Process Piece for Video Project

Overall I think my video came out really well and I’m pretty proud of it.  It was very difficult to start writing the poem and I had major writers block.  I usually only have to write papers for my classes, so to try and write in a different format was a little difficult for me.  With some help from a friend of my parents who is an author, she was able to help me get going.  She taught me to pick out several important words that provide meaning to your piece and use those as the last word in the sentence so that you can build upon them.  What she taught me helped so much and once I got going it wasn’t too bad.  The next difficulty I had was to find pictures that went with each line.  I wanted to have a line on each power point slide with a picture that represented it.  All the pictures that I used in my video came from www.google.com.  Lastly I put the words and pictures together on each slide, timed the way each object was presented, and finally synced music to the video.  I’m really happy with the way it all turned out.  Unfortunately I had great trouble trying to upload the video onto youtube.  For some reason it wouldn’t process my video and kept saying that it was failing to convert.  Next I tried to put my video onto slide share.  This worked however, it presented each slide individually with no music and no effects that I had added to the presentation.  That made me very upset because I had put so much work into and it wasn’t the original piece.  But in the end I’m still proud of my piece and really enjoyed this project.

                References:  Pictures came from – www.google.com and information came from – Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, Classism Section, Class in America – 2006 by Gregory Mantsios.

Quick Blog #4: Whip My Hair

This video is definitely a different type of video for someone of her age. However, I don't think that it is portraying anything bad or that she is not being a good role model. I think she is trying to make a name for herself most likely and this was her first break out song. I feel she's just trying to be a little rebellious and her lyrics basically state that she is going to do what she can to make it and no one will hold her back. I don't think her lyrics are along the racist sense but maybe there is is one line that could potentially be considered..."Whether it's black stars black cars I'm feeling it". I also don't know if I would consider it a sexist song but towards the end she does sing to her "ladies" telling them to whip their hair. But maybe that's just because girls have longer hair to whip? She must being doing something right though because this single was towards the top of the charts for a little while.

Blog Post #10 Question J Response

I decided to read the article about sports written by Pat Griffin.  Growing up I was involved in many different sports.  I played soccer, softball, basketball, track, gymnastics, and dance.  Soccer was my favorite and I played it all year round and even still play recreationally today.  This article written by Griffin explained that sports are supposed to be the training ground where boys learn to become men.  It is the area where they can show their masculinity the most.  Fathers worry if their children (boys) don’t exhibit interest in sports and sometimes force them to be involved just to make sure they don’t choose other particular hobbies.  Griffin stated that men feel women in sports are considered to be trespassers on male territory and their access should be limited or blocked.

                I think that is horrible and if a woman wants to play a sport, she should be able to without having to be looked at as trespassing or entering male territory.  When I was younger I used to play on my brothers soccer teams because it was more competition for myself, but also easier for my parents so they didn’t have to travel to a bunch of different games.  The boys on the other teams used to get mad and coaches would argue that I was not allowed to play on the boys’ teams and should be removed immediately.  However, nowhere in the handbook did it say that a female was not allowed to play on the boys’ team.  This just goes to show that males are threatened by competition provided by females.  It is also very sad that sometimes “masculine” women are considered lesbians just because they are playing a “male” sport.  It’s sad that some women cannot even be involved in sports because they are afraid their sexuality may be questioned. 

Blog Post #9 Question I Repsonse

I guess I really never took serious thought about the advertisement using females to show a patriarchy of masculinity.  The ads that Jean showed with women in bathing suits and the label of a beer bottle on their stomachs is a prime example of using advertisement to uphold the patriarchy of masculinity.  She also showed other images including that of women in color, portrayed with advertisements about animals.  These images intersect with not only sexism now, but also racism.  Why should women of color be considered animals?  Or why should they be used in ads about animals?  I myself find that on the verge of sexism.  I feel there are many other ways to help the system of consumer capitalism. 

                I found it amusing when Jean compared the ad of a male Calvin Klein model wearing very little to that of an ad with a woman wearing very little as well.  She explained that some products poke fun of those women with breasts that are too big, too saggy, too flat, too full, too far apart, too close together, and so on.  But the ad involving the male model wearing nothing holding a rag over his penis doesn’t say anything about his penis being too small, too droopy, too narrow, too fat, too jiggly, and so on.  So how can these ads be perceived that advertisers are doing the same thing to men that they are to women? 

