Comm 110

In this course I learned a variety of concepts I did not have prior knowledge of to theories I had somewhat glazed over in high school. Knapp's relational model and Maslow's hierarchy for example.

At the start of the semester I hardly knew what interpersonal communication was, I thought it would deal with feeling good about oneself and having a relationship internally. As the course continued, I began to understand the importance and impact communication has in our society. I learned ways to not jump to conclusions and process possible reasons for someone not acting the way I would expect among other analytical concepts. The tips given for the interview process really helped me in changing the way I presented myself during an interview and professional environment. I'm proud to say that just this Tuesday I was interviewed for a Spanish tutoring job at Burke Languages and was hired on the spot!

Communications 110 has opened my eyes to my interpersonal relationships with coworkers, family members, and even people from different cultural backgrounds. I know that depending on the environment I find myself in I will have to change the way I communicate with others. For example my sales person friendliness at Aeropostale will be different to my communication four years from now, in my global business management career. I know I will have to deal with people from other countries that might not have the same customs we do in America, and aside from knowing the language there might be more cultural barriers to break. Overall I know I will keep something from this course that I will need in my professional and intimate relationships.

How Far Is Too Far?

Nowadays, it's not very difficult for police officials to trace phone calls, for example, in the case of a 911 call. But what happens when the authorities use cellphone tracking devices to absorb thousands of emails, phone calls and texts in one particular area? According to Clarence Walker's article, federal investigators and law enforcement agencies have now turned to StingRay technology to spy more freely on drug crime suspects.

The StingRay (pictured below) was originally manufactured by a German/ Britain based firm but have now partnered with US law enforcement agencies to spy on potential crime suspects. The device works by acting as a cell tower in order to tap into the suspect's phone conversations, and in doing so, also collects unsuspecting residents' conversations.

After being blocked by a Supreme Court ruling, law officials were not allowed to use GPS technology and eventually resorted to the StingRay. They now claim that even though they are able to listen to other conversations they are not violating any privacy rights and claim it is completely constitutional. Let's keep in mind that they do not issue warrants before tracking other people's calls and they do so with no consent..
How far is the government willing to go to "keep us safe?"

Time to "Chip in"

"Chipping in" is usually used to reference a person or group of people helping out a cause, this is exactly what companies such as Applied Digital Solutions plan to do.

But you know, by implanting an actual tracking chip in people.

The company's chip would ideally help all those suffering from medical conditions to cautious parents. The chip would be about the size of a grain of rice and would be located under a layer of skin in the person's hand. All personal information would be stored within the chip to make it more accessible in case of an emergency. Through the chip, hospitals would have access to the patient's allergies, insurance information, and overall medical history by the wave of a hand. By ridding patients of the common hospitalization nuisances, they would be able to solely focus on getting better. 

Now, parents would also benefit from this type of technology. By chipping their children they would be able to track them faster and efficiently if they were to go missing. The locating device would aid family members of Alzheimer patients to bring them home safely.

Undoubtedly, technology continues to improve to make everyday life easier, however, it doesn't come without its downsides. 

What if the government decided to do away with plastic identification cards and required chip implants instead? What would happen if a child were to be tracked by someone other than their parent? Or if all of our medical/ location information were to be hacked? 

Although the chip might seem like the answer to all of our security problems, no one can prevent others from abusing this technology to their advantage. So the question at hand is, would you be willing to "chip in?" 

How do you feel about "chipping in?" Take the survey here.

And for ABC News' article on Veri-chip technology click on this link.

50 Year Old Housewife

Chapter 8 Invitation to Insight

Question 1: The woman who sent out the postcard, disclosed the information in the form of catharsis disclosure. I came to this conclusion because the secret is pretty harmless but she seems to have an urge to let it off her chest as if it were bothering her. Understandably, the woman feels a rush of excitement of living a double life; by being able to write to PostSecret anonymously the woman experiences emotional relief in a public and nonjudgmental way. However, if she did disclose this information with her grand-kids per say, she could experience both the emotional relief and possible admiration on their end. 

