Talk.

“Talk it out, don’t text it out. Things can come across wrong in text.”

YOLO people!

An End.

Grace College Valedictory Dinner 2012
"Once a Gracie, Always a Gracie"

Here's what our parents never taught us

Here’s what our parents never taught us

You will stay up on your rooftop until sunlight peels away the husk of the moon, chain-smoking cigarettes and reading Baudelaire, you will learn that you only ever want to fall in love with someone who will stay up to watch the sun rise with you. 

You will fall in love with train rides, and sooner or later you will realize that nowhere seems like home anymore. A woman will kiss you and you’ll think her lips are two petals rubbing against your mouth. 

You will not tell anyone that you liked it.

It’s okay. It is beautiful to love humans in a world where love is a metaphor for lust.You can leave if you want, with only your skin as a carry-on. All you need is a twenty in your pocket and a bus ticket. All you need is someone on the other end of the map, thinking about the supple curves of your body, to guide you to a home that stretches out for miles and miles on end.

You will lie to everyone you love.They will love you anyways.

One day you’ll wake up and realize that you are too big for your own skin.

Molt. Don’t be afraid.

- Here’s what our parents never taught us (Shinji Moon)

Entry #12: Investigative Journalism

This lecture was all about Investigative Journalism, its deeper meaning and purpose etc.
It went in depth on the 5 "INS", which were:

1. Intelligent
2. Informed
3. Intuitive
4. Inside
5. Invest

The lecture further explored the deeper meanings and the purpose of Investigative Journalism. As for me, I'd almost always hit up "handy-dandy" website, Wikipedia for definitions.
So here it goes:
Wikipedia defined Investigative Journalism as a form of journalism which involves reporters deeply investigating a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption or coporate wrong-doing. Other terms used for this kind of Journalism are "Watchdog journalism" or "Accountability reporting".

And obviously, I had to Google "Investigative Journalism" (oh boy, what would I do without Google...have I mentioned this before?), and I came across this website. It's by The Age, and it is solely dedicated to Investigative Journalism in Australia! And the amount of investigative articles being published on the site is awesomely saucey AMAZING! I mean, the amount of time, effort and dedication (not forgetting the guts) to actually put yourself in harms way to get a story, to educate the public about what is happening, to make sure that information is provided to everyone so that democracy is maintained- by interrogating the judiciary, executive and legislature.

During the lecture, Bruce covered a number of gutsy investigative journalist who shaped and changed the world. At that moment, I thought of Anna Politkovskaya. I learned about Anna when I got into the "right-side of Youtube". Okay, side track for abit: when  I mean by right side of Youtube- you know sometimes you end up at a weird video of someone trying to pop a pimple (why are you even filming it?!) or, watching horses go crazyyyyyyyy? Yeah, this was not like that. I stumbled across this documentary called "Letter to Anna", which was about her life and death. Anna was killed in 2006, after being shot in the elevator of her apartment block.

Anna was a Russian Journalist who was "into" the whole "Chechen conflict and President Putin" never-ending war. She published her investigations and "inside stories" through a well-known Russian newspaper Novaya gazeta, which heavily focus on Russian politics and social issues. She wrote several articles against Putin and the Chekists. Despite receiving several death threats, she did not back down and continued publishing articles about the government. Her murder was described as "robbing too many of us of absolutely vital sources of information and contact" by Jon Snow, a well known news anchor for UK's Channel 4. I can find no words to express how I feel about Anna. I mean, to know that people are out there to kill and still continue writing and exposing the truth is beyond bravery. To me, she will always be a real hero for Russia, and aspiring female Journalist out there. She taught me that, if you want something so bad- be it news, grades, results, anything, go all the way and do not stop until you reach where you're going. Even when the going gets tough.
I feel like she knew that she had a duty to her country, and her people. And like how the saying goes, "the truth will set you free", and obviously, she was trying to set her people free. I am sure that her hardwork would be continued be someone.

From this example itself, I have learned how dangerous Investigative Journalism can be. It requires times, dedication and heaps of courage.
And now when I think about it, I am not someone who will be into such stuff- I mean come on! I run the other way when I see a spider. But maybe with time, and if I find something I am passionate about, I might consider IJ...but at the meantime, I am sticking to Cosmo.

