My Three Most Influential Childhood Reads

     No one would argue that books are a very essential, if not, useful part of children's education. However, numbers and words can only teach so much; the kind of learning that really sticks to children are the ones that helps their mind develop in a way that transcends beyond just educational learning.

     In my past, I would say that these three books are the ones that have had the most influence on the person I am today.

The Rainbow Fish

The Rainbow Fish was the most popular book around when I was in the first grade. The sparkly scales of the fish caught all our attention-deficit minds, but what was more was that it went beyond just a pointless tale to entertain us as kids, it actually gave valuable moral fiber. It reminds children that while it is important to know that they are special, it also sweetly reminds them to see the goodness in others; it may be harder to find than the blaring, sparkling scales of Rainbow Fish, but appearance will only get you so far. 

The Giving Tree

What I believe to be one of Shel Silverstein's best, The Giving Tree tells the story of a selfless love. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, where they are just some infatuated teenagers with more hormones than the live produce of America, a tree gives all that it can to a present-minded boy that cares deeply about what he thinks he needs. Love like this isn't shown in most children's books these days, as the book kept emphasizing how the tree met the boy's needs, even though it had not much too offer. But what struck me was how the tree was happy when the boy was happy –– it reminds you that love isn't about what you're able to receive, rather it's more of how you become happy when you know that you have something to be able to give to another.

Where the Red Fern Grows

Lastly, I think this book is just a bitter-sweet representation of both the joy and sadness you get in life. You get your victories, you get your losses, and as long as you're alive, there's nothing stopping you from living. 

Media Impact

Mari Yoon
Cecilia Deck
Journalism 2
19 April 2013

Elmo is and Evildoer

     There has been a growing fad of popular internet sayings expressing the extreme displeasure in which a person no longer has the desire to live. It may be displayed through a simple acronym such as FML, or circulated around the internet through a screen shot of people saying bewilderingly, and almost sinfully, stupid statements. (Ex: I don't want to live on this planet anymore.) Where does the root of this almost sinister sense of ignorance sprout from? In the LA Times article shown in the very top, author Joel Stein intelligently asserts his distaste for the popular kid's show icon of Sesame Street, Elmo.  Although this masterpiece of an article is without a doubt satirical,  Stein makes a very legitimate point, and argument towards the decline of quality in the TV shows watched by the kids of today.

     If there is one point that is an absolute necessity in thinking about after reading this, and the article by Stein, it would have to be that Elmo is the nurturer of the selfish and moronic ambitions. The pinnacle of this article would have to be when Stein and his colleagues express the fact that Elmo only teaches kids how to think about themselves. Stein's colleague John Lee even further elaborates:

"'Elmo is just a baby-voiced, self-obsessed character who is only concerned with Elmo,' says Lee. "He just passively observes things: 'Elmo is looking at a sandwich. Elmo is eating a sandwich. Elmo is crapping out the sandwich and writing his name on the wall with it.' " The last celebrity to so obsessively refer to himself in the third person was Richard Nixon."

As hilarious and trite as this comment may be, it doesn't take away from the truth that kids are being exposed to selfish, immature creatures like Elmo and being taught to do the same. Elmo is not the only proprietor in the illiteracy and ignorance being taught to kids; shows like Spongebob, and "Total Drama Island" teaches kids that it's okay to take advantage of other people, make up illogical words by adding suffixes like -ness, as well as excessively abuse the words like, dude, and totally in nearly all sentences, as if kids actually spoke like that before the influence of these shows. The quality of these shows and their subliminal moral of the story teaches kids nothing but how to be the extreme authority on what the word immature is described as.

    At the end of the article, Stein poses a very simple answer to the problem of the possible demise of the educational world: bring back kid's television shows that teach children how to be decent human beings. A solution I personally resonate strongly with.

Media Autobiography

Mari Yoon
Cecilia Deck
Journalism 2
8 April 2013

Media becomes more and more prevalent each day, especially in the digital age. Different kinds of media I’m surrounded by include books, newspapers, magazines, audio/musical recordings, radio, television, and the Internet. Although some of these said forms of media are proving to be a little more primitive than others as time passes and technology advances, I would have to say I am most experienced in my use of books, Internet, and television.

            I am well acquainted with all of the said media; I had used television, radio, and newspapers and magazine articles for several current event and school related projects. I very rarely read the newspaper in its printed form for pleasure, mainly archiving them through the Internet, mainly because the sheer size and type of paper is inconvenient and messy. However, I love to read magazines for leisure, or whether it is about current interests, such as home making, and cooking. I think my favorite type of printed media would be books, because they come in all different shapes and sizes; with varying types of information, as well as more in-depth opinions and facts with a said topic.

            However, growing up in the digital age, I would have to say the most valuable type of media would be the Internet. The Internet has all forms of media in an electronic form, so it is very convenient. However, I feel like electronic forms of media and communication takes away from the sentimentality that can be formed through the printed word. The Internet is certainly very pragmatic, however I feel like it can be almost impersonal and distant –– which makes me caught in between two worlds because I love practicality, however I value the sentimentality in works that reflect culture, refinement, and effort. I think the Internet is a great way to store and record all different forms of media, and to make it available for all.

            One thing I feel strongly about is how modern music doesn’t seem to send a very obvious message to its listeners in the present; it can certainly set the trend for tastes in music, different styles in fashion, and even spur on controversial topics to a debate. Rather, I think music serves greater as a historical tool to understand the ambience, emotions, and even thought processes of the time period in which it emerged from.

            Lastly, the radio is a useful tool; through something so simply complex as a frequency/sound wave, we’re able to communicate messages from so far away. I feel like the radio is a very undervalued type of communication/mass media tool. But as a person who doesn’t drive yet, and derives news and other kinds of music from mainly the Internet, I have yet to fully appreciate radio as a type of media.

            I hope to transfer to UC Berkeley so I could get an undergraduate for an English major. I aspire to be an editor, however that’s subject to change. I think as an editor, I will have to be familiar with the different types of mass media, and its relevancy to current culture.