Capstrat

Tiffany and Todd were encouraging and enthusiastic. Capstrat seems like it would be a great place to work. I almost get the feeling that the atmosphere is sort of facebook like, but with seasoned professionals at the reins.

I have loved the experiences that all of industry professionals who visited our class shared with us this semester. We truly had a unique opportunity to network and engage our future bosses or maybe our future employees. Now the time has come to stop asking questions, and "just do it"! We all know we need an internship: get one. We all know the media is trying to "play us": don't get played. And we all know as Mr. Chambers says "Chance favors the prepared mind": get prepared.

I am grateful for all of my classmates, peers, and friends; and all of the keen and knowledge enhancing conversations we have had these past to years. But I am so tired of talking: "Stop talking, just do it!"

The Lion Of Zion

"Integration without preparation leads to frustration"
With this philosophy Rev. Leon Sullivan took on racism, injustice, and economic empowerment from Philadelphia to Cape Town. Sullivan's economic "Principles" and lobbying hit the South African government where it hurts, in the wallet.

Sullivan's intelligence and bravery impresses me beyond measure. If I can have half of the impact on a single person that Rev. Sullivan had on the globe, I will have "done good" as our grandmas say.

Rev. Sullivan is not a memory of the past, but an inspiration for the future.

Eddie Long

Bishop Long's message of "keep running" made me think, "When do we stop?" If we are constantly running from time are able to the time we have past, from the time we wake up to the time we sleep eternally, Do we ever get to rest? Then it dawned on me, the key is to run a race that you enjoy. If you are pursuing your passion, you will enjoy your run, live for it! Run the race you can win....run the race you want to win.

Obituary

I have done this exercise three times now, and it's always different and usually better. It's interesting to see how my goals change from year to year. And the funny thing is my career goals never change, but my life goals change. Once I never wanted to have children, then I defiantly wanted to have children, now I'm sort of indifferent. Once I had no husband, next he was a Pastor, now a politician.

Growth is such an important part of living. Every time I hear someone say, "so and so changed, I always stay true" or "what's the difference between 18 and 21" I think to myself, being stagnant and not experience growth is not something of which to be proud. If you are the same at 21 as you were at 18, what have you been doing for three years, how did you make your life and the world a better place.

Someone once told me to write down as many aspects of my life that I could think of and list the ways the improve the person I am; If they don't enhance my life get rid of them. This concept is deeply rooted in writing one's obituary and something by which I live.

I am a WoMAN !

I was elated to see an entity celebrating and admiring Dr. King's life, instead of mourning his death. So often we talk of Dr. King as if he was a dream. A heavenly being that drifted down to earth for a brief period and inspired us. Then was taken so suddenly leaving us with the memory of this dream of greatness and a great man we once had.

Dr. King had a dream that we would become our own dream. That we would stand up against oppression, walk in the foot steps of the Lord, and become the people, family, and community that we always wished we could be. The sanitation workers in Memphis bring this dream to fruition by standing up and proclaiming I AM A MAN. I will follow in their footsteps and proclaim I AM A WOMAN! But, I don't have to say this out loud. My education, my character, my friends and family will speak louder than my own words.

I hope we all will honor Dr. King's life (not his memory) every January, every April, and every day in our own way.

You should go to graduate school!

I was hoping Dr. Ronald L. Jackson would spend more time discussion graduate school options and fellowships, as opposed to simply advocating graduate school. Which raised the question for me, Are there really students in college presently who do not see the benefits of a graduate education? All of my friends plan to go to graduate school or have decided graduate school is not a good investment at this time in their life for their chosen career path.

I hope my classmates heed Dr. Jackson's words and consider all of their options before making life decisions. I personally, will take a closer look at all my options and do my research before I make a life-altering decision.

"Break Into the Music"

My experience at Break into the Music seemed to lack the excitement of the original Hip-Hop Summit. I felt as though the student body and organizers let low morale because this was not the event of yesteryear interfere with the event of today.



With that said, the session I attended that I enjoyed the most was "Media Solutions". The session consisted of an open discussion about the current state of the media, the images it presents, and how it can improve. Everyone present weighed in on how the media does a terrible job of representing black people, how BET sucks, etc, etc.



