Media Meditation #8 A Different Type of Crowd

I know I mentioned in a previous meditation that the Thanksgiving holiday has been overrun by Black Friday marketing and the Christmas consumerism. I still believe that is completely true. While I did participate in the Black Friday shopping, the consumerism did not interrupt our family holiday and celebration of Thanksgiving on Thursday. I had to laugh at some of the stores opening at midnight for the Friday shopping. While the consumers chose to disregard the holiday, our family did not and instead of standing in the cold and rain all night in line we remained in our warm, dry house.


One of my friends on Facebook was bragging about the new 32” LCD Hi-Def television he successfully acquired during the Black Friday shopping. While he didn’t mention the price he bought it for, I am sure he got a great deal. His status message was flooded with comments ranging from “Congratulations” to “You’re crazy.” I asked how long he stood in line for the television. He replied: 5 hours outside of Best Buy and then 7 hours in the store. After which I agreed that he was crazy. I suppose, for some people, standing in line for twelve hours is worth a really low price on a television or whatever else was on sale. Personally, that twelve hours is a waste, in which I can be doing all sorts of other things. In the past I have stood in line for Black Friday shopping, however the longest I have waited is an hour. My time is worth more to me than a good materialistic deal.


My mother and I decided to head to Joann Fabrics for Black Friday. Like every other store they had a flier in the newspaper with a three day sale and Doorbuster items each day. There were two distinct differences from other stores however. The first was the store itself. Joanns attracts a certain type of crowd like any store. Most of the Joann shoppers, however, aren’t the type to stand in line all night or get up super early for the deals. My mother and I left our house at 9AM on Friday after enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee and breakfast. When we arrived at Joanns there were a lot of people in the store. However the second difference is the crowd attitude. Most of the people shopping at Joanns were an older crowd. The attitude of the shoppers was light, jovial and happy. When looking for fabric there was no fighting over a bolt of fleece or who got the last color thread spool. Because of the great deals my mother and I piled up bolts of fabric to buy. While standing in line at the cutting counter we chatted with the other shoppers about our projects and shared ideas. In some cases there was swapping of fabric before cutting and sharing the bolts. The line for the checkout was long, however it didn’t wrap around the store several times, as I have seen in Best Buy previously. I think we spent around 30 minutes in line before checking out with the cashier. Our trip was a completely enjoyable experience, lacking the stress, attitude and rudeness of hurried shoppers.

Media Meditation #7 Take a Breath, Relax and Look Around

My brother, Ned and his wife, Kristen came up for Thanksgiving this past week. They live in Foxboro, MA and are socialites to the extreme. Kristen commented more than once how much she enjoyed spending a few days away from the city, in the quiet country. My brother found it boring most days. Despite the lack of commotion, we had a very enjoyable holiday visit.

During our few days together Ned was connected to the television and his laptop. Whether it was sports, a TV show, the news or a movie the television never seemed to get shut off until it was time for bed. Often, he would sit there with the TV on and his laptop on his lap, surfing the web at the same time. Even during the Thanksgiving dinner, my father found a music station on the satellite and played it through the TV while we were eating. For the most part I found myself joining the rest of the family in the living room, surrounded by the media. We watched two different movies this week, Star Trek and Public Enemies. Neither of which I found very interesting, yet I stayed for both because I was with my family.

One of the conversations that came up during their stay was the different media available now. We discussed how you can now connect to the internet through your gaming consoles like the Xbox, the PS3 and the Wii and you can stream things like Netflix and the like straight to your television.
My parents have yet to switch over to the newer Hi-Def TVs and still have one of the older Tube TVs. My brother explained which brand and type of television they should get when they do switch. We also talked about other media such as cell phones, black berries and Macs vs PCs. At one point Ned and Kristen were playing a game on the Wii while my father watched. I was able to keep up with the pace of the conversations we were having and participate, however I was watching my parents and during many of them they would nod and smile but really not understand the new technological world.

