~ThE CLoThEs I wEaR~

Honestly, I don't think a whole lot about where my clothes came from. I think its just because I have never really thought about it before. I think that the participation points survey that we took in class the other day really made me think about why I wear the clothes that I do. Yes, I love designer clothes and expensive clothes. Not necessarily for the brand, but because of the comfort and durability, and because I think certain clothes fit me better than others. But at the same time, I do shop at Target, Wal-mart and cheaper stores in the mall, I have no problem with that at all. If I can save a couple bucks i'm all for it! I look for clothes that I like, and for clothes that look good on me, I don't buy clothes that are expensive just because I want to be seen wearing that certain expensive brand. True Religions are expensive jeans, but I bought mine cause they looked good, and they will last a really long time. Anyway, I think its interesting to hear different points of view in our class and hear what people think of this clothes issue, but i know where I stand and what I think about the issue and thats good enough for me :)

Where is the line?

Reading No Logo has been interesting, and there are a lot of good points. The think that really caught my eye while I was reading this week was Wal Marts issue with the content that is in their stores. Yeah, Wal Mart is a family store, where mothers bring their children shopping with them. Because it is a family store, Wal Mart will not accept certain material because it could be offensive and inappropriate to these young mothers with their families. The example that they used in No Logo was the Nirvana CD and how they had to change the content in their CD, and the names of their songs so they would not be offensive to the shoppers at Wal Mart. But what about everyone else? The people who are not mothers or not little kids? What if they really wanted that CD with the certain picture on the front and the certain lyrics? Wal mart does not have material that could possible offensive. So these other people will not be satisfied. But then again, Wal Mart sells violent video games... are these games considered to be dangerous for the young mothers with their kids? I just think it is interesting to think about how Wal Mart really does turn away merchandise if it is offensive. Its not that it will effect their revenue, but because they do not want their customers to be offended. We as customers have the right to look at what we want and buy what we want. If we get offended by something that Wal Mart has, the big deal, buy it or don't look at it. Wal Mart of course should not have obscene material in their stores, but for real, they don't have to require a change of a product like the Nirvana Cd so people wont get offended. I just think its a little ridiculous.

~LoGoS~

Seriously, there are so many logos out there it is insane. After going around during class to write down how many we could find, it made me realize really how many logos we look at everyday. Just driving up state street in Orem, there are thousands for us to look at. I think that even though we may not realize it, our subconscious mind is really affected by what we see everyday. These images are ingrained in our minds, and we are constantly thinking about what we see. If we are at the store we buy the brands that we are most familiar with. So the more logos out there on that brand the better, at least thats what the advertising companies think. Its fascinating to really think about how much we see everyday, the world is growing so much in the advertising aspect. Crazy Crazy Crazy!!

ThE MeDiA

Disney is one of the many companies that own what is going in the media. From the paper that we got in class, Disney owns five magazine publishing companies, ABC television and radio, Disneyland, Disney books, along with much more. It makes me think about how much power these companies have over our perception on the media. We are influenced by what we watch, weather we decide to act on what we see is based on an individual basis. But these companies have the power to portray whatever they would like to. We give these companies so much power, whether they deserve it or not in controversial. The media effects us a ton, and i just think we need to be careful with how much we take in and how much we let influence us. After looking at this handout from class, it made me realize really how much is out there for us to consume. The world of media is growing and growing and its way exciting to see the technology grow. The media is a powerful tool and we need to realize the effect that it has on us as the consumers.

Hip Hop Documentary

That hip hop documentary was really interesting, because it made me think out of the box. It was good to hear their side of the story, and why their lyrics are they way they are. African Americans are less fortunate at times, because of the issues of race. They simply choose to portray it in their music, unlike other cultures. The things the artists say in their music is at times very inappropriate and offensive, and it is their way of life. We as the listeners have the choice to listen or to not listen. The singers have talent, and they obviously have a hard past, but we all do. I think that hip hop artists need to be a little bit more respectful in their lyrics. And we need to take a stand and not buy their albums if we are offended by them, because the albums will keep on being made. The documentary said that Caucasians are the main buyers of hip hop music. We need to stop buying the music if we don't like what it portrays.

