What happened in the classroom

One of my big challenges was getting my story for change right. When we got together to plan our lesson we watched my reedit of the my story for change. I did not think about it too much when I was reworking it but both Sam and Sammi thought that it was too violent for 7 graders. So I went back and worked on it again and tried to make it even, even better by re-reworking it. I am very glad because I really feel that my story for change was really good and I even was told by Benjamin that it was really good. It did make me feel slightly defeated when the very first movie that was mentioned after I showed my video was Gladiator, a very much rated R movie. Which was followed by a questionable PG-13 movie. So all my re-rework felt a little pointless but I know that it was best that I made it more kid friendly.

The other thing that happened while we were planning is that we bounced back and forth with what we wanted to teach. We really wanted to tie the lesson in to what they were already learning about, which was research. But we kept leading ourselves away to media literacy. Then we finally realized that we could teach both. So we started the lesson talking about research and how students do it all the time and then we ended the lesson with changing stories and picking good ones as well.

I was very excited to see Sam teach, he got the kids involved and got them talking. He was fun and upbeat and he got the kids thinking with his questions and he also kept them in control when they started to get too excited.

Sammi keep everything very organized. She is a teacher at the MTC and it showed in the organization of our lesson. Also she was very sweet with all of the kids that she talked to.

I was very excited to teach them and I was a little surprised when I got up there to talk because I felt like they listened to me. The sat quietly while I talked for a bit and helped them understand our messages.

Our goal was to help them understand that research can be fun and also that we can chose good media. I felt like that it came through very clearly but our class was very well behaved that day. I am not sure what else to write about just that it felt like it went really good. There was one part when I started to panic because we started an activity where they could either draw or write a new ending to a story. I looked around the room and everyone had blank pages, but this was only because they were thinking. Soon their papers were filled and they were excited to share their new story.

So my teaching technique is to make good choices and to discuss the films that we see. I feel like we very much introduced the idea and that if we could teach more times we would be able to help them do this even better. Though I am very surprised at how much we were able to teach in our short 50 minutes or so. It really was the highlight of this class for me.

Freedom Writers, not riders

After watching the first 8 minutes of Freedom Riders, I realized that our screening was Freedom Writers. After I got back on track and watching the right movie I was actually completely captivated. This movie is so emotional and powerful. I loved the message that it carried and my favorite part was when the one student stands up and tells the old woman who survived the holocaust that she is his hero, she says something like, no, no, I’m just a person who know what was the right thing to do. She goes on to say that that all of the students have the heart to do the right thing.

Also our reading was When Are Questions the Answer and the very first part of it is talks about how the best part of being a teacher is when students have an eye opening moment. That is really all what this movie is all about. The reading also talks about decoding, which is talking a book or a film and pulling out the deeper meaning. In this movie they decode the books that they read. Another point that is made in the reading is that decoding can be effective individually but is more effective in a classroom or group. Both individual decoding and a classroom of decoding is shown is this film. We get people reading the book and you can see the change that it brings in their own life. Then we also see the class discussing and also getting involved in their community to decode the text that Ms. G gives them. One part of the decoding process is to make sure that you are pulling from a rich media source. This is shown in Freedoms Writers when she decides to start them off with a book that is about a boy that is in a gang.

The one part of the movie that I did not agree with is when Ms. G fights to have her students for the next year, Junior year. I personally thought that it would be more awesome if she told them that they need to go and do good in the world. I thought that it was a good relationship up to that point but it was starting to become clear that she was getting close to crossing the teacher friend line. Her husband sees it and even leaves her for it. I still think that this woman is a hero because of what she did for the kids. It is important for a student to be influenced by a teacher but not to become reliant on the teacher.

Going back to decoding the reading talks about how we should be careful because we could have the opposite effect that we want. The reading uses the example of pulling together images of models that are skinny. What may happen is a girl may only remember the skinny, successful women, rather than the images she was supposed to learn form and see could fall into the very eating habits that you attempted to get her out of. In the movie I remember the one boy that misses a lot of class because even though he reads the book 12 angry men he feels that it is just a book and cannot change the reality of his brother going to jail.

Though this movie does have some ideas that lack perfection it is overall a very helpful movie to understand decoding and even to be decoded itself.

Catching Fire

I liked this movie so much better than the first one. I realize now that the first Hunger Games is mostly to just set the stage and explain how awful, if that can even begin to describe, the capital. In the first one the problem is presented. But in the second one, something is down about the problem. I love when the contestants start to speak out against the capital at their interview. I also love how Peeta tells everyone that Katniss is pregnant, which brings the crowd the horror of the truth, that the games are awful and should not happen. There is also action taken by leaders who seem to been with the capital until the true, that they are planning against the capital.

We talking in class that it is important to find a problem but the hope is not just to find it but to begin to do something. Even if that something is just raising awareness.

One interesting thing that is happening in this movie is all the media is controlled by the capital. So much like some of the theories we have engaged in the media is run by the man, as it were. We have talked before that we really don't have a choice in media, that it is either Ford or Chevy it is really the same think. In the case of the Hunger Games Catching Fire that is true. And unlike in our day where we have ways of creating our own media and sharing it, they had nothing to create videos or even communicate with each other except through the capitals media. That is why Peeta gets so good at using opportunities to use the media of the capital to give money to the family of the little black girl.

