Life After College...The Aidan Mewha Story

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Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

I recently received a job from SBS Farms in New York. I am moving to Florida to work with some of the most talented individuals in the horse industry.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Da Bluest Eye

For Mass Comm, I read Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye. It was about Pecola Breedlove and mostly her desire to become a white child. With that said, I truly enjoyed the writing in this book because it was such an easy read. It was so conversational and the pages just flew by. I know this because I only began reading it yesterday and here I am no reviewing it with only a few pages left.

However, if I were to discuss this book with Toni Morrison, I got the impression that she would look at me disapprovingly and say "Yeah, well I don't care, I did't write the book for you." She would say that I can't relate to it because I am basically within the majority since I am a caucasion female and I am what Pecola longs to be.

I found a lot of the themes within the text very disturbing and yet I yearned to keep reading and see what happened. Cholly is who disgusted me the most. The drunk, child-molesting rapist father of Pecola made me think about some movies that I have seen. In the movies, it usually turns out that a white man rapes the little girl and a black man takes the fall for it. An example of this is 1996's A Time to Kill, where the 10-year-old black girl got raped by two white men and then the father kills them. That father was Samuel L. Jackson, and then everythig gets questioned as to when it is ok to kill another man.

But I digress. That last little tangent was a little much, but I couldn't stop thinking about that movie when I read the book. One part that really got me in the book was when Pecola talked about the Maureen Peal. The "high-yellow dream child with long brown hair braided into two lynch ropes that hung down her back" (62). I was intrigued by the way Pecola looked at the girl and regardless to what Toni Morrison may say to me, I know how the little girl felt. The perfect angel child walking through the halls that makes everyone else feel like dirt. The one that all the boys treat nicely and all the teachers and girls respect and like. Regardless what color you are, there's always someone like that that's better than you. I liked the way Frieda and Pecola delt with it though:

"We looked hard for flaws to restore our equilibrium, but we had to be content at first with uglying up her name, changing Maureen Peal to Meringue Pie. Later a minor epiphany was ours when we discovered that she had a dog tooth--a charming one to be sure--but a dog tooth nonetheless" (63).

There is not a single child out there black, white, or purple that hasn't resorted to name-calling in order to feel better about themselves. It helped me relate to the text a little more.

I really enjoyed this book and it opened my eyes to a lot of things that I may not have thought about before. I recommend it to anyone who is literate.

Sunday, February 25, 2007

My week in broadcasting...

This week I worked with in the normal routine of my broadcasting life. I went to my intership at WKBN where I wrote some scripts, went out on a few story assignments and made endless phone calls. I'm getting better on the phone all the time, and I'm becoming a little shark, not resting until my problem is solved and all my questions are answered. I've evolved a lot fromhardly being able to call my riding instructor.

I also helped with the county line, overseeing Nicky and developing a shorter run down for her. Nicky did a raelly good job managing every one and made some really good decisions throughout the week.

I also did my radio shift and my morning show with Mike, which was successful as usual. We need to gointo syndication. We are a classic couple on-air and I'm really beginning to realize how much I'm going to miss Mike when I graduate and he moves away tobe a boss somewhere and I'm living out of a refridgerator box. It will be well docrated,though, I assure you.

I was also in a play that opened this week which was the last time I will ever be on stage in my entire life, which is very sad.But I'm also glad the play is over so I can dedicate more time toother things I've had to neglect in my life.

That was my week. I'm tired and need to gorecover for the next week up ahead.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

What I want to be when I grow up...

The first memory I have of wanting to be something when i grew up was whenever I was four years old and crawing around in bed with my parents after I woke them up on a Saturday morning. I told my mother that I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. She was expecting something profound and probaby something to do with animals because that's what I loved most in the world.
"A waitress in the Big Apple!" I said with a large grin.
My mother's smile faded. "No, Aidan, you want to be a vetrinarian."
"Why?"
"Because waitresses don't make enough money."
"Oh. Ok!" And from that day up unti the age of fifteen, I wanted to be a vet. After that, I thought about going into advertising for about a week, and then I decided that I was going to manage a farm and would go to school for business. That is, I had planned on that before the bitterness.
When I was a senior in high school I finally go my driver's license. That's right, I didn't get it until I was a senior because I never had time to go get it. I had spent every moment at the barn after school ever since I was eleven years old. I don't care if it was thirty below or one hundred degrees, I was there working with my horses because I liked to win. And the only way to win at horse shows was to be the best. But after I was told that I would have to sell Stubben after I went to school I became a little resentful of the barn. I wanted to spend time with my friends before I went off to school and since everyone was so accumstomed to me being there all the time, it was a "big problem" when I wanted to take a night off.
So, at this time I was applying to college and I looked at Westminster and decided that I could get in and that it was far enough away from home that I could go home if I wanted and that they couldn't control me anymore.
That was a random tangent story that needed to be told to understand why I'm here. Sorry for that. Anyway, I gave up on business and looked at the choices westminster offered me and I figured, "Hey, I like theatre, but I want to make money...so broadcasting is close to that." And the rest is history. Now here I am, I like what I do, but I'm back to wanting to incorporate the horses into my life because at the end of the day they truly are my passion and my love. And I'm a damn god rider and teacher too. I should be, for sixteen years doing it.