                I think it’s sad that those who look at these images within depth are women.  They think these images are the way they are supposed to look and try their best by using extreme measures to look that way that are usually not healthy.  Today they use more extreme ads such as Axe where one commercial has women calling men to see how they clean their “dirty equipment”.  One guy responds talking about his shoulders rather than another area that would be considered more private.  Now if this was about a woman, it would most likely involve the woman talking about her breasts. 

Quick Blog #3: Experiencing Class & Classism

1.  I'm not sure if I can think of a specific experience where I was privileged or had an advantage due to my socio-economic status, but I guess you could consider the fact that I was able to go to a great public elementary school, I was able to play all the sports I wanted to and travel with the teams, I was able to go to a high school out of town because we did not have one, I was able to go to the University of New Hampshire using financial aid and loans, and maybe so on, as a privilege. As a child I was allowed to go to the movies, was granted with birthday parties, Christmas presents, and vacations. My parents could be considered that of the middle class, and even though I got all of these things, it doesn't mean my parents didn't struggle financially at times, or that I myself didn't appreciate what I got because by all means I felt so thankful, but they worked very hard to give my brothers and I everything they could and I think that's a perfect example of how your socio-economic status may have a large impact on your lifestyle and well-being.

2.  When applying to colleges I knew that my parents were not going to be able to help because of financial issues and that I would need help from financial aid and loans to help pay for it.  I also knew that all the colleges I applied to had to be below a certain tuition level and most of them had to be in-state (New Hampshire) schools because I was going to be paying for it on my own.

3.  In high school there were many trends that considered you to be "popular". Most of those included having North Face backpacks or other products, Abercrombie & Fitch, American Eagle, and so on clothes, Ugg boots, Ipods, etc... If you didn't have most of those things you were looked at differently and may not have been considered popular because you didn't have those types of expensive things. I at times was able to afford those things but never participated with others that discriminated or excluded those who didn't have those things and tried to help stop that discrimination from happening.

Blog Post #8 Question H Response

In relation to the two articles on Christian Privilege, my religious identity is that of a Christian.  I myself don’t experience oppression as a Christian but I guess you could say that I experience privilege.  According to Lewis Schlosser I do have the privilege of no work or school on religious holidays, I am allowed to by the foods that fall within my religious group, I am never asked to speak for all the people in my group, and so on.  My family personally doesn’t attend church on a regular basis so sometimes I do work on Sunday (holy day).  At times I guess you could say I don’t fill up to the full duties of a Christian. 

                From Warren Blumenfeld’s article on Christian Privilege, I really enjoyed the fact that he explained many terms that go along with the Christian religion.  For example powerless, which states that some groups have less social power than members of dominant groups.  Being a Christian I’m not sure that I really experience a form a powerless.  The next is marginalization which may be known as the “face” of oppression whereby categories of people, are restricted from meaningful involvement in the social life of the community and nation.  There hasn’t been a point in my life where I have been restricted from meaningful involvement in the community I reside in.  However, some others of the Christian religion may experience this and I don’t think that is fair.  In America we are granted the right to free religion.  It’s sad that oppression goes even further to destruct someone’s religious beliefs.

Video Treatment

Topic:  The "ism" I will be creating my short video about is classism.  I feel this topic is very interesting and I think it is important that people realize we are living in a "class" categorical society.  I hope this video will educate others on the different types of classes.

The Story:  I will be writing a video poem regarding the different types of classes and what each class entails (struggles, lifestyles, achievements, income, etc...), by using research as my supporting factor.  I will also use images, quotations and music to help aid in this education.

Software:  The software program I intend to use will be Microsoft Power Point to present a "video poem like" presentation.  I have a large amount of experience with this program and hope that along with my knowledge and the power point tutorial, I will have no serious issues completing this project.

Research:  I plan to use most of the information that I find online, but also would like to use information provided from the text, Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, on its chapter regarding classism. 

Time Line:  I have already begun my research on the several different classes to provide background information on each one.  I also have planned to finish the organization of these classes by the end of today.  From that point I plan to find the right kind of music and images to correctly fit each class, as well as write out the poem.  I am planning on having my presentation completed and posted to Slideshare by Saturday January 15 the latest.

Take away message:  I want viewers to understand that America today is not a "classeless" society and also to give them insight on each class.  Hopefully it may open their eyes to what really goes on aside from their daily lives, and also hope they receive some support from those who are going through the same situation they may be going through.