NEWS MEDIA: Really The No-Spin Zone?

Now this is a topic I know a little bit of a lot about. Being a journalism major and all. I remember that ever since I was a little kid, I've loved the news media. I was always reading a newspaper or watching the evening news. I just loved being informed, and being able to tell people stuff that they did not know.

But nowadays, I find myself wondering where the good old fashioned journalism has gone. More and more, instead of hearing about what's going on in the world around me when I turn on the TV, I'm subjected to Bill O'Reilly's random tirades about who knows what. Sometimes I wonder if journalists are being replaced with people who just have really "out there" opinions.

Don't get me wrong, I still love Journalism. I couldn't see myself doing anything else, but sometimes I wonder if there will be a need for the kind of journalist that I am in the future. People get so caught up on what Lindsay Lohan got arrested for, what Britney Spears is up to nowadays, and whether O.J. really did it---again. I, on the other hand, could care less. I care about the things that shape the way we live. I care about politics, and healthcare, and education, and the things that have a true impact on the way that my life is going to run. But am I the last of a dying breed? Should I just jump on the entertainment bandwagon and start trying to be the next host of Access Hollywood.

People say I'm a pretty funny guy, i'm pretty personable, and I ain't half bad lookin. Sometimes it seems like that's all it takes to get on TV these days. Maybe I should just be the next Keith Olbermann. I mean, I got stuff to say too. But nah... I can't do that. I can't compromise everything that I believe a journalist should be.

So until somebody cares what I have to say, I'll just continue to tell you about the little things in life. You know, the stuff like the upcoming presidential election. Or about how gas prices are continuing to climb and that we're still in war. But I'm sure people would much rather hear the big stories. You know--the ones where celebrities are caught in the middle.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-THe 4th

SPENDING HABITS: Living The Glamorous Life

It seems like these days, everybody is trying to "stunt like dey daddy."

I found myself in awe my first FAMU Homecoming. I saw cars bigger than what my parents drove, the craziest hair concoctions, and outfits that my paycheck would hide from. I found myself wondering how people could afford all of this stuff. I later realized that many of the people who appeared to be livin it up were pretty much broke. I realized this when one day, I was in class. There was a guy there who had a fly ride. You could tell this dude loved his car more than life itself. But then one day he wasn't feeling too well. A classmate of mine asked him why he wouldn't just go to the doctor, to which he replied that he didn't have any insurance and couldn't afford it.

Are you serious?

Your car has 24 inch rims with a couple TV's, yet you can't afford to get your body checked out? What kind of sense does that make? I find it utterly ridiculous what people are willing to put themselves through just so people can look at them and say that they like their car. NEED ATTENTION MUCH?

In class, one of my colleagues said something along the lines of spending habits pretty much come down to what you like. I guess if I can rock the same Express jacket in four different colors, then a dude can have a random chick riding on his car hood down the street. But still... is it all worth it? Chances are, probably not. Because in a year or so, it will all be out of style again anyway.

Maybe I'll start putting my money into something lucrative. Like stocks or bonds or something.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

Video Games: Fattening Up Our Youth

Now I never really was a gamer. That was my brother's thing. He could sit in front of the television and play video games for HOURS. Madden was his favorite. It seemed like every time I walked into the room he was winning another Super Bowl. I kept thinking to myself, "get a freakin life."

Nowadays, video games are being blamed for making all the kids fat. Nobody's going outside to play anymore because all the kids are sitting on their butts playing Grand Theft Auto. Do I agree with that? Yes and no. I do agree that since the advent of things like Playstations and the Wii, kids really don't want to go outside very much anymore. I mean, what's the point? Why go outside and run around in the hot sun playing made up games when I can chill in my room and rob people? But on the other hand, parents have got to stop letting video games raise their children.

These days nobody wants to take responsibility for their actions. People say that video games are making kids fat. Last time I checked, there's not a video game out there that reaches out from the screen and physically holds your child down and keeps them from going outside. If your kid is getting fat, make them go outside. Make them take a walk. Why should video game makers be responsible for raising your kid too. What are you doing?