In the movie there is this idea where the people in the capital eat so much that they will throw-up just to keep on eating. Where the districts are starving. We see this as a counter argument against capitalism. For just because one person or group of people can get more food does not always mean that they should keep it for themselves. We need to share that wealth. Though I am glad they do not address how because that is a tricky question.

As far as the movie goes itself there are a few problems. For example, there is the scene where that girl rides the elevator up and undresses herself. Now in the movie she, the character, is the one who decides that she will strip, but who is really the one who decided that? The writers and the director. We still live in a world where women are at their best when they are naked and sexy. There is even a time where Katniss is upset and tries to stab someone with a needle, rather than being praised for her dedication she is looked at like a fool. She does stop the Hunger Games but they don't take the time to congratulate her at all.

One thing that the movie did do well on its own was it was very careful to show that violence is bad. It hardly showed anything as far as killing was concerned. And went their was a violent moment you were supposed to see it for the disgusting nature of it.

Overall a really great movie with a lot to talk about.

Mack's Teaching Philosophy

I think that the biggest thing that we need to teach is that we have a choice. Media are like windows. Although we cannot chose what happens on the other side of that window we can chose the windows that we look through. But how do we know what windows to look through? 

In our day and age simple ratings are good start but we can now check kidsinmind or IMDb parental guides to gain a better understanding of what we are getting ourselves into. I was able to avoid a PG-13 movie that had content that I did not want to see. I should have told my parents because they saw it and were appalled that a movie would have something like that in it. These moments or disgust and immorality can be completely avoided with these media tools.

Many people seem to thing that the most recently and closest made windows are the only ones to chose from. This maybe because older movies and foreign movies are either not known about or hard to get a hold of. But these movies that are either older or foreign can be such a wonderful contribution to our media diet.

Speaking of diet, I have two analogies that will help make clear my idea of media literacy. We need a well balanced diet in order to be physically healthy. In similar likeness we need a taste of all different kinds of films in order to be emotionally healthy and fulfilled. It seems to make sense that we need dramas and tragedies as well as comedies and family movies. It is even possible that we need horror films and action films? It is up to us what our diet will be but it can't be good if all we consume is romantic comedies. And our diets may lack if we don't watch romantic comedies.

The other analogy which I have is the soda analogy. I strongly believe that movies are awesome and good. But to me what makes them good is if we watch them like treats. Blew is an excerpt from my letter that I wrote to apply for the film program. What I really hope that you get out of it is that I think that media far too often becomes this indulgence rather then a treat.  

I watch movies like I drink soda. I love vintage sodas, Virgil’s, Boylan, and even collect some of the more rare glass bottles. I love waiting all week to pop off the small metal cap and watch as the fog rises out of my perfectly chilled glass bottle. Always accompanying these fizzy potions with a delicious meal to ensure that the right taste is in my mouth, I carefully sip and savor every drop. Just as I don’t like drinking a warm diet coke out of the vending machine while working at the factory, I don’t like throwing in a movie in the middle of the day on a small TV with people chatting and walking in and out. I love anticipating the movie, planning on it days before, and then when the night comes, we make sure the lights are dimmed and people in are in their places. We make sure the sound is turned up and the image is not stretched or distorted. Movies should be sipped and savored, not gulped and guzzled whenever there is nothing else to do.

Movies are a way of entertainment and do not need to be watched all the time. Not only will it loose it's magic, but it can make us media fat. No wonder some people think that all media is bad; they consume all media, including the garbage. If we slow down and take the time to find the gourmet sodas and leave the nasty Shasta by the way side, we can enjoy the good soda that we have and not become drunk with nonsense.

I know that this semester we talked a lot about creating our own media. I think for someone like me that sounds exciting but to the average person that task can seem overwhelming. I think that creation is important, but I think that a person does not have to create to be media literate. I know we talked about reading is kind of like watching and writing is kind of like making. I suggest that it can be easier and more simple than that. Reading is like choosing and watching, and writing can be discussion. You don't have to make a youtube video if you don't agree with something, you can simply tell your family and your friends. I think it is a marvelous idea to recommend good movies, and discourage people from seeing bad movies. I know we talked before in class about how we don't really have a choice, that all media is produced by "the man" according to [I will double check who]. But I truely believe that the best way to defeat porn movies is to have everyone in the world stop buying them. Supply and demand is real. Anyone want to take a guess at how many tape players they made this year? Most likely zero, and that is because years ago we all stopped buying them. It does not happen right away, and yes we do need everyone's help. But I believe that it is possible.

Classroom Observation

Sammi, Sam, and I were able to get to Mr. Ryan's class during much of his prep period before the class we were to observe. We took advantage of this time to ask him questions and he got to know us better. He told us about Junior High English and how he splits the class into two periods; one heavy in writing and the other heavy in reading. We talked to him about our teaching which will take place later and he was intrigued by our ideas and excited to see our final lesson.

Finally the kids showed up. They were an absolute hoot. They came in talking and throwing books. Sammi, Sam, and I had a lot to observe even before the class started. As soon as the kids came in I realized that the lesson I was thinking of teaching would need to be adjusted to fit a middle school level. 

