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The "Alex & Cam Radio Show"
Bernie Sanders the EP by Sergei Mass and Micah Henry
What is the meaning of life or finding one’s purpose in life is the base of this project. This overall cultural fabric relates to many people’s feelings. Numerous people on earth are unsure as to why they are here and what they should be doing here. Your Mother’s Couch have everything they need to be successful; loving, wealthy parents, yet they turn their heads completely decide to do their own thing, falling into the common theme of making a band and rapping about senseless things. Through music, they are trying to find purpose and are failing. So through the desperateness of trying to find meaning in life, disregarding the gifts already given to them, these hipsters are still lost.
The most common connection to Your Mother’s Couch is pretty much any new Indie Band. For example the Band Wavves. Just off the bat, they are so unique that they must spell “Waves” with two “w’s”. All of the members of Wavves all came from money and they all act as if they are dirt poor and hate their parents. They make meaningless songs about the dumbest of things, but they get buzz from it! Another connection to Your Mother’s Couch is every other modern day hipster. The band we created were based off of the whole “DIY Band” scene in the PHL/NJ/NYC area. A bunch of friends of mine that are pretty well off and just want to be rebellious and get involved into things they know nothing of, do similar things as Your Mother’s Couch would do.
Back in 2013, a clothing designer painted a few paintings that he made into shirts and they were based off of his experience going to house shows in Brooklyn and seeing the youth in the shows. Raf Simons made a number of different shirts, one had a very pale girl on the one, with a vivid colored sweater and bleached blonde hair with the roots coming out. She was holding a coors light to relate to the underaged youth drinking in the shows. In an interview he described the people in the shows and their lives and the inspiration behind the line. As a big fashion enthusiast that I am, it was interesting to see big designers doing stuff like this.
Undoubtedly, tumblr is a huge contributor to the connection to the start of Your Mother’s Couch. Tumblr is the place where hipsters go and trade off their corny memes, mediocre music, and countless pages of meaningless stories. It’s also hard not to forget the numerous “I am a photographer” pages and “All I post is Gifs about Nirvana because Kurt is my father” pages. People see stuff on the internet and instantly hook right onto it. Almost as if they are minions.
The last connection I have to mention is a 21 year old kid from Harlem by the name of Ian Connor. Now many people might not know who Ian Connor or who he is, but in summary he got famous from styling A$AP Rocky and A$AP Mob, Wiz Khalifa, and now Kylie Jenner. He also modeled for Wil Fry, 424 Fairfax, Kanye x Adidas, and many more designers. He lives the lavish life of throwing a lot of money at pizza men and smoking in public malls and stores. He is know for pretty much not giving a F*** and the “hipster band” kids have followed his tracks in now dressing like him and acting like him. As odd as it sounds, he is an influence to the youth now. If you have spare time, look him up he is quite interesting.
Q1 Benchmark - Contemporary Kafkaesque
"No Way Out" is a movie about Wendell Grieves, a black teenager living in South Berkley, California. He is an exceptional person: good to his friends and family, religious and charitable, a member of his school's football team, and Instagram celebrity. However, when Wendell's team is harassed to the point of violence by a more privileged team, everything goes south. Wendell, trying to stop the fighting, is shot and killed by the police.
PR Piece: Posters and critical acclaim quotes.
I: Interviewer from Jet Magazine
J: Director/Screenwriter John Blair
I: We’ve brought in John Blair, the visionary behind the recent movie “No Way Out”, a film that focuses on the tragic death of Wendell Grieves, a local sports hero and all around good person.Thanks for taking the time to visit us John.
J: It’s no problem, happy to be here.
I: Now, I want to begin by asking about the character of Wendell. In the film, Wendell is shown as good as a person can get. He has a caring personality, is a good support to his family, especially to his younger brother. Why did you set him up to such a high level, only for him to be killed by the police?
