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"Post-racist" Toys and Black Face: Someone didn't get the memo
The first time I heard the phrase, post-racism,was when I delivered a speech in Vancouver in April. I mean, seriously heard the phrase. After delivering my work, the first question asked was by a white Australian man, who, in all sincerity, asked me if we were now in a post-racist era. Of course, my speech didn't indicate it, I can only assume he came in asking the question with a plethora of reasons in his basket. I hadn't a clue where he was coming from. What prompted this question? Certainly, the election of a bi-racial president in the US couldn't possibly be the reason. Or could it? Could the simple act of placing one man who identifies as African American in the White House place the seed in the heads of seemingly intelligent citizens, that now racism was at an end?
Just for the sake of media...check out these stories...we have two new toys on the market...and then a 2009 minstral show; the discourse surrounding their creation smacks of this post-racist talk...I would like to introduce the new jargon for social justice as the post-post-racist talk...perhaps to be taken with sugar and milk with our post-post modern toasties.
http://www.wtvr.com/wtvr-costco-offensive-doll,0,5678687.story
http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/2009-10-08-black-barbie_N.htm
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Post-Racism: New concept?
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The first time I ever heard the phrase post-racism was at Angels Davis' talk at McGill. I questioned what she really meant by post-racism, since in my view racism is still going on in our societies today. I don't feel as if we are post-racism at all in our day in age, with the hate crimes still being committed, racial profiling still happening, and no drastic evolution towards a racism free society has been made in my opinion. Maybe I am confused, in that I assume that post-racism means after racism has ended...but that is obviously not the case with the linked Shirley has provided us in her blog. How can these toys that insinuate racism in the most obvious ways possible exist in a post-racism era? It boggles my mind how toy companies can go ahead and produce these toys. The links that Shirley posted are specifically geared towards African-Americans, but I did some research and found some other toys that were rated Most racist toys ever made. Here is the link: http://www.thetoyzone.com/2008/blog/10-of-the-most-racist-toys-ever-made/ . The majority of the toys listed here do target African-Americans, but there is a target on Asian people in here as well. The toy called Chop Suey Specs is pretty self explanatory, and without even seeing the toy you probably imagine what social group they are targeting. From the look of the pictures, some of the toys do look outdated but I find it appalling that these kinds of toys were even put out on the market to begin with. I understand in those days, what was accepted socially was different that what it is today, but I was very shocked to see some of these so called toys.
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The Toy Zone
Joe, what an interesting link, beyond interesting, sad.. it is hard to wrap my ahead around the idea that someone will actually produce a toy as such and put it the market...Is just unbelievable such as the Obama monkey sock..I checked each of the links attached to the toys and one of them led me to the Barney pic below where an African American is sitting on the back of the bus, a clear reminder of the Rosa Parks days. I checked also Shirley's links; I saw the youTube Jackson Jive video and a video response to it. I could not believe the comments that were posted to that person check the link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxThgZcBKIc&feature=related and read the comments! The comments varied from rude, racist to plain ignorant. In a way it felt like nobody wanted to own the deal and to cover up the shame a bunch of childish and inappropriate comments were posted. Like if an unplanned collective denial was going on. On the topic of MTV and the readings, I have to admit that the longest I was able to watch MTV was 8 minutes, I tried watching various shows, the longest I watched was video on trial..Horrible program, annoying, cutting between the videos to “jokesters” judging the videos, boring, noisy etc, etc....So I cannot really tell what is like to watch an hour of MTV, it did remind me though how old I have gotten and how much I have changed and maybe that I literally have turned into my parents. In fact it took me about 20 years back, about the time that cable appeared in, Tel Aviv, Israel, where I was living at the time. It was crazy, it changed from one TV station and four to six hours of transmission to like forty stations, some of them 24 hrs. a day.. Back then I could not have enough of MTV, my TV was always on, as background listening to the videos, watching some, I loved it! Yes, I have literally turned into my parents.
PS. the Barney pic is posted above, gave me loads of trouble..
A new era? Not!