As the class started Mr. Ryan began by asking something along the lines of what would you ask your hero if you they were accused of lying or cheating? Mr. Ryan gave them some time and then asked for there answers. Mr. Ryan was very good at this because you cannot simply call on raised hands like you can in a collage level environment. He has to call on those he knew needed help, and he had to help those who always wanted to talk all the time to keep their answers relevant and to the point.

Mr. Ryan then showed a video, but had a very hard time getting it to work. The projector and computer he was using was not that new and needed a little bit of help from his laptop. I took a note of this, as we will be showing a video, and have planned to come early to test the video when we teach.

Another thing that Mr. Ryan did was have the students turn to their neighbor and work in groups of two. Sam and I actually got to work with some of the students. I want to say that this was good for most of the class but some of the students were hard to get to cooperate. I am not sure if there is a better way or if those kids are just hard to reach no matter what. Mr. Ryan did tell us that part of his class is special Ed and so there is another teacher there to keep in line those students. This will be one challenge that we will have while teaching.

Sammi, Sam and I were torn between which story for change that we wanted to use. My story is one possibility. When we considered mine, I went back and made hug improvements on it so that it could be more accessible to the students. Also, rather then just playing it like I did in our class I want to fully explain what the video is and what they should look for before I play it.

One thing that we struggled with a little is we wanted to have our lesson tie into what they kids are already learning this semester. However, I am not sure we will be able to do that as nicely as we had hoped. But I think that our lesson will be very fun and very helpful for the kids. We are all really looking forward to it.

Resolved and readings

I love how Freire talks about both the student and the teacher should be both taught and learn. So both are teachers and students. I feel that a good teacher is always learning, and a good student is always prepared to explain what they are learning to others. The idea of the student being oppressed becomes clear when the Freires list of what a one way teaching looks like or what it would assume. The most effective one was that the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing. It is clear that this is never true, and if this is not true then both students and teachers must learn from one another. He also talks about the fact that the answer to helping students is not to just bring them into structure or our society but to inform them of what they are truly capable of discovering and creating for themselves. They video that is on the blog of the kid storming out of the classroom was very interesting, and I loved that he finally realized that he deserved and could demand better education then just packets and silent writing.

As for our film, I searched everywhere for the Resolved documentary and only found a short trailer of sorts. It was a little scary, and for some reason made me sad that debate has changed so much. But I was able to find the documentary Is School Enough. It was a good video but I feel like the title says it all. Perhaps it is a good reminder but for me it is obvious that school is only part of a child's growth and development. Has society not always understood that part, if not most, of a child's learning should happen outside of school. The documentary did have its moments, and I suppose it does go along well with what Freire is saying, which is the teacher must be prepared to be taught. The documentary covers a hand full of students who learn both in class and in the community. Maybe the documentary is better aimed at high school students like the ones in the documentary, because at this stage of life I have had many job interviews and the two big questions are how much school have you had, and how much experience. In answer to the documentaries question I think that we need both school as well as hands on experience. I hope the people who watch this realize that school is a great thing, that it is awesome to sit down at the feet of an expert and glean from their knowledge. School can turn into busy work and grades, but if done right school can be an incredibly good way to learn and, depending on the class, gain valuable experience.

I suppose maybe a better question is, how good is your schooling? They talk about how important hands on and going out side are, but there are many class that do this. I really do think that school has the potential to imprison, wow, I sound a lot like Freire, or the power truly inspire.

Last minute post, to be inproved

In the first quote by John Dewey, he talks about how we all live in communities and that these communities and that the beliefs and standard that we have are not passed around like a thing. Be the are held in our communications. I think that this semester has helped me realize a few things and one hug moment of realization for me was when I learned that it is not a bunch of rude men in Hollywood that objectify women on purpose but that the community hold these ideas of what is right in how to treat women. The things men, and women, say to each other allow us to justify what we think and how we act. I could go on for so long but that third part that I want to say about this quote, that is, what is the practical implications. I believe it means that we must watch carefully what we say, and all the time. My Grampa used to say that if you always tell the true then you never have to remember what you said. You see, if you line you need to know who knows what. They only way this works, however, is if you tell the truth all the time. I feel that this is much like what we must do to ensure positive values. If we want, for example, women to be treated better, then we must always talk about them in a positive light. All our conversations will promote this belief and feeling that will be passed on.

The second quote is also by John Dewey and talks about how

What is the author expressing

Second how this relates to our learning this semester

Last what are the practical implications of this philosophy of education

Also story for change is now here!

Kill, Punish, Befriend, Story for Change

The Brothers Grimm
The Brother Grimm were linguists and they asked people to tell them stories because that is the best way to get people talking without them thinking about how they are talking. The were looking for different pronunciation, vocabulary, and anything else that had to do with the person's language. However, their collection became something different. It became a well of wonderful stories, and that is what they are known for.

Mack' Movie List
My story of change is a real story about me become like the Brothers Grimm. A few years ago I decided that I would start a list of all the movies that I have ever seen. I wrote down all the ones that I could remember and I added one every time I would watch one. I gave them scores our of a hundred so that I could have a list of the best movies of all time. When I got my big idea, how we treat our enemies, I turned to the list. I deleted my scoring and started to go through each movie and remembered the ending and labeled them according to what happened to the enemy. After hours of remembering adding labels I was complete with a list. For the over all what happens there is a chart with the numbers below.

