Sunday, January 25, 2009

Witnessing History

This past 7 days may have been some of the most historic days in our nations almost 233 year old lifetime. On Tuesday January 20th we saw 2 million plus people gather in the heart of D.C. to witness the inauguration of President Barack Obama. It was during 4th period when the world heard Barack Obama take his "shaky" oath to become the President of the United States of America. I was in the Gaffney Auditorium when President Obama was sworn in. If you have seen this weeks edition of the Winnetka Talk or Wilmette Life you can see the back of my head on the front page, where it shows students gathering in Gaffney to watch Obama. It was truly a remarkable experience. Listening to the roars and chants on the television and also from inside the auditorium was stunning. When I was watching the oath and listening to him stuble a bit, I thought about how much pressure Barack Obama is under. He has to revive our country from it's second worst economic state ever. He is thrown into wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also he will be the stepping stone for future African American's and the dreams of becoming a president. If Obama doesn't excel in his time as president, many people will stereotype African Americans as not being successful presidents and might hurt that race in the long run. I hope Obama does bring our country from some of its greatest depths and really CHANGE this country forever. 

Sunday, January 11, 2009

What is the Big Deal about Finals?

Finals. What does finals week really mean? For some it means house arrest by their parents, others a free week of doing nothing, and for some it is somewhere in between. I am one of those kids who settle in the middle. I have a very dedicated mother when it comes to my academic well being. Then i have a dad who also cares but would rather talk to me about sports. I tend to stay near my dad during the weekend prior and the week of finals. As for me, I know I need to study and put forth a lot of effort towards these few exams, but somehow I can never just focus for more than an hour at a time. I get pretty decent grades but it is always the case where I am at the border of 2 grades like a B- and a C+ or a B+ or an A-. I keep telling myself, "I'm going to study, I'm gonna do it." But then I always find myself in front of my TV frozen to the screen until my mom comes into the room and yells at me for not getting to work. Me personally, I don't think finals are all that bad. Except for the 5 hours a day spent on the weekend and may 2 hours during the week it is a free week of school. The best part of Finals is once you finish that last test on Friday and a full weekend is ahead of you. That sigh of relief once you put the pencil down on Friday morning is one of the best feelings in the world. So really I don't think Finals week is all that terrible. 

Monday, January 5, 2009

Tokenism: Is It Really Real?

Today in class we started to talk about Tokenism in drama television shows and other types of entertainment. Right when the brilliant Mr. Bolos asked if tokenism was for real I immediatly thought in my head, "of course". I wrote down in my notebook all the stereotypes tokenism brings into television. After we said a black man will always play the "sidekick" or a "wingman" but never really gets the spotlight. Unless you watch BET where the races flip flop. But I also thought about CSI and the different criminals they have. In CSI Miami i don't think I have seen a black man in any episode ever besides of the black female doctor. The most predominent race in Miami is Latino. In CSI Las Vegas the only black figure in the show is Warrick a secondary forensic agent. Rich white men are the primary basis of Vegas. In CSI New York i haven't really watched that show a lot but from what I remember there aren't a whole lot of minorities. And in the NY branch I am too busy reciting Jim Craig lines from Miracle because Eddie Cahill who plays Jim Craig is in CSI NY. But the main point of my post was to show that Movies also have this "Token black guy" stereotype. In the movie "Not Another Teen Movie" there is a character who is the "Token Black Guy". In one specific scene Malik (the TBG) comes to a party and walks into the kitchen and sees another black guy and is very startled by this "abnormal" sight. He walks up to the other black guy and they have this conversation. 
Malik: "What are you doing here?"
Other guy: "What do you mean?"
Malik: "I am supposed to be the only black guy at this party."
Other guy: "Oh, damn."
Malik: "I know, I know."
Together: "It's whack."
In this little confrontation it shows that this movie is trying to poke fun at past movies and tv shows because Malik freaks out and is startled by another person who is black as well. It makes it seem Malik has never seen another black man. They also throw in the "it's whack" statement to try to mock how in other movies black men only know a small amount of words and can only use slang or "gang talk." I thought it was kind of funny how a movie can make fun of other movies and be so right on. If i can i will post a video of Malik and the other guys confrontation. 

Friday, January 2, 2009

What 09' brings us: January Edition

On New Years day I was thinking about our blogs and I wanted to do a post about what is expected in 2009 as a whole. The more I kept thinking about it I thought that it would be more fun to have a monthly preview in all of 09'. So at the beginning of every month I will preview what is going to happen and some predictions of what that certain month will bring us. These predictions and news stories can be anywhere from food, politics, school, or sports. Here is my January edition of What 09' Brings US.
I am going to go out on a limb and say the biggest day in 2009 will only be 20 days into the new year. Yes, Obama's inaugural speech and ceremony. This will be the most historical day since JFK's assassination. This will not be historical because of Obama being the first black president but also because this inauguration will show how far the African American race have come. If you just look back to the 20th century and see how this race was treated and look where they are now. It is amazing and I am looking forward to January 20th.


The next thing is Rob Blagojevich and the man he appointed to replace him as Governor. Personally from what I've heard is that the government will not be able to do much in the rejection of Roland Burris. Burris has been criticized and questioned about his character. Even the slightest questioning of character for an Illinois Governor is the last thing this politically corrupt state needs. This is an interesting subject to watch over the next month and see if anything is changed or altered in this current situation.
The last event is the College Football BCS National Championship. January 8th the Florida Gators will play the Oklahoma Sooners for the national championship. This has become one of the most hyped championship games in college history. Florida and Oklahoma are both very strong programs and have both won championships recently. The most intriging match-up is the QBs. Tim Tebow a junior quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy last year and Sam Bradford the Oklahoma quarterback who won the Heisman Trophy this year. These two QBs are phenominal. I am also very interested in this game because for Christmas my family got a new flat screen HD tv. This is our family's first HD TV and I am very excited to watch this game on my new screen.
These are my 3 events to watch for this month and February will be here in no time.