Process Piece

Process Piece:

This digital video project was one of the most technologically involved projects I have had to complete, but I think I learned a lot from it.

When I first started this project, the whole idea of it was a bit daunting. Having to create a video about an ism we learned in class-there was so many different ways to approach the assignment and I wasn’t sure what route I wanted to take. I knew that I wanted to discuss racism and do something with poetry, music and quotes because I thought those three things combined would create a strong message. Initially, I was going to write my own poem, but as I started researching about those who wrote about racism I became inspired by their work and wanted to make that the center of the project. They, after all, had experienced firsthand what racism was all about and I wanted to put together a video that showed their struggles but that also highlighted on their bravery and strength, which I feel my video did.

The technological aspect of the project was the most difficult for me. I wanted to do something different and learn more about different software that exists so I chose to use Windows Live Movie Maker. Well, I think I would need about the whole length of this course to really understand it, but I watched a lot of tutorials about how it actually worked. Converting videos and music so that it was compatible with the software was challenging, but I managed to figure it out eventually. I even had trouble uploading it to You-tube, I’m not sure if anyone else did but it took me quite awhile to figure out how to do it. It seemed like it should have been simple, but for me it wasn’t.

Overall, I enjoyed researching about racism. It was interesting to see how much information there was about it and how many different viewpoints and opinions existed on the subject. I learned a lot about many great writers and musicians and saw the talent that they possess. By no means was this an easy assignment for me, but I feel that I came out of it with a greater understanding of racism, a greater appreciation for what those who experienced racism had gone through and with much respect (with what began with much frustration) for Windows Live Movie Maker. I think completing a project where you have to push yourself to learn is rewarding, and I am proud that I accomplished the assignment and I am proud of the way the finished product came out.

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya. "YouTube - And Still I Rise." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 2008. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0>.

Cullen, Countée. "Incident - "Early 1900's" "African - American Poetry"" AfroPoets Famous Writers. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.afropoets.net/counteecullen1.html>.

Hughes, Langston. "John Lundberg: Poems About Racism." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-lundberg/poems-about-racism_b_92829.html>.

Khalid, Haythum R. "Famous Quotes about Race and Racism." Book of Famous Quotes - The One Stop for Quotations Lovers. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.famous-quotes.com/topic.php?page=0&total=21&tid=988>.

Marley, Bob. Buffalo Soldier Buffalo Dub. Island, 1983. CD.

Marley, Bob. "Get Up, Stand Up." Legend the Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers. Island Records, 1984. CD.

"Racism - Google Search." Google. Web. 17 Jan. 2011. <http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=define: racism&rlz=1R2ADFA_enUS389&aq=0&aqi=l1g8g-m2&aql=&oq=definition of racism>.

Quick Blog # 4- Willow Smith

Alright, so I had to watch this a couple times and look up the lyrics because I couldn’t catch everything she was saying and I’m still not sure how I feel about it. Some of her lyrics seem to be inspiring as if she is trying to talk about and relate to dealing with the issues of racism such as:

Don't let haters keep me off my grind /Keep my head up I know I'll be fine /Keep fighting until i get there
When i'm down and i feel like giving up i think again

And also

So whats up (yea) /And I'll be doing what to do /we turn our back /and whip our hair and just shake them off /shake them off, shake them off, shake them off

 Some of the dancing was a bit provocative, like the girl in the red dress, but overall there wasn’t anything too outrageous. Some of the lyrics such could be seen as provocative I guess, or it could just be something else, such as  I, i gets it in mmmm yea i go hard /when they see me pull up i whip it real hard /i whip it real hard, real hard, i whip it real hard. I don’t understand what she is really trying to say though- what exactly does the whipping her back and forth mean or have to do with anything? I need help on that one…

I think what she is trying to do is hard, she was only nine years old when she made this music video and it seems that dancing and singing is what is popular. If she just stood there singing into a microphone I don’t think this song would be as successful as it is. I watched some interviews of her on You-tube and I think she is still almost too young to be a role model to others. It seems like she is trying to be so much more grown up than she really is with her mannerisms. I feel that she has a bit of growing up to do before she can actually be a role model to anyone, she needs to figure out who she is herself first and nine seems a bit young to know that. However, she comes from a grounded family, the Smiths’ seem like family is important to them and in one of the interviews someone said that Will Smith was one of the only rappers who doesn’t curse in his songs-so I think overall Willow will be just fine in the music industry.

I can’t say that I love this song, but I do believe she is talented. I think we will see a lot more from Willow to come. I am curious to hear what her others songs will be like and how she shapes the music industry in the future.

