30 days

Seeing the video of the guy trying out jail for 30 days was very interesting. Even though it the people seemed a lot less scary then i stereotyped them to be, the pain the prisoners suffered was even more frightening. Morgan was only in the jail for 30 days and he was craving being outdoors so much that I can't even imagine people who had been there for years. It also surprised me how much different the people are in the rehab prison, why isn't this used more? I had a lot of hope in the people who were being released that their life was going to change for the better, but instead they ended up back in jail. This shows that people can't get used to life outside of prison after being in it for so long. Why do people have such a hard time changing for the better? Why can't these prisoners refrain themselves from doing bad again? Do they not remember how much pain they went through inside of jail?

stereotypical teens

Teenagers are stereotypically viewed as being routy kids who look for trouble. Although, I know no one who wants to be in danger. I think this is why parents don't allow us to certain things that arn't actually dangerous at all. For example, about 2 weekends ago I was planning on going to a concert in Milwaukee, WI to the Rave. My parents only would allow me to go if parents we're driving me there, and wouldn't allow my friend to drive me there. They thought the neighborhood was too "shady", which it was, but I found it unfair that I wasn't allowed to go b/c of who drove there. I thought my mom should understand that we would be fine driving there, even though we're teenagers, and teenagers are thought of as unorganized and bad drivers. I didn't really mind I wasn't going to the concert, but I found it to be a perfect example of regulations parents set on teens. If I was allowed to go, it would teach me how to react to certain situations on the road, and maybe about the neighborhood I was in, but except I wasn't allowed to mature in those ways. What the parents don't realize is that I'm probably going to be in multiple situations like that next year, when I'm in college, and they're not there to help me.

Un-TV

The Un-TV assignment was very interesting on how it played out. When we were first assigned to it, I thought it would be a waste of time. I thought that I already knew the message Sal was trying to send us, and that watching the black tv screen for thirty minutes wouldn't change it. Although, when I did the assignment, I realized how wrong I was. The TV is really just a box, and the fact that we show emotion toward it seems so strange. We are reacting to moving images that arn't realistic at all b/c of editing, the story line. When we are watching TV, we are escaping reality by watching a fake story on a box. That is basically what we waste are time with. I'm not saying TV is bad, b/c sometimes I think something is worth watching. But I do belive that we (or at least I) should limit the amount of television I watch. To be entertained by pictures, and a story isn't the way I intended. I hope to stay more active in my actual hobbies.

Wow. It is true that disney films are stereotyping masculinity. I love those disney movies, so its weird to see that i was exposed to it so early. It causes girls to think that they want a guy to come sweep them off their feet, like every guy in a disney movie. Our culture should promote nonviolence in men, so guys wouldn't feel like they have to live up to the expectations of being violent. Some television programs do not promote violence. Like in the Office, Jim, the perfect guy, isn't violent and is thought of as being funny and cute. It works!

Fear in U.S.

I found Bowling for Columbine very interesting to watch. It was really surprising when Moore went to the leader of the NRA to ask questions about rallys he held in cities that just had killings caused by a gun and he couldn't answer. I also learned that even though Canada has so many guns, and is a prime hunting country, they have so very few deaths caused by guns there. In the US, we have over 11,000 deaths caused by guns. I think the reason for that is fear. US media and news has filled their citizens with so much fear in every news story. The news channels purposely try to find the story that sounds most dangerous to people. This may be a major cause of fear in the US and could be the reason there are many deaths caused by guns. It was funny how so many people, mostly adults, would say that child shootings were caused by Marylin Manson music. When people can't find the cause of a problem, they make quick reactions to make them feel safer.

Dependence

Americans are afraid of dependence because we learned to grow up depending on only yourself. It's a trust issue that keeps us from allowing ourselves to rely on anyone. The capatalism cycle is to grow up, become successful and independent. When we think about our future, we think about only ourselves; how will I become successful?; what do I want to do? We believe that our friends and family will have a way of connecting themselves into it, but sometimes they don't. I depend on my parents, which does bother me. I really want to become independent from my parents, but I want them in my lives. I just don't want to depend on what I'm used to them giving me. I really want to become strong and independent. I'm hoping those calls for life advice to my mom will slowly come to an end when I'm in and out of college, but I have a feeling they won't.

absolutely nothing

The "nothing" assignment was something i really enjoyed. To be in a public place, and truly doing nothing really makes you stop and see everything around you. A lot of people had said that when doing it people were checking up on them. Some people wouldn't allow them to do "nothing". Although, in my case, I was outside the Union Station so not many people stopped to check if i was O.K. Everyone down town seems to always be in a rush: the way people drive, the hurried walk across the street. When I took a moment to stop and take things in, I was really able to enjoy the city. I was able to set apart all the different sounds of the city. I was also able to do a lot of people watching, which is something I already enjoy to do. You notice a lot more of what's around you once you sit back and actually let yourself notice.