Killed 167
The killing of an enemy is often the climax, and surprisingly it is almost never regretted and we are very glad to see them go. But something to consider, I suppose, is that most the enemies that are killed are vicious and refuse to stop hurting people.

Punished 196
This is almost always the police show up or the purpose of the antagonist is frustrated and he or she is humiliated. Which or course we love.

Befriended 192
There was a lot more of these then I supposed, however, most of the time this is not the main villain but a character that is destine to be friends in the end. Like in The Avengers, each super hero is an enemy to the others, but they quickly become friends.

The chart shows the comparison

In some ways this looks well balanced giving each category a almost even amount of movies. But if we where to combine the Kill and Punish categories we would see that there is twice as much defeating then befriending. I think that overall if we make movies this is something that we should consider when writing the enemy. We should also chose carefully watch we watch or at least understand what is happening to enemies in movies. Many of the time when an enemy is killed is when the main character is in a kill or be killed situation. I believe for most of us we are never in a kill or be killed situation, but we still relate to these characters.

Child Chart

I decided that it is very important to look at the child movies and found that they are not so evenly spread. I thought that this would actually have kill as the highest because I was traumatized as I re-watched some of the endings and was faced with some of the most gruesome deaths. Here are just a few images from children movies

But maybe it should be more concerning to us that to punish your enemies is so high. After reading two children books about bulling I found this.

Why are we telling kids that is someone is mean to you, you should be mean right back.

There were other interesting things to look at. For instance, I did not see much of a pattern when I looked at it by the year that it come out. It looks to me that movies have always punished, killed, and sometimes even befriended enemies. I also looked at genres and found that action movies often kill enemies, along with hero movies. Comedies often give people what we feel they deserve, and love stories often befriend because the one they fall in love with is often their enemy at first.

War of the Worlds radio show
The other Idea that I had, and still want to do, is have a recording that sounds like a radio program where aliens come to three towns in the country, Execution Town, Deservedit city, and Befrienderville, and each place would handle the aliens differently.

Enemy Bibliography: For Real

Introduction

Movies have been teaching us how to treat our enemies from the beginning, and perhaps surprisingly children movies are the most violent of them all, but parents can decide for themselves and assist their children in which movies to watch and discuss in order to have a positive cinema experience and to treat our enemies better in real life.

Is it possible to forge and even love to our enemies? This was difficult to question, and what do movies have to tell us about it. Every time I would go to the web it would bring up pages of Bible references. We are all familiar with the scripture to do good to those who hate you, but I needed more than this. But is this what we are doing, in real life or in fiction? Enough of that and on to what I did find after I sorted through many of these Bible references. When I did the searches I tried to search in a non -bias way. That is I did not search for kill our enemies, or befriend our enemies, at least not at first. I searched for how to treat our enemies or how to deal with our enemies and so on. This lead to some very interesting sources for example there is Howtowiki where I was able to find a step by step directions on what to do with your enemies at school. The most interesting part about this is that they tell you to stay positive, walk away, show respect, all things that I was hoping it would until the final step which was to never serve your enemy because they may not deserve that. The interesting thing is that this article is written by a few different authors and I think that is why it has this contradictory message. However, I want to look at this idea and think about how some people would have us give our enemies what they deserve while others would have us respect them and even love them and there are others who actually would have us kill them. Which of these people are making movies, well they all are and that is where we come in. In the article by Faith she ends by saying that we can teach our children to discuss what happens on the screen since there are so many different ideas about how to resolve a conflict. We should as she puts it be media literate, that we should both read and write as it were, or perhaps more easily understood we should view and discuss.

 The website is for young women and possible young men too. I was also able to find some very meaningful quotes from Abraham Lincoln as well as a speech given by Martin Luther King Jr. These resources are very helpful but there is still the hard question, what is the media telling us about our enemies.

One resource that I am really grateful for is my friend Josh Drean. A few years ago he started speaking at elementary schools, high school, offices, and any other place about bulling He teaches kids how to deal with bullies as well as not to bully others. I did not want to have my topic become about bullying but then I quickly realized that bullies are enemies almost in perfect similitude. I was able to go down to Salem Elementary School and see Josh give his presentation live. At first I was afraid I had made a mistake, just because it was a lot of fun and getting the kids involved, but then once he had the children paying attention he said something that was possible the most important to my project. He said that there are not such things as bullies but just people who make mistakes. If I can investigate the idea that there are not enemies, only people who make bad decisions, than really I can reinforce my idea that we should be forgiving and even loving to our enemies.

Another source that I found actually came back to me. There is a childhood book of mine call Bully Trouble. My mom read this to me when I was a young boy and, while checking out another book for another class, saw this book on the counter. This is for children and has a very clear message about bulling and what we should do to them, only the message is not what you might think. The message says that we should stand up to our bullies and that we should do it by bullying them back. The other book by Caseley is another way to deal with bullies in a more positive way. I explain this in the bibliography but this book is about befriending them.

Once interesting problem I had was I found one article, or at least the title of it, but I cannot seem to find the text for the article. Apparently, according to the BYU Library website, Michael Jackson wrote an article about how to deal with your enemies in cyberspace. I am dying to get my hands on this but have not been able to yet.

