Picture, Quote, Poem

"Dr. Cantway: ...And... for a brief moment I wondered if this is how God feels when he looks down at us. How we are all his kids... Our bodies... Our souls... And I feel a great deal of compassion... For both of them..." (Kaufman, 38)

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,

Matthew Shepard was cool,

McKinney and Henderson... not so much.

Matthew Shepard- Controversy

Matthew Shepard died because the men who beat him with "homophobes." Unfortunately, however, they were/are not the only ones. The Westbro Baptist Church are famous for their "GOD HATES FAGS" posters and hateful beliefs that they try to force upon the world. Well when they heard of Shepards's story, what did they do? They showed up at his funeral with personal posters of Matthew and pretty much said that they were glad he was dead, and glad this happened! The people of this church are not the only who feel this way, but they are the "face", I guess you could say, of the Homophobes. The death of Shepard is a controversy because he died because he was gay. simple as that, and people really just have a hard time accepting others.

Matthew Shepard- Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMOacBkfMq0

This is a link to a video found on Youtube.

This video is made by a "random" person who heard about Matthew Shepard's story and was outraged by the hate in the world. It tells exactly what happened to Matthew Shepard and has pictures alongside it. If this video doesn't make you cry, then I don't know what will!

Matthew Shepard- Trial

These are the 3 suspects that the court thinks were at fault for the death of Matthew Shepard. In this picture, they are waiting to be arraigned on Oct. 9, 1998. Russell Henderson is on the far left, Aaron McKinney is in the middle, and Chastity Pasley is on the far right, crying. Henderson and Aaron are going to serve life in prison- for murder. And Pasley was sentenced to 15 months- two years for being an "accessory" to the murder.

Matthew Shepard- bio

Matthew Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming on December 1, 1976, and died on October 12, 1998 in Fort Collins, Colorado. Shepard moved to Dhahron with his family after his junior year in high school, and graduated from The American School in Switzerland (TASIS) in May, 1995. Shepard Studied political-science his first year at the University of Wyoming, in Laramie. He had gotten into drug use in college, and his friends think it may of had something to do with the time he was beaten and raped on a high school trip in 1995.

Negative Stereotype for our Society

Probably the most common stereotype of our society is that everyone eats McDonald's and is severely obese. Unfortunately, this is a very bad image our society has gained.I have a ton of foreign friends that I have asked what their first impression of Americans were before they knew the reality of it all. Immediately they said "Americans are fat and greedy!" Maybe one day we can prove this stereotype to be misleading and non-accurate.

Positive Stereotype for our Society

This picture is supposed to represent how our society is known as "The Melting Pot." It's known as this because America has people from all different cultures and races. Our land was known as "the Land of opportunities" and because of that, people were very attracted to the idea that you could potentially be anyone you wanted to be! So there are people from every culture and race in the world living in our lovely land of opportunity- hence- "The Melting Pot."

Negative stereotype for myself

Although I chose being a "girly-girl" for my positive stereotype, I also believe it to be my negative one as well. I failed to mention the bad traits of this stereotype because I thought it would have more affect in this post. Typically people can see girly-girls as self-conceited, ditzy, and annoying. If this is the stereotype people see me as, then these traits are just some of the opinions the world has towards me. Yes, I know in my last post I said it was good to have this "label," but it comes with both good and bad opinions.

Positive Stereotype for Myself

I am a "girly-girl." There is no denying that. I take pride in being a girly-girl because I know that I am comfortable with simply being a female! The typical stereotype of a girly-girl is usually trendy, overly happy, smiley, and friendly. I honestly don't see anything with those adjectives!

TOMS Shoes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evbs3ilpqwU&feature=player_embedded

TOMS Shoes stands for "Tomorrow's Shoes." Many think this is just some trendy shoe that is just popular for right now and (like every other style) will just fade away in 5-10 years. I beg to differ. This shoe company was started by Blake Mycoskie in 2006. On his trip to Argentina, he found that all the kids had no shoes to protect their feet from the rough soil. Seeing this made Blake want to help, so he decided to start a shoe company (TOMS) that would match every shoe purchased and go to the children in Argentina. The slogan, "One for One" soon came about and on his first trip back to Argentina, Blake brought 10,000 new pairs of shoes!

You may wonder, "Why Shoes? Why not food or shelter?" Although those things are important, no one really understands the importance of shoes. Many schools in developing countries do not allow a student to be barefoot in their school, so with no shoes, there's no education. Also a leading cause in disease is soil-transmitted, and with no shoes, the disease can penetrate through bare skin. And of course there is the obvious reason; without shoes, feet are easily cut and without protection, they become dangerously infected. Shoes are an essential part of living. Blake Mycoskie understood that and did something about it, creating a brand that changes the world; TOMS.

I "connect" with this brand because it actually puts my money to a good cause. Often times I can spend too much money on clothes, shoes and even food without thinking twice about where exactly it's going. With a purchase of TOMS, i don't feel guilty about blowing $50-60 in one day because I know that I'm helping kids who need shoes way more than I do.