Question 2: I think the reason she chose to keep her identity private was to maintain a certain perspective others might have of her. For example, if she holds herself as a serious, reputable woman she might not want her neighbors to know she has acted childlike and leave a negative impression on them. She might also hurt her relationship with her neighbors, after all the neighbors' have rounded up the leaves just to find they were scattered along their yards, once again. If they were to find out she did it, they might expect her to clean their yards or might even seek means to get even with her. So in fact, the risks do outweigh the benefits to disclosing this type of information with her neighbors or older friends as opposed to younger family members.

Question 3: As of now, I don't believe there is a moral obligation for the woman to come clean about her joy rides. However, this could change with further context. If another person was being blamed and fined for her joy rides then there would be a moral obligation to tell the truth before an injustice occurred.  

http://postsecret.com/

Missing the Point

http://designbump.com/20-most-controversial-print-advertisements/

IP Press Magazine is intended for men's leisure and includes other magazines such as Maxim, Che, and others.
This particular advertisement (shown on left) was published in Belgium of 2007.To this day the picture has been circulated through social media sites a plethora amount of times.

In the print advertisement we see a easily recognizable image in history, John F. Kennedy's assassination in November of 63'. 

Now, anyone that has taken U.S history in high school can tell you that the intended target was indeed the president and not his wife. As well as note that Kennedy's wife was sitting next to him during his assassination and suffered no injuries. However, in this ad the roles are reversed. Through some analysis, we see that the image is blurred all around except for the focus on the First Lady, the only woman depicted. The colors overall are bleak and lifeless with the blacks and grays of the men's suits and car, again, except for the First Lady's dress which is pink. The dress she is wearing is very sixties and in turn, very conservative. The small print under the image makes a satiric joke and reads, "If men are your target. Make sure you don't miss them." 

As a community that that is exposed to over 100 advertisements and commercials a day we know American values have changed. Women no longer wear knee length skirts and dresses for casual dates or referred to as "ladies" in the artistic world. Nowadays it is more common to watch a male music video objectifying women and featuring women's bodies than ever before. Women degradation is becoming a common concept and it is no surprise men like Hugh Hefner have managed to make a living out of it. Men's reading subscriptions as of 2014 were as follows: 

*Note how the top 2 magazines offer women nudity and are considerably far larger numbers than that of the rest 

1. Maxim: 1,228,797 subscribers
2. Playboy: 958,885 subscribers
3. Shortlist: 521,713 subscribers 
4. Sport: 306,540 subscribers

Fashion Junkie

http://designbump.com/20-most-controversial-print-advertisements/

Sisley's Fashion Junkie caused quite the controversy after it was first seen in China of 2007. The advertisement (shown on left) was created for the Sisley brand to be shown throughout various high-end fashion magazines. The brand primarily features clothing for men and women and can be accessed on their website here. It is no surprise that by clicking the link we are led to find some more overly-sexualized ads for clothing, featuring razor sharp jawlines.

In the print ad two women are portrayed crowding around what seems to be a dress. Through the placement of a credit card, powder residue, straws, and dark background we can easily come to the conclusion the dress is made up crushed coke. The ever so thin women both hold straws in their hands toward the cocaine lines. One of the models holds the straw ready to inhale, while the other looks like she has just finished snorting as she looks to the camera with a tiresome gaze. The dark lighting, similar to that of a night club, adds to the eeriness of the advertisement and raises plenty of questions. For example, if Sisley has a trend of featuring "perfect" models, why do these particular models look rugged, with their roots not retouched, smudged makeup, and nipples hanging out their dresses?

Cocaine in the fashion industry has proved to be a serious issue due to the increase of substance abuse by models. Living in the era where almost every advertisement campaign features unrealistic standards of perfection, it is no shock more and more models are opting for narcotics. The fashion industry exploits women to the point where they resort to narcotics to keep them from being human by gaining weight, sleeping, and even aging. Fashion Junkie rationalizes the unhealthy relationship where print/ runway models live and breathe (and in this case snort) fashion.

