Great Class
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Hi All, Michelle and I really enjoyed our discussion in class this week. Have a great weekend.
Archive for year: 2015
Blog #1 – Isabel Fong Wu
In the preface and chapter one of “Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture” by Karen Sternheimer she makes two key points that really stood out for me. The first key point is “in order to understand social problems, we need to look beyond media as a prime causal factor” (preface) and the second key point is her statement of “media culture may not be the root cause of American social problems, but it is more than simply benign entertainment” (16). These two direct quotes contain a significant relationship: solely blaming media for the cause of problems is not the answer towards finding what the real issue is at stake. Prior to reading this chapter, I was under the impression that media was in fact the reason for the many problems that are seen in American society. However, after reading chapter one, my view on media has changed and now I see what Karen Sternheimer meant when she stated there are “structural factors” (15) that need to be understood in order to see beyond the big problem media causes. With that being said, what do you all think of Karen Sternheimer take on looking at “causal factors” in order to understand media better?
In the reading “The Core Concepts: Fundamentals to Media Literacy Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow” a quote that really stood out for me was “that is, we were not actually studying sports or music or news or documentaries, we were studying representations of these things”. This quote resonated with me because it further explained what media literacy means and what media literacy does which is to not only study but also understand what messages various mediums are showing represent and how it impacts the society that we live in.
Technology and Patient Care
EKG monitoring through a person’s iphone to prevent stroke sound like a great invention that I may personally use one day since Afib runs in my family. Raney Linck is right in his blog about nurses needing to step up to the challenge…the changing technology in healthcare challenge (2014). I agree that we are going to have to increase our knowledge of the upcoming tools and resources that will impact our patient’s lives. I believe society will continue to increase their spending on quick and easy access to apps, devices, and biometric measuring tools, like the now common Fitbit, to improve their health. As nurses are educators and advocates, we must be prepared by expanding our own knowledge of technological health tools.
Mental health issues continue to affect society and finally people are starting to open up about specific mental health concerns that they are experiencing. People are looking for ways to overcome their personal problems by watching television shows like Dr. Oz, surfing the internet, and asking healthcare providers. New interventions like mobile health sensors along with therapy may be the answer to help those that are struggling with diagnoses of depression, anxiety, or PTSD.
Along with verbal, demonstration, and multiple printed educational handouts that we use in the NICU at St. John’s Regional Medical Center to educate our babies caregivers, we also use educational videos on a tablet. Caregivers can choose to watch multiple videos about NICU baby care on our unit’s tablet at their baby’s bedside or they can access the website from anywhere by logging on to http://www.yournicubabynow.com and using our hospital’s password 02557. This free website contains a video library in English and Spanish and also contains many helpful articles in the parent resource section. The education provided by leading Neonatologists and neonatal nurses on this website, in my opinion, is a great informative and helpful tool for caregivers of NICU babies (The Wellness Network, 2015).
Linck, R. (2014, August 1). MHealth: What do we do with all the data? [Web blog post]. Retrieved from http://digitaltrendsinnursing.blogspot.com
The Wellness Network (2015). Your nicu baby. Retrieved from http://www.yournicubabynow.com
My Digital Footprint
The question came up the other day, “What digital footprint have I left on the internet, and what information about me is out there for people to see?” It had never really crossed my mind before, due to that I really didn’t care about that type of thing. Now that the question was in the front of my mind I sat at my desk for a moment and jotted down some things of what I thought I might find to make a comparison. I also wanted to be very thorough so I used the top three search engines available, Yahoo, Google, and Bing and also used the private settings as well(Incognito).
After about a solid hour of touring the internet and searching myself out, I had determined that my search list and findings were about the same. I had thought that I would have found many more pictures then I had, but the photos that came up were some of my favorites. I was surprised to how many info.com site there are and how eager they are to sell my info to yo for a price between $1.99-$29.99. I went ahead and bought the two buck version and was quite amazed on how much I found out about myself. The site gave me a list of the past twenty years of places I lived, jobs I worked at, old phone numbers, known associates, and arrest records(sorry that I am not a total angel). I was hoping for a bit more out of it, but I did only pay two dollars.