Blog Post # 10 in response to Question J

The film Queer Streets showed me how much heterosexist oppression jeopardizes people’s life chances and civil rights in serious ways. The stories of those that take refuge in Sylvia’s place show clearly that queer homeless youth are “more vulnerable than their straight counterparts to violence, substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, sex work and mental illness.”

Isyss who was genetically born male but considers herself female, was 18 in the film and had been homeless for 1 week. She seemed to be the most optimistic of those at Sylvia’s about getting out and making a place for herself in the world so she set off to search for a job. She ended up at in New York after coming home from her school one day in Georgia when she was jumped by three guys and shot at. She felt that she had to run away. After a few weeks of searching for a job, she realized that once asked for identification people were did not like the fact that it said male although she considered herself female. After trying so hard, she felt defeated and said she didn’t know how to get out. You then see her later in the film, turning to prostitution as a way for her to make money. Kristen, another girl in the film, said that she figured Isyss would have to turn to prostitution, like Kristen, eventually. Isyss is unhappy being a prostitute, it makes her angry, but she would rather be a prostitute and be a woman than go back to being a male. If our society could be more open to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders so many people would be able to live safer and happier lives.

Loubriel, who was 21 at the making of this film, had already been homeless for three years and has many ways of making money. Unfortunately, as many others who are on the street, Loubriel got into drugs with the cycle being dope, detox and dope again. One can see when watching the film what Loubriel wanted so badly to find a way out and one of the last things that Loubriel is seen doing in the film is going to Beth Israel hospital to detox, swearing it will be the last time. Loubriel didn’t make it much longer though, as the film was made in memory of Loubriel who lived from 1984-2007. So many others suffer the same fate as Loubriel all because of the awful way society as a whole treats lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.

One of my gay friends said something once that changed the way I thought about those who are gay, lesbian bisexual or transgender. He said “it’s not like we choose this, why would we choose to be something that automatically makes people hate us and makes our lives that much harder”. This coming from a friend who is one of the smartest, most intelligent, outgoing people that I know and anyone else who knows him would say the same. Lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders are all people, are all human beings, and they have every right to be given the same opportunities and to be treated as equals in our society.

Blog Post # 9 in response to Question I

Jean Kilbourne’s film Killing Us Softly 3 accompanied by her presentation of the film clearly shows how the media “perpetuates rigid and narrow conceptualizations of masculinity and femininity to uphold patriarchy”.

Kilbourne gives multiple examples in her film that show that “advertising is the foundation of the mass media and that the foundation of the mass media is to sell products”. She states that advertising “tells us what we are and who we should be” but the trouble with this is advertising tells us that “what is most important about women is how we look” while men aren’t held to this standard. Because of advertising women feel that “if we aren’t beautiful or think or successful it is because we aren’t trying enough”. Of course, it is practically impossible to be as beautiful as the women seen throughout the media as that type of woman makes up only 5% of the population which really hit home when the statistic was given that “there are 3 billion women who don’t look like supermodels and 8 who do”. Yet, it seems that constantly everywhere we turn the American population is bombarded with advertisements. She showed ads that said that innocence is sexy and that the more you subtract the more you ad, how are these ads supposed to make women feel? Almost all the ads with females use white upper class women to sell the products.  Everything is so contradictory to the way life and real women actually are, it just doesn’t seem fare.

The comparison of males and females in the media are astonishing also. It shocked me that in the March 1999 issue of parenting every single issue featured active boys and passive girls. If parents don’t seem to realize this is happening the children certainly aren’t going to understand that anything is wrong with these pictures. One part in the film when she compared the ad for female breasts and men’s genitals I actually laughed out loud, it was funny, but it also made me slightly disgusted with how society is today. There never would be an ad like the ad she made up that talked about men that way, but it happens all the time with women. Women are expected to meet almost impossible standards and it truly does make sense why young female women have such low self-esteem and almost 1 in 5 have an eating disorder. Even when I was watching the ads, and seeing all of these extremely thin women, I actually thought to myself, “Guess I should hit the gym”.  It should not be like that for us but it is.

It was also interesting to note the way women of color were portrayed in the media. They are often shown as “animals and over and over again the real message is that they are not really human”. Unfortunately, turning a human being “into a thing is almost the first step into making violence acceptable” and turning her into an “object” makes it even worse.

I will say that some forms of media are taking a step to make advertisements more diverse and to eliminate the sexism, racism and cultural portrayal in the media. The Special K advertisement did a good job of this, and I was surprised that I had not seen it before. The Dove commercials, with the Dove beauty campaign also show women as “real women” with “real bodies”.  In the end, whether we are conscious or not of the media, the subliminal messages and attitudes deeply affect us. As Kilbourne said, we have the right to live “authentically and freely chosen lives, nothing else.” Yet, to be truly able to do live our lives freely we need to wake up and not stand for the way the media depicts men and women in advertisements because it makes it seem like it is okay, when in actuality, this could not be farther from truth.