The Human Race

The book that we are currently reading has made me realize how important understanding race is. I view everyone as individuals with differences. I don't think that just because someone is black we should treat them any different. I think human race is a beautiful thing, and it really interests me. I am interested in culture and how different people live their lives. I think us as a people need to be more appreciative of other people and their cultures. When we are born we can't choose what race we are going to be. We are born into a a family that is so unique, that is part of a whole world of culture and race. I think we need to be me more appreciative of the different cultures around us, and respect alternate ways of life.

OuR PrEsIdEnT

If any of you watched the 24 series, you will all know that they had an amazing guy play President Palmer, and he was African American. He was very respectable, and solved a lot of dramatic problems that went on in the series. Issues like war and terrorism that effected the country. Obviously President Palmer was a character, and was made up. But I think his effect on America in the 24 series, got us ready for our amazing current black president, President Obama. Palmer could save America from war, so will America think Obama can save us from the real war in society? 5 years ago i don't think America would have been ready for a black president, because we were scared for change. The vision in 24 was able to show us that having a black president will be ok. Now America is ready for change, and I think really good things are going to come out of the change of getting a black president. We shouldn't compare Obama to other presidents, because every president is different. But just because he is black, we should treat him with just as much respect as we have with our other presidents. Things are changing, and its going to be an interesting next four years to see what is going to happen.

SeX AnD AdS

After going to genderads.com and looking at the sex ads, it made me realize how much advertisements use sex to sell their products. After watching a bunch of commercials, I found that cologne and perfume uses sex to sell, clear to to topic of "under armour." There are so many things that need to be advertised, and there are so many different ways to advertise things in a very broad board. It makes me wonder why we have chosen to use our body to sell the product. And I came to the conclusion that it is because we are drawn into sex and appearance of others because of our human nature. we pay attention to what is interesting to us. Gender ads quotes: "Many critics of the critics of popular culture use the adage 'sex sells' the justify the depictions in popular culture." Sex sells the product, and weather we like it or not, it works. I don't think that it is always the right way to sell a product, but if sex gets the attention of the audience, then the people that advertise really don't have a choice to use "sex." Because their job is to sell things, and get results from us buying their things.

Not What You Think

In the book we have been reading, Where the Girls Are, it talks about something that I am very passionate about. And I know it sounds cheesy, but I LOVE pageants. In chapter 7 it talks about the Miss America Pageant. The chapter portrays the Miss America contestants as a "cattle auction." And the girls are only up on state to show off their butts and boobs. I have done 8 pageants, and let me tell you, there is a ton more the just modeling on stage. Pageants may not be what you think they are. I did the Miss UVU pageant here on campus last semester. In order to even qualify for the competition we were all required to do community service hours with something that we are passionate about around campus. We also had to earn a hundred dollars which would be donated to the Children's Miracle Network, a hospital with kids in need. If we did not do these things we could not compete. The contestants not only acquire service hours and fund raising, but they are all very talented as well. There is a talent portion in the pageant, which ends up being a majority of your final score. I play the piano, and I played a piece by Chopin for the Miss UVU pageant last year. I ended up getting first attendant, and I was so excited because I got scholarship money to help me further my education. I used the organization to get scholarship money, and make a difference in serving my community.
Pageants are not only about modeling in your swim suit, and walking around in high heels. But there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. Like i mentioned before, there are some things that are required of the contestant to even participate.These girls want to make a difference in the community. These pageant girls want to further their education by earning scholarship money, because if you win a pageant, you get scholarship money, you don't get cash to use however you want.
Once again, there is a lot of stereotyping that goes on with pageants. But this is just some information about what goes on, so this information may or may not change your mind about pageant girls :)

The color pink is automaticaly the "girl" color. And the color blue is automatically the "guy" color. How the heck did we come up with these colors and what color goes to what gender? I agree with what Errin said in class today, its so lame how we have colors for each gender. We should not have to use colors do determine who is who. If a guy wears pink, society assumes that he is gay. But if a girl wears blue, we don't think twice. I just wanted to add my thoughts to that conversation :)