At one point my brother and I discussed the Kindle and argued on the pros and cons of having one. While my brother thinks they are great and innovative, he couldn’t understand how I didn’t want one and preferred an actual book instead. Another topic came up as well, when I went to purchase a newspaper to get the Black Friday ads. Ned told me it was a waste of money and I could look at all the deals online at each website. I explained to him that I spend way too much time on the computer as it is and there are some things that would rather step away from technology for and do the old fashioned way. I do enjoy the ease and access the internet, computers, gaming consoles, cell phones and television give me. I keep up with many of the different devices, even if I don’t own them personally. However, I still like stopping every once in a while and looking around. I enjoy the view that my parents have of the mountain. I take pleasure in living away from the city and the constant noise of it. My parents house has no cell phone reception and I find that a nice break from being constantly attached to it. My brother doesn’t understand the relaxed pace my parents’ house and setting offers, which is fine. But every now and then it’s nice to be unconnected.

Media Meditation #6 Is She Real?

After sitting through the holiday commercials (and the bad Black Friday commercials) for the past week I have started to really think about Hollywood image. In one of my other classes we discussed how Hollywood has skewed the perception of how a woman should look. With all the hype of America’s obesity problem, weight has become something constantly dwelled on. Many American women compare themselves with the models and Hollywood icons that show up in fashion magazines. Most women find themselves completely out of the “norm” when they compare themselves to the plastic faces and bodies marketers throw at consumers.

One of the videos shown to our class really points out how the finished picture of a model is usually completely different than the start of the photo shoot. In a very short time this video shows how our perception of what we consider beautiful is completely fabricated.

With the vast use of strategic cameras and angles, lighting, makeup and Photoshop, the end result usually is completely altered and unreal. Have you ever wondered what Angelina Jolie looks like without a pound of makeup on? Yet most of us are deceived by the glamour of the glossy pages and believe that is real and that is what real beauty is. When women compare themselves to these plastic images, they naturally find themselves unequal.

My mother and I were discussing body type one night as we were watching Wheel of Fortune. Most people know and love Vanna White. An ageless beauty, she has been a beautiful addition to the show for many years. When we were young, my brother used to say he wanted to marry her. However, if you really study her body type, she has no definition.
If TV adds 15 pounds to your image, she must be anorexic to still look as thin as she is. She has no muscle definition in her arms; they are the same shape all the way down. As with most other stars, when you really start to look at their image, piece by piece, most of them are not beautiful, but skinny and unhealthy. I believe that obesity is a problem, especially when it affects your health. However I also believe that America doesn’t focus on the other end of the spectrum, opting to delude young women into a warped mental image of what their body should look like.

Media Meditation #5 Great Success!!

Last weekend I entered one of the costumes I made into a costume contest at the convention I was at. My friends were able to take still pictures and video of the judging. The judges were surprised by my techniques used to make parts of my costume. They complimented the dedication I had to put 15 coats of sealant on my weapons (I talked about this in my first media meditation). Throughout the whole costume judging I received useful tips and advice on what I did well and what I could do better.


I had to wait for the results of the competition until Saturday night at the Masquerade. Sitting through all the walk-ons and skits for the audience portion of the competition was extremely enjoyable although tense, as I was waiting for the results of the contest. One of the greatest skits of the night was this one, with a mixture of stage combat, dancing and fun.



Once the Masquerade was over the results of the competition were announced. When the judges called my name I was surprised and excited! I won second place in the contest and received an award and prizes in front of everyone at the convention. My hard work paid off and I was rewarded, not only with recognition but also with commissions for other costumes. I wanted to call all my friends and family and tell them the good news but my cell phone didn’t have great reception. So I turned to Facebook. As I was uploading tons of pictures and updating my status message to inform everyone, I thought of our class and once again enjoyed the fact that I am able to communicate with people all over the country so quickly.