            The video that I found was very interesting about conflict resolution. It talks in there about how if we understand better a conflict the better we can resolve it. If we know what our enemies want and we even help them to find a different solution then we may even have a win, win situation.

            There is still so much to discuss that must take place in the discussion.

Annotated Bibliography

Caseley, Judith. Bully. Hong Kong: South China Printing Company, 2001. Print.

This book shows an alternative to the book Bully Trouble. In this book Jack and Mickey start out as friends. Later when Jack starts loosing attention to his new born sister he begins to be filled with strong emotions. At this time he steps on Mickey’s hand because Mickey points out that his mom is not watching when Jack tries to show his mom what he can do on the play ground. Already we realize that this book makes the bully a real person with a motivation. Then Mickey calls Jack a rat and after that Jack starts to bully Mickey. In this book Mickey asks his parents what he should do. Like Bully trouble his father encourages him to be bold, but not to bully back but to simply say “I don’t like that.” His mother first talks about how Jack is going through a difficult time, and then says “have you ever heard the saying love thine enemy?” Mother explains to Mickey that he could try being nice to Jack. It sounds hard and Mickey does not know how to do this. He first gives Jack cookies, which shuts Jack up. Then the real moment comes. In class Jack comes and has braces. All the other kids make fun of Jack, but not Mickey he stands up for him. Because of this Jack is nice to Mickey and even invites him over to play. This story may not be totally realistic but it gives us a more heartfelt story than Bully Trouble.

Cole, Joanna. Bully Trouble.  New York: Random House, 1989. Print.

This is a children’s book that I remember reading as a child. It is for kids and explains the story of two boys who have a common bully that will not leave them alone. So, to get rid of him for good they become bullies themselves. He trips them and does all kinds of mean things to them. So the sabotage their own lunch so that when he steals it he is in for a shock. At the end, even older kids begin to laugh at him along with the two newest bullies. At least he won’t bother you anymore is the final response from the bigger kid. The kids consider themselves awesome for putting this bully in his place.

“Conflict resolution.” Films Media Group. NY, New York. 2006. Online. This movie begins by explaining that individuals, small groups of people, or even nations could be in conflict with each other. There are interview that attempt to explain best answers to specific situations. They talk about one situation where there were people who wanted to make a dump and others that did not. The video mentions that some wanted to have a win, win. I really like this idea and I wonder if we try hard enough to think and understand the whole situation if there is a way to do this “win, win.” They talk about non violent way to approach this dump situation and the host talks about this a good example of a people who actually took time to think of what they were doing and they thought of solutions for their so called enemies so that this could be a win, win. The host tells of the dump story and says that this does end up being a win, win. This video goes on to address more serious subjects, like racism and war. I found this source as I searched in the BYU library website.

Coyne, Sarah. “Indirect Aggression in Animated Disney Films.” Journal of Communication 58. 2 (2008) 382-395 pag. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. As soon as I started to read this I knew that I needed it because it was saying exactly what I wanted to find. In the abstract the very first line is “Children’s cartoons have been documented to be some of the most violent TV programs currently on the air, showing nearly 3 times the amount of violence per hour as nonchildren’s programming.” The article is smart to realize that physical violence is not the only way to treat someone you are fighting against. They mention that gossip, social exclusion, and insults are also forms of what they call indirect aggression.

Boller, Paul. Essays on the Presidents: Principles and Politics. Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 2012. Print. There is a section for Abraham Lincoln where quotes are listed under sub headers. Underneath the subheading enemies there is the quote I wanted. “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?” In this same book there is perhaps a quote that can be used as well. Under the subheading of God’s Purpose Lincoln says, “The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may and one be wrong. God cannot be for and against, the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war, it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party.” Abraham Lincoln was president in the 1860s making this a historical reference even though the book is printed last year. I found these quotes in many other books but decided to list this book. For the president that had to deal with a war within his nation Abraham knows well how to treat his enemies. He knew that both the North and the South were parts of his nation.

Bully. Dir Lee Hirsch. Bully Project, 2011. DVD.

This is a documentary on peer-to-peer bullying in schools across America. The cover of the move is the word bully in a circle slash for much like the no smoking sign. Also, the cover says “It’s Time to take a stand.”

Drean, Josh. “Take the Mask Off: A Lesson on Perspective.” Salem Junior High ,Salem, UT. 27 September 2013. Keynote Address. My friend actually does public speaking at elementary schools about bullies and enemies. He talks about how to handle them and what kind of attitude you should have about it. This is not just a hobby it is his profession and I have been meaning to see him do one of these for a while. I want to see what children are encouraged to do and how to do it. He Said in his lector on (date) “I strongly believe that there are no bullies, no one person who we can place that label. There are no bullies, just people who make mistakes.” He talked earlier about how he had both been bullied and bullied other people not even on purpose.