When you look at this picture what do you think? Does it make you think of sex? Going to the Gym to get buff like him? If you are a woman, does it make you feel depressed because you may or may not be able to get a man that looks like that? If you are an overweight man, does it make you feel self conscious? Obviously I'm not a man, but I'm sure the men in the world sometimes feel pressure about needing to look like this, because this picture is a perfect example of what the world portrays men to be.
But what about the men that do not look like this picture? Men that are overweight, and who are not "attractive"? How do you think they feel when they see muscular men all over the media. The movie that we watched in class the other day was so interesting because it talked about how men are so dependent on what they see through the media, and what it portrays. Men HAVE to be competitive. Men HAVE to be in good shape. Men HAVE to go to work everyday to support their family. The truth is, most of what was said in the video is an opinion of what the media thinks a man needs to be. If you go to a crowded mall and look around at the men, there will be a very small percent of men that are "perfect" in the way that media portrays them. Muscular, good clothes, confident, successful, good looking,... the list goes on and on.
Now, for us women. I am married now, but when I was in the "dating world" I was picky! I would look for men that had all of the characteristics of the "media man." Muscular, good clothes, etc. I quickly found out that there are very few men that have all those qualities. I think us as women need to look past all of the physical characteristics in a man, and start looking at the emotional and personal characteristics. The man that I married has some of the "characteristics" that I talked about, but he does not have all of them, just like 90 percent of the men in the world.
What I want to really get across is that the media does not only effect women, it effects men just as much! We as a society need to stop thinking that the media knows everything. In reality, all men are different, all women are different. Opposed to what the media makes us think, that all men are the same, and all women are the same.

The book that we have been reading "Where the girls are" has made me think about a lot of interesting things, about how our society looks at women. The book used "I Love Lucy" as one of the many examples of women in high heels and pearls. Do they ever take their nice clothes off even when they are cleaning? The following is what I got out of what the author Susan Douglas is trying to get across to us. The society perceives women to be a certain way. We clean the house and take care of the kids. And we never complain about it. If you think about it, even in most of the movies in the "I Love Lucy" time period, women do not complain about having to clean the house, and take care of the daily chores. I grew up watching "I Love Lucy" and because of that, I would feel out of place if I complained about doing house chores, because you simply don't see complaining on TV, with women and their house chores. Why does the TV business to this? Obviously this is not the way all women are, so why do they make us think this is the way we act? I just thought this was an interesting point that Susan made in the book.

President Obama

On Tuesday President Barack Obama was sworn into office. We watched the inauguration in all of my classes that day, because history was made. The whole week before, we were celebrating the birth of Martin Lutber King Jr. People say that our new pesident is going to be just as succesful as MLK. I think that it is great how Obama has a dream for us Americans. We are scared, we are in debt, and we are ready for change.

At the inauguration, the two million people in the audience "Booed" President Bush. How un-American is that? Think of the issues that Bush had to get us through, September 11th happened under his watch for crying outloud! He did not deserve the attitude America showed him. I respect the things that Bush did for our country, and I would like to get your opinion on weather you think Obama will be able to match what Bush has done. Bush put troops in Iraq to save us, with Obama taking the troops out... will that put us at a huge risk? Will Obama be able to get us through a major crisis? Will he really be able to do all he has promised America? I would hope so, but we can never be too sure.

I am excited for the upcoming years, to really see if America will change, for better, or for worse.

Martin Luther King Jr

We went to the Martin Luther King conference the other day instead of class, and I thought it was fascinating. The title of the confrence was Civil Rights and the Role of Media. I thought I would include the "I Have a Dream" speech, because Martin Luther King had such an impact on America, not only with freedom, but with the media aswell. He could see a change, he knew that we could become whatever we want to become. The last speaker at the confrence was named Albert Jones. An African american that is the Diversity times Publisher and Editor. Back in the day when Martin Luther King lived, an african american printing a newspaper would have been unheard of. But because of this speech that MLK gave, it presented hope to the the minorities. So take 17 minutes out of your day and listen to this speech word for word. it will change the way you think about yourself, and all of the things that we are gifted with everyday. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1732754907698549493

~Stereotypes~

I really liked this picture, because it describes perfectly what I experience every day, being asked a certain question.
We talked about stereotypes today in class, and what we assume different groups of people do in their lives. We didn't talk about tall people, one thing that people assume tall people to do is play basketball! Luckily for Yao Ming, he did end up playing basketball, probably because he is so tall! But that is not true about all tall people!
The question people ask me almost everydayis, if I play basketball because I am so tall. I say "no..." "do you play miniature golf because your short?"
I just think its interesting that we do all assume things about different groups of people, even though they may not be true, and i think we can all learn a good lesson to not stereotype. We need to be open to other thoughts, and ideas in life.