J: I wrote Wendell as somewhat of a cartoonish character to make a point. These police murders, I say murders because that is what they are, these murders have always had some amount of clarity, and an angle to justify themselves with. The right wing news would always have some sort of crime to place on the victim, some way of convincing themselves and the audiences that the act of violence was necessary. Trayvon Martin: Zimmerman was the only witness, he had some signs of a physical struggle. Eric Garner: Resisting arrest, assaulting an officer. There are always excuses because of the weakness of the sources, and the confusion given by viral media. Garner swatted an officer’s arm, Zimmerman’s story doesn’t really add up. These were murders, but because of how information can be spread and manipulated, there is always a different angle. I wanted to depict a story where it is indisputable that the police were at fault, show an extreme example, a scenario where the confusion is nonexistent. I had to take police brutality to an extreme. Wendell’s story is me sending a message.
I: Religion was a big part of Wendell’s character. Would you mind telling why?
J: I didn’t want Wendell to be a blank character. He needed a source for his personality. A large reason that he is how he is is due to his christian upbringing. It gave him a reason to be kind, and helped me get a good mental image of his home life and daily activity.
I: So, Wendell was this shell of goodness, but you needed to fill it in?
J: That is one way to look at it. It also helped make him relatable to a lot of the audience.
I: Am I correct to assume that that is why you made him instagram famous? Instagram and Vine have been exploding these last few years.
J: Actually, that is a bit backwards. I made him instagram famous to support the theme of characterising these things that we only see through the media, be it the news or social media sites. Just like we only see the media’s views of these victims, we only see the instagram stars as they show themselves on the web. I wanted to give the audience another chance to look at how these characters you see in the media and online are real people, with lives.
I: Isn’t it a bit counterintuitive that you are trying to build Wendell as an almost unrealistic character, yet are trying to use him to make a point and personify a part of reality that people don’t see?
J: I see it as using him as a studying point for the police brutality aspect, and as a way to suggest an idea, or get people thinking and or make them see things they take for granted in a different way.
I: Going against what is accepted seems to be a major point in your story.
J: Absolutely.
I: I’d like to ask about why you chose South Berkeley as the Grieves’s hometown.
J: Well, Berkeley has two key factors. It is a low income neighborhood, with a primarily black population.
I: Would I be too wrong if I said it was an alternative to using Compton?
J: Right again, I didn’t want to cash in on the Straight Outta Compton hype too much.
I: “F*ck the Police” isn’t quite the message you are trying to tell?
J: NWA is a bit more violent than I am trying to be. I wanted the film to be shaming and eye opening, but not threatening. It needs to scream loudly without being harsh, if that makes any sense.
I: I get what you’re saying. Might that be the reason you depicted Wendell as a member of the church?
J: That and the fact that I wanted to give Wendell a large family. He has his household family, but the church acts as a family in itself. In America, a lot of these low income, historically black neighborhoods are held together by their church communities. By having him be a friendly member of multiple communities, his death has a greater impact on characters within the story. Society these days is about community. It has gotten to a point where people cannot live without mingling with many different communities. Wendell effects both his Instagram followers, and his different communities.
I: So he is a metaphor for how these recent travesties have been affecting the nation's media and people?
J: Exactly!
I: You also show off some elements of white privilege, what with the football team that attacks Wendell’s team being almost entirely white, and from a richer neighborhood.
J: I did that to accent and give context for the police shooting. The fight gave a reason for the police to come, and contrast of the teams displayed an even starker, clearer image of the racism I am portraying.
I: Overall, the film has an almost sadistic feel to it. You are holding the audience in their chairs with an addictive, constantly progressing film, while you torment them with a narrative that pushes you further and further into hopelessness.
J: *laughs* Well, I don’t know if I was going for “sadistic”, but yes, I was trying to force a fairly aggressive message onto the audience. Earlier you had me talk about how I used Wendell to make a point about how the people you see on the media are real. Well, there was another reason. Social media “activism” is irrelevant. When people post, share, and like massive quantities of these ideas, they are accomplishing next to nothing. A like doesn’t actually solve a problem. Sure, massive quantities of these posts and shares help send a message, but actual action and deeds are required to make changes. I have placed the audience into a situation where they are forced to see this.
I: So, Wendell had all of these followers, and at the end everyone spread his death as a “martyr” of sorts, but nothing was actually prevented or accomplished?
J: Yes. It was meant to show that uselessness. The only thing we can hope for is that the useless hive mind that social media has become ends up being relevant when the current generation of youth is in charge. I wanted the audience to experience the feeling of not being able to do anything, so that, hopefully, after seeing that their actions are irrelevant, they will try to become real activists.
