Growing up online

I like the video that  James picked because I can relate to it. I use the computer a lot and I'm always connected to the media somehow. When I'm not at my computer I'm texting and my parents always get mad at me for it. Thy aren't as protective as some of the parents in this video. They have never asked me for passwords or only let me use the computer when there in the room I have a laptop so I use that in my room. It is very true that all the kids use the internet but I've never been cyber bullied. 

Hunting For Cool

There is a Frontline video called "Hunting For Cool" that aired on February 17 2001. This video is about what kids think is cool and what companies will do to target the kids. Kids are one of the most targeted demographics to companies because they have the money and will buy a product if they think it will make them seem cool. There is a man named Douglas Rushkoff who had a couple kids sit in a room with him and he asked them all sorts of question to find out what they wear, eat, listen to and watch.

Companies want to target young kids on things like television and other media sources because they have a lot of money to spend freely and will most likely see the advertisements. Anywhere they go there is a marketing message and teens on average see 300 discrete messages in a day and 10,000,000 by the time they are 18 years of age. 75% of teens have a television in there rooms and 1/3 have personal computers. On their computers teens spend 2 hours a day on the internet. Because there are so many channels marketers are able to specify age demographic and have demographics for one year age differences.

Trying to find out what these kids like is called hunting for cool. Marketers are trying to find out what all of the cool kids are doing or what they could be doing in hopes for their followers to follow them. 20% of the population will influence the other 80% to buy things so they influence those 20% and they will do the rest. The people who try to find these things out are called culture spies. Culture spies perfectly describes these people because they are trying to find out what is "hip" in today's culture. They walk around with cameras, do research on the internet, watch videos, and have interviews with other people, which are all things that companies cant do so they hire these "culture spies" to penetrate these boundaries. The goal for the culture spies is to find out what the trends are before they get popular because once all of the marketing companies find out about whats popular it will no longer be popular.

-Ben Sampson

Media Matters

Yesterday I went to UMass Boston with a few of my classmates for "Media Matters." Media matters was a conference for high school students that talked about the media and all the different angles. For the first seminar that I went to it was called "Sports Stories- How to Get Your Angle." Bill Littlefield who hosts his own radio on WNPR called its only a game. His show is not a talk show because he says that he doesn't like it when people will call in and say ridiculous things like "ya i think that the Bruins should put two people in the goal cause that way nobody will be able to score." I found his stories very interesting and he talked about how sometimes a nobody is more important to talk to than a big star such as Rodger Clemens. The second class I went to was by a guy who writes for the Globe and he shared his stories about how he began to write. He writes for the  arts section and he said that he likes writing for the arts section because not many newspapers have good art sections.  The other two that i went to were on how to make a good press conference and about how racism is in the media and how it has changed over time. I found the conference very interesting and I would definitely go again if I were able to take different classes.

-Ben Sampson

Media Matters: Writing Conference

Yesterday I went to the Media Matters conference at UMass Boston with four other Watertown high students. When we arrived we got a string backpack. In it was a chocolate bar, notebook, pen, brochures and teen newspapers. There was also a book which had a short bio on all the guest speakers.

First I went Sports Stories--How to Get YOUR Angle. THe speaker was Bill Littlefield from WBUR show "Only a Game". He talked about stories he had written. He talked a lot about how football is a popular and powerful sport in the U. S. but it is very dangerous. A lot of football players have brain damage and die younger. He said it is hard to write a story against something so popular. Then he went on to say that athletes get tired of reporters. A reporter has to find a way to break through. Sometimes you have to risk asking a stupid question to get a good story. Although I thought his stories were very interesting he never really answered the question of how to get the angle.

Next I went to From Iowa to the White House. Derrick Z. Jackson, an associate editor for the Boston Globe, spoke about his experiences following the campaign trail. First he showed pictures of Obama that he had taken himself. The pictures looked professional and very close up. He said a speech Obama made on race helped him win the election. He said that if Obama had made one mistake in the wording of the speech he may not have been President. He said one of the hardest parts about being a political colomnist is not letting personal opinions get in the way.

Next I went to Investigative Reporting: From Documents to Door Knocks. Ric Kahn, Coordinator of Boston Teens in Print and former Boston Globe reporter took us step by step through the process of writing one of his articles. When we first walked in everyone was handed a laptop. The story was about a homeless woman who had died of a herion overdose. Suprisingly she was from the wealthy town of Wilmington, MA. We went of the Wilmington town website and found her house. This gave information about how many rooms were in the house. Next he said to go to the house to ask the family questions. Calling would make it to easy for someone to hang up. Unfortunately this family was not willing to give out much information so he turned to death certificates, marriage licenses and police reports. He said the more information you have the more people will give you. At the end of the class Ric Khan made everyone ask a question before we could leave. This was my favorite class because it was interactive and really interesting.