My search of myself also did reveal all of my social media interactions such as Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter. While I was under the alias settings I did go ahead and see if all of the privacy settings on each application were indeed doing what they were supposed to, and they were. There were a couple of news paper articles written about my golf in-devours that sprung up and brought back some fond memories of yesteryear, but other than that I guess as far as the internet goes, I am just a ho-hum kind of guy. The members of my family have always understood that the internet is not a safe place, and anything you express or discuss becomes public property and will most likely come back to bite you someday. All in all it was good fun and very interesting to find out what it is that people can access about me over the web of information we call the internet.
Well until next time, remember to smile, be happy, and make someone else laugh out loud.
CDR 
Television. Do you remember watching it as a child?
Reading the article from University of Michigan Health System was great. “Television and Children” displayed an array of interesting points throughout the article such as TV having a positive and negative side, what influence does TV have on children, and if violence on TV has an affect on children at a young age. But, the point that stood out to me the most was of television being good or bad for children. Additionally, this article also touches on other aspects of children watching television that include traumatization of the child, school performance being affected, and lastly, their health.
“Television and Children” briefly touches on how television can be entertaining for children and may have educational components such as learning different cultures, and gaining exposure to ideas they may never encounter. In addition, they also speak of the negative aspects of watching television such as learning things from TV shows their parents wouldn’t want them to learn. In agreement with both aspects, there are a lot of variables that fall into play that affect the child watching TV. Depending if the child had a good day or not may lead to wanting to watch TV. Or, it could simply be an embedded routine the child has.
The article stated that ” a great deal is known about children and television, because there have been thousands of studies on the subject.” Moreover, they touch on how researchers have studied the affects of watching television at a young age. These include, being sleep deprived, having weight issues, behavior, school performance and more.
Blog #1 — Media Phobia
Media Phobia? I’ve got it. Check out the below YouTube by Fergie. Where is the value in this? How do these kinds of videos aid children? Teens? Adults? I look forward to reading more of the text, “Connecting Social Problems and Popular Culture”. I sense the author has more faith in media than I do, and I’ll consider her arguments. Do you all think TV and the internet are mostly harmless? Do you think sexualized media is harmless?
http://www.vevo.com/watch/black-eyed-peas/My-Humps/USUV70502291
Online Articles
I found it interesting that these articles seemed to be focused on how negatively media can affect children and teens. These articles make me support media literacy even more especially for elementary and secondary school youth.
The Core Concepts: Fundamentals to Media Literacy:
The age of new technology is not where it began, the importance of media literacy in this article went back to t he 1930’s were Jean Pierre Golay experienced the Nazi Propaganda in Switzerland. When becoming a teacher twenty years later Golay applied the importance “to look around, listen, question, discuss and take time to think.” Media education for her was nothing if it was not an education for life. I believe that what goes on around us plays a huge role on who we are and who we then become. Having the fundamentals of media literacy can help us understand our surroundings by listening better and questioning the unknown.
Children as Consumers:
Advertising to children goes beyond what anyone can see. The advertising for children on television is not limited to junk foods and toys. Advertisements also affects adults by influencing them to purchase the newest Minivan and the SUV for children to have more space while in the car. As seen on television the perfect family owns a large car with space to fit children and their toys, this may be the reason why the Minivan is usually the ideal family car. It’s incredible to see how advertisements can affect the purchasing power for parents. For example, candy and sweets are put on stands in stores at eye level of children. I was not aware of how much thought is put into these advertisements, the color of the packaging for candy? I wasn’t surprised.
