Wise Thoughts

           The seniors had their last day of school last Friday, and it was quite difficult for me. I have a lot of senior friends, and I formed so many close bonds with many of the people leaving to different parts of the country or state. I felt extremely sad at the changes in my life, and was finding it difficult not to be consumed by the fear that we would not remain in touch, and our dynamics would change. They were going on to greater things, and I knew this, but that didn't make my fear lessen or my sadness become alleviated. Though I have a year and a half to two year age gap with a lot of my senior friends, I formed the closest bonds with many of them than I had with anyone else. They were, and are, people that matter a lot to me, and the fact that they are leaving is very hard for me to grasp and come to terms with. However, my reassurance actually came from a surprising source. Media and technology have become the shining light for me in this situation.       I fe

          I have found that media seemed to have contributed to the conversation around school shootings, both in a positive and negative way. Media has a large influence on how we gain information surrounding major events and how we approach and consider those major events. Media has an inherent bias, and I often see people become greatly influenced by the messages the media spreads and the side that they take when reporting the news. Media is supposed to be unbiased, but headlines in today's day and age are becoming more and more biased towards one side or the other. In addition, media often profits off of other's misfortune, without a care for the people who are suffering. I have seen this idea of profiting off of misfortune become even more prominent in the current state of affairs, and even more so regarding school shootings.       News outlets continuously show great interest in school shooters and school shootings themselves, but remain indifferent to creating chan

       While watching Miss Representation, I felt a number of emotions. Shock, sadness, disappointment, the feeling that I already knew the information they presented, worry, and hopelessness. I felt as though the documentary was a good message overall, but I wasn't sure how to approach such a large issue. This is an issue that is bigger than all of us. We need to examine truly where these false beauty standards came from, the messages that the media sends, the origin of those messages, and why those messages are being sent. We also need to more closely examine what the effect of those messages are on every aspect of society. I felt as though the optimistic tone the documentary took at the end was kind of futile in the face of such a large issue. There needs to be more done, in my opinion.      After watching the documentary, I felt as though I needed to examine myself. Did I feel as though I was being misrepresented in media? Was I being influenced by the messages media was se

     The message of media manipulation of women that the documentary, Miss Representation, was trying to spread was simultaneously a very good message but also contained flaws in the argument. The documentary definitely raised some good points. There definitely is an exploitation of women in the media, only for their bodies rather than any message of substance. This sends a wrong message to girls growing up, that their bodies are the only thing that defines them, which leads to less women leaders and women in positions of power. Men are also trapped in a cycle of what women are like in real life, and how women are presented in media. They are then unsure how to treat women like human beings because women are presented as two dimensional in media. Media causes there to be an actual influence in society in how women are viewed, treated, and how they act and who they become. Miss Representation  clearly showed the links between how women view themselves, from ideas of self-objectificat

         I feel that romance has changed as the years go by, but even more so with the introduction of social media. The romance that we read about in books is simply nonexistent. Love letters, poems, serenading, and chivalry of any sort is simply nonexistent, or very difficult to find. True romance, pure, unfiltered love is something that has become very difficult to find in this day and age. The reason behind why love has become so artificial and difficult to navigate is a complex one, but I feel as though social media and the fact that our lives are shared very publicly online definitely adds to that.      Romance. Love. Complex parts of the human experience that some people never have the privilege of truly experiencing ever in their lifetime, and even if one experiences it, one may not understand it. Love is something that has become even more difficult to decipher in today's day and age. We frequently see couples advertise every cute moment of theirs online. Common hashta

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu_7m--Ozrs       Last Friday, I popped into Mr. Starace's classroom to talk to him about the school shooting that had occurred this morning before I went to Mr. Griffin's. He invited me to stay in the classroom because he was showing the class something related to that, so I decided to stay. Mr. Starace showed us a political ad from candidate Pat Davis, running as a New Mexico congressional candidate. In the ad, Pat Davis begins with the very strong statement, "F@%& the NRA." He then goes on to state, "Their pro-gun policies have resulted in dead children, dead mothers, and dead fathers. He finishes with: "I'm Pat Davis, and I approve this message. Because if Congress won't change our gun laws, we're changing Congress." He speaks against a backdrop of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, with a stern expression on his face. His main selling point on this ad is that he is progressive, and a gun violence