I: There you have it readers! Get out there, really make a difference in your world, not just on social media. John, thank you so much for coming, it was enlightening.
J: Anytime, anytime. I’m always looking for chances to spread my message.
Rodney King video (WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT)
Rodney King and how he fought for the rights that as an African American he felt as if he did not have. Police brutality was a huge issue with this historical event. As a black African Rodney was almost immediately considered to be a threat, even though there was over 3 cops there with him. He was beat just like how Wendell was beat. Although in this was a lot different than our story, because in the Rodney King case, he had a lot of built up anger towards those of the white race, which took a toll on the L.A. riot incident.
In this book, former cop, Juarez takes on this mission to make it right in the drug infested streets. He sees first hand how the Chicago police take advantage of their authority, and how much they get away with it. Juarez speaks on the code of silence that keeps the police force untouchable. Racial profiling is a thing and that is what happens in the book, and with Wendell when he is beaten and then killed by a police officer.
Juarez tells the inside of actually being a police officer and how women and men can be abused without any repercussions. Juarez shares how some of the people he works with is know for stopping women for made-up traffic offenses and flirts with them. Comparing it to our movie about how police are able to take lives, and not have to deal with any consequences.
Trayvon Martin event which connects with how police brutality took his life and also how since he was black, it determined the verdict, which meant it was a broken system. Even though Wendell did not do all the things that Trayvon did, such as smoke weed, he was a teenager and only human, and those aspects should have not contributed to justifying Trayvon's death. Trayvon Martin was 17 years old when he was killed by a “neighborhood watchmen”, George Zimmerman. Again, we have an incident where armed forces were 100% not needed. Both Wendell and Trayvon were racially profiled and taken as threats. Even with Wendell, the police automatically saw his skin color and saw red lights.
The man that killed Trayvon Martin saw him as a threat to his own community and decided to use deadly force, even though the correct authority was not called, and still he was not guilty. This meant the system that many of our young black women and men live in is still broken.
“Do The Right Thing.” a film by Spike Lee following the realness of how police brutality goes without consequences. In the story a young man by the name of Radio Raheem gets into an argument, which later turns into a hassle, with Italian-American store owner Sal, because he broke his radio. Now, think about our movie, No Way Out, because Wendell also got into a hassle. Then after that police are called and Raheem is restrained, but the officer chokes him, killing him. The same with Wendell and how he is choked to death by a police officer.
This modern movie and our movie shows how non-blacks were automatically the ones that were the safe ones. Even in “Do the Right Thing” Sal was the one who started the problem. Same with the other football team that started the problem as well, but because of the skin color of Wendell and Radio Raheem, they were the ones that had to be punished.
Protest in Philadelphia about the Mike Brown protests in Ferguson. People from Philadelphia laid on the floor to show how Mike Brown was shot and killed by the a police officer. The protest was done in broad daylight because that`s how Mike Brown was shot. They then had people taking selfies with the dead body to represent that this event was not important and that this black life was worthless and replaceable.
Comparing to our story, Wendell was sort of like a Mike Brown, in a way that they were both football players and were almost finished with high school, getting ready to graduate. Even though there were differences such as , Mike Brown was accused of being armed and of stealing. Besides the point, both Wendell and Mike were killed like animals, by people that are supposed to protect us.Kafkasque
"LOADING" The Movie By KEVIN and SEAN
AUDIENCE RESPONSE
*This is a Facebook post that we created of the people responding to our trailer.
Safe-E
Q1 Benchmark: Contemporary Kafkaesque
Trevor's Road To College
This project was completed by Melissa and Naomi. Through this project we explored the college process. We both felt that this is a subject that is very confusing and a system that isn’t completely fair. We decided to put our findings into a children’s book. We tell the story of a boy named Trevor that comes from a college educated family. It is assumed that he too will attend until his father loses his job. It is then up to Trevor to find a way to get to college.
It was important to us to show the reality of the college process. Attending doesn’t always give the security it promises but to also highlight that it is important to show that with hard work it is not impossible. While looking for other pieces of literature that talks about the college process and its hidden features.The Metrogorian Beat
English BMQ1
Cultural Fabric
Our album covers many different themes of the problems that we have encountered today. The album, comes to terms with the issues of the world. It faces the facts, and overall has a very good acceptance with who we’ve become. The songs insult many different aspects of society today. These songs, however are not saying that all of this stuff is bad though. It is just accepting all of these problems and saying that these are all livable conditions. All of these problems were relevant in the past but over time have been more and more problematic in our present day.