Faith, McLellan. “Do violent movies make violent children?” The Lancet 359.9305 (2002): 502 pag. Web. 1 Nov. 2013. I was actually hoping for some reason that the answer would be no, purhaps I need some positive outlook but in the very opening of this paragaph the article states “Does exposure to violence-from television, the internet, and games screens-make children violent? Robert DurRant certainly thinks so. And he isn’t alone.” Near the end of the article there are some things that I really want to use. Faith says “children [should] not only critique programmes but also participate in making them, with the goal of turning them into “critical media consumers.”” This is a very cool idea and is how I think that we can solve this. I honestly don’t think Hollywood should be in charge of what we see and what we show our children, we can make our own decisions about media.

“How to Deal With Enemies.” WikiHow to do anything. Josh W. and other authors, n.d. Web. 31 Oct. 2013.  This is a somewhat helpful website directed to teenagers on how to deal with enemies mostly by protecting yourself. It divides what you need to do into steps that you can follow. The steps focus on how you feel and your safety and not necessarily the enemies, which does not seem that unnatural. Some of the steps include walking away and ignoring them, surrounding yourself with friends, and even show them the same kind of respect that you show your friends. These steps include a short readable explanation and a picture. http://www.wikihow.com/Deal-With-Enemies. Here are the steps. The first step is “If you don’t know why they hate you, ask them calmly and nicely. But don’t approach [them], if you know what they are capable of . . . Some people can be given second chances to realize that you aren’t really a bad person and they have nothing to hate you for” (italics added). The second step is to ignore whatever they say. This step explains that the reason they insult you may be because they are jealous. It wisely says not to give a reaction because they want a reaction.  It also says that we should walk away from them. “Don’t look at them or talk to them; just walk away. After a few times of you doing this they will probably get bored and stop picking on you.” The third step is two “Surround yourself with friends and people who like you for who you are.” You will gain confidences from these people and that “it does not matter what haters say as long as you have good friends by your side.” Step four is to what to do if they start being violent. If they do become violent or ignoring does not work “tell them that their behavior is upsetting you and tell them that they have no reason for it.” It says that if they still continue to horrs you that you will “have to learn to stop being upset by their comments and realize that whatever they say is probably a lie.” Step five is seriously awesome, it is that if you know why they hate you “be mature and apologize if it was your fault.” It goes on to say that rather than hoping the problem is forgotten “seriously” apologize to them. Step six really ties in with points that I want to make, it is that we should “show them respect as you show to your friends.” This is awesome, and helps me to say the point I want which is that we can befriend or at least respect like a friend our enemies. It goes on to say that “when they need help, help them.” When you help someone, according to the article this will show them that “you are friendly and kind. Give them compliments and try not to sound hurtful, don’t judge them if they say bad stuff back.” The article is realistic and realizes that we might lose our patients while trying this, the article suggests that we should talk to our friends at that point or take a deep breath and try again. No matter what happens they want you to stay in control. If this does not work leave the situation “instead of loosing you mind trying to settle thing.” Step seven is does not seem to fit with the other parts of the article. Because this article has other authors the tone of the article changes. Step seven is you are a fool if you are kind to them. The steps says “by helping anyone, especially enemies, you may be giving something to someone who doesn’t “deserve” it.” Then it says to forget it and wait because “they will get exactly what they deserve.” Now all of the sudden the article seems to support the idea of giving our enemies what they deserve.

King Jr. Martin Luther. “Loving Your Enemies.” Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, AL. 17 November 1957. Keynote Address. In this speech he says, “Now there is a final reason I think that Jesus says, "Love your enemies." It is this: that love has within it a redemptive power. And there is a power there that eventually transforms individuals. Just keep being friendly to that person. Just keep loving them, and they can’t stand it too long. Oh, they react in many ways in the beginning. They react with guilt feelings, and sometimes they’ll hate you a little more at that transition period, but just keep loving them. And by the power of your love they will break down under the load. That’s love, you see. It is redemptive, and this is why Jesus says love. There’s something about love that builds up and is creative. There is something about hate that tears down and is destructive. So love your enemies.” Martin Luther King Jr. always had a way with his speeches and this is a very helpful one.

Lewis, C.S. An Experiment in Criticism. Madrid: Cambridge University Press, 1961. Print.

This book will reveal a lot about how we should treat others and their works or art, those that we may otherwise be critical of. The main idea of this is to understand books by how they are read and not how they are written. I think this can help in understanding what our enemies write and publish. One quote from the book is “The true reader reads every work seriously in the sense that he reads it whole-heartedly, makes himself as receptive as he can.” I think that this is a way we can approach people in our life. “The first demand any work of art makes upon us is surrender. Look. Listen. Receive. Get yourself out of the way. (There is no good asking first whether the work before you deserves such a surrender, for until you have surrendered you cannot possibly find out.)” Here we see that we must not worry about if we like a person deserves to be listen to we just listen.

Muhammad. Quran. 632. Print.

Sacred text. I think that this should have a very radical and interesting idea about infidels. Many people believe in this book and follow its principles and that has a lot to say about their culture and understanding of enemies. 89. “They long that ye should disbelieve even as they disbelieve, that ye may be upon a level [with them]. So choose not friends from them till they forsake their homes in the way of Allah; if they turn back [to enmity] then take them and kill them wherever ye find them, and choose no friend nor helper from among them,”

Robins, Mack. The Movie List. 2012. List / Database.