So all in all, I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up, but, hopefully, one day I'll figure it out.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Documentary

What is a documentary?

The way I always pictured a documentary is that it is a film, non-fiction, and sheds light on a controversial situation, figure, or situation to prove something significant. That may sound vague, but there are lots of different documentaries out there.

I must say my favorite documentarian is Michael Moore. I love the way he springs facts on people in a Tom Green type fashion and prove that they are doing wrong. I've seen all of his films from Roger and Me about how the shut down of the GM Plant in Flynt, Michigan ruined the economy, to Farenheight 9/11 about Bush's inability to function as a person and how he rigged the election. Loved it. I've also read Michael Moore's book Stupid White Men, which I only brought up to brag that I've read it. No real point to it.

Documentaries are usually low-budget, which is ideal for our class since we are poor college students, and usually get ignored by the public unless it hits a really big target like Columbine. Something also ideal for our class since we don't really know what we're doing yet. Just kidding. I'm sure we'll all get nominated for oscars...oh but they'll be too short. Maybe short film oscars.

Documentaries are worthwhile because they make people look at topics differently and also shed light on subjects that don't get that much exposure...except in books. And we all know that people would rather watch a movie than read a book, so it's the better medium to explore.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

If I were an old man...

In capstone, Amy suggested that we write about if we woke up tomorrow and we were old, what is something we would have to do? As I was pondering this in the shower, which is where I usually think about these hard hitting issues, all I could think of is if I woke up old tomorrow I would still have the same financial limitations that I do now, and I'd be dying sooner.

However, one thing that I love to do is travel. I will go anywhere anytime and I will drive all over the place if I can. Thus giving reason to how I put over 100,000 miles on my car in about 3 and 1/2 years. So I think that if I were winding down in life, I would set out and just travel everywhere. I would take a week in the Bahamas, travel across Europe, and venture to Canada. I'm ruling out old-age aches that could limit my ability to wander around, so don't comment on that.

I think I would also spend time with my family and friends and let them know how much I really do care about them, because I can be very guarded with my feelings and a lot of people really don't know how I truly feel about them. Except Mike, he knows I hate him. ;)

But that's about all I have to say about that. I try to live my life to the fullest already and I don't want to waste a minute of my time here on Earth.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

30 Days

In class, we watched the FX reality tv show "30 Days" which is show where people go to live with people that they either hate or whom they clash ideas with. In this episode, a minuteman on the boarder in texas goes to live with a family of illegal aliens in L.A.

Looking at the producing crew, the heavy hitter is supposed to be Morgan Spurlock who produced the smash documentary "Supersize Me," which is about the effects of fast food on the body. Looking at his filmography on IMDB, he produced two episodes. Not so much the heavy hand in the show we thought he was, eh?

Anyway, looking at everything about the show, number one it had to be on FX because it's trying to be the new edgy station. They have Nip/Tuck, Dirt, and everything else for the "serious viewer" who only watches heavy realistic drama and needs to be constantly entertained with either life changing events or thick plot twists. Plus gratuitous sex never hurts. The show was executive produced by a guy who used to produce cops, so he had a heavy hand in early reality tv, and knew how things should look to make it seem like higher drama than it really was.

But, I'm getting away from the real atrocities here: the program itself. It not only single-handedly made me loose my sympathy for illegal aliens, it also made me want to change the channel constanly, but since I was a captive audience, all I could look forward to were the commercials, but since it was a tivo'd version I didn't even get that satisfaction. Now you're pobably wondering why I lost all of my sympathy for illegal aliens. Here it goes:

The eldest daughter is eighteen, very bright, and NOT A CITIZEN. She applied to PRINCETON saying that she could get a FREE RIDE because of her parents low income. HELLO!!!! Many caps here to show my anger. There are so many gifted minorities and other people in this country that could use that money to go to school. Why should I be giving my money to them? We don't pay for canadians to go to school in canada, why should i pay for mexicans to go to school here? Mr. Weaver brought up the point that some grants go to people in prison. Well, my money is already going towards them sitting in those jail cells, I might as well pay for them to learn something while they're there.

I understand that they are people and that they are fleeing poverty and I can understand that. But look at all the poverty here in America. You don't see underpriveleged people fleeing to the boarders of Canada. We need to take care of our own problems. This goes into how America is always trying to be the world's police. And that is not what this is about. But 30 Days is trying to push n agenda on me that I don't appreciate or empthize with, and I'm glad it's no longer around.

Monday, February 05, 2007

Money Money Money

If I had a million dollars I would have to invest a good chunk of it so I could live off that down the road when I become old and feeble. I owuld also pay off all my school loans and debts and everything boring like that.