Racism is alive and well! Just take a google look at racist toys past and present. It is appalling that the very notion of these ideas have been manufactured and sold across the world. Appalling! A golliwog doll exists. Naomi Campbell cliamed to have been called a "Gollywog Supermodel". True or not the term was presented.
We all watched the inauguration of the first bi-racial American president. Our students gathered around to cheer and applaud a "new era". Will this end the ignorance of society to label and categorize cultures into boxes of generalizations based on physical appearance and traditions? The youth in our multi-cultural schools are aware of the discriminations present in our society. They talk about it and they live it! There is a hope of change but to what degree? How can they make a difference that will have a global impact. "We feel like tiny drops in an ocean. Will anyone feel us?", (Grade 6 student).
Musi Videos
Before I tell you my thoughts on this week's assignment , I have to tell you about a movie I saw untracable. The truth is I saw the first half an hour, and then I couldn't any more. The premise of the movie was that there was sick murderer who created a site called Kill with me where he would kill anmals, humans, LIVE. In a complicated way, when there were more viewers , the person was on their way to dying quicker. . This movie was about cyber crimes, and focuses on this specific killer. There is a whole new field out there -cyber crime, pornography on the net, stealing identity, theft, so many news stories you hear about -ebay and craigslist scams, etc. It is interesting how as we advance in media , we open up new doors, new professions to deal with the chaos that comes along with Technology.
Now about music videos. .. and you ask why I don't have T.V? It;s funny, first of all if you concentrate on the lyrics of all of the top ten songs, you'll realize that they all have to do with sex, boyfreinds, getting dumped, being cheated on, making love, etc. Are we that obsessed? Is there nothing else to write music about? I love my parents generation of music, it's real music. Maybe it's back to the notion of when there is no news then we obsess with junk. In other cultures music is about war, about peace, about important issues. . ther eis more of a balance in topics that are covered. . maybe we just don't have any good music, because people feel there is nothing newsworthy to write about? I don't know. Just trying ot make sense out of it. Of course the videos themselves. . and then we wonder why thirteen year old are pregnant? Girls , teenagers in skanky clothes -it's the only image we see, not one, two, three, but all of them, it's all the same story. We are doing our presentation on Women in Advertising. . these music videos parallel the issues in the chaper, it is the collective images that pose the problem, we are sex obsessed, and we show a very narrow picture of the woman. . too bad, I feel bad for young girls, it's a difficult standard to live up to!
Music Videos
I managed to spread out my video viewing and well I agree with Lisa with the videos that are presented, there are other types out there. Most of my video viewing was during primetime. I watched with my daughter the videos that are on the Disney channel inbetween shows. There, the concentration was on your typical consumerism pop culture stuff. I was especially apalled that my kid knew all the words (she's 4?!), Especially since the latest from Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus (confusing, I know) is how she's "super cool, super hot, living like a rock star...you think I'm super" and it goes on and on and on...I mean really, is this entertainment? By coincidence, it seems that every TV star on the Disney Channel also happens to have "hit" songs out. Just another way that Disney is controlling consumer habits...
For the other part of my assignment, there was a night this weekend that I woke up around 3:30 and couldn't get back to sleep. I figured I'd fill in the time I needed in front of videos. I'm sure your not shocked that the videos shown at this time are not the typical Disney "schlock". One channel that was showing videos was "rap city". Where the imagery of half naked women, muscular men and lots of visible "bling" was around. Of course lyrics and visuals were a little more "hard core" than Disney but I was particularly surprised by the amount of skin shown. Given the lense through which I was watching this (somewhat cynical and tired) I found the music was particularly lacking in anything that had to do with more than superficial things and lots of them.
In direct contrast was the other channel that was showing videos at that time. I don't know what the channel was but it was the "punk rock" show. While I never have been a fan of the music, I found their videos thought provoking and clever. There was a lot of "pushing the limits" in these visuals that had nothing to do with "eye candy". I found myself trying to figure out what these guys were trying to present. There was much more than what you would expect from punk music stereotypes. Quite ironic that the music I am the least familiar with produced the most positive experience in this project for me. Of course, I could have just been messed up with lack of sleep...