After four days of pure fun and energy, the convention was over. Pictures and video had been taken, friends had been made and information passed along to keep in touch. My friends list on Facebook increased by 20 in one day. Most of them are in this group picture of the Soul Eater cosplay photo shoot.



Since the convention, I have had nonstop conversations with the people I met. We all still have the afterglow of the convention and the excitement of looking forward to the next one in April. More costumes have been discussed and ideas tossed about with four or more people at once through chat and messaging. My best friend, who lives in Ohio, and I have been able to plan another group cosplay for the next convention and send pictures and details, tutorials and links to other cosplayers to each other. In conclusion, I am grateful for the technology I have and am able to use today to be able to connect to so many people so quickly.

Media Meditation #4 Will We Ever Know?

I will be the first to admit that I do not keep track of the news. After the discussions in our Media class I avoid it all the more. Before our Media class I believed that the news was always depressing. It was rare to see stories with a positive message reported on. Now I believe that most of the messages aren’t correct to begin with so why should I follow depressing AND misleading stories?

However, my attention was grabbed at one of the latest stories. The mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas interested me because of my history with the military. I first heard about it on a talk radio show that the shuttle bus was playing. I had no idea what they were talking about, but they had some interesting interviews from “top military officials” about the shooting. The more I heard the more confused yet angry I became. One of the things said was that lower ranking military enlistees often make racial remarks and slurs to others, and we discourage that. There are two things very wrong with that. The first was singling out lower ranking enlistees from officers and higher ranking. That statement in itself is very untrue from a lower ranking enlistee’s past experience laden opinion. I rarely encountered racial remarks however when I did, they were spread from all ranks, officers and enlistees. The second was that the “top ranking officials” did not actually discourage it. While everyone is taught the same class on equal opportunity, when the remarks and slurs occurred, no one addressed them. In fact, much the opposite, they would laugh right along with the person making the comments and the whole thing would blow over.

I did some research on the topic and found out the “media specifics” on the shooting. A Muslim officer in the Army had opened fire on fellow troops. Within three days of this event the news media had linked this man with terrorism and on a jihadist mission. When this was reported on, I simply laughed. I knew the stories would state that he was linked to terrorism. This event is a very serious issue for the military. A high ranking officer, who was also a psychiatrist, opened fire on fellow soldiers on US ground. The public was outraged and the Army has a lot to answer for. However I could predict they would place a terrorist label on this fellow because it is easier to apologize for missing a terrorist infiltrating our military than it is to explain the event was due to lack of proper actions and treatment to the warning signs that were there prior to the shooting.


The media has now shifted the attention of this “investigation” to the emotional side of saying goodbye to the victims and moving on. The story has passed and while it is still mentioned, it is considered old news. There is the promise of an internal investigation and a senate committee meeting, however the energy behind the story has dissipated in true infotainment style. Despite the media’s surge forward, I am still shaking my head at this coverage. I find it sad and depressing and will never truly believe 100% that the shooter actually has links to terrorism.

Media Meditation #3

Media Meditation #3
What Happened To Thanksgiving?



I had a Feed moment the other day as I was in the Blue Mall on Church Street. With Halloween having just passed, as I was walking through the mall I was expecting to see Thanksgiving related decorations in preparation of the upcoming holiday. Or perhaps with the consumer driven Black Friday approaching, advertisements of “the big day”. What I was not expecting was the halls decked out for Christmas. Yet the reds, greens and silvers were all throughout the mall walkways. As I entered the first store I found myself bombarded by winter colors and Christmas music playing in the background.


As I hastened my shopping for the day, I found myself thinking about Feed. Christmas has become the most commercial consumer driven holiday we have. With the exception of Black Friday, Christmas shopping has taken over the thing we as consumers spend the most money on. I find the commercialism of a holy holiday disgusting. As I was going through the mall and seeing more and more shops displaying Christmas related themes in their windows I was less and less inclined to stop in to look for something. I felt like the shops and the mall itself was attacking me and forcing me to accept the THINGS for the holiday instead of enjoying the holiday before it. Because of that, I wanted to rebel, much like Violet did.