University of Michigan Health System Your Child:
Its a shame to know that children’s television programs play a huge role on their view about human beings. Children are spending too much time watching T.V, they are learning to accept stereotypes. They learn from the programs they watch on T.V, the roles males and females have in society and how the African American teen is usually the perpetrator of the crime. Why are we allowing this is happen? I believe media literacy can help promote a better understanding for the different roles many can play in society and how stereotypes are simply a stereotype especially for the youth with developing minds.
A second take at my Original analysis
The documents I choose were a comic scrip as well as a Political Cartoon both giving a lighter and a less serious sense of the war. The political cartoon depicts a caricature of President Richard Nixon holding up a shield labeled the cause, while five other nights titled; Southern Conservatives, New Media & Intellectuals, New Left Fanatics, Kennedy Hard Core, and McCarthy Fringe as well as other unnamed knights. These Five knights have all drawn their swords and have cornered President Nixon at the Lake Duck Tree leaving him with no place to run. When you first see this Political Cartoon it has a strong meaning towards the war but it is not very serious. In the picture President Nixon’s nose is exaggerated, which is very funny and may be done since it was done in October 1968 and was not very popular and since in the picture he is literally the bad guy but none the less is very comical. It is also no coincidence the Southern Conservative’s Knight slightly resembles a Ku Klux Klan Member, with a white rounded helmet but this same helmet has a white point and a whites sheet going down the back where its written, “Southern Conservatives”. IN addition the helmet if you look closely covers the knight’s face, so the artist drawing a White Knight which is another term associated with the KKK has slide in a reminder of who these people and that even they want the war ended. After watching the Documentary (The Sixties – The Years That Shaped a Generation) it helped put actual faces to groups like the “New Left Fanatics” as well as “News Media” and “Intellectuals”. Seeing people frustrated and struggle to be heard as well as see protesters from these movement attacked beaten and killed shows that they were actual fighters and were willing to stand up for what they believed in. To put it plain and simple the generation during the sixties had a strong backbone on both sides this political cartoon is arcuate about the fighting they did for their beliefs. They were the knights of America, Fighting for a cause greater than themselves to better the country as a whole, a truly noble cause that this image portrays of the people in the sixties. Both the document and the video are talking about President Richard Nixon and that he wasn’t too popular. But the video unlike the Political Cartoon fails to elaborate on why, which would mainly be the Vietnam War, Pentagon Papers that were leaked after wards, and finally the Watergate. When he continued the war after knowing how the countries feelings toward the war was a major strike against him. By the time he had taken office the war had been going on for 14 years and the sentiment given by the majority of Americans was to leave the war yet he continued on the fight. But things only got worse when, the Pentagon papers were leaked showing that he had expanded the war (specially bombing) to Cambodia and Laos as well as attacks on North Vietnam, and Marine Corps random attacks on villages. President Nixon then sent house “Plumbers” to discredit and stop the leak of the papers. But the final nail in the coffin was Water Gate. The same plumbers were ordered by President Nixon to break into the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. and President Richard Nixon’s administrations attempted to cover-up the serious crime, he then quit in fear of impeachment. With the new information I have I can understand more clearly why a lot of Bizz Johnson‘s response were generic and were written in a way to protect himself politically with all the change going on in and out of the country. I wouldn’t say anything to incriminate myself with how hot America was with civil right, Vietnam, President Nixon, and much more.
Vietnam War
At the beginning, when we were informed that the class would be looking at letters from the 60’s, I wasn’t really interested. I thought to myself that it was just the beginning of something so dull and boring. I didn.t know it was going to be about the Vietnam War. I had little knowledge of the war and its outcome. I never liked history so anything I was I taught, I forgot.
The Vietnam War occurred during the years 1955 – 1975. The conflict started because North Vietnam and South Vietnam, also known as (Viet Congo) were fighting to free Vietnam from being communists. North Vietnam was supported by Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies. South Vietnam was supported by The United States, Philippines, and other anti-communist. At the beginning the citizens from the United States were in favor for the war to continue, but after they realized it was taking quite some time they started to rebel.
