Dear blogging world,

One thing that I’ve decided I hate doing is blogging.  It’s one of the things I’ve learned in this class. I’m not saying it to be rude or angry or somehow inflammatory, though I can’t see how you’d take offense unless you were the one true inventor of blogging, if so, many apologies.  Here’s what I don’t understand about it.  What’s it for.  Here are my thoughts, I’ve posted them, and here they are. Then what?  I had the thoughts in my head before and they were fine there, and now they’re here, in a blog. I bet this would be better if I had a true focus.  Like if this were some kind of failblog type thing then there would be enjoyment in this somehow.  But it isn’t, it’s just my thoughts that have been in my head swimming around accomplishing nothing.   I suppose some bloggers feel that what they have to say or their thoughts are worthy of public consumption, I can’t imagine anyone caring what I have to say or what I Think enough to visit a blog dedicated to that alone.  Sure I make some good points and I’m a pleasure to talk to but I feel something is left to be desired by blogging.   I was always told you were to write for a specific audience when you write. But with blogging, there is no audience, and at the same time, everyone is the audience as anyone could stumble upon this and read it.  It’s all too confusing, hats off to the bloggers out there, but I am not among you.

Murder for Entertainment

So over the weekend I had an opportunity to watch an episode of Dateline.  For those who don’t know, I love those types of shows.  I have no idea why.   This episode was one of their interactive crime episodes (however, being a repeat the ‘interactive’ part was over).  The basic idea of these shows is if you’re watching it as it airs, you can weigh in while the story unfolds.  Typically it centers around a trial, and the viewers indicate via vote whether they believe the prosecution side or the defense side.   What was amazing to me was to watch the story unfold and also watch the way the percentages swing between believing the prosecution and the defense.  While the prosecution told its side it was a landslide, something like 80% believed the person on trial was guilty, and so did I.  But I would make a horrible juror.  I know it’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty but when you see them being brought into the courtroom in handcuffs and escorted by police officers, it’s hard not to see them as a criminal.  You see the handcuffs and police escort and your mind automatically identifies those symbols as being used for someone who has broken the law. And whether or not it’s true, the image is there as is the attached significance of the items.

When it was time for the defense to make its case the pendulum swung the other way and soon some seventy-eight percent believed that the person on trial was innocent.   By the time closing statements were made it was a sixty – forty split in favor of innocent, or maybe not innocent but at least not guilty.   But what got me thinking about was the way our culture uses trials and specifically murder trials as entertainment.   The entertainment news shows are all over the Casey Anthony murder trial at the moment and treating it like a spectacle waited with baited breath until either she takes the stand or her family does, as if it’s some kind ploy where the court is waiting for sweeps week to pull in the big numbers.   I wonder if cameras should in fact be allowed in the court room.  I do believe in the transparency of government wherever possible, and this seems like one of those possible places where the public should be able to see what is happening.  But I wonder if that dilutes the severity of the trial, watching it play out like reality television where we sometimes forget that to get this piece of ‘entertainment’ a little girl died, and another young woman’s life hangs in the balance.   Without the clips from the trial broadcasts the news shows wouldn’t be covering it as much, as descriptive oral recounts of what happened just aren’t as enticing to viewers as first hand video.   What do you think? Do cameras in courtrooms make trials more like entertainment?

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I should probably start by explaining the title of the blog.  I have several jobs.  I work in the College of Graduate Studies at BSU, at The Comcast Center for the Performing Arts, and at the TD Garden in Boston. I also proctor the SATs, ACTs, MTEL, and various other standardized tests.   In each of these places I have a nice supply of post its that I rely on heavily to remind myself not to forget the more important parts of each job.   Sometimes I have to put a post it on the phone with the company’s standard greeting in the off chance that I confuse where I am and pick up the phone unable to recall what it is I’m supposed to say. 

However, these post its have a second function, the accordion style post its are incredibly soothing to me when I get stressed out or frustrated.  I simply take them in my hand and let them fall to the table in a gentle glide that makes a soft wooshing sound and feels neat against your fingertips as they separate and stretch to their full accordion size until they come back together on the table as if nothing had happened.  I know I sound crazy, but I recommend it highly when you’re having an off day. 

I also realize I spelled “Accordion” wrong in the title of this blog.  Count that as the first thing I learned in this course: how to spell Accordion correctly.  The learned has already begun.

Now that you know a little bit about me, hopefully you’ll still read along and won’t immediately discount me as a person whose sanity is thinly tethered to the existence of a soothing office product. 

It has been a roller coaster of emotion in the media this week.  I, of course, am talking about the abundance of reality television that has caught my attention.  The Celebrity Apprentice finished and I was not happy with the outcome, however, Real Housewives of New Jersey has come back and if I could actually be addicted to a t.v. show it might be this one. 

For those of you who have lives and can’t keep up I will catch you up real quickly.   Perhaps you’ve heard of Teresa Giudice who lived a life of opulence blindly until it was revealed to her that her and her husband owed eleven million dollars and were filing for bankruptcy.  Well now her brother and sister in law as well as Teresa’s cousin want to cash in on the fame train as well by being the antagonists of the program.  I have to wonder how authentic this is.   How authentic any of it is.   I can say I don’t get emotionally invested in the shows, I do really enjoy the entertainment value of it all, but the happenings of the show don’t affect me on a personal level, it’s just an entertaining waste of time for me. 

However, there are some who think of this as authentic reality and not at all embellished for a television audience.  I often wonder about those who sign themselves up for these television shows, and their reasons behind it.   From the looks of it, these two new ‘housewives’ caught a glimpse of the live their relative was living and got jealous that they weren’t a part of it.   Some can blame editing, however, you can’t edit words into someone’s mouth, so there is a kernel of truth in what is seen, even if it is embellished for dramatic effect.   If this is their reason for being on the show, I wonder if turning on a family member is worth it all to them.  I have some family members that I would sell down the river in a minute for 200k a year (I don’t actually know how much they make, but this would be my price).  I feel I could “apologize” to them in the amount of $75,000 and still have a nice $125,000 (less taxes) to set myself up nicely for a nice future.  I need a funded retirement account and to be debt free. I’d even give some to charity to help expunge some of the guilt I would feel for selling out a relative.  Yes I can be bought.  Judge me.  Maybe in the confines of writing this I have it all figured out and when it came time to actually go through with it, my integrity would shine through and I wouldn’t be able to sell someone out for money.  Maybe. 

I wonder if what we’re seeing play out in this television show is an accurate portrayal of people in general, can we be happy for people without having a small twinge of jealousy that it’s them and not us.   There are varying levels of how this can play out.  I’m happy for my friends who get married, and not jealous.  But that’s because I don’t want to get married.  Though registering for gifts does look like a good time.   But can you really want something, watch someone else get it, and not be jealous?   Even if you are insanely jealous, could you simply sit on that and not act on it?  Would it fuel your fire to get it for yourself more, or would it fill you with resentment?

As far as media studies go, I often wonder if we’re influenced by what we see and how it relates to Jealousy.   Is this why it’s common for people to build someone up and then enjoy watching them get knocked down?   We see this countless times in our Media.  With Album #1 Lady Gaga was this great new voice that people loved, album #2 there are many new criticisms about the originality and talent she truly has.   Is it the age old “What goes up must come down” and when the pendulum swings one way it will ultimately have to swing back or is it something else?  Is it Jealousy?  Is it common place for our society to champion the underdog until they’re no longer the underdog?  Is the media a reflection of our society in this regard or is it the catalyst for this to happen both in the media and in everyday life?

I’m not sure if I’m supposed to have answers for these things, because I don’t.   I just wonder and it will be interesting to look into in terms of the course findings and if what we study can shed more light onto these topics.

Also sometimes my thoughts get away from me and I type a lot when I only meant to type a little, be ready for that.