Rationale:

The Yin Yang in traditional and ancient Chinese medicine, good health is directly related to the balance between yin and yang in oneself. The Yin Yang is a universal symbol of balance nowadays. Using this as the central and lone icon for the poster puts emphasis on it. The use of the Yin Yang further emphasizes the importance of balance in life as it is a symbol and ideology that has been passed down and survived through generations/centuries. The background is white and simple. It does not distract the audience and it keeps the focus on the slogan and the Yin Yang. The white background and the black font parallels the Yin and Yang, consequently, emphasizing it yet again. The slogan “They knew it was the key. Why don’t we?” directly asks and interacts with the audience, making them question themselves and acting as a call to action. The slogan uses rhyme to further imprint itself in the audience’s mind.  

Rationale:

The tall cliff juxtaposed with the long and empty gap gives a sense of ‘nothing or all’ for the audience. It gives visual weight to the words “Rise High, Don’t Fall”. Mountains have long been a common visualization of the path to success. Juxtaposing the highest point with the potential for the long fall emphasizes the value of the words. It instills fear in the audience as it only allows space for two polarizing options. The top phrase "Balance enables Independence" uses rhyme and short length to further imprint itself in the audience's mind. 

Reflection on "Control Room: Propaganda of the Iraq War"

Prompt: It is acceptable for a government to try to shape public opinion through information campaigns.

Position: Disagree

The Iraq war is an appropriate example of how the same news can be reported with bias based on the different cultural and political ideologies of different media institutions. In my opinion, it is not acceptable for a government to try to shape public opinion through information campaigns. The government aims to shape the public opinion in order to gain public support by justifying their actions. However, it is something commonly done today, especially during the Iraq war. This is demonstrated in the documentary Control Room: Propaganda of the Iraq War. For instance, American media during the Iraq War almost never showed images of Iraqi civilian casualties, of American prisoners of war, or of American dead. Al Jazeera showed all of these things. Control Room might have raised questions about American media policies, how they have changed, what forces were at work in changing them, and what the consequences of such changes have been.
 The director highlights the controversy the film raises on the role of propaganda during the 2003 Iraq war. There is no narrator to provide an argument about the war. Rather, Control Room relies on the arguments made by its subjects and constructing the film by integrating behind-the-scenes of the media sources such as CentCom, the US central military command and the media hub in Doha, Qatar. This perspective reveals the struggle for power and control over creating and controlling the narrative of the war.

The film itself promotes an ethos by grounding in reasonableness and balance in opposition to bias with this didactic perspective. However, no matter how objective the director tries to be, there is still bias. Control Room repeatedly emphasizes how small Al Jazeera is compared to the might of the U.S. military. It sets up its audience to “root for the little guy.” The Al Jazeera staff members are hardworking and ordinary. They are overweight, balding, chain smoking, unglamorous. They seem particularly vulnerable as well. Thus, Control Room dramatizes the work of journalists in a war environment, thus framing them as heroes too.

Media Bias Pastiche

For this exercise, we were to identify a news article that contains bias towards a social or political issue and as a result displays a specific ideology. Then rewrite the article demonstrating the use of bias techniques from a different ideology. This is the article I have chosen to re-write: http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/23/451208663/why-hurricane-patricia-cant-be-blamed-on-climate-change

Hurricane Patricia Undeniably Made Worse By Climate Change

Hurricane Patricia—now the strongest hurricane ever measured—is expected to make landfall in Mexico late Friday. According to the latest official forecast from the National Hurricane Center, Manzanillo, a city of 100,000 people, appears to be in Patricia’s direct path.

After seeing the incredible data gathered by hurricane hunter aircraft overnight, a few meteorologists have argued that Patricia could be thought of as a Category 7 hurricane—though the official Saffir-Simpson scale only goes up to 5. Here’s the official description of likely damage from a Category 5 hurricane—like 1992’s Andrew in Florida, and 2013’s Haiyan in the Philippines—suitable for your nightmares.
The original justification for cutting off the scale at 5 is that no human-built structure could withstand winds above its 155 mph threshold. So essentially there was no point in differentiating between storms once the winds were above 155. Right now, Patricia’s core winds are estimated to be 200 mph—with gusts to 250 mph—as strong as the tornado that destroyed Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, but at least 15 times larger in area. Patricia, at its current strength, is close to the theoretical maximum strength for a tropical cyclone on planet Earth. In fact, at one point on Friday morning, Patricia actually went above its maximum potential intensity.

How did Patricia get to be so strong? The answer, quite simply, involves human-caused climate change. Hurricane Patricia is exactly the kind of terrifying storm we can expect to see more frequently in the decades to come. Although there’s no way to know exactly how much climate change is a factor in Patricia’s explosive strengthening, it’s irresponsible, at this point, not to discuss it.

Scientists who study the link between hurricanes and climate change have long predicted, and debated, the trend of stronger tropical cyclones. The latest science seems to have settled on climate change boosting the frequency of the strongest hurricanes, even as total hurricane numbers may remain flat. Basically, storms like Patricia fit closely with these predictions, though they happen so infrequently that it’s almost impossible to definitively prove.

Even though it may not make sense from a wind speed perspective to create new hurricane categories, the fact that super hurricanes like Patricia may be becoming more common and that storm surge is a far deadlier threat anyway means that, from a public warning perspective, it may be time to revise the Saffir-Simpson scale. Patricia has made it clear: Climate change means we need a Category 6.

