The Learning Channel

The television station, TLC, has been known for its odd collection of shows, but I feel like recently they have really stepped it up a notch. I grew up knowing that they had shows like, "A Baby Story," and "Trading Spaces." Now they have shows like, "Virgin Diaries" and "Extreme Cougars," that are extremely ridiculous and are not family oriented in the least.  The station went from having innocent, family shows, to shows that are explicit and show people with extreme habits. "Virgin Diaries" was about couples who never had sex until marriage, and "Extreme Cougars" was about women who were going after men younger than more than half their age. I think it is ridiculous that this is where our television is going. Yes, I find these shows interesting, but it also kind of scares me into where the future of reality television is headed. Innocence is not attractive or interesting anymore and that scares me. It seems like unless something is extreme and/or disturbing, the audience will not be great enough for the show to have success. There always needs to be a scandal or something dangerous to draw in the viewers and high ratings. I can't wait to see where reality shows are headed because I think the next generation will be growing up in a much uncensored and more disturbing world than we grew up in and I think that is unfortunate.

Reflections

This semester definitely flew by! I can't believe our last week of classes is about to start and we will be beginning our last semester here at Witt. This was my last course in the Journalism program and I can honestly say I truly enjoyed it. I don't know if I grew much throughout this course, but I think I have definitely  grown a great deal from my first class, Beginning Journalism with Mac my sophomore year, to this course. I came in to Macs beginner class thinking I knew everything since I wrote for my paper in high school and I was not open-minded to learning new things. But I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn and in order to improve as a journalist I need to accept change and have an open mind. The major change I can see in myself is my confidence in interviewing strangers. I have become more comfortable meeting new people and asking them questions. I have also gotten fairly decent at writing a story in my head during the interview. During the interview I can sense what is important and what is not and what would make a good quote and what does not. Overall, the whole journalism process has become much easier for me and I have learned to enjoy it and perhaps use these skills in my future career.

Stuffed

I was very thankful for the opportunity to go home and spend time with my family who I love very much. But, Thanksgiving break is just a teaser and as much fun as it is, it just stresses me out more knowing that I have to return back to school for a very rough 3 weeks. One of my favorite things about break was the traditional black friday shopping! This year, despite our principles, my mom, brother, my boyfriend and I were one of the many people that ventured out into the evening to Target. We were not waiting in line for anything specific or rushing in to get a certain item, but we went more for the experience and we have fun doing it. My mom and I also went out the next day and we finished all of our Christmas shopping! I know to some people this may seem absurd but I really enjoy knowing I don't have to worry about shopping on top of all of my exams and projects. It also makes me all the more excited for Christmas because I don't have anything to stress about. I do hope though that stores quit opening on Thanksgiving, because it is not fair to the employees that they can't be with their families and they have to come in and work on a holiday. My fear is that stores are going to keep opening earlier and earlier and before we know it they will open early Thanksgiving morning, which is just wrong. But, I do look forward to the next Thanksgiving because at that point hopefully I will be on a new path with a job and I will be living on my own!

Thanksgiving!

Every year I look forward to the great holiday of Thanksgiving not just for the immense amounts of great tasting food but also for the time I can spend with my family. To me, Thanksgiving is just a preview for Christmas break. I love spending time with my family and what better way to get together than over a table with a warm delicious meal. According to the Baltimore Sun, Americans consume 46 million turkeys on Thanksgiving! I look forward to not only the original meal, but also the leftovers that are sure to follow. But back to the topic of families, I could not imagine the students here who are not able to go home for Thanksgiving. But what I love about Witt is that it can be like a family and it is great to know that these students are able to go home with their friends and celebrate with their families. A tradition me, my aunt and my mom do every year after dinner, is strategize what our plan of attack is for the next day: BLACK FRIDAY. I love shopping and it is something the women in my family bond over. I could not imagine missing out on these activities had I chosen to go to a school across the country.

Witt's downsizing

I think it is very unfortunate that Wittenberg's budget cuts have come this far. It is sad that they are affecting students this way. But in all reality, something has to be done. I want Wittenberg to last and it seems that at the rate things are going, in the next few decades Wittenberg may not be in existence. What makes this situation so difficult, is that no one is happy about it and it is going to affect someone on campus no matter where the cuts come from. Whether it is cutting tenure, eliminating departments, or removing programs. I wish it did not have to come to this, but I think the forums are a good way for students and faculty to voice their opinions. I am sure they are going to cut or remove some of those departments, but looking at the facts, who can blame them? With 17 professors and an average of 4 majors, the Music department is not economically beneficial to Witt. Witt is a business and it's main objective is to make money, so when they need to make reductions they need to look at the poor producing departments on campus. It just stinks because so many great things come from the music and dance departments such as the choirs, concerts and the dance concerts. And computer science is a growing field, that it is a shame if Witt has to cut it before it has a chance to grow. Hopefully someone can think of an alternative idea to save the university, but until then we must all stick together and support each other.

Below is a link to the Torch's article on the music forum:
http://thewittenbergtorch.com/?p=7429

The power of social media

Throughout this whole election process, it blew my mind how much social media sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn became hot spots for political news and viewpoints. I'm sure this was pretty evident as well four years ago, I myself was not on them, but even in the last four years the power of the Internet and social media in general has grown tremendously. It blew my mind how everyone was posting their opinions and reactions on Facebook and Twitter last night and it almost seemed as if their filters had been turned off sometimes. Not only are the social media websites powerful for events such as the election, but I have noticed the value of knowing how to operate them is to employers. Employers are looking for those skills in our generation because we grew up with these websites and we have the most experience with how to work them. I have found this especially evident since I, like many people in the class, am a Communication major and have found how important these sites are when job hunting. Most companies have Facebook and Twitter pages and I have learned the importance of looking up these companies to see how they use their social media. The only thing I can wonder is, what new social media websites will surface next?

This article touches on how social media has affected journalism:
http://www.ndsmcobserver.com/scene/the-importance-of-social-media-1.2680499#.UJqvK8XA-So

The Aftermath

I thought the election results were very interesting seeing how close they were. The one thing I did not understand, and I would have been confused had it been in Romney's favor as well, was why they called it that Obama had won Ohio before many of the votes were even counted? Because, even though it worked out that he won and all, at points after they had called his win, Romney had more votes and was winning over Obama. Maybe I missed something, perhaps that had to do with the electoral college, but none of my housemates could understand that situation. Also, I know everyone has their own viewpoints, but I felt that this election divided people more than bringing them together. At one point I stopped going on Facebook and Twitter because I was tired of seeing all the hateful comments back and forth between Obama and Romney supporters. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but perhaps I censor myself more than others and I was surprised at some of the comments people were leaving. I am glad I did stay up though late enough to see how people on the news were reacting, such as the supporters in Chicago for Obama, and Romney's in Massachusetts. Of course, those people were feeling united in their separate locations, but I wish there was some way to unite the people of differing parties and stop all of the trash talk back and forth.