But, you know, I AM TIRED OF HAVING THIS CONVERSATION!!! If we all feel this way, we need to TAKE ACTION. If you do not like the programing on BET and in your opinion it's demeaning shows should be taken off of the air: DON'T WATCH IT or SPEAK UP! Write a letter to the network. Or even better, write a letter to the FCC; every letter they receive represents 5,000 viewers.



I have had enough of problems, I am ready for solutions. If your not part of the solution, your part of the precipitant.

The State of the Union

Now you probably realize that State of the Union address aired long ago, but I could not bring myself to write about it until now. My reluctance to sit down and do this caused me to do some searching and discover: I AM TIRED OF GEORGE W. BUSH.

Now, before you go on a rant about how Dub Ya has run the country into the ground, allow me to finish. I am tired of George W. Bush. And I do not mean I am tired of his foreign policy or tired of "No Child Left Behind" or tired of Tax Breaks for corporations. But I am tired of George W. Bush the same way that I am tired of "Flavor of Love", tired of hearing who Kim Kardashian is sleeping with this week, and tired of hearing about Brittany Spears ""Mental Breakdown"".

What have we done to our government. We have turned our political leaders into celebrities. We do not wait for Bush to announce where he is taking the country, but we wait for him to say something idiotic so we can laugh later while watching The Daily Show and The Colbert Report.

In his State of the Union address, Bush cemented his commitment to the "war on terror" as he/we have now named it, and spoke of a commitment to train those who have lost manufacturing jobs to outsourcing to work in service industries.

But none of that matters to some. As the line between news and infotainment continues to blur I hope that we all are not loosing sight of the true implications of the actions of our political leaders. Just because we are told to laugh does not mean it's funny.

Valerie Whitted

Mrs. Valerie Whitted dropped some serious knowledge about the reality of the business world. Every day we face the delimma of reconciling our personal beliefs and loyalties with perfessional growth and economic prosperity. I admire Mrs. Whitted because she has found a way to have her cake and eat it too.

As a young woman on the precipice of begining the journey on my career path, I am excited to hear a positive story from a perfessional woman. In contrast to the usual, "I'm so smart and successful I can't find a husband". "I had to leave behind my family, roots, and everything I believe in to get ahead." Or even worse, "I am down with the people and wouldn't sell out or compromise my values for anyone, but I have no personal growth or happiness to show for it".

Mrs. Whitted rejuvenated my desire to work hard, learn quick, and go out into the world with an understanding of the rules and my rules. The challenge is reconciling them, and I welcome the challenge.

40 years ago in Memphis

Almost 40 years ago in Memphis, the great man that was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. passed out of this world and into the next. Hearing his widow speak about the details of her experience on the day of his death nearly brought me to tears.

We will always remember Dr. King's dream, the idea. The idea is immortal, our children, and our children's children will know the idea, they will teach it to their children, and they will live for and because of it everyday. But, What about the man? Not the activist, or the pastor, or the legend; but the man. Mrs. King is no longer with us, and one day their children will join them. When they are gone, who will remember the man?

The man who played in his father's pulpit as a boy. The man who kissed his children goodnight and told them how much he loved them. The man who despite his human flaws, developed the immortal idea.

So every third Monday in January, I will be of service to my fellow man. I will observe the ideals of Freedom and Equality, the idea that will always be with us. But every January 15Th I will weep for the person, the mortal, the man who was taken from his family.

The Price of Freedom

I was not surprised to find that the subject of the round table discussion, though filmed ten years ago was still relevant today. I think that since the mid 1980's the overall growth and achievement of the African-American community as a whole has seemed stagnant from what I have been able to gather through reading literature from the past and present, and talking to my mentors and professors. It seems as though the quality of life has improved ten fold for a select few in the black community, declined ten fold for a few, and remained the same for the great majority of black Americans.

We all know the problems, but where are the solutions? Though the round table panel did an excellent job outlining the problems among African-Americans and the root of those problems, only 30 seconds per participant was allotted to discuss what they thought were the solutions to those problems. I feel that this speaks volumes. I feel that this lack of being solution oriented as opposed to problem oriented is one of the reasons we have been bogged down under the weight of tradition, lack of motivation, and short sightedness in the black community. I would love to see programs where we discuss what we think are the solutions to the biggest problems among African-Americans.