Ever since 2010 I have started to make a list of ever movie I have ever seen. As this project of enemies has begun I began to add to the list what happens to the enemies in the movie. This list will have the potential to be a large part of my project. It will reveal a small sample, about 700 movies, and what happens to the villain in this.

The A-Team. Dir. Joe Carnahan. Perf. Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Sharlto Copley. Twentieth Century Film Corporation, 2010. Film. I have where these quotes really come from but I cannot lie about where I got these in the frist place. It is imortant, even though this is just a movie, to list this because this is an example in and of itself that shows us what to do with our enemies.Gandhi was always a peaceful man and I hoped that I will be able to find useful quotes from him. I then remembered the The A-Team where there was a quote from him that was expected. “Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.” Which comes from ‘Satyagraha Leaflet No. 13,’ May 3, 1919. And a quote from him that was real not expected. “It is better to be violent, if there is violence in our hearts, than to put on cloak of nonviolence to cover impotence.” which comes from Gandhi on non-violence, Print, New York New York New Direction publishing corporation. page 51.

Pot Heads

This title I have given this post comes from a label that my brother gave to himself, in perhaps a moment or long reflective self realization. My brother and his wife own two copies of each of the Harry Potter books, both had a set before they were married. Now before I go on to say what I feel needs to be said, let the world know that I do like Harry Potter, have read the first book, seen almost all the movies, and even dressed up as Snape for the final film. However, I did breathe a sigh of relief when the last movie came out because for me it was an official closing in the Harry Potter chapter, which meant that we can now move on to other beautiful works of art.

Working in the media center can be rough. Truly, it is exhausting to have thousands of patrons come in, browse our audio book list, and then come to me nearly begging for any, just any of the Harry Potters that are not yet checked out. I feel like shouting, “Isn’t it time to discover a new book, perhaps a classic or newer novel! There is more to life then Pig-Pimple university.” In actuality, I do not want to turn this post into a critique of Harry Potter, but a lesson on obsession. Missing out on other wonderful works of art is only one of the down sides.

Another down side is obsession can be wasteful and frankly embarrassing. Often when we fall in love with a piece of art we do not know what to do with our passion that is associated with it. We want to buy all the collectables; we want to dress up for Halloween as part of it. We want to start a club or have a movie marathon or something to sanction our love for it. If you are wondering, yes, I do speak from experience. Perhaps what we need to do is simply take the good it offers, recognize its flaws, write about it in our journal, encourage others to see or read it, and occasionally revisit it. Unless this thing has the power to bring us salvation we should not surround ourselves with its every last detail.

One very interesting part of We are Wizards is when the girl goes into the car dealership and says something like ‘I am the former leader of the Potter Wars’ and the car salesmen is speechless because that is most likely the dumbest thing he has ever heard. Now that may sound harsh to you, but let us consider the reality of this world. No one is ever going to take you seriously if you come in for a job interview and have Klingon as one of the languages on your resume. You cannot say that you have amazing memorization skill because you know the lines of all the Trek episodes. You will not be taken seriously and you will not be hired. There is one kid who posted a video where he explains that he is “Harry Potter himself” and goes on to tell why he is the biggest Harry Potter fan in the world. This boy has read all the books over a hundred times, meaning he most likely has read nothing else. He also has tattoos of Harry Potter symbols on his body forever labeling himself as a “Pot Head,” thus leaving him as a candidate for never having a real job or respectable position in society. Yes, it is good to have a passion, yes, it is good to fall in love with a story, but I find no true benefit to obsessing over something.

Jenkins does make a good point that we can build off the shoulders of others who come before; it is the apprentice idea. It is good to get a start in another’s creativity in fact there is a book about Architecture for the Poor that says that no one is perfectly original and that we must build off what others have done before. However, we must be both familiar to our audience and original. “Harry and the Potters” is a band that is actually really bad. I suppose they are not worse than other local bands that I have heard but they draw a bigger crowd then maybe they deserve. Their fans come because they somehow need more Harry Potter and in doing so give this band a false sense of accomplishment. I am sorry but this is not creative—“I’m Harry Potter, and I’m Harry Potter, We’re Harry and the Potters, this song’s called Harry Potter. Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter, Harry Potter.” What will happen, for example, to the seven year old when he is no longer cute for head banging about dragons? These band members will be left one day with the reality that they have not truly valuable skills.

One person that I would like to briefly defend is the lady in the documentary that says there are dark spirits and evils that we must avoid. We laugh at her but this is what we as Christians believe. To label Harry Potter as this dark evil may be ridiculous. We know that the intentions of the book are innocent and even positive. But I don’t blame her. She grow up in a time when witches were synonymous with devils, and if we saw a book about a little demon that goes to hell school to learn how to tempt people we would not want to read the book, unless of course it is written by a genius making to point to avoid such demons. Darkness and evil is something we should avoid, it may not be Harry Potter but it is out there. 

There is so much more to be said about this that requires further discussion. Jenkins has a whole section called “What would Jesus do with Harry Potter?” They question maybe unanswerable, though I sure it is fine to him. What he must not be okay with is bad parenting, singing about groupie sex to four year olds, and putting the things of the world before him. In conclusion, Harry Potter is cool, but it’s not that cool.