NAOTB: Lianne La Havas

Okay, so it has been ages since I actually put up a "New" Artist on the Block/blog (? whatever you take it brooooo). Anyway, I was recently catching up on "Pretty Little Liars"'s third season. And I came across this amazingly awesome-sauce song by Lianne La Havas.

AND I AM HOOKED!
So, you- yes you, get hooked. And I promise, you won't regret it.
Trust me on this.

AOTB: Ellie Goulding

Speechless.
Ms "Gold"-ing is back.

Annotated Bibliography- The TA(bortion)BOO and Media

Press, A. L. (1991). Working-class women in a middle-class world: The impact of television on modes of reasoning about abortion. Critical Studies in Mass Communication. 8(4), 421-441. doi :10.1080/15295039109366807.

The author, an Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Michigan and well known for her research studies addressing feminist media issues, investigates how small-scaled focus groups of working-class and middle-class women deliberate abortion- before and after viewing a television show that treats the issue, using qualitative research techniques in Social Sciences. The author also explored the differences between the discourse of the social classes on the issue. The differences or similarities in the influence of television on abortion discourse between the two groups was also investigated. Through this study, Press determined that the group of working-class women exhibited a clear analytical mode of speech compared to the middle-class women, when discussing abortion. Groups speeches were also shown to be skewed following the viewing of the 30 minutes version of a television show, Cagney and Lacey, where characters discussed several issues surrounding abortion. The limitation of this study was the small sample size used. Opinions expressed on abortion were also based on a 30 minutes clip of one television show. The author concludes by providing a frame of reference for other researchers to analyse if class differences cause similarities in response to other types of shows, such as documentary programming, television movies, or the new “docudrama” form. The framework developed in the article is useful in providing an understanding of the parallelled relationship between media and abortion, as a social taboo.

Good, C. (2012, October 17). Mitt Romney, the Abortion and Contraception Moderate in New TV Ad. ABCNews- The Note. Retrieved from: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/10/mitt-romney-the-abortion-and-contraception-moderate-in-new-tv-ad/

The author, a political reporter for ABC News who had previous experiences as a national political online reporter, validates the new TV advertisment released by Mitt Romney, a US Presidential hopeful. The article describes the advertisement as platform to portray Romney as an impartial on abortion and contraception, after being slammed for his opinions on women’s health issues. The author proposes that with the airing of the advertisement, it would improve Romney’s campaign by significantly narrowing the gap among women, after the first presidential debate against current office holder, Barrack Obama. Good carried on by analysing both, Romney’s advertisement and Obama’s advertisement “Dangerous”, which debuted in September. He argues that the claims presented in the ads, on both sides are convoluted, and provides further evidences for his statement. The author also used a subset of the Tampa Bay Times, Politifact.com, which reviews statements made by Congress, the White House and other prominent political individuals in the United States, as a reference to suggest misinterpretation of views. He suggest that the Democrats misconstrued Romney’s support for a constitutional amendment defining life as beginning at contraception as, support for a no-exception abortion ban. The author continues by highlighting the reason for Romney moderating his standpoint on abortion, by emphasizing his comment to the Des Moines Register regarding his retreat from the abortion legislation as president. 

Piazza, J. (2011, November 2). Abortion No Longer Taboo Topic on Prime Time Television. Fox News. com- Entertainment. Retrieved from http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2011/11/01/abortion-no-longer-taboo-topic-on-prime-time-television/

Jo Piazza, a journalist for well-known commercial media platforms like CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and NPR- where the audiences are the consumers, covers the increasing trends of abortion being worked into storylines of popular prime time television series like Friday Night Lights and Grey’s Anatomy. The author begins the article by establishing that although plotlines involving abortion has become increasingly common- with some appreciating the erosion of stigmas surrounding abortion, there are a handful who are alarmed by this deviation. She supported the latter by quoting Dan Gainor, vice president for business and culture at the Media Research Center, who stated that the usage of television as a platform for liberal media to win the abortion issue is dangerous. However, the author also provided a contrasting view and argument made by Chole Angyal, a writer for the blog Feministing.com, who claimed that the increasing number of depictions of abortions in pop culture accurately outlines the experiences of real women. She further discusses the the context of abortion portrayed as a viable option, by referencing Jessica Wakeman, who blogs about women’s issues, who suggested that abortion should not only be brought up by TV writers as a “vehicle  to make the woman have a miscarriage”.