After that, I would take the remainder and invest it into an equestrian center probably somewhere in Ohio, Maryland, or even here in Western PA. I've always wanted to own a farm and its still my ultimate goal in life, and since it is a business, I could still get some returns from it, but I got my start up capital from my million dollars.

I understand that its not anything outrageous or crazy or anything, but I really really want my own farm and get to have my own horses and just train and ride all day everyday for the rest of my life.

that's it.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

Stereotypes

In case you haven't heard enough from me already in a short amount of time, here I am again to discuss stereotypes. First, I would like to start with a quote by Walter Lippman.

In his book, Public Opinion, Lippman wrote that "Each of us lives and works on a small part of the earth’s surface (and) moves in a small circle. ...Of any public event, that has wide effects, we see at best only a phase and an aspect."(Walter Lippman, Public Opinion, Part III. Stereotypes, 1922)

How I took this, is that each of us only has a limited perspective on things because we travel in small herds of people that are like us. Whenever there are people outside of our circle, we lump them into a generalization in order to classify them as something. Whether it is the brains, the jocks, the bitches, or the goths, we take what they look like and how they act and put a certain label on them even whenever each of them has their own talent and attributes.

One stereotype that is overplayed in the media is that of African Americans being dangerous. One example of this that really sticks out in my mind is whenever Hurricane Katrina hit, there were two pictures of people looting stores; one of a black man taking bread and one of a white man and woman taking soda and potato chips. Under the african american's picture it stated that he was "looting" while under the white couple's picture it said that they were taking provisions. It just goes to show that the media enforces stereotypes of white supremecy and makes people think that african americans are always doing something wrong. I think Cynthia Tucker on Bill Maher said it best:

"Black people in this country, are still disproportionately poor. It is also impossible to talk about what happened in New Orleans without some white conservatives focusing on the looting, the crime, instead of focusing on the vast majority of poor, black people who were law-abiding, who were frightened themselves."

Bill Maher also stated this about the post 9/11 look at our citizens:

"There's a friend of mine who lives in New Orleans, is black, and I wrote down exactly, word for word, what she said, because I think it bears repeating. She said, 'After 9/11, I was American. Now I'm back to being black.' And I think among the feathers in George Bush's resume is that I think he has lost a whole generation of black people who might have felt that way after 9/11, and now are like, 'You know what? I can't believe I started to buy into that bullshit.'"

It just goes to show that the media is a gatekeeper of stereotypes and makes sure to keep enforcing it, especially under the current leadership our country has. The media and the goverment like to play up fear so that we feel that we need them to guide us, but in the end the fear just leads to hate and then we all lose out.

Time for class, I'm sure I'll have to revisit this later.

Internet History 101

So, I'm supposed to look at the history of the internet for my Blog "A" entry this week for mass communications, and I obviously went right to the source itself to talk about...itself.

I searched "History of the internet" on GOOGLE, which is the best thing ever invented on the internet because it finds everything and anything you need by using highly top-secret net crawling software. Anyway, Wikipedia is always a trusty source and it went into long lone Encyclopedia Brittanica explanation of where the internet came from and why it was developed. I took ad exerpt from Wikipedia to try and look at things in a clearer perspective.

The "world wide web" is more commoly known as www. or the inernet. A specific timeline was followed in order to get where it is today. Wikipedia offers the layman's connection to what we see on our computer screens today.

"An early popular web browser, modeled after HyperCard, was ViolaWWW. It was eventually overshadowed by Mosaic, a graphical browser developed by a team at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (NCSA-UIUC), led by Marc Andreessen. Funding for Mosaic came from the High-Performance Computing and Communications Initiative, a funding program initiated by then-Senator Al Gore's High Performance Computing and Communication Act of 1991. Mosaic's graphical interface soon became more popular than Gopher, which at the time was primarily text-based, and the WWW became the preferred interface for accessing the Internet. Mosaic was superseded in 1994 by Andreessen's Netscape Navigator, which grew to become the world's most popular browser. Competition from Internet Explorer and a variety of other browsers has almost completely displaced it. Another important event held on January 11, 1994, was the The Superhighway Summit at UCLA's Royce Hall. This was the 'first public conference bringing together all of the major industry, government and academic leaders in the field [and] also began the national dialogue about the Information Superhighway and its implications.'" (Wikipedia)

I personally feel that the internet is the best media to demonstrate globalization. This form of media covers the entire world through a series of networks and computers and makes it as easy as a click of a button to be in Russia, then Italy, then Canada. Everyone all over the world connects to the internet and delves into what it can offer from porn to blogs, from McDonald's fat content to the Ab Glide, it has everything from everywhere.

I have friends on the internet from all over the world. I was able to become e-mail buddies with a girl in Russia. My brother is a World of Warcraft buff and has friends in the Phillippeans and everywhere else. The internet shrinks our world and has taken it by storm in just over a decade.