Media Culture

Media culture definition: The means of communication, as radio and television, newspapers, and magazines, that reach or influence people widely

My definition of Media Culture: A group of people who have come together based on their social networking and how they get their information. Could be News on television, social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter, or even the radio. For me it's facebook/Twitter and my favorite radio stations, 92.5 The Wolf and Area 93.3. I'm on Facebook and Twitter everyday and I listen to the news spcials thy have on the radio every morning instead of music.

Mass Culture

Mass Culture definition: the culture that is widely disseminated via the mass media.

My definition of Mass Culture: I think this is when a massive group of people clump together based on a common interest. Take my church for example. It's called Flatirons Community Church and there are about 8,500 to 10,000 people that attend the services every weekend! Because of it's huge population, it's become a culture in itself. Another mass culture example would be movies. depending on what type of movie it is, it attracts different kinds of poeple. Lets take "Harry Potter" for example. There is a huge fan culture in itself and you either LOVE the series, or you HATE it. (and there's a mass culture for both.)

Popular Culture

Popular Culture definition: (commonly known as pop culture) is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, image, and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informational consensus within the mainstream of a given culture.

My definition: Pop culture is based on the trends. Unlike Elite culture, anyone can be involved in pop culture (you don't have to be born into it). A wise woman once said to me that "Pop culture is like Skittles, because as they might be flavorful, they have no substance, and leave you un- satisfied." I completely agree with her. Wise woman indeed.

The image of Marilyn Monroe is a painting done by Andy Warhol. She was an idol in her day and was definitely a trend setting when it came to fashion, music, and acting. The other picture i a collage for the Country Music Awards. The shows pop culture because (1) country music in itself is a culture. and (2) it shows the stars on the red carpet, and the highlights of popular sights to see.

Elite Culture

Elite culture definition: A term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture.

My definition: Elite Culture is based on someones economic status or their intelligence. People who have Elite Status, are typically born into it. I always this of the TV show, Gossip Girl for this type of culture. All the fortunate kids (aka everyone on the show) is born into a high society with a lot of money, publicity, opportunities not a lot of people get in their lifetime. Other people that come to mind are elite athletes. When they become good eough, they start living the high-life and create a status for themselves by being great at what they do (Michael Jordan).

Culture

Culture:

The quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

Culture describes the many different groups that society forms within itself. There are many different types of culture and each person belongs to more than one. I personally belong to about to at least 4. There can be a culture where you would never think to look for it (like individual cultures in a school.)

The picture are of different cultures. The two Asian girls are clearly showing the ancient culture of the Asian people by dressing in traditional clothes. The Other picture is just a collage of all the different flags around the world, showing how many different cultures there are by nationality.

#24 Most Powerful Pictures of 2011

I Chose this picture out of all 45 of them because of the look on the woman's face. It speaks for itself without the help of the caption. Well actually, at first it just looks like Granny got Overboard with the milk... but as soon as you realize what has just happened to her, your heart just breaks. In the caption it says that she would have been trampled to death if it wasn't for the two kind men to help her up.

84-year-old Dorli Rainey was pepper sprayed during a peaceful march in Seattle, Washington. She would have been thrown to the ground and trampled, but luckily a fellow protester and Iraq vet was there to save her. (Joshua Trujillo / seattlepi.com)

Ten Pictures Describing Me

Wordle For my College Essay

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Pros and Cons to Technology

Technology has many ups and downs to the way it's affecting society. Here are just a couple pros to this argument.
PROS:

• Technology has helped with quick comunication. Think about before there were cell phones; people would have to "page" eachother or call from a home phone. Or going back even further, people had to write letters!


• The internet has helped with the whole "job-hunting" facade. Before the internet, there were the Classifieds. It took forever just to find a simple search. Now, however, you can just type in whatever you're looking for and then BAM! there is tons of options right at your figertips.


• Another big pro in technology is the ways it's used in schools. In some schools (not including college) every student has their own laptop for notes, internet, etc. Of course this only happens at the moment in rich schools, but it's a growing popularity. Below is a link to a professor's take on education and how technology has helped and worsened the education system.

http://youtu.be/zDZFcDGpL4U

"Lights" by Ellie Goulding

The song, "Lights" by Ellie Goulding is not as new as some people think. Yes, it just started playing on the radio not too long ago, but I was listening to that song more than a year ago! The whole song is just so catchy and no matter how many times I listen to it, it never gets old. Those are the best kind of songs. (unlike ANYTHING by either LMFAO or The Black Eyed Peas.)

Here is a link to the music video to "Lights"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NKUpo_xKyQ&ob=av2n

War Horse

Currently, the movie, "War Horse" is my favorite. I am such a history-geek and that movie really does me good. Also the visual effects in that movie made the storyline so powerful and emotional. There is one scene in it where the horse is stuck in barbed wire between the two opposing countries. One guy from each side got out of their trench to help the horse get free and they were making small talk! It was so cool that one horse brought two guys together who were trying to kill each other a few moments ago.