Listening to the last podcast, I thought it was interesting how Professor Bezio kept talking about our “risky” decision in choosing a leadership major or minor. It really makes me think about how stuck we can get in society’s expectations/thoughts of what is safe and risky or what is useful and what is useless when it comes to higher education. I always knew that I wanted to go to University and I always thought that I was going to major in business as it just seemed like what is practical and I could use anywhere (an idea that was further pushed by my parents). I am still a business major, but after choosing to attend Richmond I also decided to add a leadership studies major at first thinking that its greatest advantage would be making me stick out compared to other business majors when applying for jobs.

It is so easy to get stuck on the idea of what is ‘normal’ – the normal at my high school was for everyone to college. A normal major is one that is practical – English majors are deemed useless by so many for some reason. I think that’s what makes Jepson so appealing for so many people is that although it is not ‘normal’, there is no doubt that leadership is connected to everything we do and you truly do begin to realize its importance as soon as you start taking classes in Jepson.

Formation – Music Video

This music video really is a great example of Beyonce as the role model/idol that she is. I couldn’t help but be fascinated the entire time about how beautiful and powerful she is as she moves. Her music video was only filled with African American actors which only added to the power/strength of the video and with lyrics like “I might just be a black bill gates in the making” just further go on to empower the black community which has been silenced for decades. I was also interested with the scenes of Beyonce sitting on the New Orleans cop car surrounded by water which connects back to the Hurricane Katrina disaster in Louisiana. This was a situation where black neighborhoods were left to fight and fend for themselves as they were not provided the right/enough resources before or after the hurricane unlike many white communities.

This is America – Music Video
I remember when this music video was first released and the conversation it sparked. The scene that stood out to me the most was where the choir was singing happily one second and then getting shot down the next. This is obviously very difficult to watch, but sadly is the case as countless African Americans are wrongly killed and then do not receive the necessary/proper justice afterwards. But what further makes this scene and scenes similar to it stand out is the way that Childish Gambino dances freely afterwards which shows how these horrendous and wrong deaths of African Americans have been desensitized in society and particularly in the media.

At first when reading “Yellow Wallpaper”, I was a bit confused to say the least especially with how it related to the class. But after reading it closer and reading up about it I further understood the larger meaning of Yellow Wallpaper being the societal oppression of women in the US. Relating it back to our past class, I thought about the power that popular culture can have, regardless of what form it is in, in addressing important issues whether that is systemic racism or female oppression. Stories like “Yellow Wallpaper” begin conversations between people about the male control over women and the need for female empowerment. Realizing the deeper lesson that goes along with the wife’s deteriorating mental health requires close reading.

With any story, it is essential to use close reading to understand the greater meaning of the work regardless of whether it is hidden or not. As we continue on with our education, each year has only seemed to further stress the importance of looking deeper at things and asking why and how along with understanding different perspectives and the context. In order to truly understand these stories or other elements of popular culture and fully examine/talk about them it requires a greater grasp of the lessons/content. But this brings up a greater issue in our current society, as not everyone is willing to look deeper into these stories and discuss the potential issues that it brings up like female oppression which still exists today. But more information can be spread/addressed by continuing to have these conversations in both formal and informal settings.

I think the podcast touches on how truly important popular culture is in our lives today. We discussed in a previous class the role that it plays in instilling implicit biases in our lives. The reading and the podcasts both touched on the relationship between leadership and popular culture. It is ignorant of a leader to ignore the impact that popular culture has on people’s decisions and opinions in general. For my research paper, I am examining Sleeping Beauty and looking at how its ideas (along with fairytales like it) can be harmful to people even at a young age. There have been countless studies showing that kids reflect the ideas that they are reading about and seeing on the screen. One of these studies for example showed that by these children watching Disney Princesses young girls began to play with the princess dolls following stereotypical female behavior – such as thinking that cookware, dolls, and tea sets were for girls only. With this sort of influence, it is essential to review what is being shown through popular culture regardless of what form it comes in. This obviously shows the importance of diversity and limiting stereotypes in all forms of popular culture which begins with large organizations transitioning their work to empower people. This is seen within Disney through the transition of princesses from being entirely dependent and helpless from Cinderella to Sleeping Beauty to then transitioning to independent strong princesses like Elsa.

I think the Hayter reading was really interesting and really gives insight into how local people can have an impact on the national level with his focus on voting policies. Despite all of the stress put on voting in your elections and your civic duties as citizens of getting engaged in your local and national politics, there is this harmful idea that your vote does not count or make a difference. But as Hayter points out through his Richmond example, people have the ability to generate change and push progress forward. I think back to the November’s election with so many questions over the legitimacy of local and national elections. It was very evident to see how the results were questioned, especially in states like Georgia, when looking at the statistics it just goes to show the power of people showing up to vote (many of those new voters being  minorities which have had their voices denied in the past). With the new Georgia voting law, we are seeing the rise in people supporting companies pulling out of the state like with the MLB moving the all-star game out of Atlanta. With legislative bodies having the power to limit people’s voices and make the final decisions in the end, it is so important to not forget the power that voters and organizations can have in these decisions as well.