Practice IOC 2: Munro, Moons Of Jupiter

https://sites.google.com/site/eruditemedia/mp3

Practice IOC: Alice Munro, Boys and Girls

https://sites.google.com/site/eruditemedia/mp3?pli=1

Alice Munro and Women's Literature

These first few lessons of our senior year, reminded me why we study literature. Literature gives an insight into anything, it allows us to obtain a bigger and richer experience with the world. To me, it was always an act of empathy. Whenever I read, I've always imagined what it's like to be someone else. You suddenly have a fuller understanding of lives other than your own. We learn more about those around us, those who come before us and we learn more about ourselves. A quote that's always resonated with me and perfectly captured this is: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one.”― George R.R. Martin.

While discussing this with our peers, it proved to be a little more difficult than anticipated. There is no strict definition. There were questions such as: Is WL only for woman? Can men write WL? Does WL need to convey feminist messages? Firstly, we looked at how women should be classified as a social group since they've been marginalized and oppressed. For example, it wasn't until the 19th century that female authors were able to publish and even then, it was under a pen name. A lot of their works seemed to share their own personal experiences and struggles from the perspective of being a female specifically. This in turn relates to consciousness-raising, turning the personal into political. This created a new language of theory, one that had been previously been defined by the oppressors. So no, WL is not only for woman, but rather for anyone who reads it. Through immersing the readers into their memories, they are better able to understand their oppression and empathize with woman. In this light, you could argue that women's literature was a tool for feminism. However, Alice Munro herself does not identify as a feminist writer and yet she provides insight into life as a women. With the simplicity of raw truthfulness and subtle symbols, Munro has managed to create a story that allows the reader to converse with the characters and find a new viewpoint on the female identity. So no, WL does not need to convey feminist messages. 

Analytical Exercise

Commentary on Let It Go

Lyrics:

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight

Not a footprint to be seen

A kingdom of isolation,

And it looks like I'm the queen.

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside

Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!

Don't let them in, don't let them see

Be the good girl you always have to be

Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know

Well, now they know!

Let it go, let it go

Can't hold it back anymore

Let it go, let it go

Turn away and slam the door!

I don't care

What they're going to say

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway!

It's funny how some distance

Makes everything seem small

And the fears that once controlled me

Can't get to me at all!

It's time to see what I can do

To test the limits and break through

No right, no wrong, no rules for me I'm free!

Let it go, let it go

I am one with the wind and sky

Let it go, let it go

You'll never see me cry!

Here I stand

And here I'll stay

Let the storm rage on!

My power flurries through the air into the ground

My soul is spiraling in frozen fractals all around

And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast

I'm never going back,

The past is in the past!

Let it go, let it go

When I'll rise like the break of dawn

Let it go, let it go

That perfect girl is gone!

Here I stand

In the light of day

Let the storm rage on,

The cold never bothered me anyway!

Let It Go is everywhere, and it’s not disappearing without a fight. It’s the main reason why the Frozen soundtrack has been the No 1 album in the US for nine weeks and counting – Beyoncé only managed three – and a significant reason why the film became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. It’s no mystery that Let It Go has become a sensation among our generation now.

Now although this song can be interpreted in many different ways, even as an LGBTQ anthem, I’ll be arguing why this song deserves to be in an anthology of the greatest songs of this century.

Let It Go mainly serves as an aperitif for adolescence. It’s a moment of transition and upheaval which conveys the giddy, reckless buzz of expressing yourself without considering the consequences.

The line "Let the storm rage on" is followed by "The cold never bothered me anyway" - a line worth remembering, as it's said twice, sung in a different style, and is the last line of the song. Now the “cold” could be applied to any problem an individual could be facing. It is a time where feelings are raw, unpredictable, terrifying and new. Elsa however was afraid of her lack of control of her powers and the resulting isolation from other people.

Note, how she turns around and slams shut the doors. This is her way of dealing with her problems. It is also similar to how a lot of adolescents shut people out and bottle their emotions in difficult situations, especially with their loved ones.

Another line in the song that's a self deception is when she says "You'll never see me cry". Both this line and "the cold never bothered me anyway" are the kind of things said by people who are trying to convince themselves. It is studded with the language of refusal: “not”, “couldn’t”, “can’t” (twice), “no” (three times), “never” (four) and “don’t” (five).

Lastly in the matter of lyrics, consider the title of the song itself, "Let It Go", which is sung repeatedly. What is she letting go of? It is obvious, that Elsa lets go all of her restraints, especially with her powers. This is the positive element in the song, and what most listeners unfortunately latch on to, to the exclusion of other elements. It is a jubilant celebration of release for those who have been living in fear or bondage.

But personal empowerment, though good, is fraught with danger, as indicated by the next line: "No right, no wrong, no rules for me” (an ode to moral relativism). She lets go of her sense of right and wrong, of the rules and restrictions that being a "good girl" imposed on her. Now obviously some of the rules may have been constraining but they were also for the safety of her and others. How much of that is she letting go? Only some specific rules? All of it? The entire concept of goodness?

Honestly, anyone could relate to this. In adolescence, it is inevitable when exploring and discovering oneself to have to question everything and take risks and to be confronted with such choices.Who hasn't felt that they could become more powerful if only they let go of other people and their restrictions and morality? Who hasn't felt that there is nothing they could do in certain helpless situations, powerless despite their abilities? And who hasn't felt their soul imperiled by these feelings?

Although I’ve interpreted as more of an aperitif to adolescence, I do believe that it applies to the entire human population, despite age. In the end, this song expresses the uncertainty we have with human nature. It expresses the confusing array of emotions that we’ve all felt when confronted, especially with power.Yes, the song is about empowerment, but there is also tragedy, anger, bitterness, and self-deception in it, in even greater measure. Even though it doesn’t convey an utopian ideal, it does something more. It expresses a phase which many of us have experienced since the beginning of our time, and it teaches us a lesson.