Listening to Global Voices

Before Ethan Zuckerman's TED Talk, I shared the same belief as everyone, that we have all the information we need at our fingertips. Zuckerman speaks out in order to relieve us of the erroneous mentality that we (Americans) are the only people on the internet. He then proceeds to point out that over 17.7% of Twitter users are Japanese as apposed to only 8.3% of American users. Weird how we still don't hear from (or pay attention to) the other 82.3% of Twitter population.

I also learned that according to NASA, there are dark spots in the world because of the lack of electricity in some countries such as Africa, Madagascar, as well other countries. This in fact, partially justifies why we don't hear much from those countries on social media. When basic necessities such as electricity are not yet met, undoubtedly there will be less people's voices being heard online.

NASA picture of "dark spots"

By thinking outside my social bubble, I look forward to the day where Google can properly translate a webpage written in Chinese to me. I know that the day will come where translators will become more efficient and deliver decent translations, while making my communication skills in other languages much easier.

I also know that by being a Global Business Management major I am a sort of xenophile that wants to build bridges among cultures like the video talked about. I intend to be able to tie in my Hispanic-American culture and traditions with other people around the world in the workplace.

Le Club de Francais y club de Espanol

My friends are already used to hearing "I'm going to a club"

And by that I don't mean Cloud N9ne or Oceans 7 type of club.

Being a freshman in college I knew I had to continue being involved in school activities so during the first month of school I signed up for the French club, the Spanish club, the International club, the Health club, the Young Life/ Christian Challenge club, and even the Exceptional Students club. Of course I couldn't possibly find time to go to all of their meetings and in the end became the French club VP and Spanish club treasurer.

I decided to become involved in the two mentioned clubs because: 

1.  Both clubs were holding elections and.. 
2. They go past the France and Mexican borders and incorporate "francophone" countries into their culture as well as the Spanish and South American countries.

In France it is polite to greet someone either with a handshake or with 1 kiss or bises on each cheek. In the Latin community they are more affectionate and incorporate hugs and kisses when greeting close relatives. 

The French and Spanish cultures share a lot of similarities from the structure in which the languages are written/ spoken, to the way they show affection toward family members.

The only difference I have found thus far is the games played in each culture.

In our first French club meeting I met our elected president and I learned that he sings in francophone churches here in Arizona. In French club last week we played a game (I had never hear of) called Boule, or more commonly known as Bacci Ball here in the U.S. Turns out, that even though I have horrible aim, and could not see my target I was "a pro" in Boule, according to our club president (who was my biggest rival throughout the game). Lol

LGBTQ..RSTUVWXYZ

In the past we tended to differentiate boys from girls in the way they dress, the length of their hair, the tone of their voice, and even by muscularity. However, gender classification has gone far beyond the appearance of an individual. Rather than stating if a person is straight or gay as if it were as simple as contrasting colors black and white, more options are being added to properly classify individuals.

Nowadays it is common to find someone that openly states being something other than 'heterosexual' or 'homosexual'. This all due to the new found progressiveness and acceptance for LGBTQ communities. (Statistics shown here) 

Often times when we meet a non-heterosexual person, we assume that they will more likely take on the role of the opposite gender simply because they are not 'straight.' However, these ideas have rapidly changed. Now, individuals can classify themselves as Straight, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Tran-sexual, Queer, or other. The idea that sexuality is based on a spectrum and that there are levels to it has been ever-growing.

According to the University of California they will soon be allowing students to check more than one box in their admission applications when classifying their sex, gender, and sexual orientation. 

Options for gender would be as follows; Trans male/ Trans female, Gender queer/ Gender nonconforming, and Different identity.

Options for sexual orientation would include; Heterosexual or Straight, Gay or Lesbian, Bisexual, and Not listed above.

Allowing individuals to have more options while filing paperwork relieves the minor anxiety they might feel by only being able to check one box. (Similar to what a mixed race individual feels when checking more than one box for 'race.') This option would also give the person requiring the information access to preferred pronouns when addressing the individual. 