I would also like to see black Americans become proactive instead of reactive. We do not have to wait until a problem puts our backs against the wall to begin solving it. For example many people feel that jobs are leaving the U.S. That is not true! In fact the number of jobs in this country are on the rise, and have almost always increased, but these jobs are in service industries not in manufacturing. Seeing this trend we as black people should as a community try to educate our youth so that they will be qualified for these service jobs. We are always crying about how there is nowhere for an honest man to work anymore, but that is a fallacy. There are plenty of places, but Cone Mills or the Ford plant are not on the list. We better get prepared before we find ourselves as a community not qualified for any of the jobs available.

Dr. Calvin Mackie, did a great job, in my opinion tapping into the spirit of young people and motivating them. Unfortunately, as some of you who were there may have gathered while we were watching the video, I heard him give that speech verbatim at an event last year; therefore, it has lost some of it's magic for me. I will conclude by saying that everyday, we should "wake up running" as Dr. Mackie says; but every night we should decide to what place we are running. Plans change and people must change with them; yet if you fail to plan, then you plan to fail.

On the up and up at the N & O

News and Observer crime reporter Stan Chambers had an intriguing presence, with his aviator style sunglasses and leather jacket featuring a popped collar, as he shared his brand of wisdom with the class Wednesday. Chambers displayed a love for his career and an enthusiasm to answer our questions.

As an African-American man who works a crime beat, I wonder if he ever feels any uneasiness in writing about the usual suspects? Do the families of the victims he writes about tend to look like him? If only I had asked.

Facebook Dot Com

Mark Zuckerberg, former Harvard student and architect of Facebook was painted as the new fad of the tech world. Christened the "Toddler CEO", Zuckerberg seemed to be condescended to and belittled by Lesley Stahl. The angle from which 60 Minutes choose to cover this story gives further credence to the idea that the established forces of any profession, or area; fear and therefore dislike anything new and different.

Maybe Facebook is just today's hot topic and tomorrow will be yesterday's news. Maybe Facebook will be around 100 years from now, and the way we use it today will pale in comparison to the future. Whichever the case my be Facebook is here right now and making a big impact on the way people communicate; and CBS, Google, and MySpace must just get used to it.

Shock TV Still Shocks Me

After Strange Love led to Flavor of Love, and Flavor of Love led to I Love New York, one would think I would no longer be surprised by the shows networks will put on television. But, when it came to my attention that Steve the long time head of security on the Jerry Springer Show, is now the host of his own show where he takes "Springer Like" guests to task for their questionable behavior to say the least; I must confess I was shocked!

Now I will watch anything at least once, just so I can say I've exposed myself to as many things in the media as possible, but I am finding that the older I get, the less TV I want to watch. For most people this would not be a problem, and a stranger reading this would say at this point "if you don't like it, don't watch it, and shut up", but the dilemma I find myself in is caused solely by the fact that I aspire to make media my profession. So to that end, I'll continue to watch Bill O'Riley until I've screamed so much I've lost my voice. I'll continue to watch Tiffany Pollard's search for love until her theatrics make me question if BET's Un Cut was more kind to the reputation of African-American Women. And, due mostly to the writer's strike, I'll even watch Steve hand out his brand of "Dr. Phil like" advice with an extra dose of assertive attitude.

Despite media programing habits and American viewing habits, my greatest enigma where media is concerned is how does Tiffany Pollard feel when she is watching herself on Television? How does Bill O'Riley feel when he's walking the streets and overhears people commenting negatively on his brand of news? And how do I feel when my peers and mentors criticize a song or show I know I love, but choose to keep quiet about at the time because I am ashamed its misogynistic lyrics or negative images entertain me? How much of ourselves have we given up as viewers, consumers, actors, and industry professionals to the media? Is that piece of our self, no matter how slight, a small price to pay for money, ratings, advertising, products, and escape from reality?

What performers are willing to do, viewers are willing to watch, and advertisers are dieing to pay for; now that is really shock TV. And although I am just as big a part of it as everyone else, it still shocks me.

Why I'm Taking Mass Media and Society

I decided to take this class for several reasons. Beside the fact that it is required for my major, I desire to gain as much knowledge as possible, particularly in the Media Field. I am always looking to expand my horizons, and I have heard that Mr. Brett Chambers is the type of instructor that will assist me in my quest.