Never Alone

I chose to watch and blog about the song “Never Alone” by Barlow Girl.  This song has a great message.  They talk about in tough times when we really need someone we cry out for help.  God hears but sometimes we tend not to acknowledge the help he has given us because we are so focused on our problem.  Everybody has struggles in life.  We can choose to sit and focus or stop and wait for the help we need.  The guy in this video is struggling and struggling to get free but he can’t seem to.  The girls sing about trusting in what they cannot see, as in God.  It is so true that even people that don’t have a relationship with God at some point in their life they may cry out to him.  At the end of the video this guy that is restrained finally stops struggling.  He kneels down and stops focusing on the problem and starts focusing on the solution, asking God for help.  He then notices a way to get out of his predicament.  He was provided with a quick solution.  This video is portraying just that, to face our problems knowing there is help here if we need it.  We just need to have faith and ask.  We truly are never alone!

Mainstreaming

A newspaper should not have to disclose the source’s gender or race.  I think that they should be more focused on getting accurate information.  They should concern themselves with the research, effort, and time that is put into an article.  If we were reading a recipe, would we have to know the gender or race of the author of a particular dish?  It wouldn’t make a bit of difference no matter who it came from.  If we were going to begin asking for the race of who put together the headline for a particular newspaper, what good would that do us?  A man and a woman may have their own spin on words, but other than that, the story will be about the same.  The base idea does not change because of demographics.  I wonder if you knew the race of an author of a particular article, would that change your view of the article?  We are all the same, no matter what others may think.  Race and gender aside, we are human, and those that contribute to media got where they are for a reason.

Magazines

· Is there any harm in magazines featuring extremely thin (in the case of women) or very muscular (in the case of men) models in their photos and advertisements?  I believe there is harm in featuring thin or muscular models in advertisement.  It seems that this is where everyone looks for guidance, magazines.  From teens to women to men, we have all fallen into looking for perfection by looking at the standards the magazines portray.

· Do you think the images in fashion magazines contribute to the problem of eating disorders or steroid/supplement abuse? Why?  I do believe that fashion magazines contribute to eating disorders and supplement abuse.  We are all so focused on what the “status quo” is and tend to look to magazines.  I think young girls see these thin models and say to themselves, “If I just don’t eat for a week and make myself throw up, then maybe I can be thin like this.”  Then two months later their stomach can’t handle food and they end up having major problems they didn’t even think about.  What about a male that sees this muscular model and decides I’ll do steroids for a few months and see how that goes.  He then sees good results and continues until it is out of control.

· What about the opposite―Ought magazines feature “realistically sized” models? Does this help or harm things? Why?  I think that having realistic sized models would be a good thing.  I think that it would be good to have many different sized people in a magazine showing that we are all different.  The reality is a slim person and a plump person can eat the same thing and have the same level of active lifestyle, but because of heredity they don’t have the same body.  I think having realistic sized models would help people see that we are all individual and different.  Don’t be ashamed of who you are.  Being healthy is more important than looking a certain way.  A person would feel more accepting of themselves. 

· Should magazines Photoshop models to make them look thinner? How do you feel about the comments made by the editor of Self magazine in your chapter?  Magazines should not Photoshop models to make them look thinner.  It is setting a definite unrealistic standard and it is wrong.  I think what the editor said is ridiculous.  Even though she thinks it is best to make the cover model look their “best” it is not realistic.  Teens are then under even more pressure thinking that these stars are perfect.