Day Ten

Aw! Shucks! This was our last day. I can't believe how fast these last two weeks have flown by. I have had so much fun in this class. What an amazing class! Even more amazing is how much I have learned!! I know that there is so much more that I could learn. I am really going to miss coming to class.

Day Nine

I enjoyed doing our activities on stereotyping and superheroes today. I learned a lot from them. It is amazing what one can learn from such simple activities. I was surprised to learn that The Lone Ranger actually had a code of ethics. I knew that he was a good person, but didn't realize that he had actual rules that he followed. Wouldn't it be nice if we could all live like that?

The article by Jean Kilbourne was most informative. I never really thought about all the myths associated with drinking. I just know that it is a serious problem for many people. It is really disappointing that companies play upon these myths to make money off of a dangerous substance. I can see how teens can easily fall for these myths. Shame on the companies!!

The Just for Fun article was very cute. I plan on sharing it with my friends. Thanks!

Day Eight

Wow! The Jean Kilbourne video was pretty scary. I knew some of this stuff, but obviosly not as much as I thought. I remember Love's Baby Soft products. They were very popular when I was growing up. Even I wanted to have some. I never realized what the manufacturers were actually telling me. What a disappointment! Maybe that is part of their strategy. Young children may learn the moves, but not know what they mean.

This video really makes me angry and insulted. I work hard to raise my family and support them. The last thing I need for for companies to imply that I am weak, insignificant, not good enough for men, and totally worthless. If men are so great, why do women do most of the work? No wonder crimes against women are so rampant. Society is teaching boys that women are nothing more than punching bags. UGH!!

Day Seven

Salads! Salads! Salads! Boy, do they look good enough to eat! I think that all the groups did a good job of making their salad fit their descriptions. I really liked the smilely face one. It is amazing how little it took to make our salad fit our description. What a fun day!

It is scary to think how easy it is for companies to "eavesdrop" on our online conversations. I don't think that they should be allowed to do this. I think that I should be able to get a copy of all the information that the different companies have on me and not in ones and zeros. It should be translated for me.

I would never be able to chat with a teen online. I didn't know any of the acronyms that were listed!

Day Six

It is so sad that young girls today feel the need to be sooo thin. I know that this has been an issue for a long time, but it seems so much worse now. It doesn't help that so many of the idols that these girls adore have taken weight loss to the extreme. It amazes me how the icons of today don't realize how much they are affecting our youth. Or maybe they just don't care.

I believe that the more you watch television the more you are going to eat. At least, it seems that way with me. Even crime shows, with their blood and guts, can make me eat. I also wondered how I could do that. I finally realized that I was using food to comfront me during the icky parts of the show.

I thought the video on making food look good was really sickening. I always knew that what I got was not what was in the pictures and now I know why. I was actually surprised at what they did to the food to make it look so good. I never realized that there was an art to it.

Day Five

Wow! What another fun day in class! I really enjoyed the activities that we did today. Especially our happy/mean faces. It did not take much to change one picture to the next. It is amazing how color and camera angle can really change the story that a picture is telling. I also liked the picture cropping activity that we did. Again, it did not take much to change the story that my picture was telling. I realized that I had never really studied ads before. I had always taken them at face value.

I had a hard time trying to decide what to do for my final project. Originally, I thought it would be fun to make up an advertisement. However, I couldn't think of anything to sell. I finally decided to look at how the different media has handled the new Arizona immigration law. I am sure that I will learn a lot from doing this.

Day Four

It is amazing how much fun I am having learning about things that I didn't know about or ever even thought about! Thanks!

One thing I need to clarify about this morning's class. I never meant to imply that I was really happy that M.J. had a tragic death. I was just relieved that he could no longer hurt any more children.

I enjoyed watching the commercials this morning, especially the ones on BP. It seems like the one spoof was pretty accurate in it's portrayal of how they have responded to the tragic oil spill. I'm not sure how anyone could seriously blame Obama for this.