I guess when it all boils down to it, too much of anything can be bad. Video games are no exception. HOWEVER, if your kid plays video games all day, everyday and you don't say anything, please don't try and come after Sony when your kid has diabetes and can't breath. Maybe you should have taken them to the track instead of letting them watch animated characters run around one.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

AMERICAN LANGUAGE: The Things We Say

I will admit, I don't really see too much of a difference in this topic, and the topic "Do Words Matter." I mean, I guess you could say that this topic is about the language of the United States in general, moreso than just specific words, but who knows about that? LOL. J/K. (I swear I love all of these topics Dr. C-Dub-Squared.)

I've been told that the English language is the most difficult to learn and understand. I guess that's true. When I was living in Italy and when I was visiting Spain and studying the language in school, I noticed that they were straightforward. One word, meant one thing, and that was it. You didn't have all these words that meant a bunch of different things. Think about it. Two, too and to... what's the point of all that? No wonder these poor immigrants don't know what we're talking about! It's a wonder any of us were able to pick up this crazy language.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

DO WORDS MATTER: What You Talkin Bout!

Hmmm... Do words matter? I guess that depends on what you mean by the topic. Of course, the journalist in me says yes. I mean... duh.

But anyway, I think that words have more power and influence than people would like to believe. Think about it. When you were back in elementary, middle, high school... maybe even now. You could just be chillin with your friends, crackin on each other, but there were two words that could completely mess that up. "Your mama." Those two words used to spark more fights than I can count.

On the same token, there were some people who were picked on relentlessly in elementary or middle school, and maybe even now. People say hurtful things and they have to just deal with it. Do those words matter? Yes.

You have the illusionists who spout of little nursery rhymes like, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That's a load of crap. Whoever came up with that should be beaten.

Anyway,

Words make up a major part of everyday life. World wars have been waged, and lives have been changed...with words. So do words matter? Of course they do retard.

See... you felt some kind of way about me calling you a retard. I told you they matter.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

GENDER: The Battle Of The Sexes

Gender is always a pretty good discussion topic. If you ever want to spark a good debate, just ask a group of people if women belong in the kitchen, or to just define the roles of each gender. I remember that for this topic, the presenters split the class up into two groups. Men on one side, women on another. (I remember because they had all the guys go sit over by the window and it was cold outside...) But anyway, I always find it funny that chicks... excuse me... women are always hollerin about how they're independent, and don't need anybody to do stuff for them, etc. I swear, they hear one freakin song and watch a couple of Charlies Angels movies and all of a sudden everybody wants to be all, "I am woman hear my roar."

Whatever.

Now don't get me wrong. I think its admirable, even sexy, when a woman is doin it big for herself. Make your own money, buy your own stuff. That's all good. I mean, who would discourage that? But it just gets ridiculous when you open the door for a chick, and they just MUST let it be known that they could have done it themselves. I mean... really? Excuse the hell out of me if my parents taught me how to be a gentleman. I mean, would you rather me walk through a door and let it slam shut and hit you in the face? Probably not. Then, I would be the one with the problems. I swear, chicks are so weird sometimes. I mean, what is it that you really want anyway? DO YOU EVEN KNOW?!?!

BUT ANYWAY...

I guess when it comes to the whole gender thing, I take my usual, "do you" stance. If you want to be a stay at home mom, raise the kids, clean the house, and make sure dinner is ready when your husband gets home. Cool. Do you.

On the other hand, if you wanna be she-woman and work 10 hours a day, take care of the bills, and kick back with a beer and an NFL game, that's cool too. Do You. But don't trip when the next time we walk into a store and you get the sh*t knocked out of you by the door.

GENETICS: You Look Just Like...

Genetics. Now this topic, I would venture to say that I'm pretty familiar with. I mean, I took science class. I know that you get some of your genes from your mom, some from your dad, all that stuff. But I will admit, that this topic was one of the most interesting that I heard. THe presenters talked about how your genes could determine whether you were going have certain diseases, as well as a ton of other thigns. It got me to thinking: What could my parents have handed down to me. I already know that I had to get this crappy immune system from my mom. (My dad never gets sick.) I also got the majority of my looks from my mom. I've been told that me, my mom and my sister look like triplets. (Moreso when I was younger, but whatever.)

