The Tea Cup Ride

Ok, I'm going for junior theme random analogy number two.  I feel like I'm on the tea cups ride at an amusement park.  It spins by itself, but then you get it spinning faster and faster.  Everything around you starts to blur.

This is what I feel like.  I feel like this whole process is flying by and I have no way to slow it down.  Yet at the same time, I feel like I am making it move even faster, but don't have the power to stop myself.  It's all a blur.  Though I must say, the blurriness is probably due to sleep deprivation.

All I can say is, this is the home stretch!  Overall I think I've enjoyed the process...well maybe I'll enjoy it more looking back, when I have a second to catch my breath!  Regardless, I've really enjoyed learning more about my topic and have found my research interesting.

Driving on the wrong side of the road. Blindfolded.

As Chloe blogged about, I am also having trouble deciding what to focus on in my junior theme paper and what to cut completely out.  Each time I read an article, conduct an interview, listen to a radio piece, I uncover a new path to take my paper.  There are so many ways to go and I have written my into over and over to fit all my different ideas.

Another difficulty is in some of my body paragraphs, the information is overflowing.  I have to make cuts left and right, which is difficult but isn't a bad problem to have.  In a few of them on the otherhand, I have found that I have some information, but not enough evidence to back it up.  In those cases, I have to go back and refocus some of my research to find fitting evidence.

At some moments I feel like I'm driving a car, on the wrong side of the road, blindfolded, as I write this paper.  I think I'm starting to get back on the road, but hopefully I can do so before I total the car.

High 5 on NBC

Here is the promised Making A Difference segment on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams!

Watch now!

Please Watch!!

Tomorrow, on the 5:30-6pm NBC nightly news, High Five Choir will be featured.  Brian William's "Making A Difference" segment will focus on what we do in the choir, and what message we try to spread to the world around us.  Please tune in!

Starbucks: Pulling a TV Tokenism

As of a couple of weeks ago, Starbucks changed their logo.  The company removed the writing from around the image of the mermaid.  To me, this seemed like an odd change for a company to make.  It seemed quite insignificant, so I decided to do a little research.  I came across an article by Elizabeth Fuller with some information on the switch.

Fuller wrote; "'Is it a strong enough icon?' asks Laura Oswald, director of Marketing Semiotics, a marketing research company in Chicago. 'Would you identify that mermaid as absolutely Starbucks the way you identify the golden arches as absolutely McDonald's?'"

This reminded me exactly of what we discussed about TV Tokenism.  We discussed how many TV shows will bring in a character of a different race, as a main role, once the show gets off its feet and is well-recieved.  Once the show has a solid fan base, it can afford to take risks.  Starbucks has done nearly the exact same thing.

Starbucks has been around since 1971, and since then, has made a name for themselves.  They are known worldwide.  Now that they have built an empire, they can afford to take a risk, like changing their logo.

Before                                                                                        After

 

Stand By Me

My mom sent me this video of the song Stand By Me, that is a montage of street performers performing the song.  It seemed fitting for my "musical" blog (though there hasn't been a lot of music lately!).  It really emphasizes how music can tie people, as it shows people of all different backgrounds, ethnicities, abilities, etc. performing the same song.

Stand By Me (Video)

The lyrics show support and help of others in a time of need, as they say; "I won't be afraid just as long as you stand, stand by me".  Japan is now in a time of need after a devastating earthquake and tsunami, so let's "Stand By" them.  To help, visit The Red Cross, and find out different ways to support and help Japan.

I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

We started the junior theme process yesterday, and I feel like I have already changed my topic ten times.  Every time I think I have my "why" question pinned down, something stands in my way, whether it's trying to explain it and finding that it makes no sense or whether it's not relevant to an issue today.  I started taking a look at the book Gang Leader For A Day by Sudhir Venkatesh and hopefully will get some good ideas from it.  So far (I'm on page 10, it's interesting and thought-provoking).

But, as of now, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For (U2).