Final thought on this one: In my latenight video watching, I did not see any depictions of strong intelligent female figures and as much as I complain about Disney at the top of this article, at least they present women who have a point of view and some personality. "RapCity" women were silent or playing back-up roles and were there to "tease" and there were no women at all in the punk videos.
toys
What are consumers and viewers encouraging?
Although we would like to believe that we have moved away from racism and prejudice, it is clear from the toys that we really haven`t. We can say that there have been improvements compared to the past---but I am surprised that in this era prejudice and racism have not been erased and wiped off completely!
Barney back of the bus
Please see the text that accompanies this pic below
Are the 80s and 90s coming back to haunt us?
While I don’t subscribe to television, I have elected to blog about Much Music’s top 30 music videos of the current week. While watching a handful of these videos, it has become apparent that many new singers are simply recycling old songs, as well as the elements used to construct a particular message. I have yet to decide if this re-selling of the old, particularly media from the 1980s and 1990s, is done deliberately to pay homage to these beloved moments of my youth, to mock that which has been done, akin to what film theorists would name Pastiche, because current and recent music video producers have run out of new and original material, or because themes depicted in these videos are timeless. Too bad the recent remake of Todo’s Africa is no longer in the top 30s.
We start with a country music singer telling the story of a quintessential heterosexual relationship between the girl in horn-rimmed glasses who devotes her high school years to studying and learning an instrumental and a boy next door, who doesn’t see how the love of his life is right in front of him. However, she finally wins her neighbor-friend (Prince Charming), but not until she turns into a Cinderella at, you guessed it, the prom. Hasn’t this theme been played out over and over again on the small screen? Has anyone seen the 1988 movie Dance Till Dawn?
Next, we have a video about a good girl becoming bad. The lead singer in the video is sporting sunglasses reminiscent of the 80s movie Summerschool, the background of the video is filled with psychotropic white wavy flashes of the same decade, and perhaps the lip-synching is actually pastiche alluding to the Milly Vanilly debacle of that time period.
At number three, we have the teeny-bopper obsessed America’s sweetheard signing about partying her native country. Here, we have a 1987 Good Morning Vietnam Microphone being held (though seemingly unplugged, so one wonders whether the sound is actually coming from her voice, or from a modern 90s version of Woodstock). Words such as “kicks” are used to describe her boots, blue eye shadow is worn, and old muscle cars with t-tops alluding to the free spirit of 90s Americana pollute the desert. I’m sure my parents told me a similar story of their own youth at one point during my childhood. Wait! Eastern Europe had communism back then, not desert parties.
Next, we have a video where the audience sees the name of the song written in font similar to 1983‘s Risky Business, and 90’s Baywatch. The video is very similar to the latter: filled with half, sorry, 1/20th dressed laides dancing on the beach, wearing aviator glasses, while swimming in a pool, and getting led through a secret passageway akin to 50s speakeasy’s. Was that a giant Raspberry the prop people put into the scene at the last minute? Is the Cool Aid man nearby?
30 minutes later, the audience is brought to the top of a thirty-floor skyrise apartment building. Filled with bright yellow light bulbs spelling the band’s name, Korg synthesizers, and building-top dance parties, I feel like I’m stuck in a mid 90s female-singing music video. They’ve even included an old ghetto blaster and high-tops shoes.
The second 30 minutes of the countdown is filled with 12 year old male singers texting to and dancing with their 30 year old friends for just one time; some kind of brothers flying around and getting dressed for their yet-to-be rock concert (didn’t the non-front street old boys do a similar video ten years ago? I think they did! Finally, we have yet another video telling the story of being fifteen, kissing in a car parked at the top of a hill, and wondering whether the bad boy is too bad for this good girl.
Perhaps covert portrayal of adolescent angst can only be formatted to the small screen using very few permutations of stylistic and cinematic elements. If movie videos continue to be formed and formatted the way they recently have been, we’re going to start seeing doubles of the junk that has recently come out of the 20s and 21s.
LukasL
toys!