Quick Blog # 3

1. Describe an experience where you were privileged or advantaged due to your class/socio-economic status.

I think the fact that I have even gone to college makes me privileged due to my class, but to push that even further the fact that I am going to come out of college with having very minimal loans to pay back makes me even more advantaged. I see how hard some of my friends work just to make it through college financially, and I feel guilty that financial issues throughout college have never been something that I have had to struggle with.

2. Describe an experience where your were oppressed or disadvantaged due to your class/socio-economic status.

Sometimes when I am shopping and I go into a store that sells expensive items, I get the feeling from the sales clerks that I am not welcome there. I feel like they are thinking, “what are you doing in here…there is no way that you are going to be able to purchase anything”. Which, most of the time is probably true. One store I went into I didn’t realize how expensive it actually as but when I looked a pair of jeans and saw they were selling for $300 I knew I was out of my element. Between the stares of the store owners and the awkwardness I felt of being somewhere where I wasn’t welcomed I quickly left and will probably never go back.

3. Write about an experience where you witnessed an incident of classism (remark, behavior, attitude) and your reaction to it.

I can’t think of any life changing experience where I witnessed an incident of classism, but I did have a friend back in high school that would often make comments about people’s style of fashion or way of living. This particular friend fell into the upper of the upper middle class, or maybe the lower of the upper class and she gave of an air of being a little better than everyone else. She really was a good person and I don’t even think she realized how much her being privileged because of her class affected the way she acted at times. Whenever she said something completely outrageous my other friends and I would usually say, “[Friend’s name!], you can’t just say something like that” its rude/disrespectful. I haven’t seen this friend since I went to college, but I wonder if she still acts the same or if she has come down to earth a little bit. My guess is, because of how used she was to her lifestyle she was, that she is probably the same but I am hoping maybe just maybe she has changed her viewpoint on other people slightly.

Blog Post # 8 in response to Question H

Throughout this course, I have come to realize that many forms of privilege and oppression exist in everyday life, but I never realized that one could experience oppression or privilege because of their chosen religion or faith in society. However, after reading the two articles on Christian privilege it became clear to me that Christian privilege does exist.

I have been baptized as a Christian for 21 years now and I never stopped to think about the privileges that I have because of my faith. To be honest, my family and I aren’t what you would call devout Christians. We are the family who attends church at the main Christian holidays-Christmas, Easter and occasionally Ash Wednesday yet we reap benefits that others don’t just because of our faith. I actually spent more time going to a Baptist church as a child because a friend of mine always invited me to come. Still, I never believed that someone needed to attend church to have a relationship with God, and I also do not believe that I should have privilege over others just because of my faith.

 Warren J. Blumenfeld, author of the article Christian Privilege and Promotion of “Secular” and not-so “Secular” Mainline Christianity in Public School and in the Larger Society discusses five common forms “overarching categories or face of powerlessness, exploitation, marginalization, cultural imperialism and violence in relation to privilege and oppression.

After reading Blumenfeld’s article I realized how much schools allow social norms to be marginalized and reproduced when it comes to religion. The school calendar is organized to meet the needs of Christian faith communities, while marginalizing others. Examples of this marginalization include “Jewish students who are compelled to request an excuse from school to attend religious services for their “High Holy Days” and between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kepper, which usually fall during the beginning of the academic year” (248). An interesting example Blumenfeld gave of marginalization was in regards to the case that involved the “17-year old Muslim high school student who was barred by school administrators from praying in an empty classroom at lunch and before and after class hours” (248).  In 1963 the U.S Supreme Court case ruled “unconstitutional any mandatory prayers or Bible reading at public schools, subsequent ruling declared the constitutionality of many form personal religion expression on school campus” (249).  CAIR (Council on American Islam Relations) stepped in on the student’s behalf and convinced the school district to reverse its policy (250). Lewis Z. Schlosser, also of Breaking a Sacred Taboo, also makes a good point when it comes to schooling and religion. He says that those with Christian privilege can be sure “that [their] children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence and importance of the Christian religion” (246). In school, a lot of the material that is taught and that I remember reading had emphasis on the Christian religion. It just seemed natural to me and I did not feel out of place reading or learning that material but those who practiced a different faith most probably did.