I was assigned the democratic party for the 2008 election. The ad that stood out the most for me was the “Yes We Can” ad as it was really eye-catching with it’s musical jingle that repeated the powerful words of Obama through music (with his speech playing in the background). They also used plenty of well known celebrities in the ad singing along which only further caught my eye. Reading through Obama’s speech, it was extremely powerful and in my opinion certainly does a good job of inspiring hope in Americans for the future (with hope being the main part of his campaign) as well as bring in all Americans rather than certain small groups. Regardless of which party you were a part of, I think this ad playing on TV would certainly make you stop at least for a second and listen as the song is extremely catchy. I guess its ability to be so attention grabbing is where it is so successful at least in my eyes.

Thinking about the rest of the ads I watched and the podcast itself, it really makes me think about how these commercials give an insight into the character and the overall leadership potential of these candidates. Looking at how candidates handle their attack campaigns, how they talk about social issues, how they talk about current crises, and even how they present themselves physically and verbally. These are things that viewers pay attention to both consciously and sub-consciously, so it is important for a campaign to manage this wisely.

To be honest, I was getting pretty frustrated with Millennium Village Simulator and only seemed to get worse. At first I thought I was getting the hang of keeping both Fatou and Kodjo healthy and fully satisfied, while still bringing in enough money for the family and the village. But as soon as other factors like a bad crop yield or an illness came into play each round/attempt, I seemed to continue to lose more and more control. It only goes to show that simulations are only that and as humans it is very difficult to predict/plan anything simply due to the presence of random/unpredictable factors. After reading Dorner and playing with the Simulator, I had myself question decisions that I had made – both looking at the short-term and long-term implications. It is very easy to get sucked into small factors/details and then almost entirely lose sight of the bigger, overall picture. Having to decide between feeding both people or sending one to the doctor is a decision that you don’t really want to make and it very easy to potentially let emotions/personal feelings get in the way of one’s better judgement.

I felt very isolated from the situation in the game as this is obviously not my day to day life. But as stated on the initial page of the simulation before starting the simulation’s creators “hope that, by immersing themselves in the daily life of a family, students will identify more deeply with the local experience of extreme poverty”. It certainly made me think about how fortunate I am that I do not have to fear that one poor harvest could potentially result in my family’s poor health, but this is the situation for many people around the world from the shortages of basic necessities to inadequate healthcare. I really had no idea how to keep these people alive and balance these many needs, and the fact that people at all and especially children younger than me is a scary thought.

I was thinking about my favorite advertisements on TV over the years, and the Meerkat Insurance advertisements always came to mind. Whenever I am visiting family in England, these ads always pop up and although they are slightly immature, they always seem to make me chuckle. Talking animals is a tactic used to entertain and keep the attention of children in children’s books, so I think it is impressive to see how this is in turn used in advertisements for adults with things like insurance.

I always hear my family complain about these ads that always seem to come on during every advertising break. But this is where these ads are so effective – they stay in people’s minds and catch their attention. These ads do not have a specific audience, but hope that through their creation of these unique characters, that they also attempt to sell merchandise through, they will catch the eye of potential customers.

This is a graph from USA today that makes it look like the numbers of people receiving Federal Welfare is getting out of control as each quarter continues. It is extremely misleading as the Y-axis begins at 94,000,000. The graph did not just reach nearly 108,000,000 overnight, but instead has slowly grown from 96,000,000 in 2009.

It is very easy to see how different news outlets leaning left or right can put their own opinion onto statistics in order to mislead the public on things like policies to the growth of the economy. This is definitely where you can begin to see political parties widen the gap and become more polarized as the truth gets twisted towards their view and therefore limits the number of moderates. As a business major, I can certainly see how people could use misleading graphs in order to portray the economy or the success of a business a certain way – potentially in an attempt to influence economic policy or the way people invest overall. It just certainly makes you question what you are reading and only further shows the importance of varying the sources that you are getting your information from along with checking/fully examining what is in front of you.

As a white person on-campus, it is very difficult for me to weigh in on this as walking past the names of Ryland and Freeman on buildings around campus I will never understand what African American’s feel. I think as Kendall and Tess touched on, it is important to address the history of this campus and acknowledge where the money that has allowed this school to grow has come from. We cannot move forward if we ignore what has happened in the past so I think like what was done with freeman hall (attaching another name to the front of it that being one of Freeman’s slaves) should also be done to Ryland Hall. I think forcing people to learn about the darker history of this campus sparks a necessary conversation among everyone about how this country and our community can continue to progress past its racially-divided and discriminatory roots and support communities of color.