I find that the toys from the 80s and 90s are becoming more and more hip too. I think it may be attributed to today's parents. They find those 'old school' toys that they grew up playing with and decide to buy them for their kids. Perhaps some of the biggest consumers are the 30-35 year olds? I'm curious to know why music and so many other popular culture items are being revived.
Music videos
I really enjoyed the assignment that we had to do this week on music videos and lyrics. Just to let you know that one of my hobbies is to teach spinning twice a week at club West Island in Beaconsfield. Being a spinning instructor allows me to explore various types of musics, lyrics, artists and sometimes music videos. Finding music and creating music tracks for classes is already a challenge, but when the lyrics come in to play its makes it even more challenging. Over the years I have discovered a variety of new artists but now i am really surprised with the music videos that are attached to the songs that I really like! I must say that it is all about sex, drugs, vulgarity, cheating, empowering the strong stereotypes in todays society. I must say that I feel very differently about certain singers after watching their videos! For example: Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Enimem, Brittney Spears, Chris Brown, Pussy Cat Dolls etc. Why would singers go down that route? Well I guess they do what needs to be done in order to sell their videos and make money! I will be honest with all of you, that after watching those videos my love for music has really decreased and I have a totally different perspective on things! What will be next? May I ask Was it really that bad 10-20-30 years ago? Times have really changed and watch out for what is next? all naked!!!!
Are Black people only entertained by other Black people?
As per my class assignment, I spent an hour Saturday evening watching BET’s “The Pull-Up.” This wasn’t really a music chart or countdown, just a collection of music videos from various artists. I have to say that I wasn’t surprised to see that the only white people in these videos were a few scantily-clad models (with the exception of the occasional appearance of Justin Timberlake – very interesting). I thought to myself, “are black people only entertained by other black people?” or more generally “are people of any race more entertained or attracted to entertainment produced by people of the same race as them?” And why is Justin Timberlake deemed as acceptable for viewing on BET when any other mainstream white artist would not be? The whole concept that a channel like BET exists seemed sort of strange to me. But then I thought about alternatives: MTV and Much Music for example, definitely play a majority of “white” music. They have segments specifically devoted to rap and hip-hop, but if you were to actually record over the course of an entire day how many white artists versus black artists, I’m sure the results would be pretty one sided (that might actually be an interesting thing to try and do though). And if I were to dissect my own television preferences as a whole, besides reality T.V. some of my favourite shows are Seinfeld, Friends... you get the point. So is a channel like BET really necessary? Yes, I guess so but it also makes me wonder why we’ve let ourselves fall so deeply into these stereotypes. The videos on BET were mainly set on large dance floors in clubs or at mansions and featured ridiculous amounts of alcohol, grinding, excessive ‘bling’, shiny cars, sex...lost of sex. I wonder why this channel has been classified as Black Entertainment Television. As if these are the only things that entertain black people! Of course I’m making the following assumption based on the short hour of BET I actually watched, but I think if I were African American, I think I’d be pretty pissed off watching this station. It further perpetuates the negative stereotypes that we should be trying to break down.
Comments on the hip hop presentation
Hello to everyone,
I wanted to complement the presenters for bringing to light some very controversial and important issues that we deal with in education on a daily basis.
I also wanted to take some time and express where I was coming from with some of the feedback I offered in reaction to some of the clips that were shown.
As a principal in our education system who happens to be a white male, I am constantly in contact with kids who are "falling out" of the school system. I am consistently in a position, no matter how flawed it is, of making decisions for the good of the kids in the system, often at the expense of the kid sitting in front of me. I think that Dr. Steinberg said it perfectly yesterday when she stated that high school kids should not see videos of that nature. Fact of the matter is, whenever I deal with a kid in trouble, I often get the fact that I wear a tie, am a male or even more often, that I am white, thrown back in my face. This is why I resonated with whoever it was in class who mentioned that there has to be accompaniment with kids as they watch these videos or listen to music. The kids I deal with have access to all the music and videos that everybody else has, but what they don't have access to is the guidance that is necessary to go along with it, and as a result, a lot of things are said that along the lines of injustice when these kids are in crisis, the trouble is that the energy at that time is inappropriate and misguided and is used as an excuse for inappropriate behaviour.