I've never been a science buff, but I guess this genetics thing is pretty again. I mean, when you think about it, genetics are only the building blocks of your entire being, so I guess they're kinda hot. But at the expense of sounding like a science geek, I think I'll cut this discussion off right here.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

CULTURAL IDENTITIES: Is Anyone In Your Family A Terrorist?

As harsh and insensitive as it sounds, I've definitely heard the title of this blog come out of peoples mouths before. I find it so interesting sometimes how people automatically assume that just because something is different from what they believe, or what their heritage says, then it's wrong.

True story: I'm back in high school, shortly after 9/11. There was a kid that I went to school with whose first name was Osama. I was so shocked that people actually did not want to have anything to do with him. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know who the boy was before Sept. 11, 2001, but I ran into him shortly thereafter, and knew who he was because I had heard people talk about them. It's interesting to note that the terrorists who killed so many people that day were driven by the same hatred and fear that the kids at my high school were showing. People really need to get over themselves and try to see things from a different perspective. Instead of rejecting the unknown, how about we try and learn something from it? I guess maybe that just makes too much freakin sense. Then again, what do I know right? I'm just a skinny black dude who's lived on 2 continents, a few countries, and visitied dozens of cities. Little sheltered, old me.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

SOCIAL NETWORKING: All Up In My Biz-Nass

Facebook. Myspace. You Tube.
Why does it seem like people always wanna be up in your business these days?
Billie and J-Bake (don't really know why that's the first thing that popped in my head while I was thinking about who else was assigned that topic, but I digress.) Anyway, on the topic of social networking sites, I guess I can't really say that I'm against them because I'm a member of all three of those sites. I check my Facebook more often than I check my email. What can I say, the good folks at the 'The Books' headquarters knew what they were doing. They created the electronic equivalent of drugs. Kids all over the world are facebooking like never before, and lovin it.

I found myself thinking about this very topic a few days ago. In particular, I was thinking about how when Facebook first introduced the mini-feed and news feed, the Facebook nation went CRAZY. There was so much of an outrage that major media outlets like USA Today, The New York Times, and even Time magazine wrote about this massive uprising of college students. I even wrote an editorial about it for the The Famuan newspaper. (A pretty good one might I add.)

But that was a long time ago. Now it seems like Facebook is really, as my cousin would say, "doin the most." They've invited almost anybody with an email address, business can log on and check out potential employees, you can buy party tickets, post videos, and anonymously confess to your secret crush all the crazy things you fantasize about. Does it really take all of that? Nope.

And what about Myspace. Oh, myspace. That's a funny one. I check my Myspace page much less frequently than my Facebook. Mainly, because I know there's not that much happening on it. Most of my MySpace friends are on Facebook anyway. On top of that, every amature stripper and wannabe rapper is on MySpace trying to befriend me, so what's the point. I DON'T KNOW YOU AND I DON'T REALLY SUPPORT YOUR CAREER EITHER! Harsh. Maybe. Call me crazy but sometimes I wish we could just go back to the days when only your college peers could stalk you through the computer and poke you numerous times. I guess it's just so much worse when strangers do it.....

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th

BODY IMAGE: Just Me and The Mirror

My classmates Janai Kelley and Shaquana Harper had the topic of body image. I immediately thought, "oh great, now I have to hear about how men make women feel like crap... blah, blah, blah." I mean, and why wouldn't I think that? The first thing that popped into my head was TLC's "Unpretty." Of course, it was probably the guy who made the girl get breast implants, and its been said that girls often buy there hair to look nice for the opposite sex. But why does it have to be that way? Why can't chicks just be happy with who they are?

But I will admit that it was interesting getting my classmates perspective on body image. There was a little bit of "men vs. women-ness" going on (of course guys won) but it wasn't too bad. I got the opportunity to see things from a different perspective. The way a person perceives themself can have a paralyzing affect on the way that they live their life. A person who is not confident about their body can lead a life of fear and unacceptance. It was also interesting to hear some of the statistics about what people go through to make their body "perfect." That includes surgery, crash diets, and even starvation. I never really thought about the way that I view myself until after Janai and Shaquana's presentation. I guess it's a good thing I could care less about what other people think. lol.

Livin My Life In High Definition
-The 4th