The first lecture of University 198, Professor Matt and Professor Sean gave the class the honor to read letters of citizens’ reactions about the Vietnam War. When I started to read the letters that citizens were sending to the congressmen I found myself attached to some. One that really caught my attention was a postcard sent by a woman pleading she wanted her son back. Her name was Betty Wellengak. It caught my attention because my brother has always wanted to go to the military but my mom refuses to accept his decision. He’s the only male sibling out of 4 females so I can see why my mom disagrees with his decision. My mother always says that it will break her heart to find out that her son has passed away. She always says, “A heart of a mother is based upon their children. If something ever happens to one of them a piece of their heart is ripped off.” I still don’t understand the pain of being a mother or how it feels to lose a son/daughter. But I see where my mother is coming from.
Another important thing that caught my attention was a quote the mother stated. She said, “Killing in the name of peace does not make anyone less dead.” This quote intrigued me because a lot of lives were going to be lost and no one was going to be able to replace them.
Doing this research, reading quite a number of letters, and watching the documentary made me understand the real meaning of history. I always thought that history was boring but I can actually admit that I’m getting interested and would like to do more research relating to it.
Self-Awareness in the Sixties
To me, this document represented the notions of imperialism, patriotism, and a tinge of the hysteria of the Red Scare. The words of these citizens reflected the more conservative side of society at the time, who desired a 
stalwart stance regarding foreign forces; in short, they wanted to maintain the appearance of the strongest country in the world. However, though that idea seemingly remains true, our position in the war was not reflective of that. My research into the many letters foreshadowed this outcome clearly – those voices in this letter are the minority. The passion of the people was instrumental in the conclusive treaty.
But it was not always thus. During the start of the war (the war against Communism, not Vietnam in particular) people possessed a great fervor against like these people; had the letter been a decade prior, the letters sent to Harold T. “Bizz” Johnson would have likely been more similar to this one. Upon further investigation, it was clear that people were very afraid of this ambiguous force that they were told threatened their intrinsic way of life. They did not know what it was – they merely had the understanding that it was different and therefore evil. Especially after the events of World War II, in which the United States gained a sense of entitlement as the caretakers of the world did any other perspective seem flawed and inefficient. The people trusted their government, and they trusted the ideals that their country stood for; however, though some people stayed loyal to their nation’s perceived stature, the 1960’s shook that notion, and letters like the one above would become the minority in the sea of new consciousness.
The documentary, The Sixties: The Years that Shaped a Generation, helped to shed light on why such a shift occurred. The movements of Civil Rights and free love marked the pivotal moments of this transition; people had begun this march towards acceptance. The citizens of the United States were now a very proud people, who felt they possessed the strongest sense of right and wrong. This notion would galvanize the people in rebellion to the war, which they felt reneged this right and did not reflect their country’s true ambition – or more so that it did reflect their country’s ambition, and they were in full disapproval of this misplaced charisma. The war against Communism began knowingly to the public, but Vietnam, to the masses, was a different concept entirely. Some called it a war of ignorance, for the only thought that came to them for reasons being in the war was “why?” The people were outraged at the idea of their country being involved in something so ignorant and violent, and they had begun to question the authority of the government due to that shift in consciousness.
There was a segment of the population who stood by the war, simply because they did not want to look weak in the eyes of the world – especially not in the eyes of Communism. Those who stood by the war also had a great disapproval for the rising “anti-culture,” as the documentary put it, which created a great divide amongst the people. My opinion on this document or congressman Bizz Johnson has not shifted during my research. The idea behind the document remains true, simply my understanding of its intentions have grown, as have the world surrounding those intentions. The sheer amount of ignorance people possessed about the war was unbeknownst to me, and to understand just how pointless the war was is baffling. It has become clear that this ignorance was not of out stupidity, either. The notions of the protestors came from the solid basis of the Civil Rights movement and free love – it is actually quite surprising the war lasted as long as it did. I do believe that these notions have left an indelible effect on the country, and have left the United States with a more thoughtful people, for the better.
