After a great night’s sleep I woke up early this morning,
ready to take on my second day at Brown. The temperature was perfect; it felt
great to have a break from the hot, humid weather. I walked to breakfast with
my roommate Alex who is from Jamaica. It has been great getting to know Alex
over the past few days. I feel like I have already learned so much about life
in Jamaica along with her stories of life at a boarding school in England. I
never imagined that I would meet someone with a background such as Alex’s and I
feel so grateful for this amazing opportunity. Brown is full of amazing people
from every corner of the globe.
After breakfast we made our way to class. Today, we first
discussed the qualities of a leader. We separated into groups of four and made a
poster of leaders in our lives and key words to describe those people. Most of
us picked teachers or family members as our main leaders. As we discussed these
people, I came to realize that passion was a main theme. Every successful
leader, no matter how different they are from one another must be passionate
about what they are doing. Through this exercise, I was really able to see the
importance of perusing a passion. With passion comes the motivation and
motivation is necessary to complete any task, no matter how small.
After this exercise, it was time for lunch and me and a few
friends walked to Thayer Street. We ordered food at a delicious sushi
restaurant and carried it to a lawn in front of our class. During lunch, we
reflected upon the lesson and came to realize that leaders are everywhere.
Generally, people think of a leader as someone who is assertive, but a leader
can be someone completely different. There different styles of leadership and,
until today, it was hard for me to recognize this.
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| During a class discussion. |
After lunch we watched an absolutely amazing film about the role
of media in society. I always knew that media had a large impact on the world,
but never realized the scale. Media influences people on a subconscious level.
We are increasingly more tuned in with a superficial, often fake, world on a
screen and are less aware of reality. Media has influenced us in ways we can’t
realize. It is part of our subconscious. For this reason, it is incredibly
difficult to differentiate between what is really right and what is just something
the media has said is right.
The movie also addressed the role or lack of role of women
in society. Women are increasingly objectified, meaning they are seen as
objects rather than people. Because of this, it is seen as acceptable to treat
women as less than men. Turning a woman into an object is the first step of
justifying violence against them. In our society, people continue to say that
women are gaining more rights but the media is also becoming more present in
our lives. If this continues, women will ultimately be unable to progress as
leading figures in our society. I was absolutely riveted by the film Miss Representation and recommend it to
everyone.
Emily,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that you all touched on the influence the media has on the direction the world turns. That's why we have laws restricting ownership of broadcast stations, radio stations and newspapers. The idea is that since the media can have such an impact, no one person or group should have that kind of control.
As an example, look carefully at the impact that William Randolph Hearst had when he took us to war against the Spanish in 1898. As he told his reporters, "you provide the stories and I'll provide the war."
Look again at the impact the media had on the war against Iraq.
Of even more impact these days is the impact that FoxNews has on events.
In all of these case you had individuals or groups that wanted to control the information the people received and even the direction that elected officials took the people.