Where we are & where we need to be : Tricia Rose

Tricia Rose : The Hip-Hop Wars

In this article by Tricia Rose, I think some thoughts she's trying to convey is that hip hop as seen today is seen as an economic means to attain an end.

She writes " It was mostly for fun and for play. It wasn't primarily an economic industry, where people got involved more for money than for creativity"

I think by that she means that many artists in the hip hop industry today see hip hop as an opportunity to attain a better lifestyle. She also mentions that African Americans weren't always living in ghettos, or in urban neighborhoods. Hip hop used to be almost like a tool used as a political movement, something used to tell a story of hard ships, and knowledge. Fact is people living in urban slum's and hoods have more of an opportunity to be incarcerated and to tell about their hardships faced through that experience, than they do to have upward mobility and access to higher education.

Today when you turn on the radio, hip hop, or what we now perceive to be hip hop, talks about getting drunk, partying in clubs, and meeting "hoes". Tricia Rose believes that hip hop is in a metaphorical ICU. By this she means that she knows that people are in deep distress, but talking about your .45, or how many hoes your "banging" wont necessarily improve your situation. Hip hop today has simply been commodified. People are so busy consuming that they don't take real effort to notice what the hidden languages are which hip hop speaks.

Somethings I dont understand about hip hop culture is the lack of transcending. It seems like for so long it's been stuck in this trance where artists such as Jay - Z & Kayne West seem to talk more about themselves, as opposed to about situations that most Americans face such as Economic hardships, or lack of access to education.

This article reminds me of Hines article on understanding the messages of the media which we're fed on a daily basis. Overall, I really enjoyed this article.

Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants.

In this article by Prensky called "Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants" the author aims at explaining how the currently students are learning quite differently than their elders were. The generation of students that teachers struggle with teaching are those who are used to using parallel though process, who are used to instant gratification and constant rewards, claims Prensky.

In many ways, I understand how this may be true. In an era where staying in contact, and where its not what you know-- but who you know that matters, where updates are constantly happening, and images are constantly being fed to the general public it's important to stay connected. Parents are worried about their childrens safety, so they give them cellular phones. It only starts there, it expands to the child wanting text messages, and maybe even the internet on their phone. 3G networks enable a person to send pictures, video, instant messages at the speed of light. I know because I'm on the 3G network & happen to be writing this blog from my phone.

How is it possible to teach a student who has all of these resources yet at the end of the day still seem to be bored ? For starters, there is such a thing called a "smartboard", where teachers can browse the internet right in front of students, thus integrating tools from the internet into everyday learning. There is also the thought of using laptops in classrooms-- I'm not sure if that has even been implemented in grades K-12, but in some college classrooms it's occurred.

Point is, I think if teachers really wanted a way to reach students, they'd find a creative way of doing so, which captures a students attention just as fast as the internet does.

Prensky speaks of some thoughts which Christensen also spoke of. Christensen states that the teenager is taught by the latest fashions, and sex roles by TV, movies, magazines, and comic stripes. Prensky adds that the teenager is taught by all of those things which have been complied on the internet for quick and easy access. Think about it, when viewing a web page a person not only see's text that they probably searched for, but tons of other images that have been hyper-sexualized to sell a product.

Teenagers and tweens in this era are educated on topics such as sex and drugs at an earlier age due to instant access without parental control. Text messaging also take things to new heights in the sense that a teenager can harass other students via text messaging, or instant messaging.

The teenager in this era are vastly different that their elders, their thought process is different, but behaviors still the same in some ways.

The Vagina Monologues

The vagina monologues are stories told several different women, all from different walks of life. The monologues aim to raise awareness of how powerful yet exciting it can be to be a woman, have lively parts (Vagina, sometimes called cunt, pee pee, va, it), but slowly have your womanhood taken away from you.

One of the monologues spoke about the tampon industry, and douching. Neither of which are very good for your vagina, after all, it's supposed to smell like a vagina, not something artificial. Another interesting fact : tampons have bleach in them, which tend to dry out vagina's'.

Progressively, each monologue was captivating although I've seen them all performed before. The monologues started off exciting & fun, but interestingly became saddening and heart wrenching. Some of the later monologues spoke about rape, molestation, violent relationships that women become a part of, and try to get away, but some inevitably end in murder.

One monologue in particular spoke about how lively, full of energy, and benevolent her vagina was, but once she was raped-- her vagina grew to be sullen, depressed, reclusive and just not want to function anymore. She grew to think having a vagina was something which was bad, and caused pain.

Rape ,domestic abuse ,and sexual assault are actions that last a short period of time, but can impair an individuals life forever. The vagina monologues aim to raise awareness for those who have been victimized. While showing that having a vagina can be both a beautiful thing to have, but can cause so much pain when violated-- whether it be by the tampon industry or by your fathers best friend.

Rise & Fall of the American Teenager

In the Article "The Rise & Fall of the American Teenager" Thomas Hine explains how the teenager came to be, and how they inevitably "fall" due to ruthless behavior such as joining gangs, becoming pregnant, or committing crimes. In the article, Hine quotes Anna Freud as "theorizing that the experience of adolescence is so filled with pain, trauma, and turmoil that our conscious mind suppresses it."

Somethings I do understand is that to be a teenager is to experience without caution. Physiologically, teenagers brains aren't fully developed, nor are they physically well developed. Their frontal lobes-- which enables the ability to plan, organize, look at future events, and outcomes-- is yet to be fully in tact. As result you have a person who acts, yet isn't consciously aware of the consequences that come along with their actions. There are many things that teenagers do lack, but at the same time they're also filled with creative energy.

Media Literacy

After a while of googling, I came across a few sources that better helped me to understand media literacy, & all that in entails. At the end of this entry I'll give a few links to the web pages I came across.

The way I now understand media literacy is as a medium to communicate concepts through not just words, but photos, movies, music, newspapers, and even our mail. We're exposed to millions of images on a weekly basis, & most of the time we're not aware of it. We subconsciously process these images, which further instill dominant codes & representations within us.

Media literacy is a way to better help people understand the messages that these images/photos/music generate, it also helps to build critical thinking & analytical skills. The mass media affects how we understand & relate to the world at large. Thinks that are sometimes made to seem real in the media, aren't things that are true for us in reality.

Some things that I don't quite understand is why realities appear as distorted as they do sometimes appear in movies, books, ect. . For instance, in the modeling industry the women who model only represent less that 10 percent of the population at large in America.


For more information on Media Literacy you can visit :

http://www1.medialiteracy.com/

http://www.mediachannel.org/classroom/

http://www.kidsplay.org/medialit.html