Amidst all the Christmas commercialism I had to ask what happened to Thanksgiving? In fact, what happened to traditional holidays? Thanksgiving is often directly associated with Black Friday and the crazy shopping experience that goes along with it. Christmas is discussed as who is giving what to whom, how big the package is and how pretty the wrapping. The fact that the shopping aspect of Christmas has completely overrun Thanksgiving and ignores the real value of the holiday in its quest to make a profit shows the direction humanity has taken. I am not the only one who feels this way. I have had many discussions with people about how the message of the holidays has been forgotten in the rush to make and spend money. I googled Christmas Commercialism and immediately received tons of responses, both supporting and opposing it. The first site was a blog by Stan Guthrie that really put the idea in perspective. I can only hope that others who google the same thing take the time to really read what Stan wrote in his blog.

Media Meditation #2

The Information R/Evolution


In my last Rhetoric class we had a brief introduction to one of our librarians on campus, Michele Melia. She had an interactive way of explaining what and how to use our library’s information. I found the technical shift approach she used, by showing us a youtube video, to be more attention grabbing than the old standard of lecturing us without the use of tools or interaction. She asked the class three questions: Where does Information come from? What do you want your information to be? What do you want your information to do for you? She went around the class asking for different answers to each question. I found some of the answers surprising.

Michele started her lecture with showing a video by Michael Wesch entitled Information R/evolution. This video immediately reminded me of our media class and Wesch’s video that we had watched. I have enjoyed both of Wesch’s videos so far. They are intellectual and make you really think critically about the information inside them. I felt that Wesch didn’t really make a stand one way or the other on the web 2.0 emergence so much as provided pros and cons for both sides. His videos are extremely informational and fun to watch at the same time.


The answers to the three questions that Michele asked the class surprised me. The first question—where does information come from—initially sparked the answers: people, learning experiences, books, magazines. This class was a freshman class and they were listing off non-technological answers. I was rather surprised that the generation who is completely submerged in the web 2.0 world (as Wesch’s video suggested) was listing these sorts of resources first. I mentioned blogs and RSS feeds and that brought about more computer based resources. The answers to the third question—What do you want your information to do for you—I also found interesting. The two top answers were: Answer questions and Inform you. After our discussion in our media class I couldn’t help but wonder how submerged in the Feed-based media world we were and whether the information answering our questions and informing us was accurate?

The entire “lecture” that Michele gave us came off as more of an information session on information than explaining how to use the library. However with the small mention of the library and how to access the information there I believe she successfully explained the potential of the library resources and the wealth of information that is beyond books in our Miller Information Center. I left the lecture understanding the uses of a librarian and how to access the libraries website. I also realized that while there are still books in our library, the computer and internet have become the dominant sources of finding information. Having grown up in a world where both were dominant at one point in time, I am not entirely sure how I feel about that.

Media Meditation #1
I Don’t Know You But Can I Borrow Your Brain?

Because of my love for Japanese anime and the anime convention culture my first meditation is going to be on that.
I am currently making a cosplay (anime costume) for the anime convention I am attending in a few weeks. The costume is Prince Marth from the video game Super Smash Bros Brawl. I am a seamstress and love to sew, however I have never made armor, weapons or props for cosplays. At conventions I have seen beautifully crafted costumes that are out of this worldand often wondered how they made them. When I decided to take on Marth I knew I was going to have to learn.


Unlike Postman’s fear of new media, I wholly embrace the web 2.0 world. The information at your fingertips way of life has made it extremely easy for me to pick the brains and talents of those people who created such beautiful costume props. Since Google runs the world that is where I started my search for information. I googled craft armor and found many sites where people have created a tutorial to pass on their knowledge. Without having to go to a library where there might be one or two books on how to make a certain type of prop I was able to find tons of information on how to make a multitude of different props.

