Archive for year: 2015

Hey there! So this is our third and final week of engaging, which technically I believe the engaging shouldn’t stop here but as for the layout of our assignments it does. From week one until now I have expressed how apprehensive I have been to put myself out there, it has been something that I have been working on though and this week I think it finally paid off. Starting conversations or even asking questions as I have previously stated is always something that makes me so nervous, but I finally built up the courage to tag people personally on Twitter and ask questions. This has been one of my biggest goals because after the past two weeks of doing so, I have felt that just re-tweeting wasn’t getting me exactly what I wanted. I did gain a lot of information about the refugee crisis and it made me want to be a part of it even more, but this week has kind of changed the tables for me. So like I said I built up the courage to directly contact people who are actually out there helping out and posting about it, although I did it kind of late from when I had to write this blog post, I did get a response and it made me so happy! I was so excited that someone actually took the time to respond to me. I found a woman by the name of Sofia Khan who is volunteering her help to the refugees in Calais where she says the distribution of helpful aid is good via warehouse, but she did state that there are other places where supplies needed are more acute. She has been so willing to give information on her behalf and what she is experiencing that has taught me a few things that I didn’t know about the crisis. She also referred me to a Facebook page, which I haven’t gotten the chance to check out but I am excited to see what that is all about. Sofia helped me so much this week, not only was it a great experience getting a response but from someone who seems so friendly and willing to share information was great! I am looking forward to seeing what I can do to help and this definitely will not be my last week of engaging. HERE is a direct link to my Twitter account (tweets and replies section of my page) in case any of you would like to see the conversation between Sofia and I.

So for the final week of engagement i focused more on tuition in California, mostly research and the effects. Sadly all i found was articles that increased tuition and my efforts from last week were simply ignored, a brand new twitter messaging and tweeting feels like i am not speaking to anyone.  Using the Tagboard i found other articles about reform of the education system would put more on the taxpayer. While the article is a year old I feel that someone will eventually have to pay for education and this may not be the right choice but it is a new option to a flawed system. Thank you Vannesa Mcmurray for an interesting article.  The biggest thing i found was the open education system that is being introduced by the office of education technology GoOpen, it may not be about higher education but it is about bringing down the private schooling system and allowing more people to access it. this model has the potential to become a model in some schools accross the nation.  Also the Power of social media that affects the world with what happen back in october in south Africa with very large scale protest over tuition and the communication that had with students from UC Berkeley. While i havent seen the most response about social media and its effects i do see the power it does have.

After reading this chapter, I believe that pop culture is not the issue involving teens smoking and drinking.  I think it depends who the child’s friends are and if they smoke or drink.  I think it has a lot to do with peer pressure, than from ads shown on TV or in a magazine.  Additionally, I agree with the author that some parents buy their children alcohol or cigarettes.  However, if a parent smokes, does drugs or drinks in the home, I don’t think that child is going to grow up wanting to do the same thing.  I think it all depends on the situation and how an adolescent perceives this type of behavior.  Although, I do agree that college students are more likely to drink than their peers.  I think this is again due to peer pressure from friends.

To add, I also think that people are more health conscious now, than individuals were 50 years ago.  I believe this is why the smoking rates have gone down, and the people purchasing cigarettes are in the middle age range.

This week was the final installment of engaging into social media for our social issues and topics. I tried something a little different with my engaging. Communicating via tweets and Instagram comments on strangers’ photos can sometimes feel like shouting into the void that the Internet can be, so I posted a status on Facebook that explained the situation and asked for my friends on Facebook for their input about LGBT rights and representation.

Although, the idea of the void did not stop me from tweeting YA author John Green for his opinion on the subject. John Green, aside from being an author I admire, keeps a presence on social media via YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Facebook, and I’m sure through other medias. He tries to be very up to date with social issues, so if I were to get his input on representation, that would have been interesting to hear (I did not receive any response from Mr. Green, but I’m sure he’s a busy man).

While everyone I connect to on Facebook are labeled by the website as my “friends,” in truth, many of them are simply acquaintances. A lot of the people I connect to on Facebook are people I knew at some point in my life; they remain my Facebook friends for the convenience of staying in touch. I knew that opening the question of the adequacy of LGBT representation in media to my connections on Facebook would allow people I don’t talk to to say their opinion. Instead of shouting into a void, I felt like I was shouting more into a megaphone directing my words at a room of people who are in no obligation to respond to me but, because they know me personally, may feel comfortable enough to respond, despite the frequency of our conversations. And, luckily, I was right! I publicly was given many “likes” on my Facebook status, which lets me know that people are reading it and are probably interested in LGBT representation as well (this is the type of interaction I would receive on Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram, as well: “likes” and “favorites”). Some people, a couple that I talk to presently and one that I don’t really talk to any more, messaged me privately and we discussed some of the topics surrounding LGBT representation.

Interestingly, I found that my Facebook contacts yielded similar opinions to the posts that I found way back when I was lurking social media. I’m glad that my engaging helped to find this much insight on the topic. I think it shows that the entire generation is on the same page of LGBT representation: there’s not enough of it, and it’s important to have it accurately portrayed for future generations.

On the topic of general representation (and not just LGBT representation), I got to speak with some friends about how children of color or of minority (whether it is sexuality, gender, race, etc.) will not be able to imagine themselves as something until they see it for themselves. This brought to mind the two little girls who dressed up as Zendaya and as Lupita Nyong’o in their dresses they wore to the Oscars. It was more than just seeing people who looked like them at the Oscars, though (below is a picture comparing the little girl and Zendaya; I couldn’t find the exact picture for Lupita and the girl). Zendaya stood up for herself and her heritage when her look with locs was criticized, and Lupita spoke about the importance of following their dreams: “may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid.” I believe that that’s why I’m so drawn to research LGBT representation; it’s important for children of all shakes of life to feel like they are valid and that they exist, that they’re represented.