Wonder Women Made me Wonder

At the beginning of the article by Zipes he starts us off with a, I assume, true story about Albert Einstein. When we was asked by a mother what books to read to her child to help him to become a successful scientist Al, if we can all him that, not only repose with fairy tales but when see asks what else he continues to advocate fairy tales. Zipes does not, and perhaps cannot go into Einstein’s reasoning. I venture to guess that maybe Einstein just felt bad for the boy, and did not want him to be deprived of a childhood because all he would ever be read are collage level science books. Or maybe, and for me this is easier to believe, Einstein knew that a fairy tale could excite the mind in a way that no textbook ever could. If you can make a child wonder about animals talking, time travel, and perhaps teleportation, in a world with characters that he can love and connect with, then that child may stop at to find the scientific answer to the mystery.

There is something about fairy tales that captures our hearts in a way that other thing just can’t. This is why the messages and morals in fairy tales can be more powerful then governments, superpowers, and armies. This is why Zipes mentions that fairy tales can have the power in them of revolution or emancipation. He says that “insofar as they have tended to project other and better worlds, they . . . have provided the critical measure of how far we are from talking history into our own hands and creating more just societies.”

This is why fairy tales, or in the case of Wonder Women, super hero stories, change over time to, perhaps, explain the current situation in society and even give and answer as to what we should do. This give the person telling the story quit a bit of power, and different people will want different solutions to the problems facing society. One example of this is when Wonder Woman gives up her super powers and becomes a weak and helpless woman. Many people are often powerless to realize that we can change fair tales and make them our own. I love how the Woman in the documentary saw this and realized that there was something she could do, she called up the comic book producers and said, “we want Wonder Woman’s powers back.” Wonder Woman in many ways was their only female super hero and she gave little girls something to become someday, not necessarily fly and beat up men, but be strong and stand up for herself.

Another point that Zipes makes while discussing Beauty and the Beast is that before the technology of printing fairy tales, Beauty and the Beast included, were simply hear, and retold. Each time a person would tell the story they were able to tell it in their own way and make it their own. But with the tale becoming a book, there was one way to tell the story, the book’s way. Zipes says that we loose the realization that we can make stories our own. I believe that he is right in many ways. As I said before, many of us except the books we read and the movies that we see as set in stone, but I still remember as a child, much like the lady in the documentary who called up the comic book company, I made the story my own. I remember playing Batman and the adventures and stories that he had were my own. Maybe children are becoming more prone to just watch and listen instead of pretend and play, but I do believe that we can make still make these wonderful stories our own.

I will close with my last little bit of evidence that we still, regardless of our technologies, have the power, as long as we realize it and encourage it, to change our stories and other stories to make them our own. The most poignant part for me of Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines, was at the very end during the credits. There is a women who tales her own super hero tale, and it is made by the director to look like it’s own comic book, and in this tale the women in the star skirt actually becomes someone’s hero. I know that we can change our fairy tales and our own real tales to become what we want them to be.

The Network May Inform, But to the Streets We Still Must Go

Before addressing this idea that internet, as wonderful as it is, can only inform and in order to actually change the world we must do it in person, I want to talk about fear and anger. In the article and in class we learned that fear is the emotion of oppression. If you fear for your life, you will only run or try to survive. In the movie Kony 2012 we see that this is happening to the African people under the hands of Joseph Kony. The reason that he has power is because the people are afraid of him. But there is another power that can incite action, and that is anger. Now according to what we read and discussed if anger does not turn to enthusiasm it will not last. It is true, according to Castells’ article, that fear is the trigger to get things happening, but as we saw in Kony 2012, Jason Russell turned his anger of Kony into enthusiasm to get him. If he would not have done this, the government would not have listened to him, nor us. But after the seven years of knowing this is going on he focuses his passion to make a film. Now what powers this film as well is the internet and the networking world. At the very beginning of Kony 2012 Russell does not start off talking about Kony, but the power of facebook. The very first thing that is said is that there are more people on Facebook than there were on the planet 200 years ago. Russell believes that the way to capture Kony is to send in USA military add, but the only way they will do that is if the nation cares, and the only way the nation can care is if they know about it. So Russell uses Facebook, the network, to fight his war.

A Death in Tehran also uses networks to inform the world. The most interesting part is when the regime that murdered Neda, offers her mother money for the rest of her life if she says that her daughter died for the regime. It is a little terrifying to thing that even just a few years ago, and perhaps even sometimes today, people and organizations can cover up things they don’t want the world to know. But people like Wei Wei are now equipped with the network and the way to have a voice. Now the average joe can raise a voice to inform the world of the truth and expose the world for what they really are.

But can knowing something change the world. Not alone. Castells says “The consensus seem to be that, at the end of the day, the dreams of social change will have to be watered down, and channeled through the political institutions, either by reform or revolution.”  The overall idea is that because of the internet we can now inform ourselves about so much more, and so much quicker than before. But we see, especially in the movie A Death in Tehran, that being informed is only the first part, once you have won the internet information war, you either have to take to the streets and vote, or take to the streets and revolt. Both are done in A Death in Tehran, and devastatingly, at least for now, both were unsuccessful. Even in Kony 2012 Russell wants us to share on the internet this information but then he specifically asks us to take to the street and put up posters. Both the documentaries were very convincing but the creators’ documentaries know that in order for their videos to be useful, the viewer must do something.