The site that inspired me to make Marth’s sword was called Craft Foam Armor Tutorial. The simplicity of the tutorial helped me jump into this unknown part of cosplay creation. The site included easy to understand written instructions but also many pictures and links to other sites that would help me further. Relating this site and topic to our media class is amusing to me. Although I understood Postman’s argument I disagreed with most of what he was “warning” us from. Although he wrote his book before Web 2.0 emerged I am certain he would have found issues with the new medium’s implications. Perhaps I am completely submerged in my generation’s media but I don’t mind being manipulated if it gives me the advantages like having some unknown person in an unknown location help me complete my project.

Racial Segregation in Schools

Segregation in American Education
Project Censored 2010 Article #2.

5-7 Facts in this article:

1. Schools are more segregated today than 40 years ago.
2. Most of the nation’s dropouts (from high school) occur in nonwhite public schools.
3. Low income campuses are more likely to be ignored by college and job market recruiters.
4. In California, the nation’s most multiracial state, half of blacks and Asians and one quarter Latino and Native Americans attend a segregated school.
5. 85% of the nation’s teachers are white and little progress is being made to diversify this.
6. In the world economy, success is linked to formal education and declining education levels of the growing minority populations is increasing.
7. Rural schools face severe segregation. 73% of rural students attend schools that are 80-100% white.

Lexis Search:
A 2005 article in the Philadelphia Inquirer talks about two books written on the subject: Crash Course by Chris Whittle and The Shame of the Nation by Jonathan Kozol. This article discusses the subject in relation to the books written and states that Pennsylvania is a great place to find evidence proving racial inequality is happening. They discuss the idea about white flight to find “better” schools. This was the only article that spoke on segregation in length under the search of “Segregation in US schools”.

Under “US Educational decline” there were no results. Under “US racial education” I found many results but the majority of them were for articles outside of the US. The connection was the reference to our Brown vs Board case and the supposed end of racial segregation in America.

I would say that the searches I did on Lexis shows that this topic is talked about, although sporadically and not in depth and most of the articles written on the topic are opinions more than in depth news reports. Outside of the US, news articles are not reporting on the educational system in the US; however reporting on the inequality in education in their own country seems more widely covered than in our nation.

Further research:

The following quote is taken from the blog site newspaper in Education, Masslive.com where local students of Massachusetts can discuss topics:

"For Latinos, who have emerged as the largest minority group in the nation, language is also a major barrier as Americans insist on English as the only official language in schools. As a result of this disadvantage, Latinos' achievement rates are generally lower. And, like blacks who also are not associated with achievement, their dropout rates are higher than those of whites."

This seems to be absolutely true and completely unfair. The idea that Hispanics are being segregated against because they speak a different language as their primary seems backward. We should embrace the students who can speak a different language from English and strive to teach them English so they can succeed in the job market because speaking multiple languages is extremely valuable. However this topic is generally not discussed because the majority of high income white groups have more influence than the lower classes and low income minorities. Instead they ignore the potential wealth of educating the minority to concentrate on bettering their own initiatives.

The problems stated in the Censored 2010 article are difficult to overcome. In order to end racial inequality in schools, influential personnel need to take action. However in this never ending circle, our nation is preventing the generation of those influential personnel. Those who would take action and oppose this are the ones being given a poorer education and result in the lack of proper tools and educational intelligence to fight against the problem. Due to the standards of their grade school education they are at a disadvantage and less likely to continue through higher education and find productive ways to actually make a difference.
There are some people, such as Pedro Noguera who have written on this and appealed to the government to make schools more equal.


When it comes down to it, the ones with the money, power and influence are the ones who are not fighting the current system because their childrens' needs are being seen to adequately. More people need to get involved in the children of America's future. While there has been some work done to desegregate schools (again) not enough work is happening.