The first song about Donald Trump’s hair is just there to be funny but it serves a very good purpose. Many large media companies have tried to pass off these jokes of candidates such as Trump as serious contenders for the White House. On all forms of social media people have been bashing him and others like him for his joke of a candidacy. While all of those funny they aren’t well put together in a form which will leave a great impact on them and will gain any serious attention in the media. Having a majorly publicized album gains this satire major attention and leaves a large impact on voters. The way this song gets attention makes it easier to see that in order to win in politics you have to gain the most attention. This song is a representative of what everyone is saying on social media that doesn’t gain much attention.
Political correctness has also been a major issue of today. People in the news tend to be critical of the very small things that people say such as joking by saying a racial slur. They do this especially to famous people and even more so to those who they want to be bashed such as those who share contrasting political opinions to them. Satirical shows like Southpark have pushed the boundaries of how far it is okay to go. The majority of the show makes fun of current events and inputs real people with extreme caricatures. The song is very similar to what shows like Southpark are trying to do. The song is essentially saying there is no harm or foul in crossing the boundaries since no one gets hurt by it. The very fact that people who aren’t politically correct get bashed more often than those who commit serious crimes against others is why this song is correct. This song draws attention to those who criticize those on things they say that don’t hurt people but are more light on those who commit serious offenses.
Harassment has evolved passed physically harming someone. With anonymity becoming easier with the advent of the internet people have resorted to several different types of bullying. They tell others to kill themselves, encourage others to bash them online, and leak nude photos of them onto the internet for others to see on social media websites. Harassment to the point of suicide is a major cause of death in adolescents. The song goes through the different reasons for why the person wants to commit suicide to emphasize the current amount of reasons there are for people to commit suicide these days which have only been amplified by the increasing accessibility to the internet.
Racial tensions has also been a rapidly increasing theme of today especially in the last year due to the shootings of unarmed black citizens. Many news organizations such as FOX have misconstrued the public's agenda and say there is a war on cops. People are too focused on fighting each other that they don’t see the importance of coming together and finding the issue. The song talks about how people are so focused on fighting on both sides of the issue that they can’t accomplish anything.
The album tackling all of these themes in its unique way is in itself also attempting to address the current day crisis of lack of originality. This album clearly doesn’t want to be like any of the generic pieces of music in its generation and wants to stand out. It’s trying to bring back the originality that used to be so common for albums back in the sixties and seventies. The artist looked back at music from those decades and saw that it takes someone who is willing to include controversial issues in an interesting way in their art to gain attention in order to have a successful original album. People today try to be original in many different forms of media such as videos and books but are unsuccessful because their work isn’t polished, cohesive and doesn’t gain attention. This work solves all of those problems and makes itself an original piece of art that deserves to go down in history alongside other landmark albums.
Review
As you have probably heard, David Fricke, a very commendable senior journalist from our magazine has passed. He has been with us for 30 years and was one of the best journalist we have ever had pass through our hands. Writing for us, he has reviewed Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Buddy Guy, The Ramones, and many others. The list just goes on to demonstrate how creative this man is in his reviews and interviews. David Fricke has mainly stuck with Rock entrees but he has also ventured out into many other genres. He often complained that after the new millennium came he didn’t have many more great albums and most of them were garbage. He wanted to see something original and landmark like the great albums of the sixties and seventies. He would have loved to see a work such as “Untitled” by Paul Wright. I feel as though this is a work the David would have very much appreciated and would have felt similarly as I do to it.
The first song on this album “Fair Hair” stands out from any intro song, on any album that I can remember. It starts off with an upbeat acoustic guitar riff that plays throughout the song. The song then goes on to describe someone’s weird hair with political terms as if to humanize the hair. The hair is made out to be a politician who tries to stand out by doing outrageous things, gains popularity among voters, and ends up winning his candidacy. The song is obviously a reference to Donald Trump and his outrageous hair. The song makes clear references to him where he sings, “The hair has no liking for anyone who's mexican or doesn’t share his same complexion”. He obviously wants to get his agenda across that it’s ridiculous how Trump is gaining popularity with all of the controversial things he said. The song takes a funny attitude toward the whole thing and makes it sound like some kind of children’s story. The style is reminiscent of the song “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by The Beatles in how they are very bright upbeat acoustic songs. What sets this piece apart and elevates it from that is how it manages to keep that style while also getting a serious agenda across.