UC has taken the first step toward greater inclusion for the LGBTQ community and undoubtedly in the next few years, many more public facilities will follow in their footsteps.   

Being a Girl

"What's it like to be a girl?" I heard this question all too many times going from middle school to high school. Because the majority of my friends were boys, I learned to (somewhat) understand the way they thought and talked. Unfortunately they could not say the same about me, or girls in general for that fact.

Often times I sat through school lunches listening to these boys talk about how big (or small) a girl's @** was, how hitting the gym was really paying off, how easy or slutty a girl on the cheer team was, or just in general making sexual remarks. Keeping in mind that these were all guys on our varsity cheer team, I couldn't help but think "this is seriously why guys join cheer," which of course explained why there were more guys than girls on the team with a 4:1 ratio.

So what's it like to be a girl? 

Well for starters, we are more private when it comes to sexual activity and will only share this with our closest girlfriends, as opposed to most guys that are more prone to disclosing this information with close girl or guy friends. Hence, we do not want to constantly hear about how 'hot' or 'easy' another girl is. Although, guiltily I can admit we also compare guys and their "game spitting" with our friends.

Our bodies are different. We get periods. So if we are quieter than usual do not make comments like, "It must be that time of the month again.." or "She's acting difficult, she's probably on her period" not only could you be wrong but if we are, it only adds the need to punch you.

We are expected to have neater hand writing, which I have proven true in most cases-- but then there is my best friend since elementary school that just ruins the odds.

What we choose to wear tends to be tied to our personalities or sexual experiences. Example 1: It's an Arizona Summer, a woman is wearing short shorts instead of longer shorts = "She's obviously asking for attention so it's not the guys' fault if they stare or say something"
VS.
Example 2: It's an Arizona Summer, a man is wearing short shorts instead of longer shorts = "what is this, the 70's? I guess it is kinda hot outside so it doesn't matter"

The biological differences between male and females are countless and can be altered, who's not to say that feminism will become even more popular and create gender equality within the social norms.

Invitation to Insight

For this assignment I was asked to identify relationships that have in any way been impacted by social media, the questions are as follows: 
Question 1: Can you identify a relationship that has been enhanced by regular mediated interactions?
Question 2: Can you identify a relationship that was created through mediated channels (for example social networking or online dating sites)?
Question 3: Can you identify a relationship that would suffer or end if mediated channels were not available?

The short answer to these three questions is 'yes'

I want to point out that the majority of social interaction that is being "done" in this era is not face to face but rather through the internet or cellular devices. People are now closer than ever without being physically near each other when it comes to getting a message across the country, or even globe. Family members have access to communicating freely through video calls, texting, and social media with other family members in their hometowns. This is especially crucial when the time comes to leaving for college, out of state internships, and transferring from one workplace to another. 

From personal experience I can say that it is easier than ever to start a relationship through social media. Whether it be amorous, friendly or strictly business relationships are made everyday through Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter etc. For example, I have created "friendships" (more like acquaintances) with other girls solely because they comment nice things on my selfies and will act like I've known them for years when I see them in person. To an extent it reduces the awkwardness of formally meeting a person on the street and having to introduce yourself.

Now, I know of plenty of friendships that rely on social media. I for example still keep in touch with my middle school friends that if it were not for Facebook and Snapchat I would know nothing about. What they looked like, what they were doing etc. So those who no longer attend the same school, or live in the same state rely heavily on social media to be able to shoot a text, or randomly show that they still think about one another. 

Just Another Statistic

I want to start off with acknowledging the fact that I had no idea what to write about up until 2 seconds ago. I got off a 7 hour shift knowing 2 things: 

1. I have approximately 3 hours to create the best blog ever
2. This assignment on education can make or break my grade

So, after 5 seconds of brain storming I came up with the idea to write about standardized tests.  

Since the beginning of time you are taught to figure things out on your own, to do your homework to practice what you did that day in class and edge it into your brain even more. But in reality all you are taught is memorization. For example: 2*2 = 4

Why? Who knows. All we are taught is to be able to make the connection between the multiplication symbol and a couple numbers and are expected to put these answers down on paper.