Please don't take my statement yesterday that I had "kicked a kid out of school" yesterday morning as a statement that that is something that is taken lightly. I constantly evaulate my decisions and question my motives and when a decision such as that one is made, it is done with a lot of different factors in mind and it is not a decision that is made everyday. It came up because it had happened that morning and the kid happened to be black and happened to have thrown around some pretty amazing words in his stay with us using some of that authentic hip hop language. I guess I was just a little bit "raw" by the end of the day yesterday as I am frequently when dealing with the kids I deal with in the position I am in. As I stated in class and earlier in this (rant), there is an awful lot of truth in what some of the hip hp artists bring forward in terms of injustice, the difficulty for me comes in dealing with kids who don't identify to the same ethnicity as I do and who have not had educated support and debate around what is being portrayed so that when they get in to trouble, all of the injustices come out of their mouths. It sticks with me because what they say is true but the way they handle it is not only detrimental but more often than not, obnoxious and leads them into further trouble.
Happy Friday everyone,
more comments on the hip hop presentation
Music is a must
Hip Hop, Rock n Roll, Rythm n Blues, Rap, Metal, Ska, Jazz, and the list goes on and on and on. What are the origins of each trying to say? They are telling a story about the history and culture of those who create. Music brings people together and it breaks people apart. I feel like a walking cliche...but seriously take a look at kids today...how many do you see in the hallways at school, or waiting for a bus or walking in a mall (with their friends I might add) who are connected to a set of headphones, that is connected to an mp3 player that is spinning thier favourite music? And let me tell you, I doubt that many of them are listening to Rush Limbaugh, or Bill O'Reilly, and as off the wall as he might seem, I am willing to bet that very few are even listening to Howard Stern.
The kids are listening to music. If we all think of great times in our lives I would venture that we can all connect a song to a moment. I am constantly listening to the radio and it is like opening up a tickle trunk full of my greatest memories. I hear Love Bites by Def Leppard and I think about my first 'social parties' in grade six, slow dancing with my first girlfriend. Life is a Highway by Tom Cochoran brings me back to my grade 9 band trip to Florida, when I heard that same song while I was browsing the clothes at Ron Jon's Surf Shop...I couldn't believe that they were actually playing a Canadian artist's song all the way down in Florida.
All of this to say that if we really want to get kids interested in school we have to use that which interests them. Whether it is hip hop or Bach, shouldn't we choose topics or methods that engage our youth? Or better yet why can't we let them choose?
In the beginning of 2010 I will be worknig on a fantastic ArtsSmarts project (www.artssmarts.ca) with a teacher, her class and a group of artists to bring hip hop into the classroom, have youth deconstruct and understand its history and then to produce an original piece of creative or performing art that connects thier personal or cultural history with hip hop. It is going to be quite the experience. I will keep anyone who is interested in the loop.
Music
After being informed by my son, who’s 20 and very knowledgeable about all kinds of music, especially hard core punk, that we neither get BET or MuchMusic on our TV anymore, he showed me where to watch it on my laptop. So last Sunday afternoon, I watched an hour of a band called Paramore, an alternate pop-rock quintet from Tennessee on Much Music. Their lead singer, Hayley Williams, the only girl in the band, joined up when she was only thirteen and has written many of the bands lyrics. Perhaps being that she is so young, her lyrics were rather repetitive in nature and once again, lacking in content. They too song about love, sex and getting dumped.
On another note, although I am not a fan of hip hop, the group that presented on Thursday night was excellent. The history of hip hop was well explained and I had a better understanding of that culture, although one that I find hard to relate too. The group piqued my curiosity once again to listen to hip hop. So on Saturday, I listened to a group called, Public Enemy for approximately an hour. By the end of the hour, however, it was enough hip hop for me. I’m not sure if it is the beat or the constant swearing, that just puts me off. “Hip-hop is supposed to uplift and create, to educate people on a larger level and to make a change.” (Doug E. Fresh- American rapper and record producer) Although I was not uplifted, I was certainly educated in the hip hop culture.