The song then fades out as the acoustic guitar turns into a distorted electric guitar. The song “Minority” is heavy and completely contrasts to the more child friendly “Fair Hair”. It uses several racial slurs and shows it’s clearly not afraid to be criticized. There was no care to censor the song in anyway. These slurs are not said in an offensive but rather in a casual way. The song makes it seem as though these slurs are casual and are only offensive when used for an offensive purpose. After listening to the song multiple times I have found that it has numbed me to the offensive meanings of those slurs and has turned them into casual words one would say with their friends when joking. For example the Jokes about black people doing drugs and being lazy are just laughable and are made to be seen as unrealistic caricatures which hold no merit. After the song goes through the different minorities it comes back to white people and makes fun of how they insult all of the previously mentioned minorities in the song but try to be like them. It repeats the phrase, “but who cares throughout the song” to show that it doesn’t matter what he thinks if he does nothing with it.
The rock song then slows down and turns into an acoustic song with piano. “A Day in Suicide”. The song is obviously sampling the song “A Day in the Life” by The Beatles. It even starts off with similar lyrics, “I read my feed today oh boy” which is reference to his social media feed. He goes through the several different ways in which he is bullied online such as being told to kill himself and others making fun of his physical appearance. He tries to kill himself everyday but can’t pull himself together. The song makes sure it goes into every detail to the listener feels as though they are there with him if not that they are him. It follows the same style as “A Day in the Life” up until the point where the song reaches its climax and is about to change style to the happier portion of the song. Instead after the suspenseful build up from the horns it stays in the same depressing style it was in and says, “and there’s no relief for me”. The song makes you feel as though you are trapped in a rainstorm with nothing to shelter you and every drop is an insult. The ambiguous ending which leaves you wondering as to whether he lived or not really makes you feel for the character to emphasize that people can and should feel sympathy for others in a similar situation to the character of the song.
Bleeding straight out of “A day in suicide” it then goes into the next song that goes by “Fine Fettle”. This song is similar to the “Cup song” from Pitch Perfect. The cup song begins only with the beat of the cups and with some vocals on top of it. “Fine Fettle” starts off with a beat. The beat consists only of a snare drum and the bass drum. These two are kind of toying with each other instrumentally. The beat that they are doing almost sounds like a ballad, mixed with a marching beat. Then comes the vocals. The vocals are three different pitches. It is completely an a capella song. The different pitches of this song are the bass line, chord pitches, and the melody/lead of the song . This song is focusing on the health care aspect of today’s society. It tells a depressing story of a man that cannot afford healthcare in today’s society because of how expensive it has become. The last line in the song says “Debt higher than my eyes, and when you don’t sympathize, I’ll creep off to Sleep, as my doctor says he died, nobody's gonna miss me when I’m gone”. This lyric alone is somewhat similar to the cup song but it really talks about the health care aspect.
And Finally, the last song is bleed into through the last line of “Fine Fettle”. This line is focusing on how black lives, in today’s society are under appreciated, and how it is not acceptable for everybody. We must change the way that everybody in the nation lives. There can’t be any racism in our society for our nation to fully change, and that is the issue that this song is facing. The song itself is a slow blues acoustic fingerpicking, slide song that is an extremely deep and emotional song. This song is called Grey Asphalt. One of the main lyrics of this piece that really caught my attention was “walking down the corner where the streets connect. Racial integration needs to be our intersect.” This song is very similar to Crossroads by Robert Johnson. Cross roads talks about a man that is standing at the crossroads trying to hitch a ride. In Grey Asphalt, it talks about the streets all connecting just as all races do.
Products of Consumerism (Q1 Kafkaesque BM Day & Leonard)
Press Release:
For this project, David and myself spent a lot of time evaluating the 'isms' of today and in the beginning we had some trouble trying to find one that was not only the most divisive and controversial, but we wanted to pick one of the most prevailing. After days of collaboration we decided to choose the ideology of consumerism. Consumerism is undeniably something that affects us all and is something that many of us recognize but dismiss. David and I's goal for this project was to point out consumerism and its flaws in a way that was both relatable but current, which is why we decided to go the short story route. Short stories not only stick with people but they'll actually read them! So we thought this was a great approach to show the affects of consumerism, we were inspired to do this from the recent success of the Humans of New York and thought why not show 'Products of Consumerism'.
Summary:
Tiffany is a prime example of consumerism gone wrong. She goes to a school where all of her friends come from affluent families and she is constantly trying to keep up with them. She secretly works a job a few miles out of town to pay for application fees but instead she spends her earnings shopping with her friends buying things that she can’t afford.
Audience Response:
Let us evaluate the benefits of the great short story. The minisculity that lets us go on with our day, the vagueness and uneasiness that leaves us wanting more, and most importantly the messages that can be conveyed through short pieces of literature. These messages are most visibly manifested in Day & Leonard’s new collection of short stories. The collection explores one of today’s most divisive issues, consumerism.
Consumerism is the most prevailing issue of today. It is the issue that we all recognize and acknowledge is there but failed to actually address. It is the justification for all of our guilty pleasures, all of our desires, and all the things that we are willing to do the unspeakable to his attain. Whether it is buying the new rose gold iPhone or if it is saving up to buy a new pair of Christian Louboutin heels, or in some cases striving for an Ivy League education. We have all failed to resist temptation against consumerism. Although many of us may not want to admit to it Day & Leonard do that for us. Through the short stories that we all somehow relate to.
I'd like to begin with Tiffany’s story. Tiffany is a 20 year old college student who has a lot of wealthy friends. These friends have a high disposable income, They use this income to buy the latest and greatest designer clothing, shoes, bags, you name it they've got it. Tiffany wanting to be accepted takes desperate measures to keep up with them. these measures include not only spending her own paycheck that is supposed to go to words her tuition, but even goes as far as stealing to keep up with her friends. When Tiffany begins to start wearing the same designers as her friends they do indeed, treat her differently. Now with this acceptance comes a greater responsibility to maintain it in order to do so Tiffany begins stealing more, one day in an attempt to steal Tiffany is caught by security but worst her friends see her.
First, let's evaluate the situation holistically. a lot of us may say “ what was going through that girl's mind” but the thought process is the same, Society breeds of all to strive for acceptance. Tiffany was simply striving for acceptance not only from society but from her friends in fact her friends what to do to be accepted by society just as much is Tiffany they just did not have to go as far as she did. But where does this mindset stem from, why are we so persistent and being accepted. if we all face the same difficulties trying to attain acceptance why do we still continue to strive for it in the first place?
I believe that these ideas of what is acceptable and not stem from the twisted and corrupt American dream. We are taught to strive for economic and social prosperity and that we can attain this fairly no matter what. However this is not the case, there should not be one generic version of what success is. success varies, it's personal, it's different for every person someone else's success is someone else's mediocrity. We should all be allowed to set and make our own goals. In order To do so we must take a stand but in order to do that we must recognize that consumerism is in fact a problem. in many cases people will dismiss it but and a lot of other different cases people who acknowledge it and embracing it as if it's something to be proud of. not that someone should be ashamed but someone or to be conscious about it impacts.
Because oddly enough there are other Tiffany's out there in the world you need guidance. But in order for them to gain that guidance they need society to acknowledge the doctrine of consumerism and the American dream. not only must they acknowledged it but in addition they are to change it. Changing it to something more personalized, something that fosters self competition but something more healthy.
Everyone plays a part in keeping consumerism alive and it must stop for the greater good. So for starters, maybe don't go and wait in line for a day for cell phone, or spend mortgage payment on a TV or shoes what makes faces that will help you get to the goal that you want. Because what you want matters the most to you. And when it comes to happiness if you aren't disrupting someone else's it should only matter to you and you only. That is what I believe that the author wanted us to take from the bulk of the stories that not only is consumerism toxic but it is something that can easily be stopped if we just focus on our own personal happiness and nothing else.
