Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Vagina Monologues At Rhode Island College

I finally have a few minutes to tell you about my experience attending the Vagina Monologues at Rhode Island College. I decided to bring my boyfriend. neither of us knew what was going to be experienced. He was mostly the nervous one but we were both surprised that we enjoyed it so much. He enjoyed it so much he even bought himself a t-shirt that he wears that says "I love Vaginas". This monolgue was informative, touching, and comedic all at the same time. It attracted a diverse croud of people to whom most got invloved from time to time. My favortie was the woman who mimicked all the different sorts of moans that woman have while having play. The one I was most touched about is the little girl who experienced a sexually abusive lifestyle. The names people gave Vaginas was hysterical, some of which I had never heard before. They made the croud scream cunt over and over again. This play allowed us to be more comfortable with discussing ourselves and our bodies in front of others. It gave us an informative view of the different women and how private they may be with their sexuality to how open others may be. I did learn that no matter what, a woman should not be ashamed of what she has. My most favorite part was talking about our favorite vagina names on the way home from the play. I think it helped us open up a little more, something I didnt even think needed to be done. I am glad I went and I am even more glad I brought my boyfriend. :)

To read more about Eve Ensler's "Vagina Monologues" check out her site at:
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/ensler/vm/



This was my favorite part of the play .. HYSTERICLE! of course this is the you tube version perfored by a different actress but it is almost exactly the same as the one performed at RIC.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Touching Song on youth today

This song I found had relevance to Lauren's article titles "Fast Forward". When hearing the lyrics I think of the media and how they try to control our youths. We can teach our youths to have the strength to be who they are and not allow anyone else to control this.

Fast Forward by Lauren Greenfield

In Fast Forward, Lauren Attempts to go into a four year journey to analyze the world of L.A youths. In doing so she finds that there are many adolescents and children who admire materialism and money. One thing she also found much in common among teens was the fact of growing up quick. One teenager stated "You grow up really fast when you grow up in L.A. It seems like everyone is in a rush to be an adult. It's not cool to be a kid." She took pictures of a wide diversity of children and teens of all different ages. I understood how she was able to see which child was influenced by what environment by just looking at a picture. She also asked a few questions here and there to hear what they had to say. My favorite was when the little boy commented on how his mothers dresses too young, and that she always has to have a style of dress that hasn't even come out yet. These pictures and interview's were nice in seeing how children not only act, but how they really feel about what is "in" and what is not. I also learned by this how important environment is when it comes to a child's impression of the world. What we see in front of us is what we are going to compare ourselves to and subconciously compete with. If we are shown different values than we rely on happiness not for materialistic things but instead what we learn is supposed to make us happy. There was nothing I didn't understand in this article.

I can relate this article to Raby's discourses. In the storm you have growth of identity and the "sense of self". I believe we all do develop in stages like Erikson ()says but I also believe that our environment has an important role in who we are today. I am a firm believer of nurture vs nature. And Raby's article along with Eriksons makes sense, however, by Greenfields interviews and pictures, society plays an important role on self identity. Maybe if children didn't see what society shows them to the extent it does as so important then maybe they wouldn't have social problems like Raby talks about. This article links social problems with what children see as "in". If a child doesn't fit in then they may act up because they don't fit in. Or they may even do what they need to do (eg commit crime) to get that nice pair of shoes or that 100 dollar bill.For ex one boy said in Lauren's interview "If you are doing a story about growing up in L.A, you have to show money. That's what its all about. He and two friends then held up bills for her to photograph(the bills were 100 dollar bills)" Do you see a social problem here or what?? I do... This leads into Rabys argument on pleasurable consumption how the media shows our children what to wear and whats cool to have. We cant leave out agency, because not everyone ends up the way their environment led them.

I would have to say I can relate this article to Morrison and McMillans article on coming of age with the Internet. In their article they describe the importance of relationships with self,family,real communities and virtual communities. The difference between these two articles is simply the absence of the direct concepts of the effects of the Internet. They relate however in terms of environment and media effecting the identity of our children's youth. Computers and being on the Internet is what a child sees more important these days then playing sports for example. The child is influenced by family and friends which impacts the self. Whatever they see to be the "in" thing (which is exposed through media and internet) then this can as a result effect the child's morals, values, and can in turn have a negative effect on the child's self image and identity.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Glee

While watching the first episode of Glee I associated parts of the movie with a few of our discussions from class. I understood the theme the directors are trying to hit. This show is based on high school children and popularity. It is also based on Passion. It gives a representation of the self-identity process teens go through. Also, it depicts the stereotypes that are formed and that in high school it is allot easier to be like the rest then to be yourself. I did notice that the show did make all the football players white males. What grabbed my attention and what I liked was the cheer leading squad had males on it! YEY...However, the main "popular" cheerleaders were of course your same old blonde light skinned girls. I liked how there was lots of humour used. I didn't like however how the faculty and students picked on the boy in the wheel chair allot. I feel like if students watch a TV show where the Principle is making a comment about how "you are not going to succeed with a handicap in the group", this gives students false impressions of how a principle should act, and also how they should be role models in how to treat other children. I think I would like to watch the next episode but if its on TV cuz I'm not gonna pay for it. I would really like to see this group of teens prove themselves by winning nationals. There was nothing I didn't understand while watching the show.