Music Videos
I admit I do not subscribe to a music channel and was forced to watch several top ten lists from the MTV2 website to complete the homework. After watching several top ten lists from weeks past I am assuming I am watching the most popular videos chosen by viewers, an alarming thought after watching the videos themselves. The video format was familiar but content had become even more commercial. Many of the rock videos had American muscle cars, costumes to indicate the bandsmen were real “ bad” and a feeling that the apocalypse was about to ensue the minute the video finished. I think this is what stayed with me after watching the hour of videos.
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Two of the top ten videos were advertisements for movies that had been recently released. The bands Tokio Hotel did it’s part to plug the Transformers’ Revenge of the Fallen movie by driving around in leather jackets and the meanest American muscle cars. Death Cab for Cutie went gothic and promoted “Twilight”.
I am not sure what message Eminem is giving with his video “Beautiful” What I get is that he is mourning the Death of Detroit and the Auto industry. Despite the title his video is showing a very ugly version of the city. The general feel is gloom and doom, much like the financial situation in the U.S. when the video was released. Jay-Z’s video D.O.A. )death of auto feels more like a jazz session than a hip-hop video. The subject is politically charged and poetic “ Rappers re-write history without a pen”.
With darkness and uncertainty so present in the top ten countdown is it any wonder Miley Cyrus is a hit with songs like “Party in the U.S.A.”. Again more muscle cars…….and enough skin to help viewers forget the financial crisis and empires falling down.
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Hip hop presentation
Class was good. The discussion about the Jackson Jive (I had blogged about it just the day before!) and the Hip Hop presentation really kept me on my toes, I liked the historical and political context of the Hip Hop history, it made sense also the use of Hip-hop as a teaching tool in schools, very interesting. Being the biggest seller in music in nowadays, I recognize the strong social message embedded in the lyrics and the social context attached. It is a fact that hip hop is the voice of a generation, for almost two generations by now. However I think that it is a whole other side of Hip Hop that was left out of the discussion, the rap side, specifically the gangster rap, the misogynist rap, the violence glorification rap, The Russell Simmons rap. It is impossible to ignore the burning question of where is Hip Hop music going, who is serving and who is really representing today. What about the lyrics that had that strong message of consciousness. What is the message today? Is there a message today? What I see is a money making industry, without going so far, take for instances, the Black Eyed Peas (BEP), from where is the love (not even their earlier work..) to my humps and or the boom , boom whatever..:-( I am sad bout the hip hop generation that my kids are left with..
The Male Gaze in Music Videos
Are you a woman? Good. My name’s Shaggy and I have a job for you.
Soaps- another topic
A Reply to Donna, Nick as the Good Man, and Utopian Worlds
I think what Donna is referring to in her paragraph is echoed In "the Magical world of Daytime Soap Operas", on page 329.
Men are seen as good, bring joy to the family, and solidify the internal mechanisms of the family structure through their marriage vows. Things seem "blissfully perfect".
However, as the chapter indicates, and what the answer to Donna's argument is, if goodness consumes the plot line, characters will eventually be written off.
To stave off losing good actors/characters, these "few good men" need to develop character flaws, or in Shakespearean terms, their hamartia, in order to "free them up for new shorelines". In Donna's description of the relationship between Nick and Shannon, the death of the baby is what causes an "upheaval and disaster".
Just like Donna, I had also watched Y&R. I'll check my masculinity at the door, and let you know that I was watching Y&R even before Nick and Sharon first met. Oh, and Phillis? Phyllis was originally played by a different character, who, if I remember correctly, was originally dating an "evil" man had at the time, abducted Cricket (Christine-is she still married to Paul? Where is Danny)? In any case, Phyllis had also turned evil for a few years, when Nick and Sharon were newlyweds. I guess she turned "good" for a few years after that. Was that when I was 10th grade?