Cultural Fabric: This piece of literature is an example of some of the problems consumerism causes. People nowadays are buying too much stuff or are buying really expensive stuff. According to a news report one family had over 2000 possessions visible in their first 3 rooms and this is the stuff that they actually see. The boston globe did a report on how grandparents are 42% of gift buyers to earn their grandchild’s affections. There was a news report on how people are buying tiaras from jewelry stores which is surprising since tiaras are more of a European thing.
A botched Internet by Jordan Meriwether and Osman Bangura
Our website:
http://abotchedinternet.weebly.com/
To
respond to a project of this magnitude is a lot, but I will do as I can. We
were instructed to create a fake piece of literature that would
encapsulate something about the current era. We chose to discuss a fake movie
that would discuss the ideas of social acceptance and critic the ideas of using
plastic surgery and social media. There were three parts to this project we had
to make in response to this movie: Cultural Fabric, Audience Response, and Press
Release. Each aspect would need dive deeper into what this creation was.
The Cultural Fabric was supposed to relate
different works to our movie based on its central theme of social acceptance.
We chose to make it an overview of what watching the movie is like and would
relate different texts to our movie through references thrown into the text. We
felt this gave the reader a better understanding of the structure of the book since
they would have other works to compare it to.
The Audience Response showed how people
reacted to the movie’s conception. We chose to do a Rotten Tomatoes critique of
the movie; each of the reviewers would give their own personal opinion on what
the movie what supposed to represent and give a rating. We felt this would add
to what we felt could be interpreted from this fictional work showing a wide
variety of views from the offended to the understanding.
Finally, the Press Release was meant to show what
the first thing the people would see from the movie, this could be anything
from a trailer to an commercial. We chose to make two alternate posters since
we felt the visual aspect would give us a chance to talk about the deeper
meaning behind some of the scenes in the movie. We discussed the symbolic nature
of the film and even went into detail on the different aspects of the movie.
Overall, I felt this was a great project
giving us a chance to create something big and explain our understanding of it.
Who Am I Online? Julia Hood
Who am I Online Part 2
#MoveForwardForward
For the first quarter benchmark in Being Human, Dillon and I were told to create a response to a piece of literature in our society now. We brainstormed important ideas that capture the essential themes of our generation: individualism, personalization, access to information, globalization, and more. We pulled themes from books, videos, and articles that relate to our central ideas to make our project as relatable to contemporary literature. For an in-depth analysis of how this project fits into today’s cultural fabric, click here.
We focused on beauty standards and mental health stigmas by designing a cultural response to a play written by a 15 year old girl. First we built the press release, an Instagram feed, which introduced the play to the public. We felt this made the most sense because so many people have found fame through the internet and social media. The feed followed her on the journey of writing the play and having it being discovered by a producer. The press release sparked enough publicity that a famous talk show host, Dillon Degeneres, noticed the play and invited the playwright onto the show. We based this segment off of Ellen Degeneres’ talk show because she often picks up viral video stars and gives them more fame. We used this interview to highlight the key aspects of the play that wouldn’t have come out otherwise. Some of those key points were the two storylines or the way mental health stigma shows itself. In conclusion, this project made us deeply analyze the characteristics of modern times and apply that understanding to a creative and engaging presentation.Who am I online reflection Israt jahan
Who Am I Online? Jowon Dorbor
Kimberly Gucciardi Kriegh Reflection
This American Life 320: Contemporary Kafkaesque
Cultural Fabric
Individualism, for the purpose of this project, refers to the ongoing theme of serving oneself and being unique in doing so. The following are a few examples of the individualist themes in modern literature, whether it be movies, books, or art.
Dystopian Novels
The popular novel, Divergent, is an example of young adults fighting for individualism in a society that punishes it. Kafkaesque in nature, the dark and dreary dystopia in the Divergent series is considered evil to author Veronica Roth’s readers because of its promotion of collectivism. Divergent’s government competes with the ideas that are heavily defended by today’s youth.
Fashion Blogs
Thrifting has become a trending topic in magazines and blogs. It’s the idea of purchasing things second hand and, in most cases, completely unique from anything else in the store that intrigues individualist culture. Blogs post about thrift shop finds and, in many cases, the thrift shop finds mirror a fad that’s been pre established by big name designers. The thrifting just allows for the guise of individuality, similar to the anecdote of Piper and his roommate.