Glee went along with the assumption that youth is a culturally constructed category. Even in my high school years there were the same clicks there are now. That was only 6 years ago. Clicks now are pretty much the same but regardless they can change over time and as society (and within high school) this will change what these teenagers accept as cool and therefore change the way they act. I don't know where Glee is heading but at the end there were the cheerleaders and jock staring them down when they saw what a wonderful job they had done performing. They could become jealous but they could also all of a sudden feel like this is the next cool thing to do. These brave teens took a stand and could change the way the clicks look at theatre production, maybe in a more positive light. I can relate to this because I was friends with everyone in college and ran track. I brought my "hippie" friend who only believed a workout consister of typing on the computer and other friends who did not show interest. Because I thought it was cool I had introduced it to others it changed the way they looked at it. Some came to cheer, while others joined. I think in order to change a cultural construct it takes a leader and time. Eventually, this becomes the newest culturally constructed category everyone wants to par take in. Who ever started the pants past the bum phase? I know most of us found it unattractive yet it was the coolest style for a short period of time. Why? Because there was a majority of teenagers who went through that phase. If we werent dressing like that then we looked right past it because it eventually became a norm to us. Our parent's on the other hand who had a different style going on during their teens, could not believe when they saw this new in cool style of gigangtic baggy pants that come down past the bumm.

This article can relate to coming of the Age with the Internet by Sally J McMillan and Margaret Morrison. The reason why the girl in this video felt like she was nothing was because of what other girls think of her. She tried using the Internet to put herself out there for others to see her talent. She was then ridiculed by the other students who made her feel like poo about herself. Media Matters. I say this because it was stated by the girl who was a great singer that she was trying to be famous because that's what everyone strives to do , is become famous. If she really knew thhat there are plenty of unhappy famous people out there she may just have second thoughts.But the media leaves what goes on behing closed doors out, so in the light (AKA Media Portrayal) all famous people are happy. Also, I found many relations to Rabys reading on "Girls Negotiating Adolescence". The main characters who join the group Glee seem to all be taking a risk. Most of whom have never cared about others opinions. However the quarterback of the football team has a rep to uphold, but he still gives it a try and when he has the chance to back down, doesn't. I liked when they said they wanted to find something that they were good at. He is willing to make a change to "find himself".

This video I found has relevance to this show with underlying meaning. there has been lots of talk recently about "pregnancy pacts." I find this relevant because teens these days (as in Glee) try to "fit in" to be cool. There could be other reasons why teens get pregnant but when there are "pacts" as in this case, up to 17 girls in one yr around the age of 16, there is definitely a social problem that exists. I feel bad some girls have gone this far to fit in. Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Hip-Hop and the Corporate Function of Colonization

Jared A. Ball, Ph.D.
In this article by Jared A. Ball I was only able to pull a few things out of it. I understand he is trying to say that the corporate world has control over the hip- hop industry. He quotes "Having else where looked at the function of mass media as primary mechanisms of the maintenance of colony, recent events have again emerged requiring further investigation into the function of corporate control over the cultural expression of colonized populations." The artist gets to voice his opinion but it is mainly influenced by the sales and the corporate world. The corporate world is telling the artist what it takes to sell an album. Is the corporate world taking over hip-hop? Is is any longer an art of just the artist, or is it just about the money.

I don't understand how the "lyrics committee" did not allow the "fuck the police" album to be released. I am confused when the author writes "This elite uses structure of corporate governance to maintain this control in relative anonymity where CEOs and commerical spokespeople become mere illusions making their position as modern-day colonial administrators."

These two article relate the most to the assumption on "media matters". This is because no matter what the case we discuss that media matters in this course in most of our readings. In some of the last, the media played an important role on the way it affects our children and teens. In this article I would have to say media matters in a different form. Media matters for the corporate world. Media matters in the way it depicts a certain culture to be. The media is needed for these artists to put out their albums. However the media does matter , but in a negative way, of how it helps the rich get richer but the poor remains poor. By watching these videos and listening to these albums, the media does not tell us this.

This article gives another understanding of the hip - hop corporate world.
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_4782.shtml