Christians also reap the benefits of privilege in America in many other ways. The workweek is structured to allow Christians “the opportunity to worship on Sundays without conflicting with their Monday to Friday work schedules” (251) .The promotion of music, especially Christmas, by radio stations and Christmas specials played on TV throughout November and December each year, Christmas decorations and the widespread availability of Christmas holiday decorations during the holiday seasons also show that people who are not Christian experience oppression (251). Schossler makes another valid point that shows Christian privilege when he says that one “one can display a Christmas tree and/or hang holly leaves in my home without worrying about one’s home being vandalized because of one’s’ religious identification” (247). Even the phrase “Under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance or “In God we Trust” on U.S currency shows that Christianity is regarded is the superior religion in our country. Little things that may seem insignificant to those with Christian privilege, because we don’t realize we have it, could have a big impact on the way others who do not practice Christianity feel in our society.

More and more I am realizing how common privilege and oppression is in our society. It seems that no matter where you turn or what you are talking about privilege exists in some way for some group of people. The majority of what I have learned in this course so far I never even realized were forms of privilege that I experienced, whether it be because of my race, class or religion. I feel almost guilty that society revolves so much around a certain groups of people and that I seem to fall into many of these categories and groups. At least now, I am realizing that I do have privilege and I am more aware of how my actions and the actions of others can affect people who don’t experience the same privileges that I do. There are steps that need to be taken to diminish the privileges that certain groups have so that society can be equal for all. It is not fair that some experience such great inequality because of their race or beliefs or gender and I know the saying that life isn’t fair, but I think eventually, if those with privilege took action to minimize the privilege that they have, life could be.

Video Treatment

Video Treatment

Topic
The whole subject of power, privilege and difference is new to me and I am still learning and still trying to get a grasp on a subject that is so expansive in material, emotions and viewpoints. However, racism is something that I have been aware of at least in some sense since a child, and I feel that I have more of an understanding of racism than any of the isms that we have studied thus far. Therefore, I will be choosing racism as the form of oppression that I want to discuss in the digital video.  Another reason I wanted to focus on racism for the digital video is because it can be observed and interpreted in so many different ways. This will allow me to delve into the issues of racism and try to understand it from different angles which will hopefully allow me to have a deeper understanding of why racism exists in the first place.

Story
For the project I have decided to make a video poem which is an “original poem you write and then illustrate with music and images” but with a different spin (JRR). A lot of the time, I can be very black and white in my thinking and in my writing. I think that some form of a poem/artistic collaboration will help me take a more creative approach on the subject and will push me to think about what words I want to use and how I want to portray what I believe racism is and how it affects our society. Words can say a lot, but music and images can say just as much, if not more. By combing words, music and images I hope that I can create a strong video that will have more of an impact than if I just used one of the three alone. There is a lot of information on racism, which includes articles songs, poems, essays-the list is endless. The spin off for my video poem is that I want the content of my video to be a collection of poems, songs and quotes written by those who have experienced racism whether they are famous or non-famous people. I will accompany the writing with images and music that I feel describe all of these forms of expression I will also write my own poem, which I think I will have somewhere towards the end of the video.  I want to show what I have learned from the research I have conducted and what I have taken away from reading and listening to all the works that show the experiences of those who have suffered from racism.

Software

The software I am going to use for the digital video will be Windows Live Movie Maker. I saw Power Point on the list and for awhile I was planning on using this because this was the only resource for producing a short digital video that I had used before. But, I figured this assignment was about creativity and this will probably one of the last chances I have before I graduate to do something different, and hopefully more creative, than what I have done before. Plus, I could potentially learn a new skill in the process. I have no experience with Windows Live Movie Maker, but I looked at the tutorial on You-tube and it was very thorough. I’ve downloaded everything I need for the program and if I need any additional help I have looked up and made sure there are more explanations available for the use of the program in case I need it.

Research
The research part of this project is actually what I am looking forward to the most (besides actually seeing the finished product). I am going to look up quotes, songs, poems and other articles that I can find online, through databases, online books and our own class textbooks that discuss racism first hand from those who have experienced it. The goal of all this research is to show to viewers how large and vast racism is and how much of a negative affect it can have on all of us.

Timeline
The timeline for my project will be as follows:

Wednesday-Research: Gather quotes, poems, songs, names, and images for the video.

Thursday-Finish gathering research and get music that goes along with the images/words. Start writing poem (finish is possible). Start making video.

Friday-Finish poem (if not finished Friday). Continue making video and works cited page.

Saturday-Finish the video treatment. Make sure everything flows smoothly and portrays the messages that I want viewers to understand. Upload it to You-tube and make sure it works correctly there as well.

Sunday-Process piece. Post on the blog.

Take Away Message
What I want viewers to take away from this video is how prevalent racism still is in our society. I want them to see how deep its roots are in our society and how much everyone suffers because of it. The more people see how much it hurts everyone, the better chance there is that they will fight for equality and for a racism free society for all.