Young Adult Novels/ Movies
John Green’s novel-movie adaptations like Paper Towns accentuates the fact that the main characters are “different.” In this story specifically, one of the characters is an enigma. She serves only herself and does things to please her and only her. The only thing that makes her interesting are these attempts to be different. The narrator of the story glorifies and romanticizes this compulsive need to be unique.
News
In the podcast, a New York Times article is mentioned titled The Age of Individualism. The author, Ross Douthat, says that individualism is detrimental in that it only caters to one's own loyalties. If Ross Douthat is considered a representative for his generation then it is safe to say that older Americans aren’t overly supportive of individualistic behavior. This article offers a contrary view, one in which individualism is a negative thing.
Art
Pertaining to the art world, a lot of recently produced art pieces are up for interpretation. This allows for the individual to project their own selves into the art.
When speaking on individualism, it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where it is or why it’s there. It’s intangible and elusive. It’s a theme that is underlying in so many things created by and for our generation that, sometimes, we don’t even notice it’s there.
Reflection-Aysha Siddiquee
1. The video that we watched in class was about Jack a kid that was getting bullied it is also interactive by how once you press certain buttons things can change. It allows you to be interactive.
2. It reminds me of such acts as bullying still takes place in our society and how it can really effect people. There are many forms of bullying as well.
3. Online i'm a middle eastern female an actress and as well a creator of many websites and presentations, I apparently also have a twitter and a school based on me.
4. People see me based on this information a middle eastern Muslim or an Indian actress.
5. The goal of internet trolls is that they make people feel really bad about themselves or just spread
negative energy, they are there to make people be self-conscious and down themselves and think that something is wrong with them.
6. The positive results of online anonymity is that if you ever do something by accident on the internet than no one will know it's you but there's also a negative to that since no one can find out who you are if you've been doing dangerous things or bullying. As well as your history, it is anonymous which makes it harder for the people who need to find you and what you've been looking up. So this is a negative.Who Am I Online? by Jacobo Pastor
What does this video bring to your mind in reference to the topic of bullying?
Who are you online, how do you appear?
How do you think people perceive you, based on this appearance?
Reflection Brendan Hall
Today during class we watched a video about a kid named Jack being bullied. On the video there was an eye emoji which represented the witnesses, if you clicked the eye it would be as if the witnesses acted and helped the victim. When you didn’t click the emoji it showed how sad Jack was when nobody stood up for him when he was being bullied. When you did click the emoji it showed how just a few people standing up for him made him so much happier. This video brings to mind that all it takes to help victims of bullying just one person to stand up for them. Online I appear as an Australian professional athlete. This would make people think I’m athletic and Australian. The goal of trolls is to give themselves entertainment from bothering because they probably don’t have much going for them in their life. The positive results of online anonymity is that people who sometimes are shy when having a confrontation in person feel more comfortable. A negative result of online anonymity is that people can harass each other without much consequence.
Reflection - Nick Ryan
Google Yourself.
I did not find anything that is under my name.
I found a lot of people with the same name as me. They were the following: author, doctor, someone who works at the economics department at Yale, and someone who works at the economics department at MIT.
I did not find myself.
The fact that I did not find myself matters because then, if I wanted to get a job and my employer searches me on Google, then he/she will find all of these false things about me. They could either ruin or enhance my chances of getting that job.
2. My partner is Ashley De la cruz. After searching her name on google, I could not find her but I found someone else. My five word impression of this person are brave, self-absorbed, hard-working, depressed, and transgender.
3. My partner’s five word impression of someone under my name: wannabe, self-absorbed, rich, confident, and cocky.Bullying Video Response
Today we watched an animated video on bullying and its effect on people. In relation to that, we did an assignment on our identity on the internet and how we are portrayed by our social media.
The video we watched today about bullying really showed me how people feel when they are bullied. When you are bullied, even if the things people say aren't true, you begin to believe the lies you are fed and eventually this effects your self esteem. Online, I monitor myself pretty well. I don't curse or cyber bully other people. Once you put something on the internet, even if you delete it, it still resembles and embodies things that you associate yourself with, good or bad. I think that people think of me as a good kid who likes baseball. The goal of internet trolls are just to make you feel you feel horrible and to draw attention to themselves. Anonymity allows people to stay anonymous for the better or for the worse.