Abortion Clinic

Watch the video!

The video "Abortion Clinic" is a video on PBS Frontline, which was first aired on April 18, 1983.  This documentary was filmed at the Reproductive Health and Counseling Center in Chester, PA.  At that time, the city had a 30% unemployment rate.  During their five months at the clinic, the producer's of the film met with hundreds of women.  Two of those women, Barbara and Helen, have their abortion's filmed.  It is a struggle for both of them, emotionally and physically.  Two decades later, it remains one of Frontline's most powerful stories ever told. 

I'm hoping you all know what an abortion is. If you don't, then let me explain it to you.  An abortion is when a pregnancy is terminated, in which the fetus is sucked out of the mother's uterus.  This documentary is divided into six chapters.  Chapter one gives and overview of the women who visit seeking for abortions, and also the towns anti-abortion activists.  Chapter two and three tell the story of Helen, a seventeen year old who visits the clinic to get an abortion, and shockingly, this will be her second one.  Chapter four discusses the alternatives to abortions such as adoption and keeping the child.  Dr. George Isajiw and his wife are mentioned in this chapter, who both have counseled and supported over 500 women who decide to carry their babies into term.

Chapters five and six introduce Barbara, a seventeen year old women, who visits the clinic to get an abortion.  She has had a difficult and sad life.  She would get beaten by her boyfriend.  She managed to have a two year old boy named Michael, but now feels that her life is in a difficult situation to have anymore kids.  As her abortion is being showed, it is clearly visible that she is an a lot of pain and has a hard time with the abortion.

In my opinion, an abortion is a murder.  They should be illegal.  How is it that these mothers don't realize they are killing their babies?  They are denying their own flesh and blood and preventing a life from entering the earth.  Do you know what happens when an abortion is complete?  The fetus get tossed out, like it is worth nothing.  At a certain growth, the fetus can feel pain and if it's life is being terminated, should it be allowed to feel death?  This picture shows what is done to the fetus.  Do you think life should be treated this way?

Ten Trillion and Counting

This front line video that I watched is about the national deficit and how it has spiraled out of control during the past eight years under the Bush Administration. There was a surplus during the later years of Bill Clinton's presidency but it slowly started going down after George Bush took office in January of 2001. When George H. W. Bush was president, he put in order a pay as you go plan that required the government to find a way to pay for everything that it spends. It was extended when Bill Clinton took office but expired eight years later. Just like this graph shows, it will take years (and money) for the government would turn the deficit around into a rare surplus.

About this "pay as you go" plan, George Bush didn't bother to extend it and nowadays, Barack Obama said he wants to have it reinstated again because it requires the government to be more financially responsible with taxpayer's money. If there is something somebody wants either it's a congressman, a senator, or even the president himself that is expensive, they have to pay for it someway by cutting spending somewhere else or by raising taxes; then if this cannot be done, then this bill will be dropped in Congress or the president wouldn't even bring it up to Congress.

Close to Home

Close to Home is a Frontline documentary about the Upper East side in New York City and how it is affected by the economy. Most news channels and documentaries have been focusing on the lower and middle class financial problems. The fact that this documentary was about wealthy New Yorkers made it unique. Another very interesting point of the video that made it unique was that it was filmed in a hair salon called Deborah's. Customers were interviewed while getting their hair done. The idea of the documentary was to capture what Deborah, the hairdresser, heard daily about the day to day struggles her clients were facing due to the economy. Deborah said people often tell her about their economic troubles "Somebodies willing to listen. Somebodies willing to hear the problems that they are facing because of this economic crisis." Many clients had lost their jobs and even businesses. One young couple lost their coffee shop because they were not getting enough customers. There were some people I was very sympathetic for such as a man who had been out of work for months. He had sent out more than 200 resumes and gone on many job interviews. He seemed worn out from the stress. He constantly was attending support groups for the unemployed where members help each other improve resume and interview skills. There were other people who I thought were very dramatic and not thankful for what they still had. One woman was at the salon for a touch up because she was going out that night. She said she had to sell her beloved Porsche to pay for her health insurance. She said giving up the Porsche was harder than getting a divorce. During the interviews the clients were getting their hair cut. This was a different perspective that showed a different side of the upper class.