In retrospect, I've taken a plethora of standardized tests, two of the most important ones through out my entire education being the ACT and SAT. These tests are supposed to determine how well prepared a student is for college. But how accurate are these exams every high school student is required to take?

According to another blogger, not very. He contrasts how he has gone from an average ACT score to a straight 'A' student in college in comparison to his acquaintance. Adding on, I could personally identify myself as another "average ACT score" and have no hesitation I will continue to perform highly in college.

MY EXAM STORY:

Like the good procrastinator that I was, I did not study at all until the week prior to the SAT. Now, these exams are typically on a Saturday morning; So, I decided to go to tutoring for about 1 hour each day (a total of 5 days) until I had to put my little knowledge to good use. 

For those who have taken the SAT know it's a test consisting of a writing, reading, and math portion all broken down into about a million sections. Despite the below zero conditions, and timer anxiety I faced, I had managed to pull through. 3 weeks later I found I had done okay-ish for my first attempt with a cumulative score of 1510 (which converted to a 21 in the ACT chart). Knowing my approximate score for the ACT made me believe I'd be fine and I completely blew off any studying for this different formatted test. The ACT consisted of only about 2 math, reading, and science portions. Again, I was placed in a classroom that felt like an igloo, and was overwhelmed timer anxiety. However, after another 3 weeks had gone by I was shocked to see a 24 instead of a 21 as calculated by the SAT. 

The stress and last-minute hours of studying had not done any good since I had scored much better on the ACT than on the SAT. 

After doing some research I found that the SAT predominates on the East and West Coasts, the ACT is more common in the Midwest, Southwest, and Deep South. Which led me to think, "Did I do better on the ACT because my geographic location falls within the Southwest region? Or was it mere coincidence?" 

Guess I'll have to keep researching.. Til next time!

Tuition Costs Add Up, Minimum Wage Doesn't

Let's talk about the first real problem all "young adults" must face, paying for college. When it comes to growing up. It sucks! For many years we thought that growing up and moving out of the house would be the solution to all our problems, boy were we wrong!

Nothing compares to having to pay thousands of dollars for schooling we once feigned sickness to get out of. They say growing up comes with having more responsibilities, which is entirely true. Students such as myself, no longer have to depend on parents for rides, lunch money, and getting us up from bed early in the morning.

But what do we do if we no longer have our parents paying for our schooling and receive no money from the government? Simple, we find the minimum wage, or entry level jobs available to us. In many times we might even need two. Or at least that was what students could do up until the 1900's when tuition rates sky rocketed.

Now, studies have shown, that it is nearly impossible to pay off college tuition through minimum wage jobs. The jobs that once were sufficient to cover tuition, fees, room and board would now fall short about $3,200.

Becoming independent comes with a couple downfalls; paying for school, paying car insurance (if lucky enough to save a couple grand before college), meal plans, your own soap.. All these expenses require money. Money that we simply can't pull out of our pockets without the proper college education and stable-pay jobs. 

Here are the three options we have as students: 

1. Ask parents for money (which they may or may not have).
2. Take out a loan at your local bank (which you might not qualify for, or be charged an incredulous APR rate).
3. Take a couple months/ years off from school, and save enough to pay for 1/4 years at a public university.

Should we get started on how many working hours, on minimum wage it takes to pay for higher education? 
Let's look at the graph below

 It would take someone slightly less than half a full year’s work to afford tuition at the average public university.

None of the options mentioned above sound the least bit appealing to my very small and famished wallet. The graphs, not very encouraging either. In the ideal world, tuition rate and minimum wage would have a direct relationship in which a student could have a chance to pay off their own education. Although, reaching a higher education should not mean being drowned in debt after or even before you start college


I do have to acknowledge that the graphs shown only go up to the year 2011/2012 and that the minimum wage has gone up since then. 

However, so have tuition rates. 



With that being said, I will keep posting every other week. (: