Blog 3-Books

Three Books

• Harry Potter (Series)

• I absolutely adored reading the Harry Potter series when I was younger. It really allowed me to expand my mind and use critical thinking to understand what was happening in the books. I feel it also expanded my vocabulary as a child because there were new words that I would be learning through every chapter. I loved it because of the adventures and mischief that Harry Potter and his friends would get into. I was always eager to find out what happened next and in pursuing so it would influence me positively by pushing me to continue reading.
• http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Paperback-Box-Books/dp/0545162076/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366873712&sr=1-1&keywords=harry+potter+box+set

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

• I will never forget my mother and father reading this story book to me as a child, it is forever ingrained in me as a happy and warm-filling memory. I enjoyed the antics of the mouse and he had an endless list of things he wanted to do with the little boy, all in good fun. It ultimately stuck with me because of the colorful and well detailed illustrations that thoroughly portrayed the story and the silly mouses antics that made me laugh. It was a wonderful story that still makes me acknowledge what a pleasant childhood I had.
• http://www.amazon.com/You-Give-Mouse-Cookie-Give/dp/0060245867/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366873768&sr=1-1&keywords=if+you+give+a+mouse+a+cookie

• Perks of Being a Wallflower
• This was a book that I read while in High School that had a serious impact on me. I enjoyed it so much because I felt that I could relate to the main character in the sense that he was they type of person that was quiet and observed others. I loved it because all about being the anti-conformist in High School, during a time when fulfilling the social norm was everything, I loved that the main character dared to be different and made sincere friendships in doing so. It allowed me to accept myself and learn that I didn't need to be like everyone else, which is why it is still one of my favorite books.
• http://www.amazon.com/Perks-Being-Wallflower-Stephen-Chbosky/dp/1451696191/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1366873790&sr=1-1&keywords=perks+of+being+a+wallflower+book

Media Impact

 Media creates an ideal (in society's standards) and at most times unrealistic portrayal of not only females, which is more often discussed, but men as well. Men are stereotyped to be tough and to be a hero. They are not prohibited to show emotion, any crying or fear is regarded with the most dire insults: pussy or gay. It places these expectations on men to embellish this role and behave in a particular manner.Where women are considered weak, men must be the rescuer for the damsel in distress and pick fights with other men to ensure their masculinity. It's sad because this stereotype for men is also expected to treat women as sexual objects, reinforcing a stereotype upon women as well. Men must be violent and on edge to jump on the opportunity to fight someone once they've questioned the male's masculinity. Whether it's a gang member defending his territory with violence or a man beating another man up for name calling him a wimp, men are expected to meet certain criteria in order to seem appealing within society. If they don't fulfill these requirements, then they're not men. I have male friends whom are insecure about themselves because of this anticipated image. It allows for men to perceive themselves as negative individuals if they can't meet these standards. There's a documentary called "Tough Guise" that discusses this image of men that is displayed through media. It does a good job of explaining why this image is so completely corrupted and how it negatively influences men within society.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI

Media Autobiography

I am completely accustomed to being surrounded by media literally all the time and whether I realize it at times or not, it's there. My relationship with mass media stems from many of the things I do on a daily basis such as:

• Listening to the radio
• often occurs driving to and from places, hours within my day
• I like the music, I dislike the commercials promoting products by practically shoving them down my throat
• I dislike that I don't a choice as to what song I'd like to listen to
• Watching TV
• After a long day of work or school, watching television is what I do to relax, this is something I've done since I was little
• Usually use a DVR so that I can fast forward the commercials (I dislike them as previously stated)
• I sometimes watch the news, or satiric things that make me laugh like The Colbert Report
• Reading Books
• As a little girl I loved to read and escape into different places, go on adventures through reading
• I still read, though not as much as I'd like to, but it will always be something I love to do
• Reading Magazines
• I'm subscribed to a few magazines so it's nice to have something to read when it comes
• I read magazine that are all quite different from one another, one dealing with fashion and another with politics
• How often I read magazines depends on how often I get them in the mail
• Movies
• Another way I use to escape real life to go on an adventure or something or other
• I love all various genres of movies
• Reading the Newspaper
• I used to be subscribed to the SF Chronicle through my kindle, but have not read it in a long time
• It seems that access to my iPhone and having apps like NY Times and CNN, that are constantly  sending me updates to ongoings throughout the world periodically during the day, has led to my decreased use of reading the newspaper
• Using the Internet
• Out of everything listed this has to be the one I use the most
• Again, having an iPhone makes it so easy, I have access to internet anytime and anywhere
• When I was younger, I would use the internet for things like games and then during my preteens I'd use it for social media and now as I'm older I feel like I'm at a point where I'm not sure how I'd function if I could no longer use it
• I rely on it to help me finish HW, to help me google something I don't understand, I use it to access books and even to watch shows and movies, I really use it too much

My major is Communications which I would like to use towards marketing (surprising as I dislike commercials, I know) possibly promoting companies to media is quite relevant to my college experience. I'm transferring to SJSU in the Fall and will continue to work towards getting an internship in marketing.