Williams, D. and Conlan, T. (2012, 18 October). Judges condemn TV for censoring abortion film. Daily Mail. Retrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-105104/Judges-condemn-TV-censoring-abortion-film.html

Williams and Conlan’s article surrounds the ruling of Britain’s TV companies, namely BBC and independent channels ITV and Channel 4, after refusing to broadcast a party political advertisement featuring the products of abortion. As the world’s largest public service broadcaster, BBC was quoted by the authors, arguing that their decision was made on grounds of decency and good taste. The authors showed evidence supporting BBC’s decision by mentioning BBC’s chief political adviser Anne Sloman’s viewpoint, stating that the Parliament has entrusted TV companies with the obligation not to air materials that offends against good taste and decency, or likely to be offensive to public feelings. The article proceeds to claim that the requirement has been overridden by the Court of Appeal for the benefits of party election broadcasts. Reactions to the ruling was balanced by Willams and Conlan, as the ProLife leader Bruno Quintavallae was described as “hailing” the ruling an achievement for freedom of speech. The authors diverted their focus towards the ruling judge, Lord Justice Laws, and explored extensively into his reasons for passing the "guilty" verdict.Comparing this article with that written by Piazza (2011),it is evident that the media platforms, together with broadcasting laws, are moving towards a new era, with freedom of speech. This would significantly push the topic of abortion out of the "taboo" zone. As quoted by Williams and Conlan (2012), freedom of political speech has to be given to an accredited party at a general election, and interfering with the freedom of speech should not be based on "taste and decency alone".

Entry #11: Agenda Setting

Image obtained from Google.com

I think this image perfectly describes Agenda Setting, which was the topic for this lecture. In this lecture, Bruce covered the definition of Agenda Setting. In the beginning of this lecture, I had problems understanding the definition of Agenda Setting (awkies...) So, obviously- I used Wiki, and you can stop judging me thereeeeee.
Anyway, here goes the definition:

Agenda-setting theory describes the "ability [of the news media] to influence the salience of topics on the public agenda (Source: Wikipedia)

He also went on by introducing us to the different types of Agenda Settings: which included 1) Public, 2) Policy, 3) Corporate and  4) Media Agenda- which are all inter-related. The "Agenda-Setting Family" was discussed as well. This included:

• Media Gatekeeping - where the media decides what would be revealed to the Public
• Media Advocacy - where the media promotes an important message or cause
• Agenda Cutting - where most of the important "bits" which are going on in the world, like AIDS, Child Trafficking, isn't represented due to importance on other issues like "Lady Gaga's OOT" - like seriously, if she wore meat, that would be front page! oh wait....she did that already! -_-
• Agenda Surfing - where the media follows the crowd and trends, and shows how the existing public opinion influences others towards a particular opinion.
• Diffusion of News- portrayal of an issue influences how one perceives it.

I came past this quote, and it perfectly explains how I feel about Agenda Setting:

“The social world is … a kaleidoscope of potential realities, any of which can be readily evoked by altering the way in which observations are framed and categorized."

— Edelman

 Its amazing how once something is portrayed in the media, we automatically believe that it has got to be real. I mean, why would they release something false, right?...NO! Recently, there has been a number of "Twitter Deaths" where celebrities were killed on Twitter. Every single time I went on twitter, guess what was trending? (okay no jellybeans for correct guesses. Poor Uni student here :/) Yeah, you got it- "SO-AND-SO, RIP". I mean seriously, MORGAN FREEMAN?! That dude is a legend okay! >:(
This shows that you can never believe everything you read or hear. So, everyone got to do our little homework (on top of Uni work) to find out if whatever information we are getting is actually reliable.

Happy 22nd, My Travel Buddy!

So, it was my travel bud's 22nd over the weekends!
As a birthday surprise for her, my sister and I booked a makeover package at Bodyshop and boyyyyyyyyyyy, we turned into beauties. YEAP WE DID!

Honestly, I am not a makeup person. I don't know how to put on makeup.
So, when the makeup artist was explaining about the brushes and whatever not, I was thinking whether I should do my laundry tomorrow or the day after.

But, I must say...the makeup artist did an AMAZING JOB.
Highly recommend: The BodyShop! woot woot!
And after that, we decided to go for a casual dinner at Saint Lucy. Little snippets of our shameless selfies and other shenanigans.