Nick was always seen as the nice guy. Do you know why? Because he was originally a six year old boy, and was always referred by Victor, his dad, as "My Boy"! In relation to his sister Victoria, who was seen as evil for having lost her virginity in the horses' stable, Nick was the good guy. He always will be. However, it is his character flaw (not being the Utopian version of the perfect husband) that secures his soap opera career a few years into the future.
I agree with Donna that, in the soap world, someone dying really doesn't matter. Why? because they end up getting shipped off to a different soap show. For the "married" couple, it just means that they have a few bumpy years ahead of them (in Soap opera time), and everyone will, by then, forget about the dead child. Nick will be the good father, Sharon will be the level-headed, good mother, and all will fall to hell once again a few years after that.
LukasL
music & lingo
This is good. . .Do it the Hellen Keller Way.Talk with your hips
So I was listening to the radio. . let me know what you think. .
This is exceptional, and I'm used to hearing derogatory, sexist, blatantly offensive song lyrics, but I wanted to bring this one to your attention.
It's the song "Don't Trust Me" by "3Oh!3", and these are the lyrics in question (and this is the chorus, no less):
"Shush girl, shut your lips
Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips
I said shush, girl, shut your lips
Do the Helen Keller and talk with your hips
I said shush, girl, shut your lips"
Clearly women are better off shutting their mouths and shaking their asses, we're better off blind & deaf than fully functioning human beings. Helen Keller - someone who fought to be listened to is being defamed. This song is super catchy and catchy enough to start ingraining our generation with ideas that women should be seen, not heard, and that their body is all they are worth.The music industry is in an incredible position of power to circulate discourses about gender relations and sexuality ... so why is 3Oh!3 topping the charts?
Kids don't even know what Helen Keler means and why they are talking about her hips. You go to blurtit.com where you see a kid asking what's up with Helen keller way and hips and these are the answers you get. .
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As a woman, I can't beleive these are the messages young girls are getting! How Sad, and poor Hellen Keller.
teacher tube
I came across several videos of innovative and brave teachers. A few of them attempted to rap their classroom rules and teach math concepts.
Check out this video.
http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=19743&title=9_Multiplication_Tables_HipHop_Music_Video
FRENCH VOGUE 2009
FOLLOW THE Link for the images and article:
http://jezebel.com/5379708/oh-no-they-didnt-french-vogue-does-blackface/...
Balloon Boy Bust or Brilliance
Last Thursday while I was on my way to class I was glued to my car radio as two CJAD announcers told me about a weather balloon that had escaped from a Colorado home and potentially held a 6 year old boy inside. The story was riveting, how could I not listen. I had tuned in just as the balloon began its descent (as broadcast live on CJAD via a CNN feed) and I was about to find out if the child was indeed inside. Lest I forget to mention that it was being reported that the boy's brother thought he may have witnessed the boy fall from the balloon as it rose to nearly 7000 feet in the air. The boy was not inside...and as it turns out he never was, it seems to have all been a hoax.
There are so many places to go with this topic...for a few hours the world believed that a boy's life was in danger and we followed the balloon's every move. What about children's lives that are in danger every day because they live in war torn countries, or with abusive parents? What about 6 year old's who have nothing to eat and go to school hungry, what about 6 year olds who don' t go to school because their parents couldn't care less about them? All this to say that I am not shocked by CNN...it seems to be status quo. It would be intesteting to bring this up in class tomorrow. Any thoughts?
What happened to appreciating the words in a song?
Over 15 years ago, I worked in a record store and I remember clients coming into the store and looking for certain songs because of the lyrics. They searched for songs that explained how they were feeling and that they could relate to. Today it is no longer the positive message or the feelings expressed that matters, what matters is the beat in the song and who sings it. If the song has a great beat and has swear words .....it will be atop seller.
Thanks to My grandmother, I agree with Daniela.
Daniela you are so right. My grandmother never understood why the music playing on the radio stations was considered music. As she would say, in her time, you actually could understand what the singer was saying.
I thank my grandmother for introducing me to the 50's. My friends never understand why I like that music. After all I am the era of boy bands and girls gone bad. They wonder how I can relate to the 50's. I love Frankie Vallei....
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