slab of clay, but the cruel jabs and scrapes in life really mold us into a nice sculpture. Maybe not a winning sculpture, but it's better than some entitled blob of clay. Do you want to be an entitled blob of clay? I don't, and you shouldn't either you punk.

Solomon's American Paradox

The American dream, according to Jack Solomon's essay "Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising"  has a paradox lying in between the two sides of our cultures most common desires. One one side, we all yearn for camaraderie and general acceptance. There is indeed something comforting about a general acceptance for who we are individually. On the other hand, that individuality aspires to be something bigger. We all have had that desire to stand above the crowd and be admired by all. The paradox here, is that if we were to be more outstanding than everyone else, then there would be no like-minded equals to go to at the end of the day. It seems as though in our culture, we are conditioned to chase after the next big thing. We're surrounded by fast paced media and entertainment. I have a feeling that this plays into our personal lives, and ultimately our goals. It's unfortunate to say that when we dream of success and glory, it's comparable of moving on to a more interesting and exciting trend. In that moment we forget about the importance of camaraderie, and instead we entertain a more exciting an fulfilling idea of being a higher persona. This may not be true for everyone, but it is a known mentality that does indeed say something about our culture. It's up to us to choose where our priorities lie, whether it's shooting for the stars, being down to Earth, or a happy medium. No matter who you are though, you must remember that at the end of the game the King and the Pawn end up in the same box.